Pittsburgh Penguins Reassign Alex Nylander
The Pittsburgh Penguins have announced that forward Alex Nylander has been returned to the team’s AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins. With Wilkes-Barre Scranton set to play the Laval Rocket today, this reassignment gives the AHL Penguins one of their top scorers back.
Nylander, 25, has this season made himself into an extremely effective AHL scorer. After spending some of the earlier years of his career as an up-and-down player without truly dominant AHL numbers, Nylander’s AHL value has grown as his NHL promise has faded. This year, he has scored 25 goals and 50 points in the AHL, and earned seven NHL games in Pittsburgh.
Nylander has scored two points in that seven-game span, including an important goal yesterday against the Detroit Red Wings, a game the Penguins badly needed to win. Nylander played the bulk of his NHL games this season in a six-game span in March, beginning with a March 7th overtime victory over Columbus Blue Jackets.
The Penguins have gone 4-3 with Nylander on their roster, and he’s helped them at an important time in their season. With AHL Pittsburgh out of the AHL playoffs with three games remaining, this reassignment gives Nylander the chance to put the finishing touches on his successful individual AHL campaign before likely returning to support the Penguins as a reserve player should they reach the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Snapshots: Byram, Haula, O’Brien
Colorado Avalanche defenseman Bowen Byram will not be in the lineup tonight per Bennett Durando of the Denver Post. The 21-year-old is battling an illness and will sit out the Avalanche contest against the Los Angeles Kings in a showdown between two playoff-bound Western Conference teams. Byram has 23 points in 39 games played this season.
He missed significant time earlier this season with injury, but this absence appears to be short term since it is an illness and not an injury. Byram joins Cale Makar and Josh Manson on the sidelines for the Avalanche who will be a bit shorthanded on the blue line as they try to catch the Dallas Stars for first place in the Central Division standings.
- Erik Haula is not in the New Jersey Devils lineup tonight according to Amanda Stein, the lead reporter for the team. Haula has played all 79 games for the Devils before tonight’s contest, but has taken consecutive maintenance days at practice leading up to today. With the playoffs just around the corner, it will be worth keeping an eye on Haula’s status in the coming days to see if he can get back in the lineup before the postseason.
- Elliotte Friedman of Hockey Night In Canada reports former first-round draft pick Jay O’Brien is not going to sign with the Philadelphia Flyers. O’Brien just played his final college season with Boston University, scoring eight goals and 32 points in 39 games. He was taken 19th overall in the 2018 NHL Draft and the Flyers have until this August to sign him or allow him to become an unrestricted free agent. Friedman said on “32 Thoughts” segment that O’Brien will not be joining the Flyers and will become a free agent later this summer. The Flyers will receive an additional second round draft pick as compensation for not signing a former first round pick.
Evening Notes: Ovechkin, Harrington, Hughes
Alex Ovechkin will miss the Washington Capitals game this evening according to a team release. The Capitals star goal scorer is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury. The 37-year-old winger has scored 42 goals and 74 points in 72 games this season, leading the team in scoring once again and reaching the 40-goal plateau for the 13th time in his illustrious NHL career.
The Capitals have already been eliminated from playoff contention in a disappointing season for the veteran team. They sit 13th in the Eastern Conference with 77 points in 78 games, but Ovechkin continues to chase history. He has scored 822 goals in his career, which puts him 74 back of Wayne Gretzky for most goals in NHL history.
- Anaheim Ducks defenseman Scott Harrington will miss tonight’s game with an upper-body injury, per a team statement. The 30 year old has played 45 games this season with the Ducks, and has played over 20 minutes in each of the team’s past three games. The team did not give any further details other than to say Harrington would not play tonight.
- Luke Hughes, recently signed to an entry-level contract by the New Jersey Devils, will get some game action soon according to General Manager Tom Fitzgerald (twitter link). Hughes was drafted by the Devils fourth overall in the 2021 NHL Draft and just finished his second college season. The 19-year-old defenseman scored ten goals and 48 points in 39 games this season and will likely make his NHL debut in the coming days.
Maple Leafs Sign Jett Alexander
With regular goaltender Matt Murray out of their game tonight, the Toronto Maple Leafs have signed goaltender Jett Alexander to an amateur tryout contract. With this contract in place, Alexander will be the backup to regular starting goaltender Ilya Samsonov tonight.
Alexander has spent the last three seasons playing for the University of Toronto in the USports, making the playoffs twice, but ultimately failing to win the David Johnston University Cup. Interestingly enough, due to an injury to then starting goaltender Darcy Kuemper last season, the Colorado Avalanche brought in Alexander to be an emergency backup goaltender for one game.
This season, Alexander received the most playing time he’s been given throughout his career at Toronto, playing in a total of 22 games. In those starts, the goaltender has managed a record of 12-7-2, with a SV% of .927 and a GAA of 2.21.
In a salary cap crunch leading up to the playoffs, the Maple Leafs have executed an interesting move to keep themselves under salary cap compliance. Usually, with Murray out, the Maple Leafs would have called up goalie Joseph Woll, but with only $28K in cap space available, the team needed to make room to eventually sign University of Minnesota forward Matthew Knies once his season is finished.
Injury Notes: Sharks, Raddysh, Jeannot, Noesen
Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News relayed several updates from the head coach of the San Jose Sharks, David Quinn, on Saturday morning. Most notable of the updates, forwards Alexander Barabanov and Andreas Johnsson are likely out for the rest of the regular season. At the same time, Oskar Lindblom might be able to return before the year is out.
Johnsson, who was acquired from the New Jersey Devils as a part of the deal for Timo Meier, has played sparingly in San Jose, only managing to play in 11 games so far. In that handful of games, he has accrued three assists and has averaged over 15 minutes a night for the Sharks. At the end of this season, Johnsson will be a restricted free agent, finishing up a 4-year, $13.6MM deal he signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs back in 2019.
In stark contrast, Barabanov has been exceptional for the Sharks since coming over from the Maple Leafs in a 2021 trade. Unfortunately for him, he did not receive much playing time from Toronto when he first broke into the league, however; since joining San Jose, Barabanov has been a formidable top-six candidate for the Sharks. Improving each season, he will finish this year with 15 goals and 32 assists in 68 games played.
Other injury notes:
- Since the separate trades that sent forward Patrick Kane to the New York Rangers, and Max Domi to the Dallas Stars, the Chicago Blackhawks have a new leading point-scorer in Taylor Raddysh. Having an above-average season since his trade from the Tampa Bay Lightning last year, the forward has 20 goals and 17 assists in 78 games for the Blackhawks. Unfortunately, that will be his final point total, as Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times reports that Raddysh has a groin injury that will keep him out of Chicago’s remaining regular season games.
- Trade deadline acquisition Tanner Jeannot will not be in the Lightning’s lineup tonight as they take on the Ottawa Senators. The team announces that the forward will instead fly back to Tampa Bay to see a doctor after injuring himself against the New York Islanders. Since coming to the Lightning, the forward has played in 20 games, only managing to score four points, but also tallying 77 hits in the process. Last season, Jeannot had much better point totals, scoring 41 points in 81 games for the Predators, throwing a total of 318 hits.
- As the Carolina Hurricanes look to capture the Metropolitan Division title in the coming days, they will be missing a valuable depth forward tonight in Stefan Noesen. The team reports that the forward will be out with a lower-body injury. Playing in his ninth season of the NHL already, the forward has eclipsed his previous points record, scoring 35 points in 75 games for the Hurricanes so far.
West Notes: Eichel, Marchment, Shaw
The Golden Knights have a chance to clinch the Pacific Division for the third time in their six-year history today but had to try to do so without their top center in the lineup. The team announced (Twitter link) that Jack Eichel is listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury which kept him out of the lineup against Dallas. The 26-year-old has had a good first full season with Vegas, notching 27 goals and 38 assists in 66 games to lead the team in scoring but this will be the third separate instance that he’ll miss time due to injury after dealing with a pair of lower-body issues earlier in the year.
Elsewhere in the Western Conference:
- Stars winger Mason Marchment returned to practice for the first time yesterday as he works his way back from a knee injury, reports Saad Yousuf of The Athletic (subscription link). Head coach Peter DeBoer indicated that he’s hopeful that the 27-year-old will be able to play at least once before the playoffs start. With Dallas in the middle of a three-way battle for seeding in the Central, his return would certainly be a welcome one. Marchment has 12 goals and 19 assists in 67 games this season, his first in Dallas.
- Wild winger Mason Shaw will have his ACL surgery next week, relays Michael Russo of The Athletic (Twitter link). It will be the fourth such procedure that the 24-year-old has had. The recovery timeline is typically eight to nine months which means he won’t be available for training camp in the fall but will be tendered a qualifying offer this spring. Shaw finished with 17 points and 87 hits in 59 games this season.
Bruins Activate Taylor Hall From LTIR, Place Two Players On LTIR
The Bruins will be welcoming back a key forward tonight against New Jersey as the team announced that winger Taylor Hall has been activated from LTIR. To create the cap space to do so, Boston transferred winger Nick Foligno and defenseman Derek Forbort on LTIR while assigning center Oskar Steen to AHL Providence.
Hall has been out for more than a month with a lower-body injury. The injury occurred just days before the trade deadline; his LTIR placement created the cap space for them to go add Tyler Bertuzzi from Detroit to further deepen their roster. Hall isn’t the Hart Trophy-winning player he once was but the 31-year-old has been a capable secondary scorer for the Bruins this season, picking up 16 goals and 20 assists in 58 games.
The placements of Foligno and Forbort on LTIR shouldn’t be any cause for concern. The team remains hopeful that Foligno will be available at some point in the first round while Forbort had been ruled out for the rest of the season nearly three weeks ago and could be back at some point in the postseason. Neither player has suffered a setback and these moves were strictly for cap purposes. There is no cap in the playoffs so when Foligno and Forbort are able to return, they will be eligible to play.
As for Steen, he has been shuffled to and from the minors quite a bit recently; this is his third demotion in the last two weeks. The 25-year-old has played in three games with the big club this season, picking up a goal. Steen has spent most of the year with Providence, tallying 14 goals and 17 assists in 63 contests and is likely to be one of the first recall options should someone else get injured in the coming days.
Senators Notes: Talbot, Watson, Hamonic, Pinto
Extension discussions between the Senators and goaltender Cam Talbot were put on hold when Talbot’s camp pushed for a substantial raise, reports Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch. The 35-year-old has underachieved this season, posting a .900 SV% in 35 games and since discussions were stopped back in December, Talbot has dealt with groin and rib injuries which certainly don’t help his market value. Talbot’s in the final year of a deal that carries a $3.5MM AAV and with the way this season has gone, he’ll be hard-pressed to land a sizable increase on the open market this summer though another deal in that range is certainly possible.
More from Ottawa:
- Winger Austin Watson’s season has come to an end, Garrioch notes (Twitter link). He took a shot off the foot on Thursday against Florida and the team will hold him out for the final three games. His campaign concludes with nine goals, two assists, 123 penalty minutes, and 165 hits in 75 games. Watson will be eligible for unrestricted free agency this summer.
- Garrioch also relayed (Twitter link) that blueliner Travis Hamonic (lower body) won’t be able to return this season. The team had hoped that the 32-year-old would be able to be back for a game or two in the final week but with the Sens out of playoff contention now, there’s no need to try to rush him back. His season ends with 21 points and 143 blocks in 75 games and he, too, will be an unrestricted free agent in July.
- Center Shane Pinto revealed to Garrioch (Twitter link) that he has been invited to play for Team USA at next month’s World Championship. The 22-year-old has had a good first full NHL campaign, chipping in with 20 goals and 13 assists while averaging a little under 16 minutes per night. Notably, Pinto’s contract expires this summer and players that aren’t signed for the following season typically don’t suit up in the event; Pinto only indicated that he’s thinking about the offer at this time.
Jonathan Toews Undecided On Playing Future
It was suggested last month that Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews was leaning towards retirement as he continues to battle lingering symptoms of Long COVID and Chronic Immune Response Syndrome. However, the veteran told Mark Lazerus of The Athletic (subscription link) that he remains unsure of his playing future at this point:
Right now, you ask me that question and the honest answer is, I got no idea. No idea whether I return to play for the Blackhawks next year, or play for another team, or I decide to move on to other things.
The 34-year-old was able to return to the lineup last Saturday after missing more than two months due to the symptoms which took away any possibility of Toews being moved at the trade deadline.
To his credit, Toews has had a decent season given the circumstances as he has 14 goals and 16 assists in 49 games so far. While those numbers are certainly below his career averages, they’re still pretty strong for a player on a bad team playing through lingering challenges.
But the key word here for Toews is lingering. These symptoms cost him all of 2020-21 and had him at far from his best last season. The fact they continue to exist in 2023 suggests this will continue to be a challenge for him; he acknowledged that he hasn’t truly been 100% healthy since 2020. Knowing that, is it worth trying to carry on? That’s the decision he’ll be weighing over the next little while:
But at this point, I’ve realized there’s no point in continuing to stomach this struggle. So if it’s not a hell yeah, then it’s a hell no. There’s more to life than hockey, so it’s a weighing of my options and what feels right,” he said. “All these years, hockey’s been the One Thing. There hasn’t been much else in my life. And part of me is seeking some balance. So I guess we’ll see.
Toews, a 15-year veteran, has spent the entirety of his career with Chicago after being the third-overall selection back in 2006 and ranks fifth in games played and sixth in points. It’ll take a little before he decides if he tries to move up higher on those leaderboards or if the time is right to hang up his skates.
Atlantic Notes: Maple Leafs, Edvinsson, Hathaway
The Maple Leafs will be without winger Calle Jarnkrok tonight as he is listed as day-to-day with a minor injury, relays Sports Illustrated’s David Alter (Twitter link). The 31-year-old has done well in his first season in Toronto, notching career highs in goals (19) and points (37). It’s unknown if he’ll get a chance to add to those numbers before the playoffs begin. Wayne Simmonds will take his place in the lineup after being recalled last night.
Meanwhile, while the plan is for Matt Murray to serve as the backup tonight, Alter relays that head coach Sheldon Keefe is unsure if he’ll be able to do so. Murray didn’t participate in the morning skate and with the Maple Leafs lacking the cap space for another recall, they might have to dress an emergency backup if Murray is unable to suit up.
Elsewhere in the Atlantic:
- Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde confirmed to reporters including Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen that defenseman Simon Edvinsson will only play in two of Detroit’s final four games this season. That will cap him at nine games, meaning that he will not burn the first year of his entry-level deal which will still have three years remaining on it next season. Edvinsson’s first taste of NHL action has gone relatively well as the 20-year-old has two goals in his first seven appearances while averaging a little under 17 minutes per game.
- While Bruins winger Garnet Hathaway is fitting in well with his new team, he told Boston Hockey Now’s Joe Haggerty that he hasn’t given any thought yet about potentially extending with Boston beyond this season. The 31-year-old has five points and 62 hits in 21 games since being acquired from Washington in February and is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer. For now, Hathaway is focusing on “short-term thinking” with Boston set to enter the playoffs as the top seed.