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Archives for November 2017

Ryan Malone Returns To Iowa Wild

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It wasn’t so long ago that Brandon Sleik and Michael Russo of The Athletic were reporting that Ryan Malone’s return to the Iowa Wild was far from guaranteed, but apparently the team has decided to bring him back for at least a little while longer. According to the AHL transactions page, Malone has once again signed a professional tryout with the AHL Wild as he continues to train to potentially play in the Olympics for Team USA.

Malone came out of retirement this summer to test the waters and try to either return to the NHL or make a bid for a spot on the Olympic team. His eight-game stint for Iowa before leaving for an international tournament with the National Select team wasn’t all that productive, as the 37-year old winger recorded just one assist and 16 penalty minutes while accruing a -8 rating.

Iowa has turned their season around recently with an 8-2 record in their last ten games, but often lose forwards like Luke Kunin and Joel Eriksson Ek to Minnesota between games. Malone can at least provide some stability and experience to the club until his next international test, which could be the Spengler Cup at the end of December.

Philadelphia Flyers Activate Andrew MacDonald, Send Samuel Morin To Minors

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Bite your tongues Philadelphia Flyers fans. Defenseman Andrew MacDonald has been activated from injured reserve, meaning 22-year old Samuel Morin is on his way back to the minor leagues. Morin played in just two games with the Flyers, both overtime losses to the New York Islanders. MacDonald on the other hand has been out for more than a month with a leg injury, and has had to watch as his team plummeted towards the bottom of the league. Philadelphia have lost seven straight games, and sit dead last in the tough Metropolitan Division.

MacDonald has been the whipping boy for several years in Philadelphia thanks to his large contract and relatively uninspiring play. Signed to a six-year, $30MM contract just a month after being acquired by the Flyers in the 2014 season, MacDonald has never been able to quite find his footing in Philadelphia and even spent a huge chunk of the 2015-16 season in the minor leagues. He has just 43 points in 186 games for the Flyers, and has generally had poor possession numbers in his career. That wouldn’t be so frustrating for fans if it weren’t for the existence of young players like Morin, who are seemingly blocked from making a real impact while MacDonald’s contract and role on the team remains.

Still, Morin hasn’t done quite enough yet to warrant a full-time role. The 11th-overall pick from 2013 has all the measurables to succeed in the NHL—he stands 6’6″ and skates well for his size—but hasn’t quite been able to live up to the shutdown billing he brings from the high draft pedigree. Compared many times to a young Chris Pronger thanks to his size and propensity to engage physically, Morin’s overall game still needs work as he continues to develop in the minor leagues. With other rookies already dotted throughout the Philadelphia lineup, Morin will have to wait his turn to make an impact this season.

Snapshots: Three Stars, Josefson, Mason

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The NHL has released their three stars of the week, and leading the list is Jon Marchessault. The Vegas Golden Knights forward had nine points in three games, helping his team takeover first place in the Pacific Division. The Golden Knights now sit at 15-6-1 this season, and rank third in the entire NHL in goal differential at +15. Marchessault, a 30-goal scorer last season, is once again turning out to be one of the biggest bargains in the entire league. At just $750K this season, he’s primed for quite the raise in free agency at the end of the year.

Sergei Bobrovsky and Alex Ovechkin round out the top three after impressive weeks of their own. Bobrovsky went 3-0 with a .950 save percentage with the Columbus Blue Jackets, while Ovechkin tallied five more goals including a hat trick against the Toronto Maple Leafs with a special guest looking on. Ovechkin, who many said was slowing down last season when he scored “just” 33 goals, is back on top of the NHL leaderboards with 18 this season. With the first goal of the hat trick, Ovechkin passed Mike Bossy for 21st all-time in NHL goal scoring, and has a legitimate shot at breaking 600 this season. He needs just 24 more to 20th member of the 600 club, and won’t turn 33 until next September.

  • Jacob Josefson had only returned to the Buffalo Sabres lineup recently, but will be out another four to six weeks according to head coach Phil Housley. Josefson tweaked his ankle and is out until at least Christmas for the struggling Sabres, who are now just one point ahead of the Arizona Coyotes for last in the entire league. Obviously, Josefson isn’t a huge part of their lineup but any injury at this point pushes Buffalo further away from any rebound this season. The team has a dreadful schedule over the next week, playing the Tampa Bay Lightning tomorrow before taking on Pittsburgh in a home-and-home series this weekend.
  • Steve Mason was removed from Saturday’s game with an upper-body injury, and today Winnipeg Jets head coach Paul Maurice confirmed the injury was a concussion. Mason had been placed on injured reserve earlier today after a recall of Eric Comrie. Signed in the offseason to a two-year, $8.2MM contract, Mason has provided below-average netminding so far for the Jets and had been all but replaced by Connor Hellebuyck as the starter. It’ll be tough to justify his $4.1MM contract next season if he remains a backup, especially given that Hellebuyck is a restricted free agent and looks primed for a long-term deal. If Mason doesn’t turn his play around after returning from this head injury, he could be an early candidate for a summer buyout. First off, he’ll have to get healthy enough to return.

Vancouver Canucks Earning Trade Deadline Capital

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The Vancouver Canucks began their rebuild last season, when at the trade deadline they moved Alexandre Burrows and Jannik Hansen for a pair of interesting prospects. Jonathan Dahlen and Nikolay Goldobin were brought into the organization, to try and go along with other young players like Bo Horvat, Brock Boeser and Olli Juolevi as the next wave of NHL talent. At the draft, they passed on WHL star Cody Glass and British Columbia-native Michael Rasmussen to select Swedish forward Elias Pettersson, who is tearing up the SHL with a league-leading 28 points through 21 games.

"<strongIn free agency, they added a trio of players in Thomas Vanek, Michael Del Zotto and Sam Gagner that could bridge the gap to that next wave. Now, even as the team finds more immediate success than expected they could find themselves in an enviable position at this year’s deadline. While Gagner hasn’t been as effective as last season, Del Zotto and Vanek are showing their worth. Vanek has 16 points through 24 games, and has shown once again he can help a powerplay anywhere in the league. His eight points with the man advantage trail only Boeser for the Canucks. Del Zotto on the other hand has logged the most ice time on the entire team, averaging more than 22 minutes a night. The smooth-skating defenseman has nine points on the season, and plays in all situations.

Vanek is on just a one-year $2MM deal, while Del Zotto carries just a $3MM cap hit for this year and next. If their play continues at this pace, they’ll both interest several buyers at the deadline if Vancouver chooses to start selling. They’re not the only two. Erik Gudbranson is dealing with an injury but has already been rumored to have several teams interested in him as he heads towards unrestricted free agency. The 25-year old comes with a $3.5MM cap hit, and can add physicality to any lineup. The Sedin twins are also pending UFAs, but seem unlikely to be traded because of their hefty cap hits.

The rest of the blueline could also draw interest from around the league. Both Alex Edler and Chris Tanev have faced injury this year and hold some form of no-trade protection, but would be valuable additions if a team could afford their contracts. Unfortunately the Canucks have already used two of their three retained salary transactions, eating some of Hansen and Roberto Luongo’s contracts. As the deadline approaches and teams have less space to maneuver, that could prove costly.

Still, Vancouver has positioned themselves in a strong position this season. While Boeser leads the Calder Trophy race so far, and Pettersson lights up the European ranks they could add even more assets this spring. At 11-9-4 this season, it could be a quicker-than-expected rebuild.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Minor Transactions: 11/27/17

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The NHL is back at it for another week of action, starting with a set of five games on Monday night. With less than a month before the Christmas break, things are heating up in the trade markets. We’ll keep an eye on all the small roster moves made today right here.

Snapshots: Iginla, Strome, Kempe, MacDonald

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Veteran winger Jarome Iginla is set to begin skating within the next week or two after undergoing a procedure on his hip last month, reports Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman (video link).  He has recently spoken with Team Canada officials regarding the upcoming Olympics and it’s believed that they are willing to extend an invitation to the unrestricted free agent to play in next month’s Spengler Cup.  If he can get back into playing shape and do well in international play, the 40-year-old could draw some late-season NHL interest, especially after a strong finish to last season with the Kings where he scored six goals in 19 games.

More news and notes from around the hockey world:

  • Dylan Strome is back with the Coyotes. The team announced that they have recalled him from Tuscon of the AHL while sending center Mario Kempe down.  Strome made Arizona’s roster out of training camp but didn’t see much ice time early on which resulted in his demotion.  However, he was extremely productive at the minor league level, collecting 26 points (8-18-26) in just 15 games.  It will certainly be interesting to see how the Coyotes use him; will they ease him in or try to capitalize on his hot streak or work him into the lineup in a bottom six role?  The latter is where Kempe was in Arizona’s lineup where he picked up two goals and two assists in 18 games.
  • The Flyers are expected to get back defenseman Andrew MacDonald back in their lineup for Monday’s game in Pittsburgh, notes Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer. He’s expected to be thrown right into the fire by skating on the top pairing alongside Ivan Provorov.  MacDonald has been out for more than a month with a leg injury and ranks fourth on the team in ice time by a defenseman at 19:38 per game.

Central Notes: Jost, Landeskog, Mason, Berglund

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8:43 PM: Colorado has indeed recalled Jost, the team announced via Twitter.

6:53PM: The Avalanche are considering recalling center Tyson Jost from San Antonio of the AHL in advance of their next game on Wednesday, Mike Chambers of the Denver Post reports (Twitter link).  Jost cracked Colorado’s opening roster but didn’t have too much of an impact early on.  He played in six games before sustaining a lower-body injury and upon being activated off IR, the team opted to send him down to the minors for more playing time.  Jost hasn’t been particularly productive in his limited action with the Rampage, posting a single assist in four games.  Unless he takes on an important role in the next few weeks, Jost could still wind up being a candidate to play at the World Juniors.

Elsewhere in the Central:

  • Still with the Avalanche, winger Gabriel Landeskog will have a disciplinary hearing on Monday for a cross-checking incident on Saturday against Calgary’s Matthew Tkachuk, the league announced. A minor penalty was assessed on the play.  What may work against Landeskog here is that he will be viewed as a repeat offender as he received a three-game suspension for cross-checking on March of 2016.
  • Jets goaltender Steve Mason was pulled from Saturday’s game with an upper-body injury that that may wind up being a concussion, notes Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Sun. If he is going to miss time, the scribe suggests it may make more sense to recall veteran Michael Hutchinson over top prospect Eric Comrie as Winnipeg’s schedule is fairly light over the next couple of weeks so there won’t be many opportunities for playing time.
  • While Blues center Patrik Berglund started skating with the team a little while ago, he has yet to get the green light to return to the lineup. He told Tom Timmermann of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that getting strength back in his shoulder is the key to his return and that the process is getting closer by the day.  He was originally expected to return at the beginning of December and he remains on pace to do so.

Five Key Stories: 11/20/17 – 11/26/17

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American Thanksgiving is often viewed as a key date around the league where teams start to get a better sense of where they stand and what they need.  With that now having passed, activity should begin to pick up around the league.  In the meantime, here are the top stories around the game from the past week.

Russia Could Block KHL From The Olympics: This was floated as a possibility a few weeks back but gained traction last week with Russia’s parliament drafting a bill that could try to block all KHL players from playing in the Olympics if the Russian Federation is barred from participating due to state-sanctioned doping from the 2014 Games.  Other countries have numerous players in the KHL as well that are there on legitimate IIHF transfers which could create a really messy situation in the near future.  This will certainly be something to keep an eye on.

Jan 26, 2017; Sunrise, FL, USA; Florida Panthers defenseman Alex Petrovic (6) skates before a game against the Tampa Bay Lightning at BB&T Center. Mandatory Credit: Robert Mayer-USA TODAY SportsPetrovic Sounds Off: It hasn’t been a great season so far for Panthers defenseman Alex Petrovic.  After being a fixture in their lineup in recent years, he has been frequently scratched this season and he voiced his frustration regarding his usage.  While he didn’t go as far as saying that he’d like to be traded, his name will likely come up in speculation in the weeks to come given the demand for defensemen on the market with a relatively low supply.  The healthy scratches certainly won’t help his case when it comes to negotiating a new contract as a restricted free agent with arbitration rights next summer.

Kings Acquire Mitchell: While many expected Montreal to make some sort of trade following their slow start to the season, not many were expecting it would be of the minor variety.  The Canadiens dealt center Torrey Mitchell to the Kings in exchange for a conditional 2018 fifth-round pick that will become a fourth-rounder if Los Angeles makes the playoffs.  Mitchell represents an upgrade at their fourth line center position and in the days following the trade, Brooks Laich, who had been in that spot, was waived, sent to the minors, and is now back on waivers to be released.

Zaripov Settles Appeal, Signs In KHL: Veteran Russian winger Danis Zaripov drew some NHL interest after he had been suspended from the KHL for two years for a failed drug test.  That suspension was appealed and was reduced to six months which paved the way for him to return back home.  He wasted little time doing so, signing a contract with Ak Bars Kazan less than 24 hours after his eligibility had been reinstated.

Blue Jackets Discussing Murray Trades: Blue Jackets defenseman Ryan Murray has been in trade rumors for a while now and that doesn’t appear to be changing anytime soon.  It was reported that the team had been considering trading him for a top draft pick back at the draft while he was also involved in failed trade talks with Colorado.  Columbus is still looking to add help down the middle and they are willing to move a defender to do so and it appears that Murray is the logical choice to be dealt if they can find the right fit.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Evgenii Dadonov Likely To Miss Extended Time

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Panthers winger Evgenii Dadonov missed practice today and has undergone an MRI on his shoulder, notes Matthew DeFranks of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.  Head coach Bob Boughner isn’t particularly optimistic about the situation, telling DeFranks that the injury is something that will keep him out “longer than shorter” and that he’s hopeful that he will only miss weeks rather than months.  The team has not yet received the results of the MRI.

Dadonov is in his first season in the NHL since 2011-12 and has made an immediate impact with the Panthers.  He took Jaromir Jagr’s spot on Florida’s top line alongside Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau.  As a result, he has already set a new career high in points with 18 (7-11-18) in 22 games while logging nearly 20 minutes per game of ice time.  Those 18 points place him fourth in team scoring.

The injury will be a big blow to a team that already find themselves seventh in the Atlantic Division and 15th in the Eastern Conference.  In the meantime, Colton Sceviour will slide onto their top line although Radim Vrbata could find himself in that spot when he’s activated off injured reserve.  The team is hopeful he’ll be available sometime this week.

Atlantic Notes: Booth, Lightning, Canadiens

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David Booth had quite the night writes the Athletic’s Katie Strang (subscription required). Booth, who was signed to a PTO after sending general manager Ken Holland an email, has been a healthy scratch for most of the season. Last night, the 33-year-old journeyman netted two goals in a 4-3 Red Wings loss. The second goal tied the game after the Wings fell behind 3-1, gave the team a surge of energy, and nearly potted a hat trick for Booth just seconds later. After two seasons in the KHL that Booth describes as “two very tough years,” returning to the NHL with the team he grew up idolizing seems like a dream come true. A scrappy, “lunch-pail” type player, Booth is trying to follow in the footsteps of former Red Wings–Mikael Samuelsson and Dan Cleary–who struggled to find a niche until landing in Detroit.

  • Should a few losses be a cause for concern in Tampa Bay? The Tampa Bay Times Joe Smith notes that while the Lightning locker room is frustrated, they’re hardly panicking. Smith offers a few bits of advice for the team, specifically getting out to a better start as the Bolts have struggled to start strong. Nikita Kucherov has also cooled off, and teams are keying on him as expected. Smith adds that keeping things simple, instead of trying to “out-skill” teams every game. A team as sound, deep, and skilled as the Lightning will certainly face bumps in the road. It’s keeping a level head, and sticking to simplicity that should bring them out of prolonged slumps.
  • The Montreal Canadiens have a big week in front of them writes the Montreal Gazette’s Pat Hickey, and it will most likely determine where the Habs truly stand. With a home-and-away series with division rival Detroit, Montreal has a chance to surpass Detroit in the standings by taking at least three of  four points when the two teams play.  Columbus and Ottawa are the other two foes in the four game stretch. Columbus proves to be an effective gauge in how the Habs fare against a playoff contender while the Sens are another inter-division game that can yield crucial points. Hickey adds that the fourth line–who is just one of many culprits in Montreal’s inability to score, has been “stunningly” inefficient. To gain any traction in the standings–and ultimately the season–the Canadiens will need to see more from their depth lines.

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