Tuukka Rask Officially Signs PTO With AHL’s Providence Bruins
Jan 7: Rask’s return to the P-Bruins will have to wait. The AHL has announced that games originally scheduled for tonight and Sunday will now be moved to April due to COVID-19 protocols affecting the Phantoms, meaning there are no Providence games until January 14 against the Hartford Wolf Pack.
The Maine Mariners, Boston’s ECHL affiliate, play the Adirondack Thunder tonight, tomorrow and Sunday, so perhaps there is a chance that Rask sees action there instead.
Jan 6: After being rumoured this past week, unrestricted free agent goalie Tuukka Rask is officially on his way to making a comeback in Boston. The Bruins announced this morning that he’s signed a professional tryout agreement with their AHL affiliate in Providence.
Rask will play his first AHL game in 13 years when he starts for Providence against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms tomorrow. His last season with Providence was in 2008-09, where he played in 57 games and posted a 33-20-4 record and .915 save percentage.
The 34-year-old Rask didn’t sign a contract with the Bruins this offseason after he underwent hip surgery, which left his playing future uncertain. Once it became clear that Rask would be able to return to NHL hockey, the NHL granted Rask and the Bruins an exemption, allowing Rask to use the Bruins’ facilities while unsigned to assist in his recovery.
His return casts some serious uncertainty over what the Bruins’ goalie depth chart could look like, however. The plan always seemed to be, at least after signing Linus Ullmark to a big-money deal this offseason, that Jeremy Swayman would head down to Providence to make room for Rask as he doesn’t require waivers.
That’s a tough decision to make at this point in the season, though. Swayman’s put up better stats than Ullmark this season and has received nearly equal usage, with Swayman putting up a .920 save percentage in 15 starts and Ullmark putting up a .917 in 14 starts.
It’s a decision to make later, though. For now, Bruins fans and staff are happy to have Rask back with the team, and Rask is certainly happy to get one more shot, maybe his last, at a Stanley Cup ring.
When Rask eventually plays for Boston this season, though, it will be the return of a living legend to the Bruins crease. He’s first in franchise history in terms of games played (560), wins (306), and save percentage (min. 50 games) (.921).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Minnesota Wild Extend Dean Evason
Ahead of this weekend’s Winter Classic, the Minnesota Wild have left a present under the tree of each member of their coaching staff. Dean Evason and his entire staff have signed multi-year contract extensions. Evason, assistants Darby Hendrickson, Brett McLean, and Bob Woods, goaltending coach Frederic Chabot, and video coaches T.J. Jindra and Jonas Plumb aren’t going anywhere.
Hired partway through the 2019-20 season, Evason has done nothing but win since arriving in Minnesota. The team has a 62-29-7 record during his 98 games behind the bench, including a 19-9-2 record this season. There is obvious buy-in from many of the team’s stars, while other players like Joel Eriksson Ek have taken huge leaps in development since Evason took over.
An extension for the head coach was always likely given his success, but the Wild have rewarded the entire staff for how they work together. It’s not often you see such a widespread contract announcement, but management obviously likes what’s going on behind the bench and on the ice.
The Wild take on the St. Louis Blues at Target Field on Saturday night in what looks like it will be one of the coldest NHL games of all time. Perhaps the security a new contract extension brings can keep Evason warm as he tries to navigate the wintery outdoor game.
NHL Officially Withdraws From Olympic Participation
Though there have been signs for weeks and reports over the last few days, the NHL had not officially confirmed whether or not they will be participating in the Olympics–until now. The league has issued a statement from commissioner Gary Bettman explaining their withdrawal from the Games, noting the same “profound” disruption that they had warned about:
The National Hockey League respects and admires the desire of NHL Players to represent their countries and participate in a ‘best on best’ tournament. Accordingly, we have waited as long as possible to make this decision while exploring every available option to enable our Players to participate in the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. Unfortunately, given the profound disruption to the NHL’s regular-season schedule caused by recent COVID-related events — 50 games already have been postponed through Dec. 23 — Olympic participation is no longer feasible. We certainly acknowledge and appreciate the efforts made by the International Olympic Committee, the International Ice Hockey Federation and the Beijing Organizing Committee to host NHL Players but current circumstances have made it impossible for us to proceed despite everyone’s best efforts. We look forward to Olympic participation in 2026.
Our focus and goal have been and must remain to responsibly and safely complete the entirety of the NHL regular season and Stanley Cup Playoffs in a timely manner. Therefore, with stringent health protocols once again in place, we will begin utilizing available dates during the Feb. 6-22 window (originally contemplated to accommodate Olympic participation) to reschedule games that have been, or may yet be, postponed.
Of note, this is not a joint release with the NHLPA. The NHL has taken the lead here, even though there were obvious concerns from the players as well. For their part, the NHLPA has released a statement from executive director Don Fehr:
Since the CBA extension was reached 17 months ago, NHL players have looked forward with great anticipation to once again participating in the Winter Olympics. Until very recently, we seemed to be on a clear path to go to Beijing. COVID-19 has unfortunately intervened, forcing dozens of games to be postponed this month alone. No matter how much we wish it were not the case, we need to utilize the Olympic period to reschedule these games.
Certainly, the players and hockey fans are quite disappointed. But playing a full 82-game season this year, something the pandemic has prevented us from doing since the 2018-19 season, is very important. We expect that NHL players will return to the Olympics in 2026.
The players will continue to push for NHL participation in the 2026 Games, something that seems very far away at the moment. Those games will be held in Italy, hopefully with the best players in the world participating. To be clear, players are not allowed to individually opt into attending the 2022 Games without facing punishment from the league.
With the vast amount of postponements recently, there will be serious changes to the schedule in February.
NHL To Shut Down From December 22-25
The outbreak of COVID-19 cases across the NHL has finally come to a head. The league has announced they will postpone the five games remaining on December 23, essentially lengthening the holiday break from December 22-25. Teams will report back to their facilities on December 26 and games will resume the following day.
While many of the games originally scheduled for the rest of this week have already been postponed, the early shutdown will mean that the five games still on the docket for Thursday, December 23, will now be postponed as well. That includes Flyers-Penguins, Capitals-Islanders, Stars-Blackhawks, Lightning-Coyotes, and Kings-Knights. The two games scheduled for tomorrow, Capitals-Flyers and Lightning-Knights, will proceed as scheduled before operations are suspended on Wednesday.
Rather than hold to the initial holiday break of December 24-26, players and staff will return to action a day early to resume testing. In addition to games, practice, and all other team activities being suspended during the shutdown, testing will also not occur, but the league will be eager to check in on its players before returning to action. Friedman notes that all players and staff will require a negative COVID test before re-entering team facilities.
With even more games being postponed and the mounting pressure on the NHL and its players to pull out of the 2022 Winter Olympics, with rumors abound that this decision has already been made, Bally Sports’ Andy Strickland reports that the league will be forced to use the planned Olympic break to instead make up the numerous games they have lost over the past couple of weeks. The league could address this plan and Olympic intentions when announcing the shutdown.
Paul Maurice Resigns From Winnipeg Jets
The Winnipeg Jets have announced some shocking news, revealing that Paul Maurice has resigned as head coach effective immediately. Dave Lowry will take over head coaching duties on an interim basis.
Maurice met with the media to explain why he has made the decision to leave and said that the Jets are a very good team but they’ve consistently performed under where they could be of late. He stated that he believes it’s time for a new voice behind the bench in Winnipeg, despite noting that he doesn’t believe the team “quit” on him. Maurice spoke with general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff about the situation last summer, and there was no single breaking point, just that there needed to be a new voice.
The veteran coach is proud of the work he did in Winnipeg, explaining that he believes he helped take them from a “bottom 10 situation to a top 10 situation.” He mentioned the “law of diminishing returns” to explain that when he pushes a button now, he doesn’t get quite the same reaction.
Maurice had been the second longest-tenured coach in the NHL, behind only Jon Cooper of the Tampa Bay Lightning. He had another year on his contract with the Jets, though it was an option that will obviously now not be exercised. He explained that he’s not embarrassed by this decision and “feels good” that he doesn’t have a game to coach tonight or a job to chase tomorrow. He noted that may be the first time in 26 years that he has felt that way.
It’s been “more of a grind” for Maurice to come to the rink the last two years, as the excitement has waned for him after a long career. That was especially true during last year’s season without fans; the coach asked the collected media “what’s the point” without the energy in the building.
To sum it up, Maurice said this:
I just don’t want to watch those guys fight for the rest of the year, when I think they could be better with someone else.
Cheveldayoff explained that Lowry is expected to serve as head coach the rest of the season.
Detroit Red Wings Extend Robby Fabbri
Ever since Robby Fabbri arrived in Detroit early in the 2019-20 season, it has been obvious that he is perfect fit with the Red Wings. Now the team has made sure that he won’t be playing anywhere else any time soon. The Red Wings have announced a three-year, $12MM contract extension with Fabbri, keeping the 25-year-old forward under contract through the 2024-25 season. Fabbri had been scheduled for unrestricted free agency this summer.
Since Fabbri was acquired by Detroit from the Blues (regrettably for St. Louis in exchange for Jacob de La Rose), he is third in scoring for the club. Even more impressive is that he has accomplished this despite missing 26 games last season. Overall, Fabbri has 32 goals and 63 points in 110 games with the Red Wings. Though health has been an issue for Fabbri throughout his career, when on the ice he is an effective offensive weapon and has carved out a crucial top-six role for himself on a club looking to transition from rebuild to relevance. Perhaps it is not a coincidence that Fabbri has not missed any time so far this season and Detroit has taken a major step forward, with Fabbri on pace for over 20 goals and 40 points.
Moving forward with the Wings, Fabbri will remain a part of a talented group of core forwards with room still to grow alongside Dylan Larkin, Tyler Bertuzzi, and Jakub Vrana. Detroit is projecting improvement from Fabbri with the $4MM AAV on his new deal, an improvement on his current $2.95MM, but it is easy to see Fabbri’s numbers continuing to rise if he stays healthy. Additionally, with a vast number of talented younger players either on the roster or on the way soon, this group will also be the leadership unit for the Red Wings up front, which is also contributed to the value calculation of Fabbri’s new deal. A fan favorite who plays hard and puts up points, extending Fabbri was an easy decision for GM Steve Yzerman as he continues to shape his rebuilding club for future success.
Stars Recall Ben Bishop From Conditioning Loan, Playing Career To End
Ben Bishop‘s attempt to return to the crease for the Stars has come to an end. The team announced this morning that they’ve recalled the netminder from his conditioning assignment with AHL Texas but that he will remain on Long-Term Injured Reserve (LTIR) due to his current knee injury. Later in the day, Stars GM Jim Nill told Matthew DeFranks of the Dallas Morning News that Bishop’s playing days are over:
“It’s no secret, he has a degenerative knee injury, and he went down there, he wanted to be a big part of this. He wanted to do everything he could to get back. In the end, by going through the process, going down there and playing, he found out that it’s the end of his career.”
The 35-year-old missed all of last season due to the injury plus the first couple of months of 2021-22. He made one appearance with Texas and it didn’t go well as he allowed eight goals on 26 shots and clearly, something didn’t go right with his knee with Bishop asking Dallas to end the conditioning loan early and shut him down. The netminder is scheduled to speak to the media on Tuesday.
His playing days come to an end with 413 games played for five different teams. He was a three-time Vezina Trophy finalist and posted a 2.32 GAA along with a save percentage of .921 along with 33 shutouts. He is signed through next season with a $4.916MM AAV and will remain on LTIR during that stretch.
From a cap perspective, this lessens their need to try to move veteran goaltender Anton Khudobin. While he’s clearly the odd man out in their goaltending trio at the moment, they would have needed to clear his contract off the books outright plus free up a bit more room in order to activate Bishop. With that not happening anymore, they can now afford to be more patient in looking for the right return and will be able to take a player back instead of needing to clear his entire $3.33MM AAV off the books. Dallas made Khudobin available earlier this month after Jake Oettinger came up from the minors and has been quite dominant in his first seven appearances, posting a 1.52 GAA with a .951 SV%.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Vancouver Canucks Hire Jim Rutherford
The Vancouver Canucks are set to bring in some veteran front office leadership, announcing Jim Rutherford as the new president of hockey operations. Rutherford will also take on the role of interim general manager for the time being, while he leads the search for a new one. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic notes that it’s a three-year deal for Rutherford in Vancouver. Canucks owner Francesco Aquilini released a statement on the hire:
It is time for a new vision and a new leader who will set a path forward for this team. Jim has tremendous experience building and leading winning organizations and I believe he will help build the Vancouver Canucks into a team that can compete for championships again.
Rutherford, 72, left the Pittsburgh Penguins in January, resigning his position as general manager. In the following months, reports started to surface that the legendary executive wasn’t finished with his front office career and would look for a new opportunity somewhere else at some point. It appears as though the Canucks, who cleared out their coaching staff and hockey operations group this month, is that opportunity.
After firing head coach Travis Green, assistant coach Nolan Baumgartner, general manager Jim Benning, and assistant general manager John Weisbrod, the Canucks have actually won two games in a row. Bruce Boudreau is now behind the bench as head coach, and with Rutherford joining the front office, the team is obviously not going to deal with any inexperience moving forward. It would have been difficult to find a coach-GM/president pair with more experience actually, given how long Rutherford and Boudreau have been around the NHL.
First taking over as GM of an NHL franchise in 1994 with the Hartford Whalers, Rutherford navigated the relocation to Carolina and won a Stanley Cup with the Hurricanes in 2006. He joined the Penguins in 2014 and took home two more championships, before leaving the organization earlier this year. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder in 2020. Known for his blockbuster deals and out-of-nowhere free agent signings, Rutherford is extremely well-respected around the game even if not all of his moves pay off.
In Vancouver, it’s stability and structure that is necessary now, as they transition away from the Benning era. The team has some spectacular talents at the core of the team, but things have not gone well in recent years. In fact, the team has only made the playoffs a single time since 2015-16, reaching the second round in the 2020 bubble postseason. Rutherford will now decide how to shape the roster around Quinn Hughes, Elias Pettersson, and Thatcher Demko, and whether or not they want to strip things down before building it back up.
Darren Dreger of TSN first reported that things were “escalating” between the two sides and a deal was expected.
Jason Spezza Suspended Six Games For Kneeing
Toronto Maple Leafs forward Jason Spezza was suspended six games by the NHL Department of Player Safety Tuesday for kneeing Winnipeg Jets defenseman Neal Pionk.
In determining the length of the suspension, according to the explanation video, the Department does take into account the play leading up to this that resulted in a two-game suspension for Pionk.
As outlined by the Collective Bargaining Agreement, it is important to note the prior events in this game which occurred that led to this play. A little over a minute before this incident occurred, Pionk injured Maple Leafs defenseman Rasmus Sandin with a knee-to-knee check, a hit for which Pionk has been suspended. Spezza acknowledges that he was aware that the player he was checking was Pionk.
Additionally, the explanation video from the Department outlines a series of arguments made by the Leafs and Spezza in Tuesday’s hearing in defense of the player.
First, the Maple Leafs argued that this is not kneeing. We disagree, as this is clearly a case in which Spezza’s leading knee makes direct and forceful contact with his opponent. We also note that there is past precedent of our Department penalizing knees to an opponent’s head under the kneeing rule. Second, both the Maple Leafs and Spezza argued that Pionk is eligible to be checked on this play, and we agree. While every play is different, there is no league rule against hitting a player who is low to the ice, provided the hit is delivered in an otherwise legal fashion. However, it is important to note that it is often extremely difficult to deliver a legal check to a player in a vulnerable position, and the onus remains on the player throwing the check to adjust himself to ensure the hit is delivered legally… Finally, Spezza argued that he would have been able to deliver this check legally had Pionk not fallen further toward the ice, materially changing the position of his head after Spezza had already committed to the hit. We do not agree.
The Department goes on to acknowledge the fact that Spezza has no suspension history in his 19-year NHL career, but believes that the retaliatory nature of the play warrants the suspension.
Ultimately, while we believe that Spezza’s long history of clean play supports his argument that he does not intentionally drive his knee into the head of Pionk, this is a play in which he is attempting to enact forceful retribution on a player who was in a vulnerable position.
Pionk did indeed suffer an injury on the play as alluded to in the video. He was placed in concussion protocol today as a direct cause of the Spezza knee.
However, it may not be the end of the road for this story. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that Spezza plans on appealing the suspension, which will go directly to Commissioner Gary Bettman. Spezza then has the option to elect for an independent arbitrator.
Philadelphia Flyers Fire Alain Vigneault
The Vancouver Canucks aren’t the only ones making a coaching change. Alain Vigneault has been relieved of his duties as head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers. Vigneault is under contract through the 2023-24 season and is one of the highest-paid coaches in the league with a $5MM salary. Assistant coach Michel Therrien has also been relieved of his duties. Mike Yeo will take over as interim head coach for the time being.
Vigneault, 60, was hired by the Flyers in 2019 after a few years away from the game, and had the team playing incredibly well in his first season behind the bench. Philadelphia posted a 41-21-7 record through the first 69 games of the 2019-20 season before the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown the NHL. When the Flyers returned for the bubble playoffs things didn’t look quite as good, but they still reached game seven of the second round against the New York Islanders after dispatching the Montreal Canadiens. Since that 4-0 defeat against the Islanders, in which they generated just 16 shots despite having won both game five and game six in overtime to extend the series, the Flyers haven’t looked the same.
The team posted a 25-23-8 record in 2020-21, missing the playoffs entirely by finishing sixth in the East Division. The Flyers were the only team in the entire NHL to allow more than 200 goals against in the shortened season, routinely seeing big, crooked numbers put up against them. Combine that with the fact that they scored only 163 and even those 25 wins seem like an unlikely total.
This year, things haven’t been much better. Philadelphia has lost eight in a row, are 1-7-2 in their last ten and were just embarrassed on home ice last night. A 7-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning with Carter Hart getting pulled after five goals on 15 shots was the dagger, in this case, as Vigneault will not get another chance to break the streak and turn things around.
He will be paid handsomely though, as relieving a coach of their duties in the NHL does not break their contract. He’ll be paid by the Flyers for the next two and a half years unless another team buys out part of the contract in order to hire him for their own team. The obvious speculation would land on a return to the Montreal Canadiens, who not only have leaned toward French-speaking head coaches but also now have an extra connection to Vigneault through the executive vice president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton, who worked with him (and fired him) in New York.
Yeo, who takes over as interim head coach, will be on his third stint leading a bench in the NHL. His first was with the Minnesota Wild under now-Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher, where he made the playoffs in three of five seasons. He then took over in St. Louis but was let go before two full years had even played out, with Craig Berube taking his place and leading the Blues to a Stanley Cup championship. Overall, his record as a head coach in the NHL sits at 246-181-55.
Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff was first to break the news.