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Five Key Stories: 1/17/22 – 1/23/22

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With the trade market basically being non-existent at the midway point of the season, most of the biggest news in the NHL over the past seven days came away from the rink, including the rescheduling of over 100 games.

Flyers Injuries: On top of seeing their losing streak extend to 11 games marking the second stretch of at least 10 straight losses this season, Philadelphia also got hit hard by injuries to a pair of key forwards.  First, center Kevin Hayes will miss three to four weeks after undergoing a procedure to drain fluid from his adductor region.  The veteran has been limited to just 20 games this season with multiple IR stints plus a stint in COVID protocol.  Meanwhile, winger Joel Farabee will be out for up to four weeks with an upper-body injury.  The 21-year-old has seen his production drop like many Philadelphia players this season but he still has 11 goals in 33 games.

Two For Orlov: Capitals defenseman Dmitry Orlov received a two-game suspension for his knee-on-knee hit on Jets winger Nikolaj Ehlers.  It’s the second time that the 30-year-old has been suspended after being hit with one for a boarding incident back in 2014.  He missed games against Boston and Ottawa and will be able to return on Monday against Vegas.  Ehlers, on the other hand, won’t be returning for a while as he was placed on LTIR on Saturday, freeing up the cap space for them to activate Blake Wheeler.  As a result, Ehlers will miss at least 10 games and 24 days.

Setback For Price: Canadiens goaltender Carey Price hasn’t played at all this season with his recovery from offseason knee surgery going slower than expected.  It turns out that the veteran recently had a setback and will be essentially starting from scratch in his recovery as he tries to work his way back to the ice at some point this season.  Montreal has struggled considerably this season with Jake Allen and Samuel Montembeault between the pipes and with Price having four years left on his contract, they will be balancing a fine line between having him return in a situation where they have no playoff hopes while also wanting to ensure that their star goalie won’t have any question marks heading into 2022-23.

New GM: Still with Montreal, they now have their replacement for former GM Marc Bergevin as Kent Hughes was named their new general manager.  The 52-year-old has never worked in an NHL front office but has plenty of experience around the NHL having served as a player agent and had more than $290MM of contracts on his roster before deciding to go with this career change.  Like Executive VP of Hockey Operations Jeff Gorton, Hughes received a five-year contract and the duo will look to rebuild a Canadiens team that has gone from a Stanley Cup Finalist to lottery contender in roughly six months.

Protocols Changing: There should soon be a sharp decline in the number of players testing positive for COVID-19.  Following the All-Star Game, the only times that players and team staff will be tested is for cross-border travel or if they’re showing symptoms.  Roughly 73% of NHL rosters have tested positive this season so that decrease was likely to happen on its own with players not being subject to testing for three months after that time but a few weeks from now, the list of players in COVID protocol should be pretty short.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Pacific Notes: Karlsson, Fowler, Oleksiak

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While Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson is officially listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury, there appears to be some cause for concern.  Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News reports that the blueliner and San Jose team doctors will be meeting to discuss their options as to how to proceed.  That would seem to imply a rehab versus surgery discussion and neither of those are particularly appealing for Karlsson who has been having somewhat of a resurgent season to this point.  The 31-year-old has 26 points in 33 games, his best point-per-game average since 2018-19.  With San Jose narrowly holding into the final Wild Card spot in the West, losing Karlsson for any notable period of time would make their playoff push a lot tougher.

More from the Pacific:

  • Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler has cleared COVID protocol and is set to rejoin Anaheim on their road trip in Boston, relays Elliott Teaford of the Orange County Register (Twitter link). The activation means that Anaheim has just two players remaining that are in the protocol in goaltender Anthony Stolarz and defenseman Josh Manson.  As for Fowler, he leads all Ducks defenders in ice time per game at just under 24 minutes a night while chipping in with 20 points in 39 contests so his return will certainly be a welcome one.
  • After being listed as being out day-to-day with a non-COVID illness, Kraken head coach Dave Hakstol told reporters including Marisa Ingemi of the Seattle Times (Twitter link) that defenseman Jamie Oleksiak is now dealing with a lower-body injury. The 29-year-old is logging just shy of 20 minutes a night with the expansion squad while picking up a goal and ten assists in 37 games while tying for the team lead in hits with 105.

Salary Cap Deep Dive: Buffalo Sabres

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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 2021-22 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.

Buffalo Sabres

Current Cap Hit: $69,244,521 (under the $81.5MM Upper Limit)

Entry-Level Contracts

F Dylan Cozens (two years, $894K)
F Peyton Krebs (three years, $863K)

Potential Bonuses
Cozens: $850K
Krebs: $412.5K
Total: $1.2625MM

While Cozens hasn’t been lighting it up in his sophomore season, he has taken some positive strides and has played his way into a bigger role.  That said, it’s not the type of performance that is going to set him up for a long-term second contract and he’ll have some work to do in the second half if he wants a shot at hitting any of his ‘A’ bonuses.  A bridge deal in the $3MM range looks like a possibility if his slow but steady development continues.  Krebs was a key part of the Jack Eichel trade and his first handful of NHL games haven’t been great.  That said, he still figures to be a key part of their long-term plans and with such a limited sample size to judge off of, it’s way too early to be able to reasonably forecast his next contract.

One Year Remaining, Non-Entry-Level

G Craig Anderson ($750K, UFA)
D Johnny Boychuk ($6MM, UFA)
D Jacob Bryson ($889K, RFA)
D Will Butcher ($2.823MM, UFA)*
F Drake Caggiula ($750K, UFA)
F Cody Eakin ($2.25MM, UFA)
D Robert Hagg ($1.6MM, UFA)
F John Hayden ($750K, UFA)
F Vinnie Hinostroza ($1.05MM, UFA)
D Colin Miller ($3.875MM, UFA)
F Victor Olofsson ($3.05MM, RFA)
D/F Mark Pysyk ($900K, UFA)
G Malcolm Subban ($850K, UFA)
G Dustin Tokarski ($725K, UFA)

*-New Jersey is retaining another $910K of Butcher’s contract.

Following Olofsson’s somewhat surprising rookie season two years ago, they opted for a bridge contract to see if it was a sign of things to come or just him getting hit at the right time.  Today, there’s still some question about what he’ll be worth.  He’s doing well enough to be qualified at $3.25MM which would be a small jump on his $3.05MM AAV but at the same time, GM Kevyn Adams may not be ready to commit to a long-term deal yet.  As a result, a second bridge contract makes sense but with him being two years away from UFA eligibility, it’ll have to just be a one-year deal.  He’s eligible for arbitration and if they were to look at a long-term pact that bought out some UFA years, something in the $5MM range may be required.

Eakin’s contract from a year ago came as a bit of a surprise after a quiet 2019-20 season and his value certainly hasn’t improved since then.  He can still kill penalties and win faceoffs but the role he has is usually valued at closer to $1MM than $2MM.  Hinostroza is getting a bigger opportunity with Buffalo than he had over the last few years and it was a wise decision as he’s hovering near the half-a-point-per-game mark, his best average since 2018-19.  Has he done enough to show he’s worthy of a middle-six role on a better team, however?  If yes, he could come close to doubling his price tag.  If not, his raise for next season may be minimal.  Hayden and Caggiula are low-cost role players and are likely to stay at or close to the league minimum on their next deals.

Boychuk was traded to Buffalo just before the Eichel trade to allow the Sabres to stay above the cap floor but his playing days are done.  The addition of Butcher was an interesting one as it gave him a chance to rebuild his value.  That hasn’t happened as he has largely been limited to a role on the third pairing when he has played.  Still, his rookie season should give him a reasonable market as some will view him as a bounce-back candidate so he could come in around half of his $3.733MM AAV on his next contract.

Hagg is one of Buffalo’s more intriguing rental trade candidates over the next couple of months as a physical, stay-at-home defender that can upgrade a third pairing.  There’s still a good market for those players so it wouldn’t be surprising to see him surpass the $2MM mark in the summer.  Bryson isn’t putting up many points but the fact he’s averaging nearly 20 minutes a game will help since he’s arbitration-eligible this summer.  A one-year deal should earn him somewhere around $1.5MM but a multi-year deal could be an option here around the $2MM AAV range.  Pysyk has had to settle for one-year contracts the last two seasons and that will likely happen again although he, too, isn’t far off from 20 minutes a night which could push his value past the $1MM mark which would be an improvement on his last two deals.

None of Buffalo’s goaltenders are in a position to command much of a raise.  Subban cleared waivers in training camp and has struggled in limited action this season which will have teams viewing him as a third-stringer over an NHL backup and will price him accordingly.  Anderson settled for the minimum for this season and while he played well early, his injury situation offsets that.  As for Tokarski, his AAV will go up by default since it’s below the minimum salary but he’s another goalie that’s more viewed as organizational depth than a full-fledged NHL regular.  That will keep him around the minimum as well.

Two Years Remaining

F Rasmus Asplund ($825K, RFA)
F Anders Bjork ($1.6MM, RFA)
F Kyle Okposo ($6MM, UFA)
F Tage Thompson ($1.4MM, RFA)
F Zemgus Girgensons ($2.2MM, UFA)

Okposo is part of that ill-fated 2016 UFA class and he hasn’t lived up to that contract.  That said, he’s very quietly having a pretty good season and has produced at a pace that would be close to his best year with Buffalo.  It doesn’t mean he’s going to get a lot of interest two summers from now though.  He’ll be looking at something closer to a quarter of his current rate unless this production sustains itself for the next season and a half.  Girgensons just hasn’t been able to produce with enough consistency to justify an above-average contract for someone whose best suited to play on the fourth line.  There was some hope of late-blooming upside before but he’ll be 29 at the end of this deal.  If the improvement hasn’t come by then, it’s probably not coming at all.

As for the restricted free agents, Bjork wasn’t able to sustain his late-season uptick in points after being acquired from Boston.  At this point, with a $1.8MM qualifying offer needed, he looks like a non-tender candidate with his UFA market value being around half of that number.  Thompson, on the other hand, is on an upward trajectory.  His offensive production has finally come around and his combination of size and skill make him a candidate for a long-term deal with how much teams are willing to spend in the hopes of keeping a power forward in the fold.  As long as his scoring burst isn’t just a short-term thing, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that he triples his $1.6MM qualifying offer.  As for Asplund, he has provided a decent return on close to a league minimum salary this season.  A similar showing in the second half of this season and next could put him in the $2MM range on his next deal.  All three of these players are arbitration-eligible in 2023.

Three Years Remaining

D Rasmus Dahlin ($6MM, RFA)
D Henri Jokiharju ($2.5MM, RFA)
F Casey Mittelstadt ($2.5MM, RFA)

Mittelstadt hasn’t been able to stay healthy this season which makes it hard to make any early forecast on this contract.  If he can secure a regular top-six role by then, that should at least have him in line to push beyond his $2.6MM qualifying offer in his final year of RFA eligibility.  A long-term contract that buys out some UFA time could push him past the $4MM mark, more if his production is strong over the next two seasons.

The decision to bridge Dahlin made sense as the 2018 top pick hasn’t been able to become that elite number one defender just yet but was still showing some positive development signs.  If he can get to that level by the end of this deal, he’d earn well beyond his $7.2MM qualifying offer and he’ll only have one RFA season remaining in 2024.  The bridge buys them some time but at some point, a long-term pact will need to be worked out.  Jokiharju has turned into a capable second-pairing player in Buffalo and should be a useful secondary piece of their long-term future core.  That should have him pushing for more than $4MM on his next contract if he can pick up his production as this deal goes on.  Again, he’ll only have the one RFA year left at this time.

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Oilers Have Shown Interest In Joonas Korpisalo

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With Mike Smith injured once again, Mikko Koskinen struggling, and the Oilers in a tailspin at the moment, they’re on the lookout to try to shore up their goaltending.  To that end, Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reported in the latest TSN Insider Trading segment that Edmonton has kicked the tires on Blue Jackets goaltender Joonas Korpisalo.

With Elvis Merzlikins inking a five-year, $27MM contract extension at the start of the season, he cemented himself as the starter of the present and future in Columbus, basically making Korpisalo expendable.  The 27-year-old is also on an expiring contract with a $2.8MM AAV and while Edmonton’s salary cap situation doesn’t exactly give them much in the way of flexibility, some retention and some good fortune on the injury front could make a move doable.

Prior to this season, Korpisalo’s track record had been decent with a .905 SV% and a 2.90 GAA over his first six NHL campaigns.  Those aren’t numbers that scream a sizable upgrade but mediocrity would still be an upgrade on what Edmonton has had at times over the past few years, Smith’s strong 2020-21 campaign notwithstanding.

However, this season has been another story.  Korpisalo has a 3.95 GAA and a .882 SV% in 14 games, the worst numbers of his career by a significant margin.  Edmonton’s goaltending has struggled this season but the trio of Smith, Koskinen, and youngster Stuart Skinner have done better than that.  In that sense, there’s some question on how much he’d move the needle for the Oilers and whether or not that’s the best use of their very limited cap room.

While Edmonton needs a longer-term upgrade, affording one with their cap situation would be a significant challenge.  Even a higher-end rental starter would be tricky with the Oilers in a money-in, money-out situation and the fact that few are available; TSN’s Darren Dreger noted in the same segment that Chicago’s Marc-Andre Fleury wouldn’t be a great fit for that reason.

In the end, all that GM Ken Holland may be able to afford is a nominal improvement at best and when you factor in Korpisalo’s track record, that’s about all he’d be.  While there wouldn’t be a ton of upside with such a move, he’d at least give them some insurance between the pipes and with Holland not being interested in moving top young assets, this would be a move that could be made without moving those future pieces.  With Edmonton not in a position to accrue cap space since they’re well into LTIR, it’s also a move that they wouldn’t have to necessarily wait until closer to the trade deadline to try to make and with the Oilers struggling, Holland may be forced to try to do something sooner than later.

2021 Year In Review: December

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2021 was certainly another eventful year, both on and off the rink.  Over the past few weeks, we’ve taken a look back at the top stories from around the game on a month-by-month basis.  We wrap things up with a look at December.

Changes In Vancouver: After a disappointing start to their season, the Canucks opted to clean house.  Head coach Travis Green was let go with veteran bench boss Bruce Boudreau taking over.  The hope was the change would give them a spark and it’s fair to say it did as they’re 10-3-1 since then.  Meanwhile, GM Jim Benning was also fired with Jim Rutherford joining Vancouver soon after.  However, he’s not in his usual GM role but is instead president of hockey operations.  Their search for Benning’s permanent replacement continues.

Fabbri Sticks Around: Red Wings winger Robby Fabbri could have been an intriguing trade candidate closer to the trade deadline as a rental player.  Instead, he’s off the market after inking a three-year, $12MM contract extension.  After struggling towards the end of his time with St. Louis, Fabbri has become a reliable secondary scorer for Detroit, reaching the double-digit goal mark in his first three seasons with the team and has a shot at hitting the 20-goal plateau this season, a target he has never reached.

Bishop’s Career Ends: After missing all of last season due to knee trouble, Stars goaltender Ben Bishop was hoping to return this year.  He practiced regularly with Dallas at the start of the season and got to the point where he was ready to test things out on a conditioning stint in the minors.  Unfortunately, that didn’t go well and soon after, it was revealed that Bishop’s playing days have come to an end as he’ll remain on LTIR for the duration of his contract which runs through next season.  His playing days end with 413 games played for five different teams while he was a three-time Vezina Trophy finalist and posted a 2.32 GAA along with a save percentage of .921 and 33 shutouts.

Coaching News: Vancouver wasn’t the only team to change coaches as the Flyers parted ways with veteran bench boss Alain Vigneault and assistant Michel Therrien after a slow start to their season.  Mike Yeo, who had been serving as an assistant, has taken over on an interim basis.  The Jets also made a coaching change although it was one initiated by Paul Maurice who surprisingly resigned partway through his ninth season with the team.  He had been the second-longest tenured coach in the NHL prior to his decision, one that was made as he felt a new voice was needed and that he had led Winnipeg as far as he could.  On the other end of the spectrum, Minnesota has been quite pleased with Dean Evason’s performance as head coach and he was rewarded for his efforts with a multi-year contract extension.  Now in his third season in that role, the Wild have played to a 65-30-8 record under his tutelage so far.

Out Of Olympics: The enthusiasm for NHL players going to the Olympics was short-lived when the league jointly announced with the NHLPA that they were officially withdrawing from Olympic participation.  The announcement came as little surprise as a result of the league having to postpone so many games due to COVID-19 positive tests and attendance restrictions so the drought of a true best-on-best tournament continues.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Atlantic Notes: Namestnikov, Juolevi, Dichow

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Vladislav Namestnikov’s second season with the Red Wings has been a more productive one as the 29-year-old has 11 goals and nine assists through the first 40 games, already surpassing his point total from last season.  As a result, he could be one of Detroit’s more intriguing rentals heading into the trade deadline.

However, if Namestnikov has his way, he won’t be going anywhere at all as he told reporters including Ted Kulfan of The Detroit News that he’s open to an extension and that “it would be great to stay”.  Namestnikov has a $2MM cap hit and should be looking at a similar price tag on his next deal.  A short-term deal to stay with the Red Wings is certainly plausible although if they can get a decent future asset in a trade over the next couple of months, they may prefer to go that route over signing an extension now.

More from the Atlantic:

  • The Panthers have placed defenseman Olli Juolevi on injured reserve, relays George Richards of Florida Hockey Now (Twitter link). The 23-year-old has had a tough first season in Florida as he has struggled to stay healthy, playing in just nine games.  He had been on a nice little stretch as of late, averaging nearly 16 minutes per night on the third pairing in his last four games but that has been put on hold for now.
  • Canadiens prospect Frederik Dichow is expected to transfer to Frolunda of the SHL next season, reports Johan Svensson of SportExpressen although his agent wouldn’t confirm the report. Dichow – who was recently named to Denmark’s Olympic team – has posted a .929 SV% in 20 games in Sweden’s second division this season.  Montreal has until June of 2023 to sign the 20-year-old.

Snapshots: Halak, Canucks GM Search, O’Connor, Lafreniere

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While Canucks goaltender Jaroslav Halak has come up in trade speculation lately with him being close to reaching a $1.25MM bonus for games played, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports in his latest 32 Thoughts column that the veteran doesn’t seem inclined to want to move.  As part of Halak’s contract, he did receive a no-move clause, giving him control over where he goes if Vancouver is able to find a trade taker for him.  The 36-year-old is two games away from triggering a $1.25MM bonus payment, one that will count against Vancouver’s salary cap in 2022-23 with the team being in LTIR and having no cap space to apply the bonus money against this season.  If Halak doesn’t want to leave Vancouver, however, it’s a payout they’re going to have to make.

Elsewhere around the NHL:

  • Still with Vancouver, team president Jim Rutherford told Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK and The Athletic (Twitter link) that he has narrowed his list of potential new general managers to around five. The Canucks have technically been without a GM since Jim Benning was fired back in early December although Rutherford has effectively been acting in that role since joining the team on December 9th.
  • Penguins forward Drew O’Connor is listed as out week-to-week with an undisclosed injury, notes Seth Rorabaugh of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The injury was sustained in Saturday’s game against San Jose and the 25-year-old has been placed on LTIR, meaning he’ll miss at least 10 games and 24 days.  O’Connor has three goals and two assists in 22 games this season.
  • The Rangers announced (Twitter link) that winger Alexis Lafreniere has cleared COVID protocol and has been reinstated to the active roster. The 20-year-old has had a quiet sophomore season so far, notching just 11 points in 37 games which isn’t what New York was expecting when they drafted him first overall in 2020.  Morgan Barron was assigned to the taxi squad to make room for Lafreniere on the active roster.

What Your Team Is Thankful For: Winnipeg Jets

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In the spirit of the holiday season, PHR has been taking a look at what teams are thankful for as the season approaches the midway mark. 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 Winnipeg Jets as we wrap up our series.

What are the Jets thankful for?

Their deep top end of their forward group.  Pierre-Luc Dubois has been much better in his first full season with Winnipeg, giving the Jets a strong one-two punch with him and Mark Scheifele.  Kyle Connor is having a standout season, averaging a point per game while playing in all situations.  Nikolaj Ehlers and Blake Wheeler are still top-six options while Andrew Copp is on pace for a career year (while logging over 20 minutes a game).  Paul Stastny is a versatile player that can play both down the middle and on the wing and is still capable of playing in the top six when called upon.  That’s seven quality top-six forwards at their disposal, a luxury that not a lot of teams have.

Who are the Jets thankful for?

Connor Hellebuyck.

For the last three seasons, he has led the league in shots faced and as Winnipeg makes up their games in hand over the coming months after having several postponed games, there’s a good chance that he makes it four in a row.  At a time where many teams are looking more favorably at the idea of a platoon or tandem situation, Hellebuyck has been the old-school starter, logging heavy minutes.  His numbers are down a little bit this season but still above average but he’s only two years removed from winning the Vezina Trophy while he finished fourth in voting last year.  He still has two years left on his contract at a very reasonable price $6.167MM for someone that logs the minutes he does.

What would the Jets be even more thankful for?

Getting more from their defense.  Kevin Cheveldayoff spent a lot of resources over the offseason to rebuild their back end after it was exposed as a weakness last season with the additions of Nate Schmidt and Brendan Dillon.  They were supposed to complement a pair of strong offensive defenders in Neal Pionk and Josh Morrissey to give them a well-rounded group.  However, Winnipeg hasn’t received a lot of production from their back end with just ten goals in total, half of which came from Morrissey.  As a result, the effects from that upgrade really haven’t been felt – they’ve been better defensively but that has been mitigated with a drop in output.  Getting the production back would give them the best of both worlds and really give them a boost heading into what will be a busy second half of the season.

What should be on the Jets’ wish list?

There’s a big difference here between what they will want and what they can actually do.  Once Wheeler is able to come off LTIR (which will be in the next few days), their cap space will be gone and they’ll have to soon drop to close to a minimum-sized roster to get back to compliance.  So while they’d undoubtedly love to try to add (either up front or defensive depth), they’re going to be very limited in what they can afford as they’ll have to match money or add someone making close to the minimum and send someone down to make room.  That means they’ll be forced to shop more for depth pieces.  Adding some veteran depth up front would be beneficial and while finding a cheap goalie will be a tough, an insurance policy behind Eric Comrie is something Cheveldayoff should want to do.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Central Notes: Buchnevich, Wheeler, Wild, Kuemper

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Blues winger Pavel Buchnevich has been cleared from COVID protocol, reports Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.  As a result, St. Louis – who has had 21 different players unavailable due to positive tests in recent weeks – now doesn’t have anyone missing for that reason (though defenseman Scott Perunovich is out with an unspecified injury).  Buchnevich will be a welcome addition back to the lineup for the Blues as he sits tied for second in team scoring with 14 goals and 21 assists in 34 games.  St. Louis had an open roster spot so they didn’t need to make any corresponding roster move to bring him back onto the active roster.

More from the Central:

  • Jets winger Blake Wheeler could return to the lineup this weekend, reports Sportsnet’s Ken Wiebe. The captain has missed nine straight games with a knee injury, an amount that could have been much higher had it not been for the COVID-related postponements.  Wheeler has only scored once in 22 games this season but had 16 assists which is still tied for third on Winnipeg despite missing more than a month.
  • Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin has resumed skating as he works his way back from a lower-body injury, relays Sarah McLellan of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune (Twitter link). He was injured blocking a shot a week and a half ago.  His pending return will be welcome with Jared Spurgeon expected to be eased back into the lineup; McLellan adds that it’s unlikely that the captain – who is working his way back from a lower-body injury – will play both ends of the upcoming home-and-home with Chicago.
  • While Avalanche goaltender Darcy Kuemper left Monday’s game against Minnesota with an injury, he isn’t expected to miss any time, mentions Mike Chambers of the Denver Post (Twitter link). He’ll serve as the backup goaltender tonight and is slated to start on Thursday in Los Angeles.

Snapshots: Coyotes, Canucks, Kuzmenko, Pillar

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The Coyotes are set to get their top defenseman back in the lineup as Jakob Chychrun has cleared COVID protocol, relays Jose M. Romero of the Arizona Republic.  Chychrun had been out with an upper-body injury sustained back in December and was close to returning before testing positive.  Head coach Andre Tourigny, defensemen Anton Stralman and Kyle Capobianco, and goalie Scott Wedgewood all also cleared protocols and are with Arizona on their road trip.  However, they will be without winger Antoine Roussel who entered COVID protocol today and will miss at least the next five days.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • While the attendance restrictions in Vancouver have been extended through the middle of February, the Canucks will not be having any games on their upcoming three-game homestand rescheduled, mentions Postmedia’s Ben Kuzma (Twitter link). Vancouver already has seven games that need to be rescheduled with at least some of those changes expected to be announced very soon.
  • Free agent winger Andrei Kuzmenko won’t be deciding on which NHL team he’ll sign with anytime soon. TSN’s Darren Dreger reports in the latest Insider Trading segment that the 25-year-old will wait until the end of his season in Russia before choosing where to sign with.  Kuzmenko is on Russia’s training camp list for the upcoming Olympics and as the second-leading scorer in the KHL, it’s quite likely that he’ll make it.  Ottawa is among the teams known to be interested although Dreger relays that almost every team has at least reached out to his agent (Gold Star’s Dan Milstein) to inquire about Kuzmenko.
  • Wild prospect Josh Pillar was traded from Kamloops to Saskatoon at the WHL trade deadline on Monday. The 2021 fourth-round pick has averaged just over a point per game for the second straight season with 11 goals and 20 assists in 29 games.  However, the two picks the Blazers are receiving are conditional as the winger is currently dealing with a private medical situation and the move was made to allow Pillar to recover closer to home.

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