NHL Postpones Islanders Games Through November 30
Dec 1: The league has announced that the Islanders are now cleared to resume their schedule and will play on Thursday against the San Jose Sharks. Revisions of the rest of the schedule will be announced when completed.
Nov 27: With the Islanders getting hit hard with a COVID outbreak, the league has decided to pause things for a few days as they announced that they’ve postponed their games through November 30th. The games affected are Sunday against the Rangers and Tuesday versus Philadelphia. If they’re able to return to action after that time, their first game back will be Thursday when they’re scheduled to host San Jose. The league is in the process of reviewing and revising their schedule.
Per the league’s announcement, another player entered COVID protocol today, giving them eight players potentially unavailable to play. While they didn’t reveal who it was, GM Lou Lamoriello told Newsday’s Andrew Gross (Twitter link) that forward Casey Cizikas is the one who tested positive today. The other seven that aren’t available are forwards Josh Bailey, Kieffer Bellows, Ross Johnston, and Anders Lee plus defensemen Zdeno Chara, Andy Greene, and Adam Pelech.
The Islanders are the second team to have COVID-related postponements as the Senators had three games postponed due to their outbreak earlier this month. As a result of that, the NHL’s ability to opt out of playing in the upcoming Olympics was activated and while there’s no indication that they’re leaning in that direction at this time, the more games they have to postpone will certainly affect their final decision on that matter.
Five Key Stories: 11/22/21 – 11/28/21
The final full week of November got off to a quiet start but there was plenty of notable news towards the end of the week which are highlighted in our key stories.
Big Money On Waivers: The Senators haven’t been pleased with what they’re received from Matt Murray since he became their starting goalie last year and with him being off to a tough start this season, they opted to waive him to give him some time in the minors to try to get back on track. With two years left after this at $6.25MM, he cleared as expected, enabling him to be sent to Belleville. One day later, Sharks winger Evander Kane finds himself on the wire as well. His suspension to start the season for providing a fake vaccination card is up but amid speculation that San Jose would like to move on from the 30-year-old, he’ll start his season in the AHL assuming he clears on Monday. With the team being willing to retain on his $7MM AAV, it’s quite unlikely he’ll be claimed.
Lemieux In Trouble: Kings winger Brendan Lemieux has already been suspended twice in his young career and it looks quite likely that a third is on the horizon. After he received a match penalty (which carries an automatic suspension pending a hearing) for biting Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk, the league offered Lemieux an ‘in-person’ hearing (which is currently conducted through Zoom). That gives them the ability to suspend him for more than five games. That’s notable considering the longest biting suspension has been three games. The time for the hearing has not yet been set.
Front Office Shakeup: The front office for the Canadiens looks a lot different all of a sudden. After assistant GM Scott Mellanby resigned on Saturday, the Canadiens then fired GM Marc Bergevin and assistant GM Trevor Timmins who had been in charge of their amateur scouting. Montreal made the playoffs in six of the nine years that Bergevin was at the helm while they made it to the Stanley Cup Final this past summer. However, the two sides were unable to agree on a new contract in the offseason and with the team off to a tough start this season, ownership decided a new direction was needed. The executive tasked with shaping that new direction is Jeff Gorton. The former Rangers GM has been added as VP of Hockey Operations and will play a key role in their search for a new general manager.
More Postponements: The Islanders are the second team to have games affected by a COVID outbreak as the league postponed their games through November 30th which means at least two games will need to be rescheduled. New York currently has eight players in COVID protocol as well as three off-ice personnel. Ottawa had three games postponed earlier this month due to their own outbreak which triggered an ability for the NHL to opt out of playing in the upcoming Olympics.
Leave Of Absence For Wilson: Sharks GM Doug Wilson is taking a temporary leave of absence from the team for non-COVID medical reasons. The recent Hall of Fame inductee has reportedly been dealing with a persistent cough for the last three months. Assistant GM Joe Will will take over as interim GM in Wilson’s absence. Everyone here at PHR extends their best to Wilson as we hope to see him back on the job as soon as possible.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Central Notes: Klingberg, Forsberg, Johnson
The Hurricanes have inquired about the availability of Stars defenseman John Klingberg, Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek reports (video link). The 29-year-old is in the final year of his contract and a report earlier in the season suggested that he was seeking a max-term eight-year extension worth over $60MM, a price tag that Dallas clearly hasn’t been willing to meet yet. He’s off to a quiet start to his season with no goals and seven assists in 15 games although his track record suggests he’ll turn things around offensively. The fit in Carolina is interesting as they’re already using LTIR and don’t have the cap space to take on Klingberg’s $4.25MM AAV; they’d need Dallas to retain or to send close to matching money the other way. They already have a strong back end and Klingberg would certainly give them a big boost but it’s the type of trade that is more plausible closer to the trade deadline than this early in the season.
Elsewhere around the Central:
- The Predators will soon have a decision to make on pending UFA winger Filip Forsberg. Do they re-sign him and keep trying to win with their current core or go in a different direction to shake things up? Adam Vingan of The Athletic makes the case (subscription link) that Nashville should take the latter option over running the risk of being saddled with another high-priced contract on a core that already has over $46MM in commitments for 2024-25. Considering that core probably isn’t good enough to contend, moving on from Forsberg – likely making him a rental trade at the deadline – would be another critical step in GM David Poile’s shakeup, one that saw Viktor Arvidsson and Ryan Ellis head elsewhere this past summer.
- The Blackhawks were hoping to have center Tyler Johnson back soon but it doesn’t appear as if that will be the case. Interim head coach Derek King told reporters including Charlie Roumeliotis of NBC Sports Chicago (Twitter link) that the veteran isn’t as far along in his recovery as they hoped from an undisclosed injury that has kept him out for the last week and a half. Johnson is in his first season with Chicago after being acquired from Tampa Bay but has been limited to just eight games so far due to injuries while he has just a goal and two assists when he has been in the lineup.
Canucks Receiving Strong Trade Interest In Bo Horvat
It has been a tough couple of years in Vancouver. They underwhelmed considerably last season and after adding some key pieces over the summer including Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Conor Garland, and Jaroslav Halak, there was an expectation that they’d be back in playoff contention. That hasn’t happened as the Canucks have limped to a 6-13-2 record and are already fading from the postseason picture.
As is often the case with teams in this situation, trade speculation is sure to follow. In a recent interview on Sportsnet 650 (audio link), Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK and The Athletic reported that Vancouver is fielding plenty of trade calls but at this time, the bulk of those calls have been focused on one player – Bo Horvat.
The 26-year-old has been with Vancouver for his entire career after being drafted ninth overall back in 2013. He is in his third season as their captain and after he signed a long-term contract in 2017 following his entry-level deal, it felt like he was going to be a part of their plans for the long run. Along the way, he went from being deployed primarily as a checker into becoming a strong two-way center for the Canucks.
However, that contract is only a year and a half away from ending and with things certainly not looking great for Vancouver, it’s certainly reasonable to speculate as to whether or not Horvat would be willing to sign another long-term pact, particularly if they shift gears and look towards a rebuild. Clearly, several general managers around the league seem to have that idea with Horvat driving a lot of the trade inquiries at this stretch.
While Horvat is off to a bit of a slow start offensively this season with six goals and five assists through the first 21 games, he’s still the type of player that could command a sizable return. He still often receives the toughest checking assignments and is quite strong at the faceoff dot, elements that contending teams always covet while a change of scenery could certainly get him going offensively again as well.
Horvat carries a $5.5MM AAV this season and next which is certainly below market value for a player of his caliber. He also doesn’t have any trade protection which will make it a bit easier to facilitate a trade.
While Vancouver would understandably like to keep Horvat in the fold, he’s also arguably their best trade chip as none of their rentals – headlined by Halak and winger Tyler Motte – wouldn’t come close to yielding the type of return that Horvat would. If they do decide to rebuild, Horvat is the type of player that should bring back a minimum of a first-round pick and a top prospect plus likely some other pieces as well.
The future was supposed to be now in terms of Vancouver’s playoff prospects but that’s looking less and less likely. As a result, the Canucks may soon need to make some decisions about key veterans and with the type of interest Horvat appears to be generating, he could very well be a strong candidate to be traded if they indeed start looking towards the future.
Matt Murray Clears Waivers, Assigned To Belleville
November 28: Murray has cleared waivers, per Bruce Garrioch of TSN and The Ottawa Sun. The team’s assigned him to the Belleville Senators.
November 27: On Friday, Senators goaltender Matt Murray was a healthy scratch against Anaheim. One day later, he has been placed on waivers for the purpose of assignment to AHL Belleville.
The 27-year-old is in his second season with Ottawa after they flipped a second-round pick and prospect Jonathan Gruden to Pittsburgh to get him back at the 2020 draft. At the time, they felt they had their starting goalie of the foreseeable future, quickly inking him to a four-year, $25MM contract; his $6.25MM AAV is the sixth-highest in the league among goaltenders this season.
What have they received in return for that money? Not a whole lot. Murray struggled considerably last season, posting a 3.38 GAA with a .893 SV% in 27 games, the worst numbers of his career. This season, those numbers aren’t any better – a 3.26 GAA and a save percentage of .890 in six games. Those numbers are below average for a backup let alone a starter.
Ottawa’s decision to dress Anton Forsberg and Filip Gustavsson against the Ducks was a strong message from head coach D.J. Smith that he has lost faith in Murray. At this point, getting him down to Belleville for a stint to try to give him an opportunity to find his game again against lower-level competition certainly makes some sense.
Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch suggests the Sabres and Coyotes could be teams to keep an eye on with regards to a potential claim. Both teams have a need for a goaltender but with two years still left on his contract and both teams operating as lower budget squads, it’s hard to imagine they’d be willing to take him off waivers with how poor he has performed in Ottawa. A trade with retention after he clears and maybe some games in the minors would be a likelier scenario.
Assuming he does indeed clear on Sunday, the Sens will get a small bit of cap relief as $1.125MM of Murray’s AAV will come off their books when he’s sent down. Of course, with Ottawa being a team that’s closer to the Lower Limit of the cap than the Upper Limit, that relief won’t be worth a whole lot to them but they’ll be able to move forward with a Forsberg-Gustavsson tandem for at least the time being while giving Murray an opportunity to get back to form in the minors.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was the first to report that Murray would be waived.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Metropolitan Notes: Svechnikov, Thompson, Eller, Rust
Hurricanes winger Andrei Svechnikov is a little lighter in the wallet today after the Department of Player Safety announced that they have fined him $5K for a kneeing incident on Philadelphia center Scott Laughton on Friday. It is the maximum fine allowable in the CBA. There was no penalty called when it occurred early in the second period while Svechnikov added a goal late in the third period. It’s the first time the 21-year-old has been fined in his young career and the money will go to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.
More from the Metropolitan:
- The Flyers have been hit hard by injuries to their centers and that list is going to grow again as head coach Alain Vigneault told reporters including Jordan Hall of NBC Sports Philadelphia (Twitter link) that Nate Thompson appears to have a dislocated shoulder. He will be undergoing imaging to confirm that. The veteran joins Kevin Hayes, Derick Brassard, and Patrick Brown as middlemen that are unavailable to Philadelphia due to injury.
- Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette is hoping to have center Lars Eller back for tomorrow’s contest against Sunday, relays Samantha Pell of the Washington Post. The veteran has missed six straight games while in COVID protocol but was able to participate in a full practice today. With Nicklas Backstrom missing the entire season so far, Eller has been called upon to play a bigger role as he is averaging a career-high 17:18 per game in 15 contests while recording a goal and seven assists.
- Penguins winger Bryan Rust was a late scratch from last night’s game due to a lower-body injury, the team announced (Twitter link). His availability for tonight’s contest versus Montreal is not yet known. The 29-year-old has been limited to just a dozen games this season due to injury but has still managed nine points while averaging over 18 minutes a night of playing time.
Central Notes: Strome, Byram, Zuccarello
It wasn’t all that long ago that Blackhawks center Dylan Strome was viewed as a potential centerpiece player when he was drafted third overall by Arizona back in 2015. Even as recently as 2019-20 when he had a good season with Chicago, he still looked like a part of a longer-term core in Chicago. But since then, he has struggled mightily and it doesn’t appear as if other teams around the league believe he could rebound as Mark Lazerus of The Athletic reports (subscription link) that they haven’t been able to get a team to meet their asking price of a mid-round draft pick for Strome’s services. The 24-year-old has just a goal and two assists this season in 12 games while being a frequent healthy scratch. His AAV of $3MM is problematic while a $3.6MM qualifying offer looms large as well. If a mid-round pick isn’t feasible, it appears that interim GM Kyle Davidson will need to consider some retention to try to find a new place for Strome to play.
Elsewhere in the Central:
- The Avalanche will be welcoming back defenseman Bowen Byram tonight, notes Adrian Dater of Colorado Hockey Now. The sophomore was off to a strong start to his season with eight points in 11 games while logging nearly 20 minutes a game before suffering an upper-body injury a little over two weeks ago. Despite being IR-eligible, Byram has remained on Colorado’s active roster so no move to free up a roster spot will be needed.
- While Wild winger Mats Zuccarello left Friday’s victory over Winnipeg after taking a slash in the hand, head coach Dean Evason told reporters including Dane Mizutani of the Pioneer Press that his absence was precautionary and that he could have returned if needed. However, Sarah McLellan of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune relays (Twitter link) that the veteran was absent from practice today which could call into question his availability for Sunday’s game versus Tampa Bay.
Senators Claim Adam Gaudette Off Waivers From Blackhawks
It is a busy waiver day for Ottawa today. After officially placing Matt Murray on waivers, the Senators have claimed center Adam Gaudette off waivers from the Blackhawks, reports TSN’s Chris Johnston (Twitter link).
Chicago acquired Gaudette at the trade deadline last season from Vancouver in exchange for Matthew Highmore. He played in seven games down the stretch last season and did well, collecting four points which was good enough to earn him a qualifying offer for just under $1MM which he accepted in July. However, things haven’t gone as well this season as he has played in just eight games – recording only two points – and spending the rest of the time as a healthy scratch.
Gaudette’s agent Matt Keator told Scott Powers of The Athletic (subscription link) that GM Kyle Davidson was doing Gaudette a favor by putting him on waivers so that he could go somewhere where he could play more regularly. He should get that opportunity in Ottawa, a team that has shuffled quite a few players in and out of their bottom six in the early going this season.
The 25-year-old will once again be a restricted free agent this summer with a $1MM qualifying offer. Gaudette will also have salary arbitration eligibility so he will need to be more productive with the Sens than he was with the Blackhawks in order to be tendered in July.
Blues Place James Neal On Injured Reserve
For a brief moment, it looked as if the Blues were finally going to have a fully healthy roster at their disposal but that isn’t the case now. With a few players banged up, they’ve been forced to make a move as the team announced that winger James Neal has been placed on injured reserve with an undisclosed injury. Center Dakota Joshua has been recalled from AHL Springfield to take Neal’s place on the roster.
Neal had a strong showing with St. Louis on a training camp PTO which led to him receiving a one-year, $750K contract just before the regular season started. His preseason production hasn’t quite carried over to the regular season, however, as the 34-year-old has managed just two goals and two assists in 17 games while averaging just 11:54 per game, a career-low.
As for Joshua, this is already his third recall of the season. He has played in six games with the Blues this season, logging just shy of eight minutes per game on the fourth line. He also has suited up in 11 games with the Thunderbirds, notching a goal and four assists.
What’s notable here is that St. Louis doesn’t have the cap space to add Joshua to the roster; per CapFriendly, they have less than $100K in room right now and Joshua, like Neal, makes $750K, the league minimum. David Perron and Klim Kostin are the other injured forwards and one of them (or Neal) could be shifted to LTIR to create the cap space for Joshua’s addition but that means they’d be missing ten games and 24 days. Otherwise, the cap space would need to come from removing a defenseman from the roster; only Scott Perunovich is waiver-exempt. While this move was needed to get a healthy forward up, it looks as if there will need to be another one coming to make the money work.
AHL Shuffle: 11/27/21
It’s a lighter Saturday than usual around the league following a busy Friday but there are still 18 teams in action today which should result in some roster moves throughout the day. We’ll keep track of those here.
Atlantic Division
- Parker Kelly is on his way back to the minors as the team announced (Twitter link) that the 22-year-old has been sent back to AHL Belleville. Kelly – who signed a two-year extension last month – has been up and down this season, getting into 11 games with Ottawa plus five more in the AHL.
- The Panthers have brought up forward Aleksi Heponiemi from AHL Charlotte, per the AHL’s transactions log. The 22-year-old is off to a decent start to his season with 11 points in 17 games with the Checkers. Heponiemi played in nine games with Florida last season, collecting a goal and an assist while logging just over 12 minutes a game. WPLG’s David Dwork notes that Aleksander Barkov was transferred to IR to open a spot for Heponiemi’s recall.
- The Lightning have activated center Odeen Tufto from season-opening IR and assigned him to AHL Syracuse, per the AHL’s transactions log. The 24-year-old finished second in NCAA scoring last season with 47 points in 29 games with Quinnipiac and got into his first four professional games late last season.
Metropolitan Division
- The Devils announced (Twitter link) that they have assigned winger Fabian Zetterlund back to AHL Utica. The 22-year-old made his NHL debut last week and has played in three games in New Jersey but logged just 4:49 on Wednesday. With Nathan Bastian returning after being claimed on waivers, Zetterlund can return to the Comets where he was off to a nice start offensively with nine points in his first ten games.
- Forward Max Willman is back up with the Philadelphia Flyers, per a team tweet. Willman was added to the active roster in place of the injured Patrick Brown, who was moved to injured reserve today. Willman is pointless in his first six NHL games.
Central Division
Pacific Division
- The Golden Knights announced (Twitter link) that they’ve returned winger Jake Leschyshyn to Henderson of the AHL. Leschyshyn has largely been a regular for Vegas this season, suiting up in 18 games while picking up a goal and three assists. The move brings them down to just 11 forwards on their active roster which suggests they will soon be getting someone back.
- The Kraken have recalled center Riley Sheahan from Charlotte of the AHL, per the AHL’s transactions log. The 29-year-old cleared waivers earlier this month after recording just three points in 14 games with Seattle and got into four games with the Checkers where he picked up a goal and an assist. He’ll take the place of defenseman Mark Giordano on the active roster after he was placed in COVID protocol on Friday.
- The Ducks have returned centers Benoit-Olivier Groulx and Vinni Lettieri to San Diego of the AHL, per a team release. Groulx has seen regular minutes with Anaheim, playing in 16 games in his rookie season although he only has three points to show for it. Meanwhile, Lettieri has suited up three times with the Ducks, collecting a goal and an assist.
This post will be updated throughout the day.