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Capitals Name Todd Reirden As Their New Head Coach

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In a move that comes as little surprise, the Capitals have officially announced that they have named Todd Reirden their new head coach.  He takes the place of Barry Trotz who resigned earlier in the month and later became head coach of the Islanders.  GM Brian MacLellan released the following statement on the hiring:

“We feel that the time is right for Todd to lead our hockey club. Based on his coaching experience, communication abilities, his approach to the game and the respect he commands in our locker room, we feel that Todd has earned this opportunity. Todd has played an integral part in helping lead our team to the Stanley Cup championship and we feel his appointment as head coach will enable our organization to transition seamlessly into next season and beyond.”

Reirden was long viewed as Washington’s head coach in waiting as the team had denied him permission to pursue other opportunities going back to last summer.  MacLellan was certainly fixated on him being Trotz’s successor as ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski notes (Twitter link) that no other interviews for the position were conducted.

This will be Reirden’s first head coaching job at the NHL level but not his first time running a team as he was at the helm of the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins for parts of two seasons nearly a decade ago.  He’s certainly no stranger to the Capitals as he has been in the organization since 2014-15 serving as an assistant or associate coach.

After running the defense during that stretch, Reirden will now be tasked with attempting to guide Washington back to what they hope will be another Stanley Cup run.  The team has been quite busy this offseason keeping their players in the fold as they have already finalized new contracts with defensemen John Carlson and Michal Kempny as well as winger Devante Smith-Pelly.

With this hiring, all 31 head coaching vacancies around the NHL are now filled.

Michal Kempny Re-Signs With Washington

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Friday: The Capitals have officially announced the deal.  It’s a four-year extension worth $10MM in total for a salary cap hit of $2.5MM.  TSN’s Darren Dreger reports (Twitter link) that the breakdown of the deal is as follows:

2018-19: $3.2MM
2019-20: $2.7MM
2020-21: $1.8MM
2021-22: $2.2MM

Dreger also notes that just over half of the money comes in the form of signing bonuses.

Thursday: The Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals had two names at the top of their free agency wish list: defensemen John Carlson and Michal Kempny. According to TSN’s Darren Dreger, those boxes will both be checked off before July 1st. After inking Carlson to a massive extension earlier this week, Dreger reports that the Capitals have now agreed to terms on a multi-year extension with Kempny. Term and salary details have not yet been disclosed and the contract is expected to be formally announced tomorrow.

Kempny was little more than a luxury depth addition when the Capitals acquired him from the Chicago Blackhawks ahead of the Trade Deadline. Kempny was midway through his second NHL season and had just 81 games and 12 points to show for himself. Yet, Washington GM Brian MacLellan saw something in the 27-year-old Czech import. Not only did MacLellan give up a conditional third round pick to land Kempny – at the time seen as a steep price – but he also handed him more ice time than he had ever seen in Chicago. Kempny rewarded him with flawless defensive play down the stretch. Kempny is neither an offensive force nor a real physical threat, but he plays a strong man-to-man defensive game and make few mistakes. He took his game up another notch in the postseason, scoring five points in 24 games, blocking shots seemingly all of the time, and serving as a match-up nightmare for the opposition.

Kempny exceeded all expectations in Washington and was a key piece to their Cup run. Now the Capitals plan to repay him by exceeding his very modest $900K cap hit with a new multi-year contract. The Caps’ blue line felt like it was missing a piece for most of last year before Kempny arrived and the team hopes that this extension will maintain the strong play that the unit showed in the postseason. Armed with a top four of Carlson, Kempny, Matt Niskanen, and Dmitry Orlov, the Capitals will be ready to defend their title next season.

2018 CHL Import Draft Results

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The CHL held its annual import draft today, where teams from across the Canadian junior leagues get to select the rights of players around the world. Often these are recently drafted prospects, or those seen to have good chances at next year’s draft. Being selected has no guarantee that the player will actually ever suit up for the team, as Filip Chytil proved last season. Chytil was selected seventh-overall by the North Bay Battalion, but ended up spending the year with the New York Rangers and Hartford Wolf Pack after impressing in his first training camp.

There are clear benefits from picking at the top of the draft though, as the Barrie Colts found out last season. Andrei Svechnikov was the first-overall selection, and ended up scoring 40 goals in 44 games before being the second-overall pick in the NHL draft last week. This year saw Slovakian-born Maxim Cajkovic go first to the Saint John Sea Dogs after tearing up the Swedish junior leagues last season. Cajkovic is eligible for the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Teams are only allowed a certain number of import players, which leads to some passing on their selections even in the early part of the draft. Check out last year’s draft to see some familiar names.

The full results are below:

Round 1

1. Saint John – Maxim Cajkovic (RW, Slovakia)

2. Edmonton – Vladimir Alistrov (LW, Belarus)

3. Sudbury – Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (G, Finland/Buffalo Sabres)

4. Shawinigan – Valentin Nussbaumer (C, Switzerland)

5. Prince George – Matej Toman (LW, Czech Republic)

Read more

Devante Smith-Pelly Returning To Washington Capitals

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Thursday: The team has officially announced the contract. One year worth $1MM for Smith-Pelly.

Wednesday: Among those players who did not receive qualifying offers on Monday, one name conspicuously stuck out among all the rest. Devante Smith-Pelly, fresh off playing a huge role for the Washington Capitals en route to their first Stanley Cup in franchise history, was without a contract and set to hit the open market. Now, Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic tweets that the veteran forward has turned down two other offers to remain with the Capitals, and has agreed to return on a one-year deal. Kevin Weeks of NHL Network and Bob McKenzie of TSN both report that the deal will be worth $1MM.

Smith-Pelly, 26, scored just seven goals and 16 points for the Capitals this season. He was a workhorse in the bottom of the lineup, but didn’t have much of an offensive impact. That all changed as soon as the postseason started, as Smith-Pelly posted another seven goals in 24 games including two game-winning tallies. He was a physical force recording 78 hits, and was a big part of bringing home the Stanley Cup.

Though he may not offer that kind of offense in the regular season, you can bet that Washington fans are happy to see Smith-Pelly reunited with the team. The Capitals need cheap contributions from their bottom-six now that they’re paying huge dollars to several players, and he’s at the very least proven he can be relied upon in big situations. The deal comes with very little risk for Washington too, as a $1MM salary can be completely buried in the minor leagues if necessary.

Spencer Carbery Named Hershey Bears Head Coach

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The Washington Capitals parted ways with AHL head coach Troy Mann at the end of the season, and have now brought in his replacement in Spencer Carbery. Carbery was announced as the next head coach of the Hershey Bears, coming over from the Providence Bruins where he’d been an assistant. Capitals VP of hockey operations Bryan Helmer released a statement on the hiring:

Today is an exciting day for the Hershey Bears organization as we welcome Spencer Carbery as our new head coach. Throughout this process, Spencer’s passion, character and work ethic stood out–and his desire to win is without equal. His familiarity with the Hershey and Washington organizations will help make this a smooth transition, and we feel he is the perfect fit to lead this storied franchise to even greater success.

The Bears missed the playoffs last season and decided to move on from Mann, who is as intense a coach as there was in the AHL. In his place, Carbery will try to right the ship and bring Hershey back to the Calder Cup contender they were in recent seasons. The Capitals added plenty of young talent in the recent draft despite being Stanley Cup champions, and will hand off the duties of in-game development to Carbery and his staff.

Troy Mann Hired As Head Coach Of AHL Senators

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The Ottawa Senators have hired Troy Mann to lead their AHL team for at least the next two seasons. Mann was most recently employed by the Washington Capitals organization, where he was the head coach of the Hershey Bears for four seasons. Mann’s younger brother Trent is currently the Senators’ chief amateur scout. GM Pierre Dorion released a statement about the hiring:

Troy is a talented, experienced head coach who has a track record of developing players. Troy is a teacher and a winner. We feel that he’s a great fit for both Belleville and for our organization and will able to impart on our young players the values of leadership, character and chemistry that are so important to us. We’re excited to welcome him to the Senators and looking forward to introducing him to the fans in Belleville.

Mann led Hershey to a 162-102-40 record during his time as head coach of the Bears, and even took them to the Calder Cup Finals in 2016. Unfortunately the team struggled this season and ended up near the bottom of the league, leading to his firing. The Capitals trash is the Senators treasure though, as he’ll try to turn around a Belleville franchise that was even worse this year.

Ottawa needs to start developing more internal talent as they try to replace players like Kyle Turris, Derick Brassard, Mike Hoffman (and perhaps Erik Karlsson), all of whom have left (or could leave) the organization over the last year. Adding Brady Tkachuk to their prospect pool was a good start, but without a first-round pick next season they’ll be relying on Mann to develop some more underrated prospects that are currently in the system.

Snapshots: Karlsson, Thornton, Talbot, Brodziak

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While the free agent market is slimming more and more after John Carlson opted to re-sign with the Washington Capitals, the trade market has barely gotten active as teams wait to see how the free agent market shakes out. Regardless that could change in the next few days. While there were a few trades this weekend during the draft, one name that stayed put is Ottawa Senators’ defenseman Erik Karlsson.

According to Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun, general manager Pierre Dorion was fielding phone calls all the way up to the Senators picked at No. 4, but still hasn’t found the right deal as he’s looking for a big haul of players and picks considering that Karlsson is a franchise player.

As expected, Garrioch writes that the Vegas Golden Knights were at the forefront in trying to make a deal and Vegas was prepared to take the contract of Bobby Ryan, who still has four years at $7.25MM AAV remaining on his contract, but other teams are also trying to get into the Karlsson sweepstakes, including the Carolina Hurricanes, Tampa Bay Lightning, San Jose Sharks and the Washington Capitals. No word on whether the other teams are willing to take on Ryan’s contract. While the Capitals are likely out of the running now that they’ve signed Carlson, the Carlson signing may force other teams to press harder to acquire Karlsson.

  • David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports that there is mutual interest between Joe Thornton and the San Jose Sharks to return to the team, regardless of whether the team signs John Tavares or not. Thornton, who suffered a season-ending torn MCL in January, would have to come back at a lower salary than the $8MM he made last year, but at 38 years old, he can still be a productive player even if he is forced to play on a lower line. Thornton put up 13 goals and 23 assists in 47 games, but “Jumbo Joe” is well past the days of putting up 82 points in 2015-16.
  • Pagnotta also commented on Edmonton Oilers goaltender Cam Talbot as he says both the Oilers and Talbot have agreed to hold off on extension talks until the start of the new season. The 30-year-old Talbot had been a major piece to the team’s success up until this past year. After posting 2.39 GAA and a .919 save percentage two years ago, he struggled this season, posting a 3.02 GAA and a .908 save percentage. The team likely wants to ensure that Talbot bounces back to form before offering him an extension.
  • Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic writes that the St. Louis Blues and center Kyle Brodziak both have interest in an extension. The 34-year-old center put up his best season since 2011-12 as a fourth-line center. He tallied 10 goals and 33 points last season. While the Blues have bigger concerns at the moment, Rutherford points out that neither party is in a big rush.

Washington Re-Signs John Carlson To Eight-Year Deal

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One of the top free agents of the 2018 free agent class came off the board as the Washington Capitals have announced the re-signing of defenseman John Carlson to an eight-year $64MM deal, with an AAV of $8MM. The deal gives Carlson the second-highest AAV among NHL defenseman behind Nashville’s P.K. Subban ($9MM), at least until the extension that the Arizona Coyotes gave Oliver Ekman-Larsson ($8.25MM) kicks in next season. San Jose’s Brent Burns also has an $8MM AAV.

Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports the breakdown of the contract is as follows:

2018-19: $6.5MM signing bonus, $5.5MM salary
2019-20: $6.5MM signing bonus, $5.5MM salary
2020-21: $2MM signing bonus, $6MM salary
2021-22: $5MM signing bonus, $3MM salary
2022-23: $2MM signing bonus, $4MM salary
2023-24: $2MM signing bonus, $4MM salary
2024-25: $2MM signing bonus, $4MM salary
2025-26: $2MM signing bonus, $4MM salary

While there had been talk that Carlson and the Stanley Cup winning Capitals were close to an agreement on Friday, there was some concern this morning when the two parties still hadn’t come to an agreement with rumors that Carlson would listen to offers from other teams, suggesting they hit an impasse in negotiations.

Carlson, who has been with the Capitals for all nine of his years, had a breakout year just in time, putting up 15 goals and 68 points, while playing a major role quarterbacking the Capitals power play through the playoffs and winning the Stanley Cup. His 20 points in 24 playoff games was critical of the team. Due to the team’s budget constraints, there were many questions whether Washington had the money to make a new deal with Carlson work. With almost no cap room, the Capitals solved many of those problems when they traded backup goaltender Philipp Grubauer and veteran defenseman Brooks Orpik to Colorado in exchange for a second-round pick Friday at the NHL Entry Draft, freeing up enough cap room to make the move possible.

While the 28-year-old may not be the third of fourth best defenseman in the league, Carlson was in an enviable bargaining position and after Carlson and his negotiating team also had the most recent extension of Ekman-Larsson to work with in contract discussions.

TSN’s Bob McKenzie was the first to report that a deal was near completion.

Free Agency Notes: De Haan, Bernier, Stastny, Vanek

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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.

Still No Deal Between John Carlson, Washington Capitals

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Over the weekend there was plenty of optimism from the Washington Capitals that they would be able to finalize a long-term extension with unrestricted free agent John Carlson, especially after moving out Brooks Orpik’s $5.5MM cap hit in a trade with the Colorado Avalanche. Carlson is expected to receive a massive contract as the best defensemen scheduled to hit the market, and at one point Capitals GM Brian MacLellan even used the word “close” to describe the negotiations. Today, as the interview period starts for free agents, a deal has still not been announced between the two sides. Bob McKenzie of TSN checked in with Carlson’s agent Rick Curran, who commented on the situation:

As of the moment we do not have a deal in place with Washington and as permitted, I am getting/taking calls from other interested teams. 

Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post also tweets that the Capitals have offered a multi-year contract to free agent defenseman Michal Kempny, another key player the team wants to get under contract before they actually hit the open market next Sunday. Carlson is the real target though, and his decision will likely have huge ramifications on the Capitals and the free agent market in general.

If there is any real chance that the 28-year old defenseman is heading to free agency, teams will have to hold onto their cap space in hopes of landing one of the biggest prizes. Carlson could demand in excess of $8MM per season, and for good reason—he’s coming off a career-high 68 points, which led all defenders in the NHL this year. He’s also been given more than 20 minutes of ice time in every season since he was a 20-year old rookie, and almost averaged 26 minutes a night in the team’s recent Stanley Cup run. Though he didn’t get a lot of support as a Conn Smythe winner, his performance in the playoffs could have been worth it. Carlson had 20 points in 24 games, while generating a whopping 80 shots on net.

Every team could use a player like Carlson on their blue line, but fitting him into their salary structure may be difficult. The next few days will be crucial for Washington as they try to convince him to stick around while others are offering him a chance elsewhere. If they can’t retain him, one has to wonder where else the Capitals look to use that cap space and if they’ll suddenly become a player for some of the other top names this summer.

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