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Johan Larsson Placed In COVID Protocol

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The Arizona Coyotes have placed Johan Larsson in the COVID protocol, making him unavailable for the time being. That comes just minutes after the team placed both Christian Fischer and Dmitrij Jaskin on injured reserve, recalling Hudson Fasching, Jan Jenik, and Ben McCartney in their place.

Larsson joins Andrew Ladd in the protocol, who was placed there over the weekend. The team did not confirm whether or not Larsson has tested positive, or given any indication of how long he will be out. Jaskin meanwhile is expected to miss the rest of the season, while Fischer was last listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury. He’ll have to miss at least a week with the IR designation.

For any Arizona fans hoping for a high draft pick to build the organization around, it appears they will get their wish. The team is 1-13-1 on the season and seems destined to finish in last place in the Central Division. Losing veteran players for any length of time will only provide an opportunity for younger options, though it seems unlikely that they will be able to right the ship and help the Coyotes become a competitive team. For a franchise that has seen draft picks stripped away and others flame out quickly, a strong class in 2022 is imperative.

Luckily, the team currently holds eight picks in the first two rounds, including three first-round selections, meaning there’s at least something to look forward to on the horizon.

AHL Shuffle: 11/15/21

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It’s a quiet Monday in the NHL, with only two games on the schedule for this evening. The New York Islanders will try to right the ship with a game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, while the Detroit Red Wings try to continue their impressive start in a battle against the Columbus Blue Jackets. As those teams and others prepare for action this week, we’ll keep track of all the minor league shuffling.

Atlantic Division

  • The Detroit Red Wings have placed Mitchell Stephens on injured reserve, retroactive to November 13. In his place, the team has recalled Joe Veleno, who had been up earlier this year when Tyler Bertuzzi was unable to travel to Canada. Veleno, 21, registered a goal and an assist in four games with the Red Wings and will now get another chance to show he can compete at the highest level.
  • The Toronto Maple Leafs have sent Joey Anderson back to the AHL, a curious move given they are in long-term injured reserve relief and not accruing cap space anyway. Perhaps someone else is coming up in his place, or just that they want him to get back into game action with the Toronto Marlies while they are at home. Anderson hasn’t gotten into an NHL game yet this season.
  • The Buffalo Sabres have recalled Brett Murray from the AHL, giving them an insurance option as they hit the road for one game. The team will play in Pittsburgh tomorrow before returning to Buffalo.

Metropolitan Division

  • As they head out for a road trip to the west coast, the Washington Capitals have recalled Garrett Pilon from the AHL. The 23-year-old will be the team’s only reserve forward, meaning he could potentially enter the lineup to make his season debut. With just a single NHL game under his belt, Pilon came flying out of the gate this season in the minor leagues, scoring five goals and 11 points in 13 games for the Hershey Bears.
  • The New York Rangers have assigned Greg McKegg to the AHL, suggesting that Filip Chytil may be ready to go for tomorrow’s game. McKegg has played in eight games for the Rangers this season and has failed to register a point, averaging exactly 11 minutes of ice time.
  • Josh Leivo is on his way back to the AHL, after playing twice for the Carolina Hurricanes over the weekend. With Martin Necas and Nino Niederreiter both on the ice today for practice, the Hurricanes are getting closer to full health upfront.

Central Division

Pacific Division

  • With the Vancouver Canucks on their way back to Canada for a game on Wednesday, the team has sent Jack Rathbone back to the AHL. Travis Hamonic will likely be recalled tomorrow, as he’s eligible to play again given the home date. (UPDATE: In fact, Hamonic has been recalled today, with Madison Bowey also going down to the AHL).
  • The Los Angeles Kings have recalled both Kale Clague and Austin Strand, after only sending them down yesterday. The Kings have consistently performed “paper transactions” this season to bank cap space on off days, accruing cap space even though they have Drew Doughty on long-term injured reserve. While their accruable cap space limit is still less than the $81.5MM upper limit, the Kings are still preparing for the possibility of a midseason addition should they be in a competitive position.

St. Louis Blues Recall Scott Perunovich

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It was only a matter of time before the St. Louis Blues recalled Scott Perunovich, and that date has finally come. The young defenseman was recalled this morning with the Blues sending Joel Hofer, Dakota Joshua, and Calle Rosen down to make room.

It likely would have been earlier had the Blues not dealt with COVID absences, making their cap situation even more delicate the last several weeks, but the AHL’s best player is finally getting the call. Perunovich has completely dominated the minor leagues this season, recording 20 points in 12 games for the Springfield Thunderbirds. That performance is as a rookie since the 23-year-old failed to suit up even a single time last year due to injury.

The winner of the 2020 Hobey Baker, Perunovich was expected by many to step directly into the NHL upon arrival. While it’s been a long, unexpected wait, it only allowed him to prove once again that he could be one of the most dynamic offensive defensemen at the lower level. Whether he can bring that kind of production to the NHL remains to be seen, but he’ll now finally get the chance.

Given Hofer’s assignment, it’s likely that Ville Husso will also be activated from the COVID protocol in the coming days. The backup netminder has been skating already and only needed to reach a comfortable level of fitness before rejoining the active roster. His absence, and Hofer’s recall, was part of the issue when recalling Perunovich, given the non-roster designation did not remove him from the Blues cap.

Five Key Stories: 11/8/21 – 11/14/21

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It was another busy week around the NHL with some significant news off the ice.  Those are among those highlighted in the key stories of the past seven days.

Back To Junior: A handful of NHL players that still have junior eligibility can play up to nine games without burning the first year of their entry-level deals.  Some have already gone past that threshold while others were holding their prospects out of the lineup periodically to take more time to decide their plans.  A pair of teams made their decisions as Washington assigned center Hendrix Lapierre back to Acadie-Bathurst of the QMJHL while St. Louis did the same with winger Jake Neighbours, sending him to Edmonton of the WHL.  Both players were first-round picks back in 2020 but after logging less than ten minutes a game, this decision is the right one from a development standpoint while ensuring both prospects will still have three years left on their entry-level deals heading into next season.

Successful Surgery: So far, so good for Golden Knights center Jack Eichel who successfully underwent artificial disk replacement surgery on his neck on Friday.  Now the big question becomes how long the recovery timeline will be.  Early indications have been that it will range between three and five months but with it being the first time that the procedure has been done on an NHL player, there isn’t much in the way of precedent to work with.  The recovery time will be worth following; not only will his return give Vegas an improved top line but it will also serve as the pressure point for GM Kelly McCrimmon to clear the cap space required to activate him from LTIR.

Price Returns To Montreal: Carey Price’s stay in the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program was indeed the minimum of 30 days as he returned to the Canadiens and worked with their training staff off the ice.  The veteran goaltender also released a statement regarding his absence, indicating that he entered a residential treatment facility for substance use as he works his way through neglecting his mental health for the past several years.  There remains no timeline for his return as he has yet to begin on-ice activity while Price’s statement also acknowledged the uncertainty for when he might be able to suit up again.  As for Montreal’s current goaltending situation, Jake Allen, who has filled in as the starter in Price’s absence, suffered an injury on Saturday night, leaving the team down to their third-and fourth-string options.

Key Injuries: It has been a quiet start to the season for Colorado as they sit fifth in the Central Division with a 6-5-1 record.  They’ve been hit fairly hard with injuries early on and that list grew with the announcement that top center Nathan MacKinnon will miss three weeks due to a lower-body injury.  While the veteran only has scored once in eight games, he had nine assists over that stretch and is once again one of their top scorers.  Meanwhile, the Devils won’t be getting winger Miles Wood back anytime soon as it was revealed that he underwent hip surgery and is out indefinitely.  He suffered the injury back in the preseason and with rehab not going as planned, he went under the knife instead.  The expectation is that he’ll be out for several months, a tough blow for Wood who tied for the team lead in goals last season.

Murray Resigns: Bob Murray’s tenure as general manager of the Ducks came to an abrupt end.  After being placed on administrative leave pending an investigation related to professional conduct, he tendered his resignation with an announcement that he will be enrolling in a treatment program for alcohol abuse.  Murray had been with Anaheim since 2005 and took over the GM chair during the 2008-09 season.  Jeff Solomon, who came over from the Kings this past summer, has been named their interim GM with ownership pledging to complete a “methodical, extensive search” with a target of having that completed no later than next summer.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Salary Cap Deep Dive: Edmonton Oilers

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Navigating the salary cap is one of the more important tasks for any GM.  Teams that can avoid total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful.  Those that don’t see struggles and front office changes.

PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation heading for the 2021-22 season and beyond.  This will focus more on players who are regulars on the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL.  All cap figures are courtesy of CapFriendly.

Edmonton Oilers

Current Cap Hit: $87,327,789 (over the $81.5MM Upper Limit)

Entry-Level Contracts

D Evan Bouchard (two years, $863K)

Potential Bonuses
Bouchard: $850K

Bouchard has seemingly been on the cusp for a while as Edmonton has slow-played his development and that patience looks to be well-rewarded as the 22-year-old is off to a nice start this season and has secured a spot in their top four.  An offensive blueliner, Bouchard will have a shot at putting up some good numbers over the next two seasons which could push his bridge contract into the $2MM territory; their cap situation will likely force them to go with a short-term deal, similar to their other youngsters.  Bouchard is also on pace to hit multiple ‘A’ bonuses (each worth a quarter of that bonus total above) and with them being well into LTIR, anything he reaches will come off the 2022-23 cap.

One Year Remaining, Non-Entry-Level

F Josh Archibald ($1.5MM, UFA)
F Tyler Benson ($750K, RFA)
G Mikko Koskinen ($4.5MM, UFA)
F Brendan Perlini ($750K, RFA)
F Jesse Puljujarvi ($1.175MM, RFA)
D Kris Russell ($1.25MM, UFA)
F Colton Sceviour ($750K, UFA)
G Alex Stalock ($785K, UFA)
F Kyle Turris ($1.65MM, UFA)
F Kailer Yamamoto ($1.175MM, RFA)

Puljujarvi’s second stint with Edmonton has gone a lot better than the first as the 2016 fourth-overall pick has now been able to lock down a spot in their top six and is off to quite the start this season which is always notable in a contract year.  He’ll have arbitration eligibility and if he even comes close to the point per game mark (he’s currently at 1.2), his next deal could be in the $5MM or more range.  If he drops back a bit, tripling his current AAV could be the ceiling on a short-term pact.  Yamamoto was basically stuck signing a one-year deal for cap reasons, giving him the chance to outperform it and hit arbitration with a strong case.  That hasn’t happened just yet as he’s off to a quiet start.  Still, his performance in 2019-20, even in a shortened stint, could loom large with an arbitrator; doubling his current price tag on a one-year deal certainly isn’t out of the question.

Turris looked to be a decent value signing when he joined Edmonton but that didn’t exactly go as planned.  He struggled to stay in the lineup last season, ultimately clearing waivers.  As things stand, he’s a possible PTO candidate next summer.  Archibald’s health situation has put his future for next season in question while Perlini and Sceviour are holding down roster spots that will need to be kept at the minimum.  Benson is just getting his feet wet and has been viewed as one of their better prospects in the past but he’ll need to establish himself as a regular if he wants to get more than the minimum next season.

Russell is finally now at a price tag that’s a better fit for the role he has.  He’s clearly a depth defender at this point of his career and aside from shot blocks, doesn’t bring much to the table in terms of stats.  Another dip is certainly possible and as he’ll be on a 35+ contract next year, it’s likely he’ll be going year to year from here on out.

Koskinen’s contract has not aged well for the Oilers as his inconsistency has limited him to a backup role at a high price tag for someone in that role.  He’s off to a stronger start this season which should keep him on the NHL radar (and, for the time being at least, takes him out of the ‘Worst Value’ category) but unless he really ascends to the number one spot, he could check in closer to half of his current price tag.  Stalock’s not expected to play this season due to a heart condition so at this point, it seems unlikely he’ll have a contract for next year unless he recovers and is able to return.  Even at that, it’d almost certainly be a low-cost one-year pact.

Two Years Remaining

D Duncan Keith ($5.538MM, UFA)
D Oscar Klefbom ($4.167MM, UFA)
D Slater Koekkoek ($925K, UFA)
F Devin Shore ($850K, UFA)
G Mike Smith ($2.2MM, UFA)

Shore did well enough last season to earn a two-year commitment to play a similar depth role for Edmonton.  His spot is another one that they’ll need to keep cheap based on their salary structure and if he remains in and out of the lineup or on the fourth line, Shore won’t be able to command much more of a raise.

Keith was brought over from Chicago in the offseason in a move that raised some eyebrows in terms of whether or not that was the best use of their limited cap space.  He’s playing a more limited role which is more suited to where he is at this stage of his career and is doing okay early on.  Considering he’ll be turning 40 soon after reaching free agency in 2023, it’s fair to wonder if there will be another contract for him let alone how much lower it would be.  Koekkoek opted to stick around after testing free agency and as a low-minute depth defender, it’s hard to imagine his price tag going up much moving forward.  Klefbom is once again out for the season and on LTIR and at this point, it’s reasonable to suspect that will be the case again next year and if that happens, his career is basically over.

Smith was brought back last summer after their other attempts to upgrade between the pipes didn’t pan out.  It worked out quite well for Edmonton in the end as the 39-year-old basically had his best season in almost a decade, earning him a two-year deal which is an outcome few would have expected a year and a half ago.  Even if he’s just a backup over that span, that’s still below market value for a decent second-stringer so the Oilers should get good value from his deal.

Three Years Remaining

D Tyson Barrie ($4.5MM, UFA)
F Warren Foegele ($2.75MM, UFA)
F Zack Kassian ($3.2MM, UFA)

Kassian’s contract was risky from the moment it was signed and the flattened Upper Limit hasn’t helped.  When he’s at his best, he’s a capable top-six power forward and is well worth the money.  When things aren’t going as well, he’s on the fourth line at times and isn’t close to worth it.  The inconsistency makes it hard to move him and the dimension he brings has made the Oilers want to keep him.  That all said, it’s difficult to envision a bigger contract in three years.  Foegele came over in an offseason trade from Carolina and remains in the same type of role he had with the Hurricanes.  Based on the most recent UFA market, there should be some room for a raise on Foegele’s next deal but playing in the top six more consistently would certainly bolster his chances of getting an AAV in the $3MM range.

It’s quite something how Barrie’s value has changed in recent years.  In 2019, he was coming off a career year with Colorado and it looked like an inevitability that he was heading for a significant raise on his then-$5.5MM AAV.  But things didn’t go well following a trade to Toronto and his market dropped, resulting in the one-year deal he had last season.  Even though his production jumped back up (to even better per-game numbers than he had with the Avs), he opted to forego testing the open market again, instead inking this new deal which is still lower than his last one in Colorado.  His defensive limitations are well-known but if Barrie continues to put up the points, the Oilers will get a good return on this deal.

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Eric Staal Still Hoping To Play In The NHL This Season

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As teams start to get a better feel for what they have and what they need, there should start to be some more roster movement over the coming weeks.  U.S. Thanksgiving is often viewed as the soft target for that to happen and that’s now less than two weeks away.  While that movement is often on the trade front, at least one veteran free agent center could also be in play as Pierre LeBrun reports in his latest column for The Athletic (subscription link) that Eric Staal hasn’t given up hope on playing in the NHL this season and that his agent Rick Curran is in regular contact with three or four teams who could have interest in signing him over the coming weeks.

The 37-year-old was a productive top-six player as recently as the 2019-20 season when he had 19 goals and 28 assists in 66 games with Minnesota.  However, things went off the rails last season with a tough showing in Buffalo with only ten points in 32 games before being traded to Montreal where his output dipped even further with just three points in 21 regular season contests.  However, Staal played a regular role in the playoffs during their surprising run to the Stanley Cup Final which was enough to land him inside our Top 50 UFA rankings this summer but a contract never materialized.

Back at the beginning of training camp, it was reported that Staal’s preference was to return to Minnesota but that was never really in the cards.  Beyond that, he was hoping to catch on with a team in the United States although being unsigned this long into the season, he may not have the luxury of being too selective if his goal is simply to catch on somewhere.

At this stage, all that Staal can likely hope for is a league minimum contract worth a pro-rated $750K although he is eligible for performance bonuses as well as long as he signs a one-year deal which is basically a certainty.  He sits just seven games shy of 1,300 for his career and even though he isn’t currently signed, it looks like Staal may very well be able to get to that milestone if one of those interested teams decides to pull the trigger on making a tweak to their roster in the coming weeks.

Injury Notes: Canadiens, Pitlick, Sullivan

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Ahead of Sunday’s road tilt for the Montreal Canadiens against the Boston Bruins, head coach Dominique Ducharme provided injury updates regarding a few Canadiens players. After leaving Saturday’s game against the Detroit Red Wings, goaltender Jake Allen has been assigned a day-to-day status while he undergoes evaluation for a more detailed evaluation. Allen left the contest after a net-front play which resulted in him colliding with Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin. Ducharme also notes that Mike Hoffman is absent from the lineup with an upper-body injury and is listed as day-to-day, as Adam Brooks draws into the lineup in his place. It’s Hoffman’s second instance of injury this season, missing the team’s first three games of the season with a lower-body injury.

  • Calgary Flames forward Tyler Pitlick is absent from Sunday afternoon’s game against the Ottawa Senators with a lower-body injury. He’s classified as day-to-day, per the team. Forward Walker Duehr was inserted into the lineup, making his NHL debut. Pitlick has just two assists in 12 games this season, playing a bottom-six role, but remains a strong defensive presence if nothing else.
  • After being activated from the league’s COVID-19 protocols today, Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan doesn’t think he’ll be available for Thursday night’s game in Montreal due to border restrictions. Sullivan will be behind the bench for Sunday’s game against Washington and Tuesday’s game against Buffalo barring any unforeseen circumstances. The Penguins have dropped three out of five as they finally look to be close to healthy for the first time this season.

Predators’ Mark Borowiecki To Face Player Safety Hearing

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3:34 p.m.: Per the Department of Player Safety, there will be no supplemental discipline assessed to Borowiecki. A Twitter statement relays that “after a hearing and a review of all available angles, [the Department has] determined that Borowiecki is braced for contact and does not extend or otherwise direct his knee into Jaskin in a way that merits further discipline.

10:58 a.m.: The Nashville Predators could be about to lose a veteran defenseman for some time, as the NHL Department of Player Safety has announced that they will have a hearing with Mark Borowiecki on Sunday. The league will review Borowiecki’s kneeing penalty from Saturday night, which forced the Arizona Coyotes’ Dmitrij Jaskin from the game.

As far as suspension hearings go, this should be as close to a prima facie case as they come. Borowiecki clearly targets Jaskin with a knee-to-knee hit as the forward slows up at the red line while carrying the puck in transition (video). The referees did not miss the blatant contact, awarding Borowiecki a five-minute major and game misconduct. The Coyotes took notice as well, with Antoine Roussel jumping in to fight Borowiecki, adding another five minutes to his count. It will be hard for Borowiecki to argue that the contact was purely incidental when everyone else on the ice saw it as purposeful.

If Player Safety takes into account whether the victim of the penalty was injured and the severity of the injury, as they typically do, that could result in an even longer absence for Borowiecki. There was no question that Jaskin was hurt on the play, as he had to be helped from the ice and did not return to the game, but the initial outlook of the injury is far worse than just that. PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan relays word from Arizona head coach Andre Tourigny that Jaskin is expected to be out “really long term” as a result of the kneeing infraction. He adds that Jaskin could miss the rest of the season.

Borowiecki has been suspended three times previously in his NHL career, but not since 2018 and never for boarding. Regardless, is very likely to add a fourth to his resume today and the only real question is the length.

Ottawa Senators Place Drake Batherson In COVID-19 Protocol

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Per the team’s communications department, the Ottawa Senators placed forward Drake Batherson in the NHL’s COVID-19 Protocol on Sunday.

Batherson becomes the fifth Sens forward and tenth Sens player overall now listed as non-roster due to COVID-19. It’s a tough loss for an already depleted Senators team, as Batherson leads them in scoring with 16 points in just 14 games.

Andrew Agozzino is the team’s only extra healthy forward on the active roster, and he’ll make his season debut for Ottawa Sunday afternoon against the Calgary Flames. Ottawa is now down to just five forwards in AHL Belleville under active contract, but they have three other forwards on loan who could theoretically be recalled to the team in an emergency.

Depending on how head coach D.J. Smith shuffles the team’s lines on Sunday, offseason acquisition Zach Sanford could get a look in the top-six in place of Batherson. Sanford has just three points in 14 games and hasn’t quite been what Senators fans had hoped.

They’ll need increased minutes and performance from Joshua Norris and new captain Brady Tkachuk to help the team stay afloat.

Riley Sheahan And Leo Komarov Placed On Waivers

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November 14: Komarov made his move to the KHL’s SKA St. Petersburg today, announcing it via an Instagram post. Komarov expects to join SKA “soon.”

November 13: A pair of veterans are on the waiver wire today as James Mirtle of The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that the Kraken have placed center Riley Sheahan on waivers while the Islanders have done the same with Leo Komarov.

Sheahan signed with Seattle at the beginning of September to give them some extra depth down the middle, inking a one-year, $850K contract.  However, he has had a limited role this season, logging just 11:28 per game, the lowest average of his career, while tallying just a goal and two assists in 14 games this season.  With Colin Blackwell set to make his Kraken debut tonight – per The Athletic’s Ryan S. Clark (Twitter link) – it will be Sheahan that loses his roster spot.  With center depth typically being something that teams covet, there is a reasonable chance that the 29-year-old could be claimed.

The same can’t be said for Komarov, who has cleared waivers several times including last month.  A report surfaced earlier this week that Komarov was expected to head back overseas and join SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL and today’s placement on unconditional waivers paves the way for that move to be made official on Saturday.  Assuming this is indeed the end of Komarov’s time in North America, he’ll leave with 170 points in 491 career NHL contests to go along with a whopping 1,572 hits.  Once his deal is terminated, the Islanders will free up $1.875MM in cap room.

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