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Seravalli’s Latest: Team Priorities Leading To The Trade Deadline

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In his latest column, TSN’s Frank Seravalli looks at all 30 NHL teams (plus a note about the Vegas Golden Knights) and what their priorities are as they get closer to the deadline.  The whole article is well worth the read but here is a sampling of some of the highlights:

  • While the Sabres are likely to move pending unrestricted free agents Cody Franson and Brian Gionta, center Zemgus Girgensons (who is set to be a restricted free agent) could be someone teams look at as a reclamation project. Girgensons had a breakout year under former coach Ted Nolan in 2014-15 but has struggled since Dan Bylsma has taken over.  His role has considerably diminished this season which makes him an intriguing ‘change of scenery’ candidate.
  • The Blue Jackets could be poised to strike on what is shaping up to be a buyers’ market when it comes to goaltending. Given where the team finds themselves, Seravalli suggests that they may want a more proven backup behind Sergei Bobrovsky.  Youngsters Anton Forsberg and Joonas Korpisalo are poised to battle for the number two job with Curtis McElhinney now in Toronto but neither have much NHL experience.  One possible hiccup for Columbus could be the fact that a lot of the goalies believed to be available are signed beyond this season which may not appeal to them given the progress that Forsberg and Korpisalo have shown.
  • Although the Red Wings don’t appear to be entering selling mode any time soon, one area that GM Ken Holland may look to improve on is their cap situation. They have roughly $68MM committed for next year already (though Johan Franzen’s $3.95MM cap hit is including and he’ll be back on LTIR) and have a few restricted free agents including forwards Tomas Tatar and Andreas Athanasiou.  If they want to entertain the idea of keeping pending UFA Thomas Vanek around, they’ll need to free up some money and this might be the right time to accomplish that.
  • Seravalli wonders if this might be the year for the Senators to consider dealing away their first round pick. With Clarke MacArthur’s concussion symptoms not subsiding as quickly as anyone hoped, there is a void on the left side that needs to be addressed and their trade assets (such as Curtis Lazar and Nick Paul) won’t be enough by themselves to secure a legitimate top winger.
  • With the Canucks not likely to really be buyers or sellers at the deadline, they could be a team in the market for a reclamation project or two to try along the Sedins, similar to what Edmonton did with Patrick Maroon last year, a move that has worked out quite well this season. However, considering that they’re unwilling to move draft picks this year, being able to bring a player like that in may prove to be a bit more difficult.

Minor Transactions: 1/19/17

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Here is where we’ll keep tabs on today’s minor roster moves:

  • Minnesota announced that they have recalled defenseman Mike Reilly from Iowa of the AHL. He has spent the bulk of the year in the minors and has four goals and 11 assists in 29 AHL contests.  Reilly also has played in nine games with the Wild, being held off the scoresheet while averaging 12:57 of ice time per night.
  • Carolina has swapped backup goalies, announcing that they have recalled Michael Leighton while assigning Alex Nedeljkovic back to their AHL affiliate in Charlotte. The two swapped places earlier this week, allowing Leighton to get into a couple of minor league games to stay in game shape.  Eddie Lack, the regular backup for the Hurricanes, remains out of the lineup indefinitely due to a concussion.
  • Buffalo announced that they have summoned goalie Linus Ullmark from Rochester (AHL). Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News reports (Twitter link) that Anders Nilsson is dealing with the flu so Ullmark will take his place in the interim.  This is the fourth recall for Ullmark this year but he has yet to see action with the Sabres this year.  He has a 15-13-1 record in the minors this year with a 3.03 GAA and a .908 SV%.
  • Ottawa has recalled right winger Casey Bailey from AHL Binghamton per their Twitter page. The Sens are currently dealing with a flu bug, notes Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun.  Bailey has played in four games for the Senators this season being held off the scoresheet but sits tied for second in goals in Binghamton with 10 in 33 minor league outings.
  • The Canucks swapped out depth defenders, announcing that they’ve recalled Jordan Subban while sending Andrey Pedan back to Utica (AHL). Subban leads all Comets blueliners with 22 points this season and has not yet played in the NHL.  As for Pedan, he had been up for the better part of a month but did not suit up in Vancouver and was close to needing waivers to be sent back down having been up for 29 days.
  • In what is becoming a daily shuffle, Anaheim announced the recall of winger Stefan Noesen from San Diego of the AHL.  It’s the fourth straight day that he has either been recalled or demoted as the Ducks look to conserve as much cap space as possible.  Noesen has a goal in nine NHL games with Anaheim this season while adding 15 points in 22 minor league contests.

The Latest On Kevin Shattenkirk

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St. Louis defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk is starting to pop up in a lot of trade talk again and it appears that the Blues are open to moving him despite the fact that they’re currently in a playoff spot.  In an appearance on NBCSN (video link), TSN’s Bob McKenzie noted that GM Doug Armstrong may be approaching the trade deadline from a different mindset (transcription via Fan Rag’s Chris Nichols):

“The thought process might be different this year than last year. For the very simple reason that last year the St. Louis Blues were very much a contending team. So when Troy Brouwer and David Backes’ contracts were up and they were perceived as rentals at the deadline, St. Louis says, ‘No way. We could win the Stanley Cup with those guys. We’ll let them go to unrestricted free agency. We’ll take our run at it.’”

As we saw back in the summer, both Brouwer and Backes departed via free agency to the Flames and Bruins respectively.  With the expectation that Shattenkirk won’t be back, do the Blues want to lose another core player for nothing in return, short of what they get out of him as an ‘internal rental’ between the deadline and the end of the playoffs?

Yesterday, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman mused about whether or not Shattenkirk might look more favorably on a trade, even to a place like Edmonton where he indicated he didn’t want to play back in the offseason.  While a place like that may not be a long-term destination for him, it would give him a chance to showcase himself in a different environment in the hopes of boosting his value on the open market this summer.

It’s worth noting that Shattenkirk, who carries a cap hit this season of $4.25MM, does not have any no-trade protection but if St. Louis was to move him to a team where he’d be willing to sign an extension, they may be able to get a better return for the 27 year old.  However, speaking with TSN 1260 in Edmonton, TSN’s Darren Dreger suggests that Shattenkirk is intent on going to the open market:

“The sense has been that Shattenkirk, because of his pending unrestricted free agency, wanted to make sure that he held on to that flexibility. And the sense is, or was, that he wants to play somewhere on the Eastern seaboard. That limits his options, but he must feel confident enough in his game and marketability that as a free agent he’s going to command a seven-year term and probably 7, 7 and change per year. So why would you give that up.”

Shattenkirk recently was ranked first overall in our midseason UFA power rankings and is primed to land a significant raise this summer.  With 30 points in 45 games this season, he’d be an instant key addition if Armstrong does decide to move him between now and the beginning of March at the trade deadline, making him a player to keep a close eye on in the weeks ahead.

Panthers Waive Seth Griffith

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The Florida Panthers have placed right winger Seth Griffith on waivers, reports Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman (Twitter link).  It’s the third roster move the team has made today after demoting center Denis Malgin and recalling goalie Reto Berra from Springfield of the AHL.

Griffith has played in 21 games with the Panthers this season, collecting five assists while averaging over 13 minutes a night in ice time.  However, he has been a frequent healthy scratch lately, playing in just one of Florida’s last eight games.

The 24 year old is no stranger to the waiver wire this season as this is the third time he has been waived.  After the Bruins waived him at the end of training camp, Toronto picked him up.  He wasn’t there for too long though as after three games with the Leafs, he hit the wire again when the Panthers added him.

In his career, Griffith has played in 58 NHL games between Boston, Toronto, and Florida, recording six goals and ten assists.  He has been much more of a producer at the minor league level though; he put up 77 points in just 57 games with the Bruins’ AHL affiliate in 2015-16.  However, his size (just 5’9) could scare some potential suitors off.

On the other hand, he has been claimed twice already this season so there may be some teams who may still be interested in giving him a shot.

Panthers Assign Denis Malgin To AHL, Recall Reto Berra

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The Florida Panthers made a pair of roster moves on Thursday, announcing that they have assigned center Denis Malgin to their AHL affiliate in Springfield.  Taking his place on the roster is goaltender Reto Berra.

Berra will be covering for backup goaltender James Reimer, who left the team to be with his wife as he gives birth, notes George Richards of the Miami Herald (Twitter link).  The Panthers acquired Berra back in June in exchange for prospect forward Rocco Grimaldi to give them an NHL-caliber insurance policy.  In 20 minor league games this year, he has a 9-8-2 record with a 2.24 GAA and a .918 SV%.

Malgin was one of the surprises of the preseason, making the team as a 19 year old after a fairly quiet season in the Swiss League the year before.  He got off to a strong start, collecting four goals and four assists in his first 17 games.

Things haven’t gone as swimmingly lately for the 2015 fourth round pick though.  He has been held off the scoresheet in his last 22 games while seeing his ice time drop considerably as well.  Despite his struggles, the Panthers declined to loan him to the Swiss entry at the recently-completed World Juniors.

Interim head coach and general manager Tom Rowe noted to Harvey Fialkov of the Sun Sentinel (Twitter link) recently that he was concerned that Malgin had hit the rookie wall.  Accordingly, while Berra’s stint with the big club may be short, there’s a good chance that Malgin won’t be the one coming back up in a few days when Reimer returns to the lineup.

Pacific Notes: Sharks, White, Shaw, Frolik

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Although there’s a good chance that the Sharks will lose a defenseman by next year, either via the Las Vegas expansion draft or a trade, it’s unlikely that they will opt to move that defender now, suggests CSN Bay Area’s Kevin Kurz.

San Jose finds themselves in the bottom half of the league in goals per game, which is something they’d like to improve upon.  Their strength so far this season has been on the defensive side of things where they allow the third fewest shots per game.   Accordingly, moving one of their defenders such as Justin Braun to bring in that scoring help would just trade one hole on the roster for another.

More from the Pacific Division:

  • The Coyotes are hopeful that center Ryan White can return to the lineup tonight against the Wild, notes Sarah McLellan of the Arizona Republic. The 28 year old last suited up on December 21st and has missed the last 11 games with a lower body injury.  While White won’t bring much in the way of offense to the table when he returns (he has just seven points in 30 games this season), he’ll give them a physical presence in their bottom six.  Arizona is carrying a full 23-man roster so a move will need to be made in order to activate him off injured reserve.
  • After passing through waivers earlier this season with the Panthers, center Logan Shaw is carving out a niche for himself with the Ducks, writes Eric Stephens of the Orange County Register. Shaw is taking a regular turn on their penalty kill as he helps to fill the void left by Nate Thompson (who has missed the entire year with an Achilles injury) and in doing so, has taken a bit of the workload off of Ryan Kesler as well.  Head coach Randy Carlyle would like to see Shaw become a threat at the faceoff dot but he’s a career 35% on the draw so it may take a little while for him to develop that element of his game.
  • Calgary left winger Michael Frolik has never been a big scorer at the NHL level (his career high in points came in his rookie campaign in 2008-09) but that hasn’t stopped him from being linked to one of the leading scorers in NHL history, notes Wes Gilbertson of the Calgary Sun. Frolik was born in Kladno of the Czech Republic, birthplace of Jaromir Jagr and accordingly, his nickname growing up was ‘Baby Jagr’.  While he was a top offensive threat at the junior level, he has evolved into more of a two-way forward in recent years.  Although reliable two-way threats can carve out a long career in the NHL, Frolik doesn’t anticipate having anywhere near the staying power of Jagr, who’s set to turn 45 next week.

Atlantic Notes: Holland, Rielly, Julien, MacArthur, Sabres Rebuild

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Detroit Red Wings general manager Ken Holland spoke with NHL.com’s Nick Cotsonika who quizzed the manager about how the Wings will approach the next month. Holland wants to give the Red Wings every chance to get back into the race before having to make the decision to trade off assets–something he’s never done in his career as a general manager. During the first intermission during the Bruins-Red Wings matchup Wednesday night, Bob McKenzie added that the Wings will most likely look to sell during their bye, which comes a week before the trade deadline.

  • The Toronto Maple Leafs received some great news when it turned out Morgan Rielly’s injury was not nearly as serious as initially thought. The defenseman was all smiles in the locker room when he met with the media regarding his day-to-day status.
  • If the Bruins are going to fire head coach Claude Julien, it’s going to come from the hockey men in charge, not ownership. Bruins CEO Charlie Jacobs, according to the Boston Herald’s Steve Buckley, will defer Julien’s fate to team president Cam Neely and general manager Don Sweeney. Jacobs adds that his role is to support the front office on their hockey decisions.
  • Bruce Garrioch writes that Clarke MacArthur has to undergo more testing before he is cleared to return for the Sens. Though they want him back, the team is taking every precaution in the name of safety.
  • On the Sabres, the Buffalo News’ Mike Harrington reports that the Sabres have been “left in the dust” when it comes to rebuilding. Using the Maple Leafs as the measuring stick, Harrington’s lede argues that it certainly shouldn’t be the case. But Buffalo has taken a path that appears to be wrought with poor decisions from the front office to the bench.

Evening Snapshots: Oduya, Watson, Fast, Puempel

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It appears that Dallas Stars defenseman Johnny Oduya has experienced a recurrence of the lower-body injury which cost the veteran blue liner 10 games earlier this season, according to Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News, via Twitter. The 11-year veteran will miss Thursday’s contest on the road against the Islanders but it’s unclear if he will be sidelined beyond that.

The 35-year-old Oduya and Dan Hamhuis, 34, provide veteran experience to a predominantly young Stars blue line spearheaded by 24-year-old Swede John Klingberg. Oduya has appeared in 782 NHL regular season games and another 102 postseason contests during his career. He was part of two Stanley Cup winning teams while with the Blackhawks and has also spent time in the New Jersey and Winnipeg/Atlanta organizations.

Elsewhere in the NHL:

  • Generally speaking, high expectations are attached to any prospect chosen in the first round of his respective entry draft. However, history has taught us that a prospect’s development is not linear and in many cases the player never fully lives up to his advanced billing. As Adam Vingan of The Tennessean writes, that has certainly proven to be true for Austin Watson of the Nashville Predators, who the team chose with the 18th overall pick in the 2010 draft. After three seasons spent mainly in the AHL and a stint on waivers in October, Watson appears to finally be carving out a regular role in the NHL six years after embarking on his pro career.
  • The New York Rangers announced today that checking winger Jesper Fast will be out from seven to 10 days with an upper-body injury. Steve Zipay of Newsday adds that it appears to be an issue with his left shoulder. Though left wing Matt Puempel, out since December 31st with a concussion, is nearing a return and practiced with the team today, he won’t travel with the club. Instead it will be Oscar Lindberg, a healthy scratch last night with Mika Zibanejad’s return, drawing back into the lineup in place of Fast.

Wild Blue Liner Brodin Out With Broken Finger

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Jonas Brodin met with a hand specialist today to determine the severity and treatment options for a broken finger the defenseman suffered last night, reports Michael Russo of the Star Tribune. Wild GM Chuck Fletcher is expecting the blue liner to be out at least “a few weeks” but his absence could be longer depending on whether he’ll need surgery to repair the break. According to Russo, the worst case scenario could keep Brodin sidelined for up to six weeks and given the compressed nature of the NHL schedule this season, it means he could miss as many as 18 games.

Brodin is an important cog on the team’s blue line, averaging the third-most ice time among the team’s defense corps while seeing action in all situations. In 43 games this season, the 23-year-old Swede has three goals and 16 points. That represents a significant uptick from his 2015-16 performance when Brodin registered just seven points in 68 games.

Russo relays that Wild bench boss Bruce Boudreau will reach out to the head coach of the club’s AHL affiliate in Iowa, Derek Lalonde, for input on whom to call up in Brodin’s absence. He speculates the two most likely candidates are Mike Reilly and Gustav Olofsson and would hinge on whether the team would prefer a more offensive-minded option (Reilly) who could fill in on the man-advantage or one who is better in the defensive zone (Gustafsson).

At least in the short term, it appears the team will dress Nate Prosser, though as Russo writes, the veteran coach has not yet decided which side he will play on. Prosser is a right-handed shot and should Boudreau elect to slot the 30-year-old on his natural side, it would suggest one of Mathew Dumba or Christian Folin could be scratched with the call-up from Iowa drawing into the lineup. The alternative would be using Prosser on his off-side with the call-up serving as the extra blue liner.

While losing a proven, top-four defenseman like Brodin is never ideal, the Wild are at least one of the few teams in the league with enough quality blue line depth to survive his absence. In fact, it’s this depth that has led some to wonder whether the team would attempt to parlay one of their defenders into additional scoring help, though Brodin’s injury likely reduces the odds of that possibility.

 

Varlamov Out Through All-Star Break With Groin Issue

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The Colorado Avalanche will be without starting net minder Semyon Varlamov at least through the All-Star break, the team announced this afternoon. Head coach Jared Bednar made the announcement, indicating the groin issue which has bothered the goalie on-and-off throughout the season “is no longer a day-to-day thing.” The All-Star break runs through January 30th, meaning the injury will effectively cause Varlamov to miss at least the team’s next four games.

The Avalanche later said they would recall goaltender Spencer Martin from their AHL affiliate, the San Antonio Rampage. Martin has previously been up with the club but has yet to appear in an NHL game. He was the team’s third-round selection, 63rd overall, in the 2013 entry draft out of Mississauga of the OHL.

With Varlamov out, expect Calvin Pickard to get the lion’s share of the playing time between the pipes. The 24-year-old has started 19 games on the year for the Avalanche, winning seven, and posting a GAA of 3.06 with a S% of 0.902. Pickard was the team’s second-round pick in 2010.

Varlamov has also struggled between the pipes for Colorado, winning just six of 23 starts and recording a GAA of 3.38 and a S% below 0.900. Among the 47 qualified NHL goaltenders, Varly is tied for 42nd in S% and dead last in GAA.

With the Avalanche at least expected to consider tearing down and rebuilding their roster, it’s possible they would have marketed Varlamov this coming summer to teams in search of goaltending help. But with two more years remaining on a deal which calls for an AAV of $5.9MM, it’s doubtful they would have found a taker given his lackluster performance this season. His recurring groin problems serve to further diminish any possibility of a trade taking place.

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