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Roope Hintz

Snapshots: Hintz, Comrie, CHL Trades

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The Dallas Stars and new head coach Peter DeBoer have picked up right where they left off after the departure of former coach Rick Bowness, with the team sitting comfortably in playoff position atop the Central Division standings. A major reason for the Stars’ success this season, beyond the obvious storylines of Jason Robertson and Jake Oettinger, has been the play of number-one center Roope Hintz. Hintz, 26, has scored 19 goals and 44 points in just 39 games this season, and is on pace to have his third straight season scoring around the point-per-game mark.

Hintz is a player of such significant importance to the Stars’ success that were the team forced to play without him, they would be at a major disadvantage. That makes this news from today’s stars game notable. As reported by The Athletic’s Saad Yousuf, Hintz suffered an upper-body injury and is questionable to return to today’s game. While it’s possible that this is only a precautionary measure and Hintz’s injury is inconsequential, this overall situation will be one to monitor for Stars fans and hockey fans alike who have come to enjoy watching Hintz play on a regular basis.

Some other notes from across the hockey world:

  • Buffalo Sabres goaltender Eric Comrie’s conditioning stint with the AHL’s Rochester Americans has ended, per Noted Hockey’s Joe Yerdon. Comrie had been in Rochester as part of his recovery process for the lower-body injury he suffered in November. Comrie signed a two-year, $1.8MM AAV deal with the Sabres in the offseason, and has had an up-and-down season, with a hot start and some games he’d like to have back. Overall, his numbers aren’t great (.887 save percentage through 11 games) but the Sabres as a whole seem to have turned a corner from their slow start to the season, so perhaps a healthy Comrie can benefit from the team’s overall improvement.
  • Two top prospects in the Canadian Hockey League could be on the move. Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek reports that Olen Zellweger, a top defensive prospect of the Anaheim Ducks, is being traded to the Kamloops Blazers as part of a massive deal involving as many as four first-round picks in the WHL Bantam Draft headed back to Zellweger’s current team, the Everett Silvertips. Additionally, Hockey Unfiltered’s Ken Campbell reports rumblings that 2022 fourth-overall pick Shane Wright could be headed to the London Knights as part of a major trade. Neither deal has been officially announced, so it’s still possible that things shift, but at the moment it seems the destinations of two of the CHL’s biggest-name players have been settled.

Dallas Stars Extend Roope Hintz

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The Dallas Stars have locked up another piece of their core, signing Roope Hintz to an eight-year extension. The deal keeps him under contract through 2030-31 and includes an average annual value of $8.45MM. Hintz was scheduled for restricted free agency next summer when his current three-year, $9.45MM ($3.15MM AAV) contract expired. PuckPedia reports the full breakdown:

  • 2023-24: $7.5MM salary + $4.0MM signing bonus
  • 2024-25: $8.25MM salary + $3.0MM signing bonus
  • 2025-26: $7.0MM salary + $3.0MM signing bonus
  • 2026-27: $5.25MM salary + $2.0MM signing bonus
  • 2027-28: $6.9MM salary
  • 2028-29: $6.9MM salary
  • 2029-30: $6.9MM salary
  • 2030-31: $6.9MM salary

Hintz, 26, will now match Miro Heiskanen in terms of cap hit, coming in just ahead of the four-year deal that Jason Robertson signed this fall and behind the two big-ticket veterans in Tyler Seguin ($9.85MM) and Jamie Benn ($9.5MM).

If you haven’t been paying attention to the Stars, you might have missed the development of Hintz into one of the league’s premier two-way players. Last season he scored 37 goals and 72 points as the anchor between Robertson and Joe Pavelski, earning Selke Trophy votes along the way as one of the league’s best defensive forwards. This year things have gone even better, with eight goals and 24 points in 22 games.

Even with Robertson’s dynamic offense and Heiskanen’s brilliant defending, there have been some that argue Hintz is actually the team’s best – or at least most valuable – player, because of all the things he does through the middle of the ice. You can practically hear the excitement in general manager Jim Nill’s statement about the deal:

Roope is a dynamic two-way centerman who has proven to be one of the best at his position in the NHL. He’s developed into one of our most versatile players, making an impact on special teams and at even strength, and can be counted on by our coaching staff in every situation. We are fortunate to have him in Victory Green for an additional eight years and look forward to his continued growth as a player.

Big, versatile centers are one of the most difficult things in the league to come by, and the Stars have avoided what could have been a tricky negotiation in a few months. While an $8.45MM cap hit is certainly not a small number, there’s reason to believe he could have demanded more, had he been coming off another near-40-goal season. Because of his age, this deal is only buying out a single RFA year, meaning Dallas is locking up basically all of Hintz’ productive UFA seasons in one shot.

There is certainly some risk here though, given the breakout that happened once Robertson and Pavelski were put in place. Hintz was good but not great in his first two seasons, and a return to that level would mean another underperforming big contract on the books. Dallas is willing to make that bet, though, and it appears like a good one given how consistent Hintz has been for more than two years now.

It also simplifies the Stars’ offseason considerably, leaving only Denis Gurianov and Ty Dellandrea as RFAs among the regular group. Pavelski’s future is unclear, given his UFA status and age (he’ll turn 39 just after free agency kicks off next summer), but the team now has some understanding of what they have to work with.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Stars Notes: Tocchet, Savard, Hintz

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While the Rick Bowness era in Dallas officially came to a close two days ago, it could have ended far sooner. On the 32 Thoughts segment of last night’s Sportsnet broadcast of the Avalanche-Blues game, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that the Dallas Stars “considered a coaching change” around the All-Star break, and had “zeroed in on” former Arizona Coyotes head coach and current TNT analyst Rick Tocchet as their next bench boss. Friedman states that the two parties could not come to terms on a deal at the time, but speculates that he could be a name the team circles back to for their current vacancy.

Tocchet, 58, last coached the Arizona Coyotes in 2020-21 and has most recently been working as an analyst for Turner Sports’ NHL coverage, primarily on TNT. Tocchet also coached the Tampa Bay Lightning for two seasons from 2008-09 and 2009-10. Tocchet’s results as a head coach are mixed, with his teams only making the playoffs once, in the unique bubble situation of the 2019-20 season. But with those mixed results comes the two Stanley Cup rings Tocchet won as an assistant coach for the Pittsburgh Penguins, and there are many coaches who have difficult early tenures only to finally figure things out in a second or third job. While Tocchet never played for the Stars during his illustrious 1144-game NHL career, it seems that he may end up there as their next head coach.

Now, for some other notes regarding the Dallas Stars:

  • Another former player is, like Tocchet, on the Stars’ radar for their vacant head coaching job. Marc Savard, the rookie head coach of the Windsor Spitfires who now has his team in the semifinals of the OHL playoffs, is “on Dallas’ radar,” per Marek. Savard’s Spitfires posted a 44-17-7 record this season, and his connection to prized prospect Wyatt Johnston, who tore the OHL apart this season to the tune of 124 points, could prove useful should he choose to pursue the job.
  • The Stars’ offseason is a crucial one for reasons beyond just their coaching search. Star forward Jason Robertson and goaltender Jake Oettinger, the team’s playoff hero, are out of contract and are eligible for restricted free agency. The direction the team goes in terms of their extensions could dictate what the Stars are able to do in terms of adding other players. Another crucial Star, Roope Hintz, is not out of a contract but eligible for an extension thanks to there only being one season left on his current deal. Per Marek, the Stars want to get an extension “done early” and lock up Hintz along with their other core players. Given Hintz’s play these past two seasons, the Stars’ reported desire to extend him now seems wise, because his price is likely only going up as he gets more productive seasons under his belt.

Stars Notes: Klingberg, Bowness, Injuries

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As things currently stand, Dallas Stars defenseman John Klingberg is arguably the best defenseman set to be available in this summer’s free agent market. But according to Klingberg, he hopes he doesn’t get there. In today’s season-ending meeting with the media, Klingberg, who has been the subject of many trade rumors in the past, emphasized his desire to remain in Dallas, saying:

At the end of the day, I always want to stay here. We’ve been trying to find different ways to get it done. Year length, money-wise, just trying to get something we’re both happy with.

The factors that could potentially block a Klingberg return are the ones he mentioned, the cost and length of his extension. On May 7th, Stars GM Jim Nill said that he would love to keep Klingberg. But it may not be possible given the team’s cap situation and the other offers Klingberg could receive on the open market. The Stars already have Miro Heiskanen, Esa Lindell, and Ryan Suter under contract for at least the next three seasons, and with extensions for Jake Oettinger, Jason Robertson, Denis Gurianov, and Roope Hintz to consider over the next two offseasons, it’s difficult to imagine that the Stars will be able to match the kinds of offers Klingberg could receive from elsewhere. So, despite the mutual interest in a return that was communicated today, it looks as though some serious creativity will be required if Klingberg is to remain with the only NHL team he has ever known.

Now, for some other notes regarding the Stars:

  • Stars head coach Rick Bowness coached this season on an expiring contract, a deal that has now ended thanks to the Stars’ defeat at the hands of the Calgary Flames. Per Matthew DeFranks of The Dallas Morning News, Bowness stated today that he would prefer a one-year contract at this stage of his career and that he may consider retirement if that’s the path he chooses to go down. Nill did praise Bowness’ work today, emphasizing that Bowness has “done a good job” in this 98-point campaign. He did also say, though, that they will need to “reassess everything.” So with both Bowness and Nill’s comments in mind, it’s certainly possible that the Stars join the multitude of teams seeking a new head coach this offseason.
  • On exit days across the NHL, it is common for the numerous injuries a team’s players have been playing through to be revealed publicly for the first time. The Stars’ end-of-season press conferences were no different, and we learned today of a multitude of ailments that Stars players were battling during the season. As relayed by Saad Yousuf of The Athletic, Tyler Seguin fractured his foot in Game One of the series, Hintz strained his oblique in Game Six, and Luke Glendening had a concussion and both knee and groin issues that would have kept him out on a week-to-week basis. While it’s certain that all three players would rather be taking on the Edmonton Oilers tomorrow night, one small benefit of the Stars’ loss is that they now get to begin the recovery process in earnest.

Snapshots: Tkachuk, Stars, Garland

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With Drake Batherson now signed, the Senators can squarely turn their focus to getting a new deal done with RFA winger Brady Tkachuk.  Speaking with reporters, including Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch, GM Pierre Dorion declined to comment on the status of negotiations, only stating that “We’ve had productive, positive discussions with Brady’s camp” which would contrast a recent report from TSN1200’s Shawn Simpson who relayed (Twitter link) that there is some frustration setting in with Tkachuk’s camp.

The 21-year-old could be eyeing Andrei Svechnikov’s eight-year, $62MM deal with Carolina as a legitimate comparable contract which would make him Ottawa’s highest-paid forward but would still keep him below Thomas Chabot’s $8MM AAV for the highest-paid player on the team.  As some of Ottawa’s top youngsters come up for new deals, trying to keep all of those below Chabot’s price tag would seem like a viable strategy for the Senators in an effort to keep their window for contention open as long as possible.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • Stars head coach Rick Bowness told Matthew DeFranks of the Dallas Morning News that forwards Tyler Seguin (hip and knee), Roope Hintz (groin), Alexander Radulov (core), and defenseman Joel Hanley (core) have all recovered from their respective injuries and surgeries and will be ready for training camp. Seguin, in particular, will be a welcome return as he was only able to suit up in three games last season, managing a pair of goals in those contests.  They’re still not fully healthy, however, as there is plenty of uncertainty surrounding goalie Ben Bishop’s future which is why Braden Holtby was surprisingly signed in free agency this summer.
  • While winger Conor Garland believed the Bruins might show interest in him, he told Matt Porter of the Boston Globe that his camp never heard from Boston when Arizona was shopping him around the league. The 25-year-old Scituate native had identified Boston, Toronto, and Los Angeles as potential fits but he wound up being moved to Vancouver instead where he quickly signed a five-year, $24.75MM contract.  Garland wouldn’t rule out the idea of playing for his hometown team down the road but it won’t be happening anytime soon.

Injury Updates: Miller, Hintz, Arvidsson, Tanev

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Bruins defenseman Kevan Miller was taken to hospital for scans and further evaluation following an injury sustained on a hit from Washington blueliner Dmitry Orlov in tonight’s Game Four, the team announced (Twitter link).   A video of the hit can be seen here.  Orlov was initially given a major penalty on the play but it was subsequently dropped to a double-minor before play resumed.

Other injury notes from around the NHL:

  • Stars forward Roope Hintz has undergone successful surgery to repair his left adductor tendon that was injured back in the 2020 Stanley Cup Final, relays Saad Yousuf of The Athletic (Twitter link). The 24-year-old was basically a game-time decision for the majority of the season and while he did miss 15 games, he was still quite strong offensively, notching a career-high 43 points while finishing third in scoring for Dallas.  He is expected to make a full recovery in time for training camp in the fall and considering the year he had while playing injured, there is certainly cause for optimism for him finding another level offensively next season.
  • Predators winger Viktor Arvidsson was a late scratch in their third game against Carolina with the team announcing (Twitter link) that he’s dealing with an upper-body injury. He was fifth in scoring this season for Nashville with 25 points in 50 games and is listed as day-to-day.  Calle Jarnkrok, who missed Game Two with an illness, took Arvidsson’s place in the lineup.
  • Flames defenseman Chris Tanev has had tough luck with injuries over the years and while he played in all 56 games this season, it turns out he was far from healthy. Postmedia’s Wes Gilbertson notes that the blueliner was dealing with a pair of broken ribs and a torn pectoral muscle by the end of the year but preferred to stay in the lineup and play through it rather than get an early start to his offseason.  Tanev’s first year in Calgary was a good one as he was able to adapt to playing a bigger role in the lineup (he was second in ATOI among Flames defenders) and while he clearly wasn’t healthy, he didn’t miss a game for the second straight year.

Roope Hintz To Undergo Surgery

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The Dallas Stars held more media availability today, where GM Jim Nill gave reporters including Saad Yousuf of The Athletic several injury updates. Alexander Radulov, Ben Bishop, and Tyler Seguin are all on track to make full recoveries in time for next season’s training camp, but the real news was that Roope Hintz has surgery scheduled for next week. Hintz is dealing with a left abductor tendon injury according to Yousuf and will be out three to four months after surgery on Wednesday.

Hintz and Seguin ended up back on the shelf after the Stars were eliminated, ending what was a frustrating season for both players. While Seguin knew he was going to miss most of the year following hip and knee surgeries, Hintz spent the entire season struggling through injury. That makes his performance even more incredible, as the 24-year-old forward finished with 43 points in 41 games.

One can only imagine what Hintz will be able to do at full health, especially if he can continue the natural chemistry he found with Joe Pavelski this season. With the emergence of Jason Robertson as a line-driving player for the Stars, the team now has several top-level left-wing options to deploy, making it even more difficult to match lines.

It was a brutal season for the Stars, who dealt with a COVID situation at the beginning of the year, some major injuries from last year’s Cinderella Stanley Cup run, and inclement weather that delayed and disrupted their schedule. They ended up missing the playoffs by just four points despite all that and should still be in a position to compete in 2021-22. A lot of that hope will rely on injury recoveries, however, including this long-term rehab for Hintz.

Nominees Announced For 2021 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy

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The Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy is given out annually to the NHL player who exemplifies perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey. The award has been voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association since 1968, and today they announced their nominees for 2021.

Past winners of the award include Bobby Ryan (2020), Robin Lehner (2019), Brian Boyle (2018), Craig Anderson (2017), Jaromir Jagr (2016), Devan Dubnyk (2015), Dominic Moore (2014), and Josh Harding (2013).

Below are the nominees from each team:

Anaheim Ducks – David Backes

Arizona Coyotes – Phil Kessel

Boston Bruins – Kevan Miller

Buffalo Sabres – Dustin Tokarski

Calgary Flames – Milan Lucic

Carolina Hurricanes – Jordan Staal

Chicago Blackhawks – Andrew Shaw

Colorado Avalanche – Valeri Nichushkin

Columbus Blue Jackets – Zac Dalpe

Dallas Stars – Roope Hintz

Detroit Red Wings – Danny DeKeyser

Edmonton Oilers – Mike Smith

Florida Panthers – Chris Driedger

Los Angeles Kings – Matt Roy

Minnesota Wild – Matt Dumba

Montreal Canadiens – Corey Perry

Nashville Predators – Pekka Rinne

New Jersey Devils – Scott Wedgewood

New York Islanders – Casey Cizikas

New York Rangers – Colin Blackwell

Ottawa Senators – Nick Paul

Philadelphia Flyers – Oskar Lindblom

Pittsburgh Penguins – Casey DeSmith

San Jose Sharks – Patrick Marleau

St. Louis Blues – Vladimir Tarasenko

Tampa Bay Lightning – Steven Stamkos

Toronto Maple Leafs – Jack Campbell

Vancouver Canucks – Tyler Motte

Vegas Golden Knights – Marc-Andre Fleury

Washington Capitals – Zdeno Chara

Winnipeg Jets – Eric Comrie

Three finalists and the winner will be named at a later date.

Dallas Stars Re-Sign Roope Hintz

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The Dallas Stars can cross the last name off of their restricted free agent list after reaching a new agreement with Roope Hintz. The Stars have re-signed Hintz to a three-year deal that carries an average annual value of $3.15MM and keeps him under contract through the 2022-23 season.  PuckPedia reports that the deal breaks down as follows:

2020-21: $2MM
2021-22: $3MM
2022-23: $4.45MM

In most cases, the salary in the final year of the contract represents the qualifying offer.  However, the most recent CBA put in a clause stating that the qualifying offer is the lower of the salary in the final year or 120% of the AAV of the deal.  In this case, 120% of the AAV is $3.78MM which means that will be what Dallas must offer to retain his rights in 2023.

Hintz, 23, broke out in the 2019 playoffs for the Stars, showing off his blazing speed and offensive upside by scoring five goals and eight points in 13 games. That performance continued when the 2019-20 season began, with the young forward tying Jamie Benn for second in the team in goals with 19. That total came in just 60 games and Hintz was effective again in the playoffs, this time tallying 13 points in 25 games while the Stars went all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals.

Moving forward, the team will need even more from their young star, given Tyler Seguin’s injury and lack of any real improvements in free agency. Seguin is expected to be out for the first few months of the season, meaning Hintz and fellow youngster Denis Gurianov will have to carry a huge amount of the offensive burden.

If he does get more powerplay opportunity and increased minutes, this three-year contract could quickly look like quite the bargain. A $3.15MM cap hit makes Hintz the seventh-highest paid forward on the roster, just behind Radek Faksa who signed a five-year extension last month. Though Faksa is one of the league’s top defensive forwards, Hintz holds quite a bit more offensive potential and could easily push toward the 30-goal mark next season. If he does, a three-year term may seem like a mistake from his camp.

That said, a deal like this is quite a bit of stability for a second-round pick that still has just 118 regular season games under his belt. It also leaves him a restricted free agent in 2023 with the possibility of an arbitration hearing that could walk him directly onto the open market a year later. If his development continues, he could be in line for an expensive long-term extension at that point.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

RFA Notes: Hintz, Dunn, Lagesson

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With new contracts done for fellow restricted free agent forwards Radek Faksa and Denis Gurianov, the Dallas Stars have just one more name to check off the list. Roope Hintz is the lone remaining RFA for the Stars and after two straight solid seasons to begin his NHL career, the young forward is due a sizeable raise from his entry-level contract. However, Dallas is running low on salary cap space. CapFriendly currently projects the club to have just $3.4MM in space for a 22-man roster. While that currently includes nine defenseman, which is not realistic, swapping a blue liner for another forward from the AHL roster will essentially cancel out. This means the Stars have approximately $3.4MM to offer Hintz in terms of AAV, and that is if they don’t plan to make any other additions to a forward corps that lost Mattias Janmark and has not re-signed Corey Perry. However, GM Jim Nill is not worried. He tells The Dallas News’ Matthew DeFranks that the team expects to get Hintz under contract “in the next week or two.” Nill claims that the two sides have had “great discussions” and are close to an extension. If Hintz signs a short-term deal similar to the two-year, $5.1MM pact signed by Gurianov, the Stars will remain under the cap ceiling and may even have room for another addition. If the two sides instead decide that a long-term deal is the better route, the AAV could climb above that of Faksa’s $3.25MM on his five-year deal, which would put Dallas right up against or over the cap. Nill seems confident that a deal will be made one way or another and that the team can sort out the rest.

  • One team that would have to go over the salary cap to sign a key RFA are the St. Louis Blues. In fact, the Blues are already over the cap’s upper limit and are more accurately dealing with the off-season limit on spending over the cap. Yet, defenseman Vince Dunn needs a new contract and right now that seems like an impossibility for St. Louis. However, GM Doug Armstrong believes that it will all work out. Speaking with Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post Dispatch, Armstrong stated that two sides are content to wait until closer to the start of the season to finalize and extension. The team may even need to wait until after the season officially starts, when they can place Vladimir Tarasenko and/or Alex Steen on Long-Term Injured Reserve. Once those players’ cap hits are removed from the calculation, St. Louis will have plenty of room to re-sign Dunn and more. The young rearguard has developed into a reliable top-four option for the Blues and will be due a major pay increase, but that will pale in comparison to the potential $13.25MM vacancy created by Tarasenko and Steen hitting LTIR.
  • There may not be much in the hockey news cycle right now, but the Edmonton Oilers made an odd choice to fill the gap by pumping the tires of a player they have yet to re-sign. The Oilers recently released a piece touting the overseas accomplishments of defenseman William Lagesson, who is still seeking a new contract for next season. Lagesson has seven points through nine games with HC Vita Hasten of Sweden’s Allsvenskan and is already looking forward to competing for a regular NHL role this season. Lagesson played in eight games with Edmonton last year, but failed to record a point. He still has a history of solid two-way play in the NCAA and AHL and if Edmonton is agreeing that he is NHL-ready, that could come in handy in contract negotiations. Of course, “NHL-ready” and NHL opportunity are not the same and Lagesson has an uphill battle to crack the Oilers’ roster that already includes five one-way defensemen (not including the injured Oscar Klefbom), a more established RFA in Ethan Bear in need of a new deal, and younger, more elite prospects like Evan Bouchard and Philip Broberg clamoring for a chance.

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