Raman Hrabarenka Signs In KHL
Former New Jersey Devils prospect Raman Hrabarenka has become the latest player to put his NHL dreams on hold and head overseas. The 24-year-old defenseman signed on with Dynamo Minsk of the KHL today, affording him the opportunity to play in the capital city of his home country of Belarus.
An undrafted free agent in 2012, Hrabarenka went unnoticed by NHL teams looking for defensive depth and ended up signing a minor league deal with the AHL’s Albany Devils. His apparent transparency was not unfounded; Hrabarenka played just two seasons of major junior hockey and didn’t begin to pick up his play until the second half of year two. Hrabarenka joined the QMJHL’s Cape Breton Screaming Eagles for the 2010-11 season, but by the midway point of the 2011-12 league year, he had contributed just 15 points in 80 games. At about 6’3″, 220 lbs., Hrabarenka is more of a physical, stay-at-home defenseman, but in a league fueled by offense like the QMJHL, players with little offensive upside don’t last long. The Eagles traded Hrabarenka to the Drummondville Voltigeurs, only to watch him hit his stride after a change of scenery. Hrabarenka recorded 14 points, and also played the best defensive hockey of his junior career, in 27 games with Drummondville. The Albany Devils must have noticed the improvement, as they were able to snag the big man in free agency that spring.
Able to settle into a more comfortable role as a shutdown defender in the AHL, Hrabarenka impressed many in his first pro season. Although he had just five points, he was a plus player that occasionally showed flashes of puck-moving ability. Not wanting another team to steal him away from their affiliate, the New Jersey Devils signed Hrabarenka to his first NHL deal in the summer of 2013, a three-year two-way deal worth $2.78MM. Hrabarenka looked like a strong investment over the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons, with his points jumping up to 21 and 27 respectively and his defensive reliability remaining consistent. He even made his NHL debut in a late-season game in 2015. However, Hrabarenka was unable to win a spot in camp last season and over the course of the AHL season regressed back into a one-dimensional checking defenseman. Unable to find a guaranteed contract this summer, Hrabarenka joined the Toronto Maple Leafs on a professional tryout agreement, but was one of the final cuts from camp just days before the start of the new season.
Disappointed with the lack of interest in North America, Hrabarenka is now headed home to Belarus. Much like the QMJHL, the KHL is an offense-driven league that is often hard on defensive defenseman. If Hrabarenka is able to maintain his physical dominance and defensive instincts against the speed and skill in that league, especially the division rival SKA St. Petersberg squad, he’ll be on NHL radars next summer and may get the opportunity to pursue the dream yet again.
Philip Larsen Leaves Game On A Stretcher
8:06pm: The Canucks Twitter account reports that Larsen was “awake and responsive” as he left the ice.
A scary moment in New Jersey as Vancouver Canucks defenseman Philip Larsen absorbed a brutal check by Taylor Hall that resulted in him being taken off the ice on a stretcher. Frank Seravalli tweets that replays appeared to show Larsen unconscious before he hit the ice. The tweet also includes video of the hit.
As Hall approached, Larsen was caught with his head down as he tried to play the puck behind the net. Seravalli adds that Larsen had some movement in his extremities as he was wheeled off the ice. The Canucks tweeted out their support for Larsen while the Devils responded with a similar tweet.
Poll: 2005 NHL Draft Take Two: Twenty-Third 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)
18th Overall: Jack Johnson (Nashville Predators)
19th Overall: Matt Niskanen (Detroit Red Wings)
20th Overall: Justin Abdelkader (Florida Panthers)
21st Overall: Martin Hanzal (Toronto Maple Leafs)
22nd Overall: Andrew Cogliano (Boston Bruins)
Now we move forward to the 23rd pick, which was held by the New Jersey Devils.
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 Devils selected right winger Nicklas Bergfors out of Sodertalje in Sweden. As he wasn’t drafted out of the Canadian Hockey League, he was eligible to play for New Jersey’s farm team right away and in his post-draft season, he put up an impressive 40 points in 65 games. Unfortunately, after four full AHL seasons, he had just nine NHL games under his belt with little to show for it.
He became an NHL regular in 2009-10 and posted a career best 46 points between New Jersey and Atlanta after he was dealt to the Thrashers as part of the Ilya Kovalchuk trade. He didn’t stay in Atlanta for long as barely a year later, he was flipped to Florida for Radek Dvorak, a rental player that year. That offseason (2011), he joined Nashville as a free agent but after just 11 games with them, he cleared waivers and had his contract terminated. His overall NHL numbers aren’t too bad, with 35 goals and 48 assists in 173 games but he has not had any NHL interest since 2011.
Since that time, Bergfors has played across the pond, mostly in the KHL where he spent time with four different teams. This season, he returned home and is playing with Linkoping of the SHL, where he has just four points in 23 games so far this season.
With the 23rd pick of the 2005 NHL Redraft, who should the Devils select? Cast your vote below!
Mobile users, click here to vote.
Predators Claim Reid Boucher On Waivers
The Nashville Predators have claimed forward Reid Boucher on waivers from the New Jersey Devils.
Boucher won’t have to go far to join his new team, as the Devils are in Nashville for a Saturday afternoon game. No word yet on whether or not Boucher will be in the lineup against his former teammates.
Boucher was placed on waivers on Friday morning after being a healthy scratch for the previous week. He’s struggled to put points on the board so far this season, with just two in nine games. Boucher scored 19 points in 39 games with the Devils in 2015-16. He clearly has offensive talent, having scored 105 points in 164 AHL games
The Predators clearly believe they can provide Boucher with a fresh start to get him going offensively once again. With 1 injured, Nashville can use all the goals they can get.
With the return of Taylor Hall, the Devils needed to move a forward and Boucher hadn’t done enough to remain one of the top 14 forward options in New Jersey.
Boucher Waived; Gelinas Clears Waivers
The New Jersey Devils have placed forward Reid Boucher on waivers.
Boucher has been a healthy scratch for the past week, and with Taylor Hall coming back from injury, the Devils needed to make space on their roster for the return of their superstar.
With just two points in nine games, Boucher has been unable to find last season’s scoring success. The 5’10, 195 lbs center scored 19 points in 39 games with the Devils in 2015-16. If he’s not claimed, look for him to be assigned to the Albany Devils of the AHL, where he’s scored 105 points in 164 games.
Meanwhile, former Devil and current Colorado Avalanche defenseman Eric Gelinas cleared waivers.
The 25-year-old defenseman has just one assist in seven games this year. Gelinas is in his first full season with Colorado after being acquired at the 2016 trade deadline from New Jersey for a 3rd round pick in this year’s draft. Interestingly enough, before the trade to the Avalanche, Gelinas was originally the Devils defenseman that Edmonton GM Peter Chiarelli contacted New Jersey about before talks turned to Adam Larsson.
The 6’4, 215 lbs left-handed defenseman has 55 points in 169 games, but is not considered to be a dependable defenseman because of his defensive awareness. Gelinas is in the final season of a two year deal that carries a cap hit of $1.575MM.
Trade Snapshots: Hamilton, Duclair, Oduya
Brian Burke has been doing the rounds to try and squash the idea that Dougie Hamilton was ever on the block. He’s said that the rumors all stem from one team who called Brad Treliving with an “insulting” offer for the young defenseman, and Darren Dreger things he knows who that was. In today’s edition of Insider Trading on TSN, Dreger reported that the Arizona Coyotes offered Anthony Duclair and a draft pick for Hamilton around the time of the draft, but were quickly turned down.
In his wave of interviews, Burke did seem to think that a single GM had made it known to others that he’d made an offer, so if it was indeed John Chayka, perhaps this is simply a case of a new young GM not knowing (or agreeing with) the “way things are done”. The Coyotes have continued to make Duclair available in trade talks as the 21-year old continues to struggle through his second full season in the NHL.
In a segue of professional levels, Pierre LeBrun moved on to the Ottawa Senators who decidedly are not in on Duclair but have been working the phones looking for a bottom-six forward. While the team isn’t looking for a ‘big name’, they do need help with secondary scoring and GM Pierre Dorion has apparently been working the phones to try and find some help. A name that is interesting, though not mentioned in the segment, is the recently waived Reid Boucher of the New Jersey Devils.
LeBrun also mentions that the Dallas Stars are looking to deal from a position of strength as the season continues. Their blueline has been solidified by the breakout of Julius Honka this season, and may spell the end for Johnny Oduya who is a free agent this summer and still an effective puck mover. Even though the team lost Jason Demers, Kris Russell and Alex Goligoski this summer, they continue to pump out solid defenders and now have one too many. For now they’re content in waiting for everyone to get healthy, but as teams around the league struggle to find defensemen, they may find an offer that they just can’t refuse.
New Jersey Devils Activate Taylor Hall
If you ask Taylor Hall how long three weeks is, perhaps he’ll tell you fifteen days. That’s how long the superstar New Jersey Devils winger has been out since undergoing surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee. As Andrew Gross pointed out on Twitter, and Hall hinted at yesterday, the Devils have activated him from injured reserve today, likely meaning he’ll make his return tonight against the Chicago Blackhawks. The team announced that Reid Boucher has been placed on waivers to make room.
Unsure of when exactly the injury took place, Hall showed up to the rink on the 15th complaining of pain in his knee. When an MRI revealed that surgery was needed he underwent a procedure by team physician Dr. Michael Shindle and Dr. Jonathan Glashow, the Devils’ Chief Medical Officer for a torn meniscus in his knee. His original timeline was 3-4 weeks, but obviously that has been accelerated.
Hall was acquired in one of the biggest trades of the offseason, straight up for Adam Larsson on the most infamous day in recent hockey history. His season started as well as it could have, with twelve points in fourteen games before suffering the injury. He’ll now rejoin a team that has lost six of its last seven contests after winning five straight. A 10-7-5 record currently has them fifth in the Metropolitan division, and still in a wild card position.
Boucher, on the other hand, is an interesting waiver case as his relative youth (he just turned 23 in September) and AHL success seem to point to an effective depth forward. The former Sarnia Sting has 105 points in 164 career games at the lower level, and was an impressive goal scorer in his USHD and junior days – even scoring 62 in his final year with Sarnia. For a team looking for an offensive boost, he may provide the perfect answer. If not, he’ll likely return to the Albany Devils and wait for his next opportunity in the NHL.
Metro Notes: Sanford, Vrana, Bennett, Quenneville
The Washington Capitals have swapped top prospects with their AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears. The team announced that they have recalled Jakub Vrana, as well as veteran Paul Carey, from the AHL and re-assigned rookie Zach Sanford.
This is the first call up for the 20-year-old Vrana, the 13th overall pick by the Capitals in 2014 NHL Draft, who could make his NHL debut tomorrow night against the division rival New York Islanders. The young Czech winger is a fast, skilled forward with scoring ability, much like fellow countryman and 2016-17 breakout star David Pastrnak of the Boston Bruins. Vrana was nearly a point-per-game player with the Bears last season, but only played in 36 contests due to injury. Off to the same torrid start tho this season, with nine goals and seven assists in 18 games, Washington has decided to give him a chance to prove himself at the highest level. With another skilled winger, T.J. Oshie, currently sidelined with an injury, don’t be surprised to see Vrana slot in to Oshie’s spot tomorrow night.
The demotion of Sanford is nothing for Capitals fans to be discouraged about. As team beat writer Isabelle Khurshudyan points out, Washington is pressed for salary cap space and could not have promoted Vrana without making the corresponding move of exchanging him for the 2013 second-rounder. A Massachusetts native who starred at Boston College for two years before leaving early, Sanford jumped right into the Washington lineup out of training camp without ever playing a minor league game. Although a strong player at the college level, Sanford’s pro career has gotten off to a slow start with just one assist in 19 games with the Capitals. With his NHL ice time diminishing, Washington likely felt it was the right move to send the young forward down to the AHL, where he can re-discover his scoring touch.
From the Capitals to the Devils:
- New Jersey has placed Beau Bennett on the injured reserve, retroactive to this past Monday. During practice that day, Bennett suffered a bad cut on his right leg and had to leave the ice. He did not return to practice and was left behind when the team departed on its current road trip. Injuries have been an unfortunate story line in Bennett’s young career, but this one at least appears to be minor. Expect Bennett to be back on the ice when the Devils return home, unless New Jersey wishes to keep him sidelined longer as precaution or to give other players a longer look while he is out. Bennett has just seven points in 20 games so far in 2016-17.
- In his stead, New Jersey has recalled 2014 first-round pick John Quenneville from the AHL’s Albany Devils. The young forward, who has 17 points in 19 games thus far in his first pro season, will fly out to Chicago to join the team on their road trip. It’s possible that he will make his NHL debut against his own second cousin, Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville. The younger Quenneville will look to earn a regular spot on the team during this call-up stint. If he shows the scoring ability he has displayed in juniors and early on in the AHL, he might just stick around long enough to face his uncle, Johnny Boychuk, in February.
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.
Scott Wedgewood Undergoes Surgery, Out Six Months
The New Jersey Devils announced today that goaltender Scott Wedgewood underwent successful shoulder surgery today and will be sidelined for approximately six months. The surgery was to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder. Wedgewood suffered the injury on Friday November 19th, when he relieved AHL backup Mackenzie Blackwood against the Binghamton Senators.
This is the same shoulder that Wedgewood injured last season and forced him to miss time. This summer, the netminder was one of the final cuts from the New Jersey training camp to the surprise of many. With outstanding AHL numbers in 2015-16 (when he was healthy), many believed that he was ready to step up to an NHL job. Instead, he cleared waivers and was assigned to Albany where he’d been playing well again. In 10 games this season he was 5-3-0 with a .912 save percentage and a 2.18 GAA.
The baby-Devils will now ask two rookie goaltenders to fill the pipes for them, as Blackwood and Ken Appleby are the current duo. While Blackwood has struggled in eight games, Appleby has performed extremely well since a callup from the ECHL. In three games, the 21-year old is undefeated with a .932 save percentage. While Blackwood was the Devils’ second-round pick in 2015, Appleby went undrafted after playing his junior hockey with the Oshawa Generals of the OHL.