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Archives for October 2023

Washington Places Dowd On IR, Recall Lapierre

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The Washington Capitals have placed forward Nic Dowd on injured reserved and recalled 2020 First Round pick Hendrix Lapierre from the Hershey Bears. Dowd has been out since the team’s October 18th game with an upper-body injury and will now miss an additional week of action, at least.

And while Washington was able to fill in for Dowd’s injury, they are also anticipating Sonny Milano to miss action with illness. This means the team will need to recall one more forward to ice a full lineup, as they’re not currently carrying any extra forwards. One possible option for this recall could be top prospect Ivan Miroshnichenko, who garnered a lot of attention during Washington’s training camp but narrowly missed the mark for the roster. He has five points through his first seven career AHL games.

Lapierre’s recall is an enticing one for Capitals fans anticipating what the former 22nd-overall selection could become. His only NHL action came in the 2021-22 season when Lapierre played six games and scored one goal. Last season was his first full year of professional hockey, with the winger netting 15 goals and 30 points in 60 regular season games and three goals and six points in 20 playoff games. Lapierre has three points in six AHL games this year, continuing his modest minor-league scoring.

Aliaksei Protas has slotted into the lineup in place of Dowd, recording one assist in six NHL games while averaging just shy of nine minutes of ice time. The 22-year-old forward was drafted in the third round of the 2019 NHL Draft and has 97 career NHL Games under his belt, with 25 career points.

Adam Johnson Passes Away

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Former NHL forward Adam Johnson has tragically passed away after suffering a major medical emergency during a game last night with the EIHL’s Nottingham Panthers. Nottingham confirmed his passing this morning after Johnson suffered a cut during a game against the Sheffield Steelers last night. The 29-year-old was attended to by medical personnel as fans were asked to leave the arena after the incident had occurred. A statement from Johnson’s former NHL team, the Pittsburgh Penguins, can be found here.

The unfortunate sequence of events started with a collision at center ice that caused Johnson to suffer an injury to his throat. The players from both teams formed a circle around him before screens were brought onto the ice as paramedics attended to him. This morning the Panthers released an official statement saying:

The Nottingham Panthers are truly devastated to announce that Adam Johnson has tragically passed away following a freak accident at the game in Sheffield last night. The club will dearly miss him and will never forget him. Adam, our number 47, was not only an outstanding ice hockey player but also a great team-mate and an incredible person with his whole life ahead of him.

The full statement is available here.

Johnson was born in Minnesota and was in his first season in the Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL) after joining the Panthers this offseason. He began playing as a professional in 2017 after spending two years at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, where he won an NCHC championship in 2017. He spent the first three years of his pro career with the Penguins organization and did dress in some NHL games with the club, posting a goal and three assists in 13 games spread over two NHL seasons. In his AHL career, Johnson dressed in 257 career AHL games with the Ontario Reign, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, and the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. He registered 50 career AHL goals and 87 assists.

Former NHLer Matt Cullen told Rob Rossi of The Athletic that Johnson was “An unreal kid, just a great guy. A salt-of-the-earth kind of guy. So humble and a very easy person to be around. He’s one of those guys who just loves the game and being around the rink with the guys.”

PHR joins the entire hockey world in mourning the passing of Adam Johnson. Our condolences to the Johnson family and all of his teammates, friends, and peers.

Canadiens’ Mike Matheson Out Day-To-Day

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The Montreal Canadiens have announced that defenseman Mike Matheson is out day-to-day with a lower-body injury. The 29-year-old suffered the apparent injury during the club’s 4-3 shootout win over the Winnipeg Jets. Matheson has been on a tear to start the season with two goals and four assists in his first eight games of the campaign. Matheson dealt with several injuries last year in what was a shortened season for the Pointe-Claire, Quebec native. He dressed in just 48 games in 2022-23 registering eight goals and 26 assists and was a +7.

The Canadiens are already missing David Savard with a broken left hand and can ill afford to lose Matheson for any length of time after a surprising 5-2-1 start to their season. The Canadiens were expected to be in a transition year but have impressed thus far winning a lot of close games.

The severity of Matheson’s injury is unknown; however, early indicators are that his ailment isn’t of the serious variety. Matheson will travel with the Canadiens to Las Vegas today for their upcoming road trip, which indicates that he will likely play in the next week in one of the three games on the trip. Arpon Basu of The Athletic has tweeted that the team is saying that Matheson’s injury is nothing serious.

Matheson missed much of the Canadiens training camp with an injury that seemed to linger for longer than expected. This was also the case for several of the injuries he dealt with last year, including the abdominal strain that occurred at a morning skate and eventually caused him to miss the first month of the season.

While Matheson’s injury frequency must be of concern, his play on the ice is not. Since a difficult final season with the Florida Panthers, Matheson has been extremely responsible and creative with the puck which has led to him posting solid offensive numbers in recent years. And should the Canadiens’ assessment be correct, Matheson will return later this week to hopefully continue his solid start to the season.

Leafs’ Timothy Liljegren Leaves Game With Injury

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Sportsnet is reporting that Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Timothy Liljegren left last night’s game against the Nashville Predators with an apparent upper-body injury. The injury appeared to happen when Yakov Trenin of the Predators finished his check on Liljegren after he had cleared the puck from behind the Leafs goal line. Liljegren skated to the bench in obvious discomfort where he appeared to talk to the trainer about his ailment.

The injury was initially reported as a lower-body injury before it was corrected later in the evening. At the moment, it isn’t clear how long the 24-year-old will be out of action, leaving it as a day-to-day situation for the time being. The Leafs can hardly afford to lose another defender as they are already without Jake McCabe and Conor Timmins who are both sidelined due to injury.

Liljegren has just one assist in eight games to start the season and has struggled early in the year with an elevated role due to the injuries in the Leafs defensive core. The native of Kristianstad, Sweden has seen increased ice time to start the year, playing an average of over 20 minutes a night and has also been forced to take substantially more defensive zone starts than he has at any point in his career. These variables have led to some of Liljegren’s struggles thus far.

While Liljegren will likely be re-evaluated in the coming days, the Maple Leafs will have to consider some call-ups before their next contest on Tuesday against the Los Angeles Kings as nearly half of their defensive core is sidelined due to injury. The Maple Leafs are fortunate to have the financial resources to keep NHL-caliber players in the AHL, however, they have already dipped into those resources with all the early season injuries and will have to further tap into them if Liljegren is on the shelf any length of time.

Injury Notes: McDavid, Hischier, McCabe

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As both the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames take the ice at Commonwealth Stadium in Alberta today for practice in preparation for the 2023 Heritage Classic tomorrow evening, several reports are coming out of the Oilers practice that captain Connor McDavid has joined his teammates on the ice (X Link). There is growing excitement throughout Edmonton that McDavid will be in the Heritage Classic tomorrow, after missing the last two games.

The injury status of McDavid appears to be a bit complicated, as Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet had mentioned he was extremely pessimistic that McDavid would be available for the Heritage Classic, given the nature of his injury and the atypical playing conditions on an outdoor rink. Given the importance of McDavid to the Oilers and the NHL in general, it is more than unlikely that Edmonton is trying to rush McDavid back, but he may have healed quicker than previously thought.

The team could certainly use him back on the ice regardless of whether it is the Heritage Classic or not, as the Oilers have still only managed one win in their first seven games to start the regular season. If the team is set to take a step in the right direction on the season, there is no better team to do it against than their in-province rival.

Other injury notes:

  •  In last night’s game against the Buffalo Sabres, New Jersey Devils captain, Nico Hischier, was not in attendance on the bench to start the second period, after receiving a hit to the head from Sabres’ defenseman, Connor Clifton, earning him a match penalty for the rest of the game. Hischier would eventually come back to the game for New Jersey, but would not play a lot of minutes from then on out. Today, team reporter for the team, Amanda Stein, is reporting that Hischier will not be in the lineup tomorrow night, suffering an upper-body injury as a result of the penalty.
  • Although Toronto Maple Leafs’ defenseman, Jake McCabe, will not be on the ice with the team in their next upcoming matchup against the Nashville Predators due to a groin injury, Toronto apparently gathered very positive results from McCabe’s MRI report. David Alter of The Hockey News reports that McCabe won’t be out of the lineup ’too long’, and the MRI results were a best-case scenario for both the player and the team.

Joe Thornton Officially Announces Retirement

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2006 Hart Trophy winner and longtime San Jose Sharks pivot Joe Thornton has officially confirmed his retirement from pro hockey, per a video release from the Sharks. The 44-year-old did not play during the 2022-23 season, last suiting up for the Florida Panthers in 2021-22.

Rarely does a player with such a clear path to a spot in the Hall of Fame hang up the skates. While he only won two major trophies (the Hart and the Art Ross in 2006) and never lifted a Stanley Cup, the 1997 first-overall pick is widely regarded as one of the best playmakers in NHL history, and for good reason.

Entering the 1997 NHL Draft, Thornton was the clear choice at first overall for the Boston Bruins, who had finished last in the NHL with a 26-47-9 record the year before. “Jumbo Joe” was coming off an electric season with the OHL’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, notching 41 goals and 81 assists for 122 points in just 59 games. His transition to pro hockey was far from smooth, however. In 1997-98, his NHL rookie season, Thornton averaged just 8:05 per game under head coach Pat Burns and scored just seven points in 55 games. It didn’t look like Thornton would develop into the elite and durable playmaker he ended up being.

Thornton’s point totals would increase over the coming seasons until his true arrival in 2000-01 when he posted a career-high 37 goals and added 34 assists for 71 points in 72 contests. He would hover around (and usually above) the point-per-game mark over the next 15-plus years. Named the Bruins’ captain in 2002-23, succeeding Jason Allison, Thornton’s playmaking immediately exploded. He had 65 assists that year and cracked the 100-point plateau for the first time, although the Bruins struggled defensively and would succumb to the New Jersey Devils in that year’s Eastern Conference Quarterfinals.

Unlike others, Thornton would not lose an entire season to the 2004-05 NHL lockout. At 25 years old, Thornton took his talents overseas for a campaign with HC Davos in the Swiss National League, scoring 54 points (44 of them assists) in 40 games. That would start a relationship between Thornton and Davos that still exists today, as he returned to play for Davos during the 2012-13 lockout and briefly during the 2020-21 campaign and has served with them in guest coaching capacities over the past couple of years.

Returning to NHL action in 2005-06, the 26-year-old Thornton had an incredible start to the season, posting over an assist per game in 23 contests with the Bruins. It wasn’t enough to buoy a defensively weak squad, however, and the team was well below the .500 mark on November 30, 2005 – the date Boston traded Thornton to the San Jose Sharks for a three-player haul of German scoring winger Marco Sturm, top-four defender Brad Stuart, and checking center Wayne Primeau. Thornton would continue his heroics in a Sharks jersey, posting 20 goals and an astounding 72 assists for 92 points in 58 contests post-trade, boosting right winger Jonathan Cheechoo to one of the most unlikely NHL goal-scoring titles in league history. Cheechoo, 25 at the time, had 56 goals in 82 games. He would be out of the NHL entirely by the team he turned 30.

On the whole, Thornton had 96 assists and 125 points in 81 games in 2005-06. He would again crack the 90-assist plateau in 2006-07, finishing the year with 114 points. He would remain over a point per game for the next three seasons as league-wide scoring slowly dwindled, and a Sharks team with increasing depth allowed them to reduce Thornton’s minutes ever so slightly. The Sharks would name him captain ahead of the 2010-11 season, although an incredible core that included Thornton and NHL all-time games played leader Patrick Marleau could never quite get the Sharks to a championship.

That almost changed in 2016, when Thornton, now 36, hit the point-per-game mark for the first time in six years and dominated possession, finishing top-five in both Hart Trophy and Selke Trophy voting. With an elite core that boasted Brent Burns, Joe Pavelski and Marc-Édouard Vlasic in their primes, the Sharks finally advanced to a Stanley Cup Final but were defeated in six games by Sidney Crosby, rookie netminder Matt Murray, and the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Sharks would get close to a Cup one more time during Thornton’s tenure in 2019 but lost in the Western Conference Final to the eventual champion St. Louis Blues.

After signing three consecutive one-year deals to remain a Shark, Thornton left the team in 2020 to chase a championship with his hometown Toronto Maple Leafs. His best days now far behind him at age 41, Thornton still managed to add some depth production with 20 points in 44 contests, but he had just one goal in seven playoff games as Toronto was upset by the rival Montreal Canadiens in the First Round. He would sign another one-year contract for 2021-22, this time with the Panthers, but played an increasingly limited role. He suited up in just 34 of 82 games, averaged a hair over 11 minutes per game, and posted ten points. After Florida was eliminated in the Second Round by the Tampa Bay Lightning, it became clear Thornton had likely played his last NHL game.

It’s hard to imagine Thornton not getting the call to the Hall when he’s eligible for induction in 2025. The Ontario product finished his NHL career with 1,714 games played (sixth all-time), 1,109 assists (seventh all-time), and 1,539 points (12th all-time), easily putting him in the conversation for one of the 30 or 40 greatest skaters to ever touch NHL ice.

PHR wishes Thornton the absolute best in whatever awaits him in the next stage of his hockey career.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Minor Transactions: 10/28/23

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It’s a relatively light Saturday across the NHL with nine games on the schedule.  We’ll keep track of any minor roster news here plus any NHL-related transactions across the hockey world.

  • Per CapFriendly (Twitter links), the Penguins have recalled both Radim Zohorna and Vinnie Hinostroza from AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. The pair were papered down on Friday in a move to drop Pittsburgh out of LTIR for the day, allowing them to bank a bit of cap space.  They’ve been doing these shuffles daily lately which should continue for as long as Alex Nedeljkovic is on LTIR.
  • The Bruins’ cap shuffling continues. After bringing up Jesper Boqvist from his paper recall earlier in the day, the team then announced that they’d assigned the forward back to AHL Providence.  The 24-year-old is in his first season with Boston after being non-tendered by New Jersey back in June.  He has played once for the Bruins so far while suiting up in five games at the AHL level, notching two assists.
  • Former NHL blueliner Brandon Manning has inked a one-year contract with IF Bjorkloven in the Swedish Allsvenskan, per a team release. The 33-year-old has played in 255 NHL games over parts of eight seasons, the most recent of which was back in 2019-20 with Edmonton.  Since then, Manning took a year off before spending the past two years in Germany.

This page may be updated throughout the day.

Panthers Notes: Ekblad, Montour, Barkov, Bennett

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Panthers defensemen Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour both skated today and are expected to take part in practice with the team on Sunday in non-contact jerseys, reports Florida Hockey Now’s George Richards.  Both players played through shoulder injuries in the playoffs, undergoing surgery soon after the Stanley Cup Final concluded.  The original expectation was that both players would be back sometime around mid-December.  However, head coach Paul Maurice suggested that the timeline could be moved up a bit, noting the veterans could be back by the end of next month which would certainly be a big boost with Ekblad and Montour being two of their top blueliners.  Ekblad is currently on LTIR while Montour is on regular injured reserve.

More from Florida:

  • The Panthers will welcome their captain back to the lineup tonight as play-by-play voice Steve Goldstein relays (Twitter link) that Aleksander Barkov will suit up after missing last game with an illness. The 28-year-old is off to a nice start to his season with six points in his first five appearances while averaging over 21 minutes a night.  Florida sent Mackie Samoskevich back to AHL Charlotte yesterday, signifying that they expected Barkov would be cleared to play today against Seattle.
  • While Sam Bennett also skated today, he will not suit up tonight, notes Bally Sports Florida’s Katie Engelson (Twitter link). The 27-year-old has yet to play so far this season due to a lingering lower-body injury.  Maurice indicated that Bennett remains listed as day-to-day but is close to returning; he is expected to accompany the Panthers on their upcoming road trip.  He’s coming off his second straight 40-point year despite missing 19 games due to injuries last season and his eventual return will certainly bolster Florida’s top six.

Capitals Activate Charlie Lindgren, Assign Hunter Shepard To AHL

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The Capitals will be welcoming back goalie Charlie Lindgren for their game tomorrow against San Jose as the team announced that they have activated him off injured reserve.  To make room on the roster, netminder Hunter Shepard was assigned back to AHL Hershey.

Lindgren is in his second season as the backup goaltender in Washington behind Darcy Kuemper.  The 29-year-old was a full-time NHL backup for the first time in 2022-23, playing in 31 games, more than the rest of his career combined.  Lindgren fared relatively well in that role, posting a 3.05 GAA with a .899 SV%.  This season, he has just one start under his belt where he allowed four goals on 35 shots.  He’s expected to serve as the backup against the Sharks on Sunday.

As for Shepard, he made his NHL debut earlier this week against New Jersey, stopping 18 of 22 shots for his first career victory at the top level.  The 27-year-old is in his fourth year in Washington’s system, spending the majority of that time at the AHL level.  Shepard had a strong showing last year, putting together a 2.18 GAA with a .916 SV% in 33 games before putting up similar numbers in 20 playoff contests (2.27 GAA, .914 SV%), earning himself playoff MVP honors along the way.

Salary Cap Deep Dive: Edmonton Oilers

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Navigating the salary cap is one of the more important tasks for any GM.  Teams that can avoid total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful.  Those that don’t see struggles and front office changes.

PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation for the 2023-24 season.  This will focus more on players who are regulars on the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL.  All cap figures are courtesy of CapFriendly.

Edmonton Oilers

Current Cap Hit: $83,117,240 (under the $83.5MM Upper Limit)

Entry-Level Contracts

D Philip Broberg (one year, $863K)
F Dylan Holloway (one year, $925K)

Potential Bonuses
Broberg: $850K
Holloway: $650K

Holloway was certainly eased into NHL action last season as he averaged less than ten minutes a game, not necessarily ideal for an offensive-minded player.  This year, the early usage is similar but they’re hoping he’ll work his way into a bigger role eventually.  As things stand, he’ll be hard-pressed to reach his bonuses and is almost certainly heading for a short-term bridge deal next year that will get him a small raise but not much more.

Broberg is following a similar path as Holloway.  He saw semi-regular action with the Oilers last year but in a very limited role with this season following the same trajectory to start.  Again, that makes his bonuses unlikely to be reached (which is notable given how tight to the cap they are now) and puts him in line for a low-cost bridge deal as Edmonton has done with several others coming off their entry-level deals recently.

Signed Through 2023-24, Non-Entry-Level

F Connor Brown ($775K, UFA)
D Vincent Desharnais ($762.5K, RFA)
F Adam Erne ($775K, UFA)
F Warren Foegele ($2.75MM, UFA)
F Mattias Janmark ($1MM, UFA)

Potential Bonuses
Brown: $3.225MM

Brown’s contract is the cheapest on paper but will cost them the most as that bonus payout is payable once he gets to ten games played.  Barring injury, he’ll get there less than two weeks from now.  The pickup was a bit of a gamble since he was coming off ACL surgery but there was definitely an upside play to it.  He’ll need to show that he’s healthy and productive to have a shot at commanding that much guaranteed money on a multi-year deal next summer.

Foegele has been a subject of trade speculation for a while thanks to his contract.  For a third-liner, it’s not an overpayment but with their cap situation, it has been wondered if it’s a premium they can afford.  With the crunch on contracts for depth players in recent years, it’s unlikely there’s a big raise coming his way but a similar-sized multi-year deal should be doable.  Janmark cleared waivers last season but wound up playing a regular role most nights but is in that replacement-level range which makes it difficult for him to command much more than this bearing a breakout year.  Erne just signed earlier this week on a two-way deal, a sign that his market wasn’t the strongest either.

Desharnais is a late-bloomer but is basically a sixth or seventh defender at this point of his career.  His value to Edmonton is the below-minimum contract.  As things stand, he might garner enough interest to get close to the $1MM mark next summer but will need to be in the lineup more often than not to have a shot at that.

Signed Through 2024-25

D Evan Bouchard ($3.9MM, RFA)
D Cody Ceci ($3.25MM, UFA)
F Leon Draisaitl ($8.5MM, UFA)
F Ryan McLeod ($2.1MM, RFA)
F Derek Ryan ($900K, UFA)

Technically, Draisaitl is the second-best threat on the Oilers but that certainly doesn’t mean that he’d be a second option elsewhere.  On most teams, he’d be their top-line center and their go-to scorer.  Edmonton has benefitted significantly with his contract, one that is significantly below market.  He has been one of the top scorers in the league in the past decade (second only to his teammate) and between that and the fact he plays a premium position, Draisaitl is in a position to command a record-setting contract on the open market, ahead of the $13.25MM that Auston Matthews received earlier this year from Toronto.  However, if he wants to stay in Edmonton, it seems like he might have to settle for a bit less than that.

McLeod is one of the players who had to take the cheap one-year deal coming off his entry-level pact although that swung the leverage hammer to him as he had arbitration rights this summer.  He improved on his numbers from 2021-22 despite playing in 14 fewer games which helped him jump past the $2MM mark.  If he continues to improve, his value could be closer to $3.5MM next time around.  Ryan receiving a two-year deal was a surprise considering he turns 37 in December.  If he gets another contract, it’ll be around this price tag while Edmonton will be looking to keep this roster spot as close to the minimum as possible.

Draisaitl shouldn’t be the only big-ticket deal Edmonton will have to contend with in 2025.  Bouchard had a breakout second half and a strong playoff performance, making his bridge deal more expensive than the Oilers likely expected.  If he continues on that trajectory, he could more than double his current price tag on his next deal.  Ceci’s second season with Edmonton wasn’t as good as his first but he still held down a top-four role.  As long as that’s the case, they’ll get decent value but history has shown he’s typically better off in the fifth spot on the depth chart which doesn’t help his open-market value which, at this point, is probably close to what he’s making now.

Signed Through 2025-26

D Mattias Ekholm ($6MM, UFA)*
F Evander Kane ($5.125MM, UFA)
D Brett Kulak ($2.75MM, UFA)
F Connor McDavid ($12.5MM, UFA)
G Stuart Skinner ($2.6MM, UFA)

*-Nashville is retaining an additional $250K per season on Ekholm’s contract.

McDavid had held the record for the highest AAV in NHL history until Nathan MacKinnon passed that this year.  It certainly feels like it’s only a matter of time before he reclaims that title, potentially passing Draisaitl to re-take the crown.  A three-time Hart Trophy winner as NHL MVP, McDavid has led the league in scoring in three straight years and five out of the last seven.  He plays a premium position and he’ll only be 29 when his next contract begins.  That means a max-term deal (eight years if he re-signs, seven if he was to go elsewhere) is basically a lock.  As is the case with Draisaitl, if the two want to stay together in Edmonton, McDavid will also need to leave money on the table to do so given their cap situation.

Kane impressed after joining Edmonton midway through the 2021-22 campaign and was off to a good start last year before being slowed by a lacerated wrist.  If he can get back to that level of performance, they’ll do well with this deal but it’s fair to say that he has struggled out of the gate.  He’ll be 35 when this deal is up so he might be hard-pressed to beat this contract at that time.

Ekholm has been a steady 30-point defender who logs heavy minutes for basically the better part of the last eight years.  He’s not a number one option but a capable number two or a high-end number three.  This contract falls in line nicely with either of those two roles, for now at least.  He’ll be 36 in the final season so that could be a small concern given his heavy workload.  Again, with his age, it’s difficult to see him beating this price on his next contract.  Kulak does well in a limited role but while he can handle top-four minutes, he often struggles with the extra workload.  That makes this contract a bit on the expensive side and if they need to try to trim more from their payroll, Kulak could be a strong candidate to be the cap casualty.

Most of Skinner’s first full NHL season went quite well.  He was an All-Star and it looked like they had an in-house solution to their long-term goalie struggles.  The playoffs were another story as he struggled mightily and his first few outings this year haven’t been the greatest.  With the current backup market, as long as he’s a league-average option, they’ll get a reasonable return so this contract should hold up relatively well over time.

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