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Metropolitan Notes: Meier, Pacioretty, Severson, Wheeler

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Currently riding a 7-3-0 record in their last 10 games, the New Jersey Devils continue their climb up the Metropolitan Division standings, after the top of their roster was decimated by injury early in the season, prohibiting the team from gaining any sort of consistency. Now with a relatively healthy roster, the resurgence in play has been led by star players Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt, with one notable forward still failing to gain any sort of offensive traction.

With only five goals and 11 points in 22 games, and a team-worst -17 rating on the year, Timo Meier has simply failed to deliver on his lofty expectations since coming over to New Jersey at last year’s trade deadline. Even dating back to last year, in 43 regular season games for the Devils, Meier has scored 14 goals and 25 points, not yet a year removed from averaging nearly a point per game with the San Jose Sharks.

Speaking with head coach Lindy Ruff this morning, Devils’ reporter Amanda Stein mentioned that Meier still has some lingering issues relating to an undisclosed injury suffered in November, which Ruff claims is impacting his play. Whatever the case may be, although the team is currently playing well, as the highest-paid forward on the roster, it is imperative that Meier can find a return to form to put the Devils over the top in a wide-open Eastern Conference.

Other notes:

  • In some positive news coming out of the Washington Capitals organization, even though it is unlikely forwards T.J. Oshie and Sonny Milano will be back before the Christmas break, the Capitals will likely see the season debut of Max Pacioretty shortly thereafter (X Link). In what will serve as a feel-good story for much of the league around the holiday season, Pacioretty has infamously suffered two Achilles tears over the last two calendar years, only playing in five games since the start of the 2022-23 season.
  • The Columbus Blue Jackets announced that defenseman Damon Severson has returned to practice this morning. Severson has been out exactly a month today with an oblique injury, having not played since the team’s November 19th game against the Philadelphia Flyers. Still on schedule with a six-week recovery timeline, Severson has been quite a boon for Columbus’ blue line this season, scoring three goals and eight points in 19 games averaging just under 21 minutes a night.
  • Signing a performance-laden contract with the New York Rangers after being bought out by the Winnipeg Jets this past offseason, Blake Wheeler is set to earn a $100K bonus after 10, 20, and 30 games played, respectively. Tonight, the Rangers are set to take on the Toronto Maple Leafs, meaning Wheeler will play in his 30th game of the season, earning him his final performance bonus (X Link).

What Your Team Is Thankful For: Minnesota Wild

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As the holiday season approaches, PHR will be taking a look at what teams are thankful for in 2023-24. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. We’ll examine what’s gone well in the early going and what could improve as the season rolls on for the Minnesota Wild.

Who are the Wild thankful for?

John Hynes.

Being one of four head coaching changes to take place so far this season, Hynes has helped the Wild turn their season around, albeit as the team still sits seventh in their division and 11th in the Western Conference. Since taking over behind the bench on the team’s November 28th game against the St.Louis Blues, Hynes has led Minnesota to a 7-2-0 record, after starting the year 5-10-4 under former-head coach, Dean Evason.

Time will only tell how well this experiment will work out for the future of the club, as Hynes’ track record should not breed too much confidence in success. As a head coach in the National Hockey League, Hynes left the New Jersey Devils with a 150-159-45 record after five years, and a 134-96-18 record with the Nashville Predators after four years.

Making the playoffs four times in nine seasons in his career, Hynes has a combined playoff record of 4-15, failing to coach his respective team out of the first round, and failing to coach a team higher than fourth place in their respective division. Hopefully, for the sake of the Wild organization, Hynes can not only turn the team around but also his coaching career at the NHL level.

What are the Wild thankful for?

The future still being bright.

Being one of the older teams in the league this year on average, Minnesota still has a young stockpile in the NHL, with Kirill Kaprizov, Marco Rossi, Matt Boldy, Brock Faber, and Connor Dewar all 26 years old or younger. Even with many veterans on the roster, the Wild still have a solid-looking future compared to other teams around the league.

Aside from those already on the roster, Minnesota has players such as Carson Lambos, Charlie Stramel, and Jesper Wallstedt in waiting who should compete for a roster spot as soon as next preseason. Keeping this in mind, although it may not seem like the roster is ready to compete for a Stanley Cup this year, the Wild are set up relatively well for the future.

Nevertheless, having strong young talent does not automatically guarantee success in the future, as Minnesota will need to make sure its internal development can increase the ceilings for each one of these players. Furthermore, the team must also be able to put adequate talent around their prospects once they do graduate in the NHL, ensuring no more wasted seasons at the top level.

What would the Wild be even more thankful for?

More cap space.

The largest factor in Minnesota’s lack of cap space is due to the contract buyouts of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, now already three years removed from the monumental move. Still paying the two veterans not to play for the Wild, the team owes the two a combined $14.74MM this season and next, currently accounting for approximately 17.7% of their total cap space.

Impressively, even with the massive cap penalty lasting until the end of next season, Minnesota has still been able to sign high-dollar contracts for Kaprizov, and Boldy, as well as retain core veterans such as Marcus Foligno, Ryan Hartman, and Mats Zuccarello.

It’s a tough situation for the Wild, who likely wouldn’t have had their needle moved forward over the last several years even with Parise and Suter still on the active roster. Nevertheless, one can only wonder that if Minnesota had access to that much more cap space, would this team be anywhere close to the Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, Los Angeles Kings, or Vegas Golden Knights in the Western Conference?

What should be on the Wild holiday wish list?

An effective two-way player.

With the goaltending and defense beginning to play much better under the direction of Hynes, it’s hard not to notice the dreadful special teams play coming out of Minnesota this season, with their powerplay (23rd) and penalty kill (29th) both bottom-ten in the league.

Because of their middling powerplay, the Wild have largely struggled to generate much consistent offense over the year, now failing to average even three goals a game. Although the playoffs may be out of reach, the Wild should attempt to pick up a player who can get the job done on both sides of the puck.

One player who may be available and also fit the mold of being able to play on both sides of the special teams is the captain of the Columbus Blue Jackets, Boone Jenner. Although currently injured, Jenner has largely been known for his work ethic, and at 30 years old and three years left on a relatively affordable contract, would likely fit Minnesota’s competitive timeline much better than Columbus’.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Injury Notes: Penguins, Wild, Tarasenko, Lyon, Sherwood

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After previous reporting indicated that the Pittsburgh Penguins could be welcoming back the trio of Rickard Rakell, Noel Acciari, and Chad Ruhwedel tonight, the team would later confirm all three would be in the lineup tonight, per a team announcement. Included in the same announcement, the team completed a corresponding move, sending forwards Jonathan Gruden and Marc Johnstone to their AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

The Penguins could certainly use the reinforcements, as the team is suffering through a 4-3-3 record in their last 10 games, falling to fifth in the Metropolitan Division, and are currently five points back of the last Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference as we approach the New Year. In their current stretch, besides their most recent game against the Toronto Maple Leafs two nights ago, each game’s goal differential has been between one and two goals, showing that with improved depth moving forward, Pittsburgh could turn things around rather quickly.

Rakell being the most important player back in this move, has been going through a bit of a down season, only scoring four points on the year, and failing to score any goals up to this point. Nevertheless, he has been a valuable addition to the Penguins forward core since coming over in a trade from the Anaheim Ducks, scoring 32 goals and 77 points in 118 regular season games for Pittsburgh.

Other notes:

  • On the opposite side of the ice in Pittsburgh this evening, the Minnesota Wild will be without two of their better players. Sarah McLellan of Star Tribune Sports reports that captain Jared Spurgeon did not end up traveling with the team due to a lower-body injury. Furthermore, shortly before warmups began for the game tonight, the team announced that forward Mats Zuccarello would not be in the lineup due to an upper-body injury.
  • After missing the last two games due to personal reasons, the Ottawa Senators should be welcoming back forward Vladimir Tarasenko tomorrow night as they take on the Arizona Coyotes (X Link). With some massive changes taking place in Ottawa over the last 24 hours, Tarasenko will look to improve on his already impressive start with the Senators, now in front of interim head coach, Jacques Martin.
  • In the Detroit Red Wings’ most recent game against the Philadelphia Flyers, goaltender Alex Lyon left the game in the second period, after going down awkwardly after making a save. Now, Ansar Khan of MLive is reporting that if he has not shown signs of recovery by Wednesday, Detroit will likely place Lyon on the injured reserve, leaving the net to Ville Husso and James Reimer.
  • Sustaining relatively good health as an organization throughout much of the year, the Nashville Predators will be welcoming back forward Kiefer Sherwood tomorrow night against the Vancouver Canucks (X Link). Amid a breakout season as far as his career standards say, Sherwood has provided solid depth scoring to the Nashville lineup this season, scoring five goals and 11 points in 29 games.

What Your Team Is Thankful For: Los Angeles Kings

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As the holiday season approaches, PHR will be taking a look at what teams are thankful for in 2023-24. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. We’ll examine what’s gone well in the early going and what could improve as the season rolls on for the Los Angeles Kings.

Who are the Kings thankful for?

Cam Talbot.

Playing on his sixth different team in as many seasons, the journeyman netminder signed on with Los Angeles as an unrestricted free agent on a one-year, $1MM contract. Believing at the time that Talbot would likely serve as a 1A or a 1B to fellow netminder, Pheonix Copley, Talbot has completely taken over the net for the Kings.

In 20 games played, Talbot holds a 13-5-2 record, as well as a .926 SV% and a 2.02 GAA. Furthermore, 12 of his 19 starts have been registered as Quality Starts according to HockeyReference, meaning he is beating the league average in save percentage in over 60% of his starts.

Last year, with an assortment of goaltenders including Copley, Jonathan Quick, Calvin Petersen, and Joonas Korpisalo, Los Angeles goaltenders were only able to achieve a collective save percentage of .892, before completely bottoming out in the 2022-23 Stanley Cup playoffs. Now with a steady presence between the pipes this season, Talbot has made a case for being the best-value contract signed this past summer.

What are the Kings thankful for?

Patience.

Although it feels more recent, the Kings are now a decade removed from their last Stanley Cup run and still retain two of their aging stars Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty, as well as Quick as recent as last season. Going through some lean seasons since then, Los Angeles has done a great job stockpiling young talent, to go on another run with their franchise legends.

In the 2020 NHL Draft, the Kings selected forward Quinton Byfield as the second overall selection in the draft, and although he made his NHL debut a year later, Los Angeles demonstrated tremendous patience with Byfield’s development. From 2020-2023, Byfield played in a total of 99 games for the Kings, scoring eight goals and 33 points over that stretch.

Now, and still only 21 years old, Byfield is nearly a point-per-game player, scoring eight goals and 23 points in 27 games, nearly doubling his career totals in about a third of the number of games. Aside from Byfield, Los Angeles is using a similar method with Arthur Kaliyev, Jordan Spence, and Brandt Clarke, hoping to make the most out of every one of their draft selections.

What would the Kings be even more thankful for?

For Father Time to stay away.

As previously mentioned, the Kings are beginning to reap the benefits of many solid draft choices, and demonstrating the patience required to build a winning team through the draft. However, even all these years later, the team still primarily beats to the drum of Kopitar and Doughty.

Even though both franchise icons are in their mid-to-late 30s, Kopitar continues to lead the team in scoring, and Doughty leads all defensemen in scoring within the organization. Unfortunately, for the most part throughout the league and sports in general, Father Time remains undefeated and will ultimately claim Kopitar and Doughty as its victims.

When these two future Hall of Famers decide to call it quits, given their draft and prospect capital accrued over the last several years, Los Angeles should be pretty well set up for the future of the organization. Nevertheless, they would undoubtedly benefit from having these two as long as possible.

What should be on the Kings holiday wish list?

A potential coaching change.

During the Todd McLellan era of Kings history over the last five seasons, Los Angeles has only made the playoffs, losing in the first round each time. This season, with the team currently fifth in goals for per game, and the best team in goals against per game, this Kings team is the most well set up to get the job done this spring.

Reasonably assuming that Los Angeles will eventually make the playoffs for the third time in a row this spring if they are unable to make it out of the first round, there should be serious questions raised about the future of McLellan within the organization.

In 15 seasons spent as a head coach in the National Hockey League before this year, McLellan has coached his team to the playoffs in nine of those seasons, making it as far as the Western Conference Finals twice with the San Jose Sharks back in 2010 and 2011. This season, if they are going to make it to the Stanley Cup, they will most likely have to go through the defending Champions, the Vegas Golden Knights.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Metropolitan Notes: Andersen, Daws, Oshie

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In some incredibly fortunate news for both the player and the organization, reports are confirming that goaltender for the Carolina Hurricanes, Frederik Andersen, has been medically cleared to resume skating, and is about one month away from a potential return (X Link). Andersen has been out for over a month and a half after the discovery of a blood clotting issue during medical testing.

Entering the season as a Stanley Cup favorite out of the Eastern Conference, Carolina’s goaltending carousel this season has been holding them back, as all three of Andersen, Antti Raanta, and Pyotr Kochetkov have a combined save percentage of .876 on the year. These issues have led the Hurricanes to make some tough decisions, most notably by sending Raanta through waivers for reassignment to the AHL, yesterday.

Only playing six games on the season up to this point, Andersen still holds a .894 SV% and a 2.87 GAA, the former still being the best on the team. Currently, Carolina is occupying the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, with only one point separating them from being on the outside looking in. If they hope to regain some momentum for the playoffs, they will need to reintroduce some stability in the crease.

Other notes:

  • Already confirming he will serve as a backup tonight behind Akira Schmid, the New Jersey Devils announced they had recalled goaltender Nico Daws from their AHL affiliate, the Utica Comets. Team reporter, Amanda Stein, noted that goaltender Vitek Vanecek felt “off” physically during practice, and the team elected to keep him out of the lineup for the team’s matchup tonight against the Anaheim Ducks.
  • The Washington Capitals announced veteran forward for the team, T.J. Oshie, would be out of the lineup tonight with a lower-body injury. The news comes after Oshie already missed 12 days with an upper-body injury a few weeks ago, returning for a four-game stretch in the meantime. Over the four games upon his return, Oshie has scored one goal and two points, averaging just over 16 minutes of ice time per game.

Los Angeles Kings Send Down Moverare, Place Copley On LTIR

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Without much clarification as to the nature of the injury, reports emerged two days ago that goaltender for the Los Angeles Kings, Pheonix Copley left the team’s practice and had to be helped off the ice. Today, the Kings announced that they have placed Copley on the long-term injured reserve, and also loaned defenseman Jacob Moverare to their AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign.

Joining forward Viktor Arvidsson on the LTIR, the team will now have a touch over $2.5MM in current cap space, allowing them to comfortably carry David Rittich as the backup goaltender for the foreseeable future. After giving Los Angeles some much-needed stability in the net last season, the Kings rewarded Copley’s efforts with a one-year, $1.5MM extension for this year.

Largely serving as the team’s starting goaltender for much of last season, Copley had returned to the backup role this year, after being handily outplayed by free-agent acquisition, Cam Talbot. In eight starts this year, Copley carries a 4-1-2 record, coupled with a .870 SV% and a 3.16 GAA.

Comparatively, in somewhat of a night-and-day difference, Talbot leads the organization with 19 starts on the season, holding a 13-5-2 record, and impressively maintaining a .926 SV% and 2.02 GAA. With adequate depth in the crease throughout the entirety of the organization, the Kings should be able to weather the storm without Copley for the foreseeable future.

Also a part of the transaction this evening, Moverare is in his third season of being a depth defenseman for Los Angeles, typically finding himself in the AHL with Ontario. Last season being his most successful in the minor leagues, Moverare played in a total of 62 games for the Reign, scoring four goals and 26 points overall.

Although being used as a primary candidate for paper transactions coming out of the Kings organization this season, this will be Moverare’s eighth promotion and demotion of the year. Throughout his lengthy list of callups, Moverare has only suited up in two games for Los Angeles, failing to score a point after averaging 14 and a half minutes of ice time per night.

West Notes: Sturm, Anderson, O’Brien

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It had already been known that San Jose Sharks’ forward, Nico Sturm, wouldn’t be joining the team on their current road trip against the Arizona Coyotes and Colorado Avalanche, and it appears he could miss a few more games as well. Max Miller of The Hockey News is reporting that Sturm will be out on a week-to-week basis with an undisclosed injury.

Already suffering from a serious lack of depth at the beginning of the season, Sturm now becomes the sixth current member of the Sharks to hit the injured reserve, even with forwards Filip Zadina and Alexander Barabanov recently returning from their injuries. Even with so many injuries over the past several weeks, San Jose holds a 6-3-1 record in their last 1o games, moving ahead of the Anaheim Ducks and Chicago Blackhawks in the league standings.

Nevertheless, the team should be able to effectively weather the hole left by Sturm, as he has not been a primary offensive factor for the team this season. Operating as a bottom-six forward for much of his career, Sturm has two goals and four points in 26 games for the Sharks this season, placing him 17th on the team in scoring.

Other notes:

  • Another Western Conference team severely struggling with depth this season, the Blackhawks announced forward Joey Anderson would not return to the ice tonight as the team takes on the Vancouver Canucks. Much like the Sharks, Chicago has a total of five players currently on the injured reserve, most notably players such as Andreas Athanasiou, Seth Jones, and Taylor Hall.
  • Brien Rea of Ballywood Sports Southwest is reporting that the Dallas Stars have released goaltender Joe O’Brien from his tryout agreement with the club, further clowding the future of Dallas’ solution in the crease moving forward. It was always going to be difficult for O’Brien to secure a contract with the Stars, as the Niagara University product failed to secure a save percentage above .885 over 26 games in the NCAA.

Evening Notes: Balinskis, Oettinger, Sherwood, Studenic

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Earlier this evening, the Florida Panthers announced they had sent down defenseman Uvis Balinskis to their AHL affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers. Balinskis was brought to the Panthers organization this past offseason, signing a one-year, $870K contract as an international free agent.

Spending last season with Bílí Tygři Liberec in Czechia, Balinskis impressed greatly on the blue line, as the Latvian-born defenseman scored 11 goals and 35 points in 50 games. Unfortunately, his transition to hockey in North America has not gone smoothly, as he has only scored one goal and one assist in 18 games, averaging under 14 minutes of ice time per night.

Now that defenseman Josh Mahura has recovered from a lower-body injury that kept him out of the lineup for a few weeks, Florida didn’t have the need nor the space to keep eight defensemen on the roster. Balinskis will now join a Checkers team with solid defensive depth but is currently seventh in a strong Atlantic Division with a 12-10-1-0 record.

Other notes:

  • In tonight’s game against the Ottawa Senators, goaltender for the Dallas Stars, Jake Oettinger, abruptly left the ice in the first period, and will not return to action with a lower-body injury, per a team announcement. In a down year compared to his first three seasons in the NHL, Oettinger sports an 11-7-2 record in 20 games played, carrying a .904 SV% and a 2.85 GAA. Nevertheless, if Oettinger is expected to miss any sort of time with this injury, the Stars’ internal goaltending options are not close to replicating the output of Oettinger, even with his numbers being down.
  • The Nashville Predators announced that Kiefer Sherwood is out day-to-day with an upper-body injury, and will not play tonight in the team’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes. After spending much of last season with the Predator’s AHL affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals, Sherwood has earned himself a full-time spot on Nashville’s roster, scoring five goals and 11 points in 29 games.
  • Capping off a flurry of roster moves from the organization today, the Seattle Kraken have sent down forward Marian Studenic to their AHL affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds. Although providing little to no production at the NHL level, Studenic has been one of the better AHL scorers over the last few seasons. Last season, rostered on the Texas Stars, Studenic scored 21 goals and 48 points in 67 games. Now on the Firebirds, Studenic has once again gotten off to a solid start, scoring seven goals and 12 points in his first 16 games.

Pacific Notes: Kraken, Sturm, Carpenter

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In a series of interesting roster moves, the Seattle Kraken announced they have recalled forward Shane Wright from their AHL affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds while sending down forward Tye Kartye in the same transaction. Furthermore, the team announced they had placed Jaden Schwartz on long-term injured reserve retroactive to November 28th.

The move comes as a bit of a surprise given that amid his rookie season, Kartye is tied for 10th on the team in scoring, and tied for fifth in goals. In his own right, Wright is off to a solid start this season in Coachella Valley, scoring nine goals and 16 points in 18 games, sitting fourth on the team in scoring.

However, Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times gave some context to the transaction, indicating that it was made for “salary cap management” purposes, and would make more sense by the end of the weekend. It didn’t take long for the transaction to make sense, as the Kraken traded for Tomas Tatar only a few hours later.

Other notes:

  • Injured in their most recent game against the Winnipeg Jets, Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now reports that San Jose Sharks’ forward, Nico Sturm, will not travel with the team for their upcoming road trip. Thankfully, the road trip only consists of two games, before the Sharks return to the Bay Area next Tuesday. In 26 games so far this season, Sturm has recorded two goals and four points, tied for 17th on the team in scoring.
  • In similar news to Sturm, Peng also reported that forward Ryan Carpenter would not be making the road trip with the team, as well. Carpenter has been out of the line since the team’s game on December 3rd, suffering from an undisclosed injury. Providing a bit of depth scoring for the team this season, Carpenter has recorded one goal and five points in 18 games, averaging just under 12 minutes of ice time per game.

Seattle Kraken Acquire Tomas Tatar

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Per a team announcement, the Seattle Kraken have acquired forward Tomas Tatar from the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for a fifth-round selection in the 2024 NHL Draft. After signing with the Avalanche on a one-year, $1.5MM contract this past summer, Tatar will end his tenure with Colorado after having only played 27 games.

In what will now become a very brief experiment with the Avalanche, Tatar struggled to fit into the team system in Colorado, only scoring one goal and nine points overall. Only averaging a touch over 11 minutes of ice time per night, it was Tatar’s lowest usage rate since his sophomore campaign back in the 2012-13 NHL season.

With a relatively cheap contract, and brought in late in the summer to serve as increased offensive depth for the Avalanche, Tatar became an easy contract to move out, allowing Colorado to replenish a separate fifth-round selection, after having moved out their own two years ago in a trade for Andrew Cogliano.

Moving forward, the Avalanche will likely utilize either Ross Colton or Miles Wood in their top six, replacing Tatar on the wing. Also brought in as offensive depth over the offseason, Colton and Wood have translated much better to the system in Colorado, outperforming Tatar in almost every metric.

Similar to the reasoning that brought him to Colorado in the first place, the Kraken are dealing with their own injuries up front, as both Andre Burakovsky and Jaden Schwartz find themselves on the team’s injured reserve and long-term injured reserve, respectively. Upon the eventual return of both forwards, Tatar should still have a relatively safe spot in the Kraken’s middle six forward group.

Being a change of scenery candidate, Tatar can only benefit from this move to the West Coast, as he is in the midst of one of the worst seasons of his 13-year career. Sporting career lows in shooting percentage, points per game, and CorsiFor%, Tatar can only improve his game from here on out.

Unfortunately, with both the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers passing them in the standings over the last few weeks, Seattle has an uphill climb to return to the playoffs this season. Being only one of three teams to pass the 30-game mark up to this point, the Kraken are sporting a 10-14-7 record, Seattle sits two points back of the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference with two more games played.

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