Hockey Canada has announced invitations for 46 players to attend selection camp for the 2021 world juniors in Edmonton.
2020 No. 2 overall pick Quinton Byfield, prized Colorado Avalanche prospect Bowen Byram, and presumptive 2022 No. 1 pick Shane Wright were among the invitees.
The training camp will start Nov. 16 in Red Deer, Alberta, and end Dec. 13. The selection process will occur while the CHL and its umbrella leagues remain in flux regarding a safe return to play following the pandemic-induced pause. The QMJHL is back in action for the 2020-21 campaign, but the WHL and OHL aren't slated to return until Jan. 8 and Feb. 4, respectively.
Canada won its 18th gold medal at the last world juniors, the most of any country.
The Hockey Diversity Alliance is challenging the NHL and Arizona Coyotes to sign its pledge after the Coyotes recently drafted Mitchell Miller, who was convicted of assaulting a Black teen with disabilities four years ago.
"The Coyotes' drafting of Mitchell Miller - who was convicted of bullying a developmentally disabled, Black classmate, and according to the victim's family has not personally apologized - shows that 'zero tolerance' of racism can't be taken for granted in the NHL. The NHL and the Coyotes should sign the HDA pledge and start practicing what they preach," the HDA said Wednesday.
The alliance's statement referenced item No. 6 of the HDA's pledge, which asks the NHL to agree not to "support, partner with, or accept support from any organization that has engaged in, promoted, or failed to appropriately respond to racist conduct in their organization of any kind (including, without limitation, the proliferation of hate speech, discrimination in the provision of goods, services and facilities, and other areas such as employment)."
Isaiah Meyer-Crothers said Miller bullied him for years physically, and repeatedly called him the N-word. In 2016, Miller and another boy were charged with assault and violating the Ohio Safe Schools Act after they were accused of making Crothers eat a candy that had been rubbed in a urinal.
"It hurt my heart, to be honest," Crothers said of Mitchell being drafted, according to Craig Harris and Jose M. Romero of the Arizona Republic. "It's stupid that they (Coyotes) didn't go back and look what happened in the past, but I can't do anything about it."
Coyotes president and CEO Xavier Gutierrez said the club drafted Mitchell because Arizona "felt it was our responsibility to be a part of the solution in a real way." Gutierrez was named to the NHL's Executive Inclusion Council last month.
The HDA cut ties with the NHL earlier this month, calling the league's anti-racism measures "performative public relations efforts."
The NHL's bubbles may have worked flawlessly for the 2019-20 postseason, but San Jose Sharks goaltender Devan Dubnyk doesn't believe players would be willing to do it again for the upcoming campaign.
"I don’t think anybody is signing up to do another 60 days or anything extended like that," Dubnyk said, according to NBC Sports California's Brodie Brazil. “It’s really tough.”
Dubnyk spent just over a week in the NHL's bubble over the summer as a member of the Minnesota Wild. The Tampa Bay Lightning and Dallas Stars, who made it to the Stanley Cup Final, spent two months inside the bubble.
The league recorded zero positive tests from the moment players and staff entered the controlled zones. However, Dubnyk believes there are ways around needing to set up bubbles, and he points to other major sports leagues.
"I don’t think guys will want to do that, or should be put in a position to do that,” Dubnyk said. “No other sport is, and it’s not necessary to do that. It’s not what we signed up for, and not what anybody is really prepared to do. There’s so many players with young families, that’s just really hard."
The NHL has reportedly kicked around the idea in the past of using a hybrid bubble system to make the season work. The concept would put players on a rotation, spending two weeks inside a bubble and then one week at home before reentering.
Recently, the NHL's deputy commissioner Bill Daly said the league currently has "no likely scenario" for what its upcoming season will look like.
The NHL will have its top development league next season.
The AHL is planning to start the 2020-21 campaign Feb. 5, the league announced Wednesday.
The AHL had previously targeted Dec. 1 as its start date for 2020-21, according to TSN's Pierre LeBrun.
No further details were added. Several obstacles remain intact, including border crossing - the league has 27 American teams and four Canadian squads - and developing an appropriate schedule.
The NHL is targeting a Jan. 1 start date for its season, while the OHL is reportedly planning to begin its campaign Feb. 4.
Arizona Coyotes defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson says being the subject of trade talks was difficult, and clarified that he didn't ask the team to put him on the block.
"I signed (in 2018) because I wanted to be in Arizona until I'm 36," Ekman-Larsson told Ronnie Ronnkvist of Swedish publication Hockey Sverige, as translated by Ronnkvist's colleague, Uffe Bodin. "When this (trade) rumor appeared, it felt awkward, and it was a tough situation. I had never been in a situation like this before with trade rumors. Mentally, it was tough."
In September, multiple teams reportedly expressed interest in the Coyotes captain, who's coming off the first season of his aforementioned eight-year, $66-million extension. Then, on Oct. 1, it was reported that his list of acceptable destinations included the Boston Bruins and Vancouver Canucks, and that those teams were involved in trade talks with the Coyotes before Arizona hired Bill Armstrong as general manager on Sept. 17.
"I have a no-trade/no-movement clause in my contract," Ekman-Larsson told Ronnkvist. "I picked those teams because I didn't want to stand in the way of the (Coyotes) in case they felt like they needed to move me. That's the person I am. I put those teams there as alternatives, but I never really wanted to move.
"I never really wanted to do anything but to stay in Arizona. I'm really happy that it ended this way. I really like to live there and it would have been very hard for me to leave."
Three days before free agency opened, Ekman-Larsson's agent informed the teams discussing a potential trade for his client that a deal had to be worked out by the first day of the frenzy on Oct. 9. Otherwise, the rearguard would stay put. No swap was ultimately consummated.
"There were a lot of rumors that the team would sell and get rid of players to save money," Ekman-Larsson said Wednesday. "But it never really happened and I actually think that we have a very good team on paper. We're a really tight-knight group and I really appreciate that."
The 29-year-old has spent his entire 10-year career with the Coyotes and was named captain in 2018-19. He ranks fourth on the franchise's all-time games played list and 10th in points.
Aside from the Montreal Canadiens' sad effort to poach Sebastian Aho from the Carolina Hurricanes last offseason, offer sheets have gone unsigned since the Calgary Flames' attempt to lure Ryan O'Reilly away from the Colorado Avalanche in 2013. A proposal hasn't gone unmatched since the Edmonton Oilers landed Dustin Penner from the Anaheim Ducks in 2007.
However, the flat salary cap has left a handful of teams vulnerable to an offer sheet. We examined what makes the Tampa Bay Lightning especially susceptible before free agency began, and that remains true with the club not yet unloading any big contracts to clear room for restricted free agents Anthony Cirelli, Mikhail Sergachev, and Erik Cernak.
Lastly, it's important to note these proposed offer sheets are designed to be generous. There's no point in signing if the team can easily match it or if the contract isn't tantalizing enough for the player to sign it.
Nashville Predators
John Russell / National Hockey League / Getty
Projected cap space: $12.9M Unsigned RFAs: Luke Kunin Logical target: Barzal (7 years, $10.9M AAV)
Predators general manager David Poile has been uncharacteristically quiet this offseason, so it wouldn't be surprising if he had a big move up his sleeve.
Ponying up for Barzal - and surrendering two first-round picks, a second-round pick, and a third-round pick in our proposed offer - makes plenty of sense for the Preds.
The team is clearly in win-now mode as the backbone of the squad - the defense - nears the end of its prime. Roman Josi and Mattias Ekholm are 30, and Ryan Ellis is 29. Nashville's two highest-paid forwards, Matt Duchene and Ryan Johansen, are 29 and 28, respectively.
Furthermore, Poile himself is the third-oldest GM in the league at 70 years old. He's been running the franchise for its entire existence and has come close to winning a Stanley Cup but still doesn't have a ring to show for it. It makes sense to push all his chips into the middle now.
Barzal could be exactly what the Predators need. They're a strong defensive team with a solid crop of forwards, but they lack a game-breaking talent up front. Barzal, one of the most skilled playmakers in the league, could be the team's missing ingredient.
Meanwhile, the Islanders have just $8.9 million in projected cap space and would be hard-pressed to match an offer sheet with an AAV approaching $11 million, considering Ryan Pulock is also an RFA.
Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen is arguably the most aggressive and courageous executive in the league.
Kekalainen went all in at the 2019 trade deadline - he kept his own rentals Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky, likely knowing they weren't re-signing, then emptied his draft-pick cupboard to add Matt Duchene, Ryan Dzingel, and others.
The executive shocked everybody at the 2016 draft when he passed on higher-rated Jesse Puljujarvi in favor of Pierre-Luc Dubois with the No. 3 pick. He went off the board again at the 2020 draft to select Yegor Chinakov in the first round when some draft pundits didn't even know who he was.
If there's one GM in the league to buck the trend and sign an RFA to a legitimate proposal, it may be Kekalainen. After all, Columbus was reportedly one of the teams to approach Mitch Marner - who turned down two offer sheets, per his agent - last summer.
Now, there are some caveats involved. For one, we've attached an asterisk to the club's cap space because Brandon Dubinsky's playing career may be over. Columbus can create more cap room by placing the injured forward and his $5.85-million cap hit on LTIR.
Secondly, Kekalainen would need to re-sign his own RFAs - specifically Dubois - before he goes around signing offer sheets.
It's also worth noting the Blue Jackets don't have their own second-round pick in 2021, taking them out of the salary range needed to lure Barzal - and likely Cirelli. Segachev makes sense, even though he may not want to leave sunny Tampa Bay for Columbus.
However, he's easily worth giving up a first-round pick and a third-rounder in our proposed offer sheet. Columbus' greater need is an impact forward, but adding Sergachev would give the team one of the best young blue lines in the league, and a long-term replacement for veteran David Savard, who is entering the last year of his deal.
Cirelli would fill a huge void down the middle of the ice behind Aleksander Barkov, though. The 23-year-old is already one of the best shutdown centers in the league (finishing fourth in Selke Trophy voting) and Florida must play better defensively in front of Sergei Bobrovsky. The contract - and the compensation (first-, second-, and third-round picks) - is hefty, but Cirelli still has room to grow offensively after playing at a 50-point pace in 2019-20. This deal would also take him through his prime years.
The Lightning, who have under $3 million in cap space, would immediately have to move either Tyler Johnson or Alex Killorn - maybe both - to match. Even if the team was able to pull that off, re-signing Sergachev and Cernak would be highly difficult with Cirelli's $8M cap hit on the books. So this offer sheet could significantly handcuff the defending champs, at the very least.
