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Torey Krug Out With Upper-Body Injury

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The St. Louis Blues announced that defenseman Torey Krug will miss tonight’s game with an upper-body injury. Krug played in the Blues’ last game on Tuesday against the Boston Bruins, playing 17:53 in an overtime loss. It’s unclear how much time Krug will miss after tonight, if any, but for now the Blues will be without the veteran defenseman as they take on the Sharks in San Jose.

This is not Krug’s first battle with injury this season, as he has missed 15 games thus far. While the Blues have clinched a playoff spot, they are currently battling with the Minnesota Wild for second place in the Central Division, essentially battling for home-ice advantage in a first round series. Going without Krug, a reliable defender who has 40 points in 62 games this season, will not do St. Louis any favors in their battle in the standings, but it’s certainly better to have him out now rather than come playoffs.

Replacing him in the lineup tonight is defenseman Calle Rosen. The 28-year-old Rosen has played in just 14 games at the NHL level this year, however he’s been effective when he’s in the lineup, tallying two goals and five assists from the blueline. Rosen has played more regularly for the Springfield Thunderbirds of the AHL this season though, having four goals and 24 assists in 40 games at that level.

Brayden Point Day-To-Day With A Lower Body Injury

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The Tampa Bay Lightning will be without one of their stars tonight as they take on the Toronto Maple Leafs at home, missing forward Brayden Point. Point is day-to-day with a lower-body injury, says Mari Faiello of the Tampa Bay Times (link). According to The Athletic’s Joe Smith, Point had had a maintenance day yesterday (link), however seeing Point out with injury is still somewhat surprising news.

This isn’t the first game Point has missed due to injury this year, having already missed 14 previously. While the Lightning have clinched a playoff berth, their position still remains to be decided. Sitting at 100 points through 77 games, they are just one point ahead of the Boston Bruins and three ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins, both whom have also played 77 games and hold the first and second Wild Card positions in the Eastern Conference respectively. Even one game without Point can have significant implications for the Lightning, especially against a difficult opponent in the Maple Leafs.

On the bright side, Point’s injury does not appear to be serious, with the forward considered day-to-day. Coming on the heels of a maintenance day, his absence could be merely cautionary with the playoffs just around the corner. In 62 games this season, Point has 27 goals and 28 assists, yet another stellar season for the 26-year-old.

New York Islanders Place J.G. Pageau, Two Coaches In COVID Protocol; Anthony Beauvillier Day-To-Day

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According to the Athletic’s Kevin Kurz, the New York Islanders will be short a few coaches and players tonight as they take on the New York Rangers at home (Link to Tweet). First and foremost, the team has placed forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Associate Coach Lane Lambert, and Assistant Coach Jim Hiller in COVID protocol. Though the team is only short one player for tonight, Lambert and Hiller represent half of the team’s coaching staff behind the bench, putting extra weight on the shoulders of Head Coach Barry Trotz. Seeing COVID-related absences surely gives the Islanders unpleasant flashbacks to November, when the team was without a large portion of its roster due to COVID.

Also missing from the Islanders lineup, unrelated to COVID protocol, is forward Anthony Beauvillier, who is day-to-day with an upper-body injury. It’s unclear when exactly Beauvillier’s injury occurred, as he logged 18:24 of ice-time against the Florida Panthers on Tuesday, the Islanders’ last game. The team next plays Saturday afternoon on the road against the Buffalo Sabres.

In a corresponding move, the Islanders have recalled forward Otto Koivula on an emergency basis. Koivula has seen limited NHL time this year, with only five games played, the last on March 10th. In those five games, Koivula has just one assist, but the 23-year-old does have 12 goals and 35 assists in 56 games with the Bridgeport Islanders of the AHL this season. The forward is in the lineup tonight.

These transactions seemingly draw to a close a busy day of moves on the Island, with the team having placed defenseman Grant Hutton on waivers (link) and signing one of their top prospects William Dufour earlier in the day (link). For now, the Islanders will still have to focus on their game against the Rangers despite the missing pieces, but will be able to give Koivula another look in the NHL.

Snapshots: Kakko, Acciari, Clinching Scenarios

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It’s no secret that New York Rangers forward Kaapo Kakko has had some tough injury luck this season. He was sidelined in late January with an upper-body injury, missing about two and a half months before returning. He played just four games before suffering another injury, this time lower-body in nature, but head coach Gerard Gallant believes Kakko, who was injured on April 16th against Detroit, is expected back for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs (if not sooner).

Kakko hasn’t exceeded expectations by any means on the scoresheet this season, tallying just seven goals, nine assists, and 16 points through 41 games this year. The pending restricted free agent was one of the Rangers’ best defensive forwards prior to the team’s post-deadline resurgence in that regard, so it’s not as though he hasn’t brought any real value to the table this season.

  • Noel Acciari is returning to the Florida Panthers lineup once again tonight against Detroit. The veteran forward has missed most of the season due to a combination of injuries, and now, he rejoins the team after missing 10 games with an undisclosed injury. Acciari has one goal and five points in 14 games this year.
  • Clinching scenarios remain boundless for tonight’s 11-game slate, with many matches still having playoff implications despite 12 out of 16 teams already clinching playoff berths. The Florida Panthers can clinch both the Atlantic Division and regular-season Eastern Conference titles with a win against Detroit, provided the Tampa Bay Lightning also defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs in any fashion. The Calgary Flames will also clinch the Pacific Division title with a win of any kind against the Dallas Stars. Toronto and Carolina can also clinch home-ice advantage in the First Round, while the Wild and Blues can lock in a First Round matchup against each other.

Snapshots: Byron, Team Canada, Perbix

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Paul Byron can’t catch a break. The veteran forward has been limited to just 26 games this season due to injury. While many of these absences came while Byron was recovering from hip surgery, he has continued to be in and out of the lineup ever since he returned. The Montreal Canadiens announced that he was returning to the lineup on Tuesday night – but the return was short-lived. Less than two periods into the game, the Habs revealed that Byron has left the game and would not return due to a lower-body injury. Its unclear if this is another new injury or a reoccurrence of his hip issue. Either way, with just five games remaining in a lost season, it might be time for Montreal to simply shut Byron down for the year. Byron has one year remaining on his contract and will be back with the Canadiens in 2022-23 if he isn’t traded or bought out.

  • The Canadian entry into the upcoming IIHF World Championship may look very familiar to the fans of a Canadian NHL team. Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun writes that Senators head coach D.J. Smith, who will be an assistant for Team Canada, has recruited several of his star players to join the tournament. If healthy, Drake Batherson, Connor Brown, and Thomas Chabot will suit up for Canada. Health is a question though; Chabot is currently on the injured reserve with a fractured hand and Batherson and Brown have both missed time due to injury this season and may not rush to play extra games if those issues flare up.
  • Another notable name has entered the NCAA Transfer Portal. Defenseman Jack Perbix, an Anaheim Ducks fourth-round pick in 2018, is leaving the University of Minnesota. Most would have expected that if Perbix was leaving the Gophers, it would be for the NHL. Older brother Nick Perbix, a Tampa Bay Lightning prospect, signed his entry level contract last month after four years at St. Cloud State University. Rather than follow suit, Jack will instead stay in college for his senior year but will don a different jersey and have a different name on his degree.

Snapshots: Horvat, Kane, Matthews

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The Vancouver Canucks are steaming toward the playoffs, and they’re doing it without captain Bo Horvat, who left a game last week with a lower-body injury. Ruled out for at least two weeks, it seems he only has a chance to return this year if the Canucks do in fact come all the way back and grab a spot in the Western Conference postseason. Even if they are able to do that, his regular season ended with 31 goals in 70 games, a career-high, and a total that sets him up for quite well the summer.

Eligible for an extension in July when the calendar flips from 2021-22 to 2022-23, Horvat has just one year left on his current deal. He would be an unrestricted free agent after that and with the uncertainty surrounding the Canucks after making sweeping changes to the front office, it wasn’t clear if a new contract would be on the table. Today, his agent Pat Morris was on CHEK TV with Rick Dhaliwal, and explained that the Canucks management likes Horvat, and Horvat loves Vancouver and would like to stay. The two sides will “talk when the time is right,” suggesting no negotiations have taken place to this point. While the focus for everyone is on the playoff chase, things in Vancouver will quickly turn to the future if they aren’t able to secure a position in the postseason.

  • Evander Kane’s grievance hearing with the league over his contract termination began this morning, according to Darren Dreger of TSN. The Edmonton Oilers forward is away from the team for a few days while he deals with this grievance, which is fighting the process which the San Jose Sharks used to terminate the more than $22MM that remained on his seven-year contract. The decision is not expected for some time and will likely have no impact on his current contract status with the Oilers, regardless of the outcome.
  • The league’s leading goal scorer will have to wait for a chance to chase 60, as Auston Matthews is still not playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs this evening, despite feeling “really good” according to head coach Sheldon Keefe, who spoke with reporters including Mark Masters of TSN. The Maple Leafs are obviously more concerned about their first-round playoff matchup than individual performance records, as they still haven’t advanced in the postseason since 2004. Matthews still leads in the Rocket Richard race, four ahead of Leon Draisaitl in second place.

Jakob Chychrun, Christian Fischer Will Not Return This Season

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The Arizona Coyotes have six games remaining in the regular season to secure last place and the top odds for the 2022 draft lottery. They sit two points behind the Montreal Canadiens and have lost seven in a row, though at least part of those struggles has been because of a swathe of injuries. Two more players have now been ruled out for the rest of the year, as Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports tweets that both Jakob Chychrun and Christian Fischer will not return in 2021-22. Among the Coyotes’ injured players, only Antoine Roussel and Liam O’Brien have a chance of returning, according to Morgan.

Chychrun, 24, will once again be a target of headline writers across the hockey world this summer. The young defenseman was on the trading block for most of the year, but the Coyotes decided to hold on after not getting the offers they were looking for. His last game of the season was on March 12, when he exited a match against the Boston Bruins after less than six minutes of ice time.

While there’s not much to play for in the desert and losing is actually arguably more beneficial at the moment, Chychrun’s recent absence will do nothing to change the perception of him as an oft-injured risk. Through six full seasons in the NHL he has played just 337 game, an average of just over 56 per year (two of those seasons have been shortened by COVID-19) and he will finish with just 47 this time around. He actually had been playing the best hockey of the season just before going down, recording five goals and ten points in the six games preceding his injury.

Now he enters an uncertain offseason with three more years on his contract, and an organization that seems committed to a long rebuild. As one of the team’s biggest assets, Chychrun could still bring back a number of future pieces, but it’s unclear who exactly will be willing to pay the high price that general manager Bill Armstrong has set. Earlier this season reporting surfaced that the team was looking for three top assets–obviously, a price that was never met.

Fischer too faces an uncertain future in the desert. The 25-year-old forward has never been able to replicate the 15-goal, 33-point rookie season he had in 2017-18 and finishes this year with just five goals and ten points in 53 appearances. He now has just 43 goals in his 318-game career, and has settled into a depth role in the bottom six. A restricted free agent this offseason he will be eligible for salary arbitration and could be another piece moved out of town, should the team feel as though he’s not part of the long-term future.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Snapshots: Three Stars, Andersen, Smith

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The NHL has released its Three Stars for last week, with the top spot belonging to Vladimir Tarasenko of the St. Louis Blues. It’s been an incredible return to form for Tarasenko this season, after multiple shoulder surgeries had clouded his NHL future. After requesting a trade and going unclaimed by the expansion Seattle Kraken, he returned to the Blues with a renewed vigor and has posted the best offensive season of his career, with 76 points in 69 games. That includes 11 points just last week, as he continued what is now a six-game point streak.

Second and third went to Kevin Fiala and Mike Smith respectively, another two players whose futures with their current organizations looked murky not too long ago. The Minnesota Wild forward still might end up pricing himself out of the market given how well his season has gone since Matt Boldy’s arrival. In his last 46 games, Fiala has 25 goals and 55 points, including ten last week. Smith meanwhile looked at one point like he would be out of the league entirely, but the 40-year-old netminder has turned things around of late, posting consecutive shutouts in his last two games to lengthen a personal win streak to six and raise his season save percentage to .911.

  • Just as one veteran netminder turns things around, another may be out for a little while. Frederik Andersen has suffered an injury and will be re-evaluated in a week, according to Carolina Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour, who spoke to reporters including Sara Civian of The Athletic. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic tweets that Andersen’s MRI did come back negative and there is hope he’ll be ready for the playoffs, but a timeline is not clear at this point. Andersen has been one of the league’s very best this season, posting 35 wins and a .922 through 52 appearances.
  • Speaking of being back in the playoffs, Vegas Golden Knights head coach Pete DeBoer told reporters including Jesse Granger of The Athletic that if they make the postseason, he would expect Reilly Smith to return at some point. The 31-year-old Smith hasn’t played since early March and was moved to long-term injured reserve a few weeks ago. The Golden Knights, however, are no sure thing to make the playoffs at this point, as they currently sit four points behind the Nashville Predators for the final wild card spot (but only three behind Los Angeles for a divisional position).

Snapshots: Seattle, Kakko, Blues-Coyotes

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The Seattle Kraken have added some famous names to their ownership group, adding Marshawn Lynch and Macklemore as minority investors. The two will “lead major Kraken and Climate Pledge Arena initiatives to connect with hockey fans, music lovers, and community members alike.” Though the on-ice results haven’t come yet for the expansion franchise, the ownership group, led by billionaire David Bonderman, have already established a strong connection to the Seattle area.

More from around the league:

  • The New York Rangers have ruled Kaapo Kakko out on a week-to-week basis, following his injury against the Detroit Red Wings this weekend. The young forward had only recently returned from an upper-body injury that stole nearly three months of his season. In 41 games so far, Kakko has just 16 points, a career-low, despite averaging more ice time when he is in the lineup. Two of his seven goals came last week against the Philadelphia Flyers, suggesting he was back on the right track; he was injured the following game.
  • The St. Louis Blues and Arizona Coyotes will play a preseason game in Witchita, Kansas next season, in the home of the ECHL’s Wichita Thunder. The two squads will do battle on September 24 in the 15,000-seat arena, giving a whole new fanbase a taste of NHL action. The full slate of preseason games will not be released until later this summer.

Auston Matthews, Patrik Laine Out Day-To-Day

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Any injury hurts a team and a star player’s injury makes an even greater impact. However, when superstar players are sidelined, it even hurts the league itself as the on-ice product suffers. The NHL was dealt some bad news on Sunday night regarding two high-profile players, but at least their absences seems short-term. The Toronto Maple Leafs were without league-leading goal scorer Auston Matthews as they took the ice, with TSN’s Mark Masters relaying that he was out with an undisclosed “minor” injury. The Columbus Blue Jackets were in the same sport with point-per-game scorer Patrik Laine, announcing that he would miss Sunday’s game with an upper-body injury. Both players, who went No. 1 and No. 2 overall in 2016, are considered “day-to-day”.

Toronto head coach Sheldon Keefe told Masters that Matthews was held out for precautionary reasons, especially as the team played the second of a back-to-back. In fact, it was during Saturday’s game that Matthews suffered the injury. Matthews has been relatively healthy this season, only missing time due to injury for the first three games of the campaign, which has helped him reach his massive 58-goal, 102-point totals for the year. The Maple Leafs are understandably playing it safe surrounding the source of so much of their offense.

While Columbus is out of the playoff picture, the team is still rightfully careful with their skilled winger who has dealt with injury issues. Laine is quietly having a career year, recording 56 points through 56 games thus far. Had he been healthy this whole season, Laine very easily might have been on an 80+ point pace. There is no reason to rush him into action if he is dealing with an ailment, no matter how small, with the season lost. Instead, the Blue Jackets will hold out hope that Laine can stay on the ice next season and produce at the same rate.

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