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Evening Notes: Kubalik, Petry, Joseph, Ekman-Larsson, Barkov

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The NHL announced that Chicago Blackhawks forward Dominik Kubalik as the “Rookie of the Month” for January after he scored 10 goals and 14 points in 10 games. Kubalik, whose rights were acquired from Los Angeles for a fifth-round pick more than a year ago, signed with the team and currently has 21 goals and 32 points in his rookie campaign.

The 24-year-old, in fact, was second in the NHL in goals scored in January, behind Washington’s Alex Ovechkin. Kubalik beat out goaltenders Elvis Merzlikins and Ilya Samsonov, as well as defensemen, Adam Fox, Quinn Hughes and Cale Makar in January.

  • With rumors starting to surface that the Montreal Canadiens could consider moving defenseman Jeff Petry at the trade deadline, it could be one of the biggest trade chips if they wanted to move him. Besides being a solid blueliner, Petry has another year on his contract worth $5.5MM, making him a better option for teams that want to avoid rentals. However, Petry has made it clear he would like to remain in Montreal. “From the day I got here, it’s been a special place for me here,” said Petry (via Sportsnet’s Eric Engels). “Getting to play in the playoffs the first time here was incredible and I honestly believe I don’t think there is a better place to win that it would be here. I think, like I said, we have our work cut out for us this year. But I still believe this group can do it.”
  • Joe Smith of The Athletic (subscription required) takes a look at all the assets the Tampa Bay Lightning might have at their disposal at the trade deadline. One of the top names on his list is forward Mathieu Joseph, who had an impressive rookie campaign last season. The 22-year-old surprised many last year when he made the team out of training camp and put up 13 goals and 26 points. However, his sophomore campaign has been disappointing and he is now trying to find his game with the Syracuse Crunch in the AHL. However, Smith notes that many teams are interested in a NHL-experienced player who possesses speed and defensive ability and has a good chance to find his game sooner than later. Joseph currently has three goals and 12 points in 16 AHL games.
  • The Arizona Coyotes announced they will be without defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson Saturday after he suffered a lower-body injury Thursday against the Los Angeles Kings. The Coyotes blueliner went down after taking a hit from the Kings’ Dustin Brown and was forced to leave the game. He is considered day-to-day.
  • The Athletic’s George Richards reports that Florida Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov will undergo an MRI Sunday after going down during today’s game against Montreal with what appears to be a left knee injury. Barkov has only missed two games in the past three years. Head coach Joel Quenneville did say he believed the injury was not serious.

Ian Mitchell Still Plans To Sign At End Of College Season, Dylan Strome Nearing Return

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  • Blackhawks prospect Ian Mitchell told Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times that his intention remains to turn pro at the end of his current college season. The 2017 second-round pick is having a strong junior season with Denver while faring well in an international stint with Canada at the Spengler Cup.  If Denver’s season ends before Chicago’s does, it’s quite possible if not probable that they will opt to burn the first year of his entry-level deal in 2019-20 which would give them an intriguing youngster to use down the stretch.
  • Still with the Blackhawks, center Dylan Strome has resumed skating, notes Charlie Roumeliotis of NBC Sports Chicago. He has missed the last three weeks to an ankle injury.  The 22-year-old is producing at a slightly lesser clip than he did after being acquired last season but with 10 goals and 20 assists in 40 games, he sits fifth on the team in scoring.

Poll: What Should Chicago Do At The Trade Deadline?

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By now, most teams have a good idea as to what their plans are for next month’s trade deadline.  One of the teams whose short-term future is still up in the air though is Chicago.  They sit just three points out of a Wild Card spot and there are justifiable cases for them to buy, sell, or stand pat.

Case To Buy

With Brent Seabrook and Calvin de Haan both out for the season, the Blackhawks now have plenty of short-term cap space to work with via LTIR.  While they’re limited to the rental market, it’s mostly players with expiring contracts that move at this time of year anyway.  And with Alex DeBrincat’s cap hit going from $778K this season to $6.4MM next year, they probably wouldn’t want to add money for next year regardless of their LTIR situation.

DeBrincat isn’t the only bargain contract that’s expiring though.  Rookie winger Dominik Kubalik already has 21 goals and will be looking for a big raise on his current deal worth $925K before bonuses.  As he’s already 24, he also has salary arbitration eligibility.

Chicago also has a strong goaltending situation, one that’s unlikely to be the case next season.  Robin Lehner and Corey Crawford are a quality tandem but both have stated that they see themselves as number ones.  As a result, it’s almost a certainty that their goalie duo next year will be weaker so if you’re going to make a run, now would seem to be the time.

They’re only three points out despite the injuries on the back end.  Adding an impact blueliner alone could be enough to close the gap.  When you’re that close, it’s hard not to go for it.

Case To Sell

The goalie situation around the league has been a bit of an odd one this season with several veterans that were expected to lead the way struggling.  As a result, the potential is there to have a rental goalie (Lehner or Crawford) go for a better return than what rental netminders have gone for in recent years as the market should be stronger.  If they know which one they intend to keep already, GM Stan Bowman could get the contract extension done now and flip the other for a reasonable price.  (It’s worth noting that Crawford has a ten-team no-trade clause that could come into play at some point.)

It’s also unlikely that they’ll be able to afford defenseman Erik Gustafsson over the offseason.  While his numbers are down this season (not unexpected considering he came out of nowhere with a 60-point season in 2018-19), he’s still one of the better rental blueliners that could move over the next month.  That should have Chicago well-positioned to cash in and would allow them to get a longer look at Slater Koekkoek and Dennis Gilbert to see if one of them is ready to seize a full-time role for next season and beyond.

As is always the case with bubble teams, there’s also the matter of how far they’re going to go if they make it.  While upsets are certainly possible (look no further than one of their division rivals last season), they’re not probable.  If the likely end result is a quick postseason exit, is that really better than adding a few more draft picks and prospects to the cupboard?

Case To Stand Pat

Just look at the standings.  They’re three points behind Vegas with a game in hand so the gap could be as low as one.  If Bowman wants to send the message that he believes in this group, just maintaining the status quo could be the way to go.  The platooning of Lehner and Crawford should pay dividends down the stretch as they’ll be more rested than most of their counterparts at the other end of the ice.  If the goalie market isn’t as strong as I think it could be, the more prudent move may be to keep both netminders over selling one for a mid-to-late-round pick.

It’s also possible that Andrew Shaw returns from his concussion at some point between now and the end of the year.  While he wasn’t as productive as he was last season with Montreal before sustaining the injury, his physical style of play should come in handy as the pressure picks up down the stretch.  Depending on when he returns, he could be worth a point or two in the standings and that could be enough to leapfrog whoever the fifth-place team in the Pacific Division is at the end of the year.

While Chicago has a reputation of being an older team, that isn’t the case this year.  They have seven players on entry-level contracts at the moment (including the currently-injured Dylan Strome).  Playing meaningful games down the stretch can certainly help from a player development standpoint.  However, with guys like DeBrincat and Kubalik looking at raises for next season, the prospect of a potential bonus overage penalty lingers so the safest play may just be to stay the course and hope that the current roster is good enough to stay in the race.

Which direction do you think the Blackhawks should go?  Have your say by voting in the poll below.

(Mobile users, click here to vote.)

Minor Transactions: 01/29/20

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Six games are on tap in the NHL this evening, including Jason Spezza’s return to Dallas after leaving the Stars for the Toronto Maple Leafs this season. The Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers will have the latest battle of Alberta as well, with all eyes on Matthew Tkachuk and Zack Kassian after their altercation the last two times these teams played.

  • Edmonton will have a familiar face back in the lineup tonight for the battle as Matt Benning has been activated from long-term injured reserve. Benning hasn’t played in nearly two months, after suffering multiple head injuries.
  • The Los Angeles Kings have also activated a defensemen, bringing back Joakim Ryan for their game tonight. Ryan has missed ten straight games for the Kings with a lower-body injury.
  • With all eyes on the New York Rangers’ goaltending situation, they’ve recalled Igor Shesterkin again after the break. The team will have three goalies on the roster until they decide what to do with Alexandar Georgiev.
  • Dennis Gilbert is on his way back to the NHL after being recalled by the Chicago Blackhawks, where he has spent half the season. The third-round pick from 2015 looks like he might be a full-time member of the squad at some point in the future, but so far has split his year between the Blackhawks and Rockford IceHogs.
  • After the St. Louis Blues placed Oskar Sundqvist on injured reserve earlier today, they have recalled the recently waived Troy Brouwer. The veteran forward hadn’t even reported to the AHL yet and was still deciding whether to continue his career.

NHL Announces All-Decade Teams

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The 2010’s are in the books and the NHL has used this weekend’s All-Star festivities to announce the selections to the All-Decade First and Second Teams. The games best players of the past ten years, as decided by a panel of general managers, hockey operations executives, NHL.com writers, and on-air talent from NBC, Sportsnet, and TVA Sports, are listed below:

All-Decade First Team

F Sidney Crosby
F Patrick Kane
F Alex Ovechkin
D Drew Doughty
D Duncan Keith
G Marc-Andre Fleury

All-Decade Second Team

F Patrice Bergeron
F Evgeni Malkin
F Steven Stamkos
D Zdeno Chara
D Erik Karlsson
G Henrik Lundqvist

The one obvious thing that many of these players have in common are Stanley Cups. The Chicago Blackhawks won three titles this decade, more than any other team, and first-team stars Kane and Keith played key roles in each. The Pittsburgh Penguins took home two Stanley Cups while making the playoffs every year in the 2010’s and franchise icons Crosby and Malkin continue to lead their team. Meanwhile, Fleury appeared in three straight championships, leaving the Penguins to carry the Vegas Golden Knights to the Cup final in their inaugural season. The Los Angeles Kings also won a pair of titles in the decade, just one year apart, with dominant defenseman Doughty leading the way. In fact, much of the 2010’s were taken up by a six-year span from 2012 to 2017 wherein only Chicago, Pittsburgh, and L.A. took home the Cup. Yet, few would discount Boston’s prevalence during these past ten years as well, as they won a Stanley Cup title and made three final appearances overall, with the ageless Chara and Bergeron playing key roles in runs on either end of the decade. Ovechkin finally got his Cup in 2018 after a decade of consistency unlike any other player in the league.

While few would argue that the likes of Crosby, Ovechkin, Kane, and Bergeron are some of the best NHLers of all time, it speaks measures that Stamkos, Karlsson, and Lundqvist were elected to the all-decade team with just two Stanley Cup Final appearances between them and no Cup wins. All three have played on teams that were both true contenders and bottom dwellers at times during the decade, but have continued to maintain a constant level of elite play.

Each of these dozen players have plenty of accolades to warrant their selection as an All-Decade team member. That’s not to say that many other players don’t also have strong cases. Who were the biggest snubs from the All-Decade roster? Let your opinion be known in the comments below.

Carolina Monitoring Chicago Goaltending Situation

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The Carolina Hurricanes have a deep defensive group (even with Dougie Hamilton sidelined), a trio of impressive young forwards and a former captain returning as a midseason boost. The team is third in terms of goal differential in the Metropolitan Division, yet head into the All-Star break in fifth place and battling to hold onto a wild card position.

One thing the team has been desperate to find over the last several years has been a solid starting goaltender, something that has proved elusive to this point. Petr Mrazek reinvigorated his career last season when he posted a .914 save percentage through 40 games with the Hurricanes, but after struggling in the playoffs he has been his old inconsistent self again this year. The bounce-back for James Reimer has been enough to keep the Carolina goaltending situation afloat, but according to Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic (subscription required) the Hurricanes are still keeping their eye on the market.

LeBrun writes that the Hurricanes have “monitored closely” the goaltending situation in Chicago, where the Blackhawks find themselves with two strong options in net who are both headed towards unrestricted free agency. Robin Lehner in particular is of interest, as LeBrun explains the Hurricanes tried to sign him as a free agent last summer and like him “a lot.”

What’s not to like? After finishing third in Vezina Trophy voting last season Lehner has proven it wasn’t just the tight New York Islanders defensive system that pushed his numbers into the stratosphere. The 28-year old goaltender has a .922 save percentage with the Blackhawks this season, which is actually only slightly ahead of his career average. Remember that Lehner also posted a .936 in the Islanders’ eight-game playoff run last spring, including coming oh-so-close to stealing Game 1 against the Hurricanes in the second round.

Lehner is headed for unrestricted free agency again and this time wants to be paid fairly for his career performance. LeBrun notes that the Blackhawks had a “brief conversation” with his camp recently and plan to speak again, but it’s not clear yet how the situation with Lehner and Corey Crawford, a franchise icon and fellow pending UFA, will turn.

2020 NHL All-Star Skills Participants Announced

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Before Saturday’s All-Star Game three-on-three tournament, the NHL’s best will take the ice on Friday night in the annual All-Star Skills event. There has been considerable hype around this year’s competition, given both the new “Shooting Stars” event, in which players will fire the puck at targets on the ice from platforms in the stands, and the participation of stars from the women’s game, including their own three-on-three scrimmage. Now, the league has announced who specifically will be taking part in each event, both new and classic. Below is the lineup for each event:

Fastest Skater

Jack Eichel, Buffalo Sabres
Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche
Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers
Mathew Barzal, New York Islanders
Chris Kreider, New York Rangers
Anthony Duclair, Ottawa Senators
Travis Konecny, Philadelphia Flyers
Quinn Hughes, Vancouver Canucks

Save Streak

David Rittich, Calgary Flames
Tristan Jarry, Pittsburgh Penguins
Jordan Binnington, St. Louis Blues
Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay Lightning
Frederik Andersen, Toronto Maple Leafs
Jacob Markstrom, Vancouver Canucks
Braden Holtby, Washington Capitals
Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets

Accuracy Shooting

Jaccob Slavin, Carolina Hurricanes
Tyler Bertuzzi, Detroit Red Wings
Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton Oilers
Jonathan Huberdeau, Florida Panthers
Nico Hischier, New Jersey Devils
Tomas Hertl, San Jose Sharks
Alex Pietrangelo, St. Louis Blues
Mark Scheifele, Winnipeg Jets

Hardest Shot

Mark Giordano, Calgary Flames
Seth Jones, Columbus Blue Jackets
Shea Weber, Montreal Canadiens
Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay Lightning
Elias Pettersson, Vancouver Canucks
John Carlson, Washington Capitals

Shooting Stars

David Pastrnak, Boston Bruins
Matthew Tkachuk, Calgary Flames
Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks
Tyler Seguin, Dallas Stars
Brady Tkachuk, Ottawa Senators
David Perron, St. Louis Blues
Ryan O’Reilly, St. Louis Blues
Mitch Marner, Toronto Maple Leafs
American Women’s Elite All-Star (TBD)
Canadian Women’s Elite All-Star (TBD)

Women’s Three-On-Three

Team Canada: Meghan Agosta, Mélodie Daoust, Ann-Renée Desbiens, Renata Fast, Laura Fortino, Rebecca Johnston, Sarah Nurse, Marie-Philip Poulin, Natalie Spooner, Blayre Turnbull

Team USA: Kacey Bellamy, Alex Carpenter, Kendall Coyne Schofield, Brianna Decker, Amanda Kessel, Hilary Knight, Jocelyn Lamoureux-Davidson, Annie Pankowski, Alex Rigsby Cavallini, Lee Stecklein

All the action kicks off at 7:00pm local time in St. Louis, with coverage from NBCSN in the U.S and CBC, SN, and TVAS in Canada.

Chicago Blackhawks Sign Matt Tomkins To NHL Contract

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The Chicago Blackhawks have decided that Matt Tomkins has done enough this season to deserve an NHL deal. The team has agreed to terms with the minor league goaltender on a two-year, two-way contract that carries an average annual value of $700K. The deal starts this season, but Tomkins will remain in the minor leagues with the Rockford IceHogs for the time being.

The 25-year old netminder was originally drafted by the Blackhawks back in 2012 but spent a year in the AJHL and then four more at Ohio State University. When he was finished college, the team signed him to a minor league deal and he has spent the last two and a half seasons splitting time between the ECHL’s Indy Fuel and Rockford. He has a .916 save percentage in nine appearances this season, but was also part of the victorious Team Canada at the Spengler Cup.

A deal like this gives the Blackhawks another goaltender to recall in emergency situations, an important step given that only he and Colin Delia are now signed through the 2020-21 season. Robin Lehner and Corey Crawford are both scheduled to become unrestricted free agents at the end of the year, while Kevin Lankinen will be an RFA.

Minor Transactions: 01/22/20

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With just two games remaining on the schedule before the entire league breaks for the All-Star Game festivities, there will be many minor moves today seeing players head down to the AHL. Anyone that isn’t tied down by waiver eligibility will be heading down to get some extra work during the break and save their NHL club a few cap dollars. As always, we’ll keep track of those moves right here.

  • The New York Rangers have sent down Igor Shesterkin and Phillip Di Giuseppe, though the former is still not expected to take part in the AHL All-Star event. Shesterkin was selected for the minor league game after going 15-4-3 with a .932 in his first taste of North American professional hockey, but was replaced earlier this week as he continued to play with the Rangers.
  • Nicolas Hague and Nicolas Roy have both been sent back to the AHL by the Vegas Golden Knights, a trip both of them got used to earlier in the season. While Roy has continued to bounce up and down between the two leagues, Hague has been in the NHL since the middle of November and playing regularly for the Golden Knights. The 21-year old defenseman has 11 points in 38 games.
  • The Chicago Blackhawks have returned Brandon Hagel and Dennis Gilbert to the AHL. Hagel still hasn’t suited up for an NHL game, but he’s obviously getting closer to that dream after several call-ups in recent days.
  • Andrew Agozzino, Joseph Blandisi, Sam Lafferty and Kevin Czuczman have all been assigned to the AHL by the Pittsburgh Penguins, allowing the NHL club to bank a little extra cap space as they continue to push for the playoffs. The Penguins have quite a bit of flexibility when it comes to deadline additions thanks to some savvy saving and the potential long-term injured reserve cap room created by Jake Guentzel’s injury.
  • The Penguins cross-state rival have also sent several players to the minors, as Alex Lyon, German Rubtsov and Connor Bunnaman are all leaving the Philadelphia Flyers for now. The Flyers don’t play again until January 31st, giving them a chance to sort out their roster in a week’s time.
  • Sebastian Aho, no not that Sebastian Aho, has been sent to the minor leagues by the New York Islanders. The young defenseman has been brought up a few times as injury insurance since Adam Pelech went down earlier this month, but still hasn’t found his way into an NHL game this season.
  • The Detroit Red Wings are one of the few teams in action today, and have recalled Dennis Cholowski ahead of their game against the Minnesota Wild. Cholowski has split his time between the NHL and AHL this season, suiting up 29 times for the Red Wings.
  • Karson Kuhlman, Jeremy Lauzon and Dan Vladar have all been returned to the AHL by the Boston Bruins. Lauzon, 22, scored the second NHL goal of his career last night for Boston, even while playing his off-side.
  • The Florida Panthers have returned Riley Stillman and Sam Montembeault to the minor leagues over the break. Stillman has played in 16 games with the Panthers this season, but is still looking for his first career NHL goal.

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