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Latest On Pierre-Luc Dubois

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“You’ll know when I bench somebody” was the retort from John Tortorella earlier this week when Pierre-Luc Dubois missed some shifts late in a Columbus Blue Jackets game. Well, he wasn’t lying. Dubois was stapled to the Columbus bench for the second, third, and overtime periods last night, leading to a career-low in ice time of just 3:55. He received just five shifts total and now isn’t sure whether he will be in the lineup for tomorrow’s Blue Jackets game.

You can imagine, when the rest of the league saw what was happening, it may have piqued their interest in the young forward. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic, who has been all over Dubois’ discontent since the beginning, tweets that the list of teams he believes have expressed interest include the Anaheim Ducks, Minnesota Wild, Montreal Canadiens, Winnipeg Jets, Calgary Flames, Ottawa Senators, New York Rangers, Buffalo Sabres, Philadelphia Flyers, Detroit Red Wings, Washington Capitals and Arizona Coyotes. He explains that the list is not exhaustive but believes that the Blue Jackets would not do a “futures-only” deal for the disgruntled forward and that they want it to be a “hockey deal.”

It’s easy to blame Tortorella, who has had very public clashes with players in the past, but Dubois was certainly not playing up to his capabilities in the early part of the game either. In fact, the young forward told reporters including Jacob Myers of the Columbus Dispatch that he knows he could have been better through the first part of the season. It’s not hard to see how that reduced effort may scare some teams off, though the overall upside of a top-line center like Dubois will be difficult to overlook.

The simple fact is that something has turned rotten between player and organization, leading to a midseason trade seeming like an inevitability at this point. The 22-year-old forward has just one point through his first five games and carries a $5MM cap hit through 2021-22, after which he will still be a restricted free agent.

Several Capitals Players Expected To Miss Four Games

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1:40pm: Samantha Pell of the Washington Post reports that Samsonov tested positive for coronavirus on Tuesday night. It triggered a contact tracing probe, which confirmed that the four Russian players spent time together in a Pittsburgh hotel room where they “watched sports and played video games.” According to Pell, the NHL is not expected to postpone Friday’s game against the Buffalo Sabres.

12:25pm: The four Washington Capitals players that were placed on the COVID Protocol Related Absences list yesterday, Alex Ovechkin, Ilya Samsonov, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and Dmitry Orlov, are now in quarantine. All four are expected to miss at least the next four games, according to head coach Peter Laviolette, who spoke with reporters including Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press. Laviolette also explained that there was a positive virus case among the Capitals players, which led to contact tracing. The team was also fined $100,000 for the protocol breach yesterday.

Though there will be plenty of debate over how the players were punished for gathering in a hotel room, the fact is the Capitals will now have to navigate the next part of the schedule without several key players. The team is set to welcome in the Buffalo Sabres and New York Islanders for two games each over the next week, all matches expected to take place without the foursome. That certainly puts a lot of pressure on someone like Vitek Vanecek, the team’s backup goaltender, who has just two NHL appearances under his belt. Craig Anderson has been recalled from the taxi squad to join him in net for the time being.

Yesterday, Ovechkin released an apology that read:

I regret my choice to spend time together with my teammates in our hotel room and away from the locker room areas. I will learn from this experience.

To be clear, it has not been revealed who (if any) on the team tested positive. The four players were added to the CPRA list and will be unable to practice with the team until they are cleared by the league’s protocols.

Pittsburgh Penguins Announce Multiple Injuries

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The East Division is not having a good day. The Washington Capitals will be without four key players for at least the next week, the Philadelphia Flyers announced several injuries this morning and now the Pittsburgh Penguins want to get in on the fun. Both Marcus Pettersson and Juuso Riikola were absent from today’s practice and Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan told reporters including Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that the former would be out week-to-week and the latter is out “longer term.” Chad Ruhwedel, who was also absent, was excused because of the birth of his child and should be available to the team tomorrow.

These two injuries on defense come after Mike Matheson was already ruled out, meaning the team will likely be forced to insert prospect Pierre-Olivier Joseph. The 21-year-old was acquired in the Phil Kessel trade of 2019 and recorded 17 points in 52 games last season for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Joseph practiced on the third pairing next to Kevin Czuczman, who was recalled to the taxi squad just a few days ago.

This kind of depth test may be common this season as teams try to navigate a condensed schedule with the threat of COVID-19 also looming in the background. At any point, a whole swath of players could be removed from the roster by injury or illness, leaving options thin and playing time abundant. For Pittsburgh specifically, the team is already stuck in the middle of the East Division table at 2-2 and have struggled to keep the puck out of their net. These defensive injuries won’t help that as they continue to play important matches every other day.

Snapshots: Tkachuk, Provorov, Hutton, Pastrnak

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Although his entry-level contract expires after this season, Brady Tkachuk and the Ottawa Senators are not rushing into contract talks. Tkachuk spoke with the media on Wednesday, including The Ottawa Sun’s Ken Warren, and stated that he was happy with the club and not worried about negotiating an extension. “We’re not really talking about (a new contract),” Tkachuk said, “I don’t think that’s the focus for both sides. Our goal right now is to do everything we can to make the playoffs.” Neither side really has much to worry about anyhow. Tkachuk has continually stated that he enjoys playing for the team and living in Ottawa and seems committed to a long-term future with the Senators. And with more than $34MM in projected cap space for next season and few existing long-term contracts to worry about, the club should have no problem giving their young centerpiece whatever he wants in order to ensure a lengthy extension of their relationship.

  • No league discipline is coming for Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov in regards to a net front collision that injured Buffalo Sabres goaltender Carter Hutton on Tuesday. The play in question did look like it was at least partially caused by Hutton’s teammate, Brandon Montour, and there is not nearly enough evidence for NHL Player Safety to state that Provorov was definitively at fault. That hasn’t stopped Sabres head coach Ralph Krueger from publicly stating his disappointment with the situation, though. Krueger tells The Athletic’s Charlie O’Connor that Provorov’s actions were purposeful: “if you look at the way the elbow comes extended, you know what you’re doing.” Krueger believes his team has already been the victims of several bad hits to the head so far this season and is clearly to get some extra attention for the next time such a situation arises. Hutton continued on in the game following the collision, but did not return after the second intermission and is currently questionable for the Sabres’ next game.
  • The Boston Bruins’ scoring woes are one of the early season’s biggest stories, but help is on the way. NHL.com’s Amalie Benjamin writes that David Pastrnak is ahead of schedule in his recovery from off-season hip surgery. Initially expected to return around mid-February, Pastrnak has already re-joined practice as a non-contact participant. Head coach Bruce Cassidy now expects that he could return to action as early as late next week. The reigning Rocket Richard Trophy winner will be a welcome addition to a team that has yet to produce an even strength goal through three games.

NHL Pulls Current Batch of “Tracking” Pucks

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The NHL and its coaches and players are unhappy with one of its newest innovations. Microchipped “tracking” pucks, first introduced in the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs, were intended to bring the league into a new age of technological analysis. However, the current batch of pucks is different than those used seamlessly in the postseason – and people can tell.

NBC Sports reports that a number of players and coaches have complained to the league about the new pucks, which were finished differently than the playoff batch. This included Philadelphia Flyers head coach Alain Vigneault, who claimed the pucks “didn’t slide as well”, and Detroit Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin, who commented the pucks were “bouncing everywhere.” As a result, the NHL has announced that the pucks have been pulled from gameplay, beginning with Tuesday night’s contests. Pucks from last season will be used for the time being.

Fortunately, the league does expect that new tracking pucks will be ready for action soon. The new batch will also undergo testing before being rolled out. Puck tracking information has long been desired in the NHL and they will work hard to make sure they can get that data back as soon as possible.

Snapshots: Hurricanes, Babcock, Avalanche

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Not only have the Carolina Hurricanes had three forwards test positive for COVID-19 today, but Sara Civian of The Athletic also confirms that the reason Jordan Staal was placed on the COVID Protocol Related Absences list was because of a positive test result last week. Staal, who played the Red Wings the night before his positive result, has missed the last two games and is still in Detroit according to Civian. The three new players are likely to isolate in Nashville, while the rest of the team—those who have tested negative—fly back to Raleigh.

Though the Dallas Stars have still not begun their season thanks to an outbreak in training camp, this is the first incident of games being postponed day-of. It almost certainly won’t be the last.

  • Mike Babcock has broken his media silence, as he prepares to work with the NBC broadcast team this weekend. In an exclusive interview with Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic, Babcock talks about the much-publicized incidents with Toronto Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner and Detroit Red Wings forward Johan Franzen. The veteran coach also explains that it is very unlikely that he would be back in the NHL this season and notes that it is “someone else’s turn” behind the bench for Canada at the Olympics, scheduled for next year in Beijing.
  • If you noticed some late-night roster movement by the Colorado Avalanche and wondered why they would need a goalie on an emergency recall, it was answered today when the team announced that Pavel Francouz is out with a lower-body injury. He’s joined on the sideline by Andre Burakovsky who is dealing with an upper-body ailment, with both players listed as day-to-day. The Avalanche will go with seven defensemen tonight and Hunter Miska will serve as the backup to Philipp Grubauer in net.

Lineup Notes: Dubois, Oilers, Blackhawks

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Columbus Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella stated that star center Pierre-Luc Dubois’ trade request would not be a distraction for he or the team this season. In just their third game of the season, that may already be proving untrue. In Monday’s matinee against the Detroit Red Wings, Dubois was seemingly benched for the second half of the second period. He saw just one short shift in the final seven minutes of the frame. When he did play in the second, Dubois also skated on a makeshift fourth line for several shifts. However, it was Dubois who scored the eventual game-winning goal early in the third period and his usage returned to normal the rest of the way. Speaking with the media following the game, Tortorella underplayed Dubois’ usage, stating “You’ll know when I bench someone, don’t try to manifest something…” Given how candid Tortorella has been about the Dubois situation and not letting it become a distraction, there is some believability to his postgame comments. Yet, there was also no reason for Dubois to play so little late in the second, leaving questions of whether there will be continued mind games between coach and player until the trade request is finaly honored.

  • With just two points through their first three games, the Edmonton Oilers are off to a bit of a slow start. Head coach Dave Tippett was honest in his criticism of the team’s play following a 5-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday and with the Habs up again on Monday night, he has made a major change to his defense group. Ethan Bear, one of just three Oilers to play in every game in 2019-20, will be made a healthy scratch. Bear received a specific shout out from his coach for some poor play on Saturday and will take a seat as a result. It is a bold move by Tippett to bench a young, play-driving defenseman who looks to be a major piece for the Oilers’ future, but he hopes the move will inspire some better defensive decisions from Bear moving forward. In the same vein of improving defensively, Caleb Jones will also be scratched on Monday. A young, offensive-minded blue liner like Bear, Jones’ -4 rating is worst among Edmonton defensemen so far. In their place, veteran Kris Russell will draw into the lineup as will rookie William Lagesson. Lagesson has just eight games of NHL experience, with sheltered minutes and zero points no less, but the organization likes his balanced approach to the position and has stated that he will be given more opportunity this season.
  • Through three games – and three losses – it doesn’t look like Collin Delia or Malcolm Subban are ready to be the starter for the Chicago Blackhawks. The pair have allowed 15 goals against for nearly identical 5.00 goals against averages as well as matching save percentages of .848. When Chicago declined to add a veteran goaltender this off-season, it was clear that there would be some growing pains, but this is as bad a start as could have been expected. Enter Kevin Lankinen. Whether this was truly the plan from the start or in response to these early poor results, head coach Jeremy Colliton told the media today that the plan is a to have as close to an even split as possible between Delia, Subban, and Lankinen, with the current taxi squad keeper getting an opportunity soon. Lankinen has yet to make an NHL appearance through two seasons in North America and had just pedestrian AHL numbers last year. However, his performance as an AHL rookie and certainly his play in Finland’s Liiga earlier in his career inspire some hope. It seems Blackhawks fans will get a chance sooner rather than later to see if Lankinen can be an upgrade to their current tandem this season of it will simply be a rotation of three below-average goaltenders.

COVID Notes: Kapanen, Granlund, Gulls-Reign

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Pittsburgh Penguins off-season re-acquisition Kasperi Kapanen has not yet been on the ice with his teammates, but his return is imminent. Kapanen was removed from the NHL’s COVID Protocol on Friday but was still held out of practice on Saturday. However, Mike DeFabo of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette reports that Kapanen took his fourth COVID test today and a fourth negative result will make it his final test. He will be able to re-join the team immediately, with head coach Mike Sullivan stating that they will have him in uniform as quickly as they can once that test result is received. Kapanen, 24, recorded 80 points combined over the past two seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs and is expected to skate with Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel on the Penguins’ top line.

  • Mikael Granlund remains on the NHL’s COVID Protocol list for the Nashville Predators, but progress is being made toward getting him on the ice. Granlund’s return to Nashville was initially delayed due to immigration issues that caused him to miss all of training camp. According to The Athletic’s Adam Vingan, he has now arrived in Nashville and has begun the mandated quarantine following commercial travel. At no point has Granlund tested positive for Coronavirus and he should be eligible to return to the lineup as soon as his quarantine ends. Head coach John Hynes has stated that he expects Granlund to return to a top-six role for the Predators after he recorded 30 points in 63 games last season, more than half of which came after Hynes took over.
  • The San Diego Gulls and Ontario Reign, AHL affiliates of the Anaheim Ducks and L.A. Kings respectively, had intended to begin their preseason tonight with an exhibition game in Irvine, California. However, that game has been canceled due to precautions related to Coronavirus and in adherence with local health protocols. The two teams are scheduled to play on Sunday as well, but no determination has been made on that game yet.

Defense Notes: McQuaid, Klefbom, Yandle, DeAngelo

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Although it was fair to assume that the career of Adam McQuaid was over, seeing as he has not played in close to two years, the physical defenseman has officially announced his retirement to CBC’s Shane Ross. McQuaid, who played ten seasons in the NHL but routinely struggled with the injuries associated with his aggressive style, tells Ross that the pain became too much for him to handle and ultimately made him realize that he could not continue playing. “I guess I’ve known for awhile now that I wouldn’t be playing again,” McQuaid said, “It got to a point where I felt like I really kind of tapped out my body.” McQuaid, who spent the vast majority of his decade-long career with the Boston Bruins, still calls the city home and is feeling much better after hanging up the skates. McQuaid was traded by the Bruins ahead of the 2018-19 season that would be his last, which he split between the New York Rangers and Columbus Blue Jackets. Following off-season knee surgery and still feeling pain from a neck injury, McQuaid did not sign with anyone for the 2019-20 season and made the decision not to attempt a comeback this season either. He finishes his NHL playing career just eight hits short of one thousand and also racked up 834 blocked shots and 694 penalty minutes in 512 games. A feared opponent and a Stanley Cup champion, the rugged blue liner can enjoy retirement having had a strong career.

  • Oscar Klefbom is not retiring, but he is set to miss the entire 2020-21 season with a shoulder injury. Yet, the Edmonton Oilers defenseman still does not have a timeline for his return to action. The player and team decided that Klefbom needed to undergo major surgery to repair his chronic shoulder condition, which has caused him pain and has knocked him out of the lineup on multiple occasions over the past few years. However, that surgery has yet to even be scheduled. Klefbom, who is currently at his home in Sweden, is hoping to have the procedure done with a specialist in Cleveland, but complications due to Coronavirus and its impact on travel and medical scheduling has made setting a date for the surgery more difficult than expected. Klefbom is hoping to go under the knife and begin his recovery sooner rather than later, especially since the length of that recovery period is unknown, but for now will have to wait until the logistics become easier to manage.
  • Could Keith Yandle’s iron man streak be saved after all? In the long run, probably not. However, TSN’s Frank Seravalli does admit that there is a chance that the respected veteran could be in the Florida Panthers’ lineup when they make their season debut on Sunday. Yandle had previously been told that he was not in the team’s plans and would be a healthy scratch moving forward, as evidenced by his exclusion from the “starters” group in recent practices. However, Yandle was back working with the first-team power play on Saturday and then reportedly met with coaches and management after practice to “clear the air”, per Seravalli. It still seems as though Yandle’s future in Florida is in doubt and his full No-Movement Clause and substantial salary will make it difficult for him to be traded, so Yandle’s chances of extending his iron man streak to the NHL record of 965, especially with the Panthers, is extremely unlikely. However, he could further extend his current streak of 844 consecutive games – the fourth-most in NHL history and most for a defenseman – to 845 on Sunday.
  • Another established defenseman who is not in his team’s current plans (however briefly) is the New York Rangers’ Anthony DeAngelo. DeAngelo was a liability defensively in the Rangers’ disappointing debut on Thursday and as a result he will be a healthy scratch on Saturday night, reports the New York Post’s Larry Brooks. DeAngelo, 25, is young and talented and New York is not paying him $4.8MM to sit in the press box for the next two years, but perhaps this benching by head coach David Quinn will instill some more defensive accountability in the dynamic defender.

 

Trade Rumors: Dubois, Byron, Dumba

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The Pierre-Luc Dubois saga in Columbus took a another turn on Wednesday, as always-candid head coach John Tortorella appeared in an interview on 97.1 The Fan and did not hold back in his commentary on the situation surrounding his young forward. While he has not officially requested a trade from the Blue Jackets, contract negotiations with Dubois did not go well and the team has been led to believe that he would prefer a change of scenery. Tortorella took a more direct approach, outright confirming that this is the case:

Yeah, he wants out. He spoke to the team, as we do here. It’s a little bit different than (departed 2019 free agents Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky) were. This is a 22-year-old kid. It doesn’t happen that often, so he has been honest with the group.

Yet, Tortorella is not content with the explanations (or lack thereof) that Dubois has provided he and others. He remains unclear as to what has changed in the talented center, who looked like a budding superstar and long-term cornerstone in Columbus just months ago in the postseason. And if the coach himself is to blame, it doesn’t seem like Tortorella is willing to let that change his style or impact his locker room.

 I wish he was a little bit more honest as far as reasons why. I still haven’t really gotten to that, but I think he needs to speak on that… I think that (conflict) is a really good thing in developing a hockey player.  Now ’Luc’ may not think that. Sometimes these players, especially today’s athletes, think, ’You’re too hard on me, you’re picking on me’ and this and that. Maybe it’s too hard for him. I don’t know. I haven’t been given a reason why he wants to leave. He certainly hasn’t said it to me that ’I don’t want to play for you.’ I think if that’s the reason he should tell me, and he should really basically get in front of it and get up out of here. That’s just the way I think you should do business in this stuff here. There’s no sense of people trying to figure out what’s going on. Let’s get in front of it here and get about our business and try to be the best team we can be… It’s a short leash with me as far as this is concerned. He needs to continue to do the things to help this team win and be the best teammate he can be, or I’m not sure where it goes. It’s a situation and we’ll go to it day by day.

Tortorella’s very public and very honest take on Dubois is not going to make the situation any better, even if the coach is not to blame for the trade request. Initial reports stated that the Blue Jackets may take their time to deal Dubois, waiting to maximize the return as best they can while he hopefully continues to contribute on the ice. However, if the locker room becomes too toxic with a top player at odds with the head coach and openly opposed to any future with the organization, this situation may need a resolution sooner rather than later. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that suitors are already serious about adding Dubois, so if the Blue Jackets need to make a quick trade, they will still have plenty of offers to choose from.

  • The Montreal Canadiens were able to get under the salary cap ceiling, but it was a tight fit. CapFriendly shows the club with only $708K in space for just a 21-man roster. If the Habs want the flexibility to even field a full roster never mind make a trade addition this season, someone has to go. Stu Cowan of the Montreal Gazette writes that the name being whispered is that of Paul Byron. Byron has been a loyal soldier for Montreal over the past five years and has developed into one of the club’s locker room leaders. However, the Canadiens’ off-season additions of Josh Anderson and Tyler Toffoli and the emergence of youngsters Nick Suzuki and Jesperi Kotkaniemi have pushed Byron into a seemingly permanent bottom-six role. In fact, Byron played on the team’s fourth line throughout training camp and in Wednesday’s season opener. At a $3.4MM AAV through 2022-23, Byron is an expensive piece to be playing a checking role. The 31-year-old winger has not been durable either over the past couple of seasons either and may be ill-suited for his new position. Byron has scored at nearly a half-point per-game pace over the past four seasons combined and would be more valuable to another team that is able and willing to keep him in a scoring role. The question is whether that destination exists and, if so, will the Habs ultimately pull the trigger on dealing away a respected veteran.
  • One player enjoying the spotlight of rumor mill being off him for now is Minnesota Wild defenseman Matt Dumba. Dumba has heard the noise for more than a year now, but remains with the Wild; and the talented blue liner is happy about that, he tells TwinCities.com’s Dane Mizutani. Mizutani is not the only one that Dumba has confided in, either. He has also gone directly to GM Bill Guerin and stated that he would like to remain with the team. Guerin will certainly listen to one of his best players, but he has to listen to offers as well with the threat of the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft looming. With fellow top-four defenders Ryan Suter, Jared Spurgeon, and Jonas Brodin all holding No-Movement Clauses in their current contracts and requiring protection from the expansion draft, Dumba would be the odd man out in the standard 7-3 protection scheme. Minnesota will definitely not allow the Seattle Kraken to acquire Dumba for free though, which has prompted his placement on the trade block. However, if Dumba can back up his desire to remain with the Wild with a strong 2020-21 campaign, Guerin may decide to go with the 8-skater protection scheme and expose three forwards rather than the skilled defenseman.

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