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Bobrovsky To Focus On Mental Game During Offseason

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Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky was one of the best goaltenders this season, so good, he is one of three players who are candidates for the Hart and Vezina Trophies. His 2.06 GAA and his .931 were both league bests. Yet despite his amazing regular season, he found himself struggling again in the playoffs. Columbus was eliminated in five games to the Pittsburgh Penguins and Bobrovsky’s 3.88 GAA and .882 save percentages were a key reason for the Blue Jackets’ failures.

However, the Columbus Dispatch’s Aaron Portzline writes that Bobrovsky, who is known for his hard offseason work after losing 17 pounds last offseason off his 199-pound frame which led to his phenomenal season, is receptive to working with sports psychologists and/or doing other types of mental training to get past his playoff struggles in recent years.

While the Blue Jackets have not reached the playoffs since the 2013-14 season, Bobrovsky struggled in the playoffs there too, finishing with a 3.18 GAA and .908 save percentages in six games (also against the Penguins), which were no where near a match to his regular season statistics.

According to Portzline, both Bobrovsky and the Columbus coaching staff, agreed the goaltenders’ struggles were mental. No one will say what his offseason mental training will entail, but no matter what he does, no one will know anything until next year’s Stanley Cup playoffs.

“Bob will do the necessary work in whatever area he needs to work, and he’ll get over the hump,” Columbus general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said. “He has to prepare himself to be the best when it counts the most.”

Oilers Might Look For Rookies To Move Up

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The Edmonton Oilers may not have gotten as far as they had hoped after falling in Game 7 of the Conference semifinals, but unlike many other clubs, the Oilers have even more hope for the future after several key youngsters took another step forward during their playoff run. Three of their young pieces had key roles in their playoff run, including wingers Drake Caggiula and Anton Slepyshev and blueliner Matt Benning. The question is, as Edmonton Journal’s Jim Matheson, puts it, can these kids be counted on consistently?

Caggiula and Slepyshev each tallied three goals in the playoffs and Matheson suggests they might be ready to move into the Oilers’ “top-six” if they can play at that level consistently. In fact, the thought is that Edmonton may be ready to break up Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl to create two powerful lines rather than just the one. The idea would be to move Draisaitl to centering the second line and allowing Caggiula to join McDavid on the first line, while Slepyshev would take over as the second line’s right wing.

Caggiula is coming off his first NHL season after four years at the University of North Dakota. The 22-year-old played 60 games and finished with seven goals and 11 assists, but his three playoff goals in 13 games showed he might be ready to take the next step. Slepyshev, a former third-round pick in the 2013 draft, got into 41 games this year, finishing with four goals and six assists, but the 23-year-old also tallied three playoff goals and showed flashes of brilliance.

Benning’s play in the playoffs, which included his improved play after Andrej Sekera went down in Game 5 of the playoffs against the Anaheim Ducks, suggest he might be ready to become that top-four defenseman the Oilers are looking for. Benning, 22, also played in his first NHL season after three years at Northeastern University, and played in 60 games, finishing with three goals and 12 assists as a third-line defender. If Benning is ready, he could supplant Kris Russell on the second line, who is an unrestricted free agent, and the team could use that money towards other needs.

Winnipeg To Wait To Make Goaltending Move?

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A flurry of goaltending moves may just be underway, but despite the fact that both Carolina and Dallas have each solved their long-term goalie issues by trading for Scott Darling and Ben Bishop respectively, some teams may be taking a more cautious approach when it comes to their goaltending problems.

The Winnipeg Jets are one of those teams who need to upgrade their roster behind the net, but the Winnipeg Sun’s Ken Wiebe suggests that the team needs to look at the overall picture. While the Jets are in a similar position that both Carolina and Dallas were in and must upgrade at the goalie position, caution remains in order too.

Current starter Connor Hellebuyck didn’t have the best season this past year, but the netminder remains just 23 years old and the team isn’t ready to give up on the young goaltender, nor do they want to expose the goaltender to the Las Vegas Golden Knights in the upcoming expansion draft. He has been promising, but struggled as a full-time starter. In 59 games this past year, Hellebuyck finished with a 2.89 GAA and a .907 save percentage. His numbers as a part-time goaltender had been much better and the team may just want to look for a short-term option to share duties with Hellebuyck.

So due to those mixed results and the looming expansion draft, don’t expect the Jets to try to trade for their starting goaltender like Carolina and Dallas before them, at least until after the expansion draft. That almost guarantees the team will not be acquiring Marc-Andre Fleury, who will almost guaranteed be dealt by Pittsburgh before the expansion draft.

On top of that, the scribe suggests the team is also unlikely to sign a goaltender to a long-term deal since both Hellebuyck and top prospect Eric Comrie will require waivers in 2018-19 and the team would not be ready to lose either player that soon.

So, what options remain?

Wiebe suggests several smaller targets for the Jets to look at, including the Calgary Flames’ Brian Elliott. While the veteran goaltender is not coming off a great season in Calgary, he might be more open to a short-term deal to prove his worth. The Jets might be eager for someone like Elliott to share duties with Hellebuyck. Elliott finished with a disappointing 2.55 GAA and a .910 save percentage this past year in 49 games, the most he had played since 2009-10. However, before that, he had a 2.07 and a .930 save percentage in 2015-16 and could be great comeback candidate.

Other suggestions were to focus on acquiring backup goaltenders, including Anaheim’s Jonathan Bernier, Ottawa’s Mike Condon, New York Rangers’ Antti Raanta and Washington’s Philipp Grubauer.

 

Western Snapshots: Roussel, Eakin, Keller

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The Dallas Stars have some interesting decisions to make about the upcoming expansion draft and the most recent play at the IIHF World Championships might make their decision-making even tougher. Like many teams, the Stars have to make some tough decisions and their key issues fall at the forward position, a spot that the Las Vegas Golden Knights know won’t be in high abundance.

Dallas is expected to stick with the seven forward, three defensemen and a goalie option and it is expected that Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn, Jason Spezza and Radek Faksa are locks to be protected. On top of that, most people believe the team will keep youngsters Brett Ritchie and Valeri Nichushkin. That will leave only one spot left for either Cody Eakin or Antoine Roussel.

Mike Heika of DallasNews SportsDay writes that the team might have a hard time exposing Roussel, an emotional leader and enforcer of the team. The 27-year-old Roussel also scored two goals for Team France today to go with 14 penalty minutes (10 for unsportsmanlike conduct, two for roughing and two for interference) as he helped lead his team to an upset of Finland in the IIHF World Championships.

Roussel’s offense has remained consistent each year as he has scored 14 goals, 13 goals, 13 goals and 12 goals in his last four seasons. He has done better in those years at controlling his penalty minutes, however, as he had 209 penalty minutes in his first full season in 2013-14. Those numbers have steadily decreased to the now 115 this past season.

Eakin presents other issues as he is harder to figure out. The 25-year-old jack-of-all-trades is an energizer for the team as well, but he suffered a knee injury in the preseason and never got on track all season. In 60 games this year, he finished with just three goals and six assists. However, in the three years before that, Eakin tallied 51 goals. To make matters more challenging, Eakin was drafted by George McPhee when he was the general manager of the Washington Capitals in 2009. McPhee, now in Las Vegas, might be tempted to take a player he is very familiar with.

  • Roussel wasn’t the only NHL player to have a good day on the ice at the IIHF World Championships. Arizona Coyotes center Clayton Keller had a hat trick for Team USA and propelled his team to a 7-2 rout of Denmark. Keller, 18, has had a whirlwind year from being picked seventh overall by Arizona in the 2016 draft. Then he scored 21 goals for Boston University and was named Hockey East’s Rookie of the Year. From there, he signed with the Coyotes on Mar. 26, and played the final three games for his new team, picking up two assists.

Blue Jackets Must Convince Hartnell To Waive NMC

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The Columbus Blue Jackets expansion hopes will come down to one key question: Will Scott Hartnell agree to waive his No Movement Clause. At least that’s what Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch writes about their prospects of losing some young talent.

The Blue Jackets are likely to use the seven forwards, three defensemen and a goalie option for their protection list. At forward, it’s expected the team will protect Cam Atkinson, Alexander Wennberg, Brandon Saad, Nick Foligno, Brandon Dubinsky, Boone Jenner and, at the moment, Hartnell.

The team might have to expose several young players with potential in winger Josh Anderson and center William Karlsson. The team especially doesn’t want to lose Anderson, who scored 17 goals in his first full season of NHL action, and at 23 years old is likely to keep improving and give the team a consistent 20-goal scorer for many years.

Karlsson, 24, hasn’t come on as quickly as Anderson with just 15 goals in two full seasons, but the Blue Jackets believe he is capable of putting up big offensive numbers. While the team has made it clear it doesn’t want to lose him, he may end up being expendable with the development of center prospects Pierre-Luc Dubois (the third overall pick in 2016) and Kevin Stenlund (second-round pick in 2015).

No matter what, Hartnell’s NMC will force the team to protect the 35-year-old declining veteran and that could lead to the team exposing one of those prospects. Hartnell still has two more years on his contract at $4.75MM and his numbers keep going south. Since acquiring the veteran in 2014, Hartnell scored 28 goals in his first season with Columbus, 23 seasons in 2015-16 and just 13 goals this past season.

The scribe writes that there are many reasons that Hartnell might not agree to waive his no clause, including his love for the city, that he plans to be married this summer and has stated he’d like to settle down in Columbus. At 35, Hartnell would also like a chance at a Stanley Cup as well, which is more likely to happen in Columbus than in Las Vegas in the next few years.

Hartnell, however, could agree to waive his NMC as it’s unlikely that Las Vegas would opt to take a declining veteran with a large contract and the Blue Jackets’ chances of long-term success might be damaged if Las Vegas takes one of those young players. It’s also possible, Columbus could just buy out Hartnell to avoid losing Anderson.

Portzline also suggests that GM Jarmo Kekalainen and George McPhee might have already worked out an agreement with the Las Vegas Golden Knights to avoid some of those prospects as that is a common practice before expansion drafts.

Oilers Lose Sekera For Rest Of Series Against Ducks

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The Edmonton Oilers not only lost a heartbreaker Friday night when the Anaheim Ducks came back from a three-goal deficit with 3:16 seconds remaining to tie the game and later win it in overtime and take Game 5 and a 3-2 lead. Now the team lost veteran defenseman Andrej Sekera for the rest of the series, according to head coach Todd McLellan.

The 30-year-old defenseman is a key piece to the Oilers’ defense as he is third on the team in blocked shots. The team now must win two straight games without him in order to advance to the next round of the playoffs. He left Game 5 during the first period after being hit in the boards. His absence was definitely a factor in Game 5.

The veteran scored eight goals and 27 assists this past year for 35 points, his second-best output in his career. Veteran Eric Gryba will move into the lineup to fill in the gap for the Oilers. The 29-year-old played in 40 games this season and had six points.

IIHF Keeping Doors Open For NHL Olympic Participation?

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While the prospects of the NHL changing its mind and joining the 2018 Olympic Games in South Korea seem unlikely, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) says its keeping the doors open for that possibility. President Rene Fasel says that he is still attempting to broker a deal with the NHL and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), but a deal must be in place by mid-July if the NHL agrees to send players to the Winter Olympics in South Korea in 2018, according to Cam Tucker of NBC Sports.

Fasel claims any later than that will cause problems as finding hotels and accommodations for the NHL is a big task as the NHL often has a large group that comes over. He added that the NHL sent over 600-800 guests for the Vancouver Olympic Games in 2010 and then at least 400 for the Sochi Olympics in 2014.

About a month ago, the NHL told the Olympics they would not be participating, which caused many players to criticize that decision. Russian and Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin has threatened to defy the NHL on their decision and take part in Pyeongchang 2018. However, Tucker writes that Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman says that the NHL has no intention of changing its mind and the decision is final.

Western Notes: MacKinnon, Barrie, Shipachyov

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They may not have won the lottery despite having the best chance, but if there is a consolation prize about their franchise, it’s that their players seem to be thriving at the preliminary round of the 2017 IIHF World Championships. Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon of Team Canada got into the act during this morning’s 7-2 blowout victory over Slovenia with a hat trick and an assist. Teammate Tyson Barrie scored four points of his own, including a goal to continue a successful string of Avalanche performances so far.

The Avalanche have eight players and a potential prospect at the World Championships, including MacKinnon, Barrie, Matt Duchene and goaltender Calvin Pickard who play for Canada (2-0-0-0), Gabriel Landeskog and Carl Soderberg who play for Sweden, Mikko Rantanen who plays for Finland and J.T. Compher who is playing for the USA. Prospect Andrei Mirinov is playing for Russia.

While it’s still early in the championships, the Avalanche have to be thrilled with their players’ performance. Friday, Pickard got the win in goal after allowing just one goal in Canada’s win over the Czech Republic. Barrie had a goal and assist in that game as well, giving him six points in just two games played so far. Rantanen had an assist in Finland’s victory over Belarus Friday, while Landeskog also picked up an assist for Sweden in their first game on Friday as well.

The Avalanche have high hopes that MacKinnon, 21, who was the first overall pick from the 2013 draft, can take his game to a new level after four solid, but unspectacular seasons. He finished last season with 16 goals and 37 assists for 53 points.

  • CapFriendly tweeted the breakdown of Vadim Shipachyov’s contract breakdown with the Las Vegas Golden Knights. It will be two years with a AAV of 4.5MM. In 2017-18, the veteran will receive a $3MM base salary and a $2MM signing bonus. Then in 2018-19, Shipachyov will receive a $4MM base salary.

Several Teams Looking To Trade For Ben Bishop

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With a flurry of upcoming moves that is likely to come in the coming weeks before the NHL expansion draft, many teams are looking at the move that the Carolina Hurricanes made when they traded for the rights to Chicago Blackhawks’ backup goaltender Scott Darling. That allowed Carolina to negotiate with the unrestricted free agent at that moment and the team signed him yesterday.

After Carolina’s successful maneuver, The Hockey News’ Lyle Richardson writes that several teams may be looking to make a similar move for Los Angeles Kings’ goaltender Ben Bishop, who is also an unrestricted free agent and the No. 4-ranked unrestricted free agent this offseason by The Hockey News.

Richardson writes that TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reported on May 1 that a couple of teams had inquired about Bishop. While he didn’t name any teams, it is speculated that the Calgary Flames and the Dallas Stars would be two teams that would make sense to have interest in the 30-year-old netminder.

Los Angeles has no interest in Bishop as they have veteran Jonathan Quick locked up long-term. The team traded for Bishop at the deadline when Quick went down with an injury with hopes that Bishop could get them into the playoffs, which did not happen. However, the Kings wouldn’t complain about picking up some assets for the soon-to-be free agent. Chicago was able to net a third-round pick in this year’s draft for Darling. Why not something similar for Bishop?

The Flames are not a surprising option for Bishop as they tried to acquire Bishop last June, but instead traded for Brian Elliott, who they are now looking to move on from after a season with a 2.55 GAA and a .910 save percentage. His playoff performance was even worse as he averaged a 3.88 GAA and a .880 save percentage as the Flames were swept in their first-round series against the Anaheim Ducks.

Dallas, on the other hand, has both Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi under contract for one more year, but neither goaltender had a good season and they may be looking to net a replacement and move on in some way from one of the other two. Lehtonen, 33, had a 2.85 GAA and a .902 save percentage in 59 games, while Niemi (also 33) finished his season with a 3.30 GAA and a .892 save percentage in 37 contests.

 

 

 

Should Flyers Consider Moving No. 2 Pick?

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One week ago, Philadelphia Flyers’ general manager Ron Hextall said he would listen to trade offers for his recently won No. 2 overall pick in this year’s NHL Draft, which created some discussion on whether a team should consider doing that. The Flyers are hardly at the bottom of the pack as they leapfrogged most of the struggling teams to go from the 13th overall pick to the second pick. The belief is they could trade the pick, which would likely net them a young Nolan Patrick or a Nico Hischier, and bring in a huge package that could net them success immediately. (Even possible rumors of Colorado packing Matt Duchene and Gabriel Landeskog have been suggested as a possibility.)

CSN Philly’s writers Tom Dougherty, Jordan Hall and Greg Paone discussed the pros and cons of whether Hextall should even be receptive to moving the pick. Dougherty writes that the team can’t even consider the move. It was the biggest jump in NHL lottery history and shouldn’t be taken for granted. He believes the teams should hold onto either Patrick or Hischier and continue building from there.

Hall is quick to point out that Hextall’s strategy has been to build a franchise from within, so why would the Flyers GM change suddenly. Even if this isn’t the strongest draft, the No. 2 pick should get them one top-notch playmaker and that will only make Hextall’s plan more successful. Paone believes that the team should look at it differently, although he is quick to point out that he doesn’t see the Flyers making a trade, but he points out that the draft, in any sport, has too many busts for a team to not consider making a trade. Trading that pick for a young, already established NHL player would make more sense in many ways.

The Flyers have a nice team already with core players Jakub Voracek, Claude Giroux, Branden Schenn and Wayne Simmons all about to hit their prime and plenty of youth not far behind. So which is better, adding another piece of youth or packaging that piece for a king’s ransom?

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