The Detroit Red Wings have found some success with several young forwards this year as they try to move on from the Henrik Zetterberg era and embrace a youth movement, but one that was expected to play a big part was nowhere to be found. Evgeny Svechnikov, selected 19th overall in 2015, was forced to undergo knee surgery to reconstruct his ACL in October. He was expected to return to action near the end of the season, but Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press is now reporting that he will not play at all in 2018-19.
Interestingly, as St. James notes, that may actually be a blessing in disguise for the Red Wings. The young forward will now not be waiver eligible in the 2019-20 season as he was scheduled to be, meaning the team can start him in the AHL right out of training camp if he’s not ready to help the NHL lineup. Svechnikov wouldn’t have maintained his waiver-exempt status if he’d played in even a single professional game—NHL or AHL—this season.
- Olli Maatta has been activated from injured reserve by the Pittsburgh Penguins and will return after missing 21 games with a lower-body injury. The 24-year old is coming back with just enough time to get his legs under him before the playoffs begin, a huge boost for a Penguins team that has suffered from several injuries on the back end this season. It’s tough to know exactly how much the team will push Maatta over the last few games of the regular season, but he lengthens out the team’s defense group by a considerable amount. Brian Dumoulin switched over to the right side in practice recently to accommodate Maatta’s return, though it’s not clear if that pair will stay together.
- With Adam Fox and Harvard losing today in the NCAA tournament, we will soon find out what his official decision is regarding signing or returning to school next season. Fox has repeatedly said that his mind is not yet made up, something that Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic (subscription required) also reported earlier today. Though there is obviously a draw to turning pro and getting into the Carolina Hurricanes organization right away, Fox could potentially graduate next year with a Harvard degree and the chance to become an unrestricted free agent in August 2020. LeBrun also explores the idea of Carolina trading Fox’s rights this season instead of waiting for the summer, in order to get full value if they do not believe he will sign with them down the road. If Fox signs this season he would burn the first year of his entry-level deal, and would be eligible for the expansion draft if he played just a single game.