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Dylan Sikura

Western Notes: Peters, MacLean, Duclair, Niku, Suzuki

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While the rumor that former Carolina Hurricanes head coach Bill Peters is likely headed to Calgary, TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reports that the Dallas Stars had requested permission from Carolina to speak to Peters and did, but has decided that he isn’t a good fit for their coaching vacancy and is the front-runner for the Flames head coaching job. Postmedia’s Wes Gilbertson adds that the Flames were concerned about a better offer from Dallas, but the scribe writes that it is more and more certain the team will hire Peters.

“I’d like to work, I’d like to coach. I hope something is in place soon,” Peters said via Gilbertson.

While Peters was considered to be one of the top coaching prospects when he was hired by Carolina four years ago, he was never able to get them to the playoffs. The hope is that with four years of experience, the coach can take that next step with Calgary, who has a lot of talent and could be ready to make an impact next year.

  • LeBrun also said the Dallas Stars will be patient in their coaching search, but believes that the team will consider former Ottawa Senators head coach Paul MacLean as a candidate. The coach was 114-90-35 in three and a half seasons for Ottawa from 2011-2014. However, LeBrun admits there are many candidates on their coaching list.
  • Corey Snzjdjer of The Athletic (subscription required) writes the Chicago Blackhawks might not be able to retain restricted free agent Anthony Duclair. The 22-year-old acquired in January has a ton of potential, but can’t seem to put up much, in terms of points. He had two goals and six assists in 23 games until he suffered a knee injury that knocked him out for the last 13 games of the year. The scribe writes that because Duclair is on a one-year bridge deal, Chicago would have to match his $1.2MM salary, which might be too high of a price with all the young talent who could be brought in at cheaper salaries, including Vinnie Hinostroza, Victor Ejdsell and Dylan Sikura.
  • The Winnipeg Jets announced they have assigned defenseman Sami Niku to the AHL’s Manitoba Moose. Niku was recalled Thursday as the team was dealing with injuries to defenseman Tyler Myers and then losing defenseman Josh Morrissey to a one-game suspension. Niku, the AHL’s defenseman of the year, would have gone in had Myers been unable to go Friday. Instead, he returns to Manitoba as they begin their playoff series today against the Grand Rapids Griffins.
  • The Vegas Golden Knights have promoted prospect Nick Suzuki from the OHL’s Owen Sound Attack to the Chicago Wolves of the AHL. The 18-year-old prospect was the 13th overall pick in the 2017 draft and put up a 100-point season this year in 64 games for the Attack. He will join another first-rounder in Cody Glass, who was promoted earlier this week and 2017 second-round pick Nicolas Hague, who has been with the team for a couple of weeks. The prospects are just another future line of depth that could conceivably join Vegas next year, assuming they can win spots on the team during training camp.

Chicago Blackhawks Sign Dylan Sikura To Entry-Level Deal

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3:25 p.m.: Powers tweeted that Sikura’s deal will be a two-year entry-level deal and he will wear No. 95 for the Blackhawks on Thursday.

1:05 p.m.: The Chicago Blackhawks have officially signed Northeastern star Dylan Sikura to an entry-level contract, according to The Athletic’s Scott Powers (subscription required). There is no word on contract specifics yet. Sikura, Chicago’s top prospect and a Hobey Baker Award finalist, is expected to leave for Chicago tonight, but will not be allowed to play in Monday’s NHL game due to visa issues. Instead, he is expected to make his Blackhawks’ debut on Thursday against the Winnipeg Jets.

Sikura’s college career at Northeastern, who was eliminated Saturday by Michigan 3-2, is over after four years. As reported yesterday, the 22-year-old forward was rumored to have already a deal in place after the Huskies were eliminated. As a fourth-year senior, Sikura could have chosen to become a unrestricted free agent on Aug. 15, but the opportunity to play for the Blackhawks immediately was likely enough incentive to sign. The Blackhawks tried to sign him after a solid junior campaign, but he opted to return to Northeastern and there was some concern he would sign with Chicago at all.

Sikura, Chicago’s sixth-round pick back in 2014, is coming off a successful college career at Northeastern in which he 58 goals in his four years there, including 43 during his junior and senior years combined. During those final two years, he put up 111 points. An undersized forward at 6-foot, 166 pounds, he is considered to have excellent skating ability and goal-scoring skills and is expected to be a big part of Chicago’s rebuilding plan.

Snapshots: Andersson, Chytil, Gaudette, Sikura

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The New York Rangers rebuild might continue at a new level next week as NHL.com’s Dan Rosen writes that Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault, general manager Jeff Gorton and assistant general manager Chris Drury will talk later today about promoting 2017 first-round centers Lias Andersson and Filip Chytil.

Both first-round picks have fared well this season. Andersson, the seventh overall pick last year, started the season in the SHL, where he put up seven goals and seven assists in 22 games. He played in the World Junior Tournament and helped Sweden to a silver medal and then came to the U.S. and joined the Hartford Wolf Pack of the AHL. There he’s put up five goals and 14 points in 23 games. Chytil, on the other hand, started the season in New York and played two games before the team decided to assign him to Hartford. There in 44 games, Chytil, the No. 21 pick last year, has put up 11 goals and 20 assists.

Rosen said if the Vigneault, Gorton and Drury agree, the two prospects could be inserted into the Rangers’ lineup as soon as Monday.

  • With the elimination of Northeastern University from the NCAA tournament, that could be good news for the Vancouver Canucks who will try to pry prized prospect Adam Gaudette from his collegiate team now that his season is over. In fact, Sportsnet’s Rick Dhaliwal tweets that he’s heard from a source that says contract negotiations are expected to heat up tomorrow. The college junior was the Canucks fifth-round pick in 2015 and has put up 56 goals and 56 assists in his last two seasons with Northeastern. TSN’s Bob McKenzie also adds that the Canucks are expected to make a strong pitch to the 21-year-old center who is a top Hobey Baker Award candidate this year. Gaudette is expected to meet with his family/advisor soon.
  • Also, as reported earlier today, Northeastern’s elimination also fuels the report that the Chicago Blackhawks and Dylan Sikura will be coming to an agreement soon. Mark Lazerus of the Chicago Sun-Times has a new update in which a league source has confirmed that Sikura will be in a Blackhawks uniform on Thursday.

Western Notes: Oilers’ Offseason, Kane, Denver Players, Sikura

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The Edmonton Oilers are not heading to the playoffs and are currently looking at all their in-house options before the season ends. Then the team will embark on the next bunch of steps to fix the team that one year ago was the talk of the league. The Athletic’s Jonathan Willis (subscription required) comes up with an eight-point plan on how to fix the team this offseason, primary of which is to watch its spending, both on free agents as well as the possibility to send off some of their own contracts as well.

One of the first suggestions is that Edmonton should not overreact when it comes to some of their underperforming players. While several of their defensemen had tough seasons this year including Oscar Klefbom, Andrej Sekera and Adam Larsson, Willis believes that it’s unlikely that they will struggle again and the team must preach patience. However, the team needs to unload expensive contracts of bottom-tier players, suggesting the team might want to see if they can trade off defenseman Kris Russell and forward Zach Kassian to free up some of their money.

As for free agency, the team should avoid big-name free agents and look to sign some of the more modestly-priced players that will be on the market even suggesting that they could consider bringing back Patrick Maroon if he will agree on a short-term deal.

  • The Chicago Blackhawks great Patrick Kane said he hasn’t decided yet whether he will play at the World Championships in Copenhagen in May, according to Mark Lazerus of the Chicago Sun-Times. He said he’ll consider it after his season ends, but it’s “definitely an option. After I didn’t go last year, I was thinking that maybe I should have went.”
  • Although this note is about a Western collegiate team, The Athletic’s Corey Pronman (subscription required) had an interesting nugget in his prospect mailbag. Pronman was asked of the potential signings of the University of Denver’s three forward prospects in Henrik Borgstrom, Troy Terry and Dylan Gambrell, three of the team’s top players. Pronman’s response is that he believes all three will be signing with their respective teams the moment their college season is over. Denver is currently playing in the NCAA tournament. Borgstrom, the Florida Panthers’ 2016 first-rounder scored 22 goals in his sophomore season. Terry, the Anaheim Ducks’ 2015 fifth-rounder picked up 13 goals and 44 points in his junior campaign, while Gambrell, San Jose Sharks’ second-round pick in 2015, finished his junior year with 13 goals and 42 points. All three could be major contributors to their teams as soon as next season.
  • The Chicago Blackhawks also could benefit greatly soon as well as Mark Lazerus of the Chicago Sun-Times writes that if Northeastern University loses today or Sunday, expect prospect Dylan Sikura to be signed and in the Blackhawks lineup by Thursday. The Northeastern senior, who was the sixth-round pick in 2014, has had dominant season the past two years, combining for 42 goals and 110 points in two seasons. Northeastern is playing Michigan today.

Top-10 Finalists Announced For 2018 Hobey Baker

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The Hobey Baker Memorial Award is given to the most outstanding player in collegiate hockey, and has a long list of excellent NHL players among previous winners. Will Butcher, Jimmy Vesey, Jack Eichel and Johnny Gaudreau are the latest to take home the award, while others like Brendan Morrison, Paul Kariya and Chris Drury have been honored in the past.

Earlier this year, 67 players from the NCAA ranks were nominated for the award, and today that number has been reduced to just ten. These ten players will be narrowed to just three, a process that anyone can be a part of by participating in the fan vote. Votes will be added to the decision from a selection committee to produce three finalists, from which a winner will be crowned.

The top-10 finalists are as follows, with the NHL organization who owns their draft rights in parenthesis:

Henrik Borgstrom, University of Denver (Florida Panthers)

Ryan Donato, Harvard University (Boston Bruins)

Matthew Galajda, Cornell University

Adam Gaudette, Northeastern University (Vancouver Canucks)

Dylan McLaughlin, Canisius College

Cale Morris, University of Notre Dame

Colton Point, Colgate University (Dallas Stars)

Jimmy Schuldt, St. Cloud State University

Dylan Sikura, Northeastern University (Chicago Blackhawks)

C.J. Suess, Minnesota State University-Mankato (Winnipeg Jets)

Hobey Baker Award Voting Opens

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With the collegiate hockey season entering the home stretch, voting for this year’s Hobey Baker Memorial Award has opened with 67 players nominated for the award. The trophy is given to the top NCAA player in the country, and has an impressive line of winners over the past few years. In 2013-14, Johnny Gaudreau took home the award as a junior for Boston College, followed by Jack Eichel in his only year for Boston University in 2015-16. The last two trophies have gone out to big offseason free agents in Jimmy Vesey and Will Butcher, who are now playing for the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils respectively.

2017 Hobey Baker Memorial AwardThe award also has several top NHL alumni in its small fraternity, including Neal Broten, Tom Kurvers, Paul Kariya, Chris Drury, Ryan Miller and Brendan Morrison. With that group behind them, this year’s winner is certainly not someone to take lightly.

The fan vote will be added to the opinions of NCAA head coaches to come up with a 10-man finalist group, which will then have another fan vote and go through a selection committee. The nominees are as follows, with their respective NHL draft teams in parenthesis.

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Morning Notes: Ekman-Larsson, Czechs, Sikura

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Oliver Ekman-Larsson is one of the most interesting names on the rumor mill lately, with the Arizona Coyotes destined for a finish near the bottom of the league once again. The 26-year old defenseman will be a free agent in the summer of 2019, but Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun writes that the team will have to make a decision before that.

Garrioch reports that the asking price for Ekman-Larsson right now is two high-end roster players and a first-round pick, a prohibitive package for any team really trying to compete this year. Still, the Maple Leafs, Devils and Flyers have all apparently shown interest in the defender in the past, and several other teams would surely jump in if the price dropped closer to the deadline.

  • The Czech Republic released their Olympic team for the upcoming Games, including familiar NHL names like Martin Erat, Roman Cervenka and Jiri Sekac. Like the other countries, the Czech team is made up of professionals scattered across various European leagues and the KHL.
  • Dylan Sikura continues to impress at Northeastern with 30 points in his first 19 games, and as Scott Powers of The Athletic writes, the Chicago Blackhawks have more than just an eye on him for the end of the season. The Blackhawks fully intend to sign Sikura and add him to the NHL roster after his NCAA career comes to an end, though depending on how far his school goes in the final tournament if could throw a wrench into those plans. Powers excellently details all the possibilities for Sikura, including waiting until August 15th to become an unrestricted free agent. Though that technically could happen still, it seems extremely unlikely that he’d do anything but sign with the Blackhawks at this point.

West Notes: Sikura, Garrison, Husso, Jagr

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The Blackhawks are expected to offer prospect winger Dylan Sikura a spot in their lineup as soon as his college season ends, reports Scott Powers of The Athletic (subscription required).  Sikura, who was recently named to Canada’s entry at the upcoming Karjala Cup, a tournament that they’re using as an evaluation for the Olympics in February.  He currently sits second in NCAA scoring with six goals and eight assists through six games.

Chicago is no stranger to offering the chance to play right away and burn the first year of an entry-level deal; they most recently went that route last year with John Hayden.  This is the one real bargaining chip that they have to play as if Sikura (a sixth-round pick of the Blackhawks in 2014) were to wait until August 15th and then become an unrestricted free agent, he’d have no shortage of interest around the league.

Elsewhere in the West:

  • Golden Knights defenseman Jason Garrison has cleared waivers, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link). That shouldn’t come as much of a surprise with his $4.6MM cap hit.  It will be interesting to see if there is any trade interest in him where Vegas could retain part of his contract to facilitate a move or take a notable contract back in return.  It’s worth noting that the first-year team has already used one of its three retention slots from their trade of Alexei Emelin back in July.  In the meantime, they have assigned him to Chicago of the AHL, per the AHL’s Transactions page.
  • The Blues announced that they’ve recalled goaltender Ville Husso from San Antonio of the AHL. The move isn’t as a result of injury but rather a contingency plan if backup Carter Hutton is unavailable for tonight’s game against Columbus with his wife expecting to give birth shortly.  Husso, a fourth-rounder of St. Louis back in 2014, has yet to play in the NHL but is off to a good start in the minors this season with a .927 save percentage in his first three starts.
  • Flames winger Jaromir Jagr is expected to be activated off injured reserve on Sunday, reports Postmedia’s Eric Francis. The 45-year-old suffered a lower-body injury last weekend and if he is activated for tomorrow, he will wind up only missing the minimum one week.  It’s likely that center Mark Jankowski, their lone waiver-exempt forward that is also AHL eligible, will be sent back down to open up a roster spot for Jagr.

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