Semyon Varlamov and the Colorado Avalance have agreed to a five year, $29.5 million extension.
The contract comes with a cap hit of $5.9 million until the end of the 2018-19 season. Varlamov was set to become a restricted free agent at the end of this season. The goalie is currently making $2,833,333 for the 2013-14 season.
He has played in 42 games and is 26-9-5 on the season. The 26 wins are a career high and have him ranked third in the league in that category. He has a .925 save percentage and a 2.43 goals against average and one shutout. The goalie has only allowed three or more goals 15 times this season with having faced 1,296 shots, which is good for fourth in the league. He has 1,199 saves and that is good for fourth in the league.
Varlamov was first in the NHL last season with 21 loses, but those loses came in a lock out shortened season. He was traded to Colorado by Washington in exchange for Colorado's first round choice in the 2012 Entry Draft (Filip Forsberg) and Boston's second round choice, which was previously acquired and then traded away. He is set to play in the Sochi Olympics in February.
http://www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8473575#&navid=nhl-search
http://capgeek.com/player/873
Friday, January 31, 2014
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Flyers, Mason Agree to Contract Extension
The Philadelphia Flyers and goaltender Steve Mason have agreed to a three year, $12.3 million contract extension. The cap hit will be $4.1 million until the end of the 2016-17 season. He was set to become a restricted free agent at the end of the season.
Mason was traded to Philadelphia at the end of last season by the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for goalie Michael Leighton and a third round draft pick in 2015. He played in seven games last season for the Flyers and posted a 4-2-0 record to go with a .944 save percentage and a 1.90 goals against average.
The 6'4" goalie was named the Flyers starter in the beginning of the season. He is 19-11-5 in 37 games played with a .915 save percentage and a 2.56 GAA. In the early part of the season, Mason was standing on his head to keep the Flyers in every game even though the team wasn't playing great in front of him, offensively or defensively. Mason went a span of 27 straight games with the Flyers of not allowing more than three goals in a game that ended in either regulation or overtime.
He has been a little shaky lately and has even been taken out a few games. He was pulled in a game on January 11 versus the Tampa Bay Lightning after allowing five goals on just 17 shots. Mason was pulled again in last night's game versus the Islanders after allowing four goals on 24 shots.
Mason is athletic and can get from post-to-post pretty quick. He can handle the puck and it seems that, for the most part, he is square to the shooter and ready to make a save.
His best season came in 2008-2009 while with the Blue Jackets. He won the Calder Memorial Trophy for best rookie. He had 33 wins, a .916 save percentage, a 2.29 GAA and had 10 shutouts. After a brilliant rookie season, he struggled in Columbus, but it looks like he has found his game again playing with the Flyers.
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Oilers Trade Devan Dubnyk, Then Acquire Ben Scrivens
In two separate trades, the Edmonton Oilers acquired goaltender Ben Scrivens, forward Matt Hendricks and a third round pick in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft. (http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=700837&navid=nhl:topheads)
The first trade sent back up goaltender, Devan Dubnyk to the Nashville Predators in exchange for forward Matt Hendricks. Dubnyk has played in 32 games this season with a 11-17-2 record. He has a .894 save percentage and a 3.36 goals against average, but also has two shutouts.
One of the reasons Dubnyk's save percentage and goals against average are so bad is because the Oilers have given up 116 even strength goals, while only scoring 80. The team has also given up seven short-handed goals, which is tied for the most in the NHL this season. The penalty kill unit is ranked 21st in the league at 79.6%, while the power play unit has scored 34 goals and is ranked 10th.
The cap hit for the Predators is only $1.75 million for the remainder of the season, according to capgeek.com.(www.capgeek.com/player/49) The Predators picked up Dubnyk because Pekka Rinne is out with an injury and the team is unsure of when he will return to the lineup, according to nhl.com. (http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=700837&navid=nhl:topheads). Even though his numbers may say otherwise, Dubnyk was a good pick up for the Predators because he came at a cheap price and is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.
The Oilers got Matt Hendricks in the Predators trade. Hendricks is 32 years old and should bring some veteran leadership to a young group of players. He has played in 44 games, has two goals, two assists, and is a minus five on the season.
Hendricks isn't an offensive forward with only 62 points in 307 career games played, but he brings the Oilers another player to add to the penalty kill unit. He averaged just over 2:18 on the penalty kill for the Predators. This is Hendrick's fourth team in six NHL seasons.
Hendricks is currently in his first year of a four year, $7.4 million deal. The cap hit will be $1.85 million for the Oilers until the end of the 2016-17 season. (www.capgeek.com/player/578)
In the second trade, the Oilers acquired goaltender Ben Scrivens from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for a third round pick in the 2014 draft.
Scrivens was the back up goaltender for Jonathan Quick until Martin Jones came along and stole his spot. Quick went out with an injury and on December 3, Jones got the start and won his next eight games, which left Scrivens expendable.
Scrivens has played in 19 games this season and is 7-5-4 with a .931 save percentage, a 1.97 goals against average and he has three shutouts. He has only played 51 careeer games and is 18-19-6 with five shutouts, a .917 save percentage and a 2.54 goals against average.
Scrivens only has a $550,000 cap hit this season, according to capgeek.com (www.capgeek.com/player/1717). He is also an unrestricted free agent after the season so the Oilers can use the rest of the season to evaluate him and decided if they want to sign him to a contract. This is the second time Scrivens has been traded since the summer. He was part of the deal that sent Jonathan Bernier to the Toronto Maple Leafs from the Los Angeles Kings.
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Steve Downie Scratched Again
Philadelphia Flyers forward Steve Downie was a healthy scratch for the second straight game.
In his past five games, Downie had zero points, was a minus three, and had eight penalty minutes. He was taking too many penalties and wasn't playing defensive hockey.
On Saturday, the Flyers played the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Lightning went up by a score of 3-1, but the Flyers battled back to tie the game at 3-3. Then Downie wasn't in position defensively and the Lightning scored the eventual game-winning goal.
Downie was demoted to fourth line minutes after that by Berube. Tye McGinn, a recent call up by the Flyers, took Downie's place on the third line.
Downie has also been struggling offensively and hasn't scored since Dec. 11, 2013, a span of twelve games. He has had his chances but hasn't been able to put them in the net. His last assist came in a game versus the Washington Capitals on Dec. 17, 2013, a span of nine games.
Downie came over in a trade with the Colorado Avalanche in late October. The Flyers traded forward Max Talbot for him. He was playing on the third line and had good chemistry with Sean Couturier and Matt Read early in the season.
Monday, January 13, 2014
Rangers Get Off to Fast Start; Beat Flyers 4-1
In a battle of Metropolitan Division rivals, the New York Rangers got the best of the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Rangers got off to a quick start and never looked back, but the Flyers looked like a team that started the season with a 1-7-0 record.
The Rangers had their forechecking game going early. The puck was dumped into the Flyers zone and Mark Streit got the puck, but turned it over to Daniel Carcillo. Carcillo skated to the side of the Flyers net untouched and slide the puck past goaltender, Ray Emery. It was Carcillo's second goal of the season and it came 2:14 into the first period.
Then 28 seconds later the Rangers struck again. The puck was again sent into the Flyers zone, but this time two Rangers players pressured Flyers defenseman, Braydon Coburn into turning over the puck. Chris Kreider spotted a wide open Rick Nash, in the slot, who fired the puck past Emery for a 2-0 Rangers lead.
Flyers head coach, Craig Berube, decided to take his timeout after the Nash goal to try and get his team going in the right direction. It seemed to work. There were chances for both teams, but the score remained 2-0 Rangers until the 9:24 mark of the first period. Coburn was pressured by the Rangers forecheck and turned the puck over again. Mats Zuccarello came up with the puck and sent it to a wide open Derick Brassard, who put it past Emery for his eighth goal of the season.
The Flyers had 17 shots in the first period but couldn't get anything past Rangers goaltender, Henrik Lundqvist. They had their opportunities but the Rangers either cleared the puck out of the crease or Lundqvist decided to cover up the puck.
In the second period, the Rangers power play unit finally solved the Flyers penalty killing unit. The Flyers had killed 26 straight penalties before allowing the power play goal to Kreider. Sean Couturier, a regular on the penalty kill, failed to clear the puck out of the zone. Nash sent to puck to Kreider, who skated into the slot area, and put the puck off Coburn's skate and past Emery for the 4-0 Rangers lead.
The Flyers only managed six shots on net in the second period, but solved Lundqvist in the third period when Ryan McDonagh went off for holding Wayne Simmonds. The Flyers setup in the Rangers end and went to work on the power play. Vincent Lecavalier, Streit and Sean Couturier played catch with the puck until Streit was at the center point and took a slapshot. The puck found the back of the net with Lundqvist being screened in front by both Tye McGinn and Brayden Schenn.
The Flyers waited until there was about 5:00 left into the game to put some effort into the game. The team was physical, helped each other out on the forecheck, got traffic in front of the net, and battled for loose pucks.
Lundqvist stopped 37 of the 38 shots that he faced in the game and Emery stopped 31 of the 35 shots that were directed at him.
The Rangers got off to a quick start and never looked back, but the Flyers looked like a team that started the season with a 1-7-0 record.
The Rangers had their forechecking game going early. The puck was dumped into the Flyers zone and Mark Streit got the puck, but turned it over to Daniel Carcillo. Carcillo skated to the side of the Flyers net untouched and slide the puck past goaltender, Ray Emery. It was Carcillo's second goal of the season and it came 2:14 into the first period.
Then 28 seconds later the Rangers struck again. The puck was again sent into the Flyers zone, but this time two Rangers players pressured Flyers defenseman, Braydon Coburn into turning over the puck. Chris Kreider spotted a wide open Rick Nash, in the slot, who fired the puck past Emery for a 2-0 Rangers lead.
Flyers head coach, Craig Berube, decided to take his timeout after the Nash goal to try and get his team going in the right direction. It seemed to work. There were chances for both teams, but the score remained 2-0 Rangers until the 9:24 mark of the first period. Coburn was pressured by the Rangers forecheck and turned the puck over again. Mats Zuccarello came up with the puck and sent it to a wide open Derick Brassard, who put it past Emery for his eighth goal of the season.
The Flyers had 17 shots in the first period but couldn't get anything past Rangers goaltender, Henrik Lundqvist. They had their opportunities but the Rangers either cleared the puck out of the crease or Lundqvist decided to cover up the puck.
In the second period, the Rangers power play unit finally solved the Flyers penalty killing unit. The Flyers had killed 26 straight penalties before allowing the power play goal to Kreider. Sean Couturier, a regular on the penalty kill, failed to clear the puck out of the zone. Nash sent to puck to Kreider, who skated into the slot area, and put the puck off Coburn's skate and past Emery for the 4-0 Rangers lead.
The Flyers only managed six shots on net in the second period, but solved Lundqvist in the third period when Ryan McDonagh went off for holding Wayne Simmonds. The Flyers setup in the Rangers end and went to work on the power play. Vincent Lecavalier, Streit and Sean Couturier played catch with the puck until Streit was at the center point and took a slapshot. The puck found the back of the net with Lundqvist being screened in front by both Tye McGinn and Brayden Schenn.
The Flyers waited until there was about 5:00 left into the game to put some effort into the game. The team was physical, helped each other out on the forecheck, got traffic in front of the net, and battled for loose pucks.
Lundqvist stopped 37 of the 38 shots that he faced in the game and Emery stopped 31 of the 35 shots that were directed at him.
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