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Archives for November 2019

Minor Transactions: 11/30/19

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As usual, Saturday presents a large slate of games around the league with 26 teams in action.  That means there will likely be plenty of roster movement which we’ll keep track of here.

  • The Golden Knights announced that they’ve returned goalie Garret Sparks to Chicago of the AHL. He was brought up on an emergency basis to serve as the backup while Marc-Andre Fleury tended to an illness in the family but it appears that Fleury is ready to return. The team also announced they have recalled forward Nicolas Roy from the Chicago Wolves of the AHL on an emergency basis. Roy has been up and down between Vegas and Chicago for much of the season. The 22-year-old has played in six games for the Golden Knights, scoring a goal and three points and has appeared in 11 games for the Wolves, tallying two goals and six points. Since it’s an emergency recall, Roy could be recalled while the team determines if Cody Eakin is seriously hurt after taking an elbow to the head Friday against Arizona.
  • A.J. Greer’s stint with the Avalanche was short-lived. One day after being recalled, he has been returned to AHL Colorado, per the AHL’s Transactions Page.  The winger has had two NHL call-ups this season but has yet to play with the big club.  Greer has two goals and 44 penalty minutes in nine games with the Eagles so far.
  • The Avs also announced (Twitter link) that they’ve returned center Sheldon Dries to the minors.  He has just one NHL game under his belt this season after playing 40 a year ago.  He has been productive with the Eagles though, leading them in scoring with 14 points in 17 contests.
  • With Carl Soderberg suffering a lower-body injury late yesterday against Vegas, the Coyotes have recalled center Michael Chaput from AHL Tucson.  This will be his first NHL action of the season but the 27-year-old got into 32 games with Montreal last year.  He has 12 points (9-3-12) in 15 games with the Roadrunners.
  • The Jets announced that they have placed defenseman Nathan Beaulieu on IR, creating a roster spot that they used to recall defenseman Cameron Schilling from AHL Manitoba.  With Beaulieu and Dmitry Kulikov both injured, Winnipeg needed to get an extra defender on the roster.  The 31-year-old has just 10 games of NHL experience but has played in 512 AHL contests.
  • The Detroit Red Wings announced they have assigned defenseman Jonathan Ericsson to the Grand Rapids Griffins of the AHL. The 35-year-old has been a major piece to the Red Wings success over the years, but has been the odd man out as Detroit continues to get younger. Ericsson made the team out of camp, but was placed on waivers on Oct. 23 and sent to the Griffins where he played 10 games for the AHL squad. He was recalled again due to injuries on Nov. 14 and now returns to Grand Rapids. Ericsson is on the final year of a six-year, $25.5MM contract.
  • The Anaheim Ducks announced they have assigned defenseman Jacob Larsson to the San Diego Gulls of the AHL. Larsson appeared in 25 games for the Ducks so far this season in a bottom-pairing role with a goal, two assists and a minus-three rating, while averaging 17:31 ATOI.

West Notes: Nurse, Keith, Kulikov

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Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse is off to a strong start to his season.  He’s on pace to approach 40 points for the second straight season while sitting second on the team in ice time per game at a little under 23 minutes per night.  Suffice it to say, he’s certainly positioning himself well to land a long-term deal at a considerable raise from his current $3.2MM AAV this summer when he’ll be a restricted free agent with salary arbitration eligibility.

With that in mind, Postmedia’s David Staples argues that Edmonton GM Ken Holland should be looking to get a deal done now over waiting until the offseason where the price tag could potentially jump higher.  There is a sizable list of potential comparable players and they all point to an AAV around the $6MM mark, depending on the term of the deal.  The Oilers already have over $57.5MM committed to just 10 players for next season already but given how important Nurse is to their back end, Holland should have no qualms about adding another big ticket contract to their books.

Elsewhere out West:

  • Blackhawks blueliner Duncan Keith will miss Saturday’s game against Colorado due to a groin injury, head coach Jeremy Colliton told reporters, including Charlie Roumeliotis of NBC Sports Chicago. He has been skipping practices lately for maintenance purposes but it appears the team will give him at least one game off to see if that helps. To replace him on the roster, the team announced (via Twitter) the recall of blueliner Ian McCoshen from AHL Rockford while winger Matthew Highmore has been sent back to the IceHogs.
  • Jets defenseman Dmitry Kulikov sustained an upper-body injury early in today’s game against Anaheim, the team announced (Twitter link). There is no timetable yet for how long he might miss.  In the short term, expect Carl Dahlstrom, a waiver claim from Chicago before the season started, to draw back into the lineup.

Injury Notes: Staal, Weegar, Drouin, Coburn

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It looks like Marc Staal is nearing a return to the Rangers lineup.  The defenseman told reporters, including Mollie Walker of the New York Post, that he’s hoping to return next week.  Staal last played on November 7th before undergoing ankle surgery due to an infection in his ankle.  Head coach David Quinn has suggested that he’d like to give the veteran a full week of on-ice workouts before re-inserting him into the lineup though so Staal may have to wait a little longer than he’d like before he suits up again.  Through 11 games so far this season, he has a goal and an assist while logging a career-low 18:25 per game.

Other injury notes from around the league:

  • Florida is set to welcome MacKenzie Weegar back into their lineup on Saturday. Head coach Joel Quenneville told Jameson Olive of the Panthers’ website (Twitter link) that the defenseman has been cleared to return from his upper-body injury, one that caused him to miss the last eight games.  The 25-year-old was off to a hot start offensively before getting injured; his 10 points through 17 games was two-thirds of the way to his career-high that was set last season.
  • Canadiens winger Jonathan Drouin met with reporters today, including Sportsnet’s Eric Engels, to discuss the injury he sustained back on November 15th. The incident occurred when he fell and landed awkwardly on his wrist, tearing a tendon and didn’t have anything to do with a hard hit he had received earlier in the game.  The original timeline for his recovery was eight weeks and so far, he appears to be on track with his recovery.
  • Lightning defenseman Braydon Coburn suffered a lower-body injury early in today’s game, the team announced (Twitter link). Tampa Bay was playing seven blueliners in the game anyway and will have Erik Cernak available to return from suspension so if Coburn misses any time beyond this, they likely won’t need to bring someone up to replace him.

Poll: Who Is The Early Hart Trophy Favorite?

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The Hart Trophy is the most prestigious regular season award in the NHL, given to the “player judged most valuable to his team.” While there are always debates over what exactly most valuable means, the award is often given to one of the league’s top scorers who also contributed greatly to team success.

Last year saw the trophy go to Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning, whose 128 points led the league. Kucherov was part of a powerhouse club in Tampa Bay that won the Presidents’ Trophy easily, finishing the season 21 points ahead of the next team in the standings. The then 25-year old forward was a dynamic force on the powerplay, but also posted 80 points at even-strength.

Kucherov was a relatively easy choice as the winner—he earned 164 first-place votes, 161 more than second place Sidney Crosby—but it’s not that way every year. This season for instance has several players who could be considered the favorite at this point.

Through the first quarter of the season Leon Draisaitl is the top scorer, with 48 points on the year, one ahead of linemate Connor McDavid. Both Edmonton Oilers forwards could make a claim as the best player in the league this season, something McDavid is used to at this point after taking home his own Hart Trophy in 2017. The Oilers as a team are experiencing success for the first time in a while, giving even more credence to the idea that one of their superstars could be considered for the award.

There is also a pair of Boston Bruins in the running, with Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak taking up residence just below McDavid on the scoring charts. Two parts of the “Perfection Line” in Boston, Marchand and Pastrnak have not only found incredible chemistry but are now two of the best bargains in the entire league. The Bruins are arguably the league’s best team at this point, with just three regulation losses through 26 games.

Perhaps though the linemates in Edmonton and Boston will split their respective votes and drop down the list. There are other players like Nathan MacKinnon who have had to carry their team in relative solidarity this season and are still finding great success. Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog, MacKinnon’s usual linemates, have both been injured for a good chunk of the start of the year, yet the speedy Avalanche center still has 39 points in 25 games.

Maybe even a defenseman could win the award for the first time since Chris Pronger in 2000. John Carlson has an incredible 36 points in 26 games so far for the Washington Capitals, a pace that would give him the best offensive season from a defenseman in 30 years. Only Bobby Orr and Paul Coffey have ever scored more than 103 points while playing defense, a group that Carlson will try to join this season.

There are countless others who could contend for the award by the end of the year, but cast your vote for the one who you think is the early favorite. We’ve listed some of the most likely candidates, but be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments below.

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Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Prospect Notes: Draft Rankings, Suspension, Canucks

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The OHL is still one of the (if not the) best development leagues in the world for junior-aged players with dreams of becoming NHL stars and this year’s entry draft will be filled to the brim with talent from the Ontario circuit. As he does every year, Brock Otten of OHL Prospects released his preliminary top-10, based on the rankings from several top prospect writers including Corey Pronman of The Athletic, Mike Morreale of NHL.com and Ryan Kennedy of The Hockey News.

There’s very little surprise in Quinton Byfield’s selection as the top OHL prospect, picked unanimously by the 17 scouts. After Byfield though comes some more incredible talent, including several names that will be selected in the first half of the first round come June.

  • Reid Duke, the first player ever signed by the Vegas Golden Knights, has been given a two-game suspension in the AHL after a boarding incident earlier this week. Duke will miss two games for the Chicago Wolves, where he has just seven points in 22 games this season. The 23-year old forward signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Golden Knights in March of 2017.
  • Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet gives his thoughts on the five most NHL-ready prospects for the Vancouver Canucks, including top pick Olli Juolevi. Unfortunately the update on the young defenseman isn’t very revealing, as MacIntyre writes that though the organization has admitted his latest injury is unrelated to the major knee injury that took away most of last season, they haven’t said much else. Juolevi hasn’t played for the Utica Comets since November 11th.

Jimmy Howard Placed On Injured Reserve

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The Detroit Red Wings have activated Mike Green from injured reserve and is available for this afternoon’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers. The same can’t be said about Jimmy Howard, who has been moved to injured reserve. Head coach Jeff Blashill would only say that Howard is out at least seven days from when he was injured against the Toronto Maple Leafs earlier this week. Jonathan Bernier and Calvin Pickard will be the tandem this afternoon.

Green hasn’t played in ten days since leaving a game against the Ottawa Senators, and hasn’t been quite his effective self this season. In 19 games he has just four points, only two of which have come at even-strength. The 34-year old is still averaging more than 21 minutes, but that is more an indictment of the rest of the Red Wings’ defenders than it is a celebration of his play.

If he can get back to full health and show a glimpse of his former self however, there’s a good bet that Green’s name will start coming up in trade speculation as the season continues. The veteran right-handed defenseman is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year and though he currently holds a full no-trade clause, it will change into a 10-team no-trade list on February, 2020.

Bill Peters No Longer Head Coach Of Calgary Flames

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The Calgary Flames have accepted the resignation of Bill Peters. Effective immediately, he is no longer the head coach of the hockey club. The team has concluded their investigation of the events brought to light this week by former NHL player Akim Aliu. Geoff Ward will serve as interim head coach.

Peters, who was hired in 2018 after resigning from his position with the Carolina Hurricanes, is alleged to have uttered several racial epithets during his time with the Rockford IceHogs in the 2009-10 season. He admitted as much in a letter to Flames GM Brad Treliving, but called it an isolated incident. Aliu disagreed with that letter, calling it “misleading, insincere and concerning.”

There were other claims of abuse from former players too. Michal Jordan, who played for the Hurricanes under Peters between 2014-16, alleged that the coach physically abused him and other players on the bench. New Carolina head coach Rod Brind’Amour, who served as an assistant at the time, confirmed the incident took place but told reporters it had been dealt with internally. Peter Karmanos, who was the owner of the Hurricanes at the time, told Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times that had he been made aware of the incident he would have fired Peters immediately.

The Flames won on Wednesday without Peters behind the bench. The team is sitting fifth in the Pacific Division with a 12-12-4 record.

The NHL released a statement explaining that their investigation into the incident is not over. Aliu and other relevant individuals will still meet with the league in the coming days.

Minor Transactions: 11/29/19

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If you weren’t satisfied with the afternoon football action yesterday, the NHL has a treat for you. The league gets an early start when the New York Rangers and Boston Bruins clash this afternoon, while eight other games also get early starts. In that first game of the day, the Rangers will try to somehow contain one of the league’s best lines and slow down David Pastrnak, who has six goals in his last five games.

  • The Toronto Maple Leafs have sent Martin Marincin to the minor leagues, where he’ll play against the Rochester Americans tonight. The Maple Leafs are in Buffalo to take on the Sabres and weren’t going to use Marincin, meaning he can get in some game action for the AHL Marlies instead.
  • With Steven Stamkos returning today after a short absence, the Tampa Bay Lightning have sent Cory Conacher to the minor leagues. Scott Wedgewood is up in his place, giving the team three goaltenders for the time being.
  • The Carolina Hurricanes have recalled Clark Bishop, despite the 23-year old forward earning just three points in 19 games for the Charlotte Checkers this season. Bishop certainly isn’t known for his offensive chops and won’t be asked to play in that role for the Hurricanes, if he gets into a game at all.
  • Brett Seney has been sent to the minor leagues by the New Jersey Devils, who played in two games with the team during his recall. The 23-year old Seney has 18 points in 19 games for the Binghamton Devils this year after spending most of 2018-19 with New Jersey.
  • Joseph Blandisi has been recalled by the Pittsburgh Penguins ahead of their game this evening against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Blandisi has been up and down all season, splitting time in the NHL and AHL.
  • The Montreal Canadiens have recalled Gustav Olofsson, placing Paul Byron on injured reserve to make room. Olofsson’s addition gives the team eight defensemen on the roster with Christian Folin still on his conditioning stint in the AHL.

What Your Team Is Thankful For: Arizona Coyotes

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As the holiday season approaches, PHR will take a look at what teams are thankful for as the season heads past the one-quarter mark. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. We’ll examine what’s gone well in the early going and what could improve as the season rolls on for the Arizona Coyotes.

What are the Coyotes most thankful for?

Stable ownership.

The entire Arizona organization seems stronger ever since the ownership merry-go-round stopped with the franchise sale this summer, and it’s easy to imagine it having a real impact on the team’s performance. New owner Alex Meruelo has committed to keeping the team in Arizona and has taken steps to connect with the Hispanic market in and around the state.

There has been a dark cloud of uncertainty following the Coyotes for more than a decade, but as the skies start to clear the sunlight is starting to illuminate an impressive on-ice product.

Who are the Coyotes most thankful for?

Darcy Kuemper (and Antti Raanta).

That impressive product starts in net, where Kuemper has once again shown he not just a capable NHL goaltender but an outstanding one. The 29-year old posted a .925 save percentage in 55 appearances last season but was completely overlooked by many hockey fans (a fifth-place Vezina finish wasn’t enough to turn heads). Talk about an encore performance; Kuemper has a .932 through 17 games this season and is a huge reason why the Coyotes are one of the best in the league at keeping the puck out of their net.

Having a “backup” like Raanta doesn’t hurt, who is posting his own incredible season as he tries to stay healthy. The 30-year old was supposed to be the full-time starter when he came to the Coyotes in a 2017 trade, but no one is complaining about his .926 save percentage through nine games, even if he does cost more than twice as much as Kuemper.

What would the Coyotes be even more thankful for?

Phil Kessel’s former self.

When the Pittsburgh Penguins made Kessel available this summer, they were originally rumored to be getting Jason Zucker from the Minnesota Wild. When that deal fell through however because Kessel wouldn’t waive his no-trade clause, it became clear that Arizona may be one of the only destinations available. That’s because head coach Rick Tocchet is supposed to have a special relationship with the enigmatic star, but it hasn’t translated into much production so far.

Kessel has just 14 points through 26 games so far for the Coyotes and has a team-worst -12 rating. That 44-point pace would be Kessel’s worst season since he was a 20-year old in Boston, and a disaster for the Coyotes who were expecting him to be their leading offensive force and biggest star this season.

What should be on the Coyotes’ Holiday Wish List?

Another goal-scoring weapon.

If Kessel’s not going to turn into the point-per-game player he has been the last two years in Pittsburgh, the Coyotes may need to go get themselves another offensive option at some point. Only Conor Garland has double-digit goals for the team so far this season and no player has cracked the 20-point mark so far.

Though the team is actually into their long-term injured reserve cap space already, they do have some flexibility still if they want to add a player at some point. If they’re in the race, we’ll see the financial commitment of Meruelo tested once again.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Latest On Bill Peters Investigation, Admission

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Thursday: Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet notes that the Flames’ investigation is “reaching its conclusion.” Friedman believes that Peters will be removed as head coach of the Flames.

Wednesday: A letter from Peters to Treliving has been shared by Sportsnet’s Eric Francis. In the letter, Peters admits to using the offensive language described by Aliu during the incident in question. It’s unclear at this point how this admission will impact the ongoing investigation, as well as the Flames’ ultimate decision.

Calgary Flames head coach Bill Peters was already on the hot seat after a surprisingly poor start to the season. However, he came under fire this week for an entirely different reason, facing accusations of unacceptable off-ice conduct regarding former player Akim Aliu. The repercussions of an ongoing joint investigation between the Flames, NHL, and NHLPA are already being felt. TSN’s Frank Seravalli reports that Peters has left the team and there is a chance he may not return.

As of right now, Peters remains the head coach in Calgary. However, he will not be behind the bench for the team tonight in Buffalo and into the foreseeable future. GM Brad Treliving is the only member of the player operations side of the organization staying in contact with Peters, as his coaching staff, and associate head coach Geoff Ward in particular, have take complete control over the team. Seravalli believes that the situation could be permanent, as he reports that “it seems to be trending towards Peters losing his job.”

However, he warns that this is not a simple process. There is no precedent for an NHL coach to be fired for off-ice conduct, making this investigation and the decision on how to handle the results brand new ground for the league and the Flames. There is also legal red tape that Calgary must traverse in order to fire Peters for-cause. Seravalli has spoken with several of Aliu’s former teammates, all of whom have backed up his allegations against Peters, so it is very likely that the investigation comes to same conclusions that the coach is indeed guilty of these accusations. If so, he will almost certainly be fired. However, the parting of ways will be neither quick nor clean for the Flames.

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