Griffith Placed On Waivers, Laich On Unconditional Waivers
Monday: After clearing waivers, the Kings have indeed terminated Laich’s contract. It looks like the end of the line for the 34-year old, who has seen his play diminish greatly since scoring 20+ goals in three consecutive seasons earlier in his career.
Sunday: Two more players have been placed on waivers today, according to Elliotte Friedman, who reports that the Buffalo Sabres have placed Seth Griffith on waivers, while the Los Angeles Kings have placed Brooks Laich on unconditional waivers with the intention of terminating his contract.
Griffith didn’t just make the Buffalo squad out of training camp, but earned top-six minutes to start the season. However, he has since fallen out of favor. He had been a healthy scratch the past two games before playing in Saturday’s loss to the Montreal Canadiens. However, the 24-year-old center only received 9:03 of playing time on one of the bottom lines. Griffith is not new to being waived. He was waived by the Boston Bruins in October last year and was subsequently claimed by the Toronto Maple Leafs. Almost a month later, Toronto waived him again and he was claimed by the Florida Panthers. In January of 2017, the Panthers waived him and he was re-claimed by the Maple Leafs again and eventually ended up playing with the Toronto Marlies in the AHL.
As for Laich, the veteran forward was placed on waivers on Friday and then cleared waivers yesterday. James Mirtle of The Athletic adds that it appears Laich intends to retire. The 34-year veteran, who has spent much of his 30’s plagued by injuries, played 12 games with the Kings this year, picking up just one assist during that span.
Snapshots: Three Stars, Josefson, Mason
The NHL has released their three stars of the week, and leading the list is Jon Marchessault. The Vegas Golden Knights forward had nine points in three games, helping his team takeover first place in the Pacific Division. The Golden Knights now sit at 15-6-1 this season, and rank third in the entire NHL in goal differential at +15. Marchessault, a 30-goal scorer last season, is once again turning out to be one of the biggest bargains in the entire league. At just $750K this season, he’s primed for quite the raise in free agency at the end of the year.
Sergei Bobrovsky and Alex Ovechkin round out the top three after impressive weeks of their own. Bobrovsky went 3-0 with a .950 save percentage with the Columbus Blue Jackets, while Ovechkin tallied five more goals including a hat trick against the Toronto Maple Leafs with a special guest looking on. Ovechkin, who many said was slowing down last season when he scored “just” 33 goals, is back on top of the NHL leaderboards with 18 this season. With the first goal of the hat trick, Ovechkin passed Mike Bossy for 21st all-time in NHL goal scoring, and has a legitimate shot at breaking 600 this season. He needs just 24 more to 20th member of the 600 club, and won’t turn 33 until next September.
- Jacob Josefson had only returned to the Buffalo Sabres lineup recently, but will be out another four to six weeks according to head coach Phil Housley. Josefson tweaked his ankle and is out until at least Christmas for the struggling Sabres, who are now just one point ahead of the Arizona Coyotes for last in the entire league. Obviously, Josefson isn’t a huge part of their lineup but any injury at this point pushes Buffalo further away from any rebound this season. The team has a dreadful schedule over the next week, playing the Tampa Bay Lightning tomorrow before taking on Pittsburgh in a home-and-home series this weekend.
- Steve Mason was removed from Saturday’s game with an upper-body injury, and today Winnipeg Jets head coach Paul Maurice confirmed the injury was a concussion. Mason had been placed on injured reserve earlier today after a recall of Eric Comrie. Signed in the offseason to a two-year, $8.2MM contract, Mason has provided below-average netminding so far for the Jets and had been all but replaced by Connor Hellebuyck as the starter. It’ll be tough to justify his $4.1MM contract next season if he remains a backup, especially given that Hellebuyck is a restricted free agent and looks primed for a long-term deal. If Mason doesn’t turn his play around after returning from this head injury, he could be an early candidate for a summer buyout. First off, he’ll have to get healthy enough to return.
Islanders Notes: Tavares, Ekman-Larsson, Eberle
Despite the success of the New York Islanders since head coach Doug Weight took over in the middle of the season last year, not to mention the team’s success lately as the team has found itself in third place in the Metropolitan Division with a 14-7-2 record. However, don’t expect any hasty decisions by star forward John Tavares, according to Elliotte Friedman, via Sportsnet.
Tavares, who will be an unrestricted free agent next season, is having another big season for the Islanders, but due to questions regarding where the Islanders will play in the future as well as other issues as well, Tavares has chosen not to agree to an extension and prefers to wait before making any final decisions. It looks like this one may wait until the offseason as the Islanders are not expected to trade their star forward and are expected to gamble on being able to retain Tavares.
“Obviously, this is John Tavares’s decision, but I think the Islanders are very content to let this play out,” Elliotte Friedman said on Saturday’s Headlines segment on Hockey Night in Canada. “I don’t necessarily think the trade deadline is a deadline for the Islanders here. If they have to keep going past it, I think they’re perfectly prepared to do it.”
As the team is faring well and they have quite a few young and improving players such as Mathew Barzal and Joshua Ho-Sang, many feel the Islanders are going to instead make a concerted effort at a playoff run to show Tavares what potential the franchise has in order to convince him to re-sign.
- The New York Post’s Larry Brooks writes that the team does need to make a big trade to show Tavares they are all in. However, he points out that trading for Buffalo Sabres’ Evander Kane to be that great linemate Tavares has never had doesn’t make any sense. Tavares’ line along with Anders Lee and Josh Bailey are already one of the top lines in the league and even the Jordan Eberle, Barzal pairing is paying dividends as well. What the team needs, according to Brooks, is a top-flight defenseman such as Arizona’s Oliver Ekman-Larsson. He suggests the team put a package together of Ho-Sang or Anthony Beauvillier, Brock Nelson, defenseman Ryan Pulock or Scott Mayfield and one of their 2018 first-round picks (they have two) to pick up the top-flight defenseman, who isn’t likely to re-sign with Arizona in two years.
- Sportsnet’s Tim Panaccio writes that New York Islanders head coach Doug Weight feels that the trade to acquire Eberle has been a big success as the forward has really started to pick up his game recently. He has eight goals over the past 12 games and Weight noted that confidence was the key reason why he was struggling with the Edmonton Oilers. While the initial intention was to acquire Eberle to be a key linemate to Tavares, it didn’t take Weight long to see a better connection between Eberle and Barzal and to utilize them together on a solid second line. That has allowed the Islanders to become the third-best goal scoring team in the league, averaging 3.61 goals per game.
Sabres Notes: Botterill, Kane, Reinhart, Bogosian
Although the Sabres are once again hovering around the basement of the Eastern Conference, GM Jason Botterill told MSG in a pregame interview on Friday (Twitter link) that he is pleased with some aspects of the season, particularly how things have gone development-wise with AHL Rochester as well as from an accountability standpoint. However, given their struggles in stringing victories together, some have wondered if Buffalo will be looking to make some changes. Botterill noted that given the parity around the league, the trade market has largely stalled which may make shaking things up more of a challenge:
“We’re always having dialogue, whether it’s my assistant general managers or with Phil [Housley, head coach] about what does the team need. I think you look around the league with the parity, there’s not a lot of trades just yet. Teams don’t know ‘Are we going to be sellers or buyers?’ They don’t know that situation yet.”
Here is a look at some of the recent roster speculation surrounding the Sabres:
- Any trade musings have to involve pending UFA winger Evander Kane. He’s off to a hot start which should help his value although, given his past, there is still some skepticism around the league. In an appearance on Sportsnet 960 (audio link), Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that the Kings had interest in him dating back to the summer. He also suggested that Columbus could have some interest even though Kane isn’t a center while also tossing out the Lightning as a team that might view Kane as the piece that puts them over the top for a Stanley Cup run.
- TSN’s Bob McKenzie reported on TSN 1260 (audio link) that Buffalo is receiving trade interest in forward Sam Reinhart. The second-overall selection in 2014 hasn’t gotten off to a particularly strong start this year with ten points (5-5-10) through 23 games which has him on pace for the lowest point total of his young career. Botterill may soon have to make a decision on whether or not Reinhart is part of the long-term plan for the Sabres or if he is expendable in the somewhat near future.
- Zach Bogosian’s tenure with Buffalo since coming over in the Kane trade with Winnipeg hasn’t gone well so far. In fact, he hasn’t even played yet this season. Matt Larkin of The Hockey News pegs him as a buyout candidate this summer, arguing that even at half of his cap hit (which would be $2.57MM) there may not be much interest around the league. A Bogosian buyout next June would have the Sabres carrying a cap hit of $1.143MM for 2018-19 and 2019-20 plus a $2MM charge for the following two seasons.
Nelson Returned To Rochester With Ristolainen Set To Return
- Buffalo has reassigned defenseman Casey Nelson to AHL Rochester per a team release. That suggests that Rasmus Ristolainen is ready to return to the lineup after missing the last three weeks with an upper-body issue. While Nelson was recalled back on November 16th, he didn’t get into any action with the Sabres. In 14 minor league games this season, he has a goal and three assists.
East Notes: Red Wings, Sabres, Capitals
The Athletic’s Prashanth Iyer hands out some quarterly grades (subscription needed) for the Red Wings and there were some surprises for Iyer in the first 20+ games. Iyer lists Jonathan Ericsson and Luke Glendening as a couple players who earned better marks for improved play while youngsters Dylan Larkin and Anthony Mantha both received As for their strong, team leading performances thus far. Iyer points out that Detroit has seen some modest improvement from last season, but it’s in the special teams where they’ve seen jumps, which has certainly helped their bubble-team playoff hopes. He does point out, however, that the 5v5 play will need to improve, or the Wings will be on the outside looking in for the second consecutive season.
- Sportsnet’s Rory Boylen writes that despite tanking and acquiring a star in Jack Eichel, the Sabres blueprint of suffering through lean years to get top talent hasn’t worked as they planned. Now, as they sink to the bottom of the Eastern Conference, the losing appears to be taking its toll on not only the fanbase, but players both on the current roster and those who went to playoff-ready teams. Boylen points out that for every success story in Toronto, Pittsburgh or Chicago, there are the Edmonton and Colorado cautionary tales that reveal a circle of hell that revolves around missing the playoffs and drafting high only to see little in return. Buffalo seems to be trapped, once again eyeing a top pick in 2018 with an 82% chance of not even getting that top pick. Worse, it’s shedding that “culture of losing” which has ensnared Sabres present and past. Changing the front office and coaching staff hasn’t changed much, and though it will take time, the Sabres are mired in a negative cycle that is challenging to escape.
- Are the Capitals next to see a decline in play? ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski listed a number of reasons why dark days may be ahead for Washington, who has come oh-so-close to turning that corner in capturing a Stanley Cup. And yet, it’s always found a way to be stopped–be it the always vexing Pittsburgh Penguins or a key injury at the most inopportune time, the Caps could never find a way to maneuver around that last hurdle to secure as much as a Cup Final appearance. Wyshynski writes that optimism remains in the organization but they’re certainly inching closer to that “iceberg” that could ultimately sink the Caps once and for all.
Zach Bogosian Nearing A Return
- Sabres defenseman Zach Bogosian is nearing a return to the Buffalo lineup, notes Bill Hoppe of the Olean Times Herald. He has yet to play this season after suffering a lower-body injury in their preseason finale back on September 29th. Originally, the injury wasn’t believed to be serious but Bogosian acknowledged he wound up delaying his own return by pushing too hard trying to return to the lineup the first time. Considering how long he has been off, he’s still likely a week or so away as he will need several practices with the team before getting the green light but his pending return should still be a boost to a Buffalo lineup that has been injury-riddled on the back end this season.
Morning Notes: McDonagh, Ekman-Larsson, Kane
The New York Rangers haven’t encountered this type of season often before, if ever. The team seems to be a bubble team with no true chance of making a deep playoff run or even winning a Stanley Cup. Yet, the team also finds itself with a handful of expiring contracts who could be utilized as key trade chips to refuel their retooling process.
New York Post’s Larry Brooks writes the Rangers need to think about dealing players like Rick Nash, Michael Grabner and Nick Holden and get what they can for them. The scribe believes that general manager Jeff Gorton will have one of the biggest challenges in front of him in a long time as he will have to make a decision on which direction the team should go. Could Nash bring back a first-rounder in next year’s draft and if they can, would it be worth his value anyway? What can they get for Grabner? Should the team go full in and start shopping captain Ryan McDonagh now?
The latter claim, Brooks writes, might make the most sense. The Rangers should be able to bring in a huge haul for McDonagh, who is still in his prime, is locked up until 2019 and is one of the top defensemen in the league. As there are quite a few playoff teams in need of defense, like the Toronto Maple Leafs, Edmonton Oilers and the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Rangers could truly change the way the franchise is heading at the trade deadline.
New York wouldn’t be better off without McDonagh, but with long-term deals already having been handed out to Kevin Shattenkirk, Marc Staal and Brendan Smith and the young talent the team has on defense in Brady Skjei, Neal Pionk and Anthony DeAngelo, the team should be able to survive without him if they can get a talented scorer in his place.
- Hidden among yesterday’s stories was TSN’s Bob McKenzie refuting rumors that the Arizona Coyotes are thinking about dealing defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson to the Toronto Maple Leafs for William Nylander. McKenzie writes that as of Sunday, there had not been one conversation between the two teams about Ekman-Larsson. He also points out that since most teams do not view Nylander as a center, he wouldn’t bring enough of a return for Ekman-Larsson as just a sniper. However, from what McKenzie can see, the Coyotes are not willing to discuss moving Ekman-Larsson as of now. The Atheltic’s Sean Tierney tweeted today that with general manager John Chayka in charge, it’s hard to see the team trading Ekman-Larsson at all.
- John Vogl of The Buffalo News writes that frustration is hitting in Buffalo as the 5-12-1 Sabres continue to struggle, yet one player is thriving in Evander Kane. Dating back to last year, the 26-year-old wing has scored 40 goals in his last 79 games. He also has 11 points in the last 11 games. Kane added his 12th goal of the season Monday in the team’s 3-2 loss to Columbus. The secret to his success? Shooting the puck. He leads the team with 96 shots on goal this year.
Eichel Demoted To Third Line?
The NHL announced their “Three Stars” of the week ending on Nov. 19, with Carolina Hurricane’s Teuvo Teravainen taking top honors after a week in which he led the NHL with five goals and 10 assists in four games. The 23-year-old forward posted his first NHL hat trick against the Dallas Stars on Nov. 13, then had two assists on Nov. 16 against the New York Islanders. He had one assist against the Buffalo Sabres two days later before putting up two goals and another assist against the Islanders Sunday.
- Buffalo Sabres center Jack Eichel looks to have been demoted to the team’s third line at Monday’s practice ahead of their game tonight against the Columbus Blue Jackets, according to Amy Moritz of The Buffalo News. Head coach Phil Housley placed him with Zemgus Girgensons and Jason Pominville. “We’re obviously trying to get things going and switch things up so we’ll see tonight,” Eichel said of the new line combinations. “No message. It’s part of the game.”
Snapshots: Price, Girard, Kane, Devils
Montreal Canadiens goalie Carey Price has been out with a “minor” lower-body injury since Montreal’s Nov. 2 game against the Minnesota Wild. Two weeks later, Price hasn’t returned to the lineup. Last Tuesday, it was announced that he would sit out two days (Tuesday and Wednesday) as his injury wasn’t healing as suspected. Then he proceeded to sit out of practice Thursday, Friday and Saturday and the team didn’t practice Sunday. That led Montreal Gazette’s Stu Cowan to suggest that things don’t seem to be adding up in Montreal.
The scribe writes that this no longer seems like a “minor” injury at all and questions whether it ever was. When Cowan asked Canadiens’ coach Claude Julien about whether there was an update on Price’s condition, his response was, “No.”
No one has said what the specific injury is that Price has sustained and the goalie insists that it has nothing to do with the right knee injury in November two years ago that was also held secret for a large chunk of the season. Cowan suggests the lack of information the team has given out can only lead to speculation, suggesting that maybe the team might be looking to trade Price before his eight year, $84MM extension kicks in next year.
- Mike Chambers of the Denver Post tweets that Colorado Avalanche defenseman Samuel Girard is in the lineup against the Detroit Red Wings, meaning that he officially has entered into Year 1 of his entry-level deal. He played five games for the Nashville Predators, and after being dealt to Colorado in the Matt Duchene trade, has played five games for the Avalanche. He would have had to be returned to his junior team before he played in his 10th game had the team wanted to avoid burning the first year of his entry-level deal.
- The Athletic’s Craig Custance (subscription required) did a Q&A on Buffalo Sabres winger Evander Kane and the forward was quick to say that he is well aware of the trade speculation that surrounds him and rather than block it out, he just chooses to focus on his on-ice play. “It’s not going to do you any good or help your case or your team. For me, I just embrace it. I enjoy it. It’s something that you have to be aware of,” Kane said.
- Andrew Gross of The Record writes that the New Jersey Devils have shaken up their lines in practice today, which are expected to go into effect in their game Monday against Minnesota Wild. There will be several changes, but Pavel Zacha, who was a healthy scratch for four of the last five games, is expected to move into the top six, while Adam Henrique is expected to move down to the fourth line.