Week In Review

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.

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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.

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The regular season has come to an end which has resulted in some notable news from both on and off the ice which is highlighted in our key stories of the week.

Changes For The NHLPA: Late Friday, the NHLPA quietly put out a news release that indicated they have started the process to find a new Executive Director.  Don Fehr has been in that role for more than a decade and has headed up the last two CBA negotiations which yielded sizable increases to the minimum salary and the recreation of the World Cup of Hockey, among other things.  He will stay on for the time being until the search committee – which consists of Ian Cole, Justin Faulk, Sam Gagner, Zach Hyman, Kyle Okposo, Nate Schmidt, and Kevin Shattenkirk – determines who his successor will be.

Blashill Out In Detroit: The Red Wings were the first team to make a coaching change as they announced that Jeff Blashill’s contract would not be renewed for next season, ending his tenure behind the bench.  Blashill had been with Detroit’s organization for over a decade going back to his time with AHL Grand Rapids and had spent the last seven seasons leading the Red Wings.  They missed the playoffs in each of the last six seasons and while some young players had strong years including Calder contenders Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond, GM Steve Yzerman determined a change was needed.  Blashill’s tenure ends with a 204-271-72 record.

Price’s Future Uncertain: Canadiens goaltender Carey Price missed the majority of this season due to a knee injury and while he was able to suit up for five games down the stretch, the injury remains.  Speaking at his end-of-season media conference, the veteran indicated that his playing future is uncertain, stating that if things didn’t improve, he didn’t think he’d be able to continue playing; he even indicated that he prepared for Friday’s game as if it could be his last in the NHL.  Price has been the franchise goalie for Montreal for most of his 15-year career and still has four years remaining on his contract with a $10.5MM AAV.  If he’s unable to return, the Canadiens could put him on LTIR and then would need to either find a new starter by trade or in free agency.

Saros Injured: In order to get to the playoffs, the Predators had to lean hard on Juuse Saros as he led the NHL in games played this season.  Now that they’re there, they may not have his services after he suffered a lower-body injury in the final week of the regular season.  While the exact length of his injury wasn’t disclosed (as is basically an automatic at this time of year), missing Saros for any games would make an already difficult task considerably harder as Nashville gets set to take on Colorado in the opening round.  Connor Ingram and David Rittich are the tandem if Saros isn’t able to return.

From MLB To The NHL: When Chicago was conducting its GM search, one of the finalists was Jeff Greenberg, someone who had plenty of front office experience but not in the NHL.  Ultimately, the spot went to then-interim GM Kyle Davidson but the Blackhawks were able to land Greenberg as well, hiring him as an associate GM.  Greenberg had been with the Chicago Cubs since 2012 but will now change sports and look to help the Blackhawks work through what appears to be a fairly sizable rebuilding process.

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The calendar has turned to April but with three weeks left in the regular season, some of the expected mid-April offseason decisions will likely trickle over into May.  However, there was still some notable news over the past seven days which are recapped in our top stories of the week.

Michigan Exodus: Once Michigan was eliminated from the NCAA tournament, it was expected that the Wolverines would be losing several players in a hurry.  That’s exactly what happened.  Buffalo signed the top pick from 2021, inking Owen Power to an entry-level contract.  The AAV is $1.85MM which is low for a number one pick but he was ineligible for ‘A’ bonuses this season having signed so late and since there are limits on how quickly the bonuses can increase on a year-to-year basis, the 19-year-old wasn’t able to max out his bonus potential.

Meanwhile, Columbus got into the mix as well.  As expected, they signed Kent Johnson to his entry-level deal with the 2021 fifth-overall pick landing nearly the identical contract as Power did.  They also landed undrafted defenseman Nick Blankenburg on a one-year, entry-level deal.  Both his deal and Johnson’s begin this season so Blankenburg will hit restricted free agency this summer.  Seattle then signed Matty Beniers on Sunday as expected with the same terms as Power and Johnson.  The second pick from 2021, he led the Wolverines in scoring with 43 points in 37 games while also playing at the Olympics.

Done For The Year: The Devils are playing out the stretch as they sit at the bottom of the Metropolitan Division and now they’ll be without a trio of important players.  Top center Jack Hughes is out for the season with a sprained MCL, a tough end to what has been a very strong year as he had 56 points in just 49 games, providing the production that was expected with his top draft slot in 2019.  Meanwhile, New Jersey also opted to shut down winger Miles Wood after just three games for precautionary reasons after he missed most of the year following early-season hip surgery while defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler is also out due to a broken hand.

Calling It A Career: Ducks center Ryan Getzlaf acknowledged last month that he had yet to decide his plans for next year.  That decision has now been made as the veteran has decided that this season will be his last.  The 36-year-old was the 19th pick back in 2003 and has spent his entire 17-year career in Anaheim.  In his prime, Getzlaf was a feared number one center who could play in all situations and he recently surpassed 1,000 career points, becoming just the 93rd player in NHL history to reach that particular milestone.  This season, Getzlaf has been limited to just 49 games but still sits third on the Ducks in assists, showing that even as he’s about to hang up his skates, he’s still a pretty strong playmaker.

Wilson Resigns: After missing the majority of the season while being on medical leave, long-time Sharks general manager Doug Wilson has tendered his resignation to focus on his health and recovery.  Wilson had been at the helm in San Jose since 2003 with the team making 14 playoff appearances during that time.  In the meantime, interim GM Joe Will will continue in that role until a permanent GM is hired.  The organization has committed to waiting for all prospective candidates to be available to be interviewed which suggests that Wilson’s replacement won’t be hired in the near future.

NCAA Champions: The University of Denver is the 2022 NCAA National Champions after beating Minnesota St. on Saturday night in the final game of the Frozen Four tournament.  It’s their ninth-ever title, tying them with Michigan for the most ever.  Flyers prospect Bobby Brink led the Pioneers in scoring this season with 57 points in 41 games which also made him the NCAA’s scoring leader.  He was rewarded for his efforts with a three-year, entry-level deal that begins this season, meaning that the 34th pick in 2019 should be making his NHL debut in the coming days.

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We’ve hit the home stretch of the season and while most of the activity over the past week has been college players signing contracts, there was some notable news around the NHL which is highlighted in our top stories.

Done For The Year: The Flames will be without center Sean Monahan for the rest of the season as the center will soon undergo hip surgery.  It’s not the hip he had repaired last summer either which certainly is far from ideal for the veteran.  Monahan’s season ends with just 23 points in 65 games and he already has been placed on LTIR.  Meanwhile, Coyotes winger Clayton Keller suffered a broken leg which carries a recovery time of four to six months.  While it has been a tough year offensively for many Arizona players, that wasn’t the case for Keller as he had already set a new career high in goals (28) while his 63 points were two shy of his career best.  Now, the team will simply be hoping that Keller’s recovery won’t take the full six months as if that happens, his availability for the start of next season would be in question.

Ironman Streak Ends: One day, Keith Yandle’s record-setting ironman streak was going to come to an end.  It turns out that day was Saturday as the Flyers decided to make the veteran a healthy scratch, ending his streak at 989 consecutive regular season games played.  The move was somewhat controversial since Philadelphia is well out of the playoff picture but they’ve decided to ensure their prospects have the playing time.  Yandle has struggled considerably this season with just one goal along with 14 assists in 67 games, a far cry from the type of production he was putting up in his prime.

Two More For Goligoski: When Alex Goligoski signed a one-year, $5MM contract with the Wild last summer, it looked like he might be a one-and-done player with the team heading towards a cap crunch next season.  However, the defenseman has done well in his first season with his hometown team, picking up 28 points in 59 games while averaging nearly 19 minutes a night.  That was enough for Minnesota to decide to keep him around a little longer as they signed him to a two-year, $4MM extension which also contains a no-move clause.  Goligoski has been scratched a bit as of late after the acquisition of Jacob Middleton from San Jose but it’s still a pretty low price tag for a serviceable veteran who is set to reach the 1,000 games played mark next season.

GM Meetings Roundup: For the first time in two years, all 32 NHL general managers were able to meet in person with several items on the agenda.  The key headline was that the salary cap will still increase as expected to $82.5MM next season, an increase of $1MM, one that had been in some question due to lowered revenue projections when the Canadian teams were facing attendance restrictions.  While LTIR was discussed, no changes are forthcoming on that front (plus, it’s a CBA issue so changes would require the approval of the NHLPA).  Additionally, there are now plans to establish a database of no-move and no-trade clauses that would be jointly filed with NHL Central Registry and the NHLPA.  This, of course, comes on the heels of the since-voided Evgenii Dadonov trade where Vegas wasn’t aware that Anaheim was on Dadonov’s no-trade list.

Melnyk Passes Away: We end on a sad note as Senators owner Eugene Melnyk passed away at the age of 62.  He bought the team back in 2003 back when it was in bankruptcy and relocation looked like a legitimate possibility.  Since then, the team has had its fair share of ups and downs but did make it to the Stanley Cup Final back in 2007 and Ottawa has amassed several quality pieces as they look to emerge from their current rebuild in the near future.  Everyone here at PHR joins those in the hockey world in extending our condolences to his family and friends.

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The trade market continues to be quiet with the deadline just over a week away but there was still some notable news on the transaction front which is highlighted in our key stories of the week.

Ristolainen’s Sticking Around: One of the more prominent potential unrestricted free agent defensemen is off the market as Rasmus Ristolainen signed a five-year, $25.5MM contract extension with the Flyers.  The 27-year-old continues to be one of the more polarizing rearguards around the league.  Philadelphia paid a significant price to get him at the draft including a first-round pick but his underlying metrics have never been good.  Nevertheless, GM Chuck Fletcher clearly values Ristolainen to make this type of commitment to him, one that actually represents a small dip in pay compared to his current $5.4MM AAV.

Subban Won’t Be Sticking Around: The Devils have informed veteran defenseman P.K. Subban that they will not be retaining him beyond this season.  The 32-year-old is in the final season of an eight-year, $72MM contract that at the time, made him the highest-paid defender in the NHL.  However, his numbers have tapered off in recent seasons and he has just 18 points in 56 games this season.  As a result of the decision to move on from him, New Jersey will likely try to find a taker for Subban’s services but since they can only retain $4.5MM of his AAV, that may be tricky to do and may require a third team to get involved to hold back another chunk.  Either way, Subban will be hitting the open market in July.

Good And Bad News For Dallas: Joe Pavelski has certainly impressed since joining Dallas three years ago and is on pace for a career year at the age of 37 as he has 23 goals and 37 assists in 57 games.  He decided he likes playing for the Stars and opted to turn down a shot at testing the open market, instead signing a one-year extension.  The deal is worth a guaranteed $5.5MM with an extra $500K in games played bonuses – $100K for every ten games played up to 50.  It’s a small decrease compared to the $7MM he’s making now while the bonus structure gives Dallas a bit of extra cap flexibility for next season since those can be rolled over to 2023-24 if needed.  Unfortunately for the Stars, the news wasn’t all good as blueliner Miro Heiskanen is out indefinitely due to a bout with mononucleosis.

Another Injury For Fabbri: Red Wings winger Robby Fabbri has had some tough luck when it comes to knee injuries over the years and it looks like he will be dealing with another one as he is believed to have suffered a torn ACL.  If that’s the case, his season will be over and he’ll be questionable for the start of training camp.  Fabbri has done well to establish himself in Detroit and has been one of their more consistent secondary scorers.  He has 30 points in 56 games this season and his performance was good enough for the team to give him a three-year, $12MM extension back in December.

McCann Gets Paid: Over the past few years, Kraken center Jared McCann had shown flashes of offensive upside but wasn’t able to put it together with any sort of consistency.  The opportunity to play big minutes with regularity in Seattle has helped him to realize some of that potential and for that, he was rewarded with a five-year, $25MM extension.  The deal contains a 10-team no-trade clause in the last four seasons of the deal, the only ones eligible for trade protection as the first year of the contract is an RFA-eligible one.  The 25-year-old leads Seattle in goals with 23 and is tied for the lead in points with 35 in 53 games this season.

The weeks leading up to the trade deadline can often be quiet and with so many teams this season being tight to the salary cap, this past week was no exception.  Nevertheless, there was some notable news around the hockey world over the past seven days which is recapped in our key stories.

Cancer For Top Draft Prospect: Winger Ivan Miroshnichenko has been viewed as one of the top prospects heading into the upcoming draft.  Unfortunately, he has a big fight to overcome before he can think about hockey again as it was revealed that the 18-year-old has been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and could miss the entire 2022-23 campaign as a result.  The good news is that it’s believed to be the most common form and is curable but even with that, it’s likely to affect his draft stock in July.

Extensions: There should be an uptick in contract extensions over the next couple of weeks and that started over the weekend.  First, Arizona handed center Travis Boyd a two-year, $3.5MM extension with the 28-year-old in the midst of a career year.  Boyd’s previous high in salary in a single season was $800K and now he’ll average more than double that much over the next two seasons.  Meanwhile, Ben Hutton went from having to start the season on a minor league tryout to securing a new two-year, $1.7MM deal from the Golden Knights.  The 28-year-old has logged nearly 15 minutes a night on the back end for Vegas this season and as a result, earned a small raise on his league minimum salary this season.

Interim Tag Lifted: Chicago’s search for their next general manager is over and it turns out they had the right fit all along as the team removed the interim tag from Kyle Davidson, elevating him to the full-time role.  The 33-year-old has been with the organization since 2010 when he started as an intern and has now worked his way up to the top role and had been in the interim role following the departure of Stan Bowman.  Bowman has committed to a rebuilding process for the Blackhawks and has already started to rebuild the front office, parting ways with long-time executives Mark Kelley (VP of Amateur Scouting) and Ryan Stewart (assistant GM).

Del Zotto Drawing Interest: Generally speaking, players that clear waivers with multi-year contracts that wind up in the minors don’t typically garner much interest at the trade deadline.  That doesn’t appear to be the case for Senators blueliner Michael Del Zotto following a report that teams are calling about the 31-year-old.  Del Zotto is signed through next season with a $2MM AAV, a contract that Ottawa will either need to pay down or take a similarly-priced player back.  The veteran has been quite productive with AHL Belleville, averaging over a point per game since joining them and would provide some teams with a bit of extra firepower from the back end.

Stalock To Sharks: With James Reimer out week-to-week and Adin Hill already on IR, the Sharks decided to swing a move to bring back a familiar netminder, acquiring Alex Stalock from Edmonton in exchange for future considerations.  San Jose actually drafted the 34-year-old back in 2005 but that’s not what makes this notable.  Stalock was originally expected to be out for the season due to myocarditis but worked his way back to full health and got into five games with AHL Bakersfield before the swap and now he’s back in the NHL.  Even if he doesn’t play much, that’s still a nice accomplishment considering his situation just a few months ago.

With the NHL off for several days due to the All-Star break, it was a fairly quiet week around the league although there was still some news of note which is recapped in our top stories.

Updated COVID Protocols: The NHL and NHLPA jointly announced several changes to their COVID protocol.  Notable among the changes is the removal of the enhanced safety measures put in earlier in the season as well as removing the daily testing requirement for fully vaccinated players as well as lifting the testing requirement for close contacts.  That should result in a significant reduction in the number of players of COVID protocol but it won’t eliminate them entirely as earlier today, New Jersey’s Jack Hughes and Carolina’s Jesperi Kotkaniemi both entered COVID protocol.

Columbus Injuries: The Blue Jackets have had a tough year on the injury front this season and that trend continued with two more injuries.  First, defenseman Jake Bean will be out for four weeks due to a groin strain.  The 23-year-old has impressed after coming over from Carolina in a draft day trade, logging more than 21 minutes a night on the back end, good for third among Columbus blueliners.  Two days later, winger Eric Robinson was ruled out for six weeks due to an MCL sprain sustained on a hit from Florida’s Radko Gudas.  Robinson has 17 points in 42 games this season and is one point away from matching his career high.

Three For Greenway: The Wild took care of one of their pending restricted free agents early, inking winger Jordan Greenway to a three-year, $9MM contract extension.  The 24-year-old is in the final year of his bridge deal and would have been owed a $2.52MM qualifying offer this summer.  This contract gives him a bit more than that while Minnesota locks in a power forward at an affordable price.  While they likely would have preferred to work out a long-term pact, their cap situation for next season with higher buyout costs for Zach Parise and Ryan Suter would have made that difficult.  Greenway also received an eight-team no-trade clause in the final season of the deal, the only year he was eligible for trade protection as it’s the only UFA-eligible year covered in the contract.

Verbeek To Anaheim: After running with Jeff Solomon as their interim GM for close to three months, the Ducks made their decision on who their next GM will be, hiring Pat Verbeek away from Detroit.  Verbeek has spent the last 15 seasons in an NHL front office, working his way up from being a scout to an assistant GM and this will be his first opportunity to run a franchise.  With three prominent pending unrestricted free agents in defensemen Josh Manson and Hampus Lindholm plus winger Rickard Rakell, Verbeek will have his work cut out for him quickly.  Meanwhile, the Red Wings wasted little time finding Verbeek’s replacement, promoting Shawn Horcoff to assistant GM and GM of AHL Grand Rapids.  The long-time NHL center has been in Detroit’s front office since retiring back in 2016.

Key Events Revealed: As is often the case at the All-Star Game, the league revealed some of their key events for next season.  The 2023 Winter Classic will be hosted by Boston at Fenway Park with an opponent yet to be determined.  Carolina will host a Stadium Series game at Carter-Finley Stadium, home of the NC State Wolfpack for their first-ever outdoor contest.  Also, Florida will host the All-Star game on February 3rd and 4th.  The NHL also intends to resume their Global Series although that was also the plan for this season before that was scrapped due to COVID.