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Snapshots: World Championships, Wild, Mariners

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Jeff Blashill will once again be the head coach of Team USA at the upcoming World Championships, with Dan Bylsma, Don Granato and Seth Appert joining him behind the bench. Blashill coached last year’s squad to a fifth-place finish, but he’ll be getting some star power this time around.

Patrick Kane has announced that he will suit up for the tournament, and he will serve as captain of Team USA. Alex DeBrincat will also be joining Kane for the US squad, a nice reward after an outstanding rookie season that saw him lead the Blackhawks with 28 goals.

  • The Minnesota Wild have recalled Carson Soucy, and expect him to be in the lineup for Game 1 of their Western Conference playoff series against the Winnipeg Jets. They might get another huge boost on the blue line though, as Jared Spurgeon was back on the ice today at practice. Spurgeon hasn’t yet been cleared to return to game action, but was paired with Soucy at practice and will attempt to get into the lineup for Wednesday’s match.
  • The New York Rangers have signed an affiliation with the Maine Mariners of the ECHL that will start in 2018-19. The Rangers had previously been affiliated with the Greenville Swamp Rabbits, but will now have both of their minor league partners—their AHL affiliate is the Hartford Wolf Pack—located in the northeast.

Morning Notes: O’Reilly, Maple Leafs, De Haan

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The Buffalo Sabres held their locker clean out today after another season where they find themselves at the very bottom of the standings. The Sabres will have the best chance at selecting first overall in the upcoming draft, but that didn’t cheer up Ryan O’Reilly, who spoke candidly about how he has struggled with morale this season. O’Reilly is quoted in John Vogl’s piece for the Buffalo News:

We’re stuck in this mindset of just being OK with losing. I feel it, too. I think it’s really crept into myself. Over the course of the year, I’ve lost myself a lot, where it’s just kind of get through, just being OK with just not making a mistake. That’s not winning hockey at all, and it’s crept into all of our games.

It’s disappointing. It’s sad. I feel throughout the year I’ve lost the love of the game multiple times. You need to get back to it because it’s just eating myself up and eats the other guys, too. It’s just eating us up, and it’s tough.

The Sabres have finished out of the playoffs for the last seven seasons, and haven’t had any real postseason success in over a decade. With a rookie coach and GM in Phil Housley and Jason Botterill, things will have to turn around quickly if they want ownership to stick with them long-term. Jack Eichel will begin his $80MM contract extension next season, while O’Reilly still has five years at $7.5MM left on his deal. Those two will have to be the key members of any bounce back, though they’ll certainly need some help along the way.

  • The Toronto Maple Leafs will carry $2.55MM in bonuses over to next season according to Chris Johnston of Sportsnet, who notes that they also have close to $21MM coming off the books this summer. Interestingly, that bonus number could still increase by another $2MM should Auston Matthews take home the Conn Smythe trophy. The Maple Leafs will have a reduced amount of cap room because of it, and plenty of decisions to make on unrestricted free agents like James van Riemsdyk, Tyler Bozak and Leo Komarov.
  • Calvin de Haan would welcome a return to the New York Islanders according to Andrew Gross of Newsday, but is aware of the lack of defensemen on the free agent market this summer. de Haan’s season ended in December after just 33 games, which clouds his future considerably. At one point (including on our Midseason UFA Power Rankings) he looked like he was set to hit the market as one of the best defensemen available. Now, it’s entirely unclear if he’ll be able to secure a long-term deal at all.

Western Notes: Blackhawks, Greenway, Horvat, Dahlen, Kovalchuk

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Don’t expect too many changes in the Chicago Blackhawks roster this season. At least that’s what Mark Lazerus of the Chicago Sun-Times writes as he examines the roster and the team’s salary cap flexibility.

Coach Joel Quenneville admitted that many things went wrong this year, but he believes that if the team comes back and all play better, the Blackhawks should return to the playoffs next season. Factor in the loss of Marian Hossa, the injury to goaltender Corey Crawford and some down years by several key players, perhaps a turnaround is possible.

“If we all collectively have better years in all aspects … I believe we’re very capable of [rebounding],” Quenneville said. “We’ve seen many games this year where we look like we could be a really good team. [It’s] just that consistency, putting that in place.”

Lazerus writes that the team should look into adding a top-four defenseman, but was quick to point out that it’s unlikely the team will go after Washington Capitals defenseman John Carlson as that pricetag would be too high even though it looks as if the Blackhawks should have considerable cap space. He also adds the team desperately needs to find a quality backup goaltender to avoid the problems the team had to endure during the second half of this season.

  • Sarah McLellan of the StarTribune writes that while the Minnesota Wild’s bottom line of Tyler Ennis, Matt Cullen and Charlie Coyle has been successful of late, but head coach Bruce Boudreau might break it up as it sounds like the coach is leaning towards starting rookie Jordan Greenway over Ennis. “I don’t know where he’s going to play [in the playoffs], but I’m sure I’ll find a spot,” Boudreau said.
  • Rick Dhaliwal of Sportsnet tweeted that Vancouver Canucks forward Bo Horvat received an invitation to play for Canada at the upcoming world championships in Denmark this summer.
  • Dhaliwal also adds that Vancouver Canucks prospect Jonathan Dahlen will rest for a few days before reporting to the Utica Comets of the AHL. Dahlen, a prospect the Canucks acquired at the trade deadline in 2016 for Alexandre Burrows, has been lighting up the Allvenskan league and helped lead his team Timra to be promoted to Sweden’s top tier league.
  • European reporter Alex Nunn tweeted that KHL star Ilya Kovalchuk has confirmed that he will spend the next two or three seasons in the NHL. Kovalchuk will be an unrestricted free agent on April 15, when he turns 35 years old.

Metropolitan Notes: Rangers, Boychuk, Pulock, Ward, Kempny

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With the New York Rangers being the first team in almost a year to be looking for a head coach after firing Alain Vigneault Saturday evening, the team has said it will commence with their search immediately. The team must decide whether they are looking for a big name coach, a up-and-coming coach or a coach that is good at working with young players.

The New York Post’s Larry Brooks offers 10 potential candidates to replace Vigneault, leading those suggestions with three collegiate coaches, including the University of Denver’s Jim Montgomery, Boston University’s David Quinn and Union College’s Rick Bennett. He also suggests Toronto Marlies coach Sheldon Keefe of the AHL would be a good fit.

According to Brooks, there are also several veteran NHL coaches available, including Dan Bylsma, Darryl Sutter, Dave Tippett and Patrick Roy.

  • Andrew Gross of Newsday reports that veteran defenseman Johnny Boychuk will undergo surgery Monday, but would not reveal what it is for. The 34-year-old defenseman missed quite some time this season, playing in just 58 games this season. He is expected to be 100 percent by June.
  • Arthur Staple of The Athletic (subscription required) writes that while little has gone right this year, one bright spot has been the strong finish of rookie defenseman Ryan Pulock. The 23-year-old blueliner finished with 10 goals, most in the NHL for rookie defensemen. His 18:24 of average ice time was second among rookie defensemen behind Boston’s Charlie McAvoy. Staple suggests that his improvement on the defensive end could potentially make him a top-pairing defenseman.
  • The Charlotte Observer’s Chip Alexander wonders what will happen to long-time goaltender Cam Ward now that the season is over. The veteran goalie who has spent 13 years with the organization will be an unrestricted free agent this offseason and at 34 years old, the team must decide whether they want to bring him back or go in a different direction. Despite taking a backup role this year, Ward still played in 43 games and finished with a 2.78 GAA and a .906 save percentage as he had to fill in for a struggling Scott Darling. Of course, with no general manager in place yet, it might be a while before the team sorts that out.
  • After going out a year ago and trading for star defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk and then being eliminated in the first round, the Washington Capitals have taken the opposite course this year, quietly trading for Michal Kempny from the Chicago Blackhawks. While hardly a headlining defenseman, Kempny has been a good fit with Washington and has changed their defense for the better, according to Washington Post’s Isabelle Khurshudyan. Kempny, who was often a healthy scratch for Chicago has filled in as a top-four defenseman and is averaging 16:46 per game. As the team prepares for a matchup with the Columbus Blue Jackets in the first round of the playoffs, they hope the improvement of their defense might help them with a long playoff run.

Atlantic Notes: Bruins, Boucher, Ristolainen, Zetterberg, Bertuzzi

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There is just one game remaining on the NHL regular season schedule and the league schedulers picked a good one as the Boston Bruins will host the Florida Panthers today in the lone game. While many people thought the game would have significant meaning for the Panthers (Philadelphia’s victory Saturday officially eliminated Florida from the playoffs), it instead has an effect on Boston.

If the Bruins win, they will jump over the Tampa Bay Lightning as the top seed of the Eastern Conference and get home ice advantage in the first three rounds of the playoffs. A win of any kind would give them a matchup with the New Jersey Devils. A loss will pit the Bruins against the Toronto Maple Leafs, a team they have struggled with this year. The only known matchup in the Eastern Conference are the Pittsburgh Penguins vs. the Philadelphia Flyers and the Washington Capitals vs. the Columbus Blue Jackets.

“Let’s face it, we were trying to find our own game and get to where we thought we were at the start of the year, which was definitely a playoff team,” said head coach Bruce Cassidy via NBC Sports Joe Haggerty. “We just didn’t know where we would fit, and the way Tampa got out of the gate, and Toronto for that matter, it was going to be an uphill battle. But here we are. We’re in a position to take it, and that’s a credit to the guys. We’ve worked hard to get here. This wasn’t by accident. We didn’t back in.”

  • The Ottawa Senators, who ended up finishing in 30th place this season, must make a decision on their coaching situation. Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen writes that Guy Boucher is in a strange situation as he did everything right a year ago at this time and has done little right since. The team’s defense and special teams were atrocious this year and need to get fixed. The question is, will it be Boucher or another coach? Garrioch says that even if Boucher survives, expect changes to the staff as last year is considered unacceptable.
  • Jon Vogl of the Buffalo News writes that the Buffalo Sabres need to make sweeping changes to avoid another dismal season next year, but unfortunately, the team has a lot of contracts with term which will be hard to move, so the team will need to be creative in trades. The defense has six players already under contract and few top-four players, citing that Rasmus Ristolainen is considered their No. 1 defenseman and he is no where even close to that. He will have four more years on his contract at $5.4MM AAV and has shown little improvement and isn’t the leader they hoped he would be.
  • Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press writes that Detroit Red Wings’ Henrik Zetterberg must decide whether he wants to keep playing. The 38-year-old still has three years left of the 12-year contract he signed in 2009 at $6.083MM AAV, but back then it was assumed players wouldn’t play the entire contract out. He’s logged over 1,000 and if he chooses to retire, the Red Wings would save $6MM in cap space if the team is able to place him on long-term injured reserve. St. James adds, however, that the veteran might want to come back for one more year as he is just 42 points away from reaching 1,000 points.
  • St. James also tweets that the Red Wings have decided not to send forward Tyler Bertuzzi to the Grand Rapids Griffins of the AHL for their playoff run. They believe Bertuzzi has done enough at the AHL level and want him to hit the gym and get stronger with a full offseason of workouts.

New York Rangers Fire Coach Alain Vigneault

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Hours after putting up an egg in their 5-0 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday, the New York Rangers fired their head coach Alain Vigneault after five years. After four playoff appearances, the Rangers struggled, finishing 34-39-9 on the season. In all, however, Vigneault had quite a bit of success in his time in New York, which included taking the Rangers to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2013-14, his first season with the team. He led the team to a 226-147-37 record over the five years.

The firing also came after Vigneault himself stated in his post-game press conference that he deserved to stay and defended his record, according to Newsday’s Colin Stephenson.

“Yes, yes. Without a doubt,’’ he said when asked if he thought he would hold on to his job despite the Rangers’ 34-39-9 record, which caused them to miss the playoffs for only the second time since the NHL lockout that canceled the 2004-05 season. “I think my staff is the right staff for this job. I think — and this is just my opinion — but I think one of the strongest assets of this organization is its coaching staff and their experience.’’

Some of Vigneault’s struggles were not his doing as the Rangers decided to rebuild on the fly, sending out a letter on Feb. 7, telling fans about their decision to rebuild the team. The Rangers followed that by selling off several veterans including Michael Grabner, Rick Nash, Nick Holden, J.T. Miller and captain Ryan McDonah.

However, Stephenson also points out several issues that came up this season that forced the Rangers to head in that direction. After re-designing its defense with the acquisitions of star free agent Kevin Shattenkirk and re-signing Brendan Smith, the team was hoping to possess one of the best defenses in the league. Instead, the team started slowly at 1-6-2 in its first nine games and was 3-7-2 after 12 in which Vigneault almost lost his job. The team was able to right the ship after that, but only because of the impressive play of both the team’s goaltenders in Henrik Lundqvist and Ondrej Pavelec. Neither goalie was able to sustain their great play.

Injuries also played a part. Shattenkirk was playing hurt, while Smith came into camp out of shape and never returned to form before eventually being sent down to the AHL. Winger Chris Kreider missed 24 games due to a blood clot that led to surgery on his ribs. Center Mika Zibanejad missed nine games with a concussion, while Shattenkirk had knee surgery in January and never came back.

The Athletic’s Rick Carpiniello writes (subscription required) that there were other reasons as well that stand out when it came to Vigneault. The coach’s lack of success at the blueline have been issues for years as his system had failed repeatedly. Vigneault had undergone three different defensive assistant coaches in three years, including Ulf Samuelsson, Jeff Beukeboom and Lindy Ruff and replaced most of the defense and still failed to get them going. His tough love was also an issue as he butted heads with many players, especially Miller and Pavel Buchnevich. However, the most telling numbers is the team’s record from Jan. 7 to Feb. 25, when Vigneault led the team to just a 5-16-1 record.

Vigneault has a 648-435-98 overall record throughout his career with the Montreal Canadiens, Vancouver Canucks and the Rangers. He won the Jack Adams Award as Coach of the Year in 2007.

TSN’s Bob McKenzie was the first to report the news.

Dallas Notes: Seguin, Nichushkin, Heiskanen, Spezza, Lehtonen

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With the Dallas Stars season coming to an end today, the Athletic’s Sean Shapiro (subscription required) spoke with Dallas general manager Jim Nill in a Q&A about the team’s disappointing season which resulted in a second-straight season in the lottery (three out of five, if anyone is asking), despite the team’s offseason efforts to compete for a Stanley Cup immediately.

Nill says while the team is still trying to figure out what went wrong, the team’s top priority is to focus on re-signing center Tyler Seguin, who is coming off a career-high 40 goals this season. He has one year remaining at just $5.75MM and can sign an extension on July 1. The question no one is certain of is what does Seguin want? Regardless, the team intends to stick with Seguin whether or not he signs an extension on July 1st.

“I know some people are worried, but he’s got a year left and I anticipate he’s going to come in and play well and get going,” Nill said. “I hope to have him signed before that year starts, but if it doesn’t we’ll go through that process. There are some things that are an advantage, we can offer eight years compared to seven, so there are a lot of factors that come into play.”

  • In the same mailbag, Nill said that he believes that 2013 first-rounder Valeri Nichushkin will be back in Dallas next season. The former 10th-overall pick played three seasons in Dallas, but struggled at times and opted to return to CSKA Moscow of the KHL for the past two years. With two more years of experience, the 23-year-old could make big contributions to the team next year if they can bring him back, according to Nill.
  • Nill also said, in Shapiro’s column, that he believes that 2017 first-round pick Miro Heiskanen looks ready to contribute to the team and is likely to come over next year. “I watched him closely in the Olympics, we’ve had scouts over there watching him,” Nill said. “He’s right there. He’s ready to come over. There will be a little transition time, living in a different country and stuff, but he’s very close.” The fourth-overall pick could change the state of their defense quickly if he’s as good as advertised. The 18-year-old has put up improved numbers in his second year playing in Finland’s top league, as he 11 goals and 12 assists in 30 games this year.
  • Mike Heika of SportsDay writes due to the contracts they have acquired over the past year, the team is all in on trying to win a Stanley Cup soon and will be forced to reload as opposed to rebuild their team. The scribe believes that the Stars should look to trade veteran forward Jason Spezza, who will have one more year at $7.5MM and retain half his salary. Spezza struggled this year under head coach Ken Hitchcock, scoring just eight goals this year, his lowest number since his rookie season. Heika believes that with another coach on another team, Spezza could still be a productive second or third-line center and at $3.75MM, there could be a lot of takers.
  • Heika, in the same column, writes that Stars’ fans have likely seen the last of backup goaltender Kari Lehtonen. The scribe believes that with starter Ben Bishop always dealing with minor injury issues, the team needs a backup who is capable of controlling a game. Lehtonen, who is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, has not been that guy. He put up decent numbers this year with a 2.58 GAA and a .911 save percentage, but Heika believes the team needs a young goalie with more potential.

Injury Notes: Nash, Nash, Glendening, Muzzin, Johansson, Smith, Dvorak

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The Boston Bruins continue to get healthier as NBC Sports’ Joe Haggerty reports that Rick Nash could play as early as Sunday, although the team may also wait for their first playoff game next week. Nash has missed 10 straight games with what was listed as a upper-body injury. However, Nash confirmed to Haggerty that he has been dealing with a concussion and is starting to feel better.

The 33-year-old was a key trade deadline acquisition for Boston, but has only appeared in 11 games so far for the Bruins. He has three goals and three assists in that span and has a total of 21 goals this season between the Bruins and New York Rangers.

The Bruins also announced that Riley Nash is out for the weekend. The Bruins forward took a puck to the head last week and required 40 stitches inside and outside of his ear to repair the damage. He has missed three straight games while having a breakout season. The 28-year-old has 15 goals and 26 assists this year, both career highs. No word if he will be available for the playoffs next week.

  • MLive’s Ansar Khan reports that although Detroit Red Wings forward Luke Glendening was originally believed to be out for the season, the forward will be active for tonight’s season finale. Out with an upper-body injury, he missed one game after being forced to leave Tuesday’s game against Columbus during the second period.
  • Fox Sports’ Jon Rosen reports that Los Angeles Kings defenseman Jake Muzzin is skating, although he will not play in tonight’s regular season finale. The 29-year-old blueliner has missed four games with an upper-body injury. Rosen adds that head coach John Stevens wouldn’t say for sure whether Muzzin would be ready to play for the first game of the playoffs next week.
  • Tom Gulitti of NHL.com tweets that forward Marcus Johansson is close to being ready to return to the ice, but still isn’t 100 percent. The 27-year-old winger has not played since Jan. 23 with a concussion, but could be ready for the playoffs next week if all goes well. After a 24-goal season a year ago with the Washington Capitals, Johansson has managed to appear in just 29 games this year, putting up just five goals. A healthy Johansson could be a big boost to the Devils.
  • The Vegas Golden Knights announced that center Reilly Smith will be a game-time decision for tonight’s game against the Calgary Flames. Smith, who has been out with an upper-body injury has missed 15 straight games. If he plays, the team’s first-line center might just be looking to get some work in before the playoffs start.
  • Arizona Coyotes’ Dave Vest reports that forward Christian Dvorak, who has missed the last three games with a lower-body injury, will not play in tonight’s regular-season finale. He finishes his season with 15 goals and 37 points.

Snapshots: Gaudette, Jagr, Capitals

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Canucks prospect Adam Gaudette has won the Hobey Baker Award for the top player in men’s NCAA hockey, his now-former college squad, the Northeastern Huskies, announced (Twitter link).  The 21-year-old had a dominant junior year, recording 30 goals and 30 assists in just 38 games to lead all Division I players in scoring and becomes the first Vancouver prospect to win the award.  Gaudette recently signed his entry-level deal and has played in four games with the Canucks this season, logging just shy of 13 minutes per game in ice time.  Henrik Borgstrom (Florida) and Ryan Donato (Boston) were the other finalists for the award.

More from around the hockey world:

  • Jaromir Jagr’s time with Calgary didn’t go too well and he wound up clearing waivers and being loaned back to his hometown team in Kladno. Despite that, he told Tal Pinchevsky of the New York Times that he is hoping to return to the NHL next season and isn’t planning on retiring just yet.  The 46-year-old wound up playing in just five games in the second Czech division before being sidelined with a knee injury that has held him out for the remainder of the season.  Jagr will be an unrestricted free agent in July (his contract wasn’t terminated after clearing waivers as the Flames opted to loan him instead, reserving the right to recall him that way) and between the injury and his struggles this season, he may have to settle for a tryout if he wants to take one more crack at an NHL roster spot.
  • The Capitals have decided to wait until after the postseason before making a decision on whether or not they try to re-sign defenseman John Carlson or head coach Barry Trotz, GM Brian MacLellan told NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti. Carlson is poised to land a considerable raise on his current $3.967MM cap hit as he will likely come close to doubling that if he makes it to the open market.  Meanwhile, Trotz has made it through his ‘lame duck’ year with another strong regular season record but it has been intimated previously that it will be their postseason success (or lack thereof) that ultimately determines his fate and MacLellan’s comments all but seals that.

AHL Announces First, Second All-Star Teams

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After announcing their All-Rookie team earlier this week, the AHL have now given us their choices for the first and second All-Star Teams for 2017-18. These players were voted in by coaches, players and media all across the league.

First All-Star Team:

Goaltender: Garret Sparks, Toronto Marlies (Toronto Maple Leafs)

Defenseman: Jacob MacDonald, Binghamton Devils (New Jersey Devils)

Defenseman: Sami Niku, Manitoba Moose (Winnipeg Jets)*

Left Wing: Chris Terry, Laval Rocket (Montreal Canadiens)

Center: Phil Varone, Lehigh Valley Phantoms (Philadelphia Flyers)

Right Wing: Mason Appleton, Manitoba Moose (Winnipeg Jets)*

*Niku and Appleton were also named as part of the All-Rookie team.

Second All-Star Team:

Goaltender: Michael Hutchinson, Manitoba Moose (Winnipeg Jets)

Defenseman: T.J. Brennan, Lehigh Valley Phantoms (Philadelphia Flyers)

Defenseman: Zach Redmond, Rochester Americans (Buffalo Sabres)

Left Wing: Andreas Johnsson, Toronto Marlies (Toronto Maple Leafs)

Center: Austin Czarnik, Providence Bruins (Boston Bruins)

Right Wing: Ben Smith, Toronto Marlies (Toronto Maple Leafs)

Of course, much of the fanfare will go to Niku and Appleton who were not only rookies but late-round draft choices. Their appearance on the list is so impressive, especially given the success of the Jets already graduated young core. With a pipeline of talent, Winnipeg should have a wide open window of contention.

Probably the most interesting name though is Hutchinson, as he’ll be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year. One has to wonder if he’ll get a crack at an NHL job, given his outstanding minor league season and reliatively successful experience at the highest level. He’s making $1.3MM this season, but could look for a larger opportunity elsewhere while Connor Hellebuyck, Steve Mason and Eric Comrie man the crease in Winnipeg.

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