West Notes: Golden Knights, Stars’ Injuries, Coyotes’ Changes, Samberg
The Vegas Golden Knights seem to be a team that is being mentioned in multiple rumors for many pending unrestricted free agents despite having little to no cap room to speak of. The most recent one has the Golden Knights ready to pounce on St. Louis Blues star defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, who currently isn’t expected to re-sign with St. Louis.
David Schoen of the Las Vegas Review-Journal confirms that the Golden Knights are ready to go after the right-shot defenseman, who finished fourth in the Norris Trophy voting this year, assuming he reaches free agency on Oct. 9 and the team will deal with the salary cap juggling after that. Much of the reasoning comes from owner Bill Foley‘s will to win and spend to the cap ceiling, while other teams are trying to refrain from that.
Of course, if Pietrangelo does opt to return to St. Louis or chooses another destination, the scribe notes there are other options for the team to upgrade on defense in free agency, including a pair of blueliners who spent time playing for head coach Peter DeBoer in San Jose, Brenden Dillon and Dylan DeMelo.
- ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski reports that the five Dallas Stars’ players who were “unfit to play” for Game 5 are still unfit as of Sunday. Ben Bishop, Roope Hintz, Radek Faksa, Stephen Johns and Blake Comeau are all expected to miss Game 6 on Monday. A new player to monitor, however, will be defenseman Andrej Sekera, who is considered to be a game-time decision, according to NHL.com’s Mike Heika. Sekera missed half of the first period and all of the second period after blocking a shot during Game 5 Saturday. He did return for the third period, but forced himself to play through the pain.
- Coyotes beat reporter Craig Morgan reports that the scouting cleanout in Arizona is continuing. The team, who recently fired scouting director Lindsay Hofford and assistant to the GM Jake Goldberg, has removed two more names in the front office. Phil McRae, director of North American Amateur Scouting and Mat Milbury, an amateur scout, are both no longer with the team.
- Murat Ates of The Athletic (subscription required) writes that Winnipeg Jets defensive prospect Dylan Samberg‘s ability to make the NHL squad out of training camp next season could be critical to the team’s playoff chances. Samberg, the 6-foot-4 defenseman out of the University of Minnesota-Duluth, is believed to be close to NHL ready, but might need more seasoning in the AHL. However, with just four defenseman under contract and little cap room to maneuver with, the scribe believes that the quicker that Samberg can get acclimated to the NHL pace could be critical for the team. While there is little worry about this defensive game, there are questions on how well his offense will translate over.
Blues Will Likely Seek A Veteran Goalie As Husso Insurance
- Tom Timmermann of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch posits that the Blues will likely add a veteran goaltender in free agency. While the team has high hopes for Ville Husso, he has yet to play at the NHL level and they’re counting on him to be a capable backup for Jordan Binnington. Adding a veteran third-string option that could start out at the AHL level but be brought up if Husso struggles or injuries arise would be a wise move although getting someone that may be willing to leave some NHL money on the table in favor of a higher two-way deal (or a fully guaranteed one-way contract) will be important with their salary cap situation.
Free Agent Focus: St. Louis Blues
With free agency now less than a month away, many teams are already looking ahead to when it opens up. There will be several prominent players set to hit the open market while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign. While St. Louis doesn’t have much to do up front, there is certainly some work that needs to be done on their back end.
Key Restricted Free Agents
D Vince Dunn – The 23-year-old was a popular pick to take another step forward offensively this season after putting up 35 points in 78 games in his sophomore year. That didn’t happen. Instead, while Dunn was their only blueliner to play in all 71 of their regular season games, his production dipped to just nine goals and 14 assists. Those numbers are still pretty good for a defenseman but it’s also telling that his playing time was also cut to just 16:16 per night which was fifth on the team.
On the surface, a short-term deal would seem like the likely way to go. They don’t have a lot of cap room and there is a more prominent defenseman that they want to keep around. However, if that doesn’t happen, Dunn should be in line for a bigger role on the power play and with that, a boost in points would almost certainly follow which would inevitably drive up the price tag down the road when he’ll have arbitration eligibility. With that in mind, the time may be right to pursue a long-term deal although that would have to wait until free agency starts and more is known about the fate of their captain.
D Derrick Pouliot – While he spent most of this season in the minors, the 26-year-old had been a full-time NHL blueliner for the two previous years in Vancouver. Pouliot was one of the higher-scoring defensemen in the AHL this year with 39 points in just 58 games and the limited NHL action this season negates his arbitration eligibility. After being non-tendered in two straight years, it’s certainly possible that Pouliot is brought back as insurance.
Other RFAs: D Jake Dotchin, F Austin Poganski, D Mitch Reinke, F Nolan Stevens, D Jake Walman
Key Unrestricted Free Agents
D Alex Pietrangelo – It’s very rare that a defenseman of his caliber hits the open market but as things stand, it appears that where Pietrangelo is headed after word leaked that he had been advised to test free agency by the team when contract talks weren’t producing any progress. The 30-year-old is a number one defenseman and has played in all situations for St. Louis for the last decade. It’s not a matter of the Blues not wanting him back either but rather a reality of their cap situation; they just can’t afford to pay him top dollar at this time.
While the flattened salary cap will certainly have a substantial impact on the free agent marketplace, that shouldn’t extend to Pietrangelo. Top players are still going to get paid top dollar and he’s certainly a top player. He has had at least 48 points in each of the last four seasons while logging at least 24 minutes a night. There should be many teams salivating at the chance to have that on their back end, even if they can’t afford it on their salary cap right away. Pietrangelo should have a chance at commanding top-five money for players at his position which would put him at an AAV of $8.25MM at a minimum (it should check in a bit higher than that). The only way he could get an eighth year on his deal is if he signs before the market opens up, either by re-signing or doing a sign-and-trade. Accordingly, there should be more news on his fate before too long.
F Troy Brouwer – The Blues signed him in late November to provide them with some veteran depth but while he was up with them for most of the time after that, he didn’t get much playing time as he played in just 13 regular season games. However, he got into four postseason contests and scored on his only shot. At this point, his upside is as a 13th or 14th forward that can be trusted to play eight minutes a night so his market should be limited until closer to training camp where he may have to settle for a PTO.
Other UFAs: D Andreas Borgman, F Nick Lappin, D/F Joey LaLeggia, F Jordan Nolan, F Mike Vecchione
Projected Cap Space
While they already have 22 players under contract, St. Louis also has over $76MM in commitments for next season, per CapFriendly. With the Upper Limit of the salary cap remaining at $81.5MM, that’s enough to re-sign Dunn but nowhere near enough to keep (or replace) Pietrangelo. Accordingly, GM Doug Armstrong will be among the many teams that will be looking to free up some cap room in the coming weeks.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Morning Notes: Trade Bait, Pietrangelo, Draft Takes
In a normal year, the NHL Entry Draft is usually a hotbed for trading action. The event normally takes place at least a week before free agency opens and brings the front offices of every team in the league into one room at the same time. This year might be different, but thanks to a flat cap and poor financial situations for several teams, the next two weeks may actually have even more trade action. With that in mind, Frank Seravalli of TSN released his latest Trade Bait board, which includes a snippet of each team’s current situation. Matt Murray remains on top of the list, with Pittsburgh Penguins GM Jim Rutherford essentially guaranteeing a move before the season begins.
Still, it’s the rest of the board that may draw interest. Nikolaj Ehlers has disappeared from it, for one thing, while Matt Dumba has climbed to the second spot. Stars like Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Patrik Laine and Kris Letang all fall in the top-ten, suggesting that it could be more than just depth moves coming around the corner.
- Interestingly, the negotiating rights for Alex Pietrangelo also found a home on the board, just two weeks before the star defenseman hits unrestricted free agency. Perhaps that’s because of Pierre LeBrun’s latest for The Athletic, where he details the possibility of a sign-and-trade of the St. Louis Blues captain. Of course, these sign-and-trade moves basically never happen in the NHL, even if it could be a beneficial situation for all parties. As LeBrun notes, adding an eighth year onto Pietrangelo’s next contract (which only the Blues can do) would likely serve to reduce the cap hit for a new team. St. Louis could also get an asset out of the deal, but it still seems like a long-shot plan given the rarity of these moves in the hockey world.
- Of course, in many of the trades made over the next few weeks, there will be a draft pick component as rebuilding squads try to accumulate talent on October 6. Corey Pronman of The Athletic writes about the prospects currently causing the biggest divide among scouts, with quotes from either end of the spectrum. For a player like Kaiden Guhle for instance, who is expected to go in the first round, one scout believes he can play 22 minutes a night in the NHL and the other believes he’s nothing more than a third-pairing defender. Guhle was ranked eighth among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting after his breakout season with the Prince Albert Raiders.
Offseason Keys: St. Louis Blues
As teams are eliminated from the playoffs, it means that the offseason has arrived for several more squads. Having covered the teams that weren’t a part of the NHL’s return and the ones ousted in the Qualifying Round, we shift our focus to the ones that were eliminated in the official first round. Next up is a look at St. Louis.
During the regular season, it looked like the Blues were in good shape to repeat their Stanley Cup title as they were first in the Western Conference (second in the whole league) before the pandemic hit. However, they scuffled during the seeding games and wound up facing off against Vancouver who upset them in seven games with Jordan Binnington having a rough showing in the postseason. Most of their team is already signed for next season but there are still a few things that GM Doug Armstrong needs to accomplish.
Clear Out Contracts
St. Louis was a team that was hit hard by the pandemic causing the salary cap to flatten out. All of a sudden, instead of either trying to add to their roster or at least keep it intact, they’ve already had to move out one veteran on the cheap after sending Jake Allen to Montreal for a relatively low return of a third-round pick. In doing so, they’ve handed the keys between the pipes to Binnington and will quite likely have a rookie as his backup in Ville Husso who is 25 and has yet to play in an NHL game. That was the easy move as Allen did well enough this season to at least have some positive value. The other cost-cutting moves may be a bit more challenging.
At the top of this list has to be Alex Steen. He has been with the team for 12 years and has been productive for about 10 of those. The last two are the ones where he hasn’t been. Instead, his role has diminished considerably and for a $5.75MM price tag, that’s not good. It’s difficult to part with someone that has been around that long and is as well-respected as he is (and optically, paying him to not play via a buyout or trading an incentive to get out of the contract stings) but it’s a move they’re going to have to make if they want some flexibility this offseason.
Tyler Bozak is another pricey player on an expiring contract that isn’t providing full value. He’s still capable of winning faceoffs and providing some offense and with the center market being limited in free agency, they should have some interest in him but it will still likely require an inducement of sorts to get out of his $5MM price tag. Until they find a taker for him or Steen, they’re going to be quite limited in what they can try to do in the coming months.
Re-Sign Pietrangelo
I know things aren’t looking good on this front right now. When reports surface that talks have broken off and the team has advised him to hit the open market, it’s hard to be optimistic about a deal getting done. But finding a way to get a contract in place with their captain still has to be their top priority and is the key to having a successful offseason or not.
They don’t have enough cap space to do so at the moment (more than $76MM in commitments already) so some work needs to be done (such as moving out another contract) but they do have the ability to go over the cap by 10% during the summer so there are ways they can get this done.
Beyond the AAV of the contract, the structure will play a big role in whether or not something can get done. While the team has shown a willingness to frontload deals, they have avoided handing out signing bonuses in any pact that they’ve made with a player. That’s a big carrot for players and an unwillingness to offer that to Pietrangelo won’t help their chances of signing him.
Yes, the free agent market is likely to be deflated with the salary cap flattening out at $81.5MM. Many teams are like the Blues in that they need to free up some money but in spite of that, there will be enough teams with cap room (or the willingness to go over to get Pietrangelo and figure it out after) that it shouldn’t drastically affect what he’ll get.
Pietrangelo has worked his way into being a capable number one defenseman in a league that isn’t exactly loaded with them. To lose a player like that for nothing would be a huge blow even though they have Justin Faulk that is capable of taking on a bigger role than he had with St. Louis this past season. Somehow, someway, Armstrong needs to find a way to get something done.
Re-Sign Dunn
While Pietrangelo gets all of the attention, there is another defenseman that needs to be re-signed and that’s Vince Dunn. After a strong sophomore year offensively, his numbers took a step back as he dipped from 35 points in 78 games to just 23 in 71 while his ice time was the lowest of any of his three NHL seasons. That doesn’t give him the best case to work with while he’s not eligible for arbitration either.
However, he still has himself in line for a decent raise on his $775K salary from this season. Even with the lowered offensive numbers, he could triple that amount without too much difficulty. But as things stand, he’d be looking at a short-term contract to help keep the AAV down. That could change depending on what happens with Pietrangelo. If they don’t re-sign him and are able to clear out at least one of their bigger deals, then it may make sense to try to lock Dunn up on a longer-term deal, one that may be a little high in the early going but provide some value on the back end.
Given the dominoes that have to fall one way or the other – Pietrangelo’s fate has to be determined first as well as seeing what other money Armstrong can free up – this is something that shouldn’t be on the front burner. Without arbitration, this is a contract that should be able to be pushed aside until later this fall but it is something that they will need to accomplish before 2020-21 begins, likely at some point in December.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Klim Kostin Assigned To Avangard Omsk
The St. Louis Blues have found a landing spot for Klim Kostin as he waits for the next NHL season to get underway. The young forward will return to the KHL for the time being, joining Avangard Omsk on a short-term assignment. Kostin will be able to return to North America for training camp with St. Louis, whenever that takes place.
Kostin, 21, was the 31st selection in the 2017 NHL draft, a pick the Blues received (along with Oskar Sundqvist) when they traded Ryan Reaves to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Immediately the powerful winger showed why the team had invested in him, scoring six goals and 28 points in the AHL as a teenager while also dominating the competition at the World Juniors with Russia. Kostin returned to the AHL in 2018-19 and put up ten goals and 24 points while recording more than 100 penalty minutes, but it was a bit of a disappointment given his early hype.
This year though, things were different. The 6’3″ winger ended up scoring 13 goals and 30 points in just 48 games with the San Antonio Rampage, while also making his NHL debut and scoring for the Blues. While there is still plenty of work to be done, the progress Kostin has made since being drafted is encouraging.
With two years remaining on his entry-level contract, the 2020-21 season is an important one for Kostin if he wants to establish himself as an NHL player before reaching restricted free agency. Getting some playing time in the KHL, where he actually debuted in 2017 before even being drafted, will only help him continue his development and come to North America ready to compete for a roster spot with the Blues.
NHL Announces First And Second All-Star Teams, All-Rookie Team
Following the announcements of the final five NHL regular season awards, the league also revealed their three all-league rosters: the First-Team All-Stars, the Second-Team All-Stars, and the All-Rookie Team. Below are the 2019-20 honorees:
First All-Star Team (link)
G: Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets
D: Roman Josi, Nashville Predators
D: John Carlson, Washington Capitals
LW: Artemi Panarin, New York Rangers
C: Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton Oilers
RW: David Pastrnak, Boston Bruins
The 2020 First-Team All-Stars are a historic group, the first time since the inaugural all-league honors in 1930-31 that all six honorees are first-time members of the team. Unsurprisingly, this team also covers most of the league’s major awards with Draisaitl taking home the Hart, Ted Lindsay, and Art Ross, Josi winning the Norris, Hellebuyck winning the Vezina, and Pastrnak earning the Rocket Richard.
Second All-Star Team (link)
G: Tuukka Rask, Boston Bruins
D: Alex Pietrangelo, St. Louis Blues
D: Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay Lightning
LW: Brad Marchand, Boston Bruins
C: Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche
RW: Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning
The President’s Trophy-winning Boston Bruins finish with a league-best three players on All-Star rosters. Their division rival, and current Stanley Cup finalist, the Tampa Bay Lightning are the only other team with more than one inclusion on the all-star rosters. Noticeably absent from either all-star teams are future Hall of Famers Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals. This is just the third time since 2005-06 that at least one of the pair have not been on a postseason All-Star team, while they have both have been selected in the same year eight times in the past 15 years.
All-Rookie Team (link)
G: Elvis Merzlikins, Columbus Blue Jackets
D: Cale Makar, Colorado Avalanche
D: Quinn Hughes, Vancouver Canucks
F: Victor Olofsson, Buffalo Sabres
F: Dominik Kubalik, Chicago Blackhawks
F: Nick Suzuki, Montreal Canadiens
The rookie elite, led by Calder Trophy-winner Makar, is an older group than usual. Merzlikins, Olofsson, and Kubalik, all 25 or older, played in Europe for a considerable amount of time before jumping to North America as a polished product, while Makar and Hughes each played a pair of seasons in the NCAA and Suzuki aged out of juniors before turning pro. Nevertheless, the first-year pros were all impressive and still have many quality years ahead of them.
More On Alex Pietrangelo’s Pending Free Agency
When news surfaced over the weekend that talks had broken off between the St. Louis Blues and captain Alex Pietrangelo, speculation exploded all over the hockey world trying to figure out where the star defenseman will play next season. Almost every team in the league could use a Norris-level right-handed defenseman who can play in all situations, but the list that could actually fit him into their salary cap structure doesn’t appear to be nearly as high.
That won’t stop fans from trying to find a way (as evidenced by CapFriendly’s Toronto Maple Leafs page getting a surge of traffic) and it won’t stop discussion over what Pietrangelo’s presence would mean to a team looking to change their defensive identity. Toronto, a team that has struggled for ages on the defensive side of the puck, also happens to be where Pietrangelo grew up and is getting plenty of press as a potential destination. Today, Andy Strickland of Fox Sports Midwest spoke with Carlo Colaiacovo on TSN radio and gave his thoughts on whether playing in Toronto could excite Pietrangelo:
I think it one-hundred percent does.
You talk about pulling at the heart strings and the idea of playing there? I think that one-hundred percent exists. Now whether or not they can meet his demands–and again, Toronto is going to be competing with other teams to get his services.
You look at the signing bonus Toronto has paid at some of these other guys including Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews. The Blues don’t need to pay that kind of signing bonus money. When we talk about bonus money, he’s not looking for that level of bonus money from a team like St. Louis. But from a team like Toronto? Knowing they can afford to pay that? They’re going to have to pay bonus money in that range.
The entire interview is quite fascinating, given it takes place between someone who covers the Blues closely and someone who is close with Pietrangelo (Colaiacovo also played in St. Louis and was in his wedding party). Still, even with a lot of things pointing to the Maple Leafs entering the race for the pending free agent, it will be a difficult task for them to pull off.
Toronto isn’t in quite as dire of a cap situation as some seem to think, with more than $6MM in space and only two important restricted free agents to sign, but that doesn’t mean adding Pietrangelo is even a good idea. The team already has so much money tied up in the very top-end of their roster that adding another $8MM+ cap hit (the very low-end of what he’s expected to receive on his next deal) could potentially weaken their depth even further.
Kevin McGran of the Toronto Star argued against moving one of the team’s other top players in his latest column and Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas has never indicated a willingness to listen on names like Mitch Marner or Morgan Rielly. More likely, a move to land Pietrangelo would come at the expense of some names lower in the lineup like Andreas Johnsson or Alexander Kerfoot.
Past the Maple Leafs, there will be several other teams picking up the phone to contact Pietrangelo and Newport Sports on October 9th. In fact, Strickland suggested today that there actually may be some excitement from the defenseman to see what is out there for him.
I don’t think it truly comes down to the money. It does come down to how the deal is structured. At the end of the day I truly believe that Alex Pietrangelo, the idea of going elsewhere, of entering free agency, I think that excites him. I think he is interested in seeing what else is out there.
There is now less than three weeks until Pietrangelo and the rest of the class can start talking to new teams, when free agency opens on October 9.
Armstrong: Tarasenko's Surgery Went Well, Expected To Be Re-Evaluated In February
- Blues GM Doug Armstrong told Tom Timmermann of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that Vladimir Tarasenko’s shoulder surgery went well and that they believe the initial recovery timeline is intact. That would have him being evaluated sometime in February with a return coming after that. Even if next season is delayed from the planned December 1st start date (a likely scenario at this point), it appears as if the winger will still miss some time. Armstrong also added that “a couple” of other players underwent minor procedures although he declined to mention who or what needed to be done.
Talks Break Off Between Blues And Alex Pietrangelo
While progress on a long-term deal between the Blues and defenseman Alex Pietrangelo wasn’t being made, some still expected that the two sides would find a way to get a deal done in spite of their salary cap situation. However, that doesn’t appear to be the case now as TSN’s Darren Dreger reports (Twitter link) that talks have broken off between the two sides and that the team has advised their captain to test free agency next month.
The 30-year-old is coming off of another fine year that saw him collect 16 goals (a career high) and 36 assists in 70 games before the pandemic shut down the rest of the regular season. Had the season played out, he easily would have set a new benchmark in points as well as he was two shy of his 54-point campaign in 2017-18. He logged over 24 minutes a game for the ninth straight year and was a fixture on both special teams units. In a league where there aren’t many all-around number one defensemen, Pietrangelo is one of them.
It’s that fact that still makes it surprising that he’s set to head to the open market. While the Blues don’t have the cap space to keep him without making other moves first, they’re the ones that put themselves in that situation after handing Justin Faulk a seven-year, $45.5MM extension upon acquiring him last September while Marco Scandella received a four-year, $13.1MM deal in the early weeks of the pandemic. Had they not made those moves, they would have had more flexibility in talks with Pietrangelo, albeit with multiple important roster spots to fill. Now, they have more than $76MM in commitments for 2020-21 already.
While the salary cap will remain flat next season at $81.5MM, it shouldn’t affect Pietrangelo’s market all that much. Top players are still expected to receive big-ticket contracts and defensemen of his caliber rarely make it to the open market. Accordingly, there will be plenty of suitors for his services (even if puts them into cap trouble) and he’ll be well-positioned to get significantly more than the $6.5MM he has played under for the last seven years. Earlier this week, it was reported that Toronto, Vegas, and Florida could all be in the mix although each of those teams would be hard-pressed to make a deal work under their respective salary cap situations.
Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that the last offer from St. Louis to Pietrangelo’s camp carried a $7.7MM AAV but did not provide any breakdown with regards to salary/signing bonus structure. While that’s still a decent-sized raise and would make him the highest-paid player on the team, it’s seemingly well below what he could get in free agency. That price tag wouldn’t even put him among the top ten in cap hits for blueliners league-wide. It’s safe to assume that whatever deal he signs will put him among that group.
For St. Louis, their focus will now have to turn to the trade market. While there can be no conditions attached to a trade contingent on them signing a contract, a team can still trade something for Pietrangelo’s negotiating rights, similar to what Montreal did for Joel Edmundson last weekend. While a draft pick or prospect is far below his actual value, it’s still better than nothing which is where things appear to be headed now following this news. In the meantime, other teams will be very intrigued as it looks like a number one defender is set to reach the open market next month.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.