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Auston Matthews

East Notes: Bruins Injuries, Barzal, Matthews, Kotkaniemi

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The Bruins have had a bit of tough luck on the injury front lately with several key regulars going down.  Today, the team provided a handful of updates on those players.  Winger David Pastrnak and defenseman Hampus Lindholm skated today but won’t be with the team for their two-game road trip.  Head coach Bruce Cassidy indicated he expects both will be back before the end of the season and could play this weekend.  Meanwhile, goaltender Linus Ullmark didn’t skate today but they believe he’ll be able to return over the weekend.  Winger Jesper Froden suffered a lower-body injury on Saturday and won’t be on the road trip either with no word yet on how long he might be out.

Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference:

  • The Department of Player Safety issued a fine of $2.5K to Islanders center Mathew Barzal for unsportsmanlike conduct. The incident occurred late in the third period on Sunday when he grabbed onto Mitch Marner’s jersey from the bench.  No penalty was issued on the play.
  • While Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews is still a couple of years away from hitting the open market, pondering what his next deal could cost has already become a discussion point. In his latest column for the Toronto Star, Chris Johnston opines that the 24-year-old could reach the $15MM mark, one that would significantly surpass Connor McDavid’s record-setting $12.5MM AAV.  Matthews is in the midst of a career year with a league-high 58 goals along with 44 assists in 70 games this season.
  • On top of updating the injury situation for goaltender Frederik Andersen, the Hurricanes also revealed that forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi has been nicked up again and is listed as day-to-day. The 21-year-old had just come back from missing eight games with a lower-body injury so it’s possible this absence is related to that one.  Head coach Rod Brind’Amour stated that he doesn’t expect Kotkaniemi to be out for long.

Auston Matthews, Patrik Laine Out Day-To-Day

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Any injury hurts a team and a star player’s injury makes an even greater impact. However, when superstar players are sidelined, it even hurts the league itself as the on-ice product suffers. The NHL was dealt some bad news on Sunday night regarding two high-profile players, but at least their absences seems short-term. The Toronto Maple Leafs were without league-leading goal scorer Auston Matthews as they took the ice, with TSN’s Mark Masters relaying that he was out with an undisclosed “minor” injury. The Columbus Blue Jackets were in the same sport with point-per-game scorer Patrik Laine, announcing that he would miss Sunday’s game with an upper-body injury. Both players, who went No. 1 and No. 2 overall in 2016, are considered “day-to-day”.

Toronto head coach Sheldon Keefe told Masters that Matthews was held out for precautionary reasons, especially as the team played the second of a back-to-back. In fact, it was during Saturday’s game that Matthews suffered the injury. Matthews has been relatively healthy this season, only missing time due to injury for the first three games of the campaign, which has helped him reach his massive 58-goal, 102-point totals for the year. The Maple Leafs are understandably playing it safe surrounding the source of so much of their offense.

While Columbus is out of the playoff picture, the team is still rightfully careful with their skilled winger who has dealt with injury issues. Laine is quietly having a career year, recording 56 points through 56 games thus far. Had he been healthy this whole season, Laine very easily might have been on an 80+ point pace. There is no reason to rush him into action if he is dealing with an ailment, no matter how small, with the season lost. Instead, the Blue Jackets will hold out hope that Laine can stay on the ice next season and produce at the same rate.

Snapshots: Three Stars, Wallstedt, PWHPA

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The NHL has released its Three Stars for last week, with Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs taking home top spot. Matthews scored seven more goals in his four games to extend his lead in the Rocket Richard race, and set the Maple Leafs’ single-season franchise record. With 58 goals on the season, Matthews is incredibly already up to 257 in his career, putting him into the top-10 for the Maple Leafs organization–just three behind franchise icon Wendel Clark.

Second and third went to John Carlson and Jonathan Huberdeau respectively, who continue to rack up points of their own. Carlson, somewhat quietly in a year that has had so many other strong offensive performances from defensemen, is up to 63 points after his eight-point week. It’s the fourth time in five seasons that the Washington Capitals defenseman has recorded 60+ and has him closing in on 600 in his career. Huberdeau meanwhile broke the 100-point mark for the first time in his career and now leads the league with 77 assists as he makes a run at both the Art Ross and Hart trophies.

  • The Minnesota Wild are hoping to sign top goaltending prospect Jesper Wallstedt soon, according to Michael Russo of The Athletic, in order to have him play in North America next season. The 19-year-old was picked 20th overall in 2021 and posted a .917 save percentage in 22 appearances for Lulea HF in Sweden this season. The team is into the semi-finals meaning a contract will have to wait at least a little while, though veteran netminder Joel Lassinantti has started all five playoff games to this point.
  • The PWHPA’s board has voted unanimously to end any discussion of collaborating with the PHF, according to Hailey Salvian of The Athletic. The two factions of women’s professional hockey have never seen eye-to-eye but had met with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman recently to try to come to some sort of coalition. It appears that is impossible, at least for the time being, with the two sides ceasing further communication.

Auston Matthews Suspended Two Games

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The Toronto Maple Leafs will be without Hart-candidate Auston Matthews for the next two matches, after he was given a two-game suspension from the Department of Player Safety. The ruling comes after Matthews delivered a cross-check to Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin in yesterday’s Heritage Classic. As the accompanying video explains:

While we acknowledge Matthews’ argument that this is not a cross-check meant to harm or injure his opponent, it is also not a routine motion to box out an opponent or gain body position. Having just been involved in a shoving match with Dahlin that knocked him into the net, Matthews aggressively retaliates by raising his stick significantly and creating this contact. This is a high, forceful cross-check that makes contact with an opponent’s neck with sufficient force to merit supplemental discipline. 

Dahlin did not suffer a serious injury on the play, and Matthews does not have any history with the DoPS previously. In fact, the normally reserved Maple Leafs forward has only 68 penalty minutes in his entire career, no more than 14 in a single season. Still, this obvious show of frustration was one that immediately got the attention of the league and will end up costing him more than $116K in forfeited salary.

It will also put a closer watch on Matthews moving forward, as this incident will be considered when determining any future supplementary discipline.

More importantly, the scuffling Maple Leafs will now be without their best player as they try to get out of a tailspin that threatens to drop them out of an Atlantic Division playoff spot. The team has lost their last two and are 5-3-2 in their last ten, and now have just a two-point lead on the red-hot Boston Bruins.

Snapshots: Montreal, Matthews, Ovechkin

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The Montreal Canadiens will be allowed to have 50 percent capacity at home games as of February 21, according to Quebec Premier Francois Legault today. By March 14, they will be back to full capacity under the current plan. The Canadiens have five home games between now and the first threshold, which means five more games of lost revenue for the team and league.

Recently, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman put some pressure on the government by suggesting that this summer’s draft could be pulled from Montreal if restrictions were not lifted. Should this plan move forward and there are no further complications that cause another shutdown, it would seem as though the Canadiens will host the event after all.

  • Auston Matthews didn’t take part in practice but was feeling “pretty good” today according to head coach Sheldon Keefe, who spoke to reporters including Joshua Kloke of The Athletic. Matthews left last night’s game late in the third period with what appeared to be a head or neck injury after colliding with Brett Pesce. The injury wasn’t before the Toronto Maple Leafs superstar scored another two goals, taking him to 31 in 40 games this season.
  • Alex Ovechkin has cleared the COVID protocol and is available for the Washington Capitals today according to head coach Peter Laviolette. Ovechkin was asymptomatic during his All-Star isolation and is expected to be in the lineup when the team takes on the Columbus Blue Jackets this evening. The team sent Brett Leason, who likely would have been in the lineup if Ovechkin had been unavailable, back to the AHL. Ilya Samsonov and Connor McMichael, who missed practice yesterday while awaiting results, have also been cleared according to Tom Gulitti of NHL.com.

Poll: Who Will Win The 2022 Rocket Richard Trophy?

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Yesterday, we asked PHR readers to vote on who they thought would win the NHL scoring race and take home the Art Ross Trophy in 2022. Despite currently trailing by several points, Connor McDavid is polling ahead of Jonathan Huberdeau as fans believe the Edmonton Oilers superstar will regain his crown in the second half.

But what about the goal race? After never scoring more than 28 in a single season, Chris Kreider now leads the league with 33 tallies–including an incredible 17 on the powerplay–through his first 47 games. The big New York Rangers winger has been scoring at a ridiculous pace, finding the back of the net on 22.5% of his shots. Will that continue down the stretch with players like Artemi Panarin and Adam Fox feeding him with the man advantage, or will Kreider get passed by some of the former champions right behind him?

Leon Draisaitl, a former 50-goal scorer is right behind Kreider and is actually scoring at an even better pace. Through 42 games the Oilers’ forward has 32 goals, taking him to 231 through his 520-game NHL career. While he’s still just 26, Draisaitl is already on a Hall of Fame pace and could add to that legacy with another few individual trophies this year. Even his shooting percentage of 21.5% this season which would normally be considered inflated, isn’t that much higher than his normal number. One of the most accurate and efficient shooters in the game, Draisaitl has scored on 17.6% of the shots in his career.

If you want to win a Rocket though, you have to go through the guy in third place. Alex Ovechkin has taken the trophy nine times in his illustrious career and looks ready to compete for a tenth. Through 46 games Ovechkin has 29 goals, 21 of which have come at even-strength. That leads the league, meaning if the Washington Capitals captain starts finding the back of the net a little more on the powerplay things could change rapidly.

Since the 2012-13 season, only two players have finished a single season with more goals than Ovechkin. Sidney Crosby in 2016-17 and Auston Matthews last year, when he potted 41 in the shortened 56-game schedule. After a slow start and some missed games, Matthews is right back on track to defend his crown as the league’s best goal scorer with 29 in just 39 matches. That includes 22 in his last 22, a goal-per-game pace that the Toronto Maple Leafs superstar has flirted with for long stretches in the past. Given how many different ways the 24-year-old can score, it’s hard to bet against him even if the others got an early lead.

Other players who could quickly enter the conversation are Kyle Connor, Alex DeBrincat, and Filip Forsberg, though it’ll be hard to catch and pass that group at the top. It appears to be a four-man are at the moment with a quartet of the league’s best.

Who do you think will come out on top? Cast your vote below and make sure to leave another contender in the comments if you believe they’ll catch up in the second half.

[Mobile users click here to vote!]

NHL Announces Player Assignments For Skills Competition

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The NHL All-Star Skills competition will take place tomorrow night in Las Vegas, and the league has announced ahead of time which players will participate in which events. The player assignments for the seven events are as follows:

Fastest Skater

Chris Kreider, NYR
Adrian Kempe, LAK
Kyle Connor, WPG
Evgeny Kuznetsov, WSH
Jordan Kyrou, STL
Dylan Larkin, DET
Cale Makar, COL
Connor McDavid, EDM           

Save Streak

Jack Campbell, TOR
Andrei Vasilevskiy, TBL
Frederik Andersen, CAR
Tristan Jarry, PIT
Cam Talbot, MIN
Juuse Saros, NSH
Thatcher Demko, VAN
John Gibson, ANA

Fountain Face-Off

Jonathan Huberdeau, FLA
Claude Giroux, PHI
Jordan Eberle, SEA
Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson
Roman Josi, NSH
Nick Suzuki, MTL
Zach Werenski, CBJ
Mark Stone, VGK

Hardest Shot

Adam Pelech, NYI
Timo Meier, SJS
Victor Hedman, TBL
Tom Wilson, WSH

Breakaway Challenge

Goalies: Manon Rhéaume & Wyatt Russell

Kirill Kaprizov, MIN
Trevor Zegras, ANA
Jack Hughes, NJD
Alex DeBrincat, CHI
Alex Pietrangelo, VGK

Las Vegas NHL 21 in ’22

Nazem Kadri, COL
Auston Matthews, TOR
Joe Pavelski, DAL
Steven Stamkos, TBL
Brady Tkachuk, OTT

Accuracy Shooting

Leon Draisaitl, EDM
Clayton Keller, ARI
Rasmus Dahlin, BUF
Sebastian Aho, CAR
Jake Guentzel, PIT
Troy Terry, ANA
Johnny Gaudreau, CGY
Patrice Bergeron, BOS
Jonathan Marchessault, VGK

Two new events, the Fountain Face-Off and 21 in ’22 will be held outside in the Bellagio fountain and Las Vegas strip respectively. Individual winners of each event will earn $30,000.

2022 NHL All-Star Game Rosters Revealed

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Jan 26: After Batherson was injured last night, the league has announced that Brady Tkachuk will replace him and be the Senators’ representative.

Jan 13: During a live reveal on ESPN’s SportsCenter program in the United States, the National Hockey League unveiled their four divisional rosters for the 2022 NHL All-Star Game in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Eight skaters and two goalies were announced for each team, leaving one skater spot open for each division. That last spot will once again be decided by a fan vote, who they can select by voting at NHL.com/LastMenIn.

The head coaches of each team were announced earlier, decided by the teams in first place (by points percentage) in their division on New Years Day. Florida’s Andrew Brunette heads the Atlantic Division, Carolina’s Rod Brind’Amour will coach the Metropolitan Division, Colorado’s Jared Bednar is the bench boss for the Central Division, and Vegas’ Peter DeBoer will serve as the Pacific Division’s coach.

Below are the full rosters for each division.

Atlantic Division

F Auston Matthews “C” (Toronto Maple Leafs)
F Drake Batherson (Ottawa Senators)
F Patrice Bergeron (Boston Bruins)
F Jonathan Huberdeau (Florida Panthers)
F Dylan Larkin (Detroit Red Wings)
F Nick Suzuki (Montreal Canadiens)
D Rasmus Dahlin (Buffalo Sabres)
D Victor Hedman (Tampa Bay Lightning)
G Jack Campbell (Toronto Maple Leafs)
G Andrei Vasilevskiy (Tampa Bay Lightning)

Metropolitan Division

F Alex Ovechkin “C” (Washington Capitals)
F Sebastian Aho (Carolina Hurricanes)
F Claude Giroux (Philadelphia Flyers)
F Jack Hughes (New Jersey Devils)
F Chris Kreider (New York Rangers)
D Adam Fox (New York Rangers)
D Adam Pelech (New York Islanders)
D Zach Werenski (Columbus Blue Jackets)
G Frederik Andersen (Carolina Hurricanes)
G Tristan Jarry (Pittsburgh Penguins)

Central Division

F Nathan MacKinnon “C” (Colorado Avalanche)
F Kyle Connor (Winnipeg Jets)
F Alex DeBrincat (Chicago Blackhawks)
F Kirill Kaprizov (Minnesota Wild)
F Clayton Keller (Arizona Coyotes)
F Jordan Kyrou (St. Louis Blues)
F Joe Pavelski (Dallas Stars)
D Cale Makar (Colorado Avalanche)
G Juuse Saros (Nashville Predators)
G Cam Talbot (Minnesota Wild)

Pacific Division

F Connor McDavid “C” (Edmonton Oilers)
F Leon Draisaitl (Edmonton Oilers)
F Jordan Eberle (Seattle Kraken)
F Johnny Gaudreau (Calgary Flames)
F Adrian Kempe (Los Angeles Kings)
F Timo Meier (San Jose Sharks)
F Mark Stone (Vegas Golden Knights)
D Alex Pietrangelo (Vegas Golden Knights)
G Thatcher Demko (Vancouver Canucks)
G John Gibson (Anaheim Ducks)

Snapshots: Rask, Matthews, Team Canada

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Unrestricted free agent goaltender Tuukka Rask still needs to be medically cleared to return to action, but that could come as early as this weekend according to Amalie Benjamin of NHL.com. The return would likely come at the AHL level for the Providence Bruins, who play against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Friday and Sunday.

Rask, 34, hasn’t played a game in the AHL since the 2008-09 season when he went 33-20-4 for Providence and led them to the Eastern Conference Finals. He would likely sign a professional tryout contract in order to suit up at that level, as an NHL contract would require him to pass through waivers before being assigned to Providence. A conditioning loan, which would be another potential way of getting him time in the AHL while under an NHL contract, would not remove Rask from the 23-man roster, meaning Boston would be at a disadvantage while the veteran goaltender got up to speed. A PTO for Providence doesn’t have these restrictions, meaning there could be one coming down the pipe in the next few days if he’s cleared.

  • Auston Matthews’ positive COVID result from a rapid test yesterday was not confirmed today, as his PCR result returned negative. While he was still held out from practice, there is still a chance he avoids the protocol and can play for the team tomorrow night. Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe told reporters including Luke Fox of Sportsnet that they are awaiting the results of another test that should be known tomorrow morning.
  • The Canadian women’s hockey team will not play again before the Olympics as they try to avoid any further COVID-19 cases. According to the Canadian Press, the group will enter a bubble for the next few weeks in order to ensure they can all travel to Beijing in time for the tournament, which kicks off on February 2–actually a few days ahead of the opening ceremonies. The team must make three cuts from the 26 players they currently have, but will no longer play the tune-up matches against the United States or the AJHL.

Auston Matthews To Return For Maple Leafs

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The Toronto Maple Leafs offense hasn’t been quite as explosive as years past through the first few games, with just seven goals for through three contests. That could change pretty quickly as Auston Matthews is expected to play tomorrow night against the New York Rangers.

It will be the first time the Maple Leafs play a non-Canadian team in more than a year, a perfect time for their superstar center to return. Matthews missed the first three games as he recovered from offseason wrist surgery, but is now back to full health and ready to go.

Matthews, the reigning Rocket Richard Trophy winner, has 199 goals through his first 334 games in the NHL and led the league with 12 game-winning tallies in 2020-21. He has also now registered more than a point-per-game in each of the last four seasons, though his assist total fell to just 25, a career-low, in 52 games last season.

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