Brennan McClain

East Notes: Kuznetsov, Giordano, Senators

December 4, 2023 at 7:38 pm CDT | by Brennan McClain 4 Comments

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

December 4, 2023 at 6:42 pm CDT | by Brennan McClain 5 Comments

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

December 4, 2023 at 5:40 pm CDT | by Brennan McClain Leave a Comment

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

December 4, 2023 at 3:02 pm CDT | by Brennan McClain Leave a Comment

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.

Injury Notes: Theodore, Nieto, Rakell, Zadina, Barabanov

December 3, 2023 at 11:35 am CDT | by Brennan McClain Leave a Comment

Undergoing surgery only a few days ago, the Vegas Golden Knights have moved defenseman Shea Theodore from the injured reserve to the long-term injured reserve, according to CapFriendly. His placement on LTIR (which should be retroactive to November 25th) would keep him out of the lineup until the team’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes on December 19th.

Injuries have been a concern for Theodore since coming to Vegas, but when healthy, he has regularly been one of the best defensemen on the team. Especially this season, Theodore has four goals and 14 assists in 20 games, sitting fourth on the team in scoring. Accumulating a lot of powerplay minutes as well, Theodore has shown the ability to do it all for the Vegas defensive core.

In his absence, however, the powerplay may suffer a bit, as it currently sits at 14th in the NHL, operating at a 21.35% success rate. Aside from Theodore and Alex Pietrangelo, the Golden Knights do not currently have a third defenseman that the team should be comfortable with in quarterbacking either of the current powerplay units.

Other injury notes:

After missing last night’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers with an undisclosed injury, Seth Rorabaugh of Tribune-Review Sports is reporting that the Pittsburgh Penguins will place forward Matthew Nieto on the injured reserve. In his absence, forward Joona Koppanen was able to replace Nieto in the lineup last night, making his debut with the Penguins, skating in just over seven and a half minutes of last night’s matchup.
On a more positive note with the Penguins, team beat writer, Dave Molinari shared that forward Rickard Rakell has resumed skating. Due to the requirements on players currently on LTIR, Rakell will not be able to return to Pittsburgh’s lineup until their December 16th game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Nevertheless, if Rakell has already resumed skating in individual on-ice workouts, he should be healthy enough to return on that date.
Max Miller of The Hockey News is reporting that San Jose Sharks forward, Filip Zadina, is back on the ice for practice. It is unclear if he will be able to play in the team’s game tonight or Tuesday, as Miller points out the Sharks are looking for his return against his former team, the Detroit Red Wings. Zadina has been out of San Jose’s lineup for a little over a week with an upper-body injury.
One player for San Jose who is likely making his return to the ice tonight is forward Alexander Barabanov (X Link). Having not played since late October, Barabanov has been on the injured reserve recovering from an injury to one of his fingers. Being one of the highest-scoring players on the Sharks roster last season, San Jose could certainly use his help, as they continue to struggle as a team on offense.

What Your Team Is Thankful For: Columbus Blue Jackets

December 3, 2023 at 10:22 am CDT | by Brennan McClain Leave a Comment

As Thanksgiving and 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 Columbus Blue Jackets.

Who are the Blue Jackets thankful for?

Boone Jenner.

Not only is the team captain first among the team in goal-scoring, but he is first in scoring among all Columbus forwards. If Jenner is set to continue his offensive pace for the rest of the season, he is set to clear his career record in both goals and points.

While high-priced players such as Johnny Gaudreau and Patrik Laine continue to struggle early in the season, Jenner is picking up their offensive slack in a big way. Not only has Jenner been getting it done on the offensive end, but his defensive play has been solid this year as well.

Currently sitting at 56.1% faceoff percentage in nearly 500 draws, Jenner also carries at 51.0% Corsi For percentage, as well as a 91.0% On Ice SV%, both of which sit higher than his career averages. It has been a tough start to the year for the Blue Jackets in the standings, but their team captain is by far and away their most stable and consistent player each night.

What are the Blue Jackets thankful for?

An improved defensive core.

After finishing last season at 31st in the NHL in terms of GA/G, the General Manager of Columbus, Jarmo Kekäläinen, swung two big trades to dramatically improve the defensive depth for the Blue Jackets. In only three days, Columbus acquired Damon Severson from the New Jersey Devils in a sign-and-trade, while also acquiring Ivan Provorov from the Philadelphia Flyers in a three-team deal.

There is still a lot of time left in the season, but in the same GA/G statistic, the Blue Jackets have managed to jump up nine spots, allowing goaltender Elvis Merzlikins to play more comfortably between the pipes. Not only has their defense improved, but Provorov, along with defenseman Zach Werenski, sits third and first on the team in scoring, respectively.

Unfortunately, Severson will find himself on the team’s injured reserve for a total of six weeks due to an oblique injury, and rookie defenseman David Jiricek is experiencing some growing pains in his first full season with the team. Nevertheless, thanks to the big moves made to upgrade the blueline last offseason, the Blue Jackets defensive core is much improved from where it was just a season ago.

What would the Blue Jackets be even more thankful for?

More production from their star players.

This season, one of the most glaring issues in Columbus is the lack of production from both Gaudreau and Laine, who are making a combined $18.45MM until the 2026-27 season. As we are now in December, the two have only combined for eight goals and 20 points, much lower than what should be expected out of both of them.

Gaudreau, for his part, has managed five points in his last five games but only scored eight points in his first 20 games before that. Laine, who is one of the more natural goal-scorers in the NHL, has scored three points in his last five games, only managing a total of four points in his previous 10 games. The Head Coach of the Blue Jackets, Pascal Vincent, sent a serious message to Laine only a few weeks ago, making him a healthy scratch for the first time in his career.

Now playing in their 22nd season as a franchise, the Blue Jackets only playoff series victory came back in the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs, where the team relied heavily on star talent such as Artemi Panarin and Pierre-Luc Dubois. If Columbus is hoping to return to contention, although it will likely not be this year, their star players must lead the way.

What should be on the Blue Jackets holiday wish list?

More draft picks.

On paper, if the Blue Jackets can get their star players clicking again, this team has the depth to compete in the Eastern Conference playoff race as soon as next year. Unfortunately, aside from Gaudreau, Columbus has historically had a difficult time recruiting free-agent talent, meaning they will have to improve this team via trades and the NHL Draft.

Last year, given the strength at the top of the draft, the Blue Jackets “settled” for Adam Fantilli with the third overall selection, who otherwise would have been the top player available in several other drafts. At this year’s draft, there is similar talent at the top of the class, and Columbus looks poised to once again have a top-10 pick.

Sitting at 27th place in the league and last place in the Metropolitan Division, the Blue Jackets should be one of the featured sellers at this year’s trade deadline, with plenty of teams looking to improve their lineup. Columbus will almost certainly look to move out at least one defenseman and could look to seriously thin out their surplus of bodies in the forward core as well.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Ottawa Senators Send Matthew Highmore To AHL

December 3, 2023 at 9:14 am CDT | by Brennan McClain Leave a Comment

Earlier this morning, the Ottawa Senators announced they would be sending forward Matthew Highmore to their AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators. Highmore had previously been recalled twice in November, tallying one assist in six games for Ottawa.

In his first season with the Senators organization, Highmore is following up on a very productive season spent with the St.Louis Blues organization last year. Playing in only two NHL games, Highmore was extremely productive for the Blues’ AHL affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds, scoring 19 goals and 42 assists in 68 games, which would be good for second on the team in total scoring.

Aside from last season in the AHL, Highmore has been a milder scorer at the professional level, and purely a depth forward at the NHL level. Back in the 2021-22 season spent with the Vancouver Canucks, Highmore scored five goals and seven assists in 46 games played, which still holds up as his best career season to date.

Nevertheless, the demotion of Highmore is likely meant to clear cap space, as Ottawa will be expecting back forward Ridly Greig as soon as next week. Greig currently sits on the Senators’ long-term injured reserve after suffering a lower-body injury on November 2nd. Before the injury, Greig scored two goals and five assists in nine games, and still sits 10th on the team in scoring, despite missing a month of action.

Jordan Greenway Will Not Return To Game Due To Upper-Body Injury

December 2, 2023 at 8:06 pm CDT | by Brennan McClain 1 Comment

Early in their game tonight against the Carolina Hurricanes, Buffalo Sabres’ forward, Jordan Greenway, left the bench with an apparent injury. After the first intermission, the Sabres announced that Greenway would not return to tonight’s game due to an upper-body injury.

Through 20 games this season, Greenway had gotten off to a solid pace compared to his previous production, scoring two goals and five assists while averaging just under 17 minutes a night. Primarily playing on Buffalo’s third line next to Peyton Krebs and Kyle Okposo, Greenway has mostly factored in as a gritty player on the Sabres roster, blocking 20 shots and throwing 29 hits to start the season.

Given the nature of the injury, it is unlikely that Greenway will be cleared to play in the team’s game tomorrow against the Nashville Predators, meaning the Sabres’ extra forward, Isak Rosen, will likely factor into tomorrow’s contest. Through three games in the NHL this season, Rosen has yet to score a point, but has scored eight goals and 11 assists through 16 games for Buffalo’s AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans.

Nevertheless, it is a tough blow to a Buffalo forward group that has struggled immensely compared to last year’s team. The Sabres currently sit 23rd in the league in GF/G as opposed to last season, when the team finished third in the respective category.

Snapshots: Tanev, Barzal, Sillinger

December 2, 2023 at 6:00 pm CDT | by Brennan McClain 4 Comments

In a longer review of the rumors circulating around the Toronto Maple Leafs and Calgary Flames defenseman, Chris Tanev, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman believes that if the Maple Leafs acquire Tanev, they may look to sign him rather quickly to an extension (Link). Being a native of Toronto, Tanev may take a discount to finish his career with his hometown team. Still, at his age, and with more important internal free agents on the horizon, it may be difficult for the Maple Leafs to make it work.

In the article, Friedman said, “He’s a Toronto guy, Treliving signed him, I bet he’ll have a good idea of what it will take to keep him. That’s the one guy I think Toronto goes hard to get, because even if he’s acquired as a rental, I think they’re going to be pretty confident they can keep him. But we’ll see.”

Although Tanev could significantly improve the Maple Leafs’ defense, with William Nylander, Tyler Bertuzzi, Max Domi, and T.J. Brodie, among others, set to hit unrestricted free agency next summer, signing Tanev to an extension could become close to impossible. It is not a foregone conclusion that Toronto will sign all these players to extensions, or even that they are interested in resigning all of them, but the Maple Leafs should be trying to keep their cap situation as open as possible for next summer.

Other snapshots:

The New York Islanders announced that forward Mathew Barzal will miss tonight’s game with an illness. Continuing with an organizational theme for the last several years, the Islanders once again have one of the lowest-scoring rosters in the league, with only five players scoring more than five goals through 20 or more games. Barzal, who is leading the team in points, has seven goals and 16 assists, once again showing off his elite playmaking abilities.
One of the missing players from the Columbus Blue Jackets practice this morning was forward Cole Sillinger, who is out with an upper-body injury and is considered day-to-day (X Link). Although Columbus has picked things up a tad since a rough start to the season, Sillinger is now in his second season of dramatically struggling with production. In 88 games played over the last two seasons, Sillinger has only scored four goals and 16 assists, after scoring 16 goals and 15 assists in 79 games in his rookie season.

What Your Team Is Thankful For: Colorado Avalanche

November 30, 2023 at 8:04 pm CDT | by Brennan McClain 2 Comments

Who are the Avalanche thankful for?

Although Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen are MVP-caliber players in their own right, it is difficult to imagine a successful Avalanche team without defenseman Cale Makar on the blue line. Not only is Makar one of the best offensive defensemen in the entire league, there is an argument to be made that he is the best all-around player in the league, given his ability to shut down other team’s best players.

Through 21 games so far this season, Makar has six goals and 26 assists, which would put him on pace for a 125-point season, which would be one of the best seasons put together since the days of Paul Coffey and even Bobby Orr. On the defensive side of the puck, Makar holds an impressive +20 rating, a 55.5% CF%, and a career-best 92.1% oiSV%, all while averaging over 24 minutes of ice time per night.

Even at $9MM per year for this season and the following three, the contract that Makar is under is beginning to look like one of the bigger steals in the league today. With a Calder Trophy, Norris Trophy, Conn Smythe Trophy, and a Stanley Cup ring all in his collection before the age of 26, Makar is on pace to be one of, if not the best defenseman who has ever played in the NHL.

What are the Avalanche thankful for?

Improved depth.

Last season, in an attempt to repeat as Stanley Cup champions, the Avalanche were severely knocked by injuries, using a total of 27 forwards, 11 defensemen, and five goaltenders. With a decent amount of cap space this past summer, Colorado used a majority of that to improve the depth of their team, bringing in Ryan Johansen, Ross Colton, Miles Wood, Tomas Tatar, Jonathan Drouin, Joel Kiviranta, Fredrik Olofsson, and Ivan Prosvetov.

From the forwards that were brought in, the Avalanche have gotten 25 goals, and 23 assists, allowing forwards such as MacKinnon and Rantanen to not carry such a burden on their shoulders. Although team captain Gabriel Landeskog still finds himself on LTIR, as well as the relatively recent placement of Artturi Lehkonen, Colorado has still maintained a 15-6-0 record, sitting in third place in the Western Conference.

As seen in the team’s playoff loss to the Seattle Kraken in the first round of last year’s playoffs, depth is an important part of any successful team, and up to this point, it has paid off well for the Avalanche.

What would the Avalanche be even more thankful for?

More stability in the net.

Last season, his first with the team, Alexandar Georgiev started in 62 games, winning 40 of them, while posting a .918 SV% and a 2.53 GAA. Although the wins are largely a team statistic, Georgiev still placed in the top 10 for Vezina Trophy voting after spending much of his career as a backup for the New York Rangers.

Once again leading the league in wins for goaltenders with 13, Georgiev is not producing the same way he did last season. Through 18 starts, he holds a .898 SV% and a 44.4% quality start percentage according to Hockey Reference’s analysis, a 21.7% drop from last season.

Thankfully, the defense playing in front of him has shored up a lot of his shortcomings through the season so far, but as any Stanley Cup winning can attest to, once in the playoffs, a team will rely on their goaltender to steal a game or two. Georgiev has been solid in his last three starts, but Colorado will need him to play with more consistency between the pipes going forward if they are to compete for the Stanley Cup again this spring.

What should be on the Avalanche holiday wish list?

One more goal-scorer.

As of right now, Colorado sits second in the league in goals, but due to their improved depth, Rantanen and Valeri Nichushkin are the only two players on the team with double-digit goals. Especially on the powerplay, as the Avalanche are currently sitting in 18th place in the league with a 19.77% completion rate, another goal-scorer could turn this team into a monster come playoff time.

Although plenty could change leading up to the deadline, Colorado may look for buy-low short-term options to improve their goal-scoring capabilities, as Mike Hoffman of the San Jose Sharks could be a potential fit in the next several weeks. However, given the current state of the standings in the Eastern Conference, and a potential inability to keep him on a long-term deal next offseason, there may be a winger playing for the Pittsburgh Penguins that could be up for grabs.

Currently, on the last year of a five-year, $30MM contract, there is a possibility that the Penguins will make Jake Guentzel available at the deadline if they do not climb the standings in the next couple of weeks. Hitting 40 goals twice in his career up to this point, it would be a near-perfect addition to the Avalanche, who should be looking for a winger to complete their top-six heading into the playoff season.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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