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NHL Making Progress On Olympic Participation

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The 2022 Olympic Winter Games are coming quickly and there is no definitive answer yet on whether the NHL will participate. That could be changing soon, as hockey insider Frank Seravalli reports that the league has received a verbal commitment from the IOC to fund travel and insurance, one of the biggest sticking points in previous negotiations. Seravalli notes there is still a lot of work to be done, including negotiating whether the NHL will be allowed to use game footage and other promotional material, something the Olympic committee has long been against.

Progress is progress though and it will be welcome news to hockey fans all over the world. Best-on-best hockey always creates a memorable event, whether at the Olympics or World Cup, and the lack of NHL participation in the 2018 Games robbed some of a chance to compete for their country. Players like Auston Matthews and Connor McDavid who are now five and six years into their NHL careers still haven’t had a chance to represent their nations on the Olympic stage.

The 2022 Games are scheduled to begin on February 4, 2022, meaning there would need to be a stoppage to the NHL schedule while the league’s best go to Beijing. In 2014, the last time the NHL participated, Canada took home the gold in a 3-0 win over Sweden. The U.S. finished off the podium entirely, downed in the bronze medal game by tournament MVP Teemu Selanne of Finland.

In 2018, without the NHL involved, the Olympic Athletes from Russia took home gold, defeating Germany in the gold medal match. That Russian team included several former NHL talents like Ilya Kovalchuk and Pavel Datsyuk along with several names who would make their debuts in the coming years, like Ilya Sorokin, Igor Shesterkin, and Kirill Kaprizov.

Anaheim Ducks Hire Jeff Solomon As Assistant GM, VP Of Hockey Ops

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A name well known to NHL hockey in Southern California is on the move, but isn’t going far. Long-time Los Angeles Kings executive Jeff Solomon has joined his former team’s most bitter rival. The Anaheim Ducks have formally announced Solomon as their new Assistant General Manager and Vice President of Hockey Operations. He fills the position left behind by the recently-retired David McNab. Solomon served as VP of Hockey Ops (later Senior VP and Executive VP) over 14 years across town with the Kings.

Solomon, 63, has spent 35 years in hockey, first as an agent and then with L.A. since 2007. His role with the Ducks will be very similar to how he served the Kings. Solomon will work primarily in “strategic budget planning”, managing the salary cap, negotiating contracts, and handling salary arbitration proceedings. Of course, Solomon will also have some input into player evaluations and personnel decisions.

A long-time Californian, Solomon oversaw two Stanley Cups ins L.A. but is now on to a new challenge in Anaheim. Whereas the Kings have considerable cap space heading into the off-season, the Ducks are more limited with only 15 regulars under contract, a number of restricted free agents in need of new contracts, and $22.555MM to add a much-needed boost of talent to the roster. With that said, Solomon also enters a situation where the organization has budding stars at forward and defense in Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale, a deep pipeline at all positions, and a guaranteed top-four pick this year. His job of managing the cap will be made much easier if the Ducks impressive group of entry-level players all take a step forward next season.

 

Snapshots: Tarasenko, AHL, North Playoffs, Soucy

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Blues winger Vladimir Tarasenko has decided to change agents according to Bally Sports Midwest’s Andy Strickland (Twitter link).  After being represented by Octagon’s Mike Liut, he will now be repped by Paul Theofanous of TMI, LLC, who represents several prominent Russian players including Artemi Panarin, Sergei Bobrovsky, and Semyon Varlamov.  The timing of the switch is a little odd as Tarasenko has two years remaining on his current contract which means the earliest that he could sign an extension with St. Louis is July of 2022.

Elsewhere around the NHL:

  • The AHL is considering adding a play-in round for their playoffs, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported in the latest Saturday Headlines segment (video link). It’s unclear if the idea is for next season or for 2022-23 when Seattle’s affiliate in Palm Springs becomes the 32nd team in that league, meaning that half the league will make and miss the playoffs.  Currently, their postseason format in a normal year is the top four teams in each division get in with no Wild Card which is a bit different than the normal format for the NHL’s playoffs.  The AHL is often used as a trial balloon for ideas that could one day make their way to the NHL and this could be another one of those.
  • A decision has still not been made about whether the winner of the North Division will be able to host games in their home city or be forced to relocate to a neutral site in the United States, notes Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic (Twitter link). There continues to be a mandatory quarantine period for anyone travelling from the U.S. to Canada and a special exemption would need to be granted from the Canadian federal government to allow some of the games to played in Canada.  LeBrun suggests that a decision will need to be made by the start of the second round so there should be more news on this front within the next week or so.
  • Wild defenseman Carson Soucy will miss tonight’s fifth game against Vegas due to an upper-body injury, notes Sarah McLellan of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. He has logged just over 13 minutes a game on their third pairing through the first four games of the series.  Prospect Calen Addison, who got into three games back in February, will take Soucy’s spot in the lineup and make his playoff debut in the process.

Philadelphia’s David Kase Signs In Czech Republic

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Flyers winger David Kase has decided to not bother going through restricted free agency this offseason.  Instead, Sparta Praha of the Czech Extraliga announced that they’ve signed the 24-year-old to a two-year contract.

Kase was a fifth-round pick of Philadelphia back in 2015 (128th overall) and signed his entry-level deal in 2018.  He has made NHL appearances in each of the last two seasons (a total of seven games, one of which was in 2020-21) but has spent the bulk of that time in the minors.  This season, he had nine points in 19 games with AHL Lehigh Valley while picking up 25 more in 27 contests with Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic before the season started in North America.

Philadelphia can retain Kase’s rights by tendering him a qualifying offer this summer, one they already know he won’t be signing as a result of this deal.  Doing so would enable them to retain his NHL rights through this contract in case they want to bring him back over in 2023.  However, given his limited impact in North America, it’s also possible that they just cut ties with him entirely.

Hurricanes Sign Blake Murray

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The Hurricanes are spending their off day in their first-round series against Nashville by taking care of one of their prospects as the team announced that they’ve signed forward Blake Murray to a three-year, entry-level contract.  The deal will carry a cap hit of $758K.  GM Don Waddell had the following statement on the signing:

Blake has shown his goal-scoring abilities in the Ontario Hockey League. We’re looking forward to helping him reach his potential as he takes the next steps in his career.

Murray was a sixth-round pick (183rd overall) of the Hurricanes back in 2019 out of Sudbury of the OHL.  Waddell is certainly correct that the 19-year-old has shown an ability to score at the junior level as he reached the 30-goal mark in both 2018-19 and 2019-20.  However, he didn’t have the opportunity to make it three straight years with that league not playing this season.  Fortunately for him, he was able to find a spot overseas as Murray got into 16 games with Surahammars of Sweden’s HockeyEttan where he continued to produce, notching seven goals and 16 assists which certainly helped his case to be signed.

Had they not signed Murray, Carolina would have lost his rights on June 1st; with that deadline now just over a week away, there could be more transactions like this over the coming days.  In the meantime, Murray will turn pro next season and will push for a spot with AHL Chicago.

Central Notes: Chicago Goalies, Quenneville, Detroit Prospects

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The Blackhawks went into this season with plenty of uncertainty between the pipes with Malcolm Subban and Collin Delia battling for the number one role with Kevin Lankinen serving as a third option.  Of course, by the end, Lankinen had established himself as the starter but there is still plenty of uncertainty regarding the viability of this trio.  Despite that, Phil Thompson and Chris Sosa of the Chicago Tribune feel that the team would be justified sticking with that same goalie group for next season which would allow them to evaluate Lankinen’s potential viability as a long-term starter while determining if one of Subban or Delia is worthy of a full-time backup spot.  All three netminders are slated to become unrestricted free agents in the 2022 offseason.

More from the Central:

  • Still regarding a Chicago goaltender, USA Hockey announced that prospect Drew Commesso has been added to their roster for the World Championships, replacing Anthony Stolarz who was injured in Sunday’s victory over Canada. The 18-year-old was a second-round pick of the Blackhawks (46th overall) back in 2020 and had a .915 SV% in 11 appearances in his freshman year at Boston University.
  • The fact that Seattle has yet to name their inaugural head coach is somewhat of a surprise given the veterans that have been available and the fact that GM Ron Francis wants an experienced voice behind the bench. However, Larry Brooks of the New York Post suggests the reason for that could be that the Kraken are interested in Panthers bench boss Joel Quenneville, positing that Florida might be willing to let him go for financial reasons.  Considering the season that they’ve had, it’d be tough to imagine that they’d simply let him go to save some money but if there is even a remote possibility of it happening, Francis’ patience in naming a coach would be justified.
  • While many expect Red Wings top prospects Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond to make the jump to the NHL next season, Detroit GM Steve Yzerman told MLive’s Ansar Khan that the youngsters aren’t pencilled into a spot on the roster. While he acknowledged that Seider – recently named the SHL’s defenseman of the year – should be ready to jump into the NHL lineup, Detroit has preferred a slower development approach in recent years which could result in the youngsters getting some AHL time first.

Josh Archibald Receives One-Game Suspension

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The decision needed to be made quickly with Winnipeg and Edmonton playing again tonight and the ruling is in.  Oilers winger Josh Archibald has received a one-game suspension for his hit on Jets defenseman Logan Stanley on Sunday night, the Department of Player Safety announced (video link).

With 8:49 left in the third period, Archibald was called for tripping on a low-bridge hit on Stanley.  In the league’s announcement, they determined that it met the criteria to be called clipping, calling Archibald’s hit “excessively low” while it is illegal to dip at or below knee level to deliver a hit.  To make matters worse, the Jets scored on the man advantage to make it 4-2, then added two more to tie up before overtime where Nikolaj Ehlers potted the winner to give Winnipeg a 3-0 series lead.

This is the second suspension of Archibald’s career as he also received a two-game ban back in 2018 for a hit to the head on Ryan Hartman who was with Nashville at the time.  Meanwhile, Edmonton will likely turn to one of James Neal Alex Chiasson, or Dominik Kahun to take Archibald’s place in the lineup; both were healthy scratches on Sunday night after playing the first two games of the series.

Bruins Issue Injury Updates On Several Players

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With Boston set to be off for a few days while they await the winner of the Penguins-Islanders series to see who their next opponent is, GM Don Sweeney provided updates (video link) regarding several of their injured players.

Ondrej Kase’s postseason has come to an end before it even began.  The winger was limited to just three games this season due to concussion trouble although one of those came in the regular season finale, providing some hope that he’d be able to suit up for the Bruins at some point in the playoffs.  Instead, he has been shut down and at this point, it seems rather unlikely that he’ll be tendered a $2.6MM qualifying offer this summer.

As for Kevan Miller, who was injured in Game Four against Washington, Sweeney indicated that he is doing well but is early in the recovery process which suggests he isn’t expected to be back anytime soon either.  Fellow blueliner Steven Kampfer has undergone hand surgery and is not available either.

However, they may get some good news on the injury front as Sweeney stated that he’s hopeful that blueliners Jeremy Lauzon and Jakub Zboril will be available for the second round.  Lauzon suffered a hand injury in the series opener against Washington while Zboril sustained an upper-body injury in the final game of the season (also against Washington).

With the other East Division series going until Wednesday at the earliest, Boston will probably be off for the better part of a week so there should be ample opportunity for other players nursing smaller aches and pains to recover before the puck drops on the second round.

North Notes: Canadiens, Foligno, Pettersson, Brown

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While Canadiens winger Tomas Tatar was expected to be a healthy scratch to make room for winger Cole Caufield’s playoff debut, that won’t be the case after all.  Instead, the team announced (Twitter link) that center Eric Staal will be scratched due to an undisclosed injury.  The veteran missed the final game of the regular season when it was revealed he had been playing through something but Staal did suit up in the first two playoff games, recording an assist.  With Jake Evans remaining unavailable due to his upper-body injury, Montreal will only have three natural centers in the lineup against Toronto tonight.

Elsewhere in the North:

  • While Maple Leafs forward Nick Foligno wasn’t at their morning skate today, he will play tonight relays Joshua Clipperton of the Canadian Press (Twitter link). Pressed into playing down the middle following John Tavares’ concussion and knee injury, he was seen walking gingerly after Saturday’s game two against Montreal.  Riley Nash took his spot at the morning skate and would have been Foligno’s replacement had he not been available.
  • Although he missed the final two months of the season with a lingering wrist injury, Canucks center Elias Pettersson won’t need to undergo surgery to repair the issue, notes Postmedia’s Patrick Johnston. While surgery was discussed at one point with team doctors, they decided that simply rehabbing it would be the better way to go.  He enters restricted free agency this summer coming off a bit of a disappointing campaign that saw him miss 30 games although he still managed to pick up 10 goals and 11 assists in the 26 contests he was able to suit up for.
  • Despite a disappointing and injury-marred season, the Senators will tender a qualifying offer to center Logan Brown, reports Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch. The 11th-overall pick in 2016, Brown has just 26 career NHL games under his belt, only one of which came this season while injuries limited him to just 13 more with AHL Belleville.  A change of scenery has been speculated as something that might be beneficial for Brown and with him unlikely to be protected in expansion, he could be an intriguing project for Seattle to take a look at.

Russia Adds Three To World Championships Roster

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The early playoff exits for the Capitals and Blues is Russia’s gain.  The IIHF announced today that Russia has added winger Vladimir Tarasenko from St. Louis plus defenseman Dmitry Orlov and goalie Ilya Samsonov from Washington.  Meanwhile, Alex Ovechkin declined an invitation due to injury; he missed seven of the last eight games in the regular season due to a lower-body issue which he likely still hasn’t fully recovered from.

It was a tough year for Tarasenko who missed the first half of the season with a shoulder injury and then wasn’t particularly productive upon his return, notching just four goals in 24 games.  He managed to pick up a pair of postseason tallies, both coming in yesterday’s 5-2 loss to Colorado.  Nevertheless, he should be able to step in and be a go-to scoring threat as the tournament progresses.

As for Washington’s duo, Samsonov’s sophomore season wasn’t as strong as his first year.  He had two separate stints on the COVID Protocol Related Absences List including one that made him unavailable for the first two playoff games and managed just a .902 SV% in 19 regular season appearances.  Russia kept a goalie spot open presumably in case Washington was eliminated, a decision that looks wise now.  Orlov, meanwhile, picked up 22 points in 51 games for the Capitals this season while chipping in with three helpers in the playoffs while seeing his playing time increase to just over 23 minutes a night.  He’ll be expected to log similar minutes for Russia.

As TSN’s Gord Miller points out (Twitter link), several countries left spots open for potential late additions.  Those are the following:

Canada: Five skaters
Denmark: One goaltender, five skaters
Germany: Five skaters
Russia: One skater
Switzerland: Three skaters
United States: Two skaters

Depending on what other teams get eliminated in the next few days in the playoffs, there could be some reinforcements coming for the above countries.  However, they won’t be allowed to play right away and will be required to serve a six-day quarantine upon arriving in Latvia, just like Russia’s new trio of players will soon be doing.

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