Atlantic Notes: Tallon’s Status In Florida, Ken Holland
8:36 pm: Harvey Fialkov reports that Panthers CEO Matt Caldwell reached out to him to say that nothing has changed in the managerial hierarchy involving Tallon. In a series of tweets, Caldwell indicates that Viola never met with Tallon to hand over personnel reins while also indicating that group discussions among the ownership group determines decision making. Further, Fialkov tweets that the latest chapter in the ongoing saga of Panthers hockey is too much “he said, she said” talk that is too tough to prove.
7:54 pm: Out with the old, in with the–old? Darren Dreger tweets that Dale Tallon will assume control during a time for the Panthers that has been turbulent. Dreger adds a series of tweets on Tallon’s updated status with the Panthers. Tallon will take over day to day operations and bring stability to an organization that has had a tough few weeks–and season. Elliotte Friedman adds that Florida owner Vinny Viola said that “nothing has changed” regarding Tallon’s status as having the “final say” in personnel decisions. Friedman is baffled by this, wondering why a report would even be made if nothing changed. In the official release of Tallon’s promotion back in May, the Panthers indicated that “Tallon will continue to oversee all aspects of hockey operations in this role including scouting, player acquisition and development.” Technically speaking, Tallon was still in charge of overseeing all aspects of hockey.
Dreger tweets that Tallon will not oversee an overhaul but will want to reevaluate things. He adds that the firing of Gerard Gallant was a poor choice, and that decisions needs to be made with one voice in charge. Further, Dreger tweets that the players trust Tallon and that the move will add some much needed stability to the team. Finally, he tweets that Tallon will not ignore analytics. Instead, he’s looking to improve team defense and make them tougher to play against.
The Panthers have been in flux this season and after firing Gallant in a move widely panned throughout the league, there’s been little improvement with general manager and now head coach Tom Rowe guiding the ship. The move to place Tallon in a position to have more say is one that certainly helps the Panthers’ chances.
Regardless of how it’s explained, it’s been a strange chapter of hockey in Miami.
Comparative Standings: One Year Ago
With the first third of the season completed for all but Columbus (who have amazingly played just 26 games, six fewer than the Winnipeg Jets), there have been some huge swings from a year ago.
Those Blue Jackets are the league’s most improved team, with a staggering 18 more points through 26 games than last season. Their huge swing is only matched by the Dallas Stars equally amazing drop-off of 18 points the other way. The Jackets can attest their improvement to the development of young players like Zach Werenski and Alexander Wennberg, while the Stars have seen a litany of injuries to their star players including Jason Spezza, Patrick Sharp and Johnny Oduya.
The Central Division as a whole is off to a slower start this year, with only the Chicago Blackhawks bettering their 2015-16 record. The Colorado Avalanche, expected to take a step forward with their young core has suffered the exact same fate with 23 points through 27 games.
The two biggest Canadian rebuild stories, Edmonton and Toronto have both improved, though not as largely as the fan bases in each city might have you believe. Four points for the Maple Leafs and five for the Oilers lend credence to the idea that it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish that counts. Though both franchises have a lot to look forward to, keeping up an advanced pace for an entire season is extremely difficult. The two teams finished last season with just 69 and 70 points respectively.
Below are the current standings. In parenthesis is the difference in points through the same amount of games last year.
Atlantic Notes: Maple Leafs, Pacioretty, Panthers
Although Toronto’s play on the ice has been an improvement over last season, it hasn’t resulted in any sort of improvement when it comes to the standings. They sit in last place in the Eastern Conference and as a result, some are beginning to wonder if the Leafs should think of themselves as sellers this season. As GM Lou Lamoriello told reporters, including Kevin McGran of the Toronto Star, it’s too early to tell which way the team will be leaning on the trade market:
“To think about that, it’s too far away to even have in your mindset. That’s a far-fetched thing at this point. Right now, we’re building. Determining who the players are that will be part of the future, and who are buying into what it takes to have the success you want to have.”
The Leafs are set to enter a tough stretch where they will play five games in eight nights which could potentially influence their direction. A few victories will keep them close to the final Wild Card spot – they’re currently eight points out of that position currently – but if they lose most of their games, the gap could become too big to close. Needless to say, this next week could go a long way towards influencing the remainder of their season.
Other notes from the Atlantic:
- Canadiens left winger Max Pacioretty played through most of November with a fracture in his foot, he told Sportsnet’s Eric Engels. Pacioretty, who has scored 30 or more goals in each of the last three seasons, had just three tallies last month and struggled considerably. He added that the fracture is now completely healed which should come as great news to Montreal, who have been hit hard by the injury bug lately with centres Alex Galchenyuk and David Desharnais as well as defensemen Greg Pateryn all out until late January at the earliest.
- The removal of Gerard Gallant as Florida’s head coach has yet to pay off as the team has lost four straight games. As Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press writes, there is a small silver lining in that last year’s Panthers team was only two points ahead of where this edition is through 28 games and that squad went on to win the division. Interim coach Tom Rowe admitted they’re using last year’s success as a motivator to try to get the team out of its funk but so far, that has yet to come to fruition. They won’t be getting help from the infirmary soon either as left winger Jonathan Huberdeau remains several weeks away from returning from his Achilles injury.
Roster Moves: Noesen, Barberio, Mueller
The Anaheim Ducks have decided to bring up Stefan Noesen from the San Diego Gulls today as Rickard Rakell missed the morning skate with an upper-body injury. Noesen is a big, angry winger who can contribute at both ends of the ice but has faced injury throughout his young professional career. Selected in the first round in 2011, Noesen has only played in 116 games over the past three and a half seasons but is fully healthy and ready to make an impact at the NHL level. He’s played two games on emergency call-ups in the past, but was held scoreless in each. This year he’s collected 11 points and 28 penalty minutes in 18 AHL contests.
- Mark Barberio has been sent back to the AHL by the Montreal Canadiens after six games with the big club. The 26-year old defenseman recorded a single assist and four penalty minutes in his time up with the club and will now wait for his next chance. A veteran of 139 NHL games, Barberio hasn’t been able to carve out a spot for himself with the Canadiens since signing as a free agent in 2015. The move likely means that Nathan Beaulieu is ready to come back after taking a puck to the throat two weeks ago.
- The Canadiens have also sent Charles Hudon down to the AHL. Hudon had been called up earlier this season but suffered a broken sternum in practice on November 25th and was placed on injured reserve. The young forward played in just three games and recorded two assists prior to the injury.
- While the Canadiens send down a defender, the San Jose Sharks have brought one up. The team recalled Mirco Mueller today though it’s not clear what the corresponding move will be. The 21-year old Mueller was the Sharks first-round pick in 2013 (#18th overall) and broke in as a youngster in 2014-15 before spending most of last year in the AHL for more seasoning. In 16 AHL contests this year, Mueller has six assists and six penalty minutes. The Swiss-born defender has drawn rave reviews for his calm, safe play in his own end and is expected to develop an offensive game as he matures.
- In Pittsburgh, the Penguins have sent both Jake Guentzel and Derrick Pouliot to Wilker-Barre/Scranton ahead of their matchup Thursday against the Florida Panthers. As Bill West of TribLive reports, the Penguins didn’t want their young players just sitting on the sideline. While Guentzel and Pouliot have been held out of the lineup for different reasons, they’ve played just six games combined in the NHL this season and at 22-years old can still benefit from the added ice time in the minors. Pouliot, coming back from a lower-body injury had recently completed a conditioning stint with the WBS Penguins and will now likely skate on their top pairing.
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.
Teddy Purcell Clears Waivers
Veteran winger Teddy Purcell somewhat surprisingly cleared waivers today, according to Elliotte Friedman (Twitter link). The scribe suggests teams who may have been interested in Purcell either didn’t have the room to add another contract or were too close to the salary cap ceiling and consequently passed on making a claim.
Jon Rosen of LA Kings Insider adds that there may have been talk with at least one club regarding a trade prior to Los Angeles placing Purcell on waivers. That appears to coincide with what Friedman tweeted. It’s conceivable another club with interest in the 6-foot-2, 205-pound right wing wanted the Kings to either take back a contract or a salary to help offset adding Purcell.
The 31-year-old Purcell in his second tour with the Kings after inking a one-year free agent contract with the team this summer. He has just two points in 12 games this season but has been a productive player in the past. Purcell has reached the 40-point plateau in four different NHL seasons throughout his career and posted a 24-goal, 65-point campaign in 2011-12 with Tampa Bay.
With an AAV of just $1.6MM on his expiring pact and a track record of solid offensive production, it qualifies as a mild surprise went unclaimed. Just last February the Florida Panthers dealt a third-round draft pick to Edmonton to secure the services of a pure rental. Should Purcell regain his scoring touch there could once again be a market for the skilled winger ahead of the trade deadline.
For now Purcell remains property of the Kings, who have the option of keeping him on the big club or reassigning him to Ontario of the AHL at any point in the next 30 days. However Rosen has since tweeted that the club is planning to assign Purcell to their AHL affiliate in order to clear a roster spot for Andy Andreoff once he is ready to come off IR.
Atlantic Division Transactions/Injuries
The Buffalo Sabres, already without two of their top defensemen, will now also be without veteran blue liner Josh Gorges for what head coach Dan Bylsma says will be “weeks,” tweets Joe Yerdon of NHL.com. Gorges suffered a non-displaced fracture in his foot and according to Yerdon was seen in a walking boot yesterday.
The Sabres have been without the services of Zach Bogosian and Dmitry Kulikov since early November, weakening a blue line not considered to be particularly deep to begin with. Bogosian has missed a month with a sprained MCL while Kulikov has been out for three weeks due to an undisclosed injury. However, Yerdon reports that Kulikov is now considered day-to-day, suggesting he could return to the lineup relatively soon.
The Sabres are calling Taylor Fedun questionable for tomorrow’s game and if he can’t go, the team will have to call up a defender from Rochester of the AHL. Speculatively, Casey Nelson, who already has made eight appearances for Buffalo this season, could be the choice if a recall is necessarily.
(Buffalo Depth Cart – courtesy of Roster Resource)
- The Florida Panthers announced that they have recalled forward Paul Thompson from Springfield of the AHL. Thompson leads Springfield in several offensive categories including: goals (six); assists (nine); points (15); power play goals (three) and; shots on goal (64). He has appeared in 20 contests so far this season for the Thunderbirds. Thompson, 28, has just three NHL games of experience under his belt, all coming last season with New Jersey, and has yet to record a point. George Richards of the Miami Herald reports that Thompson’s recall was necessitated by an injury to Jonathan Marchessault last night in Ottawa.
Atlantic Division Snapshots: Yzerman, Beleskey, Bjugstad, Bibeau
The Tampa Bay Lightning entered the 2016-17 campaign as a popular pick to emerge from the Eastern Conference to compete for the Stanley Cup championship. While it’s still relatively early, Lightning GM Steve Yzerman is concerned with the team’s inconsistent play, though as Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times writes, that concern is tempered by calm.
Entering tonight’s home contest against Washington, the Lightning boast a record of just 13 – 11 – 1 through their first 25 games and currently reside in fourth place in the Atlantic, seven points behind first place Montreal. If the postseason was to start today, Tampa would be on the outside looking in, one point behind the Capitals for the final wild card spot though Washington has played three fewer games. Despite their standing and the fact the team has lost four in a row, Yzerman is not interested in making a move simply to “shake things up.”
“If there’s an opportunity to make us a better team, I’m certainly willing to explore it. But I like our team. I like the character of our players. We’re very careful of the type of person we bring in and which players we move out. That isn’t going to change.”
The trouble of late, according to Yzerman, has been the team’s lackluster play in their own zone. As Smith notes, Tampa Bay has given up 19 goals over the last four games; a figure which could have been higher if not for the quality play of the team’s net minders.
It’s easy to understand Yzerman’s hesitation to try to solve the team’s problems via the trade market. At this point so few teams have the available salary cap space necessary to make more than minor deals.
If they do decide a deal is in order either at or near the trade deadline, the Lightning do have an appealing asset to market in goaltender Ben Bishop. Bishop, who has been a Vezina Trophy finalist twice in the last three seasons, is in the final year of his contract. With Andrei Vasilevskiy inking a three-year contract extension over the summer and presumably the team’s future starter, the Lightning could move Bishop to address other areas of need.
Elsewhere in the Atlantic Division:
- Matt Beleskey of the Boston Bruins was knocked out of this afternoon’s game against Buffalo after absorbing a heavy hit from Sabres blue liner Taylor Fedun, writes Joe Haggerty of CSNNE. Beleskey suffered the lower-body injury late in the first period and his return was ruled out by the team soon thereafter. The gritty forward was a big-ticket free agent signing in the summer of 2015, inking a five-year, $19MM pact with Boston. This season he has struggled, scoring just two goals in 23 games for the Bruins.
- Struggling to find their way on the ice and having already relieved head coach Gerard Gallant of his duties, the Florida Panthers, under new bench boss Tom Rowe continue to tinker with the lineup in an effort to find some consistency. With Nick Bjugstad returning recently from injury, the team tried lining him up on the right side, instead of at his customary pivot position, to try to ease him back into the lineup. But after five games – and zero points for the 6-foot-6 center – Bjugstad is moving back to the middle, where Rowe feels he will be “more comfortable,” as Harvey Fialkov writes. Currently two points behind Washington for the second wild card slot in the East, Florida needs to improve their play if they want to qualify for the postseason for the second consecutive campaign and a return to normal production from Bjugstad would be a big help in that regard.
- Finally, with starting net minder Frederik Andersen battling an undisclosed illness and unable to practice yesterday, the Toronto Maple Leafs have recalled Antoine Bibeau from the AHL on an emergency basis, according to Mike Augello (Twitter link). Elliotte Friedman adds that while Andersen is still expected to play, the team wanted certainty just in case, and with the Leafs in Vancouver to play the Canucks tonight, Toronto acted early as a precaution. Bibeau has yet to make his NHL debut and it appears unlikely he will do so tonight. While he has no big league experience, the 22-year-old goalie has appeared in 87 contests over the last three seasons with the Marlies.
Teddy Purcell Waived By Los Angeles
The Los Angeles Kings have placed Teddy Purcell on waivers, according to Elliotte Friedman.
Purcell was expected to provide solid secondary scoring for a relatively-inexpensive cap hit of $1.6MM. However, he’s struggled in his first season with the Kings, with just two assists in 12 games in addition to his poor possession stats.
Purcell may have to go elsewhere to find last season’s form; he scored 43 points in 76 games split between the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers. He found good chemistry with Taylor Hall and Leon Draisaitl on the Oilers top line for much of last season before being traded at the deadline to the Panthers for a third-round pick in this past June’s entry draft.
While Purcell’s play may not warrant a waiver claim, a team may trade for him if he clears to avoid adding a contract to their 50-man limit. However, that depends on how desperate the Kings are to move on. If he is assigned to the AHL, he’ll count for $650K against the Kings cap, saving them $950K.
Pro Hockey Rumors had ranked Purcell 23rd on our list of Top 50 UFAs back in June.
Atlantic Notes: Barkov, Red Wings Call Up Candidates
A breakaway goal may just be what Aleksander Barkov needs to get going writes the Sun-Sentinel’s Harvey Fialkov. Barkov was sprung loose during the Panthers’ 2-1 overtime victory last night when a Red Wings line change led to Barkov being wide open at center ice. He took the long outlet pass, raced to the net, and scored a five hole winner on Petr Mrazek. Before the game, new bench boss Tom Rowe chatted with the youngster and had this to say:
“I told him not to focus on scoring, that they will start going in,” Rowe said Friday on an unscheduled day off in Ottawa given as part reward, part mental and physical break during a season-long six-game road trip.
“Keep playing the right way and have some fun.”
Fialkov writes that the goal snapped Barkov’s 21-game goal drought, the longest of his career. He adds that Barkov reacted with humor after being asked about it. His response? “I don’t even remember my last goal, so it was good to see one go in.”
In spite of a scoring drought, Barkov is second on the team in points with 15 (3-12).
In other Atlantic Division news:
- Though Drew Miller could take the vacated spot after the Red Wings announced that Justin Abdelkader will be out 2-4 weeks, general manager Ken Holland said that a move would be made from the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins. Some candidates? Forward Matt Lorito has been dynamite for the Griffins, being a point-per-game player since the Wings picked him up as a free agent this summer offering a two-year, two-way deal. Lorito was recently named AHL Player of the Week and currently sits seventh in the league with 19 points (7-12) and is also waiver exempt. Another candidate? Mitch Callahan, who is second on the Griffins in points with 14, has been knocking on the door for years. He’s a feisty winger who would go into the corners while also trying to score the “greasy goals” coach Jeff Blashill harps on. One other candidate could be Eric Tangradi, a big bodied forward who had a call up last season. It’s more likely that Miller slots in, as Blashill has already hinted that the veteran will get the call.