Central Notes: DeBrincat, O’Brien, Spurgeon
Blackhawks winger Alex DeBrincat will be eligible to sign a contract extension in July and indicated to reporters, including Ben Pope of the Chicago-Sun Times, that he’s open to having those discussions whenever the team is. The 24-year-old has been one of the few bright spots for Chicago this season, notching 40 goals and 36 assists in 79 games. DeBrincat will be owed a $9MM qualifying offer in the 2023 offseason so it stands to reason that any discussion of an early extension will have that number as a starting point. Pope adds that DeBrincat isn’t expected to suit up at the World Championships next month with him and his wife expecting their first child.
Elsewhere in the Central:
- Coyotes winger Liam O’Brien may be able to return to the lineup on Wednesday against Dallas, relays Jose M. Romero of the Arizona Republic (Twitter link). The 27-year-old has missed the last two months with an upper-body injury. O’Brien has had a quiet year with three points and 106 penalty minutes in 37 games but was rewarded with a two-year contract extension last month, the first one-way deal of his career.
- Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon left last night’s game early in the first period. While some were hoping he was being held out as a precautionary measure, head coach Dean Evason told reporters postgame, including Michael Russo of The Athletic (Twitter link), that the blueliner suffered an upper-body injury and will undergo testing to learn how much time he’ll miss. The timing is hardly optimal for Minnesota as Spurgeon is one of their top defensemen (he leads their back end in points with 39 while sitting third in ATOI at just over 21 minutes a night) and their first-round series against St. Louis starting early next week.
Injury Updates: Flyers, Barabanov, Maple Leafs, Murray
Don’t expect the Flyers to get many – if any – reinforcements from their injured list over the final few games. Giana Han of the Philadelphia Inquirer relays (Twitter link) that the only player that might be able to return is defenseman Nick Seeler with interim head coach Mike Yeo admitting that even that “might be a bit of a long shot”. This means the season has come to an end for wingers Cam Atkinson and Patrick Brown, defensemen Rasmus Ristolainen, Kevin Connauton, and Cam York, as well as goaltender Carter Hart.
Other injury news from around the NHL:
- Sharks winger Alexander Barabanov is listed as probable for tonight’s game against Chicago, notes Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now (Twitter link). The 27-year-old has missed the last four games with an undisclosed injury. Barabanov has been one of the bright spots for San Jose this season, notching 37 points in 65 games, a very nice return on a $1MM AAV. He’s eligible for unrestricted free agency this summer and will be looking at a sizable raise on his next contract.
- The Maple Leafs could have defenseman Jake Muzzin back in the lineup tomorrow against Washington, reports Sportsnet’s Luke Fox (Twitter link). The veteran has been held out of the last few games after struggling a bit after returning from a concussion. Meanwhile, Fox adds that blueliner Rasmus Sandin is expected to start practicing with the team as he works his way back from a knee injury that landed him on LTIR last month. Toronto has enough cap flexibility to activate him if he’s able to get into a game before the end of the season but if not, he should be ready for the playoffs.
- Senators goaltender Matt Murray is hoping to get into a game or two by the end of the season but it doesn’t seem likely to happen, mentions Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch. The netminder has been out for the last six weeks with a neck injury and is a speculative candidate to play for Canada at next month’s World Championships. An appearance or two in the final week for Ottawa would go a long way towards demonstrating that he’ll be able to play in that tournament.
Snapshots: Jets, Behrens, Lehner, Zadina
With Winnipeg now mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, interim head coach Dave Lowry told reporters, including Sportsnet’s Ken Wiebe (Twitter link), that center Mark Scheifele and winger Cole Perfetti aren’t expected to return by the end of the season. Scheifele has missed the last couple of weeks with an upper-body injury while Perfetti has been out for more than two months with an upper-body issue of his own. Perfetti, however, is expected to rejoin the team for practice sometime next week and could be a candidate to play for Canada at the World Championships next month for the second year in a row.
Elsewhere around the hockey world:
- After an impressive freshman season at the University of Denver, Avalanche defenseman prospect Sean Behrens told Peter Baugh of The Athletic (subscription link) that he sees himself remaining in college for one or two more years. The 19-year-old was a second-round pick (61st overall) last summer and had 29 points in 37 games as he helped lead the Pioneers to the NCAA title. With Colorado moving blueline prospects Justin Barron and Drew Helleson at the trade deadline, Behrens is now clearly their top prospect on the back end.
- Following Friday’s confusion of reports suggesting Robin Lehner was out for the season while Vegas head coach Peter DeBoer stated he expected the netminder at practice today, the Golden Knights issued a statement indicating that Lehner won’t skate today as he takes an additional maintenance day. However, the team remains hopeful that will be available to play tomorrow against San Jose. This strange situation will drag out a little longer as a result.
- Red Wings winger Filip Zadina won’t play again this season after undergoing an appendectomy back in Florida, relays MLive’s Ansar Khan. It was a tough year for the 22-year-old as he managed just 10 goals and 14 assists in 74 games. While those were career highs, Detroit was undoubtedly expecting more from Zadina, the sixth-overall pick back in 2018.
Senators Activate Thomas Chabot
Although Thomas Chabot had previously been ruled out for the season with a fractured hand, there was some hope that the Senators could get their top defenseman back for a game or two before the year comes to an end. That will indeed be the case as TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie reports (Twitter link) that Chabot took the morning skate and will return to the lineup tonight against Montreal.
The 25-year-old has had another impressive season on Ottawa’s back end, collecting 34 points in 55 games and he still leads the team in points by defensemen despite missing 22 contests. More importantly for them, he has logged heavy minutes once again, averaging 26:23 minutes per game to lead the NHL, the third straight season that he has reached the 26-minute mark in ATOI, the only player in the league to do so. Even though the games will be meaningless in the standings, his return will certainly be a welcome one as a result.
It’s expected that Chabot, if healthy, will be asked to represent Team Canada at next month’s World Championships so these last few games will also serve as a testing ground to see if he’ll be good to go for that tournament. It would be his second time playing in that event having also played in it back in 2019.
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.