Quotable: Stars GM On Eight Defensemen, Injuries, Nichushkin, Goalies
Dallas Stars general manager Jim Nill sat down for an interview with Mike Heika of the Dallas News over the weekend. The full interview is certainly worth a read but here are some of the highlights.
On whether there are any challenges associated with carrying eight defensemen instead of the standard seven:
“I don’t think so. I think you look at the schedule and it’s going to be a grind, so I really feel we will need that depth. You look at last season, and we didn’t need that depth until the end of the season, but if we didn’t have that depth, we would have been in trouble. So it worked out for us. I think this year, somebody steps in and somebody steps out, and we’re seeing growth in those players. Jamie Oleksiak, I think we’re seeing growth in him. Esa Lindell, we’re seeing growth in him. That’s what we want.”
Jamie Oleksiak’s situation has been well documented as he has effectively been the eighth blueliner dating back to last season. He has played just 24 of a possible 98 regular season games since 2015-16, hardly an ideal scenario for a 23 year old former first round pick.
Regarding the decision to not utilize potential LTIR on right winger Ales Hemsky ($4MM cap hit) and Mattias Janmark ($800K cap hit), both of whom are out for at least several more months:
“It’s a complicated process, and that’s why we haven’t done it yet. But if we had to do that, we could and we could allow ourselves more spending space. To simplify it, I can just say we don’t anticipate any problems with the cap. We should be fine.”
The Stars currently have over $1.5MM in salary cap space according to Cap Friendly despite effectively carrying a 28-man roster due to all of the injuries they’re currently dealing with. As some players return to the lineup, that number should only increase, suggesting that they’ll be in good shape moving forward without needing to dip into LTIR.
On the decision to let Valeri Nichushkin go back to the KHL – given the injury woes the team has up front, does Nill believe he should have been more flexible in negotiations with the former first rounder?
“No, not at all. We’re comfortable with the offer we gave and we’re comfortable with the process. Every contract you sign can affect another contract, especially with younger players. We made a decision, and he made a decision, and that’s just negotiations. I think in the end, it could be good for him to go back there and maybe mature, and then maybe when he has the opportunity, he will better understand what he has here and want to come back.”
Regarding one contract possibly affecting another, Nill later added that the team is trying to follow a certain structure when it comes to restricted free agents and that consistency in that process is important. In recent years, the Stars have been pushing for shorter-term bridge deals with restricted free agents coming off their entry-level deals even though that goes against the current league-wide trend.
On the current struggles of goaltenders Antti Niemi and Kari Lehtonen:
“The numbers aren’t good, but at the same time I get back to the injuries and the team that’s in front of them. It’s a challenge for both of them, and I think there have been times when they have really stepped up. I think they both had great training camps, and they both have stepped up a times. We just need to strive to improve every game, but that’s the same for the whole team.”
The Stars currently have a team goals against average of 3.44, ranking 26th in the league and a team save percentage of .890, good for 27th. Those are hardly ideal numbers for a team that is spending more money on their goaltenders (a combined $10.4MM) than any other team in the NHL. In a follow-up question though, Nill noted that he isn’t worried about looking for an upgrade right now.
Canucks Do Not Plan To Trade The Sedin Twins
Vancouver’s slow start to the season has had many speculate about the possibility that the team could move mainstays Daniel Sedin and Henrik Sedin but team president Trevor Linden poured cold water on that. Speaking with ESPN’s Craig Custance (Insider subscription required), Linden indicated that dealing the twins is not an option for the team:
“It’s not a consideration. These guys are too important to our organization, as people. Unless they walk in my door and say, ‘Hey trade us,’ that’s never going to happen.”
The Sedins have been with Vancouver since being drafted second and third overall back in 1999. The duo sit first and second in games played, assists, and points in franchise history (and are first and second in team scoring this season as well). Henrik has 980 points in 1,182 career games while Daniel checks in with 951 points in 1,159 contests.
However, the Canucks find themselves in a tough spot at the moment. While they would like to contend in the short-term, that seems unlikely to happen based on their roster and in a lot of those situations, teams will sell their veteran assets and rebuild, something that Vancouver has been hesitant to do recently.
Further presenting a challenge to the Canucks here on top of the fact that the Sedins have been the faces of the franchise for many years is their contract situation. Both players are making $7MM through 2017-18 and have full no-move clauses. They’ve also been a package deal in the past, meaning that if a team wants one of them, they’d have to trade for both. In the salary cap era where many teams have limited space, finding $14MM in payroll room would be a significant challenge for any team. Linden himself acknowledged that finances would make any potential trade quite difficult:
“I don’t know any team that can take $14 million, for starters. It’s pretty unrealistic.”
Could the Sedins at some point ask for a move in the hopes of taking one last run at a Stanley Cup? Anything’s a possibility but it doesn’t seem likely at this point which means that the twins can continue to pad their numbers atop the Canucks record books for the foreseeable future.
[Related: Canucks Depth Chart]
Nashville Notes: Subban, Poile, Mazanec
After a quiet start to the season, Predators defenseman P.K. Subban is starting to become more comfortable as he adapts to Nashville’s system, writes Adam Vingan of The Tennessean. Subban attributes his slow start to having to think more than simply react to the play as it happens:
“When you’re not thinking, you’re just playing. I think that from the start of the season I was doing a lot of thinking, just trying to learn systems and build chemistry with my teammates. Every game that goes by, we build more and more chemistry. Every practice that we have, we learn more about each other. It feels as if it’s starting to turn.”
Subban acknowledged that he’s still getting used to playing a different role with Nashville than he had with Montreal:
“The way the team has been built, there’s a lot of skilled guys here. The styles are different. In terms of in Montreal, it was like I had to defend, but I was expected to drive offense. If I wasn’t scoring goals, it’s like, ‘Why aren’t you scoring?’ Here, it’s a little different. It’s about producing offense. … It’s not about who scores the goal, but it’s about generating offense and influencing it.”
While Subban’s numbers aren’t quite where they’re used to being at this stage of the year (he has eight points in 14 games, good for a 46 point pace which would be his lowest since the lockout-shortened 2012-13 campaign), the team is enjoying a significant advantage in scoring chances, something the Preds pay very close attention to, while he’s on the ice by a count of 44-25.
Other news from Nashville:
- In an article from the Canadian Press, GM David Poile attributed Nashville’s early season struggles to a pair of factors, a newly-developing leadership group with the departures of Shea Weber and Paul Gaustad among others, as well as the struggles from several key forwards. Poile acknowledges that progress is being made on the leadership side as players adjust to new roles but that the latter is still a concern for the team: “For sure, to me we’ve been inconsistent and on an individual basis I think there’s individuals that can produce more than they’ve produced to this point”. Among those who aren’t producing as expected is Filip Forsberg who has just one goal so far and is in the first season of his new contract that pays him an average of $6MM per season.
- The team has recalled goaltender Marek Mazanec from Milwaukee of the AHL, notes Brooks Bratten from the team’s official site. The 25 year old got into a pair of games with the Admirals, going 1-1 with a 3.90 GAA and a .849 SV%. Nashville has not yet sent down Juuse Saros, suggesting they may be keeping three goalies up with the team for a little while.
LeBrun’s Latest: GMs To Discuss Rule 48, Expansion
ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun writes that in a brief one-day meeting in Toronto, general managers will be discussing several issues affecting the league. Thought the meeting will only be tomorrow, LeBrun reports that one major topic for discussion will be blindside hits, such as the one delivered by Nazem Kadri on Daniel Sedin. The argument? It should be included in Rule 48 which focuses on illegal checks to the head. Rule 48 stipulates:
- 48.1 Illegal Check to the Head – A hit resulting in contact with an opponent’s head where the head was the main point of contact and such contact to the head was avoidable is not permitted. In determining whether contact with an opponent’s head was avoidable, the circumstances of the hit including the following shall be considered:
- (i) Whether the player attempted to hit squarely through the opponent’s body and the head was not “picked” as a result of poor timing, poor angle of approach, or unnecessary extension of the body upward or outward.
- (ii) Whether the opponent put himself in a vulnerable position by assuming a posture that made head contact on an otherwise full body check unavoidable.
- (iii) Whether the opponent materially changed the position of his body or head immediately prior to or simultaneously with the hit in a way that significantly contributed to the head contact.
LeBrun quotes Nashville general manager David Poile as one who believes the language in the rule needs to be tightened further. Additionally, Poile points out that along with many other league executives, there needs to be a determination between what is a “good legal hit versus what is a punishable, suspendible hit.” Poile adds that it’s not anyone’s fault, but it is something that needs a closer look.
Other issues on the docket:
- LeBrun wonders what will be decided when it comes to free agency and the expansion draft. After talking to a Western Conference executive, LeBrun wrote this:
In particular, he had this question for me: what if Vegas agrees to terms with a pending UFA in that 48-hour window but doesn’t actually sign him until July 1 (wink, wink) in order to snag another player off that team’s roster in the expansion draft? The rules state that if Vegas signs a free agent from a team in that 48-hour June window, that team no longer can lose a player in the expansion draft.
- LeBrun also thinks that the five-day bye weeks will be discussed as it’s been a point of contention with some general managers. In addition to this, LeBrun said that Las Vegas general manager George McPhee could not attend meetings since the team does not have “franchise rights” until the spring.
Atlantic Notes: Red Wings, Maple Leafs, Panthers
After a crushing 5-0 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday evening, Detroit Red Wings head coach Jeff Blashill made some changes both on the roster and the ice. The Detroit Free Press’ Helene St. James writes that Blashill made the decision to move Luke Glendening up to the second line during practice, and that Niklas Kronwall, who has taken maintenance days since his knee injury during practices, will sit against Tampa Bay tomorrow. Further, Petr Mrazek will be back in after Jimmy Howard was shelled–though it was hardly his fault. The Red Wings defense has been porous and since Thomas Vanek‘s injury, unable to generate scoring chances much less score goals. From Blashill:
“We’ve got to get to the other nets better. We’ve got to get more forecheck pressure, and we’ve got to win more puck battles. He does all those things. It frees you up on the wing, a little bit, to be able to get in on the forecheck, win puck battles, get to the net, and allow some more space for Nielsen and Larkin, potentially. It’s something we’re looking at.”
Glendening seems a curious choice to move up, but it fits the narrative of “toughness” and “grit” that Detroit continues to use as its guiding principle this season. Whether it translates into goals is an entirely different matter.
In other division news:
- Michael Traikos of the National Post reports that the Maple Leafs players have followed the rules and adhered to Lou Lamoriello’s rules of short hair and clean shaven faces. Matt Martin says that his agent first brought up to him before he was signed, and Martin obliged, cutting his long blonde hair down to a modest offering. Though it may seem outdated, Traikos writes that Lamoriello indicated that his teams, not individuals win championships and having a “unified appearance” is one way to buy into that. Players have certainly bought in. Netminder Frederik Andersen says that it’s part of building a culture and that the “rich history” of Toronto begs the need for unity in order to win. Traikos adds that with a young team like the Leafs, anything to build culture is welcomed and can lead to better results down the road–even something as simple as shorter hair and no facial hair.
- The Sun-Sentinel’s Craig Davis reports on newly acquired Panther Seth Griffith‘s journey to Miami. Griffith was snagged off the waiver wire from the Toronto Maple Leafs, who in turn, took Griffith from the Boston Bruins in October via the waiver wire. writes that Griffith should have ample opportunity to prove his worth with the Panthers as roster spots are aplenty.
Injury Updates: Parise, Kulikov, Kopitar, Lightning
News and notes from around the NHL this evening:
- Minnesota Wild forward Zach Parise practiced with the team this morning for the first time since suffering a foot injury on October 27th, reports Mike Russo of the Minneapolis-St. Paul StarTribune. Parise missed the Wild’s last six games, but could be in the lineup as early as Tuesday against Calgary. The Wild made room for Parise by reassigning Christoph Bertschy to the AHL.
- Buffalo Sabres defenseman Dmitry Kulikov will miss Tuesday’s game against St. Louis, reports the Olean Times Herald’s Bill Hoppe. Kulikov missed practice today, and the Sabres—practicing with only five defensemen—will most likely require more than one call-up to fill its lineup. Buffalo, however, will minimize both actual cost and league cap space use by calling up those players on game day as needed.
- Los Angeles Kings forward Anze Kopitar may miss Tuesday’s game against the Colorado Avalanche, reports LA Kings Insider Jon Rosen. Kings coach Darryl Sutter made some cryptic remarks regarding Kopitar’s playing status, but Rosen believes that those remarks indicate that the Slovenian forward may be out longer than expected. Kopitar suffered an upper body injury late in Friday’s game against the Ottawa Senators, and missed yesterday’s game against the Winnipeg Jets.
- The Tampa Bay Lightning are without both Anton Stralman and Jonathan Drouin tonight against the New York Islanders, reports Tampa Bay beat writer Bryan Burns. Both players are recovering from upper body injuries. Stralman left Saturday’s game against the San Jose Sharks after taking a Joe Thornton slap shot to his upper body. Drouin’s injury, however, is more of a mystery. It is thought that Drouin suffered a concussion on November 1st against the Islanders after taking a hit to the head from Isles defenseman Calvin de Haan. The team has not confirmed that Drouin suffered a concussion, but only that he’s expected to rejoin the team during its upcoming five-game road trip.
Quotable: Senators GM On Trade Market, Team Needs
Ottawa Senators general manager Pierre Dorion expects trade talk to pick up in the next couple of weeks and is expected to gauge what the market looks like at the GM meetings set to take place in Toronto on Tuesday, writes Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun.
While Dorion was looking to add defensive depth both in the offseason and in training camp, he suggested that getting that doesn’t appear to be as much of a concern at the moment:
“Specifically I’m really happy about the play of Freddy Claesson coming up and I’ve always talked about adding depth on defence so I’m really happy about that and I don’t feel as much of a need as I did in training camp especially with the emergence of the way Chris Wideman and (Mark Borowiecki) have played.”
[Related: Senators Depth Chart]
Over the offseason, the team added center Derick Brassard and head coach Guy Boucher and the expectation was that the Sens would become an even higher scoring team after finishing ninth in the league in that regard in 2015-16. However, that hasn’t been the case early on as the team has just 33 goals (excluding two awarded for shootout victories) which ranks them 27th in the league so far. Despite that, Dorion won’t be actively pursuing another scorer and hopes that as the team adapts to Boucher’s new system, the goals will eventually come on their own:
“People are going to look at our scoring. For me, to play good defensive structure we had to sacrifice goals early on but at the same time we’re winning games and that’s what matters the most. It’s not like any of the guys who have produced here in the past are in the tail end of their careers. They’re all still in their prime and they’re all still all going to be able to produce.”
With goaltender Andrew Hammond nearly ready to return, Dorion plans to sit down with Hammond and go over the options. The team could ask him to play with their AHL affiliate for a couple of weeks on a conditioning stint but even if they don’t, the GM reiterated that they’re comfortable carrying three netminders (joining Craig Anderson and Mike Condon) for the foreseeable future. A trade isn’t out of the equation either as Dorion is reportedly gauging the market on Hammond as well.
West Notes: Flames On The Trade Block, Connor, Duchene
The Calgary Flames have made defenseman Deryk Engelland and center/left winger Lance Bouma available, reports Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun. Neither player appears to be drawing much interest, however.
Engelland is in his third season with the Flames and has four points while averaging a career best 19:10 per night. However, he carries a cap hit that’s a little higher than $2.9MM which is pricey for a player whose reputation is that of a third pairing physical blueliner. However, as a pending unrestricted free agent, there could be more interest as the season progresses and more teams have cap space to work with.
As for Bouma, who currently is on injured reserve for a couple of weeks with a shoulder injury, he is off to a tough start so far this season. In 13 games, he has just one assist although he is averaging over 2.5 hits per game. Back in 2014-15, he had a 16 goal, 34 point campaign that also saw him rank seventh in the league in hits with 264. That offseason, he signed a three year deal with a cap hit of $2.2MM which has the remainder of this year plus one more season to go on it. Given his struggles dating back to last season and the extra year left on his deal, GM Brad Treliving may be hard pressed to find a suitor for Bouma unless he retains salary or takes back another not-so-ideal contract.
Other news from the Western Conference:
- The Jets have placed left winger Kyle Connor on injured reserve, the team announced. He suffered an upper body injury in Sunday’s victory over Los Angeles on a hit from Kyle Clifford. Clifford will not face any supplemental discipline for the hit, one that earned him a five minute major for boarding. Connor, the 17th overall pick in the 2015 draft, has played in all but one of Winnipeg’s games so far this season, collecting four points (1-3-4) while playing 13:31 per game. The team has recalled center Chase De Leo from their minor league affiliate in Manitoba to take Connor’s spot on the roster. De Leo has three goals and four assists in 12 AHL games this year.
- Avalanche center Matt Duchene was expected to skate in advance of Colorado’s practice today but those plans were aborted after Duchene didn’t feel he was ready to practice, notes Mike Chambers of the Denver Post. Accordingly, he will miss his second straight game on Tuesday against the Kings. Duchene is Colorado’s team leader in goals (six) and points (11) in the early going this season.
Hurricanes Terminate Jakub Nakladal’s Contract
The Carolina Hurricanes announced that they have terminated the contract of defenseman Jakub Nakladal. Nakladal cleared demotion waivers on Saturday and was assigned to Carolina’s AHL affiliate in Charlotte. Cap Friendly notes via Twitter that Nakladal was quietly placed on unconditional waivers on Sunday and cleared earlier today.
The 28 year old signed a one year, $600K deal with the Hurricanes back on October 9th after suiting up for the Czech Republic at the World Cup of Hockey. He logged an average of 21:03 in ice time in those matchups while being held off the scoresheet. However, he didn’t see much action with the Hurricanes as he got into just three games, collecting zero points and a -4 rating while averaging just 14:30 per game.
Nakladal’s only other NHL experience came last season with Calgary, where he played in 27 games. He picked up two goals and three assists in those contests, averaging 14:11 in ice time. He also spent time with Calgary’s AHL affiliate in Stockton, suiting up in 35 games while collecting 14 points (2-12-14).
While several teams had shown an interest in signing Nakladal to a two-way deal over the offseason, he held out for a one-way pact and stated that he would sign overseas unless he got one. Although he got one from the Hurricanes, it would seem likely that he will cross the pond and sign elsewhere. He has experience overseas in several different leagues, including the SM-liiga in Finland, the Czech Extraliga, and the KHL.
[Related: Hurricanes Depth Chart]
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Senators Testing The Market On Andrew Hammond
The Ottawa Senators are testing the market regarding backup goaltender Andrew Hammond, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link). Hammond noted recently that he is close to being ready to return to game action after missing the last two weeks with a lower body injury.
The 28 year old has played in two games with the Senators so far this season, posting a 0-1-0 record with a 4.50 goals against average and a .793 save percentage. Those are both well down from his career averages which are much stronger, a GAA of 2.25 and a SV% of .925.
His best run in the NHL came back in 2014-15 where he won 20 of 23 decisions after coming up late in the year to propel the Sens to a highly improbable postseason appearance. That earned him a three year deal with a cap hit of $1.35MM; 2016-17 is the second season of that contract.
With the uncertainty surrounding Craig Anderson due to his wife’s cancer diagnosis, GM Pierre Dorion made a trade with Pittsburgh earlier this month to bring in Mike Condon to give them extra depth. Condon has allowed just a single goal in two starts in Ottawa while stopping 58 of 59 shots. He also has a cap hit of the league minimum $575K; those two factors could have him ahead of Hammond in the pecking order moving forward.
In the meantime, the team will soon have to decide whether or not to ask Hammond to accept a conditioning assignment. Given how little he has played so far this season, that might go a long way towards shaping what type of value he might have on the trade market as teams will likely want him to shake off any potential rust before making a move for him.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.