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Tampa Bay Lightning Sign Maxim Cajkovic To Entry-Level Deal

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The Tampa Bay Lightning may be focused on their current playoff run in hopes of winning back-to-back Stanley Cup titles, but that hasn’t stopped them from looking into the future as well. The team announced they have signed forward Maxim Cajkovic to a three-year, entry-level deal.

A third-round pick in 2019, the Slovakin forward has spent the past three years in the QMJHL with the Saint John Sea Dogs and most recently this year with Val-d’Or Foreurs. Due to the pandemic, Cajkovic only appeared in 12 games for Val-d’Or this season, scoring six goals and 14 points, but fared even better in the playoffs scoring seven goals and 12 points in nine games. Cajkovic also represented Slovakia at the 2020 World Junior Championships, posting two assists in five games.

The 6-foot, 201-pound Cajkovic isn’t likely to get much of a chance to crack Tampa Bay’s impressive lineup next year, but will likely start his professional career next year with the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL.

Nikolaj Ehlers Ready To Return To Winnipeg’s Lineup For Game 3

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Already up two games in their first-round playoff game with the Edmonton Oilers, the Winnipeg Jets got some more good news Sunday when it was learned that winger Nikolaj Ehlers would return to the lineup for Game 3, according to Sportsnet’s Ken Wiebe.

Ehlers, who has been out since April 24 with an upper-body injury and has missed a total of 11 games during that time, will move onto the right side of the team’s second line. Pierre-Luc Dubois is expected to move to the other side of that line, while Andrew Copp will drop to the third line. Dominic Toninato will come out of the lineup.

The return of the 25-year-old Ehlers will be welcome news to the Jets and its fans. Ehlers has been a consistent goal scorer throughout his career, tallying 20 goals or more for the last five years. He looks to have turned a corner this year, scoring at almost a point-per-game pace. Ehlers tallied 21 goals and 46 points in 47 games this year.

Snapshots: Blues, Varlamov, Hurricanes, Tortorella

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The St. Louis Blues added their third player on the COVID-19 protocol list Saturday when leading scorer David Perron found himself on the list, but so far there are no concerns about cancelling practice or postponing games, according to Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic (subscription required).

“There is always concern when Players or Club staff test positive for COVID-19,” Daly wrote in an email. “The level of concern is always a function of the precise circumstances involved. “At the current time, there is no consideration being given to postponing games.”

The Blues held an optional skate Saturday with many veterans taking a maintenance day off, but flew to Denver after the practice to get ready for their playoff game Monday.

  • Newsday’s Andrew Gross reports that New York Islanders goaltender Semyon Varlamov will practice again on Monday before a decision is made regarding his status for Game 2. Varlamov missed Game 1 due to a lower-body injury, although head coach Barry Trotz said he was taken out of the lineup due to precautionary reasons. The coach said he had to make a decision Saturday night and chose to take Varlamov totally out of the lineup. Cory Schneider served as the backup to Ilya Sorokin, who led New York to a overtime victory Sunday.
  • Raleigh News & Observer’s Chip Alexander reports that several injured players were back on the ice Sunday for practice, including Jaccob Slavin, Brett Pesce and Cedric Paquette. Slavin was considered day-to-day with a lower-body injury and sat out the regular season finale. Pesce also sat out the regular season finale with an undisclosed injury. Paquette, on the other hand, had missed the last six games of the season with an undisclosed injury. Carolina faces off against Nashville on Monday.
  • The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline (subscription required) writes that former Columbus Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella, who split with the Blue Jackets more than a week ago, tried to step down from his head coaching position last season. One main reason the veteran coach decided to come back for one final season as coach was due to the urging of Nick Foligno. The captain sat down with the coach and convinced him to give the veteran core one more chance.

North Notes: Canucks Front Office, Campbell, Nash, Philp

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There could be some changes in Vancouver this offseason in regards to the team’s front office. At least that’s what The Province’s Patrick Johnston states. The scribe writes that several names are surfacing if owner Francesco Aquilini is ready to make changes.

One name that Johnston writes about is Geoff Courtnall, who could serve as a middle man between ownership and the general manager. Despite the lack of NHL experience since retiring in 2000, he has expressed an interest in getting involved with hockey management and is quite familiar with Aquilini.

The scribe adds that there is a legitimate chance that Vancouver may be looking to replace Jim Benning as well. He makes several suggestions of candidates who could replace Benning, including recently fired ex-Rangers GM Jeff Gorton, Toronto assistant GM Laurence Gilman, Colorado’s assistant GM Chris MacFarland and possibly Scott Mellanby.

  • Sticking with the Canucks, The Athletic’s Thomas Drance reports that forward Elias Pettersson will not play Sunday or any of the remaining three games of the season, shutting him down for the season. Pettersson, who has been out since March 2 with an upper-body injury, has 10 goals and 21 points in just 26 games this season.
  • Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said that the team will go with Jack Campbell as their No. 1 goaltender to start the playoffs over veteran Frederik Andersen, according to Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston. Campbell likely deserves the nod after performing well this season, especially recently. Campbell finished the regular season with a 2.15 GAA and a .921 save percentage in 22 appearances. Keefe also said the team intends to put Riley Nash into the lineup immediately now that he’s been activated off LTIR (via Hockey News’ David Alter). Acquired for a seventh-round pick just before the trade deadline, the center has not played a game with Toronto yet. “We’re gonna get him involved right away and just rely upon the fact that he’s very smart player very experienced guy, and in the NHL and the playoffs in particular, trust that he’s going to fit right in.”
  • The Calgary Flames announced that forward Luke Philp was injured in practice Sunday and will miss the team’s final three games of the regular season. Philp had yet to make his NHL debut and was likely to get a chance in one of the team’s next three games, but will now have to wait until next season for another chance. Philp had eight goals and 17 points in 30 AHL games this season.

Taxi Squad Shuffle: 05/16/21

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With the playoffs underway, the taxi squad shuffle will start to look a little bit different. Instead of constant swapping between the active roster and taxi squad, teams will likely just make mass additions the way they usually recall “Black Aces.” That is, players who will practice with the playoff roster but aren’t expected to actually suit up for any game action. We’ll still keep track of any moves right here:

  • With an injury to Vitek Vanecek and no word on the progress of Ilya Samsonov, the Washington Capitals are forced to make a roster move to bring in an extra goaltender in case neither can go. The team therefore, announced they have recalled Zach Fucale from the Hershey Bears of the AHL. Fucale, once considered an elite goaltending prospect, had fared quite well in the AHL, posting a 1.80 GAA and a .932 save percentage in 16 appearances.
  • Las Vegas Review Journal’s David Schoen reports that the Vegas Golden Knights have activated forward Ryan Reaves from LTIR and is ready to join the lineup in his familiar fourth-line role. Reaves’ numbers haven’t been overly impressive, but the forward brings intimidation that Vegas needs on the ice. The 34-year-old has one goal and five points in 37 games to go with 141 hits. Reaves has missed the last 16 games with an undisclosed injury.
  • With their AHL season complete now, the Florida Panthers recalled four players to their NHL squad to serve as Black Aces, including defenseman Chase Priskie, Lucas Carlsson, Vladislav Kolyachonok and John Ludvig, according to FloridaHockeyNow’s George Richards.
  • The Pittsburgh Penguins recalled goaltender Alex D’Orio from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the AHL, according to PGSportsNow’s Matt Vensel. D’Orio will serve as the emergency third-string goaltender with Casey DeSmith out.
  • The Montreal Canadiens announced that goaltender Carey Price and winger Brendan Gallagher have been sent to Laval of the AHL on an LTI conditioning loan.  Both players will be in uniform for Monday’s game against Toronto.  Price, who is slated to play half the game, will be making his first AHL appearance since 2008 while Gallagher will be seeing his first AHL action since 2013.
  • The Buffalo Sabres assigned forward Arttu Ruotsalainen to the minors, per CapFriendly.  The move is basically procedural at this point as the rookie is on his way to play for Finland at the World Championships.
  • The Calgary Flames have brought up defenseman Connor Mackey plus forwards Dominik Simon and Adam Ruzicka from the taxi squad, per CapFriendly.  All three players are expected to be in uniform tonight against Vancouver.
  • Speaking of Vancouver, the Canucks have recalled Jonah Gadjovich from the taxi squad, per CapFriendly.  The forward will make his NHL debut against Calgary.
  • The Edmonton Oilers have brought up forwards Kyle Turris, Tyler Ennis, and Patrick Russell plus defenseman Philip Broberg from the taxi squad, per CapFriendly.  With their regular season over, they don’t need to carry a taxi squad any longer.

Washington Capitals Could Be Forced To Start Craig Anderson For Game 2

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Craig Anderson wasn’t expecting to get into the Washington Capitals’ Game 1 matchup with the Boston Bruins Saturday, but he did and the 39-year-old netminder proceeded to pick up the victory, leading Washington to a 3-2 overtime victory. By doing that, Anderson became the oldest goaltender in team history to win a playoff game, making 21 out of 22 saves. Anderson is likely to get the start for Game 2 against the Bruins on Monday according to the Washington Post’s Samantha Pell.

Anderson, who turns 40 on Friday, had to take over in the first period for starter Vitek Vanecek, who suffered a lower-body injury. He was already filling in for Ilya Samsonov, who was on the COVID-19 protocol list and wasn’t available to play either. Enter Anderson, who was forced to take over with No. 4 netminder Pheonix Copley standing in as the replacement goalie.

Vanecek is listed as day-to-day, according to head coach Peter Laviolette, but he could not confirm whether it will be a short day-to-day or a longer stint. Samsonov came off the COVID-19 protocol list Saturday, but there is no word on whether he might be available for Game 2. He skated Sunday for the first time in two weeks.

Regardless, the team could be putting quite a bit of pressure on Anderson, who spent most of the season on the taxi squad. He only appeared in four regular season games, posting a 2-1 record, with a 2.13 and a .915 save percentage.

Sweden Announces World Championship Roster

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Sweden released their roster for the upcoming World Championships, which gets underway on Friday, early this morning. While they have plenty of players in the NHL (especially on the forward group), this team primarily consists of players playing in leagues overseas.  Their roster is as follows with NHL affiliations noted where applicable.

Goaltenders

Samuel Ersson (PHI)
Viktor Fasth
Adam Reideborn

Defensemen

Klas Dahlback
Albert Johansson (DET)
Viktor Loov
Nils Lundkvist (NYR)
Magnus Nygren
Lawrence Pilut (BUF)
Jonathan Pudas
Jesper Sellgren (CAR)
Henrik Tommernes

Forwards

Max Friberg
Jesper Froden
Filip Hallander (TOR)
Pontus Holmberg (TOR)
Adrian Kempe (LAK)
Mario Kempe
Carl Klingberg
Oscar Lindberg
Par Lindholm
Isac Lundestrom (ANH)
Victor Olofsson (BUF)
Rickard Rakell (ANH)
Dennis Rasmussen
Marcus Sorensen (SJ)
Andreas Wingerli

The group has quite a few NHL players on their roster, especially at the forward position, although only a handful have World Championship experience. The biggest name on the list is Anaheim’s Rakell. The 28-year-old forward has appeared in one previous World Championship, back in 2017-18 when he scored six goals and 14 points in 10 games for Sweden. Los Angeles Kings’ Kempe also headlines a solid forward group. Kempe will be appearing in his third World Championship. Olofsson is another significant name who will be appearing in his first World Championship. He is coming off a 13-goal campaign in Buffalo this year. Sorensen, who has bounced back with a solid campaign in San Jose, also joins the group.

On the prospect front in terms of those that haven’t made their NHL debut, it’s the defense that is loaded up with a number of interesting names. The most notable name is Lundkvist, who is property of the New York Rangers. It’s believed that negotiations between the 20-year-old blueliner and the Rangers will get underway soon, likely after the World Championships to bring the prospect over. He could walk right away onto the Rangers’ blueline with a solid preseason (assuming he signs). Johansson is another defenseman who has put up solid numbers in the SHL and is likely to arrive in Detroit this coming season, although he will likely need some time in the AHL. Sellgren is another player on loan to the SHL who will likely be expected to establish himself in the AHL for the Carolina Hurricanes next season. Don’t forget Philadelphia’s Ersson, who has had a solid year in net this past year in the SHL and looks ready to come over as well.

Sweden’s tournament gets underway next Saturday with a matchup against Denmark.

Pittsburgh Penguins Activate Brandon Tanev Off Injured Reserve

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The Pittsburgh Penguins have been playing well, but should receive a big boost on their bottom-six as forward Brandon Tanev, who has been out since March 18 with an upper-body injury, has been activated off of injured reserve. He’s expected to be in the lineup for Pittsburgh’s for today’s game against the New York Islanders.

Tanev should provide the team with quite a bit of energy, which is what he’s known for and why Pittsburgh went out and signed the 29-year-old to a six-year, $21MM contract in the summer of 2019. That was a high price to pay for a bottom-six player. However, the Penguins felt that his energy and abrasiveness was critical to getting the team deep into the playoffs.

The forward has been impressive, however, since joining Pittsburgh. He tallied 244 hits in 2019-20 to go with 11 goals and 25 points. His production looked like he might meet with some career highs this year before he got injured. He had seven goals and 16 points in 32 games to go with 139 hits.

Snapshots: Coyotes, Seguin, Hintz, Lightning, Ryan

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The Arizona Coyotes and head coach Rick Tocchet have mutually parted ways and the team announced they will begin the search for their next head coach immediately. However, knowing that Arizona is struggling financially, it’s seems likely that the team will be looking at cheaper options for their head coach.

TSN’s Pierre LeBrun points out that the team has as many as 10 candidates already for their open head coaching position with a strong likelihood they will reach out to several interesting hires, including New York Islanders assistant Lane Lambert, San Jose Sharks associate coach Rocky Thompson and Providence College’s Nate Leaman, who recently coached Team U.S.A to a gold medal at the 2021 World Junior Championship.

All three come with interesting resumes if the Coyotes can convince them to leave their current posts.

  • It looks like the season is over for two Dallas Stars. Head coach Rick Bowness said that forwards Tyler Seguin and Roope Hintz will not play in the team’s final two games, according to Dallas Morning News’ Matthew DeFranks. With no playoffs this year, the team will allow both players to rest. Seguin has appeared in three games after missing most of the season due to hip and knee surgeries. Hintz has been playing with a lower-body injury for months, so now that the team has been eliminated from a playoff berth, both will be held out to prevent any more injuries.
  • When asked whether Tampa Bay Lightning defensemen Victor Hedman, Ryan McDonagh and Jan Rutta, who are all considered day-to-day, would be ready for Game 1 of the playoffs, head coach Jon Cooper didn’t give a convincing answer, according to The Athletic’s Joe Smith (subscription required). “I don’t know,” Cooper said. “I hope so. We’re planning on it. But we’ll have to see.” Hedman is dealing with a lower-body injury, McDonagh with an upper-body injury, while Rutta is dealing with a lower-body injury. There is a report, according to Smith, that Hedman, who missed his first game of the season Saturday, was injured in a collision against the boards against Columbus on March 30 and had to be helped off. While he came back to the game not too long after, the rumor is that he might require surgery after the season, although Smith was not able to get that confirmed by Tampa Bay staff.
  • Despite briefly considering retirement before his triceps surgery, Detroit Red Wings forward Bobby Ryan said he is eager to return for a 15th season and hopes it can be with the Red Wings, according to MLive’s Ansar Khan. The 34-year-old, who signed a one-year deal last offseason with Detroit and will now be an unrestricted free agent, scored seven goals and 14 points in 33 games before going down with an injury on March 28. “I want to play hockey next year. I hope it’s Detroit,” Ryan said. “I haven’t had those conversations yet. I expect they’re going to come sometime down the line.”

Tampa Bay’s Pat Maroon Suspended For Final Regular Season Game

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4:43 p.m.: The Department of Player Safety announced that Maroon will be suspended for one game for unsportsmanlike conduct, the team’s final regular season game against Florida.

10:59 a.m.: With a first-round matchup between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers coming up shortly, there have been plenty of words between the two teams with Lightning forward Pat Maroon being one of the loudest. The forward was clear recently before their two-game regular season bout started Saturday to end the regular season that Tampa Bay wanted to make it clear who Florida would be playing in the first-round.

That got things started in their first game on Saturday as Maroon and Florida’s Brandon Montour, once teammates together with the Anaheim Ducks, had words with 6:02 remaining in the third period. Following that, Maroon freed himself from a referees who were escorting him off the ice and attacked Montour as the defenseman was also being escorted off ice (video here). Maroon received a minor penalty for roughing and both players received misconduct penalties.

Now, on top of that, the Department of Player Safety announced that supplemental discipline may be in order as they will have a hearing for Maroon for roughing Montour.

The two teams meet again Monday for their regular season finale before starting up again for the playoffs.

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