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Tim Stuetzle

Senators Notes: Tkachuk, World Championships, Stutzle

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Senators winger Brady Tkachuk is by far Ottawa’s most prominent restricted free agent heading into the summer.  He leads the team in scoring with 34 points in 50 games and is second in the league in hits with 215, making him a core piece of their puzzle as they expected when they selected him fourth overall in 2018.  Postmedia’s Ken Warren examines some of the comparable contracts around the league in terms of impact RFAs coming off of their entry-level deals and notes that the deal his brother Matthew signed with Calgary (three years, $21MM) may be one of the more interesting comparisons out there both in terms of their style of play and comparable production (after factoring in extrapolations for the last two shortened seasons).  Ottawa has shown that they’re willing to give a max-term deal as they did for defenseman Thomas Chabot but the cap climate has changed since then.  Regardless of which way they go, Tkachuk is in for a significant increase on his $925K base salary (which includes his signing bonus for the season).

More from Ottawa:

  • Center Josh Norris has been in talks with Team USA about joining their entry for the upcoming World Championships, reports Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch. The rookie has had a nice season, picking up 32 points in 50 games and certainly appeared to be a part of their burgeoning young core.  The official invite hasn’t come yet with the Sens still technically mathematically alive in the playoff picture although that could change as soon as tonight when they take on Montreal.  Meanwhile, Garrioch notes that Tkachuk’s RFA status will likely keep him away from participating.
  • With Norris and Shane Pinto both showing promise down the middle, Sportsnet’s Wayne Scanlan suggests that Ottawa is unlikely to shift Tim Stuetzle back to center to finish this year or to start next season. While the 19-year-old would be more valuable as a middleman, he’s also one of the youngest players in the league and staying on the wing where the responsibilities are a little lighter makes a lot of sense at this point of his career.

Morning Notes: Toews, Mehta, Stuetzle

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The Chicago Blackhawks will already miss Kirby Dach for a good chunk (if not all) of the season and might be without their captain as well. Jonathan Toews will miss training camp and the start of the season due to an illness according to Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic and Darren Dreger of TSN, with an official statement from the team expected at some point today.

The Blackhawks are off to a horrible start to the upcoming season if Toews is held out for any serious length of time and it leaves them scrambling for center depth. Dylan Strome, the likely candidate to step into the top-line role, isn’t even signed yet and remains a restricted free agent with just a few days until camp starts. Hopefully, Toews can return before long.

  • The Florida Panthers have hired Sunny Mehta as Vice President of Hockey Strategy & Intelligence, bringing in one of the forefathers of hockey analytics. Mehta was one of the first real leaders in the analytics space, serving as Director of Hockey Analytics for the New Jersey Devils from 2014-2018. An interesting resume also includes time as a professional poker player and consultant for several MLB organizations.
  • Though it shouldn’t come into play this season, the entry-level contract for Tim Stuetzle does include a European Assignment Clause that could send him back to Mannheim in Germany if he doesn’t crack the Ottawa Senators roster. Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia reports that the DEL squad asked for it to be included and waited to make sure the NHL would actually play before releasing the young forward. Stuetzle, who is logging huge minutes for the shorthanded German team at the World Juniors, is expected to step directly onto the NHL roster when the tournament concludes.

Moritz Seider Not Released For WJC

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The German roster for the upcoming World Junior Championship has been announced, and it includes top prospect Tim Stuetzle. The Ottawa Senators pick is still recovering from hand surgery but is hopeful to recover in time to take part in the tournament. Notably, however, Stuetzle won’t be joined by countryman and Detroit Red Wings prospect Moritz Seider. Selected sixth overall in 2019, Seider would have arguably been the team’s most important player after captaining the German squad a year ago. The Red Wings have decided to not release him to the German team, however, instead keeping him in Sweden playing for Rogle and available to return to Detroit for NHL training camp.

Seider, 19, is one of the top defense prospects in the entire world. Even at the age of 18, he found success in the AHL, scoring 22 points in 49 games for the Grand Rapids Griffins. He now has seven points in eight games in the SHL and could potentially make the Red Wings roster as soon as this season. The 6’4″ right-handed shot defenseman can do a little bit of everything and is one of several high-end prospects that will be arriving to help Detroit in the next few years.

Without him, it will certainly be difficult for the Germans. The team does however still have Stuetzle, Lukas Reichel, and John Peterka, all high picks in this year’s draft, meaning they’ll at least have some interesting offensive firepower to watch. One player who will likely benefit from the absence of Seider is Luca Munzenberger, the 17-year-old defenseman that was named to the squad. Munzenberger doesn’t turn 18 until later this month and is eligible for selection in the 2021 draft.

East Notes: Ovechkin, Bruins Injuries, Kravtsov, Stuetzle

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While we know that Capitals winger Alex Ovechkin will eventually re-sign with Washington, that won’t happen for a while yet.  NBC Sports Washington’s J.J. Regan relays that GM Brian MacLellan has tabled extension talks until the start of training camp, whenever that may be.  The 35-year-old will be entering the final season of his 13-year, $124MM contract and while his prime years may have passed, he still should be a dynamic goal scorer in the NHL for several years to come.  Ovechkin plans to represent himself in discussions with MacLellan, similar to what teammate Nicklas Backstrom did in his contract talks last season, one that led to a five-year, $46MM deal.

More from the Eastern Conference:

  • Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy told reporters, including NHL.com’s Amalie Benjamin, that both Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak are on track in their recoveries from mid-September surgeries. Marchand had sports hernia surgery that carried a four-month recovery timeline while Pastrnak was set to miss five months after hip and shoulder procedures.  Depending on when next season starts, Marchand may not miss too much time but Pastrnak is set to miss a decent chunk of the year.
  • While Rangers prospect Vitali Kravtsov is off to a good start in the KHL and can be recalled from his loan at any time, Larry Brooks of the New York Post reports that the current plan is to keep the winger with Traktor Chelyabinsk for their entire season. The 20-year-old has eight goals in 18 games so far this season after managing just three points in 11 KHL contests a year ago.  If he continues to do well, he’d be an interesting midseason addition in New York or a big upgrade for AHL Hartford.
  • Senators top pick Tim Stuetzle is on schedule in his recovery from surgery to repair a broken bone in his hand, Mannheim GM Jan-Axel Alavaara told Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch. The 18-year-old was set to return to Mannheim of the DEL this season but that start was delayed by the pandemic before even considering his injury.  As things stand, the hope is that Stuetzle will be available for the World Juniors although if NHL training camps are ongoing at that time, he may be needed in Ottawa.

Sharks’ Lean Bergmann, Canucks’ Marc Michaelis Loaned To Adler Mannheim

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Germany’s DEL is becoming a hot spot for NHL players and prospects on loan. The latest additions belong to Adler Mannheim. The club has announced that they negotiated loans with two different NHL teams in order to upgrade their forward corps. The San Jose Sharks’ Lean Bergmann and the Vancouver Canucks’ Marc Michaelis have joined the team and will take part in the upcoming MagentaSport Cup, as well as the beginning of the DEL season until such time that the NHL opens training camps.

Bergmann, 22, is actually following through on a previous commitment to Mannheim, at least to some extent, by playing with the club on loan. The German forward, who played his developmental hockey in Sweden and the U.S., returned home in 2018-19 and had a strong first season in the DEL with the Iserlohn Roosters. Mannheim took notice and signed Bermann to a two-year deal in the off-season. However, they weren’t the only team recruiting the talented young forward. Bergmann wound up signing an entry-level contract with San Jose just months after signing with Mannheim and moved to the NHL immediately, having played just a pair of Champions League games with the team. He played in 12 games with the Sharks his season and impressed in 31 games with the AHL Barracuda. Now, Mannheim will finally get to see what he can do in their uniform one year later.

Michaelis, 25, expected to make his pro debut with Vancouver or more likely with the AHL’s Utica Comets, but instead will do so with his hometown team. The Mannheim native, who played much of his developmental hockey in Germany, was a highly sought-after college free agent out of Minnesota State University following four years scoring at better than a point-per-game pace on one of the NCAA’s top teams. He inked a one-year entry-level deal back in March, expecting to get some pro action well before now, but will finally take the ice back home.

Mannheim is one of the top teams in the DEL, but Bergmann and Michaelis will undoubtedly be two of their best players while the pair remain on loan. One exciting prospect is that the duo could form a top line with recent No. 3 overall pick Tim Stuetzle of the Ottawa Senators. Stuetzle suffered an injury while training with the team last month and is likely sidelined through the MagentaSport Cup, but could return in time to suit up alongside Bergmann and Michaelis in the regular season. All three players can play center or wing, providing the versatility to all play together in Mannheim opts to stack their top line.

Tim Stuetzle To Undergo Surgery

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Just a few days after being selected third overall in the NHL Entry Draft, Tim Stuetzle has received some bad news. The Ottawa Senators prospect will require arm surgery and will be out for six to eight weeks, his DEL team announced. Stuetzle suffered a broken bone in his arm during practice on Monday according to Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia. Senators GM Pierre Dorion released this statement once the news broke:

In consultation with doctors in Germany and with our own medical staff, it has been determined that Tim requires a surgical procedure to stabilize a fracture. The procedure is scheduled to take place in Germany later this week and has an expected recovery time of six to eight weeks. Our medical staff will remain in regular contact with Tim and his doctors as he begins his recovery through to the point that he is medically cleared.

Stuetzle, 18, is one of the players from the recent draft that is expected to challenge for an NHL roster spot immediately, though he was already training with professionals in Germany. He played 41 games for Mannheim last season, scoring 34 points.

Even if the recovery takes more than eight weeks, the Senators have time to make sure Stuetzle is at full strength before bringing him to North America. His DEL team explained to Garrioch that they will be working with Ottawa through the process, which should be complete long before the NHL training camp gets underway. Stuetzle goes under the knife on Wednesday and will face the first big challenge of his pro career.

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