Senators Notes: Injury Updates, Searching For Depth
The Ottawa Senators have placed winger Bobby Ryan on Injured Reserve, retroactive to November 29.
Ryan broke his finger two weeks ago, but only missed two games before returning. It appears he’s aggravated the injury in some way. Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports that it’s not clear whether Ryan will go with the Senators on their upcoming road trip, as he’s not eligible to return until next Thursday in San Jose.
It’s been a tough year for Ryan, who has just 8 points in 21 games. With a price tag of $7.25MM, the Senators will be expecting better production when Ryan returns from injury.
Meanwhile, Ducks forward Jakob Silfverberg has double Ryan’s points in just three more games. Silfverberg was the main piece acquired by the Ducks in the 2013 trade that sent Ryan to Ottawa.
- Marc Methot is nearly ready to return to the Senators lineup. In an interview on TSN 1200, GM Pierre Dorion said Erik Karlsson‘s preferred defensive partner could return as soon as Saturday.
- The Senators have recalled Max McCormick from Binghamton and assigned Andreas Englund and Buddy Robinson.
- When winger Clarke MacArthur was concussed early in training camp, some analysts wondered if his career was over. MacArthur missed all but four games in 2015-16 with a concussion. However, Dorion said MacArthur has been making progress and “will play this year.”
- With Ryan and MacArthur out of the lineup, the Senators search for forward depth is picking up. Dorion said he’s “very” active in searching for scoring depth, though Garrioch doesn’t believe he’s close to making any deals.
Justin Abdelkader To Miss 2-4 Weeks
After leaving Thursday night’s game with a lower-body injury, Red Wings forward Justin Abdelkader is expected to miss 2-4 weeks with a “slight MCL sprain” according to MLive’s Ansar Khan.
Abdelkader injured his right knee after hitting it into the boards while finishing his check. He left the bench shortly thereafter. Following the game, Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill told the media that the team may call up a forward to replace Abdelkader, but could also insert Drew Miller into the lineup. On Friday morning, GM Ken Holland said there will be a call-up from the AHL, but he won’t play on Saturday night.
While he’s posted 40+ points two years in a row, Abdelkader has struggled this year with just eight points in 22 games after a much-maligned appearance with Team USA at the World Cup.
Abdelkader is the latest in a long list of injured Red Wings, which includes forwards Darren Helm, Andreas Athanasiou, and Tyler Bertuzzi; defensemen Alexey Marchenko and Brendan Smith; and goalie Jimmy Howard.
The Wings are sixth in the NHL’s Atlantic Division as they look to make the playoffs for a 26th straight year.
Snapshots: Vegas, Russell, Stars Injury Update
In his latest Rumblings, ESPN analyst Pierre LeBrun wonders about retained-salary transactions between the Vegas Golden Knights and the rest of the NHL around the Expansion Draft.
Vegas GM George McPhee recently asked the NHL if other teams would be allowed to retain salary on players exposed in the Expansion Draft.
For example, the Los Angeles Kings are likely going to expose former captain Dustin Brown. Brown signed an eight-year deal back in 2013, when he was coming off a 52-point pace in the lockout shortened season. Brown’s play fell off a cliff the year before the extension took effect, and has not scored more than 28 points in a season since. The now-third-line-forward has five seasons remaining after this one at a whopping $5.875MM per.
McPhee wanted to know if he could offer to take Brown in the Expansion Draft, as long as Kings GM Dean Lombardi retained some of Brown’s salary. This would make Brown a more palatable pick for the Golden Knights, while the Kings would be able to move on from Brown without the high cost of buying him out.
LeBrun reports that Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly told McPhee that retaining salary would not be allowed with expansion picks. He goes on to write that Vegas will be able to make trades shortly after the final expansion fee payment is made on March 1. This gives Vegas an advantage over previous NHL expansion franchises, because they weren’t allowed to make trades until the Expansion Draft to make trades.
NHL fans (and the league head office) will be watching for GMs to start finding loopholes. While teams won’t be allowed to retain salary for exposed players, McPhee could make an arrangement with a fellow GM to select an agreed upon lesser player and then trade a late round pick in the NHL Entry Draft for a high-priced player with salary retained. In theory, the Golden Knights could take Michael Latta from the Kings, instead of a more notable exposed-player, and then trade a 5th round pick to Los Angeles for Brown with salary retained.
With the NHL watching closely to make sure every transaction passes the smell test, it will be interesting to see if this loophole gets taken advantage of, or if it’s closed before McPhee and the Golden Knights take advantage of it.
- After the Oilers 6-3 win over the Jets on Thursday night, Postmedia’s Jim Matheson argued that the Oilers should try and make a handshake deal with Kris Russell to sign after the expansion draft, which would likely prevent McPhee and the Golden Knights selecting Russell. While Matheson called Russell the Oilers “third-best defenseman” who “really solidified their back-end,” Russell is a divisive figure between the analytics world and the old hockey mindset. He gets poor results based on most analytics metrics, but he’s a well-liked, shot-blocking defenseman. Sportsnet analytics writer Stephen Burtch took a deeper look at Russell’s advanced stats, and found that only two Oilers actually get better results when Russell is on the ice: Benoit Pouliot and Zack Kassian. Meanwhile, Connor McDavid, perhaps the best player in the NHL and its leading scorer, performs markedly worse when Russell is on the ice. McDavid’s expected goals-for goes down nearly 20% when he plays with Russell. Burtch argued that Russell is not the Oilers third-best defenseman, and his skill-set of lowering his team’s goals-against is decent, but also largely based on luck.
- Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News updated the condition of several injured Dallas Stars on Friday morning. While Ales Hemsky and Mattias Janmark are both out until April with hip surgery and knee surgery respectively, Johnny Oduya (lower body) could be back sometime next week. As we reported on Thursday, the pending UFA Oduya may be on the trade block. Meanwhile Jiri Hudler has been out of the lineup with an unknown virus for a month, and remains out with no timeline for his return. The Stars could use some help, as they have a 9-10-6 record and sit in fifth in the Central Division.
Justin Abdelkader Leaves Game With Lower Body Injury
MLive’s Ansar Khan tweets that Justin Abdelkader has a lower body injury and will not return to the game tonight. During the first period of the Detroit Red Wings’ matchup with the Florida Panthers, Abdelkader left the ice after finishing a check and banging his right leg into the boards following the hit. He was seen wincing on the bench and flexing his knee as he skated off the ice.
If Abdelkader is out for a number of games, he will join wounded Wings Darren Helm, Jimmy Howard, Andreas Athanasiou, Tyler Bertuzzi, Alexey Marchenko, and Brendan Smith. It’s been that kind of a season for Detroit, who is seeking its 26th consecutive playoff appearance.
Abdelkader has eight points (4-4) in 21 games and after signing a massive seven-year extension last season, he was to be counted on for a net-front presence and to chip in at least 20 goals. His absence from the lineup creates another hole in an already ravaged lineup.
The Red Wings, through November 27, lead the NHL in man-games lost with 141.
Islanders Activate Seidenberg, Place Pelech On IR
As reported earlier today, Dennis Seidenberg has gotten some great news to start December. The team has removed him from their injured reserve list and he’ll make his return tonight against the Washington Capitals. To make room, the team has moved Adam Pelech to IR retroactive to November 28th with an upper-body injury.
Seidenberg had hoped that he could return by Sunday against the Red Wings, but he’ll in fact make it back into the lineup less than three weeks after suffering a broken jaw on a Michael Matheson shot. The veteran defenseman was off to a great start in New York after signing a $1MM deal with the team this offseason. The deal followed a buyout by the Boston Bruins of the last two seasons of his four-year, $16MM extension he signed just after the start of the 2013 season. The 35-year old has eight points in fifteen games this season after suiting up for Team Europe at the World Cup and Germany in Olympic qualifiers this summer.
His return comes at the expense of Adam Pelech though, who was moved to IR following his injury Monday night. Though originally just reported as soreness, he’s obviously in enough pain to keep him out for the minimum of seven days (which would rule him out until Tuesday’s matchup against the New York Rangers). Pelech had originally been an injury replacement for Travis Hamonic, who was originally given a 4-6 week timeline but came back within eight days of his injury.
The Islanders have had a revolving door on their blueline this season, with injuries happening to several players and at times dressing seven defensemen. They’ll look to get back a little bit of stability with the return of Seidenberg, who will make three solid pairings for the team as it looks to get back into the playoff hunt.
Central Notes: Campbell, Yakupov, Avalanche, Nashville Injuries
Although defenseman Brian Campbell wound up declining a bigger contract offer from Florida both in terms of years and dollars, he told George Richards of the Miami Herald that he has no regrets about spurning that in order to return to Chicago:
“I’m smiling now, I’m happy. I don’t look back and I know I made the right decision when I signed here. I did it for my family and for myself as a hockey player. Hopefully I have a bunch of years left but I want to make the most of them.”
Back in June, GM Tom Rowe offered Campbell a two year, $8MM deal in the hopes that negotiations would ensue from there. However, the 37 year old had his heart set on going back to Chicago where he and his family kept a summer home there despite the fact that he had been traded from the Blackhawks back in 2011. Given that Chicago is perpetually hovering right near the salary cap though, they weren’t able to come close to matching Florida’s initial offer; he wound up for signing for a $1.5MM guarantee and a $750K games played bonus, one that has already been achieved.
Campbell is playing a smaller role than he had with the Panthers as his average ice time is down over three and a half minutes per game from last season. However, he has been a quality contributor so far for the Blackhawks in a depth role, picking up eight points in 24 games while logging a regular role on the power play.
Elsewhere in the Central Division:
- Although he has been a healthy scratch in seven of the last 12 games, St. Louis GM Doug Armstrong still stands by his acquisition of Nail Yakupov, writes Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Armstrong feels that the low acquisition price (a conditional third round pick and ECHL prospect Zach Pochiro) makes the move a worthwhile gamble, even if Yakupov only plays a sparing role. He also highlighted the recent play of right winger Dmitrij Jaskin as one of the reasons that Yakupov hasn’t played as much recently. Still, it’s fair to wonder if the former number one overall pick in 2012 could be in need of another change of scenery given that his $2.5MM cap hit is steep for the depth role Yakupov currently has.
- Colorado prospect left winger Sam Henley will make his NHL debut tonight against Columbus, reports Terry Frei of the Denver Post. Henley, an undrafted free agent signing back in 2014, has just four points in 19 games this season with AHL San Antonio but the team is interested in his ability to kill penalties as they’re set to take on the number one power play in the league. Gabriel Bourque, another checking forward, will also make his season debut and should see time on the penalty kill as well.
- The Predators have downgraded the status of left winger James Neal from day-to-day to week-to-week, The Tennessean’s Adam Vingan notes. He suffered an upper body injury against Winnipeg last week. Also, defenseman Anthony Bitetto, who just last week returned after missing 18 games with an upper body injured, suffered a broken hand on Tuesday and will be back on the shelf for another six weeks.
Injury Updates: Jets, Lehner, Chara, Toews
After getting a pair of key players back from injured reserve over the past week in center Bryan Little and right winger Drew Stafford, the Jets appear to be set to receive some more good news on the injury front as center Mathieu Perreault is nearing a return to the lineup, notes Mike Sawatzky of the Winnipeg Free Press. Perreault believes he’s ready to play as soon as tonight against the Oilers but head coach Paul Maurice isn’t ready to say he’s definitely in the lineup:
“We’ll let him get through another day and into the morning. So he has a good skate today and (has) gone full contact for a few days and if he declares himself ready to play, we’ll meet with the medical staff and make a decision.”
If Perreault does return to the lineup, Sawatzky adds that it will likely be on the wing as the team is happy with their four centers at the moment, Mark Scheifele, Little, Adam Lowry, and Andrew Copp. Perreault has played in 11 games for the Jets this season, picking up three points (1-2-3). He has three straight 40+ point campaigns heading into this one so he should give them another offensive boost.
[Related: Jets Depth Chart]
Maurice also stated that Marko Dano, who took a high stick to the face that caused some serious swelling, is likely to play tonight barring any setbacks. He’ll likely have a full cage on his helmet for a little bit though.
More injury news from around the league:
- Sabres goalie Robin Lehner estimates that his hip is about 90 percent but he won’t play tonight against the Rangers, he told John Vogl of the Buffalo News. Lehner left Tuesday’s game against Ottawa in the first period after experiencing some discomfort while playing a dump-in. He’s targeting Saturday against the Bruins as a return date.
- Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara skated with the team today but will not play tonight, the team announced via their Twitter page. Chara has missed the last four games with a lower body injury and while his offensive numbers are down this season (six points in 19 games), he still leads the team in ice time per game, averaging 22:41 per game.
- Chicago center Jonathan Toews, who has missed the last week with a back injury, will not play tonight and is doubtful to play Saturday, reports CSN Chicago’s Tracey Myers (Twitter link). Head coach Joel Quenneville is hopeful that the captain will skate over the weekend and his status will be assessed from there.
Snapshots: Enstrom, Hall, Landeskog
The Winnipeg Jets don’t really need it right now, but they’re getting back one of their biggest defensive pieces. While the team has won the last two games over the Predators and Devils, they’ll welcome back Toby Enstrom for tomorrow’s game against Edmonton after the blueliner returned today from Sweden where he’d been dealing with a personal issue. No word on what the issue was, but it seems like it’s resolved at least for now.
The team has climbed to within one game of .500 on the season with an 11-12-2 record and look to even up with almost a full compliment tomorrow night. According to Ted Wyman of the Winnipeg Sun, Marko Dano, who earlier today tweeted out a photo of the damage done by Kyle Quincey‘s stick, has a final appointment tonight to see whether he’s cleared to play tomorrow.
- Taylor Hall was one of the first Devils players on the ice today for an optional skate according to Andrew Gross of The Record. The superstar winger is working his way back from a knee injury that required surgery earlier this month and was given a 3-4 week timeline for his return. Today is the two week mark, but Hall is hoping a return can come as early as tomorrow evening. Hall had scored 12 points in 14 games before sustaining the injury.
- The Colorado Avalanche announced that they’re likely putting captain Gabriel Landeskog on injured reserve, clouding the waters surrounding his injury. While it’s not even clear what the forward is suffering from, it’s clear that he won’t be back with the team any time soon as he isn’t even skating with the club. The Avalanche need him back healthy as they’re slipping further and further down the standings. The team now sits in seventh (last) position in the Central Division, five points back of the surging Jets for sixth place.
Tampa Bay Recalls Vermin, Bournival From Syracuse
With Ryan Callahan still nursing an injury and a few other players banged up, the Tampa Bay Lightning have recalled Joel Vermin and Michael Bournival from the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL.
Neither player has suited up for the Lightning this year, however both have had good starts in the AHL. Signed to a one-year, two-way deal this summer, Bournival has 11 points in 17 games for the Crunch. A 24-year old former third-round pick, he has 89 games of NHL experience with the Montreal Canadiens. Expected to be a strong scorer when he was drafted, the next two seasons in Shawinigan were solid but not spectacular, and he’s turned into a bottom-six only type in his short professional career.
For Vermin, this is familiar ground having been called up by the team last season for six games. A smaller Swiss forward, Vermin has shown his capability as an energy guy who uses his speed to force turnovers. The Lightning will need some of that energy, as they’re currently on a three game losing streak and have fallen to third in the Atlantic Division.
Injury Notes: Dano, Oshie, Niskanen
Every hockey player that’s played without a full face-cage has experienced it, that almost-painless moment when you get a stick in the face. The rage boils over you just before the pain rolls in, and you get blood on your brand new gloves. Marko Dano knows it well, after taking a stick from Kyle Quincey in last night’s Winnipeg-New Jersey game. The anger has subsided, and the forward happily celebrated the laceration on twitter today. “Finally look like a real hockey player”.
Dano left the game in the first period and didn’t return, and it’s unclear whether he’ll be able to play in the Jets’ next game. In the photo he sent out, his eye is almost swollen shut. The 22-year old has just six points in fifteen games this season, but looks like he’ll be able to contribute more down the road.
- T.J. Oshie returned to Capitals practice today, but didn’t participate in any contact drills according to Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post. Interestingly, Oshie spent most of the practice paired with Taylor Chorney on defense. Tom Gulitti of NHL.com reports that Oshie is unlikely to play this week, although the forward didn’t rule it out himself.
- More good news from Capitals practice. Matt Niskanen was a full participant today, taking his regular turn with Karl Alzner during all drills. The defenseman has been out since Saturday with a lower-body injury, but seems fully recovered and is expected to play tomorrow when the New York Islanders come to town.
- With the best news of all, Dave Strader returned to the Dallas Stars broadcast booth last night after being diagnosed with cancer this summer. In a touching video, Strader calls out the starting lineups for the Stars in the dressing room, with the team giving him an encouraging cheer after each name. Strader has been a voice in hockey for almost four decades, and though he says he’s not strong enough to call a game just yet, we can’t wait to hear him again.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.