Latest on Flyers’ Coaching Situation
4:36: Carchidi also writes that he believes Hakstol will be dismissed. As for who will replace him, he adds that Quenneville is just one of many coaches the team is considering. One significant option would be for the team to promote Lehigh Valley Phantoms’ coach Scott Gordon and see if he can motivate many of his former players to be successful.
3:59: Philly.com’s Sam Carchidi writes that while he believes Isaac’s report about the hiring of Quenneville, he asked Dave Scott, the CEO of the Flyers’ parent company, more than three hours ago about the report that Quenneville was coming to Philadelphia. The answer was “Not true.” Carchidi writes that something easily could have changed since then, however. Regardless, nothing has been confirmed.
3:42: Multiple sources are indicating that there is no deal. Fox Sports’ Andy Strickland writes that Quenneville said reports that he is taking the Flyers’ job are not true. TSN’s Darren Dreger also reports that it remains status quo in Philadelphia and no decision has been made on Hakstol.
3:24: It looks like Philadelphia Flyers’ new general manager Chuck Fletcher has made his big move. The new GM intends to fire head coach Dave Hakstol and will hire three-time Stanley Cup winner Joel Quenneville as their next head coach, according to Cherry Hill Courier-Post’s Dave Isaac. There has been no official word from the Flyers although the report says that Philadelphia intends to officially let Hakstol go either tonight or Monday morning. The scribe also adds that Fletcher has already offered the position to Quenneville and he’s accepted it.
Tampa Bay Lightning Juggles Roster To Keep Erik Cernak With Team
It looks like the Tampa Bay Lightning are about to get back defenseman Anton Stralman, as the team activated him off of injured reserve for tonight’s game with Winnipeg, but rather than assign impressive rookie Erik Cernak to the AHL, the team instead opted to place forward Mathieu Joseph on IR instead, according to CapFriendly. That should give the team a little more time to decide what to do with Cernak.
The Lightning have liked what they’ve seen from Cernak since he was recalled on Nov. 13. The right-shot defenseman has already appeared in 16 games and has five assists as well as a plus-eight rating and already has outshined the team’s seventh defenseman Slater Koekkoek. However, considering the 21-year-old doesn’t need to pass through waivers is counting against him. Regardless, the team seems to be doing everything it can to keep him on their roster. He is getting solid minutes with the club, as he has exceeded the 20-minutes mark four of his last seven games. While playing time might be harder to get with Stralman back in the fold, the team isn’t ready for Cernak to depart.
“He’s developing at a faster pace than any of us thought,” head coach Jon Cooper said. “When he left camp I’m not sure he sat there and thought he’d play any games in the NHL. Now he’s just under 20. He’s left a great impression on us. And he’s still with us.”
Joseph was considered to be day-to-day with a lower-body injury, but Cooper referred to him as extremely doubtful earlier today. He was injured on Dec. 8 against Colorado, but tried to play through it Monday. By placing him on IR retroactive to that date, Joseph would have to sit at least two more games, giving the team time to decide what to do. The Athletic’s Joe Smith (subscription required) writes that the team has several options, which includes opting to keep him on the roster permanently and putting either Danick Martel or Koekkoek on waivers to free up a roster spot. It could also send Koekkoek on a conditioning assignment, considering he hasn’t played in a month. However, if the team can’t guarantee Cernak consistent minutes, they might be better off sending him back to the Syracuse Crunch.
“He’s on our team,” Cooper said of Cernak on Friday. “In the organization, there’s on the team and in the lineup. There’s a whole bunch of steps in there. But he’s really opened our eyes. And he’s completely added depth to our organization, to our team. How things play out when Stralman comes back? You want everyone healthy. You want to be able to have different players in the arsenal. So we’ll see where it goes from there.”
While the team is focused on this year, the team also has to consider their future on defense as the Lightning must deal with serious cap issues this offseason and have three unrestricted free agents on defense coming up, including Stralman, Braydon Coburn and Dan Girardi. Koekkoek also will be a restricted free agent himself. Getting Cernak into a regular role now could ease some of the concern next year if the team has to let several of those players go.
Philadelphia Flyers Could Be Ready To Make Coaching Change
Sunday: Despite the Flyers falling 5-1 to Vancouver Saturday and the road trip being completed, there has been no coaching changes made of yet, according to Philly.com’s Sam Carchidi. The scribe writes that while a coaching change MAY happen at some point, rumors that the team has hired Joel Quenneville are not accurate. Hakstol remains the coach in Philadelphia.
Saturday: While it likely wouldn’t come as any surprise, they Philadelphia Flyers may be ready to make a coaching change. The Athletic’s Charlie O’Connor tweeted that he’s heard rumblings from key people that the Flyers may be ready to fire head coach Dave Hakstol after their road trip ends, which will be tonight after their game against Vancouver.
While Hakstol had an impressive coaching resume when he was hired back in 2015, that success hasn’t necessarily translated to the NHL. While he’s reached the playoffs twice on a rebuilding roster, the team has failed to get past the first round of the playoffs and the team has been abysmal in a season where many people felt the team was ready to compete for the top of their division. Instead, the Flyers have struggled this season, currently holding a record of 12-14-4, tied for last place in the Metropolitan Division.
The team’s struggles already cost the job of general manager Ron Hextall back on Nov. 26 and replaced soon after with new GM Chuck Fletcher, whose intention was to sit back and observe the team before making any changes. Hakstol’s chances are likely near an end, however, after the team’s recent losing streak as they have gone 3-7-3 in the last 13 games. That has included a recent string of tough losses, which started with a 7-1 loss to Winnipeg last Sunday, followed by a 6-5 overtime loss to Calgary in which the Flyers held a two-goal lead with 68 seconds left in the game and still lost. The team followed that up with a 4-1 loss Friday to Edmonton.
While the team seems to be waiting until after the road trip, that’s not too unusual. The Los Angeles Kings fired head coach John Stevens on Nov. 4 after the team pulled off a 4-1 victory over Columbus the day before, suggesting the team had already made up their mind about firing Stevens. The same could happen here. The Flyers are a team loaded with a core of top forwards, including Claude Giroux, Jakub Voracek, Sean Couturier, Travis Konecny, Nolan Patrick, James van Riemsdyk, Wayne Simmonds as well as top defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere and Ivan Provorov, but haven’t been able to put anything together. The team’s goaltending situation is a mess and likely to be one of Fletcher’s first acts as GM, to find a reliable netminder. Regardless, the team doesn’t seem to be responding to Hakstol at the moment.
Ottawa Places Max McCormick On Waivers
With a number of players coming back from injury, the Ottawa Senators have decided to make some room on their roster as they placed winger Max McCormick on waivers, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
McCormick didn’t get much playing time with the Senators as he has only appeared in 14 games this season. Even when he did, Senators head coach Guy Boucher wasn’t big on handing him much playing time as he averaged just 7:30 of ATOI this season. He did play in the three recent games (albeit not the previous two) and got even less time as he averaged under six minutes a game. He has one goal this season.
The forward could be a cheap option for another team, although it would seem unlikely any team would want to take a chance on him. McCormick does make just the minimum $650K and will be an unrestricted free agent after this year. He played 30 games with Ottawa last season, producing three goals and five points.
Snapshots: Sestito, Thomas, Letang, Koivu
It looks like enforcer Tom Sestito will be getting another chance to work his way back to the NHL as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that the Toronto Marlies have signed the 6-foot-5, 228-pound forward to a professional tryout. A veteran of 154 NHL games, the 31-year-old had been playing in the AHL with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins for the previous two years, but he wasn’t able to get a contract this year.
Friedman says that his source said he was thrilled that Sestito was getting one last shot to work his way back and referred to him as a great teammate. Sestito’s best season came in the 2013-14 season with the Vancouver Canucks when he played 77 games and scored five goals and nine points and accumulated 213 penalty minutes. He was probably best known for hits that netted him a pair of four-game suspensions, including one against New York Rangers’ Andre Deveaux from behind in 2011 and another one in 2017 when he boarded Winnipeg’s Toby Enstrom. His last NHL team was the Pittsburgh Penguins where he played 17 games in the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons combined.
- St. Louis Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said that forward Robert Thomas will not be loaned to Team Canada for the World Junior Championships, according to Fox Sports’ Andy Strickland. The 19-year-old has just two goals and seven points so far in his rookie campaign in St. Louis while averaging just over 12 minutes of ice time per game, so many have speculated the Blues could loan him out temporarily to get him extra playing time at the World Juniors. However, Thomas has seen a small spike in his playing time since head coach Mike Yeo was fired and replaced by Craig Berube as the team hopes that the 2017 first-rounder continues his development while learning on the bottom lines.
- The Pittsburgh Penguins got some good news on the injury that defenseman Kris Letang suffered Friday in the third period against the Boston Bruins when the blueliner collided with Boston’s Joakim Nordstrom and had his knee buckle. Fans began to get concerned when he wasn’t able to stand on his own. However, while he did miss tonight’s game, the Penguins announced that he’s day-to-day, according to Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “It could’ve been a lot worse,” coach Mike Sullivan said. The 31-year-old has been having a solid season this year with seven goals and 25 points in 30 games this season.
- NHL.com’s Kevin Falness reports that Minnesota Wild head coach Bruce Boudreau said that he expects center Mikko Koivu to return to the Wild’s lineup on Tuesday when they face San Jose. The 35-year-old has missed four games with a left leg injury, but a return could be a big addition as Koivu has put up solid numbers this year as he has four goals and 21 points in 27 games.
Oscar Klefbom Out Six To Eight Weeks After Finger Surgery
Saturday: John Shannon of Sportsnet reports that Klefbom had surgery on his injured finger and is expected to be out between 6-8 weeks.
Wednesday: The Edmonton Oilers are rolling right now after installing a more defensive structure under new head coach Ken Hitchcock, but will now be without one of their best defensemen. Oscar Klefbom has been placed on injured reserve after suffering a hand injury in last night’s game that should keep him out “weeks.” The team has also activated Drake Caggiula while assigning Cooper Marody to the AHL. To make up for Klefbom’s absence, the team has recalled defenseman Caleb Jones, who could make his long-awaited NHL debut soon.
In the first ten games of the Hitchcock era in Edmonton, he made it very clear that he would lean heavily on the players who he thought gave him the best chance to win. Klefbom was one of them, averaging over 26 minutes a night before going down to injury against Colorado. The 25-year old had also recorded seven points in those ten games, including two game-winning goals. That’s nearly half his production for the entire season, and was a stretch that had him closer to the 2016-17 version that helped the Oilers reach the playoffs.
Losing him means someone else—almost surely Darnell Nurse—will have to carry the load defensively and play nearly half the game. Nurse got a taste of that when he recorded 30:44 of ice time last night, the highest total of his career by three full minutes. Along with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, Nurse will have to really excel in this period without Klefbom on the blue line and help the Oilers maintain their quick ascension of the Western Conference standings. Edmonton has gone 8-2-1 with Hitchcock in charge, and now sit just one point out of second place in the Pacific Division with a game in hand on both the San Jose Sharks and Anaheim Ducks.
Mike Green Out Three To Five Weeks
The Detroit Red Wings are falling out of the playoff race in the Atlantic Division, and will now be without one of their best defensemen for quite some time. Mike Green will be out three to five weeks with a lower-body injury according to head coach Jeff Blashill, who spoke with reporters including Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia today. Filip Hronek has been recalled to fill Green’s spot on the roster.
Green’s inclusion on the 2018-19 Red Wings may have come as a surprise to some altogether, given that he was set to become an unrestricted free agent in the summer. Detroit was unable to trade him at last year’s deadline given his health concerns, but re-signed him to a two-year, $10.75MM contract just before free agency began in July. That deal also includes a full no-trade clause until February of 2020, meaning the Red Wings will be connected to Green for at least another year. Obviously that’s not a bad thing when the team is playing well and competing for a playoff spot, but with him on the sidelines there is reason to think that may not happen.
The 33-year old Green is still a very effective puck-mover, and leads the Detroit defense corps in both scoring and time on ice. With 16 points he actually stands fifth on the entire team despite having played only 23 games, and his almost 22-minutes a night puts him just ahead of Dylan Larkin for the team lead. Modern possession statistics and more traditional measures like +/- both love Green’s work this season, and it’s obvious to see why when watching him compete on a nightly basis. Losing that kind of impact from the blue line could cripple the Detroit attack, putting them in a tough spot to stand up in a hyper-competitive Atlantic division.
What the loss does do for the Red Wings is give even more opportunity for them to experiment with younger options like Hronek and Dennis Cholowski. The pair of young defensemen will be relied upon heavily moving forward, and can show exactly what they’re capable of now that Green is out of the lineup.
Matt Murray Activated From Injured Reserve
The Pittsburgh Penguins finally have their expected starter back. Matt Murray has been activated from injured reserve, while Tristan Jarry was sent back to the minor leagues. Now the question becomes how the Penguins will use Murray, given Casey DeSmith‘s stellar play as the starter in his absence. DeSmith has posted a .925 save percentage through 20 appearances this season, a number Murray has reached since 2016-17.
Back in October, head coach Mike Sullivan claimed that Murray was still obviously the team’s number one, despite DeSmith’s success early on. That assertion will be tested as the season progresses, and the Penguins attempt to continue their climb up the ladder of the Metropolitan Division standings.
After starting his career about as well as possible with back-to-back Stanley Cup championships, Murray has struggled recently to find an elite level capable of putting the Penguins over the edge. Some of that has to do with injury—Murray has suffered from multiple ailments including several concussions over his short career—and some with simple inconsistency. Both things will be tested now that he has ample competition for the starter role, in both DeSmith and top prospect Jarry. The team certainly can’t wait around for his play to rebound if they want to keep pace in the Metropolitan, where the Washington Capitals are starting to extend their lead and look like the dominant team that took home the Cup last season.
Oilers Notes: Hitchcock, Koskinen, Krug
Since Ken Hitchcock took over as head coach of the Edmonton Oilers back on November 20th, the team is 7-2-1 and back in the Western Conference playoff picture. The Oilers’ players seem to have embraced Hitchchock’s system and the veteran coach may be the author of a turnaround for a franchise that had been heading in the wrong direction for more than a year. Will that earn him an extension beyond his current interim role? TSN’s Darren Dreger thinks so, as he stated on the latest segment of “Insider Trading” that Hitchcock appears to be a long-term option for the Oilers. The 66-year-old was set to retire from coaching at the end of the 2016-17 season, back when he was with the St. Louis Blues, but was fired by the team before the end of the season. That made his hiring by the Dallas Stars in the following off-season even more surprising. After last season, Hitchcock again announced his “retirement”, only to join the Oilers when they called this season. Hitchcock doesn’t really seem to be committed to moving on from the game and Dreger believes that a winning season would leave Edmonton with little choice but to extend their new coach’s contract. Dreger adds that Hitchcock could wind up with a deal that would allow him to transition from the bench into a front office role if he so chooses, but doesn’t doubt that Hitchcock could continue to coach the team “well beyond this season”.
- One of the more evident changes under Hitchcock has been his trust in backup goaltender Mikko Koskinen, if backup is even the correct title anymore for the import keeper. After Cam Talbot started each of the Oilers’ first eight games of the season, Koskinen has received 13 starts to Talbot’s nine the rest of the way. Under Hitchcock, it has been seven games for Koskinen out of ten total. After shutting out the Calgary Flames last night, Hitchcock announced that he would stick with Koskinen again tonight when the Oilers take on the Colorado Avalanche. Admittedly, Koskinen has outplayed Talbot with a .929 save percentage, 2.06 GAA, and three shutouts – all among the league’s best marks – so the real test of Hitchcock’s trust in the “rhythm” will come when Koskinen begins to struggle. For now, the new coach and his new starting goalie are helping each other make a case for extended stays in Edmonton.
- Boston Bruins defenseman Torey Krug has been a name connected to the Oilers, through unconfirmed rumors and media speculation, for some time. It was believed that Boston and Edmonton were close to a deal that would have sent Krug to the Oilers at the NHL Draft this past June, while rumors of ongoing discussions continued through the summer. Edmonton could certainly use Krug, one of the most productive defensemen in the NHL over the past few years, and there is some level of familiarity with the player on the Oilers’ side in former Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli. While they have leaned on Krug as the team fought through injuries early this season, the defenseman is also not as crucial a piece for the Bruins as he would be for other teams, with Charlie McAvoy and Matt Grzelcyk representing future offensive threats on the blue line and Krug’s contract expiring after next season. As such, a hypothetical deal has some intrigue and Boston Globe beat writer Matt Porter re-ignited the discussion recently when he posited that the Bruins could potentially pry Ryan Nugent-Hopkins out of Edmonton with a package of Krug and a young forward. As the idea picked up steam among fans, The Sports Hub’s Ty Anderson put an end to the possibility – possibly for good – with his report that the Oilers are in fact one of the team’s on Krug’s limited no-trade list, a clause that kicked in for the first time this season. So, while the Bruins and Oilers may make fine trade partners hypothetically, a Krug-to-Edmonton deal is unlikely to happen.
What Your Team Is Thankful For: Los Angeles Kings
As the holiday season approaches, PHR will take a look at what teams are thankful for as the season heads past the one-quarter mark. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. Let’s take a look at what’s gone well in the early going and what could improve as the season rolls on for the Los Angeles Kings. Click here for the other articles in this series.
What are the Kings most thankful for?
With a victory Saturday over division-rival Vegas and having split four of their last eight games, Los Angeles has pushed its way out of 31st place in the NHL. While that’s not necessarily something to be thankful for, the veteran-laden Kings started so badly that they were last in the NHL by far. However, the team has shown slight improvements since the team fired John Stevens and replaced him with Willie Desjardins on Nov. 4, who has a 7-10 record so far with the team. While that’s nothing great, the team has picked up a few key wins such as on Saturday and can only hope that things will be getting better on a daily basis.
Who are the Kings most thankful for?
With all the goaltending injuries that the team has sustained this season as both Jonathan Quick and backup Jack Campbell have missed large chunks of the season already, the team’s goaltending hasn’t been that bad. The team has been right in the middle, ranked 15th in save percentage with a .903, which is impressive considering their issues. In fact, the always reliable Quick has been the weakest link for the team in goal this year as he has a 3.23 GAA and a .893 save percentage in nine appearances, although it’s likely he’s not playing at 100 percent.
The team should be impressed, however, with their success from their other goalies as Campbell fared quite well filling in for Quick initially before he went down with the same lower-body injury that Quick suffered. Campbell has posted a 2.33 GAA and a .923 save percentage in 13 games, while AHL prospect Calvin Petersen has fared equally as well with a 2.41 GAA and a .929 save percentage in nine games.
What would the Kings be even more thankful for?
Goal scoring. Team star Anze Kopitar, who is coming off a 35-goal, 92-point season last year, remains the team’s top scorer, but has just seven goals and 18 points — hardly numbers of a player who should be somewhere among the league leaders in scoring. In fact, the team’s lack of scoring can’t be placed on just one person as the entire team’s offense has been lethargic all season as other players including Jeff Carter, Dustin Brown and their big offseason acquisition Ilya Kovalchuk have all struggled this year. If Kopitar and some of the other veterans can pick up the pace a bit and start to show their value, the team could find the offense they need to move them from out of the bottom of the Pacific Division.
What should be on the Kings’ Holiday Wish List?
The team has brought in multiple youngsters to attempt to bring life to the team and while some of those players have had limited success such as Matt Luff, the Kings really need to shake up their roster and begin to reshape their franchise. While there have been plenty of rumors around about L.A. moving on from players like Jeff Carter or Tyler Toffoli, the team remains laden with multiple long-term deals that they are stuck with. If they can find any way to move one or two of them, they have to hope someone finds enough value in some of those veterans that they would be willing to take them off their hands.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.