Free agency is upon us and, even though the Seattle Kraken will not be participating, there are still things to keep an eye on this year that could impact the Kraken down the road.
Here are my top 5 things to keep an eye on during free agency.
The NMC
Look for any players signing deals that have a Full No-Move Clause (NMC). NMC’s are generally reserved for the cream of the crop of free agent players. A NMC means that the team must protect the player in next summer’s Expansion Draft. It is highly likely that these players would be protected without the NMC, but the NMC will limit teams’ options. Anything that restricts other teams’ options and flexibility should be considered a good thing for Seattle.
Cap Crunch teams
All teams will be impacted by the flat salary cap related to COVID-19 lost revenues, but the more teams spend to the cap, then the more vulnerable these teams will be during the Expansion Draft. This could benefit Seattle during the Expansion Draft in 2 ways:
Teams could expose some high-value, high-cap-hit players with the hopes that Seattle selects these players to shed some salary cap. Of course, this doesn’t mean Seattle will select this player, so let’s go to #2.
Similar to what happen in the Vegas Expansion Draft, teams could negotiate side deals with Seattle to shed some high salary players in an effort to create more salary cap space to sign pending RFAs or other UFAs in 2021. Anaheim traded Shea Theodore to Vegas for taking Clayton Stoner and Winnipeg traded a 1st round pick and a 3rd round pick for in exchange for Vegas selecting Chris Thorburn Bottom line we want teams to spend to their limit.
Shea Theodore was traded to Vegas from Anaheim as compensation for Vegas selecting Clayton Stoner in the 2017 Expansion Draft. (Photo by Jeff Speer/Icon Sportswire)
Goalies Carousel
This is certainly the trendy topic leading into the free agency period and for good reason. This year will probably see the most goalies change teams that the league has ever seen in any prior offseason. There are some high-profile goalies that will change teams this year. Corey Crawford (CHI), Jacob Markstrom (VAN), and Braden Holtby (WAS) are likely to change homes. For the 30 teams participating in the 2021 Expansion Draft (Vegas is exempt), each team will only be able to protect one goalie, so goalie signings this free agent period should give us a better sense of which goalies get exposed in the upcoming expansion draft next summer.
Short Term Deals
Keep an eye out for short term deals, as in really short. The scenario here is that a big time free agent signs a one-year deal with the hopes of either winning a championship with a well-positioned team or the player might take a one-year deal with the hope that they can sign a more lucrative deal with a team that has a lot of cap space…as in Seattle. This would be the Taylor Hall to Colorado on a 1-year deal.
Crowded Blue Lines
Alex Pietrangelo (STL), Torey Krug (BOS), Tyson Barrie (TOR), Kevin Shattenkirk (TBL), TJ Brodie (CGY), and Sami Vatanen (CAR) are all likely to find new homes in free agency. Wherever they sign, odds are decent that they will be protected, which means that some other defender will be exposed. There are several teams that already have some interesting decisions to make regarding who to protect on the blue line in the upcoming Expansion Draft. Having more teams with crowded blue lines will expose more talent and will be better for Seattle.
Several of these scenarios might not play out and we still expect some more roster movement leading up to the 2021 Expansion Draft, but we are starting to put the cake in the oven. We should have a better idea how it will turn out very shortly during this free agency period.
An NHL Draft in October? It wouldn’t seem possible that is what the pandemic world brought us as the NHL went online for this year’s selection fest.
Tuesday’s first round didn’t offer too many shocking surprises but there were picks of interest.
As expected, the New York Rangers took Alexis Lafreniere from the QMJHL with the first overall pick and he should jump right to the NHL. The real drama was who would go second to the Los Angeles Kings.
The Kings ended that drama by taking Quinton Byfield from the OHL’s Sudbury Wolves at number two while German star Tim Stutzle was snatched up by the Ottawa Senators with the third pick.
Day two of the draft took place Wednesday and we mean all of Wednesday. With the draft taking place online the pace slowed and it became the unbearable length of the Draft. What started at 8:30 AM Pacific ended close to 4:30 PM.
At that kind of pace it is easy to miss things but we’ve got you covered. Here are some of the highlights from the 2020 NHL Draft that you may have missed.
Byfield’s historic day
By coming off the board second overall Byfield became the highest drafted black player in the history of the NHL. Two players, Seth Jones in 2013 and Evander Kane in 2009 were selected fourth overall in their respective drafts.
“It definitely means a lot to me,” Byfield said of the honor. “It’s something special and being in the record books for anything is special…my Dad and Mom didn’t play hockey or have too much knowledge about that. It’s just growing the game together. It just shows that there’s a lot of opportunity for everybody in the world and you can play every sport and be successful in it.”
The Germans are coming
Earlier this month Leon Draisaitl became the first German player to win the Hart Trophy as the NHL MVP. He was drafted by the Edmonton Oilers, out of the WHL, in 2014. It was the highest a German player had been drafted and now he has company as Stutzle went to the Senators at number three Tuesday night.
There is a German surge of players as Stutzle wasn’t the only German taken in the first round. At pick 17, the Chicago Blackhawks took Lukas Reichel out of Berlin. It’s the first time ever two Germans were selected in the first round.
Early in the second, at pick 34, Buffalo drafted John-Jason Peterka from Munich giving the Germans three players selected early in the draft. You can bet some scouting trips overseas are being booked to take a closer look at the German leagues.
The international game
Canadian players led the way over the two-day draft, with 70 players selected. That was followed by 52 American players and 32 Swedes.
In all, players from 13 different countries and 27 different leagues were drafted.
Ottawa 67’s (OHL) star Marco Rossi was taken ninth overall by the Minnesota Wild and he became the fifth Austrian born player picked in the first round and only Thomas Vanek – picked fifth by Buffalo in 2003 – was taken out of Austria higher.
Big day for Senators
They’ve been the butt of jokes for the past few years thanks to some head scratching PR fumbles as well as a lot of losses but the Ottawa Senators had two good days.
Loaded with 13 picks coming into the Draft, the Senators used three in the first round, starting with Stutzle at three. They also held the fifth pick and used it to take US defenseman Jake Sanderson from the USNTD program. Ottawa finished their first-round haul by looking at the WHL to pick Ridley Greig from the Brandon Wheat Kings at 28.
The Draft ended with 10 picks going to Ottawa plus they picked up a starting goalie after swinging a trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins for Matt Murray. The Senators sent Jon Gruden and a second round pick to the Penguins in the deal.
Suddenly, the Senators aren’t so funny.
Another strong draft for the WHL
For the second straight Draft, the WHL saw 28 players taken by NHL clubs. Last year that was tops among all development leagues and while the league had another strong showing, it came up three short as the OHL led the way with 31 players picked.
Portland’s Seth Jarvis was selected by the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2020 NHL Draft’s first round. (Brian Liesse)
Locally, the US Divisions teams did well, highlighted by Portland Winterhawks star Seth Jarvis being the first WHL player chose. Jarvis went in the first round with pick 13 to the Carolina Hurricanes. He wasn’t the only Winterhawk who had his name called as Cross Hanas was selected by the Detroit Redwings at 55 and Tampa Bay took Jaydon Dureau with pick 147.
Gage Goncalves of the Everett Silvertips was a big riser, going to the Lightning with the last pick of the second round. The center exploded for 33 goals this past season after scoring once the year before and flew up the draft rankings. He was joined Wednesday by Everett teammates Kasper Puutio (153 to Florida) and Ronan Seeley (208 to Carolina).
Spokane’s Jack Finley was picked in the second round by the Lightning – Tampa Bay obviously scouted the US division – and Post Falls, Idaho product Bear Hughes was picked 148th by the Washington Capitals.
Defenseman Tyrel Bauer of the Seattle Thunderbirds was taken by the Winnipeg Jets with pick 164 and teammate Matthew Rempe was taken with the next pick by the New York Rangers.
Sound of Hockey is here to get you fully prepared for the NHL Draft, which will take place virtually on the evening of Tuesday, 10/6. Even if you get to this after the Draft, though, it should hold up pretty well, as you will learn about the guys that get selected.
The best way that Andy, John, and Darren know how to help bring you up to speed is to welcome back their best friend and ESPN prospect/draft guru, Chris Peters. Chris once again dazzles with his unmatched wealth of knowledge, and will leave you feeling like an expert.
On this episode, the guys also welcome Matthew Rempe, a 6’8″ prospect from the Seattle Thunderbirds who has a solid shot at getting selected. Matthew brings some serious bulletin board material in his interview.
Plenty of NHL transactions to discuss this week as well.
Segments include Weekly One-Timers and Tweets of the Week.
Sound of Hockey is here to get you fully prepared for the NHL Draft, which will take place virtually on the evening of Tuesday, 10/6. Even if you get to this after the Draft, though, it should hold up pretty well, as you will learn about the guys that get selected.
The best way that Andy, John, and Darren know how to help bring you up to speed is to welcome back their best friend and ESPN prospect/draft guru, Chris Peters. Chris once again dazzles with his unmatched wealth of knowledge, and will leave you feeling like an expert.
On this episode, the guys also welcome Matthew Rempe, a 6’8″ prospect from the Seattle Thunderbirds who has a solid shot at getting selected. Matthew brings some serious bulletin board material in his interview.
Plenty of NHL transactions to discuss this week as well.
Segments include Weekly One-Timers and Tweets of the Week.
The NHL Entry Draft is this Tuesday (First Round) & Wednesday (Rounds 2-7). For all the new hockey fans out there, I thought it would be a good idea to lay out how the NHL Entry Draft works. The NHL Draft works similarly to the NFL, NBA, or MLB drafts. It consists of seven rounds, with each round consisting of the same number of selection choices as there will be teams in the League in the following season. The draft order is generally determined based on a “Worst to First” order of the most recent completed season. However, the top 3 teams of the draft order are determined by a weighted lottery system of teams that did not qualify for the playoffs.
Who gets drafted?
The NHL Entry draft is for top hockey players 18 – 20 years of age. Last year there were 217 players selected by NHL teams across 138 teams and 33 leagues that can be classified as amateur, development, or other international professional leagues. The most prominent leagues are the United States Hockey League (USHL), Ontario Hockey League (OHL), Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), and the Western Hockey League (WHL). The WHL should sound familiar to Washington and Oregon residents because that is the league where the Spokane Chiefs, Tri-City Americans, Everett Silvertips, Seattle Thunderbirds, and Portland Winterhawks play.
You can expect that over 50% of the players drafted will come from these 4 leagues with the other 50% spread across ~30 other leagues.
Nationality
From a ‘Place of Birth’ perspective, most of the draft picks are born in the US or Canada but that overall % is decreasing as Finland, Russia, and Swedish born players have been increasing in number over the last couple of years.
Expectations
Not all draft picks will play in the NHL and it will be several years before we see some of these players in the NHL. The vast majority of draft picks will be sent to club affiliates or back to their amateur, development, or college teams to develop further until which time they are called up.
Here is a look at how those games are played for skaters over a career based on year after draft.
And here is a look at those games spread over a career for goalies based on year after the draft.
Given that draft picks may not be seen playing in the NHL for several seasons after the draft, the draft is a reflection of the future state of NHL teams. I hope this gives you a little bit more appreciation and understanding for the NHL Entry Draft.
When NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman opens the NHL Draft this coming Tuesday it will look different than ever before.
Instead of addressing the gathered NHL clubs and fans from a stage, serenaded by boos from the cheap seats, he’ll start the proceedings via an online stream. The cutaways to young players in the stands sweating it out in their newly pressed suits alongside their families will be replaced with web cams of prospects’ living rooms as they gather around a television.
That won’t assuage the excitement of the draft as hundreds of young players wait to have their dreams fulfilled. It will be a long couple of days for prospects but filled with hope of hearing an NHL team announce that they’ve been drafted.
Every draft has its unexpected or unpredictable elements. There will be risers and fallers, trades, and a number of surprises over the two-day event.
What we do know is that the New York Rangers have the first pick and will draft Alexis Lafreniere to kick off the opening round. With the QMJHL’s Rimouski Oceanic, Lafreniere has been dominant. He played in 173 games over his three-year career with Rimouski and scored 114 goals with 297 points.
As NHL scouts might say, ‘that’s decent’.
The goals and points are impressive, and he’s got speed, skill, and the all-important hockey sense which makes him the clear pick. His major-junior days are in the past as the Rangers will add him to their roster next season.
The NHL will conduct the first round of the draft on Tuesday with the remaining six rounds conducted Wednesday. Here’s what to watch for over both days.
Is it Byfield or Stutzle at number two?
Often resembling a marquee horse race, the ‘battle’ between Quinten Byfield and Tim Stutzle to be the second overall pick has been fun to watch this season. Who goes number two depends on who you talk to, or which draft ranking you believe in.
The general consensus among the online scouts lean Byfield’s way but none of that matters. All that does is what the Los Angeles Kings – holders of the number two pick – think of the two prospects.
Both are great players and worthy of being selected at number two.
Byfield plays for the OHL’s Subdury Wolves and is coming off a monster year that saw him pile up 82 points in 45 games. He’s 6-foot-4 and 215 pounds and while he looks like a power forward, he has the skill of a smaller player.
The collector of bow ties can skate with the best of them and has the speed to pressure the defense. He’s also got a big shot, is a play-maker, and physically is ready for the NHL game now.
There was an outside chance that Stutzle could have played here in the Pacific Northwest during the past WHL season. Drafted by the Seattle Thunderbirds in the 2019 CHL Import Draft out of Germany, Stutzle weighed his options briefly and chose to play in the German pro DEL last year with Manheim.
Rather than play against his age group, he was able to compete against men in a pro league at 17-years-old and posted 34 points in 41 games. He doesn’t have the size of Byfield – listed at 6-foot-1 and 187 pounds – but he’s got speed, dekes, and the potential to be a dynamic scorer.
Stutzle played on the wing last year but has the ability to switch to center, something he did in his younger days and something that makes him a more valuable prospect.
Where will the prospects come from?
Last year’s draft was a boom for both the U.S. National Team Development players and the WHL. The American program set a new record by having seven players selected in the first round while the WHL led all amateur leagues with 28 players taken overall.
Who’s going to lead the way this year?
After a down year in 2019, the OHL looks poised to have a big draft, especially in the first round. NHL’s Central Scouting has nine OHL players ranked among the top 31 of North American players. Byfield leads the way but look for Jamie Drysdale (Erie Otters), Cole Perfetti (Saginaw Spirit), and Marco Rossi (Ottawa 67’s) to be potential top ten picks.
Stutzle’s selection will be the second German-born player to go in the first round in as many drafts after Moritz Seider went sixth overall to Detroit last year. Stutzle may not be the only German taken in the first round this season. Germany has another high ranked prospect, John-Jason Peterka, who could end up selected in the top 31 slots. Like Stutzle, Peterka played professional last year, in the DEL, with Munchen.
How high will a goalie go?
Drafting a goalie is an adventure. It’s a position that develops on a different trajectory than others and its rare that they end up in the first round, especially early on.
During last year’s Draft in Vancouver, Spencer Knight of the USTD was taken by the Florida Panthers 13th overall, which was the highest goalie taken since Tampa Bay nabbed Andrei Vasilevsky at 19 during the 2012 Draft. That pick worked out well for the Lightning.
The first goalie to go in next week’s draft will be Yaroslav Askarov. The Russian has already begun his season, playing with St. Petersburg in the KHL, and is off to a great start by sporting a .974 save-percentage. Not bad for an 18-year-old playing in a professional league with older, veteran guys.
🚫🚨ASKAROV SHUTOUT🚨🚫
Yaroslav Askarov shuts out Spartak with a 33 save performance as SKA takes the game 2-0 in his first KHL start of the season!
Will the team that takes him have the same outcome as the Lightning have with Vasilevsky?
Will there be trades?
Under normal conditions, all 31 NHL teams are at the draft. Tables are set up on the main floor and with that many general managers in close proximity to each other, trades happen, often completed with face-to-face conversations.
Teams will be hunkered down at their home offices this time around. Will that limit trades?
Not likely.
With a tight salary cap situation due to the flat cap, there will be trades next week. Teams will either look to unload a current player to stockpile picks and free cap space, or cash in draft assets for a player to improve their roster.
It can be hard to predict, but there are six teams who have 10 or more picks this draft year. Montreal has 14 selections and Ottawa has 13 picks on the books. They could be candidates to wheel and deal and pick up an NHL player who will help right away in exchange for a prospect who may never make it to the league.
How will the locals fare?
A year ago, seven players from the WHL’s US Division were selected in the draft led by the Seattle Thunderbirds who had three guys picked.
The Portland Winterhawks and Everett Silvertips will have the most players off the board this time around. Portland’s Seth Jarvis will be the first US Division player taken as the speedy forward (who scored 98 points last season) is projected to be a first-round selection.
Portland’s Seth Jarvis vaulted himself into a top NHL Draft prospect this year. (Brian Liesse)
Everett’s Ronan Seely and Kasper Puutio will go in the next couple of rounds while Spokane’s Jack Finley could be a second or third rounder. Seattle should see defensemen Simon Kubicek and Tryel Bauer taken as well while it doesn’t look like the rebuilding Tri-City Americans will have a player drafted this year.
He’s not in the U.S. Division but Medicine Hat Tigers forward Lukas Svejkovsy, who hails from Point Roberts, Wa, should hear his name called in day two.
The Tampa Bay Lightning are your Stanley Cup Champions, and the guys from Sound Of Hockey have a lot of opinions about it.
On this week’s episode, John, Andy, and Darren dig deep into what it took for Tampa Bay to reach the promised land, before turning their attention to the upcoming NHL Draft. To do so, they welcome Seth Jarvis of the Portland Winterhawks and Gage Goncalves of the Everett Silvertips, two players expecting to hear their names called by an NHL team in October. Both interviews are fun, quick listens that give you a good idea of what it’s like to wait for your opportunity to get drafted in the midst of a pandemic.
Portland’s Seth Jarvis vaulted himself into a top NHL Draft prospect this year. (Brian Liesse)
Also in this episode, the guys discuss their takeaways from the event that was the Stanley Cup Final, as well as recent transactions in the NHL.
Segments this week include You Don’t See That Every Day, Weekly One-Timers, and Tweets of the Week.
The Tampa Bay Lightning are your Stanley Cup Champions, and the guys from Sound Of Hockey have a lot of opinions about it.
On this week’s episode, John, Andy, and Darren dig deep into what it took for Tampa Bay to reach the promised land, before turning their attention to the upcoming NHL Draft. To do so, they welcome Seth Jarvis of the Portland Winterhawks and Gage Goncalves of the Everett Silvertips, two players expecting to hear their names called by an NHL team in October. Both interviews are fun, quick listens that give you a good idea of what it’s like to wait for your opportunity to get drafted in the midst of a pandemic.
Also in this episode, the guys discuss their takeaways from the event that was the Stanley Cup Final, as well as recent transactions in the NHL.
Segments this week include You Don’t See That Every Day, Weekly One-Timers, and Tweets of the Week.
It didn’t take long for Dustin Donaghy to realize his Spokane Chiefs teammate Tyler Johnson was just one of those guys.
You know, one of those guys.
The type of person imbued with so much swagger and subtle confidence that winning just seemed easy.
Whether it was 3-on-3 games, shinny hockey, or games of Halo, Donaghy found out quickly during both of their rookie seasons in the Western Hockey League that Johnson was that type of slightly trusting, but mostly awe-inspiring person.
“He was just clutch, just with everything,” said Donaghy, who is now entering his second year on the Chiefs bench as an assistant coach. “… Tyler, in my mind, he always had his hand in something in a positive manner.”
Winning has been a constant for Johnson, a Spokane, Washington native, in all levels of hockey.
Johnson and the Chiefs won the Memorial Cup, one of the two most coveted championships in junior hockey, and won a Gold Medal with Team USA at the 2010 World Junior Championships in Saskatoon and Regina, Saskatchewan, the second most coveted.
He won a Calder Cup Trophy with the Norfolk Admirals in his first season in the American Hockey League. Johnson was named to the NHL All-Rookie Team and a finalist for the Calder Memorial Trophy in 2014.
And for the second time, Johnson and the Lightning are on the verge of the most prodigious accomplishment in hockey: the Stanley Cup.
The Journey
In the WHL, teams are allowed a 50-player protected list. It includes active players, bantam draft picks and other prospects.
Yes, that same player valuable enough to sign a seven-year, $35 million contract for a Stanley Cup Finalist wasn’t even deemed worthy of being one of the 1,100 players protected by the WHL.
Some of that may have been because of his size — he’s listed at only 5-foot-8 and 185 pounds, but the Spokane native proved to be somewhat of a late bloomer, too.
After failing to make the Chiefs team as a 16-year-old rookie, he erupted with a 120-point season for the Coeur d’Alene Lakers, a Junior ‘B’ team, and helped junior hockey decision-makers notice him.
It didn’t take long for his Chiefs teammates to notice him, either.
“Just looking at him, he kind of had his boyband haircut. You’d look at him and you’d think, is he really a hockey player?” Donaghy said of his first impressions of Johnson in 2007, their rookie seasons. “Then we’d get on the ice, and we’d say, ‘Wow, he’s way more than what he looks like on the outside.”
Of course, Johnson made his way back on to the Chiefs’ list and not only cracked the Chiefs’ Memorial Cup-winning roster as a 17-year-old rookie but was named playoff MVP after totaling five goals and eight points in 23 games.
“He fit in right from the get-go,” Donaghy said.
Johnson had his doubters because he was so unassuming, but it only took a couple of skates for his teammates to buy-in to Johnson being an influential player.
His impact in Junior Hockey was gradual, and while the undersized forward was one of the league’s top scorers as a 19-year-old, no draft buzz followed that production.
Johnson was even looking at playing USports hockey in Canada — or even just attending college in the U.S., where he wasn’t able to play varsity hockey due to the NCAA’s ridiculous amateurism rules, he told The Spokesman-Review, before his 20-year-old season, where he exploded for 53 goals and 115 points as an overage player.
Johnson ended his tenure in Spokane is a hell-of-a-lot of points, a gold medal with Team USA at the 2010 World Junior Championships and, of course, a Memorial Cup run that started it all.
Still, Johnson never attracted much, if any, draft buzz, likely due to his diminutive size.
But Tampa Bay was eventually convinced and inked him as an undrafted free agent.
That’s paid off big time for Tampa Bay, especially early on.
Johnson was a key cog in the Lightning’s 2015 Playoff run, forming ‘The Triplets’ line with Nikita Kucherov and Ondrej Palat. Johnson led the postseason with 13 goals and tied Patrick Kane for first with 23 points as the Lightning finished as Stanley Cup Finalists.
The Lightning fell to Chicago in six games in the 2015 Stanley Cup Final, the franchise’s second appearance.
Currently tied 1-1 with the Stars entering Wednesday’s Game 3, Johnson and the Lightning are presented with another bite at the apple.
A Spokane Kid
Johnson was born into a hockey family of sorts.
His parents, Ken and Debbie Johnson, met playing a rec-league hockey game at Spokane’s Eagle’s Ice-A-Rena. Debbie was a skating coach, who not only taught Tyler how to skate, but the Yamamoto brothers, Kailer and Keanu, as well.
Johnson is a cornerstone, along with Derek Ryan and Kailer Yamamoto, of an underground hockey community in Spokane and Northern Idaho that’s never been confused as a hockey hotbed, but has a burgeoning player pool and a passionate, underground fanbase.
A yearbook photo of Tyler Johnson from Central Valley High School
It’s been a tradition for all three to attend high school in the Spokane area — Johnson attended Central Valley in Spokane Valley — and, of course, play for the Chiefs as a hometown kid, an enriching experience that also comes with the burdens of unrealistic expectations.
Johnson cut through any concerns from the jump.
“He was the one that had to decide of enjoying the fame of being a hometown kid or really pursuing a career,” Donaghy said. “Obviously, that’s what he’s done and he’s a huge impact in Tampa’s lineup right now in the Stanley Cup Final.”
