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Archives for July 2023

Ottawa Senators Sign Five Players

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The Ottawa Senators have announced one-year, two-way contracts for minor-league forwards Rourke Chartier, Josh Currie, and Bokondji Imama. All three players will earn $775K at the NHL level; in the minors, Chartier will earn $300K, Currie will earn $275K, and Imama will earn $325K. The team later announced two more contracts: forward Matthew Highmore at $775K in the NHL and $400K in the AHL, and forward Garrett Pilon at $775K in the NHL and $200K in the AHL.

Chartier, now 27, stays in the organization after a pair of strong seasons with the AHL’s Belleville Senators. The 2014 fifth-round pick of the San Jose Sharks appeared in six NHL games for Ottawa last season, his first since he scored a goal in 13 games with the Sharks in 2019. Currie, 30, is making his return to North America after spending two seasons with the KHL’s Metallurg Magnitogorsk, where he recorded 13 goals and 38 points in 96 games. Imama, 26, was a fan favorite in the Arizona Coyotes organization for the past two seasons and replaces Scott Sabourin’s role in the Ottawa organization as their minor-league enforcer with NHL experience (Sabourin signed with the Sharks today).

As for the team’s subsequent signings, Highmore, 27, finished second on the AHL’s Springfield Thunder in scoring last season with 61 points in 68 games but was a full-time NHLer as recently as 2021-22 with the Vancouver Canucks. The 25-year-old Pilon is coming off a Calder Cup win with the AHL’s Hershey Bears and has 156 points in 259 career AHL games.

Andreas Englund Signing With Los Angeles Kings

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The Los Angeles Kings have signed imposing defender Andreas Englund to a two-year, $2MM contract worth $1MM per season, says TSN’s Darren Dreger.

Being a minor-league player for the Ottawa Senators for much of his career, Englund really got his first consistent taste of NHL action last season with the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Colorado Avalanche. In 36 games played for Colorado, Englund garnered only four assists but laid down a whopping 106 hits, also throwing in a few fights.

A midseason trade with the Chicago Blackhawks that landed defenseman Jack Johnson back with the Avalanche, Englund saw his ice time dramatically increase by almost four minutes on average. However, he only suited up in 11 games for Chicago, tallying one assist and 29 hits.

A defensive defenseman through and through, the addition of Englund will make the Kings harder to play against when he is in their lineup. Standing at 6 feet-3 inches and almost 190 pounds, Englund is one of the heaviest hitters in the game today. Much like he was on the Avalanche, Englund will once again join a contender as an extremely intimidating force on the back end.

Vancouver Canucks To Sign Carson Soucy

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The Vancouver Canucks are signing defenseman Carson Soucy to a three-year deal worth $3.25MM per season, reports Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli.

It was well known even before free agency started that Soucy was going to be heavily targeted by the Canucks. The team needed to dramatically improve the caliber of its blue line, and Soucy is on the heels of two impressive seasons.

After being selected by the Seattle Kraken in the 2021 Expansion Draft, Soucy got quite a bit more access to ice time. In two years with Seattle, Soucy scored 13 goals and 24 assists in 124 games played, averaging just under 17 minutes a night. He became a solid sixth defenseman for the Kraken, and will likely take on the same role in Vancouver.

Two of the biggest attributes that the Canucks were attracted to with Soucy are his ability to use his body, and his above-average work on the penalty kill. In those 124 games in Seattle, Soucy tallied 216 hits, and 169 blocked shots, providing some much-needed physicality to the blue line. On the penalty kill, after finishing with a league-worst 71.60%, Soucy will be another asset the Canucks can employ to dramatically improve that number next season.

 

Winnipeg Jets To Sign Collin Delia

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The Winnipeg Jets are bolstering their goalie depth with a one-way contract for netminder Collin Delia, ESPN’s Kevin Weekes reports. CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal reports it’s worth a league minimum of $775K for one year.

After having already signed goaltender Laurent Brossoit to a one-year contract today, Delia serves as the primary insurance goaltender to that contract. Because of the injury history to Brossoit last year, Delia may get more playing time than expected in Winnipeg.

Signing a one-year contract with the Vancouver Canucks last offseason, Delia struggled mightily in the NHL. In 20 games played, Delia posted a 10-6-2 record, earning a .882 SV% and a 3.28 GAA. Much can be said about the defense of the Canucks last season, but the underlying metrics weren’t good for Delia either, highlighted by his -11.6 GSAA and his 3.33 adjGAA.

Dallas Stars To Sign Craig Smith

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The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta reports the Dallas Stars are signing right wing Craig Smith to a one-year, $1MM deal.

This past season, Smith showed some significant decline whilst playing for the red-hot Boston Bruins. Much of that had to do with the over three-minute decline he saw in his ice time, and the general nature of Father Time. Before being traded to the Washington Capitals at the trade deadline, Smith played 42 games for Boston, scoring four goals and six assists.

Those offensive numbers are extremely tepid, but the defensive talent to his game did shore up some of his offensive inadequacies. At the beginning of last season, Smith was right on the heels of scoring 16 goals and 20 assists for Boston, as well as being one of the more hard-working players on the roster. After the trade, his time in Washington went about the same, scoring five goals and one assists in the last 22 games of the regular season.

In Dallas, with already a stacked forward core heading into next season, Smith could find himself regularly playing on the team’s bottom line, or also find himself a regular healthy scratch as one of the team’s extra forwards. Aside from that, with already so many talented wingers on the roster, Smith will have to improve his game quite considerably to find more playing time.

Max Pacioretty Signs With Washington Capitals

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The Washington Capitals are taking a potential high-reward gamble on winger Max Pacioretty. Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reports it’s a one-year, $2MM deal with an additional $2MM in potential performance bonuses. Per PuckPedia, the contract carries a no-movement clause. CapFriendly reports he’ll earn $1MM in bonuses for 10 games played, an additional $500K if he hits 15 games played, and the full $2MM in bonuses if he hits 20 games played.

A bonus-laden contract was always going to be what Pacioretty would have to settle with. After starting the season in January due to his recovery of a torn Achilles tendon, Pacioretty would then, unfortunately, tear the same tendon just two weeks later. In his first recovery battle, it only took four months for Pacioretty to return to NHL action; but this time, it will likely take a full six months to heal.

Although the contract for Pacioretty is unsurprising, the team that he eventually landed with, is. Entering this offseason, Washington had a pressing need in finding players to put the puck in the net. Only averaging 3.09 GF/G during the 2022-23 season, it was a depressed number for a team already sporting one of the greatest goal-scorers of all time. In the Capitals’ defense, they will have a much healthier Tom Wilson and Nicklas Backstrom to start the year, but something more surefire than Pacioretty would have been a better play.

In the goal-scoring category, Pacioretty has been one of the better ones over the last several years, scoring anywhere between 25-35 a season in a healthy year. However, the hard truth of the matter is that there is a potential that Pacioretty never touches the ice with Washington. Suffering two Achilles tears in less than a year is not something easy to come back from, and with the Capitals aging core, they need to surround their top players with talent immediately if they have any chance of competing for the Cup again.

Philadelphia Flyers Sign Ryan Poehling, Rhett Gardner

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The Philadelphia Flyers have signed center Ryan Poehling to a one-year deal worth $1.4MM per season, reports Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek. They’ve also signed forward Rhett Gardner to a two-year, two-way $775k AAV deal.

For Poehling, this represents another change of scenery opportunity for the young forward. In 53 games played for the Penguins last year, he only managed seven goals and seven assists, not exactly great numbers for a former-25th overall selection. Unfortunately for Poehling, whether it be in Pittsburgh or with the Montreal Canadiens, no team has given him adequate ice time to grow. In Philadelphia, however, Poehling should get the chance to play in the 13-14 minute range on average, growing his offensive game under head coach John Tortorella.

The Gardner signing represents a good piece of organizational offensive depth if nothing else. Gardner hasn’t played much at the NHL level so far, only managing 40 total games in the last three seasons. At the AHL level, Gardner has been much better, scoring 10 goals and 30 assists for the Texas Stars, showing that he can hold his own at the minor league level. In Philadelphia, Gardner should be considered primarily an AHL player but may see a callup in case of an injury to the NHL roster.

Detroit Red Wings Sign Justin Holl

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The Detroit Red Wings have signed defenseman Justin Holl to a three-year contract worth $3.4MM per season, the team said. Per CapFriendly, his deal includes a 21-team no-trade list.

In what will likely go down as one of the more interesting signings from the free agency frenzy today, the deal for Holl is very reminiscent of one of Detroit’s signings last offseason in Ben Chiarot. Last offseason, the Red Wings spent over $20MM when the market opened up, and only managed a +3 win differential over the course of a year.

At last year’s deadline, Detroit flipped defenseman Filip Hronek to the Vancouver Canucks for the New York Islander’s first-round selection in the 2023 NHL Draft. In doing so, it was expected that the team would transfer Hronek’s minute to one of their best prospects, Simon Edvinsson. Instead, it appears that Holl will replace Hronek in the lineup moving forward.

Even with the Holl signing, the Red Wings still only have six defensemen on their roster, indicating that Edvinsson could still find a place on the team, moving Gustav Lindstrom to their seventh defenseman spot in the lineup. However, Edvinsson is not the only defenseman ready for a callup to the NHL, as fellow countrymen William Wallinder appears ready for NHL action as well.

New Jersey Devils Acquire Colin Miller

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The New Jersey Devils have acquired defenseman Colin Miller from the Dallas Stars in exchange for a 2025 fifth-round pick, according to a team announcement.

Having already traded defenseman Damon Severson to the Columbus Blue Jackets in an earlier trade this offseason, and the expected loss of Ryan Graves to the free agent market, the deal for Miller helps the Devils ease the loss from those two defensemen.

Luckily for New Jersey, uber-prospect Luke Hughes is ready for some big-time minutes next season, as well as the eventual callup of top prospect, Simon Nemec. In the meantime, Miller should serve as a decent filler until Nemec gets his chance at the professional level. Last season for the Stars, Miller played in 79 games, scoring six goals and 15 minutes of assists in just under 17 minutes of ice time a night.

Although this move does hurt the Stars’ defense, the $1.85MM generated in cap room allowed for the team to bring in their big-ticket free agent, later signing Matt Duchene to a one-year, $3MM contract for the 2023-24 NHL season. Having the benefit of one of the league’s top goaltenders between the pipes, Dallas had the opportunity to considerably improve their offensive unit.

Carolina Hurricanes Sign Dmitry Orlov

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The Carolina Hurricanes have signed arguably the top defenseman available on the free agent market, inking former Boston Bruins and Washington Capitals rearguard Dmitry Orlov to a two-year, $7.75MM AAV deal.

As a leading free agent defenseman, Orlov securing just a two-year term on his deal comes as a bit of a surprise. IF any defenseman was going to get a maximum-term seven-year deal, it would be Orlov.

But instead, he follows the lead of countryman and Los Angeles Kings defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov, who secured his own pricey two-year deal earlier this offseason.

Orlov is an all-situations minutes-eating top-four defenseman who averages over 20 minutes of ice time per night for his career, including this past season where he averaged over 22.

Not only is Orlov a capable defensive defenseman and a penalty-kill contributor, he’s also a valuable offensive defenseman as well.

After a mid-season trade to the Boston Bruins, Orlov scored 17 points in just 23 regular-season games as well as eight points in seven playoff games.

That put Orlov in his peak range which has been around 35 points, though his scorching hot run with the Bruins suggests there’s more offensive potential in Orlov’s game than he may have shown as a Capital.

Orlov will be turning 34 when this contract with the Hurricanes ends, meaning one has to wonder if he’ll truly be in line to cash in on a significant long-term deal. That being said, there are few better places for him to land than Carolina. Adding to incumbent left-handers Jaccob Slavin and Brady Skjei, Orlov gives the Hurricanes easily the NHL’s best left side of their defense.

He’ll be leaned upon heavily by head coach Rod Brind’Amour and be a major help to the Hurricanes’ hopes for a Stanley Cup championship, all without the long-term commitment that can bite teams in later years.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

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