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Panthers’ Vincent Trocheck Leaves Game On Stretcher

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Tuesday: Darren Dreger of TSN reports that Trocheck is undergoing surgery on his leg today, giving a long-term timeline for his recovery. It is a huge blow for the Panthers as they try to climb their way out of the Eastern Conference basement.

Monday: In a scary incident on Monday night in Ottawa, Florida Panthers forward Vincent Trocheck was forced from the game with what appears to be a serious lower-body injury. Trocheck left the ice on a stretcher after a collision with Senators forward Ryan Dzingel along the end boards. The Panthers were quick to announce that Trocheck was being evaluated for his injury and would not return to the game.

The crash in question occurred late in the first period as Trocheck and Dzingel battled for the puck while skating toward the Panthers’ net (video). The duo got tied up and  Trocheck’s right leg was trapped under him as he fell backwards. The twisting of the knee, paired with Trocheck’s visible pain, would seem to indicate ligament damage and Florida will have to hold out hope that it is a strain rather than a tear, especially of the ACL. Such an injury would keep Trocheck sidelined for a long period of time. The incident looked similar to the injury suffered by Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Justin Schultz earlier this season and Schultz was given a four month recovery timeline.

Trocheck, 25, has 14 points in 18 games to date, including an assist earlier in this game. After a career 75-point campaign last year, Trocheck has established himself as a top offensive asset for the Cats. Trocheck is especially key to the power play, which could suffer during his likely absence. The slick center is a mainstay in the top-six for Florida, who will have to ask others in the organization to step up if they hope to avoid the ill effects of the injury.

2006 NHL Draft Take Two: Twenty-Eighth Overall Pick

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Hindsight is an amazing thing, and allows us to look back and wonder “what could have been.” Though perfection is attempted, scouting and draft selection is far from an exact science and sometimes, it doesn’t work out the way teams – or players – intended. For every Patrick Kane, there is a Patrik Stefan.

Our look back at the 2006 NHL Entry Draft is now in full swing as we poll the PHR community to see who would have been selected in the first round and in what order knowing what we know now. Through the first 21 picks, we’ve already seen potential Hall of Fame players switch teams, and multiple captains move up and down the draft board.

Here are the results of the redraft so far:

1st Overall: Jonathan Toews (St. Louis Blues)
2nd Overall: Claude Giroux (Pittsburgh Penguins)
3rd Overall: Nicklas Backstrom (Chicago Blackhawks)
4th Overall: Brad Marchand (Washington Capitals)
5th Overall: Phil Kessel (Boston Bruins)
6th Overall: Jordan Staal (Columbus Blue Jackets)
7th Overall: Milan Lucic (New York Islanders)
8th Overall: Kyle Okposo (Phoenix Coyotes)
9th Overall: Erik Johnson (Minnesota Wild)
10th Overall: Derick Brassard (Florida Panthers)
11th Overall: Bryan Little (Los Angeles Kings)
12th Overall: Nick Foligno (Atlanta Thrashers)
13th Overall: Semyon Varlamov (Toronto Maple Leafs)
14th Overall: Artem Anisimov (Vancouver Canucks)
15th Overall: Michael Grabner (Tampa Bay Lightning)
16th Overall: Patrik Berglund (San Jose Sharks)
17th Overall: Jeff Petry (Los Angeles Kings)
18th Overall: Jonathan Bernier (Colorado Avalanche)
19th Overall: Mathieu Perreault (Anaheim Ducks)
20th Overall: Michael Frolik (Montreal Canadiens)
21st Overall: Cal Clutterbuck (New York Rangers)
22nd Overall: James Reimer (Philadelphia Flyers)
23rd Overall: Leo Komarov (Washington Capitals)
24th Overall: Steve Mason (Buffalo Sabres)
25th Overall: Michal Neuvirth (St. Louis Blues)
26th Overall: Chris Stewart (Calgary Flames)
27th Overall: Andrew MacDonald (Dallas Stars)

After taking Ivan Vishnevskiy with their actual pick. the Stars wind up with a better fit on the back end in MacDonald, who jumped up 133 spots from his actual selection.

It took until 2010-11 for MacDonald to make it to the NHL on a full-time basis with the Islanders where he showed some offensive upside early, recording 27 points in his rookie campaign.  That remains his career-high to this date.  He remained with the Isles until March of 2014 when he was flipped to the Flyers for a pair of draft picks, one of which was later flipped to Boston as part of the deal that brought them Johnny Boychuk.

At the time of the trade, MacDonald was logging over 25 minutes a night and his ice time stayed rather high after joining Philadelphia.  As it looked like he was going to be a key shutdown defender for the foreseeable future, the Flyers inked him to a six-year, $30MM contract extension less than six weeks after the trade, a move that hasn’t worked out as well as they hoped.

He has spent considerable time as a healthy scratch in each of the last five seasons and even cleared waivers in the 2015-16 campaign which saw him suit up in his first minor league games since 2009-10.  All in all, he has played in 251 games with the Flyers since the trade but has been more of a complementary player than a core one.  Suffice it to say, the contract – which runs through next season – hasn’t worked out as well as they hoped for.

That said, MacDonald has still carved out a pretty good career for himself considering he was initially a sixth-round pick.  It’s unlikely he’ll remain in Philadelphia when his contract expires and given that the league is trending away from stay-at-home players in favor of strong skaters, it will be interesting to see what type of market he has in the 2020 offseason.

We move to the twenty-eighth pick which was held by Ottawa.  They made a very good pick with their original selection, landing wigner Nick Foligno who has played the sixth-most games of anyone in this draft class.  He went twelfth overall in this redraft so the Senators will wind up with someone else this time around.  Who should they take? Have your say by voting in the poll below.

2006 Redraft: 28th Overall
Victor Stalberg 22.93% (83 votes)
Trevor Lewis 16.85% (61 votes)
Jamie McGinn 15.19% (55 votes)
Nikolay Kulemin 12.43% (45 votes)
Matt Beleskey 10.22% (37 votes)
Jiri Tlusty 6.91% (25 votes)
Derek Dorsett 6.35% (23 votes)
Shawn Matthias 5.52% (20 votes)
Peter Mueller 3.59% (13 votes)
Total Votes: 362

Mobile users, click here to vote.

Brady Tkachuk To Remain With Senators Past The Nine-Game Mark

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Brady Tkachuk has some ups and downs over his first few weeks in the NHL.  He got off to a good start but missed roughly three weeks shortly thereafter after tearing a ligament in his leg.  However, he has made a strong impression when he has been in the lineup and the team has taken notice, announcing (Twitter link) that he has been told to find his own place to live, meaning that he will be sticking around for the foreseeable future.

The fourth overall pick back in June has played in seven games so far this season so this was a decision that they could have waited a little while longer to make.  However, given the fact that he has made a significant impact early on, they decided that they’ve seen enough.  Through seven games this season, he has four goals and four assists while averaging just shy of 15 minutes a night of playing time.

This means that Tkachuk will officially burn the first year of his entry-level contract early next week once he reaches the ten-game mark.   It’s worth noting that he is eligible to be sent to the AHL so if he struggles between now and the time he reaches 40 games on the active roster (which would give him one accrued season towards unrestricted free agency), the Sens will not be facing a situation of having to send him back to junior if they decide that they don’t want to have him reach that particular mark.  Given how he has played early on though, that doesn’t seem to be particularly likely at this time.

Ottawa Senators Recall Forward Drake Batherson

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The meteoric rise of Drake Batherson continues. A relative no-name just a few years ago, Batherson is now set to join the Ottawa Senators on his first NHL call-up as a first-year pro. The team announced that they have recalled Batherson from the AHL’s Belleville Senators and he could make his debut when the Sens host the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday.

Batherson, 20, was a fourth-round pick by Ottawa in 2017, merely the 121st overall pick. Batherson had completed just one full season in the QMJHL prior to being drafted, recording 58 points in 61 games for the Cape Breton Screming Eagles. Yet, Batherson was still included in the initial camp to compete for a spot on the Canadian World Junior roster. Against the odds, Batherson earned a spot and skated with the U-20 team at the World Juniors last January. Seemingly out of nowhere, Batherson tallied seven goals, tied for the second most in the tournament behind only American first-round pick Kieffer Bellows and tied for fourth-best in points for the Canadians. Batherson continued a strong campaign back in the QMJHL, totaling 77 points in 51 games between Cape Breton and the Blainsville-Boisbriand Armada, which was good enough to share eleventh place in league scoring. He then led all QMJHL skaters with an astounding 33 points in 22 postseason games for Blainville-Boisbriand, leading the team to an appearance in the league championship.

Some thought that Batherson may be unable to continue his impressive play after making the jump to the pro level this season. Instead, the rookie has 20 points through 14 games with Belleville, tied for second-best in the entire AHL. His 13 assists are additionally third in the league, while he leads the Senators across the board on offense by a wide margin. Ottawa hopes that Batherson can continue to find success against a new challenge, as he has for the past year or so. The Senators have won just three of their past eleven games and could use all the help they can get, especially if it comes from a young, potential future core piece. At this rate, Batherson is looking like just that.

Minor Transactions: 11/12/18

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The NHL has just four games on the schedule for tonight, meaning teams will have plenty of opportunity to make changes to their rosters in preparation for the rest of the week. We’ll keep track of all those minor moves right here:

  • Aaron Ness has been sent back to the Hershey Bears, meaning Jonas Siegenthaler looks to have secured a spot with the Washington Capitals for the time being. With Brooks Orpik on long-term injured reserve, Siegenthaler was given his first opportunity at the NHL level and played just over 12 minutes. Ness meanwhile will return to the minor leagues where he has spent the majority of his career, and continue his role as a veteran leader on the Bears’ blue line.
  • The Calgary Flames have assigned Anthony Peluso to the Stockton Heat of the AHL, returning the 29-year old winger after just one game. Peluso has been up and down several times this year, and will likely continue to serve as an injury call-up for the rest of the season.
  • Nick Paul is on his way back to the AHL after the Ottawa Senators reassigned him today. Paul has played six games at both the AHL and NHL level this season, and looks poised to split the year between the two leagues. The 23-year old hasn’t been able to establish himself with the Senators as a full-time option, but does brings some size and physicality when needed.

Chris Wideman Has A Lower-Body Injury

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  • Senators defenseman Chris Wideman is dealing with a lower-body injury, the team announced on Twitter. While his offensive numbers have dipped a bit this season – he still has five points in 17 games – his playing time has gone up by nearly two minutes a night to 13:22.  There’s no word on how long he’ll be out but with Ottawa only carrying six other blueliners on their roster, they will likely look to bring someone up from AHL Belleville if Wideman is expected to miss more than a couple of days.

Atlantic Notes: Rask, Miller, Joseph, Pageau

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It looks like the Boston Bruins may get back goaltender Tuukka Rask on Tuesday after he was granted a leave of absence on Thursday for personal reasons, according to NHL.com’s Amalie Benjamin. The scribe writes that the team will talk to the veteran Monday with the hopes of his return immediately thereafter, but nothing is confirmed until then.

Rask has struggled all season before requesting a leave of absence as the veteran has a 3.05 GAA and a .901 save percentage in eight appearances, not the numbers that a player making $7MM. While the Bruins have kept Rask’s reason for the request silent, the hope is that a break may be able to help him re-focus on the season.

The Bruins have been fortunate to have signed Jaroslav Halak, who has been impressive and looks to have seized the starting job away from the struggling Rask. Halak has a 1.86 GAA and a .941 save percentage in 10 appearances. He stopped 40 of 41 shots in Saturday’s victory over Toronto and without Rask on hand, is expected to play back-to-back against Vegas today.

  • Benjamin also reports that Boston Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy said that defenseman Kevan Miller could return by the end of the team’s four-game road trip that starts on Wednesday. Miller hasn’t played in a game since Oct. 18 with an undisclosed injury.
  • The Tampa Bay Lightning finds itself thrilled with the constant improvements of rookie forward Mathieu Joseph, who after going scoreless in 13 straight games, broke through to have scored four goals in the last four games, according to The Athletic’s Greg Auman (subscription required). The surprising thing is that after 13 scoreless games, the deep Lightning team continued to play him. “My thing with that is if you’re doing all the right things and you’re getting chances and chances and chances, eventually they’re going to go in,” head coach Jon Cooper said. “So there are probably plays he made that should have gone in the net but didn’t, and all of a sudden, plays that maybe don’t go in the net do. That’s just the way it works. He got rewarded tonight. I’m a big believer that if you keep putting yourself in the right position, good things are going to happen.”
  • The Ottawa Senators got a nice piece of news today as center Jean-Gabriel Pageau was seen taking the ice alongside defenseman Ben Harpur and forward Zack Smith, according to TSN’s Todd White. It was reported that Pageau, who suffered a torn Achilles on Sept. 13, would miss six months, however, Pageau has made remarkable progress. While skating is just one step on his way to a full recovery, it’s a good sign to see him back on the ice. Head coach Guy Boucher said that even the medical staff has been impressed by his recovery, although he’s still a long ways off.

Minor Transactions: 11/09/18

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The NHL is unusually active for a Friday night, with six games on the schedule including the Hall of Fame game in Toronto. The New Jersey Devils will take part in the game honoring the new inductees which include Martin Brodeur, Martin St. Louis, Willie O’Ree, Alexander Yakushev, Jayna Hefford and Gary Bettman. As the league prepares to induct some of the greatest to play the game, we’ll keep track on all the more minor moves around the league.

  • The Tampa Bay Lightning have reassigned Cameron Gaunce to the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL after almost two weeks with the team. Gaunce never did suit up for the Lightning, and will now try to get back into game shape with the Crunch. The 28-year old defenseman will likely be the extra man called up several times this season, though his playing time is expected to be restricted to mostly the minor leagues.
  • Given John Klingberg’s injury, the Dallas Stars have recalled defenseman Joel Hanley from the minor leagues. They’ve also moved both Klingberg and Alexander Radulov to injured reserve, though the latter’s stint is retroactive to October 30th. Hanley has five points in 11 AHL games this season, and will try to force his way into the NHL lineup now that they’re missing a big part of their blue line for at least a month.
  • The Ottawa Senators have returned Erik Burgdoerfer to the minor leagues, even as they start their short two-game road trip in Florida. Burgdoerfer has played in just a single game with Ottawa this season, and will spend most of the year in the minor leagues.
  • Jesper Bratt has been officially activated by the Devils and should be in the lineup tonight, a move that needed no corresponding transaction given that Eddie Lack cleared waivers and can remain in the minor leagues. Lack had been on conditioning loan to the Binghamton Devils and will now stay there on assignment. The Devils have sent Kurtis Gabriel back to the AHL though, in order to activate Stefan Noesen for tonight’s game.
  • The Anaheim Ducks have returned a pair of young players to the AHL. The team announced that forward Sam Carrick and defenseman Andy Welinski have been reassigned to the San Diego Gulls. Both players have logged considerable time in the minors already this season, but have only suited up for eight games total for the Ducks.

Brady Tkachuk Activated From Injured Reserve

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The Ottawa Senators are about to get back a big piece of their lineup, as Brady Tkachuk is set to return to action tonight against the Vegas Golden Knights. Tkachuk has been activated from injured reserve, while Jack Rodewald has been sent back to the minor leagues to make room on the roster. Tkachuk last played on October 15th against the Dallas Stars, before tearing a ligament in his leg and ending up on the shelf. The young forward has just four games under his belt, meaning he can play another five before the Senators must decide whether to keep him around and burn the first year of his entry-level contract.

Tkachuk, the fourth overall pick from this June, started his NHL career with a bang by scoring six points in those first four games. His size and demeanor have given the Senators a bit of swagger when he’s in the lineup, as he’s willing to engage physically (and perhaps verbally as well) with anyone on the ice. While his brother Matthew Tkachuk is off to an outstanding start with the Calgary Flames—19 points in 16 games has him on track to shatter his previous high of 49—the younger Senators forward is trying to prove he’s ready for the NHL without any more development.

Since deciding to leave Boston University after just one season and sign with the Senators, there has been much debate over where he should spend the 2018-19 season. The 19-year old is eligible to go to the Belleville Senators of the AHL, but also could head down the highway to the London Knights of the OHL. That program is notorious for developing high end NHL stars—including his brother—and is beginning to look like a powerhouse destined for the Memorial Cup once again after both Evan Bouchard and Alex Formenton were returned from their respective NHL organizations—the latter in fact being Ottawa. If the Senators felt like winning a championship was important to Tkachuk’s development, sending him to London would certainly give him the best opportunity.

That opportunity may not be as important as what he could accomplish in the NHL though, as his early performance indicated. Getting his feet under him at the highest level and finding success on a team that is nowhere near as pathetic as some prognosticators expected could have huge dividends down the road when the Senators are ready to really compete for the playoffs once again. For an example the team needs to look no further than Thomas Chabot, who struggled at times last season on a poor Senators team but has started this year at a Norris-level pace with 20 points in his first 15 games. Chabot’s familiarity with the NHL is certainly an important part of that explosion, something he may not have felt had he spent 2017-18 in the minor leagues.

Snapshots: Bouchard, Raanta, Schmidt

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The London Knights have announced their new leadership group for the 2018-19 season now that several key players have returned, and Edmonton Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard has been given the captaincy once again. Bouchard played seven games for the Oilers before being sent back to junior for the rest of the year, and should immediately step into his role playing nearly 30 minutes a night for London. One of the most effective players in the OHL, Bouchard will also likely be a key member of the Canadian World Junior squad in the coming months.

Joining him with letters for the Knights are several other well known prospects, including Alex Formenton of the Ottawa Senators and Liam Foudy of the Columbus Blue Jackets. Formenton played nine games for the Senators this season and scored his first NHL goal, while Foudy was the 18th-overall pick in June after dominating the NHL Draft Combine. William Lochead and Cole Tymkin, both undrafted, will round out the group of alternates for the Knights this season.

  • Antti Raanta will be out at least a few days with a lower-body injury for the Arizona Coyotes, meaning they were forced to recall Hunter Miska under emergency conditions. Craig Morgan of The Athletic adds that Raanta has subsequently been placed on IR and will be out until November 13th at the earliest.  Miska will serve as the backup to Darcy Kuemper for tomorrow’s game in Philadelphia, but perhaps he will be forced into action before too long given the team has a back-to-back against Pittsburgh and Washington that are scheduled fewer than 24 hours apart.
  • Though the Vegas Golden Knights will be without Erik Haula for at least a few games—and perhaps many more given the optics of last night’s injury—they welcomed back another familiar face to practice today. Nate Schmidt was back on the ice with the team, and can now take full part of practice as he waits out the last ten days of his PED suspension. November 18th is the first game action Schmidt is eligible for, when the Golden Knights head to Edmonton to take on Connor McDavid and the Oilers.

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