Week In Review

The end of November brought forth some notable news around the NHL which is highlighted in our key stories of the week.

Five For Biting: Kings winger Brendan Lemieux was hit with a record-setting suspension, receiving a five-game ban for biting Senators winger Brady Tkachuk.  The previous high for a suspension for biting was three games.  The league’s ruling was limited to the initial occurrence although they acknowledged that there was circumstantial evidence that it may have occurred more than once.  Lemieux has sat the first two games of the suspension and won’t be eligible to return until Saturday against Minnesota.

Khudobin Available: With Dallas having a capable tandem between the pipes in veteran Braden Holtby and youngster Jake Oettinger plus Ben Bishop working his way back towards returning, Anton Khudobin appears to be the odd one out as he has reportedly been made available.  It was only two seasons ago that the 35-year-old led the league in save percentage at .930, albeit in only 30 games but since then, his performance has gone in the wrong direction.  Through his first seven appearances this season, Khudobin has a 3.73 GAA with a save percentage of just .873 which certainly won’t help his trade value.  He’s in the second season of a three-year deal with an AAV of $3.33MM which won’t be easy for many teams to take on without offsetting money the other way.  Of course, the Stars need to clear the full contract to get closer to being able to afford to activate Bishop so it may take a while for a trade to materialize.

Hughes Extension: On the ice, it hasn’t been a fun season for Devils center Jack Hughes.  A shoulder injury has limited him to just five games so far although he was able to return to the lineup on November 30th.  Of course, the bigger news for him and New Jersey on that day is that the 20-year-old signed an eight-year, $64MM contract extension.  The first overall pick in 2019 has just 56 career points in 122 games so there is definitely some risk on the part of the Devils.  However, if he progresses into the top-line center as they believe he will, it’s a contract that should be a team-friendly one by its conclusion.  The deal buys out his first four seasons of UFA eligibility and those years also carry a 10-team no-trade clause.

DeBrusk Wants Out: Off to another tough start with Boston, winger Jake DeBrusk is hoping a change of scenery could get him going and he has asked for a trade.  The 25-year-old scored 62 goals in his first three NHL seasons which earned him a two-year, $7.35MM deal that carries a $4.85MM qualifying offer this summer.  However, since then, he has scored nine times in 61 games which has resulted in him dropping down the depth chart, putting him in danger of being non-tendered in the process.  Despite his struggles, there has been considerable interest so the Bruins will have some options.  That said, his cap hit will make it tough to make a move happen without them retaining or taking a contract back.  The holiday roster freeze begins on December 20th so there is some time for GM Don Sweeney to try to get a move done before the holidays.

Changes In Vancouver: The Canucks have cleaned house, firing head coach Travis Green, assistant coach Nolan Baumgartner, general manager Jim Benning and assistant general manager John Weisbrod. Bruce Boudreau will take over behind the bench, while Stan Smyl will serve as interim GM. Boudreau has coached nearly 1,000 career NHL games with the most recent coming with Minnesota in the 2019-20 season and will be tasked with getting Vancouver back on track in a season where they have struggled considerably early on.  He will receive a two-year deal that matches the length of Green’s contract.  He departs the Canucks after parts of five seasons behind the bench with a 133-147-34 record and one playoff appearance. Benning meanwhile had been with the team since 2014 and had made the playoffs just twice in his eight years at the helm. Things have gone considerably downhill since the 2020 bubble, with the team finding themselves near the bottom of the league standings this season.

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The final full week of November got off to a quiet start but there was plenty of notable news towards the end of the week which are highlighted in our key stories.

Big Money On Waivers: The Senators haven’t been pleased with what they’re received from Matt Murray since he became their starting goalie last year and with him being off to a tough start this season, they opted to waive him to give him some time in the minors to try to get back on track.  With two years left after this at $6.25MM, he cleared as expected, enabling him to be sent to Belleville.  One day later, Sharks winger Evander Kane finds himself on the wire as well.  His suspension to start the season for providing a fake vaccination card is up but amid speculation that San Jose would like to move on from the 30-year-old, he’ll start his season in the AHL assuming he clears on Monday.  With the team being willing to retain on his $7MM AAV, it’s quite unlikely he’ll be claimed.

Lemieux In Trouble: Kings winger Brendan Lemieux has already been suspended twice in his young career and it looks quite likely that a third is on the horizon.  After he received a match penalty (which carries an automatic suspension pending a hearing) for biting Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk, the league offered Lemieux an ‘in-person’ hearing (which is currently conducted through Zoom).  That gives them the ability to suspend him for more than five games.  That’s notable considering the longest biting suspension has been three games.  The time for the hearing has not yet been set.

Front Office Shakeup: The front office for the Canadiens looks a lot different all of a sudden.  After assistant GM Scott Mellanby resigned on Saturday, the Canadiens then fired GM Marc Bergevin and assistant GM Trevor Timmins who had been in charge of their amateur scouting.  Montreal made the playoffs in six of the nine years that Bergevin was at the helm while they made it to the Stanley Cup Final this past summer.  However, the two sides were unable to agree on a new contract in the offseason and with the team off to a tough start this season, ownership decided a new direction was needed.  The executive tasked with shaping that new direction is Jeff Gorton.  The former Rangers GM has been added as VP of Hockey Operations and will play a key role in their search for a new general manager.

More Postponements: The Islanders are the second team to have games affected by a COVID outbreak as the league postponed their games through November 30th which means at least two games will need to be rescheduled.  New York currently has eight players in COVID protocol as well as three off-ice personnel.  Ottawa had three games postponed earlier this month due to their own outbreak which triggered an ability for the NHL to opt out of playing in the upcoming Olympics.

Leave Of Absence For Wilson: Sharks GM Doug Wilson is taking a temporary leave of absence from the team for non-COVID medical reasons.  The recent Hall of Fame inductee has reportedly been dealing with a persistent cough for the last three months.  Assistant GM Joe Will will take over as interim GM in Wilson’s absence.  Everyone here at PHR extends their best to Wilson as we hope to see him back on the job as soon as possible.

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The one-quarter mark of the season is fast approaching which should soon yield an increase in activity on the transactions front.  In the meantime, here’s a look back at the top stories from the past seven days including several notable injuries around the league.

Veteran Retirements: A pair of veterans decided to officially call it a career.  Long-time blueliner Dion Phaneuf announced his retirement at the age of 36.  If you thought he had already retired, it would be understandable as he last played in 2019.  Phaneuf’s playing days end with 1.048 games played, 494 points, and 1,345 penalty minutes across 14 seasons.  He’ll remain on the books for the Kings through the end of next season with an AAV of just over $1MM due to his buyout in 2019.  Meanwhile, winger Troy Brouwer also hung up his skates.  He last played in 2020 with St. Louis and was unable to find a team for this season although his $1.5MM payment from Calgary in the last year of his buyout should serve as a nice consolation prize.  Brouwer collected 363 points in 851 games over parts of 14 seasons.

Notable Injuries: Philadelphia didn’t have Ryan Ellis back for long.  After the defenseman returned from his lower-body injury, he wound re-aggravating it and will now miss the next four to six weeks as a result.  He was their most prominent offseason acquisition but Ellis has only been able to play in four games so far.  Meanwhile, Sammy Blais’ season has come to an early end as he suffered a torn ACL in a collision with New Jersey’s P.K. Subban.  Blais brought some physicality to the Rangers lineup as he had 37 hits in 14 games before the injury.  He’ll become a restricted free agent this summer.  Lastly, Lightning center Brayden Point is out indefinitely after being injured when tripped up on a breakaway in Saturday’s game (although he was able to finish the game).  Tampa Bay is now without two of its offensive stars as Nikita Kucherov is also out for the next six weeks or so.

Bednar’s Sticking Around: It has been a quieter start to the year for the Avalanche as some early struggles coupled with injuries have had them hovering near the .500 mark.  However, with head coach Jared Bednar in the final year of his contract, GM Joe Sakic decided to get rid of any lame-duck discussion by inking the bench boss to a two-year contract extension.  Bednar is in his sixth season behind the bench in Colorado and is the second-winningest coach in Avalanche history.  His clubs have also made the playoffs in four straight seasons heading into this one although they’ve yet to make it past the second round so far.  It appears that Sakic believes that Bednar will be able to get them past that particular hurdle sooner than later.

More COVID Trouble: This past week was supposed to be an exciting one for the Islanders as they opened up UBS Arena after spending more than a month on the road to start the season.  However, they’ve been the latest team to be hit with COVID as they have six skaters in COVID protocol – defensemen Adam Pelech and Andy Greene plus forwards Anders Lee, Josh Bailey, Kieffer Bellows, and Ross Johnston.  To make matters worse, they also learned that they’ll be without top blueliner Ryan Pulock for the next four-to-six weeks due to a lower-body injury.

Back To Junior: While Mason McTavish made Anaheim’s roster out of training camp and was playing a regular role in the lineup, the Ducks have decided that he’s better served going back to junior as they assigned him to Peterborough of the OHL.  The 18-year-old was the third-overall pick this past summer and had two goals and an assist in nine games which averaging just over 13 minutes per contest.  By going back to junior, he’ll still have three years remaining on his three-year, entry-level contract after the season and he won’t accrue a season of service time towards UFA eligibility.

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It was another busy week around the NHL with some significant news off the ice.  Those are among those highlighted in the key stories of the past seven days.

Back To Junior: A handful of NHL players that still have junior eligibility can play up to nine games without burning the first year of their entry-level deals.  Some have already gone past that threshold while others were holding their prospects out of the lineup periodically to take more time to decide their plans.  A pair of teams made their decisions as Washington assigned center Hendrix Lapierre back to Acadie-Bathurst of the QMJHL while St. Louis did the same with winger Jake Neighbours, sending him to Edmonton of the WHL.  Both players were first-round picks back in 2020 but after logging less than ten minutes a game, this decision is the right one from a development standpoint while ensuring both prospects will still have three years left on their entry-level deals heading into next season.

Successful Surgery: So far, so good for Golden Knights center Jack Eichel who successfully underwent artificial disk replacement surgery on his neck on Friday.  Now the big question becomes how long the recovery timeline will be.  Early indications have been that it will range between three and five months but with it being the first time that the procedure has been done on an NHL player, there isn’t much in the way of precedent to work with.  The recovery time will be worth following; not only will his return give Vegas an improved top line but it will also serve as the pressure point for GM Kelly McCrimmon to clear the cap space required to activate him from LTIR.

Price Returns To Montreal: Carey Price’s stay in the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program was indeed the minimum of 30 days as he returned to the Canadiens and worked with their training staff off the ice.  The veteran goaltender also released a statement regarding his absence, indicating that he entered a residential treatment facility for substance use as he works his way through neglecting his mental health for the past several years.  There remains no timeline for his return as he has yet to begin on-ice activity while Price’s statement also acknowledged the uncertainty for when he might be able to suit up again.  As for Montreal’s current goaltending situation, Jake Allen, who has filled in as the starter in Price’s absence, suffered an injury on Saturday night, leaving the team down to their third-and fourth-string options.

Key Injuries: It has been a quiet start to the season for Colorado as they sit fifth in the Central Division with a 6-5-1 record.  They’ve been hit fairly hard with injuries early on and that list grew with the announcement that top center Nathan MacKinnon will miss three weeks due to a lower-body injury.  While the veteran only has scored once in eight games, he had nine assists over that stretch and is once again one of their top scorers.  Meanwhile, the Devils won’t be getting winger Miles Wood back anytime soon as it was revealed that he underwent hip surgery and is out indefinitely.  He suffered the injury back in the preseason and with rehab not going as planned, he went under the knife instead.  The expectation is that he’ll be out for several months, a tough blow for Wood who tied for the team lead in goals last season.

Murray Resigns: Bob Murray’s tenure as general manager of the Ducks came to an abrupt end.  After being placed on administrative leave pending an investigation related to professional conduct, he tendered his resignation with an announcement that he will be enrolling in a treatment program for alcohol abuse.  Murray had been with Anaheim since 2005 and took over the GM chair during the 2008-09 season.  Jeff Solomon, who came over from the Kings this past summer, has been named their interim GM with ownership pledging to complete a “methodical, extensive search” with a target of having that completed no later than next summer.

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The beginning of November yielded quite a bit of activity around the NHL with the biggest ones being highlighted in the key stories of the week.

More Changes In Chicago: Blackhawks interim GM Kyle Davidson made a significant change in one of his first moves since being promoted as he fired head coach Jeremy Colliton along with assistants Tomas Mitell and Sheldon Brookbank.  Taking over behind the bench is Derek King who will also carry the interim title but will remain in that role for the rest of the season.  Chicago is off to a terrible start this season with a 1-9-2 record heading into Sunday’s contest so the move doesn’t come as much surprise.  The team posted an 87-92-26 record under Colliton’s tutelage in his first stint behind an NHL bench.  King now finds himself in the same situation as he looks to try to turn things around quickly.

Prospect Loans: A pair of notable prospects are heading overseas.  Although William Eklund certainly looked like he belonged in the NHL with his early-season performance, the Sharks decided to send him back to Sweden for the remainder of the year.  This is a move that’s primarily based on contractual control over his performance; Eklund now won’t burn the first year of his entry-level deal and will still have three years left on his deal and seven seasons of club control heading into 2022-23.  Meanwhile, the Rangers assigned Vitali Kravtsov to Traktor Chelyabinsk of the KHL, allowing the prospect to resume playing.  Kravtsov elected not to report to AHL Hartford after being sent down last month with a trade request following soon after.  That clearly hasn’t happened and now, the 21-year-old will at least get to play and try to help boost his value around the league.

Eichel Traded: It’s over.  After months of speculation, the Sabres traded center Jack Eichel along with a 2023 third-round pick to the Golden Knights for winger Alex Tuch, prospect center Peyton Krebs, a 2022 first-round pick, and a 2023 second-rounder.  Eichel is now set to undergo artificial disk replacement surgery this week and will miss three-to-five months while recovering.  The move gives Vegas the number one center they have been coveting, assuming that Eichel returns to full health.  There will be cap complications to navigate through once Vegas is fully healthy and there is a cap crunch coming for next season and beyond.  Meanwhile, Buffalo had to make a cap-related move of a different kind, acquiring the rights to Johnny Boychuk from the Islanders for future considerations.  Boychuk’s playing days are over but his $6MM AAV will be on Buffalo’s books, keeping them over the cap floor.  The trade appears to be relatively well-received on both sides with our readers assigning a ‘B’ grade for both teams.

Key Injuries: It was a tough week on the injury front for several teams who saw some key players land on injured reserve.  Capitals winger Anthony Mantha is out indefinitely after undergoing shoulder surgery, a big blow for a team that’s already banged up when it comes to some of their top forwards.  Meanwhile, Blue Jackets winger Patrik Laine’s strong start has been put on hold as an oblique injury will keep him out for the next four-to-six weeks.  Vegas, who has been hit harder than pretty much everyone on the injury front this season, suffered another blow as a broken foot for William Karlsson will put him on the shelf for the next six weeks.

Big Money For Fox: Rangers defenseman Adam Fox wasn’t slated to become a restricted free agent until July but he won’t be getting to that point as the 23-year-old instead signed a seven-year, $66.5MM contract extension.  The reigning Norris Trophy winner set a new record for the richest contract given to a blueliner coming off their entry-level deal while his $9.5MM AAV puts him tied for the fourth-highest price among all NHL defenders starting in 2022-23.  The price tag is certainly justifiable as Fox has quickly become one of the elite rearguards in the league and is off to another impressive start this season with a dozen points in as many games.  Notably, New York gains an extra four years of club control on Fox, ensuring that he won’t be able to hit the open market until 2029 at the earliest.

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It was a busy week in the hockey world both on and off the ice.  Away from the rink, the results of the John Doe (later revealed to be Kyle Beach) sexual assault investigation were made public with some significant departures coming soon after.  Meanwhile, there were some notable injuries and extensions as well which are all highlighted in the top stories of the week.

Changes In Chicago: The aforementioned investigation showed that Blackhawks executives Stan Bowman and Al MacIsaac were aware of what happened having been part of a seven-executive meeting to discuss it.  At the time the results of the investigation were released, it was announced that Bowman (who had been one of the longer-tenured GMs in the league) and MacIsaac (Senior VP of Hockey Operations) were no longer with the organization; Bowman officially stepped aside.  Soon after, it was revealed that he stepped aside from his GM role with USA Hockey for the upcoming Olympics as well.  Kyle Davidson has assumed the interim GM duties for the Blackhawks.

Coaching Change In Florida: Also in that meeting was then-head coach Joel Quenneville.  He had since moved onto Florida and while he was behind the bench for the Panthers for the first game after the report came out, it would be his last as he resigned soon after a meeting with Commissioner Gary Bettman.  Assistant Andrew Brunette has taken over on an interim basis while a search is underway to find their next bench boss.  Meanwhile, Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff, who was part of that meeting as well, will not be disciplined by the NHL.

Rielly Sticks Around: One of the questions for the Maple Leafs heading into training camp was whether or not they’d be able to afford an extension for defenseman Morgan Rielly and still have their four forwards that take up roughly half the salary cap on their books.  It appears they’re going to try to do just that as Toronto inked the blueliner to an eight-year, $60MM extension.  The $7.5MM AAV means that they will have roughly $48MM tied up in just five players for next season which will be tricky to navigate.  However, the core of their back end is also now intact for a little while as Rielly, Jake Muzzin, and T.J. Brodie are all signed through 2023-24 which should give them some stability on that front.

Kucherov Out Again: Nikita Kucherov is back on LTIR once again as he will miss eight to ten weeks after undergoing a successful procedure to repair an undisclosed leg injury.  Kucherov notably missed all of last season with a hip issue before returning to help lead Tampa Bay to their second straight Stanley Cup with the team being able to spend his $9.5MM AAV on replacements to bolster their roster.  With Kucherov expected to return later this season, that won’t be the case this time around as they’ll need to get back to cap compliance to activate him.  The 28-year-old had a goal and three assists in three games before suffering the injury.

Banged Up Kings: Los Angeles is a little shorthanded on the back end now with two of their top defenders out long term.  Drew Doughty, their top blueliner, won’t skate for six weeks with the hope that he’ll be able to return at the end of December.  Meanwhile, Sean Walker, one of their other right-shot rearguards, is out for the season after tearing his ACL and MCL.  Both players are eligible to go on LTIR and in Walker’s case, they’ll be able to spend his $2.65MM AAV to try to add a replacement, a search that has already begun.

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With it being so early in the season, teams are hesitant to make any moves as they get a feel for what they currently have on their rosters.  With that in mind, some of the bigger news of the week has come from other fronts.

COVID Trouble: A handful of teams have had players enter COVID protocol in the early going this season.  There were quite a few more this past week with Winnipeg forwards Blake Wheeler and Mark Scheifele, St. Louis winger Brandon Saad, Pittsburgh blueliner Kris Letang, and Blackhawks winger Patrick Kane among those missing time due to being in the protocol.  While there have been suggestions that the league might tone down the testing, weeks like this could put those plans on hold fairly quickly.

Gourde Returns Early: When Seattle selected Yanni Gourde from Tampa Bay in expansion, the enthusiasm was tempered down when it was revealed that he’d miss four months due to shoulder surgery.  Instead, he only missed four games as he was activated off IR which is well before even the most optimistic of timelines for recovery.  Gourde isn’t getting eased into action either as he has logged more than 22 minutes per game in each of his two appearances so far.

Kane Suspension: Following a series of investigations by the NHL into Sharks winger Evander Kane, the league levied a 21-game suspension to the 30-year-old for an established violation of, and lack of compliance with, the NHL/NHLPA COVID-19 Protocol.  The league didn’t identify what the exact violation was but there were reports earlier this month that he was being investigated for using a fake vaccination card.  Also in the announcement from the league was a statement that allegations regarding domestic abuse could not be substantiated.  Kane, who is not appealing the ban, is now ineligible to play until November 30th.

Heading Overseas: Veteran center Artem Anisimov was unable to catch on with another NHL team following being released from his PTO with Colorado so he has elected to go back to the KHL, inking a one-year deal with HC Lokomotiv.  That’s the program that Anisimov started out going back to his junior-aged days and he last suited up there during the lockout in the 2012-13 season.  If it’s the end for Anisimov in North America, he’ll wind up with 376 points in 771 career NHL contests, a pretty good return on a late second-round pick which is where the Rangers selected him back in 2006.

Hughes Injured: The strong start for Devils center Jack Hughes has been put on hold for a while with the announcement that the 20-year-old has suffered a disclosed shoulder and is out indefinitely.  Hughes had three points in his first two games including an overtime winner but will not need surgery.  It’s a contract year for the 2019 top pick so there is a lot on the line when he’s able to return as a long-term pact similar to the one Nico Hischier signed back in 2019 could be a possibility if he winds up not missing much time and has a productive 2021-22 campaign.

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With the regular season fast approaching, there was some significant news around the NHL which are included among the top stories of the past seven days.

Price Enters NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program: While it was unknown if the Canadiens would have Carey Price available to them on opening night as he works his way back from offseason knee surgery, they now know he won’t be available for at least the next 30 days after he voluntarily entered the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program.  GM Marc Bergevin expressed confidence that Price would return at some point this season although there is obviously no timetable for when that might happen.  Jake Allen and recent waiver claim Sam Montembeault will handle the goaltending duties for Montreal in the meantime.

Eichel Talks Pick Up: With both the Sabres and Jack Eichel’s camp firmly entrenched on their plans for what the preferred neck surgery is, things have largely been at a standstill lately.  However, there could finally be some progress on the trade front with talks picking up following Eichel’s medical information being shared and Buffalo being open to a conditional part of the return.  At the moment, Calgary and Anaheim are among the teams believed to still be in the mix for the 24-year-old who will miss a sizable chunk of this season when he eventually goes under the knife.

Big Money For Barkov: The Panthers didn’t want to let their franchise player get to the open market where he’d have been highly sought after next summer.  Mission accomplished as they agreed to an eight-year, $80MM extension with Aleksander Barkov.  The deal is heavily loaded in signing bonuses as the base salary for each year is only $1MM while the 26-year-old receives significant trade protection as well.  Barkov has been on one of the best bargain deals in the league over the past five seasons, emerging as one of the premier two-way centers in the league while basically being paid second-line money.  Florida will benefit from that bargain for one more year before this deal kicks in for the 2021-22 campaign.

White Out Long-Term: It was supposed to be a bounce-back campaign for Senators center Colin White.  After struggling at times to even get in the lineup last season, 2021-22 was going to be an opportunity for him to try to re-establish himself as part of Ottawa’s young core.  So much for that goal as the 24-year-old suffered a dislocated shoulder that requires surgery which will keep him out for four-to-six months.  While it’s possible that White is able to return late in the year, it will likely be in a limited role with how much time he will have missed.  The good news for him is that he still has three years left on his deal after this season so he’ll have another shot at reclaiming a full-time spot in the lineup in 2022-23.

Zibanejad’s Staying: Rangers center Mika Zibanejad had made it clear that he wanted to stay in New York and he got his wish as the two sides worked out an eight-year, $68MM extension that begins next season.  The 28-year-old has blossomed into a number one center since coming over from Ottawa in 2016 and has seen his production increase significantly over the past three seasons, averaging just over a point per game over that stretch.  The deal ensures that their top center will be sticking around and will likely take them out of any further discussions for Eichel as it’s unlikely they’ll be able to afford both of them on their books with so many youngsters in need of second contracts over the next two years.

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Training camp is already well underway and we’re now less than two weeks from the start of the regular season. Things are heating up all around the league, plus a few key restricted free agents finally sign.

Back To Work: The NHL’s Department of Player Safety had to get back to work, suspending Ridly Greig of the Ottawa Senators and Dylan McIlrath of the Washington Capitals for preseason and regular season games. Notably, Greig was loaned to junior today, meaning whenever he’s ready to start his NHL career he’ll have to sit out a game.

More Investigations: When the NHL announced that Evander Kane had been cleared of any allegations related to gambling on his own games, they also indicated that he was involved in another investigation into “potential wrongdoing.” The league then changed that press release, including an explanation that Kane was actually involved in two different new investigations. One of those, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, had to do with a potential breach of COVID protocol. Kane remains away from Sharks camp for the time being.

Atlantic Extensions: An executive that has won a pair of Stanley Cup championships and a head coach that hasn’t won a playoff series each received an extension this week, as the Tampa Bay Lightning gave Julien BriseBois a multi-year deal and the Toronto Maple Leafs added two years onto Sheldon Keefe’s contract. BriseBois was a dream candidate for several other teams but will stay with the powerhouse he built in Tampa for the time being. Keefe meanwhile is heading into his first 82-game season with the Maple Leafs and has plenty of pressure to get the team deeper into the postseason.

Waiver Bait: Nearly 100 players have been put on waivers since they opened on Thursday, with a few claimed by new organizations. The Montreal Canadiens have added Sam Montembeault as an extra goaltender, while the New Jersey Devils added some size by grabbing Mason Geertsen. With the season approaching even more players will be exposed in the coming days and could get their chance with a new team.

Breathe, Vancouver: The Vancouver Canucks can get back to preparing for the regular season with their full complement of talent, after signing both Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson to multi-year deals. Hughes landed a six-year, $47.1MM deal, while Pettersson is now on a three-year bridge worth $22.05MM. The team is tight to the salary cap now, but can easily get under the upper limit for the start of the season and now have everyone back together. Brady Tkachuk now sits as the only major restricted free agent without a contract.

The start of training camp often brings about a small flurry of transactions and this time was no exception as several notable moves highlight the top stories of the week.

Goalie Extensions: With Columbus set to have both Elvis Merzlikins and Joonas Korpisalo entering the final year of their contracts before being eligible for unrestricted free agency next summer, it felt like only a matter of time before one of them was extended.  That’s what happened as Merzlikins inked a five-year, $27MM extension, his $5.4MM AAV representing a small raise on his current $4MM deal.  Merzlikins has played in just 61 career regular season games but he has played well for the Blue Jackets over his two NHL campaigns.  With his deal now done, Korpisalo is likely to be involved in plenty of trade speculation over the next few months unless he’s able to agree to a new deal of his own as well.

Meanwhile, the Kings also signed netminder Cal Petersen to a three-year, $15MM extension, ensuring he’ll be sticking around beyond the upcoming year.  The 26-year-old has just 54 career appearances in the NHL, the bulk of which came last season.  It’s a high price tag for someone that isn’t all that proven but with Jonathan Quick now 35 and not a true starter anymore, this move allows Los Angeles to keep their goalie tandem intact a little longer while being short enough to not cripple their cap situation if they have to go in a different direction later on.

Calling It A Career: Veteran center Travis Zajac has decided to retire but wanted to do so as a member of the Devils.  He did just that, signing a one-day contract before officially hanging up his skates.  Zajac played in over 1,000 games with New Jersey over his 15-year career with his only time away from them coming near the 2021 trade deadline when he was moved to the Islanders to help in their playoff run.  Overall, he sits third in Devils history in games played and points while making more than $60MM in career earnings.

Kaprizov Signs: It took a lot longer than the Wild had hoped for but they eventually were able to sign top winger Kirill Kaprizov to a five-year, $45MM contract.  It’s a significant sum for someone with just one NHL season under his belt – a pandemic-shortened one at that.  However, Minnesota is clearly banking on the hope that the 24-year-old, who led the team in scoring last season, still has some room to improve and that he’ll be the focal point of their attack for the next five seasons.  Kaprizov received a full no-move clause in the final two seasons of the deal; those were the only ones he was eligible to receive trade protection for as those were the UFA-eligible years.

Two Months For Malkin: When Penguins center Evgeni Malkin underwent knee surgery this summer, there was no firm timeline for his return, only an indication that an update would be coming at training camp.  That update has arrived and the news isn’t great for Pittsburgh as it was revealed that Malkin will miss the first two months of the season as he continues his recovery.  This comes on the heels of Sidney Crosby having wrist surgery that will see him missing some time to start the season as well.  The Penguins will turn to veteran Jeff Carter in the top center role for the time being.

Bridge For Dahlin: While the Sabres weren’t able to sign Rasmus Dahlin to a long-term contract, they did manage to get a bridge deal in place, signing the 2018 top pick to a three-year, $18MM pact.  Dahlin struggled considerably last season which certainly didn’t help his bargaining power in negotiations but over his first three NHL campaigns, he has shown flashes of a strong offensive game.  The term of the deal means that the 21-year-old will be a restricted free agent at its expiration, giving the two sides another shot at working out a long-term agreement.  His qualifying offer at that time will be $7.2MM.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.