Week In Review

While the big roster shuffle will come next week as free agency opens up, it was still a very busy week around the NHL with the draft and some big trades among the key stories.

Draft Day Splashes: The Canadiens were hosting the draft, the first held in-person since 2019.  GM Kent Hughes make a pair of notable decisions on the opening day of the festivities.  First, he opted to take winger Juraj Slafkovsky with the first-overall pick, staying away from Shane Wright, long viewed as the consensus top pick who instead went fourth to Seattle.

Before Wright’s pick was announced, however, Montreal swung a pair of trades to find a new center.  First, they traded defenseman Alexander Romanov along with a fourth-round pick to the Islanders for the 13th selection and then flipped that with a third-rounder to acquire Kirby Dach.  Dach, the number three pick in 2019, has struggled so far in his career which led to Chicago dealing him away and taking Frank Nazar with the first-rounder but Montreal believes the 21-year-old still has top-six upside.  Romanov, meanwhile, is a nice addition to New York’s back end and will certainly give them a boost in terms of physicality.  Both Dach and Romanov are restricted free agents this summer.

Day Two Also Busy: Sometimes, the second day of the draft can come and go without much fanfare.  This wasn’t one of them as Detroit swung a move to get a head start on their free agent shopping, acquiring the rights to Ville Husso from St. Louis for a third-round pick and then quickly signed him to a three-year, $14.25MM extension.  It’s a nice raise for the 27-year-old who was on a league minimum contract the last two seasons but a well-earned one as he impressed in 40 games this past season.  The Flyers then added to their back end, picking up Anthony DeAngelo from Carolina for a trio of draft picks, quickly agreeing to a two-year, $10MM contract after.  The 26-year-old impressed in his only season with the Hurricanes, notching 51 points in 64 games, effectively pricing himself too high for what they can afford with several other notable free agents.  Meanwhile, the Oilers could soon be adding some cap space as reports surfaced that veteran defenseman Duncan Keith is expected to retire this week after a 17-year career that featured two Norris Trophies and three Stanley Cups.  The move will give Edmonton more than $5.5MM in cap space for next season while removing that amount from Chicago’s cap due to salary cap recapture penalties.

DeBrincat To Ottawa: Prior to the start of the draft, the Senators made a big splash on the trade front, acquiring winger Alex DeBrincat from Chicago in exchange for the seventh and 39th picks.  The 24-year-old is coming off his second career 41-goal season and has one year left on his deal with a $6.4MM AAV.  However, it’s worth noting that he’ll be owed a $9MM qualifying offer in 2023; GM Pierre Dorion indicated an intention to try to work on a long-term extension with DeBrincat in the coming weeks and it wouldn’t be surprising to see them try to push for a number that comes in a little below that amount.  Meanwhile, Chicago used the picks on defenseman Kevin Korchinski and center Paul Ludwinski as they continue to sell off pieces as they embark on a full-scale rebuild.

Sharks Hire Grier: It took until just before the draft but the Sharks found their next general manager, appointing long-time NHL winger Mike Grier to the position.  That makes him the first Black general manager in NHL history but not the first GM in his family as his brother Chris is currently the GM of the NFL’s Miami Dolphins.  Grier spent three of his 14 NHL seasons in San Jose and will now be tasked with trying to shed some onerous contracts and bring in some extra young depth to the organization.  His first move was to trade down from the 11th selection, swapping with Arizona for picks 27, 34, and 45.

Forsberg Sticks Around: While it took a lot longer than many expected, the Predators and winger Filip Forsberg were eventually able to work out a new eight-year, $68MM contract that carries a full no-move clause for the first six seasons.  The 27-year-old has spent his entire ten-year NHL career with Nashville and has been a fixture on their front line for many of those.  Forsberg is coming off a season that saw him hit new benchmarks in goals (42) and assists (42) despite missing 13 games which gave him plenty of leverage heading into discussions.  He used it well as he gets a $2.5MM increase compared to the AAV of his previous deal and the maximum term of an agreement, ensuring he’ll remain the Predators for a long time to come.

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With Colorado beating Tampa Bay to win the Stanley Cup, the offseason is officially underway.  Unsurprisingly, there was plenty of news over the past seven days which is recapped in our top stories.

Boston Gets Their Guy: While it took a lot longer than anyone really expected, the Bruins agreed on a multi-year contract extension with GM Don Sweeney.  Soon after, Sweeney found his next head coach as Boston hired Jim Montgomery as their new bench boss.  It will be Montgomery’s second time running an NHL bench as he was in charge for parts of two years in Dallas before being let go due to “unprofessional conduct” which Montgomery himself revealed was a battle with alcohol abuse.  The Bruins will be dealing with several key injuries to start next season including Charlie McAvoy and Brad Marchand so Montgomery will have his work cut out for him early on until those players return.  Dallas did well with Montgomery at the helm with a .579 points percentage but expectations will be high after they let Bruce Cassidy (who had a .672 points percentage with the Bruins) go earlier this offseason.

Tampa Makes Early Moves: Just days after falling to the Avalanche, the Lightning were back in the news.  First, they found a way to keep Nick Paul around, handing the forward a seven-year contract that carries an AAV of $3.15MM with some trade protection.  The 27-year-old fit in quite well after being acquired at the trade deadline from Ottawa, spending time on the second and third lines both down the stretch and in the playoffs.  Knowing they needed to fit in that contract and their desire to keep winger Ondrej Palat, GM Julien BriseBois then convinced defenseman Ryan McDonagh to waive his no-trade clause and moved him to Nashville for blueliner Philippe Myers and AHL forward Grant Mismash.  The move frees up $4.2MM in cap space as it stands but if Tampa Bay was to have a change of heart and buy out Myers, that could jump to $7.3MM as buying out the 25-year-old would actually give the Lightning a cap credit for next season.  Nashville gets a solid veteran blueliner in McDonagh to bolster their top four and take on the remaining four years of his deal at a $6.75MM cap hit.

Fiala To Los Angeles: Minnesota’s salary cap situation is well-known.  The increased dead cap charge stemming from the buyouts on Ryan Suter and Zach Parise was going to force their hand with Kevin Fiala.  While they wanted to keep him, everyone knew they couldn’t afford to.  That situation worked out well for the Kings as they acquired the 25-year-old in exchange for their first-round pick in next week’s draft (19th overall) along with the rights to prospect defenseman Brock Faber.  Los Angeles wasted little time signing Fiala to a seven-year, $55.125MM extension that carries some form of trade protection in each year that he’s eligible for it.  Fiala is coming off a career year that saw him pick up 85 points in 82 games and he immediately bolsters a Kings attack that was 20th in goals scored this past season.  Minnesota, meanwhile, gets some quality future assets and the cap flexibility that should allow them to fill out the rest of their roster this summer.

Boeser Signs: Saturday was a quiet deadline for Vancouver to reach a new contract with pending RFA forward Brock Boeser as it was the first deadline for club-elected arbitration, one that would have allowed the Canucks to offer 85% of his $7.5MM qualifying offer.  But that would have been a contentious process, one that both sides wanted to avoid.  They were able to do just that as they agreed on a three-year, $19.95MM contract.  The deal provides a small increase on his previous $5.85MM AAV, gives Vancouver a lower price tag than what his qualifier would have been, plus an extra two years of team control as Boeser had just one RFA year remaining.  It’s a tidy piece of business for both sides with the Canucks needing all the cap space they can get to keep as much of their core intact as they can.

Coaching Carousel: For a while, it looked like the NHL’s annual coaching carousel was set to come to an end.  Chicago officially hired Luke Richardson on a four-year contract while Detroit wasted little time following the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Final to make Derek Lalonde their new bench boss in another first-time hire.  At that point, there was just one opening left but before it could be filled, another one opened up as the Sharks surprisingly parted ways with Bob Boughner to allow their eventual new GM to pick their next head coach.  Not long after that, the other vacancy was filled as Winnipeg named former Dallas head coach Rick Bowness as their new head coach, giving him a two-year deal.  San Jose’s vacancy is now the only one around the league.

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With the offseason frenzy nearly upon us, activity around the league is starting to pick up.  Here’s a rundown of the biggest news from the past seven days.

DeBoer To Dallas: The Stars have found their new head coach as they hired Peter DeBoer, signing him to a four-year deal worth roughly $4.25MM per season.  It took a little while for him to enter the coaching market with Vegas taking their time to make a decision on his future before ultimately letting him go.  DeBoer has bounced around as this will be his fifth NHL team behind the bench but his best years came with the Golden Knights as he helped lead the team to a 98-50-12 record in 160 regular season games plus a 22-17 record in the playoffs.  He’ll take over for Rick Bowness who agreed to step away after the Stars were eliminated in the opening round of the postseason.

Smith To Return: While the deal isn’t expected to be announced for a little while due to salary cap and tagging reasons, the Golden Knights have reportedly agreed to a three-year deal with winger Reilly Smith to keep him around.  The agreement is believed to carry an AAV of around $5MM which also happens to be the AAV he has had for the last five years.  The 31-year-old has been a key piece for Vegas through their first five years of existence and actually sits third in scoring in their brief franchise history.  Smith is coming off a bit of a bounce-back season after a tough showing in 2020-21 as he collected 38 points in 56 games.  If he can stay healthy and put up close to 50 points (he played at a 56-point pace this year), he’ll provide the Golden Knights with a decent return on this deal but GM Kelly McCrimmon still has a lot of work to do this summer to get this team cap-compliant.

Maurice To Florida: Andrew Brunette did well taking over from Joel Quenneville early in the season, helping to lead the Panthers to a 51-18-6 record while Florida took home the Presidents’ Trophy.  That helped earn him a Jack Adams Award nomination but it didn’t help him keep his job as the team announced that they’ve hired Paul Maurice as their new head coach, signing him to a three-year deal worth just under $4MM per year.  Maurice stepped away from the Jets midseason but his time away from the game was rather short.  He has 24 years of NHL head coaching experience under his belt and will now be tasked with trying to get the team over the playoff hump after they were swept in the second round by Tampa Bay.  As for Brunette, it remains to be seen if he’ll go back to being an assistant as he was at the beginning of the season or if he’ll look to join another organization.

News From Winnipeg: Early on in their coaching search, it was clear that Winnipeg’s preference for their next head coach was Barry Trotz, a Manitoba native.  Trotz gave the job offer serious consideration but decided to decline it and will not be behind the bench to start next season.  Meanwhile, there could be changes coming to their forward group as well.  The team is believed to be exploring the trade market for captain Blake Wheeler.  The 35-year-old overcame a slow start to pick up 60 points in 65 games but with two years left on his deal with a cap hit of $8.25MM.  Between that and a trade-to list of just five teams, however, the market for him might not be too strong.  Then there’s center Pierre-Luc Dubois.  The pending restricted free agent has informed the team that his intention is to test unrestricted free agency when he’s eligible in 2024.  Dubois, who was acquired for another player whose willingness to sign long-term was in question (Patrik Laine), had 60 points of his own this season with a new career-high in goals with 28.  His hesitancy to sign a long-term agreement could ultimately dictate their plans for Mark Schiefele as it’s unlikely they’d part with both of their top centers in the same summer.

Richardson To Chicago: While an agreement hasn’t been made official yet, the Blackhawks have found their next head coach as they will be hiring Luke Richardson away from Montreal, where he had served as an assistant coach for the last four years.  The 53-year-old played more than 1,400 games in the NHL as a defenseman and has been a coach basically ever since then; he kicked off his coaching NHL career in the same season that he played his final two games.  Chicago is about to embark on a sizable rebuild so it’s not surprising they went with a first-time head coach with a reputation for being player-friendly.  The contract is expected to be finalized sometime this coming week.

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Things are starting to pick up across the NHL with most of the league now firmly in offseason mode with the league providing a key cap figure for their summer planning.  Here’s a rundown of the biggest news from the past seven days.

Tortorella To Flyers: Philadelphia has their new head coach in place as they hired long-time bench boss John Tortorella, giving him a four-year deal that’s believed to be worth $4MM per season.  The Flyers have made it clear that even though they missed the playoffs this season, they are in win-now mode and Tortorella’s hiring certainly cements that line of thinking.  Philadelphia is Tortorella’s fifth NHL team as a head coach and ranks 13th all-time in games coached with 1,383 and sits 14th for most wins with 673.  Even with this move, many believe GM Chuck Fletcher will try to shake up his core so the Flyers will continue to be a team to keep an eye on in the weeks ahead.

Cassidy To Vegas: Tortorella wasn’t the only head coach to be hired as Bruce Cassidy’s time on the unemployment line didn’t last very long with the Golden Knights naming him as their new bench boss.  Boston decided to part ways with Cassidy earlier this month despite a very strong regular season showing that saw the team go 245-108-46 under his watch although they had a losing record (36-37) in the playoffs.  The Golden Knights are now on their third coach in franchise history and while they have some work to do to fill out their roster and be cap-compliant next season, Cassidy will have high expectations immediately as Vegas looks to get back into the playoff picture.

Montreal-Vegas Trade: The first notable trade of the summer was made as the Golden Knights dealt winger Evgenii Dadonov to the Canadiens in exchange for defenseman Shea Weber.  Or, to be more specific, Weber’s contract.  The blueliner has four years left on his deal with a $7.857MM AAV but isn’t expected to play again due to injuries.  The move will lock Vegas into LTIR for the foreseeable future but they’re certainly quite comfortable operating in there with how things went this season.  Meanwhile, Vegas is able to shed Dadonov’s $5MM cap charge for next season after unsuccessfully moving him to Anaheim at the trade deadline.  While his contract was unwanted around the league (Vegas attached a second-rounder to move Dadonov in the failed move with the Ducks), he’ll give the Canadiens some extra depth on the wing and as an expiring contract, it’s possible Montreal could look to flip him with retention closer to the 2023 deadline.

Calling It A Career: Veteran goaltender Carter Hutton isn’t waiting to see if a contract offer materializes in free agency next month as instead, he has decided to retire.  This past season was a tough one for the 36-year-old as after signing with Arizona last summer, he suffered a lower-body injury early in the season and as soon as he was ready to return, he went through waivers unclaimed and was traded to Toronto as injury insurance but never suited up with the team.  Overall, Hutton had a fairly strong career for an undrafted goaltender, getting into 235 games over parts of 10 NHL seasons with his best year coming with St. Louis in 2017-18 when he led the league in both GAA (2.09) and SV% (.931).

Surgery For Backstrom: Following their playoff exit, Capitals GM Brian MacLellan indicated that Nicklas Backstrom continuing to play through his hip injury would be unsustainable.  On Saturday, it was announced that the veteran has undergone hip resurfacing surgery.  While no timetable was provided for a return, based on the limited track record of other NHL players who have had the procedure, there’s a very good chance that the 34-year-old could miss the entire season.  That’s certainly a big blow for Washington as Backstrom has been a focal point of their attack for 15 years but they will have to approach the 2022-23 season as if he won’t be available.

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As we get closer to the start of free agency, things are starting to pick up a little bit on the transactions front with several of those being among the top stories of the past seven days.

Driedger Undergoes Surgery: This was a tough season for Kraken netminder Chris Driedger as things didn’t go as planned with his new team with the 28-year-old putting up a save percentage of just .899 in 27 games.  But he had a chance to finish up on a high note with Canada at the World Championship.  Unfortunately, that didn’t happen as instead, Driedger tore his ACL in the Gold Medal Game and has undergone surgery that will keep him out between seven and nine months.  On the short end of that, he’d miss a little more than months but on the longer end, he could be out for half the season.  Fortunately for Seattle, they have a third-string option in Joey Daccord that has some NHL experience so they may not have to look outside the organization to fill Driedger’s spot to start next season.

Bishop To Buffalo: Dallas decided to make a move to get out of the final season of Ben Bishop’s contract, sending the veteran along with a seventh-round pick to Buffalo for future considerations.  The 35-year-old tried to come back this season but pulled the plug after one appearance in the minors, instead announcing the end of his playing career.  The Stars free up a contract slot with the move and also, for now at least, reduces the potential for a carryover bonus penalty as teams in LTIR all season don’t accrue any cap space so any achieved bonuses that put a team past the Upper Limit roll over to the following season.  Dallas will be in that situation next season thanks to Bishop being on LTIR this year.  Meanwhile, the Sabres don’t have much to lose with this pick as they’re well under the cap and pick up an extra draft pick for doing the Stars the favor.

Two Years For Roslovic: It has been an interesting season and a half for Jack Roslovic in Columbus.  After impressing following the trade from Winnipeg, he struggled for a good chunk of this year before finishing on a high note with 19 points over the final six weeks of the campaign.  After taking a bridge deal upon being acquired by the Blue Jackets, the two sides effectively agreed on another one as the 25-year-old signed a two-year, $8MM contract.  The deal buys out Roslovic’s two remaining RFA seasons, gives him a nice raise on the $1.838MM AAV from last season, and will give him the opportunity to hit the open market in 2024 in the prime of his career.

Gurianov Gets One: While qualifying offers aren’t issued for several more weeks, Denis Gurianov decided to take his early, agreeing on a one-year, $2.9MM deal.  The 25-year-old looked to have a breakout year two goals ago when he reached the 20-goal mark but his output has dipped since then, notching just 23 goals over the last two seasons combined in 128 games.  He was a possible non-tender candidate as a result but this will give Gurianov one more chance to make his mark with the hopes that a new coaching staff will help unlock his offensive potential on a more consistent basis.

Cassidy Fired: There’s a late entrant into the coaching shuffle this summer as the Bruins decided to part ways with Bruce Cassidy.  Boston had plenty of regular season success after Cassidy took over partway through the 2016-17 season with the team posting a .672 points percentage in 399 contests.  However, things weren’t as good in the playoffs with the Bruins being a game below .500 in 37 games.  Cassidy’s recent track record has made him a hot commodity as he is believed to have spoken with several teams as there are now seven confirmed openings around the league with two others (Edmonton and Florida) with decisions to make on their interim bench bosses.

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With just four teams still playing, the majority of the biggest news of the week came away from the ice and is recapped in our key stories.

Prospects Released: June 1st is one of the dates to watch for when it comes to signing deadlines for certain prospects.  That came and went with teams parting ways with a total of 28 different youngsters who, depending on their age, will either re-enter the draft next month or become unrestricted free agents.  Dallas and Montreal both parted ways with players that were picked in the second round while Minnesota took the rare step of opting not to sign a first-rounder from that draft class in defenseman Filip Johansson, who went 24th overall in 2018.  As a result, the Wild will receive the 24th pick of the second round this year (56th overall) as compensation; unsigned players picked outside the first round do not yield compensatory picks.

Minnesota Surgeries: It was revealed that Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon underwent core muscle surgery after the playoffs while winger Mats Zuccarello will need the same procedure done.  The recovery time for the procedure is six to eight weeks.  Spurgeon played through the injury for more than half the season but still managed to put up 40 points in 65 games while averaging over 21 minutes a night.  Zuccarello, meanwhile, had a career year with 79 points in 70 contests and was also playing through a leg fracture.  However, that one is expected to heal with rest and he won’t need surgery for that injury.

Gardiner Cleared: Hurricanes defenseman Jake Gardiner missed all of the 2021-22 season with hip and back injuries and with how much time he has missed lately, some had wondered if his playing days were over.  That won’t be the case as GM Don Waddell indicated that the veteran has now been fully cleared to return next season.  Carolina went into LTIR this season with Gardiner and his $4.05MM AAV but they won’t have that avenue moving forward.  He has one year left on his deal and with him being cleared, he could become a buyout candidate when the window opens up after the Stanley Cup Final.  The team has roughly $19MM in cap room for next season, per CapFriendly, but they have several core players on expiring deals including blueliner Tony DeAngelo, center Vincent Trocheck, and winger Nino Niederreiter.

St. Louis Signs: Martin St. Louis was surprisingly named as Montreal’s interim head coach midseason when Dominique Ducharme was let go and while it didn’t result in any sort of big turnaround, the Canadiens were more competitive down the stretch.  He did well enough to convince management to remove the interim tag as St. Louis signed a three-year contract to officially become their head coach.  The team went 14-19-4 after he took over but it was the offensive improvement from several of their players – particularly Cole Caufield – that stood out.  With Montreal expected to be rebuilding for another couple of years at least, St. Louis is an understandable choice to continue on for now with an emphasis on player development.

Kadri Out, Kane Suspended: The Avalanche suffered a big blow when Nazem Kadri was injured in the third game of the Western Conference Final on a hit from behind on Evander Kane.  He has already been ruled out for the rest of the series and potentially longer according to head coach Jared Bednar.  The 31-year-old has had a strong postseason thus far with 14 points in 13 games, carrying on his strong play from the regular season.  As for Kane, he received a five-minute major penalty on the play and was issued a one-game suspension that will keep him out of a must-win contest on Monday as Edmonton looks to stay alive in the series.

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As the playoffs continue on, there was plenty of notable news away from the ice which gets the spotlight in our key stories.

Agent Change: Generally speaking, a player changing agents isn’t big news.  But when it’s a prominent player making the switch just before extension talks are set to begin as Red Wings center Dylan Larkin did, it’s newsworthy.  His former agency at KO Sports indicated in a statement that extensive work had already been done on preparations to begin extension talks so Detroit fans should be pleased that there appears to be a willingness on his end to extend his stay with his hometown team.  Larkin will now be represented by CAA and agents Matt Williams and Pat Brisson.  He will have a $6.1MM AAV next season and is well-positioned for a nice raise on that for his next contract.

Marchand To Miss Extended Time: The Bruins will be without a star winger when the puck drops on the 2022-23 season as Brad Marchand underwent successful hip arthroscopy and labral repair on both of his hips.  The procedure carries a recovery time of roughly six months which means he is likely to miss at least the first month of next season.  His absence will certainly be a significant blow for Boston as the 34-year-old has been a consistent high-end scoring threat, averaging over a point per game in six straight seasons, including notching 80 points in 70 contests this season.  Impressively, he picked up 11 points in seven playoff contests as well while trying to play through the injury.

Wilson Out Too: The Capitals will also be missing a key winger to start next season as winger Tom Wilson had surgery to repair a torn ACL.  The expected recovery timeline is six to eight months so the 28-year-old will miss the first month at an absolute minimum and could be out until close to midseason if it takes the full time to recover.  While Wilson is best known for his physicality and run-ins with the Department of Player Safety, he has also become a key offensive threat for them and is coming off a career year with 24 goals and 28 assists in 78 games.  With Nicklas Backstrom’s hip issues not getting any better, Washington is facing a situation where they are likely to be without a pair of top-six forwards when the puck drops on the 2022-23 season.

Calling It A Career: After spending the last three seasons with Toronto on minimum-salary contracts, veteran Jason Spezza has hung up his skates, announcing his retirement at the age of 38.  Spezza had made it clear that he wouldn’t go elsewhere this summer and presumably, the Maple Leafs had decided not to bring him back, at least in an on-ice capacity; Spezza has joined their front office as a special assistant to the GM.  His playing days end with 1,248 games played between Ottawa, Dallas, and Toronto while he winds up just five points shy of becoming the 94th player in NHL history to reach the 1,000-point plateau.

Flyers Interview Tortorella: The Flyers are casting a wide net as they continue their search for their next head coach.  It was revealed that they interviewed ESPN analyst John Tortorella for their vacancy.  The 63-year-old has coached 1,383 career regular season contests and sits 14th all-time in victories.  He has plenty of familiarity with the division having coached with the Rangers and Blue Jackets and would fit Philadelphia’s desire to find a coach that can help them win now.  Others that have already been interviewed or are believed to be in the mix include Barry Trotz, Jim Montgomery, Kirk Muller, and Mike Vellucci.

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While the second round of the playoffs is in full flight, the biggest news came off the ice in a week filled with plenty of coaching headlines which dominate the key stories.

Dallas Cleans House: While the Stars made the playoffs and gave Calgary all they could handle in the first round, there will be plenty of changes behind the bench.  Rick Bowness decided to step down while the team also dismissed assistant coaches Derek Laxdal, John Stevens, and Todd Nelson.  Bowness had been the head coach in Dallas since taking over partway through the 2019-20 season, his first NHL head coaching role in more than 15 years.  The Stars did relatively well under his watch with an 89-62-25 record while they reached the Stanley Cup Final in the bubble.   Although he’s 67, it’s expected that Bowness will be looking into other coaching opportunities around the league.

Lambert Promoted: Part of the rationale for the Islanders firing Barry Trotz was that GM Lou Lamoriello wanted a new voice guiding the team.  He didn’t need to go outside the organization to find that new voice as he instead promoted associate coach Lane Lambert to serve as their new bench boss.  It will be Lambert’s first opportunity as an NHL head coach and his first time as a head coach at any level since 2011 when he was last in charge with AHL Milwaukee.  Lambert had worked with Trotz since 2011 but will now get the opportunity to implement his own systems and will be tasked with getting New York back into the playoff picture.

Six Years For Rust: The Penguins have several prominent pending unrestricted free agents and they were able to get a deal worked out with one of them as they inked winger Bryan Rust to a six-year, $30.75MM contract.  The 30-year-old has become a key part of Pittsburgh’s attack over the past three seasons, scoring at least 22 goals per year in that stretch.  In 2021-22, he had the best output of his eight-year career, recording 58 points in just 60 games during the regular season while averaging over a point per game (eight in seven contests) during the playoffs.  The $5.125MM AAV is certainly a team-friendly one although Rust still nearly doubles his career earnings to date with this deal.  GM Ron Hextall still has some work to do with Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, and Rickard Rakell among their remaining pending UFAs.

DeBoer Out: If there are two things we’ve learned about Vegas in their brief tenure in the NHL, it’s that they’re not particularly patient nor are they afraid to take big swings.  In that spirit, they opted to make a coaching change, firing head coach Peter DeBoer along with assistants Steve Spott and Ryan McGill.  DeBoer was with the team for 160 regular season games with the Golden Knights going 98-50-12 in that span while reaching the final four twice.  However, they missed the playoffs this season which was enough of a reason for GM Kelly McCrimmon to pull the trigger on a change.  They’ve now gone through two veteran head coaches in their first five years of existence with inaugural bench boss Gerard Gallant getting let go in his third season.

Sticking Around: The Maple Leafs have done well in recent years to get some veterans to sign for deals that are well below their market value to allow them to build as strong a roster as possible.  They were able to accomplish that once again, inking defenseman Mark Giordano to a two-year contract worth just $800K per season.  The 38-year-old came over from Seattle just before the trade deadline and helped to stabilize Toronto’s back end.  While he was unlikely to command the $6.75MM AAV he made on his soon-to-expire deal, it’s certainly quite clear that he left a lot of money on the table to try to win with his hometown team.

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It was an eventful week around the NHL with plenty of seventh games, some notable coaching news, a lottery winner, and more.  We recap some of the biggest off-ice news in our key stories.

Trotz Fired: Islanders GM Lou Lamoriello has quite a history when it comes to his coaching decisions with a knack for some surprising ones.  He added to that reputation after he dismissed head coach Barry Trotz in a move that hardly anyone saw coming.  While New York missed the playoffs this season, Trotz had led the Isles to the Eastern Conference Final the two previous years which led to an expectation he’d be back for 2022-23 and the final year of his contract.  Instead, Lamoriello indicated he felt the team needs a new voice and he’ll now set out to hire a new coach or promote associate coach Lane Lambert to the top job.  Meanwhile, Trotz will become a contender for the rest of the coaching vacancies out there if he wants to be back behind an NHL bench next season.

Boudreau Returns: One coach that won’t be going anywhere is Vancouver’s Bruce Boudreau.  While there was some uncertainty about his future with the Canucks after management indicated there wouldn’t be a contract extension forthcoming, the team confirmed that the 67-year-old will return for next season.  Boudreau took over from Travis Green midseason and led the team to an improbable second half run with a 32-15-10 record that got them within striking distance of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.  He’s just one regular season win away from 600 for his career while he’s 19 away from landing in the top 20 in NHL history.

Hanging Them Up: Free agent forward Patrick Marleau wasn’t able to catch on with a team this season and has decided to officially call it a career as he announced his retirement.  The 42-year-old had a very impressive 23-year NHL career with the majority of that coming with San Jose.  Although Marleau never won the Stanley Cup, he leaves with his name in the record books after he passed Gordie Howe last season for the most regular season games played in NHL history with 1,779.  While Marleau only averaged more than a point per game in a season three times, his longevity helped him amass 1,197 points, good for 50th all-time.

Draft Lottery: This was the first year of the new draft lottery format, restricting teams from moving up no more than 10 spots with a victory which gave Montreal basically a one-in-four chance of holding onto the top pick.  They were able to do as they won the draw for the top selection while New Jersey’s good fortune in the lottery continued as they were victorious for the second spot, dropping Arizona, Seattle, and Philadelphia all down a spot.  Shane Wright is widely expected to be the pick for the Canadiens who will pick first in the draft that they’re hosting in July; it will be the first time since 1985 that the host city also had the number one selection.

Sharks Sign Two: Interim Sharks GM Joe Will indicated after the season that he wanted to re-sign winger Alexander Barabanov and defenseman Jaycob Megna.  He was able to do exactly that, signing both players to two-year deals.  Barabanov received a nice raise on his $1MM AAV from this season as this contract carries a $2.5MM cap hit on the heels of recording 10 goals and 29 assists in 70 games.  Megna, meanwhile, received the league minimum for both years (a cap hit of just over $762K) but managed to secure a one-way salary for the first time in his career after playing on two-way pacts for each of his first four NHL contracts.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

The first full week of May yielded some coaching news around the league as well as plenty of salary cap penalties; those are among the headlines in the top stories of the week.

Yeo Out: The Flyers will have a new head coach behind the bench season when they announced that Mike Yeo would not be retained in that role.  After serving as an assistant on Alain Vigneault’s staff, Yeo was elevated to the interim role when Vigneault was let go but the coaching change didn’t spark the team as they went 17-36-7 following the move while finishing behind everyone but Arizona in goals scored.  Philadelphia is keeping the door open for Yeo to remain with the team in a different role although they certainly won’t be stopping him from interviewing for other opportunities around the league.

Another Coaching Search: The Jets were another team that had a midseason coaching change, though it came due to Paul Maurice’s resignation instead of his firing.  Dave Lowry took over but the team wasn’t able to turn things around under him, posting a 26-22-6 record and missing the playoffs.  That has resulted in some changes as well with assistant coaches Charlie Huddy and Jamie Kompon being let go.  As for Lowry, he will be granted the opportunity to interview for the full-time coaching job but that’s as far as GM Kevin Cheveldayoff is willing to go at this time so they will be going through a full coaching search as well.

Surgery For DeSmith: Generally speaking, a backup goaltender undergoing surgery wouldn’t be big news.  However, it certainly is for the Penguins as they’ll be without Casey DeSmith for the rest of the playoffs after he underwent core muscle surgery.  With Tristan Jarry still unavailable as he works his way back from a broken bone in his foot, journeyman Louis Domingue has become Pittsburgh’s starter by default.  It’s a tough blow on multiple fronts – the Penguins are now dressing their AHL goalie tandem while the 30-year-old also loses a prime opportunity to showcase himself before he hits the open market for the first time this summer.

Morin’s Career Ends Early: It has been a tough last few years for Philadelphia defenseman Samuel Morin.  He has had several significant knee injuries derail what looked to be a promising career and his latest one – which kept him out for all of this season – has now ended his career at the age of 26.  Morin was a first-round pick back in 2013 (11th overall) as a big, physical, stay-at-home blueliner.  But when the injuries started, they just kept on coming.  Morin was able to get into 20 games last season but some of those came as a winger.  In the end, he hangs up his skates with just 29 career NHL contests with one goal, 45 penalty minutes, and 66 hits.  The Flyers have indicated that they may look to find another role for him to keep him in the organization in some capacity.

Cap Penalties: The salary cap is only increasing by $1MM next season to $82.5MM so many teams will be feeling the squeeze once again.  On top of that, nearly half the league will face a bonus carryover penalty from this season with 14 teams set to receive one.  Colorado finds itself at the low end of that with just a $25K overage while at the other end, three teams (Montreal, Vancouver, and St. Louis) are all at $1MM or more with the Blues potentially on the hook for another $250K depending on how deep they go in the playoffs which will certainly affect their offseason spending plans.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.