Bruins Notes: Backes, Franchise Goals, Vatrano
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
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
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.
Snapshots: Three Stars, Olympics, KHL
The NHL has named Tuukka Rask, Mark Scheifele, and Pekka Rinne as the three stars of the week.
Rask went 4-0-0 with a 0.970 SV% and a 0.75 GAA. He had two shutouts, and has now won 10 of his first 11 games, making him the second Bruins goalie in their 92-year history to do so. Bruins legend Gerry Cheevers is the only other Bruins goalie to do so. Boston is proving to be rather dependent on Rask; they’re 0-5 without him and 10-1 with him.
Scheifele scored 3 goals and 6 points in 4 games, pushing him into a first place tie for the NHL scoring lead. The Jets earned 7 out of a possible 8 points during the week, bumping them to second in the Central Division.
Rinne went 3-0-0 during the week, with a sparkling 0.976 SV% and a 0.67 GAA to go alongside one shutout. Rinne has five wins so far this season, as Nashville makes their way back into playoff contention after a tough start.
- It’s not looking great for NHL fans hoping to see their favorite players in the 2018 Winter Olympics. Commissioner Gary Bettman has admitted that he has explored the idea of the NHL skipping 2018 in Pyeongchang but returning in 2022 in Beijing. The NHL has participated in every Winter Olympics since Nagano 1998. Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly noted the International Olympic Committee’s decision not to pay the NHL for what they have in the past has not changed. Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston points out that the NHL and NHLPA have “stated unequivocally that they’re unwilling to start paying the estimated $10-million while also interrupting the season.” That money is for player travel and insurance.
- Meanwhile, the KHL is considering trimming the number of franchises in their league. League president Dmitry Chernyshenko told R-Sport that they’re planning to talk about “an optimization of the number of clubs taking part.” Chernyshenko suggesting it’s possible that “the league could contract.” The KHL just expanded to China for this season, but Kunlun Red Star has struggled to attract fans. As well, the floundering price of oil has hurt the league’s funding in Russia.
Bruins Notes: Defense, Rask, Trade Targets
After spending much of the first part of the 2016-17 season shuffling defensive pairs in an effort to protect four different goalies, the return of Adam McQuaid to the Boston Bruins’ lineup has seemingly stabilized their blue line. In their last eight games, the Bruins are 6-2 and have only allowed more than three goals in a game once, a 5-2 loss to the juggernaut New York Rangers. In total, the defense has held opponents to 15 goals total in their past eight games after giving up 14 goals total in just three games prior to that.
The top pair of Zdeno Chara and Brandon Carlo has remained intact all season, with the 6’9″ veteran mentoring the 6’5″ rookie. The duo has worked together perfectly, with each playing major ice time and posting a +11 thus far. With the 19-year-old Carlo presumably looking like the heir apparent to the 39-year-old Chara, the Bruins are unlikely to change up that pair any time soon. The bottom pair of the experienced John-Michael Liles and young Colin Miller has also mostly stayed together and worked well.
It’s McQuaid’s presence on the second pair with Torey Krug that has finally brought the blue line together. A speedy, offensive defenseman, Krug has always meshed well with more solid, defensive defenseman and McQuaid has fit the bill so far this year. Although he has only played for the Bruins in his career and was a member of the 2011 Stanley Cup championship team, he has received much criticism over the past couple years for being injury prone and often a liability. When Kevan Miller established himself as a reliable top-six defenseman last season, many questioned McQuaid’s role on the team. However, a resurgence this season has shown that, at the very least, McQuaid is an upgrade over Joe Morrow or rookie Rob O’Gara and has made everyone forget about the injured Miller.
- Both a beneficiary of the defensive improvement by the Bruins this season and also a main reason for their early success is Tuukka Rask. In ten games thus far, Rask is 9-1 with a .941 save percentage and 1.69 GAA (both top five in the NHL). When Rask has been healthy, and not necessarily even starting, the Bruins have not lost consecutive games. Three of Boston’s six losses came consecutively when Rask was sidelined with a lower body injury and Anton Khudobin, Malcolm Subban, and Zane McIntyre got the call. Rask is obviously superior to that trio, but his performance in 2016-17 has also been much better than those of a dismal 2015-16 season, showing the impact of Carlo, Colin Miller, and a cohesive Bruins defense.
- Even with the defense playing the best they have in perhaps three years, the Bruins have still been rumored to be on the lookout for a top pairing defenseman. With Jacob Trouba signed and off the market and Cam Fowler reportedly no longer on the block either, those options are dwindling. Boston will undoubtedly stay in contact with the St. Louis Blues about impending free agent and former local college star Kevin Shattenkirk, but the Bruins may now be content to stick with their current defensive group, especially with Kevan Miller soon to be healthy and options like O’Gara, Morrow, Matt Grzelcyk, and Linus Arnesson waiting in the wings this season. One thing is for sure: if the asking price for a top defenseman includes Carlo, you can forget about it.
Morning Snapshots: Sabres, Dubinsky, Bruins
News and notes from around the NHL this morning:
- The Buffalo Sabres have called up defenseman Justin Falk from Rochester this morning to help replace both Dmitry Kulikov and Josh Gorges, reports John Vogl of the Buffalo News here and here. Defenseman Kulikov missed Thursday’s practice with an undisclosed ailment, but the hope was that he would be able to play in tonight’s game versus the New Jersey Devils. It is unclear whether Gorges is out or just skipping the morning skate, but his absence is sorely missed as he and Rasmus Ristolainen make up the Sabres’ top defensive pairing. Call-up Justin Falk currently has no points in 9 games for the Rochester Americans.
- Brandon Dubinsky may be ready to play, reports the Columbus Dispatch’s Aaron Portzline, as the Columbus Blue Jackets reassign forwards Sonny Milano and Markus Hannikainen back down to Cleveland. Dubinsky missed the last two games with injury but looks to return to the lineup tomorrow against the St. Louis Blues. Milano is pointless in two games with the Blue Jackets so far, and Hannikainen, while called up, did not see any ice time last night against the Boston Bruins.
- The Bruins have recalled center Sean Kuraly from Providence, reports Mirk Divver of the Providence Journal. Kuraly played one game for the Bruins so far—November 3rd against Tampa—but did not register a point in his seven minutes of ice time. Kuraly currently has two assists for the Providence Bruins. He’ll act as reinforcement as the Bruins embark on a three-game Western road trip.
Boston Bruins Lose Noel Acciari For Four Weeks
The Boston Bruins will be shorthanded for a while, as they announced today that forward Noel Acciari will miss four weeks with a lower-body injury. The rookie suffered the injury Monday night against the Buffalo Sabres.
Signed out of Providence College last summer, Acciari split time between the NHL and AHL Bruins lineups last season, scoring 20 total points in 64 games. The 24-year old centerman currently ranks third on the team in hits and provides an up-tempo game for the team’s bottom-six. Skating with Dominic Moore and Tim Schaller, he’s contributed two assists this season.
While losing Acciari doesn’t cripple the Bruins lineup, it does take out an effective checking forward who had been used often on the penalty kill. Jimmy Hayes made his way back into the lineup in his absence, and will try to show that he can still be an effective member of this team, after putting up 29 points last year. The 26-year old has started the season pointless in his first eleven contests.
Snapshots: Larsson, Sabres, Minor Moves
It was one of the most controversial moves of the summer, but so far the Adam Larsson–Taylor Hall trade isn’t looking as bad as many in Edmonton expected, writes David Staples of the Edmonton Journal.
Staples notes Devils GM Ray Shero is one of the strongest proponents of the trade, and why wouldn’t he be? His Devils are in a playoff spot and Hall is tied for the Devils scoring lead. But he also believes the Oilers got what they needed, according to Kevin Allen of USA Today.
“The Oilers have taken a lot of grief over this, but has anybody sat down and watched Larsson? He’s actually pretty good.”
Shero pointed to Edmonton’s desperate need for a good, young defenseman to go with their young offensive forwards, while the Devils desperately needed an offensive catalyst like Hall.
“You have to make a team, and that is challenging in a salary cap world… They are off to a great start this season. That says something.”
Staples take on the trade is that he likes Larsson’s game, but doesn’t love it yet. He’s had the occasional struggle, but he’s also playing incredibly tough minutes with a skilled but inexperienced parter in Oscar Klefbom. Staples gives the trade a passing grade, with the note that Hall is clearly the better player but the Oilers got what they needed.
- Meanwhile, only one defense core in the NHL has yet to score a goal this season. Despite having weapons like Rasmus Ristolainen and Cody Franson, none of the Buffalo Sabres defensemen have scored. They have contributed 14 assists, however eight of those belong to Ristolainen. Franson told Bill Hoppe that he couldn’t “care less if I scored one goal in a season,” saying he prefers to get assists. Coach Dan Bylsma isn’t concerned with the lack of production, but would like his defensemen to be more aggressive.
- The Columbus Blue Jackets have recalled LW Markus Hannikainen from the Cleveland Monsters. The undrafted Hannikainen has seven points in 11 games for the Monsters so far.
- The Philadelphia Flyers have recalled LW Roman Lyubimov from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. He was sent down to the AHL on Wednesday; Sam Carchidi reported it was simply a paper transaction made for salary cap reasons. Lyubimov has one goal in 11 NHL games so far this season. Carchidi also noted that it appears Chris Vande Velde will be a healthy scratch, despite scoring twice in the last four games.
- Rookie center Noel Acciari did not take part in Boston Bruins practice on Thursday morning, according to Joe Haggerty. He hasn’t skated since suffering a lower-body injury on Monday night versus the Sabres.
Claude Julien Wins 400th Game
With a 4-0 win over the Buffalo Sabres last night, Claude Julien picked up his 400th win as the head coach of the Boston Bruins. Julien passed the legendary Art Ross last season, who had 387 wins as the Bruins bench boss in 772 games, as the winningest coach in franchise history. Julien has 400 wins in just 716 games, with many more still to come.
After his shocking dismissal from the New Jersey Devils in 2007, Julien was hired by Boston to replace the failed experiment that was Dave Lewis. Right away Julien found success, leading the Bruins to the postseason in each of his first three seasons. He took the next step in 2010-11, when Boston went on to take home the Stanley Cup. Just two years later, they were back in the Cup Final. Overall, Julien made the playoffs for seven years in a row to begin his tenure in Boston, picking up over 300 wins along the way.
However, the past two years have not gone as smoothly for the Bruins coach. Boston has fallen victim to late season collapses and missed the playoffs each of the past two seasons. A team (and city) that had grown accustomed to making the postseason year after year were unhappy with the Bruins falling short of playoff hockey in back-to-back years, and Julien took the brunt of the blame. Yet, with his name on the chopping block in two straight seasons, the Boston brass has stuck with the franchise’s most successful coach, and Julien has continued to pick up wins.
The Bruins are off to a 7-5-0 start, and if the playoffs started today, they would finally be back in. With four wins against the division in their past five games, Boston is playing strong hockey and Juliens appears to be off the hot seat for now. He has shed the label of a coach who does not work well with young players, as giving prominent play time and responsibility to the likes of David Pastrnak and Brandon Carlo has paid off thus far. With a great core of players in their prime, including the dynamic duo of Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand and the red-hot Tuukka Rask, Julien has the pieces to put together a lineup that could do much more than simply make the playoffs in 2016-17. If he can do that, it won’t be long before Julien is picking up his 500th win as Bruins coach and chasing the top ten in all-time NHL coaching wins.
Did Rask Aggravate Lower Body Injury Last Night?
In post for CSNNE.com, Joe Haggerty discusses the importance of Tuukka Rask to the on-ice success of the Boston Bruins. Rask is 6 – 1 – 0 with a GAA of under 2.00 and a Save% of 93.2% in seven starts this season for Boston. Haggerty argues that unless Rask is playing at the top of his game, the Bruins have little chance to come away with a win.
Using last night’s loss to the Rangers as an example, Haggerty pointed out that Rask allowed two goals he probably should have stopped. If Rask stops those shots, the Bruins are still in the game and have a chance at earning at least a point. In post-game comments, the Bruins netminder seemed to agree with Haggerty’s assessment:
“I felt good in the first. No rebounds. And then, the first goal, it is what it is. Then the second, off the guy’s shin pads, it’s something you can’t really control. Then the 3-1 goal, it’s just a five-hole so kind of a bad goal. Then the last one, [it was] obviously a bad goal, so that’s about it. When you let in a couple bad ones and mix in a couple lucky ones, it gets ugly. That’s what happened tonight.”
It’s hard to argue just how critical Rask is to Boston’s postseason hopes. He has the ability to carry the team on his back when he is playing well. Unfortunately for the Bruins, Rask has already battled through a lower body injury and missed a few starts as a result. Making matters worse, as Haggerty opines, is that Rask appeared to aggravate the malady during the second period of Boston’s 5 – 2 loss last night.
While he didn’t come out of the game and actually waved the team’s training staff off, Haggerty noted it was the same “buckling under following full extension” that he experienced on two separate occasions earlier this season. Whether or not Rask is fine now, it appears as if this could remain a lingering issue for the foreseeable future.