Torey Krug Out With Upper-Body Injury
The St. Louis Blues announced that defenseman Torey Krug will miss tonight’s game with an upper-body injury. Krug played in the Blues’ last game on Tuesday against the Boston Bruins, playing 17:53 in an overtime loss. It’s unclear how much time Krug will miss after tonight, if any, but for now the Blues will be without the veteran defenseman as they take on the Sharks in San Jose.
This is not Krug’s first battle with injury this season, as he has missed 15 games thus far. While the Blues have clinched a playoff spot, they are currently battling with the Minnesota Wild for second place in the Central Division, essentially battling for home-ice advantage in a first round series. Going without Krug, a reliable defender who has 40 points in 62 games this season, will not do St. Louis any favors in their battle in the standings, but it’s certainly better to have him out now rather than come playoffs.
Replacing him in the lineup tonight is defenseman Calle Rosen. The 28-year-old Rosen has played in just 14 games at the NHL level this year, however he’s been effective when he’s in the lineup, tallying two goals and five assists from the blueline. Rosen has played more regularly for the Springfield Thunderbirds of the AHL this season though, having four goals and 24 assists in 40 games at that level.
Brayden Point Day-To-Day With A Lower Body Injury
The Tampa Bay Lightning will be without one of their stars tonight as they take on the Toronto Maple Leafs at home, missing forward Brayden Point. Point is day-to-day with a lower-body injury, says Mari Faiello of the Tampa Bay Times (link). According to The Athletic’s Joe Smith, Point had had a maintenance day yesterday (link), however seeing Point out with injury is still somewhat surprising news.
This isn’t the first game Point has missed due to injury this year, having already missed 14 previously. While the Lightning have clinched a playoff berth, their position still remains to be decided. Sitting at 100 points through 77 games, they are just one point ahead of the Boston Bruins and three ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins, both whom have also played 77 games and hold the first and second Wild Card positions in the Eastern Conference respectively. Even one game without Point can have significant implications for the Lightning, especially against a difficult opponent in the Maple Leafs.
On the bright side, Point’s injury does not appear to be serious, with the forward considered day-to-day. Coming on the heels of a maintenance day, his absence could be merely cautionary with the playoffs just around the corner. In 62 games this season, Point has 27 goals and 28 assists, yet another stellar season for the 26-year-old.
New York Islanders Place J.G. Pageau, Two Coaches In COVID Protocol; Anthony Beauvillier Day-To-Day
According to the Athletic’s Kevin Kurz, the New York Islanders will be short a few coaches and players tonight as they take on the New York Rangers at home (Link to Tweet). First and foremost, the team has placed forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Associate Coach Lane Lambert, and Assistant Coach Jim Hiller in COVID protocol. Though the team is only short one player for tonight, Lambert and Hiller represent half of the team’s coaching staff behind the bench, putting extra weight on the shoulders of Head Coach Barry Trotz. Seeing COVID-related absences surely gives the Islanders unpleasant flashbacks to November, when the team was without a large portion of its roster due to COVID.
Also missing from the Islanders lineup, unrelated to COVID protocol, is forward Anthony Beauvillier, who is day-to-day with an upper-body injury. It’s unclear when exactly Beauvillier’s injury occurred, as he logged 18:24 of ice-time against the Florida Panthers on Tuesday, the Islanders’ last game. The team next plays Saturday afternoon on the road against the Buffalo Sabres.
In a corresponding move, the Islanders have recalled forward Otto Koivula on an emergency basis. Koivula has seen limited NHL time this year, with only five games played, the last on March 10th. In those five games, Koivula has just one assist, but the 23-year-old does have 12 goals and 35 assists in 56 games with the Bridgeport Islanders of the AHL this season. The forward is in the lineup tonight.
These transactions seemingly draw to a close a busy day of moves on the Island, with the team having placed defenseman Grant Hutton on waivers (link) and signing one of their top prospects William Dufour earlier in the day (link). For now, the Islanders will still have to focus on their game against the Rangers despite the missing pieces, but will be able to give Koivula another look in the NHL.
Snapshots: Kakko, Acciari, Clinching Scenarios
It’s no secret that New York Rangers forward Kaapo Kakko has had some tough injury luck this season. He was sidelined in late January with an upper-body injury, missing about two and a half months before returning. He played just four games before suffering another injury, this time lower-body in nature, but head coach Gerard Gallant believes Kakko, who was injured on April 16th against Detroit, is expected back for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs (if not sooner).
Kakko hasn’t exceeded expectations by any means on the scoresheet this season, tallying just seven goals, nine assists, and 16 points through 41 games this year. The pending restricted free agent was one of the Rangers’ best defensive forwards prior to the team’s post-deadline resurgence in that regard, so it’s not as though he hasn’t brought any real value to the table this season.
- Noel Acciari is returning to the Florida Panthers lineup once again tonight against Detroit. The veteran forward has missed most of the season due to a combination of injuries, and now, he rejoins the team after missing 10 games with an undisclosed injury. Acciari has one goal and five points in 14 games this year.
- Clinching scenarios remain boundless for tonight’s 11-game slate, with many matches still having playoff implications despite 12 out of 16 teams already clinching playoff berths. The Florida Panthers can clinch both the Atlantic Division and regular-season Eastern Conference titles with a win against Detroit, provided the Tampa Bay Lightning also defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs in any fashion. The Calgary Flames will also clinch the Pacific Division title with a win of any kind against the Dallas Stars. Toronto and Carolina can also clinch home-ice advantage in the First Round, while the Wild and Blues can lock in a First Round matchup against each other.
Nashville Predators Reassign Cody Glass To AHL
Soon after finally recording his first point with the Nashville Predators, the team announced today that they’ve reassigned forward Cody Glass to the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals.
Now 23 years old, Glass, who was drafted sixth overall in 2017 by the Vegas Golden Knights, found his way to Nashville this past off-season by way of a three-way trade, coming as the principal return to Nashville in exchange for defenseman Ryan Ellis, who ended up in Philadelphia. Glass never really translated his dominant two-way game from the juniors and minors into the NHL over two seasons in Vegas, and the team opted to move on.
That isn’t to suggest there isn’t some track left for Glass, though. He does have just the one assist in eight NHL games with Nashville this season, but he’s enjoying his best AHL season yet with 60 points in 63 games. That’s good enough for first place on the team by three points.
Nashville is gearing up to ensure they have the best playoff positioning possible by retaining the first Wild Card spot, so sending Glass down when they’re probably not going to use him much right now makes sense. Hopefully, a good run down the stretch in Milwaukee can help him garner more confidence for a full-time NHL role next season.
Mackenzie Blackwood Still Expected To Play Before Season Ends
The New Jersey Devils need a goalie. The team has received an .883 save percentage this season, better than only the Seattle Kraken’s .881. Currently, they’re rolling with a tandem of Andrew Hammond and Jon Gillies that have 94 NHL games between them, despite being 34 and 28 years old respectively. Earlier this month, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet put it clearly on the 32 Thoughts podcast:
They’re going to have to find a goalie. They’re really going to have to find a goalie. What the Devils are selling to their fans, and some of their players, and they’ve said it publicly to the media is: ‘our underlying numbers say we’re a better team. We just can’t stop the puck.’ Well you can’t keep coming with that narrative.
Friedman goes on to note that Mackenzie Blackwood‘s injuries this season have been an important part of the disappointing season that has taken place. The young netminder was on Team Canada’s long list for the Olympics at the start of the season and looked like the obvious choice long-term in the Devils’ net. The Sportsnet insider goes on to explain that maybe it is time for a fresh start somewhere else, though that would certainly not solve the issues in New Jersey moving forward.
That’s what makes the last few games of the season so interesting for the Devils, and Blackwood in particular. Head coach Lindy Ruff told reporters including Mike Morreale of NHL.com again today that the plan is still to get Blackwood back into a few games before the end of the year. New Jersey has just six games left including tonight against the Buffalo Sabres, and has Blackwood still listed as day-to-day, though he did appear at the optional morning skate today.
Is there a chance that the Blackwood-Jonathan Bernier tandem return for 2022-23? Sure, as they are both signed through next season before being scheduled for free agency in the summer (RFA status for the former). But there will also be a strong desire to take a big step forward for the Devils next season, given how well some players have performed. Jesper Bratt recorded his 70th point of the season a few days ago, Nico Hischier has a career-high with 58 points, and Jack Hughes (when healthy) has looked every bit the first-overall pick. The team can’t be let down by bad goaltending again, not while they’re investing so much into free agents like Dougie Hamilton to try and contend for the playoffs.
While both Nico Daws and Akira Schmid saw NHL action and look like promising prospects, it’s hard to trust a pair of 21-year-olds who recorded .893 and .833 save percentages. Gillies and Hammond haven’t done much better, and are unrestricted free agents at the end of the year.
So while games at the end of a bad season rarely mean much of anything, Blackwood’s return would be significant.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
New York Islanders Sign William Dufour
The New York Islanders have agreed to terms with prospect William Dufour on a three-year, entry-level contract that will start in the 2022-23 season. The contract is worth $842.5K in 2022-23, and $867.5K in 2023-24 and 2024-25, says Kevin Kurz of The Athletic. Dufour currently plays for the Saint John Seadogs of the QMJHL, the host of the 2022 Memorial Cup.
You couldn’t really ask for a better final junior season than Dufour has experienced this year. After being traded from the Drummondville Voltigeurs in the offseason, the 20-year-old forward has absolutely exploded offensively, racking up 52 goals and 109 points in 61 games with the Sea Dogs. He leads all players in both categories and has a chance to expand on those totals with a handful of games remaining on the schedule.
After that, he’ll try to chase down a QMJHL title and then Memorial Cup, before making the jump to professional hockey next season. Selected in the fifth round, this isn’t some undersized talent that will struggle with the physicality of the next level. Dufour stands 6’3″ and uses his size and power effectively to dominate junior competition. While his skating will have to continue to improve if he’s to make the same impact in the AHL and then the NHL, he sits as arguably one of the Islanders’ top prospects.
In fact, Scott Wheeler of The Athletic ranked him second in his recent evaluation of the Islanders prospect pool, ahead of players with much higher draft pedigree like Simon Holmstrom or Ruslan Iskhakov. While there is still a long road ahead of him, Dufour’s signing today is a nice step toward fulfilling the promise he’s shown this season.
Morning Notes: Strome, Coaches, Matthews
The Chicago Blackhawks have lots of decisions to make this summer as general manager Kyle Davidson continues his tear down and rebuild of the struggling organization. One of the biggest–outside of the obvious Jonathan Toews–Patrick Kane question–is what to do with Dylan Strome. The 25-year-old is an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent and has taken off in the last half of the season, setting a new career-high in goals with 21 and playing more than 20 minutes in 17 of his last 21 games.
That doesn’t guarantee he’ll be back, though, as Mark Lazerus of The Athletic writes today. Lazerus notes that team sources are “lukewarm at best” about bringing Strome back, a player that the organization tried to trade for well over a year at one point. Perhaps Strome’s run on the top line will help bring that trade to fruition, though the uncertainty of his arbitration award certainly makes it more complicated.
- Meanwhile, the coach that brought Strome back from the dead this season is also facing an uncertain future. As Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic writes today, it is “no slam dunk” that Derek King returns as head coach of the Blackhawks next season, despite some success since he took over on an interim basis. King was brought up from the Rockford IceHogs and is in his first stint as a coach in the NHL. Davidson told LeBrun that the team will address the coaching situation in the offseason, the same answer many managers gave him when he was looking at all of the expiring deals around the league. While names like Jay Woodcroft and Andrew Brunette seem like obvious extensions, things aren’t so clear in places like Winnipeg and Philadelphia, where success hasn’t followed the midseason changes.
- Auston Matthews is closing in on a return to the Toronto Maple Leafs lineup, after joining the main group for morning skate today. The Maple Leafs will take on the Tampa Bay Lightning in a potential preview of the first round, and would obviously like to have their superstar in the lineup, but he’ll miss a third straight game with an undisclosed injury. Matthews has some history of his own to chase, as he tries to become just the third player since the 2004-05 lockout to score 60 goals. Only Alex Ovechkin (65 in 2007-08) and Steven Stamkos (60 in 2011-12) have accomplished that feat, and the big Toronto center needs just two more to hit the mark.
AHL Shuffle: 04/21/22
If you thought the playoff-type action was slowing down, you were wrong. Twenty-two of the league’s teams are in action this evening, including a few potential first-round matchups. The Toronto Maple Leafs battle the Tampa Bay Lightning, while the Dallas Stars try to stop their current skid when they take on the Calgary Flames. Perhaps most important will be the Vancouver Canucks in Minnesota to take on the Wild, as close to a must-win for the Pacific Division team as you can get. As everyone prepares for action, we’ll keep track of all the minor league shuffling.
Atlantic Division
- The Ottawa Senators have recalled Mark Kastelic from the AHL, giving them an extra body for their game tomorrow. Interestingly, the Belleville Senators probably need Kastelic more, though the 23-year-old certainly won’t be complaining; Kastelic earns his NHL salary–ten times what he makes in the AHL–while up with the big club.
- Corey Schueneman has been officially added to the Laval Rocket roster, after being sent down last night. The 26-year-old defenseman has proven he can hang in the NHL, but now will be able to help Laval on their playoffs run instead.
Metropolitan Division
Central Division
Pacific Division
This page is updated throughout the day
NHL Announces 2022 Global Series
The NHL is going overseas again. The league announced the 2022 NHL Global Series games, which will feature the Nashville Predators, San Jose Sharks, Colorado Avalanche, and Columbus Blue Jackets playing in European cities during the regular season.
Two of those games will open the NHL season. The Sharks and Predators will do battle in a pair of games in Prague, Czechia at O2 Arena on October 7 and 8. Those games follow exhibition matches for both clubs, with the Sharks taking on Eisbaren Berlin in Germany on October 4 and the Predators battling SC Bern in Switzerland on October 3.
Then, a month later, the Avalanche and Blue Jackets will meet in Tampere, Finland for a pair of games on November 4 and 5.
Columbus and Colorado are obvious candidates for games in Finland, since they have some of the biggest current stars the country has produced. Patrik Laine and Mikko Rantanen will be the headliners, though others like Artturi Lehkonen and even general manager Jarmo Kekalainen will certainly draw some attention as well. Laine and Kekalainen are even from Tampere specifically, meaning this is a homecoming of sorts for the Blue Jackets.
It’s no different for the Czech games, where Tomas Hertl of the Sharks will be the big draw. Hertl just signed a massive extension with the Sharks that makes him the team’s highest-paid forward and will lead his club into his hometown a decade after he left for the NHL. Teammate Radim Simek is also from the Czech Republic, as is Nashville goaltender David Rittich, though the latter is not yet signed for next season.