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Alex Chiasson

Bruins Notes: Top Six, Chiasson, Frederic, Assistant Coach Vacancy

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Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery sat down for an interview with Steve Conroy of The Boston Herald that was published early this morning, being quite forthcoming about quite a few subjects of note for Bruins fans. Perhaps most impactful, at least in the short term, was that Montgomery has essentially decided what the team’s first and second forward lines will look like entering the season.

It’s no easy task – the team’s loss of Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci has been their biggest story of the offseason, along with other solid complementary scorers such as last year’s trade deadline acquisition, Tyler Bertuzzi. Montgomery believes “everything else is going to be a work in progress” as training camp plays out, but he expects to spread out the team’s two remaining stars, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak, on different lines. He plans on keeping the duo of Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha together, a partnership that helped elevate the 26-year-old Zacha to a career-high 21 goals and 57 points last season. They’ll likely be flanked by veteran free agent signing James van Riemsdyk on the left wing. Marchand, on the other hand, will lead the team’s de facto second line with Charlie Coyle at center and Jake DeBrusk at right wing.

Other thoughts on the Bruins from Montgomery:

  • Alex Chiasson may be a member of the Bruins on a tryout basis only, but it seems Montgomery has already penciled in the 32-year-old as a net-front presence on the team’s second power-play unit. “I thought Detroit’s power play became extremely tough to check the last two times we played them when he was at the net front,” Montgomery told Conroy. “So there’s a niche that he could possibly grab a hold of for our team.” Chiasson landed an NHL contract with Detroit at last season’s trade deadline after spending the year on an AHL contract with their affiliate in Grand Rapids. He recorded six goals and nine points in 20 games down the stretch of the regular season, with seven of those nine points coming on the power play.
  • Montgomery also doesn’t anticipate moving forward Trent Frederic to center as some anticipated, instead keeping him on the right wing. He believes Frederic’s two-way game is most effective on the wing, and they’ll need him to contribute as much as he can in a bottom-six secondary role. That means free agent signing Morgan Geekie could be in line to assume the team’s third-line center role behind Zacha and Coyle after averaging just 10:27 per game for the Seattle Kraken last season.
  • Lastly, Montgomery confirmed the team plans to replace former assistant coach John Gruden before the season starts, although in a different role. Gruden left after just one season with the Bruins to serve as head coach for the AHL’s Toronto Marlies next season. Gruden’s previous responsibilities, managing the defense and the penalty kill, will be delegated to the Bruins’ remaining two assistants, Chris Kelly and Joe Sacco. Montgomery says the team’s hire to replace Gruden will be more development-focused and won’t be on the bench during games.

Atlantic Notes: Nylander, Watson, Chiasson

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While the Maple Leafs were able to get an extension done with Auston Matthews earlier this week, it doesn’t appear as if much progress has been made on a new deal with pending UFA William Nylander.  Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun relays that the two sides are at least $1MM apart per year on a new agreement.  Toronto is hoping to sign the 27-year-old around the $9MM mark while his camp is seeking something starting with a ten.  Nylander is coming off a career year that saw him put up 87 points in 82 games, his second straight campaign of at least 80 points.  If Nylander doesn’t sign now and goes and has another 80-point showing, he should be well-positioned to have someone meet his asking price on the open market next summer.

More from the Atlantic:

  • Earlier this week, veteran winger Austin Watson agreed to a tryout deal with Tampa Bay but it was a bit surprising that it came to that point. Senators play-by-play voice Dean Brown recently reported (Twitter link) that his former team in Ottawa offered him a one-year contract earlier in free agency but that the 31-year-old was hoping to land a three-year agreement.  Clearly, that didn’t come to fruition and resulted in very limited interest on the open market.  That said, Watson should have a good chance to earn a spot with the Lightning with several key checkers leaving the organization this summer.  However, with their salary cap situation, his deal, should he land one, is almost certain to be at or close to the minimum salary of $775K.
  • Winger Alex Chiasson told Kevin Paul Dupont of The Boston Globe that he received a “fair number” of PTO offers around the NHL this summer. In the end, he chose the Bruins based on his perceiving an opportunity to land a regular roster spot along with a desire to play for a contender.  This will be Chiasson’s fifth training camp on a PTO.  He landed an NHL deal with the first three while the fourth (with Arizona last season) was unsuccessful.

Peter Holland Signs PTO With Colorado Avalanche

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Peter Baugh of The Athletic is reporting that former Toronto Maple Leafs forward Peter Holland is attempting to make a comeback with the Colorado Avalanche. Baugh reports that Holland will be trying to return to the NHL after not playing hockey anywhere last season.

Holland last played professionally in the Swedish Hockey League for Djurgardens IF. He struggled offensively, posting just six assists as he cut his season short and played in just 15 games.

Holland hasn’t dressed in an NHL game since 2017-18 when he was a member of the New York Rangers. He struggled mightily that season as he posted just a goal and three assists in 23 games while playing in a bottom-six role. He then spent time in the AHL and Sweden before eventually landing in the KHL where he played for two seasons as a member of Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg.

Holland will be a long shot to make a very talented Avalanche team. He will be fighting an uphill battle after sitting out for a season and spending a half-decade outside of the NHL. But he is a talented player, while he never reached the level scouts thought he would when he was selected 15th overall by the Anaheim Ducks in the 2009 NHL entry draft, he did put up several solid seasons as a member of the Maple Leafs.

Holland will join the likes of Nathan Beaulieu (Hurricanes), Alex Chiasson (Bruins), and Brandon Sutter (Oilers) who are all hoping to convert PTOs into NHL contracts for next season.

Boston Bruins Sign Alex Chiasson To PTO

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The Boston Bruins have signed forward Alex Chiasson to a professional tryout agreement, per a team announcement. Chiasson will attend the Bruins’ training camp in hopes of earning an NHL deal in Boston or elsewhere and extending his career.

The 11-year NHL veteran has become somewhat of a cult legend for converting on PTOs. This is now the fifth one of his career and his third straight one – although last season’s with the Arizona Coyotes did not result in a contract. That led to him sitting out for the beginning of the 2022-23 campaign before signing an AHL pact with the Grand Rapids Griffins. After scoring 20 points in 29 games there, he signed a one-year, $750K deal at the trade deadline with the Detroit Red Wings to aid in their playoff push. Back in the NHL, Chiasson still looked like he deserved a spot in the lineup with six goals and nine points in 20 games.

Before that, Chiasson had a strong 2021-22 season with the Vancouver Canucks, finishing eighth on the team in goals with 13 in 67 games. That season came after a three-year stint with the Edmonton Oilers, during which he scored a career-high 22 goals and 38 points in 73 games during the 2018-19 campaign. Overall, the 32-year-old now has over 650 games of NHL experience across stints with seven teams, including a Stanley Cup win in a depth role with the Washington Capitals in 2018.

Chiasson will look to increase that figure to eight and convert on yet another PTO in Boston. The team could certainly use a cheap goal-scoring option for their bottom six, and while he doesn’t offer much in terms of youth, he does offer significantly more scoring upside than someone like A.J. Greer and could give the team more options to construct their third and fourth lines as well as the second power-play unit.

Interestingly, Bruins independent reporter Joe Haggerty notes this is a sort of full-circle move for the Bruins. They’d aggressively pursued Chiasson when he was a member of the Dallas Stars back in 2013 when he had just seven NHL games under his belt, hoping to get him as part of the massive Tyler Seguin trade that eventually transpired between the two parties.

Atlantic Notes: Tkachuk, Veleno, Chiasson

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In a recent appearance on Sportsnet 590 (audio link), Panthers winger Matthew Tkachuk indicated that he is almost back to normal as he works his way back from a fractured sternum sustained during the playoffs.  At this point, he’s expected to be fully ready for training camp.  Tkachuk had a dominant first season in Florida, collecting 40 goals and 69 assists in 79 games, good for seventh in NHL scoring.  He followed that up with 24 points in 20 playoff contests, leading all Eastern Conference players in that department.

More from the Atlantic:

  • One of the items still on Detroit’s to-do list this summer is re-signing center Joe Veleno. Max Bultman of The Athletic suggests (subscription link) that Ducks middleman Isac Lundestrom, a fellow 2018 first-rounder might be a good comparable.  Last summer, Lundestrom inked a two-year, $3.6MM deal coming off a similar platform year and fairly close career numbers.  Veleno is coming off a nine-goal, 20-point campaign so $1.8MM might be a bit on the high side but a bridge deal in that range would make sense for both sides.
  • Still with Detroit, MLive’s Ansar Khan notes that the Red Wings expressed interest in re-signing Alex Chiasson at the beginning of free agency but were only offering a two-way deal at that time. The 32-year-old spent a good portion of last season on a tryout deal with AHL Grand Rapids and was productive, notching 20 points in 29 games.  That got his contract converted to an NHL agreement down the stretch where he picked up six goals and three assists in 20 contests.  Chiasson, a veteran of 651 NHL games, is no stranger to tryout routes and he may have to go that away again in the fall if he wants a shot at securing a one-way NHL agreement.

East Notes: Zucker, Red Wings, Maple Leafs

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Jason Zucker had a strong showing for the Penguins this past season, notching 27 goals and 21 assists while, perhaps most importantly, staying healthy after a pair of injury-plagued years.  Despite that, Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette suggests that the prudent move for Pittsburgh would be to not bring the pending unrestricted free agent back for next season.  The 31-year-old is likely to be seeking a contract similar to the $5MM AAV he has played on the last five years and with the team needing to eventually transition toward becoming a younger and quicker team, locking up another player well into their thirties won’t exactly accomplish that objective.  Not bringing Zucker back would also give Kyle Dubas more flexibility to work with this summer, albeit with an extra opening of significance on his roster.

Elsewhere in the East:

  • It appears that the Red Wings won’t bring back any of their pending unrestricted free agents, suggests Bob Duff of Detroit Hockey Now. Duff adds that Detroit is believed to have made a one-year offer to center Pius Suter who declined in the hopes of securing a multi-year commitment while winger Alex Chiasson has passed on a two-way offer, hoping to land a one-way deal on the open market this summer.  Goalie Alex Nedeljkovic and winger Adam Erne are among the other players set to hit the open market in a couple of weeks.
  • It’s extremely unlikely that the Maple Leafs bring back forward Alexander Kerfoot or defenseman Justin Holl, reports Postmedia’s Lance Hornby. Kerfoot has been a capable secondary producer over his four seasons in Toronto but cap space will be at a premium and they wouldn’t be able to offer him the $3.5MM he made on his set-to-expire contract.  As for Holl, he has shown himself to be a serviceable role player on the back end but it appears that Toronto is trying to re-sign Luke Schenn to fill that spot, pushing the 31-year-out out of a place in the lineup.  Both players will hit the open market two Saturdays from today.

Detroit Red Wings Sign Alex Chiasson

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The Detroit Red Wings may not have landed James van Riemsdyk, but they did add a forward today. Alex Chiasson has signed a one-year, one-way, prorated $750K contract for the rest of this season. Chiasson had been playing with the Grand Rapids Griffins on an AHL contract.

Since he wasn’t on waivers today, it appears as though Chiasson is staying with Detroit for the time being. The 32-year-old forward has been a solid contributor for the Griffins, with 20 points in 29 games, and has a long history of providing depth scoring at the NHL level. In a 631-game career, the 6’4″ forward has 224 points, including 13 goals just last season for the Vancouver Canucks.

While he won’t be dragging the Red Wings to the playoffs, the team needed some forwards to fill the spots vacated by Tyler Bertuzzi, Jakub Vrana, and Oskar Sundqvist over the last few days. Chiasson is a reliable veteran who has put in his time in the minor leagues and can now get some extra pay down the stretch. He’ll also get a chance to showcase himself for a deal next season.

At just 32, this was the first time Chiasson had played in the AHL since 2013. If he can play well for the Red Wings whenever he gets the chance, perhaps another NHL contract is still waiting for him in the summer.

Red Wings Sign Alex Chiasson To AHL Tryout

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Veteran winger Alex Chiasson is no stranger to going through tryouts to get a contract.  It’s a process he has gone through a couple of times in the NHL already, sometimes successful, others unsuccessful.  Now, he’ll attempt to convert a tryout in the minors into a full contract as AHL Grand Rapids, the affiliate of the Red Wings, announced that they’ve signed the 32-year-old to a PTO agreement.

Chiasson played with Vancouver last season after spending the previous three years with Edmonton.  He had to go through training camp on a tryout but received a full deal and gave the Canucks a reasonable return on their investment as he notched 13 goals and nine assists in 67 games while being particularly strong on the power play with six of his goals (plus four helpers) coming with the man advantage.  However, he wasn’t able to secure a guaranteed deal with anyone over the summer and went to training camp with Arizona on a PTO, one that proved unsuccessful.

Now, he’ll look to catch on with Detroit the long way, starting out in the minors and hoping for a promotion from there.  Chiasson is a veteran of 631 career NHL contests over parts of 10 seasons and with the Red Wings currently having four forwards on injured reserve at the moment, there are certainly spots that could be available both with them and with the Griffins.  It’s a nice no-risk pickup for Detroit who should get some help in the minors at a minimum and, if all goes well, a possible recall option in the coming weeks.

Coyotes, Blue Jackets Sign Players To PTOs

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7:52 PM: The Coyotes have confirmed Chiasson’s invitation while also noting that goaltender Christopher Gibson has also inked a PTO.  The 29-year-old spent last season with AHL Charlotte, posting a 2.80 GAA and a .907 SV% in 14 games.  Gibson has 16 career NHL appearances between the Islanders and Lightning.

5:33 PM: Per CapFriendly, the Arizona Coyotes have signed forward Alex Chiasson to a PTO, while the Columbus Blue Jackets have signed forward Victor Rask and defenseman Ben Harpur to PTOs.

Chiasson, now 31, has a legit shot at not only getting a contract, but playing a top-nine role if things go well. With far more offensive upside than players currently slated to play top-nine roles in Arizona like Nick Ritchie and Christian Fischer, he could get a decent amount of playing time on the power play as well and provide solid value on a cheap contract for Arizona. Playing just 11:37 per game last season with the Vancouver Canucks, Chiasson scored 13 goals in 67 games, six of which came on the power play. He’s not exactly an impact player at both ends of the ice, but he’s been a solid depth scoring option now for multiple seasons. With Arizona simply needing more NHL players in their lineup, signing Chiasson should be a no-brainer.

The opposite is true for the Blue Jackets, who have a bit of a logjam at the bottom of both their forward and defense depth charts. Harpur would be a solid addition to the top-four in AHL Cleveland if he does get a deal, but Rask will have much more competition for a roster spot amongst Columbus’ young forwards. With players like Kirill Marchenko, Yegor Chinakhov, Kent Johnson, and others poised to be full-time NHLers next season, Rask will really need to have a strong camp in order to earn a deal (if he wants an NHL role, that is).

Free Agent Profile: Alex Chiasson

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A veteran of 631 NHL games spread over parts of 10 seasons, free agent forward Alex Chiasson once again finds himself in familiar territory: approaching training camp without a contract, after another solid NHL season. The veteran has signed three PTO’s thus far in his career, each of them resulting in an NHL contract, and all signs point to this offseason not being much of a change of pace. Chiasson spent last season as a member of the Vancouver Canucks, his first with the team, where he scored 13 goals to go with nine assists over 67 games, The winger’s 2021-22 doesn’t exactly match him up alongside the games greats, but it did represent another season of solid bottom-six play for a physical, two-way player, something he has brought to every team in his career thus far.

A second-round pick of the Dallas Stars in 2009, Chiasson was a highly-regarded prospect when he spent three years at Boston University prior to turning pro at the end of 2011-12. The younger Chiasson wouldn’t wait too long to make his NHL debut either, dressing in seven games for Dallas during the 2012-13 season, registering an impressive six goals in the short sample. Since debuting with the Stars, Chiasson has played for six different franchises, including Dallas, the Ottawa Senators, Calgary Flames, Washington Capitals, Edmonton Oilers and most recently Vancouver.

Despite the transition from team to team, Chiasson has made a name for himself as a reliable role-player everywhere he has gone, bringing a physical element while also chipping in on the penalty kill, and even contributing somewhere between 10 and 15 goals per season. Perhaps his most impressive season came not too long ago, when he scored a career-high 22 goals along with 16 assists for 38 points over 73 games as a member of the Edmonton Oilers in 2018-19. Turning 32 years of age just prior to opening night, it’s unlikely to expect Chiasson to take any step further with his game or even repeat the success he saw back in Edmonton, but he has been a model of consistency and hard work, two valuable assets to just about any team in the league. He’s likely headed for yet another PTO, but the chances of seeing him back in the NHL for the 2022-23 season still seem high given his track record.

Stats:

2021-22: 67 GP, 13-9-22, +4 rating, 24 PIMs, 98 shots, 56.3 CF%, 11:37 ATOI

Career: 631 GP, 114-110-224, -36 rating, 353 PIMs, 896 shots 52.6 CF%, 13:37 ATOI

Potential Suitors:

For his career, Chiasson seems to have a habit of latching on with relatively good teams, perhaps due to luck, but perhaps not. This past season saw the veteran’s Vancouver team struggle early, but make a tremendous push for a playoff position, just barely missing out. In the two seasons prior, his Edmonton Oilers made the playoffs, missing with 79 points in 2018-19, his career-year. Arguably the highlight of his career though was a Stanley Cup championship with the Washington Capitals in 2017-18. One would think, whether it’s a happy trend, Chiasson’s personal choice and analysis, or something in particular that he himself brings to the table, that whatever team he winds up with will at least be a strong contender for a playoff position.

But, over a month into free agency and not a star talent, at 32 years of age, what contender is in a position to sign Chiasson? The overwhelming majority of competitive teams not only have their rosters in place, but are so close, if not over the salary cap ceiling that even a league-minimum one-way contract would be impossible to fit in.

Two plausible options that come to mind would be the New York Islanders and Minnesota Wild. Although all the winger slots seem to be filled on Long Island, the team that has struggled to score goals could stand to add a dozen or so more as a depth option, and Chiasson’s style of play is in keeping with the preferences of Islanders’ GM Lou Lamoriello. Minnesota on the other hand is known to be looking to add another forward and while Chiasson of course doesn’t replace star winger Kevin Fiala, adding some punch to Minnesota’s bottom-six, especially after the departure of Nicolas Deslauriers, would make sense.

Another option for the Quebec native could be to head overseas. He had been connected to opportunities over in Switzerland back in late May, however his agent, Pat Morris, was sure to clarify that his client was looking for NHL opportunities, and was especially hoping for an opportunity to stay in Vancouver. But, Canucks GM Jim Rutherford indicated that they would not be making a decision on Chiasson until after their free agency wrapped up. Now that things are mostly quiet on the free agency front, especially with Vancouver, a return for Chiasson doesn’t look too good. However, not many PTO’s have been signed, and if that is indeed the route for the forward, then one might see his opportunities still upcoming.

Projected Contract:

Considering his track record both with on-ice production and previous deals, as well as where the offseason currently stands, Chiasson is almost certainly headed for another PTO. This option may be concerning for some players, and it may not be the most enjoyable position for Chiasson either, but he’s been here before and earned his keep when he has. Chiasson managed to sign an NHL contract after all three of those PTO’s, and what’s more is after the first, he went on to win a Stanley Cup, after his second, he was rewarded with a two-year, $4.3MM deal, and after his most recent, he found a place he appeared to feel very good about returning to in that of Vancouver

Whether he signs a PTO, then a contract, or receives a contract outright, it wouldn’t appear Chiasson will make any more than the league-minimum $750K salary for 2022-23 either. Not a perfect scenario, and far from the career-high $2.15MM salary he had with Edmonton from 2019-2021, an NHL contract would give Chiasson another year in the league and another chance at an early-in-free-agency deal like he signed with the Oilers in 2019.

 

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