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Snapshots: Wilson, Schedule, Lemieux

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In a piece for The Players’ Tribune that is well worth the full read, unrestricted free agent forward Colin Wilson detailed his ongoing battles with his mental health and addiction.  Towards the end of the piece, he indicated that he believes his playing days have come to an end.  The 31-year-old was only able to play in nine games for the Avalanche last season after undergoing double hip surgery that didn’t fix the issue so he underwent the procedure again since then.  If it is indeed the end of the line for Wilson, he’ll wind up with 113 goals and 173 assists in 632 career games over 11 seasons between Colorado and Nashville, who drafted him seventh overall back in 2008.

More from around the hockey world:

  • NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly told ESPN’s Emily Kaplan that one of the things they’re focusing on as they work on the 2020-21 schedule is trying to get back to a more normal one for 2021-22. For that to happen, next season would likely need to be somewhat truncated which is something that both the players and the league appear to want to avoid.  Daly also pointed out that they do not view the start of the Olympics in July as a date that they have to finish by as some of their possible models involve playing past that time.  However, if the goal is to get closer to a regular start for the following year, playing into late July or early August would make that difficult.
  • The Rangers have a pair of arbitration hearings on the docket for next week in center Ryan Strome and winger Brendan Lemieux. While they’re limited to a one-year term for the former, they’ll have the option to elect a one-year or two-year award for the latter.  Larry Brooks of the New York Post suggests that New York will opt for a two-year term for Lemieux in an effort to limit his earning upside for 2021-22.  The 22-year-old had six goals and a dozen assists along with 111 PIMs in 59 games last season.  Lemieux’s hearing is scheduled for November 6th.

AHL, OHL Targeting February Start Dates

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The NHL said as recently as last week that they are still targeting a January start for the 2020-21 season, but other leagues may not be so optimistic. Jeff Marek of Sportsnet reports that at the OHL GM meeting today, a plan was presented that would have their regular season start on February 4. Training camp for the junior league would start on January 23, with a 40-game schedule expected. The AHL meanwhile had their own meeting, this time with the league’s board of governors, which included a new target start date of February 5.

While the idea of hockey returning in February is exciting, it also means nearly a year between meaningful games for many prospects. Leagues shut down in early March this year, and though some teams have found landing spots for their players overseas, many have been limited to training in small groups or individually.

The AHL had originally given a target date of December 4, but “due to the ongoing COVID-19 public health crisis” that has been moved back two full months. The minor league is much more reliant on ticket sales than the NHL is, while also not being quite as well set up for regional bubbles. With so much uncertainty over the public health situation, individual state, provincial and federal guidelines, and an NHL season that isn’t set in stone yet, even this AHL target is completely temporary. It can—and very well might—be changed again down the line.

For now though, the leagues will hope to get things started in just over three months’ time.

Snapshots: Training Camps, Toews, McIsaac

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The 2020-21 league calendar was one of the key topics at Friday’s GM meetings and while there still is no word on when the season will begin, there appears to be an overview of what training camps could look like.  Larry Brooks of the New York Post reports that the NHL is targeting a two-week training camp along with three or four exhibition games per team; the seven that didn’t participate in the Return to Play would get an extra week as had been previously reported.  Instead of teams inviting a significant number of prospects and minor leaguers to camp, they would be capped at 35 players.  Additionally, a conditioning camp before training camp begins has been proposed but is capped to recent draft picks, players on entry-level deals, and tryouts but anyone who participates in it must be invited to training camp.  With the NHL still targeting a start around the first of January, that would have camps kicking off somewhere around mid-to-late December.

Elsewhere around the league:

  • Colorado is expected to reach a settlement with RFA defenseman Devon Toews in advance of Saturday’s scheduled arbitration hearing, notes Adrian Dater of Colorado Hockey Now. The Avalanche acquired the blueliner from the Islanders two weeks ago in exchange for second-round picks in each of the next two drafts.  The 26-year-old is a year away from UFA eligibility and is coming off a strong season that saw him collect 28 points in 68 games while logging 20:31 per night in ice time.  If GM Joe Sakic wants to ensure his new blueliner will be around for more than a year, they’ll need to reach an agreement over the next few days.
  • Red Wings prospect Jared McIsaac suffered an injury with HPK in Finland and has been recalled to Detroit, the SM-liiga team announced. The defenseman’s stint lasted all of one shift and 34 seconds.  McIsaac missed a big chunk of last season while recovering from shoulder surgery and the attempt to make up for that lost time has come to an end in a hurry.

NHL Postpones 2021 Winter Classic, All-Star Weekend

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The NHL has officially postponed both the 2021 Winter Classic and 2021 All-Star Weekend due to the lack of fan participation and attendance that will be possible. The league has not changed their previous target of January 1 as a potential start date for the upcoming season, though that is obviously still not confirmed at this point.

The Winter Classic was scheduled to be held at Target Field in Minneapolis and was to feature the Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues. The Florida Panthers were set to host the All-Star Weekend at the end of January. The league intends to return to both locations for the respective events “in the near future” and lists 2022 as a target.

In the release, they included this statement from NHL chief content officer Steve Mayer:

Fan participation, both in arenas and stadiums as well as in the ancillary venues and events that we stage around the Winter Classic and All-Star Weekend, is integral to the success of our signature events. Because of the uncertainty as to when we will be able to welcome our fans back to our games, we felt that the prudent decision at this time was to postpone these celebrations until 2022 when our fans should be able to enjoy and celebrate these tentpole events in-person, as they were always intended. We are also considering several new and creative events that will allow our fans to engage with our games and teams during this upcoming season.

It was always very unlikely that either event would be able to proceed as planned given the delayed start and condensed schedule that next season will have to work under.

Connor Brown Avoids Arbitration

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The Ottawa Senators have avoided arbitration with Connor Brown, settling on a three-year contract just hours ahead of his scheduled hearing. The new contract will carry an average annual value of $3.6MM and keeps Brown under contract through the 2022-23 season. Senators GM Pierre Dorion released the following statement:

We’re very happy to have Connor back under contract. He brings a veteran presence to our lineup and is a player who can play in different situations. He’s durable, has a strong work ethic with great practice habits and is regarded as a leader by his teammates. His ability to play up and down the lineup while producing offensively is especially valuable to us as we continue our transition towards being a consistent winner.

Brown was scheduled to have an arbitration hearing later today. That would have resulted in a one-year contract that would have taken the 26-year-old right to unrestricted free agency, but he’ll stay in the organization a little longer with this three-year deal. Brown had filed for $4.8MM while the team had filed for just $2.25MM.

All five of this week’s arbitration hearings were settled prior to taking place. The next one on the schedule is Tyler Bertuzzi on Sunday.

Brown scored a career-high 43 points this season with the Senators, while averaging more than 20 minutes a night to lead their entire forward group. That included a huge amount of penalty killing responsibility, along with a good amount of powerplay time as well. That versatility is key to why Brown is so well-liked on any team he plays for, and a big reason why the Senators have decided to keep him around.

Snapshots: Ryan, Soucy, USHL

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The Ottawa Senators bought out Bobby Ryan over the weekend, but that doesn’t mean his playing career is over. Interest has already started to emerge, with Kevin Kurz of The Athletic tweeting that the San Jose Sharks are one of “many teams” that have checked in on the free agent winger.

Ryan, 33, will be making more than $1.8MM in each of the next four years regardless of what his next contract is, meaning he may be willing to take a cheap deal to get back on the ice with a new organization.

  • The Minnesota Wild are still negotiating with Carson Soucy according to Michael Russo of The Athletic, one of their pending unrestricted free agents. Russo reports they are also speaking with Kyle Rau and Matt Bartkowski, and will be signing Hunter Warner to an AHL deal instead of issuing him a qualifying offer. With the Stanley Cup now awarded, front offices will be in overdrive trying to get new deals in place before free agency opens on October 9.
  • The USHL has released its schedule for the 2020-21 season, expected to start on November 5. Each team will be scheduled for 54 games over the 24-week season, which ends on April 24. The junior league is an important development step for many prospects and will try to navigate the season with a regional schedule.

NHL Announces Offseason Training Protocols

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Even if official training camps and exhibition schedules are still not set in stone, the NHL did release some information about how and when teams can start to get together for offseason training. In an agreement between the NHLPA and league, team sites will be opened on October 15. Many of the same protocols from Phase 2 will be in place, including a limit of 12 people on the ice at the same time.

These protocols are just another thing to remember when it comes to prognosticating for the 2020-21 season. Even with several months between the Stanley Cup Finals and opening day, it will not be an offseason like any other. For players arriving in new organizations or young prospects trying to make an impact, access will be limited throughout the fall.

If players and staff do choose to use these facilities, they will be administered regular COVID-19 tests and be forced to adhere to strict protocols to reduce the chance of contraction or spread of the disease.

Announcements of training camp and the regular season schedule are yet to come.

League Notes: NHL Awards, 2020-21, USHL

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While the NHL has already revealed several of their end-of-the-year awards prior to recent playoff games, they will save the remaining awards for one special presentation. The league has announced today that the five remaining awards –  the Hart, Lindsay, Vezina, Norris, and Calder – will be presented virtually in a 30-minute special at 5:30pm CT on Monday, September 21. Since the event is technically being hosted from inside the Edmonton bubble, the awards will also have an “Oilers twist” to them. Wayne Gretzky is set to present the Hart and Calder trophies, with Mark Messier announcing the Lindsay, Grant Fuhr announcing the Vezina, and Paul Coffey announcing the Norris. The winners will then be made available to the media via Zoom for interviews following the awards presentations.

  • As the Stanley Cup Final gets underway in the Edmonton bubble, it is remarkable to look back at hat the NHL has been able to accomplish this postseason in Edmonton and Toronto. However, they face a much more difficult task right around the corner with trying to implement the 2020-21. While the league has held firm on their desire to begin the new season before the end of the calendar year and to play a full 82-game schedule, doubts are starting to creep in about how this can be arranged as COVID-19 continues to be prevalent in North America. Even Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly recently stated that he does not know for sure when and how the league will return to regular season play, though he did that a start date prior to December 1 is more unlikely than not. Speaking with others around the league, The Athletic’s Scott Burnside gets a growing sense of skepticism across all corners of the NHL . While most believe the season will still occur in some form or fashion, his sources believe that a likely start date is not until January at the earliest, which could rule out an 82-game season. Some believe that the league could wait until it is safe for fans to attend games before returning to play, while others believe that early-season schedules could be geographically-influenced to play a more compact schedule and to reduce travel risks. Burnside notes that continued outbreaks of Coronavirus in U.S. cities and the closed border between the U.S. and Canada will make a typical season impossible until they are resolved. In other words, there is still a lot to figure out before teams can return to play for the regular season, so a delayed start beyond what had previously been anticipated is an ever-growing possibility.
  • Two USHL teams have now decided to scrap their seasons altogether in response to the continuing COVID pandemic. The league announced today that the Cedar Rapids Roughriders and Madison Capitols will suspend operations for the 2020-21 season. On top of troubles related to Coronavirus, the Roughriders sustained damage to their arena in a recent storm and are finding it impossible to be prepared for a new season, while the Capitols, who are owned by Minnesota Wild star Ryan Suter, are so overly restricted by local health regulations that they cannot operate this year. The league stated that a dispersal draft will be held to give the teams’ players a new home for the coming season. However, the rights of those players who wish to continue in the USHL beyond this season will revert back to their teams next year.

Washington Capitals Sign Daniel Sprong

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The Washington Capitals acquired Daniel Sprong at the deadline in an under-the-radar move, but have now decided to re-sign the former top prospect. Sprong has signed a two-year, one-way contract with the Capitals that will carry a $725K average annual salary. The 23-year-old forward was scheduled for restricted free agency and would have been arbitration-eligible but will now be under contract through the 2021-22 season.

For several years following his second-round selection in the 2015 draft, Sprong was seen as a future top-six star in the Pittsburgh Penguins organization. He made the team out of training camp just a few months after being drafted and played 18 NHL games as an 18-year-old. After finally returning to the QMJHL, he scored 61 points in just 45 games before then being sent back to pro hockey and playing big minutes for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in the 2016 Calder Cup playoffs. That was followed by another very successful (though limited) season with the Charlottetown Islanders before Sprong burst back onto the AHL scene with a 32-goal, 65-point season with the baby Penguins in 2017-18.

Expected to then take the next step for Pittsburgh and become a core part of their NHL team, things fizzled. Sprong would fail to score a goal in 16 games to start the 2018-19 campaign and found himself traded to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for Marcus Pettersson. 14 goals down the stretch for the Ducks wasn’t enough to keep him off waivers the following training camp and when he cleared, it was obvious his NHL outlook was not as rosy as it once was.

This season, Sprong spent the majority of the year with the San Diego Gulls of the AHL, scoring 27 points in 39 games. He was swapped for Christian Djoos at the deadline, and finished strong with the Hershey Bears before the season was canceled. Now in Washington, where the team will be looking for inexpensive options at the bottom of their NHL roster, Sprong has another great shot to get his career back on track.

Still just 23, it’s impossible to write him off completely at this point. Should Sprong get an opportunity with some of the more skilled attackers in the Capitals lineup there is a real chance he flourishes in this next chapter. Still, he’ll have to prove he can do more than just contribute at the offensive end of the rink to keep himself up at the NHL level.

NHL Announces Official Dates And Times For 2020 Draft, Opening Of Free Agency

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With the 2020 postseason proceeding ahead of schedule, there has been reporting and considerable speculation that the league would move up the dates of the delayed 2020 NHL Entry Draft and the beginning of the new league year and opening of free agency. The NHL has followed through on that speculation, officially announcing today the new dates for these events. The Draft will take place on October 6-7, and the new league year will commence on October 9.

The first round of the NHL Draft will begin at 7pm ET on Tuesday, October 6, a departure from its usual Friday night slot. Similarly, the second day of the draft, comprising rounds 2-7, will take place on Wednesday, October 7 rather than it’s typical Saturday placement. Otherwise, the structure of the draft stays the same. One key difference though is that all draft operations will take place virtually.

As for the start of free agency, the July 1 unofficial holiday will instead take place on Friday, October 9. Other than a delay of more than three months, the opening of free agency will not be much different; at 12pm ET, the signing window will open and free agents will be free to speak with teams and sign contracts. What may be very different however is the pace at which players will sign. While there is usually a massive rush of contracts when free agency opens, there are factors working against a fast-paced market. First, the NHL’s new CBA has eliminated the free agent contact period, meaning teams and available players cannot formally communicate until after free agency officially opens. Second, the flat salary cap will force the majority of NHL teams to be very careful with their roster operations this off-season, potentially prioritizing re-signing their own restricted free agents before throwing money at unrestricted free agents. This combination could produce an abnormally slow start to free agency, but October 9 will be an intriguing day league-wide nonetheless.

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