West Notes: Miller, Chernyshov, Innala
J.T. Miller and the Vancouver Canucks could be nearing a resolution to the speculated rift between himself and Elias Pettersson. Rick Dhaliwal of The Athletic reported earlier that although the Canucks haven’t officially asked Miller to waive his no-movement clause, they’ve been involved in plenty of trade activity today regarding Miller.
David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period added that despite the increased trade chatter surrounding Miller today, he’s still expected to suit up for Vancouver tonight as they’re set to take on the Edmonton Oilers. Neither report mentions any specific teams engaged in these trade talks with the Canucks indicating a deal is still in the very early stages.
Still, it now stands to reason, that absent any additional reporting regarding Pettersson, Miller will be the odd man out in Vancouver. Only time will tell if moving Miller is the best choice moving forward for the Canucks but it’s the easiest one. He’s making $3.6MM less than Pettersson, has less time left on his contract, is more physical, and has recently shown the capability to amass more than 100 points in a given season. Miller is the prototypical forward, so to speak, that any playoff-destined team would love on their roster.
Other notes from the Western Conference:
- According to Curtis Pashelka of San Jose Hockey Now, an underrated forward prospect for the San Jose Sharks, Igor Chernyshov, is finally returning to the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit after a long way back from offseason shoulder surgery. Chernyshov, who was a fringe first-round prospect of the 2024 NHL Draft but was eventually selected with the first selection of the second round, is set to embark on his first year of hockey in North America after scoring 13 goals and 28 points in 22 games last year for the MHL’s MHK Dynamo Moskva.
- Shortly after securing an important victory against the Dallas Stars, the Colorado Avalanche announced they’ve reassigned forward Jere Innala to their AHL affiliate, the Colorado Eagles. It is unclear whether Innala will participate in Colorado’s game against the Minnesota Wild on Monday, or if Valeri Nichushkin will take his spot on the roster. Innala provided two hits while tallying zero points in 7:42 of today’s game against the Stars.
Atlantic Notes: Lyon, Motte, Cernak, Ekblad
The Detroit Red Wings should get one player back this weekend while losing another for the foreseeable future. Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press reported earlier that goaltender Alex Lyon will likely start tomorrow’s contest against the Dallas Stars. She later reported that forward Tyler Motte has been ruled out until next Thursday due to an upper-body injury.
Lyon, who’s had multiple injuries this season, hasn’t played since Detroit’s overtime win against the Ottawa Senators on January 7th due to an upper-body injury. He’s still managed a similarly solid season as last year with the Red Wings when healthy managing an 8-5-0 record in 14 starts with a .902 save percentage and 2.71 goals-against average.
Similarly sidelined with an upper-body injury, Motte is now guaranteed to fall short of tying his 69 games played from a season ago. He’s been much of what Detroit should have expected of him this year, scoring two goals and two assists in 28 games, managing a -10 rating, and being a core part of one of the worst penalty kills in NHL history.
Other notes from the Atlantic Division:
- The Tampa Bay Lightning will be without one of their best defensive defensemen tonight. Gabby Shirley of FanDuel Sports Network Florida reports that Erik Černák was made unavailable for tonight’s contest against the Red Wings but added the prognosis is better than expected so he shouldn’t be on the shelf for too long. Maxwell Crozier will replace Cernak tonight, joining Ryan McDonagh on the second defensive pairing. Crozier will play in his first game with Tampa Bay this season after tallying two assists in 13 contests last year.
- A few hours southeast in Sunrise, FL, the Florida Panthers announced Aaron Ekblad would miss his fifth straight game this evening. However, it appears his return is on the horizon with head coach Paul Maurice saying, “I think we’re pretty confident he’ll be able to play on the road trip.“
Buffalo Sabres Recall Devon Levi, Place Ryan McLeod On Injured Reserve
One of the best goaltending prospects is headed back to the NHL. The Buffalo Sabres announced they’ve recalled goaltending prospect Devon Levi and have placed forward Ryan McLeod on injured reserve.
Levi’s recall would appear long overdue at face value. He’s been exceptional in the AHL this season with the Rochester Americans amassing a 12-3-2 record in 17 games with a .913 save percentage and 2.33 goals-against average. As promising as his efforts in the AHL have been, this production is largely par for the course for Levi.
In his third season in the Sabres organization, Levi has managed a 28-9-6 record in 43 total games in AHL Rochester with a .922 SV% and 2.38 GAA. Unfortunately, his splits with Buffalo haven’t been nearly as promising with a 17-16-2 record in 35 career starts with a .896 SV% and 3.24 GAA. Given his production at the NHL level up to this point, it’s hard to argue Levi should even be considered an upgrade on backup netminder James Reimer.
Still, at 23 years old, he’s exceptionally young for a goaltending prospect, and there’s no reason to think his AHL production isn’t an eventual sign of things to come in the NHL. Regardless of Levi’s play with the Sabres, Buffalo’s loss of McLeod for at least the next three games is the most disappointing part of this transaction.
The Sabres didn’t provide many specifics to McLeod’s injury but it’s reasonable to think it was suffered in the team’s most recent game against the Pittsburgh Penguins yesterday night. There’s a chance McLeod will miss the next four games for Buffalo given they’re embarking on a Pacific Division road trip on Monday.
Factoring in the high cost of acquiring McLeod (Matthew Savoie, ninth overall pick of the 2022 NHL Draft) from the Edmonton Oilers this past summer, his six goals and 18 points through the first 41 games of the season likely came as a disappointment to the Sabres.
Despite the poor offensive start to the year, he’s quieted much of the disappointment in the last week. He’s been one of Buffalo’s top players over the past week scoring four goals and six points, including a hat trick against the Carolina Hurricanes, with a +4 rating in only four games.
McLeod’s recent uptick in scoring makes this injured reserve placement all the more unpleasant to the Sabres. They’ve played better of late with a 6-4-1 record in their last 11 but will have to look to other forwards to replace McLeod’s production.
Vancouver Canucks, Brock Boeser Not Making Progress On Extension Negotiations
Outside of the rampant speculation and drama surrounding the Vancouver Canucks this season, Brock Boeser‘s impending unrestricted free agency would otherwise make for a lot of headlines in British Columbia. In a recent article from Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre, it appears the longest-tenured member of the Canucks will have his career with the organization come to an unceremonious end.
Part of the unnoteworthiness of Boeser’s contract status is due to his unnoteworthiness play this season. He got off to a quick start, as did Vancouver, scoring six goals and 11 points through the first 12 contests before an elbow to the head from Los Angeles Kings forward Tanner Jeannot cost Boeser three weeks of the season due to a concussion.
Since returning from his concussion shortly before American Thanksgiving, Boeser has scored nine goals and 16 points in 25 games albeit with a -10 rating. Outside of some poor play on the defensive side of the puck, this would normally be fine production from a top-six winger in nearly any team’s arsenal. However, most top-six wingers aren’t coming off a career year like Boeser.
He scored 40 goals and 73 points in 81 games during the 2023-24 NHL season and was setting himself up for a handsome payday, with the Canucks or elsewhere, should he have continued putting the pucks in the net with such efficiency. Instead, Boeser has typically mirrored the center of whichever line he’s been on which has usually been next to the disengaged and lethargic Elias Pettersson or J.T. Miller.
According to the report from MacIntyre, the Canucks have decided upon a soft deadline with Boeser indicating he’ll be extended or traded by the trade deadline on March 7th. It would be uncommon for a team only one point removed from the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference to move one of their top goal-scorers and longest-tenured players at the deadline but it would follow in line with the lack of normalcy in Vancouver this year.
Boeser should command a formidable trade market given his recent goal-scoring capabilities, his mild 10-team modified no-trade clause, and his status as an impending unrestricted free agent. He makes the most sense for the Calgary Flames, Boston Bruins, Detroit Red Wings, and St. Louis Blues as playoff-hungry teams who could use more goal-scoring but none of them strike as teams with much appetite for the rental market this season.
Teams that are clear contenders, such as the Dallas Stars, Winnipeg Jets, Vegas Golden Knights, or even his hometown Minnesota Wild would likely have the most interest should Boeser ultimately get moved. Still, the deadline proposed by the Canucks’ brass doesn’t point to an immediate trade, but it certainly seems to be heading in that direction.
PHR Mailbag: Tkachuk, Red Wings, Rebuilds, Sabres, Blue Jackets
Topics in this edition of the PHR Mailbag include some Brady Tkachuk trade proposals, discussions about rebuilds, and much more. If your question doesn’t appear here, check back in our last two mailbag columns.
SkidRowe: Any potential for a deal centered around David Pastrnak for Brady Tkachuk?
I would say probably not. For starters, moving a pair of franchise players within their own division is something we rarely see and I suspect both teams would hesitate there. Cap-wise, Ottawa can’t afford to take on an extra three-plus million per year on their books so that’s a deal-breaker as well. But let’s dig a bit deeper.
For the Bruins, can they afford to lose even more firepower? While Tkachuk undoubtedly fits the Boston archetype, so to speak, he has been a point-per-game player just once in his career and he just barely got there. Pastrnak has been at or above that level every year since 2018-19. Going into play today, the Bruins sit 26th in goals scored. While their numbers are a bit closer this year, I’d be really hesitant about taking away more natural scoring talent from a team that frankly doesn’t have a lot of it at the moment.
As for the Senators, Tkachuk is their one true power forward out of their young core. (I know Joshua Norris has been more physical this year but they’re not in the same class.) The fact that he can play center when needed also gives him some extra value. He also fits in with the age of their core group whereas Pastrnak is three years older (and again, $3MM more expensive for longer). It’d be hard to see them make that swap.
Value-wise, it’s not a bad foundation at all. But it’d shock me if this move was made.
SoCalADRL: Zegras, Mintyukov, Sidorov, and a 2026 1st for Brady Tkachuk. Who says no?
I’d say Ottawa says no at a minimum. Picking up from the above thoughts, they’re still losing the power forward without getting anything like that in return (Yegor Sidorov is not that type of prospect). Ottawa ran into an issue last year with three top-four left-shot defensemen which played a role in them moving Jakob Chychrun at the start of free agency last summer. Adding Pavel Mintyukov – a promising rearguard, no doubt – puts them basically right in that spot. And Trevor Zegras’s trade value is about the lowest it has ever been. To me, the most intriguing asset is the 2026 first-rounder, assuming it’s unprotected. With Ottawa in a fight for the playoffs and trying to emerge from its rebuild, this isn’t the type of move they should be making.
Anaheim, on the other hand, I think would say yes to this, even though it means losing two premier assets in Mintyukov and the first-rounder. If GM Pat Verbeek was looking to make a move earmarked toward helping its young core become much more competitive, adding a player like Tkachuk would give them a dimension they don’t necessarily have while his style of play would fit in the West. But I don’t see a good case for the Sens to accept this offer.
Brassroo: Realistically, what kind of return could the Red Wings expect for any of Compher; Tarasenko or Talbot? Detroit needs to make some room in their Cap and roster for ‘25-‘26.
This probably isn’t a good time for Detroit to be trying to move J.T. Compher. He’s signed at $5.1MM a year through the 2027-28 campaign and is having a rough year with six goals and 14 assists in 43 games while seeing his playing time cut by nearly three minutes a night from last season. At the moment, his value is probably the lowest it’s been in a long time. While I understand the desire to create cap space, the likeliest outcome if they moved him now would be a swap of similarly-priced underachieving contracts, meaning they wouldn’t be getting much cap room. He feels like more of an offseason move when teams have more flexibility heading into free agency although again, offloading the full freight of that deal seems unlikely.
At $4.75MM for one more season after this one, it probably would be easier for Vladimir Tarasenko to be dealt although he has a full no-trade clause to contend with. But the Red Wings would be trying to sell a team that his struggles with them is the outlier, not a sign that he’s slowing down at age 33. I don’t think he’d be a priority add for most teams though but rather a third or fourth option type of addition. Without retention, they’d probably have to take a smaller contract back and maybe land a third-round pick. With some retention, he’d be worth a second-rounder but then you’re obviously hamstringing your cap space for next season. Again, he’s probably easier to move in the summer and his trade protection drops considerably at that time.
There doesn’t appear to be a particularly strong goalie market at the moment. That can change with a few injuries, of course, but I don’t think there’s a return out there that would justify moving Cam Talbot. And frankly, at $2.5MM for next season, they’re not really saving a whole lot there either as unless they feel Sebastian Cossa is ready for full-time action, they’ll have to sign a replacement who will probably cost a similar price anyway. With his age and the extra year, I’m skeptical they could land a second-round pick so I don’t think there would be much value in moving him.
Grocery stick: Are good old full-scale rebuilds still a thing? It’s been a while since we’ve seen a team pull it off. The Red Wings had multiple top-10 picks who should deliver by now, but they are still playing catch-up. The Sabres had two firsts overall, and they are nowhere near playoff contention. The Coyotes have been at or near the bottom for years, and they are a bubble team at the moment. The Devils are leading the Metro, but it’s already been more than five years since they drafted Jack Hughes, and they have been lucky to trade away their prospects at the right time since then. Do we need to be more patient with rebuilding teams? Is it the fault of the individual GMs? Or is tanking for high picks a strategy of the past?
Full-scale rebuilds are definitely still a thing. Look at what Chicago and San Jose have been doing in recent years. I’d put Anaheim in that class as well as a team that has been out for a few years already and is probably a few more away from being even a playoff threat again. When a team goes that route, they’re not embarking on a short-term solution.
You mentioned the Coyotes (now Utah). It was fairly recently that GM Bill Armstrong said he felt that they were only at the midway point of the process and that they were still several years away from getting where they think they can get to. That franchise has been at it even longer than these three so viewed in that lens, more patience is probably needed. A rebuild isn’t a matter of a quick teardown and a few years to build back up; it clearly takes more time than that to do it properly.
As for it being the fault of the GMs, it largely does fall on them. The teardown to bottom out is the easy part as teams will happily trade for better talent. But if that’s not executed properly and they don’t maximize their assets, then that delays things. Then, as they’re building up, do they commit to the right core players and acquire or sign the right pieces to move things along? That last bit is especially difficult. In the meantime, is the proper infrastructure in place in terms of coaching and player development? Hit on all of these and a team can truly do this type of rebuild and thrive afterward. But miss along the way and it definitely slows the process down.
I don’t think this is a strategy of the past simply because top talents are going to be tantalizing to try to get. But it also can’t be a strategy that more than a few teams take at one time simply by virtue of there generally only being one elite star (or sometimes generational) player in a draft class; ten teams can’t tank for that.
We’re now starting to see teams start a rebuild and then trade draft picks and future assets for some younger but still established NHL players to try to speed up the process. Montreal is a team that seems to be taking that approach, for example. I’ll be curious to see if more try to follow suit this way knowing the higher risks associated with the ‘scorched earth’ approach that doesn’t always work as well as planned.
KL: Can Columbus build on their spirited play at home in the first half of the season to challenge for a playoff spot?
I don’t think anyone would have realistically thought that the Blue Jackets would be one of the top-scoring teams in the league this season after losing their two most prominent veterans but entering today’s action, they’re fourth. That’s a testament to the young players stepping up, Zach Werenski having a Norris-worthy season, and the coaching staff for bringing it all together. If they can keep that up in the second half, sure, they can stay in the mix.
Having said that, I’d still pick against that happening. I’m not convinced that their high-scoring ways are sustainable, especially with a young roster. On top of that, their goaltending is still a significant issue. Elvis Merzlikins has shaved 0.4 goals per game off his GAA but his save percentage is down to just .890 which is below average. Daniil Tarasov is having an even rougher season while third-stringer Jet Greaves hasn’t played enough to reliably be counted on at this time.
Now, if GM Don Waddell can find a move to make to upgrade his goaltending, that could change their fortunes in a hurry. In that instance, I think they’d have a much better chance of getting to the playoffs. But for now, I think they’ll fall out of the race at some point.
West Notes: Sergachev, Kuzmenko, Gourde, De Leo
Utah will be missing its top defenseman tonight against St. Louis as the team announced (Twitter link) that Mikhail Sergachev will not play due to an upper-body injury. He left the morning skate early and is listed as day-to-day. The 26-year-old has impressed in his first season with the team after being acquired from Tampa Bay at the draft, playing big minutes in all situations while posting 30 points in 45 games. Sergachev is averaging 25:45 per game, second to only Columbus blueliner Zach Werenski in that regard. Taking his place in the lineup will be recent waiver claim Nick DeSimone.
More from out West:
- Heading into the season, Flames winger Andrei Kuzmenko felt like a probable trade candidate. It was expected that Calgary would be rebuilding and they hoped he’d bounce back after a tough 2023-24 performance. Neither has happened, however, as the Flames are in a battle for the playoffs and Kuzmenko has struggled even more. Accordingly, even though they’d likely welcome the open roster spot, Wes Gilbertson of the Calgary Herald opines that the 28-year-old is unlikely to move. At $5.5MM, Calgary would have to retain salary to move him and since he only has one goal and nine assists in 32 games, they may not get more than a late-round pick even with retention, meaning it might be the best usage of a retention slot and money. Kuzmenko had 74 points in 2022-23 and 46 last season; even getting to half of that this year is now in question.
- Kraken center Yanni Gourde has yet to progress to on-ice work as he continues to battle a lower-body injury, head coach Dan Bylsma told reporters including Kate Shefte of the Seattle Times (Twitter link). However, that shouldn’t be construed as a lack of progression as Bylsma said Gourde’s recovery is still moving along. Gourde has been battling this injury off and on this season and it appears they’ll give him ample time for it to try to heal once and for all.
- Nashville’s farm team in Milwaukee has claimed winger Chase De Leo off waivers from Charlotte, the AHL announced. Waivers are extremely rare in the minors but if a player plays overseas and then signs as a free agent as De Leo did (with stints in the KHL and Switzerland), he has to go through waivers before playing. De Leo has 349 points in 494 career AHL games, giving the Predators a quality veteran for the Admirals with this claim.
Predators Place Luke Evangelista On IR, Activate Adam Wilsby
The Predators have made a pair of roster moves heading into tonight’s game against Minnesota. Nick Kieser of 102.5 The Game relays (Twitter link) that Nashville has placed winger Luke Evangelista on injured reserve. Taking his place on the roster is defenseman Adam Wilsby who has been activated off IR. Nashville’s active roster currently stands at 22 players.
Evangelista’s placement on IR was only a matter of time. He has already missed more than a week due to a lower-body injury and at the time of diagnosis, he was expected to miss a month. The 22-year-old had a promising showing last season in his first full NHL campaign, tallying 16 goals and 23 assists in 80 games, leading to some higher expectations for 2024-25. However, things haven’t gone as well for Evangelista this season as he had just four goals and ten assists in 39 games before being sidelined.
As for Wilsby, he missed close to three weeks due to an upper-body injury. The 24-year-old has split the season between Nashville and AHL Milwaukee. Wilsby has 15 appearances under his belt with Nashville in his first taste of NHL action, collecting a goal and three assists while logging 18:43 of ice time. Meanwhile, with the Admirals, he has five points in 13 games. With his activation giving the Preds seven healthy blueliners, it’s fair to say that Wilsby won’t be returning to the minors right away though that could change when Jeremy Lauzon is cleared to return from his lower-body injury.
Capitals Activate Charlie Lindgren, Assign Hunter Shepard To Minors
The Capitals will welcome back part of their goalie tandem tonight against Pittsburgh. The team announced that they have activated Charlie Lindgren off injured reserve and assigned Hunter Shepard to AHL Hershey.
The move effectively reverses the one made last weekend. At that time, Lindgren had just suffered an upper-body injury and the placement meant he’d miss at least a week. Fortunately for Washington, he’ll wind up only missing the minimum amount of time though he’ll serve as the backup and not the starter tonight.
Lindgren has been in a platoon with Logan Thompson this season and had a decent first half. Through his first 21 starts, he has a 2.65 GAA (down slightly from last year) along with a .900 SV%, numbers that are better than the NHL average. The 31-year-old is in the final season of his contract, one that carries a bargain $1.1MM price tag. He’s well-positioned to more than double that on the open market this summer barring a significant collapse in the second half.
As for Shepard, he didn’t see any action with Washington while on recall with Thompson shouldering the workload in Lindgren’s absence. The 29-year-old made his first NHL appearances last season, getting into four games while winning the Most Outstanding Goaltender award in the AHL. However, he didn’t play to that same level in the first half of this season as Shepard has a 2.68 GAA and a .898 SV% in 23 outings with the Bears so far.
Central Notes: Mittelstadt, Stars, Kealty
Casey Mittelstadt’s first full season with the Avalanche hasn’t gone as well as anyone would have hoped. Acquired at the trade deadline last year for Bowen Byram in a move that was intended to stabilize their center depth, the 26-year-old has instead had some struggles, notching just eight goals and 18 assists through 46 games despite logging nearly 18 minutes a night. That has led some to wonder if the Avs might need to make a move to upgrade that spot again. However, Evan Rawal of The Denver Gazette argues that selling low on Mittelstadt probably isn’t the right move. For starters, there aren’t many prominent middlemen expected to be made available in the coming weeks while Colorado isn’t exactly loaded with trade chips and they’d have to use some to upgrade on Mittelstadt. Those chips might be better served being used to fill other needs so the most prudent course of action for the Avalanche may be to hope that Mittelstadt can work his way out of his first-half struggles.
More from the Central:
- Lia Assimakopoulos of the Dallas Morning News spoke with (subscription link) assistant GM Mark Janko to go over the reasoning for why Tyler Seguin hasn’t been placed on LTIR just yet which boils down to them simply not needing to do so. Seguin underwent hip surgery six weeks ago, a procedure that will keep him out for at least four months and Assimakopoulos notes that the team doesn’t expect him back at the four-month mark as he’s not expected back until after the regular season. With his absence, it’s fair to say that the Stars will be looking for some scoring depth between now and the March 7th trade deadline, especially if they eventually do move Seguin to LTIR to open up close to $10MM in extra cap space.
- USA Hockey announced on Friday that Jeff Kealty will serve as GM for their entry into the men’s World Championship in May. He’s in his 24th season with the Predators and his seventh as their assistant GM and Scouting Director. While he’s not an NHL GM, he’ll be working with several of them to help assemble the roster as he’ll be assisted by the U.S. Men’s National Team Advisory Group consisting of John Vanbiesbrouck and no fewer than ten active NHL general managers.
Avalanche Recall Ivan Ivan
Ivan Ivan was one of the early-season surprises for the Avalanche, going from an undrafted free agent signing to someone who played a regular role early on before recently being sent down. However, his time in the minors is over for now as the team announced (Twitter link) that he has been recalled from AHL Colorado.
The 22-year-old spent last season on a minor-league deal with the Eagles, notching 12 goals and 19 assists in 62 games, a more than respectable showing as a rookie. That was enough for the Avs to ink Ivan to a two-year entry-level deal last March, giving them the chance to use him with the big club.
That opportunity came sooner than many expected as a strong preseason showing helped him break camp with the Avalanche. Ivan has played in 37 games with them so far this season, recording five goals and three assists while averaging 10:24 per night but hasn’t had a point since late November. He suffered an upper-body injury in late December and the Avalanche recently sent Ivan down to the Eagles to get a bit of playing time upon recovery. He got into two games with the Eagles, picking up a goal and an assist.
With Ivan’s return, Colorado is now at the maximum of 23 players on its active roster.