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Ryan Nugent-Hopkins Out Five To Six Weeks

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It wasn’t expected to be a long-term issue, but Ryan Nugent-Hopkins will now be out for five to six weeks according to TSN’s Ryan Rishaug (and Sportsnet’s Mark Spector, who tweeted about three seconds later), who passes along news from Todd McLellan. Nugent-Hopkins has cracked ribs, and will need more than a month to recover.

If news of Kevin Shattenkirk’s knee surgery may push a potential playoff-bound New York Rangers team away from buying at the deadline, you can bet Nugent-Hopkins’ news solidifies the Edmonton Oilers’ position as a seller. Though the Oilers are currently enjoying a two-game win streak including toppling the mighty Vegas Golden Knights, the team remains ten points out of a playoff spot with several teams in between.

Even with the struggles of the team, Nugent-Hopkins is having one of the best individual seasons of his career. With 31 points through 46 games, the 24-year old was on pace to put up another 50+ point season and crack 20 goals for the second time of his career. He’s been easily better in the faceoff circle than ever before in his career, and has often looked like one of the best players on the ice for the Oilers.

The team does have expiring assets like Patrick Maroon, Mark Letestu and Mike Cammalleri, but has also been rumored in the past to be considering a move of Nugent-Hopkins himself. It seems unlikely that would come to pass before the deadline now that he’s injured, though it would have been surprising anyway. Instead, those expiring assets or others could be on the move out of Edmonton as the team tries to figure out how to fix what went wrong this season. With one of the best players in the world about to earn his league-leading salary, fixing the fringes of the roster won’t be easy.

Morning Notes: Crawford, Trade Bait, Green

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The Chicago Blackhawks are sitting at 50 points in the standings, but somehow find themselves in last place in the Central Division. Their 22-17-6 record would be good enough for fourth in the Atlantic and fifth in the Pacific, but unfortunately they find themselves playing in a division where all seven teams have positive goal differentials. Now, even as they struggle to climb the Central ladder, they could lose one of their most important players for the rest of the year.

Corey Crawford is currently on injured reserve, and Mark Lazerus of the Chicago Sun-Times reports that the goaltender is suffering from vertigo-like symptoms. It’s not the first time symptoms like this have surfaced for Crawford, who dealt with them in 2016 as well. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet wrote yesterday that coach Joel Quenneville believed last week that Crawford would return, but Lazerus claims things have complicated since then. The Blackhawks resume their schedule on Saturday, when they will take on the New York Islanders.

  • TSN’s Frank Seravalli has updated his Trade Bait board, with Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Michael Grabner, Jack Johnson, Nick Holden and Aaron Dell all joining the list. The emphasis on New York Rangers’ players is clear, with Seravalli writing that they’re a “team to watch” heading into the trade deadline. The Rangers are in a playoff spot currently, but are stuck in the middle of a super-competitive Metropolitan Division and could fall out of the race with a bad week or two. If the team doesn’t believe they can really make an impact in the playoffs, the distinct lack of sellers on the market could make them consider moving some of their expiring pieces.
  • Mike Green has not been asked to waive his trade protection yet by GM Ken Holland, but Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic reports on TSN’s Insider Trading that when he’s eventually asked, the Detroit Red Wings will be willing to eat some of his salary to get a deal done. LeBrun notes Tampa Bay as a possible fit for the powerplay specialist, though is quick to note that no discussions have been had just yet.

Western Notes: Tanev, Anisimov, Boedker

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The Vancouver Canucks may be ready to ship off several players such as Thomas Vanek and Erik Gudbranson, but one player whose name doesn’t come up as often is defenseman Chris Tanev. Of course, in the past Vancouver has been reluctant to trade their top defenseman, who is a club leader and one of the longest-tenured players in Vancouver.

However, The Athletic’s Mike Halford (subscription required) writes that this is the perfect time for the team to move the 28-year-old Tanev. While there are some solid defensemen likely to be available at the deadline, most are pending unrestricted free agents like Detroit’s Mike Green or Pittsburgh’s Ian Cole or are locked into long-term deals such as Ottawa’s Dion Phaneuf ($7MM AAV through 2021). The Canucks might get quite a return for someone like Tanev, who is locked up at a reasonable price at 4.45MM for another two years after this one. Tanev, who is known for making everyone better around him, could likely slide into more than half of any playoff team’s top four, making him quite valuable.

“He would get great value. There would be large demand for Chris Tanev and his services around the NHL, that’s for sure,” TSN’s Mike Johnson said in the article. “He’s a first-rounder [in return]. From a good team that’s going to pick 28th or 29th, at the bottom of the first round? I think so. Or maybe not the best prospect, but the third or fourth best prospect in an organization.”

  • Tracey Myers of NHL.com tweets that Chicago Blackhawks center Artem Anisimov, who has missed the last eight games with an upper-body injury attempted to practice today, but coach Joel Quenneville said he was “just OK” and might miss even more time. The 29-year-old Anisimov has 13 goals for Chicago this year.
  • The Athletic’s Kevin Kurz writes (subscription required) that the San Jose Sharks are hoping to get more production from winger Mikkel Boedker after he was a healthy scratch in the team’s last game before their bye-week started. The veteran who signed with the team two offseasons ago, is struggling even more in his second year with the team. He had 10 goals and 26 points last year and so far has only three goals and six assists. “We need some production out of him,” head coach Peter DeBoer said. “That’s the bottom line. If he’s not producing points, he’s got to at least be producing chances to score. When he’s not, he can’t help us.”

Eastern Notes: Lightning Roster, Hall, Ryan

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The Tampa Bay Lightning started their bye week Friday, yet made news this afternoon when they placed forward J.T. Brown on waivers. However, Tampa Bay Times’ Joe Smith writes that general manager Steve Yzerman said the move was made to open some roster flexibility for potential callups from their AHL Syracuse Crunch roster.

Smith writes the team is enamored with the play of several of their AHL players, including Adam Erne, Carter Verhaeghe, Alexander Volkov and Matthew Peca and have suggested on many occasions the team may want to see some of them in a Lightning uniform this season.

“I wanted the flexibility within our roster, when the time comes, to recall players currently excelling in Syracuse and give them an opportunity to play,” Yzerman told the Times.

Erne has received some praise from Yzerman already, saying he’s “been playing his way out of the American League.” The 22-year-old wing was a second-round pick in 2013 and has 11 goals and 25 points in 37 games with the Crunch. He played 26 games for Tampa Bay last year. Verhaeghe, a former third-rounder in 2013, has eight goals and 16 assists in 24 games. Volkov, the team’s second-round pick in the 2017 draft, has 10 goals and 22 assists in his first season in the AHL and is just 20 years old. Peca was named as an AHL all-star and leads the team with 29 points.

  • The Athletic’s Craig Custance (subscription required) interviewed New Jersey Devils head coach John Hynes, who says that wing Taylor Hall has made a successful transition to team leader, but it took a while. Hall, who was acquired by trade in the offseason two years ago was unhappy about being traded to New Jersey, although he said it had more to do with the troubles in Edmonton and his inability to turn the franchise’s success around. Hynes added that it took a full year for Hall to recover from the change. However, the 26-year-old former first overall pick in 2010 spoke with general manager Ray Shero after last season and they talked about him taking over the leadership role this season and he’s done just that. He has 15 goals and 27 assists in 39 games this year. “Now, I think you see a guy, he’s gone through that mourning period and now, this is his team,” said Hynes. “New Jersey’s his team, it’s his city, he has pride in what we’re doing. He’s bought in and he’s helping drive our team to become a much more competitive team than we have been in the past.”
  • The Athletic’s Eric Duhatschek writes (subscription required) that the best way for the Ottawa Senators to make a contract work for future 2019 unrestricted free agent Erik Karlsson work would be spend this offseason working hard to unload the contract of veteran Bobby Ryan. The scribe writes that while center Matt Duchene will also need a new contract, he is already making $6MM and likely wouldn’t command a contract too much more than that. However, Karlsson is likely to cost at least $10MM per year and possibly as much as $12MM per year if the salary cap continues to rise. If the team can find a way to unload Ryan, who will make $7.25MM for the next four seasons after this one, that would solve a lot of Ottawa’s problems. Duhatschek suggests finding a way to have the Vegas Golden Knights, who should have up to $40MM in cap space available next year, take Ryan off their hands and even suggests the Senators retain half his salary to make that work.

Metropolitan Notes: Ho-Sang, Bailey, Couturier, Rowney

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New York Islanders forward Joshua Ho-Sang isn’t having the season he expected. After being called up late in the season a year ago and putting up solid numbers, the 21-year-old winger hoped for a full NHL season this year with the Islanders with a chance to play on one of the team’s top lines. However, while the 2014 first-round pick has played in 22 games this year for the Islanders, he has also found himself playing a significant amount of time with the AHL’s Bridgeport Sound Tigers and most recently found himself scratched from the lineup Wednesday for what sounds like discipline reasons, according to the New York Posts’ Greg Joyce.

“He’s a baby,” Bridgeport coach Brent Thompson said. “He’s a baby, he’s immature and he’s got a lot of growing to do. I’m excited. The upside of him is outstanding. He worked hard today, he’s been working really hard. We all make mistakes, we all have bad games. It’s how do we respond from those and what do we learn from them? Every piece of this season for Josh, with us, is a development piece. It’s just going to be a longer process with some people.”

Ho-Sang has played 16 games with Bridgport and has four goals and eight assists for the Sound Tigers. However, he wasn’t thrilled with his benching.

“Yeah, I’m only young, but I’m burning years off my NHL career. It sucks,” Ho-Sang said. “You want to be up top. For me, I didn’t look at it this way until this year. I was looking forward to hopefully my first [full] NHL season.”

  • Still with the Islanders, Dan Rosen of NHL.com writes that New York Islanders head coach Doug Weight said that winger Josh Bailey will return to the lineup next week after having missed two games with a lower-body injury. Recently named to the all-star game, the 28-year-old is having a big season with 12 goals and 38 assists in 42 games. His return should be welcome news for the Islanders, who are dealing with multiple injuries. The Islanders announced today they have lost forward Casey Cizikas with an upper-body injury and may miss a few games. “It’s upper body and it’s not great. We’ll find out after we get a look at it, but he won’t be playing the next little while at least. He won’t be on the trip,” said Weight.
  • Philly.com’s Sam Carchidi writes that despite the fact that Philadelphia Flyers forward Claude Giroux was the all-star choice by the NHL, he believes that center Sean Couturier is the Flyers first-half MVP. While Giroux has picked up 52 points in the first 42 games this season, Couturier, who has 23 goals and 42 points in 42 games, has gone from a defensive-minded center (which he still is) and become a top scorer finally. Even Giroux admitted that Courturier should have gotten the all-star nod over himself. “I really think he deserves to be there, even in my place,” said Giroux, the Flyers’ lone all-star representative. “If there’s one guy that really deserves it, it’s him.”
  • The Pittsburgh Penguins placed forward Carter Rowney on injured reserve today with an upper-body injury after he was injured back on Jan. 2 against Philadelphia. Despite being listed as being out for a minimum of four weeks back on Jan. 4, he was not put on IR immediately. Rowney, who has served as the year’s third and fourth line center at different points during the season, has struggled so far this year with just two goals and two assists in 27 games. No corresponding moves have been made yet.

Snapshots: van Riemsdyk, Hutchinson, Dal Colle

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Expect James van Riemsdyk to stay with the Toronto Maple Leafs all season. That’s what TSN’s Darren Dreger writes in his latest column, positing that he and fellow pending unrestricted free agents Tyler Bozak and Leo Komarov, are best used as “own rentals” for the playoff push.

While there are some big numbers floating around for any potential van Riemsdyk extension, he’s continued to play an important role on the Maple Leafs, tying Auston Matthews for first on the team in goals with 19.

  • The Winnipeg Jets have recalled Michael Hutchinson from the AHL for tonight’s game, explaining that Steve Mason has fallen ill and can’t back up Connor Hellebuyck. To make room, the team has placed Adam Lowry on injured reserve. Hutchinson is an extremely interesting goaltender to keep an eye on this year, as he’s headed for unrestricted free agency in the summer. Though he’s stuck in the minor leagues this season due to Mason’s signing, the 27-year old has dominated the AHL with a .942 save percentage and could land an NHL job in the summer. In 99 career NHL games he does hold a .910 save percentage, and could be an excellent backup option.
  • New York Islanders head coach Doug Weight has confirmed that Michael Dal Colle will make his NHL debut tomorrow, the second-last player to do so from the first round of the 2014 draft. Only Connor Bleackley, who never signed with the Colorado Avalanche and re-entered the draft in 2016 (going in the fifth round), is left. Dal Colle was selected fifth overall, and still has some real upside to his game, but will have to quickly prove that he’s ready to take the next step.

Evening Snapshots: Seabrook, Red Wings

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Early speculation that Brent Seabrook may be a healthy scratch today proved correct. The veteran defenseman and alternate captain of the Chicago Blackhawks was a healthy scratch tonight against Ottawa, showing that head coach Joel Quenneville is willing to do anything to keep his team accountable writes ESPN’s Emily Kaplan.  The benching of one of the team’s most successful players is clearly a sign that things in Chicago are not going according to the normal expectations. The Chicago Sun-Times Mark Lazerus reports that “the heart and soul of the team” wasn’t thrilled with the decision, but told Lazerus that once he gets back into the lineup, he’ll “have to be ready to go.” Seabrook has been a solid core of the Blackhawks successful past but his ice-time has been reduced this season and he’s appeared a step behind in terms of foot speed. Though Quenneville said it’s “not easy” to make such a decision, it shows that the team is willing to just about anything to solidify its standing in the West.

  • The Detroit News’ Gregg Krupa believes that the Red Wings are just spinning their wheels as they enjoy their five-day break and will not be returning to the playoffs anytime soon, despite a recent four-game winning streak that snapped on Sunday evening. Writing that they’re consistently inconsistent, he adds that the strides of Dylan Larkin, Andreas Athanasiou, and Anthony Mantha among others is encouraging for a team needing to get younger. The Detroit Free Press’ Helene St. James writes, however, that the Red Wings’ players believe that they can beat anyone and will begin their playoff push in earnest once their break is over. Despite several of the players’ optimism about being in the thick of the playoff race, she points out that it would take “quite the push.” While admitting that the Wings have played better than their record indicates, leapfrogging three teams and being just a point ahead of last year’s pace doesn’t bode well for even the most positive thinkers.

Peter Chiarelli Talks About Direction Of Edmonton Oilers

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The Edmonton Oilers’ season hasn’t gone as expected. After taking the Anaheim Ducks to Game 7 of the second round last year, the Oilers were expected to be a Stanley Cup contender and steamroll over the Pacific Division with a dynamic offense led by Connor McDavid. Instead, Edmonton has just 118 goals on the season and sits 13th in the Western Conference standings with just 39 points through 43 games.

Peter ChiarelliBecause of their struggles, head coach Todd McLellan’s name has been thrown around as a potential scapegoat, while GM Peter Chiarelli has felt some of that heat himself. Chiarelli said as much when speaking with TSN’s Ryan Rishaug today in a long interview that goes in detail on several topics.

Chiarelli once again stated that he would not be firing McLellan this season despite the struggles, and refuses to pin all of the blame on him or his coaching staff. Instead, the GM believes there has been a confluence of issues that have resulted in a poor record and the front office is still working out what exactly has gone wrong. With that, he wouldn’t reveal which direction the team will take at the trade deadline but admitted that a decision would have to be made soon.

Rishaug was quick to mention that McDavid’s entry-level contract is up after this season, at which point his cap hit will balloon to $12.5MM for the next eight years. With Leon Draisaitl already making $8.5MM this season, the Oilers will have trouble adding much in terms of free agency over the coming years. There simply won’t be much money to go around if they’re going to continue to lock up their homegrown talent while paying $21MM to their top two offensive talents.

The Oilers do have expiring assets that could be used as bait as the deadline approaches. Patrick Maroon, Mark Letestu and Mike Cammalleri are all unrestricted free agents at the end of the year and could be interesting additions for various clubs around the league. Beyond that, Ryan Strome, the player acquired in exchange for Jordan Eberle in the offseason (a topic that is broached by Rishaug in the interview) is a restricted free agent that could be viewed as another buy-low candidate for a rebuilding team. Strome is due a $3MM qualifying offer this summer and is arbitration eligible, making it possible that Edmonton can’t even afford him depending on how they view his value going forward.

Looking forward there is quite a number of unknowns in Edmonton. Cam Talbot is only signed through the 2018-19 season and has seen his play drop off this year, while is a trio of veterans with full no-move clauses and big cap hits. Milan Lucic, Andrei Sekera and Kris Russell are all on deals that take them through at least the 2020-21 season, and combine for a $15.5MM cap hit. Though each brings some value to the team, they can only be relied upon as complimentary players at this point in there careers.

It’s unclear which path Chiarelli will take at the deadline, and whether any core pieces will be moved out to try and send the team in a different direction next season. It does seem likely that if there isn’t a marked improvement at this point next year, Chiarelli’s seat might not just be hot, it might be gone.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Senators Not Likely To See Youth Movement Soon

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The Ottawa Senators finally promoted one of their top prospects in 2015 first-rounder Colin White on Saturday with three games left before their bye week starts. It would be a perfect time for the 20-year-old center to prove himself to head coach Guy Boucher and the organization. However, Boucher is well-known to put little faith in young players as he prefers not to place young players in stressful situations. He proved that in White’s first appearance Saturday by giving the youngster a whopping 7:50 of ice time. At this rate, he’ll be reassigned after the next two games and not seen again for quite a while.

“We’re going to try to manage him as best as we can,” Boucher said before Saturday’s game. “We’re playing the best team in the league. The one thing we have is the last change (as the home team), so we’re going to have him play against players he’ll be able to manage. If we say it like it is, Tampa’s third line can beat most team’s first lines. In that respect, we have to be smart.”

And what makes that so difficult for fans is that the Senators are stockpiled with young talent. If the team continues to struggle, the fans want to see their young players give them hope. It took their other 2015 first-rounder Thomas Chabot a long time to get the confidence of Boucher, assuming he even has it. Chabot was rarely given a chance to prove himself at the NHL level and only now seems to be getting solid minutes with the franchise.

Ken Warren of The Ottawa Citizen writes that the best chance any fans have of seeing some of their top young players such as White, Chabot or Filip Chlapik getting legitimate minutes would be if the Senators completely fell out of the playoff race. Chlapik is another example of a player recently sent down to Belleville. He’s played in six games for Ottawa this year, averaging 9:06 of ice time. Not exactly enough time to learn your way around the NHL. Even 2017 secound-rounder Alex Formenton, who surprised many when he made the team out of training camp, only managed to get into one game for 4:54 before he was eventually returned to his junior team.

However, Warren says its about time to start taking time away from the veterans who haven’t produced enough for the team to enjoy the same success they had a year ago. Players like Alexandre Burrows and Gabriel Dumont might have to give way for progress, and find out if some of their youngsters can handle the pressure of life in the NHL. Neither has produced much as fourth-line players.

And there is even more talent on the way. The Athletic’s Ary Maharaj breaks down (subscription required) that many top Senator performers in the World Junior Championships, including Drake Batherson, Formenton, Markus Nurmi and 2016 first-rounder Logan Brown. Along with the likelihood that the Senators could end up with a top-ten pick (or none at all) in the upcoming 2018 NHL Draft, talent is definitely not their problem. Getting them on the ice will be.

Eastern Notes: Sabres Breakdown, Aho, Giroux

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Despite all the attention that had been given to the Buffalo Sabres’ new leadership of general manager Jason Botterill and new head coach Phil Housley at the start of the season, much of that fanfare is gone after the Sabres have reached the midway point with a disappointing 10-23-9 record. Their 29 points is the second worst record in the NHL with just the Arizona Coyotes struggling to do worse.

The Buffalo News’ John Vogl writes his mid-season assessment and writes that despite their disappointing play this season, there are some positives, including the play of young center Jack Eichel. While many had hopes that Eichel would be putting up similar numbers to that of Connor McDavid, that hasn’t happened. However, Vogl points out that his most recent play has set him up to have career highs in goals and points (30 goals and 70 points). He could easily have found himself on a different list after he had put up just eight goals in the team’s first 32 games, but has put up seven goals in his last nine games. Evander Kane’s success is also a positive to look at, although he is likely to be traded at the deadline.

However, much of the team’s fault, Vogl writes, falls to center Sam Reinhart, who is really struggling this year. The 22-year-old is having his worst season ever, which is unacceptable for someone who was the team’s second-overall pick in 2014. He has seven goals and just six assists this year. Six of his 13 points have come on the power play, suggesting that he really disappears in 5-on-5 play. Kyle Okposo is another obvious player, who has underperformed. His numbers were acceptable a year ago, but Okposo was brought in to score goals and produce offense. Instead, Okposo has scored just six goals for 19 points and hasn’t looked like the player the team locked up to. Rasmus Ristolainen, Chad Johnson and Johan Larsson all received poor grades for their first half performance.

  • NHL.com’s Michael Smith writes that after the Carolina Hurricanes consulted with doctors, they have listed winger Sebastian Aho as day-to-day with a lower-body injury after going down Saturday in a game against Boston. The 20-year-old Aho has been a key contributor for Carolina and has 13 goals and 20 assists, which would put him on pace for career-highs. They play next on Tuesday against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
  • Philly.com’s Sam Carchidi writes that after a disappointing season a year ago, Philadelphia Flyers center Claude Giroux is proving to the league that he is an elite center in the NHL. The 29-year-old center was coming off a season in which he tallied 14 goals and 58 points — solid, but hardly great. Yet, it looks like Giroux has found his game again as he has dominated on offense this year. He has already equalled the 14 goals he had last year and is just seven points shy of tying his points total — at mid-year. Suddenly, Giroux is on pace for a career year. “I’m not surprised at anything G does,” coach Dave Hakstol said after Giroux’s three-point performance keyed Saturday afternoon’s 6-3 win over St. Louis at the Wells Fargo Center. “You guys know the hockey player and the person a little bit. But to know the person and know the competitiveness that burns inside of him, no, I’m not surprised.”

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