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Central Notes: Elie, Blackhawks’ Success, Jurco

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The Dallas Morning News’ Mike Heika lists a number of quotes from Stars bench boss Lindy Ruff regarding rookie Remi Elie. Out of all the quotes, the one regarding Elie’s staying power with the big club was probably the most telling. Ruff via Heika:

“Well, I look at what we need on the road to be a better team, a harder team to play against. I think that he fits what I think can help us. I thought the line of Eakin, him and Hemsky did a real good job. You look at the number of chances he created, the duress he put their defense under and the fact that he’s a physical player. I think there’s been some situations where we haven’t been hard enough to play against. You take Roussel of our lineup and I think that’s a good replacement to continue down that path where we’re hard to play against.”

The Stars’ second round pick in 2013, Elie has appeared in only two games for the Stars, but from the sound of it, may be lacing up for more. Ruff said more about the rookie, saying that his speed is something Dallas has “missed” in its lineup and that with “more polish” in his game, Elie is the perfect fit for the Stars’ style of play.

  • CBS Sports’ Cody Benjamin details how the Chicago Blackhawks have hit their stride later in the season. Calling it “no surprise” that the Hawks are surging in early March, Benjamin points to a couple stalwarts upping their game, Jonathan Toews, and Patrick Kane. Kane has tallied 21 points (14-7) while Toews has added 20 points of his own during Chicago’s 12-1 run. Corey Crawford, according to Benjamin, has been stellar in net while the Hawks have been “resilient” during a season that’s tested them with injuries to key players, and a defense that hasn’t included the dominant pairings of years past. Regardless, Chicago has been one of the better teams in the West this season and is certainly working itself into a good position for the playoffs.
  • In other Blackhawks news, newly acquired forward Tomas Jurco is starting to acclimate himself with his new surroundings. Though head coach Joel Quenneville calls him a “work in progress,” CSN Chicago’s Tracey Myers reports that Jurco is “thankful” to have a chance with the Blackhawks and that Jurco isn’t putting a time table on getting comfortable with his new team. Instead, the young forward has the backing of his coach and the front office, who are more than willing to give the promising 24-year-old more than enough time to catch on in Chicago.

Expansion Draft Issues: Post-Trade Deadline

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Last month, we looked at several teams facing some tough situations in regards to the upcoming NHL Expansion Draft and offered potential solutions to how they could address their needs for forwards, defensemen and goalies at the NHL Trade Deadline. With March 1st over and done with, many of those squads have solved their problems with signings or acquisitions.

Calgary Flames

Problem: Defense

Status: Solved

The Flames solved their problem of otherwise having to expose Mark Giordano, T.J. Brodie, or Dougie Hamilton with the ingenious signing of Matt Bartkowski, the only defenseman on the planet who was both free to acquire and automatically eligible for exposure in the draft. It’s a good thing they signed him too, since they ended up trading away their best fall-back option, young defenseman Jyrki Jokipakka.

Carolina Hurricanes

Problem: Defense

Status: Unsolved

It was a pretty quiet deadline in Raleigh, as the ’Canes shipped out Ron Hainsey and Viktor Stalberg and then called it a day. What they didn’t do was acquire another body on the blue line to help solve their lack of a defenseman to expose. Carolina is still facing the problem of All-Star Justin Faulk being the only defenseman on the roster currently meeting the criteria for mandated exposure, due to the majority of their defensemen being too young to be eligible altogether. There is no way that Faulk is there for the taking by Vegas, but GM Ron Francis is left with only two choices: extend impending RFA Klas Dahlbeck or extend impending UFA Matt Tennyson and make sure he plays in seven more games this season, as he’s currently short of the 40-game mark.

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Snapshots: DeBrincat, Hansen, Eberle

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The Chicago Blackhawks have another one coming. For a team that has drafted near the end of the first round for the past decade, they have re-filled their prospect cupboards quite effectively. Even without a first round pick last season, the Blackhawks look like they’ve struck gold with their top selection. Alex DeBrincat scored twice again today for the Erie Otters and broke 60 goals for the first time in his junior career.

DeBrincat is currently on a 17-game goal streak, and is a lock to lead the OHL in scoring this season. This from a player who was cut from the Team USA World Junior squad late last year, and had to wait until 39th overall to hear his name last summer. While it’s not certain that he’ll be able to duplicate his scoring touch at higher levels, his skill, creativity and shot have dominated the OHL since the moment he stepped on the ice. In three seasons, DeBrincat has scored 324 points in 185 games including 119 (60G, 59A) this season.

  • While Nikolay Goldobin is scoring breakaway goals in Vancouver, the San Jose Sharks are still waiting for their big deadline acquisition to join them on the ice. Jannik Hansen has been held up by work visa issues since the deadline, and still won’t join the team in Minnesota tonight according to Kent Youngblood of the Mercury News. He’s also not expected to play tomorrow night against the Winnipeg Jets, but should be ready to go on Thursday when the Sharks return home.
  • Tim Campbell of NHL.com discusses the Edmonton Oilers and their new line of Jordan Eberle, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Milan Lucic in his latest column. The trio has found instant success, and Eberle is feeling like it has actually been an excellent season for him, despite the lack of goal scoring. As Campbell points out, the 26-year old winger has an extremely low shooting percentage this year at just 8.8% but still has 14 goals and 39 points this season. If it came up to a more regular percentage of 12.5%—which is still much lower than his career mark—he’d have his fourth straight 20-goal season already. The Oilers can’t wait to see what he has in store for the playoffs, as Eberle was once known as one of the most “clutch” performers in hockey from his time at the World Juniors. In 56 career international contests—which includes five appearances in the World Championships—Eberle has recorded 70 points.

Will The 2017 Draft Class Be Better Than People Think?

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FanRag Sports’ Hannah Stuart pens an article wondering if the 2017 NHL Draft class is actually not as bad as many think it will be. Coming off two drafts with all-world talents–Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel in 2015 and Auston Matthews and Patrik Laine in 2016–anything less of that type of talent would be considered “worse” by definition. Clouding judgement has been the lack of what many analysts believe to be at least one generational player, and a muddled class after the first seven-eight players in most mock drafts. But is it a fair assessment?

Stuart cites ESPN’s Corey Pronman, who put together his ranking of the prospects and even wrote in his opening paragraph that its one of the weakest drafts in the cap era. He goes as far as to say it’s in the same category of the 2011 and 2012 drafts, which in his opinion, didn’t yield much in the way of top tier talent. Pronman lists Halifax’s Nico Hischier as his top prospect, with Brandon Wheat Kings center Nolan Patrick second and Mississauga’s Owen Tippett third. Pronman does write that it’s essentially a toss-up as to who can be the #1 overall pick in the draft–Hischier or Patrick, and that whoever is taken first will be a benefit to his new team.

Looking at the two drafts that Pronman mentioned, the 2011 did feature a slew of players chosen in the top 10 who have been productive in the NHL. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins went first overall, and while he hasn’t produced in the way that Matthews or McDavid have, many analysts (and fans) blame his development by the Oilers as a culprit for his stunted growth. Other notables in the 2011 draft–by draft order–are Gabriel Landeskog (#2), Jonathan Huberdeau (#3), Adam Larsson (#4), Ryan Strome (#5), Mika Zibanejad (#6), Mark Scheifele (#7) Sean Couturier (#8), Dougie Hamilton (#9), and Jonas Brodin (#10). There are a number of strong players in the ten, and while viewed as a “weaker” draft, it at least paid dividends for those teams that drafted them–or acquired them later via trade.

It thins out from there, but there were certainly notables later in the first round or later in the draft. Brandon Saad was taken in the second round by the Blackhawks and he was clutch for Chicago until they were forced to deal him away due to cap issues.

Mar 10, 2016; Saint Paul, MN, USA; Edmonton Oilers forward <a rel=2012’s draft was somewhat weaker one-through-ten, but saw some return in the middle of the first round, namely with Filip Forsberg being taken 11th by the Capitals. Nail Yakupov was taken first by the Oilers, and he certainly hasn’t been the players the Oilers envisioned–but again, that may go back to development questions. Hampus Lindholm (#6) and Jacob Trouba (#9) are the headliners of a defensive heavy top ten. But a look through the rounds and it’s pretty telling that the 2012 edition was not only weaker than 2011, but possibly one of the weakest in the salary cap era.

Stuart makes an extremely important point about drafting: it’s a crapshoot.

A player can make a bad first impression or be a weak skater and be completely written off by certain scouts. However, maybe that player has an excellent hockey IQ, and a team recognizes that and drafts them in a later round. If the team works with them to fix the deficiencies in their skating, there’s every chance they could develop into an effective NHLer. On the other hand, let’s take what we’ll call the Oilers model. A team might consistently draft high, taking players who show elite skill and throwing those players into the NHL before they’re ready rather than taking time to develop weaknesses in their game.

Stuart continues to argue that since the drumbeat has been steady in saying this draft class will be weak, it’s been all but believed by those on the internet. But as she points out, it isn’t so much the drafting as much as it is the development and scouting staff that every team employs.

Snapshots: Coyotes, Glass, Nestrasil

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The Arizona Coyotes are in a fight in the standings of their own. Even though the players aren’t giving up, they front office is likely desperately hoping they finish in the bottom two once again and get the chance to select a top prospect. They got some bad (or good, I’m unsure at this point) news today when Dave Vest of NHL.com reported that Kevin Connauton should be considered week-to-week with an upper-body injury suffered last night.

  • Vest also passed along a few choice quotes from Dave Tippett on the future of Anthony Duclair, who will get back into the NHL lineup tonight. “We want him to play to his potential. He set a standard for his play last year that he has to get back to,” said Tippett who is not alone in hoping Duclair gets back to his 2015-16 form. Coyotes fans everywhere were hoping to see more of the 20-goal man that was around last season, instead of the 9-point Duclair they’ve seen this year. Despite being rumored in trades all year, the Coyotes will hang onto the former New York Ranger for at least the rest of the season, hoping he can regain his form. Expect his name to be thrown around plenty at the expansion and entry drafts.
  • The Chicago Blackhawks have recalled recently signed goaltender Jeff Glass from the Rockford IceHogs today, and will be the backup tonight against the New York Islanders. Both Corey Crawford and Scott Darling took part in practice today and seemed fine, though apparently Darling will be held out with an upper-body injury of some sort.
  • The Detroit Red Wings have some goalie news of their own, as Ansar Khan of MLive reports that Jimmy Howard will be loaned to Grand Rapids Griffins on a conditioning stint and will start Saturday for the AHL squad. The netminder is trying to work his way back from an injury that has kept him out of NHL action since late December due to multiple setbacks.
  • The Carolina Hurricanes have assigned forward Andrej Nestrasil to the Charlotte Checkers of the AHL today, after using him in Wednesday’s loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. The 26-year old forward has played 19 games for the Hurricanes this year, registering five points.
  • The Philadelphia Flyers may have Travis Konecny back sooner than expected, as Dave Isaac of the Courier-Post reports. Konecny says he’s ready to go and that he’s hoping to get back into the lineup on Saturday against the Washington Capitals. Out since February 6th, the 19-year old Konecny has been a revelation for the Flyers this season with 22 points in a 51 games. In any normal year, that would be extremely impressive from a teenager in the NHL.

New York Islanders Activate Hamonic, Terminate Emergency Conditions On Ho-Sang

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Apparently Josh Ho-Sang did enough to stay with the big club last night, as the team has kept him around even after activating Travis Hamonic from injured reserve. Originally on emergency recall, the Islanders have terminated those conditions and placed him on a regular recall. That means Ho-Sang could last the rest of the season with the Islanders, and why not?

The ridiculously skilled winger played 17 minutes last night alongside Andrew Ladd and Brock Nelson, and didn’t look out of place at the NHL level. After dominating the AHL in his first taste of professional hockey—36 points in 48 games is a good start at any level for a 20-year old—he’ll get a chance to help the Islanders down the stretch and possibly into a playoff spot. The team, desperate for wingers all season has to be excited about the prospect of pairing Ho-Sang’s playmaking ability with John Tavares down the line, even if that will have to wait until next season.

Drafted 28th overall partly because of a belief he was a problem off the ice, the Islanders seem very happy with their newest player. They’ll need all the help they can get tonight against the Chicago Blackhawks, as the team continues a brutal nine game road trip that will see them fly all over the continent. They’re 3-1 on it so far after beating the Dallas Stars last night, but with games against Chicago, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and St. Louis left to go, it will likely decide their playoff fate.

Capitals Sign Johansen, Williams, Mitchell To Entry-Level Contracts

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12:03pm: The team has also signed Mason Mitchell out of the University of Alaska-Anchorage to a two-year contract. The college free agent will join the Hershey Bears for the rest of the season on a tryout. The 22-year old forward had 12 goals in 31 games for his college team this year.

11:10am: Following the Chicago Blackhawks announcement that they’d signed Matthew Highmore, the Washington Capitals have handed out a couple of entry-level contracts of their own. The team announced today that they’ve signed Lucas Johansen and Colby Williams.

Unlike Highmore, both of these players were drafted by the Capitals, with Johansen being their first-round selection last summer. The 28th-overall pick earned himself a three-year deal and will remain with the Kelowna Rockets for the rest of the season. With 36 points in 60 games, the left-handed defenseman has been focusing more on his defensive game this season and is beginning to show the makings of a solid top-four defender in the NHL.

His first pass out of the defensive zone is already great, and he says he’s trying to model his game after Nicklas Lidstrom and Roman Josi—the latter of which currently plays with his brother Ryan in Nashville.

Williams is a different story entirely. Drafted in the sixth-round in 2015, the 22-year old was passed over two years in a row before finally hearing his name from the podium. The right-handed defenseman jumped into the AHL this season and has had a successful year. The Capitals have given a two-year deal to the former Regina Pats captain.

Chicago Blackhawks Sign Matthew Highmore To ELC

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The Chicago Blackhawks aren’t going to wait for the Vegas Golden Knights to snap up all the undrafted talent. Today they inked Matthew Highmore to a three-year, entry-level contract. The undrafted forward is playing for the Saint John Sea Dogs of the QMJHL.

Highmore is a 21-year old left winger who wasn’t selected in the 2014 draft despite a promising sophomore campaign in the CHL. It looked like front offices were right though when he struggled in 2014-15, scoring just 24 points in 62 games. He’s slowly brought himself back into the spotlight in the scoring-heavy QMJHL though, with a solid season last year and 82 points in 58 games this year. While overagers are expected to put up high point totals, Highmore has stood out alongside other top prospects on Saint John.

It’s worth mentioning Vegas after they were given official standing in the NHL yesterday as they are now allowed to negotiate with unsigned players outside of the NHL. Highmore and other undrafted players in the CHL, NCAA and other leagues will likely make up the majority of the Golden Knights’ minor league system for the first few years as they try to build it up through the draft. Remember, they only get to choose 30 players in the expansion draft, and most won’t be players that should be in the minors.

We’ll likely see several deals like this over the next few weeks, as teams bring in any talent they deem valuable. It’s worth noting that Highmore was playing with Blackhawks’ fourth-round selection from this year Nathan Noel, who has 43 points in 45 games.

Trade Deadline Summary: Winners & Losers Of The Central Division

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The NHL Trade Deadline has come and gone, and while it wasn’t the most exciting deadline day in recent memory, there were quite a few notable moves. Here are the winners and losers of the “wild” Central Division:

Winners

Chicago Blackhawks:

Of course the Blackhawks are winners on deadline day. Did you expect any less? Although they didn’t make any major moves, Chicago brought in two players via trade that can help them immediately. Oduya, a former Blackhawk, is still familiar with the system and has played with many of the current players. Oduya should be able to step in right away, play major minutes, and form a shutdown pair with Niklas Hjalmarsson (when he’s healthy). Just like the good ’ol days. Meanwhile, like nearly any forward, Jurco has a skill set that will fit in well with Chicago’s star forwards and for just the cost of a third-rounder, could represent a long-term fit with the Blackhawks.

Dallas Stars:

The Stars are a tough team to place at the 2017 deadline. They are in the midst of an unforeseen epic collapse of a season and have done well to trade their impending free agents. If Patrick Sharp, Ales Hemsky, and Adam Cracknell weren’t all hurt, Dallas would be a deadline loser for not moving them. As it stands, they did hold on to Jiri Hudler, but traded their three other healthy upcoming UFAs. Eaves earned them great value in return and Korpikoski, a late off-season addition, nets a promising young defenseman in Heatherington. Even McNeill and a fourth-rounder for Oduya is a pretty good deal. So for those three moves anyway, GM Jim Nill did well. With that said, the Benn trade was ill-timed and doesn’t make your team better. Benn still had term on his contract and was the team’s best defensive defenseman and, of course, captain Jamie Benn’s older brother. Dallas will likely regret that move. The Stars are teetering on the edge of winner and loser, but they’ve been through enough this season, so we’ll call them winners.

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Anaheim, Chicago Complete Minor-League Deal

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In what seems like the last deal of the trade deadline, the Anaheim Ducks have sent Kenton Helgesen and a seventh-round pick in 2019 to the Chicago Blackhawks for Spencer Abbott and Sam Carrick.

Abbott and Carrick have been playing for the Rockford IceHogs where they lead the team in scoring with 38 and 25 points respectively (Carrick was actually tied with another recently traded IceHog, Mark McNeil). Both have limited NHL action but are excellent minor-league players. The San Diego Gulls—Anaheim’s affiliate—are headed to the playoffs and will use both as depth for a Calder Cup run.

The fact that Chicago gained a seventh-round pick is kind of surprising, as a player like P.A. Parenteau earned New Jersey just a sixth-rounder. Helgesen is a 22-year old winger who has spent the season in the ECHL and is unlikely to ever make it to the NHL.

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