MONTREAL – After a wild draft party in Quebec, it's now time for Stupid Season.
The compressed, constantly-in-motion NHL calendar keeps whirring this week as most teams host development camps and free agency opens at noon Wednesday. There are not supposed to be any signings at that time because (wink-wink) there has been no official interview period for free agents. We'll see about that.
Before Wednesday, some teams are hoping to get deals done with their current players. That list would include Calgary's Johnny Gaudreau, Colorado's Nazem Kadri and Val Nischuskin, Dallas' John Klingberg, Tampa Bay's Ondrej Palat, Vancouver's J.T. Miller, Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin. Word at the draft had Klingberg and Palat definitely heading into free agency and things looking that way for Kadri.
Calgary's ability to get Gaudreau back could have direct impact on Matthew Tkachuk's role with the Flames. Tkachuk is a restricted free agent who might ask out if Gaudreau leaves.
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"These things take time," Flames GM Brad Treliving said here Friday. "Johnny's a really good player. There's going to be a lot of attention. I think it's real genuine on both sides to try and get a deal done."
After a career-high 115-point season, he could require in the range of $10 million per season over an eight-year deal to re-sign. That would be a big jump from his current rate of $6.4 million.
Miller was nearly dealt by the Canucks at the draft, with the Islanders being a main suitor. Kris Letang re-signed for six years with the Penguins and it's known that Sidney Crosby wants Malkin to return. Gaudreau and Kadri are all going to garner big money that their current teams might not have. Nashville retained Filip Forsberg with an eight-year, $70 million extension Saturday.
Ottawa will make a play for Florida's Claude Giroux after its trade acquisition of Alex DeBrincat from tanking Chicago. The Senators, Detroit and the Sabres are all bent on climbing the ladder in the Atlantic Division, where it seems none of them are ready yet to pass any of the top three (Florida, Toronto, Tampa Bay) but all are closing in on wild-card contention.
The Sabres are in the goalie market but not expected to be players for the big free-agent prizes in Colorado's Darcy Kuemper, who might be headed to Washington, or Toronto's Jack Campbell, who seems like a solid fit in Edmonton.
Dallas' Braden Holtby would have been a good fit until a report Saturday from Frank Seravalli on the "Daily Faceoff" podcast that Holtby is facing hip surgery that could be career-ending.
The Sabres could use some depth at forward and on defense, and particularly need to boost their defense corps in Rochester.
Would the Sabres get involved with a forward that will cost you solid money but not top-tier megabucks like Ryan Strome or Andrew Copp of the Rangers, Colorado's Andre Burakovsky or Carolina's Vincent Trocheck?
For lower-level plays, will they re-sign Vinnie Hinostroza? Perhaps try to see about a reunion with Johan Larsson or Nic Deslauriers? On another front, it will be interesting to see if any teams make depth players at much lower salaries on defensemen Colin Miller and Will Butcher, neither of whom are expected back in Buffalo.
Slavkovsky to Harborcenter?
Look for the September Prospects Challenge at LECOM Harborcenter to be expanded to also include Ottawa and perhaps Montreal. The Sabres, Pittsburgh, Boston and New Jersey have been the regular participants.
If the Canadiens are added, of course, it would mean we'll likely get the first game looks at No. 1 overall pick Juraj Slavkovsky. Longtime draft observers were stunned by the wild reaction in Bell Centre when the Habs finally ended weeks of suspense and announced their pick Thursday night. There was briefly bedlam in the building, with some fans howling in disgust that Shane Wright was passed over, others booing and then many finally cheering as Slavkovsky put on his Montreal jersey.
And all this came just a few minutes after a raucous ovation filled with chanting and singing that greeted the brief speech from the stage of newly appointed Habs coach Martin St. Louis, the Hockey Hall of Famer and 2004 Stanley Cup champion in Tampa Bay who played 1,134 games in the league after never being drafted.
Shane's staredown
Speaking of the No. 1 pick, social media was ablaze after the first round dissecting video of Wright's on-stage meeting with Gary Bettman – because it appeared the Kraken's top pick stared down officials at the Montreal table before moving to meet his new bosses in Seattle.
Was Shane Wright giving the Canadiens draft table the death stare after he ended up going 4th overall? 🤔 #NHLDraft pic.twitter.com/CMle2kVC9c
— Tim and Friends (@timandfriends) July 8, 2022
No one knew about the staredown when Wright was being interviewed, so that talk will have to come another day. As for his selection, Wright said all the right things.
"I got drafted into the NHL. I achieved that lifelong dream of being drafted to an amazing team in Seattle with a great future ahead," he said. "I wouldn't say it's relief. I would say more excitement, proud and honored to be drafted."
Son fills in with Pegulas absent
Terry Pegula loves the draft, in both football and hockey, and his absence from this draft – especially when the team had three first-round picks for the first time since 1983 – was a public sign of the severity of Kim Pegula's undisclosed illness. Scouting director Jerry Forton's brief breakdown in front of the media was another; Forton and the Pegulas have become close during his decade with the club.
With Terry and Kim Pegula absent, Matthew Pegula was on stage posing for pictures with the club's three first-round picks. Now 25, Matthew Pegula has been shown in the room in clips of scouting meetings in previous years that were aired on the team's social media channels.
Terry Pegula remained engaged in regular contact with General Manager Kevyn Adams during the week. One of the owner's phone calls to the GM on Thursday, in fact, came when Adams was doing a live television interview with Brian Duff and Martin Biron for the club's new daily show on MSG.
Adams joked Terry Pegula has his own ringtone, so that's why he looked at his phone, and the GM then looked into the camera to tell the owner he would call him right back when the show went to commercial and before Adams headed to his next appointment with an unnamed agent.
More Sabres points
• Linked forever by the players traded to get the first-round pick they were taken with: Noah Ostlund and Jack Eichel (2022), Jiri Kulich and Sam Reinhart (2022), Isak Rosen and Rasmus Ristolainen (2021), Ryan Johnson and Ryan O'Reilly (2019).
If the Sabres don't sign Johnson, the University of Minnesota defenseman taken with the 32nd pick of the first round in '19, they would get a compensatory pick of No. 32 in the second round next year. That rule only applies to first-rounders, so there would be no compensation for not signing Michigan goalie Erik Portillo.
• For the record, the years where the Sabres had three first-round picks look like this: 1982 – Phil Housley-Paul Cyr-Dave Andreychuk. 1983 –Tom Barrasso-Normand Lacombe-Adam Creighton. 2022 – Matthew Savoie-Noah Ostlund-Jiri Kulich.
• There were four sons of Sabres taken in the draft: Minnesota-bound forward Jimmy Snuggerud (Dave) went 23rd to St. Louis; Denver-bound defenseman Garrett Brown (Curtis) went to Winnipeg in the fourth round at No. 99; Forward Zam Plante (Derek) of the USHL's Chicago Steel went to Pittsburgh in the fifth round at No. 150 and Sherbrooke defenseman David Spacek (Jaroslav) went to Minnesota at No. 153.
• The Sabres made it clear they were going best available player at every pick and working off their predetermined list of each prospect. Forton had huge praise for the team's analytics department in helping to get the list much more exact than in the past. In fact, Forton revealed the club had around 130 players on its draft list – and every player was taken before the sixth round was completed.
Around the boards
• The league still hasn't decided on a site for next year's draft and Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman said on his "32 Thoughts" podcast Friday that a return to Montreal has not been ruled out. The atmosphere around the city and especially in the arena for the draft was unlike anything we've seen in recent years.
A big part of that, of course, was the Wright-Slavkofsky buzz. But a huge factor was also simply the gathering of hockey fans in a mecca of the sport such as Montreal.
Friedman said NHL officials are also pondering a neutral site to turn the draft into an NFL-style extravaganza. He said he's heard Disney as a possibility but also suggested hockey-related venues such as Lake Placid should be considered. Under those scenarios, the first-round picks would still come on stage to get their jerseys but teams might stay home and have 32 war-room style draft parties in each city.
Boo to that. Everyone being in the same place is what makes the NHL draft unique compared to other sports. From a media standpoint, reporters would have to stay home to cover their teams, not be able to interact with other teams and media, and not meet the top pick in person until the next day or potentially development camp the next week.
• Even with the long-term injuries of Brad Marchand, Charlie McAvoy and Matt Grzelcyk, the imminent demise of the Boston Bruins in the wake of the surprise firing of coach Bruce Cassidy might have been a tad exaggerated. Jim Montgomery was a good choice as Cassidy's replacement, a much better move than if the Bruins had hired former Boston University/New York Rangers coach David Quinn. Patrice Bergeron is expected to come back for another season rather than retire, Jake DeBrusk has rescinded his trade request and there's talk David Krejci might return from Czechia.
The big news in Montreal was how aggressive the Bruins are expected to be in getting star winger David Pastrnak signed to a long-term extension. He has one year left at $6.4 million and can sign a new deal as soon as Wednesday, with Boston GM Don Sweeney saying the goal is to make Pastrnak a "lifelong Bruin."
"They know the position of the organization, how aggressive we’d like to be," Sweeney said of Pastrnak's reps. "David has a say in that. Hope the two things align and move forward in an aggressive manner. He’s a big part of the Boston Bruins, and we’d like him to remain that.”
• A nationwide Rogers outage impacted phone and internet service Friday, delaying the start of the second round and causing trouble for several GMs on the draft floor; Minnesota's Bill Guerin said he had been unable to reach goalie Cam Talbot in the wake of re-signing Marc-Andre Fleury because of no cellphone reception.
Teams were told to go old school to use their runners to communicate with other clubs – or to pick up/answer the old landline that sits on every team's table but is generally untouched.
