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Archives for July 2022

Vancouver Canucks Sign Andrei Kuzmenko

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July 13th: Kuzmenko’s agency, Gold Star Hockey, has now officially announced the signing.

June 20 3:50 pm: The deal is now official, the Vancouver Canucks announcing it via press release.

June 20 12:30 pm: The chase for the latest Russian free agent has ended, and the Vancouver Canucks have won. According to his agent Dan Milstein, Andrei Kuzmenko has agreed to sign with the Canucks to begin his career in North America. The free agent forward had interviewed with several teams after his eye-popping 2021-22 campaign for SKA St. Petersburg. Milstein notes that contract details are still being worked out. Because of his age and playing status, Kuzmenko will be limited to a one-year entry-level contract.

Kuzmenko, 26, had 20 goals and 53 points in just 45 regular season games, before then adding another 14 points in 16 postseason contests. He was named to the First All-Star Team at the end of the year and had teams falling over themselves trying to land his services for next year. Importantly, it will for now be only that one year, as Kuzmenko was limited to a one-year deal and will be an unrestricted free agent at the expiry of the contract.

That will limit the risk for the Canucks but also give him complete control over the direction of his NHL career, should it last longer than some of the other highly-touted Russian forwards in recent history.

A very skilled forward that has been a strong contributor for years, Kuzmenko’s game improved dramatically this season, to the point where he was one of the most dominant offensive forces in the league. Just five of his goals came on the powerplay, and he did all of his damage while averaging fewer than 17 minutes a night. It will be interesting to see what kind of opportunity he is given in Vancouver and whether or not he can bring that kind of production overseas.

The Canucks, led by president Jim Rutherford and general manager Patrik Allvin, have put an emphasis on adding talent to the organization from non-traditional avenues such as undrafted international and college players. This is a major win for that direction, though it still remains to be seen how much of an impact Kuzmenko can really make at the NHL level.

St. Louis Blues Expected To Sign Thomas Greiss

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After not being able to retain Ville Husso or Charlie Lindgren, the St. Louis Blues have found a new backup. Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic reports that the Blues are expected to sign Thomas Greiss when free agency opens.

That essentially means the Blues and Detroit Red Wings swapped netminders, as Husso ended up joining Steve Yzerman’s club as their new potential starter. Greiss comes to St. Louis after two years in Detroit, the first of which was much better than this most recent season.

In 2021-22, the 36-year-old Greiss posted an .891 save percentage in 31 appearances, the lowest number of his entire career. For a .912 career netminder it was a huge fall, one that the Blues obviously hope won’t continue.

For St. Louis though, there wasn’t going to be enough money to keep Husso in place and a veteran backup was always the expected outcome.

More to come…

Buffalo Sabres Re-Sign Victor Olofsson

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The Buffalo Sabres have locked up their big restricted free agent. Winger Victor Olofsson has agreed to terms on a two-year contract worth $4.75MM per season, according to the team.

In 2021-22, Olofsson notched the second 20-goal season of his young NHL career. Entering his fourth full NHL season, he’s amassed a total of 55 goals, 72 assists, and 127 points through 188 games.

It’s hard to argue that $4.75MM isn’t a good cap hit for a dependable middle-six scorer, even if his defensive game and even-strength reliability leave something to be desired. With just two years of term, the risk is low for the Sabres. They also won’t be shy about handing out money on short-term deals this offseason, as the team still needs to ensure they hit the salary cap floor.

Olofsson will join what’s quickly becoming a deep, diverse group of younger, skilled wingers in Western New York. With Buffalo still far away from the $82.5MM salary cap Upper Limit, expect them to make a few more additions of the next few days.

Edmonton Oilers Discussing Connor Brown Trade

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If you were a fan of the Erie Otters in 2014, you might want to consider becoming an Edmonton Oilers fan today. According to Bob McKenzie of TSN the Oilers are working on a deal that would bring Ottawa Senators forward Connor Brown to Edmonton, reuniting him with junior teammate Connor McDavid.

The Senators have recently added Alex DeBrincat to the forward group and are the front-runners for Claude Giroux in free agency, which would push Brown down the lineup and out of a spot where he can really bring enough value to make his $3.6MM worthwhile.

That isn’t the case in Edmonton, where he could probably find space next to McDavid or Leon Draisaitl in the top six. Even as a third-line option he would be a nice addition for the Oilers, who can use him and former Toronto Maple Leaf teammate Zach Hyman as two penalty-killing anchors.

After signing Evander Kane for a deal well below what would normally be his market value and moving Zack Kassian’s contract out of the way, the Oilers suddenly have a forward group that looks a lot deeper than in years past.

More to come…

Toronto Maple Leafs Sign Ilya Samsonov

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11:00 AM Per Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff, the Maple Leafs have signed Samsonov to a one-year deal worth $1.8MM. Toronto has now confirmed a Murray-Samsonov tandem for 2022-23.

10:28 AMThe Toronto Maple Leafs may have found their second goaltender, as Arthur Staple of The Athletic links them to Ilya Samsonov. The former Washington Capitals netminder was not given a qualifying offer as a restricted free agent this summer, putting him on the open market.

Samsonov, 25, hasn’t lived up to his first-round draft position just yet but carries the kind of massive upside that a team like the Maple Leafs have to swing for at this point in free agency. They already acquired Matt Murray from the Ottawa Senators, hoping they could bring out the level that helped him to two Stanley Cup championships in Pittsburgh, and now they’ll bring in another inconsistent netminder hoping to unlock hidden talent.

Selected 22nd overall in 2015, Samsonov had a strong rookie season for Washington in 2019-20 but has been putting up worse and worse numbers ever since. This year he had an .896 save percentage in 44 appearances, obviously not good enough for the Capitals to retain him as their starter moving forward.

Still, he had an okay performance in the postseason, and that’s what the Maple Leafs are focused on. The team simply has to find a way through the first round and with a Murray-Samsonov tandem there is at least the potential for excellent goaltending.

It is a risk though, and likely an expensive one. There is a real chance that both netminders fail to find another level and give the Maple Leafs sub-.900 goaltending all year long.

Nashville Predators Sign Devin Cooley, Jimmy Huntington

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July 13: Nashville made the contract official today, also announcing that they’ve signed forward Jimmy Huntington to his qualifying offer. Huntington, who Nashville acquired mid-season in a minor swap with the Tampa Bay Lightning, was strong down the stretch with the Milwaukee Admirals, notching 28 points in 43 games across both the regular season and playoffs.

July 12: After receiving a qualifying offer yesterday, Devin Cooley isn’t going to wait around. PuckPedia reports that Cooley will accept the offer, meaning he’ll sign a one-year deal with the Nashville Predators worth $787.5K at the NHL level and $70K in the AHL.

Cooley, 25, was signed as an undrafted goaltender out of the University of Denver in 2020 and has spent the last two years climbing the minor league ladder. Starting in the ECHL with the Florida Everblades, he has since made his move up to the Milwaukee Admirals, where he started 24 games during the regular season. Then, in the playoffs, he took his game to an entirely new level with a .926 save percentage in seven games, likely enough to land him that qualifying offer in the first place.

Standing 6’5″ and with steadily increasing performance, Cooley is an interesting player to follow this season. If his overall AHL numbers go up again, the Predators might have a late-bloomer on their hands with a legitimate NHL future. It’s worth a one-year deal to find out, given he’ll be waiver-exempt again and can go right to the minor leagues.

Notably, a one-year deal will also make Cooley a Group VI unrestricted free agent next summer (unless he somehow gets into 28 games in the NHL), meaning you might see a mid-year extension if he’s doing well for the Admirals.

Josh Manson Expected To Re-Sign With Avalanche

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One of Colorado’s key trade deadline acquisitions is set to stick around.  As first reported by Peter Baugh of The Athletic (Twitter link), the Avalanche have agreed to terms on a new contract with defenseman Josh Manson.  Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that it’s a four-year, $18MM contract which results in a $4.5MM AAV.

The 30-year-old was brought in from Anaheim just before the trade deadline in exchange for defenseman prospect Drew Helleson and a 2023 second-round pick in an effort to shore up the back of their defense corps.  Manson was able to do just that, playing a key role in helping Colorado win the Stanley Cup last month and was ranked 16th in our Top 50 UFA list.

Last season, Manson played in 67 games between Anaheim and Colorado, picking up six goals and ten assists.  While he had a 37-point season back in 2017-18, the 16 points he had in 2021-22 is closer to the typical production that he puts up which limited the upside of his market.  However, he was still able to land a small raise from the $4.1MM he had on his last contract with another four-year commitment.

The Avalanche will have an impressive back end next season with Manson sticking with an impressive young core that features Cale Makar, Samuel Girard, and Bowen Byram that are all 24 or younger and Devon Toews who has emerged as a high-end defender in his own right since joining Colorado.  With Erik Johnson still in the fold, that’s one of the stronger and deeper defense corps in the league which should give plenty of support to new starter Alexandar Georgiev.

With this agreement and the one given to Darren Helm earlier today, Colorado now has a little over $9MM in remaining cap space per CapFriendly with Nazem Kadri and Andre Burakovsky both set to hit the open market in less than an hour.  Barring a significant trade, it’s unlikely that either of them will re-sign with the bulk of their remaining camp room likely being earmarked for restricted free agent winger Artturi Lehkonen.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Boston Bruins Acquire Pavel Zacha

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The Boston Bruins have made a move but it isn’t an unrestricted free agent coming to town. Darren Dreger of TSN reports that the Bruins have acquired Pavel Zacha from the New Jersey Devils. Zacha is a pending restricted free agent, and eligible for salary arbitration after his current three-year, $6.75MM (total) contract expires. Erik Haula is headed back the other way.

With another double-digit goal season under his belt–Zacha scored 15 goals this season after 17 in 2020-21–that potential arbitration award would have been rather pricey, and any multi-year deal would have been buying out UFA years.

Haula, on the other hand, has just one year remaining on his contract and carries a cap hit of $2.375MM. The Devils, who are in the mix for one (or more) of the biggest free agents available, will now have more money and more roster flexibility to use.

Boston, meanwhile, has now found another young(ish) forward to slot into the middle-six that can provide some secondary scoring and a strong defensive presence. Zacha does have plenty of experience at center, though he was deployed as a winger for much of this season.

It certainly doesn’t hurt that he hails from Czechia, just like David Pastrnak and the returning David Krejci. While that doesn’t mean he’ll find a new level, it will at least present some familiarity as he makes the transition to a new team.

Now the question is how much Zacha will cost for the Bruins, and where they find the cap space for all of the pending contracts. Patrice Bergeron and Krejci are both expected to finalize deals in the coming days, meaning this will only further limit the cap space available for general manager Don Sweeney today.

Free Agent Focus: Boston Bruins

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Free agency is almost upon us.  There will be several prominent players set to hit the open market while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign as well.  Next up is a look at the Boston Bruins.

Key Restricted Free Agent

F Jack Studnicka – We’re using the term ‘key’ here loosely but that’s simply because Boston doesn’t have any pending restricted free agents that were full-timers in the NHL last season.  Or were even in the NHL for a quarter of the games.  The closest is Studnicka who got into 15 games in 2021-22 and 20 the years before but the 2017 second-round pick hasn’t been able to establish himself yet as a full-time NHL regular.  Now waiver-eligible, Boston could look to make Studnicka an offer for the league minimum but on a higher AHL salary or even a one-way deal in exchange for keeping the cap hit down.  Those deals are quite common for players in his situation and it should play out like that here as well.

Other RFAs: D Jack Ahcan, F Matt Filipe

Key Unrestricted Free Agents

F Patrice Bergeron – The soon-to-be 37-year-old has been a fixture in Boston’s lineup for the last 18 years, spending many of those as an elite two-way center.  While he’s getting up there in age, Bergeron was still quite productive last season, finishing third on the team in scoring with 65 points in 73 games while winning the Selke Trophy for the fifth time in his career.  If he was to test the market, he’d have no shortage of interest and could command a raise on the $6.875MM he made on his expiring deal.  Of course, Bergeron won’t be testing the market and has made that clear already with his options either being re-signing with Boston or retiring; RDS’ Francois Gagnon reports (Twitter link) a deal has been agreed to and will be announced soon.  With the Bruins having limited cap space and a desire to bring David Krejci back from the Czech league, Bergeron will need to take less than market value or an incentive-laden deal to work around their cap situation.

F Curtis Lazar – The other player Boston picked up in the Taylor Hall trade, Lazar had one of his best NHL seasons in 2021-22, collecting 16 points while recording a career-high 186 hits.  He can kill penalties and has been close to a 50% player at the faceoff dot over the last three seasons.  Gritty fourth liners always generate some interest on the open market and the 27-year-old should be no exception as he’ll get a contract that’s above the $800K he made in each of the last two years.

D Josh Brown – After having a limited role in Ottawa, the Bruins picked up the 28-year-old at the trade deadline to give them some extra depth for the playoffs.  He rarely played the rest of the way, suiting up in just six games down the stretch and once in the postseason.  While that doesn’t help his cause heading into free agency, Brown has shown over his four seasons that he’s a serviceable depth defender that can bring some physicality into the mix.  He’ll have a bit of interest as a result.

Other UFAs: F Anton Blidh, G Callum Booth, D Kodie Curran, F Steven Fogarty, F Jesper Froden, G Troy Grosenick, F Cameron Hughes

Projected Cap Space

At the moment, Boston has just over $2.3MM in cap space which certainly doesn’t give them any room to work with while Bergeron and Krejci would need to take contracts that are well below market value.  Accordingly, GM Don Sweeney will need to be active on the trade front to create some space if they’re going to be active in adding to their roster this summer.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.  Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.

Colorado Avalanche Expected To Re-Sign Darren Helm

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The Colorado Avalanche may be losing some of their key free agents but at least one more depth player is sticking around. Darren Dreger of TSN tweets that the team is close to re-signing Darren Helm, and expects the deal to be similar to Andrew Cogliano’s one-year $1.25MM contract extension.

Helm, 35, came to the Avalanche this season after more than 700 games with the Detroit Red Wings and ended up lifting the Stanley Cup for the second time. The veteran forward had won it with the Red Wings in 2008, meaning there was a 14-year gap before he was able to hoist it again. While he was never expected to provide much offense, Avalanche fans will never forget the game-winning goal that Helm scored in game six against the St. Louis Blues. With just five seconds left in the game, he slapped a puck past Ville Husso to send Colorado to the Western Conference Finals.

For that goal alone he deserved an extension but there is still some game left in Helm, who will remain in a bottom-six role for Colorado next season. He and Cogliano make up a defensive duo that can be relied on late in games against the opponent’s best, while also chipping in a goal now and again at brilliant times.

With so much talent likely taking bigger paydays elsewhere, bringing back these reliable veterans will allow Colorado to maintain some of the depth advantage that they had this season.

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