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Snapshots: Capuano, Roslovic, Tryamkin

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New Ottawa Senators head coach D.J. Smith was given full control over hiring his staff, has yet to make any additions. However, a familiar name could be on the way. The Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch reports that former New York Islanders head coach Jack Capuano is in talks to join the team. Capuano spent seven years as the Isles’ head coach and was an assistant for the Florida Panthers over the past two years. However, he became a free agent when new Panthers’ hire Joel Quenneville decided not to retain his services. A former AHL head coach as well, Capuano brings experience, but also a familiarity with working with young players, of which the Senators have plenty. Garrioch adds that GM Pierre Dorion stated today that the team hopes to have some assistants in place before the upcoming NHL Draft, meaning Capuano’s official addition could be imminent.

  • The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline reports that Winnipeg Jets forward Jack Roslovic has fired long-time agent Ken Robinson. Roslovic was a first-round pick of the Jets in 2015, but has been buried on the team’s organization depth chart and unable to break out. Roslovic has reportedly requested a trade out of Winnipeg several times and he remains unhappy with his current role, despite finally playing a full NHL season last year. With a number of difficult decisions to make this off-season up against the salary cap, the Jets may not be eager to move an affordable piece like Roslovic. Unfortunately, the young forward’s move to a new agent likely implies he wants someone to put more pressure on them to make a move than his last agent did. If Roslovic hits the trade market, expect his hometown Columbus Blue Jackets to be interested.
  • The Vancouver Canucks may have lost prospect defenseman Nikita Tryamkin to the KHL two years ago, but they remain interested in bringing him back. The Province’s Patrick Johnston reports that GM Jim Benning is keeping tabs on the big blue liner and looks forward to hopefully having him back with the team down the road. Tryamkin has one year remaining on his contract with Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg, so the reunion won’t be coming this off-season. However, talks have already begun with agent Todd Diamond about a future deal. Tryamkin initially left the team over frustration with role in the season-and-a-half he spent in North America. However, the 2014 third-round pick has improved his play in Russia and has also developed into a locker room leader for Avtomobilist. He would likely play a much larger role for the Canucks in his second time around.

Snapshots: Trade Bait, Free Agency, Canucks

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Despite the Stanley Cup Final still being at least two games from completion, trade news has exploded in recent days around the hockey world. Players like Jacob Trouba, Nikita Zaitsev and Phil Kessel are all expected to be moved at some point this summer, and Craig Custance of The Athletic (subscription required) writes that the rest of the trade market is expected to be quite active. Custance breaks down his top-20 players who could be on the move, and includes Trouba right at the top after speaking with executives and scouts around the league.

There are other interesting notes in the list though, including the fact that the San Jose Sharks showed interest in New York Rangers forward Vladislav Namestnikov at the trade deadline before acquiring Gustav Nyquist. Namestnikov hasn’t quite found his touch with the Rangers since being part of the deal that sent Ryan McDonagh to Tampa Bay, and is heading into the final year before unrestricted free agency. The 26-year old has shown flashes of immense offensive potential in the past, but scored just 31 points in 78 games last season for the Rangers.

  • The Winnipeg Jets have re-opened talks with pending unrestricted free agent Tyler Myers according to Frank Seravalli of TSN. In his latest Free Agent Frenzy column, the scribe notes that with an understanding of the trade market for Trouba, GM Kevin Cheveldayoff has circled back to Myers to see what it would take to bring him back to Winnipeg. The 28-year old defenseman still ranks seventh on the TSN free agent list, but could disappear entirely if the Jets are able to re-sign him before the interview process starts on June 23.
  • The same could be said about both Luke Schenn and Alexander Edler, who continue to discuss new contracts with the Vancouver Canucks according to GM Jim Benning on a Sportsnet radio appearance today. Benning also shot down any rumors that the team and RFA Brock Boeser are far apart on contract talks, noting that contract negotiations have “gone in the right direction.” The Canucks GM could not comment directly on the recent Zaitsev report, but is having lots of trade conversations to see if there is a way to improve the team.

Flyers Acquire The Negotiating Rights To Kevin Hayes From Jets

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It’s safe to say that the Flyers would like to sign pending unrestricted free agent Kevin Hayes.  The team announced that they have acquired the negotiating rights to the center from the Jets in exchange for a 2019 fifth-round pick.

In the team release, GM Chuck Fletcher explained the rationale behind the move:

By gaining the rights to Kevin at this time, it provides us with an opportunity to negotiate with him prior to July 1 when he is due to become an unrestricted free agent.

Hayes is coming off of a career season in 2018-19.  He spent most of the season with the Rangers before joining Winnipeg as a deadline day acquisition in exchange for a first-round pick along with winger Brendan Lemieux.  The Jets were hoping that Hayes would have a similar impact as Paul Stastny did the year before but that wasn’t the case as his playing time dwindled in the postseason.

Despite the poor showing in the playoffs, Hayes wound up with 19 goals and 36 assists in 71 games between the two teams; his assist and point totals were career highs.  The 27-year-old is expected to be one of the top centers available in free agency and with other teams already being reported to have interest in him, Fletcher obviously felt it was worth parting with a later draft pick to give themselves a few weeks to talk to him before the UFA interview period opens up after the draft.  New head coach Alain Vigneault is also quite familiar with Hayes from their time with the Rangers.

Hayes would certainly fill a useful role with Philadelphia.  Sean Couturier has established himself as a legitimate top liner but Nolan Patrick, the second overall pick in 2017, isn’t ready to take on a full-time spot in the top six just yet.  While Claude Giroux can play down the middle, he has taken off offensively since being shifted to the wing so moving him back to that spot isn’t optimal.  Hayes, if signed, would slot in nicely between Couturier and Patrick, allowing the latter to continue to develop before potentially flipping roles down the road.

The big question will be how much it will cost to get Hayes signed.  He made $5.175MM this past season on a one-year deal to avoid salary arbitration.  Presumably, it will take a fair bit more than that to lock him up this early.  Winnipeg, with several other prominent players to re-sign this summer, knew that they wouldn’t be able to afford to keep Hayes in the fold so the move allows them to recoup at least a small asset in return over losing him for nothing and considering they only had three 2019 draft picks before the move, adding a pick in this draft is also a nice pickup, especially since it prohibits the selection from being contingent on Hayes signing with Philadelphia.

Offseason Keys: Winnipeg Jets

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With the postseason down to just two teams, most squads are now well into their offseason planning.  What storylines lie ahead around the league in what is shaping up to be a likely busy NHL offseason?  Next up in our Offseason Keys series is a look at the Winnipeg Jets.

Expectations were high for Winnipeg after making it to the Western Conference Final in 2018.  Most of the team was returning and then GM Kevin Cheveldayoff added Kevin Hayes at the trade deadline with the hopes that he’d have an impact like Paul Stastny did the year before.  Unfortunately for the Jets, they didn’t fare as well in the postseason this time around as they were ousted by St. Louis in the opening round.  While last summer was relatively quiet for Cheveldayoff, he’ll have plenty of heavy lifting to do this time around.  Here are the key parts of his to-do list for this summer.

Re-Sign Key RFA Forwards

Heading into the season, Patrik Laine looked like he was in line for a massive payday.  He was coming off a 44-goal campaign and had 80 through his first two seasons, establishing himself as one of the premier goal scorers in the league already.  He looked like he was heading in that direction once again with a fantastic month of November where he scored 18 times.  However, Laine struggled the rest of the season and wound up with only 50 points (30-20-50) on the entire season.

Accordingly, there are now questions about what type of contract he’ll ultimately wind up with.  The chances of him getting top dollar among the high-end group of RFAs is virtually nil now as his value has taken a hit.  If that’s the case, could a bridge contract wind up being the better way for Laine to go with the hopes of landing a bigger deal a year or two from now?

On top of getting a new deal done for Laine, they also have another key winger to re-sign in Kyle Connor, who very quietly out-produced his fellow RFA in 2018-19.  He’s a little different than some of the other top players of this class as he really only has two full NHL seasons under his belt after spending the bulk of his rookie year at the minor league level.  Even so, there’s a case to be made that his next deal should be comparable to the face value of William Nylander’s pact in Toronto – six years and $45MM.

Determine Trouba’s Future

On top of their two wingers, Winnipeg has one other key restricted free agent in defenseman Jacob Trouba.  But while new deals for Laine and Connor are basically a formality at this point, Trouba’s case is nowhere near as certain.

For starters, he’s only one year away from unrestricted free agency.  He already demonstrated that he’s okay with going through the salary arbitration process as he went that route last year, being awarded a $5.5MM salary which now stands as his qualifying offer.  If he wants to get to UFA status as soon as possible, it’s quite likely that he’ll merely file for arbitration early next month and go through the process once again.

On top of that, Trouba is coming off a career season.  He more than doubled his point output from 2017-18 and was a big factor on the power play for the first time.  That is certainly going to bolster his negotiating leverage and he’s well-positioned to land another sizable raise this summer.

There have been questions about Trouba’s willingness to sign long-term in Winnipeg, even after he rescinded his trade request back in 2016.  If the 25-year-old doesn’t show much of an inclination to consider a long-term extension, Cheveldayoff will need to seriously consider trading him.  The two weeks leading up to free agency have been the time where impact defenders have been swapped in the past before teams more or less finalize their roster with their moves on the open market.  As a result, Trouba’s case is something that will very likely be settled one way or the other over the next month or so.

Free Up Cap Room

Last summer, Winnipeg was forced to part with Joel Armia to offload the final year and $4MM of Steve Mason’s contract to Montreal.  There’s a good chance they’ll need to do something like that again in the coming weeks.

The Jets currently have roughly $56.7MM in cap commitments for next season, per CapFriendly.  New contracts for Laine, Connor, and Trouba will eat up most of that while they still have several depth players to re-sign or replace while Tyler Myers is a pending unrestricted free agent whose future with the team could ultimately be tied to what happens with Trouba.  They’re going to be hard-pressed to get everyone re-signed while staying under the Upper Limit, even if it gets a boost as expected.

Mathieu Perreault is someone that has been speculated as a potential cap casualty dating back to last summer.  He’s a capable secondary scorer that can play all three forward positions but at a $4.125MM AAV for two more years, that will be a tricky sell considering that his point-per-game rate was the lowest of his career in 2018-19.  (To be fair, his ice time dipped considerably as well.)  Defenseman Dmitry Kulikov ($4.33MM) has an expiring contract but doesn’t have the potential to make as much of an impact as Perreault does.  While Kulikov was once a top-four defender, he has been used in more of a depth role the last couple of years and the Jets would need to provide a fair bit of incentive if they want to offload that contract.  A buyout could be an option with him as well.

Whether it’s with Perreault, Kulikov, or someone else, Cheveldayoff will undoubtedly be calling around the league to see what opportunities will present themselves to alleviate some of their cap challenges.  With the buyout window closing at the end of June, it’s likely that any moves they make to clear up cap room will be done by then.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Prospect Notes: Calder Cup Final, Telegin, Phillips

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The finale of the AHL season gets underway tonight, as the Charlotte Checkers, affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes, are set to host the Chicago Wolves, affiliate of the Vegas Golden Knights, in Game One of the Calder Cup Final. Neither squad is very familiar with being in this title series; the Wolves are making their first appearance as Vegas’ affiliate, given their parent club just wrapped up it’s second season in existence, while the Checkers have appeared twice in the final, most recently in 1991. The match-up that everyone will be watching for in the series is Cody Glass, the No. 6 overall pick in 2017 and the first draft selection in Vegas’ history, versus Martin Necas, the No. 12 pick in 2017 and Carolina’s top prospect. However, Necas has taken a back seat to several other Checkers forwards this postseason. After scoring 70 points in 72 games to finish fifth in league scoring in the regular season, Andrew Poturalski’s 18 points thus far also lead the postseason. It’s worth noting that Poturalski will be a Group 6 unrestricted free agent this summer and could be on the move in search of more NHL opportunity. Necas’ fellow AHL rookie, Morgan Geekie, has been right up there with Poturalski in playoff scoring, registering 15 points so far. Tomas Jurco and Aleksi Saarela have also played well for the Checkers, as has experienced defenseman Trevor Carrick. As for the Wolves, it has been goaltender Oscar Dansk leading the way, posting a .921 save percentage and 2.16 GAA through 14 starts. Up front, it’s been the veterans getting the job done, with Tomas Hyka, Curtis McKenzie, and Tye McGinn all among the AHL’s top ten in scoring this postseason. Rookie defenseman Zach Whitecloud has also been a revelation and continues to make a strong case for playing in Vegas next season. Everything considered, this should be a balanced, hard-fought series between two talented teams who are excited to be in the final. The schedule for the Calder Cup Final can be found here.

  • The Winnipeg Jets made a nice value addition this morning, signing Russian power forward Andrei Chibisov. As the team attacks their difficult salary cap situation this summer, affordable impact deals could be crucial and the team hopes Chibisov will pan out. Unfortunately, one of his fellow countrymen won’t be joining him in Winnipeg. Ivan Telegin, a draft pick of the Atlanta Thrashers all the way back in 2010, has opted to re-sign with his KHL club, CSKA Moscow. The team announced a new three-year deal with Telegin that likely rules out any potential future in the NHL. There was some thought that Telegin would consider returning to North America, where he previously played three seasons in the OHL and one season in the AHL, following a career-best KHL campagin. Telegin recorded 22 points in 49 games this season, production levels he hadn’t reached since his junior days. A player of similar size and ability to Chibisov, Telegin would have been another bottom-six option for Winnipeg, but with a long-term extension in Russia and his draft rights set to expire, it seems the pairing was never meant to be.
  • According to Jess Myers of the Grand Forks Herald, Pittsburgh Penguins prospect Clayton Phillips is on the move. Phillips, a third-round pick in 2017, just wrapped up his sophomore season at the University of Minnesota, but it appears it will be his last. Myers reports that Phillips is expected to transfer out of Minnesota and to a different NCAA institution. This likely means that he will have to sit out of college hockey next season due to NCAA transfer rules. In the meantime, Phillips is expected to return to the USHL’s Muskegeon Lumberjacks. The 19-year-old defenseman initially joined the Gophers earlier than expected, jumping in midway through the 2017-18 season. Sources that Myers spoke with felt this was a mistake, as he was not yet mature enough for the college game. It showed, as he was held scoreless in eleven games and got into frequent penalty trouble. This past season, Phillips improved to the tune of ten points in 34 games, but struggled defensively and simply wasn’t playing to the level that he, the university, nor the Penguins likely expected. A year back in juniors could be good for Phillips development, as the mobile blue liner can regain confidence in his abilities. Myers then speculates that he could join Penn State University or Colorado College in 2020.

Winnipeg Jets Sign Forward Andrei Chibisov

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The Winnipeg Jets are facing a considerable cap crunch this off-season, but that won’t prevent them from making minor depth additions if there’s value to be had. Case in point: CapFriendly reports that the team has signed Russian forward Andrei Chibisov to an entry-level contract. It is a one-year, two-way pact for the 26-year-old import that will pay him the minimum $700K base salary at the NHL level and $70K at the AHL level, but also includes a $92,500 signing bonus as well as performance bonuses totaling a $925K AAV. The Jets have since confirmed the contract.

Chibisov has flown under the radar in his playing career, never considered an NHL Draft prospect and hardly playing at all on the international stage for Russia. The 6’4″, 227-lb. winger has had to work hard at developing a physical checking game and two-way intelligence to get to where he is and only in the past two years did the offense finally follow. After bouncing between the KHL and second-tier VHL for many years, Chibisov finally stuck with Metallurg Magnitogorsk after a mid-season trade in 2017-18. After recording 11 points in 37 games down the stretch last season, he followed it up with his first 20-point campaign this year, notching seven goals and 13 assists in 50 games. An injury kept Chibisov from adding to those totals and from participating in the postseason. Magnitogorsk felt his absence, as they were upset in the first round. Chibisov finished the year as a top-six scoring forward on his team for the first time in his KHL career and that, combined with his size and strength, was clearly enough to draw some attention from across the pond.

The Jets add an intriguing bottom-six option to their organization and do so at a low price point, which could be key for a club that has their hands full this summer. After trading away Brendan Lemieux at the NHL Trade Deadline, Winnipeg now faces the real possibility that unrestricted free agent Brandon Tanev – as well as depth players Matt Hendricks and Par Lindholm – will also depart and restricted free agent Andrew Copp is also in need of a new deal. The Jets may need to totally reconfigure their bottom-six and Chibisov may come in handy. The Russian forward will be an unrestricted free agent after next season, so Winnipeg will try to get the most out of him while they can if his game translates to the NHL level.

Winnipeg Jets Re-Sign Logan Shaw, C.J. Suess

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The Winnipeg Jets have agreed to terms with both Logan Shaw and C.J. Suess on one-year contracts. Both players were scheduled to be restricted free agents this summer, but will now sign two-way deals worth $700K in the NHL.

Shaw, 26, ended up in the Jets organization after signing a one-year contract partway through the season. Though it wouldn’t result in any NHL action, he would suit up 63 times for the Manitoba Moose and experience the best professional season of his career. The 6’3″ center scored 27 goals and 46 points for the Moose, and when added to the five points he had for the San Diego Gulls, more than doubled his previous career high of 25. That’s an impressive breakout for the depth forward, and may have him in line for some spot duty with the Jets next season. Originally a third-round pick of the Florida Panthers, Shaw has scored 31 points in 180 career NHL games.

Suess on the other hand is still waiting for his big break at the highest level. The 25-year old forward was selected by the Jets in the fifth round of the 2014 draft, but attended college for four seasons before joining the organization. He suited up just 26 times this year for the Moose thanks to injury, but did contribute eight goals and 12 points over that span. He’ll try to make a bigger impact next season when fully recovered.

West Notes: Boeser, Trouba, Massie

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The Vancouver Canucks are another team with a high profile forward set to hit restricted free agency for the first time, as Brock Boeser’s current deal will expire on July 1. The 22-year old sniper has 59 goals through his first 140 NHL games, and looks like he will be a key part to whatever success the Canucks experience in the future. With that said, while this summer’s negotiation is extremely important, it may also be nowhere near concluding. Irfaan Gaffar of Sportsnet reports that the Canucks and Boeser are “not close at all” at this time, but are expected to meet again soon.

Boeser’s situation isn’t exactly the same as some of the other RFA forwards this summer. While Mitch Marner, Mikko Rantanen and Brayden Point all achieved new highs this season and set themselves up for long lucrative contracts, Boeser has dealt with injury through the first two years of his career and played just 69 games this season. While still extremely effective during those years, his camp may see value in taking a short-term deal and betting that he can put himself in another category altogether with a full season.

  • Jacob Trouba’s name continues to come up in trade speculation around the league, and Darren Dreger of TSN tweets that there is “significant interest” in the Winnipeg Jets defenseman. That’s easy to understand given the season Trouba just had, scoring 50 points for the first time in his career and stepping into an increased role on the Winnipeg blue line. Still, Trouba has now completed six seasons despite being only 25 years old and has just a single year of restricted free agency left. He also has no contract, meaning anyone who acquires him runs the risk of him filing for arbitration and walking right into unrestricted free agency in 2020. That possibility is likely exactly why the Jets are even having trade discussions about him, as he has never seemed likely to sign a long-term deal in Winnipeg.
  • Defenseman Jake Massie has decided to turn pro, though nothing has been announced yet in terms of an NHL contract. Massie told his team at the University of Vermont that he would not be returning and instead will “pursue opportunities in professional hockey.” The Chicago Blackhawks own Massie’s rights after a trade with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2015, just a few months after he was selected in the sixth round. The 22-year old played three seasons at Vermont, and totaled 23 points in 95 games.

Brossoit's Contract Could Make Comrie A Trade Candidate

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With Laurent Brossoit inking a one-year contract over the weekend to remain as Winnipeg’s backup goalie, prospect Eric Comrie could be made available in a trade, suggests Postmedia’s Ken Wiebe.  The 23-year-old pending restricted free agent will no longer be waiver-exempt next season and as he’s clearly third on the depth chart, there doesn’t appear to be a spot for him with the Jets either.  Comrie had a strong season with AHL Manitoba, posting a 2.69 GAA with a .917 SV% in 47 appearances and could be an intriguing pickup for a team looking for a young number two netminder.

Western Notes: Tippett, Josi, Beaulieu, Simek

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The Edmonton Oilers and new general manager Ken Holland haven’t announced a new coach and while rumors have suggested that the team has settled on Dave Tippett as the team’s new head coach, nothing has been announced.

Postmedia’s Kurt Leavins reiterates that Tippett to Edmonton is a “done deal,” but the timing of the announcement has been the issue. The deal still has to get onto paper and with both the NHL Draft Combine and the Stanley Cup Finals, there is little time to get the announcement out there that the team has a new head coach. Regardless, the scribe writes that Tippett’s appointment will come in the next few days.

  • For a second year in a row, the Nashville Predators top priority will be to sign one of their star defensemen to a extension. The team locked up Ryan Ellis to an eight-year, $50MM deal last summer and must do something similar with Roman Josi, who is eligible to sign an extension on July 1. Josi, however, has made it clear he wants to stay in Nashville. However, the Predators will have to pay up as The Athletic’s Adam Vingan (subscription required) writes that they will likely have to give him the biggest contract in team history, which could overtake Ryan Johansen’s $8MM AAV.
  • The Winnipeg Jets have a number of big contracts and potential trades to deal with this offseason, but there are also smaller issues along their roster as well. The team needs to keep their defensive depth, one of the strengths of their roster in recent years, yet they only have five defensemen under contract. The Winnipeg Sun’s Ken Wiebe writes that the Jets have indicated that they would like to bring back restricted free agent Nathan Beaulieu, who the team acquired at the trade deadline for a sixth-round pick, as insurance in case they lose Jacob Trouba to a trade. However, in order to offer Beaulieu a qualifying offer, they would have to add 10 percent to his $2.4MM he made last year, which the team is unlikely to do for a bottom-pairing defenseman. The more logical approach, which Winnipeg did last year with Joseph Morrow, would be to not qualify him and then try to sign him for less as an unrestricted free agent.
  • The San Jose Sharks got some good news as The Athletic’s David Lombardi (subscription required) writes that defenseman Radim Simek, who has been out since March 12th after having his leg crushed in a collision with Winnipeg’s Andrew Copp and having surgery to repair a torn ACL, MCL and meniscus, has already returned to the ice and is skating again. “The guys who are taking care of me say that my rehab is going really fast, that it’s really unusual to only be two months removed from surgery but back on the ice, skating however I want,” Simek said.  Simek, who signed out of the Czech Republic in 2017, played one year in the AHL and made the NHL roster this season, playing in 41 games and making a significant difference before getting injured and hopes to be back for next season.

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