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Snapshots: Predators, Strome, Athanasiou

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The Nashville Predators are gearing up for an exciting season writes Adam Vingan of the Tennessean. Vingan makes his case for a trio of predictions as the season approaches. He writes that the over/under should be set at 35 goals for Filip Forsberg, but sees him falling short of 40. As for newly acquired defenseman P.K. Subban, Vingan bets that Subban will easily break 60 points. Vingan sees Pekka Rinne’s as playing better than last season, but cautions that it may not be significant enough to warrant a dramatic improvement. He also points out that it was Rinne’s up and down play that made the Predators inconsistent.

In other NHL news:

  • Arizona Coyotes forward Dylan Strome says he’s done with junior hockey and the timing couldn’t be more impeccable. With the Coyotes buying out the contract of Antoine Vermette earlier today, the path seems clear for the 19-year-old forward. Craig Hagerman writes that the 2015 third overall pick is ready for the next step in his career after posting consecutive 100+ point seasons in the OHL. One of the final roster cuts last Fall, Hagerman reports that another year of seasoning and strong performance has Strome hopeful for a shot with the big club.
  • Speedy Detroit Red Wings forward Andreas Athanasiou isn’t concerned about his starting place this fall the Detroit Free Press’ Helene St. James reports.  Despite dazzling when given some ice time late in the regular season and then the playoffs, Athanasiou might be an odd man out when the Red Wings head into the 2016-17 season. With the addition of forwards Thomas Vanek, Frans Nielsen, and Steve Ott, roster space is limited, but Athanasiou says that he won’t let if affect him. St. James writes that along with Anthony Mantha, Athanasiou cannot be claimed on waivers. While this may not prove popular with the Red Wings fanbase, Athanasiou seems more concerned about building on last year’s successes.

 

What’s Next For Antoine Vermette?

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After the shocking news today that the Coyotes bought out Antoine Vermette’s contract, hockey insiders and analysts deconstructed the transaction.  The big question now is if Vermette will find another team to land with before the start of the 2016-17 season.

Puck Daddy’s Greg Wyshynski sees this as a logical move for both sides.  A deep dive shows the wisdom in Wyshynski’s words.

The Eye Test

Vermette was owed $3.75MM over the next two seasons. He previously made the same amount when he inked a five-year, $18.75MM deal with the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2010. Thanks to a career year during the 2009-10 season that saw a 65 point campaign, Vermette cashed in. He never reached that total again, but still had productive seasons.

His playoff totals also helped his stock with the Coyotes in 2011-12, and then scored some timely goals during the Chicago Blackhawks Stanley Cup run in 2014-15.  He found his way back to the desert the following season, registering 38 points (17-21) in 76 games.

Though he did see his ice time decrease with the Blackhawks, Vermette was still viewed as a valuable commodity. The value certainly was there, and the Coyotes simply re-signed a player they were comfortable with.

Other factors

Puck Daddy’s Josh Cooper shared a tweet that honed in on the advanced stats attached to Vermette. The results revealed a player with declining performance. Vermette was not justifying the $3.75MM he was costing the Coyotes. This is a team being rebuilt by an analytics strategist with young talent waiting in the wings. There wasn’t a lot of motivation for general manager John Chayka to take ice time away from players he purportedly would rather see out there.  The full reasoning was laid out in Chayka’s team release.

Where will he go?

Vermette still has value, it’s just a matter of what he would want financially and in terms of ice time. He’s still only 34 years old, and presumably has at least 2-3 years of hockey left in him.  Though teams wouldn’t acquire him via trade, that was when he held a nearly $4MM cap hit. Now a free agent, acquiring a 40 point player at a significant discount is certainly an attractive option. Craig Morgan tweets that he expects Vermette to generate some interest.

In terms of compatibles, 26-year-old Sam Gagner fetched just $650K on the open market. Sure, he had a significant drop off in terms of production (41 points to 16), but he’s still younger. Compared to his past performance, it appeared an anomaly to his normally consistent self. But that anomaly cost him financially.

Expect Vermette to be plucked off the free agent heap–just at a more cap friendly price.

Coyotes Buy Out Antoine Vermette

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The Coyotes announced that they have bought out center Antoine Vermette.  The announcement came less that two hours after it was reported that the team had placed him on unconditional waivers as first reported by AZSports’ Craig Morgan.

Vermette is able to be bought out as a result of the second buyout window that opened up after the Coyotes re-signed Michael Stone, who had filed for arbitration last month.  In a separate tweet, Morgan notes that GM John Chayka did try to trade Vermette before proceeding with this move.

The veteran had a decent year with the Coyotes last season, posting 17 goals and 21 assists, matching his 38 point output from the previous season.  His role with Arizona was reduced last season as his ice time dropped from 18:59 per game to 16:39 in 2015-16.

Presumably, the decision to let Vermette go was likely made to help free up a spot for some of their top prospects such as Dylan Strome and Christian Dvorak.  The 34 year old has one season left on a two year pact signed last offseason worth $3.75MM per year.

From a salary cap perspective, the buyout costs Arizona $1.25MM in both salary and cap hit for both 2016-17 and 2017-18.  That will free up $2.5MM on this season’s cap.  The Coyotes are no stranger to having cap charges for players who aren’t playing for them as Pavel Datsyuk, Chris Pronger, and Mike Ribeiro are all on their cap for 2016-17 despite the fact that none of them will suit up for the team.  Add in Vermette’s $1.25MM buyout charge and the Coyotes will have a cap charge of over $15.1MM for players who won’t actually play for them next year.

Coyotes Sign Jakob Chychrun To Entry Level Contract

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Craig Morgan of AZSports tweeted that the Arizona Coyotes have inked the second of their two, 2016 first-round draft choices, defenseman Jakob Chychrun, to a three-year ELC. Chychrun, selected 16th overall in last month’s draft, likely has only an outside chance at cracking the Coyotes roster on opening night as the club already has eight blue liners with NHL experience under contract. It’s far more likely the team will elect to return him to his junior club for more seasoning.

Originally slated to select 20th overall, the Coyotes moved up four slots in a deal with Detroit that also saw Arizona absorb Pavel Datyuk’s $7.5MM cap charge. The trade allowed the Wings to clear significant cap space from their books while moving back just a few positions in the draft. Detroit also picked up a second-round choice, 53rd overall, which the team used on defenseman Filip Hronek. Meanwhile, Arizona put themselves in position to take a player they liked tremendously and had even considered drafting with the seventh overall selection.

Chychrun played his junior hockey with the Sarnia Sting of the OHL. In 62 OHL contests, Chychrun tallied 49 points and boasted a +23 plus-minus rating. His father, Jeff, appeared in 262 NHL games, spending time with Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Edmonton and Pittsburgh in a career spanning parts of eight seasons.

First year GM John Chayka has been among the league’s busiest executives this summer. Chayka added D Alex Goligoski via trade and LW Jamie McGinn and D Luke Schenn as free agents to bolster a young but talented roster. He also re-signed team captain Shane Doan and restricted free agent defenders Michael Stone and Connor Murphy to new contracts. Whether these additions will help get the Coyotes back into the postseason or not remains to be seen but Chayka has shown he is unafraid to make impact moves so far.

Snapshots: Coyotes; Gagner; Barrie

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News and notes around the NHL:

  • With the recent signings of Connor Murphy and Michael Stone, the Arizona Coyotes now have eight defensemen signed to NHL deals—and that’s not even including top draft prospect Jake Chychrun, whom the Coyotes moved up for in the 2016 NHL Draft. As Craig Morgan of AZSports writes, the backlog of NHL-ready defensemen poses both problem and prosperity for the team. It creates a logjam of defensemen and little opportunity for prospects like Chychrun to get playing time, but it also gives them expendable pieces to upgrade other areas. The Coyotes may have to look elsewhere for offensive help if they cannot re-sign RFA Tobias Rieder before the season starts. Trading from a position of strength to obtain a forward kills two birds with one stone. Take a look at Arizona’s depth chart at Roster Resource.
  • UFA Sam Gagner is close to signing a deal with an NHL team, according to his agent. Gagner last played for the Philadelphia Flyers where he scored 8G and 8A in 53 games. The Canadian center held much promise as a member of the Edmonton Oilers from 2007-2014, including netting eight points in one game, but never fulfilled the potential scouts thought he had. Gagner will probably take a one-year “prove it” deal to try and revitalize his career.
  • RFA Tyson Barrie completed his arbitration hearing today, and the arbitrator will issue her decision within 48 hours. Because Colorado offered a $4MM contract, and Barrie offered a $6MM contract, the arbitrator’s decision will most likely meet the threshold ($3.9MM) to open up Colorado’s walk-away rights. If Colorado chooses to invoke those rights, they will be stuck with the arbitrator’s decision for one year before Barrie becomes a free agent. When a team elects a two-year term decision for any player-elected salary arbitration, using walk away rights reduces the arbitrator’s decision down to one year, and then the player becomes a UFA.

 

Snapshots: NHLPA, Boston’s Prospects, Murphy

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Ian McLaren writes that the NHLPA has hired Bruce Meyer as the senior director of collective bargaining, policy, and legal. NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr commented that the hiring brings someone in who has over three decades of legal experience. The current collective bargaining agreement is set to expire on September 15, 2022. However, the league or the player’s union can opt out of the current early, just at different dates. As long as it is delivered in writing, the NHL can opt out on September 1, 2019. The NHLPA can opt out on September 15, 2019.

The addition of Meyer brings more talent into the NHLPA’s fold  as many analysts felt the NHL “won” the last round of labor war. There have been work stoppages in each of the last three negotiations which included an entire season wiped out in 2004-05. Both the 1994-95 and 2012-13 were shortened as a result of the league and player’s union’s negotiations.

In other NHL news:

  • Joe Haggerty writes that prospects Ryan Donato and Ryan Fitzgerald are on their way in terms of development. Both are currently playing college hockey, Donato with Harvard and Fitzgerald with Boston College. While Donato is entering his sophomore season that is full of promise, Fitzgerald is gearing up for what will be his final season playing college hockey. Haggerty reports that Fitzgerald, coming off a 47 point (27-20) campaign in 2015-16, seems to be saying the right things in terms of joining the Bruins upon graduation. However, as Haggerty points out, anything is possible should Fitzgerald have a dominant senior season.
  • Sarah McLellan reports that with the signings of Connor Murphy and Michael Stone, the defensive corps are all but solidified. Though McLellan points out more moves could happen, she writes that the Coyotes are happy with the long term deal with Murphy, who appeared to take the next step in his development last season. Stone, who suffered a season ending knee injury, expressed his desire to put in the work to earn a long term deal down the road.

Arizona Coyotes Depth Chart

Boston Bruins Depth Chart

 

Arizona Stays Busy, Lock Up Stone To One-Year Deal

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Immediately on the heels of the Connor Murphy signing, the Arizona Coyotes have inked fellow blue liner Michael Stone to a one-year, $4MM contract, according to AZSports’ Craig Morgan. Stone and the Coyotes had been scheduled to go to arbitration on August 4th but the two parties obviously found common ground and thus avoided a hearing.

Stone blossomed in his fourth full season in the desert, averaging nearly 22:30 of ice time per game. He ranked second among Arizona defensemen behind Oliver Ekman-Larsson, tallying 36 points in 2015-16. The Coyotes drafted the 26-year-old in the third-round (69th overall) of the 2008 draft.

After accounting for Stone’s deal, Arizona is left with more than $6MM in cap space and only RFA Tobias Rieder left unsigned. That figure is a bit surprising given how busy the Coyotes have been this summer upgrading their roster. In addition to locking up their own RFA’s, Arizona has re-upped with Shane Doan (one-year, $3.88MM), signed UFA winger Jamie McGinn to a multi-year deal worth $10MM over three seasons, and acquired pending free agent Alex Goligoski via trade before extending his contract for five years with an AAV of nearly $5.5MM. That doesn’t even include Pavel Datsyuk’s $7.5MM cap hit which Arizona absorbed as part of a deal to move up four slots in the first round of the recent draft. To still be $6MM under the cap ceiling is an impressive bit of work from John Chayka.

Given the offseason work and the young talent already on the roster, it’s conceivable the Coyotes could force their way into a playoff spot in 2016-17. That’s especially true if goaltender Mike Smith, who missed three months of action last season due to a core muscle injury, returns to form as a quality netminder.

 

 

Coyotes, Connor Murphy Agree To Six-Year Pact

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The Arizona Coyotes and first-year GM John Chayka continue to put the finishing touches on what has been a busy offseason in the desert. Today the club has agreed to a six-year deal with RFA defenseman Connor Murphy that comes with an AAV of $3.85MM. It appears the deal covers Murphy’s remaining RFA seasons along with at least one unrestricted year.

The player’s agent, Brian Bartlett, first indicated that the two sides were nearing an agreement yesterday.

Murphy, who turned 23 in March, finished third among Coyotes blue liners in points (17) and tied for 2nd in goals with six. Arizona is clearly buying into Murphy’s upside as despite his relatively modest offensive contributions to date, his new contract places him in the company of some more accomplished defenseman. Comparable contracts, according to General Fanager, include: Roman Josi ($4MM AAV), Travis Hamonic ($3.857MM AAV), Jake Muzzin ($4MM AAV) and Mattias Ekholm ($3.75MM AAV). Each of those players posted superior offensive numbers in their platform years.

Chayka recently explained the organization’s defensive philosophy in an interview with Dan Rosen of NHL.com when discussing the acquisitions of Luke Schenn and Alex Goligoski, stating: “Defense isn’t about defending, it’s about getting the puck in the forwards’ hands and getting the puck moving into the offensive zone. It’s about transitioning. That’s the philosophy and that’s been the theme behind the moves that we’re making, let’s get players who can get pucks back and get pucks up to forwards in an efficient and effective manner.”

It would seem then given the length commitment that Chayka and his staff view Murphy as an up-and-comer and someone who can help in the transition game both now and well into the future.

The six-foot-four, 212-pound Murphy was the Coyotes first-round selection (20th overall) in the 2011 Entry Draft. He’s appeared in 181 NHL regular season contests, tallying 11 goals and 32 points while also accumulating 100 minutes in penalties.

Chayka now can cross off another item on his to-do list but still has work to do before calling it a summer. The Coyotes are still working on new deals with RFA’s Michael Stone and Tobias Reider. The Reider negotiations could drag on through the summer as the two sides are evidently not close to agreeing on the forward’s market value.

Latest On Connor Murphy

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While news has started trickling out about the Coyotes’ inability to sign RFA Tobias Rieder, Arizona may be closing in on one of their other remaining unsigned players. Craig Morgan of AZSports reports that Brian Bartlett, the agent for restricted free agent Connor Murphy expects to have a deal done by the end of the week.

Murphy, 23, saw his role with the Coyotes improve drastically last season especially following the trade of Keith Yandle. After the trade, he logged over 22:30 per night (up from 19:50 pre-trade) and held his own against tougher opponents. The bone-crushing hitter isn’t an offensive or possession dynamo, though he did contribute 17 points last season, and saw some limited powerplay action.

Even with the addition of Luke Schenn, Murphy will probably slot in beside another newcomer in Alex Goligoski on the second pairing next season, with fellow unsigned RFA Michael Stone skating alongside superstar Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Obviously, these pairings will be settled in camp, but Murphy will try to continue his strong development from first-round pick (20th overall in 2011) to top-four defenseman.

Coyotes Notes: Rieder, Stone, National TV

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It’s beginning to look like the Arizona Coyotes and restricted free agent winger Tobias Rieder have reached an impasse in contract negotiations. Dhiren Mahiban reports that it is growing more and more likely that the young German forward will spend this next season playing in the KHL, rather than agreeing to a new contract with the Coyotes.

Rieder, who had 14 goals and 23 assists in 2015-16 while playing in all 82 games for Arizona, plays a very complete game at just 23 years old. His numbers are very similar to those of Vladislav Namestnikov (35 points in 80 games last season), a young forward who was just awarded a new contract by the Tampa Bay Lightning that pays him a little under $2MM per season, and the Coyotes would like to pay Rieder somewhere in that arena as well. However, Rieder believes he is worth significantly more, reportedly asking for $4MM per season. While Rieder is probably a better hockey player than Namestnikov right now, it seems as though the Coyotes are balking at a value that is worth more than twice that of a comparable young player. As a restricted free agent that is not yet arbitration-eligible, Rieder’s only leverage is to sign elsewhere, leading to the speculation that he could receive his desired contract from a KHL club for 2016-17. The Coyotes, who qualified the young RFA, would continue to hold onto his NHL rights, but would definitely feel the loss of a crucial cog in their rebuilding team. Likewise, Rieder may get the money he wants, but will be playing outside the world’s best hockey league and would still be Coyotes property should he return. Rieder departing the desert to go overseas does not really solve any problems. While this conclusion seems very likely, it is far from mutually beneficial.

In other Arizona news:

  • Rieder is not the only RFA that the Coyotes still have to worry about, as defenseman Michael Stone is one of just three remaining unsettled arbitration cases league-wide, and is scheduled to go in front of the arbitrator on August 4th. Stone’s case is a tough one, as he scored a career high 36 points last season, only one point less than new teammate Alex Goligoski, who the Coyotes signed to a long-term deal worth nearly $5.5MM per year, but is still developing his defensive game. Add in that he suffered a serious knee injury which he is currently rehabbing from, and a fair market value is tough to nail down. While the figures submitted to the arbitrator by both sides have not yet surfaced, expect Stone to ask for a comparable contract to Goligoski and expect the Coyotes to offer far less. Given that 22 of 25 scheduled salary arbitration cases have been settled prior to their deadlines, it seems likely that the two sides will agree to terms somewhere in the ballpark of $4-4.5MM per season on a short bridge deal.
  • However, if arbitration does occur and the arbitrator awards Stone with a one or two year deal that the Coyotes are uncomfortable with, it is very likely that his name could hit the trade rumor mill. Arizona has more than enough cap space, but may not want to commit too much of their budget in the short-term to a defenseman coming off a serious injury. A right-shot, puck-moving defenseman who is just 26 years old would be very attractive to many teams, regardless of an injury. For the Coyotes though, they have depth on the right side of the blue line with fellow RFA Connor Murphy, Zbynek Michalek, and the recently signed Luke Schenn. Should the return for Stone be sufficient to new GM John Chayka, Stone’s arbitration case may just end up shipping him out of town.
  • As AZCentral’s Sarah McLellan reports, the Coyotes will play just one nationally televised game in 2016-17. That of course could increase, especially if the team makes the playoffs, but as of right now it stands as a disappointing total for an upstart team. One game is the minimum that each team must have covered nationally, but the Coyotes are not a team deserving of minimal coverage. Although Arizona may not be the biggest hockey market, it has been highlighted recently as the birthplace of #1 overall pick Auston Matthews and is now home to two pro teams, as the Coyotes moved their AHL franchise to Tuscon and re-named it the Roadrunners. The Coyotes have one of the top prospect systems in the NHL and should be a fun team to watch with a lot of great young talent. National audiences will unfortunately miss out on much of the action, but be sure to tune in to their November 1st tilt against the San Jose Sharks on NBC Sports.

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