Avs Angles: An Okay Offseason

The Colorado Avalanche had a disappointing season even though they won the President's Trophy as the NHL's best team. The Vegas Golden Knights sent the Avalanche packing after the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. In the team's defense, there were some injuries and games rescheduled due to COVID. The Avalanche would have to figure out a way to navigate an offseason that included the Seattle Kraken Expansion Draft. The offseason included making trades, managing the cap, getting key players re-signed, and signing some depth players.

The first piece of the team's offseason was creating cap space to re-sign two key players. The Avalanche traded defenseman Ryan Graves to the New Jersey Devils for Mikhail Maltsev. Graves played top-four minutes for the Avalanche the past few seasons, but about $3.2 million over the next two years came off the books with the trade. Maltsev will be an unrestricted free agent this summer but should get an opportunity to show what he can do on the ice in training camp. This was a good deal since it cleared cap space, brought in a young player, and the team is stacked with young talent on the blue line.

The Avs then lost forward Joonas Donskoi to the Kraken in the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft. In 116 games played over the past two seasons, Donskoi had 33 goals, 31 assists, and 64 points. He played third or fourth line minutes while with the team and had decent production. The Avalanche may miss his production, but won't miss his $3.9 million cap hit over the next two seasons. I'm sure it wasn't easy to lost Donskoi and his production, but I understand why he was left unprotected for the Draft.

The second piece, and possibly the most important, piece of news was the re-signing of restricted free agent defenseman Cale Makar. The 22-year-old signed a new six-year, $54 million contract which came with a $9 million per season cap hit. Makar made an immediate impact for the Avalanche after getting called up with six points in 10 playoffs games in 2019. The young defenseman has been great in his first two full seasons even with the craziness of COVID-19. He won the Calder Trophy as best rookie for the 2019-20 season and finished second in the Norris Trophy voting as the League's best defenseman. The raise and investment was a good one for the Avalanche since Makar is young and hasn't even reached his prime yet.

The Avs picked up depth defenseman Kurtis MacDermid, who could fill the role of the sixth or seventh defenseman on the team. The team then went and re-signed captain Gabriel Landeskog to a new contract before he hit free agency. The deal is eight years, $56 million, and comes with a $7 million per season cap hit. The veteran has played for the team for the past 10 seasons after being drafted by them. The 28-year-old has had some injuries in the past few seasons, but when he's healthy, he produces. He may be entering his prime, and the eight years are the thing that bothers me about this contract.

The Avalanche lost a few key players in free agency like Philipp Grubauer, Brandon Saad, and Pierre-Eduoard Bellemare. Saad and Bellemare were cap casualties since both are depth players that will be replaced. The Avalanche couldn't agree to a new contract with its Vezina Finalist goalie, Grubauer, so he signed with the Kraken in free agency. After losing Grubauer, the team went and made a trade with the Arizona Coyotes. The Avalanche acquired goalie Darcy Kuemper for defenseman Connor Timmins. Kuemper is a good goalie, but his issue is staying healthy, and that is the biggest reason to be skeptical of this trade.

In free agency, the Avalanche let some of the organizational depth go and replaced it with new faces. The Avalanche signed the following players to one-year deals: Roland McKeown, Stefan Matteau, Dylan Sikura, Jordan Gross, Ryan Murray, and Darren Helm. The signings will create battles for depth spots on the roster come training camp. Helm, should he make the team, will bring more veteran leadership, while Sikura could bring some speed to the bottom six. Jack Johnson and Artem Anisimov are invited to training camp.

The Avs re-signed some of its restricted free agents, starting with Jayson Megna, who signed a two-year deal worth $1.5 million. Tyson Jost, a versatile forward, signed a new two-year, $4 million deal. The Avalanche also signed defenseman Dennis Gilbert to a new one-year, $750,000 contract.

The Avalanche receives a B- for the offseason. I liked the Makar signing because the kid will be a stud on the blue line for years to come. The Graves trade made sense to shed some cap, and the team is loaded with young talent on the blue line. The fact that Makar is under contract and should report on time to training camp is big. There are still teams that do not have notable restricted free agents under contract.

I am not a fan of the Landeskog contract because he is under contract for the next eight years and is 28 years old. It could be hard to move down the road if needed. Another reason for the B- is the goalie situation. I get that the Avalanche have a decent goalie now, but he is injury-prone, and my biggest concern is if he can stay healthy. Grubauer was a Vezina Trophy Finalist and played phenomenal last season despite the team losing in the second round.

 

Sabres Slashes: An Offseason to Forget

 Kevyn Adams and the Buffalo Sabres have had an offseason to forget. The team underperformed again in a shortened 2020-2021 season. Granted, the Sabres missed their best player and captain, Jack Eichel, for most of the season. The team looked like it wasn't even trying most nights and leaving the goalies to make the save. Ralph Krueger was fired late in the season, and Don Granato took over. Under Granato, players looked looser, more relaxed, and started to look like they were having fun again.

Eichel was out of the lineup due to an upper-body injury, and this was just the beginning of the soap opera. There were reports that Eichel needed to get neck surgery to improve, and the Sabres' organization was not allowing him to get it. The surgery was not a common one among hockey players, and the team wasn't sure how he would recover. The Sabres did have him on the trade block around the NHL Entry Draft, but the asking price was too high for most teams because of the injury situation. As of now, Eichel is still on the Sabres' roster and it will be interesting to see how this saga turns out. Does he not report to camp, sit out, or get traded? Only time will tell.

Adams and the Pegulas decided to remove the interim tag from the head coach and sign Don Granato to a three-year deal. This was the right move for the team. Granato seemed to let the players play and keep it simple after he took over the bench last season. He used players right and put them in situations to succeed. The team will likely be on the bit of the younger side this season, and I think Granato could help make them better, even though they'll be in the hunt to win the NHL Lottery again this season.

Adams started the offseason with Will Borgen going to the Seattle Kraken in the NHL Expansion Draft. He quickly bounced back and managed to pull off a good trade before the NHL Entry Draft. The Sabres traded defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen to the Philadelphia Flyers for the 2021 13th overall pick in the 2021 Draft, a third-round pick in the 2023 Draft, and defenseman Robert Hagg. The trade was a good one by Adams, and the Flyers overpaid for Ristolainen. There were probably other teams looking for Ristolainen's services, which could have played a part in the haul. Hagg is a serviceable third-pairing defenseman who can kill penalties and doesn't shy away from playing a physical game.

Drake Caggiula signed a one-year, $750,000 contract extension for the 2021-2022 season. Caggiula played 11 games with the Sabres last season and had two goals, one assist, and three points. The left wing has never played a full season in the NHL and will likely be a bottom-six depth player for the Sabres. Then again with the way this roster is shaping up, he could very well be a top-six player. It was a cost-effective deal for the Sabres, and Caggiula will have a chance to prove himself while with the team.

The Sabres lost players in free agency like Linus Ullmark, Jake McCabe, and Carter Hutton. Sabres fans would probably agree that it was time for these guys to go since the team didn't turn around with them on the roster, but they were better than anything brought in by the Sabres brass in free agency. Adams and the Sabres couldn't come to terms, and by the time Ullmark hit free agency, there wasn't much left in the goalie market, so the team wound up signing Craig Andersonand Aaron Dell. There wasn't an upgrade made in goal for the team this offseason.

Will Butcher and Mark Pysyk were the notable defensemen that were acquired in the offseason. Butcher was acquired in a trade with the New Jersey Devils, and Pysyk signed a free agency deal. Butcher had a decent first three seasons in the NHL but only played 23 games last season and became expendable after the Devils signed Dougie Hamilton to a substantial free agency deal. Butcher is a mobile defenseman who can move the puck, play top-four minutes and contribute offensively. Pysyk will likely play bottom-pairing minutes or be the oft-scratched seventh defenseman.

Adams was able to re-sign some restricted free agents to decent bridge deals. Brandon Davidson signed a new one-year deal worth $750,000. Forward Rasmus Asplund got a new two-year deal worth $825,000 per season. He had seven goals, four assists, and 11 points in 28 games last season. Casey Fitzgerald, the 24-year-old defenseman, signed a new two-year contract with a $750,000 cap hit per season. Fitzgerald has yet to make his NHL Debut, but has a good shot to do that this season. Adams re-signed Henri Jokiharju and forward Casey Mittelstadt to new three-year deals with a $2.5 million cap hit per season.

The Sabres did manage to get something for forward Sam Reinhart, who was a restricted free agent due to a big payday. It is just like the Sabres to trade a guy who has scored 20-plus goals in five of his last six seasons played because he was due a pay raise. In Adams' defense, he was able to get a goalie prospect and a first-round 2022 Draft pick for Reinhart. I think that the Sabres will miss the goal-scoring and his ability to play top-six minutes. Reinhart wasn't the best 200-foot player, but his ability to find the back of the net will be missed.

The Sabres still do not have defenseman Rasmus Dahlin under contract for the 2021-22 season. He is a restricted free agent and could opt to sit out until he has a new contract. The 21-year-old had a good rookie season under Phil Housley including 44 points in 82 games. His second season, first with Ralph Krueger, his numbers dipped a bit, but he was a bit better defensively. Last season was a strange one, but Dahlin's game was a complete disaster. Adams needs to get a deal done before camp starts because the last thing you want is another potential distraction off the ice for this team.

There are two reasons why the Sabres received a D-, and not a F for their final offseason grade. The first reason was the big haul that Adams managed to bring in for Ristolainen. The other reason was signing Don Granato to a new contract, and removing the interim head coach tag from last season. Once he took over behind the bench, the team played looser and were actually making some games competitive. 

The Flyers Acquire Ryan Ellis from Predators

The Philadelphia Flyers and General Manager Chuck Fletcher knew the team was looking for a top pair, right-handed defenseman to fill the void left by Matt Niskanen. Alain Vigneault tried multiple partners for Ivan Provorov last season, but no matter his partner, it just didn't seem to work.

The team was linked to Seth Jones early in the offseason, but those talks fizzled out when the two sides couldn't agree on a new contract. Jones has one season left on his contract, and Fletcher wasn't trading the farm without a longer-term commitment from the defenseman. With the roster freeze going into effect at 3 p.m. on July 17, 2021, it was looking like Fletcher would stand pat, but that didn't happen.

The Flyers acquired defenseman Ryan Ellis from the Nashville Predators for center Nolan Patrick and defenseman Philippe Myers. Patrick was traded to the Vegas Golden Knights for Cody Glass. It may have taken a three-team trade, but Fletcher finally got his man, whom the Flyers were linked to last season. Ellis will play with Provorov on the team's top pair and be the perfect replacement for the loss of Niskanen.

In getting the 30-year-old defenseman, the Flyers get a legitimate top guy and a ton of leadership for the blue line, which lacked last season. Ellis is good at making the first pass out of the defensive zone, which should help the Flyers to spend less time defending. If they defend less in their zone, it could lead to less scoring chances again and less goals against. Ellis can play on the power play since he has a decent shot from the point.

Ellis is a solid all-around defenseman and should help the Flyers improve on the defensive side of the puck. He played on the penalty kill for the Predators and should help improve the team in an area that was a weakness last season. The 30-year-old had his struggles the past two seasons, but if Fletcher didn't believe he could bounce back, he wouldn't have made the trade. It isn't all sunshine with Ellis, as there are some unknowns with him.

The first is how he will react to the trade since he has been with the Predators since day one. He will have to get to know a whole new set of teammates, a new system, and a new fan base. The 30-year-old is in the third year of an eight-year contract that started before the 2019-2020 season. His contract has a cap hit of $6.25 million per season for the next six seasons. During the 2020-21 season, he only played 35 games because of shoulder surgery. Ellis isn't someone who will throw this weight around, and there are the injury concerns.

The Predators traded Patrick to the Golden Knights shortly after acquiring him for Cody Glass. Patrick was rumored to be on the trade block last season, but nothing came about. He missed the entire 2019-2020 season due to migraines and wasn't the same player when he came back. Patrick was a little hesitant to go into corners after the puck, but he wasn't afraid to go to the front of the net. The 22-year-old can become a restricted free agent on July 28, 2021. The change of scenery and a fresh start can only be a good thing for this kid, who has been through a lot in the last two years.

The other piece of the three-team trade was a 24-year-old defenseman, Philippe Myers. Myers was an undrafted find by former Flyers General Manager Ron Hextall. He is 6'5" and is a smooth skater who isn't afraid to throw his weight around. When he keeps his game simple, he is a good player, but if he tries to do too much, he'll get himself into trouble. In his time with the Flyers, he was inconsistent and benched for poor play, but the benchings didn't always seem to work. He would return to the lineup and make the same mistakes. Myers has a ton of upside, so maybe a change of scenery will be a good thing. He is in his second year of a three-year contract that has a $2.55 million cap hit per season.

Overall, I like the trade even though Ellis is under for the next six seasons and his injury concerns. The cap hit for the contract is a manageable one, and the Flyers still have its first-round draft pick and top prospects in play to make another trade to fill other needs on the team.