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Snapshots: KHL, Burrows, Oilers, Blues, Moore

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Former Blue Jackets’ forward Alexandre Picard and former Hurricanes’ defenseman Brett Bellemore, have signed today to play for Red Star Kalunin, the new KHL expansion team in China, according to KHL reporter Alvis Kalnins. Picard, 30, was taken eighth overall by the Blue Jackets in the 2004 entry draft, and last played in the NHL in 2010. Bellemore, 28, has played 121 NHL games, all with the Hurricanes, the last of which came in 2015.

Here are some more links from throughout the day.

  • Canucks forward Alex Burrows is hopeful for a bounce back season in 2017, writes Dhiren Mahiben of The Hockey News. Burrows had just nine goals, 22 points last year, in what has to be considered one of the worst states of his career. As a 35 year old on the last year of his contract, he may be staring at the end of his NHL career, but Burrows tells Mahiben that he has been assured by management that there remains a spot for him in the lineup.
  • Also from The Hockey News, Mike Brophy went over some of his scattered off-season thoughts. Among other subjects, Brophy speculates that Connor McDavid may be soon in line for the Oilers’ captaincy, and questions how long teams will continue to take chances on Buffalo Sabres’ forward Evander Kane. There were reports of the Sabres shopping Kane earlier this summer. Kane was recently charged with harassment after allegedly attacking two women in a bar.
  • Greg Wyshynski at Puck Daddy writes today on the St. Louis Blues, and how they intend to move forward with their young core after losing veteran Brian Elliott, David Backes, and Troy Brouwer. As Wyshnyski discussed, the Blues will rely more heavily this year on their under-25 core, including Robby Fabbri, Colton Parayko, Jaden Schwartz, and Vladimir Tarasenko, as well as 26-year old defenseman Alex Pietrangelo.
  • Luke Fox of Sportsnet writes today about the future of former New York Rangers’ center Dominic Moore. Fox writes that the Rangers appear to have moved on, but that Moore, 35, has multiple offers on the table as he considers his future. Moore’s production has declined in recent years, but data suggests he’s been playing some of the tougher minutes in the NHL as of late.

Minor Transactions: Leivo, Leafs, Sabres, Red Wings

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On this date 20 years ago, The Great One signed a free agent contract with the New York Rangers, rejoining his former Edmonton Oilers running mate, Mark Messier. While it’s highly unlikely will see a signing of that magnitude today, we’ll still bring you news of today’s transactions, even the minor ones.

  • The Buffalo Sabres have announced, via the team’s website, the signing of free agent defenseman Erik Burgdoerfer to a one-year, two-way contract. Burgdoerfer played for the Hershey Bears last season, the AHL affiliate of the Washington Capitals. The 27-year-old native of East Setauket, NY recorded 20 points along with 59 penalty minutes in 74 games for the Bears.
  • According to James Mirtle of The Globe and Mail (via Twitter) the Toronto Maple Leafs have re-signed forward Josh Leivo to a two-year deal. Cap Friendly reports the breakdown of the contract, including that it comes with a cap charge of $612.5K annually. Leivo tallied five goals in 12 NHL games and has seven in 28 career contests in the league. A third-round pick of the Leafs in 2011, Leivo had a nice year for Toronto’s AHL affiliate, the Marlies, scoring 17 goals and 48 points in just 51 games in 2015-16. At this point Leivo projects to be a depth player, again likely to see most of his action in the minors.
  • Mitch Callahan has re-signed with the Detroit Red Wings, according to the team’s website. The right wing, who has appeared in just one NHL contest during his career, recorded 19 goals and 32 points in 62 games for Grand Rapids in 2015-16. Callahan, who inked a two-way contract, will earn $600K at the NHL level and $175K while playing in the AHL, as reported by Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press.
  • Winnipeg has agreed to re-sign RFA left wing Brandon Tanev  to a one-year, two-way deal, as reported on the team’s website. Brandon, the younger brother of Vancouver defenseman Chris Tanev, will earn a little more than $874K while on the NHL roster, which is the value of his qualifying offer. Tanev skated in three NHL contests upon signing as an undrafted free agent in March after wrapping up his four-year college career at Providence College.

2016 Draftees Who May Play Immediately

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It’s incredibly hard for a teenager to play in the NHL, and never more than a handful of them do. That said, the 2016 entry draft has several candidates to do so this year. Here we’ll take a look at the chances that a few of the league’s top prospects make their debuts sooner, rather than later.

  • Auston Matthews – Matthews may be in the middle of a dispute with Leafs’ management over rookie bonuses, but a long-term holdout, which is rare for recently drafted players, is just about the only way he isn’t playing in the NHL next year. Matthews has the size to play in the league already, and has a year of playing with grown men in Switzerland under his belt. He also will be 19 when the season starts, rather than 18, because he was born right after the age cutoff. The last player to be selected first overall and not play in the NHL the next season was Erik Johnson, selected by the Blues in 2006. As a defenseman, Johnson was assumed to need longer to develop, and had already committed to playing college hockey.
  • Patrick Laine – Laine is expected to be one of the better goal scorers in the NHL pretty quickly, and given that, similarly to Matthews, he played in a men’s pro league last year, and succeeded at the IIHF World Championships for Finland, it would be hard to say he isn’t ready. Laine should fit in well with a strong offensive group in Winnipeg that’s getting younger and better at the same time.
  • Pierre-Luc Dubois – Dubois has a few advantages going for him. While his numbers don’t scream the type of player who hits the big leagues immediately, he’s already 6’3″ and over 200 lbs. He was also drafted by a Blue Jackets team that’s weak enough all over to provide very little competition, by a GM in Jarmo Kekalainen, who risked a lot of his reputation to select him over Jesse Puljujarvi and Matthew Tkachuk. Considering the speed with which he was signed, it’s easy to imagine him suiting up immediately.
  • Jesse Puljujarvi – Puljujarvi was one of the big three going into the draft, and the fact that he fell to the Oilers at four made some wonder if they’d just won the lottery again. Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli told reporters that, if he can play, Puljujarvi gives them “more flexibility” in their search for a defenseman. Considering another winger, Taylor Hall, was traded for defenseman Adam Larsson three days later, it’s likely Chiarelli thinks he can play.
  • Olli Juolevi – Generally, defensemen are given less opportunity to play in the NHL right away, or at least significant minutes. There’s good reason for this, since we have examples of highly drafted defensemen like Luke Schenn playing immediately, and being too overwhelmed too early to learn any more as a player. Juolevi’s opportunity mostly stems from the weakness on the Canucks back end. Since they are one of a number of teams to openly pursue balance between the left and right sides though, that means he’ll have to compete with Ben Hutton, coming off a solid rookie year, 2014 draft pick Nikita Tryamkin, and Luca Sbisa, whose contract may just be too big to put in the press box.
  • Matthew Tkachuk – Another player that will be determined by circumstances. The Flames don’t have a lot of depth up front, but they also don’t have an absolutely glaring hole. They’ve got two players who are pretty much sure things, in Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan, and then Sam Bennett looks to be on the brink. After that, there are some plugs, and there’s some guess work. Tkachuk is big enough to play right away, but he’ll likely only get a shot if he can force himself into a top six role.
  • Mikhail Sergachev – Another defenseman whose team will certainly treat cautiously. Sergachev mostly makes the list because some have called him NHL ready, and he shares that same physical maturity with the other players list here. That said, he turned 18 the day after the draft, and he’d be fighting for the last defense spot with Mark Barberio and Greg Pateryn, meaning he won’t waltz onto the team. Sergachev had some short term misfortune being drafted highly by a team that was probably too good to be doing so, but long term, this is probably better for his development.

Snapshots: Tanev, Ohlund, Barrie, Kreider, Vesey

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Jason Botchford of the Province writes today asking about the future of Canucks defenseman Chris Tanev. Botchford compares the possibility of such a deal to the Adam Larsson for Taylor Hall trade, suggesting that since Tanev is also a right handed defensive defenseman, but better at it, one should wonder what the Canucks could get in exchange for him if Larsson was able to bring a player of Hall’s caliber back to the Devils.

Botchford discusses Tanev’s prowess at things measured by analytics, and his conclusion is fairly tempered. He writes that the Canucks should certainly explore the possibility, but not be looking to give him away. Given Tanev’s age, that seems like a fair assessment. The Canucks may enter a rebuild stage if they don’t succeed this year. They’ll have a head start, given their relative wealth of young players. Because Tanev is just 26, it’s not hard to imagine him still being useful by the time the Canucks are ready to compete. If they can get high end young pieces from a team more desperate to win now, it would be worth exploring long term, but Tanev has too much value and is too young to be just dumped for the sake of getting younger. Tanev also plays the right side, something that is currently scarce, and highly valued. Data suggests that defense pairings should involve one player who shoots each way.

Here are some more links to start your hockey morning:

  • Speaking of skilled defensemen to have played for the Canucks, Aftonbladet in Sweden reports that Mattias Ohlund has retired at the age of 39. Ohlund, who also spent two seasons in Tampa Bay, has been out since 2011 with a knee injury, and has been on the Lightning’s long-term injured reserve ever since. It’s a sad way to go out, but Ohlund had a really strong career, and signed one of the earlier bonus-laden offer sheets with the Toronto Maple Leafs, though it was matched by the Canucks. Ohlund had yet to play a game in the NHL.
  • Mike Halford of Pro Hockey Talk at NBC Sports writes that now that the Avalanche have re-signed Mikhail Grigorenko, their attention is squarely on the status of defenseman Tyson Barrie. Barrie, who has an arbitration hearing nine days from now, has been subject to trade rumors all summer, and while Avalanche GM Joe Sakic says he isn’t trading him, the negotiations have been drawn out, and speculation has persisted. Barrie will turn 25 on Tuesday, and is coming off a season in which he scored 13 goals, and 49 points, following up on his 2015 year that saw him score 12 goals, 52 points, both very impressive for a defenseman.
  • Larry Brooks at the New York Post reports on the difficulties in the Chris Kreider arbitration case. Kreider, 25, is eligible for unrestricted free agency in the summer of 2018, meaning that a two year arbitration decision takes him to the open market, and a one year deal leaves the Rangers exposed to the possibility of a breakout year, and deciding whether to commit a lot of money and term, or letting him go to arbitration again, and then hitting the market.
  • Mark Divver of the Providence Journal tweets that Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman was in Foxboro, Massachusetts last night, watching unsigned Sabres prospect Jimmy Vesey. Vesey, who played at Harvard last year, and whose rights were traded to the Sabres by Nashville for a third round pick in June’s entry draft, can become an unrestricted free agent on August 15th, and says he plans to.

Vancouver Canucks Sign Pedan, Grenier

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According to a team release, the Vancouver Canucks have re-signed restricted free agents Andrey Pedan and Alexandre Grenier to one-year, two-way contracts. Neither player was eligible for arbitration this summer. Grenier will receive $575K ($125K in AHL) plus a $25K signing bonus, per Renaud Lavoie. Pedan will receive $700K ($100K in AHL).

Pedan, 23, made his NHL debut this season, suiting up 13 times for Vancouver.  His physical style has never lent itself to much offensive production, and it proved true in the NHL as the blueliner was held pointless in his first taste of the big leagues.

A former third-round pick by the Islanders in 2011, Pedan will be battling for a bottom-pairing spot on the Canucks this season, using his size to effectively remove attackers from the puck in his own end.

For Grenier, 2015-16 also represented his first shot in the NHL as he was called up on two different occasions during the season. He got into six total games, and didn’t contribute a point in just over eleven minutes a night.

Grenier was another third-round pick in 2011, this time by the Canucks themselves.  He faired well in the minors and tallied 130 points in 208 career AHL games. Last season, he led the Utica Comets in points with 48, and contributed 16 goals. Still probably a year away from getting a real shot with the Canucks, he’ll look to lead the Comets to another successful season.

With the contracts, the Canucks have signed all of their restricted free agents, and will now turn to any tweaks they might have for the roster going forward. With under $3MM left in cap-space, they can’t take on much more as of this moment.

(Current Canucks’ Depth Chart via Roster Resource)

Canucks Sign Michael Carcone To Entry-Level Deal

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The Vancouver Canucks announced the signing of forward Michael Carcone to a three-year, entry-level deal. Carcone spent last season with the Drummondville Voltigeurs of the QMJHL where his scoring prowess was on full display.

Carcone was tied for the team leader in points with 89 (47-42), and led the team in goals. He also spent the 2014-15 season with Drummondville.

In a recent article from the Vancouver Courier, Daniel Wagner wrote about how the 2o-year-old forward’s skillset has made him a Youtube darling. The Canucks even included a clip via Twitter of Carcone’s skills in camp.

Though his goals come pretty and in large quantities, Wagner reports that Carcone’s undrafted status was affected by a couple of things. First, his size (5-10) scared some teams off. Second, playing in Junior A during a draft eligible year hurt him as he only produced 37 points in 49 games.

However, his ability to score goals makes him a desired quantity for the Canucks–who ranked 29th in goals for–only ahead of New Jersey.

Vancouver Depth Chart

Boston In Negotiations With Brad Marchand

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The Boston Bruins have had an interesting summer so far. After negotiating all season with Loui Eriksson, the forward eventually signed a huge deal with the Vancouver Canucks. The team tried to replace his production by bringing in former St. Louis Blues captain David Backes on a long-term deal, securing their center position for the immediate future.

It’s the wing that now needs attention, as the team has started negotiations with all-star winger Brad Marchand on a contract extension, according to D.J. Bean of WEEI. Marchand, 28, has one year remaining on his current deal, after which he would become an unrestricted free agent. After scoring 37 goals this past season, the diminutive winger (who doesn’t play like it) will be in for a huge raise.

In the six seasons that he has been a regular in the Bruins’ lineup, Marchand has eclipsed 20 goals all but once – the lockout shortened 2012-13 season, in which he scored 18 in 45 games.  After breaking out even further last season, the former third-round pick will probably be looking for a contract larger than that of Eriksson, who brought in a total of $36MM over six seasons.  If he can put up another 30-plus goal season, he’ll probably command the maximum seven years, at somewhere between $6-7MM per – that is, unless the team can get him under contract before he hits the open market.

Minor Transactions: 7/13/16

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  • The New York Islanders have re-signed Alan Quine to a two-year deal tweets Arthur Staple. Staple reports that it’s a one-way deal with a $612.5K AAV. Andy Graziano reports  that the deal is a total of $1.225MM. Quine played in 10 playoff games with the Islanders, notching five points (1-4).
  • The Canucks officially announced the signings of goalie Richard Bachman and forward Michael Zalewski. Zalewski was inked to a one-year, $632.5K deal. Bachman signed a one-year, $575K deal. Jason Brough tweets that Bachman may be the goalie Vancouver leaves exposed in next year’s expansion draft.
  • The Lightning signed Cory Conacher to a one-year, $575K deal. Conacher will return to the team he last played for in 2012-13 before bouncing around the league. Conacher was traded to the Senators for Ben Bishop in 2013. At the time, it was considered a win for both teams, but would turn out a heist for the Lightning. Conacher played for Bern in the Swiss National League last season, and had 52 points (20-32) in 48 games.
  • The Panthers have re-signed F Logan Shaw to a one year, two-way deal according to General Fanager.  Shaw played in 53 games with Florida last season, picking up seven points (5-2).  He also played in 19 AHL games, collecting 14 points (11-3).  Shaw will earn $660K in the NHL and $70K in the AHL.
  • Ducks UFA Charlie Sarault has signed a one year deal with Dornbirner EC of the EIHL, the Austrian team announced on their Facebook page.  Sarault had 62 points in 67 games with Utah of the ECHL last season.
  • Los Angeles has signed Patrick Bjorkstrand to a one year, entry level contract, reports General Fanager.  Bjorkstrand, the older brother of Columbus prospect Oliver Bjorkstrand, spent last season with Zagreb of the KHL, scoring 22 points in 57 games.  He will have a cap hit of $667K in terms of base salary and a signing bonus and can earn up to $257K in performance bonuses.

Snapshots: Burrows, Francis, Arbitration

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When the 2015-16 season came to a close, it seemed a sure bet that the Vancouver Canucks were going to buy out the final year of Alex Burrows’ four-year, $18MM contract. He’d seen his play dwindle, and GM Jim Benning was clear that he wanted to move in a younger direction, all but pointing the finger at the 35-year old.  But, as the first buyout window came and went, it was Chris Higgins and not Burrows that found his contract voided.

Now, Burrows says that he’s ready for the new season and is challenging himself to be better.  In talking to Ben Kuzma of The Province, Burrows provided great insight into his preparation and mindset heading into this season, including making it clear that he will relish a leadership and mentor opportunity with the younger players this season.

He’s even open to being a healthy scratch on occasion: “There are so many worse things in life than being a healthy scratch or they put a young guy in the lineup ahead of you. My wife is healthy and my kids are healthy and it puts things in perspective.”  Here’s some more from around the league:

  • After years of floundering without a clear direction, Ryan Kennedy of The Hockey News opines that the Carolina Hurricanes are finally doing a re-build the right way. With a full stable of young defensemen they’ve built through the draft, the team now has the option of dealing from a position of depth – one that is scarce throughout the league. Kennedy mentions the recent rumors of David Krejci from Boston as a possible target for one of their young blueliners.
  • In hiring Brad Shaw as an assistant coach last month, the Columbus Blue Jackets added an experienced name that can help build and develop their defense like he did in St. Louis. When asked by Rob Mixer of NHL.com why he chose Columbus, Shaw made it clear that players like the recently extended Seth Jones, and second overall pick Ryan Murray were a key factor: “The young defensemen here played a big part in my decision, no doubt about it. The biggest challenge in working with young players is trying to pin down and have a clear picture of what the final product will look like when they’re at their best in the NHL. Every guy is different.”
  • After Philadelphia signed Jordan Weal earlier today, three of the twenty-five players who are headed to arbitration (through their own filing or the team’s) have now come to terms before their hearings, as General Fanager tweets. You can follow all the arbitration cases on their tracker, as well as up-to-date depth charts at Roster Resource.

Canucks Sign Markstrom To Three-Year Extension

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The Vancouver Canucks announced the re-signing of goalie Jacob Markstrom. The extension is for three years, $11MM. Markstrom will finish his current contract, which holds a hit of $1.55MM through the 2016-17 season. The new cap hit starting in the 2017-18 season will be $3.67MM.

The Canucks announced the re-signing this morning. General manager Jim Benning reported that Markstrom “loves playing in Vancouver and is excited.” Benning also lauded Markstrom’s skill set and efforts in the crease.

Last season, Markstrom appeared in 33 games and posted a .915 save percentage. He had 13 wins.

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