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Vladimir Sobotka

Snapshots: Maple Leafs, Sobotka, Spooner

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The Toronto Maple Leafs made their intentions clear this season as they added playoff-tested Brian Boyle to the mix for their playoff push. Not expected to compete for the Atlantic crown this year they find themselves just seven points back of Montreal with two games in hand. Kristen Shilton of TSN spoke to Mike Babcock about the addition, and he said the team deserves this. “We’re excited. Lou thought our group had earned the right for us to help them,” Babcock said, before indicating that Boyle will play tonight on the fourth line and help out both special teams.

TSN’s Bob McKenzie thinks that it’s not just Boyle that the Maple Leafs are after, and that they may use their LTIR space to facilitate other deals. The Leafs have a lot of cap space because of the dead contracts they’ve taken on over the past few years, and could use it to gather assets from teams looking to add at the deadline. They have to be careful though, as the bonuses that Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander (among others) are owed on their entry-level contracts cannot be covered by the LTIR space and would count as penalties next season should they put them over the cap.

  • McKenzie also detailed the possibility of Vladimir Sobotka turning heads at some point tomorrow, as the Omsk Avangard winger is nearing the end of his KHL contract. It’s not clear if Sobotka would consider coming over after his season ends, but would be playoff eligible. Lou Korac of NHL.com asked Blues GM Doug Armstrong about the possibility, who responded: “Once he gets on our soil, then I’ll talk about him.” The 29-year old Sobotka has been a pain in Armstrong’s side for a long time.
  • In a new column from Joe Haggerty of CSNNE, Ryan Spooner spoke out against his former coach Claude Julien and the tense relationship the two shared. Spooner claims that Julien “just didn’t really trust [him]”, and that the two never saw eye to eye on his play style. Spooner has 33 points in 61 games and is well on his way to another 40+ point season before he’s 26. If he’s not dealt in the next few months, he’ll be looking for a big upgrade in the summer on the $950K he’s currently earning.

Latest On Vladimir Sobotka

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Vladimir Sobotka is continuing to try to get out of his KHL contract in the hopes of rejoining St. Louis at some point this season, reports Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.  However, a major hurdle to clear at this time appears to be the disappearance of the out clause from his KHL deal.

GM Doug Armstrong noted that Sobotka signed a renegotiated contract at the time of the collapse of the Russian ruble to guarantee him more money.  The new deal did not contain an NHL out clause, something that may not have been communicated to him when he signed it.

For the time being, Sobotka has reported to Avangard Omsk after representing the Czech Republic at the World Cup of Hockey and is skating with the team although he has yet to suit up in a game.

The potential still exists for the 29 year old center to buy his way out of the final year of his contract but doing so would basically mean that he would be playing for free this season.  Sobotka is earning $4MM with Omsk but the team is requesting a two-thirds buyout, meaning that he would have to pay them $2.68MM to get out of the deal.  His NHL salary with the Blues would be $2.725MM (based on an arbitration award from 2014), meaning that he’d effectively be playing for a salary of $45K if he were to return to St. Louis this year.  To put that in perspective, the NHL minimum salary this season is $575K; the AHL minimum is also $45K.

The NHL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement does not permit the Blues to pay any portion of the buyout while they are also not allowed to renegotiate his current contract to pay him a higher salary to offset the buyout either.  One option that could exist in a few months would be a contract extension as an enticement to leave Omsk midseason.  However, as Sobotka is on a one year deal, the CBA blocks teams and players from signing extensions until January 1st.

In the meantime, the Blues are left with a hole to fill in their roster as they had kept a spot open for Sobotka, who had 33 points in just 61 games in his last NHL season.  They have just shy of $4MM in cap space to work with according to Cap Friendly which gives them some wiggle room although they will need to conserve some of that if they do manage to bring him back later on in the year.

Vladimir Sobotka Likely Remaining In KHL

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After a long fight over Vladimir Sobotka and where he’ll spend his playing days this season, it appears that he’s made a decision. Avangard Omsk has released that the St. Louis Blues forward will report to their camp on Wednesday, and play this season in the KHL.

Both St. Louis and Omsk had previously claimed that they had valid contracts with the 29-year old, making this release at least a touch suspect. We’ve been burned before by reports out of Russia, even from the teams themselves.

For what it’s worth, Aivis Kalnins also hears that Sobotka will be remaining in the KHL, although it’s unclear whether he’s just going off the same release.

If all of this becomes a reality, the Blues will once again miss out on bringing back the former fourth-round pick who has developed into a legitimate offensive weapon. Sobotka put up 33 points in his final NHL season, and has had two successful campaigns in Russia, putting up 38 and 34 points in much shorter seasons.

The Blues will need to find some secondary scoring somewhere else this season, after also losing David Backes to free agency this summer. Omsk, on the other hand, will use Sobotka in a similar scoring role and on the powerplay.

Blues Notes: Shattenkirk, Sobotka, Perron

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While defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk remains in St. Louis, there were discussions about moving him to Edmonton in exchange for Taylor Hall in the offseason, reports Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.  However, Shattenkirk was unwilling to sign a contract extension as part of the agreement which nixed the trade.  Hall, meanwhile, was later dealt to New Jersey in exchange for blueliner Adam Larsson.

With no trade on the horizon, Shattenkirk will now be asked to fill a leadership role with the Blues after being named one of four alternate captains last month.  Head coach Ken Hitchcock isn’t worried about all the rumors being any sort of distraction:

“We talked about, ‘Can he put everything behind him to become a leader? Where things go at the end of the year is out of our reach as a coaching staff. But we need to know how locked in you are … and he said he’s very locked in and wants to have a hell of a year. That’s when we put him in the leadership position.”

As a pending UFA following the season, Shattenkirk acknowledges the questions will be there throughout the season unless a trade or extension gets worked out:

“This is something that I think is going to go on all year, it’s always a story that people are going to run with. But for me, I can only control what I do on the ice and if I’m giving 100 percent out there, whatever happens, happens. I can control it to a certain point, but if something is going to go down, it’s going to go down.”

Shattenkirk is set to earn $4.25MM this season and is expected to receive a sizable raise on his next deal.

Other news out of St. Louis:

  • There appears to be no immediate resolution to the Vladimir Sobotka saga with both the Blues and Avangard Omsk claiming they have a valid contract for him for this season. Jeff Gordon, also of the Post-Dispatch, opines that one way or another, the process has dragged on far enough and that an answer needs to be given shortly.  GM Doug Armstrong kept enough room under the salary cap to be able to fit in his $2.725MM deal but Gordon notes that the team will likely want to make a move to take his place should Sobotka remain in the KHL.
  • David Perron, who started his career in St. Louis, told Jose de Jesus Ortiz of the Post-Dispatch that he kept in touch with Hitchcock over the last few years and that they’d often meet for a half an hour or longer each time Perron’s teams (Edmonton, Pittsburgh, and Anaheim) came to town. Those talks likely played a role in their decision to bring Perron back on a two year, $7.5MM contract in July.  Perron is expected to play a top six role for the Blues after the team lost David Backes to Boston and Troy Brouwer to Calgary in free agency.

Snapahots: Gibbons, Lindback, Sobotka

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The New Jersey Devils have extended PTO agreements to veteran goaltender Anders Linback – per Henrik Sjoberg of Sport Expressen (link in Swedish) – and speedy forward Brian Gibbons – via tweet from the Devils PR department. The two will attend camp with the Devils in search of an NHL job.

Lindback has led a nomadic NHL career to date. He has already suited up for five different franchises in his six-year career, including four in the last three seasons. He was originally a seventh-round draft choice of Nashville, with whom he spent the first two years of his NHL career. In an ultimately one-sided move, Lindback was acquired from Nashville by Tampa Bay in a deal that saw the Lightning give up three draft choices – two seconds and a third.

After two mostly lackluster seasons with the Lightning, Lindback has served as a backup with Dallas, Buffalo and Arizona. Last season with the Coyotes, Lindback appeared in 19 games, starting 13, and posted a GAA of 3.11 and a Save % of 89.4%. Lindback will likely be given a chance to compete with Keith Kinkaid for the #2 job behind Cory Schneider. Kinkaid would seem to have the upper-hand at the outset given his superior career numbers but Lindback could also provide experienced support in the minor leagues.

Gibbons is a diminutive yet quick forward who has so far been unable to earn a regular role in the NHL. Last season was spent in the Rangers organization where he contributed 23 points in 63 games. He’s appeared in a total of 66 NHL contests with Pittsburgh and Columbus where he has combined to score five goals and 22 points while averaging 12:39 of ice time per game. As with Lindback, Gibbons will likely see little NHL action but should serve as a quality organizational depth piece.

Elsewhere in the NHL:

  • Earlier today, PHR provided an update on the status of Vladimir Sobotka, who has been actively seeking to terminate the final season of his KHL deal in order to return to the St. Louis Blues. In a piece appearing on Yahoo Sports, Stephen Whyno has added that Sobotka is no longer confident a resolution will be reached despite talks continuing between the two sides. ”It’s been going on for five months, so I’ve had enough of it. I’m not thinking about it. It’s just getting ready for workouts. I don’t want to think about it anymore.”  Player transfers between the KHL and NHL have often been acrimonious and the guess is Sobotka’s current employer, Avangard Omsk, is seeking some sort of compensation for releasing the player. The Blues have been expecting Sobotka’s return and after losing both David Backes and Troy Brouwer as free agents, they could use the veteran Czech. Still, St. Louis has guarded themselves somewhat by inviting four free agent forwards to camp on a tryout basis. That may well have been done in case there was an issue with Sobotka’s return.

Snapshots: Steen, Ristolainen, Sobotka, Halak, Bobrovsky

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Although he withdrew from the World Cup of Hockey last month, Blues forward Alex Steen is hoping he will be ready to suit up for St. Louis in their season opener on October 12th, reports Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.  Steen stops short of saying he’ll definitely be ready to play against Chicago on opening night but hopes to be ready by then or shortly thereafter:

“(The opener) seems like a realistic target, but we’ll see how it reacts. I haven’t done much. These (practice) skates, there’s not a lot of contact, so we’ll see once we get a little bit of contact. But I think for sure I see myself playing in October.”

Although he won’t be able to play for his native Sweden in the tournament, Steen noted that the goal of being able to play there actually forced him to accelerate his rehab process from his shoulder surgery back in early June.  Without doing so, the chances of him being available to start the season would have been lower.

Steen also denied the speculation that he has given the team an ultimatum to re-sign him before the end of the preseason:

“I don’t know where that surfaced, that’s not something that’s come from me. I want to be in St. Louis and the organization knows that. I’m sure we’ll get to it when we get to it, so we’re not stressed about it. Right now, the whole focus has been on the shoulder, getting that ready and getting the group back together again.”

Steen is entering the final year of his contract, one that carries a cap hit of $5.8MM and a salary of $6.5MM.  He has been in St. Louis since late 2008 when he was acquired from Toronto along with defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo in exchange for right winger Lee Stempniak.

Elsewhere around the league:

  • Buffalo blueliner Rasmus Ristolainen isn’t yet worried that he doesn’t have a new deal with the Sabres, writes Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News. Ristolainen is coming off his entry-level pact which carried a guaranteed salary of just $925K.  He was one of the bigger bargains on the back end last season, one where he had a career high 41 points in 82 games.  Harrington suggests that Ristolainen, who will suit up for Team Finland at the World Cup of Hockey, is seeking a five or six year deal which would cover his remaining restricted free agent years.
  • There is still no deal in place yet to officially allow Vladimir Sobotka to return to St. Louis for the upcoming season, notes ESPN’s Joe MacDonald. The Blues and his KHL team Avangard Omsk as well as his agent are expected to talk during the World Cup to try to come to a resolution.  Sobotka has one year on his deal remaining in Russia but also owes St. Louis one year with a salary of $2.725MM, an arbitration award from back in July of 2014.
  • New York Islanders goaltender Jaroslav Halak has earned the #1 job for Team Europe at the World Cup, head coach Ralph Krueger announced. He beat out Islanders teammate Thomas Greiss and Washington’s Phillip Grubauer for the job.  Team Europe plays their first game of the tournament on Saturday afternoon against Team USA.
  • Columbus Blue Jackets netminder Sergei Bobrovsky will start Team Russia’s first game on Sunday afternoon, reports NHL.com’s Nick Cotsonika.  He beat out Colorado’s Semyon Varlamov and Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy for the start in the opener.  Head coach Oleg Znarok wouldn’t say who he plans to start beyond that and noted that no decisions have been made on what their lineup against Sweden will be.

Central Notes: Landeskog, Sobotka, Wild

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Concussions are a touchy subject in the NHL.  In the older days of the league, players who ‘had their bell rung’ often returned to the game as if nothing had happened.  That mindset has slowly started to change but in a piece penned for The Players’ Tribune, Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog argues that more change is still needed.

Landeskog recalled the concussion that he suffered early in the 2012-13 season and that he felt the pressure to stay the game, something that was exacerbated by the fact he had recently been named the new captain of the team.  Even the following day with the symptoms clearly present, he admitted that he was telling his teammates and the trainer that he was alright even though he clearly wasn’t.

Landeskog notes that there is a culture change in the dressing rooms around the league as more and more players are becoming aware of the significance of concussions.  However, he suggests that associating the common term ‘warrior mentality’ with players who try to play through their head trauma sends the wrong message throughout the sport that those who take the proper time to recover are weak.  There’s no doubt that there is more understanding about the effects of concussions but there is still further progress to be made.

More from the Central Division:

  • Six weeks ago, it was reported that the Blues were expected to bring center Vladimir Sobotka back from the KHL but as of yet, no official announcement has been made. Louis GM Doug Armstrong told ESPN’s Craig Custance that they’re in the process of finalizing the paperwork to make it official.  Sobotka last played in the NHL in 2013-14, picking up 33 points in 61 games.  He will play on a one year, $2.725MM contract that was awarded via arbitration in the 2014 offseason.
  • Wild majority owner Craig Leipold has started the process of buying out minority owner Matthew Hulsizer, reports Michael Russo of the Minnesota Star-Tribune. Hulzizer owns 27% of the Wild and purchasing his stake will take Leipold’s ownership percentage to 95% in a process that will take place over the next few months.  The timing may seem strange but Leipold is exercising an option in the original purchase agreement from February 2015 to call back the shares.  Leipold notes that Hulsizer had a key role in Minnesota’s increased use of analytics both in terms of scouting as well as their on-ice play.

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