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East Notes: Kovacevic, Konecny, Nadeau, Kuraly

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The Canadiens have been a popular team in trade talks lately. Veteran netminder Jake Allen is drawing significant interest from teams looking for help between the pipes, and their surplus of young defense prospects has made some think a move to clear space is coming sooner rather than later. Some have discussed veteran David Savard as being the odd man out, but notably, shutdown specialist Johnathan Kovacevic was a healthy scratch in Thursday’s game against the Hurricanes upon Jordan Harris’ return from injury.

Kovacevic is, by most accounts, the Canadiens’ most adept chance-limiting defender. Acquired via waiver claim from the Jets early in the 2022-23 season, Kovacevic has gone from unknown rearguard to Canadiens blueline staple in a relatively short amount of time. However, as his five points through 33 games suggest, he’s not much of a two-way threat. In all situations, nearly 76.7% of his zone starts have been in the defensive end this season, way up even from last season’s 61.3% mark. At even strength, that number still skews conservative with a defensive zone start percentage of 70.

Even still, Kovacevic could carry some significant trade value if the Canadiens decide he’s on the outside looking in on their long-term core. His expected plus-minus rating of +1.9 is the highest among active Montreal defenders this season, and he averages 2:39 per game on the penalty kill. Toss in the fact that he’s a highly-coveted right-shot defenseman, and you have a player a contending team would love to pick up for the low cost of $767K against the cap at the trade deadline.

Other notes from the Eastern Conference as New Year’s Day draws near:

  • Flyers forward Travis Konecny departed yesterday’s 4-1 win over the Canucks prematurely due to illness, head coach John Tortorella told reporters postgame (via NHL.com’s Bill Meltzer). Konecny logged an assist and two shots on goal in 14:55 of ice time but, as Tortorella said, felt worse as the game progressed and had to exit the contest after taking two shifts in the third period. His availability for tonight’s contest against the Kraken is unclear. If he’s not healthy enough to play, 27-year-old Rhett Gardner will make his Flyers debut after being recalled on Wednesday.
  • The Sabres demoted forward prospect Olivier Nadeau from AHL Rochester to ECHL Jacksonville on Friday morning, per a team release. Nadeau, 20, has been a frequent healthy scratch in Rochester, playing five out of a possible 26 games in his first pro season. He’s suited up just twice this month and has not played since December 16. While the 2021 fourth-round pick recorded his first professional goal, the lack of playing time is surely not a positive thing for his development. He’ll head to a lower-level club where he could potentially lock down a top-six role after notching over a point per game in the past three QMJHL seasons.
  • Blue Jackets center Sean Kuraly will remain out of the lineup for the next two games with what’s now been officially diagnosed as an abdominal contusion, The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline reports. Kuraly has not played since paramedics were summoned to attend to an injury he sustained in last Saturday’s game against the Maple Leafs, which he said was caused by the butt end of his stick jamming into his abdomen when he was checked simultaneously by Toronto players Auston Matthews and Jake McCabe. He confirmed the visible distress he was under when leaving the ice was because he was having trouble breathing, although he told Portzline today that he never lost consciousness throughout the incident. He remains listed as day-to-day.

Sabres Activate Tage Thompson, Assign Ryan Johnson To AHL

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4:30 PM: The Buffalo Sabres have recalled Ryan Johnson from the AHL, proving that these moves were merely paper transactions.

10:00 AM: The Sabres activated center Tage Thompson on Friday after a very short stint on the non-roster list, according to a team release. With no existing room on the 23-man roster to execute the move, the team assigned rookie defenseman Ryan Johnson to AHL Rochester to accommodate Thompson’s return.

Thompson was a late scratch for Buffalo’s last contest, a 4-1 loss against the Bruins on Wednesday, for personal reasons. After exceeding the 23-player limit on the active roster over the course of the holiday freeze, the Sabres moved Thompson to the non-roster list before 11:59 p.m. that night to be compliant when the freeze lifted Thursday morning.

The transaction suggests Thompson will be available for Saturday’s game against the Blue Jackets. Buffalo GM Kevyn Adams will need to make an additional roster move to activate Sabres mainstay Zemgus Girgensons from injured reserve, as he’s expected to return from a lower-body injury that’s kept him out since late November. That will likely be assigning center Tyson Jost to Rochester this afternoon, assuming he clears waivers.

Thompson, 26, had four points in his last five games, including a three-point effort in the Sabres’ 9-3 drubbing of the Maple Leafs last week. In ten games since returning from a wrist injury that cost him nearly three weeks, Thompson has struggled with three goals and seven points and a -5 rating.

Johnson, the Sabres’ 31st overall pick in 2019, returns to Rochester to continue his development. The University of Minnesota product had a strong training camp and has looked good in 20 games of NHL action this year. He hasn’t provided much in the way of offense with two assists, and he’s received zero usage on special teams, but he’s graded out well possession-wise in his even strength minutes with a 51.7% Corsi share and an expected plus-minus rating of +0.1. Only Rasmus Dahlin has controlled more shot attempts at even strength than Johnson.

In fact, Johnson has graded out so well defensively that there’s some warranted speculation that the Sabres will make an additional roster move in order to bring him back up to the NHL. Given his waiver-exempt status, though, assigning him to the minors is the most convenient way to make room for both Girgensons and Thompson to suit up tomorrow.

The Sabres would need to make an additional waiver placement or trade to create room to recall Johnson again. The team’s other waiver-exempt talents – Zach Benson, Devon Levi, John-Jason Peterka, Owen Power, and Jack Quinn – have solidified full-time roles, and sending any of them down would be extremely detrimental to a team that needs a major winning streak to get back into the playoff conversation.

In his first nine games with Rochester, the 22-year-old had four assists and a +2 rating. He has not played an AHL contest since being recalled to Buffalo in early November.

Bruins Recall Georgii Merkulov

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The Bruins recalled left wing Georgii Merkulov from AHL Providence on Friday, per the AHL’s transactions log (via the New England Hockey Journal’s Mark Divver). In a corresponding transaction, the Bruins assigned center Patrick Brown to Providence to stay at the maximum of 23 players on the active roster.

This is the first recall in Merkulov’s career. The 23-year-old is in his second full season in the Bruins organization after signing as a free agent in 2022.

Merkulov’s development path has been unique, to say the least. First eligible for selection in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft, he posted 22 goals and 46 points in 64 games with the MHL’s Kapitan Stupino in the Russian junior ranks in his draft year but did not get selected by an NHL club and wasn’t on the radar of most scouts in the public sphere.

In 2019-20, Merkulov got off to an incredibly disappointing start with two points in ten MHL games and no points in six games with HK Tambov in the VHL, Russia’s second-tier pro league behind the KHL. With an NHL career in mind, Merkulov made the choice mid-season to come stateside to continue his development, signing a tender with the USHL’s Youngstown Phantoms to finish out his junior career.

That choice proved fruitful. Even with the COVID-19 pandemic interrupting his playing schedule, Merkulov was productive as a member of the Phantoms, posting 20 goals and 73 points in 74 games there across the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons.

The 5-foot-11 winger then opted to pursue a collegiate career, committing to Ohio State for the 2021-22 season. As a rare 21-year-old freshman, Merkulov exploded offensively, matching his USHL career goal total of 20 in just 36 games for the Buckeyes while adding 14 assists. That breakout finally put him on the map for NHL teams, and, after just one NCAA season, he inked a three-year, entry-level deal with the Bruins as a free agent in April of 2022.

Merkulov continued his momentum in his first pro season. Last year with Providence, he led the Bruins’ primary affiliate in goals (24) and points (55), earning a spot on the AHL’s All-Rookie Team in the process. Through 31 games this season, he’s again leading the team in both categories with 14 goals and 30 points.

Now in the second season of his entry-level deal, Merkulov’s offensive production in Providence has forced the Bruins’ hand to give him an NHL look. He will look to unseat Jakub Lauko or Oskar Steen for a fourth-line role and could make his NHL debut in one of Boston’s two remaining games before New Year’s Day.

Brown, 31, heads down to Providence for the sixth time this season. He’s failed to lock down the fourth-line center spot in Boston after signing a two-year, $1.6MM contract as a UFA last summer and has been relegated to extra forward status. The Bruins have ferried him between leagues often since he last cleared waivers on November 18 to limit his time on the NHL roster and extend his temporary waiver exemption.

In ten NHL games, Brown has recorded one assist and a -1 rating while averaging 8:29 per game. He’s played just twice in December, including an appearance in the Bruins’ 4-1 win over the Sabres on Wednesday, in which he posted a -1 rating and went three for six in the faceoff dot in 7:24 of ice time.

Merkulov carries a cap hit of $925K compared to Brown’s $800K, but with Derek Forbort and Milan Lucic on long-term injured reserve, the Bruins have enough money in their salary pool to accommodate the minimal difference. He will be a restricted free agent when his ELC expires in 2025.

What Your Team Is Thankful For: Pittsburgh Penguins

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As the new year approaches, PHR will be taking a look at what teams are thankful for in 2023-24. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. We’ll examine what’s gone well in the early going and what could improve as the season rolls on for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Who are the Penguins thankful for?

Sidney Crosby.

There is very little doubt as to who the Penguins should be thankful for. Sidney Crosby is the face of the franchise, he saved the team, and in his 19th NHL season, he has had to drag the lifeless Penguins to victory on more than one occasion.

Crosby has quietly played at a level this season that few 36-year-olds have ever played at. In 33 games this season, Crosby has 19 goals and 16 assists. While it isn’t one of his best offensive seasons, he has put up those numbers without the benefit of a productive power play. The Penguins’ current power play is tied for the sixth worst in the entire NHL despite having Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Erik Karlsson, and Jake Guentzel on it.

Crosby’s productivity this season goes well beyond what he does in the offensive zone. He’s been downright dominant in the faceoff circle, stronger defensively, and has been more physical than in recent years. His two-way play is elite, and while it would be surprising to see this happen, it’s not outside the realm of possibility that we could be seeing his name in the Selke Trophy conversation come the end of the season.

Crosby will likely end his career in Pittsburgh, and he should. He is not only the on-ice leader of the Penguins, but he is also the heart and soul of the entire organization, particularly with Mario Lemieux less involved with the team now. Many people have waited for Sid the Kid to see his play tail off but given his work this season it doesn’t appear it will happen anytime soon. And for that the Penguins and their fanbase should be very thankful.

What are the Penguins thankful for?

Their top six forwards.

The Penguins’ power play might be amongst the worst in the league, but their top-six forward group is one of the strongest in the NHL. Crosby, Malkin, Guentzel, Bryan Rust, Reilly Smith, and Rickard Rakell are a very strong group of scorers, and they have to be because they are the only ones who score on most nights for Pittsburgh.

Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan has been very busy this season shuffling the forwards around, and while he has dropped Rakell and Smith to the third line on occasion, he has largely kept the six men as a constant on the top two lines. Many Penguins fans have called for Sullivan to spread the offensive wealth over the top three lines as the Penguins have struggled to generate depth scoring, but anytime the Penguins coach has done so the results have been meek at best. The Penguins lack offensive forwards outside of the ones that play in the top six, and anytime they have sent a top-six forward to the third line, they have been unable to generate any additional offense, and the top two lines have suffered.

It’s been pretty obvious all year that the Penguins’ third and fourth lines lack an offensive component and that will be general manager Kyle Dubas’ biggest obstacle to overcome if he’s going to help Pittsburgh get back to the playoffs. But for now, Pittsburgh will have to continue to heavily rely on their top six forwards, as they have for most of this season.

What would the Penguins be even more thankful for?

The continued undoing of the Ron Hextall era.

Ron Hextall had a very tumultuous run as Penguins general manager and much of the work he did during his two-and-a-half-year run was undone by Dubas when he took control of the Penguins this past summer. Dubas was quick to identify Jeff Petry, Mikael Granlund, and Jan Rutta as players that didn’t fit the mould of how Sullivan wanted the Penguins to play and in two separate trades, Dubas was able to move on from those three players. Dubas was also able to let Ryan Poehling, Josh Archibald and Danton Heinen walk and move on from Mark Friedman in an additional trade. When all was said and done, Dubas was able to turn over nearly half of the Penguins roster from last year to this season, and while the group is improved, there are still many relics from the Hextall era that the Penguins could stand to move on from.

The most obvious is Jeff Carter, who is virtually unmovable thanks to an ill-advised two-year contract that Hextall gave him in January 2022. Fortunately for the Penguins, Carter’s deal finishes up at the end of this season and that $3.125MM should be allocated more effectively going forward.

The Penguins also have Ty Smith and Alex Nylander who are toiling away in the AHL after they were unable to show they belonged on the NHL roster. Smith was acquired in an ill-fated trade with the New Jersey Devils for top-four defenseman John Marino and Nylander was exchanged for speedster Sam Lafferty who has been a very effective depth piece in Vancouver.

The biggest change Hextall made was to the Penguins’ bottom two lines, they were dismantled under his watch as he moved on from Freddy Gaudreau, Jared McCann, Evan Rodrigues, Brandon Tanev, and the aforementioned Lafferty while choosing to hold on to more defensive-minded forwards who provided little in the way of offense.

The Penguins would do well to buck this trend in favor of more offensive-minded bottom-six forwards, which leads us to our next section.

What should be on the Penguins holiday wish list?

Bottom-six help.

It wasn’t until their 11th game that Pittsburgh received a goal from their fourth line, and while two-thirds of that line has been part of a very effective penalty kill, they need to get on the scoresheet a lot more if Pittsburgh is going to make a run at the playoffs.

In the previous section much was made about Hextall and the previous management regime making moves to create a bottom six that couldn’t score, however, current general manager Dubas failed to address the Penguins depth scoring woes in the offseason and doubled down on defensive-minded forwards by signing Matthew Nieto, Noel Acciari, and Lars Eller at a time when Pittsburgh needed to add a scoring forward. The Penguins have responded with strong team defense as they sit sixth in the league in goals against, however, they have struggled to score sitting 25th in the league in goals for.

In a perfect world, the Penguins would acquire a true third-line center with some offensive output who could push Eller into a fourth-line role. This would perhaps allow the Penguins to create a third scoring line and push some of those in the current bottom six into slots that better suit their skillset.

Avalanche Recall Forward Ben Meyers

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The Colorado Avalanche have announced that they’ve recalled forward Ben Meyers from their AHL affiliate less than a week after sending him down. Meyers was reassigned to the Colorado Eagles on December 22nd and has been shuttled back and forth on several occasions in December.

The 25-year-old has a goal in five games thus far this season with the Avalanche at the NHL level and has averaged just a shade over nine minutes of ice time a game. While he hasn’t been much of an offensive contributor, he has been difficult to play against with seven hits in those five games. At the AHL level with the Eagles, Meyers has been much more noticeable on the offensive side of things with six goals and seven assists in 19 games.

Last year the Avalanche gave Meyers a long audition to lock down an NHL spot, but he could not do so with just four goals in 39 games. While he didn’t necessarily hurt the Avalanche’s bottom six, he didn’t offer a lot as he doesn’t provide much scoring and doesn’t kill penalties making it tough for him to claim a full-time spot in the NHL.

The Avalanche recalled Meyers presumably due to Ross Colton’s availability being in question after he left last night’s game against the Arizona Coyotes. Colton was treated after he blocked a shot and while the Avalanche are hoping he can play Friday night against the St. Louis Blues, nothing has been reported yet.

Poll: Who Will Be The Biggest Name Moved At Trade Deadline?

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In a little over three months, the NHL calendar will set its sights on one of the most exciting days of the year, with this season’s trade deadline falling on March 8th. With the annual roster freeze lifting this morning, the unofficial start to the trade season is finally underway across the league.

In one of the bigger deadlines in recent memory, the 2022-23 season saw star players such as Timo Meier, Ryan O’Reilly, Patrick Kane, and Mattias Ekholm all change hands, as two arms races sprouted in both of the league’s conferences. This year, once again, there are a handful of high-profile players seeing their names pop up in the rumor mill.

Chris Johnston, writing in The Athletic, has produced a Trade Deadline Big Board for this season, an assortment of players he annually produces around this time each year. Currently, the four best players available appear to be Elias Lindholm and Noah Hanifin of the Calgary Flames, John Gibson of the Anaheim Ducks, and Jake Guentzel of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The future of both Lindholm and Hanifin has been clouded since the beginning of the summer, with multiple reports indicating they would like to stay with the Flames organization, and other reports saying the complete opposite. As of now, with the Flames currently holding a 14-16-5 record and sitting four points back of the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference, Lindholm and Hanifin’s days in Calgary are likely numbered.

Even outside of this season, Gibson has been the subject of trade rumors dating back several years now, with reports suggesting that Gibson had tried to force his way out of Anaheim this past summer. Even though those reports were soon downplayed, the market for Gibson has likely never been higher, as several competitive teams are in dire need of goaltending help. Unfortunately, with a $6.4MM salary until the end of the 2026-27 season, few teams will have the cap space to acquire Gibson outright.

Lastly, Guentzel is one of the newer names on the board, as recent reporting indicates that the Penguins and Guentzel are not close to a contract extension, leading many to believe Pittsburgh might be interested in moving the winger if the right offer came along. Headed for unrestricted free agency at the end of the season, and with Pittsburgh currently sitting three points back of the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, Guentzel and the Penguins may be headed for a divorce before the end of the season.

Now it’s time for a vote, will one of these four players be one of the biggest names traded at this year’s deadline, or will a surprise player take the headlines? Vote below!

Trade Market Heating Up For Jake Allen

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Speaking last night on NHL Network, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports that the trade market is heating up considerably around Montreal Canadiens goaltender, Jake Allen. With plenty of competitive teams dealing with poor play and injuries between the pipes, Allen has been an oft-rumored trade candidate throughout much of the year.

In the report, Pagnotta indicates that before the roster freeze went into effect on December 19th, the Carolina Hurricanes, Edmonton Oilers, and New Jersey Devils had all made contact with Canadiens’ brass to gauge the price tag on Allen. With another year left on his contract after this season, Allen’s salary is set at $3.85MM, meaning any acquiring team will likely need to move around funds to acquire him.

At any rate, all signs indicate that Allen’s career in Montreal is coming to an end, as the organization appears comfortable moving forward with Sam Montembeault as the start, and Cayden Primeau serving as the primary backup. In 12 games this season, Allen has produced a very modest 4-6-2 record, carrying a .907 SV% and a 3.43 GAA.

Even though Allen had seen his name pop up in rumors dating back to last summer, the Canadiens handed a three-year, $9.45MM contract extension to Montembeault, effectively ending any chance that Allen would stay in Montreal beyond this season. Even aside from both Montembeault and Primeau already on the NHL roster, the team is still prepared to introduce 2023 draft pick, Jacob Fowler, within the next several years.

It is more than reasonable for all three teams mentioned to be interested as Carolina, Edmonton, and New Jersey are tied for last place in the NHL in SV% as a team, sitting a .879. Currently, Carolina is the only one of the three currently in a playoff position, sitting in the top wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, while both Edmonton and New Jersey are on the outside looking in.

Regardless of interest, it will be more difficult to ascertain the price point for Allen, given his current contract and his status as a backup goaltender. With teams having less financial ability during the season, the last time a similar goaltender was traded was on September 19th, with the Canadiens shipping Casey DeSmith to the Vancouver Canucks for Tanner Pearson and a third-round selection in the 2025 NHL Draft.

If Allen does ultimately end up with one of the three teams listed by Pagnotta, all three of them will likely need to move salary the other way, as currently, none would be able to assume the contract of Allen outright.

What Your Team Is Thankful For: Philadelphia Flyers

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As the new year approaches, PHR will be taking a look at what teams are thankful for in 2023-24. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. We’ll examine what’s gone well in the early going and what could improve as the season rolls on for the Philadelphia Flyers.

Who are the Flyers thankful for?

John Tortorella

The dominant storyline of this Flyers season has been the team’s unexpected competitiveness. The team is currently 18-11-4, which places them third place in the Metropolitan Division but only one point behind the New York Islanders with a game in hand.

Tortorella’s fingerprints are all over the Flyers’ unexpected strength this season.

Tortorella has long been highly regarded for his ability to get the most out of teams who enter most nights at a talent disadvantage compared to their opponents.

He keeps his teams highly accountable, extremely hard-working, and generally maintains a fierce commitment to a hard-to-break-down defensive structure.

The 2023-24 Flyers have been exactly that sort of team. While they’re among the league’s lower-scoring teams, they rank inside the top 10 in terms of the fewest goals surrendered per game and surrender the fifth-fewest shots against per game. In addition, their penalty kill is a bright spot as it ranks fifth in the NHL, killing penalties at an 87.5% rate.

Tortorella is accomplishing all this with the help of talented defensive players such as Sean Couturier and Scott Laughton, though he has also overseen significant player development for specific Flyers. Owen Tippett and Morgan Frost went from first-round “bust” conversations to scoring 27 goals and 46 points, respectively, while blueliners such as Sean Walker and Rasmus Ristolainen have each notably improved under Tortorella’s watch from where they were before.

The Flyers are attempting a large-scale, long-term rebuild with the hope of building a contending team that can compete for Stanley Cups on a legitimate basis for a long period of time. Part of that strategy has been acquiring high-end players through the draft, and it’s true that Tortorella’s success has made it less likely that the Flyers will have a top pick at the 2024 draft.

That being said, the development of the existing players in the Flyers organization is also of paramount importance to the Flyers’ rebuild, and much of the Flyers’ recent winning under Tortorella has come off the back of the development of numerous players.

What are the Flyers thankful for?

A weaker-than-expected Metropolitan Division.

Remember how the Flyers are within striking distance of second place in the Metropolitan Division? Let’s look at how they got there. While the Flyers’ climb in the standings has been in large part due to their own improved play, the sputtering form of many teams who were expected to be division heavyweights this season has helped them along.

Porous goaltending and an inconsistent offensive attack has cost the Hurricanes this season, and while they are comfortably in a Wild Card spot they do not appear to be the contenders for the division title that they have been in recent years.

The Capitals have recovered from a slow start under new head coach Spencer Carbery, but their offensive attack does not have the juice it has had in recent years, and they do not have a single player currently on pace to score 55 or more points.

The Devils have fought through poor goaltending and poor defensive play all season, and those issues combined with injuries have led to a far slower-than-expected start. And in Pittsburgh, team-wide inconsistency has led to a squad capable of decimating a team 7-0 on one night (as they did yesterday) and then losing by the same margin on another.

While each of those teams could reasonably re-enter the playoff picture over the course of the rest of the season, so far their struggles have paved the way for Flyers fans to have legitimate hope for playoff hockey. Is that something that could be reasonably hoped for just a few months ago? Probably not, which means Flyers fans have quite a bit to be thankful for.

What would the Flyers be even more thankful for?

An improved power play.

The Flyers’ blueprint for success this season has been mixing hard work and a stringent commitment to defensive hockey in order to grind out wins against teams who frequently boast more talented lineups. While that blueprint has brought the Flyers into playoff position in this early portion of the season, there have been some costs attached.

First and foremost, the Flyers’ power play currently ranks as the NHL’s worst, converting on just 10.6% of its chances. Even the St. Louis Blues, who suffered through a historically poor start on the man advantage, have now surpassed the Flyers.

In part due to the Flyers’ inability to put together consistent offense on the power play, several of the team’s offensive players have either failed to take meaningful steps forward or taken steps back in terms of production.

Morgan Frost scored 46 points last season but instead of vaulting into the 50-60 point region, he is now on pace to score 32 points. It’s a similar story for Noah Cates, who scored 38 points as a rookie but scored only four this season before going down with an injury. There was hope Tyson Foerster would make an instant impact after scoring seven points in eight games down the stretch last season, but his adjustment has been slower than anticipated and he is on pace to score 33 points.

The Flyers’ defensemen, goaltenders, and select forwards are enjoying positive campaigns for their development. But unless the power play can get on track, the Flyers won’t be operating to their maximum capabilities from a player development perspective.

What should be on the Flyers’ holiday wish list?

An answer to Sean Walker’s future in Philadelphia.

One of the breakout players for the Flyers this season has been Walker, a 29-year-old defenseman acquired this past summer from the Los Angeles Kings. He has seen his ice time leap up from just 14:50 per game last season to 20:49 in this campaign. He’s helped anchor one of the league’s better penalty kill units and is even seeing some time on the power play.

But although Walker has emerged as one of the Flyers’ top blueliners, the reality is that he’s already 29 years old and his improved play will likely mean he’ll command a pay raise over his $2.65MM cap hit this season. For a Flyers team still building for a contending window a little bit more distant in the future, (for when Matvei Michkov is able to sign from Russia, for example) it’s fair to wonder if Walker fits into that timeline.

Any Walker extension would likely deliver the most return on investment in its first few years, and with Ristolainen and Travis Sanheim already on hefty contract extensions, there may not be room for another veteran addition.

This leaves the Flyers in a difficult spot. Do they dangle Walker on the trade market, where he would potentially be a top right-shot option and net the team valuable future assets? Or do they retain him as their own “rental” player to help them keep hold of the playoff spot they currently sit in, even if that means allowing Walker to leave in free agency?

The Flyers’ play moving forward will likely dictate which route they choose to go down, but more than anything else Flyers fans should be hoping to receive some sort of clarity on the future of one of this season’s bigger breakout players.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Washington Capitals Sign Ethan Bear

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12/28/23: The Capitals have now officially announced Bear’s signing, confirming the two-year term of the contract as well as its $2.0625MM cap hit.

12/20/23: Washington wrote on X this morning that the team is “expected to sign” Bear “at a later date,” adding that he is joining the team for their morning skate today.

12/11/23: The Capitals have made a contract offer to unrestricted free-agent defenseman Ethan Bear and are expected to close a deal in the near future, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported on the 32 Thoughts podcast Monday.

CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal added this morning that Bear’s agency has told his former team, the Canucks, that they’re out of the running for his services. Dhaliwal surmises that the key element in Bear’s decision will be term. The Capitals are one of the few teams prepared to offer Bear a multi-year deal, Friedman said, while the Canucks don’t have the financial flexibility to offer Bear anything more than a one-year, $1MM-prorated deal.

Washington would be the fourth NHL stop for Bear, who has suited up for the Oilers, Hurricanes and Canucks since Edmonton drafted him 124th overall in the 2015 draft. After playing a limited role in Carolina in 2021-22, Bear signed a one-year, $2.2MM deal with the Hurricanes following an arbitration filing but was dealt to Vancouver, along with depth forward Lane Pederson, for a fifth-round pick in the first few days of the 2022-23 campaign. Bear rebuilt his market value in Vancouver, recording three goals, 13 assists and 16 points in 61 games while averaging 18:32 per contest and posting a 51% Corsi share at even strength.

Named to Canada’s roster for the 2023 World Championship, Bear went without a point in eight games before sustaining a shoulder injury that required surgery in mid-June, which carried a projected recovery timeline of six months. With Bear out long-term and his role on the squad moving forward uncertain, the Canucks opted not to issue him a qualifying offer and let him reach unrestricted free agency.

That isn’t to say Vancouver wasn’t interested in retaining the 26-year-old once he was ready to return to play, as they’ve remained in discussions with Bear’s camp and had made contract offers in recent days. With Bear reportedly prioritizing term, however, there was no clear path for a return to the Canucks.

Instead, he looks to join a Capitals defense that’s been solid this season in preventing quality chances against but hasn’t provided much in the way of offense outside of John Carlson, who leads the team in assists with 14 in 25 games. Bear won’t move the needle in terms of point production from the Washington blueline, but he remains a well-rounded player who can log minutes on special teams. The Capitals’ penalty kill has been in the middle of the pack this season, ranking 18th in the league with a 79.8% success rate.

However, considering Bear is a right-shot defenseman, the fit seems a bit puzzling on Washington’s depth chart. Unless they’re looking to try Bear on his off-side, he would sit behind a rather deep right side of the Washington defense comprised of Carlson, Nick Jensen and Trevor van Riemsdyk, all of whom have been competent this season. Bear is a valuable asset, but he’s not a major upgrade over either Jensen or van Riemsdyk, especially with all three of their right-shot defenders locked into seven-figure cap hits through 2026.

Detroit Red Wings Reassign Simon Edvinsson

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The Detroit Red Wings have announced that defenseman Simon Edvinsson has been sent back down to the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins.

Whereas Edvinsson had been sent down earlier in a paper transaction, this move appears to be more lasting as it comes just as veteran blueliners Jeff Petry and Olli Määttä return to the Red Wings’ lineup.

The sixth overall pick at the 2021 draft, Edvinsson will return to a Grand Rapids team that he has starred for so far this season. In 25 games there he has scored six goals and 16 points, and he has paired that strong offensive production with refinements to his defensive game.

At the NHL level, Edvinsson played a sheltered role as the Red Wings sought to ease him into his first NHL games. He recorded his first point in last night’s loss to the Minnesota Wild, and could very well end up back in Detroit as the team’s first call-up whenever injury trouble strikes again, or if the Red Wings elect to move on from one of their established defensemen.

While there are likely Red Wings fans who would like to see Edvinsson remain in the NHL at the cost of regular ice time to a player like Määttä or Petry, it’s hardly a developmental setback for Edvinsson to play a heavy dose of minutes for a well-established AHL franchise.

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