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Central Notes: Avalanche, Olausson, Bogosian, Heinola

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After the team’s practice this morning, head coach of the Colorado Avalanche, Jared Bednar issued several roster updates before the team takes on the Anaheim Ducks tonight. Most notably, after missing Colorado’s last game, Bednar asserted that defenseman Cale Makar is doubtful to return tonight (X Link).

Aside from Makar being doubtful, Bednar also mentioned that forward Andrew Cogliano would not be in the lineup due to a lower-body injury, and although Valeri Nichushkin missed practice due to being sick, he is expected to play tonight. Although they will be missing several key players in their lineup, this is exactly the situation the Avalanche were hoping to weather as they spent the entire offseason with a primary goal of addressing the team’s depth.

Of all three, Makar is by far the most important player to be missing out of the lineup. Arguably the most important part of Colorado’s lineup, Makar continues to make his case for the best player in the entire league, as he has seven goals and 34 points in 23 games, while also maintaining some of the best defensive metrics among all defensemen.

Other notes:

  • Before Bednar had spoken to reports about the lineup tonight, the Avalanche announced they had recalled forward Oskar Olausson for tonight’s game. Colorado’s first-round selection in the 2021 NHL Draft, Olausson has yet to play for the Avalanche this season, after playing in one game last year. Playing for their AHL affiliate, the Colorado Eagles, Olausson has five goals and eight points in 20 games, sitting seventh on the team in scoring.
  • Michael Russo of The Athletic is reporting that Minnesota Wild defenseman, Zach Bogosian, is out day-to-day with an upper-body injury. Acquired from the Tampa Bay Lightning to provide more defensive prowess into the lineup, Bogosian has one assist in nine games for the Wild, averaging just over 13 minutes of ice time per night.
  • Suffering an ankle injury during this year’s preseason, the rehab for Winnipeg Jets’ defenseman Ville Heinola was expected to be between two and three months. In an update on his progression, reports are confirming that Heinola has returned to skating, although he is still not skating in full equipment (X Link). The timeline should still be accurate to project his return, but it is nonetheless a positive that he has not experienced a setback in his recovery process.

Board Of Governors Sets Location For 2024 NHL Draft

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On day two of the Board of Governors meetings, Darren Dreger of TSN is reporting that the league has confirmed the 2024 NHL Draft will be held at the Sphere in Las Vegas on June 28th and 29th. It will mark the first time since the 2005 NHL Draft that the draft will not be held at an NHL arena (minus the 2020/2021 drafts due to Covid), and will be the last draft before decentralization.

Although it had been known that the 2024 NHL Draft would be taking place in Las Vegas, T-Mobile Arena, home of the Vegas Golden Knights, had not been confirmed as the location for several months. In late October, when the NHL voted to decentralize the draft moving forward, the Sphere had been brought up as a rumored location only a month after it had opened.

It ultimately marks the end of an era for the NHL, as the league has been unique in the sense that it has always held an in-person draft, dating back to 1963 at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal. Moving forward, due to the vote by NHL teams in October, the league will transition to a remote draft, which will likely be similar to the 2020 and 2021 NHL Drafts, likely with much more production value.

As for the location, the Sphere was originally a joint project between the Madison Square Garden Company and Las Vegas Sands, before Las Vegas Sands sold the land to Vici Properties. MSG initially calculated that the construction cost would total $1.2B, however, the final cost more than doubled the initial projections, ultimately costing a reported $2.3B in total. At that dollar value, the Sphere had become the most expensive entertainment venue in Las Vegas, surpassing the $1.9B cost of Allegiant Stadium, home of the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders.

Edmonton Grants Philip Broberg Permission To Seek A Trade

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Frank Seravalli of the Daily Faceoff is reporting that the Edmonton Oilers have granted defenseman Philip Broberg permission to seek a trade. Broberg was the eighth overall selection of the Oilers back in the 2019 NHL Draft and has yet to crack a full-time spot in the lineup.

Since coming over to the Oilers organization back in the 2021-22 season, he had been previously playing for Skelleftea AIK of the SHL. Broberg would go on to play 89 games in Sweden’s top professional league, scoring four goals and 21 points overall, becoming one of Edmonton’s top prospects on the blue line.

Unfortunately, and mainly due to injuries, Broberg has been unable to find any staying power at the NHL level. Between both the Oilers and their AHL affiliate, the Bakersfield Condors, Broberg has been unable to separate himself from the rest of the pack, averaging mild production at both levels.

Over three seasons, at the NHL level, Broberg has played in a total of 79 games for Edmonton, only scoring two goals and 11 points, without producing much in the way of defensive contributions, either. In Bakersfield, he has done better on the offensive side of the puck, scoring six goals and 29 points in 42 games.

On the left side of the blue line, especially after acquiring Mattias Ekholm from the Nashville Predators last season, it was always going to be incredibly difficult for Broberg to move up the depth chart in any meaningful way. With that in mind, the team will now allow Broberg to speak to interested teams to facilitate a trade. At 22 years old, and with a $863K salary for the rest of the season, there are plenty of teams that may be interested in taking a flyer on Broberg.

Since Edmonton is looking to compete this season, and as Seravalli alluded to in his initial report, the Oilers have no interest in receiving a draft pick back and are primarily looking for a player in return for Broberg. However, given their salary cap situation, Edmonton and Broberg’s camp are going to have to find a player in a similar situation with a very similar salary situation to make a trade work.

Ultimately, the Oilers have a few options when it comes to trading Broberg, as most speculation will likely revolve around Broberg being attached to Jack Campbell’s contract for Edmonton to upgrade their goaltending situation. Nevertheless, with needs in other areas of the game as well, it certainly expands on the possibilities for the Oilers.

It would be reasonable to assume that if any team is interested in acquiring Broberg for their defensive core, they are unlikely to trade from an area of need, meaning the Oilers will likely be able to use this trade to upgrade their offensive depth. One team and player that immediately comes to mind given their team needs at the moment is the Tampa Bay Lightning and forward Alex Barre-Boulet.

Barre-Boulet is four years older than Broberg and is making $88K less, meaning Edmonton would be ultimately saving money on this trade. Typically a high-scoring player at the AHL level, Barre-Boulet has scored four goals and seven points in 19 games for the Lightning this season, which would immediately make him the seventh-highest-scoring forward on the Oilers.

At the end of the day, now that the trade request and permission are public knowledge, Broberg will more than likely be apart of a different organization at the end of the season. Given his age and relatively low salary, there are a multitude of paths that both he and Edmonton could take to get him a fresh start.

Metro Notes: Joseph, Islanders, Gudbranson, Kakko

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Having been on the injured reserve since November 18th, it appears that defenseman for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Pierre-Olivier Joseph, is healthy enough to return, as the team announced they have sent Joseph on a conditioning loan to their AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. He will now be in the AHL for a maximum of 14 days, meaning he will have the opportunity to play in five games in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Last season, Joseph looked to have finally cracked the Penguins roster full-time, playing in 75 games and scoring five goals and 21 points. He did spend a couple of games factoring into Pittsburgh’s powerplay, while also providing solid possession and defensive metrics as well.

With fellow defenseman Chad Ruhwedel set to miss a few weeks with a lower-body injury, the Penguins could certainly use the return of Joseph as soon as possible. Even upon return, with Pittsburgh already carrying a more than adequate top-four in their defensive core, the return of Joseph will allow the team to be more comfortable giving their bottom-pairing important minutes of the game.

Other notes:

  • Although the two did play in the New York Islanders’ most recent game only three days ago, forward Brock Nelson and defenseman Noah Dobson were absent in yesterday’s practice and were listed as day-to-day with undisclosed concerns. Nevertheless, the team announced today that both players would be in the lineup for tonight’s game, while also indicating that defenseman Sebastian Aho is close to making his return as well. It is positive news for New York, who even though it might only be for a game or two, can not afford to miss two of their better offensive players.
  • Team reporter for the Columbus Blue Jackets, Jeff Svoboda, reports that defenseman Erik Gudbranson will be a game-time decision for the team’s game tonight against the Los Angeles Kings, as he is suffering from an illness. Mostly known as a defensive-style defenseman, even with less ice time per night, Gudbranson is producing better offensively this year for the Blue Jackets, scoring two goals and nine points in 26 games.
  • Missing the last three games for the New York Rangers with an undisclosed injury, it does not appear forward Kaapo Kakko is close to a return. After practice today, Mollie Walker of the New York Post reported that Kakko has not yet resumed skating. After seemingly having a breakout season last year, Kakko is once again failing to produce up to his draft selection, scoring one goal and three points through 20 games this season.

Atlantic Notes: Gaunce, Chabot, Samsonov

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Per a team announcement, the AHL affiliate of the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Toronto Marlies, announced they have signed defenseman Cameron Gaunce to a professional tryout. Already a solid defensive team sitting at 10th in the AHL in terms of goals against, Gaunce’s experience on the blue line should help strengthen the Marlies defensive core even more.

A solid offensive defenseman during his time in the OHL, Gaunce was originally a second-round pick of the Colorado Avalanche in the 2008 NHL Draft. Since leaving the OHL after the 2009-10 season, Gaunce has managed 14 years of AHL experience, as well as accruing 37 games at the NHL level split between Colorado, Dallas Stars, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Tampa Bay Lightning.

In the minor leagues, Gaunce has played in a total of 783 games, scoring 50 goals and 248 assists, spending the last three years playing for the Ontario Reign. He won’t provide much in the way of offense over the length of his tryout, but largely sporting a younger defensive core, Gaunce’s experience should ultimately make for a great addition to the Marlies’ blue line.

Other notes:

  • Although he had fully recovered from a hand injury and returned to action for the Ottawa Senators on December 1st, defenseman Thomas Chabot may once again miss a stretch of games for the Senators. Bruce Garrioch of TSN reports that Chabot will not play for the team tonight against the New York Rangers after experiencing some discomfort in his leg, and will have an MRI to make a more accurate diagnosis. In his return to the ice last week, Chabot averaged just over 24 minutes of ice time in two games, adding one assist on the powerplay.
  • After having missed a few games due to an illness, goaltender for the Maple Leafs, Ilya Samsonov, has made his return to practice. Unfortunately, Samsonov did not make it through the full practice and had to depart early (X Link). It may not mean much, however, as Toronto had already loaned goaltender Martin Jones back to the AHL this morning, meaning the team may have good enough confidence that he will still be available for the team’s game on Thursday.

Board Of Governors Updates Salary Cap Projections

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Largely expected for the last calendar year, Pierre LeBrun of TSN reported that at the Board of Governors meeting today, the league updated team owners on the revenue projections for this season, and projected next season’s salary cap to reach $87.7MM. It will be both the largest dollar value and the highest percentage raise the salary cap has seen in the last five years combined.

If the projection holds, and the salary cap indeed raises by $4.2MM for the start of next season, it will mark the highest possible percentage (5%) increase allowed under the current Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NHL and the NHLPA. If the league can sustain its current growth, it would not be unreasonable to see the league have a salary cap of more than $100MM by the end of the current decade.

As with any time the salary cap is increased by a substantial margin, it primarily benefits players in contract years and gives breathing room to a majority of the teams in the league. With players such as William Nylander, Jake Guentzel, and Brandon Montour, among others, set to hit unrestricted free agency next offseason, the first major cap increase in the last five years may put them in a position to garner record-breaking contracts.

Aside from players set to hit the free agent market this upcoming summer, players such as Leon Draisaitl, Mitch Marner, and Mikko Rantanen will be eligible for contract extensions, meaning this news bodes well for their earning power, as well. Still, although league salary standards are different for all three, the NHL has quite a ways to go in terms of revenue compared to the MLB, NFL, and NBA.

Nevertheless, it is a positive sign for the league as a whole, which saw a stagnant cap during the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons, and a mild $4MM increase overall in the cap since the 2018-19 season.

East Notes: Kuznetsov, Giordano, Senators

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Similar to the approach that Pascal Vincent took with Patrik Laine on the Columbus Blue Jackets, the head coach of the Washington Capitals, Spencer Carbery, has decided to scratch Evgeny Kuznetsov for tonight’s game (X Link). After missing 10 days with an illness back in the middle of November, Kuznetsov has only scored one goal upon his return and had previously moved to the fourth line as well as benched during games.

It is not a surprising move by any means, as Kuznetsov has failed to live up to expectations both this season and last, as well as failed to provide equal value to his $7.8MM salary. Simply put, as now the second highest-paid forward on the team with the absence of Nicklas Backstrom, the Capitals need much more production out of Kuznetsov on the offensive side of the puck.

Not only has Kuznetsov’s offensive production cratered to start this season, but he is struggling in all other facets of the game. His Corsi For % has dropped six percentage points lower than his career average, as well as his On Ice Shooting Percentage, meaning his teammates are also struggling to play alongside him. With this move, Washington is hoping a clear enough message has been sent, and that Kuznetsov will have a mental reset and return to his past level of play.

Other notes:

  • Having been out of the lineup since November 28th, it appears that the Toronto Maple Leafs will be without defenseman Mark Giordano for quite some time. In a report earlier today, Kevin Weekes of ESPN indicated that Giordano suffered a broken finger in the team’s game against the Florida Panthers, and will be out for four to six weeks. Already having rumored interest in several defensemen on the trade market, Toronto will likely be even more incentivized to make a move soon knowing that Giordano will be out for at least a month.
  • It has been a little over a month since the Ottawa Senators announced they would be parting ways with then-General Manager Pierre Dorion, and have yet to replace him. Speaking about that today, Eric Engels of Sportsnet reports that the Senators are still searching for a replacement, and have no timeline on the process. In the team’s preferred scenario, they would look for the position to be a part of a ’two-team operation’, meaning the next General Manager would be working closely with the President of Hockey Operations, Steve Staios.

Mario Ferraro Drawing Trade Interest

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Entering this season, and amid a long-awaited rebuild, the San Jose Sharks were largely expected to be sellers at this year’s trade deadline. Now with a 6-17-2 record through the first 25 games of the season, the Sharks are tied with the Chicago Blackhawks for last place in the NHL and are even more committed to moving out established players to build a new team from the ground up.

Even though the team is bottoming out in a big way, San Jose still holds players with trade value on their team and is open to business on just about every player. Speaking on Hockey Night in Canada, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet indicated that a player who is drawing significant interest around the league is defenseman Mario Ferraro.

Much like most of the Sharks roster, Ferraro has had two relatively poor seasons in terms of production, but the underlying metrics indicate that it may largely be a result of the play of the entire organization. In his last 97 games playing for San Jose, Ferraro carries an abysmal -49 rating, however, according to Hockey Reference’s calculations, his expected rating should land around -16 to -17 when factoring in Expected Goals For and Expected Goals Against.

With two years and $6.5MM left on his contract after this season, the fact that Ferraro is signed beyond this season may boost the Sharks’ return if a trade is completed before the deadline. Since taking over as General Manager of the Sharks back in 2022, Mike Grier is no stranger to trading players with team control, moving out Brent Burns, Timo Meier, and Erik Karlsson in a little under two years on the job.

Given his prowess on the defensive side of the puck, and his ability to block shots and lay hits, Ferraro makes sense for a lot of contending teams this season and beyond. The Tampa Bay Lightning, Toronto Maple Leafs, Carolina Hurricanes, New Jersey Devils, and Buffalo Sabres could all use Ferraro’s skill set on their blue line, but if his contract is factored in, other teams who may look to contend for the playoffs next season may open up more options for San Jose.

As the Sharks are not expected to field a competitive team for the foreseeable future, it would make a lot of sense for the team to field offers for a player like Ferraro, as well as others. However, given that he is still signed for two more seasons, San Jose will likely not be in an hurry to move him, and may wait for the 2024 NHL Draft to get the return they are looking for.

West Injury Notes: McTavish, Markstrom, Lindholm, Golden Knights

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Heading into the Anaheim Ducks’ two-game road trip this week, it was largely expected that Mason McTavish would be able to join the team, even after suffering an upper-body injury in the team’s loss last week to the Colorado Avalanche. However, earlier today, Derek Lee of The Sporting Tribune reported that McTavish will not be making the trip with the team, and will likely be available for the team’s game against the Winnipeg Jets next Sunday.

Last season, McTavish produced at a solid clip, scoring 17 goals and 43 assists in a disappointing offensive season for the Ducks. His work at the center position left a lot to be desired in the faceoff dot specifically. Still, McTavish’s offensive production and his defensive attributes were good enough to see him finish seventh in Calder Memorial Trophy voting by season’s end.

This year, if he continues on the same pace, McTavish will pass his point production from last season a little past the halfway mark of this year. He’s gotten off to an incredible start with Anaheim, scoring 10 goals and 21 points in 24 games, currently sitting second on the team in scoring. His work in the faceoff dot has also improved significantly, winning 57.0% of his 337 draws this year, a year-on-year improvement of 14.7%.

Other injury notes:

  • During practice today, Pat Steinberg of Sportsnet reported that the starting goaltender of the Calgary Flames, Jacob Markstrom, left practice early, and is being evaluated for a hand injury. At this time, there have been no other updates to the injury status of Markstrom, but the team may look to recall top prospect Dustin Wolf, since their AHL affiliate, the Calgary Wranglers, do not play until the end of the week.
  • Sticking in Southern Alberta, one member of the Flames who missed the entirety of the team’s practice today was forward Elias Lindholm. The team announced that Lindholm was out with an illness for today’s practice, and his status is unknown as to whether or not he will be in the team’s lineup tomorrow night.
  • Out in Vegas, the expectation is that goaltender Adin Hill (who has been out since December 2nd) and defenseman Alec Martinez (who has been out since November 22nd) will not be able to make the team’s upcoming two-game road trip (X Link). In the crease specifically, Logan Thompson will take over the crease for the most part, but with back-to-back games this weekend, Jiri Patera may have to make a start if Hill is not able to return by Sunday.

Washington Capitals Reassign Hunter Shepard

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Dec. 4: Shepard was returned to AHL Hershey on Monday, per the NHL’s media transactions log. Lindgren is likely ready to return from the illness that sidelined him and will dress tonight against the Coyotes.

Dec. 2: The Washington Capitals announced that they have recalled goaltender Hunter Shepard from their AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears, and he will be in the lineup tonight as the team takes on the Western Conference-leading Vegas Golden Knights. Their usual backup goaltender, Charlie Lindgren, was out yesterday and took a maintenance day this afternoon, and will not be available for tonight’s matchup.

Although he will likely not play tonight with Darcy Kuemper still in the net, this will be Shepard’s fourth call-up of the season, although the first three were all on an emergency loan. Earlier this season in late October, also in Lindgren’s absence, Shepard was able to make his NHL debut against the New Jersey Devils, securing the win after making a total of 18 saves on 22 shots. A few weeks later, Shepard was once again in the net for the Capitals, stopping 36 shots out of 37 in a win against the New York Islanders.

Last season, once again spent primarily with the Bears, Shepard held a 20-8-5 record through the regular season, holding a .916 SV% and a 2.18 GAA. In the playoffs, Shepard was fundamental in Hershey winning the 2023 Calder Cup, producing a 14-6-0 record with a .914 SV%, and winning the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy, awarded to the Calder Cup playoffs most valuable player.

The trophies won last year are not the only ones in Shepard’s case, as he backed the University of Minnesota-Duluth to back-to-back National Championships in 2018 and 2019, all while winning back-to-back NCHC Goaltender of the Year awards in 2019 and 2020.

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