NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – July 18, 2024

by | Jul 18, 2024 | News, NHL | 13 comments

The Hurricanes terminate Evgeny Kuznetsov’s contract and re-sign Jack Drury, the Stanley Cup champion Panthers’ roster will look different this season, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.

THE HOCKEY NEWS: The Carolina Hurricanes announced Wednesday they placed center Evgeny Kuznetsov on unconditional waivers before terminating his contract.

Kuznetsov, 32, had a year remaining on his deal with an average annual value of $7.8 million divided between the Hurricanes and his former club, the Washington Capitals. This will free up $3.9 million from the salary cap payrolls of both clubs for 2024-25.

Former Carolina Hurricanes center Evgeny Kuznetsov (NHL Images).

Hurricanes general manager Eric Tulsky said both sides agreed this was the best course of action for the player and the team. Kuznetsov will reportedly return to Russia to sign a contract with KHL club SKA St. Petersburg.

The Hurricanes acquire Kuznetsov at the March trade deadline for a third-round pick. He had seven points in 20 regular-season games and six points in 10 playoff contests with his new club.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Kuznetsov’s performance has been erratic since his career-best 83-point effort in 2017-18 when he helped the Capitals win the Stanley Cup. A bounce-back 78-point production in 2021-22 was followed by 55 points in 2022-23 and 24 points in 63 games last season split between the Capitals and Hurricanes.

In 743 regular-season games, Kuznetsov had 173 goals and 575 points along with 33 goals and 73 points in 97 postseason contests.

PuckPedia indicates Kuznetsov gets to keep the $2 million signing bonus he received on July 1. However, he’s walking away from the $6 million in salary he was slated to earn this season.

Meanwhile, the Hurricanes avoided salary arbitration with forward Jack Drury to a two-year contract with an average annual value of $1.725 million.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Hurricanes have $13.8 million in cap space for 2024-25. They still have to sign restricted free agents Martin Necas and Seth Jarvis but have more wiggle room to do so with Kuznetsov off their books.

FLORIDA HOCKEY NOW: The 2023-24 Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers will have a different-looking roster for next season.

Brandon Montour, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Vladimir Tarasenko, Kevin Stenlund, Anthony Stolarz, and Ryan Lomberg departed via free agency. Kyle Okposo is expected to retire and Nick Cousins, Josh Mahura and Steven Lorentz weren’t offered new contracts.

They were replaced by more affordable depth players like Jaycob Megna, Nate Schmidt, A.J. Greer, MacKenzie Entwistle, Jesper and Adam Boqvist, Tomas Nosek, Tomas Nosek, Rasmus Asplund, and Chris Driedger.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Panthers’ roster underwent considerable change this summer. It’ll be interesting to see how well they adjust this season.

THE SCORE: Shane Pinto revealed the details behind his 41-game suspension last season for violating the NHL’s gambling rules.

The 23-year-old center explained proxy betting was behind the suspension, having his friends place bets for him in the United States while he was in Canada. There is no evidence Pinto bet on NHL games.

SPORTSNET: The Calgary Flames, the city of Calgary and the province of Alberta will officially begin construction on Monday of a new $926 million Event Centre. It will include a new 18,000-seat arena for the Flames.

Construction is expected to be completed before the 2027-28 NHL season.

COLORADO HOCKEY NOW: Dan Hinote was named associate head coach of the Colorado Eagles, the Avalanche’s AHL affiliate. Hinote, 47, spent six of his nine NHL seasons with the Avalanche. He spent the past four seasons as an assistant coach with the Nashville Predators. Hinote was also a former assistant coach and scout with the Columbus Blue Jackets.







13 Comments

  1. Interesting that the $2M signing bonus paid to Kuznetzov on 7/1 (which factors into his $7.8M annual cap hit) doesn’t impact Was or Car for this year in any way. He walks away with the $ yet both teams have $0 cap hit ramifications.
    More and more contracts seem to be going towards large signing bonus structures (eg, $8M total, but $7M is signing bonus, $1M is base salary). In this example it would be weird (unfair?) to see a player paid a $7M signing bonus to start the season and then walk away without any cap ramifications to the team.

  2. The only real top core player that Fla. lost was Montour!Tho other guys were replaceable pieces with short term low budget contracts!The money issue is in goal where they are spending 14.5 million at that position! After 2 long seasons I feel they will slip a little bit,but not that far! Their top 9 forwards are still amongst the best in hockey!

    • Yeah, I felt that the Cats would make efforts to trade either Bob or Knight for cap reasons this summer. Bob can as of July 1 can be traded to half the league. And should have some teams pursuing him with FLA retaining about $4M. Knight’s stock may have slipped but his #’s are still good.

      • Johnny,

        I think knight needs a full year of NHL with Spongebob to see if he could be a Starter,
        He still has 2X$10.M in his contract,
        and Knight still has 2X$4.5m
        So they will know in the next 2 season if it will work or not and if its a goaltender overhaul in Florida…?

        the bigest loss was on d, Montour…Replaced by
        Nate Schmidt who is still good and they have young offencive RD Michael Benning and a couple of other they could call up….
        they also brought in AJ Greer from Calgary as a good depth forward

      • Not sure Florida can be considered a force with that D core. Up front and in net, ya.

        I think they will miss Montour huge. I would consider a few of these “depth” guys as being important players. OEL, in particular due to the lack of quality depth on the blueline. If they get an injury to a key guy, look out.

        They are a playoff team all day. But come the TDL, they best be adding to that D core, or I see a problem.

    • Agree Sr that they will slip a bit; will still be a force

      Not, however in full agreement that other departures were “replaceable pieces”

      Individually yes, can agree

      As a whole, when you turnover that many pieces, it will have an impact. Just generally as s cohesive team unit

      They will get up to speed as s “new” overall team; and will again be top 3 in Atlantic

      Once in, more tweaks at trade deadline; still a force

      Re “Their top 9 forwards are still amongst the best in hockey!”. I concur

      • Not sure I would use the term force when discussing the Panthers anymore.

        And Montour was not just a core player he played more minutes than any D-man on the team. Any skater on the team. More than a full minute above Forsling during regular season. Forsling is probably their best D-man, but Montour was a huge part of that team. Plus OEL was a key cog in the machine.

        Their D-core is, at very least, suspect. Hardly contender caliber.

        They are a playoff team all day, but if they don’t add to that D-core at the TDL, I sure wouldn’t be picking them to come out of the east.

        Agree with HF30, they will miss all these guys. The Leafs analogy is apt. Except they battle harder up front.

      • Agree Ray that “Force” is not (at this time) an appropriate descriptor for the Panthers

        I still see them top : in Atlantic and still see them as overall a playoff-like (tougher.grittier compared to “regular season” pond hickey type) team

        Regression is expected; time will tell

  3. Interesting how people talk about the importance of playoff performances vs regular season. His playoff numbers seem to indicate a guy who rises to the top when it matters.

  4. Those depth pieces are more important than you might think, just ask TML and Tampa Bay.

    One hasn’t filled well enough, the other “overpaid” successfully for the depth.

  5. Tomas Nosek times two means twice the fun! They wanted him so much, they signed him twice!

  6. Re from above “The 23-year-old center (Shane Pinto) explained proxy betting was behind the suspension, having his friends place bets for him in the United States while he was in Canada. There is no evidence Pinto bet on NHL games.”

    Despite the fact the NHL policy is a tad hypocritical (that is, as long as a player is not betting on hockey) when you consider the ads on the boards for on-line betting and one of the greats schilling for one of those sites), Pinto had to have been warned – like everyone else – of the perils of going down that road, which explains his having to settle for a 2-year $7.5 mil deal ($2.5 mil in 2024-25 and $5 mil in 2025-26).

    • Matthew Barnaby is one of the “greats”