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Archives for July 2018

Greg McKegg Re-Signs With Carolina Hurricanes

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Greg McKegg didn’t file for arbitration before the deadline last week, but he’ll be playing for the Carolina Hurricanes organization anyway in 2018-19. The team has reached a one-year, two-way deal with the restricted free agent forward worth $715K at the NHL level according to Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports.

McKegg, 26, played 26 games for the Pittsburgh Penguins last season before eventually being shipped to the Hurricanes for Josh Jooris. Adding McKegg made an immediate impact for the Hurricanes’ AHL affiliate, scoring 23 points in 19 games for the Charlotte Checkers, a level of offensive production never really seen before in his career. They’ll hope that he can bring that same scoring touch next season if he doesn’t make the NHL squad.

Making that squad will be tough even after the team traded away some of their center depth in Elias Lindholm and Marcus Kruger, as the team will likely be adding Martin Necas, Andrei Svechnikov and Janne Kuokkanen to the forward group on a full-time basis. Even if that doesn’t happen for all three, McKegg will be at best a depth option for the team next season and should see time with the Checkers. He is waiver eligible, but after clearing last season for Pittsburgh it’s unlikely he would be claimed.

Anthony Mantha Re-Signs With Detroit Red Wings

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The Detroit Red Wings have re-signed a key part of their future, inking Anthony Mantha to a two-year contract. Mantha was a restricted free agent this summer but was ineligible for salary arbitration. Ansar Khan of MLive reports that the deal will carry a $3.3MM cap hit.

The 23-year old Mantha will still be a restricted free agent at the end of the contract, making this an affordable bridge deal for the Red Wings as they try to turn around their salary structure. The team has put themselves in a bad financial situation with long-term contracts to underwhelming players like Justin Abdelkader and Danny DeKeyser, and are in a situation where they likely have to move out another deal or once again use the cap space created by designating Johan Franzen as a long-term injured reserve player. With Dylan Larkin still to sign, the Red Wings have just under $3MM in cap space—though again, Franzen can help clear that up and the team is allowed to go up to 10% over the cap ceiling during the offseason.

A long-term deal for Mantha seems inevitable down the road. The 2013 first-round pick showed off his offensive chops last season with a 24-goal, 48-point campaign, and is just brushing the surface of how dominant he can be as a power forward in the NHL. His game still doesn’t consistently use his size and reach to its full potential, but there are more and more nights that he has shown that level is coming. If it does emerge in the next two seasons the Red Wings will need to pay a hefty premium for his services on the next contract, but that’s something they’re willing to risk to avoid the predicament they would be in by signing him long-term right now.

For Mantha, this is the best of both worlds. A $3.3MM cap hit represents a huge raise from his entry-level salary, and sets him up for a big negotiation next summer. After July 1st 2019, the Red Wings will be able to work out a long-term extension and buy out several free agent years. Seeing as Mantha will likely get prime powerplay time and hit the ice with Detroit’s best players for the foreseeable future, it’s hard to imagine him failing to put up respectable numbers. He’ll be able to demand a big contract, especially given the huge amount of cap space the Red Wings will have in 2020 when contracts like Mike Green, Jonathan Ericsson and Trevor Daley come off the books.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Frederik Gauthier Signs Two-Year Contract With Toronto Maple Leafs

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have re-signed one of their restricted free agents, inking Frederik Gauthier to a two-year, two-way contract that carries an average annual value of $675K. Gauthier wasn’t eligible for arbitration, but some were surprised he even received a qualifying offer from the Maple Leafs who are already closing in on the 50-contract limit.

Gauthier, 23, was selected in the first round by the Maple Leafs five years ago, but hasn’t turned into the powerful two-way center many believed he could be. Instead he’s struggled to even produce offense at the minor league level, scoring just 49 points in 159 career AHL contests. He played just nine games for the Maple Leafs last season, and may not even get that much of a chance now that the team has even more depth down the middle. John Tavares will command more minutes than Tyler Bozak ever did, while Josh Jooris and Par Lindholm are both contenders to take over on the fourth line. It would likely take some injuries for Gauthier to see the NHL, meaning he’ll set his sights on another Calder Cup with the Toronto Marlies instead.

On the Marlies, Gauthier has a clear role. Not asked to do much offensively, he is still a big part of their team and lines up against the opponent’s best on a nightly basis. He’ll re-join veterans like Colin Greening and Chris Mueller along with newcomer Adam Cracknell as the core of what could be another revolving door season for the AHL club. Maple Leafs’ GM Kyle Dubas has developed a minor league development system with more players than roster spots, and Gauthier will be asked to help along those other young players as they try to reach their full potential.

Gauthier will be a restricted free agent still when the contract is finished, unless of course he fails to play in 43 NHL games over the next two seasons. That would make him eligible for Group VI unrestricted free agency, something that looks like a distinct possibility without real positive development in his offensive repertoire.

New Jersey Devils Pursued Patrick Maroon, James Van Riemsdyk

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The New Jersey Devils have signed just one forward—Kurtis Gabriel—in free agency, but it hasn’t been for lack of trying. GM Ray Shero spoke to media today including radio play-by-play announcer Matt Loughlin and admitted that the team had pursued James van Riemsdyk and Patrick Maroon, before they both ultimately signed elsewhere. Maroon specifically was offered more money to stay in New Jersey than he received from the St. Louis Blues, but made the decision to return to his hometown and play closer to his young son.

New Jersey has an incredible amount of cap space this summer, but can’t seem to find any free agents to spend it on after trying and failing with a few forwards. Michael Grabner, who also was acquired at the trade deadline like Maroon, signed a three-year deal with the Arizona Coyotes. The Devils have a good young group of players and a superstar in Taylor Hall they have to start thinking about an extension for—Hall has two years remaining on his current deal—but could still afford to add a few names and salary before the beginning of the year. They made the playoffs in 2017-18 somewhat surprisingly and should try to continue that level of play going forward.

There’s plenty of work to do for the Devils, who have seven restricted free agents still to sign, but it is surprising there hasn’t been more announced so far. There is obviously opportunities to use that cap space as an asset, similar to the way they took Marcus Johansson off the hands of the Washington Capitals last year for a discounted price. If more situations like the reported Erik Karlsson-Tampa Bay negotiations—ones that have apparently included a search for a third team to take on salary—arise this summer you can bet the Devils will be involved.

Still, it is disappointing for a fan base that was hoping for some substantial additions in free agency. Maroon fit in quite well with the team after coming over from the Edmonton Oilers, scoring 13 points in 17 games for them down the stretch and adding some size up front. van Riemsdyk too could have given them an elite net front presence and added goal scoring, something they could use as they try to support Hall and Nico Hischier going forward. There isn’t much left on the open market, meaning they might have to wait until next season to really take part in the free agent frenzy.

Tampa Bay Lightning Re-Sign Adam Erne

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It’s not quite the deal that Nikita Kucherov received yesterday, but another Tampa Bay Lightning forward has re-signed with the team. Adam Erne has agreed to a one-year, one-way contract worth $800K. Erne was the team’s last remaining restricted free agent this summer.

The 23-year old Erne hasn’t quite been able to lock down a full-time role with the Lightning to this point in his short career, but could certainly challenge for ice time this season. Tampa Bay always seems to have more cap room when they want to make a big move, and it’s because of inexpensive players like Erne making a real impact at the NHL level. If he can continue to play a heavy game at the bottom of the lineup he’ll be a valuable contributor even without adding a ton of offense. That offense though could still come, as Erne has been a solid—if unspectacular—producer at the minor league level, scoring 26 points in 41 games last season for the Syracuse Crunch. He added just four points during 23 NHL contests.

If he’s not given an opportunity over the next two seasons, Erne would actually qualify for Group VI unrestricted free agency in the summer of 2020. He needs 31 NHL contests before then to become ineligible, or sign a longer-term contract next summer. For now, he’ll play out his year and try to prove that he deserves another deal as a restricted free agent in a year’s time.

Dominik Bokk Signs Entry-Level Contract With St. Louis Blues

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The St. Louis Blues have been one of the busiest teams in the league recently, and today they completed a little more offseason work. Dominik Bokk, the team’s first-round selection from the June draft, has signed his three-year entry-level contract. The contract will almost certainly slide at least one season since Bokk is scheduled to play in Sweden this year, and might not even come into effect until the 2020-21 season.

The Blues were scheduled to select 29th this season with the pick acquired from the Winnipeg Jets for Paul Stastny, but moved up to 25 when Bokk was still available. The German winger was rated even higher by some publications, and for good reason. His 41 points in the Swedish junior league put him among the league leaders in points per game, and he even got a taste of the SHL with Vajxo for 15 games.

St. Louis can take their time with Bokk and turn him into more than just the dazzling puck-handler he is currently, given their exceptional forward depth in the NHL and prospect ranks. With one of the higher ceilings of the first round, if he does develop fully it would be another tremendous draft pick for the team.

Buffalo Sabres Hire Steve Smith As Assistant Coach

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It didn’t take long for Steve Smith to land on his feet after resigning from the Carolina Hurricanes on Monday. The Buffalo Sabres have announced they’ve hired the veteran assistant coach to join Phil Housley’s group, where he will take over defensive and penalty kill responsibilities.

There are few opportunities like this one for Smith, who will get to work directly with phenom defenseman Rasmus Dahlin as he begins his NHL career. Smith and Housley will be tasted with developing Dahlin into the perennial Norris candidate that many are projecting him to be, and they have quite a bit of experience between the two of them for the job. Housley of course is a Hall of Fame defenseman with 1,200 career points, but Smith was no slouch in his playing days and brings the knowledge of three Stanley Cups to the table. He was a key member of the Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier-led Edmonton Oilers championship teams, and finished his career with over 800 games played (and 2,100 penalty minutes).

Dahlin isn’t the only young defenseman that will be taken under Smith’s wing, as the team also boasts Brendan Guhle, Mattias Samuelsson and others coming through the system. Even Rasmus Ristolainen is still only 23, despite already having five seasons under his belt. The Sabres have struggled to put anything close to a championship-caliber blue line together for years, but can take a huge step towards that goal this season.

Trade Candidate: Nikolay Goldobin

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Two seasons ago, Vancouver looked like they had acquired an important part of their future when they picked up winger Nikolay Goldobin from San Jose in advance of the 2017 trade deadline in exchange for winger Jannik Hansen (who is currently an unrestricted free agent).  Fast forward to today and it’s certainly looking like he could already be on the outs with the Canucks.

Last season, the 22-year-old split the season between Vancouver and their AHL affiliate in Utica.  At the minor league level, he was quite productive, collecting 31 points (9-22-31) in 30 games.  However, that wasn’t the case with the big club as he had just 14 points (8-6-14) in 38 games while playing just over 12 minutes per game.  He’s a player that has outplayed the minors but has yet to really make his mark in the NHL.

With the retirement of the Sedin twins and their recent struggles, it looked as if Vancouver was going to be willing to play more of their younger players.  But then they went and acquired an entire bottom-six line in free agency with the additions of wingers Antoine Roussel and Tim Schaller plus center Jay Beagle.  Those players didn’t get signed to sit on the bench so they’re going to be in the lineup on a regular basis while rookie forwards Adam Gaudette and Elias Pettersson stand to be ahead of Goldobin on the depth chart and get the spots earmarked for the youngsters.  All of a sudden, he’s on the outside looking in.

[Related: Canucks Depth Chart from Roster Resource]

It stands to reason that he could be 15th or 16th among forwards on Vancouver’s depth chart heading into training camp.  While it’s certainly possible that there could be some injuries up front in the preseason, there probably won’t be enough for Goldobin to move into an end-of-roster spot (let alone a regular spot in the lineup).

Further impacting things is his waiver situation.  Although he is still on his entry-level contract for one more year (with a $832K cap hit plus $212K in performance bonuses), Goldobin now must go through waivers to get back to the minors next season.  Considering he’s only four years removed from being a first-round pick (27th overall in 2014), there’s a very good chance a team would put in a claim for him so going this route is off the table as well.

They can’t send him down and it’s improbable that there will be a roster spot for him at the start of next season.  That leaves a trade as the best possibility both for him and the Canucks.

What should Vancouver be looking for in a return?  They have good forward depth and the same can be said for their back end.  They don’t really necessarily need to add someone else on the cusp of making it to the NHL on a full-time basis.  That puts a draft pick or prospect (if signed, still waiver exempt) as the best option for them.  Of course, other teams know that the Canucks are in this situation with Goldobin so it wouldn’t be surprising if offers aren’t exactly top notch.

In his limited time as a professional, Goldobin has shown some flashes of top-six potential.  It wouldn’t be shocking if he gets to continue to show those flashes in a different uniform for 2018-19.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Offseason Keys: Washington Capitals

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The offseason is now in full swing with the draft complete and free agency now underway.  What storylines lie ahead around the league in the weeks to come?  Our Offseason Keys series wraps up with a look at the Washington Capitals.

Before the celebrations of their Stanley Cup title even ended, the Capitals got busy when it came to accomplishing some offseason objectives.  They locked up John Carlson long-term, got out of Brooks Orpik’s contract, and hired a new coach…all before July came around.  Despite accomplishing a lot of their keys early on, Washington still has some work to do this summer before they look to defend their title.

New Deal For Wilson

For several years, winger Tom Wilson has had the reputation of primarily being a physical forward but he took a big step forwards towards changing that last season as he posted career highs across the board with 14 goals, 21 assists, and 187 PIMS in 78 games.  He also saw his role increase dramatically as he went from a bottom-six forward to someone that was frequently riding shotgun on the top line.  He followed up that performance with an even better showing in the playoffs where he picked up 15 points (5-10-15) in 21 contests.

Interestingly, while Wilson was eligible for salary arbitration, he opted not to file in advance of Thursday’s deadline.  That leaves him still eligible for an offer sheet but the biggest takeaway from this is that a guaranteed deal well in advance of the season isn’t necessarily going to be the case.

GM Brian MacLellan has frequently stated that his preference is to sign Wilson long-term but it poses the question of what he’s worth on that type of contract.  Yes, he’s coming off of a strong season but his previous career high in points heading into last year was only 23.  That type of point production from a forward isn’t something that typically yields a long-term commitment.  Instead, a ‘prove it’ bridge deal is often the route that gets taken and it will be interesting to see if they shift towards that if they can’t come to terms on a long-term pact.  As Wilson is just 24, they can safely do so and still have him under team control at the end of the year.

Add A Veteran Goaltender

With Philipp Grubauer off to Colorado as part of a draft night trade, the Caps have lost a big security blanket behind Braden Holtby.  It was only a few months ago that Grubauer actually got the nod to start the postseason and while Holtby eventually reclaimed the starting role and played quite well after, he did struggle in 2017-18 and having Grubauer behind him gave them the opportunity to let him sit back and regain his form with a lot less pressure.

As things stand, Pheonix Copley is set to open the season as Washington’s backup.  The 26-year-old has a total of two career NHL appearances and isn’t exacting coming off of a confidence-inspiring minor league campaign, one that saw him post a 2.91 GAA and a .896 SV% in 41 games.  He brings some value in that he has a league-minimum cap hit but Washington could certainly stand to do better.

Whether it’s looking at someone like Kari Lehtonen or Steve Mason in free agency or simply adding a third-stringer with a bit more NHL experience, bringing someone else in would be helpful.  Ilya Samsonov is now signed and is the goalie of the future but asking him to take on the starting reins in his rookie AHL season if something happens to Holtby would be risky.  MacLellan has done well to give them some wiggle room financially and spending some of those savings on some insurance between the pipes would be wise.

Add Defensive Depth

While Washington is expected to give youngsters Madison Bowey and Christian Djoos longer looks next season, it would still be a little risky going into the season with those two as the bottom pair and not much support behind them.  Orpik’s deal was cleared out last month while Jakub Jerabek, a late-season addition, remains an unrestricted free agent.  In the system, Aaron Ness has a little bit of NHL experience but isn’t someone that’s going to be counted on for more than a few games here and there.

Basically, the Capitals need to replace Orpik with a similar veteran on a short-term deal (or simply re-sign Orpik as he was bought out by Colorado).  Fortunately for them, the market on veteran blueliners has been slow to develop so this is something they can slow play a bit unless there is a specific player they’re targeting.  There will be defenders that will be looking for cheap deals or PTOs in late August/early September and Washington should have a favorable pitch given the year they just had and a spot potentially up for grabs.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Patrick Maroon Officially Signs With St. Louis Blues

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6:16 PM: The contract contains an eight-team no-trade clause, reports TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie (Twitter link).

3:00 PM: Though there were a few hiccups along the way, Patrick Maroon is finally heading home. The big winger has officially signed a one-year contract with the St. Louis Blues that will pay him just $1.75MM. This deal was reportedly close on the weekend, but Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes an agent switch that Maroon recently went through could have slowed things down. Maroon’s new agent, Ben Hankinson, told reporters Sunday night that his client was still looking at other options, despite St. Louis being a heavy favorite. Well the betting odds came through, and Maroon will be heading back to his hometown for at least one season.

Maroon, 30, likely left money on the table to go back to St. Louis and be closer to his son and other family. Playing in front of them has long been an obvious motivator for Maroon, who rebuilt his career in Edmonton the last few seasons and was a very effective player down the stretch for the New Jersey Devils. We listed him as the 12th-best free agent in our Top 50 UFA Rankings, but believed he would garner a much longer and much more lucrative contract. That may have been possible, but as Blues GM Doug Armstrong explains it was a clear goal for Maroon to return home:

We’re excited to add Pat Maroon to our group. Things picked up over the last few days, and last night about 10:30 p.m. I got a call from him and his representative saying they’d like to be part of the St. Louis Blues.

This is a one-year opportunity for him to come back, hopefully play with some really good centermen and get back to that 27-goal performance he had in Edmonton, or close to it. We think he can help our team. I talked to some of our players about him, competing against him, and they spoke very highly about how hard he was to play against, how difficult he was to move in those high traffic areas. It’s just another player we add to our group that makes us a little better than we were yesterday.

The $1.75MM price tag is extremely reasonable for the Blues, who have overhauled their roster this summer and are looking to compete for the Stanley Cup in 2018-19. With the additions of Tyler Bozak, Ryan O’Reilly, David Perron and now Maroon, their forward group will look very different come October. There is still likely some work to be done though, as the team now has just over $3.2MM in cap space with contracts to come for restricted free agents Joel Edmundson and Jordan Schmaltz. Some of that could be taken care of by just waiving a few forwards, since they currently have 15 that project as NHL options, but that would put assets at risk before the season begins. Instead, there could be another trade coming to clear out some cap space now that Maroon is in the fold on such a reasonable deal.

For the player, the one-year deal is a bet on himself for at least a few months. There have been reports that the Blues will offer an extension to Maroon quickly after the January 1st threshold, which could be for a multi-year term at a higher cap hit. Doing it this way allowed them to keep the cap hit down for this season when things are tight, and allows them a period of evaluation for the powerful winger. There’s no guarantee that he’ll be able to produce like he did in Edmonton and New Jersey, as Maroon has struggled in the past. Still, at the price he’s signed for right now he doesn’t need to be much more than a big body that contributes occasionally and can wear down an opposing defense.

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