Allen’s Latest: US Juniors To Watch, 2017 Predictions
USA Today’s Kevin Allen writes a bit about the five must watch players for the US team as the World Junior Championships kick off today. Those on his watch list include Charlie McAvoy, Luke Kunin, Clayton Keller, Tage Thompson, and Colin White. Allen writes that White is versatile and expected to be a boon for the American squad as a difference maker. Thompson, according to Allen, is a younger version of Blake Wheeler, while Keller is the “gamebreaker” who has the potential to be a dynamic player someday in the NHL. Captain Kunin, according to USA general manager Jim Johannson, is the “engine” of the team. McAvoy is a physical presence, and according to bench boss Bob Motzko, wants to “knock you on your rear end and score a goal on the same shift. He is going to be a guy we lean on heavily in all situations.” The Americans will look to build on their bronze medal finish from last year’s tournament.
- Allen also lists his 10 bold predictions in 2017. Some of the bolder ones include Patrik Laine outscoring Alex Ovechkin this season and that the Blackhawks will pay Artemi Panarin $7MM to remain in Chicago. Allen expects Ralph Krueger to be back in the NHL, and that the Canucks will finally embrace a much needed rebuild. Allen writes:
It’s past time. The Canucks will be first class and ask the Sedin twins how they want the organization to handle their future. They have always loved living in Vancouver. If they wait until the summer, they might be able to trade them both to one team. Maybe the Sedins would be comfortable mentoring a young team.
Finally, Allen believes that Kevin Shattenkirk will head to free agency and be pursued by the Red Wings, Bruins, Rangers, and Lightning. In the same vein, he expects John Tavares to get the “Stamkos treatment” with his impending free agency. Whether it’s a monster contract from the Islanders or a pricier offer from another team, Allen believes it to be one of the main storylines in 2017.
Poll: 2005 NHL Draft Take Two: Twenty-Sixth Overall Pick
Hindsight is an amazing thing, and allows us to look back and wonder “what could have been.” Though perfection is attempted, scouting and draft selection is far from an exact science and sometimes, it doesn’t work out the way teams – or players – intended. For every Patrick Kane, there is a Patrik Stefan.
We’re looking back at the 2005 NHL Draft, which kicked off the salary cap era and ushered in many of the current NHL superstars. The question we’re looking to answer is knowing now what we didn’t know then, how different would this draft look now with the benefit of hindsight?
Here are the results of our redraft so far:
1st Overall: Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguins)
2nd Overall: Carey Price (Mighty Ducks of Anaheim)
3rd Overall: Anze Kopitar (Carolina Hurricanes)
4th Overall: Jonathan Quick (Minnesota Wild)
5th Overall: Kris Letang (Montreal Canadiens)
6th Overall: Tuukka Rask (Columbus Blue Jackets)
7th Overall: Bobby Ryan (Chicago Blackhawks)
8th Overall: Marc-Edouard Vlasic (San Jose Sharks)
9th Overall: Ben Bishop (Ottawa Senators)
10th Overall: James Neal (Vancouver Canucks)
11th Overall: T.J. Oshie (Los Angeles Kings)
12th Overall: Keith Yandle (New York Rangers)
13th Overall: Paul Stastny (Buffalo Sabres)
14th Overall: Marc Staal (Washington Capitals)
15th Overall: Patric Hornqvist (New York Islanders)
16th Overall: Niklas Hjalmarsson (Atlanta Thrashers)
17th Overall: Anton Stralman (Phoenix Coyotes)
18th Overall: Jack Johnson (Nashville Predators)
19th Overall: Matt Niskanen (Detroit Red Wings)
20th Overall: Justin Abdelkader (Florida Panthers)
21st Overall: Martin Hanzal (Toronto Maple Leafs)
22nd Overall: Andrew Cogliano (Boston Bruins)
23rd Overall: Kris Russell (New Jersey Devils)
24th Overall: Darren Helm (St. Louis Blues)
25th Overall: Cody Franson (Edmonton Oilers)
Now we move forward to the 26th pick, which was held by the Calgary Flames.
To recap how this works:
- We will go through the 2005 NHL Draft and have our readers select, through a voting process, who they think should have been taken with the selection.
- The entire first round will be redrafted, spanning picks one through thirty. The new selection is chosen by the majority of votes.
Back in 2005, the Flames took defenseman Matt Pelech from the Sarnia Sting. Since being drafted, Pelech played a total of 13 games in the NHL, tallying four points (1-3). Of those 13 games, Pelech spent five with the Flames and the other eight with San Jose. During the 2013-14 season, Pelech spent time in the ECHL with the Utah Grizzlies after playing for both San Jose and its AHL affiliate Worcester. A season later, Pelech recorded 39 games with the Rochester Americans. Last season, Pelech appeared in 49 games for the Schwenningen Wild Wings in the DEL (Germany) and has played the current season with Graz EC in the Austrian league.
With the 26th pick of the 2005 NHL Redraft, who should the Flames select? Cast your vote below! Mobile users, you can vote here!
With the 26th overall pick, the Calgary Flames select...
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Benoit Pouliot 28% (144)
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Devin Setoguchi 20% (103)
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Vladimir Sobotka 16% (80)
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Mason Raymond 9% (44)
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Steve Downie 8% (39)
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Sergei Kostitsyn 7% (34)
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Jakub Kindl 6% (30)
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Nathan Gerbe 3% (14)
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Jared Boll 2% (11)
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Jack Skille 2% (9)
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Gilbert Brule 1% (7)
Total votes: 515
Pastrnak, Vatrano, Marchessault Expected Back For Bruins-Panthers
Tonight’s Atlantic Division match-up between the Boston Bruins and Florida Panthers will see the return of two of the 2016-17 season’s biggest breakout stars and the season debut of another breakout candidate. According to coach Claude Julien, the Bruins will welcome back David Pastrnak to the lineup after he missed the past two games following surgery to remove an olecranon bursa from his right elbow and will get their first look this season at 2015-16 revelation Frank Vatrano, who has been out all season after tearing ligaments in his foot during training camp. To counter, the Panthers expect Jonathan Marchessault back in the lineup after missing seven of Florida’s past eight games with a lower body injury , as reported by beat writer George Richards. With both teams struggling to best .500 hockey in December, they are hoping that the return of this talent will jump-start the rest of the squad. However, only one team can come out with the win on Thursday night.
Pastrnak has been one of the most exciting players in the NHL this season. Playing on Boston’s top line with Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron, Pastrnak has 19 goals in just 27 games already this year, nearly a quarter of Boston’s 78 total goals. His 19 are second only to superstar Sidney Crosby, who has 22 in the same number of games. Altogether, the 20-year-old Pastrnak has 26 points, just one short of his career-best, and the season is not even halfway over. By year’s end, the Bruins could have their first 50-goal scorer since Cam Neely scored 50 in 1993-94.
The Bruins are obviously excited about Pastrnak’s season, but it has been even more crucial to their success given the unexpected absence of Vatrano. After leaving UMass-Amherst early to sign with the Bruins, Vatrano made the most of his first pro season in 2015-16. With the AHL’s Providence Bruins, Vatrano led the league with 36 goals (in just 36 games no less) and helped linemates Austin Czarnik and Seth Griffith finish in the top ten in scoring as well. With his scoring ability apparent, the Bruins called up the 22-year-old sniper and he contributed eight goals and three assists in 39 games in Boston. Going into the new season, Vatrano was expected to compete for a top six spot. Now that he has returned, Vatrano’s scoring punch will be a much-needed boost for the Bruins’ 25th-ranked offense. Vatrano is expected to skate on the left side of Providence teammate Czarnik and Riley Nash on Botston’s third line tonight.
While not quite keeping pace with Pastrnak, Marchessault has been an equally impressive and surprising revelation this season. After toiling in the minors for the Columbus Blue Jackets and Tampa Bay Lightning for years, Marchessault signed with Florida for two years at just $750K per year. That deal has already paid off, as Marchessault made the team out of camp and has already given the Panthers 10 goals and 10 assists this season. Florida is also struggling to score, with the 24th-ranked offense in the league, and Marchessault is their leading goal-scorer. They’ll be happy to get him back, and just in time for a game against a team that leads them in the division.
Jaromir Jagr Ties Mark Messier For Second-Most Points
Jaromir Jagr played his first NHL game on October 5, 1990 in Washington. He scored the first goal and point of his Hall of Fame career two nights later at home versus the New Jersey Devils.
So far, 766 players have played in the NHL this season. Just 455 of those, or 58%, were born before the end of 1990. Jagr has played against players born from 1951 (Guy Lafleur) to 1998 (Patrik Laine). Yet he’s still here, and reached an incredible milestone on Tuesday night: Jagr is now tied with Mark Messier for second all-time in NHL scoring.
With three assists against the Sabres, Jagr now has 755 goals, 1,132 assists, and 1,887 points. That’s 524 points more than the next highest active player, Joe Thornton. The 45-year-old Jagr is now playing in his twenty-third NHL season, and has played for eight teams.
The new top five for all-time points looks like this, until Jagr gets his next:
1. Wayne Gretzky – 2,857 points in 1487 games
T2. Jaromir Jagr – 1,887 points in 1662 games
T2. Mark Messier – 1,887 points in 1756 games
3. Gordie Howe – 1,850 points in 1767 games
4. Ron Francis – 1,798 points in 1731 games
5. Marcel Dionne – 1,771 points in 1348 games
Jagr has said that he wants to play until he’s at least 50-years-old. Should he average 50 points from now until then, he would end up in the neighborhood of 2,150 points. While he would still be 700 points behind Gretzky, he would be the first, and likely only NHLer to ever surpass Gretzky’s assist total. The first years of fantasy hockey pools had a rule: no one could take Gretzky, it was either his goals or his assists. That rule was there for a good reason, as Gretzky still has more assists than any other player in history has points, with 1,963. TSN’s Frank Seravelli wrote that Jagr would need to start another Hall of Fame career to even come close to Gretzky, but says “finishing second only to Gretzky, though, is sort of like being first among the rest of the nearly 6,000 other mere mortals to play in the NHL.”
While it may seem like a longshot for anyone to play until the age of 50, Jagr is still having fun. He’s brought back his legendary mullet from the 1990s and is still one of the most dedicated players in the league when it comes to staying in shape. He once told Sportsnet Magazine:
“The time between when I quit hockey and I die, I want it to be the shortest. It’s not going to be as exciting, that time. So as long as I can play, that’s what I’m doing. If I can play ’til I die, that’s what I will do. What else are you gonna do?”
Atlantic Notes: Drouin, Khudobin, Vatrano, Panthers
After a slow start to the season, Lightning left winger Jonathan Drouin has picked up his scoring at the right time, writes Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times. After a slow start to the season with three goals in his first 17 games, Drouin has scored four times in the last seven contests while picking up a total of eight points over that span.
With injuries to four players up front, Drouin has been thrust into a top role, something he has been craving dating back to last year when he left the team midseason in the hopes of a trade. (Among the injured players, right winger Ryan Callahan is expected to return during their current road trip while left winger Ondrej Palat hasn’t been ruled out of Tuesday’s game in Detroit.)
Drouin is a restricted free agent at the end of the season as he is in the final season of his entry-level deal. His career numbers haven’t been too impressive for a former third overall pick (back in 2013) but if he can keep up this type of production on a more consistent basis, it would go a long way towards helping his case for a long-term contract this offseason.
More from the Atlantic Division:
- The Bruins have not received the type of goaltending they were expected when they brought back Anton Khudobin to back up Tuukka Rask. He has just one win in six starts with a 3.20 GAA and a .886 SV%. In a reader mailbag, CSN New England’s Joe Haggerty suggests that Khudobin may get another start or two to try to turn things around but if he continues to struggle, they should consider bringing back Zane McIntyre before looking outside the organization. McIntyre didn’t have the best of starts to his career in a pair of games earlier this year but has been simply stellar in the minors with a 1.31 GAA and a .953 SV% in nine games, numbers that suggest he’s worthy of another look before too long.
- Still with Boston, the team announced that they have recalled left winger Frank Vatrano from their AHL affiliate in Providence. The 22 year old has yet to play in the NHL this season after undergoing foot surgery in late September. He got into a pair of games in the minors over the weekend, scoring twice. Vatrano had 36 goals in just 36 AHL games last year, leading the league in that category despite playing in less than half the games and is an intriguing addition to a lineup that is looking for some secondary offense.
- With Panthers owner Vinnie Viola being named as Secretary of the Army by U.S. President-Elect Donald Trump, alternate governor Doug Cifu will take over as the chairman and governor for the team, notes George Richards of the Miami Herald. Ownership of the team will remain in the Viola family but will be placed into a trust, subject to the approval of the Board of Governors, the team adds in a press release.
Jackets Place Campbell On Unconditional Waivers
Today happens to be Gregory Campbell‘s 33rd birthday and the Columbus Blue Jackets may have just given him a welcome present. According to Aaron Portzline of The Columbus Dispatch (Twitter link), the Blue Jackets have placed the veteran center on unconditional waivers. Per Portzline, assuming Campbell clears, as he likely will, he would become an unrestricted free agent.
Earlier this season, Columbus waived Campbell with the intent of sending him down to their AHL affiliate in Cleveland. However, once he cleared waivers, the 12-year veteran informed the club he would not report to Cleveland and he was suspended by the Blue Jackets without pay. Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen had tried to trade Campbell prior to placing him on waivers but was unable to find a taker.
Since refusing assignment to Cleveland, Campbell has been working out on his own and waiting for his next opportunity. It now appears as if is that opportunity could be near at hand.
Campbell was in the final season of a two-year deal he inked with the Jackets in the summer of 2015. He was slated to make $1.3MM in salary and would have accounted for $1.5MM against Columbus’ cap had he not been suspended. If a team should place a claim on the 33-year-old center, they would assume the prorated portion of his salary.
Prior to joining Columbus, Campbell played five seasons for the Bruins, where he developed a reputation as a solid fourth-line pivot and quality penalty killer. It’s possible a club looking for depth in its bottom-six and/or some help on the penalty kill will take a chance on Campbell once he officially reaches free agency.
Campbell scored three goals and 11 points while suiting up for all 82 games with Columbus in 2015-16. For his career, he has registered 187 regular season points in 803 games and another 13 in 59 postseason contests. He won a Stanley Cup while with Boston in the 2010-11 campaign.
Snapshots: Capitals, Senators, Bruins
News and notes from around the NHL this morning:
- The Washington Capitals have recalled Zach Sanford from the AHL Hershey Bears with no corresponding reassignment. Sanford struggled in his first stint with the Capitals, earning just one assist in 19 games. He then turned it around in the AHL, however, and scored 4G and 3A in six games for Hershey. The Capitals hope to take advantage of Sanford’s newfound production as they play the Montreal Canadiens tonight. The move leaves Washington with just $237 (yes, two hundred and thirty-seven dollars) in cap space today.
- The Ottawa Senators have recalled Casey Bailey from the Binghamton Senators to replace suspended forward Mike Hoffman, reports Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun. Hoffman is serving a two-game suspension for crosschecking San Jose Sharks’ Logan Couture on Wednesday night. Bailey, his replacement, is having a decent year in Binghamton, scoring 9G and 5A in 25 games. This will be Bailey’s first taste of NHL action since playing six games for the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2014-15.
- The Boston Bruins announced that forward David Pastrnak underwent the successful removal of his olecranon bursa from his right elbow yesterday. Pastrnak will miss both Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Kings and Tuesday’s game against the New York Islanders. The Bruins are no stranger to “popeye elbow” as David Backes also missed time with the same ailment. If Backes’s recovery period is any indication, Pastrnak will be out of commission for approximately two weeks. The young forward is having a breakout season this year, scoring 19G and 7A in 27 games for the Bruins and is 2nd in team scoring.
Injury Updates: Crawford, Palat, Kucherov, Vatrano, Honka
Blackhawks goaltender Corey Crawford underwent an emergency appendectomy back on December 3rd and it was said then that he was likely to miss two-to-three weeks as a result. Thirteen days later, the 31-year-old is back on the ice skating with his team, reports Tracy Myers of CSN Chicago. Myers adds that Crawford also took some shots today and head coach Joel Quenneville is waiting to see how their #1 net minder is doing when the team returns home from their current road trip.
The team has fared pretty well in Crawford’s absence. After dropping his first two games, Crawford’s understudy, Scott Darling, has won four of his last five starts, allowing just six goals during that time. He is likely at this point to get the call in both of Chicago’s weekend games, at St. Louis on Saturday and in Chicago against the Sharks on Sunday.
Elsewhere on the injury front:
- Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times reports that the Lightning will be without forwards Ondrej Palat and Nikita Kucherov for tonight and likely for the team’s game tomorrow as well (Twitter link). Additionally, Ryan Callahan is not going to play tonight as Tampa Bay travels to Vancouver to take on the Canucks. In a follow-up tweet, Smith adds that Palat is considered day-to-day while Kucherov has not been placed on IR, suggesting he is also day-to-day. While it’s never a good thing to be without three regular forwards, even if it’s just for a game or two, a prolonged absence of Kucherov would be especially bad news for the Lightning. The fourth-year winger leads the team in both goals (13) and points (30) this season and also topped the club in scoring last season. Palat has tallied 13 points in 30 games for Tampa Bay, while Callahan has added just four points in an injury-marred campaign for the gritty veteran winger.
- Frank Vatrano, who has been out since September with a foot injury, was activated by Boston and assigned to Providence of the AHL, according to Joe Haggerty of CSNNE. Haggerty states that the young winger needs to play to get back up to speed. Vatrano exploded on the scene as a prospect last year after registering 36 goals in just 36 AHL games and earned his first call up to Boston. While not as successful in the NHL, Vatrano did net eight goals in 39 games for the Bruins, demonstrating the ability to be a solid performer at this level.
- Finally, the Dallas Stars activated defenseman Julius Honka from IR and reassigned the young Finn to Texas of the AHL, the team announced today. Honka had missed the last five games with an upper-body injury. The team’s first-round draft choice in 2014, the 21-year-old blue liner made his NHL debut this season and in eight games recorded three points. In 16 contests earlier this year with Texas, Honka tallied three goals and 12 points. Dallas already has a roster full of capable NHL defensemen, leading one to wonder when or if the team will recall Honka, as some have suggested the constant shuffling on the back end has contributed in part to the Stars struggles this season.
Snapshots: Bruins, Maple Leafs, Oilers
News and notes from around the NHL this evening:
- Boston Bruins defenseman Kevan Miller is out tonight with the flu, the team announced. Colin Miller will replace him in the lineup. The flu bug is common this time of year, with Miller joining notable NHLers Nick Foligno and Ryan McDonagh among those sidelined recently because of the flu. Teams take strict care when dealing with players with the flu because the virus’s high contagiousness could wreak havoc on a hockey team sharing close quarters. Meanwhile, coach Claude Julien said that Anton Blidh will draw into the lineup tonight, skating on the fourth line. Blidh, who was called up this morning from the Providence Bruins, has 1 assist in four games for Boston, but 6G and 4A in 21 games for Providence.
- Toronto Maple Leafs forward—and 2015 1st overall draft pick—Auston Matthews plays his first game against his hometown Arizona Coyotes tonight. Matthews was raised in Scottsdale, Arizona after his family moved there from California when he was small. The American-born forward represents a new wave of American NHLers and is seen as a successful product of the NHL’s sunbelt expansion.
- The Edmonton Oilers recalled AHL point leader Taylor Beck from the Bakersfield Condors today. They reassigned Anton Slepyshev to make room for Beck, and hope that his offense bolsters an already stacked forward unit. Beck has 9G and 21A in 19 games for the Condors, and many wondered why this move hadn’t come sooner. As for Slepyshev, the Russian forward has struggled with the big club, scoring only 2G and 2A in 15 games so far this season.
Peter Mueller To Sign AHL Deal With Bruins
After signing a PTO earlier this summer, Peter Mueller will sign an AHL contract with the Providence Bruins for the remainder of the season, according to Mark Divver of the Providence Journal. He also expects Matt Bartkowski to do the same before tomorrow.
Mueller had been playing with Providence on the tryout contract and showed he still has something to give in North American hockey, scoring 14 points in 19 games. The former eighth overall pick has spent the last three seasons in Europe, racking up points in Switzerland and Sweden waiting for an opportunity back home. The world-junior star flamed out of the NHL spectacularly after putting up 54 points as a rookie in 2007-08. Health, consistency and work ethic were all questions he needed to answer, and perhaps he’s done just that this season.
If Mueller has indeed rediscovered what made him such a top prospect, the Bruins may have stumbled into a future NHL piece by giving him a tryout. At just 28-years old still, he still has plenty of youth left for a renaissance in his career.
Bartkowski, a veteran NHL defenseman who played in 80 games for the Vancouver Canucks last season, is a solid piece for the baby-Bruins on the back end. Capable of playing in both ends of the rink, Bartkowski has seven points and 23 PIM in 18 games this season. Still just 28, Bartkowski represents another depth addition to the Bruins system that essentially has cost them nothing to this point.