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Snapshots: Three Stars, Lundestrom, Luukkonen

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The NHL has handed out the Three Stars of the Week for the first time this season, naming Auston Matthews as the top performer through the first few games. Matthews leads the NHL with eight points through three games including five goals, and has been a huge part of the Toronto Maple Leafs getting off to a 2-1 start. The Maple Leafs have looked shaky in their own end to start the year, but with the firepower that Matthews and John Tavares can provide up front it might not matter on most nights.

Jonathan Toews and Ben Bishop were named to the other two spots, noting a bounce back for both players this season. Toews especially had a down year as the Chicago Blackhawks disappointed in 2017-18, but is off to a blistering start with five goals in his first seven periods and six points total through three games. If the Blackhawks are to return to relevancy this year, they’ll need their captain to be among the best players in the league once again.

  • Speaking of captains not living up to expectations, the Anaheim Ducks were without Ryan Getzlaf today at practice while he deals with a lower-body injury. That meant first-round pick Isac Lundestrom was skating between Andrew Cogliano and Kiefer Sherwood according to Eric Stephens of The Athletic, giving the young forward a chance to make his NHL debut later tonight. Lundestrom has been surprisingly polished through training camp, and even at the age of 18 looks like a possible contributor for the Ducks this season. The 23rd-overall pick scored 15 points in 42 games in the Swedish Hockey League last season, and will try to make an even bigger impact in the NHL.
  • The Ducks aren’t the only one with an impressive young prospect though, as Buffalo Sabres draft pick Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has won the OHL Player of the Week award. Luukkonen is playing for the Sudbury Wolves this season as he prepares for life as a professional in North America, and is already 5-0 with a .944 save percentage. Selected 54th overall in 2017, Luukkonen signed his entry-level contract this offseason and is quickly becoming one of the top goaltending prospects in the league. He’ll likely start out next season in the AHL, but the Sabres are hoping for big things from him down the line.

Atlantic Notes: Marner, Matthews, Ozhiganov, Stempniak

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With the Toronto Maple Leafs enduring their drawn-out negotiations with restricted free agent William Nylander, it was suggested recently that Toronto try to negotiate deals with future restricted free agents, Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, during the season to avoid similar holdouts next season.

Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston on Saturday Headlines, reported that while Marner’s camp sounds uninterested in discussing a contract extension in-season, Matthews camp is open to a deal.

“There were discussions throughout the summer with both Auston Matthews’ camp Mitch Marner’s camp with their extensions. They could’ve done that July 1, but some of those discussions are off,” Johnston said. “Mitch Marner and his camp have called a moratorium on talks throughout the season. They don’t want to see that distraction. I get the sense that Auston Matthews would be willing to work on his extension throughout this season.”

Matthews would be in line for a major contract pay raise as he is likely looking for pay that may even exceed the $11MM that Tavares received this summer. The 21-year-old posted 40 goals in his rookie campaign. That number dropped a little last year when he tallied 34 goals, but Matthews also missed 20 games due to injury last season.

Marner, on the other hand, hopes to get similar money to that of Matthews and The Athletic’s James Mirtle (subscription required) believes that Marner is ready to take his game to another level and believes he will easily manage to average a point-per-game after impressing in Saturday evening’s game against Ottawa. If he has an 80-point season, Marner will have posted 210 points in his three entry-level seasons, which the scribe compares to numbers of Jack Eichel, who signed an eight-year, $80MM ($10MM AAV) deal a year ago. That could prove to be quite costly for the Maple Leafs as well.

  • In a competitive defensive training camp battle, the Toronto Maple Leafs determined that defenseman Igor Ozhiganov was a keeper earlier than most. However, what does Toronto have in the 25-year-old defender who came over from the KHL this summer. The Athletic’s Ian Tulloch (subscription required) breaks down the play of the 6-foot-2 defender, who moves the puck extremely well, although there remain questions on his defense. While many KHL imports have struggled with moving the puck, Ozhiganov has had quite a bit of success so far, albeit in limited time, giving hope that he could develop into a solid blueliner. However, he does have Justin Holl breathing down his neck as a potential replacement.
  • NBC Sports’ Joe Haggerty, in a mailbag piece, writes that Lee Stempniak, who signed a PTO with the Boston Bruins, continues to remain with the team hoping for a chance to work his way into the team’s lineup. The scribe writes that if youngsters Ryan Donato or Danton Heinen fail to impress in their top-six auditions, the team is keeping Stempniak around as insurance. The 35-year-old, who played 37 games for Carolina last season, said that he would prefer to stay in Boston with his family and will continue to practice with the team for now.

Atlantic Notes: Cooper, Nylander, Kotkaniemi, Kronwall, O’Brien

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Despite the fact that Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper is in the final year of his contract, often a bad sign if a team hasn’t extended him, that isn’t the case here. Cooper and new general manager Julien BriseBois have a long history together as BriseBois was the one who originally hired Cooper back in 2010 as the head coach of their AHL franchise when BriseBois was the assistant general manager.

The Athletic’s Joe Smith (subscription required) documents their long history together and writes that even though negotiations haven’t started, BriseBois and Cooper aren’t worried about it at all, considering the trust and bond the two share together.

“I don’t see anyone else I’d want to work with right now,” BriseBois said, who hoisted a Calder Cup trophy with Cooper seven years ago. “The people who were there with you, you never forget that.”

  • Damien Cox of The Star writes that while the Toronto Maple Leafs haven’t done anything wrong when it comes to the contract situation with holdout William Nylander, the team does need to think about how it intends to manage their next two major contract discussions when they must tangle with Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner. While Nylander is rumored to be asking for $8MM plus in his next deal, both Matthews and Marner could ask for quite a bit more. With the team’s significant cap issues in front of them, the scribe writes the team would be well advised to avoid a similar situation next season by trying to lock those two youngsters up during the season.
  • Montreal Canadiens’ centers have already begun training their newest addition in Jesperi Kotkaniemi by working separately after practice with him on faceoffs on Friday. According to The Athletic’s Marc Antoine Godin (subscription required), Tomas Plekanec, Mathew Peca, Andrew Shaw and Phillip Danault got together and helped teach the 18-year-old some tips and tricks on taking faceoffs with the hopes that the youngster improves his game as quickly as possible.
  • The Detroit Red Wings will be without Niklas Kronwall and Jonathan Ericsson for their two-game road-trip, according to the Detroit Free Press’ Helene St. James. Both defensemen have been on injured reserve and still are not ready to return to action.
  • While not on the Ottawa Senators NHL roster, Matt Tidcombe of the Belleville Senators website reports that team lost forward Jim O’Brien for four to six months after the 29-year-old forward underwent surgery on a severed tendon in his right leg in an AHL preseason game. O’Brien played 10 games for Ottawa last year.

Auston Matthews' Next Deal Could Exceed $12MM

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While Maple Leafs team President Brendan Shanahan inferred yesterday that their young stars may need to take a little less money to keep the team together, Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic suggested on the latest TSN Insider Trading (video link) that Toronto may have to make an exception when it comes to center Auston Matthews.  He suggests that the salary range for the 21-year-old will likely fall between $12MM and $12.5MM on his next contract and while the high end of that range equals Connor McDavid’s AAV in Edmonton, the continued increase of the Upper Limit means that Matthews could equal (or even beat) McDavid’s cap hit while actually taking a lower percentage of the salary cap.

Snapshots: Nylander, Senators, Memorial Cup

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Despite the Toronto Maple Leafs first win of the season last night, the team is still embroiled in a contract negotiation with star forward William Nylander that hangs over the club and draws daily questions from the media. For his part, Nylander hadn’t said much other than the fact that he wanted to be in Toronto for a long time and was letting his agent deal with the negotiations. That was before the season started though, so when he was quoted today by Swedish news outlet Aftobladet it drew quite a lot of attention.

Nylander is training in Sweden and told the reporters that he has still let his agent do all the talking between his side and the Maple Leafs, admitting that he hadn’t spoken to Toronto personally at all. Though Nylander isn’t receiving money that he could be earning had he signed before the season started, he explained that he has to worry about his long-term future in the league and not just what is going on right now. That comes just after team President Brendan Shanahan spoke to the media in Toronto and explained that the team expects their young players to want to win more than make the most money possible, and that leaving some on the table was basically a requirement to keep everyone together. Nylander, as a restricted free agent, has to sign a contract by December 1st or be declared ineligible to play in the NHL this season.

  • The Ottawa Senators are getting ready to open their season tonight, and have added to their scouting staff for the upcoming season. The team announced the hiring of Rob Murphy to the pro scouting group, who brings a wealth of experience along with him. Murphy was most recently the director of scouting for the Buffalo Sabres, and had previously worked with the Senators and Arizona Coyotes. GM Pierre Dorion released an enthusiastic statement on the hiring, explaining that Murphy is “another important step” in the team’s rebuild.
  • While this year’s Memorial Cup will be held in Halifax, the CHL announced that the Kelowna Rockets will host the 2020 tournament that pits the best of the best in Canadian junior hockey against each other. Kelowna will get an automatic entry into the tournament as the host city, and will face off against the WHL, OHL and QMJHL champions for the prestigious trophy.

Latest On William Nylander, Toronto Maple Leafs

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While the Toronto Maple Leafs get their season started against the Montreal Canadiens tonight, there is one player conspicuously missing from the lineup. That’s William Nylander, who is still without a contract and now missing regular season games as he holds out for a lucrative long-term deal. The Maple Leafs are moving forward without Nylander on the wing of Auston Matthews, but certainly don’t want to wait very long for one of their young stars to re-enter the lineup.

Still, the Maple Leafs know they can’t give in to demands and pay Nylander an exceptional amount of money. Toronto will soon be faced with a very real cap crunch as Matthews and fellow star forward Mitch Marner finish their own entry-level contracts this season, and with John Tavares already locked up for $11MM per season there isn’t a ton of money to go around. It’s Tavares that the team hopes its young forwards take a lesson from according to President and Alternate Governor Brendan Shanahan, who told reporters today including Kristen Shilton of TSN that the club expects their players to want to win hockey games more than earn the absolute most money possible. That’s what Tavares did this summer according to Shanahan, and also what he believes his Stanley Cup-winning Detroit Red Wings teams did when he was still on the ice.

Tavares did indeed leave money on the table to come to Toronto, as Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports in his excellent recent piece detailing the offseason signing. Friedman writes that the San Jose Sharks were rumored to be willing to offer $13.5MM per season, while the New York Islanders basically had a blank check waiting for Tavares, one that would have been filled out in “McDavid territory.”

While that may have been Shanahan just sharing some honest feelings with the media as he approached the season opener, it also seems as though it is a bit of a negotiation tactic with his unsigned star. The Maple Leafs are forging on ahead without Nylander at the moment, and aren’t willing to put themselves in a tough spot financially by catering to whatever the player is asking for. It’s a tough stance for Toronto fans to appreciate, but it might end up saving them in the end if they plan on keeping their young core together long-term.

Four Players Claimed Off Waivers

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The Toronto Maple Leafs came into today with some enviable goaltending depth, but will leave it with question marks at the minor league level. The team has lost both Curtis McElhinney and Calvin Pickard on waivers, claimed by the Carolina Hurricanes and Philadelphia Flyers respectively. The Washington Capitals have also claimed Dmitrij Jaskin from the St. Louis Blues, while the Buffalo Sabres, with the first waiver selection and a need for healthy forwards, snatched Remi Elie from the Dallas Stars.

Gustav Olofsson, who was rumored to be available in trade recently, was placed on waivers today by the Minnesota Wild. The rest of the players from yesterday have cleared, and can now be assigned to the minor leagues.

You can bet the Maple Leafs were expecting at least one goaltender to be claimed, given that they chose to protect the younger Garret Sparks over the proven McElhinney when it came to deciding who would backup Frederik Andersen to start the season, but losing both on the same day does weaken their depth at the position quite a bit. That leaves Kasimir Kaskisuo and Eamon McAdam as the only two other goaltenders under contract, though former top pick Justin Peters was in minor league camp with their AHL club recently.

Both Carolina and Philadelphia are dealing with injury to their NHL netminders, with the Hurricanes in particular facing a stretch of “weeks” without Scott Darling. McElhinney will pair with Petr Mrazek for the Hurricanes for the time being, but after Darling is deemed healthy the team will have to deal with a similar situation to the one Toronto had this week. If the Hurricanes or Flyers try to waive McElhinney or Pickard at any point this season, the Maple Leafs could potentially reclaim them and send them directly to the minor leagues—provided they’re the only team making a claim at that time.

Jaskin and Elie may end up being even more important claims, as both provide some excellent depth for their new clubs for a reasonable price. Jaskin was an effective bottom-six checker for the Blues but didn’t have a chair when the music stopped this time around, given the glut of newcomers finding roles in St. Louis. His 17 points in 76 games last season don’t look like a lot, but given the role that he played and the one he’ll be asked to fill in Washington there’s no reason to believe he can’t still be successful.

Elie on the other hand is just 23 years old still and scraping the surface on his potential. The Sabres will hope they can coax out a legitimate third-line winger out of him down the road, but have once again improved their depth at forward without sacrificing much. Elie is signed for just $735K this season and will still be a restricted free agent next summer, and was picked 40th overall just five years ago. With Scott Wilson facing a long rehab after recent surgery, Elie will likely find himself in the lineup before long and given a chance to contribute on the remade Sabres.

Connor Carrick Traded To Dallas Stars

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The Toronto Maple Leafs announced this morning that Connor Carrick would be placed on waivers, but the defenseman never made it there. Instead, he’s been traded to the Dallas Stars in exchange for a conditional 2019 seventh-round pick. That pick will become a sixth-round selection if Carrick plays in 50 games for the Stars this season. There is no salary retained in the deal, meaning Dallas will pick up Carrick’s entire $1.3MM cap hit for 2018-19.

Carrick’s career has slowed considerably over the year, and found himself passed over by several other names in the Maple Leafs depth chart. After suiting up for 73 games for Toronto in the 2016-17 season including all six of their playoff contests against the Washington Capitals, he found himself on the outside looking in quite often last year and was essentially replaced on the roster by Travis Dermott. The only thing that represented some hope for Carrick heading into this season was the lack of depth on the right side for the Maple Leafs, after the departure of Roman Polak—ironically also to the Stars through free agency. Unproven rookie Igor Ozhiganov and 26-year old minor league veteran Justin Holl will start on the Maple Leafs roster as right-handed options now that Carrick has moved on.

Given those who have replaced him in Toronto, one might think that Carrick has struggled mightily to perform at the NHL level. That’s not necessarily true given his excellent possession statistics and reasonable point production last season, but detractors will point to his extremely sheltered usage under head coach Mike Babcock as a reason to believe he won’t be able to handle an increased role. Still, Carrick is just 24 years old and has put up huge numbers at the minor league level in the Maple Leafs and Washington Capitals organization, and should be given a chance to succeed in Dallas this season.

Interestingly, Carrick would seem to objectively carry more value to an organization than fellow depth defenseman Jakub Jerabek, but was able to fetch the Maple Leafs less than the sixth-round pick acquired this morning by the Edmonton Oilers in their trade of the latter. Though Carrick does carry a slightly larger cap hit—Jerabek’s one-year contract is worth just $1MM—he also will still be a restricted free agent next summer and provide another option for the Stars. Polak and Marc Methot are currently scheduled to become unrestricted free agents on July 1, 2019 and could be allowed to walk if Carrick can show his potential was never fully reached in Toronto.

Where he’ll fit into the Dallas lineup isn’t clear at present. Playing exclusively on the right side in Toronto, Carrick seemingly enters a depth chart behind other established options like John Klingberg, Stephen Johns and Polak. Julius Honka still hasn’t been able to lock up a full-time role with the Stars, but also represents a right-handed option for the team going forward. Still, for the cost of a seventh round pick the team will be able to take a first hand look at Carrick and see if they can squeeze any NHL performance out of him over the season. If they can’t, there isn’t a huge loss if they have to try to sneak him through waivers once again.

Training Camp Cuts: 10/01/18

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The regular season is just around the corner, and teams are making the very final cuts to their opening night roster. Almost two dozen players have also been placed on waivers today, though they can’t actually be assigned until they clear tomorrow. We’ll keep track of all the final moves right here:

Boston Bruins (per team release)

F Peter Cehlarik (to Providence, AHL)
F Trent Frederic (to Providence, AHL)

Buffalo Sabres (per team release)

F Alexander Nylander (to Rochester, AHL)
D Brendan Guhle (to Rochester, AHL)
D Brandon Hickey (to Rochester, AHL)

Columbus Blue Jackets (per team release)

F Kevin Stenlund (to Cleveland, AHL)
F Jonathan Davidsson (to Djurgardens, Sweden)

Dallas Stars (per Mark Stepneski, NHL.com)

G Landon Bow (to Texas, AHL)
G Colton Point (to Texas, AHL)

Detroit Red Wings (per team Twitter)

D Dylan McIlrath (to Grand Rapids, AHL)
F Matt Puempel (to Grand Rapids, AHL)
F Lane Zablocki (to Kelowna, WHL)

Florida Panthers (per George Richards, The Athletic)

F Henrik Borgstrom (to Springfield, AHL)
F Juho Lammikko (to Springfield, AHL)
F Dryden Hunt (to Springfield, AHL)
D Ian McCoshen (to Springfield, AHL)

Los Angeles Kings (per team release)

F Matt Luff (to Ontario, AHL)
D Daniel Brickley (to Ontario, AHL)
D Kale Clague (to Ontario, AHL)
D Kurtis MacDermid (to Ontario, AHL)
G Cal Petersen (to Ontario, AHL)

Minnesota Wild (per team release)

F Mike Liambas (to Iowa, AHL)
F Kyle Rau (to Iowa, AHL)
F Matt Read (to Iowa, AHL)
D Matt Bartkowski (to Iowa, AHL)
D Josh Thrower (to Iowa, AHL)
G Andrew Hammond (to Iowa, AHL)

Montreal Canadiens (per team release)

F Kenny Agostino (to Laval, AHL)
F Michael Chaput (to Laval, AHL)

Nashville Predators (per team release)

F Colin Blackwell (to Milwaukee, AHL)

Pittsburgh Penguins (per team release)

F Zach Aston-Reese (to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, AHL)
D Zach Trotman (to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, AHL)

Winnipeg Jets (per team release)

F Michael Spacek (to Manitoba, AHL)

Toronto Maple Leafs Place Three On Waivers

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Though the full list of waivers won’t come out for another hour, the Toronto Maple Leafs have announced their final few cuts. The team has placed Curtis McElhinney and Calvin Pickard on waivers in order to send them to the minor leagues. The move signals that Garret Sparks has won the job as backup to Frederik Andersen, and several other players on the bubble like Igor Ozhiganov, Martin Marincin, Justin Holl and Frederik Gauthier will all start the year with the NHL team.

Interestingly the team also announced that Connor Carrick would be placed on waivers, though his name was not included on the list submitted to the NHL. That’s because he was later traded to the Dallas Stars for a conditional seventh-round pick.

In keeping Sparks with the NHL club, the team has seemingly handed over the backup role to a younger player with more potential, albeit one that may come with more risk. McElhinney has performed incredibly well for the Maple Leafs since being claimed from the Columbus Blue Jackets, but is now 35 years old and likely will be seeing a decline before long. Sparks, 25, is coming off an AHL Goaltender of the Year award and a Calder Cup with the Toronto Marlies, and would almost certainly be claimed by a goaltending-needy team somewhere around the league. That same thing may happen with the veteran McElhinney or Pickard, who also has plenty of NHL experience and is still young enough to have a bit of upside remaining.

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