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NHL Postpones Three Games Due To Capacity Restrictions

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The NHL announced Wednesday that they’ve postponed three games due to current capacity restrictions in Canada. The following games were postponed:

New Jersey Devils vs. Montreal Canadiens (originally scheduled for January 15)
New Jersey Devils vs. Toronto Maple Leafs (originally scheduled for January 17)
Chicago Blackhawks vs. Edmonton Oilers (originally scheduled for January 18)

The postponements leave a sizable gap in the schedule in terms of home games for all three Canadian teams affected. Montreal’s next home game is now scheduled for January 27 against Anaheim. They have seven road games scheduled prior to that point.

Toronto is actually playing host to the Oilers tonight, but it’ll be their last time hosting for a few weeks now. Their next home game is also against Anaheim on January 26, the day prior to Montreal’s game. Edmonton has a home game scheduled for January 10 against the Ottawa Senators, seemingly left unaffected as it’s two Canadian teams facing off against each other.

Pittsburgh Penguins Acquire Alex Nylander

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The Pittsburgh Penguins will be the next team that tries to get an NHL player out of Alex Nylander. They’ve acquired him from the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for Sam Lafferty.

The one-for-one deal will see Nylander leave the Blackhawks organization after just 65 regular season games. Selected eighth overall in 2016, he arrived in Chicago after a trade from the Buffalo Sabres in 2019, played the entire 2019-20 season before suffering a major knee injury that kept him out all of last year. Through 23 games in the minor leagues this season, he has eight goals and 12 points.

A dynamic forward in Sweden and the OHL, Nylander managed just 19 games with the Sabres before being shipped out of town for Henri Jokiharju. His work ethic has been questioned at times (rightly or wrongly), while his consistency has always been an issue. Even in the minor leagues there have been times where he disappears, and so much time off due to the knee recovery has not helped. There is still upside in the 23-year-old, something that the Penguins will obviously try to coax out, but it’s beginning to seem like Nylander has missed his opportunity to be an impact player at the NHL level.

That seems to be Chicago’s take, as Lafferty represents a depth option without much upside. The 26-year-old forward has 94 games under his belt at the NHL level, with six goals and 21 points to show for it. None of those six goals have come since the start of the 2020-21 campaign, with him seeing far less ice time in Pittsburgh over the last two seasons. In fact, he’s played just ten games this year despite Pittsburgh dealing with many injuries and averages fewer than nine minutes even when he gets into the lineup.

Nylander will be a restricted free agent at the end of the season and remain in Pittsburgh’s control as long as the team issues him a qualifying offer. That’s no guarantee, though the threat of arbitration is still a year away due to his lost season.

Why The 2022 Trade Deadline Could Be A Seller’s Market

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The 2022 NHL Trade Deadline is not exactly imminent. The delayed March 21 date this season is 11 weeks away and a lot can change in that amount of time. However, the end of the holiday trade freeze is the unofficial start to trade season leading up to the deadline. In the first few months of the season there have been ten trades completed, but outside of the Jack Eichel deal there have been very few moves of any substance. That may not change any time soon either.

An active trade deadline requires there to be identifiable buyers and sellers and they must be willing and able to deal. Buyers should not be an issue this season; the eight teams currently in a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference may be locked in, as nearly 100 percentage points separate the eighth and ninth team in the conference standings, while the Western Conference includes 13 teams with .500+ records. Therein begins the sellers problem though. Only three teams out west look like potential sellers right now, while there could be more teams willing to sell in the east but many are in a rebuild and don’t have much to offer, while others are merely lacking impact rentals. There are also a number of fringe teams that probably should be sellers, but are close enough to a playoff berth that would mean so much to their players and fan base that they may hold out.

The Athletic’s Eric Duhatschek notes another wrinkle that could limit sellers: five teams are currently operating with an interim GM. The Montreal Canadiens and Vancouver Canucks have hired new heads of their respective front offices in Jeff Gorton and Jim Rutherford, but neither has in turn hired his GM yet and seem unlikely to make major moves independently. This could take Gorton’s Canadiens, one of the most obvious sellers on paper, off the market. Rutherford’s Canucks hope to be in the playoff race, but he has already vowed that the team will either sell or stand pat this season and the longer it takes to hire a GM, the more likely it will be the latter. The Chicago Blackhawks, Anaheim Ducks, and San Jose Sharks are all operating with temporary GMs, all of whom have limited experience. Chicago and Anaheim fired their most recent GMs and have internal replacements for the time being, while San Jose GM Doug Wilson is currently away from the team for medical reasons. As Duhatschek points out, the likes of Kyle Davidson, Jeff Solomon, and Joe Will are not only new to the GM position, but lack the relationships around the league to make impact moves. So while the Blackhawks look like bona fide sellers and the Sharks and possibly the Ducks could get to that point, will they actually be willing to make trades?

The Seattle Kraken also fall into a category all their own. The NHL’s newest team was just put together in its entirety this off-season. Although they struggled mightily all season and do possess a number of expiring contracts, it remains to be seen if GM Ron Francis is ready to blow it up.

On top of all of this, the rental market among potential sellers is not strong. Of the top 20 impending UFA’s in per-game scoring this season, zero are on teams with sub-.500 records and just three are on teams not currently in a playoff spot. Expand that to the top 50, and only ten players are on sub-.500 teams: Phil Kessel, Travis Boyd, and Johan Larsson for Arizona, Vinnie Hinostroza for Buffalo, Chris Wideman for Montreal, P.K. Subban for New Jersey, Tyler Ennis for Ottawa, and Calle Jarnkrok, Colin Blackwell, and Mark Giordano for Seattle. Even if valuable defensemen like Ben Chiarot and Colin Miller or even a future Hall of Fame goaltender like Marc-Andre Fleury are considered, it’s not exactly an inspiring list for teams adding at the deadline. More importantly, it’s a short list for a potentially large group of buyers.

For those teams looking to make a meaningful trade this season, the conundrum is when to make a move. On one hand, with a small group of exciting targets it may be beneficial to make a trade early and possibly avoid the high prices of deadline bidding wars. On the other hand, the pool of sellers could also expand closer to the deadline and prices could drop if there is a flood of supply to meet the demand. Until that happens though – if it even does – there will be few moves to make early on and quite possibly right up to the deadline. Serious contenders should be prepared to pay up or sit tight this season.

Blackhawks Activate Marc-Andre Fleury From COVID Protocol

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A smiling face is back on the Chicago Blackhawks’ active roster, as the team activated goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury from the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol this morning, per a team tweet.

Fleury’s return is a byproduct of the new, shortened COVID-19 quarantine requirements. Fleury was placed in the protocol on December 27, so he’s now eligible to return only five days after entering.

Arvid Soderblom will get the start for Chicago in goal today, but Fleury will return to the lineup and will be the backup for their game against Calgary.

Fleury’s rebounded nicely from what was a horrid start to the season by his standards, working his way back up to a .913 save percentage through 20 games. The Blackhawks hope his return to the room can help steady a team that was thrashed during a 6-1 loss to Nashville yesterday.

Blackhawks Sign Cale Morris

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With Chicago’s goalie depth being tested with both Marc-Andre Fleury and Kevin Lankinen now in protocol, the Blackhawks have converted Cale Morris to an NHL contract, inking him to a one-year, two-way deal, reports Charlie Roumeliotis of NBC Sports Chicago (Twitter link).  The deal is worth the league minimum of $750K in the NHL.

The 25-year-old was a dominant goaltender at the NCAA level, posting a 2.18 GAA with a .931 SV% and 11 shutouts in four seasons with Notre Dame, earning Player of the Year honors back in 2017-18.  Accordingly, he was a player many expected to land an NHL contract when his college career came to an end but instead, he had to settle for a minor league deal.

This season, Morris has spent most of the season in the ECHL, collecting a 2.82 GAA with a save percentage of .898 in 14 games with Indy while also making his first two career appearances at the AHL level with Rockford.  He’ll serve as Chicago’s third-string option as he has been assigned to their taxi squad; Collin Delia and Arvid Soderblom, who was recalled from the taxi squad today, will serve as their tandem for their game against Nashville tomorrow.

Jujhar Khaira And Henrik Borgstrom Activated Off IR

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  • The Blackhawks received a bit of relief on the injury front yesterday as they announced (Twitter link) the activation of winger Jujhar Khaira and center Henrik Borgstrom from injured reserve. Khaira had missed the last three weeks after being stretchered off the ice in a game against Dallas while Borgstrom had been out just as long with a non-COVID illness.

Mike Smith, Jujhar Khaira Nearing Return From Long-Term Injuries

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Two of the NHL’s more high-profile injury absences should be coming to an end shortly. Both Edmonton Oilers goaltender Mike Smith and Chicago Blackhawks forward Jujhar Khaira are in play to return to their respective lineups this week. Sportsnet reports that Smith will be “available” on Wednesday, while relaying an Associated Press story that has Khaira could be ready to go on Saturday.

Smith, 39, has had a season to forget thus far but hopes that he can stay healthy the rest of the way for the Oilers. The veteran netminder has been out of the lineup for over two months with an undisclosed lower-body injury, which he calls “one of the most difficult injuries of my career”. Smith was injured back on October 19 in just his third start of the season and has not played since. He returned to practice briefly last month before returning to the injured reserve. This sounds less like an in-game injury and more like a nagging issue that became too much to handle, but has since been resolved to some extent. While Smith sounds eager to resume play, Edmonton will not attempt to rush him back yet again, which is likely why the team has not yet named a starter for Wednesday. Smith was excellent for the Oilers last season and will be a key piece of their success this season, but with rookie Stuart Skinner playing well behind serviceable starter Mikko Koskinen, the team does not need to rush Smith back or overwork him either.

The former Oiler Khaira, in his first season with Chicago, has neither the name recognition of Smith nor the lengthy recovery time. However, any time a player is stretchered from the ice his injury status becomes headline news. This was the case with Khaira, who was knocked out by a check from New York Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba on December 7. Khaira was sent to the hospital and has been on the injured reserve since while going through the NHL’s concussion protocol. Fortunately, it seems the big winger has dealt with what appeared to be a serious head injury rather well. If Khaira does suit up on Saturday, it will be just three-and-half weeks since he suffered the concussion, a stretch made even more tolerable for both he and the Blackhawks by postponements that have kept Chicago out of action since December 18. Khaira has missed just five games as a result.

Ivan Nalimov Traded In The KHL

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  • Blackhawks goaltender Ivan Nalimov is on the move from Admiral Vladivostok to Metallurg Magnitogorsk. The 27-year-old came to North America for the first time last season, getting in five games with AHL Rockford down the stretch on an AHL deal before returning to Russia this season.  The 2014 sixth-rounder has a 3.50 GAA along with a .891 SV% in 10 games this season and Chicago holds his rights indefinitely since he never signed an NHL contract and there is no transfer agreement in place between Russia and the NHL.

NHL Postpones Three More Games

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The NHL has announced three more postponements, including two that involve the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars. The following games will have to be rescheduled later in the season:

  • Chicago Blackhawks @ Winnipeg Jets, December 29
  • Dallas Stars @ Colorado Avalanche, December 29
  • Colorado Avalanche @ Dallas Stars, December 31

There have now been 70 games postponed this season, most of them coming since December 13. As of now, the three other games scheduled for tomorrow are still on, though the Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning both had players enter the COVID protocol earlier today.

For the Avalanche, Blackhawks, and Stars, this means they will not play again until the new year. Winnipeg still has a game scheduled on December 31 against the Calgary Flames. Not only did Chicago see Marc-Andre Fleury enter the protocol today, but also several members of the Rockford IceHogs, including part of the coaching staff. The rampant spread of positive cases in the AHL is having a huge effect on their NHL affiliates, who haven’t been able to recall enough healthy bodies at times this season.

Marc-Andre Fleury Added To COVID Protocol

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The Chicago Blackhawks have recalled Collin Delia from the AHL after Marc-Andre Fleury entered the COVID protocol. The team has also activated Calvin de Haan from the protocol while moving Brett Connolly to the taxi squad.

Chicago is set to resume their season on Wednesday against the Winnipeg Jets, but it appears as though Fleury will not be available to them. The reigning Vezina Trophy winner has been good of late, raising his season save percentage to .913 in the process. Though he’s 9-10-1 overall, Fleury went 4-1-1 in December and helped the Blackhawks climb out of the league basement.

Delia meanwhile has played in just nine games this season, all at the AHL level. The 27-year-old undrafted netminder once looked like he might be part of the future in Chicago, but has regressed in recent seasons and has just a .907 for the Rockford IceHogs this year. Still a capable fill-in, it remains to be seen how the Blackhawks navigate the goaltending position with Fleury out. Kevin Lankinen figures to get the start on Wednesday should the game proceed as planned.

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