Injury Notes: Crosby, Jarry, Draisaitl
After dropping back-to-back games against the New York Rangers to let them back into the series, there seems to be some great news on the health front for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Sidney Crosby is practicing with the team on Saturday morning after sustaining a reported concussion during Game 5 in New York and subsequently missing Game 6.
Crosby saved his best hockey this season for the playoffs, notching nine points in five games, tied for the team lead with Jake Guentzel. It’s never good to see one of the best players of all time go down with an injury, but concussions are even scarier, especially with Crosby. He’s battled back from multiple hits to the head throughout his career to still maintain his status as one of the best of the best. The captain’s return to the lineup would be an incredible boost as they head into tomorrow’s Game 7 on the road at Madison Square Garden.
- That’s not all the good news today from Penguins practice. The Tribune-Review’s Seth Rorabaugh reports that ideal starting netminder Tristan Jarry is also practicing today, receiving the bulk of the work while fill-in Louis Domingue is primarily a spectator. Jarry, who had a .919 save percentage this season, hasn’t played since suffering a foot injury on April 15. Domingue has done as much as you’d expect a third-string netminder to do, guiding Pittsburgh to a 3-3 record with a .898 save percentage.
- Leon Draisaitl isn’t taking morning skate for the Edmonton Oilers, reports TSN’s Ryan Rishaug. While not necessarily an indication that he’ll miss tonight’s Game 7 against the Los Angeles Kings, it is surely confirmation that he isn’t playing at 100% health. He’s been dealing with an ankle injury throughout the series and, despite still managing eight points in six games, has been exposed defensively at numerous points during the series.
Rickard Rakell Remains Out For Game Six
Pittsburgh Penguins winger Rickard Rakell is not on the ice for pre-game warmups and will remain out with a concussion for Game 6.
Rakell played just 4:28 in Game 1 before leaving with the injury. He joins Sidney Crosby on the list of injured Penguins forwards as they try to finish off the New York Rangers tonight at home. Rakell has been skating and was a game-time decision for tonight’s game.
It’s still a sizeable loss for the Penguins. Rakell had performed extremely well down the stretch during the regular season, registering 13 points in 19 games with the Penguins. In his absence, the team’s current second line of Danton Heinen, Evan Rodrigues, and Kasperi Kapanen will continue to see elevated minutes. All three have performed well in this series.
It’s countered by some positive news for the Rangers, as trade deadline acquisition Tyler Motte is returning to the lineup tonight.
Sidney Crosby Out For Game Six With Concussion
1:35pm: Multiple reports including from Emily Kaplan of ESPN and The Athletic have now surfaced confirming that Crosby suffered a concussion on the hit from Jacob Trouba. For any player that is concerning, but especially so for the Penguins’ captain given his history of head injuries. It is not clear when he will be able to return to the lineup.
10:44am: The Pittsburgh Penguins will be without captain Sidney Crosby for a pivotal game six against the New York Rangers, after he suffered an upper-body injury on Wednesday night. Head coach Mike Sullivan explained that Crosby is in a “good place” in his recovery, and the injured forward did skate on his own today.
Additionally, the Penguins updated the status of a few other injured players. Brian Dumoulin is still working through his off-ice recovery and his status has not changed, while Rickard Rakell is now considered a game-time decision. Tristan Jarry, who has been skating the last little while, will not play tonight, meaning it’s Louis Domingue‘s net for at least one more game.
If there was ever a time for pending free agents Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang to put a stamp on the first-round series, it’s tonight in an all-important chance to eliminate the Rangers. On home ice, the Penguins will have to find a way past Hart Trophy nominee Igor Shesterkin once again, as the Rangers will put him back in the net after securing the win in game five. It’s been an up-and-down series for the Rangers goaltender, who has allowed 19 goals in five games but still has a save percentage of .905 as the Penguins continue to rack up shots.
Snapshots: Kuemper, Marchment, Boudreau
It appears as though the Colorado Avalanche will have goaltender Darcy Kuemper back between the pipes when they host either the St. Louis Blues or Minnesota Wild to start the second round next week (link). Kuemper was back at practice today, and while it’s unclear if he would have been able to play had Colorado’s series against the Nashville Predators continued, he will have a few more days to get ready and continue to recover. St. Louis hosts Minnesota tonight in Game 6 of the first round, the Blues holding a 3-2 series lead.
Kuemper was injured late in the first period of Game 3 of round one when Predators forward Ryan Johansen appeared to get his stick blade caught inside of Kuemper’s mask. The goaltender would leave the game, replaced by Pavel Francouz, who started in net for the Avalanche in their series-clinching win in Game 4. An impending UFA, the Avalanche acquired Kuemper this past offseason in a win-now move to give them a star goaltender for this season, perhaps their best chance at a Stanley Cup. Kuemper compiled another strong season in 2021-22, his first with Colorado, posting a .921 save-percentage and 2.54 goals-against average.
- The Florida Panthers announced, per head coach Andrew Brunette, that forward Mason Marchment will not be available when Florida takes on the Washington Capitals in Game 6 tomorrow night (link). The forward had been dealing with a previous injury and was considered a game-time decision for Game 5, a game that he ultimately did not play in. Seeing Marchment move from a game-time decision for Game 5 to being ruled out a day ahead of Game 6 is surely a concern for Florida, as the 26-year-old has provided excellent secondary scoring with a physical game to go along with it, putting up 18 goals and 29 assists in 54 games this season.
- From Rob Simpson of Vancouver Hockey Now, who spoke with Bruce Boudreau, the head coach of the Vancouver Canucks, Boudreau said he hopes to return to the organization next week. Currently, Boudreau is still under contract with Vancouver with whom he has an option to return, and said he plans on confirming his option with Canucks’ President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford and General Manager Patrik Allvin sometime early next week. Boudreau has until June 1st to accept the option. The veteran head coach had also made clear to Simpson that he has spent the last couple of weeks simply taking time off, visiting with friends and family and making other arrangements, and the delay was not tactical in nature. There had been recent rumors about a possible extension with Boudreau, however Rutherford made it clear he would not be interested in extending Boudreau just yet, but was open to the idea of it at some point. What exactly Boudreau thought of that situation was unclear, but it appears now that his primary focus is on returning to the Canucks for the 2022-23 season.
Pittsburgh Penguins Recall Radim Zohorna
With Sidney Crosby‘s uncertain status for tomorrow night, the Pittsburgh Penguins have made an addition to the roster. Radim Zohorna has been recalled from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, despite the AHL club having their own postseason match this evening.
Zohorna, 26, is not exactly a prospect, even though he has just 25 games of NHL experience to this point. The long-time Czech league player came to the Pittsburgh organization in 2020-21 and has done nothing but produce at whatever level he’s asked to play. In the NHL this season, he had six points in 17 games, while racking up 23 hits with his 6’6″ frame in just over ten minutes of ice time per night. In the minors, those numbers increased to 12 goals and 21 points in 39 games, before really making an impact for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the postseason.
Through four games in the Calder Cup playoffs, Zohorna already has five points, recording at least one in all three first-round games against the Hershey Bears. As an injury replacement, if he does enter the lineup, you could certainly do worse than the intimidating, versatile forward, even though filling Crosby’s skates is obviously an impossible task if he is indeed held out.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Snapshots: Switzerland, Trouba, Lindholm
The IIHF World Championship will start tomorrow and there are NHL players littered across all of the rosters. One of the most interesting rosters is the one that Switzerland has managed to put together, with names like Timo Meier and Nico Hischier leading the way. Unfortunately for the Swiss, they’ll be without their best option despite him already being eliminated from the NHL playoffs. Roman Josi has turned down the invitation, citing his pregnant wife whom he will be staying with for the next little while.
Josi’s 96-point year was the best season of all time from a Swiss-born player, though Kevin Fiala and Meier both would have also set that record this season had the others not existed (with Hischier not far behind). Fiala is obviously also not on the roster as he continues to battle for the Minnesota Wild, but the success of these players only suggests that Swiss hockey will continue to grow and make an even bigger impact on the NHL in the coming years.
- There is no supplementary discipline expected for New York Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba‘s hit on Sidney Crosby last night, according to several reports including Larry Brooks of the New York Post. Crosby is being evaluated for an upper-body injury after missing the second half of the game, while Trouba will try to help even the series tomorrow night in Pittsburgh after scoring and recording two points yesterday.
- Speaking of defensemen trying to help even a series, Hampus Lindholm will return for the Boston Bruins in game six tonight after missing the last few with an upper-body injury. Lindholm was injured on a hit from Andrei Svechnikov and held out, but told reporters today that he started to feel better quickly afterward and is now ready to go. The trade deadline acquisition is expected to return to the top pairing with Charlie McAvoy and play a ton as the Bruins fight for their season.
Morning Notes: Team Canada, Crosby, Bokk
The Canadian contingent for the IIHF World Championship has named their leadership group, with Ottawa Senators defenseman Thomas Chabot given the captaincy. The team will go with a group of alternates including Josh Anderson, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Adam Lowry, and Damon Severson for the event, likely rotating each game.
The tournament, which starts tomorrow, is a nice way for Chabot to get some more on-ice reps after missing a huge chunk of this season, though with the amount he plays it has already been a long year. In 59 games this season, the Senators’ defenseman scored 38 points and averaged more than 26 minutes a night for the third season in a row.
- There’s no update yet on Pittsburgh Penguins forward Sidney Crosby, as head coach Mike Sullivan only confirmed that his captain is dealing with an upper-body injury and will be evaluated further on their return home. Crosby took a hit from Jacob Trouba in last night’s game that kept him out, and obviously has a long history with head injuries. The Penguins stayed in New York after last night’s loss and will fly to Pittsburgh today to prepare for tomorrow’s game six.
- After spending half of this season playing back home in Germany, Dominik Bokk is coming back to North America. His club team announced today that Bokk will re-join the Carolina Hurricanes organization for the 2022-23 season, a previously agreed upon decision. After playing 32 games in the AHL this year, Bokk was loaned to Eisbaren Berlin in the DEL for the stretch run, where he scored 11 points in 14 games and another three in 12 playoff contests. The first-round pick originally selected by St. Louis in 2018 has one year left on his entry-level deal.
Snapshots: Eichel, Forsberg, First Overall Pick
When the Vegas Golden Knights ended up missing the playoffs for the first time in franchise history, many seemed to quickly point to Jack Eichel‘s somewhat lackluster 25 points in 34 games this season as part of the problem. Now, as in keeping with the story behind Vegas’ season, team president George McPhee revealed Eichel played the final six weeks of the regular season with a broken thumb after suffering the injury on March 17.
With sniper Max Pacioretty limited to 39 games and captain Mark Stone limited to 37, the Golden Knights were ravaged by injuries on an unprecedented level this season (although this year’s Canadiens also belong in that conversation). The team had just seven skaters hit the 70-game mark, and, to make matters worse, starter Robin Lehner was also limited to just 44 starts as he battled through injury this season as well. If a fully healthy Eichel (after a healthy offseason as well) returns to the Vegas lineup come October, there’s a strong chance the team will pick up where they left off at the end of 2020-21.
- Pending unrestricted free agent Filip Forsberg, just a day after getting swept out of the playoffs, says “the goal is to come back” to the Predators this offseason. Forsberg, 27, is eligible for the open market for the first time this offseason. Coming off a career year in goals (42), assists (42), and points (84), he could easily command something in the $9MM per year range this summer. Nashville doesn’t have any other big free agents to spend on this offseason, and with over $24MM in projected cap space per CapFriendly, it shouldn’t be too hard to get a deal done if he does opt to stay.
- After retaining the first overall pick in tonight’s draft lottery, Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes says the team doesn’t plan on trading the pick, although he’ll listen if he receives calls. While it’s likely just a standard answer to a standard question, it’s somewhat interesting that he didn’t close off the option entirely. It would likely take an astronomical package to pry the pick and, presumptively, Shane Wright, away from Montreal, who will host the draft.
Mackenzie MacEachern Sent On AHL Conditioning Stint
If the St. Louis Blues are able to get past the Minnesota Wild, it appears as though they might be getting another physical option to insert into the lineup at some point. Mackenzie MacEachern has been loaned to the Springfield Thunderbirds on a conditioning stint, after spending the last month on long-term injured reserve.
MacEachern, 28, has played just 14 games for the Blues this season, but could potentially be used as a bottom-six option if other injuries take place. For now, he’ll join a Springfield team that is headed into a playoff series with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins tomorrow evening. Given he hasn’t played since suffering an injury in early April, it may take him a little while before he’s able to step into an NHL playoff game–if they decide to do that at all.
The Blues, known for their physical playoff run from a few seasons ago where they beat and battered opponents into submission, are tied 2-2 with the Minnesota Wild in their first-round series. The two teams are back at it again tonight, with games six and seven scheduled for Thursday and Saturday respectively.
Marco Scandella Leaves Game With Lower-Body Injury
Make that four regular defensemen out of the lineup for the St. Louis Blues. On the TBS broadcast of the game, it was revealed that Marco Scandella would not return to Game 4 of the First Round Series between the Blues and the Minnesota Wild with a lower-body injury.
Fortunately for the Blues, youngster Scott Perunovich was ready to go for today’s game after almost four months’ worth of inactivity, permitting them to dress seven defensemen. However, this now means the entirety of the Blues’ top three left defensemen are out of the lineup (Scandella, Torey Krug, Nick Leddy). Right-shot man Robert Bortuzzo is out of the lineup as well.
It’s an incredible turn of bad luck for the Blues, who had a strong start to Game 4 but trail in the series 2-1. Against a team like the Wild who can roll three lines, that many injuries on defense are almost a death sentence for the Blues.
They’ll need Perunovich, Calle Rosen, and Niko Mikkola to step up in a big way, in addition to whatever goalie is in net, in order for the Blues to come back in the series and complete what at this point would be a very large upset.