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Jacob Nilsson Signs One-Year Extension

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The Chicago Blackhawks have signed defenseman Jacob Nilsson to a one-year contract extension. Nilsson current deal was scheduled to expire in July and make him a restricted free agent, something that will now be delayed until 2020. The forward will earn $700K next season on the one-way contract.

Nilsson, 25, signed with the Blackhawks last spring after a successful rookie season in the SHL, but ended up playing in the minor leagues for most of the year. In 61 games with the Rockford IceHogs he recorded 32 points and apparently did enough to earn another contract. The versatile forward was undrafted and spent several years playing in Sweden’s second league, now looking like the classic late-bloomer.

In his two games with Chicago he failed to register a point. Next season he will be waiver eligible, meaning if the team wants him to spend time in the minor leagues again they’ll have to make him available for the rest of the league. That will likely be at the end of training camp when rosters are fullest, as they try to sneak him through. That is of course unless the team believes he can be a full-time contributor at the NHL level in 2019-20.

Snapshots: Gagarin Cup, Sorokin, Carr

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The 2019 Gagarin Cup belongs to CSKA Moscow after finishing off their sweep of Avangard today. The club was a powerhouse all season as usual, but finally won their first  championship after getting to the final in three of the last four years. Former NHL forward Mikhail Grigorenko led the way with 13 goals and 21 points in the playoffs for CSKA, while Cody Franson did his best for Avangard with 17 points to lead all defenders.

With the KHL season now officially over, we’ll start to see more and more rumors pop up about the next wave of Russian talent heading to North America. Contracts technically go through the end of April, but even players on CSKA will now be able to negotiate their future in the NHL if they so choose.

  • The winners couldn’t have gotten there without New York Islanders draft pick Ilya Sorokin, who was named playoff MVP. The 23-year old goaltender stopped 36 of 38 shots in the final game giving him a .947 save percentage for the playoffs. The incredible young netminder recorded five shutouts during his 20-game Cup run, showing once again why he is considered one of the best goaltenders currently outside of the NHL. Sorokin’s contract with CSKA extends through 2019-20, and at this point it is not clear when he plans on coming over to North America, if at all.
  • Speaking of outstanding performances from outside of the NHL, Daniel Carr was named AHL MVP today and will receive the Les Cunningham Award. Carr played just 52 games this season for the Chicago Wolves but was an absolutely dominant presence during them. The 27-year old forward recorded 71 points, putting him third in league scoring despite playing 20 fewer games than his contemporaries.  Carr is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer and can sign with the team of his choosing, likely looking for another chance at the NHL. The undrafted forward has 35 points in 100 career NHL games.

Detroit Red Wings Hire Steve Yzerman

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2:20pm: The team has officially announced Yzerman as general manager, but also explained that Holland has agreed to a multi-year extension to stay on in his new role as Senior VP. The two will work together for the time being.

8:00am: The Detroit Red Wings are bringing back their boy. The team has set a press conference for this afternoon to introduce Steve Yzerman as the next general manager of the team. Ken Holland, who is currently working in that role, will move to a position called Senior Vice President according to Gord Miller of TSN.

It’s hard to state just how momentous a situation this is for the Red Wings. Not only does the team get to welcome back one of the greatest figures in the history of their franchise, a player who exemplified leadership and success through his 22-year career on the ice, but they also bring in the mastermind behind one of the greatest regular season teams in NHL history. Though Yzerman stepped down from his role as GM of the Tampa Bay Lightning in September, his fingerprints are still all over the roster that just went 62-16-4 to match the NHL record for wins in a single season—one set by Yzerman’s Red Wings in 1995-96.

Obviously things didn’t go the way Tampa Bay had hoped in the playoffs, but Red Wings fans will be more focused on how Yzerman acquired and kept oodles of talent on the NHL roster through various means, building a powerhouse franchise even without the financial might an organization like Detroit brings.

It’s not really like Yzerman ever left, as he kept his family and home in Michigan while working in Tampa Bay. Commuting regularly, wanting to spend more time with his family was one of the reasons he gave when stepping down from the job initially. It appeared likely then that he would find his way back to the Red Wings, though some believed it would have to be after Holland left town. Instead it sounds like the team will keep their long-time GM around in another role, though rumors are already surfacing on what Holland’s next career step may be.

There is already some speculation as well over whether Yzerman will bring some of the Tampa Bay front office with him. Bob McKenzie of TSN tweets that AGM Pat Verbeek’s contract is up at the end of the year and could follow Yzerman back to Detroit, while chief amateur scout Al Murray is a candidate to do the same. None of that is official at this point, but you can bet there will be several names who want to get on board this new Red Wings ride.

Submit Your Questions For The #PHRMailbag

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The NHL playoffs are off and running and they’ve already brought plenty of surprises. The eventual winner of the Stanley Cup is still far from being determined, but it clearly won’t be an easy path as teams turn up their emotion and energy—just ask the Tampa Bay Lightning. For those outside of the playoff chase there is the NHL Entry Draft to look forward to now that the lottery balls have been counted. The New Jersey Devils will have the top pick once again, but will they decide to use it or cash it in for an even bigger package of assets?

With the playoffs in full swing it’s time to run another mailbag. We’ll be answering as many questions as we can this weekend. You can submit your query by using #PHRMailbag on Twitter or by leaving a comment down below.

If you missed the last mailbag you can find it right here. Our Brian La Rose tackled all of your questions including a look at some of the top prospects outside of Jack Hughes and Kaapo Kakko in the 2019 draft, the New York Rangers rebuild and the Adam Fox situation. Make sure to submit your question early so we can include it.

Morning Notes: Smith-Pelly, Boychuk, Sweden

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The Washington Capitals have recalled Devante Smith-Pelly ahead of their next game against the Carolina Hurricanes. T.J. Oshie “won’t be playing any time soon” according to head coach Todd Reirden after the forward was run into the boards by Carolina’s Warren Foegele last night. Foegele will not receive any disciplinary action from the league for the hit, but the Capitals will still have to find a way forward without one of their leaders up front.

In comes Smith-Pelly, who spent a good chunk of the year in the minor leagues after being waived by the team earlier this year. The 2018 playoff hero had 14 points in 20 games for the Hershey Bears, but will now try to prove that he still belongs on the NHL team. In 48 career playoff games, Smith-Pelly has 13 goals—just one off the highest regular season total of his career.

2019 Masterton Trophy Finalists Announced

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The Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy is given out annually to the NHL player who exemplifies perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey. The award has been voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association since 1968, and today they announced their nominees for 2019.

Past winners of the award include Brian Boyle (2018), Craig Anderson (2017), Jaromir Jagr (2016), Devan Dubnyk (2015), Dominic Moore (2014) and Josh Harding (2013).

Each team provided a nominee for the award. The finalists this season are Nick Foligno from the Columbus Blue Jackets, Robin Lehner from the New York Islanders and Joe Thornton from the San Jose Sharks.

Foligno, 31, captained the Blue Jackets to a playoff berth and first-round upset of the Tampa Bay Lightning while also dealing with major health scares for two of his children. Twice the veteran forward had to leave the team to deal with family issues, including when his 22-month old son Hudson’s lung collapsed while in the hospital with pneumonia. It’s been an incredibly trying year for the captain, making the Blue Jackets’ playoff success even more deserved.

Lehner, 27, has finally found some balance in his life as part of the Islanders, after battling addiction and mental health issues for years. Lehner wrote a piece for The Athletic in September detailing his bipolar diagnosis and struggles with alcohol while part of the Buffalo Sabres organization. He went on to post an incredible .930 save percentage this season, winning the Jennings trophy as the goaltender for the team with the lowest goals against average.

Thornton, 39, fought back from several major knee injuries over the past two seasons to suit up 73 times in 2018-19. The legendary playmaker ended with 51 points, the 17th time he has broken the 50-point threshold in a season. Even at the late stage of his career he was pushing hard to be healthy and productive for the Sharks, and now has four points through four games in the playoffs.

Carolina Hurricanes Recall Aleksi Saarela

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The Carolina Hurricanes are battered and bruised from their first round series against the Washington Capitals, so are bringing up some extra help. The team has recalled forward Aleksi Saarela from the Charlotte Checkers, while sending defenseman Jake Bean back down. Saarela is up under emergency conditions, since the Checkers are still in the AHL playoff picture.

Saarela, 22, has never actually suited up in the NHL but is a dominant performer for the Checkers. He led the team with 30 goals this season through 69 games and is almost always among the best handful of players on the ice. Originally selected by the New York Rangers in the third round of the 2015 draft, he came to the Hurricanes organization in the infamous Eric Staal trade at the 2016 deadline.

The young forward has progressed nicely through the first few years of his North American career, and now might get a chance to show what he can do at the NHL level if the Hurricanes continue to get banged up. Andrei Svechnikov and Micheal Ferland were already dealing with injuries when Jordan Martinook didn’t return to the bench in the second period of last night’s game.

Snapshots: Lady Byng, Seattle, Carolina

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The NHL has announced the three finalists to be this year’s recipient of the Lady Byng Trophy, which is awarded to the player “who best combines sportsmanship and a high standard of playing ability. The Florida Panthers’ Aleksander Barkov, the Calgary Flames’ Sean Monahan, and the St. Louis Blues’ Ryan O’Reilly are up for the title this year. The Lady Byng is a divisive award; some appreciate the intent behind the trophy while others criticize the criteria used to determine its contenders. The Lady Byng is notoriously hard to win for defensemen and has never been won by a goalie, which begs the question of why players at those positions cannot display elite sportsmanship. The award has more or less been whittled down to a measure of penalty minutes versus ice time and production for forwards, whether that is the fair determination or not.  By that standard, the three finalists are strong selections. O’Reilly is a previous winner, taking home the trophy in 2013-14, was a finalist last year, and has received votes in seven of the past eight seasons. O’Reilly, who is also a Selke Trophy finalist, is an elite defensive forward, but served just 12 minutes in the penalty box this season through all 82 regular season games. It is his eighth straight season of 12 PIM or less. Barkov, also a strong two-way player, is a Lady Byng finalist for the second straight year and registered a career-low eight penalty minutes on the year while leading all Panthers forwards in points and ice time. Monahan comes in at 12 PIM of his own to go along with a strong season in all three zones as the first-line center for the Western Conference’s top seed. The winner could be any of these three.

  • NHL.com’s Andrew Eide relays news out of Seattle that the refurbished Seattle Center Arena is set to be open by June of 2021. The Seattle expansion franchise ownership group is hard at work rebuilding the former Key Arena, but today have revealed the first timeline of when the facility may be open to the public. While Seattle will not begin play until later on that year at the start of the 2021-22 season, the early accessibility could open some interesting doors to the NHL. Eide writes that the league could consider hosting the Expansion Draft itself or even the NHL Entry Draft at the new home of Seattle’s team if the building is indeed up and running by the expected date. The project is still in the “demolition phase”, as all but the roof of the building is being torn apart and rebuilt, so it’s still too early to know whether the timeline will allow for any league events in the summer prior to Seattle’s inaugural season, but such a possibility would be an exciting start for the new team and fan base.
  • Speaking of arenas, Luke DeCock of the Raleigh News & Observer reports that the Carolina Hurricanes listed an attendance of 19,202 for Game Four of their first round series with the Washington Capitals. That mark is a new franchise high for the Hurricanes, who have seen a re-surge-ence in their fan base this season. Both Carolina’s play and their fan interaction have reignited local interest, which is great news for the team and area hockey. The Canes are just two years removed from ranking dead last in the NHL in attendance with 11,776 on average. While they only ranked 28th of 31 this year, their average attendance was up over 20% from 2016-17 to 14,322. Their attendance on Thursday night, if compared with averages around the league, would have ranked fifth, just behind Toronto and ahead of the likes of Detroit and Minnesota. Hockey is alive and well in Carolina right now and hopefully that continues.

AHL Notes: Studnicka, Conway, Bouchard, Jones, Howdeshell

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The Providence Bruins face the tall task of defeating the Charlotte Checkers in their first-round match-up of the Calder Cup Playoffs, after Charlotte’s historic season earned them the top seed in the Eastern Conference. If Providence is able to do so, it will likely be in no small part due to the efforts of their newest addition. Forward Jack Studnicka, the Boston Bruins’ 2017 second-round pick and the player considered by many to be their top prospect, has joined Providence following the end of his junior season. In a strange turnaround, Studnicka and the stacked Niagara Ice Dogs simply could not figure out fellow Bruins prospect Kyle Keyser in net and were surprisingly knocked off by his Oshawa Generals in the second round of the OHL Playoffs. Oshawa had traded Studnicka to Niagara earlier in the season, yet somehow emerged from the match-up with their former captain. Now, Stunicka has to move on from his junior season and try to help Providence immediately in their own playoff run. He was able to make an instant impact last year, recording five points in five games with the P-Bruins. This time around, he could be an even bigger threat. Studnicka scored at better than a point-per-game pace with both Oshawa and Niagara this season, totaling 83 points in 60 games. He’s also trying to impress the Boston brass, as Studnicka’s OHL career is over and this is his first step toward cracking the Bruins’ roster next season. Adding a motivated and talented top prospect to the mix should be a major boost for Providence.

The P-Bruins have also added a local product to the roster, reports Mark Divver of The Providence Journal. Divver writes that Providence College senior Scott Conway has joined the team and has signed a one-year AHL contract as well. Conway, 24, is coming off an interesting collegiate career, in which he showed consistent success but also flashed next-level ability that never fully manifested. After his freshman year at Penn State University, in which he recorded a respectable 26 points in 34 games, Conway opted to leave the program and played the 2015-16 season outside of the NCAA with the BCHL’s Penticton Vees. Conway was a star in the BCHL, amassing a league-leading 116 points while skating alongside Colorado Avalanche center Tyson Jost and quickly committed to a new college team in Providence. Yet, in three seasons with the Friars, Conway’s numbers were no better than they were with the Nittany Lions. It’s thus unclear what the ceiling may be for the experienced English forward, who dominated the junior-A level, but failed to reach stardom at the college level. The Bruins likely got a good look at the local product and willing to see what he can bring to the table next season.

  • Like Studnicka, two other highly-touted junior prospects have also joined their respective AHL teams for the playoff run. Defenseman Evan Bouchard, who played in seven games with the Edmonton Oilers to begin the season, has been assigned to the Bakersfield Condors, the team announced. Last year’s tenth overall pick notched 53 points in 45 games with the OHL’s London Knights this year and added another three points at the World Juniors with Team Canada. Bouchard is a near-lock to make the Oilers out of camp next season and can further improve those odds with a strong stretch of play for the Condors. Ben Jones, a seventh-round pick of the Vegas Golden Knights in 2017, has already proven to be a steal and will look to advance that title with his first pro experience. A teammate of Studnicka’s in Niagara, Jones led the team with 102 points on the year, but was held in check in the postseason compared to his fellow Ice Dogs standouts. Nevertheless, Jones will still be an exciting addition for the Chicago Wolves after a top-ten scoring season in the OHL. Having graduated from the junior level, this is also a peak into what’s in store for Jones next season in the pros.
  • Like Conway, another promising undrafted prospect has been brought in by an AHL team just prior to the postseason, only that team didn’t qualify for the postseason. Forward Keeghan Howdeshell of the OHL’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds has signed a one-year deal with the Tuscon Roadrunners, his former club revealed. The Roadrunners are already looking ahead to next season after failing to grab one of the final spots in the Western Conference playoff picture, much like their parent club. Howdeshell, 21, finished tied for second in scoring for the Greyhounds this year with 77 points in 66 games. The U.S. National Team Development Program product seemed likely to be drafted but was instead passed over several times. He has since re-established his value and will look to translate his game to the pro level with Tuscon next season. A strong campaign could lead to Howdeshell earning an entry-level deal with the Arizona Coyotes.

Minor Transactions: 04/18/19

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You know the postseason is well underway when the first roster transactions of the day don’t trickle in until late in the afternoon. With the majority of NHL teams now done for the year in addition to the end of the AHL regular season, there are few organizations still making moves back and forth to benefit both the parent squad and affiliate. So, while teams stay busy with playoff preparations – or rather draft preparations for many – there aren’t a lot of transactions being made. A few small moves today have been the exception:

  • The Boston Bruins were not forced to use AHL veteran forward Paul Carey nor rookie defenseman Jakub Zboril in Game Four on Wednesday night and have thus returned both players to Providence. Carey and Zboril were each recalled earlier in the week for precautionary reasons and traveled with the team to Toronto, but did not need to be used against the Maple Leafs after all. With John Moore back in the lineup on defense and Sean Kuraly nearing a return up front, neither one will need to stay with Boston and can return to the AHL Bruins, who are looking to channel the Columbus Blue Jackets by knocking off the regular season champion Charlotte Checkers in the first round of the Calder Cup Playoffs.
  • Young Josef Korenar served as the San Jose Sharks’ emergency third-string goalie on the team’s road trip to Vegas this week. He has been returned to the AHL’s Barracuda today upon the Sharks’ return home to San Jose for Game Five. Korenar obviously did not see any action with San Jose, but maybe he should have; Martin Jones’ .838 save percentage is the worst in the playoffs and Aaron Dell is third-to-last at .861.

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