Headlines

Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Winnipeg Jets Activate Pierre-Luc Dubois, Move Him To Wing

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Winnipeg Jets announced they have activated center Pierre-Luc Dubois off of injured reserve and he’s expected to play Sunday against the Vancouver Canucks. The 22-year-old has missed four games with a lower-body injury. However, Dubois isn’t expected to center a line. Instead, it looks like head coach Paul Maurice has moved him to the wing to play next to Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler.

Dubois, acquired from Columbus along with a 2022 third-round pick for Patrik Laine and Jack Roslovic in January, only appeared in two games before going down with what Dubois referred to as a “muscle injury.” Maurice said that he believes that moving Dubois to the wing should prevent Dubois from overworking himself as well as pick up good habits from his linemates.

“There is a bunch of things there,” said Maurice (via Sportsnet’s Ken Wiebe). “The first is wear and tear and minutes in his first game back. He’s had a big chunk of time off the ice. The centreman covers a lot more ice and there is a lot more grind to that. He did a great job with his shift length in his first game, we expect him to do the same. He’s still a young man, he’s got a version of Mark’s game in him – that ability to slow the game down, find holes and make plays. He also has the ability to have Blake’s game – a hard-driving, heavy in the corners type of player. I think that over time, the players I’ve played with Mark and Blake have developed that in their game. It was good for Nik Ehlers. It was good for Kyle Connor. The other option is going to be Paul Stastny and he flipping. I may do that over the course of the game.”

The current lines stand with Dubois, Scheifele and Wheeler on the first line with Stastny, Connor and Nikolaj Ehlers on the second line. loading up their top two lines. Adam Lowry would center the team’s third line.

Sabres Prepared That Jake McCabe May Miss Rest Of Season

at CDT | by 5 Comments

The Buffalo Sabres were fearful after defenseman Jake McCabe left Saturday’s game with a lower-body injury. McCabe left the game against New Jersey midway through the third period after trying to hit Nico Hischier against the boards, but instead, his right leg buckled and he clutched his knee after going down. Head coach Ralph Krueger said Sunday that McCabe has left the team to return home and is expected to get an MRI today with results expected Monday. However, he doesn’t believe the injury looks good at all. Buffalo News’ Mike Harrington adds the team is preparing that he will be out for the season.

“I’ll be honest with you,” said Krueger. “Not very optimistic about the diagnosis that will come out of this. The lower-body injury is serious.”

If McCabe misses significant time, as expected, that would be a big blow to a team that has struggled to put together an effective defensive lineup and will miss their alternate captain and his defensive presence on the ice. While not an offensive player (one goal, three points in 13 games), he does make up for it on defense. He has averaged 19:11 of ATOI and has 22 hits and 15 blocked shots this season, while playing all over the lineup.

The team has been without Rasmus Ristolainen, who could miss extended time after a suffering through a significant case of COVID-19. Defenseman William Borgen is out day-to-day and the team has had to depend others to step up their game, including Colin Miller, Matt Irwin and now will have to depend more on Henri Jokiharju and Brandon Davidson to get by with McCabe likely to be out of the lineup for some time.

Snapshots: Tatar, Dumba, Devils, Murphy, Hamonic

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Montreal Canadiens will be without Tomas Tatar Saturday against the Toronto Maple Leafs, who is a healthy scratch, according to Sportsnet’s Eric Engels. The move made by head coach Claude Julien is believed to be a message sent to both Tatar and the team after Montreal has lost three of their last four games.

Tatar, despite having four goals and eight points in 14 games, has been adequate on the ice, but not as good as last season when he posted 22 goals and 61 points in 68 games. Engels believes that the message is meant just as much to the team as Tatar is one of the most popular players in the locker room.

The Philadelphia Flyers attempted a similar benching of leading scorer Travis Konecny on Jan. 30. Unfortunately, he has not scored a point since then.

  • Corey Masisak of The Athletic reports that a New Jersey Devils team spokesman said the team will be allowed to return to practice on Monday. That will be the first time the team has been allowed on the ice since the game at Buffalo on Jan. 31. The team is currently scheduled to play on Tuesday at the New York Rangers.
  • The Minnesota Wild got even more good news when they learned that defenseman Matt Dumba should be in the lineup on Tuesday when they begin playing once again after suffering what looked to be a severe ankle injury, according to Star Tribune’s Sarah McLellan. Dumba got tangled up with teammate Jordan Greenway and suffered an awkward fall on Jan. 30, but the blueliner said that he’s feeling good and has no issues regarding the injury. The 26-year-old Dumba is looking solid this season, already with three goals in just nine games this season. Teammate Mats Zuccarello is also getting closer to a return. The veteran forward practiced Friday in a non-contact jersey.
  • The Chicago Blackhawks have placed defenseman Connor Murphy on injured reserve, retroactive to Feb. 9, according to NHL.com’s Brandon Cain. The blueliner was suffered a right hip injury in that game and is expected to miss up to two weeks. Murphy has been playing well for Chicago with two goals and five points in 13 games, while averaging 22:45 of ATOI.
  • The Vancouver Canucks could be getting a boost back to their defense as head coach Travis Green reported that defenseman Travis Hamonic is close to returning to the team. The 30-year-old blueliner remains on long-term injured reserve with an upper-body injury. He has only appeared in five games with the Canucks this year with two assists, but could be a big addition if he returns soon.

Salary Cap Deep Dive: Toronto Maple Leafs

at CDT | by 1 Comment

Navigating the salary cap is one of the more important tasks for any GM.  Teams that can avert total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful.  Those that don’t see struggles and front office changes.

PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation for the 2020-21 season.  This will focus more on players who are regulars on the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL.  All cap figures are courtesy of CapFriendly.

Toronto Maple Leafs

Current Cap Hit: $84,543,578 (over the $81.5MM Upper Limit)

Entry-Level Contracts

F Alexander Barabanov (one year, $925K)
D Mikko Lehtonen (one year, $925K)
D Rasmus Sandin (two years, $894K)
F Nicholas Robertson (three years, $822K)

Potential Bonuses
None

The Toronto Maple Leafs have a history of bringing in European players in on entry-level contracts. Sometimes they work out and other times not. However, the team feels good about bringing in Lehtonen and Barbashev. The 27-year-old Lehtonen is coming off a dominant season in the KHL last season with Jokerit where he scored 17 goals and 49 points in his first season there. His offense could come in handy as he already has three points in just five games. The 26-year-od Barabanov has also proved to be a useful depth piece after five full seasons in the KHL. Both should provide good production for what they’re being paid.

The 20-year-old Sandin has worked his way up the depth chart and is knocking on the door of Toronto’s defense. Sandin did get into 28 games with the Maple Leafs last season and likely will get another opportunity at some point this season and should be an eventual full-time player for Toronto in the future. Robertson also has shown flashes of brilliance and despite his knee injury has a bright future ahead of him that could come at some point later this season.

One Year Remaining, Non-Entry-Level

G Frederik Andersen ($5MM, UFA)
F Zach Hyman ($2.25MM, UFA)
F Wayne Simmonds ($1.5MM, UFA)
D Zach Bogosian ($1MM, UFA)
F Jimmy Vesey ($900K, UFA)
D Travis Dermott ($874K, RFA)
F Nic Petan ($775K, RFA)
F Joe Thornton ($700K, UFA)
F Jason Spezza ($700K, UFA)
F Travis Boyd ($700K, UFA)

The Maple Leafs will have an interesting decision to make in net during the offseason as Andersen’s contract will be up and the team has not indicated any willingness to discuss an extension at this point. In fact, the team had been looking to potentially move Andersen to upgrade in net instead last offseason with no luck. The 31-year-old who had been quite consistent over the years in Toronto, didn’t have as strong of a season, posting a .909 save percentage, significantly lower than his career number (.916). Of course the defense behind him wasn’t much better, which could explain that, but it will be interesting if the team brings Andersen back next year. Hyman could be another interesting decision for GM Kyle Dubas. The 28-year-old has posted two 20-goal seasons and is a favorite among players, but with serious salary cap implications it will deal with over the next few years, Hyman might be a luxury the team cannot afford.

One thing the Maple Leafs focused on in the offseason with improving the team’s depth and they did that, signing a bunch of players to one-year deals, including Simmonds, Thornton, Bogosian, Vesey. The team brought back Spezza as well for another year in hopes that they could improve the depth and experience level in their bottom six, although some of them like Simmonds and Thornton might get a crack at even bigger roles. Dermott will also require some tough negotiations as the RFA will want a raise next season.

Two Years Remaining

D Morgan Rielly ($5MM, UFA)
F Ilya Mikheyev ($1.65MM, UFA)
G Jack Campbell ($1.65MM, UFA)
F Pierre Engvall ($1.25MM, RFA)
F Adam Brooks ($725K, RFA)
G Michael Hutchinson ($725K, UFA)

The most interesting player is Rielly, who leads the team in ATOI with 23:47. He has been the team’s No. 1 defenseman for years and will be 28 years old when his contract runs out, which suggests the blueliner could be in line for quite a big raise at some point. Rielly should bounce back to his old offensive ways this year. He tallied 20 goals and 71 points in 2018-19, but injuries kept him to 47 games and just 27 points. A big season this year should begin to step up talks of signing him to an extension in as soon as a year.

Mikheyev is one of the success stories for general manager Kyle Dubas as the 26-year-old came over from the KHL and posted impressive numbers, scoring eight goals and 23 points in 39 games despite suffering a significant injury in the middle of the season. The forward is expected to play a bigger role for the Maple Leafs this year after signing a two-year extension and could be in line for an even bigger contract down the road if he can put his game together and maybe step into a top-six role at some point.

Campbell has fared quite well since being acquired by the Maple Leafs to be the team’s backup and should continue to do so for the next couple of years. However, the 29-year-old has only appeared in eight games since the trade, meaning the team hasn’t shown that much confidence in him. Regardless, he’s been solid in the limited time he’s played.

Three Years Remaining

F Alexander Kerfoot ($3.5MM, UFA)
D Justin Holl ($2MM, UFA)

The Maple Leafs brought in Kerfoot as part of the Nazem Kadri deal with Colorado and were hoping that the young center might take control of their third line and establish a dominant line. Three days after the trade, Toronto handed him a four-year, $14MM contract, but the 26-year-old struggled in his first season with the team. After scoring 34 goals in his first two seasons with Colorado, Kerfoot managed just nine goals and 28 points, career lows and struggled. The team has to hope that Kerfoot can find his way, considering the money the team spent on him and the constant cap problems.

Holl, on the other hand, has been a revelation to the team. He struggled to work his way into Toronto’s lineup in the past, but finally earned a regular role last season and has forced his way into the team’s top-four this year. Holl provides both the team with a well-rounded player who could be in line for a big contract down the road if he can continue to produce for the team. However, at $2MM per year, he is currently under a great contract.Read more

Canucks Owner Has No Plan To Make Changes To Front Office

at CDT | by 6 Comments

Vancouver Canucks owner Francesco Aquilini went to Twitter earlier the evening, announcing that he has no plans to make changes to the Canucks front office.

“Of course I’m disappointed by our poor start, but the last thing we’re going to do is panic,” said Aquilini. “We’ve been better in recent games and I believe we’ll continue to improve … Contrary to what you may have read or heard, we’re sticking to the path we’re on: building on our core of young talent. Progression is not always a straight line. There is no easy fix, only patience, commitment, and hard work.”

There have been quite a few rumblings that changes might be underway in Vancouver with general manager Jim Benning at the forefront of that. The team, which took the Vegas Golden Knights to Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals, were expected to have a big year. The team had three key free agents it wanted to retain, including goaltender Jacob Markstrom, defenseman Chris Tanev and forward Tyler Toffoli. In the end, the Canucks didn’t sign any of the three with two of them headed to rival Calgary. Vancouver is currently in sixth place (out of seven teams) in the North Division with a 6-11-0 record, not where many expected them to be.

Regardless, Aquilini made it clear in his statement that no changes will happen.

“I have full confidence in Jim, Travis, and this group. I have no plans to make changes,” said Aquilini.

The Canucks also have made no attempt to extend the contract of head coach Travis Green, who is coaching in the final year of his deal. However, the team is likely waiting now to see if Green can turn the team’s success around first and there is no guarantee that the front office still won’t be shaken up at the end of the season.

Tampa Bay’s Anthony Cirelli Out Week-To-Week With Upper-Body Injury

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Tampa Bay Lightning announced the team will be without second-line center Anthony Cirelli for a while as he will be out week-to-week with an upper-body injury. That’s a tough blow for a team that recently lost Steven Stamkos, who was put on the COVID Protocol list Friday.

Cirelli went down during the middle of the third period Thursday against the Florida Panthers and never returned. The injury didn’t look good and head coach Jon Cooper said at the time that “it didn’t look great when he came off.”

The forward has played well for the Lightning this season with four goals and 10 points in 12 games so far this year. He had 16 goals and 44 points last season in 68 games and was fourth in voting for the Selke Trophy. He is a top penalty killer for the team, another blow that the Lightning will have to deal with.

The team for now, is expected to promote Tyler Johnson to center the second line alongside both Mathieu Joseph and Blake Coleman, while Alex Killorn is penciled onto the first line to replace Stamkos.

Of course, the team is already without Nikita Kucherov (hip) and center Mitchell Stephens (lower-body injury). Both are out indefinitely.

Columbus Blue Jackets Acquire Gregory Hofmann From Carolina

at CDT | by 1 Comment

The Columbus Blue Jackets announced they made a small trade, acquiring the signing rights to Swiss forward Gregory Hofmann from the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for a 2022 seventh-round pick. Hofmann is expected to stay with his NL team for the rest of his season, but The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline reports that he could join the Blue Jackets after his season ends, if that is before the Blue Jackets’ regular season ends.

This isn’t a trade, however, for the signing rights to a college player who doesn’t want to sign with the team that drafted him. Hofmann is 28 years old and was drafted in the fourth round by the Hurricanes back in 2011. Because he is Swiss, the forward’s rights never left Carolina. Hofmann has never played in North America and has not signed with the team all these years, spending his entire 12-year career with the NL, including the last two years with Zug EV.

What makes him even more intriguing for Columbus is that he spent four years playing with Blue Jackets’ goaltender Elvis Merzlikins with Lugano from 2015 to 2019, which could be the main reason that he has expressed interest in playing for Columbus. Portzline notes that the timing to Hofmann joining Columbus this year will be quite tight as the Swiss League regular season ends on May 4 and Zug EV is currently in first place in the league and likely to go to the playoffs.

Hofmann has dominated as a top forward in the past few seasons, scoring 70 goals in 132 games over the past three years. He has had eight seasons of double-digit goals.

Michael Smith of NHL.com was the first to report the trade.

COVID Protocol Related Absences: 02/13/21

at CDT | by 1 Comment

Each day, the NHL will publicly release the list of players that are unavailable to their respective teams due to being in COVID-19 protocol. On a positive note, no new players have been put on the list, but quite a few have been removed from the list. The Los Angeles Kings list is being put together now, but there has been a report from John Hoven that both Blake Lizotte and Andreas Athanasiou are both off the list:

Arizona – John Hayden
Buffalo – Dylan Cozens, Rasmus Dahlin, Curtis Lazar, Jake McCabe, Casey Mittelstadt, Brandon Montour, Tobias Rieder, Rasmus Ristolainen
Colorado –  Samuel Girard, Tyson Jost, Gabriel Landeskog
Detroit – Calvin Pickard
Los Angeles – TBA
Minnesota –  Nick Bonino, Jonas Brodin, Ian Cole, Brad Hunt, Victor Rask, Carson Soucy, Nico Sturm, Cam Talbot
New Jersey – Nathan Bastian, Jesper Bratt, Connor Carrick, Eric Comrie, Nikita Gusev, Nico Hischier, Jack Hughes, Dmitry Kulikov, Damon Severson, Ty Smith, Matt Tennyson, Sami Vatanen, Travis Zajac
NY Rangers – Filip Chytil
Philadelphia – Justin Braun, Morgan Frost, Claude Giroux, Travis Sanheim, Jakub Voracek, Scott Laughton, Oskar Lindblom*
Tampa Bay – Steven Stamkos
Vegas – Tomas Nosek

As a reminder, inclusion on this list does not mean that a player has tested positive for Coronavirus or even that they have been confirmed as a close contact to another positive person. Included in the NHL’s list of possible reasons for someone being on the list is are the following:

(1) an initial positive test which remains unconfirmed until confirmatory testing is completed pursuant to the Positive Test Protocol; (2) mandated isolation for symptomatic individuals pursuant to the Positive Test Protocol; (3) required quarantine as a high-risk close contact in accordance with the Positive Test Protocol; (4) isolation based on a confirmed positive test result and/or; (5) quarantine for travel or other reasons as outlined in the COVID-19 Protocol

Players removed today: Taylor Hall (Sabres), Ryan Carpenter (Chicago), Andreas Johnsson (Devils), Janne Kuokkanen (Devils), Michael McLeod (Devils), Kyle Palmieri (Devils), Pavel Zacha (Devils); Anthony Duclair (Panthers), Jesse Puljujarvi (Oilers), , Marcus Johansson (Wild), Jared Spurgeon (Wild), Joel Eriksson Ek (Wild), Nick Bjugstad (Wild)

Four Minnesota Wild Players Return From COVID Protocol List

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Minnesota Wild were cleared a couple days ago to return to team activities and look ready to resume their season on Tuesday against Los Angeles. Now the team announced that it has gotten back four of its players off the COVID protocol list, including forwards Nick Bjugstad, Joel Eriksson Ek and Marcus Johansson as well as defenseman Jared Spurgeon.

All four players were on the list since Feb. 3. The team had 13 players on the list as of two days ago, so the team needed some of them back soon if they want to have a competitive team. The Wild last played on Feb. 2, falling to Colorado in a 2-1 loss.

Eriksson Ek finally looks to have turned a corner in his fourth full season with the Wild. He posted career highs a year go with eight goals and 29 points, but it looks like he’s figured things out with five goals and nine points in nine games so far this year. Bjugstad, acquired for a conditional seventh-round pick at a bargain rate from Pittsburgh during the offseason, has found a full-time role with the team, playing in 11 games and scoring two goals and three points in a bottom-six role. Johansson, also acquired this offseason in a swap with Buffalo for Eric Staal, has two goals and three points in nine games.

The biggest return will be the team’s captain in Spurgeon. who is averaging 22:13 of ATOI this season and will be key heading up the team’s blueline. Of course, Spurgeon and Johansson are still dealing with upper-body injuries that could keep them out of the lineup for a few days still, according to Sarah McLellan of the Star Tribune.

Columbus Blue Jackets Activate Zach Werenski

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Columbus Blue Jackets got some good news as one of their top-line defenders, Zach Werenski, has been activated off of injured reserve. The 23-year-old blueliner has missed the past three games since suffering a lower-body injury on Feb. 4 against the Dallas Stars. To make room for Werenski, Columbus has placed third-string goaltender Matiss Kivlenieks on injured reserve.

Werenski should help strengthen the team’s blueline, which has given up 12 goals in the three games that Werenski has missed, including a pair of five-goal games. Fortunately for Columbus, the Blue Jackets went 2-1 during that span. Werenski has averaged 24:09 of ice time this season and has a goal and three assists, well below his offensive numbers after posting 20 goals a season ago. He did put up three points in his previous five games before getting injured, suggesting that his offense is coming around.

Kivlenieks had been serving as the backup to Joonas Korpisalo with Elvis Merzlikins on injured reserve. Kivlenieks never saw any action and with Merzlikins activated a couple of days ago, the team has opened a roster spot by placing Kivlenieks on IR after he suffered a lower-body injury in practice a week ago and is considered day-to-day.

Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

scroll to top