2021 has certainly been another eventful year both on and off the rink. Over the coming days, PHR will take a look back at the top stories from around the game on a month-by-month basis. We begin with the month of January.
Barzal Bridge: Throughout the entire COVID delay to the start of the 2020-21 season, the expectation was that the Islanders would be forced to do a bridge deal with their top center in Mathew Barzal. In the end, it’s exactly what happened as the two sides agreed to a three-year, $21 million contract that will carry a qualifying offer of $8.4 million in 2023. While a longer-term contract was preferable for both sides, the shorter term gave the Islanders a little bit more wiggle room with which to work, which they used to officially complete contracts for veterans Matt Martin, Tom Kuhnhackl, Andy Greene and Cory Schneider. Barzal hasn’t been able to match the production from his Calder-winning season in 2017-18 when he averaged more than a point per game but he is still an offensive weapon on a team that is best known for being a low-scoring squad.
Crawford Retires: It was somewhat surprising when Corey Crawford left Chicago and signed a two-year, $7.8 million contract with the Devils. In the end, Crawford decided not to go through with it, instead announcing his retirement. He hung up his skates with a 260-162-53 record with a 2.45 GAA, .918 SV% and 26 shutouts along with a pair of Stanley Cup titles in 2013 and 2015, all coming with the Blackhawks. Meanwhile, with no other veteran netminders available that close to the start of the season, New Jersey opted to have Scott Wedgewood serve as the backup last season with Aaron Dell and Eric Comrie also seeing limited action with the Devils.
Swapping Young Stars: Pierre-Luc Dubois didn’t exactly hide his desire to leave Columbus while Patrik Laine and Jack Roslovic were certainly amenable to leaving Winnipeg. In the end, the three were all swapped for each other with the Jets picking up a third-round pick along with Dubois. Columbus retained enough of Dubois’ salary to make it a match with Laine while Roslovic quickly signed a two-year, $3.8 million bridge deal after being acquired. Interestingly enough, it was Roslovic who had the best season of the three as he picked up 34 points in 48 games with his new team. This season, however, Dubois has gotten off to a particularly strong start, notching more points than Laine and Roslovic combined (although Laine has been limited to just 10 games due to an oblique injury).
Big Extensions: After a promising rookie season, Penguins GM Jim Rutherford was quite impressed with John Marino and handed him a six-year, $24.4 million extension that bought out the remainder of his RFA-eligible years plus three UFA seasons. At the time, it looked like the deal had the potential to be a big bargain for Pittsburgh down the road if he was able to build on his rookie performance, although there was some risk considering how inexperienced he was. The early returns have been inconsistent as he took a bit of a step back last season although Marino has bounced back this season, logging 22 minutes a game while chipping in with 12 points in 30 games. That’s the type of performance that could make this a team-friendly deal in the near future.
Meanwhile, the Blue Jackets were able to lock up one of their top young talents, inking Oliver Bjorkstrand to a five-year, $27 million extension. He has become a reliable top-six piece for Columbus and has become fairly consistent in the scoring department, ranging between 0.32 and 0.4 goals per game (between 26 and 33 over an 82-game season) in each of the last four years. The contract more than doubled his average annual value at the time and bought out four seasons of unrestricted free agency eligibility.
Rutherford Resigns: Just weeks after signing Marino, Rutherford abruptly resigned as GM of the Penguins, citing personal reasons for why he decided to leave. He was at the helm of Pittsburgh since 2014 with the Penguins winning a pair of Stanley Cups during his tenure with them. Of course, this won’t be the last time that Rutherford finds himself in one of these Month in Review columns over the coming days with him now being in Vancouver. Patrik Allvin took over as interim GM and has been speculatively linked as a candidate to join Rutherford with the Canucks in the coming weeks.
More must-reads: