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Archives for February 2022

Trade Deadline Primer: Tampa Bay Lightning

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With the All-Star break now behind us, the trade deadline looms large and is now less than a month away.  Where does each team stand and what moves should they be looking to make?  We continue our look around the league with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Aspirations of a three-peat are still alive and well in Tampa Bay, where the Lightning are once again thriving in a tough division despite facing a variety of injuries all year. They’ll undoubtedly be one of the top three teams in the Atlantic Division at the season’s end, but with increasingly tough competition, more fortification to the lineup wouldn’t hurt to help their chances at a Cup in 2022.

Record

34-11-6, 2nd in Atlantic

Deadline Status

Buyer

Deadline Cap Space

$100,000 today, $100,000 in full-season space, 0/3 retention slots used, 49/50 contracts used per CapFriendly

Upcoming Draft Picks

2022: TBL 1st, TBL 5th, TBL 6th, DET 6th, TBL 7th, NYR 7th
2023: TBL 1st, TBL 3rd, TBL 4th, TBL 5th, TBL 6th, TBL 7th, ANA 7th

Trade Chips

One of the handicaps of being back-to-back Stanley Cup champions is having to pay up when players’ contracts expire. That’s impacted the Lightning greatly, forcing them to jettison their now-famed third line of Yanni Gourde, Barclay Goodrow, and Blake Coleman this offseason as well as acquire Brent Seabrook’s contract for long-term injured reserve relief. Even with all that, they’re within thousands of dollars of the salary cap, and any trade deadline deal will likely need to be a money-in, money-out sort of swap.

It would be fair to argue that it would serve Tampa better to just stand pat, considering how strong their team has been all season. But if they do opt to move out a roster player for a win-now upgrade, defenseman Cal Foote immediately jumps off the page. It’s certainly not time to give up on him yet, but in his second full-time season, he’s got just five points in 37 games and has been sparingly used in the lineup, averaging just 13:35 per game. He’s also the weakest analytical link on the Tampa Bay blue line. In fact, given Foote’s youth and ceiling, general manager Julien BriseBois could likely recoup an asset or two from another team along with a more experienced, veteran defenseman.

If a different deal comes along, the Bolts do still have a closet of later-round picks to deal from in the 2023 Draft. With just six picks remaining in 2022, it’s reasonable to expect that they’d prefer to hold onto those for the time being.

Others To Watch For: F Alex Barre-Boulet ($758k through 2024), F Gabriel Fortier ($792k through 2023), G Hugo Alnefelt ($851k through 2023)

Team Needs

1) Depth Defenseman – It’s poetic that one of the few transactions that makes sense for such a cap-strapped team also fills likely their biggest need in the lineup. Behind Foote on the depth chart is Zach Bogosian, who’s struggled with injury all season, and Andrej Sustr, a European re-entry player this year who’s gotten into just 13 games with one point. Another body would be good insurance for Tampa, especially another left-shot man for the third pairing that would allow them to more comfortably use Mikhail Sergachev up alongside Victor Hedman, where he’s found a good home this season.

2) More Draft Picks – The prospect cupboard is beginning to empty for Tampa, who has drafted very efficiently in recent years to maintain their success. Getting some more mid- to late-round picks in the fold in the right trade could once again pan out to be a star for the Lightning’s stellar scouting group.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

New York Rangers Extend Jonny Brodzinski

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6:41 pm: Per CapFriendly, Brodzinski’s new two-year deal carries a $762,500 cap hit and is two-way in nature. The breakdown is as follows:

2022-23: $750,000 NHL salary / $315,000 AHL salary ($362,500 guaranteed)
2023-24: $775,000 NHL salary / $325,000 AHL salary ($362,500 guaranteed)

9:11 am: Ahead of the trade deadline in a few weeks, the New York Rangers have locked up some of their forward depth. Jonny Brodzinski has agreed to terms on a new two-year contract extension, keeping him from becoming an unrestricted free agent this summer. The financial details of the contract were not immediately released.

Brodzinski, 28, has played just five games for the Rangers this season but that doesn’t mean his value to the organization has been negligible, the veteran forward has been a star for the Hartford Wolf Pack, scoring 18 goals and 39 points in 36 games. Armed with a powerful shot and good offensive instincts, Brodzinski has always been an excellent offensive player at the minor league level.

While that offense hasn’t really materialized at the NHL level, or even resulted in much NHL experience–he has 13 points in 67 games, most of which came in 2017-18 with the Los Angeles Kings–having a top minor league talent like that in the organization is still quite helpful. Not only can he support the Rangers’ prospects as they come through the system, but he’s also a strong injury call-up whenever necessary.

Given the fact that he’s on a two-way deal this season, it seems likely that the new contract is of a similar variety. It will likely once again come with a hefty minor league guarantee though, one that makes sure Brodzinski is well compensated for his play with Hartford. In fact, PuckPedia later reported that the two-way contract will carry an NHL cap hit of $762.5K, with minor league guarantees of $362.5K in each season.

Chicago Blackhawks To Name Kyle Davidson GM

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The Chicago Blackhawks are expected to announce current interim general manager Kyle Davidson as the team’s 10th permanent GM in team history tomorrow, according to Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli.

Davidson was named the team’s interim general manager on October 26, 2021, after previous GM Stan Bowman resigned after he was implicated in the organization’s systemic “inadequate internal procedures and insufficient and untimely response” as it related to video coach Brad Aldrich’s sexual assault of former Blackhawk forward Kyle Beach in 2010.

The announcement is likely underwhelming to some fans considering the unusually public and transparent nature of the team’s search for a new GM. Unlike other vacancies which are usually met by swirling rumors of potential candidates, the Blackhawks went so far as to announce all their interviewees by name, clearly laying out all the potential candidates for the job.

Three days ago, it was reported by multiple sources, including Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, that Davidson was one of the final three candidates for the job. The other two finalists were reportedly Tampa Bay Lightning director of hockey operations Mathieu Darche and the MLB’s Chicago Cubs assistant GM Jeff Greenberg.

Seravalli reports that former Blackhawk Brian Campbell, who was notably on the 2009-10 Blackhawks that won the Stanley Cup during the period in which the allegations against Aldrich were brought forward, will take on a “significant role” alongside Davidson as the Blackhawks continue to rebuild their roster.

Davidson’s rise within the Blackhawks organization is somewhat of a meteoric one. He actually joined the team as an intern for the 2010-11 campaign, which he was then able to parlay into a role as the team’s manager of hockey administration from 2011 to 2018. He was brought back to the organization as an assistant GM prior to 2019-20, and was additionally given the title of VP of hockey strategy and analytics in 2021-22 before being promoted.

Snapshots: Russia, Vegas, Vancouver

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The NHL has made its stance public in regards to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, releasing a statement explaining what actions it will take:

The National Hockey League condemns Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and urges a peaceful resolution as quickly as possible. Effective immediately, we are suspending our relationships with our business partners in Russia and we are pausing our Russian language social and digital media sites. In addition, we are discontinuing any consideration of Russia as a location for any future competitions involving the NHL.

We also remain concerned about the well-being of the players from Russia, who play in the NHL on behalf of their NHL Clubs, and not on behalf of Russia. We understand they and their families are being placed in an extremely difficult position.

The statement came just moments after the IIHF suspended Russian and Belarusian clubs from several international competitions. More from around the league:

  • The Vegas Golden Knights have been struggling of late, losing their last two and six of their last ten. They still sit in a playoff position in the Pacific Division, but things are as tight as ever, with the sixth-place Vancouver Canucks just ten points out of first place in the division. It’s good news that Robin Lehner is set to return tomorrow night, but head coach Peter DeBoer told reporters including Jesse Granger of The Athletic that both Max Pacioretty and Mattias Janmark are out tomorrow and “wouldn’t call either close” to a return. Pacioretty has played just 25 games this season–though he does have 15 goals and 27 points in those appearances.
  • Speaking of Vancouver, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet was on CHEK TV today and spoke about the Canucks current trade talks. The insider explained that the Canucks have “thrown everyone’s name out there” except for Elias Pettersson, Quinn Hughes, and Thatcher Demko, asking teams how they view and what they would pay for them should they become available. Still, the Canucks are still not out of the Pacific race by any means and don’t really have to make any decisions by the trade deadline, with players like J.T. Miller still under contract for next season and Brock Boeser still a restricted free agent this summer.

More On Anaheim Ducks Deadline Strategy

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Since the beginning of the season, even before Pat Verbeek took over as general manager, the Anaheim Ducks have been one of the most talked-about teams in the league when it comes to potential trades. Rickard Rakell, Josh Manson, and Hampus Lindholm, all on expiring contracts, could be huge pieces that move at next month’s deadline. The Ducks meanwhile are still in a playoff hunt, even with their recent struggles. The team is at 25-21-9 on the season and just three points out of a divisional playoff spot, let alone the wildcard race.

Recently, reports emerged that the team has reached out to Lindholm’s camp to try and make progress on a potential extension. The question then became whether the team would try to continue those negotiations through the trade deadline if a deal hadn’t yet been hammered out. Verbeek made it pretty clear how he feels about that while speaking with Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic:

I think going into this, I’m looking at it like we could make the playoffs, we could miss the playoffs. At the end of the day, there’s no guarantee I can get those three free agents back. I’m going to attempt to sign them, if it doesn’t happen, I just can’t let them walk out the door free.

With just three weeks to go before the March 21 deadline, the Ducks have nine games to show Verbeek whether they’re true playoff contenders–though that may not even matter. They could win all nine and it seems as though the new GM would have to move on, should extensions not be on the table with Rakell, Manson, and Lindholm.

For Anaheim, this isn’t just one crucial player that they might normally keep for a stretch run. These are three sought-after talents that could bring back assets that could drastically change the direction of the franchise. Lindholm alone will bring back a huge package if he’s dealt, especially if an acquiring team believes they can sign him long-term. At 28, he is still in the prime of his career as a true first-pairing defenseman capable of playing in all situations. Averaging nearly 23 minutes a game, Lindholm has 20 points in 53 games, plays hard defensive matchups, and logs plenty of time on the penalty kill.

Manson and Rakell too could bring back substantial packages, if lesser ones than Lindholm. The former is a tough-as-nails defensive defenseman that punishes attackers in front of the net and in the corners, though his offensive upside is limited. The latter, a two-time 30-goal scorer, is having a nice bounce-back season with 14 goals and 25 points in 45 games and could likely slot into the top-six on several contenders. The fact that all three of them come at reasonable cap hits–Lindholm at $5.2MM, Manson at $4.1MM, and Rakell at $3.8MM–makes them a possible target for almost anyone, especially if the Ducks ate a bit of salary for the post-deadline stretch of games.

The Ducks already have a wave of young talent making an impact at the NHL level, making this a crucial set of decisions for Verbeek that could have a serious impact on the league’s playoff picture for years to come. There’s no guarantee that any future picks or prospects ever turn into someone like Lindholm, and taking him out of this lineup could have serious ramifications. Fans of the team should be happy to hear that their big assets aren’t going to be allowed to walk away for nothing though, which would certainly seem like the worst of the three possible outcomes in this situation even if they do make a playoff run this season.

AHL Shuffle: 02/28/22

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Just three games grace the NHL schedule this evening, including a battle between two of the league’s best goal scorers. Auston Matthews, currently the leader in the Rocket Richard race with 37 goals, heads to Washington to take on Alex Ovechkin (32 goals) and the Capitals. Matthews won his first Rocket last season after Ovechkin had taken home the trophy in seven of the eight previous years. Has the torch been passed? Or does the 36-year-old eventually get his tenth trophy? As those teams and others prepare for action, we’ll keep track of all the minor moves.

Atlantic Division

Metropolitan Division

  • The Washington Capitals have recalled Vitek Vanecek as expected after he got into one conditioning game with the Hershey Bears yesterday. Vanecek has been injured for the past month but is ready to return to the Capitals’ crease and lessen the load on partner Ilya Samsonov.
  • Morgan Frost is once again on his way back to the minor leagues. The Philadelphia Flyers have loaned Frost to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, where he will presumably continue his season in the AHL. The 22-year-old was selected 27th overall in 2017 and has just 52 NHL games to his name so far, recording 30 of those this season with inconsistent results.
  • The Columbus Blue Jackets have recalled Jake Christiansen under emergency conditions, giving them an extra defenseman for tomorrow’s game against the New Jersey Devils. Christiansen, 22, has played in three games for the Blue Jackets this season, his first taste of the NHL.

Central Division

  • The Chicago Blackhawks have reassigned Josiah Slavin and Isaak Phillips to the minor leagues, given they don’t play again until Thursday. Phillips is still looking for his first point at the NHL level after making his debut and appearing in four games so far. The 20-year-old defenseman made a meteoric rise through the ranks after being a fifth-round pick in 2020, and has 13 points in 38 games for the Rockford IceHogs this season.
  • The Arizona Coyotes have recalled Matias Maccelli from the AHL, a fourth-round pick who has dominated in his first year of North American pro hockey. The 21-year-old has 55 points in 42 games for the Tucson Roadrunners, continuing his blistering development since that 2019 draft.
  • The Winnipeg Jets have assigned Dylan Samberg and C.J. Suess to the AHL, suggesting that the former is ready to come off injured reserve and the latter ready to return to minor league action. Samberg hasn’t played a game at either level for more than a month, and will likely need some time to get his legs back under him before getting another chance in the NHL.

Pacific Division

  • The Edmonton Oilers have recalled Brad Malone from the AHL, after playing yesterday with just 11 forwards. To accomplish it, Kris Russell was moved to long-term injured reserve, according to CapFriendly. Malone, signed to an NHL contract partway through the year, has yet to make his season debut for the Oilers.
  • The San Jose Sharks have recalled Santeri Hatakka from the AHL, after Mario Ferraro went on injured reserve. Ferraro is expected to miss six to eight weeks, meaning there could be an extended look for some of the team’s even younger defenders.

This page will be updated throughout the day

Sharks’ Mario Ferraro Out Six To Eight Weeks

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The San Jose Sharks have been dealt a major blow to their already dwindling playoff hopes. Promising young defenseman Mario Ferraro underwent surgery on Sunday to repair a fractured left fibula, the team announced. The timeline for recovery is six-to-eight weeks; with less than nine weeks remaining in the season and the Sharks outside the postseason picture, Ferraro will have limited if any impact over the remainder of the year.

The injury occurred on Saturday night as the Sharks faced off with the Boston Bruins. During a battle for the puck in his own end, Ferraro was the recipient of a somewhat questionable check from opposing forward Taylor Hall. Hall shoved Ferraro from behind and he slid into the end wall, with the impact causing immediate and apparent pain. Ferraro was helped off the ice – clearly injured – but a broken leg is one of the worst case scenarios for the team.

Ferraro, 23, has impressed since day one of his young NHL career, but was on pace for his best season to date. The UMass standout has been seeing increased ice time and was on pace for a career high in goals, points, hits, and takeaways, having already set a career mark in blocked shots. A budding top-pair defenseman, if not already there, Ferraro has been a critical part of San Jose’s success this season.

Even with Ferraro’s contributions thus far, the Sharks are just a .500 team. While they have remained at or above that mark all season, doing so moving forward will be a difficult task. Ferraro will join Erik Karlsson, Nikolai Knyzhov, and Jaycob Megna on the injured reserve while Nicolas Meloche also remains sidelined, leaving San Jose with a severely depleted blue line. Nine points behind the Dallas Stars for the final playoff spot in the West and with four other teams between them in the wild card race, the Sharks’ postseason hopes now look like a long shot, especially if Ferraro misses the maximum eight weeks.

Jokerit, Dinamo Riga Withdraw From KHL

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Amidst the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, two international teams have opted to distance themselves from the primarily-Russian Kontinetal Hockey League. On Friday, Finnish club Jokerit withdrew from the upcoming KHL postseason. Today, Latvia’s Dinamo Riga has taken it a step further. The club has announced that they have withdrawn from the league entirely.

Riga, which did not qualify for the playoffs this season and could have waited to take a stand, instead decided to make their position soundly known. “The decision to withdraw from KHL has been made, thus expressing a clear position of the club management,” the team announced, as relayed by The Hockey News’ Ian Kennedy. “In such a military and humanitarian crisis, we do not see any opportunity for cooperation with the Kontinental Hockey League.” The team representing Latvia has decided to stand with Ukraine, a fellow former Soviet nation.

With this as an example, Jokerit could soon follow suit and fully withdraw from the league, especially given the media and sponsor pressure the team faced to cancel its playoff participation. While Riga’s future is currently unknown having been a member of the KHL since 2008, Jokerit could easily return to the Finnish Liiga, where they played prior to moving in 2013; perhaps they could bring Riga along with them. Kazakhstan’s Barys Nur-Sultan, China’s Kunlun Red Star, and Belarus’ Dinamo Minsk represent the three non-Russian teams remaining in the KHL, but there has been no anticipation to this point that any will follow the lead of Riga and Jokerit.

This is just the beginning of how the invasion of Ukraine could have a trickle down effect on the hockey world, as the IIHF is considering sanctions on Russia as well as Belarus, called upon by Switzerland but since echoed by Latvia. In response, the KHL is rumored to be considering a lockout of all import players. This is not the last that of this story by a long shot.

Coyotes’ Liam O’Brien Listed As Week-To-Week

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The Arizona Coyotes tweeted today that forward Liam O’Brien is out week-to-week with an upper-body injury that he sustained last Friday during the team’s game versus the Vegas Golden Knights.

Largely a career AHLer, O’Brien has worked his way into a full-time NHL role with the Coyotes this season as one of the few enforcers left in the league. Getting into 37 games with Arizona this year, easily a career-high, O’Brien has two goals and an assist for three points. He leads the league with 106 penalty minutes.

With O’Brien out, it’s likely a chance for veteran Riley Nash to get into the lineup on a more frequent basis as the team tries to showcase him ahead of the Trade Deadline. Claimed off waivers earlier in the season, Nash has two assists in 41 NHL games this year.

It could also be an opportunity for the team’s youngsters such as Jan Jenik or Ben McCartney to earn another call-up from AHL Tucson as the team tries to evaluate which prospects could make the NHL full-time in 2022-23.

Trade Deadline Primer: Detroit Red Wings

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With the All-Star break now behind us, the trade deadline looms large and is now less than a month away.  Where does each team stand and what moves should they be looking to make?  We continue our look around the league with the Detroit Red Wings.

The Detroit Red Wings have impressed this season, enjoying growth all around from their young core and gigantic rookie performances from Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider. With the playoff picture in the Eastern Conference virtually set in stone, though, any playoff aspirations for Detroit at this point are ill-advised, but that doesn’t take away from the extremely solid stepping-stone season Detroit and general manager Steve Yzerman have built to help set up the future.

Record

23-24-6, 5th in the Atlantic

Deadline Status

Seller

Deadline Cap Space

$35.80MM today, $55.49MM in full-season space, 1/3 retention slots used, 43/50 contracts used per CapFriendly

Upcoming Draft Picks

2022: DET 1st, DET 2nd, WSH 2nd, DET 3rd, DET 4th, COL 4th, VGK 4th, DET 5th, DET 7th
2023: DET 1st, DET 2nd, DET 3rd, DET 4th, DET 5th, DET 6th, DET 7th

Trade Chips

Detroit’s on the emerging end of a rebuild, so any decent player with term for the Wings is likely safe from trade speculation. However, there’s a decent amount of pending unrestricted free agents for whom Detroit would love to retain assets.

The highest-caliber of these Detroit pending free agents is undoubtedly defenseman Nick Leddy. The long-time New York Islander was shipped to Detroit this past offseason in a salary-clearing move, with Detroit yielding a second-round pick to acquire his services. The 30-year-old has 12 points in 48 games this year and is still capable of logging top-four minutes, meaning that Yzerman should be able to at least recoup similar value for Leddy on the trade market. Leddy has struggled defensively, often being outshined by his partner Seider, but could benefit from facing lesser competition on a better team.

Marc Staal is another left-shot veteran defenseman on an expiring deal that could make some sense for teams. He’s having his best season in recent memory, rebounding with some solid two-way play after being an analytical nightmare for the past few years. His +12 rating is the only positive rating among active Detroit defensemen, and with a reasonable $2MM cap hit, many contenders could work him into a third-pairing/seventh man role with ease. He does have a no-movement clause, however, meaning he’d need to accept any trade in order for it to clear.

On offense, there’s Vladislav Namestnikov. Fifth on the team in goals with 13, he’s having a much better season than his first year in Detroit. He’s a good two-way presence capable of logging middle-six minutes, and his versatility among forward positions makes him an attractive option to have in the lineup when injury strikes. He could likely command a third- or fourth-round pick on the trade market, perhaps more.

Others To Watch For: F Sam Gagner ($850K, pending UFA), D Troy Stecher ($1.7M, pending UFA), G Thomas Greiss ($3.6MM, pending UFA)

Team Needs

1) 2023 Draft Picks — Detroit already has considerable pick depth in 2022 with an additional second-round choice and two extra fourth-round picks, but they’re lacking any additional selections in 2023. With that 2023 Draft class shaping up to be one of the overall highest-quality ones in recent memory, it would be wiser to load up the following year rather than trading for more 2022 selections. It could also give Detroit additional trade chip material at the 2023 Trade Deadline if the team finds itself in playoff contention.

2) Forward Prospects — While the Red Wings have an incredibly bright and deep future on defense, the Red Wings are now lacking many high-end forward prospects in the team’s development system after players like Lucas Raymond and Joe Veleno have graduated to full-time NHL roles. Additional depth there would be a nice get for Detroit.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

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