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Jordan Binnington Suffers Knee Injury

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11:47 AM: Blues head coach Craig Berube has confirmed that Binnington will be out for the rest of the team’s series against the Avalanche.

9:26 AM: Last night’s contest between the Colorado Avalanche and the St. Louis Blues proved to be a costly one for both sides. The Avalanche lost defenseman Samuel Girard for the rest of the playoffs to a broken sternum, and per reports, the Blues have lost starting goaltender Jordan Binnington for what could end up being several weeks. Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic reports that “good sources” say that Binnington suffered a “possible knee sprain” and could be out for “multiple weeks.”

Binnington suffered his knee injury in the first period of yesterday’s game thanks to a collision with his teammate, Calle Rosen, as well as Avalanche forward Nazem Kadri. With just over 13 minutes left to play in the first period, Avalanche forward Artturi Lehkonen fired a shot off Binnington, which left a rebound at the top of the crease. Kadri went to pursue the rebound, and Rosen battled him to prevent that scoring chance. As a result of Kadri’s attempt at the loose puck and Rosen’s presence in the same area, Kadri and Rosen both slammed into Binnington. Binnington initially attempted to warm up for a return to action under the watchful eye of a team trainer, but he seemingly aggravated the injury, which necessitated his exit in favor of backup Ville Husso.

Naturally, the play has been controversial, especially so thanks to Kadri’s disciplinary history. After the game, Blues coach Craig Berube was asked about the incident and gave a simple answer: “Look at Kadri’s reputation, that’s all I have to say.” Despite that general sentiment from many on the Blues’ side, it does not seem as though Kadri will face any repercussions from the league for the incident. Andy Strickland of Bally Sports Midwest reports that the NHL Department of Player Safety is “not expected” to issue any reaction to the incident.

The loss of Binnington comes as a major blow to the Blues’ hopes against the Avalanche. While Binnington’s inconsistent play saw him lose the starter’s crease to Husso in the regular season, he has taken it back with his play in the playoffs. Binnington has a 4-0-1 record and a .949 save percentage in these playoffs, numbers that are significantly better than Husso’s 1-3-0, .891 marks. St. Louis is now down 2-1 in their series, so with Binnington now injured the Blues will need Husso’s regular-season form to re-emerge if they want to have any hope of continuing their season.

Samuel Girard Breaks Sternum, Out Rest Of Playoffs

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10:10pm: Girard suffered a broken sternum on the play according to head coach Jared Bednar. He will miss the rest of the playoffs for Colorado.

8:10pm: The Colorado Avalanche have lost one of their defensemen, at least for the time being. After Samuel Girard was removed from tonight’s game against the St. Louis Blues, he has been taken to a local hospital for further evaluation on an upper-body injury.

Girard was hit hard by Ivan Barbashev behind his own net, and though he got off the ice on his own, will not return. The 24-year-old defenseman had averaged just under 21 minutes a night so far in the playoffs but lasted just 56 seconds in tonight’s match.

For their part, the Blues have also lost starting goaltender Jordan Binnington for the time being. The netminder left after a collision with Nazem Kadri, forcing Ville Husso back into the crease.

The two teams will play again on Monday evening.

Minor Transactions: 05/21/22

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Most of the day-to-day roster shuffling is now complete but there have been a handful of moves made.  We’ll keep track of those here.

  • A day after sending him back down, the Flames have recalled defenseman Juuso Valimaki from AHL Stockton, per the AHL’s transactions log. It’s the third time this week that the 23-year-old has been recalled although he hasn’t seen any game action.  With the Heat set to start their next series on Monday, there’s a good chance that Valimaki – who played in just nine games with Calgary this season – will be sent back down soon.
  • The Avalanche have brought up goaltender Hunter Miska from AHL Colorado and had him at practice today, relays Peter Baugh of The Athletic (Twitter link). Miska will serve as the emergency goalie for the Avs for the time being although with their next series in the minors starting on Monday (against Calgary’s affiliate), he could be shuffled back and forth over the next few days.  At the moment, both Miska and AHL starter Justus Annunen are up with the big club.
  • A year after deciding to try his hand overseas, John Quenneville is looking for a new home after Zurich of the Swiss NLA announced in their transactions log that he has been released. The 26-year-old has played in 42 NHL games over parts of four seasons and could be a candidate to return to North America on a two-way deal this summer after a decent season with the Lions that saw him collect 20 goals and 17 assists in 46 games.

Andreas Wingerli Expected To Sign In SHL

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  • Avalanche winger Andreas Wingerli is expected to return to Skelleftea of the SHL next season, reports Expressen’s Johan Svensson. Colorado signed the 24-year-old last June with an eye on giving him a chance to push for a spot at the back of the roster or play an impact role in the minors.  Neither really happened as Wingerli had just 22 points in 64 games with AHL Colorado this season, a performance that won’t have him pushing for an NHL spot next season.  The Avs can retain Wingerli’s NHL rights with a qualifying offer this summer.

West Notes: Second Round Schedule, Blues, Glendening

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Even with so many Game 7s on the calendar this weekend, we’re starting to receive some clarity on the upcoming Second Round schedule. NHL.com writer Lou Korac reports that it “sounds like” the Second Round matchup between the Colorado Avalanche and St. Louis Blues will start Tuesday, May 17.

With that said, there’s a strong potential we could see an off day with no games on Monday. The only series that could begin on Monday without a team playing back-to-back is the matchups between the Florida Panthers and the winner of tonight’s Game 7 between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning. With the league strictly using an alternating schedule of games during the First Round, it’s not outlandish to say that it’s either two games or no games on Monday night.

Darcy Kuemper Available For The Start Of The Second Round

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It appears as though the Colorado Avalanche will have goaltender Darcy Kuemper back between the pipes when they host either the St. Louis Blues or Minnesota Wild to start the second round next week (link). Kuemper was back at practice today, and while it’s unclear if he would have been able to play had Colorado’s series against the Nashville Predators continued, he will have a few more days to get ready and continue to recover. St. Louis hosts Minnesota tonight in Game 6 of the first round, the Blues holding a 3-2 series lead.

Kuemper was injured late in the first period of Game 3 of round one when Predators forward Ryan Johansen appeared to get his stick blade caught inside of Kuemper’s mask. The goaltender would leave the game, replaced by Pavel Francouz, who started in net for the Avalanche in their series-clinching win in Game 4. An impending UFA, the Avalanche acquired Kuemper this past offseason in a win-now move to give them a star goaltender for this season, perhaps their best chance at a Stanley Cup. Kuemper compiled another strong season in 2021-22, his first with Colorado, posting a .921 save-percentage and 2.54 goals-against average.

Avalanche, Predators Send Several Players To AHL

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Now that they have been eliminated from the playoffs, the 2021-22 season is over for most of the Nashville Predators. Not so for at least three, as Cody Glass, Connor Ingram, and Mathieu Olivier have all been reassigned to the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals to join their Calder Cup run.

Ingram, 25, ended up starting the Predators final three games, despite having just three NHL appearances heading into the playoffs. The young netminder held his own, recording a .913 save percentage and coming oh-so-close to stealing a win from the Colorado Avalanche in game two. Ingram made 49 stops in that overtime loss, easily the highest of his short NHL career to this point. Signed to a one-way contract for next season, he is a candidate to serve as the team’s full-time backup after the strong performance.

Glass, 23, came up at the end of the season and played in two of the four playoff games for Nashville, averaging fewer than ten minutes of ice time and failing to record a point. It was a difficult year for the top prospect, who was forced down to the minor leagues for most of the year after a trade from the Vegas Golden Knights. Instead of complaining though, Glass became a star for the Admirals, scoring 62 points in 66 games to lead the club. With a restricted free agency negotiation upcoming, a good showing in the AHL playoffs would certainly help.

Olivier, 25, played in three of the four playoff games for the Predators, also recording zero points but racking up 12 penalty minutes. The undrafted forward doesn’t do much scoring but can bring a level of physicality to the Admirals series. In 46 games for them this year, he had 11 points and 76 penalty minutes.

Meanwhile, the Avalanche have sent their own reinforcements down as they await the results of the other series. Justus Annunen and Hunter Miska have both been returned to the Colorado Eagles, who start a series against the Ontario Reign tomorrow night. Neither goaltender was ever really expected to play for Colorado, though Darcy Kuemper’s eye injury certainly made it a possibility.

2022 Norris Trophy Finalists Announced

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The NHL has started to release their award finalists, this time announcing the three nominees for the Norris Trophy. The award is given out to the top defenseman “who demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-round ability in the position.” Last year’s winner was Adam Fox of the New York Rangers, but he won’t be defending his title this time around.

This year’s finalists are Roman Josi of the Nashville Predators, Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche, and Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Josi, winner of the award in 2020, nearly reached an unfathomable offensive level this season when he scored 23 goals and 96 points for the Predators. He became the highest-scoring defenseman in nearly three decades and joined a group of Hall of Fame defensemen with at least 96 points in a single season. Only Bobby Orr, Paul Coffey, Al MacInnis, Brian Leetch, Denis Potvin, Phil Housley, and Ray Bourque have ever reached those heights previously, nearly a Mount Rushmore of offensive NHL defensemen. It is the second time he has been named a finalist, following his win two years ago.

Makar, still just 23 years old, has now been a finalist in back-to-back seasons after finishing second in voting last year. The Avalanche phenom led all defensemen with 28 goals and racked up 86 points, pushing his career total just over a point-per-game through three seasons. It’s hard to fathom the ceiling for the 2017 fourth-overall pick, who also took strides defensively this year and once again was one of the most valuable players in the league by many metrics. Makar averaged nearly 26 minutes a game and set highs in more traditional defensive statistics like +/- (+48), blocks (110), and hits (95).

Hedman is probably used to this by now, after being a finalist in each of the last five seasons previous. He won the award in 2018, a season that paled in comparison (at least offensively) to this year. The big Tampa Bay blueliner racked up his first 20-goal season and pied on a career-best 85 points, while playing in all 82 games for the first time in his 13-year career. Averaging more than 25 minutes a night in all situations, Hedman is carving out a career that will have him considered among the very best the game has ever produced when it is all said and done.

Tomorrow, the award announcements will continue with the three finalists for the Vezina Trophy.

Avalanche Recall Justus Annunen

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The Colorado Avalanche have announced that they have recalled goaltender Justus Annunen from their AHL affiliate, the Colorado Eagles. This move comes in the wake of the eye injury starting goaltender Darcy Kuemper suffered in game three against the Nashville Predators.

Although coach Jared Bednar said after the game that Kuemper was “doing better” and had a chance to play in game four, the recall of Annunen indicates that Kuemper is not 100% certain to return for tomorrow’s contest. That hypothesis is further supported by the scenes at the Avalanche’s practice today, as NHL.com’s Nick Cotsonika reports that “two goalies” were on the ice and “Kuemper [was] not one of them.” Cotsonika also relayed comments from Bednar, who said that Kuemper’s “eye is fine” but that there is “swelling” and that he will play only “if the swelling goes down.” So, in the case that Kuemper’s eye does not fully recover by tomorrow’s game, the team has Annunen ready to backup Pavel Francouz, who would start.

Annunen, 22, was the 64th overall pick in the 2018 draft and has been the team’s AHL starting goalie for most of this season. He has a .893 save percentage in 48 games at the AHL level and has gotten into two NHL games this season, where he has a .863 mark. Assuming Francouz stays healthy, it’s unlikely that the still-developing Annunen will need to see playoff action for the Avalanche, so his callup is more about protecting Kuemper than anything else.

Darcy Kuemper Leaves Game With Apparent Facial Injury

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6:39 pm: From Adrian Dater of the Denver Post, Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar said postgame that Kuemper did in fact suffer an eye injury (link). The good news, however, is Bednar noted that Kuemper could actually play in Game Four for Colorado on Monday.

6:06 pm: The Colorado Avalanche announced that goaltender Darcy Kuemper left today’s game and would not return (link). It was late in the first period when Nashville Predators forward Ryan Johansen appeared to accidentally get his stick blade caught in Kuemper’s mask, forcing him to leave the game. He was replaced by Pavel Francouz and later confirmed not to be returning.

Losing Kuemper is nothing short of a major concern for the Avalanche, who acquired him this offseason from the Arizona Coyotes in order to bolster themselves in net ahead of another run at the Stanley Cup. Of course, it’s not yet clear what exactly the nature of Kuemper’s injury is or whether or not he will have to miss any additional time, however an injury near the eye, especially of a goaltender, is concerning.

Kuemper has had some ups and downs for Colorado this season, but ultimately posted a strong .921 save-percentage and 2.54 goals-against average in 57 games. Should Colorado have to go forward with Francouz, they would still be in good hands. The Czech netminder posted nearly identical numbers to Kuemper this season in 21 games, recording a .916 save-percentage and 2.55 goals-against average. Colorado’s situation is one their opponent can empathize with; Nashville lost their starting goaltender, Juuse Saros, ahead of the series, having to rely on a tandem of David Rittich and Connor Ingram.

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