The NHL Buyout Barometer – Atlantic Division (Part II)
The NHL Buyout Barometer – Atlantic Division (Part II)
NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – April 21, 2020
NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – April 21, 2020
Brendan Shanahan and Bill Guerin remain optimistic the season will resume, the latest on Chris Kreider, the league rejects the Blue Jackets’ signing Mikhail Grigorenko, and more in today’s NHL morning coffee headlines.
TSN: Toronto Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan believes the sidelined NHL 2019-20 season could resume at some point in the coming months. He indicated there’s plenty of determination between team owners and players to return to action, but he also stressed it would be determined by having health care services becoming better prepared to cope with and contain the coronavirus.
Nevertheless, Shanahan feels the NHL has more flexibility to resume its schedule than most people realize. “I don’t really believe stories of these crazy neutral sites. I still always think if we’re going to do this it’s going to be in a hockey market. A market where the infrastructure for putting on hockey and hockey games is available.” Shanahan doubts the season would resume with fans in attendance, but feels there would be an appetite for games on television.
NHL.COM: Minnesota Wild general manager Bill Guerin also believes the season will resume in empty arenas later this year. “The bottom line is, we’re not doing anything unless it’s safe for everybody. And if it is, I think we will, and I think it would be the right thing to do. It’ll be a little unusual, a little unorthodox, but that’s OK. If we just wrap our arms around it and accept it, it will be fine. Once we start playing hockey, you play hockey.”
New York Rangers winger Chris Kreider is recovering well from a foot fracture (Photo via NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Critics will consider Shanahan’s and Guerin’s comments as wishful thinking. Perhaps it is, but it reflects the genuine desire among the league and the NHL Players’ Association to complete the season, award the Stanley Cup, and recoup some of their lost revenue. The course of the coronavirus, however, remains the determining factor.
ESPN.COM: New York Rangers winger Chris Kreider said his recovery from a foot fracture is going well. He anticipates he’ll be ready to return to the lineup if the NHL season resumes this summer.
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH: The Blues Jackets signing Mikhail Grigorenko to a one-year, $1.2- million contract yesterday was rejected by the NHL Central Registry. The Jackets issued a statement indicating it was due to a misunderstanding over the window for filing contracts. “We have been in contact with the league and Dan Milstein, Grigorenko’s agent, and the contract will be re-filed on July 1.”
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Grigorenko finished his contract with the KHL’s CSKA Moscow and is considered an unrestricted free agent. However, the Jackets cannot officially sign him until July 1, which is when the league’s free-agent period begins. That date could change depending on whether the league resumes its season this summer. Grigorenko could sign with another NHL club, but I think he’ll stick with the Jackets as they refile in July or later this summer.
TRIBLIVE.COM: Pittsburgh Penguins GM Jim Rutherford indicated everyone in his club’s various hockey operations departments have been regularly discussing contingency plans for the remainder of the season, including the draft and free agency. He said they’ve been talking four or five days a week.
ARIZONA SPORTS: The Coyotes have held calls with their players to review the season and looking ahead. “We had 15, 20 minutes per guy, talking,” said head coach Rick Tocchet. “It’s not exit meetings because I still believe that we’re going to play in the next couple months, I’m trying to be optimistic. But I think it’s important that you stay connected with the team. I know it’s a little harder to do that.”
SPECTOR’S NOTE: I suspect every club is doing the same as the Penguins and Coyotes. Talking to their players while the hockey ops map out its plans for resuming the season and the off-season.
TSN: The Ottawa Senators hired Anthony LeBlanc as their president of business operations. The former Blackberry executive served as president, chief executive officer and alternate governor of the Arizona Coyotes from 2013 to 2017. LeBlanc replaced Jim Little, who was fired six weeks ago after less than two months on the job followed a heated disagreement with team owner Eugene Melnyk.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Best of luck ot LeBlanc in his new job. He’s gonna need it.
NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – April 20, 2020
NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – April 20, 2020
Wayne Gretzky believes the season will resume, plus the latest on Cam Talbot, Evgeny Svechnikov, and more in today’s NHL morning coffee headlines.
SPORTSNET: Hockey legend Wayne Gretzky believes the NHL will be able to resume the 2019-20 schedule later this summer. “I really believe somehow, someway, that the leadership in this country and in Canada, that we’re going to figure this out,” Gretzky said. “And I really believe that we’ll see hockey and some sort of other sports in June, July and August, albeit in a different way, but I really see it coming to fruition. I think it’s going to happen.”
Wayne Gretzky believes the NHL season will resume this summer.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: If there’s any possible chance of resuming the schedule, crowning a Stanley Cup champion, and recouping some of their revenue lost from the current pandemic shutdown, the league and the NHL Players’ Association will give it due consideration. The logistics will be difficult, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility. Ultimately, the course of this pandemic will be the deciding factor.
Goaltender Cam Talbot believes he’s proven his worth after salvaging his NHL career with a solid bounce-back performance with the Calgary Flames this season. However, his future with the Flames remains uncertain.
Talbot, 32, is an unrestricted free agent at season’s end. The Flames can afford to re-sign him, but his value could be driven up by other teams bidding for his services this summer.
CBC.CA: UFAs like Talbot, however, could find lucrative new contracts difficult to come by in this year’s free-agent market. The same goes for the top restricted free agents. NHL player agent Allan Walsh said it’s too early to tell how the market will be affected by the current shutdown of the schedule because of coronavirus concerns.
“When I talk to GMs, when I talk to people at the NHLPA, when I talk to players, when I talk to coaches, no one has answers. No one. No one knows what the market is going to look like,” Walsh said. He added there cannot be free agency until the upper limit of the salary cap for next season is established.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: There’s ongoing speculation the league and the PA will agree to an artificial cap of at least $81.5 million for next season. While that will make things difficult for cap-strapped clubs, it won’t be as devastating to teams and pending free agents as a reduced cap would be. Most of the best players will still get healthy raises, but perhaps not as much as they would’ve had the cap risen to the original projection of $84 million to $88 million.
THE DETROIT NEWS: Red Wings forward Evgeny Svechnikov is hoping for a shot at establishing himself as a full-time NHL player. The 23-year-old has appeared in 20 games with the Wings over the past three seasons but struggled to stick in part because of injuries and inconsistency.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Svechnikov’s situation could be worth watching. Perhaps he’ll be shopped in the off-season if Wings management feels he’s not progressing as hoped.
CBS SPORTS: Defenseman Artyom Sergeyev has informed KHL team Salavat Yulaev Ufa that he will sign with the Florida Panthers when his contract expires at the end of April.
NHL Up and Down The Boards – Ovechkin Favored Over Gretzky in NHL 20 Showdown
NHL Up and Down The Boards – Ovechkin Favored Over Gretzky in NHL 20 Showdown
NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – April 19, 2020
NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – April 19, 2020
Players defer final paycheck by one month, plus speculation about resuming the schedule, next season’s salary cap, and more in today’s NHL morning coffee headlines.
TSN: Pierre LeBrun reported NHL players deferred their decision to draw their final paycheck of the season until May 15. The paycheck is worth around $140 million. It would allow more time for the league and the NHL Players Association to determine if the season will continue.
“Players have been debating whether to forgo some or all of the last paycheque to help escrow,” wrote LeBrun, who also indicated the players are getting their 2018-19 escrow return next week.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Canceling the season would cost the league around $1.1 billion in revenue, but those losses could be cut in half if the season is resumed in empty arenas in neutral-site locations. That will have an effect upon next season’s salary cap, as well as how much escrow money will be clawed back from the players’ salaries.
NEW YORK POST: Larry Brooks has some interesting tidbits regarding the league’s plans to continue the season, including the possibility of playing in more than one NHL city spared the worst of the pandemic, whose COVID-19 curve tracks positively, and in a state where social distancing restrictions would be relaxed by the time the schedule resumes.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Neutral-site games in cities/towns under the same conditions have also been discussed. I daresay the league’s preference is to return in as many of its markets as possible. As Brooks pointed out, however, the logistics of either scenario are daunting.
Brooks indicated there have been discussions between the league and the PA over extending the current CBA beyond its 2022 expiration date to stabilize the salary cap at its current $81.5 million over the next three seasons. It would reduce the players’ escrow burden. Resuming with a 24-team playoff schedule would generate around $350 million in broadcasting and sponsorship money, and between $450 million to $500 million under a full resumption.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Regardless of how long this pandemic lasts, its economic effects will be felt everywhere, perhaps for years. Considering the circumstances, it might be wise for the league and the PA to hash out an extension of the current agreement by a year or two. It could set the template for warmer labor relations that would result in longer-term labor peace down the road.
Brooks also reports there isn’t anything close to unanimity among the players over leaving their families for perhaps up to two months to complete the season and playoffs.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: If the players’ health and safety can be suitably assured by the league, I doubt they’ll grumble too much about being away from their families for a month or two, especially if it helps them financially next season.
SPORTSNET: Taylor Hall‘s agent said the Arizona Coyotes haven’t made a contract offer to his client yet. The 28-year-old winger will become an unrestricted free agent at season’s end.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Cap Friendly indicates the Coyotes have nearly $80 million invested in 16 players for 2020-21. Based on GM John Chayka’s recent comments regarding Hall’s contract, the Coyotes are waiting until they gain some certainty over next season’s cap numbers before making their pitch to the winger’s agent. It would also determine how much salary they need to shed if Hall re-signs with them.
TA3.COM: Boston Bruins forward Peter Cehlarik was told he was almost part of a deal at the trade deadline. Cehlarik, 24, has become frustrated that he’s not an NHL regular. He’s considered playing in Sweden, where he spent four seasons before joining the Bruins. The KHL is another option, as St. Petersburg holds his rights in that league. (Stick tap to Alexander Wirdzek for the link).
THE SCORE: Former Buffalo Sabres minority owner Larry Quinn criticized the club’s current parent companies recent mass firings. Pegula Sports and Entertainment fired 21 employees and furloughed 104 others. The furloughs are due to the pandemic, while the other cutbacks were planned before the NHL paused its schedule.
NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – April 18, 2020
NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – April 18, 2020
The Jets and Dustin Byfuglien agree to mutual contract termination, the Blue Jackets re-sign Joonas Korpisalo, neutral-site speculation and more in today’s NHL morning coffee headlines.
WINNIPEG SUN: The Jets and Dustin Byfuglien agreed to a mutual termination of his contract. The move brings an end to the dispute between Jets management and the veteran defenseman over his injury status. It resulted in his suspension without pay for missing training camp and his subsequent season-ending ankle surgery that took place without informing management. Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff maintains the situation remains largely a private matter between the two sides but acknowledged it was emotional.
Dustin Byfuglien’s days with the Winnipeg Jets are over (Photo via NHL Images).
Byfuglien has forfeited the $14 million in actual salary remaining on his contract. He was slated to earn $8 million this season and $6 million in 2020-21. He’s not spoken publicly about the situation or his future plans.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: You can read the entire timeline of this saga here. With Byfuglien’s contract off the books for next season, Cap Friendly indicates the Jets have over $65.9 million invested in 13 players for next season, with all of their core players signed. That should provide Cheveldayoff with some wiggle room to bolster his blueline.
As for Byfuglien, there’s already speculation over potential destinations if he continues his NHL career. I’ll have more in the Rumors section.
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH: The Blue Jackets re-signed Joonas Korpisalo to a two-year contract extension worth an annual average value of $2.8 million. The 25-year-old goaltender will earn $2.2 million in actual salary next season and $3.4 million in 2021-22.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: It’s a reasonable contract for Korpisalo, who’s coming off a one-year, $1.125-million deal. Given the uncertainty over next season’s salary cap, it’s probably a wise decision on his part to take that deal now, rather than risk a lower payday. He’s eligible to become an unrestricted free agent in 2022.
Fellow Jackets goalie Elvis Merzlikins is also a restricted free agent at season’s end, but The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline believes he’ll get a similar deal. Portzline noted there was speculation suggesting the Jackets made Merzlikins a three-year offer, but the netminder denied that report last month.
STLTODAY.COM: The Blues re-signed MacKenzie MacEachern to a two-year, one-way contract worth $900K per season.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Blues GM Doug Armstrong isn’t wasting time getting some business done during the pandemic shutdown. The MacEachern contract is the third deal he’s signed in as many days, inking Sammy Blais on Wednesday and Marco Scandella on Thursday. The Blues now have over $79.4 million tied up in 20 players, with defensemen Alex Pietrangelo and Vince Dunn to re-sign.
SPORTSNET: New Hampshire governor Chris Sununu admitted he’s had discussions with the NHL about staging neutral-site games in Manchester if the league returns to action in a reduced capacity this summer. “There is truth to that,” he said. “I have had discussions about that. Don’t know whether it’s going to happen, but we are talking about it.”
THE NEWS & OBSERVER: Carolina Hurricanes GM Don Waddell and his wife bought approximately 500 lunches for local sanitation workers in recognition of their efforts during this pandemic.