Metro Division Notes: Wennberg, Vesey, Schenn, Raffl
The Columbus Blue Jackets are one of the league’s biggest surprises this season under head coach John Tortorella. The team’s points-percentage is #1 in the league, and they boast the NHL’s top-ranked man-advantage unit as well. While the play of rookie defenseman Zach Werenski and goaltender Sergei Bobrovski is garnering much of the attention, third-year center Alexander Wennberg has played a vital role in the team’s surge this season.
Wennberg debuted in 2014-15 and tallied 20 points in 68 games as a rookie. He would double that points total in 69 contests in his sophomore campaign but is in the midst of a breakout season in 2016-17 with 25 points in 28 appearances. If he maintains that pace he would finish with more than 70 points. According to Tortorella via Aaron Portzline of The Columbus Dispatch, Wennberg, now in his third professional season, has embraced the added responsibility that comes with experience.
“Before camp started, we talked about responsibility as a third-year pro,” Tortorella said. “He’s not a rookie anymore. He’s not feeling his way through the league anymore. He needs to take responsibility with his play, and he’s done that.”
For his part, the young pivot believes his physical development has allowed him to improve in all aspects on the ice.
“I’m bigger now, stronger,” Wennberg said recently. “It’s a hard league, the best in the world, and I was a young guy when I got here. Of course it’s tough. I do feel different this year. I know Torts better and he knows me better, too. So it’s good.”
Although known more for his skill, Wennberg recently had occasion to show he isn’t afraid of physical play. Friday night he dropped the mitts with Flames rookie Matthew Tkachuk after the latter delivered a big hit on Brandon Saad in the Jackets defensive zone. He may not have fared particularly well in the engagement but he certainly earned the respect of his teammates and his coach.
“I’ve talked since I’ve been here that I think Wenny needs to be more involved,” Tortorella said. “Not to fight, but to be more involved in the inside part of the game, and he’s done that this year.
“For him to stand in there – right in front of the bench – that’s important for camaraderie and the tightness of the bench to see that guy stand in there.”
Elsewhere in the Metro Division:
- Jimmy Vesey spurned several teams when he agreed to terms with the New York Rangers this summer as an unrestricted free agent. Chief among them was the club who originally drafted the skilled winger in the 3rd round of the 2012 draft, the Nashville Predators. Of course everyone knows the story by now. Nashville GM David Poile thought Vesey would sign with the club upon the completion of his senior season at Harvard but Vesey had other ideas. Once it became clear the Predators would not be adding the young winger, the team pivoted and traded his rights to Buffalo in exchange for a third-round pick. Buffalo also failed to secure Vesey’s name on a contract and it was the Rangers who would add the talented prospect to their organization. Vesey is off to a strong start with the Blueshirts, registering 10 goals and 17 points in 31 contests. He’s already played against the Sabres in Buffalo and received a cold reception. Tonight, however, Vesey and the Rangers travel to Nashville where Adam Vingan of The Tennessean expects Vesey will receive a hostile welcome from Predators fans. Vesey certainly expects one and is looking forward to getting it over with: “I kind of have been knowing it was coming. It’s going to be the worst of it, and once this game is done with, maybe it’ll settle down.” Rangers bench boss Alain Vigneault doesn’t expect the atmosphere to distract the rookie: “I think this is the third time this is happened. He hasn’t shown at all that he’s been at all influenced by it. If the fans get their money’s worth, then I guess fine for them, but I know it’s not going to bother the young man at all.”
- The Philadelphia Flyers had their 10-game winning streak broken today in Dallas, but the stretch of winning hockey has elevated the Flyers from a .500 club to one that comfortably holds a playoff spot. Coincidentally, their streak began at the same time Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol moved Brayden Schenn to center from wing, replacing him with Michael Raffl on the top line, as Sam Carchidi of Philly.com writes. Schenn initially centered the fourth-line for two games but has spent the past eight on the second-line and that trio has combined for 12 goals and 22 points since.
Roster Moves: Fedun, Wotherspoon
Follow this post for all of the day’s transaction news.
- The Buffalo Sabres today activated defenseman Taylor Fedun from IR and assigned him to Rochester of the AHL, according to Mike Vogl of The Buffalo News. Fedun has been out the last two weeks with a shoulder injury. On the season, the 28-year-old blue liner has four assists in eight games. The assignment of Fedun may mean that Zach Bogosian is ready to return to the lineup, suggests Mike Harrington, also of The Buffalo News (Twitter link). Bogosian hasn’t played since November 1st due to a sprained MCL.
- Fellow defenseman Tyler Wotherspoon of the Calgary Flames has been reassigned by the club to their AHL affiliate, the Stockton Heat, according to a release on the team’s official website. Wotherspoon has not appeared in a game this season for the Flames but over the course of the previous three campaigns, the former second-round pick has seen action in 26 contests, recording five assists. The assignment of Wotherspoon leaves the Flames with just six healthy blue liners, leading Wes Gilbertson, who covers the team for Post Media, to suggest the team may recall Brett Kulak from the minors. Kulak, 23, has played in 15 games this season and has registered three assists.
Snapshots: Sabres, McDavid, Meier, Burakovsy
The Buffalo Sabres will be getting back a defenseman soon.
NHL Buffalo correspondent Joe Yerdon reported that one Sabres coach Dan Bylsma expects one of Zach Bogosian or Taylor Fedun to travel with the team on their upcoming road trip. Meanwhile, injured forward Tyler Ennis is skating on his own as he makes his way back from groin surgery. Bogosian and Ennis have been out since early November, while Fedun has been out since the beginning of December.
The Sabres host the New York Islanders on Friday night, so new Sabres winger Kyle Okposo will face his former team for the first time after nine years on Long Island/ Brooklyn. Okposo leads the Sabres in scoring with 21 points in 29 games, while his replacement on the Islanders, Andrew Ladd, has just seven points in that stretch. Okposo’s 21 points would rank second on the Islanders, behind only John Tavares.
- Edmonton Oilers center and budding superstar Connor McDavid should win the Hart Trophy, argues Ryan Lambert of Puck Daddy. Lambert took a look at the Oilers advanced stats with McDavid on the ice compared to when he’s not on the ice, and it isn’t pretty: when McDavid isn’t on the ice, the Oilers are in the bottom-half in every category for each stat for all teams from 2007-2016, but jump to mostly the top end (including some NHL bests) when McDavid is on the ice. Lambert compares McDavid’s affect to that of Taylor Hall‘s tenure in Edmonton, in that the Oilers are awful without but the player is so strong that he lifts them to respectability. David Staples of the Edmonton Journal suggests that the Oilers need Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jordan Eberle to “twist the throttle harder” in order to boost their scoring numbers. Eberle has 23 points in 32 games but could have more, having missed some glorious opportunities while being set up by McDavid; Nugent-Hopkins has struggled with a 5.7% shooting percentage and 15 points in 32 game. More was expected from the pair of $6MM men to help mitigate the loss of Hall.
- San Jose Sharks rookie Timo Meier will play his first NHL game on Friday night in Montreal, according to lineups posted by TSN 690’s Amanda Stein. Meier, who played junior in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, has 15 points in 17 games in the AHL so far this season. He was the Sharks’ first pick, ninth overall, in the 2015 NHL draft.
- The Washington Post’s Isabelle Khurshudyan reports that the Capitals have no timetable for getting Andre Burakovsky back into the lineup. Burakovsky was a healthy scratch in the Capital’s last game, a 4-2 win over the Islanders. He has just two goals and 10 points in 28 games this season.
Anders Lindback Signs In Sweden
Swedish goaltender Anders Lindback is headed home. After months spent hoping an NHL opportunity would arise, Lindback has finally made the decision to go overseas to continue his hockey career. Over the past few weeks, rumors and speculation have predicted the move, but today Lindback officially signed with Rogle BK of the Swedish Hockey League, the top pro league in Sweden.
Originally drafted by the Nashville Predators, a steal by GM David Poile in the seventh round of the 2008 NHL Draft, Lindback made a name for himself as the sturdy, young backup to Pekka Rinne. One of the larger goalies in the NHL at 6’6″, 200 lbs., teams saw the youthful Lindback as a bona-fide future starter. However, it didn’t play out that way. Lindback signed on to be the starter for the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2012, but that never came to fruition. Lindback’s performance was lacking, and he ended up splitting time with Mathieu Garon in 2012-13, before being supplanted by Ben Bishop in 2013-14. After back-to-back seasons with a 2.90 GAA and more losses than wins, Lindback left Tampa having missed his opportunity. Lindback joined the Dallas Stars for 2014-15, but was traded mid-season for fellow disappointment Jhonas Enroth. He played the best hockey of his NHL career in 16 appearances for the Sabres, but it still wasn’t enough to earn him a starter role. Last season, Lindback played in 19 games for the Arizona Coyotes and had a career-worst .894 SV% and 3.11 GAA. Unable to even find a guaranteed contract this summer, Lindback joined the New Jersey Devils on a tryout agreement in training camp, but did not make the team. He then signed another PTO, this time with the Los Angeles Kings, who had lost Jonathan Quick and Jeff Zatkoff. However, the Kings decided to stick with their emergency backup duo of Peter Budaj and Jack Campbell, sending Lindback to the AHL’s Ontario Reign. Lindback left the team recently, signaling what very well could be the end of his pro career in North America at just age 28.
Ironically, Lindback’s new position with Rogle BK may include some adversity as well. Although he is likely to step in as the starter immediately, he will not be without competition. The team has two noteworthy young goalies, Columbus Blue Jackets prospect Oscar Dansk and Boston Bruins property Lars Volden, already on the roster. The 22-year-old Dansk, a 2012 second-round pick by Columbus, was drafted out of Sweden after dominating at the junior level in his home country. However, Dansk failed to live up to expectations, with moderate to below-average numbers in the OHL, AHL, and even ECHL, before returning to Sweden. Now in his second season with Rogle BK, Dansk continues to disappoint, posting a 2.85 GAA and .907 SV% in 20 games thus far. Dansk’s backup, Volden, has never made the trip across the Atlantic to try his hand at North American hockey. Instead, the Bruins 2011 sixth-rounder has bounced around various leagues in Europe over his career and has been a member of the Norwegian national team as well. Volden finally settled in with Rogle BK a few years ago, but has not showed signs of improvement. Although his career stats are not as blemished as Dansk’s, he has not faced the same level of competition and has been wildly pedestrian. Volden has put up very similar numbers to Dansk the past two years, which is to say that he has not done enough to unseat the struggling starter. While the duo is consistent, they are consistently average which prompted the team to bring in the veteran Lindback for a boost.
Another interesting note on Rogle BK: playing in front of Lindback will be none other than top 2017 NHL Draft prospect Timothy Liljegren. Considered by many to be second only to Nolan Patrick in the upcoming entry draft and a foregone conclusion as the first defenseman off the board, Liljegren is a rare talent at just 17 years old. With a more experienced and reliable keeper in net now, Rogle BK can give Liljegren more ice time and more responsibility, which can only help the young blue liner’s draft stock.
Sabres Notes: Girgensons, Eichel, Okposo, Bogosian
As part of his latest 30 Thoughts column, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that the Sabres are receiving calls regarding struggling forward Zemgus Girgensons. The Latvian has seen his role and ice time decrease in recent weeks and has found himself on the fourth line lately.
The 22 year old former first rounder (14th overall in 2012) is only two years removed from a 30 point season, one where he only played in 61 games. Since then, under new head coach Dan Bylsma, Girgensons has just 23 points in 99 games and just five of those have come this season.
Despite playing less and less, GM Tim Murray is telling teams that the asking price on Girgensons isn’t dropping simply because he isn’t playing well right now. While there’s no word on what the cost would be to get him, Friedman notes that the Ducks showed some interest last summer but Buffalo was asking for one of Anaheim’s young defensemen in return, a price they clearly weren’t willing to pay.
With a cap hit of $1.15MM, Girgensons is cheap enough to fit on the cap for most teams if the Sabres eventually get what they’re looking for in a trade. He will be a restricted free agent once again this offseason after settling on a one year deal back in September.
More from Buffalo:
- In their 6-3 win over Los Angeles last night, the Sabres paired up Kyle Okposo and Jack Eichel for the first time and as Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News notes, the two showed some instant chemistry as they combined for six points. This combination was likely envisioned back in the summer when Okposo signed a seven year deal but an early season ankle injury to Eichel shelved those plans, at least temporarily.
- Also from Harrington, defenseman Zach Bogosian skated for the first time on Tuesday since suffering a sprained MCL back on November 1st. There remains no timetable for his return, however. Although Bogosian was off to a tough start before going down (no points in nine games), he has logged heavy minutes for the Sabres since being acquired from Winnipeg back in February of 2015.
Comparative Standings: One Year Ago
With the first third of the season completed for all but Columbus (who have amazingly played just 26 games, six fewer than the Winnipeg Jets), there have been some huge swings from a year ago.
Those Blue Jackets are the league’s most improved team, with a staggering 18 more points through 26 games than last season. Their huge swing is only matched by the Dallas Stars equally amazing drop-off of 18 points the other way. The Jackets can attest their improvement to the development of young players like Zach Werenski and Alexander Wennberg, while the Stars have seen a litany of injuries to their star players including Jason Spezza, Patrick Sharp and Johnny Oduya.
The Central Division as a whole is off to a slower start this year, with only the Chicago Blackhawks bettering their 2015-16 record. The Colorado Avalanche, expected to take a step forward with their young core has suffered the exact same fate with 23 points through 27 games.
The two biggest Canadian rebuild stories, Edmonton and Toronto have both improved, though not as largely as the fan bases in each city might have you believe. Four points for the Maple Leafs and five for the Oilers lend credence to the idea that it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish that counts. Though both franchises have a lot to look forward to, keeping up an advanced pace for an entire season is extremely difficult. The two teams finished last season with just 69 and 70 points respectively.
Below are the current standings. In parenthesis is the difference in points through the same amount of games last year.
Atlantic Division Snapshots: Pastrnak, Sabres, Ryan
The Boston Bruins may be in the midst of a mediocre season but one bright spot, both today and for the future, has been the breakout performance of 20-year-old winger David Pastrnak. The Czech born forward has 18 goals in just 23 games to start the 2016-17 campaign, a figure which has already eclipsed his career-high by three. Pastrnak is playing out the final season of his ELC and presuming he’s able to continue to pile up the points, it’s certain he will cash in big this summer on a new contract, as Joe Haggerty of CSNNE writes.
Granted, it’s unlikely Pastrnak, who is also averaging better than a point-per-game, will be able to maintain his scoring pace throughout the season but his prolific start makes it easy to envision a 30-goal, 60-point campaign is a strong possibility. Haggerty speculates that if Pastrnak reaches those plateaus, he would be in line for a deal comparable to those awarded to Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan and Nathan MacKinnon, among others in recent seasons. That means the value of a multiyear arrangement could reach $6MM or more annually on a long-term deal, depending on how many free agent years Boston is able to secure.
While the Bruins would certainly be more than happy to lock up the services of a talented youngster like Pastrnak through his prime seasons at that price, there is what Haggerty considers a “nightmare scenario,” that could come into play. If Pastrnak continues filling the net consistently and posts a platform season similar to that which Vladimir Tarasenko posted in 2014-15 – 37 goals and 73 points – his price tag could go well beyond the $6MM – $6.5MM mark. Tarasenko inked an eight-year, $60MM pact with the Blues on the heels of his breakout campaign two years ago and that could represent a target for Pastrnak if his able to attain that level of offensive production. With the salary cap likely to remain at or near the $73MM mark, and after locking up winger Brad Marchand to a lucrative new deal earlier this year, the Bruins will have to hope they can get Pastrnak extended at a rate which better fits their long-term salary cap situation.
Elsewhere in the Atlantic Division:
- The Buffalo Sabres, led by sophomore Jack Eichel and buoyed by an owner willing to spend to improve his club, would certainly have to be considered a team on the rise in the Atlantic Division. While a postseason berth in 2016-17 might be a long shot at this point, the Sabres should begin to contend for the playoffs as soon as next season. However, as John Vogl of The Buffalo News notes, the situation today could be much different had the club done a better job of drafting in the early-to-mid-2000’s. Former first and second-round choices taken while Darcy Regier was the team’s GM listed by Vogl include: Marek Zagrapan, Philipp Gogulla, Dennis Persson and Drew Schiestel were all high draft picks chosen between 2005 and 2007 and none even played a single NHL game. Conversely, players the Sabres could have selected – Alec Martinez, James Neal and T.J. Oshie – have played key roles for contending teams. While it may be fun to play “what if,” with players the Sabres could have had, it’s also important to note that had the team experienced more success as a result of better drafting under Regier, Buffalo would likely not have franchise building blocks Rasmus Ristolainen, Eichel, Sam Reinhart and Alexander Nylander in the organization today.
- The return of Bobby Ryan and the play of several of Ottawa’s younger forwards has allowed first-year GM Pierre Dorion to resist temptation and stay the course with the team’s current roster, writes Ken Warren of the Ottawa Sun. It would have been understandable if Dorion had looked to make a deal to add some extra offense with Ryan out with a hand injury but the veteran scoring winger missed only three games. Dorion admitted he made some calls in the aftermath of the Ryan injury and while he will continue to look at different avenues to improve his club, there is no immediate pressure to make a trade.
Buffalo Sabres Send Erik Burgdoerfer Back To AHL
Perhaps the Buffalo Sabres are finally getting healthy. Today they sent back Erik Burgdoerfer to the Rochester Americans after Josh Gorges and Dmitry Kulikov both took part in practice. While it’s not a guarantee that both will suit up tomorrow against the Washington Capitals, it is a good sign that they felt confident enough to send the 27-year old Burgdoerfer back down.
Burgdoerfer (or, Drew Stafford‘s long-lost twin depending on who you believe) made his NHL debut on Monday night for the Sabres, playing just over ten minutes. Tuesday’s game two didn’t bring much more, but for an undrafted defenseman who struggled for parts of five seasons in the ECHL before even getting a sniff at the AHL level, it was a dream come true. A big part of the Hershey Bears’ Calder-Cup finals run last season, Burgdoerfer will return to likely play most of the rest of this year with the Americans.
Gorges skating with the team is an unbelievably quick turnaround for a player who as of Saturday was still in a walking boot after suffering a non-displaced fracture of his foot and was originally expected to be out “weeks”. Kulikov’s return may be more important to the team however, as they had expected the 26-year old to be a big part of their blueline after acquiring him from Florida in the offseason. The former 14th-overall pick has played in just 12 games this season, recording no points.
Snapshots: Coyotes, Penguins, Sabres, Chara
News and notes from around the NHL this evening:
- The Arizona Coyotes will give Brendan Perlini his first NHL start tonight against the Columbus Blue Jackets, reports Sarah McLellan of the AZCentral. The Coyotes selected Perlini 12th overall in the 2014 draft and the pick immediately paid dividends. Perlini is tearing up the AHL, scoring 11G and 5A in 16 games while tied for the league lead in goals. The Coyotes are struggling in the goal department—they are 28th in goals for—and hope that the young forward can spark the struggling offense. To make room for Perlini both Anthony Duclair and Kevin Connauton are relegated to the pressbox.
- The Pittsburgh Penguins have scratched forwards Tom Kuhnhackl, Jake Guentzel, and defenseman Steven Oleksy, reports Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Kuhnhackl has struggled this season, scoring only 1G and 3A in 18 games for the Penguins. His ice-time has decreased considerably and this is his second scratch in two games. Jake Guentzel has missed the past two games as a healthy scratch, and the team has cooled on him considerably since his electric debut on November 21st. The rookie scored two goals in his NHL debut, but has only posted 1G and 1A since.
- The Buffalo Sabres are getting creative on their backend during a long injury drought. The team has Erik Burgdoerfer making his NHL debut after 480 minor league games, and Brendan Guhle on an emergency recall, reports the NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti. Injuries are taking its toll on the basement-dwelling Sabres as they are missing Dmitry Kulikov (back), Zach Bogosian (knee), Josh Gorges (foot) and Taylor Fedun (shoulder).
- Boston Bruins defenseman and captain Zdeno Chara returns to the team tonight after missing the last six games with a lower-body injury, reports Joe Haggerty of CSNNE. The Bruins went 3-2-1 without their veteran defenseman, and only surrendered 10 goals during that timeframe. There is worry within the fanbase that Chara is slowing down, and while he is still leading the team in playing time, that time is down almost three minutes from his 25+ minute average with Boston.
Atlantic Division Transactions/Injuries
The Buffalo Sabres, already without two of their top defensemen, will now also be without veteran blue liner Josh Gorges for what head coach Dan Bylsma says will be “weeks,” tweets Joe Yerdon of NHL.com. Gorges suffered a non-displaced fracture in his foot and according to Yerdon was seen in a walking boot yesterday.
The Sabres have been without the services of Zach Bogosian and Dmitry Kulikov since early November, weakening a blue line not considered to be particularly deep to begin with. Bogosian has missed a month with a sprained MCL while Kulikov has been out for three weeks due to an undisclosed injury. However, Yerdon reports that Kulikov is now considered day-to-day, suggesting he could return to the lineup relatively soon.
The Sabres are calling Taylor Fedun questionable for tomorrow’s game and if he can’t go, the team will have to call up a defender from Rochester of the AHL. Speculatively, Casey Nelson, who already has made eight appearances for Buffalo this season, could be the choice if a recall is necessarily.
(Buffalo Depth Cart – courtesy of Roster Resource)
- The Florida Panthers announced that they have recalled forward Paul Thompson from Springfield of the AHL. Thompson leads Springfield in several offensive categories including: goals (six); assists (nine); points (15); power play goals (three) and; shots on goal (64). He has appeared in 20 contests so far this season for the Thunderbirds. Thompson, 28, has just three NHL games of experience under his belt, all coming last season with New Jersey, and has yet to record a point. George Richards of the Miami Herald reports that Thompson’s recall was necessitated by an injury to Jonathan Marchessault last night in Ottawa.