The Minnesota Wild have signed free-agent defenseman Dmitry Kulikov to a two-year pact with an average annual value of $2.25 million, the team announced Wednesday.
The 6-foot-1 left-handed shot put up just four assists this past season while splitting time between the New Jersey Devils and the Edmonton Oilers. However, over 38 games with Kulikov on the ice at five-on-five, the Devils controlled 52% of the shot attempts and 55% of the expected goals.
Kulikov only played in 10 contests for the Oilers last campaign after being acquired at the trade deadline.
The 30-year-old was drafted 14th overall by the Florida Panthers in 2009. He's registered 957 blocked shots and 1,149 hits in 725 career NHL games. Kulikov has also previously suited up for the Buffalo Sabres and the Winnipeg Jets.
The six-month saga between the New York Rangers and defenseman Tony DeAngelo is seemingly coming to an end. New York has placed the 25-year-old on unconditional waivers to begin buying out his contract, according to Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston.
DeAngelo will become an unrestricted free agent once he passes through waivers and the buyout is executed, as the Daily Faceoff's Frank Seravalli noted.
The process would go as follows for DeAngelo, per CapFriendly.
Season
Initial cap hit
New cap hit
Annual cap savings
2021-22
$4.8M
$383K
$4.4M
2022-23
$0
$883K
-$883K
In February, former general manager Jeff Gorton announced the New Jersey native had played his last game as a Ranger.
The tumultuous situation came to a head due to a skirmish between DeAngelo and goaltender Alexandar Georgiev following the club’s January 30 overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. The franchise placed DeAngelo on waivers the following day.
The blue-liner went unclaimed and didn't suit up for another NHL contest in the 2020-21 season.
The Montreal Canadiens were apparently interested in him in April, but he didn’t accept. DeAngelo also reportedly rejected New York's offer to mutually terminate his contract - which would have allowed him to sign elsewhere as a free agent - opting to be bought out this summer instead.
The Rangers signed DeAngelo to a two-year contract with an average annual value of $4.8 million beginning in the 2020-21 campaign. DeAngelo spent four seasons in the Big Apple.
Longtime Montreal Canadiens defenseman Shea Weber won't play next season and he "probably won't be back for his career," general manager Marc Bergevin told reporters on Thursday.
Bergevin confirmed the team's captain has been dealing with multiple injuries, including ankle, foot, knee, and thumb issues.
Weber, who turns 36 next month, missed time toward the end of the regular season with a thumb injury, but he returned to average 25:13 of ice time per game during the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Bergevin notes he had an "emotional" conversation with Weber.
“It was hard for Shea," he said. "I mean, that’s all he knows. He’s a hockey player to the core. He's been doing that all his life. It’s really hit hard to realize that he can no longer perform the way he’s expecting for him and his teammates in the pain he’s going through daily."
Notorious for his higher-than-average pain tolerance, Weber has also previously dealt with a left foot issue. In February 2020 he was slated to miss four-to-six weeks because of the injury, but Weber returned just two weeks later.
The Nashville Predators' 49th overall pick in 2003 has played 1,038 NHL games while registering 589 points. He spent the first 11 seasons of his career in Nashville and the last five with the Canadiens, who will now be dealing with a gaping hole on their blue line.
“I have a lot of respect for Shea,” Bergevin said. “It will be impossible to replace Shea Weber.”
There are five years left on Weber's contract that carries an annual cap hit of $7.86 million.
The Boston Bruins have made “significant progress” with pending unrestricted free agent Taylor Hall, general manager Don Sweeney told reporters Thursday.
Both Hall and the Bruins made it clear this offseason there's mutual interest in reaching a long-term agreement. Any deal is likely to get done soon because the roster freeze lifts at 1 p.m. ET, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman notes.
Friedman estimates Hall's new contract will be a four-year pact with an average annual value of $6 million.
The Bruins acquired Hall and Curtis Lazar from the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for Anders Bjork and a 2021 second-round draft pick in April. Buffalo retained half of Hall's $8 million salary.
Hall notoriously struggled with the Sabres while producing two goals over 37 games. The 2018 Hart Trophy winner returned to form after arriving in Boston, registering 14 points over 16 regular-season contests before logging five points across 11 playoff games.
The 29-year-old has played for five teams since becoming the first overall pick in 2010.
Columbus left Domi unprotected over the weekend with the hope that the forward's injured shoulder would deter the Kraken from scooping him up. The 26-year-old underwent surgery to repair a labral tear in his right shoulder in June. With a recovery timetable of five to six months, Domi is likely to miss the start of the regular season, which is slated to start in October.
Bayreuther has just 28 games of NHL experience under his belt, registering six points. The 27-year-old signed a one-year, two-way deal with the Blue Jackets in 2020 and is a pending unrestricted free agent.
The contract carries an average annual value of around $2 million, Johnston added.
At 39 years old, the resurgent Smith pitched a .923 save percentage across 32 games in the 2020-21 regular season, the second-best mark of his career. He was eighth in the league in goals saved above average (12.56) and goals saved above expected (7.22), according to Evolving Hockey.
Despite being swept by the Winnipeg Jets in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Smith registered a .912 save percentage.
Former Ottawa Senators bench boss Dave Cameron is set to be named head coach for Team Canada at the World Junior Championship, reports TSN’s Darren Dreger.
Cameron was previously head coach of the team at the 2011 tourney in Buffalo, where Canada captured a silver medal.
In two seasons as coach of the Senators from 2014-16, he piloted the squad to a 70-50-17 record. The 62-year-old most recently served as head coach of the Vienna Capitals in Austria.
Cameron is also reportedly being named head coach of the OHL's Ottawa 67's. He is succeeding new Arizona Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny in both positions.
"It has been quite the journey to get to this point in my life, but I could not be happier with my decision to come out," Prokop wrote. "I believe that living my authentic life will allow me to bring my whole self to the rink and improve my chances of fulfilling my dreams."
Prokop made the decision to come out right before his first pro camp. He was drafted by the Predators in the third round of the 2020 draft.
"I don’t want to have to walk into the gym or to the arena or just to practice, and keep thinking, ‘Who knows? Who doesn’t?’ This is who I am," Prokop told The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun.
"I don’t think it’s going to be a big topic of conversation, that’s not what I want it to be. It’s just, ‘Hey, here’s who I am.’ It gets it off my chest. So I don’t have to worry and wonder about other people."
Prokop has received a flurry of supportive messages, including one from Predators general manager David Poile.
All of SMASHVILLE is behind you, Luke.
President/CEO Sean Henry and President of Hockey Operations/GM David Poile's statements ⤵️
"We are committed to ensuring nothing stands in the way of his ability," Poile said in a statement. "His courage is an inspiration to us, and to the LGTBQ community in Nashville."
Prokop's news also drew an immediate response from NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, who called him on the phone.
"People, unless they can be their authentic true selves, can't be the best they can be," Bettman said, according to NHL.com's Amalie Benjamin. "Anybody who is connected to the NHL, whether it's front office, whether it's coaching and player development, whether it's players, we want everybody to know that whoever you are, you have a place in our family."
Prokop has spent the last four seasons with the WHL's Calgary Hitmen. He started telling those close to him about his sexuality over the past year and says he noticed himself being "a lot more confident."