THE CAT’S Weekly Update – July 1, 2023
Hello everyone,
Happy Canada Day (to all those joining us from across the country) and Free Agency Frenzy today. We hope you are all doing well. There is a ton of news in the hockey world and we want to share some of the information that has taken place in the past few weeks.
- The Los Angeles Kings have acquired Pierre Luc-Dubois in a blockbuster sign-and-trade with Jets, after having a career season (putting up 27 goals and 36 assists in 73 games. They look to bolster their top six given that Anze Kopitar who is 35 is getting older and had a lot of extra work to do this season and although he had a great season, is closer to the end of his career and may not be able to be a 1C for LA. Rob Blake believes in this team and in Dubois and wants to go all in, but they still need to better their goaltending (and with Jonathan Quick heading to the New York Rangers) and Cal Peterson being traded, that is their biggest need and question mark. But with Dubois in the top six, along with Kempe, Byfield, Fiala, Ardvidsson and Kopitar, will that be enough to push them over the edge? Will Byfield and Kaliyev finally have a breakthrough season or will LA also push possibly to go after another key free agent piece?
- On the other side, the Winnipeg Jets acquired center Gabriel Vilardi, Alex Iafallo and young forward Rasmus Kupari along with a 2024 2nd round pick, which is a big haul. This is a win for the Jets, after there has been some talks about overhauling their own lineup, after Mark Schiefele and Connor Hellebuyck noted they wouldn’t resign with the team after their contracts come up next year. Now Kevin Cheveldayoff is hard working on keeping the team competitive and more recently bought out former captain Blake Wheeler. Wheeler had a good but hard season, with having the ‘C’ removed from him, getting injured and still putting up 16 goals and 39 assists in 72 games. It looks like the Jets will be re-tooling on the fly and will also need to have some depth down the middle (I’m looking at Matt Duchene) and drafted well in the 2023, by picking Colby Barlow, an 18 year old left winger who plays for the Owen Sound Attack. They also may do some more work, but I think their biggest concern is finding a top 6 center, re-signing some key players including recently acquired Gabriel Vilardi, and they have about $14 million to work with (unless more trades happen). They also have to worry about selling tickets as there has been a lack of season ticket holders after Covid-19 and it impacted the business side. They need to stay competitive in order to entice more fans.
- Brad Treliving and the Toronto Maple Leafs have a lot of work to do and their primary plan is to still sign both Auston Matthews and William Nylander (according to sources, the negotiations are ongoing and hard for Willy) but they recently also signing tough guy Ryan Reaves to a multi-year deal (we interviewed his dad in season 2) as Brad believes the team needs to be much tougher. This comes after they signed David Kampf (their 4C) to a 4 year, $10 million (with an AAV of $2.5 million) contract. Kampf is a penalty killer and one of their better face-off men, as he had a 51.5% in the circle last season. They also drafted Easton Cowan, a right winger who plays for the London Knights. It looks like Brad isn’t done and they may run it mostly back, but will Toronto fans be okay with that or are they expecting anything more? What will their blue line look like and will they have Luke Schenn return, after it was announced they won’t bring back Justin Holl and Alex Kerfoot.
- Kyke Davidson has also been busy after winning the draft lottery and selecting Connor Bedard (who could arguably be a generation talent). But to add some depth and to surround some key pieces, he has acquired and signed Corey Perry to a 1 year, $4 million dollar contract, from the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for a 7th round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft. He also traded for Taylor Hall and Nick Foligno from the Boston Bruins in exchange for defensemen Ian Mitchell and Alex Regula. Hall, 31, who has a cap hit of $6 million AAV, put up 16 goals and 20 assists in 61 games, whereas Foligno had 10 goals and16 assists in 60 games. He also signed a 1 year, $4 million contract. It looks like Davidson wants to make the Blackhawks competitive and to keep them playing, although it is hard seeing them making the playoffs next season. Will they pick again at the top of the draft next season, and continue to stock their prospect pool. What other work does Kyle need to work on?
- The Edmonton Oilers were able to avoid a buy-out and traded away Kailer Yamamoto and Klim Kostin to the Detroit Red Wings for future considerations, and now Steve Yzerman has bought out Kailer for his final year contract but did sign Klim Kostin to a 2 year, $2 million dollar contract. Yamamoto, 24, put up 10 goals and 15 assists in 58 games but was very streaky. I’m sure a team looking for a middle six guy would benefit from picking him up for a good depth piece. He still has some potential but needs the right fit.
- Finally, we want to acknowledge Nashville, a beautiful city and a place where they hosted the draft, and honoured David Poile, the former GM of the Nashville Predators and a mentor and leader to a lot of people in the industry. He got to pick up some more prospects in the draft and we know that Nashville is pivoting from their vision as a team, as Barry Trotz, who is taking over is taking bold risks. They bought out centre Matt Duchene, who had three years left on deal, owed $8 million, to finish out his 7-year, $56 million deal he signed in July, 2019. Although he had 22 goals and 34 assists in 71 games last season (not his best), he still is an effective player. But it seems like the team is going in a different direction and really are shaking things up. Clearly with this buy-out and trading Ryan Johanson to the Colorado Avalanche, they are looking to build differently down the middle in Nashville. They also drafted right winger Matthew Wood and defenceman Tanner Molendyk in the first round. They are changing things and we look forward to seeing this team in the upcoming season.
Thoughts?
Pawel the ‘Cat’
