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Atlantic Notes: Hudon, Marchand, Sabres

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The Montreal Canadiens announced that young forward Charles Hudon is out indefinitely with a broken sternum. The rookie took a hard shot to the chest in practice on Friday and did not return. Hudon has played in just six NHL games, only three thus far this season, but has been looking strong in his early appearances and has earned an increase in play time as a result. However, a broken sternum is a rare and painful injury that usually recovers multiple months of recovery.

Hudon, a 2012 fifth-round pick, has greatly outplayed his draft slot and become one of Montreal’s top prospects and a major minor league contributor. After a strong junior career in the QMJHL, Hudon has dominated the AHL and was hoping to finally carve out a role for himself in the NHL. With that plan on hold, for the time being Montreal appears to be set to give 2013 second-rounder Artturi Lehkonen a spot back on the team. The rookie has played in 12 games with Montreal this season, but has missed the past few weeks with an injury. His return is well timed with Hudon now out long-term.

In other Atlantic news:

  • The Boston Bruins hope that a practice injury like that of Hudon is far from what happened at their practice earlier today. Star winger Brad Marchand blocked a big shot from defenseman Adam McQuaid and went down hard. Marchand left the ice and did not return to practice. The Bruins offense has been anemic of late, other than the contributions of the top line, featuring Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, and the upstart David Pastrnak. A long-term absence for Marchand would be difficult for the Bruins to overcome, especially with Zdeno Chara already injured. Stay tuned for more on this developing story.
  • The Buffalo Sabres continue to use their promotions and demotions with their AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans, pretty liberally this season. The team announced that they have sent down William Carrier, Cole Schneider, and Cal O’Reilly, a trio that has been up and down several times already this season.

Allen’s Latest: Hamilton, Kane, Shattenkirk, Hanzal, Murphy

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The USA Today’s Kevin Allen is more than happy to suggest a holiday wish list for a handful of NHL teams. Allen offers advice to the follow clubs:

  • New York Rangers: Allen suggests that the Rangers could snap up Dougie Hamilton from the Calgary Flames should they be willing to give up J.T. Miller. But just as quickly as he suggests it, he provides rationale as to why it might be far fetched. First, the financials wouldn’t work with Hamilton’s $5.75MM cap hit. Second, Miller is playing well with 18 points in 21 games while Hamilton has been struggling. For the deal to work, Allen believes the Rangers would have to shed another contract to either Calgary or another team in need of a defenseman (Allen suggests Kevin Klein).
  • New York Islanders: The team in Brooklyn is Allen’s next focus and he suggests Evander Kane to the Isles. The losses of Kyle Okposo, Matt Martin, and Frans Nielsen coupled with the poor production from pricey free agent pickup Andrew Ladd makes Kane a reasonable target. However, Allen points out that the Isles do not have the cap room to add Kane’s bulky contract and would have to do some “juggling” in order to make it work. Allen adds that a defenseman would help out Buffalo’s cause if they were willing to talk about Kane.
  • Boston Bruins: How many people have suggested Kevin Shattenkirk to Boston? Allen chimes in here as well, believing that the right handed defenseman would be the perfect addition to the blue line. Further, Allen writes that if Boston can convince Shattenkirk to re-sign with them, overpaying a bit would be well worth it.
  • Montreal Canadiens: Arizona’s Martin Hanzal would be a great target for the Habs, who Allen feels could use another scorer to make a Stanley Cup run. What would it take? Allen believes a young player and a draft pick.
  • Detroit Red Wings: It hasn’t been easy to fill the enormous hole that Nicklas Lidstrom left four seasons ago, and the Wings have struggled to find any solutions. Allen believes the Carolina Hurricanes could provide some help in the way of defenseman Ryan Murphy. Allen predicts that the Red Wings could trade a young forward to land him, but also sees a number of potential suitors for Murphy, namely the Colorado Avalanche, Arizona Coyotes and Vancouver Canucks.

 

Roster Moves: Kuraly, Shaw

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The Boston Bruins have decided to change things up, after their 4-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday. Mark Divver of the Providence Journal reports that Sean Kuraly has been returned to the AHL after just four games. In five total this season, the 23-year old has yet to record a point, playing just eight minutes a night.

While Kuraly isn’t a core piece, the Bruins were hoping to get just a bit more from the former fifth-round pick. His big body and physical style may eventually slot into the bottom six, but for now he’ll return to Providence to play in the AHL.  The Bruins expect David Pastrnak to return tonight against the Ottawa Senators.

In Anaheim, the team has recalled Logan Shaw from the San Diego Gulls. This will mark Shaw’s debut in Anaheim after being acquired from Florida earlier this month. The team dealt Michael Sgarbossa for the 24-year old winger, hoping that he can slide into the fourth line for the majority of the season.

Playing in 53 NHL games last year, Shaw contributed 7 points. He also dressed for three of the Panthers’ playoff matches, but was held without a point. At the time of his acquisition, Ducks’ head coach Randy Carlyle said that he could “play right side or center”.

Snapshots: Prust, Lindbohm, Pastrnak

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News and notes from around the NHL this afternoon:

  • Brandon Prust is close—but not final—on a deal to play in the DEL in Germany this year, reports Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston. Prust’s agent Claude Lemieux says that Prust is waiting on a potential deal from the Toronto Maple Leafs. Le Journal de Montreal first broke the story (link in French) that Prust had a deal lined up but Prust is still angling for one last shot at an AHL position. Prust signed a PTO with the Toronto this preseason but failed to make the cut.
  • The St. Louis Blues have reassigned forward Petteri Lindbohm to the AHL Chicago Wolves today. He did not impress in his five-game stint with the club, averaging 12 minutes a night and failing to register a point. The Finnish defenseman was looking to make the next step in his young career, but he’ll have to refine his game a bit more in the AHL.
  • The Boston Bruins announced that forward David Pastrnak will return tonight against the Ottawa Senators. Pastrnak missed the last three games with an upper body injury, but still leads the Bruins with 10 goals. He has 10G and 4A in 14 games so far this season. Pastrnak is on the final year of his ELC and will see a significant raise on an RFA deal next year if he maintains his production.

Snapshots: Senators, Bruins

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News and notes from around the NHL this morning:

  • The Ottawa Senators have recalled defenseman Fredrik Claesson from Binghamton ahead of tonight’s game against the Boston Bruins, reports Ken Warren of the Ottawa Citizen. The stay-at-home defenseman has one assist in nine games with Binghamton this season, and zero points in his six games with Ottawa. Claesson’s recall initially pointed to Sens defenseman Dion Phaneuf not playing tonight, but Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun expects the Phaneuf to play after he left Ottawa’s optional skate early.
  • Continuing with the Senators, the Ottawa Citizen’s Don Butler reports that owner Eugene Melnyk’s development group RendezVous LeBreton can now negotiate with the National Capital Commission’s board on placing an arena in downtown Ottawa. The Commission was considering Melnyk’s bid alongside a competing bid from Decore Canderel DLS.  Melnyk’s venture plans to create an arena, practice center, and sports and recreation community center in the heart of downtown Ottawa on 21 hectares. The Senators currently play in Kanata, Ontario, which is about a thirty minute drive without traffic from the city center.
  • Staying with the Senators, Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun reports that forward Bobby Ryan will return to the lineup tonight. Ryan missed the past two games with a severe bone bruise on his finger. The forward has struggled so far this season, scoring only 3G and 3A in 17 games. Garrioch expects Ryan to play on a line with Kyle Turris and Ryan Dzingel.
  • Boston Bruins backup goaltender Anton Khudobin may return from his conditioning stint with the Providence Bruins, reports Mark Divver. Khudobin did not travel with the AHL team to St. John’s today, which indicates that he might join Boston tonight against the Ottawa Senators. The goalie had a rough time in the AHL, posting a 3.49 GAA and a .874 SV% in three games.

Bruins Notes: Chara, Pastrnak, Miller

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The Boston Bruins are off to a solid 11-8-0 start to the year, and much of the success has to be attributed to the tight defensive hockey the team is playing. That might take a hit over the next two games, as the team has officially announced that Zdeno Chara will miss tomorrow’s game against the Ottawa Senators, and is questionable for Friday’s matchup. Without Chara, the Bruins’ and their 6th place ranking with 44 goals against is in jeopardy. Even at his advanced age (39), the Solvakian defender is a monster on the ice, limiting goal opportunities and dominating puck battles.

  • The team will get David Pastrnak back though, in a hope that his added offense will equal out the defensive loss. The Bruins’ leading goal scorer this season was out for two games this weekend before returning to practice today.  Skating alongside Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand, the former first-round pick has 10 goals in 14 games, on pace to shatter his career-high of 15. At just 20-years old Pastrnak looks like he’s developing into a top-line winger, capable of skating opposite Marchand for many years. Coach Claude Julien says he’s likely to play “unless there’s a setback tomorrow”.
  • Kevan Miller was also cleared to return to practice today, and took a regular turn alongside Joe Morrow among Boston’s defense pairings. While Julien wouldn’t say whether Miller would get back into the lineup, his return obviously lines up fairly well with Chara’s absence. “We’re going to have some decisions to make before tomorrow’s game” is all the coach would say. Miller has yet to suit up for a game this year after breaking his left hand and needing surgery prior to the season opener. The 29-year old played in 71 games for the club a season ago, notching 18 points and 53 penalty minutes.

Injury Updates: Chara, Boyle, Scandella, Connor, Eichel

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Zdeno Chara is day to day after the Bruins released a very short release on his status. Chara left the game after one shift in the second period, and bench boss Claude Julien reported that he knew nothing further about the injury. In the statement, the Bruins characterized the injury as lower body, while Mike Loftus tweets that the Bruins don’t expect Chara to play Thursday and that he’s “iffy” for Friday’s game. Chara is a +12 this season and has six points (1-5) in 19 games.

In other injury news:

  • Bryan Burns tweets that Tampa Bay center Brian Boyle is day-to-day with an upper body injury. Erik Eriendsson also tweets his day-to-day status and writes that he’ll be out for the game tonight. Boyle was also not at the morning skate.
  • The Minnesota Wild’s Marco Scandella is back in the lineup after missing the last 10 games. Mike Halford writes that Scandella has been skating for the past 10 days after suffering an ankle injury. He also writes that his Scandella’s return will bolster a blue line tasked with stopping the Jets’ Patrik Laine.
  • Speaking of the Jets, Kyle Connor has taken his non-contact jersey off in practice tweets Ken Wiebe. Connor has been out with an upper body injury since last week.
  • Jack Eichel might be back in 3-5 games tweets Mike Harrington. Head coach Dan Bylsma believes that “the end is near” for the Sabres being without their star center, though there is no expected timetable per Bylsma.

Bruins Notes: Backes, Franchise Goals, Vatrano

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David Backes and the Boston Bruins taking on the St. Louis Blues tonight has been a big story around the hockey world today, even with so much else going on. It speaks measures about how much the former Blues captain meant to his former franchise. A second-round pick by St. Louis in 2003, the big power forward quickly established himself as one of the best two-way players in the league, as well as a strong leader in the locker room. Backes ranks in the top ten in Blues’ franchise records for games, goals, assists, points, and penalty minutes and has had a lasting effect on the team beyond just the record books.

With the Blues struggling defensively this season (51 goals allowed vs. 40 by the Bruins), there has been a lot of talk about the negative effects that the loss of Backes has had on the team and questioning the decision to let him walk. So when the two teams lined up at TD Garden in Boston tonight, St. Louis fans could only hope that Backes wouldn’t directly harm them as opposed to his absence indirectly hurting the team against other teams. Fittingly, it was Backes who scored the first goal of the game, early in the first period. Backes had told NHL.com’s Amalie Benjamin that he was worried about shooting on the wrong goal tonight, but got it right when he he jammed home a rebound to put Boston up 1-0.

The goal was also a significant career achievement for Backes, as it officially gave him a goal against all 30 NHL teams. The long-time Blue has been a great addition in Boston, scoring his fourth goal and eighth point of the season early in the game, playing in only his 14th game. A big, strong player, who also wears the alternate captain “A” on the road (and at home tonight for this special personal circumstance), Backes has helped the Bruins to get back to the physical, defensively sound game that led them to two Stanley Cup appearances in three years not long ago, but has been lacking the past couple of seasons.

  • Backes’ goal was also a milestone for the Bruins franchise, as it marked 20,000 goals for the team. An Original Six franchise with a winning history, Boston joins their arch-rival, the Montreal Canadiens, as the only two teams to accomplish the feat.
  • Although the Bruins are off to a strong start, their is still room for improvement. The top line of Brad Marchand – Patrice Bergeron – David Pastrnak has been excellent, but a lack of consistency and cohesion among their other forward lines has limited an offense that was among the league’s best in 2015-16. The line combinations may finally sort themselves out when Frank Vatrano returns to the lineup and, fortunately for the Bruins, that appears to be coming sooner rather than later. Vatrano injured his foot in off-season conditioning, and was forced to undergo surgery that was expected to keep him out at least through the calendar year. Instead, he took the ice this morning in his first skate with the team and is ahead of schedule to return. The AHL’s leading goal-scorer in 2015-16 (36 goals in 36 games), Vatrano also contributed eight goals in 39 games in Boston last year. The former UMass star was expected to win a top nine job in camp and was a prime candidate for a breakout year. With line chemistry still unclear, a prime spot will surely still be up for the 22-year-old with a knack for finding the back of the net.

Central Division Snapshots: Landeskog, Barrie, Kristo, Bitetto

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It must be mailbag day on the NHL beat. Earlier we linked to Joe Haggerty’s piece on the Bruins and now Mike Chambers of The Denver Post chimes in answering some tough questions regarding the Avalanche. First and foremost, Chambers discusses Gabriel Landeskog and what his expectations are for the gifted power forward. In the opinion of the scribe, based on his talent and the fact he was the second overall pick in the 2011 draft, Landeskog has to start producing 30-goal seasons in order to live up to his billing.

Landeskog posted a career-high 26 goals in 2013-14 and since has recorded seasons of 23 and 20 markers. He has netted four goals in 15 games this season which would put him on a full-season pace of 20 – 21.

As Chambers notes, Landeskog is a good NHL player and is the Avalanche captain, but with Colorado once again off to a slow start, Colorado needs him to start being great if they want to sneak back into the playoff race. Currently, the five-year veteran left wing is out of action due to a lower-body-injury.

There were rumblings that Colorado could shake up its core this past summer and one player rumored to perhaps be moved in such a scenario was Landeskog. GM Joe Sakic instead kept the core intact and simply made a couple of changes around the edges. However, if Colorado doesn’t start playing better soon, they may revisit that choice and Landeskog could be made available later this season.

Elsewhere around the Central Division:

  • In the same mailbag, Chambers took a question on Tyson Barrie. Barrie, prior to inking a four-year, $22MM extension this summer, was also thought to possibly be available via trade. As a right-handed blue liner with plenty of offensive ability, many teams would have been interested in Barrie’s services. Clearly he is viewed as a top-end puck moving defender, which as Chambers notes, often comes with high-risk, high-reward tendencies. Chambers argues that when the team is going well, the mistakes are easily overlooked. On the flip side, when things are not going so well, each mistake is magnified.
  • St. Louis Blues and Pittsburgh completed a minor deal today, with minor league forward Danny Kristo headed to the Penguins and defenseman Reid McNeill headed the other way. The news was first reported via the Blues official Twitter account. Kristo was Montreal’s second-round pick in 2008 and has also played in the New York Rangers organization. He appeared in 71 games for the Chicago Wolves, tallying 25 goals and 48 points. McNeill, two years Kristo’s junior, was selected in the sixth-round of the 2010 draft by St. Louis. With 409 penalty minutes in 234 career minor league games, the 6-foot-4, 216-pound blue liner appears to be more of a physical force than an offensive threat. The trade likely serves as little more than two clubs searching for minor league depth with the Blues moving a forward while acquiring some blue line help.
  • Nashville Predators defenseman Anthony Bitetto has been assigned to the club’s AHL affiliate on a conditioning assignment, tweets Adam Vingan of The Tennessean. Bitetto has been out since opening night with an upper-body-injury. It will be interesting to see what the Predators do once the 26-year-old blue liner completes his conditioning assignment. In his absence, Yannick Weber has stepped into the top-six and has three assists in 15 appearances. Former Shark Matt Irwin has replaced veteran Matt Carle in the lineup and has responded with three goals and five points in 10 games. It seems likely that Weber would be the odd man out though there is no indication from Nashville or Vingan that this is the case.

Atlantic Division Snapshots: Miller, Shattenkirk, Pastrnak, Sabres

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In a recent mailbag feature appearing on CSN New England, Joe Haggerty tackled several Bruins-related questions. Chief among them was a query regarding the possibility of Boston making a move for St. Louis defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk. Shattenkirk, who is in the final year of his contract and is expected to be one of next summer’s most coveted free agents, has been rumored to be available at times since the outset of the offseason and Boston, thought to be in the market for a top-four blue liner for just as long, has been linked to the veteran defender previously.

Haggerty reasons that while the Bruins would likely welcome a player of Shattenkirk’s ilk, the fact he has been the Blues best defenseman so far this season and given St. Louis considers themselves Stanley Cup contenders, they would probably not have much interest in dealing him away at this point. Additionally, it’s been suggested the Blues would require a scoring forward in any hypothetical trade of Shattenkirk, and until Frank Vatrano returns from injury, the Bruins don’t have the depth at that position to sacrifice.

Ultimately, while Haggerty expects the Bruins to have interest in Shattenkirk closer to the trade deadline, assuming the Blues do indeed make him available, right now it doesn’t make much sense for Boston.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic Division:

  • One of the reasons Boston could eventually find themselves in the market for a top-four defender is the mediocre play of young blue liner Colin Miller. Haggerty noted in the same mailbag that Miller’s performance so far has been “indifferent,” and while he’s had his moments this season he simply hasn’t played up to his abilities. Miller has just one goal and two points in 15 games this season and carries a minus-6 plus-minus rating.
  • Staying in Boston, Bruins winger David Pastrnak has officially been ruled out for tonight’s home game against Winnipeg, according to the team’s official Twitter account. Pastrnak is day-to-day with an upper-body-injury. The Czech winger is tied for fourth in the NHL with 10 goals and has added four assists for a total of 14 points in 14 games.
  • The Buffalo Sabres and GM Tim Murray have not been shy about spending owner Terry Pegula’s money the last couple of seasons but still didn’t expect to be a “cap team.” Despite adding Evander Kane via trade a couple years back, taking on his $5.25MM cap hit in the process, and signing unrestricted free agent Kyle Okposo this summer to a seven-year, $42MM contract, Murray figured he’d still have plenty of cap space to work with this year. But, as John Vogel of The Buffalo News writes, injuries to several key contributors have forced Buffalo to call up replacements from their farm system and as a result they’ve walked a fine line relative to the salary cap ceiling. The Sabres have four players – Tyler Ennis, Cody McCormick, Jack Eichel and Nicolas Deslauriers – currently on IR. That totals $7.8MM in cap space on the shelf. As Murray noted in Vogel’s piece, Buffalo has 27 players drawing NHL salaries and pushing the team closer to the cap ceiling than they are comfortable being. It remains unclear why Buffalo hasn’t utilized LTIR as that would at least temporarily alleviate the problem. Ennis is out until mid-January after groin surgery and would have been eligible for a stint on LTIR.

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