PHR Mailbag: Devils, Coyotes, Blue Jackets, Wild, Wright, Robertson, Thunderbirds, Top Pick

Topics in this edition of the PHR Mailbag include New Jersey’s goaltending situation, Jason Robertson’s quiet start to the playoffs, and much more.  If your question doesn’t appear here, check back later on as due to the volume of questions submitted, we’ll be running two more mailbags between now and next weekend.

SpeakOfTheDevils: What do the Devils do at the goalie position this summer? Obviously, Bernier retires, Blackwood isn’t qualified, do we run a Vanecek/Schmid platoon or trade Vanecek for someone like Saros or Hellebuyck?

First, I’ll agree with you on the first two.  Jonathan Bernier has been out for over a year and a half so he clearly isn’t returning.  I still think Mackenzie Blackwood can be a good NHL goalie but after being relegated to third-string status for the playoffs plus his $3.36MM qualifying offer, he’s not coming back either.

I’ll start my answer to your question with another question.  Do the Devils think they can re-sign both Jesper Bratt and Timo Meier?  Neither are goaltenders obviously but they’re going to have an impact on what does – or doesn’t – happen between the pipes.

There’s only so much cap space to go around and a lot of what they have is going to have to go to those two, probably somewhere around $18MM, give or take.  If those two sign and they have big contracts on the books already in Nico Hischier, Jack Hughes, and Dougie Hamilton, can they afford another big one?  Juuse Saros and Connor Hellebuyck aren’t on contracts at that level yet but will be soon enough and I’m not sure it’s justifiable to make a move for one of them without being prepared to pay up for their next, much more expensive, deal.

Right now, I think New Jersey’s intention is to re-sign both wingers and that will more or less force their hand into going cheap between the pipes with Vitek Vanecek and Akira Schmid so that’s what I’ll go with as an answer.  But if talks with one of them fall through and they wind up getting moved, it wouldn’t surprise me if they were to take a run at a goaltending upgrade.

PyramidHeadcrab: What’s the long-term plan for the Arizona Coyotes and Columbus Blue Jackets?

Arizona has become a dumping ground for bad contracts, and they trade away every quality asset they develop. They’re playing in an OHL-sized arena and icing a team that has no chance of competing. Are they built to serve other teams? I don’t see the goal here.

Columbus has flirted with the playoffs and hosted some genuine star talent at points, but they seem to be cursed with injuries and mediocre depth/prospects. Does Columbus ever pull it all together and reliably compete, or do they simply continue to exist in perpetual suffering?

This is certainly a topical question with the arena proposal for the Coyotes getting voted down earlier this week (and it was particularly timely as it came before the news broke).  Franchise-wise, I do think the team is going to take a serious look at trying to find a Plan B that works in the desert over the next eight-to-ten months.  If nothing presents itself, then relocation could very well be on the table with a new owner in place.

But as you noted in your follow-up comment, you were looking at more of the on-ice element for both teams.  For Arizona, they’ve made it clear that they haven’t had much desire to win for the last several years and based on GM Bill Armstrong’s comments earlier about where they are in that process, probably a few more.  I don’t think they’re concerned about not having an overly competitive team; their goal is competing a few years from now with a bunch of promising prospects growing together into a sustainable contender.  Taking on injured players allows them to keep net payroll costs down (they’re paying considerably less than the AAV after insurance) which is particularly important playing in the arena they’re currently in.  There’s an end game for this, it just won’t be seen for a little while longer.

As for Columbus, I’m not particularly bullish on their future.  I get that landing Johnny Gaudreau resulted in them trying to expedite things but clearly, it didn’t work.  They’re going to get a high-end talent with the third pick next month at least and they have some quality youngsters headlined by David Jiricek and Kent Johnson.  With them, Gaudreau, and Patrik Laine, there’s a good foundation.  But unless their new head coach can elevate their play to another level, this feels like a franchise whose peak might be a second-round exit or two.  That’s not terrible but while I wouldn’t necessarily say they’ll be perpetually suffering, I don’t see them getting over the proverbial hump anytime soon.

Zakis: What youngsters make the Wild opening day roster next year and what kind of impact do you think they can make? To piggyback on a comment, what is the role of a POHO? More focused on the on-ice product or business side? Thanks as always.

Let’s start with Brock Faber.  He didn’t look out of place in the playoffs and with Mathew Dumba and John Klingberg heading for unrestricted free agency in July, there should be a spot in the lineup for him.  Next season, I don’t think he’s going to make a huge impact right away but I could see his ATOI getting into the 16-18-minute range which would be a solid rookie year.

Up front, I think Marco Rossi breaks camp at least with Minnesota.  Now with basically two full AHL seasons under his belt, they need to get a feel for where he is development-wise.  If he winds up back on the fourth line eventually, then they can send him back down but I suspect he’ll get a look.  His impact might wind up being negligible, however.

I see the Wild being a team that could be active in free agency in September.  There are always free agent bargains to be had at that point and they might bring in a veteran or two that could push someone like Samuel Walker or Adam Beckman back to Iowa to start.  If you want a dark horse forward to break camp, I’ll throw out Caedan Bankier.  If they go young on the fourth line, his defensive game is good enough to stick while providing some offensive upside.  A good camp could have him in the mix.

As for the role of a President of Hockey Operations (or POHO), it varies from team to team.  Some are really involved in the day-to-day operations to the point where they could have the final say on strategy and personnel moves with the GM then going out and executing them.  Some teams don’t have a President of Hockey Operations, they just have a President (Minnesota is one of those with Matt Majka).  Some have a POHO on paper but in reality, they’re not overly involved with on-ice elements.  In those instances, they’re heavily involved in business strategy, marketing, and revenue growth.

aka.nda: Been wondering about Shane Wright’s next few seasons. Would a trade scenario be unconscionable? If not, what is his value like? Who would be a good fit and why?

It would be a bit of a shock to see a fourth-overall pick traded one year later but I suppose it’s not entirely out of the realm of possibility.  For it to happen, Seattle would need to be convinced that he’s not going to pan out as they hoped a year ago which frankly, would be a particularly aggressive conclusion to draw for someone who has less than 30 games of professional experience under his belt.  GM Ron Francis is patient and this would be the opposite of that.  The other element required here would be another team would need to feel the other way, that he is still a high-quality center prospect.  That one is easier to see happening as I’m sure plenty of teams would want to get their hands on him.

From a trade value perspective, I’d peg it somewhere around what the tenth pick would fetch in a trade.  Last year wasn’t the deepest of drafts and his post-draft year wasn’t great (though it wasn’t bad either, by any stretch) so I think his value would be down slightly relative to a year ago.  From the fit side of things, anyone who needs a young center would be a fit on paper.  That’s a lot of teams.

I’m trying to think of a scenario that could make Francis pull the trigger and this is the best I could come up with.  A team makes a promising young center that’s 21 or 22 and either already in the NHL (or should be next season) available.  That player doesn’t fit the trading team’s timeline as they’re in a rebuild but Wright does.  I’m not sure there’s a team in a rebuild right now with someone that age with that much control and upside that could be made available in this scenario.  But that’s my guess on what it would take for them to move Wright that quickly.

jacl: What the hell is going on with Jason Robertson? This is two years in a row he has disappeared in the playoffs.

As much as Robertson has struggled to score, he still sat second on the Stars in points heading into the start of their series against Vegas at just under a point per game.  That’s not terrible.  I’d suggest that he has been better this year than 2022, his first taste of postseason action so that’s a step in the right direction, if nothing else.

It’s a simple answer but sometimes, it takes players a while to adapt to the different way that playoff hockey is played.  In particular, smaller offensive players can deal with some challenges with the tighter checking and greater physicality; look no further than Dallas’ first-round opponent in Minnesota who didn’t get a lot from Kirill Kaprizov that series.  Robertson enters this series with 19 playoff games under his belt which isn’t a whole lot.  There’s still a lot of time for him to figure out the nuances of playoff hockey, not just this year but beyond.  But it looks like it’s going to take him a bit longer to play at his regular season level in the postseason.

Gmm8811: I’m hearing serious rumors about Drew Bannister moving up from the Springfield Thunderbirds to an assistant spot behind the Blues bench. If that happens, who do you think gets a shot at the T-Birds HC position? Daniel Tkaczuk or Jordan Smith?

Bannister makes sense to take Mike Van Ryn’s vacated spot on St. Louis’ staff.  He had a long pro career playing under a lot of coaches in different leagues.  With five years of coaching in the pros under his belt now, a spot on an NHL bench is the next logical step for him to take.  It wouldn’t surprise me to see him get that position on Craig Berube’s staff and then have the Blues go outside the organization to fill Craig MacTavish’s vacancy.

As for who would move to the top role in Springfield if they promote from within, I would think it’d be Tkaczuk.  He has been the associate coach for the last two years, a role that’s often created to elevate one of the assistants into a bit more of a prominent role.  He has seven years of experience coaching in the pros as well.  Smith, meanwhile, has only been out of major junior for a single year.  Yes, he has been a head coach in the past unlike Tkaczuk (going back to his NOJHL days) but I think they’d value Tkaczuk’s longer track record when it comes to making their choice.

astoria_lol: Is there a possibility a team ends up convincing the Blackhawks to trade the 1st Overall Pick? If so who would it be and what could a possible return be?

What’s the old saying?  If Wayne Gretzky could be traded, so could anyone?  I suppose that could be applied here.  But Connor Bedard has been touted as a generational talent for a while now so why would Chicago want to even entertain the possibility of trading him?  Heck, he’s even helping the franchise financially; ESPN’s Emily Kaplan reported earlier this month that the team sold $5.2MM in tickets in the 24 hours following the Draft Lottery victory.  That isn’t the type of player (or financial windfall) a team should willingly be walking away from.

It’s not as if they’re on the verge of contention and moving him could net them several young win-now pieces to really bolster their team for next season.  With the way GM Kyle Davidson has blown things up, it’s going to take them a few years to build back up, even with Bedard.  He’ll be the centerpiece of that retooled franchise in a couple of seasons so I just don’t see a reason why they’d consider moving that draft pick.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.