Rudolfs Balcers Clears Waivers
Jan 30: Balcers has cleared waivers and can now be officially assigned to the AHL.
Jan 29: The Tampa Bay Lightning have placed forward Rudolfs Balcers on waivers, according to CapFriendly. The move comes after Balcers finished his conditioning loan to the Lightning’s AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch, today.
Balcers, 25, hasn’t played in an NHL game since November as he was dealing with an upper-body injury. This is not his first time on waivers this season, as he was claimed off of waivers by the Lightning in November.
Balcers’ injury means that he has only played in three games for the Lightning, despite being on their roster for quite a bit of time. In those three games, Balcers scored a goal and averaged just under seven minutes of ice time per game. His full-season total production is five points through 17 games, which is a decline from the rate he scored last year.
If he ends up clearing waivers, Balcers will head back to the AHL level in Syracuse where he’s had success. Balcers has 117 points in 149 career AHL games, so he should be able to help the Crunch’s scoring attack should he end up there.
Otherwise, teams across the league will have a chance to reinforce their group of forwards with Balcers should they want to place a claim. Balcers is available at a league-minimum price, and has 170 NHL games on his resume.
Snapshots: Three Stars, Schenn, Thompson
The NHL released its Three Stars for last week, with Ottawa Senators forward Claude Giroux taking home the top spot. The veteran scored four goals and seven points in three games, taking him to 19 and 47 on the year. Giroux is now 30 points shy of 1,000 for his career, and is scoring at nearly a point-per-game rate with the Senators, even at age 35.
It was an Atlantic Division sweep this week, as William Nylander of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning took home second and third place respectively. Nylander continues to play at a different level for Toronto this year, scoring 28 goals and 59 points in 51 games. Vasilevskiy allowed just six goals on 102 shots across three games, winning them all. After leading the league in wins for five-straight seasons, Vasilevskiy has now closed the gap and trails Linus Ullmark by just two.
- Luke Schenn has emerged as one of the most talked-about trade deadline chips, thanks to his low salary, Stanley Cup experience, and physicality. Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff takes a deep dive into Schenn’s market, suggesting clubs like Boston, Minnesota, Calgary, Dallas, Tampa Bay, and Vegas could all benefit from adding the veteran defenseman.
- Tage Thompson is listed as day-to-day for the Buffalo Sabres, with head coach Don Granato telling reporters including Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News that the star forward has been dealing with some nagging injuries. Granato does expect Thompson to be on the ice tomorrow and isn’t ruling him out for Wednesday’s game. What that means for his All-Star appearance isn’t clear, as it would provide a good chance for him to recover, if still bothered by injury later this week.
Josh Norris To Undergo Surgery; Out For Season
Jan 30: Hanna reports that Norris’ surgery is scheduled for the next few days.
Jan 23: Excitement for Ridly Greig‘s recall quickly turned to sadness for Ottawa Senators fans, as the team announced Josh Norris‘s season is over. He will be going for shoulder surgery in the near future. It is the same injury as earlier this season. Norris has been moved to injured reserve.
After scoring 35 goals in 66 games last season, life was good for Norris. He signed a new eight-year, $63.6MM contract that entrenched him as one of the league’s young stars, and was ready to leverage the team’s improved forward depth for an even better year.
Then he suffered a serious shoulder injury in October after just five games. Weeks went by with Norris consulting five different doctors and two specialists before it was determined that he wouldn’t need surgery.
Senators general manager Pierre Dorion told Claire Hanna of TSN that Norris “felt a subluxation” over the weekend, leading to this decision. He had returned just three games ago, meaning he’ll finish this season appearing in only eight. His two goals and three points are a far cry from what was expected, especially with a new $7.95MM cap hit in hand.
Now he faces another lengthy rehab, while the Senators try to salvage anything this season. The club is slipping down the standings, and has completely shuffled its lines around at practice today in an attempt to get things back on track.
Without Norris, the Ottawa center depth looks mighty thin, with Greig inserted into the second line between Alex DeBrincat and Claude Giroux before ever playing a game at the NHL level.
Ottawa Senators Recall Mads Sogaard
Now that he has recovered from his own injury, Mads Sogaard is up with the Ottawa Senators to help fill in for Cam Talbot‘s absence. The team sent Kevin Mandolese back down yesterday.
Sogaard made his return to the Belleville Senators net on Saturday, allowing six goals on 44 shots and taking the loss. Overall, it’s been a rocky season for the 22-year-old goaltender, with a .901 save percentage in 19 appearances.
Last season, when the Senators were rolling through goaltenders with Matt Murray often injured, Sogaard played in two NHL games. He allowed six goals on 54 shots for an .889 save percentage, and earned his first NHL win.
The 37th-overall pick from 2019 still has a lot of developing to do, but has oodles of talent in his 6’7″ frame. If the Senators can find a way to get him to his ceiling, there’s a chance they have a legitimate difference-maker. There’s work to be done, though, and his recall likely doesn’t change the fact that Anton Forsberg will be carrying the lion’s share of the work for the next little while.
Bobby Hull Dies At 84
The NHL Alumni Association has confirmed that Hall of Fame player Bobby Hull has died at the age of 84.
The legendary Chicago Blackhawks star played 1,036 games in the league and was arguably the most popular player in the NHL during his prime. A natural goal scorer, he won the Art Ross Trophy three times as the league’s top offensive player, and took home the Hart Trophy as league MVP in 1965.
In 1972, a second career, this time in the WHA, followed. Hull would be named MVP in that league twice, scoring 303 goals in 411 games for the Winnipeg Jets. When the Jets joined the NHL he would make a short return at the age of 41, and finished his career playing with the Hartford Whalers alongside legends like Gordie Howe and Dave Keon.
As a player, there were few better in the history of the game. Hull is one of just 20 players to score 600 goals in the NHL, and is second all-time in the WHA. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1983.
That legacy as a player, though, is not all he will be remembered for. In 1986 he was convicted of assaulting a police officer during a domestic dispute with his wife. His second wife accused him of abuse years later. Last year, the Blackhawks removed Hull as a team ambassador.
Columbus Blue Jackets Recall Marcus Bjork
The Columbus Blue Jackets still have one game before the break, and they’re making a slight change to the roster. Marcus Bjork has been recalled, while Jake Christiansen is on his way back to the minor leagues.
Bjork, 25, has played in 26 games for the Blue Jackets this season as a rookie, after signing a one-year entry-level contract in the summer. The undrafted defenseman was a solid contributor for years in the SHL before deciding to try his luck in North America, and has so far acclimated quite well.
With 11 points in those games, Bjork actually leads all Blue Jackets defensemen in scoring this season. A lot of that has to do with the major injuries suffered by key players, but it’s impressive nonetheless for a first-year player seeing part-time duty.
Christiansen, 23, only played in one game during the recent call-up, and has 18 total for the season. He has scored just two points and rarely gets much ice time. On the year, he’s averaging fewer than 14 minutes, meaning he might be better off playing in the minor leagues, if his development is still a priority.
Five Key Stories: 1/23/23 – 1/29/23
The final full week of January has come to an end with quite a bit of big news across the NHL. We’ll recap those in our key stories.
Done For The Year…Again: When the shoulder injury to Senators center Josh Norris was initially diagnosed, he was ruled out for the season. However, after getting a second opinion, they opted for rehab and he was able to return to the lineup last week. Unfortunately, the injury returned in just his third game back and Norris has once again been ruled as done for the year. This time, the designation will stick as he will be undergoing surgery. Suffice it to say, the first season of his eight-year, $63.6MM contract didn’t go as planned as his season ends with just two goals and an assist in a total of eight games played.
Trade Candidate Injured: Going back to last season, there has been an expectation that the Coyotes would move defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere by this trade deadline. Interested teams have likely seen the last of him in the desert as the 29-year-old suffered an upper-body injury that will keep him out four-to-six weeks. On the long end of the timeline, he might not be ready by March 3rd (but should be soon after). The pending unrestricted free agent is having another nice season offensively with nine goals and 20 assists in 48 games and assuming Arizona is willing to retain the maximum 50% on his contract, he’d be a nice addition for several playoff-bound squads at a prorated $2.25MM AAV.
Bridge For Kuzmenko: Generally speaking, a player entering the UFA market at 27 isn’t looking for a short-term bridge contract. But Canucks winger Andrei Kuzmenko isn’t a typical UFA as he’s in the midst of his first NHL season so his preference was to not sign a long-term agreement. In the end, he got his wish as the two sides agreed to a two-year, $11MM extension that will kick in next season and contains a 12-team no-trade clause. It has been a successful first season in North America for Kuzmenko as he has 22 goals and 21 assists in 48 games, good for fifth on the team in scoring. The agreement keeps him with Vancouver for at least a little while longer while giving him a shot at testing the open market in 2025 when he’ll be more established at the top level.
More Injuries: Still with Vancouver, Ilya Mikheyev’s first season with them has come to an end as he will undergo season-ending knee surgery to fix an ACL injury. The winger actually suffered the injury back in the preseason but only missed a handful of games as he was able to play through it. Mikheyev’s year comes to an end with 13 goals and 15 assists in 46 games. Meanwhile, the Maple Leafs will be without their top center for at least three weeks as Auston Matthews is out with a knee sprain that will also keep him out of the upcoming All-Star Game. While his numbers are down this season, Matthews still has 25 goals and 28 assists in 47 games, his fifth straight year of averaging over a point per game.
Sharks-Avalanche Trade: The Sharks and Avalanche made a four-player swap with Colorado acquiring blueliner Ryan Merkley and winger Matt Nieto in exchange for winger Martin Kaut and defenseman/winger Jacob MacDonald. Merkley and Kaut are 2018 first-round picks that haven’t panned out with their original clubs and will look to rebuild their value elsewhere. MacDonald is a depth defender on a cheap two-way deal for a couple of seasons which holds some value for San Jose who doesn’t have a lot of cap flexibility while Nieto gives Colorado some reliable depth scoring and a player who is already familiar with playing there having previously spent parts of four seasons with the Avs.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Predators Unsure Of Deadline Plans
After making the playoffs a year ago, the Predators added a pair of key veterans in Ryan McDonagh and Nino Niederreiter in the hopes of trying to take another step forward. However, they’ve gone in the wrong direction and find themselves three points out of a playoff spot heading into tonight’s action. Speaking with Paul Skrbina of The Tennessean (subscription link), GM David Poile acknowledged that while he wants to do something, the lack of success in the playoffs gives him some pause so he’s not sure what his plan is yet leading into the trade deadline:
In the last few years we’ve been in the middle, been making the playoffs. But we have not been able to be successful in the playoffs, (which) causes me pause in terms of where the team is headed, where we should go. This next month before the trading deadline is critical to our thinking and in our planning.
We’ve been here for a few years, so I’d like to get out of that in some form or fashion. That means doing something. Does that mean buy more? Does that mean taking a step back? I don’t know the answer to that yet. That’s what we work on, think about every day.
If Nashville decides to sell, they don’t have much in the way of expiring contracts which is typically the currency at this time of the season; their most prominent pending UFA is goaltender Kevin Lankinen. Next up would be depth winger Cole Smith. Neither player is going to garner much of a return if any. Pending RFA defenseman Dante Fabbro has been a speculative trade candidate dating back to last season but he’s in the midst of a down year and is averaging just over 16 minutes per night; if they move him now, they’d be doing so at a low point in his value.
While they in theory could turn around and do a bigger selloff, Poile ruled out that course of action. Plus, this isn’t typically the right time to move out players with pricey contracts and long-term commitments.
Speaking of those commitments, with nearly $70MM on the books for next season already per CapFriendly, there’s not much room to add aside from rentals if Poile wanted to try to bolster his roster to make a late push at a playoff spot. That said, it’s fair to wonder if a non-playoff team should be adding rental players; that’s generally not a wise course of action to take.
If they sell, they don’t have much to work with in terms of typical trade deadline currency. If they buy, they’re going to be more or less limited to short-term rentals with no guarantee that they can get back into the mix. Either way, the Preds don’t appear to be in an ideal situation with the deadline now just five weeks away.
Rangers Searching For Defensive Depth Upgrade
Although the Rangers gave blueliner Ben Harpur a vote of confidence with a two-year, $1.575MM contract extension earlier this week (a nice outcome for someone who started the year on an AHL tryout), it shouldn’t automatically be construed that he is in the plans for their upcoming playoff push. To that end, Larry Brooks of the New York Post reports that GM Chris Drury is believed to be looking for an upgrade on Harpur on the third pairing alongside Braden Schneider.
New York has had a trio of defenders in that role this season with largely middling results. Zachary Jones had the first opportunity over the first seven weeks of the year but the team decided he was better served by playing big minutes with AHL Hartford. Libor Hajek continues to be stuck in the undesirable situation of not being deemed good enough to play regularly but is too good to risk losing for nothing on waivers. The end result has once again been frequent healthy scratches.
Harpur has had the bulk of the opportunities lately but hasn’t stood out himself although he at least has provided a bit of consistency defensively. Even so, he has just 14 career playoff games under his belt over his first six NHL seasons and as he’s averaging less than 14 minutes a night, it’s understandable that they’d want someone capable of doing a bit more. All told, those three have combined for three goals and four assists across 51 games so it’s definitely a position that could stand to be improved upon.
The Rangers are one of the few buyers that are poised to have considerable cap flexibility heading into the March 3rd trade deadline with CapFriendly pegging their spending room at just over $6.78MM in full-season salary. Between that and the potential for a trading team to retain salary, that’s more than enough space to make a splash up front as expected and then improve a depth spot or two. And while impact defenders don’t often go at the deadline, moves to shore up defensive depth are quite commonplace.
With more than $67MM in commitments for next season already and a few key young players heading for restricted free agency (headlined by blueliner K’Andre Miller, center Filip Chytil, and winger Alexis Lafreniere), it’s unlikely that Drury would want to add someone signed beyond this season. Fortunately, there should be several left-shot depth defenders on expiring contracts from teams that will be selling. It’s a bit early yet to determine who all those sellers will be but Drury will have multiple teams and players to choose from when the time comes to find an upgrade on Harpur.
Snapshots: Motte, Tarasenko, Guzda
Yesterday, we covered how Ottawa Senators netminder Cam Talbot could be a name in play around the trade deadline. Today, The Fourth Period has added Senators forward Tyler Motte‘s name to the mix, reporting that Senators GM Pierre Dorion has “started to get engaged in trade discussions” involving players such as Motte.
The Senators have been long-rumored to be seeking a blueline upgrade, and perhaps dealing Motte is one way they can reach that goal. Motte, who will turn 28 in March, signed with the Senators this past summer on a one-year, $1.35MM deal. He’s a well-regarded bottom-sixer who was dealt as a rental last year, helping the New York Rangers make a run to the Eastern Conference Final. Perhaps he’ll find himself in a similar situation this year.
Some other notes from across the NHL:
- It has been widely reported that the New Jersey Devils are seeking to upgrade their forward corps by adding a top-six winger this deadline season. One option for the team could be St. Louis Blues winger Vladimir Tarasenko. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman spoke on the 32 Thoughts podcast about this, stating that the Devils have had interest in acquiring Tarasenko in the past. Timo Meier‘s name is also in the mix, but now it seems possible that the Devils could be targeting Tarasenko as well.
- The Florida Panthers have sent netminder Mack Guzda back to the team’s AHL affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers. With Spencer Knight seemingly close to returning to the ice for Florida, Guzda will head back to Charlotte, where he has a .911 save percentage in 17 games.