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Snapshots: RFA Market, Schuldt, Pominville

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The restricted free agent market still hasn’t budged much since the beginning of the offseason, but that means Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic hasn’t missed much during his vacation. The insider returned today with a look at several of the biggest names (subscription required) still without contracts and explained that in many situations term is the big sticking point. In particular, LeBrun spoke with Toronto Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas who maintains that even though the team hasn’t been able to get a deal done with Mitch Marner, the idea of a trade is still almost unthinkable.

That’s the same sentiment that Dubas gave Bob McKenzie of TSN in their interview, explaining that Marner is still a huge part of the Maple Leafs program and they want him in a Toronto sweater for as long as possible. That’s the same company line that almost every GM has uttered over the last two months, but names like Marner, Mikko Rantanen, Matthew Tkachuk and Brayden Point are now just a few days away from missing the start of training camp.

  • One name not mentioned in LeBrun’s piece is Jimmy Schuldt, who continues to negotiate with the Vegas Golden Knights after signing and burning his one-year entry-level deal last season. Schuldt played one game down the stretch for the Golden Knights after finishing his four-year career at St. Cloud State and was expected to challenge for a full-time spot on the Vegas blueline this season. Jesse Granger of The Athletic tweets that nothing has changed in the negotiations of late and that the Vegas front office “believes it can wait Schuldt out to sign him for as cheap as possible.” The Golden Knights have very little cap space remaining even after trading away players like Erik Haula, Colin Miller and Nikita Gusev, obviously leaving them without much flexibility when it comes to Schuldt’s deal.
  • Even with all the focus on the RFA market there is still some talent left among the unrestricted free agent names. One of those is Jason Pominville, who according to Eric Engels of Sportsnet has at least had preliminary conversations with the Montreal Canadiens. The 36-year old has likely had some talks with several teams after registering 31 points in 73 games last season for the Buffalo Sabres. Pominville may not be the 70-80 point player he once was, but he can still contribute enough that he should find a landing spot somewhere before the season begins.

Stefan Noesen To Sign PTO With Dallas Stars

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Tuesday: Shapiro has new information today it seems, as the Athletic reporter now tweets that Noesen will be joining the Stars on a PTO after all.

Monday: It has been a quiet summer thus far for forward Stefan Noesen, who became an unrestricted free agent earlier this off-season when the New Jersey Devils opted not to extend a qualifying offer. Noesen’s name has hardly been whispered on the rumor mill with so many teams still needing to sign their RFA’s and other talented UFA’s waiting for the dominoes to fall. However, Noesen has finally resurfaced in the most likely of places. The Athletic’s Sean Shapiro reports that the Texas native skated with the Dallas Stars today.

Now, Shapiro stops short of claiming this is an indication of even a PTO, nevertheless a contract. However, he does note that Noesen was the only non-Star in attendance and was wearing Dallas gear. That in itself is not conclusive, but surely lends itself to the idea that Noesen may be officially linked to the team in some way. Yet, Dallas’ roster construction may suggest the opposite. The Stars were active in free agency this summer, adding Joe Pavelski and Corey Perry to a forward corps that was already relatively deep. It has left the team with less than $1MM in cap space with only 22 players on the projected roster. On a minimum contract, Noesen could fit as the final member of the roster, but it would leave the Stars with less roster flexibility than would a waiver-exempt prospect. The team could use a young, established bottom-six player, but likely not at the cost of cap and roster confusion.

Noesen, 26, would have to first prove he is worthy of a contract anyway. It is unlikely that the Stars, or any NHL team for that matter, are willing to give the two-way forward a guaranteed deal after such a down season. Noesen entered 2017-18 with high expectations after a career-high 27 points the year prior, but took a major step backwards. Noesen recorded just eight points in 41 games and watched the other 41 from the press box. The Devils themselves regressed as well, but Noesen’s struggles were mostly a product of his own poor play. The 2011 first-round pick still has the tools and experience to be an effective player, but he first needs to show that he is ready for NHL action. The Stars have already shown a willingness to add PTO’s, formally inviting Scottie Upshall to camp, so Noesen could very well be getting that shot. If not in Dallas, he still seems like a solid candidate to get a look somewhere. However the invitation is just the beginning and the once highly-regarded prospect will need to work hard to show he still belongs at the top level.

Minnesota Wild Sign Louie Belpedio

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The Minnesota Wild have locked up another one of their restricted free agents, signing Louie Belpedio to a one-year two-way contract. The deal will carry a salary of $700K at the NHL level and keep Belpedio a restricted free agent at its conclusion. Kevin Fiala now becomes the final RFA for GM Bill Guerin and the Minnesota front office.

Belpedio, 23, was a third-round pick of the Wild in 2014 but spent one year with the USNTDP and then four years at Miami University (Ohio) before joining the professional ranks. With that long development history behind him he played his first full season in the organization in 2018-19 and was a strong option for the Iowa Wild. In 81 AHL games he recorded 24 points, but will have his sights set on an even bigger role this year.

The Minnesota blueline is quite crowded heading into the year, but should the team run into any injury trouble Belpedio may be one of the first to be called up. Luckily he is still waiver-exempt to start the year and can be stashed in the minor league, only to pop up at the first sign of trouble. After scoring two points in a memorable NHL debut in 2018, the young defenseman played in two more games this past season and was held scoreless.

Niklas Kronwall Announces Retirement, Joins Detroit’s Front Office

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The Detroit Red Wings brought one franchise legend back to run their front office in Steve Yzerman, and he’ll be joined by another one. Niklas Kronwall has announced his retirement as a player and will now move to the front office as an advisor to Yzerman. Kronwall and the team released a four-minute video explaining his decision and thanking everyone that has been involved in his long career.

The 38-year old Kronwall was an unrestricted free agent after his last contract with the Red Wings expired, but it never seemed like he would sign anywhere else. Selected 29th overall in 2000 out of the Swedish Elite League, Kronwall spent his entire career with Detroit, playing in 953 regular season games and winning the Stanley Cup in 2008. In that playoff run Kronwall was one of the Red Wings’ best players, recording 15 points in 22 games and leading the entire postseason with a +16 rating.

Known best for his punishing open-ice hits, Kronwall was an extremely effective player at both ends of the rink. Three times he recorded at least 44 points in a single season with his career-best of 51 coming in 2008-09 as part of a three-headed monster on defense along with Nicklas Lidstrom and Brian Rafalski. When Lidstrom and Rafalski would eventually retire, Kronwall took on the mantle of top dog for the Red Wings defense corps and reached new heights in ice time and responsibility. For three consecutive seasons from 2012-2015 he received Norris Trophy votes as one of the best defensemen in the league, while averaging more than 24 minutes of ice time.

To go along with his incredible NHL resume, Kronwall also consistently performed well internationally. In 2006 he took home an Olympic gold medal with Sweden to go along with his Stanley Cup and World Championship gold, putting him in the rare “Triple Gold Club.” Add in his two Swedish championships before coming to the NHL, another pair of silver medals at the Olympics and Worlds, and Kronwall is one of the most decorated hockey players of his era in terms of team success.

Even last season as age and injury started to catch him, Kronwall recorded 27 points and averaged nearly 20 minutes a night for the Red Wings. Losing him from the blueline eventually was inevitable, but his departure will likely have a fairly substantial impact on how the team performs next year. The Red Wings will now look to some of their young players to start taking on more responsibility while veterans like Mike Green, Jonathan Ericsson and Trevor Daley all enter their finals years under contract.

Kerby Rychel Signs In KHL

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It hasn’t been a very successful offseason for Kerby Rychel. First the Calgary Flames decided not to issue him a qualifying offer which made him an unrestricted free agent, and then he had to settle for a one-year deal in Sweden in late July. Just a month later Rychel parted ways with Orebro HK due to “personal reasons,” leaving him a free agent without a team once again. Now, Igor Eronko of Sport-Express reports that Rychel has signed a one-year deal with Neftekhimik in the KHL.

Rychel, 24, was a first-round selection by the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2013 but failed to ever make a real impact at the NHL level for the club. After several years developing him in the minor leagues—including a Calder Cup championship with the Lake Erie Monsters—he was flipped to the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2016 for Scott Harrington. The Maple Leafs never even gave him a single game in the NHL before trading him again to the Montreal Canadiens, where he suited up just four times. Last season Rychel spent the year almost entirely with the Stockton Heat, scoring 43 points in 57 games.

There has always been the potential of a top-level power forward in Rychel, but things to this point just haven’t worked out. In 43 NHL games has just 14 points, though his AHL numbers are much more respectable. In the KHL he may get a bigger offensive opportunity, but Rychel will need to commit himself to improving his fitness and dedication at both ends of the rink if he is to ever get another sniff at the NHL.

Salary Cap Deep Dive: Colorado Avalanche

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Navigating the salary cap is one of the more important tasks for any GM. Teams that can avert total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful. Those that don’t see struggles and front office changes.

PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation heading into the 2019-20 season. This will focus more on those players who are integral parts of the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL. All cap figures are courtesy of CapFriendly.

Colorado Avalanche

Current Cap Hit: $65,884,761 (under the $81.5MM Upper Limit)

Entry-Level Contracts

D Samuel Girard (one year, $728K)
F Tyson Jost (one year, $886K)
D Cale Makar (two years, $881K)

Potential Bonuses

Girard: $182.5K
Jost: $850K
Makar: $2.5MM

Jost hasn’t quite been able to light it up like Colorado was hoping for when they made him a top-ten pick back in 2016.  He has been decent in a bottom-six role but hasn’t been able to move up much on the depth chart just yet.  Given their offseason moves, that’s likely to continue to be the case this season which makes him a strong candidate for a short-term second contract.

Makar made an immediate impact for the Avs in the postseason after signing at the end of his college campaign.  He’s projected to be a key part of their team this season and with the offensive upside he has, it’s reasonable to expect that he’ll be able to command a contract that could be comparable to some of the top ones that other post-ELC defenders will get in the coming weeks when they eventually sign.  He’s also a safe bet to reach some of his ‘A’ bonuses.  Girard’s quite the bargain considering he averaged nearly 20 minutes a night last season.  That will soon change with his extension (covered later) kicking in next season.

One Year Remaining, Non-Entry-Level

D Mark Barberio ($1.45MM, UFA)
F Andre Burakovsky ($3.25MM, RFA)
D Kevin Connauton ($1.375MM, UFA)
G Pavel Francouz ($950K, UFA)
F Vladislav Kamenev ($750K, RFA)
F Valeri Nichushkin ($850K, RFA)
F Colin Wilson ($2.6MM, UFA)
D Nikita Zadorov ($3.2MM, RFA)

Burakovsky’s qualifying offer was too rich for what Washington could afford so they flipped the underachieving winger to Colorado for a pair of draft picks.  He has shown flashes of being a capable top-six piece but also spent a lot of time on the fourth line last season.  The change of scenery could do him some good if he rediscovers his scoring touch but if not, he has to be considered a non-tender candidate in June.  Wilson hasn’t lived up to his draft billing but he has carved out a role for himself as a capable third liner.  He opted to take a pay cut to stick around and his current AAV is about what he should expect if he actually tests the open market next summer.  Nichushkin had a disastrous year in Dallas which led to a buyout.  The Avalanche scooped him up on a cheap deal that has to be considered his last chance.  If things don’t go well here, he’s probably back in the KHL in 2020-21.  Kamenev has dealt with significant injury issues in his two years with the organization.  Accordingly, unless he has a breakout offensive campaign, a one-year deal in the $1MM range is likely to happen a year from now.

Zadorov has been a player that has been in trade speculation for a while.  There isn’t quite the demand for players his size like there once was but he’s still a serviceable third pairing option at a minimum.  However, that price point for someone in that role isn’t ideal either.  He’s eligible for arbitration again next summer but another year like 2018-19 could have him in the non-tender discussion.  Connauton was the NHL piece that came back from Arizona for Carl Soderberg.  He’s more of a depth player than a top-four option so his next deal shouldn’t cost much more than his current price tag.  Barberio battled a couple of injuries last season while also spending a lot of time as a healthy scratch.  He’s still likely viewed as a reserve piece on their current depth chart so it’s unlikely he’ll play enough to command any sort of raise a year from now.

Francouz spent most of last season in the minors but with Semyon Varlamov now gone, the netminder will get his first crack at being a backup in the NHL at the age of 29.  His size will scare away a lot of teams no matter how he performs which will ultimately limit his market.  Still, given the backup goalie market, a strong showing could have him set to double his deal a year from now.

Two Years Remaining

F Pierre-Edouard Bellemare ($1.8MM, UFA)
F Matt Calvert ($2.85MM, UFA)
D Ian Cole ($4.25MM, UFA)
G Philipp Grubauer ($3.33MM, UFA)
F Gabriel Landeskog ($5.571MM, UFA)

Landeskog has seen his value rebound considerably the last couple of years after a very rough 2016-17 campaign.  He surpassed the point per game mark for the first time in his career last season and was a very effective part of their top line.  While it feels like he has been around for a really long time already, he’ll only be 28 when his contract expires.  A max-term contract with a big raise is in his future if he can stay around the 70-point mark.  Calvert is coming off a career-best 26 points and is a capable defensive forward.  Even so, the deal seemed a little expensive a year ago and with the extra depth they have now, his role could actually be lessened which would make it hard for him to match this contract two years from now.  Bellemare was brought in to bolster the fourth line and should be able to do that.  Having said that, he’ll also be 36 when his contract is up and players that age with that type of role rarely get raises.

Cole landed a significant contract for someone that’s more of a stay-at-home player but he certainly had a good season.  It’s hard to imagine him getting another deal at this price tag as a 32-year-old but another multi-year deal is likely.

Grubauer was hit or miss last season and was the backup for most of the year although he got the nod in the playoffs when it counted the most (and did quite well).  Still, he has yet to play in 40 regular season games in a single season.  If he can do well with a starters’ workload, he could double his AAV two years from now.  However, it’s way too early to project whether he’ll be able to do that.

Three Years Remaining

F Nazem Kadri ($4.5MM, UFA)

Kadri was the key player coming back in the trade that saw Tyson Barrie (a pending UFA) and Alexander Kerfoot go to Toronto.  His tenure with the Maple Leafs ended poorly with another postseason suspension while he’s coming off a down year offensively.  However, he scored 32 goals in each of the last two seasons where he was a fixture in the top six, something that he’ll be with the Avs.  If he can get back to that form and restore some value, he’ll be a nice bargain contract for Colorado while setting himself up for a big raise down the road.

Four Or More Years Remaining

F J.T. Compher ($3.5MM through 2022-23)
F Joonas Donskoi ($3.9MM through 2022-23)
D Samuel Girard ($5MM from 2020-21 through 2026-27)
D Erik Johnson ($6MM through 2022-23)
F Nathan MacKinnon ($6.3MM through 2022-23)

While it seems unfathomable now, there was a time when MacKinnon’s contract was believed to carry some risk.  Committing that type of term to someone whose production was somewhat volatile on his entry-level deal was far from an automatic call.  However, the signing has worked out fantastic as all of a sudden, the 24-year-old has to be considered one of the top bargains in the league with his second straight season of at least 97 points.  Colorado is getting top line production at a price tag of a second liner.  Lots can change in the next four years but if he stays at this type of scoring pace, he’ll easily crack the $10MM mark on his next deal.

Donskoi is coming off a strange year.  He was productive in the first half of the season but managed just a single goal in his final 46 games (regular season plus playoffs).  Despite that, GM Joe Sakic wasted little time giving him this contract, a clear sign that the team believes he can become a top-six forward.  Given how he finished though, there’s some risk here.  Compher’s development has been slow but steady but he settled in on the second line last season.  That’s a good price tag for someone in that role but it took them buying no UFA years on his deal to get that AAV.  Assuming his development continues, he could be in the $5MM to $6MM range on his next contract.

Johnson, when healthy, has been a capable player in a top pairing role, one that’s not exactly his best fit.  However, he has dealt with significant injuries in three of the last five seasons which has limited his value somewhat.  He’ll be 35 at the end of his deal and by then, he’ll be seeing less playing time so it’s unlikely he’ll get a higher AAV next time around.  Girard signed his extension earlier this summer and while the term is certainly an eye-opener for a team that didn’t have anyone signed beyond four years from now, they’re banking on him being a fixture in their top four for the foreseeable future.

Buyouts

D Brooks Orpik ($1.5MM in 2019-20)

Retained Salary Transactions

D Tyson Barrie ($2.75MM in 2019-20)

Still To Sign

F Mikko Rantanen

Rantanen set new career highs in goals (31), assists (56), and points (87) last season despite missing eight games due to an undisclosed injury.  He was a central element on their top line and at 22, he’s entering the prime of his career.  He’s widely considered to be the number two remaining restricted free agent and the expectation is that he’ll be getting a contract around the $9MM range which could vary a little bit depending on the term of the deal.

Best Value: MacKinnon
Worst Value: Johnson (because of the injury history)

Looking Ahead

Few teams have a cleaner cap situation than Colorado.  There really aren’t any bad contracts on the roster that could be classified as overpayments (which made picking a worst value pretty difficult).  Even with a big contract coming for Rantanen, they’ll have plenty of cap room for the upcoming season.

Looking ahead, two years from now could be a little rough with Makar and Landeskog both up while they’ll need to re-sign or replace Grubauer as their starting goalie.  The good news is that they have a lot of middle-tier short-term deals on the books which can be filled by cheaper options and prospects which will help offset the higher cap hits for those players.  That makes them about as well-equipped as possible to handle the crunch in 2021.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Snapshots: Schlemko, Luukkonen, Anderson

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With training camps soon starting, we’re reaching the point of the offseason where a lot of veteran players will be signing PTO agreements with an eye on earning a roster spot in the preseason.  Don’t expect David Schlemko to be one of them.  Postmedia’s Jim Matheson reports that the defenseman has had tryout offers but has declined them and instead appears to be planning to wait to see if injuries strike once the exhibition games get underway.  Theoretically, that would give him a bit more leverage and a better shot at a guaranteed contract.  Schlemko was bought out of the final year of his contract by Philadelphia back in June after splitting the season between the NHL with Montreal and the AHL affiliates for both the Canadiens and the Flyers.  The 32-year-old has 415 career NHL games under his belt but has dealt with considerable injury issues the last couple of years.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • Sabres goaltending prospect Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen appears to be recovering well from his offseason hip surgery. Assistant GM Randy Sexton told Mike Harrington of The Buffalo News that the soon to be first-year pro may be slightly ahead of schedule in his recovery but he won’t be taking part in their upcoming rookie tournament.  His initial timeline was that he’d be ready to return in late October or early November.  Sexton also indicated that they’re unsure where they’ll assign Luukkonen when he does get the green light to play.  As their top goaltending prospect, they may opt to start him at the ECHL level to get as much playing time as possible.
  • The Senators are likely to scale back the workload for goaltender Craig Anderson this season, notes Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch. Ottawa was quick to re-sign Anders Nilsson back in May and it’s clear that they will want to give him more playing time than a typical backup.  The 38-year-old Anderson is entering the final year of his contract and carries a $4.75MM cap hit.  The lower workload could negatively affect his value on the open market next summer if he decides to keep playing beyond this season.  At the very least, he looks like a potential in-season trade candidate though it’s worth noting that he has a ten-team no-trade clause.

Lance Bouma Signs PTO With L.A. Kings

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A familiar name is back in the NHL, at least temporarily. Sportsnet’s Rick Dhaliwal reports that veteran forward Lance Bouma has signed a professional tryout offer with the Los Angeles Kings. Bouma missed almost all of last season due to a knee injury, but did suit up for three games with Geneve-Servette of the Swiss NLA. He’s hoping to break back into the NHL via PTO with a team that could use the depth up front.

Bouma, 29, last played in the NHL with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2017-18. It was his first pro season outside of the Calgary Flames organization and it didn’t go as expected. Bouma played in 53 games with the Blackhawks, but also in 20 games with the AHL’s Rockford Ice Hogs, his first minor league action since 2012-13. Bouma recorded just nine points with Chicago, but that actually put him on a full-season pace that was better than all but two of his prior NHL campaigns. Bouma is largely considered a bottom-six defensive forward, as evidence by his career numbers, but served the role well in Calgary. He also teased his offensive ability in 2014-15 with a career-high 34 points in 78 games.

It may be difficult to know exactly what you’re getting in Bouma, especially coming after a missed season. That makes him an ideal PTO candidate and a player that could surprise in L.A. training camp. The Kings can see whether Bouma’s surgically repaired knee is a cause for concern or, alternatively, if the year off has given him some extra zip to his skating. Still on the right side of 30 and an experienced two-way forward who has flashed some offensive ability, Bouma could be an intriguing fit for the Kings if healthy. The team has just nine forwards signed to one-way deals at this point and there is expected to be ample competition in camp. Bouma picked the right place to throw his hat in the ring.

Braden Holtby Hoping To Remain In Washington Long-Term

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Regardless of how they perform, there will be a dark cloud hanging over the Washington Capitals throughout this coming season, or at least until they can make it go away. The Capitals have two core players heading for unrestricted free agency next summer in Braden Holtby and Nicklas Backstrom and it’s difficult to see the team finding enough cap space to bring both back at market value. Washington is currently over the salary cap approaching the start of this season and will likely be forced to make a move. Things don’t get much better a year from now, as the team has more than $62MM already committed to just 15 players. Extending two superstars while filling out the rest of the roster would be a daunting task.

For his part, Holtby hopes that the Capitals can find a way to figure it out. Speaking with Tarik El-Bashir of The Athletic, the All-Star goaltender stated that he would like to spend his whole career in D.C. if it were up to him. “This is all I know. I would love to (re-sign), I think that’s pretty clear.” Holtby has enjoyed nine great years and counting in Washington, with a Stanley Cup, a Vezina Trophy, a Jennings Trophy, and two all-pro nods to show for it. The team is set up nicely to continue being competitive and Holtby has no reason to want to leave.

However, he was also very honest that he knows that NHL hockey is a business and he’s aware that it’s not always as easy as staying with your preferred team. Negotiations will begin soon between GM Brian MacLellan and agent Dave Kaye and Holtby only hopes that the two sides can “get on the same page before the season starts and go from there.” The veteran keeper does not want talks to become a distraction, telling El-Bashir “The main thing is we don’t want it to affect the team at all. I think that’s pretty universal… to not let it be a distraction, and to go out and win games.”

Holtby also surely knows that sometimes the numbers do not line up. What is best for the player is oftentimes not what is best for the team and vice versa. Rival goalie Sergei Bobrovsky showed that this summer, deciding to leave the Columbus Blue Jackets after many accomplished seasons to sign a massive seven-year, $70MM deal with the Florida Panthers. Holtby has already been working with a cap hit of $6.1MM on his last contract, signed five years ago – prior to both his individual award-winning seasons and the Caps’ Cup run. As such, that $10MM cap hit could very well be in the target range of Holtby’s camp. However, Washington sees a soon-to-be 30-year-old goaltender whose numbers have slipped relatively significantly over the past two years. They also see a promising 22-year-old Ilya Samsonov in the pipeline, a first-round investment hungry for an NHL opportunity. This will drive down the price that Washington is willing to offer.

Given their shared success, it is no wonder that Holtby would like to stay in Washington and safe to assume that the Capitals feel the same. However, with many financial factors in play, many outside the control of either side, it will not be easy to make an extension work. Getting off to a strong start, as Holtby noted, will be key, but this will likely be a long, arduous negotiation that lasts well into the season and, even if it doesn’t distract Holtby and his teammates, will surely weigh on Caps fans. In the end, the two sides will have to land at a perfect point that makes sense for both sides, as there is no wiggle room for a “winner” in the negotiations when it comes to Washington’s salary cap crunch.

Minor Transactions: 09/02/19

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We’re now into September, but little has changed on the free agent front. Many prominent players, RFA’s and UFA’s alike, remain unsigned, but the NHL markets remain silent. However, minor league teams, foreign clubs, and college programs continue to make make moves in preparation for the coming season. Keep up with further moves right here throughout the day:

  • Ty Nash, son of former NHLer and current Arizona Coyotes TV analyst Tyson Nash, is following in his father’s footsteps and playing in the WHL. Although Nash is American, born and raised in Arizona, he will take the Canadian junior development route, as his Edmonton-native dad did. The 16-year-old forward was selected by the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the 2018 WHL Bantam Draft and has been participating in training camp this week. The team announced today that he had officially signed on for the coming season. The small, but aggressive forward has been improving offensively in recent years while maintaining a gritty, high-energy style which could serve him well against much more talented competition in the WHL than what he is used to in the American Southwest. The 2021 NHL Draft-eligible forward still has a lot of work ahead of him to be considered a pro prospect, but now has two full WHL seasons to do just that.
  • It’s a homecoming of sorts for 22-year-old forward Logan Coomes, who will play for the University of Alaska-Fairbanks this season after three years at Merrimack College. Coomes initially committed to Merrimack as a member of the Fairbanks Ice Dogs of the NAHL and now returns to the city where his collegiate path first began. Of course, Fairbanks is quite far from his actual hometown of Nashville. After transferring this summer, Coomes was announced as immediately eligible for this season, his fourth and final NCAA campaign. In 79 games with Merrimack, Coomes recorded 26 points in a bottom-six role. He should be handed more responsibility in his senior year and he surely hopes to get back to his better than point-per-game production from the last time he played in Fairbanks. Other members of Fairbanks’ recruiting class include Latvian junior standouts Eriks Zohovs and Roberts Kalkis.
  • Flames prospect Ilya Nikolayev has been loaned to Yarolslavl’s junior team, notes Ryan Pike of the Sporting News.  The 2019 third-round pick spent all of last season at the Russian junior level (the MHL) but was hoping to spend some time in the KHL this year.  He may still get that opportunity at some point but for now, he’ll repeat the level where he collected 25 points in 41 games in 2018-19.

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