Snapshots: Senators, Slepets, Rossi
As the Ottawa Senators look to finally move past their extended rebuild and take a step toward relevance this season, it is about time they name a leader of this next stage for the franchise. Speaking with the Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch, Senators head coach D.J. Smith stated that “It’s time for someone to be the leader of this group.” Smith believes that Ottawa is ready to name a captain after a three-season hiatus and tells Garrioch that he intends to speak with owner Eugene Melnyk and GM Pierre Dorion about making a decision before the end of training camp. The last player to wear the “C” was Erik Karlsson during the 2017-18 season and the Senators have used only alternates in the years since. However, with young defenseman Thomas Chabot signed long-term and young forward Brady Tkachuk hoping to join him for years to come, the Senators have two players that can be the face of the franchise for many years and either one would be a good pick as captain. Which one will be a difficult and important decision for the young locker room, which is why the organization’s leaders have taken their time and will still wait to name a captain until closer to the beginning of the season.
- The odds of Carolina Hurricanes prospect Kirill Slepets making the jump to North America any time soon took another hit today. Just two weeks ago, Slepets re-signed in the KHL on a one-year deal with Spartak Moscow. The move came on the heels of a poor season for Slepets in which he played exclusively in the second-tier VHL rather than the KHL and led some to believe that the 22-year-old may cross the pond to continue his development. Instead, he stayed in Russia and after today’s trade may be settling in for an extended stay. Spartak has traded Slepets to his hometown team, Amur Khabarovsk, the club announced. Going the other way was former NHL forward Andrei Loktionov, proving that Slepets still has value in the KHL despite a down year. He has even more value to Amur, who are very excited to bring the prodigal son home and could be able to convince him to stay long-term. The 2019 fifth-round pick remains an interesting project to watch for the Hurricanes, especially given the ability he flashed at the junior level, but his NHL future is more in doubt now than ever.
- Minnesota Wild prospect Marco Rossi has no doubt that he is ready to compete for an NHL roster spot after missing this past season due to an extensive battle with COVID-19. The 2020 No. 9 overall pick has been working out hard to get back into game shape and will get his first test this week suiting up for Austria in the Olympic qualifiers. However, he is already looking ahead to Wild training camp and is confident that he can make impact in Minnesota this year. Talking to The Athletic’s Michael Russo, Rossi stated the following:
I know I haven’t played a lot of games in the last year, year and a half, but now that I can see my fitness level and my shape, I know I’m better in shape than a lot of NHL players. I see no doubt about it that I can play in the NHL. I know I can play there. I know how good I am, but I have to prove myself in training camp that I’m ready for that. I know it’s going to be up to me to show I’m ready to play right away.
Minnesota Wild Sign Carson Lambos
The Minnesota Wild have inked Carson Lambos to a three-year entry-level contract, after selecting him with their second first-round pick in this year’s draft. Lambos split last season between JYP in Finland and the Winnipeg Ice, but was shut down early because of a leg injury.
The 26th-overall pick this season, Lambos will almost certainly be heading back to the WHL for the upcoming season. He played just two games with Winnipeg in 2020-21, failing to record a point before injury wrecked his season. That actually may have caused a bit of a slip on draft day, as Lambos was ranked 11th by NHL Central Scouting among North American skaters and ended higher than 26 on most other public rankings. The Wild obviously believe he will recover fully and continue on his development path as a strong two-way defender, one who has a little (very little) bit of experience playing against professionals.
Should Lambos return to the WHL as expected, his contract will not kick in for the 2021-22 season. Instead, it will slide forward, meaning the Wild would have him signed through at least 2024-25. There’s no rush for the 6’1″ defenseman, who led all WHL rookie defensemen in scoring in 2019-20 with 32 points in 57 games.
Alexander Khovanov Expected To Play In North America For 2021-22
The Minnesota Wild are expecting Alexander Khovanov back in North America for the 2021-22 season, according to Michael Russo of The Athletic. The 21-year-old forward played in Russia this year on loan from the Wild, suiting up mostly in the VHL where he was once again a dynamic offensive presence.
Minnesota Wild, Kirill Kaprizov Continue To Work Towards Contract
The Minnesota Wild have exactly one restricted free agent to sign, but it’s a big one. Kirill Kaprizov, the reigning Calder Trophy winner and arguably the most exciting player to ever play for the franchise, currently doesn’t have a contract for the 2021-22 season. With everyone else signed the team has an exact number they could work up to but it is still unclear on what kind of deal the two sides will eventually land on.
For the last several weeks, there has been speculation about whether Kaprizov would actually turn down an offer from the Wild entirely and return to the KHL. As Michael Russo of The Athletic tweets, though a contract is not imminent the Wild and Kaprizov’s camp are still talking. CSKA Moscow, his old team in Russia that has been linked to Kaprizov over and over, recently stated publicly that they are not negotiating a return with the young forward.
Discussion between the Wild and their best player is obviously a positive, but it still remains to be seen if they can get Kaprizov signed long-term. The 24-year-old is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2023-24 season unless he signs a contract beyond that in the meantime. A three-year deal would take him right to the open market, while anything past that would be buying out UFA years. That would undoubtedly make the average annual value higher, though even these next few years will likely be expensive for the Wild as they try to lock up the dynamic forward.
With $13MM in cap space right now, there’s plenty of room to fit in Kaprizov even if he wants to be paid among the league’s elite. The Wild will have to consider the hefty cap penalties they have coming after buyouts of Ryan Suter and Zach Parise, but also have several big contracts coming off the books after this season. It appears as though things are headed in the right direction, but with no pressure points until training camp opens next month, there’s no real rush in Minnesota.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
GM Guerin Still Hopeful That Fiala Will Sign Long-Term Deal Next Summer
- Wild GM Bill Guerin acknowledged to reporters including Sarah MacLellan of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune that while he would have loved to sign winger Kevin Fiala to a long-term deal, it just wasn’t feasible to do so. He did indicate that he’s still hopeful that he’ll be able to get a multi-year pact in place with the 25-year-old for 2022-23 and beyond although with the buyout charges they have on the books beyond next season, that could be a little more complicated. Fiala avoided arbitration earlier this week with a one-year, $5.1MM contract that will also serve as his qualifying offer next offseason.
Mason Shaw Signs With Minnesota Wild
The Minnesota Wild have signed minor league forward Mason Shaw to a two-year, two-way contract. The deal will pay him $750K at the NHL level in both years. His AHL salary in 2021-22 will be $100K, while it increases to $125K in 2022-23.
Shaw, 22, was a restricted free agent this offseason but ineligible for salary arbitration. His entry-level contract, originally signed in 2018 after being the 97th overall pick in 2017, came and went without a single NHL game to his name. The former WHL star initially struggled to make the transition to the AHL, but came on this season, posting 22 points in 30 games for the Iowa Wild. Standing 5’9″ it will be hard for him to ever really make it as an impact player in the NHL, but that’s not for lack of effort. The undersized forward is usually the first on the puck in the offensive zone, relentlessly creating turnovers and trying to make a play for his linemates.
It’s going to be difficult to find many opportunities in Minnesota this season, given how many depth pieces they have, but perhaps another strong start with Iowa will allow Shaw to climb up the chart a bit. If the NHL club runs into several injuries, he could potentially earn a call-up. It’s the second year of the deal that’s likely Shaw’s best chance at making it though, given how many players in the system are on expiring deals. Victor Rask, Nick Bjugstad, Kyle Rau and Nico Sturm are all pending UFAs, meaning someone will have to fill those spots. A big season in the AHL could put Shaw on the radar, all you can ask for as a minor league player.
Minnesota Wild Finally Have Salary Cap Certainty For 2021-22
One of the offseason’s biggest stories has undoubtedly been the salary cap situation of the Minnesota Wild. General manager Bill Guerin was faced with an extremely tricky deck of cards this summer – the team’s three best forwards were all restricted free agents and needed new contracts. With a frozen salary cap and increasing market value, it was never going to be easy for the Wild to continue icing a contending team in 2021-22.
However, with Kevin Fiala inking a one-year $5.1MM contract today to stay in Minnesota, the team finally has some clarity in how they’ll be rolling their lineup in the near future. What’s for certain now is that the team will have enough financial flexibility to have Kirill Kaprizov on the roster, at least for next season. With Fiala signed and a full roster, the Wild have $13.1MM in cap space with only Kaprizov left to sign.
But, it seems with every passing day that Kaprizov’s eventual signing price will likely be astronomical, and on a short-term deal as well. The likely outcome here by most accounts is Kaprizov signing a deal equal to or shorter than four seasons, likely between $7-10MM. It’s certainly doable for 2021-22, but the main concerns have never been just about next year.
Moving forward, it’ll be even tougher for Minnesota to stay cap-compliant. The promise of a slightly increasing Upper Limit helps somewhat, but not by much. While 2022-23 sees the combined $9MM cap hits of Victor Rask and Alex Goligoski vanish, they’ll also need a new deal for Fiala, gritty winger Jordan Greenway, and promising netminder Kaapo Kahkonen. The total cap hit increase of those deals, plus an $8MM increase in cap penalties due to the Ryan Suter and Zach Parise buyouts, make a scenario in which all three players are retained nearly impossible, even with some team-friendly deals.
The deal Fiala signed is likely very similar to what he would have been awarded had the case gone to arbitration. It doesn’t exactly show long-term commitment to the relationship between player and team, so it wouldn’t be a shock to see another transaction involving Fiala within the next calendar year.
While cost certainty helps create a clearer picture for the upcoming 2021-22 season, the long-term landscape still remains treacherous for the up-and-coming squad.
All salary cap figures from CapFriendly.com
Minnesota Wild, Kevin Fiala Avoid Arbitration
With an arbitration hearing just a day away, the Minnesota Wild and Kevin Fiala have come to an agreement. The two sides have settled on a one-year, $5.1MM contract almost exactly the midpoint between their two arbitration filings. Fiala had asked for a one-year, $6.25MM contract, while the team had countered with a $4MM deal. The two sides will no longer need the hearing tomorrow.
The 25-year-old Fiala will still be a restricted free agent next summer, but will require a qualifying offer equal to this $5.1MM salary in order for the Wild to retain his rights. He will also be arbitration-eligible once again, meaning a raise is actually a possibility. It was a bet on himself to sign a one-year deal, after becoming one of the most important players on the Wild roster. Over the past two seasons, Fiala has 43 goals and 94 points in 114 games while continuing to post outstanding possession numbers. Though some of that offensive success is due to the deployment the team has offered, there’s no doubting Fiala’s raw talent.
It was Paul Fenton, the oft-ridiculed former GM of the Wild who brought Fiala to Minnesota in a trade for Mikael Granlund a little over two years ago. In terms of offensive contribution, Fiala has been much more effective, yet the two will now head into next season earning almost the same salary. Granlund signed a new four-year, $20MM deal with the Nashville Predators this offseason to continue his strong two-way play, while Fiala will be relied on as the “game-breaker” that Fenton called him when defending the move.
With Kirill Kaprizov still to sign, the Wild have plenty of work to do, but they can now be certain in their financial structure. The team still has more than $13MM in cap space this season, and though things will get tight in the future when the harsh penalties from Zach Parise and Ryan Suter‘s buyouts kick in, they at least know they can fit everyone in for 2021-22. A long-term deal for Fiala would have made that more difficult, as buying out UFA years would have sent the average annual value of Fiala’s deal skyrocketing. Despite only turning 25 last month, Fiala has five seasons under his belt already, meaning he’ll be an unrestricted free agent after the 2022-23 season.
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet broke the news on Twitter
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Kevin Fiala, Minnesota Wild Exchange Arbitration Figures
The next arbitration hearing is scheduled for Tuesday between the Minnesota Wild and restricted free agent Kevin Fiala. The two sides have now submitted figures, though they can continue to negotiate a contract up until the moment the hearing starts. According to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, Fiala has filed for $6.25MM while the Wild have submitted for $4MM. Michael Russo of The Athletic notes that Fiala actually filed for a one-year term, meaning he will still be a restricted free agent next season.
It is important to remember that the two filings are meant to be the absolute limits of a negotiation, and arbitration almost always results in a contract somewhere in the middle. The midpoint of these two filings would be a $5.125MM cap hit for Fiala next season.
Given that it was the Wild who elected salary arbitration in this case, the term of the award was actually up to Fiala. He could have chosen a two-year deal to get him to unrestricted free agency, but by filing for just one he has essentially bet on himself. If say, the two sides can’t agree on a multi-year deal before Tuesday and a $5MM contract is awarded, Fiala will be owed that much as a qualifying offer again next offseason. He would then be able to file for arbitration again and earn a raise, still getting to the UFA market at the age of 26. The only real risk in this method is if the Wild decide not to qualify him for whatever reason, but unless there is a major injury or huge decline in play, that would be unlikely.
In fact, Fiala is likely worthy of a much more expensive contract after his recent performances. In 2019-20 he truly broke out, scoring 23 goals and 54 points in just 64 games for the Wild. At that point, he was still averaging just over 15 minutes a game. This year he was given more ice time and more responsibility and rewarded the Minnesota coaching staff with 20 goals and 40 points in 50 games. He posted outstanding possession statistics, even if they were helped by strong offensive deployment, and represented an outstanding one-two punch with rookie Kirill Kaprizov.
The question of course, as it will be for every contract the Wild sign over the next few years, is how they can fit in Fiala with such a huge cap penalty coming. Minnesota will face a $14.74MM cap charge in both 2023-24 and 2024-25 thanks to the buyouts of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, making it very difficult to fit in the rest of the roster. Given the team still has Kaprizov to sign, it’s hard to know exactly how much room they’ll have. Perhaps that’s why a one-year arbitration award for Fiala isn’t the worst outcome, with the two sides restarting negotiations a year from now.
Snapshots: Kaprizov, Elias, Robert Morris
While no one wants to see dynamic and entertaining talent Kirill Kaprizov leave the NHL after just one year, especially after waiting so long for his arrival, the ongoing negotiations between he, the Minnesota Wild, and allegedly the KHL’s CSKA Moscow has been an intriguing storyline to say the least. However, the recent report that CKSA has an eight-figure offer out to Kaprizov is almost certainly a farce. As first pointed out by Bally Sports’ Andy Strickland, the KHL salary cap is equivalent to about $12MM, making an eight-figure offer one that eats up at least 83% of the team’s payroll on just one player. Even if they did want to make that kind of unrealistic commitment to Kaprizov, the perennial contenders are already flush with talent, including recent NHLers Joakim Nordstrom, Lucas Wallmark, Mikhail Grigorenko, Nikita Nesterov, and several others. There is no possible way that CSKA can afford Kaprizov for anything more than Minnesota’s best offer, leading Strickland to call this “one of the worst bluffs in sports history.” So, rest easy Wild fans. Minnesota maintains all of the leverage in this negotiation and isn’t about to lose Kaprizov and certainly not to an imaginary KHL offer.
- Following a strong performance at the recent Hlinka-Gretzky Cup, Sports Illustrated’s Steven Ellis reports that talented young Slovakian goalkeeper Rastislav Elias has decided to make the move to North America and will play in the USHL this season. Unlike the past few draft classes, which have featured elite goaltending prospects that were long considered first-round picks, the title for top goalie prospect in the 2022 NHL Draft is still up for grabs. Elias hopes that by joining the Green Bay Gamblers and testing himself in a new league, having only played in Slovakian juniors to this point, will earn him some consideration for that label. The spotlight will be on Elias in 2021-22, who is already considered one of the top prospects in net alongside Canadian Tyler Brennan and Russian Sergei Ivanov in particular. Not only will NHL teams be eying Elias, but NCAA programs will also be heavily scouting the talented prospect, who is still eligible to go the college route if he so chooses.
- Robert Morris University made waves this spring – and not the good kind – when they shockingly terminated their men’s and women’s hockey programs. The decision spurned numerous outside efforts to raise money to bring the programs back before the coming season, but there had been no update as to whether those attempts had been successful. That official word came down today, as the Pittsburgh-area university announced that they will not be icing hockey teams in 2021-22. Robert Morris reports that they have raised $1.34MM in contributions and pledges, but would require $1.4MM in immediate contributions and another $1.4MM in future pledges in order to reinstate the programs. The school notes that it is “eyeing [a] comeback in 2022-23” if fundraising continues, but by then the players from both teams likely will have transferred and the program will be starting from scratch. It is a disappointing result and seeming lack of dedication and effort on the part of Robert Morris, especially as schools around the country are adding Division I hockey programs, not subtracting them.