Snapshots: Latest On Las Vegas, Islanders, Roussel
Las Vegas may be held up on a nickname since it’s already taken by another hockey organization. Steve Carp of the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that the London Knights of the OHL prevent the opportunity of having a “Knights” nickname in Canada, though it would work in the United States. Owner Bill Foley is also looking at hiring a team president but expects that decision to be made in October or November. Carp writes that it also appears the team is close to finalizing a deal for its proposed practice facilities, which include two rinks and the team headquarters. Foley expects groundbreaking to take place on October 1st.
In other NHL news:
- NBC Sports Cam Tucker wonders if general manager Garth Snow and head coach John Capuano have the full confidence of the Islanders fanbase. The Islanders are coming off a second round loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, but it was another season that saw New York advance further than the previous. Tucker writes the Islanders posted back to back 100 point seasons, and notes that even though Capuano has been on the hot seat at times, ownership recently backed both Snow and Capuano, lauding the leadership as a reason they advanced past Florida in the first round. Though they lost Frans Nielsen, Kyle Okposo, and Matt Martin, Tucker adds that they signed Andrew Ladd to a long term deal and should still be competitive next season.
- Mark Stepenski caught up with with Dallas Stars forward Antoine Roussel who thinks the Stars are only going to build on last year’s successes. The addition of defenseman Dan Hamhuis is one that Roussel particularly liked, saying that “…he’s a guy that does it all and I am excited to have a guy like him on our team.” The Stars will be looking to young players for depth this season, and Roussel thinks they’ll do the job Stepenski writes.
The Latest On Las Vegas
After hiring Kelly McCrimmon as Assistant General Manager earlier this week, Las Vegas GM George McPhee has wasted little time adding to his hockey operations department. In an interview with Alex Prewitt of Sports Illustrated, McPhee noted that the team has made five more hires, including directors of hockey operations and player development, a capologist, and an organizational goalie director. In the interview, McPhee didn’t provide any specifics as to who those hires were. However, the team later announced that Wil Nichol, formerly a scout with Washington, has been hired as the Director of Player Development.
On top of those additions, McPhee told Prewitt that he hopes to have pro and amateur scouting directors hired by the end of the week.
While the trend for many organizations now is to hire more and more front office people, McPhee does not intend to follow that same approach, particularly when it comes to specialists:
“I’m not sure that’s always the way to go. Sometimes when you’re a little smaller, there’s real trust. I don’t like a lot of layers. Basically, with scouting for example, you have a director of pro scouting. We don’t need a lot of people between him and me. Just a guy like Kelly, and that’ll be it. Other organizations have lots of people with lots of titles. I don’t think we’re going in that direction. A smaller staff can create that camaraderie and trust. I think it’s ideal for a new team, for sure.”
While McPhee has been very busy filling out the front office, one hiring that won’t take place until next offseason is their head coach. He wants to wait to see who happens to be available at that time (in terms of coaches that are relieved of their duties in-season as well as other coaches who may be ready for a promotion at that time).
The expansion franchise that will make their debut in2017-18 has yet to come up with a team name, in large part due to trademark issues that owner Bill Foley is in the process of working through. One of the expected options was ‘Black Knights’ but Steve Carp of the Las Vegas Review-Journal noted that the team is not expected to be called that. Carp adds that one possible variation that has a good chance of getting the nod is ‘Silver Knights’. There is no firm timetable for the team to choose its name.
Las Vegas Hires Kelly McCrimmon
Bill Foley, owner of the Las Vegas NHL franchise set to begin play in October of 2017, has announced via press release the hiring of Brandon Wheat Kings head coach and general manager Kelly McCrimmon as assistant general manager.
McCrimmon, who has previously been approached by the Toronto Maple Leafs, will work under general manager George McPhee. He played junior hockey for the Prince Albert Raiders, and college hockey at the University of Michigan. He is the brother of long-time NHLer Brad McCrimmon, who became head coach for Lokomotiv Yaroslavl in 2011, and was tragically killed when the team’s plane crashed in 2011.
McCrimmon has coached the Wheat Kings in three stints, spanning from 1990 to 2016, winning 453 of his 864 games in that time. He has been General Manager since 1989. He has coached future NHLers including Ryan Reaves, Mark Stone, and Brayden Schenn, as well as Nolan Patrick, who is expected to go first in the 2017 NHL entry draft.
Snap Shots: Vermette, Havlat, Oilers, Vegas
Yesterday, Arizona Coyotes GM John Chayka made the somewhat surprising decision to place veteran center Antoine Vermette on waivers for the purpose of buying out the final year of his contract. By all accounts Vermette didn’t have his best season in 2015-16 but still netted 38 points, including 16 on the power play, in 76 games. But in the club’s release announcing the move, Chayka cited the desire to give opportunities to some of the organization’s young players, including perhaps top prospects Christian Dvorak and Dylan Strome.
Regardless of why he’s now available, a player with Vermette’s track record is likely going to draw a fair amount of interest from other clubs. However, the Boston Bruins should not be among those teams, at least that’s the opinion of Joe Haggerty writing for CSNNE.com.
Haggerty argues that signing the 34-year-old Vermette doesn’t mesh with the Bruins’ desire to get younger. I’d argue there isn’t much of a fit in Bean Town since the Bruins already boast Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci at the center position. The team also added David Backes as a free agent and he comes with plenty of experience in the middle. Even if they decided to play Backes on the wing, Boston lists 24-year-old Ryan Spooner as a center and he is coming off a career high 49-point season. There just doesn’t seem to be room for Vermette on this roster.
Now, more from around the league.
- The list of available free agents may increase by one as Allan Walsh, the agent for former NHLer Martin Havlat, has indicated via tweet his client is currently training with HC Kometa Brno in the Czech League with the intent of returning to the NHL next season. Havlat appeared in just two contests for the St. Louis Blues in 2015-16 before leaving the club for “personal reasons.” He had earned a job with the team after signing a PTO in October. Prior to his abbreviated stint with St. Louis, Havlat had skated in 788 NHL games, spending time with Ottawa, Chicago, Minnesota, San Jose and New Jersey. At one point Havlat was one of the league’s top young offensive players, tallying 31 goals and 37 assists for the Senators in 2003-04, playing most of the season as a 22-year-old. Those prolific scoring days are long gone and in recent seasons Havlat has produced roughly 0.5 Pts/Game. That doesn’t mean a team won’t take a flier on the talented Czech in hopes he can produce even at that level and hold down a regular spot in their top-nine on the cheap.
- The expansion Las Vegas franchise continues to assemble its front office staff with the club announcing the hiring of Kelly McCrimmon as assistant general manager. McCrimmon, has been the majority owner, GM and head coach of the Brandon Wheat Kings of the WHL. He has won the WHL’s Executive of the Year award three times since 1995. It was reported earlier this summer that Las Vegas had requested permission from Washington to interview their assistant GM, Ross Mahoney, for the same role. Of course GM George McPhee knows Mahoney well from their days together in the Capitals front office so the potential fit was obvious. It’s not known whether Washington refused permission for Vegas to speak with Mahoney or if the club just elected to go in a different direction.
- In other management news, the Edmonton Oilers are expected to name Keith Gretzky as an assistant GM, a recent rumor all but confirmed via tweet from Bob McKenzie of TSN. Gretzky is of course the brother of Wayne and has served as the director of amateur scouting for the Boston Bruins, where he worked under current Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli. Obviously Gretzky made a good impression on Chiarelli during their time together in Boston.
Anaheim Ducks’ Defense Crunch
When the Anaheim Ducks were eliminated this spring by the Nashville Predators in seven games, many pointed fingers at the poor performance of some of the top offensive options. Corey Perry had not scored a single goal, registering a -7 rating in the series, completely erased by a stifling Predator defense group. The Ducks’ defense, even in losing, were just as spectacular, keeping the Predators to only 14 goals in the series and moving the puck with relative ease from their end.
It’s this defense group though, that may be giving the Ducks’ front office the most headaches this summer, as there are furiously tough decisions to make in the coming months. Currently, it has seven men deserving of NHL spots, to say nothing of up-and-comers Shea Theodore and Brandon Montour, and NCAA transplant Andy Welinski.
The group consists of Sami Vatanen, Cam Fowler, Kevin Bieksa, Clayton Stoner, Josh Manson, Simon Despres and Hampus Lindholm all solid NHLers, with contracts to prove it. The group, led by Vatanen, is set to earn $20.65MM next season, not even including Lindholm’s yet-to-be-signed deal that could push $6MM AAV.
While every team needs depth on the blueline, not many can afford to put millions of dollars in the press box every night, waiting for an injury to happen. While Fowler’s name has been bandied about since the Ducks were eliminated, nothing concrete has come out about Anaheim’s true desire to move him. Indeed, it would be a tough decision to move any member of the group, as each comes with their own strengths.
With Lindholm and Rickard Rakell still to sign, and under $8.5MM to do it, the Ducks will be tight to the cap if they head into the season with all seven blueliners under contract. They also risk losing one of their prized defensemen next offseason, when the Las Vegas TBAs get to pluck unprotected players from unsuspecting clubs in the expansion draft. Bieksa has a no-movement clause, and will therefor be automatically protected, leaving just two more defense slots (or three, if the Ducks choose to go with the eight-skater option and leave a young forward unprotected).
Fowler still seems like the most likely candidate for trade, but there is little doubt that teams would be more interested in the extremely cheap Josh Manson who, while earning only $825K per season, rates well at both ends of the rink and could become a building block for a new team on the right side.
With the pipeline that Anaheim has created, they would do well to leverage it into some help up front. Their current group is getting older, headlined by Perry, Ryan Getzlaf and Ryan Kesler who will all turn 32 in the next calendar year and are already starting to see cracks form in their production. Rakell and Jakob Silfverberg form a dynamic young duo, but represent the only two threats at forward under 26 years of age for the Ducks going forward.
Snapshots: Tampa Bay; Las Vegas; St. Louis
News and notes from around the NHL:
- Tampa Bay Lightning GM Steve Yzerman is confident that the team will come to terms with RFA Nikita Kucherov eventually, reports Tamp Bay Times writer Joe Smith. The 23 year-old winger potted 30G and 36A last year while making only $700K on an entry-level contract. Kucherov was a large part of Tampa’s success last year, including leading the team in scoring in both the regular season and the playoffs. Yzerman offered no timetable for contract negotiations, but the Lightning GM has an excellent history of managing contractual issues—including re-signing Steven Stamkos and addressing the Jonathan Drouin holdout.
- The St. Louis Blues signed second round draft pick Jordan Kyrou (35th overall) to an entry level deal worth approximately $803K a year. The Blues also agreed to additional games played bonuses of $182,000 a year for the first two years. Kyrou will make $742K base salary for the first two years before getting a raise to $925K. The young forward excelled in Juniors last year, scoring 17G and 34A in 65 games for the Sarnia Sting. Kyrou is 6’0 and only 170lbs, so expect him to remain in Juniors for another year while he grows and develops.
- Las Vegas GM George McPhee is rumored to be considering Kelly McCrimmon for the Assistant GM position, reports Guy Flaming of The Pipeline Show. McCrimmon is the current coach, GM, and owner of the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings. The Wheat Kings won the WHL Championship last season before falling in the Memorial Cup. Intriguingly, McCrimmon’s Championship Wheat Kings featured the projected 2017 No. 1 draft pick Nolan Patrick. Kelly is also the younger brother of Brad McCrimmon, an 18 year NHL veteran who perished as head coach of the KHL’s Lokomotiv Yaroslavl in its tragic air crash.
Las Vegas And The 2017 Entry Draft
With the 2016 NHL Draft well behind us and Central Scouting releasing its first 2017 Draft rankings, the focus now turns to next year’s group of prospects, including the presumptive top pick Nolan Patrick. The other big story line for next off-season will of course be the addition of the Las Vegas expansion team as the 31st member of the NHL, as well as the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft. However, Las Vegas will also play a big role in next summer’s entry draft.
Fear not, fans of bottom-dwellers: Patrick will not just be handed to the Las Vegas TBD’s just because they are new to the league. Instead, Las Vegas will be given the same draft lottery odds as a team that finishes third to last in the league. This gives them an edge over the 2000 Minnesota Wild and Columbus Blue Jackets, the NHL’s most recent expansion teams who chose third and fourth respectively in their inaugural drafts, as Las Vegas will at least have a possibility of picking first overall. However, Las Vegas also stands the risk of falling as far as #6 overall if the lottery balls don’t bounce their way. There is nothing to be determined beyond the first round though; Las Vegas will pick third in each subsequent round.
The other draft factor that has the chance to be interesting is Las Vegas’ ability to trade picks. While the Expansion Draft will allow the team to hand-pick thirty players, and then additionally explore the free agency market, the team may wish to pursue players that have term on their contract and that would be unlikely to go unprotected. The only assets that Las Vegas will have to pursue such players before the Expansion Draft are their 2017 Entry Draft picks, which again will include a top-six pick and the third pick in the second and third rounds, all valuable selections. While GM George McPhee will already be facing the tall task of building a farm system from scratch and may not be willing to part with his draft assets, the potential for Las Vegas to add a franchise player at the 2017 Draft is also something to think about.
Patrick and his peers are surely excited enough at the possibility of being drafted into the NHL, but one of them will also have the title of the first ever draft pick of the Las Vegas franchise, making the 2017 NHL Entry Draft all the more interesting.
Metropolitan Notes: Buyouts, Mahoney, Schenn
After finalizing the deal with Kevin Hayes this afternoon, the New York Rangers have come to terms with each of the four players who filed for salary arbitration this summer (Hayes, Chris Kreider, J.T. Miller and Dylan McIlrath) before any of them had a hearing. With it, comes an additional buyout window that will start on Monday and last for 48 hours.
In this window, the team may perform a buyout on a player who fulfills certain criteria. Many speculated during the last window that the team could buy out defenseman Dan Girardi, and as the Rangers move closer to the cap, this remains a possibility. Girardi’s play has deteriorated over the past few seasons, and he carries a cap hit of $5.5MM for the next four years.
If the team were to buy out Girardi, they’d be paying him $10MM total, spread over eight years. His cap hits would be as follows (via General Fanager):
2016-17 – $1.75MM
2017-18 – $2.75MM
2018-19 – $3.75MM
2019-20 – $3.75MM
2020-21 – $1.25MM
2021-22 – $1.25MM
2022-23 – $1.25MM
2023-24 – $1.25MM.
There has been no word from Rangers camp that Girardi is headed for a buyout, but we’ll keep an eye on the situation as it unfolds. Here are some more notes from the Metropolitan division:
- While there has been relatively little news out of Las Vegas since the city was granted an expansion franchise, Elliotte Friedman is hearing that the team is after Washington Capitals assistant general manager Ross Mahoney, and has asked the club for it’s permission to interview him. While there hasn’t been any response from the Capitals, Mahoney worked with new Las Vegas GM George McPhee for over a decade in Washington and may see it as a new opportunity.
- The last thing we heard about Brayden Schenn is that there has been “no progress of any kind” on a new contract, and the young forward is getting closer and closer to his arbitration hearing. Each player so far that has been scheduled before Schenn’s July 25th hearing has come to an agreement, but so far it doesn’t sound like there is any movement from either camp. The Philadelphia centerman is coming off his best year as a pro, one that saw him score 26 goals and 59 points in 80 games. His continued development will be a discussion point in arbitration, as the former fifth-overall pick has increased his point total each season of his career.
Next Steps For The Las Vegas Franchise
The expansion Las Vegas franchise made their first key management hire earlier today with the hiring of former Washington GM George McPhee as the team’s first general manager. Fans of the newest NHL team should expect more hirings in the days and weeks to come.
In the press conference, McPhee noted that he plans to focus on building the scouting department next, writes Taylor Bern of the Las Vegas Sun. While the team technically won’t have any players for nearly another year, the scouts will still have plenty to do in terms of scouting the prospect ranks as well as keeping tabs on each NHL team to evaluate their options for next June’s expansion draft. McPhee noted that a coaching hire is still a long way away, however. That hiring will likely come at the end of next season when there are more options available.
While owner Bill Foley was heavily active in McPhee’s hiring (along with his advisor, long-time NHL’er Murray Craven), he will take a step back and allow McPhee to have a large say in future hirings as McPhee builds his staff.
As for Foley, his next priority is to finalize the team’s name. That process hasn’t gone as smoothly as he had hoped due to trademark issues. At the press conference, Foley had this to say about what the eventual team name will represent:
“It needs to be a name that people hear and say, these guys are tough, these guys are going to win, these guys are dedicated.”
TSN’s Gord Miller hears that the team could be called the Knights although Black Knights is also believed to be a possibility.
Las Vegas Hires George McPhee As General Manager
Speculated yesterday and confirmed today, Las Vegas chose former Washington Capitals general manager George McPhee as its first GM in team history. The announcement was made at 4pm ET press conference with owner Bill Foley. McPhee had been a special advisor with the Islanders.
Foley, tweets Tom Gulitti, was looking for someone with a “take no prisoners” outlook when it comes to team building. McPhee stated that his goal is to be competitive quickly, and to win the Cup. Stephen Whyno tweets that McPhee is in no hurry to hire a coach.
John Shannon tweets that as had been previously reported, Foley chose between former Coyotes general manager Don Maloney and McPhee.