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Archives for March 2019

Tampa Bay Lightning Sign Jon Cooper To Multi-Year Extension

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The Tampa Bay Lightning have had one of the best seasons in the history of the NHL, and the man who led them there is about to be rewarded. The Lightning announced today that they have signed head coach Jon Cooper to a multi-year contract extension. Cooper’s current contract was set to expire after this season. It is not clear how much the deal is worth, but it doesn’t come as much of a surprise that the Lightning wanted to keep him around. GM Julien BriseBois explained his excitement at keeping his coach around:

I am very pleased to announce Jon’s extension today. His ability to forge impactful relationships with everyone from players to staff has been a trademark of his tenure with the organization and he is the absolute best coach for our hockey team. Coop’s ability to develop a strong culture while continually adapting has been a big part of the team’s success. He has helped set high standards for our organization with his unrelenting drive for excellence. I would like to thank Coop and his family for their continuous commitment to the organization, as well as to the Tampa Bay community, and I look forward to working in partnership with Jon for years to come.

Cooper joined the Lightning organization almost exactly six years ago after Guy Boucher was let go, and is now the longest-tenured head coach in the entire NHL. During those six years he has amassed a record of 302-157-44, becoming the franchise leader in wins and actually putting himself among the best all-time. Only Scotty Bowman has a better winning percentage among coaches with at least 500 games coached, though Cooper is still looking for his first Stanley Cup (Bowman has nine). He certainly has a chance to do that this season as the Lightning have put together one of the greatest years in recent history, currently sitting at 59-14-4 through 77 games.

It’s not much of a surprise that Cooper is finding success at the NHL level, as he has dominated at every previous level of coaching. He has won championships at the NAHL, USHL and AHL levels, also taking home Coach of the Year honors at each of those stops. While there’s no guarantee he secures either of those distinctions this season, there’s little doubt he’s among the finest in the league and will now be with the Lightning for several more years.

Oliver Wahlstrom Not Expected To Return To Boston College

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After a season that did not go as planned, including rumors of his early departure, it appears as though Oliver Wahlstrom’s tenure at Boston College will come to an end. Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe and Sara Civian of The Athletic have both heard that Wahlstrom will leave BC after just one season, though his next stop is not determined at this point. Civ suggests that Europe is a possibility for the 18-year old forward.

Wahlstrom was the 11th overall pick by the New York Islanders last June, and finally joined BC after flirting with several other schools over the years. Unfortunately that decision doesn’t seem to have panned out very well as Wahlstrom looked lost on the ice at times this year and finished with just 19 points in 36 games. The highly touted forward was expected to dominate the college scene like his former USNDTP linemate Joel Farabee—who will also be leaving the NCAA after one season, signing his first NHL deal with the Philadelphia Flyers—but struggled to create offense or find any consistency on a lackluster BC team.

Fans of the Islanders that may be concerned Wahlstrom is trying to avoid signing with the team need not worry, as they will still hold his rights for several more years. College players that leave early like Los Angeles Kings goaltender Cal Petersen only become free agents if it has been four years since their draft year. Wahlstrom can only sign an NHL contract with the Islanders, though it is unclear what his plans are at this point. If he does sign, spending the 2019-20 season in the AHL would not burn a year of his entry-level contract as he won’t turn 19 until this June.

Hockey Canada Names World Championship Management

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We already know that New York Rangers assistant GM Chris Drury will be leading USA Hockey’s preparation for the upcoming World Championships, but now Hockey Canada has announced their own management group. Buffalo Sabres GM Jason Botterill will join two recently fired men, Ron Hextall and Ron Francis as the management team tasked with putting together the roster for the tournament, which begins in May.

It won’t be the first time the name Botterill is seen at the World Championships, as sister Jennifer Botterill medaled eight times at the women’s tournament during her outstanding playing career. The Sabres GM will try to bring another gold back to Canada after the team failed to even win a medal last season. He’ll have a huge number of stars to pick from, as some of the best Canadian players look like they’ll be out of the NHL playoffs this season.

That all starts with Connor McDavid, who captained the team last year and has participated twice already in his young career. Teammate Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is also a candidate to return, and other names like Drew Doughty, Jonathan Toews and Claude Giroux will also likely be asked to attend.

Andrew Ladd Out Four To Five Months With Torn ACL

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The New York Islanders will be heading into the playoffs without one of their veteran leaders, as head coach Barry Trotz told reporters including Andrew Gross of Newsday that Andrew Ladd will be out four to five months with a torn ACL. That rules him out for the playoffs, though the team is hoping he’ll be ready for training camp next season.

That hope though may be tested, as Ladd is no longer a young pup able to rebound quickly from injury. Now 33, the former Winnipeg Jets captain has already experienced a knee injury in his other leg and will finish this season with just 26 games played. The veteran forward was once one of the most reliable two-way wingers in the game, bringing a mix of physicality, defense and scoring touch to the ice on a nightly basis. Now, he will end with his lowest point total since his rookie season of 2005-06 and could very well start next year on long-term injured reserve.

Unfortunately for the Islanders, Ladd still has four years left on his current contract and unless he’s going to sit on LTIR and essentially retire, he has to find some modicum of health in order to contribute. The team signed him to a seven-year, $38.5MM deal in the summer of 2016 that included a full no-trade clause through the end of 2019-20. Even after that he’ll still have a 15-team no-trade list, and his contract is almost buyout proof because of the hefty signing bonuses.

The Islanders will try to make a splash this postseason without him, and it appears as though Michael Dal Colle will get the first chance to replace him in the lineup. The former top prospect has seemingly put it all together this year and become a legitimate NHL player, but will have to show he has what it takes to compete in the playoffs.

New York Islanders To Sign Bobo Carpenter

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The New York Islanders have agreed to terms with Bobo Carpenter on a two-year entry-level contract that will kick in for the 2019-20 season. Carpenter recently finished his senior season with Boston University, where he served as captain. The 22-year old forward was an undrafted free agent, able to sign with any team in the NHL.

A familiar name in hockey circles, Carpenter is the son of Stanley Cup champion Bobby Carpenter, who played nearly 1,200 regular season games across a long NHL career. The younger Carpenter doesn’t have quite the same hype that his father brought when he was selected third overall in 1981, but still did have an excellent college career and was pursued by more than just the Islanders. In 144 games for BU, the 5’11” forward scored 56 goals and 102 points while being a respected leader even with almost countless top NHL prospects surrounding him.

Carpenter could join the Bridgeport Sound Tigers on an amateur tryout for the rest of the year, but will definitely be battling for a roster spot in New York in the fall. His two-year deal will make him a restricted free agent in the summer of 2021.

Minor Transactions: 03/26/19

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After a night of wild outcomes that saw the Calgary Flames and San Jose Sharks both lose to teams well out of the playoff race, the NHL is back with seven more contests for us to watch. The best among those games will be a pair of Metropolitan Division contests, where four potential playoff teams do battle. The Carolina Hurricanes try to topple the Washington Capitals, while the New York Islanders will attempt to knock the Columbus Blue Jackets just a little further out of the race.

  • The Buffalo Sabres have recalled Will Borgen for the first time in his professional career, and are expected to give him a taste at the NHL level. The 22-year old defenseman signed out of St. Cloud State last season and has 12 points in 66 games at the AHL level this year. If you recognize his name from somewhere else, it may be from the 2018 Winter Olympics, where he was named to Team USA.
  • The Nashville Predators have reassigned Matt Donovan to the minor leagues, which could leave some room for Dante Fabbro to enter the lineup. The team still has Dan Hamhuis working his way back to full health, and are now carrying just six defensemen on the roster until Fabbro’s deal is officially announced.

East Notes: Bruins, Kravtsov, Red Wings

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While the Bruins lost Sean Kuraly for the rest of the regular season last week, there is some help on the horizon on the injury front.  The team announced (Twitter link) that defenseman Torey Krug and Marcus Johansson could both return on Wednesday while blueliners Matt Grzelcyk and Kevan Miller are aiming to return this weekend.  With their first-round matchup all but guaranteed now, they will comfortably be able to ease these players back into the lineup without a whole lot of pressure.  Johansson is someone that will likely get a fair amount of playing time down the stretch given that he hasn’t played much with the team since being acquired from New Jersey back at the trade deadline.  Unfortunately for the Bruins, the injury news isn’t all good as blueliner John Moore left Monday’s game due to an upper-body injury.

More notes from the Eastern Conference:

  • While the Rangers won’t be able to bring 2018 first-round pick Vitali Kravtsov over to finish off the season, GM Jeff Gorton told reporters, including Peter Botte of the New York Post, that he plans to talk to Kravtsov’s representative soon in the hopes of securing an entry-level deal for next season. His KHL deal runs through April 30th and even though his KHL team in Traktor Chelyabinsk has already been eliminated from the playoffs, they won’t release him from his deal early.  The 19-year-old had 21 points in 50 games this season while transitioning to play down the middle.
  • With Jonathan Ericsson set to return, the Red Wings announced that they’ve returned defenseman Brian Lashoff to Grand Rapids of the AHL. He had been up with the team on an emergency basis so re-assigning him was required in order to not convert him to one of their four post-deadline recalls.  Meanwhile, the team also noted on Twitter that winger Thomas Vanek is dealing with a mid-body injury.  The veteran quietly sits fourth on Detroit in scoring this season with 36 points in 64 games.  There’s no word yet on the severity of the issue.

Pacific Notes: Sharks, Kovalchuk, Nugent-Hopkins

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Leading into last month’s trade deadline, there was plenty of speculation that the Sharks may be looking to do something with one of their goaltenders.  While San Jose has been among the top scoring teams in the league all season, they’ve struggled at keeping the puck out of their own net and sit last in the league in save percentage.  Despite that, head coach Peter DeBoer told reporters, including Paul Gackle of the Mercury News, that they had no interest in moving one of their two goalies.  Backup Aaron Dell has struggled considerably this season but has two good seasons in that role under his belt, not to mention another year on his contract at $1.9MM which could have limited his potential market somewhat anyway.

Elsewhere in the Pacific:

  • Ilya Kovalchuk’s somewhat strange month continues. The winger did not accompany the Kings on their three-game road trip, reports Jon Rosen of LA Kings Insider.  Instead, he’s staying back in Los Angeles to work with their skill and development staff.  Kovalchuk voiced his frustration over being a healthy scratch last week but it appears that will be continuing for at least the next three games.
  • Acquiring quality puck-moving defensemen has been an issue over the years for the Oilers which means that they may have to turn to one of their top trade chips this offseason to try to get one. With that in mind, David Staples of the Edmonton Journal suggests that moving center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins for a young, higher-end defender would stand as a sensible move for a team that has had and given up on Jeff Petry, Justin Schultz, and Erik Gustafsson in recent years.  Edmonton is going to be tight to the salary cap this summer so moving Nugent-Hopkins’ $6MM AAV for a younger (and presumably cheaper) blueliner would give their new GM a little bit more financial flexibility this offseason as well.

Michal Kempny Out “Long Term”, Capitals Recall Siegenthaler

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The Washington Capitals lost Michal Kempny to a leg injury recently, and pronounced him out indefinitely while tests were done. Today, while the Capitals were visiting the White House with the Stanley Cup, the defenseman was seen on crutches and head coach Todd Rierden told reporters including Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post that the injury will keep Kempny out “long term.” The team is still determining whether surgery will be necessary, but in the meantime have recalled Jonas Siegenthaler from the minor leagues.

Siegenthaler, 21, was actually just barely too expensive for the Capitals to recall any earlier than today, but will now likely be with the team through the end of the season. Washington will have to decide how to deploy their six defensemen in the playoffs, and whether they can rely on the young Siegenthaler in a full-time role. With impressive talents like John Carlson, Matt Niskanen and Dmitry Orlov they will have plenty of options, but Kempny’s addition seemed to make everything click last season and will certainly be missed.

The Capitals currently sit in first place in the Metropolitan Division but need to keep their foot on the gas pedal down the stretch to stay clear of the other contenders. The New York Islanders, Pittsburgh Penguins and Carolina Hurricanes are all within five points of the Capitals, meaning they could fall right out of the divisional playoff spots if they falter for a few weeks.

Jesper Fast To Miss Rest Of Season

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The New York Rangers won’t be making it to the playoffs this season, so there won’t be enough time for Jesper Fast to return from injury. Head coach David Quinn told reporters today that Fast will miss the rest of the year, while Marc Staal and Chris Kreider will miss tonight’s game as well.

Fast, 27, will end this season with just 20 points in 66 games, a disappointing year for a player who had reached new highs in 2017-18. The two-way forward is still an effective option for the Rangers, but hasn’t shown much upside and will be an interesting player to watch this summer. Heading into the final season of his current contract and carrying a $1.85MM cap hit, he could be another player on the move as the Rangers continue their rebuild. That said, he has long been regarded as one of the hardest working players on the team and is routinely praised by teammates and the coaching staff, even winning New York’s “Players’ Player” award for the last four years.

With so much turnover on the roster of late, perhaps the team will want to keep Fast around on another multi-year contract to help guide the young core. With offensive players coming through the pipeline, his defense and versatility can still be quite useful.

Meanwhile, the Rangers have gone on a 2-5-3 run over their last ten games and are now sitting in 27th place in the NHL. It seems unlikely they’ll fall any lower than that and improve their draft lottery chances, but any success could see them skyrocket up the standings. They take on the Pittsburgh Penguins tonight.

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