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Archives for June 2019

Rangers, Islanders, Devils Interested In Winnipeg’s Jacob Trouba

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While there are rumored to be many teams that have expressed interest in Winnipeg Jets defenseman Jacob Trouba, the New York area could be his eventual destination as the New York Rangers, New York Islanders and New Jersey Devils have been the most aggressive teams in pursuit of the young defenseman, according to the New York Post’s Larry Brooks.

Each team could truly use the 25-year-old Trouba, who hasn’t expressed any desire to sign a long-term deal with the Jets, and with him being one year away from unrestricted free agency, the Jets are expected to move the talented blueliner. However, Brooks writes that he’s heard from multiple sources that Winnipeg has not given permission to inquiring clubs to speak with Trouba’s agent, Kurt Overhardt, about a long-term contract, which could run as high as seven years and $7.5MM.

All three teams, however, would have the cap room to make a commitment to Trouba with all three teams having the assets to make a deal happen, although the price is expected to be costly. The Jets are reportedly asking for a first-round pick and two top prospects or two young NHL players, likely signed to low-cost contracts. That is likely to be exactly what they’ll get as Trouba, a 6-foot-3, 202-pound blueliner had a breakout season offensively with a career high 50 points last season, including 42 assists, which was ninth in the league for defensemen.

The Rangers already have the Jets’ first-round pick in next week’s draft (#20 overall), acquired in the Kevin Hayes trade, and could offer a significant package, according to Brooks, including restricted free agent Pavel Buchnevich and a prospect. However, that might not be enough as both the Islanders and Devils have quite a few prospects in their own system. That brings to question whether the Rangers might consider including Lias Andersson as part of their package to acquire Trouba. Would the Islanders consider moving defensie prospect Noah Dobson or would the Devils include Jesper Boqvist or Jesper Bratt in a deal?

 

Free Agent Focus: New York Rangers

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Free agency is now less than a month away from opening up and there are quite a few prominent players set to hit the open market while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign.  The Rangers have a lot of options when it comes to the upcoming free agency period, but don’t have as much to concern themselves with when it comes to their own free agents. New York does have a few restricted free agents they must worry about, but few players to concern themselves among unrestricted free agents.

Key Restricted Free Agents: F Pavel Buchnevich — The Rangers must be thrilled with the continued improvements of their 24-year-old forward, who has continually taken his game up a notch in all three years, scoring eight goals as a rookie, 14 goals last season and moving into a permanent top-six role in 2018-19 with a 21-goal campaign. That number was more impressive considering he only played 64 games due to a broken thumb and some issues with head coach David Quinn, although he eventually developed a solid relationship with the coach. His 15:10 ATOI was lower than a number of lesser forwards as he ranked ninth in that area among forwards, but should increase significantly next season. Now that his entry-level deal is up, New York must pay him significantly more than the $925K he was previously making. However, with his development, it’s more likely the team will seek a bridge deal in hopes that his progress continues to improve.

F Brendan Lemieux — The Rangers didn’t get a lot of time to evaluate Lemieux, who the team acquired at the trade deadline as part of the Kevin Hayes trade. While not a key piece to the deal, New York hoped that the 23-year-old would give them a key bottom-six winger for a number of years as he had proved to be an agitator in his 53 games played in Winnipeg. Lemieux started his tenure in New York off well as he provided that grit the team needed, but after averaging 7:25 of ATOI with the Jets, his minutes jumped to 12:50 with the Rangers, and he quickly wore down, suggesting he lacked conditioning. In 19 games, he accumulated six points, 64 penalty minutes and two misconducts, which is a lot of penalties. Regardless, it’s likely the Rangers will seek a short-term deal so that Lemieux can prove himself.

D Neal Pionk — After showing off impressive skills in a trial during the 2017-18 season, the 23-year-old blueliner didn’t fare as well in his first full season with the Rangers. Pionk finished the season with six goals and 26 points but also saw his plus/minus drop to minus-16, but found himself in Quinn’s doghouse quite often in the second half of the season and was often a healthy scratch as he tallied just one point and seven points in his final 37 games. With a number of young defenseman close to ready for a regular NHL role, general manager Jeff Gorton will have to decide whether Pionk should stay with the defense or whether the team should move on from him. Expect him to get a short-term or even more likely a one-year deal on a “prove it” contract.

Other RFAs: D Julius Bergman, D Chris Bigras, D Fredrik Claesson, D Anthony DeAngelo, G Brandon Halverson, F Vinni Lettieri, G Chris Nell

Key Unrestricted Free Agents: D John Gilmour — Yes, Gilmour, who played a total of five games for the Rangers this past year, is the team’s top unrestricted free agent. The Group 6 free agent played 28 games during the 2017-18 season, but found himself playing a full season for the Hartford Wolf Pack in the AHL where he dominated, scoring 20 goals and 54 points and was named to the AHL All-Star team. However, he has been passed over on the prospect chart by Ryan Lindgren and Libor Hajek and doesn’t seem to be a major part of the team’s long-range plans although he could be a cheap 6/7th defensive option for the Rangers if they want a low-cost option.

Other UFAs: F Connor Brickley, D Rob O’Gara, G Dustin Tokarski

Projected Cap Space: With a little less than $64MM in commitments for next season (per CapFriendly), the team has room to make changes, but it’s unlikely the team will make any long-term commitments in house this offseason. The team is far more likely to go with multiple short-term deals and focus on fast-tracking their rebuilding efforts as they will likely attempt to bring in a top free agent to supplement its young players.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

West Notes: Zucker, Boyle, Predators

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Jason Zucker’s two near trades have drawn some attention as it’s not very often that deals that fall through make it out in public.  Nonetheless, that’s the situation that the Wild face which could make for some awkwardness if Zucker is still with the team for training camp.  Despite that, GM Paul Fenton told Michael Rand of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune that while he’s disappointed that the talks were made public, he doesn’t think it will be an issue for either side:

I don’t think that it should be out there. As far as my relationship with Jason and his agent, we have no problem with it. They understand that it’s part of the business and that the end of the day, Jason is part of the Minnesota Wild. He’s going to be part of our process going forward. Can things change? Yeah, it can change with everybody. It can change with everyone on our roster.

The 27-year-old is coming off of a quiet season that saw him collect 21 goals and 21 assists in 81 games, well off his numbers from a year before (33-31-64).  It was after that career season that the Wild gave him a five-year, $27.5MM deal, one that could be a little on the high side if his numbers don’t improve.  Zucker is eligible for a ten-team no-trade clause on July 1st so if there is a trade to be made, it’s one that could be sooner than later.

More from the Western Conference:

  • The Predators and Brian Boyle’s agent have had brief discussions regarding the center potentially returning to Nashville next season, reports Adam Vingan of The Athletic (subscription required). The Preds added Boyle in a midseason trade as they looked to load up for the playoffs and he was a fixture on their fourth lone for the stretch run.  He scored five goals in 26 games with the team while splitting time between playing down the middle and on the wing.  Boyle’s agent Rick Curran indicated that there is mutual interest in getting something done but that nothing is imminent at this time.
  • Oilers head coach Dave Tippett is hoping to see his new team prioritize forward depth over blueline depth this offseason, notes Postmedia’s Terry Jones. Production from the wing was a big area of concern in 2018-19 and while recent signing Joakim Nygard has some upside, it will be tough to ask him to step in and play an important role right away.  Edmonton has over $73MM in payroll commitments for next season already so while they need depth, they won’t be able to shop at the top end of the market to get some.

Kings Buy Out Dion Phaneuf

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Dion Phaneuf is getting an early look at free agency.  The Kings announced that they have bought the defenseman out of the final two years of his contract.  While today was the first day that players could be placed on unconditional waivers for the purposes of a buyout, Phaneuf was not required to go through them as he had a no-move clause in his contract.  As a result, the move is made official immediately.

Phaneuf had two years remaining on his contract with a $7MM cap hit (with the Kings paying 75% and the Senators 25%).  Accordingly, the cap hit for buying him out will be as follows for each team:

Kings

2019-20: $2.1875MM
2020-21: $4.0625MM
2021-22: $1.0625MM
2022-23: $1.0625MM

Senators

2019-20: $729K
2020-21: $1.354MM
2021-22: $354K
2022-23: $354K

The deal contained $3.5MM in signing bonuses which are excluded from the standard two-thirds cost calculation as they are paid in full.  Accordingly, Phaneuf will receive over $9MM in actual money from the two teams over the next four years.

Los Angeles brought in Phaneuf in advance of the 2018 trade deadline in what amounted to a swap of bad contracts for both teams.  The Kings picked up the 34-year-old along with center Nate Thompson in exchange for winger Marian Gaborik and center Nick Shore.  Of the four players in the swap, only Gaborik remains with his team and he was on LTIR all of last season and will likely be on there once again for 2019-20 at the very least.

In his prime, Phaneuf was a quality top pairing defender who provided plenty of offense from the back end while mixing in a lot of physicality as well.  However, the point totals have dried up in recent years and the recent transition to teams playing quicker worked against him as he has never been the strongest of skaters.  Not surprisingly, 2018-19 was by far his worst season.  He scored just once in 67 games, spent time as a healthy scratch, and averaged just 15 minutes per night, a career low.

Despite that, there could be a bit of interest in Phaneuf as a free agent from teams looking to add some veteran depth to their defense corps.  While he’s now eligible to talk to teams right away, he won’t officially be able to sign somewhere until the free agent market officially opens up on July 1st.

Blue Jackets Sign Jakob Lilja

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1:30 PM: Lilja has indeed signed with the Blue Jackets, the team announced.  It’s a one-year, entry-level contract and the financial details have not been disclosed.

12:03 PM: While today is the first day that teams can begin the process of buying out players, June 15th is also a notable day on the NHL calendar for another reason.  It’s the deadline for players who are under contract overseas (in countries that have signed a Player Transfer Agreement with the NHL) to sign an NHL contract for next season.  It appears that Swedish winger Jakob Lilja is making the jump as his club team in Djurgarden announced (Twitter link) that he has signed an NHL contract.

The 25-year-old was the leading scorer in the SHL at the end of January when he had 32 points in 37 games.  However, his production tailed off sharply after that as he posted just five more points over his final 20 regular season contests before faring a bit better in the postseason with three goals and five assists in 19 games before losing to Frolunda in the league finals.

Lilja is a capable two-way forward and that’s the type of role he’ll need to play to have success at the NHL level where he likely slots in as a bottom-six option.  As for where he might end up, an earlier tweet from Djurgarden stated that he was signing with Columbus but that was quickly removed and replaced with the announcement that he’s simply signing an NHL contract.  With the deadline being today to get a deal done, it shouldn’t be long before his destination is made official.

Sabres And Rangers Have Discussed A Jimmy Vesey Trade

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The Rangers and Sabres have held discussions regarding a trade involving winger Jimmy Vesey, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports in his latest 31 Thoughts column.  This isn’t the first time that Buffalo has gone after him either as they acquired his negotiating rights back in 2016 back when Tim Murray was their GM.  However, Vesey opted to not sign with the Sabres and went to New York instead.

While Vesey hasn’t become a top-end scorer as he was during his tenure at Harvard, he has emerged as a capable secondary scorer with the Rangers.  He’s coming off of a career-best 35 points in 2018-19 and has scored at least 16 goals in each of his three NHL seasons.

New York’s in the middle of their youth movement and the wing position is about to get more crowded in the near future.  2018 first-rounder Vitali Kravtsov and the presumptive number two pick Kaapo Kakko could both be in the mix for playing time as soon as October and playing time for them could come at Vesey’s expense.  At the very least, their presence will lessen the need for them to lock him up to a long-term deal.

The 26-year-old is entering the final year of his contract, one that carries a $2.275MM AAV but most notably, he’ll be eligible for unrestricted free agency next summer.  Buffalo can certainly afford the cap hit and it’s likely they believe that a change of scenery could help him take that next step forward in his development.  As trade talks begin to pick up with the draft now less than a week away, this will be something to keep an eye on in the days to come.

Jets Sign Joona Luoto

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The Winnipeg Jets have added to their prospect pool, announcing that they have signed winger Joona Luoto to a three-year, entry-level contract.  The deal carries a cap hit of just over $758K.

Luoto has come up through Tappara’s development system in Finland and has spent the past two seasons as a full-time player in the SM-liiga.  While he was a capable scorer at the junior level, that hasn’t translated over to the pros just yet as he has compiled just 16 points in each of the last two years and had limited production in Champions League play as well.

At least one member of the Jets will be familiar with what the 21-year-old brings to the table as winger Patrik Laine also came up through Tappara’s system and the two have been teammates at times over the years.  Luoto also played with prospect winger Kristian Vesalainen back at the 2017 World Juniors.  While it’s unlikely that he will make an impact with the Jets next season, he’ll at least give Winnipeg more depth in their system and a year or two down the road after some time in the AHL, he could then potentially push for a roster spot.

Offseason Keys: Columbus Blue Jackets

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With the postseason now finished, the activity is about to pick up.  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 Columbus Blue Jackets.

It was certainly an eventful year in Columbus.  The team hovered around the middle of the pack for most of the season before GM Jarmo Kekalainen went all in at the deadline.  Not only did he not move his top pending unrestricted free agents, he also went and brought in two more rental players in the hopes of pushing them over the top.  While they still hovered around the middle of the pack – they didn’t clinch a playoff spot until the final days of the regular season – they had their best showing in the postseason.  They swept the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Lightning (their first ever series victory) before falling to the eventual Eastern Conference champion Bruins.  While getting through Tampa Bay was certainly a tough task, Kekalainen is now faced with a tougher one as he tries to keep this team together.  Accomplishing that is basically their entire objective for this offseason.

Re-Sign Werenski

While it’s the forwards that are getting most of the attention among the bumper crop of restricted free agents coming off their entry-level deals, defenseman Zach Werenski also deserves to be included among that group.  He has emerged as a legitimate top pairing blueliner already and has provided a level of offensive production that not a lot of two-way defenders reach in the early stages of his career.

Not only does that put him in line for a big raise, it also makes it a bit tricky to predict how much he’ll ultimately get.  There are offensive-minded blueliners with similar numbers but lack the overall two-way game that Werenski provides.  There are defensive-minded players who by this point have ascended to a top pairing role but don’t put up the numbers that Werenski has.

Those players have tended to sign for between 6-8% of the salary cap in recent years.  With Werenski being an all-around player, he should check in above that which could push his new cap hit on a long-term deal (a short-term bridge pact is unlikely) over the $8MM mark.  With so much money coming off the books on expiring contracts, Kekalainen won’t have to worry about any potential salary cap repercussions as he sets a new bar for a defenseman signing off his entry-level deal.

Keep Or Replace Top Forwards

Artemi Panarin hasn’t exactly hidden his intentions.  Since the start of the season, he was intent on testing the free agent market.  He certainly didn’t hurt his value in 2018-19 as he had a career season as the focal point of their attack where he led the team in scoring.  That continued in the postseason as well.  Panarin is by far the top free agent forward on the open market and could set a new benchmark for an AAV for a winger.

Then there’s Matt Duchene.  Columbus paid a pretty high price to bring him in as a rental and they’ll have to do to keep him around in more ways than one.  Not only is he the consensus top center on the open market (in a class that doesn’t have a lot of top-six talent at that position), they’ll also have to give up their 2020 first-round pick to Ottawa if he sticks around.  While the Blue Jackets have what they hope is their long-term top pivot in Pierre-Luc Dubois, keeping Duchene in the fold would give them a very strong one-two punch for a long time.  If nothing else, the first-round that’s encumbered for him re-signing takes any thought of a potential sign-and-trade off the table which means that Columbus is truly the only team with a chance to give him an eight-year deal.  Before going any further, former Ottawa teammate Ryan Dzingel is one of the better secondary options of this free agent class as well.

Keeping Panarin looks like it’s going to be a challenge.  Columbus can offer him top dollar but all indications going back to the start of the season are that he has some interest in moving on.  Keeping Duchene would be nice but losing another top draft pick would be tough to swallow.  Kekalainen will be in tough to keep both in the fold and if he can’t get new deals done for them, he’s going to have to be aggressive to find replacements for them either on the open market or via trades.

Find A Starting Goalie

Goaltending hasn’t been a big question mark for the last several years with Sergei Bobrovsky in the fold.  That certainly seems like it’s about to change as he’s also eligible for unrestricted free agency and eschewed overtures to talk about a new contract during the season.  John Tortorella’s aggressive usage of Joonas Korpisalo at times seemed to hint that they may have been testing his potential readiness to take on a larger role for 2019-20 and beyond.

Korpisalo’s results imply that he’s not yet ready to take over from Bobrovsky just yet.  The only other goalie they have under contract is Elvis Merzlikins and while he has some upside, he’s not going to be transitioning from being a starter in Switzerland to a starter in the NHL right away.  It’s certainly possible that they could use the two as a platoon for next season but that strategy would certainly carry some risk, especially if they don’t intend on taking a step back in the short term.

With that in mind, Kekalainen could be scouring the free agent market to find at least a short-term option between the pipes if Bobrovsky does indeed move on.  The next best option may be Semyon Varlamov, who could be open to a shorter-term ‘pillow contract’ in the hopes of rebuilding his value.  That could play in well with what Columbus needs if they believe that one of their other two netminders could soon be ready for that role.  At any rate, it appears quite likely that there will be less stability at that position for next season than there has been for a while in Columbus.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Jets Listening To Offers On Nikolaj Ehlers

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With a sizable list of free agents that are in need of new contracts, the Jets are going to have to shake up their roster to make room for these new deals.  Earlier this offseason, it was reported that Winnipeg is shopping forward Mathieu Perreault.  Now, Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic reports (subscription required) that they are listening to offers on Nikolaj Ehlers.

The 23-year-old is coming off the most disappointing season of his young career.  A shoulder injury caused him to miss 20 games and when he was in the lineup, he wasn’t particularly productive as he posted just 21 goals and 16 assists on the campaign, numbers that were well below expectations for someone that was expected to be a fixture in the top six.  Ehlers also struggled considerably in the postseason as he was held off the scoresheet in their first-round loss to St. Louis while logging less than 13 minutes a night.

With six years and $36MM left on his contract, it’s understandable that GM Kevin Cheveldayoff is open to seeing what the market is for the winger.  With Patrik Laine, Kyle Connor, Jacob Trouba, and Tyler Myers among those in need of new deals, they’re going to have to free up some money somewhere.  However, there’s also some risk in potentially dealing Ehlers at a low point in terms of his value.

However, considering that he had two straight seasons of at least 60 points before 2018-19, there should still be a sizable market for Ehlers.  The free agent market isn’t exactly loaded with top-six wingers, especially those that have been able to reach that point plateau.  An opportunity to land a player like that with extended team control doesn’t come up too often.

As for what Winnipeg may be seeking, LeBrun speculates that a young defenseman would make sense as a target to hedge against what could happen with Trouba and Myers.  It has been suggested that Trouba may not want to sign long-term with Winnipeg which, with him being one year away from UFA eligibility, makes him a trade candidate over the next couple of weeks.  Myers could ultimately choose to walk on the open market next month which would leave their back end thinned out rather quickly.  It’s certainly possible that Ehlers could be used to help re-solidify that position in the coming weeks.

Poll: What Should The Stars Do With Valeri Nichushkin?

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Valeri Nichushkin’s time with Dallas has certainly been a bumpy road, to say the least.  After being the tenth overall pick in 2013, he made an immediate impact that season, posting 34 points in 79 games and it looked like the Stars had a top-six power forward in the making.  However, things have only gone downhill from there.

Injuries marred his sophomore season while he only had nine goals and 29 points in his third season while seeing his ice time drop.  Nichushkin’s frustration with his role ultimately led him to go back to Russia for two years with CSKA Moscow of the KHL.  He didn’t exactly light it up over there but he did play relatively well and did enough to earn a two-year, $5.9MM deal from Dallas last offseason.

While the hopes that he could be a top liner were gone, the hope was that he could provide the Stars with some much needed secondary scoring for 2018-19.  It didn’t happen.  Instead, he managed to go the entire season without scoring a single goal, recording just ten assists in 57 games.  While he had a few minor injuries over the year, he also spent a lot of time as a healthy scratch.  That’s certainly not what anyone was expecting from him and isn’t anywhere close to enough production for his $2.95MM price tag.

GM Jim Nill is now faced with a decision that a year ago would nearly seem unfathomable considering that they waited two years to get him back in Dallas.  Is it time for the Stars to part ways with Nichushkin?

As the winger is only 24, his buyout cost is considerably cheaper than the standard two-thirds cost.  The team would only be responsible for covering one-third of his deal, meaning that he’d only count against their salary cap for $700K for next season and $450K for 2020-21.  That would free up more than $2MM in cap room for 2019-20 and the Stars could certainly find someone that could be more productive than what Nichushkin brought to the table for that price tag.  u

On the other hand, there’s no denying that he still has some upside.  Sure, he’s probably not going to be a top scorer in the NHL but physicality with a bit of offensive punch still carries a lot of value around the league.  Giving up on Nichushkin so quickly (via buyout or trade) could be a decision that they come to regret down the road.

What should the Stars do with Nichushkin?  Have your say by voting in the poll below.

Mobile users, click here to vote.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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