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RFA Notes: Leafs, Colborne, Jones

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As the deadline to submit qualifying offers for pending restricted free agents came and went yesterday, information on the Maple Leafs was nowhere to be found. The notoriously tight-lipped Lou Lamoirello still hasn’t given an official update on his RFAs, but reports have started to trickle out. According to Chris Johnston of Sportsnet, the Maple Leafs have qualified Connor Carrick, Garret Sparks, Peter Holland, Josh Leivo, Martin Marincin and Frank Corrado while not qualifying Stuart Percy, Sam Carrick and Colin Smith.

  • According to Darren Dreger of TSN, via Chris Nichols, the Calgary Flames are still confident they’ll sign recently non-qualified center Joe Colborne. After notching 19 goals and 44 points last season, Colborne had a great case for arbitration and was surprising to see among Calgary’s list yesterday. Dreger adds that the new contract will probably fall somewhere between $3.5 and $4MM per season.  Colborne has 100 points in 217 games as a Flame since coming over from the Maple Leafs in 2013.
  • Ken Warren of the Ottawa Citizen tells us that there were no trade offers for Patrick Wiercioch, another non-qualified name coming out of Ottawa yesterday. Wiercioch had played at least 50 games for the Senators for the past three seasons, but saw his point total drop to a career low last season with just five assists.  The 25-year old will now look for a job elsewhere as a left-handed, bottom pairing defenceman.
  • Dreger also gives us a note on pending RFA and offer sheet candidate Seth Jones and his current negotiation with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Though the team is in dire need of cap relief, the team sees him as a top priority going into the summer. Ian Mendes, also of TSN adds an interesting quote from GM Jarmo Kekalainen: “If someone wants to be silly and make it cost more money, we’ll match it.”

Free Agent Focus: Columbus Blue Jackets

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Widely picked as a sleeper team for 2015-16, the Columbus Blue Jackets wound up at the bottom of the Metropolitan Division standings instead.  Now, GM Jarmo Kekalainen must find a way to shuffle up the roster despite most of the team already being under contract for next season.

Key Restricted Free Agent: D Seth Jones – One of the biggest trades of last year involved Jones joining the Blue Jackets in exchange for C Ryan Johansen.  Jones immediately became their top defenseman, logging 24:27 a night and picked up 20 points in just 41 games with the team.

At this point, the Jackets appear to be focused on securing a long-term contract with the former 4th overall pick, reports Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch.  That’s going to be a very pricey proposition as a 6-8 year deal should come in between $6MM – $7MM per season.

While a bridge deal is also a possibility, the odds of that are tempered with the threat of an offer sheet.  Given his stature and Columbus’ cap situation (more on that shortly), Jones may be the prime target for one.  If he signs (or comes close to signing) an offer sheet, it will most likely be a long-term pact.

Other RFA’s: C Michael Chaput, D Scott Harrington, D Michael Paliotta

Key Unrestricted Free Agent: LW Rene Bourque gets the nod by default as he’s the only full time NHL player that’s unrestricted for the Jackets.  He’s coming off another disappointing campaign where he scored just 3 goals and 5 assists in 49 games while being a frequent healthy scratch.  The 34 year old may be hard pressed to find a deal early on in free agency and is a likely candidate for a training camp tryout.

Other UFA: D Justin Falk

Cap Situation: The Blue Jackets already have 12 forwards, 6 defensemen, and 2 goalies under contract for next season and have a little under $5.5 MM in cap space to work with according to Cap Friendly.  Jones’ contract will likely cost more than that on top of potentially adding another player or two to the roster.  Several players from their Calder Cup winning AHL affiliate in Lake Erie are close to being ready and the team would like to make room for some of them to play next season.

Kekalainen will have to try to move a fair bit of salary this offseason, either through buyouts (D Fedor Tyutin or RW Jared Boll are possibilities) or through trade; LW Scott Hartnell has come up in talks this offseason.  That will be their primary offseason focus instead of the free agent market.

What’s Next For The Calder Cup Champions?

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On Saturday night in exciting fashion the Lake Erie Monsters, Columbus’ AHL affiliate, took home the Calder Cup for the first time in their history.  Up three games to none in the series against the Hershey Bears, the teams took a 0-0 tie into overtime before 21-year old Oliver Bjorkstrand iced the game with his playoff-leading tenth goal.  The finals sweep was the first of its kind since the Norfolk Admirals won in 2012, easily triumphing over the Toronto Marlies in four games.

Bjorkstrand took home the playoff MVP award, joining past winners such as Tomas Tatar, Robin Lehner and Carey Price. He’s carving out quite a playoff career thus far, having put up 77 points in 59 games throughout his time in junior to go with his 16 this season.

For head coach Jared Bednar, this not only is his first Calder Cup victory, it’s the first time an AHL team under his purview progressed past the first round.  Now carrying a strong .589 winning percentage through four seasons as an AHL head coach, he’ll surely start to get looks as a NHL boss soon enough.

If he does, he’ll be following in the footsteps of recent Calder Cup champions; Willie Desjardins took the Texas Stars to the Cup in 2014, and was immediately hired on by the Vancouver Canucks.  Jeff Blashill won with the powerhouse Grand Rapids Griffins in 2013, and was the successor in Detroit after Mike Babcock left for Toronto. In 2012, Jon Cooper took the Norfolk Admirals all the way, winning 55 games in the regular season and taking home the championship.  Two seasons later he was behind the bench for Tampa, and has now taken them deep into the Stanley Cup playoffs in consecutive years.

For players like Bjorkstrand, their days on the the Monsters might be numbered.  After being selected in the third round by the Blue Jackets in 2013, Bjorkstrand returned to the WHL and finished an impressive junior career with 118 points in just 59 games, adding 25 more in 17 playoff contests. This season, he scored 17 goals for the Monsters in the regular season, and made a solid debut for the Blue Jackets, putting up 8 points in just 12 games with the big club.  He’ll look to break camp with the team as early as next season.

The other Monster making waves this postseason was 18-year old Zach Werenski, last season’s eighth overall pick.  After completing his season at the University of Michigan, the defenceman signed an amateur try-out with the Monsters, as to preserve his status for any future expansion drafts. His entry-level deal with the Jackets will kick in in 2016-17, keeping him a first year professional for that season.

Werenski played seven games down the stretch for the Monsters, before becoming one of their top performers in the playoffs.  His 14 points ranked him third overall on the Monsters and second among AHL defencemen trailing only Marlies’ standout Connor Carrick.

While Werenski played exceptionally these playoffs for the Monsters, he’ll be hard pressed to crack the roster this fall.  The Blue Jackets have seven defencemen under contract for next season, including young standouts Ryan Murray and Seth Jones.  With a lot of money tied up long-term at forward in players that aren’t providing much value, the Blue Jackets will need to rely on their young pipeline on the back end for the next few years.

Winning the Calder Cup is an outstanding achievement, and for Monsters’ captain Ryan Craig, it’s a long time coming.  Breaking in with Tampa Bay just after their 2004 Stanley Cup run, Craig has bounced up and down for the next decade, never securing a place in the NHL or repeating his strong rookie season of 28 points in 48 games.  Now 34, he’s a champion at the pro-level for the first time in his career.

You can bet teams will be scouring this roster for players as the season draws closer, betting that success in the AHL could lead to success for their big club. It’s a young, talented group, with six players above the age of 29. While Columbus didn’t have much success at the NHL level this season, they possess the third overall pick in this June’s entry draft after moving up in the lottery and may find themselves in a position to deal from a stocked cupboard in order to improve the team this season.

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