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East Notes: Stamkos, Zadina, Islanders, Lundqvist

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The Tampa Bay Lightning are now down 1-0 in the Stanley Cup Finals and, of course, the question of Steven Stamkos’ availability came up in the most recent press conference. Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said he doubted that Stamkos would be ready for Game 2, but did speculate further on the possibility that Stamkos could make an appearance for the Lightning at some point in the series, according to The Athletic’s Joe Smith.

Cooper said that Stamkos is “inching closer” to a return and it’s “killing him” not to play, but the coach also said he refuses to put him in if he’s not ready. Cooper said the team needs to make sure his conditioning is up and both he and the medical staff are both comfortable with Stamkos on the ice.

  • The Detroit Red Wings sent 2018 first-round pick Filip Zadina to the Czech Republic to continue playing until the 2020-21 begins, but already have felt the danger of loaning out one of their players. HC Ocelari Trinec announced that Zadina will miss the next few weeks with a upper-body injury that he sustained during a game Sunday. While there is no word on how serious the injury is, the diagnosis that he will be out a few weeks likely means it won’t threaten his availability when the NHL begins their 2020-21 season, which likely now won’t be until at least January 2021. Zadina took over a top-six spot late in the season, scoring eight goals and 15 points in 28 games and is a key component to the team’s 2020-21 season.
  • With four pending unrestricted free agents coming up in the offseason, the New York Islanders have quite a few decisions to make about who they intend to keep. While general manager Lou Lamoriello was able to re-sign most of his UFA’s last season, that’s not likely to be the case. Newsday’s Andrew Gross reports that the team may only keep one of them this time around, suggesting that forward Matt Martin could be the only one to retain. The team isn’t likely to bring back goaltender Thomas Greiss now that Ilya Sorokin is on board, although Gross does add that Lamoriello does have a long-standing relationship with Andy Greene, so the team could potentially bring him back as well.
  • USA Today’s Vince Mercogliano looks at the Rangers goaltending situation, suggesting the Rangers may have no choice but to buyout long-time Rangers icon Henrik Lundqvist when the buyout window opens on Sept. 25. General manager Jeff Gorton said he doesn’t plan to keep three goaltenders on the roster and word is the Rangers have not liked any offers they’ve received for Alexandar Georgiev, suggesting the team could save significant cap space in the future if they let go of Lundqvist, including $3MM next season and quite a bit more in 2021-22. With a trade unlikely for Lundqvist even if the Rangers retain half of his $8.5MM salary, the team could announce a buyout as soon as Friday, although at this point, anything is still possible.

 

Adam Huska Loaned To HKM Zvolen

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While much of the focus this offseason revolves around the New York Rangers three-headed goaltending problem at the NHL level, another one of their netminders will head overseas to get his game in order. Adam Huska, who spent most of the season in the AHL with the Hartford Wolf Pack, has been loaned to HKM Zvolen in Slovakia to start the year.

Huska, 23, was a seventh-round pick of the Rangers in 2015 but has consistently developed his game in various North American leagues. The Slovakian-born netminder first joined the Green Bay Gamblers of the USHL where he was named the goaltender of the year, before heading to the University of Connecticut in the NCAA. After an up-and-down collegiate career, Huska signed a two-year entry-level contract with the Rangers in 2019.

With just one year remaining on that contract, the young goaltender will have to prove he can handle the AHL before the Rangers commit to another deal. Huska recorded just an .894 save percentage in 28 games and will have some extra competition from Tyler Wall in 2020-21. For now, he’ll get started overseas and try to take his game to another level as we all wait for the AHL season to get underway at some point in the winter.

Goaltending Notes: Lehner, Lundqvist, Free Agency

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Robin Lehner has shutout another opponent, blanking the Dallas Stars last night to even the Western Conference Finals at a game apiece. That was Lehner’s fourth shutout of the postseason, raising his overall save percentage to .924 and lowering his goals-against-average to a measly 1.84. The big trade acquisition has been outstanding for the Golden Knights since arriving, which makes it easy to see why the team is trying to keep him around long-term.

Jesse Granger of The Athletic writes that talks have already begun between the Golden Knights and Lehner on a long-term extension, though it’s not clear exactly what price tag a new contract would come with. A move of that nature however would likely spell the end of Marc-Andre Fleury’s time in Vegas, if only because it would be too expensive to keep them both on the roster. Fleury, who has also performed well in his lessened role this postseason, has two more years on his contract at a $7MM cap hit and holds a 10-team no-trade clause.

  • Another legendary goaltender may be getting pushed out this offseason, as Rick Carpiniello of The Athletic writes that Henrik Lundqvist’s career with the New York Rangers is coming to an end as the team “must buy him out and they know it.” Lundqvist has just a single year left on his contract but has been passed by two different young goaltenders in New York. A buyout would save the Rangers just $3MM of his $8.5MM cap hit in 2020-21 and force a $1.5MM penalty onto the books for 2021-22.
  • If Lehner re-signs with the Golden Knights, and the Vancouver Canucks manage to bring back Jacob Markstrom as they indicated yesterday, the free agent pool for goaltenders suddenly doesn’t look quite as impressive. Sure, there are still plenty of names available like Thomas Greiss, Anton Khudobin, and Cam Talbot, but if Markstrom and Lehner both re-up with their current teams it is going to leave Braden Holtby as the only UFA starter that isn’t already in his mid-thirties. That can only help Holtby’s market, but it also could lead more teams to consider the trade route with options like Matt Murray and Frederik Andersen both potentially on the market.

Overseas Notes: Hajek, Zboril, Plekanec, Sulzer

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Add a pair of young defensemen to the ever-growing list of players heading to Europe to begin their 2020-21 seasons. Michael Kosturik of Czech source iSport reports that the New York Rangers’ Libor Hajek and the Boston Bruins’ Jakub Zboril with join HC Kometa Brno of the Czech Extraliga ahead of the start of the NHL season. Hajek, 22, is under contract with the Rangers for the coming season and the two teams are currently hammering out the details on a short-term loan. Zboril has joined the squad on his own accord as an impending restricted free agent. However, Kosturik does add that the Bruins are interested in an extension with the first-round prospect. Zboril has played in just two games for Boston, but has been a steady, consistent defender for the AHL’s Providence Bruins over three pro seasons. Hajek on the other hand played the majority of his games with New York this season and has 33 NHL games total on his resume. While offense has been hard to come by at any level, Hajek is growing into a reliable stay-at-home defenseman. The pair will provide a major boost to Brno to begin the season, who at this point have not been able to recruit any other NHLers on short-term loans or contracts.

  • Long-time NHLer Tomas Plekanec played last season in Brno, but will now return to Rytiri Kladno of the Czech 2nd League, with whom he spent part of the 2018-19 season. Due to family reasons, Plekanec announced last month that he would be leaving Brno to return to his hometown of Kladno. However, it was unclear whether he would continue playing or not. Plekanec was very successful last season with 33 points in 50 games, but at age 37 no one would have been surprised to see him opt to retire. Yet, it seems his friend and legendary player-owner of Kladno Jaromir Jagr, 48, has convinced him to give it one last try – or more accurately two – as the club has announced a two-year deal with Plekanec. Plekanec and Jagr worked hard to get Kladno elevated from Czech2 to the Extraliga in 2018-19 only for the team to be relegated this past season in Plekanec’s absence. The duo will undoubtedly have their sights set on getting the club back to the top level again this year.
  • One former NHLer who is calling it a career is defenseman Alexander Sulzer. Sulzer, 36, played in 131 NHL games with four teams over seven seasons in North America. One of the best defensemen to ever come out of Germany, representing the country twice at the Olympic Games, Sulzer returned home to play in the DEL in 2014-15. He spent five seasons with Kolner Haie before moving to Dusseldorfer EG last season. However, he never played for the team as he required surgery to remove a tumor on his spine last summer which caused him to miss the entirety of the season. In the year since his operation, Sulzer has come to the decision not to try to return to play and the DEL announced that he has officially retired. A big, balanced defenseman, Sulzer made an impact in the NHL and an even greater impact in his native Germany over a long career.

Snapshots: King Clancy Trophy, Kucherov, Bishop, Holzapfel

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Now that the NHL has reached the conference championship phase of the playoffs, so too can the NHL awards, which are expected to be handed out day-by-day over the next couple of weeks. First up is expected to be the King Clancy Trophy, awarded to the player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a noteworthy humanitarian contribution in his community. The trophy will be awarded this evening before the start of Game 1 between the Vegas Golden Knights and the Dallas Stars. The three finalists for the awards are Minnesota Wild’s Matt Dumba, New York Rangers’ Henrik Lundqvist and New Jersey Devils’ P.K. Subban.

Dumba has been committed to racial and social justice and the Hockey is for Everyone initiative and helped form the Hockey Diversity Alliance with seven current and former NHL players. Lundqvist supports several different initiatives, including aid for children’s health, education, underprivileged youth, Hockey Fights Cancer and the Make a Wish Foundation. Subban also supports several groups, including initiatives for underprivileged youth, medical support and promoting racial and social injustice.

  • Despite the bad news that the Tampa Bay Lightning will have to go through the Eastern Conference Finals without Steven Stamkos, the team did get some good news, however, on the injury front. The Athletic’s Joe Smith reports that first-line forward Nikita Kucherov is expected to be available Monday for the Lightning’s first game against the New York Islanders. Kucherov was forced to leave Game 5 against the Boston Bruins with an undisclosed injury, but has had almost a week to recover. The 27-year-old has been quite effective in the playoffs so far with four goals and 16 points in 13 games.
  • The Dallas Stars will be without starting goaltender Ben Bishop once again as The Athletic’s Sean Shapiro reports that Bishop and defenseman Taylor Fedun remain “unfit to play.” Both skated today, but neither appear ready to play. The scribe did add that forwards Andrew Cogliano and Mattias Janmark are both expected to be game-time decisions today. Bishop has appeared in just three games during the playoffs and hasn’t made an appearance since Aug. 31 against Colorado when he allowed four goals in 13 minutes before being replaced. The team will rely on Anton Khudobin once again, who is 8-5 with a .909 save percentage in 14 games during the playoffs.
  • Former AHL forward Riley Holzapfel announced his retirement after spending his four years with the Vienna Capitals of the Austrian League. Holzapfel was a second-round pick of the Atlanta Thrashers in 2006 and five season in the AHL before opting to play overseas in 2013, playing three seasons in the SHL before joining Vienna in 2016. He was never able to break into the NHL, however. The 32-year-old was still productive with Vienna, scoring 18 goals and 46 assists in 48 games.

New York Rangers Hire Jacques Martin

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When Lindy Ruff was hired to be the next head coach of the New Jersey Devils, it left a vacancy on the bench for the New York Rangers. Ruff had been coaching in New York for three seasons, lending his wealth of experience to rookie head coach David Quinn. Now Quinn will have a different veteran voice as the Rangers have announced the hiring of Jacques Martin as an assistant for the upcoming season.

Martin, 67, has been an NHL coach since 1986, serving in various positions on eight different teams. Most recently he had served as an assistant with the Pittsburgh Penguins, spending the last seven years with the organization. When the Penguins were knocked out unceremoniously this summer, all of the assistants were chopped, leaving Martin a high profile free agent.

The Rangers snapped him up quickly and will add him to a group that has a bright future ahead of them. New York made waves this season with their strong play despite committing to a rebuild just a few years ago and now have a chance to compete for the playoffs in 2020-21. Martin’s defensive structure will likely be implemented with a young blueline group that has plenty of upside, including a pair of 22-year-olds in Ryan Lindgren and Adam Fox.

Martin brings decades of experience and was with the Penguins for their latest two Stanley Cups. He has been a head coach for 1,294 regular season games, good enough for 14th all-time. Though it’ll be Quinn’s team, you can bet he’ll lean on the experience and success that Martin brings.

East Notes: Kravtsov, Svechnikov, McDonagh

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New York Rangers fans learned more than a week ago that prospect Vitali Kravtsov would be loaned to his former team, Traktor Chelyabinsk in the KHL this coming season. However, a small wrinkle developed since as Traktor announced the transaction this morning, revealing that Kravtsov was going to spend the entire season with their team.

That was contrary to general beliefs that the 20-year-old Russian would spend time in North America with a chance to win a roster spot with the Rangers in 2020-21. Up until now, most teams are loaning their prospects overseas with the ability to recall them for NHL training camps whenever that will be. That may not be the case here, although a recent report from USA Today’s Vince Mercogliano suggests that the Rangers can recall him at any time. However, the scribe adds that the team could very conceivably leave him in Russia for the entire KHL season, although the team will likely wait to see how he fares.

Kravtsov, who had a tumultuous first pro season in which he split time between the AHL, KHL, VHL and then back to the KHL, isn’t expected to automatically win a spot on the Rangers roster and with the AHL season being pushed back until December, it makes lots of sense to allow him to develop for a full season in the KHL to develop his skills. Whether New York will recall him for training camp in November or December isn’t clear, but it should be noted that unless Traktor makes the playoffs, he could be available to join the Rangers in late February or after his team is eliminated in the playoffs, which means he could be available to join the Rangers with plenty of season left in the NHL.

  • NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti reports that Carolina Hurricanes forward Andrei Svechnikov, who suffered what looked to be a severe ankle sprain during the team’s series against the Boston Bruins, said he’s feeling 100 percent and believes that he would be able to play now for the Hurricanes had the team managed to get past Boston in the first round. Svechnikov was a key component to the team’s success with four goals and seven points in six playoff games before being injured in Game 3. The Hurricanes lost consecutive one-goal games in Games 4 & 5, suggesting his play could have made the difference in the series.
  • The Tampa Bay Lightning will be without veteran defenseman Ryan McDonagh for Game 4 in a key game against the Boston Bruins, according to The Athletic’s Joe Smith. McDonagh, who has been out since suffering an undisclosed injury in Game 1, will be replaced once again with two defensemen as the team is expected to play Braydon Coburn and Luke Schenn as the team will go with seven defensemen for a second straight game.

 

Chris Drury Withdraws From Florida’s GM Search

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The Panthers have cast a wide net as they look to find a replacement for former GM Dale Tallon whose contract was not renewed.  In recent weeks, Scott Mellanby, John Ferguson Jr., Bill Armstrong, Laurence Gilman, Sean Burke, Ron Hextall, and Kevin Weekes have all interviewed for the position, and Florida Hockey Now’s adds Peter CHiarelli and Eddie Olczyk to the list as well. Rangers Assistant GM Chris Drury additionally interviewed for the vacancy.  However, as Florida sets their shortlist for the next round of interviews, Drury has withdrawn his name from consideration, reports Larry Brooks of the New York Post.

Drury has been with New York since 2015 when he started as their Director of Player Development.  He was promoted to assistant GM the following year and became GM of AHL Hartford in 2017 as well.  In 2019, he got his first international GM assignment when he headed up Team USA at the World Championships.  That experience made it no surprise when he came under consideration to replace Tallon.

His name has come up for several GM vacancies around the league over the years so while he won’t wind up with this job, it only seems like a matter of time before Drury gets a chance to run his own NHL team.  No reason for withdrawing from this search was given.

Meanwhile, Brooks adds a couple more names to the list of candidates in former Boston and Edmonton GM Peter Chiarelli and Blackhawks/NBC analyst Eddie Olczyk.  He mentions that both are expected to be among the finalists for the position.

New York Rangers To Loan Vitali Kravtsov To KHL

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The New York Rangers have decided to send Vitali Kravtsov back to the KHL, at least for now. Larry Brooks of the New York Post reports that Kravtsov will be loaned back to Traktor Chelyabinsk for the 2020-21 season.

It’s been a very interesting year for Kravtsov, the ninth-overall pick from 2018. Last September it seemed as though he may challenge for a roster spot in the NHL with the Rangers, but after failing to make the team and being sent to the minor leagues things quickly went awry. Kravtsov was a healthy scratch for the Hartford Wolf Pack and played just five minor league games before exercising his European Assignment Clause to return to the KHL.

Less than two months after arriving in Russia though, he ended up back on a plane to Hartford where he spent the rest of the season. In all, Kravtsov played just 11 games for Traktor (scoring three points) while suiting up 39 times for the Wolf Pack. Splitting 50 games between two different leagues (and continents), while scoring only 18 points certainly isn’t the usual path for a top prospect with as much skill as Kravtsov, but that’s exactly what happened in this case.

Brooks does not specify whether Kravtsov will be back for NHL training camp in a few months, but even if he did there’s no telling for certain at this point. What is important, at least for fans of the Rangers hoping for another top offensive weapon, is that he’s going to be getting into game action quickly and (hopefully) consistently. Still just 20 years old, Kravtsov has a long playing career ahead of him and years of development to go.

Panthers Receive Permission To Interview Rangers Assistant GM Chris Drury

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While the Panthers have a couple of months before the offseason opens up, it appears that they are looking to fill their GM vacancy quickly.  Last week, Canadiens assistant GM Scott Mellanby and former Kings executive Mike Futa were linked to Florida and Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported in the latest Saturday Headlines segment (video link) that Rangers assistant GM Chris Drury has received permission to interview for the position.

Drury has been with the Rangers since 2015 when he joined them as their Director of Player Development.  The following year, he was promoted to assistant GM and became GM of AHL Hartford in 2017 as well.  In 2019, he got his first international GM role when he was in charge of Team USA at the World Championships where they lost in the quarterfinals.  Given his experience, his name has come up for several GM vacancies around the league over the years.

Friedman adds that Bruins assistant GM John Ferguson Jr. and Maple Leafs assistant GM Laurence Gilman are also believed to be interview targets although those have not been finalized as of yet.  Ferguson Jr. spent five seasons as Toronto’s GM from 2003-04 through 2007-08 while Gilman hasn’t had the opportunity to be a GM at the NHL level.

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