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Vinnie Hinostroza

Vinnie Hinostroza Signs With Florida Panthers

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The Florida Panthers have signed Vinnie Hinostroza to a contract after the young forward was not issued a qualifying offer by the Arizona Coyotes, according to team reporter Jameson Olive. James Mirtle of The Athletic reports the deal is just one-year in length and worth $1MM.

It’s somewhat shocking that Hinostroza could be had for such a low figure, given his history of success in the NHL and relative youth on the open market. The 26-year-old forward has scored 100 points in 246 games across four seasons, including a 16-goal campaign in 2018-19. Though that number dropped dramatically this year, Hinostroza also shot at an unsustainably-low 3.8%. If that number was at his previous career average of 9.1%, he would have had 12 goals in 68 games despite playing just over 13 minutes a night.

Since he still recorded 22 points in those 68 games, it’s hard to even understand why the Coyotes weren’t able to work out a deal. His qualifying offer would have been $1.5MM and he could have potentially secured more than that through arbitration, but seeing him sign in Florida for just $1MM must sting. That’s especially true with the Coyotes having such trouble scoring and when they instead went out and spent $2.5MM on Tyler Pitlick and John Hayden, both players that are arguably less effective than Hinostroza.

For Florida meanwhile, the signing continues a trend of acquiring players after their previous organizations cut them loose. The team also signed Alexander Wennberg and Radko Gudas today and traded for Markus Nutivaara earlier this week. At such low costs, each of these players represents a chance for some excess value this season in Florida. In Hinostroza’s case, it also reunites him with his former head coach Joel Quenneville, whom he played under in Chicago.

Ten Notable Non-Tenders

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Lost in the shuffle on the marathon second day of the draft is that Wednesday also represented the deadline for qualifying offers to be tendered.  The flattening of the salary cap increased the concerns about salary arbitration which has certainly affected the quality of players that are now set to hit the open market on Friday.  As these players will not be a part of our annual Top-50 UFA Rankings, here’s a rundown of ten notables to keep tabs on over the coming days, listed in alphabetical order.

Andreas Athanasiou (Edmonton)

Back at the trade deadline, the Oilers dealt a pair of second-round picks and Sam Gagner to secure the speedster, one that GM Ken Holland had plenty of familiarity with from his own days with Detroit.  While the winger was having a tough season, he’s only a year removed from a 30-goal campaign.  In a normal salary cap world, his $3MM qualifier would have been tough to swallow but still would have happened.  Instead, he hits the open market with Edmonton not getting much return for those two fairly high picks while becoming an intriguing bounce-back target for some teams.  He won’t get paid like a 30-goal scorer but as a third-liner with upside, he’ll land one of the bigger contracts out of this group of players if not the biggest.

Matt Benning (Edmonton)

There was a time that the Oilers hoped that Benning could step into a role on their second pairing but it didn’t come to fruition.  However, he has been a serviceable third-pairing player over the past few years but a cap-strapped Oilers team couldn’t justify qualifying him at $1.95MM.  Given that he’s a right-handed shot in a market that doesn’t have a lot of them, he should have interest from a few teams.

Nick Cousins (Vegas)

On the surface, a $1MM qualifying offer to a player who had 25 points in 65 games and got into 17 postseason contests doesn’t seem too pricey.  But this is a case where the potential for a higher award through arbitration is a risk that Vegas didn’t want to take with Cousins.  It’s the second-straight year that the 27-year-old was non-tendered for this reason after Arizona did the same thing a year ago.  A versatile depth player, he should be able to land somewhere for around the same contract as he played on this past season.

Anthony Duclair (Ottawa)

Despite finding an opportunity to play a bigger role than he had at any other point in his career, it seems as if Duclair may have overplayed his hand in contract talks.  After scoring 23 goals this season, he opted to represent himself in contract negotiations against the recommendation of GM Pierre Dorion who indicated that a sizable raise was offered before getting to this point.  Still just 25, Duclair becomes a very interesting addition to the open market but having bounced around the league already (he has played for five different teams in six NHL seasons), it’s hard to tell how strong his market may be.

Vinnie Hinostroza (Arizona)

A year ago, it looked like the 26-year-old was set to be a useful part of Arizona’s long-term plans.  He was coming off of a career-best 16-23-39 stat line and was pushing for a spot in their top six.  Things went sideways this year though as he potted just five goals in 68 games which made a $1.5MM qualifier untenable.  Hinostroza could fit on a third line for some teams and should have a fair bit of interest.

Dominik Kahun (Buffalo)

This was one of the more surprising non-tenders of the group.  Although Kahun has just two years of NHL experience, he’s arbitration-eligible since he’s 25.  He followed up a 37-point rookie campaign with 31 points this pandemic-shortened season (including four in six games with Buffalo after being acquired in a deadline day deal from Pittsburgh) while he also missed time with a concussion and a knee injury.  With his point per game average, he played at a 45-point full-season pace.  Buffalo GM Kevyn Adams has indicated they are interested in retaining the winger but if he makes it to the open market, he should be one of the most sought-after players from this list.

Mark Jankowski (Calgary)

While he had shown progress in his development over his first two full NHL seasons, things went off the rails in 2019-20.  Jankowski scored just five times in 56 games and while he wouldn’t have been able to get much more than his $1.75MM qualifier in arbitration, that was still too high of a price tag for Calgary’s liking.  Still just 26, Jankowski now heads to an open market that isn’t exactly loaded in available centers so while a pay cut is likely, he should have no issues finding a new team.

Dominik Simon (Pittsburgh)

A natural center, Simon has spent the majority of his time with Pittsburgh on the wing, playing on all four lines along the way.  While not a gifted point producer, he has surpassed 20 points in each of the last two seasons while posting above-average possession numbers.  Owed a qualifier of less than $800K, the fear of arbitration sealed Simon’s fate on a cap-strapped Penguins squad.

Troy Stecher (Vancouver)

In 2018-19, Stecher looked to be on the verge of securing a spot in Vancouver’s top four after averaging nearly 20 minutes a night and chipping in with 23 points.  But the return of a healthy Chris Tanev and the addition of Tyler Myers helped push the 26-year-old onto the third pairing and a much lower ATOI than usual.  A $2.325MM qualifier is a bit high for someone in that role but there should be a few teams that see him as a potential fourth or fifth option which makes him a notable addition to the UFA market.

Lucas Wallmark (Florida)

One of the notable parts of the Vincent Trocheck deal, Wallmark was coming off of a league-minimum salary which means this non-tender was solely arbitration related.  The 25-year-old only has two full NHL seasons under his belt, putting up 25 and 23 points in each while posting a faceoff percentage that’s a bit above the 50% mark each time.  There is still some upside with Wallmark and with a weak market down the middle, he’ll have no trouble generating interest.

While these players (among the others that were non-tendered) can become unrestricted free agents on Friday, some teams will still be negotiating with their players to try to get them at a lower salary than either their qualifying offer or their expected arbitration salary.  Usually, a handful wind up re-signing so at least for some of these players, their fates may not be completely sealed yet.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Arizona Coyotes Will Not Qualify Vinnie Hinostroza

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The Arizona Coyotes are expected to slash payroll dramatically this offseason as the team deals with a new financial reality. While that may play out most dramatically with an Oliver Ekman-Larsson trade, it also may be seen in the margins with some less expensive players. Vinnie Hinostroza, one of the team’s pending restricted free agents, is not expected to receive a qualifying offer according to Craig Morgan of AZ Coyotes Insider. That would make him an unrestricted free agent on Friday.

Hinostroza, 26, would need a $1.5MM qualifying offer from the Coyotes to remain in the organization, but it could end up costing them even more than that to get him signed. The sixth-round pick is also arbitration-eligible, and with a 16-goal season in 2018-19 may end up landing more than just $1.5MM should he get that far. The only way to avoid arbitration is by cutting bait, something we suggested the Coyotes may do in our Free Agent Focus piece last month.

Frankly, Hinostroza hasn’t been good enough to deserve a raise this offseason. The former Chicago Blackhawk scored just five goals and 22 points for the Coyotes this season and doesn’t bring a ton of value outside of his expected offense.  When he first arrived in Arizona it seemed like a strong fit, but the combination of a lack of scoring and salary restructuring appear to have made him expendable.

As a free agent, he’ll be an interesting name to keep an eye on. Perhaps a team can get the relatively young forward on a bargain contract to attempt a bounce-back season, especially in a flat-cap world that could squeeze the midrange free agents.

West Notes: Coyotes, Boudreau, Schuldt

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With there being so many notable restricted free agents despite training camps being only a few weeks away, it will be worth watching to see if teams adjust their approaches towards trying to lock up their young players earlier.  With that in mind, Coyotes GM John Chayka acknowledged to Craig Morgan of The Athletic (subscription required) that the team has already started talks with their three potential RFA forwards next summer in wingers in Clayton Keller, Vinnie Hinostroza, and Christian Fischer but was quick to add that none of the talks should be considered as advanced.  Arizona hasn’t hesitated to lock up players early in recent years but considering that they could be facing a bit of a cap crunch in the near future, they may opt to tread lightly with these talks for now.

Elsewhere out West:

  • While new general managers often like to handpick their head coach, don’t expect that to be the case in Minnesota. New Wild GM Bill Guerin told NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti that he has “full confidence” in head coach Bruce Boudreau so there is no coaching change on the horizon.  The veteran bench boss could reach the 1,000 games coached mark this season but the team has won just two postseason contests over his first four seasons with the team.
  • Jimmy Schuldt’s presence on the Golden Knights’ entry into their upcoming rookie tournament raised some eyebrows as the defenseman remains unsigned. His agent told SinBin.Vegas (Twitter link) that both sides are preparing as if a deal will be done by the time the tournament gets underway on September 7th.  However, Jesse Granger of The Athletic adds (via Twitter) that while he could play on a tryout deal as many undrafted players do in these events, his sense is that it’s unlikely that Schuldt would participate.  Many teams pursued the 24-year-old in college free agency last season but he was only eligible for a one-year, entry-level deal which is why he’s now unsigned after playing just one game with the team.

Arizona Coyotes Lose Vinnie Hinostroza To Injured Reserve

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The Arizona Coyotes have revealed that forward Vinnie Hinostroza will be out for weeks and will be placed on injured reserve with a lower-body injury, according to The Athletic’s Catherine Silverman. That’s another tough injury for a team fighting to move up in the Pacific Division standings after placing Michael Grabner and goaltender Antti Raanta on IR within the last week as well.

While nothing has been confirmed, it’s likely the injury occurred on Thursday in the Coyotes’ loss to Washington as Hinostroza played just 6:53 of ice time and reportedly had been limping off the ice at one point in the game. The team recalled Michael Bunting from Tucson of the AHL this morning and the team would likely replace Hinostroza or Conor Garland in the lineup.

Hinostroza came aboard during the offseason in one of the many trades Arizona has made with the Chicago Blackhawks recently in which the Coyotes acquired Hinostroza in the Marian Hossa trade in July. The 24-year-old has been solid for Arizona as he ranks as the team’s fourth-best scorer as he has posted four goals and 12 points in 27 games.

Pacific Notes: Sharks, Carter, Hinostroza

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The Sharks could soon turn to the trade market to address their struggles on the fourth line, suggests Paul Gackle of The Mercury News.  The team has tried four different players in the fourth line center position with none of them having any extended success.  Head coach Peter DeBoer is a proponent of running a four-line attack and the struggles of San Jose’s bottom trio has made that a difficult proposition.

GM Doug Wilson has had to make moves to shore up that line in recent years.  Last season, he picked up Eric Fehr in a midseason move while in 2016, he added Nick Spaling via a trade and Dainius Zubrus as a free agent.  They can add a player making roughly $1.6MM right now per CapFriendly so if they intend on filling other holes between now and the deadline, they may want to wait a little bit before attempting to add a fourth line pivot.

Elsewhere around the Pacific:

  • Although Kings center Jeff Carter has struggled considerably this season, Eric Duhatschek of The Athletic (subscription required) believes that the time may be right for the team to move him. As a result of his back-diving contract, the financial outlay over the final three years of his deal is just $7MM in total which would make him attractive to lower-spending teams while his cap hit of roughly $5.27MM isn’t overly pricey for a top-six forward and would still carry some value.  The 33-year-old has been quiet offensively this season with just five goals and nine assists in 29 games but a change of scenery might give him a boost.  Carter does not have any trade protection in his contract.
  • On top of missing goalie Antti Raanta on a week-to-week basis, Coyotes winger Vinnie Hinostroza has received the same designation, notes Craig Morgan of The Athletic (Twitter link). He sustained a lower-body injury on Thursday night against Washington.  Arizona is now missing six regular players out of their lineup as they look to hang around the postseason picture.

Chicago Blackhawks, Arizona Coyotes Complete Seven-Player Trade

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Marian Hossa won’t be playing in the NHL this season (or likely ever again), but his contract is still on the books for the Chicago Blackhawks. Though they can place it on long-term injured reserve to get some cap relief, doing so still complicates things for a team that is always pushing right against the cap ceiling. Because of this there has been plenty of speculation about the team moving out Hossa’s deal to a team closer to the salary cap floor, and that team is the Arizona Coyotes. The Blackhawks have sent Hossa, Vinnie Hinostroza, Jordan Oesterle and a 2019 third-round pick to the Coyotes in exchange for Marcus Kruger, Andrew Campbell, MacKenzie Entwistle, Jordan Maletta and a 2019 fifth-round pick.

This isn’t the first time the Coyotes have done something like this, as they previously took on Pavel Datsyuk’s contract after he returned to Russia, Chris Pronger’s deal after he was forced out of the game by injury, and still have Dave Bolland on the roster despite him never playing a game in Arizona.

Hossa, 39, has three years remaining on the 12-year, $63.3MM contract he signed in 2009, but is actually only owed $3MM in salary due to the front-loaded nature of the deal. That cap hit hurts for the Blackhawks, as Hossa isn’t able to play due to a skin condition that has worsened over his career and forced him into retirement after the 2016-17 season. For Arizona though it wouldn’t have much impact as the team isn’t expected to push all the way up to the cap ceiling this year. For the low cost of covering whatever insurance won’t of the $3MM (CapFriendly reports the deal is 80% insured), they will add assets that could pay off quickly as they try to rebuild the franchise and make it back to the playoffs.

Hinostroza and Oesterle are both useful players who showed last season that there may be more to their skill set than previously believed. The former is a sixth-round pick who has turned into a legitimate NHL offensive threat—Hinostroza scored 25 points in 50 games last season despite relatively limited minutes—and recently signed a two-year contract that will pay him a total of $3MM. He’ll still be a restricted free agent at the contract’s end, and should fit in nicely on a young Arizona roster that wants to play with speed and skill.

The latter, Oesterle, found new life in his career when he debuted in Chicago. Quickly ascending to the top pair alongside Duncan Keith, the undrafted defenseman ended up with 15 points in 55 games and excellent possession statistics. Whether he’ll find that kind of success in Arizona isn’t clear—Oesterle struggled to find playing time on the Edmonton Oilers through the first part of his career—but at the very worst he’s an extremely cheap depth option for the Coyotes. The 26-year old will earn the league minimum of $650K this season before hitting the open market as an unrestricted free agent next summer.

For Chicago, getting anything of value back in a trade like this is a positive. The team has cleared Hossa’s contract off the books while bringing back a familiar face in Kruger, who was part of the team’s last two Stanley Cup victories and had the best seasons of his career in a Blackhawks uniform. Dealing with injury last season he struggled mightily for the Carolina Hurricanes and was eventually sent to the minor leagues. The Blackhawks will hope that’s not the story this year, as he’s still carrying a cap hit of almost $3.1MM.

Maletta and Campbell will more than likely spend the entire 2018-19 season in the minor leagues and aren’t expected to make an impact at any point in the NHL, but Entwistle could be a different story. The 2017 third-round pick is a big lanky winger that played down in the Hamilton Bulldogs lineup this year but made quite an impact in the OHL playoffs. Once a very intriguing prospect the shine has come off him somewhat in the last year, but there’s no telling what he could become at this point. He’ll turn 19 in a few days and will play next season again in the OHL.

There will be obvious speculation surrounding the Blackhawks now that they’ve cleared some cap room, as the team now projects to have $9.3MM in free space for next season. While CapFriendly’s estimate of that number only includes nine forwards and six defensemen, there is obviously room for the team to add some bigger names over the next few months. The team has been linked in the past to potential scoring threats like Jeff Skinner and Max Pacioretty, but will still have to spend their assets carefully in any trade. The team can’t afford to get into any more long-term contracts for aging players if they want to compete down the road, but they do want to give the team a chance at the playoffs this year. You can bet that GM Stan Bowman is still working the phones trying to use that cap space on something, and there isn’t much left on the free agent market that could help the Blackhawks.

Chicago Blackhawks Signs Vinnie Hinostroza To Two-Year Deal

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The Chicago Blackhawks are getting their restricted free agents out of the way early. After agreeing to a two-year deal with John Hayden this morning, the team has also agreed to a two-year contract extension with Vinnie Hinostroza. The deal will carry a $1.5MM average annual value.

Scott Powers of The Athletic (subscription required) reports that there is an expectation that Tomas Jurco will also re-sign, making quick work of the bulk of Chicago’s restricted free agents. In Hinostroza they likely have locked up the most important one, after the 24-year old recorded 25 points in just 50 games last season. Though he didn’t get much of a chance to play his natural position of center, Hinostroza was moved around the lineup and seemed to have a knack for finding teammates at important times. His 18 assists actually ranked him fifth among all Chicago forwards, ahead of full-time players like Brandon Saad and Artem Anisimov, and he’ll need to use that playmaking ability to secure a role on the team next season.

Contracts like these to Hayden and Hinostroza are integral to the Chicago salary structure as they continue to deal with mega-deals for Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, and Brent Seabrook. Though those players are still effective—though, that may be argued at this point for Seabrook—they aren’t able to drag the roster to the playoffs by themselves any longer and rely on contributions from the role players on the roster. If Chicago is to make any real upgrades this season they’ll need all the cap room they can get, and Hinostroza locking down a full-time roster spot for $1.5MM is certainly acceptable.

Drafted in the sixth round in 2012, Hinostroza exploded in two years at Notre Dame and proved he could carry over his junior success to a higher level. After leaving school following his sophomore season, he didn’t look back and continued to dominate at the AHL level. He’ll have to make sure his body can handle the grind of an NHL season, but at this point in his short career no level of hockey has stunted his offensive production. If the Blackhawks are in for a 40+ point season in 2018-19, they’ll certainly take it.

The biggest question remaining in Chicago’s free agent pool is what to do with Anthony Duclair, who came over from the Arizona Coyotes but still wasn’t able to prove himself as a reliable goal-scoring threat. He had just two tallies over the 23 games with Chicago, and though he did accumulate eight points there are plenty of questions about whether he’ll take the next step. After earning $1.2MM last season, Duclair would still likely push for a raise in contract negotiations. After signing Hinostroza, the team likely has less than $10MM in cap space for this summer—though Marian Hossa’s contract is expected to be traded or put on long-term injured reserve once again.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Western Notes: Peters, MacLean, Duclair, Niku, Suzuki

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While the rumor that former Carolina Hurricanes head coach Bill Peters is likely headed to Calgary, TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reports that the Dallas Stars had requested permission from Carolina to speak to Peters and did, but has decided that he isn’t a good fit for their coaching vacancy and is the front-runner for the Flames head coaching job. Postmedia’s Wes Gilbertson adds that the Flames were concerned about a better offer from Dallas, but the scribe writes that it is more and more certain the team will hire Peters.

“I’d like to work, I’d like to coach. I hope something is in place soon,” Peters said via Gilbertson.

While Peters was considered to be one of the top coaching prospects when he was hired by Carolina four years ago, he was never able to get them to the playoffs. The hope is that with four years of experience, the coach can take that next step with Calgary, who has a lot of talent and could be ready to make an impact next year.

  • LeBrun also said the Dallas Stars will be patient in their coaching search, but believes that the team will consider former Ottawa Senators head coach Paul MacLean as a candidate. The coach was 114-90-35 in three and a half seasons for Ottawa from 2011-2014. However, LeBrun admits there are many candidates on their coaching list.
  • Corey Snzjdjer of The Athletic (subscription required) writes the Chicago Blackhawks might not be able to retain restricted free agent Anthony Duclair. The 22-year-old acquired in January has a ton of potential, but can’t seem to put up much, in terms of points. He had two goals and six assists in 23 games until he suffered a knee injury that knocked him out for the last 13 games of the year. The scribe writes that because Duclair is on a one-year bridge deal, Chicago would have to match his $1.2MM salary, which might be too high of a price with all the young talent who could be brought in at cheaper salaries, including Vinnie Hinostroza, Victor Ejdsell and Dylan Sikura.
  • The Winnipeg Jets announced they have assigned defenseman Sami Niku to the AHL’s Manitoba Moose. Niku was recalled Thursday as the team was dealing with injuries to defenseman Tyler Myers and then losing defenseman Josh Morrissey to a one-game suspension. Niku, the AHL’s defenseman of the year, would have gone in had Myers been unable to go Friday. Instead, he returns to Manitoba as they begin their playoff series today against the Grand Rapids Griffins.
  • The Vegas Golden Knights have promoted prospect Nick Suzuki from the OHL’s Owen Sound Attack to the Chicago Wolves of the AHL. The 18-year-old prospect was the 13th overall pick in the 2017 draft and put up a 100-point season this year in 64 games for the Attack. He will join another first-rounder in Cody Glass, who was promoted earlier this week and 2017 second-round pick Nicolas Hague, who has been with the team for a couple of weeks. The prospects are just another future line of depth that could conceivably join Vegas next year, assuming they can win spots on the team during training camp.

Chicago Blackhawks Focused On Keeping Young Talent

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The Chicago Blackhawks have an interesting summer in front of them, as they try to turn around what was a disastrous season and compete again in 2018-19. The core of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook and Corey Crawford will all be on the wrong side of 30 by the middle of November, making a rebuild out of the question.

Because of that group and how much cap space is needed to retain them, the Blackhawks have been forced to trade away young talent over the years. That’s not the plan anymore, as GM Stan Bowman explained to reporters today at an end-of-year press conference (via Mark Lazerus of the Chicago Sun-Times):

Our No. 1 priority as we move forward is to make sure we can keep these young players: [Alex] DeBrincat, [Nick] Schmaltz and [Vinnie] Hinostroza and some other young players. That’s the direction we’re headed.

While it’s true that the Stanley Cup-winning core is heading out of their prime, the young blood that has joined the team is something to look forward to. DeBrincat led the team with 28 goals as a rookie and would be getting more attention for the Calder trophy in a regular year (that is, one without the outstanding crop of first-year players the league has seen) while Schmaltz slid into a role beside Kane and recorded 52 points.

Only Hinostroza, who played only 50 games and recorded 25 points, is scheduled to become a restricted free agent this summer. His deal shouldn’t be financially crippling, especially because of the room afforded by Marian Hossa’s long-term injury. Bowman spoke on that as well, telling reporters that there is “no indication that he’s going to play next season.” 

With the cap increasing by somewhere around $5MM, the Blackhawks should have a little money to play with in free agency if they so choose. As Lazerus reports though, Chicago won’t be handing out any long-term deals—meaning they’ll probably be out of the running on most of the top names. While that may be disappointing, the team has to still think of where their salary structure will sit in a few seasons when Schmaltz, DeBrincat and others do need raises.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

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