Will The 2017 Draft Class Be Better Than People Think?
FanRag Sports’ Hannah Stuart pens an article wondering if the 2017 NHL Draft class is actually not as bad as many think it will be. Coming off two drafts with all-world talents–Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel in 2015 and Auston Matthews and Patrik Laine in 2016–anything less of that type of talent would be considered “worse” by definition. Clouding judgement has been the lack of what many analysts believe to be at least one generational player, and a muddled class after the first seven-eight players in most mock drafts. But is it a fair assessment?
Stuart cites ESPN’s Corey Pronman, who put together his ranking of the prospects and even wrote in his opening paragraph that its one of the weakest drafts in the cap era. He goes as far as to say it’s in the same category of the 2011 and 2012 drafts, which in his opinion, didn’t yield much in the way of top tier talent. Pronman lists Halifax’s Nico Hischier as his top prospect, with Brandon Wheat Kings center Nolan Patrick second and Mississauga’s Owen Tippett third. Pronman does write that it’s essentially a toss-up as to who can be the #1 overall pick in the draft–Hischier or Patrick, and that whoever is taken first will be a benefit to his new team.
Looking at the two drafts that Pronman mentioned, the 2011 did feature a slew of players chosen in the top 10 who have been productive in the NHL. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins went first overall, and while he hasn’t produced in the way that Matthews or McDavid have, many analysts (and fans) blame his development by the Oilers as a culprit for his stunted growth. Other notables in the 2011 draft–by draft order–are Gabriel Landeskog (#2), Jonathan Huberdeau (#3), Adam Larsson (#4), Ryan Strome (#5), Mika Zibanejad (#6), Mark Scheifele (#7) Sean Couturier (#8), Dougie Hamilton (#9), and Jonas Brodin (#10). There are a number of strong players in the ten, and while viewed as a “weaker” draft, it at least paid dividends for those teams that drafted them–or acquired them later via trade.
It thins out from there, but there were certainly notables later in the first round or later in the draft. Brandon Saad was taken in the second round by the Blackhawks and he was clutch for Chicago until they were forced to deal him away due to cap issues.
2012’s draft was somewhat weaker one-through-ten, but saw some return in the middle of the first round, namely with Filip Forsberg being taken 11th by the Capitals. Nail Yakupov was taken first by the Oilers, and he certainly hasn’t been the players the Oilers envisioned–but again, that may go back to development questions. Hampus Lindholm (#6) and Jacob Trouba (#9) are the headliners of a defensive heavy top ten. But a look through the rounds and it’s pretty telling that the 2012 edition was not only weaker than 2011, but possibly one of the weakest in the salary cap era.
Stuart makes an extremely important point about drafting: it’s a crapshoot.
A player can make a bad first impression or be a weak skater and be completely written off by certain scouts. However, maybe that player has an excellent hockey IQ, and a team recognizes that and drafts them in a later round. If the team works with them to fix the deficiencies in their skating, there’s every chance they could develop into an effective NHLer. On the other hand, let’s take what we’ll call the Oilers model. A team might consistently draft high, taking players who show elite skill and throwing those players into the NHL before they’re ready rather than taking time to develop weaknesses in their game.
Stuart continues to argue that since the drumbeat has been steady in saying this draft class will be weak, it’s been all but believed by those on the internet. But as she points out, it isn’t so much the drafting as much as it is the development and scouting staff that every team employs.
Okposo Out 7 – 10 Days WIth Upper-Body Injury
Buffalo’s dwindling postseason chances have taken yet another hit with news that top-six forward Kyle Okposo would miss seven-to-10 days with a rib injury, as Sabres head coach Dan Bylsma told a pool of reporters covering the team this morning. Joe Yerdon of NHL.com adds that Bylsma compared Okposo’s injury to the one teammate Evander Kane suffered earlier this season.
Okposo, in the first season of a seven-year, $42MM contract he inked with the Sabres this past summer, leads Buffalo in scoring with 43 points. His 19 goals rank second on the squad.
Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News joined Yerdon among the reporters this morning in attendance for Bylsma’s statement and adds that in Okposo’s place, Nicolas Deslauriers draws into the lineup. As Harrington notes in his tweet, the Sabres have already utilized two of the four minor league recalls the team is allowed to make after the trade deadline and that for the time being the club has elected not to spend another. Recalls are allowed on an emergency basis when a team either doesn’t have enough healthy skaters to ice a full lineup or need a second netminder for a short stretch. Those recalls do not count against the limit of four.
The loss of Okposo, even if just for a week, dampens Buffalo’s already long odds of making the playoffs. Currently the team is five points out of the final wild card spot in the East and with Jack Eichel healthy and contributing at a high level, the Sabres could still make a late charge but the task is more difficult with Okposo sidelined.
Trade Deadline Summary: Winners & Losers Of The Central Division
The NHL Trade Deadline has come and gone, and while it wasn’t the most exciting deadline day in recent memory, there were quite a few notable moves. Here are the winners and losers of the “wild” Central Division:
Winners
Chicago Blackhawks:
- Acquired Tomas Jurco from Detroit Red Wings for 2017 third-round pick
- Acquired Johnny Oduya from Dallas Stars for conditional 2018 fourth-round pick and Mark McNeill
Of course the Blackhawks are winners on deadline day. Did you expect any less? Although they didn’t make any major moves, Chicago brought in two players via trade that can help them immediately. Oduya, a former Blackhawk, is still familiar with the system and has played with many of the current players. Oduya should be able to step in right away, play major minutes, and form a shutdown pair with Niklas Hjalmarsson (when he’s healthy). Just like the good ‘ol days. Meanwhile, like nearly any forward, Jurco has a skill set that will fit in well with Chicago’s star forwards and for just the cost of a third-rounder, could represent a long-term fit with the Blackhawks.
Dallas Stars:
- Acquired conditional 2017 second-round pick from Anaheim Ducks for Patrick Eaves
- Acquired 2017 fourth-round pick and Greg Pateryn from Montreal Canadiens for Jordie Benn
- Acquired conditional 2018 fourth-round pick and Mark McNeill from Chicago Blackhawks for Johnny Oduya
- Acquired Dillon Heatherington from Columbus Blue Jackets for Lauri Korpikoski
The Stars are a tough team to place at the 2017 deadline. They are in the midst of an unforeseen epic collapse of a season and have done well to trade their impending free agents. If Patrick Sharp, Ales Hemsky, and Adam Cracknell weren’t all hurt, Dallas would be a deadline loser for not moving them. As it stands, they did hold on to Jiri Hudler, but traded their three other healthy upcoming UFAs. Eaves earned them great value in return and Korpikoski, a late off-season addition, nets a promising young defenseman in Heatherington. Even McNeill and a fourth-rounder for Oduya is a pretty good deal. So for those three moves anyway, GM Jim Nill did well. With that said, the Benn trade was ill-timed and doesn’t make your team better. Benn still had term on his contract and was the team’s best defensive defenseman and, of course, captain Jamie Benn‘s older brother. Dallas will likely regret that move. The Stars are teetering on the edge of winner and loser, but they’ve been through enough this season, so we’ll call them winners.
Evening Snapshots: Mumps, Rooney, Josefson
News and notes from around the NHL this evening:
- The mumps have spread from the Vancouver Canucks to the Minnesota Wild. Mike Russo of the StarTribune reports that Zach Parise and Jason Pominville are out with the infectious disease. Players weren’t the only victim, however. Wild assistant coach Scott Stevens is also out with the mumps. TSN’s Darren Dreger tweeted that the NHL sent memos to all teams and medical directors last Friday outlining how to handle any outbreaks.
- The New Jersey Devils announced that they’ve signed prospect Kevin Rooney to a one-year, two-way NHL contract. Rooney was previously on an AHL contract with the Albany Devils this season after graduating from Providence College. So far he has 10G and 7A in 57 games. Signing Rooney to an NHL contract allows the Devils to call him up between now and the end of the season, implying that the Devils may need bodies after selling at the NHL trade deadline.
- The need for bodies in New Jersey may have intensified after Jacob Josefson suffered an upper body injury tonight against the Montreal Canadiens. The Devils announced that he is questionable to return. The 25 year-old center has 1G and 7A in 34 games this season. Josefson is in the final year of a $1.1MM a year contract—he’ll become an RFA at season’s end.
Arizona Coyotes Acquire Teemu Pulkkinen From Minnesota Wild
After clearing waivers today, Teemu Pulkkinen is off to Arizona. The Coyotes have acquired the minor league scoring winger from the Minnesota Wild for future considerations. As the Coyotes continue their rebuild, the team has added another dangerous offensive player to their minor league stables. 
Pulkkinen was picked off waivers by the Wild earlier this year from the Detroit Red Wings, but still hasn’t been able to establish himself as a force in the NHL. His AHL numbers are outstanding but some believe that his skating ability is not yet strong enough to compete in the big leagues. Now he’ll likely get an extended chance with Arizona to prove those naysayers wrong, as according to Dave Vest of NHL.com he will join the team in Boston for their game tomorrow night. The Coyotes have nothing to lose this season and can give Pulkkinen time in the NHL to see if he can come close the nearly point-per-game pace he’s established in the minors.
As Arizona sells off its expiring assets, they’ve now completed two deals with Minnesota in the past 24 hours. Yesterday they dealt Martin Hanzal in a larger deal and perhaps had agreed to include Pulkkinen after seeing what happened on waivers today. The Coyotes have continued to stockpile young talent both at the NHL level and in the minors, hoping that in a few seasons they will have enough to compete for the Stanley Cup.
Their newest Finnish forward is just 25 years old and is now on his third franchise. With just 79 games under his belt in the NHL he’ll be up for arbitration this summer as he becomes a restricted free agent for the third time. The rest of this season will likely determine his future in the league.
Greg McKegg, Zac Dalpe Claimed Off Waivers
According to Pierre LeBrun of ESPN, the Tampa Bay Lightning have claimed Greg McKegg off waivers from the Florida Panthers, and the Columbus Blue Jackets claimed Zac Dalpe from the Minnesota Wild. Both Ryan Carter and Teemu Pulkkinen cleared today.
McKegg will join a crowded group in Tampa Bay after the team called up both Adam Erne and Yanni Gourde this morning as well. The former third-round pick may be another option for the team should the decide to trade any forwards before Wednesday’s trade deadline. Though he hasn’t found much success at the NHL level thus far in his career, he does provide some center depth for a team that has an expiring contract in Brian Boyle likely on the market.
Minnesota had been trying to slip Dalpe through waivers to reset his clock before the Wednesday trade deadline according to Michael Russo of the Star Tribune, but will now have to give him up to the Columbus Blue Jackets who are dealing with some injuries up front and could use some help. The former Carolina Hurricanes second-round pick has bounced around the AHL ranks throughout his career and will hope for an extended look at the NHL level with his new team.
As Russo points out, the Wild are willing to trade Pulkkinen after he cleared waivers, and a team could immediately install the elite AHL scorer into their minor league system. Should they find a taker, he’ll likely not command a big price after the Wild acquired him off waivers from the Red Wings earlier this seaosn.
Wild Acquire Martin Hanzal From Coyotes
The rich just got richer in Minnesota, as the Wild have reached an agreement with the Arizona Coyotes on a trade to bring in talked-about deadline target Martin Hanzal. The Wild are “all-in” this season, as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that Minnesota will send a first-round pick, second-round pick, and conditional pick that can go as high as another second-rounder to Arizona. The deal has since been confirmed as a 2017 first-rounder, 2018 second-rounder and 2019 conditional pick for Hanzal, Ryan White, and a 2017 fourth-rounder. The condition for the pick is as follows: if Minnesota wins one playoff round this year, it becomes a third-rounder and if they win two, it becomes a second-rounder. TSN’s Bob McKenzie adds that minor leaguer Grayson Downing will also head to Arizona and that the Coyotes will also retain 50% of Hanzal’s salary cap hit in the deal.
Hanzal is a big addition for the Wild, who have been so dominant this season that many did not expect them to make a major move at the deadline. Instead, GM Chuck Fletcher adds Hanzal to a lineup that already has Mikko Koivu and Eric Staal down the middle. One of the top names on the market, Hanzal could have slotted into the first line on a team like the Montreal Canadiens, who were long rumored to be his likely destination, but will likely skate on Minnesota’s third line, showcasing the depth that this team has. Hanzal was leading the Coyotes in goals this season with 16 and is coming off a 41-point campaign in 2015-16. A big pivot who can crash the net and play a hard-nosed game, Hanzal will add a physical element that has sometime been missing for the Wild.
The cost for the career Coyote center is a steep one though. Not many people expected the Wild to be where they are in 2016-17; they have 84 points and have a significant lead in points and games on the Chicago Blackhawks for the top spot in the Central Division and Western Conference. With that in mind, the Wild brass have clearly bought in to the Stanley Cup hype this season. To acquire Hanzal, a mere 26-point scorer this season, they have mortgaged the future with first, second, and to-be-determined selections. Granted, the Wild’s first-rounder this season will likely be somewhere between #26 and #31 and their second-round selection next season could be pretty far down as well, but it is still a steep price to pay, especially considering Minnesota was already without a second-round pick in 2017 due to their acquisition of Chris Stewart. More than anything, the deal has also set the bar for the forward market as we approach the deadline. If you already considered this to be a quiet trade season, the Hanzal deal has set a market price that could silence quite a few more deals between now and Wednesday.
Sunday Waivers: Dalpe, Pulkkinen, Carter, McKegg
As we get ready for the final few days before the March 1st trade deadline, the Minnesota Wild have waived several players according to Renaud Levoie of TVA Sports. Today they placed Zac Dalpe, Teemu Pulkkinen and the newly signed Ryan Carter on waivers. Florida also placed forward Greg McKegg on waivers, after 31 fairly ineffective games this season.
Dalpe is on his way to Minnesota after returning from a meniscus injury suffered earlier this year, and has been placed on waivers to reset his clock as Michael Russo of the Star Tribune explains. The 27-year old forward is a former second round pick that has never quite found his way in the NHL despite performing well in the minor leagues. Recalled mostly as insurance for the next three games, he’ll provide some center depth over the next few days.
Russo also opines that Pulkkinen was placed on waivers as a type of memo to the league that he is available, though after playing just nine games in the NHL the league probably already knew that. The elite AHL scorer has never been able to make an impact at the NHL, mostly because of his skating ability. That quarter-step behind that is the difference between the two leagues often puts Pulkkinen behind the play, though he has been given very few chances to adapt, shuffled between the two leagues often throughout his career. Perhaps a rebuilding team will take a look at him before the deadline and let him play the rest of the season in the NHL to try and make the adjustments necessary.
McKegg has been a disappointment since being acquired for Zach Hyman in 2015. While the Maple Leafs have installed Hyman on their top line riding shotgun with Auston Matthews, the Panthers have been less enthralled with their player, giving him very little icetime and even sending him to the minors at times. The Leafs also received a seventh-round pick in that trade, making it even more painful for Panthers fans every time they see Hyman’s name on a scoresheet. McKegg will likely have to find his game again at the AHL level before getting another shot with the NHL club.
Snapshots: Carter, Crawford, Faulk
The Minnesota Wild have signed forward Ryan Carter to a one-year, two-way contract, according to Michael Russo of the Star Tribune. The deal is worth a pro-rated $575K at the NHL level and $250K in the AHL.
Carter had major shoulder surgery in October to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder. Many believed this was it for the 33-year-old left winger due to his age and the seriousness of his injury. Carter has been skating with the Wild for the better part of a month, and told Dane Mizutani of TwinCities.com that he couldn’t give up his career without at least trying to come back.
“I wanted to be a part of it, and for awhile it hurt a little bit that I wasn’t a part of it. It’s good to be here now.”
Carter was reportedly in talks with the Wild for the past month, and last week signed a Professional Try-Out (PTO) with the Iowa Wild of the AHL. He is without a point in three appearances with the AHL club.
In a related news item, the Wild have recalled center Zac Dalpe from Iowa. The big forward has three points in nine games with the Wild this season, and two goals in 12 games with their AHL affiliate.
- The Chicago Blackhawks will be without starting goaltender Corey Crawford when they take on the St. Louis Blues this afternoon, according to Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune. Crawford is battling an illness and won’t be able to dress. Coach Joel Quenneville told the media that Crawford does not have the mumps. Chris Hine, also from the Tribune, quoted Quenneville as saying that Lars Johansson will likely get the emergency call up from Rockford to backup Scott Darling.
- The venerable Postmedia reporter Jim Matheson reported that Hurricanes defenseman Justin Faulk is in play at the trade deadline. Faulk is having a poor year with 25 points (just one assist in his last six games), but has a history of being a point-producing defenseman. Matheson cites the play of Jaccob Slavin, Brett Pesce, and Noah Hanifin as the reason that Faulk is on the market. The Hurricanes would be need a young center in return, Matheson believes. Despite the fact that plenty of teams would be interested in Faulk even though he’s having a poor season, any potential deal may have to wait until after the season; Faulk makes $4.83MM and has three years left on his contract after this season.
Vancouver Canucks Announce Mumps Outbreak Among Players
UPDATE (2/27/17): The mumps didn’t stay quarantined in Vancouver for very long. As expected, the virus has spread, as the Minnesota Wild announced that Zach Parise and Jason Pominville have been diagnosed with the mumps and the team has begun measures to isolate the pair and examine and vaccinate the rest of the team. However, it will have to wait until tomorrow, as the team made the announcement not long before the puck-drop on their game against the Los Angeles Kings. For those worried about the Kings players being infected, the Wild are coming off of their bye week, have not played the Canucks since February 4th, and have not played any opponents who faced Vancouver any later than that, so direct exposure is not the problem.
In a story NHL fans know all too well, the Vancouver Canucks announced today that Troy Stecher has a confirmed diagnosis of the mumps, with several others presenting symptoms. Stetcher along with Chris Tanev, Nikita Tryamkin, Michael Chaput and Markus Granlund will all be quarantined and isolated for at least five days, and vaccines are starting to be administered to all the players that haven’t shown symptoms.
Because it’s not clear when the team discovered the virus, it’s not known how far into their isolation the players are. Ben Kuzma of Postmedia reports that all but Tanev are already ruled out for Saturday’s game, with him being questionable. The team has recalled Alexandre Grenier and Even McEneny to replace the sick players, and will bring up Jordan Subban should Tanev also miss the game.
The NHL has had mumps outbreaks before, on several teams around the league. It caught the attention of international health media in 2014 when Sidney Crosby conducted an interview with a face like a chipmunk, but has long been a problem. Teams have been given booster shots in the past even when they weren’t showing symptoms because of the risk involved. Mumps can result in a large number of symptoms and can even lead to meningitis, which is acute and possibly fatal. While the players are at very little risk of this, the fact that it is so contagious is alarming for Vancouver Coastal Health, who will be handling the situation.