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Archives for September 2020

Robin Lehner Nearing Long-Term Extension With Vegas Golden Knights

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When word emerged earlier today that  Robin Lehner and the Vegas Golden Knights had come to terms on a five-year, $25MM contract extension, the goaltender was quick to squash the rumors. Lehner said “it’s not true” and called the rumors “annoying” when speaking to the media – “I’m here to win a Cup, not discuss this stuff.” It seemed at the time that maybe the reports were truly erroneous.

The only issue with Lehner’s vehement dismissal of the contract terms though is that reliable sources have since come forward to corroborate the extension rumors. The Athletic’s Jesse Granger, who knows the Knights as well as anyone, writes that Vegas does plan to extend Lehner and those talks have indeed begun. While he echoes Lehner’s comment that “nothing is finalized”, Granger stops short of dismissing the possibility that the two sides could be close to a resolution. ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski goes on step further, reporting that there is in fact a handshake agreement in place between the Golden Knights and Lehner on a new deal. He also believes that the five-year term and $25MM price tag are accurate.

Should the purported extension come to fruition, it will be a win-win for both sides. Despite playing at an elite level for the past three seasons, Lehner has only landed one-year contracts and is playing on his fourth different team in that span. His goal has always been to find a long-term home and his fit with Vegas has been obvious. At a $5MM AAV, this deal may not be at the top of Lehner’s potential market value, but it would provide him with security and a the chance to compete for a Stanley Cup each year. As for the Knights, goaltending was not considered a major area of need when the team acquired Lehner at the trade deadline as the intended backup to Marc-Andre Fleury, but it would have become an issue down the road as the 35-year-old Fleury neared the end of his contract with his play continuing to slip. Once an extension with Lehner is finalized, Vegas will have merely solved their problem in net before it had a chance to occur. Of course, Fleury’s days with the team are now numbered as Vegas cannot afford to keep both goalies, even at a very fair price for Lehner. With limited cap space this off-season, the Golden Knights will have to move their veteran keeper and officially hand the starting job to Lehner.

Minor Transactions: 09/11/20

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While hockey fans are still engrossed in the excitement of the conference finals, one game per day does feel like somewhat of a letdown after the onslaught of game action over the past six weeks. Combine that with the growing anticipation of free agency and the NHL Draft and the 2020-21 season overall, and  day-to-day roster transactions are starting to worm their way back into the spotlight. With plenty going on at all levels and in many different countries, here are some of the top minor moves of the day:

  • The AHL’s Laval Rocket have announced an extension with veteran minor league forward Kevin Lynch. It is a one-year, one-way AHL contract for Lynch, who brings physicality and scoring punch to the Rocket lineup. A University of Michigan product who cut his teeth in the ECHL and eventually worked his way into a leadership position with the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch and to an NHL contract with the Tampa Bay Lighting in 2018-19, Lynch sadly missed that entire season due to injury. He moved to Laval this past year and recorded 21 points in 54 games, finding himself a new home in the process.
  • The AHL’s Rochester Americans have announced a new contract of their own, signing goaltender Michael Houser to a one-year AHL contract. Though the press release does not specify, this is expected to be a two-way contract, as Houser has played the vast majority of his career in the ECHL, including the entirety of the past two seasons while technically under contract with Rochester. With that said, Houser was phenomenal with the ECHL’s Cincinnati Cyclones over the past two years and has earned his spot on the Americans’ depth chart. The former Florida Panthers prospect has a career 2.47 GAA and .915 save percentage in 210 ECHL games and has played well in 73 AHL appearances over the years as well.
  • Former NHLer Casey Bailey is off to a new location yet again this season. Once a promising prospect for the Toronto Maple Leafs out of Penn State University, Bailey has been all over the place looking for a fit for the past few years. Bailey last played in the NHL in 2016-17 with the Ottawa Senators, but could not find an NHL contract after the season. He signed with the AHL’s Bridgeport Sound Tigers and had a strong year, prompting him to chase a paycheck in the KHL with HC Slovan Bratislava the next season. However, his offense dried up in the KHL and Bailey made the surprise move to return to North America last year on an ECHL contract. That skepticism proved to be warranted, as Bailey bolted early in the season for Sweden, signing with the SHL’s Vaxjo Lakers. Now he’s off to a new European league, inking a one-year deal with the Iserlohn Roosters of Germany’s DEL.

Sabres Coaches Declined Pay Cut, Team Considering Internal Salary Cap

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It should not surprise anyone that NHL teams across the league are hurting financially. A shortened regular season, a postseason without any ticket revenue, and no idea when fans may be able to return to games has every franchise scrambling to cut costs wherever possible. For some, that has included asking coaches and staff members to take pay cuts or forego bonuses. For others, it means reduced spending on player salaries this coming season – an internal salary cap. As TSN’s Frank Seravalli writes, these difficult decisions do not lie only with the NHL’s small or non-traditional markets either. The Pittsburgh Penguins are reportedly considering a lower internal salary cap for 2020-21, while the Jack Adams-winning head coach of the Boston Bruins, Bruce Cassidy, and his staff declined playoff bonuses. In total, Seravalli reports that 17 teams have made some sort of meaningful pay cut to their coaching or front office staffs, while several others will be forced to cut player salaries this off-season.

However, a team can only ask so much and now the Buffalo Sabres and owners Terry and Kim Pegula are getting push-back from key members of their club. The Pegulas did not pull any punches when it came to cost cutting earlier this summer. The team fired 22 hockey operations staffers back in June, including then-GM Jason Botterill, and reduced their front office staff to a skeleton crew. Yet, even before that they had cut the pay of head coach Ralph Krueger and his staff by 20% from April 1 to July 13. Seravalli reports that at the end of that period, the team requested that the coaches take a 25% pay reduction for another extended period of time; they declined. While most coaching staffs have been willing to take a pay cut to prevent other personnel losses in the front office, Krueger and company sat and watched as their hockey operations staff was decimated even as they sacrificed a significant portion of their pay. As a result, they refused to do it a second time, perhaps knowing there were no more hockey jobs left for the Pegulas to cut. Seravalli notes that this is the first reported instance of a coaching staff rejecting a voluntary pay cut.

While the Buffalo coaches and front office may be safe, the need for further budget cuts is likely to affect how much talent they have to work with next season. Seravalli reports that the team is now planning to enforce an internal salary cap in the low $70MM range, potentially putting payroll $10MM under the $81.5MM salary cap ceiling. On paper, this may not seem too bad for the Sabres, who have just over $48MM committed to their 2020-21 roster. However, that amount covers just ten players, as Buffalo counts seven unrestricted free agents and six restricted free agents among their regulars from this past season. The team is looking at as little as $22MM or so on their internal salary cap to fill 13 roster spots, and new contracts for RFA’s Sam Reinhart, Victor Olofsson, Brandon Montour, and Linus Ullmark are bound to eat up the vast majority of that space. While every team in the NHL is struggling due to the impact of COVID-19, the Sabres had already been struggling for a lot longer than most and there does not appear to be an end in sight.

NHL Announces Official Dates And Times For 2020 Draft, Opening Of Free Agency

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With the 2020 postseason proceeding ahead of schedule, there has been reporting and considerable speculation that the league would move up the dates of the delayed 2020 NHL Entry Draft and the beginning of the new league year and opening of free agency. The NHL has followed through on that speculation, officially announcing today the new dates for these events. The Draft will take place on October 6-7, and the new league year will commence on October 9.

The first round of the NHL Draft will begin at 7pm ET on Tuesday, October 6, a departure from its usual Friday night slot. Similarly, the second day of the draft, comprising rounds 2-7, will take place on Wednesday, October 7 rather than it’s typical Saturday placement. Otherwise, the structure of the draft stays the same. One key difference though is that all draft operations will take place virtually.

As for the start of free agency, the July 1 unofficial holiday will instead take place on Friday, October 9. Other than a delay of more than three months, the opening of free agency will not be much different; at 12pm ET, the signing window will open and free agents will be free to speak with teams and sign contracts. What may be very different however is the pace at which players will sign. While there is usually a massive rush of contracts when free agency opens, there are factors working against a fast-paced market. First, the NHL’s new CBA has eliminated the free agent contact period, meaning teams and available players cannot formally communicate until after free agency officially opens. Second, the flat salary cap will force the majority of NHL teams to be very careful with their roster operations this off-season, potentially prioritizing re-signing their own restricted free agents before throwing money at unrestricted free agents. This combination could produce an abnormally slow start to free agency, but October 9 will be an intriguing day league-wide nonetheless.

Nashville Predators Officially Name Dan Hinote As Assistant Coach

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As anticipated, the Nashville Predators have made the official announcement that former NHL forward Dan Hinote has joined the team as an assistant coach. Hinote has spent the past two season as an assistant with the U.S. National Team Development Program and ironically is set to replace Dan Muse on head coach John Hynes’ staff after Muse was named a head coach for the USNTDP. Hinote rounds out a staff that also includes Dan Lambert and Rob Scuderi. Hynes said of his new addition:

Hinote’s character, personality, as well as playing and coaching experience will be a great fit for our team and players. As a player, Dan brought energy and leadership to his teams, winning a Stanley Cup with Colorado in 2001, and his experience as a coach with the Columbus Blue Jackets and USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program will be of great value to our organization.

GM David Poile, who has always had a soft spot for the USNTDP, added his own support for Hinote’s hire, stating:

In this assistant coach position, we were looking for a former player who was fairly recently retired but still had coaching experience, and Dan fit that description perfectly. He builds strong connections with players – including Ryan Johansen in his time in Columbus – and has played with Predators alumni and Hall of Famers Paul Kariya and Peter Forsberg in Colorado, as well as Predators Director of Player Development Scott Nichol, Preds broadcaster Chris Mason and Kariya again in St. Louis. Dan complements John and the rest of our current staff nicely, and I trust he will be a tremendous asset to the team.

As mentioned, prior to his time with the USNTDP Hinote spent eight seasons with the Columbus Blue Jackets, splitting his time between working as an assistant coach and a pro scout for the organization. Hinote joined Columbus immediately after retiring in 2010. While he spent his final playing season in Sweden, Hinote spent nine seasons in the NHL as a hard-working and intelligent two-way forward. He hopes to bring those same hallmarks to his position with the Predators and impart them on the players.

 

Pittsburgh Penguins Name J.D. Forrest As AHL Head Coach

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As the internal coaching carousel for the Pittsburgh Penguins continues, they have again opted to promote one of their own. Following the dismissal of Mike Sullivan’s entire staff- Sergei Gonchar, Jacques Martin, and Mark Recchi – the Penguins brought back Todd Reirden following his dismissal as head coach of the Washington Capitals and promoted AHL head coach Mike Vellucci. In need of a new head coach for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to replace Vellucci, the club announced today that assistant J.D. Forrest has been promoted to head coach. The team’s release also revealed that Assistant GM Jason Karmanos has been named the GM for the AHL Penguins. The new WBS GM had this to say about his new head coach:

J.D. has done an excellent job in his four seasons as an assistant coach in Wilkes-Barre, consistently demonstrating a strong ability to develop the young defensemen in our system. His familiarity with the organization, our prospects and the style of hockey we want to play, together with his work ethic and team-first approach, gives us confidence that he will excel in his new role as head coach.

Forrest, 39, has been with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton since the 2016-17 season, focusing on the team’s defensemen and the penalty kill. Prior to joining the Penguins, he was the head coach of Red Bull Salzburg in the Austrian U-20 league and before that an inter assistant coach with the U.S. National Team Development Program. Forrest was a product of the USNTDP himself before playing four seasons at Boston College and nine pro seasons in the U.S., Finland, Switzerland, Sweden, and Germany. A well-traveled player and coach, especially fotr his young age, Forrest brings a broad array of experience to his first head coaching position at the pro level and could have a bright future ahead of him.

2020-21 NCAA Hockey Season Delayed

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While it should come as no surprise given the mass postponements of other college sports this fall, NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Hockey has opted to follow suit.  The Hockey Commissioners Association, which represents the 11 hockey conferences across Division I,  announced that the season will not begin in early October as usual, but instead will be delayed to a to-be-determined future date:

The 11 Division I men’s and women’s ice hockey conferences, represented by the Hockey Commissioners Association (HCA), are committed to providing memorable experiences for our student-athletes during the upcoming season. The conferences have been working together on plans to return to play with a focus on the health and safety of everyone associated within our campus communities. Due to the impact COVID-19 continues to have across the country and within higher education, the start of competition for the Division I college hockey season will be delayed. Each conference will announce plans for the season individually.

The good news is that, though each conference will determine their own start date, it likely won’t be too long before college hockey begins in some capacity. The NCHC, which boasts top programs like North Dakota, Minnesota-Duluth, and Denver, have already noted that they plan to start on or around November 20th, which would put them around the same time as the hopeful start of NHL training camp for next season as well. ESPN’s Chris Peters writes that other conferences are believed to be eyeing this timeline as well.

However, NCAA Hockey will not be at full strength when the league does kick off this season. As previously reported, the Ivy League Conference has cancelled all sports in the fall semester, as opposed to just “fall sports”. Seven of the Ivy League’s member schools play in the ECAC and are not expected to be back on the ice until January 1 or later. With half of their team’s out of action, the ECAC itself may have a more difficult call to make on when to begin their season.

As The Hockey News’ Ryan Kennedy notes, when the college hockey season does commence there will be no greater story than the elite 2021 NHL Draft prospects at the University of Michigan. Defenseman Owen Power and forwards Kent Johnson and Matthew Beniers – who recently switched his commitment from the sidelined Harvard University – area all expected to be top ten picks in the draft next summer. Never before has the NCAA boasted this depth of top tier draft talent in one season, never mind on one team. With a number of NHL prospects on the roster already and several more set to be drafted in October, the Wolverines are undoubtedly the team to watch once college hockey makes its return.

Sean Couturier Named 2020 Selke Trophy Winner

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Another day, another NHL award announced. This evening it was the honor of best defensive forward, which went to Philadelphia Flyers center Sean Couturier. The league named Couturier the recipient of the Frank J. Selke Trophy for the 2019-20 season, his first time winning the award. The Selke Trophy is voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association and is awarded to the forward deemed to “best excel in the defensive aspects of the game.”

Couturier faced stiff competition for the honor this season, as 2018-19 winner Ryan O’Reilly of the St. Louis Blues and four-time winner and nine-time finalist Patrice Bergeron of the Boston Bruins were also named finalists. Yet, the race was not particularly close. Couturier finished with 117 of a possible 170 first-place votes, 96 more than Bergeron in second. His 1424 total voting points were also 540 more than Bergeron. O’Reilly finished close behind in third, with Tampa Bay’s Anthony Cirelli in fourth and Vegas’ Mark Stone and Montreal’s Phillip Danault finishing in a distant fifth and sixth respectively.

Couturier has grown into one of if not the best face-off man in the NHL, a main reason he ran away with the Selke this season. He won 59.7% of his draws, more than any other player in the league (with a minimum 50 face-offs). He also ranked second in defensive zone face-off percentage. On the club level, he led all Flyers forwards in average time on ice and short-handed ice time per game and led all Philadelphia skaters in plus/minus and Corsi. Additionally, Couturier finished second in scoring for Philly, just two points behind Travis Konecny for the team lead.  

Alex Killorn Suspended One Game

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The Department of Player Safety has made a ruling and the Tampa Bay Lightning will be without one of their most experienced playoff performers. Alex Killorn has received a one-game suspension for his hit on New York Islanders forward Brock Nelson last night. As the accompanying video explains:

It is important to note that this is not a case where a sudden or unexpected movement by Nelson just prior to contact, turns a legal hit into an illegal one. From the moment that Nelson initially collects the puck and until contact is made, Killorn sees nothing but his numbers. While we accept Tampa Bay’s assertion that Killorn makes some attempt to deliver this check from the side, this is still a forceful hit from behind on a defenseless player who is no longer in possession of the puck. 

Killorn will effectively miss two full games because of the hit since he was given a game misconduct last night at 5:55 of the first period. Nelson did leave the game for a period of time but returned later.

The league also pointed out that Killorn does not have a significant disciplinary history, having been fined just once in his career. He’ll have to miss game three but can make a return to the Tampa lineup after that.

St. Louis Blues Re-Sign Jacob De La Rose

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The St. Louis Blues will be bringing back a depth forward, announcing today that they have re-signed Jacob de La Rose for one season. The deal will pay him $700K for 2020-21.

Now 25 years old, it’s clear that de La Rose is never going to score much at the NHL level. In 229 NHL games, the big center has recorded just 13 goals and 37 points, including just nine last season in a year split between St. Louis and the Detroit Red Wings. He came to the Blues as the return for Robby Fabbri, but was never expected to fill the same kind of middle-six role in St. Louis.

Instead, he’ll serve as some fourth-line depth and a big body that can contribute to head coach Craig Berube’s physical grind-it-out style. de La Rose does require waivers to go to the minor leagues, but it seems unlikely that he’d be claimed at this point in his career given there isn’t much upside left.

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