Mattias Ekholm Won’t Play In Second Round
While the Oilers came back from a two-game deficit to beat Los Angeles in the first round, they won’t be getting any reinforcements on the back end for their next series against Vegas. Daily Faceoff’s Jason Gregor relays (Twitter link) that blueliner Mattias Ekholm won’t be available to play in the second round.
The 34-year-old returned to the lineup late in the regular season after missing seven games due to an undisclosed injury. However, he played just three shifts spanning 1:52 in that game before going down with an undisclosed injury that has kept him out of the lineup since then and will evidently hold him out for a couple more weeks at a minimum.
Ekholm’s absence is certainly a significant one. He had a career year last season in his first full campaign with the team, notching 45 points while logging over 21 minutes a night. This year, his output dipped a bit to 33 points in 65 games but his 22:12 ATOI was third on the team.
Notably, Ekholm was their anchor on the penalty kill during the regular season and his absence was certainly felt in the playoffs. The Kings scored on 40% of their power play opportunities during the opening round as Edmonton struggled considerably when shorthanded but they’ll have to make do without their top defender on that unit for a while yet.
In Ekholm’s absence, Brett Kulak has taken on a much bigger role than usual while John Klingberg returned early in the first round and jumped into a top-four spot, a deployment that will likely continue when their series against the Golden Knights opens up next week.
Canadiens Assign Oliver Kapanen And Cayden Primeau To AHL
Following their elimination at the hands of the Capitals, the Canadiens have sent a pair of players to the minors to keep their seasons going. The team announced (Twitter link) that they have assigned center Oliver Kapanen and goaltender Cayden Primeau to AHL Laval.
This will actually be Kapanen’s first taste of AHL action. He started the season with Montreal before being loaned to SHL Timra for more playing time. After putting up 35 points in 36 games with them, he was recalled to the NHL in April. All told, the 21-year-old played in 18 regular season contests with the Canadiens, collecting two assists in a little under 11 minutes of playing time. Kapanen also picked up a helper in three playoff appearances where he logged just under seven minutes a night of action.
As for Primeau, his stint with Montreal was short-lived after being recalled last weekend following the injury to Sam Montembeault. He struggled mightily in limited action with the Canadiens this season, posting a 4.70 GAA and a .836 SV% in 11 appearances. However, he was dominant with Laval, winning 21 of 25 games while putting up a 2.00 GAA and a .926 SV%. A pending restricted free agent owed a $1.068MM qualifying offer next month, Primeau and prospect Jacob Fowler will serve as the Rocket’s netminders for their postseason run.
Notably, netminder Jakub Dobes was not sent down. Montreal used one of their four post-deadline recalls as a paper transaction to keep the 23-year-old eligible to play with the Rocket down the stretch. However, it appears that won’t be the case now. Dobes could be a candidate to play for Czechia at the Worlds or perhaps the team decided that since he has been a full-time NHL goalie since late December, it wouldn’t be right to send him down now.
John Tortorella Not Expected To Join Rangers
May 2: Tortorella interviewed the Rangers about an undisclosed role, but it didn’t yield a job offer, Kaplan said Friday.
May 1: While it appears that the Rangers are closing in on naming Mike Sullivan as their next head coach, he might not be the only veteran bench boss the team hires. ESPN’s Emily Kaplan and Kevin Weekes report (Twitter link) that John Tortorella is a strong candidate to rejoin the organization.
Tortorella, of course, spent parts of six seasons with the Rangers, spanning from the 2008-09 season through the 2012-13 campaign plus a brief four-game stint in 1999-2000. New York had some success during the regular season over that stretch with the team playing to a .583 points percentage under Tortorella, his best points percentage out of any of the teams he coached. However, postseason success proved to be more elusive with the team only winning 19 of 44 games, getting to the Eastern Conference Final just once over that stretch.
The 66-year-old is certainly well-traveled as a head coach with stints in Tampa Bay (seven years), Vancouver (one year), Columbus (six years), and most recently Philadelphia (three years) where he was let go with nine games left in the regular season.
With Sullivan presumably coming on board, the head coaching vacancy won’t be going to Tortorella. It has been a while since he has been an NHL assistant coach; that hasn’t been the case since the 2000-01 campaign where he was an assistant with the Lightning before taking the top job midseason. He did, however, serve as an assistant with Buffalo (1989-90 through 1994-95), Phoenix (1997-98 and 1998-99), as well as the 99-00 campaign with the Rangers beyond that four-game stint as the interim head coach. It’s also possible that Tortorella could be coming onboard in more of an advisory capacity but either way, it looks like he won’t be out of a job for long.
Snapshots: Robertson, Dorofeyev, Bastian, Okposo
A key Stars winger is getting closer to returning to their lineup. Head coach Peter DeBoer told reporters including Lia Assimakopoulos of the Dallas Morning News that Jason Robertson has been upgraded from being out week-to-week to out day-to-day. The 25-year-old had his third straight season of at least 80 points this year, hitting the mark exactly but suffered a leg injury in the final game of the regular season. Robertson has been skating away from the team alongside injured blueliner Nils Lundkvist (who is still a long way from returning from shoulder surgery) and it appears he is progressing well in his recovery.
Elsewhere around the hockey world:
- The Golden Knights were without winger Pavel Dorofeyev for tonight’s game against Minnesota and he is listed as day-to-day, relays Jesse Granger of The Athletic (Twitter link). The 24-year-old had a breakout year, tallying 35 goals in the regular season but left Tuesday’s game late due to an undisclosed injury. Victor Olofsson returned to the lineup to take Dorofeyev’s spot on the wing.
- Speaking with reporters today (video link), Devils winger Nathan Bastian addressed his upcoming free agency. Eligible to test the open market for the first time, the 27-year-old indicated that his preference is to remain with New Jersey. However, coming off a down year that saw him record just 10 points in 59 games, he might have to take a small dip in pay from his $1.35MM current deal to do so. The team only has around $12MM in cap room for next season per PuckPedia with defenseman Luke Hughes likely to take a big chunk of that. Accordingly, the Devils may need to keep their final few roster spots closer to the minimum salary and with Bastian logging under 11 minutes a night for the last two years, he likely falls in that category.
- The NHLPA announced that they have hired long-time NHL winger Kyle Okposo as a Business Development and Player Engagement Advisor. Okposo played in over 1,000 career NHL games over parts of 17 seasons, recording 242 goals and 372 assists before ending his career after winning the Stanley Cup with Florida. This won’t be Okposo’s first time working with the NHLPA as he was part of their Executive Board while playing and was also on the Executive Director Search Committee that eventually led to Marty Walsh being hired.
Lightning Assign Two To AHL
Following their elimination at the hands of the Panthers on Wednesday, the Lightning have extended the seasons for two of their younger players for at least one more day. The team announced that defenseman Maxwell Crozier and center Conor Geekie have been assigned to AHL Syracuse.
Crozier’s stint with the big club was short-lived as he was only recalled yesterday to serve as extra depth for the final game of the series. He only played in five regular season games with Tampa Bay this year after suiting up 13 times (plus three playoff contests) last season for them. The 25-year-old had 34 points in 52 games with the Crunch this season and will be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights this summer.
As for Geekie, the 20-year-old was a key part of the return for Mikhail Sergachev in the trade with Utah back at the draft. The 11th overall pick in 2022, Geekie spent most of the year with Tampa Bay but in a fairly limited role as he logged just over 12 minutes a night of ice time while chipping in with eight goals and six assists. That earned him a midseason assignment to the Crunch where he was much more impactful offensively, tallying 11 goals and nine helpers in 24 games. Geekie was brought back up late in the year and got into four postseason contests where he had one assist in nearly identical ice time compared to the regular season.
Both players are in uniform tonight for the Crunch against Rochester. It’s a must-win game for Syracuse as they’re down two games to none in their best-of-five second-round series.
Capitals Recall Mitchell Gibson, Assign Clay Stevenson To AHL
With the next few days off, the Capitals have made a couple of moves on the goalie front. The team announced that they’ve recalled Mitchell Gibson from AHL Hershey while assigning Clay Stevenson to the Bears.
Gibson is in his second full professional season and spent the bulk of the year with ECHL South Carolina. In 14 games with the Stingrays, he played quite well, putting up a 1.75 GAA and a .933 SV% while winning his only start with Hershey. However, he has played just three times for the Bears over the last two years which might not help his cause heading into restricted free agency this summer.
As for Stevenson, he made his NHL debut in the final game of the regular season but otherwise has played exclusively with the Bears in each of the last two years. In 33 games with Hershey this season, he posted a 2.94 GAA along with a .888 SV%, numbers that were considerably worse compared to a year ago when those checked in at 2.06 and .922, respectively.
The move will essentially serve as a swap of third-string goaltenders, allowing Stevenson to potentially see game action with Hershey during their second-round series against Lehigh Valley. Before their series against Carolina gets underway, there’s a good chance this move will be reversed.
Offseason Checklist: Nashville Predators
The offseason has arrived for half of the league’s teams that aren’t taking part in the playoffs. Accordingly, it’s now time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months. Next up is a look at Nashville.
After a strong showing in the second half last season to make the playoffs, Predators GM Barry Trotz was a big spender in free agency, handing out long-term deals to forwards Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault along with blueliner Brady Skjei. Accordingly, expectations were quite high heading into 2024-25. Instead, the team struggled mightily, becoming one of the worst teams in the NHL. As a result, it could be a busy summer for Nashville once again.
Add Scoring Help
For a team that added two quality offensive threats in Stamkos and Marchessault that’s run by a coach whose teams were pretty high scoring in his two years behind a bench, offense was not supposed to be a problem for the Predators this season. Instead, they went from being in the top ten in goals scored in 2023-24 to finishing second-last league-wide in that department with a drop-off in tallies of 44 or more than half a goal per game.
Assuming that Andrew Brunette is back behind the bench next season, he’ll be tasked with trying to turn things around on that front. Objectively, there’s cause for optimism that some of the veterans should be poised to rebound; can they all have down years a second year in a row or will at least some of them bounce back?
But relying on internal improvement probably isn’t going to be enough to turn their fortunes around. They’re going to have to look outside the organization to add someone. More specifically, they need to add an impact center.
Ryan O’Reilly had a decent season overall but he certainly is not a true number one center. They hoped that Thomas Novak would take on a bigger part of the scoring load. Instead, he struggled and was shipped to Pittsburgh with Michael Bunting coming the other way. A full season with Bunting will help offensively but the move further exacerbated how weak the center spot is. Fedor Svechkov has some potential and could help in that regard down the road but counting on him to be a full-time top-six middleman next season would be asking for a lot.
It’s something that’s generally much easier said than done given that many other teams will be looking to add an impact center this summer, either through trade or free agency. But the Predators certainly need to do just that unless they’re convinced that Stamkos can be a full-time middleman moving forward after spending considerable time on the wing the last two seasons.
Bring In An Impact Defenseman
When you think about the rosters the Predators have had over the years, they’ve been fortunate to have a steady supply of high-quality blueliners. They had enough of them that they were able to move some out to fill other holes on the roster. Unfortunately for them, that is no longer the case.
Roman Josi remains the mainstay on the back end and while he’s coming off a down year offensively like many others, he has three years left on his contract and there’s little reason to think he’s going anywhere. Skjei had some ups and downs in his first year with Nashville but he is certainly a legitimate top-four defenseman and will be around for the long haul as he’s signed through 2031. That’s a good start defensively.
The problem is that things go downhill from there. Alexandre Carrier was a top-four regular but was moved to Montreal for Justin Barron, a youngster who has shown flashes of top-four skill but his consistency has been an issue. Jeremy Lauzon was hurt for most of the year and is probably best suited for the third pairing. Adam Wilsby and Nick Blankenburg showed some flashes but neither is a lock to be a top-four guy down the road while Marc Del Gaizo, Spencer Stastney, Jordan Oesterle, and Andreas Englund are more depth pieces.
Is it possible that one player from that group can emerge as a legitimate top-four down the road? Sure. But even if that happens, they’re still missing one impact blueliner at a minimum. Long-term, prospects Tanner Molendyk and Ryan Ufko have shown some upside but they’re probably not NHL-ready yet; Molendyk has yet to play professionally. There is a real need to add at least one top-four piece this summer.
It’s worth noting that Nashville is well-positioned to try to add impact players in the coming months. They have over $17MM in cap room, per PuckPedia, giving them ample space to try to add multiple impact players for the second straight year. They also have three first-round picks at their disposal and while they could use all three to really bolster their future depth, at least one of those could be dangled to add a key blueliner or fill the opening down the middle.
Re-Sign Evangelista
Almost all of Nashville’s roster is already under contract for next season, making their list of free agents about as small as can be. A pair of depth players (Del Gaizo and Jakub Vrana) are pending UFAs while there’s only one full-timer who is slated to become a restricted free agent, winger Luke Evangelista.
The 23-year-old’s entry-level contract is coming to an end and it’s fair to say that Nashville got strong value on it with a cap hit just below $800K. His first full season was in 2023-24 when he had 16 goals and 23 assists in 80 games and followed that up with 10 tallies and 22 helpers in 68 outings this season while logging a little under 14 minutes per game in both years. In terms of secondary production from the middle six, he did relatively well all things considered.
Evangelista has four RFA-eligible seasons remaining which gives Trotz some options. Given that he’s more of a role player at this point, a long-term contract seems unlikely although considering Nashville gave Colton Sissons a seven-year deal while being a role player, it can’t entirely be ruled out either. More likely is that Trotz opts for a bridge contract between one and three years, ensuring he’ll still be a restricted free agent at its expiry where they could then determine if the time is right to sign him long-term. With how he fared over his first couple of seasons, a two-year deal could land around $2.25MM while a three-year pact could run closer to $2.6MM with the extra year being an arbitration-eligible year.
Make Some Room
This was a stated goal by Trotz as the season went on and we saw the idea of it in the Carrier-for-Barron swap although they also gave up on Juuso Parssinen and Philip Tomasino. It runs counterintuitive to the idea of adding impact veterans but both things can be done this summer.
Up front, Svechkov is ready for full-time duty after spending some time with AHL Milwaukee. Matthew Wood showed some promise in a late-season stint and has the size and physicality to play the gritty game they’re looking for from their bottom six. Ozzy Wiesblatt had a solid year with the Admirals and could be ready to make the jump as well. If they want more offense, Joakim Kemell could get into the mix. To make room, someone like Michael McCarron could be expendable while Sissons will be entering the final year of his deal and should have some trade interest from teams looking to add to their bottom six. One or two moves like that would allow for a youngster or two to stick will still leaving room to add either via the trade market or free agency.
On the back end, there’s some work that needs to be done to open up a spot for an impact addition at a minimum, more if Ufko or Molendyk make a push for a top-six spot. Beyond Josi and Skjei, Wilsby is the only other one signed beyond next season so there is some flexibility on that front. Englund and Oesterle have been on waivers multiple times before and could land there or they could look to flip one for a late-round pick if there’s enough trade interest. They’ve compiled some depth when it comes to depth defenders but some of that needs to be cashed in if they want to make room for upgrades.
Photo courtesy of Steve Roberts-Imagn Images.
Capitals Assign Ilya Protas To AHL
One of Washington’s top prospects could soon be getting his first taste of playing in the pros. The Capitals announced that they have reassigned winger Ilya Protas from OHL Windsor to AHL Hershey.
The 18-year-old was a third-round pick last June, going 75th overall after a solid first season in North America with USHL Des Moines after previously playing in Belarus’ junior program. Having had some success with his brother Aliaksei (who had a breakout year with the Caps this season), Washington felt Ilya, who stands 6’5, was worth a mid-round look as well, making them the second set of brothers to be drafted by the team in franchise history (the others being Yvon and Rick Corriveau).
It’s a pick that certainly looks promising not even a year later. Protas moved to the major junior level this season with the Spitfires and was nothing short of dominant, notching 50 goals and 74 assists in just 61 games, good for second in the OHL in scoring. He became the first player since Alex DeBrincat to pot 50 goals in his first OHL campaign.
That production didn’t slow down in the playoffs either. He is the leading scorer of the postseason thus far after tallying five goals and 20 assists in just a dozen postseason contests.
Hershey has yet to begin its playoff run as the team is awaiting the end of the opening round (or play-in series) to see who their first opponent will be. It will be interesting to see if Protas will get a look at some point or if he’ll primarily serve as injury insurance.
Hurricanes Officially Register Alexander Nikishin’s Contract
On Friday, a representative for Hurricanes prospect Alexander Nikishin expressed some frustration that his contract had yet to be registered with the NHL despite being agreed to in principle before the playoffs. While it took longer than expected, it is now done as team reporter Walt Ruff relays (Twitter link) that the contract has been made official. As expected, the deal begins this season, making him eligible to play in the playoffs.
GM Eric Tulsky also released the following statement:
“We had agreed with his agents to keep the options open for Alex to potentially play a game in Chicago at some point. But with their season now over, it makes sense to officially register an NHL contract for him, and we are excited for his future with the team.”
It was initially believed that Nikishin, one of the top blueliners outside the NHL in recent seasons, would make an immediate impact in Carolina’s lineup. But when the coaching staff determined he wouldn’t be in their top six to start the postseason, the Hurricanes kept their options open in case they wanted Nikishin to get a game or two in with AHL Chicago on a tryout deal before registering the deal. Chicago fell 5-0 to Rockford on Friday, ending their best-of-three series in a sweep so that option is no longer on the table, meaning there was no reason to delay things further.
The 23-year-old had 17 goals and 29 assists in 61 games with SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL this season, a point total that was actually a bit lower than the last couple of years when he had 55 in 2022-23 and 56 in 2023-24. He also logged more than 24 minutes a night while playing in all situations. Head coach Rod Brind’Amour may not want to mess with a group that has gotten out to a two-to-one series lead on New Jersey just yet but now with Nikishin’s deal officially on the books, he has a very intriguing option to turn to at some point this postseason.
David Carle Withdraws From Consideration For Blackhawks Head Coaching Position
The Blackhawks are one of a handful of teams looking to find their next head coach. Among their perceived top candidates was Denver University bench boss David Carle. However, they’ll have to turn their sights elsewhere as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link) that Carle has withdrawn from consideration for the position, adding that Chicago made an aggressive pursuit for his services.
The 35-year-old has been a mainstay at Denver since his playing days unexpectedly came to an end when he was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy just before his draft year. The school honored his scholarship offer and he worked with the team as a graduate assistant coach for four years before he moved to the USHL, joining Green Bay as an assistant coach.
That only lasted parts of two seasons before Carle rejoined Denver in 2014 where he has been ever since. He was an assistant with them until the 2018-19 when he took over as their head coach and his stock has been on the rise since then.
During his time with the Pioneers, Carle has three NCHC titles along with a pair of NCAA championships. Internationally, he led Team USA to gold medals in each of the last two years. With nothing left to prove at the collegiate level, Carle has been a speculative candidate for pretty much every coaching search thus far.
It’s unclear as to why Carle pulled his name out of the mix with the Blackhawks who would have been an intriguing fit for him as a young team that’s still developing but has plenty of young players including seven who played for him either in college or at the World Juniors, including top youngsters Frank Nazar, Oliver Moore, and Sam Rinzel.
It’s possible that another team has emerged as a front-runner for Carle, resulting in the withdrawal as he focuses on finalizing a contract. Alternatively, Carle could have withdrawn after not liking Chicago’s offer or wanting to go through what’s likely to be a couple more years of a rebuild. It’s also possible that Carle decides to stay at Denver which has become a top program and is likely to add more quality prospects for next season.
In the meantime, Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson will have to turn his focus elsewhere in terms of finding his next head coach. At the moment, there aren’t any candidates who are known to have interviewed with Chicago while interim bench boss Anders Sorensen remains in consideration for the full-time position.