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Canucks Notes: Boudreau, Horvat, Karlsson

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Bruce Boudreau’s future in Vancouver has been a frequent talking point in recent weeks with the Canucks holding a team option on his contract for next season and a different management group in place since the bench boss was hired.  However, TSN’s Darren Dreger reports in the latest Insider Trading segment that there’s a strong chance the 67-year-old will be retained.  He certainly has earned another opportunity with the team posting a 29-13-8 record since he took over to at least have an outside shot at making the playoffs.  However, a final decision won’t come until after the season the team does a full organizational review so it will be a few more weeks at least before anything is made official on that front.

More from Vancouver:

  • While center Bo Horvat left Thursday’s victory against Arizona after taking a shot off his leg, Boudreau told reporters including Postmedia’s Patrick Johnston that the decision to keep him out of the game was precautionary with Vancouver holding a lead at the time. However, Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre adds (Twitter link) that the captain isn’t expected to play in their next game on Monday and is listed as out day-to-day.
  • Canucks prospect forward Linus Karlsson will be joining the Swedish National Team in preparation for the upcoming World Championships, notes Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK and The Athletic (Twitter link). The 2018 third-rounder impressed in his first SHL season, tallying 26 goals and 20 assists in 52 games.  He has to sign his entry-level deal by June 1st or Vancouver will lose his rights.  Worth noting is that Karlsson is already under contract with Skelleftea for next season but that wouldn’t prevent him from signing an NHL contract.

USA Hockey Announces 2022 World Championship Coaching Staff

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The IIHF World Championship will begin next month in Finland, and former New York Rangers head coach David Quinn is set to lead the U.S. squad. Today, his staff has been announced, with Jeff Blashill of the Detroit Red Wings, Don Granato of the Buffalo Sabres, and Mike Hastings from Minnesota State University joining as assistants.

Blashill, head coach of the Red Wings for the last seven years, was actually head coach of the men’s national team at three previous World Championships. He also has experience with USA Hockey at the U18 and U20 levels and stops in both the AHL and NCAA. Several players that he is familiar with, including most prominently Dylan Larkin, could be in play for the U.S. at the event, as the Red Wings are set to miss the playoffs for the sixth consecutive season.

Granato, who took over as the head coach of the Sabres last season, has received many accolades for his work turning the team around. While they won’t reach the playoffs this year, huge developmental steps have been taken from several players. One of those is Tage Thompson, who could play a significant role if selected for the U.S. squad, along with several of his Sabres teammates.

Hastings meanwhile is the lone assistant from outside of the NHL, coming to the Worlds after leading his Minnesota State Mavericks all the way to the national championship game this year. Hastings has been with the program for a decade and helped turn it into one of the most dominant teams in the NCAA, posting winning percentages above .800 in each of the last three years. Nathan Smith, the Mavericks standout who recently debuted with the Arizona Coyotes seems a likely candidate for the team if they so choose, after his outstanding junior season. Dryden McKay, winner of the Hobey Baker and a Mavericks legend, could also be in the mix, depending on the team’s goaltending situation.

The tournament begins on May 13 in Tampere and Helsinki.

Anaheim Ducks Expected To Retain Dallas Eakins

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At the end of this season, the three-year contract that Dallas Eakins signed as head coach of the Anaheim Ducks in 2019 will expire. With the team now under new management after hiring general manager Pat Verbeek earlier this year, some questioned whether Eakins would be retained. Elliott Teaford of the OC Register reports that the team is expected to retain Eakins for at least one more season, with Verbeek set to clarify the situation this week. The Athletic has also reported that the Ducks coach will be back in 2022-23, and notes that the original deal may have contained an option for a fourth year.

Eakins, 55, has been with the Ducks organization since 2015, first serving as head coach of the San Diego Gulls for four seasons before taking over behind the Anaheim bench in 2019. During his time at the NHL level, the team has had middling results, though the development of players like Trevor Zegras, Jamie Drysdale, and especially Troy Terry has been celebrated.

Once a rising star in the coaching ranks, expected to have a long, successful career, Eakins’ first chance behind the bench of an NHL team didn’t go well. In 2013 he was hired as the head coach of the Edmonton Oilers, a team loaded with young talent that included the 25-and-under group of Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle, David Perron, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Sam Gagner, Justin Schultz, Nail Yakupov, and Jeff Petry. Things almost immediately went south, and after missing the playoffs badly in his first year, Eakins was dismissed just 31 games into his second season with the Oilers.

Again, though, he showed he could get outstanding results at the AHL level, taking the Gulls to the playoffs three times and winning four total playoff rounds. When Randy Carlyle was fired by the Ducks in 2019, Eakins became an obvious choice to replace him after paying his dues at the minor league level. Still, the organization took its time and interviewed several other candidates before eventually handing him the job.

Now, after some early success this season, the Ducks once again find themselves well below .500 and outside the playoff picture. They sold off several key players at the deadline and will lose captain Ryan Getzlaf at the end of the year to retirement. There should be a ton of pressure on Eakins and the team to take another step forward next season, especially if his contract is only extended by one year.

Snapshots: Bowness, Power, Wheeler, LaCombe

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Earlier this month, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman suggested that Stars head coach Rick Bowness had a team option for next season on his contract.  However, in his latest 32 Thoughts podcast (audio link), Friedman clarified that this is not the case; instead, his contract is simply expiring following this season.  Dallas finds itself right in the thick of the battle for one of the last playoff spots in the Western Conference and how they fare on that front will likely go a long way in shaping what direction the team wants to go.  That said, Bowness is 67 so there is a chance that he may not want to continue on in a top role anyway.  With no team option on his deal, there’s a real possibility that whatever direction they go winds up being a mutual decision.

Elsewhere around the NHL:

  • While Owen Power wasn’t in the lineup for the Sabres, the team plans to have the 2021 top pick make his NHL debut on Tuesday on Tuesday against Toronto, notes Mike Harrington of The Buffalo News. That will allow the defenseman to get a full practice in with the team instead of going directly from Michigan to Buffalo’s lineup.  Power suggested he might get an opportunity to see some time on his off-side over their final few games as they will evaluate his ability to play on the right.
  • Jets winger Blake Wheeler won’t play in tonight’s game in Ottawa and is listed as doubtful for tomorrow in Montreal due to his upper-body injury, relays Jeff Hamilton of the Winnipeg Free Press (Twitter link). The captain has been quite productive since the start of February, collecting 34 points in 30 games and his absence certainly isn’t helping Winnipeg’s quickly-decreasing chances of getting into the final playoff spot in the West.
  • While the Ducks signed a key college prospect today when they inked Blake McLaughin, another of their NCAA prospects is still deciding whether he should turn pro or stay in school. Eric Stephens of The Athletic reports that defenseman Jackson LaCombe will likely need a few more days to decide if he’s going to return for his senior season with Minnesota.  The 21-year-old was a second-round pick of Anaheim back in 2019 (39th overall) and had 30 points in 39 games with the Golden Gophers this season.

New Jersey Devils Issue Injury Updates; Recall Two From AHL

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The New Jersey Devils have already shut down Jack Hughes for the rest of the season, and now several other forwards could be sidelined. Yegor Sharangovich, Jimmy Vesey, and Nathan Bastian are all dealing with injuries, leading to the team recalling both Fabian Zetterlund and A.J. Greer from the AHL.

Sharangovich, 23, appears to be the closest to a return, despite leaving last night’s game after just five shifts. The young forward skated on his own ahead of practice and head coach Lindy Ruff believes it’s possible that he could be back in the lineup on Thursday against the Montreal Canadiens. Sharangovich engaged New York Rangers defenseman Braden Schneider after a big hit on Jesper Boqvist, and ended up leaving after just two minutes of ice time.

Vesey meanwhile is still getting imaging on his injured leg today, and there is no clear timetable for his return at this point. He also came together with Schneider and had to be helped off the ice by the training staff.

Bastian, who was injured in the same game as Hughes, is “doing better” according to Ruff, though the young forward is not expected to be available tomorrow. After starting the year barely playing with the Seattle Kraken, the return to New Jersey has been good for Bastian, who has ten goals in 50 games despite still playing a limited role.

As the Devils deal with a wave of injuries up front, players like Zetterlund will get a chance to impress. The 22-year-old third-round pick has seen three games at the NHL level so far this season but is still looking for his first point. He’s been outstanding with the Utica Comets, recording 52 points in 58 games, however, suggesting that he could be ready for more regular NHL minutes as soon as next season. A look down the stretch would make sense, especially given the fact that someone like Vesey–even if healthy–is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year.

Snapshots: Boudreau, Amirov, Rask

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After an impressive run with the Vancouver Canucks since taking over as Head Coach on December 5th, Bruce Boudreau’s future with the Vancouver Canucks is still uncertain. As discussed earlier in the week, Canucks’ GM Patrik Allvin would not commit to keeping Boudreau behind the bench after this season, looking to further evaluate. On the 32 Thoughts segment of Hockey Night in Canada yesterday evening, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman shined some light on what he believes the contract situation looks like and what could happen with Boudreau this summer.

Friedman believes Boudreau’s contract contains multiple options, one for the club and one for him. If Vancouver chose not to exercise Boudreau’s option, Friedman believes the Canucks would have to buyout Boudreau in some form. In addition, Boudreau may have an option not to stay, even if Vancouver chooses to keep him, but in that scenario, he would not be compensated. Debating whether or not to keep Boudreau may seem surprising, after the veteran coach has lead the team to a 24-13-7 record since taking over, however it is worth considering that Boudreau was not Allvin’s pick for head coach, as he was hired nearly two months after Boudreau. If the organization wishes to have Allvin’s vision be the future of the franchise, they may have to trust his preference for a head coach.

  • Also from 32 Thoughts, Friedman discussed Toronto Maple Leafs’ prospect Rodion Amirov, who was recently diagnosed with a brain tumor. Friedman confirms that Amirov finished six weeks of chemotherapy and has four more weeks until his next round. In the meantime, Amirov has been in the gym five days per week and on the ice three times per week in a space rented by the Maple Leafs in Germany. Although Amirov is not out of the woods yet, seeing the young forward continuing to stay in shape and work on his development even in the toughest of times is certainly encouraging in many ways.
  • After a comeback attempt fell short, legendary Boston Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask announced his retirement from playing back on February 9th. It appears though that Rask’s days with the Bruins are far from over, as he has accepted a role within the organization and is considering a possible venture into coaching in the long-term, writes The Athletic’s Fluto Shinzawa. For now, Rask’s role will primarily consist of networking with sponsors, spending time with them at and away from the rink.

Keith Yandle’s All-Time Ironman Streak To End

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The Philadelphia Flyers have made the decision – an odd and unpopular decision – to sit veteran defenseman Keith Yandle in Saturday night’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Flyers interim head coach Mike Yeo confirmed the move in a media session this morning. Yandle is the current NHL record holder for consecutive games played, an ironman streak of 989 games. That will come to an end tonight at 11 games short of 1,000 as Yandle will miss his first game since March 22, 2009, his sophomore season in the NHL with the Phoenix Coyotes.

Why this decision is being made now is puzzling to say the least. Admittedly, Yandle has been sick and missed practice on Thursday. However, he was back at practice on Friday – noticeably skating on the “fourth pair”. Yandle has shown all-time durability in his career; if he is healthy enough to practice, he is healthy enough to play. Yet, Yeo and the Flyers have opted to sit him anyway, and with a healthy scratch designation no less. Philadelphia is 31 points outside of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with nothing left to play for this season, but will voluntarily end Yandle’s record streak anyway.

The major problem with the Flyer’s decision is the timing. Yandle joined the team as a free agent this summer in a move that Philadelphia hoped would help them contend for a playoff spot. Instead, the season went the complete opposite direction. Yandle is not without blame; he has been objectively poor this season, as evidenced by a league-worst -39 rating and complete lack of defensive impact. Yet, at no point was Yandle benched. His ice time was cut significantly, but the Flyers stuck with the veteran and allowed him to pass Doug Jarvis for the longest ironman streak back on January 25. So if respecting Yandle’s historic streak was important enough to keep him in the lineup early in the season when the playoffs were still a possibility, why has it changed now with nothing on the line? Yeo stated that the team wants to evaluate young defensemen like Cam York and the recently signed Ronnie Attard, which is valid. Surely the likes of Ivan Provorov, Travis Sanheim, Rasmus Ristolainen, and Kevin Connauton wouldn’t have minded taking a night off though, especially to help their teammate to extend a historic streak. Yandle needed just 11 more games to hit 1,000, which would stand as a legendary achievement even if it was eventually surpassed.

Meanwhile, Phil Kessel also passed Jarvis on March 25 and sits at 967 consecutive games played. With Yandle out, the all-time ironman streak is no longer a moving target. Kessel needs just 23 more games to pass Yandle, which seems like a foregone conclusion. By staying in Arizona through the trade deadline, Kessel may have missed out on a chance at a Stanley Cup run, but the respected veteran is assured of a spot in the lineup for the remaining 14 games of the regular season, barring injury. He will then hit the free agent market this summer and, with his massive cap hit behind him, will draw widespread interest and will surely be able to find a team willing to keep him in the lineup for nine more games to pass Yandle, another ten games to hit 1,000, and potentially much longer than that. It’s too bad that Yandle is losing his chance to make it a more interesting race.

Coaching Notes: Boudreau, Woodcroft, St. Louis

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Despite the resurgence of the team since his hiring, it does not look as though Vancouver Canucks head coach Bruce Boudreau is a lock to return for a second season. In a media appearance on Sportsnet 650 radio after the trade deadline, Canucks GM Patrik Allvin was asked about Boudreau’s future, and he gave a relatively non-committal answer, mentioning how the team will “look at” Boudreau’s contract situation after the season. It is believed that Boudreau is on a one-year contract with a team option for next season, meaning Vancouver does have the option to move on if they so choose. Given the recovery of the team’s form since Boudreau replaced Travis Green, it should raise some eyebrows that the Canucks’ brass has not been more definitive in their backing of their head coach.

The Canucks are 24-13-7 under Boudreau, a vast improvement from the team’s 8-15-2 record this season under Green. While the team is unlikely to make the playoffs at this point, Boudreau has breathed new life into their season and allowed the team to recover optimism about its long-term future. The performances of many key players such as Elias Pettersson have improved under Boudreau, and it looks as though with their current form the Canucks could indeed compete for a playoff spot next season. But based on Allvin’s comments and the overall sentiment (outside the fanbase) towards Boudreau’s future in Vancouver, it seems there is a chance that it could be another coach who is guiding the Canucks next season.

  • Speaking about a conversation he had with Edmonton Oilers GM Ken Holland, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman adds an update to the situation of Oilers interim head coach Jay Woodcroft. Woodcroft has compiled a 15-7-2 record with the team so far and has them comfortably placed as the third seed in the Pacific Division’s playoff race. The Oilers’ season was spiraling out of control in the late days of former coach Dave Tippett’s tenure, but Woodcroft has seemingly righted the ship. Woodcroft, 45, has a 116-79-24 record as an AHL coach and oversaw the development of players like Ethan Bear, Evan Bouchard, and Ryan McLeod who now find themselves in the NHL. According to Holland, (through Friedman) the Oilers will evaluate Woodcroft’s situation after the season, which may sound similar to Allvin’s comments on Boudreau. But Holland went further, indicating that with the way things are going for Woodcroft, at this moment his future as the Oilers’ coach “looks really good.”
  • One other interim coach who has overseen a resurgence in his team’s form is Montreal’s interim head coach Martin St. Louis. The Hall of Fame player has a 10-9-4 record, which is not an incredible run on its own but a massive improvement over the state of the team under former head coach Dominique Ducharme. St. Louis has deep connections with the two heads of the new Canadiens’ front office, Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes, and according to Friedman “unless he doesn’t want to do it, [St. Louis] is coming back.” The Canadiens’ future looks set to revolve around the duo of Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield, and those two have been playing significantly better under St. Louis than they were under Ducharme. Specifically, the biggest improvement has come from Caufield, who was just named the NHL’s “Rookie of the Month“. Given the turnaround of the team overall under St. Louis and his recovery of Caufield’s highly anticipated rookie season, it makes sense that St. Louis would continue as Canadiens head coach beyond this season.

Nathan MacKinnon Out Indefinitely With Upper-Body Injury

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March 31: So much for that concern. Today on Altitude Sports Radio, Bednar announced that MacKinnon is expected to play tonight for the Avalanche when they take on the San Jose Sharks.

March 29: The Colorado Avalanche will not have Nathan MacKinnon in the lineup tonight when they take on the Calgary Flames, and it’s not clear when he’ll be back. The superstar center has flown back to Denver to have an upper-body injury evaluated, according to Peter Baugh of The Athletic, and there is no timeline for his return at this point. Head coach Jared Bednar told reporters including Baugh that it was “possible” that the injury occurred in MacKinnon’s recent fight against Matt Dumba of the Minnesota Wild and that concern was currently “high” from the team.

MacKinnon took exception to a hit that Dumba laid on Mikko Rantanen the other night, and immediately engaged in a fight with the Wild defenseman. While the Colorado forward didn’t immediately appear to have an injury–he returned to the game for five more shifts after his penalty was served–he now faces an uncertain timeline at one of the worst possible points in the season.

Luckily, the Avalanche have built up quite a lead in the Central Division, as even the surging Wild (currently on a six-game winning streak) are 14 points behind them in the standings. If MacKinnon is out for any length of time, the team should certainly be able to hold onto that lead and still head into the playoffs as the top seed in the Central Division.

The worry obviously is whether the injury will keep him out longer-term, as there are only a little over four weeks left in the regular season. MacKinnon has already missed a good chunk of the season, but has 70 points in 51 games and continues to be one of the most dynamic, valuable players in the entire league.

Boston University Fires Head Coach Albie O’Connell

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The Boston University Terriers made waves in the college hockey world today without even making the NCAA Tournament. As first reported by ESPN’s John Buccigross, BU has made the decision to fire head coach Albie O’Connell. In a release, athletic director Drew Marochello noted that it was a “difficult decision” to move on from O’Connell, but cited the historic program’s “high expectations” for why a change was needed. This is the first time in nearly 50 years that BU has fired their head men’s hockey coach, following the legendary 40-year run of Jack Parker, who retired 2013, and the short, but successful run of David Quinn, who left for the New York Rangers in 2018.

In some ways, this is a surprising move for the Terriers. O’Connell, 45, has deep ties to the university. He was a four-year starter for the team from 1995 to 1999, during which time they finished first in the Hockey East regular season standings three times. As a sophomore, O’Connell helped lead the team to a conference championship and a run to the National Championship game. As a senior, he took on the role of captain and led the team in scoring. After a brief stint playing professionally, O’Connell got into coaching in 2002 and worked as an assistant at Niagara, Holy Cross, Merrimack, Northeastern, and Harvard before returning to BU in 2014 under Quinn. When Quinn left for the NHL, O’Connell was promoted to head coach in a move that seemed obvious at the time. Yet, he was only given four seasons at the helm – two of which were impacted by the Coronavirus pandemic – before being shown the door. In that time, the Terriers appeared in the national rankings among the top 20 teams in the country 29 times, made an NCAA Tournament, and just this year won the coveted Beanpot title.

However, in many other ways this move should come as no surprise at all. At Boston University, 29 top-20 appearances over 96 weekly rankings and one NCAA Tournament appearance is nothing to hang your hat on. The expectations for the team are much higher than that, especially as O’Connell has continued to use the Terrier name to recruit elite talent like Joel Farabee, Drew Commesso (CHI), Luke Tuch (MTL), transfer Jay O’Brien (PHI) and a 2019 recruiting class that was arguably the best in college hockey, including Trevor Zegras, Alex Vlasic, Robert Mastrosimone (DET), and this season’s leading scorer, Domenick Fensore (CAR). That talent was largely squandered as O’Connell’s squads lost in the first round of the Hockey East playoffs two out of three years, winning just one game total, and lost in the first round of their lone NCAA Tournament appearance. With his job on the line this season, O’Connell checked both boxes of what coaches want to avoid: he started slow, dropping out of the national rankings by Week 5, and he ended poorly, falling from No. 13 in Week 19 to back outside the top 20 by the final week of the season. That season-ending slump combined with an early conference tournament exit cost BU any chance at an NCAA Tournament appearance this season and likely was the last straw for O’Connell, even though things were looking up mid-season.

The main reason that the decision to move on from O’Connell is not a shock is that BU planned in advance. The forecoming change was all but telegraphed this summer when the Terriers hired Jay Pandolfo as associate head coach. Pandolfo had been an assistant with the Boston Bruins but made the unorthodox decision to make a lateral move but to the collegiate level, a move that only made sense if there was a chance that Pandolfo could take over as head coach of his alma mater. After all, why else would a young assistant coaching for his hometown team and who had received NHL head coach consideration previously drop down to the NCAA? It seemed all but certain that Pandolfo was being groomed to replace O’Connell in the event that this season did not go as planned for the Terriers. That seems to be the case and while there has been no announcement of O’Connell’s successor, anyone but Pandolfo being named the next BU head coach would be much more stunning than the firing itself.

As for O’Connell, the well-traveled coach will land on his feet. O’Connell was a decorated college player, has worked for six different Division I teams, and still has moderate success as a head coach to lean on. O’Connell also exceled in recruiting, a crucial part of coaching in the NCAA, even if the talent didn’t come together as hoped on the ice. Whether he finds a head coaching job somewhere with lower expectations that perennial contention for a National Championship or signs on as an assistant for a top program, O’Connell should be back in college hockey in no time.

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