Edmonton Oilers Trade Greg Chase To Florida Panthers
In another pre-freeze move, the Edmonton Oilers have traded minor league forward Greg Chase to the Florida Panthers for future considerations. The move opens up a potential roster spot for the Oilers, who were at 49/50 contracts when the day began. The potential departure of Nathan Walker, who is on waivers, could open another slot. The Oilers also loaned Mark Fayne to the Springfield Thunderbirds (Florida’s AHL affiliate), though he—and his salary—will stay on Edmonton’s books.
Chase was selected by the Oilers in the seventh round of the 2013 entry draft, but has never quite found the scoring touch he had in the WHL as a junior player. Bouncing up and down between the ECHL and AHL without much success, he’ll get the chance for a fresh start in the Florida organization. The 22-year old still has plenty of time to improve and become a valued member of the Springfield organization, though the NHL seems a distant goal at this point.
More importantly, the Oilers now have room to make additional moves if they so choose. As we discussed recently regarding the Minnesota Wild and Toronto Maple Leafs, the absence of contract slots can very much hamper your ability to improve the team if an opportunity arises. The Oilers could end the day at 48 contracts, giving them the option to claim someone off waivers or deal away draft picks for extra bodies to help them on their current playoff run.
Edmonton Oilers Place Nathan Walker On Waivers
The Edmonton Oilers have made a move just before the roster freeze, placing forward Nathan Walker on waivers. In a corresponding move, the team has recalled Anton Slepyshev from the minor leagues and placed Oscar Klefbom on injured reserve. Walker was only claimed by the Oilers earlier this month, and will now be available once again to the rest of the league. If reclaimed by the Washington Capitals without any other team putting in a claim, Walker could be sent to the minor leagues immediately.
Walker, the first Australian to be drafted and play in the NHL, made his debut earlier this season when he suited up for the Capitals. Despite scoring in that first game, he played just six more games with the Capitals before hitting the waiver wire and moving up to Edmonton. In two games for the Oilers he’s been held scoreless, but still has some interesting upside for a team looking to add speed to their bottom-six.
Though technically the roster freeze will come into effect before Walker is through the waiver process, he can still be claimed by any team and report to them immediately. That could potentially give a team an extra player for the next week should they have the roster room, only to see him hit the wire once again after rosters are thawed out after Christmas.
Minor Transactions: 12/18/17
A new week begins in the NHL and teams must make their final few roster moves before a freeze is put in effect tomorrow night. We’ll keep track of any last minute moves around the league right here. Make sure to refresh throughout the day.
- As expected, Madison Bowey and Jakub Vrana have both been recalled today. Their assignment to Hershey yesterday was nothing more than a cap saving measure, and both players weren’t expected to miss any time. Vrana is skating with T.J. Oshie—back at Washington Capitals practice today after missing several games with a concussion—and Evgeny Kuznetsov, an impressive line for the young forward.
- Ville Pokka is on his way back to the AHL without having played a game for the Chicago Blackhawks. Unfortunately, the 23-year old hasn’t been able to make an impact with the team since being acquired several years ago, and is still waiting to make his NHL debut. The Rockford IceHogs will welcome him back, but he’ll have to do more to crack the Blackhawks lineup down the road.
- The St. Louis Blues have recalled Tage Thompson from the AHL, while moving Samuel Blais to injured reserve. Thompson, 20, is a top prospect for the Blues who has already played four games for the club this season. Selected in the first round of the 2016 draft, Thompson turned pro out of the University of Connecticut last spring and so far has 16 points in 24 games for the San Antonio Rampage of the AHL.
- With Brock Boeser out with a foot injury for the time being, the Vancouver Canucks have recalled Reid Boucher to help up front. Because the extent of Boeser’s injury is unclear and he hasn’t been placed on injured reserve yet, the team sent down defensmean Ashton Sautner to make room for Boucher’s return.
- Edmonton has activated Adam Larsson from injured reserve and sent Anton Slepyshev to the minor leagues to make room. Larsson will be welcomed back with open arms after the team has started to play better of late. While still several points out of playoff contention, the Oilers have started to turn around what was a dreadful start of the year. Getting Larsson back after missing nearly three weeks will be sure to help.
- With Jacob Josefson returning to the lineup, the Buffalo Sabres have sent Hudson Fasching back to the minor leagues. Fasching has been held scoreless in five games for the Sabres this season, and has yet to make much of an impact on the organization since being acquired in 2014.
- The Ottawa Senators have recalled Ben Harpur from the minor leagues, bringing them to just 22 players on the active roster. The Senators had been operating with just 21 players on the active roster for some time, likely connected with the recent comments of owner Eugene Melnyk about cutting payroll. Harpur has played 12 games for the Senators this season, recording one point. It’s unclear if he’ll get into the lineup right away, or if he’s just up for insurance as the team takes on the Minnesota Wild tomorrow night.
Pacific Notes: Oilers, Puljujarvi, Couture, Jones, Hutton
The Edmonton Oilers are having a rough time this season as they currently sit in seventh place in the Pacific Division. However, David Staples of the Edmonton Journal writes that after Saturday’s 3-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild, the Oilers are starting to play quality hockey again, citing the team’s past five games as an indicator. Granted the team has a long way to go if they team has any hopes of reaching the playoffs. However, the scribe sees a team that is suddenly working hard and refusing to give up.
In fact, Staples writes that he no longer believes that the team’s issues has to do with speed. Originally, he believed the Oilers were built slow and could not overcome that deficiency. He now writes that he believes the team wasn’t working hard enough and was relying on their talent and reputation to get through games. Suddenly, he sees a team that is working harder to get goals and showing true grit that could spark the team to some success.
The team showed that effort against the Montreal Canadiens on Dec. 9 when they walked away with a 6-2 victory. The team followed that up with a 1-0, quality loss the next day. They then had an inspiring victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Dec. 14 before a 4-0 loss to Nashville. Saturday’s hard-fought win was just another step in the team’s hopeful turnaround.
- Staples also writes the Edmonton Oilers need to start giving more playing time to winger Jesse Puljujarvi. The fourth-overall pick in the 2016 draft is starting to put things together, but isn’t getting the time on the ice as the 19-year-old only received 9:59 minutes Saturday and isn’t playing on the team’s lackluster power play. Puljujarvi, who scored his sixth goal of the season, should be playing more and showing the team what he can do as he played like a “beast” Saturday, according to Staples.
- The San Jose Sharks have two concerns, according to The Athletic’s Kevin Kurz (subscription required). The team is worried about Logan Couture after he sustained a shoulder to his surgically-repaired face in Friday’s game against Vancouver. While there has been no word on the team’s leading scorer, there is talk that the 28-year-old center may have sustained a concussion on the play. Kurz adds that a second concern is the suddenly poor play of goaltender Martin Jones, who has struggled now over the past five games, having allowed at least four goals in each of those starts. After starting the season with a 2.05 GAA and a .930 save percentage, those numbers have increased to a 2.55 and .914 after just five games.
- The Vancouver Canucks tweeted that coach Travis Green had no update after defenseman Ben Hutton came off the ice limping after practice. He is currently listed as day-to-day. The team’s second-line defenseman has four assists in 33 games this year. Vancouver has already lost defenseman Chris Tanev for three weeks due to injury as well as a number of other players on the forward lines.
Poll: Which Team Will Be First To Sell?
On Tuesday, the NHL will enter its holiday roster freeze. For all players on the active roster, they’ll be given a week’s reprieve from trade speculation, or reassignment anxiety. No one will be traded, waived or loaned between the 19th and 27th of December.
But after the rosters thaw and the holiday season starts to drift into the past, which NHL team will be first to pick up the phone and decide enough is enough? Which general manager will send out messages explaining he’s open for business and start selling off assets to the highest bidder?
The Arizona Coyotes are currently in last place, even after several offseason moves designed to make them more competitive this year. Will they decide that the Derek Stepan experiment was a mistake, or even take a shot at a big return by moving Oliver Ekman-Larsson?
What about the Buffalo Sabres, currently in 30th and with a league-low 68 goals for? Will Evander Kane be celebrating New Year’s Eve in another district? Jack Eichel is surely safe, but the rest of the roster should be looking over their shoulders come 2018.
The Oilers and Senators both believed they could compete for the Stanley Cup this season, but nothing has seemed to go right. With high-end players still on the roster, do they decide to sell off for a season and try to bounce-back next October?
Who will be the first to start selling this season? Cast your vote below, and make sure to explain who you think will move first. We’ve included the bottom 10 teams in the standings, but make sure to comment with whoever you think should have been included.
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Snapshots: Mrazek, Mete, Nylander
Petr Mrazek has been in the news recently since we found out that the Edmonton Oilers had a passing interest in the Detroit Red Wings goaltender, but Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet now says it may have been more than just that. Friedman joined Sportsnet 960 radio out of Calgary this morning, and explained that one source told him it was even closer than he had originally thought.
I heard they were looking at Mrazek last week, and somebody told me after we mentioned it that it was a lot closer than I had kinda thought. I think they’d worked out that Detroit was going to keep about half the money, and they were trying to figure out the draft pick.
That would mesh with what we learned from Craig Custance of The Athletic recently, that a proposed asking price for Mrazek would be a second or third-round pick depending on whether Detroit was retaining salary. It might not matter anymore, as Edmonton seems to have cooled on Mrazek after watching him more closely and the team has just welcomed Cam Talbot back off injured reserve.
- Victor Mete is busy trying to make the Canadian World Junior team after spending the early portion of the season with the Montreal Canadiens, but may have an even bigger international tournament in his future. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic reports that Mete is very much on the radar of the Canadian Olympic team, but still has some hurdles if he ever were to be invited. The Canadiens could bring Mete back to the NHL squad after the World Junior tournament, and the CHL still doesn’t have an agreement with Hockey Canada on if it will lend players to the Olympic squad. Those decisions won’t be made until after the World Juniors are over, which end on January 5th.
- Speaking of World Junior decisions, the Buffalo Sabres still haven’t made a choice on Alexander Nylander according to Mike Harrington of The Buffalo News. Sabres GM Jason Botterill wants to see Nylander play more at the AHL level before making that decision, after an injury has taken away much of the young forward’s season so far. Nylander has been disappointing so far in his professional career, scoring just 32 points in 77 AHL games. The eighth-overall pick in 2016 has huge upside, but needs to get back on track this season.
Edmonton Oilers Activate Cam Talbot
The Edmonton Oilers are in danger of dropping out of the playoff race completely, but they’ll get some help a little sooner than expected. Goaltender Cam Talbot has been activated from injured reserve, and could be back in the lineup tomorrow afternoon. Nick Ellis, who’d been backing up Laurent Brossoit in Talbot’s absence, was sent back to the minor leagues.
The Oilers are a frustrating team to watch at the moment, dominating possession but still unable to string many wins together. The team sits second-last in the Western Conference, and nine points out of a playoff spot after 32 games.
Unfortunately, even before his injury Talbot hadn’t been playing quite up to his standards. The Oilers need him to get back to his career .920 save percentage if they’re to get on any kind of a roll, not the .903 mark he posted through 22 games this season. With Connor McDavid back to dominating the league after dealing with flu-like symptoms earlier in the year, the team is at a crossroads. Get back to the Stanley Cup contender many believed you to be, or fall into the pit of mediocrity once again.
Cam Talbot Hoping To Return Within A Week
Oilers goalie Cam Talbot is aiming to return to Edmonton’s lineup within the next week, notes Postmedia’s Robert Tychkowski. He acknowledges that he may not be 100% recovered at that time but as long as there’s no risk of re-aggravating his injury, he will be prepared to play. That may take some of the pressure off GM Peter Chiarelli who has been scouring the league for extra goaltending depth in recent weeks. As it turns out, one of the goalies he was looking into – Winnipeg’s Michael Hutchinson – happens to be hurt himself now on a day-to-day issue.
Petr Mrazek & The Goaltending Conundrum
In Elliotte Friedman’s latest 31 Thoughts column for Sportsnet, the venerable hockey insider reports that the Edmonton Oilers at one point had some interest in Detroit Red Wings goaltender Petr Mrazek. Friedman writes that Edmonton may have backed off after watching the 25-year old goaltender struggle recently, something that seems to be a common thread all around the league.
Several other teams are looking for goaltending help—Friedman himself mentions Florida and Pittsburgh—but there isn’t a shining option on the market at the moment. Mrazek could have been that star, if the aforementioned struggles hadn’t crept up on him again. Though he was once heralded as the goaltender of the future for Detroit, Mrazek has clashed with the front office in contract negotiations, and been generally outplayed by a resurgent Jimmy Howard over the past two seasons.
This year, Howard has taken the lion’s share of the work in the Detroit net, starting 22 of the team’s 29 games. He’s recorded a .905 save percentage in those games which, while not even league-average, is quite a bit better than his counterpart. Mrazek’s .888 mark is tied for fourth-worst in the league among goaltenders who’ve made at least 10 appearances. Only Maxime Lagace, Laurent Brossoit, Chad Johnson have been worse, while James Reimer clocks in at the same number.
Mrazek is young enough to improve, but his contract status as a pending restricted free agent that is already making $4.15MM is likely off-putting to many teams. A qualifying offer is likely too expensive for any team as a backup, and there is no guarantee he’d accept a lower number on a longer-term deal.
So, where else can you look around the league for goaltending help? Michael Hutchinson has been in the rumor mill lately, as the Winnipeg Jets get Steve Mason back healthy tonight. Unfortunately, Hutchinson injured himself in a minor league game this weekend (though the injury seems minor) and has been underwhelming at best during his NHL career.
Jonathan Bernier was signed by the Colorado Avalanche as potential trade deadline bait, but has been nearly as bad as Mrazek so far this year. His .891 save percentage doesn’t inspire much confidence, as consistency continues to be Bernier’s downfall.
Even a goaltender like Philipp Grubauer, who has been a potential trade target for some time due to a combination of outstanding play and clear role as the backup to Braden Holtby, hasn’t played well enough to trust this season. He, like Scott Darling and Antti Raanta this offseason, was seen as a future starting goaltender in the league just waiting for the right opportunity.
There’s not an easy answer here to the goaltending problems around the league. For teams like Edmonton and Florida, who already find themselves struggling to stay relevant in the playoff race, dealing assets for anything but a sure thing isn’t very appealing.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Western Notes: Realignment, Ellis, Baertschi, Parise, Spurgeon
In a long notebook with many takes, The Athletic’s Eric Duhatschek (subscription required) points out that assuming that Seattle does acquire an expansion team that starts in the 2020-21 season, realignment will have to happen as it’s highly unlikely Seattle will end up in the Central Division, which is the division that’s short one team.
Duhatschek suggests the smartest way to fix the divisional problem when/if Seattle gives the NHL a 32nd team, would be to move the Colorado Avalanche to the Pacific Divison and then move both the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers to the Central Division. Geographically, that would make the most sense, although neither Edmonton or Calgary would make a great fit in the Central. One other possibility would be that by 2020-21, the Arizona Coyotes may have decided to move away and relocate. That could also fix the problem, but only time will tell.
- Adam Vingan of the Tennessean writes that Nashville Predators defenseman Ryan Ellis has been practicing with the team and could return within the next couple of weeks. The 26-year-old stud defenseman has been out after knee surgery this summer. Vingan also writes that despite their solid defense, it’s likely the team will have to make a move with Matt Irwin and Anthony Bitetto the most likely candidates to be sent to the Milwaukee Admirals. Since the return of Yannick Weber a week ago, Irwin has been scratched twice, while Bitetto once.
- Patrick Johnston of The Province writes that Vancouver Canucks winger Sven Baertschi, who took a puck to the face during last night’s game against the Calgary Flames, will return home to Vancouver rather than continue with the team on their current roadtrip. While there are no details on the severity of the injury, Johnston said the angle of the shot and its velocity would suggest the injury could be significant as he has already been ruled out for the team’s game against the Winnipeg Jets on Monday. The 25-year-old has struggled lately on offense, but is still third on the team with eight goals this year.
- Sarah McLellan of the Star Tribune tweets that veteran Zach Parise and defenseman Jared Spurgeon are skating and may just be a couple of weeks away from returning to the team. Parise, who underwent back surgery in October, hasn’t played all year. He scored 19 goals and had 42 points last year for the Wild and was counted on to be a key contributor. Spurgeon has been out since Dec. 1 with a groin strain. He has three goals and 12 assists in 23 games this season.
- The Arizona Coyotes will play in their 21st road game of the season tonight when they face the Chicago Blackhawks tonight. The Coyotes will be the first team in NHL history to play 21 road games within the first 66 days of the season, according to NHL.com’s Dave Vest.
- Mike Chambers of the Denver Post tweets that defenseman Erik Johnson is fine after blocking a shot late in Saturday’s game against the Florida Panthers. He is expected to play Monday against the Pittsburgh Penguins.