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Day Three Decisions From The GM Meetings

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Alex Nylander is making waves. Not in the way you might think, dominating the AHL like his brother did two years ago as a teenager—Alex has just 22 points in 51 games this season for the Rochester Americans—but at the GM Meetings in Boca Raton this week. According to Chris Johnston of Sportsnet, Swedish hockey officials made a presentation to the GMs focused on keeping Sweden’s best prospects at home instead of developing them in the AHL. The Nylander brothers, along with some others, were likely focal points of the discussion as they both came over as teenagers to play in North American professional hockey.

Alex in particular had an interesting journey, playing first in OHL before using a loophole to move him straight into the AHL. Though normally players from the CHL aren’t allowed to “go pro” until their 20th birthday, Nylander had played the entire year with the Mississauga Steelheads on loan from his Swedish club, making him eligible like any other European prospect. Others like Andreas Johnson in Toronto, Adrian Kempe in Los Angeles and Julius Bergman in San Jose (and many more around the league) have come over early after being drafted by NHL clubs and continued their development in minor league hockey here. The NHL obviously has a vested interest in keeping the best prospects on their home turf, while individual teams enjoy having control of their development.

  • The league did agree on one rule change that will be proposed to the competition committee. Under the proposed change, teams would no longer be allowed to call a time out after an icing to give their players a rest. A small change that could have a big impact late in games, it should be expected to go through and be implemented next season. As Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press points out, the AHL already introduced that change this season.
  • The much talked about change to bye-weeks will be put into place next season according to Pierre LeBrun of ESPN. Instead of having each team take their bye-weeks at different times, there will be two set periods that will rest half the teams at a time. Since there will be 31 teams next season, 15 will rest the first week, and 16 the next. Coming out of their breaks, teams will play their first two games against opponents who shared the same rest period.
  • The salary cap will increase slightly next season according to Johnston, sitting at $75.5-76MM depending on the inflator negotiations with the NHLPA this summer. While those extra couple of million may help some teams immensely, it doesn’t represent much revenue growth for either side. Frank Seravalli of TSN notes that because this isn’t a final number, most GMs are still assuming a flat cap and will adjust when the league makes an official announcement.
  • Michael Traikos of Postmedia gives us the quote we were all dreading about NHL participation in the upcoming Olympics. Bill Daly told Traikos “Unless something changes we’re not going. We’ve said that consistently for three months. There’s nothing new about that.” It’s true that they’ve been consistent with it, but not so bluntly as Daly has finally put it. It seems as though there will be a fight between players wanting to go regardless, and their owners needing them during the season. As Traikos notes, Daly doesn’t seem pressured by that impending bat

NHL Will Not Change Definition Of Off-Side

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Though it was discussed heavily at the GM Meetings this week in Boca Raton, Florida, the NHL will not change the off-side rule according to Pierre LeBrun of ESPN. The idea theorized was that the player wouldn’t need to have his skate blade on the ice to be considered on-side, just breaking the plane of the blue line as if it extended upwards from the ice. Similar to the endzone in football, this would allow review officials to more easily determine whether a scoring play was on-side or not.

This season has seen several reviews take close to 10 minutes as officials tried to see whether the very tip of a skate blade was touching the blue line or not. Though the proposed change would obviously make it easier to tell, it was also regarded with some opposition from traditionalists who didn’t want to change the rule just because of some review issues. The league will obviously want to speed up that process, but changing the off-side rule sounds like it’s off the table for now.

Also from the meetings, Chris Johnston of Sportsnet reports that the GMs were told there is no update on NHL participation at the 2018 Olympics. Though many players have expressed that they want to go no matter what, the league is still shuffling its feet on whether to break in the middle of the season again for a tournament that many owners dislike. The possibility of losing a key player to injury is a huge risk for teams that are competing for the Stanley Cup, and the league wants to build their own product—The World Cup of Hockey, held this past fall in Toronto—into the premiere international tournament.

While the GMs discuss how to improve the game and create more offense, many media members including TSN’s Ray Ferraro pondered various different rule changes on Twitter. One idea of expanding to the international-sized rinks was shot down immediately, with Ferraro saying that it does not in fact increase offense, just creates dead areas on the ice. Whether that’s true or not, Dave Stubbs of NHL.com put a period on the conversation when he noted that adding 15 feet of ice to every rink would eliminate many premium seats—no league owner would sign off on that.

Upcoming Agenda At The Florida GM Meetings

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Tomorrow marks the start of the annual GM meetings in the NHL, where for three days leaders of the league’s teams will get together and discuss how to make the game better. As Sportnet’s John Shannon reports, there are several things being discussed at the meetings and we’ll go through some of the more important points.

Coach’s Challenge

The lengthy offside challenges this season have been a cause of much debate, as some have taken as long as 10 minutes to determine the call. Though the theory of the rule is good—that is, getting the correct call in all situations—the implementation leaves something to be desired. When the play is extremely close as it has been at several times this season, many fans, players and coaches would just as well have it ruled on the ice instead of watching the referee’s examine a small screen for several minutes, effectively interrupting any flow of the game that has been established.

As Shannon points out, the issue being discussed though isn’t with the length of the review. Instead, it likely has to do with when a coach can initiate a challenge, and how many he has during the game. Currently, a coach can only challenge offside plays resulting in a goal, and interference with the goaltender that results in a goal.

Defining Offside

Going hand-in-hand with the challenge discussion is the definition of the play itself. Since so many of the calls have been inconclusive because of the reading that it’s not offside until it touches his stick inside the blueline, the league is likely considering a change that would include some sort of “possession” reading. If the player carries it across, but isn’t actually in contact with the puck it could still be ruled offside. Many traditionalists may hate this interpretation should it come to pass, but it likely would help the referees make a determination on the replays more easily.

Bye Weeks

This has been another hot-button topic this year, as teams have done extremely poorly coming out of their mandated rest period. Because of the perception that a team coming off the rest is at a disadvantage to one in the swing of playing every other day, the league has been considering moving to a two-week system where half of the league breaks at a time. Coming out of the break, everyone would be playing another squad that had the same bye-week for their first game back. The problem is, obviously, what to do with 31 teams in this scenario.

Shootout

An interesting inclusion at the end of Shannon’s list, is that of the shootout. While some (many) fans want it abolished all together, Shannon notes that they may be considering a change that would allow a team to choose anyone after the third shooter. It’s this way in international events, and have resulted in some extremely memorable moments like T.J. Oshie at the Olympics, or the battle between Jonathan Toews and Peter Mueller at the World Juniors.

Should the league move to this method, it does (slightly) strengthen the idea of having a shootout specialist on your bench. While there is obviously no room for someone who can only perform in the shootout, teams already carry forwards who see less than 10 minutes of ice time a game. Should a young player show excellent skills in the shootout, it’s not unfathomable that a team could bring him up a little sooner as a sort of secret weapon.

Snapshots: Hanzal, Olympics, Blackhawks, Cullen

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As many as 12 teams are interested in acquiring Coyotes center Martin Hanzal, ESPN’s Craig Custance reports (Insider required).  Among those teams are Minnesota and San Jose, who Custance argues should be aggressive on the trade market over the next month given how wide open the Western Conference appears to be right now.

Hanzal’s situation has been well documented.  He’s a pending unrestricted free agent with a cap hit of just $3.1MM, making him an affordable option for most teams.  At 6’6, he can match up physically with any center in the league and he’s one of the better players league-wide at the faceoff dot, winning over 55% of his draws.

Accordingly, the asking price for him is quite high despite having a down year offensively with just 19 points (10-9-19) in 41 games.  GM John Chayka continues to seek a first round pick plus a quality prospect, a price that teams have deemed to be too steep so far.

Other notes from around the hockey world:

  • The NHL and NHLPA will be meeting with representatives from the IOC and the IIHF regarding potential participation in the 2018 Winter Olympics tomorrow, Sportsnet’s John Shannon notes (Twitter link). Commissioner Gary Bettman has been adamant that the position of the majority of the owners do not want to stop the season next year to go to South Korea but no final decision has been made.  IIHF President Rene Fasel has secured the funding to cover the travel costs and insurance for the participating players if they do go after the IOC decided it would no longer pay those costs.
  • Although the Blackhawks have been active on the trade market leading up to the deadline in past seasons, GM Stan Bowman told CSN Chicago’s Tracey Myers that he doesn’t expect to make a deal this year. He noted that he’s quite happy with the progression of several young players and is hoping they’ll continue to improve down the stretch.  It’s worth noting that Chicago is hosting the 2017 NHL Entry Draft and they would like to hold onto as many picks as possible and currently are projected to have just under $1.8MM in cap space at the deadline, per CapFriendly which will limit who they’re able to go after.
  • Penguins center Matt Cullen is expected to get the first chance to fill in for the injured Conor Sheary on Sidney Crosby’s left wing, notes Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Head coach Mike Sullivan suggests that Cullen’s defensive ability will be able to ease some of the responsibility off of Crosby.  With 17 points in 43 games as predominantly a bottom six forward, Cullen should be able to pick up some of the offensive void left by Sheary (who has 35 points in 42 games) as well.

NHL Stars Support Going To Olympics In 2018

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Alexander Ovechkin, Connor McDavid, Jonathan Toews, and Sidney Crosby all agree. The NHL should go to the Pyeongchang Olympics in 2018.

Now it’s just up to NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and IOC President Rene Fasel to hammer out a deal.

Toews told TSN’s Frank Seravalli “quite frankly, to turn on the Olympics next year and watch the hockey teams and the players representing their country — if it’s not the best in the world, I don’t know, I feel like we’re misrepresenting our sport on a pretty huge scale, on a pretty huge level.”

Toews is part of select group, including Crosby, Shea Weber, and coach Mike Babcock, who could win their third-straight Olympic gold medal in Pyeongchang. Toews believes the Olympics are on a “whole other level” than the World Cup and World Championships.

Pyeongchang would be the first chance for McDavid to represent Canada at the professional level. He told Seravalli that, after playing for Team North America at the World Cup, having a chance to represent his country “would be everything.”

“Just to get a chance to chase down a spot on the team and have that opportunity, it would be very special. But we’re very fortunate in Canada to have a long list of great Canadian players. It’d be a tough team to make.”

While the players appear to be a united front, as evidenced by the chatter at the All-Star Game, the NHL’s board of governors and owners are not in agreement. Many owners are not interested in taking a two-week break in the schedule with the potential for their superstars to come back hurt, like John Tavares did in 2014. Despite this, some owners are clearly supportive, like Ted Leonsis. The Capitals’ owner has be vocal about the players going, even saying he would allow Ovechkin to go regardless of official NHL participation.

Negotiations have not gone smoothly so far. The IOC initially said it wouldn’t cover insurance and travel costs for NHL players, but then found funds to do so. That didn’t go over well with Bettman, who said the IOC “opened a can of worms” with the NHL board of governors by appearing to not value the NHL’s participation, according to Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston.

Earlier this season, the NHL offered the Olympics to the PA as part of a deal that would see the current CBA extended by three years, but that was shot down without much consideration. The subject reportedly came up again at the board of governors’ meeting over the weekend, but talk lasted “just ten seconds.”

The NHL, it seems, would prefer to skip 2018 but return for 2022 in China. The league is already looking at hosting games in China as it looks to expand its presence in Asia.

Time is becoming an issue, as the Games are already just a year away. However, this wasn’t a problem in Turino or Sochi, writes CBC’s Tim Wharnsby, as the NHL didn’t officially agree to go until the summer before.

Despite the negativity surrounding negotiations, Crosby remains optimistic, telling ESPN’s Craig Custance that “you have to trust at the end of the day, everyone is going to work hard to make sure it can happen.”

It’s hard to imagine the NHL not going, especially with its biggest stars being so passionate about attending. Either way, the decision is approaching.

Snapshots: Olympics, Waivers, Hurricanes Sale

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In what proved to be a short meeting, the NHL Board of Governors met today to discuss the 2018 Olympics and whether the league will be participating. Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly reported to Frank Seravalli of TSN that the meeting lasted just ten seconds, and said there was nothing new to report.

It’s looking more and more like the league will not be headed to the Pyeong Chang games, though some players have expressed that they will go regardless of the league’s decision. It’s hard to imagine players like Alex Ovechkin leaving their team in the middle of the season, but it may come to that. For his part, Capitals owner Ted Leonsis has said he would support his superstar winger if he did decide to go against the NHL’s wishes.

  • Erik Erlendsson of Lightning Insider reports that Michael Bournival and Gabriel Dumont have both cleared waivers today, though both are currently still with the NHL team. The two player transaction represents the latest in what will be a busy few weeks for GM Steve Yzerman. Starting on Thursday, what some believe may become a fire-sale kicked off with the dealing of Nikita Nesterov to the Montreal Canadiens. The team has a lot more work to do as it works to protect itself from the expansion draft.
  • Tampa has also re-assigned Jake Dotchin back to the AHL according to Bryan Burns of NHL.com, oddly enough without any mention of Bournival or Dumont. Perhaps something is brewing with the recently waived forwards. Dotchin has played three games for the Lightning this year and was held scoreless.
  • The Carolina Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos told Pierre LeBrun of ESPN that he’s now willing to sell the entire franchise, not just a part of it as previously reported. Karmanos has been looking for a buyer for a while now, but has previously been quoted as saying he would guarantee it stays in North Carolina. Obviously, if he were to sell the entire thing he wouldn’t be able to make that guarantee, though he could refuse to make a deal with anyone planning on a relocation. With the Canes floundering at the bottom of the Eastern Conference and still unable to draw a decent crowd each night, perhaps relocation does fall in their future. For now, we’ll keep an eye on any potential buyers the team may be in contact with.

Hayley Wickenheiser Announces Her Retirement

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At the age of 38, Hayley Wickenheiser – arguably the greatest female hockey player of all-time – has decided to hang up her skates. She sent out a tweet Friday night that (fittingly) showed her on a public rink bench with the caption: Hayley Wickenheiser

Dear Canada. It has been the greatest honour of my life to play for you. Time to hang em up!! Thank you! #grateful #graduationday #canada

If you haven’t followed women’s hockey over the past couple of decades, Wickenheiser is a name you need to learn. She is a four-time Olympic gold medalist in consecutive winter games (and add a silver from 1998 for good luck), and the first woman to play full-time professional hockey at a position other than goal.

In 2003, Wickenheiser signed on with a Finnish men’s team and played 23 games with the club that season, breaking a barrier for women around the world. She scored 12 points for the team in those 23 games (including 7 in 11 playoff matches), but left the league after just 10 scoreless games the next season. Years later she would play for a Swedish men’s team, scoring three points in 21 games. In 26 Olympic matches, she scored 51 points.

An incredible athlete, Wickenheiser also represented Canada in softball at the 2000 Summer Olympics. Once offered a contract to play in the ECHL by Phil Esposito (though she would never play for the team), her journey in hockey simply outgrew where the women’s level was at that time.  She will be a no-brainer inductee to the Hockey Hall of Fame, with discussion already beginning on whether the waiting period will be waived for her.

If it weren’t for Wickenheiser, there is no guarantee women’s hockey would be as developed as it is today. She, and other legends like her, inspired a generation of young women to pick up a hockey stick, get on the ice, and challenge the notion that hockey was only for men.

Dear Hayley. It has been a great hono(u)r to watch you play. Thank you.

Snapshots: Olympics, St. Louis, Florida Injuries, Oleksiak

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While the International Olympic Committee was originally hoping to have a firm answer regarding the NHL’s participation in the upcoming Winter Olympics by January 15th, there is no specific deadline for the league to make their decision, an IOC rep told ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun.

The league continues to work on two different schedules for next season, one that would accommodate the NHL stopping midseason and one that would not.  While that might sound like reason for optimism, Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly isn’t as bullish on the league heading to South Korea:

“The fact of the matter is that we have never at any time received a direct communication from the IOC on the prospect of NHL Player participation in the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, and we still do not have the details of precisely how the expenses related to our possible participation would be funded as they have been in the past in the event we decided to go.

“In addition to that, and as we have said on numerous occasions, while those logistical and funding details are obviously important, absent there being some new and compelling reason for the Board [of Governors] to potentially reconsider the issue, there does not appear currently to be anywhere near the requisite support from our clubs that would be necessary for the league to commit to Olympic participation in 2018.”

While there hasn’t been a firm announcement yet regarding the funding, it is believed that International Ice Hockey Federation President Rene Fasel has a plan in place to cover the costs although it remains to be seen if that alone will be enough to sway NHL owners to participate.  At any rate, it’s looking like this may not be as close to being resolved one way or the other as originally anticipated.

Other news and notes from around the league:

  • The Tampa Bay Lightning will retire Martin St. Louis’ jersey tonight. He will be the first player in team history to receive the honor.  Louis spent parts of 13 seasons with the Lightning while also seeing time with the Flames and Rangers (after requesting a trade there in 2014) and has the most assists and points in franchise history.  Among those scheduled to speak at the ceremony tonight is former head coach John Tortorella and NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman.
  • Panthers GM and interim head coach Tom Rowe provided an update to George Richards of the Miami Herald regarding several of their injured players. Left winger Jonathan Huberdeau, who has missed the entire season with a torn Achilles tendon, is now expected to be back in the lineup in early March instead of sometime in early-to-mid February.  Blueliner Alex Petrovic (ankle) could be back following the All-Star Break while center Nick Bjugstad (groin) is still out at least a couple more weeks.  The team didn’t have as much of an update on center Aleksander Barkov, who remains week-to-week with a lower body issue.
  • Though the original report suggested he’d miss only a couple of weeks, the Stars will be without defenseman Jamie Oleksiak will miss three to six weeks with a hand injury, head coach Lindy Ruff told reporters, including Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News. The injury occurred on Tuesday against Anaheim.  While Oleksiak spent a lot of time early on as a healthy scratch, he had been playing more frequently as of late.  The 24 year old has five goals and an assist in 20 games with Dallas this year.

Snapshots: Glass, Hurricanes, Olympics

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News and notes from around the NHL this evening:

  • Goaltender Jeff Glass signed an AHL contract with the Rockford IceHogs today, reports Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston. Glass was released from a PTO from the AHL Toronto Marlies yesterday as the Toronto Maple Leafs prepared to claim Curtis McElhinney off of waivers. Glass has spent the last seven years on various KHL teams after failing to make the NHL with the Ottawa Senators. He had a stellar World Junior Championship in 2005, going 5-0 with a 1.40 GAA en route to Canada’s first gold medal since 1997.
  • The Carolina Hurricanes activated forward Elias Lindholm off of IR today. Lindholm suffered an upper body injury on December 30th against the Chicago Blackhawks, ending a three-game scoring streak. In 30 games this season Lindholm has 4G and 9A. The Hurricanes also assigned Andrej Nestrasil to the AHL Charlotte Checkers after clearing waivers today.
  • Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that the Jan 15th deadline to decide whether NHL players would go to the Olympics has moved to the end of January. This date coincides with another Board of Governors meeting. Friedman speculates that both the NHL and NHLPA are waiting to see exactly what the IIHF will contribute financially. There’s been little update since the NHLPA rejected the NHL’s offer to attend the Olympics in exchange for agreeing to a slate of NHL-hosted international events.

Snapshots: Gudlevskis, Luongo, Rule Book

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After Ben Bishop suffered a lower-body injury in last night’s game, the Tampa Bay Lightning have recalled Kristers Gudlevksis from the Syracuse Crunch.

If the name Gudlevskis sounds familiar, it’s likely because of his performance for Latvia at the 2014 Olympics. In their 2-1 quarter-final loss against Canada, Gudlevskis made 55 saves on 57 shots.

So far this season, Gudlevskis has struggled in the AHL, with just a 5-4-2 record and an 0.884 SV%. However, with Bishop expected to be gone sometime this year or this summer, an NHL callup is a chance for Gudlevskis to show he has what it takes to back up Andrei Vasilevskiy going forward.

  • Jaromir Jagr wasn’t the only Florida Panthers player to hit a milestone last night. Roberto Luongo tied legendary goaltender Terry Sawchuk for fifth all-time in wins. Both have 477 wins, with Luongo doing it in 22 less games. Luongo needs eight more wins to pass Curtis Joseph for fourth, and 105 wins to pass Patrick Roy for second. Martin Brodeur is safely first with 691 wins, which is 140 more than Roy.
  • Over at OilersNation.com, TSN’s Jason Gregor writes that the NHL needs to once again call the rule book. While it was strictly enforced after the 2005 lockout, obstruction is no longer being called properly in the NHL. Gregor argues that players like Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby, Patrick Kane, and Johnny Gaudreau are being prevented from demonstrating their elite skill because of the constant hooking and slashing that isn’t called. Whether it was Gaudreau missing weeks with a broken finger from being slashed 21 times in a single game (no penalties) or McDavid being denied penalty shot after penalty shot when he’s whacked and hooked on breakaways (most recently on Monday when Alex Pietrangelo denied McDavid a shot on a breakaway by slashing his hands several times, again no penalty), there is a systematic failure on the NHL’s part to protect its stars from fouls. Gregor wonders why no GMs or players have spoken up about this, and hypothesizes that they’re either scared of being “deemed whiners” or scared of commissioner Gary Bettman. Former referee Kerry Fraser told Gregor that the current officials need to “be a little more vigilant,” in a rare comment about fellow officials.

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