Columbus Blue Jackets News Clips April 3, 2020

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PAGE 02 The Athletic: Free agents, coaching moves and more: 12 storylines for the NHL offseason PAGE 07 Sportsnet.ca: 10 critical unanswered questions brought on by NHL's pause PAGE 13 TSN.CA: History suggests NHL Awards for 2019-20 season will be distributed

The Athletic: Free agents, coaching moves and more: 12 storylines for the NHL offseason

By Scott Burnside – April 2, 2020

League officials and players’ union representatives are in constant contact about what lies ahead with both sides taking their cues from medical officials, hoping for a signal at some point that players can start talking about returning to gyms and rinks, and fans can start to imagine a return to the game itself. But at some point, the league will move on and the normal offseason situations will play out. Hopefully these storylines play out after a Stanley Cup champion is awarded, and if that’s the case, the answers to some of these questions may be altered. So let’s look into the future at the 12 pivotal storylines to watch before the 2020-21 season. 1. Whither Alexis Lafreniere? The NHL Draft scheduled for June in Montreal has been postponed. We remain eternally optimistic that there will be a playoff at some point and it’s possible, if not likely, that the playoff grid is expanded to include possibly 10 teams per conference instead of eight. Or maybe it’s 12 teams per side. Would those additional teams at the bottom end of the playoff ladder automatically be excluded from the draft lottery? Presumably. That would leave 11 or seven teams in the hunt for the elusive No. 1 pick instead of the normal 15 teams. Obviously Detroit, with its embarrassing minus-122 goal differential in 71 games, is the most deserving of talented forward Alexis Lafreniere – if you believe that ghastly hockey should be rewarded. But deserving and getting have often been mutually exclusive when it comes to the draft lottery. Since 2015 the last-place club has earned the No. 1 pick twice or 40 percent of the time. Even if Lafreniere ends up in Detroit, the Red Wings are still a million miles away from relevancy. But it’s possible that literally any other team that lands Lafreniere might be able to parlay that into immediate playoff results, including but not limited to San Jose, Anaheim, Los Angeles and New Jersey. Ottawa with Lafreniere is still likely a year or two away, but already there are positive signs in the Canadian capital and Lafreniere could be a key piece. That’s how good the young man from Saint-Eustache, Quebec, is. But, what if the entire season is canceled and there is a lottery process not unlike the lottery to determine who landed Sidney Crosby after the 2004-05 lockout? Even with a similarly weighted lottery based on recent playoff appearances and recent No. 1 draft picks acquired would throw open at least the possibility that any NHL team could end up with Lafreniere. 2. Scouting issues in Arizona Also unknown is how the league is going to rule in its investigation into the possibility that the Arizona Coyotes violated league rules that prohibit teams from doing any physical testing of draft-eligible players outside the draft combine, which has also been postponed. Sources told The Athletic’s Craig Morgan that the Coyotes do not believe they went afoul of the rules. If they did it could cost the team millions of dollars as each violation brings with it a fine of not less than $250,000. That’s potentially a huge hit for a team that, while under the new ownership of billionaire Alex Meruelo, remains 28th in the league in home attendance based on percentage of seats sold. One longtime amateur scout suggested that, if the Coyotes were working outside the rules, they might now have an unfair advantage over other teams vis a vis data collected given that junior hockey and college hockey seasons were canceled. The NHL has no timeline for when its investigation will be completed and when a resolution made public, although one assumes it will be before the draft for the sake of transparency. 3. Whither Taylor Hall? There’s still a chance that with an expanded playoff grid Taylor Hall and the Coyotes qualify for the 2020 playoffs and Hall gets a chance to rewrite the narrative surrounding him as he heads toward unrestricted free agency. The former Hart Trophy winner was the marquee rental on the market this season and went to Arizona via a December trade. In spite of additional time to get acclimatized with the Coyotes, Hall’s impact was far less than most anticipated. In fact, when the league paused, Hall had collected just two more points playing in five more games for Arizona than he did with a woeful New Jersey team. So, what does the market look like for a dynamic winger who was the first-overall pick in 2010 who has played in just five playoff games in his career? Arizona GM John Chayka and Hall’s agent Darren Ferris have had preliminary talks during the pause about an extension, but Chayka has to be very cautious about how he proceeds given the early returns. Teams are still going to line up for a chance to sign the 28-year-old, including possibly Hall’s hometown Calgary Flames. Buffalo and Montreal need help up front, although both have more pressing needs down the middle. Assuming a full seven-year term, what does Hall’s number look like? A number of scouts don’t think Hall is a game-changer on his own, that he is a more complimentary player and doesn’t drive play on his own. The fact he’s a winger and not a center will also blunt the dollar amount. At this stage, how much more valuable is Hall than Chris Kreider, who signed a seven-year, $6.5 million annual cap hit before the trade deadline? Certainly Hall is a lot closer now in terms of marketability to Kreider than say Artemi Panarin, who signed a seven- year deal last summer as an unrestricted free agent with an $11.6 million annual cap hit. The one mitigating factor is, if not Hall, who else will be on the free agent market for teams looking to beef up offense? Mike Hoffman, who actually out-pointed Hall at the time of the pause? Mikael Granlund, who actually had more goals than Hall this season? Still, if a $10 million windfall for Hall seemed possible at the start of this season, that thinking has changed dramatically even without taking into account all of the uncertainty regarding the salary cap that has come with the pandemic. 4. What of Henrik Lundqvist? The pause in the NHL’s season also pauses one of the most difficult decisions for the New York Rangers: What to do with one of the greatest players in franchise history in netminder Henrik Lundqvist. Lundqvist went from the third wheel in an uncomfortable three-goalie rotation to a spare tire this season. His last win was on Feb. 1. He started just one of the Rangers’ last 19 games, appearing in relief in two other games. Igor Shesterkin and Alexandar Georgiev both displayed the skills that speak to franchise netminding and were among the main reasons the Rangers are ahead of their evolutionary curve. In short, the play of the two young netminders meant there was simply no room for Lundqvist on this emerging team. Georgiev is a restricted free agent and there was talk he could be moved at the trade deadline but that didn’t happen. Could it happen before the 2020 draft? Not unless there is a premium return coming back, although there are teams looking for goaltending stability like San Jose, Detroit, Buffalo and Edmonton. Lundqvist, whose name also surfaced, at least peripherally at the deadline, has one more year left on his current deal at $8.5 million with full trade protection. Certainly no one wants a repeat of what transpired this season. The Rangers could buy Lundqvist out of the final year of his deal or maybe there’s a trade to be made with Lundqvist’s blessing plus the Rangers eating a chunk of his salary. The buyout is much more likely than a trade given the moving parts. But then what? Lundqvist is 38. His line this year: 10-12-3, 3.16 goals-against average and .905 save percentage. In a perfect world, the Rangers are part of an expanded playoff grid and Lundqvist gets a chance to prove he’s not done at the NHL level even if the sands have run out on his time in New York. But those are long odds. Could a team like Colorado use Lundqvist on a one-year deal? Buffalo? San Jose? Great story for the romantic in all of us but not a narrative that appears to be based in reality. 5. The Braden Holtby conundrum It’s not quite the same situation that Pittsburgh found itself in heading into the Vegas expansion draft, but Washington is facing its own tough, tough choice. Vegas, of course, ended up with Marc-Andre Fleury as the Pens moved forward with Matt Murray after the duo had split time during back-to-back Cup runs in 2016 and 2017. The Capitals have veteran netminder Pheonix Copley under contract and can expose him in the Seattle draft should they choose to while protecting the future in goal Ilya Samsonov. But where does that leave Braden Holtby as he comes to the end of his contract after this season? Holtby is a former Vezina Trophy winner, a Cup winner and the most important goaltender in franchise history. He just is. But he’s also a goaltender whose numbers have been in a state of flux the past three seasons – even when he ran the table in the 2018 postseason after Washington fell behind to Columbus in the opening round after Holtby had been relegated to backup status behind Philipp Grubauer. What if Holtby guides the Caps on another late-summer Cup run? Or at least deep into the playoffs? What is his value on the open market? Is there any way he stays in Washington on a short-term, lower-dollar deal? It does feel like the die is cast and Holtby will be on the move, but if so, where? Buffalo needs goaltending stability. Calgary perhaps. Edmonton’s long-term goaltending picture is far from set. San Jose? The Sharks definitely need help. Either way it does appear that this stands as a long, slow goodbye for a franchise netminder. 6. Veterans nearing end of their career If the NHL does get a playoff in later this summer and the start of the 2020-21 season is pushed back into, let’s say early November for argument’s sake, what does that mean for veteran players who are hoping to extend their careers? A guy like Joe Thornton, who told The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun that he hopes to return for another season at age 41, will have been more than seven months between games. We know San Jose GM Doug Wilson has handled these situations with emotional detachment, so if there’s no room in San Jose next season, is there a place elsewhere for Thornton, who was hoping to land with a playoff team at the trade deadline? It would have to be a very specific fit with a young team that covets a future Hall of Famer. Ron Hainsey, 39, will also have been away from game action a long time and was a nice fit with rookie head coach D.J. Smith in Ottawa. Is he still a fit after this? Patrick Marleau may get a shot at some playoff action with Pittsburgh this summer and that may open the door to another year for Marleau, who will turn 41 in September. Mike Smith is 38 and could still figure into Edmonton’s playoff plans, but if the season is canceled, it’s hard to imagine the Oilers don’t go in a different direction. Dan Hamhuis, 37; Corey Perry, 34; and Justin Williams, 38, all have potential playoff runs in them with Nashville, Dallas and Carolina, respectively. But it’s also possible we have seen the last of those three veteran difference-makers. 7. Coaching carousel Never have so many experienced, top-end coaches been available at one time on the coaching market. Even if we don’t know if Mike Babcock is interested in returning to coaching or whether he is still too radioactive to be hired (I think there is a place for him in the right situation and with the right manner of transparency), there are still former Cup winners and Jack Adams Trophy winners like Bruce Boudreau, Gerard Gallant and Peter Laviolette available. John Stevens, Mike Yeo, Michel Therrien are all former head coaches who have enjoyed successful turns as assistants or associates in Dallas and Philadelphia, respectively. And it’s not as though these coaches will be fighting over one or two openings. San Jose, Dallas, Minnesota, Detroit, New Jersey and Calgary could all realistically be looking for new bench bosses, even if Alain Nasreddine in Jersey and Dean Evason in Minnesota have made strong cases for themselves. And if there is a playoff and Washington and/or Tampa are early casualties, does that change things for Todd Reirden or Jon Cooper? Throw in the fact that, at some point, GM Ron Francis is going to hire a head coach for the Seattle expansion franchise, and you’re potentially looking at a summer of unprecedented shifts in the coaching world. 8. The Seattle ???? Speaking of Seattle, this offseason will be the final draft and free agent signing period for the NHL’s current 31 clubs before the Seattle expansion draft, which is set for June 2021 (pending when next season finishes, of course). What lessons were learned by teams heading into the Vegas expansion draft? Many. Mostly, don’t overthink it. Don’t get tied up in protecting one player and send out more assets than you need to, as was the case with Minnesota, Florida and Columbus, among others. You’re going to lose a player. Come to grips with it. Still, that won’t make the decisions for 30 other NHL GMs (Vegas is exempt from having to give up a player to Seattle, which in hindsight was a bit of an oversight on the part of the league given Vegas’ instant success) who must plot for how they might keep their most important assets in house. And then there’s the Seattle team itself. Plans to unveil a name, logo and jersey colors sometime around the start of the 2020 playoffs have obviously been pushed into the background. The team, working closely with the league, will need to find a good time to make that reveal – perhaps once the league begins preparing for a later than normal playoff season. And there is the issue of when Francis might be ready to hire his head coach. There’s no urgency, of course, but with so many high profile coaches available, is there be a better time to get the right one? 9. New Jersey and other places of chaos Never a dull moment with the Devils, a team that in the fall looked to be on track for a playoff spot this season before falling completely off the map. GM Ray Shero was curiously allowed to deal Hall to Arizona a few weeks after firing coach John Hynes before being fired himself. Dysfunction? Lack of direction? Meddling owners? Pick your poison. Still, since that time interim GM Tom Fitzgerald has done an admirable job. Fitzgerald handled the trade deadline with aplomb, getting good to great return on Blake Coleman, Sami Vatanen, Andy Greene and Wayne Simmonds. So, does Fitzgerald stay? Or is there someone else waiting in the wings? Former Vancouver GM Mike Gillis has been linked to the Devils. Dan MacKinnon, who is the Devils senior VP and assistant GM, and Laurence Gilman, the former assistant GM in Vancouver and now with Toronto, are also possibilities. This is a huge decision for an organization that has a lot going for it in terms of on-ice potential but has just as many questions about what the plan is from the top on down. What amplifies the importance of making the right call is the uncertainty of how the offseason will unfold. If there are playoffs, a new GM and management team could be looking at an extremely short window to prepare for a draft and free agency, and potential buyouts – especially if the team dithers on making the call on this. There’s also the likelihood of yet another top-end draft pick, as the team played its way into first-overall picks in two of the past three years. 10. Bad time in Buffalo Speaking of chaos … hello, Buffalo. Unless the NHL reverts to the most generous of playoff formats, i.e. even the junk teams get in, the Sabres are going to miss the playoffs for the ninth straight season – the longest current playoff drought in the NHL. They haven’t won a playoff series since 2007. This season with veteran international coach Ralph Krueger behind the bench there was, yet again, optimism that this was the year the Sabres would make good on the potential of young captain Jack Eichel, 2018 No. 1 pick Rasmus Dahlin and other shiny baubles to reward long-suffering Sabres fans. Nope. In fact, by the time the NHL was forced to pause the season, the Sabres had lurched their way into chaos and fans were in open revolt. The pressure is squarely on GM Jason Botterill to fill the many holes in this lineup, including goaltending, defensive depth and depth down the middle – assuming he gets another chance at rebuilding this flawed roster. Ownership has to share in the blame and move to repair the damage with its fan base, a relationship exacerbated by the less than sparkling response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Owners Terry and Kim Pegula donated more than $1 million to an area fund to help those hit hardest by the pandemic but laid off employees in their organization and balked at paying staff affected by the suspension of the NHL season. In short, no easy answers and many, many more questions for the Sabres whenever hockey gets back to business. 11. Cup finalists with big issues The two Cup finalists from 2019 have some big-time decisions coming up this offseason as it relates to anchor pieces of the blue line. Both St. Louis captain Alex Pietrangelo and Boston offensive sparkplug Torey Krug are headed to unrestricted free agency, barring some sort of extension being worked out for either. Two very different types of players but both who will command a king’s ransom if they hit the open market. Pietrangelo is 30 and a big-bodied leader with a Stanley Cup under his belt. The right-hand shot will be coveted by teams like Toronto and Las Vegas if the Blues can’t find a way to make it work. Krug is slighter of stature but still plays a big game and has the kind of offensive tools and skating ability that is worth its weight in gold in the brand of game favored by so many NHL teams. A left-hand shot, Krug, like Pietrangelo, has been a one-team player thus far. Given Boston GM Don Sweeney’s track record, it’s entirely conceivable he’ll find a way to keep Krug in the fold. Pietrangelo is a little less certain to remain a Blue given the addition at the start of the season of Justin Faulk, another right-hand shot defender, and the plethora of defensive depth already under contract in St. Louis. 12. What about all those RFAs? We don’t know what the salary cap will look like, but it’s almost certainly going to be nowhere near what expectations were before March. So, what does that mean for a flock of high-end players who will become restricted free agents? Last summer we saw a lame attempt at an offer sheet by the Montreal Canadiens on then RFA Sebastian Aho, but that was quickly matched by Carolina and it turns out the Habs likely did the Canes a huge favor, helping them lock down an emerging superstar at a palatable number. So, could we see more offer sheets this summer with teams trying to take advantage of the chaos and having less wiggle room? Core pieces Mathew Barzal, Max Domi, Anthony DeAngelo, Pierre- Luc Dubois and Mikhail Sergachev, among others are all set to become RFAs. Every year we speculate whether this will be the time the offer sheet will be used and it never happens. Still, the amount of young talent that needs to be brought under contract is going to create some interesting and not entirely pleasant situations, especially for teams like Detroit (with seven forwards set to be RFAs), Chicago and Buffalo (which may have five or six RFAs pending the direction the team goes).

Sportsnet.ca: 10 critical unanswered questions brought on by NHL's pause

By Chris Johnston – April 2, 2020

Talk about opening Pandora’s Box. Amid the uncertainty brought on by a paused NHL season, I thought it would be helpful to call on a salary cap expert to address the most critical unanswered questions facing the league while navigating this new frontier. The founder of CapFriendly.com, Dominik, was more than happy to oblige the request, but little did I realize how deep the questions ran: He came up with more than 80 of them spanning 36 different topics. For the sake of brevity, I’ve boiled those down into 10 identifiable issues brought on by the paused season and provided some thoughts from CapFriendly on why each is significant. Consider it a window into the variables every front office is dealing with right now. The NHL has conducted a series of calls with team owners, presidents and general managers since the novel coronavirus halted play on March 12, but it hasn’t yet been able to provide much clarity on many of the issues raised here: Salary Cap Questions: How will the pause affect the 2020-21 cap? How will a possible lost season and playoffs affect the 2020-21 cap? When did the NHL stop its cap counting process for 2019-20 and what happens to that if play doesn’t resume? Background: Top league officials have already indicated that the cap can be set at any number in conjunction with the NHL Players’ Association, so there’s no reason to expect a year-over-year drop. But the league is facing a loss of revenues ranging from $1 billion to $1.2 billion if this season is completely lost. And how the books get closed on 2019-20 — or reopened, if play resumes — is still an open question. If the NHL halts the cap counting as of March 12, which is the day that the season was paused, or as of March 16, when the rosters were frozen, this will have an impact on the team’s final cap hit number. This final number will dictate a series of other components that affect the following year’s salary cap. One such example is performance bonus overage penalties. Those are incurred when the performance bonuses earned by players result in the team exceeding the upper limit. The amount that exceeds the limit is applied against the club as a penalty in the following season. Another impact will be how clubs calculate the reduced rate for players on two-way contracts who start next season on IR. On the note of performance bonuses, we have to wonder how a shortened season would impact performance bonuses that are game related. For example, certain bonuses only qualify if the player plays in 42 NHL games. What occurs if the player was at 39, but was on the team’s roster and would have met the bonus thresholds if the season wasn’t halted? Also, if clubs stopped counting, will that impact a teams’ ability to recall players if there is a shortened end to the season? If they decide to start counting again just for those few days, how much cap space is the league going to give them and will it hinder a team’s ability to make roster adjustments or activate players off LTIR? Trades Questions: How will a lost season impact a club that dealt for a player on an expiring contract at the deadline? How will a shortened or lost season impact a trade that has conditions or clauses in it? Background: This is a spicy meatball. There are notable trade conditions in last summer’s Milan Lucic-for-James Neal swap and the J.T. Miller deal to Vancouver, but what about the trades made before the deadline? The Canucks gave up future assets for Tyler Toffoli and only got 10 (productive) games out of him. The Carolina Hurricanes traded a conditional draft pick for Sami Vatanen and didn’t see him play one. Even the Arizona Coyotes, with their December acquisition of Taylor Hall, have to feel burned by not getting to lean on the former Hart Trophy winner during the stretch drive and playoffs. The list goes on and on, too. The most interesting cases for me are the clubs that gave up significant assets in a trade for a player on an expiring contract intended for a playoff run. The league can’t give that player back or revert the trade if the season is cancelled because he’s on an expiring contract. Is it ‘too bad so sad’ in those cases? As for trade conditions, in deals where it’s the higher of whichever pick, my guess is that the league will have to use whatever they decide on for the draft lottery and the final standings order. A tricky case will be how to deal with conditions that revolve around a team making the playoffs, or the player needing to play a certain number of games with his new club. We will have to wait and see what is decided for those. Injuries Questions: What status will players who are injured during the pause be given when the league resumes? Background: At issue in the dispute between the Winnipeg Jets and Dustin Byfuglien this season was where and when he was hurt. Byfuglien was given a clean bill of health by the team during the year-end physical last spring and then didn’t report to training camp before having ankle surgery in the fall. The Jets ultimately didn’t have to pay him because teams aren’t on the hook to honour a contract for injuries that don’t occur on their watch. While the current pause is a different situation entirely, it could raise similar questions: Players are technically still in-season and almost certainly weren’t given physicals before spreading out across North America and Europe. What if someone gets injured during the time away? Recently I watched a video on social media of an NHL player running with his daughter up a hill: What would happen if he rolls his ankle and breaks it? The Byfuglien situation from the beginning of this season crossed my mind. When the NHL returns and he’s injured, what status will the league deem him as, since he was injured in a non-hockey related incident at a time that there was no hockey. From a club perspective, are they within their right not to pay him? Draft/Draft Lottery Questions: Will the league use points percentage to establish the draft order if the season isn’t completed? Will the draft lottery be expanded to all clubs? Would the league consider extending the ‘must-sign-by dates’ for the 2020 draft class to give teams more time to evaluate their prospects? Background: The last time every team had a chance at the No. 1 overall pick was following the cancellation of the 2004-05 season due to a lockout, and the prize that year was Sidney Crosby. How the Alexis Lafreniere draft lottery looks in 2020 won’t be determined until the NHL knows if it will be able to conduct a playoffs or not. In the meantime, teams are now left to finalize their draft lists without the benefit of being able to scout playoff games or get a final look at players of interest. Development can change rapidly with prospects. A team may have intended to further scout a player that they had on their scouting draft board at No. 70 in January or February but didn’t get the opportunity to go back and get a final look in March or April – something that will surely challenge their final draft order. For that reason I wonder if the league might consider changing the “must-sign-by dates.” Teams have a lot of data and information, but will the league offer them any concessions by giving them a little more time to evaluate a player drafted in 2020 before they have to make a decision on whether or not to sign him? Expiring Contracts Questions: If the season extends into the summer, how will player contracts be handled? What assurances can be given to those on expiring deals? Background: The NHL’s new fiscal year starts July 1 so any contracts due to expire after this season currently only run through June 30. But if the playoffs are held in July and August … Let’s say a player has five years left on his deal, in that situation he likely doesn’t care about the July 1 situation because he’s under contract well past that date. However, for players on an expiring contract, if I were in their shoes the first question I’d want to know is if I’m still insured, and what happens if I’m involved in a career-ending injury? Could we get a situation where a player tells the club ‘I’m not playing the shortened season and I’m not playing these playoffs until such time as I have a new contract and the assurances that come with it’? NMC/NTC Question: How will the league handle players with trade clauses in their contracts that either begin or change on July 1, 2020 if the season extends beyond that point? Background: There are a number of guys who fall into this category. Some quick examples: Alex Killorn is scheduled to see his full no-trade clause revert to a 16-team no-trade list, Alexander Radulov will have his no- movement clause turn into a 15-team no-trade list and Sean Monahan is set to gain a 10-team no-trade list. Would those changes still go into effect before the start of the coming off-season? Tampa was a club that jumped out at me because it’s going to be another off-season where it will again have to make some tough decisions and possibility part ways with players such as Killorn in order to free up the cap space needed to sign restricted free agents Mikhail Sergachev and Anthony Cirelli. But what happens if the league extends the 2019-20 season into August or early September? Will clauses like the one in Killorn’s contract get extended as well? If so, will that give Tampa enough time or flexibility to make the moves needed to be cap-compliant come October? Performance Bonuses Questions: How will the league handle games-played bonuses for a shortened or lost season? How will the league handle “Schedule A” and “Schedule B” bonuses in entry-level contracts? How will the league address players who were on pace to spend 100 days on injured reserve? Background: The “Schedule A” bonuses carry specific targets, such as 20 goals, 35 assists or 60 points for forwards. Those are worth $212,500 apiece to players who have them included in their entry-level deals. @CapFriendly’s two cents: I’m assuming they’d have no choice but to prorate the totals, but that is simply a guess. However, if they don’t and a player who would have almost definitely hit a threshold or two were to just fall short, that would be tough. Questions: How will a shortened season impact whether a player earns an accrued season? Or his waiver eligibility? Or his arbitration status? Or whether his entry-level contract kicks in or slides another year? Background: When the 2012-13 regular season was shortened to 48 games because of the lockout, most of these things wound up getting calculated on a prorated basis. While it’s reasonable to assume that a similar approach would be taken again, it could come with some unintended consequences. The one that will be most interesting is the slide-eligible players. The entry-level system allows a contract to be delayed by one or two years for 18- and 19-year-olds, respectively, if they play in nine or less NHL games during the season. This process is known as an entry-level slide. There are clubs who didn’t want to have one of their prospects burn a year and therefore sent them down to the AHL after they played nine games. Now, let’s say the NHL implements a prorated system based on, for example, 70 games: Does that nine games now become the equivalent of 10 or 11? Examples include Martin Kaut in Colorado and Oliver Wahlstrom in Long Island. All of a sudden the early end to the season might mean they burn a year off their entry-level contract, even though the club had no plans to do so. Scheduling Question: What will the critical dates calendar look like? How much can it be compressed if needed? Background: There’s a prescribed set of rules and deadlines built into the off-season that will all likely have to be shuffled because of the pause, which could be challenging if this season resumes. @CapFriendly’s two cents: Let’s say they have a post-season that goes into August, how do you squeeze what normally takes about two and a half months of off-season activity into maybe a month while training camps are going on? The off-season typically includes: -Entry Draft (late June) -Buyout period (begins June 15) -Free agency (begins July 1) -Arbitration (July and August) -Rookie camps (July and August) -Training camp (September) It will be a challenge to fit all of these aspects of the off-season into the calendar if the playoffs extend through the summer. Seattle Expansion Questions: How will a shortened or lost 2019-20 season impact a player’s pro seasons calculation for expansion? How will a shortened or lost season impact the “played in 70 or more NHL games in the last two seasons” requirement minimum for players being exposed? Background: A quick refresher on the expansion rules. Teams must expose at least two forwards and one defenceman to Seattle who are under contract for 2021-22 and played at least 40 NHL games in 2020-21 or 70 NHL games total since the start of 2019-20 — our paused season. I haven’t had much time to investigate this matter as it relates to the stoppage in depth, but I’m starting to spend more time on it now. First off, Seattle must select 30 players whose total cap hit value don’t exceed the upper and lower limits of the 2020-21 season. Will a lost season, and the possibility of a lower than expected cap in 2020-21, change Seattle’s plans and who they end up selecting? Will it result in even less side deals like the ones we saw with the Vegas expansion draft? Another interesting case is the minimum exposure requirement of 70 or more NHL games played within two seasons. How will a shortened or cancelled season impact that threshold and the number of players that Seattle will have to choose from? Will the games played threshold be prorated for the 2019-20 season? Or what about situations like Juuso Valimaki in Calgary, who’s been on IR all season but had resumed skating. All he needs is one pro game this season to be expansion draft eligible in 2021. If the season gets cancelled, that’s one less player Calgary will need to worry about protecting, and one less player Seattle might have available to pick from.

TSN.CA: History suggests NHL Awards for 2019-20 season will be distributed

By Frank Seravalli – April 2, 2020

In any normal season, ballots for the NHL Awards would have arrived in the inboxes of voters from the Professional Hockey Writers Association. They would typically be due next Wednesday, before puck drop on what was to be the opening night of the Stanley Cup playoffs. But the puck won’t be dropping on the playoffs on Wednesday - and not in the foreseeable future - with the NHL season on pause since March 12 with the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus. You can add how to handle the Awards to the long list of items the NHL and NHL Players’ Association must sort out. But it’s understandably not near the top of anyone’s priority list at the moment, given all that’s going on the world. “I have not even begun to consider it at this point in time,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told NHL.com a few days ago. “So I can’t tell you one way or the other on that.” In a perfect world, the NHL would find the right moment to hand out hockey’s most prestigious individual honours, just like they have with the Hart, Norris, Calder, Selke and Vezina trophies annually - some of them for nearly 100 years. But a decision on the Awards will likely have to wait until one is first made on the balance of the regular season schedule. Enough hockey has likely been played to determine the winners. More than 85 per cent of the 1,271- game schedule has been completed, a tidy average of 70 games for each of the 31 teams. The Awards have twice been handed out with less than the full slate completed, the two 48-game, lockout-shortened seasons of 1994-95 and 2012-13. In 1995, they produced a memorable Hart acceptance speech from an emotional Eric Lindros. In 2013, the Awards were handed out over two nights in mid-June during the Stanley Cup Final in Chicago. Those seasons were shortened but still played to their scheduled completion. This is a different beast. Perhaps the only true comparable, if one even exists, is the 1994 Major League Baseball season that abruptly ended the season on Aug. 12 - wiping out the World Series for the first time since 1904. Even in that season, the Baseball Writers' Association of America still decided to hand out their hardware. Then-BBWAA national president Rick Hummel relayed on Thursday that he called for a vote with association members at the 1994 All-Star Game in Pittsburgh. They knew a strike was on the horizon and wanted to chart a path forward. The BBWAA voted to go-ahead with their honours, even though there was dissent. The prevailing wisdom was that each team had played approximately 115 games; the BBWAA still handed out all of their major awards in 1981, when only 105 had been played (70 per cent of the season) and the season was split into two halves. In other words, history suggests that the NHL Awards will not go by the wayside for the 2019-20 season. Enough games have been played to fairly determine winners - with maybe more still to come. But ballots cannot be distributed until it's known whether games will be played or not. Until then, we’ll have plenty of time to research and wrestle with our ballots. We’ve gone ahead and assembled a blue-ribbon panel of TSN analysts to give you their thoughts on where the Awards stand with the NHL on pause: