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Training Camp Snapshots: Voracek, Othmann, Zibanejad

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In a press release coming out of the Czech Extraliga, former player Jakub Voracek will be joining the Kladno Knights as a powerplay coach for their 2023-24 season. Born and raised in Kladno, Voracek will return home, having his career cut short last year due to concussion symptoms.

A long-time member of both the Columbus Blue Jackets and Philadelphia Flyers organizations, Voracek is currently under contract with the Arizona Coyotes for the 2023-24 season, with his $8.25MM salary currently in one of the team’s LTIR slots. Last March, once it was understood that Voracek would likely never play again due to his concussions, the Blue Jackets traded him, along with a sixth-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, to the Coyotes in exchange for goaltender Jon Gillies.

Finding his path in life after hockey, it would have been difficult to find a better powerplay specialist for Kladno. During his time in the NHL, Voracek was one of the better playmakers of his generation when healthy, scoring 55 goals and 204 assists on the powerplay throughout his 1,058 games in the NHL over 15 years.

Other snapshots:

  • The New York Rangers will be missing top prospect Brennan Othmann for a few days of training camp, as the team announced this morning he is considered day-to-day with an upper-body injury. Already carrying a solid top-six forward group heading into the season, it would have been difficult for Othmann to crack the Rangers’ roster out of training camp regardless of this injury. However, he is poised to wreak havoc at the AHL level for the Hartford Wolf Pack, after having scored 29 goals and 38 assists in 56 games during his last season in the OHL.
  • Vince Mercogliano of USA Today reports that the top center for the New York Rangers, Mika Zibanejad, was seen going to the locker room this morning, favoring his right arm after slowly getting off the ice. It’s still to be seen whether or not Zibanejad will miss time, or the seriousness of the injury altogether. The Rangers currently have the center depth necessary to weather the storm of potentially losing out on Zibanejad for the time being, but can not afford to lose him for a considerable time with Stanley Cup aspirations.

New York Rangers Sign Adam Clendening To PTO

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The New York Rangers have added defensive depth to their training camp roster by signing ten-year AHL veteran Adam Clendening to a professional tryout contract, as announced by the team on Friday.

Hailing from Niagara Falls, New York, Clendening last played in the NHL with the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2018-19. The 30-year-old defenseman spent the 2022-23 season entirely in the AHL (not signed to an NHL contract), splitting time between the Hartford Wolf Pack and the Rockford IceHogs. Without the potential of an NHL call-up, Clendening still put up solid offensive totals, notching a total of 33 points, including four goals and 29 assists, in 68 games.

Clendening was originally drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks in the second round of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft and has since played for multiple organizations, including the Vancouver Canucks, Edmonton Oilers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Arizona Coyotes, and the Blue Jackets. He’s played for the Rangers before, too, and that’s actually where his best pro season came. As a 24-year-old in 2016-17, Clendening played in a career-high 31 NHL games for the Rangers, recording two goals, nine assists and 11 points while averaging 15:49 per game.

With a PTO now in hand, Clendening has a chance to prove himself to the Rangers’ coaching staff and earn a return to Hartford for 2023-24. Doing so on an NHL contract might be tough, however. The Rangers have 46 out of the maximum 50 contracts signed, and they already have a wealth of strong call-up options from Hartford on NHL deals, such as Ben Harpur, Mac Hollowell and Connor Mackey. Clendening does not have an AHL agreement signed with Hartford for this season.

New York Rangers Sign Brad Arvanitis To PTO

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  • The New York Rangers have signed goaltender Brad Arvanitis to a PTO, according to a team announcement on X. He’ll be in camp as an extra body with an ECHL contract already secured with the Maine Mariners, the Boston Bruins’ affiliate, for next season. Arvanitis, 26, actually spent the majority of last season playing in the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL), a league technically one rung below the ECHL but carries no direct NHL affiliation. However, SPHL teams often serve as a source of reserve players for ECHL squads, and the two leagues will often loan players to each other throughout the season. In his first full professional season after finishing his collegiate career at Division III school Babson College, Arvanitis posted a .919 save percentage, 2.71 goals-against average and a 9-6-2 record in 20 appearances with the SPHL’s Pensacola Ice Flyers.

Rangers Will Try Alexis Lafrenière At Right Wing

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  • New York Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette says he’ll open camp with 2020 first-overall pick Alexis Lafrenière at right wing. Many have speculated a move to his off-wing could be beneficial for the 21-year-old, who’s struggled to find ice time on the left wing behind Chris Kreider and Artemi Panarin. It could work out to be a prudent move for the Rangers’ new bench boss, as getting both Lafrenière and Kaapo Kakko clicking in top-six roles out of the gate alongside the team’s veteran firepower would be incredibly impactful for their long-term futures with the team.

Latest On brennan Othmann

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  • As one of the New York Rangers’ top prospects, Brennan Othmann is expected by many to make an impact on the Rangers’ NHL roster sooner rather than later. But according to USA Today’s Vince Z. Mercogliano, Othmann may have to wait. Mercogliano writes that the “expectation is that” Othmann will begin the season in the AHL with the Hartford Wolf Pack, although a strong training camp could obviously change things. But since New York signed several veteran bottom-six forwards such as Alex Belzile and Tyler Pitlick, Othmann may begin his pro career off Broadway.

Drury Not Ruling Out Signing Someone To A PTO

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  • At the moment, the Rangers don’t have any players on PTOs heading to training camp with them. However, Arthur Staple of The Athletic relays (Twitter link) that GM Chris Drury hasn’t ruled out the idea of bringing one in over the coming days.  New York doesn’t have many openings on their roster and they have a handful of forwards and blueliners that should contend for a spot so unless there’s a proven upgrade willing to come to camp on a tryout, it might make more sense for the Rangers to stay with what they have.

Nick Holden Retires, Joins Golden Knights Front Office

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Longtime NHL defenseman Nick Holden is retiring after a 12-season career and will immediately join the Vegas Golden Knights’ player development staff, according to a team release. His specialty will be working with the team’s group of young defensemen.

Initially eligible for the 2005 NHL Entry Draft, Holden went undrafted and didn’t make it to an NHL organization until the Columbus Blue Jackets signed him to an entry-level contract in 2008 after completing his junior career with the WHL’s Chilliwack Bruins (who have since relocated to Victoria to become the Royals). He would remain in the Blue Jackets organization until 2013 but spent most of it in the AHL, playing just seven NHL contests without recording a point. An unrestricted free agent in 2013, he signed a two-year, $1.2MM contract with the Colorado Avalanche, which jumpstarted his career. Finally playing his rookie campaign as a 26-year-old in the 2013-14 season, Holden recorded 25 points in 54 games for the Avs while averaging nearly 19 minutes per game.

He would settle into a top-four role during his peak, averaging over 20 minutes per game from 2014 to 2019. His career-best season came as a member of the New York Rangers in 2016-17, posting 11 goals and 23 assists for 34 points in 80 games and a +13 rating. With the Rangers struggling the following season, however, they dealt him to the Boston Bruins at the 2018 trade deadline, where he played a depth role down the stretch. That led him to sign with the Golden Knights for their second season, and he gave them solid play over the course of three seasons from 2018-19 to 2020-21. After slipping down the depth chart and playing just 17 regular-season games in 2020-21, however, they dealt him to the Ottawa Senators in a swap for scoring winger Evgenii Dadonov.

Holden spent the final two seasons of his career in a Sens jersey, recording 35 points in 141 games while averaging 18:24 across the 2021-22 and 2022-23 campaigns. His final NHL appearance came in an overtime loss to the Buffalo Sabres on April 13 of this year, in which he recorded a +1 rating, four shots on goal, 23:13 of ice time, and one block.

After turning 36 in May, Holden steps away from the playing side of the game with 654 career appearances. During his time with the Avalanche, Golden Knights, Blue Jackets, Rangers, Senators, and Bruins, Holden amassed 52 goals, 126 assists, 178 points, and a +16 rating.

“Nick was widely respected by management, teammates, and coaches during his time with the Golden Knights as a player,” Vegas general manager Kelly McCrimmon said. “He fills an important role with our player development and will work not only with our drafted prospects but also with our young pros with the Henderson Silver Knights.”

We at Pro Hockey Rumors congratulate Holden on a respectable career, and we wish him the best as he moves into the next chapter of his career in the sport.

Summer Synopsis: New York Rangers

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Last summer the New York Rangers expectations were sky high as they had just come off a season in which they lost in the Eastern Conference Finals. Many viewed the Rangers as a Stanley Cup contender, as did their management group who went all in for trades to acquire Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko. The club ultimately failed in their bid to bring Lord Stanley back to Broadway and entered this season with tempered expectations after firing Gerald Gallant and struggling to find adequate replacements for a lot of their departing players. Now, the sky isn’t exactly falling in New York City, as they still have Igor Shesterkin manning the net, and they lured Peter Laviolette in to replace the departing Gallant. Couple this with a blueline that still boasts Adam Fox and a forward group that still has Chris Kreider and Artemi Panarin and you have a very solid team. Albeit one that is just outside of the upper echelon of NHL teams.

Draft

1-23: RW Gabriel Perreault, U.S. National Team Development Program (USNTDP)
3-90: D Drew Fortescue, U.S. National Team Development Program (USNTDP)
5-152: D Rasmus Larsson, Västerås IK J20 (J20 Nationell)
6-178: C Dylan Roobroeck, Oshawa (OHL)
6-183: LW Ty Henricks, Muskegon Lumberjacks (USHL)

The son of former NHLer Yanic Perreault has drawn comparisons to Lucas Raymond recently and is projected by some to be a perennial 70-point forward. While those expectations are lofty for a late first-round pick, many were surprised that he fell that far down the draft board. Perreault is headed to Boston College where he figures to play at least a few seasons before he turns pro. His skating has improved a lot in recent seasons but is certainly not his strongest attribute. Many scouts have said his skill and hockey sense was top-5 in this draft.

Fortescue was teammates with Perreault at the National Team Development Program and is regarded as a good passer and someone who can act as a quarterback from the backend. His skating isn’t particularly good, and he certainly needs to add to his 176-pound frame, but should he be given proper time to develop he could very well be a bottom pairing defenseman for the Rangers in the next half decade.

Trade Acquisitions

N/A

UFA Signings

C Alex Belzile (two years, $1.55MM)*
C Nick Bonino (one year, $800K)
D Nikolas Brouillard (one year, $775K)*
D Erik Gustafsson (one year, $825K)
D Mac Hollowell (one year, $775K)*
D Connor Mackey (one year, $775K)*
F Riley Nash (two years, $1.55MM)*
F Tyler Pitlick (one year, $787.5K)
G Jonathan Quick (one year, $825K)
F Blake Wheeler (one year, $800K)

*-denotes two-way contract

The Rangers didn’t have the cap space to make any major additions and didn’t really have much cap space to replace any of their departing star players. The team was hamstrung by a flat salary cap and did most of their shopping in the bargain bin.
Blake Wheeler was a terrific signing. At $800K (plus bonuses) he will be a solid middle six addition for New York who can easily chip in 50-60 points. At 37 years old he is unlikely to morph into the perennial 90-point player he was a few years ago, but he could provide some of the offense the team lost with the departures of Kane and Tarasenko.

The Rangers opted to pass on some of the more expensive options on the free agent market to sign Jonathan Quick, and while he brings a wealth of experience, he has been a below-average netminder for about a half-decade. New York could no doubt shop in season if they need to find an adequate backup, which they may need to do if Quick’s numbers are anything close to what they were this past year.

Speaking of experience, Bonino also brings a ton of it to the Rangers and should be a decent option for their fourth-line center role. The 35-year-old used to be a perennial 30–35-point third liner, but at this juncture of his career, he is more of a 20-point player. Bonino had a short-lived reunion with the Pittsburgh Penguins after the trade deadline but quickly found himself injured and was not re-signed. If Bonino can regain his 2021-22 form, he could be a steal at $800K for New York.

RFA Re-Signings

D Ty Emberson (one year, $775K)*
F Anton Blidh (two years, $1.55MM)*
D Zachary Jones (two years, $1.625K)*
LW Alexis Lafreniere (two years, $4.65MM)
D K’Andre Miller (two years, $7.744MM)
D Brandon Scanlin (one year, $775K)*

*-denotes two-way contract

Lafreniere has simply not lived up to the expectations of a first-overall pick. He knows it, the Rangers know it, and both sides would surely love for things to be different. But, now with a bridge contract in hand, the 21-year-old has an opportunity to prove he is worthy of much more. Lafreniere hasn’t found anything close to the offense he displayed in junior, but he has steadily put up better offensive numbers in every NHL season. Should he reach another gear next season he could approach 50 points and line himself up to cash in just two years from now.

Miller likely wanted and likely deserved a long-term contract extension but had to settle for a bridge contract and the Rangers simply ran out of dollars to allocate. Miller established himself as a rookie in 2020-21 putting up five goals and seven assists in 53 games. In his second season, he emerged as an option in the Rangers top-4 and formed a formidable pairing with Jacob Trouba. It was there that Miller began to use his speed to his advantage as well as insert himself physically on many more occasions. Miller also started to find his offensive game this past season as he started to find more confidence with the puck in the offensive zone. Miller posted nine goals and 34 assists in 79 games and showed that he could provide much more to the Rangers than steady defensive play. The Rangers don’t have a great left side on defense and will likely rely on him a lot this season. Should Miller put up numbers similar to this past year, his next contract could end up pricing him out of New York.

Departures

F Ryan Carpenter (San Jose Sharks, one year, $775K)*
F Tim Gettinger (Detroit, one year, $775K)*
D Libor Hajek (Pittsburgh, PTO)
G Jaroslav Halak (unsigned UFA)
D Wyatt Kalynuk (St. Louis, one year, $775K)*
F Patrick Kane (unsigned UFA)
C Patrick Khodorenko (unsigned UFA)
F Will Lockwood (Florida, two years, $1.55MM)*
F Tyler Motte (Tampa Bay, one year, $800K)
F C.J. Smith (unsigned UFA)
F Vladimir Tarasenko (Ottawa, one year, $5MM)
D Cooper Zech (unsigned UFA)

Up front, Kane and Tarasenko are the notable losses and will likely create a void in the offense. The Rangers did well to replace some of their offense with Wheeler, but a lot of goals have come out of their lineup.  Although they will certainly miss the depth scoring, Kane and Tarasenko never felt like a natural fit in New York and turned out to be overpayments. The Rangers were right to shuffle the furniture and although they lost some goals on paper, they may have a better mix without Kane and Tarasenko.

Jaroslav Halak wasn’t great last season for the Rangers but did provide the team with league-average goaltending and was able to take 25 games from Shesterkin. He now finds himself as a free agent and has yet to sign a contract. Although he wasn’t terrific last season he might have been a better option for New York than Quick, but was likely asking for a bigger payday than the $825K used to sign Quick.

Salary Cap Outlook

It wasn’t that long ago that the New York Rangers were viewed as a team on the rise with a ton of good young players, and a pile of cap space. But after a few trades and signings, the cap space begins to dry up very quickly. That is the situation the Rangers found themselves in this summer as they had almost no room to maneuver under the salary cap. They will face a similar crunch next summer with just 14 players signed and roughly $15MM in projected cap space. Thankfully for the Rangers, the bulk of their core is signed through the end of next season, however, it is after that in the summer of 2025 when things could get hairy. Shesterkin will be due for a new contract that will likely come with a substantial raise, as will Miller who will be coming off his recently signed bridge deal. The Rangers will have a few other contracts to deal with in the interim, but they aren’t positioned well to make any major additions to this now-aging core.

Key Questions

Can Jonathan Quick play 20-30 games: The Rangers had precious little cap space to spend on a backup goaltender and elected to sign three-time Stanley Cup champion Quick. The gamble could pay off if Quick is able to regain his 2021-22 form in which he posted a respectable .910 save percentage and 23 wins in 46 games. However, if he is the goaltender he has been for most of the past five years, the Rangers could be in trouble. Quick has posted a sub.910 save percentage every other year since 2018 and hasn’t been able to provide consistent goaltending in Los Angeles, despite playing on a very good defensive team. Should he falter in New York, it could prove disastrous for the Rangers should they be forced to overwork Shesterkin.

Will The Young Guns Breakthrough? Alexis Lafreniere and Kaapo Kakko were drafted first and second overall (in different drafts) to much fanfare back in 2019 and 2020. While both players are clearly NHL players, that isn’t what you hope for when you pick at the top of the draft two years in a row. Between the two youngsters, they have just one season in which they’ve passed forty points (Kakko in 2022-23) and they haven’t been able to show the offensive prowess they did in their younger days. One silver lining for New York is that both players seem to be trending in the right direction, albeit slower than the team would like.

Can Kreider Score 50 Again? Perspective can be a funny thing. Had Kreider not had a 50-goal explosion in 2021-22, then last season’s 36 goals would have been viewed as an enormous success, a career year, a breakthrough campaign. But on the heels of a 52-goal season, it looked like a failure. The main difference was Kreider’s powerplay production. In 2021-22 he had 26 power play goals, last year he had just eight. While the steep drop looks disastrous, it really wasn’t. Kreider was still a very strong player for the Rangers and despite now being in his early thirties it doesn’t seem likely that he is done yet. But can he hit 50 goals again? It’s probably unlikely, but given that he potted 36 just last year it is not unfathomable to think he could score 40 this year.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Michael Del Zotto Announces Retirement

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Longtime NHL defenseman Michael Del Zotto announced his retirement via Instagram today, ending a 13-season NHL career.

Del Zotto, 33, was drafted by the New York Rangers with the 20th overall pick out of the OHL’s Oshawa Generals in 2008. He would jump to professional hockey after one more season in juniors, recording 37 points in 80 games in 2009-10 and earning All-Rookie Team honors.

Unfortunately, while Del Zotto would turn into a serviceable NHL defenseman for over a decade, he didn’t develop into the potential bonafide top-pair player he hinted he could be at the beginning of his career. He would only beat his rookie totals once in New York, recording ten goals, 31 assists and 41 points in 77 games in 2011-12 before dropping to a bottom-pairing role in the 2013-14 campaign. Then-Rangers general manager Glen Sather dealt him to the Nashville Predators for shutdown defender Kevin Klein in a one-for-one swap in January of that season.

Things didn’t go much better for Del Zotto in a brief stint with Nashville to close out the season, which saw his ice time continue to decrease as he recorded five points in 25 games and a -4 rating. He was due a qualifying offer of $2.9MM that season with his contract expiring, which the Predators didn’t issue, and he signed a one-year, $1.3MM contract with the Philadelphia Flyers in August 2014. It turned out to be a prudent choice for Del Zotto, who, for a brief time, recaptured his former glory in Philadelphia. He notched 32 points in 64 games during his first season there while averaging nearly 22 minutes per game, but again fizzled out over the following two seasons with the Flyers.

After signing as an unrestricted free agent with the Vancouver Canucks in 2017, Del Zotto would play stints with the Anaheim Ducks, Columbus Blue Jackets, Ottawa Senators, and St. Louis Blues in depth roles until the 2021-22 season. While he didn’t appear in any postseason contests, Del Zotto was on the Blues’ roster for their 2019 Stanley Cup championship.

2021-22 was when it became clear Del Zotto’s days of playing at the highest level were drawing to a close. Despite recording a respectable 13 points in 26 games with Ottawa and posting decent possession numbers, the Senators waived him. They assigned him to AHL Belleville, where he managed over a point per game. It was enough to land him another NHL contract for 2022-23 with the Florida Panthers, but they waived him pre-season and didn’t include him on the opening night roster. He would record two goals and 10 points in 25 games with their AHL affiliate in Charlotte before they traded him back to Anaheim in the days leading up to Christmas in a three-way swap of minor-league players, including the Detroit Red Wings. Del Zotto closed the season with a strong 31 points in 40 games for AHL San Diego.

But without ever getting a callup to the NHL throughout the season despite a paper-thin defense in Anaheim, Del Zotto has opted to step away from the game. His 736 games rank 18th among players from the 2008 draft class at the time of his retirement, during which he recorded 63 goals, 199 assists, 262 points, and averaged 20:03 per game over the years. PHR congratulates Del Zotto on his lengthy career in the pros and wishes him the best in retirement.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Brad Maxwell Passes Away

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Longtime Minnesota North Stars defenseman Brad Maxwell passed away Sunday after a battle with lung cancer, the Minnesota Wild said today. He was 66 years old.

Born in 1957 in Brandon, Manitoba, Maxwell played his junior hockey for the WCHL’s New Westminster Bruins before going seventh overall to the North Stars in the 1977 NHL Amateur Draft. As a rookie the following season, he was arguably the best player on a team that managed just 18 wins, recording 47 points in 75 games while hitting 100 penalty minutes, a mark the physical playmaker would hit six more times in his career. He would go on to become a premier defender for parts of nine seasons in Minnesota, spending some later career stops with the New York Rangers, Quebec Nordiques, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Vancouver Canucks.

In his 613-game career spanning from 1977 to 1987, Maxwell spent years quarterbacking the North Stars’ power play and finished with 98 career goals, 270 assists and 368 points. He would add a -83 rating and 1,292 penalty minutes. His final entire season as a North Star, 1983-84, was his best. It was the only season of his career that earned him All-Star consideration, recording career-highs across the board with 19 goals, 54 assists and 73 points in 78 games.

Maxwell would become a mainstay in the Minnesota community after retiring, starting a business and making the state his post-hockey home. He would go on to become the Minnesota NHL Alumni Association president and was responsible for bringing the alumni contingent that represented the North Stars against the Chicago Blackhawks at the contest preceding the 2016 Stadium Series game in Minneapolis between the Wild and Chicago.

We at Pro Hockey Rumors extend our condolences to his family, friends and the Minnesota hockey community.

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