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Archives for July 2023

Washington Capitals Hire Kirk Muller, Kenny McCudden

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The Washington Capitals have added two experienced names to first-year head coach Spencer Carbery’s staff: former Calgary Flames assistant coach Kirk Muller and longtime Columbus Blue Jackets assistant Kenny McCudden.

Muller, 57, played in over 1,300 games during his NHL career and was a star two-way center for both the Montreal Canadiens and New Jersey Devils. He won the Stanley Cup with the Canadiens in 1993 and began his coaching career in Montreal in 2006. He spent a half-decade on the Canadiens’ bench as an assistant before trying his hand at head coaching with the Milwaukee Admirals in the AHL.

Muller lasted only 17 games with the Admirals before being promoted to NHL head coach with the Carolina Hurricanes, replacing Paul Maurice mid-season. While Muller didn’t quite succeed in Carolina, he returned to being an assistant coach and did quite well in that role. He coached two seasons with the St. Louis Blues before returning to Montreal, where he helped the Canadiens through a re-tooling process.

After he was fired from the Canadiens alongside Claude Julien, Muller moved to the Calgary Flames, where he joined the staff of Darryl Sutter. Sutter won the Jack Adams award for coach of the year in 2021-22 and led the Flames to an impressive regular season.

Although Sutter was fired earlier this summer and Muller departed as well, Muller’s work in both Calgary and Montreal lends to the impression that he is a capable, experienced assistant coach.

For a relatively inexperienced head coach like Carbery, who hasn’t yet run the bench of an NHL team, adding such an experienced name like Muller is an easy choice to understand. Same with McCudden, who was a longtime skills coach before joining Columbus alongside John Tortorella.

At Tortorella’s side, McCudden contributed to the most successful and winningest era of hockey in Blue Jackets history, including their famous 2019 upset of the Tampa Bay Lightning, a team coming off of a historically good regular season.

The Capitals are looking to make a push for one more Stanley Cup during what remains of Alex Ovechkin’s career, and have selected Carbery as the man to lead them there. Now, Carbery has added two high-level assistant coaches to help him begin what he likely hopes will be a long career as an NHL head coach.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Nate Thompson Retires

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Nate Thompson, a longtime bottom-six forward who played 844 games in the NHL, announced his retirement from the game on social media yesterday. Thompson, set to turn 39 in October, last played in the NHL in 2021-22, scoring three points in 33 games for the Philadelphia Flyers.

For much of his career, Thompson gave NHL clubs exactly what they would hope to receive out of a player occupying their fourth-line center role.

He brought leadership: Thompson wore a letter on his jersey with three different teams across his pro career, as early as 2006-07 with the Providence Bruins in the AHL and as late as 2019-20 with the Montreal Canadiens.

He brought defensive ability: Thompson often put his body on the line on the penalty kill and even landed on the Selke Trophy ballot in 2013. And he brought prowess at the faceoff dot, winning nearly 53% of his draws across his career.

Although Thompson’s career-high in points production was just 25, set all the way back in 2010-11, Thompson remained an NHL regular throughout his career. As Sportsnet’s Eric Engels noted, after breaking into the NHL Thompson only played five more games in the AHL before his final professional season, and all of those games were on conditioning stints. Engels wrote: “We’re talking about a guy who never came to training camp with a secure job, a career grinder who always managed to earn his spot for 17 straight seasons!”

That’s an extremely impressive feat, and underscores for just how long Thompson was considered an indispensable fourth-line forward. Thompson’s career highlights also include representing the United States at two IIHF Men’s World Championships, the 2012 and 2013 games played in Finland and Stockholm. Thompson wore a letter both years and led the Americans to a bronze medal in 2013.

All things considered, the Anchorage, Alaska native leaves behind a highly successful playing career and will now transition to the off-ice phase of his life and work.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. 

Toronto Maple Leafs Hire Guy Boucher, Mike Van Ryn

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have hired two coaches to head coach Sheldon Keefe’s staff: former Ottawa Senators and Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Guy Boucher, and former St. Louis Blues assistant coach Mike Van Ryn.

In Boucher, the Maple Leafs have added a coach with significant experience running an NHL bench. Although Boucher never coached a fourth season in any of his stops as a bench boss, even at the junior level, he could be considered a serial winner who managed to go on a long playoff run in every place he coached.

In his final season in the QMJHL, Boucher won 54 of 68 games with the Drummondville Voltigeurs and a league title. In his one season with the AHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs, Boucher went 52-17-11 and got to the third round of the Calder Cup playoffs.

In the NHL, Boucher’s Lightning team nearly beat the eventual champion Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference Final, falling just short in a Game Seven.

Boucher’s SC Bern team in 2014-15 made it to the second round of the Swiss NL playoffs, and then Boucher’s Ottawa Senators went on a miracle run in his very first season there, coming one goal short of dethroning the defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins and reaching the Senators’ first cup final since 2007.

Sure, it must be noted that at each of Boucher’s NHL stops, the wheels fell off almost immediately after he went on his initial long playoff run. And given how much Boucher relied on his signature 1-3-1 defensive system, something he is highly unlikely to be able to deploy as Keefe’s assistant, one wonders if he’s going to be at his most valuable in this role. But seeing as Toronto is desperate to immediately go on the type of long playoff run Boucher has specialized in, it’s easy to see why they’ve targeted him.

As for Van Ryn, he’s also got the type of playoff experience behind the bench the Maple Leafs are hoping will translate to their own on-ice results. Van Ryn won a Stanley Cup with St. Louis in his very first season there, and does have prior experience coaching in Ontario as he spent three seasons with the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers, including one as head coach.

Per The Hockey News’ David Alter, Boucher will run the Maple Leafs’ power play while Van Ryn runs the team’s defense, with assistance from Dean Chynoweth, who will be in charge of the penalty kill.

The hiring of the two men completes Keefe’s coaching staff, which already boasts assistants Chynoweth and Manny Malhotra, goaltending coach Curtis Sanford, and video coaches Jordan Bean and Sam Kim.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Minor Transactions: 07/19/23

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NHL teams have been hard at work in advance of upcoming arbitration cases, looking to find the sort of common ground on new contracts that leads to signings and avoids the arbitration process. Just as those top teams have been working to sign players for next season (the Vegas Golden Knights worked especially hard today, signing two players) professional hockey clubs around the world are also signing players and tweaking the teams they’ll bring into the next campaign. Here, we’ll keep track of notable moves that are made.

  • The Coachella Valley Firebirds, the AHL affiliate of the Seattle Kraken, have re-signed forward Ian McKinnon for the 2023-24 campaign. Although the Firebirds as a team ended the season heartbroken (they lost the Calder Cup championship in overtime of Game Seven at home) McKinnon personally had his strongest season as a professional. The six-foot-two bruiser only scored three points, to be sure, but he played in a career-high 36 AHL games and didn’t play a single game in the ECHL for the first time in his pro career. Now, he’s earned another year with the Firebirds where he’ll add some muscle to the bottom of their lineup and be a contender to rack up triple-digit penalty minutes once again.
  • Hayden Verbeek, a former Montreal Canadiens prospect and the nephew of Anaheim Ducks GM Pat Verbeek, has signed with the Crimmitschau Ice Pirates of Germany’s second-tier DEL2. Verbeek, 25, was a top-six forward for the Soo Greyhounds late in his OHL career and has become quite the journeyman recently. He has 26 points in 31 career ECHL games for three different teams and has also skated in AHL games for both the Laval Rocket and Grand Rapids Griffins. He spent last season in the Slovak league, where he scored 33 points in 44 games for HK Spisska Nova Ves. A capable all-around player, Verbeek led the Slovak league in short-handed goals and now moves to Germany to make a push for promotion to the DEL.
  • Although former San Jose Sharks prospect Marcus Vela played a helpful role in getting MoDo Hockey Ornskoldsvik promoted to the SHL in the spring, he won’t be joining the club for their return season in Sweden’s top league. Although Vela’s contract was automatically extended when the team defeated Djurgarden and won promotion, the player and club mutually agreed on a contract termination. 2022-23 was the 26-year-old Canadian’s first campaign overseas, and he played well across two HockeyAllsvenskan teams, totaling 29 points in 46 games. He could now opt to return to the ECHL, where he has in the past been productive for the Toledo Walleye, or could continue playing overseas.
  • 29-year-old minor league netminder Adam Carlson is retiring from playing the game, according to an announcement from his club, the ECHL’s Rapid City Rush. Carlson is leaving to take up goalie coaching roles in his home state of Minnesota, and ends his career having played nearly 200 games in the ECHL and eight in the AHL. Carlson was a member of the Rush organization for a combined four years, four of the strongest of his professional career. Carlson’s best year came in 2018-19, when he played in 45 games and posted a .916 save percentage, and he has started for other clubs including the Hershey Bears and Manitoba Moose.
  • Former ECHL All-Star Jalen Smereck has signed a contract extension to remain with the ECHL’s Cincinnati Cyclones. Smereck is coming off of an exceptional two-season run playing in both Germany and Cincinnati. He scored 34 points in 46 games for the Bietigheim Steelers in the DEL in 2021-22, and without him this season the Steelers won just 14 games out of 56 and were relegated to the DEL2. This past season, Smereck scored 50 points in 53 games, the highest points-per-game scoring rate of any ECHL defenseman playing on a full-time basis. An elite defenseman in the ECHL, Smereck will now play a second season in Cincinnati and hope to earn an AHL call-up.
  • Nolan Volcan, the former captain of the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds, is beginning his professional career after three seasons at the University of Alberta. He’s signed an ECHL deal with the Fort Wayne Komets. The five-foot-nine 25-year-old forward scored 58 points in 76 games in Alberta and tallied 231 points in 321 WHL games. Volcan won a WHL championship with the Thunderbirds and now joins an ECHL club hoping to make some noise in the playoffs after a first-round exit last year.
  • The ECHL’s Maine Mariners have poached one of the league’s top young scorers from the Wheeling Nailers: Brooklyn Kalmikov. A QMJHL champion in 2020-21, the 22-year-old finished his junior career by scoring 34 goals and 72 points in 62 games. He turned pro this past season and skated in 66 games for the Nailers. He ranked second on the team in scoring, potting 23 goals and 52 points. Kalmikov even earned an AHL call-up to the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins, and though he went scoreless in three games he’ll likely get another chance if he can produce as well in Maine as he did in West Virginia.
  • Former Detroit Red Wing Jan Mursak signed with Klagenfurt in the ICEHL, according to a team announcement. The 2006 sixth-round pick was just the second Slovenian-born player to skate in the NHL (behind Los Angeles Kings captain Anze Kopitar) and ended up playing 45 games for the Red Wings across three seasons. Mursak was at one point Slovenia’s captain for international competitions, including the 2018 Winter Olympics, and has spent the last three seasons with Frolunda in the SHL. Now, he heads to Austria hoping to help Klagenfurt return to the Champions Hockey League and top of the ICEHL.
  • 2018-19 ECHL First-Team All-Star Matt Petgrave and 185-game Liiga veteran Niklas Nevalainen have both re-signed with their club of last season, the EIHL’s Sheffield Steelers. Petgrave excelled in his first season in England, scoring 48 points in 54 games and showcasing all-situations value on the powerplay and penalty kill. Although he only managed two points in four playoff games, he’ll likely be among the Steelers’ top scorers next season. Nevalainen, 30, is a former everyday defenseman in the top league of his native Finland, though he hasn’t played there since 2020-21. He spent 2021-22 playing in Norway and now seems to have found a home in England, where he scored 23 points last season.

Vegas Golden Knights Re-Sign Pavel Dorofeyev

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The Vegas Golden Knights have re-signed forward Pavel Dorofeyev to a one-year, $825k AAV contract. Vegas also re-signed RFA forward Brett Howden earlier several hours ago, meaning the club’s front office has today concluded all of its outstanding business with restricted free agents.

Dorofeyev, 22, is a Russian winger who was drafted 79th overall by the Golden Knights at the 2019 draft. Dorofeyev was a divisive draft prospect, as he was NHL Central Scouting’s 12th-ranked European skater but was ranked 82nd in Bob McKenzie’s draft ranking for TSN.

Seeing as fewer members of a team’s front office or scouting staff are typically able to see Russian prospects in person compared to, say, an OHLer, it’s not exactly a surprise that there was this divide with Dorofeyev.

So far, it’s fair to say that Dorofeyev has outperformed his middle-of-the-third-round draft slot.

After he was selected by Vegas, Dorofeyev spent an additional season in the KHL, scoring seven points in 48 games with limited ice time for Metallurg Magnitogorsk.

After that year, he crossed the Atlantic and played 24 games in the AHL for the Henderson Silver Knights, scoring 13 points.

In 2021-22, Dorofeyev’s adjustment to the smaller North American ice surfaces became more permanent, and he truly excelled for Henderson. Dorofeyev led the Silver Knights in scoring with 27 goals and 53 points in 63 games, scoring 11 points more than the next-highest scorer. It was that year that Dorofeyev earned his first NHL games, skating in two with Vegas.

This past season, Dorofeyev stood a decent chance of making the Golden Knights out of camp, but ultimately was sent to the AHL. Vegas didn’t have an opening on a scoring line and preferred the more versatile skillset Paul Cotter offered to their bottom-six forward group. Dorofeyev wasn’t as productive in the AHL, but thanks to injuries he earned his first extended NHL call-up in March and really impressed.

Dorofeyev began his call-up by scoring seven points in his first seven games. While his production cooled off a little after that, he still had his moments. His two-goal performance against the Minnesota Wild included a crucial game-tying marker and helped Vegas earn two points. In total, he finished with seven goals and nine points in 18 games, suggesting he could be capable of playing as an NHL regular next season.

Dorofeyev no longer has Reilly Smith or Phil Kessel to compete with for a role on one of Vegas’ scoring lines, and he may battle with today’s other signing, Howden, for a spot next to Mark Stone and Chandler Stephenson.

Should he earn a role there, expect Dorofeyev to be a real breakout candidate to watch for next season. At the $825k cap hit secured by this contract signing, Dorofeyev could provide real surplus value to the Golden Knights.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Poll: What Was The Top Offseason Acquisition?

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As we approach August, this time of year typically signifies the gateway to the dog days of summer for the NHL. There already has been significant movement up to this point, including Alex DeBrincat, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Dmitry Orlov, etc., but dominoes such as Vladimir Tarasenko, and Erik Karlsson, still need to fall.

With all the moves being made so far, the question arises about what acquisition moves the needle the most for the acquiring team. Stanley Cup contenders certainly added to star-studded rosters, and several teams made moves to end lengthy rebuilds.

At this stage of the summer, what do you think has been the best off-season acquisition?

Greg Moore Named Head Coach Of USNTDP

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During the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs, the AHL affiliate of the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Toronto Marlies, announced they would not be renewing the contracts of their coaching staff. Even after coaching the team to a regular season North Division title, and the longest stretch in the playoffs since the 2018-19 season, Greg Moore was sent packing.

Now, Moore will be leading the bench of one of the most recognizable brands in United States hockey, as the United States National Team Development Program (USNTDP) has announced Moore as the 17th coach in team history. This will be Moore’s second time involved with the program, as he was an assistant coach from 2015-18, helping coach the team to a gold medal finish during the 2017 IIHF U18 World Championship.

After serving as an assistant coach for the NTDP for several years, Moore signed on as a head coach for the Chicago Steel of the USHL from 2018-2020. In his first season as head coach, the Steel made it all the way to the 2019 Clark Cup Final, ultimately losing to the Sioux Fall Stampede.

Moore is excited to be back with the NTDP, saying, “It’s a privilege and an honor to be named a head coach at the National Team Development Program. I’m thankful to be able to continue the tremendous coaching tradition at the NTDP and I can’t wait to get started with the extremely talented group of incoming U17 players”.

As of now, 17 of the 23 rostered players have college commitments, and Moore will be in charge of bringing their game to a higher level. It may be considered a step back from the AHL level, but Moore will still have an important job for the top junior system in the United States.

Photo courtesy of the United States Development Team National Program

Winnipeg Jets Re-Sign Gabe Vilardi

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The Winnipeg Jets have reached a pre-arbitration agreement on a contract extension with recently acquired forward Gabe Vilardi. They’ve inked him to a two-year, $3.4375MM AAV contract.

This agreement leaves the Jets with three more restricted free agents left to sign: a pair of former top prospects in 2016 first-rounder Logan Stanley and 2018 first-rounder Rasmus Kupariand defenseman Declan Chisholm. Winnipeg acquired both Kupari and Vilardi from the Los Angeles Kings in the Pierre-Luc Dubois trade, and have now locked in Vilardi to a bridge contract.

While some Jets fans anxious about players all-too-often looking to leave Winnipeg rather than commit there long-term might worry about Vilardi inching two years closer to unrestricted free agency, a long-term deal would likely have been very difficult to reach an agreement on.

Not only has Vilardi not yet played a game for the Jets, his NHL resume is likely a little too thin to merit a major long-term commitment.

Vilardi is a former top prospect who had some significant injury issues in his days in the OHL, but has taken some serious steps in recent years.

The soon-to-be 24-year-old didn’t make a consistent impact in his first go-around as a full-time NHLer, flashing some talent but totaling just 23 points in 54 games in 2020-21.

Vilardi played more in the AHL than NHL the following season but produced regularly in the American League, scoring 38 points in 39 games.

That AHL form carried into this past NHL season, and this most recent attempt to break into the world’s top league seems to have worked. Vilardi scored 23 goals and 41 points in 63 games, a 30-goal, 53-point 82-game pace.

Playing on Los Angeles’ first power-play unit, there is hope that Vilardi can become a difference-making offensive producer for the Jets, and their investment of nearly $3.5MM per season over the next two years reflects the Jets’ belief that Vilardi has put his inconsistent earlier NHL days behind him.

Should Vilardi manage to continue his development and put together some more productive, healthy campaigns, he’ll have placed himself in a strong position for his next contract.

For the Jets, they’ll receive Vilardi’s services at a potential discount rate should Vilardi match his 2022-23 output, let alone exceed it. That comes at the cost of getting Vilardi locked into a long-term agreement, though they’ll still have the opportunity to sign Vilardi to a long-term extension before this deal expires.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Vegas Golden Knights Re-Sign Brett Howden

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The Vegas Golden Knights have re-signed forward Brett Howden to a two-year contract extension. According to the Las Vegas Sun’s Danny Webster, the deal carries a $1.9MM AAV.

The contract walks Howden, 25, to unrestricted free agency in two years’ time, and comes after an impressive playoff run. Howden scored 10 points in 22 games during Vegas’ Stanley Cup championship run, averaging a minute on Vegas’ penalty kill and more average ice time than he received during the regular season.

He came through at an important time for Vegas, registering four points in the five-game Stanley Cup final, including two goals in Game Two.

In the regular season, Howden managed 13 points in 54 games, and averaged 13:03 TOI per game, which ranked him among the least-utilized Golden Knights regulars.

Still, Howden has nearly 300 games of NHL experience, first-round pedigree (he was the 27th pick in the 2016 draft) an impressive playoff run on his resume to lend some confidence to the idea that he can be more in the NHL than just a dime-a-dozen bottom-sixer.

The Golden Knights are clearly betting on Howden, likely hoping he can step up and play a more regular role on Vegas’ penalty kill now that Reilly Smith (who averaged the third-most minutes of any Vegas forward while short-handed) is gone.

It’s not exactly a cheap contract if Howden doesn’t take any steps forward in his game. If one views this as a reward for Howden’s contributions to the Golden Knights’ first-ever Stanley Cup, though, then the deal looks a bit more reasonable, especially if Howden can take a step forward in his game next season.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Anaheim Ducks Sign Noah Warren

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The Anaheim Ducks have signed 2022 42nd overall pick Noah Warren to a three-year entry-level contract. The financial terms of the contract were not disclosed as part of the announcement, nor have they been reported on at this time.

Although the deal technically gives Warren the right to make the NHL club and potentially play for the Ducks next season, seeing as he just turned 19 years old a few days ago, that’s unlikely to be the outcome for him this fall.

What’s more likely is Warren gets to head to NHL training camp, gain some experience there (as well as a taste of what it’ll take to eventually make a more realistic push for an NHL job) and then head back to the QMJHL to play another season of junior hockey.

The Ducks nabbed Warren in the middle of the second round of the draft in 2022, and at the time he was projected by some outlets to be right on the first-round bubble. For Warren, his draft value was all about projection.

With just 24 points in 62 games, Warren’s offensive production wasn’t what one might expect for an early draft pick out of major junior hockey. But Warren’s intriguing six-foot-five frame and impressive set of physical tools gave many scouts the impression that he could become a difference-making defenseman at the NHL level.

While the Anaheim Ducks have arguably the NHL’s best crop of left-shot defensive prospects, headlined by Olen Zellweger and Pavel Mintyukov, their right side isn’t quite as highly-regarded. Sure, they have 2020 sixth-overall pick Jamie Drysdale and QMJHL defenseman of the year Tristan Luneau on that side, but even with those two Warren won’t face as tall of a task making the NHL roster as he would if he played on the left.

This entry-level contract is an indication that the Ducks are believers in Warren’s NHL upside and a recognition of the progress he’s made to his point in his development. Now, the goal will be to develop some more offense to his game and continue to translate his impressive physical tools into all-around value.

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