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Loui Eriksson Likely Headed Overseas In 2022-23

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After an overall solid rebound season in 2021-22 as a member of the Arizona Coyotes, it appears that veteran winger Loui Eriksson is going to be continuing his career as a professional hockey player in Europe next year. According to Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports, the 37-year-old is still interested in playing, likely headed to his native Sweden, but has been looking at opportunities in Switzerland as well (link). Hearing that Eriksson could head overseas isn’t necessarily surprising, given his struggles to produce and diminished roles the past few seasons. However, demonstrating his health and a return to regular minutes this season meant there wasn’t much surprise that Eriksson still has something in the tank to offer.

The Gothenburg-born winger began his career as a second-round draft pick of the Dallas Stars in 2003, debuting for the team during the 2006-07 season. He would spend seven seasons in a Stars uniform before being dealt to the Boston Bruins in the summer of 2013 as the centerpiece of the trade that sent Tyler Seguin to Dallas. Eriksson would spend three seasons in Boston, capping his time off with a career-best 30 goals in 2015-16. That offseason, almost three years to the day that he was traded to Boston, Eriksson signed a six-year, $36MM contract with the Vancouver Canucks.

The Eriksson-in-Vancouver era did not work out at all as either side had intended, the forward immediately regressing to just 24 points in 65 games in the first year of the deal, never returning to the player he was in Boston and Dallas. Last summer, he was dealt in the Oliver Ekman-Larsson trade as a sort of cap-dump, with the Coyotes hoping he could serve as a veteran mentor to their younger players. Eriksson was able to provide just what Arizona needed and even had something of a comeback, getting into 73 games, the second-highest total since he left Boston, putting up 19 points in the process.

Showing he could stay healthy and play every night while offering some production has rebuilt Eriksson’s value to an extent. Though it may not be enough to keep in him in the NHL, whether that’s from a lack of offers or lack of an offering worth keeping him in North America, it appears now that a chance closer to home could be a real possibility. Growing up in Sweden, naturally Eriksson has plenty of experience with Swedish hockey, spending much of his development in the Frolunda organization. But, if the veteran chose to head to the Swiss league, it wouldn’t be his first time, as he spent time with Davos during the lockout-shortened 2012-13 NHL season.

If the 2021-22 season was Eriksson’s last in the NHL, he walks away with an all-around solid resume despite his later struggles. Eriksson would finish his career with 253 goals and 360 assists in 1,050 career regular-season games over 16 seasons. Additionally, he added 14 points in 44 career playoff games, spanning four appearances with Dallas, Boston, and Vancouver. Never winning a formal award, Eriksson did finish with votes for the Lady Byng and Selke trophies numerous times and was a three-time All Star.

Minor Transactions: 07/24/22

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After a busy start to the weekend, it’s been a quiet Sunday morning around the hockey world. Kadri-watch is still on, what the Calgary Flames choose to do with newly-acquired stars Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar is an intriguing storyline, and where veterans like P.K. Subban and Phil Kessel end up is yet to be determined. Still, there has been some action in the minor leagues and overseas worth keeping tabs on, and we’ll track that here.

  • Former Minnesota Wild prospect Bryce Misley is heading overseas, signing with Asiago of ICEHL in Italy (link). Originally a fourth-round pick of Minnesota in 2017, Misley spent four seasons at the University of Vermont, turning pro at the conclusion of his 2020-21 college season. 2021-22 was the forward’s first full professional season, scoring just three goals in 18 games with the Iowa Wild of the AHL, but impressing with the Iowa Heartlanders of the ECHL, where he had 11 goals and 19 assists in 46 games.
  • Defenseman John Gilmour, a veteran of 37 NHL games with the New York Rangers and Buffalo Sabres, has changed teams in the KHL. After 47 games over two seasons with CSKA Moscow, Gilmour will suit up for Dinamo Minsk next season (link). The 29-year-old was a four-year standout at Providence College, winning a National Championship in 2015 before turning pro for the 2016-17 season, playing with the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack. He would make his NHL debut a year later, tallying five points in a career-high 28 games played for the New York Rangers. Gilmour spent the 2019-20 season in the Buffalo Sabres organization, splitting time between the Sabres and the Rochester Americans in the AHL, eventually heading to the KHL after that season.
  • Keegan Lowe, a longtime AHL veteran, is headed to the Vaxjo Lakers of the SHL after spending last season playing for Bolzano in Austria (link). The defenseman began his career with the Edmonton Oil Kings and was selected by the Carolina Hurricanes in the third-round of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft. Lowe would spend parts of seven seasons in the AHL between the Charlotte Checkers, St. John’s IceCaps, Bakersfield Condors, and most recently the San Diego Gulls in 2020-21. After the season in San Diego, Lowe departed North America for Austria, where he impressed with 20 points in 44 games on the blueline. The veteran also got into four games at the NHL level, two with the Hurricanes in 2014-15 and two with the Edmonton Oilers in 2017-18.

Snapshots: Kadri, Gomez, Kulak

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As the offseason progresses, more and more names have come off the board, most recently Matthew Tkachuk, MacKenzie Weegar and an unexpected name in Jonathan Huberdeau, as a result of last night’s blockbuster. One name that has remained, perhaps sitting atop that board now, is UFA center Nazem Kadri. Fresh off a Stanley Cup, Kadri haas taken his time to decide, making clear he wants to go to a contender. Considering the contract he could command after his sensational 2021-22, the teams who appear to have made their offseason splashes already, and his desire to go to a contender, Kadri’s options could become more and more limited.

One destination rumored for Kadri has been the New York Islanders, and The Athletic’s Kevin Kurz says one league source confirmed to The Athletic that there are rumblings the Islanders have been making a push for Kadri (subscription required). Bringing Kadri into the fold would make sense for the Islanders, the team needing to improve its underperforming forward group and Kadri a two-way force that spent several seasons under Islanders’ GM Lou Lamoriello when both were with the Toronto Maple Leafs. On the other hand, the center position is pretty well cemented on Long Island, Mathew Barzal, Brock Nelson, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, and Casey Cizikas representing their core. On moving one of those five to the wing, one NHL coach told Kurz that Kadri is a center, not entertaining the idea of moving him to a wing, while an NHL scout wouldn’t consider the idea of moving Barzal off center, but did mention Brock Nelson, a sniper who scored 37 goals this season, as an option for the wing. Of course, all of this is hypothetical, with Kadri still very much a free agent, but the rumblings linking Kadri to the Islanders adds another wrinkle to the ever-developing story.

  • Former star forward, assistant coach, and two-time Stanley Cup Champion Scott Gomez sat down with NJ.com’s Ryan Novozinsky to discuss his current career and his interest in returning to the NHL in some capacity (link). Since stepping away from his job as assistant coach with the Islanders in 2019, Gomez has worked with ELEV802, a company that builds small ice rink surfaces for children. As much as Gomez seems to enjoy his current role, he expressed interest in returning to the NHL, ideally in a team’s player development office, wanting to work with players individually, adding how important those in that role were to him in his development.
  • Edmonton Oilers defenseman Brett Kulak had a chance to reflect on his trip to the UFA market and his decision to re-sign in Edmonton with Mike Arcuri of EdmontonOilers.com (link). A hometown player and native of Stony Plain, AB, Kulak nonetheless chose to take the experience and see what the market brought to him, considering it a potential once-in-a-career opportunity. Ultimately, the former Calgary Flames and Montreal Canadiens defenseman chose to stay-put, signing a four-year, $11MM contract, telling Arcuri that Edmonton’s offer gave him and his wife “the balance of things I wanted in my next contract,” citing opportunity, a good team, and dollar value as the things he was searching for. Kulak’s comments serve to shed light on the free agency experience for players and show that the decision is not always solely financial or solely personal, and impacts more than just the player. Coming from Kulak, a good NHL player, but not necessarily the prized-piece like a Johnny Gaudreau, brings light to how the average NHL player looks at these decisions, and even helps consider that no two players are exactly the same and each has plenty on their plate to influence the decision that they and their family members make.

Poll: Who Won The Calgary Flames-Florida Panthers Blockbuster?

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Last night’s trade between the Calgary Flames and Florida Panthers involving Matthew Tkachuk and Jonathan Huberdeau will likely go down as one of the biggest blockbuster deals in the NHL’s history. For only the second time in NHL history, two players who were 100-point scorers the previous season were traded for one another, with the other trade involving The Great One himself – Wayne Gretzky (link). To underscore that, in this four-player deal, MacKenzie Weegar, who received Norris votes in each of the last two seasons and has established himself as a true top-pairing defenseman, was most likely only the third best player involved.

In the trade, the Panthers were able to acquire a 24-year-old superstar winger, one who scored 42 goals as part of a 104-point campaign this past season, crushing previous career-bests, as well as a conditional fourth-round pick in 2025 (0r 2026). On top of simply acquiring Tkachuk, Florida was able to ensure the player came signed long-term, as the teams worked out a sign-and-trade with the forward, who agreed to an eight-year, $76MM contract with the Flames immediately prior to the trade. That extension, likely helped by Calgary’s ability to give Tkachuk the eighth-year that no other team had, not only boosted Tkachuk’s value in the trade, but was likely a sticking point for any interested team, protecting them from the threat of the young star testing the free agent market next summer.

As interesting as an MVP-caliber-player for MVP-caliber-player trade is, this one is made all the more intriguing by considering that Huberdeau is arguably the better player as against Tkachuk, but it was Huberdeau that was sent along with Weegar, prospect Cole Schwindt, and a first-round pick for Tkachuk and a fourth-round pick. In Huberdeau, Calgary receives a superstar playmaker who has averaged over a point-per-game since 2018-19, including an incredible 115 point 2021-22. Not necessarily seen as the superstar-caliber player that the other two are, Weegar has quietly emerged as one of the league’s best defensemen, combining excellent puck-moving with superb shutdown defense.

The caveat in this deal, that makes it feel a bit more even, is the fact that both Huberdeau and Weegar will be UFA’s next summer, not coming with extensions in place like Tkachuk, meaning Calgary, unlike Florida, is at risk to lose their players rather soon. Even if Florida decided to hang on to both players and try to extend them, Huberdeau currently carries just a $5.9MM cap hit and Weegar just $3.25MM; an extension of either would carry a very significant raise, perhaps double each salary. Tkachuck’s extension, on the other hand, comes in at just $250K more per season than their current AAV’s combined.

Not to be forgotten in the deal is Schwindt, a 2019 third-round pick of the Panthers. The forward was a star for the Mississauga Steelheads of the OHL before turning pro. As a member of the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers this season, Schwindt had 40 points in 71 games, and was even able to make his NHL debut, skating in three games for Florida. As far as the draft picks in this trade go, the 2025 first-round pick headed to Calgary is lottery protected, and if those conditions apply, their 2026 first-round pick will be sent instead. The fourth-round pick headed to Florida hinges on that condition as well. Simply, if Florida’s 2025 first is not protected, it will be sent to Calgary and Calgary’s 2025 fourth is sent back. If Florida’s 2025 first is protected, they will send their 2026 first instead and Calgary will send their 2026 fourth back instead.

So, for the readers, in these early stages, who seems to be the winner of this trade?  Will it be Florida with their guaranteed reward of eight years of Matthew Tkachuk and a fourth-round pick? Or will it be Calgary, who received two stars that have every right to walk away after next season, as well as a first-round pick and a prospect? Of course, there are plenty of factors that can affect how the deal is viewed long-term, but for right now, we ask you, who came out on top? We encourage you to vote and continue the debate with your friends and family as well.

Full Trade:

Calgary Receives: Huberdeau, Weegar, Schwindt, 2025 lottery-protected first-round pick (or unprotected 2026 first-round pick)

Florida Receives: Tkachuk, 2025 or 2026 fourth-round pick

App users, click here to vote.

Snapshots: Texier, Panthers, Devils, Wise

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After missing the end of last season due to personal reasons, Blue Jackets forward Alexandre Texier is expected to be back with the team in training camp, GM Jarmo Kekalainen indicated in a press conference today (video link).  The 22-year-old had a strong first half of the season, picking up 20 points (a new career-high) in 36 games before suffering a fractured finger in late January and then being granted an indefinite leave of absence back in March.  Texier will be entering the final year of his contract next season and will be a restricted free agent next summer with a qualifying offer of $1.75MM so there will be a lot riding on his performance in 2022-23.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • The Panthers are set to hire Jamie Kompon as an assistant coach, reports Fox Sports Midwest’s Andy Strickland (Twitter link). The 55-year-old is no stranger to working behind an NHL bench having been an NHL assistant for all but two years dating back to 1997; those two years when he wasn’t in the NHL came when he was the head coach of WHL Portland.  Kompon had spent the last six seasons with Winnipeg, working with Paul Maurice for most of that time so Maurice will have someone he’s quite familiar with as he embarks on his first season at the helm in Florida.
  • The Devils were among the teams aggressively pursuing Matthew Tkachuk before he was eventually traded to Florida late Friday, notes TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie (Twitter link). New Jersey was expected to once again make a big splash this summer a year after handing out the biggest UFA contract to Dougie Hamilton but instead, they’ve largely opted to go with trades to add to their roster, making a trio of deals so far while Ondrej Palat received a five-year contract in free agency.
  • Blackhawks prospect Jake Wise has opted to return to Ohio State for his fifth and final college season, relays Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times. As a result, Chicago will retain the rights to the 22-year-old center.  Wise, a 2018 third-round selection, had more points with Ohio State last season (28) than his first three with Boston University combined (17), and a similarly strong showing in 2022-23 might be enough to help him earn an entry-level deal.

Minor Transactions: 07/23/22

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As the fallout from the Matthew Tkachuk, Jonathan Huberdeau, and MacKenzie Weegar blockbuster wraps itself up, there is still plenty happening around the hockey world. We’ll be sure to keep everything updated, whether it’s a superstar for superstar swap or a minor league signing. For news more like the latter, check back here for all the latest.

  • The Providence Bruins announced that they have signed goaltender Francois Brassard to a one-year AHL contract for the 2022-23 season. A 2016 draft pick of the Ottawa Senators, Brassard spent five years in the QMJHL before playing Canadian college hockey for Carleton University. Now 28, Brassard turned pro after his 2018-19 college season and has spent his entire professional career in the ECHL, absent a three game stint with the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack this season. The goaltender has absolutely earned himself a chance to shine in the AHL next season, posting a 2.19 goals-against average and .911 ave-percentage in 31 games for the Jacksonville IceMen of the ECHL this past season.

Bruins And Pavel Zacha Making Progress On Contract Talks

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While Pavel Zacha filed for arbitration earlier this month, it appears that there’s a good chance that his case won’t come to a hearing.  The center’s agent – Darren Ferris of Quartexx – told Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald (Twitter link) that a new deal for his client “should be completed in short order”.

Boston acquired the 25-year-old from New Jersey just hours before free agency opened up earlier this month in exchange for Erik Haula.  Zacha hasn’t been able to live up to his draft billing as the sixth-overall selection in 2015 but he has shown improvement over the last couple of seasons and is coming off a year that saw him collect 15 goals and 21 assists in 70 games with New Jersey; his 36 points were a career-high.

That was good enough for Boston to acquire and qualify him at a $3MM cost although that number is likely going to go higher on his next contract.  Zacha is in his final season of RFA eligibility since he already has six seasons of service time under his belt so it stands to reason that the sides are working on a multi-year agreement at this point which would at least give them a bit of depth down the middle.

It would also give them the cost certainty needed to move forward with the rest of their offseason planning.  The Bruins have stated their interest in re-signing Patrice Bergeron if the soon-to-be 37-year-old is open to returning for a 19th NHL season.  They’ve also been in talks with David Krejci about bringing him back to North America.  But until Zacha’s deal gets done, GM Don Sweeney won’t know what exactly he has left in cap space.

Either way, it won’t be much.  CapFriendly currently projects Boston to have $4.758MM in cap room, the bulk of which will go to Zacha.  Not surprisingly, Sweeney acknowledged earlier this month that if Bergeron and Krejci return, it will need to be on a low-salary deal with performance bonuses.  They will likely need to clear out a contract as well, even with several veterans (Brad Marchand, Charlie McAvoy, and Matt Grzelcyk) likely to start the year on LTIR.  Ferris also told Conroy that there’s “lots going on” so a Zacha contract may be the domino that gets things going on the rest of their offseason moves.

Flames Re-Sign Matthew Phillips

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The Flames have avoided arbitration with one of their remaining restricted free agents as the team announced they’ve re-signed Matthew Phillips to a one-year deal.  The two-way contract will carry a cap hit of $750K in the NHL.  PuckPedia adds (Twitter link) that Phillips will make $140K at the AHL level.

The 24-year-old is coming off a career year at the AHL level.  After failing to reach the 40-point mark in his first three professional seasons, Phillips picked up 31 goals and 37 assists in 65 games with AHL Stockton; his 68 points led the Heat in scoring.  He also chipped in with eight points in 13 playoff contests.  However, he didn’t see any action with Calgary and has just one career NHL appearance under his belt from the 2020-21 campaign.

The league minimum cap hit in the NHL means that Phillips ultimately accepted less than his qualifying offer.  The arbitration filing simply stood to try to get him a higher price tag in the minors (he received a $60K bump from a year ago) and ensured he’d have a contract in place long before the start of next season.  Phillips will once again be waiver-eligible next season and while he passed through unclaimed a year ago, it may not be as much of a guarantee this time around after finishing ninth in AHL scoring last season.

Flames GM Brad Treliving still has a lot of work to do with his restricted free agents.  Andrew Mangiapane and Oliver Kylington are among those that are scheduled for arbitration hearings next month while Adam Ruzicka and Martin Pospisil also are in need of new contracts.

Pacific Notes: Kraken, Foegele, Canucks

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After acquiring winger Oliver Bjorkstrand from Columbus on Friday, the heavy lifting for Seattle’s offseason appears to be done.  However, GM Ron Francis told reporters, including Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times, that he’s still open to adding another depth defenseman and another depth forward.  The team has roughly $3.6MM in cap space per CapFriendly with Morgan Geekie still needing a new contract that will cut into that cap space.  Ryan Donato was an intriguing non-tender earlier this month likely due to his arbitration eligibility despite recording 16 goals and 15 assists (good for sixth in team scoring) and Francis indicated that the door is still open to his return as well at the right price.

More from the Pacific Division:

  • With the Oilers being among the teams that are still looking to clear out some money this summer, Bruce McCurdy of the Edmonton Journal posits that the cleanest option for Edmonton might be to move winger Warren Foegele. Acquired in a trade from Carolina last summer, the 26-year-old signed a three-year, $7.5MM deal that has two seasons remaining.  Foegele had 26 points in 82 games last season but posted 127 hits (a new career-high) which could be of interest to teams looking for some grit in the bottom six.  Edmonton still has to re-sign forwards Jesse Puljujarvi, Ryan McLeod, and Kailer Yamamoto and are basically down to the LTIR space from Oscar Klefbom and Mike Smith ($6.367MM combined).  It will be difficult to sign those three with that money so finding a spot for Foegele would certainly help their cause.
  • Winger Ty Ronning expressed an interest in signing with Vancouver this summer to play with AHL Abbotsford, notes Steve Ewen of the Vancouver Province. However, the team indicated that their preference was to focus on the development of their prospects which would have limited Ronning’s playing time and resulted in him signing with Minnesota’s farm team instead.  The 24-year-old spent five years with WHL Vancouver so joining the Canucks would have been a homecoming of sorts.

Notes From The Calgary-Florida Trade

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Friday’s trade that saw the Flames send winger Matthew Tkachuk to Florida along with a 2025 conditional fourth-round pick for Jonathan Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weegar, Cole Schwindt, and a lottery-protected 2025 first-round pick certainly was a blockbuster one that dramatically shakes things up for both teams.  Here are some additional news and notes from the swap.

  • The swap was completed as a sign-and-trade which meant Tkachuk re-signed with Calgary before being traded to Florida. That means that Florida doesn’t get the second buyout window that they would have received had Tkachuk signed with the Panthers.  That said, had Florida signed him, they’d have been limited to a seven-year term because he wasn’t on their reserve list at the trade deadline.  Calgary will still get their second buyout window once RFAs Matthew Phillips, Andrew Mangiapane, and Oliver Kylington re-sign.
  • Per CapFriendly (Twitter link), the condition on the fourth-round pick that Florida is receiving is tied to the lottery protections on the 2025 first-round selection. If the Panthers’ pick in 2025 is in the lottery and thus doesn’t convey until 2026, the fourth-round pick will also be moved to 2026.
  • According to TSN’s StatsCentre (Twitter link), this swap is only the second one in NHL history that sees a pair of 100-point players from the previous season being traded for each other. The other was the move that saw Wayne Gretzky go to Los Angeles back in 1988 with Jimmy Carson going to Edmonton as part of the swap.
  • Prior to the trade, the Panthers had held extension talks with Huberdeau, reports George Richards of Florida Hockey Now. There had been an expectation he’d sign a long-term agreement close to the $10MM that Aleksander Barkov is receiving next season as his new deal kicks in but clearly, GM Bill Zito preferred to allocate that money to Tkachuk instead.

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