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Atlantic Notes: Backes, Montembeault, Domingue, Alzner

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The discussion of whether the Boston Bruins could get out from under the contract of veteran center David Backes has been ongoing for some time. It’s been determined that Backes, who has seen his numbers drop significantly in the last year while the team still owes him two more years at $6MM AAV, would be almost impossible to move, especially after the Toronto Maple Leafs unloaded Patrick Marleau and his one-year at $6.25MM to Carolina and was forced to include a first-round pick.

However, NBC Sports Boston Joe Haggerty re-analyzes the situation after the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers completed a swap of what many thought to be untradeable contracts. The problem once again for Boston is that trading Backes for another bad contract doesn’t help the Bruins as Backes only has two years left on his deal, while most of the other bad contracts have quite a bit more time remaining. Vancouver’s Loui Eriksson has the exact same contract and might even provide a slight more offense than Backes can, but any kind of one-on-one deal would require Boston to take an extra year of his contract as Eriksson still has three years remaining at that salary, hardly solving the team’s problem.

Unless the can find an unusual fit, it seems like Boston will be stuck with Backes for at least one more year.

  • Despite making moves this summer to turn their team in a bonafide playoff team by bringing in head coach Joel Quenneville as well as signing star goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, the Florida Panthers aren’t expected to be looking to sign a veteran goaltender to back the goalie up. The Athletic’s George Richards (subscription required) writes that Florida believes that 22-year-old Sam Montembeault is ready to be the backup and the job is his to lose. The youngster made 11 appearances late in the season last year and while his numbers weren’t overwhelming (3.04 GAA, .894 save percentage), he had moments where he looked like he was ready. The scribe reports, however, he will receive a battle from Chris Driedger, who looked sharp in 32 appearances with the Springfield Thunderbirds of the AHL.Because of Driedger, who the team re-upped earlier this summer, it’s unlikely the team brings in a veteran in case Montembeault isn’t ready for a NHL job yet.
  • Mari Faiello of the Tampa Bay Times writes that one of the main reasons the Tampa Bay Lightning went out and signed prized backup goaltender Curtis McElhinney to a two-year, $2.6MM deal on July 1 was because they were concerned about the fact that current backup Louis Domingue was going to be an unrestricted free agent next summer and would likely expect a raise. Domingue, who has been solid at $1.15MM, might cost too much to re-sign, but a chance to get the veteran McElhinney at $1.3MM AAV was too much to pass up. The team will likely wait to move Domingue until training camp when teams start realizing they need goaltending help.
  • The Athletic’s Sean Gordon (subscription required) writes that with the signing of forward Charles Hudon Friday, the team opened up a two-day buyout window that starts on Monday and the team could opt to buy out defenseman Karl Alzner if they wanted to. Alzner, who has three years remaining at $4.63MM AAV, isn’t a certain candidate, however, as the Canadiens could have bought him out during the first buyout period and didn’t. However, the team could free up a little more money to sign another free agent such as Jake Gardiner, who still is without a contract this summer.

Lightning Re-Sign Dominik Masin

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Another day, another restricted free agent back under contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning. After inking Ben Thomas to an extension yesterday, the team has announced that fellow RFA defenseman Dominik Masin has also re-signed. It is a one-year, two-way contract for Masin. No financial terms were disclosed, but CapFriendly anticipates a minimum $700K NHL salary.

Masin, 23, has been a long-term project for the Bolts whose potential is still unclear. A 2014 second-round pick out of the Czech Republic, Masin played two productive years in the OHL before turning pro in 2016. He immediately jumped into a starting role with the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch, but struggled to put up points in his first season. That changed in 2017-18, when Masin finished second among Crunch defenders with 24 points in 72 games. Yet, he regressed offensively this season, dropping to 12 points in 69 games. On the other hand, his defense improved and his +36 rating led the team and was among the best in the league. Masin has yet to make an NHL appearance, but this season may finally offer him a chance to debut and for Tampa to get a better idea of what they have in the prospect.

With Masin locked up, the Lightning are down to just two RFA’s left to sign: Adam Erne and Brayden Point. Point has been and will continue to be Tampa Bay’s biggest priority this summer. The team has a projected $5.58MM in cap space, but will need much more than that to get Point re-signed, not to mention Erne.

Ben Thomas Re-Signs With Tampa Bay

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The Tampa Bay Lightning have re-signed minor league defenseman Ben Thomas to a one-year, two-way contract. Thomas was not eligible for salary arbitration and will still be a restricted free agent when the deal expires.

Thomas, 23, was a fourth round pick of the Lightning back in 2014 and has spent the last several years in the minor leagues. In 247 games with the Syracuse Crunch he has 76 points and is an important part of their blueline. It’s hard to imagine that he spends much time in the NHL this season, but there may be more opportunity there than in recent years.

Dan Girardi and Anton Stralman were both not retained by the Lightning this offseason, though the team has since brought back Luke Witkowski and signed Luke Schenn as depth options. Still, there will be spots opening before long as there isn’t a clear plan outside of the top-four past this season. Victor Hedman and Ryan McDonagh are signed long-term, Mikhail Sergachev and Erik Cernak are under team control for several more seasons, but other than that there will be competition in Tampa Bay after this season. While Thomas would need to take a healthy step forward in his development to really take a shot at one of those NHL spots, he’s still young enough to have some upside left. This year will be an important one for him to try and get that first taste of NHL action at some point.

Eastern Notes: Leddy, Ristolainen, Carcone, Shalagin

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The New York Islanders have made quite a few moves this offseason, re-signing Anders Lee, Jordan Eberle and Brock Nelson as well as adding goaltender Semyon Varlamov to their franchise, but the team may not be done yet.

Brett Cyrgalis of the New York Post mentions that the team may seriously consider trading defenseman Nick Leddy later this offseason. The 28-year-old Leddy has three years on his contract at $5.5MM per season and with several teams in need of help for a top-four blueliner, the team might be willing to unload him if they can add more offensive talent, especially with prospects Noah Dobson and Bode Wilde not far from arriving in New York.

  • In a roundtable discussion on what the chances are that the Tampa Bay Lightning might acquire Buffalo defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen, The Athletic’s Joe Smith (subscription required) writes that while the Lightning has had interest in him in the past, the only way the team would be interested in acquiring him now would be if it were an upgrade and with no obvious trade candidates on their defense, a deal between Buffalo and Tampa Bay seems unlikely. Throw in the fact the team still has to sign restricted free agent Brayden Point to and the chances of acquiring Risolainen seems unlikely.
  • There were many moving parts two week ago when the Ottawa Senators acquired Nikita Zaitsev from the Toronto Maple Leafs for Cody Ceci. The Senators acquired forward Connor Brown, but also picked up forward Michael Carcone as part of the deal, a 23-year-old restricted free agent who has battled his way through three AHL seasons and might be ready for a bottom-line role with the Senators now that the team acquired him. The Athletic’s Chris Stevenson reports that he hears that the Senators and Carcone are close to a new deal and could be a name to watch at training camp this fall. The Vancouver Canucks were received quite a bit of interest from Carcone at the trade deadline by both Toronto and Ottawa. He ended up going to Toronto in the Josh Leivo trade, but has since been traded again.
  • The Tampa Bay Lightning look to be bringing one of their 2019 draftees over to North America sooner than they had expected as a Russian website, spartak.ru (translation required), reports that Mikhail Shalagin, the team’s 2019 seventh-round pick, is expected to play in the Tampa Bay’s system, presumably with the Syracuse Crunch in the AHL, although nothing has come from the Lightning yet and it’s unknown whether the team will offer him an entry-level deal right away or offer him an AHL deal. The 6-foot-4, 185-pound forward scored 48 goals in the MHL and was the MVP of the league last year.

Detroit Red Wings Sign Moritz Seider To Entry-Level Deal

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The Detroit Red Wings announced they have signed defenseman Moritz Seider, the team’s 2019 first-round pick, to a three-year, entry-level contact. MLive’s Ansar Khan reports that the Red Wings will wait to see how he fares in training camp to decide whether to assign him to the Grand Rapids Griffins of the AHL or send him back to Germany for one more year.

Seider was a rising prospect, especially late in the draft after an impressive performance at the World Championships for Germany and the Red Wings and general manager Steve Yzerman surprised quite a few people when they selected Seider over a number of top forward prospects, especially considering that Seider wasn’t considered to be the top defensive prospect. However, the 6-foot-4 blueliner had an impressive season in the Deutsch Eishockey Liga, the top German league, where he was named Rookie of the Year there, posting two goals and six points in 29 games. He also played a big role on Germany’s Junior World Championships where he was named the best defenseman in the tournament after scoring seven points in five games.

The blueliner is considered to be a smooth-skating defenseman who has the physical ability to dominate on the defensive side of the ice. Those skills, plus his leadership ability, will likely make him a top-four player for the Red Wings for years once he arrives in Detroit. His offensive skills are less polished although he has seen glimpses of some, suggesting he could develop into somewhat of a point-producer over time.

 

Front Office Notes: Holmgren, Wright, Rychel

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The Philadelphia Flyers have announced that long-time executive Paul Holmgren will be transitioning into an advisory role with the team moving forward, while GM Chuck Fletcher will now also have the title of president of hockey operations. Holmgren has been with the Flyers organization for 40 (non-consecutive) years in almost every role possible including player, assistant coach, head coach, assistant general manager, general manager, director of pro scouting and president, but will be taking a step back to spend more time with family.

Fletcher will take on even more responsibility as he tries to reshape the Flyers and take them back to the playoffs next season. The Flyers haven’t won the Stanley Cup since 1975 and haven’t won a playoff round since 2012. Fletcher has already made several moves to try and change that streak this offseason, adding Matt Niskanen, Justin Braun and Kevin Hayes to the mix.

Tampa Bay Lightning Sign Danick Martel

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July 9: The Lightning have officially announced the contract for Martel.

July 4: The Tampa Bay Lightning have inked one of their restricted free agents, signing Danick Martel to a one-year two-way contract according to Joe Smith of The Athletic. Martel was eligible for salary arbitration but instead will get his contract done well in advance. The deal will be worth $700K at the NHL level.

Martel, 24, was claimed off waivers at the start of the 2018-19 season from the Philadelphia Flyers, but he ended up playing just nine games for the Lightning. Used as a press box regular, the undersized forward will be brought back to see if he can help the organization for another season. When the Lightning claimed him it seemed odd, given how little opportunity there was in the NHL forward group, but it’s hard to judge a team that has had such success finding undrafted talents out of the QMJHL in the past.

An 102-point scorer in his final year in junior, the 5’8″ Martel took quickly to the professional level and recorded three consecutive 20+ goal seasons with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Proven now at that level, the next challenge will be finding some NHL success. He has just 13 games under his belt at that level, meaning he will become a Group VI unrestricted free agent next summer if he fails to play in at least 67 contests this year. There actually may be a real opportunity for him to do so now that names like J.T. Miller and Ryan Callahan have moved on.

The Lightning still have lots of work to do this summer after signing Martel, as Brayden Point leads a trio of NHL restricted free agents without contracts. The team still has a little bit of wiggle room under the salary cap, but Point’s deal will determine whether they have to make another move to shed salary or not.

Lightning Sign Gemel Smith

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Monday: The Lightning have officially announced the contract, though they did not release any financial terms to confirm CapFriendly’s reporting.

Sunday: Tampa Bay has added some depth up front.  CapFriendly reports that the Lightning have signed center Gemel Smith to a one-year, two-way contract.  The deal is worth $700K in the NHL, $250K in the AHL, and contains a $325K guarantee.

Smith split last season between Dallas and Boston.  He made the Stars’ roster out of training camp but didn’t see a lot of action in the first two months of the season before he was waived and claimed by the Bruins in December.  However, he only got into three games with Boston before being waived again two weeks later, going through unclaimed.  Between the two teams, he had two goals and an assist while averaging just over eight minutes a night.

The 25-year-old was much more productive at the AHL level.  In 46 games with AHL Providence, he picked up 16 goals and 24 assists to finish second on the team in scoring despite not being with them for the better part of three months.  However, that wasn’t enough for Boston to justify tendering him a $756K qualifying offer with arbitration eligibility.  Instead, Smith now joins Tampa Bay where he figures to be a key player on their farm team in Syracuse while being among the first players considered for a recall when an injury arises.

Tampa Bay Lightning Sign Cedric Paquette, Carter Verhaeghe

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The Tampa Bay Lightning have avoided arbitration with another one of their restricted free agents, as Joe Smith of The Athletic reports the team has agreed to a two-year contract with Cedric Paquette. The deal will carry a $1.65MM average annual value, and take him to unrestricted free agency in 2021. The team has also announced a one-year, two-way contract for Carter Verhaeghe, keeping the minor league star in the organization and avoiding arbitration.

Paquette, 25, was an underrated part of the Tampa Bay machine last season, scoring 13 goals while suiting up for a career-high 80 games. Though he only added four assists and averaged just 12 minutes of ice time, he locked down the team’s fourth-line center position, was a key penalty killer and easily led the club in hits with 269. There’s no reason to think he’ll ever be an offensive dynamo in the NHL, but the Lightning will be happy if he can continue to win faceoffs and provide his physical play during limited minutes. With J.T. Miller and Ryan Callahan gone this season, that type of grinding game will be appreciated even more.

Verhaeghe meanwhile is still trying to crack the NHL squad, but had about as good a minor league season as anyone last year. The 23-year old put up 34 goals and 82 points in 76 games to lead the AHL in both categories (tying his teammate Alex Barre-Boulet in goals) and should compete for a spot on the roster this fall. The former Toronto Maple Leafs prospect is eligible for waivers and could be claimed if the Lightning try to send him back to the Syracuse Crunch once again.

Notable AHL Signings: 7/1 & 7/2

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It’s not uncommon to see many players coming off NHL contracts, including those who have found success in the AHL, opt to sign minor league contracts early in July. As the new league year begins, many unrestricted free agents find that the market for their services at the top level does not develop. Rather than hold out hope for a two-way NHL contract further into the off-season, many are content to accept AHL contracts, which don’t rule out the possibility of signing in the NHL but provide some certainty about the coming season. Through the first two days of free agency, more than a few familiar names have settled for minor league pacts:

  • Tyler Sikura has signed a one-year deal with the AHL’s Rockford Ice Hogs, remaining in the Chicago Blackhawks organization. Sikura has been a key contributor for Rockford the past two years, even earning a one-year contract with Chicago this past season, but did not make an NHL appearance. He was likely content to stay with organization anyway, as he can continue to play with younger brother Dylan Sikura.
  • After playing a key shutdown role for the Charlotte Checkers en route to a Calder Cup championship, defenseman Josiah Didier has signed a one-year deal with the Providence Bruins. Providence has several top prospects on their blue line, but are lacking depth and Didier should again play an important role for his team next season.
  • The San Antonio Rampage have signed former Detroit Red Wings prospect and second-round pick Zach Nastisiuk to an AHL contract, as well as fellow forwards Cameron Darcy and J.J. Piccinich. The trio will have to fight for ice time in the minors, as the St. Louis Blues have signed quite a few depth players already over these past two days.
  • The Lehigh Valley Phantoms went big game hunting among AHL veterans yesterday, signing five-time AHL All-Star Cal O’Reilly to a two-year deal and bringing back their own All-Star, Greg Carey. O’Reilly, 32, has been on an NHL contract in each of the past five seasons, but had to settle for a step down this year despite another strong campaign. The center was a point-per-game scorer for the Iowa Wild, notching 67 points in 67 games to finish in the top ten in the AHL in scoring. It was his sixth AHL season with 60+ points. Carey, 29, saw his contract with the Philadelphia Flyers expire, but remains in the organization, where he has recorded three straight 50+ points seasons. The Phantoms also signed another Iowa forward, Gerry Fitzgerald, and defenseman Eric Knodel to one-year contracts.
  • A trio of familiar names have joined the Hartford Wolfpack: goalie Thomas McCollum, forward Harry Zolnierczyk, and defenseman Vincent LoVerde. All three players are coming off of NHL contracts but will have to work their way back into relevance at the top level. McCollum and Zolnierczyk both have played in the NHL, albeit not in several years, and LoVerde is a two-time AHL All-Star and Calder Cup champ. It’s quite a haul for Hartford.
  • Sam Vigneault left Clarkson University early to join the Columbus Blue Jackets, but his play in the minors tailed off over the past two years and his entry-level contract expired without an NHL experience. However, he’s content to stay in the organization, as Vigneault has signed a one-year deal with the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters.
  • Former top goalie prospect Zach Fucale has had a tough go of it in the pros. A second-round pick of the Montreal Canadiens in 2013, Fucale has been relegated to the ECHL for much of the past three seasons. He managed to find an AHL contract with the Syracuse Crunch, but considering the depth in net for the Tampa Bay Lightning after signing three goalies yesterday, Fucale is likely headed back to the ECHL.
  • Cole Schneider has been a force in the AHL for years, recently wrapping up his sixth straight season of 50+ points. However, the 28-year-old has been unable to translate that offense to the NHL. Although he still had enough value to warrant a trade to the Nashville Predators this season, Schneider never made an appearance for the team. That hasn’t stopped him from sticking with the organization though. The Milwaukee Admirals have brought back the talented forward on a one-year deal.

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