Predators Demote Goalie Juuse Saros
The Nashville Predators continue to play a confusing game with their backup goaltending situation. Just eight days ago, Nashville demoted struggling backup Marek Mazanec and recalled Juuse Saros to replace him. Then, two days ago the Predators recalled Mazanec and gave him the start against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Mazanec proceeded to allow six goals in a loss that snapped the Preds’ longest winning streak of the season. Today, Nashville announces that not Mazanec, but Saros is headed back to the Milwaukee Admirals of the AHL. Saros did not play at all in this most recent call-up.
Saros, who made his NHL debut in a game last season, has been given only one more chance so far this season as well. In a start against the defending Stanley Cup champs, the Pittsburgh Penguins, Saros allowed only one goal on 35 shots in the win. Meanwhile, he has six wins with a 1.99 goals against average and .929 save percentage for the Admirals this season. Mazanec, on the other hand, has an atrocious 5.45 GAA and .809 save percentage in his three NHL appearances this season, and a dismal 3.90 GAA and .849 save percentage down in Milwaukee. Saros actually outplayed Mazanec last season in Milwaukee as well, where the pair shared starting duties in net.
While it seemed last week that the Predators brass had moved on to Saros as the preferred backup to Pekka Rinne, Mazanec continues to be choice #2 in net. While Nashville has somewhat come back from a brutal start to the season, they are still playing at a very underwhelming level and disappointing many who believed them to be a legitimate Stanley Cup threat in 2016-17. Rinne, who had his fair share of struggles last season, is back to his All-Star caliber play so far. But if Nashville continues to lose every time Mazanec is called on, it will make the task of fighting their way to the top of the Central Division that much harder. Mazanec may have four years of experience on Saros, but the numbers paint a clear picture of who can help the Predators more this season.
Nashville Notes: Subban, Poile, Mazanec
After a quiet start to the season, Predators defenseman P.K. Subban is starting to become more comfortable as he adapts to Nashville’s system, writes Adam Vingan of The Tennessean. Subban attributes his slow start to having to think more than simply react to the play as it happens:
“When you’re not thinking, you’re just playing. I think that from the start of the season I was doing a lot of thinking, just trying to learn systems and build chemistry with my teammates. Every game that goes by, we build more and more chemistry. Every practice that we have, we learn more about each other. It feels as if it’s starting to turn.”
Subban acknowledged that he’s still getting used to playing a different role with Nashville than he had with Montreal:
“The way the team has been built, there’s a lot of skilled guys here. The styles are different. In terms of in Montreal, it was like I had to defend, but I was expected to drive offense. If I wasn’t scoring goals, it’s like, ‘Why aren’t you scoring?’ Here, it’s a little different. It’s about producing offense. … It’s not about who scores the goal, but it’s about generating offense and influencing it.”
While Subban’s numbers aren’t quite where they’re used to being at this stage of the year (he has eight points in 14 games, good for a 46 point pace which would be his lowest since the lockout-shortened 2012-13 campaign), the team is enjoying a significant advantage in scoring chances, something the Preds pay very close attention to, while he’s on the ice by a count of 44-25.
Other news from Nashville:
- In an article from the Canadian Press, GM David Poile attributed Nashville’s early season struggles to a pair of factors, a newly-developing leadership group with the departures of Shea Weber and Paul Gaustad among others, as well as the struggles from several key forwards. Poile acknowledges that progress is being made on the leadership side as players adjust to new roles but that the latter is still a concern for the team: “For sure, to me we’ve been inconsistent and on an individual basis I think there’s individuals that can produce more than they’ve produced to this point”. Among those who aren’t producing as expected is Filip Forsberg who has just one goal so far and is in the first season of his new contract that pays him an average of $6MM per season.
- The team has recalled goaltender Marek Mazanec from Milwaukee of the AHL, notes Brooks Bratten from the team’s official site. The 25 year old got into a pair of games with the Admirals, going 1-1 with a 3.90 GAA and a .849 SV%. Nashville has not yet sent down Juuse Saros, suggesting they may be keeping three goalies up with the team for a little while.
LeBrun’s Latest: GMs To Discuss Rule 48, Expansion
ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun writes that in a brief one-day meeting in Toronto, general managers will be discussing several issues affecting the league. Thought the meeting will only be tomorrow, LeBrun reports that one major topic for discussion will be blindside hits, such as the one delivered by Nazem Kadri on Daniel Sedin. The argument? It should be included in Rule 48 which focuses on illegal checks to the head. Rule 48 stipulates:
- 48.1 Illegal Check to the Head – A hit resulting in contact with an opponent’s head where the head was the main point of contact and such contact to the head was avoidable is not permitted. In determining whether contact with an opponent’s head was avoidable, the circumstances of the hit including the following shall be considered:
- (i) Whether the player attempted to hit squarely through the opponent’s body and the head was not “picked” as a result of poor timing, poor angle of approach, or unnecessary extension of the body upward or outward.
- (ii) Whether the opponent put himself in a vulnerable position by assuming a posture that made head contact on an otherwise full body check unavoidable.
- (iii) Whether the opponent materially changed the position of his body or head immediately prior to or simultaneously with the hit in a way that significantly contributed to the head contact.
LeBrun quotes Nashville general manager David Poile as one who believes the language in the rule needs to be tightened further. Additionally, Poile points out that along with many other league executives, there needs to be a determination between what is a “good legal hit versus what is a punishable, suspendible hit.” Poile adds that it’s not anyone’s fault, but it is something that needs a closer look.
Other issues on the docket:
- LeBrun wonders what will be decided when it comes to free agency and the expansion draft. After talking to a Western Conference executive, LeBrun wrote this:
In particular, he had this question for me: what if Vegas agrees to terms with a pending UFA in that 48-hour window but doesn’t actually sign him until July 1 (wink, wink) in order to snag another player off that team’s roster in the expansion draft? The rules state that if Vegas signs a free agent from a team in that 48-hour June window, that team no longer can lose a player in the expansion draft.
- LeBrun also thinks that the five-day bye weeks will be discussed as it’s been a point of contention with some general managers. In addition to this, LeBrun said that Las Vegas general manager George McPhee could not attend meetings since the team does not have “franchise rights” until the spring.
Snapshots: Three Stars, Olympics, KHL
The NHL has named Tuukka Rask, Mark Scheifele, and Pekka Rinne as the three stars of the week.
Rask went 4-0-0 with a 0.970 SV% and a 0.75 GAA. He had two shutouts, and has now won 10 of his first 11 games, making him the second Bruins goalie in their 92-year history to do so. Bruins legend Gerry Cheevers is the only other Bruins goalie to do so. Boston is proving to be rather dependent on Rask; they’re 0-5 without him and 10-1 with him.
Scheifele scored 3 goals and 6 points in 4 games, pushing him into a first place tie for the NHL scoring lead. The Jets earned 7 out of a possible 8 points during the week, bumping them to second in the Central Division.
Rinne went 3-0-0 during the week, with a sparkling 0.976 SV% and a 0.67 GAA to go alongside one shutout. Rinne has five wins so far this season, as Nashville makes their way back into playoff contention after a tough start.
- It’s not looking great for NHL fans hoping to see their favorite players in the 2018 Winter Olympics. Commissioner Gary Bettman has admitted that he has explored the idea of the NHL skipping 2018 in Pyeongchang but returning in 2022 in Beijing. The NHL has participated in every Winter Olympics since Nagano 1998. Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly noted the International Olympic Committee’s decision not to pay the NHL for what they have in the past has not changed. Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston points out that the NHL and NHLPA have “stated unequivocally that they’re unwilling to start paying the estimated $10-million while also interrupting the season.” That money is for player travel and insurance.
- Meanwhile, the KHL is considering trimming the number of franchises in their league. League president Dmitry Chernyshenko told R-Sport that they’re planning to talk about “an optimization of the number of clubs taking part.” Chernyshenko suggesting it’s possible that “the league could contract.” The KHL just expanded to China for this season, but Kunlun Red Star has struggled to attract fans. As well, the floundering price of oil has hurt the league’s funding in Russia.
Eric Nystrom Considering Retirement
Earlier today we discussed the likelihood that former Penguins forward Tyler Kennedy would retire given the lack of NHL opportunities that have come his way. Now Adam Vingan of The Tennessean brings us the story of another veteran NHL forward currently contemplating hanging up his skates.
Eric Nystrom, a veteran of 10 NHL seasons, was in camp with St. Louis on a professional tryout agreement but failed to make their final roster and has presumably not received any other offers to his liking. He played the previous three seasons with Nashville but was bought out of the final year of his four-year contract by the Predators on June 29th.
Calgary’s first round pick in the 2002 draft, Nystrom has known for a while the end was drawing near:
“I had been preparing for that the past year or so. It comes quick. After I got released from the (tryout), I just didn’t know really where to go or what to do.”
As Nystrom suggests, it’s not necessarily recognizing when it’s time to leave the game that’s the problem; it’s deciding what to do with your life afterward. Nystrom’s former coach at the University of Michigan, Red Berenson, knows many players find it difficult to transition to a life away from hockey:
“Hockey, it might be in their future, and it might be long-term, but it might be short-term. But nevertheless, there’s life after hockey, and what you want to do about it is the difficult thing.”
Nystrom does have one advantage many NHLers don’t, as Vingan notes. Bobby Nystrom, Eric’s father, appeared in 900 regular season games for the New York Islanders during a career spanning 14 seasons and was part of four Stanley Cup winning teams. Since retiring in 1986, Bobby has moved into the insurance business and should be able to help guide his son into a post-playing career.
It’s always possible a team experiences an injury to a regular contributor and delves into the free agent market looking for experienced depth. At that point Nystrom might be among the more appealing options available. While he never quite lived up to his draft standing, Nystrom has served as a versatile, checking-line winger for a decade at the NHL level and could provide the same to any number of teams as the season wears on.
If this is indeed the end, Nystrom – Eric, that is – will finish his NHL career with 75 goals and 123 points in 593 games across 10 seasons. In addition to appearing with Nashville and Calgary, Nystrom suited up for San Jose and Dallas during his career.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson Fined $2000 For Diving
According to multiple sources, including Stephen Whyno of AP, Arizona Coyotes star defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson has been fined $2000 by the league for embellishment. The incidents occurred October 25th against the New Jersey Devils, for which he was issued a warning, and November 3rd against the Nashville Predators.
Under rule 64 of the NHL Rule Book:
Any player who blatantly dives, embellishes a fall or a reaction, or who feigns an injury shall be penalized.
The accompanying memorandum that dealt with fines for diving gives a graduated scale for the fines, capping it at at $5000 fee for both player and coach. Many other players have already been dinged by these fines, including Nazem Kadri, Nail Yakupov and Martin Hanzal. Kadri is the only player so far that has received more than two citations.
While this isn’t groundbreaking news, it does mean that the league will be watching Ekman-Larsson more carefully, and perhaps he’ll be less likely to draw penalties. After his next citation, the coach will also start to get fined – something Dave Tippett will probably not react too favorably to.
Blues Notes: Fabbri, Hutton, Gunnarsson
After scratching former first-overall pick Nail Yakupov for three straight games, St. Louis Blues head coach Ken Hitchcock will now sit down another highly regarded forward according to Lou Korac of NHL.com. Yakupov will dress tonight in place of Robby Fabbri, the Blues’ first-round pick from 2014. Hitchcock explained his decision (via Korac):
You have to make a decision whether you want to be in the group of 14, or you want to stay in that top 9 or 10.
It’s all connected to tenacity…goals and assists I don’t look at.
This will be the first time in his (albeit short) career that Fabbri will be a healthy scratch, after having a successful rookie campaign last season. The 20-year old scored 18 goals and 37 points playing most of the year as a teenager and looked like a future star in the league. Though this obviously doesn’t mean much for Fabbri’s future, sitting him in the press box is a strong message that they need more from him; he’s currently sitting on just four points in 14 games.
- The team announced that Carter Hutton will be in net tonight when they take on the Nashville Predators, his old team. Hutton spent the past three seasons with the club, recording a 33-23-12 record and strong .910 save percentage. After the Blues dealt Brian Elliott to the Flames this summer, they were in need of a backup to Jake Allen and Hutton fit the bill perfectly. The 30-year old took a little longer to develop, but is now showing his worth; he’s carrying a .926 through four games.
- The Blues have recalled Chris Butler for tonight’s game due to some lingering injuries on the back end. As Korac reports, it’s just precautionary should anyone not be able to go after the warmups. Hitchcock singled out Carl Gunnarsson as the most noticable injury. Butler has played eleven games for the Chicago Wolves of the AHL this season, recording two points and eight penalty minutes.
Poll: 2005 NHL Draft Take Two: Eighteenth Overall Pick
Hindsight is an amazing thing, and allows us to look back and wonder “what could have been.” Though perfection is attempted, scouting and draft selection is far from an exact science and sometimes, it doesn’t work out the way teams – or players – intended. For every Patrick Kane, there is a Patrik Stefan.
We’re looking back at the 2005 NHL Draft, which kicked off the salary cap era and ushered in many of the current NHL superstars. The question we’re looking to answer is knowing now what we didn’t know then, how different would this draft look now with the benefit of hindsight?
Here are the results of our redraft so far:
1st Overall: Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguins)
2nd Overall: Carey Price (Mighty Ducks of Anaheim)
3rd Overall: Anze Kopitar (Carolina Hurricanes)
4th Overall: Jonathan Quick (Minnesota Wild)
5th Overall: Kris Letang (Montreal Canadiens)
6th Overall: Tuukka Rask (Columbus Blue Jackets)
7th Overall: Bobby Ryan (Chicago Blackhawks)
8th Overall: Marc-Edouard Vlasic (San Jose Sharks)
9th Overall: Ben Bishop (Ottawa Senators)
10th Overall: James Neal (Vancouver Canucks)
11th Overall: T.J. Oshie (Los Angeles Kings)
12th Overall: Keith Yandle (New York Rangers)
13th Overall: Paul Stastny (Buffalo Sabres)
14th Overall: Marc Staal (Washington Capitals)
15th Overall: Patric Hornqvist (New York Islanders)
16th Overall: Niklas Hjalmarsson (Atlanta Thrashers)
17th Overall: Anton Stralman (Phoenix Coyotes)
Now we move forward to the 18th pick, which was held by the Nashville Predators.
To recap how this works:
- We will go through the 2005 NHL Draft and have our readers select, through a voting process, who they think should have been taken with the selection.
- The entire first round will be redrafted, spanning picks one through thirty. The new selection is chosen by the majority of votes.
Back in 2005, the Predators selected stay-at-home defenseman Ryan Parent out of Guelph of the OHL. However, he didn’t last very long in the organization as less than two years later, he was moved to Philadelphia in a deadline deal that yielded pending UFA Peter Forsberg. While Forsberg didn’t exactly pan out (he had four goals in 22 games including the regular season and playoffs), Parent didn’t turn into the reliable shutdown blueliner that Nashville was originally hoping he would.
Parent played in 106 career NHL games from 2006-07 through 2010-11, all but four of which came with the Flyers. He had just one goal and six assists while averaging 15:47 per night. He has spent the last five years bouncing around the minor leagues but is not playing anywhere this season.
With the 18th pick of the 2005 NHL Redraft, who should the Predators select? Cast your vote below!
Mobile users, click here to vote.
Nashville Returns Harry Zolnierczyk To Milwaukee
The Nashville Predators have assigned Harry Zolnierczyk to the AHL today, after playing just one game for the big club this season. The forward was originally called up when the team came down with food poisoning, but was a scratch for most of the season.
The 29-year old has been in limbo between the AHL and NHL for the last few years, able to jump onto a fourth line at any time but hardly getting any chances. Once a pretty strong scoring threat in the AHL, Zolnierczyk has only played 29 games since the end of the 2014-15 season.
The demotion might mean that captain Mike Fisher is close to a return; he’s been out with an upper-body injury since last Tuesday. Listed as day-to-day, getting Fisher back into the lineup would be an important move for a struggling Predators team.
Predators Demote Mazanec And Fiala
The struggling Nashville Predators are making some changes. The team announced today that young forward Kevin Fiala and backup goaltender Marek Mazanec have been sent down to the AHL. In return, they have recalled forward Pontus Aberg and goalie Juuse Saros from the Milwaukee Admirals.
Fiala, the first-round pick of the Predators in 2014, had only played in a handful of games with Nashville over the past two seasons, but was expected to stick in 2016-17 and be an important piece on offense. However, through ten games this season, Fiala has just two points, both of which came in one two-goal game. The Predators hope that he can rediscover his scoring touch in Milwaukee. Meanwhile, the Predators felt comfortable enough in the potential of Mazanec to make him their primary backup for this season and let Carter Hutton walk in free agency. So far, the gamble has not paid off. Mazanec has saved only 29 of the 36 shots that he’s faced in two appearances, for an .806 save percentage and 5.06 goals against average. The 25-year-old Mazanec is not guaranteed to see NHL time again this season if the 21-year-old Saros outplays him.
Saros, who made his NHL debut last season with just one game, was called up a few weeks ago to make a start against the defending-champion Pittsburgh Penguins and allowed only one goal on 35 shots in the win. Meanwhile, he has six wins with a 1.99 goals against average and .929 save percentage for the Admirals this season. Saros actually outplayed Mazanec last season in Milwaukee, where the pair shared starting duties in net, and now appears to be the preferred backup to Pekka Rinne. Fiala’s replacement, Aberg, will be making his regular season debut for the Predators after being called up in the playoffs last season. A 2012 second-round pick, the 23-year-old forward leads the Admirals in points and goals thus far this season after posting 40 points last season in the AHL. If Aberg can continue to produce in his NHL tryout, he has a good chance to remain on the roster for the rest of the season.
The Predators are performing shockingly poorly so far this season, with the league’s second-to-worst point total of just nine in eleven games. Their scoring has been abysmal and their middling defense has been a disappointment as well. Nashville will do just about anything to right the ship, and they hope that Aberg can jump-start the offense and that Saros can provide some reliable relief for an overworked Rinne.