2018 has been quite a busy year in the hockey world. There have been several big trades and free agent signings, plenty of changes behind the bench, and much more. Over the coming days, PHR will take a look back at the top stories from around the game on a month-by-month basis. Next up is a look back at April, a month that featured a lot of activity off the ice including the Draft Lottery.
Coaching Departures: It was noteworthy that there weren’t any coaching changes made during the regular season. That changed quickly. The Rangers relieved Alain Vigneault of his duties as head coach while the Flames did the same with Glen Gulutzan. Meanwhile, Ken Hitchcock retired from coaching, a decision that wound up not lasting very long. Bill Peters decided to exercise his opt-out in Carolina but was only out of work for a few days as he wound up joining Calgary to be their new bench boss.
Extension For Raanta: The Coyotes were quite pleased with what they had seen from goaltender Antti Raanta when he was healthy and opted to sign him to a three-year, $12.75MM contract extension. Less than two months after acquiring and extending Darcy Kuemper, it looked as if Arizona had found some stability between the pipes. Unfortunately for them, Raanta has had issues staying in the lineup again this season and after just a dozen games, his 2018-19 campaign appears to be over due to a lower-body injury.
Sedins Announce Retirement: While there had been some speculation that Henrik Sedin and Daniel Sedin might stick around for another year and sign new deals in Vancouver, they instead decided to hang up their skates, announcing their decision just days before the end of the season. The twins played together with the Canucks for their entire NHL career (spanning 17 years) after Brian Burke managed to make some moves in order to select both of them at the draft back in 1999. Between them, the Sedins have Vancouver’s franchise records in games played, goals, assists, points, plus/minus, game-winning goals, and shots (among several other categories).
Executives On The Outs: There weren’t just changes made behind the bench as a pair of teams decided to go in a different direction with their GM. Toronto opted to continue with their plan to make Lou Lamoriello a consultant while Minnesota chose not to renew Chuck Fletcher’s contract. Meanwhile, shortly after promoting Ron Francis to President of Hockey Operations, the Hurricanes fired him even with the team still in the middle of their search for a new GM.
Lundqvist Declined A Trade: With the Rangers in rebuilding mode, there were questions about what Henrik Lundqvist’s future with the only NHL team he’s ever known would be. It turns out that the team had a trade in place involving the 36-year-old but Lundqvist declined the move, instead wanting to see things through. The veteran isn’t the elite netminder he once was but is off to a pretty good start to his season on a New York team that’s still hanging around the postseason picture. He has two years remaining on his contract after this one with an AAV of $8.5MM.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.