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Snapshots: Three Stars, Rinaldo, Barrie, Niederreiter

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The NHL released their three stars of the week, and Boston Bruins’ Tuukka Rask has top honors after starting three games last week, going 3-0 with a 1.30 GAA and a .954 save percentage. He made 16 saves in a 7-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets, and then followed that up with a 37-save performance (along with three shootout saves) to lead the Bruins past the Winnipeg Jets, 2-1, Thursday. Saturday, he made 30 saves to defeat the Detroit Red Wings, 3-1. He is 11-8-3 on the season with a 2.28 GAA and a .918 save percentage.

Mathew Barzal and James Reimer rounded out the top three amazing performances for the week. Barzal led the New York Islanders with a six-point performance for the week, including four goals in three games. His hat trick against the Winnipeg Jets Saturday was the first of his career. The 20-year-old leads all rookies with 23 assists and 35 points. Reimer stopped 106 out of 110 shots on goal in three games to lead the Florida Panthers to three victories. He posted a 1.33 GAA and a .964 save percentage for the week as he has been filling in for injured starter Roberto Luongo.

  • The Department of Player Safety announced that it has offered Arizona Coyotes forward Zac Rinaldo an in-person hearing for throwing a punch at an unsuspecting opponent. During the second period of Saturdays’ game against the Colorado Avalanche, Rinaldo laid a hit on Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon. In response, Avalanche defenseman Samuel Girard confronted Rinaldo, who subsequently sucker-punched him. Rinaldo has been suspended four times in his NHL career for a total of 19 games. The veteran has two goals and one assist in 31 games this year with 32 penalty minutes.
  • Mike Chambers of the Denver Post writes that Colorado Avalanche defenseman Tyson Barrie fractured a bone in his right hand in Saturday’s game against the Arizona Coyotes. He blocked a shot from Coyotes’ defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson in the first period that deflected off his hand. A timeline for his recovery has not been announced. Barrie is having a solid year with Colorado, with four goals and 23 assists in 34 games, ranking third in the league with 27 points for defensemen.
  • Sarah McLellan of the Star Tribune writes that Minnesota Wild winger Nino Niederreiter’s status remains unclear after he suffered a lower-body injury on Friday. He did not play Saturday and is day-to-day. “I don’t know if the puck hit him or if his foot banged against the boards,” said Boudreau, who figured Niederreiter was bruised on the play. The 25-year-old already missed six games earlier this season due to an ankle injury.

Snapshots: Moses, Couture, Nassau

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In an odd bit of news, the Rochester Americans announced that minor league forward Steve Moses has been suspended indefinitely for breach of contract. The team made clear to indicate that it will not comment again on the matter, leaving a bit of mystery left behind.

This isn’t the first sort of story like this for Moses, who signed a one-year, $1MM deal with the Nashville Predators in 2015-16 only to agree to terminate it after he was relegated to the minor leagues. He returned to the KHL last year where he won a Gagarin Cup with SKA St. Petersburg, but came back to North America again this season. We’ll have to wait and see what happens with his contract this time around.

  • Logan Couture isn’t going to be back anytime soon for the San Jose Sharks, at least not without significant improvement from his latest concussion. That’s what he told Kevin Kurz of The Athletic, bluntly stating “I’m not playing if I don’t feel good. It could be one game, it could be 10 games, it could be a whole season.” That’s not what Sharks fans want to hear while the team finds themselves in third place in the Pacific Division and in striking distance of the Los Angeles Kings and Vegas Golden Knights.
  • Now that the New York Islanders have a new arena set to be ready for the 2020-21 season, they now have to focus on where to play for the next few years. They won’t be leaving Barclays Center until 2019 at the earliest, but the NHL had previously been against them returning to Nassau Coliseum. Now, with a new building on the horizon, that stance may have softened a bit. According to Brett Cyrgalis of Newsday, the NHL won’t rule out the Islanders playing the 2019-20 season in their old home, before jumping to the brand new Belmont Park location.

Snapshots: Tavares, Vegas, Gudbranson

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The New York Islanders announced their plan for a brand new arena at the Belmont Park location today, and front and center at the ceremony was none other than John Tavares. The team captain spoke very highly of the decision, something he’s supported since the beginning.

For us as players and our fan base to have somewhere you know it’s written in stone that we’re going to have a home built for the Islanders on Long Island is pretty special.

The Islanders are called the Islanders for a reason. This is really where the team belongs.

Still, Tavares isn’t willing to announce that he’s re-signing with the team now that it has a long-term future ahead of it. In speaking with Arthur Staple of Newsday at the event, he calmly said that while a positive outcome, it’s not “going to change or ultimately make my decision.”

  • The Vegas Golden Knights are in an extremely interesting position as they continue their inaugural season, and one that GM George McPhee likely didn’t expect when he selected a team heavy on pending free agents. Though they’re one of the top teams in the league, they might still have to decide whether the long-term future of the club is more important as they head towards the trade deadline, something Gary Lawless of NHL.com discussed in an informal Q&A on Twitter. Lawless explained that though they obviously have assets that could be valuable at the deadline, he doesn’t expect management to break up the core while they’re experiencing so much success, instead pointing at the cap space that Vegas possesses as potential bait. That’s something we’ve discussed about at length in the past, and an obvious avenue for the Golden Knights to add to the future while maintaining the present.
  • In Elliotte Friedman’s latest 31 Thoughts column for Sportsnet, he speaks about several players who might need a fresh start as we head toward the trade deadline. One of those, Erik Gudbranson, has been rumored available in the past and Friedman believes that he’ll price himself out of the Vancouver Canucks market when he hits free agency after this season. Though Gudbranson certainly doesn’t make the impact that some hoped he would when he went third-overall to the Florida Panthers, he can still be a helpful player for a team with defensive depth issues. The fact that he only makes $3.5MM will make him an affordable piece at the deadline, if a team believes they can get good shutdown minutes from him down the stretch and into the playoffs.

Minor Transactions: 12/20/17

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Despite the NHL being in their holiday roster freeze, there are still minor moves that can be made. As we’ve discussed before, players can still be recalled from the minor leagues during this time, and those who were recalled after December 11th can still be loaned to the AHL until 11:59pm eastern on December 23rd. Thus, the league is not completely frozen and we’ll keep track of all the minor moves right here.

  • The Columbus Blue Jackets have recalled Gabriel Carlsson from the AHL, due to an injury to Zach Werenski that will keep him out of the lineup tonight against Toronto. Carlsson played 10 games with the Blue Jackets earlier this season, and is another highly touted defenseman in their system. Though he has quite a few excellent players ahead of him, expect Carlsson to make an impact on the Blue Jackets before long.
  • The Vancouver Canucks have assigned Michael Chaput to the minor leagues, meaning either the move technically went through last night or Chaput had been up previously on emergency conditions. He’d previously been called up on December 6th, and played in three games with the club.
  • The Los Angeles Kings have recalled Kevin Gravel from the AHL, bringing the hulking defenseman up for the first time this year. Gravel played 49 games with the NHL club last season, but has been toiling in the minor leagues all year, scoring nine points in 24 games. With Christian Folin headed to injured reserve yesterday, the Kings needed a seventh defenseman for the time being.
  • Tomas Hyka has been sent back to the minor leagues by the Vegas Golden Knights, after sitting out last night’s match against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Hyka still hasn’t made his NHL debut after signing out of Europe in the summer, but has 12 points in 16 games for the Chicago Wolves.
  • Joseph Blandisi has been sent to the minor leagues by the Anaheim Ducks, something Eric Stephens of the Orange County Register suspected yesterday. Blandisi has dealt with injury since coming over from the Devils in the Adam Henrique–Sami Vatanen trade, and only played in three games with the Ducks.
  • Shane Prince is back with the New York Islanders after a lengthy conditioning stint, where he registered two points in four AHL contests. Prince spent ten days in the minor leagues with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, but is ready to return and contribute for the surging Islanders.

New York Islanders Win Bid For New Arena At Belmont Park

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Wednesday: The official documents have been released, the Islanders are set at Belmont Park. The plans include the building of an 18,000-seat arena, 435,000 square feet for a retail shopping center, a hotel, offices and parking. You can see a map of the proposed build at the end of the documentation.

Tuesday: Though the official announcement won’t come until tomorrow, multiple sources including Jim Baumbach of Newsday are reporting that the New York Islanders have won the bidding on the Belmont Park development project. That would allow the Islanders to build a new arena and solidify the future of their franchise.

This is huge news for Islanders fans hoping not only for the long-term stability of the franchise, but also the chance to re-sign John Tavares this summer. The pending unrestricted free agent has made it clear in the past that he was waiting to know where the arena plans were before signing, and with an agreement to build a brand new arena, shopping area and hotel in Belmont Park it’s clear there is a path in place for the Islanders long-term health. Though there is no guarantee this makes Tavares stick around—after all, he is looking at potentially the biggest salary in the league should he hit free agency and start a bidding war—it certainly helps the Islanders’ case.

More than that, it brings the Islanders back out of Brooklyn and the Barclays Center, an arena that has caused the team nothing but problems since moving there in 2015. The Islanders have an opt-out opportunity in January to start the process of getting out of their current lease, though it’s not clear exactly when the new building would be operational.

For a team that is keeping pace in the difficult Metropolitan Division, and looks to have several of the top free agents to sign, news like this can’t come at a better time. There was worry that a decision wouldn’t come early enough for the Islanders to have time to decide what to do ahead of the trade deadline, but they should now be able to know the exact direction of the franchise before buying or selling. With Tavares, Josh Bailey, Calvin de Haan, Thomas Hickey and Jaroslav Halak all up for new contracts or free agency, the team is one of the more interesting to watch over the coming months.

Injury Notes: Palmieri, Zibanejad, Islanders, Boeser

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The New Jersey Devils will get an important player back tonight, as Kyle Palmieri has been activated from injured reserve. Palmieri had been out for the past dozen games with a broken foot. Taylor Hall, out the last two with a knee injury, is also expected to get back into the lineup when the Devils welcome the Anaheim Ducks to town.

Adam Henrique and Sami Vatanen will be facing their former teams for the first time, adding a little extra incentive on both sides. The Devils, who sit in second place in the competitive Metropolitan Division, already had scored five goals in each of their last two matchups with Western Conference opponents and will try to replicate that effort with some of their top players back on the ice.

  • The New York Rangers, currently trying to catch the Devils in the Metro, will welcome back their own offensive star tomorrow night when Mika Zibanejad returns from his concussion problems. Zibanejad has been out since November 26th, but was among the leaders on the team with 22 points through his first 24 games. The 24-year old center is rounding into an excellent offensive piece, and will skate between Chris Kreider and Pavel Buchnevich upon his return.
  • The New York Islanders, not to be outdone by their Metro counterparts, also made a move to activate Thomas Hickey off injured reserve today. Unfortunately, it came along with the announcement that Calvin de Haan is headed to IR with his upper-body injury. You could see de Haan writhing in pain after breaking up a 2-on-1 opportunity in overtime against the Los Angeles Kings, though it’s not clear yet how much time he will miss.
  • Brock Boeser went for an MRI on his foot today after blocking a Mark Giordano shot, but all the team announced was that he avoided a fracture. That’s good news for the Vancouver Canucks, but still doesn’t answer when we’ll see Boeser back on the ice. The team will update further as more details become available.

Belmont Park Decision Expected Wednesday Morning

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Jim Baumbach of Newsday reports that the decision regarding a potential new home for the New York Islanders at Belmont Park is expected on Wednesday morning. The Islanders are competing with MLS franchise New York City FC for rights to build a new facility in the area.

Fans of the hockey team have been following the story closely, as the future home is expected to be an influencing factor in the decision of John Tavares this summer. Tavares is a pending unrestricted free agent, and has said that he’d wait to see what kind of plan the team had for a new building before making any decision. The 27-year old superstar would be arguably the biggest name ever to hit free agency, and could potentially break Connor McDavid’s $12.5MM cap hit as the league’s highest-paid player.

A new arena would go a long way for the Islanders, who admitted they don’t have a “Plan B” behind the Belmont proposal. While that demonstrates the confidence they have that the city will award them the site, NYCFC has a strong proposal of their own. When the decision is made, we’ll know more about how the Islanders plan to go about construction, and whether they’ll use the upcoming Janurary deadline to opt out of the current lease at Barclays Center.

No Urgency In Maple Leafs’ Defenseman Search

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When Nikita Zaitsev was surprisingly placed on injured reserve this weekend, many believed it could push the Toronto Maple Leafs to make a move ahead of the upcoming holiday roster freeze. Zaitsev, who logs the most ice time of any Maple Leafs player, is expected to be out for at least two weeks with a lower-body injury, hurting what was already seen as a Toronto weak point.

The Maple Leafs have been tenuously linked to several defenders this season like Ian Cole in Pittsburgh and Erik Gudbranson in Vancouver, but haven’t yet made a move to strengthen the back end. Instead, they recalled Martin Marincin from the minor leagues and that could be all they do for some time. Darren Dreger was on TSN radio this morning and spoke about the Maple Leafs’ search, pointing out that he doesn’t believe there is an increased level of urgency.

I don’t get the sense that [Maple Leafs GM] Lou Lamoriello is calling 28 general managers like his partner [Senators GM] Pierre Dorion in Ottawa trying to find something. But the word is out there that if something surfaces on the market, Toronto would have considerable interest.

Dreger goes on to explain that Toronto does have some interesting assets in the form of players like Josh Leivo and Kasperi Kapanen, but reiterates that there is no sense of urgency coming out of the Toronto front office.

All of this comes as the team is mired in a three-game losing streak, thanks in large part to the absence of Auston Matthews. Matthews is out with an upper-body injury, and isn’t expected to play tomorrow against the Carolina Hurricanes in the 100-year anniversary of the first NHL game in Toronto. If he isn’t a late addition, the Maple Leafs will have to look to other places to get them out of their scoring slump.

With the roster freeze kicking in tomorrow night, it’s likely that we’ll have to wait and see what the Maple Leafs have planned for new year on their blueline. For now, Marincin and Connor Carrick will be the beneficiaries of Zaitsev’s injury.

Metropolitan Notes: Hoffman, Lundqvist, Giroux, Hunwick

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The New York Islanders are doing everything they can to re-sign star forward John Tavares, which includes their attempt to build a new stadium, their hopes for a solid playoff run and now New York Posts’ Brett Cyrgalis writes that the team should consider taking advantage of the Ottawa Senators struggles and blow the team away with an offer for star defenseman Erik Karlsson.

The scribe writes that the Islanders are a perfect destination for the franchise defenseman, who recently told the press that he will not take a hometown discount after his contract expires in 2019. Many feel that the Senators nor their owner would want to pay as much as $11MM per year to retain him for the next eight seasons, especially after the team might be looking at a rebuild. Karlsson will be 29 when he is eligible to sign a new deal and if the team starts over again, there aren’t many good reasons to keep the star around. However, the Islanders are a team with assets and a will to win, especially if that might prove valuable to locking up Tavares.

Cyrgalis suggests the team offers top prospect Joshua Ho-Sang, one of the team’s 2018 first-rounders and second-rounders (they have two of each next year) and a few smaller pieces as the framework to the deal. The deal might vault the Islanders up a few pegs in the standings and create a dominant core of the future in New York.

  • Cyrgalis also wrote a piece about the amount of playing time that has been handed to New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist. The goalie, who has played both ends of back-to-back games twice in the last two weeks, says he prefers it that way as the more he plays, the more relaxing it is mentally for him to play in the net. The 35-year-old does admit, however, it’s harder on him physically to play so many minutes. “Physically, it’s more challenging,” Lundqvist said. “But mentally, it’s easier, I find. The biggest part to the game is the mental aspect.”
  • Philly.com’s Marc Narducci writes that one reason the Philadelphia Flyers have improved could be the transition of Claude Giroux from center to left wing this season. Giroux has been paired with Sean Couturier this season on the team’s first line and while in many ways the transition to a wing spot has been a success, the 29-year-old admitted that it wasn’t that easy earlier this year. “I think it was an adjustment early on in the season,” Giroux said. “Now being on the wing the entire time, you get a little more comfortable on the wall or even in the neutral zone defensively.”
  • Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Jason Mackey writes that the play of Pittsburgh Penguins’ defenseman Matt Hunwick has actually improved since he suffered a concussion earlier this year. The 32-year-old blueliner signed with the team this offseason to provide defensive depth. He has been playing with the team since Nov. 18 after missing 15 games due to a concussion, but has actually played even better since missing time. He has three goals on the season since the concussion, most among Penguin defenders. Hunwick was a 42.6 percent possession player before the concussion, which has now increased to a 51.6 percent in the past 12 games and a 58.6 in the last five games. Unfortunately, that hasn’t translated well in the win column for the team, but it does make the team’s chances better.

Are The Atlantic Division Playoff Teams Already Set?

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It’s December and the 82-game NHL season is not even half over. Think what you will about the “Thanksgiving Rule”, but a lot can change over a long season. There’s no telling exactly how things will shake out this early in the campaign.

Yet, it seems almost impossible that the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs entries from the Atlantic Division are not already set. The Tampa Bay Lightning (23-6-2, 48 pts, .774 PTS%) are the best team in the league. The Toronto Maple Leafs (20-13-1, 41 pts, .603 PTS%) are second in the division and tied for second in the Eastern Conference in points, despite a current three-game losing streak. The Boston Bruins (15-10-4, 34 pts, .586 PTS%) are the closest team to the Leafs in terms of points percentage in the East and rank third in points in the division with the least games played in the NHL. The rest of the teams in the Atlantic are not even close.

The Montreal Canadiens (14-14-4, 32 pts, .500 PTS%) perhaps represent the best bet at a spoiler in the Atlantic, but needed a 6-2-2 record in their last ten just to get to .500. The team is still struggling to find its identity under Claude Julien and there has been more talk of a rebuild than a playoff run this season. The Detroit Red Wings (12-13-7, 31 pts, .484 PTS%) are overachieving this season in the opinion of many, yet are still a ways out in the Atlantic. Despite a talented roster, the Florida Panthers (12-15-5, 29 pts, .453 PTS%) are in even worse shape. The Buffalo Sabres (8-18-7, 23 pts, .348 PTS%) are challenging for the worst record in the NHL and, with the team in turmoil, the Ottawa Senators (10-13-7, 27 pts, .450 PTS%) are trending in that direction as well.

As of now, these five Atlantic Division teams hold the five worst records in the Eastern Conference and five of the seven worst records in the entire NHL. Not only will they struggle to catch the Lightning, Leafs, and Bruins, but a wild card spot versus the relatively dominant Metropolitan Division also seems far outside the realm of possibility. If the Metro’s worst team is the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins (16-14-3, 35 pts, .530 PTS%), how could any of the five hope to beat out its fourth and fifth best teams, currently the identical records of the New York Rangers and New York Islanders (17-12-3, 37 pts, .578 PTS%)?

A lot can change over the course of the NHL season, but in 2017-18 it seems very likely that the Atlantic Division playoff status is already set before the 2018 segment of the season even begins. Tampa Bay simply has too much talent to slow down. Toronto has the talent and youth to keep pushing forward. Boston is only now getting healthy for the first time this season. All three teams are likely to get better as the season progresses and, in turn, the gap between them and the remainder of the Atlantic will only get worse.

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