Brad Trelviing Expects To Sign Matthew Tkachuk Before Training Camp
The Flames made a move earlier this week to free up some funds to re-sign winger Matthew Tkachuk when they bought out defenseman Michael Stone. While they still have some work to do to in order to free up enough cap room to get a new deal done, GM Brad Treliving told NHL.com’s Aaron Vickers that he expects to get Tkachuk signed before training camp. Calgary currently has $7.75MM in cap room per CapFriendly but also still needs to get a deal done with RFA winger Andrew Mangiapane. With Tkachuk being one of the players at the top end of the RFA market, it’s quite possible that his new contract will exceed their current cap room so expect more movement from the Flames in the weeks to come.
Calgary Flames To Buy Out Michael Stone
Friday: Stone has cleared waivers and was officially bought out by the Flames. He is now an unrestricted free agent.
Thursday: The Calgary Flames received a second buyout window after dealing with their arbitration cases and will use it to buy out Michael Stone. The veteran defenseman has been placed on unconditional waivers according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, which will be followed by a buyout tomorrow. Stone has one year remaining on his contract and carries a $3.5MM cap hit. The move will result in the following cap hits being applied to the Flames:
- 2019-20: $1,166,667
- 2020-21: $1,166,667
Stone signed a three-year $10.5MM contract with the Flames in the summer of 2017 after being acquired earlier that year from the Arizona Coyotes. The 6’3″ defenseman at that point was just a year removed from a solid 36-point campaign and looked like he could be a big part of the Flames’ blueline. Unfortunately that first full year in Calgary didn’t go according to plan and Stone was routinely limited to third-pairing duty, playing fewer than 16 minutes 40 of his 82 games. He registered just ten points on an extremely disappointing team that failed to even make the playoffs.
His second year with the team didn’t go much better, this time marred by injury and a blood clotting issue that kept him out for some time. Stone ended up playing just 14 games for the Flames all season. With the emergence of Juuso Valimaki and Rasmus Andersson as legitimate NHL options, there wasn’t a lot of room left for Stone to try and rehab his value. He’ll have to do that elsewhere.
For Calgary, a move like this was absolutely necessary in order to re-sign Matthew Tkachuk. The team currently projects to have just $4.67MM in cap space prior to a Stone buyout, leaving them little wiggle room to get the young star under contract. If they’re planning on signing Tkachuk to a long-term deal it will likely take up a huge amount of cap space and make him their highest-paid player, something that wasn’t possible without a trade or buyout of some sort.
Stone though shouldn’t have to wait around long to find work if he is truly healthy and ready for the season. The right-handed defenseman is still just 29 years old and could represent a bargain pickup if he can reclaim any of his past success. That’s obviously not guaranteed, but for cap-strapped teams looking for a defensive upgrade he may be an option.
Pacific Notes: Rittich, Bennett, Puljujarvi, Archibald
After signing a two-year deal Saturday, Calgary Flames goaltender David Rittich is now ready to prove to Flames’ fans that he is ready to take over the full-time duties in net this year. While he more than doubled his appearances last season, the 26-year-old lost his job to Mike Smith in the playoffs as Rittich faded in the stretch run.
Rittich started the season strong last season. Before the all-star break, he had a 19-4 record in 30 games, posting a 2.47 GAA and a .918 save percentage, but saw those numbers fall off after the all-star break. Rittich instead appeared in just 15 games after the break as it looked as if he wore down, putting up a 2.85 GAA and a .898 save percentage. Rittich didn’t appear in any of the team’s playoff games after that.
The goaltender, however, has changed his workout regimen this summer with the intention of being able to endure the long season and starting even more games this season than the 45 he played in last season, according to Sportsnet’s Eric Francis. Rittich no longer has Smith to lean back on. Calgary instead brought in veteran Cam Talbot, who has struggled significantly over the past two years. The Flames need Rittich now more than ever.
“I would like to play more than last year, but it’s up to how I play,” said Rittich. “I’m working really hard so I think I can play more than 60 games.”
- The Athletic’s Darren Haynes (subscription required) writes now that Calgary Flames forward Sam Bennett, who recently signed a two-year deal, could get an increase in minutes on the ice this year. The 23-year-old averaged just 13:17 of ATOI on the left wing, but with so many left wingers on the roster, someone may have to move over to the right side. Haynes writes that Bennett might be the perfect player who might even be able to crack the top-six this year and perhaps have the breakout season that everyone has been waiting for since Calgary selected Bennett with the fourth overall pick in 2014.
- Kurt Leavins of the Edmonton Journal writes that the chances that Edmonton Oilers winger Jesse Puljujarvi returning to Edmonton is starting to improve. Despite the restricted free agent’s request to be traded away from Edmonton in hopes of a fresh start, a deal hasn’t happened as it’s believed that Ken Holland hasn’t received a suitable offer for Puljujarvi and with training camps already underway in Europe, his chances of returning there is lessening by the day. He writes the only place Puljujarvi can go to get decent pay at this point is with the Oilers. Still just 21 years old, Puljujarvi must show more offense no matter where he plays after finishing with just four goals in 46 games.
- Leavins also added that he wouldn’t be surprised if recent signee Josh Archibald should play a big role throughout the Oilers lineup as new head coach Dave Tippett is quite familiar with him. Tippett, a resident of Arizona, spent quite a bit of time watching Archibald last season when he was with the Coyotes and could be an instant favorite of the coach and could see playing time up and down the lineup next season. Archibald finished with 12 goals and 22 points in 68 games, but also finished with 161 hits.
Overseas Notes: Rychel, Enstrom, KHL
After years of trying to find his place in the NHL, former top prospect turned journeyman Kerby Rychel has decided to take his talents to Sweden. Orebro HK of the SHL announced today that Rychel has signed a one-year contract with the club. Rychel brings with him nearly 300 games worth of AHL experience, as well as 43 NHL games. The 19th overall pick by the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2013, Rychel entered the pro level with high expectations as both the son of respected former player and OHL executive Warren Rychel and as a player who had done serious damage on the score sheet at the junior level. Rychel looked to be on his way to becoming an established NHL player when he suited up for 32 games with Columbus in his second pro season, but a trade to Toronto – in exchange for current Blue Jackets defenseman Scott Harrington – altered his trajectory. Rychel never played a single game for the Maple Leafs, spending close to two full seasons with the AHL’s Marlies. He was then traded to the Montreal Canadiens at the tail end of the 2017-18 season as part of the package for rental Tomas Plekanec. Despite performing well in a brief showing with the Habs, Rychel was traded again last summer to the Calgary Flames for Hunter Shinkaruk. Even as he was enjoying the best per-game production of his AHL career with the Stockton Heat, Rychel earned just two appearances with the Flames and the team did not make him a qualifying offer earlier this summer. Putting a tumultuous NHL career behind him, Rychel will now try his hand at the SHL. Orebro struggled last season, finishing tenth out of 14 teams and will be glad to add an experienced talent like Rychel. Between he, fellow new addition Ryan Stoa, and returning top liner Shane Harper, Orebro should pack some more offensive punch next season.
- Given the lackluster NHL free agent market this summer, it’s no surprise that few veterans who had previously made the jump to Europe have been able to find a fit back in North America. Count defenseman Tobias Enstrom among that group. The 34-year-old has re-signed with his hometown team, MODO of the Swedish minor league Allsvenkan, the club announced. It is a new one-year deal for the captain, who returned to Sweden last off-season. A career member of the Atlanta Thrashers/Winnipeg Jets franchise, Enstrom found himself without a home for the first time in 11 years last summer as a free agent without a market. He held out hope, waiting for an offer until late August, before opting to head home. In returning to MODO, the team he grew up playing for – albeit in the SHL at that time – Enstrom took on a leadership and also saw a spike in his production. MODO hopes that the strong play continues from their veteran ace, as the team looks to contend for promotion back to the SHL in the upcoming season.
- The quiet NHL free agent market has had an overwhelmingly positive effect on the European leagues, as few players left their respective clubs while talent continues to come over from North America. While Sweden has had a strong off-season in the import business, the winner thus far in terms of NHL additions is unsurprisingly the KHL, considered to be the best of the European leagues. Among the players who have signed in the KHL this off-season are forwards Sven Andrighetto, Ty Rattie, Nikita Soshnikov, Jori Lehtera, Peter Holland, and Lukas Sedlak, defensemen Andrej Sustr, Igor Ozhiganov, Bogdan Kiselevich, and Jakub Jerabek, and goaltender Harri Sateri. It’s a valuable influx of talent for a league that is seeking better competitive balance.
Calgary Flames Re-Sign David Rittich
After a hot start to salary arbitration season with three hearings, things have cooled off of late with a slew of contract resolutions. Add another to the list, as the Calgary Flames and goaltender David Rittich have come to terms on an extension. The team announced that the 26-year-old net minder has signed on for two years at an AAV of $2.75MM. Rittich will be an unrestricted free agent when the deal expires after the 2020-21 season.
The Flames now have their 1A goalie back under contract, as Rittich outplayed veteran Mike Smith last season, earning 42 starts to Smith’s 40. Rittich posted career-high numbers in his second season as a Calgary regular, recording a .911 save percentage and 2.61 GAA. Not only were these numbers a personal best and substantially better than Smith’s, they were also top-20 marks among goalies with appearances in at least half of their team’s games, showing that Rittich could hold his own as the Flames’ top option. Given his age and level of play, albeit in limited appearances, it still seems like Calgary got a good value on this $5.5MM pact.
Still just 26 and without a lot of tread on the tires as timeshare goalie in the Czech pro ranks for many years, Rittich has the potential to continue improving as well. He will certainly be pushed in the upcoming season, as Smith has been replaced by the younger and arguably more talented Cam Talbot. Talbot signed a one-year deal this off-season with a $2.75 AAV that matches Rittich’s. The salaries would suggest an even split in net, but the incumbent Rittich has the advantage in familiarity and longer-term investment and should get the preference early on. If he can again prove that he is the superior option to a respected veteran, Rittich could see even more appearances in 2019-20 than he did last year, and perhaps another career performance as well.
The Rittich deal, although more than fair, does add more pressure to the Flames’ salary cap conundrum. CapFriendly currently projects the team to have $4.67MM in cap space. With Matthew Tkachuk still unsigned, as well as Andrew Mangiapane, that simply won’t be enough. Since Rittich had filed for arbitration, the Flames’ second case after their recent resolution with Sam Bennett, the team will be afforded a second buyout window, a 48-hour opportunity to rid themselves of a large contract that could help them sort out their financials. However, there is no obvious candidate for such a move and the team could instead continue shopping defensemen Travis Hamonic and T.J. Brodie and forward Michael Frolik in hopes of opening up more space.
Calgary Flames Sign Sam Bennett
The Calgary Flames have avoided arbitration with Sam Bennett, inking the young forward to a two-year deal. The contract will carry an average annual value of $2.55MM. Bennett had an arbitration hearing scheduled for Saturday. He will still be a restricted free agent at the end of the deal.
Already four full seasons into his NHL career, the 23-year old Bennett still hasn’t become quite the offensive player the Flames had hoped for when they selected him fourth overall. That doesn’t mean he’s not a valuable part of the organization though as a two-way player with a physical edge. He has routinely been one of the team’s best players in the postseason, including a point-per-game performance in 2019. It also doesn’t mean he won’t find a breakout season at some point down the road still, given his youth and raw tools.
Even without that breakout though, a $2.55MM contract is more than reasonable for the role Bennett plays. It represents just a $600K increase over his last deal and could have even more positive ramifications for the Flames. The team was in a tough financial situation this summer with several restricted free agents to sign. The most important of those names is obviously Matthew Tkachuk, who could be looking for a huge contract after his 77-point breakout season. If Bennett had reached arbitration it’s very possible he could have secured a bigger deal, further tightening the salary situation for the team.
As it stands, the team has locked up a key part of their forward group for the next two seasons at a good price and can now turn their attention to opening enough room for Tkachuk. They have another arbitration hearing set for July 29 with David Rittich, after which will come a short buyout window that they could potentially take advantage of. There is still work to do in Calgary, but getting Bennett signed is a nice step in the right direction.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Calgary Flames Reach Tentative Agreement On New Arena
July 22nd: While it remains a tentative deal, the Flames, the annual Calgary Stampede festival, and the city of Calgary have agreed to terms on a new “public sports and entertainment event center”, the team has announced. The estimated $550MM complex will be split evenly between the team and the city with additional support from the Stampede. It will also serve as the home to the WHL’s Hitmen and the Roughnecks box lacrosse team, and will serve to attract a variety of other concerts and shows. The new complex will be owned entirely by the city of Calgary and the Flames will bear all operating costs. However, the team will take what they can get when it comes to a much-needed new arena at only 50% of the construction costs. This agreement is subject to a week-long public comment period before it is again brought before city council for a final vote on July 29th.
July 19th: Though there is still a lot of work to be done, the Calgary Flames and the city of Calgary have reached a tentative deal for a new arena according to Meghan Potkins of Postmedia. The deal will be brought to city council on Monday.
The Flames have long been fighting for a new arena in Calgary as the Scotiabank Saddledome is now more than 35 years old making it one of the oldest rinks in the NHL. In September 2017 after a charged battle with mayor Naheed Nenshi, Flames president Ken King announced that the team was “no longer pursuing a new facility” complicating the future of the team. It was clear the team couldn’t continue to play indefinitely in the Saddledome, but it looked like any arena talks were dead for a long time.
In May 2018 the city voted to open the discussion again and now it seems as though they have taken another step in the right direction. More information will obviously come next week, but Potkins reports that the new arena is projected to cost between $550MM and $600MM. Getting a new arena is crucial to the Flames moving forward and staying in Calgary, something that the NHL is obviously supportive of.
Pacific Notes: Coyotes Defense, Carter, Flames, Lucic
The Arizona Coyotes have one of the highest payrolls among defensemen, the second highest in the league at $29.54MM. Yet despite their success defensively, the blueline’s offensive production just isn’t there. The Coyotes defensemen had the seventh-worst goal production in the league and were fourth-worst in points.
The Coyotes hope that much of the defense’s struggles can be accounted by the massive amount of injuries the team suffered throughout the year and while many of those injuries came from the forwards, the changes in personnel definitely had a part to play in the team’s struggles to score goals. The team also were without defenseman Jason Demers for all but 35 games last season and lost Jakob Chychrun for 29 games as well, according to The Athletic’s Craig Morgan (subscription required).
“We played defensive and there were so many injuries that we were forced to, but for the most part during the season, we directed the pace of the game and the scoring chances,” said Demers. “It’s just that once you get behind the eight ball and it has been 20, 30 games of not scoring, you tense up a little bit and you might force things you wouldn’t normally force or look for the perfect play when the perfect play is just getting it to the net.”
The team hopes that new assistant coach Phil Housley can help out and get the defense to start producing some offense, his forte when he was a player. The hope is that with a healthy blueline, the team should be able to take that next step.
- The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta appeared on NHL Tonight recently and stated that the Los Angeles Kings have tried to be active on the trade market, reporting that the Kings were talking to the Arizona Coyotes before the draft about potentially sending Jeff Carter there. Of course that was before Arizona turned around and traded for Pittsburgh’s Phil Kessel instead. However, trading off Carter may have been more of a challenge as the 34-year-old who scored just 13 goals and 33 points last season still has three years at $5.27MM AAV and obviously was no where near as productive as Kessel who finished last season with 82 points.
- NBC Sports’ James O’Brien writes that despite moving James Neal Friday, the team’s salary cap situation hasn’t improved much at all. In fact, the Flames saved just $500K after they traded Neal for Milan Lucic, which will require Calgary to make more moves this summer. The team has just $9.97MM in cap space and still have to sign several restricted free agents, including Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett, David Rittich and Andrew Mangiapane.
- Edmonton Journal’s Jim Matheson writes that another victory in the Edmonton Oilers of Lucic to the Calgary Flames for Neal is that Neal doesn’t have a no-trade clause and will not have to be protected in two years for the Seattle expansion draft. However, the Calgary Flames do have to worry about the fact that Lucic has a no-movement clause and will have to be protected, which could be a major issue in two years unless they can convince him to waive that clause for the expansion draft.
Pacific Notes: Lucic, Russell, Turcotte, Eaves
The Calgary Flames had already lost one potential trade acquisition a couple weeks ago when they were had completed a deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs for Nazem Kadri only to see the veteran center refuse to waive his no-trade clause and reject the trade. That option could have been in front of Calgary a second time Friday as Milan Lucic seriously considered refusing to waive his no-movement clause, but a conversation with an old friend, Jarome Iginla, changed his mind.
“I had a really good talk with Jarome,” Lucic told the Flames website (via NHL.com). “He told me what a great hockey town Calgary is, how much the people are behind the Flames. It’s a fan base that loves seeing effort. They obviously want to win, but regardless, they love the heart-and-soul guys, the guys who give their all, who don’t compromise, which I like to think speaks to the way I play.”
Lucic and Iginla played together for one season with the Boston Bruins back in the 2013-14 season and spent a lot of time together that years as linemates. After the discussion with Iginla, Lucic agreed to the waive his no-movement clause and the deal commenced in which the Oilers swapped James Neal and a conditional third-rounder to round out the deal.
- Now that the Edmonton Oilers have successfully rid themselves of Milan Lucic’s contract, many fans have focused their attention on the team’s defense, with the belief that general manager Ken Holland must target the contract of Kris Russell, who has two years remaining at $4MM AAV and has proven he’s not a top-four defenseman. However, Edmonton Journal’s David Staples writes that the team might be better off holding onto Russell, unless they can add a top-six forward in a deal for him, which seems unlikely. Russell has proven to a be a defensively sound blueliner and at least should provide solid play on the third line, who might be able to hold his own if an injury occurs.
- In a mailbag piece, The Athletic’s Lisa Dillman (subscription required) writes that anyone hoping that Los Angeles Kings 2019 draft pick Alex Turcotte (the fifth overall pick) might break training camp with the team, will be disappointed. The team has a plan already in place in which Turcotte, who many had positioned as the best player in the draft after Jack Hughes and Kaapo Kakko, will play one season for Tony Granato and the University of Wisconsin and will not even be at training camp in September.
- Eric Stephens of The Athletic (subscription required) writes that the Anaheim Ducks future looks better next season as the team should have just a few of their own free agents to deal with and even fewer contracts of significance. They will have a handful of restricted free agents, including Brendan Guhle and Troy Terry, but unless either has a breakout season, there is little for the team to worry about. The team’s biggest free agent will be veteran Patrick Eaves, who has played just nine games over two seasons as he has dealt with health problems since being acquired. The scribe writes the team would be extremely unlikely to bring the 35-year-old back and that free space should give the team about $19-20MM in available cap space next summer.
Flames Were Close To Signing Ryan Reaves Last Summer
- The Flames added some grit in yesterday’s acquisition of winger Milan Lucic but they’ve been on the lookout for a physical presence for a while now. Sportsnet’s Eric Francis reports that Calgary believed they had a deal in place with winger Ryan Reaves last summer before he changed his mind and opted to re-sign with Vegas instead. Considering the Golden Knights still need to shed some salary, it’s likely that they would have spoken with the Flames about Reaves although with Lucic now in the fold, that’s probably doubtful to happen at this point.