Gerard Gallant Expected To Be Named Vegas’ Head Coach
Per Sportsnet, the Vegas Golden Knights are set to name Gerard Gallant the first head coach in team history. Gallant was recently the head coach of the Florida Panthers, a post he was fired from back in November. Las Vegas Review-Journal writer Steve Carp wrote a piece indicating Gallant as the choice while Dreger tweeted confirmation later. Though Vegas owner Bill Foley would not confirm Gallant as the next head coach, he did say that the press conference will take place Thursday.
TSN’s Bob McKenzie tweeted earlier in the day that Gallant was in the mix in Dallas, which eventually went to Ken Hitchcock, who is now in his second go around with the Stars. Gallant brings an impressive resume to Vegas, a team that will have one of the better competitive advantages in comparison to other NHL expansion teams, thanks to parity within the league. Gallant led Florida to a division title and the organization’s best finish in regular season history before being abruptly fired by then-general manager Tom Rowe in November.
Tomorrow’s press conference is set for noon.
Injury Notes: Murray, Krejci Down For Game 1
Matt Murray went down with an apparent lower-body injury per the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Dave Molinari. Marc-Andre Fleury will replace him in net for Game 1 against Columbus. Further details are not available, but the seriousness of the injury may have a significant impact on Pittsburgh’s Cup hopes. Murray’s stats were substantially better than Fleury’s throughout the season, securing his role as the starter after question marks last summer regarding the latter’s future. Murray’s .923 save percentage was good for 8th in the league among tenders, with 32 wins and 4 shutouts. Fleury, by comparison, only had a .909 save percentage, securing only 18 wins and 1 shutout.
GM Jim Rutherford opted to not move Fleury before the draft, and again held pat before the trade deadline even with the looming expansion draft posing complications to the two-goalie plan. Depending on the severity of the injury to Murray, these decisions may have been strokes of genius for a team that has been plagued by injuries all season long. Whether Fleury will revert to his championship form of 2008 or 2009, or flounder as he did in 2012 or 2013 remains to be seen. The statistics from this past season suggest that against Vezina favorite Sergei Bobrovsky, Marc-Andre Fleury may struggle to stack up.
David Krejci was a late scratch for the Boston Bruins before their game 1 against Ottawa. Although injury information this time of year is often hard to come by, Krejci had been expected to play earlier in the day. The only information we have regarding the nature of the ailment is that it is upper-body. Sean Kuraly took his spot in the lineup. Krejci is easily one of the top offensive threats on the Bruins, so if this ailment is nagging, they will be hard-pressed to replace his production or experience. On a team restocked with promising youngsters, Krejci boasted a total of 77 points in 93 total playoff games. The Bruins’ fortunes in this series would be substantially improved if Krejci can return quickly.
New York Islanders Remove Interim Status From Doug Weight
The New York Islanders have decided the strong finish to the season is enough to keep Doug Weight around for the immediate future, removing the interim status and announcing him as the full-time head coach going forward. When Weight took over from Jack Capuano midway through the season, the Islanders were just 17-17-8, a far cry from their 100 point season of the year prior. With Weight at the helm, they finished 41-29-12 and missed the playoffs by just a single point even with a John Tavares injury in the final week. 
Weight, a long-time NHLer who finished his career with the Islanders, had 1033 career points in 1238 games and was a playmaking machine, once recording 79 assists in a season. His leadership will be welcomed for a team that has a superstar in his prime that is just a year away from free agency.
For Tavares, providing stability behind the bench and a home for the team are likely important factors in assessing his future with the club. Bob McKenzie of TSN thinks that the team is getting closer to a deal with the Belmont Park arena plans that were put in place months ago. Building a brand new arena for the Islanders would look attractive to any free agent, including one that would be heralded as the savior of a franchise should he stick around for the majority of his career. With an extension allowed to be announced no earlier than July 1st of this year, getting Weight locked in and a new building on the books would be a nice position of strength for New York.
Weight will look to drag the Islanders back to the postseason in 2017-18, after encouraging performances from their young core. Josh Bailey, Anders Lee and Brock Nelson all put up career-highs in points this season and will look to continue that success next year. Andrew Ladd, the big free agent signing of the offseason, started horribly but turned around his year with 15 of his 23 goals during Weight’s tenure.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Kings Fire Head Coach Darryl Sutter And GM Dean Lombardi
In a massive overhaul of their front office, Los Angeles Kings ownership group AEG announced that head coach Darryl Sutter and General Manager Dean Lombardi have been relieved of their positions. A pair of former players and current executives have been promoted with Luc Robitaille named President and Rob Blake named the new General Manager and Vice President. The duo will oversee all of hockey operations which now includes finding a new coach. The Kings will hold an official press conference tomorrow to introduce Robitaille and Blake in their new capacities.
The sweeping changes come after a disappointing season that saw the perennial contenders miss the playoffs entirely. Despite a long-term injury to starting goalie Jonathan Quick, it was instead the offense that struggled for much of the season. Anemic at times, the offense finished 24th in the league with 2.4 goals per game behind poor production from Anze Kopitar, Marian Gaborik, and Dustin Brown and a step backward in development for Tyler Toffoli. Much of the blame for the goal-scoring struggles fell on Sutter’s dated style and slow-paced structure and Lomdardi’s inability to add scoring via trade. Lombardi likely sealed his fate with a strange deadline deal to acquire Tampa Bay Lightning starting goaltender Ben Bishop in exchange for expectation-shattering veteran backup Peter Budaj and other pieces just as Quick had finally gotten healthy. The move did little to help the Kings down the stretch, whereas those same pieces or others could have been used to acquire a scorer instead. Los Angeles finished in tenth in the Western Conference, eight points behind the Nashville Predators and Calgary Flames for a playoff berth.
AEG CEO Dan Beckerman called the move “an extremely difficult decision… made with an enormous amount of consideration”, but in the end they felt that it was the best for the team. Beckerman expressed his gratitude to both Sutter and Lombardi in the company’s statement, as the pair did build and operate a Kings team that won two Stanley Cups in a five-year span, but simply felt it was time to move on. Sutter joins a growing list of highly decorated veteran coaches available on the open market, but only time will tell if his old-school style is appealing to one of the teams in the hunt for a new bench boss. Sutter is a Hall of Famer, but his NHL future is currently in doubt. Lombardi meanwhile is not long removed from being considered a top team builder in the NHL. Lombardi built a winner in L.A., but simply forgot to keep building. Nevertheless, he will find a job in a front office sooner rather than later. The new team of Robitaille and Blake have their work cut out for them this off-season, as the Kings faces a difficult Expansion Draft scenario, likely a middling first-round pick unable to contribute next season, several contracts that should be shed if possible, and, of course, a desperate need for scoring help up front.
Vancouver Canucks Fire Willie Desjardins
It’s that time of year, and another team has decided to fire their head coach after a disappointing season. The Vancouver Canucks have fired Willie Desjardins along with assistants Doug Lidster and Perry Pearn. The team finished last in the Pacific Division with a 30-43-9 record and will miss the playoffs for a second consecutive season.
After taking the Canucks to the playoffs in his first year in Vancouver, Desjardins has seen both the performance on the ice and his popularity in the city plummet recently. The former Calder Cup and WHL Champion has found success at every level of coaching until now, and will be considered for open jobs around the league again very shortly. Though his teams haven’t performed well the last two years, some may point to their construction more than his tactics as there have been very few success stories coming out of free agency or the trade market for the Canucks recently. Whether it is signing Loui Eriksson long-term, or drafting Jake Virtanen and then bouncing him up and down between leagues, there have been quite a few questionable moves from management in recent years.
Desjardins nonetheless hasn’t gotten the best out of this group and will pay the price for it. The Canucks will be in another prime lottery position, finishing second last in the league thanks to an eight-game losing streak to end the year. With new leadership behind the bench, and another high draft pick perhaps the franchise will buy into a real rebuild. At the deadline, they did well to acquire Nikolay Goldobin and Jonathan Dahlen for expiring contracts and will now attempt to find a new voice to lead the new direction. With just one year remaining on the contracts of the Sedin twins, the Canucks have a huge amount of salary coming off the books for 2018-19 and could be in fine shape in two year’s time.
Bob McKenzie of TSN was first to break the news that Desjardins had been relieved of his coaching duties.
Dale Tallon Officially Named Florida Panthers General Manager
After retaking the general manager duties half way through the season when Tom Rowe stepped down behind the bench, Dale Tallon has officially been named general manager of the Florida Panthers—again. The team also announced that Tom Rowe will not be head coach or general manager any longer, though will stay on as a “special adviser”. 
Tallon of course was “promoted” out of the GM position less than a year ago, when he was given the title of President of Hockey Operations. There were rumors at the time that this was against his wishes, which have seemingly been confirmed as he is re-hired for the position. The fact that this season went horribly wrong for the Panthers, from the mid-season firing of Gerard Gallant to the late-season return of Aaron Ekblad too early from concussions, is one that cannot be entirely laid at the feet of the original decision to remove Tallon. Injuries played a huge part in Florida falling from first place in the Atlantic to 14 points out of a playoff position.
Now, with an incredibly experienced hockey executive back in charge the team must begin their search for a new head coach. While there are well-known names like Ken Hitchcock and Lindy Ruff available, there are many who believe the Panthers will go for a new, up-and-coming coach instead. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reported just this weekend that the team will likely interview both Dallas Eakins of the San Diego Gulls and Jim Montgomery of the University of Denver for the job.
With extensions kicking in for Aaron Ekblad, Derek McKenzie, Reilly Smith and Jonathan Huberdeau this summer, the Panthers and Tallon will have an interesting time trying to fix a roster that is generally locked in long-term. Ten players are signed through the 2020-21 season, including both Roberto Luongo and James Reimer.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Lindy Ruff Out As Dallas Stars’ Coach
The Dallas Stars’ General Manager Jim Nill announced today that coach Lindy Ruff will not return as head coach for the 2017-18 season on their website.
Brandon Carlo Leaves Game; Will Not Return
Boston Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo has left this afternoon’s game with an upper-body injury, and will not return.
Carlo took a big hit from Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin in the corner. After being attended to by medical personnel, he left the game. There has been some debate over the legality of the play, as Ovechkin appeared to hit Carlo in the numbers as the young defenseman lost his balance (GIF of hit). There was no penalty on the play.
If Carlo is out of the lineup for any extended period of time, it would be a big loss for the Bruins. His 16 points in 81 games are good for third among Bruins defensemen, behind only Torey Krug (who is currently injured) and Zdeno Chara. Carlo has been a steadying presence as a rookie, averaging 21 minutes of ice-time per game. He was the Bruins’ second-round pick in 2015.
The Bruins have already clinched a playoff spot with 95 points in 81 games. The two possible matchups are the Ottawa Senators or the Capitals. In either series, Carlo would be counted on to contribute defensively against stars like Erik Karlsson and Ovechkin.
At the time this article is being written, the Bruins and Capitals are tied 1-1 in the second period. Should the Bruins win, they would clinch third in the Atlantic Division and a first round matchup with the Ottawa Senators. A loss would give the Maple Leafs the opportunity to pass them (Toronto would have to sweep Pittsburgh and Columbus this weekend). In that case, the Bruins would face the Capitals, who they’re playing right now. If today’s game is any indication, it would be a hard-fought series.
Bryan Bickell To Retire After This Season
Carolina Hurricanes forward Bryan Bickell will retire from the NHL after this season.
He has only played in nine games this season after being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in November. After playing 10 games with the Charlotte Checkers of the AHL, Bickell returned to the Hurricanes’ lineup two games ago, and will play the final two games of his career this weekend.
Bickell told NHL.com of his decision on Saturday morning. Hurricanes head coach Bill Peters was close to tears when asked about his player’s decision. Peters coached Bickell when the two were with the Blackhawks’ AHL affiliate from 2008-2010. Peters called Bickell “a man’s man” and “a pro’s pro,” as well as “unbelievably brave.”
The Hurricanes will wear “29” stickers on their helmets to honor Bickell this weekend. Bickell will be in the starting lineup and on the first unit power-play. His teammates also surprised him this morning by attending a fundraising walk with “Bickell Brave” t-shirts on.
Bickell played parts of nine seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks, winning three Stanley Cups. He’s perhaps most-known for his incredible run during the 2013 playoffs, where he scored nine goals and 17 points in 23 games. That included the game-tying goal in Game Six of the Finals, followed by Dave Bolland‘s Cup-winner just 17 seconds later.
Everyone at Pro Hockey Rumors wishes Bickell the best in his post-NHL days.
Nick Ritchie Receives Two-Game Suspension For Roughing
The Department of Player Safety has handed out a two-game ban to Nick Ritchie for his punch on Michal Rozsival last night. The Anaheim Ducks forward will miss the regular season finale on Sunday against the Los Angeles Kings, and the first game of the playoffs. Ritchie attacked Rozsival after the Blackhawks’ defenseman sent Corey Perry sprawling to the ice with a crosscheck. The DoPS explains their decision in the accompanying video:
…while Rozsival did crosscheck Perry seconds before this altercation, Ritchie’s response is in no way permitted or excusable. Ritchie has acknowledged that he confronted Rozsival to seek retribution for the crosscheck, which was already being penalized by the on-ice officials. Rozsival has his hands to his sides, and gives no indication that he is a willing combatant in a potential fight, or is anyway prepared for the altercation to escalate. With no reason to suspect that Rozsival is ready or willing to fight, Ritchie quickly drops his gloves and delivers a forceful, bare-knuckle punch directly to Rozsival’s face at a time Rozsival is unable to defend himself.
Despite the fact that Ritchie has no record of fines or suspensions during his NHL career—though he does have multiple suspensions at the OHL level—he received a longer penalty than Micheal Haley, who was recently involved in a similar incident. The fact that Rozsival suffered an injury when Haley’s victim, Calle Jarnkrok, did not seems to be the deciding factor. With the Ducks needing just a point in their final game (or an Edmonton loss in one of their final two) to lock up first place in the Pacific Division, perhaps the league thought sitting Ritchie for just one game to not be important enough. If it ends up being Calgary that the Ducks play in the first round, Ritchie will be sorely missed as the two meet for the first time since Cam Fowler‘s injury earlier this week.
For Ducks fans, this seems like a harsh punishment for a punch when other things are going unpunished around the league. While Ritchie is known for his physical play, he rarely dips into dangerous territory and has shown himself to be a capable player up and down the lineup this season. Ondrej Kase will likely stay in the lineup, and it will be interesting to see who else draws in. Ritchie also has to be careful in the future, as he is now a “repeat offender” in the eyes of the league for the next 18 months and would sacrifice a larger portion of salary should he be suspended again.