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Vancouver Canucks Place Quinn Hughes In COVID Protocol

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Another high-profile name is unavailable as teams return from the All-Star break, as the Vancouver Canucks have placed Quinn Hughes in the COVID protocol. Players were due for one more round of testing as they rejoined teammates regardless of symptoms, and now Hughes has joined the likes of his brother Jack Hughes, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, and Evgeni Malkin in the protocol.

General manager Jim Rutherford has already confirmed to Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK TV that Hughes will miss the next three games at least, and the team hopes to have him back on February 17 against the San Jose Sharks.

Despite the Canucks struggles for most of this season, Hughes is having another outstanding offensive campaign with 34 points in 45 games. Incredibly, he’s averaging more than 25 minutes a night for the club and even set a high of 31:07 in an overtime game against the Calgary Flames. The smooth-skating defenseman is the most important skater on the team and will be desperately missed over the next week.

Vancouver is back in action tomorrow night against the Arizona Coyotes as they try to climb their way back into the Pacific Division playoff picture. Currently sitting at 20-20-6, decisions will soon have to be made on what to do with several trade candidates.

Evgeni Malkin Placed In COVID Protocol

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When the reduced testing procedures were announced, there was always a chance that many players would end up in the COVID protocols when the All-Star break ended. There would be one last round of tests for everyone as they rejoined their respective clubs before asymptomatic testing stops. After Jack Hughes and Jesperi Kotkaniemi both entered the protocol yesterday, another Metropolitan center has joined them. Evgeni Malkin is now in the COVID protocol and unavailable for the Pittsburgh Penguins, who have recalled Valtteri Puustinen and Michael Chaput in response.

Losing Malkin is a tough blow for the Penguins as they return and get set for a three-game road trip to start the unofficial second half. Pittsburgh is set to travel to Boston to take on the Bruins tomorrow, before heading to Ottawa and New Jersey. There’s a chance that Malkin could return for that Sunday game against the Devils, though with it being an afternoon tilt the timing may be difficult.

The 35-year-old has been excellent since returning from injury, scoring 13 points in 12 games including at least one in each of his last nine. Already missing the likes of Teddy Blueger and Jason Zucker, the Penguins’ depth is certainly being tested.

Puustinen, meanwhile, is receiving just his first recall to the NHL after signing an entry-level deal last spring. The 22-year-old forward was a star in Finland the past two seasons, and has 27 points in 40 games with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins this year. Undersized, he may be able to give the team a bit of an offensive punch in certain situations.

Five Key Stories: 1/31/22 – 2/6/22

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With the NHL off for several days due to the All-Star break, it was a fairly quiet week around the league although there was still some news of note which is recapped in our top stories.

Updated COVID Protocols: The NHL and NHLPA jointly announced several changes to their COVID protocol.  Notable among the changes is the removal of the enhanced safety measures put in earlier in the season as well as removing the daily testing requirement for fully vaccinated players as well as lifting the testing requirement for close contacts.  That should result in a significant reduction in the number of players of COVID protocol but it won’t eliminate them entirely as earlier today, New Jersey’s Jack Hughes and Carolina’s Jesperi Kotkaniemi both entered COVID protocol.

Columbus Injuries: The Blue Jackets have had a tough year on the injury front this season and that trend continued with two more injuries.  First, defenseman Jake Bean will be out for four weeks due to a groin strain.  The 23-year-old has impressed after coming over from Carolina in a draft day trade, logging more than 21 minutes a night on the back end, good for third among Columbus blueliners.  Two days later, winger Eric Robinson was ruled out for six weeks due to an MCL sprain sustained on a hit from Florida’s Radko Gudas.  Robinson has 17 points in 42 games this season and is one point away from matching his career high.

Three For Greenway: The Wild took care of one of their pending restricted free agents early, inking winger Jordan Greenway to a three-year, $9MM contract extension.  The 24-year-old is in the final year of his bridge deal and would have been owed a $2.52MM qualifying offer this summer.  This contract gives him a bit more than that while Minnesota locks in a power forward at an affordable price.  While they likely would have preferred to work out a long-term pact, their cap situation for next season with higher buyout costs for Zach Parise and Ryan Suter would have made that difficult.  Greenway also received an eight-team no-trade clause in the final season of the deal, the only year he was eligible for trade protection as it’s the only UFA-eligible year covered in the contract.

Verbeek To Anaheim: After running with Jeff Solomon as their interim GM for close to three months, the Ducks made their decision on who their next GM will be, hiring Pat Verbeek away from Detroit.  Verbeek has spent the last 15 seasons in an NHL front office, working his way up from being a scout to an assistant GM and this will be his first opportunity to run a franchise.  With three prominent pending unrestricted free agents in defensemen Josh Manson and Hampus Lindholm plus winger Rickard Rakell, Verbeek will have his work cut out for him quickly.  Meanwhile, the Red Wings wasted little time finding Verbeek’s replacement, promoting Shawn Horcoff to assistant GM and GM of AHL Grand Rapids.  The long-time NHL center has been in Detroit’s front office since retiring back in 2016.

Key Events Revealed: As is often the case at the All-Star Game, the league revealed some of their key events for next season.  The 2023 Winter Classic will be hosted by Boston at Fenway Park with an opponent yet to be determined.  Carolina will host a Stadium Series game at Carter-Finley Stadium, home of the NC State Wolfpack for their first-ever outdoor contest.  Also, Florida will host the All-Star game on February 3rd and 4th.  The NHL also intends to resume their Global Series although that was also the plan for this season before that was scrapped due to COVID.

Maple Leafs Notes: Deadline Plan, Cap Room, Trade Preference, AHL Conversions

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Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas met with reporters today (video link) and indicated that with their limited salary cap space, he wants to wait as long as possible before trying to make a move to bolster his team before the trade deadline.  Toronto, like several contenders, will probably only have enough cap room to make one addition of note and with them not being in LTIR (unlike several contenders), there’s a direct benefit to waiting until closer to deadline day on March 21st when they will have been able to bank more room and there will be less money to take on.

More from Dubas regarding the Maple Leafs:

  • To help create some of that cap space, veterans Nick Ritchie and Kyle Clifford will report to AHL Toronto now with the taxi squads gone. While they can clear Clifford’s $1MM price tag entirely, they won’t be able to clear all of Ritchie’s $2.5MM AAV and will carry a pro-rated $1.375MM charge while he’s with the Marlies.  It’s also likely that they’ll try to go with a minimum-sized roster or close to it when they can; both Timothy Liljegren and Rasmus Sandin can be moved back and forth without requiring waivers.
  • Dubas also reiterated his desire to trade for someone signed beyond this season although fitting that player in next year may be tricky with Morgan Rielly’s extension kicking in and the Upper Limit expected to only be slightly above the $81.5MM mark that it’s currently at. Toronto has over $74MM in commitments for next season to just 14 players, per CapFriendly, with starting goalie Jack Campbell eligible for unrestricted free agency this summer.
  • Dubas was non-committal about whether or not he’d convert Josh Ho-Sang to an NHL deal following the Olympics. There were reports that such a move was being considered but it was put on hold once it was clear that Ho-Sang would be suiting up for Canada in that event.  Dubas referenced former NHL forwards Antti Suomela and Joseph Blandisi plus winger Curtis Douglas as others they’re monitoring to see whether or not they’re worth converting to NHL contracts.

Snapshots: Senators Injuries, Kastelic, Teravainen, Kuzmenko

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The Senators will get some help on the injury front for their game against New Jersey on Monday as Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports (Twitter link) that defenseman Nikita Zaitsev, winger Connor Brown, and center Dylan Gambrell will all return to the lineup.  Zaitsev has been out for nearly two months due to a heel injury, Brown has missed just under a month with a broken jaw, and Gambrell has been out for a couple of weeks with an upper-body injury.  Gambrell and Zaitsev will need to be activated off injured reserve but the Sens carried a minimum-sized roster through the All-Star break so no corresponding moves will need to be made.

More from around the hockey world:

  • Still with Ottawa, the Senators announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled center Mark Kastelic from Belleville of the AHL. The 22-year-old made his NHL debut late last month and has played in three games for Ottawa this season, averaging just under eight minutes a game while winning over 72% of his faceoffs.  Kastelic has a dozen points in 34 games at the AHL level.
  • While the Hurricanes were hoping that winger Teuvo Teravainen would be good to go following the All-Star break, it appears his lingering lower-body injury hasn’t healed as well as the team hoped. Instead, as Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News & Observer notes (Twitter link), Teravainen is listed as a game-time decision for their game against Toronto on Monday.  He has missed the last two games due to the injury.
  • Free agent winger Andrei Kuzmenko will miss the Olympics due to an unspecified injury, relays Steven Ellis of The Hockey News. The 25-year-old wrapped up the KHL season in second place in KHL scoring with 53 points in 45 games with SKA St. Petersburg and is expected to make the jump to North America next season and sign with an NHL team.  While the KHL called the rest of their regular season yesterday, their playoffs will get started after the Olympics so that announcement won’t affect when Kuzmenko will sign.

Latest On Arizona Coyotes Arena Plan

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The long, arduous, and sometimes hilarious process of finding a home for the Arizona Coyotes past this season will likely reach a higher level of clarity soon. A public summary of an upcoming Arizona Board of Regents meeting states that Arizona State University will officially review the Coyotes’ plan to play home games at the school’s currently-under-construction multipurpose arena this upcoming Thursday.

There are multiple things of note in this plan. The most pertinent one is the question of financial responsibility. As rumored earlier, modifications to the original construction project will need to be put in place to accommodate an NHL franchise. Per the plan, the Coyotes will be financially responsible for building a 15,000-square-foot facility annexed to the northeast end of the arena, including NHL-caliber locker rooms, training areas, team storage, and coaching offices. The team will also foot the bill for increasing broadcast capabilities, improving ice surfacing equipment, replay capabilities, and other technological aspects to meet NHL standards.

However, the most striking part has to do with the completion date of the project. While the original plan is still on track to be completed in November of 2022 to house Arizona State’s hockey team, the NHL modifications will take until December to complete. That, according to the document, appears to be when the Coyotes would play their first home game of the 2022-23 season. If that holds true, the team will be faced with a similar situation as the New York Islanders this year, and would likely need to play 10 to 15 straight games on the road to open the season, something that could be seriously detrimental to a team that depends so much on gate revenue.

That may not have to be a reality, though. Coyotes insider Craig Morgan reports that an NHL source believes a workaround could be in place to host Coyotes games there prior to the completion of NHL facilities, allowing them to host home games prior to December.

The Board of Regents document confirms the team’s intention to play home games there for the 2022-23, 2023-24, and 2024-25 campaigns.

Devils Notes: Hamilton, White, Ruff

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After the news of Jack Hughes entering COVID-19 protocol today, Devils fans are understandably stressed. There’s some good news on the horizon, though, as it appears defenseman Dougie Hamilton is making progress towards his return to the lineup. Team reporter Amanda Stein said today that although Hamilton did not join his teammates for practice today, the veteran defenseman did skate by himself this morning. Hamilton’s been limited to 30 of 45 games this season with various injuries, but he’s now been out of the lineup for over a month with a broken jaw. His 20 points in 30 games are by far the best scoring pace by a Devils defenseman this season, and while his defensive game has stuttered a few times this season, expect more consistent playing time in his new system to aid with that.

More notes from the Devils organization:

  • The team made a shift on defense today, calling up defenseman Colton White from the AHL’s Utica Comets. While Mason Geertsen can play defense, he’s been utilized mostly at forward this season when in the lineup. With that, the Devils had no extra healthy defensemen with the team with the dissipation of taxi squads across the league over the All-Star break. White brings 15 games of NHL experience this year back to the roster, notching three assists.
  • Stein also reports that head coach Lindy Ruff will return to the team later today in Ottawa ahead of their game against the Senators tomorrow. Ruff was away from the team in Western Canada after the passing of his father. Assistant Alain Nasreddine coached the team in his absence and ran the team’s practice today.

Devils Add Jack Hughes To COVID-19 Protocol

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New Jersey Devils center and recent NHL All-Star Game champion Jack Hughes has landed on the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol list, per the team.

Hughes was in Las Vegas just yesterday playing in the All-Star Game and was around the league’s top competition all weekend, obviously sparking some concern that Hughes could be the first player of a potential outbreak to come out of the event as players return to their teams.

Devils team reporter Amanda Stein reported that Hughes “momentarily” joined his teammates on the ice for practice today, but was soon pulled from the ice.

Hughes is second on the Devils in points with 27, but has achieved the number in just 28 games due to injury, playing at nearly a point-per-game pace. He trails linemate Jesper Bratt, whose breakout year has seen him pot 14 goals and 27 assists for 41 points in 42 games.

With Hughes out of the lineup, it could mean elevated ice time for rookie Dawson Mercer, who’s impressed in his first set of NHL games this year. He’s fifth on the team with 23 points, averaging a tick over 16 minutes a night.

Jesperi Kotkaniemi Enters COVID-19 Protocol

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Carolina Hurricanes forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi entered the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol today, the team announced on Twitter.

Kotkaniemi becomes the only Hurricanes player in COVID protocol. With the NHL scaling back testing protocol and slowly loosening COVID restrictions, there’s almost surely going to be a decrease in the frequency of players entering the protocol.

After signing a one-year, $6MM offer sheet to join the Hurricanes organization this summer, Kotkaniemi is on pace for a career season despite a limited role and limits. Most often seeing usage in the team’s bottom-six, the 21-year-old Kotkaniemi has nine goals and 11 assists for 20 points in 42 games, on pace to eclipse his career-high of 34 points set during his rookie campaign with the Montreal Canadiens in 2018-19.

It’s a tough break for the Hurricanes, who’ll likely lose a valuable depth piece for a few games. Assuming Kotkaniemi misses games within the normal five-day quarantine period, he’ll miss the team’s next three contests and could potentially return on February 12th in St. Paul against the Minnesota Wild.

The news comes as the team’s general manager Don Waddell said yesterday that the team hopes to sign a long-term contract extension. Kotkaniemi is a restricted free agent this offseason.

Maple Leafs’ Jake Muzzin Returns To Practice

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After missing over two weeks with a concussion, The Leafs Nation’s David Alter reports that defenseman Jake Muzzin is back at team practice today.

Muzzin’s last appearance for Toronto was January 15th, credited with four shots on goal in a rollercoaster 6-5 win against the St. Louis Blues. He’s been out since, putting pressure on Toronto’s defensive depth to step up.

With Toronto playing tomorrow, the first day of NHL games post-All-Star break, they were one of the few teams league-wide to hold a practice.

Through 35 games played this season, Muzzin has a goal and 10 assists for 11 points in 35 games. He’s one of just three players on the active roster with a negative plus-minus rating, a sign of what’s been a tough season for him personally.

Alter also reports that Muzzin wasn’t utilized in the regular defense pairing rotation at practice, though, a sign that his return may not be coming tomorrow against the Carolina Hurricanes. It’s possible that Rasmus Sandin continues to get a look in the team’s top four alongside Justin Holl, in what’s been a solid breakout season for the young Sandin.

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