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Dallas Notes: Ritchie, Faksa, Pitlick, Oleksiak, Smith

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The Dallas Stars announced they have placed winger Brett Ritchie on injured reserve today retroactive to Oct. 30. He suffered an upper-body injury and while he was listed as day-to-day, the newest update suggests he could miss up to another week with the injury.

The 24-year-old wing has struggled so far this year with just one goal and one assist in 12 games this year. Ritchie ranked fourth on the team last year, potting 16 goals in 78 games. The 2011 second-round pick has just 15 shots on goal in those 12 games and has seen his average ice time drop to 12:03, down from a career average of 13:00.

The move was made as the team suddenly has been hit with a flurry of injuries, with center Radek Faksa and Tyler Pitlick both being listed as doubtful for Monday’s home game against the Winnipeg Jets, while veteran center Martin Hanzal is listed as questionable, according to NHL.com’s Sean Shapiro. Putting Ritchie on IR will allow the team to make a roster move and call up a player from the Texas Stars either later today or tomorrow.

Faksa, who suffered an apparent leg injury in Saturday’s game, also has been showing improvement in his game, picking up a goal and an assist in their win over the Buffalo Sabres. Pitlick is also listed as doubtful with an upper-body injury, but no other clarification, according to Shapiro.

  • Shapiro also tweets the team may turn to defenseman Jamie Oleksiak in an emergency and ask him to play the forward position on Monday. Oleksiak has only appeared in eight games so far this season and has been a healthy scratch for the last two.
  • Scott Burnside of NHL.com writes that head coach Ken Hitchcock praised the play of Gemel Smith as the team’s most improved player after Saturday’s game. Despite struggling to get on the scoreboard in the first few games that he’s been in, the 23-year-old was instrumental in aiding the team’s four-goal first period Saturday as he picked up his first two assists of the season. His rushes on net helped open up goal scoring opportunities on both Faksa’s and Stephen Johns goals in that period. “He’s a hockey player,” Hitchcock said of Smith. “He acts like a hockey player and plays like a hockey player. You don’t have to tell him twice. He has a feel for the game and does a lot of things that just help you win hockey games. He’s underrated offensively and he’s competitive and really good on the boards. He builds you good minutes every night.”

 

PHR Originals 10/29/17-11/05/17

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The NHL rumor mill is on fire after the failed Kyle Turris–Matt Duchene trade, but there were plenty of other stories developed by the PHR staff this week. Here’s a recap on some of the pieces from this week:

Sutter: The Next Generation

Zach took a look at Riley Sutter, the latest entrant in a legendary hockey family. The young Sutter is climbing up draft boards as he tries to emulate the career of many relatives. Ron, Rich, Duane, Darryl, Brian, Brent, Brandon, Brett, Brody, Lukas, Shaun and now Riley. Family competition must be intense.

Josh Leivo25-Year Old Freedom

Group VI free agency isn’t the ideal way for young players to hit the open market, but it does provide an opportunity to turn your career around. I took a look at a few players who have a chance to become free agents at the age of 25, and escape their current situation.

Motown Uncertainty

Nate examined if Jeff Blashill is really to blame in Detroit, or if the Red Wings’ problems are more deep-seeded. From the tone of the comments, fans are nearing their frustrating limit with the team after a sluggish start and no clear rebuild plan in place.

Free Agent Futility

After just a month of season, I took an early look at the big free agents from July 1. While the 2016 group had a disappointing start, this year’s class isn’t as clear cut. There hasn’t been a ton of team success from the big spenders, but individual efforts are about what was expected. At the end of the year, who will regret their spending spree most?

Polling The People

We ran a pair of polls this week, asking which coach is under the most pressure and which team was furthest from where they’ll eventually finish. PHR readers were pretty clear that Alain Vigneault should be watching his back in New York, while the Vegas Golden Knights were more mirage than miracle. Those Golden Knights are now 9-4, and likely scouting the local midget tournaments for goaltending help.

Chatty Cathy

I once again held my weekly live chat, and spoke about everything from Vadim Shipachyov to Deshaun Watson. Every Thursday evening we talk about anything you want—make sure to join us next week.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Atlantic Notes: Price, Spooner

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Carey Price is day-to-day with a “minor” injury. That was the message Friday after a Montreal Canadiens’ practice. And normally, the fact that the team’s superstar player is out would be a matter of major concern. However, it probably seems that no one is holding their breath like they normally would. Price, who posted a 2.33 GAA in 62 games a year ago and then proceeded to sign an eight-year, $84MM deal, has definitely had his share of problems this year. Through 11 games, Price has a 3-7-1 record with a 3.77 GAA and a .877 save percentage. Not your ordinary numbers for a prized goalie.

Perhaps a break might fix the goaltender. While much can be made about the Canadiens’ porous defense, the team has high hopes their goalie can figure it out and fix a lot of the team’s problems on his own, according to Arpon Basu of The Athletic (subscription required).

“I have no concern about the fact Carey will find his game and will be a big part of our success,” head coach Claude Julien said. “We know he’s going through a tough time, we won’t hide it. No one is hiding from it. But we know what kind of goalie he is. Unfortunately, a forward or a defenseman can go through something like this and it’s always a little harder to tell because he’s not the last person left to stop a goal. So when it’s a goalie, it’s obviously always worse.”

Basu, however, notes that we’ve seen these struggles before out of Price — in fact, it was just last year. From Dec. 22, to Jan. 21 of last season, Price had a 3-5-3 record with a 3.53 and an .877 save percentage — very similar to his present numbers. He allowed 38 goals in that 11-game span and compared to this span, he’s allowed 39 goals.

The scribe writes that the biggest difference is that his present day numbers are at the beginning of the year and you can’t hide those statistics, but he overcame them to have a dominant season. What he did to break out of that slump a year ago is unknown, but maybe a game or two off will make the difference.

  • Mike Lofus of the Providence Journal writes that Boston Bruins center Ryan Spooner, who was expected to miss four to six weeks on Oct. 15 after tearing a groin adductor, skated briefly this morning for the first time since the injury. While nothing official has been said, it’s possible me might be closer to the four-week estimate rather than the six-week estimate. Spooner has only appeared in five games this season, putting up one assist. Last year, the 25-year-old put up 11 goals and 39 assists.

Pacific Notes: Shore, Lewis, Shipachyov, DeMelo, Boeser

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A change of coaches in Los Angeles has turned two defensive-first players under former coach Darryl Sutter into new scoring options under new head coach John Stevens. Nick Shore and Trevor Lewis have been showing off some of their offensive skills so far this season, which including a highlight reel pass and shoot goal from Shore to Lewis in Thursday’s victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The shift to Stevens’ offensive focused system was picked up quickly by the two forwards, according to Curtis Zupke of the Los Angeles Times. While the 25-year-old Shore only has one goal and two assists so far in 10 games, it’s still an improvement on last year’s six goals and 17 points that he had in 70 games. As for Lewis, the long-time King has never had more than 25 points in a season in all his years, but he might break that number this year as he already has four goals and three assists in 10 games. Both were at one time in their minor league careers considered to have some offensive talent and they feel they can show more.

“I think we’ve really put a focus on scoring more and offensive zone play,” Lewis said. “Obviously the new system we’re playing, I think starting off with Shoresy and [Kyle Clifford], we grasped it right away. I think that helps and it helps create more.”

  • With Vegas Golden Knights’ Vadim Shipachyov filing voluntary retirement paperwork rather than having his contract terminated, Sportsnet’s Eric Engels tweets that Vegas will still retain Shipachyov’s NHL rights until the veteran turns 35 years of age. Many believe, however, that the 30-year-old center has no interest in returning to the NHL.
  • Staying with the Golden Knights, the team picked up their ninth win of the season today, tying the 1980-81 expansion Winnipeg Jets, according to the Vegas Golden Knights. The team is just one win away from tying the inaugural Ottawa Senators.
  • Paul Gackle of The Mercury News writes that with the injury to veteran defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic, San Jose Sharks defenseman Dylan DeMelo will be given the opportunity to prove he belongs. After playing in the first two games of the season, the 24-year-old defenseman lost his job to Tim Heed and Joakim Ryan and has been a healthy scratch for the last 10 games. Now, the prospect who had already played 70 games with San Jose before the season even started, gets a second chance to prove he belongs.
  • Steve Ewen of the Vancouver Sun writes that the Vancouver Canucks have been working on their power play and have now moved rookie Brock Boeser to the left of the face circle on their first team in hopes to take advantage of his release. The move is supposed to unleash the talents of the highly-touted prospect who has two goals and seven assists so far this year in nine games.

Is Jeff Blashill Really To Blame For Red Wings’ Woes?

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The Detroit Red Wings weren’t expected to do much this season so slogging to a 6-6-1 record shouldn’t catch anyone by surprise. But after starting out 4-1, the Red Wings dropped six in a row and suddenly Blashill found himself on toasty seat. The Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch wrote last week that the lack of improvement have started whispers around the league that the third-year coach is on borrowed time. The Detroit News’ Gregg Krupa adds that Blashill shouldn’t see a fourth season should the Red Wings continue to plummet in play. Aside from a lackluster power play, an inability to score goals, and some regression from scoring hopefuls Gustav Nyquist and Tomas Tatar, Blashill told Krupa back in July that he was 100% confident that Detroit would return to the playoffs after last year’s hiatus. That puts a lot of pressure on a coach who doesn’t have the strongest of rosters.

The Red Wings look far from a playoff contender. Worse, it looks like the Red Wings have a long journey back to respectability.

While Blashill certainly shoulders some of the blame for regression, others point out that Ken Holland, the architect of the team,  should see the door first. From another standpoint, firing Blashill may just be putting a bandaid on a bigger wound. Red Wings blog Winging it in Motown had a writeup about exactly this and wondered if it would actually make sense to let Blashill go. From WIIM:

Things in Detroit won’t change for the better until the organization gets out of these bad contracts and changes the way it operates from a trades and free agency standpoint. The issues of this team start as a result of Holland and anything that leads to his return next season as general manager will just kick the can down the road. Unfortunately, another bad season is the only way to start the process of getting out of this mess.

The more the team struggles the louder the coaching change rumors will get. We have to hope for no knee jerk reactions that will set things back further as the season continues.

Regardless of what happens, Detroit is stuck with a lot of long-term deals drowning in dollars. It seems the Red Wings problems run deeper than just who is behind the bench.

Snapshots: Raanta, Golden Knights, Maple Leafs

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Antti Raanta has been activated off injured reserve and is expected to start tonight against the Buffalo Sabres according to Craig Morgan of AZ Sports. Raanta hasn’t played in three weeks with a lower-body injury after being acquired this summer to be the Coyotes starting goaltender. He’ll head to the crease with a new backup in Scott Wedgewood, a tandem that could prove capable for Arizona as they try to climb out of the bottom of the standings.

The team unfortunately will not have Niklas Hjalmarsson on the ice however, meaning Dakota Mermis will make his NHL debut on the blueline. The Coyotes are currently last in the league with just one win in their first 13 games, and right now look like the odds-on favorite for the first-overall pick next June.

  • The Vegas Golden Knights will not trade for another goaltender, according to general manager George McPhee. The front office boss told Steve Carp of the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the Golden Knights will “ride it out with who we have.” Currently who they have is Maxime Lagace and 19-year old Dylan Ferguson, the last two goaltenders in the entire organization on NHL contracts. The team has given up six goals in back to back games, and still have four games remaining on their current road trip. Riding it out is likely the best move long-term for the organization, but it won’t feel good for Vegas fans who were on cloud nine after the team’s early season success. That excellent record could evaporate if they can’t find some stability in net soon.
  • The Toronto Maple Leafs are clearly not settled with the fringes of their lineup, as even after a win last night in Anaheim head coach Mike Babcock intends on shaking things up. Chris Johnston of Sportsnet reports that Kasperi Kapanen and Roman Polak will draw back into the lineup in place of Josh Leivo and Connor Carrick for tonight’s matchup with Los Angeles. That uncertainty will be an interesting one to follow as the Maple Leafs’ season continues. For a team that is expected to compete not only for a playoff spot, but for a considerable seeding in the postseason, they have several unresolved issues with their lineup. James van Riemsdyk, Tyler Bozak and Leo Komarov are all unrestricted free agents, and remain possible mid-season trade candidates. If they are moved, the rotating bottom-pairing on the Toronto blueline is likely the target of upgrade.

Snapshots: Coaches, Franson, Prospects

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The morning after Halloween and the mask is coming off for some teams around the league. While Alain Vigneault and the New York Rangers stayed alive by fighting off the Vegas Golden Knights last night, seats are getting hotter for some coaches around the league. Frank Seravalli of TSN lists 13 potential hires should a team want to go in a different direction, including several very interesting names.

Along with the usual NCAA suspects like Jim Montgomery and David Quinn, Seravalli lists several options that are currently associate coaches in the league. It would be surprising to see any of them stolen away to coach a different team in the league mid-season, but don’t forget their names come springtime.

  • Cody Franson has gone all the way from a professional tryout to the top pairing of the Chicago Blackhawks, as Chris Hine of the Chicago Tribune reports that he practiced alongside Duncan Keith yesterday for the team. Franson’s summer was one of the most surprising in free agency, as the 30-year old defenseman was unable to find an NHL contract for some time. Even with a rumored handshake deal with the Blackhawks, who waited until Marian Hossa could be put on long-term injured reserve before signing Franson, he will still earn just $1MM this season. The right-handed defenseman has always been a fairly productive offensive player, and has two points through three games for the Blackhawks this season.
  • Jeff Marek of Sportsnet released his November prospect rankings, and there is no surprise at the top. Rasmus Dahlin continues to lead the pack in the race to be the number one pick, and his recent naming to Sweden’s Karjala Cup roster certainly won’t hurt. Marek is lower than many on Ryan Merkley of the Guelph Storm, who figures to have a broad range of rankings due to his size and defensive play. The OHL defenseman is only 5’11” 164-lbs, but has incredible offensive upside and can carry and distribute the puck as well as any prospect in the draft. With 15 points in 15 games, he has a real chance to lead all OHL defensemen in points this season (though he’ll have to quickly make up some ground on the current leader, Sean Durzi, who has been lined up at wing in the past).

Riley Sutter Climbing Draft Boards

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2017 may not be over just yet, but it’s no secret that executives and scouts across the NHL are already eyeing the 2018 draft class. Among the early contenders to be worthy of a first round pick is a familiar name: Sutter. The latest in the long line of family royalty is 18-year-old Riley Sutter, a right wing for the WHL’s Everett Silvertips and very likely a top pick this June.

Riley Sutter is the son of Ron Sutter, who likely has him beat in terms of draft position. Ron was the fourth overall pick in 1982 by the Philadelphia Flyers, whom he played with for nine seasons to begin his 1000+ game NHL career. Ron’s twin brother, Riley’s uncle, Rich Sutter was famously selected six slot behind his brother in 1982, tenth overall by the rival Pittsburgh Penguins. Riley’s other uncles include Brian Sutter, the long-time captain of the St. Louis Blues drafted in the second round in 1976, Duane Sutter, the 17th overall pick in 1979, Brent Sutter, the 17th overall pick a year later and arguably the best of the Sutter brothers with over 800 points in his 17-year career (and a former NHL coach to boot), and, of course, the most relevant of the Sutters right now, recently relieved Los Angeles Kings coach Darryl Sutter, who also played 400+ NHL games. Then there’s the next generation of Sutters, Riley’s cousins, highlighted by Vancouver Canucks center and 2007 11th overall pick Brandon Sutter, Brent’s son. Cousins Shaun Sutter, Brett Sutter, Brody Sutter, and Lukas Sutter were all additionally drafted into the NHL, but have not come close to the success of their fathers and uncles or even Brandon. Riley hopes to end the streak of underwhelming Sutter’s once he is drafted this June.

So what does the youngest Sutter bring to the table? The 6’2″, 201-lb. forward has a power forward frame and began to find his scoring touch last season with 39 points, including 20 goals, in 67 games for the Silvertips. Early in 2017-18, that pace has picked up. Sutter has 13 points, again the majority of which are goals, in his first 16 games. A physical game at his age is attractive enough, but the scoring touch and quick skating he has displayed, as well as the undeniable intangibles of being from hockey royalty, have boosted Sutter up draft boards. In the latest rankings from International Scouting Services, Sutter is up all the way to 16th, helped out by his early results (as well as a severe lack of right wings at the top of the class). If he can keep his scoring up, Riley very well could be the latest Sutter to be a first round pick and may even be able to push to become the second highest-drafted family member, behind his own father, if he can crack the top ten in June.

Marc-Andre Fleury’s Agent Blasts NHL Concussion Protocol

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NHL agent Allan Walsh blasted the league Friday over the NHL’s concussion spotter protocol, referring it to a public relations spin to pretend to show the league cares about player safety. The agent, who happens to have Vegas Golden Knights’ goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury as a client, elabortated further in an interview with the Las Vegas Review Journal’s David Schoen.

“I just want to be very clear,” said Walsh to the RJ the following day. “I am not in any way, what I said yesterday, referencing any specific client or in any way referencing any specific club. It is the league-wide implementation of the concussion spotter protocol that I am criticizing because it is not being applied properly. And, like I said, the way the NHL is allowing players to remain in games is a joke.”

Fleury has been on injured reserve for two weeks already, since Oct. 15, with concussion-related symptoms after he was kneed in the head by Detroit’s Anthony Mantha. Schoen writes that the Golden Knights have said that Fleury passed all the in-game tests, but showed concussion symptoms after the game. Since then, there have been no updates suggesting he may come back soon. Coincidentally, Walsh’s comments on Friday came 30 minutes after Vegas head coach Gerard Gallant announced that Fleury would not accompany the team for the start of their six-game road trip.

The comments from Walsh also might be more relevant after a recent injury to Los Angeles Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick, who took an inadvertent blow to the head from teammate Derek Forbort. The Hockey News’ Ken Campbell wrote a story last week detailing that teams have too much leverage and power when it comes to determining whether their players should come out for the game, referring to Quick’s experience. He cites that the league representative informed the NHL home office of the injury, but it took three play stoppages before Quick was taken off the ice with 1:14 remaining in the period and went down the tunnel into a quiet room, but returned seconds later and returned to his place in the crease during that same stoppage. However, before play started, he was removed again. This time backup Darcy Kuemper took his place in the net and played for 36 seconds before play was stopped and Quick came back and finished out the period’s final 35 seconds.

Campbell points out that it’s impossible to imagine that he received a proper concussion test in that short of a time. He said that the league felt that the injury was caused from a stick to the head, which only causes one percent of concussion injuries and Quick was therefore cleared quickly, but the scribe points out that the league is playing a dangerous game if they are determining whether players should or shouldn’t receive concussions tests based on replays.

 

 

Metropolitan Notes: Vigneault, Atkinson, Johansson, Reinhart

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New York Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault might not have much time left to repair the sinking ship. The New York Post’s Larry Brooks writes that he believes that Vigneault has one more game left to prove he can turn the Rangers disastrous start of 3-7-2 around. He will get that game Tuesday against the 8-1 Vegas Golden Knights.

While Brooks admits that it is his belief and he’s heard nothing to suggest that will happen, he points out that the team’s struggles to start the season, especially falling behind 3-0 in the first period to the equally struggling Montreal Canadiens shows that Vigneault may not be the answer. A coaching change may be the only way to breathe some life into the franchise who were heavily criticized for their efforts in thejr 5-4 loss.

Brooks also points out that the team’s poor start in first periods has been a key issue for New York. The team has been outscored 3-0 in the first two minutes of 12 games this season; 5-1 in the first three minutes of games; 6-2 in the first four minutes; 8-3 in the first six minutes; 10-4 in the first 10 minutes and 12-4 in the first 12 minutes of games. He writes this is inexcusable and is bad enough to physically allow so many early goals, but the team is also unengaged mentally the moment the puck is dropped.

  • The Columbus Blue Jackets may have to do without winger Cam Atkinson for a little while as he suffered a lower-body injury, according to The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline (subscription required). The team’s leading scorer for the past two years had a rough game, suffering a lower-body injury in the first period, a puck to his helmet during the second period and then sustained another hit to his lower body that knocked him out of the game in the third period. Portzline said an announcement won’t be made until Monday as the team didn’t practice today. Atkinson has four goals and an assist in 11 games this year. Rookie Pierre-Luc Dubois moved up to replace Atkinson for the remainder of the game.
  • Andrew Gross of Northjersey.com writes that winger Marcus Johansson is day-to-day after tweaking his lower body in pre-game warm-ups before Saturday’s game against the Arizona Coyotes. The scribe wrote that it was not a pre-existing injury, but the team choose to hold him out as a precaution. Johansson, who the Devils picked up in an offseason trade with the Washington Capitals, has been a solid contributor for New Jersey this year, having put up three goals and two assists in nine games this year.
  • NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti wonders whether the Washington Capitals might not consider claiming defenseman Griffin Reinhart, who was put on waivers this morning by the Vegas Golden Knights. At $800K and at just 23 years of age, Reinhart might be a good investment for a team that has little cap room and little blue line depth. Reinhart, the fourth overall pick in the 2012 draft, could be claimed by several teams in need of depth on defense. Unfortunately, the Capitals cannot take solace that they will get a high waiver claim even though the team presently sits at 5-5. CapFriendly reported today that current waiver priority is still based on last year’s record. Priority will switch to present standings starting on Nov. 1.

 

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