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Pacific Notes: Smith, Westerlund, Rathbone

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Oilers goaltender Mike Smith proved to be a good complement to Mikko Koskinen this season as he posted a 2.95 GAA with a .902 SV% in 39 games in what basically amounted to close to a timeshare of starts when all was said and done.  Despite that, Postmedia’s Jim Matheson suggests that the veteran may need to take a pay cut from his base $2MM salary (let alone the $375K in bonuses he earned) to stick around for 2020-21.  With several skaters needing to be re-signed (including Andreas Athanasiou and his $3MM qualifying offer and Matt Benning’s $1.95MM qualifier), Edmonton GM Ken Holland likely won’t have much to spend on Koskinen’s backup for next season.  While there will still be a decent market for backup goaltenders, the 38-year-old Smith may be better off trying to stay where he is in a good situation, even if he has to take a dip in pay to do so.

More from the Pacific Division:

  • Coyotes prospect Filip Westerlund is in talks to remain with Timra in Sweden, Timra manager Kent Norberg indicated to Lo Hagerfelth of HockeyPuls. He played well in the second-tier Allsvenskan this season and picked up four goals and 17 assists in 52 regular season games while logging more ice time than he was getting previously in the SHL.  The 21-year-old was a second-round pick of Arizona back in 2017 so if he does indeed sign an extension (Norberg stated that a decision is expected within the week), the Coyotes will only have a short period of time to sign him to an entry-level deal as he must sign by June 1, 2021 or they will lose his NHL rights.
  • The accelerated timeline for prospects to sign 2019-20 contracts and burn a year without playing should provide some clarity on Canucks prospect Jack Rathbone, suggests Rick Dhaliwal of TSN 1040 and The Athletic (Twitter link). The 21-year-old defenseman is set to enter his junior year at Harvard if there winds up being an NCAA season in 2020-21 but the uncertainty surrounding that could be enough encouragement for him to sign his entry-level deal and forego his remaining college eligibility.  Rathbone was a fourth-round pick (95th overall) back in 2017 and has quickly outperformed his draft spot as he averaged over a point per game this season with seven goals and 24 assists in 28 games.

Offseason Keys: New Jersey Devils

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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.  There was one team that wasn’t covered in our Stretch Run Storylines series as New Jersey had already been ruled out of returning to play.  Accordingly, let’s begin this series with a closer look at the Devils.

After finishing last in the Metropolitan Division in 2018-19, the hope in New Jersey was that they’d start to turn things around.  They added P.K. Subban and Wayne Simmonds to give them a boost and a good finish to that year from Cory Schneider was cause for optimism that he had fully recovered from his lingering injury woes.  That didn’t happen.  Schneider struggled as did just about everyone else and as a result, New Jersey finds themselves in the same spot now as they were a year ago – hoping things can only go up from here.  Here’s what to watch for them this offseason.

Determine Coach And GM

New Jersey has been taking advantage of this extended time off to do a thorough coaching search.  On the surface, this makes a lot of sense but interim GM Tom Fitzgerald is heading that up while ownership has been interviewing candidates for Fitzgerald’s role.  Normally, it would make sense to have a permanent GM in place before deciding on the coach but it seems like the opposite may happen here which suggests that even if Fitzgerald isn’t the GM when all is said and done, he’ll still have a prominent front role in the front office.

That certainly wouldn’t be a bad idea on their part.  He has certainly worked his way up the ranks slowly but surely and has been an assistant GM since 2009 so he has paid his dues.  On top of that, he has navigated the trade market well, garnering an impressive return for Blake Coleman (essentially two first-round picks) that few saw coming.

As for their coaching situation, they are down to five candidates including interim bench boss Alain Nasreddine who the team performed reasonably well in front of (19-16-8) after he took over compared to their start to the season.  Veterans Gerard Gallant, Peter Laviolette, Lindy Ruff, and John Stevens are believed to be the others in the mix.

They have plenty of time as we’re still basically three months away from free agency so this isn’t a situation that needs to be rushed.  They’re effectively the only team with a vacancy although, at the end of the day, it’s quite possible that there winds up being no vacancy at all if the team decides to stick with their current options in the end.

Palmieri Resolution

Since joining New Jersey, winger Kyle Palmieri has blossomed into an underrated consistent scoring threat, tallying at least 24 goals in each of his five seasons with the team.  The Devils have been benefitting from one of the more under the radar bargains over that time as he has carried a $4.65MM AAV over the past four seasons and will for 2020-21 as well whenever it gets up and running.  However, next season will be the final year of his contract and he’ll be slated for unrestricted free agency after that.

It usually takes until players are officially in the final league year of their contracts to be able to sign an extension.  Normally, by now, we’re in that situation but that has changed due to the pandemic.  However, instead of making those players wait until November (the projected start of the 2020-21 league year), players like Palmieri will be in a position where they can officially sign an extension as early as next week.  Accordingly, contract talks should soon be on the horizon.

The Devils shouldn’t put themselves into a position where Palmieri’s fate is unknown heading into next season.  Barring a seismic turnaround of fortunes, they seem likely to be outside the playoff picture again next season which presents a potential trade as a rental situation.  However, the tightening salary cap picture is going to make it even more difficult than usual to move money in-season.  Normally, Palmieri would garner a significant return as a rental player but so many teams are going to be cap-strapped next year to the point where attempting to go that way will be risky.  Plan A from New Jersey’s standpoint should be an extension.  If they can’t agree on one in the coming months though, Plan B – a trade – should get early consideration as well.

Utilize Cap Space

The salary cap first came to the NHL back in 2005.  Since then, there has been an annually-increasing usage of the phrase ‘cap space is a weapon’ or something similar to that.  Prepare to see it a lot more over the coming months as more teams than ever will be in situations where they need to clear out money in a hurry.  For teams that have cap room and are willing to spend it, they’ll be in great shape.

It just so happens that New Jersey has cap space.  Plenty of it.  They’ve also shown a willingness to try to spend in past years but haven’t had a lot of success trying to lure players on the open market.  The stretch between mid-October and the beginning of November presents them with a terrific opportunity to leverage that room to add some players that can help now and add assets for down the road.

Just how much space do the Devils have?  They have just over $55MM in commitments for next season, per CapFriendly with 13 players signed.  There are no prominent players in need of a new deal – RFA defenseman Mirco Mueller has the biggest qualifying offer at just $1.4MM while goalie Mackenzie Blackwood is arguably the most notable.  That leaves them some space to add some impact players.

Even if the trade market falls short, they should have more success in free agency this time around as the big-money deals are going to be few and far between beyond the top players at each position.  A one-year pillow contract similar to the one that Simmonds signed last summer is something that more players may be considering this time around.  Fortunately for New Jersey, if that’s what it comes to, they’re in the best position to hand them out and whoever is the one signing the deals – Fitzgerald or someone else – will be poised to benefit.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Metropolitan Notes: Rizzo, Blue Jackets, Penguins

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Hurricanes prospect Massimo Rizzo has de-committed from the University of North Dakota, notes Brad Elliott Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald.  The 216th pick in 2019 was slated to begin his NCAA career next season after a strong season with Coquitlam of the BCHL where he had 19 goals and 25 assists in 42 games after recovering from surgery.  The Chicago Steel of the USHL hold his rights in that league and he has one year of eligibility remaining there which could be an option for next season.  Alternatively, he could seek to commit to another school where there will likely be interest but as players start reporting soon for summer classes, that decision would need to be made quickly if he intends to go that route for next season.

Elsewhere in the Metropolitan Division:

  • It doesn’t appear as if any members of the Blue Jackets will be opting out of their return, reports Brian Hedger of the Columbus Post-Dispatch (Twitter link). They will be taking on Toronto in one of the more intriguing matchups of the play-in round that pots one of the top offenses in the league against one of the top defensive squads.  While the initial reports suggested the deadline to opt out could be as early as today, that has since been amended to allow for more time.  Players will now have until three days after CBA ratification to inform their team if they’re not going to participate and there will be no penalties if someone does so.
  • The Penguins have added some minor league depth as their AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton announced that they’ve signed wingers Zach Nastasiuk and Nick Schilkey to one-year deals. Nastasiuk, a former Detroit second-round pick, spent last season on an AHL deal with the Blues while Schilkey did the same with the Islanders.  The pair will be reunited with head coach Mike Vellucci who coached both in Carolina’s system in 2018-19 where they won the Calder Cup.

Timelines For Contracts To Be Signed

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With the CBA being agreed upon in principle, we now have a better idea of when certain contracts will be allowed to be signed again.  Here is an overview of the various timelines and scenarios.

Yesterday, it became official that players that were unsigned as of the shutdown in the schedule will not be allowed to play for the rest of this season, even if they were on a reserve list beforehand.  But there will be a very narrow window where those players will still be allowed to sign contracts for this season.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link) that if and when the CBA is ratified by the NHLPA, teams will have a 53-hour window running between 11 AM CT of the third day following the ratification of the agreement through 4 PM CST on the fifth day to sign those players to a current-year deal.  Signing bonuses will not be permitted and since no physical payment can be made, those entry-level deals can be structured with a base salary of the league minimum of $700K.  In doing so, the cap hit for any subsequent year will be lowered while the player still gets to his second contract earlier.  CapFriendly adds (via Twitter) that players that sign under this avenue will not accrue a year of professional experience and thus will be classified as 10.2.c players (ineligible for an offer sheet) when their deal expires.

As for players looking to head overseas, Friedman adds in a separate tweet that any player not participating in the resumption of play in August (due to elimination or non-inclusion on the playoff roster) will be eligible to sign a contract in another league seven days after the CBA has been ratified.  Those that opt out of playing next month can also do so but unlike the other players, they will not be eligible to sign an NHL for 2020-21 if they go that route.  For any player who is looking to go overseas but will be playing when games resume, they will be eligible to sign outside of North America two days after their team is eliminated, adds Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston (Twitter link).

Then there are those that will be entering the final year of their contracts and normally would be eligible to sign an extension by this time as we normally would be in the next NHL calendar year by now.  However, the 2020-21 league year likely won’t begin until November now.  However, Friedman reports (via Twitter) that anyone that is about to enter the final year of their contract can sign an extension three days after ratification instead of having to wait until November.  Additionally, players wanting to sign 2020-21 contracts can do so three days after the agreement is finalized as well.

Kings UFA Kevin Poulin Signs In Sweden

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Kevin Poulin’s return to North America wound up being short-lived.  The pending Kings unrestricted free agent has opted to head back overseas as IF Bjorkloven of the Swedish Allsvenskan announced that they’ve signed him to a one-year contract with a one-year option if the team earns a promotion to the SHL.

The 30-year-old found himself without a team for a good chunk of the season before Detroit brought him in on an AHL tryout on Boxing Day to serve as injury insurance.  The Kings lured him away in February with an AHL contract and then converted him to an NHL deal two weeks later to give them the option to recall him later in the season following the trade of Jack Campbell to Toronto.  However, the pandemic shut down any possibility of that happening and so his season wrapped up with just seven AHL games where he posted a 2.62 GAA with a .914 SV%.

Poulin has parts of five years of NHL experience under his belt, all with the Islanders and his deal with the Kings at least provided a chance for him to get another chance.  However, with the uncertainty surrounding next year in the AHL, heading to Sweden where there is a likelier chance of games being played is the safer move for him at this point.  Los Angeles likely won’t need to sign a replacement for him either as prospect Jacob Ingham will be eligible to turn pro next season and should take Poulin’s place with AHL Ontario.

NHL Adjusts Recapture Penalties

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With the NHL set to ratify a new extension for the Collective Bargaining Agreement, labor peace will be guaranteed for at least the next six years. That comes as very welcome news for hockey fans that have been waiting to see their favorite players back on the ice for several months. With any CBA negotiation, however, small changes will be made that benefit one side or the other—the NHL and NHLPA.

One of those changes, as reported by Michael Russo of The Athletic and explained by Frank Seravalli in his latest piece for TSN, is to the rules governing recapture penalties. Previously, a complicated formula would force substantial cap penalties onto teams if a player with a front-loaded contract retired before its expiration. Now, that penalty cannot eclipse the original contract’s cap hit in a single year.

So far only Roberto Luongo has created such penalties with his retirement last year.

When Luongo hung up his pads, the Vancouver Canucks and Florida Panthers were each forced to deal with penalties against their salary cap, with the former suffering the bigger charge. The Canucks have a $3.033MM penalty through the 2021-22 season and unfortunately will not receive any relief from this rule change given Luongo’s cap hit was $5.33MM.

The biggest winner (if you can even call it that) out of this new change may be the Nashville Predators, who were in danger of a potential ~$24.6MM cap charge if Shea Weber had retired just before the 2025-26 season. That number will now not eclipse the $7.86MM cap hit he carries, though that means it would be spread out over several years as the entire penalty must still be paid eventually.

The Minnesota Wild are another team who could be affected, given the front-loaded nature of contracts signed by Ryan Suter and Zach Parise in 2012. Those deals don’t expire until 2025 but will have paid out $88MM of the initial $98MM guarantee by the end of next season.

Seravalli has a comprehensive list of the other changes, but they include an increase to minimum salaries and a rule that no-trade clauses will remain in contracts even if the player is traded before the clause kicks in. Previously, the acquiring team was given the option to honor them—something the Predators chose not to do when they acquired P.K. Subban in 2016, days before the clause kicked in.

Chicago Blackhawks Expected To Sign Wyatt Kalynuk

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The Chicago Blackhawks will be adding another interesting defensive prospect to their organization, as Mark Lazerus of The Athletic (subscription required) reports that they will sign Wyatt Kalynuk to an entry-level contract. Originally drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers, Kalynuk became an unrestricted free agent last month after failing to reach an agreement with the team in their exclusive negotiating window. The 23-year old had informed the team that he would not be returning for his senior season at the University of Wisconsin and instead will end up turning pro with the Blackhawks instead.

Kalynuk, a seventh-round pick in 2017, has put up consistent offensive numbers at Wisconsin over his three years of collegiate hockey and now joins a Blackhawks pipeline brimming with defensive prospects. Chicago had already convinced Ian Mitchell earlier this spring to forgo his senior season, signing him to his own entry-level contract.

While Mitchell’s deal will be for three seasons, Kalynuk will be signing just a two-year pact given his age. With reports recently emerging that players can burn the first year of entry-level contracts this summer and no further clarification coming from Lazerus, it is not clear exactly when Wyatt’s will kick in.

The smooth-skating defenseman could potentially be an option for the Blackhawks as soon as 2020-21 given his age and experience, but will not be eligible to play this summer in Chicago’s playoff run.

Kaprizov, Others Will Not Be Eligible For 2020 Playoffs

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As the NHL and NHLPA move towards the ratification of an extension of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, fans of several playoff teams are still wondering whether or not they’ll be able to include some overseas reinforcements. Players like Minnesota Wild draft pick Kirill Kaprizov have been waiting to see if the league would change their stance on eligibility this summer, allowing them to sign an entry-level contract and burn the first year of it while suiting up for the 24-team tournament. Previously, the league was firm that they would not allow new contracts to be signed, but several reports have simultaneously emerged suggesting that has changed–at least in part.

Still, Kaprisov won’t be hitting the ice for Minnesota in their qualification round against the Vancouver Canucks. Michael Russo of The Athletic, Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports, and Andrew Gross of Newsday all report that once the CBA extension has been ratified, players will be allowed to sign their entry-level contracts this summer to burn the first year, but will not be eligible to play. Russo predicted this very outcome just last week, and outlined the challenges this presents teams who want to get these talented draft picks under contract.

Kaprizov, widely considered the best hockey player not currently in the NHL, is joined by top prospects like Ilya Sorokin and Alexander Romanov in this situation. Signing a deal now would guarantee that they are able to play for their respective team next season, but would also get them a year closer to restricted free agency.

As Russo points out with regards to Kaprisov in particular, burning a year of entry-level without anything to show for it comes with both pros and cons. The 23-year old Russian is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent after the 2023-24 season regardless of whether he signs for 2019-20 or starts his two-year entry-level deal in 2020-21, meaning the Wild will likely have to try and sign him to a long-term extension after this first deal expires. The young forward could also decide to return to the KHL for another season instead, given that the 2020-21 NHL campaign is not expected to begin until the middle of winter, while the Russian league is still aiming for a September start.

NHL, NHLPA Reach CBA Extension

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The NHL and NHLPA have a tentative agreement in place for the memorandum of understanding on the CBA, per TSN’s Bob McKenzie. The NHL and NHLPA have both announced the deal.

The owners and the players must ratify the agreement with a vote, but this is definitely trending in a positive direction. Ratification could happen as soon as the end of this week, but there is no set deadline, per McKenzie. Per the agreement, Phase 3 will begin as planned on July 13, followed by travel to hub cities on July 26 and the beginning of play on August 1.

The full press release from the NHLPA reads as follows: “The National Hockey League (NHL) and National Hockey League Players’ Association (NHLPA) have reached a tentative agreement on a Return to Play Plan and Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that adds an additional four years to the term of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement and includes transition rules and a new critical dates calendar. As part of the tentative agreement, the following dates have been established: July 13  start of formal training camps; July 26  Clubs travel to hub cities; August 1  start of Qualifying Round. The tentative agreement is now subject to approval by the NHL’s Board of Governors, as well as the NHLPA’s Executive Board followed by the full NHLPA membership. The respective review and approval processes will take place over the next few days and there will be no further comment until those processes are completed.”

Given the troubled history between these two sides, that they could come to an agreement without a work stoppage under these rushed and dynamic conditions speaks volumes. The extended CBA will now expire on September 15, 2026, per NHL.com.  There are still plenty of hurdles ahead before August 1, but for now, it appears that the NHL will return in less than a month’s time.

Prospect Notes: Cozens, Harvard, Beniers, Kings

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The future is bright for the Wild, Flyers, Senators, and Kings, per The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler. Each of those four clubs tied for the lead with four prospects making Wheeler’s top-50 list, headlined by Dylan Cozens of the Sabres in the top spot. The same can’t be said for the Lightning, Blue Jackets, Jets, Blackhawks, and Bruins, all of whom failed to register a single prospect on the list. Wheeler qualifies the case for the Jets and Blue Jackets as each had a pair of prospects close to making the list, and the Blackhawks, who have recently graduated players like Adam Boqvist and Kirby Dach, while blueliner Ian Mitchell garnered consideration.

  • As if tracking NHL prospects isn’t artful enough, it’s going to get a whole lot more complicated as college athletics tries to find its way amid the coronavirus pandemic. Harvard released a statement today announcing all classes will be offered online and on-campus students will be capped at 40% of the student body. Athletics are going to be impacted, but it’s not yet clear what kind of season, if any, college hockey will have in 2020-2021. As ESPN’s Chris Peters points out, that’s going to affect the next couple of drafts, as Harvard alone had a number of potential draft prospects, including potential first-rounder Matt Beniers.
  • The Los Angeles Kings have a big decision looming after winning the number two overall pick in next year’s draft. Of course, they have plenty of time to study their options, writes Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times. With an uncertain picture of next season, the draft presents the Kings with their largest dose of certainty. The top pick is going to be Alexis Lafreniere, leaving VP and GM Rob Blake with his pick of the rest. Harris provides a quote from Blake, who said: “You can narrow it down to three or four players where you’re really starting to zero in, instead of a group. But you’re going to review all the prep you did leading up to this one more time to have it fresh on your mind.” In addition, the Kings have three second-round picks and a pair each in the third and fourth round. Of course, though the Kings know when in the draft they’ll pick, they still don’t know when the draft will take place.

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