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Archives for July 2017

Snapshots: Franson, Cheveldayoff, Marleau

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We’re still all quiet on the Cody Franson front, which has many analysts stumped. Franson is a decent possession player when you look at career Corsi and Fenwick. He’s the youngest “big name” defenseman left un-signed in unrestricted free agency. He played 68 games for the Buffalo Sabres, who were admittedly porous defensively, but finished with a minus 5 on a team where no one broke a plus 3. What’s most intriguing is his ability to skate combined with his overall size – 6’5 and 224 pounds. Franson also has a right-handed shot from the point, something many teams are lacking and actively seeking. He’s the prototype for a #4 defenseman in today’s NHL, and at only 30, has more hockey left in him. There’s been nearly no smoke around this player as we finish the third day of free agency, and that alone is befuddling.

  • Winnipeg GM Kevin Cheveldayoff believes his Jets “are a cap team now”, and he’s willing to spend accordingly per Postmedia’s Ken Weibe. Cheveldayoff has been infamous league-wide for his reluctance to make too many roster moves – it took him the better part of three seasons to even make a trade. That said, he seems to be embracing a more proactive role in management. On July 1st he signed defensemen Dimitri Kulikov and goaltender Steve Mason to expensive contracts, and moved on from veterans Chris Thorburn and Mark Stuart. With his core players entering their primes, the time to compete is apparently now.
  • Patrick Marleau had a quality radio interview with TSN 1050 Toronto earlier this evening. There were a few good quotes that resulted, but nothing out of the ordinary. Perhaps the most humorous moment in the segment was when Marleau insisted that he’s still “full of (pee) and vinegar…just like these kids”. Marleau apparently mulled over the decision for more than a week, weighing the pros and cons of the decision to move on from San Jose, the only franchise he’s ever played for. Ultimately, he cited his confidence in the management team, the exciting younger players in Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, and the aggressiveness of the team to compete right away as reasons which tilted the scales in favor of the Leafs. The third year on the contract offer, which will take him to age 40, probably provided him lots of incentive, as well.

Galchenyuk Negotiations Intensify

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Alex Galchenyuk has suddenly gone from pariah to absolute necessity. In the wake of losing top scoring threat Alexander Radulov via free agency to the Dallas Stars, Galchenyuk, a restricted free agent, has seen his internal value skyrocket. Radulov, of course, signed with the Stars earlier today for 5 seasons, and the Montreal offense was already severely lacking. Galchenyuk had a respectable 44 points in only 61 games last season, but that was a marginal drop from his 30-goal, 56-point campaign the year prior.

One of the largest issues for Galchenyuk this last season was consistency in his production, and many link that to his constant switching between the center and left wing roles. Galchenyuk is a more natural center, and has stated as such on numerous occasions. His defensive play has left many fans wanting, however. Two separate coaching staffs placed him on the wing at different points, and the organization has stated pretty clearly that he isn’t ready for top-line center duties. The problem for Montreal of course, is that they don’t have anyone else nearly as capable to fill that role. Tomas Plekanec is another year older and Galchenyuk is already arguably the better player. With Radulov (a right-wing) out of the picture, it might be wise to keep Galchenyuk content and comfortable.

According to Darren Dreger, Galchenyuk’s agent Pat Brisson has been in contact with GM Marc Bergevin, who will now turn his attention primarily to this contract. If they can’t come to an agreement, arbitration is always an option that can be utilized. That said, arbitration would probably only serve to fan the flames that have surrounded this player since he was supposedly placed on the block a year ago. Those flames are still not going out until that contract has been signed, and there will always be a market for young, talented centers.

When Jonathan Drouin was acquired for the left side, it seemed as though the writing was on the wall. But now, with Radulov out of the picture, losing Galchenyuk’s top-six offensive abilities would be a massive blow to the team. Montreal finished 13th in Goals For, but only two players hit the 20 goal mark – Max Pacioretty (35) and Paul Byron (22). Losing their top assist man and second-leading point getter in Radulov, it would be entirely devastating to draw the Galchenyuk negotiations out into the season, or worse, to trade him following a down year. Galchenyuk and his agent know they have the leverage in negotiations, and there’s a strong possibility they’ll use every ounce of it to get a better deal for the 23-year-old talent. Considering his production and league wide comparisons, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to see him make well above $5 MM.

Poll: Who Has Had The Best Offseason So Far?

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Now most of the way through the third day of free agency, and several teams have made substantial upgrades to their teams. Kevin Shattenkirk, Alexander Radulov and Karl Alzner, our top 3 UFAs have all signed long-term deals with new teams, and others have made an impact on the trade market or with their restricted free agents.

So who has had the best offseason so far? Dallas has added several big names with Radulov joining Ben Bishop, Marc Methot and Martin Hanzal, while the New York Islanders found a winger for John Tavares and got a big return for Travis Hamonic. Montreal has added a top free agent, acquired a top line winger and locked up their franchise goaltender, while the Vegas Golden Knights came into existence and acquired a boatload of draft picks.

Vote on who you think has had the best offseason so far, and make sure you leave your thoughts in the comments below. With still lots of trade talk to come it could easily change, but let us know who you think got out to the early lead.

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Marcus Kruger Could Be Flipped By Vegas Golden Knights

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After acquiring Marcus Kruger in a long-expected trade yesterday, the Vegas Golden Knights may not be keeping him around very long. John Shannon of Sportsnet tweeted last night that the team had yet to make up their mind on whether to keep him or not, while Brian Hedger of NHL.com today reported that a second trade is likely for the former Blackhawks center.Marcus Kruger

Kruger was due a $2MM signing bonus on July 1st, meaning that even though he comes with a $3.08MM cap hit, any acquiring team would only have to pay out $1.475MM in actual salary this season. Next year, the salary drops on its own to $2.3MM. For a team that has the cap room, grabbing two years of Kruger for less than $4MM in total salary is extremely affordable.

Though Chicago couldn’t afford him going forward, Kruger remains a useful player. Even with little offensive upside an effective checking center is an important piece to any team, and one who comes at a discount and is still relatively young—Kruger turned 27 in May—would be interesting to several teams. He’s even received Selke votes as the top defensive forward twice in his career, and has two Stanley Cups under his belt already.

Teams like Pittsburgh, New York or even Anaheim could use a good checking center, though they each have internal options as well. Craig Custance of The Athletic chimes in with Carolina as a possible destination as well. It’s not like there would be a dozen teams breaking down the door to acquire him, but it shouldn’t be a hard flip if the Golden Knights choose to. That said, Vegas themselves could use him if they wanted. The Golden Knights have a large group of players who could play center for them next year, but few outside of William Karlsson are experienced in a purely checking role. If they wanted to stick players like Erik Haula and Jon Marchessault full-time on the wing, Kruger could be a useful piece down the middle.

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Washington Capitals Didn’t “Really Consider” Brooks Orpik Buyout

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The Washington Capitals have had an interesting offseason to say the least. Since being knocked out the playoffs by the Pittsburgh Penguins once again, they’ve lost Nate Schmidt to Vegas, Karl Alzner, Kevin Shattenkirk and Justin Williams to free agency, re-signed T.J. Oshie and Evgeny Kuznetsov to monstrous eight-year deals, and traded Marcus Johansson for a couple of draft picks.

Even now they remain in a tough spot cap-wise, with just $8.6MM in room and two key RFAs still to sign. Through all of this, fans have been thinking, writing and even shouting about a move that seemed clear to them: buy out Brooks Orpik. Brooks Orpik

The 36-year old Orpik has two years remaining on his current contract with a $5.5MM cap hit, though the actual salary does go down a bit in year two. That deal looked bad from the start when he signed it in 2014, and even worse last year as he dropped to the third pairing and had little impact in the playoffs. His ice time was the lowest it had been in nearly a decade, and it was clear he wasn’t able to contribute the same way anymore.

So why not buy him out? Well, thanks to Greg Wyshynski of Puck Daddy who asked the question and transcribed the answer during a conference call with GM Brian MacLellan earlier today we have the answer:

I don’t know what we really considered that. I thought Orpik had a good year last year. I thought him and [Nate] Schmidt played well together on our third pair. We value what he brings to young defensemen. He was very good for Schmidt, and Schmidt was good for Orpik. We have a bunch of young defensemen that are coming up: 10 or 12 guys that are under 22. They’re all pretty good players. We’re going to value the ability of Orpik to mentor those guys. 

So I didn’t want a buy out on our salary cap going out four years. I didn’t think it made sense for us.

The four years he is referencing is how long the Capitals would’ve been paying out a potential buyout for Orpik. Instead of his $5.5MM hit the next two seasons, a buyout would have cause a $2.5MM cap hit the next two seasons, and a $1.5MM hit the two after that. That does give them savings now, but perhaps not enough to keep Johansson anyway. The now-Devils forward earns $4.6MM the next two seasons.

So it doesn’t look like Orpik is going anywhere, even if the Capitals do get another buyout window later in the summer after finishing their potential arbitration cases. His role on the team will continue to be shepherding in the young defensemen, and teaching them how to work hard enough to stay in the NHL. After all, who wouldn’t look up to a 36-year old defenseman who earned himself a huge contract without much offensive upside. He’s proof that a solid defensive game can keep you around in the NHL, something that every young defenseman needs to learn.

Minor Moves: Grenier, Dansk, Zettler, Malone

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Even with the recent signings of Evgeni Dadonov, Radim Vrbata and others the Florida Panthers are still short several forwards. Today, they added a potential name to that group with the signing of Alexandre Grenier to a one-year, two-way deal. The former Vancouver Canucks forward is an excellent AHL scorer but has been held scoreless in his nine career NHL games.

Just 25, Grenier was a Group VI free agent this summer and allowed to sign with anyone in the league. The third-round pick from 2011 had another 45-point season for Utica, and can absolutely manhandle players on the ice when competing his best. The team will hope they’ve found another—though much different sized—Jonathan Marchessault, after the 30-goal season he put up on an extremely cheap contract.

  • The Vegas Golden Knights have signed Oscar Dansk to a one-year, two-way deal according to Mike Kelly of the NHL Network. The Golden Knights needed to add some depth goaltending for their minor league affiliates, and after Dansk didn’t receive a qualifying offer from the Blue Jackets he was a prime candidate. Dansk was a second-round pick of the Blue Jackets in 2012, but returned to Sweden after one unsuccessful season in the minor leagues. After two better—but not outstanding—seasons with Rogle, he’ll likely return to play for the Chicago Wolves, Vegas’ new AHL affiliate. Still just 23, he has a long way to go to make an impact at the NHL level.
  • Rob Zettler has been named the replacement for Bob Boughner as assistant coach of the San Jose Sharks. Zettler had most recently been the head coach of the Syracuse Crunch, though was fired after missing the playoffs in 2015-16. He previously worked in the NHL with the Sharks and Toronto Maple Leafs, two teams he also suited up for in his long playing career. In 569 career games, the defenseman registered 70 points in 920 penalty minutes, only making it to the playoffs for a handful of games. He’ll look to get back there with a San Jose team primed to make another Cup run next year, despite losing Patrick Marleau this summer.
  • The Edmonton Oilers have signed Brad Malone to a two-year contract. The 28-year old forward split last season between the Chicago Wolves and Hershey Bears, unable to crack the NHL lineup in Washington or St. Louis. In 176 career games, Malone has 30 points and 188 penalty minutes. He’s likely ticketed for Bakersfield, where he’ll add some depth down the middle to the AHL squad.

Xavier Ouellet Re-Signs With Detroit Red Wings

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The Detroit Red Wings have re-signed an important young defender, inking Xavier Ouellet to a two-year, $2.5MM contract. That gives the Red Wings nine defensemen under NHL contracts.

Ouelett, 23, was perhaps the brightest spot on defense for the Red Wings last season, getting into 66 games and recording 12 points. The second-round pick has some sneaky offensive upside, and will be relied upon even more next season in a bigger role. With the team bringing in Trevor Daley and Luke Witkowski, and still having Mike Green and Danny DeKeyser under contract, Niklas Kronwall and Jonathan Ericsson’s roles are slowly being diminished. Ouellet’s emergence will speed that process up even further, as he should get a regular shift all season this year.

It’s interesting to note that though the Red Wings aren’t expected to compete, they’ve added more defensemen than they need for next season. Perhaps that could mean a move of Green or someone else is on their way out this summer, or that they plan on hoarding assets until the trade deadline once again. By dealing players like Brendan Smith and Tomas Jurco last summer the team was able to collect some extra draft picks, a process they’re likely to repeat this year.

Minnesota Wild Re-Sign Mike Reilly

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Though in has been expected for a couple of days, the Minnesota Wild officially announced the signing of Mike Reilly to a two-year, $1.45MM contract today. The deal will pay Reilly $675K in the first season, and $775K in 2018-19. The defenseman was a restricted free agent this summer.

Reilly will be in contention for a full-time NHL job this year, battling recently signed Ryan Murphy and Kyle Quincey along with fellow youngster Gustav Olofsson for playing time on the bottom pair. In 2016-17, he got into just 17 games with the NHL squad but showed off his skills in the minor leagues, scoring 30 points in just 57 games.

Selected in the fourth round, Reilly took the NCAA route after being drafted and was one of the most outstanding defensemen in the country for the University of Minnesota. At just 23, he’ll likely be a part of the Wild blueline for years to come.

Tampa Bay Lightning Sign Slater Koekkoek

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The Tampa Bay Lightning have made clear additions to their blueline this summer, but still had a couple of restricted free agents to deal with in Slater Koekkoek and Jake Dotching. The former has now signed a one-year one-way deal that will pay him $800K next season. Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times says that a deal for Dotchin won’t be far behind.

Koekkoek will forever be judged, perhaps unfairly, by the players selected around him in the 2012 draft. Picked 10th overall, just behind Jacob Trouba and ahead of Filip Forsberg, Koekkoek has yet to live up to his pedigree and has just 41 NHL games under his belt. That’s not to say he can’t turn things around, but at 23 he’s starting to run out of time to make an impact on the Lightning. With Mikhail Sergachev easily jumping over him on the prospect depth chart, he’ll have to work even harder for an NHL role this season.

He did play 29 games for the Lightning last season, a bump from previous years, but still only averaged 13 minutes a night and had little chance to contribute offensively. Expected to have a solid two-way game, he’ll have to show improvement in order to lock down the vacant third-pairing spot on Tampa next season. After moving out Jason Garrison and bringing in Dan Girardi, the team could use Koekkoek or perhaps Andrej Sustr on his off side for the last LHD spot. Dotchin is expected to retake his spot in the top four and be relied upon as a key contributor this season. Sergachev too has a chance to make the team out of camp, making it even tougher on Koekkoek going forward. A one-way deal is nice, but he still has to prove that he can play full-time in the NHL.

Alexander Radulov Signs With Dallas Stars

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Just after the Montreal Canadiens signed a potential replacement, the Dallas Stars revealed (in the best way possible) that they’d won the battle for Alexander Radulov. The deal is for five years and $31.25MM, which comes out to a $6.25MM cap hit. $18MM of the contract will be paid out by way of signing bonuses, while it holds a full no-movement clause in the first three years, and a modified no-trade clause the final two. Radulov ranked #2 on our list of top free agents, predicting a five year deal worth $30MM (though with Montreal). Alexander Radulov

Radulov, who turns 31 in two days, came back to the NHL last season and put up 54 points for Montreal, anchoring their top line most often with Max Pacioretty. The Russian winger put up another seven points in six playoff games, only to see the Canadiens defeated in the first round. He’ll head to Dallas where early predictions have him skating alongside Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin, on what will be one of the most dangerous lines in the NHL. Montreal of course tried to keep him, but were reportedly unwilling to offer a fifth year until after he had accepted the deal with Dallas. In a conference call, Radulov explained that he wouldn’t go back on his word with the Stars at that point. In a game of he-said-Habs-said, the team has now said to multiple sources they made the five-year offer well before July 1st.

There is quite a bit of risk in a player who doesn’t have a long track record of success in the NHL, but the Stars have put the cap on quite an offseason. After a disappointing year, it was clear that the team wanted to go in a new direction and after re-hiring Ken Hitchcock to coach the team, has brought in Ben Bishop, Marc Methot, Martin Hanzal and now Radulov to try and turn things around. That’s a lot of talent to add in a few short weeks, even if they did see Cody Eakin, Ales Hemsky and Patrick Sharp head for different teams.

Radulov’s deal comes in as the high-water mark among unrestricted free agents, matching Karl Alzner’s five-year deal in terms of length, while eclipsing everything in terms of total dollars. While many expected Kevin Shattenkirk to hold that title, the defenseman opted to sign just a four-year deal in his preferred city. Several extensions and restricted free agents have signed bigger deals, but Radulov will likely come away with the title among UFAs.

That points to a clear effort in Dallas to get back to where they were two seasons ago, when they led the NHL in goals scored and came second in terms of regular season success. Leading the entire Western Conference, they fell in the second round and saw everything go wrong last year. Four big names and some new deployments should turn things around, though it is still a lot of money committed to players on the wrong side of 30.

Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News was first to get the details of the contract, while Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports reported the various trade clause conditions.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

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