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Vancouver Canucks Sign Five Players

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The Vancouver Canucks have signed defenseman Ian Cole, center Teddy Blueger, and AHL forward Tristen Nielsen to contracts, per the team. Cole will earn $3MM on a one-year deal, Blueger will earn $1.9MM on a one-year deal, and Nielsen signed a two-year entry-level deal. They’ve also signed veteran blueliner Matt Irwin to a one-year, two-way contract. They’ve also added goalie Zachary Sawchenko on a one-year, two-way deal.

One of the primary focuses for the Canucks heading into free agency was upgrading their defense, and it’s tough to do much better than Cole in that aspect of the game. Regularly blocking over 100 shots a year, and averaging one of the better Defensive Point Shares in the league, the induction of Cole marketably improves the quality of the team’s defense headed into next year. Pair that with the signing of Irwin, and the Canucks defensive depth chart has improved considerably in the last 24 hours.

With Blueger, the Canucks should be expecting somewhere in the range of 20-30 points from him next season. A recent player for the Stanley Cup-winning Vegas Golden Knights, Blueger now brings playoff experience to a team that is in desperate need of getting there. Aside from his playoff experience, the addition of Blueger will tremendously help the Canucks penalty kill, a unit that carried a league-worst 71.6% success rate last season.

Detroit Red Wings Sign Alex Lyon

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The Detroit Red Wings signed UFA netminder Alex Lyon to a two-year, $1.8MM deal today, per PuckPedia. He’ll earn $900K per season.

Having already added to their depth in goal with the signing of James Reimer, the Red Wings continue to try and improve one of their worst categories from the 2022-23 NHL season. In another attempt at getting more value than they paid for, it remains to be seen what version of Lyon the team will get next year.

Playing on the eventual 2023 Eastern Conference Champion, Florida Panthers, Lyon was one of the main reasons the Panthers even got to the dance in the first place. To end the regular season, Lyon posted a 6-2-1 record in nine games, carrying a .930 SV%, leading his team to the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.

Heading into their first-round matchup against the President’s Trophy-winning Boston Bruins, Florida wanted to ride the hot hand of Lyon in the net. Unfortunately at the time for the team, Lyon got completely lit up against the Bruins, leading to the team using Sergei Bobrovsky the rest of the way. In his four games against Boston, Lyon went 1-2-0, only garnering a .888 SV%, leading to his eventual move to the bench.

The jury is still out on whether or not the Red Wings plan to find their way back to contention next year, so Lyon may not be playing under as much pressure as he was in Florida. Likely going to be serving as a third-string goalie behind both Reimer and Ville Husso, Lyon will be an adequate option for Detroit if there is an injury or a complete breakdown from the other two.

Nashville Predators Sign Gustav Nyquist

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Winger Gustav Nyquist has signed a two-year deal with the Nashville Predators worth $3.185MM per season, reports Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.

In a surprise twist to free agency day that not many expected, the Predators continue to pull in talent to fill out their NHL roster. One of the more unheralded players in the league, Nyquist is an above-average middle-six option for most teams. Finishing off a four-year, $22MM contract signed with the Columbus Blue Jackets back in 2019, Nyquist finished his year with the Minnesota Wild after being acquired at the deadline.

Hampered by injuries last season, Nyquist made a great return to the NHL, scoring five points in his last three games of the year. Following the Wild into the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs, Nyquist scored another five points, all assists, in the team’s opening-round matchup with the Dallas Stars.

The signing of Nyquist gives the Predators an incredible amount of flexibility headed into next season. The new General Manager of the team, Barry Trotz, has already indicated that he plans on the team giving much more ice time to some of their younger players. However, if those players don’t play up to expectations this season, Nyquist is an option on the wing that can play on the team’s top three lines.

Dallas Stars Bring Back Joel Hanley

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The Dallas Stars are retaining defenseman Joel Hanley on a two-year contract, per the team. It carries an average annual value of $787.5K.

In bringing back Hanley, the Stars have shored up their defensive depth for next season. Serving as their seventh defenseman last year, Hanley should expect much of the same heading into the 2023-24 NHL season. Last season, Hanley managed to play in 26 games in Dallas, scoring two assists in just over 11 and a half minutes a night.

In the playoffs, especially in the midst of the team’s run to the 2023 Western Conference Finals, Hanley actually received much more playing time for the Stars, largely due to the internal demotion of defenseman Nils Lundkvist. Because the team did not deem Lundkvist ready for playoff hockey, Hanley played in 13 games, grabbing one assist in almost 13 minutes a night.

Although he will not be a big name on the back for Dallas, Hanley provides the team with organizational depth in case of injury. Being one of the more serviceable extra defenseman in the league, Hanley should be an adequate safety net for the Stars.

Boston Bruins To Sign Morgan Geekie

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The Boston Bruins are acquiring center Morgan Geekie on a two-year, $4MM deal worth $2MM per season, per a team announcement.

Geekie, 24, lands in Boston after going without a qualifying offer from his former team, the Seattle Kraken. Geekie was originally acquired by Seattle in their expansion draft, coming over from the Carolina Hurricanes with the hope that his success at the WHL and AHL levels would finally translate in a new environment.

While Geekie showed some flashes in Seattle, he couldn’t put together enough consistent production to earn larger roles in head coach Dave Hakstol’s lineup. With Boston expecting to enter next season without their top two centers from last year, Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci, Geekie has perhaps the best opportunity of his career to advance his NHL career.

If he can have a srong training camp and snatch a top-nine center role, Geekie could feasibly have a career-best season with the Bruins and provide them with exceptional surplus value for their $2MM cap hit. He has shown some offensive touch at lower levels, such as in the AHL where in his last full season he scored 42 points in 55 games, so perhaps he has some more offensive upside to be unlocked in his six-foot-three frame.

If he can’t manage to finally become a consistent NHL producer, this $2MM cap hit could look a bit pricey for what Geekie provides as a bottom-sixer. But even taking into account that risk, it’s a decent bet for the Bruins to make.

Edmonton Oilers Sign Connor Brown, Two Others

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Per Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli, the Edmonton Oilers have finalized a one-year contract with forward Connor Brown. The deal will have a $775K cap hit but includes an additional $3.25MM in potential performance bonuses, coming off an ACL injury that cost him most of the 2022-23 season.

They’ve also added winger Drake Caggiula back to their organization on a two-year, two-way contract with a $775k AAV, according to The Athletic’s Daniel Nugent-Bowman. Caggiula is an impact AHL scorer who also has experience as an NHL bottom-six winger. He spent three seasons with the Oilers from 2016-17 to 2018-19.

The Oilers have also made one more depth signing, inking blueliner Ben Gleason to a two-year $775k AAV contract, per PuckPedia. The deal is a two-way pact for the first year and a one-way deal in the second, carrying a $425k AHL salary in year one.

The Brown signing is a savvy move for both Brown and the Oilers for a variety of reasons. For Brown, this deal gives him the best chance of a quality, productive season to allow him to cash in on next year’s free agent market. A former teammate of Connor McDavid in the OHL, Brown has a very strong chance of ending up on either McDavid or Leon Draisaitl’s wing.

Seeing as those players are routinely two of the NHL’s top scorers (with McDavid expected to lead the NHL in scoring and win the Hart Trophy pretty much every season) Brown is in line to fly past his career-highs in production, similar to what another former Maple Leafs winger, Zach Hyman, has done in Edmonton.

For Edmonton, this move lands them a quality two-way second-line player at a league-minimum cap hit, as most of the deal’s financial value is tied up in bonuses. Given how Edmonton figures to press right up against the salary cap this season, the structure of this contract allows them to potentially push the bulk of Brown’s cap hit to next season.

There likely wasn’t going to be a path for Edmonton to acquire a better player than Brown on the free-agent market. Understanding the team’s needs and limitations under the cap, it’s hard to argue with this free-agent addition.

Detroit Red Wings Sign James Reimer

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The Detroit Red Wings have signed goalie James Reimer to a one-year, $1.5MM contract, the AP’s Stephen Whyno reports.

With Alex Nedeljkovic and Magnus Hellberg cut loose to the free agent market, the Red Wings needed to bring someone in who could serve as the backup to incumbent starter Ville Husso.

They’ve tapped Reimer to fill that role, a 35-year-old veteran of nearly 500 NHL games. Reimer has spent the last two seasons with the San Jose Sharks, and while he posted a brutal .890 save percentage this past season he did manage a .911 the year before. If the Red Wings can get play out of Reimer closer to his 2021-22 form, this will end up a sound investment for the club.

Reimer likely isn’t going to receive as heavy a workload in Detroit compared to what he got in San Jose, so getting more time off between games and less pressure placed on him than he had as a true tandem goalie could contribute to an improvement in Reimer’s numbers. That’s likely what Detroit is betting on here.

Anaheim Ducks Sign Radko Gudas, Trevor Carrick

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The Anaheim Ducks have signed bruising defender Radko Gudas to a three-year, $12MM contract worth $4MM per season, says Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli. Additionally, Trevor Carrick has signed a one-year, $775K,  two-way deal with the team as well.

A ferocious, at times chaotic defenseman, Gudas enhanced his value significantly during the Panthers’ run to the 2023 Stanley Cup Final. His brand of highly physical, often agitating play from the blueline looked even better under the bright lights of the postseason, and it’s likely that his play there drove his price tag up quite a bit.

Now 33 years old, it’s fair to question whether Gudas will play up to a $4MM valuation as he gets deeper into his thirties. But in the immediate term, Gudas is a massive upgrade for the Ducks’ defense and with their slate of young talent developing on their roster could still be on this contract by the time the Ducks push to make the playoffs.

While there isn’t much of an offensive game to speak of with Gudas, he’ll be a penalty-killing anchor for the Ducks and potentially serve as a valuable mentor for young blueliner Jamie Drysdale.

With lots of offensively-focused up-and-coming young left-shot blueliners in their pipeline, such as Olen Zellweger, Pavel Mintyukov, and Jackson LaCombe, the addition of Gudas gives the Ducks a veteran partner for one of those players.

Gudas’ defensive abilities will free up one of those players to take more risks offensively and more aggressively develop his offensive game in the NHL, and in the end his impact on the Ducks’ younger blueliners could be the most positive aspect of this free-agent signing.

Carrick will rejoin his brother in the Ducks organization, making his return to the team after spending last season playing for the Syracuse Crunch in the AHL. Carrick was quite good for the Crunch last year, scoring 15 goals and 31 assists in 60 regular-season games.

Buffalo Sabres Sign Erik Johnson, Connor Clifton

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The Buffalo Sabres have signed 2006 first-overall pick Erik Johnson to a one-year, $3.25MM contract, shoring up their defense. They’ve also added a second right-shot defender in Connor Clifton, who signed a three-year, $10MM contract worth $3.33MM per season.

These deals are a major boost to the Sabres’ blueline, a unit that already boasts some top-end talent such as Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power, and Mattias Samuelsson. Now, they add an accomplished veteran in Johnson who brings nearly 1,000 games of experience and a Stanley Cup ring.

Johnson not only will shore up Buffalo’s bottom-pairing, he’ll also insulate the team in case of injuries to other left-shot defensemen. The Sabres’ form as a team declined sharply when Samuelsson was out of the lineup due to injuries, but now with Johnson in the mix they’re in better position to survive any absences.

As for Clifton, he’s an in-his-prime right-shot blueliner who combines solid skating and impressive physicality. He’s got extensive playoff experience with the Bruins and could help free up Power to take a more active role in the offensive game, should Clifton end up paired with the 2021 number-one pick.

These two moves do give the Sabres a logjam of defensemen on their NHL roster, with players such as Ilya Lyubushkin, Jacob Bryson, Henri Jokiharju, or Riley Stillman potentially displaced by these additions. But while the Sabres will have quite a few defensemen to sort through moving forward, it’s hard to argue with the talent they’ve added today at the prices they added them for.

San Jose Sharks To Sign Kyle Burroughs

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The San Jose Sharks are signing UFA defenseman Kyle Burroughs to a three-year deal worth $1.1MM per season, says CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal.

Set to turn 28 later this month, Burroughs secures a solid pay raise from the league-minimum $750k cap hit he played 2022-23 on. While he has just 95 career NHL games to his name, Burroughs’ defensive prowess, and physicality impressed during his time with the Canucks.

The Sharks aren’t looking to compete for Stanley Cups anytime soon, but need to add some value to their blueline and Burroughs accomplishes exactly that.

He’ll make the Sharks more difficult to play against, an important quality for a team that could end up losing quite a few games, and could have value later down the line as a flip-able trade asset if he gets more NHL games under his belt and earns an increased role under head coach David Quinn.

A three-year term for Burroughs is certainly a risk, but if he can continue the upward trajectory of recent seasons he could quickly make his $1.1MM cap hit look like a steal.

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