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Hurricanes Re-Sign Warren Foegele

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The Hurricanes have taken care of their last arbitration-bound restricted free agent, announcing the re-signing of winger Warren Foegele to a one-year contract, avoiding a hearing that was scheduled for Wednesday.  The deal is worth $2.15MM which will also represent his qualifying offer next offseason where he’ll once again be an RFA with arbitration rights.

The 24-year-old had career highs across the board last season, notching 13 goals and 17 assists in 68 regular season games while logging 13:43 per contest.  While he wasn’t the most productive in the playoffs, his lone point (a goal) was the series-clincher in the Qualifying Round against the Rangers.

This contract represents quite the raise from his entry-level deal which carried an AAV of just $800K but it also highlights how he went from a little-known energy player to someone that is a key part of their bottom six up front.  He’s likely to remain in that role for next season as Carolina has had very limited turnover among their forwards; Justin Williams retired earlier this offseason with Jesper Fast inking a three-year deal to take his place on the roster.

With the signing, the Hurricanes now have a little under $1MM in cap space, per CapFriendly so their spending for next season is likely done.  However, GM Don Waddell has a pair of key players in defenseman Dougie Hamilton and winger Andrei Svechnikov entering the final year of their respective deals so now with all of their NHL restricted free agents taken care of (Roland McKeown and Oliwer Kaski are also RFAs with Kaski already playing in the KHL), expect Carolina to shift their focus towards trying to get those two players locked up.

Poll: Which Of The Eliminated Seven Will Return To The Postseason In 2021?

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When the NHL convinced the NHLPA to return in a bubble this summer, part of the agreement was for an expanded postseason. Just seven teams were actually eliminated, finishing their seasons in early March with no chance at the Stanley Cup.

For many of the players on the Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Kings, San Jose Sharks, New Jersey Devils, Ottawa Senators, Detroit Red Wings, and Buffalo Sabres, it has already been almost eight months since they last played a competitive hockey game. While those squads may receive some sort of extended training camp, it’s going to be a battle to get back into the postseason in 2021.

Even though it’s tough, that doesn’t mean they won’t give it a try. Many of the seven teams have made major additions this offseason, with some even completing sweeping changes to their roster.

The Ducks, who finished 29-33-9 in 2019-20, had almost no financial flexibility to do anything on the free agent market. Kevin Shattenkirk and Derek Grant were their UFA additions, both coming on three-year deals. They do however have a wave of young talent working its way up the depth chart, which could at any point propel them to success. The same could be said about the Kings, who spent even less in free agency. Los Angeles is just at the start of their rebuild and will hope that top pick Quinton Byfield can make an NHL impact quickly.

The Sharks were one of the most disappointing teams in the league this season, winning just 29 of their 70 games. This was a team that had just gone to the Western Conference Finals in 2019 and was still loaded with household names like Erik Karlsson, Brent Burns, and Logan Couture. Goaltending was a huge part of the problem for the Sharks, but bringing in Devan Dubnyk certainly doesn’t guarantee an improvement.

New Jersey had plenty of hype after landing the first-overall pick in 2019 and surrounding him with expensive players like Nikita Gusev and P.K. Subban. When Hughes didn’t immediately set the league on fire, the team couldn’t really compete in a tough Metropolitan Division. This offseason the Devils have landed a proven middle-six winger in Andreas Johnsson, a capable defenseman in Ryan Murray, and a Stanley Cup champion in Corey Crawford to help them get over the hump. Development from Hughes is likely the most important factor here.

The same could be said about the Senators, who have taken an extremely young roster and added veteran pieces all over the ice. Evgenii Dadonov and Matt Murray highlight the additions, though the draft was really where the Senators believe their offseason earned its stripes. It’ll be tough for Ottawa this year, but they’re obviously on the track towards postseason contention.

Detroit is only really a year into their full rebuild and has stripped their roster of any long-term contracts. Sure, they added veterans like Vladislav Namestnikov and Bobby Ryan in free agency, but those both seem more like trade chips than core pieces.

In Buffalo, it’s playoffs-or-bust at this point. The team signed free agent superstar Taylor Hall to a one-year deal, brought Eric Staal away from his home in Minnesota, and added depth up front with pieces like Cody Eakin. New GM Kevyn Adams isn’t focused on a rebuild, he’s focused on getting the Sabres back to for the first time in a decade.

But who actually has the best chance at making the postseason? Cast your vote below and make sure to leave your thoughts in the comments!

[Mobile users click here to vote!]

Seattle Kraken Will Wait To Name Head Coach

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Although the Seattle Kraken are set to take the ice as the NHL’s 32nd franchise in less than a year, the team is in no rush to name their inaugural head coach. The team did not hesitate to get a jump on hiring a GM, landing Ron Francis in July of 2019, but now Francis tells The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun that the team is willing to wait on their next major personnel decision.

We don’t know yet the kind of team we may be able to draft, so we’re comfortable kind of sitting back and waiting right now and watching what happens here. There’s still, hopefully, a 2020-21 season getting up and running and playing. Are there guys that end up losing their jobs or looking for other things elsewhere? I just think we have time on this. We’re not in a race to make that decision at this point.

The sentiment makes sense and actually should not come as much of a surprise; the Vegas Golden Knights did not name Gerard Gallant (who is currently available) as their head coach until April of 2017, just two months ahead of the 2017 Expansion Draft. With the high likelihood of another NHL season that could run later into the calendar year than usual, given the delayed start, Seattle would still have many months left before making a coaching decision in order to keep to Vegas’ timeline.

However, Francis does mention that Seattle can begin making roster transactions prior to the Expansion Draft, stating that they will officially become a member of the league with player movement abilities once their final expansion payment in made to the league early next year. That of course raises a chicken-and-egg debate: do they hire a coach and base their early signings and trades on his style or do they make moves and then find a coach who might best fit those players and their 2021 Expansion Draft targets?

With that in mind, LeBrun asks Francis whether he has interviewed any candidates yet for head coach. Francis refused to answer, so make of that what you will. He did hint that the team is starting to get a better idea of who might be available in the expansion draft next off-season and how that could drive the team’s philosophy and whether that pairs with any available head coaches, so a coaching move could be on the horizon.

I think we’re getting closer to having an idea now that we’ve gotten through a little bit of the free agency. There could still be moves before the NHL hopefully gets up and running. Things become a little bit clearer as far as what you think may or may not be available, and then you start having those discussions with teams and try to get an indication on what may or may not be available. So I think once you get more into that process a little bit more, we’ll have a better indication (of their roster approach/philosophy). You always want to win now, but we’ll have to judge the landscape and see where things are and make the decisions that are right both short term and long term.

Korbinian Holzer Signs With Automobilist Yekaterinburg

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Defenseman Korbinian Holzer is done with waiting for the NHL free agent market to heat back up. In an in-depth interview with Eishockey News in his native Germany, Holzer reveals that he has signed a contract for the remainder of the 2020-21 season with Automobilist Yekaterunburg of the KHL. He also discusses training in Germany and what it would take to get him back to North America.

Holzer, 32, is a big, physical defenseman who has made a career in the NHL of being a reliable depth option. In fact, he actually set a career high in games played this past season, combining for 49 games between the Anaheim Ducks and Nashville Predators. His previous high was just 34 games, but he has played in at least 16 NHL games in seven of the past eight seasons. He has always been an effective plug-and-play option who can be relied on for decent minutes, a penalty kill role, and a lot of  hits.

However, in the flat cap market, a career depth player has no guarantees. Holzer states that there has been some interest from NHL teams, but nothing concrete. He says that teams are “very cautious” of using up cap space. Rather than wait and hope, Holzer has decided to move on. After a career high in NHL games, as well as over 16 minutes per game for a second straight season, Holzer’s priority at this point in his career is to have a core role and guaranteed ice time. It sounds as though he will require an NHL offer with those parameters in order to make a return.

Automobilist seems to have met those demands. The KHL club, who currently sits in fourth overall in the league standings and fourth in the Eastern Conference, is billed as a “top team” by Holzer. His soon-to-be teammates include former NHL great Pavel Datsyuk, former Toronto Maple Leafs teammate Peter Holland, and fellow countryman Brooks Macek. The team is also coached by an established NHL mind in Bill Peters. One thing that Yekaterinburg lacks is a top defenseman, with only former NHLer Nikita Tryamkin standing out. Holzer should indeed step into a major role with the club and could find himself as a top defenseman in Europe for several years if he chooses to stick with that path to continue his career.

Holzer is set to join Automobilist on November 12. In the meantime, he will finish fulfilling his obligations to Tolzer Lowen, his hometown team who plays in Germany’s tier two league, the DEL2. Holzer has been skating with the team and participating in exhibition games, but will now join the club officially for an upcoming preseason tournament. After that, he will make the trip to Yekaterinburg to begin the next stage of his career.

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