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Blues Notes: Captaincy, Welinski, Bitten

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Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic is reporting that the St. Louis Blues have released a notice that they will be having a press conference tomorrow morning to announce a new captain. The Blues have been without a captain since trading Ryan O’Reilly to the Toronto Maple Leafs at the trade deadline. Rutherford speculates that the frontrunners to be the new captain would likely be Brayden Schenn or Robbie Thomas given their status with the club and the leadership they provide.

While Rutherford does consider Schenn and Thomas to be favorites to land the captaincy, he also concedes that he doesn’t know definitively as to who it will be. The Blues could name anyone from their current roster to be their next captain and certainly have lots of options as they could also select from veterans Colton Parayko, Justin Faulk, or even a younger veteran such as Pavel Buchnevich. Whoever the club ultimately selects will have the opportunity to lead a Blues team that will be looking to improve after a disappointing season last year in which they missed the playoffs. While they were sellers at the deadline, they did make a few low cost adds at the same time in Kasperi Kapanen and Jakub Vrana. The club also made additions this offseason trading for Kevin Hayes and bringing back Oskar Sundqvist in free agency.

In other Blues Notes:

  • The Blues announced today that former Anaheim Ducks defenseman Andy Welinski will attend training camp with St. Louis on a PTO after spending last season in the AHL with the Hartford Wolf Pack and Rockford IceHogs. The 30-year-old put up four goals and 15 assists in 54 AHL games while tallying just 14 penalty minutes. In his short NHL career, the native of Duluth, Minnesota has posted just a single goal and five assists. St. Louis already has seven defensemen signed to NHL deals for next season meaning Welinski will be fighting an uphill battle to make the NHL squad.
  • The Blues also announced today that forward Sam Bitten will also be joining the team for training camp on a PTO after playing for Plzen HC of the Czech league last season. The 23-year-old native of Ottawa, Ontario dressed in 48 games last year posting a single goal. Sam’s older brother Will Bitten is a member of the Blues and dressed in four games last year for the Blues posting a single assist. Bitten is unlikely to make the Blues but could battle for a spot in the minor leagues within the Blues system giving him a chance to play in North America for the first time in his professional career.

Dallas Stars Sign Christopher Gibson To A PTO

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The Dallas Morning News announced this morning that the Dallas Stars had released their training camp roster and on it is former New York Islanders netminder Christopher Gibson. The 30-year-old Gibson has reportedly signed (Elite Prospects) a PTO to attend Stars training camp and figures to be a long shot to make the big club as Dallas has Jake Oettinger and Scott Wedgewood firmly entrenched between the pipes.

Gibson last saw NHL action with the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2020-21 pandemic-shorted season going 1-1 with an .875 save percentage and a 2.66 goals-against average. The native of Karkkila, Finland has seen limited action over his four-year NHL career dressing in just 16 games with a record of 4-5-3 while sporting a 3.33 goals-against average and a .901 save percentage.

As one might expect, Gibson’s numbers in the AHL are superior to his NHL numbers. Over the course of his ten-year AHL career, Gibson has played 244 games going 124-77-28 while posting 14 shutouts and a .910 save percentage. Although his AHL numbers are better, they haven’t been particularly good the past two seasons and are well off his career average. Last year with the Coachella Valley Firebirds Gibson went 10-5-4 with a 2.99 goals against average and a .894 save percentage.

He might be unlikely to land with the Stars in Dallas, but Gibson will have a good opportunity to audition for AHL work and could land himself a minor-league deal with a good showing. Gibson was a second-round pick 49th overall in the 2011 NHL entry draft and at one point looked like he would be a big part of the Islanders’ future. He has good size, and terrific athleticism, but has never been able to put it all together at the NHL level.

Sharks Invite Justin Bailey To Camp For A PTO

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7:17PM:  The San Jose Sharks have confirmed via their training camp roster that Bailey will be attending training camp on a PTO.

According to Elite Prospects, the San Jose Sharks have reportedly invited forward Justin Bailey to training camp on a PTO. Bailey was previously a member of the Edmonton Oilers organization, having spent last season in the AHL with the Bakersfield Condors. The 28-year-old was a decent depth scoring option for the Condors last season posting 19 goals and 13 assists in 58 AHL games.

Normally those wouldn’t be the type of AHL numbers that would get a look in the NHL, but nothing has been normal about the San Jose Sharks offseason and Bailey figures to add some size and grit to a training camp that is lacking both of those attributes.

Bailey was once a sought-after prospect back when he was drafted in the second round by the Buffalo Sabres at the 2013 NHL entry draft. Many scouts marveled at his ability to get around the ice, a rare trait for a player of his size. But Bailey was never able to put it all together at the NHL level posting just five goals and four assists in 82 games broken up across seven NHL seasons.

In the AHL, Bailey flirted with being a point a game player for several seasons including in 2019-20 while a member of the Utica Comets. That season Bailey posted 28 goals and 19 assists in just 53 games but had his season cut short by the pandemic. Bailey bounced back nicely two years later when AHL hockey was able to resume play under normal circumstances posting 15 goals and 12 assists in 30 games.

Although he is a long shot to make the Sharks, Bailey should be able to earn an AHL job if he does accept the offer for a tryout. Bailey could possibly even earn a two-way contract with the club if he is to have a good showing at training camp. His size will always be something that gets teams attention and he can play the power forward very well at the AHL level.

Minor Transactions: 09/18/23

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Minor transactions are beginning to heat up on this side of the Atlantic once again as rookie camps come to a close, leading to the resolution of situations for many players in NHL camps on tryouts. We’re keeping tabs on those, as well as any notable minor transactions from other leagues, right here.

  • Philadelphia Flyers rookie camp invite Matt Brown has signed a two-year deal with their AHL affiliate in Lehigh Valley, reports PHLY Sports’ Charlie O’Connor. O’Connor reported a few days ago that the Flyers were potentially considering an entry-level contract for Brown after a standout performance during rookie camp. Brown, 24, is coming off a spectacular senior season at Boston University in which he led the team’s forwards in scoring, notching 47 points in 39 games. He sat only behind Montreal Canadiens defense prospect Lane Hutson, who notched 48. While undersized at 5-foot-9, he does carry some offensive upside after solid totals in college and will look to make a smooth transition to pro hockey this fall. O’Connor also said AHL Lehigh Valley has signed another of the Flyers’ camp invites, Brendan Furry, to a one-year deal. Furry, 25, captained Minnesota State University last season and registered three points in three games with Lehigh Valley to finish off last season on a tryout.

This page will be updated throughout the day.

Boston Bruins Promote John McLean To Assistant Coaching Role

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The Boston Bruins have named John McLean an assistant coach, per a team release today. MacLean spent last season in the Bruins organization as a skills and skating consultant.

Boston also announced a flurry of other minor hockey ops changes, namely in the scouting department: Dan Darrow has been named Assistant Video Coordinator; Josh Pohlkamp-Hartt has been named Associate Director of Hockey Analytics; Campbell Weaver has been named Director of Hockey Systems; Derek MacKinnon has been named Pro Scout; and Milan Jurcina has been named European Scout.

McLean, 58, is not to be confused with longtime NHLer and current Islanders power play coach John MacLean. McLean, once a captain of Boston College’s men’s program, has just one season of NHL experience under his belt after serving in assistant coaching roles with Boston College, Merrimack, and serving as the head coach of prep school Malden Catholic throughout the 2000s and 2010s.

While an assistant in name, McLean won’t be on the bench with head coach Jim Montgomery and his other assistants, Chris Kelly and Joe Sacco, during games. That’s according to a report from Montgomery himself late last month, in which he said the Bruins would pursue an assistant coach to replace the departing John Gruden, although their hire would serve in a development role and would watch games from the management box. Gruden departed Boston after one season to accept a head coaching role with the AHL’s Toronto Marlies this summer. That means while McLean will likely add some jobs to his plate with the promotion, his core focus on skills and skating development will remain unchanged.

Darrow joins Boston as an assistant video coordinator after serving as the San Jose Sharks’ video coach from 2015 to 2022. He also was the director of hockey operations for the University of Massachusetts-Lowell from 2011 to 2015 and was an assistant coach for Team USA at this year’s U18 World Juniors.

Pohlkamp-Hartt, 35, earns a promotion within the organization after spending the last five seasons as a data scientist in the team’s analytics department. He also previously served as the director of hockey analytics for the OHL’s Kingston Frontenacs before accepting a role with the Bruins. Weaver also earned a promotion after spending the last four seasons working with Pohlkamp-Hartt in the team’s analytics department.

MacKinnon comes as an external hire, joining the Bruins as he celebrates his 20th year in an NHL role. He had been with the Calgary Flames for the past nine seasons, serving as a pro scout before earning a promotion to their director of player personnel role. He’s also held scouting and coaching roles with the Dallas Stars and Phoenix Coyotes dating back to 2003.

Jurcina, once a defenseman for the Bruins in the mid-2000s, assumedly ends his pro career with this move. The 40-year-old was active as recently as last season, skating in 12 games for HC Sparta Praha of the Czech Extraliga. The Slovak defender last suited up in the NHL with the New York Islanders in 2011-12 and will likely play a large role in scouting the Czech and Slovak regions, helping to get more talent out of a region the Bruins have had major success with in recent years.

Jarmo Kekalainen Apologizes To Blue Jackets Players

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Aaron Portzline of The Athletic is reporting that Columbus Blue Jackets General Manager Jarmo Kekalainen has apologized to his players in the wake of the Mike Babcock scandal.

Kekalainen himself told the media that he’d apologized to the team for hiring Babcock in the aftermath the former coach’s resignation yesterday afternoon. Blue Jackets ownership released a statement to the media as well expressing their disappointment and frustration with the events of the last week.

Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff wrote an article today that asked the question “when will the sword fall on Kekalainen?” Kekalainen has been at the helm of the Blue Jackets for a decade now, and while they’ve reached the playoffs in five of the ten seasons, they have had a lot of missteps along the way. Seravalli begins the article with criticism of Kekalainen for thanking Babcock for his services and then begins to dissect the good and bad of his run as Blue Jackets GM. While the team has reached heights they have never seen before, like their playoff series win in 2019, they have had a lot of lows in that time too.

Seravalli is balanced as he highlights Kekalainen’s good drafting record, as well as the two Seth Jones trades (both of which he won), as well as getting the most out of the Nick Foligno and David Savard trades.

But he also finds a lot of room for criticism with some of Kekalainen’s moves as well. Columbus famously emptied the tank in 2019 to trade for Matt Duchene as they knew both Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky would be leaving as free agents that summer. While it got them their first playoff series victory, one wonders how many future assets they could have kept and acquired if they opted to sell at that deadline rather than buying. Couple that deadline with last offseason and a free agent shopping spree that yielded a 59-point season, and it gives you room to wonder if Kekalainen’s tenure (the third longest in the NHL) is coming to an end after the Babcock scandal has once again highlighted some of Kekalainen’s mistakes.

Philadelphia Flyers Interested In Ottawa’s Shane Pinto

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The Fourth Period’s Anthony Di Marco shared that the Philadelphia Flyers made an offer on unsigned Ottawa Senators forward Shane Pinto. The offer would have also sent Mathieu Joseph, who makes $2.95MM for the next three years, to Philadelphia alongside Pinto as a cap dump. No return from Philadelphia is mentioned, although Di Marco notes that it would’ve been a roster player. He also shares that Philadelphia has, “kind of moved on” after not receiving a prompt response from Ottawa.

Shane Pinto’s contract negotiations have quickly become news worth following, as little progress has been made in finding a deal. Both Di Marco and Elliotte Friedman, in his 32 Thoughts podcast, agree that Ottawa’s preference is still to re-sign Pinto. But Friedman noted that Ottawa is aware any trade involving Pinto would return a quality player.

And that’s the real challenge. While few teams in the league are in a position to take on more cap, especially any potential cap dump that may need to be associated with the deal, Pinto is a player worth finding room for. The 22-year-old centerman scored 20 goals and 35 points while appearing in all 82 games last season – a defiant rookie showing. Friedman remains confident that, following this strong season, a market value contract for Pinto would carry a cap hit of around $2.5MM. That price coupled with Joseph’s cap dump would equate to roughly $5.5MM that any potential suitor would need to make room for.

There’s also the matter of what a fair trade return is for a player of Pinto’s quality. Friedman and co-host Jeff Marek discuss the Boston Bruins as another team that could be interested but are likely out of any true conversations given their cap situation and lack of expendable assets. With training camp looming, movement with Pinto is likely right around the corner. But whether a new deal with come with Ottawa or a new team is yet to be seen.

Calen Addison Expected To Sign Before Training Camp

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The Athletic’s Michael Russo recently shared that he expects the Minnesota Wild to sign Calen Addison before they kick off training camp. It’s been a complicated contract season for Addison, who doesn’t currently have arbitration rights but will earn them after the 2023-24 season. This fact jumbles up the technicalities of a new deal, drawing out the 23-year-old defender’s contract negotiations.

Calen Addison was drafted in the Second Round of the 2018 NHL Draft by the Pittsburgh Penguins. But before he could play more than three games with Pittsburgh’s AHL affiliate, he was traded to the Minnesota Wild, along with Alex Galchenyuk and a 2020 First Round pick used to take Carson Lambos, in exchange for Jason Zucker.

Since then, Addison has appeared in 74 AHL games and 80 NHL games with the Minnesota organization. He’s tallied 56 career AHL points and 33 career NHL points, including 29 points in 62 games last season. This scoring ranked third among rookie defenders, just a few points behind Buffalo’s Owen Power and Ottawa’s Jake Sanderson. It also marked the most points a rookie defender has scored for Minnesota since Filip Kuba put up 30 points in 2000-01.

But despite the promising scoring, Addison hasn’t carved out a clear NHL role just yet. In an interview with Russo, Wild head coach Dean Evason insinuated that Brock Faber could get a top-four nod. However, he also spoke to the rotation of talent at Minnesota’s disposal when asked if a top-four role may overwhelm Faber, saying: “We are confident [in Faber], but if there’s a situation where we feel that maybe he is overwhelmed because of his first year — we don’t think that’s going to happen, but if he is — it’s an easy flip for us to him and (Jake Middleton) or even Jonny Merrill or Alex Goligoski and Addy. We’ve got seven guys in those guys that we think can all play in the National Hockey League, obviously.” 

How Addison finds his footing in such a talented blue-line is yet to be seen. But for the strong-scoring defender, a new deal will at least open an opportunity.

Five Key Stories: 9/11/23 – 9/17/23

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With training camps now less than a week away, there was a bit of an uptick in activity around the NHL.  As always, we recap the biggest news in our key stories.

Third Time’s A Charm? Things didn’t go particularly well the first two times the NHL set up shop in Atlanta.  Despite that, the league appears to be open to the idea of giving that market another opportunity should they decide to expand beyond 32 teams.  Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly feels that the demographics in Atlanta have changed enough since the Thrashers left in 2011 and that a better-placed arena could give that market an opportunity to succeed the next time around.  Despite this, expansion isn’t believed to be at the top of the priority list for the league right now but when the time comes, it might be a familiar city that gets another chance.

Latest Round Of PTOs: As expected, there was another sizable batch of veteran players accepting training camp tryout offers in the hopes of eventually landing a guaranteed contract for the upcoming season.  Adam Erne will look to catch on with Edmonton while Zach Aston-Reese is one of many tryouts in Carolina.  The Ritchie brothers inked tryout agreements on the same day; Nick Ritchie is heading to St. Louis while Brett Ritchie will look to crack Florida’s roster.  Josh Bailey was linked to Ottawa earlier this summer and is indeed now taking part in their camp while defenseman Olli Juolevi is one of many players getting an opportunity with Arizona.  Dozens of PTOs have been signed around the league and there are still more to come.

Tatar To Colorado: It was a busy summer for Avalanche GM Chris MacFarland as he had already brought in five new forwards to his group.  Make that six now as Colorado signed winger Tomas Tatar to a one-year, $1.5MM deal.  It’s a considerable pay cut for the 32-year-old who made $4.5MM in each of the last two years and $5.3MM for the four before that.  Tatar is actually coming off a pretty good season in New Jersey, one that saw him record 20 goals and 28 assists although he struggled considerably in the playoffs, managing just a single point in 12 games.  Tatar adds to what should be an interesting battle on the left side in training camp with Gabriel Landeskog out for the regular season (but returning for the playoffs is a possibility).

Wright AHL-Eligible: It was looking like Kraken center Shane Wright was going to be facing another year of either playing in the NHL or returning to major junior.  However, that’s no longer the case as the NHL and OHL has granted Wright an exemption that allows him to suit up with AHL Coachella Valley this season if Seattle elects to send him down.  CHL players are typically ineligible to play in the minors unless they are 20 years old on or before December 31st and Wright doesn’t turn 20 until January 5th.  The other way to get out of that situation is to play four CHL seasons.  Wright wasn’t able to do so as the OHL didn’t play at all in the 2020-21 campaign.  However, they’ve basically decided that since he would have done so had the league taken to the ice, they’ll grant him the year of service time, enabling him to become AHL-eligible this season.  That’s an ideal outcome for one of Seattle’s top prospects.

Coaching Change In Columbus: Mike Babcock’s tenure as head coach in Columbus is already over before he stepped behind the bench for a single game.  Following a joint NHL/NHLPA investigation spurred by allegations that Babcock asked to view phones and/or photographs of several Blue Jackets players, it was mutually decided that Babcock would resign.  Babcock had been out of the league since 2019 and after what transpired here, it would be surprising to see him back behind an NHL bench.  Meanwhile, Columbus has looked to an internal candidate to take over, promoting associate coach Pascal Vincent to the top job while giving him a new two-year deal.  Vincent has seven years of NHL coaching experience between Columbus and Winnipeg but this will be his first time as the head coach at the top level.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

West Notes: Fabbro, Sutter, Canucks

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The Predators are believed to have looked into the possibility of moving defenseman Dante Fabbro this summer, reports David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period.  The 25-year-old’s future with the team has seemed murky at times over the past couple of years and the fact that he took a step back last season offensively (going from 24 points to just 11) won’t help his value.  Nevertheless, Fabbro has shown himself to be capable of holding down a fourth or fifth spot on a defensive depth chart and at a $2.5MM AAV, it’s not a particularly pricey gamble for a team to bring him in.  The fact he still has another year of club control after this one doesn’t hurt either.  Clearly, Nashville didn’t find a trade offer to their liking but Fabbro could be one to keep an eye on as new GM Barry Trotz puts his stamp on this team.

More from the West:

  • Last season, Jason Demers attended Edmonton’s camp on a PTO and agreed to an AHL tryout agreement after that before being converted to an NHL contract midseason. Bruce McCurdy of the Edmonton Journal wonders if the Oilers might try the same approach with Brandon Sutter.  Being out of hockey for two years altogether, going this route would allow both sides more time to assess his overall readiness to play at the top level rather than forcing Edmonton to make a decision on his fate over the next few weeks.
  • While the Canucks checked in on free agent winger Phil Kessel earlier in the summer, they’re not believed to be one of the teams pursuing him at the moment, reports CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal (video link). As things stand, Vancouver is going to need to trim its payroll if Tanner Pearson is indeed cleared to play at the start of the season so getting another player at the NHL minimum salary of $775K to replace someone making a bit more than that would help in that.  However, the Canucks also have a fair bit of forward depth so it’s not entirely surprising that they’re not in on Kessel for now.

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