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Sunday Evening Review: The Week’s Most Important Posts

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Did you miss a post this week? PHR has you covered by highlighting the most important news in the NHL last week:

Top KHL Salaries and their NHL Comparables
KHL insider Aivis Kalnins reported the top 30 KHL player salaries on Monday, and the amounts pale in comparison to their NHL counterparts. The highest paid KHL player is Ilya Kovalchuk, who makes $5.5MM. PHR’s Brett Barrett notes that 99 NHL players make more money than Kovalchuk.

Penguins Goalie Matt Murray Signs Extension
The Penguins signed goaltender Matt Murray to a three-year contract extension worth $3.75MM a year. Murray is currently on the shelf as he recovers from a broken hand suffered in the World Cup of Hockey. The signing signifies the team’s commitment to Murray, and also to moving Marc-Andre Fleury sooner rather than later.

Patrick Sharp Out With Concussion
Dallas Stars forward Patrick Sharp will be out for a significant amount of time after suffering a concussion earlier this week. Sharp was hit by Los Angeles Kings defenseman Brayden McNabb and appeared to hit his head as he fell to the ice. This marks yet another significant injury for the Dallas Stars—Patrick Eaves, Ales Hemsky, and Cody Eakin have yet to start a game this season due to injury.

Douglas Murray Retires
Swedish defenseman Douglas Murray announced his retirement on Friday. The veteran had not received an NHL contract offer this season and did not consider joining another league. He last played in the NHL for the Montreal Canadiens in 2013-14.

Kings Goalie Jeff Zatkoff Injured
The Los Angeles Kings were dealt another goaltending blow as backup Jeff Zatkoff went down with a groin injury. The Kings are already without starter Jonathan Quick, and Zatkoff’s injury means the Kings have to rely on a tandem of Peter Budaj and Jack Campbell. The former is a 34 year-old perennial backup who started one game last season, and the latter was acquired from the Dallas Stars for defenseman Nick Ebert.

Jacques Demers Hospitalized Saturday
Former NHL Coach Jacques Demers was hospitalized yesterday after suffering what appeared to be a second stroke—but was later determined to be an infection. Demers is remembered for coaching the Montreal Canadiens to their last Stanley Cup, and also coached in Tampa Bay, Detroit, St. Louis, and Quebec.

Coyotes Goalie Mike Smith Injured
The Arizona Coyotes are without goaltender Mike Smith again as he suffered a left knee injury in the Coyotes’ loss to the Ottawa Senators. Backup goaltender Louis Domingue will take over the starting duties and the Coyotes will need him to shine if they want to avoid a slow start to the season.

Injury Notes: Scandella, Marincin, Redmond

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Tonight’s injury update in the NHL:

  • The Minnesota Wild report that defenseman Marco Scandella is out of tonight’s Wild game versus the Toronto Maple Leafs because of an undisclosed illness. Michael Russo of the Minnesota Star-Tribune reports that Matthew Dumba will take his place. Scandella is logging 2nd-pairing minutes with the Wild—averaging just under 20 minutes a night—but remains pointless so far. Dumba has had more luck, scoring 1G in his first three games while logging just over 18 minutes a night. Minnesota drafted Dumba 7th overall in 2012 and has seen the defenseman progress in each of first three years in the NHL.
  • The Toronto Maple Leafs announce that defenseman Martin Marincin is also out of tonight’s game with the Minnesota Wild. Marincin is replaced by Roman Polak. Marincin has been a nice surprise for the Maple Leafs since they acquired him last year, and he is currently played over 21 minutes a night. He has 1A in the team’s first three games. Polak makes his second Toronto debut tonight—he re-signed with the team in the offseason after being traded to the San Jose Sharks near the 2015-16 NHL Trade Deadline.
  • The Montreal Canadiens reported that defenseman Zach Redmond will be out for six weeks after suffering a broken foot in practice. The Canadiens signed Redmond to a two-year deal this summer but he has yet to play for the big club. Redmond was expected to get playing time if the Canadiens sent rookie Mikhail Sergachev back to the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires. Last Season Redmond spent time between the Colorado Avalanche and its AHL affiliate San Antonio Rampage. The blueliner put up 2G and 4A in 37 NHL games.

Canucks Sign Canadian College Goaltender To Emergency Professional Try-out

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The Vancouver Canucks have signed University of British Columbia goaltender Matt Hewitt to a one-day professional try-out contract after Ryan Miller hurt himself hours before game time.

Hewitt is in his fourth year with the UBC Thunderhawks after spending three years with the Regina Pats of the WHL. He currently sports a 3.54 GAA and a .894 Sv% in his first three starts this season.

Hewitt will backup Canucks goalie Jacob Markstrom tonight against the St. Louis Blues, but like all emergency backups, will not see the ice unless Markstrom suffers a significant injury. The first time the Canucks used the emergency goalie—UBC’s Chris Levesque in 2003—Canucks goalie Johan Hedberg broke his wrist on a play but remained in goal. The second time they used an emergency goaltender—University of Calgary’s Dustin Butler—went without incident despite the Canucks bench urging then-coach Alain Vigneault to play Butler in the dying minutes of a 4-1 game.

This marks the third UBC goalie used in an emergency situation. In 2011 the San Jose Sharks signed UBC’s Jordan White to an emergency one-day contract after Antero Niittymaki suffered an injury in practice before a road game against the Canucks.

Las Vegas Hires General Fanager Creator Tom Poraszka

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The Las Vegas NHL Expansion Team has hired General Fanager creator Tom Poraszka as a Hockey Operations Analyst. Poraszka created General Fanager, a popular salary cap tracking application.

General Fanager—created in 2015—was a website that tracked NHL teams’ salary cap, player contracts, and player movement. It also allowed visitors to customize teams with trades and transactions while staying cap compliant. The website filled a gap left by the wildly popular CapGeek, which shuttered operations after its founder Matthew West battled cancer. General Fanager becomes the latest NHL analytic website shut down after its creator joins an NHL organization. Current alternatives include CapFriendly—a PHR favorite—and NHLNumbers.

Hiring amateur hockey analysts based on their web applications is a recent NHL trend. More and more teams are hiring these creators in an effort to boost their salary cap understanding and their advanced statistics department. Whether or not this trend continues, however, remains to be seen. Both the Montreal Canadiens and the Edmonton Oilers decided not to renew the contracts of their analytic hires.

Snapshots: Prince, Campbell, Hanzal

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News and notes from around the NHL this morning:

  • The New York Islanders have placed Shane Prince on IR retroactive to last night. Prince suffered a lower body injury last night in the Isles game against the Washington Capitals. Prince has registered zero points and -3 plus/minus this season in two games. Last season Prince split his time between the Ottawa Senators and the Islanders, scoring 6G and 11A in 62 games, and an additional 3G and 1A in 11 playoff games. Prince’s injury opens up a center spot to recently cut prospects.
  • The Columbus Blue Jackets have suspended forward Gregory Campbell after he refused to report to the Lake Erie Monsters, Columbus’s AHL affiliate. Campbell—through his agent Pat Morris—says that he is not going to play in the AHL and take a spot away from a younger player. Columbus tried to trade Campbell before waiving him, but apparently did not garner any legitimate offers. Campbell will continue to skate on his own, but one would have to think whether he is considering retirement.
  • Arizona Coyotes’ Martin Hanzal will most likely shut down contract talks for the season and instead focus on hockey, reports Sarah McLellan of AZ Central Sports. Hanzal is in the final year of a five-year deal worth $3.1MM a year. The Czech forward says that he wants to stay in Arizona, and is happy to talk to the team once the season ends. Shutting down negotiations once the season started was the plan along, says Hanzal.

Maple Leafs Retire Seventeen Jersey Numbers

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The Toronto Maple Leafs reversed policy and retired seventeen jersey numbers as part of their 100th anniversary celebration in their home opener last night. The Maple Leafs were staunchly against retiring numbers for decades and would rather honor numbers instead of taking them out of circulation. The club policy reversal came as a surprise to many, and changes which numbers can be worn by incoming players. The following numbers were retired:

1: Johnny Bower and Turk Broda
4: Hap Day and Red Kelly
5: Bill Barilko
6: Ace Bailey
7: Tim Horton and King Clancy
9: Charlie Conacher and Ted Kennedy
10: Syl Apps and George Armstrong
13: Mats Sundin
14: Dave Keon
17: Wendel Clark
21: Borje Salming
27: Frank Mahovlich and Darryl Sittler
93: Doug Gilmour

One player currently affected by the change is forward James van Riemsdyk. Up until last night van Riemsdyk wore number 21—a number now retired to honor Borje Salming—so van Riemsdyk switched to number 25. He had known about the change since the summertime, and jokingly admitted to TSN’s Mark Masters that that he chose 25 to “make him look bigger.”

Van Riemsdyk becomes the 44th Maple Leaf to wear number 25, and follows prominent Maple Leafs Steve Thomas and Peter Zezel. The change doesn’t seem to to affect him though as he scored last night in his first game with his new number.

Injury Reports: Rask, Girardi

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Injury notes from last night’s NHL games:

  • Tuukka Rask. The Boston Bruins’ goaltender Tuukka Rask sat out last night’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, and it was only after the game that the Bruins admitted to Rask’s injury, reports Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe. The team did not disclose the nature or extend of Rask’s injury—they referred to it as soreness—but it’s believed to be a lower body ailment. The Boston Herald’s Steve Conroy reports that Rask seemed to tweak something in the 3rd period of Thursday’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Rask left the ice during a TV timeout but returned for the rest of the game. Backup goaltender Anton Khudobin started in Rask’s place yesterday in the team’s 4-1 loss. It is unclear how long Rask will be sidelined, but if he misses considerable time, the Bruins will compete with the Los Angeles Kings to find a suitable stopgap.
  • Dan Girardi. The New York Rangers defensemen suffered a hip flexor injury last night against the St. Louis Blues. Girardi left the ice in the second period and did not return. After the game, coach Alain Vigneault speculated that while he doesn’t know the injury’s severity, he expects it to be more than day-to-day. Losing Dan Girardi is a blow to the Rangers’ blueline, but it gives former first round pick Dylan McIlrath another shot to impress the coaching staff. The Rangers were rumored to be shopping McIlrath earlier this month, but those talks may be on hold until Girari returns.

Snapshots: Sabres, Oilers, Kings

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News and notes from around the NHL this evening:

  • The Buffalo Sabres inked GM Tim Murray to a multi-year contract extension today. The Sabres hired Murray in January 2014 to replace Darcy Regier. In his first full season, Murray orchestrated a 27-point jump in the standings. The team is building through drafting and with smart acquisitions, a hallmark of the burgeoning Murray era. So far in his short tenure Murray has acquired Dmitry Kulikov, Ryan O’Reilly, Robin Lehner, Evander Kane, and Zach Bogosian.
  • The Edmonton Oilers have placed defenseman Brandon Davidson on Injured Reserve today after suffering an apparent upper body injury last night against the Calgary Flames. Davidson was tangled up with Flames’ forward Matthew Tkachuk and fell backwards onto the ice. In response to the injury, the Oilers have called up defenseman Eric Gryba. Davidson played 51 games for the Oilers last season, scoring 4G and 7A. The defenseman is no stranger to injury— he overcame testicular cancer during his first year of professional hockey.
  • The Los Angeles Kings have called up goaltender Peter Budaj in the wake of Jonathan Quick’s injury, reports LA Kings insider Jon Rosen. Budaj led the AHL in wins as well as GAA and SV% among goalies who played more than 25 games. The Kings are fortunate that Budaj was not claimed off of waivers last week when they sent the Slovak goalie back to the AHL. While calling up an AHL goalie is automatic when a starter is out with an injury, Budaj’s veteran presence could mean that current starter Jeff Zatkoff is on a short leash.

2016-17 Season Preview: Pittsburgh Penguins

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With the start of the regular season only hours away, we look at the last team in our season preview series: the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Last Season: 48-26-8 (104 points). 2nd in the Metropolitan Division. Won Stanley Cup.

Remaining Cap Space: $(-3.18MM) per CapFriendly (Pens are expected to place Pascal Dupuis and his $3.75MM cap hit on LTIR)

Key Newcomers: G Mike Condon (waivers, Montreal)

Key Departures: F Beau Bennett (trade, New Jersey), D Ben Lovejoy (UFA, New Jersey), G Jeff Zatkoff (UFA, Los Angeles)

[Related: Pittsburgh Penguins Depth Chart at Roster Resource]

Players To Watch: Sidney Crosby. The unequivocal best player in the NHL right now is sidelined indefinitely with another concussion. Crosby sustained his latest concussion during training camp on the Friday before the seasons starts. The concussion derails what was set to be a promising start to the season after Crosby returned from the World Cup of Hockey a champion and MVP. He led the tournament in scoring by potting 3G and 7A. And while concussions are now taken more seriously, Crosby’s history with head injuries only intensifies the potential harm for the Penguins Captain. He missed a significant chuck of 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons with concussions and neck issues stemming from hits to the head, and another similar injury is cause for concern.

If Crosby comes back healthy and with no lingering effects, then the Pens are expected to challenge for the Cup once again. The team made no major moves this off-season, and avoided the almost inevitable cap-shedding summers that plagued the Chicago Blackhawks over the past six years.

Key Storyline: Goaltending. Who will step up and take the reins this season? Most hockey pundits assumed that Marc-Andre Fleury would be traded and Matt Murray would assume the starting role. Fleury lost his starting position to Murray after the rookie’s excellent playoff performance. The Pens attempted to insert Fleury back into the lineup during the playoffs but the team faltered and Coach Mike Sullivan went back to Murray.

The other reason many thought that Fleury would be traded was that if he remained on the roster past June, his newly activated NMC would force the Penguins to protect him and expose Murray in the expansion draft. Obviously Pittsburgh would like to keep Murray over Fleury as the former is arguably better, younger, and cost-controlled. That leaves Fleury as the odd man out in this situation, and the Pens could move him during the season if the price is right. Regardless of when they move him, the tension surrounding the situation could have an adverse effect on team morale. The Penguins have a bit of time to contemplate platooning both goalies, however, as Murray broke his hand during the World Cup of Hockey and will miss a few weeks as he recovers.

Snapshots: Concussions, Crosby, Prust

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News and notes from around the NHL this evening:

  • The NHL has updated its concussion protocol to add two key elements: (1) central office spotters watching all the games via the League office, and (2) mandatory fines for clubs who do not remove a player who requires a concussion evaluation. The central office staffers will watch the games back at league headquarters in New York and alert teams and in-arena spotters anytime they feel a player requires concussion evaluation. Concussions have become a hot topic is sports—namely the NFL—and the NHL’s on-going concussion litigation may have affected this change.
  • Speaking of concussions, Sidney Crosby has no timetable for recovery but is not worried about any longterm effects, reports Will Graves of the AP Sports. Crosby suffered another concussion this preseason and is currently out indefinitely. He took part in an hour-long skate today with other injured players but intends to take it day by day. Crosby is no stranger to concussions—he missed significant time in 2011 and 2012 with a concussion and related injuries stemming from numerous collisions. His history may be of benefit, however, as Crosby understands that concussion recovery takes patience and that he cannot rush progress.
  • The Toronto Maple Leafs have released forward Brandon Prust from his PTO, reports Sportsnet’s Chris Johnson. Prust failed to make the team after a disappointing training camp. Despite being released, Prust continued to practice with the team today before the season began in an effort to garner a contract nonetheless. Prust acknowledged that making the Maple Leafs was a long shot, and he hopes that he turned some heads in the process.

 

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