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Minor Transactions: 12/08/19

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Goals were not exactly hard to come by on Saturday, as 10 of 11 contests featured 5+ goals, including five games with 8+ goals. While there are only five games on the docket on Sunday, there is a good chance of at least one more high-scoring affair, as the Panthers host the Sharks in a match-up of the two teams tied for 29th in goals against average. While you follow along with the action today – five games starting over a span of five hours – keep an eye on the transactions made by those teams out of action today, preparing for the week ahead. Judging by the number of early moves, it could be a busy day:

  • After last night’s win, the Carolina Hurricanes returned forwards Brian Gibbons and Clark Bishop to the AHL, as announced by the Charlotte Checkers. The duo have been on the move frequently this season and that is unlikely to change soon. With both being sent down, the Canes currently have just 12 forwards and 19 skaters on the active roster and are about to embark on a long, five-game road trip on Tuesday. They are unlikely to depart before filling at least one of their two remaining roster spots with another forward, highly likely to be either Gibbons or Bishop, if not both.
  • Rookie forward J.C. Beaudin is headed back to the minors, as the Ottawa Senators announced that he has been reassigned to AHL Belleville. Beaudin, 22, has played in 15 games with Ottawa this season but has recorded one lone point. In five games with Belleville, he has also been held to just one point. The Senators would likely like to see him rediscover his scoring touch before bringing him back up.
  • Joseph Blandisi is another player being demoted, as the Pittsburgh Penguins announced that the two-way veteran has been sent down to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Blandisi has split his season evenly between the NHL and AHL, but with double the scoring in the minors, unsurprisingly. Now in his fifth pro season, Blandisi has grown accustomed to splitting his time between the two levels and playing very different roles depending on the locale. A top-six forward in the AHL, Blandisi has been almost exclusively asked to play a bottom-six role in Pittsburgh, as well as with previous teams.
  • The Chicago Blackhawks have made a swap, sending Anton Wedin down to the AHL and recalling Dylan Sikura. Sikura, the former Northeastern University standout, has not played in the NHL this season after skating in 33 games last year. However, he has finally earned the call as he leads the Rockford Ice Hogs with nine goals and 16 points in 22 games. Wedin, a rookie in his first season in North America, also has a nice 4-7-11 line in 17 games with Rockford but was held off the scoresheet in four games with Chicago, prompting his return.
  • Austin Poganski has been reassigned to the AHL’s San Antonio Rampage, the St. Louis Blues announced. The move comes more than a week after Poganski was recalled, yet the young forward did not make an appearance in that time with the Blues. Poganski is still searching for his NHL debut, two years removed from a strong run at the University of North Dakota.
  • While the Boston Bruins placed defenseman Steven Kampfer on waivers earlier today, CapFriendly also noted that the Colorado Avalanche have put forward T.J. Tynan on waivers as well. The 27-year-old career minor-leaguer got an extended run with the Avalanche this year after only appearing in three NHL games prior to that. He got 14 games in Colorado, only picking up one assist in that span. Tynan has already appeared in 377 AHL games and would be an unlikely candidate to be claimed.
  • The Edmonton Oilers announced they have activated forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins from injured reserve and have assigned forward Colby Cave to the Bakersfield Condors of the AHL. Nugent-Hopkins has missed the last six games with a hand injury, but will now return to the team and give their top-six a significant boost. Nugent-Hopkins has five goals and 16 points through the Oilers’ first 25 games before going down with the injury. Cave will return to Bakersfield where he has two goals and five points in 16 games.
  • The Montreal Canadiens have recalled forward Riley Barber from the Laval Rocket of the AHL, according to Montreal Gazette’s Stu Cowan. The 25-year-old Barber, who signed with the Canadiens in the offseason after four years in the Washington Capitals system, leads Laval with 18 points, but has been much more impressive over the past two or three weeks and could help Montreal as a speedy fourth-line option.
  • The Vancouver Canucks have returned goaltender Michael DiPietro to AHL Utica, notes TSN 1040’s Rick Dhaliwal.  He had been up as the backup while Jacob Markstrom was away from the team but with Markstrom back, he’ll go back to the Comets to get some playing time.

Snapshots: Hughes, Galchenyuk, Edwards

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If you are a fan of the World Junior tournament and want to see the best under-20 athletes on the planet suit up, there may have been something nagging at your brain every time you looked at the NHL standings. All the way down near the bottom of the Eastern Conference are the New Jersey Devils, who just so happen to have one of those under-20 athletes on their roster.

Jack Hughes, the first-overall pick from last June, won’t turn 19 until May and has just 11 points in 24 games through his rookie season. The Devils haven’t had much success at all and appear to be considering trading off Taylor Hall, so what would be the problem with losing Hughes for a few weeks to dominate players his own age? Well, it won’t be happening as Devils interim coach Alain Nasreddine explained to Mike Morreale of NHL.com. “That (idea) was shut down right away, ” Nasreddine told reporters on Friday.

  • Fans of the Pittsburgh Penguins have been dying to see their team at full strength this season, waiting out injury after injury in hopes that the group can pull it together at some point. Perhaps that idea isn’t so exciting for Alex Galchenyuk, who may not even have a spot in the lineup when everyone is back on the ice. That’s what GM Jim Rutherford suggested to Josh Yohe of The Athletic, saying “when we’re totally healthy, he’s going to have to work very hard just to get in the top 12.” Galchenyuk has just two goals and ten points in 19 games this season.
  • The Calgary Flames announced earlier today that Ray Edwards will join the coaching staff as an assistant, replacing Geoff Ward who was bumped up to head coach when Bill Peters was fired. Edwards will maintain his other role of Director of Player Development while helping out the coaching staff, and comes with plenty of experience behind the bench.

Justin Schultz Activated, Zach Trotman Assigned

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The Pittsburgh Penguins have activated defenseman Justin Schultz from injured reserve while sending Zach Trotman down to the minor leagues to make room. Schultz hasn’t played since November 19th, but is expected to be in the lineup tonight against the Arizona Coyotes.

Even with all of the injuries the Penguins have dealt with this year, they still sit within striking distance of a divisional playoff spot. With a 15-9-4 record they are three points behind the Philadelphia Flyers for third place in the Metropolitan, and have the third best goal differential in the Eastern Conference.

Schultz, 29, should certainly help them even more. The puck-moving defenseman had eight points in his first 21 games this season and was logging nearly 21 minutes a night, partly due to the temporary absence of Kris Letang. Even with both right-handed defensemen back in action, the team looks nothing like it was supposed to. Sidney Crosby, Brian Dumoulin, Patric Hornqvist and Nick Bjugstad remain out.

Patric Hornqvist Out “Longer-Term” With Lower-Body Injury

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Repeating an explanation that he might as well make into a t-shirt at this point, Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan told reporters today including Sam Kasan of Pens Inside Scoop that Patric Hornqvist will be out “longer-term” with a lower-body injury. Hornqvist was injured in practice yesterday.

Hornqvist’s absence, when combined with the other injuries the Penguins are dealing with and Zach Aston-Reese being held out with an illness, means Stefan Noesen skated on the second line today at practice. Noesen was only signed to an NHL contract yesterday. Joseph Blandisi, who cleared waivers today, was still centering the fourth line with assistant coach Mark Recchi on his left side.

It’s impressive how well the Penguins have done even with their major injuries, but after losing their last two have now fallen to fifth place in the Metropolitan Division. Hornqvist himself has already missed several games earlier in the year and will now be out of the picture for some time. Evgeni Malkin and whoever is left up front will have even more pressure on them to keep the team in the playoff picture.

Keith Kinkaid, Joseph Blandisi Clear Waivers

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Tuesday: Both players have cleared waivers and can be sent to the minor leagues.

Monday: The Montreal Canadiens have decided to place goaltender Keith Kinkaid on waivers today, according to Bob McKenzie of TSN. Kinkaid will be assigned to the Laval Rocket of the AHL should he clear, where the organization will give him a chance to rebuild some confidence facing minor league opposition. The Pittsburgh Penguins have also placed Joseph Blandisi on waivers, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.

After signing a one-year, $1.75MM contract in the offseason, Kinkaid has been an utter disappointment so far for the Canadiens. In six appearances he has allowed a total of 24 goals and sits with a 1-1-3 record. His .875 save percentage is second-worst in the league among goaltenders who have made more than one appearance, only coming in ahead of Cory Schneider’s .852. That performance simply isn’t good enough for a team hoping to make a playoff run this season, and after the Canadiens lost their eighth straight game on Sunday, something had to change.

There is at least an argument to be made in favor of Kinkaid, who had a career save percentage of .906 coming into the year. Carey Price has looked completely mortal in net for the Canadiens as well, left out to dry too often, leading to an .898 save percentage of his own. That’s easily the worst of his career, and perhaps not entirely a product of bad goaltending. Montreal needs to figure out some way to protect their net more regularly, or hope that Price and his next backup can find some next level of performance.

Blandisi meanwhile already cleared waivers before the season began and needs them again to continue bouncing up and down between the AHL and NHL. The 25-year old has played nine games for Pittsburgh and ten games for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on the season, and will likely continue to split time should he clear.

Pittsburgh Penguins Sign Stefan Noesen

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The Pittsburgh Penguins have decided that Stefan Noesen has done enough at the minor league level this season to earn an NHL deal. The team has signed the veteran forward to a one-year, two-way contract that carries an average annual value of $700K. Noesen will report immediately to Pittsburgh, who placed Joseph Blandisi on waivers earlier today.

Noesen, 26, has been tearing is up this season for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, scoring 14 goals and 22 points in 22 games while taking 58 minutes in penalties. The former Anaheim Ducks and New Jersey Devils forward has 159 NHL games under his belt but decided to sign an AHL deal with the Penguins in the fall after failing to find an opportunity elsewhere.

Originally selected 21st overall by the Ottawa Senators in 2011, Noesen was actually part of the package that landed the team Bobby Ryan. After struggling to find much success in short NHL stints in Anaheim, he was picked off waivers by the Devils and given his first full-time opportunity. That led to a 13-goal, 27-point campaign in 2017-18, but things haven’t gone as smoothly since.

The Penguins lost Patric Hornqvist again today when he took a tumble in practice, meaning they’ll need even more help up front moving forward. For a team that has had so many injuries this season, perhaps Noesen can carve out a regular role.

Five Key Stories: 11/25/19 – 12/01/19

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With the quarter pole of the season in the rear view mirror, teams have had plenty of time to evaluate their rosters and early performances and changes are starting to be made. That has been the overarching story of the week, as some clubs made moves – both long- and short-term – while others are preparing to do so.

Flames Fire Bill Peters: Well, not technically. Calgary accepted the resignation of their head coach, who was mired in scandal following an investigation into allegations of racist comments made while serving as an AHL head coach in the Chicago Blackhawks organization and further accusations of physical abuse while head coach of the Carolina Hurricanes. The league will continue its investigation, but Peters days as an NHL coach are likely over regardless. While the veteran coach offered an apology for the incident in Rockford, the victim of the attack, Akim Aliu, called it “misleading, insincere and concerning”, which was likely the nail in his coffin. Geoff Ward takes over as interim head coach for the Flames, an under-performing team that had enough concerns of their own without dealing with off-ice controversy.

Bruins Extend Coyle And Wagner: The league-leading Boston Bruins signed a pair of local products to contract extensions, inking 2019 trade acquisition Charlie Coyle to a six-year, $31.5MM deal and 2018 free agent addition Chris Wagner to a three-year, $4.05MM deal. The 27-year-old Coyle, who won over the home crowd with a dominant playoff run last year, is now in place to likely succeed David Krejci and/or Patrice Bergeron as a top-six center for the Bruins, unless the versatile forward shifts to the right wing long-term instead. Meanwhile, the Bruins have always shown a willingness to invest in their fourth line and clearly feel Wagner can continue to be an effective checker and penalty killer for years to come. The team can now solely turn their attention to re-signing Torey Krug with these deals complete.

New Jersey Willing To Move Hall: The 2019-20 season has not gone as planned for the New Jersey Devils, who added considerable talent this off-season but have yet to see the on-ice impact. As a result, 2018 Hart Trophy winner Taylor Hall, the top impending free agent in this summer’s class, has become the most talked-about name on the trade market. The team is officially listening to offers, with most pundits expecting that he will be traded and perhaps sooner rather than later. Hall has had the misfortune of never playing for a true contender thus far in his career, but could wind up participating in a playoff run this year as a highly sought-after rental target. His former team, the Edmonton Oilers, are considered a possible landing spot, as are the Colorado Avalanche, Montreal Canadiens, and defending champion St. Louis Blues. More teams are sure to be in the running as the Hall sweepstakes heat up.

Dumoulin Out Eight Weeks: The Pittsburgh Penguins suffered yet another injury blow on Saturday as defenseman Brian Dumoulin sustained an ankle injury that required surgery and will leave him sidelined for eight weeks. The Penguins lead the NHL in man-games lost this year and the loss of Dumoulin is a major blow. The underrated defenseman is one of the premier shutdown defenders in the league and allows for pair mate Kris Letang to truly play his game. With Justin Schultz already out, not to mention Sidney Crosby and Nick Bjugstad, and Erik Gudbranson recently traded, Pittsburgh will be shorthanded on the blue line for a while.

Also in the Metropolitan Division, the Columbus Blue Jackets lost dynamic defenseman Zach Werenski to an upper-body injury that will keep him out of action for at least four weeks.

Puljujarvi, Honka Not Playing This Season: The December 1 5:00PM ET deadline came and went and restricted free agents Jesse Puljujarvi of the Edmonton Oilers and Julius Honka of the Dallas Stars had not been signed. As a result, neither young Finn can play in the NHL this year. Both the Oilers and Stars have been trying to find a trade partner for their disgruntled young players, but to no avail. Neither team was willing to give their RFA away, even if that meant potentially not being able to trade them until the off-season. Both Puljujarvi and Honka have yet to live up to expectations in the NHL, but are playing well in Finland this season. This is likely not the last we’ve seen of either player in North America.

Eastern Notes: Hughes, Backstrom, Dumoulin, Clifton

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The New Jersey Devils will be without their top rookie for a second straight game as head coach John Hynes revealed that center Jack Hughes will not play against the Buffalo Sabres Sunday, according to The Athletic’s Cory Masisak. Hynes did suggest that Hughes may be available on Tuesday against Vegas.

No one is sure when or how Hughes got hurt, other than it is considered to be a lower-body injury. Hughes, the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s draft, hasn’t been as dominant as the team has hoped although the 18-year-old has flashed some elite skills and should be a building block for the team in the future. Hughes currently has four goals and 11 points in 24 games.

  • The Washington Capitals are expected to get forward Carl Hagelin back from LTIR for Tuesday’s game at San Jose, but The Athletic’s Tarik El-Bashir reports that the team is hoping to get back center Nicklas Backstrom as well. The veteran forward will travel with the Capitals on their West Coast road trip and Backstrom’s return hinges on how things will go in practice on Monday.
  • TribSports’ Seth Rorabaugh suggests that the injury to Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin, who underwent surgery to repair lacerated tendons in his ankle earlier today and will be out for eight weeks, could be construed as good timing, if such a thing is possible. Assuming the eight-week timetable holds up, Dumoulin would be out during the holiday break and during the team’s bye-week at the end of January.
  • The Athletic’s Fluto Shinzawa (subscription required) writes that the Boston Bruins had a tough decision to make as defenseman Connor Clifton is within one game of playing his 60th game of his career (playoff games count). Once he plays that game, which is expected to be today given the team’s announced lineup, the Bruins will be required to pass the blueliner through waivers to send him to the AHL. The problem is that despite playing well, the team is expected to get John Moore and Kevan Miller back sooner than later with Moore currently on a conditioning stint with Providence Bruins. To slow the process, Boston has been swapping Clifton with Steven Kampfer, but as Shinzawa suggests that the Bruins have a better chance of winning with Clifton in the lineup. While Clifton has just two goals on the season, he does have 44 hits in 22 games.

Pittsburgh’s Brian Dumoulin Expected To Miss Eight Weeks

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The Pittsburgh Penguins injury woes continue as the team lost another key player Saturday as the team announced that defenseman Brian Dumoulin had surgery Sunday to repair lacerated tendons in his left ankle and will miss a minimum of eight weeks. Dumoulin was injured within the first minute of Saturday’s game against the St. Louis Blues when he got tangled up with Blues forward Zach Sanford, who fell on Dumoulin’s leg. He never returned to the ice after having logged just 35 seconds of ice time.

The injury is just another devastating hit after another. The team have already had to deal with injury issues to many of their star players, including Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and Sidney Crosby. Malkin missed 11 games early in the season with a lower-body injury and within days of returning, Letang went down with a lower-body injury that sidelined him for eight games as well. Crosby underwent core muscle surgery on Nov. 14 and isn’t expected back until at least January. The team also has a number of other key players on injured players, including Justin Schultz, Nick Bjugstad and Bryan Rust.

Dumoulin is second on the team in minutes played as he is averaging 21:04 of ice time and his defensive prowess is evident in his plus-17 rating. The team will likely lean more heavily on rookie John Marino and veteran Jack Johnson to play bigger roles while Dumoulin is out.

 

Poll: Which Teams Will Buck The Thanksgiving Playoff Trend In 2019-20?

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Just how important is playoff position in just the second month of the regular season? Very, if you look at recent results. Over the past six years, more than 70% of teams in a playoff position at American Thanksgiving have held on to their spot. While last year was slightly below the mark – 11 of 16 teams (69%) in a playoff position on November 22 qualified – the standings at the time were even more predictive than usual. The Lightning, Predators, Flames, Maple Leafs, Jets, and Sharks all finished in the same divisional seed that they occupied at Thanksgiving.

So who were the outliers in 2018-19? Obviously, the St. Louis Blues’ return from the basement of the league standings to win the Stanley Cup is a story that will stand the test of time. However, four other clubs also turned their seasons around: the Islanders, Penguins, Hurricanes, and Golden Knights. And the teams whose seasons took a turn for the worse: the Sabres, Wild, Rangers, Canadiens, and Ducks. Ironically, the Canadiens were narrowly inside the playoff window on Thanksgiving and ended up just barely outside in the spring. Meanwhile, the Ducks, Oilers, and Coyotes were all tied for the lowest playoff-qualifying record on Thanksgiving, with the Ducks getting the tiebreaker at the time, and all three failed to qualify for the postseason.

This season has gotten off to an unpredictable start, which could potentially threaten to derail the Thanksgiving trend. Several teams considered Cup contenders are currently outside the playoff picture, while multiple surprises currently occupy a spot. With Thanksgiving arriving tomorrow, this is the current status of the NHL standings (reminder – points percentage is the ideal way of viewing NHL standings):

Eastern Conference

M1 New York Islanders (.773)
A1 Boston Bruins (.771)

M2 Washington Capitals (.740)
M3 Carolina Hurricanes (.646)

A2 Tampa Bay Lightning (.619)
A3 Florida Panthers (.604)

W1 Pittsburgh Penguins (.625)
W2 Philadelphia Flyers (.604)

Outside the Playoff Picture: Montreal Canadiens (.563), New York Rangers (.545), Columbus Blue Jackets (.522), Buffalo Sabres (.521), Toronto Maple Leafs (.520), Ottawa Senators (.479), New Jersey Devils (.435), Detroit Red Wings (.327)

Western Conference

C1 St. Louis Blues (.680)
P1 Edmonton Oilers (.673)

C2 Dallas Stars (.615)
C3 Colorado Avalanche (.609)

P2 Arizona Coyotes (.620)
P3 Vancouver Canucks (.560)

W1 Winnipeg Jets (.604)
W2 Nashville Predators (.543)

Outside the Playoff Picture: San Jose Sharks (.540), Chicago Blackhawks (.521), Anaheim Ducks (.500), Vegas Golden Knights (.500), Calgary Flames (.481), Minnesota Wild (.480), Los Angeles Kings (.417)

2018-19 playoff teams jump off the page as potential candidates to disrupt the status quo. Particularly in the Pacific Division, it is hard to image none of the Golden Knights – who beat the Thanksgiving odds last year – the Sharks or the Flames will make the playoffs, especially as they look up at the Oilers, Coyotes, and Canucks.  There could also be hope in West for the Ducks and Blackhawks, who sit at .500 currently. Over in the East, the Maple Leafs stick out like a sore thumb among non-playoff teams and could be line for improvement following their coaching change. But will it be enough given their difficult start? The Canadiens will also hope for a reverse of fortunes from last year, going from first team out in the conference at Thanksgiving to in the postseason come April. The Sabres have started hot and collapsed two years in a row, but there is still time for them to turn things back around. All three Atlantic clubs see a Panthers team with plenty of problems ahead of them in the standings right now. Meanwhile, the Rangers and Blue Jackets will look to make an unlikely run to the postseason as they chase down the Flyers.

What do you think? Which of these teams will find their way into the playoff picture and which will fall victim to the Thanksgiving postseason trend? Select as many teams below as you like, but remember that for every addition, there has to be a subtraction of a current playoff team.

Which Teams Will Buck The Thanksgiving Playoff Trend?
Maple Leafs 21.12% (279 votes)
Golden Knights 19.08% (252 votes)
Sharks 10.14% (134 votes)
Blackhawks 8.55% (113 votes)
Rangers 8.02% (106 votes)
Canadiens 6.13% (81 votes)
Sabres 5.75% (76 votes)
Flames 5.75% (76 votes)
Kings 3.71% (49 votes)
Blue Jackets 3.26% (43 votes)
Wild 2.57% (34 votes)
Devils 1.89% (25 votes)
Ducks 1.67% (22 votes)
Red Wings 1.67% (22 votes)
Senators 0.68% (9 votes)
Total Votes: 1,321

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