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West Notes: Hayton, Gostisbehere, Wild, Sharks

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Coyotes center Barrett Hayton is expected to undergo hand surgery that will keep him out for the next five to eight weeks, reports Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports (Twitter link).  It has been a disappointing season for the 21-year-old who has been given a much bigger role than he had under Rick Tocchet but it hasn’t materialized in more production as he has just two goals and four assists in 26 games despite playing over 16 minutes a night.  His entry-level deal expires this summer and being out for this long certainly won’t help him build any value for his next contract.

Elsewhere in the Western Conference:

  • Still with Arizona, Shayne Gostisbehere is a player whose fortunes have changed for the better since being dealt to the desert. After Philadelphia had to part with a pair of draft picks to get the Coyotes to take on the rest of his contract, the 28-year-old has picked up 23 points in 32 games to sit second on the team in scoring.  Despite that, GM Bill Armstrong indicated in an interview with Arizona Sports (audio link) that they’re not particularly anxious to move him even though they may be able to get some value for him.  Gostisbehere is signed through 2022-23 with a $4.5MM AAV.
  • The Wild may soon be getting some more bad news on the injury front as Michael Russo of The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that defenseman Jonas Brodin’s upper-body injury is believed to be serious enough to be a long-term issue. He was injured while blocking a shot against Boston on Thursday and leads all Minnesota players in ice time at 23:35 per game.
  • Minnesota should get some good news soon when it comes to their ever-growing injury list, however, as Russo adds in a separate tweet that center Joel Eriksson Ek is ahead of schedule in his recovery from his upper-body injury and could return as soon as Friday. His IR placement earlier today was retroactive and he will still be eligible to play in that game.
  • Meanwhile, as part of a long list of players not playing tonight, the Wild revealed (Twitter link) that defenseman Alex Goligoski has been placed in COVID protocol. He joins Brandon Duhaime and Jordan Greenway as those currently unavailable and if his placement was for a confirmed positive test, he’ll be out for at least the next five days.
  • The Sharks announced (Twitter link) that they’ve added center Nick Bonino along with assistant coach John MacLean to the COVID protocol list. They join center Logan Couture and forward Lane Pederson as those that aren’t available for the time being.

Oilers Place Five Players In COVID Protocol

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Edmonton will be without several players for their next game on Monday against Ottawa as the team announced that wingers Kailer Yamamoto and Brendan Perlini, defensemen Evan Bouchard and Slater Koekkoek, as well as taxi squad goaltender Ilya Konovalov have all entered COVID protocol.  In addition, six members of their support staff have also been placed into protocol.

Yamamoto and Bouchard are the most notable among the new absences.  Yamamoto has been starting to produce more in recent games, collecting six points in his last six games and has been a fixture in Edmonton’s top six for most of the season.  As for Bouchard, his first full NHL season has been a good one as he has notched 19 points in 34 games to lead all Edmonton blueliners in scoring, just ahead of veterans Tyson Barrie and Darnell Nurse.

Assuming the placements are for confirmed positive tests, each player will miss at least the next five days.  They join centers Connor McDavid and Derek Ryan, as well as Barrie, as those that are currently unavailable to COVID protocol.

They won’t be getting any help on the injury front either as Daniel Nugent-Bowman of The Athletic relays (Twitter link) that center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is at least a week away from resuming on-ice activities due to his lower-body injury. He was placed on IR earlier this week with no definitive timetable for a return.  Meanwhile, Nugent-Bowman adds that defenseman Kris Russell is still another week away from returning from his upper-body injury.  The veteran has missed nearly a month so far.

Penguins Place Bryan Rust And Brock McGinn In COVID Protocol

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The Penguins are looking for their 11th straight victory today against Dallas but they will be without a pair of forwards for this one as the team announced (Twitter link) that wingers Bryan Rust and Brock McGinn have been placed in COVID protocol.  Head coach Mike Sullivan clarified that McGinn tested positive yesterday while Rust tested positive this morning.

Rust has been on quite the hot streak lately, collecting seven goals and four assists in just three games since returning from a lower-body injury so the timing for this news is certainly far from ideal.  McGinn, meanwhile, has been a decent secondary scorer in his first season with Pittsburgh, picking up nine goals in 33 games so far.

The two join forward Drew O’Connor as those currently unavailable to COVID protocol.  As a result of the confirmed positive tests, they will miss at least five days past the date they tested positive which will keep McGinn out for at least the next two games and Rust for the next three.  Pittsburgh does get one player back from COVID protocol today, however, as center Jeff Carter returns after missing the last three contests.

Blackhawks Place Three In COVID Protocol

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Prior to their game tonight against Arizona, the Blackhawks announced a long list of roster moves necessitated by the placement of three players in COVID protocol – defenseman Erik Gustafsson, winger Brandon Hagel, and just-acquired center Sam Lafferty.  That resulted in the promotion of defenseman Nicolas Beaudin from the taxi squad to the active roster plus the recalls of winger Mike Hardman and defenseman Ian Mitchell from AHL Rockford.

Hagel is the most notable loss of the three for Chicago as he has been a capable secondary scorer this season with eight goals and eight assists in 30 games.  Gustafsson has seven points in 30 contests in his second stint with the team while Lafferty was just brought in yesterday in a trade with Pittsburgh.  If the placement is for a confirmed positive test, they will miss at least five days.

While Mitchell has been back and forth this season on the back end, Beaudin hasn’t had much of an opportunity with the Blackhawks this season, playing just once back in November.  The 2018 first-rounder played in 19 games last season and was looking to push for a regular spot but that clearly hasn’t happened.  Meanwhile, Hardman has played in 19 games this year for Chicago, mostly on the fourth line and returns after nearly three weeks in the minors.

Chicago also made three more roster moves, calling up wingers Josiah Slavin and Kurtis Gabriel along with defenseman Jakub Galvas from Rockford to their taxi squad.  That brings the Blackhawks up to five players with that group, the others being veteran winger Brett Connolly and goaltender Cale Morris.

Calgary Flames’ Arena Construction Deal Terminated

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The Coronavirus pandemic has claimed another victim. The long-awaited construction of a new arena for the Calgary Flames will no longer begin this year. Instead, the deal is dead. CBC reports that the agreement between the city of Calgary and owners of the Flames on a new arena has officially been terminated. A project that began gaining steam back in 2017, was finalized in 2019, was set to begin construction in 2022, and set to open in 2024 is now completely erased and the Flames are back to square one.

The $600MM project has hit some funding roadblocks along the way as both the city and ownership group have suffered losses during the pandemic. This past summer, with inevitable construction delays on the way, the initial agreement was amended, groundbreaking was pushed to 2022, and the Flames took on an additional $12.5MM in costs. Yet, it seemed like the plan was still on track. However, Calgary mayor Jyodi Gondek stated last month that the team had informed the city that they could not proceed with the agreement as currently constituted. Today, the city announced that the termination of the agreement had been made official due to “unresolved issues”.

Meanwhile, it is estimated that the two sides already contributed $20-25MM into the project, which is now all for not. The city is set to discuss the situation further in the near future, while there has been no word from the Flames side. Today’s announcement did imply that there was no possibility of reformation of any part of the deal, but with financial commitments already made and a concrete plan hammered out, hopefully some semblance of an alternative path forward can be reached.

Otherwise, where the Flames go from here will become a pressing issue in Calgary. The team will continue to play at the Saddledome in the interim, but the old arena is severely outdated and in need of renovations – or replacement, as the team had hoped. Back in 2017, Flames CEO Ken King even publicly threatened relocation of the franchise if the city of Calgary would not help to fund the arena. It then took several years of often heated negotiations for the two sides to reach an agreement. If they have to start from scratch now, the future of the team in Calgary could be cast back into doubt.

Canadiens, Senators Make COVID Protocol Additions

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3:43 pm: More bad COVID news came for the Senators, as defenseman Jacob Bernard-Docker also entered protocol for them Saturday afternoon. With that, they have no extra players on the roster for tonight’s game at the moment.

10:43 am: The calendar has flipped to 2022, but the battle against Coronavirus won’t go away that easy. While the current surge may be producing far more positive results than symptomatic players, the league and its teams will continue to abide by the protocols in place, which will mean more players missing time. The first additions of the new year belong to Atlantic Division and Canadian rivals, the Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens, both of whom are still scheduled to play on Saturday but will be short-handed.

The Senators have announced that forward Nick Paul and defenseman Dillon Heatherington have been placed in the NHL’s COVID Protocol. While Heatherington himself has been a COVID/injury replacement this year, skating in minimal minutes in nine games, Paul is a major loss for the club. The big forward is having a down year thus far compared to his past two campaigns, but still leaves a hole at center on the Sens’ second line. Ottawa has recalled Clark Bishop and Logan Shaw from the taxi squad to help fill the gap up front, while young Lassi Thomson has been promoted from AHL Belleville to add a body on the blue line.

In Montreal, the Canadiens have placed a pair of young starters in forward Jake Evans and defenseman Alexander Romanov into COVID Protocol. This makes 16 players and one coach unavailable for the Habs due to COVID, yet the team plans to proceed with their game this afternoon. Up against the salary cap, Montreal will have to stick with what they have for healthy players, which is expected to be a lineup of 11 forwards and five defensemen.

Senators Place Tyler Ennis And Josh Norris In COVID Protocol

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The Senators are set to return to action tomorrow against Toronto but will be doing so without two of their forwards as the team announced (Twitter link) that center Josh Norris and winger Tyler Ennis have been placed in COVID protocol.  While not every Canadian province has adapted their quarantine protocol to the shorter period, Ontario has which means the two could be back after five days of isolation.

Norris, in particular, is a notable loss for Ottawa as he sits second on the team in scoring with 22 points in 28 games while logging nearly 19 minutes a game of ice time which puts him third among Senators forwards.  Ennis, meanwhile, had a successful training camp PTO and while he has only scored once this season, he has also picked up 11 assists in 26 games, providing a decent return on his $900K price tag.

Earlier this morning, the team announced (Twitter link) that forwards Clark Bishop and Logan Shaw were added to the taxi squad, likely as the corresponding moves for the COVID news. Bishop played in 13 games with Ottawa last season but injuries have limited him to just five games this year, all with AHL Belleville.  As for Shaw, he has a goal and two assists in 16 games with Ottawa this season and just one helper in six AHL contests.

Devils Remove Five From COVID Protocol, Add Two Others

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Dec 29: Jimmy Vesey has joined Tatar and Gillies in the protocol. The Devils have recalled Jesper Boqvist and Marian Studenic from the taxi squad to fill the empty roster spots.

Dec 26: The Devils got some good news and bad news on the COVID front as they returned from the holiday break.  The team announced that winger Tomas Tatar and goaltender Jon Gillies have been placed in protocols but they were able to activate centers Nico Hischier and Jesper Boqvist plus defensemen Ryan Graves, P.K. Subban, and Christian Jaros from the COVID list.  Tatar and Gillies will be out for the next ten days.

Tatar is in his first season with New Jersey after signing a two-year deal with them in the offseason and is off to a quiet start offensively with just six goals in 30 games although his possession stats are once again well above the league average which was also the case when he played with Montreal previously.  Meanwhile, Gillies was just acquired from St. Louis to give them another option between the pipes with both Mackenzie Blackwood and Jonathan Bernier injured.  Fortunately for the Devils, Blackwood has returned to practice and should be ready to play soon.

As for those returning, Hischier sits second on the Devils in assists with 13 in 25 games although his three goals are underwhelming for the 2017 first-overall pick.  Boqvist has been up and down with the team this season and has suited up in eight NHL contests so far.  They’ll get a nice boost on their back end with the returns of Graves and Subban who sit third and fifth respectively in ATOI among New Jersey blueliners while Jaros has had a very limited reserve role.

New Jersey is set to play against Buffalo on Wednesday in their first game back from the break barring any further changes or postponements.

NHL Changes COVID Protocols, Isolation Period

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After the CDC recently updated and shortened recommended isolation periods in the U.S., some sports leagues have followed suit. While there has been plenty of discussion about whether the NHL would be able to since some of their teams reside in Canada, Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reports that the league has done just that.

Provided it is allowed by local health authorities, the isolation period has been shortened to five days for vaccinated players and staff. In the release, it explains the process that it will now use for a confirmed positive case of COVID-19:

  • Isolate for 5 days.
  • If you have a fever, continue to isolate until your fever resolves.
  • If you have no symptoms or your symptoms are resolving after 5 days, you can leave isolation:
    i. after a lab-based PCR test that is negative or that has a CT value >30, or two negative molecular point of care tests collected >2 hours apart
    AND
    ii. medical clearance from your Club physician
    AND
    iii. providing such an exit is permitted by your local health authority
  • You shall continue to always wear a mask around others for 5 additional days, other than for practices and games
  • All other aspects of the Protocol apply, including the criteria for cardiac screening.

The league will re-evaluate these new measures in 14 days, but for now, it could drastically affect the number of games missed by positive cases that experience mild symptoms. Players will still need to test negative to get out of the protocol–something that is different than the NFL, for instance–but there’s at least a chance that they return earlier than previously expected.

Of note, this does not appear to be in effect for Canadian teams or change the 14-day travel restrictions for players who have tested positive. If they have tested positive, they would not be able to accompany their team to Canada for the following two weeks even if they have left the league’s shortened protocol.

Coyotes Add Travis Boyd, Matias Maccelli To COVID Protocol

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The latest victims of the Coronavirus surge across the NHL come from the desert. Ahead of their Tuesday night game against the San Jose Sharks, the Arizona Coyotes have announced that forwards Travis Boyd and Matias Maccelli have in the NHL’s COVID-19 Protocol. The ’Yotes do not play again until January 2, so this could be the only missed game for the duo.

This news is still brutal for Maccelli though, who was set to make his NHL debut tonight. Arizona had expressed its excitement for the rookie forward to join the team just earlier this afternoon. Yet, in the current state of the NHL even the reinforcements are no safe bet to make it into the lineup. Maccelli has been a point-per-game player for the Tucson Roadrunners this season and was named the AHL Rookie of the Month for November, so it is understandable why the rebuilding Coyotes are eager to get the promising 21-year-old into some NHL action.

Boyd is quietly one of the Coyotes’ top players this season. Admittedly, the last-place squad is not scoring many goals, but Boyd is still second on the team with seven tallies as well as fourth in points and first with an unbelievable (though unsustainable) 29.2% shooting percentage. Arizona is fortunate that this is likely just a one-game absence, as they can ill-afford to lose Boyd for an extended period of time.

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