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Jim Rutherford Won’t Rush To Hire GM, Make Trades

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Since the Vancouver Canucks cleaned house on December 5, firing GM Jim Benning and head coach Travis Green, among others, the team is 4-0-0. While new head coach Bruce Boudreau may have made a difference behind the bench in those contests, new President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford has barely been on the job since his hiring was formally announced on Thursday. It just goes to show that the Canucks roster is not in need of a complete teardown. Changes can be made, and knowing Rutherford they certainly will, but the Hall of Fame executive will not make any snap judgements. As a result, Rutherford told the media today, including NHL.com’s Kevin Woodley, that he will not rush to hire a GM nor to make any trades.

The interim GM as well, Rutherford was hired with the intention of overseeing the Canucks’ front office rather than running the day-to-day. He has others in mind for that role, stating that there are 40 names currently on the list to possibly be the next Vancouver GM. Rutherford won’t rush the decision though and will instead take his time with trimming the list. “I’m not here to be the general manager, but I’m capable of doing the job,” Rutherford said. “I would like to get somebody in place sooner than later, but if it’s not in the near future it’s OK. We want to try to get it right.” Rutherford mentioned that he will consider both former GMs and current Assistant GM’s for the role and wants to find someone that he works well with, whether that be an experienced mind who would be more of an equal partner or instead someone that he can mentor and mold.

Without a GM in place, Rutherford also does not expect to make any trades in meantime. Again, he is permitted to make a move and has more experience in doing so than just about anyone on the planet, but will not rush to change the roster that he just recently inherited and wants to take time to evaluate:

I’m not in a hurry to make a trade. I’ve already got calls. I got calls before I got to Vancouver: ’I like this player, I like that player, give me a call if you decide to move somebody.’ If somebody calls and something pretty good comes along that we think improves our team now and in the long run, yeah, we’ll take a look at it. But I’m not going to be making a lot of calls. My focus immediately will be to get this restructured and get people in place, because the stronger the hockey department is off the ice, it will make the team stronger on the ice… There’s work to be done here. There’s holes in the lineup, areas that have to be worked on… [but] I want to be careful with our trades.

While Rutherford largely spoke in generalities about his opinions on the current construction of the roster and his plans to improve, he did note that buying, in the typical sense of the word, is “not the cycle we’re in.” In fact, Rutherford stated that his early-round draft picks will be untouchable, as will some of his younger standouts. The one name specifically mentioned as off limits was starter Thatcher Demko, but as Rutherford watches the Canucks – especially if they keep winning – that list is likely to grow. Once Rutherford has his new GM and has had enough time to properly evaluate the roster, it seems like his plan is probably to re-tool by moving some of the veteran Canucks off the roster. A new voice and new plan in the front office is already exciting for Vancouver and their fans, but more fireworks are coming – just not quite yet.

Hockey Canada Announces Roster For Channel One Cup

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The Channel One Cup, an international tournament played in mid-December in Russia, certainly doesn’t usually draw much attention from North American hockey fans. It has been absolutely dominated by Russian teams throughout its history, as it is made up of players from club teams from outside the NHL. This year though there is a bit more intrigue, as the roster announced today by Hockey Canada likely includes many of the same players that will suit up for the 2022 Beijing Olympics should the NHL and NHLPA decide against participation.

The group that was announced today includes many familiar NHL names and is as follows:

F Josh Currie
F Taylor Beck
F Ben Street
F Jordan Weal
F Adam Tambellini
F Ryan Spooner
F Daniel Audette
F Eric Fehr
F Corban Knight
F Eric O’Dell
F Tyler Graovac
F Landon Ferraro
F Philippe Maillet
F Cody Kunyk

D Brandon Gormley
D John Gilmour
D Morgan Ellis
D Jason Demers
D Mat Robinson
D Chay Genoway
D Reece Scarlett
D Trevor Murphy

G Eddie Pasquale
G Justin Pogge

The coaching staff and management group are also quite familiar to NHL fans, led by general manager Shane Doan. Claude Julien will serve as the team’s head coach, but after Bruce Boudreau and Scott Walker–originally pegged as assistants–moved on to the Vancouver Canucks, he’ll now be joined behind the bench by Doan and Tyler Dietrich.

Interestingly enough, the Spengler Cup coaching staff will now also have Nolan Baumgartner and Jeremy Colliton, two men that were recently let go by their NHL organizations. That tournament kicks off on December 26 and will be another pre-Olympics tune-up for players that may end up in Beijing in a few months.

East Notes: Flyers, Mittelstadt, Spezza

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Following the coaching change in Philadelphia on Monday, the Flyers find themselves down a couple of assistant coaches; Michel Therrien was let go while Mike Yeo moved from assistant to interim head coach.  The team is looking to hire an assistant soon, notes Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link) with player development coach Nick Schultz helping out in the interim.

One candidate for a spot on Philadelphia’s bench is Adam Foote, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports in his latest 32 Thoughts column.  The 19-year NHL veteran isn’t currently coaching anywhere and last worked during the 2019-20 season when he was the head coach at WHL Kelowna.  The Flyers’ back end has struggled this season and adding someone who was a strong NHL defender in Foote could certainly help, especially with youngsters Ivan Provorov and Travis Sanheim.

Elsewhere in the East:

  • The Sabres may be without center Casey Mittelstadt for a while again, relays Mike Harrington of The Buffalo News. The 23-year-old was injured in Tuesday’s contest versus Anaheim and head coach Don Granato revealed that it’s in the same area as the upper-body injury that took him out in the season opener that kept him out for six weeks.  Mittelstadt is undergoing testing to determine the extent of the injury but Granato acknowledged that it could be another long-term issue.
  • The NHLPA announced (Twitter link) that, as expected, they have indeed filed an appeal on the six-game suspension for Maple Leafs center Jason Spezza for his kneeing incident on Winnipeg blueliner Neal Pionk. Commissioner Gary Bettman will hear the appeal first and has the authority to reduce the suspension.  If he elects not to do so, it can then go to a neutral arbitrator although, by the time that would likely be scheduled and a ruling rendered, the suspension will have been fully served.

Philadelphia Flyers Fire Alain Vigneault

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The Vancouver Canucks aren’t the only ones making a coaching change. Alain Vigneault has been relieved of his duties as head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers. Vigneault is under contract through the 2023-24 season and is one of the highest-paid coaches in the league with a $5MM salary. Assistant coach Michel Therrien has also been relieved of his duties. Mike Yeo will take over as interim head coach for the time being.

Vigneault, 60, was hired by the Flyers in 2019 after a few years away from the game, and had the team playing incredibly well in his first season behind the bench. Philadelphia posted a 41-21-7 record through the first 69 games of the 2019-20 season before the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown the NHL. When the Flyers returned for the bubble playoffs things didn’t look quite as good, but they still reached game seven of the second round against the New York Islanders after dispatching the Montreal Canadiens. Since that 4-0 defeat against the Islanders, in which they generated just 16 shots despite having won both game five and game six in overtime to extend the series, the Flyers haven’t looked the same.

The team posted a 25-23-8 record in 2020-21, missing the playoffs entirely by finishing sixth in the East Division. The Flyers were the only team in the entire NHL to allow more than 200 goals against in the shortened season, routinely seeing big, crooked numbers put up against them. Combine that with the fact that they scored only 163 and even those 25 wins seem like an unlikely total.

This year, things haven’t been much better. Philadelphia has lost eight in a row, are 1-7-2 in their last ten and were just embarrassed on home ice last night. A 7-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning with Carter Hart getting pulled after five goals on 15 shots was the dagger, in this case, as Vigneault will not get another chance to break the streak and turn things around.

He will be paid handsomely though, as relieving a coach of their duties in the NHL does not break their contract. He’ll be paid by the Flyers for the next two and a half years unless another team buys out part of the contract in order to hire him for their own team. The obvious speculation would land on a return to the Montreal Canadiens, who not only have leaned toward French-speaking head coaches but also now have an extra connection to Vigneault through the executive vice president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton, who worked with him (and fired him) in New York.

Yeo, who takes over as interim head coach, will be on his third stint leading a bench in the NHL. His first was with the Minnesota Wild under now-Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher, where he made the playoffs in three of five seasons. He then took over in St. Louis but was let go before two full years had even played out, with Craig Berube taking his place and leading the Blues to a Stanley Cup championship. Overall, his record as a head coach in the NHL sits at 246-181-55.

Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff was first to break the news. 

Vancouver Canucks Fire Travis Green, Hire Bruce Boudreau

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12:45am: The Canucks have officially announced the change, relieving Green and assistant coach Nolan Baumgartner of their duties. Boudreau has been installed as head coach and he’ll be joined by new assistant coach Scott Walker.

7:10pm: It appears another coaching change is on the horizon in the NHL.  Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link) that the Canucks are expected to hire Bruce Boudreau as their new head coach which suggests that Travis Green’s time behind Vancouver’s bench is set to come to an end.  Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK and The Athletic adds (Twitter link) that no move to replace GM Jim Benning has been made at this time.

This season certainly hasn’t gone as well as Vancouver had hoped.  After making a big splash to add defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson and winger Conor Garland from Arizona while shoring up their backup goalie position with the signing of Jaroslav Halak.  Benning’s hope was that those additions, coupled with continued development from their young core, would be enough to get them back into playoff contention.  Instead, they sit at the bottom of the Pacific Division with 18 points in 22 games, tied with Chicago for the second-fewest points in the Western Conference.

Several key Vancouver forwards have scuffled offensively this season, highlighted by Brock Boeser and Elias Pettersson both sitting at four goals, hardly the ideal output for two of their top forwards.  This is where Boudreau’s reported hiring could pay dividends as his teams have typically been higher scoring and his system could jumpstart Vancouver’s attack.  At least, that’s what the team is hoping for.  Of course, their defense corps still isn’t the strongest even with Ekman-Larsson in the fold and getting more out of that group will also be high on Boudreau’s priority list.

Boudreau is no stranger to being behind an NHL bench as he sits just 16 regular season games shy of 1,000 for his coaching career which includes stints in Washington, Anaheim, and Minnesota, putting him 29th in NHL history in that regard.  His .635 points percentage sits seventh all-time among those who have coached at least 200 games.  The 66-year-old last coached in the 2019-20 season although he was set to be on Canada’s staff as an assistant coach for some upcoming international tournaments later this month.

Green will become the second coach to be fired this season and third departure overall (the others being Jeremy Colliton and Joel Quenneville who resigned from Florida).  He was in his fifth season behind the bench and had a 133-147-34 record along with only one playoff appearance in 2020 where they fell in the second round to Vegas.  He signed a two-year contract extension back in May but won’t be making it to the end of that deal.  Meanwhile, Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre notes (Twitter link) that Boudreau will receive the same term which means he’ll be under contract with the Canucks through 2022-23.

Boudreau will be joined by Scott Walker as an assistant coach, reports TSN’s Darren Dreger (Twitter link).  This would be Walker’s second stint with the Canucks having worked with them for three seasons in player development before moving onto Arizona.  The veteran of over 800 NHL games as a player is currently the President of Hockey Operations for Guelph of the OHL and was expected to coach alongside Boudreau as an assistant in those upcoming international tournaments for Canada.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Igor Shesterkin Placed On Injured Reserve

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The New York Rangers have moved starting goaltender Igor Shesterkin to injured reserve with a lower-body injury, but it appears as though he may have avoided a long-term absence. Head coach Gerard Gallant explained that the team is confident that Shesterkin will be back in a week, missing only the team’s next three games. An IR stint means he will be off the roster for a minimum of seven days.

The team has recalled Adam Huska in the meantime, as veteran Keith Kinkaid is believed to be in quarantine due to a COVID outbreak with the Hartford Wolf Pack, according to Arthur Staple of The Athletic. Huska was basically the only option, given 23-year-old Tyler Wall is the only other goaltender signed to an NHL contract in the organization. Wall has 19 games of professional experience, eight of them coming at the ECHL level this season.

Huska isn’t much further along in his career, but with Shesterkin only expected to miss a few games the 24-year-old likely isn’t going to make an appearance anyway. The team will lean on Alexander Georgiev for the time being, as they take on the Chicago Blackhawks (tonight and Tuesday) and Colorado Avalanche (Wednesday). Shesterkin could be activated in time for next Friday’s match, though obviously, the medical staff will have to see how he responds during his week off.

The Rangers have taken a huge step forward this season and much of that is thanks to the outstanding play of Shesterkin, who currently leads the NHL in wins with 13. The 25-year-old netminder has posted a .937 save percentage through 18 appearances and is very much in the mix (or perhaps leading) for the Vezina Trophy. Gallant points out that “rest won’t hurt” the young goaltender, and news of his return in just a week will allow Rangers fans to breathe a huge sigh of relief after what looked like a potentially serious injury last night.

Montreal Canadiens Will Not Make Coaching Change This Season

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The new executive vice president of hockey operations for the Montreal Canadiens met with the media today, as Jeff Gorton did his best to work through an opening statement in French before taking questions. While there were nearly a half dozen questions about the potential of Patrick Roy joining him as general manager–something Gorton would not commit to or rule out–eventually he was also asked about the future of head coach Dominique Ducharme.

Gorton explained that he will not be making a coaching change this season, allowing Ducharme to play out the year before making a decision. There is no question that the position will be evaluated at that point, but Gorton repeatedly said that he needs more time to evaluate the whole organization before making any big decisions like that.

On the topic of general manager, Gorton told reporters that he won’t be making any hire until after Christmas and noted that the team will be potentially looking for an “outside the box” candidate. He and team president Geoff Molson have not yet made a list of candidates, as he continues to get familiar with the organization.

There was also a discussion of building out the analytics and player development departments, with Gorton explaining that it’s necessary to have as much support as possible for players from the moment they are drafted. That could prove very important in the coming years, as Montreal looks like they may need to go through at least a partial rebuild after losing their 19th game of the season last night. The team was outshot 33-20 by the Colorado Avalanche, who were in the second half of a back-to-back. That was the first time Gorton was with the team in person since being hired, but he is headed out on the road with them to Nashville to continue his evaluations.

Ducharme, who is safe through the end of the season, now has a 21-33-9 regular season record overall as head coach of the Canadiens, though he was also the one who took them all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals. In July, he signed a three-year extension that keeps him under contract through 2023-24 and pays him approximately $1.7MM per season.

Several Players Removed From COVID Protocol As Islanders Resume Season

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The New York Islanders will be back on the ice tomorrow against the San Jose Sharks, resuming their schedule after missing the last two games due to a COVID outbreak. Not only that, they’ll have a good amount of reinforcements for the group as well. Anders Lee, Josh Bailey, Adam Pelech, Andy Greene, and Ross Johnston are all out of the COVID protocol, according to head coach Barry Trotz, who spoke with reporters including Andrew Gross of Newsday. Trotz expects four of those five to play tomorrow night.

That’s everyone but Kieffer Bellows, who was the last to enter the protocol before the team was shut down. It also means that if Lee plays tomorrow as expected, it will be the first time the Islanders’ faithful will get to see their captain at the new UBS Arena. Lee has only played on the road so far this season, scoring four goals in 12 games.

“Our playoffs are now” said Trotz today, as the Islanders resume their season looking up from the bottom of the Metropolitan Division standings. They’ve only played 17 games, six fewer than the division-leading Washington Capitals, but have just five wins and 12 points. They’ll be looking to crack an eight-game losing streak and somehow get back into the mix despite a brutal start to the year.

Bruce Cassidy Placed In COVID Protocol

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The COVID announcements are coming fast and furious this morning. After the Edmonton Oilers canceled practice for precautionary reasons, the Boston Bruins report that head coach Bruce Cassidy has entered the protocol. The Bruins are scheduled to take on the Detroit Red Wings this evening. Don Sweeney explained that Cassidy does have mild symptoms and Joe Sacco will take over primary coaching duties in his absence.

It’s certainly not an ideal time for Cassidy to be put in isolation, as the Bruins are win-starved lately and actually sit behind the Red Wings in the standings (though they’ve played four fewer games). Since the head coach has tested positive and is experiencing symptoms, he’ll be held away from the team for a minimum of ten days. That could mean five games without their bench boss, right as the Bruins’ schedule starts to ramp up after a slow first two months.

Remember the team is also without Brad Marchand after he was issued a three-game suspension, meaning the Bruins will be short-handed as they try to leapfrog Detroit and climb back up the Atlantic Division standings. Jake DeBrusk, who is currently hoping for a trade out of town, was at the morning skate and on the fourth line with Erik Haula and Curtis Lazar. The team actually doesn’t currently have the ability to recall anyone from the Providence Bruins, as that team is in their own COVID lockdown after positive cases reached double digits.

As with any COVID designation, but especially that of older coaches and executives, the focus obviously lies on Cassidy’s health. The hockey world hopes the 56-year-old comes through without any serious symptoms and is back on the bench in no time.

Edmonton Oilers Issue Injury Updates

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The Western Conference-leading Edmonton Oilers had a number of names back at practice on Monday, but head coach Dave Tippett was quick to qualify these appearances. As the Oilers look to stay hot and cement themselves as the team to beat out west, they want to be at full strength and are heading in the right direction. However, some players are further along than others in their recoveries.

Defensemen Darnell Nurse and Duncan Keith are the closest to returning to the lineup, per Tippett. Keith has been dealing with a nagging upper-body injury that was reaggravated early last week and has sidelined him since. Nurse landed on injured reserve two weeks ago with a broken finger, but appears ready to go. While Tippett stated that Nurse needs to be officially cleared by the team’s medical staff, which could keep him on the shelf through his three-week recovery timeline, Keith is more of a matter of how he is feeling and when he personally believes he is ready to return. Nurse is the Oilers’ leader in average time on ice while Keith is unsurprisingly the team leader in career time on ice, so Edmonton is eager to get both back on the blue line.

Also within a week or so of returning is forward Devin Shore. While not quite ready to return just yet from an undisclosed upper-body injury, Tippett did not rule out that he could return next week. Though Shore has played a limited role for the Oilers so far, the 27-year-old forward is a useful piece for a team constantly looking for depth up front.

They could receive more reinforcements up front at some point from rookie Dylan Holloway as well. However, of all the players back on the ice at practice, Holloway is the furthest from returning. Holloway initially suffered a fractured wrist back in March which required surgery in September, with Holloway receiving a three-month recovery timeline. Tippett expects the 2020 first-round pick to see his recovery through in full, making it unlikely that he plays at all in December. Still, the fact that he is back skating is encouraging for the Oilers, who would very much like to see the talented young forward in NHL action.

Finally, the most high-profile injury in Edmonton this season has belonged to expected starting goaltender Mike Smith. Smith landed on injured reserve in October and it was unclear how long the veteran netminder would remain on the shelf. The situation became more muddied earlier this month when he suffered a setback just as he was expected to return. Well, Smith has been on the ice four days in a row now according to Tippett, including taking live shots for the first time today. With Mikko Koskinen playing well, the Oilers won’t rush the 39-year-old Smith back into action, but it seems like he is poised to return sooner rather than later.

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