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Canucks Reassign Vasily Podkolzin

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Right winger Vasily Podkolzin has been reassigned to AHL Abbotsford, the Canucks announced Wednesday. He’d been a healthy scratch for all five games of Vancouver’s first-round series against the Predators thus far, but he’ll now see postseason action in Abbotsford’s Pacific Division Semifinal series against the Ontario Reign, which begins tonight.

Podkolzin spent most of the season in the minors but was recalled shortly before the trade deadline, spending most of March and all of April on the major league roster. After accumulating two assists in 18 NHL regular-season games, the Canucks inked him to a two-year, $2MM extension on the morning of his 19th and final appearance this season.

The 22-year-old is two years removed from a solid rookie season, finishing ninth on the Canucks in scoring in 2022 with 14 goals and 26 points in 79 contests. He’s struggled to hold a full-time role since, however, playing only 58 NHL games over the past two seasons compared to 72 in the minors.

Vancouver’s 10th overall pick in 2019 was always projected as more of a power forward and wasn’t expected to log huge point totals, but he’s done very little over the past few years to challenge for even a consistent middle-six role. That doesn’t mean there haven’t been any promising signs, though. Despite his limited offense this season, he was more involved physically than he’s ever been, averaging 3.68 hits per game.

Hits aren’t always a good indication of defensive success, but it was in this case, as his checking ability helped limit opponents’ ability to generate shot attempts. His possession impacts were good as a result, posting a 52.7 CF% and 53.1 xGF% at even strength, per Hockey Reference. That should give Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet some confidence that he can be deployed effectively in a fourth-line role to begin next season as his seven-figure cap hit kicks in. For now, though, he joins Abbotsford for its playoff run after totaling 15 goals and 28 points in 44 regular-season games.

NHL Announces 2024 Norris Trophy Finalists

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The Canucks’ Quinn Hughes, the Predators’ Roman Josi and the Avalanche’s Cale Makar are this year’s Norris Trophy finalists for the league’s top defenseman, as announced today. Technically awarded “to the defense player who demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-round ability in the position,” the Norris, like many others, is voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers Association after the regular season concludes.

Hughes, 24, isn’t just a finalist for the first time – he’s the first Canucks defenseman in franchise history to be named one. He has earned consideration in three of the past four seasons, placing 15th in voting in 2020, 13th in 2022, and ninth in 2023.

The 2018 seventh-overall pick is coming off a franchise-defining season, logging a Vancouver-record 75 assists and 92 points in 82 games that also led defenders league-wide. A first-year captain, Hughes averaged 24:41 per game, tying him for tenth in the league with Penguins blue-liner Kris Letang, and led all NHL defensemen with 54 even-strength points. He also had the most dominant possession season of his career, with Vancouver controlling 57.5% of shot attempts and 54.3% of expected goals with Hughes on the ice at even strength, per Hockey Reference.

Josi, 33, finished third among defensemen in points with 85 in 82 games but led outright in goals with 23. This is his third time being a finalist for the award, winning back in 2020 and finishing second to Makar in 2022. He’s now cracked the point-per-game plateau twice in the past three years and took the most shots of any blue-liner this season with 268, ahead of the Sabres’ Rasmus Dahlin by more than 30. Like Hughes, he’s coming off the best possession season of his career, posting a 54.5 CF%, 5.1 relative CF%, and a 53.8 xGF% at even strength.

Makar, 25, led defenders in points per game this season but missed five games due to injury, placing him second in points behind Hughes with 90 in 77 games. It’s his fourth straight season as a finalist for the award, but compared to his peers mentioned here, may have the worst case for satisfying the “all-around ability” stipulation this season.

He had a quietly average season at even strength by his standards, getting a higher share of his point production on the power play compared to Hughes and Josi. His possession numbers weren’t all that different from Colorado’s averages, either. His 53.0 CF% at even strength was his lowest since his rookie season, and his 0.3 relative CF% was a career-low outright. That led Colorado to reassign some of his 5-on-5 minutes elsewhere – his overall average ice time dropped from 26:23 in 2022-23 to 24:46 this season without any significant changes in his usage on special teams.

The league hasn’t yet announced the date when award winners will be revealed.

Blues Sign Simon Robertsson To Entry-Level Contract

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The Blues have announced the signing of right-wing prospect Simon Robertsson to a three-year, entry-level contract. Financial terms were not disclosed.

A third-round pick by the Blues in 2021, Robertsson has spent the entirety of his post-draft career under contract with Skellefteå AIK of the Swedish Hockey League. He hasn’t landed a full-time spot in the lineup, though, and has been routinely loaned out to lower-level clubs.

2022-23 was a particularly tumultuous season for him, suiting up for clubs in the SHL, the second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan, the third-tier HockeyEttan, and Sweden’s top junior league, the J20 Nationell. He did manage decent production in limited action with Skellefteå, scoring five goals and seven points in 16 regular-season games before adding a goal in eight playoff games.

Robertsson, 21, earned more stability and SHL minutes this year, making 42 total appearances with Skellefteå compared to 15 with Brynäs IF of the HockeyAllsvenskan. The sharp-shooting winger had two goals and four points in 27 regular-season games for Skellefteå and was a bottom-six regular by the time the playoffs rolled around, posting a goal and an assist in 15 games as they took home the league championship earlier this week.

Few expected Robertsson to be available when the Blues selected 71st overall. Numerous public rankings, including TSN’s Bob McKenzie’s polling of NHL scouts, graded Robertsson as a likely late first-round or early second-round pick.

The 6’0″ winger won’t be in consideration for an NHL roster spot yet, but signing his ELC means he could come to North America and suit up for AHL Springfield next season. He’ll be waiver-exempt for his first three seasons under contract or his first 80 NHL games, whichever comes first, and will become a restricted free agent when his contract expires in 2027.

Lightning Reportedly Extend Jon Cooper

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The Lightning have signed head coach Jon Cooper to a one-year extension, The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta reports. He’ll remain in Tampa through the 2025-26 campaign. He’d previously signed a three-year extension in October 2021 that ensured he’d be paid by the team through 2024-25. Speaking to reporters at this morning’s end-of-season media availability, general manager Julien BriseBois told reporters the team wouldn’t hold extension talks with Cooper this summer because “he had term,” indicating he’d signed or agreed to sign an extension past next season (via the Tampa Bay Times’ Eduardo A. Encina).

Cooper just wrapped up his 11th full season behind the Lightning bench, guiding the squad to a 45-29-8 record to match last season’s point total of 98, earning them the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. For the first time in his tenure, though, the Bolts finished in the bottom third of the league in goals against and posted a rather underwhelming -19 goal differential at 5-on-5. Their well-above-average power play and penalty kill buoyed them, but both were neutralized in the first round of this year’s playoffs by the Panthers, who ended Tampa’s season with a 6-1 win in Game 5 on Monday.

It was inarguably a down season for the team, marred by losing number two defenseman Mikhail Sergachev for over half the season and starting the campaign without All-Star goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy. But the 56-year-old Cooper’s track record does more than enough heavy lifting to convince the Lightning front office that he’s the right person to extend their dwindling championship window.

After he took over for Guy Boucher with 15 games remaining in the shortened 2012-13 season, the Lightning have only missed the playoffs once in Cooper’s tenure. The longest-serving coach in the league has compiled a 525-279-75 record in 879 regular-season games behind the Tampa bench, as well as an 87-63 record in an astounding 150 playoff appearances. His 612 total wins with the Lightning are the third-most all-time with a single franchise, trailing Lindy Ruff with the Sabres (628) and Al Arbour with the Islanders (859).

Before this season, the Lightning hadn’t gone more than one year without a playoff series victory since advancing to the 2015 Stanley Cup Final. Now, they’ve fallen short of a .600 points percentage in back-to-back years and are 3-8 in their 11 playoff games over the last two seasons. Cooper’s sole task over the next two is to keep the club from falling into the trap of post-dynasty mediocrity, much like the current edition of the Penguins and the early 2010s Red Wings.

The roster he leads next season won’t look considerably different. 16 roster players are signed for next season at a combined $75.1MM cap hit, per CapFriendly. The notable exception is captain Steven Stamkos, who will become an unrestricted free agent on July 1 for the first time in his career if BriseBois can’t get him signed to an extension. BriseBois added in today’s media availability that working on a deal with Stamkos over the next two months is a “priority,” although only preliminary talks have been held.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Evening Notes: Bjorkqvist, DeSmith, Bardakov

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Former Pittsburgh Penguins prospect Kasper Bjorkqvist has signed with Ilves in Finland’s Liiga (according to Seth Rorabaugh of Tribune-Review Sports). The 26-year-old has spent the past two seasons in Finland after spending parts of three years in the Penguins organization where he largely played in the AHL with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Bjorkqvist was the Penguins’ second-round pick in 2016 (61st overall) but was never able to find his offensive game as a professional in North America tallying just 10 goals and four assists in 65 career AHL games. He was able to get into six NHL games during the 2021-22 season, posting a single goal. Since returning to Finland two years ago to play with Kärpät, Bjorkqvist has dressed in 82 games tallying nine goals and 14 assists.

While he will remain in Finland in the near future, Bjorkqvist’s NHL rights will remain with the Penguins.

In other evening notes:

  • Vancouver Canucks play-by-play voice Brendan Batchelor tweeted that Canucks goaltender Casey DeSmith has a lower-body injury but should be good to backup for the Canucks tonight when they try to end their first-round series against the Nashville Predators. DeSmith practiced with the Canucks this morning, but it appeared in the game day skate that Artūrs Šilovs would be the starting goalie for Game 5. There is a possibility that DeSmith could start tonight, but Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet stopped short of announcing his starting goalie.
  • Colorado Avalanche prospect Zakhar Bardakov has reportedly signed a one-year extension with SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL. The 23-year-old was drafted by the New Jersey Devils in the seventh round of the 2021 NHL entry draft (203rd overall) and has yet to sign an ELC with the Avalanche after he was traded on March 1st of this year along with a seventh-round pick in exchange for Kurtis MacDermid. While Bardakov has signed in the KHL for another season, he could come to North America in 2025. Bardakov posted six goals and six assists in 51 regular season games last season with SKA.

Lightning Assign Three Players To AHL

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The Tampa Bay Lightning announced today that they re-assigned defensemen Maxwell Crozier and Emil Lilleberg as well as netminder Matt Tomkins to the Syracuse Crunch of the American Hockey League. The moves come one day after the Lightning were eliminated from the first round of the NHL playoffs by the Florida Panthers.

Crozier dressed in three of the five Lightning playoff games, going scoreless while recording a -1 and averaging 14:15 of ice time per game. The 24-year-old rookie also played in 13 regular season games for Tampa Bay, recording two assists while registering 16 hits and 11 blocked shots. The Calgary, Alberta native was drafted in the fourth round of the 2019 NHL entry draft and spent four seasons in the NCAA with Providence College before an abbreviated run with Syracuse last spring. In his first full professional season, Crozier was impressive enough to get a spot in the lineup for his first taste of NHL playoff hockey.

Lilleberg returns to Syracuse, where he spent the first half of the 2023-24 season dressing in 33 games for the Crunch, tallying two goals and 11 assists. The 23-year-old spent the second half of the season with the Lightning, dressing in 37 NHL games and posting five assists. While he’s unlikely to develop into an offensive defenseman, Lilleberg showed enough in the regular season to earn a spot in the lineup for all five Lightning playoff games. Now he’s in line to play big minutes for the Crunch in the AHL playoffs.

Tomkins took seven years of professional hockey before making it to the NHL this season at 29. The Edmonton, Alberta native was drafted in the seventh round of the 2012 NHL entry draft and bounced around from the AHL to the ECHL, to the SHL before finding his way back to North America and making his NHL debut with Tampa Bay. In his first NHL action, Tomkins dressed in six games going 3-2-1 with a 3.33 goals-against average and a .892 save percentage. He’ll now return to Syracuse where he played 29 games this season and went 15-12-2 with a .904 save percentage.

Syracuse is currently tied at 1 with the Rochester Americans in their best-of-five North Division Semifinals series, game 3 goes Thursday night in Syracuse.

Capitals Notes: Oshie, Backstrom, Extensions, Bear

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Veteran forward T.J. Oshie told the media on Tuesday that he’ll need reassurance that injuries won’t be an issue before he decides on if he’ll play next season, shares Monumental Sports’ Tarik El-Bashir in a video of the press scrum (Twitter link). Oshie has one season remaining on the eight-year contract he signed with the Capitals in 2017. He was limited to just 56 games this season, bearing with a nagging back issue that ended his season a few weeks early last year. Oshie also shared that he broke his left hand on a hit from New York Ranger Matt Rempe in Game 3 and played through the injury in Game 4.

Back injuries late in a career always deserve extra care, as most veterans can attest to. So it makes sense that the 37-year-old Oshie could hesitate to push himself much more. He’s done it all throughout his 16-year NHL career, winning the 2018 Stanley Cup and representing America at one Olympic Games and three World Championships or World Cups. He polished off his résumé by reaching the 1,000-game mark this season, a feat he was eager to achieve. Oshie seems open to working his way back to full health, though Caps fans will have to hope he’s able to overcome his long battle with his back injury.

Other notes out of D.C.:

  • Oshie’s fellow assistant captain Nicklas Backstrom is also facing injury questions next season, with general manager Brian MacLellan saying he expects Backstrom to remain on LTIR, per NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti (Twitter link). Backstrom attempted to come back from back from hip resurfacing surgery this past season, but only managed eight games before his hip issues flared back up. The hip injury has forced Backstrom out of 152 games over the last three seasons, including ending his 2022-23 season in January. The Capitals will continue to receive $9.2MM in LTIR relief with Backstrom remaining sidelined.
  • MacLellan also shared that the team has engaged forwards Beck Malenstyn and Connor McMichael in extension conversations, per Sammi Silber of The Hockey News (Twitter link). Both McMichael and Malenstyn carved out daily roles this season, playing in 80 and 81 games and scoring 33 and 21 points respectively. While they rotated around the lineup, especially in response to Washington’s injury bug, both players found a home on the team’s third line. They’re each set to become restricted free agents on July 1st, coming off deals that paid them just above the league minimum. They’re not likely to cost too much more on new deals, though the Capitals will still have to be careful with the money they hand out, with just $6.685MM in projected cap space this summer.
  • Capitals defenseman Ethan Bear has exited the NHLPA Player’s Assistance Program, per Silber (Twitter link). Bear entered the program in late March, missing out on Washington’s last 11 regular-season games. After recovering from shoulder surgery, Bear signed a two-year contract with Washington in late December. He’ll look to vindicate that deal and its $2.0625MM price tag with a strong return next season.

Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews Ruled Out Of Game 5

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6:00 PM: Matthews has officially been ruled out of Game 5, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman (Twitter link). Friedman added that the issue may not solely be his illness anymore, hinting that the star forward could be dealing with nagging injury as well.

3:30 PM: The Toronto Maple Leafs could be without superstar Auston Matthews in tonight’s Game 5, reports Jonas Siegel and Chris Johnston of The Athletic. Matthews has played through an unknown illness in the team’s last two games, though he left before the third period of Game 4, getting pulled by team doctors who assessed that his symptoms were too severe. Matthews has since been recovering, and joined Toronto’s optional morning skate earlier today for all of eight minutes, working on simple motions and not exerting himself. Head coach Sheldon Keefe told The Athletic that Matthews’ availability would be up to the team doctors.

Matthews is on a shortlist of the toughest players in the league to replace when they’re injured. He made history this season, becoming the first player to reach the 69-goal mark since Mario Lemieux in the 1995-96 season. Matthews is a generational scoring talent, with the potential to take over games for his team, even in a hobbled state. He’s so far struggled this postseason, with just three points in four games but the Leafs need all of the help that they can get – facing yet another First Round elimination game and coming off the heels of a 3-1 loss.

Max Domi is expected to take over duties as the team’s top center in Matthews’ absence, while Connor Dewar will return to the fourth line after losing his spot to William Nylander’s return. Dewar is one of just 12 Leafs skaters to record a point in this series, notching an assist in Game 1. Meanwhile, Domi is tied with linemate Tyler Bertuzzi and Matthews for the team lead in playoff scoring, with three points. The Leafs will hope that the shifts in the lineup, and Nylander’s return, will generate a big spark, as they face elimination without their star.

Latest On Penguins Coaching Staff

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The Penguins have not received any formal requests to speak with head coach Mike Sullivan about other league vacancies, general manager Kyle Dubas told The Athletic’s Rob Rossi. However, that doesn’t mean they’re not internally debating the future of the rest of their coaching staff, as Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reports internal discussions about the future of their assistants have “contributed to noise” about Sullivan and increased other teams’ interest in his services. Rossi added that the Devils are interested in Sullivan to succeed Lindy Ruff, who they fired and replaced with interim boss Travis Green midseason, but haven’t submitted a request to speak with him.

While there’s no concrete indication yet that the Penguins are considering moving on from Sullivan, it does appear the futures of associate coach Todd Reirden, assistants Ty Hennes and Mike Vellucci and goaltending coach Andy Chiodo are uncertain. Reirden and Vellucci have either held NHL head coaching roles or generated interest in head coaching roles in the past and may get interviews for the five-plus vacancies around the league if Pittsburgh opts not to bring them back. They both signed two-year deals in 2022 that finished up in 2023-24 and will no longer be under contract with the Pens as of July 1.

The Penguins have already made one coaching change this summer, opting to part ways with a pair of AHL coaches, including bench boss J.D. Forrest. It was an unexpected choice, as a middling WBS squad finished ninth in the AHL with a 39-24-8-1 record.

The NHL club, meanwhile, fell short of the postseason for the second straight season despite a 42-goal, 94-point campaign from captain Sidney Crosby. It’s their first time missing the playoffs in back-to-back years since they were out of postseason contention from 2002 to 2006.

Firing Sullivan would mean Pittsburgh is still on the hook to pay him a reported total of $16.5MM over the next three seasons, thanks to an extension signed under previous GM Ron Hextall in 2022 – that certainly qualifies as a deterrent.

Matvei Michkov May Sign With Flyers Before End Of KHL Contract

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Heading into the 2022-23 season, Russian winger Matvei Michkov was the slam-dunk second-best prospect available in the 2023 draft behind eventual Blackhawks first-overall pick Connor Bedard. Fast forward to draft day, though, and Michkov was still available with the Flyers’ pick at seventh overall. There were a couple of reasons for this – Leo Carlsson and Adam Fantilli had their draft stocks rise throughout the year thanks to spectacular campaigns, earning them second and third overall billing. Michkov had a slow start to the year, marred by injury and inconsistent playing time with his KHL club, SKA St. Petersburg.

SKA loaned Michkov out to bottom-feeder HK Sochi midway through the season, though, where he erupted for 20 points in the final 27 games of the season. That repaired his stock somewhat, but there were concerns about how long a team would have to wait to see Michkov in their lineup. He’s under contract with SKA through the 2025-26 campaign, and without a transfer agreement between the NHL and KHL, there’s no way for the Flyers to buy him out of his deal if it isn’t a mutual decision.

It turns out that may not be a concern after all. Speaking with matchtv.ru, SKA chairman Alexander Medvedev said that the club has good relations with the Flyers front office and will consider letting Michkov depart for the NHL before his contract ends (translated by PHLY Sports’ Alexander Appleyard). Medvedev confirmed that if SKA opts to release him, the Flyers want Michkov in the NHL as soon as next season.

SKA will make a call on whether to retain Michkov for at least next season by the end of June, Medvedev said. Even if Michkov can’t/doesn’t make the jump to North America this summer, the club might still let him transfer to Philadelphia in the 2025 offseason with one year left on his contract with SKA.

Michkov, 19, led all KHL junior players in points this season with 41 in 48 games played, all but one coming on his second consecutive loan to Sochi. He led the team in points per game and led them outright in goals, scoring 19 times in 47 games. Their leading scorer, 27-year-old winger Artur Tyanulin, had 17 goals and 45 points in 63 games. That solidifies him as the Flyers’ bonafide number-one prospect and one of the best U-20 players in the world.

Signing Michkov this summer would allow him to first reach restricted free agency in 2027. If he plays for the Flyers next season, he’d likely slot into a middle-six right wing role out of the gate, creating competition for other youngsters like Bobby Brink and veterans like Cam Atkinson.

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