NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – August 31, 2022

by | Aug 31, 2022 | News, NHL | 21 comments

The Sabres re-sign Tage Thompson to a seven-year contract, the Penguins sign coach Mike Sullivan to a three-year contract extension, plus the latest on Nick Suzuki, Tim Stutzle and more in today’s NHL morning coffee headlines.

TSN: The Buffalo Sabres agreed to a seven-year, $50 million contract extension with Tage Thompson. The 24-year-old forward is in the final season of a three-year deal with an average annual value of $1.4 million.

Buffalo Sabres forward Tage Thompson (NHL Images).

SPECTOR’S NOTE: That’s a big pay raise for Thompson as he’ll be earning an AAV of over $7.142 million. He enjoyed a breakout performance in 2021-22 with a team-leading 38 goals and 68 points in 78 games.

Thompson is now considered a key part of the rebuilding Sabres’ roster core. He’ll be under considerable pressure to earn that new contract but that shouldn’t be an issue if he can build upon last season’s production.

PITTSBURGH HOCKEY NOW: The Penguins signed head coach Mike Sullivan to a three-year contract extension. The new deal begins in 2023-24 and runs through 2026-27.

Sullivan took over as the Penguins bench boss on Dec. 12, 2015, and guided them to the Stanley Cup in 2016 and in 2017. He recorded his 300th career NHL win on March 21, 2021, becoming the fourth American-born coach to reach that plateau.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Sullivan and his Penguins have struggled to regain those lofty championship heights from earlier in his tenure behind their bench. While they’ve reached the playoffs in every season since 2017, they haven’t won a playoff round since 2018.

Much of that has to do with an aging roster of talent plus cap constraints forcing some players to be moved in cost-cutting deals. Nevertheless, Sullivan faces the challenge of trying to get the Penguins back on the championship track.

MONTREAL GAZETTE: Canadiens center Nick Suzuki believes his club is going to surprise people after they finished last in the overall standings this season. He’s excited by the additions made by management during the offseason and is also looking forward to playing a full season under head coach Martin St. Louis.

We’ve got a pretty deep team and I think people are underestimating us,” said Suzuki. “I don’t think that’s a bad thing, either. I think we’re going to surprise people.”.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Suzuki’s not wrong when it comes to the Canadiens’ forward depth. Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Sean Monahan, Jonathan Drouin, Mike Hoffman, Josh Anderson, Christian Dvorak, Brendan Gallagher and Evgenii Dadonov provide the Habs with top-nine skills that could prove productive if they can remain healthy this season.

The Canadiens, however, will struggle without Carey Price in goal and lack skilled top-four depth on their blueline. They’re still a rebuilding team that won’t make the 2023 playoffs but they shouldn’t be the pushovers they were through the first half of last season. I think they’ll be the up-tempo, never-quit squad we saw after St. Louis took over behind the bench in February.

In other words, they shouldn’t have much trouble scoring goals this season but will have trouble keeping pucks out of their own next.

NHL.COM: Tim Stutzle believes the Ottawa Senators’ off-season additions should push the club into playoff contention this season.

Expectations are high,” said the 20-year-old Senators forward. He pointed to management adding forwards Alex DeBrincat and Claude Giroux last month as well as first-line center Josh Norris signing a long-term contract.

We want to show the fans that we’re a good team, a young team, and we can really be a lot better than we played the last two years,” he said. “We want to be in the playoffs, and I think that’s why we made the moves.”

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Stutzle isn’t the only one thinking that way. Senators fans are excited by the offseason additions and the ongoing development of budding stars such as Stutzle and Norris. A number of pundits also point to the Senators’ moves and expect big improvement this season.

TWINCITIES.COM: The Minnesota Wild signed free-agent forward Sam Steel to a one-year, one-way contract worth $825K.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Originally a first-round pick in 2016 with the Anaheim Ducks, the 24-year-old Steel struggled to meet expectations. A fresh start with the Wild could help him get his career on track.

GOPHNX.COM: The Arizona Coyotes named Lee Stempniak as their director of player development. Stempniak, 39, spent 14 seasons as an NHL player, including two seasons with the Coyotes. He was previously their Hockey Data Strategist.







21 Comments

  1. Wow that is a big contract for 1 good season . Buffalo doing Buffalo things . This one could hurt before the contract even kicks in.

    • re: Buffalo I would have thought that the Skinner signing taught them a lesson. Hope it works out for them.

      Steel was a nice low risk signing by Guerin. The kid has some potential hopefully he makes an impact.

    • There’s a trend developing where teams are seeking to lock up their young centers long-term after their breakout year. In the last year or so, we’ve had Nick Suzuki, Robert Thomas, Josh Norris and now Thompson sign long term deals in the range of $7m to just over $8m AAV deals. It’s a sign of how valuable and valued good, young centers are in the NHL. And also a sign that teams are figuring, with the cap scheduled to take a big jump a couple of years down the road, if they sign bridge deals and these players keep growing their play, the post-Bridge deals would top $10m. AAV. This way they keep them during their best years at reasonable pay.

      • TT should’ve signed a two year deal then went for a 8yr X $10m contract, but looks like him and /or his agent can’t understand that a 31 yr old won’t get paid like a 26-28 yr old just ask Kadri and Miller.

  2. At 1st glance, contract looks like a huge overpay for 1 good year but, they really need to lock up young guys long term. Theme is keeping guys that want to be there…Make it a place other players want to play.

    • 26 5v5 goals on a bad possession team is a positive sign for Tage’s future.
      And yes with a ‘Buffalo’ you need to keep players right now until you finally start winning again-and overpay alittle.
      if he average 30 goals the next 7 seasons it was a good deal

  3. Risk reward contract for sure. But he was really coming into his own last year worth the gamble

  4. Thompson certainly has potential and with the expectations of huge increases in Cap ceiling (relative to now) in 3 or 4 years…. $7 M won’t be as significant.

    It’s possible he could falter…. but he’s 24…. So any faltering should not be from “getting older”

    If he suffers a major injury….. LTIR. His shoulder surgery seemed without long term problems (cite last year’s stats)

    To me…. Worst his value likely to be is $5 M in 3 years; top end value (would assume him improving and Sabres finally moving up ranks)…and with Cap ceiling rising…. $8.5 M – $9 M

    Good signing

    Re Wild and Steele…. Great signing….they are only paying him $75 K over league min…. Worst case he is waved to go down

    $75 K over league min for a depth player (who can be waved to be sent down) who could very well rebound….. excellent signing

    Absolute worst case …. He’s a 1 year $825 K AHL player

    Best case…. He turns things around and can be a productive middle 6 player…. That Wild can re-up OR move for futures at TDL

    Good signing

  5. Thompson certainly has potential and with the expectations of huge increases in Cap ceiling (relative to now) in 3 or 4 years…. $7 M won’t be as significant.

    It’s possible he could falter…. but he’s 24…. So any faltering should not be from “getting older”

    If he suffers a major injury….. LTIR. His shoulder surgery seemed without long term problems (cite last year’s stats)

    To me…. Worst his value likely to be is $5 M in 3 years; top end value (would assume him improving and Sabres finally moving up ranks)…and with Cap ceiling rising…. $8.5 M – $9 M

    Good signing

    Re Wild and Steele…. Great signing….they are only paying him $75 K over league min…. Worst case he is waved to go down

    $75 K over league min for a depth player (who can be waved to be sent down) who could very well rebound….. excellent signing

    Absolute worst case …. He’s a 1 year $825 K AHL player

    Best case…. He turns things around and can be a productive middle 6 player…. That Wild can re-up OR move for futures at TDL

    Good signing

    • I can say that again….?????

      Deja Vu????

      • One more time….with feeling ! LOL ! We’ve all been there.

    • So you really do wear rose colored glasses don’t you? When Nylander signed his $6.9m extension after 3 years of 60+ points per year, you (and others) thought Dubas was a fool for that signing… but in this buffalo signing, good move and smart to lock him in at $7.1m after one 60+pt season.

      Hypocrisy or just a parrot?

      • 7 million in 2018 when the cap was $79.5 million was more than 7 million in 2022 when the cap is $82.5. Especially when we are also in a flat cap era and not expecting the cap to increase.
        Just saying.

      • Just a refresher here…there was no Covid or anything else restricting the cap. Also the percentage that both those contracts take up of the cap is basically the same at around 8.6%. The only difference is one player is a Leaf and put up consecutive 60pt seasons and the other is not and has just the one 60pt season.

        I’m just stating facts not just sayin.

  6. what are the chances that ARZ trades their director of player development Lee Stempniak at the deadline?

    • LOL mikeP. Good one. If he wasn’t a coach or a director of something, he could give lessons on how to pack

      drafted by St. Louis 2003
      dealt to Toronto Nov 2008
      dealt to Phoenix March 2010
      dealt to Calgary August 2011
      dealt to Pittsburgh March 2014
      signed by NYR July 2014
      dealt to Winnipeg March 2015
      signed on PTO by NJ Sept 2015
      dealt to Boston Feb 2016
      signed as UFA by Carolina July 2016
      signed by Boston Feb 2019

      That’s 10 different teams and 10 moves in 11 years. That HAS to be a record – certainly for being traded.

  7. Buffalo and Ottawa have seriously improved over the last year plus. I’m not sure either one has improved enough to make the playoffs this year, though.

    • Agree Paul – at least where Ottawa is concerned. Right now, as things stand with the changes made to date (Giroux, DeBrincat, Talbot), a healed and refreshed Shane Pinto as the 3rd line C (he missed all of last season), and the insertion of top prospect Jake Sanderson somewhere into the D corps, I’d say very close but probably no cigar.

      That changes, however, if either of Bernard-Docker or Thompson show in camp that they are ready to step into a Top 4 RD role, OR Dorion finally concludes that elusive trade for a RD from some cap-st rapped team.

      Then, I think, they will be right in the mix for either a WC or one of the firm playoff spots.

      Buffalo may find goaltending (Comrie and Anderson) is their Achilles Heel – although I’m anxious to see how that big D pick Power does with a full season.

      • I think that Detroit, Ottawa, and Buffalo may have the top 3 “up and coming but not quite there yet” systems in the league, and I expect at least one, if not two of them to compete for a playoff spot this year.

  8. I ‘m visualizing Tage Thompson in a Br Jin’s jersey.

    Player comparisons

    Tage Thompson 1st round 26th 6/7 220 Explosive shot, Physical, Great knack for the net

    Zach Senyshyn 1st rd 15 Great skating, no net presence, great skate, can’ t thread the needle not physical inferior Hockey intellect.

  9. Just read an article at the NHL website on Sean Monahan’s first visit to Montreal as a member of the Canadiens.
    He seems like the genuine article and, having dealt with a wonky hip myself, I hope he makes a great comeback. Especially against Florida, Tampa Bay, Boston,……