Canucks Have Reached Out To Tyler Bozak And Riley Nash
- Securing help at center is a priority for the Canucks this summer and the team has already reached out to representatives for Tyler Bozak and Riley Nash, reports Postmedia’s Ben Kuzma, who adds that Jay Beagle and Derek Ryan may also be of interest to the team. The retirement of Henrik Sedin has left a void inside their top six at that position and while the team certainly hopes that Elias Pettersson will one day fill that spot, their preference is to start him on the wing so a short-term stopgap solution seems like a good way to go. However, Bozak is among the top players of the second tier of that position on the open market so there’s a good chance he’ll be seeking a lot more than just a short-term contract.
Pittsburgh Re-Signs Riley Sheahan To A One-Year Contract
5:24 PM: The Penguins have indeed finalized a deal with Sheahan, announcing that he has signed a one-year, $2.1MM contract. It checks in at a slightly higher amount than his $2.075MM qualifying offer but had he been qualified and gone to an arbitration hearing, it likely would have cost more for Pittsburgh to keep him around.
2:04 PM: Though he wasn’t qualified earlier this week, Riley Sheahan is likely headed back to the Pittsburgh Penguins anyway. GM Jim Rutherford took questions after his trade of Conor Sheary earlier today, and indicated that the team was getting closer to a deal with Sheahan and would have re-signed the 26-year old center even without the added cap space. The team also admitted that their focus is on adding another defenseman before the season begins—something they have apparently done already with Jack Johnson.
The Penguins didn’t give Sheahan a qualifying offer because it would have cost them more than $2MM, and he would have gained arbitration rights. Now, though Sheahan could technically become an unrestricted free agent and sign with whoever he wants on July 1st, the team seems confident they can get a deal done at a lower cap hit. That’s important to Pittsburgh, who are pinching pennies to get everyone in under the $79.5MM ceiling.
Sheahan can be a useful player for the team, able to line up at center or wing and contribute offensively in a secondary role. Coming off his incredibly unlucky 2016-17 campaign—Sheahan took 106 shots before getting his first goal of the season in the final game, ending with just two—he bounced back to register 32 points despite being used almost exclusively in a defensive role. Sheahan received the fewest offensive zone starts of any center on the team, and was asked to kill more time shorthanded than anyone other player on a per-game basis.
Even with increased roles coming for players like Daniel Sprong and Dominik Simon, Sheahan has clear value to the Penguins. He’ll be back in the fold in some capacity, though it’s not clear where a contract would land with the former Red Wing. With the relatively thin center market you’d think that he could draw some interest from around the league, but perhaps the stability that a Cup contender like Pittsburgh brings is enough to convince him to not even test the open waters.
Winnipeg Extends Defenseman Joe Morrow
Wednesday: The team has officially announced the contract, bringing back Morrow for one year at $1MM.
Tuesday: A team declined to extend a qualifying offer to a restricted free agent defenseman who had been a good fit, only to re-sign him to an affordable one-year deal. Sound familiar? Less than an hour after the Vancouver Canucks re-signed Derrick Pouliot to an extension, the Winnipeg Jets have followed suit with a new contract for Joe Morrow. TVA’s Renaud Lavoie reports that Morrow has signed a one-year, $1MM extension to remain in Winnipeg.
Like Pouliot, Morrow does not lose out on not getting a qualifying offer by yesterday’s deadline. The 25-year-old defender made the league minimum $650K last year, making a new million-dollar pact a substantial upgrade. In fact, it is almost a surprising raise for Morrow. The young journeyman, who was drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins and traded to the Dallas Stars and then to the Boston Bruins before even making his NHL debut, was on his third team in two years when he finished the 2017-18 season with the Jets. Boston had declined to qualify Morrow last summer, only they intended to let him walk as a free agent. Morrow signed with the Montreal Canadiens and posted a career high in games played and points while also showing some defensive improvements. However, Morrow was still less than a full-time player and his move to Winnipeg was more of an afterthought depth addition at the time of the NHL Trade Deadline. Morrow was solid albeit unspectacular down the stretch for the Jets and was used only sparingly in the postseason. With that said, the Jets were vocal about how pleased they were with Morrow’s acquisition.
The Winnipeg front office and coaching staff clearly saw enough of the puck-moving defenseman to decide on using some of their precious cap space to bring him back. The Jets face a daunting number of restricted and unrestricted free agency conundrums this summer, but seemingly worked quickly to get a deal done with Morrow. With four veteran defenseman signed for next season and three more qualified as RFA’s, Winnipeg has plenty of depth on the blue line, but must have plans to use Morrow in some capacity next season.
Pittsburgh Trades Conor Sheary, Matt Hunwick To Buffalo Sabres
The Pittsburgh Penguins made it clear after re-signing Bryan Rust that there may be cap casualties this summer, and we now may have an idea of who GM Jim Rutherford was talking about. Conor Sheary and Matt Hunwick are headed to Buffalo in exchange for a conditional 2019 fourth-round pick. The pick would move to a third-round selection if Sheary scores 20 goals or 40 points, or if Hunwick is traded before the 2019 draft. With no salary retained, this move clears $5.25MM for the Penguins, giving them plenty of room to add through free agency if they so choose.
Buffalo GM Jason Botterill released this statement on the acquisitions:
Conor has proven himself to be a reliable forward with an ability to come through in big games, whose playoff experience speaks for itself. Conor and Matt will bring a winning pedigree to our team, and we expect them both to complement our group very well.
Sheary is the prize of the trade for the Sabres—if you couldn’t tell from the above statement—and will likely be asked to take up residence on the left side of one of the top two lines in Buffalo. He has experience playing with a superstar center before, spending plenty of time on Sidney Crosby‘s wing in Pittsburgh. If he can recreate some of that chemistry with Jack Eichel, the Sabres may have finally found a fit for their franchise center.
The 25-year old Sheary went undrafted as a junior player and needed to prove himself at the NCAA level before being offered a professional contract. Even then it took several years of development to get to the NHL, a path that Botterill will be quite familiar with given he was an assistant GM of the Penguins and ran their minor league system at the time. If there is anyone around the league that knows more than Rutherford about Sheary, it’s Botterill.
That said, Sheary did have just 30 points last season and has proven to be an extremely streaky scoring threat. There are times where all his hard work and speed result in very little, as we saw in the playoffs when he was held to just two assists through 12 games. Buffalo will hope a return to playing with skilled forwards will jump start that offensive touch, and get him back to the 23-goal man he was in 2016-17.
Hunwick had already worn out his welcome in Pittsburgh, just a single year into the three-year $6.75MM deal he signed last summer. There was never any bad blood between the veteran defenseman and the coaching staff or organization, but he couldn’t find a fit in the lineup and ended up playing in just 42 games. Getting rid of his contract was key this offseason, now that Jamie Oleksiak has taken his role at the bottom of the defensive corps and the team could be interested in bringing in players like Jack Johnson.
Should Johnson still be a target for the Penguins, they certainly have enough space now to fit him in. With the reputation Rutherford has for trading though, it seems just as likely that Pittsburgh will be involved in talks for players like Jeff Skinner, Max Pacioretty or Artemi Panarin, all three of whom are heading into the final year of their current contracts. Whether the price tag on any of them would interest the Penguins isn’t clear, but they now have the cap room—over $10MM in fact—to make a much bigger splash.
For Buffalo, adding two roster players for a conditional mid-round draft pick is nothing short of brilliance by Botterill. The Sabres aren’t in salary cap trouble and can easily afford to take a swing on both. Sheary provides a high reward player who could blossom in Buffalo, while Hunwick represents an upgrade on some of the defensemen the team iced last season. Even though the 33-year old didn’t fit into the Pittsburgh system, doesn’t mean he can’t be a useful sixth or seventh defenseman for the Sabres going forward.
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet first tweeted that there were “rumblings” of a trade between the Penguins and Buffalo Sabres surrounding Conor Sheary. Darren Dreger of TSN reports gave us the Hunwick addition and the conditions of the trade.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Red Wings Seeking To Fill Familiar Roles
According to The Athletic’s Craig Custance, the Detroit Red Wings have special interest in four unrestricted free agents: goaltender Robin Lehner, center Valtteri Filppula, winger Thomas Vanek, and defenseman Mike Green. What all four of these players have in common is that the Red Wings have a very specific role in mind for each player. Detroit is seeking to replace, or in some case retain, players who had success in a certain organizational role.
Lehner, 26, appears to be a priority for the Red Wings. The former Buffalo Sabres starter reportedly visited Detroit today to meet with the Red Wings’ front office and coaching staff. Custance points out that Lehner is still young enough that he could get his game back on track and step into the starter role if and when 34-year-old Jimmy Howard leaves when his contract expires after next season. This was the exact role that the team had planned for Petr Mrazek, ironically the other big-name non-qualified goaltender. Mrazek was ahead of schedule and took Howard’s job for much of 2015-16 and 2016-17, but a drop-off in his performance eventually ran him out of town. The Wings seem to now see Lehner as a second chance at their plan, replacing Mrazek in hopes of landing a young heir apparent behind Howard.
Filppula is a name that Red Wings’ fans are familiar with. The veteran pivot was drafted by the team back in 2002 and spent eight seasons in Detroit. Who better than a wise, capable long-time Red Wing to replace a wise, capable long-time Red Wing? Custance writes that Detroit is worried that injuries may keep Henrik Zetterberg from returning this season and pursuing Fippula gives them a back-up option if their seasoned leader isn’t around. Both players are versatile, two-way centermen who can help the team in many ways. Even if Zetterberg is healthy, Filppula’s return to Detroit could help to groom some of their younger talent.
Vanek and Green are interesting targets in that the Red Wings want them back to avoid having to find another way to replace them. Vanek scored 38 points in 48 games with Detroit in 2016-17, but was traded to the Florida Panthers at the deadline. Almost immediately it was rumored that the Red Wings hoped to bring him back as a free agent. Instead, Vanek signed with the Vancouver Canucks and again was a deadline acquisition, this time by the Columbus Blue Jackets. While Vanek registered 56 points in 80 games, Detroit struggled to make up his production. They are now back in the running for his services this off-season in hopes that he can again provide a spark on offense. They are also trying to avoid losing Green and, like Vanek, immediately regretting the loss due to a difficulty in replacing his ability. Green is the lone high-end offensive defenseman on the free agent market and Detroit is far from the only team in the running. Custance reports that they are willing to match salary, but won’t seem to budge on a maximum two-year term. If the Red Wings were to lose Green to free agency, they would surely have a hard time making up his 30+ points and more than 22 minutes of ice time per game over the past two seasons.
The Red Wings have not been a strong team for the past few years, but there have been some facets of their game play that have worked out well. Detroit is hoping to continue, replace, or revive those successful pieces in hopes of finally returning to a complete, competitive team. Are Lehner, Filppula, Vanek, and Green the right moves? Or should the Red Wings forget about past successes and move on to a new, younger strategy?
Canucks Re-Sign Defenseman Derrick Pouliot
Yet another example of a restricted free agent not receiving a qualifying offer only to sign an extension with his team anyway, the Vancouver Canucks have announced a new deal with defenseman Derrick Pouliot. The contract is for one year and worth $1.1MM. While this is a great deal for the Canucks, it is also well above the value of Pouliot’s would-be qualifying offer, showing that the offer’s absence was just a formality of ongoing negotiations.
Pouliot, 24, finally landed a full-time NHL role last year in his fifth pro season. The eighth overall pick in 2012 had struggled to find his spot with the Pittsburgh Penguins for years, leading the two-time defending champs to trade him away last summer for the relatively underwhelming package of Andrey Pedan and a fourth-round pick. Pouliot arrived in Vancouver eager to show that he was better than the part-time player he was in Pittsburgh. He did just that, skating in 71 games for the Canucks and recording 22 points along the way. Pouliot trailed only Alexander Edler in terms of points and assists among Vancouver defenseman and was not only the best possession player on the blue line, but behind only Daniel and Henrik Sedin in Corsi.
This is why many were surprised when it was reported that the Canucks had not extended a qualifying offer to Pouliot yesterday. The young rearguard is clearly a key piece for Vancouver and likely a part of GM Jim Benning‘s long-term plan. Pouliot’s extension may only be for one more year, as the team continues to evaluate his overall game and work on improving problem areas, but it stands to reason that Pouliot could bridge the gap between Edler, a 2019 free agent, and top prospects Quinn Hughes and Olli Juolevi as the primary puck-mover and offensive catalyst on the Vancouver’s back end.
Free Agent Rumor Round-Up: Maroon, Grabner, De Haan, Rieder
Teams are free to speak with impending free agents prior to the official opening of free agency on Sunday, July 1st. As usual, that has produced a flurry of rumors regarding which teams and how many teams are talking to each of the biggest names. Here is an update on some of those rumors:
- Unsurprisingly, winger Patrick Maroon has been linked to his hometown St. Louis Blues. Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic reports and Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch confirms that the Blues have reached out to Maroon’s camp in hopes of bringing him back to where his hockey aspirations first began. Maroon is coming off a career-high 43-point season and especially looked strong after a Trade Deadline deal from the Edmonton Oilers to the New Jersey Devils. Blues beat reporter Andy Strickland adds that Maroon has not closed the door on a return to either Edmonton or New Jersey, but that the Blues are one of at least six other teams who are pursuing the power forward.
- The Boston Bruins were busy making their pitch to John Tavares today, but that doesn’t mean that they weren’t also thinking a few steps ahead. Mark Divver of the Providence Journal says that the Bruins have “checked in” on two-way speedster Michael Grabner, another Devils deadline acquisition. Not only do the Bruins need another veteran right-shot forward and want to continue to add quickness to the roster, but it also might not be a coincidence that Grabner spent years playing alongside Tavares with the New York Islanders.
- In a shallow class of top-four defenseman, Calvin de Haan is drawing a lot of interest despite missing most of the season with the New York Islanders due to injury. The 27-year-old former first-round pick is one of the more reliable and younger options among defenders on the market and is set to cash in as a result. Kings beat writer Dennis Bernstein reports that Los Angeles is the latest team to show interest in de Haan, bringing the speculated total number of teams interested in the blue liner into the double-digits.
- When the Kings declined to offer Tobias Rieder a qualifying offer yesterday, it was only a matter of time before teams came calling on the new UFA. Sportsnet’s Rick Dhaliwal states that the Vancouver Canucks are one of those interested teams, but that four or five other suitors have already emerged. The two-way winger is one of the youngest and most versatile options available on the market.
Jack Johnson In Talks With Pittsburgh Penguins
The Pittsburgh Penguins are always one of the teams to watch in trade season and free agency, at least with Jim Rutherford in the GM chair. The veteran executive is no stranger to salary cap gymnastics and horse trading, and usually finds unexpected ways to improve his roster. One of those ways may now come in the form of Jack Johnson, who according to Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has had very positive talks with the Penguins as we get closer to free agency opening on July 1st. Johnson is a good friend of Sidney Crosby and would give Pittsburgh another veteran option on the blueline to help on another Stanley Cup run in 2018-19.
The cost of a Johnson contract isn’t clear. The Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman earned $5MM on the last season of his seven-year, $30.5MM contract in 2017-18, but lobbied for a trade in order to try and secure a better contract on the open market. The 31-year old was involved in a very public bankruptcy case in 2014, and simply wanted to ensure a healthy deal this summer knowing it may be his last multi-year deal in the NHL. He ended up staying with Columbus all season, but faced being a healthy scratch down the stretch—in part, somewhat ironically, because of the Blue Jackets’ acquisition of Penguins defenseman Ian Cole at the deadline—and didn’t suit up for a single playoff game.
Where his market currently sits is unclear, but the Penguins can’t be paying huge sums to a defenseman in their current cap situation. After re-signing Bryan Rust earlier today, Pittsburgh has around $5MM in cap space with Jamie Oleksiak and others still to sign. Though they can go up to 10% over that during the offseason, signing Johnson to a hefty multi-year deal would make it awful tricky going forward. Rutherford has made it clear that they will send out some salary at some point this season, but even trading Phil Kessel‘s $6.8MM cap hit doesn’t create much room if a good chunk of it is taken up by a Johnson signing.
Free Agency Notes: De Haan, Bernier, Stastny, Vanek
While early reports that quite a bit of interest has been directed towards John Tavares, another New York Islanders’ unrestricted free agent has garnered attention too. David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports defenseman Calvin de Haan has received significant interest from upwards of 10 teams so far.
While Lou Lamoriello has made it clear that it is his mission to convince Tavares to stay with the Islanders, the team has two key defensive free agents to worry about as well, including de Haan and Thomas Hickey. De Haan, however, is an interesting situation as the blueliner has shown a lot of promise over the years since being drafted in the first round back in 2009, which includes some flashes of brilliance at times, but he’s never been able to put it all together in a full season for the Islanders. He did put up career highs in 2016-17 with five goals and 25 points and may well have been on his way to break that this year, but went down with a season-ending injury on Dec. 16. He posted one goal and 11 assists in 33 games.
Many teams feel that a change of scenery and the fact that the free agent is still just 27, would make him an ideal player who could become a quality top-four defenseman.
- The Athletic’s Craig Custance reports that unrestricted free agent goaltender Jonathan Bernier has indicated that he likes Colorado and would like to return to the Avalanche. However, after the team traded for Washington Capitals goaltender Philipp Grubauer Friday and the fact they still have Semyon Varlamov listed as their starter, that would cause an unusual logjam at the goaltending position. If Colorado would rather have a combination of Grubauer and Bernier, general manager Joe Sakic would have to make another roster move to rid himself of Varlamov, who will be an unrestricted free agent in 2019. There would almost undoubtedly be a market for Varlamov if Sakic made him available. Bernier had moments of brilliance last season, but finished the year with a 2.85 GAA and a .913 save percentage in 37 games.
- Fox Sports Andy Strickland reports that their is mutual interest for veteran center Paul Stastny to return to the Winnipeg Jets. Stastny thrived in Winnipeg’s offense alongside Patrik Laine and Nikolaj Ehlers, but the expected cost of retaining Stastny, who is the No. 2 center on the unrestricted free agent market, is not in the team’s financial plans. Custance writes the Jets are looking for a way to keep Stastny, which would require them to move out a contract to make a deal like that work. The 32-year-old put up 16 goals and 53 points between St. Louis and Winnipeg last year.
- Sportsnet’s Rick Dhaliwal writes that while former Vancouver Canucks forward Thomas Vanek has received some early interest from teams, the Canucks are not one of them. There had been some early talk that the team wanted to bring back the 34-year-old winger after they traded the veteran to Columbus at the trade deadline. The team liked the way he mentored the younger players. His 17 goals for Vancouver (24 total for the season) suggest he still has the ability to put the puck in the net.
Blackhawks Acquire Michael Chaput from Vancouver
The Chicago Blackhawks announced a small trade today with the Vancouver Canucks between two players who have been unable to crack their respective lineups as Chicago acquired Michael Chaput from the Canucks in exchange for Tanner Kero.
Chaput has been a valuable commodity for Vancouver’s AHL team as he has bounced back and forth between the Comets and the Canucks. The 26-year-old forward tallied 17 goals and 25 assists last year with Utica in 55 games and only managed to appear in nine games for the Canucks, averaging 9:47 of ATOI and tallying no points. He did appear in 68 games in 2016-17, but couldn’t hold onto that job. With an influx of young talent pouring into the system, it appears that players such as Adam Gaudette or Jonathan Dahlen (unless they make the Canucks outright) will likely take over as top-line forwards for Utica, making Chaput expendable.
A restricted free agent with arbitration rights, Chaput will need to be signed, but again provides a cheap depth forward that Chicago needs with all its bloated, high-priced contracts at the top of their books. Already with 135 games of NHL experience, he provides the perfect bubble addition for the team that has a lot of youth that may or may not be ready for Chicago next season.
As for Vancouver, the team brings in Kero, who also has considerable experience playing between the AHL and NHL levels, but hasn’t been as successful. Kero tallied eight goals and 20 points in 36 games for the Rockford IceHogs last year, while he played eight games for Chicago, putting up a goal and two assists. He has 72 career NHL games under his belt. He provides value at the AHL level for the Comets, who need help at the center position there and he still has one year remaining on a $750K one-way deal.