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Snapshots: Three Stars, Barkov, Bordeleau

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The NHL has released the Three Stars for last week, with Vancouver Canucks goaltender Thatcher Demko leading the way. Demko went 4-0 with a .962 save percentage under new head coach Bruce Boudreau, allowing just five goals on 133 shots. The old adage of “show me a good coach, I’ll show you a good goalie” may be coming true here for the new bench boss, but Vancouver fans certainly aren’t complaining about the wins that are coming because of Demko’s strong play.

Second and third place have gone to Sebastian Aho and Devon Toews, respectively, after their own outstanding weeks. The Carolina Hurricanes star had five goals and seven points in three games, continuing a streak of multi-point games that has now reached five. Aho is up to 15 goals and 32 points on the season and looks poised to finish above a point-per-game for the third time in his career. Toews meanwhile continues to fly under the radar in terms of nationwide recognition, as he stars–yes, stars–for the Colorado Avalanche. The 27-year-old defenseman is averaging almost 25 minutes a night this season (including 29:14 in his last game) and now has 20 points in 16 games. That actually puts him first among defensemen in points/game, even ahead of partner Cale Makar. It also has Toews 10th among all defensemen in scoring despite playing so many fewer games than the leaders (Adam Fox, who leads all defensemen, has played 11 more games than Toews).

  • It’s bad news for Aleksander Barkov, as he heads back to injured reserve after just one game back. That’s the move to clear room for Jonas Johansson, claimed today off waivers, but it’s a tough blow for the Atlantic-leading Florida Panthers. After losing last night to the Colorado Avalanche with Barkov out of the lineup, the Panthers are now tied with the Toronto Maple Leafs with two games in hand for the division crown. Unfortunately, Barkov will now have to miss at least seven days from his last game, meaning he won’t be available tomorrow night either. It’s not clear how long he’ll be out this time.
  • It was announced over the weekend that Thomas Bordeleau won’t be competing for the U.S. at the upcoming World Junior tournament, and Eric Leblanc of RDS reports that it’s because the young forward tested positive for COVID-19. It’s a devastating outcome for the San Jose Sharks prospect, who missed last year’s tournament as well because his roommate–John Beecher–received a false positive just before the event began. Bordeleau is off to another great season with the University of Michigan, scoring 19 points in his first 18 games. This was his last chance at the World Juniors, as he’ll turn 20 in early January.

St. Louis Blues Announce Several Roster Moves

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The St. Louis Blues continue to move players on and off the roster in an attempt to stay salary cap compliant while they deal with injuries and COVID absences. Today, several transactions were processed to make the puzzle pieces together. The team has moved David Perron to long-term injured reserve, while putting Robert Thomas and Brayden Schenn on normal injured reserve. Tyler Bozak and Justin Faulk have been activated from the COVID protocol, while Alexei Toropchenko has been recalled.

Perron’s LTIR designation is retroactive to November 27, just after the last game he played in, meaning he won’t have to wait much longer if he is healthy enough to return. LTIR requires a player to miss either ten games or 24 days (whichever is longer), meaning he could potentially return for the Blues’ game next Tuesday. That gives the team some time to operate with the extra cap relief and hopefully get Jordan Binnington back out of the COVID protocol.

Faulk and Bozak’s return is a huge positive, given how the protocol affects a team’s cap. Their hits still counted toward the $81.5MM cap ceiling despite being unavailable, leading to the Blues playing shorthanded several times. If they’re healthy enough to return, it will be a big help while figuring out the rest of the roster.

Toropchenko meanwhile will be facing his NHL debut should he get into a game. The 22-year-old forward has nine points in 22 games with the Springfield Thunderbirds this season after spending last year in the KHL. The 6’3″ winger hasn’t shown a huge amount of offensive upside, but can add another big body to the Blues’ bottom-six–something head coach Craig Berube has used consistently since arriving in St. Louis.

Florida Panthers Claim Jonas Johansson

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The Florida Panthers have grabbed a bit of extra goaltending depth, claiming Jonas Johansson off waivers from the Colorado Avalanche according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.

It’s obviously an interesting decision for a team that already has Sergei Bobrovsky and Spencer Knight on the roster, but with the latter struggling in his last game, perhaps the team believes he needs some time in the minor leagues. Knight has never suited up in the AHL, stepping right from the NCAA to the NHL last season for the Panthers after developing into one of the top goaltending prospects in the world. The 20-year-old has played in 12 games this season and has a .904 save percentage.

With Bobrovsky taking the bulk of the work so far–and looking rejuvenated after a pair of underwhelming seasons–allowing Knight to play games at the AHL level might not be the worst thing for his development. There also could be a nagging injury for one of their goaltenders or just another plan that requires Johansson’s services for the time being.

The Panthers have plenty of cap space thanks to the long-term injured reserve placement of Markus Nuutivara and Noel Acciari, but they will need to make a roster move to open a spot for Johansson. The team is currently at 23 bodies, including 14 forwards and seven defensemen.

For Colorado, losing Johansson certainly isn’t ideal. The team does have Pavel Francouz coming back, but they’re now quite thin at the position. Justus Annunen was forced to make his NHL debut recently when Darcy Kuemper suffered an injury, but the young netminder doesn’t appear ready for the highest level. Should Kuemper or Francouz suffer a setback, the team will be scrambling for help once again.

Hockey Canada Announces Roster For Channel One Cup

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The Channel One Cup, an international tournament played in mid-December in Russia, certainly doesn’t usually draw much attention from North American hockey fans. It has been absolutely dominated by Russian teams throughout its history, as it is made up of players from club teams from outside the NHL. This year though there is a bit more intrigue, as the roster announced today by Hockey Canada likely includes many of the same players that will suit up for the 2022 Beijing Olympics should the NHL and NHLPA decide against participation.

The group that was announced today includes many familiar NHL names and is as follows:

F Josh Currie
F Taylor Beck
F Ben Street
F Jordan Weal
F Adam Tambellini
F Ryan Spooner
F Daniel Audette
F Eric Fehr
F Corban Knight
F Eric O’Dell
F Tyler Graovac
F Landon Ferraro
F Philippe Maillet
F Cody Kunyk

D Brandon Gormley
D John Gilmour
D Morgan Ellis
D Jason Demers
D Mat Robinson
D Chay Genoway
D Reece Scarlett
D Trevor Murphy

G Eddie Pasquale
G Justin Pogge

The coaching staff and management group are also quite familiar to NHL fans, led by general manager Shane Doan. Claude Julien will serve as the team’s head coach, but after Bruce Boudreau and Scott Walker–originally pegged as assistants–moved on to the Vancouver Canucks, he’ll now be joined behind the bench by Doan and Tyler Dietrich.

Interestingly enough, the Spengler Cup coaching staff will now also have Nolan Baumgartner and Jeremy Colliton, two men that were recently let go by their NHL organizations. That tournament kicks off on December 26 and will be another pre-Olympics tune-up for players that may end up in Beijing in a few months.

Christian Jaros Enters COVID Protocol

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The New Jersey Devils recalled two players today from the minor leagues, and now we know why. Not only are Ryan Graves and Nico Hischier in the COVID protocol, but Christian Jaros has joined them. Yegor Sharangovich has also been held out of practice as a precaution, despite testing negative so far according to team reporter Amanda Stein. Marian Studenic and Kevin Bahl were the recalls, as the team deals with this new outbreak.

New Jersey has now watched the Calgary Flames enter a team shutdown, after six of their players (plus one member of the training staff) enter the protocol in a period of 24 hours. That is not what has happened yet to the Devils, meaning they are still scheduled to take on the Philadelphia Flyers tomorrow night, but it is a situation that will be closely monitored by the league.

It’s not an easy time to lose several players, given the Devils are 2-6-2 in their last ten and falling further down the Metropolitan standings. The team was expected to be competitive this season, even if their overall ceiling is likely not that of a Stanley Cup contender just yet. Now sitting at 10-11-5 on the year and with several key players out, they’ll have to work even harder to keep up with the surging Pittsburgh Penguins and consistent Columbus Blue Jackets, who now sit eight and four points ahead of them respectively.

Jaros, 25, has played in three games for the Devils this season and just one since being activated from injured reserve last week. The depth defenseman is obviously not an integral piece of the puzzle in New Jersey, but was the first in line to take over for Graves when he was ruled out. Now it will be Bahl, who could line up beside P.K. Subban in the team’s next game, according to Stein.

AHL Shuffle: 12/13/21

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The NHL schedule is completely blank this evening, thanks to the postponement of the Calgary Flames-Chicago Blackhawks game. The league does have a very heavy schedule for tomorrow evening, meaning there should still be plenty of minor league movement today to prepare. As always, we’ll keep track of the shuffling right here.

Atlantic Division

  • The Boston Bruins have sent Jack Ahcan back to the AHL, though it may not be for very long. The team was missing both Connor Clifton and John Moore from practice today (along with goaltender Linus Ullmark) due to “testing issues” according to head coach Bruce Cassidy. The Bruins of course just came back from Calgary, where they played the Flames on Saturday night–just before seven members from that team entered the protocol.

Metropolitan Division

  • The New Jersey Devils have recalled Marian Studenic and Kevin Bahl from the minor leagues, adding another pair of young players to the roster. Ryan Graves remains in COVID protocol, meaning Bahl is getting his first chance in the NHL this season. One of the biggest parts of the Taylor Hall trade, Bahl has two points in 19 games for the Utica Comets this year.

Central Division

Pacific Division

  • The San Jose Sharks have recalled Jayden Halbgewachs from the San Jose Barracuda, giving him an NHL call-up after a hot start. The 24-year-old undrafted forward has 16 points in 19 games for the Barracuda this season. Only ever recalled to the taxi squad previously, Halbgewachs has yet to make an appearance in an NHL game.

This page will be updated throughout the day

Hockey Canada Announces 2022 World Junior Championship Roster

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As always, Hockey Canada’s selection camp for the World Junior Championship was a who’s who of top prospects. The group vying for a spot on the 2022 entry was immensely deep and talented, so much so that some truly talented names didn’t even make the camp roster. Of course, this means that some very difficult cuts had to be made as well. With camp wrapping up early Sunday afternoon, Hockey Canada has announced the expected roster for the 2022 WJC:

G Brett Brochu (2022 draft eligible)
G Sebastian Cossa (DET)
G Dylan Garand (NYR)

D Lukas Cormier (VGK)
D Kaiden Guhle (MTL)
D Carson Lambos (MIN)
D Ryan O’Rourke (MIN)
D Owen Power (BUF)
D Donovan Sebrango (DET)
D Ronan Seeley (CAR)
D Olen Zellweger (ANA)

F Connor Bedard (2023 draft eligible)
F Xavier Bourgault (EDM)
F Mavrik Bourque (DAL)
F Will Cuylle (NYR)
F Elliot Desnoyers (PHI)
F Ridly Greig (OTT)
F Dylan Guenther (ARI)
F Kent Johnson (CBJ)
F Mason McTavish (ANA)
F Jake Neighbours (STL)
F Cole Perfetti (WPG)
F Justin Sourdif (FLA)
F Logan Stankoven (DAL)
F Shane Wright (2022 draft eligible)

The camp invitees that did not make the roster include forwards Zach Dean (VGK), William Dufour (NYI), Luke Evangelista (NSH), Jack Finley (TBL), Hendrix Lapierre (WSH), Joshua Roy (MTL), and Ryan Tverberg (TOR) and defensemen Daemon Hunt (MIN) and Vincent Iorio (WSH).

Of note, while many elite drafted prospects will grace the Canadian roster, it’s two undrafted names that will draw substantial spotlight. Wright and Bedard are the presumptive top picks in each of the next two NHL Drafts and will get their shot to further cement that status on the biggest international stage for U20 players.

The 2022 World Junior Championship will be held in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alberta this year. The tournament begins on December 26 and culminates with the gold medal game on January 5.

USA Hockey Announces Preliminary 2022 WJC Roster

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December 12: USA Hockey has announced a slight roster change to its upcoming camp roster. Defenseman Sean Behrens (COL) of the University of Denver and forward Thomas Bordeleau (SJS) of the University of Michigan will no longer compete for a spot on the 2022 WJC roster. Defenseman Jack Peart (MIN) of St. Cloud State University will get a chance though as a late addition to the roster.

November 30: The 2022 World Junior Championship is right around the corner, set to kick off on December 26 in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alberta. For USA Hockey, selection camp will start in just two weeks in Plymouth, Michigan, where the final roster will need to be picked. Today 31 players were invited to that camp, a group that will be pared down to 25 that will travel to the tournament.

The invitees, with their NHL affiliation:

G Drew Commesso (CHI)
G Kaidan Mbereko (2022 draft eligible)
G Luke Pavicich (2022 draft eligible)
G Dylan Silverstein (2022 draft eligible)

D Brock Faber (LAK)
D Luke Hughes (NJD)
D Wyatt Kaiser (CHI)
D Connor Kelley (CHI)
D Tyler Kleven (OTT)
D Ian Moore (ANA)
D Scott Morrow (CAR)
D Jack Peart (MIN)
D Jake Sanderson (OTT)
D Jacob Truscott (VAN)

F Matty Beniers (SEA)
F Brett Berard (NYR)
F Logan Cooley (2022 draft eligible)
F Matt Coronato (CGY)
F Tanner Dickinson (STL)
F Dominic James (2022 draft eligible)
F Matthew Knies (TOR)
F Chaz Lucius (WPG)
F Carter Mazur (DET)
F Declan McDonnell (TBL)
F Sasha Pastujov (ANA)
F Dylan Peterson (STL)
F Mackie Samoskevich (FLA)
F Red Savage (DET)
F Landon Slaggert (CHI)
F Ty Smilanic (FLA)

While this group perhaps doesn’t inspire the same level of excitement that has been around the U.S. WJC rosters the last few years, it’s still headlined by some outstanding prospects including Sanderson, Beniers, and Hughes. All three were top-five NHL picks and are locks to make the team in key roles. The team also notably has a lot of size and length on defense, with Behrens the only invitee that comes in under 6’0″.

Chicago Blackhawks Announce Several Roster Moves

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The Chicago Blackhawks will roll out a new look forward corps when they next take the ice on Monday. The team has announced that rookie Reese Johnson has been placed on injured reserve while fellow rookie Mike Hardman has been reassigned to the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs. Taking their place on the roster will be veteran Brett Connolly and another rookie, Mackenzie Entwistle.

The news on Johnson is a disappointing development for the Blackhawks. It may not show on the scoresheet, but the 23-year-old has been playing well of late, even in his limited role. The team reports that Johnson suffered a fractured right clavicle on Saturday and is out indefinitely. Johnson will undergo further evaluation on Monday, after which the Blackhawks hope to have a more timeline for his return this season.

In the meantime, the Blackhawks could do far worse than bringing in the experienced Connolly. Acquired from the Florida Panthers last season, Connolly played in ten games with Chicago down the stretch but failed to make the team in training camp this year and was buried in the AHL. He has made the most of his time in Rockford, currently second on the team in scoring with 11 points in 16 games. While Connolly may not be the 20-goal threat he once was, the physical winger can still contribute in Chicago.

As for the swap in rookies, Entwistle has done more with his opportunity than Hardman this season. Though a top college free agent who got off to a hot start to his pro career last year with three points in eight NHL games, Hardman has only managed two assists in 19 games with the Blackhawks so far this season. In contrast, Entwistle has three points in 12 games, including a pair of goals.

Ryan Johansen Enters COVID Protocol

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The last thing that the Nashville Predators need right now is to be without Ryan Johansen. Despite an off-season shake-up that many thought would hurt the Predators’ playoff chances this season, the team currently sits fourth in the competitive Central Division and would be the first wild card team in the Western Conference if the postseason started today. Nashville is one a four-game winning streak and 10-5-0 over the past month. A big contributor to their success thus far has been Johansen, who has finally re-discovered his scoring touch after a pair of very disappointing seasons. The $8MM center has already surpassed his 2020-21 point total with 24 points in 27 games, putting him on pace for a career-best 73 points.

Unfortunately, COVID-19 does not discriminate by skill level or hot streak. The virus continues to wreak havoc on NHL rosters and Johansen is the latest victim. The Predators have announced the Johansen has been added to the league’s COVID Protocol and will not play tonight against the New York Rangers. As usual, no cause was given for Johansen’s placement and the hope is that he may be able to exit the protocol after just one game, especially with a tough slate of games approaching against the Calgary Flames, Colorado Avalanche, and Carolina Hurricanes over the next week. The absence of Johansen’s fellow resurgent scorer Matt Duchene with an upper-body injury makes Johansen’s unexpected unavailability even more concerning.

In Johansen’s place, the Predators have recalled Michael McCarron from the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals. Though a first-round pick in 2013, McCarron is not a player capable of filling a scoring role in Johansen’s place. The 26-year-old has been held scoreless in six games so far this season, which is his same stat line from last season. McCarron has eight points, a -14 rating, and 10 minutes of average ice time in 81 career NHL games.

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