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Tyler Ennis

Atlantic Notes: Dzingel, Hudon, Ennis

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While Mark Stone and Matt Duchene have garnered the majority of the attention among Ottawa’s pending unrestricted free agents, Ryan Dzingel’s situation is certainly worth monitoring as well.  The 26-year-old is in the midst of a career year and already has 20 goals and 21 assists on the season in 53 games.  His future with the team appears to be dependent on what happens with Stone and Duchene but as Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch notes, the asking price appears to be quite high, coming in between $5.5MM and $6MM on a long-term deal.  Even though Dzingel has a chance to reach 30 goals this season, that price tag may very well be too rich for the Senators which should increase his odds of being dealt by the February 25th trade deadline.

More from the Atlantic:

  • Canadiens winger Charles Hudon was expected to play on Saturday night but was a late scratch which fueled some trade speculation. To that end, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman notes (video link) that Montreal has been looking for a mid-round pick for the 24-year-old.  Last season, Hudon put up a respectable 30 points in 72 games but has had difficulties staying in the lineup in 2018-19 and has been quiet when he has played as he has just three goals and two assists in 30 contests this season.  He’s earning the league minimum salary of $650K this season and will be eligible for salary arbitration in the summer.
  • The Maple Leafs announced (Twitter link) that they have activated winger Tyler Ennis off of injured reserve. He has been out since late December after sustaining a broken ankle.  The 29-year-old had gotten off to a decent start with Toronto with 11 points in 33 games before the injury while holding his own on the top line at times.  No corresponding roster move needed to be made as they had an open roster spot after waiving and demoting Martin Marincin last weekend.

Atlantic Notes: Buffalo Trade Options, Point, Ennis, Jaros

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With a desperation for scoring wingers, The Athletic’s Jon Vogl (subscription required) writes that the Buffalo Sabres need to consider moving some of its depth on defense if it wants to add some secondary scoring to its ranks. The team is in desperate need at the right wing position, both now and in the near future, and there is little help on the way from Rochester. The Americans top two right wingers are Daniel O’Regan, who is expected to become a Group VI unrestricted free agent this offseason due to not playing enough games at the NHL level, while the team’s first-line right winger, Wayne Simpson, is on a minor-league deal.

Vogl writes the team is overloaded with defenseman with more help on the way as the team has Brendan Guhle, Brandon Hickey and Will Borgen are performing well in Rochester. With that kind of depth, the team should consider moving a depth defenseman like Nathan Beaulieu, Marco Scandella, Matt Hunwick or even Jake McCabe as trade options to get a winger. He suggests that Dallas, Detroit, New Jersey, St. Louis and Winnipeg as potential trade partners before the deadline.

  • Despite missing Saturday’s game with a lower-body injury and being listed day-to-day, Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper said after the game that Brayden Point was held out as a precaution because it was the second game of a back-to-back set and the team has a day off today, according to NHL.com’s Dan Rosen. Cooper added that he believes Point should be OK and is likely to play against Vegas on Tuesday.
  • NHL.com’s Dave McCarthy reports the Toronto Maple Leafs got some good news as forward Tyler Ennis, who has been out of the lineup since Dec. 22 with a broken ankle, skated Saturday and is coming closer to a potential return, although head coach Mike Babcock was quick to point out that there is no timeline for his return. “I don’t know exactly the timeline on that,” Babcock said. “I know he skated real well today in his testing. They always tell you, ’I’m ready, I’m ready’ but that doesn’t mean they get a get-out-jail free card yet.”
  • Ottawa Citizen’s Ken Warren reports the Ottawa Senators offered no new information on the injury suffered by defenseman Christian Jaros when he was tripped into the boards Saturday by Detroit’s Darren Helm. He remains day-to-day. Jaros has been averaging 13:48 of ATOI, but has seen an increase of ice time recently, even getting some top-four minutes.

 

Minor Transactions: 12/31/18

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On the last day of 2018, 26 of the league’s 31 teams will be in action. The day starts with an epic matchup between the Nashville Predators and Washington Capitals, and ends with a pair of Western Conference battles that could have a big impact on the playoffs. While teams prepare for 2019, we’ll keep track of all the minor moves they make today.

  • The Columbus Blue Jackets have recalled Eric Robinson from the minor leagues, after a great start from the former Princeton University standout. Signed last spring as an undrafted college free agent, Robinson played in one game down the stretch for the Blue Jackets but was held scoreless. That hasn’t been the case very often in the minor leagues, where the 23-year old forward has recorded 19 points in 33 games and is tied for second on the team in goals with 10.
  • C.J. Smith is on his way up to the Buffalo Sabres, recalled from the AHL today. Smith has followed up an outstanding first professional season with 29 points in 33 games this year, and is tied with Victor Olofsson for the Rochester Americans scoring lead. The 24-year old has two NHL games under his belt, but is still waiting to score his first goal at the highest level.
  • The Washington Capitals are preparing for the return of Brooks Orpik by assigning Tyler Lewington to the AHL’s Hershey Bears, his NHL stint over for now. Lewington played two games for the Capitals and actually recorded two points, also getting into a fight to kick off his NHL career.
  • Nicholas Baptiste is on his way up to the Nashville Predators, the first time he’ll be part of an NHL locker room that doesn’t belong to the Buffalo Sabres. Baptiste, 23, has 14 points with the Milwaukee Admirals this season after being acquired from the Sabres in early October.
  • While they deal with a lengthy injury to Dustin Byfuglien, the Winnipeg Jets will rely on their defensive depth to keep them afloat in the Central Division. Relying on that depth means Sami Niku is headed back to the NHL, where he could see some additional playing time. Niku played in five games earlier this season for the Jets but is still looking for his first point of the year.
  • The Toronto Maple Leafs have recalled Trevor Moore under emergency conditions once again, and the young forward will continue to fill in for the injured Zach Hyman and Tyler Ennis. Moore has two points in his first three NHL games and has injected some more speed into the Maple Leafs’ fourth line.
  • Egor Yakovlev has played 11 games with the New Jersey Devils this season, but for now he is heading back to the minor leagues. The team sent Yakovlev down before their afternoon tilt against the Vancouver Canucks.
  • The Ottawa Senators have officially placed Christian Jaros on injured reserve, according to CapFriendly. Jaros broke his finger while in a fight with Islanders’ Ross Johnston Friday and will be out for a month. The team already placed Thomas Chabot on IR further weakening the team’s defense.
  • He’s already playing, but before the game today, the New York Rangers activated defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk, according to CapFriendly. The 29-year-old was expected to miss two to four weeks with a separated shoulder, but has returned closer to the two-week mark. The veteran has struggled with injuries since signing with New York in the summer of 2017. Shattenkirk has appeared in 29 games this season, but has clashed at times with new head coach David Quinn, and is playing a career-low 18:23 of ATOI this season. He will attempt to boost those numbers again now that he’s healthy.
  • The Minnesota Wild announced they have assigned veteran defenseman Matt Bartkowski to the Iowa Wild of the AHL after their 3-2 loss to Pittsburgh today. That could suggest that defenseman Nick Seeler will be ready to return to the team for Thursday’s game at Toronto. Bartkowski played in two games filling in, scoring a goal Saturday.

Snapshots: Orpik, Ennis, Bruins-Flames

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While the irony of the situation was clear all along, the assumption was that there was no issue with the Washington Capitals’ trade of Brooks Orpik to Colorado earlier this off-season, the Avalanche’s subsequent buyout of Orpik’s contract, and then the veteran defenseman re-signing with the Caps. However, GM Brian MacLellan told The Associated Press’ Stephen Whyno that the team actually underwent a thorough investigation from the NHL. The league questioned Washington executives about the team’s trade and later signing of Orpik to a lesser salary than the one bought out. It is illegal for a team to re-sign any player they themselves initially bought out, but Orpik was bought out by Colorado. As such, the investigation did not uncover any conspiracy; the league found that the Capitals conducted themselves “above board”, as MacLellan put it. He stated that there would be no further repercussions from what seems to just be an honest coincidence. Whyno reached out to NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly, who confirmed that the Capitals were cleared of any alleged wrongdoing. The Capitals are now set to save significant cap space on the same services. Had they held on to Orpik this summer, he would be making $5.5MM against the cap. Instead, they were able to sign him to a $1MM deal with incentives that is much kinder to their salary cap crunch. It’s fair to be skeptical of that circumvention, but MacLellan affirms that the team “did everything by the book”, making it simply shrewd business management on their part.

  • One player who wasn’t as fortunate as Orpik following his buyout is forward Tyler Ennis. After injuries forced Ennis out of Buffalo last summer, with the Sabres trading him to the Wild, Minnesota also couldn’t get the former rising star going and bought out the remainder of his contract earlier this summer. Ennis’ value has plummeted so far over the past three seasons that it completely overshadowed the fact that he recorded 212 points in 345 games in the five seasons prior. Ennis could only manage to land a one-year deal worth the minimum salary, a $650K pact with the Toronto Maple Leafs, and that only came after a series of meetings with GM Kyle Dubas in which he had to sell himself to the young Toronto executive. Yet, TSN’s Kristen Shilton writes that this has done nothing but motivate Ennis. Speaking with determined veteran at the start of Leafs training camp, Ennis said “Absolutely, I have something to prove. There are a lot of people that doubt me, there are a lot of people that have written me off and I’m just here to show them I have a lot left to give… My goal is to show people that I can play, that I have a lot of talent still and I’m ready to work.” With William Nylander still unsigned and not in camp, Ennis has had the good fortune of filling his spot on a line with Matthews and Patrick Marleau thus far in camp, which is a good way for him to impress the Maple Leafs’ brass. Shilton notes that he has already impressed teammates and coaches alike thus far and could be well on his way to a key role in Toronto this season. It would be quite the rebound story for a player who is correct in his opinion that many people have counted him out, but those same people could soon be forced to change their minds.
  • Believe it or not, the NHL preseason kicks off in just over six hours. The Boston Bruins and Calgary Flames are set to square off in Shenzen, China at the Universiade Sports Center in the first of two match-ups of the 2018 O.R.G. NHL China Games. Despite the odd timing for fans in North America, both the NHL Network and Sportsnet will air the contest, which begins at 2:30 AM Boston time and 12:30 AM Calgary time. For those staying up for the first game of the 2018-19 season, both the Bruins and Flames have released their split squad rosters who have made the trip and will compete in the series. Tonight’s game marks the beginning of Boston’s evaluation of several young forwards fighting for a top-six right wing spot and third-line center spot, while Calgary must determine both who their primary backup goaltender and how the bottom-six will work out.

Toronto Maple Leafs Sign Tyler Ennis

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Tyler Ennis was recently bought out by the Minnesota Wild, but has now found another home. The Toronto Maple Leafs announced a one-year $650K contract for the diminutive veteran, bringing him in to add some depth to the bottom-half of their lineup.

Ennis, 28, was once an extremely effective player for the Buffalo Sabres, scoring at least 20 goals on three different occasions. The 5’9″ forward doesn’t have a fearful bone in his body, and played bigger than he was by digging hard in the corners and driving hard towards the net. Unfortunately, those kind of plays caught up with his small frame and he has struggled through concussion and groin injuries the last few seasons, while being included as a salary dump by one team and bought out a year later by another. He’ll earn more than $2.4MM over the next two seasons from Minnesota thanks to that buyout, making this new deal seem extremely reasonable for the Maple Leafs.

It is reasonable for Toronto, given that they are rarely worried about actual salary commitments and instead are always dealing with the cap ceiling. For a team that still has plenty of room this summer to make another big splash—even after handing $11MM to John Tavares—Ennis represents a cheap addition that could provide big results. Even last season playing limited minutes in Minnesota Ennis scored 22 points and was a fairly useful player, but the Wild couldn’t afford to keep his $4.6MM cap hit on the books as they look to figure out a way to push past the first round.

For the Maple Leafs, he’ll join players like Josh Jooris, Par Lindholm, Josh Leivo and even maybe Connor Brown in a fourth-line group that could be rotated around for much of the season. Ennis could even provide an option on the powerplay, though Toronto has plenty of talented options to use in that situation. The fact that he’s not a penalty killer will likely hurt his ice time considerably, given that the fourth line won’t be playing a ton for the Maple Leafs this season.

Tyler Ennis, Steve Mason Officially Bought Out

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The Minnesota Wild and Montreal Canadiens have taken some money off the books, announcing the buyouts for Tyler Ennis and Steve Mason respectively. Both players now become unrestricted free agents and can sign with any club.

In Ennis, the Wild free up $2.2MM from their salary cap for this year. Ennis was in the last year of his deal in which he was going to receive $4.6MM. Acquired from Buffalo last offseason, Ennis got in almost a full season, but failed to put up impressive numbers as he finished the year with eight goals and 22 points. With new GM Paul Fenton in charge, he didn’t waste too much time determining that Ennis’ deal wasn’t worth Ennis’ inability to put up points.

As for Mason, the Canadiens picked him up Sunday in a trade in which they acquired Mason, Joel Armia and two draft picks for AHL prospect Simon Bourque. Mason also one year on his deal at $4.1MM, but with Antti Niemi and Charlie Lindgren along with talent in their system, Mason was expendable. The team will take a cap hit of $1.367 over the next two years.

 

 

Wild To Buy Out Tyler Ennis

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The final day of the first buyout window has claimed a second casualty as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link) that the Wild have placed forward Tyler Ennis on unconditional waivers to buy out the final year of his contract.  He had one year remaining on his deal with a $4.6MM cap hit.  That means Minnesota will instead carry a cap hit of $2.167MM in 2018-19 and $1.217MM in 2019-20.

The Wild acquired the 28-year-old last offseason from the Sabres as part of the trade that saw defenseman Marco Scandella and winger Jason Pominville head to Buffalo with winger Marcus Foligno also heading to Minnesota.

While they were certainly hoping that a change of scenery would get him going, that didn’t wind up happening.  While he did improve on his numbers with Buffalo, Ennis still posted just 22 points (8-14-22) in 73 games, hardly the type of production that justifies the type of contract he had.

New GM Paul Fenton had made it clear that they were looking to get out of the final year of his contract as he had been trying to attach Ennis in trade talks regarding wingers Charlie Coyle, Jason Zucker, and Nino Niederreiter.  However, since they weren’t able to find a taker, they’ll now go down this path and free up nearly $2.2MM in additional cap space to work with this offseason.

Poll: Who Is The Most Likely To Be Bought Out?

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The NHL buyout period opens later this month, and teams will have to make tough decisions on some of their overpaid former-stars. Rory Boylen of Sportsnet has been all over potential buyout candidates throughout the season, and has now released his list of the top eight names that could see a paycheck start coming to not play for their current teams.

Last year we saw Simon Despres, Matt Greene, Antti Niemi, Benoit Pouliot, Jussi Jokinen, Lance Bouma, Ryan Murphy, Jimmy Hayes, Mark Stuart, Mike Cammalleri, and Devante Smith-Pelly bought out in the first window, and a similar number of players could find themselves on unconditional waivers this time around.

We’ve already heard about Matt Moulson’s expected buy out from the Buffalo Sabres, but Boylen throws eight different names into the mix. Several of them were once key parts of their franchise, while others never turned into the player they were expected to become.

Who do you think is the most likely player to be bought out when the window opens on the later of 48 hours after the Stanley Cup Final, or June 15th. Cast your vote below and make sure to leave an explanation in the comment section. For more information on how much each team would have to pay, check out Boylen’s excellent breakdown or head over to CapFriendly’s handy calculator.

[Mobile users click here to vote!]

Minnesota Wild Will Have To Make Decisions On Staal, Zucker Soon

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While the Minnesota Wild will likely need to fight every game for the rest of the season to reach the playoffs, there isn’t a lot of talk about what the team intends to do in the offseason, yet there are key decisions the Wild will have to make in the coming months, including what to do with a pair of their top forwards in Eric Staal and Jason Zucker.

While the team is already loaded in forwards who are locked up long-term, both Staal and Zucker have been key players for this year’s team. Staal still has another year remaining at $3.5MM, but would be eligible for an extension on July 1. At 33 years of age, the team is in a tough situation as it wants to make sure they don’t get stuck with a long-term deal with another aging player like it did with Mikko Koivu. However, Staal has put up 61 goals in two seasons for Minnesota and doesn’t look like he’s slowing down. The Athletic’s Michael Russo (subscription required) writes that the team should consider a three-year extension in the $5MM range. He writes he doesn’t see a true slow-down by the veteran. It shows on back-to-back games, but the scribe writes that both his hands and legs haven’t slowed a bit. The real question is Staal still has another year. What if he declines before an extension kicks in? It’s a gamble either way.

Zucker is another player who has taken that next step every year in Minnesota. He has already passed his 22-goal career high from last year. Now with 26 goals, he finds himself on his last restricted free-agent year before becoming a unrestricted free agent after the 2018-19 season. The fear is the Wild could lose Zucker at that point to higher-profile teams, so locking the 26-year-old up this offseason makes the most sense. Russo writes that it could take a six or seven-year offer in the $5MM range to get a deal done. He might be open to signing now as he has quite a few community ties, including the fact that his wife is from Minnesota.

Both players would like to get money that is close to Nino Niederreiter or Mikael Granlund money, which could cause some problems. The team already has six forwards that are locked up until 2020, not including Staal or Zucker. They also have three defensemen locked up long-term as well, so the team might have to find to move out some contracts in the near future to make their cap situation work out the best. To make matters worse, the two players whose deals might hurt the team the most belong to Zach Parise and Koivu. Parise has struggled all season with injuries and, as expected, his 13-year deal he signed back in 2012 is starting to hurt the team. The 33-year-old still will be locked up until the 2025 season at $7.5MM per year with a no-movement clause (another issue if there is another expansion draft in two years). Koivu has had a down year as well. At 34, he just signed a two year extension at $5.5MM at the start of this season which kicks in next year. After putting up 56 points or more in each of the last two years, he has just 35 points in 65 games this year.

One other option, according to Russo, would be to trade Tyler Ennis, who has one year remaining on his deal at $4.6MM AAV. The 28-year-old has just 18 points this year, but if the team retains his salary, they might be able to trade him off to free up some cap room. A buyout of Marcus Foligno is also a legitimate possibility this summer.

Wild Did Not Push To Sign Kirill Kaprizov

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Despite rumors earlier this off-season that Kirill Kaprizov, one of the top prospects of the Minnesota Wild, was potentially looking to make to the jump to the NHL, the young Russian scorer ended up re-signing in the KHL. The 20-year-old inked a three-year deal with CSKA Moscow of the KHL, with the new contract finally being made official yesterday. The term of the deal surprised many, as – barring a player buyout – Kaprizov’s highly-anticipated NHL debut would not be until 2020. However, in an interview today with Soviet Sports (link in Russian), Kaprizov lent some reasoning to his new contract. It seems that the Wild were not all that interested in bringing him overseas this off-season after all.

When the reporter asked “Minnesota showed great interest in you?” (translated), Kaprizov replied honestly that he has not had any direct contact with the team. He stated that Wild representatives last spoke with his agent at the 2017 World Juniors, but had not reached out since. Kaprivoz’s understanding was that Minnesota was simply waiting for his arrival “one day”, which flies in the face of speculation that the team had reached out to the 20-year-old this summer. While some have opined that the negotiations were effected by outside intervention, seemingly supported by Kaprizov’s previous reluctance to confirm a new KHL contract and an assumption that he was waiting for an offer from Minnesota, Kamprizov had the chance to say as much today and failed to do so.

While Kaprizov was just only a fifth-round pick in 2015, he has already greatly outperformed his draft slot. At just 19 years old last season, Kaprizov registered 42 points in 49 games for the KHL’s Salavat Yulaev Ufa, second only on the teams to former NHLer Linus Omark, and then added another 12 points in seven games in an impressive World Junior showing. Why then did Minnesota not reach out to the high-scoring youngster? Kaprizov was asked in his interview if he had given any thought to the difficult task of breaking into a Wild top six of Zach Parise, Eric Staal, Mikko Koivu, Mikael Granlund, Nino Niederreiter, and Jason Zucker, to which he of course replied that he had not thought of since Minnesota had not yet offered him the chance to play for the team, but the reported does make a valid point. Even with Alex Tuch and Erik Haula now in Vegas, Kaprizov stood little chance of cracking that top six and may have even struggled to beat out Charlie Coyle, rookie Luke Kunin, or recent additions Marcus Foligno and Tyler Ennis for a top nine role. Rather than waste Kaprizov on a checking line role or put him in the AHL, it seems likely that the Wild would simply rather let him continue to develop in the KHL. As for the three-year term, Minnesota and Kaprizov both realize that getting out of KHL contracts is relatively easy and should a spot open up for him sooner than three years, don’t be surprised to see the two sides finally come together. Even if he does play out his contract with CSKA, the reporter notes that Kaprizov would still be only 23 years old, the same age that Artemi Panarin came over from Russia and won the Calder Trophy.

The bridge is far from burnt between Kaprizov and the Wild, but it is interesting to note that the information surrounding their relationship appears to have been way off. For now, Kaprizov will continue to be just a “prospect” of the Wild, but with a shallow pipeline of talent in Minnesota and a point-per-game player continuing to grow and develop in arguably the second best hockey league in the world, it seems likely that these two sides will be joined sooner rather than later.

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