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Snapshots: Appleby, Skinner, Knights

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Goaltender Ken Appleby will have to settle for an AHL contract again this season. The 24-year-old has signed a one-year deal with the Milwaukee Admirals, affiliate of the Nashville Predators, the team announced. Appleby spent much of last season on a minor league contract with the AHL’s Manitoba Moose, but was signed to an NHL deal at the trade deadline to serve as a depth option for the Winnipeg Jets. Appleby will hope that his play earns him another NHL contract, during this season or next summer.

Appleby continues to be a tough keeper to nail down. A standout with the OHL’s Oshawa Generals, Appleby earned a three-year entry level contract with the New Jersey Devils as an undrafted prospect. In his first pro season in 2015-16, Appleby largely played in the ECHL, but put up good numbers and performed well in limited AHL action. The next year, he again dominated in ECHL to begin the year but quickly was called up to play a key role in the AHL and put up good albeit unspectacular numbers. In the final year of his ELC, Appleby’s AHL performance slipped somewhat, but he made three NHL appearances and was stellar, posting a .945 save percentage and 1.45 GAA. Yet, Appleby inexplicably failed to garner NHL attention last summer and, after signing with Manitoba, struggled greatly in the AHL and ended up back down in the ECHL. It’s unclear what to expect from the roller coaster goaltender, but at the very least the Admirals add an experienced netminder who has shown flashes of brilliance.

  • New York Rangers prospect Hunter Skinner is shifting his development plan. A fourth-round pick out of the USHL last month, Skinner was expected to play one more year of junior before heading to Western Michigan University. That all changed today when Skinner signed with the OHL’s London Knights, effectively ruling out the NCAA route. London used a fifth-round pick on Skinner in the 2017 OHL Draft and have made good on that gamble by convincing Skinner to change lanes and play major junior. However, it comes as a bit of a surprise that the Michigan native backed out of his WMU commitment. A big right-handed defenseman who is ahead of the game physically but still raw in his skill and IQ, the Rangers reached for Skinner in the fourth round. It’s not a stretch to think that they used that leverage to influence this decision, perhaps preferring to see Skinner play against stronger competition sooner rather than later to start developing those abilities. The Broncos are definitely disappointed to lose a promising prospect, but Skinner is in good hands in London, a premiere NHL feeder program led by Dale and Mark Hunter.
  • Speaking of which, former London Knight Will Lochead has signed his first pro contract with the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds. Lochead actually began classes at the University of Western Ontario last year and had intended to continue there, but after a breakout season opted to pursue the pro route. The aggressive defenseman recorded a career-high 17 points in 54 games for the Knights and continued to show that he is not afraid to throw his body around and play a fast-tempo game. The Thunderbirds are taking a chance on a young, undrafted player without much production to show for in his junior career, but who brings room for growth and an exciting style.

Central Notes: Kulikov, Jets Defense, Rask, Timmins

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The Winnipeg Jets have already lost quite a bit of their talent on their blueline as the team has already lost Tyler Myers, Jacob Trouba and Ben Chiarot this offseason with little in return other than Neal Pionk. However, because Pionk filed for arbitration (along with Andrew Copp) on Friday, the Jets could lose another defenseman off their roster.

The Athletic’s Murat Ates (subscription required) points out that Pionk and Copp filing for arbitration opens up a second buyout window for Winnipeg in three weeks, which might suggest that the Jets could consider buying out defenseman Dmitry Kulikov when that happens. The 28-year-old defenseman, who has one year remaining on his deal at $4.33MM, has not worked out like the team had hoped and there are questions whether he could fulfill the role of a top-four defenseman now that the team has holes to fill.

Kulikov has played just 119 games over two seasons, often sitting as a healthy scratch and has just three goals and 17 points in those two seasons. The team may want to consider letting Kulikov, which would save the team $2.89MM in cap savings for this year, something that could be used towards acquiring another defenseman. Of course, the Jets could just as easily decide that he can play in their top four and keep him, but it’s a legitimate option Winnipeg can consider over the next three weeks.

  • Staying with the Jets, the Winnipeg Sun’s Paul Friesen writes that the losses Brandon Tanev (to Pittsburgh) and Chiarot (to Montreal) are more critical losses than people think. Those two players were ranked first and second, respectively on the Jets’ squad last year in hits. Tanev led the team with 278 hits, while Chiarot finished with 171. That’s a significant amount of physicality the team lost. Blocked shots aren’t any better as the team’s top two leaders in that category were lost as well, including Trouba (to New York Rangers) who had 171 blocks, while Chiarot was second on the team with 139. That could be a bad sign for the team’s overall defense.
  • The Athletic’s Tony Abbott (subscription required) projects the Minnesota Wild’s early depth chart after the Wild went out and signed forwards Mats Zuccarello and Ryan Hartman. The team possesses quite a bit of depth and the one player that could find himself without a job is Victor Rask. The 26-year-old forward, who was acquired in the unpopular trade involving Nino Niederreiter with Carolina, could find himself outside the team’s top 12 next season and he will be making $4MM next season. Rask struggled mightily when he got to Minnesota, posting just two goals and three points in 23 games.
  • The Colorado Avalanche had high expectations for prospect Connor Timmins at the start of the season. Unfortunately, the team lost him to a concussion for the entire season. While he’s shown some signs of practicing with the team during the playoffs in a non-contact jersey, The Athletic’s Ryan S. Clark (subscription required) reports that Timmins was a full participant at the team’s development camp recently and was, in fact, was one of the standouts there. The next step is to see how he performs in the preseason. Timmins, the team’s 2017 second-round pick, will likely play a full season in with the Colorado Eagles of the AHL next season.

Jets Offered Ben Chiarot A Four-Year Contract To Stay In Winnipeg

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  • The Jets offered defensemen Ben Chiarot a four-year contract with an AAV of just under $3MM per season, reports Postmedia’s Ken Wiebe. However, the blueliner declined the offer and inked a three-year, $10.5MM deal with Montreal instead.  The fact that Winnipeg felt that they had the resources to offer Chiarot that type of deal suggests that they could still get involved in the free agent market in the days to come.

Snapshots: Boeser, Cracknell, Jets

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The Vancouver Canucks and Brock Boeser are closer on a new contract according to Rick Dhaliwal of Sportsnet, though he notes there is still “work to be done and neither side [is] budging.” Boeser is part of the outstanding group of young restricted free agents looking for big deals this offseason, though it is important to note that he is not eligible for an offer sheet. Like Charlie McAvoy in Boston, Boeser is treated like an RFA but doesn’t have all of the same rights because of the way he burned through his entry-level contract, playing through the first year in just nine games after his 2016-17 college season ended.

That, combined with the fact that Boeser is not arbitration eligible, means this negotiation could potentially go on long into the summer if both sides aren’t willing to find some middle ground. The 22-year old forward is one of the most interesting cases this summer thanks to the injury trouble he has suffered through the early part of his young career. Though he has suited up just 140 times, Boeser has already scored 59 goals and 116 points.

  • Adam Cracknell will be taking his talents to China, as Kunlun Red Star of the KHL announced a one-year contract with the NHL veteran. The 33-year old forward has played 210 NHL games across a long professional career, an impressive accomplishment for a ninth-round pick. He suited up last season for the Toronto Marlies, San Diego Gulls and Anaheim Ducks, scoring a total of 38 points in 44 games in the minors and zero in his two NHL appearances. He was however a force in the playoffs with the Gulls, and could very well find success overseas playing in the KHL. He’ll join several other familiar names like Jake Chelios, Gilbert Brule, Spencer Foo and Wojtek Wolski on Kunlun.
  • The Winnipeg Jets have added a little bit of depth up front this free agent period, adding veteran center Mark Letestu to a one-year deal. They likely aren’t done there, as Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Sun is expecting the team to add another fourth-line forward at some point. That forward will likely have penalty killing experience and cost the team less than $1MM in salary according to Wiebe, which certainly doesn’t limit the field. There are plenty of free agent forwards still out there looking for work, including Winkler, Manitoba native Eric Fehr, coming off a solid season with the Minnesota Wild.

Overseas Notes: Kiselevich, Mitchell, Rybar, McNeill

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As expected, Bogdan Kiselevich has returned home to Russia as soon as he could. The 29-year-old defenseman is back with CSKA Moscow after just one year in the NHL, as the team announced a new three-year deal. Kiselevich was clearly not impressed by his usage in North America, as word got out quickly after the season that he would return to the KHL, before even testing the NHL market. In his “rookie” season, Kiselevich played in 32 games with the Florida Panthers and contributed eight assists. Although some of his other underlying numbers suggested that Kiselevich was being underutilized in Florida, he worked mostly as the team’s No. 7. He was then traded to the Winnipeg Jets at the NHL Trade Deadline, slotting even lower in their depth chart, and did not play a single game in the regular season or postseason. Seeing as a fully healthy Kiselevich played just one game after January, it’s understandable that he was happy to return to a top role for an elite KHL club loaded with former NHLers.

  • Count Zack Mitchell as another NHL castoff looking for a larger role in the KHL. After skating in 34 NHL games between two seasons with the Minnesota Wild in 2016-17/2017-18, Mitchell was relegated to the AHL for this entire past campaign after signing with the Los Angeles Kings last summer. Still a relatively young player at 26 who also has consistent AHL production and NHL experience, Mitchell likely felt he could do better. As a result, Mitchell has signed a one-year contract with Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk of the KHL, the team announced. A team that missed the playoffs last season and has few elite players or familiar NHL faces, Neftekhimik needs a elite addition and hopes Mitchell can fill that role. If he can lead them back to the Gagarin Cup stage behind a highly productive season, Mitchell will likely be able to find a deal back in North America next year.
  • The Detroit Red Wings took a shot on young Slovakian goaltender Patrik Rybar last season after he had dominated the Slovakian and Czech pro ranks for several years. However, he ended up not getting much use as the fourth-string keeper in the organization. Rybar played in 37 AHL games and did not see any NHL action. In his minor league appearances, he also failed to put up the stupendous numbers that may have attracted another NHL suitor, posting a .908 save percentage and 2.49 GAA. Fortunately, those numbers were enough to turn heads in other major European leagues. Rybar has opted to sign with Karpat of the Finnish Liiga, the team announced. Karpat was the top team in the Liiga last year through the regular season and their play in net from Columbus Blue Jackets prospect Veini Vehvilainen and former NHLer Jussi Rynnas played no small role. With both of those keepers now gone, the Karpat net looks to belong to Rybar, with promising young goalie Justus Annunen, a Colorado Avalanche draft pick, as backup.
  • Mark McNeill’s precipitous drop from relevance continued last season and he is taking a drastic measure to rediscover his game. A 2011 first-round pick, McNeill was considered the top prospect of the Chicago Blackhawks for many years. Yet, to date he has just two NHL appearances to his credit. However, the heavy forward still put up good numbers in the minors in the Blackhawks’ and Dallas Stars’ systems. That is, until the past two years, when McNeill bounced around from Dallas to Nashville to Boston and posted back-to-back career lows of 25 points. Now, he must repair his image and show he can be a reliable scorer and has chosen Austria as the place to do just that. McNeill has signed with EHC Linz of the EBEL, the Black Wings announced. Linz counts Bracken Kearns and Justin Florek as their only other NHL veterans, so the opportunity will be there for McNeill to be the teams’s best player next season.

Mark Letestu Signs With Winnipeg Jets

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Veteran forward Mark Letestu has signed a one-year two-way contract with the Winnipeg Jets, joining the organization as a depth piece for next season. The deal will pay him $700K at the NHL level.

Now 34, Letestu suited up 72 times for the Cleveland Monsters of the AHL last season and was their best player on many nights. The veteran center ended up with 50 points in the regular season and another five in the playoffs, showing that he certainly isn’t finished just yet. There was a time not too long ago that Letestu was a solid depth option for the Columbus Blue Jackets and Edmonton Oilers, routinely scoring double-digit goals and somewhere around 30 points. His transition to the minor leagues would only help the Manitoba Moose and provide some injury insurance for the Jets throughout the year.

Anthony Bitetto Signs With Winnipeg Jets

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The Winnipeg Jets have added some more depth on their blue line, signing Anthony Bitetto to a one-year, two-way deal. It will pay the defenseman $700K at the NHL level.

Bitetto, 28, split last season between the Nashville Predators and Minnesota Wild, meaning he’ll be quite familiar with the Central Division and the Jets. In 36 games he recorded just three points, but was always willing to engage physically and protect a teammate if necessary. The sixth-round pick from 2010 has never been a full-time NHL player, but does have 132 games under his belt over the years and should serve as some injury insurance for a blue line that has been depleted through free agency this offseason.

Boston Bruins Announce Several Signings

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While the Boston Bruins garnered some attention early on today with a long-term extension for defenseman Connor Clifton and the signings of young power forward Brett Ritchie and third-string goalie Maxime Lagace, the team was quietly working through a number of other deals that insiders failed to pick up on. The team has announced seven signings: extensions for Clifton and Ryan Fitzgerald, one-way contracts for Ritchie and Par Lindholm, two-way contracts for Lagace and Brendan Gaunce, and an AHL contract for defenseman Josiah Didier.

Outside of Clifton and Ritchie, the biggest news is the addition of Lindholm, who signed a two-year deal with an AAV of $850K. Although Lindholm, 27, just finished his first NHL season after a long career in Sweden, the Bruins got a good look at him as a member of the rival Toronto Maple Leafs. Lindholm recorded 12 points in 61 games for Toronto, but was held to just one point in four regular season games and two postseason games for the Winnipeg Jets following a late-season trade. However, defense is more Lindholm’s game anyway, as he proved to be a good physical presence and proved to be adept at blocking shots and creating turnovers. Lindholm is a good fourth-line depth option and penalty kill possibility for the Bruins, who lost Noel Acciari to the Florida Panthers, but replace much of the same ability at half the price.

Gaunce, 25, became a UFA after he was not tendered a qualifying offer by the Vancouver Canucks. A 2012 first-round pick, the Canucks expected more offense out of the forward, who instead recorded just 15 points in 117 NHL games through four seasons with the team. Last year, Gaunce played all but three games in the AHL. At his point, Gaunce is a player who uses his size and speed to play a physical, up-tempo style, but lacks the skill to play a scoring role in the NHL. At best, Gaunce will challenge Lindholm to be the next man up on the fourth line in Boston, and would be an affordable piece at $700K, but at worst he has a high floor of being a hard-working and experienced minor league presence that will make his Providence teammates better.

One such teammate is Fitzgerald, who returns to the team on a one-year, $700K deal, coming in below his qualifying offer. Fitzgerald has shown a well-rounded game and consistent production in two years with the Providence Bruins, as he did in four years at Boston College. The homegrown product comes from hockey bloodlines and plays a smart game. There’s still some question of whether the skill is enough to get to the NHL, though. Fitzgerald will still be searching for his Boston debut this coming season.

Another Providence addition is Didier, who strengthens a talented, but shallow AHL blue line for the Bruins. Didier is coming off a career-best offensive season for the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers, despite only being a part-time player for the Calder Cup champs. It’s unclear how much of a role he will play in Providence, but it’s a risk-free investment in a big, experienced defender by the Bruins.

Nathan Beaulieu Extended By Winnipeg Jets

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Nathan Beaulieu made enough of an impression in Winnipeg as a minor trade deadline acquisition to earn a longer look. The Jets have announced that they have re-signed the defenseman to a one-year deal worth $1MM. Given the departure of Jacob Trouba, Tyler Myers and the unknown status of Ben Chiarot, Beaulieu could be asked to play a starting role in Winnipeg this year.

Winnipeg acquired Beaulieu for a small price at the deadline, only having to send a 2019 sixth-round pick to Buffalo for the 26-year-old. He immediately took a significant role for the Jets, playing 16:51 of ice time in his 18 games, putting up five assists. While he didn’t make the lineup during the playoffs, the team feels that he was worth bringing back.

The team, now without Trouba and Myers, must begin to rebuild their defense around Josh Morrissey, Dustin Byfuglien and Neal Pionk (barring a trade) and will have a number of young players battling for playing time, including Beaulieu, Sami Niku and Tucker Poolman.

Penguins To Sign Brandon Tanev To Long-Term Contract

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The Pittsburgh Penguins were not expected to be major players in free agency, but have apparently fallen in love with one particular two-way forward. TSN’s Darren Dreger initially reported the deal, and the Penguins have now confirmed the signing of Brandon Tanev to a six-year contract with a $3.5MM AAV.

That’s a significant commitment to a player who made just $1.15MM last season and whose best season was 14 goals and 29 points, but the 27-year-old provides more than offense on the ice as Tanev finished with a career-high in hits with 278. That physicality, to go with the ability to show some offense and the fact that Tanev continues to improve every year suggests that Pittsburgh believes that his best years are still to come. The hope is that Tanev can provide the team with an energy booster in the bottom-six, but who can also help those lines add some offense.

Pittsburgh likely wouldn’t have been able to make a deal like that work, but general manager Jim Rutherford freed up quite a bit of cap room in the last week by trading off defenseman Olli Maatta as well as finding a trade partner for Phil Kessel and his $8MM salary.

The Jets were thrilled with the 27-year-old’s play, but with Tanev having received quite a bit of attention on the open market, Winnipeg realized early on that they wouldn’t have enough money to keep him in the fold considering the team would already be up against the cap once the team re-signs some of their core, including Patrik Laine, Kyle Connor and Neal Pionk.

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