Joel Kellman Placed On Unconditional Waivers
Dec 15: Kellman has cleared waivers and will see his contract terminated.
Dec 14: The San Jose Sharks are going to part ways with Joel Kellman, as the minor league forward has been placed on unconditional waivers for the purpose of a contract termination according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.
Kellman, 27, is on the second season of a two-year deal signed in 2020 after an impressive transition to North American hockey. After going undrafted and playing for years in the SHL, he signed an entry-level contract with the Sharks in 2019 and played in 31 games during 2019-20. He had seven points and looked like he might be a valuable depth piece for San Jose moving forward.
The two-year contract he signed as an RFA carries a cap hit of just $750K but is one-way this season, meaning Kellman is earning $800K no matter where he plays. Given that has been exclusively at the minor league level, it makes sense for both sides to part ways. In 10 games with the Barracuda, he has four points and a contract termination will allow Kellman to return to the SHL or sign elsewhere overseas. Technically, he could also sign with another NHL team, but that seems unlikely in this case.
Predators, Red Wings Announce COVID Protocol Absences
The sweeping outbreaks of COVID-19 continue, this time with the Nashville Predators and Detroit Red Wings. The Predators have announced that six players and six staff members have been placed in the COVID protocol. Mikael Granlund, Ryan Johansen, Matt Luff, Michael McCarron, Philip Tomasino, and Ben Harpur are now unavailable for the team, along with head coach John Hynes, assistants Dan Lambert and Todd Richards, and goaltending coach Ben Vanderklok.
For now, Nashville is still scheduled to take on the Colorado Avalanche tomorrow night. Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff tweets that the team is preparing to make the necessary recalls from the AHL (including coaches) to play.
Not to be outdone, the Red Wings have announced that Robby Fabbri and Michael Rasmussen have entered the protocol. Both players were in the lineup last night against the New York Islanders.
The Red Wings are scheduled to take on the Carolina Hurricanes tomorrow, a game that was in doubt after yesterday’s postponement. That doubt has been cleared up, at least for now, as the Hurricanes did not have any further positive tests today. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic tweets that the plan is for Carolina to play short two skaters, given how tight they are to the cap ceiling.
The NHL appears ready to push through these outbreaks as best they can, hoping to not disrupt the schedule for the entire league.
Christian Dvorak Out Indefinitely With Lower-Body Injury
The Montreal Canadiens continue to plod their way through a disastrous season and now will have to do it without the help of a prized offseason acquisition. Christian Dvorak is out indefinitely with a lower-body injury and will be evaluated daily. Dvorak has already missed three games since exiting last week’s match against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The team has also announced that Brendan Gallagher and Sami Niku have exited the COVID protocol, but will not practice with the main group yet as they build their conditioning back up. They are expected to rejoin the team later in the week.
Dvorak, acquired from the Arizona Coyotes after the Carolina Hurricanes signed Jesperi Kotkaniemi to an offer sheet, had 12 points in 27 games before going down to injury. The 25-year-old center was playing more than 18 minutes a night, but still scoring at a pace right around his career average. That could be considered a disappointment, given the fact that he told Montreal media he had “more to prove offensively” after leaving the desert. Should this injury force him out for a good chunk of the season, it seems unlikely that he’ll break his career-high of 18 goals or 38 points, both set in the 2019-20 season.
Perhaps more importantly though is that Dvorak was brought in to solidify the center ice position after Phillip Danault‘s departure, a position that will once again be in question with him out. That could probably be said about every spot on the ice with the long list of absences Montreal is dealing with, which also includes key players like Tyler Toffoli, Josh Anderson, Joel Edmundson, and Carey Price.
It’s a lost season for the Canadiens, who are now 6-21-3 on the season and ahead of only the Coyotes league-wide. A silver lining? The Carolina Hurricanes are in a solid playoff position, meaning the first-round pick Montreal owes Arizona for Dvorak won’t be their own.
Marat Khusnutdinov Re-Signs In KHL
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, Minnesota Wild fans. A Russian prospect has re-signed in the KHL before he participates in an international tournament. Marat Khusnutdinov has signed a new deal with SKA St. Petersburg that will keep him under contract through 2023-24, according to Michael Russo of The Athletic.
Khusnutdinov, 19, was the 37th overall pick in 2020 and looked to be developing quite well in the KHL. As Russo points out, his ice time was slashed recently, which is often a tactic used against young players that are considering leaving for North America. Instead of signing with the Wild this summer, he’ll stay overseas for at least two more seasons, where the team has no control over his development or playing time.
This case isn’t quite as drastic as what happened with Kirill Kaprizov, given Khusnutdinov will only be 21 when this contract ends, but there’s no guarantee he signs at that point either. The young forward is about to take part in his second World Juniors–on North American ice–where he should star once again. In 29 KHL games this season he has four goals and 11 points.
Because the NHL and KHL do not have a transfer agreement, Minnesota will retain Khusnutdinov’s draft rights indefinitely. The two leagues do respect each other’s contracts though, meaning the Wild will have to wait until this one expires to ink him to an entry-level deal. There are mechanisms (namely player-driven buyouts) to break a KHL contract, though that is unlikely with such a young player.
College Hockey Round-Up: At The Break
The holiday break has arrived in the NCAA hockey ranks as final exams and winter vacations will keep the college product off the ice for majority of nights over the next couple of weeks. Between now and December 28, only eight games will take place, all of which are non-conference match-ups. Play will return with a bang later this month as a trio of holiday tournaments featuring the likes of No. 3 Michigan, No. 4 Western Michigan, No. 16 Providence College, No. 20 Boston College, and more will lead us into the new year. Before conference play returns in full force later in January, fans can also enjoy NCAA standouts at the World Junior Championships.
Where We Stand
The Mavericks of Mankato reign supreme atop the NCAA rankings once again. No. 1 Minnesota State has entered the portion of their season every year where they dominate their WCHA opponents in nearly every game. The team is 12-2-2 in conference play and on a five-game win streak that includes sweeps over No. 18 Michigan Tech and Bemidji State. While strength of schedule is always a question for Minnesota State, as long as they keep winning it may be tough to knock them from the top spot given their strong results in non-conference play earlier this season.
The No. 2 Quinnipiac Bobcats likely feel that they deserve the top spot however. Quinnipiac is second only to No. 9 Cornell in winning percentage and have played seven more games than the Big Red. Their record is ahead of Minnesota State’s and their scoring margin is just behind, despite arguably a more difficult schedule. The caveat here is also strength of schedule though, as the Bobcats current five-game winning streak has come against the likes of St. Lawrence, RPI, Union, and LIU and they have not beaten a ranked team since October 22.
Of course, star-studded No. 3 Michigan will remain a threat, but the Wolverines have not been as invincible as some believed. Michigan dropped a game to No. 17 Ohio State this past weekend and No. 11 Minnesota the weekend before that. With five members of their roster expected to miss the next two games, including a match-up with No. 4 Western Michigan, due to participation in the World Junior Championship, the pressure is on for the Wolverines. Of course, come tournament time there will be no greater threat, regardless of Michigan’s final ranking.
No. 4 WMU is one of the biggest surprises in college hockey this season with six wins against ranked opponents, but the Broncos have a buzz saw awaiting them in the second half with ten consecutive games against NCHC elite in No. 5 North Dakota, No. 6 Minnesota Duluth, No. 7 St. Cloud State, No. 8 Denver, and then North Dakota once more. It’s an impossible schedule, but Western Michigan hopes to prove it belongs at the top of the rankings by coming away with a winning record. Of course, all of these teams have to play each other over the remainder of the season. The NCHC is the deepest and most talented conference in the NCAA this year, but that infighting could keep any of those programs from landing a top seed in the tournament.
No. 9 Cornell could be a sneaky candidate to make a second-half run to a top spot. The Big Red already league the NCAA is winning percentage and are second in goals per game and tied for third in scoring margin. While Cornell has played fewer games than all of the top teams due to the Ivy League’s late start and their strength of schedule suffers from some of the same weaknesses as fellow ECAC standout Quinnipiac, Cornell is statistically elite and has a chance to prove themselves as a top team when they face North Dakota on the road once they return from break.
As for Hockey East, the historic conference is definitely in a down year. No. 15 UMass Lowell leads the conference standings, but just went 0-1-1 against No. 12 UMass two weeks ago. The defending champs are right behind their satellite rivals, but far from the team they were a year ago. No. 13 Northeastern quietly has the best overall winning percentage in Hockey East, but their only statement wins came against slumping No. 16 Providence College last weekend. Barring a chance in trajectory in the second half, Hockey East may only send two or three teams to the NCAA Tournament this year and may not have any upper seeds.
Midseason Bracketology
It’s not often that the NCAA rankings align perfectly at tournament time for all 16 teams to be assigned in exact order to their regionals while avoiding conference match-ups and accounting for geography. In fact, the odds of it happening as if by design are slim to none. However, it just so happens that the current USCHO rankings do actually fit perfectly without conflicting first-round games or illogical geographic placements (albeit taking some of the fun out of “bracketology”). Here is a look at how the NCAA Tournament would break down if the season ended today:
Loveland, CO: No. 1 Minnesota State, No. 8 Denver, No. 9 Cornell, No. 16 Bentley*
Worcester, MA: No. 2 Quinnipiac, No. 7 St. Cloud, No. 10 Notre Dame, No. 15 UMass Lowell
Allentown, PA: 3 Michigan, No. 6 Minnesota-Duluth, No. 11 Minnesota, No. 14 Omaha
Albany, NY: No. 4 Western Michigan, No. 5 North Dakota, No. 12 UMass, No. 13 Northeastern
In this scenario, the top three seeds all end up at the regional located closest to them, while host Denver lands in Loveland (as is required) and several other schools play close to home. Most importantly though, the regionals are completed balanced. Of course, this won’t stick through the rest of the year so that final rankings and regional assignments will inevitably change. Still, it is worth looking forward at some potential stellar early match-ups like in-state rivals Duluth and Minnesota or historic North Dakota and reigning champ UMass. The Frozen Four in Boston is still a ways a way, but with a number of talented programs vying for a spot this year, including many enjoying one of their best seasons in school history, the 2022 NCAA Tournament should be a good one.
Boston Calling
The Boston Bruins are certainly keeping their recent draft classes close to home. Of the team’s 11 selections over the past two years, seven will now be playing college hockey in Massachusetts or Rhode Island next year. Several are already there: 2020 third-round forward Trevor Kuntar is skating on the top line for Boston College in his sophomore campaign, 2020 sixth-round forward Riley Duran is impressing as a freshman at Providence College with 11 points in 21 games, and 2021 seventh-round defenseman Ty Gallagher is a half point-per-game with Boston University, also exceeding expectations. Already committed are 2020 fifth-round defenseman Mason Langenbrunner, the lone non-Hockey East prospect of the group who will suit up for Harvard University, 2021 fourth-round goaltender Philip Svedeback, who will join Duran at PC, and 2021 seventh-round forward Andre Gasseau, who will follow Kuntar to BC.
The latest addition to the list will make it three members of the Eagles forward corps that will belong to the nearby Bruins. Swedish forward Oskar Jellvik has announced his intention to play for Boston College next season, joining Kuntar and Gasseau. Jellvik was a fifth-round pick by Boston this year, which could prove to be a nice value for the team. Jellvik has 11 goals and 25 points in 23 games this season for the U20 club of Djurgardens IF. That 1.09 points per game mark and a +8 rating make him one of the more dangerous players in the Swedish juniors this year. If that ability can translate to the North American game, BC and the Bruins could have a special prospect on their hands. Boston will get to keep a close eye on his development too from right down the street.
Oilers Activate Duncan Keith From IR; Sideline Head Coach Dave Tippett
After a hot start, the Edmonton Oilers have been struggling of late amidst a five-game losing streak and just eight points in their past ten games. Health is at least one factor taking its toll on the club and with a big match-up against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday, not to mention five consecutive games against division opponents up coming, the Oilers need all hands on deck. They took a big step closer to that goal today, announcing that veteran defenseman Duncan Keith has been activated from the injured reserve, making his return to the lineup for the first time since he suffered a back injury on November 23.
Keith, 38, was brought in this off-season to provide a stabilizing force on the Edmonton blue line with his extensive experience and solid defensive play. Keith hasn’t been asked to do too much; the two-time Norris Trophy winner is just third in average time on ice and isn’t facing excessive defensive zone usage or the most difficult match-ups. Keith also has just five points on the year and is not being used on the power play at all. Yet, he is still a vital piece of the puzzle for the Oilers, who have lacked balance in recent years. Keith’s confident defensive play helps to keep Edmonton’s run-and-gun style from catching up with them and his locker room presence helps to keep the club focused on winning games rather than just creating massive scoring totals. Keith’s return could be exactly what the team needs to shake off their current rut, especially if he is fully healthy.
As a corresponding move to Keith’s activation, the Oilers have reassigned young blue liner Philip Broberg to the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors. Edmonton has also promoted forward Brendan Perlini from the minors. The 25-year-old reclamation project has been held scoreless through 13 games this season, but was once a 30-point player in his sophomore campaign and remains an intriguing option for the high-flying Oilers.
However, the most interesting move made today was not on the roster, but behind the bench. The team announced that head coach Dave Tippett would not coach on Tuesday night as a precaution. The Oilers did not disclose any other details, but with Ryan McLeod landing in the NHL COVID Protocol earlier today, it is safe to assume that Tippett is facing a close contact concern or inconclusive test that made it in the best interest of both he and the Edmonton players and staff to stay off the bench for the time being. With COVID running rampant through the league right now, the Oilers should be commended for being proactive in this case.
Poll: Is Ben Bishop A Hall Of Fame Goaltender?
Dallas Stars goaltender Ben Bishop held a press conference today to discuss the end of his career. After trying to rehab and recover from a knee injury that has bothered him for more than two years, Bishop played a single game in the AHL before throwing in the towel. He explained just what he was dealing with all this time and how it didn’t allow him from continuing his career:
If I was a forward, I could be playing right now. But just with the butterfly, the torque you put on your knee, it just couldn’t really get better.
Last week when we drained it, there was still some flecks in the fluid which means there was some cartilage wearing away. With all that, I still wanted to go down and give it a try because I wanted one last try to make sure. I was hoping I could go down and everything would be OK. But obviously after the game, it blew up. In talking to the doctors, it doesn’t make sense to just kind of be ripping your knee apart if you’re not going to get back to playing.
Bishop will not technically retire, as his contract extends through the 2022-23 season. He’s owed $3.5MM for this season and next, meaning he’ll be just moved to long-term injured reserve for now. His playing days are over though, which means fans can look back and dissect an outstanding playing career that was unfortunately cut short.
There is a real question that arises when considering Bishop’s excellent-but-limited NHL career. Should he be considered for the Hall of Fame?
At first thought the easy answer may be no, given he never won a major award, never won the Stanley Cup, and was really only a full-time NHL player for seven years. But that seven-year stretch was also some of the best goaltending the league has ever seen, as fans of the Lightning and Stars will attest.
In 2013-14, his first full season with Tampa Bay, Bishop started 64 games for the Lightning, going 37-14-7 with a .924 save percentage. He finished third in Vezina Trophy voting, behind the winner Tuukka Rask (36-15-6, .930) and runner-up Semyon Varlamov (41-14-6, .927). He actually finished ahead of Rask in the Hart Trophy voting though (but behind Varlamov) because of the view of Tampa at the time. After all, they’d missed the playoffs each of the previous two seasons and were under the guidance of a rookie head coach–some guy named Jon Cooper.
Not a bad start for a goaltender that was already on his third team.
In 2014-15, he took a slight step back in terms of save percentage, posting a .916 for the Lightning. The team was a lot better though, as Bishop secured 40 wins in 62 appearances during the regular season. He then started another 25 games in the playoffs, helping the Lightning all the way to the Stanley Cup Final, where they would fall to the Chicago Blackhawks. Bishop’s numbers that postseason? A .921 save percentage and playoff-leading three shutouts.
When 2015-16 rolled around there was no doubting his ability, and what would follow was an incredible goaltending season. In 61 appearances, Bishop went 35-21-4, posted a .926 save percentage, and league-leading 2.06 goals-against average. In the playoffs, he’d go 8-2 with a .939 save percentage and it looked like he was on his way to a potential Conn Smythe nomination, but ended up stretchered off the ice during the first period of game one of the Eastern Conference Finals. Young Andrei Vasilevskiy would play the next six games, ultimately losing in a heartbreaking game seven to the Pittsburgh Penguins. When the Vezina votes were tallied that year, Bishop would come close to another victory, but end up coming second to future teammate Braden Holtby‘s 48-9-7 record, despite the Washington netminder’s worse numbers in other categories.
Injury had robbed him of a chance to further his legacy those playoffs, and the Vezina finish would be a sign of things to come. Bishop played just 39 games in 2016-17 as Vasilevskiy took over in Tampa Bay, forcing the Lightning to find a trade partner. Bishop was shipped to the Los Angeles Kings, where he served as a backup to Jonathan Quick down the stretch. He’d play just seven games with the Kings before an offseason trade and extension brought him to the Dallas Stars.
It’s in Dallas where perhaps his most compelling case for the Hall of Fame took place. In his first year, he was a strong starter for the Stars, putting up a 26-17-5 record with a .916 save percentage. It’s that 2018-19 season that could have changed his legacy though, had voters felt stronger about his case over that of his former protege. Andrei Vasilevskiy took home the Vezina as the Lightning posted a historic 62-16-4 record, but Bishop had outpaced him in nearly every goaltending metric. In fact, since they started tracking shot data, Bishop’s 2018-19 .934 save percentage is the fourth-best in history among goaltenders who appeared in at least 41 games. He’d finish second in the voting, a finalist for the third time in his career.
Overall, Bishop ranks 78th all-time in wins by a goaltender with 222. He’s even further down that list in terms of games played. His career was extremely short, there’s no getting around that. But it was also outstanding. His .921 career save percentage puts him fifth, behind only Dominik Hasek, Johnny Bower, Rask, and Ken Dryden. Three of those names are in the Hall of Fame, the fourth likely will be one day.
So is Bishop a candidate for the Hall of Fame? Or is he just another member of the Hall of Very Good, with a career cut short by injury, overlooked by voters, and ultimately, unsuccessful in reaching the pinnacle of the sport–the Stanley Cup.
Does Ben Bishop deserve to be in the Hall of Fame?
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No 82% (1,141)
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Yes 18% (252)
Total votes: 1,393
[Mobile users click here to vote!]
USA Hockey Announces 2022 WJC Roster
The 2022 World Junior Championship is right around the corner, set to kick off on December 26 in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alberta. For USA Hockey, selection camp is being held in Plymouth, Michigan, where the final roster has been picked. From a group of 31 players, 25 were selected to represent their country on the international stage.
The team, with their NHL affiliation:
G Drew Commesso (CHI)
G Kaidan Mbereko (2022 draft eligible)
G Dylan Silverstein (2022 draft eligible)
D Brock Faber (LAK)
D Luke Hughes (NJD)
D Wyatt Kaiser (CHI)
D Tyler Kleven (OTT)
D Ian Moore (ANA)
D Scott Morrow (CAR)
D Jack Peart (MIN)
D Jake Sanderson (OTT)
F Matty Beniers (SEA)
F Brett Berard (NYR)
F Logan Cooley (2022 draft eligible)
F Matt Coronato (CGY)
F Tanner Dickinson (STL)
F Dominic James (2022 draft eligible)
F Matthew Knies (TOR)
F Chaz Lucius (WPG)
F Carter Mazur (DET)
F Sasha Pastujov (ANA)
F Mackie Samoskevich (FLA)
F Red Savage (DET)
F Landon Slaggert (CHI)
F Ty Smilanic (FLA)
Luke Pavicich, Connor Kelley, Jacob Truscott, Declan McDonnell, Dylan Peterson were the final cuts from the team after some earlier changes. Interestingly enough, Peart, who replaced Sean Behrens as a late invite to selection camp has made the team. Scott Wheeler of The Athletic predicts some potential line combinations for the group, including a top defense pairing of Sanderson and Hughes, likely one of the best duos in the tournament.
Hurricanes-Wild Game Postponed
The Carolina Hurricanes and Minnesota Wild aren’t going to play tonight after all. According to several reports including Michael Russo of The Athletic, four more players from the Hurricanes have tested positive today for coronavirus and will be put into the COVID protocol. The team put Seth Jarvis and Sebastian Aho in the protocol yesterday. The league has officially announced the single postponement, noting that it will provide a further update tomorrow. The four players entering the protocol today are Jordan Staal, Andrei Svechnikov, Ian Cole, and Steven Lorentz.
If it weren’t postponed, the Hurricanes would be extremely shorthanded for this evening’s action. The team does not have the cap space for more than one recall, which they used on Andrew Poturalski earlier today. There is also a growing sentiment that on-ice transmission has occurred over the weekend, as several teams that played each other–Carolina, the Calgary Flames, Vancouver Canucks, and Boston Bruins in particular–have now had players enter the protocol recently.
The Flames, Ottawa Senators, and New York Islanders are the three teams that have seen their season postponed to this point, but if the Hurricanes become the fourth, even more doubt will be placed upon NHL participation in the upcoming Olympics. The league has maintained that if postponements cause a “material disruption” to the schedule they will take the decision out of the players’ hands and withdraw from international competition.
This is also not the first time the Hurricanes have been affected by COVID absences. Brett Pesce, Tony DeAngelo, and Ethan Bear were all in the protocol at once, with the former two only expected to make their return tonight, before the game was postponed.
Anton Khudobin Clears Waivers
Dec 14: Khudobin has cleared waivers and will be assigned to the AHL, according to Saad Yousuf of The Athletic.
Dec 13: The Dallas Stars looked like they were going to have four healthy NHL goaltenders, but after Ben Bishop‘s comeback bid ended in further injury, that logjam seemed to be relieved. Still, the team has decided that there needs to be room for Jake Oettinger in the NHL, and has placed Anton Khudobin on waivers.
It’s a surprising fall from grace for a goaltender that just over a year ago was helping lead the Stars to the Stanley Cup Finals, appearing in 25 games for Dallas during the 2020 playoffs. Khudobin was signed to a new three-year, $10MM contract after that performance but could now find himself on the way out of town before the second season is even complete.
That $3.33MM cap hit will likely scare off plenty of teams around the league, especially because the 35-year-old netminder has an .873 save percentage in seven appearances this season. But for some–perhaps the Buffalo Sabres, who have been linked to the goaltender in trade rumors recently–Khudobin’s long history of success could be enough to swallow the rest of his contract. After all, this is a veteran that has a .916 save percentage in 257 career appearances. In fact, this is the first time in his career that Khudobin has posted a save percentage under .900 or a goals-against average over 2.72, a career that spans 13 years.
There’s also a chance that clearing waivers would improve Khudobin’s trade value for the Stars, as any acquiring team would then have the ability to stash him in the minor leagues. Of course, that only buries $1.125MM of his cap hit and the fact that he’s still signed for next season makes it more difficult for contenders.
If it’s the end of his run in Dallas, it’ll go down as his most impressive stop so far. Whether he can replicate it elsewhere still remains to be seen.