Jets Re-Sign Joel Armia, Adam Lowry
The Winnipeg Jets announced via Twitter that they have re-signed forwards Joel Armia and Adam Lowry, both to two year deals. Armia will earn $925K per year, while Lowry will command $1.125MM.
Lowry, 22, was drafted in the third round, 67th overall by Winnipeg. He scored seven goals, and 10 assists last year in 71 games. In his NHL career he has 18 goals, 22 assists, in 154 games.
Armia, 23, was drafted 16th overall in the first round by Buffalo before being traded to the Jets as part of the Evander Kane deal. The Finn was a high scorer in Sweden before coming to North America, where he scored four goals, and six assists in 43 games for the Jets last year.
NHL Notes: RFA Defensemen
As we mentioned earlier this week, there are several very talented Restricted Free Agents (RFAs) who have yet to sign contracts for next season. Of the 24 RFA defensemen who played in the NHL last season, 15 of them averaged more than 15 minutes per game (minimum 25 GP). Despite the high value of young capable defensemen (see Larsson, Adam), it is the their teams who appear to have the upper hand in negotiations.
Let’s take a look at the top five unsigned defensemen:
1. Hampus Lindholm – Anaheim Ducks – The Ducks number one defenseman, Lindholm averaged 22:00 minutes per night last season with superior possession numbers. His 28 points were 54th among defensemen, but Lindholm is still a bona fide top-pairing option. Lindholm is likely looking for a long-term contract in the $5-6MM range, similar to the Morgan Rielly ($5MM, Seth Jones ($5.4MM), and Nick Leddy ($5.5MM). The Ducks would probably prefer something lower, in the Travis Hamonic ($3.86MM), Oscar Klefbom ($4.17MM), and Justin Faulk ($4.83MM) range. Anaheim is a budget team, and is already only $8.4MM away from the cap ceiling with Lindholm and Rickard Rakell still to sign. Lindholm is not eligible for arbitration, and an offer sheet seems unlikely given the current NHL climate.
2. Tyson Barrie – Colorado Avalanche – Barrie seems to be constantly featured in trade rumors, mainly due to his high-end offensive ability (49 points last season) and coach Patrick Roy’s apparent lack of confidence in him. It doesn’t help that the Avalanche have just $8.3MM in cap space before Barrie and Mikhail Grigorenko‘s arbitration hearings in late July. Barrie and his agent don’t need to look any further than teammate Eric Johnson‘s $6MM salary for a starting point; Barrie outscored Johnson by 22 points in similar time-on-ice.
3. Rasmus Ristolainen – Buffalo Sabres – Ristolainen lead the Sabres in ice-time by just under 500 minutes. He was also fourth in team scoring with 41 points. He’s also extremely big at 6’4, 207 lbs and mobile. Ristolainen is already the Sabres best defenseman, and he’ll only be 22 in October. The Sabres will look to sign him long-term somewhere in the Faulk to Rielly range. The Sabres have approximately $11MM in cap space and still need to lock up Marcus Foligno and Zemgus Girgensons.
4. Jacob Trouba – Winnipeg Jets – Trouba is in an interesting situation in Winnipeg: he’s considered a future top-pairing player, and is big, mobile, and right-handed. However, he’s blocked from playing top-four minutes by fellow right-handers Dustin Byfulgien and Tyler Myers. Trouba has played the left side before, but like most players performs better on his natural side. There seems to be two options for Trouba; he can sign a bridge-deal and earn a big payday in two seasons when Mark Stuart and Toby Enstrom are free agents, or he can holdout for the big payday now. There was some talk last month about the Bruins looking at Trouba as an offer sheet candidate, but that seems to have passed. He’s not eligible for arbitration, so the ball is in Winnipeg’s court.
5. Danny DeKeyser – Detroit Red Wings – With Niklas Kronwall turning 35 last season, DeKeyser appears poised to be the next big man on the Red Wings blueline. The two defensemen lead the team in ice time, and DeKeyser will likely pass Krowall in that regard next season. The 25-year-old DeKeyser put up just 20 points last season, however Mike Green was the only defenseman who scored more. DeKeyser is scheduled for arbitration on July 28, but could very likely come to a longer agreement with the Red Wings before then.
Montreal Introduces Laval As New AHL Affiliate
As we speculated here yesterday, the Montreal Canadiens have officially announced that they will move their AHL affiliate St. John’s to Laval, Quebec for the 2017-18 season. The city is building a new 10,000 seat arena that will house the team, and is now just a short distance from it’s parent club.
St. John’s has had terrible luck in keeping a professional hockey team over the years, as this represents the third time a club has moved away from the maritime city in recent memory. The Maple Leafs and Jets both once had affiliates there, before moving them into their respective metropolitan areas, just as Montreal has done today.
If a team ever were to head to Quebec City, perhaps St. John’s could be a successful fit, but for now the city must watch their third franchise leave in just over ten years. Montreal also announced that it will have a naming contest to determine what the new nickname of the team will be.
Jets Re-Sign Mark Scheifele To An Eight Year Deal
The Jets and restricted free agent center Mark Scheifele have agreed to terms on a max-term eight year, $49MM deal, the team announced Friday. The contract carries a cap hit of $6.125MM, making him the highest paid forward on the team and the second highest paid overall, behind defenseman Dustin Byfuglien. The deal will cover his four remaining RFA years as well as his first four UFA-eligible seasons. TSN’s Gary Lawless was first to report a deal was close and the exact terms of the contract.
Scheifele is coming off a career year in 2015-16. He recorded 29 goals and 32 assists in just 71 games, finishing second in team scoring behind only Blake Wheeler. Scheifele also logged 18:33 per game which was third highest among Winnipeg forwards.
In his career, Scheifele has played parts of five seasons all with the Jets who made him their first ever draft pick upon returning to Winnipeg (7th overall in 2011). In those 227 games, he has 58 goals and 87 assists while averaging 17:36 per game.
The 23 year old was coming off his entry level contract with Winnipeg and earned just $832K in the last two seasons. He also was not eligible for salary arbitration. He received a qualifying offer that was worth just over $874K last month.
This deal locks up one of Winnipeg’s two top six centers. Their other top six center, Bryan Little, has two years left on his contract with a cap hit of $4.7MM.
With Scheifele signed, the Jets have five remaining restricted free agents to deal with. Most notably among those is defenseman Jacob Trouba. With this deal, Winnipeg has just shy of $10.5MM in cap space to re-sign those five, according to Cap Friendly.
The breakdown of the deal is as follows, per General Fanager:
2016-17: $5MM
2017-18: $6.75MM
2018-19: $6.75MM
2019-20: $6.75MM
2020-21: $5.5MM
2021-22: $6.75MM
2022-23: $5.5MM
2023-24: $6MM
Scheifele will also be able to block a trade to ten teams beginning in 2020.
Jets Re-Sign Brenden Kichton To One-Year Deal
Per their website, the Winnipeg Jets announced the re-signing of defenseman Brenden Kichton. The deal is for one-year, $600K. It is also a two-way contract.
In 68 games with the AHL’s Manitoba Moose, Kichton had 41 points (11-30) in 68 games. The 24-year-old defenseman led all blue liners in points, and spent the season with the Moose.
With Kichton’s signing, the Jets now only have six restricted free agents. This list includes Jacob Trouba, Brandon Tanev, Joel Armia, J.C. Lipon, Adam Lowry and Mark Scheifele.
Jets Sign Mathieu Perreault To A Four Year Extension
The Winnipeg Jets announced that they have signed forward Mathieu Perreault to a four year contract extension. The deal is worth a total of $16.5MM, for a cap hit of $4.125MM. The new deal will start in 2017-18 as Perreault has one year left on his current contract with a cap hit of $3MM.
Last season, Perreault played in 71 games with Winnipeg, recording nine goals and 32 assists. His 41 points matched his output from the previous season. He also logged a career high in ice time, averaging 16:33 per game.
In his seven year career, Perreault has suited up in 361 NHL games with Washington, Anaheim, and Winnipeg, scoring 78 goals and 117 assists. 125 of those 195 points have come in the past three seasons where he has recorded at least 41 points in each of those years.
Perreault will become Winnipeg’s third highest paid forward under the new deal in 2017-18, behind only Blake Wheeler ($5.6MM) and Bryan Little (4.7MM)
Minor Transactions: 07/06/16
A few minor moves were made today to fill out minor league rosters:
- Blues’ prospect Jake Walman will head back to Providence College this season for his third year at the school, according to Lou Korac of NHL.com. After putting up 28 points in 27 games last season, Walman’s year was cut short by a shoulder injury that needed surgery.
- According to General Fanager, T.J Hensick has signed an AHL contract with the Ontario Reign, the Los Angeles Kings’ affiliate. Hensick last played in the NHL with the St. Louis Blues in 2010-11, and has 38 points in 112 NHL games.
- Also with the Reign, Paul Bissonnette has signed on after an entertaining social media presence over the last few days. Bissonnette, a veteran of 202 NHL games, let fans in on all his conversations with various clubs and players, even sharing that he’d be tricked by a friend into believing Nashville had offered him a contract.
- Ryan Bourque, son of former NHLer Ray who was in court today, has re-signed with the Hershey Bears after being traded to them midseason last year. Bourque was part of the Calder Cup run that took Hershey all the way to the finals before losing to the Lake Erie Monsters. A former third round pick of the Bruins, Bourque has played one game in the NHL to date. He returns to Hershey to play alongside his brother, Chris. The Bears additionally announced that they had re-signed Dustin Gazley and also that they have inked former Boston College standout goalie Parker Milner.
- The Red Wings have signed goaltender Jared Coreau to a two-year deal, according to a team release. Coreau was one of the 24 players to file for salary arbitration yesterday. The 24-year old spent last season in the AHL with the Grand Rapids Griffins.
Central Notes: Blues, Jets, Predators
Jake Allen is the undisputed #1 goalie in St. Louis writes Jeremy Rutherford as the Blues are no longer looking to platoon the position. After being a tandem with Brian Elliott, who was dealt to Calgary, Allen is now the top goaltender in the organization. General manager Doug Armstrong, goalie coach Jim Corsi, and assistant manager Martin Brodeur believe that it’s Allen’s turn, and like many other clubs around the league, are willing to hand the reins to a younger netminder.
- While the Winnipeg Jets recently signed 2016 second overall pick Patrik Laine to an entry level deal, it’s the organization’s 2015 draft pick who is looking to make a stride within the organization. The Winnipeg Sun’s Ken Wiebe writes that Kyle Connor, a Hobey Baker finalist, is ready to take the next step as an NHL player. Connor spent last season with the University of Michigan and scored 35 goals in just 38 games. He also notched 71 points. Though the ice is crowded with forwards for the Jets, Connor is confident that if he does the right things, the impact he made at Michigan will be similar in Winnipeg.
- The Tennessean’s Adam Vingan writes about the impact of newly acquired P.K. Subban and how the larger than life defenseman will have no problem fitting into his new surroundings. While many speculated that Montreal bench boss Michel Therrien and Subban were at odds because of a personality clash, Vingan reports that Nashville coach Peter Laviolette is of a similar no-nonsense mentality. The difference, Vingan writes, is that the Preds stand to benefit from Subban’s “on the edge” and also takes chances, something he feels benefits the Predators style of play. Vingan goes further by quoting NHL Network analyst Kevin Weekes, who stated that Subban wanted to be with an organization that values him. Weekes added that he thought “there are so many similarities between a place like Nashville and P.K.”
Jets Agree To Three-Year ELC With Patrik Laine
After selecting Finnish forward Patrik Laine second overall in this summer’s NHL Entry Draft, the Winnipeg Jets have inked him to a three-year entry level contract, according to a team release. TSN’s Rick Ralph adds that the deal will pay Laine an AAV of $3.575MM, though will only carry the maximum $925K cap hit. Chris Johnston of Sportsnet breaks it down even further, telling us that the contract carries the maximum $850K Schedule A bonus, and $1.8MM of Schedule B bonuses.
After scoring 17 goals and 33 points among professional hockey players in Finland’s Elite League, Laine will make his journey across the pond to the NHL this season, as he’s expected to break camp with the team as an 18 year old. Laine has been compared to some of the game’s elite goal scoring wingers in the past, and has a chance to immediately impact a Winnipeg Jets team who scored just 215 times last season.
Laine is the second of the top three picks to sign his entry-level deal, as Pierre-Luc Dubois has already agreed to terms with the Columbus Blue Jackets for $3.425MM per season. This leaves Auston Matthews left to sign his deal with the Maple Leafs, which should come in at a similar number, as $3.775 is the maximum allowable for an entry-level contract.
Shawn Matthias Signs With Winnipeg
According to James Mirtle of TSN, the Winnipeg Jets have signed free agent forward Shawn Matthias to a two-year contract. Elliot Friedman reports that the deal will pay Matthias $2.125MM per season. The former Maple Leaf was traded to the Colorado Avalanche mid-season, and put up 12 goals and 28 points on the year.
Matthias, 28, has always been regarded as somewhat of a scoring winger that could play anywhere in your top nine, despite ever only scoring more than 15 goals once in his career. His $4.25MM deal comes in as the biggest of his career, despite actually taking a salary cut from $2.3MM.
He’ll join a Jets team still reeling from last season’s poor performance, and still struggling to reach a contract with RFA Jacob Trouba. Rumors of offer sheets have swirled around the young defenseman in recent days, and he’ll be their next priority after the first day of free agency cools off.