- Penguins defenseman Kris Letang left practice early today due to a lower-body issue that occurred on Saturday, reports Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. As a result, his availability for Tuesday’s game against the Islanders is in question. Meanwhile, winger Jake Guentzel should be able to play despite leaving Saturday’s game early following a high-stick to the face from teammate Dominik Simon.
Penguins Rumors
Pittsburgh Penguins Place Kevin Czuczman On Waivers
Monday: Czuczman has cleared waivers and can now be assigned to the AHL should the Penguins decide to do so.
Sunday: The Pittsburgh Penguins have placed defenseman Kevin Czuczman on waivers today, according to TVA’s Renaud Lavoie. He suffered a shoulder injury during training camp and was placed on season-opening injured reserve.
The 27-year-old, who is expected to be out until December, had to go through the formality of waivers at some point and with the defenseman’s continued progression through his shoulder injury, it makes sense to do it now. He has already been with the AHL team throughout the early part of the season of his recovery.
Czuczman spent all of last year with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in the AHL, finishing with four goals and 35 points in 71 games. Entering his fifth season in the AHL, he will be brought back slowly and eventually placed on one of WBS’s top defensive lines after he is fully healthy. Czuczman chose to re-sign with a one-year, $650K contract with Pittsburgh just before free agency opened this summer.
Trade Rumors: Hurricanes, Hayes, Pearson
The Carolina Hurricanes have been one of the biggest early surprises of the 2018-19 season with a 6-3-1 record that trails only the powerhouse Pittsburgh Penguins in the Metropolitan Division. The team is in the top half of the league in goals for and against, led by top-ten NHL scorer Sebastian Aho and a top-six on defense that rivals anyone in the league. The Hurricanes are certainly not without flaws, special teams and goaltending to highlight a couple, but overall have been very impressive with one of the youngest rosters in the league. Yet, Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun writes that new GM Don Waddell is “open for business”. Given the surplus of talented defenseman on the Carolina roster and in the system, Waddell simply has the luxury of fielding offers from D-needy teams and waiting for the right offer. Potentially on the block could be long-time ’Cane Justin Faulk, young Brett Pesce, or reliable Trevor van Riemsdyk. Each of Carolina’s top-six defensemen is signed through at least next season, making these three righties attractive long-term additions. Teams in search of a younger asset could also take a look at AHLers Haydn Fleury or Roland McKeown, long considered by many to be players that should be playing regular minutes in the NHL. Garrioch notes that the Toronto Maple Leafs and Edmonton Oilers are among the teams most desperate for help on the right side of the blue line and adds fuel to the fire by reporting that Toronto GM Kyle Dubas was in attendance at the ’Canes last game. It has been rumored that Carolina could be the leading candidate to land disgruntled William Nylander, while Edmonton could be willing to part with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins in the right deal. Waddell’s first trade, in which he acquired Micheal Ferland and Dougie Hamilton from the Calgary Flames, has worked out nicely thus far. Can he do it again?
- It comes as no surprise that New York Rangers center Kevin Hayes is drawing trade interest. Despite his insistence that he would like to remain in New York, the one-year extension he signed this off-season said otherwise. The rebuilding Rangers are likely to deal Hayes, one of many younger centers on the roster, before he has the chance to walk as a free agent. Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos reports that many teams already have their eye on Hayes, implying that he may not last until the NHL Trade Deadline. Kypreos specifically names the Winnipeg Jets as a team in need of a center, after Paul Stastny’s unexpected departure this summer has left them short-handed down the middle. However, the Jets are not alone in that predicament; after losing Riley Nash to free agency and a failed preseason competition for the spot, the Boston Bruins could very much use a rental player at third-line pivot, while the trades of three different centers away from the club this summer has left the Arizona Coyotes thin at the position. These are just three of what is likely to be a list of more than a dozen suitors for the Rangers to choose between. Hayes’ days are numbered in New York.
- One name that could be a sneaky candidate to be the first notable trade victim of the regular season is Los Angeles Kings forward Tanner Pearson. The Kings are floundering this season, holders of the worst record in the Western Conference, and Pearson has been part of the problem. The 26-year-old winger has just one point through ten games and has looked like a shell of himself. In Pearson’s defense, the Kings have also cut his ice time somewhat and relegated him to the fourth line for a while, but only as a result of his poor performance. Yet, Pearson has totaled 36 points or more in each of the past three year and is quietly a very strong two-way player. It would not be a shock to see Pearson right the ship with a change of scenery, but the Kings would have to ensure that they don’t sell too low on the well-rounded forward. Trade inquiries come with the territory of a basement record though and L.A., needing to shake things up, may soon be tempted to give Pearson away for the right price.
Metropolitan Notes: Johnson, Ferland, Boyd, Mayfield
Ever since the injury to defenseman Justin Schultz, there have been rumors that the Pittsburgh Penguins may have to upgrade their defense if they wanted to make a serious run for a Stanley Cup. Regardless, Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford stated that the team has enough depth to fill the hole in their defense from within.
Yet rumors continued, especially after defenseman Jack Johnson was found to be on the ice for five goals against in their 6-5 overtime victory Tuesday against the Edmonton Oilers. Again, fans began clamoring to get help to lessen the role of Johnson, after he signed a questionable five-year, $16.25MM deal in the offseason. However, head coach Mike Sullivan was quick to come to Johnson’s defense, according to Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
“The reality is when you break down the involvement of those goals, he had no responsibility for any of those goals-against,” Sullivan said of Johnson’s performance against the Oilers. “He just happened to be on the ice for them. We try to look at the game a whole lot closer than the fact that guy is on the ice when a goal is scored because a lot can happen in a team game.”
Rutherford furthered that notion by reiterating that the team intends to stand pat with regards to adding more defense.
“I certainly don’t see us having to go get another defenseman with the group of guys we have,” Rutherford said. “We have guys in Wilkes-Barre who can come in and play on top of who we have here.”
- While the Carolina Hurricanes made a number of moves this offseason, the team may be most happy with the play of Micheal Ferland, who came over in the trade with the Calgary Flames during the offseason. While the team’s main reason to bringing Ferland in was to add some toughness to a team that lacked it a year ago, the team seems to be getting quite a bit more than that out of him, according to Chip Alexander of the News & Observer. Ferland has found a place on the team’s top line with Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen, and has a team-high six goals, along with 10 points. If Ferland keeps that up, he could break his career-high of 21 goals this season.
- NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti writes Washington Capitals head coach Todd Reirden said that Travis Boyd will have some tests tomorrow to determine the progress of his injury when he sustained a lower-body injury during training camp and was placed on LTIR. Because he was placed on LTIR, he was forced to miss 10 games, meaning he can be activated now if he’s healthy. “We’ll have him checked out again tomorrow and then see how close he is to being able to play as soon as Thursday,” Reirden said (via NBC Sports J.J. Regan). “But we still need to get some tests done and see exactly where he’s at. He’s been coming along and for the most part seems to be fairly pain-free.” Boyd made eight appearances with the Capitals last year and was battling with Nic Dowd for the fourth-line center position, but lost that job after getting injured.
- New York Islanders head coach Barry Trotz said that perhaps the biggest surprise on the roster has been the play of defenseman Scott Mayfield, according to Newsday’s Andrew Gross. The 26-year-old has a goal and five points in seven games this season, but has really impressed the coach with his play even though Trotz admitted that he got off to a slow start at training camp.
Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser Return To Canucks
The Vancouver Canucks will have not one, but two young starts back in their lineup tonight. Head coach Travis Green announced that both Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser will make their returns from injury for the game this evening. Pettersson has been activated from the injured reserve, which he landed on nearly two weeks ago after suffering a concussion. It is a relatively quick recovery from what looked like a bad head injury on a dirty play. Boeser has missed the past two games for the Canucks with a groin injury, but fortunately is back sooner than expected as well.
Boeser, of course, is Vancouver’s reigning rookie standout, finishing second in Calder Trophy voting last season and being named an All-Star. Boeser notched 29 goals and 55 points in 62 games to lead the Canucks in scoring, despite missing 20 games. The University of North Dakota product has been off that same pace early this year, recording six points through nine games, but the hope is that any lingering injuries are behind him and he can get back to 30-goal form. However, Pettersson, the team’s newest rookie phenom, is around to pick up the slack and more. The fifth overall pick in 2017, Pettersson was off to a hot start prior to his injury, with five goals and eight points in five games. If the skilled Swede is truly past his concussion, he should get right back to tormenting the opposition.
The Canucks could not have asked for better timing to get their dynamic young duo back in action. The team recently suffered additional injuries to Alexander Edler and Sven Baertschi, who both landed on injured reserve, and are still without Jay Beagle. On top of that, Green revealed that top defenseman Chris Tanev will also be sidelined tonight. At 6-5, the Canucks have managed well enough considering their injuries, but have not won a game in regulation in more than two weeks. Vancouver especially needed help as soon as possible as they get set to face the Pittsburgh Penguins tonight and hope that Pettersson and Boeser can bring the offense needed to keep up with the Eastern Conference powerhouse.
Crawford, Murray, Andersen, Quick All Set To Return From Injury
The goaltending position will get a little stronger today, as three top options return to their respective teams. Matt Murray and Frederik Andersen will both be back in the net as the Pittsburgh Penguins and Toronto Maple Leafs face off, while Jonathan Quick has been activated in Los Angeles. Still, the biggest news of the day lies in Chicago. Blackhawks goaltender Corey Crawford will make his first start since December 23, 2017 when he takes on the Arizona Coyotes at home. Luke Johnson has been sent to the minor leagues by the Blackhawks in order to activate Crawford to the roster.
Getting Crawford back is a huge step for the Blackhawks, who have looked unlike their championship selves since their starting goaltender went down. The veteran netminder was dealing with a concussion and related symptoms for months, but appeared in training camp hopeful he could return to action quickly this season. That’s about to happen, and it will be an exciting moment for teammates and fans alike. Crawford holds a career .919 save percentage and actually was in the midst of one of the best seasons of his career when he suffered the injury. The team has not received quality goaltending from Cam Ward after signing him this offseason to a one-year, $3MM deal, and may end up waiving Anton Forsberg if Crawford can re-take ownership of the net.
For Toronto getting Andersen back is extremely important, given the lack of goaltending depth they suddenly find themselves with. Kasimir Kaskisuo, the default third stringer since Curtis McElhinney and Calvin Pickard were claimed off waivers, suffered a serious injury recently with the Toronto Marlies and will be out for a fair amount of time, while minor league backup Jeff Glass is on an AHL deal. That meant young Eamon McAdam was the backup recently and just one more injury from being the stater for the Maple Leafs.
Quick and Murray both represent returns to normalcy for their respective teams, but both of their replacements did well in their absence. Jack Campbell in Los Angeles posted a .922 save percentage in his five games, while Casey DeSmith did the same in his three starts for Pittsburgh. There’s no reason to think Quick or Murray will suffer another injury quickly, but if they do the team at least knows there are capable backups behind them.
Minor Transactions: 10/17/18
Lots of activity on the waiver wire today was followed by some minor moves, and we’ll keep track of all of them right here:
- The New York Islanders have sent Stephen Gionta back to the AHL now that Casey Cizikas is ready to return to action. Gionta recently cleared waivers after being signed by the Islanders, and will likely be a common call-up this season. The 35-year old forward played one game with New York, but will report to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers to continue his professional career for now.
- Sheldon Rempal is on his way up to join the Los Angeles Kings after his outstanding start at the AHL level. The former Clarkson University forward has eight points through his first four professional games, and has impressed enough to be recalled to the NHL. The Kings have already had trouble scoring this season, and the 23-year old Rempal could add some offensive punch to the lineup if he can make it in.
- After being recalled yesterday to maximize the cap flexibility of placing Justin Schultz on long-term injured reserve, Jeff Taylor has been returned to the minor leagues by the Pittsburgh Penguins. The move was just a paper transaction to help the Penguins with their salary situation, and Taylor was never intended to play in the NHL at this point.
- Eamon McAdam has been returned to the minor leagues, indicating that Frederik Andersen is ready to get back on the ice for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Interestingly, McAdam has been sent to the AHL this time instead of the ECHL where he’d been playing, meaning Kasimir Kaskisuo is likely still out with the injury he suffered on the weekend. McAdam didn’t get into a game for the Maple Leafs, but was just a Garret Sparks injury away from making his NHL debut.
- Libor Sulak has been sent to the AHL by the Detroit Red Wings, despite the young defenseman playing relatively well in his first taste of NHL action. The Red Wings will activate Trevor Daley to take his spot, but there is a bright future for Sulak with the team.
- The Minnesota Wild have recalled veteran Matt Read from the AHL to replace Matt Hendricks, who is headed for injured reserve. Read, 32, was signed to a one-year two-way contract in the summer but failed to make the club out of training camp. He’ll try to stake a claim to a fourth line spot while Hendricks is out, and show that he can still be a valuable NHL player.
Penguins Aren’t Planning To Trade For A Defenseman Following Justin Schultz’s Injury
Although the Penguins will be without one of their top defensemen for the next four months after Justin Schultz underwent surgery to repair a fracture in his left leg, don’t expect the team to quickly try to fill his vacancy on the trade market. Speaking with Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, GM Jim Rutherford indicated that they plan to give their remaining players a chance to fill that vacancy first before considering making a move:
“We’ll deal with it from within. It won’t be any different than anything else. If our team doesn’t play as well as we’d like, then we have to consider other options. At this point in time, we have guys who certainly deserve that opportunity.”
Pittsburgh will likely be leaning on Olli Maatta to take on a larger role although he is off to a bit of a slow start this season and was a healthy scratch at one point last week. It will also give them an opportunity to really evaluate newcomer Juuso Riikola, who had a strong showing in training camp but has only played in a couple of games so far. Jamie Oleksiak, a scratch over the weekend, should also slide back into the lineup and the Penguins will have to go to more of a by-committee approach on their back end, something they’ve had success with in the past. However, with just one right-shooting defender in their top-six, they’ll be asking a couple of those players to play on their off-side.
As is often the case at this time of the year, cap space is limited for Pittsburgh as they can only take on a contract that’s just below $800K at this time, per CapFriendly. As that basically amounts to the cost of an injury recall from the minors, they’d basically have to try to offset salaries if they wanted to make a move at this point. While Schultz is eligible for LTIR which would enable them to go over the Upper Limit for the time being, they’d need to get back into compliance before they could activate him. Accordingly, they likely won’t want to add significant salary this early, knowing that it could complicate things down the road when Schultz is ready to return.
The Penguins have quietly built up some extra depth on their back end in recent years. Those additions are going to prove to be vital over these next few months.
Minor Transactions: 10/15/18
A new week of NHL action is on the docket, with four games set for tonight. Teams will need to adjust their roster for their next test, and we’ll be right here keeping track of all the minor moves.
- The Pittsburgh Penguins have just one regulation win through their first four games, but seem to have gotten some good news today. The team has returned Tristan Jarry to the minor leagues after serving as an emergency call-up, and brought up recently waived Derek Grant to fill in. That surely means that Matt Murray is ready to return to action after suffering a concussion recently. Murray backed up Casey DeSmith this weekend, and is key to the Penguins’ hopes this season.
- Adam Gaudette has indeed been recalled by the Vancouver Canucks to replace Elias Pettersson on the roster, while the young forward deals with a concussion. Gaudette has four points in four games with the Utica Comets of the AHL this season, after signing and making his debut at the end of last year with the Canucks. The fifth-round pick is an exciting prospect for Vancouver, who dominated at the college level with Northeastern.
- After losing Marko Dano on waivers the Winnipeg Jets have activated Nic Petan from the non-roster list. Petan is still looking to break through and establish himself as a full-time NHL player with the Jets, but can’t seem to find much production thus far in his career. With Dano out of the way there is one less obstacle, but he’ll still need to improve his overall play.
- The San Jose Sharks have sent Dylan Gambrell back to the AHL, in order to get the young forward on the ice. He hadn’t yet suited up with the Sharks, but will now get another chance to play with the San Jose Barracuda, where he scored three points in his debut this season. Gambrell is a very interesting prospect for the Sharks who was one of the top playmakers in the country at the collegiate level, but is still waiting on his first NHL point.
- The St. Louis Blues will inject some youth and energy into their lineup, swapping out a veteran grinder for a young power forward. CapFriendly reports that the team has reassigned Chris Thorburn, while recalling Zach Sanford. Thorburn, in his fourteenth season in the NHL, is a serviceable checking line player, but at 35 has slowed down significantly and is no longer much of a two-way threat. He had skated in just one game for the Blues so far this year. Meanwhile, Sanford did not play in the NHL last season, missing most of the year due to injury, but now healthy has looked impressive in training camp and through four games with the AHL’s San Antonio Rampage. In his rookie season with the Blues and Washington Capitals in 2017-18, Sanford scored at a pace comparable to the best seasons of Thorburn’s career and should be a noticeable offensive upgrade over the older forward.
- Joseph Blandisi has been recalled by the Anaheim Ducks, CapFriendly reports. The former New Jersey Devils prospect played in three games for the Ducks last season, but hopes to stick around longer this year. Blandisi notched two assists in his first three games with the AHL’s San Diego Gulls this season.
Justin Schultz Out Four Months Following Surgery
The news has come down on Justin Schultz, and it’s not good. The Pittsburgh Penguins today announced that Schultz underwent surgery to repair his broken left leg, and will be out four months. Schultz suffered the injury against Montreal on Saturday, and will now be out for a good part of the 2018-19 season.
The Penguins have already been dealing with the poor early play of Olli Maatta, and haven’t found a ton of consistency out of any of their defensemen other than Kris Letang and Brian Dumoulin. The pressure to perform will be even greater now with Schultz sidelined until at least February, and it means once again players will likely have to line up on their off side. Schultz was one of just two full-time right-handed options for the Penguins, and had also received time on the powerplay. That role may now end up going to Jack Johnson, but the team could also experiment with young Juuso Riikola, who has impressed through two games.
Either way this is a tough break for a defensive unit that has not exactly been the picture of health over the last few years. While Letang is an excellent player, he’s also played in more than 80 games just once in his entire career, and has had several serious injury and health concerns. With him logging more than 26 minutes a night, the Penguins are playing with fire as they try to get back to the postseason. Schultz’ injury puts more pressure on the young options to step up and help Letang and Dumoulin on a nightly basis, or GM Jim Rutherford may have to go out and make another addition.