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Snapshots: Bruins, Clarke, Helm

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The Boston Bruins are set to take on the Toronto Maple Leafs this weekend in a rematch of their first round playoff series, but it appears both teams will be without a star center. Not only will the Maple Leafs be missing John Tavares from the lineup, but the Bruins will also be without David Krejci who will not travel with the team.

Krejci missed last night’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning after suffering an upper-body injury earlier in the week. Joakim Nordstrom will also not play against the Maple Leafs, but Patrice Bergeron is expected to after missing practice with a lower-body injury. The Bruins may call someone up from the AHL before tomorrow night’s tilt.

  • New Jersey Devils prospect Graeme Clarke will undergo shoulder surgery and is expected to miss four months according to Kenny Walls of TSN. Clarke was picked in the 2019 third round and is an important piece of the Ottawa 67’s in the OHL. He was recently named to that league’s roster for the upcoming Canada-Russia series, which he will obviously miss.
  • The NHL has fined Detroit Red Wings forward Darren Helm $5,000 for his slash last night on Elias Lindholm. This was the maximum allowable fine under the CBA.

Washington Capitals Place Richard Panik On LTIR

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The Washington Capitals are walking a salary cap tightrope this season, meaning that injuries can really complicate things whenever they happen. Today, in order to recall some reinforcements they were forced to place Richard Panik on long-term injured reserve. Panik will have to miss at least ten games with the upper-body injury he suffered against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Jonas Siegenthaler is considered a game-time decision while the team recalled both Travis Boyd and Martin Fehervary with the additional cap space created by the Panik move.

Michal Kempny is also expected to return for the Capitals, who welcome in the New York Rangers tonight. Panik meanwhile will be out at least until mid-November after he collided with Siegenthaler and was forced from Wednesday’s game against the Maple Leafs.

It’s an unfortunate turn for Panik, who was already struggling to find his role in the Capitals offense after signing a four-year contract this summer. The 28-year old has yet to register a single point and actually saw his minutes greatly reduced even before exiting Wednesday’s game. With a $2.75MM price tag, the Capitals were relying on Panik to be a source of secondary scoring this season to replace the outgoing Brett Connolly, but so far nothing has gone right in 2019-20.

Joakim Nygard Out With Rib Injury

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Thursday: The Oilers have placed Nygard on injured reserve, recalling William Lagesson to take his place on the roster. Lagesson is in his second year of professional hockey in North America and has one point through two games for the Bakersfield Condors this season.

Wednesday: The Edmonton Oilers will be without Joakim Nygard for up to a month thanks to a rib injury. Nygard has been given a timeline of two to four weeks for recovery, meaning he’ll miss at least a handful of games.

The 26-year old Swede came to the Oilers from the SHL this season after potting 21 goals for Farjestads, but had already looked a bit overmatched at times at the NHL level. Nygard’s ice time had been dropping consistently, and it still wasn’t clear what kind of role he could have on Edmonton. The Oilers were looking for help on the wing all offseason, but with the resurgence of James Neal as a top-six option they have been rolling of late.

Still, the team is putting a huge amount of responsibility on the shoulders of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl who are current playing more minutes than any other forwards in the league. Losing depth players will only stress that group even more, meaning Nygard’s absence will be felt all the same.

Even just two weeks would keep him out for the next eight games.

Injury Updates: Little, Bitetto, Tuch, Schmidt, Kempny

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The Jets appear to be on the verge of getting a key forward back as centre Bryan Little appears to be likely to return to their lineup tomorrow, reports Postmedia’s Paul Friesen.  He suffered a concussion in Winnipeg’s final game of the preseason and has been on injured reserve ever since.  While his offensive numbers have dipped a little bit in recent years, the 31-year-old should be able to give them a bit of a boost offensively which would bode well for a team that is currently third in the league in goals scored.

Meanwhile, Friesen adds that defenseman Anthony Bitetto will miss Thursday’s game due to an undisclosed injury.  That will open up a spot for rookie Ville Heinola to return to the lineup.  That will mark the sixth game of the season for the Jets’ first-round pick meaning he will only be able to play three more this season without burning the first year of his entry-level deal.

Other injury notes around the league:

  • Golden Knights head coach Gerard Gallant told reporters, including Jesse Granger of The Athletic (Twitter link) that winger Alex Tuch and defenseman Nate Schmidt are a week or two away from returning and should begin skating soon. Tuch has missed the entire season so far due to an upper-body injury and was transferred to LTIR early in the year which means he has to miss ten games or 24 days (as of the start of the season).  Vegas will need to make a move to get back into cap compliance before he can be activated.  Meanwhile, Schmidt sustained a lower-body injury in the first period of their season opener.  He’s simply on regular IR and has missed the required week so he’s eligible to be activated at any time.
  • Capitals defenseman Michal Kempny has been skating for the past two weeks as he works his way back from a torn hamstring that he suffered back in March but curiously, he has yet to receive the green light to return. J.J. Regan of NBC Sports Washington notes that the blueliner hasn’t had a setback but at the same time, head coach Todd Reirden still is unsure when he’ll be able to return.  The team opted to not put Kempny on LTIR to start the season with the belief he’d be ready before the ten-game mark.  However, he has already missed seven and it doesn’t sound as if he’ll be available for their next game on Friday either.

Scratch Notes: Dermott, McCann, Fiala

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The Toronto Maple Leafs surprised many by sending Rasmus Sandin back to the minor leagues recently, but the decision might not have been only because of the youngster’s development as they said. Travis Dermott, who is working his way back from offseason shoulder surgery, shed his no-contact sweater at practice and is getting closer to a return.

Dermott, 22, was a big part of the Maple Leafs’ defense last season before his shoulder injury, logging more than 17 minutes a night and posting excellent possession numbers. The second-round pick plays an extremely aggressive style that can quickly disrupt rushes but also leaves him out of position at times. If he can learn to pick his spots a little more selectively, there’s a good chance the Maple Leafs have a future top-four option on their hands.

  • Another day, another injury up front for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Jared McCann missed practice today and has been listed as day-to-day, leaving the team without another one of their key forwards for the time being. Amazingly, the Penguins have scored 14 goals over their last two games even with their banged up forward group, but have the high-flying Colorado Avalanche coming into town tomorrow.
  • It’s not an injury keeping Kevin Fiala out of the lineup, but he’ll be out all the same when the Minnesota Wild take on Toronto tonight. The team will make Fiala a healthy scratch just a few months after acquiring him from the Nashville Predators and touting him as a core member of their team going forward. The Wild have now scratched Fiala, Ryan Donato and Victor Rask this season, the three main acquisitions last season by former GM Paul Fenton.

Andy Welinski Placed On Waivers By Philadelphia

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Tuesday: Welinski has cleared waivers and will head to the Phantoms.

Monday: The Philadelphia Flyers likely planned to have free agent addition Andy Welinski hit the waiver wire just before the start of the regular season, when waivers is saturated with talent and teams are not as likely to make an addition to their roster. However, Welinski suffered a lower-body injury in training camp and began the year on the Flyers’ injured reserve. Finally healthy, the team is forced to place Welinski on waivers now, as reported by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, in order to send him to the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms. With NHL teams having two weeks of games to look at as well as injury losses in need of a response, it’s fair to wonder if Welinksi will clear waivers.

Welinksi, 26, hit the open market this summer as a Group 6 unrestricted free agent. A standout for his hometown University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs, Welinksi enjoyed a full four-year collegiate career before signing with the Anaheim Ducks, who had selected him in the third round in 2011. In his first two pro seasons, Welinski only played in seven games for the Ducks, instead producing at a high level as a top defenseman for the AHL’s San Diego Gulls. However, in 2018-19, Welinski became a valuable depth piece on the Anaheim blue line. His split his season between the parent club and farm team, skating in 26 games for the Ducks and recording four points. However, even with his emergence as an NHL option for Anaheim, he was still far short of the 80 games needed by age 25 to remain a restricted free agents. Welinksi opted to take his talents to Philadelphia, where a young defense corps undergoing an overhaul offered the potential for another NHL opportunity.

The question now is whether Welinski’s next appearance at the top level will be with Philadelphia or elsewhere. Although the Phantoms feature other NHL veterans, such as Nate Prosser and T.J. Brennan, Welinski would likely be the next man up in the event of an injury in Philly. However, other teams may be willing to offer him a depth role right away. Given the injuries to Niklas Hjalmarsson in Arizona and Adam Larsson in Edmonton, not to mention the depth concerns in Winnipeg and New Jersey, that is already four teams that could consider taking a flier on Welinski. He may not be a household name or even an established NHLer at this point in career, but for now he’s a free option with demand for defense on the rise.

Penguins Notes: Trade Market, Ho-Sang, Malkin

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Over the weekend, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman relayed the sentiment from Pittsburgh Penguins GM Jim Rutherford that he is “not really that excited” about the names available on the trade market. It’s an echo of comments that the veteran executive made this summer about teams being unwilling to part with value or make a deal that he felt was a fair swap. The Penguins entered the season with a surplus of defensemen and a shortage of cap space, hoping to make a deal from their depth. That need to make a trade has only been exasperated by both injuries to the forward corps as well as the unexpected emergence of John Marino as an affordable NHL option on the blue line. Rutherford remains on the hunt for a trade, but thus far to no avail.

With that said, the equilibrium of the trade market shifted today with the announcement by the Arizona Coyotes that dependable defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson would be missing three months with a broken leg. The timing could not have been better for the Penguins, as Seth Rorabaugh of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review notes that Arizona management was on hand in Winnipeg to watch the Jets host the Pens on Sunday ahead of their own match-up on Tuesday. The ‘Yotes are now another team that could be interested in acquiring a Penguins defenseman, particularly as they need to replace the solid defensive play of Hjalmarsson. Stay-at-home defenseman Erik Gudbranson, who was a healthy scratch for the Penguins last game, is one of the names available and would seemingly be a good fit in the desert. Arizona could also be interested in a cheaper addition like veteran Chad Ruhwedel or young Juuso Riikola. Of course, the player that most Penguins fans would like to be rid of is Jack Johnson – and the four years and $13MM remaining on his contract – but it remains a long shot that Pittsburgh will be able to trade Johnson without giving up another valuable piece of their own, whether they are dealing with Arizona or otherwise.

  • Another deviation from Rutherford’s comments comes in the form of a report that he has taken a liking to an available player. Dan Kingerski or Pittsburgh Hockey Now cites a league source that says the Penguins have talked to the New York Islanders about ostracized young forward Josh Ho-Sang. Ho-Sang has struggled to find a role with New York early in his pro career and after once again failing to make the team out of camp, he was instructed by GM Lou Lamoriello not to report to the AHL, but instead to wait for the team to find him a new home via trade. On one hand, the Islanders’ willingness to move Ho-Sang and the fact that he was already available on waivers this season means that the asking price is likely low. On the other hand, this means that Rutherford could solve his need for help up front, but would be unlikely to find a taker of one of his defensemen in the Islanders. Ho-Sang would be a good fit in Pittsburgh as a player with NHL experience and skill who can move back and forth between the AHL. However, it remains to be seen if Rutherford is willing to make a trade where one of his nine NHL defensemen aren’t headed the other way.
  • The timeline for Evgeni Malkin’s return from injury remains “uncertain”, according to Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston this weekend. Malkin was injured when he went down awkwardly after a hit earlier this month and the Penguins have not updated his status with any concrete timeline. Johnston expects that Malkin will be out at least a month, dating back to when the injury occurred, which means there is hope he could return in early November. This would be the best-case scenario however and Pittsburgh is unlikely to rush him back, even in light of the three other regular forwards currently shelved by injuries. Malkin was not himself at times last year and his 21 goals in 68 games was far from the expectation. The Penguins would likely rather he take his time with recovery and get back to full strength before the second half and hopeful playoff run.

Mats Zuccarello Ruled Out For Minnesota Road Trip

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The Minnesota Wild have gotten off to a dreadful start this season and will now be without their major offseason addition for at least a few games. The team has already ruled Mats Zuccarello out for this week’s three-game road trip with a lower-body injury, announcing that he did not travel with the team. The trip starts with a game this afternoon against the Ottawa Senators, which will serve as Gerry Mayhew’s NHL debut in place of Zuccarello.

Signed to a five-year, $30MM contract by former Minnesota GM Paul Fenton, Zuccarello has been a relative disappointment for the team so far this season. The 32-year old winger is seeing the fewest minutes of his career (an average of just 14:52) and has zero points through four games. Beyond the lack of offensive production he has also been weak in his own end and already has three minor penalties. That’s a tough start for a player that was supposed to change the look of the forward group.

Fenton, who was fired suddenly and replaced by GM Bill Guerin, handed Zuccarello the five-year term despite his team failing to make the playoffs last season. The Wild were involved in several trades down the stretch that broke up the core of the team, sending Nino Niederreiter, Mikael Granlund and Charlie Coyle packing, only to bring in another veteran in Zuccarello who is heading into his mid-thirties. Though he is coming off a strong season split between the New York Rangers and Dallas Stars, it’s hard to imagine him getting any better from this point on in his career.

For now though, the team desperately needs him back on the ice if they’re going to turn their early season struggles around. The Wild have lost their first four games by a combined score of 21-10 and find themselves already in a deep hole in the competitive Central Division.

Coyotes’ Niklas Hjalmarsson Out Three Months With Broken Leg

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When Niklas Hjalmarsson did not return to Saturday night’s game against the Colorado Avalanche after blocking a shot, Arizona Coytes’ players, executives, and fans held their collective breaths that he hadn’t suffered a serious injury. Unfortunately, he has. The Athletic’s Craig Morgan reports that Hjalmarsson has a cracked fibula in his left leg. Morgan adds that recovery time is expected to be three months, meaning Hjalmarsson is done for the calendar year.

Visiting Colorado on Saturday, Hjalmarsson went to knee to block a shot from Erik Johnson. His left leg, which rested on the ice, took the full force of the howitzer from his Avalanche counterpart. Hjalmarsson skated off under his own power, but was clearly in pain. He went directly to the locker room and did not return. Prior to the revelation of the extent of his injury, the team recalled Kyle Capobianco, which implied that Hjalmarsson was prepared to miss some time. However, Morgan calls this three-month timelines the Coyotes’ worst fear.

It goes without saying that Hjalmarsson would be a major loss for any team. One of the more poised and consistent defensive defensemen in the whole league, Hjalmarsson has an omnipresent effect when he is on the ice and can be relied upon for perfect positioning, timely clears and outlets, and of course clutch shot-blocking. Yet, for Arizona in particular, this is a major blow. Expected to take a step forward this season, the ‘Yotes are out to a 1-2-1 start and have the league’s most anemic offense. While Hjalmarsson is a defensive specialist, his dependability allows other defenders to jump in on offense and creates a sense of calm when he is on the ice that contributes to more offensive focus. The Coyotes could hardly afford this setback as they look to get off to a good start in their pursuit of a return to the playoffs. Instead, they will have to deal with this loss well into January at the earliest. It’s another stroke of bad luck, as the long-time Chicago Blackhawk is now in his third season with the Coyotes, but it will be his second missing a large chunk of the season due to injury. Expect GM John Chayka and company to try replacing Hjalmarsson internally at first, but don’t be surprised if they look elsewhere for help if the losses continue to mount.

Eastern Notes: Eberle, Ho-Sang, Jokiharju, Malgin

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The New York Islanders are still awaiting the status of first-line winger Jordan Eberle, who appeared to injure his right leg in the third period of their game Saturday against the Florida Panthers. Eberle took a late-game check from Florida’s Mike Matheson that forced him out of the game as he was in obvious pain. However, Eberle did stay on the bench for the remainder of the game, but Newsday’s Andrew Gross wonders whether Eberle could miss some time.

“I couldn’t give a time frame,” coach Barry Trotz said after the game. “He got hit in a strange spot. We’ll evaluate it.”

Eberle, who signed a five-year, $27.5MM contract during the offseason, had three assists in his first five games. However, the team would lose an impact top-six player from their lineup. One possibility would be for the Islanders to recall top prospect Oliver Wahlstrom, who has a goal and three points in four games with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers of the AHL.

  • In the same article, Gross notes that Islanders prospect Joshua Ho-Sang who has requested a trade after not making the Islanders’ opening day lineup, still hasn’t reported to the Sound Tigers in the AHL per instructions from president and general manager Lou Lamoriello. He was requested to stay away from the team while the Islanders looked for trade partners, but no trade has been made and the 23-year-old has been sitting for two weeks so far. Lamoriello said on Friday that there was still no update. Ho-Sang has languished in the AHL for three years, but because of a questionable reputation, was not claimed when New York passed him through waivers.
  • The Buffalo Sabres could have a logjam at defense once they get back some of their injured players, including Brandon Montour, Zach Bogosian and Lawrence Pilut. While they aren’t yet ready to return, the team is already loaded with depth at that position. The Buffalo News’ Lance Lysowski, in his mailbag column, writes that the easy answer would have been for the team to send Henri Jokiharju down to the AHL after Montour is ready to return from his hand injury. However, Lysowski reports that Jokiharju has been told be management to find a place to live in Buffalo as it looks like he’s expected to stay with the Sabres long-term.
  • Florida Panthers head coach Joel Quenneville has been mixing up his line combinations after the team struggled out of the gate, especially on offense, according to George Richards of The Athletic (subscription required). One find for the head coach has been winger Denis Malgin, who jumped into the lineup on Friday, replacing 22-year-old Henrik Borgstrom on the third line. The coach was impressed enough that Borgstrom was back in the press box a second night on Saturday as Queeneville moved Malgin to the second line where he immediately scored a goal.

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