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MacKenzie Weegar Settles Prior To Arbitration

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Thursday: The team only just officially announced the deal, though obviously it was agreed to earlier this week since it is not an arbitration award.

Monday: The Florida Panthers and MacKenzie Weegar won’t need their arbitration hearing after all. CapFriendly reports that the two sides have agreed to a one-year contract worth $1.6MM. Two other arbitration cases are on the books for today, though they could also be settled at any point before a decision is awarded.

Weegar, 25, has been basically a full-time member of the Panthers the last two seasons suiting up for 124 games since the start of 2017-18. In that time he has recorded 23 points and solid enough possession numbers, though he is still sheltered and receives fewer than 16 minutes of ice time each night. That number could very well go down in 2019-20, as the team brought in veteran defenseman Anton Stralman to take over a ton of minutes on the right side. Stralman is carrying a $5.5MM cap hit in each of the next three years.

There will also be plenty of competition for the bottom pairing in Florida, as players like Mark Pysyk, Josh Brown and Ian McCoshen (still unsigned) battle for playing time. The Panthers have sunk a ton of money into the team this offseason to make it competitive under new head coach Joel Quenneville, meaning Weegar will need to play even better to get on the ice.

A one-year contract will leave the young defenseman a restricted free agent again next summer, when he will be arbitration eligible once again.

Bobrovsky: Florida Was His Top Choice In Free Agency

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  • New Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky opened up to Sport 24’s Daria Tubolseva regarding his departure from Columbus. He mentioned that he informed management following their postseason exit in 2018 that he had no intentions of staying with the Blue Jackets but management decided to try to re-sign him anyway at various points throughout the season.  Bobrovsky called Florida his top option when he was assessing teams to sign with and he wasted little time joining them, inking a seven-year, $70MM contract shortly after the signing period opened up on July 1st.

Florida Panthers Agree To Terms With Ian McCoshen

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The Florida Panthers are getting their restricted free agent business done today, as after avoiding arbitration with MacKenzie Weegar the team has agreed to terms with Ian McCoshen. McCoshen will sign a one-year, two-way contract for 2019-20, though the exact financials have not been released yet.

McCoshen, 23, still hasn’t had quite the impact at the NHL level that the Panthers were hoping for when they made him the 31st overall pick in 2013. After three years at Boston College the 6’3″ defenseman was expected to take a very short amount of time in the minor leagues before being ready to step into an NHL role, but that hasn’t worked out quite as planned. Now three seasons into his pro career, McCoshen has only suited up 60 times with the Panthers and is by no means guaranteed a role at that level in 2019-20.

Never a huge offensive threat, McCoshen was instead heralded for his tight gaps on defense and ability to engage physically when necessary. In extremely limited ice time, he has just seven points in those 60 games and has posted very poor possession statistics. In order to receive any more opportunity this season he will have to battle against players like Weegar and Josh Brown in training camp and show there is another level to his performance.

Still, it’s not time yet to give up on the young defenseman nor is it time to pencil him into the Springfield Thunderbirds roster to start the year. No longer waiver-exempt, the team might have to keep him in the NHL for a while as another team could easily find him attractive enough to put in a claim if he were to be exposed at the end of training camp. While the Panthers are now looking to compete and will be trying to trim the fat from their roster, a rebuilding club could certainly give McCoshen a chance as a bottom-pairing option to see what he can develop into. With just nine forwards signed to one-way contracts, the Panthers will have some flexibility at the start of the year if they want to keep all eight defensemen on the roster.

Atlantic Notes: Backes, Montembeault, Domingue, Alzner

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The discussion of whether the Boston Bruins could get out from under the contract of veteran center David Backes has been ongoing for some time. It’s been determined that Backes, who has seen his numbers drop significantly in the last year while the team still owes him two more years at $6MM AAV, would be almost impossible to move, especially after the Toronto Maple Leafs unloaded Patrick Marleau and his one-year at $6.25MM to Carolina and was forced to include a first-round pick.

However, NBC Sports Boston Joe Haggerty re-analyzes the situation after the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers completed a swap of what many thought to be untradeable contracts. The problem once again for Boston is that trading Backes for another bad contract doesn’t help the Bruins as Backes only has two years left on his deal, while most of the other bad contracts have quite a bit more time remaining. Vancouver’s Loui Eriksson has the exact same contract and might even provide a slight more offense than Backes can, but any kind of one-on-one deal would require Boston to take an extra year of his contract as Eriksson still has three years remaining at that salary, hardly solving the team’s problem.

Unless the can find an unusual fit, it seems like Boston will be stuck with Backes for at least one more year.

  • Despite making moves this summer to turn their team in a bonafide playoff team by bringing in head coach Joel Quenneville as well as signing star goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, the Florida Panthers aren’t expected to be looking to sign a veteran goaltender to back the goalie up. The Athletic’s George Richards (subscription required) writes that Florida believes that 22-year-old Sam Montembeault is ready to be the backup and the job is his to lose. The youngster made 11 appearances late in the season last year and while his numbers weren’t overwhelming (3.04 GAA, .894 save percentage), he had moments where he looked like he was ready. The scribe reports, however, he will receive a battle from Chris Driedger, who looked sharp in 32 appearances with the Springfield Thunderbirds of the AHL.Because of Driedger, who the team re-upped earlier this summer, it’s unlikely the team brings in a veteran in case Montembeault isn’t ready for a NHL job yet.
  • Mari Faiello of the Tampa Bay Times writes that one of the main reasons the Tampa Bay Lightning went out and signed prized backup goaltender Curtis McElhinney to a two-year, $2.6MM deal on July 1 was because they were concerned about the fact that current backup Louis Domingue was going to be an unrestricted free agent next summer and would likely expect a raise. Domingue, who has been solid at $1.15MM, might cost too much to re-sign, but a chance to get the veteran McElhinney at $1.3MM AAV was too much to pass up. The team will likely wait to move Domingue until training camp when teams start realizing they need goaltending help.
  • The Athletic’s Sean Gordon (subscription required) writes that with the signing of forward Charles Hudon Friday, the team opened up a two-day buyout window that starts on Monday and the team could opt to buy out defenseman Karl Alzner if they wanted to. Alzner, who has three years remaining at $4.63MM AAV, isn’t a certain candidate, however, as the Canadiens could have bought him out during the first buyout period and didn’t. However, the team could free up a little more money to sign another free agent such as Jake Gardiner, who still is without a contract this summer.

Snapshots: Off-Season, College Free Agents, Bratislava

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Three weeks into free agency, it’s fair to begin analyzing how teams have improved this off-season, even though there are still several notable UFA’s who remain unsigned. The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn did just that, using his predictive model to look at which team has done the most this summer. Topping the list, unsurprisingly, are the New York Rangers, who have added Artemi Panarin, Jacob Trouba, Kaapo Kakko, and Adam Fox among others. Although some have been critical of their contract details, the Florida Panthers come in a close second after adding Sergei Bobrovsky, Anton Stralman, Brett Connolly, and Noel Acciari. The Vancouver Canucks (Tyler Myers, J.T. Miller, Micheal Ferland), Chicago Blackhawks (Robin Lehner, Calvin de Haan, Olli Maatta), and Washington Capitals (Radko Gudas, Richard Panik, Garnet Hathaway) round out the top five off-season performers, per Luszczyszyn. His bottom team, very obviously, is the Columbus Blue Jackets, who faced an almost-impossible task of improving with Panarin, Bobrovsky, Matt Duchene, and Ryan Dzingel all hitting the open market. The addition of Gustav Nyquist is a nice move, but not enough to keep them from being the team that was hurt the most this summer. Even the nearest team, the San Jose Sharks, are not that close in terms of projected wins lost, and they have added no new players of note this summer. Fortunately, for Columbus and several other teams who have failed to improve but have the cap space to do so, there are a number of good players still available in free agency and salary cap crunches and restricted free agent dilemmas across the league will likely force substantial talent onto the trade block before the new season gets underway.

  • Another way that teams may be able to improve this summer is by adding some soon-to-be-available college free agents next month. While it’s not the most talented class and lacks any star standouts like years past, the August NCAA group could provide some minor league depth a potential NHL upside to a number of teams. Expect Quinnipiac offensive blue liner Chase Priskie to be the most sought-after target. The following are the players set to become free agents on August 15th, along with the team that drafted them:

F Brent Gates, University of Minnesota (ANA)
D Steven Ruggiero, Lake Superior State University (ANA)
F Christopher Brown, Boston University (BUF) – signed to AHL deal with WBS
D Ivan Chukarov, University of Massachusetts (BUF)
F Max Willman, Boston University (BUF)
F Beau Starrett, Cornell University (CHI)
G Chase Perry, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (DET)
D Vincent Desharnais, Providence College (EDM) – signed to AHL deal with Bakersfield
F J.D. Dudek, Boston College (EDM)
G Hayden Hawkey, Providence College (EDM)
F Joe Wegwerth, University of Notre Dame (FLA)
D Nick Boka, University of Michigan (MIN) – signed to AHL deal with Iowa
D Jack Sadek, University of Minnesota (MIN) – signed to AHL deal with Iowa
D Nikolas Koberstein, University of Alaska-Fairbanks (MTL)
F Thomas Novak, University of Minnesota (NSH) – signed to AHL deal with Milwaukee
D Miles Gendron, University of Connecticut (OTT) – signed to AHL deal with Belleville
F Brendan Warren, University of Michigan (PHI) – signed to ECHL deal with Indy
F Jacob Jackson, Michigan Tech University (SJS)
G Jake Kupsky, Union College (SJS)
F Marcus Vela, University of New Hampshire (SJS)
D Chase Priskie, Quinnipiac University (WSH)
F Steven Spinner, University of Nebraska-Omaha (WSH)

  • HC Slovan Bratislava is enjoying an active off-season, signing eight players, but it’s still unclear where they’ll be playing next season. Bratislava announced in May that it would be leaving the KHL and re-joining the Slovakina Extraliga. However, Slovakian news source Sport.SK says that it’s not that simple. The club owes a total debt of $3MM to 60 players who were not fully compensated when Bratislava last played for their national league. Until that debt is square, the league could block their re-entry. As of now, Bratislava has offered to pay 30% of the debt up front and then negotiate payment schedules with the former players to cover the rest of the outstanding debt. The league has until August 7th to make a decision about the team’s future, either granting them a license to participate or not, but in the meantime they have officially signed eight players with the expectation of playing this season and Sport.SK reports that at least seven more are waiting to sign on. One such player waiting to see how things play out is former NHL defenseman Andrej Meszaros, who captained the team over the past three years in the KHL. One would expect the most well-known pro team in Slovakia to gain entrance back into the top native league, but unpaid player salaries is a sensitive issue in Europe and there could be more hoops to jump through before anything becomes official.

Panthers Re-Sign Samuel Montembeault And Jayce Hawryluk

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July 19: The Panthers have officially announced the contract for Montembeault, confirming the details. Hawryluk’s deal was announced on Wednesday.

July 15: The Panthers have re-signed two of their remaining restricted free agents as goaltender Samuel Montembeault has signed a one-year, two-way deal, CapFriendly reports.  The contract is worth his qualifying offer of just over $708K in the NHL and $70K in the AHL.  Meanwhile, CapFriendly also notes that forward Jayce Hawryluk also accepted his qualifier worth a little more than $874K in the NHL and $70K in the minors.

Montembeault went into last season as the backup at the AHL level behind Michael Hutchinson but a decent showing from him allowed Florida to deal him to Toronto.  The 22-year-old then got a look with the Panthers as Roberto Luongo and James Reimer dealt with injury issues and general struggles.  He held his own in his time with Florida, posting a 3.04 GAA with a .894 SV% in 11 appearances.  As things stand, he heads into next season as the frontrunner to be the backup to new starter Sergei Bobrovsky.  However, as he’s still waiver-exempt, it’s quite possible that he will be back in the minors next year with the team bringing in another backup in the weeks to come.

Hawryluk also split last season between Florida and AHL Springfield.  While he was quite productive with the Thunderbirds with 32 points in 31 games, he wasn’t able to come close to that type of success in the NHL.  He suited up in 42 games with the Panthers but recorded only seven goals and five assists although his ice time was rather limited at only 9:26 per night.  He’ll likely get a chance to reprise his role on the fourth line next season and if he fails to make the team, Hawryluk will have to pass it through waivers to make it back to the minors.

Poll: How Many Unresolved Arbitration Cases Will Require An Award?

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In the NHL, the salary arbitration process is more often used as a negotiating tool – an incentive to get a deal done before the uncomfortable setting of a hearing and the unknown of an arbitrator’s decision – than it is for its actual purpose. A vast majority of players who file for arbitration end up settling before their hearing or even at the last moment before an award is handed down. Last year, 44 players filed for arbitration and 40 settled prior to their hearing. The year before, all 30 cases were resolved before an arbitration award could be made.

So what about this year? There were initially 40 cases of player-elected arbitration and one case of team-elected arbitration (the St. Louis Blues and goalie Ville Husso), but that number is now down to 25 open cases. That’s a substantial drop-off, but time is running out for some RFA’s and their teams to come to terms, as the first scheduled hearing is set to take place on Saturday, July 20th. Listed below are all of the remaining cases:

July 20: Brock McGinn, Carolina Hurricanes
July 21: Andrew Copp, Winnipeg Jets
July 22: MacKenzie Weegar, Florida Panthers; Zach Aston-Reese, Pittsburgh Penguins; Ville Husso, St. Louis Blues; Christian Djoos, Washington Capitals
July 23: Evan Rodrigues, Buffalo Sabres
July 24: Oskar Sundqvist, St. Louis Blues; Neal Pionk, Winnipeg Jets
July 25: Jacob Trouba, New York Rangers
July 26: Colton Sissons, Nashville Predators
July 27: Sam Bennett, Calgary Flames
July 28: Mirco Mueller, New Jersey Devils
July 29: David Rittich, Calgary Flames; Pavel Buchnevich, New York Rangers
August 1: Remi Elie, Buffalo Sabres; Chandler Stephenson, Washington Capitals
August 2: Linus Ullmark, Buffalo Sabres; Charles Hudon, Montreal Canadiens; Will Butcher, New Jersey Devils
August 4: Jake McCabe, Buffalo Sabres; Anton Forsberg, Carolina Hurricanes; Sheldon Dries, Colorado Avalanche; Rocco Grimaldi, Nashville Predators; Joel Edmundson, St. Louis Blues

Given the time constraints and the complexity of each of these cases, how many will feel forced to go to hearing? Will Trouba be one of that select group, as he was last year? Will the Sabres struggle to settle four cases before their scheduled hearing dates? Will the Blues see through their team-elected case with Husso? Will other goalies prove to be difficult negotiations? And will polarizing players like Bennett and Buchnevich fail to find common ground with their teams? Or will it be under-the-radar players like Gemel Smith and Brett Kulak last year who go through the full process?

There are many questions left about this group of restricted free agents and time is running out before we know the answers. So the choice is yours: will we see an unprecedented class of arbitration awards or will all or most cases reach a resolution in the coming weeks?

[Mobile users click here to vote]

Florida Panthers Agree To Terms With Three Players

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The Florida Panthers officially have agreed to terms with Dryden Hunt, Thomas Schemitsch and Jayce Hawryluk on one-year two-way contracts. Hawryluk’s agreement had been previously reported, with CapFriendly noting that he had accepted his qualifying offer worth $874K in the NHL. The other two will earn $715K at the NHL level. All three will still be restricted free agents next summer.

Hunt, 23, is one of the players who has quietly developed into a legitimate NHL option for the Panthers the last few seasons. Undrafted out of the WHL, Hunt ended up exploding in his final year of junior to the tune of 58 goals and 116 points in 72 games for the Moose Jaw Warriors. Jumping to the professional ranks didn’t slow him down, and he has now posted consecutive 23-goal seasons for the AHL Springfield Thunderbirds, despite spending time in both seasons with the Panthers. In 42 NHL games he has 11 points, and he heads into 2019-20 as a player fighting for a role on an improved team. If he can make it, it’s hard to bet against a player that has been overlooked for so long but defied the odds at every opportunity.

Hawryluk is another player who will be battling for a chance to start the year in the NHL, but comes with a much higher draft pedigree. The 32nd overall pick in 2014 made his NHL debut last season, suiting up 42 times for the Panthers and recorded 12 points. Hawryluk has proven he can hang in the bottom-six for the Panthers, but with additions like Brett Connolly and Noal Acciari lengthening out the lineup, there is no guarantee he sees a full season this year.

Schemitsch, 22, is the only one of the three yet to make his debut in the NHL but is not to be overlooked. The third round pick from 2015 had 24 points in 56 games for Springfield while also having the size and reach to handle defensive coverage at the professional level. The 6’4″ defenseman will continue to try and take the necessary developmental steps to make it to the highest level, though things are a little crowded there after the addition of Anton Stralman in free agency.

Florida Panthers Sign Three Players

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Both Anthony Greco and Dominic Toninato decided not to file for arbitration earlier this month, but they won’t have to wait through a long contract negotiation. The pair of minor league forwards have both agreed to one-year, two-way contracts with the Panthers. According to PuckPedia, Jayce Hawryluk has also signed, accepting his two-way qualifying offer worth $874K at the NHL level.

Greco, 25, made his NHL debut last season for the Panthers while also putting up a career season in the minor leagues. The undrafted forward scored 30 goals and 59 points for the Springfield Thunderbirds, leading them in both categories. That kind of offensive production is more than anyone saw coming with Greco, who never cracked 23 points in a single season at Ohio State University where he played for four years.

Toninato is a bit of a different story. Originally selected by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2012, he also went the NCAA route for four years. After signing with the Colorado Avalanche however, he quickly made it to the NHL and suited up 37 times in 2017-18. Incredibly, Toninato was held to just two assists in those 37 NHL games and has just three points total over 39 contests. After a trade brought him to Florida it seems unlikely that he’ll get a real shot with the Panthers before proving himself in their minor league system.

That may not be the cast for Hawryluk, who will be battling for a roster spot right from the beginning of the season. The 23-year old played 42 games for the Panthers last season and recorded 12 points, establishing himself as a legitimate NHL option. Whenever he was in the minor leagues he dominated the competition, and looks about as ready as he’ll ever be for the big stage. The 32nd overall pick from 2014, Hawryluk has even more competition for the last few spots on the roster thanks to free agent additions like Brett Connolly and Noal Acciari pushing everyone down a peg.

Atlantic Notes: Divisional Upgrades?, McAvoy, Barre-Boulet

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Despite quite a bit of movement this offseason, it doesn’t look like much has changed in the Atlantic Division. With three teams that have dominated the division for the past few seasons, several teams were hoping to vault themselves into contention for the top of the Atlantic. However, The Athletic’s John Vogl (subscription required) analyzes each line of each divisional team and comes to the conclusion that little has changed.

The Boston Bruins are in the top half of the division on almost every line from forwards to defensemen and especially show off their defensive depth to still be ranked at the top. The Toronto Maple Leafs have also improved their team with a number of defensive additions and have quite a bit of forward depth as always, but their third-pairing depth is expected to be at the bottom of the division. Tampa Bay continues to be one of the strongest teams with a number of top lines throughout the division.

While many feel that Florida has taken that next step after the team signed goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky and added a pair of depth forwards in Brett Connolly and Noel Acciari, the Panthers find themselves in the middle of the pack for most of their lines. Even Bobrovsky doesnt’ give Florida that big of an advantage considering that he’s now in a division with Frederik Andersen, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tuukka Rask and Carey Price.

  • The Boston Globe’s Kevin Paul Dupont writes that after the Boston Bruins inked forward Danton Heinen to a two-year deal at $2.8MM AAV, the Bruins will now focus their attention on their two most challenging restricted free agents in Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo. The negotiations should prove challenging as the team hopes to keep their combined total to under $10MM per season. The team should be able to handle that. However, if they combine for closer to $11-12MM, the team will have to make some roster moves to free up some cap space. McAvoy, who has scored 14 goals and 60 points over two seasons and has proven the ability to be the team’s lead defenseman should get the most of that money, but Carlo’s development seems to have increased his value during the playoffs and he should get quite a raise as well.
  • With some openings at the bottom of their offensive depth chart, NHL.com’s Bryan Burns writes in his recent mailbag piece that there are a number of AHL players that are ready to challenge for these openings, including Alex Barre-Boulet, Carter Verhaeghe at the top of the list. Barre-Boulet, who the team signed out of the QMJHL after he went undrafted, dominated in his first season in the AHL last season, while Verhaeghe finally posted a dominant season with the Syracuse Crunch after toiling in the ECHL for several years. Tampa Bay, which has proven to be proficient in developing their players for NHL duty, also have a number of other prospects close to ready as well, including Alexander Volkov, Mitchell Stephens and Cory Conacher.

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