Washington Capitals Recall Dylan McIlrath
After last night’s scary event involving defenseman Nick Jensen of the Washington Capitals, the team was put in a position to recall a defenseman to replace his spot in the active lineup. With this in mind, the team announced they have recalled defenseman Dylan McIlrath from their AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears, on an emergency loan.
There has still been no official update coming from the organization in regards to the health status of Jensen, who had to be stretchered off the ice after a violent collision with Michael Eyssimont of the Tampa Bay Lightning. With the Capitals only having two games remaining in the regular season, it is more than likely they will keep Jensen out for both of those matchups at the very least.
For McIlrath, the brutish defenseman is in his third season with the Capitals organization, primarily spending his time in the AHL. In 192 games with the Bears, McIlrath has scored seven goals and 32 points overall, while also playing 20 postseason games for the Bears last year, helping the organization secure their 12th Calder Cup Championship.
Since the end of the 2019-20 NHL season, McIlrath hasn’t had much opportunity at the NHL level, only managing three goals and six points over 73 career games. Once a top prospect for the New York Rangers organization after the team selected him with the 10th overall pick of the 2010 NHL Draft, McIlrath has been unable to replicate the defensive prowess that he showed with the Moose Jaw Warriors of the WHL all those years ago.
Poll: Who Captures Final Eastern Conference Wild Card Spot?
A few weeks ago, when the standings were more fluid, we ran a poll inquiring about which teams would grab the final two wild-card spots in the Eastern Conference. Now, with the Tampa Bay Lightning already securing the top spot, there are still four teams fighting over the final spot with less than three games remaining.
The Washington Capitals, who now have the highest odds of capturing the spot with two games remaining, have only produced an 11-9-2 record since the start of March. However, they have picked up key wins in games with playoff implications, defeating the Detroit Red Wings twice, the Pittsburgh Penguins once, and the Philadelphia Flyers once. If the season ended today, the Capitals would line up against the New York Rangers in the first round of the playoffs, but will likely have to beat both the Boston Bruins and Flyers in their last two games.
Following the Capitals, the Red Wings kept their postseason dreams alive last night with an overtime win against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Now tied with Washington in both games played and points, Detroit ultimately loses the tiebreaker due to regulation wins. To get in, the Red Wings will need the Capitals to lose at least one of their final two games, while Detroit must sweep in their home-and-home against the Montreal Canadiens. So far this year, the Red Wings have split with the Canadiens in two games this season, with both games going to overtime.
Behind the Capitals and Red Wings, the Flyers and Penguins are still technically in the hunt but have some very difficult math to get in. The Flyers can only max out at 89 points, with a 7-10-4 since March 1st making their postseason aspirations more and more bleak. Technically earning better odds for a postseason spot than the Flyers, the Penguins can still max out at 90 points on the year, after a 7-1-2 record in their last 10 games has vaulted them into the playoff conversation.
Over their next two games, if the New York Islanders fail to capture a point and both the Capitals and Penguins win their final two, the Capitals would take the third spot in the Metropolitan Division, while the Penguins have the opportunity to capture the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. With several possibilities still up in the air leading into the last few games of the regular season, the Eastern Conference wild-card race is bound to go down to the last minute.
Who Captures Final Eastern Conference Wild Card Spot?
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Detroit Red Wings 46% (512)
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Washington Capitals 25% (273)
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Pittsburgh Penguins 21% (236)
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Philadelphia Flyers 8% (91)
Total votes: 1,112
If you can’t see the poll embedded above this, click here to vote.
Atlantic Notes: Tkachuk, Ekman-Larsson, McMann
As the regular season comes to an end, many players on non-playoff teams are making decisions on whether or not to suit up for their country in this year’s IIHF World Championships. One of those players, Brady Tkachuk of the Ottawa Senators, is leaning toward playing for Team USA per multiple reports (X Link).
Since officially joining the Senators organization back in the 2018-19 NHL season, Tkachuk has not suited up in international play. However, he was the captain for Team USA in the 2018 World Junior Championships, scoring three goals and nine points in seven games, helping lead his team to a bronze medal finish.
If Tkachuk does join Team USA for this year’s rendition of the tournament, he will be attempting to bring the team closer to relevancy in the tournament. The United States has not been awarded a gold medal in the tournament since 1960, which is also the last time they have been awarded any medal higher than bronze.
Other Atlantic notes:
- In the team’s overtime win against the Buffalo Sabres this evening, the Florida Panthers received some negative news on their blue line. At the start of the second period, the team announced that defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson would not return to the game due to an upper-body injury after only managing 3:04 minutes of ice time. Since the Panthers only have one game remaining in the regular season, it is more than likely the organization will sit Ekman-Larsson out for that game to have him fully rested for the playoffs.
- In a similar fashion to Ekman-Larsson, the Toronto Maple Leafs have lost forward Bobby McMann for the remainder of their game tonight against the Detroit Red Wings (X Link). Suffering from a lower-body injury, McMann fell awkwardly in the Toronto defensive zone and very gingerly skated back to the Maple Leafs’ bench. Regardless of the severity, it may also be likely for Toronto to hold McMann out the final two games of the regular season so that he is at full capacity for the postseason.
Metro Notes: Brindley, Jensen, Hinostroza
Earlier today, as expected, forward prospect Frank Nazar opted to leave the University of Michigan as he signed his entry-level contract with the Chicago Blackhawks. Following in his footsteps, his now-former teammate Gavin Brindley is expected to do the same and sign his entry-level contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets.
However, Aaron Portzline of The Athletic is reporting that Brindley may sign an entry-level contract starting in the 2024-25 NHL season, while he would join the Cleveland Monsters for the remainder of the regular season and playoffs on a PTO. Although Brindley firmly believes he is ready to turn pro, he would not be put in a position to play meaningful games for the Blue Jackets this season.
It is difficult to disagree with Brindley, who just capped off one of the more impressive offensive seasons in the NCAA. Playing for the Frozen Four-bound Wolverines, Brindley played in a total of 40 games, scoring 25 goals and 53 points overall.
Other Metro notes:
- In the first period of tonight’s game between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Washington Capitals, a scary moment took place between forward Michael Eyssimont and defenseman Nick Jensen. After a fierce collision, Jensen needed to be stretchered off the ice but was conscious and had full control over his extremities (X Link). As the organization’s medical personnel continue to monitor Jensen’s condition, the public will likely know more tomorrow about his long-term health status.
- Before the team’s important game tonight against the Boston Bruins, the Pittsburgh Penguins made a transaction to thin out their roster for tonight’s matchup. Per a team announcement, the organization has reassigned forward Vinnie Hinostroza to their AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Unfortunately, Hinostroza will not be able to play in any games for the organization this evening, as the transaction took place after the puck dropped for the WBS Penguins.
West Notes: Dunn, McDavid, Girard
The Kraken shut down defenseman Vince Dunn for the season ahead of today’s 3-1 loss to the Stars, GM Ron Francis told Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times. Their top blue-liner hasn’t played since sustaining an upper-body injury on April 3 against the Kings.
Dunn, 27, had barely played since the trade deadline, and his absence cost Seattle any small chance they had at making a late-season run to the playoffs. An upper-body injury sustained on a check from behind from Flames winger Martin Pospisil in early March knocked him out of action for nearly a month, and he played just one full game upon returning before taking an elbow to the head from Los Angeles winger Alex Laferriere.
While the team hasn’t confirmed, both plays involved head contact and could have resulted in concussions. As such, he’ll get an extended period of rest and will look to rejoin the team over the summer and be a full participant in training camp. His season ends after registering 46 points in 59 games, nearly last season’s exact point-per-game pace that helped him earn 11th place in Norris Trophy voting. He has three seasons remaining on his contract, which carries a $7.35MM cap hit.
Elsewhere in the Western Conference:
- The Oilers will again be without Connor McDavid tonight against the Canucks, per Sportsnet’s Jack Michaels. A regulation win without their captain would put Edmonton within one point of Vancouver for the Pacific Division title with three or fewer games remaining for both squads. McDavid has a lower-body injury that’s been nagging him for a while, he said earlier this week, although it was aggravated in his last appearance, an April 6 meeting with the Flames. Tonight will be his third straight absence, which further delays his chase for 100 assists. The 27-year-old had a whopping 24 points in his last 11 games before exiting the lineup.
- Avalanche defenseman Samuel Girard left today’s game against the Jets with an upper-body injury and didn’t return, per the team. Head coach Jared Bednar said post-game that he’s entered concussion protocol. It’s a tough blow to a team already reeling from the 7-0 loss to Winnipeg, now primed to lose home-ice advantage in their upcoming first-round series. The 25-year-old Girard has yet again anchored their second pairing behind Cale Makar and Devon Toews, ranking third among Colorado d-men in average time on ice (19:39) and fourth in points per game (0.31). While his three goals and 15 assists in 58 contests have been underwhelming offensive production from the blue-liner, he’s cleaned up his possession game after a difficult couple of seasons. His 55.9 CF% and +7.5 expected rating are his highest since 2020-21.
Central Notes: Coyotes Relocation, Neighbours, Krug, Mrázek, Mišiak
Short of an official announcement from the league, the Coyotes are relocating to Salt Lake City next season and being sold to Smith Entertainment Group, the ownership of the NBA’s Utah Jazz, with the league as an intermediary. GM Bill Armstrong traveled to Edmonton yesterday to inform the team of the relocation while on their road trip, and players and staff are expected to travel to Utah sometime next week.
Over the next few days, when a sale announcement comes, it will become clear how complex this transaction will be. One rumored piece of the sale appears to be set in stone, per John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports. Current Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo will indeed retain the intellectual rights to the franchise as part of the sale. If he can get an arena built within five years and various other benchmarks are met, he’ll have first right of refusal for a Phoenix-area team and can trigger an expansion draft. In doing so, he’d need to return the $1B he’ll receive from the league for the franchise this offseason as an expansion fee.
Other tidbits out of the Central Division:
- Blues breakout winger Jake Neighbours has likely played his last game of the season, interim head coach Drew Bannister said Saturday (via NHL.com’s Lou Korac). The 22-year-old is dealing with an upper-body injury he sustained on April 6 against the Sharks. He’s missed the last three games and is on track to miss St. Louis’ final two after they were eliminated from playoff contention last night. It puts a bow on a good campaign for the 2020 first-round pick, who set career highs with 27 goals, 11 assists and 38 points in 77 games while creeping into top-six minutes (15:42 per game). While his nearly 19% shooting rate is likely unsustainable, he’s been steadily increasing his shot volume – averaging 1.88 per game this season compared to 1.23 last year. He’ll be eligible to sign an extension beginning July 1, with his entry-level contract set to expire in 2025. Bannister also said that defenseman Torey Krug won’t suit up in tomorrow’s game against the Kraken but could return for their final game of the season in Dallas on Wednesday. The left-shot offensive defenseman is day-to-day with an upper-body injury sustained on April 10 against the Blackhawks, already keeping him out of one game.
- A pair of European Blackhawks players found themselves in the news today, including starting goaltender Petr Mrázek. He told reporters today, including Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times, that he’ll join the Czech national team at the conclusion of the season in advance of this year’s World Championship in Prague and Ostrava. The 32-year-old has only suited up at the Worlds twice, once as a teenager in a backup role in 2012 and again as the starter in 2017, posting a .881 SV% and 2.47 GAA in four outings. It was quite a strong season for Mrázek in the Chicago crease, managing to stay healthy and start a career-high 51 games. He did so quite competently, recording a .906 SV% behind a leaky Blackhawks blue line that resulted in him accumulating 4.7 goals saved above average, his highest mark in eight years. He or Ducks up-and-comer Lukáš Dostál will likely occupy the starter’s crease for Czechia at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy. Additionally, 2023 second-round pick Martin Mišiak signed an ATO with AHL Rockford today and will make his North American professional debut. The Slovak winger spent the 2023-24 campaign with the Erie Otters of the Ontario Hockey League, racking up 23 goals and 47 points in 60 games with a -14 rating.
Blackhawks Sign Frank Nazar To Entry-Level Deal
Blackhawks first-round pick Frank Nazar will sign his entry-level deal and join the team immediately, The Athletic’s Scott Powers reports Saturday. Nazar, the 2022 13th overall selection, had his sophomore season at the University of Michigan end Thursday after Boston College eliminated them in the semifinals of the national tournament.
The 20-year-old was the second of three first-round selections Chicago made that year, five picks after defenseman Kevin Korchinski. A collegiate rival of Nazar’s, University of Minnesota defenseman Sam Rinzel, was selected in the mid-20s.
The Detroit-born forward is an exceptionally intelligent passer and was one of six Wolverines to hit the point-per-game mark this season, notching 41 points (17 goals, 24 assists) in 41 games. He struggled away from the puck, posting a -7 rating, second-worst on the team and 11 points worse than any other elite offensive threat on the stacked Big 10 member squad.
Part of that was due to a slow start. Nazar missed all but 13 games last season due to hip surgery and was sluggish early on, logging four points in his first seven games. That changed in a 10-1 drubbing of Lindenwood in late October, in which he rattled off three assists and kickstarted an eight-game point streak with four multi-point outings.
That momentum carried into the New Year when he joined Team USA for the World Juniors and notched eight assists and a +9 rating in seven games to help fuel the Americans’ gold medal run. Upon returning to campus, he posted 14 points in six games with Michigan but was more inconsistent in closing out the season, ending the year with three goals and two assists in seven games of Big 10 and national tournament play.
Viewed as a steal at the time of his draft, Nazar was billed as a top-10 threat by multiple public scouting outfits. He hasn’t displayed the overall development and consistency you’d like to see from a top-10 pick yet, but he does look to still provide solid value for his 13th-overall billing. Nazar remains a bit of a raw talent, but Chicago will get him to at least one of their final three games this season to see where he’s at compared to NHL competition. A strong showing now could boost his chances of cracking next season’s opening night roster, although his overall game would likely benefit from a little bit of seasoning with AHL Rockford.
If all goes well, Nazar will be a top-nine lock by the end of his entry-level deal in 2026 and join the multitude of other recent Blackhawks first-rounders in helping the franchise become consistent championship contenders once again. The 5’9″ forward can play both center and wing but is likely more suited for the latter at the professional level. He was the second-ranked prospect in the organization behind 2023 first-round pick and University of Minnesota center Oliver Moore in The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler’s February ranking.
The financial terms of Nazar’s ELC have yet to be disclosed. It will be a three-year deal, though, and upon expiry, it will make him an RFA, putting him in line to need new deals at the same time as Korchinski and franchise center Connor Bedard.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Metropolitan Notes: Dobson, Sandin, Nybeck
The Islanders were without Noah Dobson for most of Thursday’s victory over Montreal and he will miss at least one more as the team announced (Twitter link) that the defenseman is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury; he wasn’t in uniform this afternoon against the Rangers. Dobson is in the middle of a breakout year as he sits second on the team in scoring with 10 goals and 60 assists in 79 appearances; his assist total is tied for fifth among all NHL rearguards. On top of the offensive production, the 24-year-old is also logging a career-high 24:31 per night so his absence is a crucial one with the Isles right in the thick of the battle for a playoff spot.
More from the Metropolitan:
- Capitals defenseman Rasmus Sandin didn’t skate on Friday due to his upper-body injury and it’s possible he won’t return before the end of the season next week, notes Bailey Johnson of The Washington Post (Twitter link). The 24-year-old was injured on Sunday against Ottawa. Sandin has had a good first full season with the Caps, recording 23 points in 68 games while averaging a career-best 21:07 per night. That helped earn Sandin a five-year, $23MM extension last month.
- Hurricanes prospect Zion Nybeck has changed teams in Sweden as Oskarshamn in Sweden’s Allsvenskan announced that they’ve signed the forward to a one-year deal. The 21-year-old was a fourth-round pick back in 2020 (115th overall) but the majority of his time professionally has been spent in the second division. This past season, Nybeck had 17 goals and 27 assists in 52 games with AIK, good for second on the team in scoring. Carolina has until June 1st to sign Nybeck and the fact he’s staying in Sweden suggests that the Hurricanes won’t be doing so.
Kings Assign Carl Grundstrom To AHL On LTI Conditioning Loan
It has been two months since Kings winger Carl Grundstrom was able to see game action. That’s about to change as the team announced today (Twitter link) that they’ve assigned Grundstrom to AHL Ontario on an LTI Conditioning Loan.
Grundstrom has been working his way back from a lower-body injury sustained back on February 13th against Buffalo, one that landed him on LTIR two days later. He’s the second Kings forward to be sent down on one of these loans this week as Alex Turcotte was sent to the Reign back on Wednesday.
The 26-year-old has played in 50 games with Los Angeles this season, notching eight goals and four assists. Grundstrom has also chipped in with 115 hits while logging a little under 11 minutes a night. That’s not a great return on a $1.3MM price tag and Grundstrom will be RFA-eligible for the final time this summer while having arbitration rights. With the cap situation the Kings have, Grundstrom could be a candidate to be moved out if they want to open up a little more cap room.
LTI conditioning assignments can last for a maximum of three games and six days although Los Angeles can ask for a one-time two-game extension if it’s determined that Grundstrom needs a bit more game action. Either way, it appears that the Kings will have the gritty winger available to them when the playoffs get underway next week barring a setback while on assignment.
Bruins To Activate Pat Maroon Off LTIR
The Bruins were relatively quiet at the trade deadline, only making a pair of smaller moves. While Andrew Peeke has settled into a depth role, their other addition hasn’t even played yet. That will change tonight as Fluto Shinzawa of The Athletic relays (Twitter link) that winger Pat Maroon will play against Pittsburgh, meaning he has been activated off LTIR.
Boston acquired the 35-year-old from Minnesota but at the time, Maroon had already been out for a little over a month after undergoing back surgery. When he had the procedure, the anticipated recovery time was four to six weeks but in the end, it winds up being closer to nine. However, he’ll at least get a chance to play in their final three games of the regular season which should be enough to get him playoff-ready.
Maroon played in 49 games with the Wild before the swap, picking up four goals and a dozen assists along with 71 hits and 60 penalty minutes, numbers that are reasonable for a fourth liner. Boston undoubtedly had interest in his postseason experience as well as Maroon is tied for eighth among active NHL skaters with 150 playoff appearances including a trio of Stanley Cup titles between 2018-19 and 2020-21.
In order for Boston to formally activate Maroon, they need to be cap-compliant to do so. They were able to accomplish that on Friday when they re-assigned defenseman Mason Lohrei to AHL Providence so no further roster movement will be needed.