Sokolov, 20, has spent the previous three seasons with the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles. The Russian sniper led the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League with 46 goals and finished third with 99 points in 2019-20 after going undrafted in his first two years of eligibility.
"To Egor's credit, he's worked especially hard for this," Senators general manager Pierre Dorion said. "Despite initially being undrafted, he applied himself to improve many facets of his game to the point where he led the Quebec league in goals last season. We were pleased to be able to select him where we did last month and look forward to seeing his career progress."
Sokolov signed a professional tryout contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets in September 2019, but was released by the club after appearing in one preseason game.
The 6-foot-4 winger also represnted Russia at the 2020 world juniors, contributing three goals and one assist through seven contests.
Sokolov was selected by Ottawa in the second round (61st overall) of the 2020 NHL Draft.
Raeto Raffainer, Joe Thornton's general manager at HC Davos in Switzerland, thinks Jumbo Joe could be the veteran presence the Toronto Maple Leafs need in order to find success this upcoming season.
"When the coaching staff gives him a role, he'll be there," Raffainer told Sportsnet's Luke Fox. "The question is: Do you want to play him through all the games? He needs to find a way to help the organization jump this first playoff round. They will be smart with him. They know exactly what they bought with him. The fire in his eyes and his whole body to win something is going to be huge. And he will help this organization to win, that's for sure."
Thornton, who signed a one-year contract with Toronto this past offseason, has posted six points in six games while playing overseas in the National League. Although he's lost some speed, Raffainer believes Thornton's hockey IQ and off-ice habits will stand out.
"I've known him as a player for almost 20 years, so he's still the best in the league anticipating the game, seeing plays, and seeing people nobody else sees," Raffainer said. "(He's) so strong on the puck. Obviously, he's not the fastest anymore, but he's the smartest player that we have. And he's still so good at passing and on the (power play).
"That's one part of why I'm happy he's with us, but the other part is just his human skills. His energy. His happiness. And the way he's working out, coming in even when we give our group a day off. He's there. He's working out all the time and skating all the time, even when the other guys are home."
Thornton, who put up 31 points in 70 games for the San Jose Sharks last season, sits 14th on the all-time list with 1,509 points. He said in October that he joined the Leafs because they're "ready to win now."
To put it bluntly, the NHL offseason is like watching paint dry compared to the NBA. A typical NBA offseason is filled with ample drama, intrigue, unpredictability, and trades involving multiple star players. The NHL rarely has any of those.
For instance, James Harden reportedly just turned down a $50 million per year offer from the Houston Rockets because he wants his team to trade him to the Brooklyn Nets. The NHL equivalent would hypothetically be someone like Jack Eichel demanding a trade to a loaded squad like the Boston Bruins or Tampa Bay Lightning. That would be crazy.
A lot more goes into it, of course. The NBA is a star-driven league - two or three elite players can team up and almost immediately be legitimate contenders. Hockey is not the same. Despite Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl's performances last season, hockey superstars don't have the same team-carrying impact they do in basketball. Hockey is much more of a full team effort.
However, there are still a few ways the NHL could go about spicing up its offseason. We know the chances of these proposed changes coming to fruition is next to none - especially since the league just signed a six-year CBA extension in July - but this exercise is strictly for fun.
Even if these changes were made, the NHL offseason matching the NBA offseason's insanity would still be far from a guarantee - but it would be a step in the right direction.
Below, we highlight five changes that would make the NHL offseason more exciting.
Revamped salary cap
Bruce Bennett / Getty Images Sport / Getty
Soft cap
The NHL is the only one of North America's four major professional sports leagues to operate under a hard salary cap. This is designed to create parity - which the league has done successfully - but it makes trading incredibly difficult. However, using a soft salary cap like the NBA would help create more blockbuster deals.
A soft salary cap allows teams to go over the upper limit, but those who do so are forced to pay a luxury tax. If an NBA team goes up to $5 million over the salary cap, for example, they have to pay $1.50 for every dollar they go over the cap. If a team is $10-$15 million over the cap, they pay $2.50 for every dollar they go over. The more a squad goes over the cap, the more the luxury tax increases.
Repeat offenders are penalized even more harshly to incentivize big spenders to not go over the cap every year.
The money clubs pay in luxury tax are then shared with the teams that stay under the cap, allowing wealthy franchises to flex their financial muscles but also helping the small market organizations get richer.
Rolling cap
A salary cap rollover, which is used in the NFL, allows teams to bring their unused cap from the previous season to the current season. For example, a franchise like the Ottawa Senators, who are currently $12.5 million under the salary cap, would be allowed to go $12.5 million over the salary cap in the following campaign.
This allows small-market clubs that can't afford the luxury tax to spend with the wealthier franchises for a select number of years if they properly save their cap space.
Contract changes
Dave Sandford / National Hockey League / Getty
5-year maximum
Not long ago, NHLers were free to sign contracts of extraordinary lengths. Ilya Kovalchuk inked an absurd 15-year contract with the New Jersey Devils in 2010, while Alex Ovechkin is still playing out the 13-year deal he signed in 2008. The NHL only introduced its contract length limits in 2013: eight years for players re-signing with their current teams or seven years for free agents.
Top players are often tied down long-term, but lowering the maximum contract length could allow for more shifting around the league - especially during the prime of their careers. The NBA's carousel of player movement is constantly in motion and typically includes some of the league's biggest names.
The NHL rarely sees its superstars move on from the squads that drafted them, at least early in their careers. To put this into perspective, only four of the NHL's No. 1 picks between 2004 and 2017 have played for a different team than the one that selected them, while 11 of the NBA's top picks have switched clubs at least once during the same time span.
Player opt-outs
The ability to eventually opt in or out of contracts is another thing many other pro sports leagues implement. Opting out opens up a plethora of options for both the athlete and the organization without removing the financial securities players often seek. Players could choose to opt out of a deal a year or two before its expiration and seek free agency or even to simply restructure a new contract and help the team out financially.
NHL squads often become financially constrained by the long-term deals that didn't pan out or have little wiggle room after breaking the bank to secure some franchise cornerstones. Opt-out options could be given out to players in the same way as no-movement clauses, building the terms into contracts from the beginning, which would extend players more freedom to move around the league if desired and teams more flexibility when working around the salary cap.
Lower UFA age
Young hockey stars are tied to their first team for the majority of their early careers due to rules surrounding restricted free agency. Once players complete their entry-level contracts, they don't hit unrestricted free agency until they've either accrued seven seasons in the league or are older than 27, giving organizations immense power and control over their rights for what could be a significant amount of their prime playing years.
Franchises want to ensure their draft picks won't get up and leave after their entry-level deals are up, which is understandable, but holding exclusive negotiation rights until a person turns 27 is simply too long. Lowering the age threshold to about 25 would open up the door for players to seek out new opportunities earlier in their careers and would make the offseason more exciting in terms of free agency.
The 2020 Memorial Cup may have been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Canadian Hockey League will still launch a virtual edition of the event.
Sixty CHL players and four guest participants will partake in a 64-team Memorial Cup eSports tournament on NHL 21 using every club from the WHL, OHL, and QMJHL, the league announced Thursday.
“The growth of gaming and eSports offers a new opportunity to stay better connected with our fans," said CHL president Dan MacKenzie. "It is also a fun way to give our players a chance to showcase their skills in a format that many of them enjoy in their spare time.”
The tournament will feature a single-elimination format with a best-of-three series in the semifinals and finals. The event is set to begin Nov. 28 and conclude Dec. 17 with streaming available on Facebook Live and Twitch.
Ottawa Senators goalie coach Pierre Groulx says Anders Nilsson is still battling concussion symptoms and his availability for the upcoming season may be in jeopardy as a result.
"Right now, it’s still status quo. He has good days and bad days," Groulx said, according to the Ottawa Citizen's Bruce Garrioch. "It’s still headache related and neck and eyes related and we’re going to wait to see him in Ottawa and see how he is. When he was hurt, he was playing outstanding hockey. It’s disappointing because (Nilsson) is such a great guy.
"You don’t want to see that happen but it’s an injury where you have to think of the health first. We’ll see what happens when he comes into Ottawa."
The 30-year-old suffered a concussion on Dec. 16 and didn't appear in a game the rest of the 2019-20 season.
Nilsson is the projected primary backup goaltender to newly acquired Matt Murray. The Senators have plenty of options if Nilsson is unable to go when the season eventually kicks off, including Marcus Hogberg and Joey Daccord.
The Swedish netminder appeared in 20 games during the 2019-20 season, recording a .908 save percentage and 3.18 goals-against average.
Quinton Byfield will be with Team Canada from start to finish for the upcoming world juniors.
After Byfield spoke with Los Angeles Kings general manager Rob Blake, the plan for him is to play the duration of the tournament even if it overlaps with the beginning of the NHL season, according to Scott Wheeler of The Athletic.
The NHL is hoping to start its 2021 campaign Jan. 1. The gold medal game at the world juniors is slated for Jan. 5.
Byfield - the No. 2 overall pick - and 45 others were invited to Canada's selection camp in late October. The longer-than-usual training camp began Nov. 16 and will end Dec. 13.
This year's world juniors are set to begin in Edmonton on Christmas Day. The entire event will be played at Rogers Place. No fans will be allowed in attendance due to COVID-19 protocols.
Canada won gold at last year's tournament in January with Byfield collecting one assist in seven games. Now 18, he's expected to play a much bigger role in driving the defending champions' offense.
A recent NHL proposal to tweak the league's escrow structure to cope with the effects of the pandemic has left players feeling angry and betrayed, reports Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.
The NHL and NHLPA held a meeting Wednesday, during which the league offered two proposals. The first asked for players to defer 20% of their salaries while escrow increases to 25%. The second asked players to defer 26% for next season, but escrow is left alone until Years 4-6 of the current collective bargaining agreement.
"There were audible gasps when this was presented," one player on the conference call told Friedman.
Before the league returned from its pause this past summer, the NHL and players' association agreed to 10% salary deferrals for the 2020-21 campaign, with escrow capping at 20% and lowering slightly each year until 2022-23. That deferred money is due to be repaid in three equal, interest-free installments in October 2022, 2023, and 2024.
The NHL is targeting a Jan. 1 start date for the 2020-21 campaign and is expected to hold a regular-season schedule of 48-to-60 games. Other hurdles the league is currently facing include division realignment due to border restrictions and whether fans will be able to attend games at limited capacities.
