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Montreal Canadiens Sign Kirby Dach

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After reports had surfaced in recent days that the two sides were close, the Montreal Canadiens and Kirby Dach now officially have an agreement in place. The team has announced a four-year contract worth a total of $13.45MM, giving Dach a cap hit of $3.3625MM through the 2025-26 season. Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports tweets the full breakdown:

  • 2022-23: $2.5MM
  • 2023-24: $4.1MM
  • 2024-25: $2.85MM
  • 2025-26: $4.1MM

A contract like this could be seen as a disappointment relative to his draft position but is also something of a surprising total for a player that has scored just 19 goals as a professional. Dach, 21, was the third overall pick in 2019 but has struggled to stay healthy and productive, reaching just 152 games played and 59 points so far. Those disappointing totals led to his jettison from the Chicago Blackhawks this summer, despite being young enough to potentially be part of their rebuild.

Notably, Dach is signing away four years of RFA status but will not be an unrestricted free agent at the deal’s expiry. He will be an arbitration-eligible player coming off a solid contract, meaning if he doesn’t progress over the next four years, there’s a chance the Canadiens could have to leave him unqualified, not wanting to risk an arbitration award.

Montreal is clearly betting that won’t be the case, signing up Dach to a relatively long-term deal in the hopes that he can unlock some of the potential that put him at the top of the draft. Kaapo Kakko, for instance, was selected just ahead of Dach and has nearly the same production, and settled for a two-year deal this summer with a cap hit of just $2.1MM. The New York Rangers took on much less risk with their 2019 draft pick, though they are in a very different place in terms of a competitive window.

Dach has all the things that make scouts drool but hasn’t been able to put it all together. His size, skating ability, puck skills, and positional versatility all should make him a perfect player for the Canadiens to build around – but to this point he has been so inconsistent it is not clear what they are even getting. In 70 games last year he generated just 116 shots on net, despite averaging more than 18 minutes a night. He lost nearly 70% of his 500+ faceoffs, took 19 minor penalties, and scored just nine goals, even while having Alex DeBrincat and Patrick Kane as two of his three most common linemates (Philipp Kurashev falls between the two).

Frankly, it wasn’t a strong year for the former Saskatoon Blades star. With this new deal, the Canadiens are betting that they can turn around his floundering career by putting him in a better situation. Since the club is not expected to compete right away, they can afford to take risks like this on high-potential players. But at some point, the Canadiens will have to turn the corner on their rebuild; Dach will need to improve by then, or risk being left behind by the rest of the talented young players in the system.

NHL Modifies Major Penalty Review For 2022-23

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There appears to be only one change to the NHL Rulebook for 2022-23, but it’s one that addresses some significant controversies from the past few seasons. According to a report from Scouting The Refs, referees will now be able to nullify a major penalty after a video review.

The updated rule, listed as Rule 20.6, is as follows:

The Referee shall have the following options after video review of his own call: (i) confirming his original Major Penalty call; (ii) reducing his original Major Penalty call to a lesser penalty; or (iii) rescinding the original Major Penalty altogether.

Prior to this change, a referee only had the option to reduce a major penalty to a two-minute penalty of the same infraction. It’s important to note that this change does not apply to match penalties.

This modification draws on a rule originally instituted for the 2019-20 season, which allowed referees to perform a video review of any major penalty as called on the ice. While obviously never stated as such, the rule was introduced in response to the controversial major penalty called against Vegas Golden Knights forward Cody Eakin for cross-checking then San Jose Sharks forward Joe Pavelski. The call, which occurred in the third period of Game 7 in a 2019 First Round series between the two rivals, directly changed the outcome of the game. The Sharks, who were down 3-0, scored four unanswered goals on the five-minute power-play. San Jose proceeded to win the game in overtime, 5-4.

It was widely viewed after the call that the incident was accidental and not deserving of a major penalty. The fallout even led to the league apologizing to the Golden Knights organization privately after the fact.

Seattle Kraken Sign Cale Fleury

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September 6: CapFriendly has confirmed that Fleury’s minor salary next season is $200,000.

August 30: Restricted free agents continue to come off the board as September rapidly approaches. The Seattle Kraken have signed their last remaining one, defenseman Cale Fleury, to a one-year, two-way contract worth $750K, per the team. His minor salary has not been disclosed.

Cale, the younger brother of former Kraken defenseman Haydn Fleury, took a significant step forward in his development last season. A third-round pick of the Montreal Canadiens in 2017, Fleury became a full-time NHLer just three years later, although at the expense of his development. Playing in 41 games with Montreal in 2019-20 compared to just 14 in AHL Laval, Fleury notched just one point in those 41 games, showing that he really wasn’t ready for the highest level of play just yet. It showed the following season as well, as he tallied just six assists in 22 games with the Laval Rocket in 2020-21.

But after Seattle selected him in the expansion draft, Fleury became an important part of the blueline for the Charlotte Checkers, Seattle’s shared AHL affiliate last season. In addition to being named an alternate captain, Fleury’s offensive production came back to life with 33 points in 58 games.

Now, with Fleury needing to clear waivers to be assigned back to the minors, Seattle may be more inclined to give him a second NHL look on a more full-time basis. There are some serious question marks on Seattle’s blueline next season despite making serious additions on offense, and there should be lots of competition for NHL time between players like Fleury, Will Borgen, and Michal Kempny.

Fleury will again be a restricted free agent next offseason.

Snapshots: Dach, Sharks Rookie Tournament, Stadium Series

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After being originally reported by Sportsnet’s Eric Engels last week, his colleague Elliotte Friedman confirmed the original report today on the 32 Thoughts podcast. Echoing the fact that the Canadiens and Dach are close to signing Dach to a four-year contract, he added that the team is likely working on other moves before making the deal official.

Cap implications aside, the team will likely need to trade a forward (or two) just to have space for Dach in the lineup. With the addition of Sean Monahan into the fold for next season, Dach will likely shift to wing. He has the most experience there out of Montreal’s five natural centers in their top 12 forwards. With Cole Caufield, Mike Hoffman, Josh Anderson, Jonathan Drouin, Evgenii Dadonov, and Brendan Gallagher all in the fold, there’s just not enough room in Montreal’s NHL lineup to have Dach play an appropriate role to continue developing. Cap implications are certainly a part of that, though, as a $3.5MM cap hit as surmised by Friedman and Engels would still put Montreal dangerously close to the salary cap even with Carey Price’s $10MM cap hit on long-term injured reserve.

  • The San Jose Sharks are hosting this year’s 2022 Rookie Faceoff, a voluntary tournament for teams’ rookie camp rosters to get some game experience against each other. The Anaheim Ducks announced their participation today, noting that the Arizona Coyotes, Colorado Avalanche, Los Angeles Kings, and Vegas Golden Knights will also participate. The tournament will feature nine games in total across four days from September 16 through September 19. Anaheim has not lost a rookie tournament game in regulation since 2016, going 11-0-2 in the process.
  • The Athletic’s Sean Shapiro reports that American coverage of the 2023 Stadium Series game will be on ESPN after TNT/Turner Sports hosted coverage last season. ESPN will broadcast the Carolina Hurricanes’ first-ever outdoor game as they host the Washington Capitals at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh on February 18, 2023. Shapiro also adds that the full slate of American national TV games is expected to come out later this week as the regular season approaches.

Pittsburgh Penguins Announce Training Camp Roster

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On Tuesday, the Pittsburgh Penguins became one of the first NHL teams to announce their 2022-23 training camp roster. 57 players will attend Pittsburgh’s camp, made up of 30 forwards, 21 defensemen, and six goalies. As always, it will be a long process to cut down the roster throughout the length of camp and preseason to get to their final 23-player opening night roster.

Three of the 30 forwards attending training camp are not signed to NHL contracts: Kyle Olson, Sam Houde, and Jamie Devane. All three are signed to AHL contracts with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and are assumedly attending training camp on PTOs. Olson is a 23-year-old who was unsigned by the Anaheim Ducks after they used a fourth-round pick on him in 2017, and he’s since spent the last two seasons in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. He’s totaled 27 points in 94 games over two seasons. Houde, a former Canadiens prospect, spent most of last season with the ECHL’s Wheeling Nailers but tore up the league with 43 points in 31 games. He’s the strongest candidate out of the three to earn an NHL contract and earn more consistent time in the AHL. Devane, an AHL veteran, had four points in 27 games last year.

Mitch Reinke, Jon Lizotte, and Chris Ortiz are the three defensemen attending Penguins camp not contractually obligated to the team. They also have three defense prospects (Isaac Belliveau, Nolan Collins, and Ryan McCleary) attending camp despite not being signed to an NHL contract. All three prospects were selected in the past two NHL drafts. Reinke, Lizotte, and Ortiz have already signed AHL contracts with Wilkes-Barre for next season. Goaltender Tommy Nappier is also attending camp on a PTO while signed to an AHL contract.

Pittsburgh’s preseason begins on September 25th when they host the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Latest On Bo Horvat’s Extension Negotiations

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With J.T. Miller now signed long-term, questions in Vancouver have now turned to the future of Bo Horvat. General manager Patrik Allvin touched on negotiations with his captain at today’s media availability:

Bo is our captain. We respect and we like Bo. We’re communicating with his camp, and we’ll see if there is a deal to be made here. 

There was no hint of frustration from Allvin – in fact, it seemed more as though Horvat’s talks had been pushed to the back burner while they dealt with Miller, and that they would now get into them. Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek discussed the situation on Sportsnet’s 32 Thoughts podcast, with the former explaining that the last he had heard was “not much going on there.” Both hosts believe that an extension will be done at some point.

Horvat, 27, has one year left on his current contract and carries a $5.5MM cap hit for the 2022-23 season, after which he will become an unrestricted free agent. The ninth overall pick in 2013 is coming off a career-best 31-goal season (in just 70 games) and has been the team’s most consistent offensive producer with five 20+ goal seasons in his eight-year career.

How the Canucks fit Horvat into the picture is another story. As we examined recently the Canucks cap situation isn’t excellent, with Tyler Myers’ $6MM hit still on the books through 2023-24 and Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s $7.26MM through 2026-27, but there should be enough flexibility to add in a raise for Horvat if the team decides to do that. If they do, the question will then become how can the Canucks surround that core with enough talent to really compete in the next few years, given they are likely going to face some pain at the end of these long-term deals.

Even though a late-season surge put them extremely close to a playoff spot, the team still lost 42 games (including overtime and shootout), not exactly the number a contender can point to as a reason to spend. If they do decide to keep Horvat long-term, there is plenty of risk to the way that Allvin and president Jim Rutherford are operating. Being “stuck in the middle” – meaning good enough to avoid the top few draft slots but not good enough to really challenge for the Stanley Cup – is something that teams try to avoid at all costs. The team already has six players signed through at least 2025-26, with only Hughes under the age of 26.

Jayden Halbgewachs Signs In SHL

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Sep 6: Vaxjo has officially announced the contract, welcoming Halbgewachs to the SHL.

Sep 5: A few days ago, reports emerged linking former San Jose Sharks forward Jayden Halbgewachs to MODO, a team in the Swedish second league. Today, new information has come out linking him to the Vaxjo Lakers of the SHL, instead. It appears, according to Expressen, that both teams were interested but the free agent decided to go with the higher-level club.

Halbgewachs, 25, qualified for Group VI unrestricted free agency this summer after only playing three games with the Sharks through the early part of his career. An undrafted signing out of the WHL in 2017 (where he scored 70 goals in 72 games during the 2017-18 season), he has played four years in the minor leagues, recording solid (but not incredible) point totals with the San Jose Barracuda. In his three games with the Sharks, he did record an assist but failed to notch his first NHL goal.

Sometimes, players go overseas for a bigger opportunity and to show that they are more than just minor league talent. If he can dominate the Swedish league, perhaps another NHL team takes a chance on him down the road. For now, though, it appears as though Halbgewachs will be off the North American grid, meaning it’s just more development resources from San Jose that didn’t result in much value.

Latest On Jason Robertson

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Among the remaining unsigned restricted free agents, a list that includes plenty of talent, there is one name that stands out above the rest. Jason Robertson, the young Dallas Stars phenom, is coming off a 41-goal, 79-point season that had him 13th in Hart Trophy voting in his sophomore season.

One look at the Stars’ Twitter account will show you how anxious fans are for his deal to be completed – even a picture of the right-handed Tyler Seguin sparked excitement, despite Robertson being a lefty.

After signing Jake Oettinger recently, the Stars now sit with about $6.3MM in available cap space, though that number is a bit misleading as it represents a 22-man roster and Anton Khudobin’s entire hit; he or Scott Wedgewood can be put in the minors to open up some extra room.

It sounds like the Stars might be using all of that space to get a deal done with Robertson, as Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet expects the eventual contract to come in around where Mathew Barzal (3 x $7.0MM) and Elias Pettersson (3 x $7.35MM) ended up on their own bridge deals.

While some may expect a long-term deal, Friedman doesn’t believe that’s what will happen:

I just don’t think they have the ability to do this deal for term. If they couldn’t do Oettinger for term, then they certainly can’t do Robertson for term I don’t think, unless there is another move coming there that I don’t see right now. I wouldn’t expect Robertson right now for term.

Selected 39th overall in 2017, Robertson has been a monster for the Stars through two years, scoring 58 goals and 125 points in 128 career games. His 11 game-winning tallies in 2021-22 led the entire league, and the majority of his production was at even-strength. In fact, with just 14 powerplay assists to this point (compared to 53 at 5v5) there is likely even more offensive potential to unlock in the young forward.

Still, as the Canucks experienced with Pettersson and the Islanders with Barzal, continued point-per-game production is no sure thing in the NHL. Whether because of injury or inconsistency, even young players can be risky bets when you are discussing long-term big-money deals. Bridge contracts offer a team the ability to re-evaluate in a few years, while making sure they have the financial flexibility to stay competitive once the next contract kicks in.

A three-year term would like up Robertson with some expiring deals in Dallas, including captain Jamie Benn’s $9.5MM AAV, Esa Lindell’s $5.8MM, and Ryan Suter’s $3.65MM. At that point, when he and Oettinger need long-term extensions, there will be a few more dollars available.

That’s not to say a long-term deal at this point is impossible, even if Friedman doesn’t believe it will happen. One relatively small trade could open up the room to go bigger and longer for Robertson, if the Stars decide that they are willing to go down that route. Either way, they’ll want their young star in training camp, which is now just a few weeks away.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

San Jose Sharks Sign Evgeny Svechnikov

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Sep 6: The Sharks have officially announced the contract, confirming only the term.

Sep 3: One of the better remaining available free agents has come off the board, the San Jose Sharks signing forward Evgeny Svechnikov to a one-year, two-way deal. Svechnikov’s agent, Dan Milstein, announced the signing. Per CapFriendly, the deal is worth $750K at the NHL level, which is the league-minimum for the 2022-23 season, and $350K at the AHL level. While Svechnikov was a UFA after the Winnipeg Jets failed to extend him a qualifying offer this offseason, the winger will once again be an RFA with arbitration rights this offseason.

The 19th overall selection in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, Svechnikov quickly became one of the more exciting prospects in the Detroit Red Wings farm system as the team began its rebuild. A smooth skating winger with size and an NHL ready shot, Svechnikov was to be one of Detroit’s foundational pieces moving forward. Though he’s made it to the NHL, things have not panned out as hoped. A dominant junior career lead Svechnikov to an AHL debut a year after being drafted, where the winger impressed with 51 points in 74 games as a member of the Grand Rapids Griffins. Unfortunately, that success didn’t translate to the NHL level, and Svechnikov would record just 12 points in 41 games with the Red Wings over four seasons. Svechnikov would also spend significant parts of two seasons with the Griffins, but failed to repeat on his 2016-17 breakout.

After the 2020-21 season, Detroit declined to qualify Svechnikov and he became a UFA. Much like this offseason, the former top prospect was unable to gather much interest and eventually took a PTO with the Winnipeg Jets, which he was able to turn into an NHL deal. The Jets gave Svechnikov his most consistent NHL look in 2021-22, getting him into 72 games. Now 25, the winger still was unable to take the step forward he and his teams had been looking for, as he scored just seven goals to go with 12 assists.

While it wasn’t the hope, and truthfully his performance may have simply been the original expectation, it was still clearly enough to allow San Jose to take a chance on him. He’ll be 26 at the end of October and though the production has never truly been there since his 2016-17 AHL performance, the rebuilding Sharks may hope to find a spark within Svechnikov, who did once upon a time have star talent within. For the player, on top of giving him a chance to impress and a fresh start, it’s also worth noting the deal carries a particularly large AHL salary of $350K and the San Jose Barracuda, the Sharks’ AHL affiliate share a city, meaning there should be increased stability regardless of which level he winds up in.

IIHF Releases 2023 World Junior Schedule

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Despite just holding a World Junior tournament a few weeks ago, things are already ramping up toward the next one. The IIHF and Hockey Canada have released the schedule for the 2023 event, which will be held in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Moncton, New Brunswick. The tournament begins with Finland and Switzerland doing battle on December 26, while the U.S. and Canada open their tournaments against Latvia and Czechia respectively later that evening.

The two North American squads will not have a New Year’s Day matchup this time around as they are in different groups, with Russia not included this year. The gold medal game will be held on January 5. The full schedule is as follows:

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