Capitals Acquire Andrew Mangiapane
After adding Pierre-Luc Dubois to shore up their center depth, the Capitals have struck a deal to add an upgrade on the wing. The team announced that they’ve acquired Andrew Mangiapane from the Flames in exchange for Colorado’s 2025 second-round pick (previously acquired).
The 28-year-old had a breakout year in 2021-22, scoring 35 goals after putting up 35 in the previous two seasons combined. Hoping that this was a sign of things to come, Calgary inked Mangiapane to a three-year, $17.4MM contract, buying out his final RFA year plus two more years of club control.
However, Mangiapane hasn’t quite been able to replicate his output from that season. In 2022-23, his output dipped to 17 goals and 26 assists while this season, it went down a bit more as he noted 14 goals and 26 helpers although it’s worth noting that he missed seven games due to injury.
With Calgary committing to a rebuild after being sellers during the season along with moving starting goaltender Jacob Markstrom to New Jersey earlier this month, it makes sense that they were looking to move Mangiapane. They now have two first-round picks and two second-round selections in the 2025 draft while they now sit with just under $29MM in cap room, per CapFriendly. That positions them to be aggressive in free agency or on the trade front if they so desire as only four teams have more space to work with.
Meanwhile, Washington, who is picking up his full salary, was one of the lowest-scoring teams in the league this season and only had three players put up more points than Mangiapane did with the Flames, center Dylan Strome, winger Alex Ovechkin, and defenseman John Carlson. Clearly, GM Brian MacLellan correctly identified that if the Capitals are going to take a step forward and try to push for a top-three spot in the Metropolitan Division, improvements offensively are going to be needed. An expected late second-round pick is a reasonably low enough cost to pay for a short-term upgrade.
With taking on additional salary in the Dubois trade and now adding nearly $6MM with Mangiapane, the Capitals are now technically over next season’s salary cap with just over $90MM in commitments, per CapFriendly. However, with Nicklas Backstrom and his $9.2MM AAV expected to remain on LTIR next season, Washington still has some flexibility to work with although some of that will be needed to re-sign RFA forwards Connor McMichael and Beck Malenstyn at a minimum. T.J. Oshie‘s availability for next season is also in some question and if it’s determined that he won’t be able to play, Washington would be able to add another $5.75MM to its LTIR pool.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Canucks Sign Tyler Myers To Three-Year Extension
Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin continues his slew of moves over the past 24 hours. He’s gotten another one of his pending UFAs locked in, now signing defenseman Tyler Myers to a three-year extension worth $9MM ($3MM cap hit). The deal breaks down as follows, per TSN’s Darren Dreger:
2024-25: $3.8MM base salary, no-move clause
2025-26: $2.9MM base salary, no-move clause
2026-27: $2.3MM base salary, 12-team no-trade list
It’s the third player slated to hit the open market this summer that Vancouver has retained thus far. They’ve also re-upped center Teddy Blueger (two years, $1.8MM AAV) and Dakota Joshua (four years, $3.25MM AAV) to continue boasting solid scoring depth among their bottom six forwards.
Under this deal, Myers will return for his sixth, seventh and eighth seasons in Vancouver. The 34-year-old Texas native joined the Canucks in free agency five years ago, inking a deal that was criticized at the time for its $6MM cap hit. His extension represents a pay cut of 50 percent, but it’s about what his market value would have likely been if he became a free agent next week.
He’s likely best used as a bottom-pairing anchor at this stage of his career. That’s where first-year head coach Rick Tocchet deployed him this season, yielding arguably the best results Myers has put up in a Canucks jersey. The veteran put up 29 points in 77 games, his highest point total since his final season with the Jets in 2018-19, and posted a career-high +16 rating with slightly improved possession metrics in more defense-oriented usage. Correspondingly, it was the first time in his 15-year career that he’d averaged under 20 minutes per game.
Whether Myers will still be worth his new cap hit in the final year of his deal, during which he’ll be turning 37, is a fair question to ask. But with the salary cap expected to jump significant amounts each season as the league is in a strong post-COVID financial state, it shouldn’t be too much of a drag as Allvin continues to try and build out a Cup-contending roster in British Columbia.
Since being selected 12th overall by the Sabres in 2008, the hulking 6’8″ defender has 93 goals, 278 assists, 371 points and a +9 rating in 995 career games. Assuming there’s no freak offseason or early-campaign injuries, he’ll become the 395th (or 396th, looking at Luke Schenn) skater in NHL history to hit 1,000 games played.
After this deal, the Nucks have just over $12MM in projected cap space for next season, per CapFriendly. They have four roster spots to fill, notably those of pending UFAs Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov.
Utah Expected To Sign Miko Matikka To Entry-Level Deal
The Utah Hockey Club is expected to sign right-wing prospect Miko Matikka to his entry-level contract this offseason, reports Brad Elliott Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald.
Matikka, 20, was one of the bevy of reserve list players transferred from the Coyotes to Utah when their hockey operations were officially sold to Smith Entertainment Group earlier this month. He was a third-round pick of the Coyotes (67th overall) in 2022, the draft that landed them Logan Cooley, Conor Geekie and Maveric Lamoureux in the first round.
The big-bodied Finn (6’3″, 201 lbs) had spent his draft year in the Finnish top junior league, recording 19 goals and 33 points in 30 games. That was it for him in his native country, though, as he came over to North America in 2022-23 to play for the USHL’s Madison Capitols and Waterloo Black Hawks after a midseason trade. After one season in U.S. juniors, he made the jump to the collegiate ranks, suiting up as a freshman for the University of Denver. He won a national championship on his first try with the Pios, playing a key depth scoring role with 20 goals and 33 points in 43 games.
It’s a tad surprising to see a day-two pick be one-and-done in college, but the organization and the player likely believe there will be more opportunity for development with Utah’s AHL affiliate, the Tucson Roadrunners, next season. As indicated by Schlossman’s report, he projects to suit up there should he turn pro and ink his ELC this summer.
Canucks Sign Dakota Joshua To Four-Year Extension
2:45 p.m.: The breakdown of Joshua’s contract is as follows, per PuckPedia. It includes a 12-team no-trade clause throughout, the same protection that Blueger received last night.
2024-25: $2.25MM base salary, $2MM signing bonus
2025-26: $2MM base salary, $1.5MM signing bonus
2026-27: $2.625MM base salary
2027-28: $1.625MM base salary, $1MM signing bonus
12:29 p.m.: The Canucks have signed pending UFA winger Dakota Joshua to a four-year, $13MM contract, per a team announcement. The deal is good for a $3.25MM cap hit and keeps him from reaching the open market on Monday.
Joshua, 28, is coming off a breakout 2023-24 season in Vancouver. He was limited to 63 games by an upper-body injury but still managed to record career-highs across the board with 18 goals, 14 assists, 32 points and a +19 rating. His 14:23 average time on ice was also a career-high, indicative of the value he provided while sliding into an everyday role in an NHL top nine for the first time. That point total worked out to 0.51 points per game, a major step up from the 0.29 he scored in his first season with the Canucks last year.
Solid depth scoring aside, Joshua is also an impactful checking presence. His 244 hits led the Canucks by a wide margin this season and finished ninth in the league overall. He has some flexibility at center but has played most of his 184 NHL games on the wing.
A fifth-round pick of the Maple Leafs in 2014, Joshua elected not to sign with Toronto when ending his collegiate tenure at Ohio State five years later. His signing rights were dealt to the Blues, where he landed his first NHL contract immediately after being acquired.
Joshua split his first professional season between St. Louis’ AHL and ECHL affiliates before impressing during training camp entering the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season. He spent a good chunk of the campaign on the taxi squad while also earning his first 12 NHL appearances. He didn’t manage to land a full-time role with the Blues the following year, though, and they let him walk as a Group VI UFA in 2022 after he put up nine points in 42 appearances across two seasons.
Vancouver pounced, and he’s now turned into a bonafide third-line talent for them who provided major surplus value for his $825K cap hit last year. Those days are no more, but it’s hard to argue with a $3.25MM AAV if he can repeat last year’s performance. The extension comes in a bit above the $3.173MM AAV Evolving Hockey had projected for Joshua on a four-year deal on the open market, but players of Joshua’s archetype generally land more than models predict when hitting free agency. The deal is shorter but cheaper annually than the similarly-valued Miles Wood, who landed a six-year, $15MM commitment from the Avalanche as a UFA last summer.
Joshua’s extension is the third notable move that general manager Patrik Allvin has made within the last 24 hours. He’s issued a two-year, $3.6MM extension to Latvian pivot Teddy Blueger, who spent a solid chunk of last season as Joshua’s linemate before Elias Lindholm‘s acquisition from the Flames pushed him down the depth chart. He also made a cap-clearing trade with the Blackhawks, sending out all but $712.5K of Ilya Mikheyev‘s $4.75MM cap hit along with the signing rights to pending UFA forward Sam Lafferty and a 2027 second-round pick. After the trio of transactions, Allvin has just north of $15MM in projected cap space next season with five open roster spots.
Kings, Sharks Swap Kyle Burroughs, Carl Grundström
The Kings have acquired right-shot defenseman Kyle Burroughs from the Sharks in exchange for the signing rights to RFA winger Carl Grundström, the team announced Thursday.
Burroughs, 28, is coming off a difficult year in which he played a role he was never meant for. After breaking into the league as a fringe bottom-pairing presence with the Canucks in 2021, he landed a three-year, $3.3MM commitment from San Jose on the open market last summer.
After the Sharks traded away reigning Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson to the Penguins later in the summer, it was clear there would be a domino effect on the rest of their defense corps. Many players were projected to be overtaxed while compensating for Karlsson’s loss on a team that was squarely and correctly projected to be a lottery contender. Perhaps no one was overworked more than Burroughs, who was thrust into top-four duties alongside Mario Ferraro.
At first glance, it went about as well as one would expect. Averaging north of 19 minutes per game, Burroughs managed two goals and six assists for eight points in 73 games while posting a -42 rating, worst in the league among defensemen. A more detailed look at his stats does yield some promising signs, though. His pairing with Ferraro controlled 48.1% of expected goals when deployed together, the best among any Sharks pairing with more than 100 minutes played this season. He also met expectations physically, leading the Sharks with 233 hits (fourth in the NHL) and placing second in blocks with 134.
But with younger righties Ty Emberson and Henry Thrun deserving of more minutes next season, alongside an expected UFA addition next week, Burroughs was on the cusp of being the odd man out on the San Jose blue line. While obviously not equipped for top-four minutes long-term, the 2013 seventh-round pick does carry signs that he can be effective in an everyday bottom-pairing role.
In Los Angeles, he’ll fight for a third-pairing role alongside Andreas Englund, who would immediately become one of the most fearsome, hardest-hitting duos in the league. Englund played much less than Burroughs on a nightly basis last season, averaging 13:13 per game, but still managed to finish inside the top 20 in hits league-wide. The Kings do have a pair of up-and-coming righties in Jordan Spence and 2021 eighth-overall pick Brandt Clarke, but both (especially the latter) are candidates to slide into second-pairing duties with Matt Roy likely heading elsewhere in free agency.
While parting with Burroughs, the Sharks pick up some checking forward depth in Grundström. The 26-year-old is now on his third NHL team after being drafted by the Maple Leafs in 2016 but being moved to the Kings before making his NHL debut three years later. They have three days to re-sign him or issue him a qualifying offer to retain his signing rights as an RFA this summer.
Injuries limited Grundström to 50 games last year, in which he scored eight goals and 12 points in fourth-line minutes (10:56 per game). The Swede has had decent possession metrics in SoCal and is also a frequent hitter with a good shot when he gets the chance. He’ll look to carry that solid energy play up north to the Bay, where he joins a bottom-six forward group that’s already seen two new names added this summer in Ty Dellandrea and Barclay Goodrow.
The Sharks can expect a new deal for Grundström to come in at around $1.5MM for a one-year term, Evolving Hockey projects. With over $30MM in projected cap space next season, though, the prospective $400K increase on Burroughs is nearly meaningless.
Burroughs remains under contract for two more seasons in Los Angeles. He can hit the UFA market again in 2026.
Sabres, Sharks Swap 2024 First-Round Picks
The Sharks have moved up three spots in tomorrow’s first round of the 2024 NHL Draft, acquiring the 11th overall pick from the Sabres, per a team announcement. They’re sending the 14th overall pick back to Buffalo, which they originally acquired from the Penguins in last year’s Erik Karlsson trade, along with the 42nd overall pick, which was previously acquired from the Devils as part of the return for Timo Meier in February 2023.
San Jose general manager Mike Grier now holds a slightly higher pick that should give him a chance to draft a slightly more impactful talent to develop alongside Boston University standout center Macklin Celebrini, who they’ll be taking with the first overall selection in just over 24 hours. It comes at the expense of a decently positioned second-round choice, although they do still have their own second-rounder in addition to the Lightning’s (No. 53). They picked it up via the Red Wings yesterday, along with defenseman Jake Walman.
Sabres GM Kevyn Adams, meanwhile, had the 11th pick on the block as far back as early this month. Most assumed he’d be leveraging it for some win-now help, which today’s move may actually benefit. The difference in value between No. 11 and No. 14 isn’t terribly large in this year’s deep draft class, and he now owns an additional second-round pick to toss into a trade for a top-six forward. Hurricanes pending RFA Martin Nečas and the Jets’ Nikolaj Ehlers remain attractive options available for acquisition.
Buffalo also still has a deep prospect pool of their own, especially at forward. That made the selection expendable in the eyes of many. Just in the past two years, they’ve used first-round picks on left winger Zach Benson (2023, 13th overall), center Jiri Kulich (2022, 28th overall), center Noah Östlund (2022, 16th overall) and center Matthew Savoie (2022, ninth overall).
There is such a thing as too many prospects, especially with all of them on relatively similar timelines. Roster spots won’t exist for all of them, so it was always a sensical choice for the Sabres to leverage this year’s top selection for other assets.
Senators Sign Matthew Highmore To One-Year Extension
June 27: The Sens confirmed the details of Highmore’s extension in a media release Thursday.
June 26: According to PuckPedia, the Ottawa Senators have re-signed forward Matthew Highmore to a one-year extension. The deal will pay Highmore an AAV of $775K at the NHL level and $400K at the AHL level. It will be Highmore’s eighth year at the professional level and his second straight season with the Senators organization.
Despite a flurry of injuries to their forward core throughout the regular season, Ottawa only recalled Highmore to play seven games for the team this past season. Highmore tallied two assists while averaging less than eight minutes of ice time per night during those seven contests. For the most part, as he’s largely done for much of his career, Highmore suited up for the Senators’ AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators.
Suiting up in 43 games for the AHL Senators, Highmore scored nine goals and 31 points over 43 games which was good for sixth on the team in scoring. On this new contract, it is more than likely that Highmore will start the year in the AHL but serve as a potential depth option if the forward group succumbs to injury.
Throughout this career, in addition to the Senators, Highmore has suited up for the Chicago Blackhawks, Vancouver Canucks, and St. Louis Blues, totaling 12 goals and 29 points over 146 games. Garnering much more experience at the AHL level, Highmore has scored 59 goals and 156 points in 208 games over five seasons.
Blackhawks Acquire Ilya Mikheyev, Sam Lafferty
11:52 p.m.: The trade was later made official by both clubs, although Seravalli’s report indicating the second-round pick heading from Vancouver to Chicago is in 2025 was inaccurate. It’s a 2027 pick, per the teams.
9:14 p.m.: In what has become a rollercoaster of trade, the Chicago Blackhawks are expected to acquire Ilya Mikheyev, the rights to Sam Lafferty, and a second-round pick in 2025 from the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for a fourth-round pick in 2027. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman confirmed Mikheyev waived his M-NTC to facilitate a deal with the Blackhawks. The deal will shed $4.75MM off the books for the Canucks as they look to retain several pending free agents and bring their expected cap space up to $19MM heading into the offseason.
Much like their acquisition of Jason Dickinson nearly two years ago, the Blackhawks have once again weaponized their cap space to acquire a reclamation project from the Canucks organization. Assuming Chicago can sign Lafferty to an extension — the Blackhawks dramatically improve their bottom six for the cost of a fourth-round pick in a draft three years away.
After becoming disgruntled with the Maple Leafs organization, Mikheyev signed a four-year, $19MM contract in Vancouver during the summer of 2022. Unfortunately, during his first preseason game with the Canucks, Mikheyev tore his anterior cruciate ligament but was courageously able to return rather quickly from the injury on October 18th. Mikheyev provided solid secondary contributions the rest of the way for the Canucks by way of scoring 13 goals and 28 points in 43 games before Vancouver finally shut him down for the season in late January.
This past offseason, Mikheyev underwent surgery to repair the injury and would not make his season debut until October 21st. Starting hot out of the gates, Mikheyev put up nine goals and 16 points through his first 25 games of the regular season but could only manage two goals and 15 points over the last 53 contests. In Chicago, Mikheyev will have access to much more playing time which will give him more than enough opportunity to put his career back on a positive trajectory.
If the Blackhawks can sign Lafferty before he hits the open market on July 1st, it will be his second stint with the organization. During the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons, Lafferty spent 97 games in Chicago where the team saw him put up 15 goals and 32 points. Lafferty was originally acquired by the Blackhawks organization from the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for Alexander Nylander before the team shipped him off to the Maple Leafs in the deal that also saw Jake McCabe head to Toronto.
This past season in Vancouver, Lafferty was one of the most reliable bottom-six forwards in the league as he scored 13 goals and 24 points in 73 games while averaging just under 12 minutes of ice time per night. He will likely serve in a similar role with Chicago but he may be able to sneak into the team’s second-line on occasion.
The deal opens up a lot of possibilities for the Canucks, as they were able to offload $4.75MM in salary for a second-round pick only a day after the Detroit Red Wings attached a second-round pick to shed $3.4MM off their books. Vancouver may not be done yet in what is shaping up to be an aggressive offseason for the organization as they look to capitalize on an impressive 2023-24 season.
Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff was the first to report the full trade package.
Seravalli was the first to report which year the draft picks were attributed to.
Canucks Re-Sign Teddy Blueger
5:42 p.m.: Blueger’s deal includes a 12-team no-trade clause in both seasons, PuckPedia reports. He’ll be paid a $775K base salary, with the remainder of the deal paid via signing bonuses ($1.175MM in 2024-25, $875K in 2025-26).
5:05 p.m.: The Canucks announced Wednesday that they’ve re-signed pending free agent center Teddy Blueger to a two-year deal worth $3.6MM, carrying a $1.8MM cap hit.
It’s a good bit of work for GM of the year finalist Patrik Allvin, who retains some solid fourth-line depth for a $100K pay cut from last season’s cap hit. Blueger arrived in Vancouver via free agency last summer, inking a one-year, $1.9MM pact. He was coming off a 2022-23 campaign that saw him dealt from the Penguins to the Golden Knights at the trade deadline, but he played in only six of Vegas’ 22 playoff games in their run to the Stanley Cup.
The Canucks banked on Blueger’s solid play in a bottom-six role in Pittsburgh over the years prior, though, and they got rewarded. The Latvia native isn’t a big-time goal-scorer – he’s never hit double digits in his career. He’s dealt with a decent amount of injuries, too, never playing more than 70 games in a season, but he provides decent offensive production when healthy.
In 2023-24, he rebounded after a difficult campaign that resulted in him scoring only four goals and 16 points in 63 games, his lowest offensive output as a full-time NHLer. Making 68 appearances for the Nucks, he had 28 points (six goals, 22 assists) and excelled in the faceoff circle, winning 53.1% of his draws while averaging 14:56 per game. He provided good possession results despite being used primarily in defensive situations at even strength, controlling 50.8% of shot attempts and 51.3% of expected goals, per Hockey Reference. Blueger also averaged 2:06 per game shorthanded, second among Vancouver forwards behind Elias Lindholm.
He was worth the money last year, and he’ll cost less to retain annually in exchange for an extra year’s worth of commitment. His deal comes in at nearly exactly what Evolving Hockey projected he’d cost on the open market (two years, $1.814MM AAV).
Blueger will likely reprise a fourth-line role next season with heavy PK usage plus some slight upward mobility at even strength. The Canucks still have $16.75MM in projected cap space after the signing with Tucker Poolman on long-term injured reserve, per CapFriendly. They have five roster spots to fill.
Utah Signs Liam O’Brien To Three-Year Extension
The Utah Hockey Club has signed enforcer Liam O’Brien to a three-year extension, Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic reports. He was set to become an unrestricted free agent on Monday. The deal carries a $1MM cap hit, Johnston adds. Jordan Schmaltz of the Live in Five podcast was the first to report the terms of the deal last night.
O’Brien, 29, is coming off his first season as a true NHL regular. While he hasn’t spent any time in the minors since his one-year stint with the Avalanche in 2020-21, he was often a 13th forward for the Coyotes after arriving as a free agent the following season. That changed during the franchise’s final season in the desert, with O’Brien dressing in a career-high 75 games.
He responded with a career-high 14 points (five goals, nine assists), one of which was a goal in their final game in Arizona, a 5-2 win over the Oilers on April 17. O’Brien also led the league in penalty minutes with 153 and led the Coyotes in hits with 229. He’ll now be back with his former teammates as they make the move north to Salt Lake City for 2024-25.
It’s been a long road to NHL relevancy for O’Brien, who at one point went nearly three and a half years between major league appearances (Nov. 10, 2017 – April 2, 2021). Undrafted, the 6’1″, 213-lb forward captained the QMJHL’s Rouyn-Noranda Huskies in his final junior season before landing an entry-level deal with the Capitals. He ended up sticking in the Caps system for six seasons, although most of his time was spent on the farm with the AHL’s Hershey Bears. He racked up 137 points and 638 PIMs in 370 games there between 2014 and 2020, compared to only two points and 28 PIMs in 17 games with the Capitals during that span.
O’Brien will play an immediate fan-favorite role in Utah’s first year. Ice time and appearances will likely be harder for him to carve out with youngsters Josh Doan and Dylan Guenther presumably full-time locks, though, and Utah general manager Bill Armstrong is expected to add some other impact pieces to the roster via trades and free agency. Still, it’s a reasonable commitment for a good energy piece, even if his possession numbers are nothing to write home about. It’s in line with the market value set by Ryan Reaves when he inked a three-year, $1.35MM AAV deal with the Maple Leafs in free agency last summer.
The Halifax native will next be eligible for UFA status in 2027. Armstrong still has $42.56MM in projected cap space to play with this summer with 11 open roster spots, per CapFriendly.