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Archives for September 2023

Summer Synopsis: New York Rangers

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Last summer the New York Rangers expectations were sky high as they had just come off a season in which they lost in the Eastern Conference Finals. Many viewed the Rangers as a Stanley Cup contender, as did their management group who went all in for trades to acquire Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko. The club ultimately failed in their bid to bring Lord Stanley back to Broadway and entered this season with tempered expectations after firing Gerald Gallant and struggling to find adequate replacements for a lot of their departing players. Now, the sky isn’t exactly falling in New York City, as they still have Igor Shesterkin manning the net, and they lured Peter Laviolette in to replace the departing Gallant. Couple this with a blueline that still boasts Adam Fox and a forward group that still has Chris Kreider and Artemi Panarin and you have a very solid team. Albeit one that is just outside of the upper echelon of NHL teams.

Draft

1-23: RW Gabriel Perreault, U.S. National Team Development Program (USNTDP)
3-90: D Drew Fortescue, U.S. National Team Development Program (USNTDP)
5-152: D Rasmus Larsson, Västerås IK J20 (J20 Nationell)
6-178: C Dylan Roobroeck, Oshawa (OHL)
6-183: LW Ty Henricks, Muskegon Lumberjacks (USHL)

The son of former NHLer Yanic Perreault has drawn comparisons to Lucas Raymond recently and is projected by some to be a perennial 70-point forward. While those expectations are lofty for a late first-round pick, many were surprised that he fell that far down the draft board. Perreault is headed to Boston College where he figures to play at least a few seasons before he turns pro. His skating has improved a lot in recent seasons but is certainly not his strongest attribute. Many scouts have said his skill and hockey sense was top-5 in this draft.

Fortescue was teammates with Perreault at the National Team Development Program and is regarded as a good passer and someone who can act as a quarterback from the backend. His skating isn’t particularly good, and he certainly needs to add to his 176-pound frame, but should he be given proper time to develop he could very well be a bottom pairing defenseman for the Rangers in the next half decade.

Trade Acquisitions

N/A

UFA Signings

C Alex Belzile (two years, $1.55MM)*
C Nick Bonino (one year, $800K)
D Nikolas Brouillard (one year, $775K)*
D Erik Gustafsson (one year, $825K)
D Mac Hollowell (one year, $775K)*
D Connor Mackey (one year, $775K)*
F Riley Nash (two years, $1.55MM)*
F Tyler Pitlick (one year, $787.5K)
G Jonathan Quick (one year, $825K)
F Blake Wheeler (one year, $800K)

*-denotes two-way contract

The Rangers didn’t have the cap space to make any major additions and didn’t really have much cap space to replace any of their departing star players. The team was hamstrung by a flat salary cap and did most of their shopping in the bargain bin.
Blake Wheeler was a terrific signing. At $800K (plus bonuses) he will be a solid middle six addition for New York who can easily chip in 50-60 points. At 37 years old he is unlikely to morph into the perennial 90-point player he was a few years ago, but he could provide some of the offense the team lost with the departures of Kane and Tarasenko.

The Rangers opted to pass on some of the more expensive options on the free agent market to sign Jonathan Quick, and while he brings a wealth of experience, he has been a below-average netminder for about a half-decade. New York could no doubt shop in season if they need to find an adequate backup, which they may need to do if Quick’s numbers are anything close to what they were this past year.

Speaking of experience, Bonino also brings a ton of it to the Rangers and should be a decent option for their fourth-line center role. The 35-year-old used to be a perennial 30–35-point third liner, but at this juncture of his career, he is more of a 20-point player. Bonino had a short-lived reunion with the Pittsburgh Penguins after the trade deadline but quickly found himself injured and was not re-signed. If Bonino can regain his 2021-22 form, he could be a steal at $800K for New York.

RFA Re-Signings

D Ty Emberson (one year, $775K)*
F Anton Blidh (two years, $1.55MM)*
D Zachary Jones (two years, $1.625K)*
LW Alexis Lafreniere (two years, $4.65MM)
D K’Andre Miller (two years, $7.744MM)
D Brandon Scanlin (one year, $775K)*

*-denotes two-way contract

Lafreniere has simply not lived up to the expectations of a first-overall pick. He knows it, the Rangers know it, and both sides would surely love for things to be different. But, now with a bridge contract in hand, the 21-year-old has an opportunity to prove he is worthy of much more. Lafreniere hasn’t found anything close to the offense he displayed in junior, but he has steadily put up better offensive numbers in every NHL season. Should he reach another gear next season he could approach 50 points and line himself up to cash in just two years from now.

Miller likely wanted and likely deserved a long-term contract extension but had to settle for a bridge contract and the Rangers simply ran out of dollars to allocate. Miller established himself as a rookie in 2020-21 putting up five goals and seven assists in 53 games. In his second season, he emerged as an option in the Rangers top-4 and formed a formidable pairing with Jacob Trouba. It was there that Miller began to use his speed to his advantage as well as insert himself physically on many more occasions. Miller also started to find his offensive game this past season as he started to find more confidence with the puck in the offensive zone. Miller posted nine goals and 34 assists in 79 games and showed that he could provide much more to the Rangers than steady defensive play. The Rangers don’t have a great left side on defense and will likely rely on him a lot this season. Should Miller put up numbers similar to this past year, his next contract could end up pricing him out of New York.

Departures

F Ryan Carpenter (San Jose Sharks, one year, $775K)*
F Tim Gettinger (Detroit, one year, $775K)*
D Libor Hajek (Pittsburgh, PTO)
G Jaroslav Halak (unsigned UFA)
D Wyatt Kalynuk (St. Louis, one year, $775K)*
F Patrick Kane (unsigned UFA)
C Patrick Khodorenko (unsigned UFA)
F Will Lockwood (Florida, two years, $1.55MM)*
F Tyler Motte (Tampa Bay, one year, $800K)
F C.J. Smith (unsigned UFA)
F Vladimir Tarasenko (Ottawa, one year, $5MM)
D Cooper Zech (unsigned UFA)

Up front, Kane and Tarasenko are the notable losses and will likely create a void in the offense. The Rangers did well to replace some of their offense with Wheeler, but a lot of goals have come out of their lineup.  Although they will certainly miss the depth scoring, Kane and Tarasenko never felt like a natural fit in New York and turned out to be overpayments. The Rangers were right to shuffle the furniture and although they lost some goals on paper, they may have a better mix without Kane and Tarasenko.

Jaroslav Halak wasn’t great last season for the Rangers but did provide the team with league-average goaltending and was able to take 25 games from Shesterkin. He now finds himself as a free agent and has yet to sign a contract. Although he wasn’t terrific last season he might have been a better option for New York than Quick, but was likely asking for a bigger payday than the $825K used to sign Quick.

Salary Cap Outlook

It wasn’t that long ago that the New York Rangers were viewed as a team on the rise with a ton of good young players, and a pile of cap space. But after a few trades and signings, the cap space begins to dry up very quickly. That is the situation the Rangers found themselves in this summer as they had almost no room to maneuver under the salary cap. They will face a similar crunch next summer with just 14 players signed and roughly $15MM in projected cap space. Thankfully for the Rangers, the bulk of their core is signed through the end of next season, however, it is after that in the summer of 2025 when things could get hairy. Shesterkin will be due for a new contract that will likely come with a substantial raise, as will Miller who will be coming off his recently signed bridge deal. The Rangers will have a few other contracts to deal with in the interim, but they aren’t positioned well to make any major additions to this now-aging core.

Key Questions

Can Jonathan Quick play 20-30 games: The Rangers had precious little cap space to spend on a backup goaltender and elected to sign three-time Stanley Cup champion Quick. The gamble could pay off if Quick is able to regain his 2021-22 form in which he posted a respectable .910 save percentage and 23 wins in 46 games. However, if he is the goaltender he has been for most of the past five years, the Rangers could be in trouble. Quick has posted a sub.910 save percentage every other year since 2018 and hasn’t been able to provide consistent goaltending in Los Angeles, despite playing on a very good defensive team. Should he falter in New York, it could prove disastrous for the Rangers should they be forced to overwork Shesterkin.

Will The Young Guns Breakthrough? Alexis Lafreniere and Kaapo Kakko were drafted first and second overall (in different drafts) to much fanfare back in 2019 and 2020. While both players are clearly NHL players, that isn’t what you hope for when you pick at the top of the draft two years in a row. Between the two youngsters, they have just one season in which they’ve passed forty points (Kakko in 2022-23) and they haven’t been able to show the offensive prowess they did in their younger days. One silver lining for New York is that both players seem to be trending in the right direction, albeit slower than the team would like.

Can Kreider Score 50 Again? Perspective can be a funny thing. Had Kreider not had a 50-goal explosion in 2021-22, then last season’s 36 goals would have been viewed as an enormous success, a career year, a breakthrough campaign. But on the heels of a 52-goal season, it looked like a failure. The main difference was Kreider’s powerplay production. In 2021-22 he had 26 power play goals, last year he had just eight. While the steep drop looks disastrous, it really wasn’t. Kreider was still a very strong player for the Rangers and despite now being in his early thirties it doesn’t seem likely that he is done yet. But can he hit 50 goals again? It’s probably unlikely, but given that he potted 36 just last year it is not unfathomable to think he could score 40 this year.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Summer Synopsis: New York Islanders

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Last season saw the Islanders sneak into the playoffs in a tight Eastern Conference Wild Card race under first-year head coach Lane Lambert. They again struggled to put the puck in the net, failing to finish above 20th overall in goals scored yet again – a mark they haven’t achieved since John Tavares was their captain. With netminder Ilya Sorokin putting up a masterclass in the crease, however, they still rebounded after missing the playoffs in 2021-22 despite star forward Mathew Barzal missing most of the tail end of the season. They hope their offensive fortunes will change with a full season of both Barzal and Bo Horvat as they aim to rediscover the magic that led them to back-to-back Conference Final appearances in 2020 and 2021.

Draft

2-49: F Danny Nelson, USA U18 (NTDP)
4-113: F Jesse Nurmi, KooKoo (Finland U20)
5-145: F Justin Gill, Sherbrooke (QMJHL)
6-177: D Zach Schulz, USA U-18 (NTDP)
7-209: D Dennis Good Bogg, AIK (Sweden U20)

The Islanders were out two picks in this year’s rather deep draft and didn’t trade to recoup the ones they lost. Their first-round pick, 17th overall, was dealt to the Vancouver Canucks in the Horvat trade, who eventually flipped it to the Detroit Red Wings as part of the return for defenseman Filip Hronek. They conceded their third-round pick to the Arizona Coyotes two summers ago to get out of the tail end of forward Andrew Ladd’s contract, who officially announced his retirement yesterday. To no one’s surprise, the Islanders’ top pick was a distinct Lou Lamoriello archetype, as Nelson projects as a gritty, two-way center who fights for net-front scoring opportunities (and also stands at 6-foot-3 and over 200 pounds). Public scouts are split on his offensive ceiling at the NHL level, however, and he was a late riser up draft boards after recording seven points in seven games for the U.S. at the U18 World Juniors.

Nurmi, however, was quite a solid value pick in the fourth round and will battle for a full-time role in the Liiga with KooKoo after registering a point-per-game at the U18 World Juniors and notching 50 points in 41 games for KooKoo’s U20 club. Gill was the first of two over-age selections – a bit of a puzzling choice with only five selections to spare – but did have a breakout year in juniors with 44 goals and 93 points in 68 games, finishing ninth in QMJHL scoring. Already 20 years old, he projects to return to the QMJHL with Baie-Comeau after an offseason trade for an over-age season instead of turning pro. Schulz didn’t put up flashy point totals with the USNTDP, but he displayed consistent rush-defending instincts all season and will kick off his collegiate career at Wisconsin in 2023-24. Good Bogg, the Isles’ other over-age selection, looks to land a full-time roster spot with AIK in the second-tier Allsvenskan after skating in five games with them last season.

Trade Acquisitions

none

UFA Signings

F Pierre Engvall (seven years, $21MM)
F Julien Gauthier (two years, $1.575MM)
F Karson Kuhlman (one year, $775K)*
D Scott Mayfield (seven years, $24.5MM)
F Brian Pinho (one year, $775K)*
G Ilya Sorokin (eight years, $66MM) [extension, begins 2024-25]
G Semyon Varlamov (four years, $11MM)

*-denotes two-way contract

The Islanders were busy handing out cash this summer, albeit to retain existing talent. Lamoriello locked up his franchise-defining netminder through the 2031-32 campaign, and Sorokin will be the third-highest-paid active goalie in the league when his $8.25MM AAV extension starts in 2024. It’s the fourth-largest Lamoriello has signed in terms of total value throughout his lengthy career as an NHL GM, trailing the recently inked Horvat and Barzal extensions, as well as Ilya Kovalchuk’s 15-year, $100MM whopper signed with New Jersey in 2010. He has full no-move protection for the first half of the deal and a 16-team no-trade list in the latter half. Given he’s put up over a .920 save percentage for two straight seasons and during his two playoff appearances, it seems an extremely safe bet for a player likely to be their franchise cornerstone for the better part of the 2020s. Without much change to the team in front of him, expect Sorokin to put him strong numbers again in 2023-24, the last season they’ll have him at his bargain $4MM cap hit.

Mayfield got an eyebrow-raising long-term commitment. Although $3.5MM per season isn’t a gross overpayment for his services, he’ll be 37 when his contract ends and still has trade protection. He did, however, post a career-high 24 points last season and finishes out a strong right side on defense behind Noah Dobson and Ryan Pulock. Engvall also got a long-term commitment to make him a middle-six fixture on the Island for the rest of the decade. Acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs before last season’s trade deadline, the 27-year-old Swede played out the season in a top-six role alongside Brock Nelson and notched five goals and nine points in 18 games. Varlamov also remains on an affordable cap hit to reprise his role as Sorokin’s mentor and backup through 2027, at which point retirement seems likely at age 39.

Gauthier and Kuhlman were brought in to fight for spots in the team’s bottom six alongside guys like Hudson Fasching, who enjoyed a breakout 2022-23 campaign. Kuhlman is a likely candidate to get waived and assigned to AHL Bridgeport if he doesn’t have an extremely strong camp, and he’ll be a major player there along with Pinho, whom the Islanders also signed to add some minor-league depth.

RFA Re-Signings

D Samuel Bolduc (two years, $1.6MM)
G Jakub Skarek (two years, $1.55MM)*
F Oliver Wahlstrom (one year, $874K)

*-denotes two-way contract

Missing the last 46 games of the 2022-23 season with a lower-body injury cost Wahlstrom in more ways than one. He was on pace for a career-high 37 points had he played a full season, but instead, the 2018 11th overall pick had to settle for a one-year contract equivalent to his qualifying offer after holding out two weeks into July. The toolsy 23-year-old has had his moments in the big leagues, but he’s arguably been under-utilized by his coaches on the Island while simultaneously not quite doing enough to lock down a top-six role. He has 61 points through 161 games thus far, but if he can come back healthy and break out in 2023-24, he’ll play a large part in solving the team’s scoring deficiencies.

Bolduc, 22, will likely start the season in the opening night lineup with Alexander Romanov’s recovery from offseason shoulder surgery still ongoing. He made his NHL debut last season, scoring three points in 17 games and making two playoff appearances. The team’s second-round pick in 2019 figured things out at the pro level last season, recording 35 points in 59 games with AHL Bridgeport. There were some visible growing pains in his NHL transitions and some mistakes he’ll need to clean up, but he’ll factor in as the team’s seventh defenseman when everyone is healthy and gain some valuable experience from being on the NHL roster.

Seeing Skarek receive a qualifying offer, let alone a two-year commitment was surprising. Entering his fifth pro season with AHL Bridgeport, he’s yet to post above a .900 save percentage and has just a 37-49-10 record at the AHL level (with a career .893 save percentage). What’s even more surprising is he’s currently slated to be Bridgeport’s starter and the Isles’ first call-up option should Sorokin or Varlamov go down with injury – they haven’t signed a veteran goalie to assume the AHL starting role. One has to assume that a signing will come this month.

Departures

F Collin Adams (Kalamazoo, ECHL)
F Andy Andreoff (Novosibirsk, KHL)
F Josh Bailey (trade with Chicago, subsequent buyout)
F Cole Bardreau (Bridgeport, AHL)
F Blade Jenkins (Worcester, ECHL)
F Jeff Kubiak (Bridgeport, AHL)
F Zach Parise (unsigned UFA)
D Parker Wotherspoon (Boston, one year, $775K)*

Bailey finishes out his Islanders career on a low note, but he still had a remarkable stint as one of the most consistent playmakers in franchise history, sitting fourth all-time in assists for the Islanders. After recording just 25 points in 64 games last season, however, his $5MM cap hit for next season was unjustifiable with the team in a financial crunch as is. Parise remains on the UFA list, and Lamoriello said earlier today he won’t be at training camp but isn’t ruling out an in-season return. He notched 21 goals on a bargain-bin deal last season and has played in all 164 games since joining the Islanders in 2021. The only other player on this list who skated in NHL games for the Islanders last season is Wotherspoon, who will move onto a minor-league role in the Bruins organization after recording an assist in 12 NHL games for New York.

Adams, Andreoff, Bardreau, Jenkins, and Kubiak were all minor-league forwards. Bardreau and Kubiak are remaining in the organization on AHL contracts with Bridgeport next season.

Salary Cap Outlook

The Islanders are tight to the cap and won’t be able to start the season with a full 23-player roster, per CapFriendly. Their projections currently put the Islanders at a cap hit of $83.99MM, which can be decreased below the $83.5MM Upper Limit if they operate with just two extra skaters.

Key Questions

Time To Break Up The Identity Line?: The Islanders don’t have many notable pending free agents after their spree of extensions earlier this summer. However, two core members of the Isles’ famed fourth line, Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin, are entering the last season of their contracts. As they’re both over 34 years old and their already meager offensive output is dwindling, the writing seems on the wall that one or both won’t be returning for 2024-25. With that said, does Lambert dare demote one of them to a 13th forward spot if others (like Gauthier, Kuhlman, or even a younger prospect) impress in camp? Their once-famed defensive impacts fell off a cliff last season – the unit played the most minutes together of any Islanders line but posted an abysmal 41.3% expected goals share, per MoneyPuck’s model.

Can Wahlstrom Break Out?: As referenced earlier, the Islanders are tight to the cap and don’t exactly have a lot of value contracts. Wahlstrom’s one-year extension is the only one with serious potential to give the Islanders 40+ points at a discount, and although it may cost them against the cap in 2024-25 with a more significant extension, they’d like to see him put things together and be a major top-nine contributor this season. Doing so would certainly help pad the loss of Parise, whose 21-goal void they haven’t really filled.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Matvei Michkov Expected To Be Loaned Within KHL

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KHL club SKA St. Petersburg is once again loaning Philadelphia Flyers top prospect Matvei Michkov to league rival HK Sochi, according to multiple reports out of Russia. St. Petersburg loaned Michkov to the basement-dwelling club near the beginning of last season as well.

The Flyers’ seventh-overall pick in 2023 has skated just 6:12 this season, only playing in one out of St. Petersburg’s four games to begin the 2023-24 KHL season. SKA has also effectively benched another young talent, Minnesota Wild prospect Marat Khusnutdinov, despite recording 41 points in 63 games for them last year.

The move returns Michkov to a club where he should immediately play a top-line role. As an 18-year-old, Michkov recorded 20 points in 27 games for Sochi in 2022-23, leading the team in points per game by far. Sochi has dropped three of their first four games, with their lone win coming from a massive 3-1 upset over 2023 Gagarin Cup finalist Ak Bars Kazan.

This is undoubtedly positive news for Michkov’s development (and the Flyers’ brass), returning him to a role where he can actually get playing time. He’s still under contract with SKA through the 2025-26 season, though, and this song and dance without having control over where Michkov plays is likely what some teams were looking to avoid by passing on him throughout the top five of the 2023 draft.

East Notes: Parise, Tatar, Romanov, Newhook

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One player who will not be at the New York Islanders training camp this September is veteran forward, Zach Parise. In April, Parise was adamant about returning to the Islanders for his 19th season in the NHL but appeared to become more uncertain once the 2022-23 season reached its conclusion.

General Manager of the Islanders, Lou Lamoriello believes that this isn’t the end for Parise, indicating that Zach is taking a bit more time to spend with his family to cap off the summer months. In the article, Lamoriello states, “I think he made the right decision for his family, and then we’ll just keep the door open for him. And as I said to him, we’ll keep the number (No. 11) open, too“.

Including his career resurgence with the Islanders following an unceremonious end to his career with the Minnesota Wild, Parise is a veteran of 1224 NHL games, scoring 429 goals and 450 assists in an 18-year career spent with the Islanders, Wild, and New Jersey Devils. Although still an unrestricted free agent, if Parise does choose to continue playing, it is a guarantee it will be in New York, following a similar career path as his late father, J.P. Parise.

Other news from the Eastern Conference:

  • Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet is reporting that unrestricted free agent forward, Tomas Tatar, has switched agents following a tumultuous time on the open market. In the same report, Friedman also indicated that Tatar is leaning towards signing with a team from the Eastern Conference. There has been some recent indication there was mutual interest between Tatar and the Pittsburgh Penguins, but it appears the Penguins will go in a different direction. Another team in the Eastern Conference that does have a bit of cap space and an opportunity in their middle-six for more scoring would be the Ottawa Senators.
  • Another report coming out of New York is that defenseman Alexander Romanov may not be ready for training camp following an offseason shoulder surgery shortly after the Islanders playoffs came to an end in late April. The report indicates that even if he is not ready for the start of training camp, Romanov is very close to returning at the very least. Becoming another solid shut-down defenseman on the Islanders’ blue line, Romanov would score two goals and 20 assists in his first full season last year, as well as adding an incredible amount of physicality to the back end.
  • The head coach of the Montreal Canadiens, Martin St. Louis, has a lot of confidence in one of the newest members of the organization, forward Alex Newhook. Speaking to Eric Engels of Sportsnet, St. Louis indicated that he did not watch much film on Newhook, believing he did not want to judge Newhook based on his last season playing for the Colorado Avalanche (X Link). One of the most important quotes from St. Louis, which should provide a lot of confidence for Newhook heading into a new environment is when he said, “So, to me, what I’m really happy about is I feel we’ve got a hockey player, I don’t think I’m getting a kid who plays hockey, and there’s a big difference“.

Islanders Expected To Sign Jackson Cates To PTO

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In an effort to create as much competition as possible in their forward group for training camp, Andrew Gross of Newsday is reporting that the New York Islanders have signed Jackson Cates to a professional tryout agreement. An undrafted free agent signing by the Philadelphia only three years ago, Cates became a Group Six UFA this offseason.

Up to this point, Cates has been unable to transfer his high level of play during his last season at the University of Minnesota-Duluth to the professional level. Capping off his last year of play in the NCAA during the 2020-21 season, Cates would play in 28 games for the Bulldogs, scoring 11 goals and 16 assists, helping his team reach the 2021 Frozen Four.

Over the next three seasons, Cates primarily played for the Flyers AHL affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, suiting up in 102 regular season games, scoring 13 goals and 20 assists in two seasons. Without much of an opportunity at the NHL level, Cates has only played in 20 total games for Philadelphia, registering one goal and one assist, averaging just under nine and a half minutes of ice time per game.

As the Islanders are currently constructed, it will be incredibly unlikely to see Cates make the team out of training camp. Per CapFriendly, the team already has a projected 14 forwards ready to take on NHL minutes, without also factoring in the return of forward Oliver Wahlstrom, who will be cleared to play following a lower-body injury in April.

At the very least, if Cates does perform well in training camp for New York, there is a real possibility that the team could offer him a two-way contract and store him in the AHL for much of next season. However, with there being a handful of forwards ahead of him on the depth chart, it would seem unlikely that the team would offer him a call-up even in the case of injuries to their active roster.

Quinn Hughes Named Canucks Captain

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After trading away Bo Horvat to the New York Islanders before the trade deadline last season, the Vancouver Canucks had a decision to make regarding their captain moving forward. Today, that decision has been made, as the team announced defenseman Quinn Hughes would be the 15th captain in franchise history.

In the end, for head coach Rick Tocchet and the rest of his staff, the decision likely came down to Hughes, Elias Pettersson, and J.T. Miller. All three players have leadership capabilities and thorough experience in the league up to this point, and all three players would have been realistic choices to take over the captaincy. Hughes will become the first defenseman for the Canucks to wear the ’C’ since Doug Lidster during the 1990-91 NHL season.

The seventh overall selection for Vancouver in the 2018 NHL Draft, Hughes would join the Canucks at the end of the 2018-19 season, finishing off his college career at the University of Michigan. A year later, in his first full season, Hughes thoroughly showed what he could do at the NHL level, scoring eight goals and 45 assists in 68 games. In that first full year for Hughes, he would finish second in Calder Memorial Trophy voting and even garnered some Norris Trophy votes at season’s end.

Since then, it has been much of the same for Hughes, racking up a high amount of assists, and generating quite a bit of offense from the blue line for Vancouver. This past season, in what would be his most impressive year up to this point, Hughes would score seven goals and 69 assists in 78 games, becoming a point-per-game player as a defenseman.

A three-time All-Star already in his career, one of Hughes’s best improvements has been his defensive metrics. At the beginning of his career, there were some questions surrounding his defensive proficiency from the blue line, improving his takeaway numbers, and holding strong possession numbers for much of his career.

Now, at almost 24 years old, Hughes will be tasked with being the leader for the Canucks, both on and off the ice. As Vancouver continues to build and restructure their team into a playoff contender, it will be much of Hughes’s responsibility to lead this team into their next era.

Ottawa Promotes Ben Sexton To NHL Assistant Coach

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The Ottawa Senators announced that Ben Sexton will be joining the NHL staff as an assistant coach. Sexton has spent the last two seasons behind the bench of Ottawa’s AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators, serving as an assistant to head coach Troy Mann.

The Belleville Senators have been just above .500 in Sexton’s time with the organization, setting a 71-59-14 record. This led them to a postseason appearance in 2022, where they lost to the Rochester Americans in the first round. The team did not repeat their postseason appearance this past year.

Getting called up to Ottawa from Belleville isn’t entirely unfamiliar to Sexton. The eight-year veteran of pro hockey played with Belleville for the 2017-18 season and received a late-March call-up to appear in what would be the only two NHL games of his career. Sexton would go on to play part of the 2018-19 season in Belleville as well – the final year of his playing career. Sexton finished his professional career with 200 AHL games, 44 goals, 90 points, and 234 penalty minutes.

In addition to Sexton’s promotion, Ottawa also announced that Sean Tierney has been named the team’s first Director of Analytics. Tierney takes steps into this role from his position as Director of Analytics and Pro Services with Sporlogiq, a hockey analytics company partnered with the NHL, SHL, AHL, and many other hockey leagues.

Christian Dvorak Not Yet Cleared To Play

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Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes has said that Christian Dvorak is not yet cleared to play and will need to meet with his surgeon one more time. Dvorak underwent surgery on his knee in March and was expected to be fully ready for the start of the 2023-24 season. Whether that will be the case or not seems to be up in the air now.

Dvorak joined eight other Habs on the injured reserve when he went down in March, speaking to the plague of injuries that Montreal experienced last season. In the 64 games he did appear in last year, Dvorak recorded 10 goals and 28 points, both career-lows when accounting for seasons where he played in 25 or more games.

This includes the 2021-22 season, his first year in Montreal, where he tallied 11 goals and 33 points in 56 games. That season was also dampened by injuries, with a lower-body injury holding him out for a month mid-season and an upper-body injury keeping him out for roughly two more in the spring.

Dvorak has two seasons left on his deal carrying a $4.45MM cap hit. These last two seasons also carry a modified no-trade clause that will allow Dvorak to submit an eight-team no-trade list should Montreal want to move him.

Dvorak, now 27, is in an interesting spot relative to the rebuilding Montreal Canadiens. He has yet to appear in a full 82 games and hasn’t played more than 64 since 2019-20. With a modified no-trade clause now in effect, how the Canadiens move forward with the cost-controlled Dvorak should be an interesting glimpse into what their plans for the next few years may be.

East Notes: Dahlin, Matheson, Levi

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TSN Hockey’s Chris Johnston said on the most recent ’Off the Post’ podcast that he fully expects Rasmus Dahlin to sign an eight-year contract extension. Johnston said that both sides have made positive strides towards finding the star’s next contract and that they may even have a deal in place before training camp. There’s no doubt that Dahlin’s next contract will likely come with a hefty cap hit – something that Johnston says Buffalo will likely try to offset by signing Owen Power to a cheap and short bridge contract when he’s an RFA next summer.

Dahlin is coming off a tremendous season, where he recorded 15 goals and 73 points in 78 games. His scoring ranked seventh among all defenders in points and points-per-games and marked career-highs in goals, assists, and points. Dahlin has confidently taken control of the Sabres top defender role and is still only 23. A long-term extension will likely take him through his prime and learning what that cap hit will look like is something the Sabres are surely eager to find out.

More from the East:

Five Key Stories: 9/4/23 – 9/10/23

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The first full week of September is in the books and with training camps fast approaching, there was some news of note around the hockey world which is recapped in our top stories.

More Tryouts: The month of September can be colloquially thought of as PTO season as unsigned players look to catch on before camps start.  Last week, several veterans inked tryout deals and several more did so over the past seven days.  Among those with recent NHL experience, Danton Heinen will look to have a second go-round with Boston while Ryan Dzingel will try to do the same with Arizona. Noah Gregor is hoping to catch on with Toronto, Saku Maenalanen is the latest to join Colorado’s camp, while Colin White will be heading to a very crowded forward battle in Pittsburgh.  Quite a few more tryouts are expected to be coming over the next week or two.

Late Moves For Tampa Bay: The Lightning thought they had filled a spot on their fourth line early in free agency when they signed winger Josh Archibald to a two-year deal.  However, after he informed the team that he no longer intends to play this season, Tampa Bay elected to terminate his contract.  They quickly found a replacement though, inking Tyler Motte to a one-year deal worth the same $800K that they were set to pay Archibald.  It could be argued that the moves work out to a net upgrade for the Lightning with Motte being a bit younger and having a slightly better track record of production.

Eight For Sanderson: The Senators haven’t shied away from extending their core players early.  They’ve elected to do so once more, signing defenseman Jake Sanderson to an eight-year, $64.4MM extension that will begin in the 2024-25 season.  The deal buys out Sanderson’s five remaining RFA years plus three seasons of UFA eligibility.  The 21-year-old had a strong rookie year last season, collecting 32 points in 77 games while logging nearly 22 minutes a night.  This deal will make Sanderson, the fifth-overall pick in 2020, Ottawa’s highest-paid defenseman as it checks in just ahead of Thomas Chabot.  Ottawa’s young core consisting of Sanderson, Chabot, Tim Stutzle, Brady Tkachuk, and Josh Norris, are all signed through at least the 2027-28 campaign.

Off-Ice Moves: After handing out extensions to Arizona’s coaching staff, it was GM Bill Armstrong’s turn to receive one as well as he inked an agreement that will keep him in charge of the Coyotes through the 2028-29 season.  Armstrong has been at the helm for four seasons now, embarking on a full-scale rebuild.  This deal means he’ll be the one to take them out of it down the road.  Meanwhile, Bruce Boudreau has a new job but not with an NHL team.  Instead, he has joined Niagara of the OHL as a Senior Advisor.  Boudreau ranks 21st all-time in NHL games coached and wins and it remains to be seen if he’ll one day get a chance to add to those numbers.  Lastly, after not being with a team last season, Doug Wilson is back in an NHL front office as he was hired by Pittsburgh as a Senior Advisor.  He spent over 25 years on San Jose’s management team and will now serve as a member of Kyle Dubas’ new-look front office.

Second Bridge For Frost: With Philadelphia’s cap situation, the only way they could afford to re-sign Morgan Frost was with another short-term bridge contract.  The two sides have now agreed on one as he signed a two-year, $4.2MM deal.  The 24-year-old had a career year last season, notching 19 goals and 27 assists in 81 games, providing quite a nice return on a one-year, $800K deal.  The move gives the Flyers a chance to evaluate if he’s indeed a long-term piece of the puzzle.  If he is, they’ll owe him a $2.4MM qualifying offer in 2025.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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