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Archives for March 2017

Jimmy Howard Recalled From Conditioning Stint

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The Detroit Red Wings today announced the recall of Jimmy Howard from his latest conditioning stint with the Grand Rapids Griffins. Howard had been sent down on March 4th and played two games for the AHL squad, allowing just two goals on 54 shots including a shutout of the San Antonio Rampage last night. Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press reports that Jared Coreau, up in Howard’s absence will return to the AHL on Thursday or Friday.

Howard hasn’t played in an NHL contest since December 20th thanks to several setbacks during his rehab of a lower-body injury. Before the injury, the 32-year old netminder was off to the best start of his career, carrying a .934 save percentage through his first 17 games of the season. Despite seemingly losing the number one job to Petr Mrazek last season, Howard looked re-energized and ready to prove he could still be a starter in the NHL. Now he’ll have another handful of games to prove it again.

The goaltender’s $5.29MM cap-hit is a tough price to pay for the Red Wings as they turn to Mrazek in the crease, meaning Howard will likely be available again this summer. Whether any team wants to take on that much is still unknown, though once the season is over the Red Wings could retain part of his salary going forward. Despite being last in the Eastern conference, Detroit is actually in quite a tight cap situation as they head into next season. With Tomas Tatar and Andreas Athanasiou both needing substantial raises, they will have almost no room to add anything to help the squad.

While the cap is set to go up slightly for next season, Detroit is a long way from being a contender with their current roster and will likely have to re-think how they’ve built their forward group. While they sold off any expiring assets at the deadline this year, it wasn’t really enough to hit a full reset button. Showcasing Howard for a possible trade in the offseason would be a big part of starting their rebuild.

Dallas Stars Sign Adam Cracknell To One-Year Extension

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Adam Cracknell will be in Texas for at least one more year, as the Dallas Stars have inked him to a one-year extension worth $675K. The 31-year old forward was set to become an unrestricted free agent in the summer.  Adam Cracknell

Cracknell made his return to the Stars lineup on Monday after missing three weeks with a leg injury. This season has already seen him suit up for more games than he ever has in a single year, playing in 53 contests for Dallas and contributing 10 points. Playing just over 10 minutes a night he’s provided a physical presence to the Stars’ fourth-line without taking many penalties.

While this is a well deserved deal for a player who has performed well enough this season, it also provides Dallas with a little bit of expansion draft certainty. Cracknell fills one of the required two forwards that are signed through next year and have played at least 40 games this season (or 70 the past two combined). With the Stars likely wanting to protect Tyler Seguin, Antoine Roussel and Cody Eakin, they’ll need to extend another one of their upcoming free agents to fill the exposure requirements. Curtis McKenzie seems like the obvious choice, as though Brett Ritchie and Radek Faksa both would qualify, the pair will likely deserve protection.

Deals like this will be common over the next few months, as teams make sure their rosters are as expansion-proof as possible. With the Stars, they may end up losing a prospect either way as they currently have too many players—likely at forward and defense—to protect. They would be a likely candidate for a deal with Las Vegas to select a certain player from their roster.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Philadelphia Flyers Sign Greg Carey To Contract Extension

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According to a team release, the Philadelphia Flyers have extended minor league forward Greg Carey. Financial details have not been disclosed. Carey was set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer.

Carey is in the midst of his second straight excellent AHL season, scoring 26 goals and 43 points through 57 games. The undrafted forward has matched his output from last year in seven fewer games and is becoming more and more confident at the professional level. Originally signed by the Arizona Coyotes prior to the 2014-15 season, Carey wasn’t tendered a qualifying offer the following summer and played on an AHL contract last year. Last summer he was given a two-way contract worth the league minimum, though hasn’t yet suited up for an NHL game.

Carey never did play in the CHL growing up, instead spending time in the OJHL before heading to St. Lawrence University for four years. Setting several school records and leading the team in scoring all four seasons, he ranks second in the Saints’ history for points scored. A finalist for the Hobey Baker award in 2014—when the trophy was awarded to Johnny Gaudreau—for the Nation’s top player, Carey has worked incredibly hard for everything he’s done in hockey. While he is likely a career AHL forward, don’t be surprised if he’s given a few games in the NHL this season as a reward should the Flyers fall out of playoff contention.

AHL Trade Deadline Transactions

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As the AHL trade deadline passes today, we’ll keep you updated on all the moves that have been made.

  • Emerson Clark has been traded from the Chicago Wolves to the Utica Comets. The 24-year old winger has spent much of this season in the ECHL, but has four points since coming up to the Wolves. Utica finds themselves in a dogfight for the final playoff spot in the North Division, and have had troubles scoring all season long.
  • The Hershey Bears have acquired Mattias Backman from the Texas Stars in exchange for Darren Dietz. While Backman has yet to make it to the NHL since being selected in the fifth round of the 2011 draft, Dietz debuted last year for Montreal playing 13 games for the Canadiens. Both defenseman, this is a swap of styles and handedness for the two squads.
  • The Charlotte Checkers have a new netminder, as Thomas McCollum has been loaned to them from the Stockton Heat. McCollum is a former first-round pick who has barely had a sniff of the NHL during his eight years of professional hockey, suiting up just three times for the Detroit Red Wings. He’s played just one game in the AHL this season but generally has success at that level. The Checkers needed a goalie since Michael Leighton is out indefinitely.
  • Cal O’Reilly won’t have a chance to play with his brother again this season, as the forward is off to Toronto. The Rochester Americans have loaned him to the Toronto Marlies. O’Reilly was serving as the captain of the Americans and has 42 points in 47 AHL games this season. With 11 games in the NHL this year, the older brother of Sabres’ center Ryan O’Reilly now has 49 points in 144 career games.

Snapshots: Team Canada, Labanc, Draft Rankings

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Despite falling to the United States in the gold medal game at the latest World Junior Championships, Dominique Ducharme and the entire Team Canada coaching staff will return for 2017 according to Tim Wharnsby of CBC. The former head coach of the Halifax Mooseheads and current bench boss and GM of the Drummondville Voltigeurs, Ducharme is considered an excellent upcoming prospect in the coaching ranks.

The Team Canada job is one that is often a stepping stone for future NHL coaches, and has been held by names like Mike Babcock, Willie Desjardins, and Claude Julien over the years. Obviously there is no guarantee that Ducharme is headed for the NHL, but at just 43 years old he has a long career ahead of him.

  • The San Jose Sharks have sent Kevin Labanc to back to the AHL according to Curtis Pashelka of the Mercury News. With Jannik Hansen finally arriving to practice with the team today, Labanc no longer had a spot. The young winger has played 49 games for the Sharks this season, scoring 19 points and generally auditioning well for a full-time spot next season. At just 21-years of age, he’s already progressed much faster than any sixth-round pick is expected to.
  • Speaking of draft picks, Jeff Marek of Sportsnet has released his latest prospects rankings for the upcoming draft. While he still has Nolan Patrick of the Brandon Wheat Kings at number one—and calls him Jonathan Toews-lite—Nico Hischier has climbed over Timothy Liljegren into the number two spot. Mississauga’s Owen Tippett jumps up to fourth, while Klim Kostin drops more than 11 spots due to his season-ending shoulder surgery. One to watch is Nicolas Hague of Mississauga, who will get a chance to show his all-around ability in the OHL playoffs soon enough.

Day Three Decisions From The GM Meetings

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Alex Nylander is making waves. Not in the way you might think, dominating the AHL like his brother did two years ago as a teenager—Alex has just 22 points in 51 games this season for the Rochester Americans—but at the GM Meetings in Boca Raton this week. According to Chris Johnston of Sportsnet, Swedish hockey officials made a presentation to the GMs focused on keeping Sweden’s best prospects at home instead of developing them in the AHL. The Nylander brothers, along with some others, were likely focal points of the discussion as they both came over as teenagers to play in North American professional hockey.

Alex in particular had an interesting journey, playing first in OHL before using a loophole to move him straight into the AHL. Though normally players from the CHL aren’t allowed to “go pro” until their 20th birthday, Nylander had played the entire year with the Mississauga Steelheads on loan from his Swedish club, making him eligible like any other European prospect. Others like Andreas Johnson in Toronto, Adrian Kempe in Los Angeles and Julius Bergman in San Jose (and many more around the league) have come over early after being drafted by NHL clubs and continued their development in minor league hockey here. The NHL obviously has a vested interest in keeping the best prospects on their home turf, while individual teams enjoy having control of their development.

  • The league did agree on one rule change that will be proposed to the competition committee. Under the proposed change, teams would no longer be allowed to call a time out after an icing to give their players a rest. A small change that could have a big impact late in games, it should be expected to go through and be implemented next season. As Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press points out, the AHL already introduced that change this season.
  • The much talked about change to bye-weeks will be put into place next season according to Pierre LeBrun of ESPN. Instead of having each team take their bye-weeks at different times, there will be two set periods that will rest half the teams at a time. Since there will be 31 teams next season, 15 will rest the first week, and 16 the next. Coming out of their breaks, teams will play their first two games against opponents who shared the same rest period.
  • The salary cap will increase slightly next season according to Johnston, sitting at $75.5-76MM depending on the inflator negotiations with the NHLPA this summer. While those extra couple of million may help some teams immensely, it doesn’t represent much revenue growth for either side. Frank Seravalli of TSN notes that because this isn’t a final number, most GMs are still assuming a flat cap and will adjust when the league makes an official announcement.
  • Michael Traikos of Postmedia gives us the quote we were all dreading about NHL participation in the upcoming Olympics. Bill Daly told Traikos “Unless something changes we’re not going. We’ve said that consistently for three months. There’s nothing new about that.” It’s true that they’ve been consistent with it, but not so bluntly as Daly has finally put it. It seems as though there will be a fight between players wanting to go regardless, and their owners needing them during the season. As Traikos notes, Daly doesn’t seem pressured by that impending bat

Gary Bettman Says Coyotes “Cannot And Will Not” Stay In Glendale

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While the Arizona legislature debates and then votes on Bill 1149, which would see public funding for a new arena for the Arizona Coyotes, Gary Bettman sent a strong letter telling the law makers that the team is not financially viable in their current Glendale location. The letter, published by KTAR News in Arizona, details the struggles the league and private ownership have had over the past fifteen years in trying to make the Coyotes work, and gives an ultimatum about their future.

For the past 15 years, a succession of ownership groups and the League have tried everything imaginable to make the Glendale location financially sustainable. Our combined efforts have all yielded the same result—a consistent economic loss. The simple truth? The Arizona Coyotes must have a new arena location to succeed. The Coyotes cannot and will not remain in Glendale.

Bettman goes on to site a study (Elliot D. Pollack & Company) that posits a new arena in downtown Phoenix or the East Valley would create over 2,500 jobs and have an impact of $600MM. Before closing his letter by outlining where exactly the new arena should be built, Bettman does include a sort of veiled-threat about the future of the Coyotes in Arizona at all.

While the Coyotes ownership has consistently promised to explore every possible option to keep the franchise in Arizona, no business can afford to be in financial and marketing limbo.

As the commissioner says, the Coyotes have long needed a new home closer to their fans and the city core. The bill as it currently stands would provide at least $225MM of public funding towards the expected cost of $395MM for a new arena, and would instantly make the Coyotes a more viable option for investors. Unfortunately the bill looks like it will not pass, as Craig Harris of AZCentral reports.

If it doesn’t go through, it doesn’t yet mean the end of the Coyotes in Arizona but it does deal them a vicious blow. With the commissioner coming out so candidly against staying in Glendale, if there is no private investor that comes to their rescue they may end up moving elsewhere. Though relocation rumors have been shot down as quickly as they’ve popped up over the past year, losing another court battle would likely spark them up again. As Harris reports, Bettman was the one who fought to keep the Coyotes in Glendale in 2009 when there was a bid to move them to Ontario—he said at the time that the right owner could make it work in the Phoenix suburb.

Morning Notes: Concussion Protocol, Tynan, AHL

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The GM Meetings will wrap up today without much to say. The tagline of the three days in Boca Raton might as well have been “status quo”, as nothing seems to be changing. That includes the concussion protocol for goaltenders, as Ken Campbell of The Hockey News writes.

Goalies across the league have complained about the process, saying that taking a netminder off the ice and out of his rhythm is hurting the game. It’s worth it though, if it prevents even a single concussion from happening. For now, the GMs and league will leave the protocol the same and treat goaltenders like any other player who suffers a head shot on the ice.

  • The Blue Jackets have sent T.J. Tynan back down after making his NHL debut last night. In a 2-0 win over the New Jersey Devils, Tynan played just over seven minutes and had a single shot on goal. The 25-year old playmaker will return to the Cleveland Monsters for the time being and wait for his next opportunity.
  • Today is the AHL trade deadline where, like its NHL counterpart, teams can move players to contenders and preserve their playoff eligibility. Patrick Williams of NHL.com put together a nice summary of all the moves made in the AHL up to this point, including names like Tom Gilbert and Teemu Pulkkinen. There will likely be several moves made as teams load up for a Calder Cup run, though very few (if any) will include real prospects.
  • The Pittsburgh Penguins have recalled both Tom Sestito and Cameron Gaunce today, as they face off against the big Winnipeg Jets tonight. In a corresponding move, they sent Derrick Pouliot back to the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins. Sestito especially gives the Penguins another big body to avoid being pushed around by the Jets, though he doesn’t offer much in the way off offense.

New York Rangers Sign Third-Round Pick Sean Day

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According to CapFriendly, the New York Rangers have come to terms with their third-round pick from last summer’s draft, Sean Day. Day has signed a three-year entry-level contract that will begin in 2017-18. The deal includes some bonuses for games played that the team will have to watch out for whenever he makes it to the NHL.

Day is a big defenseman who has played most of the season for the Windsor Spitfires after being traded from the Mississauga Steelheads. The 19-year old has 31 points in 57 games this season and has been a rock for the Spitfires as they head towards a Memorial Cup run. Day you might remember was given exceptional status by the OHL when he was just 15-years old, an allowance that has been made for just three other players—John Tavares, Connor McDavid and Aaron Ekblad. While Day isn’t the superstar these three have turned into, he is a solid prospect in his own right.

A physical force that can skate well and move the puck, Day is the prototypical defenseman of the new NHL. While none of his skills are elite, he does have enough all-around ability to make him a threat to jump to the NHL within a couple of years. The professional coaching staffs will help him as he still needs work on his defensive positioning and decision making. For now, he’ll stick with Windsor and add to their glut of young defensive prospects that include first-rounders Mikhail Sergachev (9th overall to Montreal), Logan Stanley (18th overall to Winnipeg). The team also features Logan Brown (11th overall to Ottawa) and Gabe Vilardi (expected to go top-10 in this draft) up front.

Central Notes: Elie, Blackhawks’ Success, Jurco

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The Dallas Morning News’ Mike Heika lists a number of quotes from Stars bench boss Lindy Ruff regarding rookie Remi Elie. Out of all the quotes, the one regarding Elie’s staying power with the big club was probably the most telling. Ruff via Heika:

“Well, I look at what we need on the road to be a better team, a harder team to play against. I think that he fits what I think can help us. I thought the line of Eakin, him and Hemsky did a real good job. You look at the number of chances he created, the duress he put their defense under and the fact that he’s a physical player. I think there’s been some situations where we haven’t been hard enough to play against. You take Roussel of our lineup and I think that’s a good replacement to continue down that path where we’re hard to play against.”

The Stars’ second round pick in 2013, Elie has appeared in only two games for the Stars, but from the sound of it, may be lacing up for more. Ruff said more about the rookie, saying that his speed is something Dallas has “missed” in its lineup and that with “more polish” in his game, Elie is the perfect fit for the Stars’ style of play.

  • CBS Sports’ Cody Benjamin details how the Chicago Blackhawks have hit their stride later in the season. Calling it “no surprise” that the Hawks are surging in early March, Benjamin points to a couple stalwarts upping their game, Jonathan Toews, and Patrick Kane. Kane has tallied 21 points (14-7) while Toews has added 20 points of his own during Chicago’s 12-1 run. Corey Crawford, according to Benjamin, has been stellar in net while the Hawks have been “resilient” during a season that’s tested them with injuries to key players, and a defense that hasn’t included the dominant pairings of years past. Regardless, Chicago has been one of the better teams in the West this season and is certainly working itself into a good position for the playoffs.
  • In other Blackhawks news, newly acquired forward Tomas Jurco is starting to acclimate himself with his new surroundings. Though head coach Joel Quenneville calls him a “work in progress,” CSN Chicago’s Tracey Myers reports that Jurco is “thankful” to have a chance with the Blackhawks and that Jurco isn’t putting a time table on getting comfortable with his new team. Instead, the young forward has the backing of his coach and the front office, who are more than willing to give the promising 24-year-old more than enough time to catch on in Chicago.

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