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Archives for July 2018

Stars To Sign Anton Khudobin

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July 1st has always resulted in a goalie carousel around the league and today will be no exception.  TSN’s Darren Dreger reports (Twitter link) that netminder Anton Khudobin has agreed to a two-year deal worth roughly $5MM with Dallas.  That more than doubles his previous contract which paid him $1.2MM

Khudobin is coming off one of the best seasons of his career where he posted a 2.56 GAA with a .913 SV% in 31 appearances for the Bruins.  Despite that, he was unable to come to terms on a new deal in Boston despite reportedly being just $150K apart in negotiations.

The 32-year-old will replace Kari Lehtonen as the backup to veteran starter Ben Bishop.  Considering that Bishop had trouble staying healthy down the stretch, it’s no surprise that GM Jim Nill targeted another goalie that can play more than 15-20 games per season as they will certainly benefit from having that insurance if he gets injured again.

Wild To Sign Eric Fehr

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Minnesota continues to add depth to their group.  After agreeing to terms with defenseman Greg Pateryn on Saturday, they are poised to sign center Eric Fehr to a one-year contract, TSN’s Bob McKenzie reports (Twitter link).  Postmedia’s Ken Wiebe reports (via Twitter) that it’s a one-way deal worth $1MM.

Fehr spent most of 2017-18 in the minors as a salary cap casualty of Toronto.  Instead of joining their AHL affiliate in Toronto, he was loaned to Anaheim’s affiliate in San Diego where he collected 17 goals and 11 assists in just 34 games.  That caught the eye of San Jose, who flipped a 2020 seventh-round pick to the Leafs to get him late in February.

He played a largely regular role down the stretch for the Sharks as he suited up in 14 regular season games where he picked up four points (3-1-4) and ten postseason contests.  Now, after holding down a fourth line role with them, he will likely be asked to hold down a similar position with the Wild next season.

Bruins To Sign Jaroslav Halak

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After failing to agree to terms on a new deal with Anton Khudobin (who is expected to sign with Dallas), the Bruins have found their new backup goaltender.  Fox Sports Midwest’s Andy Strickland reports (Twitter link) that Boston will sign veteran netminder Jaroslav Halak.  Terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

It has been a bit of a tumultuous ride for Halak in recent years.  In his first season with the Islanders, he was a capable starter and looked to be providing good value on his contract that paid him an average of $4.5MM per year.  But then New York brought in Thomas Greiss, who wound up platooning with him in 2015-16 and eventually wrestled away the number one job in the postseason.

Things got worse the following season as Halak struggled out of the game and wound up clearing waivers that resulted in a lengthy minor league stint.  He played quite well with AHL Bridgeport and earned a recall later in the year where he went on a nice run to finish, winning six of seven starts down the stretch.  That didn’t carry over to last season, however.  Although he managed to win back the starting role, he struggled overall on the year, posting a 3.19 GAA and a .908 SV% in 54 appearances, numbers that were below the league average.

The Bruins are banking on Halak returning to form with less pressure and a better back end in front of him.  At the very least, he should be able to handle more than a typical number two workload which will allow them to take some pressure off Tuukka Rask and keep him fresh as the season progresses.

Flames To Sign Austin Czarnik

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The Flames are expected to be active in free agency and after getting a deal done with Derek Ryan, they’ve agred to to terms with winger Austin Czarnik on a two-year, $2.5MM deal, reports Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman (Twitter link).

The 25-year-old is relatively untested at the NHL level as he has played in just 59 career games which made him eligible for Group VI unrestricted free agency.  He did get into ten games with Boston last season and was relatively productive, recording four assists.  In his career, he has five goals and 12 assists, all with the Bruins.

What is getting Czarnik this contract is his minor league production.  He ranked third in AHL scoring in 2017-18 with 25 goals and 44 assists in just 64 games while adding six more points in four postseason contests.  It’s clear that many around the league believe he has some untapped upside as it was reported on Saturday that 24 teams had shown interest in his services.  He’ll likely get a chance to start in Calgary’s bottom six and should have an opportunity to prove that he can be a full-time NHL player.

Bruins Expected To Sign Chris Wagner

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The Bruins are poised to add some grit into their bottom six group of forwards as they are expected to ink center Chris Wagner to a two-year contract, reports Fox Sports West’s Andy Strickland (Twitter link).  Mark Divver of the Providence Journal adds (via Twitter) that Wagner will get a two-year deal with a $1.25MM AAV.

The 27-year-old spent the majority of the season with Anaheim before being dealt to the Islanders at the trade deadline in exchange for winger Jason Chimera.  He is coming off of a career year offensively as he collected 16 points (7-9-16) in 79 games while logging 13:17 per night of playing time.  For perspective, he came into 2017-18 with a total of 13 points in 95 games over parts of three seasons.

However, despite his increase in production, Wagner is most known for his physicality.  He ranked third in the league – second among forwards – in hits last season with 253, an average of 3.2 per game.  The Bruins will be counting on that to continue from their fourth line for the next couple of years.

Flames Expected To Sign Derek Ryan

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After receiving interest from 20 teams, it appears center Derek Ryan is off to Calgary.  TSN’s Frank Seravalli reports (Twitter link) that the Flames are in agreement with Ryan on a three-year contract.  Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman adds (via Twitter) that the deal carries an approximate cap hit of $3.125MM.

It has been quite the journey for 31-year-old.  After going undrafted, he decided to the Canadian college route where he spent four years before heading off to Austria for three more seasons.  A stint in the SHL back in 2014-15 got him on the NHL radar and the Hurricanes signed him to a two-way deal the following season.

Since then, Ryan has emerged as a dependable secondary scorer.  Last season, he posted 15 goals and 23 assists in 80 games while winning 56.5% of his faceoffs, solid numbers for a third liner which is where he will likely line up in Calgary.  We ranked him 22nd in our Top 50 UFA list and had projected that he would sign with the Flames.

With the move, he will be reunited with his former head coach Bill Peters, who left Carolina to join the Flames earlier this offseason.  He’ll also be back with a couple of familiar teammates as Calgary picked up defenseman Noah Hanifin and forward Elias Lindholm in a draft day deal last weekend.

Flyers Expected To Sign James Van Riemsdyk

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One of the top free agents has made his choice.  Winger James van Riemsdyk has agreed to terms on a contract with the Flyers, reports TSN’s Frank Seravalli (Twitter link).  ESPN’s John Buccigross adds (via Twitter) that it’s a five-year, $35MM deal.

The move represents a return home, so to speak as Philadelphia initially drafted van Riemsdyk second overall back in 2007.  He spent three seasons with the Flyers before he was dealt to Toronto in exchange for defenseman Luke Schenn back in the 2012 offseason.

The 29-year-old has really emerged as a scorer over the last several years, scoring at least 27 times in four of the last five seasons.  He took that to another level in 2017-18, tallying a career-high 36 goals despite seeing his ice time cut to just 14:54 per game.  It’s doubtful that he will see that type of ice time in Philadelphia, who will be poised to hand him a spot in their top six and a bigger role overall.

In his career, van Riemsdyk has played in 609 games between Toronto and Philadelphia, scoring 201 goals while adding 192 assists.  His 393 points rank ninth overall among all players selected in 2007.

GM Ron Hextall had been on record saying that he wasn’t looking to give a max-term deal in free agency and this certainly accomplishes that.  It’s likely that they paid a little more in terms of the AAV to get him to leave a couple of years on the table which is probably a prudent decision.  We had projected a six-year, $42MM contract for him (a $6MM AAV) while ranking him second overall on our Top 50 UFA list.

Heading into today, the Flyers had just shy of $21.75MM in cap space to work with, per CapFriendly.  While this deal takes away about a third of that, they still should have plenty of room to continue to be players in free agency.  However, Hextall has also stated that the team is mindful that top youngsters Ivan Provorov and Travis Konecny are in need of new contracts next summer so it’s unlikely that Philadelphia will use all of their remaining cap space on multi-year commitments.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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