Retained Salary in 2016-17: Pacific Division
As a new season fast approaches, it’s always nice to look back and reminisce on years and players gone by. Unfortunately for most NHL teams, those feelings of nostalgia are usually cut short by the realization that some of those past players are still on the team’s payroll. Retained salary is a fact of life in the National Hockey League, as buyouts have become commonplace and retaining a portion of an outgoing player’s cap hit is often a deal-breaker in many trades. Retained salary can last long past the playing days of a former player (see Mike Richards) or can simply be for just one year. One way or another nearly every NHL team has at least one guy who’s still being paid without having to perform. Below is a list of all the retained salary in the Pacific Division in 2016-17:
Anaheim Ducks
- Patrick Maroon ($500K cap hit in 2016-17 and 2017-18): Maroon was surprisingly dealt out of Anaheim last season to the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for defensive prospect Martin Gernat and a fourth-round pick in the NHL Draft this past June (Jack Kopacka). The Ducks held on to 25% of Maroon’s three-year, $6MM contract that he had signed with the team prior to last season.
- Mark Fistric ($217K cap hit in 2016-17, $450K in 2017-18 and 2018-19): Fistric was bought out by Anaheim following an injury-plagued 2014-15 campaign, the first year of a new extension. He had two years and over $2.5MM left on his contract at the time. Fistric has not signed with another NHL team since leaving the Ducks.
Arizona Coyotes
- Mike Ribeiro ($1.94MM cap hit from 2016-17 to 2019-20): Ribeiro will be cashing in on NHL contracts for many years to come, as a buyout in Phoenix has not stopped him from continuing to play and getting good money to do so. The (then) Phoenix Coyotes signed Ribeiro to a four-year, $22MM contract in the summer of 2013, but after a 47-point season in 2013-14, the team decided to cut ties with him. The decision cost the Coyotes a capable player and has and will continue to cost them in dollars. Ribeiro’s buyout was for six years and nearly $12MM dollars, and Arizona is still facing down four more years. Meanwhile, Ribeiro signed a one-year, $1MM deal with the Nashville Predators in 2014-15 and put up 62 points. He was rewarded last summer with a two year, $7MM deal, which means between his active contract and his bought out contract, Ribeiro will actually make close to $5.5MM in 2016-17, what he would have made in Arizona.
- Antoine Vermette ($1.25MM cap hit in 2016-17 and 2017-18): A more recent development, Vermette was bought out by the Coyotes during their second buyout window last week. Vermette had only one season left with a cap hit of $3.75MM, after returning to the desert on a two-year deal after Arizona traded him to the Chicago Blackhawks before their 2015 Stanley Cup run. Vermette’s numbers did not tail off last season; in fact he has been very consistent over the course of his entire 11-year career. The buyout was viewed by many as Arizona simply deciding to pay to open up depth next season for their young players and prospects. Vermette remains unsigned as of now.
Calgary Flames
- Mason Raymond ($1.05MM cap hit in 2016-17 and 2017-18): After a one-year, $1MM trial run with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2013-14 ended in 45 points, the Flames decided to take a chance on Raymond, giving him a three-year, $9.45MM deal. After under-performing in year one, Raymond was only able to play in 29 games last season, contributing a mere five points. Calgary was swift to buy out the remaining year of his contract, which would have paid him $3.15MM in 2016-17. The $1.05MM cap hit for the Flames this year and next year is bearable for a team with cap space and a plethora of young talent, and Raymond has found a new home with division rival Anaheim and will make $675K on top of his buyout payment. It was a retained salary move that worked out for both sides.
Edmonton Oilers
- Lauri Korpikoski ($500K cap hit in 2016-17, $1MM in 2017-18): Another buyout victim this summer, Korpikoski simply did not perform to the level expected of him by the Oilers after they traded Boyd Gordon to the Coyotes to get him. Stemming from a strong career to that point in Arizona, the Coyotes gave the two-way specialist a four-year, $10MM extension in the summer of 2013. However, after back-to-back years of steep decline in his scoring numbers, Arizona felt comfortable shipping Korpikoski off to the division rival Oilers. New GM Peter Chiarelli hoped that, at the very least, Korpikoski would bring some defensive stability to a young and offensive-minded forward core. When that didn’t happen, Edmonton decided he didn’t need to stick around for the final year of his contract at a cost of $2.5MM.
Los Angeles Kings
- Mike Richards ($1.32MM cap hit from 2016-17 to 2019-20 AND $10.5MM cap hit over time until 2030-31): One of the most interesting cases of retained salary, Richards counts against the Kings’ cap for two reasons, neither of which is a buyout or a trade. Richards signed a (now illegal) 12-year, $69MM contract with the Philadelphia Flyers during the 2007 season, and prior to the last NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement. The league recognized that deals like Richards’, which were excessively long and included wide margins of salary over the course of the contract, were meant to circumvent the salary cap. By front-loading a contract with high salary seasons, and then adding years at the end of low salary, a team could effectively keep a player’s cap hit low without exposing themselves to much risk should the player retire or need to be bought out later on in his post-prime career. Richards’ cap hit on this contract was only $5.75MM, but there were six seasons where his actual salary was greater, including a 2012-13 salary of $8.4MM. So, when Richards got in legal trouble in 2015, the Kings (who acquired Richards from the Flyers in a blockbuster deal in June 2011) saw an opportunity to terminate Richards’ contract, which had become a major burden to the team for a player that was performing so poorly that he had been demoted to the AHL. Because Richards’ contract was cut short and had been constructed in an illegal way, the Kings faced “recapture penalties”, which offset the benefits of previous cap benefits from long, front-loaded contracts. Thus, the Kings face a cap hit of $1.32MM every year until what would have been the natural end of Richards’ contract in 2020. On top of that, the termination of the contract was fought by the NHL Players Association, and the grievance led to a settlement between the Kings and Richards which pays him $10.5MM of the $22MM that was left on his contract. The payments were to be made over the course of 16 years, with a maximum payment of $900K per year and minimum of $400K. All of these payments additionally count against the Kings’ cap. In the world of retained salary, Mike Richards is quite the story, and Los Angeles will be telling it for another decade and a half.
San Jose Sharks
- Adam Burish ($617K cap hit in 2016-17): Never much more than an energy line player, the Sharks gave Burish a four-year, $7.4MM contract when free agency opened on July 1st, 2012. Burish was coming off of a career-high 19 points to go with a strong two-way presence and elite toughness. However, he would only score six points in the next three seasons combined for San Jose, as injury struggles and mostly poor play derailed his career. The Sharks bought out the final year of his contract to avoid a $1.85MM cap hit for an AHL-caliber player and will finish paying off the buyout this season.
Vancouver Canucks
- Roberto Luongo ($800K cap hit from 2016-17 to 2020-21): Like Richards, Luongo too signed a massive deal before the league banned them. In 2010, the Canucks gave their ace goalie a 12-year, $64MM extension, despite the fact he was 31-years-old at the time. The deal paid Luongo $10MM in salary during the first year, followed by seven years of $6.7MM salaries, and then a steep drop off to $3.4MM, $1.6MM, and two final years at $1MM. Perhaps afraid of facing the full blow of potential recapture penalties (the rule for which is often nicknamed the “Luongo Rule”) for a contract that blatantly circumvents the salary cap with its 5.3MM cap hit, the Canucks traded the remaining eight years of Luongo’s contract to the Florida Panters before the Trade Deadline in 2014 in effort to share some of the risk should Luongo retire before the age of 43. However, to make the risky aquistion worth it, the Panthers had Vancouver hold on to $6.4MM of the contract, for an annual cap hit of $800K.
- Chris Higgins ($833K cap hit in 2016-17 and 2017-18): Higgins is another recent buyout, getting cut by the Canucks this off-season with one year remaining on a four-year, $10MM extension he signed in 2013. Higgins played in only 33 games last season, recording just four points. He remains unsigned.
Coyotes Notes: Hanzal, Rieder, Strome
While former Arizona GM Don Maloney was originally looking to sign center Martin Hanzal to an extension this summer before he wound up being let go, his replacement in John Chayka doesn’t seem to be as enthusiastic about the idea, writes Craig Morgan of Arizona Sports. Morgan reports that Chayka held talks with Hanzal’s representatives shortly after he took over but those talks were pushed to the backburner.
Chayka’s comments certainly suggest they’re in no rush to get a new deal done with the 29 year old:
“If there was something that made sense, we would probably take a closer look at that because Marty’s been a good player for us. But maybe it’s not a bad thing to get into the season and see how things play out.”
Hanzal has spent his entire nine year career with the Coyotes. Last season, he had a career year offensively, picking up 13 goals and 28 assists in just 64 games, setting career highs in both assists and points. He also won an impressive 56% of his faceoffs, putting him in a tie for 15th league wide amongst players who took at least 300 draws last season.
Hanzal is entering the final season of a five year deal that carries a cap hit of $3.1MM and a salary of $3.5MM. He will be an unrestricted free agent after 2016-17 and should be in line for a sizable raise if he can repeat his efforts from last season.
More news and notes surrounding the Coyotes:
- Also from Morgan, there is no update to the Tobias Rieder contract situation. The two sides are believed to be several hundred thousand dollars apart per season. Rieder’s agent Darren Ferris suggested earlier this summer that Rieder would be open to signing in the KHL if a deal can’t be reached.
- Nick Cotsonika of NHL.com sat down with Chayka with the focus being on their youngsters, particularly Christian Dvorak and Dylan Strome, both of whom are expected to contend for a roster spot in training camp. Some have suggested that with Strome’s case in particular, he has achieved all he can at the junior level (he is too young to play in the AHL) and that sending him back could be detrimental to his development. Chayka is at least mindful of that concept, noting “I do think there is, obviously, a fine line between overbaking your prospects. I think there’s some detriments that can occur if you do that as well. But at the same time, there’s no rush for these players.” The Coyotes are expected to have a few spots open for younger players next season.
2015 Free Agent Signings That Didn’t Pan Out
A few of last year’s free agent signings defied the odds and actually turned into either steals for their team or at least, proved to be a solid value. A lesson taught in physics is that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. The same can possibly be said for free agent signings, evidently, as for every signing that worked out there was one that didn’t. Here’s a quick rundown on a few of 2015’s free agent busts.
- Andrej Sekera – Edmonton (six years, $5.5MM AAV) – Sekera was pursued and ultimately signed by the Oilers, a team with plenty of offensive firepower but one in desperate need of defensive help. The hope was Sekera could fill a role on the club’s top pair while providing experience and stability to a defense corps short on both. While Sekera wasn’t terrible – he did net 30 points for the Oilers – he had no positive effect on the team’s possession numbers and while they did cut their GAA from 3.45 in 2014-15 to 3.0 this past season, Edmonton still ranked just 27th in goals allowed overall. It might be unfair to pin the blame on Sekera alone but his cap hit is tied for 24th highest among defensemen, suggesting he is compensated at the level of a #1 blue liner. The Oilers are paying for a top-pair defender but Sekera performed more at the level of a #4.
- Zbynek Michalek – Arizona (two years, $3.2MM AAV) – Michalek had several good seasons over two stints in the desert and after hitting free agency following a 2015 deadline deal from the Coyotes to St. Louis, Arizona elected to bring the veteran back for another tour of duty. Like Sekera, Michalek was expected to add experience and leadership to a blue line that was populated primarily by younger players. Unlike Sekera, however, Michalek wasn’t expected to be a top pair defender. Unfortunately, Michalek had a down year, one not good enough even for a bottom pair defender. He placed among the absolute worst defensemen in the NHL in CF% (Corsi For %). His 43.9% CF% was 3.7% lower than the team average, indicating he was a significant drag on his teammates while he was on the ice. Even if a $3.2MM AAV isn’t a cap killer, it isn’t good business for a budget team like the Coyotes to pay that price for poor production.
- Antoine Vermette – Arizona (two years, $3.75MM AAV) – Not singling the Coyotes out but it’s signings like this one and the Michalek contract that likely played a role in Arizona’s offseason organizational changes. At first, re-signing Vermette after a brief stint with Chicago where the veteran pivot won the Stanley Cup, made a lot of sense. He’d had a couple of productive seasons in the desert prior to the trade and on a two-year deal, the consistent 40-point production seemed well worth the investment. However, Vermette’s play nosedived last season resulting in the team buying out the final year of his contract. On the surface, Vermette’s 38 points in 76 games falls in line with his past level of production. However, his even strength scoring rate dropped to a career low 1.04 Pts/60; a figure that ranked 315th in the NHL among forwards. Vermette also struggled in the puck possession department finishing with a CF% of just 46.3%. Vermette still can be a useful NHL player but it made sense for the Coyotes to move on from that expensive contract.
- Alexander Semin – Montreal (one year, $1.1MM) – Semin has always been a divisive figure between the traditional hockey folks and the analytically minded. Traditionalists saw Semin as a supremely talented but unmotivated player who rarely played to his potential while stat guys based his value on the terrific possession and scoring rates. Regardless, after Carolina bought him out of that ill-advised, five-year, $35MM deal last summer, nearly everyone agreed Montreal’s signing of Semin to a cheap, one-year contract was a smart move. At the least the Canadiens would get middling production for low cost. At best Semin would play up to his 40-goal ability and the Canadiens would have the steal of the summer. Semin would only make it two months into the season, scoring one goal and four points in 15 games, before Montreal decided they’d seen enough. On December 10th, both sides agreed to mutually terminate the agreement and Semin returned to Russia to finish out the year. Granted, the actual financial investment was limited, but the Canadiens desperately needed a quality scorer on the wing and counted on Semin to provide that. In hindsight, Montreal would have been better off looking elsewhere for offense.
Snapshots: Keith Gretzky, Quebec Expansion, Couture
In an article appearing on Today’s Slapshot – a division of The FanRag Sports Network – Craig Morgan, who also covers Arizona for AZSports.com, discusses several topics that relate in some way to the Coyotes. Interestingly, Morgan writes about Keith Gretzky, who was recently hired as an assistant GM in Edmonton and who was the director of amateur scouting for the Coyotes from 2007 – 2011 and oversaw the team’s drafts during that time. Gretzky was hired by the Oilers in part due to his scouting experience and success running the drafts for Arizona and more recently Boston. But Morgan says Gretzky’s successes at the draft may be overstated.
Despite success in the first round, where the Coyotes selected the likes of Kyle Turris, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Mikkel Boedker and Connor Murphy, the team has struggled to find NHL talent in the lower rounds. According to Morgan, new Coyotes GM John Chayka has said a team’s ability to draft is measured in the later rounds. Clubs need to be able to identify and develop prospects outside of the draft’s first round in order to sustain on-ice success.
During his tenure with the Coyotes, the team selected 29 players in rounds two through seven, according to the article. Of that group, only four have made it to the NHL and just two are still in the Coyotes organization.
Teams typically need to draft and develop two or three NHL contributors every year in order to keep the pipeline of affordable young talent flowing. Even if your first-round pick pans out, clubs need at least one more of their selections to hit for the draft to be considered fruitful. If you aren’t hitting on your draft choices then it’s likely the team will have to go the free agent route to flesh out its roster and consequently put themselves in a salary cap bind. Teams like the Coyotes simply can’t afford to do that.
Now Morgan does go on to say Gretzky’s track record with Arizona does not necessarily have anything to do with the job he did in Boston. Nor is it an indicator of how he’ll perform as the assistant GM in Edmonton.
For more from Morgan and elsewhere in the NHL:
- Even though they were not awarded an expansion franchise for 2017-18, the group behind the Quebec bid is not giving up on bringing an NHL franchise to Quebec City. Quebec likely will eventually get a franchise, though it may not be via expansion. I believe the league wants to also place a team in Seattle and that would probably be through expansion. Quebec would then be in a position to take in a club looking to relocate. Most of the teams that have been recently linked to relocation currently reside in the East. In order to gain balance between the two conferences, expanding from 15 – 16 clubs in the West is the simplest solution, while keeping Quebec as a fallback in the event of relocation.
- In a piece for The Players Tribune, San Jose forward Logan Couture lists the six defensive players he considers the toughest to match-up against. Not surprisingly, all of his choices reside with him in the Western Conference, including one who also suits up for the Sharks. It’s hard to argue with any of his choices and it’s easy to understand the apparent western bias since he sees the guys in his own conference at least two times more often during the regular season, to say nothing of the playoffs. Brent Burns and Duncan Keith are elite players who impact the game in all three zones. Roman Josi is rapidly developing into one of the top blue liners in the NHL. Mark Giordano – Couture has a funny story about the Flames standout – might be a late-bloomer but he is undoubtedly a quality player. Finally, Anze Kopitar and Jonathan Toews may well be the best two-way pivots in the game today.
Salary Cap Report: Pacific Division
As the hockey world takes its collective breath before the World Cup, training camps, and the regular season, most teams have checked off their boxes and marked their ledgers. Some teams are not finished building their rosters, with RFAs still to sign and trades to explore. Some teams have plenty of space to maneuver with; other teams will need to get creative to stay under the cap.
We’ll continue our Salary Cap Reports by taking a look at the Pacific Division. Of note:
- The Flames have the most cap space in their division, and second-most in the league behind the Hurricanes. However they still have to sign Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan, which will likely take up most of the $14.96MM of space they currently have.
- Anze Kopitar‘s new extension will make him the highest paid player in the NHL this season. He’ll make $14MM in real dollars this season; his $10MM cap hit is second to only Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. Kopitar will likely only enjoy the status of highest paid in the division until Connor McDavid‘s entry-level contract expires in 2018.
- The Pacific features the four highest-paid pending-UFAs in Pavel Datsyuk ($7.5MM), Joe Thornton ($6.75MM), Patrick Marleau ($6.66MM), and Ryan Miller ($6MM). However, Datsyuk has left the NHL and will not be paid by Arizona, despite counting against the cap.
By the numbers:
- Anaheim Ducks
Cap Space Remaining: $8,407,500
Greatest Cap Hit: Corey Perry: $8.625MM - Arizona Coyotes
Cap Space Remaining: $8,847,875
Greatest Cap Hit: Pavel Datsyuk: $7.5MM (inactive)/ Mike Smith: $5.666MM (active) - Calgary Flames
Cap Space Remaining: $14,969,600
Greatest Cap Hit: Mark Giordano: $6.75MM - Edmonton Oilers
Cap Space Remaining: $9,238,833
Greatest Cap Hit: Jordan Eberle/ Milan Lucic/ Ryan Nugent-Hopkins: $6MM - Los Angeles Kings
Cap Space Remaining: $1,154,773
Greatest Cap Hit: Anze Kopitar: $10MM - San Jose Sharks
Cap Space Remaining: $995,832
Greatest Cap Hit: Joe Thornton: $6.75MM - Vancouver Canucks
Cap Space Remaining: $2,771,250
Greatest Cap Hit: Henrik Sedin/ Daniel Sedin: $7MM
Also in the Salary Cap Report series: Metropolitan Division and Atlantic Division.
Mitch Marner Has “Good Chance” At Cracking NHL Roster
While speaking to TSN’s Brent Wallace, Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Mike Babcock revealed his thoughts about top-prospect Mitch Marner, and his chances at breaking camp with the NHL team:
Well I sure think he has a good chance. Mitch has been working with our guys and really training hard. He’s eating right and doing everything he can to get stronger. To say Mitch has got to put on a bunch of weight is ridiculous. All you have to do is get stronger – you are who you are, be the best Mitch you can possibly be. He’s got a lot of summer here left, and he’ll keep working at it, but he’ll have a real good chance to make the Leafs.
Babcock is referring to the overwhelming opinion that has been floated around since his draft, that Marner is too small to play in the NHL. Standing at 5’11”, 164lbs he’s always been a light player, and while he’s been working diligently to put on weight, he’ll never be a bruising forward. Opponents of the “he’s too small” camp use examples like Patrick Kane (5’11” 177lbs) and Johnny Gaudreau (5’9″ 157lbs) as reasons why Marner will succeed at the next level, given his elite offensive ability and hockey IQ.
While Marner played center in junior with the London Knights of the OHL, and was drafted as such, these smaller players often find the most success on the wings in the NHL and his role at the current National Junior Evaluation Camp may give credence to the idea that Marner is destined to move. He suited up today on the wing of Dylan Strome, top prospect of the Arizona Coyotes, for their game against Sweden (which they lost 4-1). The Maple Leafs have multiple options down the middle for next season, with Nazem Kadri, Tyler Bozak and Peter Holland returning, while number-one choice Auston Matthews has been added to the fold. William Nylander, another top prospect who showed off his offensive ability in a short NHL stint last season, is also a center by trade, though some think he’s also destined for the wing long-term.
Babcock also talked about the huge number of young players in Leafs camp this season. When asked if it was too many, he said he’d thought about that himself:
I’ve spent a lot of time on that. Obviously I have our lineup built out with three teams for camp, two teams for exhibition, and then you get down to one. They have to solve it themselves, it’s not up to me, they decide who’s on the team. When I go through it, we have some good men, we’ve acquired good men, we have good people in our leadership group so I think we can handle some kids. Obviously we had a lot of them last year, and having a few more this year – especially high-end ones – won’t hurt us.
The Maple Leafs have built quite a prospect pool to draw from going forward, with players like Nikita Soshnikov, Zach Hyman, and Kasperi Kapanen all making their NHL debuts last season. This year will be more of the same, as Marner and Matthews try to break in.
Central Notes: Rome, Jets, Toews
According to Sarah Mervosh of the Dallas News, former NHL defenseman Aaron Rome is suing the NHL and his insurance company after suffering a career ending injury in 2014. Rome was bought out at the end of that year after multiple surgeries were needed to try and correct the hip issue.
Rome alleges that “the insurance adjuster assigned to handle his claim was not licensed in Texas and withheld documents he needed to appeal the claim.” Rome never played again in the NHL, and has since retired due to injury. His suit claims that the defendants (the NHL and HCC Life Insurance Co.) “mistreated an athlete who gave his heart and effort to professional hockey only to be betrayed by those who were supposed to help, protect, and provide benefits he undoubtedly deserves.”
- The Jets and NHL announced the rosters for their legends game at the Heritage Classic on October 22nd of this year and presented the throwback jerseys the team will wear, sparking an intense debate about whether or not this franchise should be allowed to use them. This organization, of course, is not the same one that played in Winnipeg from 1972-96; that club was re-located to Phoenix (now Arizona) to become the Coyotes. The Jets were returned when the Atlanta Thrashers, an expansion team, was re-located prior to the 2011-12 season. All of the players on the legendary team played for the first franchise.
- According to Scott Powers of The Athletic, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane may hit the ice next to each other this season. The duo, that is normally split up on two different lines in Chicago, might be forced back together if head coach Joel Quennville makes good on his idea to move Marian Hossa down in the lineup and into more of a checking role alongside Marcus Kruger. Kane, Artem Anisimov and rookie Artemi Panarin formed one of the most explosive lines in the NHL last season, while Toews had a revolving door of wingers skating beside him.
Roster Crunch: Pacific Division
While the NHL season is still more than two months away, it seems as though most teams have finished their free agent shopping and are now focused internally on roster decisions they’ll have to make. We’ll take a look at some of the options teams will have this fall, starting with the Pacific Division.
Anaheim Ducks – 2015-16 division winners Anaheim were discussed at length last weekend, with seemingly way too many bodies than roster spots on their blueline. With between seven and ten players who deserve to be in the NHL next season (depending on how you feel about youngsters Shea Theodore and Andy Welinski), the team is still expected to make a move to shore up their forward group.
Los Angeles Kings – Like the Ducks, the Kings have quite a few options on their back-end after signing Tom Gilbert to a one-year contract. With four spots locked up between Drew Doughty, Jake Muzzin, Alec Martinez and Brayden McNabb, the last two will be some combination of Gilbert, veteran Rob Scuderi and Matt Greene. That’s to say nothing of NCAA transplant Paul LaDue who will figure into the Kings’ plans before long.
San Jose Sharks – It’s said that depth down the middle is a key to success in the NHL, and the Sharks have that in spades. It looks like they’ll go into next season with at least six forwards who are capable of playing center. Often last season the top line was made up of three of them, with Joe Thornton between Tomas Hertl and Joe Pavelski. If the team wants to move the young Hertl back to his natural position (as they did at points last season), they’ll have to find ice-time for him behind Thornton and Logan Couture.
Arizona Coyotes – The crunch has already started to affect Arizona, as the team bought out veteran Antoine Vermette recently to open up a spot for one of their young forwards. With Dylan Strome and Christian Dvorak both leaving junior after huge seasons, they’ll look to make the jump to the NHL this season. The Coyotes may ice one of the youngest lines in the league this year, if Strome ends up between Max Domi and Anthony Duclair like many have speculated. Another spot could open up if RFA Tobias Rieder ends up overseas next season, as has been rumored lately.
Calgary Flames – Will top pick Matthew Tkachuk break camp with the Flames, and where will he play? Many eyes will be focused on the second-generation NHLer this fall, as he tries to force his way onto the Flames roster. Otherwise, the Flames have some decisions to make on the blueline if Ladislav Smid declares himself healthy enough to start the season and Dennis Wideman remains on the roster. Jyrki Jokipakka hopes he did enough last season to deserve a spot, but if both veterans are around when October 12th roles around, he may find himself on the outside looking in.
Vancouver Canucks – The Canucks are one of the hardest teams to figure out in the league, as they seem caught somewhere between rebuilding and trying to contend. Outside of their top-four, it’ll be a battle for the defensemen in camp to lock up a spot. Luca Sbisa has a contract that will probably guarantee him a spot, but his diminished play and injury history makes him a poor choice for the Canucks. If they decide to contend, icing him every night ahead of younger, more effective defensemen seems unwise.
Edmonton Oilers – It’s been long said that the Oilers don’t have any defensemen, and while it may still be figuratively true based on the overall skill, the team actually has too many bodies for their back end under contract. After trading for Adam Larsson, the team has eight defenders worthy of NHL time, including Jordan Oesterle who many believe proved his ability last season. One of them though, former captain Andrew Ference, may be on his own way out as he has stated more than once he’s heading to retirement if the Oilers’ buy him out. They haven’t been able to yet because of Ference’s lingering injury, but the two sides should come to an agreement before camp.
Coyotes Notes: Rieder, Vermette, Strome
Arizona restricted free agent winger Tobias Rieder is reportedly now seeking a two year contract with a cap hit of $2.75MM, reports Arizona Sports’ Craig Morgan. Rieder’s agent, Darren Ferris, has also proposed a three year pact, also believed to be at $2.75MM each year and a four year offer with a cap hit of $3MM, one that would take the 23 year old to unrestricted free agency.
Meanwhile, the Coyotes are believed to be offering somewhere between $2MM and $2.3MM per season on a two year deal and would up the offer closer to $2.5MM on a three year deal.
Ferris has suggested recently that Rieder has received offers from overseas that are higher than what the Coyotes have offered so far. The big question is would Rieder seriously consider signing elsewhere or is it just a negotiating ploy to get GM John Chayka to up their offer? Morgan tweeted today that Ferris noted the start of the KHL season (August 22nd) won’t affect contract talks and that any decision to go to the Russian league would be made after the World Cup of Hockey. Rieder will suit up for Team Europe in that tournament.
Last season, Rieder posted career numbers across the board, collecting 14 goals and 23 assists while playing in all 82 games. He also saw his average ice time jump up to 17:18 per game, fourth highest among Coyote forwards.
Other news and notes from the Coyotes:
- Chayka commented further on Monday’s surprising decision to buy out Antoine Vermette, telling Dave Vest on the team’s official website that it was a very difficult decision. “It’s the toughest day I’ve had so far in this role … Antoine was a class act for us, and on and off the ice he’s a great player and a great person, and he helped us grow this organization. We’re certainly thankful and grateful for that. For us, it just came down to a matter of we have to continue to improve our group and we need to move forward and get better as quickly as we can. With some of the young players that we have in the pipeline there’s some flexibility that this move creates. We felt it was necessary to do so to improve our group. It was a tough decision.”
- Arizona has five prospects taking place in this week’s World Junior Summer Showcase, a development camp and tournament for prospects from Canada, the USA, Finland, and Sweden. Among those is 2015 third overall pick Dylan Strome with Team Canada. While it’s anticipated that Vermette’s departure was made largely in part to create a roster spot for Strome with the Coyotes last season, Chayka wouldn’t go as far as confirming that he’ll play with Arizona in 2016-17 in that same interview. He did suggest that he has higher expectations for Strome in training camp, saying that “As camp wears on and fatigue starts to set in and he’s playing up against bigger and stronger players, I think he’ll have that endurance this year to get himself through. Right now he’s doing everything that he can to make sure that’s the case and that’s a comforting thing as a manager to see.”
Coyotes, Tobias Rieder Still At Impasse On New Deal
Arizona GM John Chayka has already accomplished much this offseason but a GM’s work is never done. The Coyotes still have RFA Tobias Rieder to re-sign and it appears a deal is not close to being completed.
According to Rieder’s representation, agent Darren Ferris, “There’s been no discussions at this point that have made any meaningful change in anyone’s position.”
Rieder is coming off a 14-goal, 37-point performance this past season and is looking to cash in. Last month, Ferris appeared to have established their expectations for a new contract by naming Nazem Kadri as a reasonable comparable. Kadri netted a six-year deal with Toronto with an AAV of $4.5MM a year ago on the heels of an 18-goal, 39-point campaign. Rieder, 23, tallied 37 points a year ago and on the surface that performance would appear to represent a fair talking point on a new contract. However, Kadri had a much longer and more distinguished track record than the two-year veteran Coyotes forward.
First, Kadri was a high first round draft choice, going 7th overall in 2009. Rieder was a 4th round selection two years later. Teams are willing to bet on upside in contract negotiations and 1st round picks generally come with more untapped potential than 4th rounders.
Second, when Kadri agreed to his extension, he already had posted at least 40 points in four separate NHL campaigns, with a career best 50 coming in 2013-14. He also had six years of NHL experience, putting him just two years away from unrestricted free agency per the terms of the current CBA. Rieder, on the other hand, just completed his second NHL campaign, leaving him well away from unrestricted free agency. Kadri had accomplished far more at the NHL level over a far longer period of time than has Rieder to this point and was closer to reaching free agency.
Ferris also pointed out Jamie McGinn‘s recent three-year contract with Arizona as a base line for negotiations. McGinn carries an AAV of $3.33MM.
Again, McGinn has been in the league a lot longer than Rieder (veteran of 450 NHL games) and has two, 20-goal campaigns on his resume. He also signed his deal as an UFA with far more leverage thanks to a broad market than Rieder has as an RFA.
As Morgan wrote, perhaps the most logical comparable given Rieder’s age, experience and production level is Vladislav Namestnikov of Tampa Bay. Through 127 career NHL games, Namestnikov has tallied 23 goals and 51 points, numbers reasonably close to Rieder’s. Namestnikov was selected with the 27th selection in the 1st round of the 2011 entry draft and is the same age as Rieder. Tampa secured Namestnikov’s services on a two-year deal worth slightly less than $2MM annually.
Rieder’s camp is marketing the winger using advanced stats and as we know, Chayka is well-versed in analytics. Evidently, Ferris has yet to make a compelling enough case to sway the Arizona GM to their way of thinking on Rieder’s value. Chayka is obviously sticking to his guns as whatever deal he and Rieder agree on sets a standard for future negotiations. Every new contract adds to the pool of possible comparable deals other agents will point to when advocating for their clients and it’s the job of club management to try to keep those salaries as low as possible.
Ferris has suggested the German-born Rieder would entertain offers to play overseas and while that possibility can’t be discounted, particularly if his European contract contained an out-clause, the NHL is the premier league in the world and most players want to play there. It might go down to the wire but I fully expect the Coyotes and Rieder to get a deal done, likely very similar to Namestnikov’s, but perhaps eclipsing $2MM in AAV.