East Notes: Flyers, Mittelstadt, Spezza
Following the coaching change in Philadelphia on Monday, the Flyers find themselves down a couple of assistant coaches; Michel Therrien was let go while Mike Yeo moved from assistant to interim head coach. The team is looking to hire an assistant soon, notes Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link) with player development coach Nick Schultz helping out in the interim.
One candidate for a spot on Philadelphia’s bench is Adam Foote, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports in his latest 32 Thoughts column. The 19-year NHL veteran isn’t currently coaching anywhere and last worked during the 2019-20 season when he was the head coach at WHL Kelowna. The Flyers’ back end has struggled this season and adding someone who was a strong NHL defender in Foote could certainly help, especially with youngsters Ivan Provorov and Travis Sanheim.
Elsewhere in the East:
- The Sabres may be without center Casey Mittelstadt for a while again, relays Mike Harrington of The Buffalo News. The 23-year-old was injured in Tuesday’s contest versus Anaheim and head coach Don Granato revealed that it’s in the same area as the upper-body injury that took him out in the season opener that kept him out for six weeks. Mittelstadt is undergoing testing to determine the extent of the injury but Granato acknowledged that it could be another long-term issue.
- The NHLPA announced (Twitter link) that, as expected, they have indeed filed an appeal on the six-game suspension for Maple Leafs center Jason Spezza for his kneeing incident on Winnipeg blueliner Neal Pionk. Commissioner Gary Bettman will hear the appeal first and has the authority to reduce the suspension. If he elects not to do so, it can then go to a neutral arbitrator although, by the time that would likely be scheduled and a ruling rendered, the suspension will have been fully served.
Blues Sign Jon Gillies
The Blues have brought back a familiar face between the pipes, announcing the signing of goaltender Jon Gillies to a one-year, two-way contract. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The 27-year-old spent last season with St. Louis but didn’t see any action with them. Instead, he was their taxi squad netminder for a good portion of the year while also getting into five games with AHL Utica. Gillies has remained at the AHL level this season, getting into three games with Boston’s affiliate and one with Philadelphia’s.
Gillies won’t be going back to the minors though, at least not yet. Instead, his presence is needed with backup goaltender Ville Husso out with a lower-body injury and Jordan Binnington still in COVID protocol. They’re using an emergency roster exception to have Charlie Lindgren up and that carries a maximum allowable cap hit of $850K; anyone making more can’t be recalled. That takes their other AHL netminder Joel Hofer off the table which means they needed to sign Gillies to have a second goalie available for tomorrow’s game against Detroit.
Speaking of that roster exception, they were able to bring up Nathan Walker earlier today after playing short a forward. However, defenseman Jake Walman sustained an upper-body injury on Tuesday night and the team will once again have to play short a player on Thursday before being able to recall a replacement for him.
West Notes: Oilers, Coyotes, Wroblewski
The Oilers are on the lookout to add some defensive help and would like to add another goaltender, reports ESPN’s Emily Kaplan. Edmonton is a bit shorthanded on the back end at the moment with both Duncan Keith and Slater Koekkoek injured and Cody Ceci currently in COVID protocol. That has resulted in Philip Broberg and Marcus Niemelainen both being recalled from AHL Bakersfield and while that works as a short-term solution, getting another proven piece into the mix would certainly help their fortunes.
As for their goaltending, Mike Smith is currently injured and while Mikko Koskinen has done well this season, his track record over his tenure with the team is much spottier so adding some insurance would help. Of course, with minimal cap space and the fact they’re well into LTIR already, GM Ken Holland will have to get creative if he wants to try to add those players now. Otherwise, they may have to wait until closer to the March 21 deadline to make the money work.
More from the Western Conference:
- The City of Glendale is threatening to lock the Coyotes out of Gila River Arena if their unpaid invoices and tax bills tallying more than $1.3MM aren’t paid by December 20th, reports Katie Strang of The Athletic. This is the latest chapter of an ongoing battle between the city and the team with the Coyotes being told to look for other places to play with their lease agreement not being renewed. Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports suggests (subscription link) that Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum, a facility that was built in 1965 and was home to Phoenix’s WHA team in the 1970s, could be a landing spot for the team while they wait for their desired Tempe home to be built.
- The Kings’ AHL affiliate in Ontario announced that head coach John Wroblewski has taken a personal leave of absence for an indefinite period of time. Assistant coaches Chris Hajt and Craig Johnson will split the coaching duties in Wroblewski’s absence.
Snapshots: Guentzel, Trade Bait, DeBrusk
The Pittsburgh Penguins will be without Jake Guentzel for the next little while, as head coach Mike Sullivan told reporters that the sniper will be out week-to-week with an upper-body injury. Guentzel is having another outstanding season with 15 goals and 27 points in just 24 games.
The 27-year-old forward now sits at 136 goals and 284 points through his first 323 career games, even closer to point-per-game production if you include his playoff performances. On a team that has some of the most recognizable players in the league, Guentzel sometimes doesn’t get the credit he deserves as one of the league’s premier offensive players. Losing him, especially just as things are starting to roll for the Penguins, will be a difficult thing to deal with.
- TSN revealed its first Trade Bait board for this season compiled this time by new insider Chris Johnston. Ben Chiarot of the Montreal Canadiens tops the board, as one of the few impact defensemen that will be available at the deadline this year. As Johnston notes, players like Hampus Lindholm and Josh Manson were once expected to hit the market this year, but the Anaheim Ducks are playing well enough now that that may not be the case.
- One of the other players on that list is Boston Bruins forward Jake DeBrusk, who was the focus of one of Elliotte Friedman’s latest 32 Thoughts. The Bruins are “definitely willing” to trade DeBrusk according to Friedman and are “unafraid to take a chance” on a younger player in return. They won’t just sell off DeBrusk because of his public trade request.
What Your Team Is Thankful For: Dallas Stars
As the holiday season approaches, PHR will take a look at what teams are thankful for as the season passes the one-quarter mark. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. We’ll examine what’s gone well in the early going and what could improve as the season rolls on for the Dallas Stars.
What are the Stars thankful for?
The 2017 Anaheim Ducks.
Hear this one out. At the 2017 deadline, the Stars traded Patrick Eaves, then on a one-year, $1MM deal, to the Ducks in exchange for a conditional draft pick. Eaves was in the midst of a career year, scoring 21 goals in his first 59 games with the Stars and making him a prime deadline target. He’d go on to rack up another 11 goals in 20 regular season games for Anaheim, but it was the postseason performance that the Stars were interested in. If the Ducks made it to the third round and Eaves played in at least 50% of the games to that point the Stars would receive Anaheim’s first-round pick in 2017. Otherwise, it would be a second-rounder.
The Ducks ended up making it to the Conference Finals, but it wasn’t because of Eaves. He ended up playing in just seven games through the first two rounds, still enough to cover that 50% threshold. The team had needed 11 games to get through those series against the Flames and Oilers, squeaking out a 2-1 win in game seven to ensure the Stars would have an extra first-round pick.
That pick, which ended up being 26th overall, was used on Jake Oettinger. He joins Miro Heiskanen and Jason Robertson as the team’s first three selections that year and arguably the three most important pieces of Dallas’ future at this point. The 22-year-old Oettinger currently has a .951 save percentage at the NHL level this year and a perfect 5-0 record.
Who are the Stars thankful for?
It’s not very often that a team could consider a player like John Klingberg a bit redundant, but that’s exactly the situation in Dallas as Heiskanen has completely taken over control of the Stars’ blueline. The third-overall pick from that 2017 draft, Heiskanen averages close to 25 minutes a night, has 16 points in 22 games, and makes the whole machine turn. While some may overlook him because of the market he plays in or the style in which he effortlessly floats around the ice, Heiskanen is a legitimate star in the league and will be a leader in Dallas for a long time.
Need even more reason for thanks? The Philadelphia Flyers could have had Heiskanen (or Cale Makar, which is another story) at the draft, but selected Nolan Patrick second overall instead, leaving the smooth-skating Finn for the Stars to snap up.
What would the Stars be even more thankful for?
Denis Gurianov‘s consistency to come back.
In 2019-20, the Stars gave Gurianov his first full-time shot in the NHL and he rewarded them with strong, powerful play. Even though he wasn’t seeing a ton of ice time, he was always a threat to score, tallying 20 goals in 64 games. Perhaps the fact that he had just nine assists during that stretch should have been a warning sign, but the 12th overall pick from 2015 has been frustratingly inconsistent–at least in terms of goal scoring–since.
He posted just 12 tallies last season and there were stretches of up to 15 games where he failed to put one in the back of the net. This year he has just four goals and eight points in 21 games, not exactly what they were expecting from that impressive rookie. Roope Hintz and Jason Robertson are the present and future of the Stars offense, but it sure would be helpful to have Gurianov living up to his draft pedigree. He’d benefit from it too, given he’s going to be an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent this summer.
What should be on the Stars’ Holiday Wish List?
A “hockey trade” for one of their goaltenders.
The Stars have too many goalies. Oettinger can’t even get playing time because of the red hot Braden Holtby who has become the starter, while Anton Khudobin has struggled in his part-time role. That’s not even mentioning Ben Bishop, who is on a conditioning stint and will be ready to return to action in a few days.
The Stars need more offense and several teams around the league need goaltending, but the crunch is coming for Dallas. If they can work out a way to leverage one of these talented netminders into another forward (especially one that can play center when needed), this hot streak they’re on may not end anytime soon.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Colin Blackwell Enters COVID Protocol
The Seattle Kraken welcomed captain Mark Giordano back to practice after a stint in the COVID protocol, but it wasn’t a full group for the team today. Colin Blackwell is the latest Kraken to enter the protocol, head coach Dave Hakstol told reporters including Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times. The team has not confirmed whether or not Blackwell has tested positive for coronavirus.
Blackwell, 28, has unfortunately played in just eight games for the Kraken this season after starting the year on injured reserve. He was activated a few weeks ago and has three points so far on the year, including an important goal in the Kraken’s win against the Edmonton Oilers last week. He was scratched for the team in their most recent game and has been used sparingly when active, a disappointing result after his impressive 2020-21 campaign.
In 47 games for the New York Rangers, Blackwell scored 12 goals and 22 points, becoming one of the biggest surprises in the league. That ended up putting him on Seattle’s radar, and they made him their expansion selection ahead of some other interesting options. There was scuttle that a trade was involved with that selection, but it never came to pass.
Instead, Blackwell has become just another one of the depth forwards for the Kraken and someone that could potentially find himself on the trade block again in a few months. On an expiring deal that carries a cap hit of just $725K–less than the single-year league minimum–perhaps there will be another team that believes he can do more than play ten minutes a night. For now, he’ll have to stay in the COVID protocol until cleared to return.
The Kraken have also assigned Kole Lind to the minor leagues, according to Hakstol.
Ian Cole Avoids Suspension, Earns Fine
The Department of Player Safety has determined that Ian Cole will not receive a suspension for his hit on Mark Scheifele last night. Cole has earned a $5,000 fine instead, the maximum allowable amount under the CBA.
The Carolina Hurricanes defenseman received a five-minute major and a game misconduct for the play, while Scheifele did not exit the game or suffer a serious injury. Both of those things likely were considered in the decision of whether or not to elevate it to a suspension, like the one handed out to Neal Pionk recently. Pionk delivered a similar knee-on-knee hit against Rasmus Sandin, who suffered an injury on the play. The Winnipeg Jets defenseman was not penalized by the on-ice officials, and ended up receiving a two-game suspension.
It’s certainly good news for the Hurricanes, who are already down two key defensemen. With Cole out of the game and the Hurricanes on a long penalty kill, Jaccob Slavin ended up logging nearly 30 minutes against the Jets, including more than six shorthanded. If Cole were to also receive a suspension, the team would be dealing with a huge gap in their depth on the back end. Instead, he’ll get a fine on his record that will influence future supplementary discipline decisions and cost him a bit of money.
Brendan Perlini, Scott Harrington Clear Waivers
Dec 8: Both players have cleared waivers and can be assigned to the minor leagues.
Dec 7: The Edmonton Oilers have activated Devin Shore from injured reserve, meaning someone needed to be moved off the roster to make room. That unlucky player is Brendan Perlini, who has been placed on waivers today. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that Scott Harrington of the Columbus Blue Jackets has also been placed on waivers.
Perlini, 25, looked in the preseason like he was going to be a great find for the Oilers, after he spent last season playing in Switzerland. He was flying up and down the ice, contributing on offense and showing that same mix of power, size, and skill that made him the 12th overall pick in 2014. Unfortunately, once the regular season started Perlini reverted back to the disappointing, inconsistent player he has been throughout his NHL career. In 13 games with the Oilers, he has failed to register a single point while totaling fewer than nine minutes of ice time in ten different games.
There is still obvious upside in the 6’3″ forward–who had 45 goals in 199 games through the first three seasons of his career–but Perlini has never shown an ability to be a consistent top-six piece and disappears completely when given limited minutes. He’s registered just six shots on net this season, and appears to be on his way to the minor leagues. Perhaps that’s something that should have happened a long time ago, as Perlini never really did spend time in the AHL during his developmental years. He has just 17 appearances there since turning pro, all coming in 2016-17 with the Tucson Roadrunners.
Harrington meanwhile is an interesting waiver option as well, given his recent run in the NHL. The 28-year-old defenseman hasn’t suited up for an AHL club since the 2016-17 season, spending the last several years as the extra defensemen with the Blue Jackets. He has 209 regular season appearances in his career, but just six of those have come this season. A second-round pick by the Pittsburgh Penguins, he would be an interesting pickup for a team needing a seventh defender at the NHL level.
Pesce, DeAngelo Exit COVID Protocol; Will Not Travel To Canada
Two key players for the Carolina Hurricanes can get back on the ice, now that they’re out of the COVID protocol, but Brett Pesce and Tony DeAngelo will not be traveling to meet the team in Canada. The Hurricanes are currently on a road trip through Western Canada, where they’ll face the Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, and Vancouver Canucks over the next few days. While they’re past the 10-day threshold for the league, the Canadian border requires 14 days to have passed.
It’s not clear yet if the two defensemen will join the team in Minnesota, where Carolina is set to take on the Wild next Tuesday, but getting them back to training is obviously a positive. Pesce, one of the most reliable defenders in the league, has played just 15 games this season after missing time in early November. The 27-year-old has averaged more than 21 minutes of ice time in those games, however, and is a key part of the team’s penalty kill and second powerplay unit. He has seven points on the season, after earning Norris Trophy votes in 2020-21 for registering 25 points in 55 games.
DeAngelo meanwhile is still third on the team in scoring despite missing the last few matches, as he racked up 19 points in his first 20 games of the season. Six of those came on the powerplay, where he logs more ice time than any other player on the Hurricanes. A talented offensive player, he’s been a strong fit for the team after the departure of Dougie Hamilton in the offseason.
The Hurricanes went through a short rough patch, losing three in a row as they adjusted to life without some of their regular defensemen, but have gotten back in the win column of late. Last night they defeated the Winnipeg Jets 4-2, but it required Jaccob Slavin to log nearly 30 minutes of ice time (including more than six minutes on the penalty kill) to do it. He’ll be as happy as anyone to see some of his defense group get back, as soon as the team returns to the U.S.
AHL Shuffle: 12/08/21
Just four games are on the NHL schedule this evening, though this will kick off with a bang when Cale Makar and the Colorado Avalanche visit Adam Fox and the New York Rangers. The best two defensemen in the league–according to Norris Trophy voting last season–the pair of dynamic blueliners are having repeat performances, scoring more than a point-per-game for each of their sides. Born just eight months apart, Fox and Makar will likely be rival superstars for a long time. As they and others prepare for action, we’ll keep track of all the minor shuffling around the league.
Atlantic Division
- With Christian Dvorak dealing with an injury, the Montreal Canadiens have recalled Jesse Ylonen from the AHL. Ylonen was practicing on the fourth line alongside Michael Pezzetta and Cedric Paquette today, as Ryan Poehling slides into the second-line center position.
- The Ottawa Senators have sent Lassi Thomson back to the Belleville Senators, though he’ll certainly be back at some point. The young defenseman has shown flashes of strong play for the team but still needs some polish at the minor league level before he is given a full-time NHL roster spot.
Metropolitan Division
- After he cleared waivers, the Columbus Blue Jackets have sent Scott Harrington to the minor leagues, clearing room for Emil Bemstrom to return to the NHL roster. Bemstrom, 22, was out with an oblique injury for the first part of the year but is healthy enough to contribute once again.
Central Division
- After playing with just ten forwards last night, the St. Louis Blues have triggered an emergency roster exemption that allows them to recall a player without his cap hit. Nathan Walker is that player, as it needed to be someone with a hit of $850K or less. Walker’s two-year, two-way deal comes with an average annual value of just $750K at the NHL level.
- The Winnipeg Jets have recalled Ville Heinola, giving the team another defenseman while they deal with Neal Pionk‘s absence. Heinola, a first-round pick from 2019, has 14 points in 18 games for the Manitoba Moose this season.
- The Colorado Avalanche have returned Justus Annunen to the Colorado Eagles. The goaltender made his NHL debut earlier this week but with Darcy Kuemper ready to return tonight, he’s no longer needed with the big club for the time being.
Pacific Division
This page will be updated throughout the day.