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2019 NHL Draft Lottery Results

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The ping pong balls have been drawn and the first 15 picks of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft are set. The league conducted its annual Draft Lottery tonight and the big winners were the New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers, and Chicago Blackhawks. The Devils, with an 11.5% chance of winning the No. 1 overall selection, did just that and astoundingly will have their pick of the class for the second time in three years. New Jersey won the draft lottery in 2017 and selected Nico Hischier and will have the chance to add another elite talent this year. This continues the almost comical lottery luck that has followed Taylor Hall in his career, moving from Edmonton to New Jersey. The Rangers held a 7.8% chance of moving up to the second overall pick and in this specific draft class were very lucky as well, as their consolation prize will be the second of two elite players at the top of the draft board. This will also be the first time in the modern draft era that New York selects within the first three picks. The Blackhawks may have a more difficult choice facing them at No. 3, but aren’t complaining after jumping from No. 12 into the top three, a move that had just a 3% chance of happening. Chicago has been a dynastic franchise this decade and will look to return to greatness by adding one of the draft’s top talents. Altogether, these three teams all moving up in this order was a result that had just a 0.027% chance of occurring.

Following the lottery results, the odds for which were set by the final league standings for non-playoff teams, the first half of the first round will play out as follows:

  1. New Jersey Devils
  2. New York Rangers
  3. Chicago Blackhawks
  4. Colorado Avalanche (from Ottawa Senators)
  5. Los Angeles Kings
  6. Detroit Red Wings
  7. Buffalo Sabres
  8. Edmonton Oilers
  9. Anaheim Ducks
  10. Vancouver Canucks
  11. Philadelphia Flyers
  12. Minnesota Wild
  13. Florida Panthers
  14. Arizona Coyotes
  15. Montreal Canadiens

The biggest loser of the night has to be the Colorado Avalanche, who fall out of the top three spots despite having a 49.4% chance of winning at least one of the those picks. This is the second time in just three years that Colorado has entered the lottery with the best odds at No. 1, only see three teams win the lottery and pass them up. In 2017, it was again the Devils who stole their top pick. After swindling the Ottawa Senators, it seemed the Avs were destined to cash in, but instead end up with the worst-case scenario. The Los Angeles Kings also have to be unhappy with the results, as the team slides from their second-to-last finish to the fifth overall pick. The Kings desperately could have used an injection of elite young talent next season and may not end up with an immediate contributor at No. 5. While they didn’t have the best of odds, the Vancouver Canucks are undoubtedly still disappointed in missing out on an opportunity to pair Jack Hughes with older brother Quinn Hughes, the team’s first-round pick in 2018 who already made a splash in his first few pro games down the stretch, or to at least make a top-three selection in front of the home crowd.

The younger Hughes, who was actually in attendance at tonight’s lottery event, has of course long been considered the likely top pick this spring and should start getting used to the idea of playing in New Jersey. The U.S. National Team center is considered a high-end play-maker already and turned down a scholarship to the University of Michigan earlier this season, knowing that he could be an impact player immediately in the NHL. As for the fit with the Devils, Hischier has already climbed atop the depth chart at center, but New Jersey will soon be able to boast amazing youth and depth down the middle with the addition of Hughes. Finnish winger Kaapo Kakko has pressured Hughes to be the top pick this year, but many still see him as a close second. The Rangers won’t mind, as Kakko is an extraordinary offensive talent who will score goals and throw his body around right away in the NHL. Kakko could become a major star in the New York market with his flashy goal-scoring ability and will certainly have the opportunity to play a major role right away. At third overall, there are many options for the Blackhawks, but the early expectation based on organizational depth would be a skilled forward like Vasili Podkolzin or Alex Turcotte. Chicago already has several promising young defensemen in the pipeline and can now add an elite forward to their growing young core of Alex DeBrincat, Dylan Strome, and Brendan Perlini. Now relegated to the No. 4 pick, the Avalanche will still undoubtedly get a strong player, just as they did two years ago with Cale Makar, if not an immediate contributor in the top remaining prospect on their board. A player like big Canadian center Dylan Cozens would fit in nicely with what Colorado is building.

Now that the order is set, the next step is the draft itself. Everyone may have their projections, but only the day of will reveal the actual futures of these teams and players. This year’s draft is set to take place in Vancouver beginning on June 21st, a day that New Jersey, New York, and Chicago are now much more excited for. Stay tuned.

Coyotes Sign Nick Schmaltz To Seven-Year Extension

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Nick Schmaltz only played in 17 games for the Arizona Coyotes this season, following a November trade from the Chicago Blackhawks and prior to a season-ending lower-body injury. However, the 14 points he recorded in those 17 games certainly made an impression on the ’Yotes front office. The team has signed the young center to a long-term extension, reports The Athletic’s Craig Morgan. The Coyotes have confirmed the signing.  Morgan adds that the breakdown of the deal, which carries a $5.85MM AAV and is considerably backloaded, is as follows:

2019-20: $2.5MM base salary, $500K signing bonus
2020-21: $3MM base salary
2021-22: $5MM base salary, $1MM signing bonus
2022-23: $4.5MM base salary
2023-24: $7.5MM base salary
2024-25: $6.95MM base salary, $1.5MM signing bonus
2025-26: $7MM base salary, $1.5MM signing bonus

The deal also carries a ten-team no-trade clause in the final three years.

Schmaltz, 23, has three years of NHL experience to his credit already, but was working on a breakout campaign after the move to Arizona. A first-round pick of the Blackhawks in 2014 out of the U.S. National Team Development Program, Schmaltz starred for the University of North Dakota for two years before turning pro. His rookie year was split between the NHL and AHL, but he still manged to record 28 points in 61 games. However, it was his sophomore season when Schmaltz began turning heads. He compiled 52 points in 78 games for Chicago, playing much of the season as the team’s second-line center. Yet, the team still decided to move on from Schmaltz even after another strong start this season, swapping him for young Coyotes forwards Dylan Strome and Brendan Perlini. The Blackhawks likely have no regrets about the deal, but Arizona is happy to have a new core forward, as evidenced by the extension. Schmaltz had 25 points in 40 games prior to his injury, but if he had continued his scoring pace after landing in the desert, Schmaltz would have been a 60-point player this season.

The Coyotes certainly hope that the young pivot can rebound from his injury and get back to that scoring trajectory next season. Arizona is pushing for a playoff spot this season, but is still a ways away from being a true contender. Schmaltz’ continued development will play a major role in the team’s ongoing pursuit of consistent success. A poised play-maker, Schmaltz has the potential to grow into the team’s No. 1 center and power play quarterback. That is certainly the expectation, as the extension makes Schmaltz the team’s third-highest paid player heading into next season. GM John Chayka said of Schmaltz that “Nick is a highly skilled, creative, young center with extremely high upside. Getting Nick signed to a long-term extension is another positive step towards building a sustainable contender here in the Valley.” Even if Schmaltz never exceeds the 50-60 point range, this is still a good signing for the Coyotes, who needed another trusted forward and now have one for the next seven years in the intelligent and confident center. The only concern with the term will be if nagging injuries slow Schmaltz down over the course of the contract.

For his part, Schmaltz is not worried about injuries and is only looking forward to the years ahead of him in Arizona. The team press release quoted Schmaltz as saying “I’m very excited to sign a long-term contract with the Coyotes. We have a great core of young, talented players in Arizona and I’m looking forward to coming back healthy next season and contributing for many years to come. We have a very bright future here and I’m thrilled to be a part of it.” That is exactly what ’Yotes fans want to hear from a player that is now in for the long-haul, expected to be a star and leader for years to come.

Snapshots: Three Stars, Malkin, Sandin

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The NHL has released their three stars for last week, and another New York Islanders goaltender has taken the top spot. After Robin Lehner was honored earlier this season, Thomas Greiss has now been given the top spot after stopping 116 of 121 shots to go 3-1 last week. The 33-year old Greiss is having the best season of his career under Barry Trotz’ disciplined system, and now has a .928 save percentage through 40 appearances.

While Connor McDavid appearing in the third spot won’t surprise many, Brendan Perlini’s name in second certainly will. The former Arizona Coyotes forward struggled upon joining the Chicago Blackhawks this season, but has found the back of the net in three consecutive games and five of his last seven. That included a hat trick last week against his former club, and he now sits at 13 goals on the season.

  • The Pittsburgh Penguins will be without one of their top players after Evgeni Malkin was listed as “week-to-week” last night by head coach Mike Sullivan. Somewhat quietly, Malkin is having another outstanding season with 71 points through his first 66 games and is a huge part of the Pittsburgh attack. The team will have to rely on their other superstars for the time being and hope the big Russian center can get healthy in time for the playoffs.
  • While the Toronto Maple Leafs have struggled to keep the puck out of their net since Jake Gardiner and Travis Dermott suffered injuries (and perhaps even before that), they won’t rush top defensive prospect Rasmus Sandin to the NHL. Sandin has been on fire recently for the Toronto Marlies and now has 23 points through 36 games as a teenager, but head coach Mike Babcock reiterated the organization’s mantra to over-ripen prospects at the minor league level before bringing them up. Babcock pointed to Kasperi Kapanen and Andreas Johnsson as examples of how the Maple Leafs development program has worked, and noted that there are still “good players” on the NHL roster. Sandin was the 29th overall pick last June and turned 19 earlier this month.

Central Notes: Crawford, Perlini, Ehlers, Perron, Bozak

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The Chicago Blackhawks got a positive piece of news Saturday when injured goaltender Corey Crawford was out on the ice before practice since suffering another concussion on Dec. 16, according to NBC Sports’ Charlie Roumeliotis. The veteran goaltender worked with goaltending coach Jimmy Waite along with both Collin Delia and Cam Ward. However, despite the first sign that Crawford is working his way back, Chicago head coach Jeremy Colliton said it doesn’t mean much yet.

“Positive that he was out there, but I’m not sure it means a ton,” Colliton said. “Hopefully he continues to feel better.”

There are still a number of hurdles for Crawford to pass before there is even talk of a return. Regardless, it’s a positive development and considering it took Crawford nearly six months to return to action after his previous concussion, the fact that it’s only been a month is a good sign.

  • Sticking in Chicago, the Blackhawks announced forward Brendan Perlini missed practice today due to the fact that he’s in concussion protocol. The young forward was injured on Thursday against the New York Rangers and didn’t play in the final period. The 22-year-old Perlini hasn’t made a huge impact so far in Chicago as he has just three goals and four points in 23 games and is averaging less than 10 minutes of ATOI.
  • Winnipeg Jets’ head coach Paul Maurice said forward Nikolaj Ehlers won’t return for another week or so, suggesting that the scoring forward could return after the all-star break, according to Winnipeg Sun’s Ted Wyman. Ehlers suffered an upper-body injury on Jan. 4 and was expected to miss four to six weeks.
  • The St. Louis Blues announced they will be without David Perron Saturday with an upper-body injury. He’s currently listed as day-to-day. That’s a big loss as the veteran forward is on a 13-game point streak as he has he has six goals and 10 assists over that span. Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch also noted the team placed Zach Sanford on injured reserve.
  • St. Louis Blues center Tyler Bozak, who has been out of the lineup since Jan. 5 with a concussion, said he’s starting to feel better and hopes to get into the lineup sometime before the all-star break, according to The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford. Bozak has six goals and 12 assists in 39 games this season.

Central Notes: Grubauer, Perlini, Brossoit

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The Colorado Avalanche went out of its way to bring in goaltender Philipp Grubauer via trade during the offseason to be their heir apparent in goal, but with Semyon Varlamov playing well throughout this season, Grubauer hasn’t had much of a chance to claim that role. However, that might be changing.

With the team having lost five of their last seven games and Varlamov struggling, the team got a brilliant performance from Grubauer on Tuesday as he saved 35 shots in a 2-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens. After that performance, The Athletic’s Ryan S. Clark (subscription required) wonders if this is the turning point where Grubauer takes over as the team’s No. 1 goaltender. With Varlamov slated to hit unrestricted free agency this summer, the team needs for Grubauer to take that next step and that looks to be the case. In the last six starts (not including Friday’s 2-1 loss to Chicago), the 27-year-old is 5-0-1 with a 2.29 GAA and a .936 save percentage.

“(Grubauer) gives us a chance. He gives us a real good chance,” head coach Jared Bednar said. “He keeps it at 1-0 and guys are saying the right things on the bench. … I just felt like he looked really solid in the net. Like he was in control tonight. I haven’t felt that way about our goaltending for the last little bit and that’s what we need.

  • The Athletic’s Scott Powers (subscription required) writes that when winger Brendan Perlini was traded from the Arizona Coyotes to Chicago Blackhawks, he had high hopes that a change of scenery would jumpstart his career as he has struggled to put up points. However, while the Blackhawks liked what they have seen from center Dylan Strome, Perlini quickly found himself on the team’s fourth line and even found himself a healthy scratch early on. “To be honest, you never like to sit, but it’s good because I can watch the game and say, OK, here’s certain spots where maybe I can get the puck or things like that or realize watching I can settle down there, there’s a lot more time than I actually think. Like I said, you never like watching, but you can take good things from it. I think I’ve done that and just try to build off it and learn every day.” Perlini since then has looked much more comfortable and has picked up a couple of goals in the past four games. The hope is he continues to make adjustments in Chicago’s lineup.
  • Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Sun writes that with the impressive play shown by Winnipeg Jets’ goaltender Laurent Brossoit can be attributed back to last year when the back-up lost his job in Edmonton to Al Montoya and he found himself in the AHL for the remainder of the season. That experience made him work harder to get back to the NHL. “Now I’m more aware of who I am as a goalie and as a professional, if that makes any sense,” said Brossoit. “It was unfortunate I had to go through those growing pains during my biggest opportunity with that club. I wouldn’t say that I performed at the level I normally do.” Brossoit was offered to return to Edmonton, but instead opted to start fresh in Winnipeg.

Alex Galchenyuk “Week-To-Week”, Will Miss Opening Night

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Late last week, it was reported that Arizona Coyotes forward Alex Galchenyuk had been sidelined with an injury. However, the team had not yet evaluated the injury or its severity. Head coach Rick Tocchet was tight-lipped about how it occurred, what type of injury it might be, or how long Galchenyuk could be out for. It seems now that the team has taken the proper time to consider Galchenyuk’s status and the results are not optimal. Arizona announced that Galchenyuk is “week-to-week” with a lower body injury and is expected to miss the team’s opener in Dallas on October 4th.

Missing just one game would be a best case scenario at this point, as there continues to be a lack of details or answers regarding this injury. As the Coyotes biggest off-season acquisition, there was a lot of hype and excitement surrounding the young scoring forward entering this season. Beginning the season without him is less than ideal, but even hinting at a long-term injury would be a tough pill for fans to swallow before the season even begins. “Week-to-week” is a difficult time frame to estimate, especially for a player who has been rather resilient in his career. However, when Galchenyuk did suffer a serious knee injury in 2016-17, he had a tough time getting healthy and would up missing 21 games over two stints on the injured reserve. A similar outlook for this mysterious lower-body ailment would be disastrous for Arizona.

Early indications had Galchenyuk not at center, but at left wing for the Coyotes and certainly in the top-six. Until he returns, his spot will likely return to what it was last season – a revolving door of options including Richard Panik, Brendan Perlini, Mario Kempe, and Lawson Crouse. That lineup is even less appealing than last year, when Max Domi (traded for Galchenyuk), Jordan Martinook (also traded), Tobias Rieder and Anthony Duclair (free agency) were also in the mix. The ’Yotes have to hope that the rest of their forward corps can pick up the slack and could use a hot start from free agent addition Michael Grabner and rookie Dylan Strome. Either way, the team will need Galchenyuk back as soon as possible if they want to take a step forward this season.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson Officially Signs Eight-Year Extension

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Though it had been confirmed for some time, the Arizona Coyotes couldn’t officially sign Oliver Ekman-Larsson to an extension until today. Now that they can, they quickly announced the eight-year extension for their star defenseman. The team did not release the financial details, but several reports have it totaling $66MM. The salary will be paid as follows:

  • 2019-20: $8MM
  • 2020-21: $8MM
  • 2021-22: $10.5MM
  • 2022-23: $10.5MM
  • 2023-24: $10.5MM
  • 2024-25: $8MM
  • 2025-26: $5.25MM
  • 2026-27: $5.25MM

After spending a full season listening to trade rumors about Ekman-Larsson as the team wasn’t sure it could sign their superstar defenseman, Arizona managed to lock him up. Part of the reason was the team’s second-half success as the team started winning in the second-half. That sign the team is heading in the right direction was a key reason Ekman-Larsson wanted to return. That doesn’t include all the changes that general manager John Chayka has made, ranging from bringing in veterans like Derek Stepan, Alex Galchenyuk, Michael Grabner and Antti Raanta, not to mention the influx of youth to the team like Clayton Keller, Dylan Strome, Christian Dvorak, Jakob Chychrun, Brendan Perlini. and 2018 first-rounder Barrett Hayton.

The team also brought in veteran countryman Niklas Hjalmarsson in a offseason trade last year, who has mentored the young 26-year-old. Now even Hjalmarsson has re-signed with Arizona for another two years, keeping the two together even longer.

Arizona’s Moves Continue To Improve Coyotes Team

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With the recent acquisition of Alex Galchenyuk, the Arizona Coyotes are well on their way to taking another step towards building a winning team in the desert. If you add the players Arizona acquired last year at this time, a full year under the belt of coach Rick Tocchet and the continued development of their young players, the team seems to be heading in the right direction and the team is starting to get excited.

Throw in franchise defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson as someone who sees the changes. Many thought Ekman-Larsson might spurn the struggling franchise, yet he agreed to sign an eight-year, $66MM extension last week. Just last year, the team went out and traded their first-round pick (seventh overall) to the New York Rangers and picked up two key pieces to their team in center Derek Stepan and goaltender Antti Raanta. Stepan has continued his solid play, while Raanta put up a solid second half of the season after an injury-plagued first half, putting up a 2.24 GAA and a .930 save percentage in 47 games. He has also been rewarded with a three-year, $12.75MM extension, which kicks in this year. Chayka also went out and traded for veteran defensemen Niklas Hjalmarsson and Jason Demers in separate deals last year.

While many people felt that after a flurry of moves a year ago, the Coyotes would make a huge jump in the standings, that didn’t happen, especially after starting the season with an 11-game losing streak. However, their second half showed more of that improvement as the team had a stretch towards the end of the season in which it went 17-8-3.

Regardless, there seems to be a lot going right for the Coyotes right now, according to NBC Sports’ James O’Brien. The scribe points out some key facts, including the initial reaction to the Galchenyuk deal has been positive. While it’s too early to tell, Galchenyuk’s chances of becoming a solid player is quite a bit higher than Max Domi, who the Coyotes sent back to Montreal. Assuming that Galchenyuk can make the conversion to center, that would relieve some stress from the team’s lack of depth at that position. Now if the team wants to move Dylan Strome or Christian Dvorak to the wing position, there won’t be extra pressure to keep him at center due to their lack of depth.

One other key factor is the team still has an enormous amount of young players who could be ready to take that next step. Clayton Keller scored 23 goals in his rookie year and could improve on that exponentially. Other players like Dvorak, Jakob Chychrun, Strome, Brendan Perlini and Christian Fischer could also take that next step. And don’t forget the sixth pick in next week’s draft.

The team also still has plenty of cap space available with more than $18MM in space waiting for them to use. They could dip into the free agency market or continuing to add players through trade. However, with the way Chayka is constantly tweaking this team, there are likely more changes to come.

Coyotes Notes: Perlini, Richardson, Draft Options

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While many would be quick to call Clayton Keller the Arizona Coyotes’ best young player, his teammate has quietly taken up the mantle of being the franchise’s all-time best young goal-scorer. AZSports’ Craig Morgan noted last night that Brendan Perlini’s 28th career goal in his 100th NHL game is most among ’Yotes alums in their first 100 games. Perlini passed up Peter Mueller, who had 27 in 100, a player who burned bright, but burned out young and was out of the NHL after his first five seasons. Arizona surely hopes that Perlini has more longevity and would especially be excited if he kept up his current level of play, having scored a goal in four straight games. Meanwhile, Keller surely has his eye on soon taking Perlini’s title; the 19-year-old has 14 goals through his first 53 games, so he’ll have to pick up the pace this season into next season.

  • Morgan was also the first to announce that Brad Richardson would not return to last night’s game after suffering an upper-body injury. There has been no update on Richardson’s status yet, but it would be no surprise if the veteran forward is out of the lineup for a substantial amount of time yet again. Richardson has had a tough go of it lately, missing six games due to injury this year after missing a whopping 66 games last year. Richardson has also struggled to produce with only nine points through 44 games. Nevertheless, the Coyotes are surely hoping that Richardson makes a speedy recovery with the NHL Trade Deadline fast approaching. With so few pending unrestricted free agents on the roster – Richardson, Antti Raanta, Luke Schenn, Zac Rinaldo – GM John Chayka would like to be able to move out as many as possible, unless his plan is make some larger deals involving his plethora of younger players.
  • In reality, the 2017-18 has long been over for the Coyotes and their next event of note is the 2018 NHL Entry Draft. Though the lottery could throw a wrench in their plans, Arizona is in the best position of any team to land the prize of the draft, Swedish phenom Rasmus Dahlin. TSN’s Bob McKenzie released his Mid-Season Draft Rankings today, in which he calls this the “Rasmus Dahlin draft” and makes of note of consensus that no player has a chance to go first overall besides the dynamic defenseman. With some doubt over the future of All-Star Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Chayka would like nothing more than to select a potential replacement in Dahlin. At the very least, the worst record in the NHL will guarantee the Coyotes a top-four pick and, as McKenzie specifies, one of the trio of forwards that make up the next tier of elite prospects behind Dahlin – Andrei Svechnikov, Filip Zadina, and Brady Tkachuk.

West Notes: Mironov, Kerdiles, Coyotes, Wild

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Although it’s generally not viewed as a good idea for teams to keep waiver-exempt young players as healthy scratches for long periods of time, that is what’s happening with the Avalanche and defenseman Andrei Mironov who has sat for six straight.  Mike Chambers of the Denver Post notes that the team is okay with that arrangement for now as the rookie, who speaks very little English, gets to be around a trio of fellow Russians who are helping him adapt to the North American game.  Despite this, head coach Jared Bednar acknowledged they will have to get him into some more games in the near future as sitting a 23-year-old is not an ideal long-term strategy.

Elsewhere out West:

  • The Ducks announced that they have returned winger Nicolas Kerdiles to San Diego of the AHL. He has played in two games with Anaheim this season but has failed to play four minutes in either of them.  This marks the third time already this year that the 23-year-old has been sent down after he cleared waivers in late September.
  • Coyotes winger Brendan Perlini will miss his fourth straight game on Thursday with an upper-body injury, reports Arizona Sports’ Craig Morgan (Twitter link). However, he did skate with the team on Wednesday and appears to be nearly ready to return to the lineup.  As for center Brad Richardson who missed Tuesday’s game with a lower-body issue, Morgan adds that he will be a game-time decision on Thursday.
  • As expected, the Wild announced that they have made several recalls from Iowa of the AHL. Forwards Zack Mitchell, Landon Ferraro, and Luke Kunin were all recalled and should be in uniform on Friday night.  The team waited until 4:00 PM CST to announce the call-ups, meaning that they will not count on Minnesota’s salary cap until Thursday.

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