Week In Review

The offseason is in full swing and while there weren’t as many big headlines as there were a week ago, there were still some notable signings and trades along the way which are highlighted in the top stories of the week.

Thornton Leaves San Jose: After 15 years in San Jose, Joe Thornton is moving on.  First, he signed in Switzerland with HC Davos to get some game action in with the Sharks being one of the seven teams that didn’t play during the NHL’s return.  Then, he opted to join his hometown team, inking a one-year deal with Toronto worth the league minimum of $700K while also receiving a no-move clause.  The 41-year-old had his quietest offensive year since his rookie season back in 1997-98 but still managed to put up 31 points in 70 games while playing over 15 minutes a night.  It’s unlikely that the Maple Leafs will use Thornton as much but he should give them a bit more offensive pop in the bottom six and some depth down the middle for a cheap price.

Dadonov To Ottawa: The Senators are not a team that’s known for making a splash on the open market but they did so this past week the addition of Evgeni Dadonov on a three-year, $15MM contract.  The 31-year-old made an impressive return to the NHL back in 2017-18 and outperformed the three-year, $12MM deal he had with Florida, picking up 81 goals and 101 assists in 225 games over that span.  Dadonov should have a chance to play on Ottawa’s top line next season and gives them a capable veteran offensive threat to allow some of their upcoming prospects to ease their way into the NHL.

Vegas Defensive Dealings: As soon as Torey Krug signed in St. Louis, it felt like it was only a matter of time before Alex Pietrangelo signed with Vegas.  That eventually did come to fruition as he signed a seven-year, $61.6MM contract to take over as the top defenseman for the Golden Knights.  The 30-year-old is a rare number one blueliner to hit the open market and happened to be coming off one of the best offensive seasons of his career with 16 goals and 36 assists in 70 games.  While many teams are capped out, Pietrangelo was still able to command top dollar and term while picking up a full no-move clause along the way as Vegas landed the biggest fish on the open market.

Of course, that acquisition didn’t come without its cost.  After moving Paul Stastny back to Winnipeg at the beginning of free agency, that still wasn’t enough to bring Pietrangelo in and a high-priced contract had to be cleared out before Vegas could even register the contract with the league.  That meant that Nate Schmidt was on the move to Vancouver with the Canucks only needing to part with a 2022 third-round pick to in return.  Schmidt had become a legitimate top-four blueliner in his three years with the Golden Knights, picking up at least 30 points in each season while averaging nearly 22 minutes a night.  He’ll be a big addition to their back end, especially after they lost Chris Tanev (Calgary) and Troy Stecher (Detroit) in free agency.

Montreal’s Moves: The Canadiens also made a splash in free agency, signing winger Tyler Toffoli to a four-year, $17MM contract.  The 28-year-old had 24 goals last season between Los Angeles and Vancouver but still had to take a small pay cut in this limited free agent market.  That wasn’t the only move the Canadiens made either.  They also put pen to paper on a two-year extension for goaltender Jake Allen before he has even played for the team as they only acquired him from St. Louis last month.  On top of that, shortly after word leaked that there was a breakdown in extension talks with winger Brendan Gallagher, they agreed to a six-year, $39MM deal with the 28-year-old.  Gallagher had at least 30 goals in each of the two seasons before 2019-20 and scored at a similar pace last year but was limited due to injury and the pandemic.

Toews On The Move: With the Islanders needing to free up some cap room to deal with the rest of their restricted free agents, they traded blueliner Devon Toews to Colorado for a pair of second-round picks.  The 26-year-old only played his first full NHL season in 2019-20 but it was a strong one with 28 points in 68 games.  He played even better in the playoffs, picking up 10 points in 22 games while logging more than 20 minutes a night in ice time.  Toews will replace Nikita Zadorov on the roster as the Avalanche have quietly assembled a deep group of quality young defensemen.  The restricted free agent filed for salary arbitration last weekend and has a hearing set for October 31st.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

To say the NHL offseason is in full flight would be an understatement.  With the draft and the beginning of free agency happening in the span of four days, there has been a smorgasbord of headlines across the league, even with a lot of the top names on the UFA market being unsigned yet.  Here is a rundown of some of the frenetic activity over the past seven days.

Goalie Shuffle: With so many goalies set to hit the open market, it looked as if there was going to be a big run of musical chairs, so to speak.  Although a couple re-signed, that’s basically how it played out.  Braden Holtby signed with Vancouver which ended Jacob Markstrom’s tenure with the Canucks and he moved on to Calgary.  Meanwhile, the Blackhawks decided to let their three unproven options battle for their two spots which pushed Corey Crawford out after 13 seasons as he has joined New Jersey.   After Henrik Lundqvist was bought out after 15 years with the Rangers, he will now play in Washington.  This wasn’t all of the movement either but we also need to mention the notable non-UFA move that saw Ottawa acquire Matt Murray from Pittsburgh in exchange for a second-round selection in this week’s draft.  They wasted little time locking him up as he quickly signed a four-year, $25MM deal to solidify himself as the new starter for the Senators moving forward.

Draft Results: Speaking of the draft activity, all seven rounds were completed with Alexis Lafreniere going to the Rangers with the top pick in a selection that came as no surprise to anyone.  The first round featured minimal trade activity with Murray highlighting the players on the move on Wednesday but there were plenty of pick swaps as always as well.  The full results of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft are here.

Krug To The Blues: While several of the top free agents waited a little bit to find a new home (or remain unsigned), Torey Krug wasn’t one of them.  Instead, he landed a seven-year, $45.5MM contract with St. Louis, a deal that has for now pushed the Blues over the salary cap for next season.  The 29-year-old has been one of the more productive defensemen in recent years, tallying at least 39 points in each of his seven full NHL seasons and is coming off a year that saw him pick up 49 points in just 61 games while adding six assists in 13 playoff contests.  The deal also puts an end to Alex Pietrangelo’s time in St. Louis as there is no longer a spot for him on their roster, nor could they afford him on the cap.  Still, with Krug, Colton Parayko, and Justin Faulk, the Blues still have a strong veteran core on their back end.

Domi For Anderson: A pair of oft-speculated trade candidates were traded for each other as Montreal dealt Max Domi and a 2020 third-round pick to Columbus in exchange for winger Josh Anderson.  Domi is coming off of a down year but is only one season removed from a 72-point campaign and gives the Blue Jackets a capable second center.  Meanwhile, Anderson had a disastrous 2019-20 season that saw him deal with lingering shoulder trouble as he managed to score just once in 26 games after potting 27 goals the year before.  Both players wasted little time signing with their new teams.  Domi inked what amounts to a second bridge contract, signing a two-year, $10.6MM pact that takes him to UFA eligibility in 2022.  Anderson and the Canadiens went a different route as the two sides agreed on a seven-year, $38.5MM deal, tying him with Jonathan Drouin as Montreal’s highest-paid forward in terms of AAV.

Hall To Buffalo: A few teams had been speculated as possible landing spots for Taylor Hall, widely perceived as the best forward available on the free agent market but Buffalo wasn’t among them.  However, that’s where he landed as he inked a one-year, $8MM contract with the Sabres.  The move reunites him with head coach Ralph Krueger as the two previously worked together in Edmonton and gives him a top center to play with in Jack Eichel.  If he has a strong season, Hall could put himself in a better position to land a long-term, big-money deal next summer where he’ll once again likely be among the top players available on the open market.

Cap Dumps: Too many things happened this past week to limit it to just five topics so here’s a bonus one.  One of the underlying themes of this offseason is freeing up cap space and there were plenty of those moves.  The Blue Jackets did it twice, moving Markus Nutivaara to Florida and Ryan Murray to New Jersey, freeing up over $7MM in space.  Vegas sent Paul Stastny back to Winnipeg, opening up nearly $6MM in room.  Toronto flipped Andreas Johnsson to New Jersey, taking $3.4MM off their books following several veteran free agent signings.  Even Chicago’s swapping of Brandon Saad for Nikita Zadorov had cap savings as a key factor.  Tampa Bay attempted to trade Tyler Johnson and when that failed, he was waived and made available for free.  However, he cleared which will send them back to the drawing board.  They certainly won’t be the only ones left looking to free up space in the days and weeks to come.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

The 2019-20 season has officially come to an end with Tampa Bay being crowned as Stanley Cup champions in a six-game victory over Dallas.  With that in mind, the offseason festivities have begun with news surrounding several goaltenders highlighting the top stories of the week.

End Of An Era: While it had largely been expected following his diminished role and New York’s cap situation, it was still certainly notable that the Rangers bought out the final year of goalie Henrik Lundqvist’s contract.  The 38-year-old had spent the last 15 years with them and is their all-time leader in games played (887), wins (459), and shutouts (64).  The move frees up $3MM on the cap for the Rangers for this offseason while adding $1.5MM onto the books for 2021-22.  New York is now paying five different players not to play for them next year with their combined cap hit of $12.994MM representing nearly 16% of the 2020-21 salary cap.

Gostisbehere Available: A few years ago, Flyers defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere looked like a key part in their future plans as an offensive defenseman on the rise with a team-friendly contract.  Things have changed quickly.  After spending most of the stretch run and playoffs as a healthy scratch, Philadelphia has made the blueliner available.  However, with just a dozen points in 42 games this season and a $4.5MM price tag for three more years in a market where a lot of teams are looking to clear salary room, the list of potential suitors will be a lot smaller than it would have been just a couple of years ago.

Lehner Sticks Around: Despite his public comments saying a five-year, $25MM deal wasn’t done during the playoffs, Golden Knights goaltender Robin Lehner wound up signing a new contract for that exact amount and term this weekend.  The deal gives him some stability after he played on three straight one-year deals and gives Vegas some long-term goaltending security.  However, it also further calls into question Marc Andre-Fleury’s future with the team as a $7MM second option on a team that’s currently over the Upper Limit of the cap isn’t ideal.  To that end, they appear to be looking to involve a third team to help facilitate a trade which means there’s still some work to be done to finalize their goaltending for 2020-21.

Maatta On The Move: For the second straight offseason, defenseman Olli Maatta has been dealt as he was moved to Los Angeles from Chicago in exchange for center Brad Morrison.  The Blackhawks also retained 18.4% of his $4.083MM AAV in the move.  Considering that Morrison spent all of this past season in the ECHL, his presence in the deal was simply to match contracts which means that Maatta was effectively a salary dump.  Chicago now has some more cap room to try to re-sign Corey Crawford and deal with their restricted free agents while the Kings add a still-young blueliner (Maatta is only 26 despite having played seven NHL seasons already) for a minimal price tag.

Jarry Contract: A year ago, Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry was available in a trade.  Now, he’s their goalie moving forward as Pittsburgh signed him to a three-year, $10.5MM contract in a deal that buys out one year of UFA eligibility.  The 25-year-old got his first chance at extended NHL action this season and earned himself an All-Star Game appearance along the way while posting a 2.43 GAA and a .921 SV% in 33 games.  That further calls into question Matt Murray’s future with the Penguins.  The pending restricted free agent is just a year away from UFA eligibility and has been in plenty of trade speculation already although nothing has materialized yet in terms of a trade that GM Jim Rutherford is willing to pull the trigger on.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

With free agency and the draft fast approaching, activity around the league is starting to pick up with some notable trades being among the top stories of the past seven days.

Interim Tag Removed: It had been anticipated for a while that Bob Boughner would have the interim tag removed with GM Doug Wilson stating back in early April that Boughner had the upper hand at landing the full-time role after he replaced Peter DeBoer during the season.  However, it took until this week for the removing of the tag to be made official with Rocky Thompson and John Madden being named as Boughner’s assistants.  This is his second tenure as an NHL head coach having also held the role with Florida in 2017-18 and 2018-19.

Ryan Bought Out: While he won’t be the only player that gets bought out during the window that just opened up on Friday, Bobby Ryan has hit the free agent market after the Senators bought out the final two years of his deal.  The 33-year-old has seen his production dip considerably in recent years to the point where he wasn’t close to being worth his $7.25MM AAV.  While there will be a lingering salary cap charge for the next four years, that shouldn’t be much of a concern for Ottawa as they’re typically well below the Upper Limit.  Meanwhile, the Masterton Trophy winner should have some interest on the open market in a third line role but it’s safe to say that he’ll be taking a significant pay cut.

Panthers-Penguins Swap: While word leaked a little early, Pittsburgh and Florida were eventually able to get a trade completed as the Panthers acquired winger Patric Hornqvist in exchange for defenseman Mike Matheson and winger Colton Sceviour.  Hornqvist hasn’t reached the 20-goal mark over the last two years but should still give Florida a boost to their secondary scoring, albeit at a pricey $5.3MM price tag.  However, they offloaded that much and then some to Pittsburgh in Matheson (six years remaining at $4.875MM) and Sceviour (one year left at $1.2MM).  It was only a few years ago that Matheson was viewed as a key cog on Florida’s back end but he has struggled considerably the last couple of seasons to the point where he was even used as a winger at times this year.  Sceviour, meanwhile, gives the Penguins a bit of versatility in their bottom six, an area that was of some concern in their Qualifying Round loss to Montreal.

Petry Extension: One of the notable defensemen that was set to hit the open market in 2021 can be scratched off the list as the Canadiens signed Jeff Petry to a four-year, $25MM extension.  The 32-year-old has quietly been one of the more consistent offensive blueliners in recent years and has scored double-digit goals in three straight years while he logged a career best 23:37 in average ice time this season.  While he plays on the second pairing behind Shea Weber, Petry has become a player that is capable of stepping into the top role when needed.  While there is only a minor jump in AAV ($750K), the deal will take Petry into his age-37 season which could carry a bit of risk down the road for Montreal.

Staal To Detroit: Quite a few teams will be looking to clear out some cap room in the coming days and the Rangers were able to accomplish that as they sent a 2021 second-round pick to the Red Wings to get them to take on the final year of defenseman Marc Staal’s deal.  New York received future considerations as the return.  Staal carries a $5.7MM AAV but is owed just $3.2MM in salary.  If he remains with Detroit, he’ll serve as a mentor on their back end while being an in-season trade candidate but it’s also possible that they buy him out to open up the roster spot.  In the meantime, other teams that are looking to free up some cap room now have a better idea of what it’s going to cost to do so.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

While NHL arenas continue to be shuttered and will remain that way for the foreseeable future, a big step was taken towards the resumption of play which is among the top stories of the past seven days.

3ICE Coaches Named: Next summer is pegged to be the launch of a new three-on-three league called 3ICE.  It will be a travelling series with eight teams playing a tournament each Saturday night.  The head coaches for the inaugural season were revealed and it’s a notable list as Guy Carbonneau, Grant Fuhr, Eddie Johnston, John LeClair, Joe Mullen, Larry Murphy, Angela Ruggiero, and Bryan Trottier will run the teams.  Six of those are in the Hockey Hall of Fame.  56 players will eventually join the league although we’re a long way from learning who will participate.

Short-Term Extensions Coming: In a normal year, the league season ends on June 30th with unrestricted free agency beginning the next day.  However, with play not set to resume until likely July, that throws a wrinkle into that timetable.  Instead, uniform contract slides are expected for the players which will solve that issue.  However, such an agreement isn’t guaranteed for coaches or front-office staff.  While teams that are returning would want their coaches on expiring deals to be extended, those that aren’t finished may not require that.  Scouts often change teams in the summer and with the draft date being uncertain, extensions may be needed for those as well.  The players will be covered at least but more work here is still required.

Boedker To Switzerland: It has been a tough season for Mikkel Boedker.  After being a regular with Ottawa last season where he had a respectable 35 points in 71 games, his role was reduced considerably this year as he played in just 20 contests, averaging less than ten minutes a night in those.  Instead of trying to find a new NHL home on the open market, he decided to head overseas, inking a two-year deal with HC Lugano of the Swiss NLA.  The 30-year-old has spent a dozen seasons in the NHL, recording 327 points along the way but barring an offensive resurgence in Switzerland, it appears as if his NHL time has come to an end.

AHL Awards: With the AHL season now officially done, the league announced their end-of-season All-Star teams as well as the All-Rookie team.  There were two players who appeared on both squads as Senators center Josh Norris made the First All-Star Team while Canucks defensive prospect Brogan Rafferty was on the Second All-Star squad.  Wild winger Gerald Mayhew led the league in goals scored with 39 in just 49 games but wasn’t able to land on the first team but three other Minnesota representatives were able to in goalie Kaapo Kahkonen, defenseman Brennan Menell, and winger Sam Anas, who led the league in points with 70 in 67 games.

NHLPA Votes For 24-Team Return: While we are still a long way from resuming games, it appears that it will be a 24-team format if and when they do.  The NHLPA voted 29-2 in favor of continuing discussions on that format assuming that other logistical, financial, and player safety issues can also be worked out.  (Tampa Bay and Carolina were the two ‘no’ votes.)  The effective expansion of the playoffs by eight teams (although the play-in round appears to be technically classified as not part of the postseason) certainly carries a wide variety of opinions but it at least provides a roadmap for how games could resume over the next couple of months.

While there is still no set timetable on when (or if) the NHL will resume play this season, there was some news from around the hockey world which is featured in the top stories of the week.

Hlinka-Gretzky Cup Cancelled: There have been many cancellations over the past couple of months pertaining to the current hockey season but until now, there hadn’t been any for the upcoming year.  The first tournament of note to kick off next year’s hockey calendar, the Hlinka-Gretzky Cup, has been cancelled.  This event is a popular one for scouts as it represents the first chance to get a look at the upcoming draft class but they won’t get that chance now.  The decision isn’t too surprising for a couple of reasons.  Fans likely won’t be allowed to attend games during the time period it was scheduled for (August 3-8) while the location of the event – Edmonton – is vying to be one of the centralized hub cities if NHL action resumes.

Latest On Return Plans: Speaking of the potential for games getting back underway, the NHL and NHLPA released a joint memo with an update on their current plans.  While there remains no firm timetable for play to resume, there appears to be some that team workouts could resume at some point this month.  Meanwhile, the league sent another memo to teams to discuss their reasoning for wanting to move the NHL draft up and hold it in early June.  There doesn’t seem to be much support from teams for the idea but the league will have the final say, one that should come early in the week ahead.

Extension For Halak: One of the top backup goalies in the upcoming unrestricted free agent class is off the market at the Bruins signed Jaroslav Halak to a one-year contract extension.  The deal will give him the opportunity to earn more than his current $2.75MM AAV although it is structured in a way to give Boston some short-term cap flexibility as it carries a base salary of $2.25MM with a $1.25MM bonus to be paid out if he plays in ten games.  Considering how Halak has been used in his two years as Tuukka Rask’s backup/tandem partner, that’s pretty much a guarantee barring injury.  By putting some of the money as bonuses, it gives the Bruins the ability to defer the cap charge for that by a year by using the bonus cushion.  With the salary cap expected to level out or potentially even decrease, that may prove to be quite important while Halak gets a raise for his efforts.

McDonough Fired: Shortly after the stoppage in the schedule began, Blackhawks owner Rocky Wirtz gave a vote of confidence to his front office (president/CEO John McDonough, GM Stan Bowman, and head coach Jeremy Colliton).  Evidently, he has changed his mind as the team fired McDonough after thirteen years with the team.  A search has already started for his replacement with Wirtz’s son Daniel taking over on an interim basis.  The move also presents some questions about Bowman and Colliton’s status with the team although it’s possible that Bowman could move up after spending more than a decade in his current role.

New Transfer Agreements: The NHL reached an agreement on one-year extensions on its agreements with a dozen countries (including Sweden, Finland, and the Czech Republic), paving the way for a wave of international signings over the past few days.  They also reached an agreement with Switzerland after not having one for the past several years which means players drafted from there this summer won’t see their NHL rights be held indefinitely by the team that picks them.  On top of that, they also extended their agreement with the Canadian Hockey League, consisting of the OHL, QMJHL, and WHL.  Of note, that means that players from that league under the age of 20 will continue to be ineligible to play in the minors.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

While there aren’t any games going on at the moment, there was still a fair bit of news around the hockey world over the past seven days.

Barabanov To Toronto: Russian winger Alexander Barabanov had been fielding interest from numerous NHL teams in recent weeks and he made his choice on where to sign, inking a one-year deal with Toronto for 2020-21.  The deal is worth the entry-level maximum of $925K and does not contain any performance bonuses.  The 25-year-old had been playing with SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL in recent years and had 46 points in 58 games in 2018-19.  Those numbers dipped this season (20 points in 43 contests) but that still didn’t stop the Maple Leafs among others from pursuing him.  It’s the second year in a row that Toronto has turned to this route to fill a roster spot after signing winger Ilya Mikheyev last offseason.

Another Positive Test: The Avalanche announced that another one of their players has tested positive for COVID-19.  They did not identify the player.  This is the third Colorado player to test positive while the Senators have had five players get the virus, all of whom have since recovered.  These are the only known cases among current NHLers.

Cave Passes Away: Tragedy struck this week as Oilers center Colby Cave passed away on Saturday at the age of 25.  He had been hospitalized earlier in the week and placed in a medically-induced coma after suffering a brain bleed.  He then underwent emergency surgery to remove a colloid cyst that was causing pressure on his brain soon after but remained in a coma until his passing.  At the time of his hospitalization, his agent indicated that this was not related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.  Cave played in 67 career NHL games over parts of three seasons with Boston and Edmonton.  We join many in the hockey world in offering our condolences to Cave’s family and friends.

History Made In Switzerland: Florence Schelling had a stellar career in women’s hockey, representing Switzerland in ten World Championships and four Olympics while playing professionally in Canada, Sweden, and of course Switzerland.  Now she’s set to make her mark at the executive level and is making history in the process.  SC Bern of the Swiss NLA has hired the 31-year-old as their new sports director and general manager, making her the first female to be named GM of a top-tier men’s professional team.

Final Draft Rankings: While there is no word yet on when the 2020 NHL Entry Draft will be held after the event that was originally scheduled for late June was recently postponed, that hasn’t stopped NHL Central Scouting from releasing their final rankings.  As usual, players were grouped into four categories – North American Skaters, North American Goalies, International Skaters, and International Goalies.  The top-ranked players in each category are Alexis Lafreniere (Rimouski, QMJHL), Nico Daws (Guelph, OHL), Tim Stuetzle (Mannheim, DEL), and Yaroslav Askarov (St. Petersburg, VHL).

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

With almost the hockey world shuttered for the foreseeable future, a big chunk of the top stories of the week revolved around cancellations and postponements.

KHL Shuts Down: One league that was hoping to quickly resume their postseason was the KHL.  Even in the aftermath of two teams withdrawing from the second round of the playoffs, the original plan was to take a week off to make changes to the six-team field and then get back underway.  Instead, they’ve changed their mind and cancelled the remainder of the playoffs while announcing they won’t aware the Gagarin Cup.  Now, their focus shifts to starting next season on time which is a different approach to the NHL who has basically acknowledged that the start of 2020-21 will be delayed if play resumes in the coming weeks and months.

Two Colorado Players Test Positive: Until this week, the only team with a known positive test for COVID-19 was Ottawa.  That changed when Colorado announced that an unnamed player had tested positive but had since recovered.  They then revealed over the weekend that a second unnamed player has tested positive and is in self-isolation.  That brings the number of confirmed positive tests of NHL players to four.

CHL Cancellations: Although the CHL had cancelled their regular seasons already (with leagues having different plans regarding how to handle the variance in games played), their hope was to get the playoffs underway at a later date.  That’s no longer the case as the league has cancelled the postseason as well as the annual Memorial Cup, a tournament involving the winners of each league plus the host team.  It will be the first time in the 101-year history of the Memorial Cup that it won’t be awarded.  There was one other notable development from junior hockey during the week as the WHL granted 14-year-old forward Connor Bedard exceptional player status, allowing him to enter the league next season, one year earlier than he normally would have been able to.  It’s the first time in WHL history that they’ve given someone this designation.  Bedard will be eligible for the 2023 NHL Entry Draft.

Zegras Turns Pro: After Kings prospect Alex Turcotte decided to forego the final three years of his college eligibility, Ducks prospect Trevor Zegras, another top-ten pick from last June, did the same.  The center had a strong freshman campaign at Boston University, picking up 36 points in 33 games while also leading the World Juniors in assists with nine in five games for Team USA.  Zegras will try to push for a spot on Anaheim’s roster next season but may need some time at the minor league level as well.

More Postponements: With there being no immediate end in sight to the pandemic, the NHL unsurprisingly has started to postpone some of their upcoming events.  The Draft Lottery was slated to be held early next month at the conclusion of the regular season but with their plan being to resume the season later on, that being delayed was inevitable.  The same could be said for the NHL Awards as those are dependent on the regular season which may not finish for a while and they too were postponed.  Not surprisingly, the draft has also been put on hold with the results of the regular season and playoffs shaping the order of selection so obviously, the draft can’t be held until everything is finished.  There’s a good chance that the event will be a slimmed-down version whenever it is held.

While there was no hockey being played this past week, there were still some newsworthy events over the past seven days which are highlighted in our key stories.

Roster Freeze: Although players can sign contracts for next season, free agents can’t sign deals for the 2019-20 campaign.  That’s because the NHL has put a roster freeze in place, one that will presumably be in place until games are closer to resuming if things get to that point.  A total of 16 players were assigned to the minors including Anaheim’s Kiefer Sherwood who was the only one to clear waivers.  Winnipeg was the only team to recall a player as Mark Letestu was brought back from his conditioning stint with AHL Manitoba without ever actually getting into a game.

Testing Positive: It was only a matter of time before an NHL player tested positive for the COVID-19 virus and that has come to fruition as the Senators announced that one of their players has the virus but did not identify who had it.  As it turns out, they had a second player test positive over the weekend.  Prior to the shutdown, Ottawa was on the road in California, one of the states that have been hardest by the pandemic.  In their second announcement, it was noted that six other members of the organization (not necessarily players) were also exhibiting symptoms and that they were waiting for testing results.

Thornton Hoping To Play Next Season: After he wasn’t dealt at the trade deadline, Sharks center Joe Thornton expressed some disappointment that he wouldn’t be able to get another shot at a Stanley Cup title.  Perhaps with that in mind, he indicated that his intention is to continue playing into next season which would be his 23rd in the league.  The 41-year-old has seen his production taper off considerably this year with seven goals and 31 points in 71 games, numbers that are well below his career averages.  He has shown a willingness to take cheaper deals lately and is making $2MM this season but he may have to take another pay cut to get a look next year with San Jose or another team.

Hobey Baker Finalists: The list of Hobey Baker candidates has been dropped from 78 midseason nominees to a group of ten finalists, headlined by Vegas prospect Jack Dugan who led the NCAA in scoring.  There are three players in that group that haven’t been drafted or signed by an NHL team – centers Jason Cotton and Jordan Kawaguchi plus goaltender Dryden McKay.  This group of ten players will be whittled down to three by a selection committee plus a fan vote with voting set to end on March 29th.

World Championship Cancelled: It was a move that had been expected for quite some time but has now been made official – the IIHF has cancelled the 2020 Men’s World Hockey Championship.  The tournament was slated to run in Switzerland in May but given all of the uncertainty and travel restrictions with the current pandemic, it was unrealistic to think that it could have been played as scheduled.  The 2021 event is slated to take place in Belarus and Latvia.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

This past week was a rather unique one not only in hockey but the entire sporting landscape.  Naturally, those events dominate the headlines of the past seven days.

Season Suspended: Let’s get the obvious one out of the way first.  As a result of the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic, the NHL has put the season on pause for the time being.  Players have been told to self-quarantine for a six-day period and it’s expected that things will be re-assessed at that time in a week or so to determine next steps depending on what other government decrees come into play between now and then.  Unlike the NBA which has committed to a 30-day shutdown at a minimum, the NHL hasn’t put any firm timelines in place.  The remaining schedule will likely be determined based on when they’re able to get everything back up and running while there is still some potential that games will be played in empty arenas even when play resumes.  In the interim, the players will still be paid their salaries at the regular intervals (though there will probably have to be some escrow adjustments) while some teams have made arrangements to pay their game day staff during this stoppage.

Other Leagues Follow Suit: Not surprisingly, other leagues have followed suit.  The AHL and CHL have opted to do like the NHL for the time being and temporarily suspend their seasons, allowing for the possibility to return down the road.  While the AHL still has a little more than a month left on their regular season schedule, the CHL playoffs were just about to get underway.  Other leagues have decided to cancel the rest of the season/playoffs outright, including the ECHL, SHL, and NCAA.  The latter, in particular, will have an interesting effect on the transaction front in the weeks to come as the college free agent market can pick up at any time instead of teams having to wait for college squads to be eliminated from the postseason.

Simek Extension: Sharks defenseman Radek Simek officially signed his four-year, $9MM extension.  The 27-year-old got a late start to his NHL career as he only debuted with San Jose last season but he has become an important part of their back end.  Injuries have limited him to just 48 games this season where he has nine points while logging over 17 minutes a night.  Given his overall lack of NHL experience, the deal does carry some risk but clearly, San Jose is also banking on Simek taking another step or two forward in his development as well.  The Sharks now have $28.75MM committed to their top four defensemen through the 2023-24 campaign so it’s likely that they will be rounding out that group with players on entry-level deals or low-cost veterans to give them more room to spend elsewhere.

Wisconsin Departures: A pair of top NHL prospects decided to forego the rest of their NCAA eligibility at Wisconsin.  First, the Kings inked 2019 first-rounder (fifth overall) Alex Turcotte to a three-year, entry-level deal that begins in the 2020-21 season.  The center had 26 points in 29 games in his freshman year with the Badgers and was slated to join AHL Ontario before the season was suspended.  Meanwhile, the Rangers agreed to terms on a deal with blueliner K’Andre Miller on an entry-level pact as well.  Miller, the 22nd pick in 2018, saw his offensive numbers dip a bit in his sophomore campaign but he still posted a respectable 18 points in 36 contests.  While Turcotte isn’t quite NHL ready yet, Miller could contend for a spot on New York’s back end as soon as next season.

Lemieux Suspended: The NHL has decided to suspend Rangers winger Brendan Lemieux for his hit on Colorado winger Joonas Donskoi back on Wednesday.  However, the number of games he will miss has not yet been determined and will be dependent on what the schedule situation turns out to be.  This will be Lemieux’s second suspension of his young career after receiving a two-game ban back in November of 2018 for an illegal hit to the head.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.