Sidney Crosby, Todd Reirden Exit COVID Protocol
Sidney Crosby has been the biggest name to land on the NHL’s COVID Protocol Related Absences list so far this season, but it was a short stay for the Penguins captain. Pittsburgh has announced that Crosby has been activated from the COVID Protocol and will be in the lineup for their Thursday night game.
Assistant coach Todd Reirden has also been cleared of the COVID Protocol and will be back behind the bench. He was replaced by development coach Ty Hennes for the team’s last game.
Both men only landed on the list on Tuesday and missed just one game. Led by a 40-save effort from Tristan Jarry, the team stepped up in their stead with a 5-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers. They face their in-state rival again tonight.
Snapshots: Bennett, Niemela, Ovechkin
Sam Bennett is expected to be a healthy scratch again tonight for the Calgary Flames, according to Darren Dreger of TSN. Bennett, whose agent made it clear that a change of scenery would be welcome earlier this season, has been on quite the roller coaster. Suiting up on the fourth line one game, the first line beside Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau another, to finding himself in the press box watching, there has been very little consistency to his 22 games.
Still, there’s just not enough offensive production from Bennett no matter where he is plugged in. With just three goals and four points on the year, he is once again disappointing the Flames, who have now waited nearly seven years for Bennett to fulfill his fourth-overall status. His best offensive season was his rookie year when he scored 18 goals and 36 points.
- The Toronto Maple Leafs won’t have Topi Niemela in the system next season, as the young defenseman has signed a one-year extension with his Finnish club for the 2021-22 season. Niemela, 18, was the 64th pick in the 2020 draft but has already seen his stock rise after being named the best defenseman at the recent World Junior tournament. He has recorded four points in 15 games for Karpat this season and will stay overseas for at least another year.
- Trent Frederic might not be so quick to get in Alex Ovechkin‘s face the next time they meet, after a spearing incident last night. Ovechkin has been fined $5,000, the maximum allowable under the CBA, for “cup-checking” Frederic after the two had several meetings throughout the game. Frederic, who fought Tom Wilson earlier this season, had challenged Ovechkin earlier in the game, but the veteran spurned the offer. The young Bruins forward has shown a willingness to engage anyone in the league but still hasn’t added much offense—just two goals and three NHL points—since being selected with the 29th pick in 2016.
Taxi Squad Shuffle: 03/04/21
There has been plenty of roster movement between NHL teams and the taxi squad on a daily basis this season. Although some major names may be highlighted in separate articles, this is where you’ll find the majority of that shuffle news each day.
West Division
- The Los Angeles Kings have sent Daniel Brickley and Markus Phillips back to the AHL, while recalling Rasmus Kupari to the taxi squad. Kupari, 20, has dominated at the minor league level so far this season, scoring nine points in his first eight games. The 2018 first-round pick is still waiting on his first NHL appearance.
- Logan Thompson, the AHL’s Goaltender of the Month for February, is nevertheless still a ways away from challenging for an NHL spot in Vegas. After a brief recall, the Golden Knights have reassigned Thompson to the AHL’s Henderson Silver Knights.
North Division
- The Ottawa Senators have recalled Braydon Coburn from the taxi squad ahead of their game tonight against the Flames. Coburn, 36, played just under 17 minutes the last time these two teams met.
- Winnipeg is looking to get some of their top forward prospects more play time. The Jets announced that Kristian Vesalainen and David Gustafsson have been reassigned from the taxi squad to the AHL’s Manitoba Moose. Heading the other way is fellow forward Joona Luoto.
- Marc Michaelis will make his NHL debut on Thursday after the Vancouver Canucks announced that he had been activated from the Season-Opening Injured Reserve and placed in the lineup. Rookie defenseman Olli Juolevi has been reassigned to the taxi squad to make room for the forward Michaelis.
Central Division
- The Detroit Red Wings have recalled Mathias Brome and Evgeny Svechnikov from the taxi squad, suggesting the Svechnikov-Svechnikov battle is finally going to happen. Evgeny and his brother Andrei Svechnikov from the Carolina Hurricanes will do battle tonight.
- The Dallas Stars continue to shuffle their forward depth, this time returning Ty Dellandrea to the taxi squad and recalling Joel Kiviranta and Tanner Kero. The team hopes to find the right combination up front to get back on track with this season.
- Things are changing in Nashville. With Ryan Johansen activated from COVID Protocol and Juuse Saros headed to the injured reserve, the Predators have taken this time to make a flurry of additional changes as well. The team announced that defenseman Ben Harpur and goalie Kasimir Kaskisuo have been promoted from the taxi squad to the active roster while forward Brad Richardson has been activated from the IR to the roster. Heading down to the taxi squad is defenseman Alexandre Carrier. Joining Carrier on the squad is a trio of recalls from the minors. Forward Rem Pitlick and defenseman Jeremy Davies have been recalled from temporary AHL affiliate Chicago, while goalie Devin Cooley has been recalled from the ECHL’s Florida Everblades. Meanwhile, forward Tanner Jeannot has been reassigned to the AHL’s Wolves from the taxi squad. Anything else Nashville?
East Division
- The New York Rangers have recalled Patrick Newell from the minor leagues and added him to their taxi squad, while sending the recently-signed Mason Geertsen back down. Geertsen signed an NHL deal and had to clear waivers, but never spent any time with the big club.
- The Pittsburgh Penguins will go back to the well on Thursday night, filling out their lineup once again with the help of forwards Josh Currie and Anthony Angello. The pair have been promoted from the taxi squad.
This page will be updated throughout the day.
Three Players Clear Waivers
March 4: All three players have cleared waivers and can now be assigned to the taxi squad or minor leagues.
March 3: The waiver wire is busy again today, with three players up for grabs. Chris Johnston of Sportsnet reports that Dominik Simon (Calgary Flames), Valtteri Filppula (Detroit Red Wings), and Mason Geertsen (New York Rangers) have all been placed on waivers today.
Geertsen’s presence on the list means that he has signed a new NHL contract with the Rangers, since he had previously been on an AHL deal with the Hartford Wolf Pack. He last had an NHL deal during the 2018-19 season but has never actually made it to the highest level. A fourth-round pick of the Colorado avalanche in 2013, he has spent several years in the minor leagues racking up penalty minutes, never afraid to drop his gloves to defend a teammate. This year he has 11 PIM and one point in four games for Hartford.
Filppula is the latest veteran Detroit has passed through waivers, following Danny DeKeyser and Frans Nielsen earlier in the year. The 36-year-old forward has registered just five points in 20 games and is nearing the end of what has actually been quite a successful career. A third-round pick by Detroit back in 2002, Filpulla has 520 points in 1,038 career games. He took home the Stanley Cup with the Red Wings in 2008 and has been an excellent playoff performer, racking up 86 points in 166 postseason games.
Waivers then might actually increase Filppula’s trade value, considering he’s on an expiring contract. If a team wanted to add some more experience for a playoff run, but didn’t have an immediate spot in the lineup, the ability to move Filppula to the taxi squad would come in handy.
Simon, 26, hasn’t been a perfect fit in Calgary this season, failing to record a point in his nine appearances. The depth forward was supposed to add a little scoring punch at the bottom of the lineup after recording 50 points over the last two seasons, but that hasn’t happened. Still, for the league minimum of $700K and Simon’s RFA rights, perhaps a team will take a swing and bring him in on waivers. If not, he’ll likely be another candidate to rotate through the taxi squad in Calgary, helping them bank cap space.
Joachim Blichfeld To Have Hearing With Department Of Player Safety
The Department of Player Safety has some more work to do today, as San Jose Sharks forward Joachim Blichfeld will have a hearing to determine supplementary discipline after his high hit on Colorado Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon.
The incident occurred in the third period of last night’s game, as MacKinnon was trying to dump the puck into the Sharks zone. Blichfeld approaches from behind and clips the head of the Colorado star, starting an immediate scrum between the two teams.
Since he’s having a hearing, Blichfeld should expect a suspension for the hit, meaning he’ll miss at least one game for the Sharks. The 22-year-old winger is only barely starting his NHL career but will already have a history with the DoPS. He received a match penalty on the play.
Rangers Sign Braden Schneider To Entry-Level Deal
March 4: The Rangers have officially announced the contract, signing Schneider for a entry-level deal that starts next season.
March 3: The Rangers now have both of their 2020 first-round picks under contract as CapFriendly reports (Twitter link) that they’ve inked defenseman Braden Schneider to a three-year, entry-level contract. The deal carries a base salary of $925K (including a 10% signing bonus), a minor league salary of $80K, and $400K in performance bonuses in each season.
The timing of this deal is notable. Since they weren’t able to get him signed by the end of 2020, Schneider wasn’t eligible to have his contract slide a year. As a result, by waiting until now to do the deal, they were able to sign him to a future contract that begins in 2021-22 although they won’t benefit from the slightly lower AAV that a 2020-21 contract that slid would have provided.
Schneider was the 19th overall pick back in October, joining winger Alexis Lafreniere (first overall) as New York’s top selections from the draft. While their top selection is all about the offense, Schneider is more of a throwback defensive defender although he’s coming off a decent season offensively in the WHL where he had seven goals and 35 assists in 60 games with WHL Brandon.
This season, the pandemic has certainly limited Schneider’s playing opportunities with the WHL just getting underway. He did manage to earn a spot on Canada’s entry into the World Juniors where he had a goal and two assists along with 25 penalty minutes in six games. Schneider also made his pro debut, suiting up twice with AHL Hartford before being sent back to the Wheat Kings where he will wrap up his junior career before kicking off his first professional campaign next season.
Extension Talks Stall Between Hurricanes And Dougie Hamilton
Last week, word came out that contract extension talks had cooled between the Hurricanes and RFA winger Andrei Svechnikov. Now, it appears that this isn’t the only stalled contract negotiation Carolina has with a pending free agent as Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic reports (subscription link) that this is also the case with defenseman Dougie Hamilton with talks basically being nonexistent for the past month.
The 27-year-old is off to a bit of a quieter start to his season compared to 2019-20 but has still made an impact offensively with 14 points in 22 games. Of course, he also contributes in his own end and is once again logging heavy minutes, averaging over 22 minutes per game. These are top-pairing numbers, something that his agent J.P. Barry has surely communicated to Carolina GM Don Waddell.
LeBrun suggests that Hamilton’s camp is likely going to want to use Alex Pietrangelo’s deal signed in the fall ($8.8MM AAV) as a valid comparable with an asking price coming in a bit below that. Meanwhile, the Hurricanes may view Pietrangelo’s replacement in Torey Krug ($6.5MM AAV) as a better starting point.
That’s a considerable gap to try to bridge if those are indeed the numbers being suggested which is why LeBrun wonders if this could be a situation that doesn’t get resolved until closer to the July 28th opening of unrestricted free agency. While that strategy has worked before, it also didn’t with St. Louis and Pietrangelo just last year and Hamilton will be in a similar situation as the top blueliner available on the open market. As we saw last year, even in this environment, the top free agents have still been able to command a significant contract and there’s no reason to think that this won’t be the case here.
With more than four months between now and the market opening up, there’s still plenty of time to get something done and with expansion pending, delaying things isn’t necessarily the worst idea. Given his status, Hamilton is a strong candidate to land a no-move clause on his next deal and if it was to be signed before Seattle’s team is selected, he’d become a mandatory protected player while if they wait, it’s easier to leave a pending unrestricted free agent unprotected, allowing them to keep an extra player. It’s not without its risks though as the Kraken would get an exclusive negotiating period and the closer someone gets to free agency, the temptation to test the market likely grows. That’s one of the decisions that will be weighing on Waddell in the weeks and months ahead.
Injury Updates: Saros, Hischier, Anderson-Dolan, Panthers
The Predators aren’t getting much good fortune on the injury front. Just a day after losing a pair of core players to injury and Ryan Johansen to the CPRA list, Nashville is now without one of their goaltenders. The team announced (Twitter link) that Juuse Saros is day-to-day with an upper-body injury that was sustained in yesterday’s game in a collision with Nino Niederreiter, one that netted the winger a fine. Saros earned the starting role last season but has struggled this year, posting a .895 SV%, the lowest of his career. Veteran Pekka Rinne has been the better goalie statistically this year and will hold down the fort while Saros is out while Kasimir Kaskisuo will likely be recalled from the taxi squad on Thursday.
Other injury news from around the NHL:
- The Devils expect to have an update on Nico Hischier’s status over the next few days, notes Sean Farrell of the Bergen Record. The center has missed the last two games after getting hit in the face with a puck on Saturday, extending his tough luck to start the season. While he was named captain, he has hardly played, missing time due to a leg injury sustained in offseason training as well as a stint on the CPRA list. As a result, Hischier has played in just five games so far, collecting two goals and an assist.
- Kings center Jaret Anderson-Dolan has resumed skating as he tries to work his way back from an upper-body injury, relays Zach Dooley of LA Kings Insider. However, head coach Todd McLellan indicated that it’s unlikely that the 21-year-old will be available for the rest of their homestand, spanning the next three games. Anderson-Dolan was off to a strong start to his year before being injured against Arizona, collecting five points over his first six games.
- Panthers defenseman Markus Nutivaara and winger Anthony Duclair will accompany the team on their five-game road trip, reports Jameson Olive of Florida’s team website (Twitter link), suggesting the veterans are nearing a return. Nutivaara has missed the last nine games with an upper-body injury while Duclair missed his first game Monday due to a lower-body issue but it appears he won’t be out for long.
Rangers Sign Mason Geertsen
When he was placed on waivers today, it was clear that the Rangers had agreed to terms on an NHL deal with defenseman Mason Geertsen. The terms of that agreement are now known as PuckPedia reports (Twitter link) that the blueliner has inked a two-year contract that breaks down as follows:
2020-21: $700K NHL salary, $100K AHL salary
2021-22: $750K NHL salary, $110K AHL salary
The 25-year-old was a fourth-round pick (93rd overall) of Colorado back in 2013 and spent four seasons in their minor league system, splitting time between the AHL and ECHL before being non-tendered in 2018. That led him to the Rangers where he played on a minor league contract for the past year and a half until today’s conversion to an NHL contract.
Geertsen isn’t going to be counted to provide much offense for AHL Hartford (assuming he clears waivers as expected tomorrow) as his career-high in goals in a single season at that level is just three. He’s more of a stay-at-home, physical blueliner which makes it interesting that the Rangers opted to use an NHL contract on him at this time as players like that don’t typically get NHL deals at this stage of their careers. He becomes the 45th player signed out of a maximum of 50 so GM Jeff Gorton still has some flexibility on the contract limit to work with which is notable with college free agency on the horizon.
What Your Team Is Thankful For: Winnipeg Jets
We’ve made it past the holiday season but there is still plenty to be thankful for. Like the last few years, PHR will take a look at what teams are thankful for but this season comes with a bit of a change. Typically at this time of the calendar year, the trade deadline is fast approaching but now, we’re only at the one-quarter mark. Still, we’ll analyze what they’re happy about so far and what they can be hoping for in the months to come.
What are the Jets most thankful for?
For years, Winnipeg has been looking to improve their depth down the middle which resulted in several trades for rental players including adding Paul Stastny for the second time last fall. With Mark Scheifele established as a legitimate number one center, Stastny gave them a bit of insurance with Bryan Little out for the season. That’s good but not great.
That changed with last month’s acquisition of Pierre-Luc Dubois from Columbus. Dubois, who was the top pivot with the Blue Jackets, gives Winnipeg a second high-quality option down the middle. Perhaps more importantly, Dubois is team-controllable for three more years which lines him up with Scheifele. There are some strong one-two center punches in the North Division and Winnipeg now has one of them and will have them in place for a while yet once Dubois moves to the middle (he has started on the wing for the time being).
Who are the Jets most thankful for?
Connor Hellebuyck. Last year’s Vezina-winning goaltender hasn’t had the best of defenses playing in front of him (more on that shortly) and with some inconsistent performances from his backups, he has had to log a heavy workload, leading all netminders in games played in two of the last three seasons and facing the most shots in each of the last two years. Despite that, Hellebuyck has been able to provide the Jets with steady, above-average goaltending on a regular basis for a reasonable price; his $6.167MM AAV is eighth in the league and is only about $1MM higher than the median price tag among starters. He’s still signed for three more years after this one so Winnipeg doesn’t have to worry about their goaltending anytime soon.
What would the Jets be even more thankful for?
One of their young defensemen stepping into a top-four role. Josh Morrissey is a capable core blueliner and Neal Pionk has thrived since coming over from the Jacob Trouba trade. After that, the depth starts to go down in a hurry. Dylan DeMelo is a capable third-pairing option which is nice to have but right now, Derek Forbort is logging more than 21 minutes a night just one season removed from being limited to all of 20 games, most of which were on the third pairing. He’s a serviceable blueliner but in an ideal world, he’s not playing anywhere near that much.
Meanwhile, Winnipeg has several young defenders with some upside in Tucker Poolman, Sami Niku, Logan Stanley, and Ville Heinola that have all seen NHL action this season. The latter two were both first-round selections and are key cogs of their back end of the future but haven’t shown that they’re ready yet for a top-four spot; Heinola also has contract considerations in terms of extending team control to factor in. Unless they’re able to add someone via trade over the next six weeks, the improvement is going to have to come from within. One of these four stepping up would give them a huge boost heading into the playoff push.
What should be on the Jets’ wish list?
Let’s stick with the defense. A top-four blueliner is a piece that would really elevate the Jets to another level for the stretch run. They do have some LTIR space at their disposal – about $2.8MM worth – and with Little out for the year, they can safely spend without having to plan about getting into compliance. It’s not a situation where it will increase in value on a daily basis like regular cap room so if GM Kevin Cheveldayoff finds the right fit, he can pull the trigger sooner than later.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.