Expansion Requirements Still Needing Attention
For teams outside the playoffs, preparation for the summer months starts early. Free agency, coaching staffs, prospect profiles and this year, another interesting workload: the Expansion Draft. For many teams, much of the work to prepare for the expansion draft was already done during the season. We saw extensions for players like Michal Rozsival, trades for fringe forwards like Eric Fehr, and goaltenders given contracts without ever really making an NHL impact.
But still there remains much to be done in preparation for the draft, and contracts should come out over the next month to protect teams from an unexpected loss. Each team must expose at least two forwards and one defender who is both a) under contract for 2017-18 and b) played either 40 games in 2016-17 OR a total of 70 games in 2015-16 and 2016-17 combined. They must also expose one goaltender who is either under contract for 2017-18 or will be an RFA this summer. While much of this depends on who each team decides to protect, these are the situations that will likely see a move or extension handed out before the deadline.
Arizona Coyotes
The Coyotes currently have just three forwards who could fill this requirement: Jamie McGinn, Tobias Rieder and Brad Richardson. While Richardson is an easy choice, the other two don’t deserve to be exposed even if McGinn did have a disappointing year. The easy way to solve it would be extend Josh Jooris, who qualifies but doesn’t have a contract past this season currently. Peter Holland could also be sacrificed, though it’s unclear whether the front office believes in him as a piece going forward for this team.
Arizona Coyotes Sign Jens Looke To Entry-Level Contract
While half the NHL prepares for the playoffs, the Arizona Coyotes are busy working to get their draft picks under contract. Today, they’ve signed Jens Looke to an entry-level deal. The team did not release the details of the contract.
The Coyotes took Looke in the third round (83rd overall) of the 2015 draft with a pick originally belonging to the Washington Capitals—it had previously been traded to Calgary for Curtis Glencross, before the Flames used it to move up in the draft. Since then, Looke has actually moved slightly backwards, being relegated to play second Swedish league for Timra when he had been playing for Brynas of the SHL. Despite that, Looke has played on three straight World Junior teams for Sweden, and impressed with his excellent playmaking ability.
The Coyotes continue to lock up young talent and build a pipeline for the future, and will have another chance at the draft in June. With the third-best odds (tied with Vegas) for the first pick, it will be interesting to see where they will pick. The Coyotes have selected a player from the OHL in the first round of four straight drafts, and haven’t taken an international player that high since selecting Oliver Ekman-Larsson in 2009.
NHL Releases Official Draft Lottery Odds
The NHL has released the official odds for the upcoming draft lottery, which determines the order in which each team outside the playoffs will select in this year’s entry draft. The Colorado Avalanche lead the way with an 18% chance of winning, while the Vegas Golden Knights will be given the same odds as the third worst team this season, the Arizona Coyotes at 10.3%. The lottery will be held in Toronto on April 29th. The full odds are as follows:
Colorado Avalanche: 18%
Vancouver Canucks: 12.1%
Vegas Golden Knights: 10.3%
Arizona Coyotes: 10.3%
New Jersey Devils: 8.5%
Buffalo Sabres: 7.6%
Detroit Red Wings: 6.7%
Dallas Stars: 5.8%
Florida Panthers: 5.4%
Los Angeles Kings: 4.5%
Carolina Hurricanes: 3.2%
Winnipeg Jets: 2.7%
Philadelphia Flyers: 2.2%
Tampa Bay Lightning: 1.8%
New York Islanders: 0.9%
In the draft lottery, three teams actually “win”, and have the chance to move up from their finishing position. This means teams currently slotted 1-12 can only move a possible three spots down in the order, and only if teams behind them are selected. Last season, the Maple Leafs were selected first and retained their top spot, though the Columbus Blue Jackets and Winnipeg Jets hopped from fourth and sixth to third and second respectively. Vancouver, who had the third highest odds, dropped to fifth overall.
One will also remember the lottery that gave the Edmonton Oilers Connor McDavid, despite the Buffalo Sabres and Arizona Coyotes both having worse records. It wasn’t the first time Edmonton won a draft lottery, but it looks like it will be the last for at least the next few years, as they’re in the playoffs and will pick in the back half of the first round for the first time since 2005-06.
This year, the top prize is Nolan Patrick who retained his crown as the top rated skater in today’s final release of the NHL Central Scouting rankings. Though he’s not McDavid, every team on this list will be hoping to win the lottery and have the chance of drafting a future #1 center.
Chris Johnston of Sportsnet was the first to tweet out the full odds, though TSN and HockeyViz.com had correct unofficial numbers over a month ago.
Afternoon Notes: Vrbata, Fontaine, Khaira
Radim Vrbata is an interesting case this summer, as he heads into free agency once again following a very successful bounce-back campaign. In 81 games for the Arizona Coyotes, Vrbata scored 20 goals and 55 points showing that he is still a capable offensive player even at his advanced age. He’ll be 36 this summer, and told Craig Morgan of AZ Sports today that if he came back to the Coyotes it would be on a one-year deal.
It’s unclear whether that means he would consider a multi-year deal somewhere else, but after not trading him at the deadline it was clear that Arizona hoped he would stay past this season. The winger would be an early candidate for trade deadline fodder again, as the Coyotes will have a hard time competing again next season as they continue their rebuild.
- The New York Rangers have signed Gabriel Fontaine to an entry-level contract, despite him still being deep in a playoff run with the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. The sixth-round pick had 52 points in 59 games this season and projects and will likely join the Rangers’ AHL affiliate next season. Though he has the size to make the NHL one day, it is still a long way away for Fontaine as he’ll need to perfect his two-way game. Without the high-end skill that would allow him to play in the top-six, he will make it in professional hockey by continuing to play solid defensively and improve in the faceoff dot. The Huskies will continue their series against Chicoutimi tomorrow night.
- Edmonton has brought Jujhar Khaira back up prior to their playoff series against the San Jose Sharks. The 22-year old forward played 10 games for the Oilers this season, registering just a single goal. Khaira represents some center depth for the Oilers and a heavy forward who could be inserted onto the fourth line if the team feels it needs a change.
- According to Dan Rosen of NHL.com, the Los Angeles Kings have sent Adrian Kempe, Jonny Brodzinski and Paul LaDue back to the AHL for the Ontario Reign’s playoff run. The three have all played the majority of the season in the minors and will be a big part of any Calder Cup aspirations the Reign may have.
- In a similar move, the Tampa Bay Lightning have sent Cory Conacher, Jake Dotchin, Gabriel Dumont, Adam Erne and Yanni Gourde all back down to the Syracuse Crunch to help the AHL team in the playoffs. The sheer amount of players that Tampa Bay had pulled from their minor league team shows how decimated they were by injury this year, while still only missing the playoffs by one point. The Crunch were in first place for much of the season, but after losing almost half their starting lineup to the NHL slipped slightly in the last month. They’ll go in as one of the favorites now that they have this group back.
- Both Joe Thornton and Logan Couture were back at San Jose Sharks’ practice today according to Kevin Kurz of NBC. The two centermen were both in regular sweaters, though Couture skated with a full cage on his helmet. It wouldn’t be surprising to see both of them suit up for game one of their series on Wednesday night, which would be a huge boost to a Sharks team that struggled down the stretch.
Morning Notes: QMJHL Awards, Bartkowski, Doan
The Golden Puck awards were last night in the QMJHL, and some big prospect names were read out. Nico Hischier, expected to go in the top two selections in this summer’s entry draft, was awarded Rookie of the Year after his 86 point season. As expected, Hischier also received the Best Professional Prospect award. Vitaly Abramov was named the Most Valuable Player, which will be music to Columbus Blue Jackets’ fans ears after selecting him 65th overall in the summer. Abramov’s 104 points were actually only 11 more than last season, as he has shown dominance since the moment he stepped into the Q.
Another big winner was Ottawa Senators prospect Thomas Chabot, who took home Defenseman of the Year and Personality of the Year. The 20-year old had an outstanding year both for Saint John and Team Canada at the World Juniors, but it is the Paul-Dumont Trophy for personality that will really excite his franchise. “Chabot demonstrated exemplary behaviour during the season,” reads the award announcement that has an exceptional history of talented players. Sidney Crosby, Nikolaj Ehlers, Jonathan Drouin, Jonathan Huberdeau, Kris Letang, Simon Gagne and Brad Richards are just some of the names that have taken home the award.
- The NHL decided yesterday to rescind the instigator penalty given to Matt Bartkowski and fine imposed on coach Glen Gulutzan on Tuesday night, according to John Shannon of Sportsnet. The penalty comes with an automatic one-game suspension, but is always reviewed by the league. Bartkowski earned the penalty after Korbinian Holzer took a run at Matthew Tkachuk in the open ice, as the game had started to get out of hand after Mark Giordano‘s hit on Cam Fowler. No suspensions will come out of the game.
- Shane Doan has trouble balancing the thirst for a Stanley Cup victory with the desire to play for only one franchise his whole career. He tells Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press that “the honor of being able to play with the same organization my whole career is something that I don’t take lightly.” Whyno goes on to write though, that winning a Stanley Cup isn’t something Doan can do in Arizona, and that he is currently considering retirement. While some Coyotes fans may think he should have been traded at the deadline for an asset, it is refreshing to see a player with such dedication to his organization.
Minor Moves: Gillies, Ullmark, Bondra, Morin
According to John Shannon of Sportsnet, the Calgary Flames will recall goaltender Jon Gillies prior to their game in Los Angeles tomorrow night. The Flames sent Chad Johnson home for precautionary reasons following his lower-body injury on Tuesday night. Even though the last two games are very important for the Flames in determining their playoff seeding Shannon wouldn’t be surprised to see the team give Gillies the start tomorrow.
Gillies, 23, had an outstanding career at Providence College before debuting in the AHL last year. A hip injury derailed his rookie season, needing surgery in December of 2015 to correct a long-standing issue. This year his game hasn’t come all the way back, posting just a .909 save percentage through 38 games at the AHL. He remains one of the top goaltending prospects in the league though, and may get his chance to start a game in the NHL for the first time tomorrow night.
- The Buffalo Sabres have recalled Linus Ullmark for much the same reason, with Anders Nilsson suffering a minor injury. Robin Lehner will get the start tonight again Montreal, as the team winds down their season. Ullmark, still just 23, hasn’t gotten back on the ice in the NHL this season despite his impressive 20-game stint with the club last year. Registering a .913 save percentage in those games, the former Swedish pro has shown that he can handle the NHL game. This season hasn’t gone as well in the AHL, but he still remains part of the Sabres future in net going forward.
- Scott Powers of The Athletic tells us that Radovan Bondra will join the Rockford IceHogs for their last few games before negotiating an entry-level contract. The 20-year old power forward had 63 points in 62 games split between the Vancouver Giants and Prince George Cougars of the WHL. At 6’5″ 220-lbs, the Slovakian winger already has more than enough size for professional hockey, but actually needs to improve his consistent physical game as he floats to the perimeter at times.
- The Arizona Coyotes announced today that Kyle Capobianco will join the Tucson Roadrunners for the end of the season. Capobianco already signed his entry-level deal in October, and has just completed his fourth season with the OHL’s Sudbury Wolves. The defenseman racked up another 45 points this season, his third straight excellent offensive campaign for the Wolves. While the defensive game is still a big question mark for Capobianco, his size and skating ability should lend itself to a solid development path as he inches towards the NHL. He’ll be 20 next year and will probably play all season with the Roadrunners.
- Samuel Morin and Colin McDonald are on their way back to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, though one or both could be back in time for Saturday’s matchup against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Morin debuted successfully on Tuesday night, skating almost 18 minutes alongside Shayne Gostisbehere and registering seven hits in the game. While his game still needs work—as even he admitted after the game, saying that he still needed to mature physically—he provides hope for Flyers’ fans for the future of their blue line.
- The Blue Jackets have assigned Oscar Dansk to the AHL following his season with Rogle of the Swedish Hockey League. The second-round pick from 2012 has continued to develop in Sweden while the Blue Jackets kept Joonas Korpisalo and Anton Forsberg here in North America. The three young netminders represent one of the strongest goaltending pipelines in the league at the moment, as each has shown high potential at times. They’ll compete for the NHL backup spot next season, and for starts in the AHL.
Snapshots: Hughes, Hurricanes, Ekman-Larsson
It’s not a name that you may be familiar with just yet, but Jack Hughes is one to remember. The 15-year old was captain of the Toronto Marlboros, one of the best midget teams in the country and expected to go first overall in the upcoming OHL draft to the Barrie Colts. Eligible for the 2019 NHL entry draft, Hughes is an early (very early) favorite for the top few picks.
Instead, Darren Dreger of TSN is reporting that Hughes—born in Orlando, Florida—will sign with the US National Development Team for the next part of his hockey career. As Dreger says, it will be interesting now to see how far he falls in the OHL draft as there have been examples before of players telling the league they would be heading somewhere else, only to sign with a stronger team (see: London Knights) after falling in the draft. Regardless of where he plays, Hughes is a phenom that deserves attention even at a young age.
- In addition to recalling Bryan Bickell less than five months after he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, the Carolina Hurricanes have brought up Andrew Poturalski from Charlotte and sent Lucas Wallmark and Phillip Di Giuseppe to the AHL. Poturalski went undrafted and signed with the Hurricanes last spring out of the University of New Hampshire. He has shown immense promise in his rookie AHL season, scoring 48 points in 69 games.
- Oliver Ekman-Larsson‘s season has come to an end early, as the team granted him early release to head home and deal with the death of his mother. She had been fighting a battle with cancer all season, something that has weighed on Ekman-Larsson throughout the year. “This has been a very difficult year for me personally,” said Ekman-Larsson in a statement on the team website. “I’d like to thank the Coyotes organization and all of my teammates for their incredible support all season long. I’m sorry that I’ll miss our last three games but family comes first.”
- The Coyotes won’t be the only team without a top defender for the last few games, as the Florida Panthers will likely shut down Aaron Ekblad for the remainder of the season according to George Richards of the Miami Herald. Ekblad returned from a concussion on March 21st—a move that seemed reckless at the time—only to suffer headaches immediately after the game, causing coach Tom Rowe to admit his mistake. For the Panthers, who are eliminated from playoff contention, protecting your superstar defenseman is more important than winning some meaningless games down the stretch.
Snapshots: Zaitsev, Richardson, Flames Arena
Earlier this week, news broke that the Maple Leafs were closing in on a seven-year extension for defenseman Nikita Zaitsev.
The deal is expected to be around $4.5MM per season, which would be a big raise for the 25-year-old rookie coming off his entry-level deal. The expected terms would be comparable to at least 20 top-four defensemen, at around 5-7 per cent of the salary cap and 5-8 years.
Zaitsev has been a solid addition to the Maple Leafs’ blue line, with four goals and 30 assists so far. He’s closing in on Borje Salming‘s record of 33 assists for a rookie defenseman. He’s also leading the team in average ice-time, at 22:16 per game. Despite his good season paired with Morgan Rielly, the Maple Leafs need to be careful. The contract would take him to age 32, an age where defensemen begin to physically break down. In addition, Zaitsev has played just 76 games in the NHL. That’s not a long track record; Shayne Gostisbehere was very good in his rookie year but hasn’t found the same dominance this season as opponents figured out how to shut him down more effectively. The two defensemen play different styles, but the comparison illustrates the potential risk of judging a player based on one season. While a bridge deal minimizes that risk, the team then risks having to pay the player more should he develop further.
The rumored cap hit of $4.5MM is fair value for a top-four defenseman, but the term is risky. Nothing has indicated Zaitsev will struggle, but seven years is a long time.
- Arizona Coyotes forward Brad Richardson will not play again this season, the team announced Saturday. Richardson hasn’t played since mid-November, when he broke his tibia and fibula in a collision with Canucks defenseman Nikita Tryamkin. GM John Chayka said Richardson underwent a procedure to “remove hardware” from the previous surgery. He’s expected to be ready for training camp. Richardson was having a very good season before the injury, with nine points in 16 games.
- The same week that his team clinched a playoff spot, the Calgary Flames President and CEO Ken King made some less-than-popular remarks on Fan 590. Should the team and the city be unable to agree on a new arena deal, then King said “there would be no threat to move, we would just move, and it would be over” (via CBC). It’s not an unprecedented strategy to get public money for a new arena – Edmonton owner Darryl Katz publicly visited Seattle in 2012, months before the deal was finalized to build Rogers Place. Even so, it’s a risky ploy, especially as the team begins selling playoff tickets.
Minor Moves: Kase, Fischer
The Anaheim Ducks have re-assigned Ondrej Kase to the San Diego Gulls after bringing him up just two days ago. He didn’t get into a game this time around, but has played 51 for the Ducks this season. With 14 points in this his rookie season, Kase has already eclipsed even the highest of expectations from when he was picked in the seventh-round of the 2014 draft. An effective bottom-six player, his possession numbers have been excellent in his short career.
Kase is just 21, and should find his way back to the NHL at some point. The Ducks will likely need him at some point in the playoffs as the grind of the long season takes its victims. Just one point ahead of the Edmonton Oilers for first place in the Pacific, Anaheim has a long road ahead of them if they want to get back to the Stanley Cup final for the first time since 2007.
- The Arizona Coyotes have sent Christian Fischer back to the AHL after a four-game stint. At seven games total on the year, the 19-year old Fischer will see his entry-level contract slide once again, meaning he won’t become a restricted free agent until the summer of 2020. Selected in the second round (but 32nd overall) in 2015, Fischer has dominated the AHL as a rookie. In 51 games at the lower level, the big winger has scored 43 points. He even registered three goals in his short NHL stint this year, despite playing only 12 minutes a night. As he turns 20 next season, his contract will no longer slide and the Coyotes may decide to install him full-time in the NHL. His talent could lead to a top-six future, though he’ll likely have to impress even more to be handed that role right from the start of the season.
Coyotes Exploring Ownership Restructure
It was reported earlier today that Randy Frankel, a minority shareholder for the MLB’s Tampa Bay Rays, was considering buying into the Arizona Coyotes. Sportsnet’s John Shannon believed that Frankel could be a potential partner for the ‘Yotes current majority owner, Andrew Barroway, as some part of larger shakeup. However, an article released later in the day by Arizona Sports’ Craig Morgan reveals that there are much bigger dealings afoot.
Morgan reports that the minority owners in Arizona have extended an offer to Barroway to buy out their shares of the organization. Barroway allegedly has until June 6th to raise the capital for a takeover and become sole owner of the Coyotes or at least leader of a new ownership group. As Shannon noted, Frankel is in the mix as a potential financial backer of the sale, as is his fellow Rays minority shareholder Tim Mullen. Morgan adds that, if Barroway chooses not to take advantage of the option, the minority owners will then be given the opportunity to buy out Barroway’s majority stake. It is also possible that neither sale occurs.
It is no surprise that the Coyotes are an organization in flux, as they have had highly-publicized issues for years with the state of Arizona. After the city of Glendale, their current home, recently terminated the team’s long-term arena lease, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman made it clear that the “Arizona Coyotes must have a new arena location to succeed. The Coyotes cannot and will not remain in Glendale.” Bettman has been poignant in his remarks about how arena relations have gone for the Coyotes in Arizona, and has reached out to state leadership directly to discuss alternative options. So far, his efforts have been futile. A plan to construct an arena complex with Arizona State University in Tempe fell through, a privately-funded offer to build a new arena on an Indian reservation outside of Scottsdale has failed to gain steam, and most recently the team had been exploring the option of building a new home alongside the MLB’s Chicago Cubs’ spring training facility in Mesa. As always, there have been continuing rumors about relocation outside of Arizona as well, most of it geared toward a move up the west coast to Portland, Oregon or Seattle, Washington.
One thing is certain: finding a new home would be the core objective of any new majority ownership group for the Coyotes. Their relationship with the city of Glendale is ruined and the team ranks last in the Western Conference in attendance. An organization that is loaded with skilled, young talent has a bright future ahead of them, but can only maximize that success in a new location. This is a story that won’t be going away any time soon.