Krueger The Top Candidate For Las Vegas Head Coach?
In his bold predictions for the 2016-17 season, TSN’s Frank Servalli predicts that the head coach of the Las Vegas expansion team will be Ralph Krueger. The head coach of Team Europe at the World Cup of Hockey last month, a team that exceeded everyone’s expectations, Krueger has gotten plenty of buzz as a top coaching candidate for any spots that open in the near future. No NHL coaching gig will get as much attention as the man picked to helm the new team in Las Vegas next season.
The only problem? Krueger is currently the chairman of Southampton FC of the English Premiere League, and yes that is a soccer team. Although Krueger grew up in Canada and was a hockey player, he was born in Germany, and his German roots and time spent playing and coaching overseas also made him a big soccer fan. He was named director of Southampton in 2014, and was soon after promoted to chairman. As of now, he has pledged his dedication to his switch to soccer, but Servalli notes that Krueger also added in a World Cup interview that he would “never say never”.
Should Las Vegas GM George McPhee convince Krueger to return to hockey and coach the league’s newest team next year, it would not be his first stint as an NHL bench boss. Krueger began working for the Edmonton Oilers in 2010 and was promoted to head coach for the 2012-13 season. After finishing below .500 and missing the playoffs, Krueger was relieved of his duties after just one season. However, his recent success at the World Cup shows that the former Oilers coach still has a passion for the game of hockey, as well as an innate ability to coach it. It is a certainty that Las Vegas will inquire about Krueger’s interests in a return, and if you believe Servalli, he will be the first head coach of the franchise in 2016-17.
Jamie Oleksiak On The Trade Block
Within a catch-all sports article in the Toronto Sun, Steve Simmons slipped in a line implying that Dallas Stars defenseman Jamie Oleksiak was for sale. With a plethora of young blue liners supposedly available across the league, all much more high-profile than Oleksiak, his availability has flown under the radar. However, with the season underway and many teams seeing the holes in their lineups, those who can’t meet the demands for names like Jacob Trouba or Cam Fowler might just end up swinging a deal for the big Dallas defenseman.
The expectations for Oleksiak were high when he was taken 14th overall by the Stars in the 2011 NHL Draft. At 6’7″, and over 250 lbs. at such a young age, Oleksiak had the size and raw power to become a shutdown defenseman in only a short matter of time. After his freshman year at Northeastern University, Oleksiak was drafted by Dallas and decided to move to the junior ranks. His first and only season in the OHL was split between the Saginaw Spirit and Niagara Ice Dogs, and Oleksiak showed his first glimpses of puck-moving ability. Dallas jumped at the chance to sign their up-and-coming star while he was still a teenager, and he rewarded them with the best year of his career with the AHL Texas Stars and even got into 16 games with the big-league team. Every year since, those once-promising numbers have gone down. Oleksiak has been unable to stick in Dallas, and has not had the same production in the AHL either. Last year, injuries kept him from doing much at either level.
Now it looks as if the Stars are trying to sell Oleksiak based on his potential before he’s officially labeled a bust. With little production to use as a selling point, all Dallas has is the size and style of the big blue liner. A big defenseman who has shown an ability to skate and move the puck will always have some value, but how much is yet to be determined. If Dallas is set on giving up on Oleksiak, expect him to be moved this season, no matter the sunk cost.
Central Snapshots: Avalanche, Gunnarsson, Lehtera, Brodziak, Stars
After missing the playoffs for the second consecutive season, the Colorado Avalanche perhaps surprisingly kept their roster mostly intact this past summer; though they did make one big change which is expected to impact their on-ice fortunes. Jared Bednar replaces Patrick Roy behind the bench and is being counted on to implement a system better-suited for the talent on hand and one that can compete in the tough Central Division. But as Terry Frei of The Denver Post argues, by sticking with this core group of players, making the playoffs isn’t going to be good enough for the Avalanche.
By virtue of the expensive long-term contracts doled out over the last couple of seasons to Semyon Varlamov, Nathan MacKinnon, Matt Duchene, Erik Johnson, Tyson Barrie and Gabriel Landeskog, Colorado has demonstrated an immense amount of faith that this group can guide the franchise to Stanley Cup contention, opines Frei. Those six players account for nearly half of Colorado’s cap commitments in the 2016-17 campaign and perhaps more importantly, all remain under contract to the Avalanche for at least the next three seasons. If this group underachieves yet again, it could make it that much tougher for GM Joe Sakic to receive fair value for these players in potential trade talks. Consequently, since his ability to spend on free agents will be restricted as well, it might be difficult moving forward to drastically change or augment the Avalanche roster.
More from the Central Division:
- The Blues are 3 – 0 following their 3 – 2 win over the New York Rangers Saturday night but the victory could prove costly. Centers Kyle Brodziak, Jori Lehtera along with defenseman Carl Gunnarsson all left last night’s tilt with injuries and did not return, notes Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The exact nature and severity of the injuries are not known at this point and as Rutherford points out, with a day off today more information may not be available until Monday. Playing with 10 forwards and five defenseman for the entire third frame last night, the Blues hung on despite being outshot by the Rangers 15 – 0 in the period. With Petteri Lindbohm available in the minors, St. Louis is likely better-equipped to cover for the loss of Gunnarsson than they would be if both Lehtera and Brodziak were to miss extensive time.
- Another Central Division team that’s had to deal with injuries in the early going is Dallas. Veteran forward Ales Hemsky has battled a groin issue and won’t be available for the first week or so of the season. Center Cody Eakin is expected to be out into November with a knee problem while Mattias Janmark‘s season could be in jeopardy following knee surgery. With that much forward talent on the sideline, it would have been understandable if GM Jim Nill reacted by acquiring a veteran player or two, whether via trade or waivers, to buoy the team’s depth. But as Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News writes, Nill prepared his roster this summer by inking the likes of Adam Cracknell, Jiri Hudler and later, Lauri Korpikoski. Cracknell was expected to provide insurance at the AHL level but has been pressed into service early and has responded with a goal and an assist through two games. Korpiksoki had the final year of his deal bought out by Edmonton and failed to convert a training camp PTO into a roster spot with Calgary. The Stars inked Korpikoski, who has been criticized for his poor performance in the puck possession department, to a one-year deal which has already paid off for Dallas. The Finnish forward has already tallied a goal and is a plus-two so far this season. It appears as if Nill’s savvy, low-risk moves have a good chance of keeping the Stars ship afloat until reinforcements arrive in the form of Hemsky and Eakin.
Atlantic Snapshots: Bergevin, Point, Red Wings
Marc Bergevin took a lot of heat this summer after dealing fan-favorite defenseman P.K. Subban to Nashville for Shea Weber. Subban is four yours younger than Weber and while he carries a higher annual cap charge ($9MM versus $7.857MM), his deal expires four years earlier than Weber’s. Nonetheless, as Pat Hickey of the Montreal Gazette writes, Bergevin knows only time will tell how this trade ultimately works out for the Canadiens.
Montreal is clearly banking on the “leadership and stability” Weber provides as a two-time Olympic gold medal winner. Subban is flashier, according to Hickey, and known for being a bit of a risk-taker. At one point last season it did seem as if the Canadiens were growing tired of Subban’s gambling nature and would prefer a more conservative approach on the ice.
With Weber (31) on board and franchise goalie Carey Price set to turn 30 next summer, the belief is the Canadiens window to win may be closing, lending further justification for Bergevin to pull the trigger on the Subban trade. But as Hickey noted, Bergevin doesn’t believe in windows:
“There are too many variables. In today’s NHL, it turns around fast. I look at Buffalo. I know they have injuries, but they came a long way quick. There’s a price to pay. Obviously, the best way (to improve) is the draft and you saw the kid (Maple Leafs rookie Auston) Matthews with four goals in his first game. He’s going to be a very good player, but there was a price to pay to get him.”
It’s an interesting perspective from the Habs GM and Hickey’s piece contains additional tidbits on a couple of the Canadiens’ top young players and Bergevin’s thoughts on those players.
Elsewhere in the Atlantic Division:
- Detroit is off to an 0 – 2 start and much of the blame falls on the back end and their struggles to retrieve the puck and begin the transition from defense to offense efficiently, as Ansar Khan writes. Head coach Jeff Blashill after last night’s loss to Florida: “I thought we were second in all those pucks; their second guy beat our second guy almost all night. Part of that is when you play a long time in your end you get tired playing defense and it’s hard to have enough juice for offense. So, we got to be quicker out of our end.” Blashill singles out Mike Green, Jonathan Ericsson and Xavier Oullet as having been “good” through two games. It stands to reason then that his omissions of Danny DeKeyser, Alexey Marchenko and Brendan Smith, who have also each appeared in the Wings’ first two contests, suggests an indictment of their play from the coach. While it’s still very early in the season it’s clear this Red Wings team may well be in jeopardy of snapping their stretch of 25 consecutive playoff appearances.
- Tampa Bay Lightning GM Steve Yzerman learned much about his craft from Detroit’s Ken Holland. And like Holland, Yzerman has been careful when it comes to promoting his team’s prospects. Since taking over in Tampa Bay, not one first-year pro player with AHL eligibility has made the team coming out of camp; that is, as Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times reports, until Brayden Point. Taking advantage of the training camp absences of Ryan Callahan (injury) and Nikita Kucherov (unsigned RFA), Point earned this opportunity and not only did the 20-year-old forward make his NHL debut, he saw 16 minutes of ice time in the Lightning’s 3 – 2 win over New Jersey, as Smith notes. Smith argues keeping Point after an impressive training camp “sends the right message to the dressing room,” proving to the group that roster spots are earned through performance and not a player’s contract. Time will tell whether Point will keep his spot once Callahan is healthy enough to return but by simply making the team to open the season, he’s already accomplished something Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat and Kucherov did not.
Snapshots: Prince, Campbell, Hanzal
News and notes from around the NHL this morning:
- The New York Islanders have placed Shane Prince on IR retroactive to last night. Prince suffered a lower body injury last night in the Isles game against the Washington Capitals. Prince has registered zero points and -3 plus/minus this season in two games. Last season Prince split his time between the Ottawa Senators and the Islanders, scoring 6G and 11A in 62 games, and an additional 3G and 1A in 11 playoff games. Prince’s injury opens up a center spot to recently cut prospects.
- The Columbus Blue Jackets have suspended forward Gregory Campbell after he refused to report to the Lake Erie Monsters, Columbus’s AHL affiliate. Campbell—through his agent Pat Morris—says that he is not going to play in the AHL and take a spot away from a younger player. Columbus tried to trade Campbell before waiving him, but apparently did not garner any legitimate offers. Campbell will continue to skate on his own, but one would have to think whether he is considering retirement.
- Arizona Coyotes’ Martin Hanzal will most likely shut down contract talks for the season and instead focus on hockey, reports Sarah McLellan of AZ Central Sports. Hanzal is in the final year of a five-year deal worth $3.1MM a year. The Czech forward says that he wants to stay in Arizona, and is happy to talk to the team once the season ends. Shutting down negotiations once the season started was the plan along, says Hanzal.
Maple Leafs Retire Seventeen Jersey Numbers
The Toronto Maple Leafs reversed policy and retired seventeen jersey numbers as part of their 100th anniversary celebration in their home opener last night. The Maple Leafs were staunchly against retiring numbers for decades and would rather honor numbers instead of taking them out of circulation. The club policy reversal came as a surprise to many, and changes which numbers can be worn by incoming players. The following numbers were retired:
1: Johnny Bower and Turk Broda
4: Hap Day and Red Kelly
5: Bill Barilko
6: Ace Bailey
7: Tim Horton and King Clancy
9: Charlie Conacher and Ted Kennedy
10: Syl Apps and George Armstrong
13: Mats Sundin
14: Dave Keon
17: Wendel Clark
21: Borje Salming
27: Frank Mahovlich and Darryl Sittler
93: Doug Gilmour
One player currently affected by the change is forward James van Riemsdyk. Up until last night van Riemsdyk wore number 21—a number now retired to honor Borje Salming—so van Riemsdyk switched to number 25. He had known about the change since the summertime, and jokingly admitted to TSN’s Mark Masters that that he chose 25 to “make him look bigger.”
Van Riemsdyk becomes the 44th Maple Leaf to wear number 25, and follows prominent Maple Leafs Steve Thomas and Peter Zezel. The change doesn’t seem to to affect him though as he scored last night in his first game with his new number.
Injury Reports: Rask, Girardi
Injury notes from last night’s NHL games:
- Tuukka Rask. The Boston Bruins’ goaltender Tuukka Rask sat out last night’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, and it was only after the game that the Bruins admitted to Rask’s injury, reports Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe. The team did not disclose the nature or extend of Rask’s injury—they referred to it as soreness—but it’s believed to be a lower body ailment. The Boston Herald’s Steve Conroy reports that Rask seemed to tweak something in the 3rd period of Thursday’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Rask left the ice during a TV timeout but returned for the rest of the game. Backup goaltender Anton Khudobin started in Rask’s place yesterday in the team’s 4-1 loss. It is unclear how long Rask will be sidelined, but if he misses considerable time, the Bruins will compete with the Los Angeles Kings to find a suitable stopgap.
- Dan Girardi. The New York Rangers defensemen suffered a hip flexor injury last night against the St. Louis Blues. Girardi left the ice in the second period and did not return. After the game, coach Alain Vigneault speculated that while he doesn’t know the injury’s severity, he expects it to be more than day-to-day. Losing Dan Girardi is a blow to the Rangers’ blueline, but it gives former first round pick Dylan McIlrath another shot to impress the coaching staff. The Rangers were rumored to be shopping McIlrath earlier this month, but those talks may be on hold until Girari returns.
The Dylan Strome Situation
Dylan Strome is one of five rookies who made the 2016-17 Arizona Coyotes roster, joining D Jakob Chychrun, F Christian Dvorak, F Laurent Dauphin and F Lawson Crouse. Strome, the third overall pick in 2015, is expected to one day fill the longstanding vacancy the Coyotes have had for an elite, #1 center. But after being announced as a scratch for tonight’s season-opener, questions are already being raised as to whether Strome is or even will be that guy, as Craig Morgan of Today’s Slapshot writes.
Of course it’s just one game in what likely promises to be a long career for Strome, but it has to be somewhat disconcerting a highly-regarded rookie is already sitting in the press box this early on. To his credit, Strome is looking at the bright side of the situation:
“It’s obviously a little disappointing but you’ve got to look at the positives. I’m here in the NHL, living my dream at 19. Not a lot of people get this opportunity so I’m just going to wait for my chance and just run with it when I get it.”
For his part, head coach Dave Tippett “promised” Strome would get an opportunity and as Morgan notes, the coach even implied the 19-year-old rookie could rotate in and out with Dvorak in a platoon scenario. It seems odd that the Coyotes would subject two of their top prospects to this type of arrangement considering they have other options. Dvorak could have been sent to Tucson of the AHL to gain more professional experience. Strome is eligible to be returned to Erie of the OHL for a final season of junior but according to Morgan the Coyotes would prefer to introduce the youngster to their system and have him work with their staff to further his development. After netting 240 points in his last 124 OHL games, it would seem apparent that another year of junior wouldn’t do Strome much good.
This situation probably will qualify as nothing more than a blip on the radar in the career of Strome. But it has to register as somewhat surprising that he will have to wait a little longer before making his NHL debut.
Snapshots: Rask, Yakupov, Despres
Veteran goalie Tuukka Rask of the Boston Bruins didn’t enjoy his best season in 2015-16, finishing with a 91.5% Save % and a GAA of 2.56. Both those rates constituted the worst of Rask’s career to date but as Joe Haggerty writes, the Finnish goalie is using that experience as a learning tool to prepare for the ups-and-downs likely to come in 2016-17.
With the Bruins in the midst of a transition, Rask is likely going to face more adversity this season but he feels the experiences of a year ago have made him “mentally tougher,” and less likely to let a soft or fluke goal affect his game. Rask has already demonstrated this new approach in the Bruins first regular season contest. As Haggerty notes, the Columbus Blue Jackets scored the game’s first goal, a floater from just inside the blue line, and would tally again later in the opening period, but Rask rebounded by stopping 21 of the final 22 shots he faced to earn the victory. Last season the outcome might have been different, but the work Rask put in on the mental aspect of the game paid off for one night at least.
Elsewhere in the NHL:
- While things didn’t end well in Edmonton for Nail Yakupov, the talented winger is off to a great start with St. Louis and he’s impressing his new head coach and teammates, according to Norm Sanders of the Belleville News-Democrat. Following a two-point performance in the Blues’ 3 – 2 win over Minnesota, Ken Hitchcock had this to say about his newest player: “Much better defensively than I thought. He’s got great outside speed. What I liked more than anything was his conscience. His conscience was there. We’re not trying to overwhelm him by having him do a bunch of things. We’re just going to keep it five on five for the first week to 10 days and see how much he can absorb there.” Veteran scoring forward Alex Steen has been impressed with Yakupov’s decision-making in the early going: “Smart decisions with the puck (and) he’s obviously individually very skilled and makes plays in tight areas. We’re happy to have him.” Yakupov has a ways to go to alter the negative reputation he earned as a member of the Oilers but so far he has done everything the Blues have asked for and may finally be on his way to fulfilling his vast potential.
- The Ducks, already without blue line stalwart Hampus Lindholm, who remains unsigned as a RFA, could be without fellow defenseman Simon Despres as well. Despres left Thursday’s game against the Stars with what is being called an “upper-body-injury,” and his status is unclear, as noted by Eric Stephens of The Orange County Register. Ducks GM Bob Murray said this about Despres: “He was not feeling good last night. We’re trying to figure out what’s going on with him. … Something’s wrong here and we’re going to get to bottom of it here.” Stephens relays that Murray also referenced Despres’ past issues with head injuries, which seems to hint that the Ducks are concerned this may in fact be another concussion.
Potential Short-Term Replacements For Quick
With Jonathan Quick set to possibly miss 3 – 4 months due to a groin injury, the Kings are for the time being expected to ride it out with internal options Jeff Zatkoff and Peter Budaj manning the net. But the Kings are well within their window of Stanley Cup competition and with several of their key players – Anze Kopitar, Jeff Carter, Marian Gaborik and Alec Martinez – already or nearing 30, and the team may not want to let the season get away should the Zatkoff/Budaj combo struggle between the pipes. In that case L.A. could visit the trade market to look for a short-term solution.
The Kings have little in the way of cap space, according to Cap Friendly, with just around $1.5MM available. They could add $5.8MM if they place Quick on LTIR, should they choose. But with Quick under contract for six seasons beyond this one, it’s likely the club elects to stick with less expensive options or, at the very least, limit their search to goaltenders in the final year of their deals. Within these parameters, here are a few goaltenders who could be made available by their current team and who might prove to be of interest at some point to the Kings.
Ondrej Pavelec – He was waived by Winnipeg at the end of the regular season and after going unclaimed, was assigned to the Jets’ Manitoba AHL affiliate. Pavelec’s only above-average NHL season came during the 2014-15 campaign when he posted a Save % of 92.0% and allowed a GAA of 2.28. That’s the only season in the last five Pavelec has posted a Save % above 90.6% or a GAA lower than 2.78. He is in the final year of his contract and set to earn $2.95MM; a figure the Kings could find reasonable enough for a stop-gap solution. NHL reporter Brennan Klak agrees with the premise the Kings don’t want to commit much in the terms of money or term, and mentions Pavelec as a hypothetical option.
Ryan Miller – Miller is expensive, $6MM cap charge, but has a solid track record of success at the NHL level and like Pavelec, is in the final season of his deal. It’s possible, if the Kings can tread water in the interim, their interest increases as the trade deadline approaches and the team can better afford that cap hit. If the Canucks find themselves on the outside looking in at the playoffs, they could field offers for the veteran netminder. This would likely represent a worst-case scenario in that it assumes Quick wouldn’t be ready to return at the end of four months.
Thomas Greiss – Greiss had a good year with the Islanders in 2015-16 and when Jaroslav Halak went down with an injury late in the season, the German goalie guided New York into the second round of the playoffs. Greiss is in the final year of a deal that comes with a cap hit of just $1.5MM, and would represent a low-cost option on an expiring contract. The Islanders chose to keep three netminders on the roster to begin the season, likely out of fear that Jean-Francois Berube would have been claimed on waivers. It’s feasible they could take a reasonable offer for Greiss and commit to Berube and Halak for the rest of 2016-17.
Scott Wedgewood – The Kings could have had Wedgewood for just the cost of assuming the remaining season and $587.5K left on his contract but of course Quick was healthy when Wedgewood was available on waivers. It seems apparent the Devils still value Wedgewood’s potential but with Cory Schneider and Keith Kinkaid holding down the top two spots in New Jersey, it’s conceivable they could entertain offers for the 24-year-old goalie. Wedgewood has little NHL experience – four starts – but would represent a low-cost, low-risk flier for the Kings.