The Boston Bruins have hired former NHL forward Chris Kelly as a player development coordinator. The 38-year old was with the Ottawa Senators last season as a development coach, and is only just removed from a professional playing career that spanned 17 years, including an appearance at the 2018 Olympics for Team Canada. Kelly suited up 288 times in the regular season for the Bruins, and was part of the team that won the Stanley Cup in 2011. The team has also hired long-time pro scout Andrew Dickson, who was most recently with the Detroit Red Wings.
More notes from around the league…
- The KHL rights for Mikko Rantanen have been traded, as the league prepares for the possibility of a potential NHL work stoppage. Even though Rantanen still doesn’t have a contract with the Colorado Avalanche, the acquisition by Ak Bars Kazan should not be considered an indication that he is heading overseas. Rantanen has developed into one of the premiere offensive wingers in the entire world, and should a work stoppage actually occur in the coming years teams all over the world will be scrambling for his (temporary) services.
- Josh Yohe of The Athletic (subscription required) still believes that the Pittsburgh Penguins will make another trade before the end of the offseason, and has updated his look at the likelihood of that for each roster player. Yohe continues to list Nick Bjugstad, Bryan Rust and Tristan Jarry in the “favorite” category, though examines everyone else thoroughly (okay, Sidney Crosby’s blurb is anything but thorough). The Penguins re-signed Teddy Blueger recently and are now have less than $1MM in cap space remaining with Zach Aston-Reese and Marcus Pettersson still sitting as restricted free agents. While there is certainly some ways to wiggle around the cap issue, the team would still be pushed right to the ceiling all season and limited to what they can do to improve the club. A trade to free up some more cash does seem likely, though how long it will take for that to happen is unclear.
How do rights like MR’s even become a thing that teams can trade?
Seems a bit bogus, doesn’t it? As an NHL’er, in the event of an ill-advised work stoppage, a player can’t truly be expected to play for some random league on the planet, simply because of fake rights ownership. If I were the player, I’d tell the other team to bite it and play where I damn well please, preferably in another league. After all, where’s the compensation to the player for having his rights “controlled” in that circumstance?
The same way that Tampa and now Vegas owned Gusev’s rights.
I’ve heard talk that the Pens might actually be able to move Jack Johnson’s contract to clear the space, but..who comes into the lineup for him? Rikola was good in the preseason and not so much in the real season. Despite the howls of Pens fans, JJ is better, unless Rikola is making a major jump this year. Ben Hutton, Joe Morrow and a few others are still FA’s if they clear enough space.
Starting to wonder why Alex Galchenyuk is the guy they trade to clear space. He’s a UFA after this year and (if he has a good year) will be too expensive to keep. Trading Rust or Bjugstad, then losing Galchenyuk a year after trading Kessel would leave them with almost no depth on RW next year.
JR has done a poor job with asset management the last two seasons. Some of his moves have been mind boggling. He was bidding against himself for Jack Johnson. No one was offering the term nor the money for that file. The following year giving six years at 3.5 for a 4th line forward? Again, no one was close to that. Those are moves that kill a cap. I don’t see anyone taking JJ off Pittsburgh unless the Pens do a Pirates thing and attach a good prospect or pick for a 6th round pick. I laugh at the notion Anaheim wants that file.
Right now, the Kessel deal looks good. A year from now, it could look terrible. With AG becoming a UFA after this year, is one year of AG and the prospect worth three years of Kessel? That would be terrible. Remember, they have Schultz coming off the books as well as AG … you have the following RFAs next year – MCANN, MURRAY, SIMON, KAHUN and Riikola. Good luck with that JR. 10.5 off the books and you have that to fulfill. I guess Rikolla can be not signed but that saves 1 million.
The cap didn’t go up as much as people thought this year. Next year will be the same. Next year, you have to hope Seattle has a Vegas moment and goes nuts at the box office. That is the only way a. major jump in cap happens.
I would move Rust this offseason because to me, he is redundant with Kahun. I don’t think they can afford to move Jarry. Murray and his fragility issues. What happens when he gets hurt, you have CDS and ??? Remember, you traded Gustavfson in that failed Brassard deal.
Seattle is 2 years away. They cant help the Pens anytime soon.
By time Seattle comes official , eventually Pittsburgh will have to protect some players will it be a big name in 2 years, a prospect, or one who comes in on next trade or free agent they get in future deals this year. Don’t think will have same success as Vegas had when the used the expansion draft and moved surplus out to bring players in through trade and free agency, so pens have to figure out who to protect , if not now very, very soon.