Snapshots: Boedker, Kane, Point
Mikkel Boedker will be a healthy scratch again for the San Jose Sharks tonight according to Kevin Kurz of NBC, marking the third time this season. He was put in the press box back in January because of his consistency, and sat out game 3 of this series on Sunday night.
Boedker was signed to a four-year, $16MM deal on July 1st last summer, and hasn’t come close to living up to it at this point. His 26 points were the lowest total he’s registered since 2011-12 when he was just 22, and are almost exactly half of the 51 he recorded last season. He may be an early candidate for a buyout at some point, if he can’t return to the solid 40+ point player he looked like in Arizona. The Sharks have several raises to hand out to their young RFAs over the next few years, and may need an extra couple of million to fit them all in.
- Evander Kane put up his best season offensively since 2011-12, and with it has regained some of his trade value according to Bill Hoppe of the Buffalo Hockey Beat. There were constant rumors last year about his availability, but now the Sabres could likely get a real asset in trade. That is, unless they want to extend the young power forward, as he has just one season left on his current deal. At just 25-years old, Kane will be talked about a lot this summer and next season should he stay in Buffalo. If they do hold on to him, he would likely be one of the top prizes at next year’s trade deadline, whether the Sabres are involved in a playoff hunt or not.
- The Tampa Bay Lightning weren’t expecting the breakout of Brayden Point, but as Bryan Burns of NHL.com writes, they’ll take it. His emergence as a top-six center is crucial to the Lightning’s immediate future, due to the exceptionally low cap-hit he’ll cause the next two seasons. For a team that will be hard-pressed to fit in new deals for Ondrej Palat, Tyler Johnson and Jonathan Drouin even with the great work they did at the trade deadline, Point’s cheap contract will come in handy. He may even make Johnson expendable, and give the Lightning another impressive trade chip this summer.
Atlantic Notes: Zaitsev, Baptiste, Ekblad
When all was said and done in game 2 of the Maple Leafs-Capitals series, Toronto had watched their top two defensmen play 40 minutes each and seen another right-handed shot go down early. They were desperate for some good news on Nikita Zaitsev, and he may have shared it himself. “Skating. See you soon Toronto!” he tweeted Sunday, accompanied by a video of him skating hard in practice by himself. He has since deleted the tweet and video but as Kristen Shilton of TSN reports, will play tonight.
The Leafs could use him back after losing Roman Polak to a season-ending leg injury on Saturday night. The coaching staff clearly doesn’t trust Connor Carrick in the advanced role—he played just under 19 minutes, more than ten less than Martin Marincin despite being the only right-handed shot left in the game—and did not have good early results from Alexey Marchenko in the regular season.
- As the Rochester Americans season comes to an end, one player believes it will be his last stint with the club. John Vogl of the Buffalo News reports that Nicholas Baptiste believes he can make the jump to the Buffalo Sabres next year, and provide a similar role as a goal-scoring forward. Baptiste had 25 goals for the Amerks this season, and actually contributed four points in his 14 games with the big club. The 21-year old was a big point producer in junior, and will try to continue that at the highest level in the world next year.
- After an ugly end to his season that saw Aaron Ekblad return too early from a head injury, he’s already looking forward to next year. Ekblad admitted to Henry Fialkov of the Sun Sentinel that early in the season he was afraid of being hit, his mind racing back to the Leo Komarov hit in the World Cup that had left him with whiplash. He had just turned things around when he suffered the second head injury, this time keeping him out for 13 of the final 14 games—the one being a misguided attempt at a return. He’ll head into next year at just 21-years of age and already a superstar in the league, should he get back to his puck-carrying self. The Panthers will welcome his return, as their team somewhat mirrors his results.
Snapshots: Eichel, Panarin, Bruins, Letang
Jack Eichel wasn’t happy at his year-end press conference, but that doesn’t mean he won’t be in Buffalo for a long time. Sabres’ GM Tim Murray told Bill Hoppe of the Times Herald that he hopes to work out an extension this summer for the young superstar. Eichel will be heading into the final year of his entry-level deal in 2017-18, and will be deserving of a huge raise should the Sabres buy out any free agent years. A four year extension would make him an unrestricted free agent at the end of it, and every year after that will cost quite a bit extra.
Should the Sabres choose to go a shorter route they could keep costs down but risk pushing Eichel closer to free agency. Murray also told Hoppe that he’d like to re-sign Brian Gionta, the team captain and long-time NHLer. The 38-year old had another solid season with 15 goals and 35 points, and is a huge part of the leadership group that wants to help Buffalo back to the playoffs. Eichel has mentioned Gionta several times over the years in helping him adapt to life in the NHL
- Stan Bowman wasn’t worried about Artemi Panarin‘s bonuses, he tells Mark Lazerus of the Chicago Sun-Times. The young forward earned a $1.725MM bonus in the final game by scoring and putting himself into a tie for 10th in points among forwards. That’s in addition to his $850K “Schedule A” bonuses for finishing high in various team categories. The Hawks will have to carry much of those bonuses over to next season, but Bowman says he was assuming all season that Panarin would hit them.
- Amalie Benjamin of NHL.com reports that the Bruins will not bring Torey Krug or Brandon Carlo to Ottawa for game 2, still listing them day-to-day. Colin Miller, who exited last night’s game after just seven minutes of ice time, was seen limping around and is questionable for Saturday’s game. Miller was taken out by a knee from Mark Borowiecki last night, and left the game immediately. It will be interesting to see who the Bruins lean on while their defensemen nurse injuries; Charlie McAvoy played over 24 minutes in his debut.
- Kris Letang underwent the scheduled neck surgery successfully, and is on track to return in four to six months. The operation was to correct a herniated disc, and will sideline him for much of training camp if not the beginning of the regular season. The Penguins won their first game of the playoffs last night, but will be hard fought to go all the way without their superstar defenseman.
- Ron Hextall spoke to the media in Philadelphia (including Dave Isaac of the Courier-Post), and revealed that both Dale Weise and Brandon Manning will undergo surgery to correct various ailments. He also said that assistant coach Joe Mullen will not be retained for next season. Mullen has been with the Flyers since 2007, working with several different head coaches.
Coaching Notes: Hitchcock, Montgomery, Hunter
In Elliotte Friedman’s latest “30 Thoughts” column for Sportsnet, the venerable hockey insider goes into all the coaching movement around the NHL and lends his opinions and insight onto some of the still unresolved situations. In Dallas, where the team is set to announce the hiring of Ken Hitchcock tomorrow, Friedman notes that it will be a one-year deal—as is Hitchcock’s preference—with a possible transition into consulting thereafter.
Hitchcock isn’t really an answer long-term for any franchise, as at 65 he’s dabbled with the idea of retirement lately. The idea of him sticking around in a system and being just one phone call away from taking over would be a difficult one to accept for the new coach if they do go in a different direction a year from now. It’s hard to coach in the NHL, and much more so when the team has a legend sitting in the press box “consulting” on whether you’re doing a good job.
- Friedman again mentions Jim Montgomery from the University of Denver, who is likely on a list of candidates for the Florida Panthers job. Dallas Eakins and Phil Housley are other names to watch, with all three looking like they’ll deserve a shot (or a second shot in Eakins’ case) sooner than later.
- Dale Hunter is one of the people that the Vegas Golden Knights have reached out to, though he declined the opportunity to return to the NHL. Hunter quit his job with the Washington Capitals back in 2012 to return to London, where he and his brother Mark Hunter—who works as an assistant GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs—own one of the top franchises in the OHL.
- Sabres’ GM Tim Murray met with the media today to discuss the underwhelming 2016-17 season, and reiterated that he doesn’t intend to fire Dan Bylsma as head coach. According to Bill Hoppe of the Times Herald, Murray puts this season on himself. He will have to work to better the roster, not just lay it all at the feet of his coach after another disappointing season.
- While not a coach, Mike Futa of the Los Angeles Kings has been promoted to assistant GM. Futa has been with the club for a decade as a VP of Hockey Operations and Director of Player Personnel. He’ll work with the new management team made up of Rob Blake and Luc Robitaille to try and bring the Kings back to the playoffs in a short turnaround.
Minor Moves: Canucks, Devils, Sabres, Red Wings
With the Utica Comets two points out of a playoff spot with three games remaining, their parent club the Vancouver Canucks have sent them some reinforcements. Nikolay Goldobin, Richard Bachman and Yan-Pavel Laplante have all been sent down to the AHL. The trio were all up with the Canucks for the final game of the season, but will now try to go on a Cup run of their own.
Despite never having suited up for the Comets, Goldobin is actually playoff eligible thanks to a paper transaction on March 1st. In fact, the same type of transaction was needed for Bachman because he was up with the club at the time. Goldobin should provide a solid offensive presence for the Comets, after he scored 41 points in 46 games for the San Jose Barracuda before being traded for Jannik Hansen at the deadline.
- New Jersey has sent their own troops down to try and hold off those Comets, as the Albany Devils will welcome back Joseph Blandisi, Blake Coleman, Ben Thomson and Miles Wood from the NHL. Albany is the team just two points ahead of the Comets for the last playoff spot in the North Division. Coleman and Blandisi especially will help the offense of the Devils, with both scoring nearly a point-per-game during their AHL time this season. The group will try to improve on a round two exit last season, despite a much worse record heading into the playoffs.
- Buffalo has returned Alexander Nylander, Evan Rodrigues and Linus Ullmark to the Rochester Americans, though the team is not headed for the playoffs. The trio will play the last few games before hanging up the skates for the summer and working to win full-time jobs again next fall. All three are in contention for the NHL come September, with Ullmark hoping the team decides not to bring back pending UFA Anders Nilsson.
- Matt Lorito, Tomas Nosek, Ben Street and Robbie Russo are all headed to Grand Rapids for their own Calder Cup run, as Detroit sends them down to keep playing. The quartet should be welcomed into the second place Griffins who look as dangerous as anyone in the AHL this year. Head coach Todd Nelson will be happy to get the group back after a recent 4-5-1 stretch that has seen them lose their first place standing to the Chicago Wolves.
Snapshots: Eichel, Malenstyn, Johnson
When Jack Eichel finished his game last night without registering a point, he was still sitting in the top-10 with .93 pts/gm this season. He had a “Schedule B” bonus coming to him worth $2MM for finishing that high, a nice send off to what was a frustrating season for both him and the team. After being injured through much of the first part of the season, Eichel returned at an extremely high level and struggled to try and keep the Sabres afloat. They didn’t, finishing dead last in the Atlantic Division and despite his effort he had one more loss still to come.
When Leon Draisaitl scored his 29th goal of the season in the third period of last night’s Edmonton-Vancouver game, all the celebration was over Connor McDavid registering his 100th point. Eichel on the other hand was probably pulling his hair out, as the point moved Draisaitl ahead of him for 10th in pts/gm and eliminated his bonus by just 0.01 (h/t CapFriendly for pointing it out). Terrible for Eichel, but actually quite good for the Sabres, who would have had to carry that $2MM as a penalty against next year’s cap since they are into their LTIR space this year.
- The Washington Capitals have signed Beck Malenstyn to a three-year entry-level contract, after his breakout season with the Calgary Hitmen. The team had previously signed him to an amateur tryout for this season, but apparently thought he had done enough to earn a contract. Despite the deal kicking in next season, it is expected that Malenstyn will head back to the Hitmen for another year, as he doesn’t turn 20 until next February. The power forward put it all together this year, scoring 32 goals and 56 points. His previous career high had been eight goals.
- Tyler Johnson hopes to remain in Tampa Bay long-term, according to Bryan Burns of NHL.com. The restricted free agent is one of several big names the Lightning have to re-sign this summer, a task that GM Steve Yzerman is confident in according to Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times. After clearing some room at the deadline by moving out Valtteri Filppula‘s contract, Yzerman may indeed have enough room to bring everyone back. While the expansion draft still poses a difficulty, the former NHL great has done a wonderful job in keeping the Lightning core together and should be a contender again next season should he find better injury luck.
Minor Transactions: 4/8/2017
With the NHL set to wrap up the 2016-17 regular season this weekend, several clubs with postseason seeds locked in are taking the opportunity to rest key players. This gives several minor league players a chance to earn a late season call-up and to see some NHL action in the season’s closing days. We’ll recap the day’s minor transactions in this post.
- The Pittsburgh Penguins announced via Twitter that they have recalled forward Kevin Porter and netminder Tristan Jarry from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL. Porter has spent the entire season so far with the baby Penguins but does bring plenty of NHL experience to the table with 247 regular season appearances over parts of seven seasons. For his career, the 5-foot-11, 191-pound winger has netted 29 goals and 58 points while averaging 12:39 of action per game. Porter was a key penalty killer last season in Pittsburgh and saw action in 41 game s before suffering a season-ending injury. He has 46 points in 67 AHL games this season, helping Wilkes-Barre/Scranton earn their 15th consecutive playoff berth. Jarry, who has yet to make his NHL debut, has been outstanding between the pipes for the baby Pens. He’s won 25 of 45 decisions and posted a GAA of 2.15 and a Save % of 0.925 in 45 contests. Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette suggests the recalls mean the Penguins intend on resting “someone.” After wrapping up the second seed in the Metro Division and a first round playoff date set with Columbus, it wouldn’t be shocking if the team gave superstar center Sidney Crosby and #1 goalie Matt Murray the weekend off, though that is simply my own speculation. That scenario would give Jarry a solid shot at making his NHL debut.
- The Buffalo Sabres have inked center Sean Malone, their sixth-round draft choice in 2013, to a two-year, entry level deal, the club announced this morning. Malone, a native of West Seneca, New York, recently concluded his senior year at Harvard and finished the 2016-17 campaign with 18 goals and 42 points in 36 games. Malone and his Harvard teammates saw their season end in stunning fashion during their Frozen Four semifinal game when Minnesota-Duluth broke a 1 – 1 tie with 26.6 seconds remaining in regulation. Malone closes out his college career with 42 goals and 99 points in 115 NCAA games.
- Taylor Beck, who was recalled from Hartford yesterday, will make his New York Rangers debut tonight, the club announced via Twitter. The 25-year-old RW was acquired by the Rangers from Edmonton at the trade deadline in exchange for fellow forward Justin Fontaine. Beck has had a terrific AHL campaign, registering 63 points in 54 games split between Bakersfield and Hartford. In 9 career NHL contests, the 6-foot-2, 203-pound Beck has tallied 11 goals and 23 points. He failed to record a point in three earlier appearances with the Oilers this season. Beck will draw into the lineup for New York as the Rangers plan to rest forwards Derek Stepan, Jesper Fast, Mats Zuccarello and Rick Nash, the latter three for the second straight game.
- Montreal has recalled junior defenseman and 2016 first round pick Mikhail Sergachev from Windsor of the OHL. Normally, once a prospect has been returned to junior by his parent club, they cannot be recalled but the Canadiens took advantage of a little-used provision that allows them to do so in certain scenarios. Cap Friendly, via Twitter, provides the details of this provision in the CBA. In this case, since Windsor’s season is now over following their elimination from the OHL playoffs and with Montreal having already recalled a defender from the minor leagues on an emergency basis, the Habs were able to bring Sergachev up, also on an emergency basis. Sergachev appeared in three games earlier this season with Montreal before being returned to Windsor. The blue liner, still just 18, registered 43 points in 50 regular season games and another three in the playoffs for the Spitfires.
- Philadelphia Flyers GM Ron Hextall announced this morning that the club has recalled goaltender Anthony Stolarz from Lehigh Valley of the AHL. Stolarz has appeared in six games with the Flyers on the season, starting three times. He has posted a 0.932 Save % and a GAA of just 1.93 in his first taste of NHL action. Sam Carchidi, who covers the team for the Philadelphia Inquirer adds via Twitter that Stolarz will back up Steve Mason tonight with the Flyers on the road in Columbus and will likely get the starting assignment tomorrow as the team closes out its campaign at home against Carolina.
Snapshots: McNeill, Tolchinsky, Borgstrom
The Dallas Stars have recalled a pair of prospects for their final game of the season tomorrow against the Colorado Avalanche. Mark McNeill and Denis Gurianov are both on their way to Dallas and would be making their Stars debut should they be inserted into the lineup. McNeill, 24, came over in the Johnny Oduya trade at the deadline from the Chicago Blackhawks, where he had been a first-round pick (18th overall) and top prospect. The big center has just one NHL game under his belt and is actually in the midst of his worst (though still effective) AHL season yet. He’ll need a breakthrough at the NHL level soon if he’s to stay in the plans of the Stars long-term, as he’s approaching the end of “prospect status”.
Gurianov is the Stars’ own first round pick from 2015 (12th overall) and has had a solid rookie campaign in the AHL after coming over from Russia this year. With 25 points in 54 games he’s only brushing the surface of his eventual power forward game, and still hasn’t quite filled out into his 6’3″ frame. He’ll be making his NHL debut, and hope to push for a full-time role in the next year or so at the top level.
- Speaking of young Russian wingers, the Carolina Hurricanes have recalled Sergey Tolchinsky from the Charlotte Checkers, while sending Andrew Poturalski back down. Tolchinsky has 22 points on the year in the AHL and still hasn’t replicated the immense scoring talent he showed for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the OHL. The 22-year old has some of the slickest hands in professional hockey, but has had trouble at times with his big size disadvantage. When he gets the puck in space though, watch out as you might see a highlight every time.
- The Buffalo Sabres have brought Linus Ullmark back up, likely meaning that Anders Nilsson isn’t quite ready to get back on the ice just yet. Ullmark was sent down yesterday in what was apparently just a paper transaction, as neither the Buffalo Sabres nor the Rochester Americans played last night.
- Andy Strickland of Fox Sports is reporting that Henrik Borgstrom will return to the University of Denver next season, meaning the Florida Panthers won’t get him into their system just yet. The first-round pick had 43 points in 36 games for DU this year, and will play for the national championship tomorrow night against Minnesota-Duluth. The lanky center has a great shot at the NHL after his college career ends, but the questions from the World Juniors still remain. He disappeared in the tournament for Finland and was held scoreless, not the first time he’s played poorly at an international event. With Finland firing their head coach mid-tournament, perhaps it was just a symptom of a bad system. For Borgstrom, he’ll need to prove his doubters wrong by continuing the consistent play he’s shown this year in the NCHC.
Kyle Okposo Hospitalized
Friday: Tom Martin of News 4 Buffalo is reporting that Okposo has been discharged from hospital. This comes after John Wawrow of the Associated Press reported earlier that the Sabres forward was “showing signs of improving.”
Wednesday: We learned earlier today that Sabres right winger Kyle Okposo has been ruled out for the final three games of the season, and we’ve learned tonight that his mystery illness may be more serious than initially thought.
According to Paul Hamilton of WGR-AM 550 (and confirmed by John Vogl of The Buffalo News), the 28-year-old has been hospitalized and is currently in intensive care. Tom Martin of WIVB-TV in Buffalo tweets that Okposo was originally hospitalized at Buffalo General Hospital on Sunday, and he was subsequently moved to the Neuro Surgical ICU.
The winger hasn’t played since March 27th, and it was initially believes that he may be suffering from a minor ailment. Okposo has apparently visited doctors, but Dan Bylsma acknowledged today that there still isn’t a clear diagnosis. The head coach also noted that he’s “very concerned” about the former first-rounder.
“It’s a difficult thing for him to be dealing with now in this situation,” Bylsma said. “Very, as a coach and a person, concerned for him and his situation. He’s seeing our doctors and done some tests.”
“Kyle continues to be under the care of our doctors as he deals with symptoms from an illness,” the organization said in a statement. “Out of respect to Kyle and his family, we will have no further comment at this time.”
As Vogl notes, the UCLA Neurosurgery Department’s website says that the ICU tends to patients “with all types of neurosurgical and neurological injuries, including stroke, brain hemorrhage, trauma and tumors.”
Okposo will finish his first campaign in Buffalo with 19 goals and 26 assists in 65 games, which is his lowest output in a full season since 2011-12. The winger spent the first nine years of his career with the Islanders.
Minor Moves: Carlsson, Abramov, Stolarz, Guhle
That didn’t take long. The Columbus Blue Jackets have recalled Gabriel Carlsson after just three games with their AHL squad. The big, mobile defenseman came over from the Swedish Hockey League last week, where he had played the last two seasons. Whether this is just a reward for a good season, or the team is planning on using him in the playoffs is still uncertain.
As we wrote last week, Carlsson has all the makings of an excellent shutdown defender that can fit in nicely with Columbus’ young core. The former first-round pick has developed nicely since the Blue Jackets used the 29th overall pick on him in 2015, and should be pushing for a full-time job as soon as next season. With at least four defensemen under control long term already, Carlsson could be eased in on the bottom pair and sheltered slightly as he gets used to the North American game.
- The Blue Jackets have also assigned Vitaly Abramov to the AHL after his Gatineau club was eliminated from the QMJHL playoffs. Abramov recently won the league’s MVP award and has dominated it offensively since the moment he stepped onto the ice for the Olympiques. With 104 points in 66 games, he showed again why the Blue Jackets regard him so highly after stealing him in the third round last summer. He’ll get a taste of the AHL before heading back to the Q to dominate one more time.
- Philadelphia has sent Anthony Stolarz back to the AHL for the moment, though he may be back up as soon as tomorrow. The Lehigh Valley Phantoms play tonight, and will likely have Stolarz in net before coming back to the Flyers to back up Steve Mason tomorrow night. While Michal Neuvirth is considered day-to-day, it would be surprising to see him on the bench so soon after his scary collapse in the net.
- As reported yesterday, the Buffalo Sabres have officially moved Brendan Guhle to the Rochester Americans where he’ll get a taste of the AHL at the end of the year. Guhle of course has already spent time in the NHL, playing three games for the Sabres before heading back to junior this year. The 19-year old defenseman is a prized possession for a Sabres team that needs more capable young defenders. His development this year has been a silver lining in an otherwise stormy season for the Sabres and their fans.