PHR Mailbag: Capitals, Ristolainen, Ruff, Gibson, Summer Regrets, Kraken, Wild, Predictions, Fedotov
Topics in this edition of the mailbag include what might be next for Washington, Lindy Ruff’s future in New Jersey, some summer moves that teams might want a mulligan on, and more. If your question doesn’t appear here, check back in last weekend’s column.
2012orioles: Will the Capitals do anything with their LTIR money?
KRB: Only 22.5% of teams outside of a playoff position at American Thanksgiving make the playoffs. Washington may be outside looking in at that cut-off date, Peter Laviolette’s contract expires at the end of this season, and only Carlson is signed of their D corps, beyond this year. Are the Caps sellers at the deadline? Too early to speculate?
As we did with the Los Angeles questions last week, let’s combine the Washington ones.
I fully expect Washington will use their LTIR money, it just might not be the way you think. For starters, they’ve already used some on claiming Nicolas Aube-Kubel from Toronto. The rest is going to depend on Nicklas Backstrom. If he’s able to return later this season (he skated today which is certainly promising), they’re going to need what’s left of Connor Brown’s LTIR money to try to get cap-compliant to be able to activate him. (They’ll have to get a bit creative to free up the rest of the room from there.) But if Backstrom can’t return in-season, then yes, they’ll be able to go out and add another piece. LTIR space doesn’t bank like regular cap space does so in theory, they could do something sooner than later but knowing the uncertainty with Backstrom, I suspect they’ll wait for a little while until they have a firmer understanding of when he might be able to come back.
I have a hard time thinking Washington is going to be sellers unless things really go off the rails and they have no choice but to move some expirings at the deadline. And even in that scenario, it’d be a one-year sell with an eye on getting back into the mix in 2023-24.
As bad as the early season has gone, they’re just three points out of a playoff spot heading into today’s games. Tom Wilson is going to be back before too long and that will be a significant boost to an injury-depleted forward group so there’s a bit of room for optimism on the horizon.
There was speculation last month that Laviolette would be the next coach to sign an extension. Perhaps the sluggish start gives GM Brian MacLellan pause but I don’t think Laviolette’s contract situation is going to play much of a role in their decision-making. They’re built to be a win-now team and I expect they’ll operate that way as long as they can which means that if they can add (depending on Backstrom’s situation), they’ll do that.
DonnieBaseBallHOFer: I know it’s early yet to talk trades, but what are the odds the Flyers try to move Risto and that terrible contract? He’s currently on the outs with Torts (but then on a daily basis someone always is) but I feel that even though he brings the physicality Torts wants, the defensive lapses are just too much to overcome. And, who would be more likely to move…Risto or JVR? I lean towards JVR, even though he has more value to the Flyers than Risto at this point. Between these contracts and the career-threatening injuries, the immediate future seems bleak…hoping some of the younger kids in the AHL develop soon….
To say there has been some angst during Rasmus Ristolainen’s tenure with the Flyers would be an understatement. The price to acquire him seemed high and then the decision to not trade him at the trade deadline didn’t go over well. Neither did the five-year, $25.5MM extension he signed. And now that he is seemingly in John Tortorella’s doghouse, things are somehow getting worse.
Having said all that, I’d say the odds of them trying to move Ristolainen right now range from slim to nil. It’s clear that GM Chuck Fletcher is a big believer in the 28-year-old and a rough seven-week patch probably isn’t going to change that. There’s also the matter of the contract. The trade market is minimal at this point to begin with but I find it hard to believe that there will be teams lining up to trade value for Ristolainen when his value is by far the lowest it has ever been. And if the options are either to give up assets to get out of the contract or keep him and hope things work out, I suspect they’ll opt for the latter.
So, to answer the second half of your question, James van Riemsdyk is the likelier of the two to move. Closer to the trade deadline, there should be some interest in him as a middle-six scoring upgrade as long as the Flyers are willing to retain 50% of the rest of the contract (which runs through the end of this season). It might not be a significant return as there will be other wingers like him available (probably on cheaper deals) but they should be able to get a small something for him.
Grocery stick: Coach Ruff has been seen as a stopgap solution between now and the moment the Devils are ready for contention. The Devils had a strong start to the season and – perhaps even more importantly – have some impressing offensive and possession metrics. I guess that offensive uptick was exactly what they hoped for when they signed Ruff. Did this start to the season improve Ruff’s chances of staying at the helm long-term? Or is he basically just accelerating time until his successor steps in?
New Jersey’s strong start has only gotten better since this question was posed as they enter play today on an 11-game winning streak which has them first in the Metropolitan Division. But I still don’t think Ruff is viewed as the long-term coach for the Devils.
You used stopgap as the type of coach Ruff was viewed as heading into the season and I had a similar term for him as well and still do. He turns 63 in February and while there’s no must-retire age for coaches, he’s probably not too far away from that point. I’m not even sure this earns him an extension right away – he’s in the final year of his contract – as GM Tom Fitzgerald probably wants to see if this is sustainable before entertaining that idea.
The moment they hired Andrew Brunette, New Jersey had their coach of the future as long as someone doesn’t swoop in and hire him away before they’re ready to make that switch. But I don’t think it’s a coincidence that they hired an offensive-minded younger coach to apprentice behind an offensive-minded older coach; it’s a natural succession plan but Brunette won’t want to be in the number two role for any extended period of time.
When Ruff was hired, I pegged him as a bridge coach, one that could get the team going offensively and aid in the development of core youngsters like Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier. He has done that, even when the results weren’t great last year. Perhaps this buys him a short-term extension over time but this is his third season with the team now. I’d be surprised if he lasts three more which is probably needed for him to be considered as a long-term coach.
Vegas Moved: Is there any indication Anaheim might move Gibson? What sort of haul could they expect?
There has been speculation about John Gibson and the possibility of a trade for a few years now but I don’t really see why. I get one side of the discussion – Anaheim is in a rebuild and Gibson might not mind going to more of a contending team. However, the other side is where I struggle to see a fit. With how Gibson has played lately, what contending team will want him?
Gibson has been below the NHL average in save percentage for each of the last three seasons and is once again below that mark early on this year at .893 while his 4.13 GAA is far from ideal either. Is that the statistical profile that teams would want? Granted, there is a possibility that he’d improve on a better team. But to what extent? If he gains 10 points on his save percentage, that just brings him back to where he was the last three years, below average. If he shaved half a goal per game off, he’d still be near the bottom of the league. At a full goal per game improvement, his GAA would improve to mediocre.
There’s also the contract to consider as he’s signed through 2026-27 at $6.4MM. For that money and commitment, you’re not exactly getting bang for your buck anymore. So what teams are lining up to provide anything let alone a haul for Gibson? If anything, Anaheim would be trying to incentivize teams to take on the rest of the contract.
I have to be honest, I misread this deal a few years ago. I thought this would be a contract that was ahead of the curve, one that was about $1MM higher than the goalie median at the time but as the cap continued to increase, goalie salaries would go up and they’d have an above-average goalie at about an average price tag. But the cap stopped going up and Gibson stopped being an above-average goalie. That was the worst-case scenario for the Ducks and it came true here.
West Notes: Myers, Shaw, Luypen, Blumel
With the Maple Leafs set to miss Jake Muzzin for several more months and perhaps longer, it has led to some speculation that they could look to acquire a veteran rearguard in his place. To that end, some have suggested that Canucks blueliner Tyler Myers could be a fit but Postmedia’s Patrick Johnston reports that Toronto’s interest is believed to be lukewarm at most. Myers is signed through next season with a $6MM AAV and has logged over 20 minutes a night throughout his career. However, his production has fallen off over the past few seasons as he has only scored once in his last 97 games.
Elsewhere in the Western Conference:
- Mason Shaw has impressed since being recalled from the minors last month and has made enough of an impression on the Wild that they’ve told him that he’ll be staying up with them for the rest of the season, relays Dane Mizutani of the Pioneer Press. The 24-year-old played in three games with Minnesota last year but has already surpassed that with a dozen appearances this season that have seen him pick up two goals and three assists along with 24 hits while averaging nearly 13 minutes a night of ice time. Shaw is making the league minimum this season and will have arbitration rights next summer.
- Back in August, when the Blackhawks signed prospect Jalen Luypen to an entry-level contract, it was expected that the 20-year-old would play with AHL Rockford this season. However, Scott Powers of The Athletic reports (subscription link) that the plan has changed now that his junior rights were acquired by Tri-City. Instead of turning pro, Luypen will report for his final season in the WHL once he’s cleared to return after he underwent rotator cuff surgery in the summer. Even though he’ll go back to junior, he will burn the first year on his contract this season.
- The Stars have brought back Matej Blumel, notes Matthew DeFranks of the Dallas Morning News (Twitter link). He was sent down yesterday when it was expected that they’d need to bring up an extra goaltender. However, that’s no longer the case so Dallas has the cap room to bring the 22-year-old back up.
Sabres Claim Tyson Jost Off Waivers From Wild
The Sabres have added some extra depth up front as TSN’s Darren Dreger reports (Twitter link) that they have claimed center Tyson Jost off waivers from Minnesota.
The 24-year-old was acquired by the Wild back at the trade deadline last season in exchange for Nico Sturm. They were hoping that a change of scenery would help Jost to unlock the potential he showed in the past that made him the 10th overall pick in 2016. He was a little better down the stretch last season with six points in 21 games which gave them cause for a little bit of optimism heading into this season.
Unfortunately, things haven’t gone well this season. Jost was limited to just three assists in 12 games while spending a lot of time on the left wing. He was also a healthy scratch in five games and that’s simply not a good return on a $2MM price tag. Unable to trade him, the Wild put Jost on waivers yesterday. His full contract will come off the books which will give GM Bill Guerin considerably more flexibility as he looks to upgrade his roster that currently sits on the outside looking in at the playoff race.
As for Buffalo, it’s a claim that doesn’t carry a lot of risk and there’s a clear path to playing time for Jost. Riley Sheahan is currently playing center on their fourth line and Jost represents a younger, more talented option at this point of his career. If the Sabres envision him on the wing, Anders Bjork has already cleared waivers this season and the Sabres took advantage of that as he was sent back to AHL Rochester in a corresponding move.
Notably, Jost’s contract is a little back-loaded so while his cap hit is $2MM, his qualifying offer next summer stands at $2.25MM, his actual salary this season. He’ll need to show some improvement if he wants a chance at receiving that tender in June; perhaps this change of scenery will be the one to help get him going.
Canadiens Activate Mike Matheson Off Injured Reserve
The Canadiens will welcome back a key defenseman tonight against Philadelphia as the team announced (Twitter link) that Mike Matheson will make his Montreal debut after being activated off injured reserve.
The 28-year-old was acquired from Pittsburgh over the offseason in a move that saw defenseman Jeff Petry and center Ryan Poehling join the Penguins. Matheson, who was coming off a career year with Pittsburgh that saw him put up 11 goals and 20 assists in 74 games, was expected to play the role that Petry had last season as Montreal’s number one defender but he suffered an abdominal injury early in the preseason. Originally diagnosed as a day-to-day issue, it was then suggested that he’d be out until mid-December but clearly, he’s ahead of that timeline.
Montreal freed up a roster spot yesterday when they returned forward Rem Pitlick to AHL Laval so they don’t have to make any other moves for now. Instead, they’ll opt to carry eight defensemen and will sit one of their rookies as Jordan Harris is expected to be scratched for the first time this season. With four rookies (three of them being waiver-exempt) on their active roster, that’s not a particularly tenable situation from a long-term perspective but for now, they’ll welcome Matheson back and potentially begin a rotation of the final two spots on the back end.
Blue Jackets Recall Billy Sweezey
As the injuries continue to pile up in Columbus, the Blue Jackets have had to dip deeper into their depth chart with some players getting their first NHL opportunities. Today, that’s the result for defenseman Billy Sweezey as the team announced they’ve recalled him from AHL Cleveland.
The 26-year-old undrafted free agent has taken a slower route to the NHL. After playing out his college career at Yale, he signed a minor-league deal with Pittsburgh in 2020. That was enough to get him a minor-league pact with Columbus last season where he put up 11 points in 70 games along with 114 penalty minutes. Those numbers don’t jump off the page but GM Jarmo Kekalainen thought highly enough of him to commit a two-year, two-way deal for this season, one that pays him the league minimum at the NHL level in both seasons.
This season, Sweezey has been a bit more involved offensively with five assists through his first 14 games with AHL Cleveland which has helped him earn this recall. Columbus is currently without Zach Werenski, Jake Bean, Adam Boqvist, and Nick Blankenburg who are all on injured reserve and while David Jiricek has done well in the minors so far, the Blue Jackets are trying to manage his NHL action as his contract would slide a year as long as he plays in nine or fewer games. With Sweezey’s recall, the team now has seven healthy defenders on their active roster.
Atlantic Notes: Lightning, Senators Sale, Barkov
The Lightning transferred defenseman Cal Foote to injured reserve today, notes Erik Erlendsson of Lightning Insider (Twitter link). He has missed the last three games since suffering an upper-body injury on a hit from Capitals winger Nicolas Aube-Kubel last week, one that earned him a three-game suspension. The placement might be a short-term one, however, as the 23-year-old is skating in a non-contact sweater which suggests he might be close to returning. Tampa Bay has the option to back-date the placement to last week in which case they’d be able to activate Foote as soon as Monday.
What the placement does is give the Lightning an open roster spot, one that Erlendsson suggests could be used to activate blueliner Zach Bogosian tomorrow. The 32-year-old has yet to play this season since undergoing shoulder surgery back in July and would be a welcome addition to their third pairing if he is indeed given the green light to suit up in that one.
More from the Atlantic Division:
- Add another suitor to the list of groups interested in purchasing the Senators as Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports that Angelo Paletta and his family have expressed interest in the franchise. Paletta looked to bring another team to Southern Ontario back in 2018 while also looking to purchase the Coyotes one year later.
- While the Panthers had to play short a player last night due to a lack of cap space, that won’t be the case for their game against Calgary on Saturday. Head coach Paul Maurice told reporters including Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald (Twitter link) that he is optimistic that center Aleksander Barkov will return for that contest after missing yesterday’s game against Dallas due to an undisclosed injury. Since they played with only 17 skaters for that one, they’re now allowed to make an emergency cap-exempt recall from AHL Charlotte but Maurice indicated that they don’t plan to do so at this time.
Canucks Activate Curtis Lazar, Assign Will Lockwood To AHL
The Canucks are set to welcome back one of their centers in advance of tonight’s game against Los Angeles as the team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve activated Curtis Lazar off injured reserve. To make room for him on the roster, Vancouver re-assigned winger Will Lockwood to AHL Abbotsford.
Lazar signed a three-year contract with the Canucks on the opening day of free agency back in July and was expected to anchor their fourth line, the role he held for a lot of his time with Boston previously. He got into seven games last month but was shut down late in October after it was revealed that he was playing through an undisclosed injury. Lazar had a goal and 17 hits in those contests while logging just shy of 12 minutes per game.
As for Lockwood, his second NHL stint of the season lasted longer than the first but that’s not saying much as he was only brought up on Tuesday and lasted just one extra day this time. However, he did make his first NHL appearance of the season on this recall, picking up an assist against Buffalo on Tuesday. Lockwood has been productive in the minors this season with five goals and two assists in ten appearances down there which will keep him at or near the top of the recall list whenever another recall is needed.
Salary Cap Deep Dive: Buffalo Sabres
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 2022-23 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: $65,105,451 (under the $82.5MM Upper Limit)
Entry-Level Contracts
F Dylan Cozens (one year, $894K)
F Peyton Krebs (two years, $863K)
F John-Jason Peterka (three years, $856K)
D Owen Power (two years, $917K)
F Jack Quinn (three years, $863K)
Potential Bonuses
Cozens: $850K
Krebs: $412.5K
Peterka: $82.5K
Power: $925K
Quinn: $850K
Total: $3.1195MM
Cozens did well last season in his first full NHL campaign, checking in at just under half a point per game while he’s doing a little better than that this year. He has positioned himself for a bridge deal that would start in the $3MM range but knowing what GM Kevyn Adams has done in terms of trying to lock up some core pieces lately, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Sabres try to work out a long-term agreement that could be closer to twice that amount while buying out some UFA years. Krebs came over as part of the Jack Eichel trade last season and while he’s holding down a regular spot in the lineup, he has yet to score in 15 games this year. While he’s still certainly part of their future plans, it’s looking likely that he’ll be heading for a bridge contract.
Quinn was dominant in the minors last season and expectations were somewhat high for him this year. He hasn’t been overly productive in the early going but it’s only the first year of his contract. A lot could change in the next couple of years which could make him a target to skip the short-term second deal and go straight to the long-term one. Peterka has been quite effective in a middle-six role this year and while he doesn’t have quite the fanfare that Quinn (or even the other two entry-level forwards) has, he could skip the bridge deal if he’s able to lock down a full-time spot in the top six over the next couple of seasons.
Power hasn’t scored yet this season but that’s about the only small blemish. He’s already averaging nearly 24 minutes per game and playing in all situations. This is the type of profile that typically signs a long-term second contract and we’ve seen the high end of that scale hit $9.5MM recently. Power has a long way to go to get to that level for sure but if he lives up to the hype, he’ll be a very expensive rearguard before too long.
Signed Through 2022-23, Non-Entry-Level
G Craig Anderson ($1.5MM, UFA)
F Rasmus Asplund ($825K, RFA)
G Ben Bishop ($4.917MM, UFA)
F Anders Bjork ($1.6MM, RFA)
D Casey Fitzgerald ($750K, RFA)
F Zemgus Girgensons ($2.2MM, UFA)
F Vinnie Hinostroza ($1.7MM, UFA)
D Lawrence Pilut ($750K, UFA)
F Kyle Okposo ($6MM, UFA)
F Riley Sheahan ($950K, UFA)
Potential Bonuses
Anderson: $500K
After some underwhelming years offensively, expectations were somewhat low for Okposo the last couple of years but he had a nice bounce-back season in 2021-22 and is off to a good start this year. $6MM for the captain is certainly out of the question at this stage of his career but a multi-year agreement around half of that doesn’t seem as outlandish as it might have been just a couple of seasons ago. Girgensons has been around for a long time (this is his ninth season) but gone are the days when the hope was that he could eventually move into the top six. He’s a checking forward now that can play both center and the wing. There’s value in that type of player but he shouldn’t cost much more than what he’s making now though another multi-year deal should come his way.
Hinostroza earned this raise on the heels of one of his stronger NHL performances last year but he remains more of a tertiary scorer that plays in the bottom six. His market hasn’t been the strongest in the past so it’s hard to forecast much of a raise for his next potential trip to the open market. Bjork hasn’t been able to establish himself with Buffalo and actually cleared waivers last month. With a $1.8MM qualifying offer on the horizon, he looks like a strong non-tender candidate at the moment. That can’t be said for Asplund who has turned into a quality defensive winger that can chip in a bit offensively as well. With a couple of RFA years remaining, Buffalo could look to do a one-year deal around double his current price or push for a multi-year pact that would push his AAV past the $2MM mark. Sheahan has been on cheap one-year deals the last four seasons and there’s little reason to think that won’t be the case next season as well. At this point, the only question is if he can secure a one-way pact instead of a two-way contract.
Fitzgerald and Pilut largely fall in the same category – players that are trying to establish themselves as NHL regulars. With the former, arbitration rights could put his next deal around the $1MM mark on a one-year agreement while with the latter, he should stay around the minimum if he sticks around the NHL. Returning overseas for a bigger role is definitely a possibility as well.
Bishop is only on Buffalo’s roster on paper. His playing days are done and he’s likely to go back to Dallas next season after it was ruled he couldn’t work for them this year. If someone wants to get creative with LTIR down the stretch, he’s a potential trade candidate. Anderson did well with Buffalo last year, earning himself a raise for this season as well. He’s going to go year to year from here on out which is understandable since he’s 41 but if he’s up for playing another year, a similar-priced deal could be attainable.
Signed Through 2023-24
D Jacob Bryson ($1.85MM, RFA)
G Eric Comrie ($1.8MM, UFA)
D Rasmus Dahlin ($6MM, RFA)
D Henri Jokiharju ($2.5MM, RFA)
G Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen ($837.5K, RFA)
D Ilya Lyubushkin ($2.75MM, UFA)
F Casey Mittelstadt ($2.5MM, RFA)
F Victor Olofsson ($4.75MM, UFA)
Olofsson has been a player that has been a core piece at times and seemingly on the outside looking in at others. That’s part of the reason why he has been on short-term contracts to the point where Adams opted to bridge him into unrestricted free agency. When he’s on, he produces at a top-six rate that’s worthy of this price tag. When he isn’t, he’s not. Over the next two years, teams will have a better idea of which version they’re likely to get in 2024 and will offer accordingly. Mittelstadt has been much better this season after a tough first year on this bridge deal. If he can work his way into a full-time top-six spot by 2024, his next deal could push into the $4MM range. If the early success this year is the outlier though, they’ll have a decision to make about qualifying him at $2.6MM with arbitration rights.
Dahlin is a rare first-overall pick to receive a bridge contract. The decision was certainly defensible as he was coming off a rough performance in 2020-21 and there were questions about his ability to get to his high ceiling. Since then, those questions have gone away rather quickly as Dahlin had a career year last season and has been even better this year while becoming one of the top-scoring blueliners in the league. In doing so, he has shown that he is indeed a franchise defender. With that in mind, tendering the $7.2MM qualifying offer really isn’t the next question for Buffalo – it’s how much more than that will it take to get him to stay away from testing the open market in 2025. A double-digit AAV seems quite likely at this point.
Lyubushkin’s contract seemed a bit rich when it was signed early in free agency last summer but he is filling a spot on their third pairing while playing with the physicality he has shown throughout his career. If he had enough interest back in July to command this deal, it’s reasonable to infer that there could be enough interest in him in 2024 to push this price tag at least a little higher. Jokiharju also struggled a bit in the first season of his three-year bridge deal while injuries haven’t helped things this year. When healthy, he can play in their top four so there shouldn’t be any issues qualifying him at $2.6MM; his production (or lack thereof) will determine if it’s just a small increase from there or a bigger jump toward the $4MM range. Bryson is now a regular on the back end and the goal now for him will be getting into the top four regularly. Doing that would push him close to $3MM on his next deal as it looks like his earnings upside will be somewhat limited due to a lack of offense.
Comrie came over from Winnipeg looking for a chance to play a bigger role and he has received that with Buffalo. However, the results have been mixed so far. Considering he’s making less than a lot of veteran backups, it’s certainly not an above-market contract but he will need to show some improvement if he wants an opportunity to beat that in 2024. Luukkonen is Buffalo’s goalie of the short-term future; at least, that’s the plan. With limited NHL action at this point, he’s not going to have much history to work with when it comes to contract talks. A one-year deal could be done to buy more sides more time to evaluate or the Sabres could come in with a medium-term agreement in the $4MM range that carries some risk but also some upside if he becomes a legitimate starter.
Five Key Stories: 11/7/22 – 11/13/22
As is often the case in the early going of the season, most of the biggest news from the past seven days came on the injury front although it wasn’t all bad news in that regard.
Done For The Year: The Blue Jackets have had a lot of tough luck when it comes to injuries over the first month of the season and they got their worst news yet as Zach Werenski is out for the season after suffering a separated shoulder and a torn labrum against Philadelphia. The 25-year-old has been the number one defender for Columbus for the last several years and he had gotten off to a decent start to his campaign with three goals and five assists in his first 13 games and was logging over 25 minutes a night before suffering the injury (which dragged his ATOI below the 24-minute mark). On top of that, his playing partner Nick Blankenburg fractured his ankle in the same game and will be out for six to eight weeks himself.
Avoiding Surgery: A few weeks ago, it looked like the Senators were going to be without their top center, Josh Norris, potentially for the rest of the season as he was expected to undergo shoulder surgery. Instead, after consulting with five doctors and two specialists, that’s no longer the plan as he won’t go under the knife and instead will just rehab for the time being with a reassessment scheduled for January. Potentially getting the 23-year-old back at some point in the second half of the season would be huge for an Ottawa team that has struggled out of the gate as they find themselves at the bottom of the Atlantic Division.
Kane To LTIR: It was a scary sight in Tampa Bay where Edmonton was playing on Tuesday as winger Evander Kane suffered a skate laceration to the wrist after winger Pat Maroon inadvertently cut it. He underwent successful emergency surgery but will still be out for the bulk of the season as he’ll miss at least the next three to four months with the Oilers quickly transferring him to LTIR. It’s a huge loss for Edmonton as Kane was fitting in quite nicely in his first full season with the team, picking up 13 points in 14 games while logging over 19 minutes a night on their top line. Forwards Mattias Janmark and Klim Kostin were recalled from the minors with the freed-up cap space but with Kane likely to return before the end of the season, the Oilers won’t be able to go out and acquire a more prominent replacement as they’ll need to be cap-compliant in order to activate Kane later on.
No World Cup In 2024: Getting away from the injury news for a moment, the NHL and NHLPA jointly announced that the World Cup of Hockey that was scheduled to be held in 2024 will no longer be staged, citing an infeasibility to hold the event in the current environment. That current environment pertains to Russia and Belarus currently being banned from international play which would have made it difficult to have players from those countries participate in a true best-on-best event. For now, the plan is to instead have the event in 2025. The last time the World Cup of Hockey was held was back in 2016, an eight-team event that featured a young North American squad as well as a Team Europe.
Surgery For Nichushkin: On top of being without Gabriel Landeskog, the Avalanche lost another one of their top wingers when Valeri Nichushkin underwent successful ankle surgery that will keep him out of the lineup for a month. The 27-year-old had gotten off to a very strong start to his season, his first on his eight-year deal, notching seven goals in as many games while chipping in with five assists, good for fifth in the league in points per game heading into Sunday’s action. Unfortunately for him and the Avs, that hot start has now been derailed for a little while at least as their forward depth starts to get tested.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
East Notes: Lajoie, Okposo, Zub
The Hurricanes have brought up some extra defensive depth, announcing the recall of Maxime Lajoie from AHL Chicago. The 25-year-old has seen NHL action in three of the last four seasons, including getting into five games with Carolina in 2021-22 although the bulk of his playing time came back in 2018-19 when he played in 56 contests with Ottawa. This year, Lajoie has played in ten games with the Wolves, picking up four assists. Calvin de Haan was banged up in yesterday’s matchup against Edmonton and it would seem that Lajoie will be up as some insurance in case the veteran isn’t able to play in their next game on Monday. Dylan Coghlan is also on the roster and could be inserted into the lineup if de Haan misses any time.
More from the Eastern Conference:
- Last night’s contest against Boston won’t be the only one that Sabres captain Kyle Okposo misses as Mike Harrington of The Buffalo News notes that the veteran is likely to miss at least a couple more games. For now, the plan is for the 34-year-old to rest for a few days and then re-evaluate him from there. Okposo is off to a nice start to his season with nine points in his first 14 games.
- While the Senators were hoping to have defenseman Artem Zub back by now, it appears that he’ll be out a little while longer. Speaking to TSN 1200 earlier today (audio link), head coach D.J. Smith indicated that the 27-year-old is behind schedule but that he should be able to return by the end of the upcoming week. Zub is a pending unrestricted free agent and was averaging just shy of 22 minutes a game before sustaining an upper-body injury last month.