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Predators’ Decision To Extend Juuse Saros Was An Easy One

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The Nashville Predators were doomed for a goalie logjam the moment they selected Yaroslav Askarov in the first round of the 2020 NHL Draft. That’s since come to fruition, with Askarov outgrowing his box and demanding a trade to the San Jose Sharks, following Nashville’s long-term signing of starter Juuse Saros. Predators general manager Barry Trotz spoke intimately about the situation with The Athletic’s Michael Russo – sharing that, at the end of the day, Nashville couldn’t deny Saros’ winning precedent. Trotz said, “We went on a really incredible [16-0-2 run in March] and all of a sudden, everything came together and we were a good team… I saw that our older players — Saros, the Josis, Forsbergs and everybody — that they got themselves to a really high level. And I said, ‘If we’re going to have a little bit of a window, elite goalies don’t grow on trees.'”

That was the mindset that drove Nashville to sign Saros the day he became eligible for an extension. Trotz said that it was an easy decision for both sides, adding that Saros had always wanted to be a Predator, and carries the exact mindset the organization looks for. The two sides landed on an eight-year, $61.9MM extension with an annual cap hit of $7.74MM, a nod to Saros’ jersey number.

On the surface, it’s hard to say Nashville made the wrong choice. Saros has emerged as a premier NHL starter after honing his skills through four seasons as the backup to franchise legend Pekka Rinne. The gradual climb paid off when Saros took on the starting role in the 2020-21 season and posted a .927 save percentage in 36 games – good for fourth-highest in the league. He’s stayed at that level ever since, appearing in a league-high 64 games this past season and maintaining a .906 save percentage. That statline brings Saros’ totals since 2020 up to 231 appearances and a cumulative .916 save percentage – good for second and seventh in the league respectively.

But while Saros has settled into Nashville’s starting role, Askarov has emerged as potentially the best goalie prospect in the league. That’s certainly the torch he was handed when Nashville selected him 11th-overall, making him the highest-drafted goalie since Jack Campbell in 2010, and Jonathan Bernier in 2007 before him. Askarov earned that acclaim with a dazzling start to his pro career, posting a .920 save percentage in 18 VHL games during his draft season. He carried that strong play through the next two seasons, but opted to move to America in 2022-23 after struggling to earn a spot on the KHL roster. He immediately earned the AHL starting role and posted a .911 through 48 games as a rookie – stout numbers for a goaltender adjusting to a smaller rink. Askarov matched that save percentage in 44 games this past season, and even managed 64 saves on 70 shots (a .914 save percentage) through his first three NHL games.

Trotz acknowledged that Askarov has developed into a special talent, telling Russo, “Asky is going to be an excellent goaltender because he’s got unbelievable athletic skills and he’s got a very confident personality — all that.” He continued by acknowledging the steep mental fortitude needed to succeed at the NHL level, stating that Askarov – still just 22 years old – isn’t there just yet. Trotz cited his partnership with goalie coach Mitch Korn – formed over their 15 years coaching together in Nashville – as a key piece of his decision-making. Korn was reportedly prepared to work intimately with Askarov this season, should he have made the NHL out of camp, with an emphasis on building him into a starting goalie.

But the star Russian instead opted to find opportunity where it lay, and is now a favorite to take the reins of a Sharks team that bombarded their goaltenders last season. And as difficult of a decision as it was to let Askarov go, Trotz isn’t worried about Nashville’s long-term success. He shared that expectations are high after the additions of Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, and Brady Skjei this summer – but refrained from jinxing the team too much, adding, “It’s fantasy hockey until we become a good team… right now we’re just excited that Saros will be here for a long time to come.”

The Predators will move forward with Saros maintaining his lion’s share of the team’s starts, while Scott Wedgewood, Magnus Chrona, and Matthew Murray all compete in a now-open competition to be the team’s backup.

Senators Sign Nick Cousins

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3:30 P.M.: Ottawa has made the one-year signing of Cousins official.

2:30 P.M.: The Senators are signing free agent forward Nick Cousins to a one-year deal worth $800K, Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reports.

Cousins, 31, is a 10-year NHL veteran and reached UFA status this summer after completing a two-year, $2.2MM deal he signed with the Panthers in 2022. He played in 33 of Florida’s 45 playoff games over the last two years as they captured the Eastern Conference championship in 2023 before winning the Stanley Cup this year for the first time in franchise history. This was Cousins’ fifth go-around on the UFA market, going unqualified three times earlier in his career.

Overall, the forward has appeared in 592 regular-season games with Philadelphia, Arizona, Montreal, Vegas, Nashville, and Florida, averaging 10 goals, 16 assists, 26 points, and 127 shots on goal per 82 games while seeing 12:25 on the ice per contest. Cousins, who can play both center and left wing, fell out of the Panthers’ regular lineup last postseason and only appeared in 12 of 24 games, posting a lone assist and a -1 rating with 20 PIMs while averaging 8:42 per game.

Known mainly as a physical presence with some offensive upside, Cousins recorded 16 goals and 42 points in 148 regular-season games during his two years with the Panthers. His 130 hits in 69 games last season were a career-high, finishing sixth on the club. After over six weeks into free agency without landing a deal, Cousins changed his representation earlier this month. He’s now represented by Newport’s Craig Oster, who also landed Noah Gregor a one-year, $850K deal with the Sens earlier in free agency.

The Sens have $1.1MM in projected cap space with an open roster spot after the signing, per PuckPedia. With no notable RFAs needing new deals, they’re in an excellent place to add another depth piece on the open market before training camp.

With Ottawa’s top nine largely set after the signings of Michael Amadio and David Perron in July, Cousins will compete for fourth-line duties with Gregor, Angus Crookshank and Zack MacEwen as his principal competition. Other depth pieces like Matthew Highmore and Zack Ostapchuk are likely ticketed for AHL Belleville to begin the season but will likely be given a long look in camp.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Atlantic Notes: Swayman, Stützle, LeBreton Flats, Leenders

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Speculation floating around that Bruins RFA netminder Jeremy Swayman wants a $10MM average annual value on his next deal is likely unfounded, Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff said on SN960 The FAN’s Big Show on Wednesday.

Swayman’s camp is holding out for an AAV in the $8.5MM range on a long-term deal, while the Bruins are holding firm just north of $6MM per season, per Seravalli. He adds there hasn’t been much progress toward a resolution since those numbers were first exchanged earlier this summer.

“I think that’s a pretty sizeable gap that hasn’t been bridged yet and with the trade of Linus Ullmark, it’s obvious that Swayman is such a big part of what the Bruins’ future looks like and the stability of their core because the goaltending has been the backbone of that team,” Seravalli said. “But if you have a philosophical difference on what you think your goaltender should make, and if you thought that with the numbers he’s posted that he was going to be in that range, I can understand why there’s been a disconnect there.”

Swayman, 26 in November, posted a .916 SV%, 2.53 GAA, and three shutouts with a 25-10-8 record last season in 44 appearances (43 starts).

Here’s more from the Atlantic:

  • Senators star center Tim Stützle has changed agents, per PuckPedia. After signing his eight-year, $66.8MM extension in 2022 under Octagon’s Ben Hankinson, he’ll now be represented by longtime NHLer Claude Lemieux of 4sports Hockey. He becomes Lemieux’s second client on the Sens, joining goaltender Mads Søgaard. Lemieux’s notable body of work includes Timo Meier’s eight-year, $70.4MM deal with the Devils, Hampus Lindholm’s eight-year, $52MM deal in Boston, and Joel Eriksson Ek’s eight-year, $42MM deal with the Wild.
  • Still with Ottawa, the franchise is still in negotiations with the National Capital Commission on a memorandum of understanding regarding their plan to build a new arena in the LeBreton Flats neighborhood downtown, team president Cyril Leeder said (via Wayne Scanlan of Sportsnet). They’ve got less than a month to complete them with their temporary agreement with the city expiring on Sep. 20. Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun said in April that public parking was the largest concern with the current plan.
  • Sabres goaltending prospect Ryerson Leenders will have a new home for junior hockey this season. The Ontario Hockey League’s Brantford Bulldogs acquired him from the Brampton Steelheads today for a whopping eight draft picks, per a team announcement. Buffalo selected Leenders, 18, with the 219th overall pick in this summer’s draft. He had a .909 SV% in 46 games for the Steelheads last season, the best in the league.

Maple Leafs Name Steve Sullivan AHL Assistant Coach

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The Maple Leafs have hired NHL veteran Steve Sullivan as an assistant coach for their AHL affiliate, the Toronto Marlies, per a team announcement.

Sullivan, 50, already has a bit of a front-office track record. Soon after finishing his playing career in 2013, Sullivan joined the Coyotes as a development coach. By 2016, he’d been named their director of player development, and one year later, he was promoted to assistant general manager.

Sullivan remained in the role, making him GM of Arizona’s AHL affiliate, the Tucson Roadrunners, through Feb. 2021, when his contract was terminated. He briefly served as the Coyotes’ interim GM in 2020 after John Chayka abruptly resigned.

Since then, Sullivan has stayed in the Phoenix area, serving in coaching roles with the U-16 and U-18 Jr. Coyotes programs for the past four years. But today’s news marks Sullivan’s first time behind a bench at the professional level.

Sullivan was a unicorn as a player, succeeding in the dead puck era as a high-end two-way winger despite being just 5’9″ and 165 lbs. He played 1,011 regular-season games over 16 NHL seasons for the Predators, Blackhawks, Maple Leafs, Devils, Penguins, and Coyotes, scoring 290 goals and 457 assists for 747 points.

Toronto acquired Sullivan in a swap with New Jersey in 1997 – he was part of the return that sent franchise cornerstone Doug Gilmour south of the border. He was pretty effective in a middle-six role with the Leafs, posting 85 points in 154 games, but inexplicably ended up on waivers near the beginning of the 1999-00 campaign. He was claimed by the Blackhawks, where he emerged as a genuine first-line threat and set career-highs in goals (34) and points (75) the following year.

Sullivan joins a Marlies coaching staff headed by John Gruden, who’s entering his second year in the role. Behind the bench, they’re joined by assistant Michael Dyck, goalie coach Hannu Toivonen and video coach Troy Paquette. Gruden guided the Marlies to a 34-26-12 record last season, finishing fifth in the North Division and bowing out in the first round of the Calder Cup Playoffs.

Maple Leafs Linked To Max Pacioretty

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The Maple Leafs are among the teams in discussions to sign free-agent sniper Max Pacioretty, sources tell David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period. The two sides are working on a standard contract, not a professional tryout, per Pagnotta.

A 2007 first-round pick and former captain of the rival Canadiens, the 35-year-old American has played just 91 games over the past three seasons due to a laundry list of injuries, but mainly due to two Achilles tendon tears sustained during the 2022-23 league year. Pacioretty has bounced around quite a bit since being traded to the Golden Knights by Montreal in 2018, playing four seasons in Nevada before being dealt to the Hurricanes for his ill-fated 2022-23 campaign. He became a free agent last summer and inked a one-year deal with the Capitals.

While Pacioretty didn’t debut with Washington until January, still recovering from his second Achilles injury, he managed to stay healthy upon his return. However, his previous 30-goal form had vanished, limited to four goals and 19 assists for 23 points in 47 games. It wasn’t awful production overall for middle-six minutes, though, and his atrocious 4.2% shooting percentage is due for positive regression this season.

Pacioretty was a money-in-the-bank scorer during his prime in Montreal, averaging 30 goals and 59 points over an 82-game season there while earning Selke Trophy votes on two occasions (2015, 2016). He was even better in Vegas, averaging 36 goals and 71 points per 82 games, but injuries and COVID limited him to 224 games over his four-season run with the Knights.

His decent rebound in Washington was enough to generate interest in his services at the trade deadline, but he had a no-trade clause in his pact with the Capitals that he opted not to waive. The Rangers were one of the teams linked to him at the time, but it’s unclear if they’re one of the teams competing with Toronto to land him now.

With Jani Hakanpää expected not to sign and RFA forward Nicholas Robertson still hoping to have his signing rights traded, the Leafs confidently have $1.275MM in projected cap space with a roster size of 21, per PuckPedia. That should be enough to land Pacioretty, who’s eligible to structure his contract with performance bonuses to keep his initial cap hit low as a UFA over 35 years old.

Pacioretty could be a direct replacement for Robertson, who mainly operated as Toronto’s third-line left winger when in the lineup last season alongside Max Domi and Calle Järnkrok.

Checking In On Notable Remaining Unrestricted Free Agents

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It’s been pretty quiet on the UFA market for weeks now. All the names from our list of top 50 UFAs are signed and have been for quite some time. We’re starting to see names settle for professional tryout agreements, with Sammy Blais (Canucks), Tanner Pearson (Golden Knights) and Jakub Vrána (Capitals) some of the notable names to ink early PTOs. The last UFA signing was depth netminder Magnus Hellberg to the Stars over two weeks ago.

Winger Max Pacioretty is one of the top remaining names. He missed the cut for our top 50 after being limited to just four goals in 47 games with the Capitals last season, indicative of his largely forgettable stint in the nation’s capital. But before back-to-back Achilles tendon tears tarnished his career in 2022 and 2023, he was one of the league’s better snipers when healthy.

That pre-injury form is still helping out his market value a tad. He’ll likely be the next UFA domino to fall and won’t appear to need a PTO to land a deal for 2024-25, with Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reporting last week that Pacioretty was mulling offers from at least three teams. It’ll likely be a league-minimum salary with some potential performance bonuses for ’Patches,’ eligible for a 35+ contract.

Veteran forward James van Riemsdyk was a narrower miss on our top 50 list and led remaining UFAs in points per game last season with 0.54. He could be due for even more production this year after shooting a career-low 7.7% with the Bruins in 2023-24, still managing 11 goals and 38 points in 71 games in third-line minutes. If he shot at his 11.8% career average, JVR would have lit the lamp six more times for 17 goals.

Van Riemsdyk had only 29 points in 61 games with the Flyers the year before and settled for a one-year, $1MM pact in Boston. After a bit of a rebound year in Beantown, he’s likely looking for a small raise, but his search may be in vain this late in the summer.

The most appealing unsigned defenseman is likely Kevin Shattenkirk, JVR’s teammate with the Bruins last season. He’s no longer the fringe Norris contender and offensive force he was with the Blues in the mid-2010s. Still, he’s remained a pretty capable puck-mover for the Bruins, Ducks and Lightning the past few years and kept his head above water defensively in third-pairing minutes in Boston.

Here are some other UFAs who’ll likely generate interest from NHL teams before the season begins:

Goalies

Kevin Lankinen has been an extremely serviceable backup for Nashville the last two seasons, recording a .912 SV% in 43 games for the Predators. Martin Jones and Antti Raanta are veteran netminders with loads of NHL experience (466 and 277 NHL GP, respectively). However, Raanta’s usually solid tandem play plummeted to a horrific .872 SV% in 24 games last year with the Hurricanes, ending up on waivers and going unclaimed.

At this stage, Aaron Dell, Michael Hutchinson, Keith Kinkaid, and Dustin Tokarski are all AHL depth options. However, they could still land a two-way NHL deal as a mentor for an organization’s up-and-coming netminders and provide an experienced call-up option in a pinch.

Defensemen

The list of solid two-way defenders left on the board is slim. Teams still looking for defense help on the UFA market are likely doing so for a power-play or penalty-kill specialist. Calen Addison fits the bill of the former and has the highest upside of any signing. He’s still just 24 but hit the open market after being unqualified by the Sharks. He struggled to produce last season, limited to a goal and 17 points in 72 games, but he was effective on the Wild’s second PP unit the year before with 29 points in 62 games.

A team interested in adding some puck-moving/offensive help on the blue line might also take a look at Shattenkirk, Justin Schultz (0.43 career P/GP), Tyson Barrie (0.62 career P/GP), Tony DeAngelo (0.57 career P/GP), or John Klingberg (0.65 career P/GP).

Veteran blueliners Robert Bortuzzo and Jarred Tinordi can provide some literal punch as No. 6/7 defenders but don’t provide any offensive upside. The former went pointless in 27 games with the Blues and Islanders last season.

Teams prioritizing a locker-room presence will consider Mark Giordano, who turns 41 in October. Giordano was the oldest active player in the league last season with the Maple Leafs, but the historical offensive force had only nine points in 46 games while averaging 16:37 per game. However, He boasts nearly 1,150 games of experience and has served as a team captain for nine of his 18 NHL seasons.

Forwards

Teams have the most UFA options up front. 2018 sixth-overall pick Filip Zadina has recently seen his name pop up in headlines, first as a rumored PTO signing by the Sabres, but that quickly fell through. There appears to be interest from at least a few other teams in signing him to a standard deal. He’s still just 24 years old and has that top-10 pick pedigree, but he’s never been able to eclipse the 25-point mark despite being given brief opportunities in a top-six role in Detroit before landing with the Sharks last season.

Wingers dominate the available names, but teams looking for a depth forward who can take reps at center have some veteran options in Pierre-Édouard Bellemare, Nick Cousins, Sam Gagner, Tyler Johnson, and Chris Tierney.

Outside of the names already mentioned, some other decent bottom-six depth scorers available on the wing include Mike Hoffman, Kyle Okposo, Blake Wheeler, and Kailer Yamamoto.

Images courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Highest-Paid NHL Players By Team

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We listed the top 50 highest-paid NHL players on Wednesday for the 2024-25 season. That list is a good tool for pointing out what stars are actually getting paid and identifying some inefficient spending habits among the richer deals, but it didn’t include every team. Five clubs – the Ducks, Islanders, Flyers, Sharks, and Kraken – didn’t have anyone in that top 50, essentially a list of players making over $10MM in guaranteed salary this season.

Our list of the highest-paid players for 2024-25 is also limited in its long-term scope. Predators free-agent signing Brady Skjei, for example, cracked the top 50 and will earn eight figures this season. But he’s on a front-loaded contract and will fall off the list next year with a significant salary reduction coming in the second season of his fresh seven-year deal.

Today, we’re shifting our focus to the highest-paid players by team. This will allow us to check in on the clubs that weren’t represented on our initial list and identify some of the league’s most lucrative multiyear commitments – we’ve included each club’s highest-paid player for the current season (by 2024-25 total salary) and its highest-paid player in total (by total guaranteed base salary and signing bonuses still unpaid).

Anaheim Ducks

Boston Bruins

  • 2024-25: David Pastrňák ($13MM)
  • Total: David Pastrňák (seven years, $77MM)

Buffalo Sabres

  • 2024-25: Rasmus Dahlin ($13MM)
  • Total: Rasmus Dahlin (eight years, $88MM)

Calgary Flames

Carolina Hurricanes

  • 2024-25: Sebastian Aho ($12MM)
  • Total: Sebastian Aho (eight years, $78MM)

Chicago Blackhawks

  • 2024-25: Seth Jones ($12.5MM)
  • Total: Seth Jones (six years, $53.5MM)

Colorado Avalanche

  • 2024-25: Nathan MacKinnon ($16.5MM)
  • Total: Nathan MacKinnon (seven years, $84.3MM)

Columbus Blue Jackets

Dallas Stars

  • 2024-25: Roope Hintz ($11.25MM)
  • Total: Roope Hintz (seven years, $56.1MM)

Detroit Red Wings

  • 2024-25: Dylan Larkin ($11MM)
  • Total: Dylan Larkin (seven years, $59.6MM)

Edmonton Oilers

  • 2024-25: Darnell Nurse ($12MM)
  • Total: Darnell Nurse (six years, $51.6MM)

Florida Panthers

Los Angeles Kings

Minnesota Wild

  • 2024-25: Kirill Kaprizov ($10MM)
  • Total: Brock Faber (nine years, $68.925MM)
    • Note: this figure includes the final season of Faber’s entry-level contract in 2024-25 before his eight-year, $68MM extension kicks in the following season. As part of the last year of his ELC, Faber can earn up to $250K in additional performance bonuses.

Montreal Canadiens

  • 2024-25: Nick Suzuki ($10MM)
  • Total: Juraj Slafkovsky (nine years, $61.75MM)
    • Note: this figure includes the final season of Slafkovsky’s entry-level contract in 2024-25 before his eight-year, $60.8MM extension kicks in the following season. As part of the last year of his ELC, Slafkovsky can earn up to $3.5MM in additional performance bonuses.

Nashville Predators

  • 2024-25: Filip Forsberg / Brady Skjei ($10MM)
  • Total: Juuse Saros (nine years, $66.92MM)
    • Note: Saros is still owed $5MM as part of his current contract in 2024-25 before his eight-year, $61.92MM extension kicks in the following season.

New Jersey Devils

New York Islanders

New York Rangers

Ottawa Senators

Philadelphia Flyers

  • 2024-25: Sean Couturier ($9MM)
  • Total: Travis Konecny (nine years, $77MM)
    • Note: Konecny is still owed $7MM as part of his current contract in 2024-25 before his eight-year, $70MM extension kicks in the following season.

Pittsburgh Penguins

  • 2024-25: Erik Karlsson ($11MM)
    • Note: the Penguins only owe Karlsson $9,565,215 (86.9565%) of his salary. The other 13.0435% was retained by the Sharks in an Aug. 2023 trade.
  • Total: Erik Karlsson (three years, $27.5MM)
    • Note: the Penguins will only pay Karlsson $23,913,038 (86.9565%) of his salary due to the aforementioned salary retention by the Sharks. 

San Jose Sharks

Seattle Kraken

St. Louis Blues

Tampa Bay Lightning

  • 2024-25: Jake Guentzel ($13,263,157)
  • Total: Jake Guentzel (seven years, $63MM)

Toronto Maple Leafs

Utah Hockey Club

  • 2024-25: Mikhail Sergachev ($11.05MM)
  • Total: Mikhail Sergachev (seven years, $56.95MM)

Vancouver Canucks

  • 2024-25: Elias Pettersson ($14.5MM)
  • Total: Elias Pettersson (eight years, $92.8MM)

Vegas Golden Knights

Washington Capitals

  • 2024-25: Pierre-Luc Dubois ($11.25MM)
  • Total: Pierre-Luc Dubois (seven years, $59MM)

Winnipeg Jets

Information from PuckPedia was used in the creation of this post.

Images courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Evening Notes: Oilers, Ullmark, Silovs

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Jim Parsons of The Hockey News believes that the Edmonton Oilers should be looking for a defensive defenseman to pair with Darnell Nurse. Parson notes that the Oilers have been linked to several offensive defensemen but believes that Edmonton should be on the hunt for a two-way defenseman who can log high-leverage minutes and be a steady presence in the Oilers’ top four.

It’s hard to find fault in Parsons’ logic as a defenseman with that skill set would likely pair better with Nurse and allow him a better opportunity to maximize his abilities rather than trying to chase the game and make up for defensive lapses from a partner that shouldn’t be a top-four defenseman. The issue for Edmonton will be finding the assets and cap space to acquire such a player as no one that meets those criteria is available in free agency.

In other evening notes:

  • Shawn Simpson of The Coming In Hot podcast believes that Ottawa Senators netminder Linus Ullmark will sign a contract that is similar in dollars to that of Nashville Predators goaltender Juuse Saros but shorter in term. Saros recently signed an eight-year deal with Nashville with an AAV of $7.74MM and Simpson believes that Ullmark will carry a similar cap hit, but a shorter term in the range of six years. Ullmark’s play in recent seasons would certainly warrant a contract of that nature, and it would show Senators fans that the team is serious about building a perennial contender in Ottawa. On the other side of things, Ullmark is 31, and a six-year extension would carry him until he is 38 years old.
  • Vancouver Canucks goaltender Artūrs Šilovs has been left off Latvia’s roster for this weekend’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament. The MVP of the 2023 IIHF World Championship was ready to start the tournament but was apparently overworked and the Latvian Hockey Federation’s medical staff opted to pull him from competition to avoid a serious injury (as per a translation from Satiar Shah of Sportsnet). It’s hard to read too much into the situation due to the translation, but it appears he is healthy enough to play, but is resting as a precaution.

Carolina Hurricanes Name Three AHL Coaches

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The Carolina Hurricanes have announced the hiring of two AHL assistant coaches who will be behind the bench of the Chicago Wolves this fall as well as a new video coach. Dan Price and Spiros Anastas will join recently hired head coach Cam Abbott to form the coaching staff for the Hurricanes AHL affiliate, while John Stanier will round out the staff as the team’s video coach.

Price has been the head coach of the Western Hockey League’s Victoria Royals for the past seven seasons and has worked previously as an assistant with the club. Before joining the Royals, Price worked as an assistant coach for the WHL’s Tri-City Americans as well as the Chilliwack Bruins.

Anastas has an expansive international coaching resume having been a head coach for China, Greece, Serbia, Estonia and South Korea in various international competitions. In North America the Toronto, Ontario native has coached in the ECHL with the Brampton Beast and South Carolina Stingrays as well as in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) with the University of Lethbridge. Anastas also has a Calder Cup championship in his trophy case, having won the title with the Grand Rapids Griffins as an assistant coach in 2013.

Stanier began his career as a video scout in the USHL for the Des Moines Buccaneers before eventually being hired by the Ontario Hockey League’s Ottawa 67’s in September 2022. However, the Carp, Ontario’s time at home was short-lived as he will join Chicago after serving as a video coach in Ottawa for just two seasons.

Red Wings Sign Austin Watson To PTO

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The Detroit Red Wings have reportedly signed forward Austin Watson to a professional tryout (as per Watson’s agency WD Sports & Entertainment). This will be the second fall in a row that Watson has to enter training camp on a PTO after the 32-year-old turned last year’s PTO into a one-year contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning worth $776,665.

Watson dressed in 33 regular season games with Tampa Bay last year, registering 85 hits and 93 PIM to go along with two goals and two assists. Despite hanging onto an NHL job, Watson averaged a career-low 7:16 of ice time per game and didn’t see any action during the playoffs.

The long-time enforcer has managed to hang onto an NHL career despite his lack of offense and poor possession numbers but might be on his last opportunity in this tryout with the Red Wings. If Watson can secure an NHL role this year, it will likely be similar to last season where he was scratched more often than not and didn’t play much when he was in the lineup.

Should the 2010 first-round pick (18th overall) sign with Detroit, it will be his fourth NHL stop after playing 515 career NHL games with the Nashville Predators, Ottawa Senators and Tampa Bay. Watson has 60 goals and 58 assists over 10 NHL seasons, with his best season coming in 2017-18 with the Predators when he posted 14 goals and five assists in 76 games.

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