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Injury Notes: Andersen, Point, Kuemper

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The Carolina Hurricanes were meeting with the media for the final time this season as they cleaned out their lockers, and Frederik Andersen finally answered some questions about the mysterious injury that kept him out of the playoffs. The veteran goaltender revealed that he tore his MCL on April 16, his last appearance of the season and a game in which he allowed seven goals on 33 shots.

With Andersen out, the Hurricanes were forced to use Antti Raanta for the entire playoff run, something that he had never done before. While he had some incredible moments, his performance dropped off at the end of the second round, when he was pulled in consecutive games against the New York Rangers. It was nearly the exact same situation that the Toronto Maple Leafs found themselves in with Andersen a year ago, when he was unable to play down the stretch and in the playoffs due to a mysterious lower-body injury. The 32-year-old netminder has one year left on his deal that carries a $4.5MM cap hit.

  • There was an interesting sight today just after the Tampa Bay Lightning left the ice following morning skate, as reporters including Joe Smith of The Athletic spotted Brayden Point doing drills with assistant coach Jeff Halpern. There’s no updated timeline for Point’s return after he left game seven against the Maple Leafs in the first round. The 26-year-old center has led the Lightning in goals during each of the Stanley Cup runs and would be a huge boost if he can re-enter the lineup at some point.
  • Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar wouldn’t give up any details on the upper-body injury that took Darcy Kuemper out of the game last night, and only said “we’ll see” if the veteran goaltender is ready to go in game two. As Mike Chambers of the Denver Post relays, Bednar refuses to get into the injury at this point in the playoffs. He did indicate the team has full confidence in Pavel Francouz, who has now been forced into game action in two of the three Colorado series.

Darcy Kuemper Leaves Game For Colorado Avalanche

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After dealing with an equipment issue to start the second period of game one of the Western Conference Finals against the Edmonton Oilers, Darcy Kuemper left the game mid-way through the second period, appearing to be injured (link).  Kuemper was replaced by Pavel Francouz in net after the former had gone to the dressing room. According to TNT’s broadcast of the game, Kuemper’s return to this game is considered doubtful, Kuemper having an upper-body injury.

Francouz entering the game marks the fourth goaltender used in this game between the two teams, Edmonton pulling Mike Smith after Colorado scored its sixth goal, replacing him with Mikko Koskinen. This isn’t Francouz’s first action or Kuemper’s first departure of the postseason, as Kuemper was forced to leave game three of Colorado’s first round series against the Nashville Predators after Ryan Johansen’s stick blade appeared to go through his mask and hit him in his eye. Francouz would replace Kuemper then, starting in the series-clinching game four as well, with Kuemper returning for the start of the second round against the St. Louis Blues.

Colorado acquired Kuemper this past offseason to replace the outgoing Philipp Grubauer, who signed with the Seattle Kraken. The new Avalanche goaltender had a solid first season in Colorado, posting a .921 save-percentage and 2.54 goals-against average in 57 regular season games. Despite solid numbers in the playoffs coming into tonight, including a .907 save-percentage and 2.44 goals-against average in nine games, Kuemper has appeared to be shaky at times, including three goals surrendered to the Oilers in the first half of tonight’s game before leaving with injury.

Thus far, the seriousness of Kuemper’s injury is not yet apparent, and there is the potential that the equipment trouble he was dealing with to start the period necessitated him leaving the game altogether. Colorado’s starting netminder had visited the bench several times between whistles in the second period before exiting. Still not an ideal situation, an equipment malfunction would certainly be the preferred outcome for Colorado, who still has two series to win in their pursuit of the Stanley Cup.

Jared Spurgeon, Mats Zuccarello Out With Core Muscle Injuries

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Every year, veteran players on playoff teams end up having to go under the knife at the end of the season. The Minnesota Wild are no different, as both Jared Spurgeon and Mats Zuccarello will face recovery timelines of six weeks after core muscle surgery. Michael Russo of The Athletic reports that Spurgeon has already undergone the procedure, while Zuccarello is scheduled for it. The latter also dealt with a fracture in his leg which will not require surgery.

For Spurgeon, the injury goes back to before the January 1 Winter Classic according to Russo. That means he played at least 50 games while dealing with it, including six playoff matches against the St. Louis Blues. It’s easy to understand that he was dealing with something (or perhaps several things), as the team captain’s ice time dropped dramatically in the postseason. Spurgeon averaged just over 20 minutes, and actually didn’t even reach that threshold in three of the six games. Still, he finished the regular season with a strong 40 points in 65 matches.

Zuccarello meanwhile had the best offensive season of his career, putting up 79 points in 70 games. He did have four points in six playoff games as well, but the Wild were outscored 6-5 while he was on the ice, a huge change from the regular season (Minnesota outscored their opponent 77-54 with him at even-strength) and a big reason why they were eventually eliminated.

A six-week timeline certainly isn’t the end of the world, given how far away the 2022-23 season is, but core muscle surgeries are notorious for impacting performance long after the player is cleared to hit the ice. Hopefully, for the Wild’s sake at least, both players will be at full strength when the season kicks off and ready to challenge for the playoffs once again.

Calgary Notes: Tkachuk, Injury Updates, Monahan

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After the conclusion of the Calgary Flames’ season on Thursday, the team took some time to digest and spoke to the media today in their end-of-season media availability, touching primarily on injury news, some known and some not, as well as topics for this offseason. One of those offseason topics comes with the status of superstar forward Matthew Tkachuk, who is a RFA after finishing a three-year, $21MM contract this season. Tkachuk impressed over the life of the contract, capping it off with an incredible 42 goals and 62 assists in 82 games this season. Keeping the forward in the fold long-term is absolutely a priority for the Flames, however they also have to focus on re-signing superstar Johnny Gaudreau, who is a pending UFA, and give fairly significant raises to forward Andrew Mangiapane and defenseman Oliver Kylington.

Calgary did seem to clear one hurdle today, as Tkachuk himself told the media, when asked about an extension, that he would love to sign a long-term deal with the Flames, expressing his love for the team, the city, and the fanbase. Tkachuk’s sentiment is no small feat for the Flames considering the league has seen a number of superstar players depart their teams in free agency in recent years. Though a RFA, Tkachuk could opt for a shorter-term bridge deal and hit the unrestricted free agent market sooner than later, which would put Calgary in a tough spot, with forwards Tyler Toffoli, Mikael Backlund, and Elias Lindholm, as well as defensemen Noah Hanifin and Chris Tanev all set to become UFAs after the 2023-24 season. All of that before considering what an extension with Gaudreau would include. Keeping Tkachuk long-term won’t ease the burden of his cap hit, but will provide Calgary with the security of knowing a superstar is staying put for a certain salary while they navigate that predictably difficult 2024 offseason and the future of the franchise.

  • Sportsnet’s Eric Francis provided injury updates on several Flames players, including Tkachuck, Mangiapane, Tanev, Milan Lucic, and Nikita Zadorov. Lucic, who had struggled to just one assist in 12 playoff games has an AC sprain. Tkachuck had an injured hand and Mangipane a bad wrist. Perhaps most notably, Zadorov, who had done an excellent job shutting down both Edmonton and the Dallas Stars, did so in some part with two broken ribs. Despite the number of injuries for Calgary, it appears that Tanev, who has a torn labrum, separated shoulder, and sprained neck, will be the only one having surgery (link).
  • More from the injury front, as The Athletic’s Hailey Salvian also provided an update on forward Sean Monahan, who had hip surgery in the first week of April. Flames GM Brad Treliving told Salvian that Monahan’s recovery was about 5-6 weeks ahead of schedule as compared to where he was with his hip surgery last offseason, and the forward should resume skating in the coming weeks. With opening night over four months away, we will have to wait a while to see Monahan back in the Calgary lineup at full strength. However, the update on Monahan, who has struggled more and more over the past three seasons while dealing with injury, is absolutely encouraging, and getting him back to the form that saw him hit a career-high 82 points in 2018-19 could work as a “free” addition for the Flames, who are currently at-risk of losing Gaudreau in free agency this offseason.

Barclay Goodrow Returns To New York Rangers Lineup

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After New York Rangers Head Coach Gerard Gallant told the media yesterday that forwards Barclay Goodrow and Sammy Blais could return to the lineup soon, but not for Game Six against the Carolina Hurricanes, it appears that Goodrow will be making his return to the Rangers lineup tonight (link). Goodrow took warmups in between wingers Tyler Motte and Ryan Reaves for the Rangers tonight in lieu of a noticeably absent Kevin Rooney. As TSN’s Ray Ferraro points out, the Rangers have just 18 skaters on the ice for warmups, meaning that Goodrow is not out there for a test run or a game-time decision. Goodrow last played in Game One of the first round when he suffered a lower-body injury.

The Rangers signed Goodrow this past offseason to a six-year, $21.85MM contract as part of their push to make their team grittier and tougher to play against. As much as he has helped the team in that effort, along with players like Blais and Ryan Reaves, the organization also brought in Goodrow for another reason: his playoff experience and Stanley Cup pedigree, winning the previous two Stanley Cups with the Tampa Bay Lightning. The veteran forward was brought in to help the Rangers be confident and succeed in exactly the type of game he finds himself returning in, that being Game Six of the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals with the Rangers on the brink of elimination.

Thus far, Goodrow has lived up to the billing, notching 13 goals to go with 20 assists on top of a plus-13 rating in 79 games this season for the Rangers. While he only has 12 points in 43 postseason games for the Tampa Bay Lightning (14 points in 66 playoff games overall), Goodrow was a key component of the team that won back-to-back Stanley Cups in Tampa, demonstrating the poise needed of players in those situations. If the Rangers are able to win tonight, and any further in this year’s playoffs, or down the road, one could expect Goodrow to have a lot to do with that success.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson Suffers Fractured Foot At World Championship

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It was a disappointing World Championship on a couple of fronts for Vancouver defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson.  Sweden blew a 3-0 lead in the third period to Canada on Thursday before falling in overtime and to add to that frustration, he was also injured as the Canucks announced (Twitter link) that he suffered a foot fracture in the tournament.

The veteran blueliner had a fairly quiet first season in Vancouver after coming over in a trade back at the draft last summer.  He picked up 29 points in 79 games, his lowest point per game average since his rookie year back in 2010-11.  Regardless, Ekman-Larsson still played over 22 minutes a game, second on the team to only Quinn Hughes while also taking a regular turn on both the power play and penalty kill.  He was similarly quiet at the Worlds, collecting just a pair of assists for Sweden in their six games while logging 19:20 per contest, third among their blueliners.

Fortunately for Ekman-Larsson and the Canucks, the recovery time for this injury is four to six weeks which means while his offseason training will be interrupted, he should be fully recovered by the time training camp rolls around in September.  Vancouver will likely be icing a similar back end to the one they had this season so they’ll be counting on Ekman-Larsson to have a bounce-back season in 2022-23.

Brad Marchand Undergoes Hip Surgery

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There’s some significant injury news in Beantown after the team was eliminated in the First Round a couple of weeks ago. The Boston Bruins announced today that star forward Brad Marchand underwent successful hip arthroscopy and labral repair on both of his hips. The recovery process is slated to take six months, making it likely Marchand is out for nearly the first two months of the 2022-23 regular season.

Marchand’s projected unavailability next season only adds to what’s bound to be an offseason of chaos for the Bruins. With the future of captain Patrice Bergeron up in the air, the team can’t really have a plan yet of how to attack the offseason and free agency.

On the ice, losing Marchand for any amount of time is a staggering blow for this Bruins team. Not only does Marchand bring all the intangibles that he’s so well known for, but he also remains one of the most offensively skilled left-wingers in the league. He scored 80 points in 70 games last season for his sixth straight season above a point per game pace.

Off the ice, moving Marchand to long-term injured reserve for the start of the regular season could buy the Bruins some time. The team has under $3MM in cap space this offseason, and while they have few roster spots to replace, the aging team needs to modify their roster to stay competitive in a tough Atlantic Division. Most importantly, there’s the matter of re-signing or replacing Bergeron, and the latter option will likely be much more costly. If the Bruins can buy some more cap space for the start of the season, it would allow them a few months into the year to figure out some trade scenarios for players to free up space.

Regardless, at 34 years old, the Bruins just hope Marchand is able to rebound to his previous level of play after what was a decently intensive surgery.

Kings’ Sean Durzi Undergoes Shoulder Surgery

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Following a breakout rookie campaign, Los Angeles Kings defenseman Sean Durzi went under the knife today. The team reports that Durzi required shoulder surgery following the Kings’ playoff exit. Despite the delayed start to his offseason, Durzi is expected to be fully recovered in time for the start of the 2022-23 season.

Durzi, 23, led all of L.A.’s numerous rookies in scoring this season with 27 points in 64 games. Most of that scoring came via assists, but half of Durzi’s 24 helpers were primary assists, which was second-best among Kings’ defensemen and sixth on the team. Durzi didn’t forget about defense either; he led the team in blocked shots and led all defensemen in takeaways – and that was despite playing in only 64 games. Durzi’s stellar two-way play led to a gradual increase in responsibility that resulted in near 20 minutes of average ice time per night. Though he may not have received the same accolades as rookies across the league or even as some of the other young players in L.A., Durzi is coming off a terrific season.

The key now is making sure that he rehabs and heals correctly and is at full strength for a follow-up performance next season. Durzi joins Drew Doughty and Sean Walker as Kings defenders returning from injury and there will definitely be a power grab on the Kings’ blue line. Doughty, Walker, and Matt Roy will be returning veterans, while Durzi and Michael Anderson will be the standout youngsters and will also bring new contracts as restricted free agents this summer. Tobias Bjornfot, Jordan Spence, and Jacob Moverare will be budding young pros in the mix in L.A. as well. However, a healthy Durzi replicating his success from this season is a shoo-in for a top-four role despite the competition.

Draft Notes: Savoie, Morrison, Fisher, MacDonald

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The next time you see Matthew Savoie could be as walks on stage in Montreal at the 2022 NHL Draft. One of the top prospects in this years class, Savoie’s Winnipeg Ice are still alive in the WHL playoffs, but the skilled center has not been playing with them. The Athletic’s Corey Pronman reports that Savoie injury he suffered earlier in the series and is now considered unlikely to return this postseason. Pronman notes that the injury is not long-term and Savoie could hypothetically be back for the Memorial Cup next month, but down 3-1 to the Edmonton Oil Kings in the WHL semifinals, the Ice likely aren’t making it that far. Fortunately, Savoie has done more than enough to cement his spot as a top-ten prospect this year. Long considered one of top talents of the 2022 class, Savoie recorded 35 goals and 90 points in 65 games with Winnipeg this year and tacked on a dozen more points in ten playoff games to silence any doubters. He will hear his name called very early on July 7, whether he plays again before then or not.

  • No CHL team – or perhaps any team on the planet – is as hot as the OHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs right now. The top-seeded team is undefeated in the postseason, sweeping each of their first two series and picking up a win last night to go up 3-0 in their semifinal series. It seems a virtual lock that Hamilton will be OHL champs this year and the team to beat at the Memorial Cup. No one is happier about that than Logan Morrison. Passed over in the 2020 NHL Draft and ignored in the 2021 Draft after missing last season due to the OHL’s COVID shutdown, Morrison is making it impossible for teams to overlook him in his third and final draft go-round. The two-way center recorded 34 goals and 66 assists for 100 points in just 60 games this season with Hamilton, finishing sixth in the league in scoring and second in plus/minus at a whopping +44. The longer that Morrison and the Bulldogs play, the more eyes will be on the 19-year-old – and he is giving them something to watch. Morrison has a league-high 13 goals to go with 24 points and a +15 rating in only 11 postseason games thus far. He hope to take that hot streak right to draft day and be one of the rare third-year players to garner a high pick. TSN’s Craig Button recently ranked Morrison as the No. 86 prospect in the draft class, but at this rate the late third round could only be the floor for Morrison.
  • Almost every player selected in the NHL Draft comes from either a junior or professional league. However, there are always a sizeable selection of high school players taken and that trend has grown of late. Specifically, in recent years there have been more prep school players going straight to the NCAA the next season garnering looks in the early rounds. The New England Hockey Journal’s Mark Divver notes that a couple more could be coming this year out of Massachusetts. Defenseman Michael Fisher and forward Ben MacDonald have each been invited to the NHL Draft Combine next week, Divver reports. The two have no junior experience, yet have been identified as among the top 96 players worth inviting to the combine. Fisher, who played at St. Mark’s and recorded 50 points in 28 games this year, brings the sought-after combination of size and skill and is headed to Northeastern University next year to keep developing. MacDonald, who played at Noble & Greenough and notched 29 points in 22 games this season, will eventually join Harvard University, but is set to suit up with the BCHL’s West Kelowna Warriors next year. Both will be eager to take advantage of the increased exposure at the Combine and could earn an early selection in this year’s draft.

Torey Krug Still Not An Option For St. Louis

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The St. Louis Blues have staved off elimination for at least another few days, coming back to beat the Colorado Avalanche in overtime last night on a slapshot from Tyler Bozak. One of the more amazing statistics from that game is how heavily the Blues have leaned on just three defensemen, using Justin Faulk, Colton Parayko, and Nick Leddy in all situations. Marco Scandella and Robert Bortuzzo, two of the team’s more veteran options, played just 12:22 and 11:09 last night, while Niko Mikkola saw just over 16 minutes.

Part of that discrepancy between the top and bottom of the defense corps is because of Torey Krug’s absence, a player that would normally slide in with that top group and take on huge minutes. Krug hasn’t played since game three of the first round though, leaving the match against the Minnesota Wild with a lower-body injury after just six shifts.

Despite being back on the ice again today, Krug won’t be an option for the Blues tomorrow or in a potential game seven, according to Lou Korac of NHL.com. There is a chance he could return next series, though thinking that far ahead certainly isn’t really productive for St. Louis at this point. The team has a lot of work to do if they want to come back and take the series from Colorado, meaning Faulk, Parayko, and Leddy will need to carry the load a little longer.

There will be an eye on who actually enters the lineup behind them though. The team had been using seven defensemen and dressing both Calle Rosen and Scott Perunovich earlier in the series, the latter mostly for powerplay duty. With another do-or-die situation tomorrow night, head coach Craig Berube will have to decide which mix to use for the handful of minutes those depth spots are receiving.

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