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.
OHL Draft First Round Order Of Selection Set
The 2022 OHL Priority Selection Draft Lottery concluded today, awarding the Saginaw Spirit the first overall pick for the first time since 2003. The OHL’s lottery system, which determines the top four draft spots completely at random among the four non-playoff teams in the league, awarded the Erie Otters second overall, the Sudbury Wolves third overall, and the league-worst Niagara IceDogs fell to fourth.
It was a rough season for Saginaw, who finished just one point ahead of last place Niagara and allowed 305 goals in 68 games, finishing with a 24-43-1 record. There were some standouts, though, especially 2022 NHL Draft-eligible defenseman Pavel Mintyukov, who looks like a sure-fire first-round talent after leading the team with 62 points in 67 games. A surprise pick last season, Buffalo Sabres third-rounder Josh Bloom led the team’s forwards in points, while New York Islanders netminder prospect Tristan Lennox led Saginaw goalies with a .888 save percentage.
Saginaw will likely be choosing between a pair of forwards from the GTHL’s Mississauga Senators with the first-overall selection. There’s Michael Misa, who was just granted exceptional status in the OHL after the 15-year-old netted 20 points in just seven games at this year’s OHL Cup. While his upside makes him the more likely pick, there’s also the older Malcolm Spence, who also had a very solid run with 13 points in seven games at the same tournament.
Snapshots: Mittelstadt, Kadri, Hogberg
Buffalo Sabres youngster Casey Mittelstadt looked like he may be taking a long-awaited step forward last season with his biggest role and best offensive production yet, but an injury-riddled season has seen Mittelstadt take a step back in his development, a concerning look for the eighth-overall pick considering he’s already 23. But after sitting down with Buffalo Hockey Beat’s Bill Hoppe, Mittelstadt detailed his extensive struggle with a recurring upper-body injury this year, one that’s kept him out of the lineup at length and has caused him to be shuffled around constantly when healthy, not finding any chemistry with consistent linemates. Sabres fans will remember that Mittelstadt sustained an injury in the first period of the season, causing him to subsequently miss more than 20 games and then re-aggravate the injury soon after returning. It’s been a lengthy, trying season for the young American, but he feels as though he’s settling back into his game ahead of next season.
More from around the NHL on this Wednesday night:
- Via a cryptic tweet, it appears as though Colorado Avalanche center Nazem Kadri is making his return to the lineup tonight after missing the entirety of April with an upper-body injury. The original hope was that Kadri would be able to recover from the injury, suffered on March 31st against the San Jose Sharks, in time for the playoffs. That goal appears to have been exceeded here, and Kadri will get the chance to add to his career-high 83 points with six games left to go in the season. The team still managed to go 7-1-0 in his absence.
- Defenseman Linus Hogberg is expected to make his NHL debut tomorrow for the Philadelphia Flyers, making him the tenth(!) player to make his NHL debut for the team this season. Hogberg is in the midst of his first full season in North America, making his AHL debut with Lehigh Valley after being recalled from a loan that had him playing in his native Sweden. The two-way defenseman actually put up more points last season there in 26 games (eight) than he has this year in 57 (seven), but the team seems to want to give their 139th overall selection back in 2016 a brief crack at the NHL.
Gannon Laroque Signs AHL ATO
The San Jose Sharks officially assigned Daniil Gushchin to the AHL today, but he won’t be heading there alone. The team has signed another CHL draft pick, inking Gannon Laroque to an amateur tryout contract.
Laroque, 18, was one of the most improved players in the WHL this season, going from depth defenseman to star puck-mover seemingly overnight. The 2021 fourth-round pick ended up with 52 points in 63 games, after previously recording just seven points at the WHL level. Now, with the Victoria Royals finishing outside the playoff picture, the 6’2″ defenseman will get a chance to test himself at the professional level.
Notably, Laroque was among the youngest players available last draft, as he won’t turn 19 until August. That means he’s not eligible to play in the AHL next year, and he’ll have to go back to the WHL to continue his development. After finishing this season tenth among all WHL defensemen in scoring, he’ll be an incredibly interesting prospect to watch next season, especially if he is moved to a better team or Victoria takes a step forward.
On that note, there’s a chance the Royals fortunes could change dramatically in the next few days. On Thursday, the WHL draft lottery will be held, where Victoria has four of 21 balls which would move them up to first overall. Teams can only move up a maximum of two spots, meaning they will be picking high either way after finishing third-worst this season.
For now, Laroque will get a chance to join the Barracuda, but unfortunately, it won’t be a very long stay. The team has just three games left (including tonight) and will not be qualifying for the postseason.
Scott Smith To Become Hockey Canada CEO
Tom Renney has officially announced his upcoming retirement from Hockey Canada, stepping down from his position as CEO on July 1. Renney, who has been in the position for the past eight years, released a lengthy statement that read, in part:
This is a decision I have been preparing for over the past year and while it is never easy, I know the time is right and I am grateful for the past eight years. I am appreciative of the opportunity that was afforded to me by past board chair, Jim Hornell, to lead this organization as its president and CEO. To our Hockey Canada directors past and present, chair Michael Brind’Amour, the volunteers and our incredible staff, I thank you for your dedication, commitment and support of our great game. I thank the people I have met through this game who have all made a positive and lasting impact in my life.
Renney, 67, will be replaced by Scott Smith, who had already taken over as president of the organization in 2017 when Renney stepped down from that role. Though he had been CEO for eight years, it was much longer than that as part of Hockey Canada for Renney, who was the head coach of the 1994 Olympic team which won a silver medal. Head coach of the Vancouver Canucks, New York Rangers, and Edmonton Oilers for various periods, he also helped lead Canada to multiple World Championship, World Junior, and Spengler Cup medals.
Smith, meanwhile, will add CEO to his title of president and become the leader of the entire organization. He has been with Hockey Canada since 1995 and was named COO in 2007. Michael Brind’Amour, chair of the board of directors, released the following statement:
There is no question Scott is ready to embrace this change, with his expertise and experience working alongside Tom ensuring a smooth transition into his role as CEO. For the past two decades, his understanding of the game and its importance will be invaluable as we work to best to serve our Members from the grassroots to the national level.
Hockey Canada recently announced the dates and venues for two international tournaments. The 2022 World Juniors will be held in Edmonton, while the 2022 Hlinka-Gretzky will be held in Red Deer.