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PTO Checkup

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During the offseason NHL teams extended a total of 194 professional tryouts (PTOs) to players trying to earn a professional contract for the upcoming season. Of those 194 players, only eleven earned a permanent NHL/AHL contract. Those lucky 5% have had varied success this season, and this article looks at how those players have fared so far.

Steve Bernier: New York Islanders
Steve Bernier failed to garner a contract on his PTO right away, but the New York Islanders signed him to a one-year, two-way deal on October 24, 2016. The contract pays him $600K (NHL) / $200K (AHL). Bernier has remained with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers—the Islanders’ AHL affiliate—all season, posting 8G and 5A in 15 games.

Gabriel Bourque: Colorado Avalanche
Gabriel Bourque signed a one-year, two-way deal with the Colorado Avalance worth $800K (NHL) / $200K (AHL). The 26 year-old forward has split time with the Avalanche and its AHL affiliate San Antonio Rampage this season. Bourque has failed to register a point with Colorado, but has 3G and 5A in 16 games for San Antonio

Rene Bourque: Colorado Avalanche
Rene Bourque signed a one-year, one-way deal with the Colorado Avalanche worth $650K. Bourque has impressed so far, scoring 8G and 3A in 11 games for the Avalanche. He’s already surpasses last years totals (3G and 5A in 49 games) and could come closer to regaining his prior form.

Justin Fontaine: New York Rangers
Justin Fontaine signed a one-year, two-way deal with the New York Rangers worth $600K (NHL) / $300K (AHL) after failing to earn a contract with the Minnesota Wild. The 29 year-old forward remains in the AHL so far this season and has racked up 3G and 8A in 21 games for the Hartford Wolf Pack.

Nicklas Grossmann: Orebro HK (SHL)
Nicklas Grossmann initially signed a one-year, one-way contract with the Calgary Flames for $575K. The Swedish defenseman lasted three games before the Flames attempted to demote him to the AHL Stockton Heat. Grossmann, however, did not report to Stockton, so Calgary terminated his contract. Grossman failed to register a point in those three games with the Flames.

Eric Gryba: Edmonton Oilers
Eric Gryba signed a one-year, two-way deal with the Edmonton Oilers worth $950K (NHL) / $250K (AHL). The move has not yet panned out as Gryba remains pointless through 14 games. The Oilers placed Gryba on IR on November 30th, and the defenseman is reportly nearing a return. While Gryba was never an offensive defenseman, the Oilers do expect more from him and could send him down if he doesn’t improve when he returns.

Lauri Korpikoski: Dallas Stars
Lauri Korpikoski signed a one-year, one-way contract with the Dallas Stars worth $1MM after failing to sign with the Calgary Flames—the team that initially offered Korpikoski a PTO. In 29 games for the Stars, Korpikoski has 4G and 5A, which is respectable but nothing noteworthy. He’ll have to improve if he wants to stay in the lineup after all the Stars’ injured players return.

Tom McCollum: Calgary Flames
Tom McCollum signed a two-year, two-way deal with the Calgary Flames worth $575K and $650K in the NHL and $175K and $200K in the AHL. Despite the two-year deal, however, McCollum has seen little action. The former first rounder has played 1 game in the AHL with the Stockton Heat and 3 games in the ECHL with the Adirondack Thunder.

Devin Setoguchi: Los Angeles Kings
Devin Setoguchi returned to the NHL this year with the Los Angeles Kings on a one-year, two-way deal worth $575K (NHL) / $45K (AHL). The former eighth overall pick has 3G and 4A in 24 games. Setoguci returns after playing in Switzerland for a year, and is still looking to regain his scoring touch with the Kings.

Jack Skille: Vancouver Canucks
Jack Skille signed a one-year, one-way deal with the Vancouver Canucks worth $700K. In 22 games this season Skille has 3G and 1A and plays less than nine minutes a night. Skille has never lived up to his draft position—7th overall in 2005—and has bounced around the league ever since.

Kris Versteeg: Calgary Flames
Kris Versteeg signed a one-year deal with the Calgary Flames worth $950K after failing to maintain a contract with both SC Bern (Swiss) and the Edmonton Oilers. Versteeg’s SC Bern contract was voided when Versteeg failed his medical exam. In 19 games with the Flames, however, Versteeg has 4G and 7A. So far the signing seems to have paid off for Calgary.

Comparative Standings: One Year Ago

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With the first third of the season completed for all but Columbus (who have amazingly played just 26 games, six fewer than the Winnipeg Jets), there have been some huge swings from a year ago.

Those Blue Jackets are the league’s most improved team, with a staggering 18 more points through 26 games than last season. Their huge swing is only matched by the Dallas Stars equally amazing drop-off of 18 points the other way. The Jackets can attest their improvement to the development of young players like Zach Werenski and Alexander Wennberg, while the Stars have seen a litany of injuries to their star players including Jason Spezza, Patrick Sharp and Johnny Oduya.

The Central Division as a whole is off to a slower start this year, with only the Chicago Blackhawks bettering their 2015-16 record. The Colorado Avalanche, expected to take a step forward with their young core has suffered the exact same fate with 23 points through 27 games.

The two biggest Canadian rebuild stories, Edmonton and Toronto have both improved, though not as largely as the fan bases in each city might have you believe. Four points for the Maple Leafs and five for the Oilers lend credence to the idea that it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish that counts. Though both franchises have a lot to look forward to, keeping up an advanced pace for an entire season is extremely difficult. The two teams finished last season with just 69 and 70 points respectively.

Below are the current standings. In parenthesis is the difference in points through the same amount of games last year.

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Central Notes: Johansson, Landeskog, Goloubef

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The Chicago Tribune’s Chris Hine writes about netminder Lars Johansson, who was called up to take the place of Corey Crawford, who had an emergency appendectomy. Johansson posted a 6-7-1 mark in Rockford for the AHL affiliate IceHogs and will backup Scott Darling, who is expected to play the majority of games in Crawford’s absence. Despite the expectation, Johansson is ready to go when called upon. From Hine:

“If something were to happen (to Darling), absolutely I would be nervous, as excited for any new thing in my career,” Johansson said. “It would be exciting most of all. Just have to make myself prepared as (well) as I can now.”

Head coach Joel Quenneville said that Darling’s play will “dictate” time on the ice, and that Nick Schmaltz’s reassignment has nothing to do with play. Instead, Hine reports, that Schmaltz was sent to Rockford because of roster space and salary cap implications.

In other Central Division news:

  • The Avalanche’s Gabriel Landeskog returned to practice with an orange non-contact jersey writes the Denver Post’s Terry Frei. The Avs captain has been out since November 15th with a lower body injury, and Frei reports that while Landeskog will travel with the team on its four game road trip, he will not suit up for Tuesday’s game against Nashville.Nov 13, 2016; Denver, CO, USA; Colorado Avalanche left wing <a rel=  Since Landeskog’s injury, Colorado has dropped five in a row and the return of its captain sooner would certainly be a boost.
  • Frei also writes about defenseman Cody Goloubef, who was recalled from San Antonio. Goloubef was acquired in a November 28th that saw the Avs send Ryan Stanton to Columbus. Goloubef played back to back games with San Antonio before getting the call up. When Frei talked to Goloubef about why it didn’t work out in Columbus, this is what the defenseman had to say:

“I think I ran into some injury troubles two years in a row,” he said. “Last year I broke my jaw and missed about 30 games. Year before that I hurt my knee and missed 30 games, too, and I always got off to good starts. After that, you get knocked down, shuffled down a little bit and you have to work your was back up. Last year, I found it hard breaking a jaw and trying to come back. You can ask guy who’s done it. It’s hard. I struggled and it’s on me. It’s my job to be ready. That’s what this year is all about.”

All images courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Avalanche Lose Erik Johnson For 6 – 8 Weeks

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It appears to be going from bad to worse in Denver as the Colorado Avalanche, already dead last in the league with just 19 points, will now have to manage without their best defenseman for 6 – 8 weeks, writes Rick Sadowski of NHL.com. Erik Johnson suffered a broken fibula during the second period of the team’s 3 – 0 shutout loss to Dallas Saturday night.

Johnson, the top overall draft selection in the 2006 draft, has tallied 11 points in 23 games for the Avalanche this season. He is tied with Tyson Barrie for the scoring lead among the team’s blue line core while his 10 helpers lead the club. Johnson also ranks just behind Barrie in ice time, averaging over 22 minutes per game.

First-year bench boss Jared Bednar had been using the nine-year veteran defender on the team’s top pairing with Fedor Tyutin, according to Sadowski. However Tyutin missed Saturday’s game with a lower-body injury and is questionable to play in the team’s next game.

Avalanche GM Joe Sakic has already been dealing with questions regarding the logic of keeping his core group of players together and now has to address how best to replace his #1 defenseman. With just $1.3MM in available cap space, it’s unlikely he’ll be able to add a significant player via trade, even if one was available this early in the season. It’s possible the team will have to manage with internal options for the time being, further dampening their postseason chances.

It’s possible the team will recall Cody Goloubef from San Antonio of the AHL. Goloubef was acquired last week in a deal with Columbus involving fellow blue liner Ryan Stanton. Like Johnson, Goloubef is a right-handed shot and he also brings 96 games of NHL experience to the table.

Central Division Snapshots: Lehtera, Parise, Avalanche

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In his latest chat feature appearing in The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Jeremy Rutherford tackles an array of reader questions yesterday. A popular topic for Blues fans are the ongoing struggles of center Jori Lehtera, who St. Louis made a healthy scratch for this evening’s game against Winnipeg.

Lehtera posted a strong rookie campaign in 2014-15, finishing with 14 goals and 44 points in 75 games. He followed that up with a 34-point campaign last season, a noticeable drop off in output but still enough to convince the Blues to ink the 28-year-old Finnish pivot to a three-year deal with an AAV of $4.7MM. As Rutherford noted, the Blues might have been better off waiting another year to prove himself but the team decided to get that deal done so as to allow themselves to focus on re-signing David Backes and Jaden Schwartz. With just seven points in 20 games this season it’s looking like that extension may have indeed been premature.

Rutherford also believes it’s more likely now that the team will leave Lehtera unprotected and available to be taken by the Vegas Golden Knights in next June’s expansion draft. He projects the Blues will choose to protect 10 skaters – seven forwards and three blue liners – but has Lehtera and Ty Rattie as two the team will leave unprotected.

Elsewhere in the Central Division:

  •  Mike Russo of the Star Tribune reports that Zach Parise is indeed healthy, according to the team’s bench boss, Bruce Boudreau. There was concern after the veteran winger blocked a shot in the first period of Minnesota’s recent loss to Calgary. Boudreau described Parise’s skating as “sluggish” and “methodical,” in post-game remarks, which led to the questions pertaining to Parise’s health status. The long-time NHL coach did sit down with Parise along with winger Charlie Coyle, and plans to do the same with center Eric Staal to discuss the line’s recent struggles. As Russo notes, the line is pointless in its last two contests and the trio combined for just two even-strength shots in the Calgary game.
  • Lastly, Colorado GM Joe Sakic is sticking by the team’s core group despite a rough start to the 2016-17 campaign, writes Terry Frei of The Denver Post. The Avalanche are currently tied with Arizona for last place in the Western Conference and are seven points out of a playoff berth. With their season on the verge of slipping away, Sakic still expresses faith in his core – Matt Duchene, Gabriel Landeskog, Semyon Varlamov, Tyson Barrie, Erik Johnson and Nathan MacKinnon – and feels the team needs to play with more urgency in order to get their season back on track: “I have faith in them. But to me, the start is not a core thing; it’s a team thing. I think you see we’re trying to hold people accountable. We know we have certain guys who can give more, and those guys know they can give more, but it’s not like it’s a whole thing. We’re not as consistent as we need to be. We didn’t win two straight Cups and have that leeway. We have to play with that urgency every night on a consistent basis to be successful.” Sakic’s reluctance to break up the team’s core played at least some part in the division between the GM and former head coach Patrick Roy. Unless the Avalanche can turn things around relatively quickly, it’s going to look like Roy, and not Sakic, was correct in his assessment.

Minor Transactions: Ottawa, Colorado, Boston, Arizona

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The Ottawa Senators have re-assigned forward Max McCormick to the AHL’s Binghamton Senators and recalled Buddy Robinson and Andreas Englund. McCormick was used sparingly over the last month with the team, playing in just five games. Even when he did play, McCormick averaged just seven minutes of ice time each game. He has been held scoreless so far this season and has just five shots on goal. The demotion will allow McCormick to get some play time, and the Senators will see if Robinson can bring more to the table in his stead. With just three NHL games under his belt, Robinson is still an unknown at the highest level, but did have a goal and an assist and was a +2 in his short stint with the team last season.

Meanwhile, this is the first career call-up for the young Swedish defenseman Englund. A 2014 second-round pick, Englund is a big, physical defenseman who can bring some added toughness to Ottawa. With Marc Methot day-to-day, it stands to reason that Englund will make his NHL debut tomorrow against the Florida Panthers.

Other promotions and demotions include:

  • The Colorado Avalanche have returned both Samuel Henley and Gabriel Bourque to the AHL’s San Antonio Rampage. Henley made his NHL debut last night and scored his first career goal, but the Avs fell 3-2 to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Considering that Colorado is a team that should take all the scoring it can get (ranked 29th in scoring and goal differential), it seems odd that the team was so quick to send Henley back down. The 23-year-old has not put up big numbers thus far in his pro career, but is just three years removed from being a 30-goal scorer in the QMJHL. With just over five minutes of ice time on his NHL resume, the Avs were quick on the trigger to return this prospect. Bourque, on the other hand, has yet to register a point in six games with Colorado this season. He’s looked more like the player who had four points in 22 games with the Predators in 2015-16 than the player who looked like a future stud in Nashville with 16 points in 34 games in the lockout season of 2012-13. His chances at redemption may be running out.
  • The Boston Bruins have promoted Anton Blidh from the Providence Bruins of the AHL, giving the young Swedish winger his first career call-up. He is expected to make his debut tomorrow in Buffalo, skating on the Bruins’ fourth line. Blidh brings the toughness and intensity that the Bruins love and coach Claude Julien has applauded his work ethic. A Boston team that has a lot of talent but whose effort has been suspect at times this season may just need the boost that a high-energy kid looking to make a name for himself can bring. The 21-year-old has nine points in 16 games and has posted a +8 in Providence. The leap in production from his first season in North America last year to this year has been apparent.
  • The Arizona Coyotes have re-called Tyler Gaudet from the AHL’s Tuscon Roadrunners. A young team with deep minor league depth, Arizona has made frequent moves between Tuscon this season. Maybe it’s the shorter distance compared to when their affiliate was in Springfield, Massachusetts last season. Whatever the reason, the ease by which the Coyotes have promoted and demoted has not benefited Gaudet. The 23-year-old center was able to stick around for longer chunks of time last season, playing in 14 games, and was expected to carve out a role for himself in 2016-17. Instead, he has played in just one game despite being on the active roster multiple different times. Hopefully for Gaudet, he gets to stick around, but don’t be surprised if he’s back in Tuscon by week’s end.

Boucher Waived; Gelinas Clears Waivers

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The New Jersey Devils have placed forward Reid Boucher on waivers.

Boucher has been a healthy scratch for the past week, and with Taylor Hall coming back from injury, the Devils needed to make space on their roster for the return of their superstar.

With just two points in nine games, Boucher has been unable to find last season’s scoring success. The 5’10, 195 lbs center scored 19 points in 39 games with the Devils in 2015-16. If he’s not claimed, look for him to be assigned to the Albany Devils of the AHL, where he’s scored 105 points in 164 games.

Meanwhile, former Devil and current Colorado Avalanche defenseman Eric Gelinas cleared waivers.

The 25-year-old defenseman has just one assist in seven games this year. Gelinas is in his first full season with Colorado after being acquired at the 2016 trade deadline from New Jersey for a 3rd round pick in this year’s draft. Interestingly enough, before the trade to the Avalanche, Gelinas was originally the Devils defenseman that Edmonton GM Peter Chiarelli contacted New Jersey about before talks turned to Adam Larsson.

The 6’4, 215 lbs left-handed defenseman has 55 points in 169 games, but is not considered to be a dependable defenseman because of his defensive awareness. Gelinas is in the final season of a two year deal that carries a cap hit of $1.575MM.

Central Notes: Campbell, Yakupov, Avalanche, Nashville Injuries

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Although defenseman Brian Campbell wound up declining a bigger contract offer from Florida both in terms of years and dollars, he told George Richards of the Miami Herald that he has no regrets about spurning that in order to return to Chicago:

“I’m smiling now, I’m happy. I don’t look back and I know I made the right decision when I signed here. I did it for my family and for myself as a hockey player. Hopefully I have a bunch of years left but I want to make the most of them.”

Back in June, GM Tom Rowe offered Campbell a two year, $8MM deal in the hopes that negotiations would ensue from there.  However, the 37 year old had his heart set on going back to Chicago where he and his family kept a summer home there despite the fact that he had been traded from the Blackhawks back in 2011.  Given that Chicago is perpetually hovering right near the salary cap though, they weren’t able to come close to matching Florida’s initial offer; he wound up for signing for a $1.5MM guarantee and a $750K games played bonus, one that has already been achieved.

Campbell is playing a smaller role than he had with the Panthers as his average ice time is down over three and a half minutes per game from last season.  However, he has been a quality contributor so far for the Blackhawks in a depth role, picking up eight points in 24 games while logging a regular role on the power play.

Elsewhere in the Central Division:

  • Although he has been a healthy scratch in seven of the last 12 games, St. Louis GM Doug Armstrong still stands by his acquisition of Nail Yakupov, writes Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Armstrong feels that the low acquisition price (a conditional third round pick and ECHL prospect Zach Pochiro) makes the move a worthwhile gamble, even if Yakupov only plays a sparing role.  He also highlighted the recent play of right winger Dmitrij Jaskin as one of the reasons that Yakupov hasn’t played as much recently.  Still, it’s fair to wonder if the former number one overall pick in 2012 could be in need of another change of scenery given that his $2.5MM cap hit is steep for the depth role Yakupov currently has.
  • Colorado prospect left winger Sam Henley will make his NHL debut tonight against Columbus, reports Terry Frei of the Denver Post. Henley, an undrafted free agent signing back in 2014, has just four points in 19 games this season with AHL San Antonio but the team is interested in his ability to kill penalties as they’re set to take on the number one power play in the league.  Gabriel Bourque, another checking forward, will also make his season debut and should see time on the penalty kill as well.
  • The Predators have downgraded the status of left winger James Neal from day-to-day to week-to-week, The Tennessean’s Adam Vingan notes. He suffered an upper body injury against Winnipeg last week.  Also, defenseman Anthony Bitetto, who just last week returned after missing 18 games with an upper body injured, suffered a broken hand on Tuesday and will be back on the shelf for another six weeks.

Avalanche Place Eric Gelinas On Waivers

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The Colorado Avalanche have placed defenseman Eric Gelinas on waivers, reports Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman (Twitter link).

Gelinas is in his first full season with Colorado after being acquired by the team at the trade deadline last year from New Jersey in exchange for a 2017 3rd round pick.  However, he has played a sparing role this season, suiting up in just seven games, recording one assist while averaging just 12:30 per game.

The 25 year old is best known for his offensive skill set and size.  He has 55 points (14-41-55) in just 169 games and at 6’4, possesses ideal size for a defender.  However, his play in his own end isn’t the sharpest and as a result, he had been deployed by the Devils as a forward or strictly a power play specialist at times before they dealt him last season.

Gelinas is in the final season of a two year deal that carries a cap hit of $1.575MM.  He’s eligible for restricted free agency at the end of the season and will be due a qualifying offer of $1.65MM.

Still on the waiver wire, Friedman also reported in that tweet that Nashville defender Adam Pardy cleared waivers.  He signed a one year, two-way NHL deal with the team on Wednesday but had to clear waivers to return to Milwaukee of the AHL.

Snapshots: Enstrom, Hall, Landeskog

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The Winnipeg Jets don’t really need it right now, but they’re getting back one of their biggest defensive pieces. While the team has won the last two games over the Predators and Devils, they’ll welcome back Toby Enstrom for tomorrow’s game against Edmonton after the blueliner returned today from Sweden where he’d been dealing with a personal issue.  No word on what the issue was, but it seems like it’s resolved at least for now.

The team has climbed to within one game of .500 on the season with an 11-12-2 record and look to even up with almost a full compliment tomorrow night. According to Ted Wyman of the Winnipeg Sun, Marko Dano, who earlier today tweeted out a photo of the damage done by Kyle Quincey’s stick, has a final appointment tonight to see whether he’s cleared to play tomorrow.

  • Taylor Hall was one of the first Devils players on the ice today for an optional skate according to Andrew Gross of The Record. The superstar winger is working his way back from a knee injury that required surgery earlier this month and was given a 3-4 week timeline for his return. Today is the two week mark, but Hall is hoping a return can come as early as tomorrow evening. Hall had scored 12 points in 14 games before sustaining the injury.
  • The Colorado Avalanche announced that they’re likely putting captain Gabriel Landeskog on injured reserve, clouding the waters surrounding his injury. While it’s not even clear what the forward is suffering from, it’s clear that he won’t be back with the team any time soon as he isn’t even skating with the club. The Avalanche need him back healthy as they’re slipping further and further down the standings. The team now sits in seventh (last) position in the Central Division, five points back of the surging Jets for sixth place.

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