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Pittsburgh Penguins Claim Mark Friedman

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We finally have some skater movement on waivers. Today, the Pittsburgh Penguins have claimed defenseman Mark Friedman from the Philadelphia Flyers, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.

The easy connection to make here is straight from Friedman (the player) to Ron Hextall, who recently took over as Penguins GM. It was Hextall who drafted Friedman 86th overall in 2014 just a month after he was promoted to Flyers GM. It was also Hextall who would have seen Friedman at his best, a dominant all-situations force for the Bowling Green State University team.

The 25-year-old defenseman hasn’t made that kind of impact in the NHL yet, playing just 11 games to this point. Just four of those have come this season, but perhaps he’ll receive a bigger opportunity once he gets to Pittsburgh. The Penguins have dealt with injuries to their defense corps all season and still have two regulars on long-term injured reserve. Defense, in particular, will be an interesting test of Hextall’s new philosophy with the Penguins, given they had previously been invested in reclamation projects like Mike Matheson and Cody Ceci.

Friedman becomes the first skater to be claimed off waivers since before the season started. The other three players on waivers with him yesterday—Tanner Kero, Tommy Cross and Luke Schenn—all cleared.

Four Players Placed On Waivers

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Feb 24: Friedman has been claimed on waivers by the Pittsburgh Penguins. The other three have cleared and can now be assigned to the taxi squad or minor leagues.

Feb 23: The Philadelphia Flyers have placed Mark Friedman on waivers, a move that would allow them to send him to the taxi squad or minor leagues. The Flyers are expected to get several players back from the COVID Protocol list in the coming days, including Claude Giroux today as he re-joined the team for practice.

According to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, three other players–Tanner Kero, Tommy Cross and Luke Schenn–have also been placed on waivers today.

Friedman (the player, not the scribe), has played in four games for the Flyers this season, including their outdoor match at Lake Tahoe. He was forced to play both forward and defense in that game thanks to the large number of regulars out of the lineup, but that just shows how far down he is on the defensive depth chart at this point. His placement on waivers shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, given how easily players have passed through this season.

Kero is much of the same story, having already cleared waivers earlier this year. The 28-year-old center has played in nine games and has two points, but usually shuffles between the active roster and taxi squad for the Dallas Stars and isn’t expected to be claimed. Kero has two points and 24 total in his 81-game NHL career. Cross meanwhile has just three games under his belt at the NHL level and none since the 2015-16 season. The 31-year-old put up 21 points in 50 games with the Springfield Thunderbirds last season.

It’s Schenn that is the interesting name here, even if he too is unlikely to be claimed. The 31-year-old defenseman has nearly 800 games of NHL experience and a recent Stanley Cup on his resume with the Tampa Bay Lightning. For just an $800K salary that’s a ton of experience that could be useful to a banged-up team. In 14 games this season Schenn has just one point, but that shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. He has just 149 points in his long career and hasn’t scored more than 16 since the 2011-12 season.

Detroit’s Frans Nielsen Clears Waivers

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Feb 22: Nielsen has cleared waivers and can now be assigned to the taxi squad or minor leagues.

Feb 21: The Detroit Red Wings have put yet another veteran up for grabs. According to multiple sources, including Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, Frans Nielsen is the latest name to be placed on waivers. Teams will have 24 hours to put a claim in on the 36-year-old center if they so choose. No other players have been placed on waivers today and the Anaheim Ducks’ Adam Henrique has cleared from yesterday.

Nielsen’s time on the waiver wire should go the same way it has for every skater so far this season; don’t expect him to be claimed. Yes, the flat salary cap and the league-wide crunch have influenced both waiver placements and the lack of claims so far this year, but Nielsen is different. He is coming off a career-worst season in 2019-20 and by a wide margin. Even for a historically bad Red Wings team, there was no excuse for producing nine points and a -13 rating in 60 games for a player who had totaled 33 points or more (sometimes much more) in every full season of his NHL career and received Selke Trophy votes for seven consecutive seasons earlier in his career. Nielsen’s game has fallen off tremendously and his start to the current campaign has provided no proof to the contrary. The veteran forward has three points in 18 games and is seeing a career-low in ice time.

It also doesn’t help that Nielsen’s current AAV is a whopping (relative to his production) $5.25MM and his contract extends through the 2021-22 season. If a 31-year-old Henrique, still producing at the same high level he has over his whole career, can go unclaimed at a $5.825MM AAV on a multi-year deal, it is extremely difficult to see someone taking a year and a half of a 36-year-old Nielsen who has recorded 18 points in his last 100 games dating back to the latter half of the 2018-19 season.

Detroit has waived other notable players this season like Danny DeKeyser and Alex Biega, but they have still remained involved with the team. The same goes for many other veterans around the league who have been waived to gain taxi squad flexibility but are still active participants. However, if this is the end of Nielsen as a regular in the NHL, he will be remembered for his two-way ability and consistency in all areas of his game. Unfortunately, most if not all of his best seasons and top accomplishments were in a New York Islanders jersey and his time with Detroit on a six-year, $31.5MM contract will largely be regarded as a failure.

Ducks’ Adam Henrique Clears Waivers

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Sunday: Henrique has cleared waivers. Despite a career of consistent scoring and quality two-way play, it seems that teams were too frightened by Henrique’s lengthy contract and slow start to the season to risk a claim. This may not be over though; it is hard to imagine that there are not teams in the NHL that could benefit from the dynamic Duck’s services if they can make the salary cap work in a trade.

Saturday: There have been some notable veterans placed on waivers in recent days and Saturday has yielded another of those moves as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link) that the Ducks have placed center Adam Henrique on waivers.  While it’s not common for a GM to comment on a player hitting the waiver wire right away, Bob Murray did release a brief statement to Elliott Teaford of the Orange County Register:

Adam is not alone in this. But I’m tired of talking and waiting. We need results and difficult decisions must be made.

It has been a tough year for the 31-year-old, to put it lightly.  Henrique has just three goals and an assist in 16 games this season despite logging over 16 minutes per game and nearly two per night with the man advantage.  For someone that’s expected to be a top-six forward, that type of production hasn’t been good enough which has resulted in this move.  The drop-off offensively comes as somewhat of a surprise considering that Henrique actually led Anaheim in scoring last season with 26 goals and 17 assists in 71 games; had it not been for the pandemic, he would have had a realistic chance at reaching the 30-goal mark for only the second time in his career.

Henrique still has three years left on his contract after this season with a $5.825MM AAV and salary and with many teams being capped out (only five teams can afford to claim him), it’s quite unlikely that he’ll be claimed on Sunday.  Instead, the placement will give them a bit more roster flexibility and allow them to shuffle him to the taxi squad on non-game days, allowing them to temporarily clear $1.075MM off their salary cap.  It could also serve as somewhat of a wakeup call to Henrique and the rest of the Ducks who are off to a bit of a sluggish start to their season having won only six of 17 games so far, though that’s still enough to be just two points out of a playoff spot in the West Division.

Matt Tennyson Clears Waivers

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Saturday: Tennyson has cleared waivers, Johnston reports. New Jersey quickly moved him to the taxi squad, while assigning Nicholas Merkley to the AHL.

Friday: Off the COVID Protocol and onto the wire, Matt Tennyson has been placed on waivers by the New Jersey Devils according to Chris Johnston of Sportsnet. The team also put Eric Comrie and Connor Carrick there in recent days, losing the former back to his old team. Tennyson already did clear earlier in the season, but needed to go through the process again if the Devils wanted to assign him to the taxi squad or minor leagues.

With Sami Vatanen, Dmitry Kulikov, and Will Butcher all assuming their spots on the active roster, it was always going to be a tough squeeze for Tennyson. The 30-year-old served as a filler through ten games this season but was regularly caved in possession-wise, just as he has been for most of his career. Undrafted, Tennyson used his three years at Western Michigan University to build up his profile before hitting the professional ranks. He’s turned in quite a nice little career, spending 154 games in an NHL lineup.

Still, it seems unlikely that he will be claimed (if for no other reason than waiver claims are extremely rare these days.) More likely is he clears tomorrow and returns to the practice squad, where he can continue to serve as injury insurance for the Devils. Even there he might not be the first up, as Carrick cleared and could be used whenever the team needs a body.

Winnipeg Jets Claim Eric Comrie

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The Winnipeg Jets just won’t let Eric Comrie go. According to Chris Johnston of Sportsnet, the team has claimed the goaltender off waivers once again, bringing him back to the organization where he has played most of his career. Comrie ended up playing just one game with the New Jersey Devils after being claimed by them earlier this season, posting a .909 save percentage in the process.

If the Jets were the only team to put in a claim, they can now move Comrie directly to the taxi squad or minor leagues. If not, he’ll have to stay on the active roster until he does clear (Update: The Jets have indeed assigned him to the taxi squad). Of course, in either case, Comrie will have to face a quarantine as he returns to Canada. It’s not the first time he’s dealt with this merry-go-round waiver situation, as he was claimed, traded, and then claimed again last season. All the while he has only played in nine career NHL games, but the 25-year-old continues to post strong numbers at the minor league level and obviously has interest from around the NHL.

For Winnipeg, the question now becomes whether the waive a different goaltender. The team is currently carrying three on the active roster, with Connor Hellebuyck backed up by both Laurent Brossoit and Anton Forsberg. Forsberg was a waiver claim himself after the Jets lost Comrie, meaning he might end up back on the wire in the coming days.

Eric Comrie, Connor Carrick Placed On Waivers

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Feb 18: Though Comrie was claimed back by the Jets, Carrick cleared and can now be reassigned to the taxi squad or minor leagues.

Feb 17: According to Chris Johnston of Sportsnet, the New Jersey Devils have placed both Eric Comrie and Connor Carrick on waivers, now that they are back in action and most of their players are off the COVID Protocol list.

Comrie, 25, played just a single game for the Devils after they claimed him from the Winnipeg Jets earlier this season. Though frustrating, this isn’t a new experience for the goaltender. Last season, Comrie was put on waivers by the Jets, claimed by the Arizona Coyotes, traded to the Detroit Red Wings, then claimed back by the Jets when he ended up on waivers again. This year looks like it might be a similar merry-go-round, as several teams still need some depth goaltending and could claim him.

Carrick meanwhile will likely go unclaimed as every other skater has this season, though that doesn’t mean he can’t play at the NHL level. The 26-year-old defenseman has 231 career games under his belt but has suited up just once this season.

One of the biggest reasons Carrick would slip through is his contract, which carries a $1.5MM cap hit this season. He’s scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent in the summer and it seems unlikely that he’ll be able to secure that kind of salary for 2021-22.

Trade Rumors: Predators, Fleury, Vesey

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While Mattias Ekholm may be the name that teams are clamoring over right now, whether he’s actually available or not, he isn’t the only Predator that might eventually be on the block. Many, including top analysts Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet and Pierre LeBrun of TSN, believe that the Predators are quickly approaching the point of no return this season and will begin to move players shortly. Despite a talented roster on paper, Nashville sits in seventh place in the Central Division with a points percentage of just .400 through 15 games. More than a quarter of the way through their campaign, the Predators face a slim chance of turning it around and making the playoffs, especially in this season’s difficult makeshift format.

While Nashville may not quite be ready to fully blow up their roster, both Friedman and LeBrun agree that impending free agents Mikael Granlund and Erik Haula are as good as gone. Both had significant interest on the open market late into this past off-season before deciding on Nashville and that interest should remain. Granlund especially has performed well – he’s arguably Nashville’s second-best forward thus far – and should net a decent return. That may not be the end of the list, though. Veterans Brad Richardson and Luca Sbisa may also hold rental value, while term forwards like Nick Cousins, a disappointment in his first season with Nashville, Rocco Grimaldi, or Calle Jarnkrok could also find themselves on the block. Friedman notes that top-six centers Matt Duchene and Ryan Johansen may be made available, but given their massive contracts and lacking production in the current flat cap climate, interest will likely be slim. Their potential availability is still a sign that the Predators could be considering a major shake-up nonetheless.

  • Although they considered moving him this off-season in an effort to open up cap space, Friedman does not believe that Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury is still available. The fan favorite has been stellar this season, especially in light of the struggles of “starter” Robin Lehner. While Lehner has battled injury and inconsistency, Fleury has posted a .937 save percentage and 1.56 GAA, and most importantly seven wins through nine starts. He has been a major reason why the Knights are off to such a hot start; a start that likely would have gone the other way had Fleury been moved this off-season leaving the frustrated Lehner as the only experienced goalie on the roster. So while Fleury remains an aging asset on an expensive contract who at least had the appearance of only being a backup moving forward, he has proven himself invaluable to Vegas. With a number of teams troubled in net, including Fleury’s former Pittsburgh Penguins, there is a renewed interest in taking on Fleury’s contract in order to take advantage of his current hot streak, but don’t expect the Golden Knights to give him up this season.
  • Following their acquisition of Alex Galchenyuk, Friedman wonders if the Jimmy Vesey experiment has already come to an end in Toronto. The free agent addition has just three points in 16 games despite having been given ample opportunity to produce. Given the Maple Leafs’ tight salary cap situation, even with a pair of players currently on Long-Term Injured Reserve, Toronto has to be measured in every roster decision. Once Wayne Simmonds and Jack Campbell return to health and especially if Galchenyuk has earned a role in the starting lineup by that time, the team likely will not have room to carry Vesey, even at just $900K against the cap. An affordable (to most) impending free agent with size and goal-scoring ability, it seems likely that someone would be willing to give Vesey another shot, especially if they can get him for free on waivers. If the Maple Leafs feel that Vesey will not clear, the countdown may have already begun for the team to make a trade before he is lost for nothing on the waiver wire.

Devin Shore Clears Waivers

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Feb 17: Shore has cleared waivers and can be assigned to the taxi squad or minor leagues.

Feb 16: The Edmonton Oilers have placed another depth forward on waivers, this time moving Devin Shore there. The team has recently seen Tyler Ennis, Alex Chiasson, and James Neal all clear. Even Shore was already waived at the beginning of the season, but his clock had expired and he needed to be waived again if the Oilers want to move him to the taxi squad or minor leagues.

Shore, 26, has three points in 11 games this season, despite averaging fewer than nine minutes of ice time. The journeyman, who has now played for four different organizations through his first 299 games, doesn’t offer a ton of upside but had at least recorded an assist in two of his last three games. Among the potential taxi squad replacements are Neal, who cleared waivers just two days ago, Patrick Russell, who still doesn’t have an NHL goal in 52 games, and Joakim Nygard, who has played in just four games this season.

Once again, the Oilers found themselves unable to outscore their defensive troubles last night, losing 6-5 to the Winnipeg Jets. Mikko Koskinen and Mike Smith both struggled in net, stopping just 18 of 24 shots between them. Tyson Barrie, who has never been known for his defensive acumen, ended up playing nearly 31 minutes.

Finding a fit for the bottom-six is crucial if the Oilers want to really compete in the North Division. Just three forwards have even ten points on the season so far, just four have more than five. Despite Shore’s inexpensive contract, he seems destined to go unclaimed.

Toronto Maple Leafs Acquire Alex Galchenyuk

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Just like that, Alex Galchenyuk is on the move again. After being dealt from the Ottawa Senators to Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday, Galchenyuk has been traded for the second time in about 54 hours. Although, he reportedly never even got the chance to leave Ottawa for Carolina, so he now has a much shorter trip ahead of him. The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced that they have acquired Galchenyuk from the Hurricanes in exchange for forward prospect Egor Korshkov and veteran defenseman David Warsofsky. Galchenyuk cleared waivers earlier today and is eligible to be assigned by Toronto to the taxi squad or AHL.

Galchenyuk’s propensity for being traded is becoming comical at this point. The 27-year-old forward, who once looked like he could be a long-term franchise cornerstone for the Montreal Canadiens, has instead become the NHL’s most frequent flyers over the past few years. From Montreal, he was traded to the Arizona Coyotes during the 2018 off-season. Exactly a year and two weeks later, his time in the desert was over as he was traded once again to the Pittsburgh Penguins. His time with Pittsburgh didn’t even last a full season, as he was moved before the trade deadline last year to the Minnesota Wild. When his contract expired this off-season, he signed a one-year deal with the rebuilding Ottawa Senators, almost ensuring that he would be traded yet again at some point this season. However, even he could not have seen this coming. Galchenyuk made it just one month to the day since the start of the 2020-21 season before he was traded on Saturday to the Hurricanes along with another free agent addition, Cedric Paquette, in exchange for Ryan Dzingel. Just two days later, he is now a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

When Galchenyuk was placed on waivers on Monday, it immediately raised suspicion that he might be moved again this season. Not only were the Hurricanes willing to let him be claimed for free on the waiver wire, but if he did in fact clear he would have even more value to another interested team having gained the flexibility to move to the taxi squad. In Galchenyuk, a dangerous offensive Maple Leafs team adds another intriguing weapon. Galchenyuk is not a consistent, high-effort contributor nor can he be relied upon for any defensive responsibility, but he does possess scoring focus and natural offensive ability and especially when surrounded by superior talent can produce at a high level. In Toronto, there is plenty of superior talent to go around and Galchenyuk appears to be an ideal fit as a top-nine depth option. Even more importantly, Galchenyuk is affordable for the cap-strapped Leafs. His entire $1.05MM cap hit can be buried if he is assigned to the taxi squad or AHL and is not a major burden should he stick with the NHL roster, though it will still require some cap acrobatics by the Leafs front office. Moreover, Galchenyuk is also a quarantine-free acquisition for Toronto. While Paquette took off for Carolina right away following the trade, Galchenyuk stayed behind in Ottawa in case he was claimed on waivers by another Canadian team. He wasn’t, but just a few hours later he ends up with a Canadian team anyway and by all accounts had not yet left the country. He should be able to join the Maple Leafs immediately.

In exchange for providing the Maple Leafs with a player who checks a number of boxes, if he plays that is, the Carolina Hurricanes land a package that includes an AHL depth player and a question mark prospect. Warsofsky, though a respected veteran and leader in the AHL, has not played in the NHL since 2017-18 and has just 55 NHL games on his resume. Barring a mass amount of injuries to the Carolina blue line, one of the deepest units in the league, Warsofsky is nothing more than an experienced addition to the AHL’s Chicago Wolves (where his brother is head coach) to help provide some guidance to the Hurricanes’ minor league prospects. Thus, the true value for the ’Canes in this deal lies with Korshkov. The 24-year-old winger was a second-round pick in 2016 and has size, skill, and a track record of goal-scoring success in the KHL and just last season in the AHL. In fact, the past two years have been the best of Korshkov’s career. He recorded 16 goals and 25 points in 44 games with the AHL Marlies last year, adding a goal in his first and only NHL game with the Maple Leafs as well, and is currently having a career year on loan in the KHL with 16 goals and 31 points in 53 games with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl. However, therein lies the problem as well. It took Korshkov nearly three years to make it to North America after being drafted into the NHL, even as an overage selection, and after just one season he returned to Russia and opted to remain there rather than return once the NHL and AHL returned to play. The key to this deal for the Hurricanes is being able to convince the power forward to commit to playing in North America and to adopting an NHL style of play. If they succeed with Korshkov, his long-term potential greatly outweighs the value that Galchenyuk might have provided as an injury substitute for the remainder of the season.

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