With the trade deadline fast approaching, trade activity has yet to really pick up around the league but there were still several important stories in the NHL from the past week.
Vertigo-Like Symptoms For Crawford: Blackhawks goaltender Corey Crawford has been out of the lineup with an upper-body injury for the better part of a month but not much had been known before that. Now, we’ve learned that’s dealing with vertigo-like symptoms and as a result, his availability for the remainder of the season in question. Chicago is already in the cellar in the Central Division but they are still within striking distance of a Wild Card spot so they will be a team to watch for in the coming weeks to see if they decide to add any help between the pipes.
Vegas Extensions: The Golden Knights continued to lock up some of their potential unrestricted free agents as they inked defenseman Deryk Engelland to a one-year contract and fellow blueliner Jon Merrill to a two-year pact. Engelland receives $1.5MM guaranteed, a nice raise from the $1MM he’s making this season while he also has another $1MM in potential performance bonuses. As for Merrill, he received a total of $2.75MM, resulting in a cap hit of $1.375MM, an increase of just over $200K on his current cap hit.
Surgery For Shattenkirk: The Rangers will be without one of their top defensemen for the foreseeable future as he is set to undergo surgery on Monday to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee. There is no timetable for his return but he will be out for a while; he told NHL.com’s Dan Rosen that he hopes to be back before the end of the regular season. Even though he has failed to live up to his $6.65MM contract so far, that’s still a big blow to New York’s back end as he was their top-scoring defender with 23 points in 46 games while logging over 20 minutes of night of ice time and his absence will only hurt their push for a playoff spot.
Latest On Kane: Sabres winger Evander Kane has long been in trade speculation but there was always at least the outside possibility of a contract extension. That doesn’t appear to be in the cards as Kane admitted that there have been no talks yet about him sticking around in Buffalo for the long-term. Meanwhile, the asking price for him appears to be even higher than originally reported as on top of the first-round pick, prospect, and conditional draft choice that they were believed to be seeking, GM Jason Botterill is reportedly seeking a roster player on top of those three elements as well.
Nugent-Hopkins Out For A While: Although it was initially hoped that Oilers center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins would be ready to play after their bye week, things took a turn for the worse. He was placed on IR and then shortly after that, it was announced that he will miss the next five-to-six weeks with cracked ribs. This is a tough blow to Edmonton’s already-dwindling postseason hopes as Nugent-Hopkins has quietly been one of their top forwards all season long. He leads the team in goals, is third in points, and has fared well while being deployed in more of a two-way role.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Rumor has Rob Ray taking over as coach and trying to save the season. Good luck.