Winnipeg Jets Sign Johnny Kovacevic
Sunday: The Jets have announced the signing, making it official. Kovacevic has signed an amateur try out with the Manitoba Moose of the AHL and is expected to spend the rest of the season there.
Friday: The Jets have inked one of their prospects as TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie reports (Twitter link) that they’ve signed defenseman Johnny Kovacevic to a two-year, entry-level deal. CapFriendly adds that the contract carries a $700K base salary with a $92.5K signing bonus in both years. The deal officially begins in the 2019-20 season.
The 21-year-old was a third-round pick of Winnipeg back in 2017 (74th overall) following a strong freshman season at Merrimack that really put him on the NHL radar after playing in the CCHL the previous two years. While he hasn’t matched his offensive numbers from that rookie year in his past two seasons, he has emerged as a capable two-day defender that was a fixture in their top four and clearly, Winnipeg has liked what they’ve seen as they’ve signed him a year early as he still was eligible for his senior season.
With the contract starting next season, Kovacevic is likely report to AHL Manitoba for the rest of the season on an amateur tryout deal. The Moose are currently in ninth in the Western Conference, on the outside of the playoff picture. Kovacevic may be the boost they need to sneak in over the course of these final few weeks.
Prospect Notes: Kuokkanen, Hughes, Caufield, Malone
The Carolina Hurricanes are down a depth option with the playoffs approaching, but the bigger hit will be to the Charlotte Checkers, the top team in the AHL. Checkers head coach Mike Vellucci has revealed that forward Janne Kuokkanen is done for the year. The top prospect has missed more than a month now with an upper-body injury, but both the ‘Canes and Checkers hoped he would be able to return. Instead, Kuokkanen is scheduled for surgery in two weeks that will end his season. The 2016 second-round pick is in his second pro season and had been on pace to put up major numbers in the minors. Prior to his injury, Kuokkanen had 38 points in 48 games, close to his 60-game total from last year, and remains second on the team in per-game production. Kuokkanen has also played eleven games with Carolina, including seven this season, and likely would have been a top injury replacement consideration. The talented forward will instead have to focus on his recovery and will likely be given a chance to break camp with the Hurricanes next season.
- On one goal last night, history was made for two players in the U.S. National Team Development Program writes NHL.com’s Mike Morreale. Facing the USHL’s Green Bay Gamblers, presumptive 2019 first-round picks Jack Hughes and Cole Caufield connected for a goal late in the third period of a lopsided blowout; it was yet another of countless the duo have combined for in their time with the program. The assist to Hughes, the favorite to go No. 1 overall in June, was his 190th point in his two-year stint with the program, passing Clayton Keller for the most all-time. It was his fifth assist of the game and his 130th as a member of the USNTDP. Hughes now tops a list that includes Keller, Phil Kessel, Patrick Kane, Jeremy Bracco, and Auston Matthews next in line. The goal for Caufield was his sixth of the game and somehow more impressively his 105th for the USNTDP, the new all-time high. Caufield takes the overall title away from Kessel and is just four goals away from passing Matthews for most goals in a single season. Although just 5’7″, Caufield is an elite sniper whose game has been complemented nicely by Hughes’ next-level play-making abilities. Questions about his size and ability to produce when not surrounded by top talent persist, but the University of Wisconsin-bound forward is still expected to be picked in the first half of the first round this spring. Hughes and Caufield are now names for the USNTDP record books, but soon they’ll be topping charts as NHL prospects and even NHL scorers sooner rather than later.
- A recent University of Wisconsin standout had a nice night of his own. Seamus Malone, who wrapped up an impressive four-year career with the Badgers last week, signed a tryout deal with the AHL’s Utica Comets. In his pro debut, Malone also picked up his first career goal. An undersized, but capable center, Malone was a model of consistency at Wisconsin, recording 23+ points in 35+ games in each of his four seasons. However, his senior campaign also showed that he has developed into a more well-rounded two-way contributor. Malone was a player that some were surprised to see go undrafted during his years of eligibility, but now the 22-year-old may end up in the NHL after all. He is bound for far more than just a tryout deal and will likely land an AHL contract, if not an entry-level contract for next season, especially if he keeps scoring in his current stint with the Comets.
Blue Jackets Notes: Merzlikins, Bemstrom, Bobrovsky
It was a busy day for the always-informative Aaron Portzline of The Athletic, reacting to the news that intriguing prospect Alexandre Texier was on his way to North America to join the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters and begin his Columbus Blue Jackets career. However, Portzline didn’t stop there, as he had news on a couple more top prospects in the Columbus pipeline. The most pressing report comes out of Switzerland, where Portzline notes star goalie Elvis Merzlikins and his NLA club, HC Lugano, are down 3-0 in their first-round series against EV Zug and on the brink of elimination. Game Four will take place on Saturday and, should that be the end Lugano’s season, it could begin the anticipated move for Merzlikins across the Atlantic. While Merzlikins has struggled against the higher-seeded playoff opponent, it won’t erase the merits of yet another strong regular season for the 24-year-old keeper, who logged a .921 save percentage for the second straight year and a his best goals against average as a starter at 2.44. Merzlikins has developed nicely in Switzerland, but it is time for the promising Latvian netminder to move on. With Sergei Bobrovsky moving on from Columbus as a free agent this summer, Merzlikins and Joonas Korpisalo are currently the only candidates to take over as starter barring an addition to the roster this off-season. Either way, the exciting young goalie will almost certainly make his NHL debut in 2019-20. Portzline expects Merzlikins to finish the season in North America, but that likely means joining Texier on the Monsters, not supplanting any of the three goalies currently on the Blue Jackets roster.
- Another top Blue Jackets prospect is not as likely to make the jump to North America this season. Portzline writes that up-and-coming Swedish forward Emil Bemstrom looks unlikely to finish the year with Columbus or an affiliate due to other commitments. Bemstrom’s team in the Swedish Hockey League, Djurgardens IF, are the four seed in the upcoming postseason. The team is likely to be competitive in the first round, if not advance beyond that stage. If and when they are knocked out, Portzline states the Blue Jackets do not expect him to immediately join them. Instead, Portzline believes he could be a candidate to play for Sweden’s entry into the World Championships this spring. A fourth-round pick just two year’s ago, Bemstrom’s rise to top prospect status has been meteoric and has been capped off with an SHL season this year in which he is second in scoring for Djurgardens with 35 points in 47 games at just 19 years old. From relative obscurity, Bemstrom has emerged as arguably the best drafted prospect in Sweden this year and could help Columbus out as early as next season. Just don’t expect the jump in the coming weeks.
- In a Q&A piece today, Portzline addressed a forgotten issue that may have led to the breakdown in the relationship between Bobrovksy and the Blue Jackets. After a lackluster postseason effort in 2017, many questioned whether Bobrovksy’s head was in the right place. Although no team officials or major media personalities echoed the sentiment, Bobrovsky reacted very negatively to the idea that he “needed a sports psychologist”. Reminded of that ordeal two years later, Portzline writes that this absolutely was a major issue that has plagued Bobrovsky. In fact, after another early exit from the playoffs last year, the comments may have a permanent place in the otherwise stellar goaltender’s head. Portzline has spoken with several Russian media members who have confirmed that the stigma attached to therapy and mental illness in the country is very different than in North America. They believe that the insinuations Bobrovsky faced were very offensive to him and could have led to a desire to leave Columbus. The move now seems inevitable, but given the slight downturn in Bobrovsky’s regular season play this year, one has to wonder if another poor performance in the playoffs further mess with his confidence and perhaps even hurt his value on the open market
Alexandre Texier To Join Cleveland Monsters
The Columbus Blue Jackets have carefully watched the development of one of their prospects from afar, but will now finally be able to get him into their organization. Alexandre Texier‘s season has ended in Finland, and Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch reports that the young forward will be joining the Cleveland Monsters on Friday. The Monsters play on Friday and Saturday in Chicago and Rockford against the Wolves and IceHogs respectively. It’s not clear if Texier will be in the lineup for either game.
With two goals and three points in his final game of the season, Texier finishes with an impressive 41 points in 55 games this season for KalPa. That was enough to lead his squad despite his young age, and make for an exciting entrance to North American hockey. Selected 45th overall in 2017, there were some who believed Texier should have gone even higher. The French forward is still just 19 but signed his entry-level deal with the Blue Jackets last spring. Hedger spoke with Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen about the young prospect:
For that age, to do that in that league is special. That’s why he was one of those prospects that under no circumstances was going to be moved at the deadline.
It’s clear that the Blue Jackets gave up some future assets at the deadline for a chance to compete this season, but with Texier and others there is still a substantial prospect pool in Columbus. Other names like Liam Foudy, Emil Bemstrom and Andrew Peeke are still on the way, not to mention Elvis Merzlikins who very well could be the starting goaltender for the Blue Jackets next season.
For a team that could potentially see Artemi Panarin, Matt Duchene, Sergei Bobrovsky and Ryan Dzingel all walk in free agency this summer, the development of players like Texier is imperative. He’ll take the next step by getting into some AHL action, and see if he can bring the same type of offensive flair to the North American ice.
Chicago Blackhawks Sign Philipp Kurashev
The Chicago Blackhawks have inked one of their intriguing forward prospects, signing Philipp Kurashev to a three-year entry-level contract. Kurashev is currently playing with the Quebec Remparts of the QMJHL, where he will remain for the rest of this season.
Kurashev certainly didn’t make headlines when he was selected 120th overall in the 2018 draft, but a few months later he was the talk of junior hockey. That came at the most recent World Junior tournament where the 19-year old led the field with six goals in seven games for Switzerland, impressing everyone in attendance with his slick puck skills and ability to finish around the net. Kurashev returned to the Remparts where he has 28 goals and 62 points in 57 games, easily leading the team in both categories.
The talented forward was actually ranked much higher than his eventual draft position by many outlets, and he’ll now get the chance to prove that he should have been a higher selection. Turning 20 in October means his contract will kick in for the 2019-20 season regardless of where he plays, making him a restricted free agent in the summer of 2022.
Yegor Korshkov Ready To Sign With Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs may be close to bringing in one of their prospects as NHL.com’s Igor Eronko reports that Yegor Korshkov is set to sign in Toronto. Korshkov, the Maple Leafs’ second-round pick from 2016, has been playing in the KHL for the last five years with many wondering if he’d ever come over.
Of course, Korshkov who is currently playing with Yaroslavl Lokomotiv in the second round of the Gargarin Cup playoffs isn’t eligible to sign a contract until the team is eliminated. They are current underdogs in this round to SKA St. Petersburg, but it may still be a few weeks before the Maple Leafs can begin negotiations to bring Korshkov aboard.
The 22-year-old prospect has not put up dominant numbers in his time in the KHL, however, with many people suggesting that the 6-foot-4, 180-pound winger may not live up to having been the first pick in the second round that year. Toronto did pass over several big names that were still on the board at No. 31, including Alex DeBrincat, Carter Hart, Samuel Girard and Jordan Kyrou to name a few.
Korshkov, who has progressed in every year he’s been in the KHL, opted to stay one more season with Yaroslavl Lokomotiv. However, the forward was injured on the second game of the season and missed several months, therefore only playing in only 19 games this season, having scored three goals and five points in that span.
While injuries have been a problem throughout Korshkov’s career, the Maple Leafs have high hopes that his size will translate well to the smaller North American rinks. On top of that, he’s been used as a depth forward in the KHL and has never been developed to become a top-six forward, where he could be used in that role if he plays for the Toronto Marlies in the AHL. Both possibilities could suggest that Korshkov could still develop into a solid scorer, other than the fact that he’ll be 23 when next season starts and with the need for at least one full year in the AHL, he likely wouldn’t arrive to the Maple Leafs until he is 24, a little old for a bona-fide prospect.
Buffalo Sabres Recall Alexander Nylander From AHL
With little left to play for, the Buffalo Sabres announced Sunday they have recalled prospect Alexander Nylander from the Rochester Americans of the AHL. The Sabres have struggled recently, having lost four in a row and are 2-6-2 in their last 10 games and with the season starting to get away from them, it may as well see what it has in Nylander.
For Nylander, the team’s first-round pick from 2016, who has missed some time due to injury in the month of February, the recently-turned 21-year-old has struggled once again in his third year in the AHL, having scored just 12 goals and 31 points in 49 games. While those are career-highs after struggling with just 10 goals in the 2016-17 season and eight goals in an injury-plagued 2017-18 when he missed the first two months of the season with a strained groin, the team was hoping for more from one of their top prospects.
He started the season strong, but disappeared in a stretch of 19 games from December through February where he tallied just one goal and four assists in that time. Nylander, however, has been hot recently as he’s scored four goals and added two assists in his last four games, which was enough of a reason to recall him. The team hopes that it can assess what it has in their young prospect considering this is his third year in the organization and the team must assess whether he is the player they thought they picked with the eighth-overall pick. With 14 games remaining for the Sabres, he should get a long look. Nylander received a four-game callup in 2016-17 where he tallied one assist. He got a three-game look last season where he scored his first goal.
Rangers Notes: Tanking, Panarin, Shattenkirk
A concern of New York Rangers fans all season long has ironically been that they aren’t bad enough. The team had little expectation of pushing for a playoff spot in 2018-19, yet continued to hang around with the likes of the Buffalo Sabres, Florida Panthers, and Philadelphia Flyers in the Eastern Conference standings, rather than down with the Ottawa Senators, Detroit Red Wings, and New Jersey Devils. When the postseason is out of reach, many focus only on an improvement of their draft lottery odds, which has certainly been true with New York fans. While the Rangers’ pipeline is well-stocked and deep with talent at every position, the team is still looking for their next surefire star. Surely after the trade deadline, in which their third- and fourth-highest scorers – Kevin Hayes and Mats Zuccarello – were dealt away, the Rangers’ play would drop off, right? Entering last night, the team was on a six-game win-less streak; however, they had picked up the loser point in four of those six games and then got back in the win column by taking down the Devils. The Rangers continue to stay afloat, currently ranked 13th in the East and 23rd in the NHL, with multiple teams less than two points ahead of them. If they stay on their current trajectory, the Rangers will likely have between a 3% and 6.5% chance at the No. 1 pick and combined odds of no more than about 20% of landing any of the top three lottery spots. They stand a much higher chance of picking outside the top ten than inside the top three. And there’s no reason to believe that their pace won’t continue. According to NHL.com’s strength of schedule calculations for the remainder of the season, the Rangers have the easiest stretch run of any team in the Metropolitan Division and are second only to the Sabres in the conference. Only half of their remaining games are against playoff-bound competition and five of their final 14 games come against teams presently below them in the standings. So as for those hopes of tanking, they may be all for not. With weak competition on the schedule and top young talent taking more responsibility in the lineup, the Rangers could potentially improve or at the very least stay the course for the remainder of the campaign.
- If they can’t land one of the top prospects in the coming draft, will Rangers GM Jeff Gorton and company look to add star power in the free agent market? The Athletic’s Craig Custance writes that the expectation that New York will add heavily in the off-season may be overblown after speaking with Gorton. The GM states that he is only looking for players that will be “part of the rebuild, not someone who is going to restrict it.” This likely means a free agent on the younger side who fits the preferred system and the style of the Rangers’ up-and-coming young players. While Custance knows Gorton would never say it outright, Columbus Blue Jackets star winger Artemi Panarin sounds like the ideal target to fit that mold. The 27-year-old has the immense talent to be a short-term difference-maker and the youth and longevity to be a long-term fit who doesn’t clog up cap space down the road. All three of the New York-area teams have been considered likely landing spots for Panarin, the top free agent forward this summer, but the draw of playing in the heart of the Big Apple in front of a Madison Square Garden crowd could be enough to entice Panarin, who has his sights set on growing his persona in the next stage of his career.
- If the Rangers are going to sign Panarin, it is going to take money and a lot of it. One player who could be shown the door to accommodate the need for extra cap space could be defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk. The Rangers’ big free agent addition just two years ago has not been the player that the team expected and the New York Post’s Larry Brooks believes that he is fighting for life in these final games of the season. Shattenkirk was a healthy scratch the other night for the second time this season, parking himself and his $6.65MM AAV salary in the press box. He has just 23 points on the year so far, the same amount as last season when he missed close to half of the season due to injury. Compare that to 40+ points in five of his six seasons prior to joining New York and it explains why patience is running out. Brooks feels that if Shattenkirk cannot show substantial improvement in his effort and results down the stretch, he could be a prime candidate for a buyout this summer. Per CapFriendly, such a move would save the Rangers more than $5MM against the cap next season, with minor savings in 2020-21 as well, at a cost of just $1.433MM in each of the two seasons after. Despite it being a buyout that makes sense on paper, Brooks writes that “no one wants this”. He has spoken to both Shattenkirk and head coach David Quinn about what Shattenkirk needs to do to improve on his slow, overly-methodical style and it sounds as if they are on the same page. “I know what I have to do, I know how I have to play,” Shattenkirk says, but the question is whether he can actually do it. Failure to act on his shortcomings could mean his days in New York are numbered.
With Michigan’s Exit, Quinn Hughes Is Free To Sign With Vancouver
With the University of Michigan getting eliminated from the first round of the Big 10 Tournament Saturday in a best-of-three series with the University of Minnesota, the Vancouver Canucks are suddenly hoping to see the next phase of the future arrive as their 2018 first-round pick Quinn Hughes, the seventh-overall pick, is now free to sign with the team.
Sportsnet’s Rick Dhaliwal reports that Hughes will talk things over with his parents and coaches before deciding on whether he will turn pro with tomorrow likely having more clarity on his future. Canucks’ general manager Jim Benning said the team will do everything they can to bring him aboard.
“We’ll get right on it,” Benning said (via Postmedia’s Ben Kuzma). “We wanted him to concentrate on the weekend and his team, and we’ll contact the adviser and family and see what their intentions are and go from there.”
While there is no guarantee that Hughes will sign with Vancouver, many reports over the past few months suggest that the 19-year-old blueliner is ready to come to the NHL and with Vancouver’s issues on defense, it’s possible that if he signs quickly, he could be playing for the Canucks as early as Wednesday.
Of course a debut will also depend on Hughes health as well. The defenseman blocked a shot late in Friday’s playoff opener and played injured in Saturday’s game. While there is no word on the severity of the injury, he received x-rays and still played, but finished the game with a minus-2 rating. The injury could prevent him from making a quick debut, assuming he signs, as the team would probably prefer to debut him when he is fully healthy considering that Vancouver has fallen far behind for a potential playoff spot and likely has little to play for. Regardless, Hughes is considered to be one of the top prospects in the NHL, who led Team USA to a silver medal in the World Junior Championships and five goals and 33 points in 32 games with Michigan. A top skater, Hughes should provide Vancouver with a top-notch all-around defender, who should finally give the Canucks a quarterback to their power play and an defenseman that can generate some offense. Currently, the team’s top offensive threat is Alexander Edler, who has seven goals and 22 points.
Coincidentally, Vancouver has the potential to add a second player with Michigan’s loss as the team could get Hughes’ teammate William Lockwood, the team’s third-round pick from 2016. Lockwood, a junior, had a breakout season as he posted 16 goals this year with the Wolverines. He tallied eight goals as a freshman and just four in an injury-marred sophomore year. One other significant name that could also be signed away is Josh Norris, the key prospect that the Ottawa Senators acquired in the Erik Karlsson trade this summer. Norris, the 19th overall pick in the 2017 draft, scored 10 goals and 19 points in his sophomore season.
New York Rangers Sign Goaltender Adam Huska
The New York Rangers sure work quickly. The collegiate season of prospect goalie Adam Huska came to an end last night with an impressive (albeit meaningless) win for the University of Connecticut over the No. 2-ranked University of Massachusetts. Less than 12 hours since the final horn, Huska is now a pro. The Rangers have announced that they have signed the young keeper to a an entry-level contract. CapFriendly reports it is a two-year deal beginning next season, but financial terms are not yet available.
Huska, 21, has forfeited the final year of his NCAA eligibility to go pro, as the junior goaltender leaves UConn after three years and 69 games with the Huskies. The move comes as somewhat of a surprise considering the drop off in Huska’s play this season. After posting a .912 save percentage and 2.59 GAA in 27 games last year, Huska’s save percentage fell to .896 this season while his goals against average ballooned to 3.34, resulting in just 21 games played as he lost starts to impressive freshman and Nashville Predators draft pick Tomas Vomacka. In fact, it was Vomacka in net last night for the big win. Most likely, the Rangers’ brass saw Huska losing the starting job to Vomacka next season and agreed to sign him to his first pro contract and thus control his usage at the ECHL level next season. If instead he does push for AHL time right away next season, he will ironically be right back in the same arena he played at with UConn, also shared by the Hartford Wolf Pack.
Despite some struggles, there is still reason to believe that Huska is an encouraging prospect for New York. A seventh-round draft pick out of Slovakia in 2015, Huska went on to be one of best goalies in the USHL the following season, being named Goaltender of the Year. He has also represented Slovakia several times at the World Junior Championships, gaining that invaluable experience against some of the best young players in the world. At 6’4″, 227 lbs., Huska has great size and athleticism. The fundamentals of his game need improvement and he will almost certainly spend several years in the minors before becoming an option in the NHL, but under the tutelage of the Rangers’ staff, Huska could see immediate improvement. He will have to work hard to earn recognition among a mountain of young goalies in the pipeline, including current backup Alexandar Georgiev, KHL star Igor Shestyorkin, UMass-Lowell standout Tyler Wall, and recent second-round pick Olof Lindbom, but it says a lot that the Rangers were willing to rush Huska out of the NCAA and into the pros.