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Zach Sanford

Winnipeg Jets Acquire Zach Sanford

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The Winnipeg Jets are the next team that will take a chance on Zach Sanford, acquiring him from the Ottawa Senators in exchange for a 2022 fifth-round pick. Sanford is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season.

Sanford, 27, was originally selected in the second round by the Washington Capitals, as his mix of size and skill was quite the attractive prospect. After just 26 games with the Capitals though he ended up traded to the St. Louis Blues in a deal for Kevin Shattenkirk, where he would spend the next few seasons. Another trade took him to Ottawa last fall, and now he’ll get one last chance to show what he can do before hitting the open market. In 62 games this season he’s registered nine goals and 17 points, though is still providing that trademarked physicality, racking up 131 hits in that time.

It’s kind of an odd move for the Jets, given they sold Andrew Copp to the New York Rangers, but there’s certainly still a possibility that they could contend down the stretch. A fifth-round pick isn’t going to hurt the future very much, and it could also give the team a headstart on an extension, should they feel like Sanford fits what they’re trying to do in Winnipeg.

For Ottawa, grabbing a draft pick for Sanford was better than losing him for nothing, as it was becoming clear that the team’s young forward prospects would likely keep him from reaching an extension anyway. With their moves the last few days, the Senators have racked up a good number of draft picks, assets they can use to acquire more talent in the summer or continue to stock the cupboard with prospects.

Darren Dreger of TSN broke the trade on Twitter.

Ottawa Senators Remove Three From COVID Protocol

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Jan 5: Ennis, Norris, and Paul have all cleared the protocol and can rejoin their teammates at practice. With the team now off until January 8, the Senators will hopefully be mostly out of the woods.

Jan 3: The Ottawa Senators have added three more players to the COVID protocol, as Thomas Chabot, Zach Sanford, and Chris Tierney are now unavailable. With the extra roster spots, they have recalled Michael Del Zotto from the AHL and added Scott Sabourin to the taxi squad.

The Senators now have nine players in the protocol, though Anton Forsberg is expected to clear tomorrow. Joshua Norris, Tyler Ennis, Dillon Heatherington, Jacob Bernard-Docker, and Nick Paul are all on the sidelines, along with assistant coach Bob Jones and three members of the support staff.

Nearly every member of the Senators roster has now spent time on the COVID list at one point or another this season. Ottawa is set to play next on January 6 against the Seattle Kraken, but will be seriously shorthanded.

Alex Goligoski, Evan Rodrigues Receive Maximum Fines

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The NHL Department of Player Safety is keeping busy today. After announcing a suspension hearing for Nashville Predators defenseman Mark Borowiecki earlier, the league has now issued a pair of fines. Minnesota Wild defenseman Alex Goligoski and Pittsburgh Penguins forward Evan Rodrigues have been dinged for infractions in their respective Saturday night contests.

Goligoski has received a maximum $5,000 fine for high-sticking Seattle Kraken forward Jordan Eberle. While high-sticking is usually an incidental penalty, incurred due to negligence rather than maliciousness, sometimes a dangerous high stick can rise to the level of supplemental discipline. This is the case for Goligoski, whose high stick actually went unnoticed and uncalled as well, which likely added to the fine decision.

Rodrigues has received a maximum $2,500 fine for tripping Ottawa Senators forward Zach Sanford. Called a “trip”, Rodrigues actually used his stick to buckle Sanford’s knee in a net-front scrum, which is a dangerous play. Like Goligoski, Rodrigues’ penalty also went uncalled but was reviewed by Player Safety after the fact to the effect of a fine. In a nine-goal game, in which Rodrigues and Sanford combined for three tallies, there was enough going on that the the referees missed the call.

Blues Acquire Logan Brown

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Logan Brown’s desire for a fresh start is well-known and he has gotten his wish.  The Senators have sent the center along with a conditional fourth-round pick in 2022 to St. Louis in exchange for winger Zach Sanford.  The draft pick will not transfer if Brown plays in 30 regular season games with the Blues this season.  Both teams have confirmed the deal.

Brown was a first-round pick of Ottawa (11th overall) in 2016 but despite showing flashes of upside in the minors, he has yet to establish himself in the NHL.  He had nine points in 13 AHL contests with Belleville last season but only got into one game with the Senators in 2020-21 and has just 30 career NHL appearances over his three professional campaigns.  The 23-year-old recently re-signed a one-year, two-way contract worth the league minimum of $750K and will be a restricted free agent against next summer.

As for Sanford, he has been a capable depth scorer for the Blues over the last few seasons, notching at least eight goals in each of his three full seasons in St. Louis.  Injuries to other forwards allowed him to play a bigger role in 2020-21 as he logged nearly 15 minutes per game in ice time (a career high) while collecting ten goals and six assists in 52 contests.  The 26-year-old is in the final year of his contract that carries a $2MM AAV and Sanford will be an unrestricted free agent next summer.

The key to the trade from St. Louis’ perspective is the cap space.  The move allows them to get back into salary cap compliance as they were projected to be over the $81.5MM Upper Limit before the swap.  If Brown pans out, he will be a cheap roster piece for the Blues and if he can’t crack the roster, they’ll get the fourth-rounder for Sanford’s services.  As for the Sens, Sanford should be a nice addition to their bottom six forward group.  As they look to get back into the playoff picture this season, he’ll be a useful veteran on a young team and if they’re out of the mix by the trade deadline, Sanford is someone that could be flipped to a playoff contender.

Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch was the first to report that the two teams were finalizing a trade for Brown.

2021 Arbitration Tracker

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Originally published on August 5

The dates for the upcoming arbitration hearings have been set, with the first three scheduled for August 11. Hearings will continue through August 26 in this condensed offseason. It is important to note that the CBA agreement last year changed the rules for arbitration, so that once a hearing begins, teams are no longer allowed to negotiate with the player in question.

The full schedule is:

August 11
Adam Pelech (New York Islanders) – Settled, 8 years, $5.75MM AAV
Michael McNiven (Montreal Canadiens) – Settled, 1 year, $750K/$100K AAV (two-way)
Jakub Vrana (Detroit Red Wings) – Player filing: $5.7MM – Team filing: $3.65MM – Settled, 3 years, $5.25MM AAV

August 12
Victor Mete (Ottawa Senators) – Settled, 1 year, $1.2MM AAV

August 13
Neal Pionk (Winnipeg Jets) – Settled, 4 years, $5.875MM AAV

August 14
Vince Dunn (Seattle Kraken) – Settled, 2 years, $4.0MM AAV
Zach Sanford (St. Louis Blues) – Settled, 1 year, $2.0MM AAV

August 16
Adin Hill (San Jose Sharks) – Settled, 2 years, $2.175MM AAV
Ross Colton (Tampa Bay Lightning) – Settled, 2 years, $1.125MM AAV

August 17
Kevin Fiala (Minnesota Wild) – Player filing: $6.25MM – Team filing: $4.0MM – Settled, 1 year, $5.1MM AAV

August 18
Juuse Saros (Nashville Predators) – Settled, 4 years, $5.0MM AAV

August 20
Dante Fabbro (Nashville Predators) – Settled, 2 years, $2.4MM AAV
Jason Dickinson (Vancouver Canucks) – Settled, 3 years, $2.65MM AAV

August 21
Adam Erne (Detroit Red Wings) – Settled, 2 years, $2.1MM AAV
Dennis Gilbert (Colorado Avalanche) – Settled, 1 year, $750K/$160K AAV (two-way)

August 23
Zach Aston-Reese (Pittsburgh Penguins) – Settled, 1 year, $1.725MM AAV

August 26
Andrew Copp (Winnipeg Jets) – Settled, 1 year, $3.64MM AAV
Nikita Zadorov (Calgary Flames) – Settled, 1 year, $3.75MM AAV
Travis Sanheim (Philadelphia Flyers) – Settled, 2 years, $4.675MM AAV

St. Louis Blues Sign Zach Sanford

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The St. Louis Blues have agreed to terms with Zach Sanford on a one-year deal, avoiding arbitration with the young restricted free agent. The deal will carry a salary of $2MM. Sanford was one of 17 players who elected salary arbitration earlier this week.

With a $2MM Sanford in tow, the Blues now have just about $1.5MM in cap space with Robert Thomas still to sign. That number can be finessed a bit by dropping the number of players on the roster, but realistically will need a Vladimir Tarasenko trade if the Blues want to sign Thomas to a long-term deal. Otherwise, they could go short-term with him as well, just as they have with Sanford and Jordan Kyrou, who recently inked a two-year deal.

This contract for Sanford is interesting though, because it will walk the 26-year-old forward right to unrestricted free agency next summer. The 6’4″ forward is coming off a disappointing season which ended with just 16 points in 52 games. That’s a big step backward from his 2019-20 campaign that included 16 goals and 30 points in 58 games.

With that in mind, this is kind of a “prove it” deal for Sanford, to establish himself as a valuable secondary scoring threat or simply a bottom-six depth player. If he can do more than just contribute at the defensive end of the rink, he’ll could be one of the most sought-after free agents next summer. If those scoring totals don’t come up though, there’s no guarantee he even gets more than the $2MM St. Louis is comitting to him this time around.

COVID Protocol Related Absences: 03/21/21

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Each day, the NHL will publicly release the list of players that are unavailable to their respective teams due to being in COVID-19 Protocol. Here is the complete, updated list for today:

Boston – Sean Kuraly, Jake DeBrusk, David Krejci, David Pastrnak, Craig Smith
NY Islanders – Noah Dobson
NY Rangers – Phil Di Giuseppe (plus their coaching staff)
St. Louis – Zach Sanford

As a reminder, inclusion on this list does not mean that a player has tested positive for Coronavirus or even that they have been confirmed as a close contact to another positive person. Included in the NHL’s list of possible reasons for someone being on the list is are the following:

(1) an initial positive test which remains unconfirmed until confirmatory testing is completed pursuant to the Positive Test Protocol; (2) mandated isolation for symptomatic individuals pursuant to the Positive Test Protocol; (3) required quarantine as a high-risk close contact in accordance with the Positive Test Protocol; (4) isolation based on a confirmed positive test result and/or; (5) quarantine for travel or other reasons as outlined in the COVID-19 Protocol

Players removed today: Alexandre Texier, Columbus

It’s certainly encouraging that there were no new additions to the list from Boston given their recent outbreak or from anywhere else in the league.  Things went in the right direction today with Texier being activated and immediately sent to the taxi squad, a move that may be more procedural than anything else since the youngster only missed two games while being in the protocols.

*denotes new addition

Injury Notes: Blues, Armia, Necas, Kase

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The St. Louis Blues’ Tyler Bozak, who has been sidelined since January 26th, has finally been retroactively placed on the injured reserve per a team release. Ironically, the Blues waited so long to make the the move that Bozak is already eligible to be activated from IR. However, he is still considered day-to-day and there is not definitive timeline for his return. Bozak has been out with an undisclosed upper-body injury since taking a heavy hit from Vegas’ Mark Stone nearly two weeks ago. Defenseman Marco Scandella has additionally been ruled out for the time being with an upper-body injury, reports Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Scandella was a late scratch for the Blues’ game on Thursday, believed to have been the result of this same nagging injury. Thomas adds that Zach Sanford is also out for the Blues with, of all things in the age of COVID, the flu. Sanford is off to a slow start this season despite playing on the team’s top line recently, but perhaps taking some time to get back to full strength will put him back on track.

  • Sanford is not alone in his struggles with the flu. While the virus is certainly the lesser of two evils this season, it is still hampering a return to action for the Montreal Canadiens’ Joel Armia as well. Armia, who was initially sidelined by a concussion, is doing better in that regard, head coach Claude Julien tells TSN’s John Lu. However, he has been unable to skate with the team due to flu symptoms. The team hopes to have Armia back at practice on Monday at the earliest.
  • Young Carolina Hurricanes forward Martin Necas has also entered the concussion protocol after suffering an injury on Thursday, reports Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News & Observer. However, head coach Rod Brind’Amour is not worried that he will miss a considerable amount of time. Specifically, he tells Alexander that Necas is “going to be out for a little while but I don’t think it’s going to be very long.” His injury is only being termed as an “upper-body” ailment.
  • The Boston Bruins are hoping to have Jake DeBrusk and Matt Grzelcyk back before their next game on Wednesday, but it seems Ondrej Kase is still a ways behind in his recovery from a concussion. Head coach Bruce Cassidy tells The Athletic’s Fluto Shinzawa that Kase has been able to ride the exercise bike, but he has not yet resumed skating. Kase has been out since the Bruins’ second game of the season and is currently on injured reserve. A talented, but injury-prone young forward with a history of head trauma, Kase needs to return to the Bruins lineup and show some durability and consistency and establish chemistry with his team ahead of an off-season in which he will be a restricted free agent and the subject of a difficult Expansion Draft decision.

Snapshots: Kravtsov, Hartley, Sanford, Pelletier

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New York Rangers prospect Vitaly Kravtsov has been demoted to the VHL by the KHL’s Chelyabinsk Traktor, their minor league affiliate, the team announced (Twitter link, translation required). Kravtsov has struggled significantly this season as he started the season with the Rangers with many expecting him to win a roster spot out of training camp.

Instead, he was sent to the Hartford Wolf Pack in the AHL where he had just one assist in five games and struggled to gain playing time. He opted to enact his European Assignment Clause and returned to Chelyabinsk Traktor team in the KHL with which he played 50 games last season as a 18-year-old. However, Kravtsov has struggled there as well, scoring just two goals in 11 games.

Sport-Express’ Igor Eronko reports that Traktor isn’t actively trying to trade Kravtsov’s rights, but they are willing to listen to offers for the 19-year-old.

  • Eronko also reports that former NHL head coach Bob Hartley is closing in on signing a two-year extension with Omsk Avangard in the KHL. Hartley has his team currently in second place in the Eastern division with 18 wins and 50 points in 37 games. Avangard hired Hartley, a head coach with the Colorado Avalanche, Atlanta Thrashers and the Calgary Flames, back in May of 2018.
  • The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford reports that the injuries in St. Louis continue to mount as St. Louis Blues forward Zach Sanford didn’t skate Sunday and is doubtful to play on Tuesday. Alex Steen and Oskar Sundqvist are both expected to join the Blues for their trip to Buffalo, but neither is expected to play, which means the team will be forced to recall a player from the San Antonio Rampage of the AHL before then.
  • Ryan Pike of FlamesNation reports that Calgary Flames prospect and 2019 first-round pick Jakob Pelletier is expected to miss the World Junior Championships after the 18-year-old suffered a lower-body injury Thursday in his QMJHL game. Pelletier, who is having a dominant season with the Moncton Wildcats, was invited to Canada’s World Junior selection camp, and while the injury isn’t considered to be serious, it will be enough to keep him out of next week’s camp, which means he cannot make the team.

Blues’ Jake Allen Promised Trade Protection

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Even after winning the Stanley Cup, many expected that the St. Louis Blues would be active on the trade market this summer. The team seemingly lacked the salary cap space to re-sign a vast number of restricted free agents, including goaltender Jordan Binnington, defenseman Joel Edmundson, and forwards Oskar Sundqvist, Ivan Barbashev, Zach Sanford, and Robby Fabbri. Somehow, GM Doug Armstrong did manage to get all of his young RFA’s back under contract, although it took time and left the Blues with very little cap flexibility heading into the new season. Unsurprisingly, that meant that trade rumors persisted throughout the off-season.

A quick look at the defending champs’ roster reveals that there is really only one obvious piece that St. Louis could be expected to try to move on from: starting goaltender turned overpriced backup Jake Allen. Allen’s name popped up throughout the summer and he tells Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he was well aware of the rumors. However, he also informed Thomas that he knew better than to get caught up in the hype. Allen states that Armstrong and company assured him that he would not be traded this past summer:

I knew internally all along this summer that I wasn’t getting dealt. They had told me that. You know, people talk and things like that, but I knew that they don’t want to get rid of me, so it was good to be reassured that way. I knew that I was coming back. So just put my mind at ease and get really focused on being the best Blue I can. There was a lot of chatter obviously with the way the summer went and the run that Binner went on. But internally I knew I was coming back, so I wasn’t worried about it at all.

The language used by Allen paints a pretty clear picture of where his head is at entering the 2019-20 campaign. The 29-year-old is confident that the Blues want him in the mix and calls the play of 26-year-old rookie Binnington “a run”. In reality, Binnington greatly outperformed Allen in the second half of the year and earned the lion’s share of starts. He finished the season with a GAA nearly one whole goal better than Allen and save percentage more than 20 points better. It wasn’t close between the two and was actually the second poor season in a row for Allen. Yet, he still believes that this is an open competition and the contract figures may support his claim.

If the Blues did in fact promise not to trade Allen – albeit a handshake agreement as he has no trade protection in his contract – it does stand to reason that they see the next two years as an open competition to see which keeper, if either, is deserving of an extension. Even after his Calder Trophy finalist-caliber year, Binnington only received a two-year, $8.7MM contract. Both his and Allen’s contracts will expire following the 2020-21 season and in the meantime, Allen will still be making $50K more as the supposed backup. The scenario provides hope for the veteran netminder and that’s all he needs to get excited for the challenge of a new season: “There’s one net out there, and I’m gonna go after it. No question.”

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