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Canucks RFA Reid Boucher Signs In The KHL

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June 23: Boucher has officially signed with Avangard Omsk, the KHL team announced.  Dhaliwal reports (via Twitter) that the deal is worth $719K which is a little higher than the $700K minimum salary in the NHL if he was to stay in North America on a one-way contract.  The deal also contains $143K in bonuses if he finishes in the top three in league scoring.

June 18: Canucks winger Reid Boucher has been a prominent scorer in the AHL over the past few years but it hasn’t materialized into much time with Vancouver.  As a result, it appears he will be trying something different for next season as Rick Dhaliwal of TSN 1040 and The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that Boucher is nearing a one-year deal with Avangard Omsk of the KHL.

This season, the 26-year-old was second in the AHL in goals (33) and points (67) in just 53 games; his 1.26 points per game average was tops among qualified players.  Despite that, he didn’t get a sniff of NHL action for the first time in his seven-year professional career so Boucher looking for a change of scenery is understandable.

GM Jim Benning confirmed to Postmedia’s Ben Kuzma (Twitter link) that Vancouver is willing to let Boucher out of his deal now.  That’s particularly notable as it suggests that it’s unlikely that he will be available to the Canucks for their play-in series against Minnesota and any potential postseason action after that.  The KHL is hoping to open up in September and if Boucher was to stay with Vancouver for the playoffs, he could potentially be arriving late.

Vancouver can tender Boucher a qualifying offer this offseason to retain his rights but considering he’s only a year away from being eligible for NHL unrestricted free agency anyway, they could simply opt to non-tender him instead.  With 133 NHL games and 323 AHL contests under his belt, it’s possible that Boucher could make a run at trying to catch on with another NHL team in the 2021 offseason as a free agent.

Snapshots: Hub Favorites, Phase 2, Postseason Rules

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Six cities remain in the hunt as potential hub locations for when the NHL returns to play. As things stand right now, Vegas and either Vancouver or Edmonton are the frontrunners, per The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun. Toronto, Chicago, and Los Angeles remain outside contenders – but they are still very much in the hunt. Of course, Vegas, Vancouver, and Edmonton are all in the Western Conference, meaning one of the Golden Knights, Canucks, or Oilers would play their games at home – should LeBrun’s hunch prove correct. The NHL isn’t overly concerned, per LeBrun, because without fans present, the games would still qualify as technically neutrally located, even though whichever team does stay home would enjoy a certain amount of comfort in their home building. Finding the best, safest fit to house 12 teams at a time is the priority for now, over maintaining a perfect degree of parity. Let’s check in on the other tidbits of news that have eeked out over the last few hours concerning the NHL’s return to play…

  • Phase 2 takes another step forward tomorrow, allowing for up to 12 skaters to share the ice at a time during workouts, tweets Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston. Only six skaters had been allowed at a time up until now. A successful expansion could prove a crucial development given the recent rash of COVID-19 cases popping up across the sports landscape.
  • We also now know – thanks to NHL deputy commissioner Billy Daly – that each of the 24 participating teams will play one or two exhibition games prior to the round-robin and play-in phases of the NHL postseason, per Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer. That’s not a ton of ice time to ready the troops, but with such a small window of viability, it makes sense to limit player exposure prior to any games of consequence.
  • In a more logistical matter, the NHL and Players’ Association have agreed to extend contracts and visas for players whose contracts were going to expire on June 30th, tweets CapFriendly. That’s not to indicate a more comprehensive agreement between the two sides, as will be required before the NHL officially returns to play. The matter of expiring contracts appears to have been agreed upon as a solitary issue.
  • Teams will have 30 players available for July 10 training camps, with playoff rosters trimmed to 28, per Ben Kuzma of Postmedia Sports. For camp and the playoffs, teams will be granted an unlimited number of goalies. Being as only 6 members of each team have been allowed to share the ice at a time through today, the scope of the NHL’s undertaking will clearly require heavy-lifting from logistics and operations departments.

Pacific Notes: Puljujarvi, Tanev, Glass

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With a recent report that New York Rangers’ Lias Andersson is not interested in returning to the team for the upcoming postseason and prefers to stay in Sweden. Now another unhappy lottery pick could be following the same path as Edmonton Oilers forward Jesse Puljujarvi is believed ready to sign a one-year extension with Karpat of Liiga, according to the Edmonton Journal’s Kurt Leavins.

The fourth-overall pick in 2016 has struggled to establish himself in the NHL and chose to sign a one-year contract with Karpat last season. He had a solid season, scoring 24 goals and 53 points in 56 games this past season, but there remains doubt by many that Puljujarvi will eventually return to the NHL and become a dominant player.

What’s interesting is recent comments in which he referenced a willingness to consider returning to Edmonton when he was quoted last week as saying, “never say never.” Leavins, however, wonders if Puljujarvi made the statement in hopes of raising his trade value, especially since there is a belief that the one-year extension would likely include an NHL opt-out clause.

  • The Province’s Ben Kuzma writes that the Vancouver Canucks could have a tough decision to make with pending unrestricted free agent Chris Tanev. While the team is expected to be capped out this offseason and the team has a number of free agents, including Jacob Markstrom and Tyler Toffoli along with several restricted free agents, Tanev might seem like a player who could easily replaced, especially with a number of young blueliners near NHL ready, including Brogan Rafferty, Guillaume Brisebois, Olli Juolevi and the possible return of Nikita Tryamkin. However, the 30-year-old has made it clear that he wants to stay in Vancouver and considering how well he paired next to rookie Quinn Hughes and his leadership skills, the team might have to seriously consider keeping him over others. “It’s a very tough situation because nobody knows where the cap is going to be,” said Tanev. “But I want to stay in Vancouver. I love it here and it’s sort of my new home. I love the guys on the team and we’re trending in the right direction.”
  • Justin Emerson of the Las Vegas Sun writes that Vegas Golden Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon is still working on who might fill the team’s extra spots on their expanded roster for the upcoming 24-team tournament playoffs. However, one name that won’t be on that list is rookie Cody Glass, who underwent knee surgery in March and is not expected to be ready for the delayed playoffs. Glass had a difficult rookie season in which he struggled on the team’s third line with just five goals and 12 points in 39 games.

Micheal Ferland Resumes Skating

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Canucks winger Micheal Ferland has resumed skating as he continues to work his way back from concussion issues, reports Rick Dhaliwal of TSN 1040 and The Athletic (Twitter link).  He suffered a concussion back on October 30th where he missed a little more than a month.  He tried to come back in December but was shut down in his second game.  He made a second comeback attempt in February but was pulled from his first game on a conditioning assignment as the symptoms came back once again.

At that time, he was ruled out for the season but with play not resuming until into the summer, there’s now a possibility that Ferland could return while having the benefit of a full training camp to show that he has indeed recovered.  If healthy, he can make a difference in the bottom six for the Canucks, bringing them a physical presence with some offensive upside after recording at least 40 points in each of the previous two seasons.

Mutual Contract Termination May Make Sense For Loui Eriksson

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Near the trade deadline, the Sabres waived and sent Zach Bogosian to the AHL.  However, instead of reporting, Bogosian opted for a contract termination with an eye on resuming his NHL career and wound up in Tampa Bay shortly thereafter.  Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre posits that the Canucks may attempt to go down a similar path with winger Loui Eriksson.  Part of that ill-fated group of big free agent signings in 2016, Eriksson’s numbers went down as soon as he signed with Vancouver and had 72 points in his first three years combined after putting up 63 in Boston in his final year with them.  His output dipped even further this year to just six goals and seven assists in 49 games, hardly a good return on his $6MM price tag.  Once his upcoming $3MM signing bonus is paid, Eriksson will be owed just $5MM in salary over the final two years of the deal which might be enough to walk away from if he thinks he can land an opportunity with a bigger role elsewhere.

Nikolay Goldobin Signs In The KHL

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June 18: It took more than two months but the deal is now official, as CSKA Moscow announced that Goldobin has indeed inked a two-year contract with the club.

April 11: After spending the majority of this season in the minors, it appears that Canucks winger Nikolay Goldobin is heading overseas.  Sport-Express’ Igor Eronko reports (Twitter link) that Goldobin is expected to sign a two-year deal with CSKA Moscow of the KHL.  TSN 1040’s Rick Dhaliwal relays (via Twitter) a quick statement from Goldobin who confirmed that he is signing in the KHL (but didn’t specify which team) and that he’s looking forward to trying the NHL again at the expiration of his deal.

The 24-year-old cleared waivers at the beginning of the season and aside from a single NHL game in late November, Goldobin spent the entire year with AHL Utica.  He was quite productive with the Comets, recording 50 points in 51 games.  It was just a year ago that he spent an entire season with Vancouver as the 2014 first-round pick had 27 points in 63 contests back in 2018-19 but that wasn’t enough to generate any interest on the waiver wire or the trade market.

The Canucks can retain Goldobin’s NHL rights by issuing a qualifying offer.   However, it’s at least worth noting that Goldobin told Dhaliwal that Vancouver had no interest in re-signing him for 2020-21, suggesting that a non-tender was probably coming.  However, as he won’t be eligible for unrestricted free agency at the expiration of his KHL contract, they’re now likely to tender him the qualifying offer now in case he breaks out overseas.  He’ll still count against the 90-player reserve list in that instance but every team is well below that particular threshold.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

West Notes: Tarasenko, Canucks UFAs, Coyotes Black Aces

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Many may have forgotten already, but when the NHL 24-team tournament hits the ice later this summer, the St. Louis Blues would be doing everything it can to defend their Stanley Cup title and try to win a second straight. That might have been somewhat more challenging for the Blues who played much of the season without star scorer Vladimir Tarasenko who underwent shoulder surgery on Oct. 29.

While he was close to coming back before the NHL season was suspended from COVID-19, there was no guarantee how ready Tarasenko would be for the upcoming playoffs. However, with the delay of the playoffs due to the pandemic, Tarasenko should be more than ready to help the Blues this summer, according to head coach Craig Berube on The Athletic’s We Went Blues podcast with Jeremy Rutherford (subscription required).

“He’s good,” said Berube. “Before we stopped, he was ready to come back the next week and play, so, he did a great job of getting himself back. He did a great job with his rehab, along with the training staff, and he kept himself in great shape. He actually came back in better shape than he came to camp (in September) … He’s been on the ice and doing things right now, so he’s ready to go.”

A healthy Tarasenko would be a huge boost to the team’s playoff chances. The team was faring quite well without him though as they have the second-best record in the league and sit at the top of the Western Conference with a 42-29-10 record. The 28-year-old Tarasenko appeared in just 10 games before being injured, posting three goals and 10 points. He was given a five month timetable, which should make him more than prepared to take on a major role whenever play resumes.

Canucks Prospect Petrus Palmu Expected To Play Overseas Again Next Season

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Canucks prospect Petrus Palmu has spent the last year and a half playing overseas and it doesn’t appear as if that will be changing for 2020-21.  Rick Dhaliwal of TSN 1040 and The Athletic reports that as a result of Vancouver’s decision to renew the contract of AHL Utica head coach Trent Cull creates a situation where both the team and Palmu’s agent Todd Diamond will agree that it’s best that the 22-year-old remains in Europe for next season.

Palmu was a sixth-round pick (171st overall) of Vancouver in 2017 in his final year of draft eligibility after a dominant showing with Owen Sound of the OHL.  He returned to his native Finland the following year before signing an entry-level deal with Vancouver in 2018.

However, things didn’t go well in Utica.  Palmu didn’t see much action with the Comets and eventually secured a loan agreement that allowed him to go back to TPS Turku of the Finnish SM-liiga.  On his way out, he spoke to Dhaliwal about his lack of playing time, saying “Honestly, I didn’t get the reason why I didn’t get the ice time, nobody really talked to me.”  That quote certainly didn’t sit well with Vancouver.

This season, Palmu moved on to JYP Jyvaskyla and had a strong season, notching 13 goals and 22 assists in 47 games to rank fifth on the team in scoring while the playoffs were wiped out due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Palmu actually has one more year left on his entry-level contract so the Canucks will need to agree to loan him out again and a return to JYP certainly makes some sense coming off the year he had.  In the 2021 offseason, he’ll be a restricted free agent and Vancouver will have to make a call at that time about issuing him a qualifying offer to retain his NHL rights or non-tender him, allowing him a shot to potentially catch on with another organization.

Pacific Notes: Markstrom, Vancouver, Calgary

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Without an official start date announced for the expanded NHL postseason, it is nearly impossible to guess when the Stanley Cup might be awarded this year and when the off-season may begin. All that Vancouver Canucks GM Jim Benning cares about is that by the time the off-season does arrive, goaltender Jacob Markstrom is back under contract. “He’s an important guy for us,” Benning told Ben Kuzma of The Province, adding “My intent is to figure out something that works for him and us. I’m hoping to get him signed.” Markstrom is part of a trio of key free agents for Vancouver that includes defenseman Chris Tanev and forward Tyler Toffoli, but the All-Star netminder appears to be Benning’s priority. The GM has been working to extend Markstrom all year, while Markstrom himself has said multiple times that he would like to remain in Vancouver. All that is left is for the two sides to meet on money in the confines of a potential flat salary cap and the Canucks’ hefty payroll. Markstrom enjoyed a career year in 2019-20 and could still boost his stock even further with a strong playoff performance. If the Canucks don’t pay him, someone else undoubtedly will.

  • The city of Vancouver is hoping to have a first-hand look at the coming postseason. The province of British Columbia has put together a formal proposal, designed and approved by its top healthcare professionals, that recommends Vancouver as one of the two “hub cities” for the NHL’s makeshift playoff format. Per the Canadian Press, this proposal will be presented to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for approval and then finally to the NHL. Vancouver was already on the shortlist of possible locations that the league was considering, but are now taking steps to be a front runner for the event. Whether or not the NHL would allow the Canucks to play at home or instead send the Eastern Conference teams to Western Canada remains to be seen.
  • Working against Vancouver’s odds of hosting a postseason tournament is Canada’s continued insistence on a 14-day quarantine for anyone entering the country. If this policy is still in place once the postseason is ready to commence, it would present a holdup that the NHL cannot afford. Before it even reaches that possible breaking point, the quarantine rule is already impacting training camp plans. Calgary Flames GM Brad Treliving tells TSN’s Ryan Rishaug that the organization already has a plan in place to hold their July training camp in the U.S. if the quarantine rule is not lifted or an exception is not made. “I don’t want guys coming back to Calgary and sitting on their butts for two weeks,” Treliving stated, “It may make more sense for us to have camp in the U.S. so we can have guys together quicker and being productive. The quarantine issue is a big one.” There is no word yet on where exactly this fallback training camp would take place, but hockey-centric cities relatively close to Calgary include Spokane, Washington and Grand Forks, North Dakota.

New Jersey Devils Trim Head Coach Search To Four

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The New Jersey Devils got off to another disappointingly slow start in 2019-20. After missing the playoffs in three of their first four seasons under head coach John Hynes, the team decided not to continue a fifth campaign with their bench boss. Hynes was fired on December 3rd with the Devils 9-13-4 on the season, a points percentage of .423. Assistant Alaine Nasreddine took over as head coach and the team did improve over the rest of the season, finishing with a .493 points percentage and just one win shy of a .500 record. However, the question is whether that improvement of .07 percentage points is enough for Nasreddine to keep his job. Or will the Devils focus more on their last-place finish in the Metropolitan Division and look elsewhere for a new head coach?

According to TSN’s Pierre LeBrun, Nasreddine is at least still in the mix for the position. Although New Jersey is facing down a very long off-season as one of the seven teams not to qualify for the expanded postseason (ironically Hynes’ Nashville Predators qualified), they are moving quickly in their coaching search. LeBrun reports that the Devils have spoken with eight to ten candidates for the position, but have whittled it down to just four finalists, one of which is Nasreddine. Who the remaining three names might be is unknown, but Gerard Gallant was one of the first to interview and has to be considered a front-runner given his recent success with the Vegas Golden Knights. Other big names available on the coaching market include Peter Laviolette, Mike Babcock, Bruce Boudreau, John Stevens, and Mike Yeo.

Potentially complicating the hiring process could be the status of the GM position. Tom Fitzgerald, like Nasreddine, is another assistant who was promoted but handed an interim tag this season. He has done an admirable job thus far, but his status remains in limbo. The team has reported talked to some outside candidates, including former Canucks GM Mike Gillis, and may be waiting to make a call on head coach until they know who is leading the organization as GM. However, they have plenty of time ahead of them to make these decisions, even though they appear to be making progress on their hunt for a head coach.

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