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Central Notes: Heiskanen, Tolvanen, Wallmark

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The Dallas Stars have been working to improve their team this offseason in hopes of getting back to the Stanley Cup Finals once again. However, the team has also had another focus this offseason, which is to free up enough cap room for the 2021-22 offseason when the entry-level contract of defenseman Miro Heiskanen is up and the 21-year-old will be a restricted free-agent who the Stars would like to lock-up long-term.

Heiskanen has been a key reason for the dominant defense that the Stars have used to push their way to the top. The 21-year-old may have only posted 35 points in 68 games last season, but his defense is what makes him special and it is critical to get the blueliner signed to a long-term deal. To free up cap room, the Stars absorbed the full amount of their cap overages ($3.05MM) for next year as opposed to splitting it between the next two years, saving them $1.52MM in cap room for 2021-22 and chose not to buy out any players to keep extra cap penalties away from that year.

Matthew DeFranks of the Dallas Morning News writes that assuming the plan is to sign Heiskanen to a long-term deal, it likely will cost them somewhere between $8-9MM if you compare his deal to that of Ottawa Senators’ defenseman Thomas Chabot, who signed his long-term deal a year ago with an $8MM AAV. Now with newer contracts such as Vegas’ Alex Pietrangelo and Nashville’s Roman Josi, the market seems set for Heiskanen when the two sides can begin negotiating at the start of the 2020-21 season.

  • With the Nashville Predators having moved out quite a few veteran players during the offseason including Mikael Granlund, Kyle Turris, Nick Bonino and Craig Smith, the team looks likely to be forced to insert a number of young players into their lineup to fill it out. While The Athletic’s Adam Vingan (subscription required) writes the team is still working on trying to bring in Mike Hoffman or Anthony Duclair to fill one of those roles, the Predators will be putting quite a bit on the shoulders of Eeli Tolvanen this year. The 2017 first-rounder is a likely candidate to take on a top-six role with the team after sitting in the AHL for the past two seasons. Tolvanen has only appeared in seven NHL games during that time, but after a 21-goal campaign with Milwaukee last season, he is the most likely candidate to step into the lineup, although it isn’t out of the question that 2019 first-rounder Philip Tomasino could also make the team with a strong camp.
  • While he hasn’t been loaned out to a European team, newly signed Lucas Wallmark is training overseas with Bjorkloven of the Allsvenskan, who play in his hometown of Umea in Sweden, according to a report in HockeyNews.se (translation required). Wallmark will practice and train with the team until the NHL season starts. The 25-year-old joined his third time in a year after being traded at the trade deadline to the Florida Panthers as part of the Vincent Trocheck trade and then was not issued a qualifying offer, making him an unrestricted free-agent. He opted to sign with the Blackhawks.

Ten Notable Non-Tenders

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Lost in the shuffle on the marathon second day of the draft is that Wednesday also represented the deadline for qualifying offers to be tendered.  The flattening of the salary cap increased the concerns about salary arbitration which has certainly affected the quality of players that are now set to hit the open market on Friday.  As these players will not be a part of our annual Top-50 UFA Rankings, here’s a rundown of ten notables to keep tabs on over the coming days, listed in alphabetical order.

Andreas Athanasiou (Edmonton)

Back at the trade deadline, the Oilers dealt a pair of second-round picks and Sam Gagner to secure the speedster, one that GM Ken Holland had plenty of familiarity with from his own days with Detroit.  While the winger was having a tough season, he’s only a year removed from a 30-goal campaign.  In a normal salary cap world, his $3MM qualifier would have been tough to swallow but still would have happened.  Instead, he hits the open market with Edmonton not getting much return for those two fairly high picks while becoming an intriguing bounce-back target for some teams.  He won’t get paid like a 30-goal scorer but as a third-liner with upside, he’ll land one of the bigger contracts out of this group of players if not the biggest.

Matt Benning (Edmonton)

There was a time that the Oilers hoped that Benning could step into a role on their second pairing but it didn’t come to fruition.  However, he has been a serviceable third-pairing player over the past few years but a cap-strapped Oilers team couldn’t justify qualifying him at $1.95MM.  Given that he’s a right-handed shot in a market that doesn’t have a lot of them, he should have interest from a few teams.

Nick Cousins (Vegas)

On the surface, a $1MM qualifying offer to a player who had 25 points in 65 games and got into 17 postseason contests doesn’t seem too pricey.  But this is a case where the potential for a higher award through arbitration is a risk that Vegas didn’t want to take with Cousins.  It’s the second-straight year that the 27-year-old was non-tendered for this reason after Arizona did the same thing a year ago.  A versatile depth player, he should be able to land somewhere for around the same contract as he played on this past season.

Anthony Duclair (Ottawa)

Despite finding an opportunity to play a bigger role than he had at any other point in his career, it seems as if Duclair may have overplayed his hand in contract talks.  After scoring 23 goals this season, he opted to represent himself in contract negotiations against the recommendation of GM Pierre Dorion who indicated that a sizable raise was offered before getting to this point.  Still just 25, Duclair becomes a very interesting addition to the open market but having bounced around the league already (he has played for five different teams in six NHL seasons), it’s hard to tell how strong his market may be.

Vinnie Hinostroza (Arizona)

A year ago, it looked like the 26-year-old was set to be a useful part of Arizona’s long-term plans.  He was coming off of a career-best 16-23-39 stat line and was pushing for a spot in their top six.  Things went sideways this year though as he potted just five goals in 68 games which made a $1.5MM qualifier untenable.  Hinostroza could fit on a third line for some teams and should have a fair bit of interest.

Dominik Kahun (Buffalo)

This was one of the more surprising non-tenders of the group.  Although Kahun has just two years of NHL experience, he’s arbitration-eligible since he’s 25.  He followed up a 37-point rookie campaign with 31 points this pandemic-shortened season (including four in six games with Buffalo after being acquired in a deadline day deal from Pittsburgh) while he also missed time with a concussion and a knee injury.  With his point per game average, he played at a 45-point full-season pace.  Buffalo GM Kevyn Adams has indicated they are interested in retaining the winger but if he makes it to the open market, he should be one of the most sought-after players from this list.

Mark Jankowski (Calgary)

While he had shown progress in his development over his first two full NHL seasons, things went off the rails in 2019-20.  Jankowski scored just five times in 56 games and while he wouldn’t have been able to get much more than his $1.75MM qualifier in arbitration, that was still too high of a price tag for Calgary’s liking.  Still just 26, Jankowski now heads to an open market that isn’t exactly loaded in available centers so while a pay cut is likely, he should have no issues finding a new team.

Dominik Simon (Pittsburgh)

A natural center, Simon has spent the majority of his time with Pittsburgh on the wing, playing on all four lines along the way.  While not a gifted point producer, he has surpassed 20 points in each of the last two seasons while posting above-average possession numbers.  Owed a qualifier of less than $800K, the fear of arbitration sealed Simon’s fate on a cap-strapped Penguins squad.

Troy Stecher (Vancouver)

In 2018-19, Stecher looked to be on the verge of securing a spot in Vancouver’s top four after averaging nearly 20 minutes a night and chipping in with 23 points.  But the return of a healthy Chris Tanev and the addition of Tyler Myers helped push the 26-year-old onto the third pairing and a much lower ATOI than usual.  A $2.325MM qualifier is a bit high for someone in that role but there should be a few teams that see him as a potential fourth or fifth option which makes him a notable addition to the UFA market.

Lucas Wallmark (Florida)

One of the notable parts of the Vincent Trocheck deal, Wallmark was coming off of a league-minimum salary which means this non-tender was solely arbitration related.  The 25-year-old only has two full NHL seasons under his belt, putting up 25 and 23 points in each while posting a faceoff percentage that’s a bit above the 50% mark each time.  There is still some upside with Wallmark and with a weak market down the middle, he’ll have no trouble generating interest.

While these players (among the others that were non-tendered) can become unrestricted free agents on Friday, some teams will still be negotiating with their players to try to get them at a lower salary than either their qualifying offer or their expected arbitration salary.  Usually, a handful wind up re-signing so at least for some of these players, their fates may not be completely sealed yet.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Trade Rumors: Ducks, Senators, DeMelo, Duclair

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When action resumes following the All-Star break, it is the unofficial start of NHL Trade Deadline season. In fact, with a relatively early deadline day of February 24th this year, things should pick up sooner rather than later. The Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch came prepared to handle the transition from All-Star exit to trade mania, reporting on a number of situations in his latest “Insider Trading” column. Garrioch begins with the further shift in the status quo of the Anaheim Ducks. Anaheim began the season hoping to return to being contenders with a talented mix of veterans and youngsters. However, it has not played out that way on the ice, as the Ducks hold the second-worst record in the Western Conference. Recently, a report came out that the team was willing to use their cap space to take on bad contracts if it meant that they could add prospects and picks in return. Garrioch now reports that the team is taking it one step further, perhaps in response to winning just three of their past 15 games. He hears from multiple league sources that the Ducks are preparing for a full rebuild and are at least willing to listen on just about every player. For a team with so few valuable impending free agents – Michael Del Zotto and Derek Grant lead the way – this shift in the status quo could make for a much bigger deadline in Anaheim. Ondrej Kase, who has previously been rumored to have fallen out of favor with the team, could be one possible casualty, as could defenseman Josh Manson, who has recently been linked to a few other teams. What about Rickard Rakell, one of the best value contracts in the league and a player that any contender would like to get their hands on? Or long-term players like Cam Fowler, Adam Henrique, and Jakob Silfverberg? Franchise faces Ryan Getzlaf and John Gibson and top defender Hampus Lindholm are likely off the table, but nearly anyone else in Anaheim over the age of 24 appears to be a candidate to move at the right price.

  • Garrioch mentions a number of available players, many of whom won’t comes as much of a surprise, including L.A.’s Tyler Toffoli and Alec Martinez, San Jose’s Brenden Dillon, and the Rangers’ Chris Kreider (if the team can’t re-sign him). However, he states definitively that the New Jersey Devils’ impending UFA’s are also up for grabs. This means Andy Greene, Sami Vatanen, and Wayne Simmonds, three players who many were unsure the Devils would part with, could very well be on new teams in a month’s time. As for teams in the mix, Garrioch claims that the Islanders and Jets are leading the search for defense, while the Bruins, Blues, Flames, and Coyotes are the most eager to add forwards.
  • The Ottawa Senators have ten impending UFA’s on the roster, but not all of them will survive the trade deadline. Garrioch reports that GM Pierre Dorion plans to sit down with each one before the deadline and discuss the possibility of an extension before putting them on the block. At this point in their rebuild, the Senators cannot afford to let valuable players walk away as free agents, meaning the likes of Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Vladislav Namestnikov, Ron Hainsey, Mark Borowiecki, and Dylan DeMelo and more need to have made a decision on their commitment to Ottawa soon or they could be sent packing.
  • On the DeMelo front in particular, Garrioch reports that the Florid Panthers are the leading suitor for the 26-year-old defenseman, should Ottawa opt to move him. He mentions that that the Carolina Hurricanes are another team with definite interest. Garrioch adds that Florida is also looking for a backup goalie, which could potentially put former Panther Craig Anderson on their radar.
  • As for one player who has made up his mind on his future with Ottawa, All-Star Anthony Duclair tells Sportsnet’s Luke Fox that he hopes to re-sign long-term with the Senators. The 24-year-old has excelled since arriving in Ottawa late last season and wants to continue to play a central role for the team through their rebuild:

I just want to focus and really end the season on a positive note like I did last year, and really make a statement to the management and the coaching staff that I want to be a big part of this rebuild. I’m still a young guy. When the change is gonna happen, when Ottawa’s gonna become a contender, I want to be part of that. So I’m working as hard as I can.

2020 NHL All-Star Skills Participants Announced

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Before Saturday’s All-Star Game three-on-three tournament, the NHL’s best will take the ice on Friday night in the annual All-Star Skills event. There has been considerable hype around this year’s competition, given both the new “Shooting Stars” event, in which players will fire the puck at targets on the ice from platforms in the stands, and the participation of stars from the women’s game, including their own three-on-three scrimmage. Now, the league has announced who specifically will be taking part in each event, both new and classic. Below is the lineup for each event:

Fastest Skater

Jack Eichel, Buffalo Sabres
Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche
Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers
Mathew Barzal, New York Islanders
Chris Kreider, New York Rangers
Anthony Duclair, Ottawa Senators
Travis Konecny, Philadelphia Flyers
Quinn Hughes, Vancouver Canucks

Save Streak

David Rittich, Calgary Flames
Tristan Jarry, Pittsburgh Penguins
Jordan Binnington, St. Louis Blues
Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay Lightning
Frederik Andersen, Toronto Maple Leafs
Jacob Markstrom, Vancouver Canucks
Braden Holtby, Washington Capitals
Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets

Accuracy Shooting

Jaccob Slavin, Carolina Hurricanes
Tyler Bertuzzi, Detroit Red Wings
Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton Oilers
Jonathan Huberdeau, Florida Panthers
Nico Hischier, New Jersey Devils
Tomas Hertl, San Jose Sharks
Alex Pietrangelo, St. Louis Blues
Mark Scheifele, Winnipeg Jets

Hardest Shot

Mark Giordano, Calgary Flames
Seth Jones, Columbus Blue Jackets
Shea Weber, Montreal Canadiens
Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay Lightning
Elias Pettersson, Vancouver Canucks
John Carlson, Washington Capitals

Shooting Stars

David Pastrnak, Boston Bruins
Matthew Tkachuk, Calgary Flames
Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks
Tyler Seguin, Dallas Stars
Brady Tkachuk, Ottawa Senators
David Perron, St. Louis Blues
Ryan O’Reilly, St. Louis Blues
Mitch Marner, Toronto Maple Leafs
American Women’s Elite All-Star (TBD)
Canadian Women’s Elite All-Star (TBD)

Women’s Three-On-Three

Team Canada: Meghan Agosta, Mélodie Daoust, Ann-Renée Desbiens, Renata Fast, Laura Fortino, Rebecca Johnston, Sarah Nurse, Marie-Philip Poulin, Natalie Spooner, Blayre Turnbull

Team USA: Kacey Bellamy, Alex Carpenter, Kendall Coyne Schofield, Brianna Decker, Amanda Kessel, Hilary Knight, Jocelyn Lamoureux-Davidson, Annie Pankowski, Alex Rigsby Cavallini, Lee Stecklein

All the action kicks off at 7:00pm local time in St. Louis, with coverage from NBCSN in the U.S and CBC, SN, and TVAS in Canada.

PHWA Announce 2019-20 Midseason Awards

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Though they have no bearing on the eventual winners, each season the Professional Hockey Writers Association vote for the Midseason Awards to give fans an idea of who is leading the charge around the NHL at the halfway point. Today those ballots have been tallied and the midseason trophies were given out:

Hart Trophy – Most valuable player

1. Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers
2. Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche
3. David Pastrnak, Boston Bruins

Norris Trophy – Best defenseman

1. John Carlson, Washington Capitals
2. Roman Josi, Nashville Predators
3. Dougie Hamilton, Carolina Hurricanes

Selke Trophy – Best defensive forward

1. Sean Couturier, Philadelphia Flyers
2. Patrice Bergeron, Boston Bruins
3. Ryan O’Reilly, St. Louis Blues

Calder Trophy – Best rookie

1. Cale Makar, Colorado Avalanche
2. Quinn Hughes, Vancouver Canucks
3. Victor Olofsson, Buffalo Sabres

Lady Byng Trophy – Sportsmanship & gentlemanly conduct

1. Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche
2. Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs
3. Ryan O’Reilly, St. Louis Blues

Vezina Trophy – Best goaltender

1. Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets
2. Ben Bishop, Dallas Stars
3. Darcy Kuemper, Arizona Coyotes

Jack Adams Award – Best coach

1. Mike Sullivan, Pittsburgh Penguins
2. John Tortorella, Columbus Blue Jackets
3. Craig Berube, St. Louis Blues

Jim Gregory GM of the Year Award

1. Joe Sakic, Colorado Avalanche
2. John Chayka, Arizona Coyotes
3. Doug Armstrong, St. Louis Blues

Rod Langway Award – Best defensive defenseman

1. Jaccob Slavin, Carolina Hurricanes
2. Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay Lightning
3. Roman Josi, Nashville Predators

Comeback Player of the Year Award

1. William Nylander, Toronto Maple Leafs
2. Anthony Duclair, Ottawa Senators
3. Max Pacioretty, Vegas Golden Knights

Blue Jackets Notes: Recent Surge, Bjorkstrand, Wennberg

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No team in the NHL is hotter than the Columbus Blue Jackets in the new year. Columbus is 8-2-0 in their past ten games, which includes three shutouts and a pair of wins against the Boston Bruins. The team has now crept their way into the top wild card spot in the Eastern Conference, jumping ahead of the likes of Philadelphia, Carolina, and Toronto. Even more impressive is that the Blue Jackets have made this run while missing many of their best players: starting goaltender Joonas Korpisalo, top scorer Cam Atkinson and fellow forwards Oliver Bjorkstrand, Josh Anderson, and Alexandre Texier, and defensemen Ryan Murray and Dean Kukan. With those players on their way back to health – Atkinson made his return on Thursday – one would think that Columbus has a chance to not only sustain their success, but possibly even improve upon it.

Yet, the question then becomes whether the team can really buy in to this season after the events of 2018-19. Last year, the Blue Jackets went all in, trading away Anthony Duclair, two top forward prospects, a first-round pick, two second-round picks, and three additional picks to load up with rentals Matt Duchene, Ryan Dzingel, Adam McQuaid, and Keith Kinkaid. The team also opted not to move their own impending free agents in Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky. Although Columbus stunned the Tampa Bay Lightning with a first-round sweep, the first playoff series win in franchise history, they fell in the second round and lost each of those six free agents in the off-season. If the Blue Jackets are again in a position only to battle for a wild card spot down the stretch, can the team risk another season of lost prospects and draft capital? Only time will tell how long the team can continue this dominant stretch and what position they may be in by late next month, but another active trade deadline would be a difficult hit to the team’s pipeline.

  • Columbus’ best bet may be to depend on their internal options to get healthy and play to the best of their abilities. The team announced a step in the right direction today, as Bjorkstrand has been activated from the injured reserve and will return to action for the first time since December 22. Bjorkstrand is actually returning earlier than his expected four-to-six week timeline, healing quickly from broken ribs. Bjorkstrand was on pace for a career year prior to his injury, with 23 points in his first 36 games. The 24-year-old winger was embracing his increased responsibility and Columbus has to hope that he can continue to excel in his elevated role the rest of the year. With Bjorkstrand back, Kevin Stenlund is the odd man out, reassigned to the AHL.
  • If the Blue Jackets are to lean on their existing roster this season for a playoff run, another intriguing situation will be the trade status of Alexander Wennberg. Wennberg has been on the trade block since early last season and in the minds of many hockey pundits remains a player that Columbus would like to move. The young center has not lived up to the long-term extension the team signed him to back in 2017, which carries a $4.9MM cap hit for three more years beyond this season. However, as opposed to last season when Wennberg recorded only 25 points and was scratched a handful of games, Wennberg too has embraced his increased role in the wake of free agent departures and injuries this year. The 25-year-old has played in all but one game for the Blue Jackets, recording 20 points. This puts him on pace for 34 points on the year, a sharp uptick from last season. It also makes him a top-six scoring forward for the team so far this year. Can Columbus afford to move out a player in such an important role this year for only salary cap purposes when they are trying to make it back to the postseason?

NHL All-Star Selections Announced

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Although it took some time, with each individual team rolling out their own selections, the final rosters for All-Star Weekend have come into focus. Below are each of the four divisional team, set to face off in the Skills Competition on Friday, January 24th and the All-Star Game on Saturday, January 25th:

Atlantic Division

G Frederik Andersen, Toronto Maple Leafs
G Tuukka Rask, Boston Bruins
D Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay Lightning
D Shea Weber, Montreal Canadiens
F Tyler Bertuzzi, Detroit Red Wings
F Jack Eichel, Buffalo Sabres
F Anthony Duclair, Ottawa Senators
F Jonathan Huberdeau, Florida Panthers
F Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs
F David Pastrnak, Boston Bruins (C)

Metropolitan Division

G Braden Holtby, Washington Capitals
G Joonas Korpisalo, Columbus Blue Jackets
D John Carlson, Washington Capitals
D Dougie Hamilton, Carolina Hurricanes
D Seth Jones, Columbus Blue Jackets
F Mathew Barzal, New York Islanders
F Jake Guentzel, Pittsburgh Penguins
F Travis Konecny, Philadelphia Flyers
F Kyle Palmieri, New Jersey Devils
F Artemi Panarin, New York Rangers

Central Division

G Jordan Binnington, St. Louis Blues
G Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets
D Roman Josi, Nashville Predators
D Alex Pietrangelo, St. Louis Blues
F Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks
F Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche (C)
F Ryan O’Reilly, St. Louis Blues
F Mark Scheifele, Winnipeg Jets
F Tyler Seguin, Dallas Stars
F Eric Staal, Minnesota Wild

Pacific Division

G Marc-Andre Fleury, Vegas Golden Knights
G Darcy Kuemper, Arizona Coyotes
D Mark Giordano, Calgary Flames
F Logan Couture, San Jose Sharks
F Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton Oilers
F Anze Kopitar, Los Angeles Kings
F Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers (C)
F Elias Pettersson, Vancouver Canucks
F Jakob Silfverberg, Anaheim Ducks
F Matthew Tkachuk, Calgary Flames

Additionally, each divisional squad will have one more addition as decided by the Last Men In fan vote. Voting opens on January 1st and closes on the 10th. Here are the candidates:

Atlantic Division – Patrice Bergeron, Rasmus Dahlin, Dylan Larkin Aleksander Barkov, Max Domi, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Steven Stamkos, Mitch Marner

Metropolitan Division – Teuvo Teravainen, Nick Foligno, Nico Hischier, Brock Nelson, Mika Zibanejad, Claude Giroux, Kris Letang, T.J. Oshie

Central Division – Jonathan Toews, Cale Makar, Jamie Benn, Ryan Suter, Matt Duchene, David Perron Patrik Laine

Pacific Division – Ryan Getzlaf, Clayton Keller, Johnny Gaudreau, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Drew Doughty, Tomas Hertl, Quinn Hughes, Max Pacioretty

What Your Team Is Thankful For: Ottawa Senators

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As the holiday season is upon us, PHR will continue its look at what teams are thankful for as we get closer to the halfway point. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. We’ll examine what’s gone well in the early going and what could improve as the season rolls on for the Ottawa Senators.

What are the Senators most thankful for?

Before the season even started, almost everyone throughout hockey predicated that the Ottawa Senators would finish dead last and have yet another embarrassing season after they finished in 31st place last year with just 64 points, not even close to 30th place.

However, with new head coach D.J. Smith, the team has not been a last place team. Granted the young, rebuilding squad is hardly in a playoff position, but the team has proven that they aren’t a laughing stock anymore as the team is starting to regain respectability and is proving that they are no longer they easy victory they have been in the past. The team is currently in a tie for 26th place in the league with a 16-18-4 overall record and their 36 points is a far cry from the last-place Red Wings, who have just 21 points.

Who are the Senators most thankful for?

The team has gotten a large chunk of their offense from two players who they weren’t expecting to get it from. Anthony Duclair, who was playing for his fifth team already at the young age of 24 and was written off just a season ago by Columbus head coach John Tortorella as someone who can’t play hockey, has been a surprise as the forward looks to have figured things out, having scored 21 goals and 30 points in 38 games. Duclair always had potential as a third-round pick back in 2013 and had a 20-goal season with Arizona during his second NHL season, but fell out of favor and failed to re-establish himself the last few years until now.

The team also has seen center Jean-Gabriel Pageau take another step in his development. Used mainly as a third-line center the last few years, the 27-year-old Pageau has taken on a bigger role this year, having already potted 18 goals and 28 points. He is just one goal away from tying his career high.

What would the Senators be even more thankful for?

The team is loaded with prospects and young talent, but the team has gotten little production so far from them. Several top prospects have played with Ottawa, but few have made any impact. Erik Brannstrom, who was the key piece in the Mark Stone trade, has struggled in 28 games and currently is working on his game in Belleville. Several others, including Logan Brown, Filip Chlapik, J.C. Beaudin, Jonathan Davidsson, Vitaly Abramov, Maxime Lajoie, Max Veronneau and Drake Batherson, have been given opportunities, but none has been able to cement a spot into the team’s permanent rotation yet. The team also has a number of young players thriving in Belleville, including Josh Norris, Rudolfs Balcers and Alex Formenton. If the team can get one or two of those players to step up and establish themselves as top-line players, they would be in a much better state.

What should be on the Senators’ Holiday Wish List?

Goaltending.

While many have been pleased with the play of Anders Nilsson in net for Ottawa, his numbers still haven’t been that impressive for a starting goaltender. The netminder has a 9-9-2 record with a 3.18 GAA and a .908 save percentage, which might work for a backup, but what the Senators really need is to find a starting netminder who can help take the team to that next level. Whether the team could find a trade partner soon or wait to try to pry a goaltender off the free-agent market, the team must find an answer to this problem sooner than later.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Latest On Anthony Duclair

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There has been no bigger story on the Ottawa Senators this season than Anthony Duclair (Thomas Chabot’s heavy usage might be a close second). The 24-year old forward was acquired as part of the return for Ryan Dzingel, but frustrating stints with four teams already in his young career made it hard to expect much of him in Ottawa. Instead, Duclair has completely turned things around and now sits with 21 goals through his first 38 games of 2019-20.

That kind of production is an incredible leap for the young forward, but on a one-year $1.65MM deal it also places a ton of intrigue on his future. The Senators are in an obvious rebuild, but Duclair now represents arguably their best offensive weapon and could be a huge part of their future.

When he got off to his hot start this season, many speculated that Duclair could be another trade chip for the Senators to use for future assets. Not so fast says Darren Dreger of TSN, who examined the situation yesterday:

I supposed there could be the threat of trade–again the Ottawa Senators are still very much in a rebuild format, so they could dangle Anthony Duclair out there. But again, given the offensive production of Anthony Duclair this year it makes sense that the Ottawa Senators will do everything they can up to January 1st, maybe soon after January 1st, to get a contract done.

Earlier in the segment, Dreger suggests that a three-year contract extension could work for both sides given that Duclair is two years away from unrestricted free agency. That would buy out a year of open market value on the young sniper, but also provide him with some security that he hasn’t had so far in his young career.

January 1st is the threshold for anything to get done, as Duclair can’t sign an extension until then given he is currently on a one-year contract. That gives him two more games to continue his torrid scoring pace and provide even more leverage, though you can’t get much hotter than 21 goals in 38 games. That is a full-season pace of 45, nearly equaling the entire rest of his career—Duclair had scored 48 goals before coming to Ottawa, and now has 29 in 59 games between this season and the end of last.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Snapshots: Three Stars, Hall, Kucherov

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The NHL has released their Three Stars for last week, handing out the top spot to Vegas Golden Knights forward Max Pacioretty. In four games the former Montreal Canadiens’ captain had five goals and eight points last week and leads the Golden Knights in both categories on the season.

While Jack Eichel’s continued MVP-level performance has landed him the third star, a new face finds himself in the second spot. Anthony Duclair has risen from the ashes to become a star with the Ottawa Senators and now has 18 goals on the season. The 24-year old has scored 26 goals in 54 games since arriving in Ottawa and now looks ready to land a long-term deal as a restricted free agent this summer.

  • There is still no concrete news on New Jersey Devils forward Taylor Hall and where he’ll end up after the inevitable trade, but Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic (subscription required) is ruling out one team (for the time being). The Florida Panthers have pulled back their pursuit of the scoring winger according to LeBrun—though he notes that things can obviously change at any moment—because the winger doesn’t seem ready to sign an extension with whatever team acquires him. Hall hasn’t played in the Devils’ last two games as the team tries to protect their asset.
  • Nikita Kucherov has been listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury after blocking a John Carlson slapshot over the weekend. Kucherov was forced from the game but seems to have avoided major injury. Head coach Jon Cooper told reporters including Joe Smith of The Athletic that Kucherov will likely be back before Christmas.

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