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Free Agent Focus: St. Louis Blues

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Free agency is now just a month away and teams are looking ahead to when it opens.  There will be several impact players set to hit the open market in July while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign as well.  We continue our look around the NHL with an overview of the free agent situation for the Blues.

Key Unrestricted Free Agents

F Kasperi Kapanen – The Blues took a flyer on Kasperi Kapanen when they claimed him off waivers from the Pittsburgh Penguins ahead of the 2023 Trade Deadline. He’s since muddled around the team’s middle-six, posting a combined 36 points in 96 games in St. Louis. His role has varied throughout those games, playing as much as 16 minutes or as little as eight minutes any night. That flexibility helped the Blues fill up their bottom-six, though he may now need to cede minutes to the NHL hopefuls like Zachary Bolduc, Zach Dean, and Dalibor Dvosrky. Kapenen hasn’t been necessarily bad for the Blues – and that could be enough to sign him to a cheap deal – but he could just as easily find his way back to the open market, as the Blues look to prioritize younger talents.

F Adam Gaudette – Gaudette may be St. Louis’ most interesting pending-free agent, after leading the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds in scoring with a commanding 44 goals and 71 points in 67 games this season. It was a tremendous encore to his breakout year last season, when Gaudette posted a combined 51 points in 65 games between the Toronto Marlies and Thunderbirds. The last two seasons were the first two full AHL seasons of Gaudette’s career, after serving an NHL role from 2017 to 2022. And he’s made good work of the easier competition, not only scoring more but showing much more drive and creativity in his offense. Gaudette established himself as a top prospect during his years at Northeastern University, far exceeding his fifth-round draft selection after posting 142 points across 116 games with the school. But that hot scoring didn’t translate into the NHL, and Gaudette instead spent the first five years of his career battling for ice time on various teams’ bottom-six. He’s seemingly rediscovered his offense in the minor leagues – though he did go without a point in two NHL games this year. He represents a high-upside minor leaguer, who shouldn’t cost too much; unless he pushes to test the open market.

D Marco Scandella – Marco Scandella gradually lost his role with the Blues this season, ultimately falling to the fringe of the lineup in favor of players like Tyler Tucker and Matthew Kessel. He’s posted just 10 points across his last 85 games with the Blues, dating back to the start of last season, and has only managed to play in 50 or more games in two of his four seasons in St. Louis. Scandella won’t command much money on a new deal, especially at the age of 34, but he seems to be getting pushed out of the Blues’ lineup by younger and more promising talent. He may headline the free agents most likely to leave the Blues this summer.

Other pending UFAs: F Sammy Blais, F Will Bitten (Group 6), F Matthew Peca, F Jakub Vrana

Key Restricted Free Agents

F Nikita Alexandrov – Alexandrov has been an important utility player for the Blues over the last two seasons, stepping in when needed but also content to spend time in the press box or AHL. The 23-year-old centerman posted just two points in 23 NHL games this year – a small step down from his eight points in 28 games last year. Alexandrov has added 45 points in 48 AHL games over the last two seasons, showing his scoring upside, despite his role on St. Louis’ fourth line usually pitting him in the defensive end. The structure of St. Louis’ offense likely won’t change much this summer, with the team possessing both limited free agents and the money to re-sign their choices among them. That should limit Alexandrov to a minor role – and its associated cheap contract – against next season, though a new deal would represent a chance to play his way out of St. Louis’ press box.

D Scott Perunovich – If there were any one play that St. Louis had to re-sign this summer, it’d be Perunovich, who played through the first mostly-healthy season of his career this year. And after years of anticipation, Perunovich’s mostly-healthy year mostly lived up to expectations. He posted 17 points in 54 games, on an 82-game pace of a modest 26 points, while making noticeable strides in his ability to keep up with and beat NHL talents. Perunovich now boasts 27 assists across 77 career NHL games, including the postseason, and should be hungry for a bigger role – and his first NHL goal – as he approaches next season. Solidifying the 25-year-old in the daily lineup will be an important step for a Blues team carrying five NHL defenseman aged 30 or older.

G Colten Ellis – The emergence of Joel Hofer as a legitimate NHL talent – made evident by his 15 wins and .913 save percentage in 30 games this season – has given St. Louis a stability at goaltending that they haven’t had since the days of prime Brian Elliott and Jake Allen. But they can’t be quick to forget the depth chart. Colten Ellis was drafted in the top 100 of the 2019 NHL Draft, one year after the Blues selected Hofer. He’s fallen down St. Louis’ ranks a bit since then, with Malcolm Subban and Vadim Zherenko the de facto tandem for the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds. Ellis curbed that this season, earning his way into an AHL role with 12 wins and a .923 in 21 ECHL games. And he stood tall in his AHL minutes, posting seven wins and a Springfield-leading .924 save percentage.

Other pending RFAs: F Mikhail Abramov, F Mathias Laferriere, F Keean Washkurak, D Hunter Skinner

Projected Cap Space

The Blues aren’t entering the summer wealthy by any means – but their projected $15.64MM in cap space should be more than enough for them to  bring back any and all of the pending free agents they’d like to keep. The team seems prepared to part with at least a few options, if only to make room for the nine entry-level contracts they’ve signed since March. Those signees include prospects like Juraj Pekarcik, Simon Robertsson, Otto Stenberg, and Aleksanteri Kaskimaki – each options to rival top ice time with the Thunderbirds and maybe even an NHL call-up. The Blues fell just six points back from the postseason this year, though their roster didn’t seem to tilt the needle in any one direction. An influx of young talent – and potentially one or two lucrative free agents – could be the perfect pieces to move St. Louis’ roster forward.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.

Afternoon Notes: Jeannot, Parekh, Bourque

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Winger Tanner Jeannot is once again facing trade rumors, as the Tampa Bay Lightning look to clear enough cap space for a serviceable off-season. The team is facing the loss of their franchise player Steven Stamkos with just $5MM in cap space – not nearly enough to afford the services of the future Hall-of-Famer. That could push them to try and move Jeannot’s $2.665MM cap hit, though Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times shares that there’s been no legitimate discussions of a move just yet. Though Encina did speak to the idea being a tantalizing one for the Lightning, with many teams around the league still interested in acquiring Jeannot.

The Lightning acquired Jeannot from the Nashville Predators ahead of the 2023 Trade Deadline, sending the Music City defenseman Callan Foote, the picks that turned into Dylan MacKinnon (2023 third-round, 83rd-overall), Jayson Shaugabay (2023 fourth-round, 115th-overall), and Kevin Bicker (2023 fifth-round, 147th-overall), as well as a second-round pick in 2024 and a first-round pick in 2025 in return. Nashville traded the Shaugabay pick back to Tampa four months later, in exchange for a 2024 fourth-round pick, and moved the Bicker pick to the Detroit Red Wings to move up in the 2023 second-round.

Jeannot scored just four points in his 20 games with Tampa after the trade, though that didn’t dissuade their faith in him, with the Lightning signing Jenanot to a two-year, $5.3MM contract last summer – a deal that avoided the arbitration hearing Jeannot filed for. The rough-and-tumble winger wasn’t able to rekindle his spark on the new deal, though, scoring just 14 points in 55 games this season. He added 75 penalty minutes and a -10 – and tallied just one assist in four postseason games.

There’s still reported interest in Jeannot around the league despite his lacking scoring. Teams like the Calgary Flames have been looped into trade rumors, though Encina emphasized that a trade isn’t likely Plan A. Tampa will need to get a hefty return in any Jeannot trade, if only to hedge their losses from a costly 2023 move.

Other notes from around the league:

  • Saginaw Spirit defenseman Zayne Parekh has won the CHL’s Defenseman of the Year Award, beating out Memorial Cup Finals competition Sam Dickinson. Parekh was dazzling this season, posting a position-leading 33 goals and 96 points in just 66 games this season. He’s just the second OHL defenseman to top 95 points since 2000, joining Ryan Ellis’ 100-point season in 2010-11. But while Ellis was already an NHL draftee, Parekh is headed into his first year of eligibility in the 2024 NHL Draft. He’s seen as one of the top defensemen in the class and should rival a top 10 selection.
  • The Dallas Stars are swapping talented young forwards, with Ty Dellandrea stepping out of the Game 6 lineup in favor of Mavrik Bourque, shares Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman (Twitter link). Bourque won the AHL’s ‘Les Cunningham’ MVP Award this season after posting 26 goals and 77 points in 71 games this season. Bourque formed a dynamic duo with Stars standout Logan Stankoven in the first half of the season. Dallas will look to use that pairing as their X-factor, as they face elimination at the hands of the Edmonton Oilers.

Benoît Allaire To Remain With Rangers As Director Of Goaltending

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Last night, Kevin Weekes of ESPN reported that Director of Goaltending of the New York Rangers, Benoît Allaire, would be scaling back his role with the organization after 20 years of service with the organization. However, this morning, Vince Mercogliano of USA Today reported that Allaire will continue to serve as the team’s Director of Goaltending moving forward, but he will be helping the team find his replacement.

Allaire originally took over as the Rangers’ goaltending coach for the 2004-05 season, but would not truly begin his tenure until the 2005-06 season due to the lockout that took place in 2005. Before his role in the Big Apple, Allaire served as the goaltending coach for the Phoenix Coyotes from 1997 to 2004, helping develop a then 24-year-old Nikolai Khabibulin.

In Allaire’s first true season as goaltending coach for the Rangers organization, he had a major hand in developing one of the best goaltenders in franchise history. Making his debut in the 2005-06 NHL season, former seventh-round pick, Henrik Lundqvist would make his debut and would spend the next 14 years in New York.

Allaire and Lundqvist created a bond that would span over the latter’s entire career, as it would take Lundqvist 11 years in the NHL to finally not receive a vote for the Vezina Trophy. After Lundqvist left the team after the 2019-20 season, Allaire helped with the rise of current Rangers starter, Igor Shesterkin, who was a fourth-round pick of the organization back in the 2014 NHL Draft.

Thanks to Allaire, New York has not had to worry about goaltending for the last two decades. Allaire has coached back-to-back organizational stalwarts in net to Vezina Trophy victories in 2012 and 2022. Allaire, and the Rangers organization, will have a difficult time filling his skates as he eventually transitions into retirement.

Free Agent Focus: Tampa Bay Lightning

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Free agency is now just a month away and teams are looking ahead to when it opens.  There will be several impact players set to hit the open market in July while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign as well.  We continue our look around the NHL with an overview of the free agent situation for the Lightning.

Key Unrestricted Free Agents

F Steven Stamkos – An unrestricted free agent for the second time in his career, the Lightning should be able to find a way to keep their captain this offseason. Earlier in the year, Stamkos was publicly upset with Tampa Bay’s management due to not having an extension before the start of the 2023-24 NHL season, but those tempers should have cooled. At 34 years old, Stamkos should still command a multi-year contract from the Lightning (or any team), which should lower his yearly AAV for the cap-strapped organization. Stamkos is a veteran of 1082 regular season games with two Stanley Cup rings under his belt and is coming off the seventh 40-goal season of his career. If he were to entertain the idea of leaving Tampa Bay this summer, plenty of teams would come calling.

F Anthony Duclair – After coming to the organization at the trade deadline from the San Jose Sharks, Duclair quickly became one of the better trade pickups this season. His trade value increased slightly in his last 10 games in the Bay Area, scoring seven goals and 10 points leading up to the trade with the Lightning. After being acquired by the organization, Duclair became a solid offensive contributor, scoring eight goals and 15 points in only 17 games in Tampa Bay. Although he carries plenty of value as a complimentary offensive piece, Duclair may be unable to extend his stay with the Lightning unless he takes a slight pay cut on his recent $3MM salary.

D Matt Dumba – Much like Duclair, Dumba was also acquired at the trade deadline, this time from the Arizona Coyotes. Unfortunately, with another change of scenery failing to bring out anything in his game, it appears the Lightning and Dumba will not continue their relationship. After being acquired from the Coyotes, Dumba suited up in 18 games for Tampa Bay, only tallying two assists while averaging 18:39 of ice time per night. On the open market, Dumba should be able to fetch a guaranteed contract from a team desperate for defensive depth, but it will not be anywhere close to his $3.9MM AAV after a tough 2023-24 season.

Other UFAs: F Tyler Motte, F Austin Watson, D Calvin de Haan, D Haydn Fleury, G Jonas Johansson

Projected Cap Space

This is where things have been tricky in Tampa Bay for the last several years. The team was already a little tight on cap flexibility heading into the offseason and then acquired defenseman Ryan McDonagh and his $6.75MM AAV from the Nashville Predators with no money going the other way. Thanks to the trade for McDonagh, the Lightning will have a little over $5MM to work with unless another move is made to free up space. Since the trade for McDonagh, and the team’s noted desire to keep Stamkos, trade rumors have circled over the past few days around Tanner Jeannot and his $2.665MM salary for the 2024-25 NHL season, although nothing is concrete at this point. Ultimately, Stamkos could surprise us all and take a well-below-market contract to keep the team competitive through his twilight years in the NHL, but that seems unlikely at this point. However, if the Lightning do end up freeing some cap space this summer, they have players to move without completely shaking the integrity of the lineup.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.  Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.

Snapshots: Firkus, McCoshen, Tung

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Seattle Kraken forward prospect Jagger Firkus has won the CHL’s David Branch Player of the Year Award, after posting a Canada-leading 126 points in 63 games with the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors. He was the star of a Moose Jaw team rife with NHL talent, including Pittsburgh Penguins prospect Brayden Yager, who took home the league’s ‘Sportsman Player of the Year’ Award. Firkus and Yager were joined by Columbus Blue Jackets prospect Denton Mateychuk in Moose Jaw, forming a dominant team that won the WHL Championship and recently ranked third in the Memorial Cup.

Firkus signed his entry-level contract with Seattle ahead of the Memorial Cup and will now turn his sights towards pushing for the NHL lineup this off-season. The Kraken boast a strong prospect pool, including Shane Wright, Carson Rehkopf, and Jani Nyman – all players who could vie for an NHL opportunity of their own next season. That’ll mean plenty of competition for Firkus as he looks to adjust his aggressive offense to much tougher competition.

Other notes around the league:

  • Former Florida Panthers defenseman Ian McCoshen has signed a one-year contract with the KHL’s Kunlun Red Star (Twitter link). The move continues McCoshen’s tour across international hockey, after bouncing from a 2022 stint in Finland to a 2023 stint in Czechia, where he scored 12 points in 50 games with Liberec Bili Tygri HC. McCoshen is a veteran of just 60 NHL games, scoring seven points, though he did play in 174 games across five seasons in the AHL. He managed a season-high of just 11 points over his AHL career, a number he’s since topped in both Finland and Czechia. He’ll look to do the same in China next season, though the one-year deal could suggest another move coming soon.
  • BCHL goaltender Callum Tung will be attending both the Calgary Flames and Florida Panthers development camps, shares his Alberni Valley Bulldogs (Twitter link). Tung took over the Bulldogs’ starting role this season, posting 22 wins and a .917 save percentage across 38 regular season games. He managed to get even hotter in the postseason, winning 11 of 18 games and setting a .940 save percentage, though Alberni Valley ultimately fell to the Penticton Vees in the BCHL Championship. Tung remains eligible for the 2024 NHL Draft, after going overlooked in 2022 and 2023.  Tung isn’t currently committed to the NCAA either, suggesting he could be ready for a big challenge should he earn it at an NHL development camp.

Central Notes: Rantanen, Capuano, Hakanpaa, O’Connor

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Colorado Avalanche winger Mikko Rantanen will be eligible for a contract extension on July 1st, giving the team more to worry about than just their nine pending free agents. A new deal won’t come cheap either, shares Corey Masisak of The Denver Post, who compared Rantanen’s extension talks to David Pastrnak, who signed an eight-year, $90MM contract with the Boston Bruins in March of 2023. Pastrnak’s deal carries $9MM in signing bonuses and $26MM in total salary in the first two seasons alone – a price that’d be hard to stomach for an Avalanche team set to pay Nathan MacKinnon $16MM and $12.15MM in salary over the next two seasons. They’ll be helped along by Cale Makar’s team-friendly – relative to his talent – cap hit of $9MM, but he’ll offer another headache when he’s eligible for a new deal in 2027.

Rantanen recorded the second 100-point season of his career this year, though he fell one point shy of the career-high 105 points he posted last year. He’s proven to be one of the best wingers in the league and an integral piece of the Avalanche lineup, with Masisak noting Avalanche general manager Chris MacFarland’s desire to build around a core of MacKinnon, Rantanen, Makar, and Devon Toews. The Avalanche have three of those pieces locked up through the 2026-27 campaign – though they’ll need to be ready to shell out a pretty penny to do it.

Other notes from around the league:

  • Free agent coach Jack Capuano could be a candidate for the Minnesota Wild’s open assistant coaching position, shares Michael Russo of The Athletic (Twitter link). The Ottawa Senators chose not to re-sign Capuano to his associate coach contract this summer, bringing an end to his five-year career with the team. Russo spoke to Capuano’s long history with new Wild head coach John Hynes. That could be a useful connection as he looks to join the fourth team of his NHL coaching career.
  • Dallas Stars defenseman Jani Hakanpaa won’t be joining the team on their trip to Edmonton for Game 6, shares Owen Newkirk of the Dallas Stars Radio (Twitter link). Hakanpaa is set to miss his 32nd-straight game with a lower-body injury suffered in March. The Stars will be eager for Hakanpaa’s return, should it come this postseason, as they sort through questionable defense depth from Nils Lundkvist, Derrick Pouliot, and Lian Bichsel. Dallas is also facing a potential injury to top defender Chris Tanev, who exited Game 4 after blocking a shot from Evander Kane, but returned for Game 5. Whether he’s playing with good health or playoff resiliency, the Stars now won’t be able to bolster the depth behind Tanev until at least Game 7.
  • Colorado Avalanche forward Logan O’Connor is recovering well after undergoing hip surgery and should be ready for the 2024-25 training camp, shares Misisak (Twitter link). O’Connor missed the final 19 games of the regular season with his lower-body injury – though he’ll reflect on the season as a strong one, having scored at the highest rate of his career with 25 points in 57 games, while averaging a career-high 14:57 in ice time.

Maple Leafs Open Contract Talks With Tyler Bertuzzi

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Winger Tyler Bertuzzi is one of many pending unrestricted free agents for the Maple Leafs and is also one of their more prominent ones.  It had been suggested previously that there was mutual interest in a contract extension and it appears those talks are now underway, according to David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period (Twitter link).  He added that it’s way too early in the process to determine if the two sides might be able to work out a new deal.

Last summer was an interesting one for the 29-year-old.  Even though he was coming off a down year, Bertuzzi was one of the better unrestricted free agents in last year’s class, landing in the top ten in our annual rankings.  That appeared to have him set to receive a multi-year agreement (if not a long-term one) and a raise on the $4.75MM AAV he had been playing on.

However, the market he was hoping for never materialized.  Rather than accept a multi-year deal at a lower rate, he instead pivoted on the second day of free agency, inking a one-year, $5.5MM pact with Toronto.  It looked like his hope was that a key role on a Maple Leafs team that had a strong offensive core could help better position himself to land a long-term agreement on the open market this time around.

Things didn’t go quite as planned, however.  Bertuzzi got off to a slow start, notching just nine points in his first 27 games despite holding down a spot in the top six for most of that time.  He was able to rebound in the second half, however, finishing up with 21 goals and 20 assists in 80 games before tying for the team lead in playoff points with four.

Bertuzzi is only two years removed from a 30-goal season when he had 30 tallies and 32 assists in 68 games during the 2021-22 season.  He also has two other 21-goal campaigns under his belt so there is a reasonable track record of offensive success.

Having said that, the fact he wasn’t able to get back to that 30-goal mark (instead staying closer to his career averages) won’t help his chances of landing a raise and a long-term pact.  If Bertuzzi wants some job security in the form of a multi-year agreement, he’s likely going to have to take at least a small discount on the salary side.

Toronto has a little more than $18MM in cap room this summer, per CapFriendly.  However, they have to sign a few forwards, several defensemen, and a goalie with that money so while there is some flexibility to make a big signing if they want, they also need to spread that money around.  They have next month to figure out if a new deal for Bertuzzi fits in with how they want to allocate their remaining cap room.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Capitals, Sharks Extend Bona Fide Offers To Five Prospects

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The Washington Capitals and San Jose Sharks have taken the steps needed to retain their negotiating rights over five players, with the Capitals extending a bona fide offer to forwards Patrick Thomas and Brett Hyland, as well as defenseman Cameron Allen (Twitter link), while the Sharks have extended offers to forwards Brandon Svoboda and David Klee. A bona fide offer is the offer of a standard player contract that meets the requirements of an entry-level contract, including meeting the minimum salary and length requirements of an ELC. Offers stay open for 30 days after they’re extended, meaning the quintet of players will have throughout June to accept their offers. Accepting a bona fide offer waves a player’s rights to salary arbitration after the contract ends.

Washington’s list of now extended prospect rights is headlined by 2023 fifth-round pick Cam Allen, who’s seen his point totals decrease in each season since he joined the OHL in 2021-22. Allen posted 37 points in 65 games as a rookie, but followed it up with 25 points in 62 games last year and just nine in 25 games this year. He’s fallen a long way after being previously acclaimed as one of the top Canadian defenders in his age group. That merit was flaunted when Allen captained Team Canada at the 2023 World U18 Championship, recording four points in seven games as Canada raced to a Bronze Medal. Allen also served as an assistant captain for the Guelph Storm this season; a role he’ll likely maintain when he returns to Guelph for his final year of OHL eligibility next season.

Allen is flanked by forwards Patrick Thomas and Brett Hyland – Washington’s selections in the fourth and seventh rounds of the 2023 draft respectively. Thomas has one more year of OHL eligibility ahead of him, after posting a career-high 21 goals and 66 points in just 57 games with the Brantford Bulldogs this season. He’s a well-rounded, ’jack of all trades’ forward whose physicality in the defensive end and heads-up positioning on offense have helped him contribute in all three zones. That two-way reliability has been a nice match for the much more aggressive Florian Xhekaj, though Thomas could certainly improve his own play-driving. At just 19, he’ll have plenty of time to continue adding those traits, should he return to the OHL next year. That question doesn’t extend to Hyland, who completed his fourth complete WHL season with the Brandon Wheat Kings this year, posting a career-high 32 goals and 59 points in 66 games. He’s seen his scoring grow in each year of his juniors career, ultimately totaling 145 points across 195 games in the WHL. Hyland should turn pro following his bona fide offer from Washington, though whether that means placement in the AHL or ECHL will likely be decided during training camp.

Meanwhile, the Sharks have extended offers to a pair of USHL forwards – including Brandon Svoboda, who’s won the league’s Clark Cup Championship in each of the last two seasons. He provided strong lineup flexibility to the 2023-winning Youngstown Phantoms, capable of playing either center or winger and being moved around the lineup plenty as a result. Svoboda posted 16 goals and 26 points in 59 games with Youngstown last season, adding one goal in nine playoff games. He began this season in Youngstown as well, recording 11 points in 25 games before being traded to the Fargo Force. Svoboda’s aware playmaking and nifty passing seemed much better placed in Fargo, where he tallied a combined 13 points across 24 games in the regular season and playoffs. He’s currently slated to move to Boston University next season. The lean, slick frame of Svoboda is juxtaposed by the burly Klee, who posted 15 goals and 40 points in 62 USHL games of his own this season. It was a major improvement from his 13 points in 57 games last season and helped Klee claw his way into a top-six role with the Muskegon Lumberjacks. Klee is currently committed to the University of North Dakota for next season. His strong, gritty style should continue to put him in a position to succeed in college, though he’ll need to find another layer if he wants to push towards a spot on what will soon be a very young Sharks lineup.

With this announcement, San Jose has also shared that goaltender prospect Mason Beaupit is set to re-enter the draft. Beaupit will join Minnesota Wild draftee Servác Petrovský as players with expiring rights who have re-declared for the draft. Beaupit moved to the BCHL this season, after four seasons in the WHL, posting nine wins and a .904 save percentage in 28 games with the Langley Rivermen. He’ll hope to find a better match in the 2024 Draft, and is likely to decide where he’ll spend next season after then.

Blues Sign Jakub Stancl To Entry-Level Deal

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The Blues have been busy in recent days signing some of their prospects, inking Aleksanteri Kaskimaki and Juraj Pekarcik to contracts.  They added to that list today, announcing that they’ve signed forward Jakub Stancl to a three-year, entry-level deal.  Financial terms were not disclosed.

The 19-year-old was a fourth-round pick last June, going 106th overall following a good season in Sweden’s junior system.  This year, Stancl played in 28 games with Vaxjo’s under-20 team, notching seven goals and seven assists.  He also got into seven SHL contests, scoring once.  Stancl was more impactful offensively at the World Juniors, however.  He recorded four goals and two assists in seven games for Czechia.

St. Louis will have some options with Stancl next season.  Since he wasn’t drafted out of the CHL, they can assign him to AHL Springfield if they want to get him acclimated to play in North America.  They could opt to send him to major junior where WHL Kelowna holds his rights.  Alternatively, they can elect to send him back overseas and keep him in Vaxjo’s system for another year.  As long as he doesn’t play in ten NHL games in 2024-25, his contract will actually slide and will still have three years left on it heading into the 2025-26 campaign.

Metropolitan Notes: Vesey, Wheeler, Mateychuk, Yager

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Rangers winger Jimmy Vesey skated today in a non-contact jersey, notes NHL.com’s Dan Rosen (Twitter link).  He has missed the last three games after suffering an upper-body injury in the second game of their series against Florida.  At the time of the injury, Vesey was given a week-to-week designation so it remains unlikely that he’ll suit up for the rest of this round.  However, if New York can come back and win the series, he could be an option to return at that time.  Vesey had 13 goals and 13 assists in 80 games during the regular season and added three points in a dozen playoff contests before being injured.

More from the Metropolitan:

  • Still with the Rangers, winger Blake Wheeler did not take the skate this morning due to soreness, notes Arthur Staple of The Athletic (Twitter link). The veteran missed the last two months of the season after suffering a leg injury but recovered in time to be available to suit up against Florida.  However, Wheeler has only played once so far in this series and since he’s still dealing with lingering soreness, it’s quite possible they’ll hold him out of the lineup if this gets to a seventh game on Monday.
  • After his junior team was eliminated at the Memorial Cup on Friday, Aaron Portzline of The Athletic suggests (Twitter link) that Blue Jackets prospect Denton Mateychuk is likely to join AHL Cleveland for the balance of their playoff run. The 19-year-old defenseman was the 12th pick in 2022 and was dominant with WHL Moose Jaw this season, recording 75 points in 52 regular season games while adding 30 more in 20 postseason contests.  He also currently leads all scorers at the Memorial Cup with seven points over his four appearances.  It would be Mateychuk’s first taste of professional hockey if he suits up for the Monsters in advance of his first full professional campaign in 2024-25.
  • Penguins prospect Brayden Yager was named the CHL’s Sportsman of the Year today, per a league announcement. The 19-year-old was a first-round pick last year, going 14th overall.  Yager had a very strong year with Moose Jaw, notching 95 points along with just 20 penalty minutes in 57 regular season games.  He added 27 points in 20 playoff contests and is tied for second in Memorial Cup scoring with six points in four games.

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