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Kings Place Alex Edler On Injured Reserve

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The Los Angeles Kings were hoping to take a step forward this season in their pursuit of a postseason return. A key move made this summer to help achieve that goal was the signing of veteran defenseman Alex Edler. The career Vancouver Canuck only signed a one-year deal, but his two-way ability and veteran presence was expected to be a major addition both on and off the ice in L.A. To this point, Edler has been even more important than anticipated. With star Drew Doughty having missed time due to injury and Sean Walker out for the season with an injury of his own, Edler has been relied upon as one of the few constant contributors of experience and scoring on the Kings blue line.

That is, until now. The Kings have announced that Edler has been placed on injured reserve following an awkward collision into the boards on Saturday night forced him from the game. Edler received a check from Minnesota Wild forward Brandon Duhaime in the first period and lost his balance, falling against the boards in his own zone. Edler’s left ankle appeared to give way as he fell and as Edler was being helped from the ice, he was unable to put any weight on his left leg. To this point, the team has only described the situation as a lower-body injury.

With Edler out, the Kings are losing their defensive scoring leader who has 11 points in 26 games. Edler also leads the team in plus/minus and is second in blocked shots and hits; the reliable defender has played no small role in L.A. this season. Christian Wolanin has been recalled to replace Edler’s roster spot, but it is Olli Maatta that is likely to draw into the lineup first. More pressure will also be placed on Matt Roy, who is enjoying the best season of his career, and rookies Michael Anderson and Tobias Bjornfot, who have excelled thus far despite adversity. The Kings’ season is not quite living up to the expectations they had imagined this season, as they currently sit sixth in the Pacific Division, but their points percentage has improved since last season and the team has a chance to stay in the playoff mix if they can survive another significant defensive absence. The team has not issued any update on the severity of Edler’s injury or any timeline on a return, but the hope is certainly that they will not be without their major free agent addition for too long.

Team Canada’s Alex Pietrangelo Uncertain About Olympic Participation

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In a piece by David Schoen of the Las Vegas-Review Journal, Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, who was one of the three players initially named to Team Canada’s roster for the 2022 Winter Olympics, now says he’s uncertain if he’ll participate in the Games.

Pietrangelo’s concerns come after the International Olympic Committee confirmed a three-to-five-week quarantine period for a positive COVID-19 test. As Pietrangelo notes in the Schoen report, he has a young family and multiple kids and, understandably, doesn’t want to risk being away from his family for that long.

It’s a recent memory for a lot of NHLers, who were forced into a similar situation for the bubble-style 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs. After the fact, many players expressed concerns and regrets about being away from their families for such a long length of time.

If he does proceed to opt-out, Pietrangelo would be the first confirmed member of an Olympic roster to do. Golden Knight teammate Robin Lehner said publicly last week that he wouldn’t be attending, but was not one of the first three players named to his native Sweden’s Olympic roster.

Obviously, losing a player of Pietrangelo’s caliber won’t be great for Team Canada. However, assuming they still have a large pool of NHLers to select from, they still prove to have the most dynamic puck-moving group of defensemen in the tournament.

Pietrangelo is third on the Golden Knights with 18 points in 26 games this season.

Jonas Johansson Placed On Waivers

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Per TSN’s Chris Johnston, the Colorado Avalanche have placed netminder Jonas Johansson on waivers.

The move isn’t surprising in the least bit after the team recalled Pavel Francouz from his conditioning loan today. Francouz is gearing up to dress for an NHL game for the first time in over a year.

After a decent end to last season when Colorado acquired him from the Buffalo Sabres, Johansson’s struggled mightily this year. Behind an injured but still sound Avalanche team, he’s posted just a .880 save percentage in nine games played.

Considering his historical struggles at the NHL level, it’s unlikely Johansson gets claimed on waivers. However, he’s one of the better third-string goalies in the league and he does now have 30 NHL games under his belt.

Injury Notes: Shesterkin, Landeskog, Kadri

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There’s some good news for the New York Rangers coming soon. NHL.com’s Dan Rosen reports that although goalie Igor Shesterkin won’t dress tonight, he’s “making progress” after taking the ice at practice this morning. Shesterkin was classified as day-to-day after a scary-looking lower-body injury last week forced him out of the lineup and onto injured reserve. He had an impeccable .937 save percentage through 18 games this year, and should certainly still be considered a candidate for the Vezina Trophy at this point in time. Backup Alexandar Georgiev has risen to the occasion after a tough start, though, posting a save percentage above .920 in three straight Rangers wins with Shesterkin absent.

More injury notes, both from Denver:

  • Injuries continue to hold back the Avalanche in 2021-22, as head coach Jared Bednar said today that captain Gabriel Landeskog will miss roughly two weeks with a lower-body injury. All of their top trio of him, Nathan MacKinnon, and Mikko Rantanen has missed time this season. Landeskog was a main focal point of Colorado’s offense, netting 27 points through 22 games this year. Andre Burakovsky will slot in his place alongside MacKinnon and Rantanen for the time being.
  • After missing Friday’s game with a lower-body injury, Nazem Kadri will be out again tonight but will likely be back Tuesday, according to Colorado Hockey Now’s Adrian Dater. Kadri has been the glue of this team throughout their injury troubles this year, scoring 23 assists and 34 points through just 22 games. Mikhail Maltsev, who was recalled today, will get into the lineup with Kadri’s absence.

Colorado Avalanche Recall Pavel Francouz From Conditioning Loan

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Some good news is on the horizon for the goalie situation in Denver. Per Colorado Hockey Now’s Adrian Dater, the team has recalled goalie Pavel Francouz from his conditioning loan with the AHL’s Colorado Eagles, paving the way for his NHL return after missing over a full season due to injury.

Francouz last played an NHL game on August 30, 2020, during Colorado’s Second Round playoff loss to the Dallas Stars in 2020. He then spent the entire 2020-21 campaign on injured reserve.

He looked to return to his position as backup in Colorado this season, but was injured again during a preseason game. After an excellent four-game conditioning stint (.945 save percentage, 3-1-0 record) in the AHL, it looks as though Francouz is finally healthy enough to reliably return to NHL action.

Francouz has put up impressive numbers in limited appearances, but his career .923 save percentage and 21-9-4 record should give some hope to an Avalanche team that’s had goaltending inconsistencies early this season.

Minor Transactions: 12/12/21

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With a lighter schedule at the NHL level today, expect some moves from other niches of the hockey world. For those more minor moves, we’ll keep an ongoing list of today’s transactions right here.

  • There’s a junior trade on the block today, as WHL netminder Cole Tisdale was dealt from the Tri-City Americans to the Prince Albert Raiders Saturday night in exchange for a 2025 seventh-round pick, a team release from the Raiders confirms. The 19-year-old netminder is playing his first full WHL season but now finds himself on his third team. Originally a draft pick of the Kelowna Rockets, he was moved to Tri-City after six games with Kelowna this year. After just two games there, he now finds himself in Prince Albert looking for some stability.
  • As the Pittsburgh Penguins organization becomes healthier, the baby Penguins in AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton are making corresponding moves. Today, they re-assigned forward Shaw Boomhower to the ECHL’s Wheeling Nailers, per a team tweet. The 23-year-old Boomhower took last season off from hockey entirely but has impressed with six points in 12 games in Wheeling. He didn’t get into a game with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton during his callup.

Latest On NHL Olympic Participation

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The opening ceremony for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China, is now just under two months away.

Yet it’s still not clear whether or not NHL players will be a part of the multi-week-long tournament, with the possibility of the league missing two straight Winter Olympics looming large. Information provided Saturday by the International Olympic Committee provided some more clarity on the situation, for better or for worse.

The key portion of all of it, summarized in this Twitter thread by TSN’s Chris Johnston, is the official word on the quarantine regulations if an athlete does test positive for COVID-19 while in China. Any positive test will yield an automatic quarantine that can last between three and five weeks. While players can test negative twice within a 24-hour span to exit protocol, similar to NHL guidelines, this is only applicable in China after the mandatory minimum 21-day quarantine.

That poses some serious issues for a variety of reasons. For one, if a player tests positive, they won’t get a chance to rejoin their team for the rest of the tournament as the quarantine period is simply too long. It’s also a giant question mark for players financially, especially if they test positive near the end of the tournament, as Johnston notes that teams aren’t required to pay players if they miss time on the other side of the Olympic break. However, a joint call between the IOC, IIHF, NHL, and NHLPA is expected soon to “review these matters,” per Johnston.

It’s a lot of food for thought for players, and the league is now making it clear that it will be entirely the players’ choice on whether they go, with deputy commissioner Bill Daly stating that “[he doesn’t] anticipate being on a different page than the players’ association on these issues.”

There are two paths in that regard. Players could just individually opt-out of playing in Beijing, something Vegas Golden Knights netminder Robin Lehner already did, justifiably citing mental health reasons. However, the possibility remains that the players could collectively elect to not attend the Olympics, marking the second straight Winter Games without an NHL presence.

While it was previously believed that the NHL had a strict deadline of January 10, 2022, to decide on their Olympic participation, it’s now clear, per Johnston, that it’s only a soft deadline. The NHL can opt-out after that point, but will incur financial penalties if they do so.

AHL Shuffle: 12/12/21

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There’s only a light five-game schedule on tap for this Sunday, but that doesn’t necessarily mean a lack of movement across leagues. We’ll keep track of all the action on the NHL/AHL pipeline right here.

Atlantic Division

  • The Toronto Maple Leafs have made a three-person swap today, assigning Kristians Rubins back to the Marlies and recalling forward Brett Seney and defenseman Carl Dahlstrom. Rubins, the first Latvian player to suit up for the Leafs, had no points in three games with the Leafs but looked solid defensively at times. After a game that saw the Leafs blow a 4-1 lead to Chicago and escape with a last-minute 5-4 win, however, the team wants to make some changes. Dahlstrom has just four assists in 18 games with the Marlies this year, while Seney has 16 in 19.
  • For the first time in a decade, Michael Del Zotto is headed to the AHL. The veteran defenseman cleared waivers today and has been subsequently reassigned to the minors, the Ottawa Senators announced. Del Zotto will join AHL Belleville for the time being and stay fresh with some game action until the point in time that Ottawa decides they want his experience and expertise back on the NHL roster.

Metropolitan Division

  • Early this morning, the Washington Capitals re-assigned goaltender Zach Fucale to the Hershey Bears, per a team release. Fucale was called up over the weekend to ensure the team would have an extra goalie if an injury occurred during their back-to-back set. The former junior hockey standout recorded a shutout in his first NHL game this season, and he has an .898 save percentage and 4-1-3 record with Hershey this season.

Central Division

  • After a lengthy absence from NHL play, Colorado Avalanche goalie Pavel Francouz could be back soon. Per Colorado Hockey Now’s Adrian Dater, he was recalled today from his conditioning loan with the Colorado Eagles. Francouz missed the entire 2020-21 season and beginning of this season with injuries. He had an impressive .945 save percentage in four games on his conditioning loan, going 3-1-0 while in the AHL. Mikhail Maltsev was also recalled, per Dater.
  • Ville Heinola is back with the Manitoba Moose after the Winnipeg Jets had him on the NHL roster over the weekend as an extra body. The 20th overall pick in 2019 had an impressive 14 points through 18 games in Manitoba this year.

Pacific Division

  • With Ryan Getzlaf off the injured reserve, the Anaheim Ducks have reassigned his young replacement, Benoit-Olivier Groulx, to the AHL. The San Diego Gulls are sending goaltender Lukas Dostal back in return. Dostal will serve as the backup to Anthony Stolarz on Sunday as the Ducks evaluate the injury status of starter John Gibson. Should he play, it will be the NHL debut for the 21-year-old prospect.

This page will be updated throughout the day

Jakob Chychrun, Ryan Dzingel Day-To-Day For Coyotes

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According to the team, Arizona Coyotes defenseman Jakob Chychrun and forward Ryan Dzingel are both day-to-day with upper-body injuries, suffered in Friday’s game against the Florida Panthers.

Both are unavailable tonight as the team plays the second half of a back-to-back at home, this time against Philadelphia.

Chychrun has just seven points through 26 games after back-to-back 10-plus goal seasons. However, he had a long pointless streak to start the year and has been heating up as of late. He’s playing nearly 25 minutes per game, not an easy task for such a flawed Coyotes team.

Dzingel has had injury issues all year, and because of that, he hasn’t found stability in the lineup. Flip-flopping between wing and center, he has just four points through 16 games this season.

Alex Galchenyuk and Cam Dineen likely draw into the lineup in place of Chychrun and Dzingel.

Nico Hischier, Ryan Graves Placed In COVID-19 Protocol

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The New Jersey Devils announced that Nico Hischier and Ryan Graves were placed in the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol today, and they’re unavailable for tonight’s game against the New York Islanders.

It’s a huge loss for this Devils team against a slumping, albeit still sound Islanders team. It’s always tough to lose your captain, even more so when you throw a first-pairing defenseman out of the mix as well just minutes before puck drop.

Hischier is New Jersey’s top center and has continued his sound two-way game into this season, scoring 16 points through 25 games while averaging 19:17 per game. Commonly playing between Pavel Zacha and Jesper Bratt, his line is enjoying offensive success.

Graves has been entrusted with tough minutes in his first year as a Devil, forming the top pair alongside free-agent acquisition Dougie Hamilton. Graves isn’t being counted on for offense but still has a respectable 10 points through 25 games.

If not false positives, Hischier and Graves could miss at least seven days while in protocol.

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