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Atlantic Division Notes: Sabres, Johnson, Johansson

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Despite being separated by just 100 miles geographically, the difference in success between the respective roster rebuilds in Toronto and Buffalo is much greater. While Toronto is closing in on a potential playoff berth, the Sabres appear set to miss the postseason dance for the sixth straight season. The Score’s Craig Hagerman lists three reasons Buffalo’s rebuild has not been as successful as the Maple Leafs.

First, Hagerman argues, once the team landed top draft prospect Jack Eichel the Sabres overextended themselves by dealing precious young assets to acquire veteran forwards Ryan O’Reilly and Jamie McGinn from Colorado. Buffalo dealt two former first-round draft picks, Nikita Zadorov and Mikhail Grigorenko, along with prospect J.T. Compher and the 31st choice in the 2015 draft to get O’Reilly and McGinn. Given Grigorenko’s and Zadorov’s struggles in two seasons with Colorado versus O’Reilly’s solid play for Buffalo, it’s fair to debate that the Sabres have so far come out ahead in that swap. While a case can be made the O’Reilly has been a good fit for the Sabres, able to take the tougher assignments and freeing up Eichel to see inferior competition, ultimately Hagerman believes a rebuilding team should hoard it’s young assets further into the process.

The scribe also credits Toronto for ridding themselves of their most onerous longtime commitments, finding takers for the expensive contracts of Dion Phaneuf, Phil Kessel and Jonathan Bernier, while at the same time bringing in young talent to augment their rebuild. Buffalo, on the other hand, has four players – Evander Kane, Matt Moulson, Zach Bogosian and Tyler Ennis – that account for roughly $40MM against the salary cap at least through the 2017-18 campaign. Finally, Hagerman points out that the Leafs are getting more production from their young players than Buffalo is. Toronto has Mitch Marner, William Nylander and Auston Matthews, all of whom have either reached or are on a 60-point pace as rookies. Buffalo has Eichel, who has been excellent, but beyond that their top picks in recent drafts, players like Sam Reinhart and Rasmus Ristolainen, have yet to fulfill their full potential. That’s not to say they won’t, only that Toronto’s top prospects are maturing at a quicker clip helping to advance their rebuild at a faster pace than Buffalo’s.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic:

  • While team captain Steven Stamkos is progressing in his rehab from a knee injury and may be nearing a return to the ice, fellow center Tyler Johnson is no closer to resuming his 2016-17 campaign, according to Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times. As Smith writes, the 26-year-old Johnson hasn’t even begun skating on his own, lessening the likelihood that he will return during the regular season. Johnson, who has struggled to duplicate his breakout performance in 2014-15 when he tallied 72 points, has registered just 19 goals and 44 points in 64 appearances this season. The Lightning have a decision to make as Johnson will be a RFA this summer and will undoubtedly command a sizable raise despite his decreased production the last couple of years.
  • According to Cap Friendly, via Twitter, the NHL has rejected the ELC contract signed yesterday by Swedish defense prospect Emil Johansson with the Boston Bruins due to “an issue with payment structure.” Johansson was Boston’s seventh-round selection in the 2014 entry draft and is having a solid season with Djurgardens of the Swedish League, ranking second among the club’s blue liners in scoring. It’s likely just a minor setback requiring the two sides to restructure the agreement before re-filing it with the league.

Metro Division Notes: Shattenkirk, Provorov, Konecny, Ryan

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Defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk, in the midst of a career season offensively, is poised to become one of, if not the most sought after free agent of the 2017 offseason. We ranked the Capitals blue liner #1 in our mid-season free agent power rankings in January and since moving to Washington from St. Louis at the trade deadline, the 28-year-old has only helped his cause, tallying six assists in 10 games for his new employer. Shattenkirk reportedly rebuffed overtures from three different clubs since the 2016 entry draft who were interested in acquiring the seven year veteran on the condition they could lock him up to a contract extension. With nearly every team in the league looking for skilled, puck-moving defensemen, particularly those that happen to shoot right-handed, there figures to be a robust market for Shattenkirk’s services in July.

Elliotte Friedman, appearing on Toronto’s Sportsnet 590 Friday morning (H/T to Chris Nichols of Fan Rag Sports for the transcription), speculated that one team who may go all-in on Shattenkirk this summer is the New Jersey Devils. The Devils currently rank 28th overall in the NHL in scoring and have just one blue liner, Damon Severson, who has tallied at least 20 points on the season. Clearly they could use a point-producing defender and Shattenkirk will far and away be the top free agent option. Friedman notes that New Jersey will have the cap space ($19.5MM in projected cap space with 17 players under contract for 2017-18 according to Cap Friendly) to essentially outbid any other interested suitor if they so choose.

“I don’t know if Kevin Shattenkirk is going to go there – I still think he wants to be a Ranger. But I could see them throwing a big number at him. They’ve got a lot of cap room. They’ve got a spot for him on their blueline. He’s exactly what they need. It would not surprise me in the least if New Jersey is a team that goes out there and just throws bags of money at him and says, ‘Turn us down.’”

It’s interesting to note that Friedman also believes that Shattenkirk has his sights set on joining the Rangers. The Blue Shirts were among the teams that spoke to the Blues about dealing for the blue liner at the deadline but simply had no desire to meet St. Louis’ high asking price. The thought then was that they were content waiting for the summer when they can add the skilled blue liner without sacrificing any assets to do so. However, given the Rangers heavy, long term commitments to Marc Staal and Dan Girardi, it stands to reason they will have to be creative in fitting a projected Shattenkirk contract under the salary cap. That may mean trading or buying out one of the aforementioned duo.

Elsewhere in the Metro Division:

  • While the Philadelphia Flyers are a likely bet to miss the playoffs this season, the development of Ivan Provorov and Travis Konecny has been a bright spot, as Sam Carchidi of Philly.com writes. Provorov, just 20, has recorded 28 points as a rookie blue liner and has shown the potential to be a top-pair defender for years to come. Konecny, meanwhile, has registered 11 goals with 16 assists and has the elusiveness and creativity the Flyers sorely lack on their roster, according to Carchidi. Flyers GM Ron Hextall wisely avoided the temptation to be a buyer at the trade deadline and instead chose to remain patient with his retooling. The continued development of Provorov and Konecny demonstrate that Hextall’s decision was the correct one.
  • Carolina center Derek Ryan has taken an unusual route to becoming a NHL regular, playing professionally in both Austria and Sweden prior to joining the Hurricanes organization. Ryan, who played for current Hurricane head coach Bill peters for the WHL’s Spokane Chiefs, went undrafted and spent four seasons playing collegiate hockey at the University of Alberta before turning pro. Now the 30-year-old rookie is Carolina’s nominee for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy for perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey, writes Chip Alexander of The News & Observer. Playing on a one-year, two-way contract this season, Ryan has registered 11 goals and 24 points while playing all over the Hurricanes lineup and has likely earned a raise on his $600K salary when he reaches free agency this summer. While he doesn’t qualify as a game-breaking talent, Ryan has proven he belongs in the NHL and is a solid, bottom-six contributor.

West Notes: Vegas, Brodzinski, Janmark

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The Vegas Golden Knights are primed to use every dollar allowed under the salary cap, and they’ll be willing to do so in various different ways. As Dan Marrazza of NHL.com writes, the team will look at examples like last summer’s Pavel Datsyuk deal as ways to use their cap space to gather assets as quickly as possible. Remember, the Arizona Coyotes acquired Datsyuk’s cap-hit that had no salary attached to it, in order to move up in the draft and select Jakob Chychrun 16th overall. Bill Foley, owner of the Golden Knights, explained it this way:

Cap space is valuable, and there will be people willing to give us good assets to take certain contracts, because they have cap issues. There are teams that have cap stress, there re teams that have expansion stress, there are teams that have both. We’re here willing to talk to all these clubs.

Indeed, Vegas would be wise to take a book from the Coyotes asset collection strategies of the past couple of season, but they can go even further. With Foley willing to pay up to the cap, it doesn’t have to be just dead cap-hits that they acquire for assets, but real salary that is hurting teams. That opens up all 30 franchises as potential customers at the Golden Knights cap-space saloon, hoping to clear out some room to go after the big fishes on this year’s market.

  • Jon Rosen of NHL.com tells us that we shouldn’t be surprised if a Jonny Brodzinski call-up is announced tomorrow. The 23-year old winger has been lighting it up at the AHL level where he has 47 points in 56 games this season. Armed with a shot that can score from anywhere in the offensive zone, Brodzinski has been a pure goal-scoring threat at every level without possessing any other standout skill. His ability to be in the right spot at the right time has always followed him, which will now be tested at the NHL level. With the Kings now eight points back of a playoff spot and still struggling to score goals, there isn’t much risk in seeing what Brodzinski can do.
  • The Vancouver Canucks will be without Jayson Megna or Joseph Cramarossa for the rest of their current road trip after both missed practice today. Cramarossa is having trouble walking after blocking a shot in last night’s game, while Megna is dealing with an upper-body injury. The Canucks face off against the St. Louis Blues, Minnesota Wild and Winnipeg Jets before heading home at the end of the month.
  • Mark Stepneski of NHL.com relays that though Mattias Janmark was on the ice at practice today, he won’t play for the rest of the season. The young forward had surgery in September to fix a congenital knee condition that has been affecting him since he was a teenager. After scoring 29 points in his rookie season, the Stars were hoping for a big sophomore performance—one that never even got started. He says he’ll be ready for camp next fall.

Red Wings Notes: Mantha, Howard, Russo

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The Detroit Red Wings are firmly in the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings and losers of four straight games. They’ll look to shake things up tonight when they take on the Chicago Blackhawks for the last time in the Joe Louis Arena. Anthony Mantha is being held out of the lineup according to Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press, and he was extremely frustrated when he first heard the news. After a few hours to settle down though, Mantha is taking it as a learning experience.

Last few games, I haven’t really played the game I wanted. Winning a few battles one-on-one and being more intense in general, I think I can do that. That’s the message he’s sending me right now. I need to prove him wrong and be better the next few games.

Mantha has been a nice bright spot for the Red Wings in this otherwise gloomy season, with 33 points in 50 games and showing at times the immense potential that made him a first-round pick. At just 22-years old, he looks like a building block for the rebuilding Red Wings and a core piece of their top-six for the foreseeable future.

  • Jimmy Howard will be back in net for Detroit for the first time since December 20th as he works his way back to full strength. The former all-star netminder was off to the best start of his career before getting injured and needing almost three months to return. Several setbacks and a team struggling to make an impact in the playoff race let the medical staff and Howard be slow and steady with his return, and he’ll now have at least a handful of games to prove he can still compete at this level. The Wings will almost assuredly shop the goaltender around this summer, looking for a taker for him and his nearly $5.3MM cap-hit for the next two seasons.
  • Despite coming into a tough situation, Robbie Russo is showing that he should be in the plans for next year’s NHL team. The 24-year old defender hasn’t looked out of place on the Red Wings’ blueline, and has had good possession numbers through his first two games. Obviously more of a sample is needed to determine his future with the club, but after racking up points in the AHL the last two seasons he looks ready for the next challenge.
  • The fact that the salary cap is in fact increasing next season will be a big one for the Red Wings, who currently only projected to have about $6MM to spend next year. That wouldn’t go very far after raises to Tomas Tatar and Andreas Athanasiou, not even considering their other restricted free agents. If they can move Howard, and perhaps move out Mike Green for a package of picks or prospects, they could be in fine shape this summer.

Friedman’s Latest: Review Limit, Salary Cap, Concussion Protocol

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In his latest 30 Thoughts column, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet dishes on the latest information coming out of the recent General Manager meetings in Boca Raton. It’s always a great read from one of the most connected men in hockey.

  • While the GMs have decided not to change the offside rule, they are looking at instituting a time limit on reviews to prevent five-plus minute delays to the game. The MLB recently changed their rules around reviews, giving managers just :30 to call for a review and umpires have two minutes to make the final decision. Friedman suggests the NHL would look at something similar. One change that has been agreed upon is the referees will no longer discuss/ explain the call with both coaches after announcing the ruling. That should dramatically cut down on the time delays.
  • The salary cap is expected to increase by several million dollars, potentially as high as around $76MM. That would be a $3MM increase from this season. Of course, that would require the Players Association to use their cap escalator, which increases both the cap and their escrow payments. Friedman cites some anonymous sources as not being sure that the PA would do that, however they usually do approve it in the end. Whether or not the players choose to increase the cap will greatly affect the contracts thrown around in July. It’s also important to remember that last March the cap was expected to be $74MM, but only reached $73MM, so it’s not a sure-thing just yet.
  • There is some concern among play0ff-bound teams that concussion protocols will be abused in the post-season. After Mike Smith was removed from the third period of a game last month, he wondered what is stopping a fourth-liner from running a star goaltender to gain an advantage against a cold goaltender. Friedman doesn’t believe the NHL will make changes to the rule, as it would reflect negatively on them to “move backwards” on concussion awareness; however he does believe this will be something to watch for in the playoffs.
  • Some were surprised at the high price that Ottawa gave up to acquire Alex Burrows at the trade deadline, but Friedman sheds some light on why: there were eight or nine teams who made “legit offers” for Burrows. That’s a lot of interest for a player who was nearly bought out last summer, but also demonstrates the high cost of veterans at the deadline. Ottawa also stepped up to offer Burrows a two-year extension, which tipped the scales in their favor.
  • After his head coach ripped him apart in the media, Friedman believes the Hurricanes will look to move Eddie Lack this summer. Lack had a solid 0.917 SV% during his two seasons in Vancouver, but that number has fallen to 0.898 in Carolina. He has just 15 wins in 45 games as a member of the Hurricanes. Friedman says Lack, a happy-go-lucky person, was initially crushed by Bill Peters’ comments; he doesn’t believe the arrangement will last beyond this season.
  • Finally, after some unnecessary controversy about Islanders rookie Josh Ho-Sang wearing number 66 in honor of Mario Lemieux, Friedman commented that if Wayne Gretzky’s 99 wasn’t retired league-wide, players would “be spearing each other in competition for it.” Number 99 is the only number that’s off-limits on every team, so expect a few-year-long reprieve from rookies wearing their birth year as their number. After Jesse Puljujärvi chose number 98, we likely won’t see any rookies until the 2002-birth year hits the NHL in 2020.

Day Three Decisions From The GM Meetings

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Alex Nylander is making waves. Not in the way you might think, dominating the AHL like his brother did two years ago as a teenager—Alex has just 22 points in 51 games this season for the Rochester Americans—but at the GM Meetings in Boca Raton this week. According to Chris Johnston of Sportsnet, Swedish hockey officials made a presentation to the GMs focused on keeping Sweden’s best prospects at home instead of developing them in the AHL. The Nylander brothers, along with some others, were likely focal points of the discussion as they both came over as teenagers to play in North American professional hockey.

Alex in particular had an interesting journey, playing first in OHL before using a loophole to move him straight into the AHL. Though normally players from the CHL aren’t allowed to “go pro” until their 20th birthday, Nylander had played the entire year with the Mississauga Steelheads on loan from his Swedish club, making him eligible like any other European prospect. Others like Andreas Johnson in Toronto, Adrian Kempe in Los Angeles and Julius Bergman in San Jose (and many more around the league) have come over early after being drafted by NHL clubs and continued their development in minor league hockey here. The NHL obviously has a vested interest in keeping the best prospects on their home turf, while individual teams enjoy having control of their development.

  • The league did agree on one rule change that will be proposed to the competition committee. Under the proposed change, teams would no longer be allowed to call a time out after an icing to give their players a rest. A small change that could have a big impact late in games, it should be expected to go through and be implemented next season. As Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press points out, the AHL already introduced that change this season.
  • The much talked about change to bye-weeks will be put into place next season according to Pierre LeBrun of ESPN. Instead of having each team take their bye-weeks at different times, there will be two set periods that will rest half the teams at a time. Since there will be 31 teams next season, 15 will rest the first week, and 16 the next. Coming out of their breaks, teams will play their first two games against opponents who shared the same rest period.
  • The salary cap will increase slightly next season according to Johnston, sitting at $75.5-76MM depending on the inflator negotiations with the NHLPA this summer. While those extra couple of million may help some teams immensely, it doesn’t represent much revenue growth for either side. Frank Seravalli of TSN notes that because this isn’t a final number, most GMs are still assuming a flat cap and will adjust when the league makes an official announcement.
  • Michael Traikos of Postmedia gives us the quote we were all dreading about NHL participation in the upcoming Olympics. Bill Daly told Traikos “Unless something changes we’re not going. We’ve said that consistently for three months. There’s nothing new about that.” It’s true that they’ve been consistent with it, but not so bluntly as Daly has finally put it. It seems as though there will be a fight between players wanting to go regardless, and their owners needing them during the season. As Traikos notes, Daly doesn’t seem pressured by that impending bat

Standings Showdown: Effects Of The “Loser Point”

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With all 31 general managers getting together in Florida the week for their annual meetings, a handful of topics have come to the forefront of the NHL conversation. Offsides, review and bye-week discussions are all taking place as the GMs break into different groups to discuss the game, but one topic continually has fans talking; what about the shootout, and that nasty little “loser point”?

The NHL has long maintained its need for parity league-wide, keeping smaller markets relevant into the late stages of the season and not allowing the powerhouses to push them out financially. It’s why the salary cap was introduced in the first place, as teams like New York and Toronto would buy up all the good players every year and force the Carolinas and Floridas of the world to feast on the scraps. The idea that almost every team was still in the playoff hunt at the deadline—sorry Colorado—was one the NHL relished even if it did make for a less exciting trading atmosphere. One of the other things many people point to is that “loser point”, which is the one earned if the score is tied at the end of regulation regardless of what happens afterwards.

But is that really forcing parity in the league, or is it something else? Mark Stepneski of NHL.com tweets that it has a lot to do with that salary cap, and he’s probably right. That has a much bigger impact on competitive balance league wide, even if not all teams are spending equally.

Looking at an example, the standings in the Western Conference right now are as follows:

Read more

Will The 2017 Draft Class Be Better Than People Think?

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FanRag Sports’ Hannah Stuart pens an article wondering if the 2017 NHL Draft class is actually not as bad as many think it will be. Coming off two drafts with all-world talents–Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel in 2015 and Auston Matthews and Patrik Laine in 2016–anything less of that type of talent would be considered “worse” by definition. Clouding judgement has been the lack of what many analysts believe to be at least one generational player, and a muddled class after the first seven-eight players in most mock drafts. But is it a fair assessment?

Stuart cites ESPN’s Corey Pronman, who put together his ranking of the prospects and even wrote in his opening paragraph that its one of the weakest drafts in the cap era. He goes as far as to say it’s in the same category of the 2011 and 2012 drafts, which in his opinion, didn’t yield much in the way of top tier talent. Pronman lists Halifax’s Nico Hischier as his top prospect, with Brandon Wheat Kings center Nolan Patrick second and Mississauga’s Owen Tippett third. Pronman does write that it’s essentially a toss-up as to who can be the #1 overall pick in the draft–Hischier or Patrick, and that whoever is taken first will be a benefit to his new team.

Looking at the two drafts that Pronman mentioned, the 2011 did feature a slew of players chosen in the top 10 who have been productive in the NHL. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins went first overall, and while he hasn’t produced in the way that Matthews or McDavid have, many analysts (and fans) blame his development by the Oilers as a culprit for his stunted growth. Other notables in the 2011 draft–by draft order–are Gabriel Landeskog (#2), Jonathan Huberdeau (#3), Adam Larsson (#4), Ryan Strome (#5), Mika Zibanejad (#6), Mark Scheifele (#7) Sean Couturier (#8), Dougie Hamilton (#9), and Jonas Brodin (#10). There are a number of strong players in the ten, and while viewed as a “weaker” draft, it at least paid dividends for those teams that drafted them–or acquired them later via trade.

It thins out from there, but there were certainly notables later in the first round or later in the draft. Brandon Saad was taken in the second round by the Blackhawks and he was clutch for Chicago until they were forced to deal him away due to cap issues.

Mar 10, 2016; Saint Paul, MN, USA; Edmonton Oilers forward <a rel=2012’s draft was somewhat weaker one-through-ten, but saw some return in the middle of the first round, namely with Filip Forsberg being taken 11th by the Capitals. Nail Yakupov was taken first by the Oilers, and he certainly hasn’t been the players the Oilers envisioned–but again, that may go back to development questions. Hampus Lindholm (#6) and Jacob Trouba (#9) are the headliners of a defensive heavy top ten. But a look through the rounds and it’s pretty telling that the 2012 edition was not only weaker than 2011, but possibly one of the weakest in the salary cap era.

Stuart makes an extremely important point about drafting: it’s a crapshoot.

A player can make a bad first impression or be a weak skater and be completely written off by certain scouts. However, maybe that player has an excellent hockey IQ, and a team recognizes that and drafts them in a later round. If the team works with them to fix the deficiencies in their skating, there’s every chance they could develop into an effective NHLer. On the other hand, let’s take what we’ll call the Oilers model. A team might consistently draft high, taking players who show elite skill and throwing those players into the NHL before they’re ready rather than taking time to develop weaknesses in their game.

Stuart continues to argue that since the drumbeat has been steady in saying this draft class will be weak, it’s been all but believed by those on the internet. But as she points out, it isn’t so much the drafting as much as it is the development and scouting staff that every team employs.

Trade Candidates: Radim Vrbata

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With the trade deadline now just days away, we’re wrapping up our profiles of several players whose names are still on the trade block and are likely to be dealt by March 1st.

The Arizona Coyotes are 22-32-7 for 51 points, good enough for last place in the Pacific Division and second from the bottom in the NHL. They are in the bottom five in the league in both goals for and goals against, giving them a 29th-ranked -48 goal differential. The team is in a complete rebuild and has needs at every position. GM John Chayka has already dealt away young defenseman Michael Stone and just last night career-Coyote center Martin Hanzal.

So anyone who notices that the Coyotes’ top scorer is 35 years old and on a one-year, $1MM deal is right to assume that he is also on his way out of town. Radim Vrbata has returned to Arizona with a bang this season, leading a club that has been desperate for goals with a team-high 31 assists and 46 points and is second only to Hanzal with 15 goals and Oliver Ekman-Larsson in power play production. For a guy past his prime who scored only 27 points last season, Vrbata has had an excellent 2016-17 campaign and, like his other productive veteran teammates, has probably earned himself a ticket out of town.

Contract

Vrbata signed a one-year deal with Arizona this summer that carries $1MM base salary. However, there are some tricky bonus features to it, especially for contenders who are tight against the cap. Vrbata can earn an additional $2.25MM in performance bonuses, and in fact has already met several benchmarks. Vrbata is already owed $500K for playing in 30 games and another $500K for scoring more than 40 points. The remaining $1.25MM is tied to postseason performance, which he is guaranteed to miss out on if he remains with the Coyotes but would almost surely cash in on if traded to a contender. If Vrbata is traded, the new team will have to account for the salary cap repercussions beyond his $1MM cap hit – pro-rated to about $225K by Wednesday’s deadline – for the remainder of the year.

2016-17

The myth surrounding Vrbata has always been that he doesn’t perform outside of Arizona. Just a quick look at his career numbers shows that is untrue. Vrbata has had strong seasons, dating all the way back to the beginning of career, in Colorado, Chicago, and most recently Vancouver. However, there is no doubt that he has enjoyed the majority of his best seasons with the Coyotes. After struggling in 2015-16, the second year of a two-year deal with the Canucks, Vrbata returned home to the desert on a one-year deal in search of comeback season. He certainly found it, as his 46 points through 61 games put him on pace to come close to his career-high 63 point total from two years ago. Yet, he’s accomplished this on one of the worst teams in the league. What leaves many teams deep in thought is whether that scoring would continue on a superior team in contention for a title or whether it is a product of the situation and system.

Season Stats

61 GP: 15 goals, 31 assists, 46 points, -14 rating, 186 shots, 17:01 ATOI

Suitors

After their three biggest competitors in the Atlantic Division acquired help today, many have begun to doubt whether the Boston Bruins can hold true to their plan to stand pat at the Trade Deadline and not risk losing picks or prospects for no reason as they did last year. Count the Boston Globe’s Kevin Paul Dupont as one of those proponents, and he believes that Vrbata would be the perfect fit for the Bruins to add another scoring threat, specifically with Ryan Spooner and Frank Vatrano on the team’s third line, now that coach Bruce Cassidy has his more offensive-minded system in place. Despite the high prices right now, Dupont speculates that a second-round selection and another pick or prospect could get the job done. The Bruins are also one of only a few contenders that doesn’t have to worry much about the cap implications of acquiring Vrbata.

However, if the price for Vrbata is what Dupont suggests it may be, teams will worry about Vrbata’s cap hit and outside-Arizona consistency later. As more and more teams make additions, other will grow more interested in one of the top scoring threats on the market. Name a contender, and they will have likely put a call in to Chayka by Wednesday’s deadline, whether it be the Washington Capitals, who could use some more speed; the Pittsburgh Penguins or Columbus Blue Jackets, who both need some depth; the San Jose Sharks, who are still sorting out their top lines; or even the Chicago Blackhawks, who seem to always be in the mix and have history with Vrbata.

Likelihood Of A Trade

After moving on from Hanzal and Stone, both of whom are younger and have spent more time with the organization in recent years, it would be odd if the Coyotes didn’t part ways with Vrbata. Besides, there is nothing stopping them from re-signing him this summer if he wants, and Vrbata seems to be one of the few NHL players, along with teammate Shane Doan, who really enjoy playing in Arizona. Despite their immense depth in prospects, the Coyotes still have needs throughout the lineup and are in no position to hold on to trade-able assets for no reason. This team is still in full rebuild mode and will almost surely take whatever picks and prospects they can get for Vrbata, a fitting end to a rewarding one-year deal in 2016-17.

Steve Yzerman Explains Ben Bishop Trade

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Yesterday a shockwave went through the NHL world when the Tampa Bay Lightning decided to trade pending free agent netminder Ben Bishop to the Los Angeles Kings. Almost no one understood it at the time, as the Kings had just gotten Jonathan Quick back from injured reserve and looked set in net. Lightning GM Steve Yzerman met with the media today and explained a few things about the trade and where his franchise goes from here (video link via TSN).

I did talk to a team in the league about [Bishop] prior to the draft last year, but for whatever reason that didn’t come to fruition.

The biggest reason to make the move now, ultimately is that we’re concerned with the salary cap for next year. With what we have in some performance bonuses for our younger players we felt we’re going to be squeezed next year with the cap. We felt the need to do this right now to give ourselves as much cap space [as possible] for next year.

It’s true, the Lightning do have bonuses that will kick in this season and should they not have the cap room to pay them, would be penalized next season. By trading Bishop they have opened up a good amount in order to not have any carry over to next year, when they’ll have to re-sign Jonathan Drouin, Ondrej Palat and Tyler Johnson among others.

While it had been speculated that as many as five teams could have had interest in Bishop to help them down the stretch and into the playoffs, Yzerman relates that the appetite wasn’t quite so ravenous around the league.

When I decided to get the deal done yesterday, that was the deal that made the most sense and to be honest with you was the only option I had. My options were to make this deal with LA or to sit tight and go through with the season.

If that’s true and there was no interest from anywhere else in the league, then Yzerman did well to clear the cap space and at least receive a prospect in the form of Erik Cernak. While Bishop would have undoubtedly helped the Lightning in their playoff push—one that he assures is still the goal of the team this season—the cost of the bonus penalties on the squad going forward would have been far greater than his impact. In getting Budaj in return, he at least addressed the issue of insurance for a Andrei Vasilevskiy injury should the team make it to the post-season.

Yzerman also spoke about Steven Stamkos and his potential return this year. Stamkos has been out November 15th and has recently begun skating again on his own. Yzerman admits that it’s not a guarantee, but that he’s progressing well. A healthy Stamkos would definitely give the team a boost as they sit just six points out of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

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