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Archives for April 2017

Red Wings Notes: Holland, Prospects, Axel Holmstrom

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Despite being out of the playoffs, Red Wings general manager Ken Holland has been busy. The bulk of Holland’s time has been spent scouting, writes the Detroit Free Press’ Helene St. James. Traveling everywhere from Slovakia to Toronto, Holland is leaving no stone unturned when it comes to retooling the Red Wings after disappointing season. Holland noted that he’s “focused on the draft” and looking “at the kids,” scouring everything from the U18 World Championships to an OHL playoff game between Mississauga and Peterborough. Holland was also busy watching his current crop of prospects, catching the Grand Rapids Griffins games and seeing his farm team open up a 2-0 series lead on Milwaukee.

  • With all the scouting, Holland told MLive’s Ansar Khan that he expects “two or three” Griffins to be on the Red Wings’ roster to start out the 2017-18 season. While Holland wasn’t going to guess on who those players would be, Khan speculates that defenseman Robbie Russo, and forwards Tomas Nosek and Tyler Bertuzzi are possibilities. Bertuzzi seems the surest bet, as the nephew of former Red Wing Todd Bertuzzi got off to a hot start in the AHL playoffs, scoring a couple goals in their latest victory.
  • Speaking of prospects, one to keep an eye on is Axel Holmstrom, who is “turning heads,” according to St. James. Holmstrom, who is not related to former Red Wing Tomas Holmstrom, was a seventh round pick in the 2014 NHL Draft. Griffins bench boss Todd Nelson lauds Holmstrom’s puck handling and vision, but could use some work on his skating. Though he suffered a knee injury earlier this season in Sweden, Holmstrom has impressed in his short time with Grand Rapids. While the plan is to keep him in the AHL next season, Holmstrom could find himself in Detroit sooner should his play continue to impress.

Injury Notes: Gaborik, Thornton, Bergeron

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The Los Angeles Kings released a list of players who went through medical procedures following the year, and while Tyler Toffoli, Alec Martinez and Derek Forbort all underwent minor procedures that shouldn’t take long to heal, Marian Gaborik is said to be “questionable” for training camp. Gaborik had an “in-depth” procedure on his left knee, likely the same one that GM Rob Blake announced just yesterday. That announcement came with the addendum that the team would not buyout the declining star, and perhaps we now know why.

Teams cannot buy out injured players, and with the first window to perform such a transaction opening in less than a month, Gaborik clearly won’t be healthy. The Kings will likely receive a second window after their arbitration cases are resolved—there is no guarantee they get this window, but with 11 players currently eligible for arbitration are good candidates for it—but that will likely still be much too soon for Gaborik’s health.

  • When it was reported yesterday that Joe Thornton had been playing on one knee and would need surgery, it threw his free agency into question. If the 37-year old was headed for major knee surgery, which team would be willing to spend a hefty amount of money to add him to their team. Well, the Sharks announced today that Thornton underwent successful surgery and is expected to be ready for the start of the 2017-18 season, at least assuaging those reservations somewhat. His market value will still be contingent on medical results of his recovery, but he should be expected to garner quite a bit of interest.
  • Patrice Bergeron told media today that he had been dealing with a sports hernia all year, and that he and the medical staff are considering surgery to fix the problem. While it’s extremely impressive that Bergeron put up 53 points and another Selke-worthy season with a hernia, surgery shouldn’t be considered just an off-season clean up. Often players take quite a bit of time to recover fully from hernia procedures, even when they’re able to get back into games. His performance at the beginning of next season will be interesting to watch as he heads into his age-32 season.

Zdeno Chara Wants To Play Past 2018

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Ty Anderson of WEEI reports that Zdeno Chara won’t be done with hockey after next year, and wishes to sign another contract after his current deal expires next summer. Chara will be playing next season at the age of 40, and because of that he’ll actually be much less of a burden on the Boston Bruins cap. Zdeno Chara

Chara is the last bastion of the “Kovalchuk Rule”, meaning that his cap hit after turning 40 will be equal to the actual salary that he’ll earn. In his case, it will be just $4MM next season instead of the ~$6.92MM he has had for the past six seasons. The rule was added to try and stop teams from adding minimum salary years to the end of contracts in order to lower the cap hit (which is based on the average annual value) but was removed from the new CBA in 2012 when term limits were imposed on contracts. Kovalchuk’s 15-year deal that paid just $10MM over the last five seasons was the inspiration.

The 40-year old defenseman would need to take quite a pay cut to come back after next year if his steady decline continues. His effectiveness at times was missing completely, and he looked slow among a league filled with youth and speed. The Bruins, though loyal to their captain of 11 years, should be heading in a new direction on defense after this year with Brandon Carlo and Charlie McAvoy joining Torey Krug as the blueline leaders. With Jakob Zboril, Ryan Lindgren and Jeremy Lauzon following them, it will likely be too crowded to dedicate a spot to Chara.

That doesn’t necessarily mean he won’t get a chance somewhere in the league though, as shown by Jaromir Jagr over the past number of years. Multiple times Jagr has appeared to be finally declining out of relevancy only to re-establish himself the following year. Should Chara come back with another solid—if even unspectacular—season, there will be a team that tries to insert him on their bottom-pairing and go for a Stanley Cup.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Kasperi Kapanen Sent Back To AHL

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have sent Kasperi Kapanen back to the AHL to take part in the playoffs with the Marlies. Coming up late in the season, Kapanen played in all six postseason games for the Leafs this year, scoring two huge goals in a game 2 victory. The Finnish forward is becoming something of a “clutch” performer scoring the golden goal for Finland at the World Juniors last year and registering his first NHL tally in a do-or-die game for the Maple Leafs down the stretch.

The son of Sami Kapanen, Kasperi was picked in the first round by the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2014 before being shipped off to Toronto as part of the Phil Kessel deal. In 43 games with the Marlies this season, he registered 43 points and was their best player on most nights. He’ll look to continue that and show why he was once considered a top-10 talent prior to his draft.

The Maple Leafs don’t have a lot of room on the wing next season, especially after Mike Babcock said this morning that William Nylander was destined to stay there for at least another season. Kapanen, along with Josh Leivo, Kerby Rychel, Nikita Soshnikov and others will all be competing for limited spots next season. With Mitch Marner and now Nylander firmly entrenched on the right side, it will be interesting to see if the Leafs open up a spot on the left by moving out an expiring contract like James van Riemsdyk or Leo Komarov. Either way it will be a big summer for Kapanen as he tries to prove that he belongs full-time in the NHL next season.

Coaching Notes: Baumgartner, Vegas, Quinn

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Iain MacIntyre of the Vancouver Sun is reporting that Nolan Baumgartner is expected to join the newly-hired Travis Green behind the Vancouver bench. Baumgartner was an assistant coach of Green’s in Utica, and is the epitome of a professional hockey journeyman. Playing for seven different NHL franchises, but only getting into 143 games, Baumgartner is considered a solid coaching prospect that has a good insight for the game. This will be his first opportunity behind an NHL bench.

The Canucks will announce their new staff tomorrow afternoon, and will begin to work on their roster for next season. As MacIntyre writes, Green and the new staff will be expected to just develop the younger players coming up for the immediate future, with no pressure to compete for the playoffs right away. If the Canucks do in fact stay the course with a rebuild, Green will try to slowly shepherd the team back towards a competitive culture during his four-year contract.

  • Gerard Gallant won’t start his assistant coach search until after he’s done his work at the World Championships, but he already has an initial list of names to potentially join him on the Vegas bench. Though he’s set to help Jon Cooper coach Team Canada at the Worlds, he hopes to have the search completed in about six weeks. “When it’s a good job, a lot of people want the job,” he told Dan Marrazza of NHL.com who also reports that GM George McPhee and AGM Kelly McCrimmon will have to sign off on his staff.
  • Among the many staffing notes in Elliotte Friedman’s latest “30 Thoughts” column for Sportsnet, is one about David Quinn and the potential job in Buffalo. Obviously, Quinn—who currently coaches at Boston University—would be a solid fit with a young team looking to take the next step but it is his connection to Jack Eichel that now makes it a bit awkward. The report that Eichel wouldn’t sign an extension with Dan Byslma as coach was thoroughly dismissed by both sides, but it did precede Bylsma’s firing by just a day. The optics of Eichel being a “coach-killer” would get pumped up even further if the replacement was his old college coach, even if the report was incorrect. Terry Pegula likely doesn’t want to pour any more gasoline on that Eichel fire, after working so hard to put it out immediately.

Maple Leafs Notes: Babcock, Boyle, Nylander

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The Maple Leafs met with the media today after cleaning out their lockers, and Mike Babcock spoke about several things including his immediate future. The head coach will be heading to the World Championships not behind the bench, but in the stands to scout players of interest according to James Mirtle of The Athletic. While he obviously didn’t clarify which players those would be, there are several names that would be of interest to teams around the league.

Daniel Brickley will be suiting up for Team USA before heading back for another season with Minnesota State. The 22-year old defenseman will be a free agent next spring should he decide to turn pro, and would likely be on Toronto’s radar. Vadim Shipchyov and Evgeny Dadonov, both rumored to be heading to the NHL this summer will also be suiting up for the Russian team, likely who you’ll find Babcock watcing most often.

  • Brian Boyle told reporters that he’d be open to returning to the Maple Leafs, emphasizing how much fun he had since coming over from Tampa Bay at the deadline. Boyle is an unrestricted free agent this summer, and will be a sought after free agent for his leadership and success in a bottom-six role. He earned $2MM this season, but might even see a slight raise on a short-term deal.
  • Surprisingly, Babcock relayed that William Nylander will not be moved to center next year despite earlier reports that he would. Nylander found a ton of success with Auston Matthews throughout the season but was expected to move back to his natural position next year. It will be interesting to see what that means for the rest of the Maple Leaf forwards, as they already had a backlog of wingers before this decision. It also means that Tyler Bozak perhaps is safe for another season, after setting a career-high in points. Bozak will be entering the final season of his current contract, and will be a UFA in the summer of 2018.

Trading The First Overall Pick: A Draft Lottery Timeline

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Since the NHL draft lottery was created in 1995, there has been an uncertainty over who would be given the opportunity to select first overall in the year’s draft, with perceived “tanking” teams not being guaranteed the best spot. From it’s inception through 2012, teams could only move up four spots and thus the Los Angeles Kings—the very first winners of the lottery—couldn’t steal the first pick away from the Ottawa Senators in ’95.

But whenever a team is awarded the top spot, immediate pressure is put upon them to consider trading it. Questions are asked, stories are written and the seed of doubt creeps into a front office. ’How can we be sure that he’s the best available prospect?’ they ask, especially in years without a consensus. If Sidney Crosby or Connor McDavid aren’t staring you in the face, it may be beneficial to let someone else make that decision. Teams have indeed given up the first pick in the past.

In 1998, the Tampa Bay Lightning were easily the worst team in the league. They finished with a 17-55-10 record and at the deadline decided to give themselves a bit of insurance. They dealt Bryan Marchment and David Shaw to the San Jose Sharks for Andrei Nasarov and the right to flip picks with the Sharks should they win the lottery. The Sharks had acquired the Florida Panthers pick earlier in the year, and looked like they’d have a good chance at winning the lottery. They did just that, and the Lightning’s insurance policy paid off allowing them to flip picks and select Vincent Lecavalier first overall.

The Sharks would actually trade down one more spot, giving the Nashville Predators the chance to draft David Legwand at #2. In return, the Sharks selected Brad Stuart at #3, and Jonathan Cheechoo at #29. While both were great players for the Sharks, Lecavalier would have looked mighty fine in San Jose for the better part of his career.

In 1999, the Chicago Blackhawks actually won the draft lottery but could only move up from eighth to fourth. That winning set a huge line of trades in motion, as Brian Burke desperately worked to get the second and third picks in order to draft Daniel and Henrik Sedin. First he dealt with Chicago, then Tampa Bay and finally Atlanta, giving them the first-overall pick and the chance to draft Patrik Stefan the Czech center that had elite potential.

This story ends with the Canucks getting two legendary players who are with the team to this day, the Lightning—who originally had the first overall pick—with Dan Cloutier, Niklas Sundstrom and a whack of players who never panned out, and the Thrashers with one of the biggest draft busts in history. The Blackhawks at least got Bryan McCabe out of that original deal with the Canucks.

In 2002, the Florida Panthers were all set to draft Jay Bouwmeester first overall after winning the draft lottery and moving up from third. He was their target all along, until Doug McLean and the Columbus Blue Jackets said they wanted Rick Nash anyway, and would trade up to get him. The Panthers moved back down to the third spot after making a deal with Atlanta that they wouldn’t pick Bouwmeester at #2—they chose Kari Lehtonen instead—and everyone ended up with their guy. All Florida got for moving down was the right to swap picks with Columbus the following year, but since the Panthers would again find themselves with the first-overall pick that right was never exercised.

That 2003 lottery had much of the same for Florida, who this time moved up from the fourth spot. It was the Penguins this year who were after that top spot, eyeing a goaltender named Marc-Andre Fleury. They dealt the Panthers Mikael Samuelsson, a second-rounder and their spot at #3 overall for the right to draft “Flower” and an extra third round selection. The Panthers would pick Nathan Horton at #3, and Stefan Meyer with that second rounder.

In retrospect, trading the first overall pick has rarely generated much extra value for the team, but has caused some of the most interested draft-floor dealing in history. When teams attend the lottery this Saturday, we’ll see who may hold the cards going into the June draft. With no clear consensus in the top five once again, perhaps there is another chance for a first-overall swap this summer.

Vancouver Canucks To Hire Travis Green As Next Head Coach

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The Vancouver Canucks have hired Travis Green to become their next head coach. The deal extends through the next four seasons.  The team fired Willie Desjardins earlier this month after another disappointing season, and have looked internally for their next bench boss. Green had been coaching the Canucks’ AHL affiliate Utica Comets for the past four seasons, turning in a winning record in each of them.

Green played 970 games in the NHL for six different teams, scoring 455 points including a career-high 70 in 1995-96. A three-time 20-goal scorer, he was celebrated more for his checking ability and faceoff acumen than offensive game. His first coaching opportunity came with the Portland Winterhawks of the WHL, which he led to a championship after taking over as head coach midway through the 2012-13 season.

He’ll now take the reins of a team looking to get younger and start a real rebuild, despite still having some money tied up in several aging players. At the trade deadline, the Canucks started accumulating assets, dealing off Jannik Hansen and Alex Burrows for prospects. They’ll now look forward to this Saturday where they’ll find out which slot they will be drafting in come June. Regardless of where they fall at the top of the draft, they’ll be adding another blue chip prospect to go along with Olli Juolevi from last year’s draft.

Bob McKenzie of TSN was the first to report the deal on Twitter, while Dan Murphy of Sportsnet reports it will be for four years.

Morning Notes: Dent, Granlund, Matthews

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The Chicago Blackhawks have found another head to roll, firing AHL coach Ted Dent today. The Rockford IceHogs finished last in the Central Division, scoring the fewest goals in the entire league this season. In his six seasons as head coach in Rockford the team has only made the playoffs twice and won just a single series, but much of that has to do with the way Chicago back-fills their lineup with young players every year.

This year for example, the IceHogs saw players like Tanner Kero and Nick Schmaltz for just a fraction of the season and had very few names last the whole year in the AHL. While every minor league team has these problems, the IceHogs have seen almost every skilled player blow through their ranks quickly in order to help fuel the perennial championship aspirations of the parent club. After firing Mike Kitchen yesterday, the Blackhawks are making it clear that changes are coming.

  • Mikael Granlund had been playing with a broken hand, Minnesota GM Chuck Fletcher told media today. The forward has an expected recovery of four to six weeks, and there was no indication on when the injury was sustained. After a breakout season that saw Granlund score 69 points, he’ll be relied upon to duplicate that effort next season for the Wild.
  • Fletcher also provided an update on the injured Eric Staal, who suffered a concussion in Saturday night’s game and was taken to the hospital. Apparently the veteran forward “felt some numbness in his feet” after hitting the boards with his head, but is feeling better and should suffer no long-term consequences.
  • Auston Matthews won’t be attending the World Championships this season, after telling the media today that he feels “exhausted” after a long season. Matthews played just 40 games for his Swiss club last season and has never quite had the grind of an NHL schedule. He’ll head home to spend some time with his family before likely being summoned to the NHL awards ceremony in June.

Ottawa’s Expansion Conundrum

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The Ottawa Senators are in for a tough decision come the completion of their playoff run, whenever that might be. Ottawa has a team which is built upon depth and scoring by committee, but each NHL team can only protect 7 forwards, 3 defensemen, and 1 goaltender – or alternatively, 8 total skaters and 1 goaltender in the upcoming expansion draft. The Senators are in a situation where they will likely prefer to lose a veteran with a large contract. This seems doubly true because the organization is believed to have an internal cap for financial reasons, and will need to clear space in order to hand out hefty raises to Mark Stone and Kyle Turris following the 2017-18 campaign.

Obviously, Erik Karlsson, Stone, Turris, and Mike Hoffman will be protected. Karlsson is a perennial Norris favorite, captain of the team, and one of the best offensive defensemen the game has seen in decades. Stone and Hoffman are the driving forces behind offensive production, and are both on the young end of their primes. Turris has finally, fully come into his own as a number one center, posting  a 27 goal, 55 point season. Considering the price to acquire him (Mika Zibanejad) and the relative value of centers to this team which isn’t too formidable up the middle, Derick Brassard also seems a certainty to stay. Craig Anderson is the obvious pick in net. He’s been an absolute rock that the team has depended on the past few seasons, and this year was simply extraordinary. Cody Ceci is also a rather safe bet, consider minutes logged, age, and his role on the back-end. Marc Methot should seemingly be a core piece to the defense as well, but as we will soon see, his situation is far more complicated. So, in terms of definitely protected players:

Forward:    Hoffman, Stone, Turris, Brassard

Defense:    Karlsson, Ceci

Goalie:    Anderson

That leaves 3 forwards and 1 defensemen, or, alternatively, 2 total skaters to protect. It seems somewhat unlikely (although not impossible) that they will opt for the latter option. If we look at the potential list of who can be protected, there are no easy answers. Up front, Alexandre Burrows seems to have been a solid fit, as he has played well since being promoted to Turris’ right wing on the top line, and his cap hit drops to a measly $2.5 MM going forward. Zack Smith has been a more-than-capable third-line center, and is signed to a cap-friendly deal for four years after this. Bobby Ryan is incredibly overpaid ($7.25 MM) considering his performance this past year (25 points), but has expressed his profound disappointment in his own season to the relative acceptance of the fanbase. It doesn’t hurt his cause that he has been Ottawa’s best skater this post-season by far, leading the team with 7 points through 6 games. Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Ryan Dzingel could also receive consideration for a protected forward spot, but only one is likely to remain unguarded.

In terms of defense, Dion Phaneuf has a bloated contract which would be especially helpful to be rid of. Phaneuf is getting an absurd $7 MM per year , but he is on the “must-protect” list due to his modified no-trade, no-movement clause. The team could ask him to waive, but considering his solid play of late, this is more difficult to conceive. There is also no guarantee that Vegas would be interested in the player. The up-and-coming Fredrik Claesson is exempt from the expansion draft and needs no protection. Therefore, it seems likely that Methot ($4.9 MM) will be the odd man out, as he would likely be exposed in the 7-3 option. This would be a difficult pill for Ottawa fans to swallow, as Methot has arguably been their best shutdown player and he logs a ton of tough minutes.

For a team that has worked so hard to shore up its back-end and add depth up front, there are no easy solutions for GM Pierre Dorion. If you lose Methot, you lose your best defensive defenseman – if you expose a resurgent Ryan, you surrender a creative offensive weapon. Either way, Vegas is likely going to pick one of its integral players from Canada’s capital city.

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