Arizona Coyotes forward Liam O’Brien has been designated as day-to-day with an upper-body injury by head coach André Tourigny, who added that O’Brien will be out of the team’s Wednesday night game against the Minnesota Wild. O’Brien has appeared in 49 games this season, leading the league with 116 penalty minutes – 14 more than Brady Tkachuk, the only other player to break 100 penalty minutes this year.
O’Brien has leaned into the bruiser style, recording over 100 penalty minutes in each of the last three seasons. He’s totaled 404 penalty minutes across just 173 career NHL games – recording more penalty minutes per game than any other NHL player to play in 50 or more games over the last five seasons. It’s a reputation that followed him through his stints in the AHL, where he’s totaled 653 penalty minutes across just 382 minor league games. The 29-year-old winger is serving as a daily lineup fixture for the first time in his NHL career, playing in all but two of Arizona’s 51 games this season. His absence will likely earn Adam Ruzicka an extended stay in the lineup after the waiver claim made his debut with the team on Monday. While he is still waiting for his first point as a Coyote, Ruzicka has managed nine points in 39 games with the Calgary Flames this season.
Other notes around the league:
- Brendan Gallagher is eligible to return to the Montreal Canadiens lineup after serving out a five-game suspension for a hit on New York Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech. It was the first suspension of Gallagher’s 12-year career. He’s scored eight goals and 16 points through 48 games this season, ranking sixth on the team in scoring. Montreal went 2-2-1 during Gallagher’s suspension.
- Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes shared on Pierre LeBrun and Ryan Rishaug’s Got Yer’ Back podcast that the team is seeking to trade a goaltender. The Canadiens currently have three goalies on their NHL roster – Jake Allen, Sam Montembeault, and Cayden Primeau. They recently signed Montembeault to a three-year, $9.45MM contract extension, suggesting he may be the team’s preferred keeper, though he’s no stranger to being involved in trade rumors.
Canadiens made a mistake signing a 4th goalie before trading one. Teams now know one has to go before next season. No one is taking Price unless it’s someone like the Coyotes to get to the salary floor and even then it doesn’t really help the Habs as they’ll still have 3 on their active roster. So teams will under bid for one of the others. With Monty just resigned he’s not likely to go, so one of Primeau or Allen go for pennies on the dollar.
Great analysis of the Montreal goalie situation. As anemic as the league goalie situation is for quality back-ups, perhaps Primeau and Allen will fetch more than in other years?
What do you mean? Price’s career was done. Primeau was an unknown and in his small sample size had not been good. Allen, if we’re being honest, is a backup goalie or at best a 1B. Meaning they had no actual starter. All they did was claim Montembeault off waivers to add insurance which was smart. It just so happens he developed into a legit starter. This problem with the 3 goalies is NOT a problem at all. It’s literally a bonus. Primeau has performed well enough this year and we snatched a starter off waivers and signed him for cheap. We basically created an asset out of nothing by now having an extra goalie to trade. This is a GOOD thing. Monty is getting his starts, the only thing is primeau is getting fewer. But he’s given interviews saying he prefers this over the AHL. He just got his first shutout. Yeah it was against a terrible ducks team but it counts.
Hughes identifying a potential starter on waivers is amazing. Now we might get something for Allen and until we do, we have Allen to help mentor both of our other goalies. We got a starter, a way to mentor our goalies, and soon some draft pick or something, all for basically nothing as we had Allen anyway. This is great
Whatever you have to tell yourself to feel better. Fact of the matter is if Hughes traded Allen before extending Montembault he could have commanded a larger return. Teams now realize he will have to find a way to get one of his roster by next year will offer less. Or just wait for one of them to hit waivers themselves.