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Nashville Predators Recall Reid Boucher From Conditioning Stint

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After claiming Reid Boucher from the New Jersey Devils earlier this month, the Nashville Predators sent him on a conditioning stint after playing just one game. That stint is now over as the team has recalled him from Milwaukee late Friday night.

Scoring four goals and an assist in the five game stint, Boucher showed why he’s ranked out of the AHL. The former 60-goal OHL scorer has shown an aptitude for finding the twine at every level thus far including the NHL. Never with the big league club for very long at any one time, the 23-year old has put up 29 points in 83 games.

The Predators could use an offensive pick-me-up after being shut out by the Kings last night. For the 15-13-5 Preds, any help is much appreciated.

Where Does Kyle Okposo Rank In Islanders History?

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Tonight marks the first time the New York Islanders will welcome in Kyle Okposo as an opponent, after the winger signed with the Buffalo Sabres in the offseason to a whopping seven-year, $56MM deal. After parts of nine seasons with the Islanders, the team couldn’t afford (or didn’t want to pay for) his services any longer and let him find a huge payday somewhere else.

Okposo was drafted by the Islanders seventh overall in 2006, right after Derick Brassard and just before Peter Mueller. The team had whiffed the previous two years (though they didn’t know it yet) with Ryan O’Marra (15th overall 2005) and Petteri Nokelainen (16th overall 2004) and needed a good young player after a very disappointing season. Okposo was the third USA-born player taken in the draft after Erik Johnson and Phil Kessel both went in the top five. It would turn out to be one of the strongest drafts ever for American players, with no less than nine going in the first round.

Despite knowing the Okposo would be headed to the University of Minnesota, the Islanders couldn’t pass up the skilled offensive forward. Within two years he was playing in the NHL, and would never look back.

While many still don’t see Okposo as a star, he’s provided solid production for the better part of a decade and has accumulated some numbers that shouldn’t be dismissed, even for a franchise with such a storied history.

With 369 points, Okposo ranks 14th all-time in Islanders history, despite being down at 24th on the games played list. He ranks in the top-15 in game winning goals, and has done all of it before his 30th birthday. While it’s obvious he’s not in the same category as Mike Bossy, Bryan Trottier, Denis Potvin or the other Islanders legends, he does deserve some recognition for what he’s accomplished for the franchise.

That’s what the Islanders did tonight as they honored him before the game. With a standing ovation, the crowd showed him what he meant to them, and how much they missed him now that he’s gone (the Islanders are desperate for some scoring off the wing). Islanders fans, where do you think Okposo fits into your franchise history? Tell us below.

Preliminary Round Schedule For IIHF World Junior Championship

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On December 26th, the IIHF World Junior Championship will kick off for it’s yearly batch of holiday hockey. The annual tournament pits the best under-20 players in the world against each other and this year (like two years ago) will be held in Toronto and Montreal at their respective NHL arenas.

Teams from Canada, USA, Finland, Sweden, Russia, Denmark, Latvia, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Switzerland will duke it out for the three medals and bragging rights among young players around the world. This tournament is a breeding ground for NHLers, as most played for their country at one time or another.

The opening game will see Denmark face off against Sweden at noon (CST) on Monday, followed by three other matchups throughout the day. The gold medal game will be played on Thursday, January 5th at 6:30 (CST). Below is the full schedule for the preliminary round of the tournament, along with the venue (all times CST).

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Snapshots: Connolly, Stars, Varlamov, Red Wings/Hurricanes

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When right winger Brett Connolly signed a one year, $850K contract with Washington in the summer, some believed that playing in a more offensive-oriented environment might help unlock the potential he has shown over the years after being the sixth overall pick to Tampa Bay back in 2010.  However, he has been a healthy scratch for nearly half the season and admitted to Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post that his lack of playing time has been taking its toll on him:

“It’s obviously frustrating, you don’t want to be sitting out no matter what the reason is. But we’ve talked about kind of my situation and what’s going to be going on moving forward.

“I need to be playing. I need to be out there, so we’ll see. It’s obviously a big year. I’m being patient, and there’s still 51 games left. There’s still a big chunk of the season left and then playoffs, so you’ve just got to stick with it and hopefully you can get in there and be kept in there and play well and produce.”

Connolly has played in 17 games this season, scoring three times while adding an assist.  However, ice time has been hard to come by as he has spent the bulk of the year on the fourth line when he has played and as a result is playing less than 11 minutes a night.  He’ll get another chance as he will be back in the lineup tonight against Tampa Bay but once again will be on the fourth line.

Elsewhere around the league:

  • The Stars are likely to dress seven defensemen tonight as they take on the Kings, notes Mark Stepneski of Stars Inside Edge. Dallas is still without Cody Eakin due to his four game suspension and they are not permitted to replace him on the active roster.  Meanwhile, winger Antoine Roussel and defenseman Stephen Johns are both listed as doubtful but are also on the active roster, leaving them without a spot to bring up an extra forward.  Head coach Lindy Ruff said that if they have to use a defender as a forward at times, it will be either Patrik Nemeth or Jamie Oleksiak.
  • After recently returning to the lineup from a groin strain, Colorado goaltender Semyon Varlamov has once again been sidelined with a groin issue, the team announced via Twitter. Varlamov had a tough night against Toronto on Thursday night, allowing five goals on 18 shots before being pulled.  Spencer Martin has been recalled and will back up Calvin Pickard until Varlamov is ready to return.
  • The Detroit/Carolina game that was postponed due to ice issues earlier this week has been rescheduled for March 27th, the league announced. Interestingly enough, this creates a rare three games in three nights for the Red Wings who host the Wild on the 26th and already were scheduled to play in Carolina on the 28th.

Poll: 2005 NHL Draft Take Two: Twenty-Fifth Overall Pick

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Hindsight is an amazing thing, and allows us to look back and wonder “what could have been.” Though perfection is attempted, scouting and draft selection is far from an exact science and sometimes, it doesn’t work out the way teams – or players – intended. For every Patrick Kane, there is a Patrik Stefan.

We’re looking back at the 2005 NHL Draft, which kicked off the salary cap era and ushered in many of the current NHL superstars. The question we’re looking to answer is knowing now what we didn’t know then, how different would this draft look now with the benefit of hindsight?

Here are the results of our redraft so far:

1st Overall: Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguins)
2nd Overall: Carey Price (Mighty Ducks of Anaheim)
3rd Overall: Anze Kopitar (Carolina Hurricanes)
4th Overall: Jonathan Quick (Minnesota Wild)
5th Overall: Kris Letang (Montreal Canadiens)
6th Overall: Tuukka Rask (Columbus Blue Jackets)
7th Overall: Bobby Ryan (Chicago Blackhawks)
8th Overall: Marc-Edouard Vlasic (San Jose Sharks)
9th Overall: Ben Bishop (Ottawa Senators)
10th Overall: James Neal (Vancouver Canucks)
11th Overall: T.J. Oshie (Los Angeles Kings)
12th Overall: Keith Yandle (New York Rangers)
13th Overall: Paul Stastny (Buffalo Sabres)
14th Overall: Marc Staal (Washington Capitals)
15th Overall: Patric Hornqvist (New York Islanders)
16th Overall: Niklas Hjalmarsson (Atlanta Thrashers)
17th Overall: Anton Stralman (Phoenix Coyotes)
18th Overall: Jack Johnson (Nashville Predators)
19th Overall: Matt Niskanen (Detroit Red Wings)
20th Overall: Justin Abdelkader (Florida Panthers)
21st Overall: Martin Hanzal (Toronto Maple Leafs)
22nd Overall: Andrew Cogliano (Boston Bruins)
23rd Overall: Kris Russell (New Jersey Devils)
24th Overall: Darren Helm (St. Louis Blues)

Now we move forward to the 25th pick, which was held by the Edmonton Oilers.

To recap how this works:

  • We will go through the 2005 NHL Draft and have our readers select, through a voting process, who they think should have been taken with the selection.
  • The entire first round will be redrafted, spanning picks one through thirty. The new selection is chosen by the majority of votes.

Back in 2005, the Blues selected center Andrew Cogliano out of St. Michael’s of the OPJHL, an Ontario junior hockey league that doesn’t eliminate college eligibility.  While he hasn’t turned into a top end forward, he has been one of the steadier players in this draft class.

After being drafted, Cogliano played two years at the University of Michigan before turning pro.  Instead of starting in the minors, he immediately made the jump to the NHL level and picked up 45 points in his rookie season, a total that remains his career high today.  Unfortunately, his early success raised expectations that he wasn’t able to live up to.

The 29 year old spent the first four years of his career with the Oilers before being dealt to Anaheim in 2011 for a second round pick in 2013.  (That pick turned into Marc-Olivier Roy, who never signed with Edmonton.)  Cogliano is in his sixth season in an Anaheim uniform and while he hasn’t put up gaudy scoring numbers, he has been a serviceable middle six forward.

One of the calling cards of Cogliano’s career so far has been his durability.  He has yet to miss a single game due to injury or being a healthy scratch, spanning 739 games over ten seasons.  He ranks third in games played from players drafted in 2005, behind only Anze Kopitar (Los Angeles) and Marc-Edouard Vlasic (San Jose).

With the 25th pick of the 2005 NHL Redraft, who should the Oilers select?  Cast your vote below!

Mobile users, click here to vote.

Flyers Notes: Del Zotto, Defense, Raffl

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The start to this season hasn’t been a great one for Flyers defenseman Michael Del Zotto.  He suffered a knee injury in training camp that caused him to miss the first month of the season and since then, he has been a healthy scratch on several occasions with head coach Dave Hakstol looking for a better compete level.  Despite that, he still feels good about his play, writes Dave Isaac of the Courier-Post.

Through 19 games this season, the 26 year old has four goals and five assists which is pretty good production for a blueliner.  However, his ice time has been scaled back significantly as he is playing 18 minutes a night compared to 23:25 last season.

Being sat down while having your minutes cut is hardly a desirable spot for anyone to be in but the timing is particularly poor for Del Zotto, a pending unrestricted free agent in a market that isn’t all that strong when it comes to defensemen.  He told Isaac that his UFA status isn’t in his mind at the moment:

“I know I can contribute offensively and I’ve proven over the last couple of years that I can be a No. 1 defender and I have the ability to shut the other team’s top lines down. I think at this point whatever happens, happens. It is a business. I’m not too worried about it. I’m comfortable with my game. I know I can contribute and help the team win every night.”

While free agency may not be something Del Zotto is currently concerned with, he has to realize that a strong second half of the season would go a lot way towards cementing himself as one of the top free agent blueliners available.  Between that and being sat down at times, he’ll have plenty of motivation the rest of the way.

More news from Philadelphia:

  • Del Zotto is far from the only blueliner to make an impact offensively this season. Mark Streit, Shayne Gostisbehere, and Ivan Provorov are all in the top-35 league-wide for points by a defender, a byproduct of Hakstol’s request to have the back end get more involved at the offensive end, writes Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer.  The decision to have them take more chances offensively certainly has worked so far as the Flyers lead the league in points by defensemen.
  • Left winger Michael Raffl is set to miss the next one-to-two weeks with a lower body injury that’s believed to be a knee sprain, notes CSN Philly’s Jordan Hall. This is the second time this season that the 28 year Austrian will be on the shelf as he also missed eight games with an abdominal injury sustained in mid-October.  In 27 games this season, he has seven goals and two assists and has frequently been up and down the lineup.

Tyler Pitlick Out For The Season

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The Edmonton Oilers will be without right winger Tyler Pitlick for the remainder of the season as the team announced Friday that he has suffered a torn ACL.  The injury occurred in the third period against St. Louis on Monday night.

Pitlick, a second round pick of the Oilers back in 2010 (31st overall), was in his first full season with the team and had been providing them with good production from the fourth line.  He had eight goals (tied for fifth on the team) and three assists despite averaging just under ten minutes per game.

In his career, the 25 year old has played in 58 NHL games, scoring 11 goals while adding three assists.

At least for the time being, the injury could open up a spot for rookie Jesse Puljujarvi to play more often although he’s expected to be scratched for Taylor Beck tonight.  The fourth overall pick back in June has played in just four games this month while being a healthy scratch for the other seven.  The Oilers declined to loan him for the World Juniors and if this injury doesn’t result in much more action for him in the short-term, a stint in the minors might not be a bad idea.  As he wasn’t drafted out of the CHL, he is eligible to be loaned despite being under 20.

One other player who should see more action as a result of Pitlick’s injury is veteran Matt Hendricks who has played in just 11 games this season due to a lower body injury while being scratched frequently.  It was reported earlier this month that he was on the trade block.  A more regular role for him may make it a bit easier to move his $1.85MM cap hit closer to the trade deadline.

Atlantic Notes: Sabres, Matthews, Coreau

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The Sabres gave a performance worthy of Grinch-like proportions writes the Buffalo News’ Mike Harrington. Approaching the holiday season, the Sabres gave their fans a performance akin to receiving coal at Christmas. Losing 3-1 to the Hurricanes Thursday evening, the Sabres were serenaded with boos from the home crowd at multiple points of the game Harrington reports.  More importantly, Harrington continues, are Jack Eichel’s struggles and how it has affected the team. Harrington talked to the young star after the game, who was “seething” with head coach Dan Bylsma’s decision to take away ice time. From Harrington:

Asked if he was surprised to not be on the ice, the 20-year-old said the time to discuss the topic was over.

“I think I just answered that. I’m not the coach,” he said. “Like I said, we had a lot of opportunities on the first power play. … I was on the second power play. I’m out there working hard. I think that’s all I really have to say about that.”

Bylsma was “unusually intense” during the morning skate, but his teaching apparently fell on deaf ears. Worse, Buffalo slipped into a tie with Detroit for last place in the Atlantic with the loss. Harrington writes that redemption could come in the way of beating the New York Islanders tonight.

Dec 22, 2016; Denver, CO, USA; Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews (34) celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal in the first period against the Colorado Avalanche at the Pepsi Center. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

  • Auston Matthews is set to play his first game in his home state tonight, and the excitement for his return is through the roof writes NHL.com’s Dan Rosen. From Arizona youth hockey teams to Matthews’ own parents, the entire state of Arizona has been waiting to see their homegrown son return to where many thought hockey would never last. Instead, the #1 overall pick in the 2016 draft not only hails from the non-traditional hockey market of Arizona, he’s the face of the organization that many consider the epicenter of the hockey world. Matthews’ importance to the state of Arizona goes beyond just local pride. It’s the idea, Rosen continues, that Arizona finally has relevancy in hockey’s eyes.
  • Jared Coreau is set to start in net tonight for the Detroit Red Wings tweets MLive’s Brendan Savage. Head coach Jeff Blashill broke the news to Petr Mrazek, who has struggled to keep hold of the starting job in light of Jimmy Howard’s strong play. Savage adds that Blashill said he wants players to “want to be in” and though they may not agree, Savage tweets that Blashill declares that he has the final say. This season, Mrazek is 9-7-3 with an .899 save percentage. His struggles are one of many on the team this year that has landed the Red Wings in a tie for last place in the division.

Snapshots: Clinton’s Latest, Crawford, Hossa

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The Hockey News’ Jared Clinton breaks down five significant summer signings that haven’t quite lived up to their billing. While a number of players were given lucrative deals, Clinton gives the number one spot to Andrew Ladd, who after receiving a seven year, $38MM deal, has produced at an abysmal level. Ladd had only one assist in his first 12 games, and if his current pace of four goals and seven points continue, he is on pace for only 10 goals and 18 points. It’s hardly a return on investment.

Second on Clinton’s list is Mikkel Boedker, who inked a four-year, $16MM with San Jose. Boedker has six points (2-4) in 33 games, and Clinton wonders if this is why the winger barely fetched anything at the trade deadline last season. On the defensive side, Clinton looks at Dan Hamhuis, who appeared to be a great pickup for the Dallas Stars. It hasn’t worked out as such. Clinton notes that the veteran defenseman has been a healthy scratch twice, seen his average ice time drop by nearly two minutes, and has been relegated to a third line pairing.

With the salary cap not expected to move much in the next year, these signings could serve as a cautionary tale as to spending wisely instead of just spending to spend.

In other NHL news:

  • Corey Crawford is set to return in net tonight writes the Chicago Tribune’s Chris Hine. The 31-year-old goaltender has been out since having an emergency appendectomy almost three weeks ago. Crawford will face the struggling Colorado Avalanche, who were dismantled 6-0 by Toronto last night. Crawford has been outstanding for the Hawks this season, posting a 12-6-2 mark with a .927 save percentage.
  • With the good comes the bad, and Hine reports that Marian Hossa will miss his first game since suffering an upper body injury Tuesday night against Ottawa. In Hossa’s place will be Tanner Kero, who leads AHL affiliate Rockford in points this season. Kero worked in with Jordin Tootoo and Andrew Desjardins during practice. In addition to Hossa, Artem Anisimov is slated to miss his third straight game with an upper body injury.

Jimmy Howard To Miss 4-6 Weeks With MCL Sprain

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The Detroit Red Wings cannot catch a break. Veteran netminder Jimmy Howard is expected to miss 4-6 weeks with a mild MCL sprain tweets MLive’s Brendan Savage. Helene St. James reports the news as well. This couldn’t be worse for a team struggling to find consistency.

Howard has been a pleasant surprise for the Red Wings this season, but recently has sputtered due to injury and poor team play. Howard was injured Tuesday night when Wings defenseman Nick Jensen collided with him during a mad scramble at the net.

After being the subject of trade rumors all summer, Howard responded with one of his better seasons in recent memory. Despite his sparkling play, Howard has been the victim of a team that cannot score, as his wins-loss record indicates.

Howard is 5-7-1 this season with a .934 save percentage and a 1.96 GAA.

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