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Archives for April 2023

Snapshots: Three Stars, Stone, Bear, Murray

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It was a short week in the NHL, as the regular season came to a close, but there were still some fantastic performances around the league. The NHL announced its Three Stars for the week and Jason Robertson was atop the list as the league’s First Star of the final week of the regular season. The Dallas Stars winger played three games, scoring one goal and five assists for six points. This helped the 23 year old finish the season with 46 goals and 109 points.

In second and third place last week were Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Brent Burns and Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Laurent Brossoit. Burns scored goals in all three of the Hurricanes games last week as they held off the New Jersey Devils for first place in the Metropolitan Division. He added a second goal against the Florida Panthers to give him four goals in three contests last week. Brossoit suited up for two games between the pipes for the Golden Knights and allowed just one goal in each game, winning them both while stopping 50 of the 52 shots he faced during the week.

  • Per a team release, Vegas Golden Knights Head Coach Bruce Cassidy mentioned Mark Stone has been cleared for contact. This is a step in the right direction for the star two-way winger as he tries to return from an injury that has kept him out of the lineup since January 12. Stone has been dealing with back issues for three months, but his status was changed to day-to-day today as he is now able to join his teammates for practice as a full participant. The Golden Knights begin their first round series with the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday.
  • Ethan Bear of the Vancouver Canucks was on Canucks Central radio show with Dan Riccio and Satiar Shah and spoke confidently about returning to the Canucks next season. Bear was acquired early in the season from the Carolina Hurricanes and will be a restricted free agent this offseason. He is eligible to become an unrestricted free agent if he is not given a qualifying offer of one year at $2.2MM but it sounds like Bear will be signing an extension without much drama involved. He openly stated he will be back and anyone worrying about the situation can relax. After being cast aside by the Hurricanes essentially as a cap dump, Bear played well for the Canucks and has deserved an extension to stay.
  • Chris Johnston of TSN reports Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Matt Murray has begun skating in recent days. Murray is recovering from a concussion suffered in an accidental collision on April 2. Murray has battled injuries most of the season, only suiting up for 26 games for the Maple Leafs. Even if he is healthy in time for Game 1 of the first round series with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Murray will likely serve as the backup to Ilya Samsonov who has been more consistent and reliable for the Leafs this season.

Metropolitan Notes: Flyers, Merzlikins, McCarthy

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Philadelphia Flyers players met with the media today as they cleared out their lockers following a disappointing season. Giana Han of The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that Kevin Hayes described the season as a weird one, and he sure sounds like he expects it to be his last in Philly. The 31-year-old center has three years remaining on his contract with a cap hit just above $7MM per season, but he believes the organization turned the page on him midseason. Hayes was leading the team in scoring early in the year and was named to the All-Star Game. However, his role was reduced following his All-Star appearance as younger players were given bigger roles with the team struggling. Hayes mentioned he believes he will learn his fate around the NHL Draft, implying he thinks a trade could be on the horizon.

Also in Philly, Charlie O’Connor of The Athletic reports winger James van Riemsdyk was disappointed he did not get traded at the deadline, as he was left to play out the final year of his contract on a rebuilding Flyers roster. Then-General Manager Chuck Fletcher stated shortly after the trade deadline that there was no interest at all in JVR, but the Flyers skater seems to believe that is not entirely true and was frustrated that the team would not send him to a contending team, even for a small return in a trade.

  • Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reports goaltender Elvis Merzlikins of the Columbus Blue Jackets will not play in the upcoming World Championships. This is of note since one of the host cities, Riga, Latvia is also the hometown of Merzlikins. The 29-year-old goaltender claims his focus remains completely on becoming a number one goaltender in the NHL, something he fell well short of this season. He posted a 4.23 GAA and a .876 SV% in 30 games for the Blue Jackets. That is a far cry from what his contract dictates he should be doing. Merzlikins has four more years remaining on a contract that carries a $5.4MM cap hit.
  • Mark Divver of NHL.com reports Boston University may be keeping one of its key defensemen for another season. Case McCarthy, a fourth-round draft pick of the New Jersey Devils in 2019 has already played four seasons at BU but is leaning toward returning for one more. He played a top-four role this season, skating alongside freshman phenom Lane Hutson on most nights and providing a two-way role for BU. He had 15 points in 35 games and would step right back into that top pairing role with Hutson if he returns next season.

Capitals Notes: Oshie, Kuznetsov, Wilson

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The Washington Capitals cleaned out their lockers after a rare non-playoff season for the team. This is just the second time the Capitals have missed the playoffs since 2008. The Alex Ovechkin era in Washington has resulted in one Stanley Cup, but is it a rarity to see the team miss the playoffs altogether. Players were understandably frustrated when talking to the media while clearing out their belongings, but some are hopeful to return long-term while others have more questionable futures with the Capitals.

T.J. Oshie is one player that will surely be back. He has two more years remaining on his contract with a $5.75MM cap hit. The 36-year-old winger scored 19 goals and 35 points in 58 games this season but was shut down late in the year and has not played a game since March 30. He was listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury but provided more context today. According to Tarik El-Bashir of The Athletic, Oshie had a minor procedure on his back, but is feeling much better already and is looking forward to a regular summer of working out.

  • One player whose status is more in question moving forward is Evgeny Kuznetsov. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic reports that Kuznetsov has indeed changed agents and they will speak to the Capitals about the Russian’s future in Washington. There have been rumors circling around Kuznetsov’s availability for two years, but the Capitals are yet to move on from their 2010 first-round pick. The 30-year-old center has two years remaining on his contract with a $7.8MM cap hit, so finding the right cap fit on the trade market will be key if they do choose to go down that route.
  • Matt Weyrich of NBCS Washington reports one player who wants to remain a Capital for a long time is Tom Wilson. He is heading into the final year of his contract with a cap hit of $5.16MM but the gritty 29-year-old right winger said he does not want to play games in contract negotiations and he can’t imagine playing hockey for another team. He scored 13 goals and 22 points in 33 games this season after missing a significant amount of time with injury to begin the campaign. He is not eligible to sign an extension until July 1, but he is a name worth keeping an eye on to see if he extends as soon as possible.

PHR Playoff Primer: Los Angeles Kings vs Edmonton Oilers

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With the start of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs just a few days away, PHR makes its first foray into playoff series analysis with our 2023 Playoff Primers. Where does each team stand in their series, and what storylines could dominate on and off the ice? We continue our look with the Pacific Division matchup between the Los Angeles Kings and Edmonton Oilers.

A series that promises to be high scoring and hard fought will take place between the Los Angeles Kings and Edmonton Oilers in a rematch from a year ago. That series saw the Oilers take a lead with two blowout wins in Game 2 and 3 before falling behind 3-2 and then clawing back to win by allowing just two goals in the final two games. Connor McDavid carried the team to victory with 14 points in seven games and Mike Smith was great in goal with a .938 SV% in the series win.

The Kings were without Drew Doughty who was injured last season, but he is playing great hockey again with 52 points in 81 games this season. Adding Kevin Fiala to the lineup also gives the Kings a point-per-game player they did not have at their disposal a year ago. Doughty and Fiala give the Kings a big shot in the arm compared to a year ago, but the Oilers are playing some of the best hockey we have seen in Edmonton in decades.

Will it be the high-flying Oilers for a second consecutive season, or will the Kings exact some revenge from a first-round exit a year ago?

Regular Season Performance

Edmonton: 50-23-9, 109 points, +65 goal differential
Los Angeles: 47-25-10, 104 points, +23 goal differential

Head-To-Head

November 16, 2022: Los Angeles 3, Edmonton 1

January 9, 2023: Los Angeles 6, Edmonton 3

March 30, 2023:Edmonton 2, Los Angeles 0

April 4, 2023: Edmonton 3, Los Angeles 1

Season series tied 2-2-0

Team Storylines

The Oilers enter the postseason with Connor McDavid riding one of the greatest offensive seasons we have witnessed. Scoring 64 goals and 153 points is something we saw in the 1980’s but is simply unheard of in today’s NHL. McDavid became just the sixth player in league history to score 150 points and the first to do it since Mario Lemieux in 1996.

Though he is well ahead of anyone else in the league, he is not the only Oiler piling up points this season. Leon Draisaitl scored 52 goals and 128 points, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins added 37 goals and 104 points and Zach Hyman was over a point-per-game with 36 goals and 83 points in 79 games. Evander Kane missed significant time this season, but scored 16 goals and 28 points in 41 games and was a playoff beast a year ago, leading the postseason in goals with 13, even though the Oilers were eliminated in four straight games in the Western Conference Final.

Scoring is not, and never really was, an issue for the Oilers. The questions marks existed elsewhere, but have the Oilers patched those holes? They added Mattias Ekholm at the trade deadline, and he has been the defensive rock that they needed all along. Since adding Ekholm, the Oilers finished the season on an 18-2-1 run to ensure home-ice advantage in this series. He has been averaging well over 20 minutes of ice time per game and immediately rejuvenated the Oilers top-four defense along with Darnell Nurse, Evan Bouchard and Cody Ceci.

Do the Oilers have what it takes in goal to win a series? They thought they would be leaning on Jack Campbell at this time of year after signing him to a five-year contract with a $5MM annual cap hit just last summer. However, he struggled in his first season with the Oilers, posting a 3.41 GAA and a .888 SV%. Stuart Skinner has really taken over the starter’s role in the last quarter of the season, posting a 2.43 GAA and a .920 SV% since March 1 and giving the Oilers a reliable goaltender to lean on late in the season.

Another key to focus on is, will the Kings be able to slow down the offensive beast that is the Edmonton Oilers? A quick glance at their numbers show the Kings were not able to slow anyone down this season. They allowed 257 goals this season. The only playoff teams to allow more were the Florida Panthers and Oilers. It sure promises to be a high scoring series. With Doughty playing this time around and Vladislav Gavrikov acquired at the trade deadline, the Kings have a better chance of at least slowing down McDavid and Draisaitl. No one can stop those two, but if they are held to 7-9 points each in a series, it would force the Oilers depth pieces to add some scoring, which they are not always capable of doing.

What about the Kings goaltending? They did trade for a goaltender at the trade deadline and Joonas Korpisalo has been great for them. He played just 11 games after being acquired, but he had a 2.13 GAA and a .921 SV% to give the Kings confidence in a position that was a weakness for most of the season. If Korpisalo can continue to play like that in the first round, the Kings will be in good shape. But it is difficult for anyone to put up a .920 SV% against these Oilers, who were the highest scoring team in the NHL with 325 goals.

Special teams are always a key component in a playoff series and this will be no exception. The Oilers power play alone is enough to give goaltenders nightmares as it clicked at a 32.4% efficiency rate, which is the best power play percentage in NHL history. The Kings had a bottom ten penalty kill at 75.8%. That is not something that can be fixed overnight and could prove to be a huge problem against a team like the Oilers.

On the other hand, the Oilers penalty kill was not much better, killing off 77% of their penalties while the Kings power play converted on an impressive 25.3% of their chances. Staying out of the box is going to be key as neither team is strong while shorthanded, and both have the ability to do damage on the man advantage.

Prediction

The Kings have new pieces in place that should allow them to be more competitive this time around. Having Gavrikov and Doughty on defense, Korpisalo in goal as well as Phillip Danault who is one of the best shutdown centers in the league, should at least slow down McDavid a little bit. He is going to score on the power play, but if they can limit him at even strength, they will force the depth of the Oilers to step up, and they don’t have a lot of scoring behind their top four forwards. There won’t be two huge blowouts early in the series this time around.

The problem for the Kings is, the Oilers have addressed similar needs and now have Ekhlom as a defensive horse on the blue line and they are playing the best hockey we have seen out of any team in the past six weeks. McDavid and Draisaitl each averaged two points per game in the playoffs last spring, and both were somehow even better this season than ever before. Yes, they could use some depth scoring, but Mattias Janmark, Warren Foegele, Klim Kostin, Nick Bjugstad and Ryan McLeod give them reliable minutes even if they don’t score a ton. That can be left to the top two lines.

Yet another magical spring from McDavid and Draisaitl is about to begin, and they won’t be denied in round one. It will not be an easy one by any stretch, but the Kings offense just can’t match the Oilers scoring. Prediction: The Oilers win in six games.

Pacific Notes: Boeser, Johansson, Weegar, Sharks

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Canucks winger Brock Boeser has been featured in plenty of trade speculation in recent months but while a deal didn’t materialize last month, some have wondered if he’ll be on the move this summer.  But if the 26-year-old has his way, he won’t be going anywhere.  He told reporters including Thomas Drance of The Athletic (Twitter link) that he doesn’t want to be traded and would prefer to remain with Vancouver.  This season was a mixed bag for Boeser who actually came one point shy of matching his career high but he managed just 18 goals which isn’t a great return on a $6.65MM AAV.  He has two years remaining on his contract.

Elsewhere in the Pacific:

  • Canucks prospect Filip Johansson will be joining AHL Abbotsford for their playoff run, relays Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK and The Athletic (Twitter link). The 23-year-old was a first-round pick by Minnesota back in 2018 but the Wild opted to take a compensatory second-round selection instead of signing him; Johansson signed with Vancouver soon after.  He played in 51 games with Frolunda of the SHL this season, picking up five goals and 16 assists, both career highs while also chipping in with five points in a dozen playoff contests.  This will be Johansson’s first taste of action in North America.
  • Flames defenseman MacKenzie Weegar will suit up for Canada at the upcoming World Championship, reports Postmedia’s Wes Gilbertson. The 29-year-old had a bit of a down year in his first season with Calgary, seeing his point output dip from 44 to 31 (in 81 games) while his playing time was shaved by more than two minutes per game.  While Weegar’s current contract expires in June, he has already locked in with the Flames for the long haul, inking an eight-year, $50MM extension back in October.  This will be Weegar’s first time suiting up for Canada in an international tournament.
  • Sharks winger Tomas Hertl won’t be suiting up at the Worlds next month, notes Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News (Twitter link). The 29-year-old struggled defensively in what he called a challenging season but reached the 60-point mark for the second straight year and third time in his career while winning nearly 55% of his faceoffs.  His 63 points placed Hertl third on the team in scoring.  Meanwhile, in a separate tweet, Pashelka notes that center Nico Sturm will play for Germany in the tournament, his first time representing his home country.  The 27-year-old had a career year this season, collecting 14 goals and 12 assists in 74 games.

Sabres Notes: Thompson, Tuch, Okposo, Free Agents

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Forward Tage Thompson will be taking plenty of time over the offseason to recuperate from a physically taxing end of the season, the 25-year-old sniper told reporters today. Thompson will be taking at least a month off from training during the offseason to recover from multiple injuries, including a hip pointer suffered in late March against the New Jersey Devils and some pre-existing back problems. He’s also dealing with a minor shoulder injury sustained during the team’s second-to-last game of the season against the Ottawa Senators on Thursday.

Despite those injuries, Thompson performed admirably down the stretch for Buffalo when he was healthy enough to dress. The team’s leader in goals and points notched four goals in eight games down the stretch, leading Buffalo to its first 90-point season since 2011. While the team narrowly missed the postseason this year, Thompson and his teammates have their eyes set on the playoffs in 2024 as they exit their rebuild.

Some other Sabres notes after their season drew to a close:

  • While a number of NHL players on non-playoff teams have already publically declined participation in the upcoming IIHF Men’s World Championships, Sabres winger Alex Tuch is not one of them. He told reporters today that he and his brother, Montreal Canadiens prospect Luke Tuch, will both suit up for the United States at the only major international tournament currently involving NHL players. Tuch, 26, is coming off the first point-per-game campaign in his NHL career, notching 79 points in 74 games for Buffalo in 2022-23.
  • Captain Kyle Okposo is a free agent this offseason after wrapping up a seven-year, $42MM deal with the Sabres, but isn’t certain about his playing future. The 34-year-old mentioned today that he’ll need some time to decide what’s next for him, although if he does return to NHL ice in 2023-24, it will be in Buffalo. Okposo registered 11 goals and 17 assists in 75 games this season and is less than 20 games away from the 1,000-game plateau.
  • Another pair of free agents this offseason, Zemgus Girgensons and Tyson Jost, both expressed their interest today in returning to Buffalo next season. Both players had solid seasons in bottom-six roles, and it does seem unlikely that Buffalo would opt to move on from either. Jost is still under team control as a restricted free agent, while Girgensons is the longest-tenured player on the team, amassing 625 games in a Sabres uniform. With the team on the cusp of their first playoff appearance in over a decade, it would seem odd not to have a leader such as Girgensons in the fold.

 

Ducks AHL Coach Roy Sommer To Retire

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It won’t just be a new head coach in Anaheim that Ducks GM Pat Verbeek will be looking for in the coming weeks.  There will be a vacancy to fill with their AHL affiliate in San Diego as well; the team announced that head coach Roy Sommer will retire following tonight’s season-ending contest against Colorado.

The 66-year-old is in his first season outside of San Jose’s organization in the better part of three decades.  Sommer spent 26 years behind the bench with their affiliates before departing and joining Anaheim last summer.  He is the winningest coach in AHL history with 828 while tonight’s contest will be his 1,814th, also a league record.

This season didn’t go as planned for Anaheim who finished at the bottom of the Western Conference and the NHL.  Meanwhile, things didn’t go much better for the Gulls as they also sit last in the Western Conference and AHL with just 43 points through 71 games.  With the Ducks battling injury trouble throughout the season, that put extra strain on San Diego that they clearly weren’t able to overcome.

This will be the second straight summer under Verbeek that he’ll be seeking an AHL bench boss.  Last summer, he fired Joel Bouchard after just one season in the role and with Sommer calling it a career after tonight, that search will resume.

Wild Notes: Johansson, Eriksson Ek, Sundqvist, Petan

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The Wild are hopeful that winger Marcus Johansson will be available for the start of their first-round series against Dallas, relays Sarah McLellan of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.  The veteran was injured earlier in the week on a cross-check from Winnipeg blueliner Neal Pionk but head coach Dean Evason indicated that while the 32-year-old is sore, nothing is broken.  Johansson’s second stint with Minnesota has been quite successful as he had six goals and 12 assists in 20 games after being acquired from Washington just before the trade deadline.  He returned to practice with the team today which is a positive sign for him being able to suit up on Monday.

More from Minnesota:

  • Center Joel Eriksson Ek skated before practice today as he works his way back from a lower-body injury, notes Joe Smith of The Athletic (Twitter link). The 26-year-old has missed a little over a week since suffering the injury against Pittsburgh.  Eriksson Ek was given a week-to-week designation so it seems unlikely that he’ll be ready for Monday’s season opener.  His absence is a significant one as not only is he their matchup center against top opponents but he also finished fourth in team scoring, surpassing the 60-point mark for the first time in his career.
  • Forward Oskar Sundqvist also skated today for the first time since suffering also a lower-body injury against Pittsburgh last week, reports Michael Russo of The Athletic (Twitter link). The 29-year-old was acquired from Detroit at the trade deadline and had made a good first impression with Minnesota, collecting three goals and four assists in 15 games before the injury.  It’s unclear at this point if he’ll be good to go to start the series against Dallas but he has not yet been ruled out for Game One.
  • The team announced (Twitter link) that winger Nic Petan cleared waivers today, enabling them to return him to AHL Iowa. Petan played his tenth game of the season Thursday, meaning that he had to pass through waivers to get back to the minors.  The 28-year-old has had another strong season at the AHL level, tallying 60 points in 51 games heading into the final weekend.

Carl Hagelin Hopes To Play Next Season

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It has been more than a year since Capitals winger Carl Hagelin has played due to an eye injury.  As a result, he spent all of this season on LTIR.  However, while his current contract is set to come to an end, the veteran told reporters including NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti (Twitter link) that he’s hopeful that he’ll be able to play next season.

Hagelin, when fully healthy, has been an effective two-way player whose speed was a significant asset.  However, his production had tapered off over his last few seasons to the point where he managed just three goals in 53 games last season before being shut down.

While the 34-year-old hasn’t yet been cleared to return from the injury, he indicated that he’s hoping to be cleared later this summer.  For now, the plan is for him to skate for a couple of months this summer and then look to make a final decision on his future sometime in August.

Between his decline in production and the uncertainty surrounding his future, Hagelin can certainly afford to be patient in trying to see if he’ll be able to play in 2023-24 as he’s quite likely to be a PTO candidate in training camp if he does get the green light to suit up.  Otherwise, he’ll probably be hanging up his skates after a successful 11-year career that saw him collect 296 points in 713 games with five different organizations.

Metropolitan Notes: Carter, Worlds, Dowd, Islanders

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After a good performance in 2021-22, Penguins center Jeff Carter was rewarded with a two-year contract extension.  However, things didn’t go as well this year as the 38-year-old managed just 29 points in 79 games while having his playing time cut by nearly four minutes a night.  However, despite the setback, Carter told reporters, including Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, that he intends to play next season instead of retiring.  Even if whoever takes over for GM Ron Hextall doesn’t want to have Carter back, there is no benefit to buying him out as he’s on a 35-plus contract while the veteran also has a full no-move clause.

More from the Metropolitan:

  • Still with Pittsburgh, winger Rickard Rakell has declined an invitation to play at the upcoming World Championship, relays Seth Rorabaugh of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (Twitter link). The 29-year-old had a bounce-back year with 28 goals and 32 assists but is dealing with some minor health issues.  Meanwhile, winger Jake Guentzel will suit up for the United States in the event.  The 28-year-old was third on the Penguins in scoring this season with 36 goals and 37 assists.
  • Capitals center Nic Dowd told reporters including NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti (Twitter link) that he was playing through a couple of injuries and a decision about whether he’ll need surgery will be made within the next couple of weeks. Despite playing through the injuries at the end, the 32-year-old had a career year this season, setting new benchmarks in goals (13) and points (25) despite missing 17 games due to other injuries.  Dowd has two years left on his contract with a $1.3MM AAV.
  • Although their farm team has been eliminated from playoff contention, the Islanders don’t intend to have a full taxi squad for the playoffs, head coach Lane Lambert told Newsday’s Andrew Gross (Twitter link). Teams often carry extra skaters that can be slotted in if need be in either games or practices while it’s typically beneficial for them to continue to work under the eye of team trainers.  For the time being at least, New York will opt to go without a full group of reserves although it wouldn’t be surprising to see a handful of players be brought up as insurance.

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