Snapshots: Nightingale, Bass, Schmaltz
The Detroit Red Wings have hired Adam Nightingale as their new assistant video coach, the same role that he held this season with the Buffalo Sabres. Nightingale is currently working with Jeff Blashill at the World Championships for Team USA, likely getting some familiarity before the beginning of next season.
Nightingale joins Blashill as another Michigan native to work in the coaching staff, and previously spent time coaching and playing at Michigan State. The team release doesn’t mention Dave Noel-Bernier who held the video coach position last season for the Red Wings, but he has returned to the University of Nebraska-Omaha as an assistant coach.
- The Nashville Predators have recalled Cody Bass from the Milwaukee Admirals in an interesting move, seeing as he underwent surgery in January that was expected to keep him out the rest of the season. Perhaps Bass has recovered enough for a chance to get into the lineup to add some toughness at some point, but it’s much more likely he’ll just practice with the team and continue to work towards a role next season. The 30-year old is a journeyman enforcer that has more penalty minutes (107) than NHL games (75) in his career and has scored just five points.
- The St. Louis Blues have made a move of their own, sending Jordan Schmaltz back to the Chicago Wolves for their series opener against the Grand Rapids Griffins tonight. Schmaltz is obviously the Blues preferred insurance policy on defense, but want him to stay sharp and help the Wolves in their Calder Cup run. He’s been bounced up and down between AHL game days to serve as the team’s seventh defenseman in morning skates.
Detroit Red Wings Sign Goaltender Matej Machovsky
The Detroit Red Wings have gotten into the European free agent act, inking Matej Machovsky to a one-year contract. The Czech goaltender returned home in 2013 after going undrafted out of the OHL. He also had attended Detroit development camp last summer. The entry-level deal is for the 2017-18 season, after which Machovsky will become a restricted free agent. No details were released by the team on the financials.
Spending the last four years in the Czech professional league, Machovsky has recorded .936, .916, .920, .925 save percentages and generally been one of the more dominating goaltenders. He was selected back in 2010 in the OHL import draft by the Guelph Storm, but was quickly traded to the Brampton Battalion where he would play three seasons. Considered a big netminder who wasn’t athletic enough, Machovsky went undrafted despite being ranked 11th among North American goaltenders in 2011, and 14th in 2012 (and even as high as third on a mid-term ranking).
His game has matured through the years, after spending time at development camps for Los Angeles and Ottawa in addition to Detroit. It will be interesting to see where he goes for the Red Wings, who still have Jimmy Howard and Petr Mrazek in the NHL and Jared Coreau in the AHL. Ridding themselves of Howard’s contract has been an option for the Red Wings, who seemed to be ready to trust Mrazek with the net last summer. It’s a little less clear now, after a down season from Mrazek and an overall struggle for the Red Wings as a team.
NHL Draft Lottery Notes: Odds, History, Viewing
For the fourteen teams that missed the playoffs and the expansion Vegas Golden Knights, they have one thing in common: they’re hoping Bill Daly is holding a card with their logo on it, announcing that they have the first overall pick.
At 7pm central, NBC, CBC, and Sportsnet will show the NHL Draft Lottery as the Colorado Avalanche lead all teams in terms of percentage for receiving the #1 pick. Below are the odds:
Colorado Avalanche — 18.0%
Vancouver Canucks — 12.1%
Vegas Golden Knights — 10.3%
Arizona Coyotes — 10.3%
New Jersey Devils — 8.5%
Buffalo Sabres — 7.6%
Detroit Red Wings — 6.7%
Dallas Stars — 5.8%
Florida Panthers — 5.4%
Los Angeles Kings — 4.5%
Carolina Hurricanes — 3.2%
Winnipeg Jets — 2.7%
Philadelphia Flyers — 2.2%
Tampa Bay Lightning 1.8%
New York Islanders — 0.9%
TSN has a lengthy writeup on the history of the lottery and how the current format differs from other versions. The biggest change for the draft is that instead of the worst team being guaranteed, at worst, a second overall pick, they are only promised a top four pick. This was placed to discourage teams from “tanking” to draft top-end talent, which hasn’t completely negated the idea of tanking as Toronto won the right to draft Auston Matthews last season with the #1 pick while securing the worst record in the NHL.
What’s new to 2017? From Sportsnet:
For just the second time in NHL draft lottery history, the top three picks are in play. This rule was implemented by the league in 2016 to dull incentive for any team to finish lower in the standings (i.e., tanking).
The odds of winning the second and third draws increases on a proportional basis depending on which team claimed the previous draw.
The addition of a 15th lottery team, Vegas, into the mix also affects the winning percentages.
This draft is different too, since the top two picks for the first time in three seasons are not considered the “generational talent” that Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel, Matthews or Patrik Laine were when looking back at the one and two overall picks respectively.
This isn’t to besmirch the top two candidates, Nolan Patrick or Nico Hischier. After all, “can’t miss” prospects have fooled scouts and analysts before while prospects that scouts didn’t think were as good sometimes exceeded expectations.
But before the talent can be chosen, there needs to be an order. Tonight will determine that.
Specifics:
Time: 7pm CST
Where to watch: CBC, Sportsnet, NBC
Atlantic Division Snapshots: Pastrnak, Brassard, Red Wings
Despite a first round elimination at the hands of the Ottawa Senators, the 2016-17 campaign has to be considered a success for the Boston Bruins organization. The team returned to the postseason after back-to-back non-playoff seasons and showed tremendous resilience during their six-game series loss, nearly overcoming injuries to key regulars Brandon Carlo, David Krejci, Torey Krug and Adam McQuaid to push Ottawa to OT in game six. Perhaps the silver lining to the season was the development of young Czech winger David Pastnak, who in his third year saw a marked increase across the board in terms of offensive production, setting career-highs in goals (34) assists (36) and points (70). Pastrnak stuggled some in the postseason, finishing with just five shots on goal and regularly turning the puck over, but as Joe Haggerty of CSNNE writes, the 20-year-old will be a better player long term in part because of the playoff experience.
Pastrnak also wrapped up his ELC, making him a RFA this summer. Boston will have a decision to make; do they try to lock up the talented offensive right wing to a long term deal or employ a short term bridge contract to keep the AAV down? Should the team choose the latter, Haggerty speculates a deal similar to that given by Chicago to Artemi Panarin (two years, $12MM) could work for both sides. If Boston chooses the former, they might have to approach the value of the accord signed by Calgary winger Johnny Gaudreau last summer, in Haggerty’s estimation. According to Cap Friendly, the Bruins are projected to have around just $10MM in cap space available with Drew Stafford set to hit unrestricted free agency and Ryan Spooner joining Pastrnak as a RFA. The team should have room as it stands to accommodate a new Pastrnak contract regardless of whether it’s a lucrative long term pact or a shorter term bridge deal. Still, what Boston does will likely have a great impact on what other moves the team can make this summer to fill holes on the roster.
Elsewhere in the Atlantic Division:
- One of the second round’s more interesting subplots involves Ottawa center Derick Brassard facing his old team, the New York Rangers, and the player for whom he was acquired just last July, fellow pivot Mika Zibanejad. Expecting to contend for the playoffs in 2016-17, Ottawa GM Pierre Dorion wanted to add the more experienced and established Brassard to his lineup. It also didn’t hurt that the skilled center from Hull, Quebec is a proven playoff performer known in some circles as “Big Game Brass.” For their part, the Rangers needed to get bigger and younger and did so by adding the talented Zibanejad to the team. Neither player had the regular season they hoped – Brassard finished with just 14 goals and 39 points while Zibanejad missed time with a broken leg and scored 37 points in 56 contests. With scoring expected to be at a premium in the series between Ottawa and New York, it was widely felt whoever performed better between the two would give their team a significant edge. Well, after one game, Don Brennan of the Ottawa Sun has the two players even, though the Senators are up in the series. As Brennan noted, neither player registered a point and both finished with roughly 17 minutes of ice time. Brassard was credited with five shots on goal, Zibanejad with four. While it would be unfair to paint the winner of the series as also the winner of last summer’s trade, it’s evident the two players will be heavily relied upon to help their respective team advance to the Eastern Conference Final and at this point in the season that’s really all that matters.
- With their 25-season playoff streak broken, the Detroit Red Wings enter the offseason with a lot of work to do to reshape their roster into a contender, and without the resources (i.e. cap space) to easily tackle the challenge. In all probability, the team will be forced seek roster improvement via the trade market and with limited chips the team can afford to move, it’s likely Detroit will have to deal one of their starting-caliber goalies, if for no other reason than to open up much-needed cap space. Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press expressed the same belief in a recent mailbag feature. As the scribe notes, the Wings are currently projected to have less than $6MM in cap space with key forwards Andreas Athanasiou and Tomas Tatar scheduled to be RFA’s. The offseason goalie market is expected to be full of starting options, with Pittsburgh likely to entertain a trade of Marc-Andre Fleury rather than risk losing Matt Murray in the expansion draft. Ben Bishop, Brian Elliott, Jonathan Bernier and Ryan Miller headline the UFA crop of netminders and could represent viable starting options for any team looking for a #1. Those factors will hamstring the Red Wings in their attempt to move either Jimmy Howard or Petr Mrazek in return for fair value. In all likelihood, the team will have to be satisfied primarily with cap relief as opposed to acquiring young assets to further their retooling effort. Although St. James does offer up one intriguing possibility, noting that current Stars GM Jim Nill, formerly an assistant GM in Detroit, knows Mrazek and Howard well from his time with the Wings and could pursue one in an effort to upgrade his options between the pipes.
Detroit Red Wings In Pursuit Of Victor Ejdsell
According to Ansar Khan of MLive, the Detroit Red Wings and several other teams are trying to sign Victor Ejdsell from the Swedish second league. Chicago and Nashville are two of the other teams, with Ejdsell expected to sign soon. The 21-year old even visited Detroit, among other potential cities this week to see if there was a fit for him next year.
Ejdsell broke out this year playing in the Allsvenskan scoring 57 points in 50 games, the most in the entire league. His development into a “strong two-way center” was noted by Red Wings’ AGM Ryan Martin, who told Khan that his move this year to the middle helped his defensive game. The 6’5″ center is now listed at 220-lbs according to Khan, meaning he’s grown tremendously in the last year which might have something to do with his relative dominance this season. He definitely has the size to handle professional hockey, but it still remains to be seen whether he can contribute offensively at the next level.
The Hawks have been linked to basically every European free agent this spring as they try to refill their ranks with young players, while Nashville has a strong Swedish contingent that could help try to sway him. On that note, the Minnesota Wild actually have two players—Joel Eriksson Ek and Jonas Brodin—from the same city as Ejdsell, one of whom played with him last season. It will be interesting to see who finally nabs him, if indeed he’s set to sign with an NHL club this summer.
Snapshots: Red Wings, Granlund, Niederreiter, Dubnyk
Could the Red Wings make a run at John Tavares should he not re-sign with the Islanders next season? The Detroit Free Press’ Helene St. James thinks so. St. James answered a number of questions from readers, and one is if Tavares would be on Detroit’s radar should be hit the free agent market in 2018. While the Wings would certainly be a number of suitors for the gifted forward, Detroit would have to make some significant moves to free up cap space, which St. James also touches on. She writes that the Wings could move a number of players during the offseason, naming Jimmy Howard, Luke Glendening, Riley Sheahan, and Gustav Nyquist as possible targets.
In other news from around the league:
- The Wild are weighing the plan to lock up Mikael Granlund and Nino Niederreiter to long term deals writes the Pioneer Press’ Chad Graff. Minnesota general manager Chuck Fletcher cautions those pointing to the lack of playoff success from both players, saying, “You’ve got to make sure you read enough into it to know what you didn’t do right, but five games are five games. You’ve got to be a little bit careful. Sometimes guys can get hot; sometimes guys can get cold.” The Wild could go a number of ways on this. Graff reports that they may ink both to shorter deals or allow things to go to an arbitrator since both players are restricted free agents.
- Graff also writes about Wild netminder Devan Dubnyk, who posted great numbers in the playoffs (1.86 GAA, .925 save percentage) but didn’t get the goal support. Fletcher believes that it wasn’t at all on Dubnyk, who struggled a bit to end the season. Instead, he points to Blues goalie Jake Allen, who played out of his mind during the series. Additionally, Fletcher said that it boiled down to the Wild not cashing in on their scoring chances, which included point blank shots.
Babcock, Tortorella, McLellan Finalists For Jack Adams Award
The Score’s Josh Gold-Smith is one of many to report that the finalists for the Jack Adams Trophy are Mike Babcock, Todd McLellan, and John Tortorella. The award is given to the league’s best coach. All three choices are hardly a surprise.
After a vicious performance in the World Cup of Hockey, Tortorella was expected to be one of the first
coaches on the hot seat, especially with a Columbus club few expected to be anywhere out of last place. Instead, Torts and the Jackets responded with a 50-24-8 record, good for third in the Metropolitan Division and 108 points. The Jackets also went on a tear in December, stringing together sixteen consecutive victories and putting the NHL on notice that they were for real. Though they ended up losing to Pittsburgh in five games during the first round of the playoffs, the Blue Jackets certainly made a case for being a threat in the Met and the Eastern Conference.
Babcock left the Detroit Red Wings after the 2014-15 season and joined the Toronto Maple Leafs, an original six team searching for its first Stanley Cup since 1967 and trying to make its way out of the hockey wilderness. Though he said the rebuild would be “painful,” it was a lot shorter than anyone expected. Paced by Calder Award candidate Auston Matthews, Babcock showed why so many teams sought his services, guiding the Leafs to their first playoff appearance since 2012-13, and taking an enormous step in the rebirth of a once dominant franchise. The Leafs were recently knocked out by Washington, but they proved to be a “tough out” and will certainly be a force to reckon with in the coming seasons.
McLellan has been a consistently good coach since taking the reins in San Jose,
and after moving to Edmonton, it was expected that he would turn around a franchise seeking a playoff run after being absent for nearly a decade. After missing last season, McLellan steered the Oil into the playoffs, posting a 47-26-9 record, 103 points, and a second place finish in the Pacific Division.
It was the Oilers highest point total since 1986-87, when they had 106 points and won the Stanley Cup. He turned around a franchise annually criticized for not capitalizing on its success despite netting numerous number one draft picks. Though it won’t factor into voting, McLellan has the Oilers in the second round of the playoffs as well.
Photos Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Red Wings Notes: Holland, Prospects, Axel Holmstrom
Despite being out of the playoffs, Red Wings general manager Ken Holland has been busy. The bulk of Holland’s time has been spent scouting, writes the Detroit Free Press’ Helene St. James. Traveling everywhere from Slovakia to Toronto, Holland is leaving no stone unturned when it comes to retooling the Red Wings after disappointing season. Holland noted that he’s “focused on the draft” and looking “at the kids,” scouring everything from the U18 World Championships to an OHL playoff game between Mississauga and Peterborough. Holland was also busy watching his current crop of prospects, catching the Grand Rapids Griffins games and seeing his farm team open up a 2-0 series lead on Milwaukee.
- With all the scouting, Holland told MLive’s Ansar Khan that he expects “two or three” Griffins to be on the Red Wings’ roster to start out the 2017-18 season. While Holland wasn’t going to guess on who those players would be, Khan speculates that defenseman Robbie Russo, and forwards Tomas Nosek and Tyler Bertuzzi are possibilities. Bertuzzi seems the surest bet, as the nephew of former Red Wing Todd Bertuzzi got off to a hot start in the AHL playoffs, scoring a couple goals in their latest victory.
- Speaking of prospects, one to keep an eye on is Axel Holmstrom, who is “turning heads,” according to St. James. Holmstrom, who is not related to former Red Wing Tomas Holmstrom, was a seventh round pick in the 2014 NHL Draft. Griffins bench boss Todd Nelson lauds Holmstrom’s puck handling and vision, but could use some work on his skating. Though he suffered a knee injury earlier this season in Sweden, Holmstrom has impressed in his short time with Grand Rapids. While the plan is to keep him in the AHL next season, Holmstrom could find himself in Detroit sooner should his play continue to impress.
Detroit’s Uncertain Future
The Detroit Red Wings missed the playoffs for the first time in 25 years in 2016-17. Not seeing the winged wheel on the ice is something deeply unfamiliar to many, and Detroit’s management is hoping that it won’t become a trend. However, there is definitely concern going forward as to what direction the team will head. While the team is technically going through a rebuild, effectively doing so can be quite difficult when you have so many aging players taking up spots and cap dollars. There are also questions as to whether any extended period of failure would be embraced by management, as fan-site Winging it in Motown wondered earlier this month. The strategy for GM Ken Holland is going to be complicated, as fans might need to grow accustomed to losing for a brief spell if the team is to strengthen its core.
Firstly, they will need to decide which players are part of the core and which are accessory pieces. There were good signs this off-season when Holland decided to sell assets, including Thomas Vanek, Tomas Jurco, Brendan Smith, and Steve Ott. This is a solid portent that there will be future moves, but there is room for doubt. For example, the 36 year-old Henrik Zetterberg has 4 years left on his contract at $6.083 MM, while the 33 year-old Frans Nielsen was just signed to his long-term deal, good for another 5 years at $5.25 MM. Justin Abdelkader and Darren Helm still have plenty left in the tank, but at $4.25 MM and $3.8 MM respectively, and years of term, is a full rebuild truly so feasible? Niklas Kronwall is another well-paid veteran at 36 years-old, and he has two more seasons under contract.
Then there is the goaltending situation. Detroit is paying over $9 million dollars in contracts to their two tenders, both of which have had their difficulties. Jimmy Howard had what could be considered a bounceback year, posting a .927 save percentage after the awful .906 dip the season before. The caveat – he only started 26 games. The other half of the duo, Petr Mrazek, received the bulk of the starts – 50 in all. Unfortunately, his stats took a nosedive to a .901 save percentage, as he struggled mightily behind his flightless team. To complicate matters, Howard has a modified No-Trade Clause, under which he can list the 10 teams he would accept a trade. The obvious decision seems to be that they will bank on Howard going forward and try to flip Mrazek to a team in need of help in the crease – he only has one year remaining at $4 MM before he needs his contract re-negotiated. If they are unable to do so, Mrazek would likely be snagged by Vegas in the expansion draft. But management obviously showed confidence in Mrazek’s abilities this season, sticking through him despite his impressively bad statistics. Perhaps Howard is the one on the way out of Motown. But if Mrazek flounders yet again, what does the pipeline hold?
The team as a whole has already allotted $67.09 MM to 18 players (two of whom are now on LTIR), and they need to sign RFAs Andreas Athanasiou, Xavier Ouellet, and Tomas Tatar. Only two players are coming off the books, the moderately paid forwards Joe Vitale and Drew Miller, either of whom could potentially re-sign. In terms of prospects, the talented winger Evgeny Svechnikov is the most promising potential addition. He posted 20 goals and 51 points in his rookie season with the Grand Rapids Griffins and impressed with his size. Anthony Mantha continues to be intriguing, and Athanasiou definitely has the talent to take another step forward. However, there isn’t a ton of help on the horizon in terms of defense. A top-flight prospect here would do wonders for the squad going forward. With 11 picks in this year’s draft, in what is Holland’s last contracted season as GM, decisions with incredible importance lie ahead. Will Hockeytown fully commit to a long-term rebuild, or will they make runs at competing in the relatively weak Atlantic division with a mix of aging and inexperienced players?
Prospect Snapshots: Vesalainen, Kopacka, Nosek
Finland’s Kristian Vesalainen was named the MVP of the 2017 U18 IIHF Ice Hockey World Champions today despite the team’s 4-2 loss to Team USA in the gold medal game today . The 17-year-old forward is considered to be a first-round target in the upcoming 2017 NHL Draft and his stock could be rising after he scored six goals and 13 points in the tournament. NHL.com has him rated the seventh-ranked European skater in the draft.
Versalainen was also named the Best Forward in the Directorate Awards along with fellow countryman Miro Heiskanen for Best Defenseman and Russia’s Maxim Zhukov as the Best Goaltender. The United States had three players voted to the Media All-Star team, including goalie lan St. Cyr, defenseman Maxwell Gidon and forward Sean Dhooghe. Vesalainen, Heiskanen and Russian forward Ivan Chekhovich rounded out the voting.
- The Anaheim Ducks announced they have signed 2016 fourth-round pick Jack Kopacka to a three-year entry-level contract today. The 19-year-old wing led his team, the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League with 30 goals this year. He also added 19 assists for 49 points. The 93rd overall pick in this past draft finished with 50 goals in two plus seasons with his OHL team. Kopacka is the second player from his team to sign an NHL deal today as Tampa Bay signed his teammate Boris Katchouk earlier today.
- Detroit Red Wings Tomas Nosek continues his success in the AHL this year and, according to Detroit Free Press’ Helene St. James, is beginning to show that he belongs in the Red Wings lineup next season. The 24-year-old forward scored the overtime goal in the Grand Rapids Griffins Game 1 playoff series against the Milwaukee Admirals and has taken his game up a level from a year ago. Nosek played 11 games for the Red Wings this season, scoring one goal, but since this is his third season in the AHL, he will no longer by waiver exempt, so Detroit may have to look at him more closely.