Jets Activate Two From Injured Reserve
The Winnipeg Jets have activated right winger Joel Armia and left winger/center Shawn Matthias from injured reserve, the team announced via Twitter. No corresponding demotions have been made due to the roster freeze but will be required when that lifts on December 28th.
Armia, acquired in the Evander Kane trade back in February of 2015, has been out since the beginning of November with an MCL sprain. He has played in ten games for the Jets this season, scoring once while adding three assists. Armia had been a regular on both special teams units prior to going down, averaging over a minute and a half on both the power play and penalty kill.
Matthias, who joined the Jets this summer as an unrestricted free agent, also has been out since early November due to a lower body issue. He has suited up in ten games this year, picking up three points (2-1-3). Prior to going down, he had played a big role on their penalty kill, averaging over two minutes a game there, which ranks second among Winnipeg forwards to Adam Lowry.
To make room for them in the lineup, center Andrew Copp and left winger Brandon Tanev will be out of the lineup, TSN 1290’s Brian Munz notes (Twitter link). Tanev is day-to-day with a lower body injury while Copp will be a healthy scratch.
Is Gustav Nyquist A Scapegoat For Detroit’s Problems?
When Gustav Nyquist was called up for good in 2013-14, he made sure that Detroit wouldn’t send him back to Grand Rapids. In what was the first of many injury ravaged seasons for the Red Wings, Nyquist went on an absolute tear, scoring 28 goals and 48 points in just 57 games, setting the bar high in terms of expectations. Nyquist followed up in 2014-15 with 27 goals and 54 points. From there, however, Nyquist has fallen off in terms of overall production. In 2015-16, he had 17 goals and 43 points, and had a goal in five playoff games. This year has seen similar results on the score sheet, as Nyquist has only one goal in his last 27 games.
The Detroit Free Press’ Helene St. James suggests that the Wings begin benching players to send a message as Detroit dawdles near the bottom of the Atlantic Division. Detroit is 14-15-4 and failing to score goals, have an inefficient power play, and cannot keep pucks out of their net. St. James begins with the idea of possibly sitting Nyquist, who St. James has written about before in terms of his lack of production. However, a deeper dive shows that Nyquist should not be the first player benched by Jeff Blashill.
Winging It In Motown’s Prashanth Iyer argues through a series of tweets that Nyquist’s value to the Red Wings is beyond just goal scoring. Though he is one of the higher paid Red Wings, Nyquist’s value is seen on the ice because of what he produces in both goals and assists. Additionally, the team sees a jump in production with Nyquist skating. Iyer begins with this idea, tweeting that Nyquist ranks 35th in 5v5 points per minutes played, which leads all players on the Detroit roster. This is also higher than stars like Alex Ovechkin, and Artemi Panarin. A harder look beyond just goals reveals that the Wings are earning a fair return from Nyquist. It’s just outside the goal column.
In fairness to St. James, she targets other players like Riley Sheahan, and Tomas Tatar, citing their scoring woes as the #1 reason Detroit is struggling. But the Red Wings problems are much deeper than this. The roster construction of this team has been heavily criticized, as players like Darren Helm, Justin Abdelkader, Drew Miller, Luke Glendening, and Steve Ott are not known for excessive goal scoring. Those five players constitute nearly two lines of players who do not score at high clips. But as written about before on PHR, several of those players, namely Helm, Glendening, and Abdelkader, were given handsome raises despite their lack of goal scoring prowess. Ott, who St. James held up against Nyquist, brings the “grit” factor that general manager Ken Holland and Blashill laud and has been labeled as a valuable “locker room guy.” While his $800K value doesn’t break the bank, it could be argued that he blocks the way for younger players who could score goals–which is what Detroit desperately needs.
St. James in one of her tweets argues that Ott justifies his cost because of his role, while Nyquist does not. Iyer answered this here, revealing that Nyquist is still a better bargain than pricey addition Frans Nielsen, Abdelkader or Helm.
Related: Detroit’s Depth Chart
The point is not to pile on a writer who’s seeking answers for Detroit’s struggles: it’s more about looking at the whole picture instead of focusing on a few players. Nyquist, along with Tatar, were supposed to be the next in a long line of duos to lead the Red Wings. They were supposed to follow in the footsteps of Steve Yzerman and Sergei Fedorov or Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk. But that hasn’t happened for a number of reasons, beginning with how the talent level is not nearly as high as it was for the aforementioned, but also because of some flaws in building the roster. Even Iyer admits that Nyquist and Tatar are “really good,” but not elite.
Nyquist is hardly the problem. While his lack of scoring hasn’t helped matters, his presence on the ice is a positive for a team failing to score goals. Porous defense, questionable coaching decisions, flawed roster construction, and excessive injuries have the Red Wings rivaling Toronto for the last spot in the Atlantic. If players are benched, it shouldn’t start with Nyquist.
Snapshots: DeBrincat, Brown, Anisimov, Chlapik
In a head scratching move, the United States left Alex DeBrincat and Logan Brown off its world juniors roster today. NBC’s Jason Brough writes that Brown’s removal may be due to a lingering wrist injury. Regardless of that injury, Brown has racked up 21 points (8-13) in 15 games for the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires. DeBrincat’s omission is more of a mystery. The 19-year-old second round selection in 2016 has been torching the OHL as a member of the Erie Otters, notching 30 goals and 30 assists in just 28 games. Craig Custance wonders if being a right hand shot hurt his chances, but even that seems an odd reason to leave off the young scorer. DeBrincat leads the OHL in goals and is second in total points–behind teammate Taylor Raddysh–who is expected to be on the Canadian roster.
- The Blackhawks have placed Artem Anisimov on the injured reserve writes Mark Lazerus and have called up Tanner Kero in his place. The move enables Anisimov to gain more rest as he was already out for the Blackhawks 4-3 loss to Ottawa Tuesday night. Anisimov has 27 points (14-13) in as many games this season with the Hawks. Kero, meanwhile, is Rockford’s leading scorer and should see ice time with both Anisimov and Marian Hossa likely out for tomorrow’s tilt against Colorado.
- The Senators have inked center Filip Chlapik to an entry level deal. Chlapik currently plays on the Charlottetown Islanders, where he is the leading scorer with 44 points (20-24). Chlapik also set an Islanders record by recording a point in his first 21 games. A second round selection in the 2015 draft, he will also be representing the Czech Republic in the World Junior Championships starting December 26.
Blues Place Paul Stastny on Injured Reserve
Andy Strickland tweets that Blues center Paul Stastny has been placed on injured reserve while Wade Megan has been called up from Chicago. Lou Korac adds, however, that the move is only for a game, and that it a roster spot for Megan. Jeremy Rutherford tweets that he’ll be ready for next Wednesday’s game.
Stastny was expected to miss tonight’s game after suffering an upper body injury against Dallas on Tuesday. Head coach Ken Hitchcock indicated that he was hit high during the game, and added later that should he miss tonight’s game, he would be ready to go next week.
This season, Stastny has 17 points (7-10), and according to Rutherford, is logging nearly 20 minutes of ice time per game. Rutherford reports that he will be missed most in the faceoff circle, where he takes 36 percent of the Blues’ draws and is sixth in the league with a 54.7% winning percentage.
The 26-year-old Megan, meanwhile, has 24 points (13-11) in 28 games this season with Chicago. Should he play tonight, it will be his first appearance in an NHL game.
Metropolitan Notes: Al Ali, Burakovsky, Helgeson
In what is one of the most heartwarming hockey stories of the year, J.J. Regan of CSN Mid-Atlantic reports on a former Washington Capitals recent find overseas. Peter Bondra, a 500-goal man who spent most of his career in the nation’s capital, now travels around the world seeking out hockey talent as an ambassador of the game.
In Abu Dhabi of all places, he found Fatima Al Ali, a member of the UAB National Women’s team and owner of some of the silkiest hands anywhere in the world. Bondra provides proof of her skill with twitter videos and even claims she has better hands than him. Fatima also happens to be a Capitals fan, so the team is bringing her to Washington in February to celebrate ‘Hockey Is For Everyone’ month.
- Staying in Washington, tonight is a return for Andre Burakovsky after three games as a healthy scratch. The former first-round pick has gone ice cold after a fast start, and is pointless in his last seven games. After playing 18:30 in the season opener (including overtime) and scoring two goals, Burakovsky played just 8:06 in his most recent game. He seems positive about the situation though, saying that “It helped me last year when I was not playing really well and I sat out for two games and came back and my game just turned around from being bad to being really good”. Hopefully it happens again or he may find himself right back in the press box before long.
- In New Jersey, there are early reports from Pete Dougherty that the team will call up Seth Helgeson tomorrow after the defenseman was “unavailable” for tonight’s Albany Devils game. It’s unclear why he’d be brought up unless one of their current defensemen has suffered an injury in practice. A possible explanation is Ray Shero’s recent comments to Andrew Gross of The Record, in which he says that the key to the team turning around their early season struggles is to “Play [expletive] harder.” Helgeson is a big mean defender who might be able to give them a physical boost, though there is no guarantee he’ll get into the lineup right away.
Ben Bishop Out 3-4 Weeks With Lower-Body Injury
Following our report that Ben Bishop had left the Tampa Bay game last night with an apparent right leg injury, the Lightning have announced that he’ll be out for three to four weeks with a lower-body injury. The team had already recalled Kristers Gudlevskis from Syracuse to replace him.
Even taking the optimistic timeline of three weeks means Bishop will be unavailable for the team’s next nine games, placing an even heavier burden on Andrei Vasilevskiy. The young netminder has already made 12 starts this year, well on his way to break his career high of 21 set last season. Though Bishop was still technically the starter, the three-year extension that Vasilevskiy signed this summer indicated that the team is ready to hand him the reins.
For Bishop, this is just another hit to his upcoming free agency that was already being affected with his play. Last year’s Vezina runner-up was having the worst season of his career, carrying a mediocre .909 save percentage into Wednesday. While he’s likely to bounce back somewhat, being on the wrong side of 30, enduring injury and seeing a downward trend in performance are three pretty big red flags.
It’ll be interesting to see what the Lightning do over this stretch, as it contains two back-to-back situations. Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times wouldn’t be surprised to see Adam Wilcox get a chance in one of those games, as the 24-year old is dominating at the AHL level.
Snapshots: Gudlevskis, Luongo, Rule Book
After Ben Bishop suffered a lower-body injury in last night’s game, the Tampa Bay Lightning have recalled Kristers Gudlevksis from the Syracuse Crunch.
If the name Gudlevskis sounds familiar, it’s likely because of his performance for Latvia at the 2014 Olympics. In their 2-1 quarter-final loss against Canada, Gudlevskis made 55 saves on 57 shots.
So far this season, Gudlevskis has struggled in the AHL, with just a 5-4-2 record and an 0.884 SV%. However, with Bishop expected to be gone sometime this year or this summer, an NHL callup is a chance for Gudlevskis to show he has what it takes to back up Andrei Vasilevskiy going forward.
- Jaromir Jagr wasn’t the only Florida Panthers player to hit a milestone last night. Roberto Luongo tied legendary goaltender Terry Sawchuk for fifth all-time in wins. Both have 477 wins, with Luongo doing it in 22 less games. Luongo needs eight more wins to pass Curtis Joseph for fourth, and 105 wins to pass Patrick Roy for second. Martin Brodeur is safely first with 691 wins, which is 140 more than Roy.
- Over at OilersNation.com, TSN’s Jason Gregor writes that the NHL needs to once again call the rule book. While it was strictly enforced after the 2005 lockout, obstruction is no longer being called properly in the NHL. Gregor argues that players like Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby, Patrick Kane, and Johnny Gaudreau are being prevented from demonstrating their elite skill because of the constant hooking and slashing that isn’t called. Whether it was Gaudreau missing weeks with a broken finger from being slashed 21 times in a single game (no penalties) or McDavid being denied penalty shot after penalty shot when he’s whacked and hooked on breakaways (most recently on Monday when Alex Pietrangelo denied McDavid a shot on a breakaway by slashing his hands several times, again no penalty), there is a systematic failure on the NHL’s part to protect its stars from fouls. Gregor wonders why no GMs or players have spoken up about this, and hypothesizes that they’re either scared of being “deemed whiners” or scared of commissioner Gary Bettman. Former referee Kerry Fraser told Gregor that the current officials need to “be a little more vigilant,” in a rare comment about fellow officials.
Jimmy Howard “Out For A While”
It was a rough night for goaltenders in Tampa Bay last night, as both Ben Bishop and Jimmy Howard left the game with lower-body injuries.
While we don’t yet know Bishop’s status, Howard has been placed on seven-day IR. Per Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News, Red Wings GM Ken Holland said Howard will be “out for a while. Not sure how long.”
The length of Howard’s recovery will depend on how his body reacts in the next few days, according to Holland. It’s a tough loss for the Red Wings, as Howard has the fourth-best save percentage in the NHL this season, after his play had regressed over the past three years. The Red Wings’ expected starter this season, Petr Mrazek, has struggled so far with just an 0.899 SV%, but does have a winning record, which is something Howard doesn’t have, despite his excellent numbers.
In the meantime, Detroit has recalled Jared Coreau from Grand Rapids of the AHL. Coreau has appeared in one NHL game, allowing four goals in a 5-3 loss against Pittsburgh. He boasts an 11-6-0 record with the Griffins, with a 0.924 SV% and a 2.18 GAA.
The Red Wings currently sit in sixth place in the Atlantic Division and are nine points out of the final wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference.
Jimmy Howard Injured
Detroit Red Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard was injured during a pileup in the 2nd period tonight against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Howard is the second starting goaltender to leave this game, as Tampa Bay starter Ben Bishop left in the 1st period with a lower-body injury.
Howard appears to suffer a lower-body injury and was replaced by Petr Mrazek. Howard is having a resurgent season, posting a .934 SV% and a 1.95 GAA in 16 games. The veteran goaltender had lost the starting job to Mrazek, but Howard’s stellar stats has reopened the conversation. Mrazek hasn’t faired as well, posting a .902 SV% and a .298 GAA.
The Red Wings sit in 6th in the Atlantic Division and are in real danger of ending its record playoff streak. Howard’s strong play was keeping the team afloat so Mrazek will have to step up to get the Red Wings back into the playoffs.
Snapshots: Oilers, NHL Debuts, Blackhawks, Laine
The last time the Oilers beat the Blues in St. Louis, Nikolai Khabibulin made 43 saves and the Oilers won 3-0. The Oilers then-top line of Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Jordan Eberle combined for eight points. That was in March of 2013.
Since then, the Oilers have lost four straight in St. Louis by a combined score of 17-8. But last night, the Oilers came back twice from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits to win 3-2 in overtime. The Oilers moved Nugent-Hopkins, normally a center, to the right wing on a line with Leon Draisaitl and Patrick Maroon, and were rewarded with the tying and winning goal from them. The St. Louis-native Maroon tipped in a shot in the third period, leading to a feel-good moment after the game when he was asked about his son, who lives in St. Louis, cheering him on.
Nugent-Hopkins was set up by Connor McDavid in overtime and the Oilers got the victory. TSN’s Ryan Rishaug appeared on Edmonton radio on Tuesday morning and said this about the win: “to be down multiple times to that team in a building where they never win… that’s definitely a ‘big boy’ win. They didn’t come by that one easily.”
McDavid and Draisaitl now have a combined 70 points this season, the highest of any duo in the NHL. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are second with 68 points.
- The Tampa Bay Lightning have dealt with quite a few injuries this season, but out of injury springs opportunity. Jonathan Drouin has stepped up lately, and now there’s opportunity for Tanner Richard to appear in his first NHL game. Richard was initially supposed to make his NHL debut on Saturday night, but his plane was delayed in New York, which lead to him missing his connecting flight to Edmonton. With no chance of making it to Alberta for game time, Ricard was sent back to Syracuse. Richard told Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times that he was “devastated” to miss the game, but had an inkling that he could be recalled for Tuesday. When asked what he expects to bring to the Lightning lineup, Richard said “I’m pretty hated by most teams in the AHL, so that tells me I’m doing an alright job being a little rat.” Richard will play with Brayden Point and J.T. Brown on the fourth line.
- Also making his NHL debut tonight is Pat Cannone. The 30-year-old center has played 377 games in the AHL, notching 222 points. As Michael Russo put it, the debut will be one for the aged. Cannone has 16 points in 28 games for the Iowa Wild so far this season. Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said “Hey listen, I was in the minors so long, anytime you can bring up a young man to give him a shot at the NHL, I think it’s great.”
- According to Mark Lazerus, Blackhawks goaltender Corey Crawford is taking part in the team’s morning skate. We reported yesterday that Crawford could start as soon as Friday, which would be under three weeks since his appendectomy. Coach Joel Quenneville said he would like to see Crawford take part in a full practice before returning. While a morning skate is not as intense as a regular practice, it’s still a good step in the road back for Crawford.
- Notably absent from Chicago’s morning skate is center Artem Anisimov. Anisimov missed the Blackhawks previous game, and it’s not known if he will be in the lineup tonight versus the Senators. So far this season, he has 27 points in 34 games, which puts him on pace to easily surpass his previous career high of 42 which he set last season.
- After his gorgeous goal on Sunday night versus the Avalanche, where he one-timed a Mark Scheifele pass on a two-on-one, Patrik Laine told a Finnish newspaper that “from a chance like that, I will score 99 times out of 100. The stick will break once.” Laine has 18 goals and 29 points, one behind Scheifele for the Jets’ lead, and five points clear of Auston Matthews for the rookie scoring lead.