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Evening Notes: Rantanen, Binnington, Sundqvist

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Evan Rawal of Colorado Hockey Now writes about the impact that Leon Draisaitl’s new contract will have on Colorado Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen’s next deal. The 27-year-old Rantanen shares an agent with Draisaitl but appears unlikely to match the $14MM AAV that Draisaitl recently agreed to. David Pastrnak’s contract is probably a good comparable for Rantanen, but as Rawal points out, that deal was signed a year and a half ago and the cap has gone up since then and will likely go up again next season.

Rantanen is coming off back-to-back 100+ point seasons and has scored 97 goals in the past two seasons. Given that he plays in Colorado, the Avalanche will likely want to keep his AAV under the $12.6MM that Nathan MacKinnon signed for in September 2022.

In other evening notes:

  • Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic writes about St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington and whether he will play out the final three years of his contract in St. Louis. Rutherford believes that if Binnington plays well for the next couple of seasons and keeps the team in the playoff hunt then the team will likely keep him through the end of his deal (or close to the end of it). However, if Binnington’s play drops off, or if backup Joel Hofer is ready to play, Rutherford could foresee St. Louis turning to their young backup to anoint him the team’s starter, regardless of whether they keep or trade Binnington.
  • Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic writes that Blues forward Oskar Sundqvist began skating again after undergoing surgery to repair a torn ACL on March 25th. Sundqvist was supposed to be evaluated at the end of September and it is encouraging to see him skating this early. St. Louis is expected to have several young forward prospects challenge for roles this fall at training camp but given that Sundqvist was just re-signed to a two-year deal, it’s likely he will start the season in the NHL if he is healthy enough to do so. The 30-year-old signed a two-year, $3MM deal in March and posted six goals and 15 assists in 71 games before the injury.

West Notes: Oilers, Ceci, Binnington

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The Edmonton Oilers’ decision to let Philip Broberg go and to trade Cody Ceci has opened up a hole in their top four that Josh Wegman of The Score believes should be filled via trade before the NHL trade deadline. This week, the Oilers have been checking in on multiple veteran defensemen who remain free agents, but Wegman believes they will seek a better solution before the playoffs.

Wegman lists Marcus Pettersson, Jakob Chychrun, and Ivan Provorov as potential targets as all three men are pending unrestricted free agents. He also believes that the Oilers could look for a longer-term solution and seek a player with some years left on their contract such as  Mike Matheson, Connor Murphy, or Radko Gudas. The Oilers have been linked to former Oilers Tyson Barrie and Justin Schultz this week, as well as former Bruins defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk. While all of those defensemen have had solid NHL careers, they are not great options for a Stanley Cup-contending team looking to round out their second defensive pairing.

In other Western Conference notes:

  • Jim Matheson of The Edmonton Journal doesn’t believe that defenseman Cody Ceci will remain in a San Jose Sharks uniform for very long. The recently traded defenseman has one year left on his current contract with a cap hit of $3.25MM and will likely be dealt to a contending team before next year’s NHL trade deadline. Ceci has never been an analytics darling and probably shouldn’t be a top-four defenseman on a contending team, but as a bottom-pairing defender, he could bring a lot of value to a team looking to add some experience to the backend of their lineup.
  • St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington was reportedly very happy with the recent moves made by Blues general manager Doug Armstrong (as per Mike Zeisberger of NHL.com). Binnington told Zeisberger that the successful offer sheets to Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg showed current Blues players that Armstrong had faith in the group, which will motivate the club as they head into training camp. Binnington added that the additions to the Blues should help make the team more competitive next season as they will be a faster group that is harder for opponents to play against.

Hockey Canada Releases 2024 World Championship Roster

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May 7: Celebrini and Fantilli have returned home from Czechia, TSN’s Darren Dreger reports. The former will participate in tonight’s 2024 NHL Draft Lottery, while Fantilli’s reasons for departing are undisclosed. It’s unclear whether they’ve been removed from the roster entirely. In a corresponding transaction, the team added Kings center Pierre-Luc Dubois and Lightning forwards Brandon Hagel and Nick Paul to the roster.

May 3: Hockey Canada has released its roster of 22 players who will wear the maple leaf at the 2024 World Championship, which begins next week in Ostrava and Prague, Czechia. There are three open spots left to be filled throughout the tournament as more teams are eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Much like the initial World Championship roster that USA Hockey released weeks back, it’s almost completely made up of NHL talent – a rarity for the top-level countries at this tournament recently. The return and promise of future best-on-best international tournaments in the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off and the 2026 Winter Olympics has players and front offices looking at this year’s Worlds as a tune-up and initial evaluation for those events.

In fact, the only non-NHL player on Canada’s tournament-opening roster will be in the league next season. That’s presumptive 2024 first-overall pick Macklin Celebrini, who continues his 2023-24 campaign after taking home the Hobey Baker Award for the top collegiate player in his freshman season with Boston University. Their offense is highlighted and led by Blackhawks rookie phenom Connor Bedard and Kraken sniper Jared McCann, while Sabres defenders Bowen Byram and Owen Power highlight the back end. Blues netminder Jordan Binnington is expected to serve as the team’s starter.

The full roster is as follows:

F Connor Bedard (Blackhawks)
F Michael Bunting (Penguins)
F Macklin Celebrini (2024 draft-eligible)
F Dylan Cozens (Sabres)
F Adam Fantilli (Blue Jackets)
F Ridly Greig (Senators)
F Dylan Guenther (NHL Utah)
F Andrew Mangiapane (Flames)
F Jack McBain (NHL Utah)
F Jared McCann (Kraken)
F Dawson Mercer (Devils)
F Brandon Tanev (Kraken)

D Bowen Byram (Sabres)
D Kaiden Guhle (Canadiens)
D Jamie Oleksiak (Kraken)
D Colton Parayko (Blues)
D Owen Power (Sabres)
D Damon Severson (Blue Jackets)
D Olen Zellweger (Ducks)

G Jordan Binnington (Blues)
G Nico Daws (Devils)
G Joel Hofer (Blues)

Snapshots: Binnington, All-Star Game, Woll

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The Department of Player Safety announced today that they have fined St.Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington a total of $5,000 for high-sticking Nashville Predators forward Luke Evangelista in last night’s game between the two teams. The fine was the maximum financial punishment allowable in the current Collective Bargaining Agreement.

During the play in question, as Evangelista was making his way behind Binnington and the Blues’ net, Binnington raised the butt-end of his stick to meet Evangelista’s face. There was a high-sticking penalty called on the play, and Binnington did appear apologetic to Evangelista after, but the Department of Player Safety did not feel that the original punishment sufficed.

This will mark the first fine that Binnington has faced throughout his career. In a matchup against the Minnesota Wild last March, Binnington was handed a two-game suspension for attempting to incite the Wild bench, leading to an in-game ejection.

Other snapshots:

  • During the Stadium Series game between the New York Islanders and New York Rangers, the Islanders announced that they would be hosting the 2026 NHL All-Star Game at UBS Arena. It will mark the first time since 1983 that the Islanders are set to host the mid-season festivities, with this also being the first time that All-Star weekend will be hosted by UBS. Furthermore, this report confirms that the NHL is planning for players to be involved in both the All-Star Game and the 2026 Winter Olympics.
  •  Not playing since early December due to a high-ankle sprain, Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Joseph Woll is not close to returning according to Jonas Siegel of The Athletic. In the meantime, the tandem of Ilya Samsonov and Martin Jones has produced a 16-10-4 record in his absence but has only managed a .891 save percentage.

Afternoon Snapshots: Perunovich, Binnington, Skinner, Three Stars

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St. Louis Blues defenseman Scott Perunovich underwent an MRI on Monday for the lower-body injury he suffered in St. Louis’ Sunday night win over the Los Angeles Kings. Team reporter Lou Korac shares that Perunovich will be out on Tuesday but that the team is hoping the All-Star Break will be enough time for Perunovich to recover.

Perunovich has appeared in 31 games this season, netting 12 assists, six penalty minutes, and -4. The 25-year-old also played in 19 games and recorded six assists in the 2020-21 season, though he’s still searching for the first goal of his career. The oft-injured defender missed the majority of last season with a fractured shoulder that required surgery in October. His only action was 22 AHL games, where he scored two goals and 20 points.

The Blues have recalled Tyler Tucker from his conditioning stint in the AHL to replace Perunovich. Tucker appeared in six games with the Springfield Thunderbirds, recording no points, six penalty minutes, and a +2. He’s also managed two points and 22 penalty minutes in 15 NHL games this season

Other notes from around the league:

  • Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman shared on the recent 32 Thoughts Podcast that Jordan Binnington would be a top starting goaltender option for Team Canada, sharing, “Someone was saying to me the other day, if Canada was playing Game 1 of the World Cup right now… Jordan Binnington would be in the conversation to be your starter.” Friedman also mentioned Stuart Skinner as a second option. Binnington and Skinner have both gone through ups and downs throughout their careers but boast winning pedigrees, with Skinner winning the WHL championship in 2018 and Binnington winning the OHL championship in 2011 and Stanley Cup in 2019. Both were also runners-up for the Calder Trophy in their rookie seasons. They have each played in 34 games this season, with Skinner managing 23 wins a .910 save percentage while Binnington has 17 wins and a .907 save percentage.
  • The NHL has announced their ‘Three Stars of the Week’ for the last full week of January. Matthew Tkachuk wins Third Star with eight points, split evenly, in four games; Connor McDavid gets the Second Star by matching Tkachuk’s stat line in just three games; and Nikita Kucherov takes the First Star with four goals and nine points in just three games. The hot week brought Kucherov’s scoring totals up to a league-leading – and frankly dazzling – 85 points in 49 games.

Which Coaches Could Be On The Hot Seat?

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There is an expression in sports that coaches are hired to be fired. It is certainly true in hockey, particularly in the summer. This past summer the NHL saw six coaching changes, in the summer of 2022 there were 10. While it is commonplace for teams to make a coaching change after a disappointing season, there is always the possibility of an in-season move to give a jolt to an underperforming hockey team. The Pittsburgh Penguins did it twice in 2009 and 2016 where they made an in-season coaching change and found themselves lifting the Stanley Cup at the end of the season. The same goes for the St. Louis Blues who went through a similar fate in 2019 with Craig Berube at the helm under an interim head coach tag.

Given that the in-season coaching change is possible. Let’s look at which NHL coaches could be on the hot seat this year should their team falter.

D.J. Smith – Ottawa Senators head coach Smith hasn’t had a lot of success in Canada’s capital city. As Steve Warne wrote in The Hockey News back in May, 11 other head coaches have been both hired and fired since Smith took over behind the Senators bench. Ottawa has been incredibly patient with Smith and their rebuilding club given that they have yet to experience any regular season success a half-decade into the rebuild. Many fans in Ottawa were calling for Smith’s job last season, but general manager Pierre Dorion elected to keep his bench boss for the time being. As Adam Proteau wrote in The Hockey News this past month, the new ownership group in Ottawa will be looking for quick results this upcoming season. One must believe that if Ottawa struggles out of the gate this season or appears destined to miss the playoffs by mid-season, Smith could be the first coach to be let go.

Craig Berube – As mentioned above Berube was brought in by St. Louis as a mid-season replacement and led the Blues to their first Stanley Cup in franchise history. Since that cup victory, the Blues have just one playoff series win and are coming off a year in which they missed the playoffs. While the blame doesn’t rest squarely on Berube, he did appear at times to be increasingly frustrated with starting netminder Jordan Binnington and he seemed to be unable to answer for some of the problems plaguing St. Louis last season. A fresh start should do Berube well this season, but if the team stumbles out of the gate once again all bets will be off. Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic doesn’t believe Berube will be fired, but he also doesn’t rule it out depending on how the team fares this upcoming season.

Mike Sullivan – Sullivan is a two-time Stanley Cup champion as a head coach and has cemented his legacy in the city of Pittsburgh regardless of how his relationship one day ends with the Penguins. While there were many calls last season to relieve Sullivan of his duties, Penguins ownership had little desire to move on from the 55-year-old. Last year the Penguins missed the playoffs for the first time since 2006, but in the eyes of ownership, it appears that failure rests squarely on the previous management group. The Fenway Sports Group has already shown a lot of faith in Sullivan by extending him prior to the expiration of his current contract and by heavily involving him in the search for the team’s next general manager. At this time, it seems unlikely that Sullivan would be removed unless the Penguins absolutely collapse during the regular season.

While this list is hardly exhaustive, it does give a snapshot of which coaches have had their names bandied about as possible in-season coaching changes. D.J. Smith certainly seems like the likeliest candidate given that he is the only name on the list without a Stanley Cup to his name. But Stanley Cup-winning head coaches have been fired before, and no coach is above being fired no matter how good their track record is.

Free Agent Profile: Jaroslav Halak

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Jaroslav Halak has been on quite the journey since he led the Montreal Canadiens to back-to-back playoff upsets of the President’s Trophy winning Washington Capitals and defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins back in 2010. Halak was so effective in that run to the Conference Finals that many Canadiens fans wanted the team to keep him and trade his partner, Carey Price. Montreal opted to keep Price and shipped Halak to the St. Louis Blues for a package that included Lars Eller.

The early returns in St. Louis were good as Halak was solid in his first season with the Blues and even better in year two when he and Brian Elliott won the William M. Jennings Trophy for the fewest goals against in the league. That year Halak also garnered Vezina Trophy votes and ultimately finished sixth in voting as he sported a stellar .926 save percentage and a 1.97 goals-against average.

Eventually, the shine wore off in St. Louis and Halak lost the net to Elliot and was traded to the Washington Capitals midway through the 2013-14 campaign. He played well for the Capitals in limited action but the team ultimately missed the playoffs.

That summer, the Bratislava, Czechoslovakia native signed a four-year deal with the New York Islanders with an annual cap hit of $4.5M. The Islanders received excellent goaltending from Halak in his first season with the team as he went 38-17-4 with a .914 save percentage and a 2.43 goals-against average. In fact, through his first three years on Long Island Halak posted a save percentage above .910 every year, and kept his quality starts percentage over 50%, which means his save percentage was above the average more often than not.

It was in the final year of his contract with the Islanders that the cracks started to show in Halak’s game as he struggled in 2017-18 and posted the worst numbers of his career up to that point with a .908 save percentage and a 3.19 goals-against average.

Understanding that his days as a starter were likely ending, Halak signed a two-year deal with the Boston Bruins to back-up Tuukka Rask. Halak ended up playing in almost half of Boston’s games that year and outplayed Rask for large portions of the season in what was one of the best years of Halak’s career as he went 22-11-4 with a save percentage of .922 and a goals-against average of 2.34. Halak would win another Jennings Trophy the following year posting a .919 save percentage in what was another fantastic campaign for the netminder. That season in Boston, the 2019-20 campaign is the last time that Halak has posted a save percentage over .910.

Since the 2019-20 season, Halak hasn’t been able to be counted on to provide consistent play. Halak hasn’t started more than 25 games in the past three seasons, and although that isn’t entirely his fault thanks to injuries and a pandemic, he has been a tick below average when he has played.

At 38-years-old Halak and 17 seasons into his career, Halak has a lot of miles on his body, but he did indicate a month ago that he would like to continue playing. Halak reportedly talked about an extension with the New York Rangers prior to free agency, but ultimately the Rangers decided to sign Jonathan Quick to be their backup, which is a definite downgrade from Halak at this point. Halak needs just five wins to reach 300 and given his track record he should be presented soon with an opportunity to be a backup next season.

Stats

2022-23: 25 GP, 10-9-5, 2.72 GAA, .903 SV%, 1 SO
Career: 581 GP, 295-189-69, 2.50 GAA, .915 SV%, 53 SO 

Potential Suitors

At Halak’s age he probably isn’t looking to get pummeled with fifty shots every night which means we can likely filter out any rebuilding teams. At first glance, the New Jersey Devils and St. Louis Blues are two teams who have a need for depth in net.

The Devils are a team that feels like they are on the cusp of building something great, their defense is mobile and quick, they can push the pace and defend. Their forward group is skilled, fast, and comes at you in waves. But goaltending is their Achilles heel. The Devils have reportedly shown interest in several goaltending options including Connor Hellebuyck and John Gibson, but both of those goaltenders would require large commitments that the Devils might not want to make. But the Devils do need some help in the crease as they will once again enter this season relying on the tandem of Vitek Vanecek and Akira Schmid. Both goaltenders are relatively inexperienced, and while they backed the Devils to the second round of the playoffs last season, they might need an extra set of hands to get the club there again. Neither Schmid, nor Vanecek have a history of playing at a high level in the NHL for an extended period, which means that even a league-average goaltender like Halak could give a big boost to the team’s depth chart and offer up a solution should either man falter.

For the St. Louis Blues, they’ve made some interesting moves over the past year but haven’t done much to address their goaltending. It’s fair to say that the Blues goaltending was porous last season. Jordan Binnington, now in the third year of a six-year $36MM contract, hasn’t been good in two seasons posting a 45-41-10 regular season record, with a 3.24 goals-against average and a .897 SV%. If you take a deep dive into his numbers the picture gets even worse, in the last two seasons Binnington has posted a minus-26.6 GSAA, meaning that he gave up almost 27 goals more than the average NHL goalie would on the same number of shots. Couple this with St. Louis deciding to run with rookie Joel Hofer as a backup and you have a potential recipe for disaster for the Blues. No disrespect to Hofer, who had a terrific year with the Springfield Thunderbirds last season in the AHL, but he is inexperienced and is no guarantee to step up should Binnington falter for a third year in a row. Adding a netminder like Halak might give the Blues a good safety net in case one of their two goaltenders were to struggle or get hurt. He wouldn’t cost anything in the way of assets and could give the Blues some peace of mind.

Projected Contract

A month ago, it seemed like a sure thing that Halak would get a one-year NHL deal for a bit over $1MM. Now a month into free agency, I’m not so sure. I think that barring an off-season training injury before training camps open, Halak will have to settle for a number three role on a team with good depth in net, or a PTO. The experienced veteran would provide a good fallback option in a pinch and can give guidance to younger goalies who might be ahead of him on the depth chart.

I’d be surprised at this point if Halak got over $1MM on his next contract, however, with that being said, injuries can create urgency quickly, especially in net. Halak could be the first netminder who gets a call from a team with thin goalie depth after they get stung by the injury bug. Even if this were to happen, Halak is like to end up with a six-figure deal.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Thomas Greiss Out For The Rest Of The Season

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The St. Louis Blues have announced that goaltender Thomas Greiss will be out for the remainder of the season with a lower body injury. Greiss played in 21 games for the Blues and will finish the season with a 7-10-0 record to go with a .895 save percentage and a 3.64 GAA. He underwent a procedure this past Monday and it was being speculated that it would sideline him until the end of the year.

Greiss was signed in the offseason as a backup to Jordan Binnington and struggled in his first season with the Blues. It was his 14th season in the NHL and his second season in a row where he put up a save percentage under .900.

Greiss had a tremendous five year run with the New York Islanders from 2015-2020 which saw him win 101 games and put-up a save percentage of .915. However, by the time Greiss signed in St. Louis late last summer there was talk that he nearly retired due to a lack of interest in his services.

Now given his struggles the past two seasons it seems possible that the 37-year-old could hang up his skates after this season. It’ll be interesting to see what Greiss does, there remains a possibility that he could still find work as a backup, given how thin the free agent goaltending market will be this summer.

Robert Thomas Back Skating With St. Louis Blues

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Some good news for the St. Louis Blues as they enter the final week of the regular season. Lou Korac of NHL.com is reporting that Robert Thomas is back skating today at the team’s optional skate. Thomas has missed the last five games with an upper body injury but took a step towards returning as he did some drills with Blues assistant coach Steve Ott this morning.

Thomas had started to heat up just before his injury with three points in the two games prior to getting hurt. Before that he had been on a cold streak going pointless in four straight. Thomas has been streaky this year putting up points in bunches and then going cold for a handful of games. Despite this, he still has 19 goals and 63 points in 70 games this year.

The Blues have just three games left in the regular season, so it is not yet known whether Thomas will return before the Blues play game 82. St. Louis is already officially eliminated from the playoffs so there is little rush to bringing him back too soon, especially with his eight year $65MM dollar extension kicking in next season.

St. Louis will be an interesting team to watch this offseason. The team has been visibly frustrated with the play of goaltender Jordan Binnington, their defense is old and could use an injection of youth, and they’ve got a solid group of forwards led by Thomas and Jordan Kyrou. They aren’t that far removed from their 2019 Stanley Cup and will likely be looking to push for the playoffs again in 2023-24.

Jordan Binnington Suspended Two Games By NHL

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St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington has been suspended for two games by the NHL Department of Player Safety for roughing/unsportsmanlike conduct against Minnesota Wild forward Ryan Hartman.

In a video explaining the suspension, the incident is described as follows:

With Binnington in net, Hartman scores a power play goal to put the Wild up 5-4. On the way to celebrate the goal with his teammates, he makes light, incedental contact with Binnington, who was sliding out of his crease and towards Hartman. With the play long over, and as the Wild celebrate their goal, Binnington leaves the area of his crease, approaches the unsuspecting Hartman and his teammates, raises his blocker and stick to head level, and strikes Hartman in the face with the blocker.

The reason for the play resulting in suspension is the fact Binnington used his blocker in such a manner, the fact it was in retaliation following a goal, how hard he hit Hartman and the fact it was in the head, as well as the fact the incident occurred after Minnesota had taken the lead.

This is the first time Binnington has been suspended, and he has never been fined by the NHL.

Binnington, 29, has been shaky this season for the Blues, with a .892 save percentage and 3.39 GAA in 52 games played. The Blues have entered a new era, having traded longtime franchise pillar Vladimir Tarasenko and captain and 2019 Conn Smythe Trophy winner Ryan O’Reilly.

The Blues sit in sixth place in the Central Division, only ahead of the lowly Arizona Coyotes and Chicago Blackhawks.

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