Sharks Sign Justin Bailey To NHL Deal, Place Filip Zadina On IR
The San Jose Sharks have announced that they’ve signed forward Justin Bailey to an NHL contract and placed forward Filip Zadina on the injured reserve. Bailey has signed a one-year, two-way deal with the Sharks with an NHL salary of $775K and a salary of $300K at the AHL level.
Bailey had a professional try-out with the Sharks this season, which he converted into an AHL contract with their affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda. The 28-year-old dressed in 16 games in the AHL, posting six goals and five assists, which was good enough to lead the team in scoring. After signing his contract, Bailey was quickly recalled by the Sharks to replace the injured Zadina. Bailey has five goals and four assists in 82 NHL games with three different NHL teams.
The Sharks also announced today that Zadina has been placed on the IR. The former sixth-overall pick left the Sharks game on Friday night against the Montreal Canadiens and did not return. He reportedly was dealing with an upper-body injury and did not dress for San Jose’s game against the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night. Zadina signed a one-year deal with the Sharks in the offseason to ignite his NHL career after struggling through five seasons with the Detroit Red Wings. Thus far with San Jose, Zadina has been unable to find any traction, as he has just three goals and two assists in 20 games while posting a -19.
Metropolitan Notes: Haula, Fox, Rust
New Jersey Devils reporter Amanda Stein tweeted today that forward Erik Haula did not practice with the team today after suffering an injury on Saturday night. Haula was forced to leave the Devils 7-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres with an undisclosed ailment. The 32-year-old did not join the team on the bench for the third period leading to speculation about what might have happened to the native of Pori, Finland.
Haula has found a home in New Jersey after bouncing around to four different teams between 2019-2022. In 18 games this year Haula has six goals and six assists which is well above his average point production per game. His hot start can be credited to a shooting percentage of 17.1% which is well above his career average of 12%.
Star-Ledger reporter Ryan Novozinsky tweeted that Devils head coach Lindy Ruff told reporters that Haula probably won’t be available for the team’s game tomorrow night which would be another blow to a Devils team who have already sustained injuries to much of their forward group, including Timo Meier and Tomas Nosek who were also absent from practice this morning as they continue to deal with ongoing ailments.
In other Metropolitan notes:
- Mollie Walker of the New York Post is reporting that New York Rangers defenseman Adam Fox was an active participant in the team’s practice this morning and is eligible to return to the Rangers lineup on Wednesday night when they take on the Detroit Red Wings. The native of Jericho, New York was placed on the injured reserve after suffering an injury on November 3rd when he was hit by Carolina Hurricanes forward Sebastian Aho. Fox had been on a torrid pace to start the season with three goals and eight assists in the first 10 games of the Rangers season. The 2021 Norris Trophy winner will add a jolt to a Rangers team that sits tied for first in the league with a 15-3-1 record to start the season.
- Matt Vensel of Post-Gazette Sports is reporting that Pittsburgh Penguins forward Bryan Rust was a full participant in Penguins practice this morning and he attempts to work his way back into the lineup after missing the team’s last three games with a lower-body injury. Rust practiced on the team’s top line along with Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel and took reps of the Penguins’ first power play unit signalling that a return could come sooner than later. Shelly Anderson of Pittsburgh Hockey Now is reporting that Rust told reporters that he could play tomorrow night when Pittsburgh visits the Nashville Predators, but nothing is official yet. The Penguins could certainly use Rust back as they’ve had Drew O’Connor filling in during his absence. O’Connor did have an assist in Saturday night’s win over the Toronto Maple Leafs, but he lacks the offensive upside that Rust brings to the Penguins top-6 forward group.
Toronto Maple Leafs Loan Alex Steeves To AHL
The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced that they’ve loaned forward Alex Steeves to their AHL affiliate, the Toronto Marlies. Steeves was recalled last week and served as a health scratch for the Maple Leafs in their losses to the Chicago Blackhawks and Pittsburgh Penguins over the weekend.
The 23-year-old has yet to play in an NHL game this season but has six games of experience, all with the Maple Leafs. Steeves has suited up in three games in each of the past two seasons, notching a single assist over that time. The story has been much different in the AHL, as Steeves has proved to be a solid scoring option with the Marlies. In 14 games this season, he has 11 goals and seven assists and is +2. For his AHL career, Steeves has dressed in 137 games and has 115 points.
Steeves spent his NCAA career with the University of Notre Dame before he signed with the Leafs as an undrafted free agent in 2021. His return to the AHL means he will have an opportunity to build on an 11-game point streak that remains intact. Steeves has 11 goals and five assists during the streak, and if he can continue to pile on the offense for the Marlies, he may be able to force his way into the Maple Leafs lineup at some point this season.
The Maple Leafs have not received a ton of offensive production from their bottom six forwards thus far this year, and with how tight they are against the salary cap, they may have no other choice other than exploring internal options to try and improve the offensive production they get from their bottom two lines.
Islanders Place Sebastian Aho On Injured Reserve
The New York Islanders announced on Monday that defenseman Sebastian Aho has been placed on injured reserve, retroactive to last Friday. As of now, no corresponding recall has been made. Aho was injured early in the team’s Friday night game, along with fellow defender Adam Pelech. Both players have since been placed on IR, with Pelech being put on long-term injured reserve.
Aho has appeared in 19 games so far this season, netting four assists, four penalty minutes, and a -3. He’s also managed 18 shots and nine hits. This year becomes the fifth season that Aho has played in the NHL and follows up a strong 2022-23 season that saw the defenseman score 23 points and record a +9 in 71 games. Aho is in the last year of a two-year, $1.6MM contract extension signed last summer.
The 27-year-old Aho was originally drafted by the Islanders in the fifth round of the 2017 NHL Draft, after scoring 30 points in 50 SHL games in the 2016-17 season. He immediately came over to the NHL, playing in 22 NHL games in the following 2017-18 season. He’s managed 151 career games throughout his five-year career, scoring nine goals and 45 points.
This news knocks the Islanders down to just six healthy NHL defensemen, including recent waiver claim Mike Reilly. Reilly has yet to make his debut with the Islanders but did appear in two games with the Florida Panthers earlier in the year, going without a point while also recording two penalty minutes and a -2. The Islanders become the sixth NHL team that Reilly has been apart of. The 30-year-old defender originally signed a one-year, $1MM contract with Florida on July 1st, after being bought-out by the Boston Bruins.
Former Ducks Coach Dallas Eakins Signs As GM In Germany
Former Anaheim Ducks head coach Dallas Eakins has signed a deal with Adler Mannheim of the DEL, Germany’s top league. Eakins will serve as general manager of the team and assist with coaching through the end of the 2023-24 season, before reassessing the position next off-season.
This is an interesting career move for Eakins, whose entire professional hockey career has come in North America up to this point. The 56-year-old head coach previously played 609 career AHL games, and 120 NHL games, as part of a career that spanned from his 10th-round selection in the 1985 NHL Draft to his retirement in 2004. Eakins was never particularly productive, recording 134 career AHL points and nine career NHL points. He also recorded 1051 penalty minutes in the AHL and 208 in the NHL.
Eakins took on an assistant coaching role with the Toronto Marlies for the 2005-06 season and was promoted to an assistant role with the Maple Leafs in the year after. After a couple of years behind the Leafs’ bench, Eakins went back to the AHL to serve as the Marlies’ head coach for four seasons. It wasn’t until the 2013-14 season that Eakins finally took on an NHL head coaching role, joining the Edmonton Oilers. He would lose the role to Todd Nelson partway through the proceeding 2014-15 season and returned for another four seasons in the AHL, before joining the Anaheim Ducks for the last four seasons. It’s been a back-and-forth career for Eakins. His best years came with the Toronto Marlies, who he took to the AHL’s Calder Cup Playoffs Finals in 2011-12. He hasn’t been apart of the Stanley Cup Playoffs since his playing career in 1999.
Eakins is replacing Jan-Axel Alavaara as Adler Mannheim’s general manager. Alavaara was in the role for the last five seasons, after spending a couple of years as an amateur scout with the Buffalo Sabres. Eakins also relieves head coach Johan Lundskog, who has coaching experience in the GMHL, ECHL, SHL, and National League. Lundskog was in his first year with Adler Mannheim.
Five Key Stories: 11/20/23 – 11/26/23
The final full week of November is in the books and it was a stretch that was dominated by injury news. We recap the biggest headlines in our key stories.
Back On The Market: Jaroslav Halak’s time with the Hurricanes came to a quick conclusion with the veteran requesting and being granted his release from his PTO agreement. The 38-year-old was brought in a couple of weeks ago when Frederik Andersen was diagnosed with blood clots with the hope that he’d give Carolina some extra depth between the pipes. However, the team wasn’t prepared to offer him a contract at this point, likely prompting Halak to try to move on. Halak has done quite well for someone picked in the ninth round, putting together a 17-year NHL career so far. He’ll have to wait a little longer at least before he has a shot at making it 18.
Done For The Year: When the Blackhawks picked up Taylor Hall over the summer, the hope was that he’d be a capable top-six scorer to give top prospect Connor Bedard some support. Unfortunately, things haven’t gone as planned. Hall has dealt with multiple injuries already this year and his latest one, a torn ACL, will end his season prematurely as he’ll undergo surgery on Monday. Hall’s year comes to an end with just two goals and two assists in ten games, hardly the start to his time in Chicago anyone was hoping for. He has one year left on his contract after this one with a $6MM AAV.
Perry Gone Indefinitely: Still with Chicago, midway through the week, Corey Perry was a surprise scratch with head coach Luke Richardson calling it an organizational decision. Saturday, GM Kyle Davidson stated that the veteran would be gone for the “foreseeable future” while declining to provide further details or comment on any speculation. Meanwhile, soon after that, his agent released a statement stating that Perry has stepped away to attend to personal matters, somewhat contradicting Chicago’s assertion of his absence being an organizational decision. Perry has been relatively productive this season, sitting fourth on the team with four goals and five assists through 16 games but those totals won’t be getting added to for a while by the looks of it.
More Injury News: A tough start to the season just got a bit tougher for Columbus as they’ll be without one of their top defensemen for at least the next six weeks as Damon Severson is sidelined with an oblique injury. Columbus picked up the 29-year-old in a sign-and-trade with New Jersey who gave him an eight-year, $50MM contract; he was off to a decent start with eight points in 19 games while logging nearly 21 minutes a game. Meanwhile, the Maple Leafs will be without John Klingberg for a while as he has been placed on LTIR as his undisclosed injury is not healing as well as hoped. He had struggled when he was in the lineup and didn’t provide the offensive boost Toronto was expecting. It wasn’t all bad news on the injury front, however, as the Lightning welcomed back goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy as he has fully recovered from the back surgery he had in training camp. How did Tampa Bay celebrate? By becoming the first team in NHL history to score at least eight goals on 14 or fewer shots in a game since shots were first officially tracked in 1955-56.
Girard Enters Player Assistance Program: Avalanche defenseman Samuel Girard has taken a leave of absence from the team to enter into the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program. The blueliner stated that he “made a proactive decision to take care of my mental health, and will be entering treatment for severe anxiety and depression that has gone untreated for too long and led to alcohol abuse”. The 25-year-old has become an integral part of Colorado’s back end in recent years but will now be away from the team indefinitely as he works through the program.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
West Notes: Gagner, Pospisil, DeMelo
With this being Ken Holland’s final year under contract as GM of the Oilers, some have started to wonder who his replacement might be if the 68-year-old decides to move into an advisory role or if the team decides to make a change. One speculative candidate has been player agent Dave Gagner who worked with Jeff Jackson, now the president of hockey operations for Edmonton. Meanwhile, his son Sam is in his third stint with the franchise. However, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported in the latest Saturday Headlines segment (video link) that the former NHL player has indicated that he isn’t interested in the job and wouldn’t pursue it if it became available. Edmonton had an in-house candidate to eventually take Holland’s spot in Steve Staios but he is now with Ottawa.
Elsewhere out West:
- Sportsnet’s Eric Francis points out that Flames winger Martin Pospisil is now waiver-eligible once again having now played in 11 games this season. The 24-year-old has fared well in his first taste of NHL action with three goals and two assists which would make it much riskier to try to send him back down now that he has shown he can produce at the top level. Accordingly, Francis suggests that Pospisil’s spot is likely secure for the time being, even though it will present some challenges cap-wise later on when they want to bring others up from the minors.
- Jets defenseman Dylan DeMelo is a pending UFA for the second time in his career as he can hit the open market this summer. He told Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Free Press that his uncertain contract status affected his play last time when he was with Ottawa, who eventually moved him to Winnipeg. DeMelo’s desire is to remain with the Jets but noted that he knew he was lower on the priority list to re-sign. However, with extensions for Mark Scheifele and Connor Hellebuyck done, it’s possible that talks about a new deal for DeMelo could be in the works before long.
PHR Mailbag: Blue Jackets, Gaudreau, Kane, Rasmussen, Oilers, Hockey Canada
Topics in this edition of the PHR Mailbag include the rough start to the season for the Blue Jackets, how the Oilers could get out of their slump, and much more. If your question doesn’t appear here, check back in next weekend’s mailbag.
Black Ace57: What does Columbus do going forward if their high-paid stars keep struggling? They looked like a team that could compete this year, but if their top guys keep struggling it looks more like a team in need of a retool or short rebuild.
I wasn’t sold on the Blue Jackets being a playoff team this season but I was expecting them to be more competitive than they have been so far. In theory, I agree with you that a retool would help but the problem is who do they retool with? Selling low on Patrik Laine isn’t wise. Same for Johnny Gaudreau. I don’t think they’re moving Boone Jenner either. So, aside from the currently injured Jack Roslovic, the forwards they’d move don’t have a particularly significant track record; they aren’t players that will bring impact pieces in return.
On defense, Andrew Peeke and Adam Boqvist have some value but they’ve been on the block for most of the season now. Clearly, the offers haven’t been great as otherwise, they’d have been moved already. Erik Gudbranson doesn’t have a trade market and the other veterans are players they probably don’t want to trade.
If they can find a taker for Merzlikins, they can try the lateral goalie swap and hope the change of scenery works for each player. With his contract ($5.4MM through 2026-27), that’s easier said than done.
They’ve changed the coach multiple times now. They’ve changed the goalie coach. Pulling those levers again isn’t going to change much. So my recommendation to them would be to play the youngsters as much as possible and hope that the veterans find their footing. If they don’t, at least the development of their young core players gets advanced. That’s a small win but with their current situation, that might be the best-case scenario aside from moving out some rentals closer to the trade deadline if they’re out of it by then.
Pyramid Headcrab: Any insight on Johnny Gaudreau? His scoring has completely fallen off a cliff, and his play does not inspire confidence. Can you think of any other players who have had such a precipitous drop after signing a new contract?
And more vitally, is this a case of a guy completely phoning it in after getting a big paycheque, or is this a case of a player not fitting in a new system?
The player who replaced Gaudreau in Calgary comes to mind, Jonathan Huberdeau. He gets acquired, signs the long-term extension, and falls off a cliff, notching 60 fewer points compared to 2021-22. This season, he’s on pace for even less. Jeff Skinner also fits the bill. After a 40-goal year in his first season with Buffalo, he followed that up with 23 points followed by 14, making his deal one of the worst in the league. Fortunately for the Sabres, he turned it around and while his contract isn’t a bargain, it looks a lot better now.
Gaudreau will get an opportunity to do like Skinner and play his way out of this. There is no trade market for him at the moment. In a perfect world, Adam Fantilli becomes the top-line center they think he can be, giving Gaudreau a higher-end linemate that he hasn’t had with the Blue Jackets so far. If that happens, I think he can rebound somewhat. Not to the point where $9.5MM is viewed as a bargain but also not among the worst in the league either.
I also don’t think this is a case of Gaudreau cashing in and checking out, so to speak. I suspect this is more just him not fitting into the current system and lacking that impact center to play with. Granted, at $9.5MM, it should be Gaudreau helping elevate a linemate, not him needing a better linemate to bring out the best in him. It hasn’t gone well for him in Columbus so far but I think he can turn it around.
Winter in Colorado: What’s your take on Patrick Kane’s return? Every talking head out there thinks he’ll come back and be fine. No player has ever returned successfully from hip resurfacing surgery. It’s entirely possible Kane will be the next Nicklas Backstrom. Yet, I haven’t heard this from any hockey media. It really doesn’t matter what team or contract Patrick Kane wants if he can’t play.
This is a great point and frankly, it wasn’t even one I was really considering too much but you’re absolutely right, it does have to be factored in. Ed Jovanovski didn’t come back for too long when he had it. Ryan Kesler had it done and never played again. Backstrom wasn’t bad last season after coming back but now, it’s fair to wonder if his playing days are done. If I’m a GM, this should be something to consider.
I wonder if Backstrom’s situation could make Kane’s camp lean toward pursuing a multi-year deal. While it’s possible he leaves money on the table if he is able to buck the trend, locking in guaranteed money with injury concerns can rarely be called a good idea.
Here’s what I keep coming back to with Kane. The contending teams that want him are almost all in cap trouble. Their preference is undoubtedly going to be Kane taking a cheap deal that doesn’t require them to turn around and move out another player, possibly with an incentive added with so few teams being able and willing to take on money.
Kane is going to have to pick between trying to ring chase now (and perhaps land in a spot where he can be insulated a bit which helps from a health standpoint) or going for one last big financial score. I lean toward him taking the former (perhaps not by choice; the big-money deals are going to be tough to get at this point of the year) as that’s where his best options for short-term success will be.
Binnie: Two questions to ask. The first one is which team has the best chance of signing Patrick Kane. The second is about Michael Rasmussen contract extension, how long are the terms and average salary per offered if true.
There seems to be some speculation that his preference would be to stay in the East after finishing up last season with the Rangers, a team that it doesn’t look like he’ll be returning to. Florida doesn’t have a lot of cap space but there seems to be considerable mutual interest and frankly, of the Eastern contender teams that could have a realistic shot at trying to afford him, they might be the best fit.
Buffalo is out there both for the fact he’s a local and the sense he’d help give them a boost in a season that they’re supposed to emerge from their rebuild. Detroit is believed to be in the mix as they’re looking to get out of missing the playoffs as well. Both of them can afford pricier long-term deals. If Kane wants one of those, I’d lean to Buffalo. If he’s willing to take the one-year deal, Florida is my pick for where he signs.
As for Rasmussen, I’m sure Detroit GM Steve Yzerman is at least kicking the tires. The center is a pending RFA so a deal will have to get done at some point. It’s safe to say that he’ll get more than his $1.72MM qualifier, especially with arbitration rights. But I don’t think Rasmussen has shown enough to receive a long-term extension, the types that are often done in-season. Barring injury, he’d have gotten there last year but he doesn’t have a 30-point season under his belt and he’s at a lower pace offensively so far this season.
Honestly, I think the best play for both sides here is a one-year pact, another bridge deal if you will. If I’m Detroit, I’d be leery about going higher than a low $3MM offer on a multi-year agreement (three or more seasons). If I’m Rasmussen, why am I locking in long-term for that when I can get $2MM or more on a one-year deal and ideally have a better platform year? Those would be my picks for a new contract for Rasmussen which is why I don’t think the two sides will get one done.
Nha Trang: Alright, how’s this for a deadly hypothetical? Congratulations, Brian! You’ve just been drafted to be the new GM of the Oilers, a team in the dumps, with over half of their cap space tied up in just six players (each and every one of them with NMCs), you’re projected to have only $10MM of cap space NEXT season, and you’ve got a goalie in the minors with a no-trade clause and a nearly $4MM cap hit himself. What’s your turnaround strategy, beyond fleeing screaming for Tahiti? (That, or coming to Massachusetts to clock me upside the head with a goalie stick for making the suggestion.)
My strategy is probably pretty similar to the one they’ve probably been looking into. In net, I’m looking for change-of-scenery players that wouldn’t necessarily require a huge inducement to take on Campbell’s deal. I’m looking at Columbus and Elvis Merzlikins or Seattle and Philipp Grubauer. Both netminders are signed for as long as Campbell and their AAV’s are less than $1MM apart. With Columbus, perhaps add in Cody Ceci and Andrew Peeke to make the money come close to matching and with Seattle, Ceci and William Borgen for the same purpose. That’s probably not the exact trade when all is said and done, that’s the core of the swap.
If those don’t work, I think I might make a bigger offer for Arizona’s Karel Vejmelka. (The problem is they won’t take Campbell back.) The Coyotes don’t seem to be locked in with having him as their long-term starter and if I can get two years at $2.75MM to pair with Stuart Skinner, that’s worth pursuing. Kulak is probably the money matcher and as much as I wouldn’t want to do it, I could be persuaded to put Xavier Bourgault, one of their top prospects, in the offer. This isn’t a viable situation for a rebuild, not with their core. Selling is not an option so the swing is defensible.
Failing that, Montreal’s Sam Montembeault would be my next target since his contract is a lot easier to fit into the current salary structure; he could be added without subtracting anyone of consequence off their current roster. A first-round pick is off the table but if they accepted a package headlined by a second-rounder, that would be worth pursuing. That’s not going to be a big upgrade in terms of getting a new starter but that at least shores up the backup spot, increasing the chances of getting points from those games which will help as they look to get back into a playoff spot.
I’d also look at shaking up the back end. Between Ceci, Brett Kulak, Evan Bouchard, and Philip Broberg, they have a lot of defenders who are mobile but not particularly good in their own end. One or two of those is manageable, four out of seven on the roster is an issue. Moving Kulak and/or Ceci for different-styled players making similar money (Peeke and Borgen are examples from the earlier goalie offers) would be useful. Getting more defensive structure and stability should help solve some of the goaltending struggles and with the remaining puck-movers plus Darnell Nurse and Mattias Ekholm, their offensive game shouldn’t take much of a hit.
Up front, I don’t think I’d change a whole lot. What I would do is waive one of Adam Erne or Sam Gagner to make them waiver-exempt and shuffle one of them back and forth (down on off days) along with James Hamblin. (Not at the same time as they need 12 forwards though.) The idea would be to dip out of LTIR on those days and bank a tiny bit of cap space which might come in handy at the deadline. Ideally, it’d be nice to get a penalty kill specialist into Gagner’s spot and a more skilled fourth line grit player into Erne’s but given their weaker prospect pool, I wouldn’t be trading much for those. Rather, I’d watch the waiver wire for more optimal fits.
Otherwise, this is a good forward group and I expect they’ll turn it around on their own. That coupled with better defense and possibly better goaltending should get them into the playoffs at least.
Predators Activate Luke Schenn
The Predators announced Sunday evening that they’ve activated defenseman Luke Schenn from injured reserve. Schenn will return to the lineup for tonight’s game against the Jets.
Today’s appearance will be Schenn’s first since sustaining a lower-body injury after the NHL season-opening game against the Lightning on October 10. Within a week of Schenn exiting the lineup, the Predators announced he was expected out of the lineup for four to six weeks. His return comes right on schedule within that recovery timeframe.
The 34-year-old has had somewhat of a career renaissance over the previous two seasons. The fifth-overall pick in the 2008 draft by the Maple Leafs, Schenn was almost out of the league entirely in the mid-to-late 2010s and earned multiple demotions to the AHL. After capturing two Stanley Cup rings with the Lightning in 2020 and 2021 while playing an extremely limited role, Schenn once again became an everyday NHLer after signing a two-year deal with the Canucks in 2021.
Over the last two seasons, Schenn remained in a somewhat limited role but was a regular appearance in the lineup, playing in 136 games with the Canucks and Maple Leafs after a 2023 deadline deal sent him back to Toronto. He’s notched 39 points, a +23 rating, and 145 penalty minutes in that time.
An especially strong finish to 2022-23, riding shotgun at times on Toronto’s top defense pairing with Morgan Rielly, earned Schenn a significant three-year, $8.25MM commitment with the Predators when free agency opened on July 1. It’s a bit of a risky gamble for a player who will be 36 at the end of the deal, but Predators GM Barry Trotz hopes Schenn will add a physical element to Nashville’s back end and provide some protection for star puck-moving defender Roman Josi.
The Predators had room on the 23-man roster to execute this move, meaning no corresponding transaction is necessary.
Ryan Hartman To Have Player Safety Hearing
Minnesota Wild forward Ryan Hartman will have a hearing with the NHL’s Department of Player Safety on Monday regarding a slew-foot against Detroit Red Wings winger Alex DeBrincat during today’s loss, per a league announcement.
The incident occurred about halfway through the third period, with the Wild already trailing by multiple goals. As DeBrincat attempted to shield teammate Michael Rasmussen by the Wild bench as he carried the puck up the ice, Hartman approached DeBrincat from behind. Hartman’s foot made contact with the back of DeBrincat’s skates and continued to follow through as DeBrincat fell backward to the ice.
NHL Player Safety will likely determine whether Hartman intended to injure DeBrincat on the play, the principal factor in the length of a potential suspension. Because this is not an in-person hearing, a suspension would be five games or less.
Hartman has been among the few Wild players performing up to expectations this season. His seven goals rank second on the team behind Joel Eriksson Ek, and the natural winger continues to take a heavy amount of faceoffs and is averaging nearly 17 minutes per game. Hartman’s possession numbers are some of the best on the team, boasting a 52.5% Corsi share at even strength through 17 games. His lone absence this season came in the Wild’s Global Series game against the Ottawa Senators last weekend in Stockholm due to illness.
The 29-year-old is in the final season of a three-year contract carrying a bargain-bin cap hit of $1.7MM. He signed a three-year, $12MM extension with the Wild in October and will avoid unrestricted free agency next summer.