Pittsburgh Penguins Hire Brian Burke, Ron Hextall
Not only have the Pittsburgh Penguins hired Ron Hextall as the team’s next GM, but Brian Burke will be joining him. Burke will be installed as President of Hockey Operations, with Hextall as General Manager. Burke last held a similar role with the Calgary Flames until 2018 when he stepped down, joining the Sportsnet broadcast team and working in media since. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic reports that Hextall’s contract is four years long (with another option year), with the rest of the 2020-21 season counting as the first.
Penguins’ CEO David Morehouse released a statement on the hires, which were made official Tuesday afternoon:
We feel incredibly lucky to bring in two highly-respected executives with a combined 50-plus years of NHL management experience. Ron and Brian are well-known in the hockey world as fierce competitors with championship pedigrees. They’re very well-connected and experienced in all aspects of the game. They are both excited to get to work here in Pittsburgh, blending their skills and building on our long tradition of success.
Patrik Allvin, who served as interim GM since Jim Rutherford‘s sudden resignation last month, will resume his role as assistant GM under Hextall.
This is certainly a change for the Penguins, who had been under the control of Rutherford since 2014. He had seen talented assistants come and go during that time, but it was ultimately Rutherford’s voice that ran the show. Now, by bringing in two veteran executives, there will be more voices in the room as they decide where to go next.
Burke, who famously mocked those who suggested the “Pittsburgh model” was one to follow while the GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs, first joined an NHL front office in 1987 and has been around the game basically his whole life. While there is some debate to how much credit he should actually receive, the Anaheim Ducks won the Stanley Cup in 2007 under his leadership and he has plenty of experience at the international level with USA Hockey, including a silver medal in 2010. There may be some who question his decisions, but there’s no one that questions the experience that Burke brings to the table.
Hextall’s arrival in Pittsburgh will come as a confusing moment for many Penguins fans, given how much he was hated during his playing days. A legend of Philadelphia Flyers hockey, the fiery goaltender was an easy villain for the cross-state rivals. That rivalry was reborn in retirement when Hextall took a position with the Flyers scouting department in 1999. After several years with the team, he left for the Los Angeles Kings, getting his first taste of managing by running the Manchester Monarchs of the AHL while serving as an AGM for the NHL squad. In 2013 he returned to Philadelphia and by the next year was named GM.
By 2018 however, he was fired from his job with the Flyers after seemingly being too patient in his approach. The team was slowly laying a foundation through the drafting and development of prospects, but Hextall refused to sacrifice any of it to take a big swing in trades or free agency. That foundation appears to be paying off for the Flyers now, as they contend for the East Division crown while also still having a strong prospect system.
In Pittsburgh, he’ll be challenged right away, given the team’s win-now decree. The Penguins still have Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin to anchor their forward group, meaning the Stanley Cup should always be a goal. But with those two stars and Kris Letang heading into their mid-thirties, it’s unclear if that’s a real possibility for the team at this juncture. Now it’s up to Hextall and Burke to decide where the franchise goes from here.
Mikko Koivu Announces Retirement
In a sudden move, Columbus Blue Jackets center Mikko Koivu has announced his retirement after just seven games this season. The 37-year-old released a statement explaining his decision:
This was not an easy decision for me as I have loved every minute of my short time in Columbus and really hoped to be able to help this team accomplish its goals this season, but the bottom line is I haven’t been able to get to the level of play that I need to be true to myself and fair to my teammates, so the time is right for me to retire from hockey. I have been extremely blessed and I am eternally grateful to the Minnesota Wild and Columbus Blue Jackets organizations for the opportunities they have given me to live out my dreams of playing in the National Hockey League for the past 16 years.
Koivu will forfeit the rest of his one-year contract that carried a $1.5MM salary this season and his cap hit will come off the books for Columbus. His career ends with 1,035 regular season games, all but seven of which came with the Minnesota Wild. Just two of his 711 career points came with Columbus.
This seven-game, two-point season with Columbus is an odd addendum to a great career that was spent almost entirely with one franchise. Koivu is the Wild franchise leader for games played, assists, points, and plus/minus, while also being the longest-tenured captain in Minnesota history. The team decided to part ways with him in the offseason after several down seasons, but instead of retiring Koivu gave it one last try in Columbus.
It has been obvious for some time that Koivu wasn’t the same two-way wizard he was for so long in Minnesota, but this season he was limited to just over 12 minutes a night for the Blue Jackets. He played just nine minutes on Sunday, was a healthy scratch on Monday, and now retired on Tuesday. If he wasn’t going to play much, it never really made sense for the veteran player to put his body through a gruelling COVID-affected season, especially after so many major injuries have taken their toll on Koivu over the years.
Though he unfortunately never found much playoff success, Koivu did reach the postseason on nine different occasions throughout his long career. He’ll be remembered as one of the most consistent defensive centers of his era, receiving Selke Trophy votes in ten different seasons and finishing in the top-five on three different occasions.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
NHL Announces Postponement, Reschedule
12:15pm: The league has officially postponed tonight’s game between the Flyers and Capitals after a second player entered the COVID protocol. No other games have been postponed at the moment, but the league will continue to analyze test results in the coming days.
The league has also announced that the St. Louis Blues and Arizona Coyotes will move another game from later in the season, meaning they will now have seven games in a row against each other due to COVID outbreaks in other parts of the Central Division. Game #684, originally scheduled for April 15, will now be played this Friday, February 12.
10:15am: The Philadelphia Flyers are the latest NHL team facing the specter of postponement. Darren Dreger of TSN reports that the team had another positive test result late last night and will likely have their game against the Washington Capitals this evening postponed. Travis Sanheim was the only Philadelphia player on the COVID Protocol Related Absences list yesterday, but that appears likely to change.
As we’ve seen with some of the other outbreaks, positive test results can come slowly and trickle in for several days after the initial positive test. It’s not clear how many players or staff have tested positive in Philadelphia or how widespread the damage is, but it appears as though they’ll miss at least one game (and, given the way the NHL has operated previously, more than that).
Of course, just 12 days from now the Flyers were set to take on the Boston Bruins in the NHL’s marquee outdoor event. The NHL Outdoors at Lake Tahoe is a set of two games including Philadelphia, Boston, Colorado, and Vegas that is supposed to start a modern trend of Mystery, Alaska-type events in the North American wilderness.
We’ll have to wait and see if that event is in jeopardy, but the focus now is getting the Flyers players healthy and safe. The list of postponements continues to grow.
Pittsburgh Penguins Offer GM Position To Ron Hextall
The Pittsburgh Penguins have found their next general manager—if they can find the right terms. Frank Seravalli of TSN reports that the position has been offered to Ron Hextall, though the two sides are still negotiating a contract. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet confirms the negotiation, but neither insider is reporting that a deal is done at this point. Hextall was a front-runner from the beginning and had two interviews with the Penguins over the last week.
You likely couldn’t find two managers more unlike one another than Hextall and Jim Rutherford, the previous Penguins GM who suddenly resigned earlier this season. The former was fired from his last job with the Philadelphia Flyers for not taking enough chances and hoping a slow build would result in a championship program. The latter is a blockbuster-swinging gambler who is willing to sacrifice the future for a chance to surround his elite talents with the right supporting cast.
Perhaps offering the job to Hextall is a signal that the Penguins ownership sees the end of the run with this current group and wants their next hockey operations leader to have a history of building up a strong prospect foundation. After all, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang are all entering their mid-thirties, the latter two with just one year left under contract after this season. The Penguins currently sit fifth in the East Division, well behind Hextall’s old Flyers team that is now challenging for division crowns.
That’s not to say the Penguins are going to blow things up immediately, but perhaps they will no longer be taking wild swings at the trade deadline to try and find the right winger for Crosby or Malkin. The team already doesn’t have their first, third, fourth, or sixth-round picks from the upcoming draft and have a prospect pipeline recently ranked 29th in the league by The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler. Even if Hextall is given a win-now mandate, there’s not a lot in the cupboard to trade this season.
Taxi Squad Shuffle: 02/09/21
There has been plenty of roster movement between NHL teams and the taxi squad on a daily basis this season. Although some major names may be highlighted in separate articles, this is where you’ll find the majority of that shuffle news each day.
West Division
- The Anaheim Ducks made another in their daily series of roster moves, per CapFriendly. Anthony Stolarz was recalled on an emergency basis with Lukas Dostal taking Stolarz’s spot on the taxi squad. Andy Welinski was also recalled to Anaheim’s roster with Max Jones being sent to the taxi squad.
- Michael Chaput has been shuffled back to Arizona’s taxi squad, CapFriendly reports. The 28-year-old center has played in three games with the Coyotes so far this season, averaging 11:36 per game.
- The Los Angeles Kings made several roster moves according to CapFriendly. Up from the taxi squad are Lias Andersson and Austin Strand while Tobias Bjornfot was recalled from AHL Ontario. Markus Phillips, Bokondji Imama, and Mark Alt all went from the AHL to the taxi squad while Drake Rymsha was sent to Ontario.
- The San Jose Sharks have brought back Sasha Chmelevski and Nicolas Meloche from the taxi squad, per CapFriendly. Chmelvski had an assist in his NHL debut back on Friday.
- Mackenzie MacEachern and Jacob de La Rose are on their way back to the Blues’ taxi squad, per CapFriendly. Both have been sent back and forth multiple times so far this season.
- The Vegas Golden Knights have recalled Dylan Coghlan from the taxi squad, notes David Schoen of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. While Alex Pietrangelo was taken off the CPRA list, he is not yet ready to return to the lineup.
North Division
- The Ottawa Senators have sent Joey Daccord from the taxi squad to the AHL while recalling Filip Gustavsson to take his place as the third-string goaltender. Daccord, 24, was a seventh-round pick in 2015 but has turned himself into a legitimate NHL goaltending prospect who will need playing time.
- The Montreal Canadiens recalled Nick Suzuki from the taxi squad while sending Jake Evans down, per CapFriendly. When their roster has been fully healthy, they have been shuffling their waiver-exempt players on two-way contracts down one at a time to bank a bit of extra cap room.
- The Winnipeg Jets have recalled Kristian Vesalainen and David Gustafsson from the taxi squad while also officially activating Pierre-Luc Dubois who makes his debut tonight. Vesalainen and Gustafsson have both played in four games with the Jets so far this season in very limited roles on the fourth line.
- Calgary has brought up Connor Mackey from the taxi squad with Brett Ritchie being sent down. Byron Froese was also recalled in a separate transaction. It’s the fourth time this season Mackey has been recalled although he has yet to make his NHL debut with the Flames.
- The Toronto Maple Leafs continue their daily roster shuffle with Timothy Liljegren being recalled from the taxi squad and Pierre Engvall being sent down, per CapFriendly. In addition, Kalle Kossila was assigned to the minors.
Central Division
- Mathias Brome and Givani Smith have been recalled from the Detroit Red Wings taxi squad, an expected game day move. Smith is quickly turning into quite the story for the Red Wings, with four points in his first six games. The 6’2″ forward was the 46th overall pick in 2016 and is finally working his way into a full-time roster spot.
- The Columbus Blue Jackets have assigned Liam Foudy and Cam Johnson to the taxi squad. Foudy, 21, has played in 12 games this season but was made a healthy scratch on Monday night. Johnson served as the backup during that game but still has not actually made his NHL debut. The 26-year-old is basically a practice goaltender for the Blue Jackets at this point, given he hasn’t even played an AHL game since 2018-19 (in seven ECHL games this season, he registered a .941).
- The Nashville Predators have recalled Sean Malone from the taxi squad, moving Eeli Tolvanen down in his place. Anthony Richard has also been brought up from the AHL to the taxi squad. If Malone gets into the Predators lineup, it would be just the second NHL game of his career. The Harvard University star played in a game for the Buffalo Sabres at the end of the 2016-17 season, but has spent the last three years exclusively in the AHL.
- Ryan Lomberg has been recalled to the Florida Panthers’ active roster after playing in one game for the team last month. The 26-year-old forward isn’t known for his scoring ability but can add some energy to the fourth line if put back in the lineup.
- The Dallas Stars have recalled Tanner Kero from the taxi squad while also activating Joel Kiviranta from injured reserve. Kero has played in seven games so far this season, recording two assists while Kiviranta missed the last seven games due to a lower-body injury.
- After being recalled on emergency loans yesterday, the Carolina Hurricanes have returned Morgan Geekie and Alex Nedeljkovic to the taxi squad, per CapFriendly. Geekie has played in eight games with Carolina so far this season while Nedeljkovic is serving as the backup with Petr Mrazek out after thumb surgery and allowed three goals on 22 shots in his 2020-21 debut last night.
- The Chicago Blackhawks have recalled Madison Bowey, notes Mark Lazerus of The Athletic. Bowey’s insertion in tonight’s lineup allows Chicago to meet the criteria needed to expose him to Seattle in expansion, permitting them to potentially protect Connor Murphy. Coincidentally, Bowey is taking Murphy’s spot in the lineup with the latter dealing with a hip injury.
- The Tampa Bay Lightning have Callan Foote from the taxi squad, per CapFriendly, with Christopher Gibson being sent down. Foote, who isn’t in the lineup tonight, has a goal in seven games so far this season.
East Division
- The Buffalo Sabres have sent Jean-Sebastien Dea to the AHL, giving him a chance to play after spending the last week on the taxi squad. Dea scored 39 points in 57 games for the Rochester Americans last season and has just 32 gams of NHL experience.
- The Boston Bruins have recalled Trent Frederic from their taxi squad while promoting Steven Kampfer to the taxi squad, per CapFriendly. Frederic has been shuffled back and forth routinely although he has played in all 11 games so far this season.
- The New York Islanders have sent three players down, per CapFriendly. Oliver Wahlstrom, who has played in four games so far this season, has been sent to the taxi squad while Otto Koivula and Dmytro Timashov were both sent to AHL Bridgeport.
- The New York Rangers continued their recent trend of roster moves with Kaapo Kakko, K’Andre Miller, and Libor Hajek being loaned to the taxi squad, per CapFriendly. To make room for them on the taxi squad, Justin Richards and Patrick Newell were both sent to the minors.
- Washington has flipped goaltenders, as CapFriendly notes that Craig Anderson has been sent to the taxi squad with Zach Fucale being recalled to take his place. In addition, Daniel Carr was sent to the taxi squad.
COVID Protocol Related Absences: 02/08/21
Each day, the NHL will publicly release the list of players that are unavailable to their respective teams due to being in COVID-19 protocol. While Edmonton and Pittsburgh are still listed as TBA, the rest of the league is in:
Buffalo – Dylan Cozens, Rasmus Dahlin, Taylor Hall, Curtis Lazar, Jake McCabe, Casey Mittelstadt, Brandon Montour, Tobias Rieder, Rasmus Ristolainen
Chicago – Ryan Carpenter, Lucas Wallmark
Colorado – Samuel Girard, Tyson Jost, Gabriel Landeskog
Edmonton – TBA
Los Angeles – Andreas Athanasiou, Blake Lizotte
Minnesota – Nick Bjugstad, Nick Bonino, Ian Cole, Joel Eriksson Ek, Marcus Foligno, Brad Hunt, Marcus Johansson, Jared Spurgeon, Nico Sturm, Victor Rask*, Carson Soucy*
New Jersey – Nathan Bastian, Jesper Bratt, Eric Comrie, Nikita Gusev, Jack Hughes, Andreas Johnsson, Dmitry Kulikov, Janne Kuokkanen, Michael McLeod, Kyle Palmieri, Damon Severson, Yegor Sharangovich, Ty Smith, Matt Tennyson, Pavel Zacha, Travis Zajac, Connor Carrick*, Nico Hischier*, Sami Vatanen*
Philadelphia – Travis Sanheim
Pittsburgh – TBA
Vegas – Alex Pietrangelo
Washington – Jakub Vrana
As a reminder, inclusion on this list does not mean that a player has tested positive for Coronavirus or even that they have been confirmed as a close contact to another positive person. Included in the NHL’s list of possible reasons for someone being on the list is are the following:
(1) an initial positive test which remains unconfirmed until confirmatory testing is completed pursuant to the Positive Test Protocol; (2) mandated isolation for symptomatic individuals pursuant to the Positive Test Protocol; (3) required quarantine as a high-risk close contact in accordance with the Positive Test Protocol; (4) isolation based on a confirmed positive test result and/or; (5) quarantine for travel or other reasons as outlined in the COVID-19 Protocol
Players removed today: Evgeny Kuznetsov, Washington Capitals; Ilya Samsonov, Washington Capitals; Adam Boqvist, Chicago Blackhawks
Dahlin was technically added late last night, joining the rest of the Sabres on the list. More games for Buffalo, New Jersey, and Minnesota were postponed today.
After being removed only yesterday, Vatanen re-appears on the Devils list today. Carrick is also there after previously appearing due to him leaving the league’s protocols to attend the birth of his child. The Devils are now up to 19 players, the largest number by any team this season.
*denotes new addition
Vancouver Canucks Shopping Jake Virtanen
The Vancouver Canucks have been a huge disappointment this season after their Cinderella run in the postseason bubble. The 2019-20 version of the Canucks won a qualifying round over the Minnesota Wild, the first round over the St. Louis Blues, and then took the Vegas Golden Knights to seven games. One game away from the Western Conference Finals seems a lifetime ago for the Canucks of 2021, who have lost four straight and find themselves plummeting down the North Division standings. The Canucks have played more than anyone else through the first few weeks of the season, but allowing 60 goals in 15 games just isn’t going to cut it.
On Saturday, Chris Johnston of Sportsnet reported that there was a possibility of a shakeup by giving Jake Virtanen a change of scenery, suggesting that a move could “shock” the group a little bit while providing a new opportunity to a player that finds himself in and out of the lineup. Today, Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet confirms that by reporting that Virtanen is once again on the trade block, noting that it is not the first time they have shopped the young forward.
Virtanen, 24, has played in 11 of the team’s 15 games this season but has just one goal and no assists. After scoring 18 goals last season, he was a virtual no-show offensively in the bubble, leading to eyebrow-raising comments from GM Jim Benning who “expected more” from the power forward. Many believed Virtanen would be dealt the following offseason, but he ended up signing a new two-year contract in late-October. He now carries a $2.55MM cap hit, but the back-loading of the deal could make it a little less appealing to potential suitors.
Like so many other players, Virtanen is a frustrating ball of talent and inconsistency. The 6’1″, 226-lbs forward has all the measurables to be an elite power forward in the league, mixing size, strength, and incredible speed when he’s at his best. But that best has shown up far too infrequently through his first few years in the league, resulting in just 51 goals and 96 points in 290 regular season games. His three points in 16 postseason games last summer only added to the frustration, given his ability should have been perfectly suited to playoff hockey.
Still, rushing into a trade with Virtanen’s value at an all-time low certainly doesn’t seem appealing. Perhaps the Canucks do need a shakeup, but it’s hard to imagine getting anything more than a mid-round pick for him right now. That is of course if they can find a buyer at all, given the quarantine complications that trades face this season.
The Canucks face the Toronto Maple Leafs for a third consecutive game this evening.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
NHL Postpones Seven More Games
With the COVID situations in Buffalo, New Jersey, and Minnesota still not contained, the NHL has postponed several more games. Two additional Sabres games (February 11, 13 vs WSH), three additional Devils games (February 11, 13 vs PHI; 15 vs BOS), and two additional Wild games (February 11 vs STL; 13 vs LAK) have been postponed. The decision on when each team will resume practicing and playing is still to come in the next few days.
The Sabres added Rasmus Dahlin to the COVID Protocol Related Absences list late last night, giving them nine players (plus their head coach) ruled out. John Vogl of The Athletic also reports that two linesmen that worked games between the Devils and Sabres at the end of last month have also entered the league’s protocol. In all, Vogl notes, 24 of the players who skated in those two games—January 30 and 31—have ended up on the CPRA list.
In Minnesota, GM Bill Guerin told Michael Russo of The Athletic that several other players are expected to hit the CPRA list in the coming days as the virus continues “creeping its way through the team.” One of the Minnesota players told Russo that “he feels like he has been hit by a bus and his symptoms have run the gamut.”
As of yesterday, the Devils had 16 players in the COVID protocol. They have not played since that January 31 game against the Sabres and will now be off through at least next Monday. The team’s nine games played is tied for the fewest in the league.
The full table of postponements continues to grow at an alarming rate:
COVID Notes: Dahlin, Wild, Kuznetsov
The Buffalo Sabres will have another big name on the COVID Protocol Related Absences list when it comes out later today as they have already announced that Rasmus Dahlin has been added. The team now has nine players in the protocol, plus head coach Ralph Krueger.
Technically, Dahlin was actually added to the list last night. It originally had just Casey Mittelstadt joining the other seven players previously listed—Taylor Hall, Jake McCabe, Brandon Montour, Tobias Rieder, Rasmus Ristolainen, Dylan Cozens, and Curtis Lazar—but Dahlin was an update given later. Like with any other player, being on the list does not necessarily mean you have tested positive for COVID-19. The Sabres are currently scheduled to resume play on February 11.
- The Minnesota Wild will also likely have some names added today, or at least in the near future. GM Bill Guerin implied that to Michael Russo of The Athletic, who did a very interesting examination of the outbreak with the Wild and the related league protocols. The Wild are also off until February 11, though that game against the St. Louis Blues seems very much in jeopardy should the team add several names today. Minnesota currently has nine players on the CPRA list.
- Evgeny Kuznetsov and Ilya Samsonov of the Washington Capitals spoke to reporters today following their own bouts with COVID-19 and provided a bit different experiences. When asked if he was scared at any point while experiencing symptoms, Kuznetsov told Samantha Pell of the Washington Post “no, I’m from Russia.” Samsonov meanwhile told Pell through an interpreter that there were a few days where he had trouble breathing and walking. Both players were on the ice today at practice.
Ryan Johansen Heading To Injured Reserve
The Nashville Predators were without Ryan Johansen when they took on the Florida Panthers Friday, but at the time he was listed as just day-to-day with an upper-body injury. Now it appears that his absence will stretch out a bit, as head coach John Hynes told reporters including Adam Vingan of The Athletic today. Johansen will be out “week-to-week” and is going onto injured reserve for the Predators.
A pessimistic Predators fan might tell you that they’ve been without Johansen all season, as the 28-year-old center certainly hasn’t been playing up to his full capabilities. He has four assists in ten games, all of them on the powerplay, and has yet to find the back of the net himself. In fact, Johansen has only generated 16 shots on goal during those ten games, despite averaging more than 18 minutes a night before his game on Friday was cut short.
While it has been a long time since he was a real goal-scoring threat—Johansen scored a career-high 33 times in 2013-14, but has averaged just 14 per season over the last five years—his lack of even-strength offense this season has been a huge reason why the Predators now sit at 5-6 on the season, ahead of only the Detroit Red Wings in the Central Divison.
Losing him for weeks though certainly won’t turn his season around. Johansen’s role will now have to be filled internally, and though the Predators have some interesting candidates to receive increase ice time, their depth will be tested without one of their highest-paid players in the lineup.