Atlantic Notes: Namestnikov, Juolevi, Dichow
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
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
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?
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
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
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.
2021 Year In Review: November
2021 was certainly another eventful year, both on and off the rink. Over the coming days, PHR will wrap up our look back at the top stories from around the game on a month-by-month basis. Next up is a look at November.
Coaching News: Interim Blackhawks Kyle Davidson wasted little time making a big splash as he fired head coach Jeremy Colliton. Chicago posted a 87-92-26 record with the 36-year-old behind the bench, a record that didn’t really turn their fortunes around. Their lone playoff appearance was in the bubble with the expanded format and despite the fact that former GM Stan Bowman made some big additions over the summer (defensemen Seth Jones and Jake McCabe plus goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury), they got off to a 1-9-2 start, prompting the change. Derek King was named as interim head coach.
Meanwhile, while the Avalanche got off to a bit of a slow start themselves, GM Joe Sakic gave head coach Jared Bednar a vote of confidence with a two-year extension through the 2023-24 season. He’s in his sixth season behind the bench in Colorado and the Avs have had four straight playoff appearances including three straight second-round trips. However, that’s as far as they have gotten and expectations will certainly be high in the second half of the season as with many expiring contracts on the horizon, the team they bring back next season may not be as strong as this year’s edition.
Eichel Traded: While it took a lot longer than pretty much everyone would have hoped, Jack Eichel was finally on the move as he was traded to Vegas along with a 2023 third-round pick in exchange for winger Alex Tuch, center Peyton Krebs, a 2022 first-round pick, and a 2023 second-round selection. There was no salary cap retention on any player involved in the swap. Eichel underwent his desired disk replacement surgery soon after the swap and he is already back on the ice, working his way towards a return. The Golden Knights now have a top center in the fold although they have some salary cap challenges ahead once their team is fully healthy as well. Meanwhile, Krebs and Tuch represent longer-term building blocks for Buffalo who will be extending their rebuild for a while longer.
Another Record-Breaker: Miro Heiskanen set a new record for the highest AAV given to a defenseman coming off an entry-level contract. That lasted a few days until Cale Makar broke it. And now, there’s a new mark to reach as Rangers defenseman Adam Fox signed a seven-year, $66.5MM extension. The deal carries a $9.5MM AAV and has trade protection in each of the last four seasons, the only ones eligible since those are the only UFA-eligible years. Fox was the Norris Trophy winner last season and is certainly going to be in the mix for the award again this year as he sits third in scoring among all NHL blueliners with 39 points in 39 games.
GM Departures: Long-time Ducks GM Bob Murray was placed on administrative leave pending an investigation into professional conduct. The next day, he tendered his resignation and indicated he’d enroll in an alcohol abuse program. Murray had been Anaheim’s general manager since taking over partway through the 2008-09 season, making him one the longest-tenured in that role in the league. Jeff Solomon is currently the interim GM although Anaheim is now starting the process of looking for a full-time replacement (with Solomon among those in consideration).
Late in the month, the Canadiens made a front office change as well, dismissing GM Marc Bergevin along with long-time top scout Trevor Timmins. It was quite the change of fortunes for Bergevin who just months earlier had been engaged in talks on a contract extension following Montreal’s surprising run to the Stanley Cup Final last summer. Former Rangers GM Jeff Gorton was brought in to head up a new-look front office. Montreal operated without a GM for the past month and a half until today’s hiring of Kent Hughes.
Hughes Extension: The first two years of Jack Hughes’ career with New Jersey were fairly quiet as far as first-overall picks go. However, that didn’t stop the Devils from pursuing a long-term extension with him and they were able to get a deal done, one that will pay the 20-year-old $64MM over the next eight seasons. The deal will make him the highest-paid forward on the Devils and if he can get to the top-line level that he was projected to reach just a few years ago, this deal has an opportunity to become a team-friendly one towards the end. The contract buys out four years of UFA eligibility with Hughes receiving a 10-team no-trade clause in each of those. Hughes is averaging a point-per-game in his first 20 contests this season, a promising improvement over his first two seasons.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
East Notes: Toffoli, Sourdif, Palmieri, Arniel
The Canadiens announced (Twitter link) that winger Tyler Toffoli will return to the lineup tonight, signifying that he has been activated from injured reserve. He has missed the past six weeks due to a hand injury but despite that, he only slipped to third in team scoring as he has 17 points in 26 games. Montreal doesn’t need to make a corresponding roster move to bring him off IR with the placements of Cole Caufield and Joel Armia in COVID protocol earlier today. Defenseman Kale Clague was also activated from COVID protocol into the second roster spot.
More from the Eastern Conference:
- Panthers prospect Justin Sourdif was traded to the Edmonton Oil Kings from Vancouver at yesterday’s WHL trade deadline. A third-round pick in 2020, the winger has 32 points in 24 games this season and now goes to an Edmonton squad that is gearing up for a long playoff run. Florida has already signed Sourdif to an entry-level contract, one that will slide this season and begin in 2022-23.
- Islanders winger Kyle Palmieri hasn’t suffered a setback but head coach Barry Trotz told reporters including Newsday’s Andrew Gross (Twitter link) that his lower-body injury hasn’t been recovering as anticipated. He pegs the veteran’s health around 80-85% so it would appear Palmieri will be out for a little while longer. The 30-year-old has struggled considerably this season with just one goal and six assists in 25 games.
- Capitals assistant coach Scott Arniel has been placed in COVID protocol, reports Tarik El-Bashir of The Athletic (Twitter link). He’ll be away from the team for at least the next five days as a result.
Five Key Stories: 1/10/22 – 1/16/22
It was a fairly quiet week around the NHL with the biggest controversy stemming from the players that weren’t on the list of players named to the All-Star Game. There were, however, a few other stories of note over the past seven days which are covered in our top stories of the week.
Hofmann Leaves, Doesn’t Return: When Blue Jackets winger Gregory Hofmann took a leave of absence from the Blue Jackets late in December, it wasn’t a big deal. His first child was about to be born and teams let their players take a few days away from the team when that happens. However, Hofmann has decided not to return, first prompting a suspension from the team. Then, a few days later, the team ran him through unconditional waivers, allowing them to terminate his contract. Columbus acquired the rights to the 29-year-old from Carolina last season and brought him over to the NHL this year where he had held his own in a limited role, picking up seven points in 24 games. Instead of coming back, he’ll stay home with his family and will rejoin EV Zug of the Swiss NLA. He’ll also be eligible to play in the Olympics since Columbus released him instead of leaving him under suspension.
Another Investigation: Evander Kane has been no stranger to NHL investigations as the league had done three separate ones on him over the last few months. That number can now be increased to four as the league will take a closer look into the incident that caused San Jose to terminate the remaining three-plus years of his contract. Kane has already been suspended for a violation of COVID protocol this season and if the league deems that another one is warranted here, it could affect the 30-year-old’s short-term chances of catching on with another team. Edmonton is among the teams that have confirmed they have interest in signing the winger.
Officially Back: In a move that should have come as a surprise to no one, the Bruins officially brought back veteran goaltender Tuukka Rask, inking him to a pro-rated one-year, $1MM contract. The deal also contains a full no-movement clause. Rask made it clear over the offseason that he only intended to play for Boston this season if he decided to return after recovering from his hip surgery. The 34-year-old has played in 561 career NHL games, all with the Bruins, and will partner with Linus Ullmark down the stretch while Jeremy Swayman has been sent back to Providence of the AHL. As for Boston’s cap situation, this contract was basically all they could afford which will put them in a money-in, money-out spot if they want to make any more changes before the trade deadline.
Three For Merrill: After playing for three teams over the past two seasons and having to settle for a one-year contract in free agency back in July, defenseman Jon Merrill received some security from Minnesota, inking a three-year extension that carries a $1.2MM AAV. The 29-year-old has had a nice season on the third pairing for the Wild, averaging just shy of 18 minutes per game while chipping in with 11 points, more than double what he had last season with Detroit and Montreal. It’s the longest contract for Merrill since his entry-level deal so he gets some welcome stability while Minnesota gets a capable depth blueliner for a pretty good price tag.
Lidstrom Returns: Nicklas Lidstrom is once again a member of the Red Wings. No, the Hall of Famer isn’t coming out of retirement but he has rejoined Detroit’s front office, becoming their new vice president of hockey operations. Lidstrom, who patrolled the back end for them for 20 years, is no stranger to their front office having worked for them as a scout for three years soon after his retirement in 2012. This time around, however, he’ll be much more involved in all parts of hockey operations. He joins Pat Verbeek, Niklas Kronwall, Jiri Fischer, Dan Cleary, Mark Howe, Kris Draper, and Kirk Maltby among former Red Wings working under Steve Yzerman in their front office.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
East Notes: Brannstrom, DeBrusk, Zucker, Bryson
While Ottawa finds themselves well out of the playoff picture again, Postmedia’s Ken Warren posits that there are still a few players with a lot to play for down the stretch. One of those is defenseman Erik Brannstrom. The centerpiece of the Mark Stone trade, the 22-year-old has struggled considerably in Ottawa and has spent most of this season in the minors. Warren suggests that Jake Sanderson is likely to join the Senators following his college season which could push Brannstrom further down the depth chart to the point where the 15th pick in 2017 could soon be trying to showcase himself for other teams. Brannstrom is in his final season of waiver exemption and will be a restricted free agent this summer and if he’s made available, he could be an intriguing trade chip for GM Pierre Dorion.
More from around the East:
- With Boston off to a hot start to 2022 and nothing happening in terms of Jake DeBrusk’s trade request, head coach Bruce Cassidy told reporters including Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe that he’s not sure if the request still stands at this point. The 25-year-old has just five goals and five assists in 30 points this season and a change of scenery certainly couldn’t hurt at this point. However, with his performance not exactly boosting his value, Dupont argues that DeBrusk may be better off realizing that his best situation might be his current one, especially with the Bruins on a run at the moment.
- Penguins winger Jason Zucker is listed as a game-time decision for their game on Monday in Vegas, notes Mike DeFabo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The 30-year-old has missed nearly a month due to a lower-body injury that he was trying to play through before being shut down. He was off to a tough start before the injury with just four goals and seven assists in 30 games but he’s an intriguing addition to a Pittsburgh attack that is getting pretty close to being fully healthy.
- Sabres defenseman Jacob Bryson will miss at least the next two games due to his upper-body injury, relays Mike Harrington of The Buffalo News (Twitter link). The 24-year-old sophomore has logged close to 20 minutes a game on Buffalo’s back end this season while collecting seven assists and 34 blocks in 32 games.
2021 Year In Review: October
2021 was certainly another eventful year, both on and off the rink. Over the coming days, PHR will take a look back at the top stories from around the game on a month-by-month basis. Next up is a look at October, a month that yielded a frenzy of signings as the regular season got underway.
Price Enters Assistance Program: While Canadiens goaltender Carey Price was expected to miss the start of the season as he worked his way back from offseason knee surgery, it was a big surprise when he revealed that he had voluntarily entered the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program. While Price has since exited following the minimum 30-day period, he has yet to play this season and shut down on-ice workouts about a month ago while awaiting a meeting with his knee specialist to determine the next steps.
Crazy Eights: Eight was the magic number for a lot of teams when it came to signing their key players to contract extension. Many of those deals were handed out with the majority of them being max-term contracts. Up front, the Panthers stopped Aleksander Barkov from reaching the open market, inking him to an eight-year, $80MM deal. The Rangers did the same with top center Mika Zibanejad, handing him $68MM over the next eight seasons. Meanwhile, Montreal made sure to avoid the risk of another offer sheet as they quickly locked up Nick Suzuki to a deal that pays him $63MM over the next eight years.
The money was almost as big on the back end. Charlie McAvoy is staying in Boston for the long haul as they bought out his final RFA year plus seven more with a $76MM contract. Toronto is keeping their top blueliner in the fold for eight more years with a $60MM extension while the Islanders handed Ryan Pulock $49.2MM for eight seasons to keep him as the anchor on the back end. Nashville also extended Mattias Ekholm but his extension was one of the few that bucked the trend in October as he received $25MM over four seasons.
Finally Signing: While it took a while, the three remaining restricted free agents put pen to paper on new contracts. Ottawa held firm on their desire for winger Brady Tkachuk to sign a long-term contract and while they didn’t get a max-term deal, they came close as the two sides worked out a seven-year, $57.5MM contract, making him the highest-paid player on the Senators. The deal also contains a no-move clause in the final three years of the contract, the only ones eligible for any form of trade protection. Ottawa soon after gave Tkachuk the captaincy and they now have another long-term core piece locked up through his prime years.
Meanwhile, the Canucks had a pair of restricted free agents in defenseman Quinn Hughes and center Elias Pettersson. While they didn’t have to sign at the same time, it was widely expected that they would considering they’re represented by the same agency and the length of one contract would affect the other since they didn’t have the cap room to sign both to long-term deals. In the end, the duo basically signed together as Hughes received the long-term deal (six years, $47.1MM) while Pettersson settled for the bridge contract (three years, $22.05MM). Hughes will be an unrestricted free agent when his deal is up while Pettersson will have one RFA year remaining with a qualifying offer of 120% of the AAV ($8.82MM).
Kane Suspended: The NHL came down hard on then-Sharks winger Evander Kane for a violation of COVID protocol, handing him a 21-game suspension for what was later reported to be the usage of a fake vaccination card. It gave San Jose a short-term reprieve from having to decide if he was going to be around the team this season or not (and we all know what decision they eventually made). At the same time of their announcement, the league revealed that the other investigation they were conducting into allegations of domestic abuse could not be substantiated.
Beach Fallout: Following the releasing of findings into an investigation into allegations of sexual assault by Brad Aldrich in 2010 on what was later revealed to be former Chicago forward Kyle Beach, Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman immediately stepped aside. Bowman had been at the head of the Blackhawks since 2009 and admitted he made a mistake with how he handled things when he was made aware of the situation. Meanwhile, two days later, Panthers head coach Joel Quenneville resigned. He had been coaching Chicago at the time and also had been made aware of the situation back then. He will have to meet with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman before being permitted to coach again in the NHL. Andrew Brunette took over on an interim basis and still is running the bench in Florida.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.