The Montreal Canadiens have agreed to terms with free-agent defensemen David Sklenicka and Michal Moravcik on two-year entry-level contracts, the team announced on Monday.
The Czech pair will join the team after playing together with HC Plzen in the Czech Extraliga. In 49 games, Sklenicka put up three goals and 14 points, while Moravcik tallied five goals and 16 points in 52 contests.
Both men also recently represented the Czech Republic at the World Championship, where they combined for five points in eight games.
Daniel Alfredsson is inadvertently stirring the pot in Ottawa after making an eyebrow-raising comment over the weekend.
The former Senators captain and executive indirectly criticized team owner Eugene Melnyk while talking to Susan Sherring - a former Postmedia reporter and columnist - at Mayor Jim Watson's campaign kickoff event Sunday.
“(Watson and I have) talked a lot, we’ve talked about the future of the Senators and of its ownership and we agree,” Alfredsson told Sherring, as she wrote on her blog shortly after the event. “We hope we get a new owner."
After making the comment, Alfredsson claimed it was off the record, according to Sherring. However, standard journalistic protocol dictates that must be agreed upon before an interview begins. Otherwise, whatever is said is fair game.
Watson wouldn't say whether he shared the same sentiment, but did reveal Alfredsson told him he didn't know he was talking to a reporter. His claim comes despite Sherring interviewing the former player several times, and despite Alfredsson asking the former reporter to keep the comments off the record.
Alfredsson was the Senators senior advisor of hockey operations for nearly two years, beginning in the fall of 2015 and ending in the summer of 2017.
He's the club's all-time leader in goals, assists, and points, and ranks second on the franchise's all-time games played list.
As NHL teams are eliminated from Stanley Cup contention, theScore NHL freelance writer Katie Brown looks back at the highs and lows of their seasons, along with the biggest questions ahead of 2018-19. The 25th edition focuses on the Boston Bruins.
The Good
David Pastrnak. A part of one of the NHL’s best top lines, Pastrnak had the best season of his career, sporting highs in just about every category, with 35 goals, 45 assists, and 80 points. The Bruins signed the 22-year-old to a six-year, $40-million deal in September, locking down a player in his prime who just seems to be getting better. Pastrnak also tore it up in the playoffs, registering 20 points in 12 games.
Tuukka Rask. The Bruins’ starting goaltender got off to a rough start at the beginning of the season but won 31 of his last 40 starts, ending the campaign with his best save percentage in three years. In an effort to keep him fresh for the playoffs, he played the fewest games since becoming the Bruins' starting goalie in 2013, a move that didn’t end the way Rask and the rest of the Bruins would have liked.
The young guys. The 2017-18 Bruins were younger and even better than expected, and it looks like that trend will continue. Players like Charlie McAvoy, Jake DeBrusk, Danton Heinen, and Matt Grzelcyk began to establish themselves at the NHL level and there are even more youngsters waiting in the wings. Austin Czarnik, Trent Frederic, Jakub Zboril, and Jack Studnicka could all challenge for a spot on the NHL roster come training camp in the fall.
The Bad
Marchand’s antics. Brad Marchand, at his best, is a highly effective goal-scorer and pest capable of getting under just about anyone’s skin. He led the Bruins in points in the regular season, so his decision to start licking players - Leo Komarov of the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round and Ryan Callahan of the Tampa Bay Lightning in the second round - was puzzling. It prompted the NHL to step in. Surely he can find another way to pester his opponents, such as scoring goals, as his coach Bruce Cassidy suggested.
5-on-5 struggles. Six goals were scored at five-on-five through the first two games of the second-round series against the Lightning. During the last three contests, the Bruins were completely shut down at even strength. This was especially surprising considering Boston finished the regular season with the sixth-best offense in the league. They just didn’t have an answer for the Lightning’s strong defensive series.
Depth that didn’t deliver. Pastrnak, Patrice Bergeron, and David Backes combined for 23 points in five games against the Lightning. Outside of that, the Bruins didn’t have much of anything else going. Only three players not on the top line (David Krejci, Rick Nash, Jake DeBrusk) recorded a point.
The Questions
Which free agents will be back? The Bruins have some big decisions looming in free agency. Rick Nash, Riley Nash, Tim Schaller, Anton Khudobin, Tommy Wingels, Brian Gionta, and Nick Holden are all set to be UFAs July 1. Rick and Riley Nash and Khudobin seem the most likely to be brought back, with Gionta the most plausible departure. Don Sweeney will have to consider the cap and, of course, future deals with players like McAvoy.
Do they re-sign Khudobin? Rask’s backup has been vocal about his desire to stay in Boston, but it’s possible he could be priced out. He made $1.2 million on his last two-year deal and could command at least $2 million on his next. Goaltending options outside the Bruins organization don’t look all that promising and none of the prospects in the pipeline look particularly viable just yet. It might be in both parties’ best interests to work something out.
Will they trade for a first-round pick at the draft? The Bruins traded their 2018 first-round pick to the Rangers for Rick Nash, but they’ve discussed trading to get back in the first round. Otherwise, they won’t have a selection until late in the second round, one of their five picks in this year’s draft.
As NHL teams are eliminated from Stanley Cup contention, theScore NHL freelance writer Katie Brown looks back at the highs and lows of their seasons, along with the biggest questions ahead of 2018-19. The 26th edition focuses on the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Good
Jake Guentzel. The sensational forward picked up right where he left off last year by leading the league with 21 points through two rounds. The line of Guentzel, Sidney Crosby, and Patric Hornqvist accounted for the majority of the Penguins’ postseason offense. Guentzel started the regular season slowly but reached career highs in goals (22), assists (26), and points (48) in his second NHL campaign.
Phil Kessel. Love him or hate him, Kessel was one of Pittsburgh’s best players during the regular season, playing every game for the eighth straight year, and scoring 92 points and leading the NHL with 42 power-play points. Since his trade from Toronto in 2015, he’s been a reliable offensive force and can play pretty much anywhere Mike Sullivan puts him.
Patric Hornqvist. He’s the guy you hate to play against but would want on your team in a heartbeat. The Penguins re-signed the noted goalie pest to a reasonable five-year, $26.5-million deal in late February that might end up looking like a real bargain when this year’s crop of free agents hits the market. Hornqvist posted the second-highest goal total of his career (and highest since 2009-10) in the regular season and was third on the Penguins in postseason points with 11 as part of the tremendously effective first line.
The Bad
No depth scoring. Outside of the top line, which carried much of the weight during this postseason, the Penguins got considerably less offense from their depth than in previous years - just 12 goals from players not named Guentzel, Crosby, or Hornqvist.
Shaky goaltending. Matt Murray didn’t have the best playoffs, like a lot of other Penguins players, but goaltending was arguably a factor in their second-round exit. His playoffs weren’t terrible, just average; he might have been good enough to help them win, but not to cover the Penguins’ other deficiencies. Murray’s combined save percentage over the past two Stanley Cup runs was .935. This year it was .914, second-worst among players remaining in the playoffs.
Malkin and Kessel underperformed. Though he had a tremendous regular season, Kessel - battling undisclosed injuries - scored just once in the postseason. Evgeni Malkin was sidelined for two games against Washington and didn’t look like the same player when he came back. He scored one power-play goal in the series.
The Questions
Will Kessel be traded? Rumors are swirling that the relationship between the Penguins and Kessel has soured and that Jim Rutherford could try to move him this summer. Kessel will be 31 at the start of next term and has four more years left on a deal that pays him $8 million. His value is high right now, and Rutherford might decide to take advantage of that, although he could just as easily decide to keep Kessel around considering his value to the team.
What does the goalie tandem look like? The Penguins settled into a nice rhythm with Casey DeSmith as Murray’s backup and it looks like that could stick next year. Where does that leave Tristan Jarry? Continuing to play in the AHL at this point probably holds little benefit for him, and since Murray isn’t going anywhere as the starter and Jarry seems better suited to regular starts, Rutherford could get a nice return for the young goaltender this summer.
Do the Penguins hang on to Carl Hagelin?Hagelin will be in the last year of a contract that pays him $4 million a year at the start of the 2018-19 season. He had a strong end to his campaign with 25 points in 39 games, so his value is high. With long-term deals to players like Guentzel in the near future and a host of players coming up from the minors, Rutherford could easily find Hagelin a new home.
The Acadie-Bathurst Titan defeated the host Regina Pats 3-0 on Sunday to win the 100th edition of the Memorial Cup, their first-ever title.
The Titan got goals from Adam Howell and Samuel Asselin before Ethan Crossman sealed the deal with an empty-netter. Goaltender Evan Fitzpatrick made 28 saves in the shutout effort.
Acadie-Bathurst finished second in the QMJHL standings in the regular season with a record of 43-15-8-2, and made some Canadian history with Sunday's win.
Acadie Bathurst Titan win the 100th MasterCard Memorial Cup
With a population just under 12,000, Bathurst, New Brunswick is the smallest city to win the Memorial Cup since Flin Flon, Manitoba in 1957 (pop. 10,234) #mmc100pic.twitter.com/234ZAWOYSM
It's worth noting Pats captain and 2016 first-round pick of the Anaheim Ducks, Sam Steel, earned tournament MVP honors after recording 13 points in five games.
The former 10th overall pick of the Dallas Stars, who has spent the past two seasons in his native Russia, hopes to spend the coming campaign in the NHL.
"Val very much wants to come back," Mark Gandler, who represents Nichushkin, told Sean Shapiro of The Athletic. "Dallas wants him back and we are just very hopeful we'll be able to take care of this very soon."
Nichushkin made the immediate jump to the NHL after the Stars used a high pick for his selection in the 2013 draft. That season, he finished with 34 points, tied with fellow freshmen Sean Monahan and Mark Scheifele.
In all, Nichushkin lasted just three seasons in Dallas, counting 166 games plus a stint with the Stars' AHL affiliate, before taking his game to the KHL. Reports indicated that a rift with bench boss Lindy Ruff were among the reasons why Nichushkin headed home.
But Ruff is long gone from the Stars, and first-year coach Jim Montgomery is set to manage the bench in the coming campaign.
As for Nichushkin, he scored 27 points in 50 games with CSKA Moscow last season, a level of production that has both he and his agent feeling satisfied.
"Goals and points is very difficult to find on the big ice surface. Particularly in that league, and it's a very tight-checking league," Gandler added. "So points and goals are difficult to come by, but considering all that, I think it was a very good season."
Should Nichushkin return to Texas, he'll first need to put pen to paper, as he remains property of the Stars as an unsigned, restricted free agent.
