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Detroit Red Wings Re-Sign Joe Veleno

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The Detroit Red Wings have announced that they’ve re-signed forward Joe Veleno to a one-year contract for the 2023-24 season with a cap hit of $825,000. The 23-year-old just completed his third season with the Wings and tallied nine goals and 11 assists in 81 games.

Veleno served Detroit’s fourth line well as he posted 152 hits on the season and was a disruptive force against opposing offences. While he did post 20 points on the campaign, he endured some long stretches where the offence dried up, including a 20-game drought where he was held pointless.

Veleno did not qualify for arbitration, which significantly hindered his negotiating power. He will once again be a restricted free agent next summer and could be looking to cash in if he can find more offence in the upcoming season. He will be due a qualifying offer of $866,000 next summer for Detroit to retain his rights.

The Montreal, Quebec native has a good combination of size and speed. He does good work on the forecheck, but it does feel like he has a lot more to give as he enters his prime. Although he hasn’t typically been penalized a lot in the NHL, he did face a major suspension this past spring when he was suspended at the 2023 IIHF World Championship for stomping on the leg of Winnipeg Jets forward Nino Niederreiter during a preliminary round game between Switzerland and Canada.

Veleno was coming off his entry-level contract with Detroit after dressing in 152 games over the past three years. To this point in his career, he has collected 18 goals and 18 assists while posting 13:03 of ice time per game.

Logan Mailloux Cleared To Play For Canadiens

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Renaud Lavoie of The NHL Network is reporting that Montreal Canadiens defensive prospect Logan Mailloux has been cleared by the NHL to play for the team next season. Lavoie tweeted, “Logan Mailloux has received a green light to play in the NHL when he earns a job with the Montreal Canadiens, putting an end to the speculation.”

The native of Belle River, Ontario, just wrapped up his final season of OHL eligibility with the London Knights, a season in which he posted 25 goals and 28 assists in 59 games.

The 20-year-old Mailloux was charged in Sweden with defamation and offensive photography after he shared an explicit picture of a woman with his teammates in Sweden without her consent. Mailloux was 17 years old at the time, and amid the controversy, he was selected by the Canadiens in the entry draft that followed after he had asked teams not to draft him. The NHL elected to review the situation before agreeing to allow Mailloux to play in the league.

Mailloux met with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman this past summer in what was presumably a meeting to discuss his being cleared by the league as he looked to turn pro for the first time after signing his NHL entry-level contract last year. He would have required clearance to play in the AHL or the NHL if he wanted to play professional hockey in North America.

Mailloux and the Montreal Canadiens have taken steps to try and make amends. Mailloux has participated in multiple educational events led by the community manager for the Montreal Canadiens Foundation, Geneviève Paquette. The Canadiens franchise has also put $1MM into a ‘Respect and Consent Action Plan‘.

With Mailloux now reportedly cleared to play, he will need to play catchup as he has missed significant time due to his suspensions as well as multiple injuries that he has dealt with. He is unlikely to land a job with the Canadiens as they have a good stockpile of skilled, young defensemen who will also be looking to crack the lineup. Given that, he will likely start the season with the Laval Rocket, which would be a good fit for him to better understand what it takes to become a professional before being thrust under the bright lights in Montreal.

Edmonton Oilers Make Changes To Scouting Staff

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The Edmonton Oilers announced today that they have made several changes to their scouting staff as the team gears up for training camp. The club has named Rick Pracey as Director of Amateur Scouting while mutually parting ways with Tyler Wright.

The 52-year-old Pracey has been an amateur scout with the Philadelphia Flyers since 2014 and brings over 20 years of scouting experience to Edmonton. He has previously worked as a Director of Amateur Scouting with the Colorado Avalanche, a role he served in from 2008-14 during which time the team selected Tyson Barrie, Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog, Ryan O’Reilly, and Matt Duchene.

A native of Hamilton, Ontario, Pracey’s professional playing career was short-lived as he played college hockey in Canada for both the University of Windsor and Wilfrid Laurier University, as well as a one-year stint in the UHL. After his playing career was over, Pracey joined the Avalanche in 2001 in an amateur scouting role and built his career from there.

For Tyler Wright, he moves on after just over four years with the Oilers. The 50-year-old came over to Edmonton in July 2019 along with Ken Holland after working alongside Holland with the Detroit Red Wings for six seasons. He served as Director of Amateur Scouting for all four years and was in the same role with the Red Wings for over six years.

It will be interesting to see where he lands given that the move was a mutual one for Wright and the Oilers. Wright’s work likely went by the wayside this year as the Oilers drafted just three players in June’s NHL entry draft after trading away picks in the Mattias Ekholm and Kailer Yamamoto trades.

Extension Candidate: Mark Scheifele

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The Winnipeg Jets are approaching a potentially franchise-altering season. Two of the organization’s key players, former Vezina Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck and team number-one center Mark Scheifele are each on expiring contracts that stand to walk them straight to the unrestricted free agent market next summer.

The Jets are intent on remaining competitive with key players such as Kyle Connor, Josh Morrissey, Nikolaj Ehlers, and recent acquisition Gabriel Vilardi still on their roster. So it stands to reason that the team would be interested in retaining Scheifele, the player with the most goals in Jets history since they arrived from Atlanta.

But seeing as his name has come up in trade rumors this summer, it’s also a very real possibility that he ends up on a different team next season. A poor campaign by Winnipeg could finally catalyze the type of re-tool that seems off the table at this current moment entering 2023-24.

The likeliest scenario that would result in Winnipeg engaging in serious discussions about a long-term contract with Scheifele next season would be if the team sprints out of the gate at the start of the regular season and looks like a legitimate Stanley Cup contender.

If that ends up happening, the Jets finding a way to retain their number-one center would likely become an organizational top priority. Should the Jets make a determined effort to extend Scheifele — assuming they haven’t already — what might that contract look like?

2022-23

For quite a while now, the question of Scheifele’s true on-ice value has been a hotly debated one. He’s a divisive player, and that’s not even a reference to the vicious hit he laid on an unsuspecting Jake Evans during the 2021 playoffs — one that got him suspended for the team’s final three games as well as Winnipeg’s season-opener the following campaign — but rather a reference to the way in which Scheifele approaches the game.

Scheifele places a premium on offensive creation and offensive production, something that is certainly admirable, but often comes at the detriment of his all-around value. His fixation on always maximizing his and his linemates’ offensive production has made him something of a lightning rod for criticism as the Jets franchise has declined since their 2018 run to the Western Conference Final.

Scheifele’s approach to the game has at times attracted harsh criticism from those who would like to see him take a more committed approach to the defensive side of the game. A lot is typically asked of elite centers in the NHL, and nothing Scheifele has shown in recent seasons has suggested he is able to capably manage the sort of defensive commitment many coaches want to see out of top pivots. Jets coach Rick Bowness even appeared to show some frustration at Scheifele during last season, per The Athletic’s Murat Ates, suggesting that many fans’ frustration with Scheifele’s offensive focus could be shared, to a certain extent, by figures within the Jets organization.

But on the flip side of those negatives is the undeniable reality that Scheifele is among the most offensively gifted centers in the NHL. He scored a career-high 42 goals last season and has frequently been an at-or-above point-per-game scorer. He’s a two-time NHL All-Star and has even been productive in the playoffs, with 32 points in 37 career games. He undoubtedly has the numbers of a true first-line center, and first-line centers are extremely rare. But then the question becomes, he has number-one center numbers, but does he play like one?

Statistics

2022-23: 81 GP, 42 G, 26 A, 68 pts, -16 rating, 43 PIMs, 206 shots, 20:29 ATOI, 58.5% CF
Career: 723 GP, 272 G, 373 A, 645 pts, +46 rating, 303 PIMs, 1,620 shots, 19:59 ATOI, 55.7% CF

The Market

Centers who put up the kind of numbers Scheifele has throughout his career don’t come cheap. While Scheifele is undoubtedly a cut below the dynamic, league-defining centers such as Nathan MacKinnon that are at the top of the financial leaderboard, he nonetheless has the profile of a player who merits a franchise-defining contract.

It’s very rare for a point-per-game top-line center to hit the open market, and while it’s certainly up for debate if Scheifele truly fits that mold, he’d certainly end up the best center on the open market assuming both Auston Matthews and Steven Stamkos re-sign with their current clubs.

That would likely aid Scheifele significantly should he be seeking the highest AAV mark possible on his next deal, as it’s probable that teams desperate for a true scoring center (such as the Boston Bruins, who lost David Krejci and Patrice Bergeron to retirement) would be ready to open their wallets for Scheifele.

The Jets have the sort of cap space to afford a hefty raise for Scheifele, in large part thanks to the nearly $7MM set to come off their books at the expiration of Brenden Dillon and Dylan DeMelo’s contracts. The team shifting to a cheaper goaltender should Hellebuyck depart could also make fitting a pricey Scheifele extension all that much easier for Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff.

Comparable Contracts

Dylan Larkin (Detroit Red Wings) – Detroit invested an $8.7MM AAV in Larkin’s next contract, and although Scheifele is three years older he has a decent argument to have earned more than that number. Scheifele has a more extensive track record of offensive production than Larkin, though Larkin’s defensive game certainly surpasses Scheifele’s. It’s also worth noting that Larkin was signing with his hometown team and the club he captains, and although Scheifele has spent his entire pro career with the Jets it’s unlikely he has ties as deep, long-lasting ties as Larkin had, the sort of ties that would make a player particularly motivated to re-sign.

Bo Horvat (New York Islanders) Horvat has posted numbers far below Scheifele’s career standards for much of his time in the NHL, and he earned an $8.5MM AAV from the New York Islanders. Horvat’s commitment to defense far surpasses Scheifele’s and he is two years younger. But NHL teams first and foremost pay for production when it comes to scoring forwards, and as a result, it’s difficult to imagine Scheifele earning less than Horvat on his next deal, at least on an average annual value basis.

Projected Contract

In our preview of the 2024 free agent class, we projected a $9.4MM AAV on Scheifele’s next contract, on a seven-year term. That’s certainly a fair number looking at Scheifele’s offensive production, but one wonders if teams would give pause to committing that kind of money to a player with Scheifele’s defensive warts now that he’s past the age of 30.

That being said, the type of bidding war that would be likely to take place should Scheifele hit the open market would almost undoubtedly see Scheifele offered a contract at that AAV, if not higher. Quite simply, centers of his caliber are among the rarest commodities in the NHL, and almost never hit unrestricted free agency.

If the Jets want to motivate Scheifele to forgo a likely highly lucrative trip to the free agent market, they’ll likely need to pony up, potentially giving him a maximum-term deal above the $10MM mark.

Similarly, for a team to prevail in what is likely to be a hotly contested battle for his signature in any potential Scheifele unrestricted free agency, they’ll likely need to cross that $10MM threshold as well.

It’s far from a given we reach that point since Scheifele still needs to have a productive 2023-24 season, but if he has another near or above-point-per-game season he could very well end up the star of next summer’s free agent frenzy. Though if he does, there will undoubtedly be quite a bit of debate over whether he truly merits the contract he’ll receive.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Tampa Bay Lightning Sign Brandon Hagel To Eight-Year Extension

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11:50 AM: CapFriendly has provided the financial breakdown of Hagel’s extension:

2024-25: $1.82MM + $7.18M SB
2025-26: $2.5MM + $6.5M SB
2026-27: $6.75MM
2027-28: $5.45MM
2028-29: $4.45MM + $1M SB
2029-30: $4.45MM + $1M SB
2030-31: $4.45MM + $1M SB
2031-32: $4.45MM + $1M SB

8:30 AM: The Tampa Bay Lightning have signed forward Brandon Hagel to an eight-year contract extension, carrying an AAV of $6.5MM. The deal will start in the 2024-25 season, at the expiry of Hagel’s current $1.5MM AAV deal. Hagel, who will turn 25 on Sunday, was set to become a restricted free agent next summer.

This contract is a significant one for both Hagel and the Lightning franchise. For Hagel, he’s committing himself to Tampa Bay for what is likely to be the prime of his playing career. The deal will stretch from his age-26 season (2024-25) through 2031-32, Hagel’s age-33 season.

For Tampa Bay, the team has now invested a significant portion of their available cap space for the rest of the decade into Hagel, betting that his strong form from 2022-23 will not only be maintained into future seasons, but built upon.

Hagel was originally a late-round draft choice by the Buffalo Sabres at the 2016 draft but was not tendered an entry-level contract by the team. He signed with the Chicago Blackhawks at the conclusion of his WHL career and made an instant impact with the team’s AHL affiliate in 2019-20, leading the team in goals with 19.

In 2020-21 Hagel became a full-time NHLer, scoring at a decent clip, 24 points in 52 games. In August 2021, the Blackhawks made the prudent choice to sign Hagel to a three-year, $1.5MM AAV contract extension, a deal that paid immediate dividends.

Hagel’s scoring numbers in the NHL began to look quite a bit more like what one would expect from a former WHL star, and in 55 games with the team, he scored 21 goals and 37 points. Heading into a rebuild, the Blackhawks chose to cash in on Hagel’s breakout as well as the immense surplus value he provided on a $1.5MM AAV deal and traded him to the Lightning, a cap-strapped team specifically targeting players who could outperform their cap hit by multiple degrees of magnitude.

Hagel had a slow start in Tampa, scoring just seven points in 22 regular-season games and six points in the team’s run to the 2022 Stanley Cup Final. But this past season, Hagel’s first full campaign in Tampa, he showed exactly why the Lightning surrendered two first-round picks and two young players in order to acquire him. He scored 30 goals and 64 points in 81 games, delivering consistent offensive quality in a top-six role.

He averaged 18:38 time-on-ice per game, a career-high, which ranked him fourth among Lightning forwards. Beyond just delivering offensive consistency and top-line production, Hagel’s two-way game also took a step forward. He averaged just a shade under two minutes per game on Tampa’s penalty kill, and even got a fifth-place Selke Trophy vote for the NHL’s best defensive forward.

While this contract certainly carries some risk — Hagel has only been a true top-line forward in the NHL for one, maybe two sesons — it’s easy to see why Tampa has gambled on Hagel as a key party of their future. He’s been a healthy, productive, generally consistent all-around player who still has room to improve. The team isn’t buying any seasons in Hagel’s mid-to-late thirties with this deal, minimizing the room for this deal to age poorly in its later years.

While $6.5MM places Hagel in the financial company of players such as Evgeni Malkin, Chris Kreider, Sam Reinhardt, Claude Giroux, and William Nylander, forwards who have all reached higher offensive heights than Hagel, the cap hit should look more appropriate as the league’s upper limit rises in the near future.

Additionally, seeing as the Lightning likely believe Hagel still has room to grow offensively, there is always the possibility that Hagel makes this $6.5MM price tag look like a steal down the line. If he can get even more regular time on the powerplay next to stars like Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point, Hagel could potentially score 40 goals or 70 points in the future. But even if that doesn’t come to pass, as the cap rises this $6.5MM cap hit is an eminently reasonable price to pay for the prime years of a player like Hagel.

Adding this contract extension to the extensions signed by other ascending Lightning players, such as Erik Cernak, Mikhail Sergachev, and Anthony Cirelli, it’s clear that Tampa Bay is working towards building a core group of players for the rest of the decade and beyond.

The team is intent on continuing to compete even as franchise icons such as Steven Stamkos and Victor Hedman advance deeper into their thirties, and now with all of these extensions signed Tampa Bay has made sure that if those veterans ever get their names etched into the Stanley Cup for a third time, it will be alongside new core players, such as Hagel.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Examining An Upcoming New York Rangers Roster Crunch

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The New York Rangers are intent on earnestly competing for the team’s first Stanley Cup championship since 1994 next season. With precious little cap space to augment their roster this summer, the team made the decision to focus on signing an experienced group of players to occupy roles lower in their lineup and bolster the organization’s depth.

Although the Rangers’ 2023 free agent class is headlined by a star winger in Blake Wheeler, it is populated mostly with players likely to win jobs in the team’s third or fourth forward line and third defensive pairing. The structure of the Rangers’ cap sheet warrants these kinds of signings, as the team has most of its available cap space locked away in its impressive core of star players, such as Adam Fox, Artemi Panarin, and Mika Zibanejad.

Understanding that the team wouldn’t be able to invest much money to sign top-of-the-line role players (especially seeing as the team already did exactly that in the summer of 2022, signing Barclay Goodrow to a $3.6MM AAV deal), Rangers GM Chris Drury seems to have bought into the idea that assembling a group of experienced depth players who will have to compete with one another for the few open NHL jobs available on the team is the best way for his Rangers club to build impressive lineup depth.

As we approach Rangers training camp next month, these free agent signings have set the stage for what will likely be some intense, highly competitive battles for the few roster spots up for grabs on new head coach Peter Laviolette’s opening-night roster. One of the most important spots set to be fought over in camp and the preseason is on the team’s defense, where a spot on the third pairing next to 2020 first-rounder Braden Schneider as well as the role as the team’s seventh defenseman needs to be filled.

Looking at the Rangers’ defensive depth chart, offseason signing Erik Gustafsson likely enters the preseason with the best chance of securing the third-pairing role next to Schneider.

The 31-year-old Swede is an offensive defenseman who played under Laviolette with the Washington Capitals last season. He scored a total of 42 points in 70 games last season, and it was a surprise to see him receive only a $825k guarantee from the Rangers earlier this summer.

Experienced 42-point defensemen who also have a 60-point season on their resume typically go at far higher prices, but it’s likely that the bouts of inconsistency Gustafsson has had throughout his career have lowered his price tag. In 2021-22, Gustafsson only managed 18 points in 59 games for the Chicago Blackhawks and even began the season on a PTO with the New York Islanders.

His stock leaguewide has fluctuated to an extreme degree since he arrived in North America from the SHL’s Frölunda HC nearly a decade ago, so while Gustafsson likely has the early lead for a regular role next to Schneider, he’s far from a certainty to ultimately see his name listed on the Rangers’ opening-night lineup.

Gustafsson will have to compete with a group of other blueliners for one of those roster spots, including 22-year-old 2019 third-round pick Zac Jones. Jones has been a difference-maker at the AHL level (31 points in 54 games last season) but hasn’t quite made his mark in the NHL.

He’s no longer waiver-exempt and would be a likely candidate to get claimed on season-opening waivers, so the Rangers will have to factor that into their roster-making calculus and that could give him a leg up over other, more experienced players.

Earlier this month, we covered how Jones could be a preseason trade candidate if he falls behind in the training camp battle against the Rangers’ other defensemen, so in the mix of all of the Rangers’ new arrivals on their blueline as well as incumbent players Jones could be the name to watch.

The Rangers also signed 26-year-old Connor Mackey, a player who got the most extensive NHL look in his pro career down the stretch with the Arizona Coyotes last season. Arizona head coach André Tourigny played Mackey an average of nearly 16 minutes of ice time per night last season, including nearly two minutes per night on his penalty kill.

While Mackey has far from an extensive NHL track record, he offers a more well-rounded set of tools than Gustafsson and quite a bit more size than Jones, potentially making him the safest choice to play next to Schneider should those two struggle in the preseason.

198-game NHL veteran Ben Harpur is also in the mix for one of the likely two open roster spots on the Rangers blueline. A combination of factors, namely his service to the team last season, his $787.5k contract for the next two campaigns, and his measurables (six-foot-six, 231 pounds) give him a healthy shot to win a roster spot.

As the Rangers struggled with injuries to their defense and a lack of cap space after their acquisition of Patrick Kane last season, Harpur stepped up and weathered some difficult minutes for the team, including a late February contest that saw him register 28:04 time on ice.

If the Rangers want a physical, stay-at-home presence in their opening-night lineup, among this group of depth defensemen Harpur likely best fits that profile. But seeing as Harpur’s toolkit is relatively limited (he’s a big, physical stay-at-home defenseman) and he offers little in the way of puck-moving utility or two-way value, he does seem to be a more likely candidate to hit the waiver wire and begin the season with the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack.

In any case, with these players each waiver-eligible, it’s likely that, barring a Jones trade the Rangers will have to expose at least two competent, NHL-relevant defensemen to the league’s 31 other clubs before opening night.

While the many long-term deals on the Rangers’ books dictate that most of the roster Laviolette inherits from former coach Gerard Gallant is set in stone, the leeway Drury’s extensive group of depth signings has afforded his new coach to construct the lower parts of the Rangers’ lineup should make for an intriguing storyline to track in the NHL preseason.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. 

Minor Transactions: 08/22/23

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The start of the season for teams in many overseas professional leagues is rapidly approaching, and many top clubs in Europe are already well underway playing preseason games. For example, the SHL’s Malmö Redhawks and Linköping HC have a preseason match scheduled for later today, as do Rouen Dragons, the reigning French champions. As we inch ever closer to the full start of the season in minor and foreign professional leagues, many teams are still making moves to add players and finalize their plans for the year. As always, we’ll keep track of those transactions here.

  • Veteran forward Niklas Olausson is set to sign with Linköping, according to SportExpressen’s Johan Svensson. The signing would put the 37-year-old forward in a position to eventually play his 500th game at the top level of Swedish hockey, assuming he can stay healthy and in head coach Klas Östman’s nightly lineup. Olausson has played in Linköping before, skating in a total of 64 games across two seasons, 2006-07 and 2007-08. It could be a season of milestones for Olausson, as on top of potentially playing in his 500th game in the SHL, Olausson can also reach other milestones such as his 100th career goal at that level (he currently has 97) and 200th assist (he has 199). At the very least, this signing could give him more stability than he had last year, as he began 2022-23 in the Swiss second division with EHC Basel before transferring to the ICEHL’s Graz99ers in Austria and then finishing the year as a reinforcement for the SHL playoffs with Luleå.
  • 28-year-old defenseman Kyle Pouncy completed his second consecutive season as a regular ECHL player at the end of 2022-23, establishing himself in North America’s third-tier league. Now, he’s off to Scotland to continue his professional career. The six-foot-three Kamloops, BC native has signed with the Dundee Stars of the EIHL, the top tier of professional hockey in the United Kingdom. Pouncy joins former Cincinnati Cyclones defenseman Sean Allen, who signed in Dundee yesterday, as ECHL imports brought to head coach Marc LeFebvre’s squad. In the team release, LeFebvre said Pouncy “skates very well and his game is going to be a great fit for the Olympic ice sheet.” The hope will be that Pouncy can help LeFebvre lead a bounce-back season for Dundee, who finished with just 13 wins in 54 league games last season.
  • The USHL’s Lincoln Stars are looking to make a competitive push for 2023-24 after losing in the league semifinals last spring, and to do so they’ve plucked a solid forward from the Youngstown Phantoms, the reigning USHL champions. The Stars announced their acquisition of forward Justin Varner and a draft pick in exchange for two draft choices. Varner, 19, has spent the last two seasons playing for Youngstown, and has collected 27 points in each campaign. Varner had committed to Michigan State University in November 2022, though he’ll instead now play a third USHL season and spend 2023-24 in Lincoln.
  • Joonas Lohisalo and Sisu Yliniemi, two top-30 scorers in Finland’s premier junior hockey league (U20 SM-Sarja) have been loaned to Hermes Kokkola in Mestis, Finland’s second-tier men’s league, for the 2023-24 campaign. The two 20-year-old prospects belong to Liiga side Kärpät and ranked second and third in scoring, respectively, on the club’s U20 team. Lohisalo is a six-foot-two left winger who played seven games for Hermes last season, scoring three goals and four points. Yliniemi is a five-foot-nine center who scored four points in his five-game run with Hermes last season and even got a one-game Liiga call-up to Kärpät as well.
  • The ECHL’s Orlando Solar Bears have signed two second-year players to one-year ECHL contracts: Ryan Cox and Chris Perna. Cox, 25, dipped his toes in the ECHL last spring, playing in 12 games with the Toledo Walleye after the conclusion of his collegiate career with Niagara University. Cox got off to a fast start, scoring 11 points in 12 games, including a six-points-in-three-games performance that earned him ECHL Player of the Week honors. Seeing as he’s leaving a juggernaut Walleye squad for a Solar Bears team that missed the playoffs last season, it’s unlikely that Cox will maintain near point-per-game production next season, though his fast start to his pro career does give hope that he can become a difference-maker for Orlando and help them return to the postseason. As for Perna, he’s a 25-year-old right-shot blueliner who skated in 54 games for the Utah Grizzlies last season, scoring eight points in what was his rookie professional campaign. He played the fourth-most games of any Grizzlies defenseman last season and will be in the mix for a regular role in Orlando this fall.
  • The ECHL’s Iowa Heartlanders have acquired forward Will Calverley from the Florida Everblades in a trade announced today, sending the playing rights to defenseman Riese Zmolek to Florida in return. The 25-year-old Calverley signed with the Everblades at the conclusion of his collegiate career with Merrimack College last season, and the former Rochester Institute of Technology captain turned that amateur tryout agreement into a full-time contract. He scored five points in 12 playoff games en route to Florida’s Kelly Cup title, and will now join the Heartlanders, who send their captain, Zmolek to Florida in return. Zmolek, 26, captained the Heartlanders last season and has skated in 78 total regular-season games in Iowa. He earned 12 AHL games last season as part of call-ups and could play a big role for the Everblades should he sign there.
  • Veteran forward Tanner Sorenson has signed an ECHL contract with the Kalamazoo Wings, returning to North America’s third-tier league after a season spent overseas playing in England. The former ECHL All-Star has played all but three games of his 291-game ECHL career with the Wings, and has scored a total of 218 points. He’s been an above-point-per-game scorer before in the ECHL, and he registered 15 goals and 31 points in 49 games for the EIHL’s Nottingham Panthers last season. He stands a good chance at returning to the top-six role he long occupied in Kalamazoo, and will hope to help them return to the postseason for the first time since 2019.
  • The KHL’s Lada Togliatti acquired netminder Vladislav Podyapolsky from SKA St. Petersburg in a trade today, sending monetary compensation to SKA in return. It’s another big change for Podyapolsky, the one-time KHL All-Star whose struggles last season cost him his role as the starting goalie for Cherepovets Severstal. Podyapolsky posted a .920 save percentage in 2021-22 and for two seasons before that was Severstal’s number-one goalie, but he managed only a .900 save percentage for SKA last season and will now look to get a fresh start with Lada.
  • Slovenian forward Rok Ticar, a regular representative of his country at international tournaments (including the IIHF Men’s World Championships earlier this summer) has signed a contract with the ICEHL’s Vienna Capitals. It’s a major move for Vienna, as they’re securing the services of Austrian rivals EC-KAC’s top scorer from the last two seasons. Ticar, 34, scored 15 goals and 40 points in 43 games last season and brings championship experience, having won the ICEHL in 2020-21.
  • High-flying Russian forward Kirill Tyutyayev signed a one-year contract extension with ECHL Toledo. Although Tyutyayev struggled in the AHL last season, scoring just five points in 30 games for the Grand Rapids Griffins, but he torched the ECHL in Toledo to the tune of 47 points in 31 regular-season games. The 23-year-old 2019 Red Wings draft pick emerged as a lethal offensive creator at the ECHL level and this extension will give him the platform to potentially have a monster campaign for the Walleye and even earn his way back to the ECHL.
  • 2013 Nashville Predators seventh-round pick Wade Murphy signed a one-year contract extension in the ECHL with the Idaho Steelheads. Murphy, 29, had a breakout season in Idaho, emerging as a key scorer during their run to the Kelly Cup final. He potted 21 goals and 43 points in 54 regular-season games and added 12 goals and 20 points in 20 playoff games. That performance has secured him a second season in Idaho, and he’ll likely remain a crucial forward for the Steelheads.

This page will be updated throughout the day. 

Can The Pittsburgh Penguins Actually Sign Tomas Tatar?

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There aren’t many impact unsigned free agents remaining at this point in the offseason, but one name of note is forward Tomas Tatar. Tatar has been linked to several teams, including the Buffalo Sabres as an inexpensive replacement for the injured Jack Quinn. One team that popped up in the rumor mill last week was the Pittsburgh Penguins. Rob Rossi of The Athletic wrote that the Penguins were keenly interested but it all came down to whether Tatar would get a guaranteed contract offer elsewhere as the Penguins appeared to be offering a PTO for training camp in Pittsburgh with the expectation of a contract after. But can the Penguins realistically fit in another contract for a player coming off a season in which he scored 20 goals and 28 assists in 82 games?

In most off-seasons, the answer to that question would be an emphatic no. But the summer of 2023 has been unlike any other offseason. Players like Blake Wheeler have signed for less than $1MM annually. Matt Duchene took a one-year contract for $3MM despite being a year removed from topping 80 points, and Tatar remains unsigned despite providing consistent secondary scoring.

But all of this doesn’t necessarily mean the answer is a resounding yes, the Penguins would need to do some cap gymnastics to fit Tatar into the sliver of room they have under the salary cap ceiling. Currently, the Penguins have just north of $220K, which is obviously well below the NHL minimum.

Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas has said previously that he would use waivers as a means of becoming cap compliant, and the Penguins have plenty of players who could be placed on waivers to open up room for Tatar. Alexander Nylander and Rem Pitlick are two players that could be exposed and sent to the AHL to open up the room, but would that be enough to sign Tatar? The answer is a giant unknown at this time, but as we inch closer to training camp it becomes more and more possible.

Dan Kingerski of Pittsburgh Hockey Now explored another idea in an article as he wondered if a potential Jeff Carter trade would be possible. The 38-year-old London, Ontario native is in the final year of his contract with a cap hit of $3.125MM and is coming off a season in which he scored just 13 goals and 16 assists in 79 games and looked lost at times both offensively and defensively. Kingerski provides options in the article, the most interesting of which would have the Penguins retain 50% of Carter’s contract and staple a second-round pick to him to facilitate a move. While this scenario seems possible, the biggest caveat to a potential deal would be Carter’s full no-movement clause. Given all these moving parts, it seems unlikely any contending team would have room to take on even half of Carter’s cap hit and even less likely that Carter would waive his no-move to make it happen. Kyle Dubas has worked one miracle this summer in moving out Jeff Petry and Mikael Granlund for Erik Karlsson, but can he make another one happen?

Much like the Karlsson situation it feels like the longer this drags out the likelier it becomes the player ends up with the Penguins. But to make it happen Tatar is going to have to take a massive pay cut and perhaps accept just a one-year contract. A far cry from the $3.3MM annually that Daily Faceoff projected he would get on a three-year deal when free agency opened.

Free Agent Profile: Max Comtois

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Two years ago, it seemed unfathomable that Max Comtois would be an unsigned free agent in late August. But it is 2023 and that’s where the former second-round pick finds himself after being non-tendered a qualifying offer by the Anaheim Ducks. Comtois had a terrific pandemic shortened 2020-21 in which he posted 16 goals and 17 assists in 55 games. At the time he appeared to be on the verge of becoming a complete winger who could be counted on to provide solid secondary scoring and strong play in all three zones. The Ducks promptly signed Comtois to a two-year deal that carried an annual cap hit just north of $2MM.

After signing his bridge deal things quickly began to go south for the Longueuil, Quebec native. In 2021-22, the 24-year-old began the season with just a single assist in his first 13 games and then missed 16 games with a hand injury that required him to have surgery. Upon his return, he played better but couldn’t recapture his scoring touch as he put up just six goals and nine assists in his final 39 games.

With the Ducks firmly in a rebuild, Comtois continued to struggle offensively this past season and missed significant time with several upper and lower body ailments. Comtois was out for 14 games due to injuries and when he was in the lineup he produced just nine goals and 10 assists in 64 games.

While he has battled injuries and inconsistency over the past few years, it is still surprising to see a young forward with a recent track record of success remain unsigned. It truly speaks to the flat-cap environment that teams find themselves in. Despite the disappointment of possibly being forced to sign a professional tryout, I do think that Comtois will sign an NHL contract for next season. He may just need to prove himself first to do so.

Stats

2022-23: 64 GP, 9-10-19, -20 rating, 76 PIMS, 89 shots, 52.3% faceoffs, 42.2% CF, 13:49 ATOI
Career: 210 GP, 38-48-86, -35 rating, 193 PIMS, 296 shots, 41.7% faceoffs, 45.4% CF, 14:23 ATOI

Potential Suitors

Comtois is unlikely to be picky at this point in the summer, he is just looking to remain in the league and show what he can do. He is from the Quebec area but given that the Montreal Canadiens have been trying to move out forwards, they are unlikely to be interested in Comtois, even if his youth does fit the timeline of their future competitive window.

Let’s start in the East. The Pittsburgh Penguins have been rumored to have interest in Tomas Tatar as they look to add some depth scoring to their bottom six. The Penguins would like to bring Tatar in on a PTO to see if he fits. However, if the former Devils forward can lock on to a team with guaranteed money that could open the door for Pittsburgh to look elsewhere. Possibly to Comtois. It’s no secret that general manager Kyle Dubas loves to have a lot of depth forwards to provide for call-ups and to keep the club’s AHL affiliate competitive. Should he sign with Pittsburgh, Comtois would be in a serious battle for a spot on the Penguins bottom two lines, but he would certainly be in the mix. He could also fill in for Jake Guentzel during his early season absence on the Penguins top line next to Sidney Crosby.

Staying in the East, the Ottawa Senators could really use some help in their bottom six forward group. Outside of Pittsburgh, it’s hard to find a team who leaned more heavily on their top six forwards last year. And given the look of the Senators current bottom six, it could be more of the same this year. The Senators are entering the season with playoff aspirations but are looking at having several rookies on their third and fourth lines which could lead to a lot of growing pains early in the season. Comtois has had his struggles, but if they were to acquire him, they would have another known entity to insert onto their third or fourth line.

Out West, it was rumored earlier in the summer that the Vancouver Canucks had interest in Comtois, but a deal never came to fruition. Vancouver has a bit of a logjam right now, both up against the cap and with the number of bodies they currently have in the forward group who are going to require NHL minutes. However, a forward like Dakota Joshua could become a casualty should Vancouver opt to sign Comtois. The other option for the Canucks would be to try a jettison a higher-priced forward to become cap compliant, and then sign Comtois as their replacement. Comtois could bring a lot to the Canucks as he does play with an edge and can play in all three zones and provide depth scoring. The worst-case scenario for Vancouver would be to bury Comtois and his cap hit in the minors if he didn’t work out with the NHL group.

Projected Contract

Barring a dramatic turn of events, Comtois is likely going to have to take a rather large pay cut for the upcoming season from the $2.5MM he made last year. It is still possible he could hit a seven-figure salary but given how little cap space is available around the NHL he is unlikely to exceed more than $1MM on a one-year deal. There are several talented forwards who remain unsigned which has led to Comtois becoming a bit of an afterthought. But given his youth there will likely be a team out there willing to roll the dice on a player who has shown promise recently. However, I think teams will want to have a look at Comtois before offering a guaranteed contract just to make sure he is a fit in their bottom six, and to allow for maximum flexibility.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

College Defenseman Will Francis Suffers Cancer Relapse

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In sad news, University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs defenseman Will Francis has announced via the teams official Twitter page that he has had a relapse of cancer that he has battled since March 2020. Francis released the statement earlier today that he had a relapse of the Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia that was discovered during a routine post-recovery checkup. Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia is a cancer of the blood and bone marrow.

Francis first discovered the cancer back in March 2020 during the height of the pandemic when a series of blood tests revealed that his white blood cell count was almost 20 times higher than normal. This result indicated that Francis had Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia which he battled for 848 days until July 2022, at which time he completed chemotherapy.

Francis heroically returned last season, dressing in 28 games for the Bulldogs posting a single assist and a -1 rating with 22 PIM. He is a former sixth-round draft pick of the Anaheim Ducks from the 2019 NHL entry draft and was a standout stay-at-home defenseman with the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders of the USHL prior to being drafted.

Although he is once again going through a harrowing experience, Francis appears positive and optimistic about the future. He states in the release that he expects to be back on the Minnesota-Duluth campus this upcoming January and hopes to be on the ice with his teammates at the same time.

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