Blues Invite Chris Porter To Training Camp
The St. Louis Blues are set to bring in center Chris Porter on a professional tryout deal, reports Michael Russo of the Star Tribune. Porter spent last season with the Minnesota Wild, playing in a career high 61 games, collecting four goals and three assists in a fourth line role while averaging 9:38 of ice time per game.
Porter is no stranger to St. Louis having spent the majority of his career in their organization. He has suited up for the Blues in parts of six seasons, picking up 27 points in 173 games.
St. Louis has five forwards participating at the World Cup of Hockey in Vladimir Tarasenko, Dmitrij Jaskin, Jori Lehtera, Patrik Berglund (who was just added today), and Vladimir Sobotka (who is expected to play with the Blues after spending time in the KHL), the latter three being centers. On the surface, it appears that Porter could just be in camp to fill in for one of those players in the exhibition season. However, a strong camp could give him a shot at a depth spot on the roster or potentially a two-way contract but he may have to beat out several other forwards attending on invites, including T.J. Galiardi, Eric Nystrom, and Yan Stastny.
[Related: Blues Depth Chart]
With training camps fast approaching, it’s likely going to be a busy week in terms of players getting tryout contracts. Keep tabs on who goes where with our Invite Tracker.
Snapshots: Capitals, Zetterberg, Team Canada
Washington Capitals fans will get a taste of what could have been on Wednesday night, when Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom and former Capitals first-rounder Filip Forsberg line up together for Sweden in D.C.
Forsberg told NHL.com’s Katie Brown that playing with his countryman Backstrom was a dream of his when he was drafted by the Capitals back in 2012. Unfortunately for Capitals fans, it didn’t work out that way as Forsberg was dealt to Nashville for Martin Erat in one of the worst trades in recent memory. Forsberg told Brown “it’s pretty cool” to play with Backstrom, even though “a lot has changed since then”.
In other news out of D.C., Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post reports that Capitals defenseman Dmitry Orlov isn’t sure where he’s going to end up playing next season. Orlov posted 29 points in 82 games last season, posting good possession numbers while averaging just over 16 minutes per game. Coach Barry Trotz said he’s looking for Orlov to play top-four minutes with John Carlson or Matt Niskanen at even strength, and to contribute at both special teams disciplines.
[Related: Capitals’ depth chart at Roster Resource]
The 25-year-old Russian is coming off a two-year contract worth $2.25MM per season, and will likely be looking for a raise on that. Based on the Capitals’ salary cap situation, Khurshudyan estimates the most the Capitals could give Orlov is around $2.6MM. That has lead to Sergei Fedorov, former Capital and GM of the KHL’s CSKA Moscow to contact Orlov’s agent. CSKA owns his KHL rights, and expressed interest in bringing him over to Russia, even if it’s just for one season. Despite the interest from overseas, Orlov says he enjoys playing in the NHL and “would like to stay there, but I don’t know how it’s going to happen. We’ll see.”
In other news from around the hockey world:
- Henrik Zetterberg was forced to pull out of the World Cup of Hockey with a knee injury. The Red Wings tweeted Monday morning that while Zetterberg is expected to be healthy for the season opener, his participation in training camp is still to be determined.
- Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston reported that Team Canada’s lines have not changed at practice on Monday. Forward Claude Giroux took a maintenance day, so the only rotating lines were Jake Muzzin and Jay Bouwmeester splitting time with Drew Doughty. Also according to Johnston, the power-play units have changed, with Sidney Crosby heading up the first unit with Joe Thornton, Corey Perry, Tyler Seguin, and Brent Burns. Meanwhile, Jonathan Toews, John Tavares, Ryan Getzlaf, Steven Stamkos, and Doughty are manning the second unit.
- In an appearance on TSN 690 in Montreal this morning, Bob McKenzie said he was encouraged by “how ridiculously hard” the Canadians and Americans played in their pair of pre-tournament games. McKenzie said fans can thank John Tortorella’s strategy of wanting to “maul [Canada] a little bit” for that. The veteran broadcaster compared the games to a late-night men’s league, laughing “it’s fun. Just go out there for a little skate… then there’s one guy out there… one guy does something stupid, and then suddenly it’s on. Next thing you know, you’ve got the constabulary being called in.”
Just How Short Is The Leash In Montreal?
Bob McKenzie appeared on Montreal’s TSN 690 on Monday morning to talk about the Canadiens controversial summer, and just how long of a leash GM Marc Bergevin and coach Michel Therrien have.
McKenzie believes that Bergevin and Therrien aren’t as perilously close to unemployment as some fans think. However, it all depends on how things go to start the season. If the Canadiens are below .500 around American Thanksgiving, then “that’s one [situation] where any coaching staff would have to look over their shoulders a little bit”.
The 2015-16 season started off wonderfully for the Canadiens, who were 12-3 at the start of November when Carey Price got hurt. It was all downhill from there, as backup goalies Mike Condon and Ben Scrivens couldn’t match the elite level of Price. The Canadiens finished 38-38-6. The team came apart from the inside, which lead to some drastic changes in the summer. McKenzie speculated that the organization wants to write off last year’s struggles as “the Carey Price issue. He was injured; we didn’t overcome that.”
Both coach and GM were kept around, and allowed to influence major decisions.
“When you push for something, and I have to assume that Marc Bergevin and Michel Therrien pushed for this – this was something they felt the hockey club needed, and it’s a total different direction to go from P.K. Subban to Shea Weber – then you’ve got to get some results.”
When asked whether or not Bergevin and Therrien’s fates are tied together, McKenzie said even though Bergevin is still behind Therrien after the “horrific” year they had, there will come a point where “the GM will have to make the hard call on his coach… most coaches don’t survive forever.” Based on public comments, it would take a really tough start for Bergevin to axe Therrien, as the pair appear to be close in philosophy, but no coach is safe forever.
Ultimately, McKenzie believes the situation is fluid, depending “on how are they playing, what are the reasons for the losses”, but doesn’t believe the leash is “so short that there’s a chance [Bergevin]’s going to be gone by Christmas.”
World Cup Injury Updates: Rakell, Kruger
Joe McDonald, writing for ESPN, provides more info on an earlier note mentioning the absence of Team Sweden forward Rickard Rakell from practice today due to an unspecified illness. McDonald says Rakell remians hospitalized and did not travel with the team to the U.S today. McDonald’s article states Sweden’s head coach Rikard Gronberg had this to say about Rakell’s illness:
“He didn’t feel any better this morning, so he went back to the hospital. So far we haven’t found anything. We’ve got to be in contact with him [Monday] and then we’ll see where we’re at, and hopefully for his own sake we know what it is because right now we don’t.”
Rakell, a RFA who the Ducks are still trying to sign, was named to Team Sweden as a replacement for Blues forward Alexander Steen. He had a breakout season for Anaheim in 2015-16, scoring 20 goals and 43 points in 72 regular season games.
Should Rakell not recover in time to participate, Sweden would have until September 16th to designate a replacement, according to McDonald. His piece does not list any specific possibilities in that regard but speculatively speaking, the Swedes could choose either Alexander Wennberg, who tallied eight goals and 40 points as a rookie with the Blue Jackets, or Detroit’s Gustav Nyqvist, who has recorded three straight seasons of 40-plus points for the Red Wings.
On a side note, McDonald does say that Marcus Kruger, who missed Saturday’s game with an upper-body injury, was back on the ice for practice today. Kruger also said that he hopes to return to the lineup in Wednesday’s tuneup game against Russia. If Kruger is a go, he could step into the lineup and replace Rakell.
Potential 2016-17 Impact Rookies: Puljujarvi, Kempe, Goldobin, Tkachuk
It’s rare for players to debut in the NHL and make a significant impact for their teams in the same year they are drafted. In 2015-16, just three players selected in the prior June’s draft – Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel and Noah Hanifin – appeared in more than 18 NHL contests as rookies. However, we could see as many as five 2016 draftees all earn regular shifts with their clubs during the 2016-17 season, two of whom appear in this post.
Jesse Puljujarvi (Edmonton) – Expected to go in the top-three of the draft, Puljujarvi surprisingly dropped to #4 after Columbus elected to take C Pierre-Luc Dubois at #3 instead of the Finnish winger. Edmonton happily grabbed Puljujarvi with their choice and this stroke of good fortune may have played a role in the June 29th trade of Taylor Hall to New Jersey for Adam Larsson. Having Puljujarvi in the fold provided Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli the knowledge he had enough depth on the wings to cash in a player of Hall’s caliber to address their weakness on the blue line.
Puljujarvi combines NHL size at 6-foot-3 and 203 pounds with excellent skating ability. He starred for the Finns helping his home country win the gold medal in the World Junior Championships. He also captured the tourney’s MVP award and finished tops among all participants in both assists (12) and points (17).
The Oilers already have one of the top young superstars in the game in MacDavid and saw 2014 first-round pick Leon Draisaitl bust out with a 51-point campaign in 2016-17. Joining that dangerous duo up front is former top overall selection Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Edmonton boasts plenty of talented high-end forwards which virtually assures Puljujarvi will have a chance to skate with some good players. Don’t be surprised if he ends up as a Calder Trophy finalist and the leading scorer among all 2016 draftees.
Adrian Kempe (Los Angeles) – After losing forwards Milan Lucic and Kris Versteeg to free agency and with Dustin Brown‘s offense regressing to a level where he has no business in the top-nine, the Kings could turn to Kempe to provide additional scoring. Kempe, the team’s first-round choice in 2014, already has 55 games of pro experience in North America after suiting up this past season for the Kings AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign. The Swedish winger tallied 11 goals and recorded 28 points during the regular season and another four goals and five points in 13 postseason contests.
Since Kempe doesn’t turn 20 until later this month and given he didn’t exactly dominate at the AHL level, it wouldn’t be a bad idea if the Kings sent him back to Ontario to start the 2016-17 campaign and get some more seasoning. But with Kyle Clifford (nine points in 56 games) and Brown (28 points in 82 games) currently expected to hold top-nine spots, according to Roster Resource, Los Angeles might decide they need to inject more offense into the lineup and Kempe could be the source of that offense.
Nikolay Goldobin (San Jose) – The Sharks addressed any need they may have had for a scoring line LW by signing Mikkel Boedker as a free agent this summer. With Tomas Hertl and Patrick Marleau also listed as LW’s on the team’s depth chart, it’s likely the highly skilled Goldobin begins the season with the San Jose Barracudas of the AHL to gain more experience. But in the event of injury, Goldobin could be among the team’s first choices for a promotion to the big club.
Goldobin is said to have an excellent shot and release and is a creative offensive player. He can use some work on his defensive game, as do many young players, which is another reason he might find himself in the AHL to start the 2016-17 campaign. But with Marleau entering the final year of his contract, Goldobin is in line to land a job with the Sharks soon enough; perhaps as early as this year.
Matthew Tkachuk (Calgary) – The Flames already possess several skilled young players, but as mentioned in an earlier installment of this series, if they do have an opening it would be for a scoring line LW with size. Hunter Shinkaruk might get the first crack to fill that role though he doesn’t possess the size the Flames would seem to need. If Shinkaruk isn’t ready for regular NHL action, Tkachuk could be an option for Calgary up front.
Tkachuk, the son of former NHL power forward Keith Tkachuk, was drafted by the Flames with the sixth overall selection of the 2016 draft following an impressive 107-point season with the London Knights of the OHL. While his dad was noted for playing a physical game (2,219 PIM in 1,201 NHL games), as well as being a terrific goal scorer, Matthew is more of a complete, two-way player who is also a good skater with high-end offensive instincts. He helped Team USA to a bronze medal at the 2016 WJC U20 tournament, tallying 11 points in seven contests.
Tkachuk might be better off returning to junior to gain more experience. He will certainly have to prove to the Flames that he is truly ready to play at the NHL level but he has the talent and the skill to provide some offense if he earns a role in Calgary.
World Cup Notes: Muzzin, Kruger, Rakell
Jake Muzzin isn’t a household name, but he should be. The oft-overlooked Los Angeles Kings defenseman is one of the best players in the league, and his selection to Team Canada proves that. With a roster of all-stars and first overall picks, Muzzin didn’t arrive quite the same way. In a new article by Jonas Siegal on TSN.ca, he examines how long it took for Muzzin to become, well, Muzzin. He’s not just a great defender, he’s an elite one, as hall of fame blueliner Rob Blake says:
You’ll get D that can make extremely high-level plays or you’ve got solid (defensive) defencemen. But to be an elite one, in the category that I think Jake has put himself in with this World Cup, you have to do both and that’s what made him pretty special.
Indeed, Muzzin has shown that he can play at both ends of the rink with any player in the league, including his own teammate Drew Doughty, also at the tournament for Team Canada. He’s 27 now, and is only just hitting his stride. Bank on Muzzin suiting up for Canada at the next Olympics, and perhaps even the one after that.
- In other World Cup news, team Sweden took the ice for a practice today without Rickard Rakell, who is out with an illness, according to Stephen Whyno. Marcus Kruger however, who missed Saturday’s pre-tournament game, was back on the ice for a full practice, seemingly ready to go for the beginning of the tournament.
- In the second Team North America game, who are now seemingly the darlings of the tournament, the young-guns got off to a good start scoring four goals on just eight shots (three by defensemen), again because of their speed. As we reported yesterday, the North American squad has a great shot at upsetting some of the favorites in the tournament, and making a real push for the championship.
Examining The Rangers’ Forward Group
The New York Rangers were one of the deeper forward groups in the NHL headed into this summer. They had three lines of solid NHL scoring depth, with players like J.T. Miller and Kevin Hayes still yet to hit their peaks. It was going to be another season of mixing and matching, with Rick Nash starting to hit his decline phase and being dropped down the lineup on certain nights.
Then they went out and signed Michael Grabner, Nathan Gerbe and Josh Jooris, players everyone expected to plug into their bottom six and fight for minutes in the dirty areas of the ice, help kill penalties and provide some energy when the skilled players needed it. That was expected, and they were praised for the cheap talent they’d added.
They dealt one of their veteran centers for a younger, more explosive version, moving Derick Brassard for Mika Zibanejad, adding to their dynamic second line beside Jesper Fast. While Brassard gave consistency and leadership, Zibanejad showed a higher ceiling and skill level. They looked like they were done, with 12 or 13 forwards locked into NHL spots, with a ton of experience.
And then came Jimmy Vesey. And Brandon Pirri. Somehow, the Rangers won out over the rest of the league (or so it would seem) for the services of the biggest story of the offseason. Vesey was signed out of Harvard to plug into a lineup that was already four lines deep, and Pirri was signed for 1.1MM to keep scoring goals despite the lack of faith from the league. Sure, pushing out Gerbe and Tanner Glass doesn’t sound that bad, but there usually just aren’t enough minutes to go around for all these skilled players. That’s where the Rangers have done so well.
In Vesey especially, the Rangers have a player that they can protect with this roster, not giving him tough matchups or assignments in his rookie season, while still surrounding him with skill. Hayes, Vesey and Miller could form a deadly third line, capable of playing in the opposing team’s end for most shifts. While it looks tough for two of Glass, Gerbe and Jooris to make the top-12 at this point, they provide excellent NHL depth for a squad that is trying to win with an aging goaltender and declining defense. At the deadline, they could be huge players as their youngsters step up, and expect Nash rumors to persist throughout the year.
Snapshots: Dubois, Crosby, Team NA
After being selected as the surprise third overall pick in the latest NHL Entry Draft, Pierre-Luc Dubois is trying to prove to everyone that he derserved to be picked above Jesse Puljujarvi and Matthew Tkachuk. In a piece by James O’Brien at NBCSports, Dubois is clear what his goal is this fall.
(The Blue Jackets) drafted me third in front of the guy everybody thought they were going to draft, but I think they made the right decision. I want to prove that to everybody.
For at least the first few years of his career, he’ll be compared to Puljujarvi constantly which is probably more unfair than anything. The Finnish winger has already been playing against men for parts of two seasons, while Dubois will head back for his final year of junior hockey (that is if he doesn’t surprise everyone to make the Blue Jackets out of camp). It may take him a while, but as GM Jarmo Kekalainen comments when talking about what will set Dubois apart, “I keep coming back to his character and hockey sense.”
- Team Canada has often found trouble pairing players with Sidney Crosby at international competitions, with many high level talents moving on and off of his wing throughout past tournaments. That said, head coach Mike Babcock may have found a group that he’ll stick with this time. As TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reports, Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron look like the set wingers for the Team Canada captain. It’s a plan Babcock had way back in May, when he was first envisioning what his lineup might look like. The interesting part, is that Marchand is one of Team Canada’s only natural wingers, and Bergeron is highly regarded for his all-around ability and hockey IQ. Perhaps it’s centers that don’t find a home on Crosby’s wing, similar to the way Pittsburgh has never been able to consistently pair Crosby with Evgeni Malkin for any length of time.
- The top two picks of the 2015 NHL draft will be linked once again, as Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel will skate on a line in their second pre-tournament game against Europe tonight. The third musketeer will be Johnny Gaudreau, still unsigned as he’s entered his negotiation freeze during the tournament. With three of the strongest skaters in the NHL on the ice at once, team North America will surely be interesting to watch, the plan all along of the NHL and commissioner Gary Bettman when he introduced the slightly off-the-board format.
Update On Canadiens’ Prospect Martin Reway
After being hospitalized last week with an undisclosed ‘virus’, CAS.sk out of Slovakia is now reporting that Canadien’s prospect Martin Reway is currently in the intensive care unit dealing with a possible career-threatening affliction, including inflammation of his heart.
Though it hasn’t been confirmed that Reway will even miss this upcoming season, the seriousness of the illness should take precedence over any hockey aspirations.
Reway is a Czech-born player who was set to make the jump back to North America this season, will now be under close surveillance from Dr. David Mulder, the team physician and the medical team working on him in Slovakia. He originally was selected from the Gatineau Olympiques of the QMJHL in the fourth round of the 2013 draft.
We here at PHR hope for a quick recovery for Reway, and send our thoughts to his friends and family while he’s hospitalized.
Important Dates In 2016-17 NHL Season
Our own Nate Brown has collected all the key dates you need to be aware of for the upcoming NHL season. Be sure to circle these on your calendar.
October 12th, 2016 – NHL Season Opens
October 23rd, 2016 – Heritage Classic: Edmonton Oilers vs. Winnipeg Jets
December 19th, 2016 – Start of Holiday Trade Freeze