Chiarelli Cautiously Optimistic About Oilers Start
Edmonton Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli is cautiously optimistic about his team’s 5-1-0 start to the 2016-17 NHL season. In an appearance on Sportsnet 590 The Fan, Chiarelli told Bob McCown that he “wouldn’t call it that dramatic yet. Let’s wait 20 or 25 games. We’ve had a good start.”
The Oilers find themselves leading the NHL’s Western Conference with 10 points, which is good for second in the NHL behind the Montreal Canadiens. One of the big reasons for the Oilers early turnaround is a bolstered defense, improving their ability to break out the puck and defend, a change that Chiarelli called “basically 180 degrees.”
“We’ve added Larsson; we’ve added Russell, and effectively we added Klefbom.”
Adam Larsson was added at a great cost, while Kris Russell was signed to a one-year contract in early October. Oscar Klefbom was a breakout player in the end of 2014-15 and beginning of 2015-16, but broke his finger in early December and a subsequent staph infection kept him out of the remainder of the season.
Add those three to Andrej Sekera and the Oilers have a decent top-four defense for the first time since 2008-09 when they had Sheldon Souray, Tom Gilbert, Denis Grebeshkov, and Lubomir Visnovsky all post more than 30 points. The Oilers had 85 points that season, and they haven’t topped 74 since.
Besides the defense, Connor McDavid and Cam Talbot have been very solid so far this season, with both being named the NHL’s first star of the week in the first two weeks of the season. McDavid has 4 goals and 5 assists for 9 points in 6 games, while Talbot is 5-1-0 with a 0.919 SV% and one shutout.
The Oilers will face a stiff test on Wednesday night when they host Alex Ovechkin and the reigning President’s Trophy winners, the Washington Capitals. Washington is sitting third in the Metropolitan with a 3-1-1 record.
Snapshots: Backes, Condon, Ducks, Hall
Boston Bruins forward David Backes has been listed as day-to-day for the last few days, and now we know why. Bruins GM Don Sweeney said Backes had a procedure to remove an olecranon bursa in his elbow on Monday (via Dan Rosen).
While Sweeney said there would be a further update after this weekend, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons lists recovery time as somewhere between 10 days and a month, depending on severity.
Backes has had a decent start to his Bruins career, with 2-2-4 in 5 games. The former St. Louis Blues captain has been a consistent performer, hitting 20-plus goals six times while being a solid possession player and being a bruising hitter.
- In this week’s 30 Thoughts, Elliotte Friedman suggested Matt Murray‘s return to the lineup likely means Mike Condon could find himself on waivers soon. Friedman suggested the Bruins as a possible new home for the Massachusetts native, with both Tuukka Rask and Anton Khudobin dealing with injuries.
- Also in 30 Thoughts, Friedman quoted an unnamed GM as saying he’d “bet [him] anything” that Anaheim GM Bob Murray finds a way to protect Jakob Silfverberg in June’s expansion draft. Currently, the Ducks have four players that must be protected (no-move clauses) in Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Ryan Kesler, and Kevin Bieksa. At the very least, the Ducks would want to protect newly-signed Rickard Rakell, Andrew Cogliano, and Silfverberg on forward, and Hampus Lindholm, Cam Fowler, and Sami Vatanen on defense. Even that leaves some really good defensemen exposed, like Josh Manson and Simon Depres, so expect some movement before the expansion draft. Bieksa could also be convinced to waive his no-move clause to allow the Ducks to protect someone else; his $4MM salary is likely enough to prevent Las Vegas from taking him.
- New Jersey Devils reporter Chris Ryan tweeted out a rather hard-to-believe stat about Taylor Hall. This season, the Devils’ 3-2-1 start is the first time since Hall has been on a .500 team since the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season when the Oilers started 4-3-1. Edmonton, of course, has started this season 5-1-0.
Is Malcolm Subban A Bust?
Young Boston Bruins goalie Malcolm Subban, the 24th overall pick in the 2012 NHL Draft, was pulled from tonight’s 5-0 loss to the Minnesota Wild after giving up three goals in the second period. The first two, a deflection by Charlie Coyle and a wide open chance for Chris Stewart, came just twelve seconds apart early in the period. The third was a soft slap shot by Ryan Suter minutes later that would have been saved by most goalies in the league. With both Tuukka Rask and Anton Khudobin sidelined, the Bruins called up both Subban and Zane McIntyre for the game, and chose to give the latter his first taste of NHL action midway through the game rather than stick with the former any longer.
If Subban’s performance in his 2016-17 Boston debut sounds familiar, that’s because he put on a similarly disappointing performance in his first and only other NHL game back in 2014-15. After shutting out the St. Louis Blues in the first period (albeit facing only three shots), Subban allowed three goals on three shots to begin the second and was promptly pulled from the game with a .500 save percentage. Following tonight’s efforts, Subban’s career percentage at the highest level stands at .750, which, of course, is just awful.
However, you can’t determine the future of a goalie after just two games in the NHL. Many would likely think that Subban’s numbers in the AHL tell a different story. They don’t. In fact, there’s a reason that the 22-year-old has only seen two games of NHL action. The former standout for the OHL’s Belleville Bulls has not been able to put it together since turning pro. While his numbers have not been terrible, they have not lived up to his first-round hype. Subban’s first season with the Providence Bruins in the AHL, in 2013-14, is his best to date. A 2.31 GAA and .920 save percentage in 33 appearances excited the then-hopeful Bruins fan base that they had an elite young net minder waiting in the wings to be the backup to franchise keeper Rask. But those numbers failed to improve in 2014-15, as Subban posted a 2.44 GAA and .921 save percentage in 35 games with Providence, and made his disastrous NHL debut as well. In each of his first two seasons with the P-Bruins, Subban failed to play in more than half of the team’s games, and going into last season, the title of top young Bruins goaltender was still open. Enter former Hobey Baker finalist McIntyre, a sixth round pick of Boston in 2010 who went on to be one of the best goalies in the NCAA for years playing for the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux. Despite miserable numbers in his first pro season, McIntyre was given an equal share in net with Subban, and Subban did not do enough to assert himself as the starter. Subban would eventually suffer a season-ending throat injury in 2015-16, which ended the best streak of his career – a nine-game winning streak with impeccable numbers – but he still ended the season with just a 2.46 GAA and .911 save percentage.
So far this season, it is clear who is now on top in the battle of young Bruins goalies. In three games with Providence, McIntyre has a 0.44 GAA and a .977 save percentage. Subban? A 4.50 GAA and an .846 save percentage in his first four appearances. As The Providence Journal’s Mark Divver points out, Subban has had trouble with giving up quick back-to-back goals like he did tonight on multiple occassions with Providence already this season. Given Subban’s collapse tonight, and McIntyre’s solid performance in relief, it seems that now it is official that Malcolm Subban is no longer the Bruins best young goalie. Is he a complete career bust? It’s still too early to tell. Subban is in the final year of his entry-level contract, and assuming he is not traded or selected by Las Vegas in the Expansion Draft, Subban will be back to work in Providence again next year, potentially with only Daniel Vladar as competition. If he has not been able to make the jump to an NHL regular by the end of his next contract, then it will be fair to call him a disappointment. Perhaps P.K. Subban‘s brother needs a change of scenery as well. It’s no secret that the Subban name is not exactly treated with much love in Boston, and there could be comfort issues with the organization. Maybe he’s still not totally recovered from his injury. A brutal injury to a fragile and exposed area may have shaken his confidence. Or possibly he just needs some more time to develop and will eventually pan out for the Bruins. Subban did start playing the position late and has often been described as more of a raw athlete than a polished net minder. The one thing that is certain right now is that if Subban wants to play in Boston ever again, his play needs to get much better. Until then, it will be hard for Subban to shake the “bust” label.
Lineup Return: Crosby, Murray, McGinn
News and notes from tonight’s NHL lineup announcements:
- The reigning NHL MVP Sidney Crosby makes his season debut tonight with the Pittsburgh Penguins against the Florida Panthers. Crosby missed the first six games of the season with a concussion he suffered in preseason practice. His early return must alleviate concerns the organization had with his recovery, given that Crosby missed 101 games over two seasons with concussions and related issues. Crosby will make his debut centering Scott Wilson and Patric Hornqvist.
- The Pittsburgh Penguins regain another key piece to their Stanley Cup winning team as Matt Murray will dress for tonight’s game. Murray is slated to back up Marc-Andre Fleury tonight, and could start as early as Thursday against the New York Islanders. Murray missed Pittsburgh’s first six games as he recovered from a broken hand suffered in the World Cup of Hockey. Originally slated as the Penguins third-string goalie last year, Murray eclipsed backup Jeff Zatkoff when Fleury went down with injury, and maintained the starting role throughout the playoffs—despite Fleury returning to the team.
- Jamie McGinn will play his first game tonight for the Arizona Coyotes, the team announced, after signing a three-year, $10MM contract this offseason. McGinn was sidelined since the beginning of the season with an upper body injury and was placed on Injured Reserve retroactive to October 5th. The Coyotes waived Jamie McBain today to make room for McGinn’s return. McGinn is a hard-nosed player with soft hands—he scored 22G and 17A in 84 games last season between Buffalo and Anaheim.
Zach Fucale Demoted To ECHL
The St. Johns IceCaps—Montreal Canadiens’ AHL affiliate—announced that they’ve reassigned goalie Zach Fucale to the ECHL’s Brampton Beast. Fucale is only 3 years removed from being the top goalie drafted (36th overall) in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft.
The demotion is a huge blow for the goaltending prospect and the Canadiens organization. In two games this season, Fucale posted a 3.56GAA and a .887 SV%. Last season he fared a little better, posting a 3.13 GAA and a .903 SV% in the AHL and was even called up to warm the bench while Carey Price recovered from injury.
It wasn’t long ago that Fucale was highly touted by scouts. In 2014-15 he led Team Canada to a gold medal in the World Junior Championships with an unreal 1.20 GAA and .949 SV%. Fucale suffered since then, and could not perform at the same high level he showcased in Junior. The Canadian goalie will be replaced by Yann Danis and Charlie Lindgren, but neither provide much security if Carey Price goes down with another injury.
Seattle Arena Deal Clears Important Hurdle
The NHL has long been interested in the city of Seattle, either as home to a new expansion team or as a possible landing spot for a relocated franchise. However a group looking to build an arena in Seattle couldn’t agree with the city on a financing plan. The municipality was unwilling to use public funds, as previously proposed, and the project appeared dead until today.
Chris Hansen, who fronts the group of investors looking to build the arena, has revealed a new proposal that offers to forgo public funding in order to obtain approval to begin construction on a new venue in the city’s SoDo neighborhood, according to a report from King 5 News in Seattle. This development would seem to pave the way for eventual placement of an NHL franchise in the city but there’s at least one hurdle remaining.
The group’s primary objective is the acquisition of an NBA team and during the NHL’s recent expansion process, no one representing Seattle submitted an application to the league in pursuit of a franchise.
Below is an excerpt from the letter outlining the Hansen group’s new proposal to the mayor of Seattle, the King County Executive and Seattle City Councilmembers, which spells out their interest in the NBA:
Our goal has always been to return the NBA to Seattle and to build a new arena to make that possible. Our partnership with the City and County started five years ago was based on a recognition that private financing of a new arena in the prevailing economic conditions was not economically feasible. The goal of this partnership was to build the arena and bring an NBA team to Seattle. Public financing was simply a mechanism that made that possible at the time.
Now it’s possible, if not even likely, that once an NBA team is placed in the city an NHL franchise will soon follow. According to the article the NBA may begin to focus on expansion once the league and the player’s union agree to a new CBA.
The NHL currently has 31 members, creating unbalanced conferences and scheduling difficulties. Adding a 32nd franchise would solve those issues. Quebec is of course another possible candidate but would seem to be a better fit in the Eastern Conference an therefore might be best suited as a fallback in case the league needs to relocate a team in the East. With the Seattle arena project appearing to be back on track, the Pacific Northwest is again an appealing expansion option for the NHL.
Flyers Recall Leier; Simmonds Avoids Hearing
Update (3:25pm): Panaccio, via Twitter, confirms that the team has placed Raffl on IR creating the need for the recall of Leier.
The Philadelphia Flyers have recalled LW Taylor Leier according to a tweet from Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer. The reason for the recall is currently unclear though it appears it won’t be to take the place of Wayne Simmonds, who seems to have avoided a hearing with the Department of Player Safety after cross-checking Canadiens defenseman Andrei Markov into the boards during last night’s game. Simmonds defended the hit, arguing he “barely touched” Markov, suggesting the Habs blue liner was trying to sell the penalty call, as Tim Panaccio of CSN Philly adds.
The Flyers currently have the maximum 23 players on their roster and will have to make a corresponding move to make room for Leier. Dave Isaac of the Courier-Post suggests that move may be placing Michael Raffl on IR retroactive to last Wednesday. Raffl was injured in last Tuesday’s game against Chicago.
Leier appeared in six games for the Flyers last season, failing to register a point while averaging just 7:43 of ice time. He was originally selected by the Flyers in the fourth round of the 2012 entry draft. Leier tallied 20 goals and 49 points last season for Lehigh Valley and has netted 81 points overall in 147 AHL games.
More to follow.
Pacific Division Snapshots: Boedker, Megna, Stecher, McGinn
After an “underwhelming” start to the 2016-17 campaign, San Jose bench boss Peter DeBoer has shuffled his lines in an effort to spark the 2 – 3 Sharks, writes Paul Gackle of The Mercury News. Tomas Hertl, who has spent much of the season skating on the top line with Joe Pavelski and Joe Thornton, slides down the lineup and will center the third line. Meanwhile, Mikkel Boedker and Joel Ward have been promoted and will each move up a line.
Hertl, who has two goals and three points in six contests, will center a line with Patrick Marleau and Melker Karlsson on his wings. Boedker joins the aforementioned Pavelski and Thornton on the first line. Ward takes over as the second line right wing and will skate with Logan Couture and Joonas Donskoi.
For DeBoer, it’s not about punishing poor play or rewarding good; it’s about trying to find the right combinations that will allow the coach to roll four forward lines.
“It’s not a panic situation or anything, but you’re always looking for ways to get the most out of your group and our four-line game hasn’t been where I want it to be. I want to make sure that we are a four-line team and we’ll keep shuffling things until we are.”
Hertl’s play at center last year when Couture was out gave DeBoer the necessary confidence to move the young Czech forward back to the pivot spot.
“Hertl can play anywhere, his game is at that point. He’s a good enough player now that, not only can he play anywhere, I think he can make other people better around him.”
The Sharks currently sit tied with Anaheim for third in the Pacific Division but have a minus-four goal differential and have tallied just 14 markers on the season. Whether DeBoer’s changes pay off for the Sharks remains to be seen but it’s evident some form of shakeup was needed in San Jose.
Elsewhere in the Pacific Division:
- The Vancouver Canucks have announced via their team website that they have recalled forward Jayson Megna and defenseman Troy Stecher from Utica of the AHL. Furthermore, according to Jon Abbott who covers the Canucks for TSN1040, Megna is slated to play on the fourth line tonight against Ottawa. Stecher is set to make his NHL debut tonight and will skate with Alex Edler, with whom he partnered during preseason action, again per Abbott. Megna appeared in six games for the New York Rangers in 2015-16, netting a single goal and two points for the Blueshirts. Stecher signed with Vancouver as an undrafted free agent following three seasons playing for the University of North Dakota. The two draw into the lineup due to the continued absences of Derek Dorsett, Alexandre Burrows and Chris Tanev.
- The Arizona Coyotes will receive a welcome boost tonight as offseason free agent addition Jamie McGinn is set to make his 2016-17 season debut, as Coyotes Senior Director of News Content Dave Vest writes. McGinn missed the team’s first five games due to an upper-body-injury. Head coach Dave Tippett says the veteran wing will have to quickly readjust to the speed and pace of the game: “He’s going to have to get up and going. At least he had exhibition games (and) played well in the exhibition games. He’s been off for a couple weeks now. The pace has gone up. He’ll have to get into the pace of the game, but he’s a good veteran guy. He’s hard around the front of the net. Hopefully he brings us a little veteran presence we need right now.” Vest also notes that goalie Justin Peters is slated to make his first start of the 2016-17 campaign between the pipes tonight for the Coyotes. The 30-year-old Peters, who has 67 NHL starts on his resume, appeared in a relief role for the Coyotes last Thursday and stopped 23 of the 24 shots he faced. Peters has assumed the backup role in Arizona behind Louis Domingue following the lower-body-injury to Mike Smith.
Poll: 2005 NHL Draft Take Two: Fifteenth Overall Pick
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)
Now we move forward to the 15th pick, which was held by the New York Islanders.
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 Islanders selected center Ryan O’Marra out of Erie of the Ontario Hockey League. However, he wasn’t in the organization for long as he was dealt two years later to Edmonton as part of the Ryan Smyth deal. Neither one of them worked too well for the Isles as O’Marra played in just 33 career NHL games scoring only a single goal while Smyth didn’t help the team reach new heights in the postseason back in 2007 as the team was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs that year.
With the 15th pick of the 2005 NHL Redraft, who should the New York Islanders select? Cast your vote below!
Mobile users, click here to vote.
Kings To Sign Anders Lindback To PTO
The Los Angeles Kings are nearing a contract with unrestricted free agent goaltender Anders Lindback according to a report from Sport-Expressen’s Henrik Sjoberg (link in Swedish). Lisa Dillman of the LA Times reports (Twitter link) that it’s a PTO deal and that he will start in the AHL.
With Jeff Zatkoff also out for a few more games, the team currently has a goaltending tandem of Peter Budaj and Jack Campbell and as a result, there has been plenty of recent speculation that the Kings were going to be on the market to add some depth between the pipes.
Lindback was most recently with New Jersey back in training camp but failed to land a contract with the team as the Devils opted to keep Keith Kinkaid as their second string goalie.
The 28 year old has bounced around in recent years in various backup roles and was in Arizona last season, posting a 5-7-1 record with a 3.11 GAA and .894 save percentage, both well below the league averages. The emergence of youngster Louis Domingue also played a role in the Coyotes not renewing his contract.
In his career, Lindback has played in 130 games with Nashville, Tampa Bay, Dallas, Buffalo, and Arizona. He has a lifetime 45-58-8 record with a 2.87 GAA, a .904 SV%, and three shutouts.