David Schlemko Could Return Saturday
- Montreal could have blueliner David Schlemko back in their lineup tomorrow night against the Penguins after receiving the green light from doctors to return from his upper-body injury, notes Matt Cudzinowski on the Canadiens’ team website. The veteran has been out of the lineup for the past 12 games and has suited up just 34 times this season due to various injuries. If he does play, the team will either have to return blueliner Brett Lernout to Laval (AHL) or convert his emergency recall into a regular one that will count against their limit of four between the trade deadline and the end of the regular season.
Snapshots: Ho-Sang, Price, Mitchell
Joshua Ho-Sang hasn’t had the season many were hoping for this year, and he doesn’t really think it’s all his fault. Ho-Sang has played in just 22 games at the NHL level, scoring 12 points but spending most of the season in the AHL once again. He spoke to Arthur Staple of The Athletic (subscription required) about it, and was quite candid in his approach.
I love those guys, I want to make that clear,” Ho-Sang said of his former Islanders teammates. “I know they’re working hard. But I got sent down for defense and what are they in goals against in the NHL? I only played (22) games up there this year. I don’t think it’s my fault. They really painted it like it was my fault at the beginning of the year and I didn’t like that.
Obviously there is more than just defense in the critique of Ho-Sang’s game, and Staple does a wonderful job breaking down what has happened between the two sides, including quotes from GM Garth Snow. It’s a very interesting situation to keep an eye on, as Ho-Sang has all the offensive talent in the world and is still an important part of the Islanders’ future.
- Carey Price won’t play in the upcoming World Championships, instead focusing on his health and being ready for the 2018-19 season with the Montreal Canadiens. Price has had a tough season battling through injuries, and putting up the lowest save percentage of his career at just .902. About to start an eight-year, $84MM contract, he’s the key to any potential Canadiens bounce back next season and down the road. Brendan Gallagher also won’t suit up at the Worlds, while Alex Galchenyuk is still weighing a decision.
- Also from the staff at The Athletic, Scott Powers reports (subscription required) that Ian Mitchell will not turn pro this summer and instead is expected to return to the University of Denver for his sophomore year. Mitchell, 19, was selected in the second round by the Chicago Blackhawks last June and excelled in his first year for DU. 30 points in 41 games easily led the club’s defensemen in scoring, and he should take another step forward next year to be one of the nation’s most dangerous offensive blueliners.
Snapshots: Interference, Minnesota, Defensemen
The change in decision making on goaltender interference challenges has been approved, and will go into effect for tomorrow’s games. The final decision will now lie with the situation room, which will now include a retired official. According to Mark Spector of Sportsnet, the officials who will be on hand in the situation room will be a rotation of Don Van Massenhoven, Rob Shick, Bill McCreary, Paul Devorski and Stephen Walkom.
The interference rule has been the target of much frustration this season from coaches, players and fans alike, as there seemed to be no level of consistency in the decisions. That will hopefully improve under this new process, as the decisions will be handled by a much smaller group of people.
- After long-time head coach Don Lucia stepped down from his position at the University of Minnesota, it wasn’t clear who would be taking his place. We won’t have to wait any longer to find out, as the program announced that Bob Motzko would take over the duties after a 13-year stint with St. Cloud State. Motzko was an assistant with Minnesota when they won back-to-back National Championships in 2002 and 2003, and has built St. Cloud State into one of the most successful programs in the country. It will be interesting to see what this means for players like Jimmy Schuldt and Ryan Poehling, who both could decide to turn pro and leave St. Cloud State early.
- Shea Weber is healing faster than expected, and shouldn’t miss much of his offseason training after undergoing foot surgery earlier this month. Weber spoke to the media today, and admitted that he’d been playing through injury for most of the season just to try and help the team. The 32-year old defenseman should be ready for the start of the Montreal Canadiens training camp in a few months.
- Though it doesn’t come as much of a surprise, both Chris Tanev and Kevin Shattenkirk will not return this season for their respective teams. With just a handful of games left, there is no reason to rush back either defenseman from injury since both the Vancouver Canucks and New York Rangers are out of the playoff race.
Montreal Canadiens Sign Hayden Verbeek To ELC
The Canadiens are adding another young player into the mix for a roster spot next season. Montreal announced a three-year entry-level deal with OHL forward Hayden Verbeek beginning in 2018-19. Verbeek, the nephew of Tampa Bay Lightning Assistant GM and 20-year NHLer Pat Verbeek, went undrafted and was a free agent.
Verbeek, 20, is at the end of a five-year junior career with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and has enjoyed a breakout campaign in his final season. After four years of little to moderate production, the 5’10”, 183-lb. center was nearly a point-per-game player in the OHL regular season this year, recording 61 points in 67 games. Verbeek surely benefited from a supremely talented Soo squad that had the best record in the league by a wide margin and featured a laundry list of future NHLers. Yet, he still held his own, finishing fifth on the team in goals and points, ahead of top 2018 center prospect Barrett Hayton.
Verbeek is an experienced player from a respected hockey family, but his ability at the next level is still uncertain. Verbeek, like many players who sign future contracts, could see his first pro action on an amateur tryout basis with the AHL’s Laval Rocket later this season, which would be his first chance to showcase his talent against high-end competition. However, with the Greyhounds likely to make a deep playoff run, Verbeek may not experience the pros until development camp and preseason with the Candiens next season. Montreal would be remiss to not give any promising young players a shot next year, but Verbeek does seem like a more long-term project than immediate solution.
Snapshots: Andersson, Chytil, Gaudette, Sikura
The New York Rangers rebuild might continue at a new level next week as NHL.com’s Dan Rosen writes that Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault, general manager Jeff Gorton and assistant general manager Chris Drury will talk later today about promoting 2017 first-round centers Lias Andersson and Filip Chytil.
Both first-round picks have fared well this season. Andersson, the seventh overall pick last year, started the season in the SHL, where he put up seven goals and seven assists in 22 games. He played in the World Junior Tournament and helped Sweden to a silver medal and then came to the U.S. and joined the Hartford Wolf Pack of the AHL. There he’s put up five goals and 14 points in 23 games. Chytil, on the other hand, started the season in New York and played two games before the team decided to assign him to Hartford. There in 44 games, Chytil, the No. 21 pick last year, has put up 11 goals and 20 assists.
Rosen said if the Vigneault, Gorton and Drury agree, the two prospects could be inserted into the Rangers’ lineup as soon as Monday.
- With the elimination of Northeastern University from the NCAA tournament, that could be good news for the Vancouver Canucks who will try to pry prized prospect Adam Gaudette from his collegiate team now that his season is over. In fact, Sportsnet’s Rick Dhaliwal tweets that he’s heard from a source that says contract negotiations are expected to heat up tomorrow. The college junior was the Canucks fifth-round pick in 2015 and has put up 56 goals and 56 assists in his last two seasons with Northeastern. TSN’s Bob McKenzie also adds that the Canucks are expected to make a strong pitch to the 21-year-old center who is a top Hobey Baker Award candidate this year. Gaudette is expected to meet with his family/advisor soon.
- Also, as reported earlier today, Northeastern’s elimination also fuels the report that the Chicago Blackhawks and Dylan Sikura will be coming to an agreement soon. Mark Lazerus of the Chicago Sun-Times has a new update in which a league source has confirmed that Sikura will be in a Blackhawks uniform on Thursday.
GM Notes: Holland, Dorion, Bergevin
The Detroit Red Wings were officially eliminated from postseason contention recently, but the majority of their fans had already given up on this season some time ago. Even before it started, the Red Wings looked to be in a tough spot as they transition from the old guard to the first steps of a rebuild. They’ve done well to add draft picks over the last two years, but one question still remained. Who would be leading them down these uncharted waters, and towards the next successful Red Wings team?
Many fans have expressed a desire for change at the top, and GM Ken Holland‘s contract is up at the end of the season. Whether that means there will be a new voice steering the ship is still unclear, but Craig Custance of The Athletic (subscription required) provides a wealth of insight into how the organization and other executives around the league see the situation. Answers range from an expected extension to a trip to Seattle for the long-time Detroit GM, but it seems we’ll have to wait a little longer to find out where he’ll be next year.
- Pierre Dorion, another GM on the edge of a potential rebuild and a fan mutiny, provided some answers on his plans for the Ottawa Senators offseason to Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia. Dorion confirmed that on July 1st they will indeed offer an extension to Erik Karlsson, though he didn’t give any indication what that offer may look like. He also admitted that the front office will evaluate the coaching staff, including Guy Boucher, after the season and decide what the future will look like behind the bench. The Senators had an extremely disappointing season after coming just a goal shy of the Stanley Cup finals in 2017, and have faced several media firestorms over comments by everyone from Kyle Turris to owner Eugene Melnyk.
- In his latest 31 Thoughts column, Elliotte Friedman mentions that Montreal Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin received a vote of confidence from ownership for the second time this season. If that means Bergevin is sticking around to fix what went wrong this season, the response in Montreal will likely be very divided. There are many fans who believe the organization should go in a different direction with their front office, but if Bergevin does indeed remain this summer could be quite interesting. Never one to shy away from a big trade, the Canadiens have to do something to take advantage of the best years of Carey Price and Shea Weber, and are still starved for the first-line center they’ve been looking for for years. Friedman mentions that Martin Lapointe, currently the Director of Player Development, could assume a larger role going forward.
New York Rangers Open To Trading First-Round Pick
The New York Rangers were busier than any other team at the trade deadline, tearing down their old core by trading players like Rick Nash, Nick Holden, Michael Grabner, J.T. Miller and of course Ryan McDonagh. Those moves came with the benefit of stockpiling draft picks, but that’s not necessarily where the work finishes.
Speaking with Craig Custance of The Athletic (subscription required) at the GM meetings in Florida, Rangers’ GM Jeff Gorton admitted he’s open to trading away one of the first-round picks he holds in the upcoming draft. New York has their own pick—which with every loss is getting higher and higher—along with those of the Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning. Both of those picks will be closer to the end of the round.
Custance’s piece goes in depth on several other subjects from the meetings, but one thing remains clear. This Rangers rebuild isn’t going to be a long project. With the additions of prospects like Libor Hajek, Brett Howden and Ryan Lindgren, and promotions of some of their other young players, the Rangers could be just a few years from competitiveness. That’s good news for Henrik Lundqvist, who just turned 36 and has three years remaining on his current contract.
The Rangers have just 13 players in the NHL who are signed through next season, meaning this summer will bring many more decisions on who will be retained to be part of the solution. Players like Ryan Spooner, Kevin Hayes and Vladislav Namestnikov are all restricted free agents, and are already in the middle of their twenties. Gorton will be one of the most popular men on the draft floor, with many teams trying to mine his roster and draft stockpile for assets.
Snapshots: Price, Leiweke, Belpedio
Carey Price is planning on returning to the Montreal Canadiens net this season, and will even travel with the team to Toronto this weekend. Though he won’t play, he told John Lu of TSN that he never even considered shutting down for the year.
Price also told Lu that his concussion symptoms were “different…more noticeable” than his previous experience with the injury in 2012, which shouldn’t instill much excitement in Montreal fans. Price is easily the most important piece for the Canadiens going forward, especially given that he is starting an eight-year, $84MM extension next season. Obviously no one can predict his health going forward, but the team needs him injury-free if they’re to turn around what has been a disaster year.
- Tim Leiweke was already the President of the Oak View Group, the investing group that has applied for an expansion team in Seattle. Yesterday on the Fan 590 in Toronto, he admitted that he will also be a minority owner of that team should it be awarded. Leiweke has ties to Toronto as the former CEO of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Raptors, Toronto FC and other professional sports organizations. Before that, Leiweke was also CEO of Anschutz Entertainment Group, which owned the Los Angeles Kings, Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Galaxy. Needless to say he has quite a bit of experience in professional sports front offices, and now joined by his brother will be able to set up the business side of a Seattle franchise well for the long-term.
- Louis Belpedio is expected to eventually sign his entry-level contract with the Minnesota Wild, but for now will just settle for an amateur tryout with the Iowa Wild of the AHL. The third-round pick could wait until the middle of August and become an unrestricted free agent after completing his college career this month, but has already begun discussions with Minnesota.
Shea Weber To Undergo Season-Ending Surgery
March 13: Weber has finally undergone surgery, and will now face a recovery period of six months. That still leaves him with time to spare to get ready for the start of next season, but does make it a little more risky should he face any setbacks. Weber’s surgery was completed in Wisconsin, by Dr. Robert Anderson.
February 22: Shea Weber will not be able to help the Montreal Canadiens again this season. The high-priced defenseman will undergo surgery to repair a tendon in his left foot, and will be shut down for the remainder of 2017-18. Weber is expected to be ready for the start of the 2018-19 regular season.
This ends a long struggle for Weber, who hasn’t played since December 16th and will end the year with just 26 games. In those 26 he was off to a great start offensively, with six goals and 16 points while playing more than 25 minutes a night. His absence left a huge hole in the Canadiens lineup, one that hasn’t been able to be filled by any of the other names on the scoresheet.
Unfortunately for Montreal, even making the decision to shut him down now comes with some distressing outlooks. Weber will be 33 when next season starts, and about 10 months removed from a regular season NHL game. He’ll be coming off one of his first major injuries, and will still have eight years on his current contract that comes with a cap hit of nearly $7.9MM. It’s tough to project anything but a decline for the perennial Norris candidate, which could cause Montreal to take another step backwards.
The Canadiens have had a terrible season, but committing to anything but a playoff run for 2018-19 seems impossible with Weber’s contract and Carey Price just starting his eight-year $84MM extension. The team will have to try and find a way to get better, and though Weber’s return will help it’s not guaranteed to get them there by itself.
The next few days will set the tone for next season, with names like Max Pacioretty and Alex Galchenyuk still floating out their as possible trade bait. Both players are under contract for next year and could be part of the solution, though carry enough value to bring back several future assets. Whether draft picks and prospects are the target of GM Marc Bergevin is still to be seen, as his team looks like it needs more immediate help.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Snapshots: General Manager Hot Seat, Cholowski, Cullen
With many teams starting to see the writing on the wall that their season is coming to a close sooner than they had intended, the next question that comes about is whether the team has any intentions of making changes to their staff. After a look at possible changes to the coaching ranks, the next question would likely turn to which general managers are on the hot seat. The Athletic’s James Mirtle (subscription required) takes a look at 10 candidates who could find themselves without a job this offseason.
Mirtle quickly addresses the obvious ones, including Detroit’s Ken Holland and Toronto’s Lou Lamoriello, both who have been rumored to either be on their way out or moved to a different role within the organization. However, Mirtle also admits that both could easily stay in their present roles too.
The next stage of general managers that are most likely on the hot seat include Peter Chiarelli of Edmonton, the New York Islanders Garth Snow and Montreal’s Marc Bergevin, while other general managers might be given more time to prove to the organization that their plan works. Colorado’s Joe Sakic, Arizona’s John Chayka, Minnesota’s Chuck Fletcher and Columbus’ Jarmo Kekalainen are all likely to be on short leashes due to their inability of taking their teams to a new level.
- Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press writes that while 2017 first-round pick Michael Rasmussen might make the Detroit Red Wings team next season, the real prospect to keep an eye on will be 2016 first-round pick Dennis Cholowski, whose having a stellar year with both the Prince George Cougars and the Portland Winterhawks of the WHL. The 20-year-old blueliner is in his final year of junior and has 14 goals and 50 assists this year. St. James writes that while Rasmussen must make the Red Wings roster out of training camp to stick, Cholowski could play with the Grand Rapids Griffins in the AHL and get a midseason callup if he can’t break into the Red Wings lineup.
- StarTribune’s Sarah McLellan writes that the NHL Players Association released a players poll this week and for the question of which player would make great coach after they retire. Minnesota’s Matt Cullen won the poll. He received 4.5 percent of the votes, yet Cullen hasn’t decided if that’s the avenue he plans to go down. “I’ve never really put a lot of thought into it, to be honest,” Cullen said. “I guess I’ve had a lot of experience, and I’ve been through a lot through a long career, I guess. Truthfully, I’ve never thought a lot about it. I don’t know. I’m not sure what I’ll do when I’m done playing.”