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West Notes: Perfetti, Montour, Jones, Oilers GM Search

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Last season had its ups and downs for Jets forward Cole Perfetti.  The 22-year-old was briefly tested down the middle before moving back to the wing while he put together a career year offensively with 19 goals and 19 assists in 71 games.  However, he also spent time as a healthy scratch late in the year, not exactly the type of ending he wanted for his platform year heading into restricted free agency for the first time.

Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Free Press examined Winnipeg’s history with former first-round picks as restricted free agents under GM Kevin Cheveldayoff, noting that six out of the ten wound up signing bridge deals.  He feels Perfetti is likely to follow the trend, suggesting that a two-year bridge pact around $3MM per season might be the right price point for him and the Jets.

More from out West:

  • New Kraken defenseman Brandon Montour acknowledged in an interview on TSN 1050 (audio link) that he had talks with the Maple Leafs before eventually signing with Seattle. Toronto made multiple changes on the back end this summer with the additions of Chris Tanev and Oliver Ekman-Larsson while Jani Hakanpaa’s deal still has not been registered.  Montour landed a seven-year, $50MM deal with the Kraken, good for the second-highest AAV on the team behind blueliner Vince Dunn.
  • Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News wonders if a reunion between the Sharks and Martin Jones could make sense. GM Mike Grier acknowledged earlier this month that he still wants to add a third-string netminder, presumably one that has some NHL experience.  Jones had that role in Toronto last season where he started in the minors but wound up getting into 22 games with the big club, posting a 2.87 GAA with a .902 SV%.  While San Jose is still paying Jones for three more years from a 2021 buyout, that won’t preclude them from signing him if they want to.
  • As the Oilers continue their GM search, David Staples of the Edmonton Journal proposes Brian Lawton as a possible dark horse candidate for the position. Lawton hasn’t worked in the NHL since 2009-10 when he was the GM of Tampa Bay but he also has several years of experience as an agent.  Both perspectives certainly could be appealing to CEO Jeff Jackson, a former agent himself, who is currently serving as Edmonton’s interim GM.  Jackson noted earlier this week that he’d like to have a new GM in place within the next couple of weeks.

Alexander Barabanov Receiving KHL Interest

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Winger Alexander Barabanov has yet to find a new NHL team nearly three weeks into free agency.  As a result, it appears as if he’s at least considering other options.  His Russian agent Yuri Nikolaev told Championat’s Pavel Panyshev that there is interest in his client’s services from several KHL teams although it’s too early to comment on the state of any talks with those franchises.

In 2021-22, Barabanov had a breakout year with San Jose.  In his first full year with the Sharks after being acquired from Toronto, he notched 10 goals and 29 assists in 70 games.  That helped earn him a two-year, $5MM deal, a pretty good contract for someone who entered that season with just eight points in 22 NHL contests.

The 30-year-old then followed up that performance with an even better one in 2022-23, one that saw him record 15 goals and 32 assists in 67 games while logging over 18 minutes of ice time per night.  That performance made Barabanov a speculative trade candidate last summer with the Sharks intending to bottom out in the standings.

Of course, a trade never materialized and like just about every forward on San Jose, Barabanov struggled mightily last season.  He missed time with two lower-body injuries, a finger issue, and a brief illness so he wound up being limited to just 46 appearances.  Offensively, he was only able to put up four goals and nine assists while averaging just under 16 minutes a night, numbers that certainly haven’t helped his case on the open market.

At this point, it seems highly unlikely that Barabanov would be able to land a contract comparable to the one that just expired.  Given the sharp drop in his point total last season, it stands to reason that NHL teams might be viewing him as more of a PTO candidate than one to receive a guaranteed contract.

With that in mind, it makes sense for him to be considering options back home as well.  Barabanov played in parts of seven KHL seasons before coming to North America with SKA St. Petersburg with his best showing coming in 2018-19 when he had 46 points in 59 games.  Barabanov would undoubtedly have a chance to play a prominent role if he returned to Russia and the promise of a guaranteed deal over there should be more appealing the longer he remains unsigned in North America.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Canucks Sign Daniel Sprong

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A day after it was reported that the Canucks had interest in free agent winger Daniel Sprong, they have indeed agreed to terms with him. The team announced that the two sides have agreed to a one-year contract.  PuckPedia adds (Twitter link) that the deal will pay $975K.  GM Patrik Allvin released the following statement on the signing:

Bringing in another solid winger will be a boost for our club this season. Daniel has matured a lot as a player and has shown he can contribute offensively when called upon. His addition up front will give us better depth and should help with more balanced scoring throughout our forward group.

The 27-year-old has bounced around throughout his eight-year NHL career, having played for five teams already with Vancouver set to be his sixth.

After putting up limited numbers in his first three stops spanning six seasons, Sprong had a breakout year in his second year with Seattle in 2022-23, one that saw him record 21 goals and 25 assists in 66 games despite averaging just 11:25 of playing time per game.  However, their concern about his arbitration eligibility led to him being non-tendered where he quickly signed a one-year, $2MM deal with Detroit on the opening day of free agency.

While Sprong didn’t quite produce at the same rate last season, he came relatively close, coming up three goals short of his 2022-23 performance while matching his assist totals.  And again, he didn’t play in the top six while surpassing 30 even-strength points for the second year in a row.  But that wasn’t enough to earn an extension with the Red Wings who opted to shake up their roster a bit, nor did it help him get a deal early in free agency.

With two good offensive years under his belt, Sprong landed 35th on our Top 50 UFA list last month.  With that came a projection of him earning a raise and a multi-year agreement but clearly, that didn’t come to fruition as instead of a raise, his salary has been cut by more than half.

Instead, Sprong is taking a very team-friendly deal to land in what should be a favorable environment in Vancouver.  The Canucks finished seventh in the NHL in scoring last season and while they lost Elias Lindholm in free agency and moved out Ilya Mikheyev in a cap-clearing move, they were able to bring in Jake DeBrusk and Danton Heinen from Boston while retaining Dakota Joshua after his breakout showing.  With Vancouver, Sprong should have the same type of role that he has become accustomed to, one that should see him playing in the bottom six at five-on-five with some secondary power play time.

With the move, the Canucks are effectively capped out.  Per PuckPedia, they now have less than $16K in cap room at their disposal with a full-sized roster.  Notably, that does not include Tucker Poolman being on LTIR so if they want to put him back on there, they will have some more flexibility to work with.  However, it would put them in a position of being unable to bank in-season cap space.  Alternatively, they could opt to not carry a full-sized roster to start the season, allowing them to have closer to $800K in room (with Poolman only on regular IR), giving them a shot to bank some space heading into the trade deadline.

If Sprong can have the same type of success with the Canucks in that role that he had with Seattle and Detroit, this contract has the potential to be one of the best bargains of the summer.  And if that happens, perhaps next summer will be when Sprong can land a bit of job security that he has been seeking for several years now.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Postmedia’s Patrick Johnston was the first to report that an agreement between the two sides was in place.

Karson Kuhlman Signs In Finland

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A year ago, unrestricted free agent Karson Kuhlman was coming his second straight campaign where he was a full-timer on an NHL roster.  However, his time in North America is now over, at least for the time being as Lukko in Finland announced that they’ve signed the winger to a one-year contract.

The 28-year-old signed with Boston out of college back in 2018, spending parts of five years in their system.  In three of those seasons, he split time between them and AHL Providence before becoming a full-time NHL player in 2021-22.

That season, Kuhlman broke camp with the Bruins and got into 19 games with them before being waived in mid-January where he was claimed by Seattle.  He remained with the Kraken for the rest of that season and the beginning of 2022-23 before being waived in December, being claimed by Winnipeg.

Despite being a full-timer on the roster for two straight years, Kuhlman didn’t generate strong interest in free agency last summer, instead settling for a two-way deal with the Islanders.  While the hope was that he could push for a depth spot or at least position himself as one of the first recall options, that didn’t materialize.  Instead, he spent the entire year with AHL Bridgeport, recording 12 goals and 10 assists.

Kuhlman leaves North America with 147 career NHL games under his belt between Boston, Seattle, and Winnipeg, totaling 30 points.  He also has played in 146 AHL contests over that stretch, tallying 61 points.  Now, he’ll look to establish himself as more of an offensive threat in the Liiga and a good showing there could get him back on the North American radar next summer.

Hurricanes Increasingly Likely To Retain Martin Necas

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For the past several months, there has been an expectation that the Hurricanes would move restricted free agent forward Martin Necas among the belief that Necas would like a bigger role and a contract more significant than Carolina would like to offer.  However, while there was plenty of trade speculation in recent weeks, nothing came to fruition.  Now, GM Eric Tulsky told NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti that while they’re still talking to teams, a trade seems less likely at this point:

It is a lot easier to make trades before July 1 when teams have flexibility to go pivot and sign other players to replace whatever they gave up than it is after July 1 when their roster is mostly built. We are continuing to talk to teams and we don’t want to miss an opportunity to make the team better, but teams have less flexibility now than they had in June, so it’s harder to find a deal now than it was then.

A natural center, Necas has spent the bulk of his NHL career playing on the wing, a role he held for the majority of last season.  The 25-year-old had a breakout showing in 2022-23, collecting 28 goals and 43 assists in 82 games but he wasn’t able to match those numbers last season.  Still, he potted 24 goals and 29 helpers in 77 contests, the second-best output of his career.  That has him well-positioned to earn a significant raise on the $3MM AAV and $3.5MM salary he had in 2023-24.

Necas was one of 14 players to file for salary arbitration earlier this month, taking the possibility of him signing an offer sheet off the table.  In doing so, he guaranteed himself a contract by early August.  Talks between the two sides remain ongoing with Tulsky acknowledging that they’ve discussed everything between a one-year agreement to a max-term eight-year pact.  Necas is two years away from UFA eligibility so a one-year deal would allow them to kick the question of his long-term future with the club down the road.

This has been a busy offseason for Carolina so far, one that has seen them lose Jake Guentzel, Teuvo Teravainen, Brett Pesce, Brady Skjei, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and Stefan Noesen.  While they’ve brought in replacements for most players, they’ve largely been more role players with the exception of blueliners Sean Walker and Shayne Gostisbehere.

As a result of the turnover, the Hurricanes find themselves with ample cap space, checking in with a little over $13.85MM in room, per PuckPedia.  With that much flexibility, Tulsky has a chance to sign both Necas and RFA winger Seth Jarvis to long-term agreements and still be under the $88MM Upper Limit come October.  With Necas having the closer deadline to sign as arbitration hearings end in early August, expect his case to be Carolina’s focus in the near term.  But now, after it looked like a foregone conclusion that he’d be moved, there’s a very real possibility that he’s in the lineup for the Hurricanes on opening night.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Kings Sign Liam Greentree

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11:58 AM: The Kings have officially confirmed Greentree’s signing and the $975K AAV.

8:55 AM: The Kings have agreed to terms with their top selection in last month’s draft as PuckPedia reports (Twitter link) that they’ve signed Liam Greentree to a three-year, entry-level contract.  The deal pays $877.5K per year in salary with a $97.5K signing bonus for each season for a $975K cap hit.

[Related: 2024 NHL Draft Signing Tracker]

The winger was selected by Los Angeles with the 26th pick after the Kings opted to trade down five spots earlier in the day.  Greentree had a very strong sophomore year with OHL Windsor, doubling his output from his rookie season.  All told, he finished up with 36 goals and 54 assists in 64 games before collecting four more points at the World Under-18s.  That resulted in many of his draft rankings slotting between the middle of the first round and the end of it.

While Greentree will likely get at least a brief look at training camp in the fall, it’s highly likely that he’ll return to the Spitfires next season.  Assuming that happens and that he doesn’t get into ten or more NHL games before that time, Greentree’s contract will slide a year and still have three years left on it next summer.

Austin Czarnik Signs In Swiss League

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After splitting time between the NHL and the AHL in recent seasons, center Austin Czarnik has decided it’s time to try something different.  SC Bern of the Swiss NL announced that they’ve signed the veteran to a one-year contract.

The 31-year-old spent extended time with both Detroit and Grand Rapids last season.  With the Red Wings, he got into 34 games, his highest total since the 2018-19 campaign.  However, Czarnik wasn’t able to muster up much offensively, recording just one assist while winning 49% of his faceoffs in just 8:26 per game, a career low.

However, he was once again a key producer in the minors with the Griffins.  In 38 regular season games with them, Czarnik potted 10 goals and 18 assists before adding four goals and four assists in nine postseason contests.

That follows a recent trend for Czarnik.  In the minors, he has been a top point-getter, notching 290 points in 308 career games at that level.  But it hasn’t translated to much offensive success in the NHL as he has just 51 points in 205 career appearances.  Most of that came early in his career as Czarnik has just 16 points in 92 games over the last five years.

It seems reasonable to infer that Czarnik would have had two-way offers on the table if he wanted to continue in the role he has had in recent seasons.  But now, he’ll have a chance to play an impactful role for a full season overseas, giving him some stability in the process.  Depending on how things go in Switzerland, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Czarnik back in the NHL two-way mix next summer.

Predators, Spencer Stastney Exchange Arbitration Figures

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With the schedule for arbitration hearings not being made public this year, it’s generally unknown when hearings are going to be held.  However, as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link), the Predators and defenseman Spencer Stastney have exchanged figures, meaning his hearing is slated for Monday.

Stastney’s request was a one-year deal worth $950K.  With the blueliner initiating the filing, it’s Nashville that gets to determine if it’s a one-year or a two-year award should it actually go through the process.  They opted for the latter, filing a two-way offer for both seasons, worth $775K and $125K in the minors for 2024-25 and $775K and $175K for 2025-26.

The 24-year-old is coming off his entry-level deal, one which saw him carry a $925K cap hit between his base salary and signing bonuses.  Nashville’s offer actually comes in below the qualifying offer they tendered late last month but those offers have since lapsed meaning that they can go as low as they want with an offer.

Last season, Stastney split the year between Nashville and AHL Milwaukee.  In the minors, he suited up in 44 games, notching five goals and 15 assists, improving on his rookie point total by seven.  He got into 20 regular season games with the Preds, picking up two goals and two helpers while logging just under 16 minutes a night.  Stastney also played in three games in their opening-round playoff loss to Vancouver.

The two sides now have just under 48 hours to come to an agreement.  If they can’t come to one and the hearing starts, it will go the distance and have a contract awarded by the arbitrator.  If a contract is awarded, Stastney will once again be an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent next summer.

West Notes: Dumoulin, Oilers GM Search, Lauer, Sparkes

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Ducks defenseman Brian Dumoulin told Travis Lazarczyk of the Portland Press Herald that he had requested a trade from Seattle before last month’s draft, preferably to an Eastern team.  The 32-year-old signed with the Kraken last summer after spending ten years in Pittsburgh and had a limited role, picking up 16 points in 80 games while his average ice time dipped by more than three minutes per game to 17:01 per night.  Originally, Seattle didn’t intend to move him but eventually agreed to do so after signing Brandon Montour but didn’t find an East Coast team to send him to, instead moving him to Anaheim for a 2026 fourth-round pick.  Dumoulin will enter the final year of his contract next season, one that carries a $3.15MM AAV and he’ll be asked to help shore up a back end that struggled mightily in 2023-24.

Elsewhere out West:

  • In an appearance on the Bob McCown Podcast (video link), Oilers CEO of Hockey Operations and interim GM Jeff Jackson reiterated that he has no desire to take on the full-time GM role. He added that there have been several interviews for the position and while he didn’t want to put a firm timeline on a new hire, he’s hoping to have one announced in the next seven to ten days.  Jackson is in the interim role following the departure of Ken Holland when his contract expired late last month.
  • Former Jets assistant coach Brad Lauer has found his next job as WHL Spokane announced that they’ve named Lauer as their new head coach. The 57-year-old spent the last two years as an assistant with Winnipeg and also has time behind the bench with Anaheim and Tampa Bay.  Lauer has worked in the WHL twice before, spending five years with Kootenay as an assistant to kick off his coaching career and four seasons with Edmonton.
  • Kings prospect Jack Sparkes has changed college commitments. Brad Elliott Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald reports (Twitter link) that the blueliner will now attend Clarkson after originally being committed to Michigan State.  The 20-year-old was the tallest player in his draft class at six-foot-eight, going 180th overall.  Sparkes split last season between USHL Muskegon and BCHL Chilliwack, picking up a dozen points in 44 games.

Minor Transactions: 7/18/24

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As expected, signing activity across the NHL has largely dried up with training camps still more than a month and a half away.  However, there are some NHL-drafted prospects and players formerly on NHL contracts that have found new places to play in recent days.  We’ll run through those moves here.

  • Free agent blueliner Nick Cicek has signed a one-year deal with Adler Mannheim, the DEL team announced. The 24-year-old started last season in San Jose’s system before being moved to Vancouver where he remained in the AHL.  Between the two teams, Cicek had four goals and 12 assists in 67 games, resulting in him being non-tendered last month.  Cicek does have 16 career NHL appearances under his belt, all coming in the 2022-23 campaign where he had four assists.
  • Capitals prospect Ilya Protas has signed with OHL Windsor for the upcoming season, per a team announcement. Protas, whose brother is a regular in Washington, was a third-round pick last month, going 75th overall.  The 18-year-old, who signed his entry-level deal with the Caps earlier this month was the third-overall selection in the CHL Import Draft and the top selection from an OHL-based club following a strong showing with USHL Des Moines.  In 61 games with the Buccaneers last season, Protas had 14 goals and 37 assists.
  • Still with Washington, the Capitals farm team in Hershey was busy today as the team announced six signings, all on one-year contracts. Joining the Bears are forwards Grant Cruikshank, Austin Magera, Micah Miller, Justin Nachbaur, and Tyler Weiss, along with defenseman Jayden Lee.  The five forwards played professionally last year – primarily at the ECHL level – while Lee is turning pro after a five-year stint at Quinnipiac.
  • After being non-tendered by Dallas last month, free agent forward Max Ellis has found a new place to play as he has joined Jukurit in Finland, per a team release.  The 24-year-old spent last season in Toronto’s system, getting into 36 games in the AHL with the Marlies where he had four goals and ten assists.  His signing rights were thrown into the draft day trade for the rights to Chris Tanev but that was simply for contract-matching purposes.
  • Panthers prospect Vladislav Lukashevich has changed his college commitment. Nathaniel Bott of the Lansing State Journal relays (Twitter link) that the blueliner will now play at Michigan State next season instead of Northern Michigan.  The 21-year-old was a fourth-round pick back in 2021, going 120th overall and spent last season with USHL Tri-City where he had 11 goals and 32 assists in 54 games.

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