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Tyler Bertuzzi Receives Arbitration Award

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Most players that file for salary arbitration never reach it, instead settling on contract terms in the days preceding their scheduled hearing. That wasn’t the case for Tyler Bertuzzi, whose hearing was held over the weekend with the Detroit Red Wings. According to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, Bertuzzi has received the arbitrator’s decision today, awarding him a one-year $3.5MM contract.

Bertuzzi had filed for $4.25MM, while the Red Wings had filed for $3.15MM. That means the deal comes in slightly closer to the Red Wings side of things but still landed in the middle like usual.

The award is not above the “walkaway” threshold, meaning it is binding and will be signed by both parties in the coming days. Bertuzzi, 25, will still be a restricted free agent when the contract expires and will be eligible for arbitration once again.

A $3.5MM salary actually makes Bertuzzi the fourth-highest paid forward on the Red Wings, something he certainly deserves after the last two seasons. The scrappy, in-your-face forward has recorded consecutive 21-goal campaigns, actually leading the Red Wings in 2019-20. His ability to get under opponents’ skin while also contributing at the offensive end is something not easily found in the NHL, making him an important piece for Detroit to build around.

Unless, of course, the team decides to build around the next wave of prospects instead. Given Bertuzzi’s proximity to free agency and ability to take another one-year arbitration award that would walk him right to the open market, Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman could potentially dangle him as trade bait if they decide not to (or believe they can’t) sign him long-term. Anthony Mantha, who decided not to file for arbitration, could potentially be in the same situation.

The Red Wings minor league system is filling up with extremely talented youngsters that will soon be the core of the NHL roster, while Dylan Larkin remains the only player signed through the 2022-23 season (not counting entry-level contracts). A one-year deal for Bertuzzi certainly doesn’t guarantee he’ll be around the next time the team is competitive.

Jared McIsaac's Stint In Finnish League Ends Due To Injury

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  • Red Wings prospect Jared McIsaac suffered an injury with HPK in Finland and has been recalled to Detroit, the SM-liiga team announced. The defenseman’s stint lasted all of one shift and 34 seconds.  McIsaac missed a big chunk of last season while recovering from shoulder surgery and the attempt to make up for that lost time has come to an end in a hurry.

Free Agent Profile: Mikael Granlund

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There are just two free agents left unsigned among the top ten of PHR’s Top 50 UFA’s. One of them, Mike Hoffman, has been a fixture on the rumor mill since the market opened, with as much discussion and speculation as anyone. The other is Mikael Granlund and things have been stunningly quiet surrounding the two-time 60+ point player.

Granlund, 28, is relatively young for a traditional UFA and has over 500 NHL games to his credit, recording over 100 career goals and over 350 career points. He is a proven asset on the power play and penalty kill, an efficient shooter, a strong possession player, and can play major minutes. Granlund may not be a household name, but he has been everything one would expect from a first-round draft pick. So why the apparent lack of interest?

It seems potential NHL suitors may be focused more on Granlund’s recent play rather than looking at the big picture. The versatile forward was traded by the Minnesota Wild to the Nashville Predators at the trade deadline in 2019. Since that time, his scoring rate dropped from .69 to .44 points per game. That is quite the decline and not what any impending free agent wants to see, but should it really be the death knell for Granlund’s prospects on the open market? In less than a season and a half in Nashville, Granlund played for two different head coaches with the Predators. He did not fit the system of former bench boss Peter Laviolette, who held the job through the end of 2018-19 and into early January of this past season. During that time, Granlund’s usage was severely limited compared to his time in Minnesota, both in overall ice time and special teams role. During that time his scoring suffered and he simply did not look like the same player. Once John Hynes took over, Granlund’s play recovered in a big way. He saw an uptick in ice time, began shooting more often and scoring more as a result, and finally won back a consistent power play role. Granlund even tied a career best in possession with a 52.4 Corsi For %.

Granlund’s play in the latter half of this past season more closely resembles his time with the Wild. A reliable top-six forward, Granlund was a pivotal player for Minnesota for over five years after taking on a full-time role at just 21. He topped 20 goals twice and 50 points three times, never finishing with less than 39 points. He also proved himself to be a durable player, missing only nine total games over his final four seasons with the team while skating over 18 minutes per game each year. He also adapted to a move from center to wing without missing a beat and still proved to be a capable pivot when needed.

In the right system, Granlund can still be the player he was in Minnesota and showed flashes of down the stretch this past year, rather than the one who struggled after moving to Nashville. That is why the lack of interest – at least based on close to nothing coming out the rumor mill – remains such a mystery.

Potential Suitors

Unfortunately for Granlund, one of the teams that could most use a player of his ability and has the cap space to sign him is none other than the Nashville Predators. Although Granlund did perform better once Hynes took over, it seems unlikely that he would be open to a return after his experience with the club was sour overall.

The Boston Bruins are also known to be looking for a forward. Granlund would have the opportunity to play with former Minnesota teammate Charlie Coyle and former Nashville teammate Craig Smith on a line that could have instant chemistry. However, the Bruins are lacking in cap space with Jake DeBrusk also in need of a new deal, so one of those two players would need to take a significant discount.

Perhaps the best fit is with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Columbus moved out considerable salary in hopes of landing at least one big time free agent forward, but so far have merely swapped Josh Anderson for Max Domi and signed aging Mikko Koivu, another former Granlund teammate. The team needs to make another splash and inject some more skill into their forward corps and Granlund makes a lot of sense.

By all accounts, the Predators, Bruins, and Blue Jackets are the finalists to sign the aforementioned Hoffman, who PHR has ranked ahead of Granlund among available UFA’s. At least one of these teams seems likely to turn to Granlund when they miss out on Hoffman, which may explain the lack of noise surrounding Granlund while the Hoffman sweepstakes continues.

If it is not one of these three, a rebuilding club like the Ottawa Senators, Detroit Red Wings, Los Angeles Kings or New Jersey Devils makes sense on a one-year “show me” deal. Don’t rule out a return to Minnesota, where Granlund found immense success, but only if the Wild can open up some space.

Projected Contract

PHR initially projected Granlund to land a four-year $20MM deal in free agency and even that $5MM AAV seemed low for a player nearly guaranteed to put up 50+ points for many years still to come. However, the flat cap has had an even bigger impact than anyone imagined on free agent deals and the odds of Granlund getting that term and value seems slim. This rings especially true after Tyler Toffoli and Evgenii Dadonov, both ranked ahead of Granlund, signed such measly deals recently. Based on those two contracts, Granlund is likely looking at an AAV closer to $4MM on a short-term deal.

While Granlund’s slip in production in 2019-20 landed him behind Dadonov and Toffoli in our rankings, he has a more proven history of NHL success than either one and would stand a better chance of making the most of a one-year deal and cashing in as a free agent again next summer. Especially given the forthcoming Expansions Draft next summer, a one-year deal has added value for interested teams. Whether he ultimately signs with a playoff hopeful or a rebuild, a one-year, $4MM contract sounds about right for Granlund at this point – and stands to be an incredible bargain for whoever signs it.

NHL General Managers Discussing Draft Lottery Changes

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While Friday’s NHL GM meeting was supposed to center around plans to return to play, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that “a good chunk” of the discussion instead was spent on proposed changes to the NHL Draft Lottery system. Specifically, the Detroit Red Wings are leading the charge to get the lottery odds of the league’s worst teams boosted and Friedman believes they have considerable support.

The lottery structure is far from untouchable. The design has shifted several times since its inception and odds have been tweaked regularly. When the lottery began in 1995, there was only one winner selected and that team would only move up four spots. That structure changed in 2013, when the four spot limit was eliminated and every non-playoff team had a shot at the No. 1 overall pick, as they do now. In 2015, things got even more difficult for the league’s worst teams, as the odds shifted to the benefit of those teams closer to playoff contention in an effort to deter “tanking”. Finally, in 2016 things got even worse for those bottom dwellers, as all three of the top picks became lottery selections and the league’s worst team could fall all the way to fourth. And that is exactly what has happened in three of the past four years. In fact, the last-place finisher in the regular season standings has only retained the top pick twice since the structure shifted in 2013.

With teams like the 2017 Colorado Avalanche and now the 2020 Detroit Red Wings enduring historically bad seasons – without obvious tanking tactics at that – only to drop out of the top three picks entirely, it seems many of the league’s clubs have decided a change is in order. The current odds of the 31st-place team winning the lottery is 18.5%. This is 5% more than the team in second place, but still relatively low compared to the pre-2015 odds of 25%. The league has asked for specific proposals for a new alignment, which will also have to account for an incoming 32nd team in 2021-22, but given the recent history of deeply needy teams striking out in the lottery, it would not be surprise to see the odds for the last-place team bump back over 20% at least with bottom-three in the regular season standings all receiving a boost in their likelihood of sticking in the top three slots.

Tyler Bertuzzi, Detroit Red Wings Exchange Arbitration Figures

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The next arbitration hearing is scheduled for Sunday between the Detroit Red Wings and scrappy young forward Tyler Bertuzzi. Today the two sides filed arbitration figures, with Elliotte Friedman reporting that Bertuzzi came in at $4.25MM while the team is looking for a $3.15MM contract.

It is important to remember that in the NHL, the arbitrator does not need to choose one filing or the other and usually instead awards a contract somewhere in the middle. The two sides can also come to an agreement in the coming days, though this year once the hearing begins they must wait for the reward and cannot settle while the arbitrator deliberates.

In this case, the player’s ask is not above the $4,538,938 “walk away” threshold, meaning that the Red Wings will have to sign Bertuzzi to whatever the arbitrator awards should the hearing begin.

The 25-year-old has been one of the team’s best players since arriving in the NHL full-time in 2017-18. With consecutive 21-goal seasons under his belt, his arbitration case is strong from a purely statistical standpoint. Bertuzzi also brings a lot of the most sought after hockey intangibles, with his ability to get under opponents skin and instigate physical play while taking relatively low penalty totals.

In 2019-20 he actually led the team in goals, finishing only five points behind Dylan Larkin in total points. Though the Red Wings are working on a rebuild that will revolve around several new faces, Bertuzzi is currently one of the most important players on the team.

Pacific Notes: Fischer, Sharks, Bowey

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With the deadline for players to accept their qualifying offers having passed earlier today, Coyotes beat writer Craig Morgan reports that the Coyotes are still working on a deal for restricted free agent forward Christian Fischer, even though there is no word on whether they requested an extension from the league. The forward does not have arbitration rights.

Fischer struggled significantly last season, seeing his playing time reduced by more than two minutes, going from 13:10 ATOI to 11:01 this season) and scored just six goals and nine points in 56 games. The 23-year-old just wrapped up his entry-level deal where he made $1.08MM.

  • The Athletic’s Kevin Kurz (subscription required) writes that the loss of center Joe Thornton will have a significant effect on the team. While his offense should be able to be replaced, the bigger effect is how the team will fare without his presence in the locker room, where the veterans had quite an effect over the years. Now with Thornton and Joe Pavelski gone, much of the leadership will fall on the shoulders of second-year captain Logan Couture, who will tough shoes to fill in the Sharks’ locker room. “You have to have a whole leadership group,” general manager Doug Wilson said. “It’s on a whole group of players, it’s not a one-person leadership mentality. … Yes, you’ve got some of the veterans that certainly know it’s their responsibility, but some of the younger guys, too — Tomas Hertl, Timo Meier, Kevin Labanc. It’s their time. They need to step up to the next level. We have to be the sum of all our parts.”
  • With Matt Benning gone and prospects Evan Bouchard and Philip Broberg still developing, the Edmonton Journal’s Kurt Leavins writes that one player that the Oilers may consider adding is former Detroit Red Wings blueliner Madison Bowey. The Red Wings opted not to give the 25-year-old a qualifying offer, making him a free-agent. However, Oilers general manager Ken Holland is familiar with Bowey, who he traded for back when he was with the Red Wings and it could be a good fit. The 6-foot-2 blueliner averaged 17:54 last season in 53 games with Detroit, posting three goals and 17 points.

Vladislav Namestnikov Signs With Detroit Red Wings

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The Detroit Red Wings are staying busy on the free agent market and have landed themselves a bargain. Versatile, two-way winger Vladislav Namestnikov is set to join the Red Wings and reunite with GM Steve Yzerman, who drafted him in the first round with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Detroit has announced a two-year deal with Namestnikov which reportedly carries a $2MM AAV. This represents a surprising drop-off in salary for Namestnikov, who made $4MM on his previous contract and has 30+ points in four of his five full NHL seasons.

Namestnikov, PHR’s 20th-ranked UFA, is either the victim of a flat cap market that is already running out of money or simply took a discount to join the Red Wings and play a major role up front. The 27-year-old is coming off a season in which he recorded 17 goals and 31 points in 65 games, despite dealing with not one but two different trades. Moving from the New York Rangers to the Ottawa Senators and then to the Colorado Avalanche, Namestnikov quickly took to each of his new locales and excelled. With some consistency, he is easily capable of reaching 20 goals and 40 points while being paid like a player who might produce half that much.

A skilled forward who also plays a responsible defensive game and is a major asset on the penalty kill, Namestnikov checks a number of boxes for Detroit. If handed a major role, as he was in Ottawa, Namestnikov should be a top scorer for the Red Wings as well as one of their best special teams players. While his salary seemingly reflects a “show me” deal, the two-year term means he’ll need produce in both seasons in Detroit if he want to cash in the next time he hits the open market. Fortunately, Namestnikov stands a strong chance of  boosting his stock in Detroit and will still be just 29 as a UFA in 2022.

Red Wings Sign Troy Stecher

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After signing Thomas Greiss earlier today, the Red Wings are dipping their toes into the UFA waters again as they announced (Twitter link) the signing of defenseman Troy Stecher to a two-year contract.  Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (via Twitter) that the deal carries an AAV of $1.7MM.  The 26-year-old was non-tendered by Vancouver on Wednesday instead of giving him a $2.325MM qualifying offer with salary arbitration rights.

Stecher is coming off of a quiet season with the Canucks.  After being a part of their top four, the addition of Tyler Myers and Chris Tanev staying healthy pushed him into primarily a spot on the third pairing in 2019-20.  As a result, his playing time dipped by more than four minutes a game (from 19:55 to 15:21) although he still managed to put up five goals and a dozen assists in 69 games.  In 17 postseason appearances, he had two tallies and a helper while logging a little over 16 minutes per game.  Those numbers are still good for someone on the third pairing but at his qualifying offer number, it was just a bit too expensive for Vancouver to justify.  However, with him and Tanev now gone, there is a hole on Vancouver’s back end that will need to be filled.

Stecher should fit in well with Detroit.  Their depth on the right side of their back end is limited with Filip Hronek basically being the only one ahead of him on the right so this should be an opportunity for him to go back to playing in a top-four role.  He’ll only be 28 when his deal is up which should give him a chance to hit the open market while still being in the prime of his career.  Meanwhile, this may be it for the Red Wings when it comes to the rebuild of their defense.  With this addition plus Jon Merrill yesterday and Marc Staal last month, they now have seven NHL blueliners under contracts with a few youngsters that should contend for playing time at some point next season.

Detroit Red Wings Sign Thomas Greiss

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Veteran netminder Thomas Greiss waited out the rush of goalie signings yesterday and has been rewarded. With multiple teams in need of help in net but few strong options still available on the open market, Greiss has cashed in on deal with the Detroit Red Wings. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that Greiss has agreed to a two-year, $7.2MM contract with Detroit. The Red Wings have confirmed the signing.

Greiss, 34, has been with the New York Islanders for the past five seasons, during which time he has established himself as one of the better backups in the NHL. Greiss has posted a .920 save percentage or better three times in his career, including a 2018-19 campaign in which he shared Jennings Trophy honors with Robin Lehner. While Greiss’ numbers slipped this past season, he was still a reliable backstop with a .913 save percentage and a .571 winning percentage in 28 starts.

He has also shown an ability to carry the load at times in his career and his new contract, a raise from his expired deal with the Islanders, indicates that the Red Wings believe he can challenge for the starting job. Greiss has played 41+ games in three seasons, all of which have come in the past five years with New York. Age is thus not a factor in his ability to take on a heavier load. Jonathan Bernier’s play improved significantly after a dismal start to his Red Wings tenure, but his hold on the starting job is far from secure. Greiss has had superior numbers between the two in each of the past two seasons, so if that translates to Detroit then Bernier could be in trouble. A 50/50 split is very possible, but there will be ongoing competition for even a slight lead share in net.

Detroit Red Wings Announce Three Minor Contracts

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The Detroit Red Wings have agreed to terms with three minor league players, inking Kyle Criscuolo, Kevin Boyle and Riley Barber. Criscuolo and Boyle have both signed one-year deals, while Barber gets a two-year pact.

As the Red Wings reset their organization and get into a full rebuild, they needed players to fill out the depth chart in the minor leagues. All three players have experience in the NHL but shouldn’t be considered full-time options there at this point.

Detroit GM Steve Yzerman has moved out and strictly avoided any long-term deals so that he can build the team the way he wants, with only Dylan Larkin signed through the 2022-23 season. While he added a couple of veterans in Bobby Ryan and Jon Merrill, the Red Wings haven’t gotten into the bigger names on the market.

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