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Snapshots: Karlsson, Kessel, Riveters

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The San Jose Sharks are focused on a potential Stanley Cup appearance this season, but in a few weeks will have some hard decisions to make about their roster. One of those is whether they can retain pending unrestricted free agent Erik Karlsson, something that Chris Johnston of Sportsnet does not believe will be easy. Johnston was on radio today and gave his thoughts on the star defenseman’s situation:

I still think Erik Karlsson is going to be this year’s John Tavares. I think he’s setting up camp—in his case his agents are based outside of Toronto at Newport Sports—and taking a few suitors, getting wooed and seeing what’s out there. I think that he’s going to leverage the market and really make a life decision for himself. I’d be surprised if he’s back in San Jose, though the caveat I think I mentioned the other night was that I don’t know if this Cup [run] has somehow changed his mind and he’s fallen in love with the place. I think it’s been tough on his family, being there with his wife being from Ottawa and some of the things that have gone on with them. 

Johnston goes on to suggest that the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning will both be contenders for Karlsson’s services, though it would obviously need plenty of work on the latter’s behalf to fit him into their cap situation. Karlsson was expected to get a Drew Doughty-like contract previously, but his injury history may now affect to what lengths teams are willing to go. The 28-year old has 15 points in 17 games these playoffs while averaging more than 25 minutes of ice time a night for the Sharks.

  • Another star player who could be potentially on the move this summer is Phil Kessel, who debuts at the very top of Frank Seravalli’s summer Trade Bait board for TSN. Kessel was still extremely productive this season with 82 points in 82 games and led the league with ten game-winning goals, but would seem to be the first one out the door if Penguins GM Jim Rutherford really wants to shake things up this offseason. The 32-year old has three years remaining on his contract but carries just a $6.8MM cap hit thanks to the salary the Toronto Maple Leafs are still retaining.
  • Another blow was struck to the NWHL today, as Emily Kaplan of ESPN reports the New Jersey Devils are dissolving their partnership with the Metropolitan Riveters. Kaplan notes that the Riveters will remain a team for now, but will have to find a new place to play. This is just the latest in what has been a disastrous few weeks for the NWHL, starting with more than 200 of the top players in the world announcing a boycott of women’s hockey. Kim and Terry Pegula, owners of the Buffalo Sabres, also recently turned control of the Buffalo Beauts over to the league, ending their run as the only privately owned and operated team in the league.

Overseas Notes: Cannata, Praplan, Niederreiter

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It’s not clear who will be the Colorado Avalanche backup goaltender next season, but it certainly won’t be Joe Cannata. The 29-year old goaltender will not re-sign with the Avalanche after spending the last two seasons in their minor league system, as he is headed overseas to play in the Swedish second league. Cannata was originally selected by the Vancouver Canucks in 2009 but never ended up playing an NHL game after his college career ended in 2012.

The Avalanche have just two goaltenders under contract for 2019-20 in the whole organization, meaning they’ll need to ink another one before long. While Philipp Grubauer can handle a large role in the NHL, Adam Werner has very little experience in North america and surely won’t be used as the primary backup this season. Pavel Francouz and Semyon Varlamov are scheduled for unrestricted free agency, while Spencer Martin is an RFA once again.

  • Vincent Praplan’s time in North America is coming to a quick end. The Swiss forward is headed home to play for SC Bern this season after just a single year in the AHL. Praplan was originally signed by the San Jose Sharks in 2018 but was flipped to the Florida Panthers in a deadline deal. While he’s only 24, Praplan signed in Switzerland for another four years, effectively ending any thought of returning to Florida. The restricted free agent’s rights will be retained with a qualifying offer, but would expire before his new deal with Bern.
  • Speaking of Switzerland, their IIHF World Championship team has received some good news today as Nino Niederreiter is on his way to help. The Carolina Hurricanes forward will give the team another offensive threat as they try to continue their perfect tournament so far. The Swiss are currently 4-0 after dispatching Italy, Latvia, Austria and Norway with relative ease. Their big tests will come over the next two days when they take on Sweden and Russia, hopefully with a new face in the lineup.

John Davidson Resigns As President Of Blue Jackets, Named President Of Rangers

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The Columbus Blue Jackets have a tough offseason in front of them after going all-in at the trade deadline, and will now have to do it without their top hockey executive. John Davidson, President of Hockey Operations and alternate governor for the Blue Jackets has resigned his post and has taken the same position with the New York Rangers, signing a five-year deal with the team per Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic. Davidson had been immediately rumored to be an option for New York after it was announced that Glen Sather would be stepping down from the presidency. Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen will now serve as alternate governor in addition to his current duties.

It is difficult to overstate how important Davidson has been to the Blue Jackets organization over the last seven years. After leaving the St. Louis Blues, Davidson came to a franchise that was floundering on and off the ice, never finding much success since entering the league in 2000. The team had made the playoffs just a single time, and were routinely seeing changes in the coaching staff and management group. Roster turnover is inevitable but the Blue Jackets hadn’t been able to build any sort of consistency in their group and had recently traded their captain and face of the franchise, Rick Nash to the Rangers.

One of the first big changes Davidson enacted was firing general manager Scott Howson a few months after taking control of the team. He replaced Howsen with Kekalainen who he knew from his days in St. Louis, a move that is still paying off despite the gamble of this season. The Blue Jackets have grown into one of the most consistent organizations in the NHL, recording at least 89 points in five of the last six seasons and making the playoffs on four of those occasions. This year saw the team win the first playoff round in franchise history, when they shocked the hockey world by sweeping the Presidents Trophy-winning Tampa Bay Lightning.

New York though was always a dream for Davidson. Blue Jackets owner John P. McConnell said as much in his statement today:

When we hired John Davidson in October 2012, I said I thought he was the perfect person to lead our hockey operations efforts. Nearly seven years later, I believe I was right. He joined our team at a very difficult time and led a transformation that has resulted in consistent winning and appearances in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. J.D. is a man of great character and compassion and I completely understand his interest in the unique opportunity before him. I know leaving Columbus is a difficult decision for him as he has a genuine love of our community and organization, but the possibility of returning to his roots in New York, where he spent three decades as a player and broadcaster, is an extraordinary circumstance for him and his family.

Davidson was originally drafted fifth overall by the Blues in 1973, but would end up playing most of his career with the Rangers before retirement took him into the broadcasting ring. A generation of fans in New York grew up with “J.D.” as the color commentator for Rangers’ games, making this quite a homecoming for the respected executive. In the Rangers’ release, Davidson explained his excitement:

I am excited and humbled to be named the President of the New York Rangers. The opportunity of rejoining the Rangers organization and returning home to New York, where my family and I have spent so many wonderful years, was one I simply could not pass up. I want to thank James Dolan for offering me this chance to come home.

Early Notes: Ozhiganov, Jokerit, Kunin

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As expected, Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Igor Ozhiganov is heading back to the KHL. The pending restricted free agent has signed a two-year contract with Ak Bars Kazan according to Chris Johnston of Sportsnet. The Maple Leafs can retain his rights temporarily if they issue him a qualifying offer, but lose them next summer after Ozhiganov’s 27th birthday.

Meanwhile, Eemeli Rasanen is also heading back to the KHL this time to join Jokerit once again. Rasanen, a second-round pick from 2017 played five games with the Toronto Marlies this year but will continue to develop overseas for the time being. He doesn’t have a contract with the Maple Leafs currently, but they will retain his draft rights indefinitely due to his departure to the KHL before they expired in the first place.

  • Speaking of Jokerit, the team also made a trade today to acquire some pretty impressive rights. The team now owns the KHL rights for Florida Panthers forward Henrik Borgstrom and Dallas Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen. While this doesn’t mean much right now given the two young players are entrenched in the NHL, it could potentially pay off if there is another work stoppage and North American talent is looking for a place to play.
  • Luke Kunin has been added to the Team USA roster at the current IIHF World Championship, giving the team a full 25-man roster. They’re back in action this weekend taking on Denmark and Germany, before a classic battle with Canada on Tuesday evening. Kunin brings a fair bit of international experience despite being just 21, as he won gold at both the U18 and U20 World Juniors while serving as captain for Team USA. Clayton Keller, Colin White and Adam Fox were also part of that U20 team, now reunited at the Worlds.

Offseason Keys: Minnesota Wild

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While the playoffs are well underway, many teams have already started their offseason planning.  What storylines lie ahead around the league in what is shaping up to be a likely busy NHL offseason?  Next up in our Offseason Keys series is a look at the Minnesota Wild.

After being ousted in the first round for the third year in a row, Minnesota decided to make a change in GM heading into the 2018-19 season as Paul Fenton replaced Chuck Fletcher.  However, the roster stayed largely intact as the year got underway and the results were similar to what they were before as they were largely treading water.  Fenton made a couple of selling moves in the second half but the Wild were still in playoff contention heading into the final weeks of the season before ultimately coming up short.  After a quiet summer last year, it’s hard to imagine it will be quiet again this time around.  Here are some of the keys to their offseason.

Pick A Direction

The Wild spent a good chunk of last season sitting in the middle.  They weren’t good enough to contend but they were too far away from really bottoming out either.  An early swap of Nino Niederreiter for Victor Rask didn’t move the needle too much for them.

As the trade deadline approached, word came out that ownership was open to being sellers.  Considering their place in the standings, Fenton opted to move out Mikael Granlund and Charlie Coyle in separate trades.  However, the focus in both swaps was getting back players that were ready to contribute right away in Kevin Fiala and Ryan Donato.

As a result, Minnesota is still sort of stuck in the middle.  They’re not among the contenders in the Central Division but for those hoping that they’ll look to rebuild through the draft, they’re probably not among the weakest teams in the conference either.

The Wild have been treading water for several years now.  It’s getting to be time for them to change those fortunes.  Given ownership’s openness to at least retooling, it’s certainly possible that they could continue what they started at the trade deadline but the focus may need to change to future assets over ones that can necessarily step in right away.  If not, expect them to be buyers and they do have some cap space to work with.  While their plan isn’t known just yet, it’s likely that there will be changes coming one way or the other.

Zucker’s Future

Technically, Fenton had one other trade on deadline day that wound up falling through in the end.  Winger Jason Zucker was believed to be on his way to Calgary but the deal didn’t materialize which made for an interesting situation as he was forced to remain with Minnesota for the stretch run.  Now that there won’t be a firm deadline to get the paperwork for a trade in, do the two sides try again?

Even if that deal doesn’t come back together, it’s likely that Minnesota will be entertaining other trade options for him.  He didn’t provide the best of returns in the first season of his five-year, $27.5MM contract as his output dipped to 21 goals and 21 assists in 2018-19.  However, he had 111 points in the previous two seasons combined so it’s clear that there’s some potential upside to acquiring him.

One element that could potentially expedite things is his partial no-trade clause.  Effective July 1st, Zucker can block a trade to ten teams which will lower their trade options.  Accordingly, if there is a trade to be made, it’s one that will likely get done sooner rather than later.

Spurgeon Extension

Shortly after the season ended, Fenton indicated that a top priority for them this summer will be signing defenseman Jared Spurgeon to a long-term contract extension.  For his part, Spurgeon shared the enthusiasm for getting a new deal done early.

His current contract was certainly a risky one as when he signed for four years and $20.75MM, he hadn’t quite established himself as a full-time top-four defender.  That changed in a hurry.  He has become one of the more consistent offensive blueliners in the league, averaging 39 points over the past three seasons while seeing his ice time jump to over 24 minutes a night.

All of a sudden, his contract is a bargain and the 29-year-old is in line to land a considerable raise on his $5.1875MM AAV.  Of course, if the team plans to retool, there’s a case to be made that they’re better off trading Spurgeon but it doesn’t appear that will be the case.  Fortunately for the Wild, they don’t have a whole lot tied up in their back end long-term beyond Ryan Suter and Matt Dumba (Jonas Brodin is signed through 2020-21) so they’ll have no difficulty fitting in a raise on a lengthy pact for Spurgeon on their books moving forward.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Blackhawks Prospect Fredrik Olofsson Signs In Sweden

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Blackhawks prospect Fredrik Olofsson has signed a one-year deal with MODO of the Allsvenskan, the Swedish team announced.  As a result, Chicago will be losing the rights to the winger after August 15th.

Olofsson was a fourth-round pick (98th overall) of the Blackhawks back in 2014.  Unlike a lot of Swedish players, he has spent the past several years in North America, starting out at the USHL level where he played with his brother, who is currently in Montreal’s system.  He spent the past four seasons at the University of Nebraska-Omaha.

The 22-year-old saved his best performance for last as he averaged just shy of a point per game in his senior campaign as he collected 34 points in 36 contests.  That was enough for the Blackhawks to give him a look at the AHL level as he wrapped up the season on an amateur tryout deal with Rockford but he only got into two games and evidently, it wasn’t enough for Chicago to offer him a two-year entry-level deal.  Once his negotiating rights expire, Olofsson will become a free agent.

NHL Announces GM Of The Year Finalists

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After announcing one set of finalists for awards per day back in April, the finalists for the final award were revealed by the NHL today.  The list of contenders for GM of the Year is down to three with Don Sweeney (Boston), Doug Armstrong (St. Louis), and Don Waddell (Carolina) being the nominees.

The reason for the delay in revealing the top three is that voting for this award doesn’t take place after the regular season.  Instead, it’s conducted at the end of the second round and is voted on by all 31 general managers, a group of league executives, and the media.

While some teams have opted to make bigger moves, Sweeney opted to primarily supplement Boston’s depth, a decision that has certainly helped out.  Jaroslav Halak’s addition allowed them to rest up Tuukka Rask a bit more and they’ve been rewarded for that so far in the playoffs while late-season pickups Charlie Coyle and Marcus Johansson have made an impact as well.  The Bruins finished third overall during the regular season and could punch their ticket to the Stanley Cup Final later tonight which certainly helped sway some votes in his favor.

Armstrong was among the general managers to make a big swing on the trade front with their acquisition of Ryan O’Reilly from Buffalo back in July.  The move paid immediate dividends as the 28-year-old had a career year with 77 points which led the team in scoring.  Jordan Binnington has provided them with stable goaltending and the decision to part ways with head coach Mike Yeo to replace him with Craig Berube (a finalist for the Jack Adams Award) has certainly worked out well.

Waddell was certainly buoyed by Carolina’s presence in the Conference Final.  The Hurricanes have had quite the year in his first season as GM and they pulled the trigger on a pair of significant trades, sending Jeff Skinner to Buffalo plus Noah Hanifin and Elias Lindholm to Calgary.  Carolina also effectively rebuilt their goalie tandem with the signing of Petr Mrazek and the waiver claim of Curtis McElhinney; the two have combined to give them well above average goaltending for the combined price of an above average backup netminder.

The winner will be revealed on June 19th at the annual NHL Awards show in Las Vegas.

Snapshots: Ottawa, Nashville, Competition Committee

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The Ottawa Senators interviewed Rick Bowness for their vacant coaching position today according to Chris Stevenson of The Athletic, who notes that the number of candidates is now up to six. Bowness coached the Senators for parts of four seasons between 1992-96, and has been on NHL benches for decades. He spent this season with the Dallas Stars as an assistant for Jim Montgomery, his eighth NHL organization.

Stevenson also tweets that there might be one more candidate to still interview. The Senators have plenty of questions surrounding the direction of the franchise and bringing in an experienced head coach would at least show that they can still attract some talent behind the bench. It’s unclear what it would mean for Marc Crawford, who served as interim head coach after the team removed Guy Boucher during the season.

  • The Nashville Predators won’t be going anywhere for a while. The organization that runs Bridgestone Arena and the Metro Nashville Sports Authority have announced a proposed 30-year lease to keep them in the same place. Nashville has become one of the most successful expansion stories in the NHL given their recent playoff success and fan engagement, and will now have even more stability moving forward.
  • Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports reports that the next competition committee meeting is scheduled for June 11 in Toronto, one that will certainly have lots to discuss from the playoffs. The hockey world was in an uproar again today after a missed hand pass call ended last night’s San Jose-St. Louis game prematurely. NHL Deputy Commissioner Colin Campbell was on Sportsnet radio today and admitted that the on-ice officials made the wrong call not blowing it dead after Timo Meier shoveled the puck ahead to Gustav Nyquist. Expanded review rules could be discussed at the upcoming meeting among other things.

Jason Spezza Will Play In 2019-20, Open To Ottawa Return

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Jason Spezza intends on playing next season, but it won’t be with the Dallas Stars. That time has passed given the emergence of some of the Stars’ young forward prospects, and the declining production from the veteran. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic (subscription required) caught up with Spezza though, and asked him if he would consider a return to the only other franchise he has suited up for:

It’s still early in this process but I have a good relationship with the people in Ottawa that are still there. It would be high on my list of considerations that’s for sure. I left there on good terms. It definitely keeps the door open. It’s food for thought, for sure. But it’s so early in the process, we’ll see.

LeBrun suggests the idea that Spezza could return to provide the Senators with some leadership as they navigate through their rebuild with a roster that as of now is almost completely bereft of effective veterans. Even Cody Ceci, the de facto leader on the blue line—unless of course 22-year old Thomas Chabot can already be considered that—doesn’t have a contract for next season and has an interesting arbitration case ahead of him.

That doesn’t mean Spezza is heading to Ottawa, but it is interesting that he would consider a team at the beginning of a rebuild given he still is without a ton of playoff success. The 35-year old has played 1,065 regular season games in his career but just 80 in the playoffs, 36 of which came in his first few years in the NHL. Spezza notes to LeBrun that he wants to go to the “best team that has the best chance to win” but that he also has a large family to consider, referencing his wife and four children. Born in Toronto, Spezza spent more than a decade playing in Ottawa and is one of the most productive players in franchise history.

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