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Snapshots: Chara, Caggiula, Gustafsson

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Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara was a surprise absence from the lineup on Thursday night, with the team providing little indication before puck drop that he would not be available. However, the reasoning is tied to the only cause of missed action for Chara dating back to the 2019 postseason. Chara suffered a fractured jaw in Game Four of the Stanley Cup Final and missed the remainder of the game, though he admirably returned for Games Five through Seven. Chara underwent surgery this summer, but was healthy by training camp and the 42-year-old has not dealt with any other injuries so far this year. Chara only missed his first game of the season back in December due to a clean-up procedure on his jaw. Now, it seems the jaw has stuck again, after Chara took a couple of good shots from the Nashville Predators’ Yakov Trenin in a fight on Tuesday night. There has been no time frame provided for Chara’s return to action, as this could simply just be soreness related to the surgically-repaired jaw, which would lend itself to the late announcement that he would not play. The Bruins will be happy to have their veteran leader back whenever he is ready, as the iconic defenseman continues to play big minutes for Boston.

  • Drake Caggiula has returned to the lineup for the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday after having missed nearly two months with a concussion. Caggiula, who was acquired from the Edmonton Oilers last season, is hoping he can return to the same level of production he flashed after initially arriving in Chicago, recording 12 points in 26 games. Caggiula had just four points through 15 games to begin this season, but the opportunity is there for the two-way forward to take on a bigger role for the offense-challenged Blackhawks.
  • Winnipeg Jets rookie David Gustafsson played his first 22 games of the season in the NHL and then played well at the World Junior Championship. His reward? A demotion to the AHL. The Manitoba Moose report that Gustafsson has been reassigned to the team, where he will make his AHL debut after reporting directly to the Jets after coming over from Sweden this year. Gustafsson had just one lone point with the Jets before being loaned to the WJC, but if his production in the SHL and on the international stage are any indication, he could be a scoring force for the Moose and earn his way back to Winnipeg shortly.

Minor Transactions: 01/08/20

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After an interesting night of NHL hockey, the league is back with three games this evening including the Washington Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers in a Metropolitan battle. The Flyers are in fifth place in the division but still within striking distance of the top three. As they and the rest of the league prepare, we’ll keep track of the minor moves right here:

  • Joachim Blichfeld has been returned to the minor leagues by the San Jose Sharks after failing to get into a game during this call-up. Blichfeld has just two NHL games under his belt at this point, and needs to keep playing to continue his development.
  • The Philadelphia Flyers have decided to call up Mark Friedman, sending Andy Andreoff back to the minors in the process. Friedman, 24, made his NHL debut last season and has ten points in 28 games for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms this year.
  • Barrett Hayton has been officially added back to the Arizona Coyotes roster after winning gold at the World Juniors. Hayton suffered a shoulder injury during the tournament, but played through it and scored the tying goal for Canada in the final.
  • With Robin Lehner ready to return to action for the Chicago Blackhawks, Kevin Lankinen has been returned to the minor leagues. Lankinen didn’t get any NHL action in his recent call-up, but did get a little extra money and some experience from being up at the highest level.

Three Players Clear Waivers

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Monday: According to CapFriendly, all three players have cleared waivers. Holm’s contract can now be terminated.

Sunday: There are three defensemen hitting the NHL waiver wire today, though none should come as much of a surprise. New Jersey’s Matt Tennyson, who cleared waivers earlier this season, has again been waived for the purpose of reassignment to the AHL. Meanwhile, Montreal’s Christian Folin is also on waivers after being a healthy scratch for more than two months.  Chicago’s Philip Holm, who has not seen any NHL action this season, has been placed on unconditional waivers for the purpose of contract termination.

Folin, 28, played well down the stretch with the Canadiens last season after a trade from the Philadelphia Flyers and did enough to earn a one-year extension with the team this season. Signing a one-way deal to stay in Montreal, many expected that Folin could be a regular piece of the roster this season. However, he has hardly been utilized instead, playing in five games with the Habs, seven games with the AHL’s Laval Rocket, and watching most games from the press box. After the Canadiens acquired Marco Scandella last week, it was clear that a re-shuffling of the blue line was in order and Folin is now headed back to the minor, pending safe clearance through waivers.

Tennyson, 29, has been a serviceable defender for the Devils this season, playing in 19 games already, which is equal to his past two seasons combined. Tennyson signed a two-year, two-way contract with New Jersey this summer and was expected to play the role of AHL veteran and deep depth option, but has already provided more value than that. However, he landed on the injured reserve back in early December and the Devils have gotten healthy and learned to play without him in the weeks since. Now healthy, Tennyson will return to the minors, unless another team was impressed enough with his early-season play to claim the affordable depth option.

Holm, 28, returned to North America this season after spending last year in the KHL. The former SHL standout took his time coming over initially, waiting until 2017 before signing with the Vancouver Canucks. Potentially as a result of his unfamiliarity with the NHL style, Holm has struggled to translate his ability. He played in one game with the Canucks early in the 2017-18, zero with the Vegas Golden Knights following a mid-season trade, and zero with the Blackhawks this season. His opportunity and thus his production has been better in Europe, making it far from a shock that he is abandoning his one-year, two-way contract with Chicago early to pursue other options. Expect his contract to be terminated tomorrow once he clears waivers.

Central Notes: Blackhawks, Caggiula, Niku

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With recent season-ending injuries to Calvin de Haan and Brent Seabrook, the Chicago Blackhawks and head coach Jeremy Colliton have seen the team’s defense struggle even more. The team is relatively happy with their top four of Duncan Keith, Erik Gustafsson, Connor Murphy and Adam Boqvist, but the team is having issues with their third pairing in which the trio of Olli Maatta, Dennis Gilbert and Slater Koekkoek have struggled.

Scott Powers of The Athletic (subscription required) writes that a league source reports the Blackhawks have been looking for help on defense since early in the season, but have not been able to acquire a blueliner due to team’s demands for prospects that Chicago is unwilling to part with. That leaves the Blackhawks in a tough place. The team does have some cap room and take back a bigger contract, but with little cap space expected next season, the team is unlikely to be able to pick up anything more than a rental player.

  • NHL.com’s Chris Kuc reports that Chicago Blackhawks winger Drake Caggiula said he hopes to return sometime next week, but it won’t be on Sunday against Detroit. Caggiula has been out since mid-November with a concussion and could add more depth to the team’s forward lines on his return. The 25-year-old Caggiula has appeared in just 15 games so far this season with three goals and four points.
  • Paul Friesen of the Winnipeg Sun reports that Winnipeg Jets defenseman Sami Niku could be ’freed’ soon. The 23-year-old was expected to play a much bigger role this year with a heavily depleted blueline. However, injuries and a car accident back during training camp, have prevented Niku from making much of an impact this season. He’s appeared in just one NHL game so far this year and has only played 18 with the Manitoba Moose of the AHL. With a recent fan lobbying to #FreeSami, head coach Paul Maurice said that chance could be coming soon. “We’re going to see him sooner rather than later, unless we get on some kind of run,” said Maurice. “We still haven’t made our lineup … but we’re going to want to get him up to speed and get him in pretty quick.”

Blackhawks Recall Kevin Lankinen On An Emergency Basis

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  • The Blackhawks announced (via Twitter) that they’ve recalled goaltender Kevin Lankinen on an emergency basis from AHL Rockford.  He’s taking the place of Robin Lehner who is dealing with a right knee injury.  Corey Crawford will take over as the starter in Lehner’s absence.

NHL All-Star Selections Announced

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Although it took some time, with each individual team rolling out their own selections, the final rosters for All-Star Weekend have come into focus. Below are each of the four divisional team, set to face off in the Skills Competition on Friday, January 24th and the All-Star Game on Saturday, January 25th:

Atlantic Division

G Frederik Andersen, Toronto Maple Leafs
G Tuukka Rask, Boston Bruins
D Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay Lightning
D Shea Weber, Montreal Canadiens
F Tyler Bertuzzi, Detroit Red Wings
F Jack Eichel, Buffalo Sabres
F Anthony Duclair, Ottawa Senators
F Jonathan Huberdeau, Florida Panthers
F Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs
F David Pastrnak, Boston Bruins (C)

Metropolitan Division

G Braden Holtby, Washington Capitals
G Joonas Korpisalo, Columbus Blue Jackets
D John Carlson, Washington Capitals
D Dougie Hamilton, Carolina Hurricanes
D Seth Jones, Columbus Blue Jackets
F Mathew Barzal, New York Islanders
F Jake Guentzel, Pittsburgh Penguins
F Travis Konecny, Philadelphia Flyers
F Kyle Palmieri, New Jersey Devils
F Artemi Panarin, New York Rangers

Central Division

G Jordan Binnington, St. Louis Blues
G Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets
D Roman Josi, Nashville Predators
D Alex Pietrangelo, St. Louis Blues
F Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks
F Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche (C)
F Ryan O’Reilly, St. Louis Blues
F Mark Scheifele, Winnipeg Jets
F Tyler Seguin, Dallas Stars
F Eric Staal, Minnesota Wild

Pacific Division

G Marc-Andre Fleury, Vegas Golden Knights
G Darcy Kuemper, Arizona Coyotes
D Mark Giordano, Calgary Flames
F Logan Couture, San Jose Sharks
F Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton Oilers
F Anze Kopitar, Los Angeles Kings
F Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers (C)
F Elias Pettersson, Vancouver Canucks
F Jakob Silfverberg, Anaheim Ducks
F Matthew Tkachuk, Calgary Flames

Additionally, each divisional squad will have one more addition as decided by the Last Men In fan vote. Voting opens on January 1st and closes on the 10th. Here are the candidates:

Atlantic Division – Patrice Bergeron, Rasmus Dahlin, Dylan Larkin Aleksander Barkov, Max Domi, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Steven Stamkos, Mitch Marner

Metropolitan Division – Teuvo Teravainen, Nick Foligno, Nico Hischier, Brock Nelson, Mika Zibanejad, Claude Giroux, Kris Letang, T.J. Oshie

Central Division – Jonathan Toews, Cale Makar, Jamie Benn, Ryan Suter, Matt Duchene, David Perron Patrik Laine

Pacific Division – Ryan Getzlaf, Clayton Keller, Johnny Gaudreau, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Drew Doughty, Tomas Hertl, Quinn Hughes, Max Pacioretty

Five Key Stories: 12/23/19 – 12/29/19

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With the holiday week having come and gone as well as an NHL roster freeze, hockey news slows down quite a bit, yet there was plenty of news despite the three-game respite last week. Here are the five biggest stories of the past week:

World Junior Championships Get Underway: Perhaps even bigger than the NHL is the IIHF World Junior Championships that started on Dec. 26 and continues to be ongoing. The leagues top propsects or soon-to-be prospects find themselves competing in Ostrava and Trinec in the Czech Republic. All NHL teams have at least one representative at the tournament with several teams possessing a host of prospects. The Los Angeles Kings have nine prospects representing their organization, while the Arizona Coyotes have seven. Five teams have just one prospect at the tournament.

John McCarthy Retiring Due To Health Concerns: He only appeared in 88 career NHL games, but San Jose Sharks forward and a long-time minor league player for them, John McCarthy, announced his retirement due to health concerns. While he played in 18 games for the Barracuda this year, his season and career came to a halt after suffering an Ischemic stroke earlier this month. While he has made a complete recovery, those health concerns have ended his playing career. He was drafted by the Sharks back in 2006 and played for the Sharks’ organization his entire career and the Barracudas’ captain immediately took a coaching role with the team.

Brent Seabrook, Calvin De Haan Out For The Season: Just before play was supposed to resume after the Christmas hiatus, the Chicago Blackhawks announced that they are losing one-third of their defense. Two of their defensemen, Brent Seabrook and Calvin de Haan, will miss the season due to surgeries. Seabrook is expected to have surgery on both his hips, while de Haan will have shoulder surgery. De Haan has been a consistent part of the team’s defense, leading the team in hits and blocked shots. Seabrook has similar strengths, but has seen his playing time cut and has even been scratched three times so far this season. Regardless, these are tough losses for a franchise hoping to get back into the playoffs.

Alex Ovechkin To Skip NHL All-Star Game: For the second time in as many years, Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin has announced that he will be skipping the NHL All-Star Game. Ovechkin was voted in as Metropolitan Division captain, but he told media Friday that he will skip the all-star festivities to rest up for the second half of the season. Of course, Ovechkin will be suspended one game for skipping the league event. He must miss either the game before the all-star break or the game after. The team faces the rival New York Islanders, suggesting that Ovechkin will likely opt to miss the game after the break against the Montreal Canadiens.

Multiple Toronto Maple Leafs Players Injured: The Toronto Maple Leafs suffered three injuries upon their return from break. The team first revealed that forward Trevor Moore would be out indefinitely due to a concussion. Moore had been out with a shoulder injury and had only appeared in one game before getting injured once again. The team then lost winger Ilya Mikheyev who suffered a lacerated wrist after New Jersey’s Jesper Bratt ran sliced it with his skate. He is expected to miss a minimum of three months as he heals from the injury. Only hours after that, the Maple Leafs announced that defenseman Jake Muzzin would be considered week-to-week after suffering a fractured foot in that same game against the Devils. With all those injuries, it should make the team’s challenging of working their way up the Atlantic Division standings just a bit more difficult.

Edmonton Oilers Interested In Chicago’s Brandon Saad

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The Edmonton Oilers are not getting much offense from their other lines and desperately need help. Almost all of the team’s offense has come from their top line of Connor McDavid (22-41-63), Leon Draisaitl (22-39-61) and Zack Kassian (13-13-26). James Neal has chipped in 16 goals, but after that, the Oilers just don’t have the top-six players they need. However, the team is trying to rectify that by the trade deadline as Edmonton has shown interest in Chicago Blackhawks forward Brandon Saad, according to Edmonton Journal’s Kurt Leavins.

The Oilers and Blackhawks might be a good match as Chicago is looking for defensive prospects, something that Edmonton is loaded with. The Oilers’ top two prospects are blueliners in Evan Bouchard and Philip Broberg, although neither are likely to be included in a trade for Saad. However, the team has a number of secondary prospects that could interest Chicago, including William Lagesson, Caleb Jones and Dmitri Samorukov to name a few. Saad might make a good fit as well for Edmonton as he would slot onto the team’s second line and could shift Neal back to the right side, where he has been more successful. The only problems for Edmonton is Saad’s salary, which is at $6MM for the next two years. While the Oilers might be able to make Saad’s salary work for this year, next year’s salary could prove more challenging for the team.

Chicago, meanwhile, has $72.5MM invested in just 15 players next season with several significant free agents, including goaltenders Robin Lehner and Corey Crawford as well as forward Dylan Strome and defenseman Erik Gustafsson. The team might be willing to unload Saad in a cost-cutting effort for next season. Saad is currently out for three weeks due to an ankle injury, but should have been back on the ice for a month by the time the trade deadline rolls around.

Edmonton hopes that prospects might be enough to persuade Chicago to trade Saad as Edmonton general manager Ken Holland has shown an unwillingness to move draft picks, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.

“I’ve been told the Oilers internally feel that they have given up way too many draft picks,” Friedman said on 630 CHED radio in Edmonton on Friday. “And as you look back in (their) last five drafts, in four of them, (they’ve) had holes in how many players they could take. So, I think two picks for (Taylor) Hall, that was one of the reasons why (they) didn’t want to do it.”

Friedman also suggests that the Oilers have expressed interest in Tyler Toffoli of the Kings, but Los Angeles would be looking for picks, which could be a stumbling block for the Oilers.

Central Notes: Sissons, Laviolette, Shaw, Perreault

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The Nashville Predators lost another forward Friday as the team has placed forward Colton Sissons on injured reserve with a lower-body injury during the team’s 5-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, according to the Tennessean’s Paul Skrbina. By being placed on IR, Sissons cannot return for at least seven days, meaning he is expected to miss Wednesday’s Winter Classic in Dallas at the Cotton Bowl.

Sissons was injured during the first period Friday after teammate Nick Bonino tripped up Pittsbugh Zach Aston-Reese who fell on Sissons’ ankle. He was wearing a walking boot after the game to protect his ankle. The 26-year-old had seven goals and 13 points in 37 games so far this season.

The team recalled forward Yakov Trenin from the Milwaukee Admirals of the AHL, who is expected to fill in some depth for the Predators.

  • Sticking with the Predators, despite the team’s struggles in the standings (sixth place in the Central Division), The Athletic’s Adam Vingan writes that he doesn’t see an easy fix to fixing the fortunes of a team originally predicted to be among the top teams in the Western Conference. The scribe writes that firing coach Peter Laviolette isn’t a likely scenario as he remains in good standing with management and general manager David Poile doesn’t have a history of firing coaches. In fact, in nearly 40 years, Poile has only had five head coaches total.
  • Chicago Blackhawks fans that were hoping to see forward Andrew Shaw soon will be disappointed, but head coach Jeremy Colliton said that the rugged forward will not be returning to the team anytime soon, according to NBC Sports’ Charlie Roumeliotis. Shaw, has been out since Nov. 30 with a concussion, and his status hasn’t improved much. The team is also without Drake Caggiula, also out with a concussion since Nov. 10. Caggiula, who is deemed closer by Colliton, however, will not join Chicago on their upcoming three-game roadtrip.
  • The Winnipeg Jets could be getting back one of their players shortly. The Athletic’s Murat Ates reports that forward Mathieu Perreault continues to wear a yellow non-contact jersey, but the 31-year-old hopes to get in a full practice in soon with the hopes of possibly returning to the lineup on Tuesday when the team faces Colorado. Perreault has been out since Dec. 15 with a concussion. He has six goals and 12 points in 33 games this season and would be a great addition to the team’s bottom-six.

Brent Seabrook, Calvin De Haan Out For The Season

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Friday: In an update, the Blackhawks announced that both Seabrook and de Haan have undergone successful surgery. The recovery timeline for de Haan will be four to five months, while Seabrook’s will be revealed after he undergoes additional surgeries on his hips.

Thursday: The status quo in Chicago will shift dramatically when the team returns to action. The Blackhawks have announced that two of their starting defensemen will miss the remainder of the season due to injury. Both Brent Seabrook and Calvin de Haan will undergo season-ending shoulder surgery. Seabrook will also have surgery on both hips. The duo have been placed on Long-Term Injured Reserve.

This singular announcement means that one-third of the Blackhawks’ starting blue line is now out of action for the rest of the year. Seabrook and de Haan are not exactly offensive dynamos, combining for just ten points so far this year. However, their defensive presence will be missed. De Haan leads the team in both hits and blocked shots, and Seabrook is among the the best on the team in both categories as well. The pair also chew up considerable minutes, with each averaging nearly 20 minutes per game this season. While Chicago is not without hope on the back end, with Duncan Keith, Connor Murphy, Olli Maatta, sand Erik Gustafsson still present on a deep unit, but these losses will nevertheless still be felt.

Also on the sidelines for Chicago is Brandon Saad, announced as missing the next three weeks with a right ankle injury. Saad, while underwhelming so far this season, is still the Blackhawks’ second-leading goal-scorer and fifth in points on the team. With the Blackhawks already in the basement of the Central Division and now missing Saad for several weeks and Seabrook and de Haan for the rest of the year, today’s announcement will more or less mark the end of Chicago’s season, barring an unexpected boost in the absence of their established veterans.

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