Poll: Where Will Artemi Panarin Finish The Season?
The Columbus Blue Jackets have nine games left before the trade deadline. Nine games to decide what to do with two of the best players to ever suit up for the franchise. Nine games to decide whether the team as constructed, or with an addition of some sort, is good enough to contend for the Stanley Cup this season. Nine games before we’re guaranteed an answer as to where Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky will finish the season.
When we asked our readers at PHR in early January where Bobrovsky would end the season, the Blue Jackets were still the strong favorites. It’s difficult to trade a top goaltender in-season, and losing Bobrovsky would put the Blue Jackets in a tough situation going into the playoffs. Bobrovsky has been linked to the Florida Panthers of late, but the Blue Jackets have apparently made him too expensive to trade for this early.
But Panarin, well he might be worth almost anything. The offensive dynamo is a potential game-changing rental addition for many of the clubs around the league, pushing bubble teams into contenders or contenders into powerhouses. His impact would be felt immediately, and is good enough to displace almost anyone off a first line. That dominance is exactly what Craig Custance of The Athletic (subscription required) notes today as he examines the market for Panarin as the deadline approaches. Custance ranks the teams that make the most sense, listing the Nashville Predators as suspect number one for a potential Panarin market.
In doing so, Custance mentions young forward Eeli Tolvanen as a potential piece that could be required to land the Blue Jackets’ forward. Columbus wouldn’t be the only team checking in on the availability of Tolvanen, as Adam Vingan of The Athletic points out on Twitter. Nashville GM David Poile said on radio today that Tolvanen and other prospects have come up in calls and that if an opportunity presents itself to improve the club, he’s “all in.”
Poile has already begun his dealing, trading for Brian Boyle and Cody McLeod yesterday. He explained that he would be perfectly happy with going into the playoffs with the roster as currently constructed, meaning perhaps he won’t go “all in” on Panarin over the next few weeks. That’s why several other teams are listed in Custance’s piece, and why it’s still not clear where “Bread Man” will end up.
So, like Bobrovsky before, we ask you to voice your opinion on where Panarin will finish the season. Will he lead Columbus to a playoff series victory, or jump on board a speeding train to the Conference Finals? Does he go to a team that is missing the playoffs just so that he can sign an eight-year extension? Cast your vote below and make sure to explain your reasoning in the comments.
Where will Artemi Panarin finish the season?
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Columbus Blue Jackets 18% (305)
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Boston Bruins 12% (201)
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New York Islanders 8% (129)
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Chicago Blackhawks 8% (127)
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Nashville Predators 7% (120)
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Florida Panthers 6% (95)
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New York Rangers 5% (79)
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Pittsburgh Penguins 3% (53)
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St. Louis Blues 3% (53)
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Winnipeg Jets 3% (48)
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Vegas Golden Knights 3% (44)
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Montreal Canadiens 2% (37)
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Toronto Maple Leafs 2% (37)
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Philadelphia Flyers 2% (35)
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San Jose Sharks 2% (35)
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Dallas Stars 2% (32)
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Tampa Bay Lightning 2% (31)
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Calgary Flames 2% (28)
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Buffalo Sabres 2% (25)
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Washington Capitals 1% (20)
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Colorado Avalanche 1% (17)
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Los Angeles Kings 1% (15)
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Vancouver Canucks 1% (15)
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Edmonton Oilers 1% (14)
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Detroit Red Wings 1% (13)
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Minnesota Wild 1% (13)
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Carolina Hurricanes 1% (11)
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Ottawa Senators 1% (9)
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Anaheim Ducks 0% (8)
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Arizona Coyotes 0% (7)
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New Jersey Devils 0% (4)
Total votes: 1,660
[Mobile users click here to vote]
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Snapshots: Zadina, Byfuglien, Kings
Filip Zadina has had a difficult year. The sixth-overall pick from 2018 has just 11 goals and 23 points with the Grand Rapids Griffins, and was held to just a single assist at the World Juniors, a tournament he dominated last year. Still, that won’t stop the Detroit Red Wings from giving him a taste of the NHL before the end of the season. GM Ken Holland told Ansar Khan of MLive that Zadina will play a few games with the Red Wings before the end of the year, but won’t go over the nine-game threshold that would make his entry-level contract kick in for this season.
Zadina is an extremely skilled player with a deadly accurate shot, and is still just a teenager playing in a professional league with opponents sometimes more than a decade older than him. Struggles maybe were to be expected, but for the Red Wings success he needs to take another step forward next season. Getting him a taste of what it takes to play in the NHL before the summer will give him even more focus this offseason to come to camp ready to compete in September.
- Dustin Byfuglien has been activated from injured reserve by the Winnipeg Jets after a 15-game absence, and should immediately help them on their push to finish at the top of the Western Conference. The Jets are still in the market to make a move at the trade deadline, but getting Byfuglien back at this point should feel like a big addition for the last part of the season. The big, mobile defenseman usually logs some of the highest ice time totals in the league and is a physical force that demands respect all over the rink.
- Los Angeles Kings GM Rob Blake had some snark for the analysts at TSN when speaking with Curtis Zupke of the Los Angeles Times, and explained that there’s not definite time frame on when he’s looking to make moves to improve the club. If there are opportunities like the one he took by trading away Jake Muzzin the Kings will jump all over it, but they’re not rushing to sell off the whole team right away. For what it’s worth, our readership at PHR believes that Tyler Toffoli will be the next player sent packing by the Kings.
Minor Transactions: 02/07/19
While the NBA sends players all over the league during their trade deadline, the NHL prepares for an extremely busy night on the ice. 28 of the league’s 31 teams will be in action tonight, with prime divisional matchups like Sharks-Flames and Predators-Stars highlighting the action. As always we’ll keep track of all the minor moves as teams prepare for tonight.
- The Colorado Avalanche have recalled A.J. Greer and Anton Lindholm from the minor leagues, giving the team 22 players for their trip to Washington. The Avalanche are trying to right the ship after plummeting out of the playoff race over the last few weeks. The team now sits in sixth place in the Central with a 22-22-8 record.
- Joel Eriksson Ek has been recalled by the Minnesota Wild after they lost Mikko Koivu for the rest of the season, and he will take up familiar residence as the team’s third-line center. Eriksson Ek is a talented young player, but will have big shoes to fill in Koivu’s absence.
- The Anaheim Ducks have recalled Andy Welinski from the minor leagues to take the roster spot of Korbinian Holzer who has left the team for personal reasons. Holzer has been moved to a non-roster designation, while Welinski will become the team’s seventh defenseman for the time being.
- With Ben Bishop banged up, the Dallas Stars have recalled Landon Bow under emergency conditions. Bow will serve as backup for Anton Khudobin until Bishop, who is listed as day-to-day, is ready to return.
Michael McCarron To Miss Rest Of Season With Shoulder Injury
If any Montreal Canadiens fans were hoping for a late season Michael McCarron call-up, it isn’t coming. The team announced today that McCarron’s season is over after undergoing shoulder surgery yesterday. The 23-year old forward had been playing with the Laval Rocket in the AHL, and will be a restricted free agent at the end of the year.
McCarron has not turned into the player the Canadiens hoped they were getting at 25th overall in 2013, but was at least having a positive impact in the AHL. With this injury that impact on Laval is over, and there are now serious doubts about McCarron’s future in Montreal. As a restricted free agent with arbitration rights, there is a real chance that the Canadiens could decline to extend a qualifying offer to the young forward, which would allow him to search for another deal elsewhere around the league. His performance so far in the NHL doesn’t scream success in the future, but perhaps a fresh start would spark some development.
In 70 NHL games across the regular season and playoffs McCarron has recorded just eight points, and will be turning 24 before free agency begins. While the Canadiens could extend him a qualifying offer and risk arbitration, there is also the option of trying to re-sign him as an unrestricted free agent to a less expensive two-way deal. That would give him a chance to continue to play for the Rocket, where he had 21 points in 32 games this season. It’s not the end of the line for McCarron, but a major injury like this is just the latest setback in a disappointing career so far.
Kris Versteeg Signs In SHL
The hockey journey continues for journeyman Kris Versteeg, this time signing with the Vaxjo Lakers of the Swedish Hockey League. Versteeg had played 11 games for Avangard Omsk in the KHL this season, but will now finish out the year in Sweden.
Versteeg, 32, has had one of the most interesting playing careers in recent memory, bouncing around the NHL on a yearly basis. Spending time in Chicago, Toronto, Philadelphia, Florida, Chicago (again), Carolina, Los Angeles and finally Calgary, he was without an NHL job this summer when he decided to take his talents overseas. Injury forced him out of North America, but perhaps there is a chance he could make a return next season.
If the veteran forward can have a good showing in the SHL, there’s no reason to think he couldn’t at least be a depth option in the NHL if he’s willing to suit up in the minor leagues. Versteeg hasn’t played a game in the AHL since the 2007-08 season, but unless he finds a fit overseas it might be his only chance. In 643 games he scored 358 points and won the Stanley Cup twice with the Blackhawks.
Morning Notes: Phaneuf, Kampf, Rasmussen
The Los Angeles Kings have already traded one veteran defenseman, and now they’re going to sit down another. Dion Phaneuf is expected to be a healthy scratch for the Kings tonight when they take on the Philadelphia Flyers, a move that isn’t totally surprising given the role he’s played this season. Phaneuf has seen more than 17 minutes of ice time just four times this season, and not since early November.
After this season the 33-year old has two years remaining on the massive seven-year, $49MM contract he signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2013 and could be headed towards a buyout in the summer. While the result of a buyout wouldn’t be outstanding for the Kings, having Phaneuf on the roster isn’t helping them much at this point and they have younger players who would benefit from that opportunity. The Ottawa Senators, who retained a portion of Phaneuf’s contract when they traded him to the Kings, would still be responsible for 25% of the salary and cap hit from a buyout.
- David Kampf will be out of the Chicago Blackhawks lineup for up to a month with a foot injury, the team announced today. Kampf is a restricted free agent at the end of the year and has done enough to show he deserves another contract with the team, but a month off will certainly hurt his negotiating leverage. The 24-year old forward has 16 points in 50 games but is a solid enough depth option down the middle.
- After a brief conditioning stint in the minor leagues, Michael Rasmussen is expected to be back in the lineup tonight for the Detroit Red Wings. The big center scored twice in three games for the Grand Rapids Griffins, and will look to continue his offensive development in the second half of the season in Detroit. A huge part of their future, the 6’6″ forward had just 13 points in his first 41 games. Playing in the NHL at 19 is an accomplishment in itself, but the team will need more scoring from him going forward.
Jori Lehtera Placed On Waivers
Thursday: Lehtera has cleared waivers and was immediately assigned to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
Wednesday: The house cleaning continues in Philadelphia, where the Flyers have once again placed a veteran forward on waivers. Today GM Chuck Fletcher announced that Jori Lehtera will be placed on waivers at noon.
It’s been a struggle for Lehtera since joining the Flyers to say the least. The 31-year old forward has recorded just 11 points in 89 games since being part of the package that sent Brayden Schenn to the St. Louis Blues, and never fit into the Philadelphia lineup in any real consistent role. Playing just a handful of minutes whenever he did get into the lineup this season, there was little reason to keep him on the roster other than a hope he would somehow crack open that potential he once showed.
As a 27-year old rookie in 2014-15, Lehtera recorded 44 points and earned himself an expensive contract extension. The decision to hand him a three-year, $14.1MM extension on the first day he was eligible for it almost immediately seemed like a mistake, as Lehtera struggled in his sophomore season and recorded just nine goals for the Blues. Things got even worse the following year when the extension actually kicked in, and he was included as a salary dump in the Schenn trade.
For the Flyers, who already waived and sent Dale Weise away from the team, this was an inevitable next step even as they try to climb back into the playoff race with a late push. Lehtera was by no means part of the plan going forward, and there is little reason to keep him on the roster at this point. Burying him would remove just a prorated $1.025MM off his full season cap hit, but would open up a roster spot for one of the Flyers prospects—though, roster limits will also open up after the trade deadline.
Moving forward, a return to the KHL or his native Finland may be in the cards for Lehtera, who found great success overseas before coming to the NHL in the first place. He certainly won’t be receiving anything near his $5MM salary from an NHL organization next season.
Kyle Turris Activated From Injured Reserve
The Nashville Predators are finally getting Kyle Turris back on the ice. The forward has been activated from injured reserve, while Colin Blackwell is on his way back to the minor leagues to make room. Turris hasn’t played since December 27th, but is expected to be in the lineup tonight against the Dallas Stars.
The Predators still sit in a solid position in the Central Division and Western Conference overall, but haven’t been quite as dominant as earlier in the season thanks to some key injuries and a struggling powerplay. Turris’ return should help the team get a little more offensive balance, and it looks like he’ll line up at least tonight beside newcomer Brian Boyle. That’s two big additions to a Predators group that is still chasing the Winnipeg Jets for first place in the Central.
When Nashville handed Turris a long-term extension after acquiring him last season, they expected him to lock down the second-line center role and give them another top offensive contributor. In more limited minutes he might be able to take advantage of weaker matchups, and it seemed to work with 42 points in 65 games last season. Unfortunately that production wasn’t quite up to snuff through the first part of this season, and Turris returns to the lineup with just 18 points in 30 games. His presence is a huge boost, but they’ll need him to get back to his highest level quickly if they are to rely on him down the stretch and into the playoffs.
Ottawa Senators Expecting “Unparalleled Success” Between 2021-25
The Ottawa Senators have been a train wreck for the past 18 months. Everything that possibly could have gone wrong has gone wrong, and now facing the decision to trade away the team’s best two (or perhaps three) forwards, things still aren’t looking up. That is, for many of the fans at least. Ownership, meaning Eugene Melnyk in particular, now see this season as a strong building block to a future window of success. Melnyk’s comments last night to a group of corporate sponsors and partners explain exactly how he sees the future for the Senators (via Ian Mendes of TSN):
The Senators will be all-in again for a five-year run of unparalleled success–where the team will plan to spend close to the NHL’s salary cap every year from 2021 to 2025. He reiterated that the Senators’ current rebuild is a blueprint on how to bring the Stanley Cup home to its rightful place in Ottawa.
According to CapFriendly the Senators are currently spending 91.2% of the NHL’s salary cap, putting them 24th in the league. More notably though is the lack of funding for the management, development and scouting departments, all which are some of the smallest in the league. Those expenses are not publicly available, but have been reported on thoroughly over the years. Melnyk himself has admitted to running the Senators on a tight budget, even suggesting before the team’s outdoor game in 2017 that the player salaries were the last place they could take any money from.
Pointing to a timeline several years out has obvious problems. For one, the development of young players like Thomas Chabot, Brady Tkachuk and Alex Formenton while impressive so far, could easily stall or even reverse. Second, at this point there seems to be no clear decision on whether Matt Duchene and Mark Stone will be signing long-term. Third, and probably the one that fans will latch onto the most, is that the Senators still owe their first round pick this season to the Colorado Avalanche despite it being very high and potentially the first-overall selection. No team can guarantee success in two years, and saying that the team will spend close to the salary cap certainly does not mean they will experience it.
In fact, when looking at Pierre Dorion‘s history as a general manager it seems unlikely for the Senators to even be spending very heavily at all. In the some 33 months that Dorion has been in charge, the Senators have handed out just three contracts that even totaled more than $10MM and one of those is a bonus-laden entry-level deal for Tkachuk. Mike Hoffman‘s four-year, $20.75MM contract paces the list, but thanks to its back-loaded nature the Florida Panthers will be paying for more than half of it in the two years he plays there.
A Duchene or Stone extension could change all that, and signal that the ownership and front office is willing to invest in this team. But even after their strong performance against the Toronto Maple Leafs last night (albeit in an eventual loss) the club has still lost five straight games and remains in last place in the entire league. Starting a rebuild is fine, guaranteeing “unparalleled success” may be a little premature.
Tristan Jarry Recalled Under Emergency Conditions
The Pittsburgh Penguins are in action tomorrow night against the Florida Panthers, and aren’t expected to have Matt Murray in net. That’s because Murray is out with another injury, this time listed as day-to-day with an upper-body ailment. That means Tristan Jarry has been recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton under emergency conditions, not the first time he’s replaced Murray for injury reasons this year.
Head coach Mike Sullivan made it clear that the injury to Murray is not a concussion, but would not further elaborate. Unfortunately this seems to be par for the course when it comes to Murray, as the young goaltender can’t seem to stay healthy for any length of time. After dealing with another concussion earlier in the year, Murray was activated in mid-December and has looked good since, carrying a .930 save percentage over his last 15 games. That kind of production is exactly what the Penguins need, especially as they try to catch the New York Islanders and Washington Capitals for a higher playoff seed.
Jarry, who is still just 23 years old, has spent the majority of this season in the minor leagues where he has posted a .912 save percentage across 27 games. Having him in the system is integral for the Penguins even after extending DeSmith earlier this year, as they need someone who can step in and contribute in case of injury.