The All-Star break is almost upon us and once again, it was a busy week on and off the ice where several players took leaves while another entered the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program. Here’s a rundown of the key stories of the week.
Setback For Chytil: The Rangers were hoping that they’d be getting a key center back soon with Filip Chytil returning to practice. Instead, he suffered a setback in his recovery from a concussion in practice and soon after, the team announced that he’d miss the rest of the season and playoffs. His season comes to an end after just ten games while New York now has a notable hole to fill in its lineup. Notably, with Chytil confirmed to be out for the rest of the season, GM Chris Drury will be able to use Chytil’s money ($4.45MM) that’s on LTIR to go out and try to find a replacement on the trade market.
Gallagher Gets Five: Canadiens winger Brendan Gallagher was handed a five-game suspension for his elbow to the head on Islanders blueliner Adam Pelech. With the Department of Player Safety electing to only do a basic phone hearing, it’s the maximum they could suspend him for. It’s the first suspension of Gallagher’s career; he’ll forfeit nearly $170K in salary and won’t be able to return until February 15th. Meanwhile, Pelech, who has dealt with concussion issues, is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
Parise To Colorado: Veteran winger Zach Parise had been speculated as an in-season signing for a while now but many thought he’d wind up back with the Islanders. That isn’t the case as instead, he signed a one-year, $825K (prorated) contract with Colorado. The deal doesn’t contain any additional performance bonuses. Parise is a veteran of 18 NHL seasons, recording 429 goals, 21 of which came last season with the Isles. While it doesn’t seem likely he’ll be able to score at that per-game pace after missing more than half the season, it’s a low-risk addition for Colorado who will likely spot him into the role they initially signed Tomas Tatar for before they moved him to Seattle. The 39-year-old will make his Avalanche debut after the All-Star break.
Extensions: The Blackhawks continued their recent trend of signing veterans to above-market extensions, inking goaltender Petr Mrazek to a two-year, $8.5MM deal. The contract actually represents a small raise for the 31-year-old who is playing on a $3.8MM price tag and made it to Chicago as part of a cap-dumping move by Toronto. But Mrazek has had a nice season, posting a .910 SV% in 34 games on a rebuilding team; keeping him around will give more time for youngsters Arvid Soderblom and Drew Commesso to develop.
Meanwhile, the Flyers signed a pair of players as well. First, they made winger Owen Tippett a cornerstone piece of their future, signing him to an eight-year, $49.6MM extension. The 24-year-old had a breakout year last season, notching 27 goals and 49 points in the first season of his bridge deal. He has a chance to beat that this year, already collecting 18 goals and 30 points in 46 games. Soon after, they agreed to terms on a two-year, $3.8MM extension with center Ryan Poehling. The 25-year-old is in his first season with Philadelphia after signing with them as a non-tendered free agent in July. Poehling has done well in a bottom-six role, picking up 14 points in 45 games while taking nearly ten faceoffs per game.
More Expansion Coming? While we’re not far removed from the last round of expansion when Seattle joined the league as its 32nd team, the Salt Lake City-based Smith Entertainment Group has filed a request to initiate a formal expansion process by the NHL. Salt Lake City has been a speculative landing spot for a new or relocated franchise for more than a year as they’ve been working with the league behind the scenes to position themselves for an opportunity when one becomes available. At this point, there is no formal expansion process in place but with the rising franchise values and thus a rising expansion fee, there could be one in the cards at some point in the not-too-distant future.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.