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Pacific Notes: Boeser, Brodie, Schmaltz

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While the names of Mitch Marner, Sebastian Aho, Brayden Point and William Karlsson are popular names brought up amongst the multitude of upcoming restricted free agents this summer, one name that often gets missed is Vancouver Canucks winger Brock Boeser. The 22-year-old has been a key figure with the Canucks the past two years as he’s combined for 51 goals and 111 points in the last two seasons, making him quite an interesting figure, considering Vancouver needs to lock him up.

The Athletic’s Harman Dayal (subscription required) analyzes what it might take for the Canucks to sign Boeser this summer. While the Canucks have the cap space to be generous to their young forward, the scribe writes they need to be cautious as both Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes will be watching as they will also be looking for new record-breaking deals in the next two years, but when noting that it took Boeser a couple of years to break into the league before his entry-level deal kicked in, the best comparisons are Filip Forsberg and Jordan Eberle. With those numbers in mind, the scribe says that a rough estimate puts Boeser at approximately $7.25MM with Boeser likely asking for $8MM, while the Canucks hoping to keep it as close to $7MM as possible.

However, with no eligibility for arbitration or a potential offer sheet to use as leverage, Boeser isn’t exactly in the prime situation to force the Canucks to pay $8MM unless he wants to hold out.

  • While there has been talk that the Calgary Flames might be ready to move on from defenseman T.J. Brodie with their influx of talented blueliners ready to take bigger roles in the near future, The Athletic’s Kent Wilson (subscription required) does an in-depth look at Mark Giordano as well as his impact on Brodie. The scribe notes that Brodie, who looked to be on the decline a year ago, had an improved year when paired with Giordano, but when he wasn’t playing with the star defenseman, Brodie’s numbers were extremely mediocre, even more suggesting that Calgary might be best served in moving Brodie now before his value slips even more. The 28-year-old will be in a contract-year at $4.65MM, which might make him even more valuable to other NHL teams.
  • Craig Morgan of The Athletic (subscription required) writes that Arizona Coyotes forward Nick Schmaltz, who the team acquired last November but only appeared in 17 games before going down with a season-ending meniscus injury, is changing his diet in hopes of being in the best shape of his career. With a history of eating burgers and cheese curds, the team has asked him to start eating healthier this summer. “I have never really cooked in my life,” he said. “It was always easier to go out or order something, but learning how to cook healthy food is a big step, and you can really focus on that in the summer.”

Western Notes: Dunn, Kampf, Stralman, Brown

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The St. Louis Blues will be without defenseman Vince Dunn on Sunday for the ever-important Game 5 as Blues head coach Craig Berube said the 22-year-old won’t travel with the team to San Jose after taking a puck to the face during Game 3 on Wednesday, according to St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Tom Timmermann.

Berube added that Dunn will be day-to-day with an upper-body injury and he is believed to be dealing with concussion issues. He was well enough to attend Friday’s Game 4’s 2-1 victory, however.

“It’s great,” Berube said after the game. “Dunner’s back here and he’s around his teammates. … It’s awesome to see him. It’s a day-to-day thing right now. I’m not sure exactly when he’s gonna be available to play. So we’ll have to see how that goes, but it’s good to see him around for sure.”

The team did have some good news as winger Sammy Blais is expected to play in Game 5 despite having to leave Game 4 Friday after taking a Brent Burns’ shot off his foot.

  • The Athletic’s Scott Powers (subscription required) writes that the Chicago Blackhawks have begun negotiating with restricted free agent center David Kampf. The 24-year-old was signed to a two-year entry-level contract out of the Czech Republic League and has been a success in Chicago, but after making $925K the past two years, he’s in line for a slight raise. While Kampf’s eight goals and 30 points in 109 NHL games isn’t impressive, the forward has been one of Chicago’s best defensive forwards and is expected to be the team’s third or fourth-line center next season. He is eligible for arbitration if the two sides can’t agree to terms.
  • The Province’s Patrick Johnson writes that although Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Anton Stralman will be one of the more interesting defensemen on the free agency market this summer, he doubts that the 33-year-old defenseman would be a good fit for the Vancouver Canucks. Even with a full season of star prospect Quinn Hughes, the team desperately needs to upgrade its defense. However, Johnson writes with the team trying to re-sign Alexander Edler and trying to get one more year out of veteran Chris Tanev, the team likely won’t want to add another veteran defenseman to their lineup.
  • The Athletic’s Allan Mitchell (subscription required) writes that the Edmonton Oilers should consider helping the Toronto Maple Leafs with their salary cap issues by taking forward Connor Brown off their hands. The scribe believes that the 25-year-old Brown, who has seen his offensive numbers drop in each of the last years, might be the perfect addition for a team that is loaded at the center position, but could use plenty of talent at the wing position. Brown was a former junior teammate of Connor McDavid, suggesting he might make the perfect winger for the star center. Brown scored 20 goals in his first full season with the Maple Leafs back in the 2016-17 season, with many believing he could be a consistent 20-goal scorer. However, that number dropped by six in each of the next two years, to 14 in 2017-18 and then to just eight goals this season. Brown will make $2.1MM next season before becoming a restricted free agent, but the scribe believes that if teamed with McDavid, Brown could easily go back to his 20-goal scoring ways and give the Oilers another offensive weapon that they desperately need. Of course, everything depends on what Toronto would be asking for Brown.

Benning: Canucks Will Look Into The Cost To Move Up In The Draft

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  • The Canucks have serious interest in Swedish defenseman Victor Soderstrom for the upcoming draft, reports Postmedia’s Ben Kuzma. The 18-year-old spent most of the season with Brynas of the SHL and acquitted himself rather well, logging over 17 minutes per night.  Vancouver is in need of a top right-shot defender in their organization so it’s no surprise that he’s one they’re eyeing for the number ten slot.  GM Jim Benning also stated that he would look into the cost of moving up in the first round.

Poll: How Many Top Free Agents Will Re-Sign Before July 1st?

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The season is over for all but four NHL teams, meaning free agents from the other 27 clubs are already focused on July 1st and the start of free agency. How many of those top free agents are still considering staying where they are versus testing the market? How many teams have the means and interest to re-sign them?

In January, PHR published our Mid-Season UFA Power Rankings: 1-10, 11-20, and honorable mentions. Mark Stone, Eric Staal, Jakob Silfverberg and Jimmy Howard – four of our top 25 –  have already signed extensions. However, the other top names and their current squads have exactly seven weeks to decide whether or not they will follow suit.

The Columbus Blue Jackets went all in at the trade deadline and it paid off with the franchise’s first ever playoff series win, a shocking sweep of the President’s Trophy-winning Tampa Bay Lightning. Yet, the acquisitions of Ottawa Senators standouts Matt Duchene (No. 5) and Ryan Dzingel (No. 16) was not enough to get the team through round two, nevertheless to a Stanley Cup title. Now, the team faces the possibility that their new additions could walk in free agency alongside stars Artemi Panarin (No. 2) and Sergei Bobrovsky (No. 6), leaving them with major holes to fill. The latter duo have long been expected to test the market, perhaps even as a package deal. Additionally, the conditional 2020 first-round pick tied to re-signing Duchene would seemingly make it less likely that Columbus opts to extend him, especially given their lack of picks in the upcoming draft. None of those three have officially ruled out a return to the Blue Jackets, but it doesn’t look good. On the other hand, Dzingel, an Ohio State University alum, looks like he could be a more natural long-term fit, but it hasn’t prevented rumors that other teams are very interested in signing him.

Another free agent-heavy team that blew through round one of the playoffs only to be knocked off in round two are the New York Islanders. After losing John Tavares last summer, going through the same with top forward Anders Lee (No. 9) would be devastating for the Islanders franchise. Yet, the captain still remains unsigned. It’s fair to assume they will eventually figure it out, but that line of thinking if awfully reminiscent of last year. New York is reportedly pushing hard to retain enter Brock Nelson (No. 11) and winger Jordan Eberle (No. 15) as well, but they could be more inclined to test the market. There’s also the question of resurgent goalie Robin Lehner (No. 23). Will the Islanders lock up the young keeper who was so solid this season? Or will they refuse to pay market value for a player that has benefited from their system while splitting time with Thomas Greiss?

Another team of interest are the San Jose Sharks, who remain alive in the Western Conference Final. Superstar defenseman Erik Karlsson (No. 1) and respected veteran forward Joe Pavelski (No. 7) are both heading for free agency and the Sharks may be hard-pressed to sign both. There’s also deadline addition Gustav Nyquist (No. 14) to consider re-signing, as he has had a strong postseason with the Sharks. The Carolina Hurricanes are also one of four teams still playing and are definitely happy they held on to forward Micheal Ferland (No. 18). Ferland is reportedly expected to test the market, but after a deep postseason run he may be more open to extending his stay with the Hurricanes.

It was a difficult end to the year for the Winnipeg Jets, who were one-and-done this year, falling to the St. Louis Blues in the first round. Between rental center Kevin Hayes (No. 8) and big defenseman Tyler Myers (No. 10), the Jets have a pair of coveted free agents on the roster who they would surely like to keep, but that is the least of their worries as they face a daunting impending cap crunch. It could make bringing back even one of the two nearly impossible. The same goes for defenseman Jake Gardiner (No. 12) and the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Leafs will have a hard enough time keeping their roster together and re-signing their current restricted free agent, nevertheless managing to re-sign Gardiner.

Generally, playoff rentals proceed to hit the free agent market rather than re-up with their new teams. In addition to Duchene, Dzingel, Hayes, and Nyquist, Nashville’s Wayne Simmonds (No. 13), Dallas’ Mats Zuccarello (No. 21), and Colorado’s Derick Brassard (No. 24) could very well be headed to yet another destination. Simmonds and Brassard were disappointments in their short stays, but Zuccarello proved to be a nice fit with the Stars. However, the team would lose a first-round pick rather than a second-round pick to the New York Rangers if they were to re-sign the veteran forward. That may not be enough to stop them from extending him, though.

If there was any doubt that the Buffalo Sabres couldn’t re-sign Jeff Skinner (No. 4), one would think he would have been dealt at the trade deadline. However, he remains suspiciously unsigned and would be a massive addition to the free agent market if he does make it to July. Skinner has been a great match with Jack Eichel and certainly looks like a long-term fit in Buffalo, but the team’s second-half struggles could have Skinner re-thinking a long-term stay.

Vancouver’s Alexander Edler (No. 22) stated that his preference was not to be dealt at this year’s trade deadline and to instead re-sign with the Canucks. The two sides have been working toward an extension, but until pen meets paper he is still an impending free agent that will attract considerable attention. Similarly, Semyon Varlamov (No. 17) has expressed an interest in remaining with the Colorado Avalanche, but it’s unclear if the feeling is mutual. Varlamov would have to take a major pay cut to stay on as backup and may rather test a goalie market that has already lost Howard and could lose Lehner before free agency opens.

Compared to recent years, this impending free agent class does look to have fewer locks for extensions among top players. Any of these names could hit the market, although odds are they won’t all choose to do so. Regardless, this could be a healthy market come July 1st. Just how deep could it be? That’s for you to guess. How many of these top free agents will sign extensions?

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Offseason Keys: Vancouver Canucks

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While the playoffs are well underway, many teams have already started their offseason planning.  What storylines lie ahead around the league in what is shaping up to be a likely busy NHL offseason?  Next up in our Offseason Keys series is a look at the Vancouver Canucks.

Vancouver entered the season with hopes of making some progress in their path back to playoff contention.  They improved on their 2017-18 performance by eight points despite a lengthy list of injuries while Elias Pettersson had a Calder-worthy year and the Canucks now have a strong one-two punch down the middle with him and Bo Horvat.  However, they were still on the outside looking in so GM Jim Benning will have a lot of work to do this summer.  Here are some of the items he needs to get accomplished.

Add Defensive Help

While a full season from Quinn Hughes and the hopeful return to health for Olli Juolevi provide some optimism for their future back end, their current defense corps isn’t good enough to contend.  That was the case this past season when they had Alexander Edler, a pending unrestricted free agent, in the fold.

Edler missed 26 games due to injury and still had one of the better seasons of his career while logging a career-best 24:34 per night.  It’s a weak defensive free agent market on the left side so if he becomes available, there will be competition for his services.  However, he is loyal to Vancouver and wants to stay which is cause for some optimism.  However, a no-move clause that would protect him from Seattle two years from now for expansion appears to be a sticking point.

Even if they get a deal done though, work still needs to be done.  Chris Tanev is a useful stay-at-home defender but can’t stay healthy while Ben Hutton and Troy Stecher are capable two-way players but neither are full-fledged top four options at this point in time.  Hughes has plenty of upside but it will take some time for him to reach it.

Benning should be on the lookout for someone that, at the very least, can hold down a spot in the top four and bolster their ability to play defense by committee where a better third pairing can help offset lacking the top options.  However, as much as he has stated that he doesn’t expect to be shopping at the top of the market, landing a top pairing player would fill a long-standing hole for this team so that’s one area that he needs to make an exception for.

Deal For Boeser

There is a bumper crop of high-end players that are coming off of their entry-level deals and will be due for significant raises in the coming months.  The Canucks have one of those players in Brock Boeser although his case is slightly different than the others.

With Vancouver’s willingness to sign players after the college season has ended, they’re allowing players to get to restricted free agency a year earlier.  That’s the case with Boeser whose rookie season wound up consisting of just nine games.  Between that and some injuries along the way over the past two years, he has just 140 career NHL regular season contests.  In other words, he doesn’t even have two seasons of NHL experience under his belt while most of the other prominent RFAs have three.

As a result, he’s not going to get the top money compared to some of the others on the market.  That said, his deal could be one that other agents refer to as somewhat of a precedent-setter; if Boeser gets X with basically two years of NHL experience, their client is worth a couple million more than that.  After the season, the 22-year-old’s agent indicated that he’s open to any type of deal, be it a bridge pact, a max-term contract, or anything in between.  While many expect some of the RFA discussions to drag out closer to training camp, this one should get done well before then.

Add A Top Six Winger

While their top two centers are set in place for several years, the situation isn’t as rosy when it comes to the wings beyond Boeser.  Most of the others in place are either underachievers or young players with some upside but have several question marks as well.  Most of that group is either already signed for next season or under team control as a restricted free agent so there isn’t going to be much turnover as things stand.

Given Benning’s hesitance to spend big in free agency, it’s likely that they’ll target players that require shorter commitments.  Unfortunately for them, that’s not going to move the needle very much either.  Players like that would represent a small upgrade on some of their current options but it won’t provide a significant boost to an attack that finished 25th overall in 2018-19.

It wouldn’t be surprising to see Vancouver turn to the trade market to try to help fill this vacancy.  In particular, finding someone in a similar age group to their young core would be ideal.  That player would also be cost-controlled which is important given the big-ticket deals that are going to be on the horizon over the next couple of years.  The Canucks have plenty of depth on the wing but at some point, it’s going to need to be consolidated.  That time may very well be this offseason.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Ottawa Senators To Interview Dallas Assistant Rick Bowness

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The Ottawa Senators continue their search for a head coach as the team has asked and received permission to interview Dallas Stars assistant coach and former Ottawa head coach Rick Bowness, according to TSN’s Bob McKenzie. He is the sixth coach to receive an interview with the Senators.

Bowness, the Senators first-ever head coach, coached Ottawa in between 1992 and 1995, finished his tenure with the Senators with a 39-178-18 record, although expectations weren’t as great back then considering that expansion franchises didn’t get the same advantages that the Vegas Golden Knights have received and soon-to-be Seattle franchise will receive. Bowness has been the head coach of several struggling franchises over the years, including coaching the original Winnipeg Jets, Boston Bruins, New York Islanders and Phoenix Coyotes, with an overall coaching record of 123-289-48 record. His last coaching gig was a 20-game stint with the Coyotes back in 2004 as the team’s interim coach after the team fired Bob Francis.

However, while his head coaching record may not be stellar, Bowness has made a name for himself as a top assistant coach, who helped the Vancouver Canucks in their glory years from 2006 to 2013, including one trip to the Stanley Cup Finals. He then moved over to work with Jon Cooper and the Tampa Bay Lightning for the next five years before joining the Jim Montgomery and the Dallas Stars last summer, helping the Stars reach the second-round of the playoffs this year.

Bowness, 64, will be the sixth coach interviewed as the Senators have already interviewed Marc Crawford, Troy Mann, Jacques Martin, D.J. Smith and Nate Leaman. McKenzie added that there is no hurry for Ottawa to hire a head coach as he could see the team waiting until the end of the month before hiring a coach.

Pacific Notes: Edmonton’s Coaching Search, Hitchcock, Stecher

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The Edmonton Oilers and new general manager Ken Holland may have decided that Ken Hitchcock won’t be the team’s head coach going forward, but regardless Hitchcock has been a key figure in helping the Oilers find the next head coach, according to Terry Jones of the Edmonton Sun. Holland spoke about the situation, saying:

I’ve known Hitch a long, long time. Certainly as I’m going through the process of whittling a list of potential coaches down, he’ll be one of the people I’ll lean on. He’s coached against some of these people and if he didn’t coach against them, he knows which coaches he can talk to gather information. He’s from the coaching world. He can gather information up quicker than I can gather it up.”

Holland is expecting Hitchcock to gather information on all the coaching candidates considering the veteran coach’s experience over the years. There isn’t a hurry to hire a coach quickly. It looks like Holland is content to gather that information on all the candidates and make a decision later.

  • Sticking with Hitchcock, the Edmonton Journal’s Jim Matheson writes that there are rumors that the Columbus Blue Jackets might have interest in Hitchcock as a possible team president if John Davidson leaves for New York. However, Hitchcock’s response is that he is not interested in running a team. “I’d like to dig in and help the coaches both NHL and AHL. I think Ken Holland and I would work well together. Just need to find a role for me that would have value,” said Hitchcock.
  • After stepping up in his third season and providing solid defense, the Vancouver Canucks have to decide whether they consider Troy Stecher as a piece of their future, according to the Vancouver Sun’s Patrick Johnston. Not only did he provide solid value as a second-tier defensemen, there are some who wonder whether he could be even better than that. Stecher, who had 11 points last season, finished this season with 23 points. However, if the Canucks don’t see Stecher as part of their future, the team could trade him for more assets for the rebuild. However, Johnston points out that isn’t likely as the team is quite weak on the right-side where Stecher plays.

Benning: Don't Expect Vancouver To Spend Big In Free Agency

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While the Canucks have a little over $53MM committed for next season, GM Jim Benning told Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet that he doesn’t envision the team being overly active in free agency:

Boeser is one of the high-end restricted free agents that will land a long-term contract this offseason while Edler’s new deal will probably come in around the $5MM AAV on his current pact.  On top of that, Calder favorite Elias Pettersson is a year away from being eligible for an extension while blueliner Quinn Hughes is also in that situation.  Knowing that there are those big-ticket deals on the horizon, it’s likely that the Canucks will be looking for some short-term contracts on the open market.

Vancouver Canucks Not Expected To Qualify Brendan Gaunce

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Though he doesn’t quite qualify for Group VI status, it looks like Brendan Gaunce will get to unrestricted free agency a bit earlier anyway. Rick Dhaliwal of Sportsnet reports that the Vancouver Canucks are unlikely to issue Gaunce a qualifying offer this offseason, meaning he will join Derrick Pouliot in looking for a new home.

Gaunce, 25, is another first-round pick that hasn’t worked out for the Canucks. Selected 26th overall in 2012, his offensive game stagnated in junior and he never quite grew into the top-end power forward they had hoped for. In 117 games at the NHL level, Gaunce has recorded just six goals and 15 points playing in a mostly fourth line role. While the results in the AHL have been considerably better—111 points in 189 games—he hasn’t shown enough for the Canucks to risk getting locked into a contract through arbitration.

If he does not receive a qualifying offer, Gaunce will be free to sign a contract with any team in the NHL and hope a fresh start will get his career back on track. An analytically-minded front office might believe there is some potential still there given his solid possession metrics in the NHL, but given his limited production it seems unlikely he will be able to land a one-way contract.

Spooner, Schaller Could Be Buyout Candidates; Senators Could Be A Fit For Eriksson

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While Vancouver hasn’t had a lot of success in the standings in recent years, they have managed to accumulate some depth along the way.  However, Canucks are now at the point where they need to clear out some of that depth, argues Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre.  With that in mind, he suggests that wingers Ryan Spooner and Tim Schaller could be buyout candidates when the window to do so opens up next month.  Spooner had a particularly rough season with just nine points in 52 games, hardly a good return on a $4MM contract.  Meanwhile, Schaller was expected to be a regular in the bottom six but wound up playing in just 47 games and had a minimal impact.

  • Still with the Canucks, TSN’s Ray Ferraro speculates (audio link) that the Senators could be a team that has some interest in winger Loui Eriksson. While his $6MM AAV is a concern, he’ll only be owed $9MM over the final three years of his deal after his signing bonus is paid on July 1st.  For a team with a tight budget like Ottawa, that could certainly be appealing, especially since Vancouver would need to include a sweetener for taking the contract off their books.  Eriksson had 29 points this past season, his highest in three years with the team and indicated earlier this month that he and head coach Travis Green do not always see eye to eye.

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