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Injury Notes: Stars, Ducks, Golden Knights, Devils

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Dallas Stars digital manager Kyle Shohara reports from team practice that defenseman John Klingberg and center Radek Faksa took the ice today after missing time with an upper-body injury and non-COVID-related illness, respectively. Klingberg missed the team’s last game, a 5-1 win against the New Jersey Devils, while Faksa missed that game and the night prior against the Philadelphia Flyers. Both would be huge returns to the Stars lineup, especially Klingberg. With the Swedish defenseman reportedly requesting a trade out of Dallas, every game (and every good play) matters for Dallas to recoup as much value as possible if a trade occurs.

A busy night in the NHL yields more injury news:

  • The Anaheim Ducks get two key contributors back tonight versus Montreal, activating center Adam Henrique from injured reserve and defenseman Josh Manson from COVID-19 protocol. Both return to prominent roles in the lineup, with Henrique’s 16 points in 24 games likely to help boost a stagnating Ducks offense as of late. To make room on the active roster, the team reassigned defensemen Jacob Larsson and Greg Pateryn to the taxi squad and Brendan Guhle to the AHL’s San Diego Gulls.
  • Two gigantic contributors are returning to the Vegas Golden Knights lineup, as wingers Max Pacioretty and Reilly Smith make their returns tonight, per the Las Vegas Sun’s Justin Emerson. Pacioretty’s rarely been healthy this year, but when he has, he’s scored at a torrid pace, netting 12 goals and 21 points in 16 games. Smith, coming off COVID protocol, has a respectable 29 points in 41 games.
  • The New Jersey Devils got some good news with defenseman Ty Smith coming off injured reserve today, but he’s been replaced on the list by center Michael McLeod. Despite Smith’s strong rookie campaign last season, he’s having a serious sophomore slump with poor defensive numbers and just 10 points in 33 games to show for it. Hopefully, a reset can help jumpstart an improvement in play for the 21-year-old. The Devils will miss McLeod and his 11 points and 41 games in a depth role.

Jonathan Drouin, Ty Smith Placed On Injured Reserve

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The New Jersey Devils and Montreal Canadiens are both in action tonight, taking on two of the league’s powerhouses in Carolina and Colorado respectively. Those would be difficult matches even at full strength for the two rebuilding clubs, but neither one will be.

The Devils have placed Ty Smith on injured reserve with an upper-body issue retroactive to January 19. Colton White has been recalled in his place, just a couple of days after he cleared waivers. Smith played just over 15 minutes against the Arizona Coyotes on Wednesday and will now miss at least the next few days after receiving the IR designation.

Now 21, Smith has been an enigma this season after such a strong rookie campaign in 2020-21. After putting up 23 points in 43 games while averaging over 20 minutes a night and finishing seventh in Calder Trophy voting, the sophomore slump has gotten to him in 2021-22. Smith has just ten points through 33 games, has been moved up and down the lineup seemingly on a period-by-period basis, and has failed to come anywhere close to replicating the outstanding possession numbers he had as a rookie. Selected 17th overall in 2018, he’s a huge part of the future for the Devils that needs to get his game back on track. Perhaps a short stint away from the ice while he deals with this injury will actually do him good as a sort of reset halfway through the season.

Meanwhile, in Montreal, the Canadiens have placed Jonathan Drouin on injured reserve. Jeff Petry and Josh Anderson are also game-time decisions against the Avalanche tonight and Michael McNiven has been recalled as an emergency backup after Samuel Montembeault suffered a minor injury.

For Drouin, this comes after the report from Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports earlier in the day that he is back in Montreal undergoing further evaluation. He suffered an injury on Thursday against the Vegas Golden Knights, when he played just 12:52 and wasn’t available for the team in overtime. While nothing has really gone right for any Canadiens players this season, it has been good to see Drouin back and contributing after taking a leave of absence from the team last spring. With 20 points in 32 games, he is actually the team’s second-leading scorer, just behind Nick Suzuki (22 points in 39 games). With him out of the lineup, the already offensively-challenged Canadiens will be even more so.

Colton White, Dillon Heatherington Clear Waivers

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Jan 20: White and Heatherington have both cleared waivers, according to Friedman. They can now be assigned to the taxi squad or the minor leagues.

Jan 19: The New Jersey Devils have placed Colton White on waivers today according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, but he won’t be alone. The Ottawa Senators have also placed Dillon Heatherington on waivers. William Lagesson of the Edmonton Oilers, on waivers yesterday, has cleared and can be sent to the minor leagues.

White, 24, already cleared waivers at the beginning of the season but has spent enough time on the active roster to need them again. In eight games with the Devils this year, he has two points while averaging just over 12 minutes a night. A fourth-round pick from 2015, the minor league defenseman is headed for Group VI unrestricted free agency in the summer, given he only has 19 NHL games under his belt to this point. After Lagesson cleared, it seems unlikely that White would earn a claim, meaning he’s probably headed to the taxi squad or minor leagues.

In Heatherington’s case, waivers is nothing new. He cleared at the beginning of this season and twice in previous years, as a depth defenseman without much NHL experience. In fact, nine of his 20 career games have come this season with the Senators, though none of those have been since the middle of December. With so many younger players fighting for playing time on the Ottawa back end, Heatherington’s time on the active roster is likely over.

He too will be an unrestricted free agent in the summer after signing a one-year, two-way contract with the Senators in July. That deal carries a league-minimum $750K cap hit, meaning he at least could be a target for a team dealing with COVID-related absences that needs a short-term replacement.

Poll: Is The Eastern Conference Playoff Picture Already Complete?

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It doesn’t make for much of an exciting stretch run, but it just might be the truth and The Buffalo News’ Mike Harrington isn’t afraid to make the claim: less than halfway through the 2021-22 NHL season, the eight Eastern Conference playoff spots appear to be locked up. While the eight in place can certainly jockey for position, Harrington believes that those teams currently in the postseason in the East will stay in postseason position and those not, including his Buffalo Sabres, have nothing left to play for this season. Do you agree?

The conference standings do paint a pretty bleak picture for the playoff race, as the gap between the eighth and final playoff spot and the next closest competitor is sizeable. In terms of both absolute points and points percentage, the Boston Bruins sit in eighth in the East with 46 points and a .657 points percentage, holding the second wild card spot if the postseason started today. In ninth place in both categories are the Detroit Red Wings, but calling it a distant ninth is generous. Detroit has 39 points on the year, just seven back of Boston, but having played four more games than the Bruins the Red Wings are actually just a .500 team, 157 percentage points back. Every other team outside the playoff picture is under .500 and they are all chasing a Bruins team that is 8-2 in their past ten games, riding a five-game winning streak. Just ahead of Boston are the Pittsburgh Penguins, who are also 8-2 in their last ten. The only other teams in the conference that are not 200+ percentage points ahead of Detroit are the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers.

[See: Eastern Conference Standings]

Statistically, there don’t appear to be any clear underachievers outside of the playoff picture primed for a late push either. All eight teams not in a playoff spot in the East have a negative goal differential, with the top mark being the Columbus Blue Jackets at -15. In contrast, the worst differential among the playoff teams is the Rangers’ +17 and they are the only club below +20. Hardly any of the non-playoff teams hold a spot in the top half of the league in any major statistical category either. The New York Islanders are ninth in goals against per game and eleventh in penalty kill efficiency, the Blue Jackets are tied for twelfth in goals for per game, the New Jersey Devils are thirteenth on the penalty kill, and the Ottawa Senators are tied for fourteenth in power play efficiency – end of list.

Yet, can the playoff picture really be sealed up this early? The law of averages suggests that a current playoff team is likely to slump while a current non-playoff team is likely to hit their stride in the second half. In fact, this may have already begun. While the Bruins and Penguins have been surging, the Capitals are just 4-3-3 in their last ten games and struggling to find consistent goaltending and defensive play. The Capitals’ record is also buoyed by a league-leading nine overtime points and their abysmal 30th-ranked power play is a major stain on their playoff resume. If there is a pretender in the East, it could be Washington. The Rangers may also be due for some regression in the second half. New York has exceeded expectations thus far and have somehow found ways to win despite trouble scoring. Their 2.85 goals per game is tied for 18th in the league, behind the likes of Columbus and New Jersey and just .01 ahead of Ottawa. On the flip side of the playoff picture, the Islanders are one of the biggest disappointments of the season. A conference finalist last year, the Isles looked to be building a true contender. While they are still playing a good defensive game, the team has had no luck offensively this season. Yet, with a league-low  30 games played, the Islanders could have time to find their game and fight their way back into postseason consideration. At least on paper, the Philadelphia Flyers should also be better than their current record, while the rebuilding Red Wings and Blue Jackets should be happy with their performance so far this season but would be even happier to get their young rosters into a postseason battle.

It is hard to remember a conference having no battle for playoff position in recent memory, especially so early in the season. While it looks like that could be the case this year in the East, is that actual a realistic expectation? Is the current gap in the standings just too wide to overcome? Or is there enough potential for one or two teams in the playoff picture to collapse while one or two on the outside find a way back? Vote now and comment on which teams, if any, could drop out of the playoff picture and who might replace them.

Is The Eastern Conference Playoff Picture Already Complete?
Yes 73.52% (647 votes)
No 26.48% (233 votes)
Total Votes: 880

[mobile users vote here]

New Jersey Devils Sign Kyle Shapiro To ATO

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The New Jersey Devils were in trouble when they were forced to put both Akira Schmid and Mackenzie Blackwood in the COVID protocol. The only other healthy goaltender in the entire organization was Jon Gillies. While he’ll get the start tonight, his backup will be Kyle Shapiro, who has signed an amateur tryout contract.

Shapiro, 28, is an assistant coach with the NAHL’s New Jersey Titans and serves as a regular emergency backup for the Prudential Center. He played four seasons of Division III college hockey, three of them with the University of Southern Maine and one with New England College. If forced into action, it would be his first competitive game since the 2017-18 season.

It’s not all bad news for the Devils though. The team has also activated Nathan Bastian, Andreas Johnsson, Yegor Sharangovich, and Pavel Zacha from the COVID protocol. Colton White has also been recalled from the taxi squad. All five players are available to play tonight, giving the team a little bit of a boost as they take on the New York Islanders.

Devils, Oilers Face More COVID Issues, Postponements

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Jan 12: After the Devils placed Akira Schmid in the protocol yesterday, Mackenzie Blackwood has now joined him. The team is supposed to play the New York Islanders tomorrow and only have one healthy goaltender in the organization. Nico Daws is dealing with an injury at the AHL level, meaning Jon Gillies may end up with an EBUG partner for tomorrow night.

Jan 9: The New Jersey Devils have placed two more in the COVID protocol, adding Janne Kuokkanen and Damon Severson to a growing list of unavailable players. The pair join Jesper Bratt, Nathan Bastian, Andreas Johnsson, Pavel Zacha, Yegor Sharangovich, Mason Geertsen, and the injured Dougie Hamilton in the protocol, putting tomorrow night’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning in jeopardy. That game has now been officially postponed with a new date yet to be announced.

Meanwhile, in Edmonton, the Oilers have canceled today’s practice for precautionary reasons and Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reports that tomorrow’s game against the Ottawa Senators has been rescheduled to next weekend. The Senators were supposed to be in Winnipeg then, but with that game already postponed for attendance reasons, they’re free to return to Edmonton at that point. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet confirms that the game will be played on January 15.

The Oilers already have Brendan Perlini, Kailer Yamamoto, Connor McDavid, Derek Ryan, Josh Archibald, Slater Koekkoek, Evan Bouchard, Tyson Barrie, and Ilya Konovalov in the protocol, meaning more positive cases would leave them with an extremely depleted roster. Warren Foegele and Tyler Benson are the new players entering the protocol. After tomorrow, their next scheduled game wasn’t until the 20th, so fitting in a match against the Senators would seem to be no problem. That kind of rescheduling is likely to happen more often as the NHL tries to avoid falling too far behind, though with over 100 games already postponed that ship may have already sailed.

Bratt And Bastian Placed In COVID Protocol, Four Recalled From Taxi Squad

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New Jersey Devils Place Andreas Johnsson In COVID Protocol

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Jan 7: Hamilton and Mason Geertsen have been added to the protocol today according to team reporter Amanda Stein, though the former was obviously not in any shape to play anyway.

Jan 6: Bad keeps turning to worse for the New Jersey Devils, who placed forward Andreas Johnsson into the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol ahead of tonight’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, according to head coach Lindy Ruff.

New Jersey is already missing a trio of important forwards. Captain Nico Hischier is day-to-day with a lower-body injury, while Pavel Zacha and Yegor Sharangovich are in COVID protocol.

They’re also missing Dougie Hamilton on defense as he recovers from a broken jaw. Jimmy Vesey was the 13th forward on the active roster, and it’s likely he’ll play tonight in place of Johnsson.

Through 34 games, Johnsson had nine goals and 12 assists for 21 points, good enough for second on the team behind leading scorer Jesper Bratt. The team certainly hopes the best for his case of COVID, and that he stays healthy and can return as soon as possible.

NHL Postpones Three Games Due To Capacity Restrictions

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The NHL announced Wednesday that they’ve postponed three games due to current capacity restrictions in Canada. The following games were postponed:

New Jersey Devils vs. Montreal Canadiens (originally scheduled for January 15)
New Jersey Devils vs. Toronto Maple Leafs (originally scheduled for January 17)
Chicago Blackhawks vs. Edmonton Oilers (originally scheduled for January 18)

The postponements leave a sizable gap in the schedule in terms of home games for all three Canadian teams affected. Montreal’s next home game is now scheduled for January 27 against Anaheim. They have seven road games scheduled prior to that point.

Toronto is actually playing host to the Oilers tonight, but it’ll be their last time hosting for a few weeks now. Their next home game is also against Anaheim on January 26, the day prior to Montreal’s game. Edmonton has a home game scheduled for January 10 against the Ottawa Senators, seemingly left unaffected as it’s two Canadian teams facing off against each other.

Devils Issue Injury Updates On Hamilton, Hischier, Others

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After the New Jersey Devils completed their morning skate Tuesday, the team had quite a few injury updates to share.

Defenseman Dougie Hamilton will have surgery tomorrow to repair a broken jaw suffered on January 2, and he’s been moved to injured reserve. Goalie Jonathan Bernier had hip surgery yesterday and is out for the remainder of the season. Team captain Nico Hischier is out for tonight’s game against Boston with a lower-body injury, and forwards Yegor Sharangovich and Pavel Zacha entered the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol today.

Hamilton’s certainly been decent this season, his first with the Devils. Through 30 games, the free-agent acquisition has seven goals and 13 assists while logging 21:24 per game, the second-highest mark on the team behind Damon Severson.

The long-term absence of Bernier is organizationally tough to swallow, too. Bernier had been solid through 10 games with a .902 save percentage, but the injury had been bothering him intermittently throughout the season and it’s the right move to shut him down to hopefully avoid career-ending complications.

Right now, the backup role will be competed for by Akira Schmid, Jon Gillies, and Nico Daws, all of whom have played NHL games this season. Gillies will likely win the role to allow more development time for Schmid and Daws, who are both just 21 and haven’t blown the doors off in NHL action. More time in the AHL will serve them best.

Both Sharangovich and Zacha have been valuable depth pieces for New Jersey, and they’ll hopefully only be subject to the five-day quarantine and will only miss the team’s next three games. Sharangovich has seven goals and 14 points through 30 games this year, while Zacha has nine goals and 16 points through 33.

It’s hard to remember the last time that a team issued injury updates simultaneously about this many players, and it forces the Devils to make serious adjustments to their roster and their lineups. It’s a seriously tough break for a team that’s barely hanging on to their chances to make the playoffs.

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