Vegas Golden Knights netminder Robin Lehner and San Jose Sharks forward Evander Kane are looking to take their fighting skills from the ice to the boxing ring.After Youtube star Jake Paul knocked out former NBA guard Nate Robinson during Saturday night's boxing event at Staples Center, Kane and Lehner chimed in with challenges of their own.
Divisions: Central | Metropolitan | Pacific | AtlanticWhile there are still plenty of available unrestricted free agents, several unsigned restricted free agents, and a handful of players who could potentially be dealt, theScore is handing out offseason grades for each NHL team.Wednesday's edition focuses on the Metropolitan Division, which was uncharacteristically quiet.Some contract figures are reported. Most players on two-way deals have been omitted.Carolina Hurricanes Chase Agnello-Dean / National Hockey League / GettyKey arrivalsPlayerPositionContract LengthAAVJesper FastF3 years$2MDrew ShoreF1 year$700KJoakim RyanD1 year$700KKey departuresPlayerPositionTransactionJustin WilliamsFRetiredSami VatanenDBecame UFAJoel EdmundsonDTraded to MTLTrevor van RiemsdykDSigned with WSHRe-signedPlayerPositionNew Contract LengthAAVWarren FoegeleF1 year$2.15MHaydn FleuryD2 years$1.3MRookies who could crack the lineupPlayerPositionDraftedMorgan GeekieF3rd round (2017)Dominik BokkF1st round (2018 - STL)Jake BeanD1st round (2016)The Hurricanes were rather quiet this offseason. Fast is a strong play-driver and should be a nice fit for Rod Brind'Amour's group, but when he's a team's most notable addition, you know not much has changed.On the blue line, Edmundson and van Riemsdyk won't be missed considering how much depth the club has. However, general manager Don Waddell might be regretting his trade for Brady Skjei ($5.25 million in average annual value for four more seasons) at the 2020 deadline and signing Jake Gardiner ($4.05 million in AAV for three more seasons) last offseason.Those contracts could make it difficult to re-sign Dougie Hamilton, who's set to hit unrestricted free agency next offseason when Andrei Svechnikov's entry-level deal expires. Waddell loses marks for not getting out ahead of his 2021 cap dilemma.This is still a solid team that should improve as young players continue to develop, but the goaltending duo of James Reimer and Petr Mrazek remains suspect.Grade: CColumbus Blue Jackets Jamie Sabau / National Hockey League / GettyKey arrivalsPlayerPositionContract LengthAAVMax DomiF2 years$5.3M AAV (trade with MTL)Mikko KoivuF1 year$1.5MMikhail GrigorenkoF1 year$1.2MKey departuresPlayerPositionTransactionJosh AndersonFTraded to MTLAlexander WennbergFBought outRyan MurrayDTraded to NJMarkus NutivaaraDTraded to FLARe-signedPlayerPositionNew Contract LengthAAVVladislav GavrikovD3 years$2.8MGabriel CarlssonD2 years$725KElvis MerzlikinsG2 years$4MJoonas KorpisaloG2 years$2.8MUnsigned RFAsPlayerPositionPierre-Luc DuboisFRookies who could crack the lineupPlayerPositionDraftedLiam FoudyF1st round (2018)Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen addressed his biggest need this offseason: depth down the middle. The additions of Domi, Koivu, and Grigorenko will allow Boone Jenner and Nick Foligno to play on the wing where they're most valuable. However, all these players have question marks.Is Columbus getting the 72-point Domi from 2018-19 or the 44-point Domi from 2019-20? He'll almost certainly be more valuable than Anderson, who produced just four points over 26 games during an injury-riddled campaign last season. However, Anderson is the better player when healthy.Grigorenko is a high-upside, low-risk addition. The former first-round pick has plenty of skill but was never able to put it all together in the NHL. Can he be a key contributor after three years in the KHL? Additionally, what does the 37-year-old Koivu have left in the tank?The blue line's top six remains solid, but the depth took a hit with the losses of Murray and Nutivaara. That could be problematic in a condensed schedule.It's difficult to give the Blue Jackets a high grade considering their No. 1 objective coming into the offseason had to be getting Dubois locked up, and they've yet to do that despite having over $9 million in cap space.Grade: C+New Jersey Devils NHL Images / National Hockey League / GettyKey arrivalsPlayerPositionContract LengthAAVAndreas JohnssonF3 years$3.4M (trade with TOR)Ryan MurrayD1 year$4.6M (trade with CBJ)Dmitry KulikovD1 year$1.15MCorey CrawfordG2 years$3.9MKey departuresPlayerPositionTransactionJoey AndersonFTraded to TORKevin RooneyFSigned with NYRMirco MuellerDBecame UFACory SchneiderGBecame UFAUnsigned RFAsPlayerPositionJesper BrattFMacKenzie BlackwoodGRookies who could crack the lineupPlayerPositionDraftedNolan FooteF1st round (2019 - TB)Nick MerkleyF1st round (2015 - ARI)Alexander HoltzF1st round (2020)Ty SmithD1st round (2018)Kevin BahlD2nd round (2018 - ARI)As one of the few clubs with cap flexibility, the Devils were able to make some savvy trades with teams looking to clear cap space. They acquired a solid middle-six winger in Johnsson and a legitimate top-four defenseman (when healthy) in Murray while only giving up Anderson and a fifth-round pick. That's some nice work by new GM Tom Fitzgerald.Fitzgerald also solidified his goaltending by adding Crawford on a fair deal. The veteran netminder proved in the playoffs he can still perform at a high level.While New Jersey has two RFAs to sign, the team has over $17 million in cap space to use. The Devils get docked for not being even more aggressive considering their cap space and the remaining UFAs that could help fill the holes on this roster, specifically up front.The hiring of Lindy Ruff as New Jersey's head coach was a questionable move, but all and all it was a stellar offseason for the Devils.Grade: BNew York Islanders Mark Blinch / National Hockey League / GettyKey arrivalsPlayerPositionContract LengthAAVIlya SorokinG1 year$2MKey departuresPlayerPositionTransactionDerick BrassardFBecame UFAMatt MartinFBecame UFATom KuhnhacklFBecame UFAJohnny BoychukDCareer over (eye injury)Devon ToewsDTraded to COLAndy GreeneDBecame UFAThomas GreissGSigned with DETRe-signedPlayerPositionNew Contract LengthAAVJosh Ho-SangF1 year$700KRyan PulockD2 years$5MUnsigned RFAsPlayerPositionMathew BarzalFRookies who could crack the lineupPlayerPositionDraftedOliver WahlstromF1st round (2018)Kieffer BellowsF1st round (2016)Lou Lamoriello has put the Islanders in quite a pickle. Thanks to some contracts he's signed since arriving in Long Island two years ago (most notably Jordan Eberle, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, and Leo Komarov), New York is up against the cap. Signing Barzal looked like a near-impossible task, but getting $6 million in relief by placing Boychuk on LTIR will likely help the team ink the franchise center.However, the Islanders still had to move Toews, 26, who was their second-best defenseman last year, and they only received a pair of second-round picks in return. That's a massive loss.With no improvements up front or on defense, this offseason can only be considered a disaster - especially while Barzal remains unsigned. The only thing saving this grade from an F was convincing Sorokin to leave the KHL six years after the Isles drafted him.Grade: DNew York Rangers Jared Silber / National Hockey League / GettyKey arrivalsPlayerPositionContract LengthAAVKevin RooneyF2 years$750KJack JohnsonD1 year$1.15MAnthony BitettoD2 years$738KKey departuresPlayerPositionTransactionJesper FastFSigned with CARLias AnderssonFTraded to LAMarc StaalDTraded to DETHenrik LundqvistGSigned with WSHRe-signedPlayerPositionNew Contract LengthAAVRyan StromeF2 years$4.5MBrendan LemieuxF2 years$1.55MTony DeAngeloD2 years$4.8MAlexandar GeorgievG2 years$2.425MRookies who could crack the lineupPlayerPositionDraftedAlexis LafreniereF1st round (2020)Vitali KravtsovF1st round (2018)K'Andre MillerD1st round (2018)One year after being one of the busiest teams in free agency, the Rangers were rather quiet in 2020. Aside from buying out a franchise icon in Lundqvist, the team made no significant moves.After making an addition by subtraction by shipping Staal to the Red Wings, GM Jeff Gorton replaced him with one of the few defensemen worse than Staal: Jack Johnson. The former third overall pick is a below-replacement-level blue-liner. His $1.15-million cap hit won't kill New York, but it all but guarantees Johnson a spot on the team's bottom pair. Better options could've been had for under $1 million.The Rangers have ample firepower up front, one of the league's best, young, cost-efficient goaltending duos, and a strong right side of the blue line. However, the left side of the blue line (Ryan Lindgren, Libor Hajek, Brendan Smith, Johnson, and Bitetto) is one of the NHL's worst. If New York misses the playoffs, it will likely be because of Gorton's failure to address this issue.Lafreniere could be an immediate impact player, but the Rangers shouldn't get credit because a ping pong ball bounced their way.Grade: DPhiladelphia Flyers Icon Sportswire / Icon Sportswire / GettyKey arrivalsPlayerPositionContract LengthAAVErik GustafssonD1 year$3MKey departuresPlayerPositionTransactionTyler PitlickFSigned with ARIDerek GrantFSigned with ANANate ThompsonFSigned with WPGMatt NiskanenDRetiredRe-signedPlayerPositionNew Contract LengthAAVNolan PatrickF1 year$874KNicolas Aube-KubelF2 years$1.075MOskar LindblomF3 years$3MJustin BraunD2 years$1.8MRobert HaggD2 years$1.6MBrian ElliottG1 year$1.5MUnsigned RFAsPlayerPositionPhilippe MyersDRookies who could crack the lineupPlayerPositionDraftedMorgan FrostF1st round (2017)German RubtsovF1st round (2016)Mark FriedmanD3rd round (2014)It cannot be understated how big the loss of Niskanen is. The veteran was the perfect partner for Ivan Provorov on the team's top pairing, and he flourished against tough matchups.The signing of Gustafsson was curious. It seemed to spell the end of Shayne Gostisbehere's time in the City of Brotherly Love - given the prior rumors - but he remains in Philadelphia. Gustafsson and Gostisbehere have high offensive ceilings, but both are defensive liabilities and aren't suited to play alongside Provorov. In hindsight, Gustafsson at $3 million seems like a slight overpay, depending on what UFA D-men Travis Hamonic and Sami Vatanen sign for.The Flyers have a deep crop of forwards and arguably the best young goaltender in the game, but if Myers can't step into the top-pairing role with Provorov, GM Chuck Fletcher is going to wish he did a better job replacing Niskanen. Thankfully, Philadelphia has a bit of wiggle room, so a defenseman could potentially be acquired during the season if things go south.Grade: C-Pittsburgh Penguins Dave Sandford / National Hockey League / GettyKey arrivalsPlayerPositionContract LengthAAVKasperi KapanenF2 years$3.2M (trade with TOR)Colton SceviourF1 year$1.2M (trade with FLA)Mark JankowskiF1 year$700KMike MathesonD6 years$4.875M (trade with FLA)Cody CeciD1 year$1.25MKey departuresPlayerPositionTransactionPatric HornqvistFTraded to FLANick BjugstadFTraded to MINConor ShearyFBecame UFAPatrick MarleauFSigned with SJJustin SchultzDSigned with WSHJack JohnsonDBought outMatt MurrayGTraded to OTTRe-signedPlayerPositionNew Contract LengthAAVJared McCannF2 years$2.94MSam LaffertyF2 years$750KEvan RodriguesF1 year$700KChad RuhwedelD1 year$750KTristan JarryG3 years$3.5MRookies who could crack the lineupPlayerPositionDraftedSamuel PoulinF1st round (2019)Pierre-Olivier JosephD1st round (2017 - ARI)The Penguins were easily the busiest team in their division this offseason, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're the most improved.GM Jim Rutherford drafted Kapanen and his father, Sami, but a first-round pick and a solid prospect in Filip Hallander was a steep price to pay for a player who's yet to prove he can flourish as a top-six forward.Kapanen will essentially replace Hornqvist - a gritty, heart-and-soul player - in the top six. Hornqvist's contract ($5.3 million in AAV for three more years) wasn't great, but swapping it for Matheson's deal could be problematic. Matheson is a turnover machine who's posted a sub-50% expected goals share in four straight seasons. He's a third-pairing blue-liner at best.In what seemed like an attempt to make Pittsburgh's defense even worse, Rutherford signed Ceci, one of the league's worst blue-liners. His possession numbers were better this past season in Toronto after six years in Ottawa, but he's still a liability. He won't be counted on to play top-four minutes in Pittsburgh, but it's still a questionable signing.On the bright side, Jankowski and Sceviour are solid bottom-six additions and offer good value.Grade: D+Washington Capitals Mark Blinch / National Hockey League / GettyKey arrivalsPlayerPositionContract LengthAAVJustin SchultzD2 years$4MTrevor van RiemsdykD1 year$800KHenrik LundqvistG1 year$1.5MKey departuresPlayerPositionTransactionIlya KovalchukFBecame UFARadko GudasDSigned with FLABraden HoltbyGSigned with VANRe-signedPlayerPositionNew Contract LengthAAVBrenden DillonD4 years$3.9MJonas SiegenthalerD1 year$800KRookies who could crack the lineupPlayerPositionDraftedConnor McMichaelF1st round (2019)GM Brian MacLellan had very little cap room to work with this offseason, and it was a foregone conclusion that the forward group was going to go mostly untouched.However, the Capitals had some flexibility with regards to their defense and goaltending. Schultz was an interesting addition. Washington had the league's second-best offense but the 15th-ranked defense. Targeting more of a defensive defenseman would've made sense, but Schultz doesn't exactly fit that description. He's more of a high-variance offensive blue-liner.Washington's best move of the offseason, though, was re-signing Dillon. The rugged defenseman has posted strong possession numbers in his career and performed well with the Caps - specifically alongside John Carlson - after being acquired at the trade deadline. The value is reasonable, too.In goal, Lundqvist was a decent value signing (he probably won't be worse than Holtby was at $6.1 million last year). "King Henrik" will be playing in front of a better team he had in New York, and he should be an excellent mentor for Ilya Samsonov.Lastly, MacLellan deserves credit for firing head coach Todd Reirden after just two years and replacing him with Peter Laviolette, who has a strong track record of immediate success.Grade: B(Cap source: CapFriendly)
The Tampa Bay Lightning re-signed restricted free-agent defenseman Mikhail Sergachev to a three-year deal carrying an average annual value of $4.8 million, the team announced Wednesday.Tampa Bay is now a projected $1.9 million over the salary cap and still needs to sign center Anthony Cirelli and defenseman Erik Cernak, who are both RFAs, according to PuckPedia.Sergachev recorded 10 goals and 24 assists in 70 games last season and added 10 points in 25 playoff contests en route to the Lightning's Stanley Cup triumph.The 22-year-old hasn't been tasked with playing tough minutes, as those responsibilities generally fall on Victor Hedman's or Ryan McDonagh's pairing. However, the Russian has vastly outperformed his matchups, ranking in the 81st percentile in offensive play driving and 92nd percentile in defensive play driving, according to The Athletic's Dom Luszczyszyn's model.
New York Islanders defenseman Johnny Boychuk's career is over as a result of an eye injury he suffered during the 2019-20 season, the club announced Wednesday.The injury was his second to the same eye.A skate clipped the veteran blue-liner's face during a game in March, requiring 90 stitches to repair the cut. He missed the rest of the regular season but returned for three playoff games."I knew there was something going on but I didn't want to think about it because I wanted to play," he said Wednesday, according to The Athletic's Arthur Staple. "You try to play through everything, and I did."
The Winnipeg Jets are adding an experienced coach who also happens to have raised one of their players.The club named Dave Lowry - father of Jets forward Adam - an assistant coach Monday.
Ken Reid's brain is filled with hockey card memories.There's the time when the Sportsnet broadcaster's mother brought home a box of 1979-80 O-Pee-Chee cards from an auction. It cost $10. Inside was a highly coveted and extremely valuable Wayne Gretzky rookie card that Reid and his younger brother immediately wrestled over.There's also the card and collectible shows that the brothers would frequent as teenagers coming of age in Nova Scotia in the early 1990s. Sometimes they'd even set up their own merchandise table and, after a weekend of action, head home with an extra $500 to spend on new cards.Then there's the recent flashbulb memory of Reid's 7-year-old son, Jacoby, opening up a 2019-20 O-Pee-Chee Platinum pack and staring at a rare Jack Hughes autographed card. That moment - and Jacoby's interest in the hobby in general - brings everything full circle for the 45-year-old Reid."We live in a world where everything changes all the time," the longtime Sportsnet Central anchor said. "I love the fact that you can buy a card and it's still 2.5 by 3.5 inches, the same as it was in 1960. Of course, there are cards that are different - jersey cards and autograph cards, for instance - but I absolutely love that for old-school collectors like me, the main cards are the same."Ken Reid holds up his Gretzky rookie on-air SportsnetWhile there's no silver lining to the COVID-19 pandemic, one byproduct of 2020 is the sports card boom. Industry insiders claim there hasn't been this much interest in collecting since its peak in the late 1980s and early '90s. Sports fans from Reid's generation are now nostalgic adults with disposable income, impressionable children, and messy closets that hold troves of old cards.This perfect storm has led to massive growth in all card categories, including hockey. "It's exploded, I think, is how I would put it," said Ryan Cracknell, an editor for Beckett, a media company specializing in sports card coverage."When we realized how serious things were with COVID-19, my initial reaction was, 'If it's going to affect the economy, if it's going to affect people's jobs - this is not good.' The first thing people traditionally put on the sidelines are their collectibles, their hobbies," said Chris Carlin, the head of customer experience for Upper Deck. "But, what we found out pretty quickly was that people weren't going on trips, weren't going out to dinner. As they were stuck at home, they were looking for hobbies, ways to pass the time."Chris Callahan, the director of marketing for auction house PWCC Marketplace, concurs: "This is the best spot the industry has been in many, many years. The interest has been amazing, the price appreciation has been amazing. The types of collectors or investors that have entered into the market are really impressive, from serious money injected to fairly big celebrities that have gotten involved. There's a lot of momentum right now."The ultimate sign of the times? In August, Vegas hotshot Dave Oancea sold a 2009 autographed rookie card of Los Angeles Angels superstar Mike Trout for a whopping $3.94 million. The transaction surpassed the $3.12 million benchmark that a 1909 Honus Wagner T206 card established in 2016. (Another Wagner card went for $3.25 million in October.)Alexis Lafreniere with his family on draft night Mike Stobe / Getty ImagesHockey's flagship set, Upper Deck's Series 1, hit brick-and-mortar and online stores Wednesday. The 2020-21 edition, headlined by the first NHL card for New York Rangers blue-chip prospect Alexis Lafreniere, was eagerly anticipated. Predictably, cases flew off the shelves across North America.Customers at Breakaway Sports Cards in Hamilton, Ontario, bought an entire Canada Post van's worth of product ahead of the release, co-owner Chuck Durka said. More than 100 people purchased Upper Deck products online while the store itself was nonstop all day with a substantial lineup outside. "We're having trouble staying on top of the orders," Durka said Thursday. "It's just nuts."On eBay and other digital marketplaces, the Lafreniere "Young Guns" card is already being flipped for upwards of $350. "There hasn't been anybody that's done those kinds of numbers since (Connor) McDavid," Durka said.Upper Deck, the sole producer of hockey cards thanks to an exclusive multi-year agreement with the NHL and players' association, dropped another set last week through Tim Hortons. The Tim's collection is especially popular among kids because of the price point (one three-card pack sells for $0.99 CAD with the purchase of a beverage) and the allure of pumping some safe fun into a drive-thru order."It sounds weird, but I think a lot of credit should go to Tim Hortons for them putting packs back in stores a few years ago," said Reid, who has authored a pair of "Hockey Card Stories" books. "Suddenly, people would randomly buy a pack with their coffee for a buck. That might have reignited the spark in a lot of older collectors and started a spark in a lot of younger collectors."One of Mitch Marner's Tim Hortons cards John Matisz / theScorePowering the renaissance is this cross section of several large groups of people - young and old, experienced and inexperienced, casual and hardcore. Within those groups are subgroups of people who either buy sports cards in lieu of lottery tickets or treat collecting cards strictly as a passion project."The neat thing about the sports card industry is that it can be used as a tool to make money, but it can also be used as a tool for simply having a hobby," Reid said. "For most people, it's a hybrid of both. Everybody, even the hobbyist, likes to make a buck, right?"A flurry of popular pack-opening livestreams over the past few years - better known as case or group "breaks" - laid the groundwork for the 2020 boom, said Rey Revereza of Dolly's Sports Cards in Toronto. Zion Williamson's much-hyped NBA debut in January got the ball rolling. The nostalgia-soaked Michael Jordan documentary "The Last Dance" moved the needle again, and the industry has been on a steep incline ever since, with dozens of influential voices, including entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk, musician and DJ Steve Aoki, and reality TV's Rob Kardashian, encouraging outsiders to enter the market.Revereza estimates there's a 65-35 split between investors/flippers and hobbyists among his customer base. He's lost count of the number of young people who've noted their passion for collecting cards can be traced back to watching a single TikTok or YouTube video during the pandemic. "Social media has transformed the way this hobby is perceived," Carlin said.Investing in sports cards versus company stocks is inherently cooler and more interesting, and the barrier to entry, from an intellectual standpoint, is lower. As Callahan points out, "How much easier is it to follow LeBron James' career, Sidney Crosby's career - whoever it is - versus a Citibank stock?"Callahan's company, PWCC, has been in business since 1998, but it took until 2019 to introduce a new service: access to a Class 3 bank vault located in its Oregon officers. Collectors can secure and insure cards, which typically aren't covered under homeowner insurance, and receive an appraisal. PWCC customers can also take out a loan against their cards.Boxes and packs of the latest Upper Deck release Rey Revereza / Dolly's Sports CardsInsiders tend to subscribe to the notion that the value of a sports card is determined by five factors:
Canada's deputy chief of public health feels optimistic regarding the proposed health and safety protocols for the 2021 world juniors in Edmonton."We've been engaged in ongoing discussions with Hockey Canada and all the relevant partners, including public health officials from the province of Alberta," Dr. Howard Njoo said Tuesday, according to The Canadian Press.
The NHL is asking its players to defer 13% of their pay for the upcoming campaign as part of return-to-play negotiations, sources told Larry Brooks of the New York Post.That isn't an official proposal, but the idea has been discussed between the league and the players' union, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reports.The NHLPA agreed to a 10% deferral as part of the six-year collective bargaining agreement extension signed in July before the league returned for the expanded postseason. That money is due to be repaid in three equal, interest-free installments in October 2022, 2023, and 2024.Several players who have large signing bonuses would be unable to defer the combined 23%, according to PuckPedia.