Friedman’s Latest: Spooner, Flyers, Canadiens, Trouba, Capitals
As is the case every Tuesday, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman released his latest 30 Thoughts column. As always, the whole article is worth a read but here are some of the highlights, including Ryan Spooner in Boston, the Flyers looking to free up some cap space, an update on Jacob Trouba, and more:
- Teams are expressing an interest in Boston center Ryan Spooner, particularly since he was a healthy scratch for their home opener. He’s one year removed from a 49 point season with a cap hit of just $950K so he’d fit in on the cap for most teams around the league. He’s still just 24 years of age so it’s certainly conceivable that the Bruins still view him as part of their future. Friedman wonders if prospect Austin Czarnik could play a role in whether or not the team looks at moving Spooner. He may not be ready for full-time duty just yet but he could be in the near future.
- With Michael Del Zotto and Scott Laughton are nearing a return to the lineup, the Flyers are believed to be trying to make a move to free up some cap room. Both players are currently on LTIR so the team will need to get cap compliant before they can activate them. Matt Read is off to a strong start this year with five goals already and Friedman suggests they may not be as willing to move him now as they were earlier.
- The Canadiens are shopping for some defensive help but are in particular looking for a top four player. With Cam Fowler presumably off the market and Jacob Trouba not believed to have interest in playing for any of the Canadian teams, there aren’t really many of those available at the moment.
- Speaking of Trouba, he has shown no interest so far in a short-term bridge deal that would allow him to get back to action while still basically maintaining his trade request. We took a closer look yesterday at where things are with Trouba, who has one month to sign or else he’ll be forced to sit the rest of the NHL season.
- With Evgeny Kuznetsov (pending RFA) and Karl Alzner (pending UFA) needing contracts at the end of the year, Washington GM Brian McLellan acknowledges that this could be the last run for the Capitals with their current core group. He believes the team is as strong as it has been in a long time down the middle with the addition of Lars Eller although he is off to a slow start offensively with just one goal so far this season.
Snapshots: Murray, Sceviour, Plager
Matt Murray is finally going to make his 2016-17 debut, it might just have to wait a few more days. Even though the goaltender has been “going full-speed now for almost two weeks” he won’t start this Saturday versus the Philadelphia Flyers. Instead, according to Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Murray will get one of the west coast back-to-back games on Wednesday and Thursday. The Penguins visit the Ducks and then the Kings in some inter-conference action.
Murray is coming back from a broken hand he suffered during the World Cup when he backstopped the young guns (Team North America) in the tournament. While the Penguins claimed Mike Condon off waivers earlier in the season to replace Murray, they’re hesitant to lose any of the three solid pieces they have in net. They view them all as considerable assets, and don’t want to lose any for nothing.
- Colton Sceviour will be moved up in the lineup according to George Richards of the Miami Herald. After getting a season-high 15 minutes in the Panthers latest loss at the hands of the Maple Leafs on Thursday night, the former Dallas Star will replace Kyle Rau on the second line. The Panthers are without Jonathan Huberdeau, Nick Bjugstad and Jussi Jokinen due to various injuries and have had to move pieces in and out of their top-six in recent games. While Jon Marchessault is thriving on the top line, the unit of Rau-Trocheck-Smith weren’t as effective against the Maple Leafs.
- The St. Louis Blues will retire number 5 in honor of Bob Plager this season. Plager has been with the club for almost 50 years since his addition as a player on June 6th, 1967, holding almost every position possible: player, head coach, director of scouting, director of player development and others. Plager’s #5 will join Al MacInnis (#2), Bob Gassoff (#3), Barclay Plager (his brother and #8), Brian Sutter (#11), Brett Hull (#16) and Bernie Federko (#24) among retired numbers for the Blues.
Flyers Recall Leier; Simmonds Avoids Hearing
Update (3:25pm): Panaccio, via Twitter, confirms that the team has placed Raffl on IR creating the need for the recall of Leier.
The Philadelphia Flyers have recalled LW Taylor Leier according to a tweet from Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer. The reason for the recall is currently unclear though it appears it won’t be to take the place of Wayne Simmonds, who seems to have avoided a hearing with the Department of Player Safety after cross-checking Canadiens defenseman Andrei Markov into the boards during last night’s game. Simmonds defended the hit, arguing he “barely touched” Markov, suggesting the Habs blue liner was trying to sell the penalty call, as Tim Panaccio of CSN Philly adds.
The Flyers currently have the maximum 23 players on their roster and will have to make a corresponding move to make room for Leier. Dave Isaac of the Courier-Post suggests that move may be placing Michael Raffl on IR retroactive to last Wednesday. Raffl was injured in last Tuesday’s game against Chicago.
Leier appeared in six games for the Flyers last season, failing to register a point while averaging just 7:43 of ice time. He was originally selected by the Flyers in the fourth round of the 2012 entry draft. Leier tallied 20 goals and 49 points last season for Lehigh Valley and has netted 81 points overall in 147 AHL games.
More to follow.
Flyers Notes: Manning, Read, Team Size, Mason
Last month, Flyers defenseman Brandon Manning was looking like he might be on the outside looking in for a roster spot. The six game suspension for Radko Gudas gave him a chance to start the season with the team and as Greg Paone of CSNPhilly writes, Manning has made a huge impression for Philadelphia and has arguably been their best defender so far.
Through the first five games, Manning has a goal and three assists to go along with a team high +5 rating. He’s also averaging a career high in minutes with 17:29 per game.
Gudas has one game remaining on his suspension which he will serve tonight, making him eligible to return to Philadelphia’s lineup on Tuesday night against Buffalo. With Manning making his case to stay, Nick Schultz could be the odd man out before too long. The Flyers won’t have to make a roster move to accommodate Gudas returning to game action as he is already part of their active 23-man roster.
[Related: Flyers Depth Chart]
More out of Philadelphia:
- Winger Matt Read, who has been up and down in the lineup in recent years, is off to a strong start this season with five goals in as many games. By comparison, he had just 11 last year and eight the season before that. The 30 year old told CSNPhilly’s Jordan Hall that his early success can be attributed to a willingness to drive towards the net instead of playing on the perimeter as he has in the past. Philadelphia has been rumored to have shopped Read around in the past and with two years to go on a contract worth $3.625MM, he’ll need to keep up his early season performance for a little while yet before any sort of market would open up for him.
- While they were once known as the Broad Street Bullies, this current version of the Flyers won’t be receiving that distinction any time soon. GM Ron Hextall was looking to make the team younger and faster over the offseason (a growing trend in the NHL) but as Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer notes, to do so, the team is currently the smallest in the league. That isn’t to say that the Flyers don’t intend to play physical; forward Pierre-Edouard Bellemare believes that smaller players with speed can often make more of an impact physically than bigger but slower skaters. They’re putting that theory into practice as the team currently sits tenth in the league with 115 hits through five games.
- Goaltender Steve Mason will get his third straight start tonight against Montreal despite his struggles on the road dating back to last season. In 2015-16, Mason allowed over a half a goal per game more on the road compared to at home while his save percentage was 17 points lower.
Snapshots: Corrado, Tortorella, Rakell, Weise
Toronto blueliner Frank Corrado finds himself in a familiar situation this season and as Chris Johnston of Sportsnet writes, it’s not a good one to be in. Last year, the Leafs claimed Corrado off of waivers just prior to the start of the season and then proceeded to keep him in the press box for the better part of two months, save for a brief conditioning stint in the AHL. The justification was that the team thought high enough of him to keep him on the roster and not risk losing him for nothing but that he wasn’t quite good enough to be in the lineup.
Fast forward to this year and history seems to be repeating itself for Corrado, who has been a healthy scratch in four straight games to start the year. Toronto is carrying eight defensemen to start the season and their other scratch – Roman Polak – made his season debut on Thursday, suggesting that Corrado once again sits eighth on the depth chart without much hope of getting into the lineup. The belief remains that if Toronto tried to assign him to the minors, he’d be claimed off of waivers, creating an identical situation to last season.
For the time being, it appears that like last season, it’s going to take an injury or two for Corrado to get into the lineup. Until then, he’ll have to bide his time and wait for a chance which is far from an ideal situation for a 23 year old who has yet to play 50 games in each of the last two years.
More from around the league:
- Today marks the one year anniversary of the Blue Jackets hiring John Tortorella as their new head coach. In that time, the team has played to a 34-35-8 record, notes Puck Rakers’ Tom Reed. Clearly, Columbus was looking for more of an immediate impact from Tortorella behind the bench and as a result, he is one of the coaches who came into the season firmly on the hot seat. The Jackets made a quick coaching change last season and if the team continues to struggle, GM Jarmo Kekalainen may be quick to pull the trigger again this year.
- The agent for Ducks center Rickard Rakell told Eric Stephens of the OC Register that the expectation is that Rakell will be able to report to the team sometime next week. Rakell is in the process of securing a P-1 visa which is required before he can resume skating with Anaheim. In the meantime, Rakell will continue to work out on his own in Sweden while waiting for the visa process to be completed which is expected to be shortly after the weekend.
- Philadelphia right winger Dale Weise has been suspended for three games as a result of an illegal check to the head on Anaheim defenseman Korbinian Holzer on Thursday night, the NHL’s Department of Player Safety announced. No penalty had been assessed on the hit during the game. Weise becomes the third Flyer to miss time due to suspension already this season, joining Brayden Schenn and Radko Gudas.
Eastern Conference Snapshots: Hoffman, Warsofsky, Pouliot, Weise
Ottawa Senators winger Mike Hoffman has led the team in goal scoring in each of the last two seasons, a fact which prompted the team to sign the 26-year-old to a five-year, $20.75MM extension this summer. Even though he has totaled 56 goals since the start of the 2014-15 campaign, Hoffman is no stranger to slow starts and this season has been no exception. Despite the fact the Sens are tied for second in goals-per-game, Hoffman has yet to tally his first marker of the season. But, as Ken Warren of the Ottawa Citizen writes, it’s only a matter of time before he breaks through.
Hoffman is currently tied with Chris Kreider and Brent Burns in shots on goal with 20 and says he has been getting plenty of scoring chances.
“I’m just trying to keep a level head, I know the goals are going to come. You don’t want to hit the panic button too early. I feel like I’m getting a lot of shots, a lot of chances every game.”
Like Hoffman, head coach Guy Boucher believes the gifted winger will find his scoring touch soon enough.
“I liked a lot of his game (against Arizona). The work is always when the guy is not getting (any chances) and you can see (the confidence) go down, which is not Mike’s case.”
Goal scorers like Hoffman are prone to slumps but when the get hot they tend to score in bunches. So far Hoffman’s inability to put the puck in the net hasn’t had much of an impact on Ottawa’s on-ice fortunes as the team has won three of their first four. Once he does ratchet up his output, the Senators chances of competing for a playoff spot will only improve.
Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference:
- The Pittsburgh Penguins blue line is a little beat up which today prompted the recall of David Warsofsky from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL, according to Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. In a related move, the team placed Derrick Pouliot on IR. Pouliot has made just one appearance for the Penguins, and left that game in the second period with an undisclosed injury. It appears that whatever the injury, it could keep Pouliot out a while. In addition to Pouliot, Olli Maatta and Kris Letang are both banged up as well. Letang is considered day-to-day with an upper-body injury but as Mackey writes, he might be healthy enough to suit up Saturday.
- Dale Weise of the Philadelphia Flyers is slated for a hearing with the NHL Department of Player Safety after his illegal check to the head of Anaheim defensman Korbinian Holzer in a game Thursday night. Weise wasn’t penalized on the play but the league wasted no time calling for the hearing. It appears it will be a phone hearing, meaning Weise won’t receive a suspension longer than five games. Weise, signed this summer as a free agent, has not yet recorded a point for the Flyers in four appearances.
Metro Division Snapshots: Islanders, Raffl, Crosby, Grubauer
It was recently suggested that the New York Islanders could look to exercise an opt-out clause in their lease and leave Barclays Center following the 2017-18 campaign. The team’s first year in the arena didn’t go as smoothly as hoped with obstructed sight lines and the poor condition of the ice drawing heavy criticism. However, with new ownership in place for the Islanders and a concerted effort on the part of Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment to address the concerns related to Barclays Center, it appears as if the relationship between the team and the arena’s operator is in a better spot today, as Brian Heyman writes for Newsday.
Brett Yormark, CEO of Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment, was at the Islanders’ home-opener on Sunday and “got an overall positive vibe” from fans in attendance, and said about the fan reaction: “A little bit different tone than last year.”
According to Heyman, Barclays added additional Islanders “imagery and branding,” at the arena as well as beefing up on Islanders merchandise in the team store. Additionally, they’ve brought aboard an “ice technician” to help keep the ice in good playing condition. Those efforts did not go unnoticed by team co-owner Jon Ledecky:
“I think fans have already talked to us after the opening day that they feel like it’s our home now. Just the whole feel of the building in our second season — Barclays has worked hard to make our fans feel like it’s their home. And I really appreciate that.”
Despite the progress, the Islanders still could exercise their opt-out after the 2017-18 season though that might appear less likely than it did just a few weeks ago, as Ledecky notes:
“We’re in a great relationship with Barclays now. No one has a crystal ball about the future. We’re moving forward in our relationship with them in a very positive framework.”
Elsewhere in the Metro Division:
- Flyers LW Michael Raffl was forced to exit the team’s 7 – 4 loss to Chicago Tuesday night with an abdominal pull, according to Tim Panaccio of CSN Philly. He suffered the injury during the second period when he absorbed a body check along the boards. Raffl, who has one goal so far this season in three contests, was the only Flyer to suit up for all 82 games in 2015-16 and finished fifth on the club in goals with 13. It’s not clear at this point how long the Austrian winger will be out.
- Sidney Crosby, who has yet to appear in a game this season for Pittsburgh due to a concussion, could return to practice Wednesday, writes Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Head coach Mike Sullivan indicated Crosby’s response to a workout Tuesday would determine when he would return to the ice with his teammates. Seth Rorabaugh of DKPittsburghSports.com noted via Twitter, however, that Crosby was not among the early participants at the team’s practice, though that could certainly change.
- Due to the compressed schedule this season, Washington Capitals backup goalie Philipp Grubauer is in line to see more action between the pipes this season, as Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post observes. Grubauer started just 16 of the 22 games he appeared in during the 2015-16 season but according to Capitals head coach Barry Trotz, he could end up starting one-quarter of the team’s contests this year: “I said to the goaltenders, if I could go Grubi one game and then Holts three, that type of situation, that would be in the perfect world what I’d like to do.” That split would see Grubauer receive 20 – 21 starts over the course of a full season. As Khurshudyan notes, Grubauer typically catches the second end of back-to-backs and the Capitals are scheduled to have 16 of those this year. Braden Holtby started 66 times in 2015-16, down from 73 starts the year prior, and Trotz would like to see a further decrease this season: “I think it’s important for the whole journey that we get the right number of games and keep both goalies sharp and not overwork guys. I thought last year with Holts, we did a better job of that than we did the year before. I’d like to do a better job in that area than we did last year even.”
Snapshots: Top Rookies, Tougher Oilers, McKeown
It’s been a good start to the season for rookies in the NHL. Auston Matthews scored a stunning four goals in his debut and Finnish top picks Patrik Laine and Jesse Puljujärvi also scored in their debuts. William Nylander had two assists.
However, two of the more impressive rookies to TSN’s Bob McKenzie are the Flyers’ Travis Konecny and Ivan Provorov. McKenzie appeared on TSN 1260 in Edmonton, saying it’s “ridiculous how good [Provorov] is” and saying Konecny was their “maybe their best player” in their first game.
Despite their early success, McKenzie didn’t see either of them being in the Calder Trophy conversation, because neither will post the offensive numbers. He also joked that “everybody knows they already awarded the Calder the other night after the first game. People didn’t see that presentation afterwards, but Auston Matthews was presented with it after the game.”
McKenzie compared the style of play over the first two nights to Team North America in the World Cup, saying hopefully “the kids … will triumph because the first two nights of this season have been a joy to watch.”
In other new from around the hockey world:
- David Staples of the Edmonton Journal took a look at how GM Peter Chiarelli turned the formerly soft Oilers into a much tougher team. The Oilers have added four tough and dependable NHLers in Eric Gryba, Zack Kassian, Patrick Maroon, and Milan Lucic for a total cost of two fourth round picks and three players who had no future in Edmonton: former starter Ben Scrivens who was toiling in the AHL, and fringe minor leaguers Travis Ewanyk and Martin Gernat. Scrivens and Gernat are now overseas, and Ewanyk signed with the Idaho Steelheads of the ECHL. Staples writes that the new-look Oilers are able to “[answer] the bell if it comes to clobberin’ time, as it surely will.”
- The Carolina Hurricanes have assigned defenseman Roland McKeown to the Charlotte Checkers of the AHL. McKeown was a healthy scratch in the Hurricanes season opening loss in Winnipeg. McKeown is a former second round pick of the Los Angeles Kings, acquired in the Andrej Sekera trade back at the 2015 trade deadline. The Raleigh News & Observer Chip Alexander believes the team is expecting newly-acquired defenseman Jakub Nakladal to be available for Sunday night’s game in Vancouver.
Radko Gudas Suspended Six Games
After avoiding suspension for a hit earlier this pre-season on Jimmy Vesey of the New York Rangers, Radko Gudas has been given a six-game ban for his hit on Bruins’ forward Austin Czarnik.
This is not the first time Gudas has received discipline from the league. Last season he received three ejections in the span of a month, and was given a three-game suspension for a hit on Mika Zibanejad in December. Though he’s only technically a two-time offender now, the six-game ban is a strong message that his on-the-edge style will no longer be tolerated by the league.
The Flyers now have a lot of trouble on their blueline for the start of the season and will be hoping that Brandon Manning can play as soon as possible. With Michael Del Zotto out and now Gudas unavailable, 19-year old Ivan Provorov will be staying with the team. These injuries and suspensions are heaping even more responsibility onto sophomore Shayne Gostisbehere, as he looks to become the leader on the back-end for the Flyers this season.
Provorov, Konecny To Stay With Flyers For 2016-17
It’s official in Philadelphia: GM Ron Hextall has confirmed that preseason stars Travis Konecny and Ivan Provorov have officially made the Flyers roster. The pair were both drafted in the first round in 2015 and are considered to be Philly’s finest prospects, but they’ll become more than prospects in 2016-17, as they’re set to be difference makers on this team. With the roster deadline coming tomorrow, Konecny and Provorov had done enough to solidify their spots over other veteran players and will now have a chance to show what they can do at the NHL level.
While it’s possible for either to be sent back to juniors, after ten games a year will be accounted for on their entry-level contracts. Usually players in this situation are either sent back after this ten-game “tryout” or do enough to stick for the whole season. When asked about this scenario, Hextall answered that he believes that both have “earned it” and should remain on the roster for the entire season. It seems as though the excitement that management and fans alike felt about Konecny and Provorov has translated into a faith in their ability to be impact rookies throughout 2016-17.
Konecny, Philadephia’s 24th overall pick in 2015, is coming off a 56-point stint with the OHL’s Sarnia Sting and a strong performance with Team Canada in the World Junior Championships. He kept his roll going in training camp and preseason, where the flashes of his talent and ability were hard to miss. Konecny is expected to start the season on the Flyers’ second line with Sean Couturier and Jakub Voracek, and has the potential to put up big points right away in his rookie season.
Provorov, at just 19 years old, plays with vision and awareness that is hard to find in a defenseman his age. The 7th overall pick in 2015, Provorov went on to score 73 points for the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings and led them on a deep playoff run. While he has the makings of a top-pair NHL defenseman, Provorov will not be asked to do too much in his rookie year, with 2016 rookie sensation Shayne Gostisbehere and the very capable Michael Del Zotto in the fold, but that won’t stop the Russian blue liner from making a name for himself eary in Philadelphia. He is expected to play alongside veteran role model Mark Streit in what could end up being the Flyer’s top pair by year’s end.