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West Notes: Woodcroft, Nill, Preseason

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A few months ago, many would have identified the Edmonton Oilers as a team with coaching uncertainty heading into the offseason after they fired Dave Tippett mid-season. However, after their run to the Western Conference Final this year, Jay Woodcroft would appear to have earned the confidence of the team and fanbase to continue in his role. TSN’s Darren Dreger is reporting today that Woodcroft and the Oilers continue to have ongoing discussions about a new contract this week, although there’s still more to be done.

With the Oilers yet to be linked publicly to any other coaching free agents, it’s becoming clear that the team prefers to retain Woodcroft as their head coach. It’s important to note that Woodcroft was fully named the head coach when he took over for Tippett; he was not given the interim title. Woodcroft led the Oilers on a 26-9-3 run to end the regular season in addition to their playoff run.

  • One team that isn’t having such a smooth time with their coaching hiring process is the Dallas Stars. TSN’s Pierre LeBrun is reporting that potential candidates are hesitant to commit to the Stars given the fact that general manager Jim Nill only has one year left on his deal. It’s understandable that when a coach commits long-term, they’d like to have a solid idea of the team’s vision for the future. With Nill’s future uncertain, Dallas’ new coach won’t have that guarantee.
  • The Stars will be playing in two neutral-site preseason games come September and October. On October 1, they’ll be facing off against the St. Louis Blues at Cable Dahmer Arena in Kansas City, home of the ECHL’s Kansas City Mavericks. Before that, though, they’ll be playing the Arizona Coyotes in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on September 27, as previously announced. It marks a return to normalcy for the NHL’s regular-season preparations.

Carter Hutton Retires From NHL

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A journeyman netminder has hung up his skates today. Veteran Carter Hutton announced his retirement from the NHL today, talking with Tom Annelin of the Chronicle Journal.

Speaking with Annelin today, Hutton had the following to say on his decision:

Honestly, I’ve been preparing myself for hockey to be over in some aspect for a while… The NHL has evolved into a young man’s league. The average age is now in the early 20s, so I know that this job wouldn’t be a lifelong one for me. Ultimately, I suffered an ankle injury in early 2021, which made the decision a lot easier for me. It restricted a lot of the mobility I needed to be as effective as I once was. This, compiled with a few other things helped me decide on retirement.

The news isn’t surprising in any aspect. Hutton appeared in just three games at the beginning of the season with the Arizona Coyotes, earning a 0-2-0 record and .741 save percentage. He spent the majority of the rest of the season injured before he was dealt to the Toronto Maple Leafs ahead of the trade deadline for injury insurance there, but the team loaned him back to the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners. He did spend a few days at Leafs practice, however.

An undrafted free agent, Hutton had a long and arduous path to NHL success. Hutton spent four years developing at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell before signing an entry-level contract with the San Jose Sharks for 2010-11. Hutton was the backup for the AHL affiliate in Worcester that season, posting a .902 save percentage. A restricted free agent, he was left unqualified and settled for an AHL contract with the Rockford IceHogs in 2011-12.

Strong play there got him an NHL contract later in the season and again with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2012-13, when he made his NHL debut at age 27. As an unrestricted free agent in 2013, the Nashville Predators snapped up Hutton in free agency, where he broke into the NHL and never looked back. After stops with the Predators, St. Louis Blues, Buffalo Sabres, and Coyotes, Hutton retires with a career 94-90-27 record in 235 games played (207 starts), .908 save percentage, and 2.76 goals-against average, and 13 shutouts. For an undrafted free agent who wasn’t a full-time NHLer until 28, it’s an improbable and impressive resumé.

Free Agent Focus: St. Louis Blues

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Free agency is now less than six weeks away and many teams are already looking ahead to when it opens up.  There will be several prominent players set to hit the open market in mid-July while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign as well.  Next up is a look at the Blues.

Key Restricted Free Agents

D Niko Mikkola – It has taken a while but Mikkola has worked his way into being a full-fledged member of the back end for the Blues, albeit in still a limited capacity.  The 26-year-old played in a career-high 54 games this season but was also scratched rather frequently.  When he has played, he has shown some promise as a stay-at-home, physical defender that can do well on the third pairing.  But at Mikkola’s age, that’s not a particularly high bar to try to meet.  He’s owed a qualifying offer of just over $826K but the most notable element here is that he’s a year away from UFA eligibility.  Between that and arbitration rights, Mikkola will be able to beat that qualifier but are the Blues in a spot where they would be willing to pay closer to $1.5MM and get a couple of extra years of team control?  Will they be able to afford to do so?

D Scott Perunovich – Perunovich’s time in the pros has been mired with ups and downs.  After missing all of last season due to injury, he was limited to just 36 regular season games this season thanks to injuries.  When he did play, however, he showed the offensive skill that he had in college that has made him one of their top prospects.  But with missing so much time, the 23-year-old certainly isn’t in a spot to command much more than his $874K qualifying offer which is a two-way tender.  It’s entirely possible St. Louis opts to try to get Perunovich to take less than that in exchange for a one-year, one-way deal, giving them a tiny bit of extra cap flexibility and the blueliner a guaranteed payday.

F Klim Kostin – The 2017 first-rounder had an opportunity to spend the bulk of the season with St. Louis and held his own on the fourth line, collecting nine points in 40 games while averaging just over nine minutes a night.  Those numbers certainly don’t stand out but he should be a strong candidate for a spot at the end of the roster in St. Louis next season.  His contractual situation is the same as Perunovich’s – he’s owed the $874K qualifier but it’s possible the Blues try to get him to take less in exchange for a one-way salary.

Other RFAs: F Will Bitten, F Tanner Kaspick, F Hugh McGing, F Nathan Todd

Key Unrestricted Free Agents

G Ville Husso – For years, Husso was viewed as the goalie of the future for the Blues and while it took him a while to get to the NHL, he showed this season that he can be a strong goalie at the top level, posting a 2.56 GAA along with a .919 SV% (good for a tie for sixth-best in the league).  However, he didn’t fare as well in the playoffs, ending his season on a lower note.  With just 64 career NHL appearances under his belt (including the playoffs), the 27-year-old doesn’t have enough of a track record to command a long-term, high-dollar contract like the six-year, $36MM deal Jacob Markstrom got in free agency two years ago.  But a shorter-term deal in the $4MM range should be achievable as there will be teams out there that will view Husso as a low-end starter or a high-end backup.  Either way, he’s heading for a significant raise after making the league minimum the last two years.

F David Perron – Since returning to the Blues in 2018, Perron has averaged a higher point per game rate than his career average which is notable since he turned 34 last month.  At a time when many players start slowing down offensively, he’s improving his output.  In terms of points among pending UFAs, Perron sits eighth and if he was to get to the open market, he’d likely receive a nice raise from the $4MM AAV he had on his most recent deal.  And yet, few expect him to actually get to free agency.  While he has played on five different teams in his NHL career, Perron has only signed contracts with St. Louis, opting to come back each time he reached the open market with another organization and there is certainly an expectation that he will do so again.  If that’s the case, he might leave some money on the table to do so.

D Nick Leddy – The Blues were able to add Leddy at the trade deadline to shore up their back end and Leddy didn’t disappoint, averaging over 21 minutes a night down the stretch and in the postseason (where he was one of several St. Louis rearguards to miss time due to injury).  At this stage of his career, the 31-year-old is not the top defender that he was at times with the Islanders but he could still be a solid second-pairing player or a high-end third-pairing option on a deeper squad.  With a UFA crop that isn’t particularly deep, Leddy should generate considerable interest although it would be very surprising to see him beat the $5.5MM he made on his soon-to-expire contract.

Other UFAs: F Sam Anas, F Tyler Bozak, D Dakota Joshua, G Charlie Lindgren, F Mackenzie MacEachern, F James Neal

Projected Cap Space

The Blues have just over $9MM in space below the $82.5MM Upper Limit and while they don’t have many roster spots to fill (likely a couple of forwards, two defensemen, and a goalie), they don’t have enough money to keep all of their pending UFAs around.  They also have to be mindful of big contracts on the horizon for Jordan Kyrou and Robert Thomas (both 2023 RFAs) while Ryan O’Reilly will need an extension as well at that time.  There’s enough room for GM Doug Armstrong to keep at least one of their UFAs in the fold but if he wants to keep more than one, he’ll need to find a way to free up some cap flexibility first.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.  Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.

Zachary Bolduc Assigned To AHL

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With the Quebec Remparts eliminated a few days ago, Zachary Bolduc is now free to get a taste of the professional ranks. The St. Louis Blues prospect has been assigned to the Springfield Thunderbirds of the AHL, who are in the midst of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Laval Rocket.

Bolduc, 19, was the 17th overall pick in last year’s draft and emerged as one of the most dynamic offensive players in the QMJHL this season. He finished tied for second in league scoring with 55 goals, 22 ahead of his nearest teammate. His 99 points also put him near the very top of the list, and he continued it into the playoffs with strong performances through three rounds.

Given he only turned 19 in February, Bolduc is another one of those top prospects that will face a difficult challenge next fall. It’s either the NHL or junior for him as he will not be eligible to play full-time in the AHL, meaning this action with Springfield will be his only taste of the minor leagues for quite a while.

The Thunderbirds will play game three of their series tomorrow night, and it remains to be seen whether Bolduc will actually get into any game action at this most important juncture.

St. Louis Blues Extend Calle Rosen

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The St. Louis Blues have decided to bring back one of their depth defensemen, signing Calle Rosen to a two-year, two-way contract extension. The team did not immediately release financial details, but Lou Korac of NHL.com reports that it will carry an average annual value of $762.5K at the NHL level and includes strong AHL salaries of $400K in 2022-23 and $450K in 2023-24. Rosen was set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer.

Relative to some other players in the minor leagues, those are huge numbers for Rosen and are obviously a nice reward after playing on a one-year, two-way deal worth considerably less this season. The 28-year-old defenseman ended up playing 40 games for the Springfield Thunderbirds during the regular season, suiting up just 18 times for St. Louis.

Things changed in the playoffs as the team desperately needed healthy options, forcing Rosen into the lineup on nine occasions. One of those games, of course, included the collision with Nazem Kadri and Jordan Binnington, one that knocked the netminder out of the series and created an ongoing controversy.

Rosen is an interesting player, as there is very obvious offensive upside that he has shown throughout his time in North America. The undrafted defenseman joined the Toronto Maple Leafs organization in 2017-18 after a successful career in Sweden and posted outstanding numbers in the minor leagues. In 2018-19 he had 46 points in 54 games for the Toronto Marlies, numbers that obviously interested other teams. Coincidentally enough, Rosen was eventually included in the Kadri trade to the Colorado Avalanche in 2019, which saw Tyson Barrie and Alexander Kerfoot go the other way.

After another trade took him back to Toronto less than a year later, he ended up a free agent without a ton of NHL experience. The Blues snatched him up, and those 18 regular season appearances nearly matched his previous total.

Now, with a two-year deal in hand, he’ll likely see more time in St. Louis, mostly as an injury replacement or seventh defenseman. The team still has five veteran options signed to one-way contracts for each of the next two seasons, with younger players like Niko Mikkola and Scott Perunovich in need of new deals as restricted free agents this summer.

Armstrong "Not Concerned" About Tarasenko's Future With St. Louis

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  • It seems so long ago now that Vladimir Tarasenko requested a trade away from the St. Louis Blues. The veteran winger made a triumphant return to the ice this season, scoring 34 goals and setting a new career-high with 82 points in just 75 games. With six more tallies in the postseason, there’s little doubt that the 30-year-old can still contribute at a high level. With one year left on his contract, the question was posed to Blues general manager Doug Armstrong today about whether Tarasenko would still be on the team next season. His answer: “I’m not concerned about Vladi for next year at all.” Armstrong suggested that he won’t worry about the 2023 offseason–when Tarasenko and Ryan O’Reilly are both scheduled to hit unrestricted free agency–just yet, as he’s focused on next season’s roster.

Latest On David Perron

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May 31: There is certainly mutual interest, as Armstrong came right out and told reporters including Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic that he wants to bring Perron back. In what can often be a difficult period for pending free agents, this appears to be a relatively easy situation for both sides.

May 30: With the St. Louis Blues’ season now over, the focus of the team can now shift more fully towards their offseason. This summer looks like it will be a reasonably busy one for GM Doug Armstrong. He has several notable players hitting either restricted or unrestricted free agency and potential extensions to ponder for players approaching their own free agencies a year from now. One of the most important players now out of a contract is winger David Perron.

Perron, 34, has spent the past four seasons in St. Louis and that stretch represents his third separate tenure as a Blue. These past four years have been the most productive of his career, and this has led people to wonder if he would depart St. Louis once again to cash in on what could be his last guaranteed chance at a long, lucrative contract. While that speculation is reasonable, it appears that Perron has different priorities. According to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, Perron “wants to go back” to St. Louis. He states that he expects Perron to sign an extension to remain a Blue “unless [Friedman] is told otherwise.”

As has been previously mentioned, Perron has enjoyed some of the best seasons of his career in these past four years, and he plays a major role on a team intent on winning another Stanley Cup. Perron had 70 points in 79 games this season (including the playoffs) and is part of the core group of players that led the team to its first championship. While the allure of a bigger contract or new opportunities attracts many players towards departing their teams as free agents, it seems from this report that Perron values continuity and familiarity over the unknown of the open market. It’s an entirely reasonable preference that should, in theory, help the Blues as they negotiate his extension.

From the perspective of rival clubs, the free agent market this summer may have lost one of its most talented scorers. So for other teams in need of offensive talent, the market for those players may have just gotten a little bit thinner.

Calle Rosen Sent To AHL

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Monday: After clearing waivers yesterday, Rosen has now officially been sent back to the Thunderbirds. Springfield will start the Eastern Conference Finals on Saturday against the Laval Rocket.

Saturday: It’s rare at this time of year to see someone on regular waivers but that is indeed the case today as CapFriendly reports (Twitter link) that the Blues have placed defenseman Calle Rosen on the wire.  The move is being made with the intention of sending him back to Springfield of the AHL to assist in the playoff run for the Thunderbirds.

The 28-year-old spent most of the season in the minors but he was recalled due to injuries in late March and stayed up the rest of the play and was in the lineup for St. Louis more often than not.  Rosen wound up playing in a career-best 18 regular season games for the Blues this season, collecting seven points while averaging a little over 14 minutes a night.  In the playoffs, he played in all but three of their twelve games, once again logging over 14 minutes per contest.  He was productive in his stints with Springfield as well with 28 points in 40 AHL contests.

If someone was to claim Rosen, he’d be ineligible to play the rest of the season, even if he was picked up by a team that’s still playing.  As he’s an unrestricted free agent this summer, the likely only rationale for a team to claim him would be one of the other teams still participating in the AHL playoffs wanting to prevent Springfield from getting a key player back.  That seldom happens so there’s a good chance Rosen will clear on Sunday and will join Charlie Lindgren (who returned to the minors earlier today) as those going back to help the Blues’ affiliate make a push for the Calder Cup.

Blues Assign Charlie Lindgren To AHL

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While the season has come to an end for the Blues, at least one player will play on for a little while longer as goaltender Charlie Lindgren has been sent back to Springfield of the AHL, per the AHL’s transactions log.  He had been serving as the backup to Ville Husso after Jordan Binnington was injured earlier in their second-round series against Colorado.

The 28-year-old had his best professional campaign this season, posting a 2.21 GAA and a .925 SV% in 34 games with the Thunderbirds, both career bests.  On top of that, he also impressed in his limited NHL action, putting up a stellar 1.22 GAA with a .958 SV% in five appearances with St. Louis, numbers that had some wondering if the Blues might have considered giving Lindgren a chance against Colorado over sticking with Husso.  But with just 29 career NHL games under his belt, sticking with Husso certainly made sense.

Lindgren will now have a chance to reclaim the starting job with the Thunderbirds as they look to make it to the Eastern Conference Finals against his former team in Laval, the affiliate of the Canadiens.  With a good finish to his AHL playoffs plus his performance during the regular season, Lindgren should have a strong market this summer in unrestricted free agency as a veteran third-string goaltender that can be called on to make a few NHL starts when injuries arise.

NHL Announces Conference Final Schedule Scenarios

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After one-half of the conference finalists have been set, the NHL has released the potential schedule matrix for the 2022 Eastern and Western Conference Finals.

No matter what, the Eastern Conference Final will start June 1, whether it be in Raleigh or Manhattan. The Tampa Bay Lightning will be the visitor after sweeping the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Florida Panthers in the Second Round. The Lightning actually finished with the same point total as the New York Rangers (110), but surrender the tiebreaker, so it’s impossible for them to start the series at home. They would also start on the road against the Metropolitan Division champion Carolina Hurricanes. The Eastern Conference Final will be televised on ESPN in the United States.

For the Western Conference, the schedule depends on the result of tonight’s Game 6 between the Colorado Avalanche and St. Louis Blues. If Colorado is victorious tonight, the series will start on May 31st in Denver. If it goes to a Game 7, the Edmonton Oilers will travel to either Denver or St. Louis for Game 1 on June 2. In the United States, the Western Conference Final will be on TNT.

The last possible day for Conference Final action is June 15, with a potential Western Conference Final Game 7 between the Oilers and either the Avalanche or Blues.

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