Snapshots: Paquette, Zuccarello, Canadiens Quarantine
The Montreal Canadiens are absolutely ravaged at the moment by injuries and COVID, and bad turned to worse today when forward Cedric Paquette didn’t finish Saturday’s game against the Florida Panthers due to a neck injury, per TVA’s Renaud Lavoie. Montreal dressed just 11 forwards and five defensemen for that game, a 5-2 loss. They had just three players dressed with a cap hit greater than $1MM, with the majority of their lineup filled out by rookies and AHL call-ups. Paquette played a third-line role, centering Lukas Vejdemo and Alex Belzile. Paquette’s only played in 18 games this season, missing some time due to injury and suspension, but he only has one assist while averaging 9:11 per game. More injury news is certainly concerning for the 28-year-old Paquette, who signed a one-year deal with Montreal this offseason.
More notes from around the league on the first day of 2022:
- With the Minnesota Wild missing captain Jared Spurgeon from tonight’s Winter Classic due to a lower-body injury, The Athletic’s Michael Russo tweets that right wing Mats Zuccarello will serve as the third alternate captain for the outdoor spectacle. Matt Dumba and Marcus Foligno are healthy and will serve as the other two alternates, as per usual. Zuccarello fought back from an early-season injury to have one of the most productive starts of his career, posting 24 points through 24 games. The Norwegian winger will likely reprise his role on the team’s top line, playing alongside Kirill Kaprizov and Ryan Hartman.
- The Canadiens aren’t playing again until January 12th at the earliest as their entire upcoming four-game homestand is postponed. The team won’t complain due to the aforementioned excessive amount of lineup absences, but now, head coach Dominique Ducharme says that a five-day quarantine for the entire team upon their return to Montreal is possible and will be discussed. While it won’t affect their playing schedule, it could give a chance for players to stay healthy and help their lineup get back to having experienced NHLers in the mix.
- UPDATE: the Canadiens and Laval Rocket have officially paused all team activities through January 6, following up on Ducharme’s statement from earlier.
New York Islanders Make Several Roster Moves
Dec 30: Brock Nelson entered the protocol on December 28. He joined Beauvillier, Clutterbuck, Wahlstrom, Parise, Salo, and Martin at that point but the latter three have now cleared. Today, Sebastian Aho has been placed in the protocol, while Cole Bardreau, Austin Czarnik, and Michael Dal Colle have all been recalled from the taxi squad. Grant Hutton has also been recalled from Bridgeport, while Kyle Palmieri has gone on injured reserve.
Dec 26: After their roster was decimated by COVID cases earlier in the season, the New York Islanders placed Anthony Beauvillier, Cal Clutterbuck, Zach Parise, and Oliver Wahlstrom into the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol today.
In a corresponding move, the Islanders assigned forwards Cole Bardreau and Simon Holmstrom, as well as defenseman Grant Hutton, to the freshly re-introduced taxi squad as COVID cases continue to climb around the league.
It’s not all bad news, however. The team activated center Mathew Barzal from protocol, and general manager Lou Lamoriello says winger Matt Martin and defenseman Robin Salo will be activated on Wednesday.
Beauvillier is in the midst of a truly tough season, like most of the team. The 24-year-old winger has just four goals and four assists through 24 games.
The toughest loss at this point for the Islanders is Wahlstrom, who’s finally been elevated to top-line duties and has eight goals and seven assists through 26 games. Clutterbuck and Parise have combined for six goals and five assists through 26 games each.
Ottawa Senators Activate Erik Brannstrom From Injured Reserve
Per CapFriendly, the Ottawa Senators activated defenseman Erik Brannstrom from injured reserve on Wednesday night.
A broken hand in mid-November gave Brannstrom an expected return timeline of two months. However, it appears as though he’ll be returning to the lineup about two weeks ahead of schedule, which is great news for both him and the Senators.
Ottawa’s current depth on defense is running a tad thin with both Nikita Zaitsev and Josh Brown on injured reserve. With Michael Del Zotto waived and sent to AHL Belleville, names like Dillon Heatherington and Jacob Bernard-Docker are on their list of six healthy defensemen at the NHL level.
Brannstrom had played sparingly prior to the injury, however. The 15th overall pick in 2017 got into just two games with Ottawa, recording no points and an average ice time of 16:54. He did, however, spend some time in Belleville, recording three points in nine games.
Now healthy again, Brannstrom’s short-term future in the Ottawa lineup may seem unclear due to him jumping up and down between the NHL and AHL this season. However, with the current state of their defense personnel, it’s likely he gets another shot in an NHL role.
IIHF Will Attempt To Reschedule 2022 World Junior Championship
International Ice Hockey Federation president Luc Tardif told Russian outlet Championat on Wednesday that they’d like to reschedule the 2022 World Junior Championship, which was cancelled today due to a series of forfeited games at the tournament due to COVID cases among teams.
Tardif says that the summer of 2022 is the most likely outcome and that the tournament would likely stay in Canada. From a financial and television perspective, it would make sense to hold the tournament after the conclusion of the 2022 Stanley Cup Final in July.
Translated from Russian, Tardif had this to say on the tournament’s cancellation:
The integrity of the tournament was violated, for reasons of player safety, we decided it was necessary to hold the [WJC] for real… Hockey is excellent, but the [Omicron] situation is disappointing. We preferred to end the tournament now, we will develop a proposal for all federations with new dates.
One important note from the interview is that teams will be able to modify their rosters for the tournament, should it be rescheduled. It’s big news for players like Finland’s Aatu Raty, who weren’t taken to the tournament due to testing positive for COVID during the selection process.
Tardif says he doesn’t know if the tournament will be held in a bubble this time around. To be fair, it’s impossible to predict the nature of COVID six months from now, and it’s therefore impossible to make a call on that front.
Still, optimism remains for these junior players to get an honest crack at medalling at the World Juniors in 2022.
Minnesota Wild Facing Organizational COVID Issues
Some tough news hit the Minnesota Wild organization today, as four Iowa Wild players entered the AHL’s COVID-19 protocol, per the team, including center Mason Shaw, who’s gotten into two games with the Wild this season and was a potential call-up option for the team in the coming days.
It’s apparent at this stage that the Minnesota Wild won’t be playing in the Winter Classic on January 1 with a full squad. Center Joel Eriksson Ek is out with an upper-body injury, and head coach Dean Evason confirmed earlier this week that he won’t play. Captain Jared Spurgeon is on injured reserve, listed as week-to-week with a lower-body injury. He won’t be in either.
Now with defenseman Jonas Brodin entering COVID protocol yesterday, it became apparent that the Wild will need depth options in the coming days to continue to field a competitive team. There’s also the very viable concern of more Wild members entering COVID protocol – they’re one of the very lucky teams who have just one COVID-related absence as of now.
It’s important to note that Minnesota still stands in pretty good shape right now. Young Calen Addison and Jordie Benn are legitimate NHL options who can fill in for Brodin and Spurgeon on the back-end, and assigning more minutes to players like Ryan Hartman and Frederick Gaudreau down the middle can help alleviate Eriksson Ek’s absence.
But ahead of the Winter Classic, one of the most-talked-about and most-watched regular-season games of the year, it’s concerning. Over the past few weeks, the hockey world’s seen seemingly endless times how quickly situations like this can devolve.
It’s what makes the news out of Iowa so concerning. Minnesota still has quality depth options available for recall, including forwards Matt Boldy, Kyle Rau, Adam Beckman, Connor Dewar, and defensemen Dakota Mermis and Kevin Czuczman. If the COVID situation worsens in Iowa, however, it could seriously affect Minnesota’s ability to construct a competitive roster for the Winter Classic.
Florida Panthers Add Jonathan Huberdeau, Three Others To COVID Protocol
Dec 28: Olli Juolevi is the latest Panther to enter the protocol, joining the four added on Sunday who are still unavailable.
Dec 26: The Florida Panthers announced Sunday afternoon that wingers Jonathan Huberdeau and Owen Tippett, center Eetu Luostarinen, and defenseman MacKenzie Weegar entered the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol.
An expected day of COVID news continues as teams return to practice after the holiday break. It now makes 12 Florida players in COVID protocol. Wingers Frank Vatrano, Carter Verhaeghe and Ryan Lomberg, center Sam Bennett, and defensemen Aaron Ekblad, Gustav Forsling, Radko Gudas, and Brandon Montour were already in protocol.
After the NHL postponed all games on December 27, the team was supposed to return to play on December 29 against the New York Rangers. With these four skaters at the least likely being unavailable for this game, it’s entirely a possibility that the game could get postponed as well.
It’s not entirely out of the realm of possibility that the NHL could postpone the entire schedule further as these cases continue to come in. Nearly every team’s roster is seriously affected by COVID cases at this point.
For the Panthers though, returning to play without these four is tough. Huberdeau is their team leader in scoring with 10 goals and 23 assists for 33 points through 29 games, while Tippett and Luostarinen have been good depth pieces, combining for 19 points in 29 games each. Weegar is playing nearly 24 minutes a night and is an integral part of the defense.
Two Seattle Kraken Enter COVID Protocol
The Seattle Kraken tweeted Sunday evening that forward Ryan Donato and defenseman Vince Dunn entered the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol.
They join defensemen Carson Soucy, Adam Larsson, and Jamie Oleksiak on the protocol list for the Kraken.
Dunn’s been Seattle’s most productive defenseman in their inaugural season, posting 12 points through 28 games. Donato’s been fairly productive too after joining the team on a one-year deal, scoring eight goals and 13 points in 28 games.
If they’re confirmed positive tests, they’re likely out for Seattle’s next four games and could return January 5th.
Arizona Coyotes Place Two In COVID Protocol
Arizona Coyotes forward Christian Fischer and defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin entered the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol today, per a team tweet.
They become the fifth and sixth additions to Arizona’s COVID list. Liam O’Brien, Alex Galchenyuk, Jay Beagle, and Lawson Crouse.
Arizona, for the time being, is losing out on some solid defensive presences. Fischer had three goals and three assists through 22 games before entering protocol, and he’s one of the better defensive forwards on the Coyotes, though, and a skilled penalty killer. His presence there will be missed.
Lyubushkin had six assists through 29 games, and while he was averaging just 18:08 per game, he’s a good defender at even-strength.
Fischer and Lyubushkin, if they’re truly COVID positive, are eligible to return January 6 against Chicago if they’re healthy.
Four St. Louis Blues Enter COVID Protocol
Four St. Louis Blues — forwards Dakota Joshua, James Neal, Ivan Barbashev, and defenseman Robert Bortuzzo — have entered the NHL’s COVID-19 protocols, per a team release.
There are now five Blues on the protocol list, joining Oskar Sundqvist on the list.
Barbashev’s been a shocking producer to start the year, going on a tear with 11 goals and 14 assists for 25 points in 31 games. He’d been averaging over 17 minutes a game, too, so his absence can’t be taken lightly.
Joshua, Neal, and Bortuzzo had combined for just 11 points this year, but it’s just more depth missing from a Blues roster that’s been rocked by absences all year.
Barbashev entered protocol on December 23, so he’s eligible to return three days earlier than the other three players. However, due to an open schedule, all four could come back into action on January 5 against Pittsburgh. Unfortunately, it seems like all four will be unavailable for the Winter Classic on New Years Day.
Edmonton Oilers Place Zack Kassian In COVID Protocol
The Edmonton Oilers placed forward Zack Kassian in the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol today, per a team tweet.
Edmonton also recalled defensemen Philip Broberg and Dmitri Samorukov from the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors on an emergency basis.
Kassian’s got four goals and eight assists through 25 games this season. He joins Jesse Puljujarvi, Darnell Nurse, Duncan Keith, and William Lagesson in COVID protocol for the Oilers.
Broberg’s already played in eight NHL games this season, getting his first NHL point (an assist) in the process. Samorukov, however, is slated to make his NHL debut on Wednesday against the St. Louis Blues. The 84th overall selection in 2017 is in the final year of his entry-level contract and has three points in 15 games with the Condors this year.