Morning Notes: Nichushkin, Montgomery, Memorial Cup
One of the most under-the-radar redemption stories over the past few seasons in the NHL has been Valeri Nichushkin. A top-10 choice of the Dallas Stars in 2013, Nichushkin struggled with consistency in his early years in Dallas, leading him to return to his native Russia for two seasons after the expiry of his entry-level contract. The Stars then signed him to a two-year, $5.9MM contract prior to the 2018-19 season to bring him back to the NHL. However, after scoring no goals and just 10 assists in 57 games in 2018-19, the Stars bought out the second year of his contract, making him an unrestricted free agent. The Avalanche took a chance on him in free agency, inking him to a one-year deal worth $850,000. His offensive production rebounded but, perhaps most importantly, he started growing his reputation as one of the best defensive wingers in the NHL among the analytics community. It earned him a contract extension which paid off in a big way for Colorado this year, with Nichushkin providing 25 goals and 52 points in 62 games with just a $2.5MM cap hit.
That type of production along with his defensive reputation is sure to earn Nichushkin a solid chunk of change this summer. However, Bally Sports Midwest’s Andy Strickland reports that Nichushkin and the Avalanche discussed a contract extension earlier in the season, but the two sides weren’t close to an agreement. Now 27 and an unrestricted free agent off a strong contract year, this is the best chance Nichushkin will have to capitalize financially. It would surprise few if the Avalanche can’t afford to retain him, especially as the team needs to prioritize their goaltending uncertainty and a contract extension for Nathan MacKinnon.
- Strickland is also confirming this morning that the Winnipeg Jets have interviewed former Dallas Stars head coach and current St. Louis Blues assistant Jim Montgomery for their head coaching vacancy. While most have linked the Jets most strongly with top free-agent coach Barry Trotz, it’s no guarantee that he takes the job (or any job) this summer. Dallas fired Montgomery just a few months into the 2019-20 season for “inappropriate conduct,” leading Montgomery to seek residential treatment for alcohol abuse. Montgomery found a job with the Blues for the following two seasons, mainly as a power-play coach. The Athletic’s Murat Ates reported last week that Montgomery was Winnipeg’s current second choice to Trotz. Montgomery has also been linked to the Philadelphia Flyers’ coaching vacancy this offseason.
- The field for the 2022 Memorial Cup, which begins next week in Saint John, New Brunswick, is nearly set. After both winning their respective league championships, the WHL’s Edmonton Oil Kings and QMJHL’s Shawinigan Cataractes will join the host Saint John Sea Dogs at the tournament. The fourth and final spot will go to the winner of tomorrow’s Game 7 in the OHL finals between the Hamilton Bulldogs and Windsor Spitfires.
Zachary Bolduc Assigned To AHL
With the Quebec Remparts eliminated a few days ago, Zachary Bolduc is now free to get a taste of the professional ranks. The St. Louis Blues prospect has been assigned to the Springfield Thunderbirds of the AHL, who are in the midst of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Laval Rocket.
Bolduc, 19, was the 17th overall pick in last year’s draft and emerged as one of the most dynamic offensive players in the QMJHL this season. He finished tied for second in league scoring with 55 goals, 22 ahead of his nearest teammate. His 99 points also put him near the very top of the list, and he continued it into the playoffs with strong performances through three rounds.
Given he only turned 19 in February, Bolduc is another one of those top prospects that will face a difficult challenge next fall. It’s either the NHL or junior for him as he will not be eligible to play full-time in the AHL, meaning this action with Springfield will be his only taste of the minor leagues for quite a while.
The Thunderbirds will play game three of their series tomorrow night, and it remains to be seen whether Bolduc will actually get into any game action at this most important juncture.
Joshua Roy Signs AHL ATO
After inking his entry-level contract a few months ago, Joshua Roy is going to get an early taste of professional hockey. Since that deal doesn’t kick in until the 2022-23 season, Roy is still eligible to sign an amateur tryout with the Laval Rocket and help them in their quest for the Calder Cup.
Roy, 18, was a fifth-round pick in the 2021 draft and something of an afterthought for many fans until he hit the ice with the Sherbrooke Phoenix this season. He led all QMJHL skaters with 119 points and carried that production right into the playoffs. As it currently stands, Roy leads the entire league in postseason scoring with 23 points in 11 games, though that still wasn’t enough to keep Sherbrooke in the hunt. They were defeated yesterday by the Charlottetown Islanders in the semi-finals, meaning Roy’s season has now ended.
Incredibly, the 2003-born winger will not be eligible for the AHL next season, despite his dominance of junior this year. He will turn 19 in August and have to return to the QMJHL for another season, assuming he fails to make the Montreal Canadiens roster out of camp.
This taste of pro hockey should be interesting, as if he gets into the lineup with Laval it will be like jumping onto a moving train. The Rocket are set to start the Eastern Conference Finals against the Springfield Thunderbirds on Saturday–a tough spot for an 18-year-old to make his debut. Whether he plays or not, it is certainly a nice reward for his outstanding season and will only help his overall development.
Montreal Canadiens Sign Riley Kidney
May 22nd: The Laval Rocket have announced that Kidney has been signed to an amateur tryout contract, in advance of his entry-level deal coming into effect next season. This allows Kidney to be with the team as they attempt to continue their run in the Calder Cup Playoffs against the Rochester Americans.
May 4th: The Montreal Canadiens have signed Riley Kidney to a three-year entry-level contract, adding another prospect to the organization. The young forward’s deal will start in 2022-23 and carries an average annual value of $859K. Kidney currently plays for the Acadie-Bathurst Titan of the QMJHL, where he will start a playoff series tomorrow night.
Selected 63rd overall in 2021, Kidney has quickly shot up the prospect charts with an outstanding performance. The 19-year-old scored 30 goals and 100 points in 66 games this season, finishing seventh in league scoring and way out in front of his own team. The next highest scoring player on the Titan was Bennett MacArthur with 77, an undrafted forward who recently signed an entry-level deal with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Even more impressive is that Kidney only turned 19 in March and will be returning to the junior ranks next season, where he very well could compete for the league scoring title if this kind of production continues. That of course is assuming he doesn’t make the Canadiens out of camp, now that he’s signed and officially a part of the organization.
There is no doubt that Montreal will need dynamic scoring threats in the coming years, meaning a clear path to the NHL is in front of players like Kidney. Whether he can continue on his current development path is another question entirely, and one that will not be answered for some time. An entry-level contract was the next step, now a strong performance in the QMJHL playoffs and a potential spot on next year’s World Junior team is on the horizon.
Pittsburgh Penguins Sign Raivis Ansons
It’s been a very complicated few days for Pittsburgh Penguins prospect Raivis Ansons. On Friday, he was handed a one-game suspension for a high stick, meaning he missed the last game of the regular season in his final year of QMJHL hockey. Today, he was signed to a three-year entry-level contract with the Penguins. He will remain with the Saint John Seadogs through their QMJHL playoff and Memorial Cup run.
Ansons, 20, has been great for the Sea Dogs after a midseason trade brought him over from the Baie-Comeau Drakkar. The Latvian winger had 12 goals and 36 points in 37 games down the stretch, adding his usual level of physicality to every puck battle. Ansons isn’t a brilliant offensive piece, but his size, strength and skating make him an interesting NHL prospect all the same, even if it will be a limited ceiling for the young forward.
An entry-level contract was the next step toward that ultimate goal, though there is still plenty of work to be done. Selected 149th overall in 2020, he’ll be eligible for the AHL next season, where he’ll try to test himself with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. While his game may translate quickly, the grind and improved defense of that level will be a good indicator of whether he has enough upside to carve out a bottom-six role with Pittsburgh in the future.
For now, the Sea Dogs are not only trying to win a QMJHL championship, but as the host city, they’ll also get an automatic bid to the Memorial Cup. Those high-pressure matchups will certainly be a strong opportunity for growth, as he continues on an encouraging development path.
Russian, Belarusian Players Ineligible For CHL Import Draft
Last year, 16 Russian and 11 Belarusian prospects were selected in the CHL Import Draft. This year, there will be none. According to several reports including Darren Dreger of TSN, Jeff Marek of Sportsnet, and Scott Wheeler of The Athletic, the CHL is set to announce that players from Russia and Belarus will be declared ineligible for this year’s draft. The change will not affect players already on protected lists, like those selected last year.
For many international players, coming to the CHL early is a way to acclimatize yourself to North American hockey and get in front of higher-level hockey operations executives. Slovakian-born Martin Chromiak, for instance, was the second overall pick in the 2019 Import Draft and has now become one of the most exciting prospects in the OHL, scoring 44 goals and 86 points this season for the Kingston Frontenacs. He even made it into a pair of AHL games last spring with the Los Angeles Kings, who managed to sign him without any trouble.
In 2018 it was Finnish-born Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen who went third overall to the Sudbury Wolves after the Buffalo Sabres had already spent a second-round pick on him. He managed to win the Red Tilson Trophy as the OHL’s Most Outstanding Player before jumping directly into North American pro hockey.
The year before that, of course, was dominated by Russian players, including Andrei Svechnikov, who went first overall to the Barrie Colts. Because Svechnikov was already over in North America (he’d played 2016-17 in the USHL), the Carolina Hurricanes had no worry about making him the second overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft. He wasn’t under contract in the KHL and would immediately make the jump to the NHL level.
That is where this announcement could have an effect on NHL teams. With Russian and Belarusian players no longer able to come to the CHL (at least for the time being), they will pose a much bigger risk at the NHL Draft, given their uncertain futures. Many of them will have to find other places to showcase their talents, leading not only to clubs that will try to retain them, but also transfer rules that could send them back overseas even after signing entry-level contracts. For many, playing and developing in a league closer to where their professional futures lie is appealing.
The Import Draft will take place on July 1.
New York Islanders Sign William Dufour
The New York Islanders have agreed to terms with prospect William Dufour on a three-year, entry-level contract that will start in the 2022-23 season. The contract is worth $842.5K in 2022-23, and $867.5K in 2023-24 and 2024-25, says Kevin Kurz of The Athletic. Dufour currently plays for the Saint John Seadogs of the QMJHL, the host of the 2022 Memorial Cup.
You couldn’t really ask for a better final junior season than Dufour has experienced this year. After being traded from the Drummondville Voltigeurs in the offseason, the 20-year-old forward has absolutely exploded offensively, racking up 52 goals and 109 points in 61 games with the Sea Dogs. He leads all players in both categories and has a chance to expand on those totals with a handful of games remaining on the schedule.
After that, he’ll try to chase down a QMJHL title and then Memorial Cup, before making the jump to professional hockey next season. Selected in the fifth round, this isn’t some undersized talent that will struggle with the physicality of the next level. Dufour stands 6’3″ and uses his size and power effectively to dominate junior competition. While his skating will have to continue to improve if he’s to make the same impact in the AHL and then the NHL, he sits as arguably one of the Islanders’ top prospects.
In fact, Scott Wheeler of The Athletic ranked him second in his recent evaluation of the Islanders prospect pool, ahead of players with much higher draft pedigree like Simon Holmstrom or Ruslan Iskhakov. While there is still a long road ahead of him, Dufour’s signing today is a nice step toward fulfilling the promise he’s shown this season.
Edmonton Oilers Sign Xavier Bourgault
The Edmonton Oilers have inked a top prospect, signing Xavier Bourgault to a three-year entry-level contract. The deal begins in 2022-23 and Bourgault will remain with the Shawinigan Cataractes for the rest of his season in the QMJHL.
Selected 22nd overall in 2021, Bourgault has shown once again why he was regarded as such an interesting NHL prospect, recording 26 goals and 51 points in 31 games for Shawinigan this season. While he has missed multiple chunks of the season with injuries–including a freak eye injury in November–he’s back on the ice now and has scored in each of his last four contests.
Shawinigan is in a good position in the standings and poised to fight for the QMJHL championship, though it certainly would be interesting to see Bourgault join the Bakersfield Condors at some point before the end of the season. The 19-year-old forward won’t be in consideration for the Oilers, but Bakersfield could add him on a tryout contract for their own championship run, after winning the Pacific tournament last year (the Calder Cup was not awarded in 2021).
If you ask his coach, Bourgault is already ready for the professional lifestyle, even if he has yet to suit up for the Oilers organization. Last month, Daniel Nugent-Bowman of The Athletic wrote about the young forward, and how Shawinigan general manager Martin Mondou has always been impressed with his training. If “everything he does is in the sense to be playing for the Oilers one day” as Mondou put it, signing this contract is a big step toward that goal.
Given he will turn 20 in October, Bourgault will be eligible to play full-time for the Condors next season–that is if he doesn’t land an NHL role out of camp.
Montreal Canadiens Sign Joshua Roy
The Montreal Canadiens have agreed to terms with Joshua Roy on a three-year, entry-level contract, that will begin in 2022-23. The deal carries an NHL cap hit of $857K and as CapFriendly notes, does not include any bonuses for the third year. Roy, 18, currently plays for the Sherbrooke Phoenix of the QMJHL.
Selected 150th overall in 2021, Roy looked like nothing more than a lottery ticket at last year’s draft. After scoring 36 goals and 92 points in 50 games with Sherbrooke this season, it looks like the Canadiens will be able to cash this one in. Of course, this isn’t the first time that Roy has been considered a top prospect. The young forward was the first overall pick in the 2019 QMJHL draft, after dominating Quebec minor hockey with a shot that looked like it could score goals at the pro level.
After requesting a trade away from the Saint John Seadogs, and finding a new home with the Phoenix, he finally got serious about his conditioning and has become the outstanding offensive player that people saw as a youngster. For the Canadiens, he represents a late-round steal, if he can continue on his current development path, and become the player who was once expected to go in the first round.
Whether that actually happens still remains to be seen, though this entry-level contract is a nice step along the way. The deal can still slide forward one year should he fail to make the NHL team next season (which does still seem unlikely), meaning they’ll have quite some time to help him reach his potential.
League Notes: World Cup, Combine, Trade Lists
Although the trade deadline has passed and the draft and free agency are still months away, it hasn’t stopped TSN’s best from breaking significant news. In the latest “Insider Trading” segment, the group had plenty to say about upcoming events and changes for the NHL. Though down the road quite a ways, Darren Dreger reports that there could soon be a more concrete plan for the proposed 2024 and 2028 World Cups of Hockey. The NHL, NHLPA, IIHF, and individual national federations are meeting in Paris this week to discuss how the NHL-operated international tournament could look. One major issue at hand is the possibility of a play-in tournament to determine the eight participants in each World Cup. There are many questions as to who might automatically qualify for the World Cup versus who might take part in the play-in, but Dreger at least notes that the play-ins would be held during the summer prior to the tournament, which could mean August 2023 would mark the start of the selection process.
Dreger does not believe that Canada and the United States would be taking part in play-ins (and does not make mention of Team North America, a novel and entertaining concept from the 2016 World Cup but one that appears to be dead all the same). Whether all European nations or just those lower on the IIHF rankings would participate in play-ins remains to be seen, as does the viability of a Russian entry given the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and resulting IIHF sanctions. The most recent IIHF rankings have Finland and Russia among the top four hockey countries in the world with Canada and the U.S., with Germany, Czechia, Sweden, and Switzerland rounding out the top eight. The question becomes how many of these nations should earn automatic bids to the World Cup and how many spots should otherwise stay open for play-in winners. Slovakia, Latvia, Norway, and Denmark would certainly like a fair shot at qualification, especially given that each has NHL representation, while it might also be entertaining to see an expanded play-in field featuring some less established hockey countries like France and Great Britain, both of whom are currently within the top 16 globally. Dreger does not note the possibility of a return of Team Europe, encompassing players from non-qualifying nations, but that concept is likely to go the way of Team North America. There is still plenty to figure out, but this week’s meetings in Paris could be a very productive step toward clarifying the return of the World Cup.
- Dreger adds that another NHL-sponsored event making its return is the NHL Draft Combine. After being cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the league will again host the pre-draft evaluation event this year, returning to Buffalo. The combine will be held from May 29 to June 4, giving teams plenty of time to assess results before the 2022 NHL Draft on July 7-8. As usual, the NHL playoffs will still be ongoing during the combine, but active teams can manage. More concerning though is that the CHL playoffs will also still be underway, which has not typically been the case. Due to COVID delays to the regular season schedule, the OHL and WHL will not kick off their postseasons until late April while the QMJHL will not get started until early May, making crossover with the combine a month later impossible to avoid. Dreger notes that the NHL wanted to hold an in-person combine at all costs in an effort to get the draft process back to normal, even if that meant some prospects could not participate. The CHL leagues will have to determine for themselves whether they will allow players to leave their teams or potentially pause postseason action during the combine. Scheduling flexibility is limited with the Memorial Cup dates already set for June 20-29. However, the junior leagues and teams have stock in the draft success of their players and know that those top prospects still playing and unable to attend the combine could be put them at a disadvantage.
- As the ripples of the Evgenii Dadonov saga continue to be felt far beyond Las Vegas and Anaheim, Pierre LeBrun reports that changes to how trade lists are documented appear likely. As the NHL GM’s prepare to meet this week, with the Dadonov fiasco still fresh in their minds, it is not only LTIR management that they will discuss. LeBrun notes that they will also recommend that the complete terms of trade protection be shared with the NHL Central Registry and the NHLPA. Currently, only teams and player agents know the full contents of trade and no-trade lists and are the only ones monitoring when and if those lists are submitted. Seeing how well that worked out in Dadonov’s case, having extra eyes on that process from both the team and player side only serves to benefit the entire process. Though there is concern about a higher likelihood of these lists becoming public, this is outweighed by the procedural positives of trade protection.