Snapshots: Torres, Jokipakka, World Cup
Raffi Torres will turn 35-years old on October 8th. He hasn’t played an NHL game since April 30th, 2014 (when the Sharks were eliminated from the postseason). He has been suspended five times during his NHL career, the latest lasting 41 games. The Toronto Maple Leafs, after agreeing to acquire his rights in a deadline deal last year, immediately loaned him back to his current AHL team, not wanting any part of him in their organization.
But somehow, he’s earned a professional tryout from the Carolina Hurricanes this fall and will skate to try and snatch a spot on their fourth line. In a piece by Chip Alexander of The News & Observer today, Torres and GM Ron Francis talk about his latest (and possibly last) opportunity in the NHL.
“I know I’ve got to change. I know I say that over and over, but I’ve got to change and I can change,” says Torres when speaking about his suspensions. He admits that what he’s done over his career is wrong, and seems genuinely convinced he could offer something to the Hurricanes this season. Francis, for his part says he has “served his time” and is willing to at least give him a look this fall. If he does make the roster, he’ll be joining his eighth NHL team in 16 years. Here is more from around the league:
- Among the news that Sean Monahan is still too injured to participate in the upcoming World Cup, Wes Gilbertson of Postmedia tweeted out another interesting injury tidbit. Jyrki Jokipakka, who underwent hip surgery at the end of the season is now expected to be “good to go” for the tournament. Jokipakka was part of the return for Kris Russell this past year, and was well received in his 18 game Calgary stint. He’ll be suiting up for a Finnish team that is looking like a darkhorse candidate; Patrik Laine recently won tournament MVP at the World Championships, while the goaltending tandem of Pekka Rinne and Tuukka Rask should be among the best.
- Staying with the World Cup, Rob Vollman of NHL.com published a piece that says the possibility that the North America team wins the tournament isn’t necessarily a long-shot, due to the usual peak of physical performance around 24. Indeed, the youngster team led by Connor McDavid will have a speed advantage over the rest of the field, and can create offense at an elite level already. The one thing Vollman mentions as a weakness though, faceoff skill, was weakened today when Monahan withdrew. The Calgary centerman was clearly the best on the team in the circle, meaning players like Auston Matthews and Mark Scheifele will have to step up in the defensive end.
Snapshots: PTO’s, Minnesota, Florida, Hall, Larsson
The closer we get to training camp, the less likely veteran players still without one are to receive a guaranteed contract for 2016-17. Indeed, a lot of quality NHL-caliber players will have to earn a job by way of a professional tryout (PTO). Several players have already gone that route as our PTO tracker shows, while some teams are still discussing their available options and determining who they may extend invites to.
On that front, Mike Russo writes that Minnesota’s brain trust is considering adding “one or two forwards to professional tryouts.” He points out that the Wild only have 10 forwards signed to one-way contracts giving the club room to add more competition to the group if they are so inclined. Russo adds that head coach Bruce Boudreau has already communicated to Chuck Fletcher, Minnesota’s GM, that he would like to “get bigger and tougher and stronger.”
Russo lists Paul Gaustad, Steve Downie, Lauri Korpikoski and R.J Umberger as possible PTO targets for the Wild. Although it appears we can dismiss the possibility of Gaustad joining Minnesota, or anyone else for that matter, as it has been said the veteran center is set to announce his retirement. Kyle Chipchura, David Legwand and Tuomo Ruutu could also fit Boudreau’s criteria but those options are purely speculative at this point.
- Count Florida among the teams giving serious consideration to adding more veteran talent via PTO to compete for jobs. According to Harvey Fialkov of the Sun Sentinel, Panthers GM Tom Rowe told him Florida’s management team is “discussing possible veterans to bring in to camp.” Fialkov later added that head coach Gerard Gallant would prefer to add a veteran depth defenseman prior to the preseason. Florida was one of the summer’s most active teams and is aiming to compete for the Stanley Cup this season. It makes sense they would continue to try to add depth to bolster their chances and further guard against injury. The Panthers of course invested heavily in their defense corps this summer and still have rookie Michael Matheson – who we profiled here – and veteran Steve Kampfer to complement the top-six. Yet adding additional competition does make sense, particularly on a no-risk PTO. One wonders whether Jakub Nakladal – PHR analyzed his free agent case here – would be an option given he is a favorite of the analytics community and considering Florida’s recent shift to a more analytically-inclined front office but again, that’s just conjecture.
- Edmonton GM Peter Chiarelli continues his campaign to justify the team’s acquisition of D Adam Larsson in exchange for high-scoring LW Taylor Hall. Writing for Today’s Slap Shot, Chris Nichols provides several quotes from a recent interview Chiarelli did with 630 CHED radio in Edmonton. Chiarelli reiterated that the deal was simply the “cost of doing business,” as part of the club’s efforts to address their defensive shortcomings. He added: “Our fans, once they see Adam, they’ll see what we see in him. Any time you trade a player like Taylor, it’s going to have reverberations throughout the local hockey community through our fan base, and it did.” Credit to Chiarelli for sticking with his convictions. It isn’t easy to make a decision you already know will be an unpopular one but his job is to make the Edmonton Oilers a better team and to do so, the organization had to upgrade the blue line. Evidently Chiarelli and Co. felt this was the best deal they could make to accomplish that objective.
Snapshots: Bishop, Burns, Howden
Barring the unexpected, Ben Bishop will enter the 2016-17 season as the starting goalie for the Tampa Bay Lightning. After leading the NHL in GAA (2.06) and finishing second in Vezina Trophy voting, Bishop has established himself as one of the league’s top net minders and is a key reason the Lightning will be among a small handful of teams expected to challenge Pittsburgh for Eastern Conference supremacy. But as he enters the final year of a contract, which comes with an AAV of $5.9MM, Bishop’s time in Tampa may be nearing its end, as Mike Halford of Pro Hockey Talk explains.
At 29 and with presumably several years of elite-level play ahead of him, Bishop will be in a position to command a significant multiyear deal next summer. The Lightning already have $55MM tied up in their 2017-18 salary cap – according to Cap Friendly – and will need to re-sign pending restricted free agents Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat and Jonathan Drouin, none of whom will come cheaply. Additionally, that figure does not yet account for the eventual cap charge of Nikita Kucherov, who is still a RFA and is in line for a nice payday. Chances are Tampa simply won’t be in a position to offer Bishop what he can command elsewhere.
On top of that, as Halford noted, the Lightning were proactive and inked backup goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy to a three-year extension which goes into effect in time for the 2017-18 campaign after Bishop’s contract ends. Vasilevskiy is one of the top young goalie prospects in the NHL and should be ready to assume a larger role. This gives the Lightning a fair amount of protection should they reconcile themselves to the likelihood of Bishop’s departure.
Halford wonders if Tampa would consider dealing Bishop prior to the trade deadline but points out that as long as GM Steve Yzerman feels the team’s chances of contending are better with Bishop than without, he is more likely to hang onto the goalie. He goes on to mention Calgary and Dallas as potential suitors, should the Lightning conclude moving Bishop is the best course of action. Both of those teams were linked to Bishop this summer.
Elsewhere in the NHL:
- Assuming he plays out the season without signing an extension, Brent Burns will be one of the most sought after free agents on the market next summer as an elite, puck-moving blue liner who can produce points. Joey Alfieri, who writes for Pro Hockey Talk, considered what Burns’ next contract might look like, suggesting Dustin Byfuglien‘s recent extension with Winnipeg as a fair comparable. Like Byfuglien, Burns is 31-years-old and both men are among the most dynamic offensive defensemen in the game today. Byfuglien inked a five-year pact worth $38MM with Winnipeg during the 2015-16 campaign. The Byfuglien comparable seems reasonable but it’s likely Burns can get more, particularly if he reaches the open market. The San Jose Sharks defender has tallied 44 goals and 135 points over the last two seasons. Byfuglien, on the other hand, has recorded 37 goals and 98 points. San Jose tends to tread carefully when it comes to the contract length for aging players – think the matching three-year deals for Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton – and they promote a willingness among many of their players to take fewer dollars from the Sharks than they could secure otherwise in free agency. Re-signing Burns will surely be a top priority for the Sharks and it will be interesting to see if the two sides can get something done.
- Quinton Howden, who signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Winnipeg Jets on July 1st, is thrilled to have the chance to play for his hometown team, as Jason Bell of the Winnipeg Free Press writes. Howden was a first-round pick of the Panthers in 2010 and played the previous three seasons with the Florida, tallying 10 goals and 17 points in 92 games. Howden, who grew up in Oakbank and played his junior hockey with the Moose Jaw Warriors, is expected to compete with several others for one of three or four forward spots up front for the Jets.
Snapshots: Bobrovsky, Lehner, Hudler, Pirri
Aaron Portzline has an in-depth look at Columbus goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, who Portzline believes is the key to the Blue Jackets return to success. Bobrovsky has suffered a slew of injuries and Portzline writes that the Blue Jackets are investing heavily in seeing Bobrovsky return to the level that earned him $7.425MM as the Jackets’ number one goalie. To ensure that Bobrovsky has the proper training while remaining healthy, Columbus hired Nelson Ayotte away from St. Louis and sent him to Europe to guide Bobrovsky’s training regiments. It isn’t a lack of training that has hurt him in the past; Portzline writes that the 27-year-old netminder tends to overtrain. Portzline adds that in order for Columbus to finally see improvement, a healthy Bobrovsky needs to steal some games while Jackets bench boss John Tortorella has to trust his backup goalie to ease some of the workload off of his number one option.
In other NHL news:
- Buffalo Sabres goalie Robin Lehner will sit out the World Cup of Hockey writes the Ottawa Citizen’s Ken Warren. The former Senators goalie has been nursing an ankle injury since the beginning of the 2015-16 season. Sabres general manager Tim Murray was quoted as saying that both the team and Lehner felt it was in his best interest to continue his rehab for training camp.
- Warren also writes that the biggest winners in free agency may have been the teams who waited for some of talented players to come down in price. Warren cites Jiri Hudler as an example, who came in at $2MM for the already offensively talented Dallas Stars. Warren also mentions the Rangers as another winner as they locked up Brandon Pirri to a one year, $1.1MM deal.
Snapshots: AHL Coaching Promotions, Price, Canadiens
The Toronto Sun’s Michael Traikos writes that the flow of coaches from the American Hockey League to the NHL continues steady. With the recent hire of Jared Bednar, Traikos reports that 23 coaches in the NHL have been a bench boss in the AHL at some point in their career. The wild success of Mike Sullivan, who was tapped by the Penguins mid-season from their own affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, seems to have once again made the AHL to NHL pipeline hot again. Traikos continues that teams are promoting coaches like they do players, investing heavily on both the ice and the bench. Jon Cooper, head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning, is an example of that, as his guidance at both the AHL and NHL has paid dividends for the Bolts. Could Bednar’s success with the Monsters follow the pattern of Sullivan and Cooper?
In other NHL news:
- NBC Sports writes on the Canadiens today and includes a piece on Carey Price and what could happen should injury befall him again. Drawing upon the signing of Al Montoya, NBC’s James O’Brien isn’t so sure Montoya could handle the scrutiny that comes with being a netminder in Montreal. While writing that Montoya is an upgrade over Mike Condon, but adds that the Habs “live and die” by Price. Despite being a high pick in the 2004 (6th overall), Montoya has never risen to the level of being “the guy” and as O’Brien astutely points out, Montoya is a great pickup so long as he’s not relied upon in heavy doses. One another interesting point: will Marc Bergevin get a “Price pass,” should he go down again this season?
- In another Habs article on NBC, Joey Alfieri wonders where the Canadiens will finish this season. Noting the importance of having Price, Alfieri writes that the veteran goaltender has taken great lengths to improve his conditioning and diet. Montreal also added Shea Weber and Andrew Shaw, two critical pieces that should help a team decimated by Price’s injury last season. A healthy squad, with Price backstopping them, should help Montreal back to its winning ways.
Snapshots: Seguin, Injury Impact On Red Wings Roster
Dallas Stars center Tyler Seguin believes the Stars window to win is wide open writes The Hockey News’ Ryan Kennedy. A healthy Seguin makes Dallas a favorite Kennedy reports and with Jiri Hudler now in the fold, the Stars are quietly stronger.
Seguin believes that the second round loss to St. Louis will only intensify the “appetite” for the team to win. From Kennedy:
“A lot of it has to do with that experience,” he said. “Getting that taste in your mouth of winning a playoff round, losing a playoff round, getting closer and knowing what that feels like. Knowing the atmosphere. We’ve got that taste now.”
Seguin’s health comes at a crucial time as Jamie Benn is currently recovering from his own injury. Kennedy writes that the key to the Stars’ success comes with both Benn and Seguin being on the ice together.
Speaking of injuries:
- The Detroit Red Wings crossed two names off the list for the near future as Niklas Kronwall and Tomas Jurco are both injured and will most likely not be ready for the beginning of the season. Jurco has a back injury, aggravated during off season work outs and aside from the 4-6 weeks off and then shelved for another month following. Jurco’s absence creates a roster spot in the Red Wings current logjam at forward. Without Jurco until what appears to be late October or early November, it provides a chance for a young forward to step up in his place. While Jurco is still young himself, the winger struggled last season to find his footing on the roster. More interesting in all of this injury talk is that after speaking with Dan Rosen, Ken Holland felt that Kronwall was healthy and feeling better. Then came today’s news of Kronwall not playing in the World Cup of Hockey, and perhaps sitting longer. This provides an interesting situation for the Red Wings, a team apprehensive to place trust in younger players. Without Kronwall, and without making a deal to grab the top four defenseman Holland seeks, the Wings are now forced to consider younger players like Xavier Ouellet and Ryan Sproul to step into the spot.
Snapshots: Fehr, NHLPA, Vegas, Lucic, Pietrangelo
The head of the NHLPA, Donald Fehr, recently sat down with the Canadian media to discuss the upcoming World Cup of Hockey while also touching on other subjects of note. An edited and condensed version of the interview was posted by Jonas Siegel on The Globe And Mail. As usual, the entire piece is worth a read but here are some of the highlights.
When asked whether or not the union was on board with the timing of the tournament, Fehr said, “it’s not that pre-season is the best time, but it probably is, at the moment, better than the others.”
He would go on to state: “There has been some informal discussions, for purposes of this World Cup that never rose to the level of serious consideration, that maybe we ought to do it in February. And it’s conceivable that that would be considered going forward.”
There is no perfect time to hold an event like this. Any way you look at it, a tournament held at any point in the year is going to prolong the season and shorten the summer for the players. While teams would probably prefer their players not to participate due in large part to the risk of injury, both owners and union members have a vested interest in successfully pulling off events of this nature since the added revenue will be divided by the players and the league.
Fehr also addressed the idea of European expansion from the players’ perspective. He indicated at least a few players have taken note of the KHL’s presence on the continent and the fact that so many players are European born. While making it clear these conversations were of the internal variety and did not involve the NHL in any way, Fehr did seem to suggest the players would be open to the idea and it was something that would merit further study.
Finally, on the subject of the potential of another lockout, Fehr pointed out that baseball has been the only sport to experience prolonged labor peace over the last two decades. He also mentions, probably not coincidentally, that baseball is the only major sports league without a salary cap.
In terms of possibly avoiding another work stoppage following the 2018-19 campaign when both parties will have the option of opting out of the current CBA, Fehr referenced just how far off that point in time is relative to the average player’s career by saying: “our membership will turn over more than 50 per cent between now and then.”
More from around the NHL:
- The Las Vegas expansion franchise today announced yet another addition to their front office/operations staff. The club has hired Mike Levine for a scouting/player development position. Levine spent the last three years as an assistant coach at Brown University. According to the release on the Vegas Is Hockey website, Levine comes with a solid reputation as a recruiter both at the collegiate and prep levels.
- Not surprisingly, Milan Lucic said as many as 10 teams expressed serious interest in signing the big winger before he inked a seven-year contract with Edmonton, according to Chris Nichols writing for Today’s Slap Shot. Lucic was one of the top players available on July 1st and was guaranteed to generate a lot of interest on the free agent market. It’s not certain how many of Lucic’s suitors were willing to extend themselves as far as the Oilers did, either financially or with a seven-year term, but his status as a coveted free agent was never in doubt. He would ultimately choose Edmonton, saying, “I went with my heart and my loyalty to Peter and chose the Edmonton Oilers.”
- Sportsnet’s John Shannon tweeted earlier today that the St. Louis Blues will announce Alex Pietrangelo as the team’s new captain tomorrow. He will replace David Backes, who left St. Louis in free agency after accepting a five-year deal with the Boston Bruins. The choice of Pietrangelo makes a lot of sense given he is one of the team’s best players, has been with the organization his entire pro career and is under long-term contract ensuring he will be a Blue for the foreseeable future.
Snapshots: ELC Bonuses, Neal On Subban, Nichushkin
The contact of the newest member of the New York Rangers is now confirmed. Jimmy Vesey will make the maximum allowable salary for a rookie: a base salary of $925K with $2.85MM in signing and performance bonuses. Vesey is just the fifth college player to sign for the maximum amount, according to Cap Friendly. The other four are Tyler Bozak with the Maple Leafs in 2009, Justin Schultz with the Oilers in 2012, Corban Knight with the Flames in 2013, and Vesey’s soon-to-be teammate Kevin Hayes in 2014.
There are 22 total players who have signed the maximum rookie contract since the first salary cap was instituted more than a decade ago. In addition to the five college players, the list includes all 13 first overall picks since Alex Ovechkin, notable second overall picks Evgeni Malkin and Jack Eichel, and two players who came from the KHL in Evgeni Kuznetsov and Sergei Plotnikov.
Here are some other notes from around the NHL:
- Predators sniper James Neal is looking forward to playing with his new teammate P.K. Subban, instead of against him. Neal told the Predators website that Subban is “a guy that gets under your skin, and plays the game well when he’s under a guy’s skin.” Neal is entering his third season with the Predators, having scored 54 goals and 95 points in his first two seasons.
- Mark Stepneski, writer for the Dallas Stars official website, reports that negotiations between the team and restricted free agent (RFA) winger Valeri Nichushkin are continuing. Nichushkin has struggled to build on a decent rookie season; he tallied 14 goals and 34 points in 79 games, but has only posted 30 points in the next 87 games after missing all but eight games of his sophomore season.
Atlantic Division Snapshots: Radulov, Holland, Larkin, Kempfer
One of the summer’s more interesting free agent signings, winger Alexander Radulov, met for the first time with the Montreal media and Stu Cowan of the Montreal Gazette transcribed the event. It’s worth a read in full but here are some of the highlights.
- Radulov talked about how “things change,” as you grow older, implying he feels is a more mature player than the one who left Nashville. Of course Radulov, along with then teammate Andrei Kostitsyn, is notoriously remembered for missing curfew the night before a playoff game in Nashville’s second round series against the Coyotes in 2012. After the Predators were eliminated, Radulov left the NHL to return to the KHL.
- He addressed where he might fit into the Canadiens lineup and gave an answer typical of a player by deferring to his coaches.
- Even though Radulov had other options, Florida and Detroit were both rumored to be interested in the skilled winger, his experience as a junior player in Quebec led to him choosing to sign with Montreal.
“We played and we won the Memorial Cup. It was a lot of fun and I saw those fans when they were the happiest people in the world. What can be better than when you make people, fans happy, and that’s the best time.”
Radulov has the skill to be one of the elite offensive wingers in the game and ordinarily securing a player of his ability to a one-year deal worth $5MM would be considered an absolute steal. But given his baggage, no team wanted to go beyond a one year commitment in case it doesn’t work out. Montreal made a similar addition in the summer of 2015 when they signed Alexander Semin to a cheap contract, one which didn’t work out. It’s possible the Radulov signing won’t work out either but it’s a good gamble to take for Montreal given their need for more offensive firepower.
More from the Atlantic Division…..
- Ansar Khan of MLive opened up his mailbag and answered an array of reader questions. Of particular note was the sense of frustration fans are feeling about longtime GM Ken Holland. Not only is Detroit not considered serious Stanley Cup contenders at this point, there is also the impression that some of Holland’s recent re-signings for veteran Red Wing players will serve to hamstring the club’s salary cap situation in future seasons. Again, there’s plenty of insight in the post so feel free to give it a read in its entirety.
- Writing for the Sun Sentinel, Harvey Fialkov discusses the upcoming battle veteran defenseman Steve Kampfer faces to make the Florida roster despite coming off a career-best season with the Panthers. Kampfer appeared in 47 games in 2015-16 and told Fialkov that if not for a late-season injury he would have been in the lineup during the playoffs. Florida made several notable additions to their blue line this summer, bringing in Keith Yandle, Jason Demers and Mark Pysyk to add skill and puck-handling ability to the defense corps. Joining the new trio is young superstar Aaron Ekblad. Jakub Kindl and Alex Petrovic round out the top six on the team’s depth chart. Kampfer is going to face an uphill battle to earn playing time but it’s a battle the veteran depth defender is fairly accustomed to.
Snapshots: Vesey, Rangers, Sabres
The New York Post’s Brett Cyrgalis and Ryan Lazo write that if other teams or fans are waiting for an apology from the Rangers regarding their signing Jimmy Vesey, they’ll be waiting for awhile. Cyrgalis and Lazo detail the chase of Vesey as well as the reaction of Rangers general manager Jeff Gorton once he saw Vesey’s number on his caller ID. Said Gorton via the Post:
I was glad to see the caller ID and the Boston number, so I hurried to answer it. When he said, ‘Hi, it’s Jimmy Vesey. I made my decision and I’d like to come to New York,’ I can’t remember exactly what I did, but I probably had a pretty exciting comeback for him. Probably can’t say it in public.”
Meanwhile the duo writes that it can’t be predicted what impact Vesey will have immediately, but his friendships with Kevin Hayes and Chris Kreider will ease his transition to the NHL game. The more interesting part of the article is noting how players like Hayes and Vesey, spurning the teams that drafted them, could give future teams caution in drafting up and coming college players. Of all the people involved, Lazo and Cyrgalis write that Nashville general manager David Poile has every right to feel burned, but that could be more the norm, than the exception with college players. At least Poile was able to salvage a third round pick for Vesey.
A little about that team who traded the third round pick for Vesey’s rights:
- Sabres fans angry about the Jimmy Vesey outcome are certainly justified, but WKBW’s Matt Bove writes that Buffalo will be just fine without the Hobey Baker Trophy winner. Between Jack Eichel, Sam Reinhardt, and Ryan O’Reilly just to name a few, Bove reports that Sabres fans have an awful lot to be excited for in the 2016-17 season. Despite being in a rebuild, Bove notes that the team will continue to grow together and that fans should definitely be ready to tune in for playoff games, perhaps as early as this upcoming season.