Atlantic Notes: Cassidy, Soderblom, Campbell
After being eliminated last month, Bruins president Cam Neely indicated he hoped to have a new contract in place for GM Don Sweeney within the coming days who would then decide the fate of head coach Bruce Cassidy. More than two weeks have passed and there has been no word on either front yet. Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe opines that Neely and Sweeney – the talent suppliers – are the ones to blame for their recent early exits while he suggests firing Cassidy wouldn’t make sense based on how the team has performed during the regular season in recent years even without the playoff success they were hoping for. That said, a change for the sake of change to bring a new voice in the room – which is a lot like what happened when Cassidy took over for Claude Julien – could certainly happen but a determination on his future won’t come until Sweeney and Neely can work out a new deal.
More from the Atlantic:
- The Red Wings are hoping to work out an entry-level contract this offseason with prospect Elmer Soderblom, notes MLive’s Ansar Khan. The hulking winger stands 6’8 and weighs 249 pounds and is coming off a good season in the SHL that saw him put up 21 goals in 52 games with Frolunda of the SHL. His deal in Sweden is now up so assuming the 2019 sixth-rounder does sign, he’ll almost certainly play in North America next season instead of being loaned back overseas like Detroit did with prospect blueliner Albert Johansson this season.
- At this point, it appears as if Maple Leafs goaltender Jack Campbell will test unrestricted free agency next month, TSN’s Chris Johnston suggested in a recent appearance on TSN 1050 (audio link). Toronto knows what Campbell’s asking price has been for quite some time dating back to contract talks in the fall and they haven’t been willing to meet that just yet. Campbell, who was named to the All-Star Game this season, had an up and down year, posting a 2.64 GAA along with a .914 SV% in 49 games. He’s set to be one of the better goalies to hit the open market and could push for three times the AAV he had on his expiring deal which checked in at $1.65MM.
Injury Notes: Price, Point, Kuemper
After playing only five games this season, Carey Price is preparing to get back on the ice with the Montreal Canadiens, as he said today. However, his status is still unknown. The 34-year-old had a Platelet-Rich Plasma injection in his knee and is waiting for it to take hold before he gets back to training and preparing. The netminder said that “I wish I felt better about the situation, but I don’t.”
Price had knee surgery in the 2021 offseason and the injury got reaggravated this season after he returned from personal leave to participate in the NHLPA Player Assistance program. In April, he had a meeting with his surgeon in Manhattan and is now under treatment. Being without their number one goaltender for the next season is a reason for concern for the Montreal Canadiens. If he doesn’t recover in time, they will have to make a plan and go after a goaltender this offseason with Price on LTIR.
- Tampa Bay fans can celebrate, albeit hesitantly. Forward Brayden Point was doing drills in practice for the first time since his injury in Game 7 in Toronto, per TVA’s Renaud Lavoie. He participated for 55 minutes, doing drills with the taxi squad. While this is not an indicator that he could be back for Game 3, it’s still good news for the team. It can be a needed boost for the current Stanley Cup champions in the series against the Rangers if he’s able to get back.
- Colorado Hockey Now’s Adrian Dater reports that Darcy Kuemper‘s injury doesn’t seem too serious, but that backup netminder Pavel Francouz will likely start Game 3 in any event. Francouz is coming off a 24-save shutout in Game 2 that sparked the Avs to a 2-0 series lead.
Carey Price Wins 2022 Masterton Trophy
Montreal Canadiens netminder Carey Price is the recipient of the 2022 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, given “to the National Hockey League player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey, ” as voted by members of the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association. Price beat out other finalists in New York Islanders defenseman Zdeno Chara and Philadelphia Flyers forward Kevin Hayes to win the award.
Price, after leading the Canadiens to the Stanley Cup Final in 2021, faced incredible amounts of adversity throughout the 2021-22 campaign. The well-respected veteran netminder waived his no-movement clause and was subsequently left unprotected by the Canadiens in the 2021 Seattle Expansion Draft, kicking off an offseason of uncertainty. He then dealt with knee and hip injuries over the offseason but was expected to only miss six to eight weeks and be ready for the start of the season. Obviously, that wasn’t the case.
Then, as Price missed camp with those injuries and a non-COVID illness, he entered the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program just days before the start of the season. Price returned to the team a month later, but as he recovered from the issues that caused him to enter the program, he wasn’t close to returning to game action. He continued to suffer injury setbacks throughout the season before finally returning to NHL ice on April 15 against the New York Islanders. He got his only win of the season in the team’s last game of the year, a 10-2 drubbing of the Florida Panthers.
The hockey world hopes that Price can continue to work towards full health and continue his Hall of Fame-caliber career.
Draft Prospect Matthew Savoie Avoids Surgery
Teams in the top 10 looking to select a high-end center can stop holding their breath a little. One of the best such players available, Matthew Savoie of the WHL’s Winnipeg ICE, will avoid shoulder surgery after being knocked out of the playoffs by a big hit, per NHL.com’s Mike Morreale.
Savoie suffered the shoulder injury last week in Game 2 of Winnipeg’s Conference Final series against the Edmonton Oil Kings. Edmonton took the series and will play for the WHL championship.
However, the injury will keep him out of Saturday’s testing at the Draft Combine, as Morreale reports. It hasn’t seemed to quell any interest in the Alberta native, as Morreale noted that Savoie has already interviewed with 17 NHL teams.
Savoie’s draft stock has dropped somewhat near the tail end of the season, as some are beginning to question how his even-strength game will translate to the NHL. He did still hit the 90-point mark this season in 65 games, though, and given the demand for centers, it’s hard to imagine Savoie falling out of the top 10 at this point.
Three Bruins Defensemen Undergo Surgery
A trio of Boston Bruins defensemen underwent significant surgeries today, with two of them expected to miss the beginning of the 2022-23 campaign, per the team. Most notably, Charlie McAvoy had a left shoulder arthroscopic stabilization procedure that’s set to sideline him for six months, meaning he won’t make his season debut until early December. Additionally, Matt Grzelcyk will miss five months after a right shoulder open stabilization procedure and Mike Reilly will miss three months after a right ankle tendon repair and removal of bone fragments.
They all join forward Brad Marchand, who’s also expected to be out until late November, on the injured list for the B’s.
Having Marchand and McAvoy out of the lineup, especially with the uncertainty surrounding Patrice Bergeron‘s NHL future, will be incredibly tough to navigate for this Bruins squad. Taylor Hall and David Pastrnak will be relied on very heavily for the first weeks of the season to keep the team from imploding.
However, if there’s good out of any of this for Bruins fans, it’s salary considerations. With Grzelcyk, Marchand, and McAvoy potential candidates for long-term injured reserve out of the gate, the team could have upwards of $15MM set aside on LTIR. This would give the team ample time into the season to figure out their salary picture, rather than just being constrained by the offseason. Prior to the injuries, the Bruins had just $4MM in cap space without Bergeron on the roster. The team had no real flexibility in free agency, but that might change if they can play their cards right.
It’s still a gutting loss, though, to have a top-ten defenseman in the league out of the lineup. Trade Deadline acquisition Hampus Lindholm will need to live up to his extension immediately, and that’s a lot of pressure for an also injury-prone defenseman. Head coach Bruce Cassidy will open the 2022-23 season undoubtedly facing the rockiest road he’s had so far as coach of this team. The team’s goal will be desperation mode until their stars are back, hopefully not falling too far back of the strong Atlantic Division pack.
Ivan Miroshnichenko Cleared To Return To Training
As the 2022 NHL Draft Combine gets underway in Buffalo, there’s some great news coming from NHL Central Scouting Director Dan Marr. Top prospect Ivan Miroshnichenko, who was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma last year, has completed his treatments and has been given the green light to return to training. His goal is to be ready for next season, said Marr.
Based on pure skill, Miroshnichenko is a top-ten talent in this year’s draft class. With a somewhat tough season for him in the VHL, the second-tier Russian league, combined with the uncertainty of his cancer diagnosis, he started dropping on public boards and on the NHL’s Central Scouting list as well. While some (such as TSN’s Bob McKenzie) still have Miroshnichenko ranked in their top ten, others have dropped him all the way to the early second round. There’s also the question of how willing some NHL clubs will be to take Russian players.
Miroshnichenko did finish the year with 10 goals and 16 points in 31 games with Omskie Krylia of the VHL. He was notably left off the roster for the Russian World Juniors team as well.
Still, what seems to be a clean bill of health is spectacular news for the teenager, who can now hopefully continue to enjoy a development path to what could be a long and notable career.
Latest On Andrei Kuzmenko
The waiting game on Russian free agent Andrei Kuzmenko continues, as no decision has been made yet for where he’ll start his NHL career. Thomas Drance said today on Sportsnet radio that he has heard Kuzmenko is now circling back for second interviews, and Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK TV has heard the same. Dhaliwal tweets that the Vancouver Canucks remain “very very high” on Kuzmenko’s list.
It’s been quite a while since reports first emerged that the 26-year-old winger was considering coming over to North America, and yet his pursuit seemingly hasn’t generated the buzz that some other KHL free agents have in the past. Some of that perhaps is due to the ongoing geopolitical situation that Russia has put itself in but more than that, hockey fans may be starting to get a “fool me once” attitude in these situations.
Over the last several years several free agent forwards have made the jump from the KHL and found little success on NHL ice, though there have also been some successful transitions. Alexander Barabanov and Ilya Mikheyev have both carved out significant roles on this side of the ocean, with the former recently inking a new two-year, $5MM contract with the San Jose Sharks. Mikheyev is also set to hit unrestricted free agency and is looking at a big pay raise after scoring 21 goals in 53 games for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
When compared to those two, in particular, it’s easy to see why fans should be excited about Kuzmenko. His 2021-22 was better than any season Barabanov or Mikheyev put up in the KHL, as he scored 20 goals and 53 points in just 45 games. His playoff performance was better too, with seven goals and 14 points in 16 games this year for SKA St. Petersburg.
Still, the specters of players like Vadim Shipachyov and Nikita Gusev hang in the air of scenarios like this; elite KHL players who found it very difficult to make the transition to North America and become a consistent NHL presence. Both of those two have had more success in Russia than Kuzmenko likely ever will, earned huge contracts before even playing here, and yet managed a combined 100 games in the NHL.
Whether Kuzmenko lands in column A or column B remains to be seen, but the Canucks and plenty of other teams are willing to find out.
Poll: Who Should Montreal Draft At No. 1?
For quite a while, Shane Wright was held up as the undisputed first-overall pick for 2022. From the moment he received his exceptional status in the OHL in the spring of 2019, through his rookie season in the OHL, there was really no one considered his rival. The young center had dominated minor hockey, scoring hundreds of points in his final U16 season (playing above his age group), and immediately burst onto the major junior scene with 39 goals in 58 games for the Kingston Frontenacs.
Wright was made the youngest alternate captain in team history, and finished with an impressive 66 points in 58 games, despite starting the season as a 15-year-old. Unfortunately, he was not only robbed of the last few games of the OHL regular season by a worldwide pandemic, he also ended up missing an entire year of development in 2020-21, waiting for a league that never resumed play.
When the league came back in 2021-22, there still weren’t really any whispers about another player taking over the top spot. In September 2021, Bob McKenzie of TSN published his preseason rankings, writing that “it’s not even close” and all ten of the polled scouts had Wright at No. 1. In fact, McKenzie suggested that Wright was so far ahead of the field, he likely would have gone first overall in the 2021 draft, ahead of Buffalo Sabres defenseman Owen Power.
But then the season began, and right away Wright’s lead started to shrink. After missing an entire year of hockey he–understandably–started rather slow, scoring just seven goals in his first 17 games, while registering just 19 points in the same stretch. That wasn’t the dominating two-way center that everyone had expected, it was arguably not even the best player on his own team.
Suddenly, it became a race. Players like Logan Cooley, Juraj Slafkovsky, and Matthew Savoie started to get more press as rising options, though they still weren’t expected to really challenge for the top spot. It was actually Ivan Miroshnichenko that grabbed one of the ten spots in McKenzie’s mid-season scouts poll. That scout specifically pointed at Wright’s “lack of dominance” and suggested the Russian forward had a “higher ceiling.”
Though Miroshnichenko has fallen out of the race–through no fault of his own–the same arguments are being made for Slafkovsky and Cooley, as potentially having a higher ceiling than Wright. The question is whether that is more a case of overexposure to an exceptional status player like Wright, who has been in the public eye for so long, or if his season really did bring up reason for concern.
In terms of not being “dominant,” some may argue that Wright found his game and became exactly the player that many expected, once he shook off the rust. After scoring 19 points in his first 17 regular season games, he would record 75 in his final 46, finishing the year eighth in league scoring. Every player ahead of him is either already drafted or substantially older than Wright. His goal scoring did decrease, as he wasn’t even able to match the 39 he scored as a rookie, but Kingston was also a much more well-rounded team this time around, with plenty of options to put the puck in the net.
Still, his main competition had great performances of their own. Slafkovsky especially has been suggested as the better pick, including by Corey Pronman of The Athletic, who recently listed him ahead of Wright as the best player available. The Slovakian winger has performed brilliantly at every challenge, including taking home MVP honors at the Olympics.
So who should Montreal select at the very top? Do they go with the player who everyone believed would be No. 1, or go with the late riser who has shown a consistent ability against higher level competition? What about the American center, who will be entering the college system that general manager Kent Hughes is so familiar with? Is there a chance they go with someone else entirely, believing that there is a higher upside on defense perhaps?
The Canadiens met with several of the top names at this week’s scouting combine, doing their due diligence when they can. Cast your vote below on who you think they should pick later this summer, and make sure to leave a comment to explain why!
Who will be the first-overall pick?
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Shane Wright 72% (706)
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Juraj Slafkovsky 17% (163)
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Logan Cooley 8% (76)
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Other 4% (35)
Total votes: 980
Coaching Notes: Newcomers, Aubin, Trotz
There are a ton of veteran head coaches on the market this summer but for some teams, hiring a new face might be more appealing. Not only does it usually come at a much lower cost, but some of the up-and-coming options may also look even more attractive after their recent success in the minor leagues, junior ranks, or as assistants.
Today, Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic examined some of the younger or more inexperienced options that could be available this summer, including names like Derek Lalonde, Jeff Halpern, and Spencer Carbery, all currently serving as NHL assistants. It’s quite an extensive list and includes some outside-the-box suggestions, including someone like Jukka Jalonen, head coach of the Finnish national team. Jalonen recently took Finland to gold at both the Olympics and World Championship and has a long history of success on the international stage.
- Another option from overseas not on LeBrun’s list is Serge Aubin, who got a shoutout in Elliotte Friedman’s latest for Sportsnet. The former NHL forward has been coaching in Germany for the past three seasons, and before that was leading benches in Switzerland and Austria. Friedman writes that Aubin could be getting attention for an AHL coaching role at the moment.
- Like every coaching discussion right now, things always work their way back to Barry Trotz and his impending decision on where to go next. Friedman suggests that the whole carousel might be being held up by the veteran coach but also notes that the Winnipeg Jets are “very very serious” about Trotz and may not have even done any detailed interviews with other candidates to this point. The Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings, Philadelphia Flyers, and Vegas Golden Knights are the other teams currently linked to Trotz, as the hockey world waits on his decision.
Zack Kassian Earns Fine For Unsportsmanlike Conduct
The Department of Player Safety has handed out a $2,500 fine to Edmonton Oilers forward Zack Kassian for unsportsmanlike conduct, following his actions in last night’s game. Notably, this is not the “maximum allowable under the CBA,” words hockey fans have come to know (and hate) in recent years.
With the Oilers down 3-0 in game two of their third-round series, Colorado Avalanche defenseman Bowen Byram took a hit and ended up partially on his opponent’s bench. Kassian, on the bench, decided to not let Byram leave intact and pulled the helmet off the Colorado defender. When Byram retaliated by shoving the Oilers forward, they both ended up with minor penalties.
Kassian will earn a little bit more on review, as the league hands him a fine today. The Oilers are down 2-0 in the series as they head back to Edmonton, and this incident will cause the league to keep a bit of a closer watch over Kassian the rest of the way. While it isn’t a suspension, the fine can be taken into account in any future disciplinary decisions.
In fact, it’s already the second fine that Kassian has received in these playoffs, following the cross-check he delivered to Sean Durzi earlier on. It’s not exactly a “three strikes” rule in the NHL but the league likely will escalate the penalties at some point if the Oilers forward continues to be involved in supplementary discipline decisions.