Atlantic Notes: Sabres, Zboril, Point, Matthews
The Sabres have shown interest in Rangers goaltender Alexandar Georgiev in the past, notes Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News. Buffalo is in need of goaltending for next season regardless of whether or not they plan to have Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen jump up full-time to the NHL or not. Georgiev is a strong candidate this summer given New York’s salary cap situation and while the 26-year-old has had a tough year (a GAA of 2.91 and a SV% of just .898 in 31 games), there could still be a bit of upside left to make him a worthwhile short-term option. They have shown interest in bringing back Craig Anderson and the veteran could be a good mentor if Luukkonen is on the roster in a platoon situation.
Elsewhere in the Atlantic:
- The Bruins have had extension talks with defenseman Jakub Zboril, reports Mark Divver of the New England Hockey Journal (Twitter link). The 25-year-old was limited to just ten games with Boston this season before his year came to an end with a torn ACL. Zboril is eligible for Group Six unrestricted free agency this summer since this is his fifth professional season but has just 54 career NHL games under his belt so a low-cost one-year deal to give him another chance next season would make some sense for both sides.
- Lightning center Brayden Point will return tonight after missing Thursday’s contest, relays Joe Smith of The Athletic (Twitter link). Head coach Jon Cooper acknowledged that the 26-year-old has been dealing with a nagging issue, terming his absence last game as more than just maintenance. Point has 55 points in 62 games this season and they’ll need him healthy for the playoffs so the fact he only missed the one game has to be encouraging.
- Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews will return to the lineup tonight against Florida after missing the last three games with an undisclosed injury, mentions TSN’s Mark Masters (Twitter link). The 24-year-old has four games left to get two goals which would make him the NHL’s first 60-goal scorer since Steven Stamkos reached that mark back in the 2011-12 season.
AHL Shuffle: 04/23/22
The final Saturday of the regular season is a busy one with a dozen games on the schedule including a game that has the potential to be a very high-scoring affair with Toronto in Florida to take on the Panthers. There should be plenty of roster shuffling throughout the day which we’ll keep track of here.
Atlantic Division
- The Red Wings announced (Twitter link) that they’ve brought up wingers Taro Hirose and Riley Barber from Grand Rapids of the AHL under emergency conditions, meaning they won’t count against the four-recall limit. Hirose (53 points in 69 games) and Barber (46 in 46) sit second and third respectively on the Griffins in scoring this season. Later on, the team assigned Barber back to the AHL.
- The Bruins have sent goaltender Troy Grosenick back to AHL Providence, per the AHL’s transactions log. That suggests that Linus Ullmark has been cleared to return; the team was hoping he’d be able to play in one of their games this weekend. As for Grosenick, he has impressed in the minors this season with a 2.02 GAA and a .931 SV% in 28 games, ranking him first among qualifying netminders in both categories.
- The Senators have recalled winger Scott Sabourin from AHL Belleville, reports Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch (Twitter link). He’ll be taking the place of Connor Brown who is out with an injury. Sabourin has 16 points and 70 penalty minutes in 38 minor league contests this season.
- The Maple Leafs announced (Twitter link) the recall of defenseman Carl Dahlstrom from AHL Toronto on an emergency basis. The 27-year-old has an assist in two NHL games this season while chipping in with 14 helpers in 47 contests with the Marlies.
Metropolitan Division
- The Flyers announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled goaltender Felix Sandstrom from AHL Lehigh Valley under emergency conditions. The 25-year-old made his NHL debut back in December and has played in three games with Philadelphia so far, posting a 3.29 GAA and a .915 SV%. With Carter Hart still unavailable, Sandstrom should continue to back up Martin Jones down the stretch.
Central Division
- The Jets announced (via Twitter) that goaltender Mikhail Berdin has been returned to AHL Manitoba. The 24-year-old had been serving as Winnipeg’s backup on an emergency basis when Connor Hellebuyck was unable to suit up due to illness. Berdin has yet to play in the NHL but has a 2.43 GAA with a .901 SV% in 29 games with the Moose this season.
- The Wild announced they’ve recalled winger Joseph Cramarossa from AHL Iowa. The 29-year-old has played in 51 games in the minors this season, notching 19 points after spending most of last year on the taxi squad. Cramarossa’s promotion was needed with winger Mats Zuccarello being ruled out for Sunday’s game in Nashville.
Pacific Division
- The Flames announced (Twitter link) that they’ve brought up goaltender Dustin Wolf from AHL Stockton. This is an emergency recall with Jacob Markstrom unavailable being unavailable for tonight’s game against Vancouver. Wolf has done quite well in his first full AHL season, posting a 2.33 GAA along with a .924 SV% in 46 games.
This post is updated throughout the day.
Central Notes: Dumba, Greenway, Francouz, Beagle
The availability for Wild defenseman Mathew Dumba heading into the playoffs appears to be uncertain. Michael Russo of The Athletic relays (Twitter link) that head coach Dean Evason is calling the blueliner a “wildcard” in terms of his potential readiness for their opening game against St. Louis. In particular, Dumba hasn’t been shooting the puck well. He’d be a big loss for them if he can’t start in the postseason with the 27-year-old logging over 23 minutes a game this season.
Meanwhile, the news is better for winger Jordan Greenway. While he has already been ruled out for Sunday’s game in Nashville, Evason indicated that Greenway is ahead of Dumba in his recovery which suggests he may be able to return to the Wild’s lineup next week. The 25-year-old has 23 points in 59 games this season.
More from the Central:
- Avalanche goaltender Pavel Francouz left Friday’s game against Edmonton early after being hit in the head with a puck on the bench, notes Mike Chambers of the Denver Post. There’s no word on how long the 31-year-old might be out for but any absence would be significant as Francouz has impressed this season with a 2.52 GAA and .918 SV% in 20 games. Justus Annunen has been recalled from AHL Colorado in a corresponding move.
- Coyotes center Jay Beagle is listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury, reports PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan (Twitter link). The 36-year-old was injured early in Wednesday’s game against Chicago and has been limited to just 33 appearances this season. While he has been able to win faceoffs at a high level (57.1% this season), Beagle has just two points and has struggled, leading to some questions about his NHL future. To that end, Beagle told Jose M. Romero of the Arizona Republic earlier this week that he has yet to decide whether to pursue a contract for next season in free agency or to hang up his skates.
Pacific Notes: Sharks, Jones, Carrick, Podkolzin
The Sharks have started reaching out to teams to ask permission to interview for their GM vacancy, Pierre LeBrun reported in a recent TSN Insider Trading segment. Their internal list of candidates is still quite large – believed to be around 25 at the moment – but will be whittled down further before phone interviews begin which could be as soon as next week. Given how many are on their list, this process may take a while and ownership has previously indicated that there are no issues with interim GM Joe Will potentially leading the team through the draft in July if the search takes longer than expected. Lisa Dillman of The Athletic suggests (Twitter link) that ESPN’s Kevin Weekes is someone to keep an eye on; the former goaltender has interviewed for several GM openings recently and it seems like only a matter of time before he gets an opportunity.
More from the Pacific:
- Although Ducks winger Max Jones has received a clean bill of health after recovering from a torn chest muscle, he’ll be held out for the rest of the year for precautionary reasons, relays Elliott Teaford of the Orange County Register. The 24-year-old has missed all but two games this season due to the injury and will look to lock down a full-time spot in the lineup in training camp. In the meantime, he’ll likely continue to take part in Anaheim’s practices in a non-contact jersey.
- In a separate column, Teaford adds that center Sam Carrick isn’t expected to return this season due to a lower-body injury. The 30-year-old had just 11 points in 47 over parts of five NHL campaigns heading into 2021-22 but he has basically been a regular for the Ducks this season, collecting 19 points (including 11 goals) in 64 games. Carrick will be an unrestricted free agent in July.
- While the plus/minus statistic has lost a lot of its relevance in recent years, it’s something the Canucks will be monitoring over these final few games. As Thomas Drance of The Athletic points out (subscription link), rookie winger Vasily Podkolzin is tied for third among Vancouver forwards in that particular stat with a +9 mark. If he finishes in the top three, he earns an ‘A’ bonus of $212.5K, one that will count against Vancouver’s 2022-23 cap since the team has been in LTIR all season and has no banked cap room.
USA Hockey Reveals U18 World Championship Roster
With the 2022 IIHF U18 Men’s World Championship about to get underway, USA Hockey has revealed its roster for the eight-team tournament. As expected, it features several projected high draft picks in July’s entry draft; the full team is as follows:
G Trey Augustine
G Michael Chambre
G Tyler Muszelik
D Hunter Brzustewicz
D Brady Cleveland
D Seamus Casey
D Ryan Chesley (A)
D Tyler Duke
D Charlie Leddy
D Lane Hutson
D Seamus Powell
F Gavin Brindley
F Logan Cooley
F Cutter Gauthier (A)
F Marek Hejduk
F Isaac Howard
F Devin Kaplan
F Ryan Leonard
F Cruz Lucius
F Rutger McGroarty (C)
F Frank Nazar
F Jimmy Snuggerud
F Cole Spicer
F Charlie Stramel
Cooley is a name that stands out as the center has worked his way up draft boards this season and is basically a consensus top-five selection with several scouting services placing him second. He had a combined 89 points for the National Team Development Program this season and is heading to the University of Minnesota next season. Nazar gives the US a dynamic one-two punch down the middle as the University of Michigan commit had 97 points this season and has a chance to be selected in the top ten in July as well. Hutson won’t go as high given his size (5’9, 148 lbs) but he nearly had as many points as Cooley did this season which is quite impressive for a defenseman. Because of his size, his draft rankings are all over the place with some ranking him as a first-rounder while others have him in the third round.
In terms of the 2023-eligible prospects, Brindley nearly doubled his production with Tri-City of the USHL this season and is the only player on the team that wasn’t in the development program all season. Leonard and Stramel, meanwhile, spent time with both the U-17 and U-18 programs which bodes well for their draft stock.
The tournament is being hosted in Germany begins on Saturday and runs through May 1st. It features teams from eight different countries split into two groups with each team playing the three opponents in their group before the medal round is set.
Metropolitan Notes: Penguins, Trocheck, Rangers
With Tristan Jarry injured with a broken bone in his foot, Pittsburgh’s decision to not upgrade their backup goaltending spot at the trade deadline has come into question. However, as Mike DeFabo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette illustrates, doing so wasn’t a viable option for the Penguins on a couple of fronts. They only had enough money to add one piece – winger Rickard Rakell – with team president Brian Burke acknowledging they felt they needed to upgrade up front which made that the direction they took. On top of that, aside from Marc-Andre Fleury whose AAV was too expensive to fit in, there weren’t any realistic upgrades on Casey DeSmith that were readily available. DeSmith is now getting a prime opportunity to prove his value not only to Pittsburgh but around the rest of the league as he gets set to hit the open market in July.
More from the Metropolitan:
- Hurricanes center Vincent Trocheck is having a nice season with 20 goals and 28 assists in 78 games, setting him up nicely to have plenty of interest in his first trip through unrestricted free agency this summer. However, he reiterated to Daily Faceoff’s Matt Larkin that his preference remains to stay in Carolina. The recent extension given to Jesperi Kotkaniemi could potentially complicate that plan as their intention is to move Kotkaniemi to his natural spot down the middle and Trocheck’s pending free agency is a logical way to do that. If the 28-year-old ultimately reaches the free agent market, Trocheck will have plenty of suitors to choose from in July.
- The Rangers won’t have forwards Andrew Copp (lower-body injury) and Filip Chytil (upper-body injury) in the lineup on Saturday against Boston, relays Mollie Walker of the New York Post. Both players were injured on Thursday (Copp’s came after scoring a natural hat trick in the first period) and are currently listed as day-to-day.
East Notes: Bruins Injuries, Barzal, Matthews, Kotkaniemi
The Bruins have had a bit of tough luck on the injury front lately with several key regulars going down. Today, the team provided a handful of updates on those players. Winger David Pastrnak and defenseman Hampus Lindholm skated today but won’t be with the team for their two-game road trip. Head coach Bruce Cassidy indicated he expects both will be back before the end of the season and could play this weekend. Meanwhile, goaltender Linus Ullmark didn’t skate today but they believe he’ll be able to return over the weekend. Winger Jesper Froden suffered a lower-body injury on Saturday and won’t be on the road trip either with no word yet on how long he might be out.
Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference:
- The Department of Player Safety issued a fine of $2.5K to Islanders center Mathew Barzal for unsportsmanlike conduct. The incident occurred late in the third period on Sunday when he grabbed onto Mitch Marner’s jersey from the bench. No penalty was issued on the play.
- While Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews is still a couple of years away from hitting the open market, pondering what his next deal could cost has already become a discussion point. In his latest column for the Toronto Star, Chris Johnston opines that the 24-year-old could reach the $15MM mark, one that would significantly surpass Connor McDavid’s record-setting $12.5MM AAV. Matthews is in the midst of a career year with a league-high 58 goals along with 44 assists in 70 games this season.
- On top of updating the injury situation for goaltender Frederik Andersen, the Hurricanes also revealed that forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi has been nicked up again and is listed as day-to-day. The 21-year-old had just come back from missing eight games with a lower-body injury so it’s possible this absence is related to that one. Head coach Rod Brind’Amour stated that he doesn’t expect Kotkaniemi to be out for long.
Examining A Key Change In The NHL’s Transfer Agreement With Sweden
Earlier this month, the NHL and the Swedish Hockey Association reached a new Player Transfer Agreement. SportExpressen’s Gunnar Nordstrom has the details of the agreement, some of the highlights being as follows:
- A more than 45% increase in the money paid to Swedish teams whose player signs an NHL contract;
- The signing deadline for previously-drafted and free agent players is June 15th each year;
- The regular signing deadline for players drafted in the current year is July 15th with a $100K penalty being added if they wait until August 15th;
- It’s an eight-year agreement with both sides having an option to open it up after four years.
However, there is one significant change that warrants a closer look. Under the old agreement, players drafted in the second round or later that are also signed in Sweden had to be at least 21 before they could be sent to the AHL. If they were younger than that, they had to be returned to their Swedish team. In the new agreement, that threshold has been increased to 24. Any player from Sweden who signs an NHL contract will now be subject to the new agreement while anyone that signed before the announcement will be under the old rules.
The intention of this provision is to have players stay and play in Sweden until they’re ready to play in the NHL. It’s one thing for players to make the jump to the NHL and this agreement doesn’t prevent that from happening. But it has now become a bit more difficult to get those players into the minor leagues.
NHL teams understandably want to get their prospects into their farm system and work with their development coaches so this is something that probably isn’t going to sit well with teams as now, they will effectively be limited to development and rookie camps with the latter likely to be frowned upon as Sweden’s season gets underway at the time that NHL rookie camps are held in mid-September.
Also, as there is a signed transfer agreement in place, NHL teams have four years to sign players to an entry-level contract which hasn’t changed from before. If the drafted player is 18, that means he’d be 22 at the end of that stretch and signing a two-year contract. For the duration of that agreement, teams could effectively face an NHL or Sweden situation depending on the players’ contractual situation in Sweden and the deal will count against the 50-contract limit during that time even if they’re returned overseas.
It’s worth noting that there are no changes to the rule for first-round picks. If a Swedish player is picked in the first round, the NHL team can send the player to the minors without requiring the approval of his team in Sweden.
Now, with the extended restriction for those picked after the opening round, it will be interesting to see if that has any effect on the draft. Do teams consider slightly reaching for a player at the end of the first round that might be rated a bit lower on their list to the ability to have full control of their development? And as the draft progresses, might teams be more hesitant to draft players from Sweden knowing it will be more difficult to get them into their farm system? We’ll find out the answer to those questions three months from now.
Central Notes: Byram, Toews, Wild
Back in January, Avalanche defenseman Bowen Byram contemplated not returning this season or even hanging up his skates altogether, relays Mike Chambers of The Denver Post. He had recently returned to Colorado’s lineup before his concussion symptoms returned and had to shut things down at that time. The progress that the 20-year-old made in his recovery nudged him towards trying to come back this season which he did last week and he has gotten into six games since then. Byram’s playing time since then has been a bit limited relative to his early-season usage which is certainly understandable both in terms of allowing him to ease back into things plus Colorado’s top seed in the Western Conference. He could be an interesting wild card for the Avs heading into the postseason as he certainly has given their third pairing a lift.
More from the Central:
- Still with Colorado, defenseman Devon Toews won’t suit up tonight and won’t accompany the team on their upcoming three-game road trip, notes Peter Baugh of The Athletic (Twitter link). The good news for the Avalanche is that head coach Jared Bednar indicated that the injury isn’t cause for concern which means he should be good to go for the playoffs, if not a game or two before then. The 28-year-old is logging more than 25 minutes a game on the back end this season, second to only Cale Makar for Colorado.
- Michael Russo of The Athletic outlines (subscription link) the tough decision the Wild are facing this summer. Their cap situation gets a lot worse with the increased dead cap charges on the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts and it appears they’ll be facing a situation where either winger Kevin Fiala or defenseman Mathew Dumba get traded. Minnesota wasn’t able to agree to a long-term deal with Fiala last summer and wound up taking him to salary arbitration. He has one year of RFA eligibility remaining and with 73 points in 75 games, he’ll be eyeing a big raise on his $5.1MM price tag while making it very difficult to justify moving him. Dumba is signed through next season at $6MM and would certainly have a strong trade market if they opted to move him to keep Fiala in the fold.
East Notes: Joseph, Mikheyev, Kuraly
Mathieu Joseph has made an immediate impression on the Senators who acquired him before the trade deadline in a swap that sent Nick Paul to Tampa Bay. After being in a limited role with the Lightning, the 25-year-old has had a chance to play a bigger role in Ottawa and has made the most of it, notching 12 points in 11 games. However, his season may have come to an early end as head coach D.J. Smith told TSN’s Claire Hanna (Twitter link) that his injury is a little worse than they expected and will keep him out longer than anticipated. While Smith stated that the injury isn’t serious, with only two weeks left in the season, it’s possible that Joseph has played his final game of 2021-22. A restricted free agent this summer with arbitration eligibility, Joseph appears to be in line to land considerably more than his $813K qualifying offer.
Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference:
- The Maple Leafs won’t engage in contract discussions with winger Ilya Mikheyev until after the season, notes Sportsnet’s Luke Fox. The pending UFA is having a career year despite missing 29 games due to a thumb injury as he has 17 goals and nine assists in 45 games, including four shorthanded tallies. That has the 27-year-old in a good position to potentially double his current $1.645MM AAV on the open market this summer.
- Blue Jackets center Sean Kuraly will return to the lineup after missing the last two games due to a stint in COVID protocol, relays Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch (Twitter link). He’ll take the place of Brendan Gaunce in the lineup. Kuraly has set new career bests in goals (12) and points (28) in 72 games this season in his first year with Columbus.