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Injury Notes: Bozak, Trocheck, Bruins, Kings

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After a month-and-a-half on the sidelines, St. Louis Blues forward Tyler Bozak is finally making some progress toward a return. Speaking to Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, head coach Craig Berube displayed optimism when discussing the health of his veteran center, who was back at practice on Friday. “He’s gonna get some work here in the next few days and he could be available soon,” Berube said. “It’s good to see him out there and working… making some real good progress.” Bozak has not played since January 26th, when he was forced out of game against the Vegas Golden Knights with an apparent concussion. With the Blue about to embark on a six-game road trip, they will have to decide if bringing Bozak is the right move or if he requires additional time before his return. While St. Louis also just got Vladimir Tarasenko back and Oskar Sundqvist returned from a short-term injury, they could still use all the help they can get. Colton Parayko, Jaden Schwartz, Ivan Barbashev, Robert Thomas, Jacob De La Rose, and more are still among the Blues’ injured.

  • The news on Carolina Hurricanes forward Vincent Trocheck does not sound as optimistic. Head coach Rod Brind’Amour tells The Athletic’s Sara Civian that Trocheck’s recent upper-body injury will keep him sidelined for “longer than hoped”. The coach held back on providing any definitive timeline, but any long-term absence for Trocheck will be a major loss for the team. In his first full season with the Hurricanes, Trocheck has been a point-per-game player and is tied with Sebastian Aho for the team’s scoring lead. If there is one silver lining for Carolina, it is that the injury occurred before the trade deadline; with a considerable amount of cap space, the ’Canes still have time to bring in help to make up for an extended period without Trocheck.
  • Back on the positive side, the Boston Bruins have been dealing with an onslaught of injuries for some time, but there could be some help on the way. Head coach Bruce Cassidy announced today that veteran defenseman Kevan Miller has resumed skating and is likely to travel with the team on their upcoming road trip. Miller has been resting his surgically-repaired knee, but seems like he is ready to get back on the ice. Cassidy also said that defenseman Brandon Carlo is “coming around” and, while he is unsure if it will happen, there is at least some consideration that he could travel as well. This is the first concrete update on Carlo since he was hospitalized by a high hit from Washington’s Tom Wilson, but its seems that Carlo will not be out for a lengthy period as many feared.
  • It’s a scary time for any unknown illness given the shadow of the Coronavirus, so the Los Angeles Kings played it safe and cancelled practice this morning, citing an “illness” spreading around the group. Head coach Todd McLellan and the Kings do not believe that this is COVID, but a seasonal virus. However, the team will wait to see what their latest batch of test results say. Defenseman Olli Maatta is currently on the league’s COVID Protocal Related Absences list, though Alex Iafallo missed the team’s last game with similar symptoms and did not test positive for COVID. Obviously, the hope of all involved is that this is what McLellan believe it to be: some unrelated bug going around the locker room.

Tom Wilson To Have In-Person Hearing With NHL Player Safety

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Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson is in trouble yet again and facing a lengthy suspension. The NHL Department of Player Safety has announced that they have offered Wilson an in-person hearing related to “boarding” for the high hit delivered to Boston Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo on Friday night. In-person hearings are reserved for cases in which the player is facing a suspension of more than five games. The hearing will take place tonight.

Wilson, generally regarded as the dirtiest player in the NHL, was last suspended in 2018 for 20 games, but the suspension was reduced to 14 games by a neutral arbitrator. Although enough time has passed since then that Wilson is no longer considered a “repeat offender”, that label only applies to fine calculations and all previous discipline will be considered in a suspension decision. Wilson has previously been suspended four times in his career for a total of 23 games, including one for boarding and twice for hits to the head, and while this newest potential suspension may be for as few as six games, the league could return to 20+ games since Wilson has clearly not learned his lesson. The shortened season could come into play when determining the length, however.

The league is certainly facing pressure to hammer Wilson with substantial discipline for his latest aggression, especially since the referees did not even call a penalty on the play. There was quite an outcry last night following Wilson’s hit, led by Boston Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy and star Brad Marchand and echoed by media members and former players alike online. The hit in question occurred in the first period and saw Wilson target a defenseless Carlo from a distance and deliver a hit to the head of the 6’5″ defenseman with a leaping check against the boards. As the head was not the sole point of contact, the league determined that this was not a case of an illegal check to the head but does meet the criteria of boarding despite an unorthodox angle of delivery. The league will still surely take into account that head contact was entirely avoidable as well. Carlo was helped from the ice and had to be transported to the hospital by ambulance. He spent the night in the hospital and was released this morning, with no timeframe for a return to the team.

While Wilson was the main culprit on the play, he is not the only one who faced potential retribution but at this point in time appears to be the only one set to receive it. Player Safety has not revealed any supplemental discipline for Jakub Vrana, who cross-checked Carlo multiple times in the upper back while he laid face-down on the ice. The league has also not publicly commented on the performance of referees Dean Morton and Pierre Lambert, who failed to penalize Wilson (with many options available) or Vrana and were inconsistent with calls all night.

Last night’s match-up was a case study in the continued value of fighting in the NHL. Whereas Morton and Lambert dropped the ball on maintaining order, Bruins Jarred Tinordi and Trent Frederic picked up the slack by each dropping the gloves with Wilson. As Wilson sat in the box following his first fight with Tinordi, the Bruins scored three of their five goals en route to an emotional win. The Bruins and Capitals do not square off again until April 8, so Boston is surely hoping for a maximum suspension for Wilson that might directly benefit them down the road.

Injury Notes: Blues, Armia, Necas, Kase

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The St. Louis Blues’ Tyler Bozak, who has been sidelined since January 26th, has finally been retroactively placed on the injured reserve per a team release. Ironically, the Blues waited so long to make the the move that Bozak is already eligible to be activated from IR. However, he is still considered day-to-day and there is not definitive timeline for his return. Bozak has been out with an undisclosed upper-body injury since taking a heavy hit from Vegas’ Mark Stone nearly two weeks ago. Defenseman Marco Scandella has additionally been ruled out for the time being with an upper-body injury, reports Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Scandella was a late scratch for the Blues’ game on Thursday, believed to have been the result of this same nagging injury. Thomas adds that Zach Sanford is also out for the Blues with, of all things in the age of COVID, the flu. Sanford is off to a slow start this season despite playing on the team’s top line recently, but perhaps taking some time to get back to full strength will put him back on track.

  • Sanford is not alone in his struggles with the flu. While the virus is certainly the lesser of two evils this season, it is still hampering a return to action for the Montreal Canadiens’ Joel Armia as well. Armia, who was initially sidelined by a concussion, is doing better in that regard, head coach Claude Julien tells TSN’s John Lu. However, he has been unable to skate with the team due to flu symptoms. The team hopes to have Armia back at practice on Monday at the earliest.
  • Young Carolina Hurricanes forward Martin Necas has also entered the concussion protocol after suffering an injury on Thursday, reports Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News & Observer. However, head coach Rod Brind’Amour is not worried that he will miss a considerable amount of time. Specifically, he tells Alexander that Necas is “going to be out for a little while but I don’t think it’s going to be very long.” His injury is only being termed as an “upper-body” ailment.
  • The Boston Bruins are hoping to have Jake DeBrusk and Matt Grzelcyk back before their next game on Wednesday, but it seems Ondrej Kase is still a ways behind in his recovery from a concussion. Head coach Bruce Cassidy tells The Athletic’s Fluto Shinzawa that Kase has been able to ride the exercise bike, but he has not yet resumed skating. Kase has been out since the Bruins’ second game of the season and is currently on injured reserve. A talented, but injury-prone young forward with a history of head trauma, Kase needs to return to the Bruins lineup and show some durability and consistency and establish chemistry with his team ahead of an off-season in which he will be a restricted free agent and the subject of a difficult Expansion Draft decision.

Snapshots: Tkachuk, Provorov, Hutton, Pastrnak

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Although his entry-level contract expires after this season, Brady Tkachuk and the Ottawa Senators are not rushing into contract talks. Tkachuk spoke with the media on Wednesday, including The Ottawa Sun’s Ken Warren, and stated that he was happy with the club and not worried about negotiating an extension. “We’re not really talking about (a new contract),” Tkachuk said, “I don’t think that’s the focus for both sides. Our goal right now is to do everything we can to make the playoffs.” Neither side really has much to worry about anyhow. Tkachuk has continually stated that he enjoys playing for the team and living in Ottawa and seems committed to a long-term future with the Senators. And with more than $34MM in projected cap space for next season and few existing long-term contracts to worry about, the club should have no problem giving their young centerpiece whatever he wants in order to ensure a lengthy extension of their relationship.

  • No league discipline is coming for Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov in regards to a net front collision that injured Buffalo Sabres goaltender Carter Hutton on Tuesday. The play in question did look like it was at least partially caused by Hutton’s teammate, Brandon Montour, and there is not nearly enough evidence for NHL Player Safety to state that Provorov was definitively at fault. That hasn’t stopped Sabres head coach Ralph Krueger from publicly stating his disappointment with the situation, though. Krueger tells The Athletic’s Charlie O’Connor that Provorov’s actions were purposeful: “if you look at the way the elbow comes extended, you know what you’re doing.” Krueger believes his team has already been the victims of several bad hits to the head so far this season and is clearly to get some extra attention for the next time such a situation arises. Hutton continued on in the game following the collision, but did not return after the second intermission and is currently questionable for the Sabres’ next game.
  • The Boston Bruins’ scoring woes are one of the early season’s biggest stories, but help is on the way. NHL.com’s Amalie Benjamin writes that David Pastrnak is ahead of schedule in his recovery from off-season hip surgery. Initially expected to return around mid-February, Pastrnak has already re-joined practice as a non-contact participant. Head coach Bruce Cassidy now expects that he could return to action as early as late next week. The reigning Rocket Richard Trophy winner will be a welcome addition to a team that has yet to produce an even strength goal through three games.

Bruce Cassidy Wins 2020 Jack Adams Award

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Bruce Cassidy is the winner of the 2020 Jack Adams Award as coach of the year in the NHL after leading the Boston Bruins to the league’s best regular season performance. Cassidy takes home the award over the other two finalists, John Tortorella of the Columbus Blue Jackets and Alain Vigneault of the Philadelphia Flyers.

This decision may come as a surprise to many, given our poll on the subject had Cassidy in last place out of the three. The award is voted on by the NHL Broadcasters Association and is given to “the NHL coach adjudged to have contributed the most to his team’s success.”

Cassidy received 37 first-place votes, with Vigneault and Tortorella receiving 32 and 28 respectively. Craig Berube of the St. Louis Blues and Jared Bednar of the Colorado Avalanche rounded out the top-5.

Even though many expected a different outcome, there’s no denying how worthy Cassidy is of the award. Since taking control of the Bruins during the 2016-17 season, he has put up a 161-66-34 record in the regular season. He also led the Bruins to the Stanley Cup Final last year, though overall Cassidy actually has a losing record in the postseason as the head coach of Boston.

This marks the first Jack Adams win of Cassidy’s young career and the fourth overall for the Bruins franchise.

Goaltending Notes: Halak, Korpisalo, Holtby

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The Boston Bruins will be without their top option in goal tonight when they take on the Philadelphia Flyers in the round-robin. Tuukka Rask has been ruled unfit to play by head coach Bruce Cassidy, meaning Jaroslav Halak will be in net for the Bruins.

Perhaps more than any other team in the playoffs, the Bruins have prepared for a situation like this all season. Halak is much more than a backup for Boston, playing in 31 games during the shortened regular season and posting a .919 save percentage. That’s a number most teams would be happy to get from their starter, but it still is a step down from Rask’s .929. One of the advantages of being a top seed in each conference is this round-robin structure, which will allow the team to get healthy without the risk of elimination for the first week.

  • One team not in quite as strong a situation is the Columbus Blue Jackets, who start a best-of-five series against the Toronto Maple Leafs later today. The Blue Jackets have two young excellent goaltenders of their own, but head coach John Tortorella has decided to go with Joonas Korpisalo in game one. While Elvis Merzlikins may have received more press this season due to it being his first in North America, it was easy to forget that Korpisalo was actually named to the All-Star game before suffering an injury. He posted a .911 save percentage on the season but has a strong history against the Maple Leafs and much more experience at the NHL level.
  • It may not come as much of a surprise, but Braden Holtby will be in net when the Washington Capitals start their own round-robin tomorrow afternoon. Holtby will start over Vitek Vanacek according to Samantha Pell of the Washington Post when the Capitals take on the Tampa Bay Lightning. Once Ilya Samsonov was ruled out due to injury the obvious choice was Holtby given his experience, but it is also important to remember that he was far from his dominant self this season. In fact, Holtby posted an .897 save percentage on the season, putting him 52nd among NHL goaltenders who appeared in at least 20 games.

Morning Notes: Kase, Gibbons, Crosby

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The Boston Bruins still don’t have Ondrej Kase inside the bubble with them and even when he gets there he may find it difficult to get into the lineup. Speaking with reporters today including Joe Haggerty of NBC Sports, Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy explained that he may not necessarily insert Kase when he joins the team:

I don’t know the player right now. He’s only had a handful of games with us. Those are things we’ll decide down the road. Wouldn’t be automatic that I’d put Ondrej back in if one of the kids was playing well.

Kase of course arrived in Boston at the trade deadline, just a few days before the season was put on pause, but was expected to challenge for a role in the team’s top-six. In fact, it cost the Bruins their 2020 first-round pick to acquire him from the Anaheim Ducks—although one may argue that moving David Backes’ contract was the biggest part of that deal for the Bruins. Boston will have some time to figure out their lineup, as they play three round-robin games to determine playoff seeding.

  • Cory Conacher isn’t the only former NHL player headed to Switzerland, as Brian Gibbons has also signed with Lausanne HC for the 2020-21 season. Gibbons’ deal is only for one year, but means he won’t be returning to the Carolina Hurricanes organization where he played this season. Now 32, Gibbons played 15 games for the Hurricanes but failed to record a single point.
  • Sidney Crosby will be a game-time decision for the Pittsburgh Penguins when they take on the Philadelphia Flyers later today. Even if he doesn’t end up playing, that status should be encouraging for Penguins fans hoping to see their captain suit up in game one against the Montreal Canadiens. Crosby missed a chunk of training camp but returned to practice when the Penguins arrived at the Toronto bubble.

Poll: Who Should Win The 2020 Jack Adams Award?

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The finalists have been announced for all the major awards, but like every year there is much debate over who should take home each piece of hardware. In fact, with a shortened season and unorthodox playoff scenario, the views and reasoning behind each vote will perhaps vary even more wildly.

So as we get closer to the return of NHL hockey in Edmonton and Toronto, where 24 teams will try to chase the Stanley Cup, we’re going to ask you, the PHR faithful, to explain who you would vote for if given the chance.

After looking at the Calder Trophy finalists, let’s shift our focus to the Jack Adams Award, given to “the NHL coach adjudged to have contributed the most to his team’s success.”  In recent years, teams with top records have been overlooked with ones overachieving relative to early-season expectations often getting the nod.

This year’s group of finalists features someone from both groups with Bruce Cassidy (Bruins), John Tortorella (Blue Jackets), and Alain Vigneault (Flyers) comprising the top three.

Cassidy helped lead Boston to the top record in this shortened season where the Bruins still managed to reach 100 points in just 70 games with a 44-14-12 record.  While they were expected to be a contender heading into the year featuring a strong attack and one of the stingiest goaltending tandems in the league, they were the class of the field for most of the season which certainly makes Cassidy deserving of the nomination.  He has never won this award in the past despite putting up a very quiet 161-66-34 record since going behind their bench.

After being gutted in free agency with the departures of Artemi Panarin, Matt Duchene, and Sergei Bobrovsky (among others), expectations were low for Columbus heading into the season.  Instead, it was believed that they’d be in for a transition year, especially since they opted to go with the relatively unproven tandem of Joonas Korpisalo and Elvis Merzlikins between the pipes.  Instead, while they struggled as expected offensively, they became one of the stingiest defensive teams in the league and were in the mix for a playoff spot when the pandemic hit despite a litany of injuries to core players.  Tortorella is a two-time winner of the award after winning in 2004 with Tampa Bay and 2017 with Columbus.

As for Vigneault, he helped lead Philadelphia to their best points percentage in nearly a decade at .645 with a top-ten offense and defense.  In doing so, the Flyers went from a team that missed the playoffs to one that still has a chance at the top seed in the Eastern Conference as a 9-1 record in their final ten games allowed them to leapfrog Pittsburgh for the second spot in the Metropolitan Division; in doing so, they qualified for the round robin seeding games instead of the play-in round.  If he wins, it would Vigneault’s second Jack Adams Award as he also won in 2007 with Vancouver.

There’s a strong case to be made for each coach but which one should take home the prize?  Cast your vote below.

Mobile users, click here to vote.

David Pastrnak Held Out Of Bruins Practice Due To COVID Exposure

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League-leading goal-scorer David Pastrnak has missed his second straight day of practice with the Boston Bruins after missing the early part of the week due a league-mandated quarantine period for players returning from Europe. While Pastrnak himself has tested negative for COVID-19, as it turns out he is back in quarantine after coming into contact with an individual who had tested positive, according to The Athletic’s Fluto Shinzawa.

Pastrnak, as well as fellow European returner Ondrej Kase, missed Monday and Tuesday while in quarantine but returned Wednesday to re-join the team. However, head  coach Bruce Cassidy announced on Thursday that the duo had been labeled “unfit to participate” and would be out for an indeterminate amount of time. It has since been clarified that Pastrnak was not permitted to practice with the team due to contact with a positive COVID-19 individual. It is unclear whether Kase has been missing for the same reason.

Meanwhile, the two worked out together privately at a local rink Friday. The team certainly hopes that the pair will be at full speed by the time they depart for Toronto to begin round robin play, whether they are able to resume group practice soon or  not. Pastrnak is obviously one of the more dangerous scoring forwards in the league and a crucial part of Boston’s offensive attack, while Kase was acquired from the Anaheim ahead of the trade deadline for a hefty price and is expected to be a key piece moving forward. Kase was quiet through six games with the Bruins before the league suspended play, but the hope is that he will be the fit at right wing alongside David Krejci that the team has been searching for.

NHL Announces Finalists For 2019-20 Jack Adams Award

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Just moments after announcing the finalists for the Calder Trophy, the league has given out three names that will battle for another prestigious regular season award. The Jack Adams Award, given to the head coach who has “contributed the most to his team’s success” comes down to three Eastern Conference bench bosses who have taken their teams to the playoffs.

The three finalists are: Bruce Cassidy (BOS), John Tortorella (CBJ), Alain Vigneault (PHI)

Cassidy has done nothing but win since returning to the NHL head coaching ring in 2017. In 261 regular season games running the Bruins’ bench, he’s amassed a 161-66-34 record. That .682 winning percentage would put him among the all-time great coaches in NHL history. Even when including his 47-47-9 record from when he coached the Washington Capitals, he ranks sixth all-time in winning percentage among coaches with at least 300 games. There is little doubt at this point that he is an effective leader and after taking the Bruins to the Stanley Cup Finals a year ago, he had them back positioned for another run as the league’s best regular season team.

Tortorella meanwhile comes with a much longer head coaching history and one that has certainly had its ups and downs. Even though he can eventually wear out his welcome, the fiery motivator has had only three seasons with a sub-.500 record. This season has been perhaps his most challenging after losing names like Artemi Panarin, Matt Duchene and Sergei Bobrovsky to free agency and Seth Jones to a season-ending injury. The fact that the Blue Jackets still have a fighting chance in the playoffs is a credit to the work “Torts” has done with an underwhelming roster and puts him squarely in as a potential favorite for the award this season.

Vigneault will try to take away however after a triumphant return to the NHL. After spending a year on the sidelines following his dismissal from the New York Rangers, the veteran coach was back in the Metropolitan Division taking the Flyers to a 41-21-7 record. Philadelphia was playing perhaps their best hockey in a decade when the season was cut short and looked like a real contender for the Stanley Cup. The question has always been about whether Vigneault can hack it in the playoffs, but as this is a regular season award the Flyers .645 winning percentage speaks for itself.

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