Carlo Colaiacovo Has Received Two Offers From KHL
According to Igor Eronko of Sport-Express, long-time NHL defender Carlo Colaiacovo has received at least two offers from KHL squads, Ak Bars Kazan and Sibir Novosibirsk. No word has come on whether Colaiacovo would welcome a move to the Russian league, though with his injury plagued career and dwindling effectiveness, perhaps they would represent his best option.
Despite making his NHL debut in 2002-03 and being regarded as a effective second or third pairing defenseman, Colaiacovo has only played in 470 games in his career. He’s only played in 70 games in a single season once, dressing for 73 contests in 2008-09.
Once a promising prospect in the Toronto system after being drafted 17th overall, Colaiacovo was part of the deal that swapped Alex Steen for Lee Stempniak during that season. In St. Louis, he showed that he could be effective, posting 26 or more points in three consecutive seasons. Should he join the KHL, perhaps his body can hold up more easily to the rigors of their shorter 60 game season.
Snapshots: Seguin, Kucherov, Lundqvist
Tyler Seguin has tallied better than a point-per-game in each of the last three seasons as the Stars #1 center and has also totaled 107 goals during that time. It would seem foolhardy to move the skilled pivot to any other position but Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News thinks the idea might have some merit.
In a recent chat, Heika fielded a question on Seguin and suggested he will be watching the six-year veteran to see how he plays at RW for Team Canada at the World Cup. With 11 natural pivots on the Canadian roster, several centers obviously will be forced into duty on the wing and it appears Seguin will be among those. Heika feels if Seguin performs well on the wing it might prompt the Stars to move him off the center position and elevate Cody Eakin into a more prominent role.
Eakin scored 16 goals and 35 points in 82 games for the Stars in 2015-16, while averaging nearly 16 1/2 minutes of ice time per contest. It was the third straight campaign Eakin recorded at least 16 goals and 35 points. Jason Spezza, fresh off a 33-goal, 63-point performance, is also likely slated to fill a slot on the top two lines giving the Stars plenty of depth at the center position.
It’s worth noting that Dallas also boasts plenty of offensive talent elsewhere among the forward group, meaning the club has no real need to move Seguin to the wing. The Stars recently inked Jiri Hudler to a one-year deal and he will join Jamie Benn, Patrick Sharp, Ales Hemsky, Valeri Nichushkin and Mattias Janmark in giving Dallas all kinds of options on the wing. Time will tell, of course, but the ability to role out Seguin, Spezza and Eakin, in that order, gives the Stars a strong group of pivots and one few teams can match in terms of talent. It simply wouldn’t make much sense to break that unit up.
Elsewhere in the NHL:
- Even though RFA RW Nikita Kucherov remains unsigned, Tampa Bay GM Steve Yzerman remains confident a deal will get done prior to the 2016-17 season kicking off, as Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times writes. There is no understating how critical Kucherov is to the success of the Lightning, particularly given how good he has been in the playoffs. Kucherov has contributed 21 goals and 41 points in 43 postseason games over the last two seasons, helping the Lightning to a Stanley Cup Finals berth in 2014-15 and an Eastern Conference Finals appearance this season. He’s also posted seasons of 66 and 65 points over the last two regular seasons. The Lightning are in a bit of a pinch in terms of the salary cap with just less than $6.3MM in space remaining and only 12 forwards, six defensemen and two goalies under contract. Smith points out that Filip Forsberg and Vladimir Tarasenko, two players he identifies as possible comparable cases, each signed deals recently that come with annual cap charges of $6MM and $7.5MM respectively. Given the situation, it’s plausible the Lightning will have to make a trade to clear some cap space if that’s the range Kucherov is looking to land in, and Smith singled out Ben Bishop, Valtteri Filppula and Jason Garrison as players the team could look to move if necessary.
- Despite stories – including this one which is in Swedish, and this one – suggesting New York Rangers superstar goalie Henrik Lundqvist had sustained an injury while golfing, Larry Brooks of the New York Post reassures the team’s fans that “the King” is just fine. Brooks tweet does indicate that Lundqvist took a puck to the ribs and is “sore” but it’s nothing to be concerned about. Of course any rumor regarding Lundqvist’s health is sure to grab the attention of Rangers fans everywhere. “Hank,” has been the backbone of the team since he debuted all the way back in the 2005-06 season and the five-time Vezina finalist gives the Blueshirts a chance to compete every year. If he were to miss significant time due to injury, the Rangers playoff chances would drop considerably.
Radko Gudas, Tomas Hertl To Miss World Cup
The injuries keep piling up for the Czech Republic in advance of the World Cup of Hockey as both Philadelphia defenseman Radko Gudas and San Jose forward Tomas Hertl will not play as first reported by hokej.cz’s Vaclav Jachin (link in Czech). Gudas is dealing with a wrist injury while Hertl still hasn’t recovered from the knee injury that forced him out of the lineup in the Stanley Cup Final back in June.
Gudas is coming off a strong first season with the Flyers where he provided the team with some grit on the back end. He played in 76 games, collecting 14 points while adding 116 PIMS, 304 hits, and 157 blocked shots. He also played in six postseason contests, being held pointless but he managed to average five hits per game. The 26 year old was rewarded with a four year extension this offseason with a cap hit of $3.35MM.
Philadelphia GM Ron Hextall released the following statement on the Flyers website about the injury:
“Radko Gudas sustained an upper body injury during his offseason training and will be evaluated on a week to week basis. We are hopeful and optimistic that he will not miss any regular season games.”
As for Hertl, he’s coming off the best season of his three year career, recording 21 goals and 25 assists in 81 regular season games for the Sharks. He continued his strong play in the postseason, picking up another 11 points in 20 games to give San Jose some secondary scoring. He inked a two year, $6MM bridge deal back in June.
No replacements have been named at this time. For now, it’s likely that Roman Cervenka, who has added to replace David Krejci yesterday, will move into a regular role with the Czech squad.
[Related: Updated Czech World Cup Roster]
Kevin Allen’s Latest: Early Predictions, Pivotal Players
Kevin Allen writes that the Detroit Red Wings are one of five teams in danger of missing the playoffs this season. Similar to his reports while speaking with PHR, Allen lists a questionable defensive corps, inconsistent goaltending and whether or not goal scorers like Tomas Tatar and Gustav Nyquist will find the net as they should as reasons why they may not make it back for a 26th straight season. Though he could see them sneaking in, the Wings are more vulnerable than ever before. It all depends on youth and everything coming together.
Allen also lists the Los Angeles Kings, Philadelphia Flyers, New York Islanders, and St. Louis Blues as candidates to possibly miss. With the Kings, Allen believes that the Calgary Flames and Arizona Coyotes, if better, could push the Kings who lost Milan Lucic to Edmonton. The Flyers, a surprise team in the playoffs last season, will have more competition in the Metropolitan Division while the Canadiens, who struggled after Carey Price‘s injury, will also be better in the Atlantic, making the Eastern Conference a lot tougher.
The Islanders, Allen writes, lost some key players in Frans Nielsen, and Kyle Okposo. Though he calls it “sinful” to bet against a John Tavares led team, he still wonders if they grabbed enough to compensate for their losses. Finally, with the Blues, Allen reports that they took a “half step” back while division foes Chicago, Minnesota, and Nashville all improved. Further, Arizona and Calgary are better, crowding the already tight Western Conference. Losing David Backes, Brian Elliott, and Troy Brouwer also doesn’t help for depth purposes.
- Earlier in the week, Allen also compiled a list of the ten most pivotal players heading into the season. Number one on that list is Kari Lehtonen, who will make an early push to be the primary option between the pipes for the Stars. Though he has struggled in the past, he has the opportunity to backstop a potential Stanley Cup contender. Should he not, the Stars have been an oft-reported team to land Ben Bishop should he be available. Other names Allen included were Brian Campbell, a player he believes could solidify the Blackhawks defense, and Elliott, who could finally give the Flames a strong goaltending option.
Snapshots: Torres, Jokipakka, World Cup
Raffi Torres will turn 35-years old on October 8th. He hasn’t played an NHL game since April 30th, 2014 (when the Sharks were eliminated from the postseason). He has been suspended five times during his NHL career, the latest lasting 41 games. The Toronto Maple Leafs, after agreeing to acquire his rights in a deadline deal last year, immediately loaned him back to his current AHL team, not wanting any part of him in their organization.
But somehow, he’s earned a professional tryout from the Carolina Hurricanes this fall and will skate to try and snatch a spot on their fourth line. In a piece by Chip Alexander of The News & Observer today, Torres and GM Ron Francis talk about his latest (and possibly last) opportunity in the NHL.
“I know I’ve got to change. I know I say that over and over, but I’ve got to change and I can change,” says Torres when speaking about his suspensions. He admits that what he’s done over his career is wrong, and seems genuinely convinced he could offer something to the Hurricanes this season. Francis, for his part says he has “served his time” and is willing to at least give him a look this fall. If he does make the roster, he’ll be joining his eighth NHL team in 16 years. Here is more from around the league:
- Among the news that Sean Monahan is still too injured to participate in the upcoming World Cup, Wes Gilbertson of Postmedia tweeted out another interesting injury tidbit. Jyrki Jokipakka, who underwent hip surgery at the end of the season is now expected to be “good to go” for the tournament. Jokipakka was part of the return for Kris Russell this past year, and was well received in his 18 game Calgary stint. He’ll be suiting up for a Finnish team that is looking like a darkhorse candidate; Patrik Laine recently won tournament MVP at the World Championships, while the goaltending tandem of Pekka Rinne and Tuukka Rask should be among the best.
- Staying with the World Cup, Rob Vollman of NHL.com published a piece that says the possibility that the North America team wins the tournament isn’t necessarily a long-shot, due to the usual peak of physical performance around 24. Indeed, the youngster team led by Connor McDavid will have a speed advantage over the rest of the field, and can create offense at an elite level already. The one thing Vollman mentions as a weakness though, faceoff skill, was weakened today when Monahan withdrew. The Calgary centerman was clearly the best on the team in the circle, meaning players like Auston Matthews and Mark Scheifele will have to step up in the defensive end.
Flames Were Close To Acquiring Ben Bishop At Draft
Ben Bishop is entering this season without a guaranteed starting role in Tampa Bay after Andrei Vasilevskiy played extremely well down the stretch and into the playoffs last season. In an interview with the Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times on Friday, he said that “(a trade) looked like for a little bit it was going to happen. At kind of the last minute (the Flames) went out and got Elliott. It was close, but there was never… It wasn’t that close, obviously.”
While the Flames would eventually trade for Brian Elliott to fill their crease, a move including Bishop might still be on the horizon. The netminder is owed $5.95MM this year in the final season of his deal, and was overtaken by Vasilevskiy in the playoffs after he injured his ankle. While Bishop is unsure of his future, the Lightning inked Vasilevskiy to a three-year extension this summer that will pay him $3.5MM per season through 2019-20.
If GM Steve Yzerman decides to start the season with the two goaltenders, he’ll surely receive plenty of interest throughout the year as other netminders go down to injury. While he can’t keep both long-term, as an expansion draft for the new Las Vegas franchise would surely select one of them should they both be under contract, Bishop could be a huge piece to dangle should something similar to the Carey Price injury happen to another team this season.
For now, Bishop is just trying to push all the trade speculation out of his head, and focus on hockey. He’s one of the goaltenders set to report to Team USA camp for the upcoming World Cup in a few days, though it’ll be another fight to get ice-time – Cory Schneider and Jonathan Quick are the other two.
Sean Monahan Withdraws From World Cup; Vincent Trocheck To Replace
Another player has fallen to the injury bug and has to withdraw from the World Cup. Sean Monahan has suffered a back strain in training and will be unable to play in the upcoming tournament, according to the team twitter. Monahan is expected to have recovered in time to participate in the team training camp, and should be ready for the start of the season. Tom Gulitti of NHL.com reports that Vincent Trocheck will be his replacement on Team North America.
“It’s definitely disappointing”, said Monahan in the release, also noting that because the tournament is in Toronto, about a thirty-minute drive from his hometown of Brampton, he was looking forward to playing for friends and family that don’t get to see him very often.
Monahan though, is just too important to the Flames to risk any further injury at what is from their perspective a meaningless tournament. He put up another 60+ point season last year and is still just 21-years old. Just signed to a whopping seven year, $44.625MM extension, Monahan is the present and future of the Flames organization alongside still-unsigned Johnny Gaudreau.
Corey Perry Added To Team Canada World Cup Roster
After Jeff Carter pulled out earlier today with an injury, Mike Morreale of NHL.com reports that Team Canada has announced that Anaheim Ducks’ forward Corey Perry will replace him on the roster. Carter suffered what is being characterized as a “week-to-week” lower-body injury while training for the tournament, and thought better of risking further aggravation so close to the start of the season.
For Perry, it was surprising to many that he was left off the original roster after suiting up for Canada at the past two Olympic games, winning gold both times. Perry in fact has donned the red and white quite a few times during his hockey career, collecting a both World Junior and World Championship gold to go with the Olympic victories.
After what some characterized as a down year (which still saw him score 34 goals and 62 points), Perry was held to zero goals in the postseason as Anaheim was ejected in the first round by the Nashville Predators. A former 50-goal scorer, Perry will become just the second true winger (joining Brad Marchand) up front for the Canadians, and likely skate with teammate Ryan Getzlaf once again.
Taylor Hall is likely next in line should another forward succumb to injury before the tournament, though as Tom Gulitti of NHL.com points out the New Jersey Devils will be just fine with him getting an entire training camp to familiarize himself with his new team before playing on what will likely be the most successful team of his career thus far.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Injury Notes: Rask, Krejci, Andersen
After working all season to rehab his injured shoulder, Victor Rask now tells Ben Pope of The News & Observer that he’s one-hundred percent healthy and ready for another big season. “I think I had a good season last year but I also want to improve and get better for every season. I think this year’s going to be even better,” said Rask, who played much of last season in a shoulder brace, still scoring 21 goals and 48 points in just his second NHL season.
“I’m just excited for the future and I think we’ve got something really good going on here.” Indeed, the Hurricanes have a strong young core of players going forward, with Rask, Jeff Skinner and Elias Lindholm up front and one of the youngest defense corps in the league. The team will hope Rask has another level this season, and can push Skinner for the team lead in points again.
- According to a report from Roman Jedlicka of TV NOVA Sport, Czech Republic and Boston Bruin forward David Krejci will not be playing in the upcoming World Cup after hip surgery earlier this summer. Krejci is still expected to be ready for the beginning of the season, though Bruins fans should definitely keep an eye on his status as we head into September.
- Aivis Kalnins gives us some more news from the KHL, as Ilya Samsonov has reportedly been placed on injured reserve. Sampsonov was the first goaltender taken in the 2015 draft, 22nd overall by the Washington Capitals, and was slated to see an increased work load for Magnitogorsk Mettalurg this season.
- Also from Kalnins, the Danish Hockey Federation is expecting that Frederik Andersen, who was injured earlier today in an Olympic qualifier should still be available for the World Cup, where he was selected by Team Europe as one of three goaltenders (Jaroslav Halak and Thomas Greiss were the other two). Elliotte Friedman adds that Andersen is being flown back to Toronto to be examined by team doctors, with the injury simply being listed as “upper body”, and Kristen Shilton of TSN says it’s his shoulder.
Snapshots: PTO’s, Minnesota, Florida, Hall, Larsson
The closer we get to training camp, the less likely veteran players still without one are to receive a guaranteed contract for 2016-17. Indeed, a lot of quality NHL-caliber players will have to earn a job by way of a professional tryout (PTO). Several players have already gone that route as our PTO tracker shows, while some teams are still discussing their available options and determining who they may extend invites to.
On that front, Mike Russo writes that Minnesota’s brain trust is considering adding “one or two forwards to professional tryouts.” He points out that the Wild only have 10 forwards signed to one-way contracts giving the club room to add more competition to the group if they are so inclined. Russo adds that head coach Bruce Boudreau has already communicated to Chuck Fletcher, Minnesota’s GM, that he would like to “get bigger and tougher and stronger.”
Russo lists Paul Gaustad, Steve Downie, Lauri Korpikoski and R.J Umberger as possible PTO targets for the Wild. Although it appears we can dismiss the possibility of Gaustad joining Minnesota, or anyone else for that matter, as it has been said the veteran center is set to announce his retirement. Kyle Chipchura, David Legwand and Tuomo Ruutu could also fit Boudreau’s criteria but those options are purely speculative at this point.
- Count Florida among the teams giving serious consideration to adding more veteran talent via PTO to compete for jobs. According to Harvey Fialkov of the Sun Sentinel, Panthers GM Tom Rowe told him Florida’s management team is “discussing possible veterans to bring in to camp.” Fialkov later added that head coach Gerard Gallant would prefer to add a veteran depth defenseman prior to the preseason. Florida was one of the summer’s most active teams and is aiming to compete for the Stanley Cup this season. It makes sense they would continue to try to add depth to bolster their chances and further guard against injury. The Panthers of course invested heavily in their defense corps this summer and still have rookie Michael Matheson – who we profiled here – and veteran Steve Kampfer to complement the top-six. Yet adding additional competition does make sense, particularly on a no-risk PTO. One wonders whether Jakub Nakladal – PHR analyzed his free agent case here – would be an option given he is a favorite of the analytics community and considering Florida’s recent shift to a more analytically-inclined front office but again, that’s just conjecture.
- Edmonton GM Peter Chiarelli continues his campaign to justify the team’s acquisition of D Adam Larsson in exchange for high-scoring LW Taylor Hall. Writing for Today’s Slap Shot, Chris Nichols provides several quotes from a recent interview Chiarelli did with 630 CHED radio in Edmonton. Chiarelli reiterated that the deal was simply the “cost of doing business,” as part of the club’s efforts to address their defensive shortcomings. He added: “Our fans, once they see Adam, they’ll see what we see in him. Any time you trade a player like Taylor, it’s going to have reverberations throughout the local hockey community through our fan base, and it did.” Credit to Chiarelli for sticking with his convictions. It isn’t easy to make a decision you already know will be an unpopular one but his job is to make the Edmonton Oilers a better team and to do so, the organization had to upgrade the blue line. Evidently Chiarelli and Co. felt this was the best deal they could make to accomplish that objective.