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West Notes: Woodcroft, Nill, Preseason

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A few months ago, many would have identified the Edmonton Oilers as a team with coaching uncertainty heading into the offseason after they fired Dave Tippett mid-season. However, after their run to the Western Conference Final this year, Jay Woodcroft would appear to have earned the confidence of the team and fanbase to continue in his role. TSN’s Darren Dreger is reporting today that Woodcroft and the Oilers continue to have ongoing discussions about a new contract this week, although there’s still more to be done.

With the Oilers yet to be linked publicly to any other coaching free agents, it’s becoming clear that the team prefers to retain Woodcroft as their head coach. It’s important to note that Woodcroft was fully named the head coach when he took over for Tippett; he was not given the interim title. Woodcroft led the Oilers on a 26-9-3 run to end the regular season in addition to their playoff run.

  • One team that isn’t having such a smooth time with their coaching hiring process is the Dallas Stars. TSN’s Pierre LeBrun is reporting that potential candidates are hesitant to commit to the Stars given the fact that general manager Jim Nill only has one year left on his deal. It’s understandable that when a coach commits long-term, they’d like to have a solid idea of the team’s vision for the future. With Nill’s future uncertain, Dallas’ new coach won’t have that guarantee.
  • The Stars will be playing in two neutral-site preseason games come September and October. On October 1, they’ll be facing off against the St. Louis Blues at Cable Dahmer Arena in Kansas City, home of the ECHL’s Kansas City Mavericks. Before that, though, they’ll be playing the Arizona Coyotes in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on September 27, as previously announced. It marks a return to normalcy for the NHL’s regular-season preparations.

Carter Hutton Retires From NHL

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A journeyman netminder has hung up his skates today. Veteran Carter Hutton announced his retirement from the NHL today, talking with Tom Annelin of the Chronicle Journal.

Speaking with Annelin today, Hutton had the following to say on his decision:

Honestly, I’ve been preparing myself for hockey to be over in some aspect for a while… The NHL has evolved into a young man’s league. The average age is now in the early 20s, so I know that this job wouldn’t be a lifelong one for me. Ultimately, I suffered an ankle injury in early 2021, which made the decision a lot easier for me. It restricted a lot of the mobility I needed to be as effective as I once was. This, compiled with a few other things helped me decide on retirement.

The news isn’t surprising in any aspect. Hutton appeared in just three games at the beginning of the season with the Arizona Coyotes, earning a 0-2-0 record and .741 save percentage. He spent the majority of the rest of the season injured before he was dealt to the Toronto Maple Leafs ahead of the trade deadline for injury insurance there, but the team loaned him back to the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners. He did spend a few days at Leafs practice, however.

An undrafted free agent, Hutton had a long and arduous path to NHL success. Hutton spent four years developing at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell before signing an entry-level contract with the San Jose Sharks for 2010-11. Hutton was the backup for the AHL affiliate in Worcester that season, posting a .902 save percentage. A restricted free agent, he was left unqualified and settled for an AHL contract with the Rockford IceHogs in 2011-12.

Strong play there got him an NHL contract later in the season and again with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2012-13, when he made his NHL debut at age 27. As an unrestricted free agent in 2013, the Nashville Predators snapped up Hutton in free agency, where he broke into the NHL and never looked back. After stops with the Predators, St. Louis Blues, Buffalo Sabres, and Coyotes, Hutton retires with a career 94-90-27 record in 235 games played (207 starts), .908 save percentage, and 2.76 goals-against average, and 13 shutouts. For an undrafted free agent who wasn’t a full-time NHLer until 28, it’s an improbable and impressive resumé.

Snapshots: Point, Mock Draft, Kassian

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As the Stanley Cup Final is set to commence in two days, the Tampa Bay Lightning and Colorado Avalanche will retake the ice today to practice ahead of their last four to seven games of the season. Of note from Tampa’s side of things is that injured star center Brayden Point continued to take part in practice today and took line rushes for the first time, centering a line between Nick Paul and Ross Colton, per The Athletic’s Joe Smith. However, assistant coach Jeff Halpern said after practice that “he didn’t know if you could read too much” into Point’s status, noting that it was a light session.

Tampa will be waiting anxiously to get an answer on when Point can return. Given the uncertain health of Nazem Kadri on the other side for Colorado, Tampa Bay having their full center depth available to them would give them a much greater chance at winning their third straight Stanley Cup.

  • With the 2022 NHL Draft now within a month, The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler, one of the top public prospect evaluators, released his 2022 NHL Mock Draft, taking team needs, consensus, and intel into account aside from just his own rankings. Although more and more doubt remains around the status of Kingston Frontenacs center Shane Wright as the Montreal Canadiens’ no. 1 overall pick, Wheeler still has Wright listed in the first spot. Rounding out the top five is winger Juraj Slafkovsky to the New Jersey Devils, center Logan Cooley to the Arizona Coyotes, defenseman Simon Nemec going first off the board among d-men to the Seattle Kraken, and defenseman David Jiricek headed to the Philadelphia Flyers.
  • The first buyout window of the offseason opens July 1, and Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli has Edmonton Oilers winger Zack Kassian at the top of his list of 10 buyout candidates for this summer. Kassian, who carries a cap hit of $3.2MM through 2024, mustered just 19 points in 58 games this season and averaged under nine minutes per game in the playoffs. With the 31-year-old forward only set to continue declining, Edmonton could take the buyout penalty to free up more space to improve their depth scoring. The buyout for Kassian is relatively benign, per CapFriendly, with a cap hit of $666,667 in 2022-23, $1,866,667 in 2023-24, and $966,667 in 2024-25 and 2025-26. It offers $2.5MM in savings upfront in 2022-23, an appealing number for general manager Ken Holland.

Josef Korenar Signs In Czechia

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The Arizona Coyotes won’t have Josef Korenar as an option in net next season, as the young netminder has signed a two-year contract with HC Sparta in Czechia. The team will still be able to retain his rights with a qualifying offer, but won’t see him on this side of the ocean for a while.

Korenar, 24, was acquired from the San Jose Sharks along with a second-round pick in exchange for Adin Hill and a seventh last summer, after he had made his underwhelming NHL debut in the 2020-21 season. This year he saw some time with the Coyotes as well, appearing in two games and stopping 32 of 35 shots he faced for a .914 save percentage.

The trouble was more in the minor leagues, where Korenar was shelled behind a bad Tucson Roadrunners team and even saw a bit of time in the ECHL. With Karel Vejmelka’s emergence in the Arizona crease, it seemed likely that the undrafted Korenar would eventually take his talents somewhere else.

In this case, it is back home, where he’s played sparingly since his junior years. The Sharks signed him in 2017 after a strong season with the Lincoln Stars, and he’s played nearly 100 AHL games in the years since. While his rights will be held with a qualifying offer, this may be the last we see of Korenar in the Coyotes organization, as they will expire when he turns 27, just a year after this new contract is complete.

Arizona Coyotes Moving Forward With Tempe Arena Plan

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The Tempe City Council has voted to move forward with the Arizona Coyotes and continue negotiations over the development of the proposed arena and entertainment district. While this does not mean an arena deal is agreed to, it is obviously a positive step forward for the Coyotes as they look to find a more permanent home.

The team released the following statement on last night’s decision:

We are extremely pleased that the Tempe City Council has voted to proceed with negotiations on development of the Tempe Entertainment District. Having heard all the facts, they have recognized the incredible opportunity that this project presents — not only for the Coyotes but also for the city of Tempe. We look forward to taking the next steps to turn this exciting vision into a reality. 

One note from the meeting that stood out, as Katie Strang and Sean Shapiro of The Athletic write, is that while addressing the team’s long-term vision, Coyotes president Xavier Gutierrez suggested ownership is looking at “additional teams to own” in the area. The session–which lasted more than eight hours–also included several financial pledges from Coyotes ownership, messages from Shane Doan and Clayton Keller, and Gary Bettman indicating that if the proposal went forward, the team would sign a 30-year non-relocation document.

The Coyotes are set to play the next three seasons at Arizona State University, in a 5,000-seat facility that has drawn the ire and ridicule of many hockey fans across the country. If this plan moves forward with Tempe, the team would be looking forward to a much more realistic long-term home.

Arizona Coyotes Sign Ronald Knot

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June 1: The Coyotes have officially announced the contract, with general manager Bill Armstrong releasing the following statement:

We are very pleased to have Ronald join our organization. He is an experienced defenseman with great size who will add depth to our blue line.

May 31: It appears the Arizona Coyotes have added to their depth, signing free agent defenseman Ronald Knot to a one-year, two-way contract for the 2022-23 season (link). The contract is worth $750K at the NHL level and $150K at the AHL level, but does guarantee Knot a minimum of $200K either way. The signing comes at an otherwise quiet time around the league as the playoffs reach their halfway point, however for the rebuilding Coyotes, which have an uncertain future in regards to their rink, an opportunity to bring in a free agent with upside, who could compete for ice-time with the NHL club makes plenty of sense.

At 27 years of age, Knot is no longer a prospect, however a lengthy and solid career in Europe, primarily in Czechia, shows the veteran defenseman is a consistent performer on the back end who could possibly translate his game to the NHL. Knot has played parts of eight seasons in Czechia, debuting with Slavia Praha before moving onto Mlada Boleslav, Chomutov Pirati, and most recently Liberec Bili Tygri in 2019-20 and 2020-21. After recording just 11 points in his first 114 games in Czechia, Knot broke out in 2018-19 with Chomutov, putting up 17 points in 51 games, then another 29 in 101 games over two seasons with Liberec. This season, Knot took another step forward, signing with Nizhnekamsk Neftekhimik of the KHL and despite stepping up to the KHL level, his production remained roughly the same, recording 17 points in 49 games.

Internationally, Knot has represented Czechia on several occasions, most recently playing in four games at this year’s Olympics and was a member of their team  at the 2014 World Junior Championship. Unlike many signings at this time of year, Knot is not a player Arizona will now hope to develop over the next few years; a seasoned veteran in Europe who has proven his game could translate by jumping to the KHL, the Coyotes will give Knot a chance to impress and show that his game can once again translate and work in North America. Though he may not necessarily be a regular for Arizona this year, he will have plenty of eyes on him and a chance to impress an organization in the midst of roster turnover.

Arizona Coyotes Sign Ivan Prosvetov

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The Arizona Coyotes have inked goaltender Ivan Prosvetov to a one-year contract, avoiding restricted free agency this summer. The young netminder is coming to the end of his entry-level contract and would not have had arbitration rights. General manager Bill Armstrong released the following statement:

We are very pleased to sign Ivan to a contract extension. He is a big, athletic goaltender who is very talented. We look forward to continuing to watch him develop.

Prosvetov, 23, has made a handful of appearances at the NHL level already, entering the net three times in each of the last two seasons. Selected 114th overall in 2018, the Russian-born netminder had already come to North America to play in the NAHL and USHL before his draft, and then spent the 2018-19 campaign in the OHL. That meant getting him into the organization was no issue, though the results have not followed in the years since.

Through those six NHL appearances, the 6’5″ goaltender has just an .858 save percentage, but it’s his performance at the minor league level that is perhaps more concerning. He posts an .880 save percentage in 45 games this season for the Tucson Roadrunners, a step backward from the numbers he put up in his first two go-rounds. While there is obviously still plenty of potential, Prosvetov will need to start delivering results if he’s to really be in the Coyotes’ plans for the NHL level.

Tempe Set To Discuss Coyotes Arena Plan Next Month

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There could be some potential clarity coming on the post-Arizona State University living situation for the Arizona Coyotes. The City Council of Tempe, AZ is set to discuss the team’s proposed arena and entertainment district plan in a June 2 meeting, according to PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan.

Earlier this year, the Coyotes closed on a multi-year agreement to play their home games at the new multipurpose arena at ASU. With the capacity at this arena expected to be under 5,000 fans, it’s painstakingly obvious that this isn’t a long-term solution. The team, however, still doesn’t have a solid future after the agreement with the school ends.

Enter Tempe, where the Coyotes have been trying to forge a home for years. The entire point of the ASU agreement is to hopefully build a relationship with the Tempe community, demonstrating to the city that the struggling team is worth housing.

The team is locked into ASU for three seasons with the option for a fourth. If the team wants to ensure they’ll be able to stay in the desert at the end of that deal, time is starting to tick on the Coyotes to get the city of Tempe to approve an arena deal.

Dmitrij Jaskin Receiving KHL Interest

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After two very strong seasons with Dynamo Moscow in the KHL, winger Dmitrij Jaskin decided to give the NHL another shot in 2021-22 as he inked a one-year deal with Arizona worth $3.2MM, a surprisingly high sum given his performance in his first NHL stint.  Unfortunately, things didn’t go too well and his agent Gleb Chistyakov told Sport-Express in Russia that four KHL teams are showing interest in bringing the pending unrestricted free agent back to Russia.

The 29-year-old got off to a slow start this season with the Coyotes, notching just a single assist in 12 games despite averaging nearly 15 minutes a night.  That’s a far cry from being better than a point-per-game player as he was in his two seasons overseas when he finished second and fourth in league scoring.  Unfortunately for him and Arizona, Jaskin then suffered a season-ending injury in a knee-on-knee collision with Nashville’s Mark Borowiecki in a game in mid-November.

As a result of his early struggles, the injury, and his limited production in his first NHL stint between St. Louis and Washington, it’s hard to envision Jaskin receiving NHL offers that are anywhere close to what he received from the Coyotes this season.  As a result, a return to the KHL where he’d command a top salary makes a lot of sense for him even though it will probably close the door on his NHL career in the process.

Montreal Canadiens Win 2022 NHL Draft Lottery

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Beginning this season, the full effect of the changes to the draft lottery rules announced last year are in place. Starting this year, teams can only move up a maximum of 10 spots if they’re selected, meaning teams originally set at picks 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16 cannot move up all the way to the first overall pick. A win for one of these teams in the first draft lottery secures the pick for the team that finished last.

The team with the best odds coming in will win the draft lottery for the second straight year, though. The Montreal Canadiens will pick first overall in their own building, the first time such an occurrence has happened since 1985 when the Toronto Maple Leafs drafted Wendel Clark at Maple Leaf Gardens. The New Jersey Devils moved up from fifth overall to second overall, bumping down the Arizona Coyotes, Seattle Kraken, and Philadelphia Flyers down one spot each.

The order for the top 16 picks of the 2022 NHL Draft is as follows:

  1. Montreal Canadiens
  2. New Jersey Devils
  3. Arizona Coyotes
  4. Seattle Kraken
  5. Philadelphia Flyers
  6. Columbus Blue Jackets (via Chicago Blackhawks)
  7. Ottawa Senators
  8. Detroit Red Wings
  9. Buffalo Sabres
  10. Anaheim Ducks
  11. San Jose Sharks
  12. Columbus Blue Jackets
  13. New York Islanders
  14. Winnipeg Jets
  15. Vancouver Canucks
  16. Buffalo Sabres (via Vegas Golden Knights)

While Shane Wright is still the consensus no. 1 overall selection across public draft boards (and NHL Central Scouting), there’s been recent noise about players like Juraj Slafkovsky and Logan Cooley potentially challenging him for first overall. That’s an upset unlikely to happen, though, as Wright had a terrific second half of the 2021-22 campaign, finishing with 32 goals, 62 assists, and 94 points in 63 games with the OHL’s Kingston Frontenacs. He also has 10 points in eight playoff games at the time of writing. While teams will draft him for his elite playmaking ability, he’s got an underrated shot when he chooses to use it as well. Standout Slovak defenseman Simon Nemec, Czech defenseman David Jiricek, Canadian forward Matthew Savoie, and Finnish forward Joakim Kemell are also names to watch for near the top of the draft board.

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