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Archives for June 2024

Canada Names Jon Cooper Head Coach For 4 Nations Face-Off, Winter Olympics

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Hockey Canada has announced two-time Stanley Cup champion coach Jon Cooper as its bench boss for both the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off and 2026 Winter Olympics.

Cooper, 56, will enter his 13th season behind the Lightning bench in the fall. The longest-serving head coach in the league will return to the international stage for the first time since 2017 when he coached Canada at the World Championship. He also assisted for Team North America at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

The future Hall-of-Fame coach has been one of many affected by the NHL’s lack of participation in international events for the last decade, leading to a surprising lack of accolades for Canada on the world stage. A British Columbia native, Cooper has also routinely led the Lightning deep into postseason play, including three straight Stanley Cup Final appearances from 2020 to 2022. That’s hampered his availability to serve on the Canadian bench for less star-studded tournaments like the World Championship.

In his lone showing for Canada internationally, Cooper led a Canadian roster led by Nathan MacKinnon, Mitch Marner and Ryan O’Reilly to a silver medal at the Worlds. It was their third straight year making the gold medal game after back-to-back wins in 2015 and 2016, but they lost to a Sweden contingent led by Henrik Lundqvist and William Nylander.

Canada hasn’t filled out the rest of their coaching staff for the upcoming tournaments, although those announcements should come before the end of the year. Their first six players for the inaugural 4 Nations tournament, which takes place in February 2025, will be announced this week. They do have their management group in place, though. Blues GM Doug Armstrong will be their principal hockey ops decision-maker for the upcoming best-on-best events, with the Bruins’ Don Sweeney and the Stars’ Jim Nill serving as his assistants.

Jets Sign Dylan DeMelo To Four-Year Extension

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11:17 a.m.: DeMelo’s deal breaks down as follows, per PuckPedia. It carries a 10-team no-trade list throughout.

2024-25: $5.5MM base salary
2025-26: $5.0MM base salary
2026-27: $5.0MM base salary
2027-28: $4.1MM base salary

10:19 a.m.: The Winnipeg Jets have signed defenseman Dylan DeMelo to a four-year contract extension with an AAV of $4.9MM, per Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Free Press (Twitter link). DeMelo was set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1st.

DeMelo, 31, will drive through the majority of his remaining career on this deal, cementing his spot as an evergreen piece of the Jets lineup. Winnipeg traded for DeMelo ahead of the 2020 Trade Deadline, sending a third-round draft pick back to the Ottawa Senators and extending the defender ahead of the 2020-21 season, signing him to a four-year, $12MM contract. He performed well on the deal, recording career-highs in scoring with 27 points last year and then 31 points this season. DeMelo has climbed his way into more and more of a role with strong play, working from an average of 17 minutes of ice time at the start of his deal to nearly 22 minutes this season.

The move to Winnipeg wasn’t the first of DeMelo’s career, having previously been one of the pieces returned to the Ottawa Senators in the legendary Erik Karlsson trade. DeMelo was joined by Joshua Norris, Chris Tierney, Rudolfs Balcers, and the picks used to select Tim Stutzle, Jamieson Rees, and Zack Ostapchuk. DeMelo went on to play a limited 126 games with the Senators, though he managed a productive 32 points from a second-pair role.

Through nine years in the league and three different teams, DeMelo has totaled 554 games and 144 points. He’s been a staunch defensive presence on second pairings since his debut in 2015 and is now clawing his way into top-line minutes. He’ll look to hang onto that role as he kicks off another long-term deal with the Jets – this time $1.9MM richer than his salary last season.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports

Matvei Michkov Released By SKA St. Petersburg

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June 25, 11:07 a.m.: Michkov has had his contract with SKA St. Petersburg officially terminated and the Flyers have been informed of the development, Brière said in a statement Tuesday. “We are certainly excited to learn of this news and look forward to reconnecting with Matvei’s representatives in the coming days,” Brière said. He’s not under contract with the Flyers yet but he should be in the coming days.

June 23, 3:00 p.m.: Updated reports from Kevin Kurz and Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic have shared that there is a chance Michkov could be involved in the team’s development camp next week (Twitter link).

June 23, 11:00 a.m.: In a report from Hockey News Hub and later confirmed by Anthony Di Marco of The Fourth Period and Kevin Kurz of The Athletic, Philadelphia Flyers’ prospect Matvei Michkov is expected to terminate his contract with SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL to join the Flyers for the 2024-25 NHL season. Di Marco later reported that Michkov will be represented by CAA in North America who also represents Cameron York, Nick Seeler, and Ivan Fedotov in the Flyers’ organization.

The news of Michkov’s arrival in Philadelphia ends a year-long story that began shortly before the 2023 NHL Draft. Viewed by many as one of the top talents not named Connor Bedard in last year’s draft, Michkov fell to seventh overall as many teams grew afraid he may take years to make it to North America due to his contractual obligations in the KHL. Being that hindsight is 20/20, the Flyers will have had to wait only one year to see Michkov join the organization as General Manager Daniel Briere’s big gamble appears to have paid off.

Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reports that the situation is still fluid regarding Michkov, but the expectation is that he will be with the Flyers organization when the 2024-25 season opens up. With plenty of doubts about his eventual arrival in Philadelphia, the team must first sign the young Russian prospect to his entry-level contract. Regardless of the logistical steps forward, the Flyers will be adding one of the best young prospects in the world to their organization.

In his season after the 2023 NHL Draft, Michkov played primarily on loan for HK Sochi of the KHL, becoming a complete offensive package for the organization. In 47 games played Michkov potted 19 goals while assisting on 22 more. Michkov finished 40th in the league in scoring but it was far and away the most by any player under 20.

Michkov’s creativity and play with the puck is reminiscent of Russian forward Pavel Datsyuk throughout his tenure with the Detroit Red Wings. Additionally, Michkov has a keen ability to find the back of the net and a very mature hockey IQ. It will be interesting to see if Michkov can keep up with the defensive expectations brought by head coach John Tortorella in Philadelphia, but he should be one of the team’s premier offensive players in due time.

Avalanche Sign Casey Mittelstadt To Three-Year Extension

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The Avalanche have signed center Casey Mittelstadt to a three-year extension with a cap hit of $5.75MM, per a team announcement.

Mittelstadt had two years remaining under team control, so his new deal buys one UFA year. He’ll be 28 years old at the end of his deal, putting him in the middle of his prime when he’s able to cash in a long-term bet as a UFA.

The Minnesota native entered the season as a Sabre, beginning his sixth full NHL campaign. Buffalo’s eighth-overall pick in 2017 had been largely underwhelming through the first few years of his development, failing to crack the 30-point mark through his first four seasons. But 2022-23 signaled a breakout for Mittelstadt, who contributed 15 goals and 59 points while playing in all 82 games to help the Sabres’ offense rocket up to third in the league. Although they missed the playoffs by one point, it was an important step forward for the pivot, who now looked to be part of a long-term one-two-three punch down the middle in Buffalo with Dylan Cozens and Tage Thompson.

But the Sabres’ forwards failed to carry over their forward momentum into 2023-24. An injury-plagued campaign from Thompson and regression from key pieces like Cozens, Jeff Skinner and Alex Tuch canceled out their strongest goaltending performance in quite some time. Mittelstadt was one of the few immune to a step back in scoring, though. In fact, he was arguably Buffalo’s best center last season. He put up the best possession metrics of his career, controlling 51.9% of expected goals at even strength, and added 14 goals and 47 points through 62 games. He averaged 18:16 per game as well, a career-high.

That also meant Mittelstadt was setting himself up for a significant raise in the final season of a three-year, $2.5MM bridge deal signed with Buffalo in 2021. Cozens and Thompson had previously been signed to long-term deals by general manager Kevyn Adams, and the Sabres had plenty of prospects still to come down the middle. That made him expendable and thrust him into trade rumors ahead of this year’s deadline.

Colorado pounced, parting ways with promising but injury-plagued defenseman Bowen Byram to acquire Mittelstadt. The fit was clear. The Avs have had a gaping hole at the second-line center position since Nazem Kadri left for the Flames in free agency in 2022, one of the biggest factors preventing them from repeating as Stanley Cup champions. J.T. Compher tried admirably to shoulder those minutes after Kadri’s departure, but, like Kadri, he converted his breakout year into a richer deal in free agency elsewhere.

Ross Colton and Ryan Johansen also tried and failed to be effective as stopgap solutions behind Colorado’s primary option behind Nathan MacKinnon down the middle. The Avs were especially banking on Johansen, who they acquired from the Predators at a half-reduced $4MM cap hit over the summer, to be Compher’s replacement. But after the veteran struggled to produce with only 23 points in 63 games, Avs general manager Chris MacFarland had to make a move.

He found a willing partner in Adams, swapping Byram for Mittelstadt in an increasingly rare one-for-one deal. It immediately paid dividends. It took a little while for Mittelstadt to adjust to Denver, but he didn’t look out of place and added four goals and six assists for 10 points in 18 games to close out the season in an Avalanche uniform.

The playoffs saw Mittelstadt fully arrive, though. In his first-ever postseason showing, Mittelstadt flourished offensively with three goals and nine points in 11 games, getting 24 shots on goal and averaging 17:25 per game. The Avs had strong shot attempt numbers with Mitteltsadt on the ice at even strength in both the regular season and playoffs, signaling he has the two-way competency necessary for a top-six pivot on a contending roster.

Now, Mittelstadt will hold that second-line center role in Colorado through at least the 2026-27 season. It comes in just around market value, too. Evolving Hockey projected a three-year scenario as the most likely deal for Mittelstadt this summer at a cap hit of $5.8MM, $500K richer per season than what he’s ended up signing for.

With Mittelstadt locked up, the Avs have $10.5MM in projected cap space remaining with a roster size of 15, per CapFriendly. That figure includes the cap hit of injured captain Gabriel Landeskog, who’s expected to return next year after missing two seasons recovering from multiple knee surgeries. However, it doesn’t account for the $6.125MM cap hit of winger Valeri Nichushkin, who will begin the season on the non-roster list while he remains in Stage 3 of the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program. He’ll be unavailable for at least a month as he serves a six-month suspension assessed in May. Colorado still has a handful of notable pending UFAs in Jonathan Drouin, Yakov Trenin and Sean Walker.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Senators Sign Wyatt Bongiovanni To One-Year Extension

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The Ottawa Senators have signed centerman Wyatt Bongiovanni to a one-year, two-way contract extension (Twitter link). The deal will carry a league-minimum NHL salary of $775K and an AHL salary of $92.5K.

Ottawa acquired Bongiovanni ahead of the 2024 Trade Deadline, sending future considerations back to the Winnipeg Jets. He now earns a new deal after playing through a two-year, $1.6MM entry-level contract signed with the Jets in 2022 – a deal Bongiovanni earned after signing an amateur try-out with the AHL’s Manitoba Moose, joining the team as an undrafted free agent.

Bongiovanni got hot after his move to the Senators organization, recording eight goals and 10 points in 14 regular season games with the Belleville Senators, then adding four points in seven postseson appearances. The scoring brought his season totals up to 25 points in 48 games, a new career-high for the 24-year-old forward. With this season, Bongiovanni brought his AHL career totals up to 43 points across 107 games.

This deal likely doesn’t push Bongiovanni up Ottawa’s depth chart, though it will give him a full season to solidify his prominent role in Belleville. After a meager start to his career in Manitoba, the former Quinnipiac standout seems to be in a good position to push into the AHL top-six. Should his strong scoring continues, Bongiovanni’s new contract will make him eligible for an NHL call-up.

Senators Hoping To Extend Ullmark, Not Done Making Moves

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Ottawa Senators general manager Steve Staios went on Ottawa radio show TSN 1200 on Tuesday morning to discuss the aftermath of his first big move with the team – the acquisition of former Vezina Trophy winner Linus Ullmark from the Boston Bruins. The Senators gave up this year’s 25th-overall pick and players Joonas Korprisalo and Mark Kastelic for Ullmark, and don’t plan on letting their new star walk soon – with Staios sharing the team is already focused on an extension, captured by Sportsnet’s Wayne Scanlan (Twitter link). Staios added that an extension is all part of the process and thus may not come quickly, though it is a priority.

Ullmark will begin the final year of a four-year, $20MM contract signed with the Bruins in 2021. He’s emerged as a star goaltender on the deal, so far recording 88 wins and a collective .924 save percentage in 130 games on the contract. That stat line includes his Vezina-winning performance in 2023, when Ullmark posted 40 wins and a .938 save percentage in 49 games. The dazzling year not only earned him the Vezina – and he and Jeremy Swayman the William Jennings Trophy – but also ranked Ullmark tenth in Hart Trophy voting.

The 2022-23 season elevated Ullmark into the conversation with goaltenders like Igor Shesterkin and Andrei Vasilevskiy. Naturally, it took a significant amount of time for the Senators to work out a deal for that caliber of player, with Ullmark trade-talks starting at the 2024 Trade Deadline, shares Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia Hockey (Twitter link). Ullmark was a very popular name at the Deadline, using his no-movement clause to reject a move to the Los Angeles Kings and even ending up in discussions of a trade to the Carolina Hurricanes. Boston wasn’t able to find a move that worked, though, and now settles for what many argue is a meager return from the aggressive Senators.

Per Staios, that aggression on the market isn’t set to end any time soon. The team will continue to look at all of their trade options leading up to the draft, including continuing to shop around the seventh-overall pick, shares Scanlan (Twitter link). Ottawa is also poised to test the free agent market after July 1st, with Staios sharing that the team is looking to add pieces to build around their strong core (Twitter link). Staios didn’t specify who these core pieces were, though he did express a lot of hope in their ability to take the next step under new head coach Travis Green. Ottawa has each of Tim Stutzle, Brady Tkachuk, Drake Batherson, Jake Sanderson, and Thomas Chabot signed through at least the next three seasons. With extensions to Ullmark and Shane Pinto, the Senators would solidify a young cohort of talent that stretches through the bottom of their lineup.

Staios’ faith in his lineup was apparent through his interview, with the rookie GM even heaping praise onto the depth of his coaching staff, which features Daniel Alfredsson, Mike Yeo, Nolan Baumgartner, and Ben Sexton behind Green. The Senators are entering the summer with a measly $11.3MM in cap space – and will need to be smart spenders as they prepare for a hefty Ullmark extension. But it seems the eagerness to build a contender is there – giving Senators fans plenty to be excited about after a year of major turnover.

Full 2024 NHL Draft Order

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Updated 6/28/24. Originally published 6/7/24.

With the draft lottery behind us (spoiler alert: there were no changes) and all but the most important playoff series decided, the final order for the 2024 NHL Draft has come into clear view.

We’ll likely see some of these picks change hands on June 28 or 29 or in the days before the draft. We’ll be sure to update the list below if and when picks are traded.

Here’s the full 2024 NHL draft order:

First Round

1. San Jose Sharks
2. Chicago Blackhawks
3. Anaheim Ducks
4. Columbus Blue Jackets
5. Montreal Canadiens
6. Utah Hockey Club
7. Ottawa Senators
8. Seattle Kraken
9. Calgary Flames
10. New Jersey Devils
11. San Jose Sharks (from BUF)
12. Philadelphia Flyers
13. Minnesota Wild
14. Buffalo Sabres (from PIT)
15. Detroit Red Wings
16. St. Louis Blues
17. Washington Capitals
18. Chicago Blackhawks (from NYI)
19. Vegas Golden Knights
20. New York Islanders (from TBL)
21. Montreal Canadiens (from LAK)
22. Nashville Predators
23. Toronto Maple Leafs
24. Colorado Avalanche
25. Boston Bruins
26. Los Angeles Kings (from WPG)
27. Carolina Hurricanes
28. Calgary Flames (from VAN)
29. Dallas Stars
30. New York Rangers
31. Anaheim Ducks (from EDM)
32. Philadelphia Flyers (from FLA)

Second Round

33. San Jose Sharks
34. Chicago Blackhawks
35. Anaheim Ducks
36. Philadelphia Flyers (from CBJ) (Note: CBJ has until after the first round to decide whether they’re sending their 2024 or 2025 second-round pick to PHI)
37. Winnipeg Jets (from MTL)
38. Utah Hockey Club
39. Ottawa Senators
40. Seattle Kraken
41. Calgary Flames
42. Buffalo Sabres (from NJD)
43. Buffalo Sabres
44. Pittsburgh Penguins (from PHI)
45. Minnesota Wild
46. Pittsburgh Penguins
47. Detroit Red Wings
48. St. Louis Blues
49. Utah Hockey Club (from WSH)
50. Chicago Blackhawks (from NYI)
51. Philadelphia Flyers (Note: compensatory pick for not signing 2018 first-round pick Jay O’Brien)
52. Washington Capitals (from VGK)
53. San Jose Sharks (from TBL)
54. New York Islanders (from LAK)
55. Nashville Predators
56. St. Louis Blues (from TOR)
57. Los Angeles Kings (from COL)
58. Anaheim Ducks (from BOS)
59. Nashville Predators (from WPG)
60. Carolina Hurricanes
61. New York Islanders (from VAN)
62. Calgary Flames (from DAL)
63. Seattle Kraken (from NYR)
64. Edmonton Oilers
65. Utah Hockey Club (from FLA)

Third Round

66. Anaheim Ducks (from SJS)
67. Chicago Blackhawks
68. Anaheim Ducks
69. Columbus Blue Jackets
70. Montreal Canadiens
71. Utah Hockey Club
72. Chicago Blackhawks (from OTT)
73. Seattle Kraken
74. Calgary Flames
75. New Jersey Devils
76. Buffalo Sabres
77. Philadelphia Flyers
78. Montreal Canadiens (from MIN)
79. Anaheim Ducks (from PIT)
80. Detroit Red Wings
81. St. Louis Blues
82. Washington Capitals
83. Washington Capitals (from NYI)
84. Calgary Flames (from VGK)
85. San Jose Sharks (from TBL)
86. Columbus Blue Jackets (from LAK)
87. Nashville Predators
88. Seattle Kraken (from TOR)
89. Utah Hockey Club (from COL)
90. Washington Capitals (from BOS)
91. New Jersey Devils (from WPG)
92. Carolina Hurricanes
93. Vancouver Canucks
94. Nashville Predators (from DAL)
95. St. Louis Blues (from NYR)
96. Utah Hockey Club (from EDM)
97. Florida Panthers

Fourth Round

98. Utah Hockey Club (from SJS)
99. Nashville Predators (from CHI)
100. Anaheim Ducks
101. Columbus Blue Jackets
102. Montreal Canadiens
103. Utah Hockey Club
104. Ottawa Senators
105. Seattle Kraken
106. Calgary Flames
107. Calgary Flames (from NJD)
108. Buffalo Sabres
109. Buffalo Sabres (from PHI)
110. Minnesota Wild
111. Pittsburgh Penguins
112. Ottawa Senators (from DET)
113. St. Louis Blues
114. Washington Capitals
115. New York Islanders
116. San Jose Sharks (from VGK)
117. Ottawa Senators (from TBL)
118. Los Angeles Kings
119. Nashville Predators
120. Toronto Maple Leafs
121. Colorado Avalanche
122. Boston Bruins
123. Winnipeg Jets
124. Carolina Hurricanes
125. Vancouver Canucks
126. Detroit Red Wings (from DAL)
127. New York Rangers
128. Tampa Bay Lightning (from EDM)
129. Florida Panthers

Fifth Round

130. Montreal Canadiens (from SJS)
131. San Jose Sharks (from CHI)
132. Colorado Avalanche (from ANA)
133. Columbus Blue Jackets
134. Montreal Canadiens
135. Utah Hockey Club
136. Ottawa Senators
137. Colorado Avalanche (from SEA)
138. Chicago Blackhawks (from CGY)
139. New Jersey Devils
140. Minnesota Wild (from BUF)
141. Florida Panthers (from PHI)
142. Minnesota Wild
143. San Jose Sharks (from PIT)
144. Detroit Red Wings
145. St. Louis Blues
146. Washington Capitals
147. New York Islanders
148. Philadelphia Flyers (from VGK)
149. Tampa Bay Lightning
150. Philadelphia Flyers (from LAK)
151. Toronto Maple Leafs (from NSH)
152. Toronto Maple Leafs
153. New Jersey Devils (from COL)
154. Boston Bruins
155. Winnipeg Jets
156. Carolina Hurricanes
157. Toronto Maple Leafs (from VAN)
158. Dallas Stars
159. New York Rangers
160. Edmonton Oilers
161. Buffalo Sabres (from FLA)

Sixth Round

162. Vancouver Canucks (from SJS)
163. Chicago Blackhawks
164. Anaheim Ducks
165. Columbus Blue Jackets
166. Montreal Canadiens
167. Utah Hockey Club
168. Carolina Hurricanes (from OTT)
169. Seattle Kraken
170. Calgary Flames
171. New Jersey Devils
172. Buffalo Sabres
173. Philadelphia Flyers
174. Minnesota Wild
175. Pittsburgh Penguins
176. Detroit Red Wings
177. Philadelphia Flyers (from STL)
178. Washington Capitals
179. New York Islanders
180. Vegas Golden Knights
181. Tampa Bay Lightning
182. Los Angeles Kings
183. Edmonton Oilers (from NSH)
184. Carolina Hurricanes (from TOR)
185. Colorado Avalanche
186. Boston Bruins
187. Winnipeg Jets
188. Carolina Hurricanes
189. Vancouver Canucks
190. Utah Hockey Club (from DAL)
191. New York Rangers
192. Edmonton Oilers
193. Florida Panthers

Seventh Round

194. San Jose Sharks
195. Tampa Bay Lightning (from CHI)
196. Edmonton Oilers (from ANA)
197. Vegas Golden Knights (from CBJ)
198. Los Angeles Kings (from MTL)
199. Utah Hockey Club
200. Toronto Maple Leafs (from OTT)
201. Seattle Kraken
202. Seattle Kraken (from CGY)
203. Detroit Red Wings (from NJD)
204. Buffalo Sabres
205. Philadelphia Flyers
206. Tampa Bay Lightning (from MIN)
207. Pittsburgh Penguins
208. Detroit Red Wings
209. St. Louis Blues
210. Montreal Canadiens (from WSH)
211. St. Louis Blues (from NYI)
212. Vegas Golden Knights
213. Nashville Predators (from TBL)
214. Los Angeles Kings
215. Colorado Avalanche (from NSH)
216. Toronto Maple Leafs
217. Colorado Avalanche
218. Edmonton Oilers (from BOS)
219. Winnipeg Jets
220. Carolina Hurricanes
221. Vancouver Canucks
222. Dallas Stars
223. Pittsburgh Penguins (from NYR)
224. Montreal Canadiens (from EDM)
225. Florida Panthers

Panthers Win Stanley Cup, Connor McDavid Wins Conn Smythe

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The Florida Panthers are your 2024 Stanley Cup champions, recovering from blowing a 3-0 series lead by taking Game 7 at home by a score of 2-1. The Conn Smythe Trophy for playoff MVP is going to a skater from the losing club for the second time in NHL history, though. Oilers superstar Connor McDavid receives the honor after recording a postseason-leading 34 assists and 42 points in just 24 games, the former of which is an all-time record.

Among the notables for Florida is captain Aleksander Barkov becoming the first Finn to lead his team to a Stanley Cup. Head coach Paul Maurice, who’s second all-time in games coached with 1,848, also wins for the first time.

The Cup-winning goal came off the stick of Sam Reinhart, who beat Oilers netminder Stuart Skinner for the go-ahead goal with 4:51 left in the second period. He has less than a week to negotiate a contract extension with the Panthers to avoid hitting the open market as the top right wing available next Monday.

Reinhart finishes the postseason second on Florida in goals with 10, one behind Carter Verhaeghe’s 11. He netted the game-opening goal after going scoreless in Games 2 through 6.

While he lost out to McDavid for the Conn Smythe, Panthers star netminder Sergei Bobrovsky isn’t complaining about his first Cup win, either. The two-time Vezina Trophy winner is up for the award again this year, and with a championship ring, he’s all but solidified his candidacy for the Hockey Hall of Fame.

With the Cup Final over, attention now turns toward an incredibly busy opening to the offseason. The first buyout window opens Wednesday, the NHL Awards are Thursday night, the 2024 NHL Draft is Friday and Saturday, and the qualifying offer deadline is Sunday. That’s a major calendar event for five days in a row before the opening of free agency and the technical start of the new league year on Monday, July 1.

PHR Mailbag: Goalies, Mock Draft, Flyers, Avalanche, Devils, Islanders, NHL-CHL Rule, Rentals

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Topics in this edition of the PHR Mailbag include the goaltending market, questions about Colorado’s upcoming offseason, and much more.  If your question doesn’t appear here, check back in our previous two mailbag columns.

@3rdWorldGhost: Where do these goalies end up? – Markstrom, Saros, Gibson, Korpisalo, Nedeljkovic, Samsonov, Ullmark, and what other goalies do you see moving?

What UFAs end up in Chicago?
What’s your top 10 mock draft?
Do the Panthers blow it up if they win?

There’s a lot to dig into here so these will be pretty quick answers.  We now know that Jacob Markstrom will be with New Jersey and Alex Nedeljkovic is staying in Pittsburgh.  We also now know Joonas Korpisalo and Linus Ullmark have traded places. As for the other goalies, I’m leaning toward Juuse Saros staying in Nashville while John Gibson landing in Toronto is something I’ve had kicking around for a bit, assuming they’re not on his no-trade list and Anaheim holds back some salary.  My original landing spot for Ilya Samsonov went out the window with the goalie movement this week so let’s go with him landing in Chicago.  There are other goalies who will move, largely of the backup variety, headlined by Laurent Brossoit and Alex Stalock.  Guessing where they’ll land on that particular carousel is nothing short of a dart throw, however.

Looking back at my picks for our upcoming UFA rankings (which will require some adjustments for that goalie movement), I had them picked for Jake Guentzel, Alexander Wennberg, Daniel Sprong, and Matt Grzelcyk plus Samsonov now.  Note that we make picks independently of each other knowing that one signing often blocks others on that team so don’t interpret that as me picking all of them, they’re all individual one-off predictions.  (Keep this in mind when the full predictions come out in the coming days.)

Guentzel is the headliner while the others I picked as short-term bridge players to give their prospects some time to develop.  I don’t think they’ll land all of those players but if they got Guentzel plus a floor-raising veteran or two, that wouldn’t be a bad trip through free agency.  I wouldn’t be shocked if there’s some activity on the trade front as well where they take on a short-term contract as they’ve done lately.

As for a mock draft, here are my predictions as things currently stand:

1) SJ – F Macklin Celebrini
2) CHI – D Artyom Levshunov
3) ANA – D Anton Silayev
4) CBJ – F Ivan Demidov
5) MTL – F Cayden Lindstrom
6) UTA – D Zeev Buium
7) OTT – F Bennett Sennecke
8) SEA – D Sam Dickinson
9) CGY – D Carter Yakemchuk
10) NJ – F Tij Iginla

Meanwhile, we released our Round One Mock Draft earlier today so be sure to check that out if you haven’t already done so.

I don’t see a full-scale blow-up coming from Florida.  Obviously, they’re not going to be able to afford to keep all of their pending free agents so they will probably take a small step back from that.  But even if that happens, they should still be viewed as a contender.  If you have a shot at contending, you probably won’t be blowing things up.  Besides, they don’t have control of their next two first-round picks so if they were going to take a step back, they wouldn’t even be able to benefit from it in the form of adding high-end prospects.  It’s full steam ahead for them as a result.

Emoney123: How would you rate the Flyers’ rebuild? Besides the hype of Michkov, how soon might Gendron, Bonk, Barkey, Tuomaala, Rizzo, and McDonald play in the NHL? How would you rate the farm system overall? Thanks!

I think they’re off to a good start to their rebuild but there is still some work to be done.  If it’s a larger-scale teardown which I think is what they were aiming for at least, they don’t have enough pieces yet.  I’m answering out of order but I think this is a mid-pack system at the moment.  If you’re planning to exit a rebuild, you don’t want a mid-pack system to start from; obviously, you want to be at least somewhere in the top ten.

Of the players you listed, the only ones that might be close to seeing NHL action is Massimo Rizzo.  A good showing to start next season with Lehigh Valley would get him on the recall radar.  Samu Tuomaala could also get into that mix as well.  I’m not convinced Alexis Gendron will be an NHL regular; I need to see some sustained pro success to show that he’s not just a high-end junior scorer.  Denver Barkey has another year of major junior left and, like Gendron, will probably need time to adjust in the minors so he’s not on the short-term horizon either.

On the back end, I like Oliver Bonk as an all-around dependable piece.  He may not be flashy but he will be effective.  But he has another OHL year left and probably some time in the minors after that; many teams don’t bring blueliners straight to the NHL from junior.  As for Hunter McDonald, I feel like he’s more of an organizational filler prospect than someone they should be counting on for meaningful NHL contributions.  He can certainly change that assessment with a good showing for a couple of years in the minors but at a minimum, he’s probably not a short-term option.

Philadelphia needs more high-end prospects and frankly, more depth before emerging from this rebuild.  They’re off to a good start but that’s all it is, a start.

@iwtfwc: How do things play out for the @Avalanche this offseason?

– Landeskog? (I’m not confident)
– Nichushkin? (Seems they’re stuck unless he fails Stage 3)
– Drouin contact?
– Mittelstadt contract?
– Roster fill out?
– Chances of adding Nedeljkovic?

I’m not overly confident either that Gabriel Landeskog will be able to have any sort of successful extended comeback.  However, I do think he’s going to give it an honest try and will start the season with the Avs.  That will limit them this summer but if he shuts it down midseason, they’ll have plenty of in-year flexibility.  I agree on Valeri Nichushkin, their hands are tied right now.  He needs to get through the third stage of the program and then they can assess things from there.  But they basically have to reserve space to activate him when he’s cleared.

If Jonathan Drouin comes back, it might be after free agency starts.  I don’t think the Avalanche are willing to get to his number at this point, barring a cap-clearing move needing to be made first.  If they were ready and able to make a deal, it’d be done already.  But if Drouin’s market isn’t the strongest (and with how things went in Montreal, it might not be as robust as his camp hopes), I could see them circling back.  I had him at three years at $4.375MM per season in our free agent predictions and they might be able to afford that.

I talked a lot about Casey Mittelstadt in Colorado’s offseason checklist the other day so I won’t get into that in much detail again here.  I can’t see them affording a long-term deal so something in the four-to-six-year range around $5.5MM or so is where I see that falling.  In terms of filling out their roster, that was also a topic in their checklist.  It’s going to be a bunch of minimum-salary signings or close to it.  Your guess is as good as mine as to which players will accept it a few hours into free agency.

I don’t see Colorado adding another goalie for the big club this summer (obviously not Nedeljkovic now).  Justus Annunen did quite well in limited duty last year and has earned a longer look behind Alexandar Georgiev.  Perhaps more importantly, he’s slotted in at less than $840K for the next two years so it’s his spot to lose.  I do expect a signing for the Eagles, however.

RipperMagoo: Are the Devils better or worse after?

Sign Anthony Stolarz: three years, $8.25MM @ AAV $2.75MMl
Sign Nikita Zadorov: five years, $30MM @ AAV $6MM
Sign Dakota Joshua: three years, $9MM @ AAV $3MM
Trade Holtz and Bahl to SEA for Adam Larsson
Draft Cole Eiserman @ 10th

Before even looking at the options, the answer is yes.  Are the Devils better…yes.  If they did nothing, they’d be better than they were in 2023-24 as long as they don’t get slammed by injuries again.  We know they’ve addressed the goalie situation so let’s skip that one but here are some thoughts on the others.

Zadorov: I don’t agree with him being a $6MM player but it feels like someone’s going to give it to him.  Here’s the thing, how much do they want to spend on the back end?  They’re at nearly $20MM now which is fine but Simon Nemec and Luke Hughes are a year away from getting a lot more expensive.  If they get big second contracts and you add Zadorov, now we’re talking $30MM-plus and not by a little bit.  That might be too much spending on the blueline.  If they go for a defenseman this summer, I think it’ll be someone on a short-term contract and it might be by trade over free agency.

Larsson: I’m going out of order here but the two are related.  At least this is a short-term contract which better fits their salary structure but giving up Alexander Holtz and let’s say another young roster player (since Kevin Bahl is gone now) for a one-year rental to fill a fourth defenseman role seems steep.  And if you’re acquiring him with the idea of extending him, now you have three right-shot blueliners making at least $4.4MM for 2025-26 with Nemec still to sign.  Again, this feels like too much money on the back end.

Joshua: I think they’d happily take him at that price tag but I have a hunch he’s getting a bit more than that and possibly another year.  Think four years, $14MM in total.

Eiserman: With how his stock has slipped, I’m not sure he’d be their choice at 10 but it wouldn’t be a bad one.  Especially if Holtz isn’t in the long-term plans, another scoring winger isn’t a bad thing to have.

New Jersey has enough money to try to take a big swing this summer.  I think they’ll try to land a big fish up front and then add a veteran blueliner or two on short-term deals, giving them some shorter-term stability while leaving spots and salary slots for Nemec and Hughes to take on bigger roles a year later.

DevilShark: Which team that made the playoffs this year is in for the biggest hurt over the next 10 years when you look at a combo of current roster, prospect pool, and draft pick stock?

I’ll pick the Islanders here.  In an effort to hang around the playoff picture every year, they haven’t made many moves to add to their pick and prospect cupboards and unfortunately for them, they haven’t had much to show for it aside from their run in 2021.

If you look at their current roster, they’re a mid-pack team at best on paper.  They don’t have enough cap space to go after an impact player or two that could give them the boost they need.  As it is, they might have to buy someone out or pay an asset to get out of an undesirable contract for the second year in a row.  That’s not good.

Prospect-wise, they have one of the weakest systems in the NHL.  That’s a by-product of moving first-round picks (their last one was back in 2019, used on Simon Holmstrom) and some of their better prospects for win-now options.  Granted, moving some of those pieces helped them land Bo Horvat on a contract GM Lou Lamoriello wasn’t a fan of which isn’t nothing but sacrificing the future for the present will eventually catch up with teams.  Meanwhile, they don’t have their own first three picks in the upcoming draft (although they do have some selections from other teams at least).

I don’t see a path for them to drastically improve, nor do I see one that sees them bottom out.  The floor of their team is good but the ceiling isn’t much better.  At some point, they’re going to have to take some steps back to move more steps forward but I don’t see Lamoriello pivoting to that approach anytime soon.

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West Notes: Saros, Sharks, Roadrunners

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The Predators are a franchise that rarely hands out trade protection when they sign contracts, even to some of their longer-term veterans.  However, in an appearance on 102.5 The Game today, GM Barry Trotz acknowledged that if he’s able to agree to terms on a long-term extension with goaltender Juuse Saros, he would have to give out some sort of trade protection though it would have to have some sort of limit to it.  Saros will enter the final year of his contract in July making him extension-eligible and Trotz hasn’t hidden his desire to lock up the netminder.  However, Saros is well-positioned for a significant raise on his current $5MM price tag and could push past $8MM on a new agreement.  If a deal is reached, Saros would become just the third Nashville player with trade protection, joining captain Roman Josi and winger Filip Forsberg.

Elsewhere in the West:

  • During his pre-draft press conference today, Sharks GM Mike Grier told reporters including Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now (Twitter link) that center Logan Couture is working out and hopes to get back to skating next month. The 35-year-old was limited to just six games this season due to osteitis pubis; he twice tried to come back from it but had to shut those efforts down due to setbacks.  Couture has three years left on his contract which carries an $8MM cap charge.
  • Still with the Sharks, they’re expected to be more aggressive in terms of adding some veterans this summer, already picking up Barclay Goodrow and Ty Dellandrea up front. Grier noted (per Peng) that while they could look to add free agents, their internal cap on how long they want to sign a player for would be four years.  We’ve seen plenty of speculation that there may be teams willing to offer a higher AAV in exchange for a shorter-term deal; San Jose would be a potentially viable candidate to offer a contract or two like that.
  • Following the news that the land auction the Coyotes are hoping to win to get an NHL team back was canceled due to a lack of a proper zoning permit, the six games that AHL Tucson was set to play at Mullet Arena have now been moved back to Tucson, per a team announcement. The Roadrunners will serve as Utah’s primary affiliate next season.

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