Poll: What Kind Of Extension Is Predators’ Ryan Ellis Worth?
With top defensemen getting locked up to big, long-term deals everywhere, one only has to look around the league to see who is next. The most obvious target would be Nashville’s Ryan Ellis, who will be wrapping up the final year of his five-year, $12.5MM deal. Ellis, who is one of the core of Nashville’s talented back end, is one of the most underpaid blueliners in the league at $2.5MM AAV, should be in line for a great extension. After all, many of his defensive teammates are already well-paid, including P.K. Subban ($9MM for four more years), Roman Josi ($4MM for two more years), and Mattias Ekholm ($3.75MM for four more years).
Nashville claims that locking up the 27 year old is the team’s top priority this offseason. Yet little has happened. However, how much is he worth, asks Adam Vingan of the Tennessean? While two of the most significant extensions went to Los Angeles’ Kings Drew Doughty (eight years, $11MM AAV) and Arizona Coyotes’ Oliver Ekman-Larsson (eight years, $8.25MM AAV), Ellis likely doesn’t fit into that category. Therefore, Vingan writes that Nashville must compare Ellis’ play with several other tiers of defenseman that have recently signed new deals. The most likely comparables for Ellis will come down to the recent contracts signed by Washington Capitals’ John Carlson (eight years, $8MM AAV) and Tampa Bay Lightning’s Ryan McDonagh (eight years, $6.75MM AAV). However is he as good as those two?
The next tier would be contracts handed out a few years ago that could compare, such as Pittsburgh Penguins’ Kris Letang (eight years, $7.25MM AAV), Erik Johnson (seven years, $6MM AAV) and Anaheim Ducks’ Cam Fowler (eight years, $6.5MM AAV). Ellis’ stats are challenging to look when attempting to compare to any of those defensemen. Offensively, he’s never put up 40 points in a season yet, coming close once with 38 points (16 of those were goals). However, after missing the first half of this past season after undergoing knee surgery in the offseason, Ellis’ stats took a jump when he put up 32 points in 44 games, suggesting that his offense is starting to emerge. With his defense never under question, the Predators must come up with a number soon.
So what range should Ellis fall into?
Total votes: 1,093
How much should Nashville defenseman get on his next contract?
Trade Rumors app users, click here.
Washington Capitals Re-Sign Riley Barber
The Washington Capitals have re-signed Riley Barber to a one-year, two-way contract that will pay him $650K at the NHL level. Barber is coming off his entry-level contract and was a restricted free agent, but will forgo any more negotiation and start working on trying to crack the Capitals next season.
Barber, 24, put up his second 20-goal campaign with the Hershey Bears in 2017-18, registering 38 points in 60 games. The former Miami University (Ohio) standout has developed into a key piece for the AHL Bears, and could play a part for the Capitals at some point as a depth forward. Most people will remember Barber from his days with USA Hockey, winning gold at the U18 Worlds before captaining the gold-medal winning 2014 World Junior team that included names like Jack Eichel, Will Butcher, Jaccob Slavin and Brady Skjei.
A sixth-round pick of Washington in 2012, Barber is at worst an excellent player for the Capitals at the minor league level and at best a bottom-six forward for the minimum salary. He did play three games for the team in the 2016-17 season, but will have to fight and claw to get back to the NHL at this point.
Washington Capitals Interested In Brooks Orpik Return
The Washington Capitals moved Brooks Orpik earlier this offseason in order to clear enough cap space to re-sign John Carlson. Orpik was carrying a $5.5MM cap hit, so the team attached him to Philipp Grubauer in a trade with the Colorado Avalanche, only to see him bought out by the acquiring team immediately. Now, after the team re-signed both Carlson and Michal Kempny, they’re considering bringing back the 37-year old Orpik as well on a lower salary. GM Brian MacLellan told reporters including Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post as much today as the team introduced new head coach Todd Reirden.
The Avalanche were clear when they acquired Orpik that they did it just to lower the price tag on Grubauer, a potential starting goaltender that cost them just a second-round pick. Colorado will be paying the 37-year old defenseman $4MM split over the next two years to not play for them, giving him plenty of incentive to return to the place where he just won a Stanley Cup on a very cheap deal. If Washington does bring back the veteran defenseman, it would likely be at a near-minimum contract given their relatively little cap space and need to still sign Tom Wilson and Madison Bowey as restricted free agents.
Orpik’s play has deteriorated in recent seasons, but he played well in the playoffs for the Capitals and could still be a valuable veteran option for the bottom pairing. With young players like Christian Djoos ready to take on a bigger role, bringing in someone like Orpik as a part-time player may make a lot of sense. Obviously if there are any other teams involved—and it sounds like there is at least mild interest from a few—Orpik could instead go somewhere he’s expected to play every game. If he can’t find that, or if he just wants to go back where he won his latest Stanley Cup, the Capitals seem like they’d be more than willing.
Washington Capitals Sign Michael Sgarbossa, Jayson Megna
The Washington Capitals have added some depth to the Hershey Bears, signing minor league veterans Michael Sgarbossa and Jayson Megna to one-year, two-way contracts.
Sgarbossa gives Washington a center to likely replace Travis Boyd who was one of Hershey’s top centers there a season ago. Sgarbossa spent last year with the Winnipeg’s Jets AHL affiliate and put up solid numbers, including 16 goals and 40 points. The 25-year-old was not promoted. Regardless, however, Sgarbossa has 48 games of NHL experience and also provides the Capitals depth options in case of injuries. Sgarbossa did get 29 NHL games in the 2016-17 season with the Florida Panthers, posting two goals and seven points.
The 28-year-old Megna also provides much needed center depth and has even more experience than Sgarbossa. Megna has played in 113 NHL games, but spent much of the season with the Utica Comets, the Vancouver Canucks AHL affiliate. In 25 games there, he scored four goals and 13 points and played in one game for Vancouver.
Travis Boyd Re-Signs With Capitals
The Washington Capitals are holding on to one of their top minor league contributors, announcing a new two-year deal with Travis Boyd. The contract carries an $800K AAV. Boyd is expected to compete for a starting job with the defending champs next season.
Boyd, along with free agent acquisition Nic Dowd, will be expected to compete for the open fourth-line center position, according to the Washington Post’s Isabelle Khurshudyan. The fourth-line center position, which used to belong to faceoff specialist Jay Beagle, is open now after he signed a four-year, $12MM contract with the Vancouver Canucks. Boyd will be given every opportunity to compete with the veteran Dowd for that spot.
Boyd has spent the last three seasons with the AHL Hershey Bears tallying up 52 goals while adding 163 points. The 24-year-old was a restricted free agent after signing a one-year deal last offseason for $650K.
Canucks Sign Jay Beagle And Antoine Roussel
The Vancouver Canucks have decided to add some veteran leadership to the bottom-six, signing Antoine Roussel and Jay Beagle to matching four-year, $12MM contracts. The pair will carry an average annual value of $3MM each, while both will get some level of trade protection.
Roussel, 28, recorded five goals and twelves assists in 73 games last year for the Dallas Stars, though he totaled 25+ points in each of the four seasons prior. Beagle, 32, if fresh off of a Stanley Cup title with the Washington Capitals and remains one of the top face-off men in the league and set a career-high with 30 points a year ago.
Vancouver GM Jim Benning is clearly investing in bottom-six experience and two-way ability, targeting both players and doing whatever took to bring them in. Both players drew ample attention and the Canucks reportedly had to beat out competitors in a tight bidding war for each contract.
Nic Dowd Signs With Washington Capitals
The defending champs add some depth. Versatile bottom-six forward Nic Dowd has signed with the Washington Capitals, according to The Athletic’s Michael Russo. The Washington Post’s Isabelle Khurshudyan reports that the deal is a one-year deal for $650K.
The Capitals targeted Dowd as the team must find a replacement for fourth-line center Jay Beagle, who signed a four-year, $12MM contract with the Vancouver Canucks. Ironically, Dowd is coming from Vancouver, suggesting the two players could switch places. However, Dowd is more of a fringe player, who has had trouble breaking into the NHL lineup. The hope is to use Dowd at center and keep Chandler Stephenson at the wing, rather than force him to move down to the fourth line.
The 28-year-old started the season with the Los Angeles Kings, but failed to crack their lineup. After playing in just 16 games, he was traded in December to Vancouver where he had more success. In Vancouver, he managed to appear in 40 games with the Canucks last season, but still just saw 10:32 of ATOI over the remainder of the season. He scored three goals with the Canucks and did not have an assist. His best season came with the Kings in 2016-17 season when he tallied six goals and 22 points.
Capitals Sign Defenseman Martin Fehervary To Entry-Level Contract
thThe defending Stanley Cup champions have worked quickly to lock up a recent draft pick. The Washington Post’s Isabelle Khurshudyan first reported that the Washington Capitals have signed defenseman Martin Fehervary to an entry-level contract. The team has confirmed the deal for the maximum three years.
The 46th pick in the second round of last weekend’s NHL Draft, Fehervary is a big Slovakian blue liner who plays with intensity and a fast, physical style. Fehervary has limited offensive upside, but is already playing at a pro-ready level in his own end.
Although Fehervary impressed at Capitals development camp this week and has signed his first contract, the team expects that he will return to Sweden and HV71 of the SHL for the coming season. NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti reports that Fehervary’s plan is to play in North American full-time beginning in 2019.
Free Agent Rumor Round-Up: Roussel, Calvert, Hickey, Rieder, Perron, And More
The Vancouver Canucks are closing in on an agreement with one of their top free agent targets. After Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman revealed that the Canucks were talking to two-way winger Antoine Roussel, colleague Rick Dhaliwal did some digging and discovered that the two sides were close on a long-term deal. Dhaliwal expects Roussel to sign a four-year deal worth more than $3MM per year with Vancouver. The former Dallas Stars brings grit and energy to the Canucks and has previously teased 30+ point potential. If the 28-year-old Frenchman can reach those levels of production while maintaining his notorious physical game, this could be a great signing by GM Jim Benning. However, it is well above what many would have expected Roussel to sign in both term and salary and could just as well be a disaster for Vancouver. Roussel is ranked 38th on PHR’s Top 50 Free Agents list with an estimated contract of two years and just over $2MM AAV.
- Friedman has also linked the Colorado Avalanche and forward Matt Calvert. TSN’s Darren Dreger is among a few sources who have also heard about that pairing. Calvert, 28, has played his entire career for the Columbus Blue Jackets, but Dreger seems convinced that he is definitely on the move. The versatile, two-way winger would be a nice fit as a bottom-six regular who can fill gaps in the top-six, much like the role that Blake Comeau played for the team.
- Dreger also reports that interest is high in defenseman Thomas Hickey. A shallow defense market is likely boosting the value of the serviceable defenseman, who is a tough defensive match-up and a dangerous off-the-puck play-maker, but prone to mistake when moving play. Many speculated that the Islanders would turn their attention to re-signing Hickey once the John Tavares situation had sorted itself out, but with Tavares dragging his feet and Hickey in talks with numerous teams, New York may not get that chance. We predicted that Hickey would land with the Montreal Canadiens on a multi-year deal in PHR’s Top 50 Free Agents list.
- Another player getting a lot of attention is winger Tobias Rieder and the status of his suitors is changing quickly as the price rises. Just earlier today, the Vancouver Canucks were the first team confirmed to be in on Rieder and by now that list has increased dramatically. TSN’s Ryan Rishaug reports that the Calgary Flames, Montreal Canadiens, and Ottawa Senators are also in the running and that the price has gotten so high as to drive the Edmonton Oilers out of the bidding. The Athletic’s Craig Custance confirms the interest from the Canucks, Flames, and Habs and adds the New York Rangers and Florida Panthers to the list of interested parties. All this for a player that the Los Angeles Kings deemed unworthy of a qualifying offer.
- As expected, David Perron is also one of the hottest names on the free agent market and his former team, the Vegas Golden Knights, are seemingly out of the running. Friedman calls it “very unlikely” that Perron returns to Las Vegas, where he set a career high with 66 points this season. For an idea on the price for Perron, he landed at #5 on the PHR Top 50 Free Agents list with a projected six-year, $32MM contract, which could be a conservative guess.
- One team that is somewhat surprisingly in talks with Perron is Arizona. Craig Morgan of Arizona Sports details the off-season so far from the Coyotes and lists Perron, James van Riemsdyk, and Michael Grabner as Arizona’s top targets. Morgan also says that the team has not ruled out bringing back veteran forward Brad Richardson as well.
- The Boston Bruins are moving on from Anton Khudobin and reportedly working fast to find his replacement. Beat writer Matt Kalman and The Boston Globe’s Kevin-Paul Dupont both hear that the team is very interested in Kari Lehtonen as the new backup to Tuukka Rask. With many talented goalies on the market, Lehtonen has flown under the radar somewhat despite incredibly comparable numbers to Khudobin in more starts and superior numbers to the likes of Jonathan Bernier, Cam Ward, Robin Lehner and others. Lehtonen also had the highest Quality Start rate of any of that group in 2017-18. Even here at PHR we may have underestimated Lehtonen, making him our sixth-best goalie among the Top 50 free agents.
- Unsurprisingly, TSN’s Pierre LeBrun notes that the Washington Capitals have checked in with defenseman Brooks Orpik. A veteran leader and key contributor to their Stanley Cup run, the Capitals faced little choice but to trade Orpik away earlier this off-season in order to clear cap space to maintain their championship roster. Now that he has subsequently been bought out by the Colorado Avalanche, Orpik is fair game and could return to D.C. at a much more affordable rate. However, LeBrun warns that other teams are also in the running and Orpik may not take a discount rate in Washington over more legitimate offers.
Capitals Name Todd Reirden As Their New Head Coach
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.