- Maple Leafs goaltender Frederik Andersen provided an update to reporters, including Mark Zwolinski of the Toronto Star, regarding the knee issue that kept him out of Monday’s game. It’s not an actual injury that he’s dealing with but rather some excess swelling. Andersen left practice early today and when asked about his availability for Thursday night, he was non-committal. Toronto is currently carrying three goaltenders (the third being Eamon McAdam on recall from the ECHL) under emergency conditions but those will only last until Wednesday as there is a 48-hour limit. At that time, the Leafs will either have to make a roster move to create a roster spot for McAdam or send him back down.
Maple Leafs Rumors
Snapshots: Doughty, Nylander, Altybarmakyan
The Toronto Maple Leafs ended up landing the biggest fish of free agency in John Tavares, but long before the Tavares sweepstakes even began, the team was linked to Los Angeles Kings defenseman Drew Doughty. Doughty, a Toronto area native, ended up signing an eight-year, $88MM extension early this off-season, ending any thoughts that he might be a free agent in the summer of 2019. So where did the homecoming rumors come from? Doughty has now admitted, via TSN, that he never seriously considered moving on from L.A. Instead, he floated the idea of departing the Kings for the Maple Leafs as a negotiation tactic. Doughty negotiated his latest deal without an agent and, in order to ensure he wasn’t taken advantage of, made sure he had some leverage on his side. The rumors that he might leave if able to test the free agent market surely encouraged the Kings to give him what he wanted on his latest extension, the largest contract for a defenseman in NHL history.
- Another player who has no interest in signing with the Maple Leafs, at least not at their current offer, is restricted free agent forward William Nylander. Toronto and their young forward seem to be at an impasse in contract negotiations and the December 1st deadline, after which Nylander would be prohibited from playing in the NHL this season, is starting to look like a real possibility. Should that come to fruition, Nylander would likely turn to the KHL for his paycheck this season. Nylander’s rights are held by Avangard Omsk, currently led by former NHL head coach Bob Hartley, who recently spoke to TSN about his excitement about the possibility of having Nylander on the roster this season. Avangard already added Cody Franson, Alexei Emelin, David Desharnais, and Kris Versteeg this off-season and could really make waves in the KHL by adding Nylander to the mix. Nylander is currently skating in his native Sweden and could make the short trip over to Russia rather than the trip back across the Atlantic this season, if talks continue to go poorly with the Maple Leafs.
- Staying in the KHL, Chicago Blackhawks prospect Andrei Altybarmakyan is on the move. The 20-year-old winger was traded today, swapped by SKA St. Petersburg to HK Sochi for fellow young forward Ivan Larichev, the league reports. Both Altybarmakyan and Larichev are fringe KHLers with limited experience at the highest level, but Sochi appears to be the long-term winner in this deal, acquiring the 2017 third-round pick. There has been no indication that Altybarmakyan is heading over to North America any time soon and could continue to develop into a bona fide starter for Sochi down the road.
Snapshots: Three Stars, Dvorak, Maple Leafs
The NHL has handed out the Three Stars for the second week of the season, and once again a center from the Atlantic Division leads the way. Following in Auston Matthews’ week one honors is Patrice Bergeron, who gets the first star after a nine-point week with the Boston Bruins. Bergeron’s brilliance was on display in full force when he sent a backhand saucer pass to David Pastrnak for a tap in on Monday night against the Ottawa Senators. It wasn’t the first time the Bruins center is included in these awards, and it certainly won’t be the last.
Behind Bergeron were two more Eastern Conference opponents in Morgan Rielly and Sebastian Aho. Both players continued their scorching hot starts by adding seven points in three games, and helping the Toronto Maple Leafs and Carolina Hurricanes to league-leading records. While both have been good before, each could be experiencing another breakout in performance that could lead to playoff success for their clubs.
- Christian Dvorak of the Arizona Coyotes has suffered a setback in his rehab from a lower-body injury according to Matt Layman of AZ Sports, who notes that the team will give an update on his status later in the week. Dvorak hasn’t played yet this season as he tries to make good on the six-year, $26.7MM extension he signed this summer, and will likely now be held out of the lineup even longer. Now on the final year of his entry-level contract, Dvorak is looked to as a leader on the Coyotes and one that was expected to take a step forward from the 15-goal, 37-point performance of 2017-18. The 22-year old will need to perform at an even higher level in order to eclipse that if he misses much more of the season.
- The Maple Leafs were forced to recall minor league goaltender Eamon McAdam today to fill in while Frederik Andersen deals with a minor knee injury, and as CapFriendly points out are using one of their two goaltender exemptions for the year. The team is sitting at 24 players on the roster since they didn’t move Andersen to injured reserve, and will now have to be even more careful going forward. McAdam will serve as backup tonight while Garret Sparks makes his second start of the season.
Toronto Maple Leafs Recall Eamon McAdam As Emergency Backup
4:10pm: McAdam will in fact serve as the backup tonight for Sparks, as the team announced that Andersen is day-to-day with a knee injury.
2:25pm: A few weeks ago the Toronto Maple Leafs had plenty of goaltending depth, and a tough decision to make. They ended up placing both Curtis McElhinney and Calvin Pickard on waivers in order to keep Garret Sparks, but lost both goaltenders in the process when the Carolina Hurricanes and Philadelphia Flyers submitted claims. That left Kasimir Kaskisuo as the third option on the depth chart, and Eamon McAdam a distant fourth while he played in ECHL Newfoundland—Jeff Glass, the AHL backup, is on a minor league deal and can’t be recalled. Today, a tough scenario has happened for the Maple Leafs as they were forced to recall McAdam to be the emergency backup for tonight against the Los Angeles Kings, given suspected injuries sustained by both Frederik Andersen and Kaskisuo this weekend.
Andersen’s injury isn’t expected to be major, given he finished Saturday’s game against the Washington Capitals and was a full participant in the team’s morning skate. As Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun tweets, McAdam will be on standby in case Sparks—the starter for tonight—or Andersen can’t dress. Still, this is exactly the scenario the team wanted to avoid, given McAdam’s inexperience. The 24-year old goaltender has played just 35 games above the ECHL level, and has never come close to an NHL start. The Maple Leafs could quickly find themselves in trouble should Andersen or Sparks suffer a serious injury.
Sparks will take the net tonight after his season debut in Chicago went poorly, while McElhinney and Pickard sit with a combined 4-0 record in Carolina and Philadelphia. Neither goaltender has been outstanding for their new teams, but would certainly be helpful depth for the Maple Leafs at this point.
Atlantic Notes: Nylander, Harpur, Maple Leafs, Reilly
As if the Toronto Maple Leafs and William Nylander negotiations weren’t getting enough attention, NHL.com’s Igor Eronko reports that KHL Avangard Omsk head coach Bob Hartley, whose team owns the KHL rights to Nylander, would love to have the winger come play for them.
“I would like to see William in my team,” Hartley said. “I know his father. That would be great.”
Negotiations between the two sides have not fared well with rumors that Nylander’s camp is asking for $8MM per season, while the Maple Leafs refuse to offer a record-breaking deal and are rumored to be closer to $6MM per season. An earlier report even suggests that Toronto’s latest offer was a four-year deal worth well under $20MM and the team is not interested in trading the 22-year-old.
Nylander could opt to sign a deal with Avangard Omsk, although that seems unlikely as he’d prefer to play in the NHL, but obviously Nylander’s camp is hoping the possible threat of sitting out the season might bring up Toronto’s offer.
- The Ottawa Senators got another impressive performance from one of their young players Saturday when defenseman Ben Harpur finally made his season debut. The 23-year-old had been a healthy scratch up to now, but made an immediate physical impact to the game when he put a major hit on Los Angeles Kings winger Alex Iafallo early in the game. The 6-foot-6, 222-pound blueliner didn’t register a point in their 5-1 win over the Kings, but played so well, he led the team in ice time, playing 22:37, according to Don Brennan of The Ottawa Sun. Harpur was teamed with veteran Mark Borowiecki on a pairing assigned to shutdown the Kings’ top line of Anze Kopitar, Ilya Kovalchuk and Iafallo. That line finished with no points and just six shots on goal.
- The Athletic’s Jonas Siegel (subscription required) gives credit to general manager Kyle Dubas and the Toronto Maple Leafs for the signings of center Par Lindholm and defenseman Igor Ozhiganov, who both have made quite an impact on the Maple Leafs already loaded roster, giving them another two “free” additions on a team that needs as many cheap options as possible. Lindholm potted his first career NHL goal Saturday, while Ozhiganov had his best game yet, according to head coach Mike Babcock. The team has already done a good job in past years, bringing in foreign players on cheap deals, including defenseman Nikita Zaitsev as well as Calle Rosen and Andreas Borgman.
- The Montreal Canadiens feel they have found an answer to who will eventually play alongside Shea Weber when he returns later this year. The team has been really impressed with the play of Mike Reilly, who has been a big part of the team’s 2-1-1 start so far this season, according to The Athletic’s Arpon Basu (subscription required). He has done a good job moving the puck with his speed. He faced up against Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby twice and while the numbers don’t support it, Crosby wasn’t a major factor in either game. “It’s a good challenge, but I love it,” Reilly said after the Canadiens’ 4-3 shootout win Saturday. “I like to compete, I have high expectations, so it’s always fun to go out against guys like that.”
Toronto Not Shopping William Nylander
While the Toronto Maple Leafs were busy extending their hot start with a win over the Washington Capitals—thanks to Auston Matthews’ tenth goal of the season—William Nylander was still waiting for his chance to play this season, continuing negotiations with the team over his next contract. On Hockey Night in Canada, Nick Kypreos of Sportsnet relayed some new information about the star forward, reporting that the team is not shopping him despite the ongoing negotiations and have made a four-year offer worth “well under $20MM in total.”
Previously we’d heard very little about a possible bridge deal for Nylander, after both sides indicated that they’d rather get a long-term deal done. A four-year contract is somewhere in the middle of those two options, but would still leave him as a restricted free agent at its conclusion and under Maple Leafs control. Anything five years or longer would take Nylander to unrestricted free agency, and also force the cap hit higher and higher. That’s a concern for the team given the upcoming extensions needed for Matthews and Mitch Marner, along with a decision on pending-UFA Jake Gardiner.
Like any other restricted free agent, Nylander must sign a contract by December 1 or be forced to sit out the entire 2018-19 season. Though it would hurt the Maple Leafs on the ice, that scenario seems much more detrimental to Nylander who would be in almost the exact same situation next season without any production from this year. Already he’s losing out on potential goals and points that could be used in negotiations and arbitration, especially given his expected role on the top line with Matthews. For what it’s worth, Nylander hasn’t asked for a trade either, making these negotiations still on track to eventually get worked out between the two sides.
Eastern Notes: Murray, Flyers’ Goalies, Kapanen, Zadina
Pittsburgh goaltender Matt Murray is back with the team on the active roster after suffering a concussion less than a week ago, but will serve as the backup to Casey DeSmith for tonight’s game in Montreal, according to Seth Rorabaugh of The Athletic (subscription required). Third-stringer Tristan Jarry traveled with the team in case Murray cannot serve as backup.
Head coach Mike Sullivan wasn’t surprised that Murray was ready to return from a concussion after just a few days.
“And the reason is, it’s really hard to compare one concussion to the next,” Sullivan explained. “The nature of that injury is that they’re all different. Some guys recover very quickly. With some guys, it lingers. There’s so many things associated with it.”
Murray has struggled in the two games he has appeared in this year, having allowed 11 goals, but Sullivan believes that sitting Murray on the bench rather than sitting in the press box is the best thing for his recovery.
“When you see the game up close on the bench, it’s a whole different game than it is from the press box,” Sullivan said. “Things happen a whole lot faster. It’s one step in the process that we think prepares our goalies to be successful when they step back on the ice.”
- David Isaac of the Courier Post writes that Philadelphia Flyers general manager Ron Hextall isn’t opposed to the team keeping three goaltenders when injured backup Michal Neuvirth returns to the lineup, which is “not too far away.” The team has had quite a bit of success with the tandem of Brian Elliott and Calvin Pickard, but the team would have to expose someone to waivers if they want to keep just two goalies on the roster. “We’ll have to deal with that at the time,” Hextall said when asked if he intends on carrying three goalies on his roster. “It’s not an ideal situation, but if that’s what’s right for our hockey club, that’s what we’ll do. All these injuries, we have a roster issue. Thankfully we don’t have a (salary) cap issue. We’ll deal with it at the time and see what information comes to us between now and then and make a decision.”
- Jordan Samuels-Thomas of The Athletic (subscription required) profiles Toronto Maple Leafs top-line winger Kasperi Kapanen and how he’s found chemistry with the team’s top line while William Nylander holds out for a contract extension. Kapanen’s effort, well-rounded game and speed have made him a perfect fit alongside Auston Matthews and Patrick Marleau.
- MLive’s Steve Kaminski writes that Detroit Red Wings prospect Filip Zadina is starting to get hot in Grand Rapids after posting a two-goal game in his third appearance for the AHL club. “I am getting better every single game, and I’m way more comfortable than I was when I played the first game,” the sixth-overall pick in this year’s draft said. “(The goals) helped me a lot mentally, and I am more confident with the puck.”
PHR Mailbag: William Nylander Edition
There has been a distinct theme in the questions submitted thus far for the mailbag with Toronto’s William Nylander getting a lot of attention. With that in mind, here is a special Nylander edition of the PHR Mailbag with the answers to other questions running over the weekend as usual.
ThePriceWasRight: How long do the Nylander and Ritchie sagas play out? Maple Leafs have shown they likely don’t need Nylander but could still use a shutdown d-man. Anaheim, on the other hand, could use some offense in its lineup.
Nylander’s case is tough to handicap. Toronto has shown they have no issues scoring without him so far but I don’t think that kills his leverage either; he is still a top-line player. Considering the gap that they’re apart (which is believed to be around $1.5MM per year), he’s not necessarily losing too much money by sitting out if Toronto eventually ups their offer. On top of that, a year one payment that is mostly signing bonus money would help recoup anything he loses as well and that is the route I think will be taken. This could easily go another month at this point and follow a similar path as Jacob Trouba’s post-ELC deal which was signed in November although a long-term pact will be the end result instead of a bridge contract.
As a side note, there is a small benefit in this dragging out from Toronto’s salary cap perspective. The longer this drags out, the higher the AAV will be this season (when they have more than ample cap room) but it will be lowered throughout the rest of the contract. CapFriendly has a good breakdown of this on Twitter. We’re only talking probably a couple hundred thousand per year at most but with how much the Maple Leafs are going to have tied into that core group, every little bit counts.
(Ritchie will be covered in the regular mailbag this weekend.)
mikedickinson: The Hurricanes are playing well, but you’ve gotta think they need a center, and we have too many defensemen. Why are the odds of Nylander shooting his way out of Toronto and going to Raleigh? He and Aho would be a dynamic duo. Faulk and prospects headed to Toronto?
Zack35: Aside from Dubas saying “we can and we will” why would the Leafs not just trade Nylander to Carolina for Justin Faulk? Maybe not a 1 for 1 trade but that kind of framework. Signing him for anything above 7 mil when they have a ton of scoring already doesn’t make sense to me.
Toronto is known to have shown interest in Faulk over the summer but at that time, Nylander wasn’t involved in the trade discussions. It’s hard to see that changing now.
From the perspective of the Maple Leafs, they wouldn’t be wise to trade a top-line winger for a second-pairing defenseman with just two years of team control remaining. A short-term return isn’t ideal for a long-term asset like Nylander is. I also think Toronto would be better off targeting someone that’s a little better in the defensive zone although Faulk’s offensive skillset in their system is quite intriguing. He wouldn’t be the ideal fit for them in my opinion but he would certainly represent an upgrade and it wouldn’t be shocking to see the Leafs circle back on him at some point.
From Carolina’s perspective, this is a team where seemingly every decision that has been made since the ownership change has been about cutting costs. Go back to their GM search where candidates were withdrawing due to low offers and limited power, the trade with Calgary, offloading Jeff Skinner for a futures-based package; even the radio broadcast was cut to save some money. To turn around and add what would wind up being their biggest contract by a considerable margin just doesn’t seem to fit that mindset, especially with Sebastian Aho needing a new, expensive deal after this season. If they’re going to be a lower-spending team, I can’t see them taking a real serious run at Nylander although he’d certainly bolster their offense.
@poulter_s: What is the realistic chance William Nylander gets traded?
I don’t think it’s all that realistic, to be honest. I know with these types of holdout situations, the trade speculation picks up but the player ultimately winds up re-signing most of the time. As part of his pitch to bring in John Tavares, GM Kyle Dubas insisted that he could keep their core (including Nylander) together. To go back on that promise that quickly wouldn’t resonate well. I also suspect that the reported salary demands (if true) would be limiting the number of potential suitors out there.
Ultimately, if I had to handicap what’s going to happen, I’d guess that the focus becomes a six-year deal, one that buys out just one year of UFA eligibility which will ultimately lower Nylander’s demand on the AAV with fewer UFA years than a max-term contract. Toronto will up their offer to closer to $7MM and they’ll settle there with Nylander’s camp knowing that he will be in the prime of his career when he hits the open market where an even bigger contract will await him.
binarydaddy: I’m seeing a lot of Leafs/Nylander questions here…but the real question should be; the Leafs aren’t going to give him what he wants, Shanahan’s made that clear regarding salaries moving forward. So which teams do you see as being possible suitors for a Nylander/Gardiner combo to get a top-5 d-man into Toronto now? Gardiner is clearly not the future and the thought of him putting up 50-points/season means he should be paid upwards $6M+/year is unfathomable! The Leafs aren’t going to be able to stay in games with the likes of Boston or Tampa if they rely on their offense to carry the load. Not to mention, we all know Freddy ain’t the best in October. Can the Leafs win on offense alone or could you see a package that sends Nylander and Gardiner to LAK for a Doughty scenario?!? Or maybe to SJS for a Brent Burns?
The short answer is that on the surface, no team with a top-five defenseman should have interest in a deal like that. No one with an established elite defender should want to move that player for a winger and a rental blueliner while adding considerably to their salary cap for this season once Nylander eventually signs. I’d go as far as saying no team with a legitimate and controllable number one blueliner is going to do a deal with that type of framework. That’s a premium position to fill where players of that ilk are often franchise players and while a Nylander/Jake Gardiner package is indeed very strong, they’re not franchise players.
For a number one defenseman signed beyond this season to move for a forward, it would need to be an established center (a premium position) coming the other way and although some believe Nylander could still play down the middle, he’s not established at that position just yet. Other than Erik Karlsson, there isn’t really an elite rental option out there (and with the penalty built in the trade to San Jose if he’s sent back East, he wouldn’t be an option for Toronto even if the Sharks decided to flip him). Gardiner himself is one of the more prominent rentals which is why his price tag is probably going to exceed the $6MM mark when all is said and done.
If Dubas wants to trade Nylander, I would recommend they go a different direction than the one you’re proposing. As I don’t believe an established number one defender is realistically on the table, I’d instead target a 20-23 year old that is already a top-four player and still has room to develop into a top pairing option. I’d be aiming for at least five years of team control remaining (to match Nylander and line up with their current young core) and with that, the price tag shouldn’t be higher than what they’re willing to pay Nylander currently. Given the big tickets they’re going to have on the books up front next year, the difference of a few million dollars between this type of player and an established number one defender is going to be critical for their ability to keep as much of the existing core intact as possible.
Can Toronto win on offense alone? I have a hard time thinking so (teams built that way haven’t fared too well in the playoffs) although they’ll be difficult to stop entirely in the playoffs. They’ll slow down but the Leafs are still going to score a lot in the postseason. That’s why a number one defender isn’t a must-have. Get a young rearguard that can help now and long-term and then supplement that with a rental player at the deadline. That’s still a pretty substantial improvement that would go a long way towards helping their chances.
If you have non-Nylander questions, there’s still time to post them in the comments section here or by using the hashtag #PHRMailbag on Twitter.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Detroit Red Wings To Retire Red Kelly’s Number
While the Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings tonight are putting on a show for their fans, they’ll do even more later in the season. The Red Wings today announced that before their February 1 game against the Maple Leafs, they’ll retire Red Kelly’s No. 4 sweater and raise it to the rafters. It’s fitting that the ceremony will come before a game against Toronto, given Kelly’s ties to both organizations.
Making his NHL debut in 1947, Kelly played 20 seasons in the league and retired after winning his eigth Stanley Cup in 1967. One of the rare players to find great success at both forward and defense, Kelly was a perennial Norris Trophy candidate during the first part of his career—winning the award once in 1953—only to become a dominant center for the Maple Leafs years later. That versatility and skill earned him the honor of being named one of the NHL’s 100 Greatest Players last year, and had him inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1969. In 2016, the Maple Leafs retired No. 4 in honor of both Kelly and Hap Day.
One might think that by now the Red Wings would have almost every number retired, but the organization is extremely careful with the players that it bestows that honor upon. Only seven numbers have been retired to date, meaning Kelly will join a select group that includes Terry Sawchuk (#1), Nicklas Lidstrom (#5), Ted Lindsay (#7), Gordie Howe (#9), Alex Delvecchio (#10), Sid Abel (#12) and Steve Yzerman (#19). The last played to wear the number for the Red Wings was Jakub Kindl, and he’ll be the final one to do so after the ceremony in February.
Latest On William Nylander, Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs are now three games into the 2018-19 season and though things haven’t gone smoothly to this point the team is 2-1. Outstanding early performances from Auston Matthews—who was named NHL First Star of the Week—John Tavares and Mitch Marner have provided more than enough offense, including leading them to a 7-6 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday. Those offensive performances though, impressive as they are, won’t make anyone forget about William Nylander and his ongoing contract negotiations with the team.
Nylander is still without a deal for this season and is coming up on a week of missed salary as he tries to secure his future earnings with a long-term deal. The young forward has told reporters that he has to think about his whole career, and there has been little to report between the two sides. When asked about it today on TSN radio, hockey insider Darren Dreger explained that the standoff could continue for some time:
Until they get into a real gritty type of negotiation, the stalemate isn’t going to end. One side is locked in in the low sixes, from what we understand, and the other side being Willie Nylander is still eight plus. Well that’s too wide a gap to get solved in three, four or five games. I think it might need a bit more time, unless Nylander just says ’Dad, I don’t want to hear from you for a while. Lewis Gross, you’re my agent, I need $6.4MM per year or I need this much on a bridge deal, go and get it done.’ That didn’t happen in the last day or so.
Dreger is of course referring to the reports that Nylander’s camp—which includes his father, Michael Nylander—is looking for an average annual value somewhere in the $8MM range on a long-term deal, while the Maple Leafs are more comfortable with a salary somewhere between $6-7MM. Neither side seems very interested in a bridge deal, though the possibility they come to terms on one just to get Nylander playing again does still exist.
The Maple Leafs have to tread carefully with these big contracts given the lack of cap flexibility they’ll be working with after signing Tavares to a seven-year $77MM deal this offseason, and the upcoming negotiations with both Matthews and Marner. The gap between asks for Toronto and Nylander is crucial cap space for the club going forward, and as long as they’re winning without him there is little incentive to cave to his demands. The deadline of course is December 1st, when restricted free agents must be signed by if they’re to play at all during the 2018-19 season.
Toronto will be back in action on Tuesday night against the Dallas Stars, but once again will hit the ice without one of their best forwards. While they wait for the Nylander situation to resolve itself, Kasperi Kapanen has taken up residence next to Matthews on the top line and found early chemistry with him on the weekend. There is little doubt that the team will continue to produce offensively in Nylander’s absence, but with the Boston Bruins and other Atlantic Division rivals off to solid starts the Maple Leafs would obviously rather have their full complement of players at coach Mike Babcock’s disposal.