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Archives for June 2019

Snapshots: Flames, Draft Rankings, Penguins

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The Calgary Flames have renewed their affiliation with the Kansas City Mavericks through the 2019-20 season, keeping their ECHL franchise in place for a third season. The Mavericks reached the playoffs this season for just the second time in team history, recording a 36-30-6 record under head coach John-Scott Dickson. Flames AGM Brad Pascall released a statement on the agreement:

The Calgary Flames and the Stockton Heat are pleased to continue our affiliation agreement with the ECHL’s Kansas City Mavericks. Kansas City is a first class franchise with quality ownership and management and they share the same principles and objectives for player development as our organization.

The ECHL is turning into an important development league for every NHL organization and is no different for Calgary, who relied on the Mavericks to provide playing time for top goaltending prospects Mason McDonald and Nick Schneider this season. A continuing partnership can only help to build stability throughout the entire three-tiered development structure, and provide a place where raw or unheralded prospects can work on their game.

  • Speaking of prospects, Bob McKenzie of TSN has released his final draft ranking which is based on the opinion of ten active NHL scouts. The list has Jack Hughes and Kaapo Kakko at the top to no one’s surprise, but the pair of star forwards are followed by Bowen Byram, the top defender in the class. Diminutive sniper Cole Caufield and injured Peyton Krebs find themselves just sneaking into the top-10, while Spencer Knight is all the way up at No. 12. The ranking is by no means a mock draft, but can often give insight into the way teams around the NHL perceive certain players.
  • The Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins have signed Macoy Erkamps and Blake Siebenaler to AHL contracts for 2019-20. Both players were acquired by trade during the 2018-19 season and were scheduled to become restricted free agents this summer. Instead of issuing the pair of defensemen qualifying offers—or failing to do so and seeing them hit unrestricted free agency—the Penguins have found a sort of middle ground that keeps them in the organization while not taking up one of their NHL contract slots. 24-year old Erkamps had four points in 24 games for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton following the trade, while 23-year old Siebenaler saw more time with the Wheeling Nailers in the ECHL.

Free Agency Notes: Edler, Hayes, Pavelski, Krug

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When Alex Edler asked Vancouver not to move him at the NHL Trade Deadline, many assumed it was precursor to an extension between the long-time Canuck and his team. Yet, as the weeks have passed and no resolution has emerged, that expectation grew less and less certain. Now, after a month or so of reports that term and expansion protection were coming between the two sides, it seems the deal is dead and Edler will hit the open market. Sportsnet’s Rick Dhaliwal reports that it does not sound like the Canucks and Edler will get a deal done by July 1st. This does not entirely rule out a return to Vancouver, but it will be substantially harder to convince him to come back after he’s tested the waters and likely found teams willing to give him the desired term and No-Movement Clause. This especially rings true today, as Erik Karlsson’s extension leaves a thin defense market even weaker and D-needy teams will have little choice but to meet the demands of Edler and fellow top free agents like Jake Gardiner and Tyler Myers. It would not be surprise to now see Vancouver make a hard push for one of those two as well, as they seek an upgrade on the blue line but were not willing to give the 33-year-old Edler a long-term deal or risk losing young players to protect an aging veteran in the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft.

  • It’s been a roller coaster of reports on Kevin Hayes since the moment his negotiating rights were acquired by the Philadelphia Flyers from the Winnipeg Jets. The Flyers obviously became the favorite to sign the free agent center given their early access, but there have since been reports followed by other conflicting reports about how talks have been going between the two sides. Finally, trusted Flyers source Frank Seravalli of TSN has chimed in and he has only good news for Philly fans. Seravalli reports that the two sides have made good progress and that talks are trending toward a contract. He stops short of guaranteeing a deal gets done, but believes that it will. This would remove yet another major name from the free agent market, following Karlsson, Jeff Skinner, and Jordan Eberle. And like those three, reports of a deal being close have so far been proven true this off-season.
  • The sheer magnitude of Karlsson’s new contract with the Sharks has surprised many and has reinforced the narrative that San Jose will have to lose other key free agents to re-sign the talented defenseman. While he wouldn’t speak specifically about talks with those players, GM Doug Wilson did warn not to make assumptions when asked about Joe Pavelski, per The Athletic’s Kevin Kurz. Wilson says that nothing has been ruled out, making a Pavelski return a possibility. He also spoke to the importance of getting Karlsson under contract “well before July 1st”, specifically so that the team can plan around their new salary cap paradigm. It still remains a long-shot barring trades to remove salary from the current roster, but until Pavelski, a career Shark, puts pen to paper elsewhere, he remains a possibility for San Jose.
  • Boston defenseman Torey Krug will not be a free agent until next summer, but he has already proven that he is worth a significant raise in his next contract. The Bruins’ power play magician is fifth among all NHL defensemen in regular season scoring over the past three years and second only to Erik Karlsson in playoff scoring. Karlsson’s new extension, along with the contracts of players like John Carlson and Victor Hedman, raise the bar for what Krug might be looking for in his next deal. Even though he has some struggles defensively, it is fair to assume that his current $5.25MM cap hit will not cut it. This leaves the Bruins in a difficult spot, as they must first re-sign elite young defensemen Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo this summer. Those moves will leave Boston with little cap space this off-season and not much more the following year when Krug needs a new contract. Yet, speaking with the media today, GM Don Sweeney made it clear that his intent is not to trade the mobile defender, nor to let him leave after next season:

If somebody blew us away (with a trade offer for Krug), every player has to be looked at in that way. When you’re an organization, you just have to, you’re doing a disservice if you don’t. But it would take a pretty unique opportunity for us to part with Torey. We think he’s a big part of the fabric of our group. He’s kind of that next wave of leadership that we talk about.

Columbus Blue Jackets Re-Sign Markus Hannikainen

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The Blue Jackets face more question marks than they would like entering this off-season, but can at least check one box on their to-do list today. Columbus has announced a one-year, one-way contract extension with forward Markus Hannikainen, who is coming off his first full season spent in the NHL. The 26-year-old will be an unrestricted free agent next summer.

The Columbus Dispatch’s Brian Hedger adds that the deal carries a $750K value, which is just $15K more than his $735K qualifying offer. As such, Hannikainen made things easy on the Blue Jackets by simply accepting close to the minimum deal that they could offer him. Hannikainen could have filed for arbitration this off-season, but the Finnish forward is still looking to truly make his mark in the NHL and was likely willing to accept a low salary in exchange for more responsibility on a Columbus team that will be looking to fill out their forward corps following several expected key departures.

Hannikainen originally signed with the Blue Jackets as an undrafted free agent in 2015, continuing a Scandinavian pipeline to Columbus under GM Jarmo Kekalainen. Hannikainen has played in at least four NHL games in each of his four season in North America, setting a new career high this past year with 44 games played. It was also the first season that he did not suit up for the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters, as he proved early on in his Blue Jackets tenure that he had outgrown the minor league level. Hannikainen will look to take another step forward next season, hopefully improving his production from just seven points this year. An increase in points will mean an increase in appearances and ice time and an increase in bargaining power when his contract ends next summer.

Senators Notes: No. 19 Pick, Paajarvi, Hogberg

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Perhaps excited by the extension of Anthony Duclair and the additional second-round pick added by the Erik Karlsson contract, both occurring earlier today, Ottawa Senators GM Pierre Dorion was very positive and open when speaking with the media today. Per The Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch, Dorion began by discussing the team’s plans for the upcoming NHL Draft. The Senators will travel to Vancouver tomorrow to begin meetings ahead of the round one of the draft on Friday night, but Dorion has already had many conversations with rival GM’s. Dorion states that he has already spoken with multiple teams about possibly moving up in the first round from No. 19. The Senators are without their own first-rounder, owed to the Colorado Avalanche from last year’s Matt Duchene trade, but the team was fortunately able to recoup a top pick from the Columbus Blue Jackets in their own sale of Duchene. With that said, No. 19 is not exactly where a rebuilding team would like their first pick to be, even though Ottawa already has a deep, talented pipeline. Following the Karlsson news, CapFriendly reports that the Senators now have 28 picks in the next three drafts, including 16 in the top three rounds. That is plenty of ammunition if Dorion decides that he wants to move up the board on Friday. Teams like the Philadelphia Flyers and Vancouver Canucks have hinted at their willingness to move back, while the Colorado Avalanche may also be open to moving their second pick in the round, No. 16. If Dorion is intent on moving up, he should be able to find a taker.

  • Dorion also made the somewhat surprising reveal that the Senators are not pursuing a contract extension with free agent forward Magnus Paajarvi. Paajarvi, 28, has spent the past season and half with Ottawa after coming over from the St. Louis Blues on waivers in 2017-18. Although the 2009 tenth overall pick has never been able to live up to his draft stock nor his rookie year production, Paajarvi has grown into a solid two-way player and enjoyed the best season since his first in Ottawa this past year. Paajarvi seemed like a safe bet to stay with the Senators, especially given his key role on the penalty kill, but Dorion has other plans. He did say that talks continue with fellow UFA’s Oscar Lindberg and Brian Gibbons, both of whom performed well after deadline trades, as well as RFA defenseman Cody Ceci. As for Paajarvi, he’ll likely land on his feet elsewhere in the league once free agency opens.
  • Finally, Dorion announced that a contract resolution with RFA goaltender Marcus Hogberg is imminent. Hogberg is expected to sign with the team this week after rumors emerged early this off-season that he was considering a move to Europe. It remains possible that Hogberg could still be loaned elsewhere, as his signing only adds to a logjam of keepers in both Ottawa and AHL Belleville. The Senators expect to enter next season with a tandem of veteran Craig Anderson and returnee Anders Nilsson. As of now, Mike Condon will also be in the mix. In the minors, the team hopes to give top goalie prospect Filip Gustavsson, college standout Joey Daccord, and now Hogberg the time in net they need to develop properly. If that is going to be impossible, even with a likely Condon departure, Hogberg is the top candidate to be loaned away, despite his advantage in pro experience.

Erik Karlsson Re-Signs With San Jose Sharks

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UPDATE: The Sharks have now officially announced the Karlsson extension and it is worth even more than previously believed. Karlsson is set to make $11.5MM on average over an eight-year term for a total of $92MM, according to CapFriendly. That includes $53MM in signing bonuses, largely front loaded in the early years for potential lockout protection, as well as in the final two years to dissuade a buyout. The contract also includes a full No-Movement Clause. There is little doubt remaining that San Jose is all in on Karlsson given these terms, which make Karlsson the highest paid defenseman in NHL history and behind only Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews overall. The Sharks simply have to hope that he can get back to full health and remain that way as long as possible, while those teams that missed out on a chance to court him this summer have to hope that the somewhat underwhelming replacement options don’t drastically increase their asking price.

 

It’s been an ongoing narrative early this off-season that the San Jose Sharks were willing to do whatever it takes to re-sign Erik Karlsson, after the all-world defenseman played well – when healthy – in his first season with the team. Karlsson is considered not just the top defenseman on the free agent market, but arguably the biggest name overall, and that’s taking into account his injury concerns. Few defensemen in the NHL can do what a healthy Karlsson can offensively and the 29-year-old was set to cash in on the open market. Yet, it seems that GM Doug Wilson and the Sharks have convinced Karlsson that he doesn’t need to test the waters to find a considerable contract and a winning team. TSN insider Bob McKenzie reports that “all signs are pointing” to Karlsson returning to San Jose and colleague Pierre LeBrun follows it up by stating that “a deal is indeed done.”

McKenzie is hardly the first to report that extension talks were getting close between the two sides, but when the respected hockey mind makes a pronouncement like this, it generally carries significant weight. LeBrun thus checked in himself and found previous reports that the two sides were talking about a contract in the neighborhood of Drew Doughty’s eight-year, $88MM contract to be true. LeBrun believes that is will be an eight-year deal worth more than Doughty’s $11MM AAV. This would make Karlsson’s cap hit the third-largest in NHL history.

Unless his negotiating rights were to be traded prior to July 1st, the Sharks were always going to be the only team that could offer Karlsson that valuable eight year. However, it is likely their willingness to move into the double-digit AAV realm that pushed negotiations closer to a resolution. Especially in a season in which Karlsson missed 29 games due to injury, there was plenty of speculation that his value would take a hit on the free agent market, resulting in lesser term or at least a lower dollar value over a long-term deal. Instead, the Sharks seemingly plan to keep Karlsson in town by offering him the same contract he likely would have landed prior to this past season and hope that recent groin surgery solves the nagging soft tissue damage that cost the superstar blue liner so much time this season.

Assuming this extension becomes official shortly, it will have wide-ranging effects. San Jose cannot afford to re-sign Karlsson to this contract and also re-up restricted free agents Timo Meier and Kevin Labanc without making some sacrifices. Priority unrestricted free agents like Joe Pavelski, Joe Thornton, Gustav Nyquist, and Joonas Donskoi cannot all return if any can. Signing even one of those players may force the Sharks to move out other salary from the roster. Additionally, per the terms of the original Karlsson trade, San Jose will also surrender a 2021 second-round pick to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for extending their acquisition. As for the rest of the free agent market, one of the top names is now off the board. The demand and thus the price for the next tier of defensemen – Jake Gardiner and Tyler Myers – just went up, as did the cost of bringing in a big name like Artemi Panarin or Matt Duchene after both Karlsson and Jeff Skinner received larger contracts than expected.

The greater story here though is that the Sharks’ Stanley Cup window, which some saw as closing if Karlsson, Pavelski, and Thornton were all to leave, has now been extended with the re-signing of one of the game’s best defensemen, so long as he can stay healthy. With Karlsson, Brent Burns, and Marc-Edouard Vlasic together on the blue line for at least six more years and core forwards like Logan Couture, Evander Kane, Tomas Hertl, and soon Meier locked up, the team has strength at both ends and will continue to be a top competitor year in and year out.

 

Anaheim Ducks Name Dallas Eakins Their Next Head Coach

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Monday: As expected, the Ducks have now officially announced Eakins as head coach. Despite a more drawn-out selection process than anticipated, Murray spoke glowingly of his new hire in the team’s release, stating “Dallas is an outstanding head coach who has worked well with our players since joining the organization four years ago. He is a tremendous leader and strategist, and deserves this opportunity.” The challenge now for Eakins is in trying to replicate his success with the Gulls with a Ducks team that seemed unmotivated for much of last season. The team has an aging, injury-ridden core, but are not without talent. If Eakins can find ways to re-energize the lineup with strong play from the younger players, it’s not out of the question that Anaheim could turn things around as early as next season.

Sunday, 4:00pm: The Athletic’s Eric Stephens and Josh Cooper confirmed that Eakins will be the next coach and he will be formally announced as the Ducks’ tenth coach in franchise history on Monday.

Sunday, 2:00pm: The Anaheim Ducks look like they have finally made a decision on their head coaching job as Dallas Eakins looks to be the “last man standing” and, according to TSN’s Frank Seravalli, the Ducks intend to formally announce him as head coach some time next week. The Orange County Register’s Elliott Teaford adds that he expects the announcement to be made Monday or Tuesday.

Eakins, who has been coaching the San Diego Gulls, the Ducks’ AHL affiliate, for the last four years, has always been considered the lead candidate for the job. However, Anaheim general manager Bob Murray chose to undergo an extensive search to evaluate other possibilities. The process had been delayed, as Eakins led the Gulls to the AHL Western Conference Final, before eventually being eliminated by the Chicago Wolves.  He finished with a 154-95-15 record over those four years with San Diego and worked with many of the team’s young players, making him a solid candidate to lead the team’s rebuilding project. He does have some NHL experience as the 52-year-old coached the Edmonton Oilers, but didn’t last long as he was fired after 18 months and a 36-63-14 record.

The team interviewed a number of candidates including New York Islanders assistant Lane Lambert, Dallas Stars assistants Todd Nelson and Rick Bowness, Manitoba Moose head coach Pascal Vincent, and University of Minnesota-Duluth coach Scott Sandelin. However, one by one, the candidates were told they were out of the running, with Eakins and Sandelin the last two coaching candidates standing. Sandelin recently signed an extension with Duluth, possibly taking him out of the running.

Anaheim is coming off a disappointing season that saw them not make the playoffs, finish 35-37-10, and force Randy Carlyle out of a job mid-season with many pointing the team’s lack of effort throughout the year. Murray took over the reins himself for the rest of the year in hopes of getting a better understanding of what the team would need this off-season.

 

 

Ottawa Senators, Anthony Duclair Agree To Extension

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The Ottawa Senators landed an additional second-round pick in the 2021 NHL Draft when former star Erik Karlsson reportedly agreed to an extension with the San Jose Sharks earlier today. They have now made the most of another one of their big trades from this past season. Anthony Duclair, acquired from the Columbus Blue Jackets in the Ryan Dzingel trade, has agreed to a one-year contract extension, the team announced. The deal will pay Duclair $1.65MM next season, which could prove to be a bargain for the Senators. Duclair had been set for restricted free agency and held arbitration rights, but has opted to take Ottawa’s offer in hopes that he can re-establish his value next season.

Duclair, 23, has had an up-and-down career and has already made many stops since breaking into the NHL at 19. The New York Rangers draft pick failed to impress as a rookie and was traded to the Arizona Coyotes in 2015. He broke out that same year, recording 20 goals and 44 points. However, when his output dropped to just 15 points in 2016-17, the Coyotes did not hesitate to trade him the following season to the Chicago Blackhawks. The Blackhawks opted not to qualify Duclair, who signed as an unrestricted free agent with the Columbus Blue Jackets last summer. Although Duclair was on pace for a bounce back season with Columbus, the team decided to move him at the deadline as part of their “all in” approach. Fortunately, he caught on quickly in Ottawa, registering 14 points in just 21 games.

The Senators hope that Duclair will again take advantage of the opportunity afforded to him on the young, inexperienced Ottawa roster. If he can keep up his scoring pace from late last season over the course of this next year, he could reach or even surpass his previous career high of 44 points. At just $1.65MM, that would be a tremendous value for the Sens. GM Pierre Dorion certainly likes what he sees, as the team’s press release states:

We were pleased with what Anthony was able to add to our lineup after his acquisition. This signing improves our team speed and scoring depth up front. Anthony’s speed and skill can be dynamic and at only 23 years old, we feel he has the chance to grow into a really consistent contributor.

Five Key Stories: 6/10/19 – 6/16/19

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A very tight Stanley Cup Final has come to an end with St. Louis needing seven games to beat Boston for their first championship.  With that now complete, the action has started to pick up off the ice already.  Several key moves highlight the top stories of the past week.

Niskanen To Flyers: It wasn’t even 24 hours after the end of the Final before the first trade was announced as the Capitals dealt Matt Niskanen to the Flyers for Radko Gudas in a swap of defensemen.  Niskanen has been a capable top-four blueliner for quite a few years now but with two years and $11.5MM left on his contract, it was more than Washington could afford.  Philadelphia also retained 30% of Gudas’ deal to help facilitate the trade.  Capitals GM Brian MacLellan wasted little time spending a big portion of his savings as he locked up winger Carl Hagelin to a four-year, $11MM deal.

Rule Change Recommendations: There have been small tweaks to the rules for several years now and it appears the trend will continue after the Competition Committee made its recommendations for next season.  The big one is expanded use of video review although no specifics were made with regards to what may be added to the list of reviewable plays.  Other recommendations made involved a change to the tie-breaking procedure at the end of the season, using regulation wins instead of regulation and overtime wins (ROW), a rule that would require players losing their helmets to leave the ice, and faceoff placements.

Eberle Re-Signs: The Islanders entered the summer with three prominent forwards in need of new contracts.  Brock Nelson re-signed quickly.  Now Jordan Eberle is off the market as well after he inked a five-year, $27.5MM extension.  The deal actually represents a small dip from the $6MM he averaged on his last contract.  Eberle is coming off the worst season of his nine-year NHL career, one that saw him record just 37 points in 78 games although he turned things around in the postseason, leading the team in scoring with nine points in eight contests.  While the 29-year-old is no longer a top-line talent, he should still be a part of New York’s second line for several more seasons.

Blackhawks Acquire Maatta: There was an expectation that changes would be coming in Pittsburgh and the first of those occurred when they shipped defenseman Olli Maatta to Chicago in exchange for winger Dominik Kahun and a fifth-round pick.  The 24-year-old Maatta is coming off of a down season that saw him spend a bit of time as a healthy scratch and with three years left on his deal at a $4.083MM cap hit, he was too expensive for the cap-strapped Penguins.  He can make a push for a top-four spot with Chicago while Kahun, who is coming off of a nice rookie season, gives the Penguins a nice boost to their middle-six group at a price tag below $1MM for next year.

Rutherford: Kessel Trade Unlikely: Speaking of the Penguins, there has been plenty of speculation that winger Phil Kessel would be on the move this summer, especially after word leaked about a deal to Minnesota that he nixed.  Now, GM Jim Rutherford stated that Kessel will now likely remain with the team for next season.  Kessel can block a trade to 22 teams and clearly, he’s shown that he’s willing to use it which means his trade market is rather limited.  Nonetheless, even with that declaration, things could certainly change quickly with the draft now less than a week away.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Flyers Have Held Trade Talks For A Backup Goaltender

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While many teams will be turning to the free agent market in a couple of weeks to shore up their goaltending situation, it appears as if the Flyers may be going in a different direction.  GM Chuck Fletcher told reporters, including Dave Isaac of the Cherry Hill Courier-Post, that they’ve had trade talks with multiple teams about finding a backup netminder for Carter Hart.

Philadelphia has four pending UFA goalies on their current roster in Cam Talbot, Brian Elliott, Michal Neuvirth, and Mike McKenna.  While they acquired Talbot before the trade deadline in what appeared to be an audition for that role, he wound up hardly playing for them down the stretch and struggled in the few appearances he had.  Elliott was more effective but has had injury issues over his two seasons with the Flyers while the other two were already not expected to return.

With the number of goalies that are set to hit free agency, the trade market for backups isn’t particularly robust.  Florida is shopping James Reimer but his $3.4MM price tag for two more years would be a lot to take on.  Toronto is open to moving Garret Sparks but he has yet to establish himself at the NHL level.

As for other possible trade options, Montreal’s Charlie Lindgren has drawn interest over the last couple of years but with Antti Niemi gone, they could be planning to use him as a full-time backup for 2019-20 and it’s not as if he’s proven in the NHL either.  Youngsters Tristan Jarry (Pittsburgh) and Eric Comrie (Winnipeg) are waiver-eligible which could make them trade chips but once again, neither have proven themselves in the NHL.  With a still relatively-untested Hart between the pipes, having another young goalie to partner with him carries some risk.

Fletcher didn’t rule out the possibility of eventually looking to free agency to find a backup goalie but for now, it appears that he’d like to have Hart’s backup in place before the calendar flips to July.

Offseason Keys: Dallas Stars

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With the postseason now finished, the activity is about to pick up with the draft now just days away.  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 Dallas Stars.

After narrowly missing out on the playoffs, the Stars went a different direction last offseason, bringing in a first time NHL coach in Jim Montgomery as their new bench boss.  The hope was that he’d make them a better all-around team.  That didn’t exactly happen.  Instead, their offense actually dropped to 29th overall.  However, their defensive performance improved as well while they received top-notch goaltending.  That was enough to get them back into the postseason and through the first round after dispatching of Nashville but there is still more work to be done.  Here are the keys to their offseason.

Add Defensive Depth

With Miro Heiskanen, Esa Lindell, and John Klingberg all signed or under team control for at least the next three seasons, the Stars have a good core group in place.  However, things start to go downhill fairly quickly after that.

Jamie Oleksiak was brought back from Pittsburgh and quickly fell down the depth chart down the stretch.  He then suffered a knee injury in the opening round.  He’s signed for two more years but it’s hard to place him in more than a sixth role at this point.  Veteran Roman Polak was re-signed but he’s also someone that is best suited to be on the third pairing.  The organization once had high hopes for restricted free agent Julius Honka but he was a healthy scratch more often than he actually played so he’s probably not in the mix as well while Stephen Johns’ concussion trouble present questions about whether or not he’ll be able to play again.  At the very least, they can’t count on him returning.

As a result, GM Jim Nill would be wise to add a top-four defender at the very least as well as some extra depth.  Finding someone that can play on the second pairing would allow them to take some pressure off the likes of Polak and Oleksiak and keep them in roles they’re better suited for.  In terms of adding depth, bringing back Taylor Fedun would be a good place to start after he impressed upon being acquired from Buffalo.  Some improvements to the back end have been made in recent years but there is still more work to be done.

Zuccarello Decision

Mats Zuccarello seemed like a great fit for Dallas when they acquired him from the Rangers.  Yes, he was injured in his first game with the team but he came back and tied for the team lead in scoring in the postseason.  While he’s an unrestricted free agent next month, he seems like a no-brainer to bring back.

However, it’s not quite so simple.  As part of the trade with New York, the 2020 third-round pick that Dallas is set to give up becomes a first rounder if Zuccarello re-signs.  While he acquitted himself quite well with his new team and has several good years left in him, is it justifiable to part with a first-rounder to keep him around where there are other top-six wingers that will be available in a couple of weeks on the open market?

It will also be worth watching to see what type of raise the 31-year-old will covet.  He made $4.5MM on his previous contract and as someone who averaged 56 points in the previous five years before 2018-19 (and played at a 68-point pace this past season), he’s going to be in line for a notable raise.  When you put everything together, it’s shaping up to be a pretty expensive price to pay to keep Zuccarello in Dallas and Nill will need to decide whether it’s justifiable to pay it or look elsewhere.

Bring In Scoring Help

Regardless of what they do with Zuccarello, more help up front is required.  As a team, Dallas scored just 210 goals in 2018-19, good for 29th in the NHL.  Their top line for most of the season (Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, and Alexander Radulov) combined for 89 of them, or more than 42% of their goals as a team.  While it’s great to have a strong number one line, asking one trio to shoulder that much of the scoring load is tough.

The good news for the Stars is that Jason Spezza’s $7.5MM contract comes off the books.  That type of money being freed up will allow them to go after some of the more prominent forwards on the open market.  Another impact forward on the roster full-time would go a long way towards giving them a second line that’s capable of doing some damage.  That would either free up more room for the Seguin unit or give them the ability to split things up into two strong groups.

On top of that, some more secondary scoring is also needed.  Radek Faksa was the only other full-time Dallas forward to reach the double-digit mark in goals.  Teams with eyes on contending need a few more of those on the roster.  Fortunately for Nill, there are quite a few of those players available in free agency and that’s something they should be able to add without much difficulty.  It’s going to be hard to ask the goaltending to be as successful as Ben Bishop and Anton Khudobin were this past season and getting some more offense would go a long way towards giving them a lot more margin for error for 2019-20.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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