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NHL-Affiliated Prospects Playing In 2024 Memorial Cup

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The field for the 2024 Memorial Cup, the top club tournament in junior hockey, is set. The QMJHL’s Drummondville Voltigeurs, the OHL’s London Knights and the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors all swept their respective league championship series within the last two days to advance to the CHL championship tournament, joining the host Saginaw Spirit of the OHL.

This year marks the first Memorial Cup held in the United States since 1998, which was hosted by the WHL’s Spokane Chiefs. The Spirit will attempt to become the first U.S.-based team to win since the Chiefs in 2008, and they have a strong chance. They’re stronger than a typical host team, finishing second in the league in the regular season with a 50-16-2 record and trailing London by just two points. They were eliminated by London in six games in the Western Conference Final.

The Knights lead the way with 10 NHL-affiliated prospects on their roster, including two first-round picks in Flyers defenseman Oliver Bonk and Maple Leafs forward Easton Cowan. The latter was named the OHL playoffs MVP after leading the Knights in scoring with 10 goals, 24 assists and 34 points in just 18 games. He had 15 points in four games in their championship sweep over the Oshawa Generals.

If you’re looking for some non-Stanley Cup Playoff hockey to watch, check to see if your favorite NHL team has prospects suiting up in the tournament, which begins May 24:

Drummondville Voltigeurs (QMJHL champion)

D Mikaël Diotte (Devils, free agent signing)
RW Ethan Gauthier (Lightning, 2023, 37th overall)
RW Alexis Gendron (Flyers, 2022, 220th overall)
D Vsevolod Komarov (Sabres, 2022, 134th overall)

NHL Utah 2022 first-round pick D Maveric Lamoureux is out for the season after undergoing shoulder surgery in March.

London Knights (OHL champion)

C Denver Barkey (Flyers, 2023, 95th overall)
D Oliver Bonk (Flyers, 2023, 22nd overall)
C Easton Cowan (Maple Leafs, 2023, 28th overall)
D Jackson Edward (Bruins, 2022, 200th overall)
D Isaiah George (Islanders, 2022, 98th overall)
RW Kasper Halttunen (Sharks, 2023, 36th overall)
C Jacob Julien (Jets, 2023, 146th overall)
C Kaleb Lawrence (Kings, 2022, 215th overall)
C Max McCue (Blue Jackets, free agent signing)
C Landon Sim (Blues, 2022, 184th overall)

Moose Jaw Warriors (WHL champion)

RW Jagger Firkus (Kraken, 2022, 35th overall)
D Denton Mateychuk (Blue Jackets, 2022, 12th overall)
D Kalem Parker (Wild, 2023, 181st overall)
D Vojtech Port (Ducks, 2023, 161st overall)
LW Martin Rysavy (Blue Jackets, 2021, 197th overall)
C Matthew Savoie (Sabres, 2022, 9th overall)
C Brayden Yager (Penguins, 2023, 14th overall)

Saginaw Spirit (host)

C Owen Beck (Canadiens, 2022, 33rd overall)
LW Josh Bloom (Canucks, acquired from Sabres in 2023 trade for Riley Stillman)
D Rodwin Dionicio (Ducks, 2023, 129th overall)
D Jorian Donovan (Senators, 2022, 136th overall)
C Hunter Haight (Wild, 2022, 47th overall)
C Ethan Hay (Lightning, 2023, 211th overall)
G Nolan Lalonde (Blue Jackets, free agent signing)
C Matyas Sapovaliv (Golden Knights, 2022, 48th overall)
C Joseph Willis (Predators, 2023, 111th overall)

Lightning Sign Niko Huuhtanen

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The Lightning have signed one of their prospects as CapFriendly reports (Twitter link) that they’ve signed forward Niko Huuhtanen to a three-year, entry-level contract.  The deal carries an AAV of $925K and breaks down as follows:

2024-25: $775K salary, $92.5K signing bonus, $57.5K games played bonus
2025-26: $775K salary, $92.5K signing bonus, $57.5K games played bonus
2026-27: $775K salary, $92.5K signing bonus, $57.5K games played bonus

The 20-year-old was a seventh-round pick back in 2021, being taken with the 224th and final selection of that draft class.  Since then, his stock has gone up considerably.  Huuhtanen spent his post-draft season in junior with WHL Everett, collecting 37 goals and 40 assists in 65 games.

However, Huuhtanen decided to go back home and play professionally over staying in junior.  He has spent the last two seasons with Jukurit in Finland’s Liiga.  After putting up a respectable 30 points in 48 games in his rookie season, Huuhtanen was even better this year, collecting 19 goals and 27 assists in 52 contests to lead his team in scoring while finishing inside the top 20 league-wide.

While his season in Finland is over, Huuhtanen’s campaign hasn’t ended just yet.  He’s currently with AHL Syracuse on a tryout agreement as their playoff run continues (they begin the North Division Finals tonight) and is likely heading for a longer stay with them next season.

Afternoon Notes: Hedman, Landeskog, Reilly

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Joe Smith of The Athletic writes that Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois plans to re-sign defenseman Victor Hedman before the end of his current contract which expires on July 1st, 2025. The Lightning reportedly started engaging in contract talks with the 33-year-old last week but can’t officially sign a new deal until July 1st, 2024.

Hedman remains one of the NHL’s elite defensemen coming off another strong season in which he posted 13 goals and 63 assists in 78 games while averaging just a tick under 25 minutes of ice time per game.

The Lightning are no longer the perennial Stanley Cup contender of a few years ago but they remain a strong team with a very good core and have been aggressive in extending their group long term having locked up six regulars to contracts beyond the 2028-29 season.

In other afternoon notes:

  • Ryan Boulding of NHL.com tweeted that Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar told reporters that forward Gabriel Landeskog is increasing the time he’s on the ice, and increasing the repetition in his workouts but he isn’t close to practicing with the team. Landeskog had knee cartilage surgery exactly one year ago today, and while the projected recovery time for that type of procedure is usually one year, it doesn’t appear as though he will return anytime soon. Bednar remained non-committal when pressed by reporters, simply saying that the team doesn’t know a timeline for a return.
  • Stefan Rosner of The Hockey News writes that New York Islanders defenseman Mike Reilly is hoping to sign an extension with the team before his contract expires on July 1st. Reilly has played with six different NHL teams in his short career and it’s not surprising to see him looking for the stability of an extension. Reilly was bought out last summer by the Boston Bruins but then signed a one-year, $1MM contract with the Florida Panthers before he was acquired off waivers in November by the Islanders. He played 50 games for New York, notching five goals and 14 assists during that time and providing the Islanders with a lot of good work in their transition game. The Islanders don’t have much in the way of cap space this summer but would have room to fit Reilly in, should they want to keep him with the team.

Prospect Nick Malik Signs In Czech Extraliga

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  • Lightning prospect Nick Malik is on the move as HC Plzen of the Czech Extraliga announced that they’ve signed the netminder to a two-year deal. The 22-year-old was a fifth-round pick (160th overall) back in 2022 after a strong first season with KooKoo in Finland.  However, the last two years haven’t gone as well; his save percentage dropped to .889 in 38 games this season, 33 points down from 2021-22.  Considering that Tampa Bay hasn’t signed him yet coupled with this news, it looks unlikely that he’ll receive his entry-level deal by the June 1st deadline.

NHL Announces Ted Lindsay Award Finalists

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The National Hockey League has announced the three finalists for the 2024 Ted Lindsay Award given to the most outstanding player in the NHL as voted on by the players. The finalists are Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche, and Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Connor McDavid was last year’s winner and Matthews previously won the award in 2022. Kucherov and MacKinnon are both finalists for the Hart Trophy as well.

Kucherov was the NHL’s leading scorer this season, tallying 44 goals and 100 assists in 81 games. His 144 points were the highest total ever for a Lightning player surpassing his own record of 128 points in 2018-19. Kucherov has already taken home the Art Ross Trophy for the most points in an NHL season and previously won the Ted Lindsay Award back in 2019, along with the Hart Trophy.

MacKinnon’s presence was of massive importance to the Avalanche this season as they dealt with a slew of injuries to key players. MacKinnon played in every regular season game and finished with 51 goals and 89 assists for 140 points, all of which were career-highs. It was the second consecutive season that the 28-year-old has topped 100 points.

Finally, Matthews had an incredible season leading the league with 69 goals and setting a career high with 107 points. On top of his goal-scoring prowess, Matthews also took on increased responsibility on the penalty kill playing nearly 58 minutes of short-handed ice time compared to just 3:29 for the whole season a year ago. Matthews increased defensive awareness led to him also being nominated as a finalist for the Frank J. Selke Trophy, given to the League’s best defensive forward.

The winner of the award will be announced in late June.

NHL Announces 2024 Hart Trophy Finalists

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The Lightning’s Nikita Kucherov, the Avalanche’s Nathan MacKinnon and the Oilers’ Connor McDavid have been named the finalists for the 2024 Hart Trophy, per Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek.

When the final votes come out, this will likely be one of the closest ballots in recent memory. Out of the gate, there’s no clear favorite. Kucherov finds himself back among the finalists for the second time, winning his only previous nomination in 2019. He, along with McDavid, was the first player to reach 100 assists in a single season since Wayne Gretzky in 1990-91. Adding 44 goals, he took home the Art Ross Trophy with 144 points in 81 games. He also led the league in both assists and points when he won the Hart in 2019. Kucherov averaged 21:40 per game, a career-high at age 30. He also had 54 more points than Brayden Point, who finished second on the Lightning with 90.

MacKinnon becomes a Hart finalist for the fourth time (2018, 2020, 2021) but presents a much stronger case than in years past. He’s coming off a truly career-defining season, rattling off 51 goals, 89 assists and 140 points – all career-highs by a decent margin – while playing in all 82 games. He led the league with 405 shots on goal and averaged nearly 23 minutes per game, helping the Avs stay afloat while dealing with the lengthy absences of important secondary scorers like Artturi Lehkonen and Valeri Nichushkin.

McDavid earns his fourth straight nomination after a down year for him in the goal-scoring department. His 32 goals were his fewest in seven years, and he only managed 263 shots on goal after breaching 300 the past two years. But, like Kucherov, he was on another level in the assist department, totaling 132 points in 76 games. He’ll aim to take home the trophy for the fourth time in his career, although he’s arguably more of a dark horse this year compared to Kucherov and MacKinnon.

The Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews did not finish top three in Hart voting despite scoring 69 goals, the most in a single season since Mario Lemieux in 1996.

Lightning RFA Hugo Alnefelt Expected To Sign In Sweden

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22-year-old netminder Hugo Alnefelt, the Lightning’s best goaltending prospect, may not remain in North America next season. The pending restricted free agent is expected to sign with HV71 of the Swedish Hockey League, Expressen’s Jacob Johannesson reports.

Alnefelt, a 2019 third-round pick, has spent the entirety of 2023-24 on assignment to AHL Syracuse. Despite starting 30 games this season, the most on the team, he’s fallen to third on the Crunch’s depth chart behind veteran Matt Tomkins and the minor-league-contracted Brandon Halverson, who’s played all four playoff games for Syracuse thus far. HV71’s signing of Alnefelt will be announced after Syracuse’s time in the Calder Cup Playoffs comes to an end, per Johannesson.

Regardless of Alnefelt’s future, the Lightning were likely going to be looking for a goalie at the 2024 NHL draft. Their depth at the position is paper-thin – only the 22-year-old unsigned Nick Malík can be labeled as a prospect, and below-average veterans Tomkins and Jonas Johansson staffed the third and second-string roles behind undisputed starter Andrei Vasilevskiy this season, respectively. The Lightning don’t have any other goalies on their reserve list.

It was a disappointing season for Alnefelt, his third in Syracuse since signing his entry-level contract in 2021. He was expected to be more of a competitor with Tomkins for the bonafide starting role and was given plenty of opportunity with Tomkins on the NHL roster backing up Johansson at the beginning of the season while Vasilevskiy missed time recovering from back surgery. But his numbers regressed back to below average after a strong sophomore showing in 2022-23, logging a .893 SV%, 2.76 GAA, two shutouts and a 14-8-4 record.

Tomkins was again needed in the NHL down the stretch, this time with Johansson out, and was only reassigned to Syracuse last week. It was a golden opportunity for Alnefelt to seize the crease heading into the postseason, but he instead lost it to the 28-year-old Halverson, who hadn’t played in the AHL since before the COVID-19 pandemic.

In fact, Halverson is authoring quite a comeback story – he missed nearly all of 2020-21 with an injury and didn’t play at all in 2021-22. He made his return to pro hockey last season with the Bayreuth Tigers in the second-tier German DEL2 before joining the Tampa Bay organization this year on a contract with ECHL Orlando that was later converted into an AHL agreement with Syracuse. Thus far, Halverson has a .918 SV% in four postseason games as Syracuse is tied 2-2 with Rochester in the best-of-five North Division Semifinals.

Therefore, it’s unsurprising to see Alnefelt return to his native Sweden after slipping down the Tampa Bay depth chart. The Lightning can still retain his signing rights for the time being by issuing him a qualifying offer. He made one NHL appearance during his ELC, allowing three goals on 10 shots in the third period of a 9-3 loss to the Panthers on Dec. 30, 2021, after starter Maxime Lagace was pulled.

With HV71, Alnefelt will split the crease with former Canadiens prospect Fredrik Dichow, a 2019 fifth-round whose exclusive signing rights lapsed last June and is now an unrestricted free agent. Dichow had a .943 SV% in six games in HV71’s relegation series against IK Oskarshamn to keep the club at the top level of Swedish hockey next season.

Victor Hedman To Play In World Championship

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  • Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman will take part in the upcoming World Championship later this month, Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic reports (Twitter link). The 33-year-old hasn’t had many opportunities to take part in the tournament in the past but has been consistent about going when he could.  This will be Hedman’s fourth time playing in the event and his first since 2016-17.

Lightning Have Started Extension Talks With Steven Stamkos And Victor Hedman

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There has been plenty of speculation regarding the future of Steven Stamkos in Tampa Bay after it was announced in training camp that there wouldn’t be any extension discussions during the season.  However, now that their year has come to an end, GM Julien BriseBois told reporters including Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times that he has already reached out to Stamkos’ agent to discuss a new deal before his current one expires on July 1st.  Additionally, he indicated that he has also spoken with the agent for defenseman Victor Hedman to begin extension discussions for him.

Stamkos has been a franchise fixture for the Lightning since they selected him first overall back in 2008.  Since then, he has been one of the top scorers in the NHL, notching 555 goals and 582 assists in 1,082 regular season games along with 50 goals and 51 helpers in 128 playoff contests, helping lead the team to a pair of Stanley Cup titles.

While Stamkos’ prime years are now behind him, he is still a very productive player.  The 34-year-old is coming off another season of more than a point per game, picking up 40 goals and 41 assists in 79 games this season.  His 81 points are good for second among all pending unrestricted free agents, behind only Florida’s Sam Reinhart.

Accordingly, there’s a strong case to be made that Stamkos should be in line for a raise on his current $8.5MM AAV.  However, with Tampa Bay already having over $75MM in commitments to 16 players for next season per CapFriendly, fitting in a raise for Stamkos would make it that they couldn’t afford to fill out the rest of their roster.  As a result, BriseBois will either have to get his captain to agree to a below-market contract or he will have to move a player or two out to open up the cap room to re-sign him.

As for Hedman, he has also been a Lightning lifer thus far, having been with the franchise since picking him second overall in 2009.  For most of that time, he has been their undisputed top blueliner and surpassed the 1,000 games played mark this season.  He’s coming off one of the best years offensively of his career, collecting 13 goals and 63 assists in 78 games.  With Mikhail Sergachev missing more than half of this season due to injuries, Hedman certainly was able to pick up the slack.

The timeline for a new deal for Hedman isn’t as tight as Stamkos’ is.  The 33-year-old isn’t even eligible to sign a contract until the final year of his current contract begins on July 1st.  With that in mind, any discussions in the next couple of months will likely be of the preliminary variety.

Hedman currently carries a $7.875MM cap charge, one that is certainly well below market value for a proven top-pairing defender like he is.  Like Stamkos, there’s a very strong case to be made that he’s worthy of a raise on his next agreement which is easier said than done given their salary structure.  Having said that, BriseBois has been aggressive when it comes to trying to sign his core players to early extensions so it wouldn’t be surprising if one gets done in July when he becomes eligible to sign.

Lightning Reportedly Extend Jon Cooper

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The Lightning have signed head coach Jon Cooper to a one-year extension, The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta reports. He’ll remain in Tampa through the 2025-26 campaign. He’d previously signed a three-year extension in October 2021 that ensured he’d be paid by the team through 2024-25. Speaking to reporters at this morning’s end-of-season media availability, general manager Julien BriseBois told reporters the team wouldn’t hold extension talks with Cooper this summer because “he had term,” indicating he’d signed or agreed to sign an extension past next season (via the Tampa Bay Times’ Eduardo A. Encina).

Cooper just wrapped up his 11th full season behind the Lightning bench, guiding the squad to a 45-29-8 record to match last season’s point total of 98, earning them the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. For the first time in his tenure, though, the Bolts finished in the bottom third of the league in goals against and posted a rather underwhelming -19 goal differential at 5-on-5. Their well-above-average power play and penalty kill buoyed them, but both were neutralized in the first round of this year’s playoffs by the Panthers, who ended Tampa’s season with a 6-1 win in Game 5 on Monday.

It was inarguably a down season for the team, marred by losing number two defenseman Mikhail Sergachev for over half the season and starting the campaign without All-Star goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy. But the 56-year-old Cooper’s track record does more than enough heavy lifting to convince the Lightning front office that he’s the right person to extend their dwindling championship window.

After he took over for Guy Boucher with 15 games remaining in the shortened 2012-13 season, the Lightning have only missed the playoffs once in Cooper’s tenure. The longest-serving coach in the league has compiled a 525-279-75 record in 879 regular-season games behind the Tampa bench, as well as an 87-63 record in an astounding 150 playoff appearances. His 612 total wins with the Lightning are the third-most all-time with a single franchise, trailing Lindy Ruff with the Sabres (628) and Al Arbour with the Islanders (859).

Before this season, the Lightning hadn’t gone more than one year without a playoff series victory since advancing to the 2015 Stanley Cup Final. Now, they’ve fallen short of a .600 points percentage in back-to-back years and are 3-8 in their 11 playoff games over the last two seasons. Cooper’s sole task over the next two is to keep the club from falling into the trap of post-dynasty mediocrity, much like the current edition of the Penguins and the early 2010s Red Wings.

The roster he leads next season won’t look considerably different. 16 roster players are signed for next season at a combined $75.1MM cap hit, per CapFriendly. The notable exception is captain Steven Stamkos, who will become an unrestricted free agent on July 1 for the first time in his career if BriseBois can’t get him signed to an extension. BriseBois added in today’s media availability that working on a deal with Stamkos over the next two months is a “priority,” although only preliminary talks have been held.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

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