Carolina Hurricanes Send Pyotr Kochetkov, Jack LaFontaine To AHL
For most of the Carolina Hurricanes, the season is over and they now face months of disappointment before getting another chance to chase a championship. Not so for at least two members of the team, as Pyotr Kochetkov and Jack LaFontaine have both been sent to the AHL’s Chicago Wolves.
Kochetkov, 22, likely didn’t think he’d be appearing in more playoff games than regular season contests in his first NHL campaign, but that’s exactly what happened. The young netminder was forced into the crease on four occasions these playoffs, including games six and seven against the New York Rangers. While he struggled in those appearances, it’s hard to blame someone who had just three games of NHL experience and 15 games of AHL experience to this point.
A second-round selection in 2019, there’s still huge upside in the Russian goaltender, and he showed it with the Wolves this year. In the AHL, Kochetkov went 13-1-1 with a .921 save percentage.
LaFontaine, meanwhile, was pulled right out of college hockey this season when the Hurricanes were struggling to find healthy goaltenders. The 24-year-old started the year with the University of Minnesota (even serving as captain), before signing his entry-level contract in early January. He appeared in two NHL games, 13 AHL games, and even two ECHL games, posting better numbers as the competition decreased. The third-round pick didn’t appear in the playoffs but was needed as the emergency goaltender with Frederik Andersen‘s status unclear.
Now, the two goaltenders will re-join a Wolves team that is set to take on the Stockton Heat in the Western Conference Finals. The series kicks off on Friday, and it will be interesting to see if either one sees any action. To this point, the Wolves have gone with Alex Lyon in the playoffs, who has a .926 save percentage in seven games–winning six of them to cruise through two rounds.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
NHL Announces Conference Final Schedule Scenarios
After one-half of the conference finalists have been set, the NHL has released the potential schedule matrix for the 2022 Eastern and Western Conference Finals.
No matter what, the Eastern Conference Final will start June 1, whether it be in Raleigh or Manhattan. The Tampa Bay Lightning will be the visitor after sweeping the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Florida Panthers in the Second Round. The Lightning actually finished with the same point total as the New York Rangers (110), but surrender the tiebreaker, so it’s impossible for them to start the series at home. They would also start on the road against the Metropolitan Division champion Carolina Hurricanes. The Eastern Conference Final will be televised on ESPN in the United States.
For the Western Conference, the schedule depends on the result of tonight’s Game 6 between the Colorado Avalanche and St. Louis Blues. If Colorado is victorious tonight, the series will start on May 31st in Denver. If it goes to a Game 7, the Edmonton Oilers will travel to either Denver or St. Louis for Game 1 on June 2. In the United States, the Western Conference Final will be on TNT.
The last possible day for Conference Final action is June 15, with a potential Western Conference Final Game 7 between the Oilers and either the Avalanche or Blues.
Oliwer Kaski Signs In Switzerland
- Hurricanes RFA Oliwer Kaski has decided to stay overseas as HC Lugano of the NLA in Switzerland announced that they’ve signed the defenseman to a two-year contract. The 26-year-old was tendered a qualifying offer by Carolina in 2020 but has spent the past two years with Avangard Omsk in the KHL. His NHL rights are set to expire next summer so if he wants to come back to North America at that time, he’ll be an unrestricted free agent.
Andersen At Morning Skate; Raanta Will Start Again
The Carolina Hurricanes had Frederik Andersen on the ice at morning skate again today, taking normal shots at one end of the rink. The 32-year-old goaltender has not yet appeared in the playoffs after suffering a late-season injury, despite being the primary winner of the William M. Jennings Trophy for the lowest goals-against average in the league.
His partner for that award, Antti Raanta, will start again for the Hurricanes and has done everything possible to prove he is ready for this moment. Mark Lazerus profiles Raanta in his latest for The Athletic, noting the long road the veteran netminder has taken to get to this point. Through nine games in these playoffs, the 33-year-old has a .939 save percentage, allowing just 15 goals on 246 shots.
Latest On Frederik Andersen
The Carolina Hurricanes are two wins away from the Eastern Conference Final, and they have gotten there in large part thanks to the heroics of backup goaltender Antti Raanta. Raanta took the starter’s crease in Carolina after regular starter Frederik Andersen suffered a major injury, and hasn’t looked back. In these playoffs, Raanta has a .939 save percentage and a 1.86 goals-against-average, two elite marks. But now a month removed from the initial injury to Andersen, it seems that the Hurricanes’ goaltending situation is about to become uncertain once again, albeit for different reasons.
The Hurricanes’ goaltending uncertainty was once driven by a lack of options. They had Raanta, who had a decent 28-game stretch in the regular season, but his name wouldn’t exactly strike fear in the hearts of the Eastern Conference’s top contenders. But now, as the Hurricanes inch closer to the Conference Finals, their goaltending situation looks increasingly uncertain once again, but this time for the opposite reason: an overabundance of options. Today, Andersen returned to the ice, practicing with his teammates as they prepared for tomorrow’s game against the New York Rangers.
Per the practice report from Walt Ruff of NHL.com, this was Andersen’s first time skating since his April 16th injury, and he worked for 20 minutes. Forward Sebastian Aho spoke glowingly about his performance, saying “I don’t think I scored on him once today, so he’s still a great goalie.” But coach Rod Brind’Amour was more reserved about Andersen’s situation, opting to keep his cards closer to his chest. Brind’Amour told the media: “I’ll tell you when he’s an option, how about that.”
The Athletic’s Sara Civian reported that Andersen “was taking shots and saving them normally” and “walked off the ice normally.” While this development does indicate that a return for Andersen could be right around the corner, his participation in only half of practice does communicate that the Hurricanes could prefer to offer him as much time as possible to get to full health. Raanta’s play has given them the option to do so, and choosing patience with regard to Andersen’s health does have the added benefit of stalling the eventual need to choose between a red-hot Raanta and Andersen, who was in the conversation for the Vezina trophy at times during this season.
Regardless of what happens going forward with the Hurricanes and Andersen, it’s likely that any choice Brind’Amour makes will be highly scrutinized. That being said, though, there are definitely worse situations to be in than having to choose between two in-form goaltenders who have each played extremely well.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
2022 Lady Byng Finalists Announced
The NHL continues its daily revealing of award finalists and today’s is the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy. The award is voted on by members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association and is given “to the player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability.”
This year’s finalists are Kyle Connor of the Winnipeg Jets, Jared Spurgeon of the Minnesota Wild, and Jaccob Slavin of the Carolina Hurricanes.
Connor, a finalist for the first time, put together an incredible season even as the Jets struggled to take off. The 25-year-old sniper potted 47 goals and 93 points in 79 games, and, perhaps most impressively, recorded just four minutes in penalties. Two minutes in November for slashing, and two minutes in March for hooking were the only times Connor was forced to spend in the sin bin, an eye-popping feat given he played nearly 22 minutes a night for Winnipeg.
If the Winnipeg forward wants to win, though, he’ll have to go through a pair of defensemen that are certainly not new to the award.
Spurgeon, last year’s runner-up, put together another season that seems to boggle the mind, recording just ten penalty minutes despite playing more than 21 minutes a night on defense. In 772 NHL games, Spurgeon has amassed just 130 penalty minutes, and has been nominated for the Byng on eight different occasions. Add in his ten-goal, 40-point campaign, and you certainly have a player who combined gentlemanly conduct and a high standard of play during the regular season. Remember, those who want to point out his playoff cross-check, that this voting is done before the postseason commences.
Slavin, last year’s winner after taking just two minutes in penalties all season, decided to goon-it-up this year with a total of ten in 79 games. The Hurricanes defenseman is the perfect blend of mobility, positioning, and stick checking ability, ending countless plays without ever losing ground. He reached a new high in points with 42, while once again logging more than 23 minutes a night for Carolina. Nominated for the Lady Byng in each of the last five seasons, he could become the first player to win the award in consecutive years since Martin St. Louis.
Who should win the 2022 Lady Byng?
-
Kyle Connor 51% (265)
-
Jared Spurgeon 26% (132)
-
Jaccob Slavin 23% (119)
Total votes: 516
Charlie McAvoy, Brendan Smith Earn Fines
The NHL Department of Player Safety has handed out a pair of fines today, sanctioning defensemen Charlie McAvoy of the Boston Bruins and Brendan Smith of the Carolina Hurricanes for violations committed during yesterday’s series-ending contest. Both were fined the maximum allowable amount under the CBA.
McAvoy’s $5,000 fine came for tripping, in an incident where he tripped Hurricanes defenseman Brady Skjei. The incident came at 6:10 of the third period. The Bruins were pressing into Carolina’s end of the ice, looking to create a scoring chance when their possession of the puck ended and Hurricanes forward Jesper Fast cleared the puck down the ice. McAvoy, who was hovering around the area that Fast occupied, knocked Fast down and then went and committed this tripping infraction on Skjei.
Smith’s fine, a $2,000 cost to the player, is for elbowing Bruins’ forward David Pastrnak. Pastrnak retrieved a puck in the corner and curled it around the net, and after the puck had already left Pastrnak’s stick Smith went to engage Pastrnak in a body check. Smith left his feet on the check, his elbow rising to the point of hitting Pastrnak in the head, hence the fine for elbowing. The fine occurred at 1:18 in the third period of yesterday’s game.
Jesper Sellgren Linked To SHL
- Minor league defenseman Jesper Sellgren has once again been linked to the SHL for next season, once his contract with the Carolina Hurricanes comes to an end. There were reports last month that he had already agreed to a deal with Lulea HF for 2022-23, and now that seems even more likely. For now, Sellgren is still starring for the Chicago Wolves of the AHL, where he had 26 points in 73 games this season. The 23-year-old defenseman’s rights could be retained by issuing a qualifying offer, as he is still just scheduled to be a restricted free agent when his entry-level deal expires this summer.
Dominik Bokk To Play In North America In 2022-23
- After spending half of this season playing back home in Germany, Dominik Bokk is coming back to North America. His club team announced today that Bokk will re-join the Carolina Hurricanes organization for the 2022-23 season, a previously agreed upon decision. After playing 32 games in the AHL this year, Bokk was loaned to Eisbaren Berlin in the DEL for the stretch run, where he scored 11 points in 14 games and another three in 12 playoff contests. The first-round pick originally selected by St. Louis in 2018 has one year left on his entry-level deal.
Snapshots: Scheifele, Sharks, Kuzmenko
Despite some ominous comments earlier in the week, it turns out that Winnipeg Jets star Mark Scheifele did not request a trade in his exit interview with GM Kevin Cheveldayoff, reports Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Schiefele had expressed concern over the direction of the team after the Jets missed the playoffs this season, which raised some eyebrows in the media and across the league. Scheifele is signed through the next two seasons, so if he was unhappy enough with the situation, he would have had to request a trade, which likely would have occurred during his exit interview this week. Instead, the situation remains status quo in Winnipeg, at least for now. If the Jets, who have a lot of money tied up in long-term contracts, cannot find a way to improve the roster within their salary cap restrictions early this offseason, Scheifele’s position could change. The 29-year-old center has the ability and the contract to draw immense interest if he does hit the trade block this summer.
- Friedman notes that another team who could be in the star trading business this offseason are the San Jose Sharks. The Sharks reportedly held preliminary trade discussions with multiple teams this season regarding Erik Karlsson, and those talks could continue over the summer. The Sharks need to first name a new general manager, for which a search is ongoing, but the expectation is that whoever the team hires will be directed to retool rather than rebuild. In order to get more competitive sooner rather than later, the Sharks need to add more high-end depth to their lineup and need more cap space to do so. Moving all or even part of Karlsson’s five remaining years at $11.5MM would help immensely and the trade return wouldn’t hurt either. However, is it realistic to expect the Sharks to find a team both willing and able to add Karlsson? Friedman suggests that Brent Burns, who has three years remaining at $8MM, might be easier to move and would still accomplish the task of redistributing a mass amount of cap space from the right side of the blue line to be used elsewhere in the lineup. The Sharks are also expected to evaluate their options with Marc-Edouard Vlasic this offseason, whose remaining four years at $7MM could prove impossible to move but could be bought out instead.
- While the Jets and the Sharks will be looking for outside-the-box ways to improve this summer, neither team appears to be in the race for KHL free agent Andrei Kuzmenko. Friedman lists the Carolina Hurricanes, Edmonton Oilers, Nashville Predators, Vancouver Canucks, and Vegas Golden Knights as the finalists for the Russian winger’s services. Kuzmenko, 26, initially drew interest from at least 20 NHL teams, but now that his KHL contract has expired as of May 1 and he has begun actual negotiations, the list has been trimmed considerably. Kuzmenko is coming off of a career year in the KHL, recording 20 goals and 53 points in 45 games for SKA St. Petersburg, plus another 14 points in 16 playoff games. While he would be brand new to the NHL and his international experience is somewhat limited as well, Kuzmenko could be an affordable impact forward right away next season.