Vancouver Canucks Looking For Young Forward
The Vancouver Canucks will take the ice tonight on a three-game losing streak and in danger of falling even further behind in the North Division standings. The team has already been on the wrong end of the scoreboard in 15 of their 23 games and is spiraling out of control with a 2-6-2 record in their last ten. With that–not to mention previous reports that Jake Virtanen and Adam Gaudette were on the block–in mind, it comes as no surprise that GM Jim Benning is calling all around the league for a temperature check well before the midseason trade deadline.
Pierre LeBrun reported as much on the latest Insider Trading for TSN:
[Benning] certainly has been busy. There hasn’t been a result yet but I can tell you from talking to teams around the league that isn’t a single team that hasn’t heard from Jim Benning over the last couple weeks. Really this is more about doing his due dilligence and knowing what’s out there ahead of April 12, still lots of time. But right now, with so many teams in LTIR it’s so difficult to make an ‘apples for apples’ trade, but if he can, what he’s looking for is a top-nine forward in that age 25-and-younger group that can fit with his young core.
Virtanen and Gaudette of course both fit that designation at 24, but seemingly don’t work with the group at this time. Whether they could be flipped by players around the same age with the same potential isn’t clear, but Benning is obviously trying his best to improve the squad while also keeping an eye on the future.
It’s that pesky salary cap that will be a tough obstacle for the Canucks or whoever they want to trade with. Vancouver is deep into LTIR already with Micheal Ferland, Travis Hamonic, and Tyler Motte all sidelined. So are 16 other teams in the league, making every deal complicated from a financial standpoint as well as a performance one.
Even though it feels like nothing but doom for the Canucks right now, it’s important to remember that they do still have high-level pieces like Elias Pettersson, Nils Hoglander, and Quinn Hughes to build around. Sure, two of those players are set to become restricted free agents at the end of this season, but just because they’re going to get paid doesn’t mean they will disappear.
If Benning can land another player to develop and grow with them, filling the expectations that many had for Virtanen, it would go along way to helping the Canucks turn things around. If he can’t, well, they’re still ahead of Ottawa (for now).
Sharks-Golden Knights Game Postponed
Feb 25: The Sharks have released a statement on their future schedule:
As of Thursday afternoon, no additional tests have come back as confirmed positives. If the team and staff continue to receive negative results, the NHL and NHLPA have approved the team’s resumption of practice on Friday. In such event, Saturday’s game against the St. Louis Blues will move forward as scheduled.
The San Jose Barracuda have also received no positive test results and are also scheduled to resume practicing on Friday, and will host the Ontario Reign on Saturday at Sharks Ice at San Jose.
Tomas Hertl remained the only Sharks player on the COVID Protocol list today.
Feb 24: Tomorrow’s San Jose Sharks-Vegas Golden Knights game has been postponed after a Sharks player entered the COVID Protocols earlier today. The league will continue to analyze the test results of the rest of the team in the coming days. Further precautions:
As an appropriate precaution, the team’s training facilities have been closed, effective immediately, and will remain closed until further notice. The League is in the process of reviewing and revising the Sharks’ regular season schedule. The Sharks’ organization has, and will continue to follow, all recommended guidelines aimed at protecting the health and safety of its Players, staff and community at large as set by the NHL, local, state and national agencies.
It appears as though the league is reacting more proactively when a player enters the protocol, as previously teams were allowed to continue playing games. Widespread transmission appeared to occur in those contests as both the New Jersey Devils and Buffalo Sabres had outbreaks, though that obviously can’t be confirmed. In this case, the two teams will not play.
The list of postponed games in the NHL continues to grow, with this being the 40th game that will need rescheduling. In fact, tomorrow’s game was actually a reschedule of an earlier game missed between the two teams. Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press reports that the AHL will also postpone tomorrow’s San Jose Barracuda game out of an abundance of caution.
Ethan Bear Activated Off Injured Reserve
The Edmonton Oilers have shot up the North Division standings of late, winning their last four and passing every Canadian team not named the Maple Leafs. They’ve had all that success without the services of young defenseman Ethan Bear, who hasn’t played since January with a head injury. Bear was struck with the puck (while sitting on the bench) and has been on injured reserve for the last three weeks. That IR stint ended today as the Oilers activated him ahead of tonight’s match against the Vancouver Canucks.
Bear, 23, had an outstanding season in 2019-20, racking up 21 points in 71 games and actually finishing tenth in the Calder Trophy voting as the league’s best rookie. While this year wasn’t going quite as smoothly in the early going, he was still averaging more than 20 minutes a night for the Oilers as an efficient puck-moving option. His return will only strengthen a back end that has still allowed too many goals against, getting the puck quickly up to those all-world forwards.
To make room, the team has moved William Lagesson to injured reserve, likely retroactive to his last game on February 15. Even if he was healthy and playing, most Oilers fans would happily swap him out for Bear.
COVID Protocol Related Absences: 02/25/21
Each day, the NHL will publicly release the list of players that are unavailable to their respective teams due to being in COVID-19 Protocol. Here are today’s results:
NY Rangers – Kaapo Kakko, K’Andre Miller
Ottawa – Ryan Dzingel
Philadelphia – Travis Konecny, Scott Laughton, Oskar Lindblom
San Jose – Tomas Hertl
As a reminder, inclusion on this list does not mean that a player has tested positive for Coronavirus or even that they have been confirmed as a close contact to another positive person. Included in the NHL’s list of possible reasons for someone being on the list is are the following:
(1) an initial positive test which remains unconfirmed until confirmatory testing is completed pursuant to the Positive Test Protocol; (2) mandated isolation for symptomatic individuals pursuant to the Positive Test Protocol; (3) required quarantine as a high-risk close contact in accordance with the Positive Test Protocol; (4) isolation based on a confirmed positive test result and/or; (5) quarantine for travel or other reasons as outlined in the COVID-19 Protocol
Players removed today: Jakub Voracek, Philadelphia Flyers
The Flyers have cleared one more player off their board and are inching their way to having a full contingent again.
Really the best news of the day is that Hertl remains alone on the Sharks list. The league preemptively postponed tonight’s game against the Golden Knights after he entered the protocol and hopefully any spread has been contained.
*denotes new addition
Latest On Jeff Skinner
Often, a big regulation win can calm the sea for a team that’s trying to bail water from a sinking ship. The Buffalo Sabres got that kind of a win on Tuesday night when they dispatched the New Jersey Devils 4-1, but it took 41 saves from Linus Ullmark and there still wasn’t a goal from their two top forwards. Their ankles, at least, still seem to be submerged.
Today, after sitting out the last three games as a healthy scratch, Jeff Skinner was absent from the morning skate. The $72MM dollar man seems completely forgotten by head coach Ralph Krueger, who denied having a “doghouse” today but didn’t share any real insight on the situation. That doesn’t mean people aren’t looking for answers.
Lance Lysowski of the Buffalo News reports that Skinner’s agent, Don Meehan of Newport Sports, had a “lengthy conversation” on Wednesday with Sabres GM Kevyn Adams, expressing his concerns over the situation.
It has been an incredible fall from grace for Skinner, who signed his eight-year, $72MM deal with the Sabres in 2019 after scoring 40 goals in his first year in Buffalo. Those goals mostly came while riding shotgun with Jack Eichel, but it’s not like it was the first time he had performed at the NHL level. Skinner had been a 30+ goal scorer on three previous occasions, including a 37-goal campaign in 2016-17.
But after signing it, and since Krueger took over as head coach, Skinner has just 14 goals and 24 points in 73 games. He now finds himself out of the lineup completely, certainly not something he expected after 734 career NHL games and at the age of 28.
So to hear that concerns were expressed shouldn’t come as a shock, not at this point.
But what can be done? The Sabres would likely have to eat a huge portion of the deal to trade Skinner, and even that would have further complications. The player holds a no-move clause, meaning his camp would have to be involved in the conversation, and very few teams are looking to add salary right now. Though Skinner’s money drops off at the end of the deal, he’s still owed $10MM in each of the next four seasons.
One has to wonder whether a buyout, as historic as it would be, is a possibility at this point. The money would be paid out over 12 seasons, but the highest cap charge would be in 2022-23 at $8.97MM. Two other seasons would have boosted numbers, but the vast majority would have something under $2.5MM. That’s doable, especially for a team that doesn’t really look close to contending anyway.
A move like that is far down the road–the buyout window doesn’t open until the summer–but it’s obvious there needs to be some kind of resolution to this issue. The best solution would be Skinner getting back to his top-six, goal-scoring ways; but that seems like an era ago at this point.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Maple Leafs Confirm Broken Foot For Rasmus Sandin
If the Toronto Maple Leafs were planning on recalling top prospect Rasmus Sandin at any point this season, it’ll have to wait. The young defenseman suffered a foot injury earlier this month and after further examination, the team has confirmed it is a fracture. Sandin will be re-evaluated in mid-March, according to the club, at which point they’ll provide a further update on his recovery timeline.
Sandin, 20, ended up playing just one game for the Maple Leafs and one (partial) game for the Toronto Marlies before his injury. He did record a point in his NHL appearance but played only five minutes in the game as one of seven defensemen dressed.
The Maple Leafs were hoping that Sandin could go to the minor leagues and play big minutes, continuing his development until a spot opened on the NHL club. Unfortunately, this injury means he’ll miss a good chunk of the shortened AHL season. It’ll be almost an entire year of lost development time (at least in terms of game action), since Sandin was injured at the time of the 2019-20 season suspension as well. Not ideal for a top prospect.
Taxi Squad Shuffle: 02/25/21
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 Vegas Golden Knights have recalled Patrick Brown and Logan Thompson to the taxi squad, now that they’re a day closer to getting back into action against the Anaheim Ducks. The team doesn’t have to play the game that they expected today after the latest league postponement.
North Division
- The Ottawa Senators have made several moves, not the least of which is bringing back Erik Brannstrom from the taxi squad. Matthew Peca will come with him, while Logan Brown backfills from the minor leagues. Derek Stepan, who was injured earlier this week, has been moved to IR.
Central Division
- The Columbus Blue Jackets have recalled Emil Bemstrom from the taxi squad, while moving Zac Dalpe and Ryan MacInnis up from the minor leagues. Bemstrom, 21, went scoreless in his first five games this season.
- The Detroit Red Wings recalled both Mathias Brome and Danny DeKeyser from the taxi squad once again, this time moving Frans Nielsen down in their place. Nielsen, 36, hasn’t scored a goal yet this season in 19 games and has just 12 points in his last 79 contests for Detroit.
- The Dallas Stars have recalled Landon Bow from the taxi squad, meaning another goaltender may be getting the night completely off. The Stars are set to face the Florida Panthers this evening and Anton Khudobin has faced 94 shots over the last few days.
- Those Panthers have made their own moves, recalling Mason Marchment and Kevin Connauton from the taxi squad. Owen Tippett has been sent there in their place, while Grigori Denisenko is up from the AHL to fill the other spot.
East Division
- Ilya Samsonov has been recalled from the minor leagues to the taxi squad by the Washington Capitals, but Vitek Vanecek is expected to start tonight’s Capitals game.
- After losing Jason Zucker to injury, the Pittsburgh Penguins have recalled Josh Currie from the taxi squad. Anthony Angello has been added to the taxi squad, while Zucker was placed on injured reserve retroactive to February 23.
This page will be updated throughout the day.
Snapshots: Zucker, Bertuzzi, Ducks
While the Penguins sent winger Jason Zucker back to Pittsburgh today to be evaluated, it appears they’re not particularly optimistic that his absence will be a short one. Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette notes that while they’re hopeful his lower-body injury isn’t as bad as they initially feared, they are preparing to be without the 29-year-old for an extended period of time. Zucker is off to a quiet start to the season by his standards with just four goals and three assists in 17 games but his absence will open up a vacancy in their top-six. If he’s going to miss more than 10 games or 24 days, he’ll be eligible to be placed on long-term injured reserve, giving them some short-term cap flexibility to recall a replacement.
Elsewhere around the league:
- The Red Wings have been without winger Tyler Bertuzzi for all of February and it doesn’t sound as if he’ll be back anytime soon. Head coach Jeff Blashill told reporters, including Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press (Twitter link), that he has “no idea” when the 26-year-old will be able to return. Bertuzzi was off to a strong start to his season with five goals and two assists in eight games and with his contract expiring this summer, missing this much time isn’t going to give him the type of platform season he was hoping for.
- The Ducks activated Sonny Milano from IR and recalled him from his AHL conditioning loan, relays Elliott Teaford of the Orange County Register (Twitter link). The winger suffered an upper-body just a week into the season, limiting him to just two games. He was quietly productive after joining Anaheim last season with five points in nine contests, making him an intriguing addition to a lineup that has struggled mightily offensively in the early going. The team also placed winger Carter Rowney on IR due to a lower-body injury. While the veteran is known more as a bottom-six player, he’s tied for the team lead in assists with six in 19 games.
What Your Team Is Thankful For: Washington Capitals
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 Capitals most thankful for?
A consistent stream of firepower. While a few players have come and gone due to salary cap constraints, the majority of Washington’s core has been intact for a while. The end result has been plenty of offense. The Caps are in the top ten in goals scored this season and that’s a spot they’ve been in for a while. You have to go back all the way to 2013-14 to find the last time they weren’t in the top-ten in that department (they were 11th that year). Yes, it’s an expensive core which has presented some challenges for GM Brian MacLellan along the way but it’s also an enviable foundation to build from and knowing that there’s a top-ten attack year in and year out certainly makes things a bit easier from a roster-building perspective.
Who are the Capitals most thankful for?
Alex Ovechkin would be the best answer but there will be more on him shortly. Instead, let’s look at another significant offensive threat in John Carlson. He’s the one Washington defender that produces with any offensive consistency; he almost has as many goals so far this season (five) as the rest of their back end combined (six). Last year, he outscored the rest of Washington’s blueliners 15-11 while leading the team in points. Carlson’s defensive zone play has also improved and it has reached the point where his $8MM price tag went from being viewed as a reasonable gamble to an outright bargain. He was the Norris Trophy runner up last season and should be in the mix for that award for a few more years.
What would the Capitals be even more thankful for?
Getting an extension done with Ovechkin. He has been their franchise player since the moment he first set foot in the league back in 2005 and the 13-year, $124MM contract he signed back in 2008 that seemed a bit outlandish at the time has wound up yielding a lot of value for the Caps. Ovechkin has committed to re-signing with Washington although his playing career is likely to come to an end back in Russia. Even so, it’s something that MacLellan will want to get done sooner than later just to get a sense of what their salary cap situation will be down the road. They’re not in a position to ask him to take a significant hometown discount and his next contract may very well come in close to his current $9.538MM AAV. They can wait until the offseason if they need to but getting it done now would certainly make everyone thankful.
What should be on the Capitals’ wish list?
With cap space at an absolute premium right now – they can’t afford to recall anyone right now even with Henrik Lundqvist and Michal Kempny’s LTIR room, MacLellan’s hands may ultimately be tied in terms of trying to add anything by the April 12th trade deadline. But if the opportunity presents itself, adding center depth would be a worthwhile addition. When Evgeny Kuznetsov was on the CPRA list, the Caps were forced to turn to T.J. Oshie down the middle and they don’t really have any reliable proven options on the taxi squad or with AHL Hershey right now. They have high hopes for Connor McMichael who could be their best option for any extended absence but as a junior-aged player, that would be a tough ask. Finding someone that could cover in the bottom six and allow Lars Eller to move up if necessary would be a great luxury to have – if only they could afford it.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Hurricanes Begin Extension Talks With Rod Brind’Amour
Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour is one of a handful of head coaches around the NHL that are in the final year of their respective contracts. Carolina has certainly shown considerable improvement under his watch over his two-plus seasons there and not surprisingly, they have started talks regarding an extension, Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reported in a recent Insider Trading segment.
Given how strong the Hurricanes have been – they’re 96-58-13 since Brind’Amour was promoted to the position back in 2018 – the 50-year-old is well-positioned to land a sizable raise. Many recent deals handed out to proven head coaches have been in the $3MM to $5MM range though to be fair, a lot of those came before the pandemic and the economic environment is much different now.
Having said that, Carolina has been a team that has been a bit stingy when it comes to their off-ice personnel, instead opting to concentrate its financial resources on its on-ice talent, a strategy that has worked so far. But there are undoubtedly teams keeping tabs on this situation, LeBrun notes, and if Brind’Amour was to make it to the open market, he would get interest from elsewhere. In his latest column for The Athletic (subscription link), Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon expressed confidence that an extension will get done and Brind’Amour in the past has said that he only wants to coach in Carolina. Until that deal gets done though, he remains their most intriguing pending free agent.