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Leafs Notes: Murray, Muzzin, Nylander

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In an interview before training camp, Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving revealed that Matt Murray would need “significant” surgery that would take months to recover from. No other details were provided, in an effort to maintain Murray’s privacy.

The Leafs shared that Murray would begin the season on long-term injured reserve back in July and have been preparing for Ilya Samsonov to take the starter’s net ever since. Little detail was provided for why Murray would be on LTIR at the time and, while this update isn’t entirely telling in its own right, it seems fans now have a sense of what to expect with one of the newest Leafs goalies.

Murray posted a .903 save percentage and 14-8-2 record in only 26 games last season, his first with the Maple Leafs. The 29-year-old goalie carries a $4.6875MM cap hit this season and is set to become an unrestricted free agent next summer.

More Leafs Notes:

Brad Marchand Named 27th Captain In Boston History

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The Boston Bruins have named Brad Marchand the 27th captain in franchise history. He succeeds long-time linemate Patrice Bergeron in the role. Marchand has worn an ’A’ for the club since the 2018-19 campaign, when Zdeno Chara was still captain.

And maybe because of that long-running assistant captain role, Brad Marchand felt like the obvious choice to wear the ’C’ next. That’s despite all Marchand did to put off the topic, previously saying that the captaincy was one of the last things he wanted to focus on. He also said that, regardless of who the captain ended up being, this Bruins lineup was going to have to lift themselves up as a unit if they wanted to be successful.

That certainly makes sense when you look at the Boston roster. The team is coming off a historic 2022-23 campaign where they went 65-12-5. But they’ve experienced major turnover in the summer since, losing Bergeron and David Krejci to retirement from the NHL. They also suffered significant losses in Dmitry Orlov, Taylor Hall, Tyler Bertuzzi, and Nick Foligno. While the sextet had varying roles with last year’s Boston lineup, each of them leave a big hole to be filled.

Marchand will look to lead the new-look Bruins this season – his 14th with the club. The winger has spent his entire career with the Bruins after they drafted him in the Third Round of the 2006 NHL Draft. And despite finding success on the scoresheet, Marchand has struggled with riding out a full season, failing to appear in 80 or more games since 2016-17. With a new letter on his chest, and a new lineup looking up to him, Marchand’s surely hoping newfound responsibility brings better luck.

Carolina Takes Brett Pesce Off Of Trade Block

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In his recent 32 Thoughts article, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman shared that Brett Pesce is no longer available to teams – at least, for the time being. The veteran defender, and soon-to-be free agent, was given permission to talk to other teams during the summer but Carolina is going all-in this season, and that includes Pesce’s help.

Above all else, this decision provides clarity to the Hurricanes’ back end. The team is full of defensive talent, with their depth including Caleb Jones, Jalen Chatfield, Domenick Fensore, Dylan Coghlan, and recent PTO-signee Nathan Beaulieu. That’s a lot of competition for six blue-line spots that already seem occupied. And the list doesn’t even include top prospect Alexander Nikishin, who’s started the KHL season with SKA St. Petersburg rather than attending training camp.

But despite the potential for a logjam, Carolina remains invested in Pesce. And that’s certainly not a surprise;  Pesce has played over 20 minutes per night since his sophomore season way back in 2016-17. He’s become an integral piece of the team’s top four, serving a responsible, defense-focused role. And though Pesce himself has never been much of a scorer, he did record a career-high 30 points last season, marked by 25 assists.

While Pesce’s contract negotiations haven’t resulted in an extension yet, Friedman didn’t rule it out given Carolina’s renewed investment. The team is projected to enter next summer with a staggering $31.65MM in cap space and 13 free agents to work with. This includes anchors of the Canes top-six in Teuvo Teravainen and Seth Jarvis. Carolina will also be faced with what to do with their defense, with only Dmitry Orlov, Burns, and Jaccob Slavin on contract beyond this year. It’ll be an interesting summer, and extending Pesce early would certainly make it an easier one to navigate. But for Carolina, all sights are set on this season – one they’re hoping ends with some hardware.

Colorado Avalanche Had Interest In Mikael Backlund

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The Colorado Avalanche contacted the Calgary Flames about trading for veteran two-way center Mikael Backlund earlier this summer, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported in his 32 Thoughts written column Tuesday.

Friedman notes these discussions took place before Colorado eventually filled their center vacancies by acquiring Ryan Johansen and the rights to Ross Colton in trades with the Nashville Predators and Tampa Bay Lightning, respectively. Colorado was in need of center depth after it became apparent they weren’t going to keep J.T. Compher, who filled in at second-line center after Nazem Kadri departed during the 2022 free agency period. Compher would sign a rather rich five-year deal with the Detroit Red Wings on July 1.

The Flames were likely less open to moving Backlund at the time than they might be now. This was before Backlund said in multiple interviews that his willingness to re-sign with the only NHL organization he’s ever known was contingent on the team’s success this season. He’s just one of many high-end pending UFAs on the Flames roster, a list that also notably includes Noah Hanifin, Elias Lindholm and Chris Tanev.

Backlund, while he’ll be 35 before next season ends, can still shoulder second-line minutes and would’ve been an ideal fit on a team with as much high-end wing depth in the top six as Colorado. He would’ve gotten to play with at least one out of a pair of extremely formidable two-way wingers in Artturi Lehkonen and Valeri Nichushkin, potentially forming one of the deadliest dual-threat trios in the league. However, his stock is at an all-time high after registering a career-high 56 points last season and averaging over 18 minutes per game. For comparison, they acquired Johansen and Colton for a combined return of the signing rights to Alex Galchenyuk and a second-round pick – it likely would’ve cost much more to pry Backlund away from Calgary.

Ducks Remain Far Apart In Negotiations With Trevor Zegras, Jamie Drysdale

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The hopes of eleventh-hour deals to get a couple of Anaheim Ducks’ future mainstays on the ice for training camp Thursday are quickly dwindling. They are not close to new deals for either franchise center Trevor Zegras or young defender Jamie Drysdale, despite camp opening in less than 48 hours, TSN’s Pierre LeBrun said Tuesday night on Insider Trading.

As echoed by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman tonight, this is quite a puzzling saga that few expected when the summer began. The Ducks have the most projected cap space of anyone in the league by a significant margin, per CapFriendly. Their $16.64MM in flexibility is nearly $4MM more than the Chicago Blackhawks, who have the second-most with $12.86MM. To put that into context – 24 of the NHL’s 32 teams have less cap space than the gap between Anaheim and Chicago.

Ducks assistant general manager Jeff Solomon is known in NHL circles as one of the tougher negotiators in the league, and it could be that Drysdale and Zegras’s camps are truly asking for more than the Ducks feel they’re worth. With short-term deals likely for both in a window where the team won’t be fully exiting their rebuild, however, the team arguably has more to lose by creating off-ice animosity than opting for a perceived overpay on the two contracts.

LeBrun adds that, in a small glimmer of hope, the Ducks and Zegras have both settled on a three-year term. He did say, however, that a “tangible gap” remains between the two sides’ wants on an average annual value. No such specifics were given for Drysdale’s negotiations aside from a deal not being close to fruition, although his agent, David Gagner, is in Anaheim for talks, reports The Sporting Tribune’s Derek Lee.

Neither Drysdale nor Zegras were eligible for arbitration, giving the Ducks most of the leverage in negotiations. That’s especially the case with Drysdale, who was additionally ineligible to sign an offer sheet. It’s fair to wonder if Anaheim is overplaying their hand by letting things drag out this long, though.

While Zegras is already a household name across the league thanks to his incredible puck skills and flashy dekes, the Ducks need him to take a step forward defensively in order to maintain his status as a true number-one center on a championship-caliber team. That’s something they’re hoping to achieve by bringing in first-year NHL head coach Greg Cronin, who Zegras said he had a positive meeting with earlier this summer and shares in Cronin’s philosophy of improving his all-around game. They’re now extremely close to losing valuable time together during camp and getting a pivotal development season for Zegras off to a rocky start. The 22-year-old center has rattled off at least 20 goals and 60 points in his first two full NHL seasons.

Drysdale’s negotiations were always going to be a complex prediction. While an incredibly high-ceiling defender, he registered no points in the first eight games of last season before a torn labrum sidelined him for the remainder of the campaign. The sixth overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft, Drysdale notched 32 points in 81 games in his only full NHL season to date in 2021-22 while averaging nearly 20 minutes per game. When he does get a deal done, he’s projected to assume a top-pairing role to the right of Cam Fowler.

It’s worth noting that if Zegras’ absence stretches into the regular season, Anaheim will be down two of its usual four centers. Developing shutdown man Isac Lundeström is sidelined through January after injuring his Achilles tendon during offseason training.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Detroit Red Wings Sign Artem Anisimov, Michael Hutchinson To PTOs

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The Detroit Red Wings have signed veteran center Artem Anisimov and netminder Michael Hutchinson to PTOs, according to CapFriendly. The two former full-time NHLers will now look to earn prospective two-way deals in Hockeytown.

Anisimov, 35, hasn’t suited up in an NHL game since 2020-21 as a member of the Ottawa Senators. The Russian forward departed for the KHL’s Lokomotiv Yaroslavl on a one-year deal in 2021-22 before attempting an NHL comeback by signing a PTO with the Philadelphia Flyers last September. While he looked to be on his way to earning a contract, an injury during preseason sidelined him and kept him from earning a deal. Once healthy in November, he signed an AHL tryout with the team’s affiliate in Lehigh Valley before earning a full-fledged deal for the rest of the season. He finished the campaign with 19 goals, 17 assists and 36 points in 55 games.

He could look to earn a similar top-six role for Detroit’s minor-league club in Grand Rapids, replacing the void left by free-agent center Danny O’Regan. The path to an NHL roster spot for Anisimov is slim after two years away from the game’s top level, plus a roster crunch of younger Red Wings forwards that includes Jonatan Berggren, Marco Kasper, Elmer Soderblom, and Joe Veleno, among others.

Hutchinson, 33, played 16 games for the Columbus Blue Jackets last season, his most in a single NHL season since splitting 2019-20 with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Colorado Avalanche. His days as a full-time tandem netminder with the Winnipeg Jets in the mid-2010s are long gone. He’s posted a save percentage below .900 in back-to-back AHL seasons and put up a far below-average .877 save percentage and 4.29 goals-against average with Columbus, although a good portion of that could be attributed to the team’s patchwork defense.

Nonetheless, it’s debatable whether or not Hutchinson is even an AHL starter at this stage in his career, although that’s not a role he’d be expected to fill anyway after Detroit signed Alex Lyon to fill that role in Grand Rapids earlier this summer. He’s likely an insurance option to become Grand Rapids’ backup if 2021 first-round pick Sebastian Cossa, who had a tough showing in Detroit’s rookie tournament games last week, needs another season in the ECHL with Toledo.

Ottawa Senators Sign Egor Sokolov To Two-Way Contract

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The Ottawa Senators have signed winger Egor Sokolov to a one-year, two-way contract, according to a team release. Sokolov will earn the league minimum $775K NHL salary while earning $120K in the minors.

Sokolov was one of two remaining unsigned Ottawa RFAs alongside Shane Pinto and one of just six remaining leaguewide after the Minnesota Wild came to terms with defenseman Calen Addison today. He was on Ottawa’s training camp roster announced earlier today, hinting the two sides would reach a deal before camps kick off Thursday. The 23-year-old will now turn his focus to gearing up for his fourth season playing pro in the Sens organization after they selected him in the late second round of the 2020 NHL Draft. He spent nearly all of last season in the minors, leading AHL Belleville in scoring with 59 points (21 goals, 38 assists) in 70 games.

That continued a trend of strong minor-league production since joining Belleville three years ago, although it’s only led to a total of 13 NHL appearances thus far. He’ll look to at least double that number this season as he battles for a fourth-line role during training camp and, even if he doesn’t make the team, will be one of Ottawa’s first call-up options.

Sokolov not making the opening night roster is a tough scenario to envision despite his limited experience, however. He’s now lost his waiver exemption, meaning any NHL team could snag him on the waiver wire if the Sens attempt to assign him to the minors pre-season. With a cheap one-year, two-way commitment, it’s extremely likely the strong-shooting winger would get claimed.

He’ll be a restricted free agent once again next summer, but this time he’ll have arbitration rights. With Pinto still unsigned, the Senators now have just north of $120K in cap space with a roster of 12 forwards, seven defensemen and two goalies, according to CapFriendly.

Montreal Canadiens Acquire Tanner Pearson

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After being hinted at for most of the morning, in order to become salary cap compliant for the upcoming season, the Vancouver Canucks have traded Tanner Pearson and a 2025 third-round draft pick to the Montreal Canadiens for goaltender Casey DeSmith.

After the trade, the Canucks will have freed up $1.45MM in cap space if no salary is retained, making compliance with the salary cap a much more manageable endeavor. Also, by acquiring DeSmith in the deal, as well, Vancouver has a much more capable backup netminder to put behind Thatcher Demko, something the team did not have last season.

From the standpoint of Montreal, they also worked out their own dilemma, no longer having three playable goalies on the roster to start the season. After acquiring DeSmith from the Pittsburgh Penguins in the same deal that would land Erik Karlsson in Pittsburgh, it had been rumored for weeks that the Canadiens would eventually look to move out DeSmith as well.

All-in-all, simply for their involvement in the Karlsson trade, Montreal has acquired Pearson, Gustav Lindstrom, Nathan Legare, a 2025 second-round pick, a 2025 third-round pick, and a conditional 2025-fourth round pick in exchange for Mike Hoffman and Rem Pitlick.

This is a solid trade haul for Kent Hughes and the Canadiens, but after finding a solution to one problem, another has been created entirely. Now with Pearson in the mix, the team already has a projected 12 forwards on the roster according to CapFriendly, with Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky, and Sean Monahan, still to return from injury. Even aside from those players, players such as Sean Farrell and Owen Beck also appear close to being NHL-ready.

At any rate, both teams solved issues for the time being with this particular trade and should alleviate some concerns heading into training camp.

Darren Dreger of TSN was the first to report Pearson was heading to Montreal. 
Chris Johnston of TSN was the first to report no salary had been retained by the Canucks. 
Dreger was the first to announce the trade details. 
Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff was the first to report the full trade details. 

Training Camp Notes: Pearson, Berni, Blue Jackets

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Officially being activated from the injury reserve earlier today, Vancouver Canucks forward, Tanner Pearson, may not end up spending very long with the team, anyway. Rick Dhaliwal of The Athletic passes along a note from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet that the Canucks are looking to move Pearson to a different team.

Now with Pearson activated, the Canucks are approximately $1.7MM above the cap, even factoring in Tucker Poolman on the LTIR to open up the year. With a glut of players at the forward position, several surgeries, and noted dissatisfaction with the organization, Pearson does project as the likeliest player to be moved in order for Vancouver to become salary cap compliant.

As of right now, there are only about eight teams that could comfortably fit Pearson’s $3.25MM salary into their current roster, with teams such as the Detroit Red Wings, Nashville Predators, and Anaheim Ducks in a position to acquire a boost to their secondary scoring. However, with limited availability due to his injuries, and the Canucks bargaining from a weakened position as a seller in this scenario, it is tough to project a hypothetical return for Pearson’s services, if any at all.

Other training camp notes:

  •  Much like Egor Sokolov’s situation with the Ottawa Senators, Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reports that even without a contract, defenseman Tim Berni will still be at training camp for the Columbus Blue Jackets. In his first year in the NHL during the 2022-23 season, Berni suited up in 59 games for Columbus, scoring one goal and two assists, finishing with a dismal -26 rating. After adding both Damon Severson and Ivan Provorov this offseason, Berni may not see much playing time for the Blue Jackets this year, even with a guaranteed contract.
  • Sticking with Columbus, in a separate report, Portizline notes that after announcing the resignation of Mike Babcock, the General Manager of the Blue Jackets, Jarmo Kekalainen, is still looking at changes to the coaching staff, even in the wake of announcing Pascal Vincent as the new head coach. It remains to be seen whether or not Kekalainen is still considered higher-profile coaching changes, or a few developmental coaches around the edges.

Minnesota Wild Re-Sign Calen Addison

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In a press release, the Minnesota Wild announced that the team has agreed to a one-year, $825K contract with defenseman Calen Addison. Being the last restricted free agent on the roster, the Wild and Addison were able to get a deal done only one day before training camp started.

Coming over to Minnesota in the trade that sent Jason Zucker to the Pittsburgh Penguins back in 2020, it would take Addison two full years migrating back and forth from Minnesota and their AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild, before finally receiving the full-time call-up for the 2022-23 NHL season. Missing three weeks of action in October due to a foot injury, Addison still had a solid rookie season, scoring three goals and 26 points in 62 games for the Wild.

For Minnesota specifically, Addison would break the team’s rookie record for points by a defenseman, and also finish second in all-time points by a rookie defenseman, finishing one point back of Filip Kuba’s 2000-01 rookie season. In the entirety of the NHL last year, Addison would finish first among rookies in powerplay points, and tying for fifth in assists, and third in points for all rookie defensemen, respectively.

Even after his impressive rookie campaign, all signs indicate that Addison will be locked in a battle for a top-four role on the right side of the defensive unit for training camp. Another prospect, Brock Faber, who was acquired by the organization from the Los Angeles Kings in the trade that sent Kevin Fiala to the West Coast, is being given the opportunity to earn that role, after his excellent season at the University of Minnesota last year.

In fact, during the Wild’s opening-round matchup against the Dallas Stars in the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs, Faber played in all six games, averaging over 14 minutes a night, while Addison only suited up for three games, playing a touch over 12 minutes a night.

Although Faber is already seen as a more defensively sound player than Addison on the blue line, as Addison would finish last season with a -17 rating to end the season, Addison’s possession metrics, highlighted by his CF% of 60.8%, and his ability to transition out of the zone and move the puck effectively make him just as solid as an option.

All-in-all, although the winner of the competition remains to be seen, it may come down to Minnesota riding the hot hand for much of the season. Addison will likely still receive an abundance of powerplay time throughout the year, while Faber should garner more defensively-minded roles and situations.

Sarah McClellan of Star Tribune Sports was the first to report that Minnesota had signed Addison

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