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Snapshots: Palm Springs, Boughner, Engelland

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When the Seattle Kraken enter the league for the 2021-22 season, they likely won’t have a primary AHL affiliate yet. That’s because the new Palm Springs franchise announced today that instead of a downtown arena they will now be building a location in the Coachella Valley which is scheduled to be ready for the 2022-23 season. For 2021-22, since the team will not have the full complement of minor leaguers, the most likely scenario will be finding places for them elsewhere.

The unnamed AHL franchise will play in a privately funded building owned by the Oak View Group and The H.N. & Frances C. Berger Foundation. Construction is set to break ground in 2021 and it will be a 10,000-plus seat venue.

  • The San Jose Sharks are expected to remove the interim tag from head coach Bob Boughner in the coming days, according to Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic. Boughner led the Sharks to just a 14-20-3 record after replacing Peter DeBoer this season, but has a strong history with the front office from his multiple stints as an assistant coach. Boughner has plenty of experience behind the bench, having coached the Windsor Spitfires of the OHL for years and spending two seasons as head coach of the Florida Panthers.
  • Vegas Golden Knights GM Kelly McCrimmon didn’t have a lot of answers regarding the goaltending situation for his team this summer and whether they would bring back Robin Lehner on a multi-year contract, but did shed some light on a different trade deadline discussion. Deryk Engelland, who has been a leader in Vegas since the franchise first joined the league, was offered a deal at the deadline to go to a team that wanted him. Engelland declined the opportunity, even though his lineup spot had disappeared and he wouldn’t be suiting up in the playoffs. McCrimmon told reporters including Nick Cotsonika of NHL.com that Engelland felt the Golden Knights had a real shot at winning the Stanley Cup and he accepted his role down the stretch. The 38-year-old defenseman played in 49 regular season games and is an unrestricted free agent this offseason.

San Jose Sharks Announce Several Loans

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The San Jose Sharks have announced several loans for young players that will be headed to Europe for the next few months. Josef Korenar, Fredrik Handemark, Timur Ibragimov, Jonathan Dahlen, Evan Weinger and Krystof Hrabik have all been loaned overseas.

Several of these loans had been reported previously, including Korenar who will join HC Ocelari Trinec of the Czech professional league. The 22-year-old goaltender had an .891 save percentage for the San Jose Barracuda this season, but is an interesting prospect to keep an eye on.

Handemark, 27, only signed with the Sharks in May and is on a one-year deal for the 2020-21 season. The veteran SHL forward had 38 points in 52 games last season for Malmo and will return there until training camp opens in North America.

The 19-year-old Ibragimov was a sixth-round pick of the Sharks in 2019 and is headed to TPS in Finland, possibly for the whole season. The young forward has spent the last few seasons in the MHL but will test his skills in the Liiga instead.

Dahlen perhaps is the most well-known of the bunch, as he’s already been involved in a few trades through his short career. A second-round pick of the Ottawa Senators in 2016, Dahlen was part of the Alexandre Burrows trade in 2017 and then another deal to send him to San Jose in 2019. The 22-year old is actually scheduled to be a restricted free agent, but he’ll be staying with Timra of the Swedish second league for the time being, where he dominated this year. In 51 games, Dahlen scored 77 points and earned the Allsvenskan MVP.

Weinger and Hrabik are both signed to AHL deals with the Barracuda, but will head to TPS (Finland) and Bili Tygri Liberec (Czech) respectively.

Sharks Re-Sign Joel Kellman To Two-Year Deal

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Aug 31: The Sharks have made the deal official, announcing a two-year contract for Kellman. GM Doug Wilson released a short statement:

Joel has proven himself at the NHL level with his intelligence and responsibility on both ends of the ice. He took a big step last year in his development and growth as a player inside our organization and made an immediate impact after his promotion from the San Jose Barracuda.

Aug 28: The Sharks have agreed to terms with center Joel Kellman on a two-year contract, reports Kevin Kurz of The Athletic (Twitter link).  Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now reports that the deal carries an AAV of $750K and breaks down as follows:

2020-21: $700K NHL salary, $300K AHL salary
2021-22: $800K NHL salary, one-way deal

Those terms means that he’s signing for less than his required qualifying offer which would have checked in at just under $875K.  However, he gets some extra security for his trouble with a reasonable guaranteed salary in the first season before converting to the one-way deal.  Kellman will be eligible for unrestricted free agency when the contract expires.

The 26-year-old played his first season in North America in 2019-20 after signing with San Jose as an undrafted free agent out of Brynas of the SHL in April of 2019.  He spent most of the first half in the minors with the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda where he posted decent numbers offensively with 16 points (4-12-16) in 25 games.

Things didn’t go as well with the Sharks, however.  While Kellman got into 31 games and logged over 11 minutes per night, he was only able to muster up three goals and four assists along the way and that production helped keep the price tag on this new deal low.

Kellman will be eligible for waivers next season and if they’re worried about trying to send him down, the two-way portion of his salary for 2020-21 may not even come into play.  At the very least, it appears that San Jose believes he can be a useful player in their bottom six for the next couple of years.  He logged just shy of a minute per game shorthanded with the Sharks this season and if he can show himself to be capable of taking on a bigger role in that area, it would go a long way towards securing a regular spot in their lineup.

Minor Transactions: 08/26/20

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Things kick off today with some afternoon hockey between the New York Islanders and Philadelphia Flyers, before a pair of later games this evening. For more than half the league though, plans are being formulated for the 2020-21 season instead (whenever that starts). Minor, junior, and European leagues are also planning their next steps and like always we’ll keep track of those minor moves right here.

  • Ryan Jones has signed with the Rochester Americans after failing to reach an agreement with the Pittsburgh Penguins. The 24-year old defenseman became a free agent earlier this month after four years at the University of Nebraska-Omaha and will instead join the AHL organization to start his professional career.
  • The San Jose Sharks have loaned Josef Korenar to HC Ocelari to start the season, letting him get some game action in the Czech Republic while they wait for the AHL. Korenar posted an .891 save percentage in 33 games this season for the San Jose Barracuda, his second season in North American pro hockey.
  • The OHL’s Oshawa Generals have landed a future NHL prospect in a trade with the Erie Otters. Forward Hayden Fowler, expected to be a mid-round pick in the upcoming 2020 NHL Draft, was acquired by Oshawa for a trio of high picks, the team announced. Fowler, an OHL first-rounder in 2017, recorded 42 points in 52 games this season.
  • Former New York Islanders prospect Kirill Petrov won’t be attempting a North American comeback any time soon. Petrov, now 30, was a 2008 selection of the Isles whose stint with the club lasted just 13 AHL games in 2015-16. Yet, in the four seasons since he returned to the KHL, he has put up strong numbers year after year. However, rather than try his hand at the top level, Petrov has signed a two-year extension with Ak Bars Kazan, the team reports.

Tim Heed Signs With HC Lugano

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With the San Jose Sharks not included in the return to play postseason and the start of the 2020-21 campaign still swirling in a tornado of uncertainty, Tim Heed has made a move to secure his immediate future. The pending unrestricted free agent has signed a contract with HC Lugano of the Swiss NLA, but it is not for the entire season. In fact, the deal only covers through November 15, 2020 at which point Heed will have a better idea of the NHL’s plan and can make a decision on where he wants to play the season.

Now 29, Heed has played in 105 games for the Sharks over the last four seasons including 38 in 2019-20. One of those coveted right-handed defensemen, he has provided some steady minutes while not really getting the chance to show what he can do offensively. A draft pick of the Anaheim Ducks in 2010, Heed stayed in Sweden until 2016 when he debuted for the San Jose Barracuda, recording 56 points in 55 games. His rocked-fueled slapshot had a lot to do with that offensive production, but in San Jose behind point-producing dynamos like Erik Karlsson and Brent Burns it’s hard to get much of an opportunity to release it.

There will likely be interest in Heed from around the NHL, if only as an inexpensive depth option. He’ll have to decide whether he still wants to compete in North America after a stint back in Europe.

Morning Notes: HHOF, Wild, Handemark

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The Hockey Hall of Fame has postponed its 2020 induction that was originally scheduled for November 16 in Toronto because of the ongoing COVID-19 protocols. The event will be rescheduled at some point, though it is unclear exactly when it can happen. Chairman Lanny McDonald released a statement:

While it’s possible the class of 2020 could be inducted on alternative dates during the modified 2020-21 NHL season, the most likely scenario is to postpone to November 2021, either by waiving the 2021 elections or in combination with the 2021 induction class involving adjusted category limits.

This year’s class includes Marian Hossa, Jarome Iginla, Kevin Lowe, Kim St-Pierre, Doug Wilson and Ken Holland. The board decided against holding the event virtually.

  • The Minnesota Wild will be watching the draft lottery tonight closely as they have a 12.5% chance of landing the first-overall pick, but there is plenty of other work to do for GM Bill Guerin. The executive held media availability today with reporters including Michael Russo of The Athletic, giving his thoughts on many subjects including Kirill Kaprizov’s imminent arrival (he will land in Minnesota today) and the future of captain Mikko Koivu. Guerin also announced that though assistant coaches Bob Woods and Darby Hendrickson will return, the team has parted ways with Bob Mason, Minnesota’s goaltending coach for the past 18 years.
  • Fredrik Handemark signed a one-year entry-level contract with the San Jose Sharks just a few months ago, but he’ll be staying in Sweden for a little while longer. The 26-year old forward will play with the Malmo Redhawks of the SHL for the start of the year until NHL training camps open at some point in November. Handemark had 38 points in 52 games for Malmo last season.

Sharks Had Planned To Give Jonathan Dahlen A Shot At A Roster Spot Next Season

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  • When Jonathan Dahlen decided to stay in Sweden for another year, it wasn’t viewed as a big surprise considering the year he had. However, as Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now notes, the Sharks were planning on bringing the 22-year-old over to contend for a spot with them for 2020-21.  Dahlen had 77 points in 51 games for Timra of the Swedish Allsvenskan, a second-tier league and while he had interest throughout the SHL which may have been better from a development perspective, he opted to re-sign at the lower level to try to help them earn a promotion to the SHL.  Their season ends early enough that it’s possible that Dahlen could wind up joining San Jose as a midseason addition.

Offseason Keys: San Jose Sharks

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The offseason has arrived for at least seven teams that were not invited to take part in the play-in round that’s slated to begin in early August.  With that in mind, our Offseason Keys series is underway for the teams that are on the outside looking in.  Next up is a look at San Jose.

There was some cause for optimism for the Sharks heading into the season.  They were coming off an appearance in the Western Conference Final and managed to keep Erik Karlsson in the fold.  Things seemed to be looking up.  Things didn’t play out as they expected and that would be putting it lightly.  Pretty much every player struggled while an in-season coaching change didn’t move the needle and the end result was narrowly avoiding 30th overall.  And of course, they don’t have their first-rounder this year to make matters worse as that went to Ottawa in the Karlsson trade.  Their salary cap situation doesn’t give them a lot of wiggle room but here are some of the things San Jose needs to take care of this summer.

Coaching Decision

After they got off to a 15-16-2 start under Peter DeBoer, GM Doug Wilson decided to make a change behind the bench.  Bob Boughner, who had just been brought back for a second stint as an assistant coach, was promoted to the top job on an interim basis.  Things didn’t get much better on his watch as they limped to a 14-20-3 record before the pandemic scrapped the rest of the season.

Now, Wilson needs to make a decision on Boughner to either lift the interim tag or bring someone else in to take over.  Three months ago, Wilson stated that there would be a thorough review and that Boughner had the upper hand in the process at the time.  Is more than 14 weeks enough to conduct that review and make a decision?  For a moment, it seemed like they were leaning towards keeping the status quo but Wilson poured cold water on that on Thursday, telling Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News that no decisions have been made yet.

Fortunately for the Sharks, they’re not really competing against anyone for coaches at the moment.  All other head coaching jobs are either filled or held by teams that are still playing which gives them even more time to work with.  There are several veteran candidates out there that are worthy of consideration in Gerard Gallant, Peter Laviolette, Mike Babcock, and John Stevens so there are plenty of options to choose from if they decide to go in another direction.

Is Boughner the right one for the job?  Eventually, Wilson will need to answer that question but at this point, it certainly seems like the answer is going to be yes.

Fix The Goaltending Situation

Despite getting as deep as they did in the playoffs, goaltending was a concern for San Jose for most of the year.  Martin Jones was coming off the worst season of his career as was Aaron Dell.  Nevertheless, the duo remained intact for 2019-20 and the results between the pipes weren’t much better.  Jones posted a save percentage of just .896 for the second straight season, a mark that backups need to be better than let alone starters.  Dell didn’t play at the level he had in his first two years but at least was a bit better although still below average.  This is why only a handful of teams allowed more goals before the season was shut down.

Needless to say, improvements need to be made.  The big question is how?  Jones still has five years left on his contract with a $5.75MM AAV.  At the time the deal was signed, it had a chance to be bargain but now it’s a problem.  With the flattened salary cap, finding a team to take that deal on is going to be tricky without taking another big contract back.  Unless that big contract is another goalie though, there isn’t a feasible trade option out there as a high-priced skater in return for Jones would price them out of the starting goalie market.  A buyout doesn’t seem likely either.

As for Dell, he’s slated to become an unrestricted free agent but he was only making $1.9MM on his expiring deal.  That’s enough to shop around for a veteran replacement but the top backups are going to be commanding more than that and they already have more than $66MM in commitments to just 13 players for next season, per CapFriendly.  A higher-end backup, while ideal, may be a luxury they simply can’t afford.  San Jose has high hopes for undrafted free agent Alexei Melnichuk but asking him to step in and play a big role right away would be risky despite his impressive showing in limited KHL action.

Their cap situation is going to make things tricky but if the Sharks plan on turning things around, Wilson is going to need to find a way to swap out starters or, at the very least, bring in a more prominent backup that can compete for more playing time.

Bank For Labanc

Last offseason, Labanc decided to take a team-friendly one-year, $1MM deal with the hopes that there would be more wiggle room next summer at a time where he’d have arbitration rights and ideally more leverage as a result.  For a variety of reasons, that plan hasn’t exactly worked out.

Labanc’s numbers dipped considerably this season to just 14 goals and 19 assists in 70 games.  For context, he had more assists (39) one year ago than he had points (33) in 2019-20.  Granted, pretty much everyone had a down year but that’s not a winning argument in an arbitration hearing.

The 24-year-old still should be in for a decent-sized raise but the change in salary cap projections due to the pandemic is going to hurt.  There was a case to be made that he’d be looking for a deal that might seem pricey now but more reasonable after a few more cap increases; lots of teams have done those in recent years and enough have worked out to make it a reasonable strategy.  But that’s off the table now as any increases over the next few years are going to be incremental at best.

At this point, another short-term deal (perhaps even another one-year pact) makes the most sense.  It gives Labanc a chance to rebuild his value and it would save them a bit of cap room in the interim.  The latter element was also a factor a year ago but at that time, he was looking to boost his value, not build it back up.  From San Jose’s perspective, as much as they like him, committing a long-term deal now may price them out of filling other holes so they’ll have that to consider as they map out their offseason plans.

It’s safe to say that Labanc’s plan last offseason didn’t quite work out as planned but unfortunately for him, the solution may be to try the same thing again.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Snapshots: NHLPA Executive Board Approves CBA, DEL, LeBlanc, Stutzle

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The NHL and NHLPA have crossed another hurdle to ratifying their CBA extension, the NHLPA announced. The NHL’s Executive Board has approved of the extended CBA and sent it to the NHLPA membership for a vote. The full body of NHL players still needs to cast their ballots, which is expected to take place sometime over the next 48 hours. Only a simple majority is needed to pass, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. As we await the final vote, let’s check-in elsewhere around the NHL…

  • Former Chicago Blackhawks prospect Drew LeBlanc signed a two-year extension to stay with Augsburger Panther of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga, per NHL.com’s Brandon Cain. LeBlanc appeared in two games with the Blackhawks in 2012-2013 and last appeared stateside with the AHL’s Ice Hogs in 2014-2015. He’s carved out a role in Germany over the last five years, scoring exactly 11 goals in the last four. He posted a career-high 49 points last season for Augsburger.
  • Speaking of the DEL, top draft prospect Tim Stutzle put up 34 points (7 goals, 27 assists) for Adler Mannheim last season, a strong enough showing to put him in the running to become the highest-drafted German prospect ever (Leon Draisaitl went number 3 overall to the Oilers in 2014). As a consensus top-5 prospect, Stutzle – who has drawn comparisons to Patrick Kane for his offensive creativity – could go as high as number two to the Los Angeles Kings, who may understand Stutzle’s path better than most, writes The Athletic’s Lisa Dillman.
  • Kings’ assistant coach Marco Sturm took a similar path on his way to the San Jose Sharks in 1997-1998. Sturm ought to be able to help connect the Kings’ to whatever intel they need on Stutzle. Most pundits suggest the Kings’ choice will come down to Stutzle or Quinton Byfield, though Jamie Drysdale could be in the running as well, which Dillman wrote about in-depth here.

 

Pacific Notes: Burns, Kings, Coyotes, Flames

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There is plenty of time until the next expansion draft, which is expected to occur at some point after the 2020-21 season (whenever finishes), but teams are paying attention to it and how to avoid a major loss. The San Jose Sharks were well prepared three years ago when the team didn’t give Vegas many options with the Golden Knights eventually selecting defenseman David Schlemko, who them later flipped to Montreal for a 2019 fifth-round pick.

However, this time around, general manager Doug Wilson may have some much tougher decisions to make. The team only has two players that will have no-movement clauses before the expansion draft in Erik Karlsson and, unfortunately, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, who at 33 years old, has six more years at $7MM per year. With cap room challenging in the future, Wilson may have to make a drastic move, and according to The Athletic’s Kevin Kurz (subscription required), the team may opt to expose veteran defenseman Brent Burns to the Seattle franchise.

While Burns’ numbers took a bit of a hit last season and he will be 36 years old when the expansion draft comes about, he still remains a solid top-four defenseman and is a candidate to age well considering his workout history. His salary still carries five more years at $8MM AAV, but he could be a valuable veteran piece for an expansion team and could help out the Sharks as well.

  • After having drafted centers in the first round of the past three drafts, (Gabriel Vilardi, Rasmus Kupari and Alex Turcotte) the Los Angeles Kings are lined up to likely select a fourth center in four years with the No. 2 overall pick, which is expected to be either OHL’s Quinton Byfield or German center Tim Stutzle. Regardless, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman in his most recent 31 Thoughts column, writes that won’t stop general manager Rob Blake from taking a fourth center. “No,” Blake said. “You mention those three, we’ll take four centres like that.”
  • Former Coyotes’ reporter Craig Morgan reports that the Arizona Coyotes are expecting to have their entire roster in town by Monday. Several teams are already trying to get their entire rosters in town with plenty of time to get comfortable before training camp starts for the upcoming 24-team tournament and Arizona will be one of the first.
  • The Calgary Flames are also working on getting their team together as quickly as possible. TSN reported that Flames’ general manager Brad Treliving said that the team already has 18 players in Calgary, although several are still undergoing quarantine. However, the GM also said that he expects the rest of the team to be in Calgary by early next week.

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