Jake DeBrusk Will Return Saturday, Zdeno Chara And Charlie McAvoy Also Nearing Returns
- The Bruins are set to get some good news on the injury front as the team announced that winger Jake DeBrusk will return to the lineup on Saturday night after missing the last eight games with an upper-body injury. Meanwhile, blueliners Zdeno Chara (upper-body) and Charlie McAvoy (MCL sprain) have been ruled out for Saturday but could return on Sunday afternoon. With Boston looking to lock down the top spot in the East (and home ice for the first three rounds of the postseason), these returns will certainly come at a welcome time.
Jordan Szwarz Signs One-Year Extension With Boston Bruins
Though the team sent him down to the minor leagues earlier today, it’s not all bad news for Jordan Szwarz. The Boston Bruins forward has signed a one-year two-way contract extension which will keep him in the organization through 2018-19. Szwarz will earn $650K at the NHL level, while securing $350K while in the AHL. Szwarz was set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer.
Now 26, Szwarz has really flourished as an offensive player since joining the Providence Bruins in 2016. Last season, he led the club in scoring with 54 points before being a key part of a deep playoff run. This season has been much of the same, with 44 points in 46 games for the AHL club. Though he won’t lead the team this year—that honor is held by Austin Czarnik and his 61 points in 56 games—he is still one of the leaders for the minor league squad and a useful player to keep around for Boston.
In 12 NHL games this season, Szwarz has just three points and is still looking for his first goal, but has been used in various roles including some time (albeit limited) on the powerplay. Useful depth pieces are important for every organization, and especially one that is expecting to challenge for the Stanley Cup this year and in the immediate future. Long playoff runs almost always result in several injuries, and with the Bruins already dealing with various ailments throughout the lineup Szwarz could be just a shift or two away from being needed in the postseason.
Minor Transactions: 03/29/18
The Arizona Coyotes are playing the ultimate spoiler down the stretch, winning again last night against the Vegas Golden Knights to draw even with the Vancouver Canucks for last in the Western Conference. Arizona has played well of late, giving them some hope for next season as they look to build around a young core.
For the Coyotes and all the teams out of the playoffs, now is the time to experiment with players who might not have had a chance to prove what they can do earlier in the season. With that, we’ll keep track of all the minor transactions around the league right here.
- The Boston Bruins have sent Paul Postma back to the minors while recalling Tommy Cross under emergency conditions. Cross, the Providence Bruins captain, has played 66 games in the AHL this season and could be getting just a nice bonus for a good season. The 28-year old defenseman wasn’t on any of the pairings at morning skate, as both Zdeno Chara and Matt Grzelcyk took their normal spots.
- The Ottawa Senators have recalled Colin White under emergency conditions, and announced that Chris Wideman will not play again this season. White has played 15 games with the Senators this season, but failed to make enough of an impact to keep him in the lineup full-time. The 21-year old forward is still a big part of the Senators’ future, but hasn’t had the season many had hoped from him after his dominant career at Boston College.
- Josh Jooris has been recalled by the Pittsburgh Penguins as Derick Brassard battles injury, meaning Riley Sheahan probably moves back to the third line center position. Jooris was acquired from the Carolina Hurricanes for just this reason, giving the Penguins some added depth should they face injury.
- Pheonix Copley has been re-assigned once again, sent back to the minor leagues after a short recall. Copley has been filling in for the Washington Capitals when needed, but still hasn’t actually entered a game.
- Spencer Foo is coming up for the Calgary Flames, using their fourth post-deadline recall. Foo was signed out of the NCAA last spring, and has made an impact in the AHL during his first season of professional hockey. He’ll likely get a chance to make his NHL debut over the last week of the season, and compete for a full-time job next fall.
- With Semyon Varlamov (illness) and Jonathan Bernier (infection) both expected to be available on Friday night, the Avalanche have returned goaltender Spencer Martin to San Antonio of the AHL. Martin has not seen any action with Colorado this season but has appeared in 32 games at the minor league level, posting a 3.02 GAA and a .895 SV%.
Boston Bruins Sign Zdeno Chara To One-Year Extension
The Boston Bruins have decided to keep around one of their franchise greats, inking Zdeno Chara to a one-year extension worth $5.0MM. The deal also includes up to $1.75MM in performance bonuses, something that can only be added for a player of his age on a one-year contract. Chara was set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1st.
Chara, 41, has had an outstanding season not only for his age, but as a pure defenseman. The hulking Boston captain can still get around the ice well enough to use his huge reach and strength to move players off the puck, and he’s routinely shown off his elite conditioning by logging extremely long shifts on the penalty kill and leading the team in minutes played. His 23 per night is still almost an entire minute longer than 20-year old partner Charlie McAvoy.
With the season he’s put together, it’s easy to see why the Bruins handed him an extension, and one that will actually see him collect a bigger paycheck. Because of the front-loaded nature of his last contract, and a quirk in the old CBA, Chara earned just $4.0MM this season and carried the same cap hit. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic reports that the performance bonuses are based around games played and playoffs, meaning it’s reasonable to believe Chara will earn even more than $5.0MM when it is all said and done.
Chara has always maintained that he wanted to stay with Boston, but there would have been ample interest in him had he hit free agency. Even as a player in his forties, Chara could have an immediate impact on any defense corps around the league. We ranked him 18th in our Midseason UFA Power Rankings, due to his age, but even at the time it seemed unlikely he would sign somewhere else.
The extension gives the Bruins six defensemen—Chara, McAvoy, Torey Krug, Adam McQuaid, Kevan Miller and Brandon Carlo—under contract for next season, with Matt Grzelcyk under control as a restricted free agent. That group is good enough to go with to start 2018-19, but don’t expect Boston to sit on their hands in free agency. For a team that believes they can win the Stanley Cup, adding more defensive help is still always a consideration.
In that way, Chara’s role may be reduced next season, which should actually frighten Atlantic Division foes even more. As his body inevitably slows down, less responsibility actually could produce better results on a short term basis. Chara routinely faces some of the strongest competition on the team, something that may change as other, younger options become more and more adept. For now, he’ll remain the top shutdown option on Boston, a legendary penalty killer, and one of the most recognizable players in the NHL.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Injury Notes: Jets And Bruins
Two of the best teams in hockey, the Boston Bruins and Winnipeg Jets, are both in action today and will both see changes to their lineups due to injury. The Bruins take on the Minnesota Wild with a chance to climb within two points of the Atlantic-leading Tampa Bay Lightning while still holding a game in hand. The Jets need a win over the Central leading Predators to clinch a playoff spot with their own efforts, but could also get in today with at least one point and an Anaheim Ducks loss. However, the Jets will have to do so tonight and going forward down a man, whereas it seems like the Bruins task is about to get easier as their mountain of injuries is shrinking.
The Winnipeg Jets have a tough situation on their hands, but it could be worse. The team announced today that veteran defenseman Toby Enstrom will be shut down for the remainder of the regular season. Head coach Paul Maurice told TSN’s Brian Munz that Enstrom will not play again over the final two weeks as he nurses a lower-body injury. However, the important distinction is that this was the team’s choice and that it only includes the regular season. The team seems optimistic that some time off will give Enstrom a better chance of being ready to go in the postseason. With Dmitry Kulikov all but done for the year, the Jets could really use a healthy Enstrom if they want to make waves in the 2018 Stanley Cup playoffs.
Meanwhile, the Bruins also have their eye on the Cup and have somehow stayed on course through mounting injuries over the past month. Boston’s last two games in particular have lacked Patrice Bergeron, Charlie McAvoy, Zdeno Chara, Jake DeBrusk, David Backes, Rick Nash, and Torey Krug, yet the Bruins picked up a combined three points against the St. Louis Blues and Dallas Stars. Overall, the Bruins are shockingly 9-2-2 since Bergeron went down in late February, with McAvoy out since March 3rd and Chara and DeBrusk having missed the last two weeks. Now, the team is getting healthier, announcing that Bergeron and Krug are set to return to the lineup tonight and adding that Chara, McAvoy, and Backes are making their way back as well. That just leaves DeBrusk and Nash without an update and neither injury was reported to be overly serious when they first occurred, which means that Boston could be back at full strength before the start of the playoffs. Given the emergence of Ryan Donato and the strong play of Brian Gionta, Nick Holden, and others, that begs the question posed by beat writer Joe Haggerty today: who will start for the Bruins if everyone is healthy?
Patrice Bergeron To Meet With Team Doctors On Friday
- Bruins center Patrice Bergeron is set to meet with team doctors on Friday to reassess his fractured foot, notes Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe. He has been skating on his own and also a little bit with their AHL affiliate in Providence as of late and the team is hopeful that he will be cleared to join them on their current four-game road trip. The 32-year-old has missed the last 12 games with this injury but still sits third in scoring with 27 goals and 27 assists in 55 contests.
New York Rangers Sign Ryan Lindgren To Three-Year Deal
As expected New York Rangers have signed prospect Ryan Lindgren to his three-year entry-level contract. When Lindgren was acquired from the Boston Bruins at the deadline, it wasn’t clear whether he would sign this season or return to the University of Minnesota for another year. The Rangers have convinced him, and he’ll begin his professional career after just two seasons with the Golden Gophers.
Lindgren was one of the big prizes of the Rick Nash deal, coming to New York as a potential top-4 defenseman who could jump into their system quickly. Like GM Jeff Gorton said recently, the Rangers had a gap in talent due to their lack of first-round picks the last few years and are trying to fill it with prospects during the early part of their rebuild. Lindgren, selected 49th-overall in 2016, does just that as he leaves Minnesota after failing to qualify for the NCAA tournament. Long-time head coach Don Lucia left the program recently, which could have been an additional factor in Lindgren choosing to turn pro after just two seasons in college.
Though he’s not the biggest body on the ice, Lindgren rarely loses physical battles due to his squat, wide based skating stride. His mobility is excellent, and he can shut down rushes quickly before they even get into the zone. That’s his calling card, as the offense never really did materialize in college like some though it would. Through two seasons, Lindgren recorded just 16 points but was an excellent defender who could be relied on even against the opposition’s best. Though the defensive ability will likely carry him to the NHL quickly, it’s unlikely he will be a real impact player unless his offensive instincts improve.
The Rangers though will take the solid defensive potential, as they’ve had trouble finding players in recent years who they could rely on in their own end. The Brendan Smith experiment failed miserably this season, while the old guard have basically all been shipped out. Ryan McDonagh and Dan Girardi are now together with the Tampa Bay Lightning, while Marc Staal isn’t a player to build around any longer. Lindgren could be a nice compliment to a more offensive talent like Kevin Shattenkirk, though where he fits into the NHL plan is still clearly undecided. He’ll head to Hartford for now to play on an amateur tryout this season, and show what he can do in professional hockey.
Boston Bruins Sign Wiley Sherman To Entry-Level Contract
Another Harvard product is joining the Boston Bruins, as Wiley Sherman has signed his entry-level contract with the club. The hulking defenseman will join the Providence Bruins for the remainder of the season on an amateur tryout, meaning his ELC will kick in for the 2018-19 season.
Sherman, 22, stands 6’7″ and was an imposing figure on the Harvard defense corps this season. Selected in the fifth round in 2013, he doesn’t have huge offensive upside but some believe he could crack the NHL in a shutdown role at some point. That is still up for debate, but his reach and size obviously give him an early advantage.
Opportunity will be tough to come by in Boston though, as their NHL blueline has at least five players already signed for next season with a deal for Zdeno Chara still likely to come after the season. There are also several other defensive prospects that Sherman will have to pass, but it’s hard to underestimate a player of his size.
Bruins Sign Ryan Donato
The Bruins have locked up one of their top prospects, announcing that they have signed forward Ryan Donato to a two-year, entry-level contract. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. It’s worth noting that the first year of the deal is 2017-18 which means that Donato will be eligible to play right away for Boston.
The 21-year-old was a second-round pick of the Bruins (56th overall) back in 2014 and is coming off a very strong junior season at Harvard. In just 29 games, he tallied a career-high 26 goals to go along with 17 assists; his 1.48 point per game average ranked fifth among all Division I players. Because of his performance, he was named one of the ten finalists for the 2018 Hobey Baker Award for the top player in college hockey. However, they weren’t named to the end-of-season tournament and Boston has wasted little time locking him up.
Donato also made his mark at the Olympics last month. He led Team USA in scoring with six points in five games and his five goals tied for the most among all Olympians. With the injuries Boston has up front at the moment (Patrice Bergeron, David Backes, Jake DeBrusk, and Anders Bjork), there’s a good chance that Donato will be playing a regular role in the not-too-distant future.
Tavares Notes: Potential Suitors, Rangers, Deadline Moves, Snow
The worse the New York Islanders play as their recent struggles continue, the more NHL teams are salivating at the chance to steal away a star player, which is a rare thing, according to the Toronto Sun’s Steve Simmons. The last significant star free agent that signed with another club dates back to 2006 when the Boston Bruins signed Zdeno Chara away from the Ottawa Senators. However, usually franchise free agents sign with their former team like Steven Stamkos did back in 2016.
Simmons writes that the San Jose Sharks and the St. Louis Blues are the two teams that are thought to be at the top of the list of suitors for Tavares. He adds that several teams with cap space might also be interested in attempting to lure Tavares to their team as they lack that superstar player, including the Vegas Golden Knights, New Jersey Devils and the Vancouver Canucks. Other teams like Montreal, Detroit, Carolina and even Toronto might also attempt to make a stab at acquiring the 27-year-old center.
- It doesn’t look like the New York Rangers are expected to go after Tavares, according to Larry Brooks of the New York Post. With the Rangers rebuilding their franchise, it just doesn’t seem to make sense that Tavares would sign with them. Considering Tavares is fueled by team loyalty, it seems unlikely he would sign with the Rangers who could offer only seven years, while the Islanders can offer eight years and are much closer to reaching the playoffs.
- The lack of trade deadline moves might also count against the New York Islanders in their quest to re-sign Tavares, according to Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos. While saying that he would not move Tavares, Islanders’ general manager Garth Snow also said he would not make moves for rental players. In the end, the biggest acquisition the team made was trading a third-round pick for defenseman Brandon Davidson, who had been placed on waivers only months earlier. Now after seven losses since the deadline, Kypreos questions whether Snow’s moves were the right ones. Certainly bolstering the team for a playoff run might have shown Tavares how committed the team is to winning. Instead the losing could easily drive the soon-to-be free agent away. The team is sitting in last place in the Metropolitan Division, well out of range of a playoff spot. “It almost feels like this thing is snowballing away from the Islanders and Tavares,” said Kypreos.
- Arthur Staple of The Athletic (subscription required) writes that co-owners Scott Malkin and Jon Ledecky have some tough decisions to make in the next few weeks. The scribe writes that they chose to keep Snow last offseason because he and then-new head coach Doug Weight were close with Tavares. However, with fans calling for Snow’s head, ownership may want to make a change before Tavares hits free agency. Even if they don’t make an immediate move, Snow’s job may come down to whether Tavares stays or goes. “It’s out of my control,” Tavares said regarding Snow’s job status. “I’m here to play hockey, be the best player I can be for the Islanders. Those things are above my head. I just try to have the right attitude every day, not take this for granted, enjoy the group we have, the staff we have. Ever since I’ve been here I’ve been treated great, just tried to come out and give everything I can. We wish we’d have more success, but anything that happens, anything that has happened is out of my control.”