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West Notes: Krebs, Strand, Kostin, Wiesblatt, Robins

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With the WHL getting closer to a start date, many teams are beginning to send their prospects back to their junior leagues. The Henderson Silver Knights, the AHL affiliate of the Vegas Golden Knights, announced they have assigned center Peyton Krebs to the Winnipeg Ice.

With the WHL shutdown for most of the season so far, the Golden Knights’ top pick in 2019 (17th overall) got a rare opportunity to play amongst men in the AHL. He managed to get in five games with the Silver Knights, posting a goal and five points and looking like he’s ready for his next challenge. However, with the WHL starting back up soon, Krebs either had to be on the Golden Knights roster or return to his junior team. The 20-year-old posted impressive numbers with Winnipeg last season, including 12 goals and 60 points in just 38 games before joining the Golden Knights in the bubble for the playoffs last summer even if he didn’t get to appear in an NHL game.

  • The Department of Player Safety announced that they have fined Los Angeles Kings defenseman Austin Strand $3,168 for cross-checking forward Conor Garland. The incident occurred at 19:52 of the second period (video here) in which Strand used the shaft of his stick to strike Garland in the face. Strand received a two-minute minor penalty for cross checking. The fine was the maximum amount allowable under the CBA.
  • With Sammy Blais on the COVID Protocol list, the St. Louis Blues find themselves down to 11 forwards. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Jim Thomas writes that despite their lack of depth at the forward position all of a sudden, there is no plan to bring back prospect Klim Kostin from Russia. The 2017 first-rounder was loaned for the season to Omsk Avangard of the KHL in September, but the team has indicated that’s where he’ll stay until the KHL season ends. Of course, their regular season ends at the end of this month, but Omsk Avangard is expected to be in the playoffs, lengthening his stay there. While the forward’s numbers aren’t overly impressive (seven goals and 18 points in 41 games), Thomas notes that he has been much more impressive lately with four goals and nine points in his last six games.
  • The San Jose Sharks announced they have assigned two of their top picks in the 2020 NHL draft to the WHL. Both Ozzy Wiesblatt and Tristen Robins, who were playing with the San Jose Barracuda of the AHL while junior play has been suspended, will return to their teams. Wiesblatt, the team’s first-round pick (31st overall), played in three games for the Barracuda, scoring one goal and will return to Prince Albert of the WHL. Robins, the team’s second-round pick (56th overall), played in two games with the Barracuda and will return to Saskatoon of the AHL.

 

COVID Protocol Related Absences: 02/21/21

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Each day, the NHL will publicly release the list of players that are unavailable to their respective teams due to being in COVID-19 Protocol. Here are today’s results:

NY Rangers – Kaapo Kakko
Ottawa – Ryan Dzingel
Philadelphia – Justin Braun, Claude Giroux, Travis Konecny, Scott Laughton, Oskar Lindblom, Jakub Voracek
St. Louis – Sammy Blais
Vegas – Tomas Nosek

As a reminder, inclusion on this list does not mean that a player has tested positive for Coronavirus or even that they have been confirmed as a close contact to another positive person. Included in the NHL’s list of possible reasons for someone being on the list is are the following:

(1) an initial positive test which remains unconfirmed until confirmatory testing is completed pursuant to the Positive Test Protocol; (2) mandated isolation for symptomatic individuals pursuant to the Positive Test Protocol; (3) required quarantine as a high-risk close contact in accordance with the Positive Test Protocol; (4) isolation based on a confirmed positive test result and/or; (5) quarantine for travel or other reasons as outlined in the COVID-19 Protocol

Players removed today: Andrew Hammond, Minnesota Wild; Filip Chytil, New York Rangers

No new players on the list. With the list now at just 10 players, it’s the lowest number this season with the list being once in the 40s. Unfortunately, the Philadelphia Flyers still remain with six players sitting out.

Columbus’ Elvis Merzlikins Out Week-To-Week

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The Columbus Blue Jackets have two quality young goaltenders, but can’t seem to get either one back to their 2019-20 form. The team hasn’t got the production it wanted from Joonas Korpisalo, who has struggled with a 3.46 GAA and a .889 save percentage. And despite already being out with an injury once this year, Elvis Merzlikins looks like he’s going back onto injured reserve after the team announced that he will be out week-to-week after suffering an upper-body injury.

Merzlikins suffered what is believed to be a left arm or shoulder injury during the game against Nashville Saturday, according to The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline. No word if the injury is related to Merzlikins first trip to IR, also with an upper-body injury.

Merzlikins has only appeared in seven games this year, and has been quite inconsistent himself with a few flashes of brilliance in between. His numbers remain acceptable with a 2.94 GAA and a .905 save percentage, but not up to his fifth-place finish in Vezina Trophy voting last year either.

The team will now have to put their faith in Korpisalo to find his game with Matiss Kivlenieks serving as the backup until Merzlikins is able to return.

Anaheim Ducks Recall Prospect Trevor Zegras

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The Anaheim Ducks were planning on taking a cautious approach with the development of top prospect Trevor Zegras, but the 19-year-old forward has done everything he could this year to prove that he’s ready to play at the NHL level. The team apparently agrees as they announced they have recalled him to their roster.

Zegras was actually skating with the team on Sunday, suggesting a promotion was near. The forward, who turned pro last March after one season at Boston University, was dominant at the 2021 World Junior Championship, earning the MVP honors at the tournament as well as leading Team USA to the gold medal. He then reported to the AHL, where he has been impressive as well, posting four goals and nine points in eight games with the San Diego Gulls as well as a plus-four rating.

With the Ducks struggling on the ice, currently in last place in the West Division with a 6-9-3 record (having lost four of their last five games), the team needs an offensive spark to get the team going and are hoping that Zegras could provide that. Anaheim is currently ranked 31st in the league in goals scored, averaging just 1.83 goals per game. Youngster Max Comtois leads the team with seven goals. After that, no player has more than three this year, including their veteran leaders, Jakob Silfverberg (3), Adam Henrique (3), Rickard Rakell (1) and Ryan Getzlaf (1).

Anaheim is looking to shake up their roster as the team placed center Adam Henrique on waivers on Saturday (he cleared), meaning he can be assigned to the team’s taxi squad. However, the team is looking to make changes to do something to intensify its rebuilding project. Many of the youngsters are also struggling on the team as Sam Steel, Troy Terry and Isac Lundestrom each have just two goals this season, not exactly what they were hoping for when the season started.

Winnipeg Jets Activate Pierre-Luc Dubois, Move Him To Wing

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The Winnipeg Jets announced they have activated center Pierre-Luc Dubois off of injured reserve and he’s expected to play Sunday against the Vancouver Canucks. The 22-year-old has missed four games with a lower-body injury. However, Dubois isn’t expected to center a line. Instead, it looks like head coach Paul Maurice has moved him to the wing to play next to Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler.

Dubois, acquired from Columbus along with a 2022 third-round pick for Patrik Laine and Jack Roslovic in January, only appeared in two games before going down with what Dubois referred to as a “muscle injury.” Maurice said that he believes that moving Dubois to the wing should prevent Dubois from overworking himself as well as pick up good habits from his linemates.

“There is a bunch of things there,” said Maurice (via Sportsnet’s Ken Wiebe). “The first is wear and tear and minutes in his first game back. He’s had a big chunk of time off the ice. The centreman covers a lot more ice and there is a lot more grind to that. He did a great job with his shift length in his first game, we expect him to do the same. He’s still a young man, he’s got a version of Mark’s game in him – that ability to slow the game down, find holes and make plays. He also has the ability to have Blake’s game – a hard-driving, heavy in the corners type of player. I think that over time, the players I’ve played with Mark and Blake have developed that in their game. It was good for Nik Ehlers. It was good for Kyle Connor. The other option is going to be Paul Stastny and he flipping. I may do that over the course of the game.”

The current lines stand with Dubois, Scheifele and Wheeler on the first line with Stastny, Connor and Nikolaj Ehlers on the second line. loading up their top two lines. Adam Lowry would center the team’s third line.

Sabres Prepared That Jake McCabe May Miss Rest Of Season

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The Buffalo Sabres were fearful after defenseman Jake McCabe left Saturday’s game with a lower-body injury. McCabe left the game against New Jersey midway through the third period after trying to hit Nico Hischier against the boards, but instead, his right leg buckled and he clutched his knee after going down. Head coach Ralph Krueger said Sunday that McCabe has left the team to return home and is expected to get an MRI today with results expected Monday. However, he doesn’t believe the injury looks good at all. Buffalo News’ Mike Harrington adds the team is preparing that he will be out for the season.

“I’ll be honest with you,” said Krueger. “Not very optimistic about the diagnosis that will come out of this. The lower-body injury is serious.”

If McCabe misses significant time, as expected, that would be a big blow to a team that has struggled to put together an effective defensive lineup and will miss their alternate captain and his defensive presence on the ice. While not an offensive player (one goal, three points in 13 games), he does make up for it on defense. He has averaged 19:11 of ATOI and has 22 hits and 15 blocked shots this season, while playing all over the lineup.

The team has been without Rasmus Ristolainen, who could miss extended time after a suffering through a significant case of COVID-19. Defenseman William Borgen is out day-to-day and the team has had to depend others to step up their game, including Colin Miller, Matt Irwin and now will have to depend more on Henri Jokiharju and Brandon Davidson to get by with McCabe likely to be out of the lineup for some time.

Poll: NHL’s “Thanksgiving Trend” Revisited

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Fans of the NHL are sure to be familiar with the deeper meaning that American Thanksgiving holds each season. With unrelenting consistency, the NHL’s standings on the final Thursday of November have had great predictive ability when compared to the final regular season standings. In fact, over the past seven years the Thanksgiving standings have been about 75% accurate at forecasting eventual playoff teams, predicting 12 of 16 spots on average. Even though American Thanksgiving only rolls around less than two months into the season, three out of four teams in a playoff spot at that time will have retained their postseason berth when the season ends.

The 2019-20 season of course did not have a standard postseason, but if it had then the Thanksgiving trend would have proved even more prophetic in a shortened campaign. Last year, in which teams were limited to between 68 and 71 games apiece prior to the early termination of the regular season, the Thanksgiving standings would have predicted 13 of 16 playoff teams in the standard format. Of the three teams that would have slid out of the postseason, the Florida Panthers trailed the Toronto Maple Leafs by .014 points percentage in the Atlantic Division and the Winnipeg Jets missed out by a measly .001 points percentage behind the Calgary Flames as the final Western Conference wild card. The Thanksgiving standings were that close to predicting 15 of 16 playoff teams in the shortened season, with the unexpected slow start for the Vegas Golden Knights and hot start for the Arizona Coyotes being the other unsurprising course correction.

But how does this trend impact a season that didn’t even begin until well after American Thanksgiving? Based on total games played by Thanksgiving over the past few seasons, Thanksgiving represents about the 30% progress through the NHL season. In the current 56-game season, that comes out to about the 17-game mark. Although postponements and rescheduling have created a wide discrepancy in games played among teams this year, the league as a whole passed that 17-game average on Saturday: Happy Thanksgiving. Admittedly, the 2020-21 campaign does have a different playoff model as well, one that is somewhat stricter than the last few years without the fallback of a wildcard spot for a team on the fifth-place fringe in their division. Yet, it is still a 16-team postseason and the Thanksgiving trend should hold. Using points percentage to rank the standings (the stat may end up determining playoff position for a second consecutive season anyhow) and adjusting for the season’s makeshift divisions, here is the current “Thanksgiving” outlook:

North Division                                                             East Division

Toronto Maple Leafs (.789)                                    Boston Bruins (.733)
Montreal Canadiens (.625)                                     Philadelphia Flyers (.679)
Winnipeg Jets (.618)                                                 Washington Capitals (.594)
Edmonton Oilers (.600)                                          Pittsburgh Penguins (.594)____
Calgary Flames (.472)                                                        New Jersey Devils (.583)
Vancouver Canucks (.405)                                                New York Islanders (.559)
Ottawa Senators (.237)                                                      New York Rangers (.469)
                                                                                                Buffalo Sabres (.429)

West Division                                                                Central Division

Vegas Golden Knights (.700)                                   Carolina Hurricanes (.781)
Colorado Avalanche (.679)                                       Florida Panthers (.750)
St. Louis Blues (.611)                                                  Tampa Bay Lightning (.700)
Minnesota Wild (.571)                                                Dallas Stars (.583)                    
Los Angeles Kings (.531)                                                    Chicago Blackhawks (.579)
Arizona Coyotes (.500)                                                       Columbus Blue Jackets (.526)
San Jose Sharks (.500)                                                       Nashville Predators (.412)
Anaheim Ducks (.417)                                                         Detroit Red Wings (.325)

Now this begs the question, especially seeing how accurate the Thanksgiving standings were in last year’s shortened season but also accounting for the many disruptions for a number of teams early this season, who is the trend currently overlooking? Which teams currently outside the playoff picture, if any, do you think will make the postseason when all is said and done later this season? Use the comments section below as well to discuss which teams may fall out of the postseason and whether you feel the Thanksgiving trend will apply this season.

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Ducks’ Adam Henrique Clears Waivers

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Sunday: Henrique has cleared waivers. Despite a career of consistent scoring and quality two-way play, it seems that teams were too frightened by Henrique’s lengthy contract and slow start to the season to risk a claim. This may not be over though; it is hard to imagine that there are not teams in the NHL that could benefit from the dynamic Duck’s services if they can make the salary cap work in a trade.

Saturday: There have been some notable veterans placed on waivers in recent days and Saturday has yielded another of those moves as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link) that the Ducks have placed center Adam Henrique on waivers.  While it’s not common for a GM to comment on a player hitting the waiver wire right away, Bob Murray did release a brief statement to Elliott Teaford of the Orange County Register:

Adam is not alone in this. But I’m tired of talking and waiting. We need results and difficult decisions must be made.

It has been a tough year for the 31-year-old, to put it lightly.  Henrique has just three goals and an assist in 16 games this season despite logging over 16 minutes per game and nearly two per night with the man advantage.  For someone that’s expected to be a top-six forward, that type of production hasn’t been good enough which has resulted in this move.  The drop-off offensively comes as somewhat of a surprise considering that Henrique actually led Anaheim in scoring last season with 26 goals and 17 assists in 71 games; had it not been for the pandemic, he would have had a realistic chance at reaching the 30-goal mark for only the second time in his career.

Henrique still has three years left on his contract after this season with a $5.825MM AAV and salary and with many teams being capped out (only five teams can afford to claim him), it’s quite unlikely that he’ll be claimed on Sunday.  Instead, the placement will give them a bit more roster flexibility and allow them to shuffle him to the taxi squad on non-game days, allowing them to temporarily clear $1.075MM off their salary cap.  It could also serve as somewhat of a wakeup call to Henrique and the rest of the Ducks who are off to a bit of a sluggish start to their season having won only six of 17 games so far, though that’s still enough to be just two points out of a playoff spot in the West Division.

Taxi Squad Shuffle: 02/21/21

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As the NHL prepares for another day at Lake Tahoe – one that hopes to run smoothly after Saturday’s debacle – there are also three other games on the Sunday slate. Roster transactions continue to come at a torrid pace this season and today should be no different with a number of teams in action. Keep up with all of the moves right here:

Central Division

  • The Detroit Red Wings have returned a trio of players to the taxi squad. The team announced that veteran defensemen Alex Biega and the recently-waived Danny DeKeyser, as well as rookie forward Mathias Brome, have all been reassigned. After back-to-back games, Detroit is off until Tuesday.
  • Matiss Kivlenieks is on his way back to Columbus after a brief stint in the minors. The Blue Jackets announced that the goaltender has been recalled from the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters to join the taxi squad. While the team may give Kivlenieks spot starts in Cleveland from time to time to keep him fresh, he looks to be locked in to that No. 3 taxi squad role for the franchise this season.
  • The Nashville Predators announced they have reassigned forward Eeli Tolvanen to the squad. The 21-year-old has appeared in eight games with the Predators this season.

East Division

  • The New Jersey Devils have swapped a pair of forwards, sending Yegor Sharangovich to the taxi squad while calling up Mikhail Maltsev as his replacement. Although they have been used differently so far this season, both rookies have been effective in the Devils lineup. However, after a hot start Sharangovich has cooled off while Maltsev has performed in his more recent showings. According to the AHL’s Binghamton Devils, New Jersey has also reassigned forward Nick Merkley from the taxi squad to the minors. Merkley has actually played well in the NHL so far this season, recording three points in five games with the Devils.
  • With the losses of Jake McCabe and William Borgen to injuries, the Buffalo Sabres have promoted two players from the Rochester Americans to the taxi squad. The team announced that Jacob Bryson and Casey Fitzgerald will move up and fill the defensive depth void that the team has dealt with over the last few days.

North Division

  • The Edmonton Oilers announced they have recalled defenseman Theodor Lennstrom from the Bakersfield Condors of the AHL and moved him to the taxi squad. The move was required with the injury to defenseman Slater Koekkoek. Lennstrom will need time to quarantine with Bakersfield being in the U.S., requiring the player to cross the border.
  • Ryan Pike of FlamesNation reports that the Calgary Flames have made a salary cap move, sending defenseman Oliver Kylington to the taxi squad and thereby filling up their taxi-squad roster. The 23-year-old has yet to appear in a game for the Flames this season.
  • The Ottawa Senators announced they have recalled a number of players from the taxi squad for Sunday’s game, including goaltender Joey Daccord, defenseman Braydon Coburn and forward Micheal Haley. The team also assigned forward Artem Anisimov to the taxi squad to make room for them and also moved Logan Shaw from the Belleville Senators of the AHL to the taxi squad.

West Division

  • The Minnesota Wild have moved a pair of young players back to the minors. The team announced that defenseman Calen Addison and goalie Dereck Baribeau have been reassigned to AHL Iowa. Addison, one of Minnesota’s top prospects, logged over 18 minutes of ice time on average through his first three NHL games.
  • The Arizona Coyotes announced they have swapped several players from the Tucson Roadrunners of the AHL and the taxi squad. The team has assigned forwards Frederik Gauthier and Kyle Capobianco from the Tucson to the taxi squad. The Coyotes also assigned forwards Hudson Fasching and Michael Chaput to Tucson to replace them. Capobianco has appeared in two games for Arizona this season.
  • The San Jose Sharks announced they have reassigned forward Maxim Letunov and goaltender Josef Korenar to the San Barracuda of the AHL. Neither player has appeared in a Sharks game this season.

Few Untouchables On Nashville Predators Roster

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When Mattias Ekholm’s name hit the rumor mill earlier this month, eyebrows around the league raised a little bit. The top-four defenseman would be an asset for basically any contender in the league and teams were hoping he would hit the market at some point this season. Well, it sounds like it’s not just Ekholm that’s available in Nashville.

From Elliotte Friedman on Hockey Night In Canada’s Headlines segment this evening (via Adam Vingan of The Athletic on Twitter):

Word is maybe only three untouchables — Roman Josi, Ryan Ellis and Pekka Rinne, who’s towards the end of his career. I think other than that, the Predators are willing to listen on just about anybody. That includes Filip Forsberg. That also includes, I found really interesting, Dante Fabbro.

Fabbro, who is still just 22, is on the final year of his entry-level contract and will be a restricted free agent in the summer. The young defenseman was the 17th overall pick in 2016 and played in 64 games last season for the Predators, scoring 11 points and averaging just over 19 minutes a night. It’s hard to imagine the team would be giving up on him already, but perhaps they see him as a moveable piece if it leads to a fix elsewhere on the roster.

It had already been reported that Mikael Granlund and Erik Haula, who are each on one-year deals and pending unrestricted free agents, are likely to be moved if Nashville starts selling. But Forsberg too should draw plenty of interest if he’s actually available. The 26-year-old has one more year on his contract after this season and carries a manageable $6MM cap hit. Even in a tough year for the team he’s been the one offensive piece the Predators can rely on, scoring 14 points in his first 16 games (he is scoreless in tonight’s match as of this writing).

There’s also Viktor Arvidsson, who has been an offensive leader in the past, and the two expensive centers in Matt Duchene and Ryan Johansen. For contenders looking to add, it’s not a short list of talent to pick from in Nashville, even if they haven’t put it all together recently.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

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