2020 has certainly been a unique year away from the rink. However, it’s also a year that has featured several big trades and free agent signings, coaching changes, and much more. Over the coming days, PHR will take a look back at the top stories from around the game on a month-by-month basis. We begin with a look back at January.
Shero Fired: Less than a month after he traded Taylor Hall to Arizona, the Devils decided to make a change in direction with the firing of general manager Ray Shero. He had been with the team since May of 2015 with his biggest move being the acquisition of Hall from Edmonton back in 2016. However, the team never really progressed and won just one playoff game during his tenure. Tom Fitzgerald took over on an interim basis and took the team through the trade deadline and into the offseason (before eventually getting the full-time position).
Montreal Additions: The Canadiens made a couple of moves to try to keep themselves in the playoff race. They added Ilya Kovalchuk on a one-year, pro-rated league minimum deal after he was released by Los Angeles the month before. He made an immediate impact and they were able to flip him just six weeks later for a third-round pick. They also picked up Marco Scandella from Buffalo for a fourth-round pick; Buffalo then took that saved cap room to add Michael Frolik from Buffalo. Montreal fell out of the race and sent Scandella to St. Louis with 50% retention for second and fourth rounders. (Meanwhile, Frolik signed with the Canadiens earlier this week.)
Extensions: Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom elected to represent himself in contract extension negotiations and was able to negotiate a sizable raise, upping his AAV from $6.7MM to $9.2MM while securing a five-year deal at the age of 32. The contract also contains a full no-move clause in the first three years of the deal before converting to a 15-team no-trade clause in the final two seasons. The veteran has spent the entirety of his 13-year NHL career with Washington and has averaged close to a point per game over that span with 927 in 956 career NHL games. He sits second in all-time franchise scoring, only behind frequent linemate Alex Ovechkin who is ahead by 351 points.
Meanwhile, Calgary also locked up an important part of their back end, inking Rasmus Andersson to a six-year extension that carries a cap hit of $4.55MM. The 24-year-old has just two full NHL seasons under his belt (including the pandemic-shortened 2019-20 campaign) so the deal does carry some risk but he has already established himself as a top-four defender. With Travis Hamonic (unsigned) and T.J. Brodie (Toronto) leaving in free agency, Andersson should have an opportunity to take on an even bigger workload this upcoming season.
Shesterkin Promoted: Normally, players getting recalled from the minors wouldn’t qualify as major news but the impact that Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin had after being promoted certainly represents an exception. He didn’t waste much time taking over the number one role and helped lead a big second half turnaround that all of a sudden had them in the hunt for a Wild Card spot and climbing before things were shut down in March. He posted a .932 SV% with a 2.52 GAA while winning 10 of 12 starts and if he can even come close to that performance this coming season, the Rangers could make some noise in the tight East division.
Coaching Changes: A pair of teams opted to make changes behind the bench but didn’t bother with going with an interim replacement until the end of the season. The Predators parted ways with Peter Laviolette and replaced him with former New Jersey bench boss John Hynes who had been let go by New Jersey a month earlier. Meanwhile, Vegas let their inaugural head coach in Gerard Gallant go with former San Jose head coach Peter DeBoer (who also had been let go in December) taking over. Both teams posted better winning percentages following the changes but the Golden Knights, in particular, really took off as they lost just five of 22 games in regulation with DeBoer behind the bench while also making it to the Western Conference Final.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.