Western Notes: Kase, Sikura, Schmidt, Gurianov
Good news for the Anaheim Ducks as the team learned today that barring a setback, forward Ondrej Kase is expected to make his debut on Monday, according to Eric Stephens of The Athletic. Kase has been reportedly skating on a line with teammates Ryan Kesler and Nick Ritchie.
Many people felt that Kase might take his game to a new level this year after posting a 20-goal season a year ago. The 23-year-old, however, suffered a concussion during the team’s final preseason game and has been out since then. The former seventh-round pick has done a nice job working his way through the Ducks’ system and earning a full-time role with the team. He was rewarded over the summer with a three-year, $7.8MM ($2.6MM AAV) bridge deal. Hopefully, he can step in right away and help out a struggling team that has gone 2-7-2 in their last 11 games.
- NBC Sports’ Charlie Roumeliotis suggests that new Chicago Blackhawks head coach Jeremy Colliton will be keeping a close eye on his former team, the Rockford Ice Hogs as its very likely he will want to continue the team’s youth movement by bringing up several of their top players from there at some point during the season. At the top of the list would likely be winger Dylan Sikura, who is faring well there in his rookie campaign after four years at Northeastern University. Sikura has five goals and 12 points in 15 AHL games. “First of all, I care about the team, I care about the players, I care about the people who are down there,” said Colliton. “So it’s only natural for me to keep my fingers on the pulse. But we want to build as much depth as we can within this group and that includes the guys in Rockford. Because there are going to be injuries, and we want competition, that it’s not a given you’re going to play or not a given you’re going to have a certain role and that’s healthy for everyone and it’s going to push everyone to be better.”
- The Vegas Golden Knights should get a boost in one week when suspended defenseman Nate Schmidt becomes eligible to return. The speedy defenseman has been missed by his team as they struggle through the early part of the schedule. SinBin Vegas’ Steve Carp writes that Schmidt should immediately return to the role as the team’s leader in minutes played and shutdown defender as well inject both special teams’ units with his talents. However, the team doesn’t have the luxury of easing him in as other teams might considering the team’s inability to string together wins.
- Despite scoring his first NHL goal of his career, Dallas Stars prospect Denis Gurianov was returned back to the AHL Sunday and while the 21-year-old impressed, The Athletic’s Sean Shapiro reports that the team made the move for cap reasons. Regardless, the team believes that while Gurianov has come a long way since last season when he was scratched during multiple games in the AHL playoffs, he still hasn’t done enough to force his way into a permanent role with Dallas.
Minor Transactions: 11/11/18
With a busy 11-game schedule Saturday, the NHL remains busy on Sunday with another six games. With all that action, teams are going to make moves to re-stock their roster. Check out our updated transactions throughout the day:
- The Boston Bruins announced they have recalled defenseman Jeremy Lauzon from the Providence Bruins of the AHL on an emergency basis. The 21-year-old has already appeared in four games for Boston as well as another eight for Providence. In fact, if Lauzon gets called upon to play today, he’ll be playing in his third straight game in consecutive days. He was recalled as defenseman Brandon Carlo is listed as questionable after suffering an upper-body injury late in the game Saturday. Lauzon will play for Carlo, if he can’t go.
- The Dallas Stars announced they have assigned forward Denis Gurianov and defenseman Dillon Heatherington to the Texas Stars of the AHL. Gurianov has been a solid addition to the team, posting his first NHL goal Saturday in their 5-4 overtime loss to Nashville. He has been thriving in Texas, putting up six goals and 12 points 11 games there. Heatherington has appeared in five games for Dallas, posting one assist. He’s played in 10 games for Texas this season, accumulating four points. While there are no corresponding moves, it’s likely that the Stars hope that one of their injured forwards could return as both Alexander Radulov and Brett Ritchie both were practicing today, suggesting one, if not both, could be back soon. Heatherington’s demotion suggests the team was more impressed by defenseman Ben Gleason, who played well for Dallas Saturday.
- The Minnesota Wild announced they have assigned forward Matt Read to the Iowa Wild of the AHL. The 32-year-old Read played five games for Minnesota and had six shots on goal, but failed to tally a point in that time. In Iowa, he has two points in seven games. With Matt Hendricks feeling better and able to fill in when needed, Read became expendable.
- It looks like there may not be a “super line” in Bakersfield after all as center Cooper Marody, who many expected would center the elite line of Jesse Puljujarvi and Kailer Yamamoto, has been recalled by the Edmonton Oilers Sunday. Marody will be making his second appearance with the team this year as he played two games with the Oilers earlier, but failed to score. He has three goals and 10 points in seven Bakersfield games this year.
- CapFriendly reports that the Los Angeles Kings have assigned forward Matt Luff to the Ontario Reign of the AHL. The 21-year-old failed to score in three games and will return to Ontario where he compiled six goals and 12 points in just eight games.
Martin Hanzal Skates With The Team For The First Time
- Stars center Martin Hanzal has been cleared for contact and skated with the team for the first time this season on Friday, notes Matthew DeFranks of the Dallas Morning News. He underwent spinal fusion surgery back in June and has been out since then. The original timeline for his return was early December but if he has the green light already, he may be able to make it back a little earlier. Hanzal’s first season in Dallas was nothing short of disastrous due to frequent injuries but if healthy, he can still be an effective player down the middle, particularly at the faceoff dot.
Dallas Acquires Taylor Fedun From Buffalo
The Stars have added some defensive depth, acquiring defenseman Taylor Fedun from the Sabres in exchange for a conditional 2020 seventh-round pick. Both teams have announced the swap. The pick will only be conveyed if Fedun plays in 25 or more games with Dallas this season.
Fedun has played in nine games so far this season with Buffalo’s AHL affiliate in Rochester, collecting five assists. He will remain at the minor league level for the time being as the Stars have already assigned him to AHL Texas.
The 30-year-old has seen action at the NHL level in each of the last five seasons, amassing 46 games between the Oilers, Sharks, Canucks, and Sabres. Overall, he has two goals and 13 assists in that span while averaging a respectable 14:08 per night in ice time. He’s in the final season of a two-year, two-way deal that pays the league minimum $650K in the NHL and $300K in the AHL.
Dallas is in need of some depth on the back end as they’ve been bit by the injury bug. Connor Carrick, John Klingberg, Stephen Johns, and Marc Methot are all banged up at the moment which has stretched their organizational depth pretty thin. Fedun has shown in the past that he can be called upon when injuries strike so even though he’ll start in the minors, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him called up before too long.
2006 NHL Draft Take Two: Twenty-Seventh Overall Pick
Hindsight is an amazing thing, and allows us to look back and wonder “what could have been.” Though perfection is attempted, scouting and draft selection is far from an exact science and sometimes, it doesn’t work out the way teams – or players – intended. For every Patrick Kane, there is a Patrik Stefan.
Our look back at the 2006 NHL Entry Draft is now in full swing as we poll the PHR community to see who would have been selected in the first round and in what order knowing what we know now. Through the first 21 picks, we’ve already seen potential Hall of Fame players switch teams, and multiple captains move up and down the draft board.
Here are the results of the redraft so far:
1st Overall: Jonathan Toews (St. Louis Blues)
2nd Overall: Claude Giroux (Pittsburgh Penguins)
3rd Overall: Nicklas Backstrom (Chicago Blackhawks)
4th Overall: Brad Marchand (Washington Capitals)
5th Overall: Phil Kessel (Boston Bruins)
6th Overall: Jordan Staal (Columbus Blue Jackets)
7th Overall: Milan Lucic (New York Islanders)
8th Overall: Kyle Okposo (Phoenix Coyotes)
9th Overall: Erik Johnson (Minnesota Wild)
10th Overall: Derick Brassard (Florida Panthers)
11th Overall: Bryan Little (Los Angeles Kings)
12th Overall: Nick Foligno (Atlanta Thrashers)
13th Overall: Semyon Varlamov (Toronto Maple Leafs)
14th Overall: Artem Anisimov (Vancouver Canucks)
15th Overall: Michael Grabner (Tampa Bay Lightning)
16th Overall: Patrik Berglund (San Jose Sharks)
17th Overall: Jeff Petry (Los Angeles Kings)
18th Overall: Jonathan Bernier (Colorado Avalanche)
19th Overall: Mathieu Perreault (Anaheim Ducks)
20th Overall: Michael Frolik (Montreal Canadiens)
21st Overall: Cal Clutterbuck (New York Rangers)
22nd Overall: James Reimer (Philadelphia Flyers)
23rd Overall: Leo Komarov (Washington Capitals)
24th Overall: Steve Mason (Buffalo Sabres)
25th Overall: Michal Neuvirth (St. Louis Blues)
26th Overall: Chris Stewart (Calgary Flames)
Stewart winds up dropping eight spots from his original selection but still managed to remain in the first round. He looked to have considerable promise following his sophomore NHL season in 2009-10 where he potted 28 goals and 36 assists in 77 games with Colorado. That, along with a solid start the following season, was enough to help convince St. Louis to part with young blueliner Erik Johnson, who was the number one pick back in 2006; the Blues also added Kevin Shattenkirk in that trade.
Although Stewart finished up the 2010-11 campaign strong, things started to go downhill for him after that. He became more of a secondary scorer with St. Louis and at the trade deadline in 2014, he was flipped to Buffalo as part of a deal that the Blues pick up goaltender Ryan Miller in an effort to shore up their goaltending.
Stewart’s stay with Buffalo didn’t last too long as at the trade deadline one year later, he was moved to Minnesota for a second-round pick although his stay there was even shorter. In the summer of 2015, he left the Wild to sign in Anaheim but after struggling with the Ducks, he went back to Minnesota in free agency one year later. Last season, the Wild opted to place him on waivers late in the year where he coincidentally wound up with Calgary.
Stewart was unable to land an NHL contract over the summer and opted to sign with Slovan Bratislava of the KHL in September. However, before he had even played a game, he decided to head back across the pond and signed with Hamilton of the ACH where he has played once so far this season.
As things stand, Stewart sits fourteenth overall in points from this draft class with 321 (160-161) in 652 games. It’s still possible he could add to that total if he can catch on with another team down the road but given his declining speed and the fact he couldn’t get a deal this summer, that’s far from a guarantee.
We now move to the twenty-seventh selection which was held by Dallas. They initially selected defenseman Ivan Vishnevskiy, a productive player at the junior level but saw limited NHL success. He played in just five games with Dallas and has been in the KHL since the conclusion of his entry-level contract.
As a result, the Stars are set to wind up with a better player with this selection than their original one. Who should they take? Have your say by voting in the poll below.
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Minor Transactions: 11/10/18
As usual, it’s a busy Saturday around the NHL with 22 teams in action. As a result, there is bound to be plenty of roster movement throughout the day. We’ll keep tabs on those moves here.
- The Bruins announced that they have recalled goaltender Dan Vladar from Providence of the AHL on an emergency basis. He’s taking the place of Tuukka Rask who was granted a leave of absence on Friday. After spending most of last season at the ECHL level, Vladar is off to a solid start with Providence this season, posting a 2.52 GAA and a .909 SV% in seven appearances so far.
- Logan Shaw‘s time with Anaheim’s farm team has come to an end. The San Diego Gulls announced (Twitter link) that they have released the 26-year-old from his AHL contract. Shaw was off to a strong start with the Gulls, collecting five points in seven games to start the season. It’s likely that he will be looking for an opportunity with a team that is in need of some depth down the middle after playing in 72 games last season between the Ducks and the Canadiens.
- The Stars have brought up defenseman Ben Gleason, per a team release. The 20-year-old is off to a strong start to his first professional season, picking up six points in eleven games to lead all Texas blueliners. Gleason signed with Dallas as an undrafted free agent back in September and should get an opportunity to play quickly with four defensemen currently injured.
- The Anaheim Ducks announced they have assigned forward Max Comtois to the San Diego Gulls of the AHL on a long-term conditioning loan. Comtois was placed on injured reserve on Oct. 27 after sustaining a lower-body injury and has already missed eight games with the injury. He will likely stick there for up to six days or up to three games. The impending return of the 19-year-old would be good news for Anaheim, who has struggled scoring goals. The second-rounder from 2017 put up an impressive two goals and seven points in 10 games this season.
Minor Transactions: 11/09/18
The NHL is unusually active for a Friday night, with six games on the schedule including the Hall of Fame game in Toronto. The New Jersey Devils will take part in the game honoring the new inductees which include Martin Brodeur, Martin St. Louis, Willie O’Ree, Alexander Yakushev, Jayna Hefford and Gary Bettman. As the league prepares to induct some of the greatest to play the game, we’ll keep track on all the more minor moves around the league.
- The Tampa Bay Lightning have reassigned Cameron Gaunce to the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL after almost two weeks with the team. Gaunce never did suit up for the Lightning, and will now try to get back into game shape with the Crunch. The 28-year old defenseman will likely be the extra man called up several times this season, though his playing time is expected to be restricted to mostly the minor leagues.
- Given John Klingberg‘s injury, the Dallas Stars have recalled defenseman Joel Hanley from the minor leagues. They’ve also moved both Klingberg and Alexander Radulov to injured reserve, though the latter’s stint is retroactive to October 30th. Hanley has five points in 11 AHL games this season, and will try to force his way into the NHL lineup now that they’re missing a big part of their blue line for at least a month.
- The Ottawa Senators have returned Erik Burgdoerfer to the minor leagues, even as they start their short two-game road trip in Florida. Burgdoerfer has played in just a single game with Ottawa this season, and will spend most of the year in the minor leagues.
- Jesper Bratt has been officially activated by the Devils and should be in the lineup tonight, a move that needed no corresponding transaction given that Eddie Lack cleared waivers and can remain in the minor leagues. Lack had been on conditioning loan to the Binghamton Devils and will now stay there on assignment. The Devils have sent Kurtis Gabriel back to the AHL though, in order to activate Stefan Noesen for tonight’s game.
- The Anaheim Ducks have returned a pair of young players to the AHL. The team announced that forward Sam Carrick and defenseman Andy Welinski have been reassigned to the San Diego Gulls. Both players have logged considerable time in the minors already this season, but have only suited up for eight games total for the Ducks.
John Klingberg Out At Least Four Weeks
The Dallas Stars won their game last night over the San Jose Sharks, but are coming out of it with a huge loss from the roster. John Klingberg has suffered a hand injury and needed surgery this morning. Head coach Jim Montgomery told reporters including Mark Stepneski of NHL.com that the star defenseman will be out at least four weeks.
It’s hard to imagine a time when the Stars are well prepared to deal with the loss of a superstar talent like Klingberg, one of the league’s premiere offensive defenseman and powerplay quarterback, but here we are. With the emergence of Miro Heiskanen on the Dallas blue line, the team should be able to fill in the holes and remain competitive. The first powerplay unit will now belong to the 19-year old rookie, who is already logging more than 22 minutes a night and could see even more in Klingberg’s absence. Heiskanen has gone from a relatively unknown Finnish player, to third overall draft pick to Calder Trophy hopeful in the span of just a few years, and now will assume the role of number one defenseman on Dallas, for the next month at least.
That doesn’t mean that losing Klingberg won’t hurt, it will. The Stars are playing better this season and are now 9-6-1 on the year, but still have plenty of work to do to become the Stanley Cup contenders that they hope to be. Some of that work will be accomplished when Radulov returns from injury—something he is eligible to do at any time given the backdating of his IR stint—but more needs to come from the lower part of the forward group. Devin Shore and Jason Spezza are the only two players not named Radulov, Jamie Benn or Tyler Seguin with ten or more points on the season, while expected contributors like Blake Comeau and Valeri Nichushkin have been almost invisible on the scoresheet. In Klingberg’s absence, the team will need players like that to step up and provide some offense, instead of just keeping the puck out of their own net.
Dallas Stars Recall Denis Gurianov
It hasn’t been a smooth ride for Denis Gurianov since being selected 12th overall in 2015, but he may finally be getting his chance to prove himself at the NHL level. The 21-year old forward has been recalled by the Dallas Stars, replacing Justin Dowling on the roster. The team is getting back from a long road trip, and will play their next four games at home starting tomorrow night against the San Jose Sharks.
Gurianov hasn’t played in an NHL game since making his debut in April 2017, and for good reason. His play in the minor leagues has been inconsistent at best, and frustrating enough to even be scratched at times during the Texas Stars recent Calder Cup run. That inconsistency has seemed to disappear this season though, as Gurianov has often been the best player on the ice for Texas and leads the club with 12 points in 11 games. The 6’2″ forward still has huge potential, and the Stars still hope to squeeze out every drop of it before giving up on him. Why not, given the large draft capital and development time invested in the Russian forward, who first came over to the AHL in 2016. For a team always searching for secondary scoring help, the opportunity is there for Gurianov to establish himself at the NHL level and never look back.
That said, he’ll have to take advantage of that opportunity quickly before the window closes this time around. Brett Ritchie is close to returning from his illness, and Alexander Radulov will obviously be put back into the lineup when he returns from his lower-body injury. The latter was skating recently, and could be back before long for the Stars. If Gurianov is given the green light to play in his second NHL game on Thursday evening, he’ll have to do more than just be a passenger taking in the experience. Showing he can drive puck possession and offensive chances like he has in the minor leagues is a must, or he risks being sent back down to continue his development in the minor leagues.
Pacific Notes: Tanev, Oates, Tippett
The Vancouver Canucks have exceeded expectations so far this season and are about to get even better. With 18 points in 15 games, the Canucks hold the second spot in the Pacific Division right now and are riding a three-game win streak. Yet, they have been without stalwart defenseman Chris Tanev for the past five games and have had to find ways to earn points without his assistance. That ends tonight, as CapFriendly reports that Tanev has been activated from the injured reserve and should be active against the Detroit Red Wings this evening. With Alexander Edler still sidelined, Tanev should step right back into Vancouver’s ice time leader role and will try to improve upon his three total points so far in the campaign. Tanev’s return should be a major boost for the Canucks, who despite their relative success, are still among the bottom third of the league in points against and could use some more stability on the back end, the hallmark of Tanev’s game. To make room for Tanev, CapFriendly additionally notes that young Jalen Chatfield has been returned to the AHL’s Utica Comets. Chatfield, 22, is in his second pro season out of the OHL, but has yet to make his NHL debut.
- Following the firing of John Stevens, hiring of Willie Desjardins, and other re-shuffling of the coaching staff, the Los Angeles Kings continue to make small changes to their operations. Today, GM Rob Blake came to terms on a consulting agreement with Hall of Fame player and former coach Adam Oates, the team announced. Oates, and his Oates Sports Group, currently provide skill evaluation and development services to individual players around the league and beyond. It will be business as usual for the company and their player clients, but now special services will be offered to the Kings. Los Angeles has dealt with speed and finesse issues for years now and this move signifies that they are willing to do whatever it takes to find the solution to those problems. They hope that Oates, who recorded 1420 points over his 19-year NHL career, can lend a major hand in the pursuit of a revamped offense under Desjardins.
- In his latest 31 Thoughts article, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman writes that Dave Tippett has been a hotly rumored name on the NHL coaching market for a while now, with Friedman sounding somewhat surprised that he was not named as the replacement in L.A. or Chicago. When last we heard from the former Dallas Stars and Arizona Coyotes head coach, he had taken an advisory role with the potential Seattle expansion team. When Friedman reached out to Tippett recently for comment on the job market, he confirmed that he was happy with his current role and staying in Seattle. If Tippett really has been approached with coaching offers and has declined in favor of the status quo, that says a lot about his anticipated job with the Seattle expansion team. Tippett seems confident with his current allegiances, indicating that he is likely in line to be the franchise’s first head coach or perhaps even general manager.