Injury Notes: Tuch, Johns, Hayton
Although the nature of his injury remains a complete mystery, Vegas Golden Knights forward Alex Tuch is headed to the injured reserve. The team announced this evening that the young power forward has been placed on IR, but did not add any further detail to the release. Tuch’s unavailability paired with the recent demotions of Daniel Carr and Curtis McKenzie leaves the Knights with just twelve healthy forwards and an open roster spot heading into their opener, indicating that the team will soon name a replacement to the roster, likely a recall from the AHL’s Chicago Wolves. Meanwhile, Tuch is eligible to return on October 8th, when Vegas travels to his hometown Buffalo Sabres. The Golden Knights will try to get Tuch back to full strength as soon as possible, as the 22-year-old recorded 37 points in his first full NHL season last year and appears primed for a breakout campaign in 2018-19.
- The Dallas Stars clarified the status of defenseman Stephen Johns today, while also shedding light on their recent acquisition of fellow right-handed defenseman Connor Carrick. Sportsday’s Matthew DeFranks writes that Johns has been dealing with post-traumatic headaches over the past few weeks and the condition has landed him on the injured reserve. While head coach Jim Montgomery indicated that Johns could return to practice as soon as Wednesday – he has only practiced once since September 16th – but there is no timeline for his return to game action. The team will likely take it slow while Johns works through a sensitive diagnosis and in the meantime Carrick can help to pick up the slack. Johns was one of Dallas’ more consistent blue liners last season and the team will welcome him back when he is ready to go. Outside of Johns and forward Valeri Nichushkin, out day-to-day with a lower body injury, the Stars have had good luck with injuries in camp and enter the regular season with a solid depth chart of healthy players.
- Last week, we noted that the Arizona Coyotes had reached the maximum of 50 contracts for the organization and had technically exceeded the limit with entry-level contracts for Barrett Hayton and Pierre-Olivier Joseph. However, the two youngsters were expected to be returned to juniors which would discount their contracts against the limit. While Joseph has returned to the QMJHL’s Charlottetown Islanders, Hayton has in fact been officially named to the opening night roster, the team announced. How does such a move work? Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that Hayton will not count against the contract limit until he has played in the minimum ten games for his contract to toll. As such, Hayton’s stay in the desert could be predetermined to just a short nine-game stint. However, if he wins a long-term spot on the roster, the Coyotes will be pressed to trade away one or more players under contract to make space. Why give Hayton this chance considering their roster inflexibility? Arizona is currently dealing with a laundry list of injuries, with Alex Galchenyuk, Christian Dvorak, and Josh Archibald on injured reserve and Nick Merkley additionally sidelined. The recent first-round pick may present the best opportunity in the system to make up for these losses.
Jacob De La Rose Suffers Cardiac Episode, Will Not Travel With Team
The Montreal Canadiens have had their fair share of injury woes already this offseason, but today have announced something more frightening than an injured shoulder or broken ankle. The team released an update on forward Jacob de La Rose, indicating that he had a cardiac episode and will not travel with the team to Toronto for their season opener. He is remaining in Montreal for “ongoing evaluation.” Arpon Basu of The Athletic relays that the move is “precautionary in nature” and that it is not a serious condition. Still, the team would not take the chance of sending him to Toronto and have placed him on injured reserve to start the season.
de La Rose will join Shea Weber and David Schlemko with that designation, while Nicolas Deslauriers is also out indefinitely with a facial fracture suffered earlier this preseason. The Canadiens dealt with several other surgeries this summer to key players but it looks as though they will head into the season with the rest of the roster more or less in tact. That’s important for a franchise that is looking to bounce back and ride the performances from young players like Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Victor Mete and Jonathan Drouin to better fortunes this season.
The incident occurred after Saturday’s game against the Ottawa Senators and is a tough break for de La Rose, who is a possible breakout candidate in Montreal this season. The 23-year old forward registered just 12 points in 55 games last year, but has shown signs of the potential that made him the 34th pick in 2013. Though there may not be a first line future for him at this point, Montreal can certainly use some reliable secondary scoring options that can also add physicality and some positional versatility—things that de La Rose does well. They’ll obviously monitor him extensively to make sure nothing is out of the ordinary before putting him back on the ice.
Torey Krug Out At Least Three Weeks
The Boston Bruins issued an update on defenseman Torey Krug today, indicating that he will be re-evaluated in three weeks after sustaining an injury to his left ankle in Saturday night’s game. With the season starting in just a few days, the Bruins will need to find someone else to take on the minutes Krug usually handles at even strength and on the powerplay.
Boston will begin their season with a visit to the defending Stanley Cup Champions on Wednesday night, and plenty of pressure will fall on the shoulders of young defenseman Charlie McAvoy once again. Though the team did bring in John Moore this summer and re-signed Zdeno Chara to a one-year deal, McAvoy and fellow youngsters Brandon Carlo and Matt Grzelcyk will be asked to do plenty of the heavy lifting this year and push the Bruins back into contention. The forward group is one of the deepest in the league, and if the defense can be as well-rounded as it has shown at times there is little that Boston can’t do in the Atlantic Division.
Still, losing Krug does hurt in terms of offensive production from the back end. The 27-year old is coming off his best season with 59 points in 2017-18, and is among the best goal-scoring defensemen in the league. Though undersized and sometimes overmatched in his own end, he’s still plenty effective at even strength and has logged more than 20 minutes a night in each of the last three seasons. There is some worry that the injury could last much longer than three weeks, though the team won’t commit to any timeline until the re-evaluation down the road.
Metropolitan Notes: Wilson, Darling, Islanders, Vorobyev
Twitter went into an uproar today after Washington Capitals’ Tom Wilson was ejected after another high hit to the head, this time to St. Louis Blues Oskar Sundqvist during the second period of their preseason game. The link to the video is here. Sundqvist had to be helped off the ice and has not returned.
It’s almost a guarantee that Wilson will be suspended to start the year once again, like he was last year. The Department of Player Safety announced that he has been offered an in-person hearing, allowing them to suspend him for more than five games if they so desire.
Wilson has been known for his hits, especially against the Blues in the preseason. He was suspended twice last preseason for hits against the Blues. He was suspended two preseason games for a late hit on Robert Thomas and then was suspended for four regular season games for boarding Samuel Blais in the final preseason game.
This could be the fourth suspension that Wilson has received in a year as he also received a third suspension during the Pittsburgh Penguins in the playoffs last season when he hit Zach Aston-Reese, giving him a concussion and a broken jaw. Wilson has taken on a bigger role in the past year, moving up to the first line and then signing a six-year, $31MM contract in the offseason, but with so many repeat offenses, could end up with a significant suspension.
- The Carolina Hurricanes are concerned after goaltender Scott Darling had to leave their preseason game today with what they listed as a lower-body injury, according to NHL.com’s Michael Smith. “It’s a concern,” said head coach Rod Brind’Amour. “I’m not 100 percent sure what it is yet. He tweaked something in the lower body.” The team was counting on Darling to step up after a down season last year, his first as a full-time starter. The goaltender had been praised this offseason for an improved work-ethic, but now could miss some time early on in the season. The team may have to turn to Petr Mrazek to fill in for him.
- Newsday’s Andrew Gross reports that the New York Islanders will wait until the last possible second to make its final roster moves. He writes that general manager Lou Lamoriello is a big believer of using every minute it has available to it, so coach Barry Trotz won’t release his final roster until 48 hours before their first game, which will be on Tuesday. Trotz added that Lamoriello has been working the phones hard to try and add some available talent.
- The Philadelphia Flyers have confirmed they will be keeping forward Mikhail Vorobyev on their opening day roster, according to NHL.com’s Bill Meltzer. “He came in and made an impact, and that’s what you’re looking for with young players,” said general manager Ron Hextall. “He’s a real good two-way player. With many young players, you worry about the defensive side of the puck.” Vorobyev impressed Flyers’ brass after posting seven points in seven preseason games.
Kings’ Dustin Brown Out Indefinitely With Broken Finger
The Los Angeles Kings will be without forward Dustin Brown indefinitely, according to the Los Angeles Times’ Helene Elliott as the team reports that he has broken his finger. The team released their own statement saying that Brown will miss the first portion of the season with the injury.
Brown took a shot up high from teammate Anze Kopitar during the second period of Saturday night’s preseason game against Anaheim and left the game. The team later updated his situation by stating he suffered an upper-body injury. There is no word which finger has been broken.
The injury is disappointing after Brown, who has played more than 1,000 games for the Kings, finally had a big season after signing an eight-year, $47MM extension back in 2013 after years of being a high-quality 20-goal scorer. However, since signing that deal, Brown struggled scoring goals, posting 15, 11, 11, 14 goals before finally breaking out with a 28-goal season last season. The 33-year-old has four more years on his contract at $5.88MM AAV and the team was counting on the veteran to continue making big contributions with the team aging quickly.
Injury Notes: Krug, Brown, Schneider
Boston Bruins defenseman Torey Krug left the team’s preseason finale in the first period last night and the early indications are not good. Krug did not return to the game and was later seen in a walking boot. Head coach Bruce Cassidy did not have much of an update after the game, saying that he has “no information” on his status, adding “hopefully it’s nothing serious, but it’s tough luck if it is, obviously.” The offensive blue liner was already returning from a fractured ankle suffered in the postseason and had been limited in training camp, but this sounds as if it was a new injury on Saturday night. Whether that is good or bad remains to be seen and with the regular season opening in just a few days, Krug’s availability is up in the air. The team does have fellow puck-moving lefty Matt Grzelcyk to fall back on. Grzelcyk was a starter as a rookie last season for the Bruins, but looked slated for No. 7 duty to begin the year. If he can overcome his own minor lower-body injury, he would be an easy fix. If not, Cassidy said that he would not hesitate to start rookie Urho Vaakanainen. The 2017 first-round pick is in his first season in North America, but has impressed in camp and has yet to be cut. While Krug is clearly the superior option, the Bruins have plenty of depth to manage his potential absence to begin the year. The concern would be just how long their power play quarterback remains sidelined.
- Los Angeles Kings veteran forward Dustin Brown was another casualty last night. The big winger took a shot up high from teammate Anze Kopitar and was forced out of the game. Brown did not return and the team issued an update that he had suffered an upper-body injury on the play. However, there has been no word from the Kings since. The Athletic’s Lisa Dillman reached out to head coach John Stevens and GM Rob Blake, but could not get any more information. The team is likely taking their time to evaluate Brown, but it’s also possible that the injury is more serious and the team wants to approach the news on their terms. Like Krug, the proximity of the injury to Opening Night leaves his status to begin the year as a question mark.
- One question that has been answered is who starts the year in net for the New Jersey Devils. Although he traveled with the team to Europe for their exhibition game in Switzerland and regular season opener against the Edmonton Oilers in Sweden, Cory Schneider is primarily there to continue working with the team’s medical staff. Head coach John Hynes made it official today that Schneider will not start for the Devils in their opener, reports NHL.com’s Mike Morreale. Still rehabbing from off-season hip surgery, it was always a long shot for Schneider to be ready to go for game one. New Jersey’s starter has yet to even be cleared to play. As such, last season’s savior Keith Kinkaid is likely to get the call, while veteran third-string keeper Eddie Lack remains on the roster as the current backup. Schneider is actually progressing well in his recovery and could be back in net soon, just not next week.
Arizona Coyotes Could Be Early Players On Trade Market
The regular season is about to begin and with it comes the regular season trade market, which can be both a continuation of long-term team building or more reactionary measures to combat injuries or a slow start. One team that seems likely to be included in early trade conversations are the Arizona Coyotes. The ‘Yotes have the pieces, the motivation, and most importantly, the roster crunch that should make them a prime candidate to acquire one of the first major pieces to hit the trade block.
Entering the 2018-19 season, Arizona is the only NHL team that is at the league’s 50-contract limit. A handful of other teams sit at 48 or 49 players signed, but the Coyotes are the only club right up against it. In fact, the Coyotes actually have 52 players under contract, according to CapFriendly. The contracts of recent first-round picks Barrett Hayton and Pierre-Olivier Joseph won’t count against the limit, once both are returned to their respective junior teams, but as of now Hayton remains on the roster. Presumably, Hayton must be returned to juniors. The fact that the Coyotes cannot even make such a simple roster decision exemplifies the inflexibility that the team struggles with. Solving this dilemma ahead of NHL Trade Deadline or college free agent rush later in the season will be a task on the forefront for GM John Chayka and company.
[RELATED: ARIZONA COYOTES ROSTER]
Fortunately, Arizona is set up well to make an “all-for-one”-type deal. The Coyotes have one of the youngest rosters in the league, specifically up front, where the depth of talent in 25-and-under forwards runs well into the minor league ranks. Regardless of who makes the Opening Night roster for Arizona, the team will have two or three well-regarded forward prospects playing for their AHL team in Tuscon seemingly for much of the year. It’s a simple fact of life that not every promising player can see substantial NHL minutes, but can the Coyotes really afford to be wasting talent?
Arizona has not qualified for the playoffs since they went by the name “Phoenix”. The team last saw postseason action in 2011-12, the third-longest drought in the league. The Coyotes have only made the playoffs three times total in the post-lockout salary cap era. Fans are clamoring for a change in fortunes and while the ‘Yotes have been considered an up-and-coming team for years now, the rebuild simply hasn’t panned out. The administration has shown more of a willingness to make changes recently, investing in contender-caliber tandem of Antti Raanta and Darcy Kuemper, trading for veterans like Niklas Hjalmarsson, Jason Demers, and Derek Stepan and even signing sought-after hired gun Michael Grabner. The Coyotes are starting to build a roster that structurally looks more like a contender than the past few seasons, while maintaining a low salary cap hit. However, they need to get out from under this roster limit issue and an easy way of doing so would be to package several of their minor league forwards for a veteran name on the rumor mill.
Some may still want to take the slow, cautious approach and see the rebuild through, but after seven years without a playoff game and a Chayka administration that has seen too few top prospects pan out, the pressure is on in the desert. A slow start, even if it caused by an Alex Galchenyuk injury absence or adjusting to game speed for players like Jakob Chychrun, Christian Dvorak, and several new faces, could be enough to pull the trigger on such a deal. Considering all the variables in favor of making a trade, it would be no surprise to see the Coyotes active on the trade market early this season.
Western Notes: Crawford, Saad, Vilardi, Andrighetto
The Chicago Blackhawks got more good news today as The Athletic Scott Powers reports that head coach Joel Quenneville said that goaltender Corey Crawford could practice with the team as early as Monday.
Crawford who has been out since Dec. 23 of last year with concussion symptoms said earlier this offseason that he likely wouldn’t be ready when the regular season begins as the symptoms have still affected him. That has been the case, but if Crawford is close to returning to practice, that could be a good boost for the team, knowing that he’s not far off to returning to game action, even if its a few weeks into the season.
The 33-year-old Crawford was having a solid season before going down as he posted a 2.27 GAA and a .929 save percentage in 28 games. If he can come back and post anything close to that, the Blackhawks may be able to work their way back into playoff discussions this year.
- In a separate story, Powers (subscription required) interviewed three NHL scouts about individual players on the Chicago Blackhawks and while there are many interesting comments about different players, two scouts had nothing nice to say about Chicago winger Brandon Saad. “When he’s not playing with top guys, he doesn’t respect who he’s playing and he’s selfish,” a scout said. “He’ll try to carry it himself instead of moving the puck. When he gets frustrated, he shows it with his body language. They have to recognize that and have a talk with him. Whether they put him with one of the big guys, he’s got to have a better attitude.” A second scout was equally unimpressed. “I think Saad is a guy who plays for a contract. I’m not convinced that he’s a guy who plays for you every night.”
- Fox Sports’ Jon Rosen reports that Los Angeles Kings prospect center Gabriel Vilardi, who has missed the entire preseason after re-injuring his back this summer, was in full gear working out on the ice with head trainer Chris Kingsley. There is no timetable on his return. Rosen added that Vilardi will either start the season on IR or as an injured non-roster player. The 19-year-old still has one year of junior eligibility, but posted 52 points in just 32 games last year with the OHL’s Kingston Frontenacs and many feel could be ready to take on a key role with Los Angeles if he can put his back issues behind him.
- Adrian Dater of BSN Denver writes that winger Sven Andrighetto will miss two to four weeks with a foot injury. The 25-year-old is trying to force his way into the team’s top-six . He tallied eight goals and 22 points last year in a bottom-six role for the Avalanche.
Eastern Notes: Tkachuk, Formenton, Nylander, Carrick, Bobrovsky, Knight
The Ottawa Senators were always planning on bringing in a group of young talent to join their NHL team this year and when Senators’ head coach Guy Boucher said that his forwards were set to start the year, Sportsnet’s Kyle Bukauskas tweets that means that forwards Brady Tkachuk and Alex Formenton made the team.
While neither player’s appearance on the roster is much of a surprise, the team has been impressed with Tkachuk’s offensive and physical play as well as the impressive speed that Formenton adds. Tkachuk, the team’s fourth-overall pick in the 2018 draft, and Formenton, a second-round pick in the 2017 draft, both are expected to take on significant roles for a team that many feel could finish at the bottom of the league this season. Formenton made the team out of training camp last year, but appeared in just one game before being returned to his junior team.
- The Hurricanes were among the teams to inquire regarding the availability of Maple Leafs winger William Nylander, Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reported in an appearance on TSN 1050 (audio link). However, Toronto GM Kyle Dubas informed them (and other seekers) that they have no intention of dealing the restricted free agent. LeBrun also suggested that an offer sheet for the 22-year-old is quite unlikely given Toronto’s cap space for 2018-19 and the fact that a lot of the teams that could afford him and have the requisite picks to surrender are far from postseason locks; they probably won’t want to risk potentially losing a lottery pick.
- The Athletic’s Jonas Siegel reports that Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Mike Babcock said that he will know his roster by tonight, with final cuts coming tomorrow. One person who has an uncertain future with Toronto is defenseman Connor Carrick, who according to TSN’s Kristen Shilton, is facing an uphill battle to making the team. When asked if he’s spoken to Babcock, Carrick’s responded: “We haven’t talked much. I’m not sure there’s a ton to talk about.”
- Brian Hedger of NHL.com asked Columbus Blue Jackets’ goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, who could be a potential unrestricted free agent next season, whether it is easy to keep the business and hockey sides separate. His answer: “Yeah, well, we’ll see. I’m a human too. I’ve developed some skills, some mental skills, some technical skills, so I’m a human … it is what it is.” The 29-year-old Bobrovsky is believed to be asking for a contract equal or surpassing the eight-year, $84MM deal that Montreal handed to Carey Price last offseason. Negotiations haven’t gotten very far.
- Despite an impressive preseason, veteran AHL’er Corban Knight will not make the Philadelphia Flyers’ opening day roster after all after the team announced that Knight will miss the next three weeks with an upper-body injury. The 28-year-old forward has played in 291 AHL contests over his career, compared to just 29 NHL games and was one of the last players fighting for a roster spot before being injured.
Pacific Notes: Dvorak, Gibbons, Koskinen, Brodzinski
While Coyotes center Christian Dvorak has been skating on his own as of late, there’s still no timetable for his return to Arizona’s lineup and it does not appear he’ll be ready for the season opener, notes Richard Morin of the Arizona Republic. It appears that the lower-body injury he’s dealing with is related to the back injury that kept him out of the lineup for the last four games of 2017-18. The Coyotes surprisingly inked Dvorak to a six-year extension this past summer and they’re not going to want this to linger. Accordingly, they will likely be very cautious in terms of his return and won’t be rushing him. Between this and the injury to Alex Galchenyuk, Arizona has quickly gone from a team with surplus depth down the middle to shifting a winger over in the interim to fill the vacancies.
More from the Pacific:
- Ducks winger Brian Gibbons is dealing with a hand injury, bringing the number of injured players up to seven, notes Elliott Teaford of the Orange County Register. The team is waiting for the swelling to subside before they can determine the severity of the injury and how much time he might miss. Gibbons is in his first season in Anaheim after inking a one-year, $1MM deal back in July.
- Oilers goaltender Mikko Koskinen has a no-move clause, GM Peter Chiarelli confirmed to Jason Gregor of TSN 1260 (audio link). This comes as somewhat of a surprise considering he has just four games of NHL experience (all in 2010-11) but he was sought after by quite a few teams so it may have been required to get a deal done. The 30-year-old won the backup job after Edmonton placed Al Montoya on waivers yesterday.
- Kings winger Jonny Brodzinski has undergone shoulder surgery and is out indefinitely, notes Lisa Dillman of The Athletic (Twitter link). The 25-year-old was expected to contend for a full-time spot on the roster after splitting last season between the NHL (35 games) and the AHL (29 games with 30 points).