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Cody Eakin

Cody Eakin Signs In Switzerland

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After being released from his professional tryout with the Calgary Flames, it didn’t take long for Cody Eakin to find work. The veteran forward has signed a one-year deal with the SCL Tigers in Switzerland, where he will compete in the National League.

This is Eakin’s first European sojourn, and potentially a sign that his NHL career is coming to an end. The 31-year-old played 69 games for the Buffalo Sabres last season but wasn’t able to find a contract this year. In his career, Eakin has more than 700 regular season games under his belt, including a 22-goal campaign with the Vegas Golden Knights in 2018-19.

That offense has been nowhere to be found ever since, with just 12 goals over the last three seasons combined. A valuable defensive center, it’s been a while now since you could call him a two-way presence since his contributions in the opponent’s end have disappeared.

Perhaps a year playing in Switzerland will rejuvenate his career, but at this point, it might just be that his time in the NHL has passed. It’s been a pretty successful hockey career all told, with championships in the WHL and AHL to go along with a World Championship gold medal from 2015. In 701 regular season games, Eakin scored 256 points.

Sonny Milano, Cody Eakin Released From PTOs

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One of the most interesting cases of the offseason was Sonny Milano, an offensive-minded player that scored 14 goals and 34 points in 66 games last season. After failing to land a deal in the early part of free agency, Milano signed a PTO with the Calgary Flames.

Today, both Milano and fellow PTO Cody Eakin have been released from those tryouts, putting them both on the open market with just a few days to go before the regular season schedule begins.

It’s already a numbers game in Calgary, where they have several players who already may be exposed to the waiver wire in the next few days. After claiming Radim Zohorna recently, a player that fits much better than Milano in the bottom six, these releases seemed inevitable.

There’s no one who doubts Milano’s skill, it’s just his consistency that comes into question. Is the player who found instant chemistry with Trevor Zegras in Anaheim and scored 29 points through his first 39 games, or the one who had just five in his last 27. There have been far too many of those disappearing acts throughout his career for a team to offer a multi-year deal, and now he hasn’t even been able to land a one-year contract as a free agent.

Eakin, meanwhile, is the kind of player that could have fit into Calgary’s fourth-line mix but there are already too many other options that work in that spot. Had an injury or two happened, it might have resulted in a contract for the 31-year-old, but now he’ll have to try and find a new place to continue his 701-game NHL career.

Evening Notes: League Business, Vegas Injuries, Pesce, Forward Market

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After seeing the NHL’s record-breaking revenue for the 2021-22 season, the financial state of the league, a little over two years after being forced to shut down temporarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is as healthy as ever. Because of that, teams have been told to prepare for a large cap increase, and one that could potentially come sooner than expected. With the rise in revenue, a rise in prominent advertisements has become apparent too, one which many fans are not too thrilled about. Earlier today, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman discussed several topics related to the state of the league and its finances with Alex Silverman of the Sports Business Journal. In the interview, Bettman discussed revenue, new digital advertising on boards, jersey advertisements, the Arizona Coyotes arena situation, TV deals, growing the game internationally, and the future of the World Cup of Hockey.

Notably, Bettman detailed how the league plans to continue growing its revenue, specifically by utilizing technology, especially when it comes to advertising, engaging with fans more on social media, and using their television platforms to grow the game. On the new digitally enhanced dasherboards (“DED’s”), Bettman noted that the technology was not cheap to develop, but sees potential revenue growth from this alone to be in “the hundreds of millions.” In regards to the recent addition of jersey advertisements that have been met with it’s fair share of public criticism, Bettman appeared to understand the public’s distaste, calling himself a traditionalist, but cited the immense revenue growth as a reason to press on. The Commissioner added that although the market is “vibrant” for the jersey advertisements, the league has urged clubs to take their time picking a sponsor, urging them to find the “right partner” and get full value.

The entirety of Bettman’s answers, as well as his discussion on several other topics, can be found in the full discussion with Silverman.

  • The Vegas Golden Knights have injury updates on a pair of key players. According to Vegas head coach Bruce Cassidy, as reported by Ben Gotz of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, forward William Carrier is unlikely to play in preseason games this upcoming week as he continues to deal with an upper-body injury he suffered a week ago. On a more positive note, goaltender Laurent Brossoit, who is recovering from hip surgery, was able to skate on his own, however he still has yet to be cleared to join the rest of the team. Even without star goaltender Robin Lehner for this season, after acquiring Adin Hill from the San Jose Sharks and having breakout netminder Logan Thompson in the fold, Vegas can afford to be patient with Brossoit as he makes his way back.
  • There’s some reason for concern for the Carolina Hurricanes with the team announcing defenseman Brett Pesce would not return to tonight’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets after suffering a lower-body injury. It’s unclear what caused the injury or how severe it is, but losing a key piece such as Pesce for any stretch of time surely puts Carolina in a difficult position.
  • On today’s 32 Thoughts Podcast, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman touched on a pair of teams who could be in the market for additional help up front if the opportunity should arise: the Calgary Flames and the Minnesota Wild. Friedman mentions the Flames as a team who may want to add another scorer into the mix if they don’t believe the players in camp with them now can be that player. In addition to several intriguing prospects, Calgary has veterans Sonny Milano and Cody Eakin in camp on PTOs with the team having $1.487MM in available cap space. Worth considering, the Flames did claim forward Radim Zohorna off waivers from the Pittsburgh Penguins earlier today. Also mentioned were the Wild, who dealt star winger Kevin Fiala, knowing their cap situation would likely prevent them from signing him long-term. Ultimately, they’re left with $5.738MM in cap space and needing to recover at least some of what they lost in Fiala, who posted 85 points in 82 games last season.

Flames Sign Cody Eakin To Tryout Deal

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PTO season is in full force with training camps roughly a week and a half away and we’ve already seen several veterans ink tryout agreements.  The latest to get in on the fun is Calgary as the Flames announced (Twitter link) that they have inked center Cody Eakin to a tryout deal.

The 31-year-old spent the last two seasons in Buffalo while playing in their bottom six.  Last season, Eakin recorded four goals and eight assists in 69 games with the Sabres while averaging 13:35 per game.  He took a regular turn on the penalty kill and that’s likely the role that Calgary would be wanting him to play if he’s able to crack their roster.  Eakin also won 56% of his faceoffs last season which was a single-season career-high.

Eakin has 701 career NHL games under his belt across five different organizations with 110 goals and 146 assists to show for it.  While he isn’t the 40-point player he was with Vegas in 2018-19, he can still contribute on a fourth line and there’s a pretty good fit with the Flames; on the surface, it would appear as if there’s a decent chance that he could land a contract from this.  He’d be signing for the minimum of $750K or close to it and CapFriendly pegs Calgary as having a little over $2.1MM in cap room so they wouldn’t have to move anyone out to sign him.

It’s worth noting that the Flames are one of the teams that still have a restricted free agent to re-sign in middleman Adam Ruzicka.  Eakin’s addition to their camp roster will put him in direct competition with the spot that Ruzicka would be battling for.  This is the type of addition that might serve as a motivator for Rucizka’s camp to put pen to paper on an agreement to ensure that he won’t be playing catch-up when the preseason gets underway later this month.

CapFriendly was the first to report that Eakin was signing a PTO with the Flames.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

NHL Modifies Major Penalty Review For 2022-23

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There appears to be only one change to the NHL Rulebook for 2022-23, but it’s one that addresses some significant controversies from the past few seasons. According to a report from Scouting The Refs, referees will now be able to nullify a major penalty after a video review.

The updated rule, listed as Rule 20.6, is as follows:

The Referee shall have the following options after video review of his own call: (i) confirming his original Major Penalty call; (ii) reducing his original Major Penalty call to a lesser penalty; or (iii) rescinding the original Major Penalty altogether.

Prior to this change, a referee only had the option to reduce a major penalty to a two-minute penalty of the same infraction. It’s important to note that this change does not apply to match penalties.

This modification draws on a rule originally instituted for the 2019-20 season, which allowed referees to perform a video review of any major penalty as called on the ice. While obviously never stated as such, the rule was introduced in response to the controversial major penalty called against Vegas Golden Knights forward Cody Eakin for cross-checking then San Jose Sharks forward Joe Pavelski. The call, which occurred in the third period of Game 7 in a 2019 First Round series between the two rivals, directly changed the outcome of the game. The Sharks, who were down 3-0, scored four unanswered goals on the five-minute power-play. San Jose proceeded to win the game in overtime, 5-4.

It was widely viewed after the call that the incident was accidental and not deserving of a major penalty. The fallout even led to the league apologizing to the Golden Knights organization privately after the fact.

Free Agent Profile: Cody Eakin

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In order for the inaugural Vegas Golden Knights team to have the historic season that they did, they required a full team effort with contributions up and down their lineup. Offensive performances from William Karlsson, Jonathan Marchessault, David Perron, and Reilly Smith, backed by future Hall-of-Famer Marc-Andre Fleury in net, highlighted the team’s success, but secondary performances were able to vault a solid team into one that came just a few wins shy of a Stanley Cup title in just it’s first try. One of those performances was from veteran forward Cody Eakin, who Vegas selected from the Dallas Stars in the 2017 Expansion Draft.

Originally a third-round pick of the Washington Capitals in 2009, Eakin established himself as a complete player and dangerous scorer, breaking out the year after he was drafted with a 47-goal campaign for the Swift Current Broncos of the WHL in 2009-10. After another strong WHL season in 2010-11, Eakin made his NHL debut in his first full professional campaign in 2011-12, putting up 27 points in 43 games for the Hershey Bears of the AHL and another eight points in 30 NHL games for the Capitals. Following that season, he was dealt to the Dallas Stars, where he spent the majority of his career to-date. Eakin would play parts of four seasons in Dallas, having one of the best seasons of his career when he recorded 40 points in 78 games in 2014-15. Ahead of the 2016-17 season, he signed a four-year, $15.4MM deal to stay with the Stars, but wound up with Vegas for most of the final three years.

With Vegas, Eakin became a crucial depth piece for the organization as it chased an ultimately elusive Stanley Cup. Perhaps the best season of his career thus far came in 2018-19, setting career-highs in goals, with 22, and points, with 41, in 78 games. In the final year of his deal, Vegas dealt Eakin to his hometown Winnipeg Jets before he hit free agency in the 2020 offseason. The veteran would sign a two-year, $4.5MM contract with the Buffalo Sabres, but his production dropped off sharply, recording a mere 19 points in 115 games over the two seasons, a far cry from the 22 goals and 41 points he was just two seasons removed from when he signed in Buffalo.

Now a free agent more than a month after the market opened, the versatile forward appears to be paying for his struggles in upstate New York. As effective as Eakin is in his own end, on the penalty kill, and in the faceoff circle, it’s hard for almost any team to justify giving Eakin the roster spot and time-on-ice necessary to be effective with such little offensive production. The ability to score is there for Eakin, however he hasn’t produced 30 points since that career-best 2018-19 and that regression came with him still in his prime.

Stats:

2021-22: 69 GP, 4-8-12, -15 rating, 22 PIMs, 74 shots, 56,0 FO%, 13:35 ATOI

Career:  701 GP, 110-146-256, -25 rating, 278 PIMs, 1,016 shots, 50.7 FO%, 15:16 ATOI

Potential Suitors:

As discussed, given the complete lack of offensive production the past couple of seasons, it would be tough to find a team that could justify giving regular minutes to Eakin. His game is primarily focused on defense and playing in his own zone, so not having a stellar track record on the other side of the puck is understandable, but there is a clear difference between the 0.41 points-per-game Eakin averaged from 2013-14 through 2018-19, and the 0.21 points-per-game he’s averaged since.

All of that said, there are still several extremely valuable things Eakin brings to the table. For one, his ability to play in his own zone and kill penalties, something he’s been doing his entire career. Experience doing this and the ability to work with a team’s younger players on this can be extremely valuable. Speaking of experience, Eakin has been to a Stanley Cup Final and has 50 playoff games of experience under his belt. Not only that, given his play style, he’s been trusted in some of the most crucial moments of those playoff games before. Having been there, and done it, a team bringing in Eakin as a situational player can expect him not to be phased when the time comes.

The usual suspects for forwards in these Free Agent Profile articles tends to be the Minnesota Wild and New York Islanders, who could both use some help up front. However, Eakin doesn’t seem to make sense for either, who have a few options already that play a similar role. An option that could make sense is a reunion in Vegas. With Robin Lehner headed to LTIR, Vegas will have a little more space with which to work, and though it won’t allow for any groundbreaking moves, bringing in a familiar face to do the little things might be preferable to a veteran-heavy team like Vegas as opposed to a younger player with little NHL experience or some sort of a shuffle of taxi-squad players.

Projected Contract:

This late in free agency with many organizations set on their rosters, and especially now with his regression, it’s hard to imagine Eakin will see the sort of money he earned when he signed with Dallas in 2016 or Buffalo in 2020. Still, at 31 years of age, Eakin’s career is far from over, even if he’s approaching the tail-end of his prime years. Instead of hoping to extend his career just a bit longer, he is more likely still in a position to try to rebound and get back to the player he was in Dallas and Vegas not too long ago.

This might require him to take a league-minimum $750K contract, or even a two-way deal. It could also come on the heels of a successful PTO stint, which may be the most likely scenario at this point in the offseason. A PTO might actually be a favorable opportunity, with the signing team wanting to evaluate Eakin, they would put him in positions to succeed and show he’s capable of the rebound, which could ultimately lead to be more consistent opportunities out of the gate.

Sabres Notes: Eichel, Eakin, Samuelsson

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Jack Eichel’s camp plans to make one final push to Sabres management about getting his desired disk replacement surgery and has been collecting medical opinions to support their desire, reports ESPN’s Emily Kaplan.  The center’s case is well-known at this point and Kaplan suggests that the next step could be a grievance which, to this point, has been the last resort option.  A handful of teams are believed to be in the mix for Eichel in a trade with Buffalo now being amenable to at least part of the return being conditional depending on how he recovers from the surgery.  Of course, for things to get to that part, he has to have the surgery first and will be out for a significant amount of time regardless of which procedure he winds up having.

More from Buffalo:

  • Center Cody Eakin has been ruled out for the next two games (including tonight’s contest against Boston) and will be listed as day-to-day after that, notes Bill Hoppe of the Olean Times Herald. Head coach Don Granato appears to be targeting next Thursday’s game in Anaheim as a possible return date for the 30-year-old.  Eakin’s off to a nice start this season with a goal and an assist in three games but will be sitting out the next few now.
  • Defenseman Mattias Samuelsson returned to practice for the first time since suffering a lower-body injury in a prospect game a little over a month ago, relays Jourdan LaBarber of the Sabres’ team site. The 21-year-old won’t travel with the team for Saturday’s contest against New Jersey but could be ready to play soon after.  Samuelsson played in the last 12 games for Buffalo last season, picking up two assists while averaging a little over 18 minutes a game.

Buffalo Sabres Limited By Salary Cap Floor

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The Buffalo Sabres will be over the NHL’s salary cap floor by the start of the season, that much is obvious. While CapFriendly currently has the club sitting $2.3MM below the $60.2MM benchmark, that is with a 22-man roster that does not include unsigned RFA defenseman Rasmus Dahlin. While the 2018 first overall pick is not quite yet proven himself worthy of the considerable long-term deals signed by other top defenseman this off-season, he will surely make more than $2.3MM AAV on his next contract.

Yet, that does not end the Sabres’ battle with the cap floor. Just because they begin the season over the floor, does not mean that they will remain as such all season – or at least not if they wish to have flexibility with their transactions. Buffalo is again expected to be among the NHL’s worst teams this season and will be open to selling current members of the roster. Of course, Jack Eichel is the biggest name who could be available. However, at $10MM AAV it has been brought up numerous times that an Eichel trade is not as easy as it may seem. A team may offer a plethora of top picks, prospects, and entry-level players, but the Sabres would not be able to make that deal alone, as it would leave the team well below the salary cap floor regardless of Dahlin’s contract. Buffalo would have to acquire a nearly equal amount of salary back in the deal or else be prepared to quickly turn and add that salary in another deal. As a rebuilding team, the Sabres also won’t eager to add high-priced veterans who serve little purpose to a team with no title hopes. It makes an already difficult situation with Eichel all that much more tricky.

Even if Eichel begins the season with Buffalo, which seems increasingly likely, and even plays out the year with the team, the cap floor will still come into play. As the trade deadline approaches, the Sabres want to be in position to take full advantage of their valuable trade assets. The team has four forwards, four defensemen, and two goalies who are impending UFA’s and whose expiring contracts would be worth far more to another team. Colin Miller ($3.875MM), Will Butcher ($2.823MM), Cody Eakin ($2.25MM) and Vinnie Hinostroza ($1.05MM) stand out as potentially popular trade candidates at the deadline. Depending on Dahlin’s contract, could they move Hinostroza or maybe even Eakin or Butcher without going below the floor? Probably. But Miller? Or multiple moves? Likely not. The deadline is also not a place that is likely to offer even salary swaps.

If GM Kevyn Adams and the Sabres want to enter the 2021-22 season with the confidence that they can make any move they want without limitation, they need to find a way to sensibly add salary to the roster. For a rebuilding team, it may be difficult to think about adding salary to a team that won’t contend, but it would be a short-term sacrifice to ensure their long-term plans are not affected. The team could explore the trade market for a veteran or two that can help to develop the young roster or perhaps a young, but overpaid reclamation project. Or maybe they could entertain adding a legitimate starting goalie. They could also explore the free agent market which, even late in the summer, still has some attractive names available. With the Sabres pegged to give roster spots to minimum-salary fourth-liners like Drake Caggiula and John Hayden, it might make more sense to give those slots and more importantly more salary to a high-upside project like Ryan Donato, Alex Galchenyuk, or Nikita Gusev or a veteran leader like Tyler Bozak, James Neal, or Jason Demers. 

The Sabres have plenty of options to solve their salary cap floor conundrum beyond just re-signing Dahlin. However, those options could disappear if they don’t act quickly, and with it their transactional flexibility this season.

Vegas Golden Knights Shopping Max Pacioretty

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Perhaps spurred by the recent progress in getting the 2020-21 season up and running, the Vegas Golden Knights are back at it, working the phones in an effort to make a move to get salary cap compliant. Vegas is one of a number of teams currently over the salary cap upper limit and must shed some salary before play begins. However, the player that GM Kelly McCrimmon is allegedly pushing to other teams may come as a surprise. TSN’s Frank Seravalli reports that veteran forward Max Pacioretty has been the subject of trade talks this off-season, with those discussions picking up steam in recent days.

Pacioretty, 32, may be one of the older players on the Vegas roster but is still an elite scorer. The long-time Montreal Canadien was in fact the Knights’ leading scorer this past season, recording 66 points in 71 games for a career-high scoring clip. He added another eight points in the playoffs. In the two seasons since coming over from the Habs, Pacioretty has shown no signs of slowing down. His loss would be felt in a major way in Vegas, both on the ice and in the locker room.

However, Pacioretty’s $7MM, while commensurate to his production, is a massive weight on the Golden Knight’s salary cap. If the team were to move Pacioretty without retaining any salary, they would not only be under the cap ceiling but would have the flexibility to make an addition if they so desire. Seravalli mentions top available free agent Mike Hoffman or a reunion with Erik Haula as possibilities. One would also think that Pacioretty would still bring in a considerable return as well; he cost Vegas Nick Suzuki, Tomas Tatar, and a second-round pick just two years ago. However, in a definitive buyer’s market, McCrimmon would have to be careful not to give away Pacioretty for too little just for the sake of cap savings. The team was already lambasted for trading top defenseman Nate Schmidt for pennies on the dollar in order to facilitate the signing of Alex Pietrangelo. 

One other concern for the Knights’ brass is the locker room culture. There have already been reports of many players being unhappy with the frequent trades that the team has made and the perceived lack of loyalty toward the roster. The team has dealt Schmidt, Haula, Colin Miller, Cody Eakin, Malcolm Subban, Brandon Pirri, and Paul Stastny all in the past 18 months, leaving the young franchise with very little roster consistency. There are certainly some in the room who have to be unhappy to even hear the whispers of a potential Pacioretty move. Others in the media have noted that he is not the only name on the block either, with fan favorite Marc-Andre Fleury likely being floated again as well. Vegas must tread carefully when it comes to making any further moves and a Pacioretty trade in particular can only be made with a considerable return and a plan to replace him with the cap savings.

What Your Team Is Thankful For: Buffalo Sabres

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It’s Thanksgiving this week in the United States and the holiday season is right around the corner. Like the last few years, PHR will take a look at what teams are thankful for but this year comes with a bit of a change. Normally teams would have an idea of where their season was heading, coming up on the one-quarter mark with mountains of statistics to analyze. Instead, in this unprecedented year, the season hasn’t even begun. We’ll still take a look at what each group is excited about and what they could hope for once the calendar turns to 2021.

What are the Sabres most thankful for?

A deep forward group.

No longer are the Sabres putting all their hopes on youngsters. The team is suddenly loaded with established players who have proven themselves. To go with Jack Eichel, the team has added a number of key additions to go with solid playmakers as the team now boasts Eichel, Taylor Hall, Eric Staal, Sam Reinhart, Jeff Skinner, Victor Olofsson and a number of other players who can thrive in bottom-six roles like Kyle Okposo, Cody Eakins, Dylan Cozens, Casey Mittelstadt, etc. The depth at forward is a major improvement for a team that needs to score and this team should have that quality of depth that should be able to give Buffalo a chance to earn their first playoff appearance in nine years.

Who are the Sabres most thankful for?

Taylor Hall.

With the pandemic flattening out the salary cap for the foreseeable future, there weren’t too many long-term offers for Hall, the top free agent of the 2020 free agent class. Instead, Hall looked for a short-term deal from a team with extra cap room and surprised quite a few people when he picked the Sabres, due to the chance to play next to Eichel for the year.

The addition of Hall, totally enhances the team’s top-nine as he immediately will slot into the top line next to Eichel and will finally get a chance to play next to an elite center, something he hasn’t had in quite a number of years. The hope is that Hall can find his game from two years ago when he was the Hart Trophy winner with the New Jersey Devils, leading them single-handedly into the playoffs. If he can do that for the Sabres, Buffalo should have a legitimate chance to break their nine-year drought and Hall will establish himself again as the top free agent for 2021 in hopes of landing that big-term deal.

What would the Sabres be even more thankful for?

A return to form of Jeff Skinner.

After posting a 40-goal season in 2018-19 and signing a eight-year, $72MM deal, things never panned out after that for Skinner, who struggled mightily with just 14 goals and 23 points in 59 games last season. The forward was a disaster and found himself spending quite a bit of time on the third line trying to find his game. With seven years at $9MM AAV, the Sabres have to hope that Skinner will be able to bounce back and become that fixture on the second line that they were hoping for. The talent is there to surround the goal-scoring forward, but the team needs for him to execute, otherwise the team will be stuck with a player and a contract that they don’t want.

What should be on the Sabres’ Holiday Wish List?

The Sabres may be in need of help in goal. The Sabres have a solid offense and defense, but their goaltending could be what’s holding them back. The team can hope that Linus Ullmark is ready to take the starting load this season. He did produce impressive numbers with a .915 save percentage in 34 appearances, but is he the answer in net? Unfortunately, top goaltending prospect Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, might not be ready for another couple of years, meaning the team may need to find a way to bring in a more proven goaltender that can handle big minutes.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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