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Retirement

Will O’Neill Signs AHL Contract With Wilkes-Barre/Scranton

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In a somewhat surprising move, veteran defenseman Will O’Neill was unable to land an NHL contract this off-season. The 30-year-old blue liner was one of several signings announced today by the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. O’Neill returns to the Pittsburgh affiliate with whom he played for during the 2015-16 season on an NHL contract.

By any measure except age, O’Neill’s career trajectory appeared to be trending upward and certainly away from a minor league contract. The 2006 Atlanta Thrashers draft pick has spent almost all of his six-year pro career in the AHL, but every season except one has been played on an NHL contract. In fact, when O’Neill was last a free agent two years ago, he landed a two-year deal from the Philadelphia Flyers as a valued depth asset. This past season, O’Neill finally made his NHL debut and did not look out of place in a November contest against the St. Louis Blues. He also watched on as the extra man for several games with Philadelphia. In the AHL, O’Neill was a strong defensive presence and also recorded 19 points in 59 games with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms – well off his career-high 50-point mark in an All-Star campaign with the Penguins two years ago, but also in far fewer games and in a more conservative role.

At 30, O’Neill was unlikely to be an NHL regular for anyone this season or in the future, but it certainly seemed like he had established himself as a viable depth option for a team. Obviously, that wasn’t the case as the veteran opted to sign an AHL contract. O’Neill could be the latest victim of a slow market for older defenseman. Similarly situated aging extra defender Taylor Chorney decided to sign overseas last week, while the Boston-area native O’Neill instead chose to stay at home in the U.S. on a minor league basis. Several other veteran defenseman could be choosing between the same two routes – or retirement – in the coming weeks as a quiet off-season wears on.

The Salary Cap Implications Of A Shea Weber Early Retirement

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When Shea Weber signed a 14-year, $110MM offer sheet from the Philadelphia Flyers in 2012, everyone knew right away that it would end badly. Yes, Weber was 27 years old and one of the top defensemen in the league, but the contract was top-heavy and carried a $7.86MM cap hit through his age-40 season. The chances of him playing to a level matching that value over a full 14 years was very slim. The Flyers knew this and specifically structured it in a way that they hoped would scare the Nashville Predators and frugal GM David Poile away – it didn’t. The Predators had just watched Ryan Suter walk in free agency and couldn’t afford to let Weber leave as well. They matched the deal and held on to their superstar defenseman.

When Weber was then traded to the Montreal Canadiens for P.K. Subban in 2016, the risk in Weber’s contract increased exponentially. The league had since banned all similarly long-term contracts – setting a limit of seven years on the open market and eight years for an extension –  nevertheless the front-loaded, cap-circumventing type that Weber had signed. To combat teams continuing to front-load contracts, the NHL implemented salary cap recapture penalties. This system punishes teams for lengthening contracts with low-salary seasons in order to lower the cap hit during prime years by issuing a salary cap charge if the player retires prior to the end of the contract, thereby negating the years that lowered his cap hit. The calculation is the difference in total salary and total cap hit over the course of the contract with which the player played with the team, divided by the number of years remaining on the contract after retirement. In Weber’s case, the scenario looks like this:

Year           Team           Cap Hit           Salary           Difference
2012-13        NSH             $7.857MM        $14MM           $6.143MM
2013-14        NSH             $7.857MM        $14MM           $6.143MM
2014-15        NSH             $7.857MM        $14MM           $6.143MM
2015-16        NSH             $7.857MM        $14MM           $6.143MM
2016-17        MTL             $7.857MM        $12MM           $4.143MM
2017-18        MTL             $7.857MM        $12MM           $4.143MM
2018-19        MTL             $7.857MM        $6MM           -$1.857MM
2019-20       MTL*           $7.857MM        $6MM           -$1.857MM
2020-21       MTL*           $7.857MM        $6MM           -$1.857MM
2021-22       MTL*           $7.857MM        $6MM           -$1.857MM
2022-23       MTL*           $7.857MM        $3MM          -$4.857MM
2023-24       MTL*           $7.857MM        $1MM          -$6.857MM
2024-25       MTL*           $7.857MM        $1MM          -$6.857MM
2025-26       MTL*           $7.857MM        $1MM          -$6.857MM

So far over the course of Weber’s contract, both Nashville and Montreal have paid him far beyond what his cap hit would suggest. If Weber was to retire today, they would both be penalized. Nashville’s total penalty is $24.572MM, while Montreal’s is fluid. However, next season marks a drop for Weber below his cap number for the remaining eight years of his contract. Now, Weber is not going to retire this off-season. However, the chances that he retires early are very high. Earlier this week, it was reported that Weber had undergone a second off-season surgery and would likely be out until mid-season. Many expected when Weber was traded to Montreal that he still had many years left of strong play in him, but it appears that the deterioration of his body has already begun. Facing a decreasing salary for the remainder of his contract and concerns about his long-term health, it would be no surprise to see Weber retire in the next two years or so nevertheless by the end of the remaining eight years. By year, here is how the penalties would play out for both Nashville and Montreal:

If Weber retires before:      Penalty per year – NSH         Penalty per year – MTL
2019-20                                          $3.51MM                                              $918K
2020-21                                          $4.1MM                                                $762K
2021-22                                          $4.91MM                                              $543K
2022-23                                          $6.14MM                                             $215K
2023-24                                           $8.19MM                                             None
2024-25                                           $12.29MM                                           None
2025-26                                           $24.57MM                                           None

Obviously, the Predators have a lot to lose if Weber retires early. It is very unlikely that Weber, if he makes it that far, is likely to retire with one or even two years left on his contract. At that point, it is likely the Canadiens would just place him on long-term injured reserve to finish his career, as has become a growing trend in the NHL. However, if Weber is unable to get over the injuries that have plagued him in Montreal, could he call it quits within the next few years and stick Nashville with a $3.5-$5MM yearly penalty? Absolutely. It is a scary possibility for the Predators and a situation worth watching as Weber battles back from injury yet again next season and beyond.

All salary and cap figures are approximations. Data courtesy of CapFriendly.com.

Alex Burrows Announces Retirement

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The Ottawa Senators bought out the final year of Alex Burrows’ contract recently, and it will unsurprisingly mark the end of his long professional career. Burrows has announced his retirement from playing hockey at the age of 37, ending a 13-year NHL career. Quickly though, the Laval Rocket—the AHL affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens—named Burrows an assistant coach for the upcoming season.

Burrows has had quite the playing career. Undrafted because no one even knew who he was, he didn’t even play in the QMJHL until 19. Fighting his way onto a roster and developing into one of the best players for a Shawinigan team that included Jason Pominville and Zbynek Michalek, he earned himself a chance in the ECHL. It didn’t take long for him to climb the ranks in the minor leagues and eventually break in with the Vancouver Canucks. Just a few seasons into his NHL career he was playing on the top line, and scoring 117 goals over a four-season span between 2008-12. That 35-goal campaign in 2009-10 would never be replicated, but Vancouver fans will never forget his accomplishments in the regular season and contributions in the playoffs.

It wasn’t all success for Burrows though, who was well known for his over-the-line play at times. He racked up 1,134 penalty minutes in his NHL career, and even faced a ten game suspension in the most recent season. He was also involved with an infamous “biting” incident with Patrice Bergeron during the Stanley Cup Finals, though was never suspended for it.

In all, there’s a lot to like for the Canadiens in adding Burrows to their coaching staff. There are few players that had to fight as hard as he did to carve out an NHL career, and those who have were rarely met with his level of success. Who better to teach the young prospects and minor league players what is required to make it at the highest level, though perhaps some of the antics will be left out of those discussions. For Burrows, it is the end of a 913-game NHL career; one that has been among the most interesting and entertaining—one way or another—of his generation.

Rick Nash Still Uncertain About Returning Next Season

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One of the most surprising revelations of the last few weeks was a report that veteran winger Rick Nash had considered retirement after suffering another concussion late in the season with the Boston Bruins. That idea seemed to be fading as we heard reports of the Columbus Blue Jackets and other teams reaching out to Nash in the free agent interview period, but now Darren Dreger of TSN reports that the 34-year old forward has informed teams he will not sign on July 1st. Nash is still considering whether to play next season, and “didn’t want to further interfere” with the plans of teams looking to improve through free agency.

It’s a classy move by Nash to not make teams wait on him, but it still could throw a wrench into the offseason for some. Should Nash decide that he wants to continue—and all fans of the sport should hope that he remains healthy enough to do so—down the line, there may be little cap room available from some of his biggest suitors. He’s obviously resigned to the fact that he may be weakening his negotiation power by pushing off a decision, but one has to wonder whether he’ll be a late-summer addition to a playoff team. Like acquiring a player at the deadline, it could be a big boost to a team that has lost someone to injury during training camp or has seen a rival load up with key free agents.

Nash recorded the 13th 20-goal season of his career in 2017-18, registering 21 goals in 71 games split between the Bruins and New York Rangers. Though he’s obviously not the dominant offensive player of his youth, he can still skate well enough to contribute at both ends of the ice and remains an effective penalty killer. The fact that he struggled in the playoffs for the Bruins could be due to health concerns, but even then he was still a positive possession player for the team.

If it is the end of Nash’s career, he’ll go down as one of the better talents of his generation. In 1,060 games he recorded 437 goals and 805 points, won a Rocket Richard trophy for the first of three 40-goal seasons, and three times received Selke votes as one of the league’s best defensive forwards. Selected first-overall by Columbus in 2002, he didn’t see the second round of the playoffs until coming to New York, and was never able to lift the Stanley Cup.

Darryl Sutter Announces Retirement From Coaching

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He hasn’t been behind the bench for an NHL game in over a year, and now Darryl Sutter has decided he won’t be coming back. The Stanley Cup champion from a legendary hockey family has hung up his clipboard, and exchanged his suit and tie for a more comfortable life on his Alberta farm. According to Eric Francis of Sportsnet, Sutter won’t be considered for the new vacancy in Washington, and has decided to spend his days with his family instead of the grind of an NHL schedule.

Sutter, 59, won two Stanley Cups as the head coach of the Los Angeles Kings, a role he was relieved of last summer when the organization brought in new management. Many have speculated about his return, and his name has been linked to almost every coaching vacancy in the last year. His physical, defensive teams set a model in the Western Conference that has been replicated—to varying degrees of success—by almost the entire league at one point or another, and his hilariously low-key and tight lipped media appearances were always entertaining regardless of how the team was doing on the ice.

It’s important to note that he’s taken several years away from hockey in between jobs before, and with coaching nothing ever seems final. As the years go on there will likely be rumors about him coming out of retirement, but for now the plan seems to be set for Sutter. He’ll end his NHL coaching career with a 634-467-83 record with 101 ties, putting him 14th on the all-time list for coaching wins.

Simon Despres Wants A Second Chance At NHL

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Simon Despres was once an up-and-coming defenseman in the NHL. A first-round pick by Pittsburgh in 2009, Despres played a key depth role for the Penguins from 2011 to 2015. Although Despres was limited offensively, even in the AHL, he proved himself to be a very dependable presence in his own end. Annually a positive player with strong possession numbers, Despres eventually worked himself into a full-time role with the Penguins in 2014-15. In that season, he also showed off an improved physical game and a superior puck-moving ability. However, it was also in that season that Despres was traded to the Anaheim Ducks, a deadline deal that sent veteran Ben Lovejoy to Pittsburgh. Despres continued to play well for the Ducks down the stretch and was perhaps at the peak of his NHL career in the postseason that year with a dominant stretch. Yet, the rest of Despres’ tenure in Anaheim would not go as well.

In 2015-16, just four games into the regular season, Despres took a hard check to the head from the Colorado Avalanche’s Tyson Barrie. Despres would miss the next 42 games of the regular season and never truly returned to form in the campaign. Despres suited up for Anaheim for the opening game of the 2016-17 season, but concussion symptoms limited him to just that one appearance for the year. Despres was bought out by the Ducks at the end of the season and, at age 25, was considering retirement. Instead, Despres decided to continue his career overseas. Able to finally leave his concussions in the past, Despres had a strong season with HC Slovan Bratislava of the KHL this year. Now, he wants back in the NHL.

Speaking with Jean-Francois Tremblay of La Presse in his native Quebec, Despres states that money is not an issue and that he will do what it takes to get back into the league. He says that he will visit with teams this summer or attend camp on a tryout basis if that is what it takes. He even says he would be open to an AHL contract as a first step, specifically noting that he would not hesitate to accept an offer from the Laval Rocket, the Montreal Canadiens affiliate in his hometown that did not exist when he was in the NHL. Despres goes on to describe how he has changed his diet and lifestyle to get healthier and has even trained in martial arts in an effort to learn how to avoid bad hits and further concussions. He also describes how his time in the KHL has improved his skating and puck possession. It seems Despres has done all he can to work his way back from a potentially career-ending injury and now feels ready for a return. Now all he can do is wait for a team to give him a second chance.

Western Notes: Flames, Bolland, Grant

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Don’t expect the Calgary Flames to make a selection in the first round of the NHL Entry Draft next Friday and probably don’t expect to see them make a pick too early on Saturday either. The Flames currently sit with just three picks in the 2018 Draft: a fourth-rounder, sixth-rounder, and seventh-rounder. The rest of their selections were used in deals to acquire Travis Hamonic, Mike Smith, and Michael Stone. Speaking with Calgary GM Brad Treliving, beat reporter Kristen Anderson makes it sound as if the team’s philosophy toward the value of draft picks versus prospects will very likely keep them from adding any significant picks this year. Treliving admitted that he has looked at scenarios that would allow his team to trade back in to the first round and has tried to make a deal with other teams, but doesn’t know if they’ll ever reach a point where a trade will actually happen. In fact, he called that possibility very unlikely. Understandably, Treliving is hesitant to trade away young players or promising prospects for picks that will be farther behind in their NHL development and who they only hope will one day reach or exceed the level of the player they move in return, calling it “backwards shuffling”. Treliving also lacks some firepower in terms of future picks with his 2019 second-, sixth-, and seventh-round selections already lost as well. Right now, the asking price for early picks is too high for the Flames to bite on anything just yet. However, don’t underestimate what the anxiety of waiting through three rounds could force them to do next weekend.

  • AZSports’ Craig Morgan recently spoke with Anton Thun, the agent for Dave Bolland, about the veteran Arizona Coyotes center’s future. Bolland, 32, has yet to play a game for the Coyotes despite being traded to the team in the off-season prior to the 2016-17 season. A lingering back injury and lower-body concerns forced the Florida Panthers to dump Bolland’s contract in Arizona – a move that also cost them prospect Lawson Crouse – and he has not been cleared to suit up at any time since. Thun reports that Bolland is doing better, but there is still no expectation that he will be able to play next season. Instead, Thun suggests to Morgan that Bolland is likely to be placed on long-term injured reserve yet again in the final year of his contract and will then formally announce his retirement after next season. If this proves true, it will be a disappointing end to the career of a well-respected player who built a career on his reliable defensive play.
  • One of the more talented offensive defensemen in the AHL is off to Finland for the next stage of his pro career. Alex Grant, 29, has signed with Jokerit of the KHL, the team reported today. The journeyman defender has made a career of being one of the top scoring blue liners in the minor leagues, jumping from one two-way contract to the next throughout the past nine years. However, in that time he has only been given seven NHL appearances and appears to have decided to make a name for himself at the highest level in Europe rather than continue to play in the AHL. After an impressive 49-point campaign with the Providence Bruins in 2016-17, Grant signed with the Minnesota Wild last summer and was expected to be one of their top depth options on the back end. Instead, he again was not given that chance and will now seize an opportunity with Jokerit. Offensive-minded defensemen who have struggled to find their place in the NHL have often found great success in the KHL. Grant could very well be the next in that line, which has featured the likes of Matt Gilroy, Philip Larsen, and Jakub Nakladal in recent years.

Free Agent Focus: Florida Panthers

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Free agency opens exactly three weeks from today and teams are well on their way to evaluating both their own impending free agents and those likely to reach the open market. There are quite a few prominent players expected to be available as unrestricted free agents, while many key restricted free agents will be looking to sign new contracts with their current squads.  Here is a breakdown of the Florida Panthers’ free agent situation.

Key Restricted Free Agents: C Jared McCann – At age 22 and heading into his fourth NHL season, McCann is still a very raw talent. The 2014 first-round pick often thinks the game faster than he plays it and is prone to mistakes. He plays little special teams role for the Panthers and struggles with many of the defensive aspects of the game at the pro level. McCann is also well below average at the face-off dot. With all that said, his offensive upside is still tremendous. McCann set a career-high with 28 points in 68 games this year and for the first time was a plus player in the league. He has great vision, a strong skating game, and a good shot. When he is on his game he can be dominant; when he is off of it, it’s easy to see why the Vancouver Canucks didn’t hesitate to trade him late into his rookie year. McCann needs to find some consistency and pace to his game and he will flourish, but that still may take some time.

So how should Florida handle that contractually? McCann will understandably want a considerable raise from his entry-level contract, but he also has a fair amount of developmental concerns that he continues to deal with. McCann very well could turn out to be a long-term star for the Panthers, but this situation seems far more likely to warrant a short-term bridge deal for “show me” money. McCann needs to display far more of his impressive offensive ability and far fewer mental lapses and disappearing acts if he wants to command greater salary and term.

LW Frank Vatrano – It’s never an easy situation to sort out when a restricted free agent is acquired mid-season. Florida could not have asked for a better start from Vatrano, who came over from the Bruins at the trade deadline after falling out of favor in Boston. After putting up just two points in 25 games with the Bruins, Vatrano posted eight points in the final 16 games with the Panthers and seemed to fit in well in the team’s top six. Vatrano showed in his first pro season that he has a ton of scoring talent: the undrafted UMass product was the goal-scoring champ of the AHL with 36 goals in 36 games, put up another eight goals in 39 games in Boston, and even recorded eight points in ten games with Team USA at the World Championships. However, Vatrano lacks much depth to his game outside of having a knack for finding the back of the net. Injury and inconsistency over the past two years with the Bruins limited his scoring chances and exposed his lack of an all-around game. When playing with Florida’s finest, his scoring ability came back and those flaws faded into the background. However, Florida is now being asked to evaluate him on just those 16 games.

Like McCann, Vatrano has not earned a long-term deal. The Panthers hope that they get the player they saw down the stretch and gave up a third-round pick to acquire, but there is also the risk he will revert to the mistake-prone, one-track-mind player he was in Boston in recent seasons. Vatrano could be an important piece for Florida moving forward but he could also have a ceiling as an elite AHLer and nothing more. Only time will tell, but because of that risk, expect Vatrano to earn a relatively cheap, one-year deal (even if it has to come through arbitration).

Other RFAs: D Alex Petrovic, D MacKenzie Weegar, D Ed Wittchow, F Curtis Valk, F Gregory Chase, D Linus Hultsrom 

Key Unrestricted Free Agents: None. Congratulations to Florida on entering free agency with literally nothing to lose. The team has five impending free agents and one, veteran winger Radim Vrbata, has already announced his retirement. The other four played little role in the successes or failures of the Panthers in 2017-18 and would be unlikely to make much of an impact if they were to be re-signed. Connor Brickley is the most notable name, as he recorded 12 points in 44 games on the team’s fourth line. However, Brickley spent no additional time in the AHL, simply watching from the press box for the much of the season. The 26-year-old forward was a 2010 second-round pick, but seems to have developed into a checking winger with limited offensive upside, the exact type of player that is easy to replace. The loss of fellow 26-year-old forwards Chase Balisy (8 games) and Alexandre Grenier (0 games) would mean even less. Third-string goalie Harri Sateri, 28, returned from Europe to play for the Panthers this year and performed well enough in nine appearances, but with two high-end veteran goalies in the mix, Florida hardly needs to stress over their AHL starter. Young Sam Montembeault will likely be just fine if Sateri is not re-signed.

UFAs: Connor Brickley, Chase Balisy, Alexandre Grenier, Harri Sateri

Projected Cap Space: The trade-off of having no unrestricted free agents to worry about is that you don’t have much salary coming off the books either. When you have your top five forwards, your top four defenseman, and two starting-caliber goalies locked up long-term, things can get expensive. The Florida Panthers got off to a slow start last season and narrowly missed the playoffs, but don’t be fooled: this is a solid team without a ton of holes and their cap situation reflects that. The cap ceiling is expected to rise this off-season to somewhere between $78-$82MM. At the midpoint of $80MM, the Cats will have around $14MM in space to work with. While that is a decent amount, it still puts the team in the bottom third of the league in terms of flexibility.

Assume that McCann gets a substantial pay increase and Vatrano and potentially one or both of Petrovic and Weegar get a fair amount in their new contracts, and the Panthers will likely be operating the free agency market with around $8-$9MM or so in space. Is that enough to add the top-six forward that they desperately want and need? Probably, but they would strapped for cap space after that. Expect Florida to be players on the trade market this summer as a result.

Nick Ellis Announces Retirement From Professional Hockey

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In a surprising decision, Edmonton Oilers minor league goaltender Nick Ellis announced his retirement today via a post on his Instagram page. Ellis will instead pursue a career as a teacher and coach, ending his professional playing career just a few years after it began.

Ellis, 24, was scheduled to become a restricted free agent this summer after spending the last two seasons in the Edmonton organization playing for the Bakersfield Condors and Wichita Thunder. Though it seemed likely that he wouldn’t get a qualifying offer, it’s unusual to see players walk away from the game at such a young age. Ellis signed out of Providence College in 2016, but never made it into a game at the NHL level.

In his only season as a starter for Providence, Ellis dominated the NCAA ranks with a 25-7-4 record and .936 save percentage. Turning that into a pro contract, he found early success in the AHL and looked like a solid signing for the Oilers to provide some depth at the goaltender position. This season Ellis wasn’t as effective, and it’s easy to see how he wouldn’t have had a job with Bakersfield next season. Dylan Wells is an upcoming prospect for the Oilers, and after signing Mikko Koskinen the team will likely have to send Al Montoya to the minor leagues. Shane Starrett is also still around, while Stuart Skinner—while still in junior—is being groomed as the goaltender of the future.

For Edmonton, this is little more than a few hundred thousand dollars lost for their trouble. Ellis didn’t take up a draft pick, or steal any real development time from their other goaltending prospects. Though he was an effective goaltender at times, the team has other plans for the position.

Predators’ Mike Fisher Announces Retirement Again

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Nashville Predators forward Mike Fisher announced that he will be retiring from the NHL again, according to Predators’ communications coordinator Brooks Bratten. The veteran who retired last season after the Predators fell in the Stanley Cup Finals, returned to Nashville in January to take another shot at a cup run.

However, after failing to get out of the second round of the playoffs after a seven-game series loss to the Winnipeg Jets, Fisher said he’s done.

“This cow has been milked as much as it can. It’s bone dry,” said Fisher, according to Predators Radio Network’s Jeremy Gover.

The 37-year-old Fisher played 18 seasons in the NHL, putting up a 278 goals, 311 assists and 589 points in 1,104 regular season games. He scored two goals and two assists in 16 games after coming out of retirement this year, but scored just one goal in 12 playoff games this year, playing mostly on the fourth line.

Even if he hadn’t opted to retire, his future with the team was likely in doubt since the one-year, $1MM deal he signed on Feb. 26 will expire. The long-time Predator was in the middle of a team that is filled with young, quality forwards, which likely would have forced him out anyway.

While his playing career is over, Fisher left the door open for a potential future role with the Predators organization.

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