Faceoff Factor

Various Rumors and Contract Offers From Around the League

Michael Farkas | National Hockey League

Jun 28, 03:54 AM | Hype this story!

As the clock ticks over to the 28th of June, all is quiet on the western (and eastern) front. Teams around the NHL are re-evaluating their squads after the June 25th restricted free agent qualifying offer deadline and preparing for the mad rush and inherent cloud of dust that is July 1st, the first day of unrestricted free agency. The only problem is, there’s not a whole lot for me to write about, so I’ll go a touch informal and unfocused here, if I may, and just touch on some of the current “spare parts” stories from around the league with some juicy rumors mixed in.

Tkachuk Tkaput? Not As Likely Now

A recycled headline, yes, but the story may have taken a complete 180.

As previously reported on Faceoff Factor, the Atlanta Thrashers traded exclusive negotiation rights for forward Keith Tkachuk and a conditional fourth round pick in 2008 to St. Louis for a conditional first round pick in 2008 (originally Atlanta’s in the original Tkachuk trade on February 25th).

Trading exclusive negotiation is going to become all the rage in the salary cap era, we know that now. Conditional draft picks may accompany these trades which makes for some very confusing circumstances. Example:

You can look at this trade from a couple different angles. One, St. Louis was apparently going to go hard after Tkachuk come noon Eastern time on July 1st, now they have four days to start from (apparently) scratch in contract negotiations. Two, Atlanta said they would not offer Tkachuk a contract before he hit the market, because they would surrender a first round pick in 2008 to St. Louis if they did in fact do that.

St. Louis was not going to get Atlanta’s pick anyway, Atlanta was not going to sign Tkachuk solely because of that first round pick. The Blues now have relieved the hit that Atlanta takes (1st rounder to a 4th rounder) if Atlanta goes after Tkachuk, which now becomes reasonable from Atlanta’s standpoint. (Thrashers GM Don Waddell said, “[Signing Tkachuk] is a lot better possibility now than it was before, that’s for sure.”) Meanwhile, the Blues are quite intent on having him back in the fold and want the leg up on negotiations.

So, I’ll do my best to run down the scenarios of this, but I’m not sure that I even have this totally figured out yet.

Here’s what we know: – The conditional 1st round pick in 2008 (ATL) that was conditioned on Atlanta signing Tkachuk is no longer in effect and it is back in Atlanta’s possession. – The St. Louis Blues own exclusive negotiation rights with Keith Tkachuk, Atlanta may not speak with him before July 1st.

Here’s how it breaks down (or so it seems): – If the Blues sign Keith Tkachuk, Atlanta receives nothing. – If the Thrashers sign Keith Tkachuk before November 1st, the Blues receive Atlanta’s fourth round pick in 2008 or Atlanta’s third round pick in 2009 (that condition appears to be solely based on players available at the time and does not hinge on Tkachuk at all). – If another team signs Tkachuk, neither team receives anything.

2:40 a.m. (Eastern) update: The St. Louis Blues have offered Tkachuk a two-year, $7 million deal (irreversible cap hit: $3.5 million per year, I say irreversible because Tkachuk is past his 35th birthday, the Blues cannot waive away his contract).

If I (or you) have corrections to make to this I’ll be sure to notify of an edit.

Here I Am, Waiting on a Hurricane

The Carolina Hurricanes apparently have a trade worked out, a swap of defensemen according to Canes GM Jim Rutherford. The only thing stopping the trade is the Hurricane player in question to waive his no-trade clause.

“I don’t want to get into names and specifics,” Rutherford said when he was asked to name names.

However, I don’t know of any Hurricane defensemen to have a no-trade clause other than Niclas Wallin (perhaps oft-injured Bret Hedican has one as well, but his trade value is negligible at this point). Wallin, who nearly left the NHL to return to Sweden after winning the Cup in 2006, signed a four-year, $6.9 million deal with Carolina instead, a deal that included a no-trade clause.

I spotted Rutherford and Flyers GM Paul Holmgren speaking at the draft on Friday and there was a rumor that a deal was going to go down then, something that may have included Edmonton or Los Angeles. Nothing happened then or up to this point.

“If it doesn’t [happen] in the next couple days, then the deal we were working on would probably go away,” cautioned Rutherford.

Speculation: The Philadelphia Flyers have all but severed ties with young defenseman Joni Pitkanen (a player who has been tied to Carolina in recent rumors), and could use a mobile, yet affordable, defensive defenseman that Niclas Wallin is.

The shelf life on this deal is probably 72 hours and counting.

Pokechecks

-3:00 a.m. (Eastern): The Buffalo Sabres have reportedly offered a contract to center Daniel Briere. It is rumored to be between four and six years, and may be in the $7 million per year neighborhood, more details as they become available.

- According to a Swedish newspaper, center Michael Nylander and the New York Rangers may be closing in on a new contract. Nylander, who had a player option for this season, said, “It can be solved at any minute now.” (translated to English)

- Predators winger Paul Kariya is leaning towards testing the free agent waters come July 1st, but a return to Nashville isn’t out of the question.

- The Calgary Flames haven’t closed the door on re-signing defensemen Brad Stuart and Roman Hamrlik, but it certainly seems less and less likely that either come back.

“I talked to [Flames GM Darryl] Sutter about…two weeks ago. He showed some interest to get Roman back,” said Hamrlik’s agent Petr Svoboda. “I have not heard from him since. I don’t know where their mind is about Roman.”

- Buffalo Sabres forward Dainius Zubrus will test the market come July 1st. Food for thought: Zubrus’ wife is from Montreal and he has a house there, that’s all I’ll say though.

- The Columbus Blue Jackets did not qualify defenseman Aaron Johnson or winger Jaroslav Balastik, allowing them unrestricted free agency.

“It was a tough decision,” Jackets GM Howson said. “But [Johnson] was going to get a one-way contract in an arbitration hearing, and we just weren’t comfortable with that decision.”

-The Blue Jackets are looking to sign forward Alexander Svitov and hard-hitting defenseman Ole-Kristian Tollefsen to long-term contracts.

-The San Jose Sharks will, reportedly, not offer a contract to deadline acquisition forward Bill Guerin before July 1st.

- It appears as if the Edmonton Oilers are losing interest in Flyers defenseman Joni Pitkanen. It is rumored that they are offering center Shawn Horcoff and winger Raffi Torres in exchange for a puck-moving, mobile defenseman.

- The Boston Bruins may offer contracts to defenseman Bobby Allen and enforcer Jeremy Reich before they hit the open market July 1st.

Unofficial Complete List of Unqualified Restricted Free Agents: These players are free to explore unrestricted free agency on July 1st.

Anaheim:
David McKee
Nathan Marsters
Doug O’Biren

Atlanta:
David Caruso
Andre Deveaux
Michael Garnett
Lane Manson
Brad Schell
Adam Smyth

Carolina:
Craig Kowalski
Stephen Peat
Kevin Estrada
Vince Bellissimo

Chicago:
Nikita Alexeev

Columbus:
Jaroslav Balastik
Aaron Johnson

Dallas:
Yared Hagos

Edmonton:
Brad Winchester

Florida:
Alex Auld
Juraj Kolnik
Greg Jacina
Dustin Johner
Alexei Semenov
Jeremy Swanson

Los Angeles:
Barry Brust
Yutaka Fukufuji
Jamie Lundmark
Joey Mormina
Shay Stephenson

Minnesota:
Adam Hall

Montreal:
Michael Lambert

Nashville:
Ramzi Abid
Paul Brown
Chris Durno
Daniel Widing

New York Rangers:
Karel Rachunek

Phoenix:
Jeff Taffe
Matt Spiller
Jakub Koreis

Pittsburgh:
Michel Ouellet
Andrew Penner

San Jose:
Michal Macho
Glenn Olson

St. Louis:
Chris Beckford-Tseu
Doug Lynch
Ryan Ramsay
Curtis Sanford
Patrick Wellar

Tampa Bay:
Morgan Cey
Brady Greco
Adam Heinrich
Doug Janik
John Toffey

Washington:
Kris Beech
Maxime Daigneault
Jonas Johansson
Jiri Novotny
Louis Robitaille
Matt Stefanishion
Joey Tenute