The Senators Still Have Work To Do This Summer
Ottawa Senators general manager Steve Staios has publicly stated that he has no intention of letting the team take a step back this summer. A few weeks into the summer, he has chipped away at that notion but has yet to fully build a better lineup. Ottawa is currently a weaker team on paper than they were when it exited the ice after a first-round sweep at the hands of the Carolina Hurricanes. It’s possible that Staios goes on a heater and nets the team a few pieces to add to the NHL lineup, making this summer a success, but at the moment, things don’t look rosy.
The Brady Tkachuk hole in the Senators’ lineup is very difficult to ignore right now. You can’t simply replace his presence, emotion, or production. Tkachuk was a tone-setter for the Senators, their most difficult player to play against, and perhaps the only difficult part of playing in Ottawa, other than the commute to the Canadian Tire Centre. Ottawa did receive solid compensation for the 27-year-old in the form of four draft picks, three of which were first-rounders, but the Senators have not adequately replaced his departure.
The addition of William Eklund is a nice start, but he didn’t come cheap and won’t fill in for much of what Tkachuk brought to the table. It’s possible he has better hockey ahead of him than Tkachuk, when you factor in age and the regression that will surely start sooner for Tkachuk than for Eklund. You could also make a case that Eklund is a more complete player than Tkachuk, and some analytics support that (goals above replacement in the last two seasons, for one). Eklund is probably the better defensive player of the two and is much more of a play driver than Tkachuk, who relies more on brute force and battle to get his work done.
On top of Eklund, the remaining draft picks are also solid long-term additions, but they won’t give Ottawa a boost next season unless they are flipped in the interim for significant NHL talent. That’s where Ottawa will struggle, as they are constrained by the salary cap and probably can’t add another top-six forward, which they need. That player would slide into an offensive role, a leadership role, and perhaps a special-teams role. There is a lot of Tkachuk that hasn’t been replaced, and it’s a significant challenge to replace it piecemeal.
A problem for Ottawa, or perhaps the problem, is that they entered this offseason needing to add depth to their top six, and even with the addition of Eklund, they’re effectively back at square one. It’s unlikely that Ottawa will add to their top two lines this offseason unless they send money out the door at the same time.
There is also the question of what to do with Drake Batherson, who is eligible for an extension and is less than a year away from unrestricted free agency. Batherson has been a terrific offensive producer for the Senators, but given his body of work, it’s not crazy to think he could be a $9MM player going forward. Is that a number Ottawa is comfortable paying for an offensive player who doesn’t necessarily pay attention to the finer details away from the puck? It’s a question that will be answered in time, but even if Ottawa is leaning towards moving him, they simply don’t have the leverage right now because they’ve already had to move Tkachuk, and losing two scoring wingers would be trouble for a team, especially when Batherson just had a career year.
One positive for Ottawa is that they brought back veteran Claude Giroux, who should provide leadership, stability, and, most importantly, depth for the Senators. The delicate balance of the Senators’ forward group means that one or two injuries could expose a massive problem with the team’s depth up front. Ottawa isn’t exactly rich with forward prospects, but they wisely tapped into the forward free agency market and signed some tweeners who should be good AHL players and decent call-ups if the Senators find themselves in injury trouble. Philip Tomasino and Sammy Blais are the likely players to get those call-ups, and while they aren’t exactly impact players at this stage of their careers, they can provide reasonable NHL minutes for a low cost. Tomasino has shown glimpses in the past of being on the verge of a breakout, but he has never been able to put it together on a long-term basis.
Overall, the Senators haven’t taken a major step back this summer, but they haven’t exactly improved either, which, in a way, is admirable given that they had to move on from their captain earlier than they’d hoped. At the same time, Ottawa can ill afford to sit around and hope that internal improvements will lead to them taking their next steps. Ottawa has some good young players, but make no mistake, the time to compete for Stanley Cups is now, and the Senators don’t feel like a club that is ready to do that. Some folks might look at their lineup and the salary structure and say they have plenty of runway to win a cup in this competitive window. However, these are the Ottawa Senators, and they do have a history of losing star players earlier than they’d like, so there are no guarantees that everybody sticks around to see their whole run through.
Vancouver Canucks Sign Samuel Blais To PTO
Forward Sammy Blais will look to play for the third NHL team of his career as the Vancouver Canucks announced he has signed a contract with their AHL affiliate, the Abbotsford Canucks, as well as a professional tryout agreement with Vancouver. The one-time Stanley Cup champion bottom-six forward will have a chance to crack the Canucks’ opening night roster in training camp or land a two-way deal to start the regular season.
The physical forward recently wrapped up his second stint with the St. Louis Blues after being re-acquired from the New York Rangers in a 2023 trade that sent Vladimir Tarasenko to the Big Apple. The Rangers acquired Blais for another Russian forward in the 2021 trade that landed Pavel Buchnevich with the Blues.
Blais cracked the Blues’ roster four years after being drafted by the team in the sixth round of the 2014 NHL Draft and he immediately became a force to be reckoned with in the team’s bottom six. He quickly became one of the more physical players on the team by collecting 366 hits in 119 games during his first run in St. Louis. Aside from scoring 17 goals and 35 points in total, Blais helped the Blues secure their first Stanley Cup championship during the 2019 playoffs by collecting one goal and three points in 15 postseason contests.
He never got much opportunity with the Rangers organization as injuries limited him to only 14 regular season contests. New York re-signed Blais to a one-year, $1.53MM deal for the 2022-23 NHL season but only gave him 9:38 of ice time during the regular season which made him expendable at the trade deadline. Heading back to St. Louis, Blais experienced his best stretch of hockey at the NHL level as he scored nine goals and 20 points in 31 games to end the season.
His play at the end of the 2022-23 campaign earned him a one-year, $1MM extension with the Blues organization but he was unable to score at the same rate. He finished last year with one goal and seven points in 53 games and will now look to force his way into a crowded Canucks forward core.
KHL Notes: Blais, Barabanov, Miftakhov
With NHL interest not being to his liking, it appears as if free agent winger Sammy Blais is considering options in the KHL, according to Metaratings’ Dmitry Levin. The 28-year-old had a breakout showing in 2022-23, notching 25 points in 71 games, the bulk of which came after being reacquired by St. Louis; he had 20 points in 31 contests down the stretch that year. However, Blais wasn’t able to carry over that success into last season as injuries and ineffectiveness limited him to just 53 games where he had only one goal and six assists along with 194 hits in 9:41 of action. From a longer-term standpoint, the idea of Blais going overseas where he can play a bigger role and work on his offensive game makes some sense in the hopes of trying to get back to North America with a better market than he appears to have now.
Other KHL news:
- Earlier this week, UFA winger Alexander Barabanov signed a two-year deal with Ak Bars Kazan but it wasn’t for a lack of NHL interest. His agent Yuri Nikolaev told AllHockey.ru that he had NHL options on the table but that they didn’t suit him. Speculatively, that’s likely to mean that teams were coming in with low-cost offers (or even tryout agreements) following a rough year that saw him record just four goals and nine assists in 46 games with San Jose, well below the 47 points in 68 games he put up in 2022-23.
- Former Tampa Bay goalie prospect Amir Miftakhov wasn’t a fan of playing in the AHL early in his career, which eventually led to a mutual contract termination. However, he might be open to a change of heart, telling AllHockey.ru that he would be ready to play in the AHL moving forward. The 24-year-old was limited to just nine KHL appearances last season but has a 2.20 GAA and a .919 SV% over five years at that level. He’s under contract with Ak Bars Kazan through the upcoming season but if he’s still willing to go to the AHL when free agency opens up, he’ll likely garner some NHL interest at that time.
St. Louis Blues Extend Sammy Blais
After re-acquiring Sammy Blais earlier this year, the St. Louis Blues have already reached a contract extension with him. The team announced a one-year, $1MM deal for the 2023-24 season.
While he never fit with the New York Rangers, Blais, and the Blues have always been a perfect match. One of the most physical forwards in the NHL, his return to St. Louis has gone exactly as expected, with 34 hits in just nine games. The fact that he’s chipped in two goals after failing to score a single one through 49 games in New York is just even more evidence that he belonged in St. Louis the whole time.
A one-year deal for less money than he is currently making was likely always going to be the outcome after his ACL injury and disappointing campaign, and the Blues will give him a chance to bounce back next season.
While he’ll never be a top-line contributor, head coach Craig Berube is adamant about getting back to the hard-working, lunchpail style that brought the Blues so much success in the past.
Rangers Recall Sammy Blais
It’s not too often we see transactions during All-Star weekend but the Rangers made a roster move today. They brought back winger Sammy Blais from his conditioning loan, per the AHL’s transactions log.
It was a successful stint with AHL Hartford for the 26-year-old. He had a two-goal effort last night against Utica and wound up with four goals in five games in his first minor league action since the 2018-19 season. Unfortunately for both Blais and New York, that’s basically the only success that he has had this season as things simply haven’t gone well at the NHL level. He has just five assists in 38 games on the fourth line which is hardly what they were expecting from him when they acquired him from St. Louis as part of the Pavel Buchnevich trade in 2021. He actually hasn’t scored for the Rangers since being acquired as he missed most of last season with a knee injury.
Blais is in the final year of his contract which carries a $1.525MM cap hit; he will be eligible for unrestricted free agency for the first time this summer. At this point, a return to New York seems unlikely and he’s a candidate to be moved at the trade deadline as a salary offset if GM Chris Drury is able to make a big splash on the trade front. With his time in the minors going well, it’ll be interesting to see if Blais will be back in the lineup when their schedule resumes on Monday against Calgary in an effort to try to boost his value heading into next month’s trade deadline.
Sammy Blais Returns To New York Rangers Lineup
New York Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant said today that forward Sammy Blais will be in the lineup tonight when the Rangers host the Anaheim Ducks. It will be Blais’ first NHL game since suffering a torn ACL on November 14, 2021.
Gallant also said that forward Vitali Kravtsov is close to returning from his upper-body injury suffered in the season opener. He skated with the team but hasn’t yet been cleared to return, according to Gallant. Ryan Carpenter, also out with an upper-body injury, skated today but remains out against the Ducks and is day-to-day.
Blais is expected to skate on a line with Jimmy Vesey and Filip Chytil in his return.
Acquired from the St. Louis Blues in exchange for Pavel Buchnevich, Blais did have just four assists in 14 games last season before going down with the injury. His hard-nosed, responsible style quickly endeared him to Rangers fans, though, and he’ll be a welcome sight in the lineup.
Minor Transactions: 08/16/22
We’re into the second half of August and things will start to pick up again in the next few weeks. Vacations are ending, players are arriving in cities to start informal workouts, and training camp is right around the corner. As always, we’ll be keeping track of the minor moves that are made to tweak rosters throughout the offseason.
- The Boston Bruins have signed J.D. Greenway to a professional tryout according to CapFriendly, after he split last season between the Providence Bruins and Maine Mariners. He was already signed to an AHL deal for this year but will now get to attend training camp with the rest of the NHL squad. The 24-year-old, 6’6″ defenseman is the younger brother of Minnesota Wild forward Jordan Greenway and was originally selected by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2016 third round.
- The New York Rangers have officially activated Sammy Blais from injured reserve, nine months after he was placed on it. That suggests he’s healthy enough to start the year after missing nearly the entire season with a torn ACL. Blais was signed to a one-year, $1.525MM contract in June that will leave him an unrestricted free agent next summer.
- The Dallas Stars have signed defenseman Michael Karow to a one-year AHL deal. He turned pro back in March after a five-year college career but it wasn’t with the team that drafted him (Arizona) as Dallas gave him a tryout deal at that time, playing him in 13 games down the stretch. Karow became a free agent earlier this week when the August 15th signing deadline came and went, paving the way for him to return to Texas.
- Although he signed an AHL deal with the Carolina Hurricanes last month, Scott Wilson is off to the KHL as Vityaz announced they’ve signed the winger to a one-year contract. The 30-year-old had 40 points in 71 games with the Checkers last season and is a veteran of 193 career NHL games between Pittsburgh, Detroit, and Buffalo.
This page will be updated throughout the day.
New York Rangers Extend Sammy Blais
While the Montreal Canadiens and Vegas Golden Knights make major trades, the New York Rangers have been content to spend their early offseason getting some smaller business done first. A few days ago, the Rangers signed prospect Vitali Kravtsov to a one-year extension, and now they have reached another one-year extension with one of their players. Per CapFriendly, the Rangers have signed forward Sammy Blais, who was a pending restricted free agent, to a one-year, $1.525MM extension. The deal comes in just below what Blais’ qualifying offer was set to be.
Blais, 25, receives his next contract at a lower mark than his qualifying offer, likely because he only got into 14 games this season. After being acquired from the St. Louis Blues as part of the Pavel Buchnevich trade, Blais entered the Rangers lineup and played with his trademark physical, crash-and-bang style. The six-foot-two, 210-pound winger registered four assists on almost 13 minutes of ice time per game before going down with a torn ACL, an injury that ended his season. Blais hasn’t been able to cement himself as a true NHL regular, although his injuries have definitely played a role in that. With this one-year deal, Blais gets an opportunity to finally prove he is an everyday player on a strong Rangers team.
This extension makes Blais a pending unrestricted free agent entering next year, heightening the importance of next season for the player. For the team, getting Blais at a number just below his qualifying offer is a nice early step in the Rangers’ offseason. With major contracts for Mika Zibanejad and Adam Fox set to kick in, there will be some belt-tightening this offseason in New York. The Rangers have several crucial players set to hit either unrestricted or restricted free agency, including Ryan Strome, Andrew Copp, and Kaapo Kakko. Getting as much certainty on free agents lower on New York’s depth chart, like Blais and Kravtsov, should help GM Chris Drury enter the more high-stakes summer negotiations with a clearer sense of his team’s cap position.
Metropolitan Notes: Bratt, Blais, Drozg
The Devils have started discussions on a new contract for pending RFA Jesper Bratt, the winger told Ryan Novozinsky of the Star-Ledger (Twitter link). Bratt added that talks haven’t progressed yet to the point of talking salary so it’s clear that a deal certainly isn’t imminent. The 23-year-old is coming off a career year that saw him lead New Jersey in scoring with 26 goals and 47 assists in 76 games, more than doubling his previous career-high of 35 points set in his rookie year. Bratt is arbitration-eligible and two years away from UFA eligibility and both sides have expressed a desire to get a long-term contract in place. But with the year he just had, that type of deal would command a price tag of more than double the $2.75MM AAV he had on his bridge contract. Arbitration hearings aren’t likely to start until early August so there is still plenty of time to get an agreement in place.
More from the Metropolitan:
- While Rangers forward Sammy Blais has resumed skating, Newsday’s Colin Stephenson relays that he will not be available for the sixth game of their series tonight in Tampa Bay. The 25-year-old tore his ACL back in November and would be a welcome addition to New York’s bottom six but he hasn’t received the green light to return just yet. The 25-year-old had four assists and 37 hits in 14 regular season contests.
- Penguins prospect Jan Drozg is highly unlikely to be tendered a qualifying offer this summer, notes Seth Rorabaugh of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The 23-year-old had ten points in 23 games with AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton this season before requesting to be loaned to another AHL team in the hopes of getting more playing time. While he got his wish and was sent to Grand Rapids, he struggled mightily with them down the stretch. Rather than bring him back, it would make more sense that Pittsburgh opts to let Drozg go where he’ll likely look to head back overseas.
Sammy Blais Receives Two-Game Suspension
The verdict is in and the first suspension of the regular season has been handed down as the Department of Player Safety announced (video link) that Blues winger Sammy Blais has received a two-game suspension for his illegal check to the head on Colorado defenseman Devon Toews on Wednesday night.
The play occurred early in the first period with Blais being assessed a minor penalty for elbowing at the time. Toews did leave the game briefly but returned and wound up logging 22:17, second on the team behind Cale Makar.
Blais will forfeit just shy of $26K in salary which will go to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund. As he’s not a repeat offender, the denominator in the equation to calculate the forfeited pay is the number of days in the season instead of the number of games. Blais has an AAV of $1.5MM and 2/1116th of that is his fine. He will miss the rematch against the Avs on Friday as well as the first of two games against San Jose and will be eligible to return to the lineup on Wednesday.