Mailbag: Kochetkov, Levi, Schmid expected to play significant roles this season
NHL.com's Dan Rosen answers weekly questions
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Seems like there are several young goaltenders that are primed for a starting role in the NHL. Which three young goalies do you expect to take a significant role this year? Moreover, which rookie goalies should we expect to see this year that have potential for starting roles in the future? -- @theashcity
Pyotr Kochetkov of the Carolina Hurricanes, Devon Levi of the Buffalo Sabres and Akira Schmid of the New Jersey Devils.
I think Kochetkov, 24, is the best of the three goalies Carolina has, including Frederik Andersen and Antti Raanta. He signed a four-year, $8 million contract ($2 million average annual value) on Nov. 23, 2022, which will become one of the best bargains in the NHL. Kochetkov has No. 1 written all over him. He might not get it right away this season, but I think he will be the goalie the Hurricanes ride into the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He was 12-7-5 with a 2.44 goals-against average, .909 save percentage and four shutouts in 24 games (23 starts) last season.
Levi has a chance to be the Sabres' No. 1 goalie despite being 21 years old and playing seven NHL games, all last season, when he came on quickly and made a big impression. Levi was 5-2-0 with a 2.94 GAA and .905 save percentage. He allowed two goals in four of his seven starts, two to the New York Rangers and one to the Florida Panthers. Those were playoff teams. Eric Comrie and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen also are in the mix in Buffalo, but the net is up for grabs and Levi could take it.
Schmid is expected to share time with Vitek Vanecek. The 23-year-old made his biggest impact in the playoffs last season, replacing Vanecek after Game 2 of the Eastern Conference First Round against the New York Rangers. He won four of five starts, two with a shutout and two with one goal against. The Devils ran out of steam against the Hurricanes in the second round, but Schmid's impact was big enough that the Devils felt confident to go with him and Vanecek this season when they could have tried to add a veteran through trade or free agency. They even traded Mackenzie Blackwood to the San Jose Sharks to allow for Schmid to be in the top two on the depth chart.
Jesper Wallstedt (Minnesota Wild) and Yaroslav Askarov (Nashville Predators) will be No. 1 goalies in the future. They're worth watching this season if they get some NHL time. Wallstedt was reassigned to Iowa of the American Hockey League on Wednesday because he's blocked by Filip Gustavsson and Marc-Andre Fleury. The latter is in the last season of his contract, so unless there's an injury Wallstedt's time won't come until next season. Askarov could back up Juuse Saros in Nashville. Kevin Lankinen is in that spot now, but Askarov is pushing.
Peter Laviolette, the New York Rangers head coach, has already expressed some concern about the work ethic of the team. It seems like culturally speaking it is a theme from last year. If it's not the coach, then do you see any personnel changes to shake up the culture? -- @mingrass513
Let's slow down. It's training camp, preseason games, and players, especially veterans, go at their own speed to ramp up and be ready for opening night and the start of the 82-game grind that is the NHL regular season. You're talking about Laviolette's comments after the Rangers lost 5-3 to the New York Islanders at UBS Arena on Saturday. They were down 3-0 after the first period, 4-0 after the second. It wasn't good, and Laviolette didn't mince words about it, saying things like "unacceptable," and "not who we are or who we want to be." He praised young players like forwards Brennan Othmann, Will Cuyle and Matt Rempe for "working hard" and "competing," but clearly wasn't happy with the effort of the rest of the team. He did not use an excuse like getting used to the new system. "Backchecking is a universal language. Finishing checks and competing for pucks is a universal language," Laviolette said. To me, that's a coach publicly letting his players know that work ethic will never be allowed to be compromised. I don't know, but my guess is he said the same thing to them in private too. But slow down and realize it's still training camp, still the preseason, just exhibition games and players have to sometimes go at their own speed. If the Rangers are having work ethic problems in two weeks, that will be a big problem.
That doesn't mean there won't be some surprises to start the season. Othmann and Cuylle have played well in camp and preseason games. Alexis Lafrenière has not stood out. Other than potential NHL salary cap constraints, there's nothing stopping Laviolette from giving Othmann an opportunity to play a top-six role at right wing. Lafreniere has that opportunity, but if he can't seize it and Othmann can, then go with the 20-year-old rookie if the cap allows. Laviolette owes nothing to Lafreniere or any of the players who have been with the Rangers the past several seasons. He's new and he's setting his own standard. It's a high one and if players don't match it ice time will plummet and opportunity will go to someone else.
What are the chances of Tom Dundon getting an expansion AHL affiliate team for the Hurricanes? -- @MikeJaquish
The Hurricanes do not have an AHL affiliate for this season. They were with the Chicago Wolves the past three seasons, but the contract expired after 2022-23 and the Wolves decided to become an independent AHL team. It's been said to me that expansion in the AHL so the Carolina Hurricanes can operate their own affiliate is a possibility. How possible I do not know, but it's on the radar of Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon even though the AHL already has 32 teams with the addition of Seattle Kraken affiliate Coachella Valley last season. It's also possible that the AHL Board of Governors would be resistant to having an imbalance of teams (33 for the AHL, 32 for the NHL). Expansion is not currently on the horizon for the NHL. However, the longer the Wolves stay independent and the AHL stays with 32 teams, the longer at least one NHL team will be without an AHL affiliate.
For this season, general manager Don Waddell said in a Q&A with the Hurricanes website that their European prospects will be playing overseas in their native countries and there will be a deal worked out with Norfolk in the ECHL to send players there, but they will be dispersing some players to various AHL teams too. They haven't done it yet because they still have back-to-back preseason games Thursday and Friday, a home and home with the Predators. Carolina still has 46 players in training camp.
What is Carolina going to do with Brett Pesce and Brady Skjei? They can't possibly roll into the season with that logjam on the back end. -- @sjbftmlsc
The Hurricanes can and they might because depth at defenseman is an advantage for any team. They have eight with the additions of Dmitry Orlov, Tony DeAngelo and Caleb Jones to join Jaccob Slavin, Brent Burns, Jalen Chatfield, Pesce and Skjei. The latter two are in the last season of their respective contracts and can be unrestricted free agents, but so can DeAngelo, Jones and Chatfield, and the Hurricanes do not need to be in a rush to make any decisions on their futures.
Pesce and Skjei are a solid defense pair. Trading one could hurt the other. It makes more sense for the Hurricanes, a win-now team, to keep them both and push decisions on them down the road to be dealt with later. The Hurricanes are not in any kind of cap crunch and can go with 23 players, including 13 forwards and eight defensemen. The bigger decision they have is between Andersen, Raanta and Kochetkov. It might come down to what's easiest, Kochetkov going to an AHL team because he's not yet subjected to waivers, whereas Andersen and Raanta would have to clear them.
Will the Sabres finally make the playoffs? -- @bradbalon
Yes. This is the year the drought ends. The Sabres haven't been in the playoffs since 2011, but they haven't allowed a core group of players to develop together. They're doing that now with defensemen Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power, Mattias Samuelsson and Henri Jokiharju, and forwards Tage Thompson, Alex Tuch, Dylan Cozens, Jeff Skinner, JJ Peterka, Casey Mittelstadt, Peyton Krebs, Jordan Greenway and Jack Quinn, who will miss time recovering from an Achilles injury. They missed the playoffs by one point last season and that was in spite of an eight-game losing streak in November. Avoid the big slump, stay consistent and the Sabres will be in the playoffs.
