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Archives for October 2022

Jake Oettinger To Be Re-Evaluated In A Week

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The Dallas Stars have lost young star goaltender Jake Oettinger for the next little while, after he pulled himself out of Saturday’s game. General manager Jim Nill told reporters including Saad Yousuf of The Athletic that Oettinger will be re-evaluated in a week’s time for the lower-body injury he is dealing with.

Now, the Stars face a difficult issue. The team cannot recall Anton Khudobin without making a significant cap move, like putting Oettinger on long-term injured reserve. The only other two netminders signed to NHL contracts are Adam Scheel and Remi Poirier, who both are playing in the ECHL. Matthew Murray, Khudobin’s partner, is signed to an AHL contract and would have to be signed to an NHL deal in order to be recalled. None of the three has any NHL experience.

That mean’s it is the Scott Wedgewood show, for the time being, something that would’ve been difficult to predict when he was being claimed off waivers by the Arizona Coyotes almost exactly a year ago. While Wedgewood has shown an ability to play at the NHL level in the past, he only actually has 80 appearances and is 0-2-1 this season with an .880 save percentage.

These in-between injuries – ones that don’t keep a player out for more than ten games, thus removing the possibility of LTIR – have become increasingly difficult for some teams to deal with, given cap constraints. As clubs continue to push their salary chart right up to the cap ceiling, they remove any room for in-season maneuvering.

For Oettinger, it’s a difficult break during what was shaping up to be his true breakout season. After starring in last year’s playoffs, he had an incredible .952 save percentage so far, only allowing nine goals on 186 shots. Hopefully the 23-year-old will be able to quickly recover from this injury and get back in the net to continue his early Vezina contention.

T.J. Oshie Out Indefinitely With Lower-Body Injury

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The Washington Capitals haven’t updated T.J. Oshie’s status after exiting Saturday’s game early other than to tell reporters including Samantha Pell of the Washington Post that he is out indefinitely. Oshie did not travel with the team to Carolina and will not play in tonight’s game.

John Carlson is also out with a lower-body injury and will not play tonight, but the team designated him as day-to-day. That suggests Oshie’s indefinite timeline is longer than that, a substantial blow for a team that is already without Nicklas Backstrom, Tom Wilson, Connor Brown, and Carl Hagelin due to various injuries. With Oshie exiting early, Conor Sheary played a season-high 18:55 in the win over Nashville.

The 35-year-old Oshie had scored five points in his first six games of the season but was held off the scoresheet in the two games previous to Saturday’s tilt. The veteran winger still plays a ton for the Capitals, including as a key part of their first powerplay unit. Hopefully, this new injury isn’t one that keeps him out too long, especially given his experience last season.

Oshie played just 44 games and had the worst statistical season of his career, scoring just 11 goals and 25 points. Signed through 2024-25, getting him back to full strength will be important for the Capitals’ contention in the Metropolitan Division.

Guillaume Brisebois Assigned To AHL

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With Ethan Bear on the way in and Quinn Hughes nearing a return, the Vancouver Canucks have assigned Guillaume Brisebois to the AHL. The move comes directly after the best game of Brisebois’ career, which included his first NHL point – an assist on J.T. Miller’s empty-net goal.

Brisebois, 25, played nearly 19 minutes in the game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, and legitimately looked like he could handle himself at the NHL level. If that’s true, it’s a nice place for the Canucks to be in, considering how thin their defensive depth looked just a few days ago. The team now has two-straight wins after their brutal start and things have calmed down in the Vancouver market (for the time being).

Hughes was on the ice at practice yesterday, and told reporters including Ben Kuzma of The Province that he would likely would have played if the team had games Sunday or today. Instead, the group is set to take on his brother Jack Hughes and the New Jersey Devils tomorrow night.

Bear, too, joined the group yesterday after his acquisition from the Carolina Hurricanes and appears ready to get into the lineup. The 25-year-old defenseman hasn’t played a game yet this season after scoring 14 points in 58 appearances last year.

Nashville Predators Recall Jordan Gross

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The Nashville Predators have recalled defenseman Jordan Gross from the AHL, giving them an extra body as they head out on a five-game road trip. To make room, the team has moved Mark Borowiecki to injured reserve.

Borowiecki last played on October 22, when he suffered a scary injury that saw him stretchered off the ice. He was discharged from the hospital later that night and was deemed to have “no major issues.” Given that his IR placement will be retroactive to that game, he can be activated whenever he is healthy enough to return.

Gross, meanwhile, comes up as an emergency option that likely isn’t going to get much playing time. The Predators still have six other defensemen on the roster, and the 27-year-old doesn’t have much experience at the NHL level. Undrafted, Gross was a free agent signing in 2018 by the Arizona Coyotes and has played ten games in the NHL, recording four points.

Still, he did win the Eddie Shore Award as the AHL’s best defenseman last season, after putting up 65 points in 61 games. The Predators also rewarded him with a two-year contract that will be one-way in 2023-24, suggesting that they see him as a legitimate depth piece that could play games if necessary.

Cole Cassels Returning To AHL

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A minor league veteran has decided to come back to North America, as Cole Cassels has terminated his contract with Sodertalje SK of the Swedish second league and is expected to sign with the Belleville Senators.

Cassels, 27, has played parts of two seasons with Belleville in the past, including in 2020-21 when he had 17 points in 31 games. The 2013 third-round pick has six full seasons in the AHL but tried his hand overseas this year. It didn’t go well, with zero goals and just two points in 13 games, so Cassels is returning to a place he knows well.

Son of Andrew Cassels, the long-time NHL forward, Cole never did live up to his draft pedigree and hasn’t played a single game at the highest level. Still, he is a solid minor league player that can give the struggling Belleville squad some added depth as they try to compete in the tough North Division. He will likely not be signing an NHL contract, meaning he cannot be recalled to Ottawa.

Pittsburgh Penguins Recall Drew O’Connor; Assign Drake Caggiula

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The Pittsburgh Penguins have made a roster swap, recalling Drew O’Connor from the AHL and sending Drake Caggiula down. The latter cleared waivers earlier this month and can be assigned without risk.

O’Connor, 24, is off to a nice start with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, scoring six points in his first eight games. That is actually worse than his career pace in the AHL, as the big winger has scored nearly a point per game since signing with the Penguins in 2020. Undrafted, O’Connor became a star at Dartmouth College and has been a nice depth piece for the organization over the last couple of seasons.

In 2021-22, he played 22 games for Pittsburgh scoring three goals and five points. In the midst of a four-game losing streak, the club needed to change something up, and adding the hard-working O’Connor could give the lineup a little jolt.

Caggiula, meanwhile, has been rather invisible for the Penguins since joining the organization this summer. In four games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, he registered one assist, and his three matches with Pittsburgh have come and gone without any scoresheet interaction. Caggiula has no points, no penalty minutes, and just two shots on goal in his limited minutes.

The Penguins return home from a disappointing road trip to face the Boston Bruins tomorrow night.

Five Key Stories: 10/24/22 – 10/30/22

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The final full week of October is in the books and we started to see some activity on the trade front while there was some notable injury news as well.  Those are among the topics in our key stories of the week.

Not Hanging Them Up Yet: While Carey Price has already been ruled out for the season with a particularly grim outlook on his ability to return, he indicated that he hasn’t given up hope of eventually returning.  The veteran is dealing with considerable knee pain and is hesitant to undergo surgery, one that only carries a 50/50 chance of success and could lead to some long-term problems if it doesn’t go well.  Instead, he’s holding out hope that rest and rehab will eventually give him a chance to return to the ice.  Price is signed through 2025-26 with a $10.5MM AAV and will be on LTIR for Montreal for that entire stretch unless he’s able to return.

More Flyers Injuries: The Flyers entered today in first place in the Metropolitan Division despite missing several regulars due to injuries.  That list grew as winger James van Riemsdyk underwent finger surgery that will force him to miss four-to-six weeks, hardly an ideal situation for someone in a contract year.  On top of that, while they were hoping that Sean Couturier would be back sooner than later, he stopped skating and it was revealed that he’ll be out for three to four months as he works his way back from a back injury.  Veterans Cam Atkinson and Ryan Ellis have yet to play for Philadelphia this season as well with the latter likely to miss the entire season.

Back Early: The Bruins were expected to be without Brad Marchand until late November after undergoing double hip surgery back in May.  Players sometimes come back a bit earlier than expected but rarely do they beat the expected timeline by a month.  However, that’s exactly what Marchand did as he returned with a bang, picking up three points in his season debut.  He won’t play in back-to-backs for now as he eases his way back into the lineup but Boston has to be thrilled that one of their top performers is back as they look to maintain their hot start that has seen them lose just once this season.  Veteran Mike Reilly was sent to the minors to create the cap space to activate Marchand.

Making Moves: The trade market is typically slow this time of year but that didn’t stop Vancouver from making a couple of swaps.  First, they acquired forward Jack Studnicka from Boston in exchange for goaltender Michael DiPietro and prospect defenseman Jonathan Myrenberg.  Studnicka was a productive player in junior but it hasn’t translated to much success in the pros so the Canucks will try to coax that production out of him.  Meanwhile, they made a move to shore up an injury-depleted back end, picking up Ethan Bear and AHL forward Lane Pederson from Carolina in exchange for a fifth-round pick with the Hurricanes retaining $400K of Bear’s $2.2MM salary.  It wasn’t that long ago that Bear was viewed as a possible long-term part of Edmonton’s back end and with the injuries they have, he’ll have a chance to step in and play an impact role right away.

Losing A Key Center: Expectations are high in Ottawa this season as their young players are expected to take a step forward while they added several key veterans.  Joshua Norris is one of the youngsters they had high expectations for as their top center but he’ll be out for the next three to five months due to a shoulder injury.  While head coach D.J. Smith is holding out hope that the 23-year-old will be able to return this season, he acknowledged that he’s not overly confident of that which suggests the longer end of that recovery timeline is the likeliest one.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Salary Cap Deep Dive: Nashville Predators

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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 for the 2022-23 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.

Nashville Predators

Current Cap Hit: $80,873,601 (under the $82.5MM Upper Limit)

Entry-Level Contracts

None

Signed Through 2022-23, Non-Entry-Level

D Mark Borowiecki ($900K, UFA)
D Alexandre Carrier ($733K, RFA)
D Dante Fabbro ($2.4MM, RFA)
F Cody Glass ($874K, RFA)
F Tanner Jeannot ($800K, RFA)
G Kevin Lankinen ($1.5MM, UFA)
F Michael McCarron ($750K, UFA)
F Zach Sanford ($850K, UFA)
F Kiefer Sherwood ($750K, UFA)
F Cole Smith ($750K, UFA)

It feels like Glass is in a make-or-break year.  After spending most of last season in the minors, he broke camp with Nashville and has been a regular early on.  Young centers with size get long leashes and simply holding down a regular role will earn him another opportunity, albeit at one that isn’t much higher priced than this.  But if he can’t do that, they could look to move on.  That won’t be the case for Jeannot who became an impact power forward last season and is off to a strong start this year.  If he tops the 20-goal mark again, comparable contracts elsewhere could push him past the $5MM mark, especially with arbitration eligibility.

As for the pending UFAs, Sanford didn’t have a particularly strong market this summer and quickly settled for this contract with the hopes of rebuilding his value.  With limited minutes early on, that’s unlikely to happen and accordingly, his next deal should come in close to this one.  Smith has held a regular role early but with limited NHL experience prior to this season, he’d be hard-pressed to pass the $1MM mark unless he picks things up offensively.  McCarron and Sherwood have bounced between the NHL and the minors in recent years and are likely heading for contracts at or near the minimum again.

Fabbro was once viewed as a future top-four piece but his average ice time is down considerably this season and is fifth among Nashville defenders.  A $2.4MM qualifying offer with arbitration rights is a bit on the high side for a fifth blueliner and if he doesn’t recover from his slow start, he could be a candidate for a change of scenery.  If he rebounds and gets back to the 19-minute ATOI mark, a small raise to the $3MM range could be doable.  Borowiecki is best utilized as a seventh defender at this point of his career and players like that aren’t likely to surpass $1MM on their contracts.  If he sticks around next year, it’ll be at a similar price point.  Carrier has worked his way into a regular role and logged nearly 21 minutes a game last season.  With one year of RFA eligibility remaining, the Preds will likely want to work out a multi-year deal that could push his cost into the $3MM range.

Lankinen is another free agent signing that is looking to rebuild his value after a tough year in Chicago.  A bounce-back year could make him one of the more intriguing UFAs next summer as he’ll only be 28.  A strong showing might be enough to push him closer to the $2.5MM AAV range on a multi-year deal.

Signed Through 2023-24

F Nino Niederreiter ($4MM, UFA)
F Eeli Tolvanen ($1.45MM, RFA)
F Yakov Trenin ($1.7MM, UFA)

Niederreiter’s first trip through unrestricted free agency wasn’t as successful as he likely hoped as he had to settle for a pay cut.  The market for secondary wingers isn’t as strong as it was a few years ago but in 2024, there should be a higher jump in the salary cap which could give him a chance to get closer to the $5MM mark if he’s productive with the Preds.  Trenin only has had one full season under his belt but had 17 goals in that year which gave him a bit of leverage this summer.  This is basically another bridge deal to see if he can repeat that type of production.  If so, he could add another million in free agency but if not, he’s likely looking at a small dip.  Tolvanen has shown flashes of upside over the last couple of seasons but hasn’t been able to put together a consistently productive season yet.  If he can get to the 20-goal mark and cement himself as part of Nashville’s future core, he could more than double this contract.  If not, his last RFA year should be closer to $2MM.

Signed Through 2024-25

F Mikael Granlund ($5MM, UFA)
F Ryan Johansen ($8MM, UFA)
G Juuse Saros ($5MM, UFA)

Johansen had some tough seasons but last year was arguably his best, at least in his time with the Predators.  He still didn’t put up top-line production but he played a big role in Nashville having two strong scoring lines.  He’ll be 33 when this deal is up and at this point, it still seems safe to forecast a dip in his salary, even if he remains around the 60-point mark.  Granlund had by far his best season with Nashville last year and is off to a similar start this year.  He doesn’t score very often anymore but as an all-situations veteran that is spending more time at center than he used to, he’s filling an important role.  He’ll also be 33 when this contract is up and if he’s still logging 20 minutes a night, he could get a little more at that time as long as his production doesn’t go back to what it was a couple of years ago.

Saros has certainly established himself as a quality starter after playing more than 40 games for the first time last season.  He’s undersized which scares a lot of teams off but if he has three more seasons like last year (one that saw him finish third in Vezina Trophy voting), he should have a strong market that could push his AAV past the $7MM mark.

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West Notes: Golden Knights, Boeser, Blackhawks

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It has been an eventful first few seasons in the NHL for the Golden Knights.  Vegas reached the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural year but they haven’t made it back since while the team has made several shakeup trades plus a pair of coaching changes.  Despite the heavy turnover, owner Bill Foley told Danny Webster of the Las Vegas Sun that he has full confidence in the management team of GM Kelly McCrimmon and President of Hockey Operations George McPhee:

We’re a team. I’m 100% in with them and with Bruce. I didn’t get involved in this team to just be another team that goes along like a typical expansion team, winning 24 games in their first season, then win 30 the next season, make the playoffs in six or seven years.

We’ve been all-in from Day 1. I know a lot of fans are saying, “Gee, you’ve made so many changes.” It was all done with the design to win. That’s what we’re doing. George and Kelly are right there with me. I believe we’ve put together a solid group of solid core players.

With Robin Lehner being out for the season, expectations were a little lower heading into this year.  However, the tandem of Logan Thompson and Adin Hill has fared quite well so far with the Golden Knights allowing the fewest goals in the league heading into today’s action.  That has them in first in the Pacific in the early going but with only $16 in LTIR space left, they’ll be hard-pressed to add to their roster.

Elsewhere in the West:

  • On top of potentially getting Quinn Hughes back soon, the Canucks could also get some help up front as Ben Kuzma of the Vancouver Province relays (Twitter link) that winger Brock Boeser is expected to meet with team doctors on Monday in the hopes of being cleared to return. The 25-year-old has missed the last three games with an undisclosed injury and was placed on IR on Wednesday.  He has to miss seven days and it doesn’t appear as if the placement was backdated so Tuesday’s game might not be doable for Boeser but it looks like his absence will be a short one.
  • Blackhawks defenseman Ian Mitchell was initially ruled out for six weeks with a hand injury that occurred nearly six weeks ago. However, Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times notes (Twitter link) that the 23-year-old has just resumed stickhandling and is nowhere near a return.  Mitchell is in the final year of his entry-level deal and after spending most of last season with AHL Rockford, a longer-than-expected absence isn’t exactly the start to the year he was hoping for.  Meanwhile, goaltender Petr Mrazek has resumed skating but the team will be cautious and inch him along for the time being.

Snapshots: Johnston, Coyotes Arena, Foligno

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The Dallas Stars are off to a flying start to begin their 2022-23 season. The team is 5-3-1 and first in the Central Division. Among multiple major factors contributing to their strong play has been the emergence of Wyatt Johnston. The Stars’ 2021 first-round pick tore the OHL apart last season and has started his NHL career with four points in nine games, which ranks him just outside the Stars’ top-five forwards in scoring.

Today, we have an update on Johnston. Since Johnston was an OHL player, the Stars had a nine-game window to decide if they would return Johnston to his OHL team and let his entry-level contract “slide” for another season before he would (presumably) make his full NHL debut next season. Per Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek, the Stars won’t be going that route with Johnston. Instead, Johnston is going to stay with the Stars and potentially be a full member of the team for the duration of the 2022-23 season.

Some other notes from across the NHL:

  • Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports reported today that the Arizona Coyotes’ arena and entertainment district plan, the one they proposed to the Tempe, Arizona City Council, will likely be referred to a referendum, meaning the decision on whether to accept the plan will be deferred to and voted on directly by voters. Morgan also notes that “there is also the potential for litigation from any number of parties, including Sky Harbor International Airport, the City of Phoenix, the Goldwater Institute, or local citizens groups.” The Coyotes just began their stay at their current home, Arizona State University’s Mullett Arena, and will have to hope that their plans for a new arena are accepted via a referendum in order to make concrete progress to a more suitable long-term home.
  • The Minnesota Wild have announced that forward Marcus Foligno will not play in tonight’s game due to an upper-body injury. Foligno has three points in eight games this season. His health will be something for Wild fans to monitor as the team, who currently boast a 3-4-1 record, looks to find stronger footing early in this campaign.

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