Week In Review

The opening week of March featured quite a few notable headlines across the NHL which are highlighted in our key stories.

Stepan’s Season Over: Senators center Derek Stepan had been in trade speculation for the past several weeks.  It was the likely outcome for a team that was expected to flip him to a contender and they were hoping to get him back to the United States where he could be with his family.  He’ll be able to rejoin them now but not by a trade as it was confirmed that he will miss the rest of the season due to a shoulder injury that required surgery.  Stepan’s season ends with just one goal and five assists in 20 games, hardly the level of production he was hoping to have in his final year before becoming an unrestricted free agent.  All of a sudden, Stepan goes from potentially being one of the better centers available to one that will simply be looking to have a bounce-back year.

Tarasenko Returns: Forget about waiting to see what the Blues are able to do at the trade deadline.  No, their best acquisition came on Saturday when Vladimir Tarasenko, their top winger, was activated off LTIR and made his season debut that night.  The 29-year-old has been one of the more dangerous scoring threats in the league when he is healthy and will give a St. Louis attack that’s already tied for third in the league in goals scored another level.  With several other players on LTIR, no corresponding cap-clearing move was required.

Seabrook Hangs Them Up: Heading into the season, Blackhawks defenseman Brent Seabrook was expected to return but was ruled as unavailable with no timeline for a return.  As it turns out, there won’t be a return after all.  Instead, the 35-year-old announced that his playing days have come to an end due to a lingering hip issue.  Seabrook was a key cog on Chicago’s back end for parts of 15 seasons, playing in over 1,100 career regular season games plus another 123 in the playoffs where he helped lead the team to three Stanley Cup titles.  He remains under contract through 2023-24 and hasn’t officially retired which means he will be on LTIR for the rest of this season plus the next three although Chicago will be able to spend over the cap to replace him.

Calgary Changes Coaches: With the Flames scuffling and sitting on the outside looking in at a playoff spot, Geoff Ward’s tenure as head coach appeared to be tenuous and ultimately came to an end as he was relieved of his duties.  While that may not have been too much of a shock, what was quite surprising was his replacement as Darryl Sutter was brought back for a second stint with Calgary, signing a three-year contract.  The 62-year-old was behind the bench with the Flames from 2002 through 2006 during which the team made it to the Stanley Cup Final.  Notably, he’s a direct contrast from Ward’s coaching style as it appears that GM Brad Treliving believes a stricter bench boss will bring out the best from his underachievers.  Sutter had to go through quarantine before joining the team so his debut won’t come until they start a two-game set against Montreal on Thursday.

Wilson Suspended: Capitals winger Tom Wilson drew the ire of the Department of Player Safety again from a boarding incident on Friday night against Boston on a hit on Brandon Carlo.  While boarding penalties themselves typically don’t carry hefty suspensions, Wilson’s track record suggested a sizable one would be coming.  In the end, the league handed him a seven-game ban, one he has opted not to appeal.  It’s the fifth suspension of his career and will cost him over $311K in salary, an amount that would have been substantially higher had it not been more than two years since his previous suspension.

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While it was a quiet week on the transaction front aside from the usual long list of daily taxi movement, there were still plenty of newsworthy stories around the NHL which are highlighted in the key stories of the week.

Skinner Saga: Last season was a tough one for Jeff Skinner as he managed just 14 goals in 59 games, hardly the type of performance they were expecting from a $9MM commitment.  However, his struggles last year pale in comparison to this season as he has just one assist in 16 games.  Things came to a head when he was a healthy scratch for three straight games with his agent, Don Meehan, getting involved on behalf of his client.  Skinner has since returned but Buffalo’s offensive drought continued as they’ve been shut out in two straight games.  While a trade at this point is all but impossible with six more years left on his deal after this one so it will be worth watching to see if they try to put him back in a top-six role to try to get him going or if he’ll be spending more time in the press box before long.

More From Buffalo: Skinner’s situation wasn’t the only notable news.  It was also revealed that defenseman Jake McCabe would miss the next six-to-eight months due to several injuries to ligaments in his right knee, ending his season.  It’s a tough blow for the Sabres who lose a top-four defenseman while McCabe now will be entering unrestricted free agency coming off a season that was limited to just 13 games.  Meanwhile, another pending UFA has hit the trade block in blueliner Brandon Montour.  The 26-year-old looked like a core addition when Buffalo acquired him back in 2019 but he has struggled considerably over parts of three seasons with the team.  With a $3.85MM price tag, the Sabres will either have to retain salary or take a contract back to facilitate a trade.

Canadiens Change Coaches: The first coaching change of the season has taken place with Montreal firing head coach Claude Julien and associate coach Kirk Muller.  Assistant coach Dominque Ducharme was promoted to the top spot on an interim basis for the rest of the season while Alex Burrows was added to the coaching staff after spending parts of three seasons with AHL Laval.  The Canadiens actually got off to a hot start this season winning seven of their first ten games (and picked up a point in two of their losses) but have won just twice in ten games since then.  Julien is 13th in all-time NHL coaching victories (17th in games played) and is still owed $5MM this season and next on his contract.  Meanwhile, this is Ducharme’s first head coaching role in the NHL.

Vancouver-Anaheim Trade Talks: While a trade ultimately didn’t materialize (or hasn’t yet, at least), the Canucks and Ducks were involved in discussions surrounding wingers Jake Virtanen and Danton Heinen.  Making the money work has been a challenge so far despite the fact that the difference in cap hit between the two is only $250K.  It goes to show how tricky making the salary cap element work is going to be with so many teams tight to the Upper Limit of the cap this season.  Both wingers have struggled this season and could certainly benefit from a change of scenery but it doesn’t appear as if they’ll be getting moved for each other just yet.

Panarin Leave Of Absence: Rangers winger Artemi Panarin has been granted a leave of absence from the team following public allegations of an assault on an 18-year-old female during his time with Chekhov Vityaz in the KHL ten years ago.  Panarin denies the allegations, which some believe are politically motivated with his prior public support of opposition leader Alexi Navalny while the Rangers have also issued a statement supporting their star.  There is no timetable for his return.

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After a relatively quiet first week of February, there were several big headlines around the NHL over the past seven days which our highlighted in our key stories of the week.

Virtanen On The Block: It has been a tough season for Canucks winger Jake Virtanen.  Despite getting a two-year, $5.1MM deal over the offseason, his hold on a full-time spot always seemed tenuous.  His early-season performance (just one goal in 13 games) has had him as a healthy scratch already and it appears that GM Jim Benning is open to giving him a change of scenery as he is being shopped around the league.  Still just 24, Virtanen had a career year last season with 18 goals and 18 assists in 69 games and has the ability to be an effective middle-six forward.  However, his consistent inconsistency and slow start have Benning trying to make a deal when his value is rather low.

Pittsburgh Hires: The Penguins were looking to move quickly to find former GM Jim Rutherford’s replacement and they did just that.  However, they didn’t just find a new GM in Ron Hextall, they also added a new President of Hockey Operations in Brian Burke.  Hextall comes over from Los Angeles where he was working in their front office but he was at the helm of the Flyers from 2013-2018.  Burke, meanwhile, last served in the NHL as Calgary’s President of Hockey Operations, leaving that post also in 2018.  Patrik Allvin had been serving as interim GM during the search and will now resume his old role.

Senators-Hurricanes Swap: Carolina and Ottawa decided to swap some underachieving veterans with the Sens bringing back winger Ryan Dzingel in exchange for winger Alex Galchenyuk and center Cedric Paquette.  Dzingel had two straight 20-goal seasons with Ottawa but has struggled away from the Senators over the past two years, notching just 14 goals in 96 games with Columbus and Carolina.  Paquette had seen limited playing time in Ottawa after coming over in a salary cap-motivated move from Tampa Bay but should factor into Carolina’s fourth line before too long.  As for Galchenyuk, his immediate future is in question as the 2012 third-overall pick was waived by the Hurricanes today.  If he isn’t claimed, he’ll likely wind up on their taxi squad.

Changes In Arizona: It wasn’t that long ago that John Chayka left Arizona’s front office, abruptly resigning his role as GM.  Steve Sullivan took over on an interim basis before Bill Armstrong was brought in.  Now, Sullivan is out as well as he was fired by the team who also announced that the position will not be filled this season.  Sullivan had been with the Coyotes since 2014 in a variety of roles but will now be looking for opportunities elsewhere.

Koivu Retires: Mikko Koivu’s time away from Minnesota was short-lived.  After struggling in the early going this season with Columbus as he worked his way back from a battle with COVID-19, the 37-year-old decided to call it a career, announcing his retirement.  Koivu was a key two-way center for the Wild for many years and leaves with 1,035 career NHL regular season games, all but seven of which were with Minnesota and is one of only 150 players in league history with at least 500 career assists.  While the Blue Jackets gave Koivu a one-year, $1.5MM contract, it won’t count on their books for the remainder of the season.

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It was a bit of a quieter week around the NHL with most of the major news coming on the injury and scheduling front.  Those are highlighted in the top stories of the week.

McNabb To LTIR: The Golden Knights will be without an important piece on their back end as Brayden McNabb has been placed on LTIR, meaning he will miss at least 10 games or 21 days due to his lower-body injury.  He joins Alex Pietrangelo (CPRA list) as blueliners that are unavailable for Vegas.  The team had been forced to dress just five defenders for several games this season as a result of their cap situation so while they’ll certainly miss McNabb’s contribution, his placement at least frees up enough short-term cap space for them to be able to dress a normal lineup.

New Title For Drury: For the past few years, Chris Drury has come up as a target for any team looking for a new GM although most of those interview requests were rebuffed by the Rangers.  While the Penguins did get permission, Drury abruptly withdrew his name from consideration just before it was announced that he had been ‘promoted’ to associate GM.  That’s not a particularly common job title around the league and Drury’s role hasn’t really changed but the change likely gives him a pay raise and extra job security.  It seems like only a matter of time before Drury gets his opportunity to run an NHL franchise but for now, he’s sticking around with the Rangers.

MacKinnon Injury: Colorado will be without their top scorer for a little while as Nathan MacKinnon has been listed as week-to-week with a lower-body injury.  It’s yet another blow to an Avalanche squad that has been hit extremely hard by the injury bug thus far as five other regulars are also on a similar timeline to return though of those, only Pavel Francouz is currently on LTIR.  Their cap situation made it so that they’ve had to play short a player once already this season.  But losing MacKinnon – their top scorer – is an even bigger blow; he’s off to another strong start with 14 points in 10 games which is his best point-per-game mark of his career.  The Avs got a bit of a reprieve when some of their games were postponed and they were hardly the only team in that situation.

Schedule Changes: With several teams have multiple players on the COVID Protocol Related Absences list, there were quite a few changes made in the schedule beyond Colorado’s postponements.  The Sabres and Wild both saw their season paused.  With Colorado and Minnesota both off, the league then rescheduled a pair of games between the Blues and Coyotes to allow them to keep playing.  But the biggest changes came on Saturday when 27 East Division games were rescheduled with all eight teams seeing games moved around.  Considering we’re not quite at the one-quarter mark of the season yet, it’s safe to say that the schedule makers will still have quite a bit of work ahead of them.

Surgery For Mrazek: The Hurricanes will be without their starting goaltender for a while as Petr Mrazek underwent successful surgery on his right thumb.  There is no timetable for his return.  The 28-year-old was off to a stellar start to his season with a 0.99 GAA and a .955 SV%, numbers that place him in the league lead in both categories.  It’s a big blow for Carolina who will now turn to James Reimer and Alex Nedeljkovic to hold down the fort in his absence.

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The final week of January featured quite a few surprises which are highlighted in our key stories.

Blues Discussing Dunn Trade: It wasn’t that long ago that Vince Dunn was viewed as a key part of the long-term core for the Blues.  He had a 12-goal, 35-point season in 2018-19 but saw his production dip last year.  Things haven’t gone great this season either and he has already been scratched.  As that benching was happening, it was revealed that St. Louis has been discussing the defenseman in trades with other teams, seeking a first-round pick in return.  The 24-year-old is on a one-year, $1.875MM contract and with the Blues needing to be cap compliant for when Vladimir Tarasenko returns midseason, they’re not in a position where they can take on a more expensive player in a return.

Rutherford Resigns: The Penguins are suddenly on the lookout for a new general manager after Jim Rutherford abruptly resigned his title, citing personal reasons.  The 71-year-old joined Pittsburgh in 2014 after spending two decades at the helm in Carolina and Hartford and helped build a Stanley Cup-winning roster in 2016 and 2017.  Patrik Allvin has been elevated to the interim GM role while the team is hoping to have a full-time replacement named over the next few weeks.  That will take someone like former Arizona executive John Chayka out of any possible consideration as he was suspended for all of 2021 for conduct detrimental to the league when he tried to resign from Arizona to go elsewhere; his contract was eventually terminated.

DeAngelo On Waivers: Last season, Rangers defenseman Anthony DeAngelo led the team in points by a defenseman and was tied for fourth league-wide in that regard.  That helped land him a two-year, $9.6MM contract this offseason.  However, things haven’t gotten off to a good start this season with him being benched for two games while there have been some other incidents, including a reported fight with a teammate following Saturday’s game.  As a result, New York has placed DeAngelo on waivers.  His cap hit is high enough that only a few teams can afford to place a claim and with these off-ice concerns coming to light, there’s a good chance he’ll go unclaimed.  At that time, it will be worth monitoring to see what the Rangers plan to do with the 25-year-old.

Trade Requests: A pair of clients of Darren Ferris (Quartexx) are seeking a change of scenery.  First Flames center Sam Bennett is hoping for a trade after a tough start to his season.  While the fourth-overall pick in 2014 has had some success offensively in the playoffs, it hasn’t translated to much in the way of regular season success.  He had just a dozen points in 52 games in 2019-20 and has only one assist in seven contests this season.  Bennett has a $2.55MM AAV and is eligible for arbitration this summer.  Meanwhile, Montreal blueliner Victor Mete would also like to be moved with a lack of playing time being the issue there.  It wasn’t that long ago that he was on their top pairing with Shea Weber but his playing time and role have dipped considerably since then to the point where he had limited minutes in the bubble and has been a healthy scratch in all eight games this season.  After accepting his qualifying offer, Mete has a $735K price tag and will be arbitration-eligible in July.

Howard Retires: Veteran goaltender Jimmy Howard has decided to call it a career, hanging up his skates at the age of 36 after a 14-year NHL career, the entirety of which was spent with Detroit.  Howard played in 543 games for the Red Wings, good for third in franchise history.  Ken Holland, who was Howard’s GM back in Detroit for many of those seasons, tried to bring the netminder to Edmonton when Mike Smith was injured but instead, Howard decided to retire having played only for the team that drafted him back in the second round in 2003.

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In a season where it appears as if trades will be occurring less frequently than normal, it was a pair of deals that grabbed the headlines in the NHL over the past seven days and they are highlighted among the key stories of the week.

Change Of Venue: The 2021 World Hockey Championships were slated to be held in Latvia and Belarus but the search is on for a new partner for Latvia after the IIHF announced that they were pulling the portion from Belarus due to the ongoing political unrest.  As of now, the plan remains to hold the tournament as scheduled beginning on May 21st but they will either need to find another city to serve as co-host, see if Riga can host the entire event, or look for a new host entirely with Latvia getting another opportunity in the near future.  With the tournament less than four months away, it’s a decision that will need to be made sooner than later.

Capitals Hit By COVID: While there have been teams with multiple players on the COVID Protocol list, there hadn’t been any fines for players’ conduct until the league levied a $100K fine to Washington to four of their players not adhering to protocols.  Goalie Ilya Samsonov, defenseman Dmitry Orlov, center Evgeny Kuznetsov, and winger Alex Ovechkin were all in the same hotel room without a mask and Samsonov wound up testing positive for the virus.  As a result, all four have placed on the COVID Protocol list, making them ineligible for at least four games.  Two of those have been played already with the other two coming next week.

Blockbuster: Patrik Laine, Jack Roslovic, and Pierre-Luc Dubois had all made it clear that they would welcome a change of scenery and they all got their wish as they were traded for each other, as Laine and Roslovic went to Columbus for Dubois and a 2022 third-round pick.  Winnipeg also retained 26% of Laine’s contract (which expires after this season) and Roslovic received a two-year, $3.8MM contract.  Winnipeg has been seeking a second impact center that isn’t just a rental acquisition and gets that in Dubois while Laine, who went one spot before Dubois in the 2016 draft, gives the Blue Jackets one of the elite scoring wingers in the league while Roslovic should fit in their middle six.  The trade deadline is still more than two months away but there’s a good chance this winds up as the biggest swap of the season.

Ekman-Larsson Out: The Coyotes will be without their top defenseman for a while as Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s lower-body injury, which was originally listed as a day-to-day issue, will now cause him to miss the next three-to-four weeks.  The 29-year-old has logged at least 23 minutes per game over each of the last eight seasons, leaving a big hole to be filled.  On top of that, they had been dealing with work visa issues for Ilya Lyubushkin so the Russian, who played 51 games for Arizona last season, has yet to be available for them as well.

Avs/Wild Swap: There was another trade in the NHL with Minnesota acquiring blueliner Ian Cole from Colorado in exchange for Greg Pateryn; the Avalanche also paid down $800K of Cole’s $4.25MM price tag.  On paper, it’s a big upgrade for the Wild as they add an upgrade to their third pairing at the expense of someone whose role had been limited.  Meanwhile, Colorado still preserves some cap room and also opened up a spot on the left side of their blueline for top prospect Bowen Byram who has gotten into his first two career NHL games since the swap.

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After a long layoff, the NHL has returned and as is always the case at the beginning of the season, there was plenty of news around the league; the biggest ones are highlighted in our key stories.

Hoffman Officially Signs: It was only a matter of time before Mike Hoffman officially signed with St. Louis and that deal finally came to fruition as he inked a one-year, $4MM contract.  Once touted as one of the top wingers to hit free agency last October, the veteran wound up having to take a notable pay cut from the $5.1875MM AAV on his previous deal and not get the long-term security he was seeking.  That worked to the benefit of the Blues who have their short-term replacement for Vladimir Tarasenko (who was placed on LTIR) at a more than affordable price tag.  Hoffman’s contract doesn’t contain any form of trade protection.

Foligno Extension: Wild winger Marcus Foligno decided to forego testing unrestricted free agency and instead signed a three-year, $9.3MM contract extension with Minnesota.  The 29-year-old earned a small raise on his current $2.875MM AAV, no small feat considering how bottom-six wingers took a hard hit in free agency last offseason.  Having said that, Foligno isn’t a typical bottom-six winger either as while he brings plenty of physicality and defensive ability to the table, he also had a career year offensively in 2019-20 with 11 goals and 14 assists in 59 games.

Yandle Saga: Veteran defenseman Keith Yandle has been one of the top offensive defensemen in the league over the last several years and has been a fixture on Florida’s back end for the past four years.  But it has been a roller-coaster week for the 34-year-old who spent most of training camp skating with expected reserves and minor leaguers amidst reports that he was available although his contract ($6.35MM AAV through 2022-23 with a no-move clause) will make a trade difficult.  While things were trending towards him being a healthy scratch and his 866-game ironman streak ending, there was a late change of heart and he was in the lineup on Sunday night where he scored Florida’s second goal of the game, the 100th of his career.  Nevertheless, it’s unlikely we’ve seen the end of this particular situation.

Toews To LTIR: Late last month, the Blackhawks released a statement noting that captain Jonathan Toews wouldn’t be participating in training camp with the veteran feeling “drained and lethargic”.  There’s no timetable for a return but we know he’ll at least miss several more weeks with Chicago transferring Toews to LTIR, meaning he’ll be out for at least 10 games or 24 days.  It’s the latest in a series of recent blows to their attack with youngsters Kirby Dach and Alexander Nylander already effectively out for the season.  Now they’ll be without their top center and second-leading scorer for a while.

Colliton Extension: Still with the Blackhawks, they appear to be pleased with the direction of the team under Jeremy Colliton as they gave their head coach a two-year contract extension.  He was already signed for this year so his new deal will take him through the 2022-23 campaign.  Colliton took over behind the bench early in the 2018-19 season and the team has posted a 62-61-17 record under his watch.  With Chicago committing to a longer-term rebuild, this deal allows GM Stan Bowman to assess whether or not Colliton is the right fit for the long term while allowing him to shepherd the team through the likely tough times ahead.

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The final week of arbitration led to several signings this past week although there were certainly some headlines made on the injury front as well.  Here’s a rundown of the biggest news from the past seven days.

Pulock Avoids Arbitration: The good news for the Islanders is that they were able to avoid salary arbitration with defenseman Ryan Pulock.  The bad news is that the two-year, $10MM deal they agreed upon only bought out his two remaining RFA years and takes him straight to UFA eligibility in 2022.  The 26-year-old has very quietly become an impact defender and had 35 points in 68 games last season while logging over 22 minutes a night to lead the team in ice time and getting a top-pairing defender at that price tag is a bargain, even if it will just be a short-term one.  The team will now focus on getting top center Mathew Barzal under contract although they will likely need to free up some money to do so first.

Nyquist Surgery: The Blue Jackets will be without one of their top forwards for a good chunk of next season after it was revealed that winger Gustav Nyquist underwent shoulder surgery that will cause him to miss the next five to six months.  GM Jarmo Kekalainen indicated that the 31-year-old has been dealing with nagging shoulder pain for the last several years which led to the decision to go under the knife.  Nyquist finished second on the team in scoring last season with 42 points in 70 games, extending his streak of consecutive seasons with at least 40 points to seven (the only full years of his NHL career).  However, that streak will almost certainly come to an end in 2020-21 as a result of this news.

Mantha Re-Signs: While there were 26 players who originally filed for arbitration last month, one of the notable players that didn’t despite being eligible was Red Wings winger Anthony Mantha.  It turned out to be a wise move as the two sides agreed to a four-year, $22.8MM contract, one that buys out his final two years of RFA eligibility plus two UFA years.  The 26-year-old produced like a top-line player last season with 16 goals and 22 assists in just 43 games but at the same time, it was also the second straight year that he missed considerable time due to injury; he dealt with both knee and lung issues in 2019-20.  If Mantha can stay healthy and play at that level over a full season, this has the potential to be a bit of a bargain for Detroit.

Dallas Injuries: It had been known for a while that Stars center Tyler Seguin would miss some time for his pending hip surgery that wound up taking more than a month to occur but the team revealed that their top pivot will miss five months after undergoing the procedure.  On top of that, they also indicated that goaltender Ben Bishop underwent meniscus surgery last month that also carries a five-month recovery period.  Both are tough blows for the defending Western Conference champions who will now be down two of their top players for a sizable chunk of next season.

Strome Avoids Arbitration: One of the potentially more interesting arbitration cases was Rangers center Ryan Strome.  The team reportedly had some hesitance in tendering him a qualifying offer in fear him of receiving too high of an award from an arbitrator and the possibility of the walkaway provision was there.  Instead, the two sides settled on a two-year, $9MM agreement which buys New York an extra year of team control.  The second line center spot has been a question mark for a while now but he showed good chemistry with newcomer Artemi Panarin next season.  Interestingly enough, both Strome and top center Mika Zibanejad are both set to be UFAs in 2022 which gives them a bit more time to make plans for a long-term solution at that spot.

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The month of October has come and gone and while the frenetic pace of player movement has come to an end, there was still some notable news around the league on the player front which are highlighted in the top stories of the week.

Galchenyuk To Ottawa: The Senators have made quite a few moves already to shake up their team and that continued with the signing of forward Alex Galchenyuk to a one-year, $1.05MM deal.  While the 26-year-old has seen his stock drop considerably since leaving Montreal two years ago (when he had a $4.9MM AAV), he still put up 24 points in 59 games last season.  Even if he’s only able to produce at that level in a bigger role with Ottawa, Galchenyuk should still be able to live to provide some value which makes it a no-risk move for the Sens with some upside.

Bertuzzi Receives Award: While many players have avoided salary arbitration, one went through the process in Detroit winger Tyler Bertuzzi.  The Red Wings filed at $3.15MM while Bertuzzi submitted $4.25MM and the result was closer to the first number as he was awarded a one-year, $3.5MM deal.  His numbers last season were nearly identical to his 2018-19 campaign as he posted 21 goals and 27 assists in 71 games before the pandemic hit.  While Bertuzzi’s camp may be disappointed that the arbitrator didn’t come closer to his number, he can still take some solace in more than doubling his salary from the $1.4MM he made in each of the last two years.  He will once again be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights next offseason.

Toews Avoids Arbitration: After dealing a pair of second-round picks to acquire him, Colorado was able to lock up defenseman Devon Toews to a four-year, $16.4MM contract, avoiding salary arbitration.  As has often been the case with contracts this offseason, the deal is heavily backloaded with his 2020-21 salary checking in at $2.35MM but jumps to $5.9MM at the end.  The 26-year-old completed his first full NHL season last year but did well with 28 points in 68 games while logging over 20 minutes a night.  The lack of NHL experience (just 116 career regular season games) likely worked in the favor of the Avalanche who now hope they have a top-four blueliner inked at a team-friendly cap hit.

Daley Calls It A Career: After 16 years in the NHL, defenseman Trevor Daley decided to hang up his skates and announced his retirement.  Injuries limited the 37-year-old to just 43 games last season with the Red Wings but while his career ended on somewhat of a quiet note, he certainly had a good run as a productive secondary threat from the back end.  Overall, he had a respectable 309 points in 1,058 games with Dallas, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Detroit.  Daley is heading back to the Penguins now in a different capacity as he has joined their front office and will assist with player evaluations as well as serving as an ‘eye in the sky’ whenever next season gets underway.

Olofsson Takes Two: Victor Olofsson’s rookie campaign was one that not many saw coming.  After a strong year in AHL Rochester in 2018-19, he made an immediate impact with the Sabres, picking up 20 goals and 22 assists in just 54 games last season.  He was rewarded for his efforts with a two-year, $6.1MM pact to avoid arbitration.  Expectations will be high for the 25-year-old as he enters his sophomore season with an improved offense following the signing of Taylor Hall and the acquisition of Eric Staal but even if he’s able to simply replicate his 20-goal performance over the next couple of years, he’ll provide Buffalo with a good return on that contract.

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While the frequency of contracts has dropped as expected, there was still some notable news around the hockey world over the past seven days.  As usual, they’re recapped here in our key stories.

Scheduling Notes: In a move that didn’t come as much surprise, the NHL announced the postponement of the Winter Classic and the 2021 All-Star Game.  The Winter Classic is the most-attended game each season and with significant fan restrictions for the foreseeable future, holding it just wasn’t viable.  Meanwhile, the All-Star festivities are another heavily-attended event between fans and sponsors so not proceeding with that makes sense as well.  Officially, neither event is cancelled but it’s unlikely either will be held.  Meanwhile, one event that will be going ahead as scheduled despite no fans is the World Juniors as their schedule was released.  The event will get underway one day earlier than usual to allow for all of the games to be played at one venue so the tournament will now start December 25th.

Brown Gets Three Years: Senators winger Connor Brown had a career year in terms of points last season and was one off the team lead in scoring.  That certainly gave him a boost heading into his final year of arbitration eligibility.  The two sides were able to avoid a hearing, agreeing to a three-year deal that carries an AAV of $3.6MM.  While it’s likely that he won’t average more than 20 minutes per game again as he did in 2019-20, Brown should continue to be a bridge player to their up-and-coming young forward core and by the time the deal is up, he should be back to being in their middle six which is the optimal role for him in the first place.

Reinhart Avoids Arbitration: One of the more prominent players that filed for salary arbitration was Sabres forward Sam Reinhart.  While he wasn’t able to get back to the 65-point mark last season, he still managed to score more than 20 goals for the fourth time in five years while reaching 50 points for the third straight year.  Reinhart was also in the top ten league-wide in terms of ATOI at 20:38 per night.  That had him in line for a notable raise from the $3.65MM AAV he had on his bridge deal and he received just that, inking a one-year, $5.2MM deal to avoid an arbitration hearing that was scheduled for Tuesday.  The 24-year-old will be arbitration-eligible for the final time next offseason and will require that $5.2MM as a qualifying offer.

Russell Extension: While Kris Russell hasn’t lived up to the surprising four-year, $16MM deal he signed back in 2017, he has still been a serviceable role player in Edmonton.  With the Oilers needing to have an eligible defenseman to leave unprotected in next year’s expansion draft, the team signed the veteran to a one-year, $1.25MM extension.  It wasn’t that long ago that Russell was among the league leaders in blocked shots and while he is used more in a depth role now, he should still be able to provide some value at that new price tag for 2021-22.

Winger Bridge Deals: The flattening of the salary cap has forced more teams to resort to short-term ‘bridge’ contracts to keep their team intact.  Accordingly, Toronto handed Ilya Mikheyev a two-year, $3.29MM deal, avoiding salary arbitration.  It’s a decent pay day for a player who did well with the Maple Leafs in limited action last year but he has less than 50 games of NHL experience under his belt while he also gets to hit unrestricted free agency after that.  Meanwhile, Jake Virtanen’s career year earned him a nice raise as he signed a two-year, $5.1MM pact that sets up a $3MM qualifying offer in 2022.  Stars winger Denis Gurianov was sent to the minors early last season but when he was recalled, he became one of their top scorers.  As a result, he was rewarded with a two-year, $5.1MM deal of his own which carries a $2.95MM qualifying offer at the end.  That’s a nice increase for a player who was on the fringes of the roster to start the season and didn’t have arbitration eligibility.

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