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Red Wings Notes: Zadina, Green, Blashill

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After lucking out in the 2018 draft when star prospect Filip Zadina slid a few picks right into the hands of the Detroit Red Wings at No. 6, expectations have been high for the highly-touted winger. After a respectable season in the AHL, those expectations have only increased as many fans hope to see Zadina in the top-six as quick as possible. However, NHL.com’s Nicholas Cotsonika writes that the 19-year-old is likely going to find himself back in Grand Rapids to start the season.

Zadina hasn’t had as much time to train this offseason as he strained a hamstring while training and was limited during Red Wings development camp earlier this summer. However, the youngster also must prove that he can play a two-way game, something that he has struggled with. He finished last season in the AHL with 16 goals and 35 points, but also had a minus-17 in that span as well as a minus-five in nine games with the Red Wings. The team would like to see Zadina improve on those numbers before bringing him in a top-six role.

Of course, a dominant performance in training camp could change the minds of the Detroit coaching staff, but for the moment, it looks like Zadina might have to start his season in Grand Rapids.

  • MLive’s Ansar Khan writes that after missing 39 games last season, Detroit Red Wings defenseman Mike Green finally looks healthy and should be able to contribute big minutes in Detroit. Nothing went right for Green who missed all of training camp and several games to start the season with a virus. He then lost another 13 games with a foot injury during December and January and never found any rhythm because of that. Despite that, he still finished second among defenseman in scoring, who had five goals and 26 points in just 43 games. Now healthy, Green could become a serious threat again for the team, especially on the power play.
  • NBC Sports Scott Billeck looks into how long new general manager Steve Yzerman might stick with head coach Jeff Blashill. Usually, new GMs like to choose their own head coaches, but Yzerman did not get that opportunity as former GM Ken Holland handed Blashill a two-year extension just before Yzerman joined the organization. Despite the lack of wins, Blashill has proven to be an excellent coach who is adept at developing young players as he has gotten the most out of Dylan Larkin, Andreas Athanasiou and Anthony Mantha so far in their young careers. The team hopes he can continue to develop some of their other prospects as well. However, Yzerman who is adept at building a winner as well, will be who decides how long Blashill stays with the organization.

Snapshots: Shattenkirk, Miller, Malik

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There appears to have been more interest in Kevin Shattenkirk than most anticipated, making his one-year, $1.75MM pact with the Tampa Bay Lightning all the more interesting. Earlier today, it was reported that the Lightning and the Arizona Coyotes were just two of eleven teams that reached out to Shattenkirk. Now, The Fourth Period’s Dennis Bernstein states that the Anaheim Ducks went so far as to make Shattenkirk a formal, multi-year contract offer. He notes that the Los Angeles Kings also entered the mix. Colleague David Pagnotta adds that the Toronto Maple Leafs, Colorado Avalanche, and Winnipeg Jets were also serious contenders. As for some of the other possible suitors, there was rampant speculation that both the Montreal Canadiens and Edmonton Oilers would have interest in Shattenkirk. At the end of the day, the veteran puck-mover clearly chose what he felt was his best opportunity to return to form as a high-scoring, dynamic defenseman, playing with the uber-skilled Lightning. There were surely offers for more money and term than what Shattenkirk ended up accepting to go to Tampa, and what remains is to make the most of that gamble by asserting himself as a top option on a crowded blue line and padding his stats before hitting the free agent market again next summer.

  • Despite Shattenkirk’s ties to the city during his collegiate career, it’s safe to assume that the Boston Bruins were not one of the teams interested in his services. The Bruins are having a hard enough time getting their own right-handed defensemen under contract with limited cap space, never mind adding another to the mix. Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo remain unsigned and the team has acknowledged that one or both may miss time during training camp due to to the rigors of difficult negotiations. Barring some magic from GM Don Sweeney and company, Boston will likely have to make a move to free up cap space. While many hope that it would be overpaid and ineffective veteran David Backes leaving town, such a trade would be hard to make and/or would cost the Bruins too much in picks or prospects. NBC Sports’ James O’Brien writes that defenseman Kevan Miller is instead the most likely casualty. Miller is a strong two-way defenseman who can make an impact on any team, when healthy. The problem is that he is not healthy as often as the Bruins have liked, leading them to invest heavily in defensive depth, such as signing John Moore last summer and extending Steven Kampfer and Connor Clifton in recent months. The Bruins have the depth to survive next season without Miller, after which he is likely to leave as a free agent anyway. Eliminating Miller’s $2.5MM cap hit may give the team just enough wiggle room to sign McAvoy and Carlo to long-term contracts. Meanwhile, even with so many teams facing salary cap issues, there would be a market for Miller’s services as a year-long rental to play a shutdown role for a contender.
  • NHL scouts will have to travel to the Czech Republic to evaluate one of the 2020 draft class’ top goaltenders in-person this upcoming season. 17-year-old Nick Malik, son of former NHL defenseman Marek Malik, was drafted by the OHL’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in this summer’s CHL Import Draft, but will not sign with the club. His Czech junior team, HC Ocelari Trinec, announced today that their starting goaltender will be staying through the 2019-20 season. Malik is considered one of the top handful of goaltenders early on in the 2020 evaluation process, with one scouting source, Future Considerations, naming him their No. 2 goalie and No. 59 overall prospect in their preliminary rankings last month. The Czech keeper, who was actually born in Raleigh, North Carolina while his dad was playing for the Hurricanes, has turned heads with his calm demeanor and lightning reflexes in net and performed very well at the U-17 World Junior Championship last year. Rather than split time with new Greyhounds acquisition Christian Propp, who made 51 appearances for the North Bay Battalion last season, Malik will likely be the undisputed starter for Ocelari and will have the chance to make more appearances in the Czech secondary pro league.

11 Teams Reached Out To Kevin Shattenkirk

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The Tampa Bay Lightning snapped up Kevin Shattenkirk this morning on a one-year deal and the veteran defenseman is determined to make it pay off for both sides. Looking to re-establish himself in the NHL he told reporters including Joe Smith of The Athletic that he was “pissed off” when he received his buyout and now has a “huge chip” on his shoulder.

Smith also reports that Shattenkirk had 11 teams reach out to him once he became an unrestricted free agent, and Richard Morin of AZ Central Sports tweets that the Arizona Coyotes were one of them. The defenseman was close to joining the Lightning in the past when he was on the trade block but wouldn’t sign an extension with Tampa Bay, but now will have the chance to show the organization what he is capable of.

Tampa Bay Lightning Sign Kevin Shattenkirk

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The Tampa Bay Lightning have added another former New York Rangers player to the mix, signing recently bought out Kevin Shattenkirk to a one-year contract. The deal carries a $1.75MM salary and a full no-trade clause.

Shattenkirk, 30, saw his performance and role with the Rangers decline over his two years in New York and when it came time for them to clear salary to accommodate Artemi Panarin and Jacob Trouba, he was one of the first to go. As we wrote when he was bought out last week it took him very little time to find a landing spot given his history of success and the lack of available depth at the positions. The defense market has been all but picked clean (except perhaps for Jake Gardiner who remains unsigned) meaning Shattenkirk immediately became a desirable asset despite his recent play.

For $1.75MM, the Lightning are betting he’ll be able to rediscover some of the magic he had with the St. Louis Blues. During parts of six seasons in St. Louis Shattenkirk was one of the most productive offensive defensemen in the league, recording 258 points in 425 games. A powerplay dynamo who also logged big minutes at even-strength, Shattenkirk even received Norris Trophy votes on three different occasions. Even in New York he was still able to record 51 points in 119 games, though his all-around performance declined and he was sheltered heavily away from tough defensive matchups.

Tampa Bay already has two elite defensemen in Victor Hedman and Ryan McDonagh along with an impressive group that also includes Mikhail Sergachev, Erik Cernak and Braydon Coburn. Shattenkirk will essentially be replacing outgoing veterans (and former Rangers) Dan Girardi and Anton Stralman, though he obviously plays a bit different role than either one.

The signing is obviously a bargain for a player that was once one of the most dynamic defensemen in the league, but it also does tighten the purse strings a little bit further in Tampa Bay. The team still has Brayden Point and Adam Erne sitting as unsigned restricted free agents with now just over $9.3MM in cap space. Though there are ways to add a bit to that total—Anthony Cirelli, Mathieu Joseph and Cernak are all still waiver-exempt, for instance—it still doesn’t leave a lot of wiggle room to fit in a long-term deal with Point that could approach $10MM per season depending on term. If the team decides to do a bridge deal like they have with several other high profile RFAs however, there shouldn’t be a cap issue in Tampa Bay this year.

Kevin Shattenkirk To The Tampa Bay Lightning?

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  • When defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk was an unrestricted free agent back in 2017, the Tampa Bay Lightning were one of the first teams that attempted to sign him. However, with the cap problems the team had at the time, signing the highly-touted defenseman was impossible and the team settled instead on Dan Girardi to a more reasonable deal. The Athletic’s Joe Smith (subscription required) wonders whether the Lightning might consider grabbing Shattenkirk now on a much more reasonable deal. Shattenkirk had everything go wrong with the Rangers since then from suffering a significant knee injury to suddenly finding himself in a rebuilding situation. However, Smith feels that a Shattenkirk fit makes sense and could work out as a short-term and cheap option.

Tampa Bay Lightning Make Several Front Office Changes

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The Tampa Bay Lightning have shaken up their front office staff, announcing three promotions and six additions today. The team has hired Jean-Philippe Cote as director of player development, Mike Ellis as director of skill development and four scouts: Stephen Gionta, Grant Armstrong, Josh Dye and Jared Waimon. Promoted are Darryl Plandowski and Brad Whelen who will become the assistant directors of amateur scouting as well as John Rosso who will become the assistant director of player personnel.

Perhaps most notable among that group are Gionta, who played for the New York Islanders and Bridgeport Sound Tigers last year and Cote who previously played 19 games with the Lightning and 27 overall in the NHL.

The Lightning saw some of their front office members leave town recently to follow Steve Yzerman to the Detroit Red Wings, meaning there were always going to be some changes coming. These names will only help to insulate an already very successful scouting and development department that has unearthed hidden gems near countless times over the last several years.

Lightning Notes: Point, Domingue, Vasilevskiy

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While the top of the RFA market is basically at a crawl right now, Lightning GM Julien BriseBois told NHL.com’s Corey Long that he’s optimistic that he’ll be able to get center Brayden Point signed by training camp.  Today’s trade of Ryan Callahan to Ottawa certainly gives them some extra flexibility to work with if they decide to try to work out a long-term deal.  However, recent history has suggested that Tampa Bay may be inclined to pursue a bridge contract; BriseBois was quick to point out that anyone that did so received a long-term deal afterwards.  Knowing that they’ll be adding Andrei Vasilevskiy’s long-term extension to the books in 2020-21, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Lightning push for a bridge pact with Point to allow them to try to keep as much of the core together as possible over the next couple of seasons.

More from Tampa Bay:

  • The addition of Mike Condon puts Louis Domingue’s future with the team even more in question. With Curtis McElhinney coming in as the new backup, Domingue was already on the outside looking in and Condon’s presence further cements that.  BriseBois indicated to Joe Smith of The Athletic (subscription required) that he has spoken with a few teams about finding a new home for the 27-year-old and that he’s confident a trade will be worked out by training camp.  Domingue, who had a 2.88 GAA with a .908 SV% in 26 games last season, carries a $1.15MM cap hit and will be an unrestricted free agent next summer.
  • While Vasilevskiy certainly could have just gone the arbitration route next summer to get to the open market as soon as possible, his agent Dan Milstein told John Romano of the Tampa Bay Times that going that route was never considered as he wanted to get a long-term deal done as soon as possible and that he was willing to give a bit of a hometown discount to get it done. The 25-year-old signed an eight-year, $76MM deal on Monday, giving him the third-highest AAV among netminders in the league when the contract kicks in next July.

Ottawa Senators Acquire Ryan Callahan

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The Tampa Bay Lightning won’t be placing Ryan Callahan on long-term injured reserve after all. The Lightning have traded the contract of the injured forward along with a 2020 fifth-round pick to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for Mike Condon and a 2020 sixth-round pick. Callahan was diagnosed with a degenerative back disease and will not play again. He has one year left on his contract that carries a $5.8MM cap hit.

Like many trades involving the Senators recently, this deal is about saving money. While Callahan is owed $4.7MM this season much of that will likely be covered by insurance thanks to the career-ending injury. Condon meanwhile has a $3MM salary this season and the Senators did not plan on using him in the NHL given the re-signing of Anders Nilsson as the backup for Craig Anderson. The team also has several young goaltenders that need playing time in the minor leagues.

That situation also seems to be the case in Tampa Bay however, as the team now has four goaltenders on one-way contracts making at least $1.15MM. Curtis McElhinney is the presumed backup after signing a two-year $2.6MM deal in free agency, but now Condon and Louis Domingue are also in the fold. The Lightning also have Scott Wedgewood and Spencer Martin under contract for the minor leagues. The team will have to sort out who is going where to start the year, meaning more moves may be coming for the Lightning.

None of that however is the real issue being addressed for Tampa Bay. The team still has Brayden Point sitting as a restricted free agent (along with Adam Erne) but had very little cap space to get him signed. Though the team can go over the salary cap ceiling by up to 10% during the offseason, if they wanted to take full advantage of long-term injured reserve for Callahan’s cap hit they would have had to be compliant by the start of the season before designating him for LTIR. This transaction will remove that cap hit entirely giving the Lightning a good deal more flexibility to sign Point.

Tampa Bay now projects to have just under $9MM in cap space to get Point in and will obviously be burying at least two of their goaltenders before the start of the year if they are still with the organization. Fitting Point in even at a salary approaching $10MM wouldn’t be a problem, though it is still unclear how the two sides are going to approach his next contract. With Nikita Kucherov, the Lightning agreed to a three-year bridge deal after his entry-level contract expired which gave them a little more flexibility before locking him up long-term. They could do the same with Point, though the restricted free agent market has changed considerably since Kucherov signed his bridge deal in 2016.

Mitch Marner Deal Holding Up Other Restricted Free Agents

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If the Toronto Maple Leafs’ negotiations with Mitch Marner last as long as they did with William Nylander last season, many other NHL teams are going to be in trouble. According to The Athletic’s Joe Smith, many other agents are waiting to see how Marner’s deal shakes out before finalizing terms for their own top restricted free agent forwards. A surprising number of prominent RFA forwards remain unsigned and could stay that way until the Marner deal sets the market.

Writing specifically about the Tampa Bay Lightning, a team facing their own RFA conundrum with breakout center Brayden Point, Smith states that the team expects Point to be ready for camp in September, but agent Gerry Johansson is content with the “slow process”. The agents for Mikko Rantanen, Matthew Tkachuk, Kyle Connor, Brock Boeser, Patrik Laine, and Travis Konecny likely feel the same way and are apparently waiting to see where Marner, the best of the group, ends up before moving forward. In fact, Sportsnet’s Rick Dhaliwal also added today that things are very quiet around Boeser’s camp and he acknowledges that the process has been slow for most big-name RFA’s.

So what will be the first domino to fall? Will Marner really sign first and set the stage for everyone else? Or will another unsigned star finally budge and give the market a much-needed comparable? While Marner, who recorded 94 points in 82 games last year, is the most established player and considered the top RFA who would be the ceiling for the market, he was actually quite comparable to Rantanen and Point last season. However, the rest of the group could benefit from any of the group signing a contract to use as a point of comparison. At this point in the summer, the odds are high that at least one of these negotiations will last into the regular season. But if the reports are true that the market waits on Marner, those teams with top unsigned RFA forwards better hope that Toronto and their star winger are closer than it seems.

Andrei Vasilevskiy Signs Long-Term Extension

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The Tampa Bay Lightning have signed another one of their key players to a long-term extension, inking Andrei Vasilevskiy to an eight-year contract that will carry a $9.5MM average annual value. The deal kicks in for the 2020-21 season. GM Julien BriseBois released a short statement on the signing:

The Lightning are very proud to extend Andrei for another eight years today. Since joining the organization Andrei has shown unmatched work ethic and professionalism both on and off the ice. We look forward to him continuing his career in Tampa Bay for the foreseeable future.

Vasilevskiy will become the third-highest paid goaltender in the league when the contract kicks in, behind only Carey Price ($10.5MM AAV) and Sergei Bobrovsky ($10MM AAV). The deal buys out seven years of unrestricted free agency and will include trade protection and a huge amount of signing bonuses. CapFriendly has the full breakdown of the contract:

  • 2020-21: $3.5MM salary + $8.5MM signing bonus
  • 2021-22: $1.0MM salary + $10.0MM signing bonus (NMC)
  • 2022-23: $4.5MM salary + $6.5MM signing bonus (NMC)
  • 2023-24: $4.0MM salary + $5.0MM signing bonus (NMC)
  • 2024-25: $5.5MM salary + $4.5MM signing bonus (NMC)
  • 2025-26: $5.0MM salary + $4.0MM signing bonus (10-team trade list)
  • 2026-27: $5.0MM salary + $3.0MM signing bonus (10-team trade list)
  • 2027-28: $3.0MM salary + $3.0MM signing bonus (10-team trade list)

With this contract, the 25-year old goaltender will tie Nikita Kucherov for the biggest cap hit on the Lightning and is just another sign the team is willing to commit to their core. Tampa Bay now has seven players signed through at least 2023-24, making their salary cap situation complicated moving forward. Brayden Point is expected to take up another huge chunk whenever he is re-signed, leaving very little room for other players like Anthony Cirelli, Erik Cernak and Mikhail Sergachev who are all scheduled to become restricted free agents next summer. With Vasilevskiy under contract, the Lightning project to have more than $67MM committed to just 13 players in 2020-21.

That said, complication is more than acceptable for a player of Vasilevskiy’s talent. Selected 19th overall in 2012, the Russian goaltender has quickly ascended to the very elite tier of netminders in the league, leading the NHL in wins the past two seasons and taking home his first Vezina Trophy in 2019. He posted a .925 save percentage in 53 games and an incredible 39-10-4 record. His athleticism is nearly unparalleled at the position while his fundamentals are strong enough to keep him consistent on a nightly basis. Unfortunately, all that talent couldn’t save the Lightning from a first round sweep as he posted just an .856 save percentage in the four-game loss to Columbus.

That loss won’t change the fact that Tampa Bay believes they have one of the best goaltenders in the world, and he’ll now be paid as one. Vasilevskiy carries just a $3.5MM cap hit this season, allowing the team to bring in Curtis McElhinney to compete with Louis Domingue for the backup role and spend elsewhere on the roster. That all ends next season, when the Lightning will need to trim the fat elsewhere on the roster. Where exactly they will find that fat is unclear.

The team already has Ryan Callahan heading to long-term injured reserve this season, but his contract is completely off the books next summer. Players like Ondrej Palat, Tyler Johnson and Alex Killorn will all likely hear their names in speculation at some point, though each holds trade protection. This deal and the other expensive extensions that have taken place will put a lot of pressure on the 2019-20 squad to compete for a Stanley Cup, because things are only going to get more complicated moving forward. At some point if the Lightning keep drafting and developing this exceptional talent, there will be cap casualties elsewhere. That only signifies an excellent roster, but is also very painful if some playoff success doesn’t follow.

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