Snapshots: Bruins, Demers, Stars
News and notes from around the NHL this evening:
- The Boston Bruins reassigned goaltender Zane McIntyre to the AHL Providence Bruins tonight just one day after recalling him. McIntyre was called up on an emergency basis yesterday morning after Bruins starter Tuukka Rask hurt himself in practice. The Bruins drafted McIntyre in the 6th round of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft but have yet to start the prospect in a NHL game. Last season McIntyre posted a 2.67 GAA and a .898 Sv% in 31 starts for Providence. This season, however, he is rocking an incredible 0.44GAA and a .977 SV% in three games. McIntyre’s current hot start is probably why the Bruins recalled him rather than highly-touted prospect Malcolm Subban.
- Former NHL Coach Jacques Demers has been released from hospital following a serious infection. Demers was rushed to hospital yesterday after suffering what was believed to be a stroke before receiving a more accurate diagnosis. Demers previously suffered a stroke in April 2016 and endured over three months of physical therapy as he recovered. Demers last coached in Tampa Bay, but is fondly remembered for bringing the Montreal Canadiens to their last Stanley Cup in 1993.
- The Dallas Stars reassigned forward Jason Dickinson today to the Texas Stars, Dallas’s AHL affiliate. Dickinson surprised the organization last year with a tremendous performance in the AHL, scoring 22G and 31A in 73 games. The young prospect played one NHL game last season and managed to score his first NHL goal in the process. Dickinson—Dallas’s 2013 first round draft pick—is expected to spend the majority of the season in the minors, but Dallas’s mounting injury problem may change those plans quickly.
Sunday Evening Review: The Week’s Most Important Posts
Did you miss a post this week? PHR has you covered by highlighting the most important news in the NHL last week:
Top KHL Salaries and their NHL Comparables
KHL insider Aivis Kalnins reported the top 30 KHL player salaries on Monday, and the amounts pale in comparison to their NHL counterparts. The highest paid KHL player is Ilya Kovalchuk, who makes $5.5MM. PHR’s Brett Barrett notes that 99 NHL players make more money than Kovalchuk.
Penguins Goalie Matt Murray Signs Extension
The Penguins signed goaltender Matt Murray to a three-year contract extension worth $3.75MM a year. Murray is currently on the shelf as he recovers from a broken hand suffered in the World Cup of Hockey. The signing signifies the team’s commitment to Murray, and also to moving Marc-Andre Fleury sooner rather than later.
Patrick Sharp Out With Concussion
Dallas Stars forward Patrick Sharp will be out for a significant amount of time after suffering a concussion earlier this week. Sharp was hit by Los Angeles Kings defenseman Brayden McNabb and appeared to hit his head as he fell to the ice. This marks yet another significant injury for the Dallas Stars—Patrick Eaves, Ales Hemsky, and Cody Eakin have yet to start a game this season due to injury.
Douglas Murray Retires
Swedish defenseman Douglas Murray announced his retirement on Friday. The veteran had not received an NHL contract offer this season and did not consider joining another league. He last played in the NHL for the Montreal Canadiens in 2013-14.
Kings Goalie Jeff Zatkoff Injured
The Los Angeles Kings were dealt another goaltending blow as backup Jeff Zatkoff went down with a groin injury. The Kings are already without starter Jonathan Quick, and Zatkoff’s injury means the Kings have to rely on a tandem of Peter Budaj and Jack Campbell. The former is a 34 year-old perennial backup who started one game last season, and the latter was acquired from the Dallas Stars for defenseman Nick Ebert.
Jacques Demers Hospitalized Saturday
Former NHL Coach Jacques Demers was hospitalized yesterday after suffering what appeared to be a second stroke—but was later determined to be an infection. Demers is remembered for coaching the Montreal Canadiens to their last Stanley Cup, and also coached in Tampa Bay, Detroit, St. Louis, and Quebec.
Coyotes Goalie Mike Smith Injured
The Arizona Coyotes are without goaltender Mike Smith again as he suffered a left knee injury in the Coyotes’ loss to the Ottawa Senators. Backup goaltender Louis Domingue will take over the starting duties and the Coyotes will need him to shine if they want to avoid a slow start to the season.
Franchise Faceoff: Calgary Flames vs Montreal Canadiens
There is a common theme among teams that miss the playoffs: weak goaltending. That’s what is credited as the biggest contributor to the demise of the Calgary Flames and Montreal Canadiens last season. The Habs lost all-world goaltender Carey Price early enough to torpedo their chances at the post season, while the Flames have been looking for a reliable netminder since the heyday of Miikka Kiprusoff.
This summer saw a fix for both clubs as the Canadiens got their Vezina winner back from injury, and the Flames brought in two established NHL goalies in Brian Elliott and Chad Johnson. While obviously these are different paths, they’ve provided the same hope to both fan bases. A return to the playoffs is certainly possible for both, though they’re off to much different starts.
Montreal is undefeated in regulation through four games and leads the Atlantic Division with seven points, while the Flames have struggled out of the gate to a 1-3-1 record. The season is very young however, and both teams have more success planned for their immediate future.
The Flames locked up their top two players this summer, inking Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau to long-term deals, while the Habs have youngsters Brendan Gallagher and Alex Galchenyuk looking like stars in their own right. Both franchises have questions on their blueline past their big #1’s (Mark Giordano and Shea Weber), but have intriguing young players filling the holes.
[Calgary Flames Depth Chart vs Montreal Canadiens Depth Chart]
On Monday we asked who would you rather have, the Oilers or Maple Leafs roster and it was remarkably close after almost 500 votes were cast. This week we’ll ask the same of two other teams north of the border.
If you were buying a roster (not all the franchise perks that go with it) to build a championship team, which would you take?
Jeff Zatkoff Suffers Injury; Jack Campbell Recalled
According to Lisa Dillman of the Los Angeles Times (via Helene Elliott), goaltender Jeff Zatkoff has suffered a lower-body injury at practice, and will be unable to play against the Vancouver Canucks tonight. The team has recalled Jack Campbell to take his place on the roster for the game.
With Jonathan Quick already on the shelf for months, any injury in the Kings’ crease weakens their cause even further. Peter Budaj will likely be in net tonight against the Canucks, but the 34-year old hasn’t been an effective NHL starter in years now. For a team who is still in win-now mode, the defense will need to tighten up even further for the next few days at least. As Jon Rosen of FOX Sports reports, Zatkoff’s groin ‘tightened up’ after stopping a shot in practice. While it may not be a major injury yet, groin injuries often linger longer than initially expected.
Campbell, a former 11th overall pick by the Dallas Stars, has never been able to establish himself in the NHL. The 24-year old split the last two seasons between the AHL and ECHL, where he found mixed results. If Zatkoff stays on the shelf for very long, the Kings will need a combination of Budaj and Campbell to keep them competitive. The team sits at 1-3-0 through four games, and sixth in the Pacific Division.
Dallas Notes: Defense, Hemsky, Cracknell
While the Dallas Stars are carrying eight defensemen for the second straight season, head coach Lindy Ruff is changing how he’s handling the extra depth on his roster, writes Mike Heika of the Dallas News. Through just four games, all eight blueliners have played in at least two of those contests, a stark contrast to last season where Ruff predominantly kept his top six the same from game to game. Ruff commented on the decision to cycle some of his defenders in and out of the lineup:
“I want to get everybody going. It’s not really based on play. I have eight defensemen I’ve used throughout the whole training camp. It will sort itself out. It’s not easy for the two guys who are coming out but at the same time that process usually works out where somebody will step up and really become a player that you don’t want to take him out. But I feel all of these guys can play, and I don’t want them sitting too long.”
Last season, the Stars kept waiver-eligible Jamie Oleksiak up with the team the entire season but only played him in 19 games, hardly an ideal situation. Fast forward to this year where the team is reportedly shopping him but his lack of playing time last season will certainly be a factor when it comes to any trade discussions. If their blueline corps stays healthy (which would be a stark contrast to their forward group), it will be interesting to see how long Ruff keeps his rotation going.
[Related: Stars Depth Chart]
Other notes out of Dallas:
- Right winger Ales Hemsky is close to returning from his groin injury and could make his season debut on Saturday, Heika reports in a separate column. The injury came about at last month’s World Cup of Hockey. Hemsky had 13 goals and 26 assists last season and will give an already deep forward group another offensive threat when he does return to the ice.
- Newcomer Adam Cracknell has been one of the early pleasant surprises for the Stars this season, notes Mark Stepneski on the team’s official site. He was brought in over the offseason to give them more depth up front and with the injuries the team has had to deal with, Cracknell has found himself receiving regular ice time. He has two goals and an assist in four games so far this season while spending time both at center and the wing. As players such as Hemsky start to return, Cracknell’s role will likely diminish but for the short-term at least, the 31 year old is giving them good value for a cap hit of only $600K.
Patrick Sharp Sidelined With Concussion-Like Symptoms
According to head coach Lindy Ruff – via a tweet from Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News – winger Patrick Sharp is expected to be out of the Stars lineup “for a while” due to concussion-like symptoms. Sharp was injured on a hard check from Los Angeles defenseman Brayden McNabb along the boards and appeared to hit his head as he fell.
The Stars have been hit particularly hard by injuries so far this season. Patrick Eaves, Ales Hemsky, Mattias Janmark and Cody Eakin have yet to appear in a game for Dallas while free agent addition Jiri Hudler will likely miss the team’s next game with an illness. As Heika notes, the absence of Hudler will likely prompt a call-up from the club’s AHL affiliate.
The loss of Sharp for a significant period of time is a big one for Dallas. The veteran scorer, who is in his 14th NHL season, scored 20 goals and 55 points for the Stars in his first season with the club after being acquired via trade from Chicago. Sharp, 34, is in the final year of a five-year deal with a cap hit of $5.9MM.
Franchise Faceoff: Maple Leafs vs Oilers
It’s a tough thing rebuilding. For all the excitement and hope that prospects give fans, many of them don’t fulfill the promise they show, or just don’t seem to fit into the system you’re trying to build.
For two teams, last year was another one bouncing off the bottom of the league standings, jockeying for the first overall pick. The Toronto Maple Leafs and Edmonton Oilers both have storied histories, championships and hall of fame alumni. But even as one finally retires the numbers of some of its greats, and the other welcomes back the greatest of all time, they both look to young players to find that excitement, and hope.
McDavid, Draisaitl, Eberle or Matthews, Marner, Rielly. Both have a wonderful group of young players led by generational talents, and have shown them off this week. The top two stars of the NHL were Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews this week, both 19-year old kids leading their teams out of the basement.
[Maple Leafs Depth Chart vs Oilers Depth Chart]
We’d love to hear what you think about these two teams. If you were buying a roster (not all the franchise perks that go with it) to build a championship team, which would you take?
Jamie Oleksiak On The Trade Block
Within a catch-all sports article in the Toronto Sun, Steve Simmons slipped in a line implying that Dallas Stars defenseman Jamie Oleksiak was for sale. With a plethora of young blue liners supposedly available across the league, all much more high-profile than Oleksiak, his availability has flown under the radar. However, with the season underway and many teams seeing the holes in their lineups, those who can’t meet the demands for names like Jacob Trouba or Cam Fowler might just end up swinging a deal for the big Dallas defenseman.
The expectations for Oleksiak were high when he was taken 14th overall by the Stars in the 2011 NHL Draft. At 6’7″, and over 250 lbs. at such a young age, Oleksiak had the size and raw power to become a shutdown defenseman in only a short matter of time. After his freshman year at Northeastern University, Oleksiak was drafted by Dallas and decided to move to the junior ranks. His first and only season in the OHL was split between the Saginaw Spirit and Niagara Ice Dogs, and Oleksiak showed his first glimpses of puck-moving ability. Dallas jumped at the chance to sign their up-and-coming star while he was still a teenager, and he rewarded them with the best year of his career with the AHL Texas Stars and even got into 16 games with the big-league team. Every year since, those once-promising numbers have gone down. Oleksiak has been unable to stick in Dallas, and has not had the same production in the AHL either. Last year, injuries kept him from doing much at either level.
Now it looks as if the Stars are trying to sell Oleksiak based on his potential before he’s officially labeled a bust. With little production to use as a selling point, all Dallas has is the size and style of the big blue liner. A big defenseman who has shown an ability to skate and move the puck will always have some value, but how much is yet to be determined. If Dallas is set on giving up on Oleksiak, expect him to be moved this season, no matter the sunk cost.
Central Snapshots: Avalanche, Gunnarsson, Lehtera, Brodziak, Stars
After missing the playoffs for the second consecutive season, the Colorado Avalanche perhaps surprisingly kept their roster mostly intact this past summer; though they did make one big change which is expected to impact their on-ice fortunes. Jared Bednar replaces Patrick Roy behind the bench and is being counted on to implement a system better-suited for the talent on hand and one that can compete in the tough Central Division. But as Terry Frei of The Denver Post argues, by sticking with this core group of players, making the playoffs isn’t going to be good enough for the Avalanche.
By virtue of the expensive long-term contracts doled out over the last couple of seasons to Semyon Varlamov, Nathan MacKinnon, Matt Duchene, Erik Johnson, Tyson Barrie and Gabriel Landeskog, Colorado has demonstrated an immense amount of faith that this group can guide the franchise to Stanley Cup contention, opines Frei. Those six players account for nearly half of Colorado’s cap commitments in the 2016-17 campaign and perhaps more importantly, all remain under contract to the Avalanche for at least the next three seasons. If this group underachieves yet again, it could make it that much tougher for GM Joe Sakic to receive fair value for these players in potential trade talks. Consequently, since his ability to spend on free agents will be restricted as well, it might be difficult moving forward to drastically change or augment the Avalanche roster.
More from the Central Division:
- The Blues are 3 – 0 following their 3 – 2 win over the New York Rangers Saturday night but the victory could prove costly. Centers Kyle Brodziak, Jori Lehtera along with defenseman Carl Gunnarsson all left last night’s tilt with injuries and did not return, notes Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The exact nature and severity of the injuries are not known at this point and as Rutherford points out, with a day off today more information may not be available until Monday. Playing with 10 forwards and five defenseman for the entire third frame last night, the Blues hung on despite being outshot by the Rangers 15 – 0 in the period. With Petteri Lindbohm available in the minors, St. Louis is likely better-equipped to cover for the loss of Gunnarsson than they would be if both Lehtera and Brodziak were to miss extensive time.
- Another Central Division team that’s had to deal with injuries in the early going is Dallas. Veteran forward Ales Hemsky has battled a groin issue and won’t be available for the first week or so of the season. Center Cody Eakin is expected to be out into November with a knee problem while Mattias Janmark‘s season could be in jeopardy following knee surgery. With that much forward talent on the sideline, it would have been understandable if GM Jim Nill reacted by acquiring a veteran player or two, whether via trade or waivers, to buoy the team’s depth. But as Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News writes, Nill prepared his roster this summer by inking the likes of Adam Cracknell, Jiri Hudler and later, Lauri Korpikoski. Cracknell was expected to provide insurance at the AHL level but has been pressed into service early and has responded with a goal and an assist through two games. Korpiksoki had the final year of his deal bought out by Edmonton and failed to convert a training camp PTO into a roster spot with Calgary. The Stars inked Korpikoski, who has been criticized for his poor performance in the puck possession department, to a one-year deal which has already paid off for Dallas. The Finnish forward has already tallied a goal and is a plus-two so far this season. It appears as if Nill’s savvy, low-risk moves have a good chance of keeping the Stars ship afloat until reinforcements arrive in the form of Hemsky and Eakin.
Snapshots: Rask, Yakupov, Despres
Veteran goalie Tuukka Rask of the Boston Bruins didn’t enjoy his best season in 2015-16, finishing with a 91.5% Save % and a GAA of 2.56. Both those rates constituted the worst of Rask’s career to date but as Joe Haggerty writes, the Finnish goalie is using that experience as a learning tool to prepare for the ups-and-downs likely to come in 2016-17.
With the Bruins in the midst of a transition, Rask is likely going to face more adversity this season but he feels the experiences of a year ago have made him “mentally tougher,” and less likely to let a soft or fluke goal affect his game. Rask has already demonstrated this new approach in the Bruins first regular season contest. As Haggerty notes, the Columbus Blue Jackets scored the game’s first goal, a floater from just inside the blue line, and would tally again later in the opening period, but Rask rebounded by stopping 21 of the final 22 shots he faced to earn the victory. Last season the outcome might have been different, but the work Rask put in on the mental aspect of the game paid off for one night at least.
Elsewhere in the NHL:
- While things didn’t end well in Edmonton for Nail Yakupov, the talented winger is off to a great start with St. Louis and he’s impressing his new head coach and teammates, according to Norm Sanders of the Belleville News-Democrat. Following a two-point performance in the Blues’ 3 – 2 win over Minnesota, Ken Hitchcock had this to say about his newest player: “Much better defensively than I thought. He’s got great outside speed. What I liked more than anything was his conscience. His conscience was there. We’re not trying to overwhelm him by having him do a bunch of things. We’re just going to keep it five on five for the first week to 10 days and see how much he can absorb there.” Veteran scoring forward Alex Steen has been impressed with Yakupov’s decision-making in the early going: “Smart decisions with the puck (and) he’s obviously individually very skilled and makes plays in tight areas. We’re happy to have him.” Yakupov has a ways to go to alter the negative reputation he earned as a member of the Oilers but so far he has done everything the Blues have asked for and may finally be on his way to fulfilling his vast potential.
- The Ducks, already without blue line stalwart Hampus Lindholm, who remains unsigned as a RFA, could be without fellow defenseman Simon Despres as well. Despres left Thursday’s game against the Stars with what is being called an “upper-body-injury,” and his status is unclear, as noted by Eric Stephens of The Orange County Register. Ducks GM Bob Murray said this about Despres: “He was not feeling good last night. We’re trying to figure out what’s going on with him. … Something’s wrong here and we’re going to get to bottom of it here.” Stephens relays that Murray also referenced Despres’ past issues with head injuries, which seems to hint that the Ducks are concerned this may in fact be another concussion.