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Ben Hutton To Join Anaheim Ducks On PTO

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After losing some of their depth when the Detroit Red Wings claimed defenseman Christian Djoos on waivers Saturday and the injury to Brendan Guhle, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that the Anaheim Ducks are expected to sign unrestricted free agent Ben Hutton to a professional tryout agreement.

The 27-year-old blueliner, who spent last year with the Los Angeles Kings, has been a full-time player in the league for five years, four with the Vancouver Canucks. However, the Canucks opted not to offer Hutton a qualifying offer in 2019, prompting him to sign with the Kings and now leaving him on the free agent market. While hardly a top-four paring defenseman, Hutton provides solid depth as a third-pairing defenseman with both power play and penalty kill experience.

Regardless, Hutton has remained on the market through the offseason and training camp. Rumors that New Jersey and Boston were both interested in bringing the defenseman on board, but neither team pulled the trigger. Now Hutton will challenge for a spot on the Ducks roster.

Anaheim is set at the top four with Hampus Lindholm and Kevin Shattenkirk on the first pairing and Josh Manson and Cam Fowler on the second pairing. The third pairing is wide open with Jacob Larsson the leading candidate to take one of the final spots, while Hutton will likely fight it out with Jani Hakanpaa, Kodie Curran, Simon Benoit and Josh Mahura. Hutton also could eventually be put on waivers to be put onto the taxi squad, like the Ducks had hoped to do with Djoos. Considering no one was interested in signing Hutton to a PTO before, it would make sense that no one would claim him then.

Minnesota Wild’s Marco Rossi Out Indefinitely

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Troubling news on the Wild front as Minnesota announced that the team will be without 2020 first-round pick Marco Rossi indefinitely with an upper-body injury. The 19-year-old just returned from captaining Team Austria in the World Junior Championships.

“They tell me he’s unavailable,” Wild coach Dean Evason said when asked how long he might be out for (via NHL.com). “He’s unavailable for me.”

It’s a tough blow for Rossi. While most first-round picks usually need more seasoning after being drafted, many predicted that Rossi had a legitimate chance to earn a spot in the Wild’s lineup this season. Despite being just 5-foot-9, the centerman has elite skills and is believed to be close to NHL ready. Unfortunately, while the severity of the injury is unknown, this likely doesn’t help Rossi force his way into the lineup.

Rossi dominated the OHL last season with 39 goals and 120 points and has little to prove if the league ever gets going, suggesting that he might still get a chance to earn playing time in Minnesota. He was loaned to ZSC Lions in the NL, but only appeared in one game before play was shut down there.

Many now will suggest that it was a mistake of general manager Bill Guerin to allow Rossi to play for his home country during the World Juniors (since that could very well be where he was injured). Chicago has been faced with a similar situation when it lost Kirby Dach to a fractured wrist and will be without him for at least four months. Unfortunately, Rossi was unable to make much of an impact at the WJC, playing with little elite talent on the Austrian team. He did not score a point in the four games with most of the games being blowouts.

Florida Panthers Place Ethan Prow On Waivers

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Jan 4: Prow has cleared waivers.

Jan 3: Only one player was placed on waivers on Sunday, with Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reporting that the Florida Panthers have put Ethan Prow on waivers.

With a shortened training camp, expect the waiver wire to be quite active in the next week. Prow will be one of many to be placed on waivers as teams begin to sort out their rosters over camp. The 28-year-old has never made an appearance in the NHL, but has proven to be a solid presence on an AHL blueline.

The undrafted free-agent originally signed with the Pittsburgh Penguins back in 2016 after four years at St. Cloud State University, playing three years with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins team in the AHL. He posted impressive numbers in his third year (2018-19) in which he scored 18 goals and 50 points in 74 games. He then opted to sign with Florida for a chance to break into the NHL, scoring nine goals and 32 points in 42 games last season, but did not join the Panthers in the bubble.

The blueliner will hope to find his way on the team’s taxi squad or more likely leading the way for their AHL squad.

Salary Cap Deep Dive: Nashville Predators

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

PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation heading into the 2020-21 season.  This will focus more on players who are regulars on the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL.  All cap figures are courtesy of CapFriendly.

Nashville Predators

Current Cap Hit: $74,057,810 (under the $81.5MM Upper Limit)

Entry-Level Contracts

D Dante Fabbro (one year, $925K)
F Eeli Tolvanen (one year, $894K)

Potential Bonuses
Tolvanen: $2.85MM
Fabbro: $850K

Tolvanen has received quite a bit of press over the past two years after posted 19 goals and 36 points in the KHL as an 18-year-old. However, now 21, Tolvanen might be ready for the NHL despite struggling since coming over to North America. The 2017 first-round pick struggled in his first year in the AHL, but looked better in his second year there. However, he was on loan with his old KHL team so far this season and hasn’t been as dominant as that 18-year-old season. So, the question is, will he be ready to take the next step into the NHL lineup? That’s a legitimate possibility or he could find himself on the taxi squad, easing into the league.

Fabbro was also highly-touted coming into last season after spending three years at Boston University. While he held onto the team’s fourth defenseman, he still issues acclimating himself to the NHL. The blueliner scored just five goals and 11 points in 64 games, while averaging 19:01 of ice time. He should continue to improve as the team’s fourth defenseman this year.

One Year Remaining, Non-Entry-Level

G Pekka Rinne ($5MM, UFA)
G Juuse Saros ($1.5MM, RFA)
F Mikael Granlund ($3.75MM, UFA)
F Erik Haula ($1.75MM, UFA)
F Brad Richardson ($1MM, UFA)
D Jarred Tinordi ($700K, UFA)

While the team is quite balanced in terms of contracts, it does have to figure out its goaltending situation next season. Rinne, who has been the team’s star netminder for years, will be 39 years old at the start of the 2021-22 season and could be done. His 2019-20 season wasn’t particularly impressive with a .895 save percentage in 36 games. Saros does look ready to take the No. 1 spot. The 25-year-old was much more impressive with a .914 save percentage in 40 appearances and should continue to take the bulk of the starts this coming season. Saros should get quite the pay raise for next year, while Rinne’s status is a question mark. Is he ready to retire or could he bounce back and hold on for a few more years?

With forward depth being a big need this season, the Predators brought back Granlund despite his struggles since being acquired from Minnesota at the trade deadline in 2019. He didn’t fare well in his short tenure with the team after the trade and while posting 17 goals last year, Granlund wasn’t the dominant forward that the team thought they traded for when they sent young Kevin Fiala off. With Fiala having an impressive season in Minnesota last year, the team has to hope they can get Granlund back to his 20-goal scoring ways. The team also brought in Haula to help out as a middle-six center. The injury-prone forward had one dominant season in Vegas, but since then is now on his third team, hoping to find his game.

Two Years Remaining

F Filip Forsberg ($6MM, UFA)
D Mattias Ekholm ($3.75MM, UFA)
F Rocco Grimaldi ($2MM, UFA)
F Calle Jarnkrok ($2MM, UFA)
D Mark Borowiecki ($2MM, UFA)
F Nick Cousins ($1.5MM, UFA)
F Matt Benning ($1MM, UFA)
F Yakov Trenin ($750K, RFA)

Many people believe that when Forsberg signed his six-year, $36MM contract back in 2016, that they had a superstar winger on their hands. He was coming off his first 30-goal season, scoring 33 goals and then followed that up with 31 goals the next year. However, those numbers have declined steadily the last few years although minor injuries have been part of that decline. Forsberg scored just 21 goals last season in 63 games and needs to find his game over the next two years if he wants to re-establish himself as one of the top wingers in the game, which at the moment, he isn’t.

Ekholm, on the other hand, continues to be one of the best deals for the next two years. The blueliner averaged more than 23 minutes of ATOI for the fourth straight years and has been a solid impact player for the team, even if his plus/minus dropped into the negative for the first time in years. He could be in line for a big extension similar to what Ellis received recently.

Jarnkrok continues to put up decent middle-six numbers after scoring 15 goals last season. He has two years left on the six-year, $12MM pact he signed in 2016. The Predators have quite a few depth players on two-year deals as well, including Grimaldi, Trenin and newly signed Cousins as well as defensemen Borowiecki and Benning. The hope is this depth should help solidify the team’s bottom-six, which struggled last season.

Three Years Remaining

None

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Snapshots: Stuetzle, Thornton, Duclair, Spurgeon

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The Ottawa Senators have already been in camp for several days already, but the team will get another big name player into camp soon as 2020 first-round pick Tim Stuetzle arrived in Ottawa Saturday night. The 18-year-old is coming off an impressive performance at the World Junior Championship after he led Team Germany to one of the countries best finishes ever. After a seven-day quarantine, he will join his team and is likely to start his NHL career, according to the Ottawa Citizen’s Bruce Garrioch.

“I hope I’m going to play in the NHL this season, that’s 100% my goal and I will work very hard for that,” Stuetzle told reporters in Edmonton following Germany’s elimination in the quarterfinals.

Stuetzle finished the World Juniors with five goals and 10 points in five games. The third-overall pick, who signed his entry-level deal last week, is likely going to play wing for the Senators this season.

Taylor Leier, Jack Rodewald Sign In Czech Republic

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A pair of former NHL players have decided to take their services overseas as NHL.com’ Brennan Klak reports that former Philadelphia Flyers forward Taylor Leier and former Ottawa Senators forward Jack Rodewald have signed with HC Ocelari Trinec of the Czech Republic.

Neither player saw NHL action last season. Leier hasn’t made an NHL appearance since the 2017-18 season when he played in 39 games for the Flyers. He scored one goal and tallied five points that year, but spent 2018-19 with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in the AHL and then was swapped to Buffalo at midseason for Justin Bailey. The 26-year-old never played for the Sabres, however, spending the next year and half with the Rochester Americans. He appeared in just 27 games for the Americans last season, posting 11 goals and 17 points.

The 26-year-old Rodewald played with the Senators more recently, getting into six games in 2018-19, but has only appeared in 10 total NHL games. He signed with Ottawa in 2017 and showed well in his stints with the Belleville Senators of the AHL, scoring 23 goals in 2018-19, prompting his call-up to Ottawa. However, the Senators decided to trade Rodewald to Florida last season for collegiate forward Chris Wilkie. However, Rodewald struggled with the Panthers’ AHL affiliate, posting just five goals in 43 games.

Vancouver Canucks Intend To Extend Travis Green

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While no contract has been signed yet, Vancouver Canucks general manager Jim Benning told Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre that the team is working to extend head coach Travis Green to a new contract, keeping him in the fold.

“Travis has done an excellent job coaching this group of players. I think, from a development standpoint, our young players have continued to get better under him every year. We think he’s the right fit for this group and our group moving forward,” Benning said during a press conference Sunday as the Canucks opened training camp. “We want to kind of take a look at the financial landscape of the whole business here as we keep moving forward, but our intention is to sign Travis to an extension so he’s part of our group here moving forward.”

Green, whose contract expires at the end of the 2020-21 season, has been quite successful since being hired in 2017. He has posted a 102-103-28 record, which may not be the most impressive record over three seasons. However, the team has made significant progress each season, placing seventh in 2017-18, fifth in 2018-19 and then in third place in the Pacific Division last year, including a deep run into the playoffs, almost ousting the Vegas Golden Knights in the process.

Benning does have other significant negotiations to work out as well, including new deals for soon-to-be restricted free agents Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes as well as goalie Thatcher Demko.

East Notes: Barzal, Cizikas, Olofsson, Peterka

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With the opening of training camp, New York Islander players have undergone off-ice testing today. However, one notable missing player today is unsigned restricted free agent Mathew Barzal, who now is considered to officially be a holdout, according to The Athletic’s Arthur Staple.

Head coach Barry Trotz confirmed that Barzal is not in camp, although he said Barzal is on Long Island. He said he will make due without Barzal for now. The team currently only has $3.9MM in cap room, but once the team is able to put defenseman Johnny Boychuk on LTIR due to a career-ending eye injury, that should open up some extra cap space to sign the first-line center.

“You have to make sure you’re adaptable,” Trotz said. “We’re going to worry about who we can put on the ice.”

  • Sticking with the Islanders, Staple reports that forward Casey Cizikas is in camp and ready to go. The 29-year-old forward was forced to leave the bubble during the playoffs after suffering an eye injury. Cizikas told Staple that he took a hit to the head during the playoffs and the vision in his left eye went blurry. After leaving the bubble, the key fourth-line forward was diagnosed with a detached retina. “I feel comfortable and confident on the ice now, so that’s the most important thing,” said Cizikas.
  • When Taylor Hall signed a one-year deal with the Buffalo Sabres, the former Hart Trophy winner was penciled in next two Jack Eichel and winger Victor Olofsson. Unfortunately, the first few days of camp haven’t given him much playing time with those linemates as Eichel has been out with an upper-body injury and has been day-to-day with the start of camp. Now, Olofsson is also listed as day-to-day. The forward left practice Saturday after crashing hard into the goal post while doing a one-on-one drill with Rasmus Dahlin at full speed, according to The Athletic’s Jon Vogl. He was favoring his left arm. However, head coach Ralph Kruger said Sunday that he expects Eichel, Olofsson and goaltender Linus Ullmark to return by Wednesday, according to the Buffalo News’ Lance Lysowski, although that likely means they will miss Monday’s scrimmage.
  • Despite an impressive showing for Team Germany at the World Juniors last week, Buffalo Sabres prospect John-Jason Peterka will not be attending Buffalo’s training camp. The 18-year-old is expected to return to Germany and play for EHC Munchen in the DEL where he has been playing since last season. The team’s second-round pick (34th overall) scored seven goals amongst men in 42 games there last season and should take a much bigger role with his team this year. Vogl adds that Krueger knows Peterka’s coach in the DEL and believes he will develop him well.

Michael Stone Signs PTO With Calgary Flames

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Since being picked up via trade from the Arizona Coyotes back in 2017, the Calgary Flames have kept defenseman Michael Stone on the roster in some capacity since then. Looks like little has changed as Sportsnet’s Pat Steinberg reports that Stone has agreed to a player tryout contract with the club.

Flames general manager Brad Treliving said that bringing in Stone on a PTO was all about depth, according to Steinberg. The GM said that considering the compact season, NHL teams may need as much depth as possible, possibly going as deep as 10-11 defensemen. Treliving also said that no contract has been handed to Stone. He will have to earn a contract during camp.

Stone was a regular in the lineup with Arizona in his five-plus years with the team from 2011 to 2017, but while he had a full-time role with the Flames in 2017-18, his role has diminished over the next few years. He played in just 14 games in 2018-19 with a blood-clotting issues amongst several injuries he dealt with and began to look like an overpriced depth player. In August of 2019, the Flames chose to buyout Stone, who had a $3.5MM cap hit. The cost of the buyout required cost the team $1.17MM last season and will still be hitting the team this season. However, the team shocked many when they turned around and signed Stone to a minimum salaried deal a month later and have held onto him.

Stone played in 33 games last season for Calgary as the team’s seventh defenseman, scoring two goals and seven points.

Vancouver Canucks Sign Travis Hamonic To PTO

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The Vancouver Canucks announced that they have signed one of the top remaining unrestricted free agents, defenseman Travis Hamonic, to a player tryout contract. Much like the PTO that Mike Hoffman signed last week with St. Louis, it’s expected that Hamonic will likely sign a one-year deal once Vancouver clears out some money. The blueliner is expected to travel to Vancouver today and begin a seven-day quarantine before joining the team at training camp.

The 30-year-old Hamonic was one of those free agents who normally would have received a long-term deal on the free-agent market. However, with the pandemic and a flat $81.5MM salary cap, Hamonic struggled finding a long-term deal that he was hoping for. Like many others already, Hamonic will bet on himself this season and hope to find that long-term deal next offseason when hopefully, the NHL’s financial outlook will look more promising.

Hamonic, who spent the last three years with the Calgary Flames, was second on the team last year in ice time. The blueliner averaged 21:11, and while he’s never been an offensive presence on the ice (three goals, 12 points in 50 games), Hamonic has been a solid defensive presence, which included 110 blocked shots.

The defenseman should provide Vancouver with another top-four presence on their blueline after the team lost Chris Tanev to the Flames during the offseason, which almost makes it a one-for-one move. The Canucks also lost Troy Stecher, leaving an opening on right defense. With Quinn Hughes, Tyler Myers and Jordie Benn already on the roster from last year, plus the addition of Nate Schmidt from Vegas, the Canucks roster looks completely rebuilt. Hamonic should be able to provide the team an outstanding penalty killer, bolstering the Canucks chances of challenging among the better teams in the new North Division after the team lost a number of top free agents, including Tanev, goaltender Jacob Markstrom and Tyler Toffoli.

To get Hamonic under contract in the next few weeks, it looks like Vancouver just needs to wait until it can place Micheal Ferland on LTIR at the start of the season and the team can officially ink the blueliner.

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