Maple Leafs Sign Simon Benoit To Three-Year Extension
The Maple Leafs announced Friday that they’ve signed defenseman Simon Benoit to a three-year extension. The deal is worth $4.05MM, carrying an AAV and cap hit of $1.35MM. His salary is evenly distributed across all three seasons with no signing bonuses, Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports.
Benoit, 25, has played a larger role than expected in Toronto this season and has quickly become a fan favorite. Few expected the Quebec native to even make the NHL after he went undrafted and failed to secure an NHL deal when his time in major junior hockey with the QMJHL’s Shawinigan Cataractes ended in 2018. He began his professional career on a minor league contract with AHL San Diego in 2018-19, impressing with a defensively sound rookie season and earning an entry-level contract from the Ducks near the end of the season.
It was still a while before he’d make his NHL debut, receiving a couple of short recalls in 2019-20 that didn’t result in any major league action. His first shot came near the end of the 2020-21 campaign, where he impressed with a positive shot-attempt share at even strength in heavy defensive usage while logging 17:12 per game across six appearances.
Benoit didn’t make the Ducks out of camp in 2021 but wasn’t in the minors for long, breaking onto the NHL scene for most of the season and notching a goal and four assists in 53 showings. His possession numbers dragged slightly but were still above acceptable for a depth defender on a rebuilding and defensively challenged team. He then earned a qualifying offer from Anaheim, who re-signed him to a one-year, two-way deal for 2022-23.
Last season, injuries forced Benoit into a top-four role with the Ducks, who remain the worst defensive team of the salary cap era, allowing 4.09 goals per game. Unsurprisingly, Benoit’s boxcar stats read as some of the worst in the league, recording 10 points and a -29 rating in 78 games while playing over 19 minutes per game, often saddled with the defensive responsibility of covering for the rather one-dimensional John Klingberg at even strength as his partner. His possession metrics struggled as a result, although maybe not as much as expected. He logged a 41.4 CF% at even strength, which was only two points worse than his off-ice CF% despite 63.8% of his zone starts coming in the defensive end.
However, with Anaheim looking to make room for a deep group of young defense prospects like Jackson LaCombe, Pavel Mintyukov and Olen Zellweger, they opted to not qualify Benoit last summer and let him reach unrestricted free agency, where the Leafs picked him up on a one-year, league-minimum deal, also the first one-way contract of his career. Still, most expected Benoit to serve as the eighth or ninth option on the organization depth chart behind other depth defenders like Klingberg, who also signed a one-year deal with Toronto over the summer, veteran Mark Giordano, and Conor Timmins.
He did end up beginning the season with AHL Toronto, clearing waivers near the end of training camp. Just two days later, an early-season rash of injuries over the Toronto blue line forced Benoit’s first recall of the season. After bouncing up and down between leagues over the next two months, he was permanently recalled to the Leafs on Nov. 27 and hasn’t looked back.
With Klingberg’s season finishing prematurely due to a lingering hip injury and Giordano, Timmins and Timothy Liljegren all missing significant time, Benoit has made 54 appearances for the Leafs, scoring once and adding four assists. His even-strength CF% has rebounded to 49.3, and he’s controlled possession quality at the best rate of his career, posting a 50.3 xGF%. While a decrease in ice time and some easier matchups certainly help, he’s been on the ice for 0.54 expected goals against per game this year compared to 0.96 last season with Anaheim. He also leads Toronto with 205 hits.
Benoit has continued to factor in down the stretch with the Leafs still cycling through injuries on defense, even skating in a top-pairing role alongside Jake McCabe in last night’s 5-1 win over the Capitals. His role in the postseason once players Liljegren, Joel Edmundson and Morgan Rielly are ready to return from their injuries is less clear, though.
The physical 6’3″ blue-liner now gets legitimate stability for the first time in his professional career and will continue in a depth role for Toronto until his deal expires in 2027. He’ll be a UFA upon expiry.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Marc-André Fleury Interested In Returning To Wild Next Season
Future Hall-of-Fame netminder Marc-André Fleury hasn’t decided he’s ready to hang up his skates and is open to returning to the Wild next season, he told NHL.com/fr Senior Reporter Jean-François Chaumont this week.
If Fleury returns for his 21st year in the NHL, it will only be in the Twin Cities. The pending UFA told Chaumont that he “wouldn’t want to move and take my three kids out of their environment” and that “it’s probably Minnesota or retirement.”
The 39-year-old has occupied the 1A role in Minnesota as the Wild try to claw their way into the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference. Fleury started eight of 12 games in March. He was excellent for most of that stretch, going 4-1-1 with a .936 SV% between March 2 and March 16, but he has now surrendered five goals in each of his last two starts.
It hasn’t been a season to write home about for either him or tandem partner Filip Gustavsson, who have both logged save percentages under .900 after serving as one of the league’s better goalie tandems a season ago. His .899 SV% is his lowest since his first two NHL seasons with the Penguins in 2003-04 and 2005-06 behind a team that was inarguably the league’s worst defensively. However, that didn’t stop him from overtaking Patrick Roy for second place on the league’s all-time wins list earlier this season, now nine ahead of his countryman with 560.
He’s still been serviceable as a backup and has bounced back from a highly disappointing 2021-22 campaign split between the Wild and the Blackhawks, where his -17.2 goals saved above expected was fourth-worst in the NHL, per MoneyPuck. He may not move the needle much if he returns for his age-40 season – his birthday is in November – but there’s reason to believe he can still keep pace with the NHL game.
Obviously, Fleury believes he can, citing his increased comfort level and “rediscovered joy” as the season progressed. The netminder said that while he never reached a final decision, he entered the 2023-24 campaign thinking “it was going to be my last season,” a feeling exacerbated by hip problems he said plagued him as Minnesota struggled out of the gate.
Those are in the rearview now, and he’s ready to return if he still has a place in the organization. He made it clear to Chaumont that he knows that’s not a guarantee, saying he’ll speak with Minnesota GM Bill Guerin about his vision for next season and if the team feels top goaltending prospect Jesper Wallstedt is ready for a full-time role alongside Gustavsson, who has two seasons remaining on his contract.
Wallstedt, the 20th overall pick in the 2021 draft, struggled in his NHL debut in January, conceding seven goals on 34 shots faced in a rout at the hands of the Stars. However, he’s had a strong second season in the minors with AHL Iowa, posting a .911 SV% and 20-17-3 record in 40 games behind a weaker squad. He was sent to the AHL All-Star Game after making it as a rookie last season, too.
Guerin told Chaumont that he’s “more than open to the possibility of seeing him coming back for another season” and “there’s still some gas left in his tank.” Fleury’s made it clear that money won’t be a major consideration on a one-year extension and could very well take as low as the league minimum salary as Minnesota continues to navigate a tough salary cap situation created by the buyouts of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, which still combine for a $14.7MM dead cap charge next season.
It would be the second extension the Sorel, Quebec, native signs in Minnesota. After coming over from Chicago ahead of the 2022 trade deadline, he signed a two-year, $7MM deal with full no-move protection to close out his days of earning multi-year contracts.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Avalanche Notes: Nichushkin, Girard, Kiviranta
The Avalanche have listed winger Valeri Nichushkin as questionable for Thursday’s game against the Rangers, head coach Jared Bednar said (via Aarif Deen of Mile High Sports). It’s a lower-body injury that’s not anything long-term but “could possibly keep him out,” said Bednar. Nichushkin has missed extensive time this season, but not due to injury. He missed a splattering of games with illness before missing 21 games while in the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program from mid-January to earlier this month. It hasn’t impacted his performance when healthy, as he’s passed the point-per-game threshold for the first time in his career. He’s posted a career-high 26 goals, 24 assists and 50 points in 48 games while averaging 21:36 per game, another career-high for the two-way dynamo.
Other updates from Denver:
- Nichushkin may not be the only minutes-munching skater out of the lineup tomorrow. The Avs could also be without blue-liner Samuel Girard, who missed today’s practice with an illness and is accordingly questionable against the Blueshirts, per Brennan Vogt of The Rink Colorado. The 25-year-old has only 18 points in 51 games, his worst offensive showing in quite some time. He’s made up for it with some improved defensive and possession play after an iffy few seasons, rebounding for a 55.1 CF% at even strength and +6.2 expected rating, his best numbers in three years despite seeing the most defensive-zone usage of his career. Joel Kiviranta and Caleb Jones would draw into the lineup if both Nichushkin and Girard are unavailable…
- …except Kiviranta is dealing with an illness of his own, per Vogt, which may prompt the Avs to recall a forward from AHL Colorado before tomorrow’s contest. They’d be eligible to do so under emergency conditions, as Kiviranta is the only extra forward available on the roster and they’d only be able to dress 11 if he and Nichushkin are sidelined. After beginning the season on a minor-league deal after attending Avs camp on a PTO, the depth winger has three goals and nine points in 52 games while averaging 9:56 per game.
Panthers Reassign Uvis Balinskis
The Panthers have assigned defenseman Uvis Balinskis to AHL Charlotte, per a team announcement. He’ll head back to the minors after being recalled last week for the first time since signing a two-year extension in January. Florida’s roster size drops to 25.
Balinskis, 27, is in his first NHL season after inking an entry-level contract with the Cats last summer. The Latvian blue-liner was coming off a breakout season in the Czech Extraliga, where he was named the league’s best defenseman after leading the league with 11 goals and 35 points in 50 games as a member of Bílí Tygři Liberec. He’s been a fixture of the Latvian national team since making his debut at the 2017 World Championship and was a member of last year’s bronze-medal winning squad at the tournament.
With stars Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour unavailable for the start of 2023-24 due to off-season shoulder surgeries, Balinskis got a look on the opening night roster and was a serviceable depth option. After posting a goal and an assist through his first 16 games, he was assigned to Charlotte shortly after Montour was cleared to return. He was recalled again a few weeks into December but only played three games, going without a point and averaging 12:34 per game before being returned to the minors. On this month’s recall, he added an assist in four games and played a season-high 20:19 in Saturday’s shootout loss to the Rangers.
Balinskis’ strong play in the minors, despite being yo-yoed up and down, has given the Panthers’ front office confidence in his abilities to contribute during their current window of championship contention, and rightfully so. His 21 points in 35 games with Charlotte is second in scoring among the team’s defenders behind star minor-league blue-liner Lucas Carlsson, who hasn’t played in nearly a month and is out for the season due to injury.
His reassignment could indicate that Ekblad, who’s been out since March 9 with a lower-body injury, is nearing a return. He was ruled out for at least two weeks after the injury, and with that benchmark passed, head coach Paul Maurice has signaled in recent days that the star blue-liner is feeling better. He’s unlikely for Thursday’s game against the Islanders but could be ready to go for Saturday’s matinee against the Red Wings.
Oskar Sundqvist To Undergo Knee Surgery, Out Six Months
Blues forward Oskar Sundqvist will miss the rest of the 2023-24 season after sustaining a torn ACL in his right knee in Monday’s game against the Golden Knights, the team announced. The tear requires surgery, which carries a minimum recovery time of six months.
If his recovery timetable holds, Sundqvist won’t be ready when training camps begin ahead of the 2024-25 season in September. However, he hasn’t been ruled out for the beginning of the regular season.
Sundqvist sustained the injury midway through the second period of the eventual 2-1 overtime loss. After he cycled the puck behind the goal line in the Vegas zone, Golden Knights defenseman Brayden McNabb attempted to cross-check him into the boards but approached Sundqvist at an indirect angle that caused both players to fall awkwardly. Sundqvist’s right leg buckled during the fall, and he could not get up without assistance from Blues Head Athletic Trainer Ray Barile. Officials did not assess McNabb a penalty on the play.
The 30-year-old had a middling season after returning to the Blues in free agency for his second stint with the club. He appeared in 71 of St. Louis’ 72 games, posting six goals, 15 assists, and 21 points while averaging 13:15 per game. It was his worst offensive showing on a per-game basis since 2017-18. After breaking into an everyday top-nine role the following season, Sundqvist recorded 48 goals, 66 assists and 114 points in 285 games for the Blues, Red Wings and Wild from 2018-19 to 2022-23.
He was never a particularly strong possession player at even strength but often did good work on the penalty kill for the Blues, whose 80.9% success rate with the man disadvantage was 10th in the league, with Sundqvist averaging regular minutes there across four seasons. A fan favorite who posted nine points in 25 playoff games en route to St. Louis’ first Stanley Cup in 2019, the Blues traded Sundqvist to the Red Wings at the 2022 deadline as part of the package that landed them defenseman Nick Leddy. He was traded again at last season’s deadline as a pending UFA with Detroit out of the playoff picture, heading to Minnesota for a fourth-round pick.
Despite Sundqvist’s decline in both the points and possession departments this season, Blues GM Doug Armstrong decided earlier this month that he wanted to keep him around through their pending retool, inking him to a two-year, $3MM extension. The Blues hope he can recover from surgery in time to start that $1.5MM AAV deal off on a high note next fall. He’ll be a UFA in 2026 after the extension expires.
Canucks Recall Arshdeep Bains
The Canucks recalled winger Arshdeep Bains from AHL Abbotsford on Wednesday, GM Patrik Allvin said. To create the cap space required to add Bains’ $816.7K cap hit, the team moved goaltender Thatcher Demko to long-term injured reserve, retroactive to when he sustained a knee injury against the Jets on March 9. Bains’ recall is an emergency loan, per CapFriendly, suggesting another forward aside from Elias Lindholm (undisclosed, day-to-day) may be absent for Thursday’s game against the Stars.
This is Bains’ second recall of the season. The 23-year-old was first summoned in mid-February and made his NHL debut in Colorado three days later. He made another four appearances but was held without a point and managed only three shots on goal while averaging 12:57 per game. Bains was then returned to Abbotsford on March 1, one week before the trade deadline.
An undrafted free agent pickup out of WHL Red Deer in 2022, Bains’ signing is looking like one of Allvin’s shrewder moves at the helm of the Canucks. The Surrey, British Columbia native adjusted well to the pros, putting up 38 points in 66 games in a middle-six role after leading the WHL in scoring during his overage season. Bains has taken things up a notch this year, breaking out as a first-line talent with Abbotsford and leading the team with 35 assists and 49 points in 53 games.
Bains didn’t look entirely out of place under the eye test in his call-up last month, but the stats weren’t kind. He was used in a checking role by head coach Rick Tocchet and struggled to control shot attempts, logging a 45.5 CF% at even strength that was a staggering 13.9% worse than the Canucks’ overall CF% when Bains was off the ice over his five-game stint. Keeping his head above water in terms of possession quality was even more of a struggle, logging a 33.3 xGF%.
Nonetheless, he’ll get a second chance to inject some energy into their bottom six. He was quite good in the minors after being returned to Abbotsford a few weeks ago, scoring five goals and adding five assists for 10 points in 11 games. He still has another season left on his entry-level contract and remains waiver-exempt.
As for Demko, the LTIR placement indicates the star starter will be out until at least April 6 against the Kings, meaning he’ll miss at least Vancouver’s next four games. The likely Vezina Trophy candidate remains out on a week-to-week basis but is expected back before the end of the regular season. Casey DeSmith has been the Canucks’ crease’s sole occupant since Demko got hurt, posting a 3-2-1 record and .903 SV% since replacing him against the Jets.
ECHL Newfoundland, Trois-Rivières May Not Finish Season
The ECHL’s Newfoundland Growlers and Trois-Rivières Lions are at risk of folding before the 2023-24 regular season draws to a close, per a report from Matthew Vachon and Paule Vermot-Desroches of Le Nouvelliste. The clubs, which are the second-tier affiliates of the Maple Leafs and the Canadiens, respectively, are majority-owned by Deacon Sports and Entertainment, which is nearing bankruptcy and owes the city of Trois-Rivière more than $600K.
According to Vachon and Vermot-Desroches, the ECHL has set a deadline for DSE to sell the clubs by April 2. However, the sale of both franchises is unexpected to happen in time. The ECHL’s board of governors, led by commissioner Ryan Crelin, will meet Tuesday to decide whether to allow them to play out the season. Regardless, the league will absorb ownership of the two franchises after the April 2 deadline.
Both teams have 10 or fewer games remaining on their regular-season schedule. The Growlers and Lions are both in the league’s North Division and are part of a tight race to claim the final two playoff spots available with Maine, Reading, and Worcester – all five clubs are within five points of each other. As Vachon points out, it’s worth noting that each team will have a representative at the board of governors meeting that will decide the Growlers’ and Lions’ fate, and it’s fair to assume those in the playoff hunt could help swing a vote toward not allowing the clubs to finish the season.
The Growlers have been one of the league’s most successful teams since their inception in 2018-19, winning the Kelly Cup in their inaugural campaign and making it to the Eastern Conference Final in 2022 and 2023. The Lions are only in their third year of existence and their lone playoff appearance, coming in their inaugural season, was cut short in the first round at the hands of Newfoundland.
No players under contract with the Canadiens are currently on assignment to Trois-Rivières, but they hold the exclusive signing rights of three players on the squad: forward Jakov Novak, a 2018 seventh-round pick of the Senators whom they acquired last offseason; defenseman Miguël Tourigny, a 2022 seventh-round pick; and goaltender Joe Vrbetic, a 2021 seventh-round pick.
However, two NHL-signed players are on assignment to Newfoundland. Maple Leafs 2021 sixth-round pick Vyacheslav Peksa is the team’s current backup netminder, posting an .890 SV% and a 5-10-1 record in his first season in North America. Panthers defense prospect Nathan Staios was loaned to the club late last month.
Sabres To Activate Jack Quinn From Injured Reserve
The Sabres will activate winger Jack Quinn from injured reserve ahead of Wednesday’s game against the Senators, head coach Don Granato said. The 22-year-old is expected to draw in after a two-month absence due to a lower-body injury.
Quinn looks to end a difficult 2023-24 campaign on a high note. The 2020 eighth-overall pick has been severely limited by injuries dating back to an Achilles injury sustained during training last offseason. Recovery from that surgery landed him on IR to start the season and kept him out until mid-December, costing him the first 32 games of the season. This lower-body injury, which he sustained against the Sharks on Jan. 27, sidelined him for an additional 24.
When in the lineup, he looked like he hadn’t missed a beat from last year’s strong rookie campaign. The Ottawa native notched five goals, seven assists, and 12 points in 17 games between injuries, tied with JJ Peterka for sixth on the team in scoring during that time. He averaged 15:58 per game, up drastically from last season’s 13:51, and saw his points per game increase from 0.49 to 0.71. Along with improved possession numbers – his 53.1 CF% at even strength is fifth among active Sabres – his short stint in the lineup went a long way toward bookmarking him a spot in the team’s top six going forward.
A continued strong showing through the last 10 games of the season would surely secure a sustained increased role in 2024-25. After COVID and injuries cost him most of his post-draft campaign, Quinn has done nothing but score, posting 26 goals and 61 points as a rookie in 45 games with AHL Rochester in 2021-22. Unsurprisingly, he captured the league’s Rookie of the Year award as a result and cracked the Sabres’ opening night roster the following October.
Line rushes indicate Quinn will slot on a quite youthful second line alongside the 22-year-old Peterka and 23-year-old Dylan Cozens tonight against the Sens. He spent 123 minutes with that trio over 15 of his 17 games this year, controlling 56.2% of expected goals, per MoneyPuck. That’s the second-highest mark of any Sabres forward line with over 100 minutes together, trailing Zach Benson, Jordan Greenway, and Casey Mittelstadt (61.5%), the latter of whom was traded to the Avalanche earlier this month for defenseman Bowen Byram.
It may be a wasted season for the Sabres to sneak value out of Quinn’s entry-level contract, but he does have one season remaining at a cap hit of $863.3K. He’ll be due a sizable raise before his deal expires in 2025, and a strong finish this season could also sway Sabres GM Kevyn Adams to kick off extension talks sooner rather than later.
Atlantic Notes: Ratzlaff, Bruins, Hedman, Point
One of the Sabres’ goaltending prospects has taken an intermediate step toward joining the organization. 2023 fifth-round pick Scott Ratzlaff signed an ATO with their AHL affiliate in Rochester on Wednesday and could make his professional debut before the 2023-24 season draws to a close. The Sabres still have until June 1, 2025, to sign him to an entry-level contract before losing his exclusive signing rights, though, and the 19-year-old still has one season of major junior eligibility remaining. As such, the Alberta native will return to WHL Seattle for a fourth season in 2024-25. He took over the starting role for the first time this season, but his numbers dived along with the team in front of him, which lost multiple high-caliber talents to NHL clubs after capturing the WHL championship last year. He still managed a respectable .905 SV% and 3.33 GAA in 52 games – decent numbers for that level of hockey – and posted a 21-26-1 record with one shutout. The 6’1″, left-catching netminder was part of Canada’s contingent at this year’s World Junior Championship but didn’t see any playing time.
More notes out of the Atlantic Division:
- The Bruins can become the second team to clinch a spot in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs tonight by avoiding a regulation loss against the Lightning, per the league. Still in contention for the Atlantic title and the President’s Trophy, the franchise is poised to earn a postseason berth for the eighth consecutive season and for the 15th time in the last 17 years. While not on last season’s record-breaking tear, the retirements of team legends Patrice Bergeron and David Krejčí haven’t thrown the ever-consistent Bruins into complete turmoil, and a 9-0-1 start to the season back in October has helped buoy them throughout the ups and downs of the campaign. A second-place finish behind the Panthers still seems likely, but after coming from behind late last night to defeat Florida 4-3 in regulation, a third division title in the last five years isn’t out of the question. Boston has not missed the playoffs for more than two seasons in a row since the Original Six era.
- Lightning stars Victor Hedman and Brayden Point were on the ice for Tampa’s morning skate on Wednesday and are likely to suit up against Boston tonight, per Chris Krenn of the team’s official site. Both players carry day-to-day injury designations and missed Sunday’s 3-2 overtime win over the Ducks with lower-body ailments. The team is certainly ecstatic to have their second and third-leading scorers back in the lineup in what could be a key two points for playoff positioning, potentially helping them leapfrog the Maple Leafs for third place in the Atlantic down the stretch. After Toronto lost to the Devils on Tuesday night, Tampa is four points back with no games in hand.
Pacific Notes: Pietrangelo, Hoffman, Emberson, Gibson, Stalock, Evans
Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo indeed did not travel with the team to kick off their road trip and is out tonight against the Blues due to illness, Lou Korac of NHL.com relays. The 34-year-old has already missed three games with the illness, last factoring into the lineup on March 17 against the Devils. It’s his second multi-game absence of the campaign – he missed five games with an upper-body injury back in October. The seven-year, $61.6MM deal he signed in free agency in 2020 continues to age relatively well as it crosses the halfway point. He’s again logging number-one minutes, averaging 23:38 per game. He’s not the highest-producing Golden Knights defender – Noah Hanifin and Shea Theodore have him beaten in that regard – but he’s still managed 32 points in 62 games this year. The two-time Stanley Cup champion will be replaced by Nicolas Hague on the team’s top pairing alongside Hanifin in what is perhaps Vegas’ biggest game of the season tonight in St. Louis against their biggest threat for a playoff spot.
Other updates from the Pacific Division:
- Sharks winger Mike Hoffman has been listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury since March 9 against Ottawa, which the winger confirmed Sunday to Colby Guy of San Jose Hockey Now was the first concussion of his career. Hoffman has been a full participant in practice in recent days but hasn’t yet been cleared for game action. The former top-six fixture has continued to regress after potting six straight 20-goal seasons between 2015 and 2020, posting 10-12–22 in 61 games with the Sharks this year in mainly third-line minutes. The 34-year-old is in the final season of a three-year, $13.5MM deal signed with the Canadiens in 2021 and found his way to San Jose in last offseason’s Erik Karlsson three-way swap with the Penguins.
- Sticking in the Bay Area, promising shutdown prospect Ty Emberson‘s season is likely over due to a lower-body injury, head coach David Quinn said Monday (via Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now). The 23-year-old has missed over 20 games already this season with different injuries and hasn’t played since Feb. 29 against the Ducks. It’s a tough end to an otherwise promising rookie campaign, as Emberson logged 10 points in 30 games and will finish the season with a team-high -4 rating among skaters with at least 10 games played. The 2018 third-round pick of the Coyotes is on his third NHL organization after being dealt to the Rangers in July 2022 and being claimed off waivers by the Sharks to begin the 2023-24 season.
- The Ducks have starter John Gibson back at practice today after he missed Sunday’s loss to the Lightning for personal reasons, Derek Lee of The Sporting Tribune reports. As such, the team has returned veteran Alex Stalock to AHL San Diego after he backed up Lukáš Dostál last night. Gibson’s numbers have taken a tumble lately after putting together a solid season prior to the All-Star break, now down to a .891 SV% and 3.40 GAA on the season with a 13-24-2 record. He’s also at risk of failing to record a shutout in a season for the first time in his 11-year career. He hasn’t posted a SV% above .900 in a single outing in over a month.
- The Kraken lost big-time last night, 5-1 to the Canadiens, but that wasn’t the only downside of the game. Promising rookie blue-liner Ryker Evans sustained a lower-body injury in the first period and is out on a day-to-day basis, head coach Dave Hakstol told Scott Malone of ROOT Sports NW. The 22-year-old has formed one of the better depth pairings in the league this year when used with veteran Brian Dumoulin, as they’ve controlled 61.4% of expected goals through 142 minutes of action, according to MoneyPuck. That’s 10th in the league among pairings with at least 100 minutes together this season. Through 25 contests, Evans has eight points while logging 18:30 per game and has remained on the roster since being called up on deadline day.