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Brendan Gallagher To Have Player Safety Hearing

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Canadiens winger Brendan Gallagher will have a hearing with the NHL’s Department of Player Safety on Friday for an illegal check to the head of Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech, the department said in a statement. The hearing will take place over the phone, not in person, limiting a suspension to five games or less.

The incident occurred at 11:52 of the third period in Thursday’s 4-3 win for Montreal. Immediately after Pelech exited the New York zone with the puck and made an outlet pass through the neutral zone, Gallagher cut across the ice and raised his elbow to hit Pelech in the head, making no discernable attempt to lay a body check. Officials assessed Gallagher a five-minute major for a check to the head and a match penalty for intent to injure on the play.

Pelech skated off the ice under his own power and entered concussion protocol. He did not return to the game, which the Islanders tied on the ensuing five-minute power play after being down 3-1 but conceded a late tiebreaker from Sean Monahan at even strength.

Given the severity of the hit, many expected an in-person hearing for Gallagher today with the possibility of a six-plus-game ban.

The 31-year-old is in the third season of a six-year, $6.5MM contract, during which he’s produced only 54 points in 141 games. He’s slipped to a bottom-six role, skating third-line minutes alongside Jake Evans and Tanner Pearson in last night’s win, and his -21 rating is the worst on the team. His 48.9% Corsi share at even strength still ranks near the top of the team, though, and a horribly unlucky on-ice shooting percentage of 5.7 has likely had a decent effect on his point production this season.

In 48 games this year, Gallagher has eight goals and eight assists for 16 points while averaging 14:11 per game, the lowest since his rookie season.

Pierre Engvall Practicing With Full Contact

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Zach Werenski and Patrik Laine are expected to return on the five-game road trip the Columbus Blue Jackets begin on Tuesday. Laine has missed the team’s last 14 games with a broken collarbone, while Werenski has missed 10 games with an ankle injury.

The Blue Jackets went 3-4-3 without their pair of top talents, averaging just 2.7 goals-for and 4.1 goals-against. Werenski’s return will mark the most notable impact, as the 26-year-old defenseman still ranks third on the team in scoring – with one goal and 25 points in 34 games – despite missing 11 games on the season. Laine hasn’t been as productive, boasting six goals and nine points in 18 games, though he was on a hot streak before his injury – netting five points in his last six games. The duo have become pivotal to Columbus’ success, and frequent absentees from the lineup. Laine posted 22 goals and 52 points in 55 games last season, while Werenski was only able to appear in 13 games – and score eight points – as he missed most of the season with a torn labrum and separated shoulder. The Blue Jackets will hope both players can find a newfound bout of health upon their return, as they work to improve on a season that currently has them ranked in the league’s bottom five.

Other notes from around the league:

  • The Colorado Avalanche have activated defenseman Bowen Byram off on injured reserve. The 22-year-old defenseman has appeared in 39 of Colorado’s 47 games this season, netting 12 points split evenly. He’s managed the scoring while serving in a top-end role, averaging over 20 minutes of ice time – though it’s a step down from the nearly 22 minutes of ice time Byram averaged in 42 games last season. Caleb Jones and Sam Malinski will likely step out of the lineup to make space for Byram, though one of the two could still see ice time as the Avalanche have opted for seven defensemen recently.

  • Stefen Rosner of NHL.com is reporting that New York Islanders forward Pierre Engvall is feeling better and has returned to full contact at Islanders practice. The 27-year-old has been dealing with an upper-body injury and has not suited up for New York since a 5-0 loss to the Minnesota Wild on January 15th. Engvall’s style of play should be well suited for new head coach Patrick Roy’s system as puck possession remains a strong suit for the former seventh-round pick. Engvall’s numbers are down a bit this season as has just five goals and nine assists in 41 games this season. His shooting percentage has plummeted to just 7.5% down from a career-high 13% last season. There is no timetable yet for Engvall to return to the Islanders lineup.

Islanders Have Note Hired Benoit Desrosiers

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Jay Zawaski of CHGO Sports is reporting that Chicago Blackhawks star rookie Connor Bedard is still expected to miss at least six weeks as he recovers from a fractured jaw that he suffered on January 5th. Bedard started skating last week in a full-face shield but is unable to exert himself as he tries to allow his jawbone to heal from the surgery he had.

The six-week timeline was given to the media by Blackhawks head coach Luke Richardson, who was referring to the original timeline for Bedard’s return. Richardson added that Bedard will need to go through imaging and a medical clearance before he can ramp up his skating and return to action.

The 18-year-old leads all NHL rookies with 15 goals and 18 assists in 39 games. He was named to the 2024 NHL All-Star Game a few weeks ago but is unlikely to attend given that the game will be held on February 3rd.

In other evening notes:

  • Buffalo Sabres winger Jeff Skinner has shared that he is close to returning, and nearly played in the team’s Saturday loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Skinner has been out of the lineup since January 9th with an upper-body injury, missing five games. He’s remained one of Buffalo’s leading scorers despite the absences, though, sitting third on the team with 33 points through 38 games. Skinner also leads the team with 17 goals.
  • The New York Islanders refuted an earlier report from RDS’ Stephane Leroux that the team was hiring Benoit Desrosiers as an assistant coach under new bench boss Patrick Roy. The statement added that Islanders General Manager and President Lou Lamoriello does plan to meet with Desrosiers in the future, but he has not been hired at this time. Desrosiers spent five seasons as Roy’s assistant with the Remparts and won the Memorial Cup in 2023. He was hired as the head coach of the Gatineau Olympiques for this season but has had a rough start as the team currently sits seventh in the Western Conference of the QMJHL with a record of 15-26-4.

Injury Notes: Blackhawks, Red Wings, Engvall

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The Chicago Blackhawks saw a string of players progress in their injury recovery, with Nick Foligno (fractured finger) and Ryan Donato (illness) fully returning to the team’s practice on Sunday, while Connor Bedard (jaw), Samuel Savoie (leg), and Tyler Johnson (undisclosed) were all on the ice for varying times before the team skate started. Connor Murphy was not able to take part in the team’s skate, though, continuing to miss time with a lower-body injury.

Donato has missed the Hawks’ last two games with an illness, while Foligno has sat out of seven games thanks to a placement on injured reserve earlier in the month. Both players are trending towards a return, finally bringing some form of relief to a Chicago lineup that’s currently experiencing injuries to 10 different players. Foligno went down on the same night that star rookie Bedard was injured. Both players falling out of the lineup effectively fractured Chicago’s top six, with the team going 3-4-0 – including one overtime and one shootout win – and scoring just 13 goals since the pair got hurt. That averages out to 1.85 goals-per-game – a mark that’s significantly held up by the two four-goal outings Chicago has had since Bedard’s injury.

Other notes from around the league:

No Additional Coaching Changes For Islanders

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  • After a surprise announcement today naming Patrick Roy the new head coach of the New York Islanders, many began to wonder if the organization would eventually look to go in a different direction with any assistant coaches. The General Manager of the Islanders, Lou Lamoriello, was asked precisely this question and assured that no other changes would be coming to New York’s bench any time soon (X Link).

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Islanders Fire Lane Lambert, Name Patrick Roy Head Coach

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Islanders GM Lou Lamoriello is no stranger to making big in-season changes and he has done so again.  The team announced that they have fired head coach Lane Lambert.  Taking his place will be Patrick Roy who has been named the full-time bench boss.  No assistant coaches have been dismissed.

Lambert was in his second season behind the bench of the Isles after taking over for Barry Trotz who was let go following the 2021-22 campaign.  While Lambert had coached alongside Trotz for a significant portion of his career (including four seasons as the associate coach to Trotz with the Islanders), the hope was that he could get the team to be more of a threat offensively while not necessarily losing its defensive structure.

New York got a dozen more goals last season but only moved up from 24th to 23rd in that regard while they were ousted in the first round of the playoffs by Carolina.  This year, the Islanders sit 22nd in the NHL in goals scored so the offensive improvement as a team hasn’t been there, even with a resurgent season from Mathew Barzal, a full year with Bo Horvat, and Noah Dobson contributing a point per game from the back end.

While the Islanders sit fifth in the Metropolitan Division and are only two points out of a Wild Card spot, they’ve won just 19 of 45 games so far with 11 overtime or shootout losses helping to keep them within striking distance of a postseason position.  Clearly, Lamoriello determined that maintaining the status quo behind the bench wasn’t going to help them gain ground in the second half of the season.  Lambert departs with a 61-46-20 record as head coach, good for a .559 points percentage.  He’s the fifth bench to lose his job this season, joining Jay Woodcroft (Edmonton), Dean Evason (Minnesota), Craig Berube (St. Louis), and D.J. Smith (Ottawa).

Roy, meanwhile, hasn’t been behind an NHL bench for the better part of a decade.  He coached in Colorado from 2013-14 through 2015-16, finishing with a combined record of 130-92-24.  He also won the Jack Adams Award in 2013-14 as NHL Coach of the Year.  However, he abruptly departed the organization near the start of the 2016-17 season, stating that he didn’t have enough of a “say in the decisions that impact the team’s performance” and that he was no longer on the same page as the organization.  It was the second shocking exit of his career going back to his playing days when he informed Montreal’s management in 1995 after being pulled from a game that he had played his last game for the team.

The 58-year-old has spent a lot of his time coaching at the major junior level with two stints behind the bench of the QMJHL’s Quebec Remparts from 2005-06 through 2012-13 and 2018-19 through 2022-23; he served as the team’s GM for most of that time.  He stepped down following last season with Eric Veilleux taking over as coach and long-time NHL winger Simon Gagne filling the GM title.  Over his junior coaching career, Roy’s teams played to a 524-255-66 record while also picking up a Memorial Cup title.

Roy will now be tasked with getting more out of a veteran group that has a lot of money tied up in defensive or physical players while also dealing with several injuries at the moment including key blueliner Ryan Pulock.  In his time with Colorado, Roy had one season where the Avs finished in the top five in goals scored but the team slipped into the bottom ten in that regard in his final two campaigns.  He’ll also try to get more out of starting netminder Ilya Sorokin who was stellar over his first three seasons in the NHL but has struggled so far this season, posting a save percentage of .908; while that’s above the NHL average, it’s a far cry below the .924 mark he put up over those first three campaigns.

The Islanders are currently using LTIR for Pulock’s injury and will have limited cap space when he returns.  Making the change now will give Lamoriello ample time to assess how the team responds to their new head coach before determining what he might try to do before the March 8th trade deadline.  His first game behind the bench will come Sunday against Dallas.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Semyon Varlamov Is Back Skating

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Mans Karlsson of Hockey Sverige is reporting that Calgary Flames center Elias Lindholm spoke regarding his pending unrestricted free-agent status. Lindholm is less than six months away from hitting the open market and is currently sitting at number one on most hockey pundits’ trade target boards.

Lindholm conceded that he has had a hard time shutting out the noise around his contract status and the trade talk and it may have impacted his performance on the ice. The 29-year-old has just eight goals this season after posting 64 goals combined over the last two years. His assist numbers are in line with his average over the last two seasons (he has 22 helpers so far this season in 45 games) but he has been plagued by a shooting percentage of just 6.6%, which is far off from his career average of 12.1%.

There was talk earlier in the year that Lindholm was seeking a long-term deal with an average annual value of around $9MM, but that number might be a bit ambitious if the former fifth-overall pick continues to struggle to put the puck in the net.

Lindholm told reporters that he and the Flames have not discussed an extension since last summer, and while extensions can be worked out in a matter of days, it seems probable that the Flames and Lindholm could be headed in separate directions sooner rather than later.

In other morning notes:

  • Ethan Sears of The New York Post is reporting that New York Islanders’ injured goaltender Semyon Varlamov is back skating daily as he tries to work his way back into the lineup. Varlamov has been out of action since January 2nd with a lower-body injury and is progressing slowly. Ken Appleby has been replacing Varlamov in his absence but has seen just one period of action so far. Varlamov has been good this season posting a 6-4-2 record with a 2.78 goals-against average and a .918 save percentage.
  • Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports is reporting that Montreal Canadiens forward Josh Anderson is practicing this morning with the team and could return to the lineup tonight against the Boston Bruins after a four-game absence. Anderson has been out with a lower-body injury and practiced today on a line with Brendan Gallagher and Jake Evans. The 29-year-old has struggled this season with just seven goals and five assists in 41 games as his shooting percentage has fallen to just 7.5%, far off his career average of 11.2%. Anderson will reportedly be a game-time decision for the Canadiens today.

Islanders Could Recall Ruslan Iskhakov With Pierre Engvall Injured

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Islanders 2018 second-round pick Ruslan Iskhakov could receive his first NHL recall in the coming days as injuries continue to affect the team’s forwards, speculates Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News. He notes the team may prefer a more dynamic replacement at the top of the lineup for winger Pierre Engvall, who missed Tuesday’s 4-2 loss to the Jets with an upper-body injury.

Islanders Put Casey Cizikas On IR, Recall Kyle MacLean

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The New York Islanders announced today that they have placed forward Casey Cizikas on the injured reserve and recalled forward Kyle MacLean from their AHL affiliate in Bridgeport. The move with Cizikas is retroactive to January 9th, meaning that he can return anytime he is healthy enough to do so. He is currently listed as week-to-week with a lower-body injury so he may be out until closer to the all-star break.

Cizikas has been enjoying one of his better offensive seasons this year with five goals and six assists in 39 games. However, his defensive work is his calling card, and it has not been quite as good as in previous seasons. Cizikas has long been one of the top defensive forwards in the NHL, but his overall play at five-on-five and the penalty kill has fallen off this year in comparison to previous seasons.

MacLean is the son of long-time New Jersey Devils forward John MacLean. He will join the Islanders from Bridgeport, where he has spent the past four seasons with the team. In 193 career AHL games, the 24-year-old has 29 goals and 49 assists and is -4. He has yet to dress in an NHL game, meaning that he could make his NHL debut in the coming days. This season with Bridgeport he has six goals and 13 assists in 36 games.

Upper-Body Injury For Engvall

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  • The Islanders announced (Twitter link) that winger Pierre Engvall is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury. His first full season in New York hasn’t quite gone to plan as the 27-year-old has just five goals and nine assists in 41 games so far, hardly the type of performance they were expecting after giving him a seven-year, $21MM contract last summer.

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