Evening Notes: Lankinen, Nichushkin, Pieniniemi
The Vancouver Canucks are narrowing in on a deal with goaltender Kevin Lankinen reports CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal. He’ll support the team as they await the return of Thatcher Demko, who is taking longer than expected to recover from his knee injury.
A deal in Vancouver would move Lankinen on from four seasons in the Central Division – split between the Chicago Blackhawks and Nashville Predators. He debuted as Chicago’s starter in the shortened 2020-21 season, recording 17 wins and a .909 save percentage across 37 games. It was an impressive start to the undrafted free agent’s career, though not strong enough to hang onto the starting role when Chicago signed Marc-Andre Fleury that summer. Lankinen has been a proud backup ever since, with his ice time dwindling to just 24 games with Nashville last season.
Vancouver could offer Lankinen his first true shot at a starting role in a while – though he’ll have to beat out postseason wonder Arturs Silovs. Silovs took over for Demko in last year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs with just nine career games to his name. He’d end up playing 10 more, posting a .898 save percentage and showing plenty of ability to win games when his team needed him. Silovs will be the favorite for the starting role entering camp, but Lankinen could offer quick relief should he struggle.
Other notes from around the league:
- Sergey Fedotov, a former scout for the Russian National Team, told Russia’s Sports.ru that Colorado Avalanche winger Valeri Nichushkin will be ready to return to the NHL in November. Nichushkin entered the NHL Player’s Assistance Program in May, missing out on the bulk of the postseason after a red-hot start – nine goals and 10 points in eight games. Nichushkin scored a collective 63 points in 62 games this season and will stand as a top option in Colorado’s lineup when he returns, though speculation will remain until the team formally announces his return.
- Pittsburgh Penguins defense prospect Emil Pieniniemi – the 91st pick in the 2023 NHL Draft – has signed with the OHL’s Kingston Frontenacs for the 2024-25 season. The move kicks off his career in North America after growing up through Kärpät’s junior system and playing 39 games with the Liiga club. He scored six points in those appearances but has already looked more impressive in international play this summer – posting four points in four games during Finland’s U20 friendlies. He’ll now look to maintain that scoring momentum into the much-quicker-paced CHL next season.
Penguins, Jets Swap Rutger McGroarty And Brayden Yager
1:45 PM: The Winnipeg Jets have confirmed the one-for-one swap.
11:00 AM: The Pittsburgh Penguins may have found their solution to who will play on a line with Sidney Crosby. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman is reporting the organization is close to acquiring forward prospect Rutger McGroarty from the Winnipeg Jets. A few moments later, Friedman additionally reported the Penguins would be sending prospect Brayden Yager back to Winnipeg.
McGroarty immediately becomes the best forward prospect in the Penguins organization with Yager’s exit and has a legitimate opportunity to crack the roster next season. Although nothing was purposefully made public, McGroarty reportedly sought a trade out of Winnipeg in late June for a more readily available opportunity at the NHL level.
Shortly after being acquired by the organization, the Penguins signed McGroarty to his entry-level contract meaning his time at the University of Michigan has concluded. The three-year deal will pay McGroarty a salary of $855K at the NHL level with a signing bonus of $50K and performance ‘A’ bonuses up to $500K each year of the deal.
It’s difficult to argue with McGroarty on being NHL-ready as he recently finished ninth in NCAA scoring during the 2023-24 season with 16 goals and 52 points in 36 games. He was also sensational during the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championships for Team USA as he scored five goals and nine points in seven tournament contests while captaining his team to a gold medal finish for the first time since 2021.
If the Penguins graduate McGroarty to the NHL for the 2024-25 campaign, he fills an obvious need on Crosby’s wing. Playing primarily against Big Ten opponents during his time in the NCAA, McGroarty developed an innate skill to read opposing defenses and show off his elite playmaking abilities in the offensive zone. He’s not satisfied without the puck either, as he is a relentless forechecker with a combination of skill and physical play.
His forechecking abilities make him an ideal candidate to put on a line with Crosby or Evgeni Malkin, as both players thrive with the puck on their sticks. McGroarty’s style of play should open up plenty of space for the two Pittsburgh legends but he also has a good enough shot to finish the play himself.
Yager was selected exactly one year after McGroarty with the 14th overall selection of the 2023 NHL Draft. He spent last season with the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors collecting 35 goals and 95 points in 57 games as the team’s assistant captain. He further cemented his legacy with the Moose Jaw program with an incredible playoff performance with 11 goals and 27 points in 20 games en route to becoming champions of the WHL.
Yager also had the opportunity to represent Team Canada at the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championships and scored five points in five games for the Canadians but unfortunately failed to medal. It appeared as if Yager may have an outside chance of making Pittsburgh’s roster for the 2024-25 campaign with the team signing him to his entry-level contract only a month ago. Now, Yager will attempt to crack Winnipeg’s roster in training camp.
The young Saskatoon native has inherent value as a right-handed shot center who also brings more defensive awareness to his game in comparison to McGroarty. If the organization is not content with giving Cole Perfetti minutes down the middle of the ice on the team’s second line, Yager provides a confident long-term answer at center behind Mark Scheifele.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Sign Kyle Jackson To AHL Contract
- The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins have brought in an ECHL standout from last season as they announced an AHL contract for forward Kyle Jackson earlier today. After wrapping up his OHL career with the North Bay Battalion in 2022-23, Jackson spent all last year with the Kansas City Mavericks of the ECHL which saw him collect 14 goals and 44 points in 53 games. Jackson’s final two years in the OHL were extremely productive as he scored 61 goals and 145 points in 112 games leading to him being selected by the Seattle Kraken in the seventh round of the 2022 NHL Draft although he would not sign.
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Pittsburgh Penguins Sign Nikolai Knyzhov To PTO
The Pittsburgh Penguins are allowing a former prospect of the San Jose Sharks to crack the roster as the team announced they have agreed to a professional tryout agreement with defenseman Nikolai Knyzhov. The news comes nearly two months after the Sharks placed Knyzhov on unconditional waivers to terminate his contract.
After a strong season in the Russian VHL with SKA-Neva St. Petersburg in 2018-19, the Sharks poached Knyzhov out of his home country as an undrafted free agent. Knyzhov transitioned nicely to North American hockey in the AHL the following season on the San Jose Barracuda scoring one goal and five points in 33 games while collecting a +4 rating and making his NHL debut. With the 2019-20 season marking the beginning of the downfall in San Jose, Knyzhov had the opportunity to become a full-time NHLer the following season.
He suited up in all 56 games for the Sharks in the COVID-shortened campaign. Knyzhov was not given a significant amount of responsibility out of the gate as he averaged 16:45 of ice time per game which allowed him to put up two goals and 10 points. He wasn’t a liability on the back end either as he earned a 48.5% CorsiFor% and a 90.6% on-ice save percentage which were good for fourth and third on the team, respectively.
Knyzhov’s strong rookie showcase was overshadowed by a groin injury that would keep him out of the 2021-22 season and a subsequent Achilles injury shelved his 2022-23 season until January. Although the Sharks committed to Knyzhov on the heels of a two-year, $2.5MM extension that season, he was never fully able to recover his value in the organization leading to a termination of his contract earlier this offseason.
The Russian defenseman has opted to continue his career in the NHL — this time on the other side of the United States. The Penguins’ top four is relatively set heading into the 2024-25 season (assuming no injuries), allowing Knyzhov to compete for a bottom-pairing or depth defenseman role. In training camp, Knyzhov will be battling it out with defenseman Ryan Shea and Sebastian Aho for one of these roles with one of the trio inevitably being sent down to start the year.
Metropolitan Notes: Kolosov, Bergeron, Vaisanen
Flyers goaltending prospect Alexei Kolosov‘s status for next season remains in the air. Reports over the last month indicated that Kolosov had informed the team that he wouldn’t report to their AHL affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, if assigned there in the fall. Those were later refuted by general manager Daniel Brière, who said the team had no confirmation about Kolosov’s desires for the 2024-25 campaign.
Early this morning, Daria Tuboltseva of Responsible Gambling reported that Kolosov had switched his representation, now being represented by Gold Star Hockey’s Dan Milstein. He was previously represented by CAA Sports’ J.P. Barry, who also represents Philly netminder Ivan Fedotov and likely Calder Trophy contender Matvei Michkov.
That was quickly followed up by a report from The Athletic’s Kevin Kurz that Kolosov’s new camp, led by Milstein, is expected to meet with the Flyers later this week. A source tells Kurz that Kolosov does indeed wish to return to his native Belarus on loan this season to play for Dinamo Minsk of the Kontinental Hockey League, where he’s played since 2020. The Flyers, who signed Kolosov to his entry-level contract in 2023, loaned Kolosov to Minsk last season, expecting him to play the final two years of his rookie deal in North America, either with the Phantoms or the Flyers.
Kurz says the plan hasn’t changed, and the Flyers aren’t interested in loaning Kolosov back to Minsk or terminating his contract. Philadelphia, whose NHL tandem is expected to consist of Fedotov and Samuel Ersson out of camp, could suspend Kolosov without pay if he refuses to report to Lehigh Valley upon assignment in the fall. Since the KHL now exists independently from the IIHF and the Russian Ice Hockey Federation, there would be no sanctions against them if Kolosov signed a contract with Minsk in violation of his deal with the Flyers.
More from the Metropolitan Division:
- The Blue Jackets have hired Chris Bergeron as an associate coach for the Cleveland Monsters, their AHL affiliate, the team announced today. He’s the replacement for Mike Haviland, who was promoted to the NHL bench earlier this month as an assistant under new head coach Dean Evason. An Ontario native, Bergeron sticks in the only state he’s ever known as a coach. The 53-year-old boasts a collegiate career spanning 24 years as an assistant with Miami University, a head coach with Bowling Green State University, and a second stint with Miami as head coach.
- Penguins defense prospect Joona Väisänen has committed to Western Michigan University, the school announced. Pittsburgh selected Väisänen, 20, as an overage pick in the seventh round of this year’s draft. The puck-moving Finn is coming off his first season in North America, posting 40 points and a team-leading +31 rating in 53 games with the Dubuque Fighting Saints of the United States Hockey League. The right-shot blue-liner will suit up for WMU as a freshman this fall.
Penguins Promote Jason Spezza, Amanda Kessel
The Penguins announced a baker’s dozen hockey operations staff additions and promotions Monday, most notably the promotions of Jason Spezza and Amanda Kessel from their previous roles. Spezza will now serve as the general manager of Pittsburgh’s AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, in addition to his existing assistant GM duties, while Kessel has been named their manager of minor league operations and the AGM of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton under Spezza.
Both are new faces to the managerial world but are embarking on their off-ice journeys after lengthy playing careers. Spezza has spent the last five years working with Penguins GM Kyle Dubas in some capacity, spending his final three seasons as a player with the Maple Leafs with Dubas as GM. He was named a special assistant to Dubas immediately upon retiring in 2022, and then he was followed to Pittsburgh in the 2023 offseason.
Last year was the 32-year-old Kessel’s first in an NHL front office, serving as a special assistant to Dubas in his first year with the Penguins. The younger sister of former Penguins forward Phil Kessel had a decorated playing career, winning four Women’s World Championships and one Olympic gold medal with Team USA over an 11-year run as a national team fixture. She also had a spectacular collegiate career with the University of Minnesota, where she ranks second in women’s program scoring history with 248 points in 136 games.
As GM of WBS, Spezza replaces Penguins director of amateur scouting Erik Heasley, who had held the role for parts of the last four seasons. Heasley will remain in his amateur scouting role, but will have a fair amount of his overall workload taken off his plate by Kessel and Spezza.
Evening Notes: Acciari, Hamonic, Simpson
Winger Noel Acciari has joined the list of Pittsburgh Penguins forwards on the trade market, as Dan Kingerski of Pittsburgh Hockey Now shares that he and Lars Eller are among the likeliest to be moved. Kingeski adds that Eller could be the preferred option for the Penguins, though moving either player will only serve to open room for recent acquisitions Cody Glass, Blake Lizotte, and Anthony Beauvillier.
Acciari is the younger of the two by three years but could still prove the cheaper acquisition. He’s played for four teams over the last four seasons, scoring just 38 points in 152 games across that span. His per-game scoring decreased in each season, ending with a measly seven points in 55 games with the Penguins this year. Acciari’s aggression and physicality have kept him in the lineup – though he was still subject to healthy scratches last year. Acciari is signed at a $2MM cap hit through the 2025-26 season – $450K cheaper than Eller, who expires next summer – a reasonable price for teams needing to bolster their bottom lines.
Other notes from around the league:
- Defenseman Travis Hamonic has fully recovered from the knee injury that cut his 2023-24 campaign in half shares Steve Warne of The Hockey News. Hamonic recorded just six points in 48 games last season, though he also continued a track record of lacking poise with 40 penalty minutes. Hamonic is in the final year of a two-year, $2.2MM deal signed with the Senators last summer – though Warne mentions that he’ll have to fight for a lineup spot as players like Max Guenette and Jacob Bernard-Docker find their footing in the NHL.
- Longtime Montreal Canadiens scout and former pro Reid Simpson has stepped down from his role to pursue another opportunity in the NHL, confirms Le Journal de Montréal. The details of Simpson’s new role, including where he’s headed, haven’t yet been revealed, though it will mark his first move as an NHL staffer, after spending the last eight seasons in Montreal. Simpson’s playing career guided him through stints with nine NHL teams – including Philadelphia, Montreal, Nashville, and Pittsburgh. He carried those talents to Vityaz Chekhov of Russia’s top league in 2005, recording a daunting 531 penalty minutes across 77 games and two seasons with the team. Simpson is poised for new opportunity as an NHL staffer, now well past his career as a bruiser and his inaugural stint with the Canadiens.
Morning Notes: Kadri, Grebyonkin, Pickering
The Jets’ wish list at last season’s trade deadline had second-line center written atop it, likely in all caps. Looking at the state of their roster now, a 2C will likely be a deadline priority again after they failed to keep 2024’s stopgap solution, Sean Monahan, from reaching unrestricted free agency. In an early look at potential mid-season trade candidates to fill the void, Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Free Press profiles Flames pivot Nazem Kadri as a longer-term solution to provide stability down the middle behind Mark Scheifele.
Kadri, who turns 34 in October, is on the block to some degree. A report from David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period in June indicated Calgary general manager Craig Conroy was at least exploring the market for the center, who still has five years left on his contract at a $7MM cap hit.
It’s a hefty price tag, but it’s one Kadri lived up to last season after a mediocre first campaign in Alberta the year before. He took over as the Flames’ top center and arguably their top forward overall, leading them in assists (46), points (75) and shots on goal (277). It was one of the best seasons of his career, save for the 87-point season with the Avalanche in 2021-22 that landed him his payday from the Flames on the free agent market the following summer.
That price tag, even with some degree of salary retention by the Flames, likely limits the Jets from pouncing this offseason. They do have $5.78MM in projected cap space, per PuckPedia, but a chunk of that is set aside for a new deal for RFA forward Cole Perfetti, who will be one of a few internal options at second-line center to start this season. A move would be easier to execute after they’ve had a few months during the season to accumulate cap space.
Wiebe writes that Winnipeg has had interest in Kadri before, dating back to when he was traded from the Maple Leafs to Colorado in 2019. Any move hinges on the interest being mutual, given he’s got a no-movement clause through 2025-26.
Other tidbits from around the league to close out the week:
- Maple Leafs prospect Nikita Grebyonkin is still recovering from a lower-body injury as he prepares for his first training camp with the club, he tells Daria Tuboltseva of Responsible Gambling. Grebyonkin, 21, spent last season with Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the Kontinental Hockey League and played through the injury during their playoff run, which took them to the summit of Russian hockey with the franchise’s third Gagarin Cup win. The 2022 fifth-round pick signed his entry-level contract following the conclusion of the KHL final and has been in the Toronto area since. The 6’2″, 192-lb winger will be a dark horse to crack the Maple Leafs’ opening night roster after finishing second on Magnitogorsk in scoring last year with 41 points in 67 games.
- Penguins 2022 first-rounder Owen Pickering is hoping to get a shot with the team out of camp ahead of his first full professional season, relays Wes Crosby of NHL.com. The towering 6’5″ 20-year-old, who says he’s put on weight this summer and is up to 200 lbs, faces an uphill battle to compete with depth players like Sebastian Aho, Ryan Shea, and Jack St. Ivany for roster spots. Pickering, a promising two-way threat, captained the Western Hockey League’s Swift Current Broncos last season and led their blue line with seven goals, 39 assists and 46 points in 59 games. He’s been named to the league’s Central Division First All-Star Team in back-to-back years.
Cody Glass Hoping To Improve His Speed This Summer
- Newly acquired Pittsburgh Penguins forward Cody Glass entered this summer to work on his speed during his offseason training (as per Nick Kieser of the Nashville Predators radio network). Glass knew that he wasn’t good enough last season for Nashville and was feeling the pressure heading into the summer as he will be a restricted free agent on July 1st, 2025. If Glass can improve his speed next season, it could be a good fit with the Penguins, as Pittsburgh hasn’t had much speed in their bottom six since they won back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017. Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan loves to use speed and deploy an aggressive forecheck, and if Glass can work on that part of his game, he could find himself in the top nine next year.
Nedeljkovic Excited To Be Back With Jarry
MacKinnon began his executive career in 2000-01 for the Nashville Predators as the director of scouting before transitioning to the position of pro scout until the 2005-06 season. He would spend one year as a pro scout for the Pittsburgh Penguins before becoming the team’s director of professional scouting and then director of player personnel until 2015-16. Since his first year with the Penguins organization in 2006-07, MacKinnon has followed Devils’ GM Tom Fitzgerald the rest of the way.
He has spent the last four years as AGM in New Jersey with most of his responsibilities focused around the organization’s AHL affiliate, the Utica Comets. Coupled with this report, and MacKinnon being one of the finalists for the Penguins’ GM vacancy a year ago, it appears that MacKinnon is looking to detach himself from Fitzgerald and craft his own team.
- Whatever controversy surrounds the crease for the Penguins this year won’t be generated by either of the respective netminders. After agreeing to a two-year, $5MM extension earlier this summer, Alex Nedeljkovic spoke to local media and said, “[Jarry] was one of the first ones to text me when I re-signed, to say congrats and welcome back and, ‘Looking forward to getting back at it together‘”. Nedeljkovic did not indicate if he had his eyes set on the starting job in Pittsburgh. Nevertheless, he’s earned an opportunity for a goaltending battle out of camp with Tristan Jarry after nearly willing the Penguins into the playoffs last year with an 8-1-2 record down the stretch and a .902 save percentage.