Latest news with #NHL-calibre
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Summer Breakups: Senators GM Steve Staios Prepares For Another Rebalancing Act
The Ottawa Senators held their seasonal exit meetings last Saturday, the final assignment for a fine young NHL club that took a huge step forward this season, forcing their way into the playoffs for the first time in eight years. After seven months of battling, they said their goodbyes, not knowing for sure if they'll ever play together again. Most of them will. Some will not. It's always the way. For GM State Staios, some major choices lie ahead, and for every roster addition he considers, there's at least one other move required to accommodate it. So let's begin with the Senators taking care of their own to see how much money they have to go shopping with. Staios has several NHL players on expiring contracts. They include unrestricted free agents Claude Giroux, Nick Cousins, Adam Gaudette, Matthew Highmore, Travis Hamonic, Dennis Gilbert, and Anton Forsberg. With Nik Matinpalo now taken care of, the list of NHL-calibre restricted free agents includes defenceman Tyler Kleven, winger Fabian Zetterlund, and goalie Leevi Merilainen. At the moment, according to Puckpedia, the Senators have $17.57 million in cap space to work with for next season. Conservatively, it's fair to expect the three RFAs to absorb around $5 million of that, bringing their spending room down to $12.5 million. In all likelihood, the Senators won't re-sign Hamonic, Gilbert, or Forsberg. With the emergence of Kleven and Matinpalo, Hamonic and Gilbert watched from the press box in the playoffs. Acquired in the Josh Norris trade from the Buffalo Sabres, Gilbert played just four regular-season games with the Senators. Forsberg is a solid backup and a great teammate, but with a younger and less expensive option in Leevi Merilainen ready and waiting in the wings, the Sens will likely welcome the cap savings. Mads Sogaard is also in play, armed with a one-way deal for this fall. But we're banking on Merilainen, so our summer spending money is still at roughly $12.5 million, which brings us to Giroux, Cousins, Gaudette, and Highmore. The Giroux of ten years ago might have take all that remaining cap space. But you don't have to dig deeply into Giroux's stats to see that his decline has begun. Age eventually gets everyone. He missed only one game total in his last three seasons in Ottawa, and his point totals have declined every year: 2022–23: 79 2023–24: 64 2024–25: 50 It should be noted that Giroux got 48 fewer power-play minutes this season than he did the previous one. But he remains a valuable asset, loaded with intangibles and leadership. Giroux said on Saturday that he hasn't spoken with the team about a contract yet, but it's clear to everyone that he wants to stay. The Sens want him to stay. The fans want him to stay. It's impossible to believe the two sides won't work something out on a one- or two-year deal. Expect Giroux to pull roughly another $3.5 million out, leaving the Sens with $9 million in their allowance. If Giroux's ask is much more than that, and we doubt it will be, then that conversation might change. Gaudette, Cousins, and Highmore were useful players who saw plenty of action this season. None of them cost more than a million dollars, so it wouldn't take much to lure them away. By the same token, the Sens aren't so smitten with them that they'd overpay to keep them. In glass-half-full scenarios, since Gaudette and Highmore have finally found their way back to regular and semi-regular NHL status, they may not want to mess with a good thing. Cousins, who's on his sixth team in as many years, may be hoping to put some roots down—with a two-year-old in tow and a baby boy on the way this month. As long as they're not asking for meaningful raises, it's easy to see at least a couple of those guys coming back. But even if they all leave, their replacements will probably come in, also hovering near the NHL's version of minimum wage, or roughly $2.5 million total. Thanks to the league's $7.5 million hike in the cap, the Sens still have money to play with at $6.5 million. While it's easy for us to say, we'll assume that Michael Andlauer is willing to continue spending to the max, now $95.5 million in 2025–26. Right now, if it goes as outlined above, the roster looks like this: Tkachuk-Stutzle-Giroux*Perron-Cozens-BathersonGreig-Pinto-AmadioCousins*-Gaudette*-Highmore* Sanderson-ZubChabot-JensenKleven-Matinpalo UllmarkMerilainen* * No contract yet for 2025-26 That's not a great deal of change from this year's entry. Granted, the team should be naturally better through playoff experience and being another year older, although the theory that getting older is good doesn't apply to the five veterans who are well north of 30. But the Senators can't just rely on internal maturing because it probably won't be enough. There also isn't a single prospect in the system that's a slam dunk to make the team this fall, let alone be an impactful NHL player. To be considered a Cup contender, they'll probably need two more top-nine forwards and another defenceman who can play with a hard edge at playoff time. It will be hard to find even one of those assets with $6.5 million in cap space, so someone has to go. Fans should expect a body or two (and their contracts) to head out the door, and that's beyond the obvious UFAs who won't be retained. It's not dramatically different than last year when, for various reasons, Sens fans bid farewell to useful players like Jakob Chychrun, Mathieu Joseph, and Mark Kastelic. But there's really no other option. Whether you look at things financially or athletically, 'Steady Steve' still has some rebalancing to do this summer, and to make it happen, we're betting that his list of untouchables isn't very long. Steve WarneThe Hockey News
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Pickard backs his way up to Edmonton Oilers' Masterton nomination
If you want to see perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication, don't look at the past two years Calvin Pickard has spent with the Edmonton Oilers. Go back over the previous 13 years he spent bouncing up and down from the American Hockey League playing in a total of 12 different jerseys for seven different organizations — 13 jerseys, if you count his brief stint off-continent with the Vienna Capitals. But it's the latest organization where Pickard has not only earned himself the biggest opportunity of his long drawn-out journeyman career, but the one that proved he had been right all along when it came to not giving up on his dream. On Wednesday, the 32-year-old native of Moncton, N.B., was named the Oilers' nominee for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, recognizing — you guessed it — perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to the game since 1968. Voted by the Edmonton chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association, no Oilers nominee has ever won the trophy. And whether or not Pickard becomes the first (Alex Ovechkin, who just became the NHL's all-time goal scorer, is the Washington Capitals' nominee), it's entirely beside the point. After all, Pickard's having a career year reaching 20 wins for the first time, with a steady and reliable 2.64 goals-against average and a respectable .902 save percentage in 33 games (20-9-1). Those are NHL-calibre goaltender numbers, without a doubt, even if the Oilers have been accused of picking his spots and saving more of the tougher opponents for starter Stuart Skinner. 'To reach that 20-win mark is pretty remarkable for a guy that's gone through as many stops as he has,' said Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch. 'He's a very popular player in the room because of his personality, but also his work ethic. 'And he's always there for his teammates. The guys were very excited to hear that he was recognized for that.' If Knoblauch has a soft spot for Pickard, it could be because they both arrived in Edmonton in November 2024, with the backup goaltender getting called up from the Bakersfield Condors of the American Hockey League to replace a wavering Jack Campbell. And the call ended up sticking, as Pickard went 12-7-1 in relief of Skinner last year, prior to playing in his first two NHL playoff games. And with Skinner currently out with a head injury and the post-season once again fast approaching, the Oilers haven't been relying on their No. 2 netminder any less lately. 'I couldn't do it without all of my teammates and staff,' Pickard said. 'I've grinded for a little bit up and down from the minors for years and got a really good opportunity here last year to come up. It's been the time of my life being up here. I enjoy every day of it.' Prior to this season, his longest NHL stay came in 2016-17, when he played 50 games with the Colorado Avalanche, posting a 15-31-2 record before going back to work on the farm. 'Every day, I'm excited to come to the rink. I'm proud to be in the NHL,' said Pickard, who was taken first overall by the Vegas Golden Knights in the 2017 expansion draft. 'So many people would want the gig I have, and I don't take it for granted. 'I got signed here to be the No. 3 guy a few years back, but I never stopped believing I knew I could play at this level. I got that opportunity and it's been good so far.' In and out: Already missing their top two centres in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl to injury, the Oilers added their third best Wednesday, as Ryan Nugent-Hopkins joined the ever-growing list of walking wounded. Besides Skinner, that list also includes forward Trent Frederic, as well as defencemen Mattias Ekholm and John Klingberg. Thankfully, Nugent-Hopkins' departure from duty isn't expected to last long, and he is likely to suit up against the visiting San Jose Sharks on Friday. 'He is sick,' said Knoblauch, whose squad was one skater short for the second game in a row. 'It's very short-term.' As glum as it's been for Oilers fans watching second place in the Pacific Division slip further and further from their grasp, it's not all bad news on the injury front. 'We expect to get everybody before the end of the season,' Knoblauch said. 'Whether that's in a couple games, or one of the last two games of the season.' E-mail: On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge Edmonton Oilers staring down the barrel of NHL playoffs Edmonton Oilers injury situation getting too close for comfort You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribers gain unlimited access to The Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. The Edmonton Journal | The Edmonton Sun
