Headlines

Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Archives for July 2020

Notes On The CBA

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Changes made to the newly-extended CBA are trickling in by the day as we await the results of the player vote. The latest update is a change to the performance overage policy. Per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, those teams who incur a Performance Bonus overage will be able to distribute the penalty evenly across each of the next two seasons. It’s a small consolation for a frozen salary cap line, but it’s a helpful option nonetheless that will enable teams to make a more cohesive plan to get through the next couple of seasons with a salary cap of $81.5MM. More from the CBA…

  • There were a couple of tweaks to arbitration rules, notes The Athletic’s Craig Custance. For starters, once an arbitration hearing begins, a settlement will no longer be allowed. This might push teams and players even harder to reach accords before settling in arbitration. Once there, the play-in rounds for this year’s 24-team playoff will technically count as playoff stats, not part of the regular season. This makes sense since not all teams are taking part.
  • As things currently stand, those unsigned players looking to make the leap to North America – Alexander Romanov, Ilya Sorokin, Kirill Kaprizov, and others – aren’t eligible to participate in 2019-2020 season. They are able to sign, however, and burn one year of their ELC, something the Wild are willing to consider with Kaprizov just to get him playing with his North American teammates, per The Athletic’s Michael Russo. The key is this: It’s still possible these players would be allowed to participate in Phase 3 training camp, per TSN’s Bob McKenzie. The Wild, for instance, would burn a year of Kaprizov’s ELC to get him comfortable with his new teammates, but it’s hard to see the value otherwise.

Minor Transactions: 07/09/20

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The NHL off-season may not be starting until October this year, but AHL free agency is alive and well. While the league has not yet shared their plans for the 2020-21 season, that hasn’t stopped teams from extending players, signing new ones, and even importing players from overseas. Here are some recent notable minor league deals:

  • Defenseman Keaton Middleton has signed a one-year deal with the Colorado Eagles, the team announced, but the Avalanche and GM Joe Sakic definitely had a hand in this signing. A former captain of the Saginaw Spirit and OHL All-Star, Middleton has the makings of a future NHLer. At 6’5” and 234 lbs., Middleton is a true shutdown defenseman who plays a strong defensive game. His size and strength earned him a fourth-round selection by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2016, but the club opted not to sign him. However, his past two seasons with the San Jose Barracuda has shown that he has pro chops. Middleton was a +18 and added 26 points in 102 AHL games. The 22-year-old now moves to Colorado where he can continue to refine his two-way game in hopes of landing an NHL contract next summer.
  • Nathanael Halbert is getting another go with the Laval Rocket. The former QMJHL defenseman who spent the past four years at McGill University played in five games at the end of the season with Laval and apparently did enough to impress the club into extending him for one year, according to a team release. The 24-year-old has never been known for his regular season production, but his playoff numbers at the college and junior level show that he has that valuable clutch gene. A native of Nottingham, England, Halbert hopes to be an unlikely hero for Laval this season and possibly beyond.
  • Making his way back to North America is journeyman forward Jesse Mychan. The 28-year-old winger has signed a one-year deal with the Iowa Wild, as reported by his agency. Mychan is no stranger to the AHL, having suited up for ten games over three separate stints and nearly 200 more games in the ECHL. However, he has spent time in Wales, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, and most recently Denmark over the past few years. An experienced pro who has found great success in the ECHL in the past and starred for Denmark’s Esbjerg Energy for the past two year, Mychan hopes he is finally ready for an extended AHL stay in 2020-21.

NHL To Change Qualifying Offer Rules

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Bridge contracts have often been back-loaded in the past to ensure a higher starting point for a qualifying offer.  For example, a player making $2.5MM in year one and $3MM in year two would have a qualifying offer of $3MM.

That element was used more liberally last summer with several players taking significantly lower payments up front to crank up the salary in the final year to yield a higher qualifier down the road.  San Jose’s Timo Meier is the most notable of those as he has a $6MM AAV on his four-year deal but a $10MM salary in the final season that becomes the required offer to retain his services (barring an early extension beforehand).

That caught the attention of the league and they are changing the rule as a result.  Thomas Drance of The Athletic reports (subscription required) that the Memorandum of Understanding for the CBA that is currently working its way through the ratification process includes a tweak to the qualifying offer rules.  Instead of being based on the salary in the final year of the contract, it will now be based on the lower of the salary of the final season of the deal or 120% of the AAV.  For Meier’s situation, had his deal been signed under this new policy, his qualifying offer would be $7.2MM (120% of $6MM) instead of $10MM, the final-season salary. However, this does not overwrite the qualifying offer rules on current contracts so for players like Meier, the old rule will still be in place.

It may seem like a small move on the surface but this has the potential to really affect short-term deals being signed off of entry-level contracts.  Given the decreasing escrow percentages in the CBA, players are likely going to show more interest in back-loading deals.  Under the old system, that means even more players with inflated qualifying offers and with the salary cap progression expected to slow for a few years, this had the potential to do some damage to a team’s cap structure down the road.

Now, players will still have the ability to back-load contracts to shield themselves as best as possible in the new escrow structure but teams will have a bit more protection from a salary cap standpoint if 120% of the AAV checks in lower than the salary in the last year.  It also may result in an increase in short-term bridge deals rather than the three-year and four-year pacts some have chosen to sign in recent years as well as without the buffer of the much higher qualifying offer at the end, the temptation to go with those should be lessened.  The change itself is seemingly rather small in nature (from salary to AAV percentage in only some cases) but it could certainly shift how things are done in restricted free agency as soon as this offseason.

Metropolitan Notes: Devils, Kakko, Penguins, Provorov

at CDT | by 1 Comment

While the Devils ultimately opted to give Tom Fitzgerald the full-time GM role, at least two other executives received strong consideration for the position.  Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that Leafs assistant GM Laurence Gilman and former Kings assistant GM Mike Futa received multiple interviews for the role and were considered serious candidates for the position.  Meanwhile, Fitzgerald noted in a conference call with reporters that current assistants – including now-former interim head coach Alain Nasreddine – will have an opportunity to speak to Ruff about whether or not they’ll stick around, relays ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski (via Twitter).

More from the Metropolitan:

  • Rangers winger Kaapo Kakko is among those that the NHL could deem ineligible to return for medical reasons due to his diabetes but his agent Andy Scott told Greg Joyce of the New York Post that the rookie still intends to suit up against Carolina. Players have the right to appeal if league doctors rule them ineligible and this would suggest that Kakko would go that route if it comes to it.
  • While there will be a few days after the ratification of the CBA for players to opt out of participating in the NHL’s return this season, Mike DeFabo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette notes that no Penguins player yet has given head coach Mike Sullivan any indication that they’re thinking about doing so. Pittsburgh will take on Montreal in the best-of-five play-in round.
  • Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov received the Barry Ashbee Trophy as Philadelphia’s top defenseman as voted on by local media, notes Ed Barkowitz of the Philadelphia Daily News and Inquirer. 2019-20 was a resurgent season for the 23-year-old as his offensive numbers rebounded to a respectable 13 goals and 23 assists in 69 games after posting just 26 points in 82 games the year before; his seven power play tallies led all NHL blueliners.  Provorov, who logged just under 25 minutes a game to lead the team, will be wrapping up the first year of his six-year, $40.5MM deal, one that looked a little expensive at the time but looks better now after the season he had.

Offseason Keys: Detroit Red Wings

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The offseason has arrived for at least seven teams that were not invited to take part in the play-in round that’s slated to begin in early August.  With that in mind, it’s time to kick off our Offseason Keys series for the teams that are on the outside looking in.  Next up is a look at Detroit.

It hasn’t been a good last twelve months for the Red Wings.  After finishing 28th in points in 2018-19, they took a step backwards and had a terrible season, one that saw them allow the most goals and score the fewest.  Not surprisingly, that particular combination saw them in last place when the regular season was called.  Things weren’t better in the Draft Lottery either as they fell as far as they were allowed to, dropping from first to fourth in the order.  With that negativity out of the way, here is what Detroit will need to accomplish to have a successful offseason.

Find A Long-Term Goaltending Solution

For years, Jimmy Howard has been entrenched between the pipes in Detroit.  But that time has all but certainly come to an end after posting a 4.20 GAA with a .882 SV% in 27 starts this season.  He lost all but two of those games.  If that type of performance somehow isn’t enough to scare GM Steve Yzerman off, Howard is also now 36.  On a rebuilding team, a goalie that age can’t be part of the long-term solution.

Neither can Jonathan Bernier even though he had a pretty good year all things considered with a 2.95 GAA and a .907 SV% in his 46 appearances.  Those numbers aren’t great but given the team in front of him, he did okay.  He’ll turn 32 next month and while he’s signed for next season to fill part of their goaltending tandem, he is more of a platoon option at this stage of his career instead of a full-time starter.  He can be a piece of the puzzle but not the key one.

There are going to be a handful of starting goalies that hit the open market in November, barring any extensions to stick around.  Yzerman has ample cap space at his disposal with just over $46MM in commitments for next season to 11 players so there is plenty of wiggle room to work with.  They should be showing considerable interest in each of those options.

Detroit could also take a look at Yaroslav Askarov in the draft in October.  He’s widely considered to be the top goalie available and one of the better ones to be available for a while.  However, drafting goalies early is often considered a risk and selecting him fourth would be well above where his rankings suggest he should go.  However, the Red Wings went ‘off the board’ a bit last year with defenseman Moritz Seider so taking their guy earlier than expected is something they could certainly do which would free them up to look a veteran platoon option to hold things down while Askarov works his way into being NHL-ready.

New Deal For Mantha

Two years ago, Anthony Mantha signed a bridge contract coming off his entry-level deal.  The decision made sense as he hadn’t quite established himself as a consistent top liner.  There were flashes of him living up to his potential but other times where he wasn’t making a big impact.

That started to change last season as he became a bigger threat, matching his career high offensively from the season before despite missing 15 games due to injury.  He was on pace for an even better performance this season except that knee and lung issues limited him to just 43 games before the pandemic hit.  That’s not the best leverage heading into talks for his next deal even with salary arbitration rights.

The salary landscape certainly doesn’t help either.  The freezing of the salary cap is not conducive to handing out the big-money deal that Mantha was certainly hoping to get and with his platform year being basically cut in half, this feels like a situation where there is a lot of work to do.

From Mantha’s standpoint, another short-term deal may be desired.  If he does that, stays healthy, and is able to continue his offensive improvement, he’ll be well-positioned a year from now to cash in, even with the cap limitations still in effect.  In the end, he’d probably come out with more money than he’d get by signing a long-term deal now.  Of course, a deal that buys out several UFA-eligible years is certainly Yzerman’s preference to help ensure that one of their pillars will stick around.  Getting this done should be at the top of his to-do list in the coming months.

Rebuild The Back End

Of the eight defensemen that were on Detroit’s roster to end the season, three are unrestricted free agents that almost certainly won’t be back in Jonathan Ericsson, Trevor Daley, and Cody Goloubef (who was added on waivers less than three weeks before their season ended).  Mike Green (traded to Edmonton) is already gone.  Needless to say, there are some vacancies that need to be filled.

Filip Hronek looks like a long-term piece and Seider, though not yet ready to play in their top four, should get there eventually as well.  After that, there are some question marks.  Dennis Cholowski and Gustav Lindstrom have shown some promise but aren’t ready to take on a big role yet either while projected returnees Patrik Nemeth, Alex Biega, and Madison Bowey (RFA) are role players, not impact ones either.  There are some other prospects on the horizon but none that are ready to step in and play right away.

As a result, there are a few spots up for grabs and they can’t all be filled internally.  Whether it’s the free agent market, trades, or both, the Red Wings need to make a splash or two to give their defense corps a significant boost.  If they can’t accomplish that, it may not matter who they have between the pipes in the end.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

New CBA Eliminates Free Agent Interview Period

at CDT | by 4 Comments

Over the past several days, news has been trickling out about some of the new elements of the CBA.  TSN’s Frank Seravalli was the first to report (Twitter link) that there is a big change coming to free agency as the interview period has been removed.  Now, teams won’t legally be permitted to talk to players until the opening of free agency.  While that had previously been speculated to be November 1st, that’s now projected to be October 9th as per the tentative critical dates calendar.  Having said that, that seems likely to be pushed back a little bit as some of the other target dates in there (such as camps opening July 10th) have already been delayed slightly; camps won’t open now until the 13th.

This will once again fundamentally shift the free agent landscape.  The interview window was put in during the last CBA to give teams a chance to speak to players in advance to gauge their interest in joining their franchise.  Of course, that’s not exactly how it played out as in recent years, as deals in principle were reported a couple of days before July 1st with quite a few others getting leaked in the hours leading up to the opening of the market.

With the window not being used properly, the NHL and NHLPA have decided to go back to the old way which is no permissible contact until the market officially opens up.  That will present some challenges as the market will likely go back to being one where teams make offers that expire in a very limited timeframe as they need to know whether or not they have to pivot to alternative options.

Of course, this upcoming UFA period – be it in October or early November – is going to be a rather unique one.  The freezing of the salary cap at $81.5MM is going to handcuff quite a few teams and there were already some that were pegged to be having some cap trouble anyway.  Accordingly, this is likely to deflate the market somewhat and adding that to eliminating any legal contact with free agents beforehand is going to create a very unique marketplace a couple of months from now.

Atlantic Notes: DeBrusk, Panthers, Stralman, Sabres

at CDT | by 5 Comments

Several players from the Bruins have taken what could be called ‘hometown discounts’ to stay in the fold but pending RFA winger Jake DeBrusk may not be one of those.  In an appearance on CHED 630 (audio link), his agent Rick Valette indicated that their salary structure isn’t something they’re intending to factor into negotiations:

I would hope not. That’s not typically how I would approach that. Boston certainly has some internal things that they like to look at, but I’m going to try to not look at that.

DeBrusk has played around a 40-point pace for each of his first three seasons and while that should be enough to stop him from getting as much as some others from his draft class have already received (in the $5.5MM-plus range), he’s still looking at a sizable raise from his $863K base salary.  The Bruins are going to have some challenges keeping their team together with Torey Krug being among the notable unrestricted free agents out there so it’s quite possible that Boston GM Don Sweeney pushes for a bridge deal to give them a better chance of keeping everyone in the fold.

More from the Atlantic Division:

  • The Panthers plan to have four or five goalies attend training camp which begins next week, notes George Richards of Florida Hockey Now. Teams can technically carry as many goalies as they want but knowing they count against the 31 player maximum allowed to go into the bubble, it seems likely that number will be shaved down by the end of the month.  Richards adds that defenseman Anton Stralman, who indicated his concern with coming back to play in June, has reported to Florida’s facilities, suggesting he will play in their play-in series against the Islanders.  However, there will still be a small window to opt out once the new CBA and Return to Play agreement is ratified.
  • Veteran executive Rick Dudley is looking for a new team after parting ways with Carolina at the beginning of the month and while the logical fit seemed like the Sabres, John Wawrow of the Associated Press reports (Twitter link) that the 71-year-old will not be joining Buffalo. Dudley has been the Senior VP of Hockey Operations with his last two teams in Carolina and Montreal and should have little trouble finding a new organization over the coming months.

Wild Hire Judd Brackett As Director Of Amateur Scouting

at CDT | by 2 Comments

Judd Brackett’s departure from Vancouver last month was one that was in the public eye much more than usual when it comes to head scouts moving on.  Brackett indicated that his voice didn’t carry as much weight as he thought it should while GM Jim Benning felt he was asking for too much influence while mentioning that Brackett declined a two-year extension offer.

Brackett wasn’t a free agent for long, however, as the Wild announced that they’ve hired him as their new Director of Amateur Scouting.  He’ll be tasked with running Minnesota’s draft strategy, a role that he held with Vancouver from 2015 until last month.  The term of the deal was not disclosed.

It appears that the Wild weren’t the only team interested in his services as Michael Russo of The Athletic reports (subscription required) that Seattle had also been in contact with Brackett as they look to bolster their front office a little more than a year out from their anticipated debut.

Brackett helped Vancouver land several young players of note, some of which have turned into key pieces for the Canucks already in Elias Pettersson, Quinn Hughes, and Brock Boeser.  He also was involved in the selection of 2019 first-round pick Vasili Podkolzin who has considerable upside while Tyler Madden, the key piece of the Tyler Toffoli trade, was also selected under his watch.  That should give Minnesota fans some reason for optimism as he shifts his focus now towards trying to build up their prospect pool.

Devils Hire Lindy Ruff As Head Coach, Remove Interim Tag From GM Tom Fitzgerald

at CDT | by 14 Comments

The Devils had been using their extended offseason to conduct a thorough search simultaneously for their new head coach and GM.  In the end, they’ve decided to change the coach and keep the team as the team announced in a pair of press releases that they have hired Lindy Ruff as their new head coach and removed the interim title from Tom Fitzgerald who now is their full-time general manager.

Managing partners Josh Harris and David Blitzer released the following statement about Fitzgerald’s promotion to the full-time role:

When Tom took over the role of GM in January, we were committed to moving the organization in a new direction. Having gone through the process of interviewing various candidates, including Tom, and reviewing his work in the interim, we feel that he is the best fit for the New Jersey Devils moving forward. Our decision was solidified by his ability to stabilize the organization, get solid returns at the trade deadline, make impressive plans for player development and hire a new coach in Lindy Ruff. We are very optimistic about our future and know we have great deal of talent, both on and off the ice. Together, we are excited to start a new chapter and are committed to becoming a consistent contender, which our fans deserve.

Meanwhile, Fitzgerald said the following regarding his decision to hire Ruff:

We are proud and excited to have Lindy Ruff join our organization as Head Coach. He is one of the most successful and respected coaches in the NHL, not only today, but in League history. His personality, experience, knowledge, work-ethic and focus will provide a calm presence in our locker room. He is the right coach at the right time for our organization. Lindy has a proven track record of getting the absolute best out of his players across the board- stars, role players and everyone in between. His teaching ability, and communication skills will be well-suited for our team, especially our young, developing players. Throughout his career, his teams have been greater than the sum of their parts. I look forward to working together with Lindy as the organization moves forward.

Ruff takes over from Alain Nasreddine who had previously held the interim title behind the bench.  Unlike Nasdreddine, who was a first-time bench boss in the NHL, Ruff comes to the team with plenty of experience.  He spent parts of 15 seasons as the head coach of the Sabres from 1997-18 through 2013-14 before being replaced by Ron Rolston mid-season, a move that has sparked a flurry of coaching turnover in that organization since then.  Ruff didn’t wait too long before getting another job though as in 2013, as he was named the head coach of the Stars, a role he held for four seasons.

Since being let go from Dallas in 2017, the 60-year-old has served as an assistant coach with the Rangers, a division rival of New Jersey so he’ll have some familiarity with the Devils.  While it was first thought that Ruff would finish up his contract with New York as they’re set to participate in the play-in round against Carolina, that will not be the case.  Instead, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link) that Gord Murphy, the associate coach at AHL Hartford, will join New York for their run and that Ruff’s departure is immediate.

Beyond Ruff and Nasreddine, three other veteran coaches were in consideration for the position.  Peter Laviolette, John Stevens, and Gerard Gallant were believed to be the other finalists.

As for Fitzgerald, it is hard to argue that the former player and veteran executive did not deserve the official GM role. A former Assistant GM for the Pittsburgh Penguins who has spent the past five years in the same role with the Devils, Fitzgerald was bumped to interim GM for New Jersey back in January went the team surprisingly parted ways with Ray Shero. In the weeks following, leading up to the trade deadline, Fitzgerald dealt impending free agents Sami Vatanen, Andy Greene, and Wayne Simmonds in separate deals for second-, fourth-, and fifth-round draft picks and prospect Janne Kuokkanen and in his biggest move landed prized prospect Nolan Foote and a 2020 first-round pick for forward Blake Coleman. Fitzgerald maximized the value of his expendable assets and showed he is a worthy deal-maker.

Whether Fitzgerald finds the same success with his first coaching hire however remains to be seen. There will be some that are critical of his choice to recycle Ruff, especially with the caliber of available coaches on the market, but judgement should be reserved until the product can be seen on the ice. Fortunately, Ruff, Fitzgerald, and company have a long offseason ahead of them and should be well-prepared by the time next season rolls around.

Kevin Weekes of the NHL Network was the first to report (via Twitter) the Ruff hiring and Fitzgerald’s promotion to the full-time role.

Zach Leach also contributed to this post.

Maxim Shalunov Likely To Sign In Switzerland To Start Next Season

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Blackhawks prospect Maxim Shalunov has been in the system for quite a while without ever playing a game in a Chicago uniform.  It appears that may be changing relatively soon.  Shalunov’s agent Shumi Babaev told Scott Powers of The Athletic (subscription required) that right now, the plan is for the winger to sign in Switzerland to start next season.  However, he adds that the hope is that Chicago will sign him following the completion of the 2019-20 campaign and that Shalunov would leave his Swiss team to join the Blackhawks once the 2020-21 season gets underway.

The 27-year-old was a fourth-round pick of Chicago (109th overall) back in 2011 and actually has made the jump to North America before.  He signed a minor league contract for 2013-14 and it didn’t go well as he had just four assists without scoring a goal in 20 games for AHL Rockford and wound up spending most of the year with ECHL Toledo.  Not surprisingly, he went back to Russia after that.

The Blackhawks have been able to retain his rights this long because Shalunov was picked out of Russia.  There is no Player Transfer Agreement in place between the NHL and Russia’s hockey federation so the usual four-year rights limitation doesn’t apply; instead, they’ve been able to hold his rights indefinitely.

But his fortunes have changed over the last four seasons.  Instead of being a depth player in the KHL, he has become a relatively consistent producer, tallying at least 25 points in each of the last five years including 14 goals and 11 assists in 54 games with CSKA Moscow this season.  That has him back on the NHL radar as someone that could potentially help Chicago on one of their lower lines.

Despite his age, Shalunov will be capped in the entry-level system where he will only be able to sign a one-year contract.  Assuming that it happens and that he joins the Blackhawks for next season, he will be eligible for unrestricted free agency in 2021.

Babaev also provided an update on another international Chicago prospect in Ivan Nalimov.  It appears that the goaltender is also going to sign to start next season overseas in the hopes of earning a deal with the Blackhawks although his likely destination in that instance would be Rockford and not Chicago.

Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

scroll to top