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Metropolitan Notes: Pesce, Schmid, Foerster, Ristolainen

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Carolina Hurricanes reporter Walt Ruff writes that Hurricanes defenseman Brett Pesce has returned to team practice after missing the last two games with an illness. The 29-year-old hasn’t played since last Tuesday and is mired in a seven-game point drought in what has been a disappointing offensive season for the pending unrestricted free agent. Pesce has just three goals and four assists in 41 games after posting a career-high 30 points last season in 82 games. His defensive metrics are still fantastic as Pesce remains the Hurricanes’ best option for the difficult defensive matchups against elite competition.

Pesce could suit up tomorrow night when the Hurricanes travel to Dallas to take on the Stars in their first of three games on the road. Carolina currently sits second in the Metropolitan Division with a 30-16-5 record and has begun to pull away from the teams behind them as they are 7-3 in their last ten games.

In other Metropolitan notes:

  • The New Jersey Devils have recalled goaltender Akira Schmid from the Utica Comets of the AHL. Schmid dressed in 15 games for the Devils earlier in the season but struggled to hold onto an NHL job with a 5-7-1 record, a 3.26 goals-against average and an .893 save percentage. Schmid will serve as the likely backup to Nico Daws while Vitek Vanecek is sidelined due to a lower-body injury. Schmid was assigned to the AHL a month ago and has struggled in 12 games going 3-5-4 with an .885 save percentage and a 3.58 goals-against average.
  • The Philadelphia Flyers are dealing with a couple of minor injuries as defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen and forward Tyson Foerster will be sidelined until at least the weekend. Ristolainen has an upper-body injury and Flyers GM Daniel Briere is hoping he will be back by the weekend. Foerster has a lower-body injury and Briere is also hoping he can play this weekend as well. Ristolainen has struggled this season and has just a goal and three assists in 31 games while Foerster has posted career highs with 10 goals and 11 assists in 52 games. The Flyers take on the Devils in the Stadium Series at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford on Saturday night.

Five Key Stories: 2/5/24 – 2/11/24

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The first full week of February is in the books.  While there wasn’t any activity on the trade market (compared to two notable swaps last week), there was still some notable news around the NHL which is recapped in our key stories.

Kings Hire Smith: With Jim Hiller taking over as interim head coach, the Kings elected to bring in an experienced assistant, hiring D.J. Smith.  Smith began the season with Ottawa as their head coach but was let go a little under two months ago after the team got off to a sluggish start.  Smith spent parts of five seasons behind the bench with the Sens but his time in this role with Los Angeles could be short-lived as the contract is only for the rest of the season.  Smith could be considered for other head coaching positions this summer or perhaps even the top job with the Kings if it’s decided that Hiller won’t be the full-time bench boss.

Kuznetsov Takes A Leave: Capitals center Evgeny Kuznetsov has taken a leave of absence from the team and has entered the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program.  This is the second time he has been in the program with the first one coming back in 2019.  The 31-year-old has struggled on the ice this season, averaging just 0.40 points per game, the lowest rate of his career.  There is no timeline for his return and while he is away from the team, his $7.8MM AAV will not count against Washington’s salary cap.

Injured Again: In his first game back after recovering from a left leg injury, Lightning defenseman Mikhail Sergachev suffered another long-term injury, fracturing his fibula and tibia in that same left leg.  He underwent surgery the next day.  While no official timetable for his return was released, head coach Jon Cooper indicated that the blueliner would miss the rest of the regular season at a minimum.  Sergachev is a big part of Tampa Bay’s back end, logging over 22 minutes a night while being a key contributor so he will definitely be missed.  The Lightning now will be able to go over the cap by an additional $8.5MM once they place him on LTIR, giving them some extra flexibility heading into the trade deadline, albeit at a key cost with Sergachev out long-term.

Edmundson On The Block: In the weeks leading up to the March 8th trade deadline, buyers will be looking to add some extra depth on their back end.  One of the players they’ll be considering is Joel Edmundson as the Capitals are believed to be shopping the veteran.  The 30-year-old was acquired at the start of free agency for a pair of draft picks with Montreal retaining half of his $3.5MM cap hit.  However, Edmundson has underachieved with Washington, logging just over 16 minutes a night, well below his career average while chipping in with just three points in 34 games.  However, he has two deep playoff runs under his belt (2019 with St. Louis and 2021 with Montreal) and was effective in both of those which should help generate some interest in him as a proven postseason performer.

Suspensions: The Department of Player Safety handed out a pair of suspensions to defensemen this week.  First, Jets blueliner Brenden Dillon received a three-game ban for an illegal check to the head on Pittsburgh’s Noel Acciari, keeping him out of their lineup until this coming Saturday against Vancouver.  Speaking of those Canucks, rearguard Nikita Zadorov was handed a two-game suspension for an illegal check to the head on Detroit’s Lucas Raymond.  He’ll be eligible to return on Thursday in a rematch against the Red Wings.  Meanwhile, another defender is likely to receive a suspension as Toronto’s Morgan Rielly will have an in-person hearing on Tuesday for his cross-check on Ottawa’s Ridly Greig following a late goal on Saturday.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Flames Place Daniel Vladař On IR, Recall Dustin Wolf

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Sportsnet’s Pat Steinberg is reporting that the Calgary Flames have placed goaltender Daniel Vladař on the injured reserve with a lower-body injury and recalled netminder Dustin Wolf from the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers.

According to Julian McKenzie of The Athletic, Vladař’s injury occurred in warm-ups last night and not in any game action. The 26-year-old hasn’t played since a 3-1 loss to the Edmonton Oilers on January 20th. The native of Prague, Czech Republic has struggled this season with a 7-7-2 record with a 3.27 goals against average and a .888 save percentage. While those metrics sometimes don’t paint the whole picture of a goaltender’s performance, Vladař’s underlying numbers have been poor as well. In 16 games this season, Vladař has posted a goals saved above expected of -6.7 (Money Puck).

Wolf hasn’t fared any better at the NHL level, going 1-2-1 in five games with a 3.46 goals against average and an .893 save percentage. His underlying numbers have been even worse as Wolf has given up 5.2 more goals than expected despite playing just five games. At the AHL level, Wolf’s numbers have been a different story, as the 22-year-old has appeared in 28 games and has a sparkling .927 save percentage to go along with a 2.27 goals-against average and an 18-7-2 record.

The Flames used an EBUG today at practice as they are out East to take on the New York Islanders tomorrow and Wolf has yet to arrive. There has been speculation that the club could move out a goaltender and it will be interesting to see if Vladař’s injury cools those rumors.

Brenden Dillon To Have Hearing With Department Of Player Safety

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The NHL’s Department of Player Safety tweeted this morning that Winnipeg Jets defenseman Brenden Dillon will have a hearing today for his illegal check to the head of Pittsburgh Penguins forward Noel Acciari. According to Frank Seravalli of DailyFaceoff, the hearing will be a phone hearing, meaning that Dillon will receive a suspension of five games or less.

The hit happened at the 4:15 mark of the second period in a game that was 1-0 Pittsburgh at the time. Dillon was originally given a two-minute penalty and then received a match penalty on the play after it was reviewed.

Acciari hit the ice hard and in a scary moment tried to get up to his feet but fell back to the ice. He eventually skated off with assistance from the Penguins training staff and left the game with an undisclosed injury. Acciari was visibly bloody from the incident. The Penguins scored twice on the five-minute powerplay and eventually beat the Jets 3-0.

It wasn’t Dillon’s first run-in with the Penguins as Dillon has had some tough battles with Pittsburgh while he was a member of the Washington Capitals. He also had an incident back in January 2022 where he broke the jaw of former Penguins’ center Teddy Blueger with what appeared to be a check to the head. Dillon escaped discipline for that hit, but that doesn’t appear to be the case this time around.

Dillon’s absence will create a hole on the Jets’ backend as he has been playing over 18 minutes a night this season and is having one of his better offensive seasons while still providing sound defensive play for the team.

Chicago Set To Host St. Louis In 2025 Winter Classic

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The Chicago Blackhawks are set for a rematch in the 2025 Winter Classic, taking on the St. Louis Blues at Wrigley Field per team reporter Ben Pope with the Chicago Suntimes. This will be a reliving of the 2017 Winter Classic which saw St. Louis topple Chicago 4-1 at Busch Stadium, the home to the MLB’s St. Louis Cardinals. They’ll now move to the home of the Chicago Cubs, effectively embracing the thick rivalries between the two cities.

This announcement will, above all else, provide future NHL star Connor Bedard with the first outdoor game of his NHL career. The top overall selection in last year’s draft is no stranger to outdoor games, with the WHL’s Regina Pats routinely hosting outdoor events like the Hockey Night on Wascana. But he will need to make sure he’s used to the setting if he plans to stay in Chicago. The 2025 Winter Classic will mark the fifth time that Chicago has played in the event. Couple that with two stadium series appearances, and the Blackhawks will take the lead for most outdoor games of any NHL club when they take the ice at Wrigley Field next year. Chicago will be beating out the Pittsburgh Penguins, who have seen three Winter Classics and three Stadium Series games.

This news also sets up Wrigley Field to become just the second venue to host two Winter Classics – fittingly sharing the title with Boston’s Fenway Park. The Blackhawks will hope for a better outcome than their last game at Wrigley, which ended in a 6-4 defeat at the hands of Jiri Hudler and the Detroit Red Wings.

International Notes: Russia, Insurance, Rink Size, 4 Nations Face-Off, World Cup

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NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman confirmed today that NHL players will participate in the 2026 and 2030 Winter Olympics. Along with NHLPA Executive Director Marty Walsh and IIHF President Luc Tardif, Bettman oversaw a press conference during All-Star weekend in Toronto and offered some clarifying notes about Olympic participation in 2026 in Milan, Italy.

Tardif confirmed to reporters that Russia’s standing in the tournament has not yet been decided. The IIHF council will meet next week to determine whether the country will be eligible to return for the 2025 Men’s World Championship, at which point they will issue additional updates. Russia has been barred from IIHF competition since its early 2022 invasion of Ukraine for geopolitical reasons. If deemed eligible for Olympic play in 2026, Russia will qualify automatically based on their current world ranking.

The security of players will be the driving force behind the IIHF’s decision to reinstate a Russian contingent, said Tardif. Both the 2025 World Championship and 2026 Winter Olympics will be held in Western European countries.

Other updates regarding the Olympics and future international tournaments:

  • One of the driving forces behind the NHL’s barring of players from attending the 2018 and 2022 Winter Olympics dealt with uncertainty over insurance and travel costs for players. That’s been settled as part of today’s announcement, Bettman said. Those costs, plus other travel-associated costs, will not be fronted by the league – instead, individual Olympic committees and the IIHF will provide funding for players to travel and stay at the overseas events.
  • Tardif also added that for the first time, the Olympic tournament will be played on smaller NHL-sized ice in 2026. This downsizing from the standard international-sized rink was not contingent on the NHL’s participation in the event, per Tardif, and it did not play a factor in today’s announcement. Previous IIHF specifications dictated that rinks must be 197 by 98 feet, while NHL rinks are narrower at 200 by 85 feet.
  • The league also confirmed today’s reported news that a 2025 best-on-best tournament between Canada, Sweden, Finland, and the United States will occur next February in two unnamed North American cities, one in Canada and one in the United States. The tournament, called the 4 Nations Face-Off, will be comprised of 23 NHL-rostered players from each country selected by each nation’s governing association. Interestingly, despite the NHL hosting the tournament, the round-robin portion will adopt the more internationally-recognized 3-2-1-0 points system. There will be no multi-round playoff; instead, the best two teams in the round-robin schedule will play a one-game final match.
  • Bettman said the league’s plan is to return to a regular World Cup of Hockey schedule after Olympic participation resumes. Time constraints limited the size of the 2025 best-on-best tournament, but World Cups are expected to run in 2028 and 2032 and will feature expanded participation from countries not included in the 2025 tournament.

NHL To Allow Players To Attend 2026, 2030 Winter Olympics

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12:35 p.m.: Commissioner Gary Bettman confirmed an agreement has been reached with the IIHF to send players to the 2026 and 2030 Winter Olympics to media today. Bettman added the league has been given “assurances” that the venue under construction for ice hockey in Milan will be completed on schedule.

9:56 a.m.: The NHL and IIHF have reached a deal to allow players to participate in both the 2026 and 2030 Winter Olympics, ESPN’s Kevin Weekes said Friday. An official announcement is expected from the league later today after the IIHF quickly posted and deleted a post confirming the news on X, formerly known as Twitter, this morning.

Also expected Friday afternoon is an announcement confirming the NHL’s plans to hold a best-on-best international tournament in 2025 between Canada, Finland, Sweden, and the United States, per Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff. The tournament will be hosted in Boston and Montreal and will result in no All-Star Game being held next year.

2026 will mark the first time NHL players participate in the Olympics since the 2014 edition held in Sochi, Russia. Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, have already been tabbed as the 2026 hosts, although concerns about the construction timeline for the Olympic rink in Milan may force the ice hockey competitions to be moved to Turin, which hosted the Winter Olympics in 2004.

The host for the 2023 Games has not been named, although Salt Lake City, Stockholm, Switzerland, and the French Alps region have submitted bids. The French Alps bid entered the “targeted dialogue phase” late last year and is the most likely host for the 2030 edition, while Salt Lake City will likely receive the 2034 Games.

Milan will mark the first Olympic appearance for all of the NHL’s next generation of stars, including Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Auston Matthews, Leon Draisaitl, David Pastrňák, Cale Makar, and many others. It’s unclear whether Russia will field a team at the event – they are currently barred from IIHF competition due to the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the 2025 four-nations-style tournament will be the first true exhibition of best-on-best international play involving the world’s highest-ranking men’s hockey countries since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

Phil Kessel Still Hopes To Play This Season

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Free agent winger Phil Kessel still intends to sign with a team before the March 8 trade deadline, TSN’s Pierre LeBrun wrote for The Athletic on Wednesday.

Kessel, 36, has not played since Game 4 of the Golden Knights’ first-round win over the Jets in the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs. He has continued to skate on his own to stay in game shape throughout the offseason and throughout the regular season.

There’s no substitute for organized hockey, though, and LeBrun says inquiring teams might consider a tryout to have him practice with the team before signing him to a contract. LeBrun reported last month that Kessel was considering signing with an undisclosed team in the Swiss National League, but that has not come to fruition.

To that end, LeBrun notes a “couple of NHL teams have kept tabs” on Kessel in recent weeks, and after some other unsigned veteran dominoes have fallen in Corey Perry and Zach Parise, interest in Kessel’s services might pick up. He must sign by the trade deadline to be eligible for postseason play.

Kessel scored 14 goals, 22 assists and 36 points in a bottom-six role with Vegas last season. He played in all 82 games, extending his NHL-record ironman streak to 1,064. Since he’s remained unsigned this year, the streak is still active.

That level of production on a contending team has left some puzzled as to why no one has taken a flyer on Kessel’s services for the league minimum salary. He checks all the boxes for an ideal cheap add for a contending team – nearly 1,300 games of NHL experience and three Stanley Cup rings, as well as a history of strong playoff performances.

Even still, LeBrun says “there’s no guarantee” a team will extend an offer to Kessel over the next five weeks. That’s despite some contenders with a clear need for scoring support in their bottom six, namely the Bruins, where he began his career after being drafted fifth overall in 2006. He’d be a higher-ceiling option than their depth winger trio of Jesper Boqvist, Jakub Lauko and Oskar Steen, who have combined for four goals.

Evening Notes: Pettersson, Kane, Canucks

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Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia is reporting that Ottawa Senators prospect Oskar Pettersson will join the team’s AHL affiliate in Belleville and make his debut with the team this weekend. Pettersson was selected 72nd overall in the 2022 NHL entry draft and will be joining a team in North America for the first time in his short career. Pettersson had been on loan from the Senators to Rögle BK of the Swedish Hockey League where he posted a single assist in 26 games.

Pettersson may have struggled offensively this season, but he has been a strong offensive contributor with Rögle BK J20 over the past three seasons registering 74 points in 74 games. The 19-year-old has shown that he can be a strong player along the boards and can play with the puck in traffic, both skills that should him thrive in the North American game.

Pettersson will likely debut on Friday against the Syracuse Crunch.

In other evening notes:

  • Detroit Red Wings reporter Daniella Bruce tweeted that winger Patrick Kane could suit up on Wednesday if he is 100%. Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde told reporters that the team would know more tomorrow after practice but that the 35-year-old is very close to a return. Kane has been very effective this season in just 19 games with seven goals and nine assists, however, the team is inexplicably just 8-9-2 with him in the lineup and 18-9-3 without him.
  • Elliotte Friedman appeared on Donnie and Dhali today and said that the Canucks remain in pursuit of a top-six forward with Calgary Flames forward Elias Lindholm at the top of their list of potential targets. The Canucks are said to be looking at forwards who can play multiple positions up front and may need to outbid other teams to facilitate a trade with Calgary. The Flames and Canucks may be bitter rivals, but they have made one trade already this season with the Canucks acquiring defenseman Nikita Zadorov in exchange for two draft picks.

Adam Henrique Could Reunite With The New Jersey Devils

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The New Jersey Devils have expressed interest in Anaheim Ducks centerman Adam Henrique, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on a recent episode of the 32 Thoughts Podcast. The Devils were the team to draft Henrique, taking him in the third round of the 2008 NHL Draft. He played out his rookie season in 2011-12, appearing in 74 games and scoring 51 points – the seventh-most a Devils rookie has ever scored. Henrique would go on to play eight seasons and 455 games with the Devils, serving in a pivotal role as the team’s second-line center and averaging around 18 minutes of ice time. He even served as an alternate captain for the team from 2015 to 2017.

The Devils dramatically parted ways with the centerman in November of 2017, trading him to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for Sami Vatanen and a 2019 third-round pick used to select Daniil Misyul. Joseph Blandisi and a 2018 third-round pick used on Blake McLaughlin were also sent to Anaheim. Henrique has been with the Ducks ever since, playing in seven seasons and 423 games with the club. That includes 48 games this season – with Henrique boasting 15 goals and 32 points, ranking him third in scoring on the Ducks and, if he joined them, the Devils. The 33-year-old has scored at least 40 points in every season where he’s played at least 50 games – a mark he’s on pace to continue this year.

The Devils would relish in the chance to find an apt replacement for absent centermen Jack Hughes and Michael McLeod. Their missed games have left team captain Nico Hischier with a lot of responsibility – though he’s managed it in stride, with 28 points in 36 games this season despite facing injuries of his own. Still, Henrique would relieve Erik Haula as the team’s second-line center, and provide yet another goal-scorer to a Devils team that already has seven players with 10 or more goals on the season.

Henrique is in the last year of his five-year, $29.125MM contract signed with the Ducks in 2018. He carries a manageable $5.825MM cap hit.

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