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Exclusive Negotiating Rights Of 33 Draft Picks Expire

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The deadline for signing draft picks has come and gone, and unless more deals come in after the fact, 33 players—the same total as last year—will see their exclusive negotiating rights expire. With it they will either re-enter the 2018 draft for the final time or become free agents, depending on their age. Adam Mascherin is the highest picked player among those who will be headed back into the draft, selected 38th overall by the Florida Panthers two years ago. Below is the full list of players:

Anaheim Ducks:

F Tyler Soy (7th round, 2016)

Arizona Coyotes:

F Anton Karlsson (3rd round, 2014)
D David Westlund (6th round, 2014)

Buffalo Sabres:

D Vojtech Budik (5th round, 2016)
F Brandon Hagel (6th round, 2016)
D Austin Osmanski (7th round, 2016)

Calgary Flames:

D Adam Ollas Mattsson (6th round, 2014)

Carolina Hurricanes: 

C Hudson Elynuik (3rd round, 2016)
D Noah Carroll (6th round, 2016)

Chicago Blackhawks:

D Andreas Soderberg (5th round, 2014)

Colorado Avalanche:

G Maximilian Pajpach (6th round, 2014)

Dallas Stars:

D Miro Karjalainen (5th round, 2014)

Detroit Red Wings:

D Jordan Sambrook (5th round, 2016)
F Julius Vahatalo (6th round, 2014)

Florida Panthers:

G Hugo Fagerblom (7th round, 2014)
C Adam Mascherin (2nd round, 2016)

Los Angeles Kings:

D Jacob Friend (7th round, 2016)

Minnesota Wild:

D Pontus Sjalin (6th round, 2014)
D Brayden Chizen (7th round, 2016)

New Jersey Devils:

G Evan Cormier (4th round, 2016)

Philadelphia Flyers:

C Anthony Salinitri (6th round, 2016)

Pittsburgh Penguins:

D Connor Hall (3rd round, 2016)

San Jose Sharks:

D Mark Shoemaker (6th round, 2016)

Tampa Bay Lightning:

C Christopher Paquette (5th round, 2016)

Toronto Maple Leafs:

D Keaton Middleton (4th rond, 2016)
F J.J. Piccinich (4th round, 2014)
D Nicolas Mattinen (6th round, 2016)

Vancouver Canucks:

D Cole Candella (5th round, 2016)
F Jakob Stukel (6th round, 2016)
C Brett McKenzie (7th round, 2016)

Washington Capitals:

F Kevin Elgestal (7th round, 2014)
D Dmitri Zaitsev (7th round, 2016)

Winnipeg Jets:

C Jordan Stallard (5th round, 2016)

Calgary Flames Name Geoff Ward, Ryan Huska Assistant Coaches

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The Calgary Flames have a new coaching group for the 2017-18 season, with Bill Peters at the head. Today, the team announced that Geoff Ward and Ryan Huska have been hired as Peters’ assistants.

Ward had spent the last three seasons with the New Jersey Devils, but had interviewed for the Flames head coaching job in 2016 before the team eventually hired Glen Gulutzan. The 56-year old will likely be in charge of fixing the team’s powerplay, a unit that ended up 28th in the league last season with just a 16% success rate. With players like Johnny Gaudreau and Dougie Hamilton that number should easily be much higher, and Ward will be tasked with developing the new strategy.

Huska on the other hand is a homegrown coaching talent that had been the head coach of the Stockton Heat/Adirondack Flames for the past four years. The 42-year old was a third-round pick by the Chicago Blackhawks in 1993, but ended up playing just a single NHL game in his short career. After finding great success in the WHL as the coach of the Kelowna Rockets, the AHL was a tougher assignment. Huska will end his AHL coaching career (for now) with a 135-118-27 record, and only one playoff appearance (that ended in first round exit).

He’ll be asked to run the penalty kill this season and help the defensemen, though Peters is obviously expected to also be a big part of fixing the Flames blue line. Going into the season Calgary looked to have one of the deepest and most talented defensive groups in the NHL, but many failed to live up to expectations and struggled to find any consistency. Peters has been known for some time as a defensive guru, though his results on that front are far from conclusive during his days in Carolina. That will be the key to turning everything around in Calgary, and it starts with Huska who will step in to a group that needs to live up to expectations in 2018-19.

Flames Looking To Acquire More Draft Picks, Closing In On Hiring Geoff Ward As An Assistant Coach

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The Flames have explored trying to get back into the first round of the draft and have even spoken with the teams holding the top picks, Assistant GM Craig Conroy acknowledged during an interview with Sportsnet 960 (audio link).  However, the indication that they have been given is that none of the teams at the top are interested in dealing their selections.  Calgary has just four picks next month and the earliest is 105th overall so they will be continuing to try to add to what they have.  When asked about the likelihood that they’d be able to do so, Conroy handicapped their odds as 60/40 that they would be able to add another pick, though not necessarily a first-rounder.

  • Still with Calgary, Sportsnet 960’s Pat Steinberg reports (Twitter link) that Devils assistant coach Geoff Ward has emerged as a candidate to fill a similar role with the Flames. Ward has spent the last three seasons in New Jersey while doubling as an assistant for the German National Team for the past four years.  He also spent seven seasons as an assistant with Boston.  Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman adds via Twitter that Ward is likely Calgary-bound.  Steinberg also notes that Ryan Huska, the head coach of Calgary’s AHL affiliate in Stockton, is a candidate to be promoted to work under new bench boss Bill Peters.

Snapshots: Vrbata, Snow, Calgary

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Radim Vrbata had already announced that he would be retiring from the NHL after this season, and in an excellent piece by Craig Morgan of AZ Sports he goes into just why he made the decision. Vrbata plans on coaching his son’s hockey team in the Czech Republic, before deciding where his hockey career—whatever that entails—will take him next.

Vrbata will end his career having played 1,057 games in the NHL, scoring 623 points in the process. Though he never won a Stanley Cup, he did get to the Conference Finals with the Phoenix Coyotes in 2011-12, the same year he scored a career-high 35 goals. The seventh-round pick from 1999 proved to be an excellent offensive producer throughout his career, cracking 50 points on four occasions and scoring 30+ goals twice.

  • Garth Snow and the rest of the New York Islanders front office were apparently caught off guard by the hiring of Lou Lamoriello recently, as Larry Brooks of the New York Post reports. Snow and Islanders’ head coach Doug Weight were at the IIHF World Championship scouting in Denmark when the team hired Lamoriello to run their hockey operations, and were “kept out of the loop.” While Brooks doesn’t expand on what that means, it does add a little awkwardness as Snow is currently still listed as GM and Alternate Governor of the team, though many reports have Lamoriello with full control of the team.
  • Just as Ottawa falls into disarray again with the recent comments of Daniel Alfredsson over the desire for a new owner, Calgary gets some good news on their future. The Flames have been embroiled in a battle with the city over a prospective new arena, with both sides walking away from the table late last year. Now, city council has voted to open talks again with the team to try and get some progress towards a new home for the Flames. Several times team President Ken King has hinted that staying at their current home for much longer isn’t financially feasible, with some taking that to mean that possible relocation would happen down the road without a new arena. While this is extremely preliminary, it is at least a step in the right direction.

Karri Ramo Expected To Return To KHL’s Avangard Omsk

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Former NHL goaltender Karri Ramo has his sights set on a return, but not across the Atlantic. Instead, Ramo is expected to remain in the KHL, but sign with former team Avangard Omsk in Russia. Ramo spent this season with Jokerit, a KHL squad in his native Finland, but Russian source Championat reports that Omsk will soon announce that they have brought back the talented keeper.

Ramo, 31, is coming off of such a strong season that there was speculation that there could be interest in the NHL even though he made only 18 regular season starts for Jokerit. Ramo shared the net with U.S. Olympian Ryan Zapolski this year, but made less than half as many starts as the veteran American. However, in his limited action, Ramo was easily the best “backup” in the KHL with a .930 save percentage and 1.94 GAA. Appearances aside, those numbers were good enough for thirteenth and seventh respectively in the KHL, yet somehow just a shade worse than Zapolski. Ramo’s time came in the postseason though; he was the hot hand and made six starts to Zapolski’s five and posted an incredible .954 save percentage and 1.31 GAA.

With Omsk, Ramo will return to the team that he starred for from 2009 to 2013. A sixth-round pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2004, Ramo joined the Bolts as a rookie in 2006-07 and spent three years as the team’s primary backup. Ramo then left for the KHL in 2009 and quickly became on of the league’s top keepers, leading Avangard to four straight postseason appearances while posting a GAA of 2.11 or better in each season. Given his renewed value overseas, Ramo returned to the NHL in 2013 and split starts for the Calgary Flames for three seasons, but struggled to find the same success he had in Russia. In returning to Omsk, Ramo will be expected to solve the severe goaltending issues that plagued the team last season with the help of fellow new addition Igor Bobkov. Ramo will also reunite with former Calgary coach and recent Omsk hire Bob Hartley as the pair look to improve on a team that is lacking in high-end talent. A star goalie, strong defense, and experienced coaching could be all that Avangard need to make a run next season though.

Bob Hartley Hired By KHL’s Avangard Omsk

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Veteran coach Bob Hartley is headed back to the professional ranks. European hockey insider Igor Eronko reports that Hartley has been hired by Avangard Omsk of the KHL. This marks his first pro head coaching job since he was fired by the Calgary Flames back in 2016.

Hartley has had a highly successful coaching career and brings an immense amount of pedigree to Omsk. After working his way up through the QMJHL and AHL, Hartley was given his first NHL head coaching gig by the Colorado Avalanche in 1998. In his first four seasons with the Avs, Hartley guided the team to four straight conference finals and a Stanley Cup championship in 2001. When Hartley was fired mid-season by Colorado in 2002-03, he was hired almost immediately by the Atlanta Thrashers, where he coached for parts of six seasons. Hartley was out of the NHL for just one season – during which he won the NLA championship with the ZSC Lions – before he returned as the head coach of the Calgary Flames in 2012. Hartley won the 2015 Jack Adams Award as the best coach in the league for his work reinvigorating the Flames. Altogether, Hartley has a .568 winning percentage in the NHL and has reached the postseason six times.

For the past two years, Hartley has been working for the Latvian national team. He was the head coach for each of their past two World Championship entries and also consulted on their junior program. In this most recent World Championships, Latvia surprised many with a 3-1-1-2 record and seventh-place finish. Hartley’s coaching was back in the eye of the mainstream media and it is no surprise that he has landed a new job as a result. With Avangard, Hartley will take over a roster that has some good pieces, including a very solid defense, but is quite far from being a true contender. If he is able to turn the team around and improve on a twelfth-place finish last year without any further additions to the roster, it will be yet another impressive addition to his coaching resume. Don’t be surprised to see Hartley back in the conversation for an NHL job in the near future if he finds success during his KHL tenure.

Calgary Close To Naming Assistant Coaches

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  • Eric Francis of the Calgary Sun writes that the Calgary Flames are on the verge of announcing their assistant coaches that will aid new head coach Bill Peters this season after the team let assistants Paul Jerrard and Dave Cameron go when they fired Glen Gulutzan on April 17. While he didn’t have any specifics other than the announcement will come some time next week, Francis did speculate that the team might be leaning towards promoting Stockton Heat head coach Ryan Huska.

Andrew Mangiapane Expected To Resume On-Ice Training In A Month

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  • Flames winger Andrew Mangiapane is on schedule, if not slightly ahead of it, when it comes to his recovery from shoulder surgery, reports Postmedia’s Wes Gilbertson. He went under the knife in mid-March after sustaining the injury in the AHL and is roughly a month away from getting back to on-ice training.  Despite being in the minors at the time, he should have a chance to crack Calgary’s lineup on a full-time basis after holding his own in ten games with the big club this past season.

Roman Cervenka, Kevin Klein Staying In Switzerland

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Two former NHLers won’t be testing the North American market this summer. The ZSC Lions, the defending champions of the Swiss NLA, announced today that veteran defenseman Kevin Klein has signed an extension with the team and talented free agent forward Roman Cervenka has agreed to join the club. Both players are coming off strong seasons and further strengthen a championship roster that will also return top scorer Fredrik Pettersson and other former NHLers Drew Shore, Robert Nilsson, and Roman Wick next season.

Klein, 33, will return for a second season with the Lions after leaving North America last off-season with 12 NHL seasons under his belt between the Nashville Predators and New York Rangers. Known more for his conservative defensive play in the NHL, Klein impressed in his first season in the NLA with 22 points in 45 games to go along with his typical shutdown game in his own end. Klein was a force on the ice in the regular season, leading the team in penalty minutes and holding down the defensive zone on the team’s first pair. However, it was the postseason that really exemplified Klein’s ability, as he led the team with a +12 rating and trailed only Pettersson with 12 points on the team’s run to the title. Given that exclamation point on the year, it is no surprise that ZSC wanted to re-sign Klein this off-season. It is possible he would have gotten some looks in the NHL after a rebound year in Switzerland.

The rich get even richer though with the Lions’ addition of Cervenka. The 32-year-old has had a legendary hockey career overseas, even if his NHL experiment with the Calgary Flames in 2012-13 didn’t go so well. Cervenka finished his third straight season and the sixth of his career with a better than point-per-game pace in 2017-18. Although injuries limited him to just 32 regular season games with HC Fribourg-Gotteron, Cervenka nevertheless led the team with 37 points and added another team-best five points in the playoffs. In fact, Cervenka led the NLA in points per game among players with at least 25 games played. When healthy, the Czech center is a proven winner who has produced similar results in the NLA, KHL, and Czech League and on the international stage. A smart, two-way pivot who is an excellent play-maker, Cervenka likely would have drawn at least some interest among NHL teams if he had wanted to test the waters of free agency. Instead, he makes ZSC a formidable opponent in the NLA next season as they look to defend their title.

Offseason Keys: Calgary Flames

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While the playoffs are ongoing, many teams have already started their offseason planning.  What storylines lie ahead around the league?  Our Offseason Keys series continues with a look at the Calgary Flames.

After making the playoffs a year earlier, Calgary took a step back this past season.  A late-season injury to Mike Smith was costly as the team struggled down the stretch and wound up missing the playoffs as a result.  That led to a change behind the bench as Glen Gulutzan was let go with former Carolina bench boss Bill Peters takes over.  That and the departure of Brian Burke have been the big off-ice changes so far but the Flames have some key decisions to make on the ice as well.

Determine Their Backup

Eddie Lack was brought in to be the backup goaltender for Smith but that didn’t last too long.  He struggled mightily at the beginning of the year and wound up being dealt to New Jersey in a swap of waived-and-buried veteran players.  That resulted in a pair of youngsters getting chances and suffice it to say, the results were mixed.

David Rittich got off to a strong start, posting a .938 SV% in his first six starts.  However, he failed to come even close to maintaining that mark the rest of the way, checking in with a .889 mark in his final 14 appearances which is well below the NHL average.  Jon Gillies saw some action when Smith went down and he was consistently inconsistent and didn’t stake a claim to a full-time spot either.

Both players are set to become restricted free agents this summer and if nothing else, they should receive qualifying offers.  However, is it a prudent move to leave the number two spot open for one of them?  Or does it make more sense to add a veteran backup in a move similar to what Lack was supposed to provide this past season?  While a backup goaltender doesn’t seem like a key need most of the time, that player can make a big difference, a lesson that Calgary learned the hard way in 2017-18.

Find A Top Line RW

This one has been on their radar for a while.  Three years ago, Michael Frolik was brought in and while he has shown an offensive touch at times, he’s too inconsistent to hold down a spot alongside Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan.  The following summer, Troy Brouwer was brought in to fill that spot.  Two years later, that $4.5MM per year contract looks like somewhat of an albatross after he scored just six times this past season.

Micheal Ferland saw some time to start the season and to his credit, he held his own relatively well despite being more of a physical energy player.  The team brought in Jaromir Jagr with the hopes that he could keep up and that simply didn’t happen; he wound up being waived and loaned back to the Czech Republic.  Ferland saw a lot of time there in the second half of the year but that’s still not his ideal spot to be.

Finding a legitimate scoring threat to play on that top unit would go a long way towards helping an offense that ranked 26th overall in the NHL in 2017-18.  Not only would it make that top line that much more dangerous but it would also allow their other wingers to play in roles that are better suited for them.

Decision On Bennett

Sam Bennett’s third full NHL season largely resembled that of his sophomore campaign which has led to plenty of questions about his long-term upside.  The fourth overall pick in 2014 has shown flashes that he can still become an impact player but at other times, he has struggled considerably.  A change of position from center to the wing didn’t do much to change his fortunes either.

Last summer, the call Calgary needed to make was whether to give him a bridge contract or take a gamble and lock him up long-term.  They went with the short-term deal, two years with a $1.95MM cap hit and that certainly looks like the right choice at this time after he put up his second straight 26 point campaign.

This offseason, the decision that needs to be made is whether or not they still believe he is part of their long-term future.  If not, the time might be right to move him, even though his value isn’t exactly at its peak.  If there’s a team that believes a change of scenery is all he needs to get on track, the Flames should still be able to leverage a quality asset in return.  If they opt to hold onto him, one more year like the one he just had will only weaken his value.  On the flip side, with Peters behind the bench and a new system in place, GM Brad Treliving has to at least consider the possibility that those changes might be enough to get Bennett going in Calgary.  It’s a bit of a risky decision to make either way but it’s a call that they will have to make sooner than later.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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