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Radim Vrbata

Coyotes Nearing A One Year Deal With Radim Vrbata

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11:45am: ESPN’s Craig Custance reports that the deal will carry a base salary of $1MM while Morgan adds that bonuses for games played, goals, points, and playoff incentives could make the contract worth as much as $3MM.

August 14: According to Craig Morgan of AZ Central, Arizona is nearing a one year contract with unrestricted free agent right winger Radim Vrbata.  Morgan notes that the deal could be announced Monday.

The deal would mark a return to a familiar team for the 35 year old as he has two prior stints with the Coyotes.  He spent the 2007-08 season there and then rejoined them two years later, spending another five seasons with the team.  Overall, he has played in 428 games for that franchise, scoring 137 goals and 151 assists, posting his highest goals per game and points per game rate compared to his time with other teams.

Vrbata is coming off his worst season in over a decade.  Last year with the Canucks, he recorded just 27 points (13-14-27) in 63 games while posting an awful -30 plus/minus rating.  His struggles came as quite the surprise as the year before that, he had a career year with Vancouver, collecting 31 goals and 32 assists in 79 games.

Vrbata would provide another veteran presence up front for Arizona, a team that is expected to have several young forwards in its core next season.  It would also provide them with some insurance in case they are unable to come to terms with RFA Tobias Rieder, who reportedly is at least mulling over the idea of playing in the KHL next season.

[Related: Coyotes’ Depth Chart]

We ranked Vrbata 27th in our Top 50 UFA list back in June.  We had him pegged for a one year, $3.7MM deal at that time but this contract appears to have come in well below that.

Top Five Remaining Unrestricted Free Agents

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Back in June, we posted our Top 50 Unrestricted Free Agents. Since then, we’ve seen 38 of our top 50 have signed in the NHL, Brad Richards and Dan Boyle retired, and Kris Versteeg signed in Europe. There are nine players from our list still unsigned.

Let’s take a look at the Top Five UFAs still unsigned:

1. Jiri Hudler (18) – PHR originally predicted a four-year, $16MM contract with New Jersey. While 46 points is still solid for a 32-year-old, Hudler is two years removed from a 76-point, Lady Byng-winning campaign, so the perception is that he’s on the decline. Meanwhile, the Devils traded for Taylor Hall and therefore weren’t looking for another scoring winger. Hudler still offers value for teams looking for a possession positive, offensive winger. Teams have to decide if they’re acquiring the 46-point Hudler, or the 76-point one. Look for a one-year contract in the range of $1MM.

2. James Wisniewski (NR) – Back on June 21 when we posted the original Top 50, Wisniewski was still a member of the Carolina Hurricanes. He was bought out by the Hurricanes on June 30 after playing just 0:47 seconds with them after tearing his ACL on his first shift. We profiled Wisniewski further here. He’s an offensively skilled, right-handed defenseman which has value, but teams will be wary of giving him anything more than a tryout at training camp or one year for cheap.

3. Brandon Pirri (NR) – Similar to Wisniewski, Pirri was not on our original list because he was property of the Anaheim Ducks. However, the Ducks chose not to offer Pirri a qualifying offer, despite him being an offensively talented winger; the budget Ducks likely wanted to avoid heading to arbitration. Pirri is an interesting player, and two years removed from a Cy Young caliber season with 22 goals and 2 assists. He could be an option for teams like the Oilers to upgrade on Nail Yakupov. Look for him to get a one or two year deal in the $1-2MM range, depending on the situation.

4 . Radim Vrbata (27) – Vrbata is coming off a terrible season with just 27 points in 63 games. However, like Hudler, he’s two years removed from a tremendous season, putting up 31 goals and 63 points. Some talk was made around the trade deadline about the Canucks not getting a single concrete trade offer for Vrbata. We originally predicted a one-year, $3.7MM contract with the Avalanche. At this point, if Vrbata is going to get any offers, look for similar terms as Wisniewski: PTO or cheap one-year contract in the Sam Gagner range.

5. Alex Tanguay (33) – We predicted Tanguay signing a one-year, $2.5MM contract with Arizona, where he finished last season. Tanguay is getting up there in age (he’ll turn 37 in November), but has shown the ability to perform in a scoring role. He’s not particularly skilled on the defensive or physical sides of the game, but Tanguay would be a decent fit for a team looking for either a short-term upgrade or a bridge player until a prospect is ready. At this point, expect him to attend a training camp on a PTO.

Snapshots: Vrbata, Chipchura, Girgensons, Nesterov, Keller

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Free agent right winger Radim Vrbata appears to be getting closer to signing a contract.  His agent Rich Evans told AZ Sports’ Craig Morgan that they “have been discussing the structure of a contract with four teams and hope to come to an agreement shortly”.  He picked up 13 goals and 14 assists in 63 games with Vancouver last season.  Vrbata ranked 27th on our Top 50 UFA list and while Evans didn’t provide any specifics about which teams he was talking to but we suggested in his free agent profile that the Senators, Hurricanes, Rangers, Ducks, Bruins, and Sabres all could have a spot for him.

More news and notes from around the hockey world:

  • Former first round pick Kyle Chipchura has signed a one year contract with HC Slovan Bratislava, the KHL team announced. He was Montreal’s first round pick in 2004 (18th overall) but didn’t turn into the high end checking center that the Canadiens envisioned.  Chipchura was able to churn out a decent NHL career though, playing in 482 career games with Montreal, Anaheim, and Arizona, collecting 104 points and at just 30 years of age, could potentially earn another NHL deal with a good showing overseas.
  • Zemgus Girgensons’ negotiations with the Sabres on a new deal could prove to be a challenge, writes Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News. Harrington suggests that the 22 year old is likely looking for a two or three year deal but that will be more difficult since he’s coming off a down year.  Last season, Girgensons had career lows across the board with just seven goals and 11 assists in 71 games while seeing his average ice time drop over four minutes from 2014-15.  Buffalo’s $874K qualifying offer to him expired last week.
  • The Russian Ice Hockey Federation announced that Tampa Bay defenseman Nikita Nesterov has been named to Team Russia for the upcoming World Cup. He will replace former Los Angeles rearguard Slava Voynov who was deemed ineligible by the NHL as he remains under indefinite suspension for his arrest on felony domestic violence in late 2014.  Nesterov is the fourth member of the Lightning to be named to the Russian team, joining forwards Nikita Kucherov and Vladislav Namestnikov as well as goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy.
  • One of the bigger off-ice battles has been surrounding Arizona 2016 first round pick Clayton Keller, notes Ryan Kennedy of The Hockey News. He has committed to Boston University of the NCAA but the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires hold his junior rights and are trying to entice him to forego school and go there instead.  Kennedy reports that at this stage, Keller is intent on sticking to his college commitment but as we’ve seen in past years, things can change in a hurry in these recruitment battles.

Free Agent Profile: Radim Vrbata

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Two years ago, right winger Radim Vrbata was one of the more sought after forwards on the free agent market.  This summer, he has more or less been an afterthought through the first week.  Here is a closer look at his free agent situation.

Vrbata signed a two year deal with the Canucks in the summer of 2014 with the hopes that he could be a reliable scoring winger to play with the Sedin twins.  For the first year of that contract, he did exactly that, scoring 31 goals and 32 assists for a career high in points with 63.  Unfortunately for Vrbata and the Canucks, 2015-16 was an entirely different story.

Last season, he collected just 13 goals and 14 assists in 63 games while missing some time with a pair of lower body injuries.  Those 27 points were his lowest since 2003-04 while his -30 plus/minus rating was second worst in the entire NHL.  Between his struggles and a $5MM contract, Vancouver was unable to find a taker for him at the trade deadline.

Teams will now be wondering if last season was a sign of things to come or just an off year.  At 35 years of age, it’s certainly possible to think that he won’t be able to get back to his top line form.  On the other hand, he has averaged greater than half a point per game for six straight years before last season so there’s a case to be made that his track record suggests he’s worth another shot.

Potential Suitors

At this stage of his career, no one is mistaking Vrbata for a top line forward.  He’s one of those players who profiles as a second/third liner that can play on a power play.  Montreal showed considerable interest in him two years ago but likely doesn’t have enough money to sign him without having to make a trade beforehand.  Teams like the Senators, Hurricanes, Rangers, Ducks, Bruins, and Sabres all have the cap space and a potential roster spot for a player like Vrbata but so far, no specific team has been reported to show interest in him.

Projected Contract

Vrbata ranked 27th on our Top 50 UFA list and we had projected that he wouldn’t have much difficulty getting a deal as one of the secondary scorers in free agency.  Obviously, that didn’t happen so our projection of $3.7MM on a one year deal is probably going to be too high.  A one year contract remains likely though given his inconsistency from last season and the fact a multi-year deal would trigger the 35+ clause similar to what the Red Wings had to deal with when it came to Pavel Datsyuk’s retirement.

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