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Pacific Notes: Toffoli, Giordano, Goldobin, Pettersson

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While the Los Angeles Kings did add Ilya Kovalchuk to their roster and have a healthy dose of veterans around, one key for the Kings will be whether the team can get Tyler Toffoli to show off more of his offensive prowess. The 26-year-old rebounded from a 13-goal season in 2016-17 to post a 24-goal season, but that’s still a far cry from the 31-goal season back in 2015-16 when he was considered one of the upcoming goal scorers in the league.

The Athletic’s Lisa Dillman (subscription required) writes that Toffoli feels that the team and especially coach John Stevens feel that it’s time for him to take that next step in his development.

“He obviously wants me to score more goals,” Toffoli said. “He said I didn’t have a bad season. Scoring 24 goals is not bad. He thinks that’s just something I need to focus on, bearing down on opportunities and not worrying about having the ups and downs.”

Many feel that Toffoli struggled over the last couple of years due to the lack of having Milan Lucic in 2016-17 as well as a healthy Jeff Carter playing alongside him last season. However, consistency has also been a problem as he tallied 11 goals in the first two months of the season and then struggled at different times to put numbers up, including one goal in January and just three goals in the Kings’ final 18 games, including going scoreless in the playoffs.

  • The Athletic’s Scott Kruikshank (subscription required) looks into the fitness level of Calgary Flames defenseman Mark Giordano. The team’s top defender just turned 34 and remains in the best shape of his career. Giordano’s conditioning is one of the main reasons for his success. He has ranked first, first, first and second (last year to Michael Frolik) over the last four camps, despite his age. “I want to keep my speed as I get older,” Giordano says. “So I do a lot of strengthening of my hips and groins, working on some ankle-mobility stuff. Little things to keep my skating up to par. Speed and conditioning are the two things I like to focus on the most. But you need that strength out there, too.”
  • Jason Brough of The Athletic (subscription required) wonders who will win the final spot on the Vancouver Canucks first line with Brock Boeser and Bo Horvat. The scribe says the team has three candidates in mind for that final spot, including veteran Sven Baertschi as well as Brendan Leipsic and Nikolay Goldobin. While Baertschi might sound like a logical candidate as he got some time with them last season, Brough wonders whether the team is giving every opportunity to Goldobin or Leipsic to seize the spot, which would allow Baertschi to play on the second line. The team has been hoping Goldobin, in particular, is capable of breaking out this season. He tallied eight goals in 38 games last season.
  • The Vancouver Canucks got a flash of their upcoming future when top prospects Elias Pettersson and Jonathan Dahlen combined for three goals, three assists in Friday’s first game of the Young Stars Classic, according to Ed Willes of the Vancouver Sun. The two Swedes showed a chemistry together that suggests they could play together for a long time. Pettersson potted two goals, while Dahlen added a third. The two played together for parts of three years in the Timra system.

Viktor Svedberg To Attend Calgary Flames Training Camp

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The Calgary Flames already added former Rockford IceHogs goaltender Jeff Glass on a professional tryout, and he’ll be joined by teammate Viktor Svedberg according to Scott Powers of The Athletic. Svedberg wasn’t re-signed by the Chicago Blackhawks this summer after his recent two-year one-way contract expired. He’ll try to earn a similar deal in Calgary, or at least catch on with the organization for the next chapter in his hockey career.

Svedberg, 27, is a gargantuan defenseman that has flashed real shutdown potential in Rockford over the years but never quite put it all together for a lengthy run at the NHL level. He did receive 27 games with the Blackhawks in 2015-16, but they were spread between several stints and rarely did he receive an opportunity to really log substantial minutes. Last year he played 73 games in the AHL and recorded his career-high of 24 points, but doesn’t offer a ton of upside offensively for Calgary going forward. What he can bring, is an active stick that can reach nearly across the defensive zone given his 6’8″ frame and huge wingspan. While that may not be enough to jump into the Flames’ opening day roster, it should land him a role in the minor leagues somewhere.

There is a link between Rockford and new Calgary head coach Bill Peters, but Svedberg didn’t arrive from Sweden until after Peters had left to join Mike Babcock’s staff in Detroit. For the Flames, there is a need for extra bodies in camp given their preseason schedule that includes games in China, but there isn’t a ton of room on the roster for a player like Svedberg. Already the Calgary management team will have to decide between players like Dalton Prout, Rasmus Andersson and Josh Healey for the last few spots unless injuries occur over the next few weeks. Brett Kulak would appear to have the inside track for the third pairing given his 71-game season in 2017-18, but also was placed on and cleared waivers prior to his arbitration hearing this summer. The team could easily go in a different direction, which should give Svedberg at least a small sliver of hope as he heads to training camp.

Flames To Invite Justin Falk And Zach O’Brien To Training Camp

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After bringing in veteran goaltender Jeff Glass on a PTO deal on Monday, the Flames may not be done yet.  Sportsnet’s Eric Francis reports (Twitter link) that Calgary is expected to invite defenseman Justin Falk as well as winger Zach O’Brien to training camp as well.

Falk spent the last two years with the Sabres in a sixth/seventh role.  He played in 46 games with Buffalo last season, recording a goal and an assist while logging 16:05 per night in ice time, his highest ATOI since 2011-12.  The 29-year-old has 269 games of NHL experience under his belt over parts of nine seasons with the Wild, Rangers, Blue Jackets, and Sabres.

Meanwhile, O’Brien split last season between AHL Bakersfield and ECHL Wichita, the affiliates of the Oilers.  He spent the majority of the year at the AHL level, picking up six goals and 17 assists in 43 games.  The 26-year-old has yet to play in the NHL and is already on a minor league contract for the upcoming season with Toronto.

With Calgary being one of the teams heading overseas for part of the preseason, they will need some extra bodies to ice lineups for their games both in China and in North America which is where O’Brien fits in.  Meanwhile, Falk will look to battle Dalton Prout for the number seven role in Calgary and could be a candidate for a two-way deal otherwise.

Jeff Glass Signs Professional Tryout With Calgary Flames

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There are still several goaltenders available in free agency with NHL experience, but at least one of them is off the board. Jeff Glass announced on the first episode of the Bosco Podcast with Nick Godin that he has signed a professional tryout with the Calgary Flames. The Flames, who are expected to have either David Rittich or Jon Gillies as their NHL backup this season, will bring in Glass to see if he could be of help to their organization in one way or another. The team does have several games in China scheduled for the preseason, and could likely use an extra body to help take shots in camp.

Glass, 32, made his NHL debut last season after a long and traveled professional career that has taken him through the AHL, ECHL and KHL. Once selected in the third round by the Ottawa Senators, he waited more than a decade before getting his chance with the Chicago Blackhawks last season. In 15 games, Glass recorded an .898 save percentage but saw his contract expire on July 1st.

There’s no telling if the Flames have any real intent of signing Glass to an NHL contract, but he’ll at least have a place to show that he can still compete at the highest level this fall. At the very least, Glass should earn a look at the AHL level somewhere if he decides not to pursue overseas opportunities.

Atlantic Notes: Maple Leafs’ Defense, McAvoy, Bruins’ Rookies, Drouin

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With most of the media attention drawn towards the Toronto Maple Leafs’ signing of John Tavares, many people didn’t notice that the team didn’t really address their defensive issues this last offseason. The main reason for that is that general manager Kyle Dubas feels the answers to their defensive problems are more likely to be found within their own organization.

The Star’s Mark Zwolinski writes that the team has their top four of Morgan Rielly, Jake Gardiner, Ron Hainsey and Nikita Zaitsev, but they also have an overabundance of talented blueliners who are ready to step in and fill in those final two spots as well as help out if one of those top four struggle next season. The team can look to a number of defensemen, including Travis Dermott, Igor Ozhiganov, Connor Carrick, Timothy Liljegren, Justin Holl, Jordan Subban, Andreas Borgman, Calle Rosen, Martin Marincin and Andrew Nielsen, who all have the capabilities of checking in if needed.

The scribe writes that one major advantage for all these players is they’ve had at least one year (except for Ozhiganov) of experience with defensive coach D.J. Smith, who was voted in a players’ poll as the assistant coach best suited to become a head coach.

  • After seeing Calgary Flames defenseman Noah Hanifin sign a six-year, $29.7MM deal ($4.95MM AAV) on Thursday evening, The Athletic’s Joe McDonald (subscription required) wonders what it might end up costing the Boston Bruins to lock up defenseman Charlie McAvoy, who is playing out the final year of his entry-level deal this season. If Hanifin makes that much, McAvoy, who has been quite an impact for the team already in just one-plus season, should be able to get an even bigger deal. The scribe writes that the Bruins had already started extension talks at $6MM over seven years, but are more likely to work out an even longer-term deal after this season, which could be an eight-year deal between $7.5MM and $8MM.
  • In a team preview, The Athletic’s Fluto Shinzawa (subscription required) writes that it looks like a rookie will be centering the Boston Bruins’ third line next season after having Riley Nash centering it last season. It just comes down to who wins that job between Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson, Trent Frederic and Jack Studnicka. All are expected to have significantly better offensive skills than Nash, but all have no NHL experience so far. The 21-year-old Forsbacka-Karlsson was inconsistent in his first season in the AHL last year. The 20-year-old Frederic is considered to be more of a grinder after two seasons at the University of Wisconsin, while the 19-year-old Studnicka still lacks both size and strength and may not be ready for an NHL role yet, despite excellent offensive skills. If none are ready, Sean Kuraly or Chris Wagner would have to assume the role.
  • Patrick Hickey of the Montreal Gazette, in a series on key players the Montreal Canadiens need to get a better season from, suggests that the team must get a major improvement out of center Jonathan Drouin this season. One reason the highly-touted Drouin struggled was because the 23-year-old spent the previous summer training with Max Pacioretty with the assumption they would be linemates, but learned early on that they weren’t very compatible together as well as the fact that some within the organization felt he would be a better winger, while others wanted him playing center. Now, a full-time center, Drouin has been training for this season all offseason. “Last year, I came in and I had no feel for what was going on,” Drouin said earlier this week. “As the year went on, I felt more comfortable knowing what do in some areas, at some points in the game. At the end of the year, things were starting to work out and I want to continue like that.”

Sean Monahan Has Fully Recovered From His Numerous Offseason Surgeries

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  • Flames center Sean Monahan has fully recovered from the lengthy list of surgeries he underwent back in April, notes Aaron Vickers of NHL.com. The 23-year-old was shut down late last season and had wrist, groin and two hernia surgeries shortly thereafter.  Fortunately for Calgary, he has been taking part in informal team skates in advance of training camp and they will need Monahan as his best as they hope that a bolstered top line will help them get back to the postseason.

Minor Transactions: 08/31/18

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Noah Hanifin has signed with the Calgary Flames, but we’re still waiting on news of the other dozen restricted free agents. While we wait, we’ll keep track of the minor moves around the hockey world.

  • The Lehigh Valley Phantoms have signed Zach Palmquist, Nick Luukko and Branden Komm to AHL contracts for 2018-19. Palmquist especially will give the team some added firepower on the blue line after registering 34 points in 67 games last season for the Iowa Wild. The 27-year old was an undrafted free agent out of the Minnesota State University when he signed with the Minnesota Wild in 2015, and earned two more NHL contracts over the last few seasons. Still waiting for his NHL debut, he’ll have to prove that he once again deserves a big league deal next summer.
  • Former Bowling Green standout Dan DeSalvo has found a new home in the AHL. The Cleveland Monsters, minor league affiliate of the Columbus Blue Jackets, announced a one-year deal with undersized, but explosive forward. DeSalvo has shown great offensive ability over the past three years between the AHL and ECHL. After close to a point-per-game pace with the ECHL’s Tulsa Oilers as well as on loan to the AHL’s Manitoba Moose in his first pro season in 2015-16, DeSalvo earned a regular role with Manitoba the next year and posted 40 points in 66 games. While that production slipped somewhat last year, with DeSalvo limited to just 44 games with the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack, the Monsters have clearly bought in to what he can offer up front. The 26-year-old forward is likely to bring positive returns for the team if put in the right position and given enough ice time.
  • Joining DeSalvo in Cleveland for another year is also Miles Koules, who returns for his third season. After working his way through four different ECHL teams in his first two pro seasons, Koules finally found a fit when given a chance with the Monsters in 2016-17. The team has re-signed the winger for a second straight year after he registered 27 points in 68 games last season.
  • The University of Massachusetts Minutemen are adding another weapon to their squad and about a week before classes begin no less. The team has announced that former St. Lawrence University forward Joel Pritchard has joined the program as a graduate transfer. Although Pritchard played only three seasons for the Saints, he completed his studies and recently graduated. He will be eligible to play immediately at UMass, where he will reunite with former coach Greg Carvel. Pritchard recorded 20+ points in each of his seasons at St. Lawrence and played a responsible two-way game. He will bring consistency and experience to a young UMass squad that hopes to surprise people in the Hockey East Conference this season.

 

NHL Rookie Tournaments Set For Early September

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8/31: The Philadelphia Flyers and New York Islanders have joined to fray, as their rookie camps will clash in prospects game on September 12th at the Isles’ practice facility, the teams announced. This leaves only the Florida Panthers without a competition for their rookies in the coming weeks.

8/24: Before team training camps open up for veterans, the rookies get some work in each year with various rookie tournaments and exhibition games taking place around the continent. This is where you can catch your favorite team:

  • The most well-known preseason rookie tournament is obviously the Traverse City NHL Prospect Tournament. The annual tournament hosted by the Detroit Red Wings is in its 20th year of existence. The format consists of two four-team “divisions” who play a round-robin tournament with the winner of each group earning a berth in the championship game. Featured this year are the Red Wings, Carolina Hurricanes, Chicago Blackhawks, Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild, New York Rangers, and St. Louis Blues. The games run from September 7th to September 11th.
  • Buffalo is again set to host the Sabres’ Prospect Challenge Tournament. Running from September 7th to 10th, it is a single group round robin tournament with the Boston Bruins, New Jersey Devils, and Pittsburgh Penguins joining the Sabres on their home ice. This will be the first game action for top overall pick and preseason Calder Trophy favorite Rasmus Dahlin.
  • Across the border, the three eastern Canadian teams are set to square off in Laval, Quebec, the home of the Montreal Canadiens’ AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket. The Habs announced a set of three games featuring themselves, the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the Ottawa Senators on September 7th, 8th, and 9th.
  • On the other side of the country, a previous rookie tournament has been split in half. The NHL Young Stars Tournament, held in Penticton, British Columbia, will now contain only the Winnipeg Jets and Vancouver Canucks, as well as a pair of collegiate teams in a three-day series of games from September 7th to 9th. The Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames chose not to participate this year and will instead face-off in one singular game in Red Deer, Alberta on September 12th.
  • The Vegas Golden Knights are set to host the first of a revolving tournament among U.S.-based Western Conference teams. Nicknamed the Vegas Rookie Faceoff, Sin City will be the location of this year’s tournament which also features the Anaheim Ducks, Arizona Coyotes, Colorado Avalanche, Los Angeles Kings, and San Jose Sharks. It will be a three-day, nine-game series taking place on September 8th, 9th, and 11th. The tournament is expected to head to Anaheim next year.
  • Finally, the NHL’s southeastern squads will square off in Estero, Florida at the home of the ECHL’s Florida Everblades. The Prospect Showcase will be four days of games between the Nashville Predators, Tampa Bay Lightning, and defending Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals, taking place from September 8th to 11th.

For all updates on rookie tournament rosters, check in with Roster Resource and their running tracker of roster announcements.

Poll: Who Will Win The Pacific Division In 2018-19?

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We’re just over a month away from the 2018-19 NHL season, and players are hitting the ice with teammates to start forming chemistry. All over the league there are individual workouts underway, and rookie tournament rosters being announced. The excitement for the upcoming season is starting to bubble up to the surface, and even the smallest NHL news has fans in a frenzy.

Recently, Bovada released their over/under numbers for each team’s point totals and there are some interesting results. Though these aren’t to be taken exactly as predictions for the upcoming season—since betting odds also take into account popularity trends and other factors—fans of the Tampa Bay Lightning should still be extremely satisfied to see their club at the very top with an over/under of 107.5 points. The Lightning are expected to be Stanley Cup contenders once again in 2018-19, and have brought back nearly their entire roster.

We ran a poll asking the PHR community to decide who will win the Atlantic Division last week, and the Lightning came out on top with nearly 37% of the vote. The Toronto Maple Leafs finished in second place, but the big surprise was the Detroit Red Wings in third with 15% of all voters. While our readers have more confidence in the Red Wings than the odds makers, we’ve seen stranger things in the past.

The odds though tell an interesting story in the Pacific Division.

The Vegas Golden Knights won the division easily last season with 109 points, finishing at 51-24-7 in their inaugural season. They rode that dominance all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals, and yet aren’t the clear leader this time around. Vegas is tied with the Anaheim Ducks at a 96.5 point over/under, but actually a point behind the San Jose Sharks who come in at 97.5. Los Angeles, Calgary and Edmonton don’t lag far behind, making this one of the most interesting divisions in hockey to watch this season.

Who do you think will come out on top of the Pacific Division this year? Can Edmonton bounce back from a disastrous 2017-18? Will Marc-Andre Fleury lead the Golden Knights back to the top? Can the Coyotes go from worst to first in one season? Cast your vote below and explain how you think the season will play out in the comments!

Who will win the Pacific Division in 2018-19?
San Jose Sharks 26.83% (338 votes)
Los Angeles Kings 16.43% (207 votes)
Vegas Golden Knights 14.60% (184 votes)
Calgary Flames 13.10% (165 votes)
Anaheim Ducks 11.19% (141 votes)
Edmonton Oilers 10.71% (135 votes)
Arizona Coyotes 3.73% (47 votes)
Vancouver Canucks 3.41% (43 votes)
Total Votes: 1,260

[Mobile users click here to vote]

Noah Hanifin Re-Signs With Calgary Flames

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Late last night after a long negotiation the Calgary Flames announced a new contract for young defenseman Noah Hanifin. The restricted free agent will earn an average of $4.95MM for the next six seasons, carrying him through the 2023-24 season. Hanifin will be an unrestricted free agent at the conclusion of the contract. The deal includes an eight-team no-trade clause in the final two seasons.

After finishing last season out of the playoffs for the third year in a row, Hanifin has had quite the offseason. As his entry-level contract expired, it looked like he would be negotiating with Carolina Hurricanes GM Ron Francis on a new deal to make him one of their key defensemen for some time. Unfortunately at the end of April, Francis’ was terminated as GM of the team and Don Waddell took over the front office. Hanifin would have to negotiate with a different group, but still looked like he was a key part of the future. That lasted less than two months, as during the NHL Entry Draft in Dallas, Hanifin and teammate Elias Lindholm were dealt to the Flames in a blockbuster deal that brought back Dougie Hamilton.

Hanifin is now with a new organization but is still clearly expected to be a key member of the Flames for quite some time. The fifth pick of the 2015 draft immediately leapfrogs T.J. Brodie and Travis Hamonic in salary on the blue line and is signed longer than anyone on the team other than Lindholm and Mikael Backlund. The 21-year old will get to experience some familiarity this season though, as former Carolina head coach Bill Peters has been brought in to turn things around in Calgary. The Flames missed the playoffs last season despite trading away their first-round pick, but have done even more to revamp their roster for 2018-19.

Along with Hanifin and Lindholm, the team has brought in James Neal, Derek Ryan and Austin Czarnik to give them some more punch up front and still have more than $2.5MM in cap space to make an additional move. Hanifin’s deal compares quite nicely to some of his contemporaries around the league, given that the Flames bought out two years of unrestricted free agency. The most straightforward comparable according to CapFriendly is Morgan Rielly’s six-year pact with the Toronto Maple Leafs, which will pay him $5MM for another four seasons. While Hanifin hasn’t yet had the sort of responsibility Rielly experiences in Toronto, their draft pedigree and offensive impact through three seasons are almost identical.

For Calgary, the contract doesn’t come without risk. Even with all the supposed defensive depth in Carolina the last few years, the team has still struggled to keep the puck out of their own net and never really pushed to be Stanley Cup contenders. While a big reason for that is the sub-par goaltending they’ve received, some of it also has to fall on the shoulders of the defensive unit. Hanifin especially hasn’t proven himself as a top pairing defender yet, and even with his obvious skills at both ends of the ice only posted positive possession statistics for the first time last season. That came in really sheltered minutes, as Brett Pesce and Jaccob Slavin took the brunt of the difficult matchups.

Still, there is obviously a lot to like in Hanifin. For one thing he already has 239 games under his belt before he turns 22, and can be expected to take another few steps forward in his development. Being able to learn on a daily basis from a seasoned professional like Mark Giordano can only help his career, and there is reason to believe that he can breakout offensively if given the opportunity. Calgary certainly believes in his progression, and have rewarded him as such.

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