Writers, Analysts React To Claude Julien’s Firing
As the news sunk in around the NHL that Claude Julien was relieved of his duties, many have weighed in around the league. The general consensus from many is that Julien’s firing was done at the absolute wrong time, and seemed to be a way to soften the blow of the dismissal. Here are some thoughts from writers around the hockey world.
- The Boston Globe’s Dan Shaughnessy used a number of descriptors to label the firing: cowardly, disrespectful, disgraceful, and embarrassing. While Shaughnessy realizes that Julien’s time was up in Boston, it’s how they fired the coach that irritates him. He openly challenges Boston management, wondering if they believe backers and reporters are stupid when choosing to fire him during the Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots’ parade.
- Puck Daddy’s Greg Wyshynski reports that Boston management was “roasted” by reporters for its decision to sack Julien during the parade. Though Wyshynski writes that general manager Don Sweeney defended his decision to fire Julien, it was met with skepticism and noted that the timing was specific to “dull” the firing. He also lists Sweeney’s litany of excuses for the firing, while picking apart several of those very reasons.
- Boston.com’s Eric Wilbur believes it was time for Julien to go, but like other writers, felt the timing was horribly planned. Wilbur also adds his own adjectives much like Shaughnessy, saying that Julien leaves a franchise just as dysfunctional as when he arrived. Specifically, Wilbur calls them gutless, disrespectful, and exploitable. Wilbur does concede, however, that it was time for Julien to go. He adds that it now remains to be seen if those who defend Julien will be vindicated for their belief that the bench boss was hampered by a weakened roster. Should the bottom fall out, Sweeney will probably find himself on the bread line next.
Anton Rodin Undergoes Knee Surgery, Out Six Months
After being shut down earlier in January because he re-injured his knee, Vancouver Canucks forward Anton Rodin underwent successful surgery today to repair it, but will be out for at least six months. He should be ready for the start of the 2018 season, though he’s still a long way from knowing for certain.
Rodin has had a nightmare season in his first year back from Sweden. After scoring 37 points in 35 games for Brynas last season in his home country, he returned to North America to try to make an impact for the Canucks. He has only played in three games for the NHL club this season, adding another three down with the Utica Comets of the AHL. Injury has stolen basically his entire year, as he’ll now miss the remainder of the season.
The 26-year old winger signed a one-year deal with the Canucks for $950,000 which they could now move to LTIR to get a little additional cap relief if they needed. He’ll still be a restricted free agent this offseason, but it is still to be seen if he decides to stay in North America. After being drafted in the second round in 2009, he has only played two seasons in the AHL before this. He made his NHL debut for the team this season.
Travis Konecny To Miss 4-6 Weeks With Lower-Body Injury
After suffering a lower-body injury last night against the St. Louis Blues, Philadelphia Flyers rookie Travis Konecny will be out 4-6 weeks. At minimum, that would mean missing the next eleven Flyers games, a team that is in a dogfight for the final wildcard spot. Konecny left the game before the third period last night, and was ruled out by GM Ron Hextall earlier today.
Konecny was a member of this year’s famed teenage class, making an impact at the NHL level at the tender age of 19 years old. Along with fellow rookie Ivan Provorov, Konecny had been making a huge impact for the Flyers and showed a glimpse at what the future holds for the team. His 22 points in 51 games put him 14th in all rookie scoring and fifth on his team. It’s a big loss despite his young age, as he played almost 15 minutes a night for the club.
If he takes the whole six weeks, Konecny would return with just ten games remaining in the Flyers season. For a team that looks like it will be in a struggle for the playoffs right down to the wire, having a winger of Konecny’s skill down the stretch is imperative. It’s not clear who will be moving up in the lineup to fill his spot, as he has been skating on one of the team’s top two lines.
Central Division Snapshots: Preds, Wild, Fabbri
Nashville Predators GM David Poile is no stranger to making major trades. In the last 13 months alone, the veteran executive has completed two blockbuster one-for-one swaps, first acquiring center Ryan Johansen for defenseman Seth Jones then dealing longtime team captain Shea Weber to Montreal for fellow blue liner P.K. Subban. This propensity for making big moves leads Adam Vingan of The Tennessean to wonder whether Nashville will make another headline deal before the trade deadline.
Poile already picked up veteran fourth-line center Vernon Fiddler in a deal from New Jersey and the team has been linked to Colorado center Matt Duchene. But while the Predators could use more offensive flair at the pivot position, Poile is hesitant to sacrifice the one asset just about everyone else wants from him at this point: young defensemen. Poile already sacrificed Jones, who is enjoying a breakout campaign with Columbus, doesn’t seem interested in depleting his defense corps further: “We can’t be doing that all the time, or you won’t have one of the best defenses.” As Vingan notes, Poile will be listening but major trades are tough to pull off in-season so any moves the Preds do make are likely to be similar to the recent acquisitions of Fiddler and Cody McLeod.
Elsewhere in the Central Division:
- As it stands, the Minnesota Wild are in a comfortable spot in the division, holding a four-point lead over second place Chicago and 15 points ahead of third-place Nashville. Barring an epic collapse, the team is virtually assured of hosting at least a first-round playoff series. As Michael Russo of the Star Tribune writes, this cushion will allow Wild bench boss Bruce Boudreau to experiment with his forward lines and defense pairs in order to help GM Chuck Fletcher better identify what the team’s needs are ahead of the deadline. For instance, Boudreau will slot Charlie Coyle, who has spent much of the season riding shotgun on Eric Staal‘s line, at center for tonight’s game against Winnipeg with Alex Tuch moving into the lineup at wing. He’ll also have room to give Mike Reilly and Gustav Olofsson more playing time and if they perform well, it may give Fletcher the confidence needed to move one of the team’s top blue liners in a deal to both save cap space and to acquire help at other positions.
- According to Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the St. Louis Blues will for the time being look to internal options to replace Robby Fabbri, who the team just learned will miss the rest of the season with an ACL injury. In the wake of the injury, the team recalled forwards Kenny Agostino, who tallied just the second goal of his NHL career and the first in almost three years yesterday, and Magnus Paajarvi from Chicago of the AHL. The team will have three-plus weeks to figure out whether those two can adequately fill in before investigating the options available on the trade market. Regardless of how the ultimately choose to do so, replacing Fabbri won’t be easy. While he’s had an up-and-down season in 2016-17, the 21-year-old winger is an extremely skilled player and a key part of the team’s top-nine forward group.
Bryan Bickell Nearing Return For Carolina
Carolina Hurricanes winger Bryan Bickell, out since late October with what was later revealed to be Multiple Sclerosis, plans to be ready to return following the team’s bye week, according to Tom Gulitti of NHL.com. The ‘Canes begin a five-game homestand on February 17th and barring a setback, Bickell could be in the lineup for Carolina when they host the Colorado Avalanche.
As Gulitti writes, Bickell has made tremendous progress since starting treatments of Tysarbi, a drug given monthly to “limit the debilitating effects of MS.” He began taking the medication in December and has been skating since early January.
“I feel good,” Bickell said after a conditioning skate at Verizon Center, where the Hurricanes face the Washington Capitals on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET: CSN-DC, FS-CR, NHL.TV). “I obviously don’t feel good right now, I just got skated pretty hard, but it’s going to help me down the long run. I think we’re getting there and getting close to getting back in the rotation. We’re shooting for probably after the bye week and then kind of day by day from there.”
Of course just because Bickell may be cleared for action doesn’t mean the Hurricanes will insert the veteran winger into the lineup. As the player himself notes, much of the decision will have to do with how other players are performing.
“It all depends too on what other guys are doing if they’re going on a huge streak,” Bickell said. “I like to see them win. If they need me, I’m sure an extra week of me skating is not going to hurt me. We’re just going to wait until after the next treatment and after the bye week and go from there.”
It’s also possible the team will seek to send Bickell down to Charlotte of the AHL on a conditioning assignment to help prepare him to return to the lineup.
Bickell was acquired last summer in a trade with Chicago that also brought winger Teuvo Teravainen to Raleigh in exchange for draft picks. The Blackhawks were forced to part with the talented, young Teravainen as a means to extricate themselves from the final year of Bickell’s $4MM cap charge.
With 58 points, the Hurricanes are currently on the outside looking in at a playoff berth but are just four points behind Philadelphia for the second wild card spot and have three games in hand on the Flyers. Carolina will likely hold onto their prospects but if the right opportunity arises, they could find themselves buying at the deadline. However, if Bickell returns and is effective, it reduces the team’s need to add.
Minor Transactions: 2/7/2017
It’s shaping up to be a quiet day overall with no new additions to the waiver wire the last couple of days. But as always, there are still some minor league recalls and reassignments to note. We’ll track all of the day’s transactions in this post.
- The Nashville Predators have announced (via Twitter) that they have placed winger Harry Zolnierczyk on IR and in a corresponding move have recalled center Pontus Aberg from the Milwaukee Admirals of the AHL. Zolnierczyk, who spent all but three games combined over the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons in the minors, has earned a regular spot on Nashville’s fourth line and contributed three points in 15 contests. Aberg has seen action in 11 games for Nashville this season with one goal and two points.
- Boston has called up forward Peter Cehlarik from Providence and have placed fellow forward Austin Czarnik on IR, the team revealed today. Cehlarik, in his first professional season, leads Providence with 18 goals. He was originally selected by the Bruins in the third round of the 2013 entry draft, 90th overall. Czarnik has recorded five goals and 13 points in 47 contests during his rookie NHL campaign.
- Brandon Tanev has been reassigned by the Winnipeg Jets to their AHL affiliate, the Manitoba Moose, reports Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Sun via Twitter. The 25-year-old winger has appeared in 39 games with the Jets, netting two goals and four points. Winnipeg inked Tanev late last season after the left wing completed his senior season at Providence College.
- According to Chris Johnston of Sportsnet, the Maple Leafs have released Karri Ramo from his AHL PTO to continue his rehab in Finland. The netminder played in three games for the Marlies, allowing 11 goals and recording an .880 save percentage.
NHL Players To Rate Ice Conditions
The NHL is finally doing something to remedy the increased complaints of bad ice surfaces around the league. According to Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos, the NHL and NHLPA are creating a subcommittee to monitor and address poor ice issues.
The subcommittee—called the Playing Environment Subcommittee—plans to have players rate ice conditions after every game via surveys. These surveys had worked in the past and the NHL hopes that honest feedback from players will direct the league to the arenas with the most problems. The post-game surveys will ask players about the ice quality in every period to pinpoint specific ice issues.
Poor ice quality affects everything from play speed to player injury. The softer the ice the slower the puck moves and the more it bounces unpredictably. Soft ice is also more prone to ruts and imperfections in the ice that can catch a players blade in an unpredictable and potentially dangerous fashion. It stands to reason that owners have an incentive to provide perfect ice to prevent injuries to their players, but the increased problem says otherwise.
Part of the problem lies in the increase in multi-use arenas. Arenas that undergo constant changes from ice to floor and back suffer from poor quality ice because the ice has to be remade over and over again. It is unclear whether the subcommittee can actually affect change because the draw of multi-use arenas and its additional income to owners.
Man On Wire: Checking In On The Waiver Claims
In the new NHL where trades between cap-strapped clubs are so difficult, many teams look to the waiver wire to make small but potentially valuable additions to their club. That bottom pairing defenseman or fourth line center you just can’t seem to find may be available when another team has a roster crunch due to injury or poor play.
Since October 8th when teams made their final cuts before the season opener, there have been 26 players claimed on waivers. Many of these are duplicates as teams claim, then waive a player hoping to slip him through and down into the minors. Here we’ll check in on how they’ve done with their new clubs.
Martin Frk:
CAR from DET – 2 GP, 0 G, 0 A (returned to Detroit and sent to minors)
Mike Condon:
PIT from MTL – 1 GP, 0.00 GAA, 1.000 SV% (traded to Ottawa for a 5th round pick)
Seth Griffith:
TOR from BOS – 3 GP, 0 G, 0 A
FLA from TOR – 21 GP, 0 G, 5 A (returned to Toronto and sent to minors)
Injury Updates: Malkin, Savard, Jets
Evgeni Malkin has been out of the Pittsburgh Penguins lineup since January 24th, when he suffered a knee injury just before the All-Star break. He would miss the festivities (and the Top-100 list) and every game since, but he’s getting closer to a return. Bill West of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that he was back at practice today though he still is not taking any contact. Without Malkin, the Penguins have gone 3-1 but would welcome back one of the top players in the NHL.
There is no timetable still for Malkin’s return, but he took “a step forward” according to head coach Mike Sullivan. He will definitely not play on Tuesday when the Penguins welcome the Calgary Flames to town, but a return Thursday in Colorado hasn’t been ruled out.
- The Columbus Blue Jackets have slowed their torrid pace a bit in the last few weeks and have had trouble in the defensive zone. Part of that is likely due to the loss of defenseman David Savard and his poise in their own end. Savard has been out since January 26th but skated by himself before practice today. Like Malkin, there is no exact timeline for his return, but Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch called a “good sign” nonetheless. The Blue Jackets could use his help, as they’ve allowed 13 goals in three games since he went down.
- Brian Munz of TSN 1290 gives us a rundown on the Winnipeg Jets’ injuries, as they head into their matchup with the Minnesota Wild tomorrow night. Bryan Little didn’t skate today with the team but will play, Drew Stafford is hopeful to suit up, Ben Chiarot is still day-to-day with an upper-body injury and there will be an update on Tyler Myers in the next day or two but nothing has changed as of yet. Myers especially is an important player to get back for the Jets, and after undergoing knee surgery in November he’s been skating with the team for almost a month.
Barry Trotz Thinks Alexander Radulov Will Re-Sign In Montreal
After signing for a relatively modest one-year contract this summer with the Montreal Canadiens, Alexander Radulov has returned to the NHL with a vengeance. The former Nashville Predators forward came back from the KHL for $5.75MM, and has performed exceptionally well. 41 points in 52 games and the question has now become where will he sign this summer when he becomes an unrestricted free agent once again.
While Pierre McGuire was speaking to Mitch Gallo on TSN 690 in Montreal, he related a conversation he had with Washington Capitals head coach Barry Trotz. “I would be shocked if Radulov doesn’t sign with Montreal, he loves it there” said Trotz, making it clear he things the Russian playmaker will stay long-term in the French-Canadian city. Trotz likely has a bit of inside information on Radulov, as the two spent parts of three seasons together in Nashville after Trotz and the Predators drafted him 15th overall in 2004.
For Montreal, signing Radulov would be a big boost to their offensive production going into next season. With Tomas Plekanec slowing down considerably, and David Deharnais looking like a shadow of his former 50-point self, the Habs have serious question marks up front for next season. Radulov has looked like the elite player many believed he was during the short time he was in the NHL, skating mostly beside Max Pacioretty and Phillip Danault – though when Alex Galchenyuk is healthy, he is an obvious fit for the top line.
We ranked Radulov second among our mid-season free agents, stating that he had already done enough to warrant a long-term deal with someone. Be advised Montreal fans, that just because Trotz knows he loves it there, doesn’t mean he will definitely re-sign. If we’ve come to learn anything about professional athletes (and really anyone in general) it’s that money dictates where they go. If the Canadiens don’t offer Radulov the best (or close to the best) offer, he’ll be taking his talents somewhere else. The KHL is always an option, though it seems as though he’s made a decision to come and try to win in North America for the time being.