NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – October 3, 2020

by | Oct 3, 2020 | News, NHL | 26 comments

The Stars hope to re-sign Anton Khudobin, the Wild are close to re-signing Carson Soucy, the Senators acquire Josh Brown from the Panthers, the Jets re-sign Laurent Brossoit, and more in today’s NHL morning coffee headlines.

THE ATHLETIC (subscription required): Pierre LeBrun reports sources say the Dallas Stars hope to re-sign Anton Khudobin. The 34-year-old goaltender is due to become an unrestricted free agent on Oct. 9. General manager Jim Nill has reached out to Khudobin’s agent, Kent Hughes, expressing the club’s desire to re-sign him.

Dallas Stars goaltender Anton Khudobin (NHL Images).

SPECTOR’S NOTE: No surprise the Stars hope to keep Khudobin in the fold following his heroics in the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs. LeBrun reports Hughes said his client is interested in staying.

The question, of course, is the cost. Khudobin’s completing a two-year contract worth an annual average value of $2.75 million. He could seek between $3.5 million and $4 million annually on a two- or three-year deal.

Cap Friendly indicates the Stars have over $15 million in cap space, but they must also re-sign restricted free agents Roope Hintz and Denis Gurianov. They could be keen to bring back pending UFA Corey Perry for another season. A new contract for Khudobin could be a tight fit, depending on how close to the salary cap ownership is willing to go.

TSN: Frank Seravalli reports the Minnesota Wild are closing in on re-signing defenseman Carson Soucy to a three-year contract at $2.75 million annually.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Soucy is completing a one-year deal worth $750K. Seravalli recently reported the pending UFA blueliner was attracting a lot of interest.

OTTAWA SUN: The Senators yesterday acquired defenseman Josh Brown from the Florida Panthers in exchange for the Senators’ fourth-round pick (95th overall) in the 2020 NHL Draft.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Looks like the Senators found their potential replacement for the departing Mark Borowiecki. The 6’5”, 217-pounder is a restricted free agent completing a two-year, $1.35-million contract.

WINNIPEG SUN: The Jets re-signed goaltender Laurent Brossoit to a one-year, $1.5-million contract.

TORONTO SUN: The Maple Leafs re-signed forward Denis Malgin to a one-year, $700K contract.

ESPN.COM: The Vegas Golden Knights revealed their metallic gold third jersey for 2020-21.

ARIZONA SPORTS: The Coyotes named Ryan Jankowski as their new associate director of amateur scouting. He spent the last two years as the Buffalo Sabres director of amateur scouting.

LOS ANGELES TIMES: Tim Smith, who performed as the Los Angeles Kings’ team mascot Bailey, was fired following allegations of sexual misconduct.

THE BOSTON GLOBE: Former Bruins winger Bobby Miller passed away yesterday at age 64. Miller spent his first four NHL seasons with the Bruins from 1977 to 1981, scoring 20 goals as a rookie in ’77-’78. He also spent two seasons with the Colorado Rockies and one with the Los Angeles Kings, finishing his NHL career with 75 goals and 194 points in 404 games.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: My condolences to Miller’s family, friends and former teammates.







26 Comments

  1. First thoughts were that the new Vegas jersey was a little gaudy…then remembered it was Vegas and it made sense. Jokes aside, Vegas is probably the only city that could get away with fielding a jersey like that and it’s a nice 3rd option.

    Re: Khudobin, with Bishop’s injury history, Dallas would be foolish to let Khudobin walk.

    • What a joke Dubas is turning out to be ..Iam both shocked and surprisd he has made some of te moves he has …I thought he was more in tune with the way the league is going which is SIZE and SKILL…and this playoff proved that with the final 6 teams ..

      the Leafs are strapped against a flat cap and have 4 players signed for $40 plus million ..EVERY PENNY is crucial for the next 3 – 5 years and he signs a 5 foot 9… 170 pound soaking wet Centre for WHAT?????
      Just wow ! …wow!
      Every team knows that you need to build with size moving forward…especially down the middle!

      At least Nic Petan played with heart and soul and he played bigger than his size ..this guy is a DIME A DOZEN player…why not sign a guy who is over 6 foot 200 pounds who can skate and make plays are you telling me this guy is the only option in the world on the Leafs scouts radar to fill in holes ..GIVE ME A BREAK …unreal !

      Mean while the Sens trade for a 6 foot 5
      217 pound right shot D man for league minimum RFA..hahahahahaah

      Go gettem Dubas ..LMAO…Leafs will not make the playoffs next year ..copy and paste !

      Every other team is passing them by ..building the right way ! Very evident tis past summer!

    • All I want for Christmas, is Wendel to shut up!

      • Just ignore Wendel if you don’t like what he’s posting. He’s not violating any of this site’s rules for commenters. The same advice goes for everyone else. Unless they’re deliberately targeting you, don’t respond to their comments.

    • Since your post was addressed to everyone I assume I’m good to respond? 😇

    • Do mascots count toward the cap? Couldn’t resist that one.

  2. Condolences to the Miller family

    • Why, you don’t know them …

      • How do you know?

  3. Poor pengy. One of his panaceas first the pens d is almost gone.

    • Hi Chrisms

      Can you imagine if Jimbo had Soucy in instead of JJ… That’s Pens in 3 over Habs… who knows what happens after that

      The nightmare continues with Jimbo and JJ… he hasn’t bought him out and has said Dumo; Pettersson; Matheson down the left; but then backtracked when pressed on JJ and stated that he could be tried at RHD….

      WTF??? Worst player in NHL history, to play on his wrong side….

      Look …. I know he is totally confused most games and wanders to the right side many Many times per game; and felt the repeated need to join Letang or Shultz or Marino in the right corner of his own end; while those other three were already on the puck carrier and concurrently having JJ leave his own man uncovered in front of the net…

      But having him start as RHD for the season… 🤯🤬😡🤯🤬😡

      Mario/Ronny should enquire from Eugene, the cost of swapping Dorion for Jimbo…. George just had a heart attack

  4. Re Soucy

    Why wouldn’t his agent council him to at least listen to offers from other teams as soon as UFA doors open?

    TSN had reported that 10-12 teams had interest (I’ve been sold on him for quite a while so not surprising)…. so why not hear their offers…. if he’s very pleased with Wild he can circle back; they obviously want him

    The only thing Wild could definitely offer over others right now; is 8 years vs 7.,,, and that was not going to happen anyway

    I’m sure an extra $100 K here or there is not necessarily a needle mover; but he may have rec’d a longer term or for more AAV; or better structure; or signing bonus; or from a contender; or promise of more prominence (minutes; pairing) on the depth chart

    He’ll never know unless he waits until UFA opens

    I had hoped for so long that Pens or Leafs would get him

    Still a chance he gets to UFA 🤞🙏

    • Just maybe, Pengy, it’s because Soucy’s agent, with closer links to league thinking than any of us in here, many of whom cling to the “business as usual” mantra, realizes that what’s being offered by Guerin is his best bet.

      That deal between Ottawa and Florida with the Panthers trading one of their RFAs for a 4th round pick illustrates what some of us have been saying for quite a while now – i.e., with so many teams up against a flat cap ceiling they have no choice but to deal away good, established roster players (not at the end of their ropes) with term and cap hits in the $4 to $5 mil range and/or either walk away from some of their RFAs or deal them as well.

      Florida, still with 5 RFAs to re-sign which will use up around $7 mil of the $21,738,712 cap space they have to sign 11, will still need to add 6 with the $14.7 they’ll have left, and you have to expect the bulk of that will be used up to re-sign at least 2 of their pending UFAs – Dadonov, Hoffman, Haula (just obtained in a deal with Carolina) or RD Pysyk.

      If they don’t, they’ll have to look at other options to replace lost offenes, which brings up something that Slick62 suggested late yesterday and which reiterates what I have been yammering about for days – that many teams will be looking to fill out rosters, not with expensive UFAs or old crocks accompanied by “sweeteners,” but rather with the best of the ELCs in their systems – in the case of the Panthers – as Slick62 points out – “some of the young forwards they have … Denisenko, Tippett, Borgstrom and Noel.”

      There are going to be a surprising number of “names” left without jobs when all this is done.

      • Had to post twice… see below.. as first one wasn’t showing

        Again… I just can’t buy any advantage for signing now… he could listen to other offers and circle back

        Per TSN… 10-12 other teams with interest… and if they are talking 3 @ $2.75 … possibly more, as TSN has reported the other day that 10-12 were interested and that he could get $3M – $3.25M

        Wait… see the offers… if not good; or you really want to stay… circle back and sign for same Wild offer that is on table now… they won’t drop the offer

        TSN had mentioned Ed… makes sense… he grew up 90 mins away

        I would think that at least 3 or 4 of those 10-12 are better teams (more chance of being a contender) than Wild

        There is also the personal thing… not sure where his girlfriend is from…perhaps she is a Twin Cities girl

        Again… strange not to at least hear out other offers

      • Not strange if what his agent is hearing – internally which we are NOT privy to – is that, don’t hold your breath waiting to receive an offer higher than “x” dollars.

        One thing we will NOT hear publicly from the GMs of those teams with absolutely no cap room is that their fans should not anticipate any significant additions to their rosters for the foreseeable future. That would go over like a lead balloon with a large portion of their fan bases who, if you simply look at the rising Covid-19 numbers (a record for both Ontario as a whole and Ottawa yesterday) and several daily records broken in Quebec over the past week, are living in a dream world devoid of reality.

        No, they will instead go quietly about their business which will involve filling things out with comparative non-entities and/or promotions of the best low-cost ELCs from their systems. That won’t stop the rants – like Kal El’s above about the re-signing of midget C RFA Malgin – but it will at least spread out the angst and rage.

        And really, can you blame them? Only an idiot would commit large amounts of their revenue when all signs point to severely reduced income. Just don’t alert the masses who can’t seem to absorb anything of a serious nature.

  5. Re Soucy

    I can’t understand why his agent hasn’t counceled him to wait until UFA

    Per TSN … 10-12 other teams are interested

    The only thing Wild can offer over them; as at right now; is 8 years over 7 max with other teams… it was never going to be that long any way

    Other teams could offer more AAV; more term; SB? ; better structure; could be contenders; might offer more prominent roll (more minutes; higher on depth chart; mor PP mins??)

    A difference of $100 K is not a needle mover; and it looks like (from the notion that they are citing he is close to signing) that he is certainly happy there… and he did 4 years in college close by….

    But not at least listening to other offers is quite strange

    He has absolutely nothing to lose by waiting and listening to other offers

    Wild won’t be saying take it or leave it… we ain’t offering you again if you go UFA…. that’s just not happenin’

  6. Lyle,

    When you say that “Soucy was attracting a lot of interest”, do you mean besides Pengy???

    Pengy—there’s still Parayko!?!

    • Hi Iowa Prince… per TSN the other day… 10-12 teams had interest and there was a suggestion that he could get in the $3M – $3.25 M range (I agree)

      CP is staying a Blue

      • Did TSN name the 10-12 teams? Did they say Soucy’s agent said he had feelers from 10-12 teams? (against the rules until free agency commences anyway).

        Sounds more like someone at TSN perused the rosters of teams needing to shore up D and culled out 10-12 that seemed likely.

      • Hi George

        Other than him mentioning that he would expect both Oil and Leafs interested ; I don’t remember him mentioning other teams

        I highly doubt he’s making the claim of 10-12 teams interested by just looking at rosters and Cap space

        These reporters have off the record convos with GMs all the time

        I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if many of their prognostications are formed from s summary of off the record interviews with GMs

        The GMs can’t officially be quoted as saying they are interested in Soucy as that is tampering

        No matter what… if Billy G gets him at $2.75 M for 3…. that’s a great deal IMHO

  7. Pengy, as a player this year & maybe even next, especially if they are not deemed an upper echelon player, taking the waiting it out approach could very well leave them on the outside looking in at the league.

    With the expectation of internal caps limits, added to the flat cap & many teams being already at or above what they want to pay out, picking & choosing doesn’t look like an intelligent approach for a player.

    • Hi Uwey

      You are 100 % correct on most UFA players situations were they may be late 20’s early 30’s looking for their last contract; or for much much higher than $2.75 M… bird in the hand better than two in the bush scenario

      This is not the situation for Soucy… touted by TSN to have interest from 10-12 teams and was expected to be in the $3M-$3.25 M range

      He has just turned 26; only got to be UFA because of a fluke clause in the CBA that with him missing just a few games due to injury at season’s end… he becam e UFA eligible.. I think it was something like 4 or 5 more games played and he would have been an RFA

      6’5” ; 212; fast smooth skater; great hockey IQ, and was absolute tops on Wild this year in +/- … on track for 82 games of 11-11-22 and +24

      He is in demand

      Waiting and viewing offers still allows him to circle back to Wild

      Not a chance Wild shut the dorm on him if he waits to UFA

      All upside to wait

      To me perhaps it might be his like for the team or coach or city (remember he did 4 years at college not far away) or maybe his girlfriend is from the Twin Cities??

      Other than those reasons… to me … makes total sense to at last hear the other offers

      • I was listening agent Alan Walsh on TSN 690 yesterday.

        He said that 2020 reminds him of the 2005 season when teams walked away from players, perfectly capable of playing in the NHL, due to financial restructuring from the new CBA at the time. Some of these players never played another NHL game, all due to the restructuring.

        He pointed out that when deals were signed in the previous couple of summers leading up to this time, teams factored an increase in in the cap number. But now they have to deal with not only the cap remaining flat, but a loss of revenue on top of that & the fact that it may be three, four or even five years before most teams can get back to a level of revenue they were receiving before Covid.

        His personal thoughts were 2020 may be even more devastating for players than 2005.

  8. This is the same media who believe teams are going to add 1 player at $9 mill per, when in reality they don’t even have enough cap room to pay their own four or five RFAs a total of $5 mill per combined.

    This is the same media who talks about teams with cap space adding players yet in another article claim the same team re looking to move players to lower their already low cap hit. (See talk about NJ & Damon Severson)

    Plus, if you are looking at the Pens, they are already above their said to be internal cap & still have five players to quality!!!!

    The reality this season is, take the bird in hand & when things start to pick up again, then gamble on your lively hood.

    Personally in this economy, if I have a job offer in hand that will allow me & my family to live very comfortably, I am not going to gamble on speculation that there is something better if I don’t except the what I already have.

    If he balks now & later decides it was the better of all offers available, chances are the Wild will have moved on & invested that cash into someone else.

  9. Bad news for Pengy, NY. I know a guy who knows another guy who heard from an insider that JJ is dating someone close to Pengy’s inner circle.

    Apparently the courtship is going well, so Pengy will soon asking JJ to pass potatoes at family dinners. He can help JJ by drawing breakout plays with a drumstick in the gravy.

    Karma?

    • Just thinking about that gives me nightmares … LOL

      Joking aside.. I have only heard good things about the man and that he is well liked

      I could care less if he and his wife moved next door…. just as long as he never plays another game for Pens …. or heaven forbid… somehow finds his way onto the Leafs roster

      Buy him out so that he can enjoy retirement