Western Conference Snapshots: Seguin, Hemsky, Birgas, Setoguchi, Kempe
One concern with allowing NHLers to participate in international tournaments such as the Winter Olympics and World Cup is the prospect of losing key players to injury either during the season or just prior. The Dallas Stars, for example, saw star center Tyler Seguin suffer a hairline fracture to his foot which has prevented him from playing in any exhibition games. Top-nine winger Ales Hemsky injured a groin during the recent World Cup and has also been held out of preseason action with the Stars.
Mike Heika of The Dallas Morning News has the latest updates on the health of the two forwards and the roster shuffling the team has undergone in their absence. The news on Seguin is optimistic even though he has yet to see any game action. Heika reports Seguin is a full participant during practice and according to head coach Lindy Ruff, should “in all likelihood,” be available to play opening night.
On the flip side, Hemsky’s rehab is not going well. He experienced a setback recently and is expected to be re-evaluated early next week.
Dallas recently added Justin Fontaine via PTO to add depth. Fontaine netted 16 points in 60 games with the Minnesota Wild this past season and was recently released from his PTO with Florida.
In addition to being without Seguin and Hemsky, the Stars are also missing Cody Eakin – out until November – and Mattias Janmark – out until April – both due to knee injuries. With nearly $6MM in available cap space, it’s possible the Stars could look to the trade market or waiver wire to bring in additional depth up front or they could simply try to weather the storm with what they already have on the roster.
More from the Western Conference:
- The Colorado Avalanche recently sent defense prospect Chris Bigras to their AHL affiliate in San Antonio but as Terry Frei of the Denver Post writes, the demotion had little to do with his play in training camp and more to do with ensuring the 21-year-old blue liner gets plenty of quality ice time. The Avalanche have plenty of quality players to fully staff the big league blue line and Bigras likely would have spent much of his time in the press box had he remained in Colorado. Bigras made his Avalanche debut last year, recording his first NHL goal and adding two assists in 31 games. With offseason free agent acquisition Fedor Tyutin set to hit the open market again next summer, and with three other defensmen – Eric Gelinas, Nikita Zadorov and Patrick Wiercioch – scheduled for restricted free agency, Birgas’ chances of making the team and earning a key role next year should be much better.
- As teams continue to trim down their rosters in advance of the start of the regular season, Jon Rosen of LA Kings Insider writes about two players facing very different challenges as they try to survive final cuts. Devin Setoguchi, who is in camp on a PTO, realizes this could be his final chance to make an NHL club and is aware his performance in the team’s final two exhibition contests is vital: “I think it comes down to these last two games, and obviously I’m still here and have done something to this point to maybe keep them a little intrigued. Definitely I feel like there’s a lot riding on these next two games that I have to play.” Meanwhile, Adrian Kempe, the 20-year-old selected by the Kings in the 2014 draft, is just beginning his pro career and should he fail to make the Kings team this year, he’ll likely have many more opportunities to do so: “I came over really wanting to take a spot and that’s my goal. That’s been my goal the whole last year. It’s going to keep being my goal till I make it. I made a good camp, I think I played good in the games too and I’m still up, so I don’t know what’s going to happen after this weekend, but we’ve got two games left here and we’ll see what happens, but I feel good out there, so that’s good.” While not necessarily in direct competition for a roster spot, Rosen notes that Kempe’s versatility – he can play both wing and center – could prove to be an advantage. On the flip side, if the Kings like what they see from Setoguchi and feel he can again resemble the player who once netted 31 goals in a season, he could help fill the void created by Marian Gaborik‘s foot injury.
Injury Notes: Monahan, Seguin, Kronwall
When Sean Monahan had to pull out of the World Cup with a back injury, many Flames fans clutched their hearts and hoped for the best. Indeed, with Johnny Gaudreau still without a contract, a Monahan injury could have spelled the end for the Flames before the season even started.
After returning to the ice a few days ago however, Monahan skated without the dreaded no-contact jersey today, according to Pat Steinberg of Sportsnet. A full participant in practice, Monahan should be ready for the start of the regular season. With a Gaudreau contract sounding at least a bit closer to a reality, perhaps Flames fans have nothing (or at least less) to worry about.
- Another World Cup deserter, Tyler Seguin, will ramp up his skating workload today, according to Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News. Seguin suffered a hairline fracture in his foot just before the tournament began, but has never been expected to miss the start of the regular season. Lindy Ruff stands by that, telling Heika that he assumes Seguin will be ready for opening night.
- Niklas Kronwall, one of the injured Red Wings was on the ice for the first time today during his rehab of a knee injury. While Kronwall isn’t expected to take part in any preseason games, Ansar Khan of MLive reports that head coach Jeff Blashill thinks he has a chance at opening night in Tampa Bay next Thursday. Tomas Tatar, Frans Nielsen and Thomas Vanek all re-joined in practice today as well, the trio coming off the silver medal winning Team Europe.
Injury Notes: Eakin, Shore, Maguire
After news came down this morning that Matt Murray would miss 3-6 weeks after breaking his hand in the World Cup and Mark Stone had suffered a concussion and is out indefinitely, more injury news hit the wire.
In Dallas, Devin Shore left today’s scrimmage with an injury and will be out “some time”, according to Brandon Worley. Shore was competing for a job at the NHL level after being drafted in the second round in 2012 and making his debut last season after other injuries. More importantly, Lindy Ruff told Worley that Cody Eakin will be out for six weeks with a lower-body injury, meaning the centerman will be out until some time in November.
Eakin has been a solid contributor for the Stars throughout his career, putting up three straight seasons with at least 16 goals and 35 points. Only 25, the former third round pick put up 8 points in the Stars’ 13 playoff games, leading some to believe a breakout was in order for this season.
In Pittsburgh, Bill West of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that the Pens lost a second goaltender today for a lengthy period. It was announced that prospect Sean Maguire will miss 4-6 weeks with a lingering concussion issue from his college days. Maguire was exceptional in his three seasons at Boston University, and made his professional debut this spring with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the AHL.
Pens’ GM Jim Rutherford also told reporters that Bryan Rust and Oskar Sundqvist skated on their own this morning and will be able to start practicing in the coming few days. Each player was dealing with minor injuries and are expected to be fine for the beginning of the season.
Stars RFA Nichushkin Signs In Russia
Sept. 20: CSKA Moscow has officially announced the signing (link in Russian). The Stars will retain his NHL rights.
Sept. 19: According to R-Sport correspondent Simon Galkevich, Dallas Stars forward Valeri Nichushkin is about to sign a two-year contract with CSKA Moscow of the KHL (link in Russian).
Galkevich tweeted CSKA acquired Nichushkin’s KHL rights from Dinamo for free. Igor Eronko, a writer for the Russian website Sport-Express, cited a source saying Nichushkin hopes to return to Dallas “someday”, but doesn’t want to play for Stars coach Lindy Ruff. Ruff’s contract expires in two years, coinciding with the end of Nichushkin’s KHL contract.
Back in March, Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News reported Nichushkin was frustrated with Ruff, quoting a Sport-Express article where Nichushkin compared Ruff’s lack of trust in him to “beating [my] forehead against the wall”.
Stars GM Jim Nill had previously stated that he didn’t expect Nichushkin to consider the KHL. The Stars drafted Nichushkin 10th overall back in the 2013 Entry Draft. He’s scored 23 goals and 64 points in 166 games since then, missing all but eight games of his sophomore season with a hip issue.
Nichushkin is one of several RFAs currently without an NHL contract, as discussed during PHR’s series on remaining RFAs.