Amerks Report 21-22

[Scott-New York]

AMERKS RE-SIGN KREIDER

The league announced several UFA re-signings today, including that of Amerks winger, Chris Kreider. Reports indicate that the deal will be for the full 4 years allowed by the current CBA with an AAV of around $5M. It is not clear as of right now, if the contract is a condition of a sign and trade or if Kreider will be with the team for the foreseeable future. There have been many rumors of GM, Scott Jones, taking many phone calls over the past couple weeks and with the expansion draft scheduled for Monday night, we will find out very soon just exactly what Jones has been up to behind the curtain when the cloak and dagger games end once the trade freeze is lifted. We do know that Jones has indicated on several occasions that after another exit in the conference finals this year, the team would commit to a rebuild, but he has said that in the past and just a year in, traded for higher end talent such as Bryan Rust, Andre Burakovsky, Radko Gudas and Jaroslav Halak. Will this trend continue or will Jones sacrifice winning for the next few seasons and build a foundation that will be capable of sustaining a winning tradition as many around the GHL have gotten used to. If Jones goes all in, can he hold himself accountable and not try to speed up the process once again? We know one thing about the GM for sure, he wants to win.

[Scott-New York]

AMERKS ANNOUNCE FIVE TRADES

We already knew about GM Jones sending Jordan Staal to the expansion Oregon Mighty Ducks in exchange for Oregon’s 2nd round draft pick this year (#35) and protection of 24 year old power forward, Jake Virtanen. Virtanen is currently dealing with legal issues following sexual misconduct allegations and Jones’ obvious intent to offer the restricted free agent a contract extension is one born out of protecting a team asset and is not any indication of whether the GM will ultimately stand behind Virtanen or not, according to a spokesperson for the team. Oregon selected defenseman, Radko Gudas, during Monday night’s expansion draft.

What we did not know until today, was that Jones has indeed been very busy since the season ended, with the announcement of four additional trades this morning.

The Amerks sent defenseman, Jake McCabe, to St. Paul in exchange for the Stars 3rd round pick this year and 23 year old defenseman, Frederic Allard. Allard is a pending restricted free agent who projects as a flashy offensive defensman.

New York also sent Curtis Lazar to Adirondack in exchange for Cornwall’s 2022 3rd round pick and 26 year old winger, Mason Marchment. The sizeable role-playing winger is currently on a very affordable minor league deal for the upcoming GHL season affording New York valuable cap leeway with the currently stagnant league cap situation.

In a separate deal with the Aces, the Amerks have agreed to sign and trade long time winger, Chris Kreider, in exchange for Adirondack’s 2022 2nd round pick and 23 year old winger, Mikhail Maltsev. Kreider has spent his entire 8 season GHL career with the Americans and will be greatly missed by the organization. His work ethic and, of course scoring touch, is the epitome of Amerks hockey. Kreider skated in 621 games with the team and contributed 386 points. The organization wishes Chris nothing but the best in Adirondack and wishes to thank him for his long time dedication and commitment to the team.

The final trade announced today was a blockbuster. In a deal which sends a combined season total of 127 points last season, Suffolk acquires Bryan Rust and Andre Burakovsky in exchange for Suffolk’s 1st round pick this year (#26), Adirondack’s 4th round pick this year (#123), Logan O’Connor and Kale Clague. O’Connor is a 24 year old depth scoring winger, who like the aforementioned, Mason Marchment, will be joining the fold on a minor league contract. 23 year old defenseman, Clague, is a solid puck-moving rear guard who the team hopes will mature into a long range top 4 player.

Rumors suggest that Jones is still currently working on at least a few other trades as the team continues to work toward the upcoming entry draft, which becomes a lot more relevant with the team picking up 4 additional picks this year in the above moves. It would seem that the teams commitment to rebuilding is at a fever pitch.

[Scott-New York]

AMERKS ADD FIVE PLAYERS IN FREE AGENCY

The New York Americans are going to look a lot different this coming season. It appears GM, Scott Jones, is looking to change the culture of this team. The biggest name fans will not hear introduced at the home opener on Oct. 14th will certainly be that of Chris Kreider, but the summer brought many other changes as well. No longer with the team are Jordan Staal, Jake McCabe, Curtis Lazar, Andre Burakovsky, Bryan Rust, Jordan Oesterle, Martin Frk, Jake Virtanen and Jaroslav Halak. Jones brought in many younger players in favor of some of the veterans on the roster, trading for draft picks which resulted in Ty Smith and Pius Suter, who will both challenge to make the team, while also bringing in plenty of other young players who will look to prove they belong as part of the long term goals, such as, Mason Marchment, Logan O’Connor, Mikhail Maltsev, William Lagesson and Kale Clague. But Jones wasn’t done with the roster overhaul, trading for veteran netminder, Jack Campbell to help Connor Hellebuyck between the pipes as well re-signing RFA, Ethan Bear, to a bridge deal rumored to come in around $3.5M over 2 years. Campbell was also signed to an extension by the team that our sources place at $7M over 4 years. Jones then aggressively hit the free agency market. Veteran defenseman Justin Braun has reportedly signed a one year deal worth $4.5M and fan favorite, Jesper Fast, also signed on for another year at $3.5M. The big news of the summer, however, was the signing of three top six forwards to hopefully solidify this line-up for many years to come. All three come in as very cap friendly additions as Jones did a masterful job constructing the roster for the long term while keeping plenty of cap space available in the following years. Cam Atkinson has reportedly agreed to terms on a 5 year/$22.5M deal. Jaden Schwartz has been inked to a 5 year deal as well, rumored to be worth $22.25M. Boone Jenner also comes in on what we’re being told is a 4 year deal at $13M. With all the new players coming in, training camp could be very interesting. It would appear the goaltending is set with Hellebuyck and Campbell. The defense looks to be pretty well in line, with Roman Josi, Aaron Ekblad, Devon Toews, Bear and Braun sure bets to be roaming the point, which leaves one spot for the taking. It would appear that battle will likely be between Clague and Smith with Lagesson and veteran, Nick Holden, also in the mix. The forward group has undergone a complete overhaul. Elias Pettersson, Mikael Backlund, Jordan Greenway, Fast and Matt Calvert will be the only familiar faces from last season. Schwartz, Atkinson, Jenner and Suter will assuredly take roster spots, leaving at least three line-up spots open for players like Maltsev, Brett Howden, Marchment, O’Connor, Taro Hirose and Max Jones to try and win during camp. The GM spoke briefly today regarding the off-season.

“It was busy. I committed to change after the playoffs and I’ll be honest, the summer was filled with doubt. A lot of really good players are gone. Kreids, Staalsy, Rusty, Bur-o, Jaro and Jake. I mean letting guys like that walk is tough...very tough. Despite that, we’re happy about what we’ve done. We’re excited to see the young guys we’ve brought in and I think the signings are going to work out really well. The expectations are that it’ll take a season or so to gel these guys together and get them playing the style we want to see, but we think we’ve brought in the right pieces to combine with the core we have here and we truly believe that this will be a competitive roster as early as next season. Listen, every team wants to win and the fans want to see a winning team. You can keep your top ten draft pick, we don’t want it. We want to win”!

[Scott-New York]

AMERKS MID-SEASON REPORT

It has been a relatively quiet season within the New York media despite the Amerks playing well above expectations thus far in the 21-22 campaign. The team is currently suffering through their roughest slump of the season, dropping their last 4 contests by a cumulative score of 27-8. They have allowed no less than 6 goals against per game over that span, but management does not appear overly concerned despite the recent down turn. In fact, prior to the 4 losses, the team reeled off a 9 game unbeaten stretch during which they posted up an 8-0-1 record. The team has spent much of the season atop the Norris division but have relinquished that spot to Suffolk and currently sit 2nd in the division and 5th in the conference. A playoff position seems like a very reasonable goal this year, which is way above the expectation curve of the front offices coming into the season. The 48 points earned thus far places them 10 above the playoff cut line as of this report. They will have to find the stride which brought them to where they are before long, however, because it doesn’t take long to slip off the pace and find yourself on the outside looking in.

While New York’s success is an all hands on deck approach, one player who has been red hot this season is Sammy Blais, who the Amerks traded for on Nov. 18th. Blais is on pace to smash his point total of 39 from last season. Blais leads the Amerks with 33 points in 36 games played this season and is also leading the team in goals with 20. The team has a total of 9 players who have broken the 20 point plateau, including Jesper Fast and Jordan Greenway, with 20 assists each. Pius Suter is off to a great start to his rookie campaign with 15 goals and 10 assists in his first 39 games.

There is no doubt that the building process is still in full swing and management is still committed to that process. The question is whether the team will buy, sell or stand pat when the trade deadline rolls around. The one thing we are sure of is that GM Jones will not make any moves that will hinder future success at this stage in the build despite the team seeming to be ahead of schedule. This team is being built to win.

[Scott-New York]

After a fairly quiet media season, especially by New York standards, the Amerks made some serious noise at the trade deadline. GM, Scott Jones, went all in on deadline day, pulling the trigger on a pair of significant deals after dipping his toes in the water in the weeks leading up to the closing bell. Eleven days before the league set its trade freeze, Jones acquired veteran blueliner, Duncan Keith, along with a 4th round pick from Chicago in exchange for a 2nd round pick, big young power forward Adam Ruzicka and Nick Holden. The Amerks also brought in depth scoring forward, Sam Bennett, from Moncton, sending Max Jones and the rights to Josh Ho-Sang back to the Golden Flames. After seeing the dividends of those moves, Jones decided to push the rest of his chips into the center of the table. Andrew Copp was acquired from Boston in exchange for promising goaltending prospect, Dustin Wolf, in the final hours leading up to yesterday's deadline, but the big splash was made in a true blockbuster deal with New Jersey. The Amerks acquired another big scoring threat in Conor Garland, along with depth forward Brock McGinn and depth defenseman Jan Rutta, sending a 1st round pick, a 4th round pick, defensive prospect William Lagesson, forward prospect Josiah Slavin (the brother of Jaccob Slavin), Matt Calvert and Joel Kellman across the river to the Garden state. In an early assessment of Jones' work, the Amerks topped Hershey 7-4, scoring 5 unanswered goals after falling behind 4-2 early in the 2nd period. Newcomers, Garland, Bennett, Copp and Keith all contributed to the win. Garland's goal and pair of assists led the way. Bennett added a goal and a helper, while Copp scored and Keith chipped in with an assist. The real test will come with the Amerks matching up against division leading Suffolk twice before we flip the page on the calendar. Jones spoke briefly today.

"We feel pretty good about the moves we've made. Yes, we had to give up some really high potential but that's the cost of doing business in the G. Overall, we're thrilled with what we've done. Having 2 years left on the Copp and Garland contracts offsets some of the youth and picks, especially with Conor being restricted. Brass (head coach, Justin Brassard) has his work cut out for him. We didn't get any practice in before the game tonight so he'll be working on the chemistry for the next couple of days before we welcome in the Stampede Friday night. We'd like to thank GM Folks (Chicago interim), GM Durkin, GM Holland and GM Beldock for the excellent negotiations".