NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – September 19, 2024
The Lightning and Blackhawks name their new captains, the latest on Jeremy Swayman’s contract talks, several notable players are already sidelined by injuries, and much more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
TAMPA BAY TIMES: The Lightning named Victor Hedman as their new captain. He replaces Steven Stamkos, who signed with the Nashville Predators on July 1.
Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: No surprise here. Hedman was the logical choice to succeed Stamkos having spent his 15-season NHL career with the Lightning.
CHICAGO HOCKEY NOW: The Blackhawks announced Nick Foligno as the 35th captain in franchise history. He’s the first to wear the “C” since Jonathan Toews from 2008 to 2023.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Foligno has plenty of experience as a team captain. He held that role with the Columbus Blue Jackets from 2015-16 to 2020-21. This move could pave the way for franchise player Connor Bedard to succeed Foligno when the latter’s contract expires in 2026.
BOSTON HOCKEY NOW: Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman will not be in training camp as he remains unsigned. He and Bruins management still haven’t agreed on a new contract.
Bruins GM Don Sweeney expressed disappointment that the 25-year-old restricted free agent is not under contract in time for training camp. He didn’t forecast when an agreement could be reached but stressed that every day Swayman is absent is detrimental to the goalie and the team.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: It’s believed a wide gap exists between the two sides with Swayman rumored to be seeking an AAV between $8.5 million and $9.5 million while Bruins are said to be offering around $6.2 million annually.
Swayman has until Dec. 1 to sign or become ineligible to play the rest of this season. He doesn’t want to risk that as it’ll cost him a season of work and wages. I’ll have more about this situation in today’s NHL Rumor Mill.
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH: The Blue Jackets will memorialize Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau this season with helmet stickers featuring the brothers’ last name and their respective jersey numbers. They’ll wear jersey patches with Johnny’s No. 13 once the regular season begins.
The brothers were killed on Aug. 30 by an alleged drunk driver while they were bicycling in Oldmans Township, New Jersey.
SPORTSNET: As expected, Thatcher Demko will miss the start of the Vancouver Canucks’ training camp as he continues rehabbing a nagging knee injury. Checking-line forward Teddy Blueger will be out for a week with a lower-body injury and defenseman Tucker Poolman (migraines) will be placed on long-term injury reserve for the entire season.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin said Demko will speak to the media on Thursday about his condition. Meanwhile, Poolman also missed last season and hasn’t played since Oct. 2022.
TSN: The Washington Capitals placed winger T.J. Oshie on LTIR for the entire 2024-25 season. Oshie, 37, has been plagued by a chronic back injury that limited him to 52 games last season. The decision was made following his training camp medical.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Oshie is in the final season of his eight-year contract with an average annual value of $5.75 million.
DAILY FACEOFF: The Vegas Golden Knights are reviewing their options after goaltender Robin Lehner failed to report for his mandatory training camp medical. Lehner, 33, is expected to miss his third straight season after undergoing hip surgery in Aug. 2022. He’s entering the final season of his five-year contract with an AAV of $5 million and $4.5 million in actual salary.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The report indicates contract termination is among those options, which would remove his $5 million cap hit from the Golden Knights’ books.
EDMONTON JOURNAL: Oilers winger Evander Kane reveals he’ll be undergoing surgery to repair two sports hernias and four muscle tears that took him out of the lineup for his club’s final five playoff games last spring.
TSN: Speaking of the Oilers, they’ve signed winger Mike Hoffman to a professional tryout offer (PTO).
THE HOCKEY NEWS: St. Louis Blues defenseman Torey Krug underwent season-ending surgery on his left ankle on Tuesday to address a pre-arthritic condition. Teammate Oskar Sundqvist continues to recover from offseason surgery to repair a torn right ACL. He’s not expected to participate in training camp but should be ready for the start of the season.
DAILY FACEOFF: The Blues announced they’ve signed Scott Harrington, Matthew Peca, Nikita Alexandrov and Sam Bitten to PTOs.
THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS: Stars winger Jason Robertson will miss most of training camp after undergoing offseason surgery to remove a cyst from his foot. He’s expected to be ready for their season-opener against the Nashville Predators on Oct. 10.
Speaking of the Stars, recently retired defenseman Jordie Benn has returned to the club as a player development assistant and AHL scout.
TRIBLIVE.COM: Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson is listed as day-to-day with an undisclosed injury.
BUFFALO HOCKEY NOW: Sabres blueliner Rasmus Dahlin left practice on Wednesday. Head coach Lindy Ruff described the injury as “mid-range” when asked if it was upper or lower body. It’s not believed to be serious.
DETROIT HOCKEY NOW: The Red Wings signed winger Alex Chiasson to a PTO.
NASHVILLE HOCKEY NOW: The Predators signed winger Philip Tomasino to a one-year, $825K contract.
CALGARY SUN: Former Flames forward Matt Stajan has joined the team as a skills consultant.
SPORTSNET: released their preseason broadcast schedule beginning Sept. 21 and running through Oct. 2.
TSN: Bell sold its 37.5 percent interest in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment to Rogers Communication, giving the latter the majority stake in Canada’s most valuable sports empire.
As part of the deal, Bell Media secured access to content rights for the Toronto Maple Leafs and the NBA’s Toronto Raptors on TSN for the next 20 years.
It will be interesting to see what Washington does with it s LTIR money accrued with the injuries to Backstrom and Oshie!
“Mid range” lol…
Considering the fact that they are currently shown as $10,270,001 over the cap, with 22 of 23 ready to go (12F 8D 2G) I would assume their cap hits would be used to cover that.
Still leaves them about 5 million to go get a pretty good player!
Very true Sr … but they will have competition in that regard.
With the list of remaining unsigned RFAs whittled down the past few days with the last-minute signings of Harley, Kaliyev, Raymond, Berggren and Solovyov, that leaves 4 – Swayman in Boston, Seider in Detroit, Perfetti in Winnipeg, and Mercer in New Jersey, and once (if) they are signed their cap reserves ranging from $4.6 to $8.6 mil will disappear and bring them back to the pack in that regard.
When that occurs there will be 7 teams with significant cap space on which to keep a close eye in terms of possible trades as season openers approach if those approximately 13 teams either currently over the cap or right up against the limit go that route to free up space.
The 7 “money” teams are, according to Puckpedia:
Columbus $24,798,334 – 23 of 23;
Anaheim $21,718,333 – 23 of 23
Calgary $19,199,166 – 24 of 23 (1 over the max)
San Jose $10,420,830 – 24 of 23 (1 over the max)
Utah $9,920,357 – 23 of 23
Buffalo $6,999,484 – 23 of 23
Chicago $6,677,500 – 22 of 23
The team I’d watch more closely is Chicago. They are shown as 1 short of the full 23-man roster with 14F 6D 2G, and since I doubt no team will want to enter the season with just 6D, and unless the spot is being kept open for one of their better ELC prospects, they could be in the market if any team is offering a D in order to relieve their cap crunch.
Seider signs today – 7 years $59.85 mil or $8,550,000 per for a full 23-man roster
How can Vegas get out of Lehner’s contract, considering they need to use it to acquire another star player by the trade deadline (by placing Lehner back on LTIR) ? 🙂
Heh mikeP, that would be the least of their problems if Lehner is removed from the books.
Vegas currently sits $3,639,963 OVER the cap with 23 of 23 shown on the main roster (14F 7D 2G). Seemingly, the only players with options are Brisson ($925,000 ELC) and Holtz ($894,167 ELC). and even if both were optioned to start that wouldn’t be enough to cover the over.
Of course, they might currently be in the market to acquire an established LTIR from elsewhere.
Congrats to Hedman and Foligno. Choices proper and as expected. Befard will be future Captain.
Great move by jackets honouring both brothers.
Good zero risk (can be sent down) by Preds (Tomasino)
Re Swayman…. $6.2 M is lowball in my opinion.
Bruins have room now but
To Lyle or anybody here who knows the CBA:
Isn’t there a strange clause for signing RFAs after game 1 where the Cap hit year 1 is larger than the AAV and grows rapidly ?
If so, the effective drop dead date wouldn’t be December 1st as the Cap might grow to s point greater than current space ($8.6 M)
Is that correct or id that clause no longer in the CBA?
Here you go:
https://www.thescore.com/nhl/news/1655226
Cheers and thanks
$6.9 M became $10.2 for missing 26 games
Swaymen will get North of $7.5 M so waiting until last minute (using similar math); first year cap would be closing in on $11 M
Kane and Krug the ultimate team first players. Nice of you guys waiting till the season is about to start to have your surgeries. Your rooms must love that. Wouldn’t want to mess up your summers with silly surgeries that can wait.
That Swayman/Sweeny is pretty interesting, sort of like unstoppable force meeting the unmovable object. They both have legs to stand on…one side you clearly have an elite player and on the other hand, no evidence this goalie will be able to carry the load alone.
Would a short term big payout be the solution? It looks like both parties have dug in their heels and waiting on who blinks first…good times!
If there was an explanation as to why Kane has waited until now to get the surgery done, I missed it.
Anyone?
LJ: Like most folks, players try to avoid surgery as much as possible. They will undergo as much non-surgical treatment as possible before going under the knife. Surgery isn’t fun, especially the recovery and rehab periods.
TURK, players always try to avoid surgery if it is an option. With Krug, it sounds like it is becoming arthritic isn’t it? Wish him the best, but best case for him sounds like less pain vs his NHL career resuming. I would be surprised if team doctors were not in the loop.
Kane waiting is good for the Oil, they can accrue more cap space. Perfect would him being ready for the when the playoffs start vs regular season.
Those are the rules, and if other teams do it and have had success, you would be stupid not to do the same yourself.
Question: Swayman is still eligible to sign a Offer Sheet with any team thinking they need a #1 Goalie in the next few weeks. I wonder if anyone takes a stab at that, would Boston match a 5 x 8 mil offer.
Chris, when you read the comments in this forum – and elsewhere – you see a lot of opinions that suggest Swayman has to prove he is an “elite” goalie – something many think he has yet to demonstrate (see Ray Bark’s comment above as an example), having split seasons up to now with the departed Ullmark.
Any team in a financial position to offer-sheet him would need to be absolutely certain he is capable of performing at the same level with an increased workload – and perhaps with a defensive structure not as strong as that of the Bruins – before relinquishing a 1st, a 2nd and a 3rd – which they would need to do for any accepted offer of between $6,871,374 and $9,161,834.
Answer: Yes, they would, but I don’t think they’re sweating that possibility.