Four Arena Plan On

Late yesterday, Larry Brooks reported that the league’s plan to resume in 4 host cities was not only on but firm. The league needs to also control and work with the host State guidelines once play resumes. That would be near impossible under the suggestion to play in every NHL city. However, the biggest roadblock is testing, with Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly saying the league will not circumvent or accept any special access to testing while if others can’t access them as well.

Testing, though, remains a major universal stumbling block to a reopening in any form as the league and union grapple with matters including availability and procurement of test kits, cost, reliability and speed of results. If the idea is to test every player every day — and every member of teams’ traveling parties plus league officials and attendant personnel necessary to stage the games — that would mean running a couple of thousand tests per day. It is believed that an effort is underway for the four major sports leagues — including MLB, the NFL and the NBA — to coordinate responses on these testing issues. All of these leagues face a potential backlash if tests are scarce among the general public and across more essential industries while funneled to pro sports entities.

Larry Brooks NYPOST

Rangers Loaded Prospect Pool is Why Lehtonen Looking Elsewhere

The Mikko Lehtonen Rangers speculation included some interesting Instagram activity, that showed him following the team’s official account. What isn’t clear is if the two sides had substantial discussions, but players and their agents are also very well aware that the team will be looking to develop and get both Nils Lundkvist and K’Andre Miller on defense. Add to that prospects Zac Jones and Matthew Robertson are considered future blue-liners in the next few years. A team source I spoke to last night, was extremely high on both and reiterated that as the team is currently constituted including its prospect pipeline that goalies and defensemen really won’t be signing with the Rangers.

Update:

Henrik Lundqvist Staying Sharp

Henrik Lundqvist posted videos on his Instagram on how he is keeping his hand eye coordination sharp to be ready for the restart of the season.

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In a report by Elliotte Friedman the NHL Deputy Commissioner tried to make the case in the face that this season could still be cancelled. Now there are plenty of questions around how to seat teams, deal with conditional picks, and more. Here is how Friedman explained it.

• Using each team’s points percentage to determine the Order of Selection. (That’s under the current playoff format, so 16 teams would be out of the lottery and 15 would be in.)
• Changing the lottery format this season only — picking just one winner, and limiting any move-up to a maximum of four spots.
• For conditional trades, the league would propose solutions. The teams would have seven days to either reform the deal on terms acceptable to both, or accept the NHL’s idea.

In the end, when you analyze this it still doesn’t seem like something many teams would sign on for. Of course, there could be even more issues trying to squeeze in a draft in between the short window of awarding a Cup in September and training camps in November.

“My thought is why would you do that? Why would you need to do that? There’s a lot of things that are affected. Obviously, the draft position hasn’t been established. We don’t know who’s in the playoffs, who’s out of the playoffs in some cases. So there’s a lot of questions and ultimately, if (the draft) needs to be done prior to, we’ll figure it out but at this time my own opinion is I haven’t heard a good reason why we should do it prior to the end of the season, if we do conclude the season.”

Steve Yzerman via MLIVE

Rangers not a fit for Lehtonen

After a day of speculation, including some interesting Instagram activity, Mikko Lehtonen and the Rangers aren’t a match. What isn’t fully clear is if the two sides had any compelling conversations, but the Rangers are loaded on defense with a deep prospect pool. Players and their agents are also very well aware that the team will be looking to develop and get both Nils Lundkvist and K’Andre Miller on defense. Add other prospects like Libor Hajek, Tarmo Reunanen, and Matthew Robertson, it makes it even less appealing for a player looking to get top 4 minutes and a future beyond a year or two. This was all confirmed with a team source this evening.

The Case For Lehtonen

Earlier today I laid out the case for Lehtonen. The left side defender would stabilize the bottom pair and provide some offensive punch on the PP. Should the season restart as it appears it will, signing Lehtonen now and burning the ELC right away is fine. He would be an RFA immediately once the season concludes and the Rangers could offer him at least another 1 year deal before he is eligible for unrestricted free agency. That would likely be the best option because it would effectively end Brendan Smith on defense and allow time for Miller and Lundkvist to develop. It also keeps Fox or DeAngelo on the right side where they have excelled this season.

Current rules state he would only be available for regular season games and not the playoffs because he was not listed as a reserve. Of course, the NHL has already discussed rule changes due to this unprecedented pause including expanding rosters to 30 players.

I’ve reached out to the Rangers to see if there’s any news and have not heard back from them. Stay tuned.

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Another added note was concerning the long overdue objective of providing Kaapo Kakko a fellow Finnish countryman to ease his transition. The fact that both players played together and experienced success was a no brainer to logically connect Lehtonen to the Rangers.

Devils and Habs interested

The rumor mill of course is churning having both the NJ Devils and Montreal Canadiens interested in the KHL’s leading scorer for defensemen. Both clubs are desperate for blue-line help and are logical destinations for Lehtonen. Expect a decision within the next few days from Lehtonen and more than just these two rumored teams to check in. Also, don’t disregard the Rangers just yet either, I have a hunch they are keenly interested.

Mikko and Kaapo Connection

Mikko Lehtonen has some ties already to the New York Rangers as he played last season with the future of the franchise, Kaapo Kakko. He also played with Alexandar Georgiev in TPS a few years ago as well. If the Blueshirts go after the 26 year old, it would have to be to an ELC. Another added caveat is that he and Lias Andersson won a championship together for HV71.

Per our own CBA guru Steven Voogel, Lehtonen falls under rule 9.3c which states EU players are ELC eligible until the age of 27. Of course, being that he is an experienced top KHL player this would be just a one year deal for the full $925K.

The Rangers have been trying all season to see if they could find an appropriate Finnish fit to help Kakko transition. Before Toronto opted to go the cheap route for goaltending a trade involving Georgiev and Kasperi Kapanen was rumored to have been discussed. Now the Rangers have the perfect option that fits exactly what the Rangers need to do.

Immediate Help

The left side defender would stabilize the bottom pair and provide some offensive punch on the PP. Should the season restart as it appears it will, signing Lehtonen now and burning the ELC right away is fine. He would be an RFA immediately once the season concludes and the Rangers could offer him at least another 1 year deal before he is eligible for unrestricted free agency. That would likely be the best option because it would effectively end Brendan Smith on defense and allow time for Miller and Lundkvist to develop. It also keeps Fox or DeAngelo on the right side where they have excelled this season.

Current rules state he would only be available for regular season games and not the playoffs because he was not listed as a reserve. Of course, the NHL has already discussed rule changes due to this unprecedented pause including expanding rosters to 30 players.

Note: Steven Voogel helped with the information in this article.

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