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Dominik Kahun To Play In Germany If Not Chicago This Season

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Earlier this spring, much was made of the apparent interest from young German Olympic standout Dominik Kahun in playing in the NHL, with many teams making offers to bring in the 23-year-old two-way forward. The Chicago Blackhawks took an early lead in the race to ink Kahun and a deal was formalized in late April. Chicago offered Kahun the maximum allowable contract, a two-year entry-level deal worth $925K against the salary cap as well as performance bonuses, but it is fair to assume that other teams extended the same offer. As such, Kahun either saw the Blackhawks as a team with which he felt he could crack the NHL roster or the team promised Kahun a shot at the top level. Either way, the rookie forward is expecting NHL opportunity and Chicago may have no choice but to oblige.

If Kahun isn’t included on Chicago’s roster to begin the season, he is likely to return to his team in the German DEL. The Athletic’s Scott Powers reports that Kahun’s contract carries a European Assignment Clause, a concession made by the team in order to sign him, which would allow Kahun to return to his former club should he not make the Blackhawks out of camp. While often times players have such a clause but opt not to use it, Powers approached Kahun on the issue and got a clear response to the contrary. “I think with my agent it’s clear if I don’t make it to the NHL… then I’ll probably go back to Europe, yeah,” Kahun stated.

This puts the Blackhawks in a tough situation. On one hand, Kahun is a versatile player who can line up at center or on the wing, makes plays at both ends of the ice, and is fresh off the best season of his career. The Blackhawks could use that depth and ability if Kahun plays as advertised, especially at a low cap hit. On the other hand, it is still difficult to evaluate just how well Kahun will adjust to the NHL. This year’s NHL-less Olympics and certainly the DEL are not comparable to this level and while Kahun also had past success in the OHL and at the World Juniors, it has been years since he has played at that level of competition. Powers notes that Kahun has been impressive at the Traverse City rookie tournament, but as a pro in his mid-20’s playing against mostly true rookies, that is expected. How he performs in the preseason against actual NHL competition will likely decide his fate with Chicago. Enough potential exists with Kahun that a strong showing will likely earn him an initial roster spot, whereas the lack of clarity as to his ceiling and fit on the team could make him a camp casualty if he struggles. Kahun’s play this month will be a major story line out of Blackhawks training camp.

Metropolitan Notes: Beauvillier, Bratt, Svechnikov, Hart

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Despite the loss of star John Tavares, the New York Islanders still are coming off a season in which the team was tied for seventh in goals scored. Throw in a Stanley Cup winning coach in Barry Trotz and don’t be surprised if the Islanders are competitive after all this year. While many players will have to deal with the task of making up for the loss of Tavares’ offense, one player that the team is counting on to take that next step will be Anthony Beauvillier, according to The Athletic’s Arthur Staple (subscription required).

The 21-year-old found his game in the second-half of his second season last year. After struggling early on last year, posting just seven points in the first 31 games of the season, he was demoted to Bridgeport of the AHL for the five-day break to work on his game. When he came back, his game took off as he scored 17 goals and 29 points in the final 40 games of the season when he was placed on the second line alongside Mathew Barzal.

While his success could have a lot to do with Barzal’s magnificent season, he replaced veteran Andrew Ladd, who scored just seven times in the first half of the season. Staple writes that if Beauvillier can find himself on the top line this year with Barzal and Eberle, the youngster could be in line for a breakout year.

  • Corey Masisak of The Athletic (subscription required) writes that New Jersey Devils forward Jesper Bratt needs a strong camp to prove to the team that he deserves a top-six spot in their lineup this year. After shocking many in the league by winning a spot on the Devils’ roster out of training camp last year, Bratt finished the season with 13 goals and 35 points. Now, the 20-year-old must prove he belongs and can build on a solid rookie campaign. However, the question is whether he can get enough playing time to better this season. Bratt scored 10 points in his first 10 games and then picked up 29 in his first 42 games. However, his offense disappeared on the injury return of Travis Zajac as well as other crippling injuries to Marcus Johansson and Kyle Palmieri. The team also added Patrick Maroon and Michael Grabner at the trade deadline as Bratt was actually often a healthy scratch.
  • It hasn’t taken long for Carolina Hurricanes’ winger Andrei Svechnikov to get a lot of attention. The second-overall pick in this year’s draft hit the ice at the Traverse City Prospects tournament, and the 18-year-old showed off his quickness and readiness to step right into the NHL, according to NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti. In two games for Carolina, he’s posted a goal and a couple of assists along with 2017 first-rounder Martin Necas. Despite their compatibility together, the team expects to break up their two rookies when training camp begins, however. “Probably a little harder in the NHL to put the two young players like that together,” Carolina general manager Don Waddell said. “Down the road I can see it, but I think right now [coach Rod Brind’Amour’s] plan is probably to break them up in camp, let them play with some veteran players.”
  • Philadelphia Flyers’ prospect Carter Hart hopes to convince the team that’s he’s ready to make the leap to the NHL and give the Flyers a cure to their goaltending issues, according to NHL.com’s Bill Meltzer. The 20-year-old goaltender dominated juniors for the last two years, and was named the CHL’s Goaltender of the Year for two straight years, a feat no goaltender has ever accomplished before. Of course, winning a job in the NHL would be quite a challenge as most feel he’ll spend the year in the AHL, but if he could do it, he’d have to beat out Brian Elliott, Michal Neuvirth, Alex Lyon and Anthony Stolarz.

Atlantic Notes: Maple Leafs’ Defense, McAvoy, Bruins’ Rookies, Drouin

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With most of the media attention drawn towards the Toronto Maple Leafs’ signing of John Tavares, many people didn’t notice that the team didn’t really address their defensive issues this last offseason. The main reason for that is that general manager Kyle Dubas feels the answers to their defensive problems are more likely to be found within their own organization.

The Star’s Mark Zwolinski writes that the team has their top four of Morgan Rielly, Jake Gardiner, Ron Hainsey and Nikita Zaitsev, but they also have an overabundance of talented blueliners who are ready to step in and fill in those final two spots as well as help out if one of those top four struggle next season. The team can look to a number of defensemen, including Travis Dermott, Igor Ozhiganov, Connor Carrick, Timothy Liljegren, Justin Holl, Jordan Subban, Andreas Borgman, Calle Rosen, Martin Marincin and Andrew Nielsen, who all have the capabilities of checking in if needed.

The scribe writes that one major advantage for all these players is they’ve had at least one year (except for Ozhiganov) of experience with defensive coach D.J. Smith, who was voted in a players’ poll as the assistant coach best suited to become a head coach.

  • After seeing Calgary Flames defenseman Noah Hanifin sign a six-year, $29.7MM deal ($4.95MM AAV) on Thursday evening, The Athletic’s Joe McDonald (subscription required) wonders what it might end up costing the Boston Bruins to lock up defenseman Charlie McAvoy, who is playing out the final year of his entry-level deal this season. If Hanifin makes that much, McAvoy, who has been quite an impact for the team already in just one-plus season, should be able to get an even bigger deal. The scribe writes that the Bruins had already started extension talks at $6MM over seven years, but are more likely to work out an even longer-term deal after this season, which could be an eight-year deal between $7.5MM and $8MM.
  • In a team preview, The Athletic’s Fluto Shinzawa (subscription required) writes that it looks like a rookie will be centering the Boston Bruins’ third line next season after having Riley Nash centering it last season. It just comes down to who wins that job between Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson, Trent Frederic and Jack Studnicka. All are expected to have significantly better offensive skills than Nash, but all have no NHL experience so far. The 21-year-old Forsbacka-Karlsson was inconsistent in his first season in the AHL last year. The 20-year-old Frederic is considered to be more of a grinder after two seasons at the University of Wisconsin, while the 19-year-old Studnicka still lacks both size and strength and may not be ready for an NHL role yet, despite excellent offensive skills. If none are ready, Sean Kuraly or Chris Wagner would have to assume the role.
  • Patrick Hickey of the Montreal Gazette, in a series on key players the Montreal Canadiens need to get a better season from, suggests that the team must get a major improvement out of center Jonathan Drouin this season. One reason the highly-touted Drouin struggled was because the 23-year-old spent the previous summer training with Max Pacioretty with the assumption they would be linemates, but learned early on that they weren’t very compatible together as well as the fact that some within the organization felt he would be a better winger, while others wanted him playing center. Now, a full-time center, Drouin has been training for this season all offseason. “Last year, I came in and I had no feel for what was going on,” Drouin said earlier this week. “As the year went on, I felt more comfortable knowing what do in some areas, at some points in the game. At the end of the year, things were starting to work out and I want to continue like that.”

NHL Rookie Tournaments Set For Early September

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8/31: The Philadelphia Flyers and New York Islanders have joined to fray, as their rookie camps will clash in prospects game on September 12th at the Isles’ practice facility, the teams announced. This leaves only the Florida Panthers without a competition for their rookies in the coming weeks.

8/24: Before team training camps open up for veterans, the rookies get some work in each year with various rookie tournaments and exhibition games taking place around the continent. This is where you can catch your favorite team:

  • The most well-known preseason rookie tournament is obviously the Traverse City NHL Prospect Tournament. The annual tournament hosted by the Detroit Red Wings is in its 20th year of existence. The format consists of two four-team “divisions” who play a round-robin tournament with the winner of each group earning a berth in the championship game. Featured this year are the Red Wings, Carolina Hurricanes, Chicago Blackhawks, Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild, New York Rangers, and St. Louis Blues. The games run from September 7th to September 11th.
  • Buffalo is again set to host the Sabres’ Prospect Challenge Tournament. Running from September 7th to 10th, it is a single group round robin tournament with the Boston Bruins, New Jersey Devils, and Pittsburgh Penguins joining the Sabres on their home ice. This will be the first game action for top overall pick and preseason Calder Trophy favorite Rasmus Dahlin.
  • Across the border, the three eastern Canadian teams are set to square off in Laval, Quebec, the home of the Montreal Canadiens’ AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket. The Habs announced a set of three games featuring themselves, the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the Ottawa Senators on September 7th, 8th, and 9th.
  • On the other side of the country, a previous rookie tournament has been split in half. The NHL Young Stars Tournament, held in Penticton, British Columbia, will now contain only the Winnipeg Jets and Vancouver Canucks, as well as a pair of collegiate teams in a three-day series of games from September 7th to 9th. The Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames chose not to participate this year and will instead face-off in one singular game in Red Deer, Alberta on September 12th.
  • The Vegas Golden Knights are set to host the first of a revolving tournament among U.S.-based Western Conference teams. Nicknamed the Vegas Rookie Faceoff, Sin City will be the location of this year’s tournament which also features the Anaheim Ducks, Arizona Coyotes, Colorado Avalanche, Los Angeles Kings, and San Jose Sharks. It will be a three-day, nine-game series taking place on September 8th, 9th, and 11th. The tournament is expected to head to Anaheim next year.
  • Finally, the NHL’s southeastern squads will square off in Estero, Florida at the home of the ECHL’s Florida Everblades. The Prospect Showcase will be four days of games between the Nashville Predators, Tampa Bay Lightning, and defending Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals, taking place from September 8th to 11th.

For all updates on rookie tournament rosters, check in with Roster Resource and their running tracker of roster announcements.

Flyers Re-Sign Robert Hagg To Two-Year Deal

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UPDATE: The Flyers have now confirmed the extension with Hagg.

The Philadelphia Flyers have signed their final restricted free agent, agreeing to an extension with defenseman Robert Hagg. TVA’s Renaud Lavoie was the first to report that the two sides have come to terms on a two-year, $2.3MM contract. CapFriendly adds that Hagg will make $1MM this year and $1.3MM next year, with a cap hit of $1.15MM. The 2013 second-rounder will again be a restricted free agent at the end of this deal.

This is a very team-friendly conclusion to lengthy negotiations between the Flyers and Hagg. Although Hagg was a rookie last season, the 22-year-old showed positioning and composure of a much older, more experienced blue liner. Hagg led all rookies with 238 hits, a mark that was also tied for seventh-best among all players. He also did so with just 32 penalty minutes on the year. Additionally, Hagg led all rookies in blocked shots. He stepped into a top-four role with the Flyers without any difficulty and showed the potential to be a dominant shutdown defender.

As such, many expected that the Flyers would jump into an expensive, long-term deal for the young rearguard. Instead, the played it safe, taking a short term and very comfortable salary instead of trying to figure out long-term value. Philadelphia has a plethora of talented young defenseman, including Ivan Provorov who will need an extension next summer, and were smart not to set a precedent that they all deserve massive extensions. The team will likely enjoy great value for Hagg over the next two years, after which they will have to pay him his due for a strong defensive game that few others his age possess.

Bruins Re-Sign Matt Grzelcyk To Two-Year Deal

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The Boston Bruins have locked up one of their many impressive young players, announcing an extension for defenseman Matt Grzelcyk. The deal carries a $1.4MM AAV and will keep the Boston native with his hometown team for at least two more years.

While Grzelcyk may not be one of the most talked-about young players in the league or even in Boston, the small but capable blue liner was a pleasant surprise as a rookie in 2017-18. A 2012 third-round pick and a former pair-mate of fellow Bruin Charlie McAvoy’s at Boston University, the Bruins always had high expectations of Grzelcyk. However, few could have expected that his performance would thrust him into a starting role and leave veterans like Adam McQuaid and Paul Postma as afterthoughts for much of the season. Grzlecyk skated in 61 games for the Bruins, contributing 15 points along the way. He also posted a +21 rating, tied for third-best on the team with two-way star Patrice Bergeron. In the postseason, Grzelcyk played in all but one of Boston’s games as well and didn’t look out of place.

Perhaps the greatest attribute that Grzelcyk showed as a rookie – and one that caught the eye of those in tune with advanced analytics – was his possession ability. Grzelcyk finished the year with a top 25 Corsi For rating (among players with at least 300 minutes of ice time) of 55.67%, which was third best among rookies behind only McAvoy and Columbus’ Pierre-Luc Dubois. Grzelcyk even held the best relative shot differential among all defenseman in the NHL for a significant span of time mid-season. While not an overly physical player nor a player with huge offensive upside, Grzelcyk showed himself to be a safe puck-handler and a player that can be relied on to create offense and suppress the opposing offense.

Moving forward, Grzelcyk’s role may change. The Bruins continue to show a desire to add a top-four left-handed defenseman, likely to pair long-term with McAvoy at the top of the depth chart. This would likely shift Zdeno Chara and Torey Krug down, as McAvoy, Brandon Carlo, and Kevan Miller form a solid grouping on the right side. The result could be Grzelcyk becoming an extra man rather than a starter for the next year or two. Grzelcyk’s skill set and ceiling could make him an ideal seventh defender in his career, if that is the role he is asked to play. However, the value of this contract and the speed with which both sides agreed upon the terms indicates that the Bruins have plans for Grzelcyk, likely short-term or long-term. The young defenseman is just getting started with his NHL career and will get plenty more chances to show himself in Boston.

Devils Plan To Make A Splash This Summer

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No one could have expected that the New Jersey Devils would improve by 16 wins from last season to this season, transforming from a bottom feeder to a playoff team. The team added impact rookies Nico Hischier and Will Butcher and traded for defenseman Sami Vatanen, but also lost Adam Henrique in that deal and watched 2016-17 top-six forwards Mike Cammalleri and P.A. Parenteau depart. Yet, the team took a major leap forward with only a marginal improvement to their roster. Hoping for a repeat in that trend, NJ.com’s Chris Ryan reports that GM Ray Shero has been given the “green light” by the Devils to spend in free agency this summer.

New Jersey enters the 2018 off-season with substantial cap space. A bottom-five spender this season, the team is likely to lose Patrick Maroon, Michael Grabner, Drew Stafford, and Jimmy Hayes to free agency, which will open up even more room. They will also finally be rid of Ryane Clowe’s cap hit. Even if the team was to hang on to defenseman John Moore, goaltender Eddie Lack, or forward Brian Gibbons, they would still have more than enough space to make a significant splash this summer.

Ryan addresses several players who Devils fans are intrigued by in his mailbag. He begins by throwing water on the idea that New Jersey will be in hot pursuit of John Tavares if he hits the open market. Seeing as Tavares will command a seven-year deal that could approach nine figures, Ryan rules the Devils out as a destination. New Jersey has its star center of the future in Hischier and must pay he and Hart finalist Taylor Hall in the next few years. However, Ryan does not shy away from any other recommended targets.

Among those other players the Devils could pursue are defenseman John Carlson, who would be the biggest name on the market if Tavares re-signs with the Islanders, fellow blue liners Mike Green and Calvin de Haan, and big winger James van Riemsdyk. Ryan rules out a reunion with Ilya Kovalchuk, but New Jersey could also be a destination for other stars of yesteryear like Joe Thornton or Rick Nash. Evander Kane, Paul Stastny, David Perron and James Neal are other top names who could wind up in Newark.

Ryan does add that the Devils may be content to sign just one of the big-name players on this summer’s free agent market. Given the luck he had making a blockbuster trade this year, Shero could surely explore the trade market instead of exclusively signing free agents. He may also want to give time to forward prospects like Michael McLeod and Joey Anderson, after Hischier, Jesper Bratt, and Blake Coleman found success this year. It will be a busy off-season one way or another for New Jersey and will continue to be a fun process of building a contender for team members and fans alike.

NHL Announces Jack Adams Award Finalists

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There won’t be much debate about the nominees for this award. The finalists for the Jack Adams Award, given each year to the NHL’s best head coach, have been released by the NHL Broadcasters’ Association. Reported first by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the 2018 finalists are the Boston Bruins’ Bruce Cassidy, the Colorado Avalanche’s Jared Bednar, and the Vegas Golden Knights’ Gerard Gallant. 

With all due respect to Cassidy and Bednar, the Jack Adams this season has been a foregone conclusion for some time, with only a race for second-place ongoing. The work that Gallant has done in the inaugural season for the expansion Golden Knights has been nothing short of miraculous. Gallant took a hotchpot of cast-off players from around the league who had never played together before and turned them into the most successful expansion team in North American sports history. Vegas’ roster is the definition of a sum greater than its parts, as no one could have predicted the success that this team would have based on the past performances of its players. That has a lot to do with Gallant, who has gotten his players to buy in to the system and it had rewarded them in turn.

Cassidy and Bednar rightfully deserve the recognition, though. Cassidy’s nomination feels like a continuation of his success to close out the 2016-17 season as well; the Bruins are 68-38-13 since Cassidy took over for Claude Julien last February. Under his guidance, rookies like Charlie McAvoy, Jake DeBrusk, and Danton Heinen have flourished and the Bruins have transformed into one of the best teams in the league. No one could have seen that coming this season. Even more unlikely was a return to the playoffs for the Avalanche, however. Bednar worked his magic on a young, inexperienced, and somewhat incomplete lineup, helping Nathan MacKinnon to an MVP-caliber season and leading the team to nearly double the success from a historically bad 2016-17 campaign, going from 48 points to 95 points.

While Gallant may be the overwhelming favorite for the award this season, this is a class of Jack Adams finalists that will be looked back on as one of the best and most deserving of all time, with three head coaches who truly “contributed to his team’s success”.

Poll: Who Should Win The Calder Trophy?

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The finalists for the Calder Trophy were announced yesterday, with Mathew Barzal, Brock Boeser and Clayton Keller landing in the top three. You can’t really argue with the nominations for any of the three after their outstanding seasons, but they certainly weren’t the only ones.

Kyle Connor in Winnipeg led all rookies with 31 goals, scoring at an incredible pace in the second half of the season. 21 of those goals came in his final 45 games, as a huge part of the Jets offensive attack.

Defenseman Charlie McAvoy registered just 32 points for the Boston Bruins, but logged more than 22 minutes a night as part of their top pairing. The 20-year old was tasked with playing against some of the best players in the league, and is hard matching against Auston Matthews and company in the playoffs.

Perhaps the most overlooked is Yanni Gourde, the undersized forward who finally made it to the NHL and showed why he should have been there all along. The 26-year old undrafted Gourde was an outstanding offensive player in junior, and registered 64 points—third most by any rookie—while playing in all 82 games for the Tampa Bay Lightning.

What about goaltenders? Juuse Saros played in 26 games for the Presidents Trophy-winning Nashville Predators, posting a .925 save percentage. That put him ninth in the entire league among goaltenders who made at least 20 starts, and would put him in Vezina contention had he played more games—teammate Pekka Rinne’s .927 has him as one of the favorites to win the award.

So who do you think should win the Calder? Cast a vote for not who you think will win, but who should win, and explain your reasoning in the comments below. We’ve listed several players as options to see if our readers at PHR end up with the same three finalists.

Who should win the Calder Trophy?
Mathew Barzal 54.42% (431 votes)
Brock Boeser 12.37% (98 votes)
Charlie McAvoy 9.22% (73 votes)
Alex DeBrincat 5.68% (45 votes)
Kyle Connor 4.04% (32 votes)
Clayton Keller 3.79% (30 votes)
Yanni Gourde 3.79% (30 votes)
Nico Hischier 3.03% (24 votes)
Pierre-Luc Dubois 1.39% (11 votes)
Mikhail Sergachev 1.14% (9 votes)
Will Butcher 0.76% (6 votes)
Juuse Saros 0.38% (3 votes)
Total Votes: 792

[Mobile users click here to vote!]

Barzal, Boeser, Keller Nominated For Calder Trophy

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The NHL released the names of the 2018 Calder Trophy nominees as the New York Islanders’ Mathew Barzal, Vancouver Canucks’ Brock Boeser and the Arizona Coyotes’ Clayton Keller were named as the league’s top rookies. The award will be voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers Association with the winners to be announced on June 20 in Las Vegas.

In a year in which there were a large amount of talented rookies, several good players didn’t get nominated, including the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Yanni Gourde, Boston Bruins’ Charlie McAvoy, New Jersey Devils’ Nico Hischier, Chicago Blackhawks’ Alex DeBrincat and Winnipeg Jets’ Kyle Connor.

Barzal is the likely hands down winner after putting up a great rookie year with 22 goals and 83 points, centering the Islanders’ second line for most of the season. He was the only rookie to average more than a point per game (1.04) and had three five-point performances throughout the season. His emergence could lessen the blow if teammate John Tavares opts to leave via free agency as Barzal could easily take over as the team’s franchise player.

Boeser’s chances are slimmer after only playing in 62 games when he was lost for the season with a back injury. However, in that time, he put up 29 goals, 55 points and was named MVP of the 2018 All-Star Game. He should be a constant presence along with Bo Horvat with the young core of forwards that are coming in as the team’s rebuilding project begins to come to fruition.

Keller led all rookies in ice time (18:05) and put up 23 goals and 42 assists in his freshman campaign and also led the team in goals, assists and points. He provides the franchise with another core piece as the Coyotes begin to build their team back to contending status.

NBC Sports’ Sean Leahy was the first to report the news.

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