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Snapshots: Elias Pettersson, Goalie Rankings, Contract Efficiency

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After a less-than-stellar season last year, Vancouver Canucks forward Elias Pettersson is out for “revenge” this upcoming season. Speaking with NHL.com’s Peter Ekholm, Pettersson appears to be on a mission after producing just 15 goals and 45 points last season.

“I know what I’m capable of. Actually, I haven’t thought about it, but for myself it’s revenge. I’m not happy with last season,” he said.

Pettersson, 26, produced nearly half as many points as he did in the 2023–24 season, when he recorded 34 goals and 89 points. After posting three consecutive 30-goal seasons, Pettersson fought through injuries last year, which resulted in him appearing in just 65 games. To address this, Pettersson said he has added muscle to his listed 176-pound frame, noting that the added strength will not only help keep him healthy but also make him faster.

“It’s always about building your base strength, to get quicker on the ice. To gain a few pounds, get stronger in general, that’s always the goal. But for me it’s a bonus to gain a few pounds,” he said.

Elsewhere around the league:

  • As a part of a summer Talent Tiers series, TSN’s Travis Yost examined the league’s goaltending depth charts and ranked all 32 teams into five categories, from Tier 1 through Tier 5. Only three teams were included in Yost’s top tier: the New York Rangers, New York Islanders, and Winnipeg Jets. The Islanders were added to the top tier thanks to the combination of veterans Ilya Sorokin and Semyon Varlamov, while the division rival Rangers made it thanks to former Vezina Trophy winner Igor Shesterkin and veteran backup Jonathan Quick. For Winnipeg, the play of Connor Hellebuyck — and his three Vezina Trophies — is enough to lift the team into Tier 1. On the other hand, four teams were placed in Yost’s Tier 5: the Buffalo Sabres, Columbus Blue Jackets, Philadelphia Flyers, and Pittsburgh Penguins.
  • The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn recently took a look at every player’s market value over the remainder of their contracts to determine which team is spending money the most efficiently. In his view, three teams earned an “A+” rating in this category: the Tampa Bay Lightning, Carolina Hurricanes, and Colorado Avalanche. Notably, the back-to-back champion Florida Panthers rank fourth in Luszczyszyn’s latest rankings, while the Edmonton Oilers dropped from second last year to eighth this season. On the flip side of the coin, three teams achieved a league-low “D+” rating: the Nashville Predators, Chicago Blackhawks, and Seattle Kraken.

Brady Keeper Announces Retirement

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He spent the next few years moving from the Panthers to the Vancouver Canucks, before finally landing in the Montreal Canadiens organization in the 2023-24 season. Outside of an additional game with Florida, he’s only played in the AHL, finishing his career with 10 goals and 31 points in 129 games with a -2 rating and 208 PIMs. Unless he changes his mind on retirement in the next few years, his last professional hockey contest will have come with the AHL’s Laval Rocket in 2024.

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Vancouver Canucks Sign Vitali Kravtsov

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4:45 p.m.: Shortly after the Canucks announced the signing, PuckPedia alerted the public to Kravtsov’s contract details. He’ll earn a league minimum salary at the NHL level and a $450K salary in the AHL. If he fails to register 16 or more games next season, he’ll become a Group VI free agent next offseason.

4:11 p.m.: The former ninth overall pick of the 2018 NHL Draft is coming back to North America. According to a team announcement, the Vancouver Canucks have signed Vitali Kravtsov to a one-year, two-way contract for the 2025-26 season.

The native of Vladivostok, Russia, was originally drafted by the New York Rangers after playing in 35 games for KHL’s Traktor Chelyabinsk. Despite only scoring four goals and seven points that year, Kravtsov had previously recorded 13 goals and 36 points in 41 games with a +18 rating for the MHL’s Belye Medvedi Chelyabinsk. He was ranked as the third-best European prospect by NHL Central Scouting.

He performed much better in the KHL after being drafted by the Rangers, scoring eight goals and 21 points in 50 games, with an additional two assists in four postseason contests. He made his debut in North America during the 2019-20 season, scoring six goals and 15 points in 39 games for the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack. Finally, just three years after being drafted, Kravtsov debuted for the Rangers during the 2020-21 campaign.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic at the time, Kravtsov spent the early part of the year back in the KHL, scoring 16 goals and 24 points in 49 games. He debuted in the NHL in early April, skating in 10:45 of the Rangers’ shootout loss to the Buffalo Sabres on April 3rd. Unfortunately, despite seeing his ice time increase down the stretch, Kravtsov finished the season with two goals and four points in 20 games with a -6 rating. His possession and defensive metrics were abysmal, averaging a 43.9% CorsiFor% at even strength, and an 89.7% on-ice save percentage at even strength.

Feeling that he needed more developmental time, Kravtsov was again loaned to the Traktor Chelyabinsk for the 2021-22 campaign, scoring six goals and 13 points in 19 games, with another seven goals and 10 points in 15 playoff contests. Inspired by his postseason performance, the Rangers brought Kravtsov back to North America for the 2022-23 season.

His second year in New York went mildly better than the first, scoring three goals and six points in 28 games with a +6 rating. Ultimately, the Rangers had seen enough from their recent top draft selection, and they traded him to the Canucks on February 25, 2023, for William Lockwood and a 2026 seventh-round pick. Similarly, Kravtsov had a disappointing showing with the Canucks, scoring one goal and one assist in 16 games to finish out his second year in the NHL.

For the third time since making his professional playing debut in North America, Kravtsov left the NHL for Traktor Chelyabinsk, signing a two-year agreement with them after the 2022-23 NHL season. Since he was a restricted free agent at the time, the Canucks retained his negotiating rights should he ever return to NHL action.

His two-year tenure with Traktor was highly successful. He registered 45 goals and 92 points in 121 games, along with a +27 rating, including another nine goals and 12 points in 33 playoff contests. Given that it’s a two-way deal, Kravtsov will likely start the 2025-26 season with the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks, while maintaining the possibility of being recalled to Vancouver should his second stint with the team prove successful.

Ty Mueller Looking To Take Next Step

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  • Vancouver Canucks prospect Ty Mueller had a standout season in the AHL last year and is aiming for even more in the upcoming campaign, per NHL.com’s Chris Faber. Last season, Mueller, 22, was named an AHL All-Star, won a Calder Cup with the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks, and made his NHL debut, appearing in two games toward the end of year. In 64 AHL games, Mueller posted 12 goals and 39 points, and added 12 points in 24 playoff games. Drafted by the Canucks in the fourth round of the 2023 Draft (105th overall), Mueller is looking to build upon last season’s success and make a true impact in Vancouver. Known for being defensively responsible, Mueller led Abbotsford in plus/minus last season and feels he can bring that skillset with him to the next level. “Here and there, I’ll sit and think about how cool it was to get that opportunity, and it just motivates me even more to get to the next level and be someone who can stay up there,” he said.

Conor Garland Looking To Continue To Improve

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  • The road for Vancouver Canucks’ forward Conor Garland wasn’t always easy, which makes his six-year, $36 million extension he signed on July 1 all the sweeter, outlines Ben Kuzma of The Province. As Kuzma notes, Garland has faced adversity throughout his hockey journey (largely due to his small stature), which included not making the famed Shattuck-Saint Mary’s junior team in Minnesota that produced several NHL stars, including the aforementioned Toews. That adversity, however, has been a driving force behind the player Garland is today — one who has missed just two games over the past three seasons while tallying 143 points. Garland feels his extension was not just for prior results, but also for the continued growth he and the team expect. “I try to come back each year better, and I know I have to produce more. I’ve learned most about consistency. When the puck wasn’t going in, or I wasn’t making plays, I became a pretty responsible defensive forward on a shutdown line,” he said.

Nikolai Knyzhov Among Players Signed By AHL Abbotsford

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  • The Canucks’ AHL affiliate in Abbotsford announced four signings today, including former Sharks defenseman Nikolai Knyzhov. His brief 81-game NHL career with San Jose was derailed by a core muscle surgery that sidelined him for the entire 2021-22 season, and he hasn’t played in the NHL since the Sharks bought him out following the 2023-24 campaign. He landed a PTO with the Penguins in training camp last fall, but that only yielded an AHL contract with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. The 27-year-old lefty was later traded to the Grand Rapids Griffins in March. He totaled six points and a +1 rating in 26 appearances for the two clubs, along with one assist and a -6 rating in six appearances for the ECHL’s Cincinnati Cyclones.

Canucks Unsure Of Where To Send Patera Next Season

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  • The Canucks plan to have prospects Nikita Tolopilo and Ty Young as the AHL tandem for next season, notes Thomas Drance of The Athletic (subscription link). They also have prospect Aku Koskenvuo who is likely to start in the ECHL.  With Thatcher Demko and Kevin Lankinen entrenched as the tandem in Vancouver, that has Jiri Patera as the odd man out.  Patera has NHL experience but was limited to just seven games last season.  Drance relays that the Canucks are still determining where they plan to assign the 26-year-old next season assuming he clears waivers which suggests that a loan (or trade) outside the organization could be coming.

Oilers Showed Interest In Silovs But Canucks Wouldn't Trade Him There

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  • Before he was traded to Pittsburgh, the Oilers showed interest in goaltender Arturs Silovs, relays Postmedia’s Kurt Leavins. However, the Canucks indicated that they would not move him to Edmonton, their division rival.  Knowing that Silovs was likely to be claimed on waivers in training camp, Vancouver elected to send him to the Penguins for a fourth-round pick and prospect Chase Stillman.  But the fact that Edmonton was discussing Silovs suggests that GM Stan Bowman is keeping an eye on the goaltending market heading into training camp.

Canucks Have Had Discussions With Jack Roslovic

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Earlier this week, it was reported that the Canucks had interest in some remaining free agents but lacked the cap space to sign any.  That changed on Thursday when Vancouver dealt forward Dakota Joshua to Toronto, freeing up an additional $3.25MM in flexibility, enough to take a run at someone still unsigned.

It appears that one of their targets might be forward Jack Roslovic.  Shortly following yesterday’s swap, Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK and The Athletic reported (Twitter link) that there have been talks between the Canucks and Roslovic’s camp.  Last month, Postmedia’s Ben Kuzma noted that Vancouver pursued the 28-year-old last summer so he’s someone they’ve had their eye on previously.  Meanwhile, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported recently that Toronto was another team interested in Roslovic although it’s unclear if the addition of Joshua takes them out of that market now.

Roslovic, of course, didn’t sign with them last summer, instead inking a one-year, $2.8MM with the Hurricanes on the heels of an up-and-down year between the Blue Jackets and Rangers that saw him notch nine goals and 22 assists in 59 games.  The hope was that a good showing in Carolina could bolster his value heading into the open market this time around.

To his credit, Roslovic was able to bounce back offensively, matching his career high in goals with 22 in 81 games while adding 17 assists.  However, his playing time dropped below 14 minutes a night while in the playoffs, he was a healthy scratch six times in Carolina’s run to the Eastern Conference Final which didn’t exactly give his value the boost he was hoping for.

Still, Roslovic has shown he can play both center and the wing, something of note for a Vancouver roster that lost center Pius Suter to St. Louis without finding another middleman to replace him.  With Filip Chytil currently pegged to be their second-line pivot, there is certainly a role that Roslovic could fill in the middle six for the Canucks.

As things stand, Vancouver has $3.27MM in cap space for next season, per PuckPedia.  That’s enough to afford Roslovic on a similar price to last season although that will once again have them very tight to the cap ceiling, hardly an ideal scenario when teams like to leave room for injury insurance.  But with the Canucks certainly looking to get back into the playoff picture, it seems likely that a good chunk of that freed-up cap space will be used; perhaps it will be spent to bring Roslovic into the fold.

Jaroslav Halak Announces Retirement

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Veteran goalie Jaroslav Halak is ending his playing career, telling Tomas Prokop of the Slovak website Dennik Sport that he’s officially retired.

Halak, 40, hasn’t played anywhere in the last two seasons aside from a brief tryout with the Hurricanes that didn’t result in game action early in 2023-24. A ninth-round pick in the 2003 draft, his 17-year NHL career included time with the Canadiens, Blues, Capitals, Islanders, Bruins, Canucks, and Rangers, last playing in New York’s final game of the 2022-23 regular season.

Montreal was the team that drafted him 271st overall from the QMJHL’s Lewiston MAINEiacs, and that’s where Halak got his start in the NHL three years later. He emerged as another young complement in the Canadiens’ pool alongside young star Carey Price, even taking over the starter’s role in the 2009-10 season and backstopping the team to a surprise run to the Conference Finals before being traded to St. Louis for Lars Eller the following summer.

Halak never spent more than four years with a club in his prime and was prone to year-to-year inconsistency, but he was an arguable top-10 goalie in the league at his absolute peak with multiple seasons of save percentages above .920. He was always more of a 1A option than a true starter, only playing more than 50 games four times, but he ends his career as a one-time All-Star, two-time Jennings Trophy winner, and he finished top-10 in Vezina Trophy voting twice.

After serving as the 1A option for the Blues from 2010-14 and on Long Island from 2014-18 with a brief post-deadline stop in Washington in between, Halak spent the twilight years of his career as one of the league’s better backup options for Boston (2018-21), Vancouver (2021-22), and the Rangers (2022-23). He’s been an unrestricted free agent since then, with no items of note on his NHL future since being released from his aforementioned PTO with Carolina in November 2023.

In 581 regular-season appearances, the Bratislava native posted a 2.50 GAA and .913 SV% with a 295-189-63 record and 53 shutouts. One of the best undersized netminders (5’11”, 189 lbs) of his generation, he posted an even better .919 SV% and 2.48 GAA in 39 playoff games in six trips to the Stanley Cup playoffs.

All of us at PHR wish Halak the best in retirement.

Image courtesy of Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images.

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