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Nashville Predators Place Mattias Ekholm On IR

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The Nashville Predators will be without one of their top defensemen for the time being. The club has announced that Mattias Ekholm has been placed on injured reserve with an undisclosed lower-body injury. Additionally, checking forward Mathieu Olivier has also been transferred to the injured reserve. Taking their places on the active roster in the meantime are defenseman Ben Harpur and young forward Eeli Tolvanen. 

The Predators will be without Ekholm for at least ten days from his most recent appearance on Tuesday as a result of moving him to IR. However, without more intel on the injury or a timeframe for his return, the talented two-way defender could be out beyond that date. Ekholm actually missed the Predators’ first game against the Tampa Bay Lightning this week, on Monday, February 8th, but returned to the roster the next night for the second game of the back-to-back. It’s possible that he reaggravated the injury or that this has simply been a lingering issue. Either way, the Predators will have to cope with losing Ekholm, a stalwart on the back end for eight years now.

This is an important season for both the Predators and Ekholm and this injury absence puts pressure on both. A Stanley Cup finalist in 2017, Nashville looked like they had the core to contend for years to come. Instead, it has been a steady decline of playoff failure from a second-round upset as the President’s Trophy winners in 2018 to a first-round exit in 2019 and finally a stunning qualifying round loss in 2020. Now they might simply be fighting to even qualify for the postseason this year. The Predators currently sit in seventh in the Central Division with a disappointing .385 points percentage and the third-worst goal differential in the NHL.

If Nashville needs to make major changes to get back on track, one of the key questions is whether Ekholm will be part of that future. With the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft waiting ahead, the Predators will have to decide if they want to protect seven forwards and three defensemen – likely to be Roman Josi, Ryan Ellis, and the future of the blue line in Dante Fabbro – leaving Ekholm exposed or whether he is worth opting for the eight-skater protection scheme which could leave some young forwards exposed. A rebuilding team might give up (or alternatively trade beforehand) a 30-year-old core defenseman rather than a promising prospect forward. So far this year, Ekholm’s per-game production and ice time are both down considerably compared to the past few years and if he has an extended injury absence or is unable to turn things around upon is return, it could certainly influence the team’s decision.

 

Andrew Shaw In Concussion Protocol

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The Chicago Blackhawks announced some unfortunate injury news today, noting that Connor Murphy will be out for 10-14 days with a right hip issue and Andrew Shaw is in the concussion protocol. Murphy didn’t play in the team’s last game, but Shaw did, hitting the ice for nearly 15 minutes in their overtime win against the Dallas Stars.

The important thing here is Shaw’s health, given his history of concussions. The bang-and-crash forward has been sidelined by head injuries many times in the past, and head coach Jeremy Colliton (whose playing career was also ended due to concussions) was “visibly distraught” when he updated reporters including Charlie Roumeliotis of NBCS Chicago on Shaw’s status today.

It’s not clear at all what this mean’s for Shaw’s future, but for now, he won’t be in the lineup when the Blackhawks host the Columbus Blue Jackets this evening.

The team announced two other transactions: Wyatt Kalynuk has been recalled to the taxi squad from the AHL, while Anton Lindholm has gone the other way, assigned to the Rockford IceHogs.

Elvis Merzlikins Activated From Injured Reserve

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The Columbus Blue Jackets are off to a rocky start, going 6-5-3 through their first 14 games. Not only have they struggled on the ice, but they’ve also been swirling in controversy since the start of the year. After trading Pierre-Luc Dubois, benching Patrik Laine, and watching Mikko Koivu retire just a few weeks into the season, the Blue Jackets are due for some good news.

Perhaps they got it today when Elvis Merzlikins was activated off injured reserve. The 26-year-old goaltender, who finished fifth in Vezina Trophy voting as a rookie last season, last played on February 2 in a relief role, before suffering an upper-body injury in practice. Joonas Korpisalo, his tandem partner, hasn’t been playing up to his high standard this season and has just a .901 save percentage through nine appearances.

If there was anything that stood out about the 2019-20 Blue Jackets, it was their excellent tandem, who posted outstanding results regardless of who was in the net. In the postseason, they combined for a .942 save percentage in ten games, winning a qualification round against the Toronto Maple Leafs and even stealing a game from the eventual Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning.

Getting Merzlikins back should help to right the ship in Columbus whenever he gets back into the crease, as even his early-season results were much better than Korpisalo’s.

Snapshots: Canucks, Laine, McCann

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The Vancouver Canucks are shopping around a few of their underperforming forwards, and Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet writes in his latest 31 Thoughts column that the Nashville Predators are one of the teams interested in Adam Gaudette. The 24-year-old forward seemed to have a breakthrough season last year for the Canucks, scoring 33 points in 59 games, but was virtually invisible in the postseason and has just two points in 12 games this season. Gaudette is on a one-year, $950K contract this season and will be an arbitration-eligible RFA in the summer.

On the other name that is swirling around, Jake Virtanen, Friedman seems less certain but does note that the Boston Bruins were checking him out at one point. The San Jose Sharks “poked around” in the offseason, which makes sense given it appeared at one point as though Virtanen would not be back with the Canucks this year. The 24-year-old Virtanen still has just one point through 12 games.

  • The recent benching of Patrik Laine was because he “verbally disrespected” a member of the coaching staff, according to both Aaron Portzline of The Athletic and Brian Hedger of the Columbus Post-Dispatch. The young forward and Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella told reporters today that the incident was behind them, and Laine is expected to be back on the top line with Jack Roslovic and Cam Atkinson when the team plays tomorrow. Despite all that has happened this season, Laine still has five goals and six points through five games, a testament to just how impressive his offensive ability can be. His is still a very interesting situation to watch unfold, however, after playing just 11 minutes on Monday night.
  • The Pittsburgh Penguins will be without Jared McCann a little longer than originally anticipated, as head coach Mike Sullivan told reporters today that the young forward will be out “week-to-week” while he deals with a lower-body injury. McCann played just four minutes in the team’s last game before exiting and has five points on the season.

Brent Seabrook Unlikely To Return Soon

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Blackhawks defenseman Brent Seabrook was hoping that after undergoing three surgeries last season that ended his 2019-20 campaign early, he would be ready to go in training camp.  That didn’t happen and the veteran has yet to play this season with very little information coming out about how long he’ll miss.  Speaking with Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times, GM Stan Bowman indicated that Seabrook won’t be coming back anytime soon and that there is some concern about his future:

He’s been a warrior for us. Think of his time in Chicago — he never really missed any games. But now we’re realizing he was playing through a lot of pain those years, and it’s caught up to him.

He was dealing with his shoulders and his hips to the point where he probably should have had [the surgeries] done years ago, but that’s how he’s always been driven — to keep moving forward, don’t worry about injuries, play through it. So, yeah, we are concerned for him. We certainly hope he can get past it.

Seabrook had planned to be in Chicago’s training camp before tweaking his back which has kept him out since then.  He has managed to skate lightly on his own in recent weeks but nowhere near a level where he’d be considered close to returning.  Pope likens Seabrook’s situation to that of teammate Zack Smith who also had a back injury, had planned to be ready for training camp, then wound up on the injured list and has yet to play this season.

The Blackhawks have used four blueliners on entry-level contracts so far this season and with it appearing that Seabrook won’t be back anytime soon (if at all this year), they will be able to get a longer look at some of those younger prospects.  In the meantime, Seabrook and his $6.875MM AAV can be placed on LTIR if Chicago needs the cap room although they’re safely in cap compliance for the time being with Jonathan Toews on there and no word on how much longer he’ll be out.

Ryan Johansen Heading To Injured Reserve

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The Nashville Predators were without Ryan Johansen when they took on the Florida Panthers Friday, but at the time he was listed as just day-to-day with an upper-body injury. Now it appears that his absence will stretch out a bit, as head coach John Hynes told reporters including Adam Vingan of The Athletic today. Johansen will be out “week-to-week” and is going onto injured reserve for the Predators.

A pessimistic Predators fan might tell you that they’ve been without Johansen all season, as the 28-year-old center certainly hasn’t been playing up to his full capabilities. He has four assists in ten games, all of them on the powerplay, and has yet to find the back of the net himself. In fact, Johansen has only generated 16 shots on goal during those ten games, despite averaging more than 18 minutes a night before his game on Friday was cut short.

While it has been a long time since he was a real goal-scoring threat—Johansen scored a career-high 33 times in 2013-14, but has averaged just 14 per season over the last five years—his lack of even-strength offense this season has been a huge reason why the Predators now sit at 5-6 on the season, ahead of only the Detroit Red Wings in the Central Divison.

Losing him for weeks though certainly won’t turn his season around. Johansen’s role will now have to be filled internally, and though the Predators have some interesting candidates to receive increase ice time, their depth will be tested without one of their highest-paid players in the lineup.

Toronto’s Wayne Simmonds Could Miss Up To Six Weeks

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Feb 8: Bad news indeed. Head coach Sheldon Keefe confirmed to reporters including Kristen Shilton of TSN today that Simmonds broke his wrist and will be out for six weeks. The team will not have a replacement for him in the lineup tonight, going with seven defensemen instead. Rasmus Sandin will make his season debut.

Feb 7: Bad news for the Toronto Maple Leafs. The team, which has been rolling of late, with quite a bit of contribution from free agent signee Wayne Simmonds, look like they will be without their veteran forward for quite some time. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that he’s hearing that the 32-year-old is expected to miss up to six weeks after leaving during the third period of Saturday’s game after being hit in the hand with a shot.

Simmonds has been integral to the team’s success so far this season as the team is currently sitting in first place in the North Division with a 9-2-1 record. Simmonds, who has struggled the last few years to produce offensively and is playing on his fifth team in less than three years, seems to have found his game now that he’s returned home. The forward has already tallied five goals in the team’s first 12 games, including a pair of goals Saturday in the team’s 5-1 win over Vancouver.

The Maple Leafs, who spent the offseason bolstering their depth, will need to use much of that as the Toronto is already without veteran Joe Thornton (rib injury) and rookie Nicholas Robertson (knee).

Snapshots: Danault, Simek, Frk

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Montreal Canadiens center Phillip Danault has struggled this season as he is one of just two forwards who have yet to record a goal this season. The 27-year-old is coming off of 53 and 47-point seasons that last two years, but the pending unrestricted free agent reportedly turned down a six-year, $30MM deal during the offseason, according to Montreal Gazette’s Stu Cowan, and it looks to be weighing on him.

Danault refused to talk about his contract situation Friday, but Cowan said that ice time might play more of a role in his decision-making than money. Danault, who was playing top-six minutes for much of the past two seasons, is now the team’s No. 3 center behind Nick Suzuki and Jesperi Kotkaniemi.

“I needed some time to adapt,” Danault said. “There are a lot of things that changed at the same time, whether it was my ice time or the way I was being used on the penalty-kill. I’m still playing with the same linemates, though. We try to give everything we have every night. I’m ready to do everything I can to help the team win. It’s going really well right now and we’ll keep on going that way.”

  • NHL Player Safety announced that San Jose Sharks defenseman Radim Simek has been fined $5,000 for spearing Anaheim Ducks forward Adam Henrique Saturday (video here). The fine is the most that is allowed by the CBA.The infraction occurred at 6:21 of the second period when the spearing occurred in front of the Sharks’ net. The two players then fought immediately afterwards with both players receiving two-minute penalties for roughing with the spearing getting missed.
  • The Los Angeles Kings could be without forward Martin Frk for some time, according to Los Angeles Times’ Jack Harris. While he hasn’t received an update from the team’s training staff, head coach Todd McLellan said that by the look of the injury, he could be “out for a little while.” Frk missed the first nine games of the season with a groin injury and was making his season debut Friday only to be knocked out with another  lower-body injury.

Blues’ Robert Thomas Out 4-6 Weeks With Broken Thumb

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St. Louis Blues head coach Craig Berube told reporters today that the team will be without center Robert Thomas for an extended period of time, according to The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford. The 21-year-old is expected to miss four to six weeks after suffering a broken thumb during Saturday’s game against the Arizona Coyotes.

“Well, I mean, somebody else is going to get in that position and do a job for us,” said Berube. “That’s the way we’ve got to look at it. We’ve got players. We’re a deep team and that’s a good thing. Other guys get an opportunity to get in there now and play.”

Thomas was forced to leave Saturday’s game in the first period after playing in just 3:01. The injury occurred when he collided with Arizona’s Nick Schmaltz and fell hard on his left hand. Coincidentally, he did manage to score his first goal of the season in that span.

Thomas, already in his third season, is coming off a 10-goal, 42-point campain in 2019-20 and now has a goal and six points in 12 games this season, was expected to play a big role for the team this year. Thomas will now lose a large chunk of an already shortened season and force St. Louis to reach deeper into its pool of depth forwards to continue moving forward. The Blues have made no roster moves as of yet, but the team has a number of forwards who can play the center position, likely taking away some of the pressure of the injury.

Philadelphia Flyers Activate Sean Couturier

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His time was coming near, but the Philadelphia Flyers announced Sunday that they are activating injured forward Sean Couturier off of injured reserve and the Selke Award winner is expected to be in the lineup today against the Washington Capitals.

The 28-year-old was expected to miss at least two weeks after suffering a Costochondral separation, or a rib separation, early in a Jan. 15 game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Couturier has only managed to play in two games this season (including just 45 seconds on the day of his injury).

Couturier should immediately provide some much-needed stability to a Flyers team that was expected to be a dominant team this season. While the team is in second place with a 7-3-2 record this year, Philadelphia has struggled quite a bit at the same time, giving up several leads in games.

The Flyers are also expecting Philippe Myers to return to the Flyers’ lineup and is expected to start on the first pairing with Ivan Provorov, according to The Athletic’s Charlie O’Connor. Travis Sanheim has come out of the lineup, but no report on whether it is injury-related.

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