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Archives for May 2023

Nashville Predators Expected To Fire John Hynes, Hire Andrew Brunette

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The Nashville Predators are making an unexpected change behind the bench. Per an initial report from ESPN’s Kevin Weekes, Nashville has let go head coach John Hynes with a year left on his deal and is hiring former Florida Panthers interim head coach and current New Jersey Devils assistant Andrew Brunette.

Hynes was given a two-year extension from the Predators just over a calendar year ago. After selling at the trade deadline, Nashville went on a 12-9-2 run and nearly squeaked into the playoffs despite key injuries, finishing just three points outside and 10th in the Western Conference.

That, combined with the delayed timing into the offseason (Washington has already created and filled their head coaching vacancy after a weeks-long search), makes this a piece of news with very peculiar timing.

With Barry Trotz set to become the second general manager in franchise history this offseason, he evidently felt a change was necessary behind the bench. In doing so, he brings in a player he coached as a member of the Predators early on in the team’s lifespan – incidentally, Brunette scored the first regular-season goal in Nashville history.

Brunette does bring a varied experience to the Nashville bench, beginning his administrative career with the Minnesota Wild after retirement in 2012. With Minnesota, he served in four different roles (special assistant to the GM, assistant GM, assistant coach, and director of player personnel) in just seven seasons before joining the Panthers as an assistant coach.

He became the team’s interim head coach in October 2021 after Joel Quenneville resigned in response to the investigation into the Chicago Blackhawks’ mishandling of 2010 sexual assault allegations against then-video coach Brad Aldrich. His coaching performance down the stretch earned him a President’s Trophy and a nomination for the Jack Adams Award, but the interim tag was never removed, and Florida instead hired Paul Maurice the following offseason.

Brunette found a home for 2022-23 as an associate coach on the New Jersey Devils’ bench, largely entrusted with running the team’s power play, which ranked 13th in the league during the regular season. In February, Brunette was charged with driving under the influence while in South Florida during the league’s All-Star break.

He inherits a Nashville roster that, while imperfect, still boasts a mix of star power (Filip Forsberg, Roman Josi, Juuse Saros) and a healthy number of young players on the rise. Brunette’s hiring seems like a targeted move to try and generate more offense out of the team’s current core.

The decision puts Hynes in a tough spot, as many teams are already well down the road in their coaching searches and weren’t expecting him to become available. However, The Athletic’s Arthur Staple notes that Hynes could be a contender for the New York Rangers head coaching job, replacing the outgoing Gerard Gallant.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Edmonton Oilers Sign Philip Kemp To Extension

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The Edmonton Oilers have signed defenseman Philip Kemp to a two-year, two-way contract extension with an average annual value of $775,000, the team announced Tuesday morning.

Kemp, 24, was a pending restricted free agent with arbitration rights after the conclusion of his entry-level deal. During the three seasons of his entry-level contract, the Connecticut-born defender spent all his time with the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors, save for a loan to Väsby IK of the Swedish Allsvenskan due to COVID in 2020-21.

In the recently concluded 2022-23 season, Kemp showcased his development by setting career highs in multiple categories. He appeared in 71 games, recording six goals and 15 assists while also leading the team with a +12 rating. His contributions placed him third among his fellow Condors defensemen in goals, assists, and games played.

Selected by the Oilers in the seventh round of the 2017 NHL Draft, Kemp’s journey to a second NHL deal has been winding. He spent the first three seasons after his draft year playing collegiate hockey at Yale before turning pro in 2020. Standing at 6-foot-3 and weighing 202 pounds, Kemp is growing into a physically capable and defensively inclined blueliner who’s comfortable in a top-four role in the minors.

At 24, there may not be much of an NHL future for Kemp, but he’s checked off all the boxes that you’d expect from someone in his draft position. If nothing else, he’s set to continue his development into a solid farmhand player, still bringing value to the organization even outside of an NHL role.

Owen Pederson Signs AHL Deal With Providence Bruins

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One of the top CHL free agents, as we highlighted earlier this month, is off the market – at least for now. Today, the AHL’s Providence Bruins, Boston’s affiliate, announced the signing of undrafted forward Owen Pederson to a two-year AHL contract.

The move does not bind him to the Boston Bruins organization. Signing an AHL contract does not have any effect on a player’s NHL rights, which have still gone unclaimed. Pederson could sign an NHL contract with any team over the course of his deal in Providence.

Pederson was draft eligible in 2020 but didn’t get his name called after registering a strong 50 points in 61 games with the WHL’s Winnipeg Ice. He’s remained with Winnipeg ever since, recording a pair of point-per-game seasons and a strong playoff performance in 2022 (20 points in 14 games).

It didn’t ever culminate in a draft selection, however, but he’ll still get the chance to try and impress NHL teams at the minor pro level in hopes of earning a contract. He picked a smart team to sign with, given the Bruins’ lack of depth in their current prospect pool. Any strong showing in Providence (or even during training camp) would likely earn him a contract offer from Boston.

Last season with Winnipeg, he notched an impressive 74 points in 65 games, including 32 goals and 42 assists. Standing at an imposing 6-foot-3 and weighing in around 200 pounds, Pederson brings pro-ready size to the Providence lineup as well.

Washington Capitals Name Spencer Carbery Head Coach

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10:30 am: Washington has confirmed Carbery’s hiring, making the news official.

9:06 am: The Washington Capitals are expected to hire Spencer Carbery as their next head coach, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports Tuesday morning. Carbery was reported as Washington’s preferred candidate for the role as soon as early last week.

Per Tarik El-Bashir of The Athletic, Washington is bringing in Carbery on a four-year contract, a hefty agreement for a first-time NHL head coach.

Washington entered the head coaching market a month and a half ago after the team announced they’d mutually agreed to part ways with veteran bench boss Peter Laviolette. Last week, El-Bashir listed Tampa Bay Lightning assistant Jeff Halpern, Philadelphia Flyers associate coach Brad Shaw, Hershey Bears head coach Todd Nelson, and free agent Bruce Boudreau as names also linked to Washington’s vacancy.

Carbery, who re-joins the Capitals organization after two years with the Toronto Maple Leafs as an assistant coach under Sheldon Keefe, is now entrusted with keeping the Capitals competitive during a transitional period. They aim to retool during the twilight years of captain Alex Ovechkin’s Hall of Fame career.

The 41-year-old Carbery has spent most of his coaching career within the Capitals organization since retiring as a player with their ECHL affiliate, the South Carolina Stingrays, in 2010 He spent just one season as an assistant on the Stingrays bench before being promoted to head coach and director of hockey operations, a role he held for five seasons, winning an ECHL’s John Brophy Award for Coach of the Year along the way.

Carbery then took a quick detour, heading to junior hockey to serve as the head coach of the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit for just one season before returning to minor pro as an assistant with the AHL’s Providence Bruins. In 2018-19, he returned to the Capitals, named the head coach of their AHL affiliate in Hershey (also winning Coach of the Year honors there). He then departed for Toronto in the 2021 offseason.

In Toronto, Carbery’s main responsibility was handling the power play – one that clicked at 26.6% over the past two seasons, trailing only the Edmonton Oilers. If you’re looking for a coach to help guide Ovechkin to the NHL’s all-time goals record, look no further.

Needless to say, that’s not his only qualification for the role in Washington. Carbery’s familiarity with the organization’s developing players, at least those who have been in Hershey since 2021, make him an attractive fit for a team looking to better utilize its younger talent.

It’s certainly a significant change in style from Laviolette, evidencing Washington’s organizational desire to place more emphasis on developing talent in-house. Competitive cores are rarely built solely through trades and free agency, and for Washington to have any hope of nearing Stanley Cup contention again during Ovechkin’s career, they’ll need the help of drafted and developed talents.

Free Agent Focus: Columbus Blue Jackets

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Free agency is now a little more than a month away and teams are looking ahead to when it opens.  There will be several impact players set to hit the open market in July while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign as well.  We continue our look around the NHL with an overview of the free agent situation for the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Key Restricted Free Agents

D Marcus Björk – Björk had a nice, albeit abbreviated rookie season for the Columbus Blue Jackets. The 25-year-old Swede split the year between Columbus and the Cleveland Monsters of the AHL. In 33 NHL games Björk tallied three goals and eight assists, while in the AHL he put up seven goals and eight assists in 44 games. Björk earned a lot of praise from the Columbus coaching staff and at one point was being dubbed a player who could have a long NHL career, this was before his game fell off during the middle of the season. He was demoted for a few months before being recalled towards the end of the year to re-join Columbus. While his play trailed off, one might wonder if it was tied to fatigue as Björk had never played more than 52 games in a season prior to this year. Columbus will likely lock up Björk for a season or two to take a long look at a player who could become a hidden gem for the Blue Jackets should he be able to build on his small success from this past year.

RW Mathieu Olivier – Olivier has never topped 19 points since turning pro back in 2018-2019. His career high came in the AHL when he put up 10 goals and nine assists in 58 games for the Milwaukee Admirals in the pandemic shortened 2019-2020 season. This past season the 26-year-old played a career high 66 NHL games for the Blue Jackets putting up 81 PIM, as well as five goals and 10 assists. Olivier offers sandpaper and is always willing to battle and stick up for his teammates, however he will never put up much in the way of offence. But given his status as one of Columbus’ most pressing RFA cases, it is a real indication of the lack of NHL talent that the Blue Jackets have on their NHL roster at this time. Olivier will likely be re-signed to a one year/two-way contract for around the league minimum.

Other RFAs: Tim Berni, Joshua Dunne, Carson Meyer, Trey Fix-Wolansky, Jacob Christiansen

Key Unrestricted Free Agents

D Gavin Bayreuther – Bayreuther is the Blue Jackets top unrestricted free agent heading into this offseason and was famously taken by the Seattle Kraken in the expansion draft two years ago only to be left unsigned. Bayreuther then became a free agent and quickly signed back with the Blue Jackets where he has played the past few seasons. The New Hampshire native toiled in the AHL with the Texas Stars for four seasons before finally getting a chance in the NHL with the Blue Jackets in the 2021-22 season. The 29-year-old spent most of this past season with Columbus where he put up two goals and 12 assists in 51 games.

Bayreuther has never put up much in the way of offense in his career as he has just 28 career points in 122 career games, he is the epitome of a tweener. He is too good for the AHL however he is likely not a strong enough player to sustain success in the NHL. He will likely be given the opportunity to sign a two-way contract this summer with a decent downside guarantee at the AHL level and the chance to split time between the AHL and the NHL.

F Lane Pederson – The Blue Jackets claimed Pederson off waivers from the Vancouver Canucks this past January. The Saskatoon native spent 27 games in the NHL this season split between to the two clubs and put up three goals and three assists. Much like Bayreuther, Pederson is also a tweener. He’s been a very good offensive player in the AHL the past few seasons as he has put up nearly a point a game since 2018-19. But this offensive success just simply hasn’t carried over the NHL as Pederson has just four goals and seven assists in 71 NHL games.

Pederson will get a two-way contract with a good AHL salary and will likely make for a good 13th or 14th forward next season.

G Michael Hutchinson – Hutchinson is the definition of a journeyman. He has played 153 NHL games spread over ten seasons posting a .902 career save percentage. Early in his career the 33-year-old looked as though he would be a solid NHL backup as posted a .914 save percentage in 38 games going 21-10-5 for the Winnipeg Jets in 2014-15. However, by 2017 Hutchinson found himself back in the AHL and struggled to find consistent NHL work, dressing in just 54 NHL games over the past six seasons. Given his age and recent track record it is realistic to guess that Hutchinson will find work as a teams third string goaltender that can take the bulk of the AHL starts and fill in at the NHL level should an injury occur.

Other UFAs: Joona Luoto, Justin Richards, Jon Gillies

Projected Cap Space

Columbus has ample cap room to fill out their roster as they currently have just under $17MM in space and 21 players signed for next season. However, filling out their roster simply won’t be good enough given how thin the team is on NHL talent. The club has committed big money to Patrik Laine, Johnny Gaudreau and Zach Werenski but haven’t been able to insulate them with much in the way of offensive talent. They have some terrific young players and will need to be careful to leave room for their future contracts, however the Blue Jackets need to do a better job of providing depth scoring so they don’t rely so heavily on their top line scorers. Columbus has been largely unsuccessful in unrestricted free agency making it interesting to see how they will play the market when it opens in July.

 

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

Evening Notes: Dadonov, Luostarinen, Senators

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Dallas Stars radio host Owen Newkirk has confirmed that Dallas Stars forward Evgenii Dadonov will miss game 6 tonight against the Vegas Golden Knights. Dadonov continues to be sidelined by a lower body injury and hasn’t dressed for the Stars since suffering the injury in a game 3 loss. Dadonov fell awkwardly after colliding with teammate Roope Hintz in the first period of that game and didn’t return. Very little is known about the injury other than Pete DeBoer telling the media that Dadonov would be out longer than day-to-day but not for the rest of the playoffs.

Dallas will get some good news as they look to extend their Western Conference Finals series to a seventh and deciding game. Captain Jamie Benn will return to the lineup after serving his two-game suspension for his cross check on Mark Stone.

In other evening news:

David Dwork of The Hockey News tweeted that Florida Panthers head coach Paul Maurice is confident that the club will have center Eetu Luostarinen in the lineup when they take to the ice for game 1 of the Stanley Cup final. Luostarinen was injured in game 4 of the conference finals against the Carolina Hurricanes but isn’t expected to miss any games. The 24-year-old set career highs this season with 17 goals and 26 assists in 82 games and has been one of the Panthers top defensive forwards.

Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia is reporting that league sources believe that there will be an agreement in place for the sale of the Ottawa Senators by this Friday. Garrioch quotes a league source that was told one of the bidders believes that Steve Apostolopoulos has the highest bid right now. Once a winning bid is selected and an agreement is made, the next step would be to have the deal be approved by the NHL’s executive committee. This step could drag the process into the summer making for an interesting draft and free agency period for Senators management. This comes at a crucial time for the on-ice product as the clubs young core will be looking to take that next step come the 2023-24 season.

Minor Transactions: 05/29/23

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To our audience south of the US/Canada border, PHR wishes you a meaningful Memorial Day. It’s likely to be a slow NHL news cycle day as in years past, but all eyes are still on the Vegas Golden Knights and Dallas Stars and Vegas looks to close out the Western Conference Final tonight in Game 6. Overseas, though, transactions are still trickling in from their transfer periods. As always, we’ll keep track of the day’s notable transactions right here.

  • Former Carolina Hurricanes draft pick and captain of the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors Keegan Lowe is extending his career overseas, signing a two-year contract with the SHL’s Växjö Lakers HC. Lowe, the son of Edmonton Oilers legend Kevin Lowe, logged heavy minutes on Växjö’s blue line this season and contributed 11 points in 51 games. Now 30 years old, it looks like his four NHL games (two each with Carolina and Edmonton) will be it for his career.

This page will be updated throughout the day

Minnesota Wild Expected To Name Brett McLean AHL Head Coach

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Current Minnesota Wild assistant coach Brett McLean is set to be named the fifth head coach of the AHL’s Iowa Wild, as first reported by Michael Russo of The Athletic. Minnesota parted ways with most of its minor-league coaching staff, including head coach Tim Army, last month.

McLean, a former NHL center with Chicago, Colorado, and Florida in the 2000s, has been with the Minnesota Wild organization for the past six years. He spent three seasons as an assistant coach with Iowa before being promoted to the NHL bench ahead of 2020-21.

It’s a move McLean is ready to take on. The 44-year-old had expressed his aspirations of being a head coach at the pro level during his previous stint in Iowa, emphasizing the importance of working his way up the coaching ladder and learning the necessary steps to teach and guide players effectively.

With McLean’s promotion, the Minnesota Wild will now be on the lookout for another assistant coach to join the NHL coaching staff led by Dean Evason.

Iowa’s short-term success will play a crucial role in the Wild’s ability to stay in playoff contention over the next few seasons. A tight salary cap situation brought on by the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts makes it nearly impossible to make external adds via free agency, and they’ll need to rely on players stashed in the AHL on cheap cap hits many times throughout McLean’s tenure at his new post.

Columbus Blue Jackets Closing In On New Head Coach

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The Columbus Blue Jackets are on the verge of naming their new head coach this week, general manager Jarmo Kekalainen told Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch today. It will culminate a weeks-long search that began April 15, when the team announced they fired previous head coach Brad Larsen after finishing last in the Eastern Conference.

One name that has been gaining traction in the rumor mill is former NHL player and coach Patrick Roy. The highly accomplished netminder, who enjoyed an up-and-down coaching stint with the Colorado Avalanche in the mid-2010s, has reportedly been interviewed for the Blue Jackets’ coaching position, per Hedger. However, it’s worth noting that Sergei Fedorov, another prominent former player associated with the franchise in recent reports, was not interviewed for the job, Hedger said.

Roy was last seriously linked to an NHL job in 2019, as he was a leading contender for the Ottawa Senators’ vacancy. Noise has never really gone away about a potential NHL return, though, and he’s currently coaching his Québec Remparts of the QMJHL in the Memorial Cup.

To begin his three-season spell with Colorado, Roy demanded a significant front-office role, assuming the position of Vice President of Hockey Operations in addition to his head coaching duties. However, after just one playoff appearance in three years, Roy abruptly resigned a month before training camp in 2016-17, citing the team’s failure to act upon his roster recommendations as the primary reason for his departure.

Given Roy’s past demands for an expanded role and subsequent fallout with the Avalanche, it remains to be seen if the Blue Jackets’ management would be receptive to his aspirations for a dual position or if Roy would be willing to relinquish some responsibility. Mike Babcock, Peter Laviolette, and Pascal Vincent are other names linked to Columbus throughout their coaching search.

Free Agent Focus: Colorado Avalanche

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Free agency is now a little more than a month away and teams are looking ahead to when it opens up.  There will be several impact players set to hit the open market in July while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign as well.  We continue our look around the NHL with an overview of the free agent situation for the Colorado Avalanche.

Key Restricted Free Agents

D Bowen Byram – Although injuries once again took a large bite out of Byram’s games played total this season, a solid sophomore campaign cemented the 2019 fourth-overall pick as the third-best defenseman on perhaps the most dynamic ’D’ corps in the league. The 21-year-old bested defense partner Samuel Girard in points per game, average time on ice, and plus-minus this season, although more advanced metrics weren’t kind to either Girard’s or Byram’s defensive impacts this year. With Byram still just 21 years old, a long-term deal seems appetizing to keep his cap hit lower as the Upper Limit rises over the years. However, with a significant injury list that includes multiple concussions, Colorado could very well opt for a two or three-year deal to lower long-term risk. He would again be a restricted free agent upon expiry. While cap space won’t be a huge immediate concern for Colorado with captain Gabriel Landeskog’s injury, they’d still like to have money to spend in free agency to improve their scoring depth. Expect a cap hit in the $4-5MM range on Byram’s next deal, likely around three seasons.

F Alex Newhook – Newhook didn’t meet the lofty expectations set for him in 2022-23 after he was slated as the team’s second-line center heading into opening night. He was quickly surpassed on the depth chart by a player who we’ll mention later on in this piece, and he recorded a marginal 30 points whilst playing in all 82 games this season. The 22-year-old is still showing flashes of his 16th overall billing, so it’s not time to give up hope on him reaching that stage in 2023-24. However, it shouldn’t be an assumption for the second straight season – Colorado is likely to fill out the second-line center spot in free agency, and Newhook’s next cap hit will likely reflect that of bottom-six expectations. Given where Newhook’s at in his development, he’ll likely petition for a short-term deal, setting himself up for a payday from the team once he does reach his ceiling.

F Denis Malgin – Malgin wasn’t anyone you’d expect to see described as a key player at the beginning of this season, but after an early-season move from the Toronto Maple Leafs, he was a capable bottom-six scorer on a team sorely needing offensive acumen at the lower end of their lineup. Scoring 11 goals in just 42 games with Colorado, he finished ninth on the team in goals despite not arriving until close to Christmas. He’s been around the block, playing over 250 NHL games (including a stint in Switzerland that kept him out of the league for two seasons), and is in his final season of RFA eligibility. There likely isn’t much room for growth in Malgin’s game, but Colorado would do well to keep him around on an affordable two-year deal to give themselves some options when building out their third and fourth lines.

Other RFAs: D Wyatt Aamodt, G Justus Annunen, D Nate Clurman, D Ryan Merkley, F Ben Meyers, F Sampo Ranta

Key Unrestricted Free Agents

F J.T. Compher – Arguably the savior of Colorado’s season, Compher broke out in a big way in 2022-23. He’ll be one of the most desirable free-agent centers in a weak market after playing over 20 minutes a night, recording 17 goals and 52 points in 82 games. The 28-year-old did shift to center almost full-time this year but is still proficient enough on the wing, so if Colorado goes out and signs a Ryan O’Reilly type to sit on the depth chart behind Nathan MacKinnon, it’s not an exclusionary factor to bringing Compher back. He’ll be earning a significant increase on his $3.5MM cap hit, however, likely to the tune of $1MM or $2MM.

F Evan Rodrigues – Another possible returnee, Rodrigues had his best offensive campaign to date in 2022-23. He would’ve set career highs had he played in all 82 games, posting 0.57 points per game (39 in 69). Entrusted with top-six minutes, the 29-year-old gave Colorado stellar value on his one-year, $2MM ’show me’ deal signed last September. He could very easily double his cap hit this offseason, especially if another team pries his services away.

F Lars Eller – Now 34, Eller’s still got what it takes to be the ideal archetype of a veteran bottom-six center. Acquired at the trade deadline from the Washington Capitals, the Dane is on track to hit 1,000 games next season. He’s never been a terribly consistent offensive talent from season to season, but his 23 points in 84 games this year were his lowest total in a full season since 2010-11. He’s best suited for a fourth-line role at this point, a spot Colorado may want to keep open for a younger player in their system. Finances shouldn’t be an issue if they do want to retain him, as he shouldn’t command much more than $1MM this offseason.

D Erik Johnson – The longest-tenured member of the Avalanche organization likely won’t be signing anywhere else this offseason. The 2006 first-overall pick waited until the playoffs to score his first goal of the season, recording just eight assists in 63 regular-season games, but Johnson has become one of the most-loved leaders in the Avs room and has stuck through the ups and downs of the franchise over the past decade-plus. After wrapping up a seven-year, $42MM contract, he could be brought back at league minimum.

Other UFAs: F Andrew Cogliano, F Alex Galchenyuk, F Darren Helm, F Charles Hudon, D Josh Jacobs, D Jack Johnson, G Keith Kinkaid, F Mikhail Maltsev (Group VI UFA), F Matt Nieto

Projected Cap Space

One thing’s for sure – general manager Chris MacFarland will have some room to play, although not for a great reason. Landeskog’s continuing knee issues will keep him out for 2023-24, and while they won’t have their captain on the ice, they’ll be able to repurpose his $7MM cap hit via LTIR. CapFriendly has Colorado slated for just over $20MM in projected pre-season cap space, meaning they’ll have an eight-digit figure to throw around in unrestricted free agency after locking Byram, Newhook, and Malgin up to their deals.

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

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