Month: July 2019

Per the Grand Rapids Griffins:

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Grand Rapids Griffins on Monday signed forwards Tyler Spezia and Josh Kestner to one-year contracts.

Continue reading Grand Rapids Griffins sign Tyler Spezia, Josh Kestner

From the Detroit Red Wings:

DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings today signed center Valtteri Filppula, defenseman Patrik Nemeth and goaltender Calvin Pickard to two-year contracts.

Continue reading Here’s the Red Wings’ press release regarding their free agent signings (Filppula, Nemeth and Pickard):

Per the Toledo Walleye:

The Toledo Walleye announced today its list of players that have received qualifying offers for the 2019-20 season. 

Forwards Tyler Spezia and Ben Storm along with defenseman Kevin Tansey have received qualifying offers.

Each team was entitled to reserve the rights to a maximum of eight qualified players. Of the eight qualified players, no more than four could be veterans (260 regular season professional hockey games played as of the start of the upcoming 2019-20 season). Players on open qualifying offers cannot be traded. 

The qualifying offer must remain open for acceptance until July 16 at which time the qualifying offer becomes null and void and the team may sign the qualified player to any salary or may elect to take no further action. Teams that extend a valid qualifying offer to a non-veteran player shall retain the rights to that qualified player for one playing season. 

A team that extends a valid qualifying offer to a veteran player will retain the rights to that veteran until July 16. After July 16, if the veteran player is not signed to a contract by the team, the veteran shall be deemed a restricted free agent and shall be entitled to seek and secure offers of employment from other ECHL teams. Restricted free agents may not be traded. When a restricted free agent receives a contract offer from a team other than the team with the player’s rights and the restricted free agent wishes to accept the contract offer, the restricted free agent and the offering member must, within 24 hours, notify the ECHL, the team with the player’s rights and the Professional Hockey Players’ Association. The member with the player’s rights shall have seven days after the date it is notified to exercise its right to match the contract offer. 

If a restricted free agent is not signed to either an offer sheet or a contract by an ECHL team by Aug. 1, the player shall be deemed an unrestricted free agent.

Per the Detroit Red Wings:

The #RedWings today signed goaltender Calvin Pickard to a 2-year contract. pic.twitter.com/BefLkn6rzU

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) July 1, 2019

Here’s Helene St. James on Pickard:

Pickard is slated to play with the Grand Rapids Griffins in tandem with Filip Larsson. Pickard, 27, has appeared in 104 NHL games, posting a 2.93 goals-against average and .908 save percentage. He spent last season with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Philadelphia Flyers and Arizona Coyotes.

The Wings are set in their own net, with Jimmy Howard and Jonathan Bernier under contract. Larsson, 20, is starting his pro career in the fall, after a standout freshman year at University of Denver. Larsson spent half a year recovering from a gruesome groin injury, debuting for the Pioneers in November and going on to post a .932 save percentage and 1.94 goals-against average in 22 games. 

Pickard and Larsson should provide some stability for the Griffins. Last season’s goaltenders, Harri Sateri (2.84 GAA, .899 save percentage in 40 games) and Patrik Rybar (2.49 GAA, .908 save percentage in 37 games) have both signed with European teams.

MLive’s Ansar Khan also confirms:

The Detroit Red Wings signed goaltender Calvin Pickard to a two-year contract on Monday.

Pickard will be given an opportunity to compete with Jonathan Bernier for the back-up job in Detroit but likely will wind up with the Grand Rapids Griffins, sharing duties with top goalie prospect Filip Larsson.

Pickard, 27, was 4-6-2, with a 3.86 goals-against average and .875 save percentage last season with Philadelphia and Arizona. He has a career record of 32-50-9, with a 2.93 GAA, .908 save percentage and four shutouts. The 49th overall pick for Colorado in 2010 also played for the Avalanche and Toronto.

The Hockey News’s Matt Larkin believes that the Red Wings signed Valtteri Filppula to a 2-year, $6 million contract at 35 years of age for a very specific reason:

We know who Filppula is at this point. He can play center or the wing, he’s respectable on faceoffs, he kills penalties, and he can handle some second-unit power play duty. He’s still capable of chipping in a double-digit goal total, too.

Filppula essentially becomes insurance to keep the Wings from rushing their forward prospects such as Filip Zadina and Joe Veleno to the NHL. Instead, they’ll have to earn their way onto the team with their performances in camp. Once they’re up, a Filppula, a seasoned two-way forward who won a Cup in 2008 with Detroit, can offer some mentorship. During the second year of his contract, should the Wings not yet be playoff contenders, they’ll likely be able to move Filppula to a contender as a trade-deadline piece, as he doesn’t need to score to be useful.

Continued

So much for that 2nd round pick…Good on Gus for getting paid, though, per TSN:

The Columbus Blue Jackets have signed forward Gustav Nyquist to a four-year deal with an AAV of $5.5 million, according to TSN Hockey Insider Bob McKenzie. 

The 29-year-old had 22 goals and 60 points in 81 games this past season, between the Detroit Red Wings and San Jose Sharks. He had 11 points in 20 games for the Sharks in the playoffs as they made it to the Western Conference finals, before losing to the St. Louis Blues in six games.

Per the Red Wings…

The #RedWings today signed defenseman Patrik Nemeth to a 2-year contract. pic.twitter.com/niJ3lHoA5U— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) July 1, 2019

And MLive’s Ansar Khan:

Nemeth, 27, shoots left. The native of Stockholm, Sweden, has appeared in 250 NHL games (four goals, 35 assists). He has one point (an assist) in 18 career playoff games.

He was selected 41st overall by the Dallas Stars in 2010.

Red Wings forward Anthony Mantha initiated a fight with Nemeth on Dec. 2 at Litttle Caesars Arena after the Avalanche defenseman hit Dylan Larkin. Mantha suffered a broken hand and missed four weeks.

The signing gives the Red Wings six defensemen on one-way contracts (Mike Green, Danny DeKeyser, Jonathan Ericsson, Trevor Daley and Madison Bowey are the others). Filip Hronek seems like a lock to make the roster as well. Dennis Cholowski is in the mix.

Niklas Kronwall is deciding whether to play another season. General manager Steve Yzerman said Kronwall will have a spot on the roster if he decides to play.

The Free Press’s Helene St. James also confirms:

Continue reading Red Wings make the Nemeth deal official

Via a Twitter heads-up from GriffinsNest, I took a look at the Finnish newspapers, and former Grand Rapids Griffins goaltender Patrik Rybar has signed with Karpat Oulu of the Finnish Liiga:

Patrik Rybar signed with Karpat Oulu.https://t.co/oMEWrH0XcG https://t.co/LIKh7uJmUl— George Malik (@georgemalik) July 1, 2019

Rybar’s contract with Karpat goes through the 2021-22 is for 1 year, per their official website.

Fil is back:

The #RedWings today signed center Valtteri Filppula to a 2-year contract. pic.twitter.com/S8HavAUPSa— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) July 1, 2019

Appears #RedWings and Valtteri Filppula agree on a 2-year contract— Ted Kulfan (@tkulfan) July 1, 2019

Update: Helene St. James confirms on the Free Press’s website:

Filppula 

The Finnish forward is rejoining the Wings, for whom he played from 2005-2013. Yzerman has history with Filppula, having signed him in 2013 to a five-year, $25 million deal while general manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Filppula, 35, is an underwhelming but safe choice, a solid two-way guy who will be a good fit in the locker room, can play center or wing, and both special teams. 

#RedWings two-year deal with Valtteri Filppula is for $3 million per season.— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) July 1, 2019

Fil’s got a good agent. https://t.co/7pR411psyY— Andrew Gross (@AGrossNewsday) July 1, 2019

I wonder about Frans Nielsen’s future on #RedWings…Nielsen and Filppula basically the same player, more or less. Don’t need 2 of these on a rebuilding team, ideally— Ted Kulfan (@tkulfan) July 1, 2019

Depth signing or something more?

Patrik Nemeth is heading to the #RedWings on a two-year deal with a nice raise from the $2.5 million he made last year.— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) July 1, 2019

Meanwhile…

#RedWings quiet thus far…and given the money that supposedly will be doled out today, you can understand why.— Ted Kulfan (@tkulfan) July 1, 2019

Nemeth is 28 and played this past season for the Colorado Avalanche, posting 1 goal and 9 assists in 74 games played. He’s 6’3″ and 219 pounds and shoots left.

The Athletic’s Max Bultman weighs in:

LRT: Nemeth would give the Red Wings a bit of veteran cover for next summer, when all their vets except Danny DeKeyser come off the books.— Max Bultman (@m_bultman) July 1, 2019

As Seravalli noted, Nemeth earned $2.5 million this past season, per CapFriendly.

Update: Here’s the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan:

Continue reading Seravalli: Red Wings to sign defenseman Patrik Nemeth