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Scott Darling

Scott Darling Released From AHL PTO

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The Rockford IceHogs have released veteran goaltender Scott Darling from his AHL professional tryout after he played just a single game with the team. The 32-year-old allowed five goals on 27 shots earlier this month, good for an .815 save percentage.

It’s not exactly clear where Darling goes from here. He had been in NHL training camp with the Florida Panthers, but failed to receive a contract there too, and even struggled during his time in the Austrian league last season. While he obviously wants to keep playing, it might be the end of the line for the Stanley Cup champion.

Darling won that championship with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2015 after bursting into the league as an elite backup. He put up a .936 save percentage through 19 appearances that season, including five playoff games. Two more strong seasons as the backup in Chicago led to a four-year, $16.6MM deal to be the new starter in Carolina, but he would play just one season with the team before ending up in the minor leagues and eventually bought out.

If it is the end of his NHL career, Darling finishes with a 54-42-18 regular season record, a .908 save percentage, and a 2.72 goals-against average. He won the Stanley Cup and took home a bronze medal at the 2018 World Championship.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Scott Darling Signs AHL PTO

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Scott Darling is still working hard to find a job this season, this time inking a professional tryout agreement with the Rockford IceHogs of the AHL. Darling had previously been in Florida Panthers training camp on an NHL PTO but was released from it just before the season began.

Darling, 32, spent last season playing in Austria after being bought out of his NHL contract, but is back in North America competing to try and get his career back on track. Once one of the most reliable backup goaltenders in the league, he posted a 39-17-9 record over three seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks between 2014-17. After getting a chance to start in Carolina, everything seemed to crumble and Darling was out of the league in less than two seasons.

Perhaps returning to Rockford, where he first impressed the Blackhawks enough to call him up, will be exactly what the veteran goaltender needs to get things moving in the right direction. Darling posted a .927 save percentage in 26 appearances for the IceHogs in 2014-15.

Training Camp Cuts: 1/9/21

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With the start of the season just days away, more teams should be starting to trim their rosters.  We’ll keep tabs on those moves here and update this post throughout the day.

Calgary Flames (per team Twitter and team release)

F Justin Kirkland (to Stockton, AHL)
F Luke Philp (to Stockton, AHL)
D Colton Poolman (to Stockton, AHL)
G Garret Sparks (released from PTO, to Stockton, AHL)
F Eetu Tuulola (to Stockton, AHL)

Edmonton Oilers (per team Twitter)

F Adam Cracknell (to Bakersfield, AHL)*
F Seth Griffith (to Bakersfield, AHL)*
F Cooper Marody (to Bakersfield, AHL)
D Markus Niemelainen (to Bakersfield, AHL)
G Stuart Skinner (to Bakersfield, AHL)
D Ryan Stanton (released from PTO, to Bakersfield, AHL)

*-pending clearing waivers, both will be officially waived on Sunday.

Florida Panthers (per team release)

F Henry Bowlby (to Syracuse, AHL)
G Scott Darling (released from PTO)
F Serron Noel (to Syracuse, AHL)
D Jake Massie (to Syracuse, AHL)
D John Ludvig (to Syracuse, AHL)
D Max Gildon (to Syracuse, AHL)

Vancouver Canucks (per team Twitter)

D Mitch Eliot (to Utica, AHL)

Snapshots: Darling, Power, Reverse Retro

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The Florida Panthers may have some more goaltending competition in training camp (whenever that is), as David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports that Scott Darling has agreed to a professional tryout with the team. Darling, 31, last played in the NHL during the 2018-19 season and spent last year in Austria playing for Innsbruck HC. Once one of the most reliable backups in the league, his play fell off a cliff after signing a multi-year deal with the Carolina Hurricanes.

If Darling has signed a PTO, he would be the first player to do so for the upcoming season, but certainly not the last. The free agent market has come to a screeching halt with teams barely able to afford their own young RFAs, let alone add any money from the open market. That may leave some fringe NHL options without a deal, leaving tryouts their only real option in North America.

  • Hockey Canada has announced that Owen Power will not be released from the University of Michigan hockey program to attend its month-long development camp that starts next week, though this is certainly not a straightforward situation. Just yesterday, as Brad Elliott Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald points out, Michigan agreed to release Power for the tournament, just not in mid-November as their season is about to start. The Wolverines are set to start their schedule on the same day, November 14, as the camp opens. Power, a 17-year-old defenseman that already stands 6’5″ 214-lbs is one of the top prospects eligible for the 2021 draft, but his actual chances of making the Canadian roster already seemed limited given the older, more experienced talent that will be attending the camp.
  • While jersey news certainly isn’t what hockey fans are dying for right now, it doesn’t mean they weren’t excited when they saw Adidas “Reverse Retro” teaser today. Each team in the league will be introducing a jersey from their past, with modern additions for the upcoming season. SportsLogos.net has put together a video breaking down their expectations for each jersey after the teaser came out.

Goalie Notes: Rask, Talbot, Darling

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Cross off one option from the list of potentially available goaltenders. Vezina Trophy runner-up Tuukka Rask isn’t going anywhere. Although Rask opting out of the 2020 postseason raised some questions about his future in Boston, especially with just one year remaining on his current contract, the Bruins reiterated that they expected the elite goaltender to be back with the team next season. Rask himself has now taken control of the narrative, telling Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald that he does not want to play for any team but the Bruins. This would seemingly back up recent rumors that Rask had stated to the Bruins that he would retire if traded. It seems unlikely that the Bruins were pushing too hard to trade Rask anyhow, given that he was statistically the best starting goalie in the NHL this season and the team would struggle to replace him. It’s doubtful that the team would be able to get fair value in any deal for Rask as well. Rask will be back in Boston this year, but beyond 2020-21 remains a mystery.

  • One goalie who will be available is Cam Talbot. Despite an impressive comeback season with the Calgary Flames, the two sides have been unable to agree on terms for an extension. TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reports that talks have broken off for now with the salary gap too far apart. Talbot will test the market and may very well end up elsewhere. Calgary is still in need of a goaltender and could circle back to Talbot if they miss out on bigger free agent or trade targets.
  • An available name getting some surprise attention is Scott Darling. Once one of the top backups in the NHL, Darling’s stint as a starter with the Carolina Hurricanes was an unmitigated disaster and led to a buyout last season and a complete lack of NHL interest. Darling went overseas and joined Austria’s HC Innsbruck of the EBEL. Although his numbers were not all that impressive, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports that there are teams who might be willing to give Darling a second chance. Given the increased importance of goaltending depth in what is expected to be a condensed 2020-21 schedule, an experienced No. 3 like Darling could be valuable.

Scott Darling, Scottie Upshall Sign In Europe

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A pair of veteran NHL players have decided to take offers overseas, as Scott Darling has signed with HC Innsbruck of the Austrian EBEL and Scottie Upshall has inked a deal with HC Ambri-Piotta of the Swiss NLA. Darling’s contract is for the rest of the season, while Upshall is only inked until Christmas.

Once a Stanley Cup champion with the Chicago Blackhawks, Darling’s career quickly unravelled over the last few seasons. A big contract with the Carolina Hurricanes put pressure on him to finally become a starting goaltender in the league, a position he was unable to hold for very long. By the second year of the deal Darling was already buried in the minor leagues, only to see his contract bought out this summer.

The 30-year old should be able to find success in Austria and is still young enough to potentially convince an NHL team he can be a backup again at some point in the future. For now though he’ll have to focus on getting his game back on track.

For Upshall, things are very different. Now 36, he will just try to keep his playing career going for another season after failing to earn a contract despite attending training camp with the Dallas Stars. The sixth-overall pick from 2002 never became a top player in the league, but did suit up for 759 regular season NHL contests. It’s hard to imagine he’ll ever be back, but Upshall has proven his doubters wrong before.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Free Agent Profile: Cam Ward

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Since the unrestricted free agency rush of July 1st subsided, just two NHL goaltenders have been signed off the open market: Anthony Stolarz with the Anaheim Ducks and Jared Coreau with the New York Islanders. That’s two goalie signings in 33 days, making it easily the quietest position of this off-season, despite a major re-shuffling of UFA starters early on and several RFA extensions as well.

Unsurprisingly, several notable names remain available – Scott Darling, Chad Johnson, Mike McKenna, Al Montoya – while Michal Neuvirth has already accepted a PTO. However, one name sticks out above the rest for both his career accomplishments and his meaningful role in 2018-19.

Cam Ward, 35, ventured outside of Carolina last season for the first time in his 14-year NHL career. Ward signed a one-year, $3MM contract with the Chicago Blackhawks last summer and proceeded to play a major tole for the team this past season. Dealing with ongoing issues with starter Corey Crawford, Ward ended up playing in 33 games to Crawford’s 39 and Collin Delia’s 16. Although Ward’s .897 save percentage and 3.67 GAA were the worst among the trio, it was only a marginal gap. The Blackhawks struggled defensively and no goalie was safe, as all three finished with a save percentage below .910 and GAA above 2.90.

Still, Ward cannot have been happy with his results last year. A Stanley Cup winner and former All-Star, Ward was rock solid for the Hurricanes for several years. He thrived early on as a workhorse, including a 2010-11 campaign in which he posted a career-high .923 save percentage in a league-best 74 appearances. He then settled nicely into a timeshare role, posting back-to-back seasons with a 2.40 GAA while playing in around 50 games each year from 2014 to 2016. Even as he continued to age and his numbers slipped slightly, no one could have predicted his pedestrian performance last season. It was a sharp decline from his career numbers that could have been an outlier or could be signaling the end of his career.

One thing that is certainly working against Ward finding work this off-season is the now well-established narrative that he does not play well as a backup. Over his career, Ward has played in four seasons, including last year in Chicago, in which he did not make at least half of his team’s starts. In those three seasons combined, Ward is 49-38-13, with a a save percentage of .895 and a GAA of 3.37. In all of his other seasons combined, Ward has a record of 285-218-75, with a save percentage of .911 and a GAA of 2.63. It is extremely clear that Ward does his best work with regular appearances and any team looking to make the most of signing him will want to offer that opportunity. But does such a landing spot exist?

Potential Suitors

The honest answer is that the team likely to sign Ward, if any, isn’t aware of the need just yet. Ward could very well be a veteran option that a team turns to in case of injury or poor performance that can be a temporary starter. While it’s impossible to project injuries, the New York Rangers have a starter who is even older than Ward and have very little depth behind him. A Henrik Lundqvist injury could certainly turn the Blueshirts on to Ward as an option to step in at starter during a season that brings high expectations to New York. The same could be said for the Vegas Golden Knights, whose 34-year-old starter Marc-Andre Fleury has dealt with injury issues before. Vegas is in better shape with their depth in net and could handle a short absence from Fleury, but without a proven NHL goalie elsewhere on the depth chart, a long-term injury could send them on the hunt for a solution. Despite having both John Gibson and Ryan Miller, the Anaheim Ducks are far from safe when it comes to injury risk and could be an option for Ward if disaster strikes. The Philadelphia Flyers shuffled through goalies like no other team in NHL history last year, so another issue with Brian Elliott could easily have the Flyers intrigued in Ward.

As for teams who risk needing a starter due to poor play, no team jumps out more than the Columbus Blue Jackets. It’s perhaps even fair to call them the most likely landing spot for Ward, as they are sure to go through some bumpy times with their young tandem of former backup Joonas Korpisalo and unproven import Elvis Merzlikins. The team only has more untested foreign talent in the minors as well. The Blue Jackets have ample cap space, so if there was a bidding war for Ward at any point, Columbus would be the favorite to beat out any other team in need of an emergency starter.

If Ward is intent on signing before the season begins though, rather than wait for a need-based market to develop in-season, there are a couple of teams who could still be looking for a backup. Again, that isn’t the ideal role for Ward, but it is one that the respected veteran would likely be willing to try his hand at again. The Florida Panthers spent big on Sergei Bobrovsky this summer, but 22-year-old Samuel Montembeault is slated to be the primary backup heading into next year. He is waiver-exempt still and could head to the AHL without issue if the team opted to look at a veteran backup. However, this doesn’t seem extremely likely, considering their investment in Bobrovsky, who they likely expect to make 65 starts. In Colorado, the Avalanche seemed hesitant to give last year’s third-string, Pavel Francouz, an extended look despite strong numbers in the NHL and AHL. He is now the likely backup to Philipp Grubauer, who himself is still finding his footing as a true starter. The Avs have almost no depth in net and could look to add another name to the mix in Ward.

Projected Contract

Ward has made at least $3MM in each of the past four seasons and more than $6MM on the contract prior to that. Those days are now over. Regardless of the impact that his role or the team’s defense had on his 2018-19 performance in Chicago, Ward has lost his leverage to command a sizable salary after such a poor season. If he is settling in to a backup role before the season, he will almost certainly land somewhere between $1MM and the league minimum of $700K. If he is signing mid-season to take over as a starter or at least in a timeshare, that number could go up, but not much higher. If Ward feels like he has several years left, he will be looking at this season as an investment in future earnings; he will accept a cheap deal to go to the right place where there is the potential to succeed, so as to hit the market next summer with some more bargaining power. The only question is whether that right fit exists, now or down the road after the season begins. Ward could call it a career if no such opportunities arise by the end of the calendar year.

Carolina Hurricanes “Leaning Toward” Scott Darling Buyout

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June 25: The start of the buyout period came and went without Darling’s name on waivers, but today Carolina GM Don Waddell told reporters including Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News & Observer that he is “leaning toward” buying out the veteran goaltender. He would not rule out a trade, but it still sounds like Darling’s time in Carolina is over.

May 19: The Carolina Hurricanes felt they were finally getting the starting goaltender it needed to take the team into the playoffs in 2017 when they traded for immediately signed the Chicago Blackhawks’ backup goalie Scott Darling to a four-year, $16.6MM contract. After two long and disappointing years, it looks like the Hurricanes are ready to pull the plug on the deal as David Pagnotta of the Fourth Period reports that Carolina intends to buy out the netminder when the buyout period opens.

If the Hurricanes do follow through with a buyout, the buyout cap hit would break down like this (according to CapFriendly):

2019-20: $1.233MM
2020-21: $2.333MM
2021-22: $1.183MM
2022-23: $1.183MM

Darling, who was the backup to Corey Crawford during the Blackhawks’ successful playoff runs, was acquired for a third-round pick in 2017. In his final season in Chicago, he posted a 2.37 GAA and a .924 save percentage in 32 games played, but had never served as a starting goalie. However, nothing went right once Darling hit the ice in Carolina. He struggled in his initial season in 2017-18 when he 3.18 GAA and a .888 save percentage in a career-high 43 games. Despite talk during the summer that Darling was committed to conditioning and getting back on track, the Hurricanes choose to claim goaltender Curtis McElhinney off waivers, giving them three goaltenders alongside Darling and Petr Mrazek. The three played in tandem, but Darling only made eight appearances, struggling even more. He finished with a 3.34 GAA and a .884 save percentage, eventually being placed on waivers and sent to the Charlotte Checkers of the AHL in hopes of him regaining his confidence. Instead, he continued to struggle, putting up a 3.40 GAA and a .882 save percentage in 14 appearances there, prompting the goaltender to take a leave of absence in which he never returned.

If the Hurricanes do buyout Darling, it will have to sign another goaltender before July 1 as teams need to have three goaltenders under contract, according to the CBA. At the moment, the team only has two goaltenders under contract, including Jeremy Helvig and Callum Booth, neither of which are in their 2018-19 plans. McElhinney and Mrazek are both slated to become unrestricted free agents, while AHL star Alex Nedeljkovic will be a restricted free agent this summer.

Carolina Hurricanes Hope To Keep Both Mrazek, McElhinney

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Heading into the 2018-19 season, many questions were raised about the goaltending situation for the Carolina Hurricanes. The team had watched Scott Darling struggle mightily in the first year of his four-year $16.6MM deal, and made moves to insulate him with other veteran goaltenders. Petr Mrazek was signed to a one-year $1.5MM deal after he failed to receive a qualifying offer from the Philadelphia Flyers, and just before the season began the team claimed veteran backup Curtis McElhinney from the Toronto Maple Leafs. That duo would end up being the team’s full-time tandem during the season after Darling was quickly buried in the minor leagues.

In the playoffs, Mrazek would start and play well for the team before eventually relinquishing the role to McElhinney. Both men weren’t good enough to stop the bleeding against the powerhouse Boston Bruins, but their performance in getting the Hurricanes to an Eastern Conference Final was still admirable. Unfortunately, both are scheduled for unrestricted free agency this summer. It’s not clear what their camps are thinking, but Hurricanes GM Don Waddell made his intentions clear today when he told reporters including Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News & Observer that Carolina’s goal was to bring back both Mrazek and McElhinney next season. Waddell also said there was no decision yet on whether to buy out Darling’s contract, despite the recent reports.

Trying to retain the pair makes sense on the surface. Mrazek posted a .914 save percentage in the regular season and went 23-14-3 for the team, while McElhinney continued his late-career renaissance with a 20-11-2 record and .912 save percentage. Both of those were leagues better than Darling has been since joining Carolina, and gave the team a reliable backbone in their Stanley Cup chase.

Still, they certainly also bring some risk. McElhinney will turn 36 on Thursday and has never played more than 33 games in a single season, which he did this year. Though he has been excellent for both Toronto and Carolina, the entire body of work—which also includes stops in Columbus, Calgary, Anaheim, Ottawa and Phoenix—is less attractive. Mrazek meanwhile has been one of the most frustratingly inconsistent goaltenders in the league since debuting in 2013 for the Detroit Red Wings. Showing flashes of absolute brilliance mixed with long stretches of poor play, committing long-term to him is only possible if you believe he has turned a corner. His overall performance in the playoffs, in which he posted just an .894 save percentage, should at least make the Hurricanes question that.

Obviously, either player could also decide to wait until July 1st and see what other offers they receive. Carolina also has young goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic waiting in the wings, fresh off a Goaltender of the Year award in the AHL. Nedeljkovic posted a .916 for the powerhouse Charlotte Checkers, and has a 6-2 record in the postseason. If the team can’t retain one or both of their free agent goaltenders, Nedeljokic could potentially step into an NHL role next season, though goaltending depth is obviously extremely important for a team with their eyes on the Stanley Cup.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Carolina Hurricanes’ Scott Darling To Take Leave of Absence

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It looks like the struggles of goaltender Scott Darling aren’t ending anytime soon. Carolina Hurricanes general manager Don Waddell said that the goaltender, currently with the Charlotte Checkers in the AHL, has taken a “personal leave of absence,” and has asked for some time off through his agent, according to News & Observer’s Chip Alexander.

Darling “from a mental standpoint needs to regroup, basically,” said Waddell.

Darling’s career has gone downhill ever since he was acquired back in the summer of 2017 in a trade with the Chicago Blackhawks when Darling was one of the top backups in the league when he posted a 2.38 GAA and a .924 save percentage for a dominant Blackhawks’ squad. He was brought in to be the team’s No. 1 goaltender and rewarded with a four-year, $16.6MM contract, but he struggled right out of the gate and finished the 2017-18 season with a 3.18 GAA and a .888 save percentage in 43 games, eventually losing his job to Cam Ward.

Despite that rough season, Darling was reportedly working hard during the offseason to regain his form and came into camp in great shape. However, he didn’t fare any better and failed to get his career back track, putting up a 3.34 GAA and an .884 save percentage in eight games before the team placed him on waivers on Nov. 29, sending him to Charlotte. The 30-year-old has struggled there as well. In 14 games with the Checkers, he has a 3.40 GAA and an .882 save percentage.

 

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