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Mike Fisher Ends Retirement, Officially Signs With Nashville

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2/26: The Predators have officially announced the signing.

2/25: TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reports that the Predators will announce a one-year, $1MM deal with Fisher tomorrow. The pro-rated deal will only cost Nashville around $225K to bring back their former captain for one last run at the Stanley Cup. Fisher has been working out with the team since the initial report last month and no doubt will be ready to go when he gets his first chance to again take the ice.

1/31: In probably the most surprising turn of the season, Mike Fisher is set to come out of retirement and sign with the Nashville Predators for the remainder of the season.

Mike FisherFisher hung up his skates in August after deliberating for much of the offseason, calling it the “hardest decision” he’d ever had to make. The 37-year old center captained the Predators all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals last season, after a successful regular season which saw him record 18 goals and 42 points. The Predators have brought in both Nick Bonino and Kyle Turris since then to try and fill out their center depth, and adding Fisher now will make them an impressive group.

Just recently, Predators’ GM David Poile admitted to Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic that he would like to make an addition up front, though a big splash didn’t seem likely. With Fisher back in the fold, the Nashville forward group can be matched up with anyone in the league, at least when healthy.

There is no exact timeline yet on when Fisher will be ready for game action, but his contract must be signed and added to the roster before the February 26th deadline in order to be eligible for the playoffs. Depending on how well he’s kept himself in shape since retiring, it could be even sooner than that. No financial details have been released yet, but the contract is expected to only be for the rest of 2017-18.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Trade Deadline Notes: Flames, Plekanec, Neal

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“Will GM Brad Treliving and the Calgary Flames ’pull a Hextall’?”, wonders the Calgary Sun’s Eric Francis with mere days left before the NHL Trade Deadline. Francis is referring to Philadelphia Flyers GM Ron Hextall, who recently acted quickly to acquire goaltender Petr Mrazek from the Detroit Red Wings when his top two goalies went down with long-term injuries. Treliving and the Flames are now in a similar position, with their one experienced keeper, Mike Smith, out with a groin injury and a return not imminent. Calgary is currently working with two rookie goalies, David Rittich and Jon Gillies, as they try to keep up in the Western Conference playoff race. If Treliving, like Hextall, feels that he owes his team a true starting-caliber goalie, he could hit the rental market for some help down the stretch. Options could include Buffalo’s Robin Lehner, an impending RFA and likely the top available target, Arizona’s Antti Raanta, if the Coyotes are willing to move him, a reunion with Chad Johnson, or even a lesser option albeit with more experience such as Michael Hutchinson or Andrew Hammond. However, as Francis points out after his conversation with Treliving, if the team continues to put forward lackluster performances in front of their young goalie tandem, perhaps paying the steep price to bring in an upgrade won’t be worth it. The situation is one worth monitoring as the deadline fast approaches.

  • One player expected to move before the deadline is career Canadien Tomas Plekanec. TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reports that calls have been flooding in to Montreal GM Marc Bergevin, especially following the Derick Brassard news, inquiring into the cost of trading for the veteran center. Plekanec, 35, has seen his offense fall off dramatically over the past two seasons, but still plays a reliable two-way game and can still be an experienced asset for many teams. With the Canadiens far outside the playoff picture and Plekanec on an expiring contract, possibly headed for retirement, a deal will almost certainly be struck with an interested team. It seems the days are numbered on a relationship that began in 2003-04.
  • The Vegas Golden Knights placed James Neal on injured reserve today, per beat writer Steve Carp. While Neal is simply suffering from an illness right now, an undisclosed illness has also kept teammate Shea Theodore out of the lineup for more than a week. With forwards Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and William Carrier also on IR and an unclear picture of when Neal will return to action, one has to wonder if the Knights will take a longer look at the forward market before the deadline passes them by.

Deadline Primer: Detroit Red Wings

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With the trade deadline fast approaching, we will be taking a closer look at the situation for each team.  Where do they stand, what do they need to do, and what assets do they have to fill those needs?  Next up is a look at the Detroit Red Wings.

The trades have already begun in Hockeytown as the Detroit Red Wings realize that it’ll be another season without a playoff appearance. Restocking a thin prospect pool, and getting younger are priorities for a team that hasn’t been a true contender in nearly a decade.

Record

24-25-9 (57 points); 5th in Atlantic

Deadline Status

Seller

Deadline Cap Space

$1.62MM per CapFriendly

Draft Picks

2018: DET 1st, DET 2nd, OTT 2nd; DET 3rd, PIT 3rd, DET 4th, PHI 4th*,  DET 6th, MON 6th.
2019: DET 1st, DET 2nd, DET 3rd, PHI 3rd*, DET 4th, DET 5th, BUF 5th, DET 6th, DET 7th
-* conditional picks

Trade Chips

What hasn’t been written about who the Red Wings have made available? The Red Wings have been shifting players out of Detroit since October, dealing Riley Sheahan to Pittsburgh and then sending Scott Wilson to Buffalo after he didn’t work out following the Sheahan trade. Goaltender Petr Mrazek was flipped to Philadelphia yesterday, starting what many believe will be the movement of other Red Wings. Mike Green is all but gone–the only questions remain where and when?

Feb 19, 2017; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Detroit Red Wings center <a rel=

Tampa Bay and Washington seem to be the front runners but don’t count out the Vegas Golden Knights, who have the draft picks Ken Holland covets. Gustav Nyquist is another name linked with other contenders as well as winger Luke Glendening, who could see a reunion with former bench boss Mike Babcock in Toronto. The Red Wings could retain salary on Green, making his contract hit much less since he’s in the final year of a deal.

More intriguing names to watch are defenseman Danny DeKeyser, netminder Jimmy Howard and forward Tomas Tatar, who could potentially find new homes for the right team. However, DeKeyser and Tatar are owed a lot of money with a lot of years while Howard will most likely be shipped near the draft when teams are retooling rosters. Finally, Xavier Ouellet a possibility to move on as well.

Names To Watch: Mike Green, Gustav Nyquist, Luke Glendening, Xavier Ouellet, Tomas Tatar. 

Team Needs

  1. Defensemen: The Red Wings are a mess on the blue line, their Achilles heel since losing Nicklas Lidstrom and Brian Rafalski to retirement in 2012 and 2011 respectively. Unable to properly address it, Detroit has to find top end talent or try and get high enough draft picks that will net a defenseman who could contribute soon. There’s help on the way–with promising d-men in Filip Hronek and Villi Saarijarvi, but fairly, that was also said about Ouellet, and Ryan Sproul, who was traded for Matt Puempel. Dennis Cholowski is playing well in the WHL, but he may still be a year away. Many wonder if Ken Holland looks back with disdain at not taking Jakob Chychrun when he had the chance during the 2016 draft. Regardless, building depth and finding those top pairing defensemen has to be the top priority. Though they need a couple big time scoring forwards as well, the key to Detroit’s resurgence is solidifying the blue line, once a stalwart of the Red Wings’ success in the 90’s and 2000’s.

Ilya Kovalchuk To Again Test NHL Market

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Around this time last year, word got out that former NHL superstar Ilya Kovalchuk was considering a comeback. The big, Russian sniper retired from the league in 2013, before even his 30th birthday and just three years into a massive (and now patently illegal) 15-year, $100MM contract with the New Jersey Devils. Kovalchuk returned home to Russia and had played with the KHL’s powerhouse club, SKA Saint Petersburg, every year since. However, his NHL ambitions had him thinking about a return trip across the Atlantic last summer. For much of the latter half of the season and into the off-season, Kovalchuk’s potential return was one of the hottest topics in hockey circles. Then, on July 4th, mere days into unrestricted free agency, Kovalchuk re-signed with SKA and his triumphant return was no more.

Now, a year later, it seems Kovalchuk is up for round two. The veteran scorer has shown no signs of slowing down in the KHL, already racking up 63 points through 53 games this season, and with the Olympics about to begin, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman believes talk of a potential return is about to heat back up (Thought 27). As Friedman alludes to, Kovalchuk’s re-entry into the NHL will be much simpler this summer as the Devils will no longer possess his rights. Last off-season, Kovalchuk’s only chance of a return – outside of signing with the Devils – was to find a team both willing to sign him to an expensive contract and then trade for his rights from New Jersey. Devils GM Ray Shero remarked after Kovalchuk decided to stay in Russia that Kovalchuk never came to him with a contract offer and no team came to him with a trade proposal, so clearly the interest was low in having to acquire a free agent via trade, especially an older one who had been out of the NHL for several years. This time around, that risk will be much less painless as the Devils will no longer hold his rights. Once he turns 35 on April 15th, Kovalchuk will be removed from the “Voluntary Retirement” list and will be made an unrestricted free agent, capable of negotiating a deal with any team in the league.

So where will he end up? The Hockey News clearly expects him to draw a lot of attention, as they ranked him ninth on their 2018 free agent board. Here at PHR, Kovalchuk was an afterthought in our Mid-Season UFA Rankings, not cracking the top 20. The truth likely lies somewhere in the middle with certain teams having specific interest in his skill set and others unwilling to take the risk on an aging player with a notoriously selfish playing style. As for Kovalchuk himself, Friedman believes that he would prefer to land in New York City. You can cross the Devils off that list; they’re paying $250K in recapture penalties every year until 2025, so they’re not giving Kovalchuk another dime. Plus, if New Jersey really wanted him, the two sides would have struck a deal last year. So that leaves the Rangers and Islanders as Kovalchuk’s Big Apple options. With John Tavares and possibly Josh Bailey and Calvin de Haan to re-sign, the Isles are not likely suitors. The Rangers on the other hand tend to be a team that’s often interested in the headline-making acquisition and, with Rick Nash coming off the books, have the cap space to add some salary. Kovalchuk and the Rangers could be a pairing to watch for this summer.

Western Notes: Jagr, Domi, Blues, Golden Knights

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It’s a shame that the Hockey Hall of Fame voted long ago to abolish the selection committee’s ability to waive the three-year post-retirement waiting period for candidates that are exceptional. Because if there is someone that shouldn’t have to wait three years to gain entry into the Hockey Hall of Fame, Jaromir Jagr would seem to be a good bet that person, according to Larry Brooks of the New York Post.

While Jagr is not retired yet, as he remains on loan from the Calgary Flames to Kladno in the Czech League, his career has been exceptional and would deserve that immediate honor of getting his wait time waived that only 10 players have ever earned such as Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe and Mario Lemieux. However, that rule was removed back in 1999. Regardless, Jagr has played in 1,733 career NHL games, with 766 goals and 1,921 points.

  • In the same article, Brooks also writes that he’s heard the Arizona Coyotes are offering young center Max Domi to teams for the right price. The 22-year-old former first-round pick in 2013 has been struggling in his third season in the NHL. After a solid rookie year in which he put up 18 goals and 34 assists, his numbers have declined as he put up just 38 points in 59 games last year and currently has just three goals in 52 games. The team already moved on from winger Anthony Duclair a month ago as the Coyotes are trying to find the right balance of youth and veterans to start winning some games.
  • The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford (subscription required) responds to mailbag questions and suggests that if New York Islanders center John Tavares reaches free agency this summer, he believes the St. Louis Blues will be aggressive suitors for the 27-year-old center. The scribe writes that the team is expecting to have about $13MM available and it should cost between $10 and $12MM to sign Tavares. That will likely make for a tight cap, especially since the team still has to sign several of their own free agents including restricted free agent defenseman Joel Edmundson. However, with the salary cap likely going up and the ability to move out a contract or two, it is very possible the team can afford Tavares. Add in that Tavares is friends with defenseman Alex Pietrangelo and the team is already a playoff team with young winger Vladimir Tarasenko needing a star center to take that next step, there is a good chance he will strongly consider St. Louis. It’s still a long shot, but not unrealistic.
  • NHL.com’s Gary Lawless tweets part of an interview with Vegas Golden Knights general manager George McPhee about the trade deadline. The veteran GM says that its still too early to know whether the team will be buyers, sellers or plan to stand pat. “We still don’t know what we’re going to do at the deadline,” said McPhee. “We’re still three weeks away. We’ll know more when we get there. Every team in the league has needs… We’ll see. I like our group. I don’t know if we’re going to do a lot, if anything.”

Petr Nedved Could Come Out Of Retirement To Face Jaromir Jagr

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The #2 overall pick in the 1990 NHL Draft could be making his return to pro hockey to face an old friend. Czech Second Division team HC Benatky nad Jizerou announced today that 46-year-old Petr Nedved could suit up for the team this weekend after four years away from the game. The occasion? The possible return to Czech hockey for Jaromir Jagr, who was assigned to Czech Second Division team HC Kladno yesterday.

Jagr is expected to suit up for Kladno – a team he is a part owner of – for the remainder of the season in hopes of winning the team a spot in the First Division next season. However, it remains to be seen if he will be ready to go by Saturday night, when Kladno takes on Benatky.

If Jagr, 45, is feeling physically healthy and mentally ready to go on Saturday, he will face off with a fellow countryman and long-time teammate and competitor in Nedved. Jagr was selected just three spots behind Nedved in the 1990 draft, with the former going to the Vancouver Canucks and the latter famously joining the Pittsburgh Penguins, who would win the next two Stanley Cups. Nedved would later join Jagr on the Penguins for two years beginning in 1995 and the pair would also reunite with the New York Rangers in 2003-04. Overall, Jagr and Nedved were teammates or competitors in the NHL for 16 years before Nedved returned to the Czech Republic in 2007. Nedved hung up his skates for good in 2014 after six seasons as the captain of Czech First Division squad HC Bili Tigri Liberec.

Four years later, Nedved is ready to lace ’em up again and, hopefully, he’ll get the chance to do so and face off against old friend Jagr one last time in a reunion of two of the best Czech players of all-time.

Snapshots: Prospects, Olympics, Savard

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The NHL’s Central Scouting has released their midterm rankings for North American and International skaters, with Andrei Svechnikov and Rasmus Dahlin leading the way respectively. Dahlin is about as locked in as a prospect can be for the first-overall selection, but several others will be battling for the number two spot. Svechnikov, Filip Zadina, Adam Boqvist and Brady Tkachuk are all top options who could be in the top three selections, and should b considered blue chip pieces for whoever ends up with them.

Interestingly, players like Ryan Merkley (#21 among North American skaters) and Bode Wilde (#22) find themselves relatively far down the list despite their previous top-10 projections. Whether that has more to do with their own play slipping this season or the influx of talent throughout the draft class is unclear, but it should excite even teams in the playoff picture with the prospect of adding an impact player on defense.

  • Many of the Olympic rosters have now been released, with young players like Dahlin, Miro Heiskanen and Eeli Tolvanen dominating the headlines for Sweden and Finland. Rosters for the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland and host Korea are available on the IIHF website. Igor Eronko of Sport-Express reports that the Olympic Athletes from Russia squad will release their roster on Thursday, which should be one of the powerhouses of the tournament.
  • Marc Savard has officially announced his retirement, exactly seven years after his last game in the NHL. The exquisite playmaker was forced from the game due to concussion problems, but was still technically under contract through last season. His career ended in 2011 with the Bruins after 807 games, in which he registered 706 points including seasons of 97 and 96. According to Chris Lomon of the NHLPA, Savard is looking to move up the coaching ranks after spending some time behind the bench of his sons’ triple-A teams.

Trade Rumors Swirl Around Toronto

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It wasn’t long ago that the Toronto Maple Leafs were one of the worst franchises in the NHL, making the playoffs once in just eleven seasons and suffering an epic collapse in that one postseason appearance. Therefore, it was fittingly a surprising and exciting story line when the young 2016-17 Maple Leafs made the playoffs and even gave the President’s Trophy-winning Washington Capitals a run for their money in the conference quarterfinals. Toronto had finally turned it around.

This season however, expectations have changed. In an especially weak Atlantic Division, the Leafs have, for all intents and purposes, already locked up the third Atlantic playoff spot and are simply looking to strengthen their roster for what seems to be a collision course with the Boston Bruins in the first round, a rematch of their 2013 blunder. While much of that preparation will simply be maintaining a healthy roster and polishing their play through the rest of the regular season, there is also much anticipation that further additions to the team are in order to give the team a shot at the Stanley Cup this spring.

Trade speculation is natural for contenders, but it isn’t always rational. There has already been a notion among many sources that impending unrestricted free agents James van Riemsdyk, Tyler Bozak, and Leo Komarov will be used as the team’s own “rentals” and that the Leafs could be unlikely to add a forward. There’s also the fact that Toronto has next to no cap space to make a typical picks/prospects-for-player rental deal. Yet, fans are still eager to grasp at any rumors of the Leafs adding a big-time defenseman or another depth piece up front.

Case in point: Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston reported earlier today that rookie defenseman Travis Dermott’s number was suddenly changed from #3 to #23 without his approval. The reaction from Toronto fans was overwhelmingly that the team was set to acquire a veteran player with the #3. Even SB Nation’s Maple Leafs blog Pension Plan Puppets was quick to post a somewhat laughable list of potential former Leafs whose #3 could be saved for retirement alongside a more serious list of current #3’s throughout the league who could be future Leafs. The vast majority of that list are defenseman, which lends some credence to the theory, but many – Seth Jones, John Klingberg, Brayden McNabb, Tucker Poolman – are likely untouchable and others – Kevin Bieksa, Chris Bigras, Nick Jensen – are likely of no interest to Toronto. Could the Pittsburgh Penguins really be ready to move on from Olli Maatta? Would the Leafs really be willing to take on the Keith Yandle contract or the risk of uber-physical Radko Gudas? Or was the number change simply due to some other decision that carries far less weight than Toronto fans would like it to?

Only time will tell what moves the Maple Leafs make prior to the Trade Deadline, but the expectations are not going away any time soon. Toronto’s Stanley Cup window has only just opened, but the hockey-crazed city is ready for their first title since 1967 and fans will be eager to see the club add additional pieces to strengthen the roster. The Leafs will continue to be a team to watch through the next month and a half, but that doesn’t mean every little piece of information on the rumor mill is worth taking seriously.

Alexander Burmistrov Retires From NHL, Signs In Russia

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Wednesday: Burmistrov has signed a one-year deal with Ak Bars Kazan of the KHL, where he will continue his playing career.

Sunday: NHL player agent Dan Milstein announced that Vancouver Canucks center Alexander Burmistrov has announced his retirement. Burmistrov had recently talked about his frustration with his role with the Canucks. He was a healthy scratch last night against the Blues and only had 4:53 minutes of ice time Thursday against San Jose.

“The frustrating thing is you know you can play at this level and every day and every night you walk into the dressing room and you don’t know if you’re playing or not. You kind of want to know you’re playing or be sure to be confident in yourself and feel like you’re part of the team,” Burmistrov said. “Then you walk into the dressing room and you’re not playing and you’re thinking: ‘What is it going to be like tomorrow?’ I’m trying to work hard but this is hard.”

Sportsnet’s Rick Dhaliwal reports that Burmistrov wanted to return back home. Milstein told Dhaliwal, “He wanted to go back home. No other reason. The Canucks were more than accommodating to his request.”

The 26-year-old signed a one-year deal with Vancouver in July after splitting  last year between the Winnipeg Jets and the Arizona Coyotes. He had spent five years with the Winnipeg Jets/Atlanta Thrashers organization after being the eighth-overall pick in 2010, but was waived in January by Winnipeg and Arizona claimed him. Burmistrov never lived up to the billing as his best year in the league was back in 2011-12 when he scored 13 goals and 15 assists in 76 games in the Winnipeg Jets’ first year after moving from Atlanta.

He played a total of 348 games, scoring 37 goals and 101 points. He had two goals and four assists in 24 games this season.

Morning Notes: Neil, Chara, Jokiharju

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Chris Neil has officially announced his retirement from professional hockey, ending his career after more than 1,000 games with the Ottawa Senators. The team made the decision not to bring him back early in the offseason, and though he was offered a professional tryout with the Montreal Canadiens (which he declined), never could find a full-time contract offer.

Neil, 38, was beloved by teammates for his work ethic and willingness to protect them on the ice, but will be remembered by the Senators’ organization for more than just his fists. Neil scored 250 points in his career, including a 16-goal season in 2005-06. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Neil around the alumni game on Friday, when two teams of Senators’ legends will take to the ice on Parliament Hill.

  • Zdeno Chara is still enjoying life in the NHL, and told Joe McDonald of Boston Sports Journal recently that though extension talks haven’t come up yet he believes one will be signed with the Bruins eventually. Even at 40, Chara is still logging more than 23 minutes a night for the Bruins and seems ready to continue his career. Earning just $4MM this season in the final season of his seven-year deal, he’s been a relative bargain for the Bruins. If he’s willing to take something similar—or even cheaper—there could still be some value to be added for the next couple of seasons.
  • Scott Powers of The Athletic caught up with Chicago Blackhawks prospect Henri Jokiharju ahead of the World Junior tournament at the end of the month, and discussed a wide variety of topics. Jokiharju is starring for the Portland Winterhawks of the WHL, but will try to make the NHL squad out of camp next season. At just 18-years old, the Finnish defender has 36 points in 31 games, trailing only Kale Clague and Colby Sissons among WHL defensemen. For any Blackhawks fans wondering about the next wave of prospects, he’ll be a must-watch at the junior tournament, when he is part of an excellent defensive corps for Team Finland.

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