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Snapshots: Clifton, Novak, Marlies

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Signing a three-year, $10MM contract with the Buffalo Sabres shortly after the market opened on July 1st, defenseman Connor Clifton had no shortage of offers. In an article from Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe, he passes along a note from Clifton’s agent, Eric Quinlan, that the defenseman had as many as 10 offers, one of which was for a longer-term and higher AAV than what he eventually signed in Buffalo.

It’s not difficult to ascertain why Clifton ultimately picked the Sabres as his landing spot, as they are considered one of the most exciting upstart teams in all of hockey. Clifton ultimately brings what the organization needs. The Sabres were great offensively last season, illustrated by their 3.57 GF/G (third in NHL), but they struggled defensively, finishing 27th in the league in GA/G with a 3.62 mark.

Clifton is most known for his skill on the defensive side of the puck, but he did produce better offensively with the Boston Bruins last season, scoring five goals and 18 assists in 78 games. His defensive attributes will be more of what the Sabres are expecting on this deal, as Clifton’s career oiSV% (Team On-Ice Save Percentage in All Situations) of 92.4% will dramatically help the team keep the puck out of their net.

Other snapshots:

  • In a very heartwarming story, Joe Smith of The Athletic reports that Minnesota Wild prospect, Pavel Novak, is now completely cancer-free. Unfortunately, he will not participate in the team’s development camp due to a lower-body injury, but beating cancer is a big enough victory in and of itself. Novak was originally drafted 146th overall in the 2020 NHL Draft, last playing competitive hockey during the 2021-22 season with the Kelowna Rockets of the WHL. In that last full year of play, Novak impressed at the junior level, scoring 72 points in 62 games.
  • The Toronto Marlies filled out a good majority of their roster today, announcing one-year extensions for Matthew Hellickson, Tommy Miller, Matteo Pietroniro, Zach Solow, and Keenan Suthers. Of the group, Suthers is the only player that did not feature for the Marlies last season, as the rest of the players will likely be used mostly as depth next season.

Detroit Red Wings Sign John Lethemon

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The Detroit Red Wings announced they have signed goaltender John Lethemon to a one-year, two-way contract. The deal will pay Lethemon $775K at the NHL level, although it is unexpected he will reach this season.

Two years ago, Lethemon spent time with the Ontario Reign of the AHL, and with the Greenville Swamp Rabbits of the ECHL, both affiliated with the Los Angeles Kings. He was never drafted by the Kings, as he was signed out of Michigan State University to a tryout agreement. In March of this year, the Red Wings officially signed Lethemon to his first contract, paying him $750K at the NHL level.

Much like he did in the Kings organization, Lethemon split time between the Grand Rapids Griffins of the AHL and the Toledo Walleye of the ECHL. Things did not go well for Lethemon in Grand Rapids, as he was only able to produce a 1-6-2 record in nine games, earning a 3.88 GAA and a .878 SV%. Primarily sharing the net with the top goaltending prospect for Detroit, Sebastian Cossa, Lethemon did much better for the Walleye. In 26 starts, Lethemon earned an incredible 18-1-3 record, producing a 1.99 GAA and a .930 SV%.

During the 2023 Kelly Cup playoffs, Lethemon split the net with Cossa, earning a 4-2-0 record, carrying a 2.64 GAA and a .917 SV%. Although his numbers did dip in the postseason, the goaltending tandem led the Walleye to the Western Conference Finals, eventually losing to the Idaho Steelheads.

West Notes: Toews, Labanc, Myers, Oilers

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Most of the top free agents have already been grabbed off the market so far this offseason, yet there are a couple of big names that remain. One of them, Jonathan Toews, had one of the more murkier futures than most. After the Chicago Blackhawks announced they would not be re-signing their captain, much of the speculation pointed Toews to two options: the Edmonton Oilers or retirement.

Mark Spector of Sportsnet was asked to answer a question about Toews in his regular Oilers mailbag, and he painted a much clearer image of what Toews’ future will hold. Apparently, when Toews’ agency gave out their annual list of pending free agents to interested parties, “we are told his name was not even on the list”.

This is not a surprising development, as Toews has battled chronic immune response syndrome as well as long-term negative side effects from Covid-19. Both of these illnesses have severely cut into his playing time, as Toews has been unable to suit up for a full year since the 2018-19 season. Realistically, it is more than likely that we have seen the last of Toews in the NHL.

Other notes:

  • Right before the free agent market opened on July 1st, it was reported that the San Jose Sharks and Vancouver Canucks had recently discussed a trade that would send defenseman Tyler Myers to the Bay Area. During their podcast, ’Canucks Central’, Dan Riccio and Sat Shah confirmed the deal would have been a one-for-one swap for winger Kevin Labanc. It makes sense for both teams, as Myers has fallen out of favor in Vancouver, and the team mostly addressed its defensive core via free agency. From the Sharks’ perspective, the team is widely expected to move defenseman Erik Karlsson before the offseason concludes, and Myers would fill that hole left on their right side.
  • One of the major holdups in any Myers deal is the $5MM bonus he is due on September 1st of this year. At the beginning of last season, there were reports that a deal that would have sent Myers to the Ottawa Senators fell through due to the bonus due to Myers. Unfortunately for interested parties, David Quadrelli of Nation HQ reports that the Canucks are unable to pay the bonus early, as the league has deemed it a salary cap circumvention.
  • One of the main focal points of the Oilers’ offseason is to sign restricted free agent defenseman Evan Bouchard to a contract extension, but it appears the Oilers are also looking to add to their forward depth. Michael DeRosa of The Hockey News reports that Edmonton has significant interest in Philadelphia Flyers’ forwards Travis Konecny and Scott Laughton. Both players would be a positive addition to the team’s forward core, but with only $5.6MM available in cap space, it is hard to envision the Oilers being able to absorb the $5.5MM owed to Konecny, or the $3MM owed to Laughton.

 

Seattle Kraken Sign Kole Lind

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One of the original Seattle Kraken from their expansion draft, the team has announced they have signed forward Kole Lind to a one-year, two-way contract. Aside from Vince Dunn and Cale Fleury, Lind was one of the only restricted free agents left on the team without a contract.

In the team’s inaugural season, Lind did see some playing time at the NHL level, suiting up in 23 games for the team, scoring eight points. Lind was primarily used as a fourth-line player, as he averaged just under 12 minutes a night.

Being one of the higher second-round picks of the 2017 NHL Draft, Lind showed quite a bit of offensive potential in juniors. In his draft year, Lind scored 30 goals and 57 assists for the Kelowna Rockets of the WHL. After the conclusion of his season, Lind was drafted by the Vancouver Canucks at 33rd overall.

Still only 24 years old, Lind’s offensive prowess he displayed in juniors has translated to his professional career, but thus far only at the AHL level. He became an outstanding forward for the Utica Comets during the 2019-20 season and showed more of the same since coming to the Kraken organization.

In 188 games played at the AHL level for both the Charlotte Checkers and Coachella Valley Firebirds, Lind has scored 47 goals and 50 assists, also scoring an impressive 31 points in 26 games during the Firebirds’ run to the 2023 Calder Cup Finals. Next season, expect much of the same for Lind, unless the Kraken run into injury trouble with their forward core.

Snapshots: Snow, Flames, Morozov

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Former Islanders GM Garth Snow hasn’t been officially on the job since 2018 but is only now officially a free agent with his payout from the team ending last month.  Now that he’s allowed to speak publicly, he told Kevin Kurz of The Athletic (subscription link) that he is hoping to join another franchise in some sort of front-office capacity.  Snow had a rather strange journey to the front office, going from being New York’s backup goalie to their GM in a matter of weeks.  The team didn’t have a lot of playoff success under his watch (they got past the first round just once) but several players he drafted during his tenure are playing key roles for the Isles.  While a GM job doesn’t seem likely, it’s possible that Snow could land a different role in someone’s front office in the coming months.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • Speaking with reporters today including Ryan Pike of Flames Nation (Twitter link), Calgary GM Craig Conroy stated that he’s hoping to have a new AHL head coach in place within the next week or so. Mitch Love was the reigning two-time Louis AR Pieri Memorial Award winner for Coach of the Year but after being passed up for the top job in Calgary, he accepted an assistant coaching role with Washington earlier this summer.
  • Vegas’ AHL team in Henderson announced that they have loaned winger Ivan Morozov to Spartak of the KHL for next season. The 23-year-old played his first full season in North America last season, picking up six goals and 11 assists in 57 games.  Morozov has one year left on his contract with the Golden Knights and considering that he’ll be spending next season overseas, it seems safe to infer that he’s unlikely to be re-signed at this point in time.  If that’s the case, it won’t be a great return on a late second-round selection from back in 2018 (61st overall).

Coyotes Agree To Terms With Nathan Smith

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Saturday: The team has officially announced the signing.  Per club policy, financial terms of the contract were not disclosed.

Wednesday: One player that was eligible to file for salary arbitration earlier today but didn’t was Coyotes center Nathan Smith.  There’s a good reason for that, however, as Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports reports (Twitter link) that the two sides have agreed on a one-year contract and the paperwork is just getting finalized.

The 24-year-old was a third-round pick by Winnipeg back in 2018 (91st overall) but didn’t sign with the Jets.  Instead, he was moved along with the LTIR contract of Bryan Little to Arizona back in March of 2022, quickly turning pro thereafter.

While Smith played ten games down the stretch that season with Arizona, playing time at the top level was harder to come by last season.  He got into just four games with the Coyotes, averaging just 7:27 per night of playing time.  Things went a bit better for him with AHL Tucson as he got into 64 games down there, tallying a dozen goals along with 15 assists.

A one-year, presumably two-way contract would certainly make sense for both sides to allow Smith to try to show that he’s capable of being a part of Arizona’s plans like it seemed was the case a little over a year ago.  Still waiver-exempt for one more season, it’s likely that Smith will have to start with the Roadrunners again and try to play his way into a recall as the season progresses.

Coyotes Have Held Preliminary Extension Talks With Andre Tourigny

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Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny is set to enter the final year of his contract.  Typically, teams don’t like having coaches in ‘lame duck’ years although we’ve seen that happen a few times in recent years.  The bench boss indicated to PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan that so far, talks about a new contract have strictly been preliminary with the term of an agreement and the fate of his staff being among the elements discussed.

The 49-year-old has been the bench boss for Arizona for the past two seasons and while his 53-90-21 record isn’t overly exciting on the surface, the Coyotes are squarely in the heart of a rebuild.  To that end, they’ve been a fairly competitive squad most nights in spite of the fact they haven’t iced the more talented team in most of their games.

Perhaps more importantly, there appears to have been a positive culture established, something both Nick Bjugstad and Troy Stecher acknowledged as a factor in their decisions to return to Arizona as free agents earlier this month.  It also likely played a role in them landing Jason Zucker and Alex Kerfoot, two capable forwards, on the open market.

Tourigny negotiated his first contract on his own but indicated that he wants to hire an agent to get this next one finalized.  That hasn’t happened yet which should further hammer home that the discussions so far have been more casual.  However, Tourigny has clearly indicated to GM Bill Armstrong that he wants to remain with Arizona beyond the 2023-24 campaign and with how they’ve performed under his watch despite the talent mismatch, it seems reasonable to think an extension will get done eventually.  Tourigny is comfortable going into the season without a new contract but it shouldn’t get to that point.

East Notes: Bruins, Blue Jackets, Hirvonen

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The Bruins are hopeful that they’ll be able to avoid arbitration with their three free agents who filed earlier this week, GM Don Sweeney told reporters (video link).  Goaltender Jeremy Swayman highlights that group as his reward will ultimately determine if they need to make another cost-clearing move; recent comparable signings could push his award past the $4MM mark in a hearing.  Winger Trent Frederic will be in for a nice raise after putting up a career-best 31 points in 79 games and could double his previous $1.05MM AAV on his next deal.  Meanwhile, blueliner Ian Mitchell is the other filer but he isn’t likely to get much more than his $874K qualifying offer; it wouldn’t be shocking to see them settle for a lower NHL price tag in exchange for a pricier AHL salary.  Boston has just shy of $7MM in cap space at the moment, per CapFriendly, and it’s possible that it could cost more than that to sign these three.

Elsewhere in the East:

  • The Blue Jackets are still looking to add a veteran goaltender this summer, reports Aaron Portzline of The Athletic (subscription link). With Elvis Merzlikins and Daniil Tarasov in place as the tandem in Columbus, they’re instead looking for a third-stringer with some NHL experience that can split time in the minors with Jet Greaves but also be called upon if one of their top two get injured.  There are a handful of players in free agency that can fill that role while they could also look to pick one up in a swap if they try to make a move from their potential forward surplus.
  • Maple Leafs prospect Roni Hirvonen suffered a concussion earlier today in a scrimmage game at Toronto’s development camp, notes David Alter of Sports Illustrated. Assistant GM Hayley Wickenheiser indicated that the 21-year-old will need some time to recover.  Hirvonen was a second-round pick by Toronto back in 2020 (59th overall) and spent last season on loan to HIFK in Finland where he had 28 points in 57 games.  He’s expected to play in North America this upcoming season with the AHL Marlies.

Kings Re-Sign Akil Thomas

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The Kings have signed their final remaining restricted free agent, announcing they’ve inked forward Akil Thomas to a one-year, two-way contract.  The deal will pay the NHL minimum of $775K at the NHL level.

The 23-year-old was a second-round pick by Los Angeles back in 2018 (51st overall) and was a prolific point producer at the OHL level, recording 186 points in just 112 games in his two post-draft seasons.  That helped Thomas earn an entry-level deal back in 2019, one that expired at the end of last month.

However, Thomas spent the entirety of that entry-level pact in the minors with AHL Ontario.  He got off to a nice start last season with the Reign, picking up five goals and three assists in 13 games.  However, in mid-November, he suffered a season-ending shoulder injury, undergoing surgery soon thereafter.  It’s the second time Thomas has had shoulder trouble; he had double-shoulder surgery back in 2021.

In his career, Thomas has just 93 professional games under his belt with Ontario where he has done relatively well, totaling 24 goals and 23 assists.  He will be waiver-eligible in the fall so he’ll need to pass through unclaimed if he’s to return to the Reign.  But with a little over a year’s worth of cumulative professional experience and coming off another shoulder surgery, it seems like there’s a good chance he’ll be able to do so successfully and will try to show that he’s fully recovered in the fall with Ontario, trying to earn his first NHL recall from there.

Sabres Notes: Free Agency, Wahlberg, Amerks

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While Buffalo was active on the opening day of free agency, their NHL signings were on the back end with the pickups of Erik Johnson and Connor Clifton.  However, GM Kevyn Adams told reporters including Bill Hoppe of the Olean Times Herald that they were also looking to make an addition up front and even got close to one before it fell through.  With Jack Quinn tearing his Achilles tendon in offseason training which will keep him out for a couple of months in-season at least, there’s now an open spot on the wing that they could have been looking to fill on a short-term deal.  With that in mind, the Sabres are a team to keep an eye out on as the UFA market slows down; perhaps a bargain option will present itself later in the summer.  Alternatively, Quinn’s injury could also put a possible Victor Olofsson swap on hold.

More from Buffalo:

  • Last month, the Sabres selected center Anton Wahlberg with the 39th selection in the draft.  Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News relays that Buffalo tried to trade for a second first-round pick without success and then tried to trade up in the second round (also without success) to secure Wahlberg, who was clearly rated much higher on their list.  Wahlberg was close to a point-per-game player in Sweden’s junior level last season and is poised to have a full-time spot with Malmo of the SHL in 2023-24.
  • Buffalo’s AHL affiliate in Rochester brought back three veterans yesterday, announcing the re-signings of forwards Mason Jobst and Brendan Warren along with goaltender Michael Houser on minor-league deals. Jobst had a career-best 38 points in 63 games for the Amerks last season while Warren chipped in with seven in 43 contests before putting up five in seven playoff appearances.  As for Houser, he had a 2.80 GAA with a .906 SV% in 21 appearances while having his contract converted to an NHL one for the third year in a row back in February.

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