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Injury Updates: Stastny, Dobson, Barkov, Beagle

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The Jets are hoping to have center Paul Stastny back in the lineup on Friday against Minnesota, relays Postmedia’s Scott Billeck.  The veteran has been out for a little more than two weeks due to a lower-body injury which put a strong start to his season on hold; Stastny has four goals and four assists in 11 games in the early going while logging over 18 minutes a game.  Winnipeg is set to begin a road back-to-back set so it’s possible that Stastny only suits up for one of those contests if they want to ere on the side of caution.

Other injury news from around the NHL:

  • The COVID situation for the Islanders is bad enough at the moment but they got some bad news on the injury front as well as blueliner Noah Dobson is dealing with a lower-body injury, mentions Mollie Walker of the New York Post. It has been a disappointing start for the 21-year-old who has been quiet offensively with just four assists in 14 games while being on the fringes of the top four on their back end.  Dobson is a pending restricted free agent and any extended absence – there’s no timeline for a return just yet – would certainly hurt his chances of a long-term deal this summer.
  • The Panthers will be without top center Aleksander Barkov for at least another two weeks, notes David Wilson of the Miami Herald. Barkov was able to avoid needing surgery following an injury on a collision with Scott Mayfield last week and at the time, interim head coach Andrew Brunette was only able to provide a week-to-week timeline.
  • Coyotes center Jay Beagle has been ruled out for the rest of the week at a minimum due to a lower-body injury, per Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports (Twitter link). The team is awaiting further test results to know how long he’ll be out for.  The 36-year-old has played in 19 games so far this season and hasn’t recorded a point yet but has won nearly 60% of his faceoffs.

Flyers Assign Zayde Wisdom To OHL

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One of the Flyers’ top prospects, center Zayde Wisdom, is headed back to the OHL. His junior team, the Kingston Frontenacs announced (Twitter link) that he returned to practice with them today, signalling that the Flyers have indeed loaned him back for the remainder of their season.

Wisdom has yet to play this year due to offseason shoulder surgery.  In 2020-21, he played 28 games in the AHL with the Phantoms, registering seven goals and 11 assists, decent production for an 18-year-old playing as an underager. He was eligible to play as a junior-aged player because the OHL didn’t play last season due to the pandemic.  Since he played in more than 20 games, he was eligible to remain with Lehigh Valley this season if the Flyers wanted to keep him there.  The 2020 fourth-round pick is likely to be on Team Canada’s radar for the upcoming World Junior Championship if he produces upon his return.

This will mark Wisdom’s third season in the OHL. His best came in 2019-20 when he put up 59 points in 62 games. At the end of his junior campaign, he will be eligible to return to the AHL so he may be able to see game action with the Phantoms before the season comes to an end.

Sharks Willing To Retain Money To Facilitate Evander Kane Trade

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Anytime a player has significant term left on a contract, it’s difficult for a team to offer to retain salary to facilitate a trade.  They’re not able to pick and choose how much to retain and in what year; it’s a uniform amount of retention for the remainder of the deal.  Accordingly, it’s not very often that a player signed for several more seasons is moved with the trading team holding back some money.

One team that is open to being an exception to that appears to be San Jose.  Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports in his latest 32 Thoughts column that the Sharks are willing to retain on Evander Kane’s contract in order to try to help trade talks move along.  Kane has three years remaining on his deal with a $7MM AAV, a high price tag for many teams to try to add with so many being tight to the salary cap already.

Kane has yet to play this season after receiving a 21-game suspension from the league for using a fake proof of vaccination while their investigation into allegations made over the offseason could not be substantiated.  That suspension is nearing a conclusion and he has started to skate with GM Doug Wilson recently acknowledging that they haven’t decided what to do with him once he’s cleared to return.

Kane is actually coming off an impressive 2020-21 season that saw him lead San Jose in scoring with 22 goals and 27 assists in 56 games, good enough for the highest point per game average of his career.  Despite that, it’s far from a guarantee that he’ll be welcomed back.

The Sharks can retain up to 50% or $3.5MM of Kane’s cap hit but even with that, it seems unlikely that a suitable trade option will materialize right away.  At a minimum, teams will want to see Kane in action to see how he performs and how things go off the ice before making any sort of commitment to acquire him.  To that end, Friedman speculates that Kane could see some time in the minors which would allow the team some more time to determine their next steps and any potentially interested teams to do some evaluating.

In the meantime, San Jose’s 22nd game of the season is on Tuesday so while they have a few more days to figure out what their short-term plans are for Kane, they’ll need to make a decision soon.

What Your Team Is Thankful For: Buffalo Sabres

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As the holiday season approaches, PHR will take a look at what teams are thankful for as the season heads towards 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 Buffalo Sabres.

What are the Sabres most thankful for?

A conclusion to the Jack Eichel saga.

For months, there was constant discussion about how Buffalo management was mistreating their frustrated, injured former captain, with a new story coming out nearly every day. Since completing the trade that sent Eichel to the Vegas Golden Knights, all of that chatter has been silenced and Kevyn Adams is no longer the target of the fans’ ire (at least not for that).

That doesn’t mean the Sabres are better without Eichel, and it certainly doesn’t mean Adams has figured out how to make his team competitive, but at least the magnifying glass has been moved somewhere else for a little while.

Who are the Sabres most thankful for?

Don Granato.

The Sabres are 7-10-2 on the season. They’re 2-7-1 in their last ten. They’ve lost four in a row. But still, it feels as though they finally have a coaching staff that the fans can believe in, at least in the short term. Granato has made the team competitive, even if they will ultimately finish near the bottom of the league again in another rebuilding season.

The powerplay is in the top half of the league, Rasmus Dahlin (even with his warts) appears rejuvenated, and young players like Tage Thompson and Rasmus Asplund are finding their way. There are such huge gaps in the roster construction that Granato was never going to be able to make this team a contender, but it at least resembles an NHL team for the first time in a while.

What would the Sabres be even more thankful for?

An NHL goaltender.

There is defensive help on the way. There are offensive players honing their game in the minor leagues. But the Sabres aren’t going to go anywhere without a legitimate NHL starter, and right now it’s not clear if there is one in the organization.

Forty-year-old Craig Anderson has been good when healthy, and Dustin Tokarski has been a nice story after his journeyman career. But the net was supposed to be handed over to Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen before long and the young netminder hasn’t progressed as hoped. In 11 AHL games he has an .883 save percentage and certainly doesn’t seem ready to take the Buffalo crease. That doesn’t mean he won’t develop into an NHL starter at some point down the road, but bad goaltending can be the bane of consistent effort. It’s difficult to play hard every night just to watch goals go in behind you, and a strong netminder can help make young defensemen feel more confident.

What should be on the Sabres’ Holiday Wish List?

Some more mid-round draft picks.

The Sabres have always had trouble surrounding their top players with effective depth, and even though this year they have secured three picks in the first round, they don’t have any extra selections in the other six. If they’re going to do this rebuild quickly and effectively, they need to hit on a few second, third and fourth-round picks as well.

Selling off a few expiring contracts at the deadline should be the plan, especially on defense, where they’ll have to clear room for Owen Power anyway when Michigan’s season comes to an end (assuming they’re able to sign him this year).

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Josh Brown Out 4-6 Weeks

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The Ottawa Senators were only just getting a semblance of an NHL roster back after a COVID outbreak forced them to play shorthanded, but they haven’t been anywhere near their expected group all season. Injuries have struck several key players, and now Josh Brown is going to be out long-term with an upper-body injury. Head coach D.J. Smith told TSN radio today that Brown will miss four to six weeks.

It’s not that Brown is a lynchpin defender or anything, but the Senators depth just continues to be depleted. He’s been moved to injured reserve alongside Colin White, Shane Pinto and Erik Brannstrom, while Drake Batherson remains in the COVID protocol. Brown played just 2:35 before exiting on Monday night.

What this really means is that Lassi Thomson will continue to get a run here as a rookie, though his play has certainly been deserving of that anyway. The 21-year-old is averaging nearly 20 minutes of ice time through his first five NHL games and has three points to show for it.

Even though their defensive depth has been tested, it’s the goaltending that seems to be the target of Smith’s ire lately. The Senators are near the bottom of the league with an .888 save percentage so far this season, while expected starter Matt Murray has yet to win a game.

New Jersey Devils Claim Nathan Bastian

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Welcome back, Nathan. The New Jersey Devils have claimed Nathan Bastian off waivers from the Seattle Kraken, bringing back the player they lost in the expansion draft.

Bastian, 23, never seemed like a player that would make it through waivers, given the mix of size, draft pedigree and relative youth that he brings. A second-round pick in 2016, he played 41 games for the Devils last season, scoring ten points and forming a nice line with longtime teammate Michael McLeod.

While he failed to provide much offense with the Kraken, scoring just one goal and two points in 12 games, Bastian does actually have some upside on that side of the puck. The 6’4″ forward has scored 44 goals in 188 AHL games and even his seven in 60 NHL games show a player who can chip in once in a while.

He’ll now avoid a return to the minor leagues, as the Devils will have to keep him on the active roster. To make room, Jesper Boqvist has been moved to injured reserve retroactive to November 18.

For Seattle, this appears to be another case of wasting an expansion pick. There wasn’t a ton of talent available on the Devils roster, but it seems likely that someone like Andreas Johnsson would have been more valuable, even despite his contract. Now they’ve lost Bastian for nothing (save the small fee a team must pay to claim a player), after just 12 games.

Patrick Harper Clears Unconditional Waivers

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Nov 25: Harper has cleared waivers according to Friedman, meaning a contract termination could soon follow.

Nov 24: In addition to Nathan Bastian, who was placed on regular waivers today, Nashville Predators minor league forward Patrick Harper is on unconditional waivers according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. Harper’s contract will likely be terminated, should he clear waivers.

The 23-year-old forward has played in nine games with the Milwaukee Admirals this season, failing to score a single point. A fifth-round draft pick in 2016, he is in the final season of a two-year, entry-level contract signed in 2020 after his college career came to an end. During that contract, he’s played just 24 games at the AHL level, with just two points (and no goals) to show for it.

A two-time member of the U.S. World Junior team, Harper’s size is his limiting factor at the professional level. The 5’7″ forward was a dynamic offensive player at Boston University, but that production hasn’t carried over to the AHL.

If he does see his contract terminated, Harper would become an unrestricted free agent able to sign with any NHL team, though usually in these cases a contract has already been worked out overseas.

Department Of Player Safety Announces Several Fines

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The Department of Player Safety is working this holiday, as they’ve issued a pair of fines for actions in last night’s Winnipeg Jets-Columbus Blue Jackets game. Max Domi has been fined $5,000 for unsportsmanlike conduct, while Josh Morrissey has earned a $5,000 fine for slashing. Both are the maximum allowable under the CBA.

That’s not all, however, as Ottawa Senators defenseman Nikita Zaitsev has earned a $5,000 fine in his first game back from the COVID protocol for cross-checking Timo Meier of the San Jose Sharks.

Morrissey especially seems lucky to have escaped without a suspension, given the violent slash he gave to Alexandre Texier as an empty-net goal went in. He was given a two-minute minor penalty for the play, but the game was out of reach at that point late in the third period.

Domi meanwhile already received six minutes in penalties during the game, but the league did not reveal what exactly the fine was for. The Blue Jackets forward did cause a scrum to happen after shooting a puck into the net well after the whistle, and attempted to fight an unwilling Evgeny Svechnikov while the linesmen were trying to split them up.

Zaitsev meanwhile cross-checked Meier in the face, though not with the force of some previous incidents that have merited suspensions. He didn’t receive a penalty on the play and Meier did not suffer a serious injury.

AHL Shuffle: 11/25/21

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Happy Thanksgiving to those in the U.S., though it certainly won’t be much of a celebration for some hockey fans. The NHL has no games scheduled for today, as they defer to the NFL’s all-day coverage. Still, that doesn’t necessarily mean front offices are empty today, and like always we’ll keep track of any minor league shuffling.

Atlantic Division

Metropolitan Division

Central Division

Pacific Division

  • Adam Ruzicka won’t be attending the Stockton Heat thanksgiving party, as he has been recalled to the Calgary Flames. The team announced that Brad Richardson’s absence from practice is just a maintenance day, but they’ll have the young Ruzicka join them anyway. Now 22, the 2017 fourth-round pick has been dominant in the minor leagues this season, scoring ten goals in 13 games with Stockton.
  • The Anaheim Ducks have loaned Vinni Lettieri back to the San Diego Gulls, after he failed to get into a game on this recall. The 26-year-old forward has played just three games this season for Anaheim, recording two points.
  • The Vegas Golden Knights have sent forwards Paul Cotter, Ben Jones, and Jonas Rondbjerg to the Henderson Silver Knights, per CapFriendly (all Twitter links).  All three have been sent back and forth throughout the season and at least some of them will likely be brought back up over the coming days.

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