Allen’s Latest: Hamilton, Kane, Shattenkirk, Hanzal, Murphy
The USA Today’s Kevin Allen is more than happy to suggest a holiday wish list for a handful of NHL teams. Allen offers advice to the follow clubs:
- New York Rangers: Allen suggests that the Rangers could snap up Dougie Hamilton from the Calgary Flames should they be willing to give up J.T. Miller. But just as quickly as he suggests it, he provides rationale as to why it might be far fetched. First, the financials wouldn’t work with Hamilton’s $5.75MM cap hit. Second, Miller is playing well with 18 points in 21 games while Hamilton has been struggling. For the deal to work, Allen believes the Rangers would have to shed another contract to either Calgary or another team in need of a defenseman (Allen suggests Kevin Klein).
- New York Islanders: The team in Brooklyn is Allen’s next focus and he suggests Evander Kane to the Isles. The losses of Kyle Okposo, Matt Martin, and Frans Nielsen coupled with the poor production from pricey free agent pickup Andrew Ladd makes Kane a reasonable target. However, Allen points out that the Isles do not have the cap room to add Kane’s bulky contract and would have to do some “juggling” in order to make it work. Allen adds that a defenseman would help out Buffalo’s cause if they were willing to talk about Kane.
- Boston Bruins: How many people have suggested Kevin Shattenkirk to Boston? Allen chimes in here as well, believing that the right handed defenseman would be the perfect addition to the blue line. Further, Allen writes that if Boston can convince Shattenkirk to re-sign with them, overpaying a bit would be well worth it.
- Montreal Canadiens: Arizona’s Martin Hanzal would be a great target for the Habs, who Allen feels could use another scorer to make a Stanley Cup run. What would it take? Allen believes a young player and a draft pick.
- Detroit Red Wings: It hasn’t been easy to fill the enormous hole that Nicklas Lidstrom left four seasons ago, and the Wings have struggled to find any solutions. Allen believes the Carolina Hurricanes could provide some help in the way of defenseman Ryan Murphy. Allen predicts that the Red Wings could trade a young forward to land him, but also sees a number of potential suitors for Murphy, namely the Colorado Avalanche, Arizona Coyotes and Vancouver Canucks.
Metro Division Snapshots: Raanta, Calvert, Capitals
New York Rangers backup net minder Antti Raanta is 5 – 0 – 0 in six starts this season after besting the Penguins 5 – 2 Monday night and since joining the Blueshirts in 2015, the Finnish goalie 16 – 6 – 2 with a GAA of 2.20 and a Save % of 92.4%. While he isn’t a threat to the job of longtime Rangers starter Henrik Lundqvist, his superb play at the bargain basement price of $1M this year and next does give the Blueshirts one of the best backup bargains in the league, writes Brett Cyrgalis of the New York Post.
Raanta was acquired from Chicago in the summer of 2015 in exchange for minor league forward Ryan Haggerty to replace Cam Talbot as Lundqvist’s understudy. He spent two seasons with the Blackhawks and saw action in 39 games. Raanta was originally inked by Chicago as an undrafted free agent in 2013.
Even though “King” Henrik is the unquestioned starter in New York, the plan is for the Rangers to limit his usage somewhat in order to keep him fresh for the playoffs. As such, Raanta is expected to see action in around 25 games this season. His stellar play means there is little to no drop off from Lundqvist when Raanta is in goal.
Even though Raanta is under contract for one more season, it’s quite possible he won’t be with the Rangers beyond the 2016-17 campaign. With the Rangers required to protect Lundqvist in the expansion draft, the new Vegas Golden Knights franchise will have the option of selecting the 27-year-old Raanta. At the very least he would be an excellent #2 goalie at an inexpensive price for the Golden Knights in their inaugural season.
More from the Metro Division:
- The Columbus Blue Jackets announced via their official Twitter account that Matt Calvert would miss tonight’s game against Calgary with an upper-body-injury. To take his place the team recalled forward Markus Hannikainen from Cleveland of the AHL. Calvert, who was hit by a shot in a recent game against the Rangers which ultimately required 36 stitches to his forehead, has two goals in 17 games this season. Hannikainen, 23, made his NHL debut tonight and was held scoreless in 9:47 of ice itme. He has five goals and eight points in 14 games for the Monsters.
- With just more than $700K in salary cap space, the Washington Capitals have had to be creative managing their roster as injuries have begun to pile up, as Isabelle Khurshudyan of The Washington Post writes. After forward Paul Carey was reassigned to the AHL following Sunday’s game, the Caps were left with just 11 healthy forwards. Subsequently, reserve defenseman Nate Schmidt skated as a forward at practice. It’s an option head coach Barry Trotz may need to employ in an actual game should the situation warrant it. The piece gives an interesting insight into the complexities of roster management in the salary cap era. Every day the Capitals can avoid having to call up a minor league player such as Carey adds to the amount of salary cap space the team banks for use later in the campaign. While they may need to recall a player to play in a game, there is no sense carrying him on the roster during breaks in the schedule.
Vegas Notes: Exempt List, Salary Retention, Minority Owners
Earlier today, the full list of players who require protection from the expansion draft due to no-movement clauses was released, and it’s an interesting study to be sure. Out of the 66 names on the list, four teams are fully unhindered by the clauses. Calgary, San Jose, St. Louis and Washington are free to protect their full compliment of players, having not given out a single NMC that would fall under automatic protection. Even Brent Burns‘ new mega-deal doesn’t contain the clause, even though he would already be an obvious protection candidate.
While some of the information may be news to fans, each individual franchise likely had a good understanding of who would be on this list and shouldn’t be shocked by the release today. That doesn’t stop the speculation however, that teams like the Anaheim Ducks and New York Rangers will be looking to make a move to ensure they get something in return a young player instead of exposing him to the draft.
- Alex Prewitt of SI gave some interesting info today about the possibility of salary retention on selected players. Though the new franchise will be able to include salary in pre and post draft trades like any other club, they will not be able to reach a salary retention agreement with any selected player. This likely could have been used as a loophole to make deals with the Vegas club, something that the NHL wants to stop as much as possible. This draft is supposed to be as above-board as possible, with the league even saying everything will have to “pass the smell test”.
- Despite rumors circulating today that MLB free agent Jose Bautista and NFL star Rob Gronkowski were among those who held a minority stake in the Vegas hockey club, Prewitt reports that there is in fact no investors of any kind other than Bill Foley and the Maloof family. While Prewitt admits that there is a group of investors looking to form an LLC to invest in the Golden Knights, nothing has been submitted or approved by league offices, a required step for any investment.
Full List Of Mandatory-Protection Players In Expansion Draft
Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston has published the full list of players who, due to no-movement clauses in their current contracts, must be protected in the upcoming expansion draft for the new Vegas Golden Knights. These are players who will count against the protection limits should they choose not to waive their NMC rights prior to the draft.
Each team has the right to protect either:
A) Seven forwards, three defenders, one goaltender
or
B) Eight skaters, one goaltender
These players will count against those numbers, and as Johnston points out, there are some notable inclusions and omissions from this group. Players like Jordan Staal, Rick Nash and Bobby Ryan all had incorrect information spread about their contracts. The former two will now need protection, while the latter will not, due to his deal only having a no-movement to the minors clause.
The Chicago Blackhawks, with eight players listed, will have little flexibility at the draft, with only four forward spots (or one defenseman) left to use. Many others, according to Johnston, including Toronto’s Nathan Horton, are likely to be made exempt if they are still on LTIR as the draft approaches.
Snapshots: Buchnevich, Palmieri, Guentzel
News and notes from around the NHL this evening:
- The New York Rangers announced that forward Pavel Buchnevich will be out for two to three weeks with back spasms. The Russian prospect missed the past three games with back issues and underwent an MRI today to discern the problem. The MRI showed no structural damage, reports the New York Post’s Larry Brooks, but Buchnevich will need at least two weeks to strengthen his core. This injury—coupled with Mika Zibanejad‘s broken fibula last night—continues to deplete the Rangers’ roster. The team claimed Matt Puempel today in an effort to staunch the bleeding.
- The New Jersey Devils may be without forward Kyle Palmieri tonight against the San Jose Sharks, reports Andrew Gross of the North Jersey Record. Palmieri suffers from upper-body soreness and only briefly took part in today’s morning skate. The American winger has 3G and 4A in 17 games for the Devils, and the team hopes that Palmieri can eventually find the magic he harnessed last year.
- Jake Guentzel, the Pittsburgh Penguins 2013-third round pick, scored on his first shift in his first NHL game tonight against the New York Rangers. Guentzel was called up from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton after potting 7G and 10A in 16 games. Guentzel then went on to score a second goal in the first period. The last Penguin to do that was Luca Caputi back in 2009. Part-owner Mario Lemieux also scored his first goal on his first NHL shift.
Matt Puempel Claimed Off Waivers By Rangers
The New York Rangers have claimed Matt Puempel off waiver from the Ottawa Senators, according to Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston.
Puempel was the Senators first round pick in 2011, but has not been able to find consistent scoring in the NHL. He has played 13 games this season, but has not scored a point. He has six points in 52 NHL games over the last three seasons. Puempel has been a prolific scorer in the OHL and AHL, so perhaps a change of scenery will do him good. His contract is worth $900K and expires after this season.
Read more: Senators Place Matt Puempel On Waivers, Andrew Hammond Clears
The Rangers received some bad injury news on Monday morning, with former Senator Mika Zibanejad out for 6-8 weeks after breaking his fibula on Sunday night. New York will be hoping that Puempel can re-discover his scoring touch to help replace some of Zibanejad’s offence.
Mika Zibanejad Out 6-8 Weeks
For the second time in four days, an NHL player has broken his fibula.
On Thursday night, Arizona Coyotes forward Brad Richardson broke his fibula (and tibia) after being awkwardly fallen on by the 6’7, 265 lb Nikita Tryamkin.
Four days later, New York Rangers center Mika Zibanejad went hard into the end boards during the overtime period of Sunday night’s shootout loss to the Panthers (Streamable link of injury). As Zibanejad, who scored one of the Rangers goals in the third period, chased Panthers winger Reilly Smith around the Rangers net, his left skate became tangled with Smith’s feet and he crashed foot-first into the boards. He was down for several moments before being helped off the ice.
According to Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault, Zibanejad will miss 6-8 weeks with a broken fibula. The Rangers will not make any roster moves before Monday night’s game versus the Penguins, but Vigneault isn’t ruling out a call-up in the future. Oscar Lindberg was a healthy scratch against the Panthers, and will likely draw in against Pittsburgh. Lindberg has just one assist in seven games this season after scoring 28 points in 68 games last season. Vigneault is confident that “whoever [he] decide[s] to put in that spot will do the job for us.”
Zibanejad has been a good addition to the Rangers, who are sitting third in the NHL standings. He was acquired in a July trade with the Ottawa Senators that saw Derick Brassard and a 7th round pick sent away for Zibanejad and a 2nd round pick. While Brassard has just two goals and seven points in 18 games, Zibanejad has acclimated nicely to New York and has 15 points in 19 games.
Central Division Snapshots: Landeskog, Barrie, Kristo, Bitetto
It must be mailbag day on the NHL beat. Earlier we linked to Joe Haggerty’s piece on the Bruins and now Mike Chambers of The Denver Post chimes in answering some tough questions regarding the Avalanche. First and foremost, Chambers discusses Gabriel Landeskog and what his expectations are for the gifted power forward. In the opinion of the scribe, based on his talent and the fact he was the second overall pick in the 2011 draft, Landeskog has to start producing 30-goal seasons in order to live up to his billing.
Landeskog posted a career-high 26 goals in 2013-14 and since has recorded seasons of 23 and 20 markers. He has netted four goals in 15 games this season which would put him on a full-season pace of 20 – 21.
As Chambers notes, Landeskog is a good NHL player and is the Avalanche captain, but with Colorado once again off to a slow start, Colorado needs him to start being great if they want to sneak back into the playoff race. Currently, the five-year veteran left wing is out of action due to a lower-body-injury.
There were rumblings that Colorado could shake up its core this past summer and one player rumored to perhaps be moved in such a scenario was Landeskog. GM Joe Sakic instead kept the core intact and simply made a couple of changes around the edges. However, if Colorado doesn’t start playing better soon, they may revisit that choice and Landeskog could be made available later this season.
Elsewhere around the Central Division:
- In the same mailbag, Chambers took a question on Tyson Barrie. Barrie, prior to inking a four-year, $22MM extension this summer, was also thought to possibly be available via trade. As a right-handed blue liner with plenty of offensive ability, many teams would have been interested in Barrie’s services. Clearly he is viewed as a top-end puck moving defender, which as Chambers notes, often comes with high-risk, high-reward tendencies. Chambers argues that when the team is going well, the mistakes are easily overlooked. On the flip side, when things are not going so well, each mistake is magnified.
- St. Louis Blues and Pittsburgh completed a minor deal today, with minor league forward Danny Kristo headed to the Penguins and defenseman Reid McNeill headed the other way. The news was first reported via the Blues official Twitter account. Kristo was Montreal’s second-round pick in 2008 and has also played in the New York Rangers organization. He appeared in 71 games for the Chicago Wolves, tallying 25 goals and 48 points. McNeill, two years Kristo’s junior, was selected in the sixth-round of the 2010 draft by St. Louis. With 409 penalty minutes in 234 career minor league games, the 6-foot-4, 216-pound blue liner appears to be more of a physical force than an offensive threat. The trade likely serves as little more than two clubs searching for minor league depth with the Blues moving a forward while acquiring some blue line help.
- Nashville Predators defenseman Anthony Bitetto has been assigned to the club’s AHL affiliate on a conditioning assignment, tweets Adam Vingan of The Tennessean. Bitetto has been out since opening night with an upper-body-injury. It will be interesting to see what the Predators do once the 26-year-old blue liner completes his conditioning assignment. In his absence, Yannick Weber has stepped into the top-six and has three assists in 15 appearances. Former Shark Matt Irwin has replaced veteran Matt Carle in the lineup and has responded with three goals and five points in 10 games. It seems likely that Weber would be the odd man out though there is no indication from Nashville or Vingan that this is the case.
Rangers Notes: Nieves, Buchnevich, Injuries
It didn’t last long, but for Cristoval Nieves his first taste of the NHL was probably an exciting one. The hometown kid who was called up from the AHL on Monday was sent back to Hartford today, according to Steve Zipay of Newsday. Nieves played on Tuesday because of a rash of injuries that hit the Rangers, getting just under 12 minutes of icetime in a 7-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks.
Nieves will head back down to the AHL where he has six points in thirteen games. The former second-round pick will try to make his way back to the big leagues now that he has a taste of NHL game action.
- Pavel Buchnevich, one of the injured players who allowed for Nieves’ callup, will skate today according to Zipay but is still unlikely to play Friday against the Blue Jackets. The 21-year old has suffered from back spasms all year, only skating in 10 games thus far. Off to a blistering start in his rookie season, the Russian forward had already put up 8 points this season.
- Kevin Hayes and Derek Stepan, both banged up on Tuesday should be ready for the Blue Jackets. Hayes scored twice in the win, adding to his impressive point total of 16. Hayes is on pace to blow by last year’s of 14 goals, and the Rangers need him to. At just 24, perhaps he’s developing into something more than a secondary scoring option.
Lindros On Concussions
Newly-inducted NHL Hall of Famer Eric Lindros and the league’s concussion issues sadly go hand-in-hand. The star forward lost much of the prime of his career due to head injuries and his absence from the game for long periods of time was the first step toward the recognition of concussion problems in the NHL. Lindros reportedly suffered six concussions between 1998 and 2000 and sat out the entire 2000-01 season. Having retired in 2007 and taken a step back from the game, Lindros has had time to reflect on his career and on safety in pro hockey.
In a piece by ESPN’s Chuck Gormley, Lindros spoke out on some of his thoughts on the current state of the game and it’s concussion protocols. “It’s not about the number,” Lindros says, “It’s about the degree of each one and the makeup of each individual person. Everyone is completely different.” He added that “That’s the hard part of (the NHL’s new concussion protocol). Some guys will take a big hit and feel fine and not want to come out of a game. No one is ever going to question how tough these guys are. That’s why they had to take it out of the players’ hands.”
Starting this season, the NHL has added concussion spotters to every game. These trained professionals watch for head contact and have the authority to remove players from games at the sign of concussion symptoms. While it seems like a great additional layer to help assist with player safety, it is not a fool-proof plan. Concerns over when, and if, goalies should be pulled, as well as how strictly the concussion protocols will be followed in the postseason lead the many questions that players and teams have about the new system.
However, Lindros says that he is happy to see that the league is taking a hard stance against concussions and taking the decisions away from the individuals or teams. As a former physical player himself, his game likely would have been impacted by these rules, but his health may have benefited. Other suggestions that Lindros has for further enhancing the safety of the game include adding the red-line back in, to reduce open-ice hits, and to make rinks wider, increasing space and lessening the occurrence of more physical encounters.
While such extreme changes to the game seem unlikely as of now, Lindros is content with how the NHL has handled it’s concussion problem recently. As the face of the issue back in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, Lindros has more experience than he would have liked with head trauma and simply hopes to see a safer game for all players. For now, the Hall of Famer is just happy to have his own health back. “I feel lucky,” Lindros stated. “I feel good.”