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Lightning Allow Assistant GM Pat Verbeek To Speak To Other Teams

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TSN’s Darren Dreger reports that the Tampa Bay Lightning have given Assistant GM Pat Verbeek permission to talk with other clubs. Verbeek has been the Lightning’s AGM for six years now but faces little prospects of internal promotion working under the much-revered Steve Yzerman.

Verbeek was hired by Tampa Bay after scouting for the Detroit Red Wings under Ken Holland. He’s worked under Yzerman and will be a hot commodity for those teams looking to loot from the Yzerman management tree.

If Verbeek were to accept a full GM role, his only option would the Buffalo Sabres. The Sabres cleaned house last week, firing both GM Tim Murray and Coach Dan Bylsma after a disappointing 2016-17 campaign. He will have some competition, however, as the Calgary Sun’s Eric Francis reports that Calgary Flames Assistant GM Craig Conroy interviewed for the vacant Buffalo GM position as well. Conroy’s interview is in addition to the six candidates already reported to be interviewing for the position.

It is also possible that he takes another assistant role, but with more chances for upward mobility. The Colorado Avalanche, Arizona Coyotes, and Winnipeg Jets could present future GM opportunities for Verbeek in the upcoming season.

Hart Trophy Finalists Announced

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The NHL’s Hart Trophy finalists were released today and include Columbus Blue Jackets goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, Pittsburgh Penguins forward Sidney Crosby, and Edmonton Oilers forward Connor McDavid.

The names surprise no one as all three were expected finalists. Crosby and McDavid were one and two in NHL scoring, and Bobrovsky led the league in GAA and SV% amongst starting NHL goaltenders.

Bobrovsky, as noted by the Blue Jackets’ Public Relations team, is the first MVP finalist in Blue Jackers history. He posted a .931 SV% and a 2.06 GAA in 63 games. He was considered Columbus’s best player in a surprising season for the Metropolitan Division team. He’s also a finalist for the NHL’s Vezina Trophy awarded to the league’s best goaltender.

Sidney Crosby finished tied for 2nd in league scoring with 44G and 45A in 75 games. He tied Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane in points with 89, but did it in seven fewer games. Crosby has already locked up the Maurice “Rocket” Richard trophy for most goals this season. Crosby has been a Hart Trophy finalist six times, and won the award in 2007 and 2014

Connor McDavid led the NHL in scoring with 30G and 70A in 82 games. He led a Edmonton Oilers squad to its first playoff birth since 2006 in only his second pro season. This season he won the Art Ross Trophy for most points in the NHL.

Notable absences—thought to have finished fourth and lower—include Tampa Bay Lightning’s Nikita Kucherov, Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews, and Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand.

Tampa Bay Wants To Move Jonathan Drouin For A Top-4 Defenseman

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New York Post’s Larry Brooks reports that the Tampa Bay Lightning are focusing on moving forward Jonathan Drouin this offseason for a top-four defenseman. He continues to say that the Anaheim Ducks is the likely trade partner for the Lightning. The 22-year-old Drouin is coming off a breakout season for the Lightning in which he scored 21 goals and 32 assists for 53 points. Despite his success, Tampa Bay is overloaded in quality forwards and could use a trade like this to balance out their rosters, especially with the NHL Expansion Draft approaching.

The team already has Steven Stamkos, Ryan Callahan, Nikita Kucherov, Ondrej Palat, Tyler Johnson, Alex Killorn, Brayden Point and Vladislav Namestnikov. While Point is exempt from the expansion draft, the rest are not and if the team wants to protect all of their forwards, the team might be better off moving the highly-regarded Drouin for blueline help. The team only has two defenders that stand out in Victor Hedman and Anton Stralman. So, another defender would make a lot of sense.

The Ducks could be a prime target as they are overloaded on defense, while they continue to look for consistent scoring. The team has multiple defensemen, including Hampus Lindholm, Cam Fowler, Sami Vatanen, Josh Manson and veteran Kevin Bieksa as their core, but still have promising youngsters Shea Theodore and Brandon Montour, who have also played well for the team in the playoffs. Brooks writes that there may be six or more teams seeking a top-four defenseman this offseason, but Tampa Bay’s willingness to include Drouin gives them the best opportunity of netting one.

 

NHL Draft Lottery Notes: Odds, History, Viewing

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For the fourteen teams that missed the playoffs and the expansion Vegas Golden Knights, they have one thing in common: they’re hoping Bill Daly is holding a card with their logo on it, announcing that they have the first overall pick.

At 7pm central, NBC, CBC, and Sportsnet will show the NHL Draft Lottery as the Colorado Avalanche lead all teams in terms of percentage for receiving the #1 pick. Below are the odds:

Colorado Avalanche — 18.0%
Vancouver Canucks — 12.1%
Vegas Golden Knights — 10.3%
Arizona Coyotes — 10.3%
New Jersey Devils — 8.5%
Buffalo Sabres — 7.6%
Detroit Red Wings — 6.7%
Dallas Stars — 5.8%
Florida Panthers — 5.4%
Los Angeles Kings — 4.5%
Carolina Hurricanes — 3.2%
Winnipeg Jets — 2.7%
Philadelphia Flyers — 2.2%
Tampa Bay Lightning 1.8%
New York Islanders — 0.9%

TSN has a lengthy writeup on the history of the lottery and how the current format differs from other versions. The biggest change for the draft is that instead of the worst team being guaranteed, at worst, a second overall pick, they are only promised a top four pick. This was placed to discourage teams from “tanking” to draft top-end talent, which hasn’t completely negated the idea of tanking as Toronto won the right to draft Auston Matthews last season with the #1 pick while securing the worst record in the NHL.

What’s new to 2017?  From Sportsnet:

For just the second time in NHL draft lottery history, the top three picks are in play. This rule was implemented by the league in 2016 to dull incentive for any team to finish lower in the standings (i.e., tanking).

The odds of winning the second and third draws increases on a proportional basis depending on which team claimed the previous draw.

The addition of a 15th lottery team, Vegas, into the mix also affects the winning percentages.

This draft is different too, since the top two picks for the first time in three seasons are not considered the “generational talent” that Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel, Matthews or Patrik Laine were when looking back at the one and two overall picks respectively.

This isn’t to besmirch the top two candidates, Nolan Patrick or Nico Hischier. After all, “can’t miss” prospects have fooled scouts and analysts before while prospects that scouts didn’t think were as good sometimes exceeded expectations.

But before the talent can be chosen, there needs to be an order. Tonight will determine that.

Specifics: 

Time: 7pm CST
Where to watch: CBC, Sportsnet, NBC

Snapshots: Bieksa, Stamkos, Pyatt

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Anaheim defenseman Kevin Bieksa is not expected to take the ice in Game 2 against Edmonton. Bieksa had not been logging major minutes lately, averaging just over 16 minutes on the backend, good for 6th best on his squad. However, his nasty, physical edge was felt everytime he took the ice. The defenseman had an awkward looking collision early in Wednesday’s game with teammate Shea Theodore. He left the game, briefly returned, and exited again for good. Further information is unknown at this time.

Bieksa is perhaps best remembered for being a pivotal part of the defense that led the Vancouver Canucks to Game 7 of a Stanley Cup Final in 2010-11. He has played 82 career NHL playoff games, with a solid 30 points over that span. He had already potted 4 assists for the Ducks through 5 games. Replacing such a force will be difficult for Anaheim, especially since they struggled to deter the high-flying Edmonton forwards from creating offense and crashing the net. Sami Vatanen would be a safe bet to re-enter the lineup in his place, in an attempt to recoup some of that experience.

  • Steven Stamkos should be ready to go at the beginning of next season for the Tampa Bay Lightning.  He had undergone intensive surgery on his knee, after tearing his meniscus. Although his return was expected, the reassuring news should bring a sigh of relief for Bolts’ fans. Stamkos’ absence was sorely felt this season as his squad was kept afloat largely due to the individual efforts of Nikita Kucherov and Victor Hedman. Scoring depth was harder to come by and the team was noticeably less effective at line-matching. Stamkos is the sort of offensive superstar that is nearly impossible to replace, even with a roster that had been as well constructed as GM Steve Yzerman’s. Stamkos has won two Maurice “Rocket” Richard trophies for top goal scorer in a season, including an absurd 60  goals in 2011-12. He had posted 9 goals and 20 points through 17 games this season before succumbing to injury.
  • Tom Pyatt did not play in Game 1 between the Senators and Rangers. The Ottawa forward was hopeful to be slotted in the lineup tonight, but was a late scratch. Pyatt had also missed the deciding Game 6 against Boston in the first round. The undersized fourth-liner had been held pointless through 4 games, and posted a -2. Although his veteran status and feistiness would have been welcome attributes in what is sure to be a tough series, his contributions this season were minimal. His advanced stats show that he is a net negative in terms of scoring opportunities and shots (CF% of 43.6), and his versatility isn’t even much of a bonus, as he only took 49 draws this season, losing the bulk of them.

Snapshots: Kucherov, Montgomery, Drug Testing

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Nikita Kucherov took another step forward for the Tampa Bay Lightning this season after being given a three-year deal, but he can’t say the same for some of his teammates. In a translated interview with Pavel Lysenkov of Sovietsky Sport (h/t Sergey Demidov of NHL.com) Kucherov made it clear that not all his teammates were working hard enough this year.

…some guys overstayed in team. They’ve got their money and stopped working. They knew there’s no competition for their positions and organization is not going to take someone else. They played not really well this year—you can see it in their stats and way of play.

Kucherov’s agent Dan Milstein got in contact with Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times to explain the comments, saying that the translation is accurate and that he doesn’t feel like every player is “on board to win.” His agent also told Smith that Kucherov hopes to play his entire career for Tampa Bay “like his GM”—Steve Yzerman famously spent his entire career with the Detroit Red Wings before moving into management.

  • Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet confirmed that Jim Montgomery interviewed in Florida for the vacant Panthers head coach position, but that the team will continue to look at all options before making a decision. Montgomery is coming off a national championship with the University of Denver, and has been rumored for all of the openings around the league this spring. The former NHL journeyman is a lock for a professional head coaching job eventually, and at just 47 years old has a long career still ahead of him in the industry.
  • In the newest article from Rick Westhead of TSN, he reports that the league increased their screening for both marijuana and cocaine this year, testing all 2,300 samples for recreational drugs. The NHL doesn’t suspend players who test positive for recreational drugs, but does monitor it and enroll players in substance abuse programs if deemed necessary. While the increase in screening—up from just 800 of the samples in 2015—shows the leagues increasing awareness of a rising problem among NHL players. Westhead cites two different criminal offenses from the past that involved cocaine, and rumors have persisted for years about the drug being used throughout the league. The testing will likely continue next season, with perhaps even more steps being taken to squash the problem if it indeed continued this season.

East Notes: Chara, Drouin, Johnson, Alzner

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Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara will be in the final year of his contract next season but despite being 40, he suggested to Don Brennan of the Ottawa Sun that retirement may not be on the horizon for a while yet.  That said, he won’t go as far as putting a number on how long he would like to play until like pending Florida unrestricted free agent Jaromir Jagr did when he claimed he’d like to play until he’s 50.

Chara has been leaned on heavily this postseason with Boston being hit hard with the injury bug on the back end with Brandon Carlo, Torey Krug, Adam McQuaid, and Colin Miller all at least missing some time.  As a result, he leads the team in ice time, averaging over 29 minutes per game.

Regardless of his future plans, the Bruins will get some cap relief on Chara’s contract for next season as his cap hit drops from just over $6.9MM to $4MM.  This comes as a result of the rule that was instituted following the voided New Jersey deal to former winger Ilya Kovalchuk that made it that players over 40 will carry the same cap hit as their salary for that season.  The rule was designed to help curtail heavily front-loaded deals with cheaper years tacked on at the end to artificially lower the cap hit and Boston will benefit from the drop in 2017-18.

Elsewhere in the East:

  • The Lightning have yet to really open up talks with pending restricted free agent forwards Tyler Johnson and Jonathan Drouin, reports Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times in a reader mailbag. He notes that both would be very intriguing trade chips if GM Steve Yzerman looks to make a deal for the top four defender they’ve been trying to acquire for a while now and that making a trade will be the most likely outcome.  Smith also suggests that the Blues, Ducks, Predators, and Wild (ones that have several quality young and controllable options) may be teams that Tampa Bay targets in a move.
  • Capitals defenseman Karl Alzner is improving in his recovery from the upper body injury that has caused him to miss the last three games, head coach Barry Trotz told reporters today. Fellow rearguard Nate Schmidt has taken his place in the lineup and has fared relatively well which makes it a bit more difficult to figure out who should come out if Alzner is ready to return on Sunday night.  Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post opines the Caps should consider dressing seven blueliners and have winger Brett Connolly sit instead.  That would allow them to ease Alzner back in while Connolly has hardly seen the ice in the past two games, logging 4:26 and 6:12 in Games Four and Five respectively.

Snapshots: Boedker, Kane, Point

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Mikkel Boedker will be a healthy scratch again for the San Jose Sharks tonight according to Kevin Kurz of NBC, marking the third time this season. He was put in the press box back in January because of his consistency, and sat out game 3 of this series on Sunday night.

Boedker was signed to a four-year, $16MM deal on July 1st last summer, and hasn’t come close to living up to it at this point. His 26 points were the lowest total he’s registered since 2011-12 when he was just 22, and are almost exactly half of the 51 he recorded last season. He may be an early candidate for a buyout at some point, if he can’t return to the solid 40+ point player he looked like in Arizona. The Sharks have several raises to hand out to their young RFAs over the next few years, and may need an extra couple of million to fit them all in.

  • Evander Kane put up his best season offensively since 2011-12, and with it has regained some of his trade value according to Bill Hoppe of the Buffalo Hockey Beat. There were constant rumors last year about his availability, but now the Sabres could likely get a real asset in trade. That is, unless they want to extend the young power forward, as he has just one season left on his current deal. At just 25-years old, Kane will be talked about a lot this summer and next season should he stay in Buffalo. If they do hold on to him, he would likely be one of the top prizes at next year’s trade deadline, whether the Sabres are involved in a playoff hunt or not.
  • The Tampa Bay Lightning weren’t expecting the breakout of Brayden Point, but as Bryan Burns of NHL.com writes, they’ll take it. His emergence as a top-six center is crucial to the Lightning’s immediate future, due to the exceptionally low cap-hit he’ll cause the next two seasons. For a team that will be hard-pressed to fit in new deals for Ondrej Palat, Tyler Johnson and Jonathan Drouin even with the great work they did at the trade deadline, Point’s cheap contract will come in handy. He may even make Johnson expendable, and give the Lightning another impressive trade chip this summer.

Eastern Notes: Yzerman, Tavares, Hellberg

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The Tampa Bay Lightning might be currently watching the playoffs rather than playing in them, but Steve Yzerman is already working on his offseason plans. The GM has said his top priority this season is to lock up three core restricted free agents in Ondrej Palat, Tyler Johnson and Jonathan Drouin, which is expected to be quite a challenge, considering how up against the salary cap the Lightning are this offseason.

Tampa Bay Times writer Joe Smith suggests Yzerman might have trouble signing all three of them and acquire a top-four defenseman they desperately need and acquire a goaltender they need at the same time. That doesn’t include Victor Hedman’s $7.875MM extension that kicks in (and almost doubles) next year and the future contract they will have to negotiate with Nikita Kucherov in two years, which is likely to be huge.

Yzerman successfully helped Tampa Bay’s cap situation at the trade deadline when he moved the contracts of Ben Bishop ($4.76MM), Brian Boyle ($2MM) and Valtteri Filppula ($5MM). While all three were important to the Lightning, getting their cap numbers off their books only increased their chances of resigning the trio of young stars.

The scribe writes the Lightning should focus their efforts on resigning both Palat and Johnson who are integral to the team’s success and even went on to suggest that the team should consider trading the 22-year old Drouin, who enjoyed a breakout campaign this year. The thought being that Drouin may have the most trade value of the three and might net them a nice haul right before the 2017 NHL draft.

Smith also suggested other possibilities including looking to the Las Vegas Golden Knights, which has heavily scouted Tampa Bay in the last couple of months, as an option to move a player like Johnson as there is a potential replacement for him in rookie Brayden Point.

All said and done, Yzerman has his work cut out for him this offseason.

Other notes:

  • The New York Islanders, also sitting home during the playoffs, need to focus their attention on re-signing star player John Tavares. The belief is that the Islanders naming Doug Weight the permanent coach was critical to get the 26-year old star to return. Weight, who served as interim coach since January, produced a successful second half for the Islanders as he posted the second-best NHL record during that time. Unfortunately, they fell short of reaching the playoffs, but it is believed that Weight’s return will only help in Tavares opting to return. Tavares, who led the team with 28 goals and 38 assists for 66 points, is in line for a potential 8-year, $100MM extension this summer. A free agent defection would be crippling to the Islanders’ franchise.
  • The New York Rangers have recalled goaltender Magnus Hellberg for Game 3 of their playoff game with the Canadiens today. He will serve only as an emergency backup as the Hartford Wolf Pack just finished their regular season.

 

East Notes: Lightning, Subban, Galchenyuk

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The Tampa Bay Lightning headed into this season after a fruitful summer, getting Steven Stamkos under contract just before he hit the open market, signing Nikita Kucherov and Alex Killorn to team-friendly cap numbers and locking in Victor Hedman and Andrei Vasilevskiy to extensions that start next year. It was an impressive few months for Steve Yzerman and his management group, but he couldn’t rest on his laurels for very long. This season posed new challenges, and this summer would have been even tougher getting Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat and Jonathan Drouin under contract with such little cap space.

During the year the young GM moved out Brian Boyle, Ben Bishop and Valtteri Filppula, opening up a bunch of cap room for the summer and for the performance bonuses that several players—including Brayden Point, who came out of nowhere to put up a 40-point season—were now due to receive. He’s accomplished that goal as CapFriendly reports, clearing just enough room to not carry any bonus overages into next year. The Lightning were at risk of almost $1.2MM in penalties, which would have in all likelihood cost them a player. Now he’ll have around $20MM to re-sign Johnson, Palat and Drouin in addition to Andrej Sustr and Jake Dotchin, among others.

  • Mark Divver of the Providence Journal reports that Zane McIntyre will head back to the AHL Bruins to start tonight, while Malcolm Subban will be heading to Boston as their emergency goalie. To be clear, that doesn’t mean that Subban will see the ice or that either Boston goaltender is injured, just that he will serve as an insurance policy should one of them go down in warm up—like Matthew Murray did before game 1 for the Penguins.
  • Frank Seravalli of TSN opines that the Montreal Canadiens need to find a “finisher” for Alex Galchenyuk if they want him to produce these playoffs. Since he’s been demoted to a line with Steve Ott and Andreas Martinsen, Galchenyuk continues to produce offensive chances but isn’t getting much help from his linemates. It doesn’t seem like Galchenyuk will return to the center ice position under head coach Claude Julien, and will likely have to find a way to impress without the skilled wingers he was once given. If the Canadiens fail to register a goal again however, you can be sure the lines will hit the blender for Game 3.

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