West Notes: Kings, Stars Goaltending, Shaw
One of the bigger concerns for the Kings currently is a lack of secondary scoring, notes Elliott Teaford of the LA Daily News. Through 26 games, they have just two players with more than five goals in Jeff Carter and Tanner Pearson.
Over the summer, the team lost Milan Lucic, Kris Versteeg, and Vincent Lecavalier and haven’t really had success replacing them. It was hoped that Teddy Purcell would help at least cover the loss of one of Versteeg or Lecavalier but after collecting just two assists in 12 games, he cleared waivers and has been sent to the minors.
With Los Angeles currently in LTIR as a result of the injury to goaltender Jonathan Quick, they don’t have the financial flexibility to bring another scorer in so they will have to count on players like Anze Kopitar (two goals) and Tyler Toffoli (five goals) to pick up the slack and get back towards the level of production that they’ve provided in recent years.
[Related: Kings Depth Chart]
More from the West:
- The Stars are into their second year with Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi as their goaltending tandem, the most expensive in the league. In a reader mailbag, Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News suggests that it might be in their best interest to move one of them instead of going with the ‘play the hot hand’ strategy that they are running. He also feels that if they were to move one, they’d be better to deal Lehtonen even though he may be the more talented of the two. However, he carries the higher cap hit ($5.9MM with a no-move clause through 2017-18 vs $4.5MM through 2017-18 for Niemi) and given the other goaltenders that are believed to be available, finding a desirable trade may be easier said than done.
- Ducks right winger Logan Shaw admitted to Eric Stephens of the Orange County Register that he was happy to be traded from the Panthers last month. Shaw failed to crack Florida’s lineup and cleared waivers at the beginning of the season but was flipped to Anaheim in a swap of AHL veterans. Since being recalled on the 24th, he has played in all seven games with the Ducks, scoring once. He has made a positive impression on head coach Randy Carlyle, who called Shaw “one of our brighter spots over the last little while”. With the team placing Ryan Garbutt on waivers yesterday, it appears Shaw will be sticking around for a little while yet.
Snapshots: Uncertainty in Dallas, Hanzal
The Dallas Stars are in a precarious position due to a number of factors writes Mike Heika. Besieged by injury, and seemingly in some form of hockey purgatory, Heika begins his column with prose:
The Stars are neither fish nor fowl.
They are not fast, yet they are not slow.
They are not young, yet they are not old.
They are not tough, yet they are not weak.
The Stars have been an enigma this season, expected to build on last year’s successes while bringing along a lot of the young, speedy talent that seemed ready to carry the team. Instead, Heika writes that the injuries to Mattias Janmark and Ales Hemsky altered the plan to include bigger, and albeit slower, forwards. Additionally, a more veteran blue line gave way for youth, which includes a learning curve as it acclimates to NHL talent.
Heika adds that with the uncertainty of the youth delivering, comes the unknowns associated with the 2017 offseason where a number of unrestricted free agents are set to be re-signed or hit the market. Those names include Patrick Sharp, Patrick Eaves, Jiri Hudler, Johnny Oduya, Adam Cracknell and Hemsky. Throw in what many analysts observe as a “shaky” goaltending tandem in Antti Niemi and Kari Lehtonen, and Heika indicates there’s yet another aspect of the team that may see change. Finally, head coach Lindy Ruff is in the final year of his contract.
What does it all mean? The Stars are a team in “no man’s land” according to Heika. Ruff put the team through a tough practice and indicated that the way through the inconsistency was to keep working. Heika is convinced it’s the one way that Dallas can determine what they’re truly made of.
In other Western Conference news:
- Montreal needs help up front and Arizona’s Martin Hanzal may be just the the man to solve their problems writes Navin Vaswani. The 29-year-old could be had for a young NHL ready forward and Vaswani believes Phillip Danault could do the trick. But Vaswani adds that Marc Bergevin isn’t forced to make a trade at all. Pierre LeBrun tweets that he isn’t sure if the Habs’ interest in Hanzal has spiked since the injuries to Alex Galchenyuk and David Desharnais. What he does indicate, is that regardless of what decision they make, injuries are part of the game and the Habs–whether they make a deal or not–must find a way to survive the injuries. LeBrun also adds that Arizona may still make a run at re-signing Hanzal.
Minor Transactions: Stars, Sharks, Isles, Flyers
The Dallas Stars have recalled young center Jason Dickinson from the AHL’s Texas Stars, his first call-up of the season. A first-round pick of the Stars in 2013, Dickinson made his NHL debut late last season, scoring a goal in his very first game. However, Dickinson was then returned to the minors and did not play in the playoffs. Dickinson made his presence felt at the AHL level last season though, with 53 points in 73 games, including 22 goals. He already has ten points in 13 games to begin the new campaign. If the former captain of the OHL’s Guelph Storm had not begun the season on the injured reserve, many believed that he would have made the Stars roster out of camp, given the spot vacated by the injury to Mattias Janmark. Instead, Dickinson will now be looked upon to add a jolt of energy and offense to a Dallas team that has fallen short of expectations so far this season.
Other promotions and demotions:
- The San Jose Sharks have recalled forward Kevin Labanc from the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda (a.k.a the next locker room down). Labanc played in his first NHL game earlier this season after being promoted to the Sharks in early November, but was sent back to the AHL squad just two days ago to get some play time over the weekend. Now, he’s back with the Sharks and looking to stick. In twelve NHL games in 2016-17, Labanc has two goals and two assists, while in eight AHL games he has an impressive 13 points while posting a +8. Labanc has been a revelation of sorts; he scored a combined 227 points in just 133 games with the OHL’s Barrie Colts in the two junior seasons after he was drafted by the Sharks in the sixth round of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft. The Sharks hope he continues to show his offensive upside at the highest level and earns a full-time role with the team this season.
- The New York Islanders gave defenseman Scott Mayfield an emergency promotion today, with Johnny Boychuk suffering from the flu. The 2011 second-round pick has played in a couple games already this season and will make his 14th career NHL start tonight against the cross-town rival New York Rangers. The shutdown defender will skate alongside Thomas Hickey in tonight’s contest.
- In a somewhat surprising move, the Philadelphia Flyers have demoted Scott Laughton again. The 2012 first-round pick has been a fixture in Philadelphia for a few years now, having made his NHL debut the year after he was drafted and then playing in 31 games in 2014-15 and 71 games in 2015-16. The 22-year-old forward plays a tough, two-way game, but that hasn’t been enough to earn him play time with the Flyers this year. Laughton was first sent down to the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms in early November, but was recalled last week with the presumption that he would stick around. Instead, he’s headed back to the AHL, with Taylor Leier on his way up to take his place. Laughton has played in just two NHL games with season and has been held scoreless, but is a point-per-game player for the Phantoms with two goals and six assists in eight games. Although Leier is having a strong season in the AHL, as he did last year, he did not record a point in six games with the Flyers last season. It seems to be a case of Philadelphia preferring an offensive forward in the lineup right now over a defensive one, even if Laughton appears to be a superior player to Leier at the NHL level.
The 2016 All UFA Bust Team
Last week we presented our 2016 All UFA Bargain team, highlighted by Jonathan Marchessault and Chad Johnson, each of whom has provided results well in excess of any expectations based on the contracts they signed this summer. Of course for every free agent bargain in the NHL there is likely at least one free agent signing that will rate as a bust. Strangely enough, only a handful of UFA blue liners inked multiyear pacts this summer with two of the biggest names, Keith Yandle and Alex Goligoski, traded by their previous employers before agreeing to lucrative deals prior to reaching unrestricted free agency. Subsequently, finding two defensemen who have severely under-performed their new contracts was not as easy as expected.
Without further ado, here is Pro Hockey Rumors 2016 All UFA Bust Team.
Forwards
Andrew Ladd (New York Islanders) – Seven years, $38.5MM: The Islanders, needing to replace the scoring tough of Kyle Okposo, reached a lucrative agreement July 1st with veteran left wing Andrew Ladd. It was expected that in addition to 25-goal, 50-point production, Ladd would also add leadership to a relatively young squad. But Ladd has just five points in 23 contests with his new club and has struggled despite seeing a lot of early-season ice time with John Tavares.
Many were critical of the Ladd contract, primarily due to the seven-year term. Ladd, soon to turn 31, already has nearly 800 regular season games under his belt and likely won’t remain productive into his mid-to-late-30’s. However it was at least expected that Ladd would maintain his 20-goal plus production through the first half of his deal.
Mikkel Boedker (San Jose Sharks) – Four years, $16MM: After falling to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup Final last June, the San Jose Sharks decided they needed to add some speed to help keep up against the league’s quicker clubs. Enter Boedker, who had tied his career-high in points, tallying 51 while splitting the 2015-16 campaign between Arizona and Colorado. Boedker was supposed to help allow the Sharks to ice four quality lines with skill and add some more speed to the lineup. Unfortunately the production – two goals and four points – simply doesn’t measure up to the lofty contract he received.
Dale Weise (Philadelphia Flyers) – Four years, $9.4MM: Weise parlayed an excellent platform season – 14 goals, 27 points – into a nice, multiyear deal with the Flyers this summer despite his late-season struggles following a trade from Montreal to Chicago. The physical winger tallied just one assist in 15 games with the Blackhawks down the stretch. Yet the AAV of $2.35MM is in line with Weise’s full-season production in both 2014-15 and 2015-16. The problem is, Weise has just two goals and four points in 22 game so far on the campaign and that’s not nearly enough to justify his contract.
Defense
Dan Hamhuis (Dallas Stars) – Two years, $7.5MM: The Stars pursued Hamhuis at last season’s trade deadline but the veteran defender elected to exercise his NTC to block a proposed deal to Dallas as he didn’t want to uproot his family at that time. After losing Kris Russell, Jason Demers and Alex Goligoski from last year’s blue line, it seemed only natural that the Stars would turn again to Hamhuis for help. The 13-year-vet has long been a steady performer and the two-year term is reasonable, but he has just five points in 24 games and has been a healthy scratch at times this season. Surely the Stars expected a little more from their investment.
Jason Demers (Florida Panthers) – Five years, $22.5MM: It’s not that Demers is having a terrible year as he is on pace for around 10 goals and 29 points. But Florida remade their blue line in the offseason, moving on from tough, physical defenders Erik Gudbranson and Dmitry Kulikov in favor of better puck movers like Demers. To say that plan hasn’t worked out would be an understatement. Defensively the team is allowing 2.44 goals-per-game, exactly the same as last year. However on offense, the team is averaging 0.51 fewer goals per game. Yes, some of that likely has to do with the injuries to Jonathan Huberdeau and Nick Bjugstad, but the bottom line is the season has been a bitter disappointment for the Panthers and Demers shares in some of the responsibility.
Goalie
James Reimer (Florida Panthers) – Five years, $17MM: With Roberto Luongo now 37, and the upcoming expansion draft at least providing the Panthers with the possibility of getting out from under the final five years of his onerous contract, the Panthers elected to buy the best goalie on the free agent market this summer to provide a competent fallback option. After eight starts this season, Reimer has a Save % under 0.900 and a GAA above 3.0. While a $3.4MM AAV may not be on par with most of the league’s starters, it is excellent money for a backup and Reimer is currently not even playing to that modest level.
Canucks President Trevor Linden Offers Thoughts On Team
In a lengthy Q & A session with Luke Fox of Sportsnet, Trevor Linden, president of the Vancouver Canucks, offered his thoughts on the direction of the team, among many other topics. The entire interview is well worth the read but here are a few of the highlights:
- When asked about the biggest positive so far this season, Linden spoke of the team’s youthful defense: “Tonight we’ll have the youngest defence core in the National Hockey League. Our oldest defenceman will be 26-year-old [Luca] Sbisa and [Philip] Larsen. Gudbranson’s 24. [Ben] Hutton’s 23. [Troy] Stecher and [Nikita] Tryamkin are 22. That’s a new group. We’ve rebuilt that defence.” Not only is Sbisa the gray beard of the crew, he is also the longest-tenured member of the blue line, now in his third season with the team. From that perspective Linden is spot on in his assessment that Vancouver has essentially rebuilt the team’s defense. But it remains to be seen whether this young group can develop into one of the league’s top blue line units.
- Interestingly enough, when discussing the defense, Linden also touched on the Sedins, Henrik and Daniel. The executive admitted there is no chance the team will trade their longtime stars, unless requested by the twins to do so: “Two guys that, quite simply, were just never going to be moved. That’s 33 (Henrik) and 22 (Daniel). They’re going to be here until they decide to not be here.” The Sedins are no longer in their prime but are still capable of producing solid offensive numbers commensurate with top-six forwards – Daniel has 14 points and Henrik 15 through 24 games this season. Dealing the twins would fast-forward the Vancouver rebuild tremendously given the quality assets they would be able to get in exchange. Of course finding a trade scenario that works for Vancouver would be difficult. With NMC’s in hand, it’s certain the duo would insist on continuing to play together. Not many teams will have enough room, even at the trade deadline, to accommodate the Sedin’s combined cap charge. Still, it’s a scenario Linden should not-so-easily dismiss.
Stars Place Patrick Sharp On IR
The Dallas Stars, who have battled injuries to key contributors throughout the 206-17 campaign, lost Patrick Sharp for the second time this season. The club announced today, via their official Twitter account, that they have placed the 34-year-old winger on IR retroactive to December first.
Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News adds the Stars head coach Lindy Ruff has said that Sharp is back in the concussion protocol. Sharp missed a month earlier this season with the initial head injury. In 11 games this year, Sharp has tallied just a single goal and two points while averaging better than 16:30 of ice time per game.
Now in his 14th NHL season, Sharp has netted 270 goals and 583 points in 832 NHL games. He is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent this summer after completing the final season of a five-year deal he originally inked with Chicago. He carries a cap hit of $5.9MM and has a modified NTC which allows Sharp to block trades to 10 teams.
Ruff also said that Curtis McKenzie and Adam Cracknell will draw into the lineup tonight, tweets Heika. Cracknell has three points in 23 appearances on the campaign and hasn’t played since November 28th. He’s been a healthy scratch the last two games for Dallas. McKenzie, himself a healthy scratch for Dallas’ 6 – 2 loss to Pittsburgh on Thursday, has one goal and three points in 16 games this season.
The Stars have also been without forwards Ales Hemsky, Jiri Hudler and Mattias Janmark, among others, for much of the season to date. Veteran defenseman Johnny Oduya has spent the last two weeks on IR as well.
Snapshots: Vegas, Russell, Stars Injury Update
In his latest Rumblings, ESPN analyst Pierre LeBrun wonders about retained-salary transactions between the Vegas Golden Knights and the rest of the NHL around the Expansion Draft.
Vegas GM George McPhee recently asked the NHL if other teams would be allowed to retain salary on players exposed in the Expansion Draft.
For example, the Los Angeles Kings are likely going to expose former captain Dustin Brown. Brown signed an eight-year deal back in 2013, when he was coming off a 52-point pace in the lockout shortened season. Brown’s play fell off a cliff the year before the extension took effect, and has not scored more than 28 points in a season since. The now-third-line-forward has five seasons remaining after this one at a whopping $5.875MM per.
McPhee wanted to know if he could offer to take Brown in the Expansion Draft, as long as Kings GM Dean Lombardi retained some of Brown’s salary. This would make Brown a more palatable pick for the Golden Knights, while the Kings would be able to move on from Brown without the high cost of buying him out.
LeBrun reports that Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly told McPhee that retaining salary would not be allowed with expansion picks. He goes on to write that Vegas will be able to make trades shortly after the final expansion fee payment is made on March 1. This gives Vegas an advantage over previous NHL expansion franchises, because they weren’t allowed to make trades until the Expansion Draft to make trades.
NHL fans (and the league head office) will be watching for GMs to start finding loopholes. While teams won’t be allowed to retain salary for exposed players, McPhee could make an arrangement with a fellow GM to select an agreed upon lesser player and then trade a late round pick in the NHL Entry Draft for a high-priced player with salary retained. In theory, the Golden Knights could take Michael Latta from the Kings, instead of a more notable exposed-player, and then trade a 5th round pick to Los Angeles for Brown with salary retained.
With the NHL watching closely to make sure every transaction passes the smell test, it will be interesting to see if this loophole gets taken advantage of, or if it’s closed before McPhee and the Golden Knights take advantage of it.
- After the Oilers 6-3 win over the Jets on Thursday night, Postmedia’s Jim Matheson argued that the Oilers should try and make a handshake deal with Kris Russell to sign after the expansion draft, which would likely prevent McPhee and the Golden Knights selecting Russell. While Matheson called Russell the Oilers “third-best defenseman” who “really solidified their back-end,” Russell is a divisive figure between the analytics world and the old hockey mindset. He gets poor results based on most analytics metrics, but he’s a well-liked, shot-blocking defenseman. Sportsnet analytics writer Stephen Burtch took a deeper look at Russell’s advanced stats, and found that only two Oilers actually get better results when Russell is on the ice: Benoit Pouliot and Zack Kassian. Meanwhile, Connor McDavid, perhaps the best player in the NHL and its leading scorer, performs markedly worse when Russell is on the ice. McDavid’s expected goals-for goes down nearly 20% when he plays with Russell. Burtch argued that Russell is not the Oilers third-best defenseman, and his skill-set of lowering his team’s goals-against is decent, but also largely based on luck.
- Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News updated the condition of several injured Dallas Stars on Friday morning. While Ales Hemsky and Mattias Janmark are both out until April with hip surgery and knee surgery respectively, Johnny Oduya (lower body) could be back sometime next week. As we reported on Thursday, the pending UFA Oduya may be on the trade block. Meanwhile Jiri Hudler has been out of the lineup with an unknown virus for a month, and remains out with no timeline for his return. The Stars could use some help, as they have a 9-10-6 record and sit in fifth in the Central Division.
Trade Snapshots: Hamilton, Duclair, Oduya
Brian Burke has been doing the rounds to try and squash the idea that Dougie Hamilton was ever on the block. He’s said that the rumors all stem from one team who called Brad Treliving with an “insulting” offer for the young defenseman, and Darren Dreger things he knows who that was. In today’s edition of Insider Trading on TSN, Dreger reported that the Arizona Coyotes offered Anthony Duclair and a draft pick for Hamilton around the time of the draft, but were quickly turned down.
In his wave of interviews, Burke did seem to think that a single GM had made it known to others that he’d made an offer, so if it was indeed John Chayka, perhaps this is simply a case of a new young GM not knowing (or agreeing with) the “way things are done”. The Coyotes have continued to make Duclair available in trade talks as the 21-year old continues to struggle through his second full season in the NHL.
In a segue of professional levels, Pierre LeBrun moved on to the Ottawa Senators who decidedly are not in on Duclair but have been working the phones looking for a bottom-six forward. While the team isn’t looking for a ‘big name’, they do need help with secondary scoring and GM Pierre Dorion has apparently been working the phones to try and find some help. A name that is interesting, though not mentioned in the segment, is the recently waived Reid Boucher of the New Jersey Devils.
LeBrun also mentions that the Dallas Stars are looking to deal from a position of strength as the season continues. Their blueline has been solidified by the breakout of Julius Honka this season, and may spell the end for Johnny Oduya who is a free agent this summer and still an effective puck mover. Even though the team lost Jason Demers, Kris Russell and Alex Goligoski this summer, they continue to pump out solid defenders and now have one too many. For now they’re content in waiting for everyone to get healthy, but as teams around the league struggle to find defensemen, they may find an offer that they just can’t refuse.
Injury Notes: Dano, Oshie, Niskanen
Every hockey player that’s played without a full face-cage has experienced it, that almost-painless moment when you get a stick in the face. The rage boils over you just before the pain rolls in, and you get blood on your brand new gloves. Marko Dano knows it well, after taking a stick from Kyle Quincey in last night’s Winnipeg-New Jersey game. The anger has subsided, and the forward happily celebrated the laceration on twitter today. “Finally look like a real hockey player”.
Dano left the game in the first period and didn’t return, and it’s unclear whether he’ll be able to play in the Jets’ next game. In the photo he sent out, his eye is almost swollen shut. The 22-year old has just six points in fifteen games this season, but looks like he’ll be able to contribute more down the road.
- T.J. Oshie returned to Capitals practice today, but didn’t participate in any contact drills according to Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post. Interestingly, Oshie spent most of the practice paired with Taylor Chorney on defense. Tom Gulitti of NHL.com reports that Oshie is unlikely to play this week, although the forward didn’t rule it out himself.
- More good news from Capitals practice. Matt Niskanen was a full participant today, taking his regular turn with Karl Alzner during all drills. The defenseman has been out since Saturday with a lower-body injury, but seems fully recovered and is expected to play tomorrow when the New York Islanders come to town.
- With the best news of all, Dave Strader returned to the Dallas Stars broadcast booth last night after being diagnosed with cancer this summer. In a touching video, Strader calls out the starting lineups for the Stars in the dressing room, with the team giving him an encouraging cheer after each name. Strader has been a voice in hockey for almost four decades, and though he says he’s not strong enough to call a game just yet, we can’t wait to hear him again.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Travis Moen Retires From Professional Hockey
After fourteen years and 747 career games, veteran forward Travis Moen has announced that he will retire from professional hockey. The 34-year old from Stewart Valley, Saskatchewan hadn’t found a job this season after spending the last two seasons playing sporadically with the Dallas Stars. 
Moen is perhaps best known for his shutdown play alongside Sami Pahlsson and Rob Niedermayer en route to the 2007 Stanley Cup with the Anaheim Ducks. Their play helped the Ducks run roughshod over the rest of the league in those playoffs, losing only five games total. Moen actually was credited with the Cup-winning goal, though it was put into the net by Chris Phillips in one of the biggest NHL bloopers of all time.
The winger would then spend time with the San Jose Sharks before playing for the Montreal Canadiens for parts of six seasons. Though his offensive game never hit that 2006-07 high again, he remained an effective penalty killer and bottom-six checking forward for much of his time there.
Across the 747 games, Moen scored 59 goals and 136 points. He played in a whopping 83 playoff games, adding 19 points and 61 penalty minutes. Always playing with an edge, and willing to drop the mitts at a moment’s notice, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him move into a coaching role one day, as many checking forwards have before.