Week In Review

While it was a fairly light week on the NHL calendar thanks to the holiday break, we saw Alex Ovechkin move into second all-time in goals.  We also saw some notable news off the ice which is recapped in our key stories.

Skinner Signs: Things haven’t gone quite as planned for the Oilers this season in goal with Jack Campbell struggling considerably in his first year with the team.  However, Stuart Skinner has impressed and is starting to on a bigger share of the workload.  Edmonton rewarded the youngster for his efforts thus far with a three-year extension that carries a cap hit of $2.6MM AAV and begins next season.  Skinner has just 35 career NHL appearances under his belt (21 of which have come this year) so the deal carries some risk but if he winds up playing even a platoon role moving forward, the Oilers should do well with this contract.  Notably, this deal will take the 24-year-old to UFA eligibility in 2026.

Gurianov Steps Away: The Stars will be without winger Denis Gurianov for at least a little while as he has been granted an indefinite leave of absence from the team for family reasons.  No further information from the team was provided.  The 25-year-old has had a bit of a tough start to his season with just two goals and three assists in 25 games so far.  He’s currently on a one-year, $2.9MM contract and will be owed that as a qualifying offer by the team next summer to retain his RFA rights.

Four For Zub: The Senators have locked up another core player for the next little while as they reached a four-year, $18.4MM deal with defenseman Artem Zub.  It’s a nice increase for the 27-year-old who will go from a $2.5MM AAV this season to a $4.6MM cap charge in 2023-24.  He also receives a ten-team no-trade clause with the contract.  Zub, who’s currently out with a facial injury, is logging over 22 minutes a night on the back end for Ottawa this season while averaging just shy of four hits per contest.  While his offensive numbers don’t jump out, he’s second in minutes behind Thomas Chabot and has quickly become a key part of their defense corps as he’s just in his third NHL season.

Deadline Deals: While it’s still quite a while before the trade deadline, there was a soft deadline with the holiday roster freeze.  The end result was a pair of small trades being made.  Toronto and Colorado changed up their forward depth as the Maple Leafs sent winger Denis Malgin to the Avs for winger Dryden Hunt.  The other move was also a depth swap in a rare three-team deal with Anaheim adding defenseman Michael Del Zotto, Detroit receiving forward Danny O’Regan, and Florida receiving forward Givani Smith; Smith was recalled following the swap and got into one game before the break.

Injury News: Cam Atkinson’s day-to-day injury at the beginning of training camp never healed as expected and now the Flyers will be without the winger for the rest of the season after he underwent neck surgery.  He joins Ryan Ellis as key veterans that won’t wind up suiting up for Philadelphia this season.  Meanwhile, Luke Kunin’s year has also come to an end after the Sharks winger underwent ACL surgery.  The expected recovery timetable is six to eight months so the 25-year-old, who had 13 points in 31 games prior to the injury, should be ready for training camp in the fall.  Lastly, the Blue Jackets, who have been hit hard by injuries all season long, will be without center Boone Jenner for a month after he had surgery to repair a fractured thumb.  Jenner leads Columbus in goals so far this season and is their top player at the faceoff dot, winning nearly 56% of his draws.

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With the roster freeze almost upon us, there wasn’t a flurry of trade activity.  However, there was still some notable news around the NHL which is recapped in our key stories.

Not So Fast: A little while ago, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman floated the possibility that the players’ escrow debt could be paid off this season, permitting a more sizable jump in the Upper Limit next season.  He walked that back a bit at the Board of Governors meetings, suggesting that their current projections have the projected escrow debt around $70MM at the end of the season.  If that’s the case, the salary cap would only go up by $1MM once again for 2023-24.  While there has been speculation that the NHLPA might be interested in trying to negotiate something that would allow for a smoother increase and also raise the ceiling next season by a higher amount but Bettman didn’t want to comment on that scenario.

Formenton To Switzerland: Now that he’s unable to play in the NHL this season after failing to come to terms on a contract with Ottawa before the December 1st deadline, Alex Formenton has found a place to play as he has signed with Ambri-Piotta of the Swiss NLA.  The deal runs through the end of the current season and gives the team the right to “reevaluate their contractual relationship” if new elements come to life in the ongoing investigation into an alleged sexual assault back in 2018 involving members of Canada’s World Junior team, of which he was a part of.  Formenton will remain a restricted free agent at the end of the season.

Five For Moore: Trevor Moore has come a long way in his four seasons with the Kings, going from being a depth player when he was acquired from Toronto to an important part of their top six.  The California native was rewarded for his efforts with a five-year, $21MM contract extension that will begin next season.  The deal contains a 10-team no-trade clause for the 2023-24 campaign but no trade restrictions after that.  The 27-year-old had a career year last season with 17 goals and 31 assists in 81 games and Moore is producing at a similar pace so far this season with 18 points in 34 contests so far.  Los Angeles now has a little over $68MM in commitments for next season, per CapFriendly.

Tolvanen To Seattle: There was some surprise when Nashville placed winger Eeli Tolvanen on waivers as just a few years ago, he was viewed as a key part of their future plans.  There was further surprise when he slid all the way to Seattle who claimed him off the wire.  The 23-year-old was a first-round pick by the Predators back in 2017 and impressed in his first consistent stint of NHL action in 2020-21, collecting 22 points in 40 games.  That helped him earn a three-year, $4.35MM contract, one that is currently in its second year.  The $1.45MM cap hit for the rest of this season and next likely scared a lot of teams away but now Seattle will get an opportunity to see if he can live up to his potential with them.

Vrana Rejoins Red Wings: Red Wings winger Jakub Vrana has now entered the follow-up phase of the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program, allowing him to rejoin the team.  He first went into the program back in mid-October after playing in just two games.  There’s a good chance that Vrana won’t play this coming week as he’ll need some time to get back into playing condition but after the holiday break, Detroit should have one of their top wingers back in their lineup.

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The first full week of December is in the books and while it was rather quiet on the transactions front, there was still some news of note around the NHL which is recapped in our top stories.

Another Injury In Colorado: One of the common consequences of a long playoff run is a team that deals with an uptick in injuries the following year.  When it comes to the Avalanche, that’s underselling things as they’ve been hit hard by the injury bug this year.  The latest is their top star as Nathan MacKinnon will miss at least a month due to an upper-body injury.  The 27-year-old was off to arguably the best start of his career, averaging a career-best 1.48 points per game including 26 assists in 23 contests.  At this point, pretty much the only core Colorado forward to not suffer some sort of injury yet this season is winger Mikko Rantanen.

Three For Two: While Sabres winger Jeff Skinner is off to the best start of his career with 32 points in 27 games, his week ended on a low note.  He received a match penalty for a late cross-check on Pittsburgh’s Jake Guentzel, one that gave Pittsburgh the power play they eventually scored on in overtime.  The Department of Player Safety then weighed in, issuing a three-game suspension that will keep him out of the lineup until Saturday.  It’s the second suspension of Skinner’s career but it will still leave him considerably lighter in the wallet as he forfeits nearly $146K in salary.  Later in the day, Kraken blueliner Jamie Oleksiak also received a three-game ban for an illegal hit to the head on Capitals defenseman Alexander Alexeyev.  It’s Oleksiak’s second suspension for a hit to the head and this one results in a forfeited salary of just under $75K.

Hornqvist To LTIR: The Panthers have been in LTIR all season thanks to winger Anthony Duclair being out as he works his way back from a torn Achilles tendon.  However, they were in a position where they’d need to make a trade to free up salary when he returns in the coming weeks.  That has changed, at least for the time being as Florida has placed winger Patric Hornqvist on LTIR, alleviating that potential problem for now.  The 35-year-old is believed to have some assurances that he won’t be traded as he plays out the final year of his contract that carries a $5.3MM AAV and as long as he’s on there, the Panthers have the ability to activate Duclair when he’s ready and carry a full-sized roster which is notable considering they have played short a player on multiple occasions this season due to salary cap constraints.  There is no word on how long Hornqvist will be out.

Leaves Of Absence: A pair of players have stepped away from their respective teams for the time being.  Penguins prospect Samuel Poulin is taking a leave of absence for personal reasons.  The 21-year-old is in his second professional season and made his NHL debut with three games between late October and early November.  Meanwhile, Predators forward Michael McCarron will be out indefinitely after entering the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program.  The 27-year-old has played in 15 games with Nashville this season, picking up a goal and an assist.

Talks Not Going Well: One of the more prominent pending unrestricted free agents next summer is Canucks center Bo Horvat.  However, while many expected a deal to be done back in the offseason, that hasn’t materialized and extension discussions aren’t progressing to the point where they might have to move him closer to the trade deadline.  The 27-year-old already has 20 goals this season in just 27 games which is certainly only adding to his asking price.  Of course, it looked like things were heading this way with J.T. Miller just a few months ago before they ultimately settled on an extension.  However, with their cap situation, it’s possible that Miller’s contract might also help push their captain out the door.

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As the calendar turned to December, there was some notable news around the hockey world over the past seven days which is recapped in our key stories.

Another Stroke For Letang: Back in 2014, Penguins defenseman Kris Letang suffered a stroke which resulted in doctors finding a small hole in the wall of his heart and caused him to miss two months.  He had played more than 500 games since then so it wasn’t expected that he’d have another one but that’s indeed what happened.  Fortunately, this one isn’t believed to be as severe as the one from eight years ago but there is no timetable for when he might be able to return.  Letang was off to a nice start to his season before this happened as he had a dozen points in 21 games while logging just shy of 24 minutes a night on their back end.

Clearing Waivers: A couple of years ago, Calvin Petersen was pegged to become the goalie of the present and future for the Kings and he was rewarded with a three-year, $15MM contract that began this season.  However, he struggled last year with a save percentage of just .895 and that was even worse this season, checking in at .868 through his first ten appearances.  That resulted in him being waived and clearing, resulting in a demotion to AHL Ontario where both he and the team hope that he’ll be able to turn things around.  Veteran Pheonix Copley will be Jonathan Quick’s backup for the time being.  Also clearing waivers this past week was veteran center Riley Sheahan who had his deal with Buffalo terminated; he quickly signed in Switzerland.

Eight For Hintz: The Stars weren’t able to reach a max-term agreement with Jason Robertson this summer but they were able to do so with one of their other core forwards as they inked Roope Hintz to an eight-year extension that carries a cap hit of $8.45MM.  The deal, which kicks in next season, also contains a no-move clause for the final seven seasons, the only ones he was eligible for trade protection in.  Hintz had a breakout year last season, notching 37 goals and 35 assists in 80 games and is off to an even better start points-wise this year, collecting 26 in his first 23 contests.  Dallas now has four forwards that will carry a cap charge of at least $7.75MM next season with Robertson – the league leader in goals, being at the bottom of that group.

Formenton Ineligible To Play: It’s not very often that a restricted free agent makes it all the way to the signing deadline without a contract and it’s rarer that a player doesn’t sign by then.  However, that’s what happened with Senators RFA winger Alex Formenton who now becomes ineligible to play in the NHL this season.  Ottawa had been trying to trade him but was unable to find a taker at their asking price which was believed to be a second-round pick.  Formenton now could try to find a team overseas to play with this season but it’s quite possible that won’t happen right away until the NHL releases its findings from its own investigation regarding the Hockey Canada World Junior 2018 sexual assault investigation; Formenton was part of that team.  The Sens will retain his rights as a restricted free agent.

Injury News: Ryan Ellis was only able to play in four games last season but that will be four more than he’s able to play this year as he has been ruled out for the season.  With him missing this much time, it’s fair to start to wonder if this is the end of his playing days even with four years left on his deal after this one.  Meanwhile, Tyler Bertuzzi’s contract year continues to not go according to plan as he’ll miss the next six weeks after undergoing hand surgery.  Injuries have limited the 27-year-old pending UFA to just nine games so far while the Red Wings will once again be down one of their top wingers for an extended stretch.  Then there’s Blue Jackets winger Jakub Voracek, who has been out for the last month due to a concussion.  GM Jarmo Kekalainen indicated this is a long-term issue while Voracek is set to meet the media on Monday to provide further clarity on the situation.

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American Thanksgiving is often viewed as a key point in the NHL season.  By now, teams have an idea of what their needs are and will start to try to fill some of those in the coming weeks.  We saw a couple of those moves made this past week which are highlighted in our key stories.

Extension Talks Start For Bratt: Jesper Bratt’s last two contract negotiations haven’t gone as well as either side would have hoped.  His bridge deal was signed just days before the 2020-21 season started and they opted to settle for a one-year, $5.45MM agreement to avoid an arbitration hearing over the summer.  Now, they’re going to take another run at a long-term contract as extension discussions have now started.  Bratt is off to a strong start to his season with 25 points in 22 games, putting him on pace to set new career highs across the board.  If a new deal isn’t reached, he’ll enter restricted free agency this summer with the ability to file for arbitration and take a one-year contract that walks him to the open market in 2024 so it’s safe to say that working something out is going to be a high priority for GM Tom Fitzgerald.

More Toronto Injuries: Already missing Jake Muzzin and T.J. Brodie, the back end for the Maple Leafs got thinned out even more when they placed Morgan Rielly on LTIR with what is believed to be an MCL injury that will keep him out at least a month.  That’s a big blow to their offensive upside from their blueliners as the veteran has 16 assists in 20 games this season while he’s logging 23 minutes a night.  On top of that, veteran Jordie Benn was placed on IR later in the week and is listed as out week to week with an upper-body injury.  Due to the injuries, Toronto GM Kyle Dubas opted to make a small move to add a bit of extra depth, acquiring Conor Timmins from Arizona for AHL center Curtis Douglas.  Timmins was once a highly-regarded prospect following a very productive junior career but has battled concussion trouble and has played in just 14 games between the NHL and AHL dating back to last season.

Four For Kochetkov: Counting the playoffs, Hurricanes goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov has made a total of 13 NHL appearances.  However, he is believed to be their goalie of the future and the team certainly signaled that, inking the 23-year-old to a four-year, $8MM contract extension that begins next season.  The deal gives Carolina half of their goalie tandem at what’s likely to be a below-market rate for the foreseeable future and locks up at least one netminder with both Frederik Andersen and Antti Raanta eligible for unrestricted free agency this summer.  In the meantime, Kochetkov will continue to split time with Raanta with Andersen being on IR before likely returning to AHL Chicago later in the season.

Reaves To Minnesota: After being scratched for several games, Ryan Reaves had requested a trade from the Rangers and his request was granted as New York dealt him to Minnesota in exchange for a 2025 fifth-round pick.  The 35-year-old is best known for his physicality and it’s clear that the Wild were looking to shake up their depth a bit as this move came on the heels of losing Tyson Jost to Buffalo on waivers last weekend.  Reaves’ full $1.75MM cap hit is absorbed by Minnesota which allows the Rangers to bank some extra cap space which is notable as they’re a team that many expect to try to make a splash on the trade front closer to the trade deadline.

Salming Passes Away: Just days after being honored in Toronto, Hall of Fame defenseman Borje Salming passed away at the age of 71.  He had been diagnosed with ALS (or Lou Gehrig’s disease) back in August.  Salming was a six-time All-Star that finished in the top five of Norris Trophy voting for the first seven years of his career and is Toronto’s all-time leader for points by defensemen with 768 amassed over 16 seasons with the team.  He was also one of the first European players to ever play in the NHL and is widely considered a trailblazer to help the game become the truly international one it is today.

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As is often the case in the early going of the season, most of the biggest news from the past seven days came on the injury front although it wasn’t all bad news in that regard.

Done For The Year: The Blue Jackets have had a lot of tough luck when it comes to injuries over the first month of the season and they got their worst news yet as Zach Werenski is out for the season after suffering a separated shoulder and a torn labrum against Philadelphia.  The 25-year-old has been the number one defender for Columbus for the last several years and he had gotten off to a decent start to his campaign with three goals and five assists in his first 13 games and was logging over 25 minutes a night before suffering the injury (which dragged his ATOI below the 24-minute mark).  On top of that, his playing partner Nick Blankenburg fractured his ankle in the same game and will be out for six to eight weeks himself.

Avoiding Surgery: A few weeks ago, it looked like the Senators were going to be without their top center, Josh Norris, potentially for the rest of the season as he was expected to undergo shoulder surgery.  Instead, after consulting with five doctors and two specialists, that’s no longer the plan as he won’t go under the knife and instead will just rehab for the time being with a reassessment scheduled for January.  Potentially getting the 23-year-old back at some point in the second half of the season would be huge for an Ottawa team that has struggled out of the gate as they find themselves at the bottom of the Atlantic Division.

Kane To LTIR: It was a scary sight in Tampa Bay where Edmonton was playing on Tuesday as winger Evander Kane suffered a skate laceration to the wrist after winger Pat Maroon inadvertently cut it.  He underwent successful emergency surgery but will still be out for the bulk of the season as he’ll miss at least the next three to four months with the Oilers quickly transferring him to LTIR.  It’s a huge loss for Edmonton as Kane was fitting in quite nicely in his first full season with the team, picking up 13 points in 14 games while logging over 19 minutes a night on their top line.  Forwards Mattias Janmark and Klim Kostin were recalled from the minors with the freed-up cap space but with Kane likely to return before the end of the season, the Oilers won’t be able to go out and acquire a more prominent replacement as they’ll need to be cap-compliant in order to activate Kane later on.

No World Cup In 2024: Getting away from the injury news for a moment, the NHL and NHLPA jointly announced that the World Cup of Hockey that was scheduled to be held in 2024 will no longer be staged, citing an infeasibility to hold the event in the current environment.  That current environment pertains to Russia and Belarus currently being banned from international play which would have made it difficult to have players from those countries participate in a true best-on-best event.  For now, the plan is to instead have the event in 2025.  The last time the World Cup of Hockey was held was back in 2016, an eight-team event that featured a young North American squad as well as a Team Europe.

Surgery For Nichushkin: On top of being without Gabriel Landeskog, the Avalanche lost another one of their top wingers when Valeri Nichushkin underwent successful ankle surgery that will keep him out of the lineup for a month.  The 27-year-old had gotten off to a very strong start to his season, his first on his eight-year deal, notching seven goals in as many games while chipping in with five assists, good for fifth in the league in points per game heading into Sunday’s action.  Unfortunately for him and the Avs, that hot start has now been derailed for a little while at least as their forward depth starts to get tested.

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As the calendar flips to November, teams are starting to get a sense of their needs which should provide some hope for the trade market to slowly pick up over the next little while.  In the meantime, the bulk of the top stories over the past seven days have been on the injury front.

Drysdale Out Long Term: As this was the final season of Jamie Drysdale’s entry-level contract, this was his opportunity to have a big year that set him up for a long-term, big-money agreement.  Unfortunately for both him and the Ducks, that won’t be happening as he suffered a torn labrum that requires surgery which will keep him out for four to six months.  The 20-year-old could return before the end of the year if his recovery is on the shorter end of that timeline but it will still wind up being two entry-level seasons with limited action.  That will make a long-term deal considerably tougher to work out this summer and increases the chances that at least one of the two sides will prefer a bridge agreement.

On The Market: Forget about players possibly being on the market for a moment but there is about to be a team on the market as the Senators have started the process of selling the franchise.  Long-time owner Eugene Melnyk passed away back in March with control of the team shifting to his daughters who are still in their early twenties.  The most recent Sportico valuation of the team was $650MM but with the team on the rise and the prospect of a downtown arena looking quite strong, it’s possible that they’ll be able to land more than that, especially since that was the price tag for Seattle to join the league in expansion and franchise values have only gone up since then.

Done For The Year: Connor Brown had been a key two-way winger for Ottawa for years before he was moved to Washington where the hope was that he could become a bit more productive in a more offensive role as he heads toward unrestricted free agency next summer.  Unfortunately, that won’t be happening now as the 28-year-old will miss the next six to eight months after undergoing ACL surgery that almost certainly will end his season.  Brown will now hit the open market next summer having played just four games in 2022-23 with questions almost certain to follow about his skating after a significant knee injury.  That’s about as disastrous a contract year as it could have been while the Capitals have lost someone that was supposed to be a key part of their forward group.

More Injuries: Despite the fact that they’re first in the East, the Bruins have been hit hard by injuries in the early going this season and that continued this past week.  On top of losing Derek Forbort, they’ll also be without goaltender Jeremy Swayman who is listed as being out week to week.  The 23-year-old is part of an effective tandem with Linus Ullmark but the veteran will be getting the bulk of the workload for a little while now.  Meanwhile, the Red Wings will be without winger Filip Zadina for the foreseeable future as the 22-year-old broke a bone while blocking a shot against the Islanders on Saturday.  Head coach Derek Lalonde indicated it’s a matter of months, not weeks before he’s able to return.  Detroit is already without three other regular wingers so their depth is getting tested early on.

Miller Signs, Then Gets Released: In a surprising move, the Bruins elected to sign former Coyotes draft pick Mitchell Miller to a three-year, entry-level deal.  The 20-year-old’s rights were renounced shortly after he was drafted following the details being released about a 2016 assault conviction for bullying and abusing a Black, developmentally disabled classmate; North Dakota later dropped Miller from their program as well.  NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman indicated that Miller isn’t currently eligible to play in the NHL (and may never be) which called into question his AHL eligibility as well.  However, that question isn’t relevant to Boston now as they elected to part ways with Miller on Sunday, barely 48 hours after signing him.

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The final full week of October is in the books and we started to see some activity on the trade front while there was some notable injury news as well.  Those are among the topics in our key stories of the week.

Not Hanging Them Up Yet: While Carey Price has already been ruled out for the season with a particularly grim outlook on his ability to return, he indicated that he hasn’t given up hope of eventually returning.  The veteran is dealing with considerable knee pain and is hesitant to undergo surgery, one that only carries a 50/50 chance of success and could lead to some long-term problems if it doesn’t go well.  Instead, he’s holding out hope that rest and rehab will eventually give him a chance to return to the ice.  Price is signed through 2025-26 with a $10.5MM AAV and will be on LTIR for Montreal for that entire stretch unless he’s able to return.

More Flyers Injuries: The Flyers entered today in first place in the Metropolitan Division despite missing several regulars due to injuries.  That list grew as winger James van Riemsdyk underwent finger surgery that will force him to miss four-to-six weeks, hardly an ideal situation for someone in a contract year.  On top of that, while they were hoping that Sean Couturier would be back sooner than later, he stopped skating and it was revealed that he’ll be out for three to four months as he works his way back from a back injury.  Veterans Cam Atkinson and Ryan Ellis have yet to play for Philadelphia this season as well with the latter likely to miss the entire season.

Back Early: The Bruins were expected to be without Brad Marchand until late November after undergoing double hip surgery back in May.  Players sometimes come back a bit earlier than expected but rarely do they beat the expected timeline by a month.  However, that’s exactly what Marchand did as he returned with a bang, picking up three points in his season debut.  He won’t play in back-to-backs for now as he eases his way back into the lineup but Boston has to be thrilled that one of their top performers is back as they look to maintain their hot start that has seen them lose just once this season.  Veteran Mike Reilly was sent to the minors to create the cap space to activate Marchand.

Making Moves: The trade market is typically slow this time of year but that didn’t stop Vancouver from making a couple of swaps.  First, they acquired forward Jack Studnicka from Boston in exchange for goaltender Michael DiPietro and prospect defenseman Jonathan Myrenberg.  Studnicka was a productive player in junior but it hasn’t translated to much success in the pros so the Canucks will try to coax that production out of him.  Meanwhile, they made a move to shore up an injury-depleted back end, picking up Ethan Bear and AHL forward Lane Pederson from Carolina in exchange for a fifth-round pick with the Hurricanes retaining $400K of Bear’s $2.2MM salary.  It wasn’t that long ago that Bear was viewed as a possible long-term part of Edmonton’s back end and with the injuries they have, he’ll have a chance to step in and play an impact role right away.

Losing A Key Center: Expectations are high in Ottawa this season as their young players are expected to take a step forward while they added several key veterans.  Joshua Norris is one of the youngsters they had high expectations for as their top center but he’ll be out for the next three to five months due to a shoulder injury.  While head coach D.J. Smith is holding out hope that the 23-year-old will be able to return this season, he acknowledged that he’s not overly confident of that which suggests the longer end of that recovery timeline is the likeliest one.

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The regular season is in full flight and while things have predictably been quiet on the trade front, there has still been plenty of news of note around the NHL which is recapped in our key stories.

Potential For Early Cap Increase? The expectation has long been that there will be at least one more season after this one where the salary cap increase would be limited to $1MM as the players continue to pay off the COVID-related escrow to bring the split back to 50/50.  However, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman expressed some optimism that the balance could be paid off this season, allowing for an increase that could be closer to $4MM for next season.  With 13 teams already needing LTIR to be cap-compliant and six others with less than $1MM in cap space at the moment, that extra bump would be welcome news for them.

Early Extension: Flames backup goaltender Daniel Vladar had a good first season with Calgary and would have been eligible for salary arbitration this summer.  Instead, he took a pass on that, instead agreeing to a two-year, $4.4MM contract extension.  The 25-year-old played his first full season in 2021-22, serving as Jacob Markstrom’s backup while getting into 23 games.  Head coach Darryl Sutter has indicated a desire to have Vladar play once a week which could have boosted his value had the Flames decided to wait until the summer to work this deal out.  However, Vladar will be eligible for unrestricted free agency when this deal expires in 2025.

Knee Surgery For Landeskog: It was known back in training camp that Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog wouldn’t be ready for the start of the season.  However, he was expected to start skating about a week and a half ago, providing some optimism that he’d be back soon.  That idea was kiboshed quickly as the team revealed that the winger underwent knee surgery that will keep him out for roughly the next 12 weeks.  It’s certainly a big loss for Colorado as the 29-year-old has been a key part of their attack for more than a decade and was coming off his best season in terms of points per game.  Now, what looked like a short-term injury to start the year will now keep Landeskog out for at least the first half of the season.

More Key Injuries: The Panthers don’t have the deepest of back ends and their depth will be further tested for a little while as the team placed Aaron Ekblad on LTIR with a lower-body injury.  Fortunately for Florida, it appears their top defender will be out somewhere from four-to-seven weeks although they’ll certainly miss him in the short term.  Meanwhile, the Red Wings will be without winger Tyler Bertuzzi for four-to-six weeks due to an upper-body injury.  Missing a top liner is hardly ideal for Detroit nor is it ideal for the 27-year-old who is eligible to reach unrestricted free agency next summer for the first time.  On top of those, the Coyotes will be without one of their top scorers from last season as center Nick Schmaltz will miss six-to-eight weeks with an upper-body injury of his own.  Arizona isn’t exactly a deep offensive team as they look to bottom out in the standings and now they’re without a top threat until sometime in December.

Vrana Enters Player Assistance Program: Bertuzzi isn’t the only key winger that the Red Wings are without as the league announced that Jakub Vrana has entered the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program.  No further details were provided and there is no set timeline for when the 26-year-old might be able to return.  Vrana is in his third season with Detroit after being acquired back at the 2020 trade deadline but due to injuries, had only played in 39 games with them before this announcement.

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The regular season is underway and while it will be fairly quiet on the trade front in the early going, there was still plenty of news around the NHL which is highlighted in our key stories.

Successful Tryouts: Several players were able to land contracts off their professional tryout agreements.  Ottawa inked veteran center Derick Brassard to a one-year deal at the league minimum, giving them some extra depth down the middle.  Carolina did the same with veteran Derek Stepan, giving him the same contract for what will be his second season with the Hurricanes.  Michael Stone is staying with Calgary as the Flames signed him to a two-way deal worth the minimum in the NHL.  Lastly, Anton Stralman’s tryout was successful as he agreed to a one-year, $1MM contract although that deal has yet to be registered with the league.  Couple that with the handful of veterans that signed earlier and this was one of the more successful PTO groups in recent history when it comes to landing guaranteed contracts.

Down To One: The list of remaining restricted free agents was cut in half when the Golden Knights agreed to terms with defenseman Nicolas Hague on a three-year deal worth just under $2.3MM per season.  The 23-year-old was one of the first group of Vegas draft picks and he worked his way into a regular role fairly quickly while averaging 18:40 per night.  The AAV of the contract lined up well in terms of allowing Vegas to maximize their LTIR pool as the Golden Knights will be deep into that once again this season.  Hague will have one year of RFA eligibility remaining after this deal and will be owed a $2.7MM qualifying offer.  Senators winger Alex Formenton is the last restricted free agent in the NHL.

Staying In Philadelphia: Travis Sanheim won’t be leaving the Flyers anytime soon as the two sides worked out a maximum-term eight-year contract extension that carries a $6.25MM AAV.  The deal also contains a full no-trade clause for the first four years and a 12-team no-trade clause for the final four seasons.  The 26-year-old is one of Philadelphia’s top defensemen and is coming off one of his best offensive years that saw him put up 31 points in 80 games while averaging just under 23 minutes a night.  If Sanheim is able to produce at a similar level during this contract and continue to log the second-most minutes on the team, the Flyers should get a good return on this deal.

Sabres Signings: While the Sabres already had Don Granato signed through the end of next season, they decided to give him an early extension, signing him to a two-year deal that keeps him signed through 2025-26.  The Sabres have played to a .438 points percentage since he took over late in the 2020-21 campaign and while that might not seem great at first glance, Buffalo has been rebuilding during that stretch and the team has been considerably more competitive with him behind the bench so this move was a vote of approval of how he has the team playing.

Meanwhile, later that day, the team announced another extension as they signed defenseman Mattias Samuelsson to a seven-year, $30MM deal that begins next season.  The 22-year-old was an early second-round pick in 2018 and got into 42 games in 2021-22 where he averaged 20 minutes a game.  Buffalo clearly believes this is only the beginning for Samuelsson who has yet to score in his young career.  However, a $4.29MM AAV for a top-four defender is certainly reasonable and it’s likely that those will be his prime years as well.  The contract might seem odd on the surface but it’s a logical move for them to make since they’re convinced that he’s a part of the long-term plans in Buffalo.

Key Injuries: Montreal has a pretty thin back end when the team is fully healthy.  They were already missing Joel Edmundson due to a back issue sustained in a pre-camp scrimmage and now they’ll be without another key veteran as Mike Matheson will miss eight weeks with an abdominal injury.  The end result is that the Canadiens are dressing four rookie defensemen at the moment.  Meanwhile, the Maple Leafs will be without their presumptive starter Matt Murray for at least a month after he suffered an adductor injury in practice on Saturday.  The fact he’ll be out that long (10 games and 24 days minimum) enabled them to place him on LTIR which opened up some short-term cap space to recall some extra skaters.  Those moves were made Sunday with the recalls of wingers Nicholas Robertson and Wayne Simmonds plus defenseman Victor Mete.

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