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Atlantic Division Notes: Danault, Kennedy, Stamkos

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Injuries to Alex Galchenyuk and David Desharnais have forced the Montreal Canadiens to shuffle their forward lines around as they try to survive without two of their top offensive players. The loss of Galchenyuk was particularly difficult as the fifth-year pivot was averaging nearly a point-per game (23 points in 25 games) as the team’s top center but the play of Phillip Danault has helped offset Galchenyuk’s absence of late, writes Stu Cowan of the Montreal Gazette.

With a scoring line of 6 – 6 – 14 through 34 contests, Danault has already bested last season’s totals (4 – 6 – 10) in 17 fewer games. In his last eight games, the 23-year-old center has tallied one goal and five points. As Cowan notes, Danault posted solid offensive numbers during his junior career, potting 18 goals and 71 points in 62 contests in his final junior season with Victoriaville, suggesting his recent rate of production for Montreal is sustainable.

Danault was originally drafted in the first-round of the 2011 draft by Chicago when current Habs GM Marc Bergevin was a member of the Blackhawks front office. Bergevin was able to acquire Danault at last season’s trade deadline as part of the deal that sent rental players Dale Weise and Tomas Fleischmann to the Hawks. Known as a strong two-way player in juniors, Danault is taking advantage of increased ice time of late to show the Canadiens what he can do at the NHL level.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic Division:

  • Tim Kennedy hasn’t appeared in an NHL game in three years and despite a recent return to the organization with whom he made his NHL debut, it’s not likely that the veteran winger will make much of an impact for the Buffalo Sabres this year either. As John Vogl of The Buffalo News writes, Kennedy was signed by the club to add some offense and to serve as a mentor for the team’s prospects playing for the Rochester Americans in the AHL. Since suiting up for 37 games with the Coyotes during the 2013-14 campaign, Kennedy has made appearances for four different franchises in four different countries, including stops in the KHL, Swedish League and a 75-game stint with Hershey of the AHL in 2013-14. The piece provides an interesting insight into the life of a career minor-league player and his travels around the world in professional hockey.
  • With the Tampa Bay Lightning struggling on the ice and in the standings, a return of franchise center Steven Stamkos could be just the spark the team needs to make a playoff push. Unfortunately, while Stamkos is progressing just fine after surgery to repair a torn meniscus, he is still looking at a mid-March return, as Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times reports. Stamkos is still on crutches and is a month or two away from even putting on skates. The 26-year-old pivot was off to a strong start, with nine goals and 20 points in 17 contests before the injury but if Tampa Bay is going to make a postseason run, it looks like it’s going to have to come without the assistance of Stamkos.

Snapshots: DeBrincat, Brown, Anisimov, Chlapik

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In a head scratching move, the United States left Alex DeBrincat and Logan Brown off its world juniors roster today. NBC’s Jason Brough writes that Brown’s removal may be due to a lingering wrist injury. Regardless of that injury, Brown has racked up 21 points (8-13) in 15 games for the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires. DeBrincat’s omission is more of a mystery. The 19-year-old second round selection in 2016 has been torching the OHL as a member of the Erie Otters, notching 30 goals and 30 assists in just 28 games. Craig Custance wonders if being a right hand shot hurt his chances, but even that seems an odd reason to leave off the young scorer. DeBrincat leads the OHL in goals and is second in total points–behind teammate Taylor Raddysh–who is expected to be on the Canadian roster.

  • The Blackhawks have placed Artem Anisimov on the injured reserve writes Mark Lazerus and have called up Tanner Kero in his place. The move enables Anisimov to gain more rest as he was already out for the Blackhawks 4-3 loss to Ottawa Tuesday night. Anisimov has 27 points (14-13) in as many games this season with the Hawks. Kero, meanwhile, is Rockford’s leading scorer and should see ice time with both Anisimov and Marian Hossa likely out for tomorrow’s tilt against Colorado.
  • The Senators have inked center Filip Chlapik to an entry level deal. Chlapik currently plays on the Charlottetown Islanders, where he is the leading scorer with 44 points (20-24). Chlapik also set an Islanders record by recording a point in his first 21 games. A second round selection in the 2015 draft, he will also be representing the Czech Republic in the World Junior Championships starting December 26.

Snapshots: Oilers, NHL Debuts, Blackhawks, Laine

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The last time the Oilers beat the Blues in St. Louis, Nikolai Khabibulin made 43 saves and the Oilers won 3-0. The Oilers then-top line of Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Jordan Eberle combined for eight points. That was in March of 2013.

Since then, the Oilers have lost four straight in St. Louis by a combined score of 17-8. But last night, the Oilers came back twice from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits to win 3-2 in overtime. The Oilers moved Nugent-Hopkins, normally a center, to the right wing on a line with Leon Draisaitl and Patrick Maroon, and were rewarded with the tying and winning goal from them. The St. Louis-native Maroon tipped in a shot in the third period, leading to a feel-good moment after the game when he was asked about his son, who lives in St. Louis, cheering him on.

Nugent-Hopkins was set up by Connor McDavid in overtime and the Oilers got the victory. TSN’s Ryan Rishaug appeared on Edmonton radio on Tuesday morning and said this about the win: “to be down multiple times to that team in a building where they never win… that’s definitely a ’big boy’ win. They didn’t come by that one easily.”

McDavid and Draisaitl now have a combined 70 points this season, the highest of any duo in the NHL. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are second with 68 points.

  • The Tampa Bay Lightning have dealt with quite a few injuries this season, but out of injury springs opportunity. Jonathan Drouin has stepped up lately, and now there’s opportunity for Tanner Richard to appear in his first NHL game. Richard was initially supposed to make his NHL debut on Saturday night, but his plane was delayed in New York, which lead to him missing his connecting flight to Edmonton. With no chance of making it to Alberta for game time, Ricard was sent back to Syracuse. Richard told Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times that he was “devastated” to miss the game, but had an inkling that he could be recalled for Tuesday. When asked what he expects to bring to the Lightning lineup, Richard said “I’m pretty hated by most teams in the AHL, so that tells me I’m doing an alright job being a little rat.” Richard will play with Brayden Point and J.T. Brown on the fourth line.
  • Also making his NHL debut tonight is Pat Cannone. The 30-year-old center has played 377 games in the AHL, notching 222 points. As Michael Russo put it, the debut will be one for the aged. Cannone has 16 points in 28 games for the Iowa Wild so far this season. Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said “Hey listen, I was in the minors so long, anytime you can bring up a young man to give him a shot at the NHL, I think it’s great.”
  • According to Mark Lazerus, Blackhawks goaltender Corey Crawford is taking part in the team’s morning skate. We reported yesterday that Crawford could start as soon as Friday, which would be under three weeks since his appendectomy. Coach Joel Quenneville said he would like to see Crawford take part in a full practice before returning. While a morning skate is not as intense as a regular practice, it’s still a good step in the road back for Crawford.
  • Notably absent from Chicago’s morning skate is center Artem Anisimov. Anisimov missed the Blackhawks previous game, and it’s not known if he will be in the lineup tonight versus the Senators. So far this season, he has 27 points in 34 games, which puts him on pace to easily surpass his previous career high of 42 which he set last season.
  • After his gorgeous goal on Sunday night versus the Avalanche, where he one-timed a Mark Scheifele pass on a two-on-one, Patrik Laine told a Finnish newspaper that “from a chance like that, I will score 99 times out of 100. The stick will break once.” Laine has 18 goals and 29 points, one behind Scheifele for the Jets’ lead, and five points clear of Auston Matthews for the rookie scoring lead.

Evening Snapshots: Spectacular Sophomores, Hartman

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  • The Hockey News’ Jared Clinton makes his case for five players who avoided the dreaded sophomore slump this season. At the top of his list is Edmonton’s Connor McDavid, who Clinton writes is the reason for the Oilers’ turnaround this season. Had it not been for the clavicle injury last season, McDavid would have had one of the best back-to-back seasons that rivaled Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin. Next is the Blackhawks’ Artemi Panarin, who Clinton believes the Hawks have to absolutely re-sign at all costs. That would certainly cause some financial posturing, but he believes Panarin to be a devastating personnel loss should he go elsewhere. The Winnipeg Jets’ Nikolaj Ehlers, the Hurricanes’ Jaccob Slavin, and the Blues’ Colton Parayko round out Clinton’s top five.
  • The Blackhawks have been on a tear lately and rookie Ryan Hartman has been one of the brightest spots for Chicago. Chris Hine writes that the young forward has learned quite a bit about being more patient on the ice and not corralling penalties as he would have in the past. Hine describes him as an irritant, there’s a reason for Hartman’s change of play:

“You have an opportunity to play in the NHL and be in the lineup every night. If you’re going to take penalties and do that kind of stuff, you’re not going to be in the lineup for long,” Hartman said. “I just try to stay out of the box as much as possible, and it related to me being on the ice more.”

Drawing penalties instead of causing them has been a boon for the Hawks and the young forward. He’s also shown a knack for scoring timely goals. Hartman notched the winner against San Jose on Sunday night and already has six on the season. Playing for a coach known to favor veterans, Hartman is making the most of his chance and certainly justifying his playing time from Joel Quenneville.

Snapshots: Three Stars, World Junior Captains, Iginla

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The NHL has named Artemi Panarin, Henrik Lundqvist, and Eric Staal as its Three Stars of the Week.

Panarin had three goals and seven assists for 10 points in four games. He bookended two thee-point performances with a pair of two-point nights as the Blackhawks continued their five-game winning streak. Panarin now has 34 points in 34 games this season

This week marks the second consecutive week with a New York Rangers goaltender as the second star. Last week, Antti Raanta was the second star as he temporarily took over the starting role from Lundqvist, but now the man they call The King has taken back over. Lundqvist went 3-0-0 and allowed just three goals to go with his 0.967 SV%. He and Raanta combined for a shutout when Lundqvist was forced to leave a game after being run over by Cody Eakin (for which he was suspended).

Staal had four goals and five points in three games as part of a 3-0-0 week. The Wild have now won seven straight and Staal is leading the team in goals, assists, and points; he has 24 points in 30 games in his first year in Minnesota.

  • Hockey Canada has named its leadership core for the upcoming World Junior Championships. Arizona Coyotes prospect Dylan Strome will wear the C for Canada, while Mathew Barzal and Thomas Chabot will serve as alternate captains. All three players played for Canada at last year’s tournament and appeared in the NHL at the start of the season. While they combined for just 10 games and one assist in the NHL, all three are 2015 first-round picks and dominant CHL players. Strome has 295 points in 191 games with the Erie Otters; Islanders sixteenth-overall pick Barzal has 281 points in 174 games with the Seattle Thunderbirds; Chabot, a defenseman picked eighteenth overall by Ottawa, has 128 points in 182 games with the Saint John Sea Dogs.
  • The Vancouver Canucks most recent first-round pick, Olli Juolevi has been named captain of Team Finland. Juolevi had nine assists in seven games in last year’s tournament, as Finland won gold. So far, Juolevi has 21 points in 26 games with the London Knights.
  • Today marks 21 years since the Calgary Flames acquired Jarome Iginla from the Dallas Stars for Joe Nieuwendyk. The trade worked out pretty well for both teams: the Stars won the Stanley Cup four years later with Nieuwendyk playing a key role, and Iginla became the face of the Flames franchise. Nieuwendyk was in the prime of his career, while Iginla was an eleventh-overall pick playing for the Kamloops Blazers. Amalie Benjamin of NHL.com tweeted that Iginla initially thought he had been traded to the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen. After turning pro, Iginla scored 1095 points in 16 years with the Flames, leading them to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2004. He’s bounced around between Pittsburgh, Boston, and Colorado in the four years since he was traded. Iginla could be on the move again this year, as the Avalanche are one of the worst teams in the NHL and he could want to go to a contender for the end of his career.

Snapshots: Crawford, Tavares, Lucic

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The Chicago Blackhawks could be getting a nice early Christmas gift on Friday night.

Despite having an appendectomy just two weeks ago, Corey Crawford has progressed enough in his recovery that he may start on Friday night against the Colorado Avalanche. Coach Joel Quenneville told Chris Hine that he would like to see Crawford get in a full practice before returning to the lineup.

The Blackhawks are off on Monday after playing back-to-back on the weekend, however Crawford will skate on his own. Backup Scott Darling has played the majority of games since Crawford has been out, including both games over the weekend. Darling is 6-2-1 since taking over from Crawford, which includes his current five-game winning streak.

  • Glen Schiller and Jamie McLennan on TSN’s That’s Hockey 2Nite discussed if there is any reason why John Tavares would want to re-sign with the Islanders. The Islanders have been “a mess” this year, following up a 100-point season with a 74-point pace. With the Metropolitan Division being the best division in hockey this year, there’s essentially no way the Islanders can climb back into the playoff picture without a 15-game winning streak. McLennan points to the free agency departure of Kyle Okposo, who had great chemistry with Tavares, and the struggles of his replacement, Andrew Ladd. Both players signed for similar contracts, but the Islanders chose the older player with no history with their superstar over the younger, right-handed player with years of success on Tavares’ wing. Tavares, McLennan argues, must be wondering who he would play with consistently and could look forward to playing with years from now if he signed an eight-year contract.
  • Over at OilersNation, Jonathan Willis wonders why the Oilers have not tried separating Milan Lucic and Connor McDavid to boost McDavid’s scoring. While he’s still leading the NHL in scoring by two points with 39 points in 33 games, he has just one even-strength assist in his last eight games. Lucic has just one goal in nine games this month. Despite Lucic’s struggles, the only changes made on the top line have been on the right side. Jesse Puljujärvi, Drake Caggiula, Jordan Eberle, Tyler Pitlick, and Leon Draisaitl have all had time with Lucic and McDavid, with varying degrees of success. Willis suggests moving Lucic to play with Draisaitl on the second line and bumping one of Benoit Pouliot or Patrick Maroon up to the top line; Willis points to chemistry between Draisaitl and Lucic and the dramatically better scoring numbers of when playing with McDavid as evidence of the merit of his suggestion.

Evening Snapshots: Campbell, Tortorella, Panarin

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News and notes from around the NHL this evening:

  • Gregory Campbell passed through unconditional waivers today and the Columbus Blue Jackets immediately terminated his contract, reports the Columbus Dispatch’s Aaron Portzline. Campbell is now an unrestricted free agent able to sign with any team that expresses interest. Campbell initially refused to accept reassignment earlier in the season so the Blue Jackets suspended him without pay. It is thought that a team has finally expressed interest in Campbell, prompting Campbell’s agent to ask the team to place him on waivers.
  • Staying with Columbus, the Blue Jackets’ Head Coach John Tortorella won his 500th career game behind the bench today when his team beat the Vancouver Canucks 4-3 in overtime. He becomes the first American-born coach to reach the 500-win milestone. Tortorella must be relishing this moment after having a tumultuous start to the season. He joined the Blue Jackets after leading the U.S team to a disappointing 0-3 record in the World Cup of Hockey, before losing his first two games with Columbus. Despite that, however, Tortorella has turned the Blue Jackets into a team that has won nine straight. The team sits 3rd in the Metropolitan Division, but only one point away from league-leading Pittsburgh with three games in hand.
  • Artemi Panarin moves closer to unlocking his Schedule B bonus and costing the Chicago Blackhawks an additional $1.75MM. Panarin’s ELC outlines that the Blackhawks will pay him an additional $1.75MM if he finishes in the top-10 for goals, assists, points, or points-per-game—or wins a major NHL award. He scored two points tonight (1G and 1A) to put him comfortable within the top-10 in both goals and assists. Should he reach his bonus target, the Blackhawks will have to shoulder any salary cap overage next season.

Snapshots: Anisimov, Crawford, Kennedy

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News and notes from around the NHL this evening:

  • Chicago Blackhawks forward Artem Anisimov is out tonight against the San Jose Sharks, reports TSN’s Mark Lazerus. Anisimov misses the game with an undisclosed injury and is considered day-to-day. The centerman is tied for 19th in NHL scoring this season, and the Blackhawks hope that his injury is nothing serious.
  • Staying with the Chicago Blackhawks, coach Joel Quenneville told reporters that goalie Corey Crawford could return as early as December 23rd. Crawford is currently recovering from an emergency appendectomy suffered on December 3rd. Backup goaltender Scott Darling had been holding down the fort admirably until recently, stringing together a streak of starts without letting in more than two goals. In his last two games, however, he’s let in four goals apiece. Chicago won both those games but it seems that Darling’s play is coming back down to earth.
  • Tim Kennedy’s profession situation gains some clarity today. Earlier, Kennedy signed a minor-league deal with the Rochester Americans—AHL affiliates of the Buffalo Sabres—but was claimed by the Carolina Hurricanes because any player playing overseas must first pass through waivers before rejoining an NHL organization. It was unclear whether Kennedy would report to Carolina (or Charlotte, where the Hurricane’s AHL affiliate plays), but now Jon Vogl of the Buffalo News reports that the Hurricanes have loaned Kennedy to Rochester. Before signing with Rochester—and being claimed by Carolina—Kennedy played in Sweden for Lulea of the Swedish Elite League.

Should The Red Wings Embrace a Full Rebuild?

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Hockeytown is hurting.

The Detroit Red Wings have been moribund at home. They are listless offensively.  The Arizona Coyotes came into the Joe Louis Arena and pummeled them 4-1. Playoff hopes are precarious. And their power play is more of an advantage to their opponent.

The mainstream media has taken note, as Sportsnet’s Dimtri Filipovic has a lengthy write up on how the Red Wings’ inevitable downfall in a parity based league was coming. 25 straight years of making the playoffs, including 11 of those seasons being in a salary cap era is unbelievably impressive. But over the last five seasons, the Red Wings have only made it out of the first round once, losing by an eyelash to the eventual champion Chicago Blackhawks in seven games–after blowing a 3-1 series lead.

Already through the midway point of December, the Red Wings hardly appear to be a playoff bound team. Should their current streak of poor play continue, it has to be a message to general Ken Holland and company that a true rebuild must be embraced. The “rebuild on the fly” strategy Holland has embraced no longer looks feasible.

Reading the tea leaves, however, the Wings don’t act like a team looking to change strategies. The fear in Detroit by many is that the Wings could hang around and make another puzzling trade for a washed up veteran to try and get them over the hump. Deals for David Legwand and Erik Cole were damaging since they lost prospects and neither had any impact on the playoff push. Damien Cox wrote at length about this as well, wondering why the brass is so hesitant to build a stronger future when right now, the team is a few matches short of a tire fire.

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Daley Week-To-Week With Upper-Body Injury

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Already down Kris Letang for at least two weeks, the Pittsburgh Penguins are going to have to make due without another important blue liner as well. According to Christine Simpson of Sportsnet, Trevor Daley has an upper-body injury and is considered week-to-week.

The 13-year veteran has registered three goals and 11 points in 30 appearances on the season, averaging 20:40 of ice time per game. His acquisition from Chicago last season, along with a few other savvy moves made by the Penguins, keyed a resurgence in Pittsburgh that culminated in the team claiming the Stanley Cup in June. Pittsburgh was 15 – 11 – 3 when they dealt Rob Scuderi to the Blackhawks for Daley. After the trade the Penguins went 33 – 15 – 5 and skated off the ice with Lord Stanley’s trophy.

Pittsburgh recalled Chad Ruhwedel from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL earlier today when the club placed Letang on IR. Ruhwedel gives the Penguins seven healthy blue liners and it likely means the club will not need to make another call-up in Daley’s absence.

This is the 26-year-old Ruhwedel’s first season in the penguins organization after spending the previous four years with Buffalo. The native of San Diego, California has appeared in 33 NHL games, all with Buffalo, netting two points and four penalty minutes.

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