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Alex Tuch

Injury Notes: Tuch, Johns, Hayton

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Although the nature of his injury remains a complete mystery, Vegas Golden Knights forward Alex Tuch is headed to the injured reserve. The team announced this evening that the young power forward has been placed on IR, but did not add any further detail to the release. Tuch’s unavailability paired with the recent demotions of Daniel Carr and Curtis McKenzie leaves the Knights with just twelve healthy forwards and an open roster spot heading into their opener, indicating that the team will soon name a replacement to the roster, likely a recall from the AHL’s Chicago Wolves. Meanwhile, Tuch is eligible to return on October 8th, when Vegas travels to his hometown Buffalo Sabres. The Golden Knights will try to get Tuch back to full strength as soon as possible, as the 22-year-old recorded 37 points in his first full NHL season last year and appears primed for a breakout campaign in 2018-19.

  • The Dallas Stars clarified the status of defenseman Stephen Johns today, while also shedding light on their recent acquisition of fellow right-handed defenseman Connor Carrick. Sportsday’s Matthew DeFranks writes that Johns has been dealing with post-traumatic headaches over the past few weeks and the condition has landed him on the injured reserve. While head coach Jim Montgomery indicated that Johns could return to practice as soon as Wednesday – he has only practiced once since September 16th – but there is no timeline for his return to game action. The team will likely take it slow while Johns works through a sensitive diagnosis and in the meantime Carrick can help to pick up the slack. Johns was one of Dallas’ more consistent blue liners last season and the team will welcome him back when he is ready to go. Outside of Johns and forward Valeri Nichushkin, out day-to-day with a lower body injury, the Stars have had good luck with injuries in camp and enter the regular season with a solid depth chart of healthy players.
  • Last week, we noted that the Arizona Coyotes had reached the maximum of 50 contracts for the organization and had technically exceeded the limit with entry-level contracts for Barrett Hayton and Pierre-Olivier Joseph. However, the two youngsters were expected to be returned to juniors which would discount their contracts against the limit. While Joseph has returned to the QMJHL’s Charlottetown Islanders, Hayton has in fact been officially named to the opening night roster, the team announced. How does such a move work? Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that Hayton will not count against the contract limit until he has played in the minimum ten games for his contract to toll. As such, Hayton’s stay in the desert could be predetermined to just a short nine-game stint. However, if he wins a long-term spot on the roster, the Coyotes will be pressed to trade away one or more players under contract to make space. Why give Hayton this chance considering their roster inflexibility? Arizona is currently dealing with a laundry list of injuries, with Alex Galchenyuk, Christian Dvorak, and Josh Archibald on injured reserve and Nick Merkley additionally sidelined. The recent first-round pick may present the best opportunity in the system to make up for these losses.

Pacific Notes: Brannstrom, Goldobin, Rattie, Suomela

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The Vegas Goldent Knights are in a much different situation than they were a season ago when there were little to no expectations in front of them. The team made the decision to protect their young prospects, returning them all to juniors as well as sending several key prospects such as Shea Theodore and Alex Tuch to the Chicago Wolves of the AHL at the start of the season to protect as many of their players as possible.

However, this year looks like a whole different story. With the team without Nate Schmidt for 20 games and Theodore, who is holding out without a contract, there are many opportunities available to their young defensive prospects and several of them remain in camp, including Erik Brannstrom, Nicolas Hague and Jake Bischoff and it’s possible the team may keep one of them. Ken Boehlke of SinBin Vegas writes that head coach Gerard Gallant may have tipped his hand when asked about the prospects today.

“It’s always been we’re taking our best players,” said Gallant. “It’s not like the situation we had last year, if that’s what your trying to get to, it’s not like that situation, we want to win it’s a completely different scenario than it was last year.”

At the moment, the scribe writes that Brannstrom, the Golden Knights’ 15th-overall pick in 2017 is the leading candidate to win a NHL job. However, Hague, the team’s second-rounder in 2017, has also been extremely impressive on the power play.

  • J.D. Burke of The Athletic (subscription required) released his stock report and writes that Vancouver Canucks winger Nikolay Goldobin has really impressed the team in the preseason and has his stock soaring high. The winger had a strong end-run with the Canucks late last season and the team had hoped that the 22-year-old might continue that streak this year. Goldobin has thrived on the team’s first line next to rookie Elias Pettersson and veteran Sven Baertschi. He’s improved his play and has proven to be both fitter and faster this season.
  • Terry Jones of the Edmonton Sun writes that the Edmonton Oilers should be happy with the impressive play of many of their young wingers, including Ty Rattie, Kailer Yamamoto and Jesse Puljujarvi. Rattie may be the most impressive player so far as the 25-year-old has potted four goals and three assists in just two preseason games and is expected to play on the team’s first line alongside Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins when the regular season begins.
  • When the San Jose Sharks included center Chris Tierney in the Erik Karlsson trade with the Ottawa Senators, it opened up a spot in the Sharks lineup and two youngsters are quietly fighting hard for that center position, according to The Mercury News’ Curtis Pashelka. Both Antti Suomela and Rourke Chartier have been impressive in recent preseason games as Suomela had two goals and an assist in his second preseason game on Thursday, while Chartier has had a goal and three assists in two games. Suomela came over from Finland’s Liiga after posting 43 goals over the last two seasons there. Cartier suffered through an injury-plagued season with the San Jose Barracuda in which he played in just 28 games, but still produced 21 points in that time.

Snapshots: Stastny, Hextall, Klefbom

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The Vegas Golden Knights may have lost a pair of high-end forwards in James Neal and David Perron, but the team did bring in an important free agent this offseason when they signed center Paul Stastny to a three-year deal. The 32-year-old center showed off his impressive skills after he was traded to the Winnipeg Jets from St. Louis at the trade deadline. Stastny was given the role of anchoring a line with their star youngsters’ Patrik Laine and Nikolaj Ehlers and that line was a key part of the team’s deep playoff run, before being eliminated by Vegas.

Now ironically in Vegas and expected to center the team’s second line, Stastny said he spends a lot of his offseason training much differently considering that he’s entering that portion of a players’ career where a decline begins. Stastny told The Athletic’s Ryan Clark (subscription required) that he spends a lot of time focusing on off-ice things, especially his diet.

“Trying to keep up with your diet, trying to stay lean, trying to stay quick because as you get older, you might lose that step,” Stastny said. “The game’s changed from my first year where it was a lot heavier, stronger, touch and grabbing to know where it’s just not as much physical. A lot more skating and you gotta keep with that endurance as much as you can.”

Stastny, who posted 16 goals and 53 points between St. Louis and Winnipeg, expects to join the team’s second line between Alex Tuch and either Erik Haula or Tomas Tatar.

  • David Isaac of the Courier Post interviewed Philadelphia Flyers head coach Ron Hextall, who said in the Q&A that the team looked into upgrading their bottom-six this year in hopes of improving their penalty kill, which struggled last year, but felt they were unable to do that. The special teams’ unit played better over the final 25 games, according to Hextall, but he would still like to add a penalty killing forward, if possible. “I’m open to it, but it would probably be more of a lateral move on the market rather than a free agent,” Hextall said. “It would be a forward. We’d like to add a penalty-killing forward but to this point there’s been nothing there that’s made enough sense for us to move.”
  • The Edmonton Journal’s Kurt Leavins wonders if this is the year that defenseman Oscar Klefbom puts it all together, especially now that reports are coming in that say he’s 100 percent already with just a couple of weeks before training camp. The 25-year-old had a breakout season in 2016-17 when he tallied 12 goals and 38 points, but struggled through an injury-plagued 2017-18. Now healthy, the scribe believes this is the year he takes that next step.

What To Expect From Tomas Tatar In 2018-19

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A seemingly innocuous interview with Vegas Golden Knights free agency prize Paul Stastny actually ended up revealing quite a lot about the strange state of one of his new teammates. SinBin’s Ken Boehlke writes that Stastny, while appearing on the Golden Knight’s podcast, was asked who he believes his line mates could be this season. His answer: Alex Tuch and Erik Haula. Stastny made no mention of Vegas’ big trade deadline acquisition, Tomas Tatar, and Boehlke infers that this could mean trouble for the young forward moving forward.

If Stastny’s prediction proves true, then he, Tuch, and Haula would join the surefire top line of William Karlsson between Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith in the Knights’ top six. That would leave Tatar with a bottom-six role and Vegas is not exactly shaping up to have an offensively inclined group in that bottom half. Tatar will be joined by veteran grinders Ryan Reaves, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, and William Carrier who all seem slotted for a fourth line role. That would leave Tatar with Cody Eakin and one of a number of prospects or fringe players on the third line. Among the candidates are Oscar Lindberg, Tomas Nosek, Ryan Carpenter, Daniel Carr, Tomas Hyka, and Curtis McKenzie. None of that group truly inspires confidence as the final piece of the line with Tatar and Eakin. This begs the question: what role does Tatar have on this team?

Even if you don’t put much stock in Stastny’s comments, there is no doubting that Tatar has been less than impressive since being traded to Vegas from the Detroit Red Wings. The three-time 45+ point scorer only registered six points in 20 games down the stretch for the Knights and was a frequent healthy scratch in the postseason, adding just two points in eight games. Tatar is a strong possession player who has proven to be a capable goal scorer in the past, but lacks the two-way game to make a living in a checking role. At $5.3MM, in addition to the trade cost of three high draft picks, it is hard to imagine that Vegas wants to play him in that role either. Tatar needs to find a fit on this roster, either on the second line with Stastny or as a transformative presence on the third line. The Golden Knights are far more shallow up front this season than they were last year and can hardly afford to deal with ineffective or inconsistent play from their biggest trade investment to date. If Tatar does struggle, he may easily wind up wearing out his welcome with the Knights as he did with the Red Wings.

Salary Cap Deep Dive: Vegas Golden Knights

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Navigating the Salary Cap is probably one of the more important tasks for any general manager to have. Teams that can avert total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful. Those that don’t see struggles and front office changes.

PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation heading into the 2018-19 season. This will focus more on those players who are integral parts of the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL. All cap figures are courtesy of CapFriendly.

Vegas Golden Knights

Current Cap Hit: $70,812,500 (under the $79.5MM Upper Limit)

Entry-Level Contracts

F Alex Tuch (One year remaining, $925K)
D Zach Whitecloud (Two years remaining, $925K)

Among the many things that went right for Vegas was the play of Tuch, who was a surprise in training camp and quickly earned himself a full-time role. The 6-foot-4, 222-pound winger had an impressive rookie season with the Golden Knights, scoring 15 goals and 37 points with much of his playing time coming with the team’s third line. He only improved over time, showing an ability to get into the corners and extend offensive opportunities for the team. He tallied six goals in the playoffs as well, which allowed the Golden Knights to let go veterans James Neal and David Perron, knowing that the 22-year-old Tuch is ready to take his game to the next level. With one year remaining on his entry-level deal, expect him to become a key restricted free agent for the team next season.

Potential Bonuses

Tuch: $93K
Whitecloud: $93K

Total: $186K

One Year Remaining, Non Entry-Level

F William Karlsson ($5.25MM, RFA)
D Nate Schmidt ($2.23MM, UFA)
F Oscar Lindberg ($1.7MM, UFA)
D Deryk Engelland ($1.5MM, UFA)
F Pierre-Edouard Bellemare ($1.45MM, UFA)
F Tomas Nosek ($963K, RFA)
F Ryan Carpenter ($650K, UFA)
D Brad Hunt ($650K, UFA)
G Malcolm Subban ($650K, RFA)

The most important piece the Vegas Golden Knights need to lock up is Karlsson, who just signed a one-year deal with Vegas Saturday. However, now the team has just one year to lock up Karlsson, the team’s top scorer, to a long-term extension. Less than a year, actually, as the team can’t agree to an extension until Jan. 1, 2019. That gives Vegas time to see how 25-year-old will respond in his second year. After piling up 43 goals last season (and seven more in the playoffs), the team wants to see that he can put up similar numbers before handing him a major deal considering the most he’s ever scored in his NHL career was nine goals.

The team will also have to lock up the speedy Schmidt, as well to a long-term deal at some point. The 27-year-old was a key figure on the Golden Knights defense, posting career highs of five goals and 36 points, but also showed his mettle in the playoffs, putting up another three goals and seven points. He could easily get a similar deal to the one that Miller signed with the team (four years, $15.5MM) earlier in the offseason. With an influx of prospects likely to hitting the team for the 2019-20 season, several veterans will have to prove they deserve new contracts this coming  year, including Lindberg, Bellemare, Engelland, Carpenter, Hunt and Subban, although unless someone has a breakout year, none should cost the team too much.

Two Years Remaining

F David Clarkson ($5.25MM, UFA)
F Cody Eakin ($3.85MM, UFA)
F Ryan Reaves ($2.78MM, UFA)
F Erik Haula ($2.75MM, UFA)
D Nick Holden ($2.2MM, UFA)
D Jonathon Merrill ($1.38MM, UFA)
F William Carrier ($725K, RFA)

The team likely will have to pay up if they want to keep Haula. The team’s second-line center may move to the third line now that the team locked up Stastny to a free agent deal. However, if Huala can continue to produce like he did last season, the 27-year-old should be able to fetch a nice contract. He had a career-high in goals last season as he scored 29 and 55 points.

The team should also recoup some of their losses as well in two years as Clarkson’s deal will expire, so that will free up $5.25MM for the team as the team currently has to wait till the start of the season before they can place his contract on LTIR. Others like Eakin and Reaves will likely have to earn another deal over the next two seasons. Both had solid showings for Vegas this year, but will have to prove their consistency. While Reaves deal looks overpaid on paper, the team opted to give him three years worth of money as long as he only signed for two years.

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Pacific Notes: Sutter, Karlsson, Talbot, Stone, McPhee

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Much of the attention that has come towards the Vancouver Canucks this offseason either fell to their plethora of prospects, many of which seem to be ready to contribute next season, or their highly criticized signings of Jay Beagle, Antoine Roussel and Tim Schaller on the first day of free agency (not including the resignation of Trevor Linden). Regardless, The Athletic’s J.D. Burke (subscription required) writes that forgotten man Brandon Sutter’s stock is definitely heading up this season.

The 29-year-old forward has provided the Canucks with a physical and defensive presence, but hasn’t been required to show his offensive skills. Suddenly, with scoring becoming a great team need and the addition of players like Beagle, Roussel and Schaller, the opportunity to play a more offensive role is suddenly in front of him.

One suggestion is to have Sutter center the team’s second line with Elias Pettersson playing next to him to start the season. Then once, Pettersson has adjusted to North American play, allow the two to switch places.

  • After signing a one-year deal for $5.25MM this morning, Vegas Golden Knights center William Karlsson remained positive about staying in Las Vegas long-term, according to Jesse Granger of the Las Vegas Sun. He hopes he can duplicate the 43-goal season from last year, which should hand him the long-term deal he wants when he goes through restricted free agency again next season. “In an ideal world I would’ve liked a long term deal, but I like to bet on myself and that’s what this is. Now I can go prove myself,” Karlsson said.
  • The Edmonton Sun’s Robert Tychkowski interviewed Edmonton Oilers goaltender Cam Talbot about the team’s signing of Mikko Koskinen to a one-year, $2.5MM deal. Koskinen is likely to take a much bigger role than the 15 games that Talbot didn’t play in. That signing likely had something to do with Talbot’s on-ice struggles as he went from a 2.39 GAA and a .919 save percentage in 2016-17 to a 3.02 GAA and a .909 save percentage. However, Talbot welcomes the challenge. “I like the competition,” Talbot said. “I enjoy it. It pushes everyone to be better. Maybe it will take a little bit of the starts away from me and I can be at the top of my game.”
  • The Athletic’s Kent Wilson (subscription required) writes that the Calgary Flames made a poor move last offseason when they signed defenseman Michael Stone to a three-year, $10.5MM deal. The veteran defenseman was thought to be a top-four defenseman, but once the team added Travis Hamonic via trade, Stone was sent to the team’s third pairing and truly struggled last year. Now, with $7MM remaining on his deal over the next two years, Stone stands in the way of multiple young defenseman, including Rasmus Andersson. With little trade value, things could get ugly at some point in the next year.
  • In another tweet, Granger interviewed Vegas Golden Knights general manager George McPhee about the talent at the forward position. The team added center Paul Stastny, but lost two quality players in James Neal and David Perron. Despite the losses, the team has several in-house candidates like Alex Tuch and Tomas Tatar ready to step up. “I like where we are, but if there’s an opportunity to upgrade at the forward position at any time over the next year we will,” McPhee said.

Vegas Golden Knights Building Winner From Within

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The Vegas Golden Knights had an incredible season last year, but with just one offseason between a Stanley Cup Finals appearance, there are many who feel that the Golden Knights fortunes are folding. A recent poll by PHR that asked what NHL playoff team won’t make the playoffs next year has the Vegas Golden Knights receiving the most votes after the team allowed James Neal and David Perron to walk away this offseason. Much of that has to do with Neal’s 25 goals last year, while Perron himself contributed 50 assists in Vegas.

Yet, the Vegas Golden Knights, aside from signing center Paul Stastny to a three-year deal, have made it clear they don’t want to be locked into long-term deals and would prefer to see their young players continue to grow. That’s why the team let Neal go to Calgary for five years and Perron to St. Louis for four. Instead, the team feels they can build from within. The only reason that Vegas didn’t trade Neal and Perron away at the trade deadline is the team decided they would use them as their own rental players, which seemed to have worked as they went to the finals.

While the team probably has to wait another year for their top prospects in Cody Glass, Nick Suzuki, Erik Brannstrom and Nicolas Hague to start paying dividends for the team, the Golden Knights already have two players in place who they know are ready to take that next step as the team expects to move Alex Tuch and Tomas Tatar up to the second line, according to Gary Lawless of NHL.com.

Tuch, who came over in a trade with the Minnesota Wild in an expansion draft deal, played a big role on the team’s third line last year and often got playing time on the second line while Neal and/or Perron were injured. The 22-year-old winger is eight years younger than Neal as well as two inches taller. Tuch posted 15 goals, playing just almost two minutes less than Neal. Tuch’s 37 points was just seven shy of Neal’s totals of 44 points. And Tuch doesn’t have Neals’ injury issues, which kept the veteran out of 11 games last season.

Tatar came over at the trade deadline as the team unloaded a first, second and third-round pick to acquire the 27-year-old winger, but he struggled to adjust to the Golden Knights lineup and found himself a healthy scratch during much of the team’s playoff run and even when he did play, he only saw time on the team’s third line. Regardless, Tatar has proven to be a capable winger, who has tallied 19 goals or more for five straight years. With a full training camp to adjust to the team, it’s extremely likely, he should be able to take a bigger role on Vegas’ second line as well.

Lawless also suggests that fourth-line energizer Tomas Nosek is another candidate to take a larger role next season and could blossom in the right situation. The 25-year-old center has been one of the keys to Vegas’ successful fourth line, but only averaged 11:06 of playing time through the season, posting seven goals. However, his presence is the playoffs suggests he could be ready for an increased role after scoring four goals in 17 games.

Throw in the fact that many of their players are just starting to hit their prime, most of their players should continue to improve and get better.

Western Notes: Niederreiter, Dumba, Golden Knights, Gusev

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The Minnesota Wild were expected to shake things up after another disappointing playoff run and made that clear when they replaced general manager Chuck Fletcher with Paul Fenton. One forgets that Fenton as the assistant to David Poile in Nashville for the past 20 years, has been involved in many blockbuster trades in that time. So, don’t be surprised to see the team make several big moves this offseason.

The Athletic’s Mike Russo (subscription required) delves into several potential trade candidates and what the chances are that Fenton might move them. At the top of the list is winger Nino Niederreiter, who might be the perfect trade candidate. After three 20-goal seasons, Niederreiter came up two goals short this year, but also missed 19 games this year with a high ankle sprain and a broken fibula. Unfortunately, Niederreiter also has struggled in the playoffs recently combining for just one assist in 10 playoff games over the past two seasons. However, the fact that he’s 25 years old and is locked in for another four years at $5.25MM AAV could make him the team’s biggest trade chip. Throw in the fact that Jason Zucker and Zach Parise are listed as the top two left wings on the team, he is expendable.

While he analyzes a number of trade candidates in the article, Russo suggests that despite going well out of their way to protect Mathew Dumba at the expansion draft last season (that cost them Erik Haula and Alex Tuch), Dumba rewarded the team with a career highs in goals and assists with 14 goals and 36 assists. Now a restricted free agent, the team must decide whether Dumba is worth a long-term deal and if not, the Wild might want to move him while his value is high.

  • With the team’s success this year, Vegas Golden Knights general manager George McPhee refers to their 2017 first-round picks, Cody Glass, Nick Suzuki and Erik Brannstrom as “long shots” to making the team next season, according to SinBinVegas. If one of those picks were to make the Golden Knights roster out of training camp, they would have to be “really, really good.” McPhee also said he doesn’t believe teenagers belong in the NHL and the team must take more responsibility to develop their prospects properly. “Smartest thing we can do is take our time and develop them,” McPhee said.
  • Sticking with the Vegas Golden Knights, David Schoen of the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that McPhee said the team continues to pursue Russian winger Nikita Gusev, who the team acquired in an expansion-day deal with the Tampa Bay Lightning last year. The 25-year-old has scored 46 goals and tallied 133 points over the past two seasons in the KHL. He still has one more year remaining on a two-year deal he signed last summer, so the Golden Knights have to wait a while longer. “He’s got another year on his deal and then we’ll see what we can do. He’s a talented guy and we’ll do what we can to get him here. We’ve talked to him, and we’ll continue to talk to him,” McPhee said.

Tomas Tatar Will Play For Golden Knights In Game Four

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The Vegas Golden Knights have made a change up front as they prepare for Game 4 against the Washington Capitals. The team will insert Tomas Tatar into the lineup likely in place of David Perron, while moving Alex Tuch up to the second line. Tatar hasn’t played since the third game against the Winnipeg Jets back on May 16th, but will get a chance to prove himself in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Perron stayed out late after the team’s morning skate and didn’t take line rushes with his usual group. If he’s fully healthy, that’s a tough decision to swallow after putting up 66 points in 70 games this season. Perron was one of the Golden Knights’ most consistent offensive threats prior to the playoffs, but has been held without a goal through 14 contests. Amazingly, that makes it 27-straight playoff games without a goal for Perron, a streak that stretches all the way back to his days with the Anaheim Ducks. He has just three in his entire 56-game playoff career, an improbable stat for a three-time 20-goal man. Perron set a new career-high in assists and points this season and the Golden Knights will need him to be a factor if he gets back into the lineup this series.

For Tatar, a chance is all that he can ask for. After being acquired by the Golden Knights at the trade deadline for a package of draft picks, he was able to score just six points for them in 20 games and has just one in the six playoff contests he’s been a part of. That’s not a good enough return for the assets that Vegas used to get him, especially given their still relatively thin minor league system that needs every pick it can get the next few years. If he wants to put all that behind him, a big performance in a near must-win game for the Golden Knights is a good way to start.

Playoff Notes: Theodore, Lineup Changes, Orpik, Smith-Pelly, Beagle

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Vegas Golden Knights head coach Gerard Gallant showed why he is considered to be a players’ coach when he was asked Sunday about the performance of 22-year-old Shea Theodore, according to the Associated Press’ Stephen Whyno. The young blueliner has struggled mightily in the Stanley Cup Finals, having been on the ice for four of the team’s past six goals. In Game 3 alone, he made a questionable decision that created an odd-man rush on Evgeny Kuznetsov’s goal and then followed that up with a bad turnover that allowed Devante Smith-Pelly to score the goal that sealed the win.

Regardless, despite forcing the youngster to skip one shift, the veteran coach defended his player.

“Did Shea do something real bad? He plays the game like everybody else,” Gallant said Sunday in a passionate defense of Theodore. “He made a couple mistakes, they ended up in the back of our net. A lot of guys make mistakes in hockey games and they don’t end up in the back of the net. Shea’s a 22-year-old kid who I love. He’s a great player. He’s going to be a star in this league.”

Theodore is expected to continue playing next to Deryk Engelland in Game 4. Whyno said that Engelland reassured Theodore and told him to simplify his game.

  • Gallant also said the team might make some lineup changes for Game 4 on Monday. There is lots of speculation the team may bring back wingers William Carrier and Tomas Tatar, who both have played sporadically throughout the playoffs for Vegas. There is also talk the team might shuffle some of their middle lines. The team’s second line of Erik Haula, James Neal and David Perron has struggled in the Stanley Cup Finals. In three games, they have gone for a combined one goal, two assists, 10 shots on goal, 14 shots missed or blocked and a minus-9 rating. NHL Network’s Brian Lawton reports that the team could promote Alex Tuch to the second line in order to change things up.
  • Despite rumors that he suffered a concussion on a reverse hit from Neal, Washington Capitals defenseman Brooks Orpik had the wind knocked out of him, according to Whyno. The veteran defenseman said a concussion was never the issue as he couldn’t breathe initially after the hit. He is expected to be ready for Monday’s Game 4. Orpik was never checked for a concussion and the Washington Post’s Adam Kilgore writes that the NHL failed once again to show the world that they are on top of handling concussions as Orpik was allowed to return immediately on the next shift.
  • Two key contributors for the Capitals in Game 3 were Smith-Pelly, who scored the insurance goal, and Jay Beagle who assisted on two goals as well as had a 61 percent face-off success rate was another key factor for the Capitals. Both will be unrestricted free agents and with the Capitals spending much of their time focused on John Carlson’s upcoming free agency and their lack of salary cap space, one has to wonder whether both Smith-Pelly and Beagle’s strong play might force the team to allow them to leave this offseason.

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