Anaheim Ducks Assign Theodore, Etem To AHL
With the Anaheim Ducks signing of Hampus Lindholm earlier today, the team has decided to send defenceman Shea Theodore to the AHL along with the recently claimed and then waived Emerson Etem.
Theodore, one of the leagues top defensive prospects, made his debut last season for the Ducks and scored eight points in 19 games. The 21-year old was the team’s first-round pick in 2013 and has blossomed into an excellent puck moving defender capable of putting up handfuls of points while containing the other team in his own end. While there apparently isn’t room on the blueline for him as of now, the team would likely bring him back up if a trade was worked out for Cam Fowler as has been widely rumored.
Etem was only claimed two weeks ago from the Vancouver Canucks, but this time has made it through waivers and will join the San Diego Gulls of the AHL. A former first-round pick in his own right, Etem has never been able to replicate the success he had in junior when he scored 107 points in 65 games. A gifted goal-scorer, he’s never been able to improve enough in the other areas of his game to keep him in the NHL for long. He’ll head back down to continue to work, and at 24 is far from a lost cause.
Snapshots: Trouba, Ducks, Goaltending
In the latest edition of Insider Trading on TSN, the panel of Bob McKenzie, Darren Dreger and Pierre LeBrun discussed a number of subjects. One of them was Jacob Trouba, and the potential of a trade in his future. While Trouba has insisted all along that it isn’t about money in his contract dispute, the Jets are rumored to be willing to go to six-years, $33MM to get the defenceman under contract.
Even though it seems like most teams would want Trouba, Dreger reports that it doesn’t look like there is a fit anywhere in Canada. The Maple Leafs, Oilers and Canadiens have all been rumored to be interested in the 22-year old in the past.
- On Hampus Lindholm and a possible deal of Cam Fowler, LeBrun reports that it might not be as guaranteed as one would think. While it still seems likely that one of the Ducks young defenceman will have to be shipped out, the fact that Simon Despres has hit the LTIR and has no timetable on his return the team has a little more wiggle room under the salary cap.
- In Carolina, Dreger suggests that Ryan Murphy may be on the block, since he’ll likely be exposed at next year’s expansion draft. The 23-year old former first round pick split last season between the NHL and AHL levels.
- On the goaltending front, Los Angeles sounds like they’re putting all their eggs in the Peter Budaj basket for now. They’re waiting for Mike Condon to hit waivers from the Pittsburgh Penguins, but that may not happen for a while as Pittsburgh wants to try and keep or get an asset for the young goaltender.
Maple Leafs Notes: Andersen, Griffith, Reimer
When Toronto Maple Leafs saw rookie Auston Matthews score four goals in a losing effort, it was a sign of things to come for the team this season. Despite scoring 21 goals in 6 games, and taking leads into the third period a handful of times, the team is 1-2-3 as they head into tonight’s matchup with the Florida Panthers.
Jamie McLennan of TSN broke down what he thinks is one of the key factors in their record and analyzed the weak play of Frederik Andersen. McLennan says that Andersen has allowed at least one “bad goal” in each game this season, deflating the team and allowing the opposition to come back. It’s not all bad for Andersen though, as the TSN panelist says that his team defense hasn’t helped him very much through the first few games. He’ll be in net when they take on the Panthers.
- Seth Griffith will work his way into the lineup for the Leafs tonight, his first game of the season since being claimed on waivers October 11th. The former Boston Bruin is a dangerous offensive talent that hasn’t been able to find his footing in the NHL thus far, but scored 77 points in 57 AHL games last season. He’ll start on the fourth line, taking Peter Holland‘s place alongside another recently claimed player in Ben Smith.
- James Reimer will make his return to Toronto as a member of the Florida Panthers tonight, though in a backup role to Roberto Luongo. While Reimer was somewhat of a divisive character among Leafs fans during his tenure with the team, he does rank among the leaders in many all-time categories among Toronto netminders. While he’ll most likely be remembered best for the collapse in game 7 against Boston three years ago, he also could have likely been a part of the re-build had they not decided to go after Andersen this summer.
Shane Prince Activated From Injured Reserve
Isles winger Shane Prince has been activated from the injured reserve list. The 23-year old was put on the shelf more than 10 days ago after suffering a lower-body injury against the Washington Capitals.
After scoring 43 goals in his final season in junior, Prince took the AHL by storm becoming a 65-point player in 2014-15. He got into 42 games for the Senators last season before being dealt (along with a seventh rounder) for a third-round pick at the deadline. Prince was part of the Islanders’ playoff run, scoring four points in eleven games, including a two-goal effort in game 1 of the second round.
A second-round pick from 2011, Prince has yet to find consistency at the NHL level but is still regarded as a potential top-six scorer in the future. While injury has slowed the start of the year, he’ll likely be back in the lineup tonight against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
James Wisniewski Signs In KHL; Includes NHL Out Clause
According to Darren Dreger of TSN, free agent defenceman James Wisniewski has signed a deal with the Vladivostok Admirals of the KHL. The deal will include an NHL out clause, meaning the former Blue Jacket could bolt if a spot opened in North America. 
Wisniewski was a journeyman defender that played for five teams in four years before settling in Columbus for a few seasons. During his years there, he continued as an excellent offensive contributor, matching a career high of 51 points in 2013-14. “Wiz”, just hasn’t been able to stay healthy throughout his career though, and played only a single game last season.
The 32-year old was only able to secure a PTO from the Lightning this summer, but was released after not showing enough to make the NHL squad. While his intent is still to return to the NHL, Russia offers an opportunity to make some money while keeping his skills sharp. Vladivostok is the home of other NHL defenders, including Jonathon Blum and Anton Volchenkov. Wisniewski’s strong first pass should play well on the bigger ice surface.
Canucks Place Tanev On IR, Recall LW Zalewski
The Vancouver Canucks, already minus three regular forwards, have placed blue liner Chris Tanev on IR, tweets Ben Kuzma. He’ll be eligible to be taken off IR in seven days. To take his spot on the roster, Vancouver promoted LW Michael Zalewski from the team’s AHL affiliate in Utica.
Tanev has appeared in six games and collected one assist while averaging just more than 20 minutes of ice time per game. Among regular blue liners, only Ben Hutton and Alexander Edler have averaged more playing time than Tanev. Earlier this week the Canucks brought up young defenseman Troy Strecher to cover for the absence of Tanev.
As mentioned above, the Canucks are down three forwards, with Derek Dorsett, Anton Rodin and Alexandre Burrows already on IR. Zalewski’s addition to the roster gives the Canucks 13 healthy forwards. Zalewski has appeared in five career NHL games and has recorded two assists. In 118 AHL contests with Utica over parts of the last three seasons, the 6-foot-2, 205-pound forward has tallied 19 goals with 27 assists and adding 72 minutes in penalties.
Snapshots: Maple Leafs Blue Line, Vancouver, McIlrath
There has been much written about this past summer’s blockbuster trade which sent LW Taylor Hall from Edmonton to New Jersey in exchange or D Adam Larsson; most of it critical of the Oilers side of the transaction. But Kevin McGran of TheStar.com opines that not only has the trade benefited both teams so far, it actually represents the sort of trade the Toronto Maple Leafs may have to explore in the future.
Hall already has five goals in six games for the Devils while Larsson has fit in well on Edmonton’s blue line, helping the Oilers to a 6 – 1 – 0 record. Even if Hall is considered the superior player, it still appears as if the deal has worked out in both team’s favor.
McGran argues that the Leafs, much like Edmonton, have a lot of highly-skilled forwards but a lingering deficiency on the blue line. Toronto has some interesting players on defense – Nikita Zaitsev, Jake Gardiner and Morgan Rielly, for example – but with Matt Hunwick and Roman Polak seeing regular playing time and with few prospects of particular note in the system, it’s clear the Leafs could use more young talent on the back end. While it’s possible the youngsters already on Toronto’s roster develop into a decent group of blue liners, it’s more likely the Leafs may eventually have to instead consider dealing from a position of strength – scoring wing – to address a weakness – defense. And just as the Oilers had to do, the Leafs might have to sacrifice a talented and popular player – and perhaps even a better player than the one they acquire – in order to fix the issues on the blue line.
The scribe does note that the Leafs likely won’t have to make that decision right away; that they likely have a year or two to see how things shake out.
More from around the NHL:
- Goal-scoring is up around the league with a per-game-average of 5.91 markers to date. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case in Vancouver where the Canucks have averaged just two goals per game, the lowest rate in the NHL. Writing for The Province, Jason Botchford highlights some disturbing trends suggesting the Canucks offensive issues are likely to linger throughout the season. Botchford notes that the team is dead last in even-strength, score-adjusted shot-attempt differential and suggests that trend will place additional pressure on Vancouver’s special teams. But through seven games, the Canucks have converted on just 12.5% of their man-advantage chances. Two players the Canucks expected and needed to step up this season have yet to do so. Defenseman Ben Hutton has recorded just a single goal while winger Sven Baertschi has failed to find the back of the net. As Botchford writes, the Canucks have talent but perhaps not enough depth at this point.
- Earlier today we learned the Rangers waived Dylan McIlrath. The former first-round pick had appeared in just one game and was the eighth defenseman on the team’s depth chart. As Larry Brooks of the New York Post noted via Twitter, the Rangers simply weren’t going to keep eight defensemen on the roster all season. Brooks also believes the chances of McIlrath getting claimed is “50-50.”
Metro Division Snapshots: Carolina, Jooris, Buchnevich, McIlrath, Poulin
The Carolina Hurricanes, a team projected by some as a potential dark-horse in the Eastern Conference playoff chase, have won just one of their first six games and currently reside in the Metro Division basement. They’ll finally get a taste of home cooking Friday after starting the campaign on a six-game road trip as the Hurricanes will host the New York Rangers. Despite a respectable offense that is averaging three goals a game and a defense limiting opponents to the fourth-fewest shot attempts, Carolina has been undone by poor goaltending and as Ben Pope writes for Today’s Slapshot, it might be time for the Hurricanes to panic.
Cam Ward and Eddie Lack have combined for an 85.3% save percentage, the worst in the NHL, and have allowed four goals a game. Beyond the common numbers, the Hurricanes goalie duo is also performing at a below average level preventing goals against on low-, medium-, and high-danger shots, as Pope notes.
After just six games it’s fair to wonder about sample-size but Pope goes on to write that Ward, while sometimes making the spectacular save, has been a subpar netminder for much of his career. Lack, on the other hand, is nearly league-average in stopping shots from the outside but struggles mightily against attempts from in close.
Citing statistics available on Corsica.hockey, Pope opines the team’s defense hasn’t done the goalies any favors. Even though they have been excellent overall in suppressing shots, the ones they do allow have been of the medium-to-high-danger variety. The data shows 81.2% of the shots Carolina gives up are either of the medium of high-danger variety with the league average coming in at 63.4%.
Ultimately, the Hurricanes need better play between the pipes if they want to remain a relevant playoff contender. If that improvement doesn’t come internally, Carolina may have to scour the trade market to find a solution.
More from around the Metro Division:
- With Pavel Buchnvich expected to return to the lineup Friday the New York Rangers were facing a difficult decision regarding whom to remove from their 23-man roster to open a spot for the rookie forward. But the injury to Josh Jooris Wednesday night allowed the Rangers to delay that decision a little longer, writes Brett Cyrgalis of the New York Post. However, instead of taking advantage of that opportunity, the Blueshirts this morning have placed Dylan McIlrath on waivers. If he goes unclaimed, the club will likely send their 2010 first-round draft pick to Hartford of the AHL. McIlrath has suited up for just one game this season and has been a healthy scratch six times.
- Former New York Islander netminder Kevin Poulin has signed a deal with Barys of the KHL, tweets Igor Eronko of Sports Express. Poulin showed promise early in his career after debuting in the league with a 92.4% save percentage and a goals-against-average of 2.44 in 10 appearances as a 20-year-old back in 2010-11. It’s been downhill ever since with his save percentage declining in each subsequent campaign. Poulin last saw action in the league in 2014-15, starting once and allowing three goals on 26 shots. He appeared in 29 contests for Stockton in the AHL, winning 14 and stopping 90.9% of the attempts against.
Seattle Arena Deal Clears Important Hurdle
The NHL has long been interested in the city of Seattle, either as home to a new expansion team or as a possible landing spot for a relocated franchise. However a group looking to build an arena in Seattle couldn’t agree with the city on a financing plan. The municipality was unwilling to use public funds, as previously proposed, and the project appeared dead until today.
Chris Hansen, who fronts the group of investors looking to build the arena, has revealed a new proposal that offers to forgo public funding in order to obtain approval to begin construction on a new venue in the city’s SoDo neighborhood, according to a report from King 5 News in Seattle. This development would seem to pave the way for eventual placement of an NHL franchise in the city but there’s at least one hurdle remaining.
The group’s primary objective is the acquisition of an NBA team and during the NHL’s recent expansion process, no one representing Seattle submitted an application to the league in pursuit of a franchise.
Below is an excerpt from the letter outlining the Hansen group’s new proposal to the mayor of Seattle, the King County Executive and Seattle City Councilmembers, which spells out their interest in the NBA:
Our goal has always been to return the NBA to Seattle and to build a new arena to make that possible. Our partnership with the City and County started five years ago was based on a recognition that private financing of a new arena in the prevailing economic conditions was not economically feasible. The goal of this partnership was to build the arena and bring an NBA team to Seattle. Public financing was simply a mechanism that made that possible at the time.
Now it’s possible, if not even likely, that once an NBA team is placed in the city an NHL franchise will soon follow. According to the article the NBA may begin to focus on expansion once the league and the player’s union agree to a new CBA.
The NHL currently has 31 members, creating unbalanced conferences and scheduling difficulties. Adding a 32nd franchise would solve those issues. Quebec is of course another possible candidate but would seem to be a better fit in the Eastern Conference an therefore might be best suited as a fallback in case the league needs to relocate a team in the East. With the Seattle arena project appearing to be back on track, the Pacific Northwest is again an appealing expansion option for the NHL.
Pacific Division Snapshots: Boedker, Megna, Stecher, McGinn
After an “underwhelming” start to the 2016-17 campaign, San Jose bench boss Peter DeBoer has shuffled his lines in an effort to spark the 2 – 3 Sharks, writes Paul Gackle of The Mercury News. Tomas Hertl, who has spent much of the season skating on the top line with Joe Pavelski and Joe Thornton, slides down the lineup and will center the third line. Meanwhile, Mikkel Boedker and Joel Ward have been promoted and will each move up a line.
Hertl, who has two goals and three points in six contests, will center a line with Patrick Marleau and Melker Karlsson on his wings. Boedker joins the aforementioned Pavelski and Thornton on the first line. Ward takes over as the second line right wing and will skate with Logan Couture and Joonas Donskoi.
For DeBoer, it’s not about punishing poor play or rewarding good; it’s about trying to find the right combinations that will allow the coach to roll four forward lines.
“It’s not a panic situation or anything, but you’re always looking for ways to get the most out of your group and our four-line game hasn’t been where I want it to be. I want to make sure that we are a four-line team and we’ll keep shuffling things until we are.”
Hertl’s play at center last year when Couture was out gave DeBoer the necessary confidence to move the young Czech forward back to the pivot spot.
“Hertl can play anywhere, his game is at that point. He’s a good enough player now that, not only can he play anywhere, I think he can make other people better around him.”
The Sharks currently sit tied with Anaheim for third in the Pacific Division but have a minus-four goal differential and have tallied just 14 markers on the season. Whether DeBoer’s changes pay off for the Sharks remains to be seen but it’s evident some form of shakeup was needed in San Jose.
Elsewhere in the Pacific Division:
- The Vancouver Canucks have announced via their team website that they have recalled forward Jayson Megna and defenseman Troy Stecher from Utica of the AHL. Furthermore, according to Jon Abbott who covers the Canucks for TSN1040, Megna is slated to play on the fourth line tonight against Ottawa. Stecher is set to make his NHL debut tonight and will skate with Alex Edler, with whom he partnered during preseason action, again per Abbott. Megna appeared in six games for the New York Rangers in 2015-16, netting a single goal and two points for the Blueshirts. Stecher signed with Vancouver as an undrafted free agent following three seasons playing for the University of North Dakota. The two draw into the lineup due to the continued absences of Derek Dorsett, Alexandre Burrows and Chris Tanev.
- The Arizona Coyotes will receive a welcome boost tonight as offseason free agent addition Jamie McGinn is set to make his 2016-17 season debut, as Coyotes Senior Director of News Content Dave Vest writes. McGinn missed the team’s first five games due to an upper-body-injury. Head coach Dave Tippett says the veteran wing will have to quickly readjust to the speed and pace of the game: “He’s going to have to get up and going. At least he had exhibition games (and) played well in the exhibition games. He’s been off for a couple weeks now. The pace has gone up. He’ll have to get into the pace of the game, but he’s a good veteran guy. He’s hard around the front of the net. Hopefully he brings us a little veteran presence we need right now.” Vest also notes that goalie Justin Peters is slated to make his first start of the 2016-17 campaign between the pipes tonight for the Coyotes. The 30-year-old Peters, who has 67 NHL starts on his resume, appeared in a relief role for the Coyotes last Thursday and stopped 23 of the 24 shots he faced. Peters has assumed the backup role in Arizona behind Louis Domingue following the lower-body-injury to Mike Smith.