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Marc Bergevin

Atlantic Notes: Kotkaniemi, Nyquist, Pysyk, Petrovic, Kulak

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With countries releasing their preliminary rosters for the World Junior Championships, many teams must make some decisions on whether they intend to send some of their young prospects to World Juniors and interrupt their careers. The Montreal Canadiens could be one of those teams as they have a tough decision to make on Jesperi Kotkaniemi, who is on the Canadiens’ roster.

While on the surface it would be obvious the team would keep him, the team did allow defenseman Victor Mete to leave the team last year and play in the World Juniors. Mete, however, was struggling and was already losing playing time in Montreal. Kotkaniemi is in a similar boat as he started strong, but has just two points in the past eight games and has hit a “rookie wall.”

However, TSN’s Dan Robertson reports that general manager Marc Bergevin met the media this afternoon and stated that he’s 95 percent sure that Kotkaniemi won’t play in the WJC. The 18-year-old has three goals and 14 points in 29 games.

  • The impressive play the Detroit Red Wings have gotten from Gustav Nyquist causes many long-term questions. Nyquist, who is on pace for a career season as the 29-year-old already has seven goals and 26 points in 29 games is in the final year of a four-year, $19MM deal he signed back in 2015, could be looking for another big contract. The question that MLive’s Ansar Khan wonders is whether Detroit will consider bringing back Nyquist. It’s likely he will be asking for $5MM per year for three or four years. With the team in the middle of a rebuild, there is no guarantee the Red Wings will consider signing Nyquist a priority, although the team is also well known to give out money to veterans.
  • With the Seattle expansion draft on teams’ radars for the next few years, The Athletic’s George Richards (subscription required) writes that nothing worked out last time for the Florida Panthers who made a side deal to protect two defensemen by sending both Jon Marchessault and Reilly Smith to Vegas in the expansion draft. The team’s plan was to protect both Mark Pysyk and Alexander Petrovic. However, neither has been a key member of the team’s defense since then and both may not be on the roster by the time the next expansion draft rolls around.
  • After being traded from Calgary to Montreal and finding himself in the AHL, defenseman Brett Kulak could have considered his situation dire. However, Kulak has since been recalled and has found himself a key piece to the Canadiens’ defense and is paired next to Shea Weber, which looks like a perfect fit, according to Pat Hickey of the Montreal Gazette. “He was playing in the NHL last year, so it was not like I got a guy from the East Coast Hockey League,” said general manager Marc Bergevin. “He’s an NHL defenceman. Our scouting staff liked him because of the way the game is going. He’s a good skater.”

Montreal Gives Karl Alzner’s Agent Permission To Seek Trade

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When the Montreal Canadiens placed Karl Alzner on waivers this week there was little chance that he would be claimed. With a hefty contract that carries a $4.625MM cap hit—or $3.6MM when buried in the minors—through the 2021-22 season, it’s hard to imagine anyone picking up the tab and taking him off the Canadiens hands. In fact, his demotion to the minor leagues threatened the future of his NHL career given that Montreal had obviously moved on with younger, cheaper options on the blue line. Now, as if knowing that he has little chance of climbing back up to the top league, Alzner and his representation have been given permission to speak to other teams and seek a trade according to Pierre LeBrun on the latest edition of Insider Trading for TSN.

There is obviously always the chance that the Canadiens themselves find a need for Alzner, should injury or inconsistency plague their current group. The team doesn’t desperately need the cap discount they receive by keeping the 30-year old defenseman in the minor leagues, but does have a back log of players who are all eligible for waivers and would likely run the risk of getting claimed. That’s why Alzner was the odd man out in the first place, and why finding a trade partner isn’t necessarily a top priority for GM Marc Bergevin. Why not keep a veteran option in the minor leagues while you develop the rest of your group?

Still, it’s easy to understand why Alzner would want out. The former Washington Capitals defenseman reached unrestricted free agency in 2017 and signed a five-year deal with the Canadiens, only to watch his friends and teammates go on to win the Stanley Cup without him. He’d been with that group for nearly a decade, and hadn’t missed a single game since becoming a full-time NHL player in 2010. After suiting up for all 82 games in his first season with Montreal, Alzner was a healthy scratch on opening night this year and played just eight games with the Canadiens before hitting waivers.

It’s hard for any NHL player to accept an assignment to the minor leagues, but for one who hadn’t even missed a game in years the demotion is likely even tougher. Alzner obviously wants to play still, but any deal will likely have to include salary coming back to the Canadiens to even things out. Those deals are always the toughest to make, meaning his NHL future may still be extremely limited.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports IMages

Montreal Canadiens Facing Difficult Decision On Defense

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The Montreal Canadiens are coming off another loss, this time at the hands of the New Jersey Devils who scored five goals in the first two periods. Montreal now sits fifth in the Atlantic Division with 26 points and a -3 goal differential. That’s not very impressive, but it does at least keep them in the playoff race as they await the return of their captain. Shea Weber is ahead of schedule and could be back on the ice before long, which while obviously good news also likely means the end of someone else’s tenure on the NHL roster. That’s what Eric Engels details in his latest for Sportsnet, breaking down the various options that the Canadiens have to make room for Weber.

The most startling of these options may be the idea that the Canadiens could waive Karl Alzner, less than 18 months after signing him to a five-year contract worth more than $23MM. The team has already sat the veteran defenseman in the press box for most of the season, getting him into just six games over their first 22. Importantly though, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet adds in his latest 31 Thoughts column that the Canadiens have been looking to trade a defenseman instead of risking them on waivers. In Alzner’s case it doesn’t seem like much of a risk given his high salary, but for some of the others—Jordie Benn, David Schlemko and Xavier Ouellet are mentioned as trade options in Engels’ piece—there would certainly be teams willing to take a shot.

Montreal is not in a place to be giving away assets for free, given their current balancing act on the line between competitiveness and concern. The team has played well this season to say in the mix and has some promising chemistry forming up front between Max Domi and Jonathan Drouin. Still, even with the emergence of Jesperi Kotkaniemi the team is lacking real impact prospects and could need to try and retool over the next few seasons.

So a trade, given the circumstances, seems the most beneficial option. Whether that will come to pass is still to be seen, especially given the fact that the rest of the league can see the situation that GM Marc Bergevin is in. Noah Juulsen’s injury may buy him a bit more time, but at some point something will have to happen on the Montreal blue line. Defense-needy teams will be watching closely.

Montreal Canadiens Plan To Keep Jesperi Kotkaniemi In NHL, Will Continue To Evaluate

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On Saturday night the Montreal Canadiens played their tenth game of the season, and with it Jesperi Kotkaniemi burned through the first year of his entry-level contract. The third-overall pick from June has impressed with his play in the early going, despite still looking for his first NHL goal. Four assists and a fine showing at both ends of the rink has kept him in Montreal, and will for the next few weeks at the very least. Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin told reporters today that they’ll reassess the situation in 10-15 games, but that right now “the plan is to keep him in Montreal.”

The Canadiens have been better than many expected in the early part of the season, and trail the Toronto Maple Leafs by just two points for the Atlantic Division lead. They’ve only allowed 25 goals so far, thanks in part to a solid effort from their center group that was so derided in the offseason. While Max Domi has easily been the most impressive player in the middle for the Canadiens, Kotkaniemi has given them a legitimate third option that can be relied on for around 14 minutes a night. That is an outstanding feat for a player that won’t turn 19 until July, and one that hadn’t played in North America prior to this year.

One team that is hoping that the Canadiens change their mind is the Finnish World Junior squad, who look like they’ll be quite depleted this season. Kotkaniemi and Miro Heiskanen in Dallas would likely have been two of the best players in the tournament, but don’t look like they’ll be sent to take part. That could obviously change, but if Montreal believes he can help them compete for the playoffs this year, Kotkaniemi will remain in the lineup.

Montreal Canadiens Making Depth Forwards Available

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The Montreal Canadiens are coming up to a roster crunch given the face that Jacob de La Rose and Nicolas Deslauriers are both nearing a return from injury and during the TSN broadcast of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings game today, Bob McKenzie explained that GM Marc Bergevin is “open for business” when it comes to trading one of his depth forwards:

They’re getting into a bit of a crunch here where they’re going to have to move some bodies to the minors, and some of those guys require waivers. So I guess Bergevin is just testing the waters to see what interest there might be in some of his guys and could he get something instead of instead of losing someone potentially on waivers.

Even before de La Rose and Deslauriers come back the Canadiens find themselves with 14 forwards on the roster, and only star rookie Jesperi Kotkaniemi is waiver-exempt. Unless they decide to send Kotkaniemi away to continue his development somewhere else, the team is already sitting players like Tomas Plekanec on a nightly basis. That’s not ideal, but the team also doesn’t have a lot of leverage with other clubs knowing they’ll have to put someone on waivers eventually.

If the team can get something for one of their depth forwards, it likely won’t be a big return. de La Rose and Nikita Scherbak, who can’t seem to find a way into the lineup either, are both high draft picks that haven’t quite worked out to this point. Still, a 22-year old first round pick that has only played 29 NHL games and produced well at the minor leagues has to have a little bit of value, if the Canadiens decide that Scherbak is the easiest one to deal away. The decision still probably doesn’t have to be made for a few days, but expect some movement in Montreal in the near future.

Atlantic Notes: Canadiens, Maple Leafs, Senators

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If you were heading into the season believing that Jonathan Drouin will be the first-line center for the Montreal Canadiens, you may have to rethink that position. GM Marc Bergevin was on TSN radio today and told Tony Marinaro that he currently projects Max Domi, Phillip Danault, Tomas Plekanec and Matthew Peca as the four centers for the Canadiens to start the year. Drouin obviously still could end up at the position at some point given Domi’s lack of experience there, but it sounds like he’ll be starting on the wing.

The Canadiens have been searching for center help for quite some time, and though there is help on the way with prospects Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Ryan Poehling and Nick Suzuki—though the latter has played quite a bit of wing as well during his junior career—2018-19 doesn’t look like it will necessarily be any different. For Drouin at least the move might be beneficial, given that he struggled to score last season down the middle with just 13 goals in 77 games.

  • The Toronto Maple Leafs meanwhile aren’t handing out roster spots at all to their young players, instead expecting them to earn a role in training camp. Chris Johnston of Sportsnet writes that Mike Babcock expects both Travis Dermott and Andreas Johnsson, who are expected to play big roles on the Maple Leafs going forward, to prove that they deserve spots instead of just acting like they’ve “arrived now.” Many Toronto fans are hoping that Dermott will be part of the solution to their perceived defensive woes this season, but he’ll have to convince his head coach that he’s ready before being handed a full-time job.
  • Ottawa Senators GM Pierre Dorion was on CBC radio with Robyn Bresnahan today, speaking about the dilemma he faced with the recent Erik Karlsson situation. Dorion admitted that he knew he couldn’t “get nothing” for Karlsson by watching him walk away in free agency next offseason. Contract negotiations quickly broke down between the two sides this offseason, meaning Dorion felt he “owed it to our fans to tell them what the plan was and before the season started.” The team is quite openly in rebuild mode, and are expected to give plenty of opportunities to young players this season.

Snapshots: Byron, Lindback, Bettman

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With the departures of Max Pacioretty and Alex Galchenyuk this summer, Paul Byron has seen his stock rise in Montreal. After breaking out with a 43-point campaign in 2016-17, Byron was again a top forward for the Canadiens last season with 35 points and a second consecutive 20-goal season. While the team’s trades have brought in the likes of Max Domi and Tomas Tatar, Byron is now one of the elder statesmen in the Habs forward corps and will be looked upon to take another step forward this year. Byron underwent off-season shoulder surgery and is focused on working his way back to full strength in training camp, with the Canadiens certainly hoping that he will be fully prepared for the regular season. One way or another, Byron’s production in 2018-19 will play a major role in Montreal’s season. Some fans see the 28-year-old impending free agent going the way of Pacioretty and being shipped out of town before he can walk next off-season. Others see him as part of the team new core moving forward. The latter philosophy gained some credence today when Sportsnet’s Eric Engels spoke with Byron. Byron stated that his agent and GM Marc Bergevin have had preliminary extension talks, although he admitted that all parties are interested in how his shoulder recovery and resulting scoring ability pan out. Byron added “I want to stay, I think they want to keep me. Hopefully we’ll get something done soon.” It seems that perhaps the Habs are moving on from trading away core pieces and could look to keep a healthy Byron around beyond this season.

  • While yesterday’s signing of Anders Lindback by HC Davos of the Swiss NLA is newsworthy enough – the veteran goaltender spent last year in the AHL and has 130 NHL games to his credit – the team’s reason for signing him will also have reverberations in the NHL. Davos was a playoff team in the NLA last season behind their young tandem of Gilles Senn, 22, and Joren van Pottelberghe, 21, and with both keepers still under contract, there was some question as to why the team felt the need to bring in a third goalie of Lindback’s pedigree. Swiss news source Tages Anzeiger reports that the age and performance of those goalies is the exact reason the team decided to move forward with a new starter. Both Senn and van Pottelberghe are NHL draft picks; Senn was selected as an overage player by the New Jersey Devils in the fifth round of 2017, while van Pottelberghe was taken by the Detroit Red Wings in the fourth round when first eligible in 2015. Given their success, Davos was unable to convince either to abandon their plan of making the jump to North America next season, after their current contracts end, to begin the next stage of their careers. Rather than be left without any experienced goalies heading into next season, Davos decided to sign Lindback to a one-year deal to see if he could instead be their long-term solution. If Lindback meets expectations this year, expect an extension sometime over the course of the season.
  • Elsewhere on the international stage, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman is very happy about the league’s growing relationship with China. The Boston Bruins and Calgary Flames are currently overseas in the second O.R.G. NHL China Games, after the Los Angeles Kings and Vancouver Canucks squared off last fall. Per NHL.com’s Dan Rosen, Bettman sees this as just the beginning and has big plans for China. In fact, Bettman stated at a press conference on Friday that he envisions regular season games in China in the future, similar to the games planned in Sweden and Finland this season. With the Chinese government and several large companies committed to building rinks and arenas across the country, it’s fair to say that hockey has already made an impact and will only continue to grow in popularity in the world’s most populous country. Bettman acknowledges that no formal talks have been had about regular season games yet, but more preseason games are being scheduled and the league only stands to benefit from a continued presence in China.

Latest On Max Pacioretty, Montreal Canadiens

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The Max Pacioretty situation is a tricky one for the Montreal Canadiens, as the contract negotiations and trade scenarios have now reached the public sphere. The captain is heading into the final season of his current contract, but apparently hasn’t received a single contract offer from the Canadiens to this point. There have also been reports about previous trade requests, and a confirmation that the team had a deal in place with the Los Angeles Kings that fell apart at the last minute. Pacioretty has been clear—through his agent Allan Walsh of Octagon Hockey at least—that he wants to sign a long-term extension in Montreal if possible. Today, a report has surfaced from Marc de Foy of Le Journal de Montreal that Pacioretty will not negotiate during the season, meaning there is just a few weeks left to work something out if possible.

It doesn’t even seem likely that extension talks are a possibility at this point, but de Foy lists October 3rd—the date of Montreal’s first game of the season against the Toronto Maple Leafs—as a sort of deadline. At that point, the Canadiens couldn’t change their mind and work something out with the 29-year old winger and would be forced to trade him. It is interesting though to see if this sort of deadline would apply to other teams, given that the Canadiens can obviously get more in trade if Pacioretty is willing to sign a long-term extension with an acquiring club. That’s what scuttled the trade with the Kings when Pacioretty turned down their offer, and could drastically reduce the interested market for Montreal GM Marc Bergevin.

It seems then that September is when this whole thing will be resolved one way or another, and Pacioretty will have some certainty on his future. He has already committed to showing up at training camp later this month, but as Eric Engels of Sportsnet wrote recently “the chances of Pacioretty returning to the team on a new contract beyond this season appear to be dead.”

No Extension Talks Between Max Pacioretty, Montreal Canadiens

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11:15am: Pacioretty’s new agent Allan Walsh went on record explaining the situation in a tweet, saying that while there have been discussions between the Canadiens and Pacioretty over the last two months, there have been no negotiations at all on a new contract or any offers from the team. Pacioretty wants to sign a new contract according to Walsh, but nothing has materialized so far.

9:00am: All offseason there have been rumors and speculation surrounding Max Pacioretty and the Montreal Canadiens, including reports that a trade had been close to being finalized at one point. At Pacioretty’s charity golf tournament today, GM Marc Bergevin was asked about whether or not he expects his captain to be in training camp when it opens in a few weeks. “Of course, just like any other player” is the answer he gave to Arpon Basu of The Athletic, indicating that nothing has changed with Pacioretty’s status as a part of the Canadiens.

Obviously it would be difficult for Bergevin to say anything else, especially during an event like this, but things have certainly quieted down recently in regards to Pacioretty’s future. The 29-year old winger himself confirmed to Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports that there has been no extension talks with the team, meaning there will likely be a decision at some point whether to cash in and get whatever they can for him. The market for scoring wingers was set this summer with the recent trade of Jeff Skinner, and may not be exactly what the Canadiens are willing to accept to trade their captain, even as he enters the final year of his current contract.

Montreal is dealing with several injuries that could leak into the start of the season, but do have a chance to be better than expected if Carey Price can return to form and some of the younger players step up. If Bergevin believes his squad can compete for a playoff spot, trading Pacioretty may not happen for some time. If they’re out of the race by the trade deadline though, expect him to be one of the top names available given that he has no trade protection in his contract and carries just a $4.5MM cap hit.

Snapshots: Pacioretty, Lucic, Simmonds, Vilardi

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The Montreal Canadiens look like they have no choice but to trade their star player in Max Pacioretty. With the 29-year-old entering the final year of his contract and little interest from Montreal to lock him up to a long-term deal, this is their only chance to move him. However, what makes things challenging for general manager Marc Bergevin and the Canadiens is that Pacioretty is coming off a disappointing year in which he produced just 17 goals in injury-plagued season after posting four straight years of 30 or more goals.

However, time is not Bergevin’s friend and the team has little choice but to try to move his contract now rather than wait to trade him as a rental in February. NBC Sports Joey Alfieri suggests five teams that might be good fits for Pacioretty with the Chicago Blackhawks leading the way. Pacioretty would be the perfect fit for Chicago considering the team’s biggest acquisition this offseason has been backup goaltender Cam Ward. However, the Blackhawks might be challenged to put together a quality package for Pacioretty.

However, another more interesting option would be the New Jersey Devils, who have the cap space to make it work and Pacioretty, a native of Connecticut – a mere 70 miles away — might be willing to stay with a team that already has an intruiging cast including Hart Trophy winner Taylor Hall.

  • In a recent podcast on Spittin’ Chiclets, Edmonton Oilers forward Milan Lucic talked about his disappointing season in Edmonton which has his name and his contract being thrown around in potential trade rumors. Regardless, Lucic had nothing but great things to say about the Oilers’ organization and takes a lot of the blame for his poor season. Lucic, who signed a seven-year, $42MM deal in 2016, still has five years remaining at $6MM AAV. However, after posting 23 goals and 50 points in the first year of his deal, Lucic’s numbers took a nosedive as he tallied just 10 goals and 34 points and he didn’t miss a single game all season. “I think it was definitely more of a mental thing,” Lucic said. “It was almost like everything that could have gone wrong went wrong for our team and for me personally and it was the snowball effect or the quicksand effect. I think my mindset got very negative last year. So I was almost my own worst enemy, where this year I’m just going in with a happy, healthier mindset.”
  • Dave Isaac of the Cherry Hill Courier-Post writes that Philadelphia Flyers general manager Ron Hextall has kept a close on the New York Islanders and John Tavares situation and isn’t interested in letting any of his players go. With winger Wayne Simmonds entering the final year of his contract, will probably price himself out of Philadelphia and the fact that he likely will end up on the team’s third line this year, don’t be surprised if Hextall trades Simmonds at the trade deadline next year. The 29-year-old has put up 28 or more goals for the past four years in Philadelphia, but struggled with nagging injuries last year, tallying 24 goals.
  • The Athletic’s Lisa Dillman reports that Los Angeles Kings prospect Gabe Vilardi will not be participating in the World Junior Showcase for Hockey Canada after Vilardi suffered a back injury. While not considered serious, Vilardi has had issues with his back before as he missed all but 32 games this past year with the OHL Kingston Frontenacs. Vilardi, the team’s first-round pick in 2017, will have a chance to break into the Kings’ lineup if he has a good showing in training camp.

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