Wild fire GM Paul Fenton after 1 season

The Minnesota Wild fired general manager Paul Fenton after just one season, the club announced Tuesday.

The search for Fenton's replacement will begin immediately. For the time being, assistant GM Tom Kurvers will serve as acting GM.

Leading up to Fenton's firing, "numerous accounts of unhappy employees throughout the organization and countless other turbulent incidents ... made their way into (Wild owner Craig) Leipold's office," sources told The Athletic's Michael Russo.

Under Fenton, the Wild missed the postseason for the first time since the 2011-12 campaign.

Fenton wasn't very active last summer, but made a handful of trades during the season. His first major move, dealing Nino Niederreiter to the Carolina Hurricanes for Victor Rask in January, backfired almost immediately. Niederreiter totaled 14 goals and 30 points in 36 games with the Canes, while Rask registered just three points in 23 contests with the Wild.

Leading up to the trade deadline, Fenton sent Charlie Coyle to the Boston Bruins for Ryan Donato and a fourth-round pick. Coyle went on to be an integral part of Boston's run to the Stanley Cup Final, tallying 16 points in 24 postseason contests.

Fenton traded Mikael Granlund, a third member of the Wild's previous core, to the Nashville Predators in exchange for Kevin Fiala on deadline day.

He also attempted to trade Jason Zucker on multiple occasions. A deadline-day trade to the Calgary Flames fell through. During the offseason, Zucker appeared to be Pittsburgh-bound until Phil Kessel - who was reportedly heading the other way - refused to waive his no-trade clause due to a belief the Wild wouldn't contend.

Fenton made one major splash during free agency, inking 31-year-old Mats Zuccarello to a five-year, $30-million contract.

Prior to being hired by the Wild last May, Fenton worked in the Predators organization for 20 years - 12 of which he spent as David Poile's assistant GM.

Copyright © 2019 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Lightning trade injured Callahan to Senators for Condon

The Ottawa Senators have traded goaltender Mike Condon and a sixth-round pick in 2020 to the Tampa Bay Lightning for forward Ryan Callahan and a fifth-round pick in 2020, the team announced Tuesday.

In June, Callahan was diagnosed with degenerative disc disease of the lumbar spine, which led doctors to recommend that he should no longer play professional hockey. He has one year left on his contract, which carries a $5.8-million cap hit, and plans to retire once it expires, according to The Athletic's Joe Smith.

Before the trade, the Lightning had planned to place the 34-year-old Callahan on long-term injured reserve. He registered 17 points in 52 games last season.

Condon, who played just two games in the NHL last year, has one year left on his deal with a $2.4-million cap hit. The 29-year-old owns a 2.79 goals-against average and a .905 save percentage across 129 career games.

In what's been a common theme for the cash-strapped Senators this offseason, the trade increases their cap hit but decreases their salary expenses. Ottawa is now $4.06 million above the cap floor following the trade.

For their part, the Lightning have a bit of a logjam between the pipes. Reigning Vezina Trophy winner Andrei Vasilevskiy is the unquestioned starter and veteran Curtis McElhinney was brought in to be the backup, leaving Louis Domingue and Condon with unclear futures.

Assuming both Domingue and Condon will be assigned to the minors, the Lightning will have just over $11 million in projected cap space with two unsigned RFAs, Brayden Point and Adam Erne.

Copyright © 2019 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Each Central Division team’s chances of winning a Cup in the next 3 years

The NHL is famous for its parity come playoff time.

Over the last four years, we've seen a team win back-to-back championships, an expansion team make the final, and a pair of clubs win the first titles in franchise history. All bets are off in the springtime, but that doesn't mean some teams aren't better built for success than others.

Looking at four key factors for all 32 organizations (yes, Seattle was included in this exercise), we've ranked each team's chances of winning a Stanley Cup over the next three seasons. In this edition, we focus on the Central Division.

Note: The 32 teams in the exercise were given combined Stanley Cup odds that total 300 percent - 100 percent per year.

Minnesota Wild: 0.9 percent

Cap Flexibility Cornerstone Players Ascending Talent Coaching/Management
★★★☆ ★☆☆☆ ★☆☆☆ ★★☆☆

After six consecutive disappointing playoff exits, the Wild took a drastic turn for the worse in 2018-19, managing just 83 points and missing the postseason altogether. The club's core is old, and the roster doesn't feature much young talent. Prospects Matthew Boldy and Kirill Kaprizov are nice pieces, but their NHL timelines are unclear and it's unlikely either player can single-handedly turn things around. General manager Paul Fenton has made some questionable moves early in his tenure and has two of the league's most cumbersome contracts - Zach Parise and Ryan Suter at $7.538 million a year each - on his books until 2025. In a division as deep as the Central, so many issues do not a championship recipe make.

Chicago Blackhawks: 4 percent

Cap Flexibility Cornerstone Players Ascending Talent Coaching/Management
★★☆☆ ★★☆☆ ★★★☆ ★★☆☆

As long as Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews are around, the Blackhawks will be relevant. But the team that won three Cups in six seasons from 2010-15 has hit a roadblock, missing the playoffs in each of the past two campaigns. As such, Chicago has undergone significant retooling to get younger. Alex DeBrincat is going to be a star if he isn't already, Dylan Strome has turned out to be a tremendous acquisition, and both Adam Boqvist and Kirby Dach project as impact NHLers. That said, each year the youngsters take to develop leaves Kane and Toews another year older, so the Blackhawks' window isn't exactly wide open.

St. Louis Blues: 12 percent

Patrick Smith / Getty Images Sport / Getty
Cap Flexibility Cornerstone Players Ascending Talent Coaching/Management
★★★☆ ★★★☆ ★★☆☆ ★★★★

The Blues got their rings, so even if the next three years aren't prosperous, fans in the Gateway City probably won't mind too much. Fortunately, St. Louis projects to be competitive a little while longer. While the core players aren't quite spring chickens, Ryan O'Reilly, Vladimir Tarasenko, and Alex Pietrangelo should remain productive for a few more years, and the roster is infused with some nice young talent. It shouldn't be forgotten that Doug Armstrong is a top-notch GM and the club has a head coach in Craig Berube who won a championship in his first year behind St. Louis' bench. The biggest question is whether Jordan Binnington is a legitimate stud or a flash in the pan. If it's the former, the Blues are in great shape to remain in contention.

Winnipeg Jets: 12 percent

Cap Flexibility Cornerstone Players Ascending Talent Coaching/Management
★★☆☆ ★★★★ ★★★☆ ★★★☆

The Jets are primed to compete for a long time, but their window isn't quite as wide as it was when they reached the Western Conference Final in 2018. While cap space is a serious issue for 2019-20, things should get easier over the following two seasons depending on Patrik Laine and Kyle Connor's next contracts. Those two, along with Mark Scheifele, Blake Wheeler, Dustin Byfuglien, and Josh Morrissey, form a tremendous core. The roster lacks depth down the middle of the ice and the blue line took a significant hit with the losses of Jacob Trouba and Tyler Myers, but Winnipeg does have a solid prospect pool to potentially help prolong its period of contention. The Jets should have no issues making the postseason for the foreseeable future so long as everybody's healthy.

Dallas Stars: 16 percent

Cap Flexibility Cornerstone Players Ascending Talent Coaching/Management
★☆☆☆ ★★★☆ ★★☆☆ ★★★☆

Dallas made a couple of major summer splashes, signifying it's ready to go for a Cup. Adding Joe Pavelski and Corey Perry to a forward group that already features Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn, and Alexander Radulov gives the Stars some much-needed depth. It's not the youngest arsenal of offensive weapons, but Dallas has two stalwarts on the back end in John Klingberg (26) and Miro Heiskanen (20) and a Vezina candidate in Ben Bishop. Things get murkier for the Stars beyond this exercise's three-year window, but right now, they're in the thick of the race.

Nashville Predators: 18 percent

John Russell / National Hockey League / Getty
Cap Flexibility Cornerstone Players Ascending Talent Coaching/Management
★★★☆ ★★★☆ ★★☆☆ ★★★★

The Predators have been in the Cup-contention conversation for years now and they're certainly built to be competitive over the next three seasons. David Poile is the league's longest-tenured GM and has never shied away from making franchise-altering moves, most recently shipping P.K. Subban to the Devils to free up money to sign Matt Duchene. With Subban out and Duchene in, Nashville's lineup looks a little more balanced. A deep blue line and a slew of good forwards complement goalie Pekka Rinne - the Preds' biggest question mark come playoff time - to compose a roster that doesn't really have any holes. One just has to wonder when their time will come.

Colorado Avalanche: 22 percent

Cap Flexibility Cornerstone Players Ascending Talent Coaching/Management
★★★★ ★★★☆ ★★★★ ★★★☆

That 48-point season seems like a lifetime ago. Since being the laughingstock of the league in 2016-17, the Avalanche have done nothing but trend upward - quite rapidly. Nathan MacKinnon (23) has burgeoned into one of the NHL's best players, and his chemistry with Mikko Rantanen (22) has formed arguably the most lethal combination in the league. Colorado's current roster has plenty of other talented youth in Cale Makar (20) and Samuel Girard (21), and the franchise has an impressive prospect pipeline built around 2019 fourth overall pick Bowen Byram. That's without even mentioning the offseason acquisitions of Nazem Kadri, Andre Burakovsky, and Joonas Donskoi, or the fact the team boasts over $16 million in cap space (though that figure will take a significant hit once Rantanen gets a new deal). The Avs are the consensus pick of fans and pundits alike to become the next powerhouse - with good reason.

Others in this series:

Copyright © 2019 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Kunitz announces retirement, joins Blackhawks’ coaching staff

Four-time Stanley Cup champion Chris Kunitz announced his retirement on Tuesday after 15 NHL seasons.

The 39-year-old, who spent his last season in Chicago, will join the Blackhawks' hockey operations department as a player development adviser, assisting both the NHL team's and AHL squad's coaching staffs.

Kunitz won his first Stanley Cup with the Anaheim Ducks in 2007, then claimed three more with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009, 2016, and 2017. He also earned an Olympic gold medal with Canada in 2014.

Kunitz's decorated career seemed improbable at one point. He was signed as an undrafted free agent out of Ferris State by the Ducks in 2003 but failed to score in his 21-game rookie season in 2003-04. He was claimed off waivers by the Atlanta Thrashers at the beginning of the 2005-06 season, playing in just two games with the now-defunct club before Anaheim claimed him back off waivers two weeks later. He went on to score 19 goals with the Ducks that year, finishing 15th in Calder Trophy voting.

Despite being an integral part of the Ducks' title run in 2007, he was traded to the Penguins on Feb. 26, 2009, along with Eric Tangradi, in exchange for coveted defenseman Ryan Whitney.

The trade would help the Pens capture their first Stanley Cup since 1992. Kunitz proved to be a key glue guy, riding shotgun with Sidney Crosby.

Kunitz had the best two-year stretch of his career during his age 33 and 34 seasons, tallying 57 goals and 120 points in 126 games, which earned him a spot on Canada's stacked 2014 Olympic roster.

He remained a clutch performer even as his production tailed off in the following seasons. His marquee moment came in Game 7 of the 2017 Eastern Conference Final against the Ottawa Senators, scoring the double-overtime winner to send the Penguins back to the Cup Final.

He finished his career with 268 goals and 619 points in 1,022 games.

Copyright © 2019 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Report: Agents waiting for Marner’s deal to set RFA market

It appears Mitch Marner's contract saga with the Toronto Maple Leafs could be the catalyst that finally gets this summer's star-studded group of restricted free agents moving.

Agents of other high-profile RFAs are waiting for Marner to sign first to set the market, a source told The Athletic's Joe Smith.

Marner is one of several young RFAs coming out of entry-level contracts this offseason, along with fellow stars Brayden Point, Mikko Rantanen Brock Boeser, Patrik Laine, and Matthew Tkachuk, among others.

Coming off a 94-point campaign, Marner could be in line to become the highest-paid member of this year's RFA class, but Toronto's salary cap constraints have prolonged the process. That said, the 22-year-old did state he wants to be with the club for training camp in September.

Contract negotiations can drag into the regular season and cost players games, as was the case last year with Leafs winger William Nylander, who signed on the Dec. 1 deadline - minutes before he would have been forced to sit out the entire 2018-19 campaign.

Negotiations that leak into the regular-season schedule also cause signing players' first-year cap hits to be prorated, creating additional financial headaches for teams up against the salary cap.

Copyright © 2019 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Report: Golden Knights give Gusev permission to speak with Devils

The Vegas Golden Knights have granted restricted free-agent forward Nikita Gusev permission to speak with the New Jersey Devils to see if a deal on a contract could be reached, sources told The Athletic's Jesse Granger.

No trade has been reached yet but a deal could be coming soon, Granger added.

More to come.

Copyright © 2019 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.