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West Notes: Braun, Dallas Goaltending, Berube, Therrien

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This offseason could be one of change for San Jose.  Two long-term veteran forwards in Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton are both eligible for unrestricted free agency and if both walk, there are going to be some holes to fill offensively.

On the flip side, the Sharks have strong defensive depth not to mention a lot of money tied into their back end; they have nearly $27MM committed to their top seven for next season.  (That amount is expected to jump considerably for 2018-19 as well assuming the team can get a deal done with Marc-Edouard Vlasic.)

Accordingly, CSN Bay Area’s Kevin Kurz anticipates that GM Doug Wilson will deal from his blueline to try to add some offensive help and brings up Justin Braun as a player who could be dealt.  Braun has been paired up with Vlasic in a shut-down role in the past and fared well while he has a decent cap hit of $3.8MM for three more seasons that will likely intrigue some teams.

The Sharks do have some depth on the back end with players like Mirco Mueller, Tim Heed, and the recently-signed Radim Simek waiting in the wings so if they do trade from their position of strength, it shouldn’t force them to spend big in free agency to replace whoever gets moved.

Other notes from the Western Conference:

  • Stars GM Jim Nill noted to Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News that he has yet to decide who will back up recently-acquired Ben Bishop next season. The team has two pricey veterans in Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi who each have one year remaining on their contracts.  If they aren’t able to find a taker for one via trade or expansion in the coming weeks, a buyout is a likely outcome.  Lehtonen has had the better numbers of the two so despite the fact he has the higher cap hit of the two ($5.9MM versus $4.5MM for Niemi), the early expectation is that he’ll stick around while Niemi will be let go.
  • Chicago Wolves head coach Craig Berube is the top candidate for the lead assistant coaching job with the Blues, reports Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The fit is a logical one given that the Wolves will no longer the primary AHL affiliate for them starting next season.  However, he is in the running for the head coaching job with Buffalo.  Rutherford notes that former Canadiens head coach Michel Therrien is also a candidate for the role but they don’t appear to be interested in former Buffalo bench boss Dan Bylsma.

San Jose Sharks Sign Radim Simek, Filip Sandberg

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The San Jose Sharks have officially announced the signing of Radim Simek, a deal that had been reported in great detail over the past week. They also, however, announced the signing of Filip Sandberg, a Swedish forward whose market had yet to be revealed. Simek will be under a one-year entry-level contract, while Sandberg will sign a two-year entry-level deal.

While the Simek deal had been previously reported, the team offers some insight onto why they felt he was a good fit for the team going forward. GM Doug Wilson had this to say about the Czech defender:

Radim is a quick transition defenseman who drives the play offensively and plays with a physical edge. We like his offensive instincts especially on special teams and think his game will translate well in North America.

It’s true, Simek has proven he can contribute offensively but it will be his physical play that will allow him to stand out in the North American ranks. Though he stands under six feet, he can handle himself against professional players as he showed at the most recent World Championships for the Czech Republic. The 24-year old has a chance to compete for a spot in the NHL as soon as next season, though it will be tough to crack the Sharks group.

Sandberg on the other hand is a shifty forward capable of putting up points in bunches as he did for HV71 en route to an SHL Championship. In 16 playoff games, the 5’9″ forward scored 14 points, leading his club and ranking third in the entire postseason. At just 22, he still has room to grow and adapt to the North American game but he will have to prove he can compete physically before the Sharks hand him a roster spot. Both players will still need a lot of hard work to make an impact at the highest level, but have easily done enough in their hockey careers to warrant a closer look.

Radim Simek Received Offer From Rangers

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  • As one could expect from the report yesterday, the New York Rangers did indeed make an offer to Radim Simek before he decided to go with the San Jose Sharks. There isn’t a ton of difference between possible entry-level contracts relative to the entire salary structure of a team, but perhaps the Rangers weren’t willing to guarantee the same financial commitment the Sharks were. The eventual deal earns Simek $830K in the NHL, and could still include signing and performance bonuses. The Rangers already signed Alexei Bereglazov and Neal Pionk this spring, adding some youth to their defense corps from the NCAA and European free agent ranks.

Pacific Notes: McDavid, Simek, Rakell, Eaves

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Extension talks have yet to begin between the Oilers and Connor McDavid’s camp but there are already plenty of theories as to what it may take to sign him.  Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman suggests (video link) that one potential avenue that McDavid may consider is to not sign the maximum eight year deal but rather something around five seasons, similar to what other top players such as Sidney Crosby, Steven Stamkos, and Patrick Kane (among others) have done in the past.

Doing so would then allow McDavid to be eligible for unrestricted free agency sooner and would allow him to potentially cash in on a max-term, bigger money deal at that time.  From the standpoint of the Oilers, this route would allow them to save a bit on his AAV as he still has four years of team control remaining once his contract expires in 2018.  With Leon Draisaitl needing a new contract as well, that extra money could come in handy.  In the same video, Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos notes that the expectation is that the AAV for both young stars will be pretty close on their second deals, potentially within $500K.

Elsewhere in the Pacific:

  • The Sharks have agreed to terms with Czech defenseman Radim Simek, according to an iSport report in the Czech Republic (link in Czech). Simek’s European agent, Petr Hemsky, confirmed to them that Simek has signed a one year deal worth $830K if he’s with San Jose for the entire season.  There is likely a signing bonus not included in that amount as Simek will receive an entry-level contract.  The article states that the Rangers were also interested while it was reported last week that Vancouver was also interested in Simek’s services.
  • The Ducks won’t be getting any help from the infirmary when it comes to their elimination game against the Predators on Monday night. The team announced (Twitter link) that both Patrick Eaves and Rickard Rakell did not travel with the team to Nashville and will not play in Game Six.  Both players are currently dealing with lower body injuries and were the only 30 goal scorers on Anaheim’s roster this season.

Snapshots: Ward, Gomez, Blues

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Sharks right winger Joel Ward has undergone successful surgery, the team announced.  In their press release, GM Doug Wilson notes that the veteran had the choice to have the procedure done or opt for rehab instead but clearly he opted to go under the knife.

Ward battled with this issue throughout the season which could very well be a contributing factor to his offensive decline.  In 2015-16, his first season in San Jose, the 36 year old scored 21 goals while adding 22 assists; his 43 points coming in as the second best output of his career.  However, he only tallied 28 points (10-19-29) this season in 78 games.

Ward is expected to make a full recovery and will be ready to suit up once training camp gets underway in September.

Other notes from around the league:

  • After it was reported earlier this week that Kelly Buchberger is a candidate to join the Islanders’ coaching staff, Newsday’s Arthur Staple reports that former NHL center Scott Gomez is also under consideration for a role on head coach Doug Weight’s staff. Gomez retired back in early September after an NHL career that spanned over 1,000 games.  Staple speculates that the 37 year old could potentially be tasked to work on a power play unit that ranked 28th in the league this season with a 14.9% success rate.  Gomez is no stranger to power play success as 255 of his 756 career points came with the man advantage.
  • The Blues are set to have several notable forwards left unprotected in next month’s expansion draft and Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch suggests in a reader chat (fifth panel) that winger Ryan Reaves is worthy of the final protection slot, even if that means exposing a more productive forward like David Perron. He notes that secondary scoring is typically easier to find in free agency than a forward like Reaves, who took some strides forward offensively this year, setting a career high in points.  Rutherford adds Dmitrij Jaskin as another candidate to get the last protected spot up front despite only scoring once in 51 games in 2016-17.

Snapshots: Buffalo’s Coaching Search, Jones, Dell

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Communication. That’s what new Buffalo Sabres GM Jason Botterill tells John Vogl of The Buffalo News is the most important thing in his next head coach. Vogl breaks down the four key lessons Botterill had learned from his time hiring Wilkes-Barre Scranton head coaches, including current Pittsburgh Penguins bench boss Mike Sullivan.

Botterill swears to look high and low for the next Sabres head coach, but would like to have one in place before the 2017 Entry Draft on June 23rd. That gives him just more than a month to find the best available name. Earlier today it was written that Washington Capitals assistant Todd Reirden may be a candidate, though it still seems like a long-shot given his previous connection to Dan Bylsma. Many others, including Phil Housley (Nashville) and Rick Tocchet (Pittsburgh) are still working in the playoffs and won’t leave their teams until they’re eliminated or win the Cup. It may be a mad dash before the draft then, if Botterill wants to speak to all possible candidates before making a decision. Last year the Cup-clinching game was played on June 12th, less than two weeks before the draft.

  • Kevin Kurz of NBC Sports takes a stab at what a Martin Jones extension may look like, positing that he’ll undoubtedly get more than both Scott Darling and Ben Bishop received from their respective teams. Darling got $16.6MM over four years from the Carolina Hurricanes while Bishop inked a six-year $29.5MM deal with Dallas.  Jones, who will be eligible for an extension on July 1st, has just one year remaining on his deal worth $3MM. Kurz thinks Jones will fall somewhere in the range of $5.5-6MM per season, though that would still be quite the risk given that Jones put up just a .912 save percentage this season. That number is fine, but puts him 20th among goaltenders who started at least 40 games this season. His playoff performance has been exceptional, but committing to a long-term deal will be hoping Jones regular season numbers increase.
  • Giving Jones a big contract also puts the Sharks in an interesting position with backup Aaron Dell, who burst onto the NHL scene this year with a .931 save percentage in his limited appearances. Dell is actually almost a year older than Jones, but will be looking for a raise after next season in line with Darling’s deal should his solid play continue. While most of the league wouldn’t trust Dell with a starting job just yet, Darling was a similarly late-blooming backup that has just 64 games started at this point. Should the Sharks lock up Jones this summer, look for Dell to be on the market next trade deadline or at the draft as a potential option for teams looking for a cheaper starting option.

High Likelihood Of Free Agent Class Shrinking Further

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Let’s state the facts: the 2017 unrestricted free agent class is really weak. Even before the season started it wasn’t full of household names, but with Brent Burns, Patrik Berglund, and, most recently, Ben Bishop agreeing to extensions already, the list has shrunk even further. The 2017 class has few impact players available, so much so that the New York Islanders easily have single-handedly deprived the rest of the league of three of the top fifty free agents simply by re-signing the likes of Thomas Greiss, Dennis Seidenberg, and Cal Clutterbuck.

Unfortunately, the trend of teams retaining their own talent and further forecasting a dull summer may not be done. The Washington Capitals have four of the best free agent names out there in T.J. Oshie, Kevin Shattenkirk, Karl Alzner, and Justin Williams and even given their tight cap space, it is reasonable to assume that at least one or two of that group will re-up with the President’s Trophy winners. Initially, many felt that the San Jose Sharks would not bring back both of their aging stars, Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau, and possibly even neither. However, after a strong season from career-Shark Marleau, the team will likely look to retain him, and with Thornton turning 38 soon and facing significant injury questions, he simply might take a hometown discount to stay in San Jose as well. In Montreal, revelation Alexander Radulov and key veteran Andrei Markov are impending free agents, but many assume in name only as handshake agreements seem to have been made on new deals following the Expansion Draft. Anaheim Ducks trade deadline acquisition Patrick Eaves has been a great fit and has expressed an interest in extending his stay. Same goes for Drew Stafford and the Boston Bruins. Even veterans like Radim Vrbata, Mike Fisher, and Jaromir Jagr seem likely to stay put in their current homes.

This does seem to be an awful lot of deals to be made in less than two months before free agency opens on July 1st, but don’t rule it out. Many teams are wary of the Expansion Draft ramifications of re-signing their impending free agents too early and may instead act swiftly in the waning days of June. Most, if not all, of these names could be off the table by the time free agency opens. Could we be looking at a free agent class highlighted by the likes of Sam Gagner, Martin Hanzal, and Michael Del Zotto? Let’s hope not.

San Jose Sharks Re-Sign Melker Karlsson, Joonas Donskoi

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The San Jose Sharks have locked up two of their young restricted free agents, inking Melker Karlsson to a three-year deal and Joonas Donskoi to a two-year pact. Both players were set to become RFAs this summer with arbitration rights, but will now be under contract for the next few years. Karlsson will earn an average of $2MM per season, while Donskoi will get just $1.9MM each year.

Karlsson, 26, had another effective season in San Jose’s bottom-six, scoring 22 points in 67 games. The undrafted Swede has never been much of an offensive powerhouse, but provides solid secondary scoring with at least 10 goals in each of his three seasons. He is coming off a two-year pact that paid him (an average of) $1.65MM per season, an inexpensive number for his production. Even at $2MM, his role as an effective penalty killer and checking winger is worth the price.

Donskoi, 25, has a bit more offensive flair to his game but took a significant step back this season. After posting 36 points as a rookie in 2015-16, Donskoi registered only 17 this year while seeing his role reduced on the powerplay. Donskoi was actually drafted in the fourth round by the Florida Panthers, but never came to terms with the team and remained in Finland until the summer of 2015. Playing as a rookie last season, Donskoi played exceptionally well and was expected to continue to develop into a legitimate top-six winger. Instead, he settled into more of a third-line role on the team and will be paid accordingly this season.

For the Sharks, these contracts provide some financial certainty going into an interesting summer. The team still has to make decisions on pending free agents Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau, while considering early extensions for Tomas Hertl, Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Martin Jones. Should the team want to get into bidding wars on any other free agents, getting these deals done now shows them exactly how much they have to spend. Both deals are fairly reasonable, though a return to the 30-40 point Donskoi would make his especially valuable. Either way, both can still fit in as role players in the lower half of the lineup for the relatively inexpensive cap-hits.

Pierre LeBrun provided the financial details on both contracts. 

Snapshots: Simek, Carey, AHL

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While just today Jan Rutta’s agent told us that his client was getting NHL offers, it seems that perhaps another Czech defender will soon sign. TSN analyst Ray Ferraro responded on Twitter to the fact that Vancouver GM Jim Benning is only watching games in Paris at the World Championships, saying that the most interesting players are Rutta and teammate Radim Simek. There have been reports floating around that Simek has already signed an NHL deal, and it is supported by his own words that he plans on coming across the Atlantic this season.

Ferraro seemed to agree with the idea that Simek was already signed, though still had no details on who the team is. The 24-year old is another puck-moving defender that can put up points and skate well enough to make the jump, though he didn’t have quite the offensive impact of Rutta or Jakub Jerabek (another Czech teammate) this season. While the Sharks are rumored in the above article as having scouted him this year, several teams likely have shown interest at the tournament.

  • The Washington Capitals placed Paul Carey on waivers today, with the intent of sending him back to the Hershey Bears for the remainder of the AHL playoff run. Hershey will play game three in their series with the Providence Bruins later tonight after splitting the first two matchups. The addition of Carey will certainly help; he scored 55 points in 55 games this season for the Bears, and led the team in goals with 24.
  • Speaking of the AHL, the league has announced re-alignment for next season. The Charlotte Checkers will be moving from the Central Division to the Atlantic, while several changes will hit the North. The Senators will now be based out of Belleville, ON while the Albany Devils are moving to the vacant Binghamton. The Devils were one of the worst-attended teams in the league despite their recent success. The St. John’s IceCaps will also be moving, heading closer to their parent team in Montreal. They’ll become the Laval Rocket for next season, and stay in the North Division.

Snapshots: Ovechkin, Sharks, Panik

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While Alex Ovechkin has been the butt of many jokes since his Washington Capitals were once again eliminated in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs by the Pittsburgh Penguins, it turns out that it’s not just his pride that has taken a beating this spring. The superstar forward will not join Team Russia at the World Championships because of a lower-body injury. Ovechkin apparently had been taking “pain numbing injections” just to stay on the ice for the Capitals, possibly because of the low hit he took from Nazem Kadri in the first round.

Ovechkin has played in the World Championships an amazing twelve times over his career, and has always been willing to suit up for his country on the international stage. Dmitry Orlov and Evgeny Kuznetsov will join Team Russia for the tournament. The pair are both restricted free agents this summer, and will be a big part of the introspective offseason Washington has ahead of them.

  • Henrik Lundqvist will also be attending the tournament to play for Sweden, who desperately need his help. The team is currently going with a duo of Viktor Fasth and Eddie Lack in net, a clear weakness on their otherwise impressive squad. With defenders like Victor Hedman, Jonas Brodin and Oliver Ekman-Larsson in front of him, Lundqvist should help the Swedes become a medal favorite if they weren’t already. He’ll also be joining brother Joel on the team, who is captaining this group.
  • According to Paul Gackle of the Mercury News, the San Jose Sharks are getting close to new contracts with restricted free agents Joonas Donskoi and Melker Karlsson. The pair represent two of the Sharks’ biggest tasks for the offseason, along with decisions on Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau. Donskoi and Karlsson both didn’t perform up to the lofty expectations they had after their early success in the league, with just 17 and 22 points respectively. It will be interesting to see where they both land salary wise, as the Sharks have Brent Burns’ extension kicking in along with upcoming deals for Martin Jones, Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Tomas Hertl to contend with next summer.
  • Richard Panik apparently was surprised by the Chicago Blackhawks’ first contract offer, and didn’t need to negotiate according to Mark Lazerus of the Chicago Sun-Times. That offer was the two-year, $5.6M deal he signed earlier today, which will see the team keep a 20-goal man for under $3MM. Panik knows that playing with Jonathan Toews is likely the best scenario he’ll find anywhere in the league, but that he could earn a much bigger contract in two years when he hits unrestricted free agency. He’ll hit the open market at just 28, and if he has three 40-50 point seasons under his belt people will be lining up to hand him a long-term deal.

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