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Archives for March 2020

Atlantic Notes: Protective Gear, Tatar, Sandin

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It was an outstanding start to his North American career for Ilya Mikheyev, who scored 23 points in his first 39 games in the NHL for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Just a few days after Christmas however, Mikheyev’s season was ruined when Jesper Bratt’s skate blade cut his wrist so bad that surgery was required to repair arteries and tendons in his right arm. The 25-year old forward has resumed practicing recently and could make a return before the playoffs, but his and other injuries like it have made the league take a closer look at protective equipment.

In fact, Darren Dreger of TSN reports that the league is delivering equipment to every team around the league and that the Maple Leafs will force their young players to wear wrist protection. It hasn’t just been Mikheyev injured in this way recently, as speeds continue to increase in the NHL so does the damage that skate blades can inflict in the wrong situation. Hopefully the new changes keep players on the ice and out of the surgical unit.

  • Speaking of injury, the Montreal Canadiens’ season took another bad turn tonight when Tomas Tatar left their game with an upper-body injury. The team scoring leader will not return, though they are doing just fine without him at the time of this writing.
  • Rasmus Sandin is expected to be a healthy scratch for the Maple Leafs tonight after some recent struggles, which brings up some interesting questions about his contract status. Sandin has played in enough games to make his entry-level contract kick in, but with just 15 games remaining (after tonight) in the season for the Maple Leafs he may not get to the 40-game threshold that would get him a year closer to unrestricted free agency. The 19-year old defenseman has played in 26 so far, but both Morgan Rielly and Cody Ceci are expected back soon, meaning another handful of scratches could keep that number down for the Maple Leafs.

Brian Dumoulin, John Marino Returning For Penguins

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The Pittsburgh Penguins have to stop this losing streak, and they have to stop it right now if they want to keep a hold on a Metropolitan Division playoff spot. They’ll get a chance to do just that when they take on the Ottawa Senators this evening, and it will be with a pair of important reinforcements. The team has announced that both Brian Dumoulin and John Marino will play.

Dumoulin has not played in a game since November, while Marino has been out for nearly a month. Brandon Tanev will be held out with an illness.

It is hard to overstate just how important Dumoulin and Marino are to the Penguins. Before his injury, the 28-year old Dumoulin trailed only Kris Letang in ice time for Pittsburgh, logging more than 21 minutes a night. His all-around ability allowed the team to pair him with almost anyone and expect positive results, something he’s sure to bring once again in his return.

Marino meanwhile is still just a rookie, but has shown poise beyond his 22 years. In 51 games before he suffered several broken bones in his cheek, he had recorded 25 points and was averaging more than 20 minutes a night. Acquired from the Edmonton Oilers, he appears to be a long-term answer for the team.

The Penguins have lost their last six games and are now just two points ahead of the New York Islanders and Columbus Blue Jackets in the Metro. The Philadelphia Flyers, who are on a six-game winning streak, have pulled three points ahead of them for second in the division.

Claude Julien Will Be Back As Montreal Head Coach

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Barring a late-season run, the Montreal Canadiens look destined to finish outside the playoff picture for the third year in a row. That playoff drought coincides with Claude Julien’s current tenure as head coach, at least in terms of full seasons under the veteran bench boss—he went 16-7-1 down the stretch after Michel Therrien was fired in 2017 to get the Canadiens in, but lost in the first round to the New York Rangers.

Despite the fact that the Canadiens have taken a drastic step back from their 96-point season a year ago and are currently sitting with their fourth-worst winning percentage since 2003, changes don’t appear to be coming. In an interview with RDS today, general manager Marc Bergevin explained that Julien will still be the team’s coach next season.

The veteran coach is in his second stint behind the bench of the Canadiens, but now has just a .529 winning percentage in those games. During that time his club has played in just 17 playoff contests, winning just a single round—back in 2004.

Missing the playoffs for three straight seasons quite often gets a coach fired, but questions about the Canadiens don’t end at Julien. Tomas Tatar has been the team’s most consistent offensive player this season but is under contract for just one more year. Shea Weber’s health was a concern once again, and top prospects like Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Ryan Poehling didn’t have the development years many expected. There is obviously plenty of hope for the future—especially when you look at the way Nick Suzuki has transitioned to the NHL—but there will be a lot of pressure this offseason for the group to see appreciable improvements.

Even if Julien and Bergevin come back to start the 2020-21 season, it doesn’t mean their seats won’t be incredibly hot.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Oliver Bjorkstrand Out 8-10 Weeks

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March 3: Bjorkstrand underwent successful surgery to repair his broken ankle, meaning the eight to ten week timeline starts now.

February 21: If you though the Columbus Blue Jackets’ injury luck couldn’t get any worse, you were wrong. The team announced today that Oliver Bjorkstrand will be out for eight to ten weeks with a sprained and broken ankle. They have not yet made a decision on whether surgery will be required.

Bjorkstrand, when eventually placed on injured reserve, will join a list that currently includes Cam Atkinson, Brandon Dubinsky, Seth Jones, Alexander Wennberg, Ryan Murray, Josh Anderson, Alexandre Texier, Dean Kukan and Joonas Korpisalo. It also will make it even more difficult for them to grab a playoff spot in a tight Eastern Conference race.

The Blue Jackets have been an impressive bunch this season, fighting through injury and finding a way to win on a regular basis. A big part of that success was thanks to Bjorkstrand himself, who easily leads the team in goals with 21 and is third in points. The 24-year old has become a legitimate top-six force and was on pace to blow by his career-high of 40 points. That won’t happen now, though perhaps he could return at some point in the playoffs if the Blue Jackets make it and advance past the first round.

James Neal Activated From Injured Reserve

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The Edmonton Oilers are already on a two-game winning streak and scored eight goals against the Nashville Predators, but will get a little more offense injected into the lineup tonight. James Neal has been activated from injured reserve and will play against the Dallas Stars. Neal hasn’t played since January 29th.

Neal, 32, was actually in a goal slump when he was injured, with just five in his last 24 games played. Still, the consistent scorer is set to crack the 20-goal mark for the 11th time in his career, something he has done every season except 2018-19 when he struggled with the Calgary Flames. Neal has always found a way to contribute, and this season most of that has come on the powerplay with the Oilers.

Edmonton already possesses the most lethal powerplay in the entire league, with a season-long success rate of nearly 30%. If Neal’s return can improve that even further, the team will be hard to beat down the stretch.

The question now however becomes where does Neal fit into the lineup at even-strength. After Kailer Yamamoto’s emergence as a running mate for Leon Draisaitl and Edmonton’s acquisitions of Andreas Athanasiou and Tyler Ennis, the Oilers have more depth on the wing than they are used to.

General Managers Vote To Amend Offside Rule

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During the second day of the general manager meetings in Florida, the group of NHL executives have voted to amend the offside rule, according to several reports including Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. The proposed change would see the rule no longer require a skate to be touching the ice, but over the plane of the blue line.

This does not mean that the rule is immediately changed. The amendment will have to go through the league’s Competition Committee and then be voted on by the board of governors.

Since the introduction of offside challenges, there has been much debate over whether the rule should be changed. Many reviews produce inconclusive evidence when the requirement is contact between the blade and the ice, leading to incredibly tough decisions for officiating crews. With the proposed change, one can imagine how much easier it would be to determine if a skate is still over the blue line, however there are obviously still going to be difficulties in certain situations.

Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic notes that other things on the agenda today at the GM meetings were reports on puck and player tracking which is set to begin in the playoffs, and on player safety.

Minor Transactions: 02/03/20

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Ten games grace the NHL schedule this evening, including a couple of potential playoff previews. The Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning will battle once again as they look to represent the Atlantic Division, while the Edmonton Oilers and Dallas Stars face off in a war of two teams that believe they’re contenders in the west. With just a month left, every game is important for those with Stanley Cup aspirations. As always, we’ll keep track of all the minor moves right here.

  • The Detroit Red Wings have sent Dennis Cholowski back to the minor leagues, after he played just 12 minutes last night. The 21-year old could be back up by the end of the week, as the Red Wings don’t play again until Friday evening. The Grand Rapids Griffins meanwhile play in San Antonio tonight.
  • Jake Oettinger has been recalled by the Dallas Stars under emergency conditions with Ben Bishop dealing with a minor injury. The 21-year old netminder has never previously been recalled, and has played the entire season in the minor leagues posting a 12-16-4 record with a .912 save percentage.
  • Anthony Angello has been recalled by the Pittsburgh Penguins under emergency conditions, giving them another body for their game against the Ottawa Senators. The 23-year old has played seven NHL games this season.
  • The Vancouver Canucks have recalled Guillaume Brisebois and Jalen Chatfield under emergency conditions, while assigning Justin Bailey to the minor leagues. The Canucks are back home tomorrow to welcome in the Arizona Coyotes for the first of a five-game home stand.
  • Chris Driedger is back with the Florida Panthers after his recent conditioning stint in the minor leagues. The 25-year old goaltender has actually been outstanding in his limited NHL appearances, posting a .932 save percentage on the year.

Lightning’s Steven Stamkos Out Six To Eight Weeks

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March 3: Stamkos underwent successful surgery on Monday. His timeline has not changed.

February 29: The Tampa Bay Lightning suffered a significant loss when the team announced that captain Steven Stamkos will miss the next six to eight weeks to have surgery to repair a core muscle injury, which he is expected to have Monday, March 2. To make matters worse for the Lightning, even if the estimated injury time is on the short end (six weeks), Stamkos is still likely to miss some playoff time as the playoffs start in five weeks from today.

That’s a serious issue for a team that were swept out of the first-round of the playoffs last season by the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Lightning have been up and down all season, on top of that, and while it looked like the team was heading in a positive direction recently, clearly establishing themselves as the Atlantic Divsion’s second-best team and looking to challenge the Boston Bruins for first place, the Lightning have now lost four straight.

The Athletic’s Joe Smith (subscription required) wrote Friday that there was some concern regarding Stamkos, who was held out of Thursday’s game due to a lower-body injury. He has missed three games earlier in the month and has skipped several practices and skates to heal his injury. Jon Cooper has already said that the team will have to go “game-to-game” with Stamkos until this announcement.

Stamkos’ loss is critical, not just because the 30-year-old’s a top-line player who currently has 29 goals this season, but because of his leadership in the locker room. On top of that, this has been an issue for the veteran for quite a while and yet, Stamkos has still been quite effective. Unfortunately, the team has to hope it can continue on its course and finish strong during the regular season as well as hope that it can win some playoff games without him until Stamkos is ready to return.

Canucks Notes: Tanev, Eriksson, Goldobin, Podkolzin

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The Vancouver Canucks have finally made that long-awaited return to NHL relevance and look like a team that not only could make the playoffs but possibly make a splash as well. With the spotlight on his squad, Rick Dhaliwal of TSN and The Athletic provided an update on a number of major questions facing the team beyond this season, as they look to keep trending upward. The biggest focus will be how the cap-strapped club handles free agency this summer. The Canucks have $63.5MM tied up in just 15 players for the 2020-21 season and face the tall task of trying to fill out the roster with eight players with around $20MM to work with. The team would like to bring back each of their three primary UFA’s – Jacob Markstrom, Tyler Toffoli, and Chris Tanev – but could find it hard to do so. Dhaliwal reports that Markstrom, who has been invaluable to the Canucks again this season, is the most likely name to return. Toffoli, who has excelled since coming over from the Los Angeles Kings, seems like a top priority for the team as well. That could leave Tanev as the odd man out, even though Dhaliwal states that the team would need to immediately find a replacement. Tanev, a career Canuck, has been effective when healthy during his time in Vancouver, but a thin defense market and the team’s own constraints could make it difficult to keep the two sides together. On the other hand, it may make more sense for the team to move other pieces in order to keep Tanev rather than moving on and hoping they can find an adequate replacement. Even if that means trading RFA defenseman Troy Stecher, the overall Vancouver blue line could benefit from retaining Tanev beyond this season.

  • Another potential cost-cutting measure could be the end of veteran Loui Eriksson’s playing days with the team. Although Eriksson still has two years left on his contract at a $6MM, Dhaliwal believes that the Canucks may have reached their limit with Eriksson’s disappointing time with the team. Eriksson has never topped 30 points in three seasons with Vancouver and is on pace for a career-low 16 points after being scratched for many of the Canucks’ early games this season. Eriksson has never found his place with the club and Dhaliwal believes he will be on the move this off-season. He notes that Eriksson will receive a $3MM bonus on July 1st, after which his contract carries only $5MM in actual salary over the final two years. The cap implications are far heavier than the actual dollars and a team with more space than the Canucks could be willing to take Eriksson on, perhaps in exchange for another bad contract or alongside a draft pick. If not, Vancouver could also try to persuade Eriksson to walk away from his contract via mutual termination, which Dhaliwal suggests, or they could simply buy him out. Either way, moving on from Eriksson will open up some more cap space to help the Canucks continue to ice a playoff-caliber roster.
  • Nikolay Goldobin is another player who could be on the move this summer. Dhaliwal reports that Goldobin was nearly moved to the Ottawa Senators at the trade deadline and two or three other teams also showed interest. Goldobin has played in the AHL for all but one game this season, but has at least made the most of this relegation with a very productive season. Dhaliwal believes that he will back at the NHL level next season, but will that be in Vancouver? Goldobin is owed a $945K qualifying offer this season for the Canucks to retain his rights, which they are likely to do, but they could still trade his rights away rather than retain him.
  • Don’t expect 2019 first-rounder Vasili Podkolzin to be in the NHL or anywhere in North America next season. Dhaliwal does not believe that there is any chance that Podkolzin can get out of the final year of his KHL contract with SKA St. Petersburg, meaning the earliest he could be available to the Canucks is in 2021-22. The wait will be worth it though. After a slow start to the season, Podkolzin’s play picked up in the second half and he has been playing a complete game for months now. Dhaliwal says “the sky is the limit” for Podkolzin’s NHL career, regardless of when it begins.

Blue Jackets’ Josh Anderson Done For The Year

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The 2019-20 campaign is over for Josh Anderson. The Columbus Blue Jackets have announced that the power forward has undergone surgery to repair the labrum tear in his left shoulder that has plagued him this season. The operation requires four-to-six months to make a full recovery. The timeline should have Anderson ready for the start of the 2020-21 season.

Anderson suffered the injury in question all the way back on December 14th in a match-up with the Ottawa Senators. Almost immediately, the team was faced with a decision of having Anderson undergo this surgery, effectively ending his season barring a deep playoff run, or instead hoping that rest and rehabilitation would allow him to return to the lineup. The team opted for rest and rehab, but GM Jarmo Kekalainen stated in today’s press release that “unfortunately, the injury has not responded as any of us had hoped to the latter and the decision was made to have the surgery now so that Josh will be fully healthy and ready to go next season.”

Even prior to the injury, this was shaping up to be a tough season for Anderson. The winger recorded just one goal and four points in the first 26 games of the year, a far cry from the pace that led to 27 goals and 47 points last season. Anderson continues to be a difficult player to nail down, which also put him on the trade block at this year’s deadline. The Blue Jackets have already had one contractual battle with Anderson during his young career and feared another this summer. However, Anderson’s injury played a major role in his value at the deadline and Columbus opted to retain him. Whether or not they decide to revisit trade talks this summer after he has received a clean bill of health remains to be seen.

Not only did the Blue Jackets not trade Anderson at the deadline, they came very close to standing pat altogether. The club made a hockey trade with the Anaheim Ducks, swapping Sonny Milano for Devin Shore, and essentially gave away Markus Hannikainen to the Arizona Coyotes, and that was it for Kekalainen and company. After going all in last year, Columbus is left to rely on the players in place to get into the postseason. Anderson is now one less reinforcement that they can rely on as they compete for a wild card spot. Seth Jones and Oliver Bjorkstrand likely won’t be back during the regular season and the returns of Cam Atkinson, Alexandre Texier, and Dean Kukan remain up in the air, so the Blue Jackets have their work cut out for them down the stretch.

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