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Carolina Hurricanes Sign Tony DeAngelo

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3:49 PM: PuckPedia confirms it will be a one-year, $1.675MM contract for DeAngelo and the Hurricanes.

2:12 PM: The Carolina Hurricanes are closing in on a one-year deal for defenseman Tony DeAngelo in the $1.6MM range, per Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff. The signing concludes a weeks-long courtship of DeAngelo by the Canes, who previously had the right-shot defender on their roster for the 2021-22 campaign.

DeAngelo’s former team, the Philadelphia Flyers, bought out the 27-year-old earlier this month after a proposed trade to send him back to Carolina at 50% salary retention fell through. While he is coming off three straight 40-point campaigns, his defensive deficiencies and a laundry list of off-ice controversies are nothing to shy away from. He’s now the only player in NHL history to get bought out twice.

Despite leading the Flyers’ defense in points and finishing second in average time on ice, head coach John Tortorella scratched DeAngelo multiple times to finish off last season, fracturing the relationship between the player and his hometown team. The league blocked the reported trade sending DeAngelo back to Carolina at a cap cost of $2.5MM, half of his $5MM salary with the Flyers, citing cap circumvention as their reasoning.

DeAngelo now heads back to Raleigh, where the Hurricanes have demonstrated an ability to cover up the defender’s deficiencies that arise from his one-dimensional play. Recording ten goals and 51 points in 64 games, DeAngelo recorded a career-high +30 with Carolina during his only season there and spent most of his time alongside Jaccob Slavin on the team’s top pairing, whose elite shutdown play helped DeAngelo play to his strengths offensively without hurting the team in the goals against column.

The question is now where DeAngelo fits in on Carolina’s defense, which has seen a significant makeover with Brent Burns and Dmitry Orlov added to the fold in back-to-back offseasons after DeAngelo’s departure. Right-shot Brett Pesce remains with Carolina, but without a contract extension in place beyond next season, he’s a likely trade candidate as the offseason draws on.

A looming wild card is where Carolina stands in trade talks for San Jose Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson, whose status on the block is no secret after a Norris Trophy-winning campaign. Multiple reports state the Hurricanes and Pittsburgh Penguins are the two frontrunners for his services, which would undoubtedly plug up a deep right side and make it hard for DeAngelo to earn much ice time in his second stint with Carolina. Could DeAngelo find himself on the move again in a matter of weeks as part of a trade package for Karlsson? Per Seravalli’s initial report, it’s unclear whether his short-term pact with the Hurricanes includes trade protection.

A $1.6MM cap hit leaves Carolina with roughly $900K in cap space as things stand, per CapFriendly, so DeAngelo is likely the last of their major free agent additions. The team has been quite busy on the open market this summer, adding Michael Bunting and Brendan Lemieux in addition to DeAngelo and Orlov.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Kraken Re-Assign Jani Nyman To Finland

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The Seattle Kraken re-assigned forward prospect Jani Nyman to Ilves in the Finnish Liiga today, according to a team announcement. The move solidifies Nyman’s home for next season and returns him to the organization where he’s spent the past six seasons developing.

Seattle selected the 18-year-old right winger with the 49th overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft. After a strong rookie season in the Liiga, registering ten goals in 29 games for Ilves, Seattle signed the bulky sniper to a three-year, entry-level contract in June. He also appeared for the Finnish national junior team at the 2023 IIHF World Juniors, notching two goals and an assist for three points in five games.

While 2022-23 was his rookie season in Finland’s top men’s league, it wasn’t his first full professional season. Nyman spent his draft year on loan with KOOVEE in the Mestis, the country’s second-tier league behind the Liiga. While not a standard league for draft-eligible prospects to suit up in, Nyman excelled there, leading the team (by far) with 18 goals and 35 points in 34 games.

Standing at 6-foot-3 and 217 pounds, he possesses a pro-ready frame despite being more than a year away from his 20th birthday. He does bring an intriguing blend of shooting ability and size, and while he’s far from a sure thing at the NHL level, he is one of the Kraken’s more intriguing forward prospects.

Nyman now looks to build on his skills in a familiar environment before likely coming stateside in 2024. Given his age, he’s an entry-level slide candidate, meaning his ELC will toll to 2024-25 unless he plays ten or more NHL games in the coming season, an unlikely event given today’s news.

2024 Top Prospect Artyom Levshunov Commits To Michigan State

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17-year-old Artyom Levshunov, projected as one of the best defensemen available in next year’s 2024 NHL Draft, has made a rather impactful decision regarding his short-term future. The potential top-five pick has committed to Michigan State University and will suit up there for the 2023-24 season, Nathaniel Bott of The Lansing State Journal reports.

The right-shot Belarusian defender suited up for the USHL’s Green Bay Gamblers last season, notching 13 goals, 29 assists and 42 points in 62 games. After earning USHL All-Rookie Team honors, he’ll stay in the American Midwest as he looks to preface a long pro career with a solid collegiate stint.

Steven Ellis of Daily Faceoff ranked Levshunov third overall behind the projected one-two punch of Macklin Celebrini and Cole Eiserman earlier this month in a pre-season ranking of 2024 draft-eligible prospects. A staunch two-way defender, he carries added value as a right-handed shooter. He’s on track to become the highest-drafted Belarusian in NHL history, surpassing Ruslan Salei (drafted ninth overall by Anaheim in 1996).

Notably, Levshunov has opted not to head to state rival University of Michigan, who’s churned out a remarkable four top-five picks in the past three seasons, including just the third freshman ever to win the Hobey Baker Award – Columbus Blue Jackets third-overall selection Adam Fantilli.

It’s a gigantic commitment for Michigan State. They now look to elevate themselves into the Big Ten conference’s upper echelon alongside Michigan and Minnesota with some new faces, including Tampa Bay Lightning first-round selection Isaac Howard via the transfer portal.

Minor Transactions: 07/24/23

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It’s another busy Monday in the wide world of professional hockey, with quite a few players either finding new teams for next season or securing new contracts with the clubs they’ve already represented. As always, we’ll keep track of the notable moves from minor leagues and foreign professional leagues across the world.

  • 1001-game NHL veteran Tomáš Plekanec isn’t retiring anytime soon. The 40-year-old longtime NHL center signed a contract extension to remain the captain of Rytíři Kladno, his hometown team in the Czech Extraliga. Plekanec ended his NHL career in 2018-19 and after two seasons playing for Brno, he joined Kladno upon their promotion back to the top division. Joining all-time great Jaromir Jagr with the club, Plekanec has scored at almost a point-per-game rate the last two seasons and will likely continue to play a major role for the team in the coming campaign thanks to this new contract.
  • Luke Adam, a former Buffalo Sabres top prospect, has elected to leave Germany after a seven-year run in the DEL to sign with HC Plzen in the Czech Extraliga. The 33-year-old was a Sabres second-round pick at the 2008 draft and a few seasons after he was drafted he looked to be a long-term piece for Buffalo. In 2011, The Hockey Writers projected him as “a formidable 3rd line center for the Sabres for many years down the road,” and it’s easy to see why they did so by looking at Adam’s rookie season in pro hockey. He scored 29 goals and 62 points in 57 AHL games, winning the AHL’s Rookie of the Year award as well as AHL All-Star honors. But Adam’s standout qualities in the AHL never translated to the NHL, and he left for the DEL in the summer of 2016. Adam has a strong 233 points in 317 career DEL games and scored 17 goals and 36 points in 54 games for the Straubing Tigers last season. While the Tigers have made some major additions this summer, such as veteran NHL defenseman Justin Braun, they’ll be without Adam next season.
  • Former Winnipeg Jets prospect Scott Kosmachuk has signed a one-year, one-way KHL contract with Lada Togliatti in Russia. The player, who has eight NHL games on his record from 2015-16, is a 29-year-old 2012 third-round pick who played last season with TPS Turku in the Finnish Liiga, scoring 17 points in 29 games. Before arriving in Turku, Kosmachuk had a two-year run as the leading scorer for VSV EC in the ICEHL, racking up 93 points in 90 games and earning All-Star honors. If he can translate some of the production he’s had in Liiga, the ICEHL, and even the AHL going back to his 2017-18 campaign with the Hartford Wolf Pack, he’ll be a quality addition to Lada.
  • Lada added a second international import today: 2013 Pittsburgh Penguins draft pick Troy Josephs. The 29-year-old has been around a point-per-game scorer with both the ECHL’s Wheeling Nailers and Swiss second-tier’s EHC Visp. Though he struggled in the AHL, which presents a step up in talent level compared to the ECHL, Joseph more recently established himself in Switzerland’s top division with Lugano, posting 49 points in 86 games and proving he can hang in one of the world’s better pro leagues.
  • James Shearer, a former captain of the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings and WHL champion, has made the decision to leave the ECHL after his first full season in the league to sign a contract in the United Kingdom with the EIHL’s Coventry Blaze. While Shearer is far from the first player to head to the EIHL after his ECHL rookie season, the move is somewhat surprising given the role Shearer played for the Utah Grizzlies as a rookie. In addition to posting 23 points in 54 games, the 26-year-old blueliner was, as Blaze head coach Danny Stewart put it, “eating up good minutes in playoffs and relied upon in key situations,” and also serving as a team alternate captain. The Grizzlies added defenseman Brian Yoon, the captain of the NCAA’s Colorado College, a few days ago, though, which may have prompted Shearer’s exit.
  • Former Dallas Stars prospect Emil Molin signed a one-year contract extension with KooKoo Kouvola in the Finnish Liiga, securing a second season with the club he joined last July. The 30-year-old winger had a decent debut season in Liiga, scoring 11 goals and 25 points. Those numbers are more in line with how Molin produced in his earlier days with Brynas IF, his former club, rather than his form later in his tenure there. Molin has one season of hockey in North America on his record, with 11 games total in the AHL and a 46-points-in-54-games run with the ECHL’s Idaho Steelheads.
  • 2015 Philadelphia Flyers fourth-round pick Samuel Dove-McFalls is headed to Germany, signing a contract with Lausitzer Füchse of the DEL2. Dove-McFalls was a high-end QMJHLer earlier in his career, winning a league championship with the Saint John Sea Dogs in 2016-17 and captaining the Rimouski Oceanic the year after. Dove-McFalls also was named the QMJHL’s Best Defensive Forward in his final season of major junior before beginning a four-year run of Canadian University hockey. The 26-year-old scored 13 goals and 34 points in 38 games for the ECHL’s Fort Wayne Komets and earned 16 AHL games with the Bakersfield Condors in what was his first full season as a professional hockey player. He’ll now join a team looking for promotion to the DEL and will likely play a major role at the club.

Dallas Stars Extend GM Jim Nill

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The Dallas Stars have announced a two-year contract extension for reigning GM of the Year Jim Nill, who is entering his 11th season at the top of Stars hockey operations. Stars owner Tom Gaglardi issued the following statement regarding the extension:

Jim has proven himself to be one of the best general managers in the NHL. He has meticulously built a team through free agency, trades and the NHL Draft that’s among the best in the League, while also ensuring that the Stars are championship contenders for years to come. He’ll be able to continue his vision of working toward our goal of bringing another Stanley Cup to the state of Texas.

Although some have speculated about when Nill, 65, would retire and leave the Stars to another GM, it seems he has at the very least another two seasons in his current role. Like every GM, Nill has made his fair share of mistakes, but looking at his overall body of work it’s abundantly clear that he’s done an exceptional job building the Stars. Although a Stanley Cup has eluded them, the Stars have gone on multiple deep playoff runs under Nill’s watch, including to the 2019-20 Stanley Cup Final.

Nill could have very easily built a team to compete around their core of Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin, and then once those players regressed plunged the team into a rebuild. But instead of doing so, he proactively built a new competitive window, a new core of players for the next generation of Stars hockey while the incumbent core players were still at the top of their game.

While a significant amount of credit must also go to the franchise’s scouting staff, Nill’s 2017 draft is the stuff of legend. Armed with two first-rounders and a second-round pick, the Stars drafted Miro Heiskanen, Jake Oettinger, and Jason Robertson. That’s a franchise-defining number-one defenseman, a potentially elite starting goalie, and a game-breaking winger who recently scored 109 points in his age-23 season.

Beyond just 2017, Nill’s draft record is among the best of any GM in the NHL. He drafted a number-one center in Roope Hintz in the second round of the 2015 draft, and a player who looks like a star in the making in Wyatt Johnston with the 23rd pick of the 2021 draft, to name a few notable hits.

Although Nill has made his fair share of moves he’s likely preferred to have not made (the Ryan Suter signing from the summer of 2021 is beginning to look like a mistake) his mistakes are generously outweighed by his success stories. As Dallas Stars radio analyst Bruce LeVine put it, you may not “find a General Manager who is more universally liked and respected” than Nill, who now has two more years to chase down a Stanley Cup in Dallas.

Five Key Stories: 7/17/23 – 7/23/23

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While activity across the NHL has certainly slowed down compared to a few weeks ago, there was still some notable news around the league over the past seven days which is recapped in our key stories.

Four For Colton: Avalanche forward Ross Colton currently has just under $3MM in career earnings, per CapFriendly.  That will be going up in a hurry as the two sides agreed to a four-year contract to avoid salary arbitration with the deal carrying a cap hit of $4MM per season.  The 26-year-old was acquired from Tampa Bay before the draft for a second-round pick that was part of the package they picked up when they moved Alex Newhook to Montreal.  Colton saw his numbers dip slightly last season but he still managed 16 goals and 16 assists in 81 games during the regular season despite averaging just over 12 minutes a night while recording 188 hits and winning over 56% of his faceoffs.  Colorado has shaken up their bottom six group with Colton being the centerpiece acquisition on that front and he should get a bigger opportunity to produce than he did with the Lightning.

Hakstol Extended: Last season was a successful one for the Kraken as they locked down their first-ever playoff berth in their sophomore year.  On top of that, they knocked out the defending Cup champs in the first round before falling to Dallas in seven in a hard-fought second round.  That performance certainly reflected well on head coach Dave Hakstol who was rewarded for his efforts with a two-year contract extension that gets him under contract through the 2025-26 campaign; financial terms were not disclosed.  Hakstol will be entering his seventh year as an NHL head coach next season (he also spent four years in Philadelphia) and is now one of ten coaches known to be signed through 2026.

Four For Dunn: The biggest settlement of the arbitration process thus far was done by Seattle and defenseman Vince Dunn.  The two sides worked out a four-year, $29.4MM front-loaded contract, buying out his final year of arbitration eligibility while giving the Kraken three extra years of club control.  The deal, which makes Dunn their highest-paid player, also carries some form of trade protection in the final three seasons.  The 26-year-old had a breakout showing last season, notching 14 goals and 50 assists in 81 games while logging nearly 24 minutes a night.  That performance put him tenth in the NHL in scoring by a blueliner while helping him finish 11th in Norris Trophy voting.

Arbitration Awards: While most players that filed for arbitration so far have settled, two made it to a hearing.  First, Blackhawks forward Philipp Kurashev was awarded a two-year, $4.5MM contract with Chicago electing for a two-year award instead of the one-year agreement Kurashev requested.  The 23-year-old set new benchmarks last season, notching nine goals along with 16 assists and should have a chance to improve on those numbers in 2023-24.

Meanwhile, Maple Leafs goaltender Ilya Samsonov received a one-year, $3.55MM award, nearly doubling his salary from 2022-23.  The 26-year-old had by far his best NHL season, posting a 2.33 GAA with a .919 SV% in 42 games but was only eligible for a one-year award since it was his final season of UFA eligibility.  Toronto now has nearly $96MM in commitments on the books per CapFriendly against an $83.5MM salary and will be deep into LTIR with Jake Muzzin for next season while some have suggested that buyout candidate Matt Murray could also land on there.  Even with those two on there, some roster trimming would still need to occur.

More Settlements: There were two other contracts of some note that were done to avoid salary arbitration.  The Golden Knights settled with forward Brett Howden on a two-year, $3.8MM contract after the 25-year-old took a step back offensively last season, recording just six goals and seven assists in 54 regular season games.  Notably, the deal will walk Howden straight to UFA eligibility in 2025.  Winnipeg also got in on the settlement fun, reaching a two-year, $6.875MM agreement with forward Gabriel Vilardi.  Arguably the centerpiece of the Pierre-Luc Dubois trade, the 23-year-old had his best showing in 2022-23, collecting 23 goals and 18 assists in 63 games with the Kings last season.  Vilardi will still have one more RFA year remaining in 2025.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

PHR Mailbag: Flames, Jets, Arenas, Canadiens, Smith, Trade Options, Atlantic Division

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Topics in this edition of the PHR Mailbag include what’s next for Calgary and Winnipeg, Ty Smith’s situation in Pittsburgh, Atlantic Division predictions, and more.  If your question doesn’t appear here, check back in our last two mailbag pieces.

Grocery Stick: What can we expect from the Flames and the Jets? Both teams have players who want out but apart from Dubois to the Kings, we haven’t seen anything so far.

Calgary hasn’t given up on re-signing Elias Lindholm yet and by all accounts, it doesn’t appear he’s 100% sure he wants to leave.  Until he says a final no to the Flames, I think he stays put.  I’m a bit surprised that Noah Hanifin is still around as it sounds like his desire to leave is a little more concrete.  However, the acquiring teams are going to want to try to extend him as well, adding another wrinkle to discussions.  I think there’s a decent shot he goes this summer but it might need to wait until Erik Karlsson’s situation is sorted out first.

Mikael Backlund is the other player of some note and he, too, has balked at an extension thus far.  However, he recently raised the possibility of an in-season signing depending on how things are going.  That gives GM Craig Conroy some runway to work with.  I expect his situation to go unresolved heading into the season and they’ll re-assess closer to the trade deadline.  I suspect they’re still open to moving Daniel Vladar although there aren’t many viable trade options for him left.  Calgary has a path to a cap-compliant roster with what they have now so they don’t have to necessarily do anything else before the season starts.

For Winnipeg, unless Connor Hellebuyck’s reported contract ask comes down from the $9MM range, I don’t think his trade market is going to be good enough for the Jets to get enough of a return to justify moving him.  They’re not giving up on chasing a playoff spot and hanging in the mix is a lot easier with Hellebuyck than without.  Starting the season with him and looking to move him closer to the deadline has its risks (an injury or buyers not needing a starting goalie) but I think it’s a very realistic option that GM Kevin Cheveldayoff is considering.

As for Mark Scheifele, I’ve flip-flopped on this answer all summer.  Going back to the point about Winnipeg wanting to push for a playoff spot, I could see them keeping him to start and hoping that a hot start might convince him to extend.  I don’t think there are a lot of viable landing spots for him in terms of getting him to fit into someone else’s cap picture.  Midseason, it’s generally easier to move money and the Jets might be willing to retain at that time, something that would be tougher for them to do now.  As of this moment, I think he stays to start the season.  By the time we run another mailbag, I might have flip-flopped again on this one.

jason830: Best and worst stadiums to see a hockey game?

I watch a lot of hockey but very seldom do I actually go to a game in person.  I’ve been to a grand total of one NHL game live and that was more than a decade ago.  I’m not the right one to answer this so let me turn this over to some of our other writers.

Josh Erickson: For the best, Vegas would get my vote by a mile. Incredible atmosphere, great sightlines, great fans, and reasonably priced food (at the time, it was during their inaugural season).  For the worst, my vote would easily go to the old Gila River Arena in Glendale.

Josh Cybulski: Best: The atmosphere is insane and with over 21K fans in the building, you feel right on top of the players and your view of the ice is really something. It also helps that the pre and post-game spots are fantastic.  Worst: Ottawa – It is a run-down building without many frills that is surrounded by car dealerships and an outlet mall 30 minutes from downtown. To top it all off, getting in and out of the building is a nightmare, even on nights when only 12K fans show up. The wind whips across the wide-open field, meaning that when you leave the building after the game you have a half-mile walk in a blizzard to get to your frozen car. Not fun.

Ethan Hetu: I would add Arena Riga in Riga, Latvia to the best list. I had the chance to go there earlier this summer and see Latvia win some big games at the Worlds, and I’ll say there aren’t many places in hockey where I’ve witnessed fans as devoted and passionate as Latvians for their national team. It was packed full of people and even the outside area was filled with people who didn’t have tickets but still wanted to be in close proximity to the action, watching on big screens right outside. It felt as though an entire country was at a standstill, entirely focused on being there to help Latvia win.

The arena itself is pretty no-frills and not really up to the standard of what NHL teams play in (sort of to be expected) but in terms of atmosphere, you really can’t beat what goes on in Riga, they really do love hockey there.

Jasen: I think Max Lajoie would thrive in Montréal and be a nice supplement to Anderson as another big power forward. I’d love for my beloved Habitants to go get Lafreniere from the Rangers. Thoughts on the cost? Also, I think Ethan Bear would be a nice addition to our defense. Thoughts?

For the first question, I assume you’re asking about Max Comtois as Maxime Lajoie is a defenseman who now is in Toronto’s system.  In theory, he could be that player for the Canadiens but he wasn’t that player the last two seasons in Anaheim.  On top of that, Montreal already has a bit of a logjam up front.  Depending on how certain things shake out, he could make sense on a one-year flyer but as things stand, I don’t think there’s a roster fit for Comtois even though they could use a bit more size in an Atlantic Division that has bulked up over the summer.

As for Alexis Lafreniere, this came up before the draft.  I didn’t see a good fit then and frankly, there’s even less of one now.  The Rangers are in win-now mode but Montreal doesn’t really have a good low-cost veteran (the AAV is a big factor for New York which takes some of the pricier players off the table) to move.  Their best offer is a futures-based one which doesn’t do the Rangers any good right now.  I don’t think the Canadiens should be moving their unprotected 2024 first-round pick which takes the idea of an offer sheet in the $4.29MM to $6.435MM range off the table; they can’t do one for less as they don’t have their own second-rounder.  Lafreniere fits with what Montreal is trying to do in the sense of getting a young core of first-round talents up front and hoping for internal growth.  But unless New York can flip a futures-based package from the Canadiens elsewhere for a win-now piece, I don’t see a plausible trade scenario between the two sides.

As for Bear, he’s going to miss the start of the season after undergoing shoulder surgery so I don’t anticipate him signing anytime soon.  A 26-year-old right-shot defender should have some value to a team like the Canadiens but where does he fit in on their roster?  David Savard isn’t going anywhere next season (2024-25 might be a different story though).  They need to see where Justin Barron fits in long term so sending him to AHL Laval to make room for Bear is a step back development-wise.  They really like Johnathan Kovacevic on the third pairing so I don’t think he’s going either.  Chris Wideman is the probable seventh defender as things stand (at this point, I expect Arber Xhekaj to start in Laval where he can at least play over being the seventh defender) but signing someone like Bear to provide an upgrade on a healthy scratch doesn’t really move the needle.  And if they were to play Bear on his off-side, I don’t think he displaces any of their top three options there either.  If injuries strike early, then sure, Bear fits as a plug-and-play option on the third pairing once he’s healthy.  But right now, I don’t see where he fits in to justify signing him now.

WilfPaiement: I’m wondering why Ty Smith seems to be buried in the minors, and when he gets called up he does quite well.

Last season was certainly an odd one for Smith who went from being a regular with New Jersey to being a key part of the trade return for John Marino to spending most of the season with AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.  Not all of this was due to factors within his control, however.

The Penguins were right up against the salary cap last season to the point where finding cap space for recalls was getting challenging.  Accordingly, someone making closer to the minimum became more appealing.  That worked in the favor of a veteran like Mark Friedman who made close to $100K less than Smith, who had the added ‘benefit’ of being waiver-exempt.  When you’re trying to bank cap space, cheaper recalls are more preferable so having Friedman come up allowed them to save money and keep Smith playing big minutes in the AHL.

This wasn’t the only reason, however.  After two full NHL campaigns, Smith was sent down to dominate and he didn’t quite do that.  He was above-average on the farm, no doubt, but he also didn’t become the go-to number one I think they were hoping he would.  And in his limited action with Pittsburgh, you’re right, he didn’t fare all that poorly although he benefitted from some sheltered matchups when he was in there.

The good news for Smith is that he’s now waiver-eligible.  It stands to reason that the Penguins aren’t going to risk waiving him to send him back to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton so his days of being buried in the minors should be over.  Now, it’s going to be a matter of cracking their regular lineup, something that should completely be in his hands.

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West Notes: Oilers, Lavoie, Jets

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The Oilers were among the teams that had shown interest in center Tomas Nosek, reports Kurt Leavins of the Edmonton Journal.  Edmonton wasn’t able to afford to keep Nick Bjugstad who went back to Arizona in free agency and Nosek would have been a capable replacement, particularly in terms of his faceoff skill and penalty killing acumen.  It’s believed that they offered a deal that was at least close in money to the $1MM that Nosek received from New Jersey earlier this week.  The fact that they were in on the 30-year-old suggests that GM Ken Holland is still keeping an eye on the bottom end of the UFA market to potentially round out his roster.

Elsewhere in the West:

  • Also from Leavins’ column, he noted that the Oilers made a sizable two-way offer to winger Raphael Lavoie, one that would have lowered his NHL salary but given him a bigger guaranteed salary. Instead, the 22-year-old opted to accept his qualifying offer worth just over $874K earlier this month, giving him a bigger potential payday in the NHL.  Lavoie has yet to play at the top level in his three professional seasons but clearly feels he’ll have a shot at a spot at the end of the roster, particularly since he is now waiver-eligible.
  • Scott Billeck of the Winnipeg Sun examines the Jets’ offseason thus far and highlights the situation on the back end as something to watch for. Prospect Declan Chisholm is now waiver-eligible which makes it likely that he breaks camp with the team while Logan Stanley’s trade request from last season still hasn’t been granted.  Notably, Stanley declined to file for arbitration earlier this month.  Meanwhile, Ville Heinola, who has made it known in the past that he’s looking for more NHL time, remains waiver-exempt.  Accordingly, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Winnipeg try to do something to sort out what is a bit of a logjam toward the back of their back end as even if they carry eight defensemen to start next season, someone isn’t making the cut.

Minor Transactions: 07/23/23

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As NHL teams deal with arbitration cases and potentially court one of the remaining NHL-caliber free agents on the open market, there is still quite a bit of player movement activity in minor and foreign professional leagues. As always, we’ll keep track of those moves here:

  • Lukáš Klok, a UFA signing from last summer by the Arizona Coyotes who ended up playing just four games in the Desert, signed a two-year contract with the KHL’s Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk. Klok is a 28-year-old Czech blueliner who has significant experience in several European pro leagues. This deal returns Klok to where he played in 2021-22, and Klok’s KHL stint was arguably the most successful of his career on an individual basis. Seeing as he scored 31 points in 44 games and earned an NHL contract the last time he played for Nizhnekamsk, it’s easy to see why he’d want to re-unite with the club after a difficult 2022-23 that saw him bounce from Arizona to Sweden before finishing the year in Switzerland.
  • Former New York Rangers prospect Dávid Skokan is moving on from his club of the last three seasons, Slovakia’s HK Poprad. The 34-year-old has been a star in the Slovak league in recent seasons, although he’s seen his numbers decline more recently. Over his first two campaigns in Poprad Skokan scored 83 points in 78 games, but this past season he only managed 18 points in 36 games. Having lost his spot as Poprad’s leading scorer, Skokan will look for his next opportunity in pro hockey.
  • Former Vancouver Canucks prospect Andrew Sarauer is hanging up his skates, according to an announcement from his club Fehérvár AV19. Sarauer, 38, had been with Hungary’s ICEHL club since 2013, save for one season spent in Austria. He once served as Fehérvár’s captain and has totaled over 350 points in over 450 games playing pro hockey in Central Europe. Sarauer has also represented Hungary at international events, including the 2016 IIHF Men’s World Championships. He last played in North America in 2012-13, and he was a prolific scorer in the ECHL with 238 points in 250 career games there.
  • Jonas Emmerdahl, the captain of the EIHL’s Fife Flyers, has signed a contract extension to remain with the club. The 31-year-old Swedish blueliner has logged 151 games across three seasons in Scotland and has posted 42 points. Before heading to the United Kingdom, Emmerdahl was a steady presence in HockeyAllsvenskan, the second tier of hockey in his home country. Fife have been one of the EIHL’s worst-performing teams during Emmerdahl’s tenure there, but the hope will be that he can help lead a turnaround next year playing on this contract extension.
  • One of the players Fife is likely hoping will lead that turnaround is Aleksi Mäkelä, a player the team signed today. Although Mäkelä spent last season playing in Italy in the AlpsHL, he does have an impressive resume including over 250 games in the Finnish Liiga and a Liiga championship from his 2017-18 season with Kärpät. He’ll join Emmerdahl on the left side of Fife’s blueline and will provide the type of experience in a high-end European league that can be very valuable.
  • After four consecutive campaigns in the HockeyAllsvenskan, including a run to the league quarterfinals last season, Kristianstads IK now find themselves back in Sweden’s third-tier HockeyEttan. Today, the club announced on social media that they have secured the services of their captain, Dennis Svensson, for another season as they look to bounce back from this setback. The 30-year-old center returned to Kristianstads upon their promotion to the second tier, having just finished the prior season in the SHL with Djurgården. He had played for Kristianstads before both in HockeyEttan and at the youth level. He scored 12 points in 25 games last season and will likely play a crucial role in the team’s upcoming campaign.

This page may be updated throughout the day. 

Ilya Samsonov Contract Settled Via Arbitration

at CDT | by 11 Comments

Toronto Maple Leafs netminder Ilya Samsonov has received a $3.55MM award (one-year) in his arbitration case, according to The Athletic’s James Mirtle. Samsonov had filed for $4.9MM, while the Maple Leafs had filed for $2.4MM.

This award comes just under the mid-point between the two parties’ filings and is just a little bit less than the $3.75MM we projected in our detailed breakdown of Samsonov’s arbitration case.

The Maple Leafs don’t have much cap space to work with, especially after signing players such as Tyler Bertuzzi, Max Domi, John Klingberg, and Ryan Reaves to NHL deals this summer.

That’s why they were likely hoping Samsonov’s deal would fall closer to their filing, though those hopes may have been a bit optimistic given Samsonov’s performance.

The 26-year-old 2015 first-rounder made the most of his one-year change-of-scenery deal from last summer, winning the number-one job in head coach Sheldon Keefe’s crease.

In 42 games he went 27-10-5 with a .919 save percentage and 2.33 goals-against-average. He even helped Toronto to the playoff series victory they’d long been aching for, his 31-save performance in Game Six against Tampa Bay leading the way.

With this decision made, the most important and valuable thing the Maple Leafs have gained is cost certainty. They now know exactly what their expected tandem of Samsonov and Joseph Woll will cost them next season, which will help guide what they do moving forward in the offseason.

They still have Matt Murray on their books at a $4.687MM cap hit, and are likely to pursue avenues to remove Murray’s deal from their cap sheet. A 72-hour buyout window will open for the team to utilize, and buying out Murray would reduce Murray’s cap hit to just $675.5k for next season at a cost of $2MM in dead money in 2024-25.

They could also elect to try to trade Murray, though the modified 10-team no-trade clause he possesses on his contract could make finding a trade at this stage of the offseason difficult.

For Samsonov, this contract is a compromise between what he filed for and what the Maple Leafs wanted to pay. It’s more of an opportunity than anything else, as he’s set himself up to hit unrestricted free agency next summer. If he can have another strong season between the pipes in Toronto, he may set himself up to be the top UFA goalie on the market behind Connor Hellebuyck.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

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