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Oft-Injured Teams Likely To Rebound In 2017-18

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Every year, some teams invariably get the short straw when it comes to injury. The Washington Capitals, notably, were the healthiest team in the league, and ended up winning the Presidents’ Trophy. That said, organizational depth is absolutely vital, as the Penguins survived well enough to repeat championships, even though they were bottom-5 in man games lost. Ultimately, there are a few franchises that are merely anticipating a restart in 2017-18, in hopes of entirely forgetting the abuses of last season. These three teams are those which suffered the worst, and have a solid chance to rebound in the upcoming campaign.

Tampa Bay Lightning

The Lightning lost Steven Stamkos for the majority of the season after he was diagnosed with a torn meniscus in November. He missed an astounding total of 65 games. Ryan Callahan was also lost for the majority of the year, losing 64 games of action to a lower-body injury. After that, the onslaught of injuries kept hammering away. Nikita Kucherov only lost 8 games, but was felled on three separate occasions. Ondrej Palat missed only 9 games as well, but his presence was sorely missed when absent. Cedric Paquette lost 23 games, while Tyler Johnson missed 16. It seemed that no one was safe on Tampa’s squad more man-games than an other teams when you factor in essentially retired players.

Tampa will look to remain healthy this season, after an incredibly unlucky venture in 2016-17. They have the depth to endure losses, but the sheer carnage last season was too catastrophic to overcome. Still, they finished only one point out of the final wild card spot. They could easily have squeaked into the playoffs and inflicted serious damage. This year, as long as the fates turn their way, they should be right back in the competitive mix.

Winnipeg Jets

Tyler Myers lost out on the bulk of the season, only playing in 11 contests. As a big component of the team’s defense, he will need to be back to peak performance if the Jets hope to stop some of the bleeding in their own end of the ice. Center Bryan Little lost 23 games to a lower-body injury, while Shawn Matthias missed 37 contests to an upper-body ailment. Not a single player survived the entire year without succumbing to some sort of injury or sickness, and the team as a whole struggled to find a consistent groove with so many bodies filling in and falling out.

The Jets need consistent goaltending and less obnoxiously aggressive defense if they hope to reach the post-season again. That said, simply remaining healthy will go a long way in transforming Winnipeg into a dangerous team. Mark Scheifele was absolutely dominant last season, and with reliable depth behind him, only good results lie ahead. The Central is also slightly less intimidating this year, even with Dallas making as many transactions as they did. Nashville and Chicago both took steps backward, the Blues remained relatively the same, while the Wild made lateral moves.

Vancouver Canucks

Vancouver will have a tough time entering the playoff conversation. In the relatively weak Pacific however, anything can happen. The Sedin twins are another year older, and GM Jim Benning hasn’t acquired any game-breakers in the off-season (Michael Del Zotto doesn’t count). Still, when a team loses over 300 man-games to injury in a year, things should theoretically improve the following year. Admittedly, some of their most heavily injured players were nominal players, like Derek Dorsett (68 lost) and Anton Rodin (79 lost). Still, they missed the presence of multiple depth players at a time and ultimately relied too heavily upon call-ups to crawl through the year. Jannik Hansen (39 lost), Chris Tanev (29 lost), and Erik Gudbranson (52 lost) are far from world-beaters, but on a team as thin at both offense and defense as the Canucks, their losses were unsustainable.

It remains to be seen how much of an impact general health will play for the Canucks. They still need their top players to find consistent production, and their younger players (Bo Horvat, Sven Baertschi) must continue to progress. That said, with a little luck, they might find themselves somewhere near the mix yet again. With new coach Travis Green and a fresh beginning, perhaps there is one more Wild Card berth left in a team that has been prolonging their inevitable full-on rebuild.

Free Agent Notes: Pastrnak, Horvat, Ebert

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While talks are currently in a holding pattern between the Bruins and winger David Pastrnak on a new deal, CSN New England’s Joe Haggerty notes that some progress had been made previously on a long-term deal.  He reports that the contract that had been discussed would be slightly less in both money and term than the contract extension that winger Brad Marchand inked last September.  For perspective, that deal was eight years and $49MM for a cap hit of $6.25MM.

Haggerty adds that Pastrnak may be waiting for Edmonton RFA center Leon Draisaitl to sign his next contract as his side sees Draisaitl as a potential comparable player although it wouldn’t be surprising to see his contract come in at a higher AAV than Marchand’s.  While a team could technically ink Pastrnak to an offer sheet, it’s very unlikely that it would happen and even if it did, the Bruins have more than enough cap space to match (they sit with a little more than $10MM in room at the moment per CapFriendly).  This could be a negotiation that takes a little while longer to drag out, something that has become more common in recent years with prominent players coming off their entry-level deals.

Other free agency notes:

  • Canucks GM Jim Benning told Ben Kuzma of the Vancouver Province that “talks are progressing” between the team and RFA center Bo Horvat. The team is interested in avoiding a bridge deal and are discussing long-term pacts although Kuzma reports that Vancouver has balked at giving the 22-year-old a maximum eight years in term.  Horvat is coming off a career year where he led the Canucks in scoring and will likely command at least $5MM per season, especially if his new deal buys out some years of UFA eligibility.
  • After not being tendered a qualifying offer from the Stars back in June, unrestricted free agent defenseman Nick Ebert has inked a one-year deal with HC Slovan Bratislava, the KHL team announced (link in Slovak). The 23-year-old had 25 points in 68 games with AHL Texas in 2016-17, nearly equalling his production from the previous two seasons combined.

Reid Boucher Signs One-Year Deal With Canucks

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Winger Reid Boucher, a restricted free-agent, signed a one-year contract with Vancouver tonight, avoiding the arbitration process. Boucher was scheduled to have his hearing on August 1st, but instead was able to hammer out a deal with Canucks management. The contract is worth a reported $687,5000, as Stephen Whyno of AP broke the news. This is definitely a “prove-it” sort of deal, and Boucher will need to carve out his own playing time through consistent effort.

Boucher swapped teams twice in 2016-17, moving from New Jersey to Nashville before settling in British Columbia. Boucher had his possession numbers improve under his tenure with Vancouver, playing 27 games for a relative Corsi For % of -0.6. Contrasted with his performance in New Jersey up to that point, he had seemingly started to find a groove. Boucher did find a bit of offensive production as well, scoring 6 goals and 4 points on the year in only 39 total games. At 23 years old, Boucher still has the potential to progress as a player. He is a bit undersized at a mere 5’10, but has shown flashes of being a cheap goal-scoring contributor. He’ll need to continue to clean up his two-way game in order to truly cement himself on an NHL roster.

With this contract signed, GM Jim Benning will now turn his attention to fellow RFA Bo Horvat and Brendan Gaunce. Gaunce is also a marginal piece, but Horvat will be a core player for many years. Locking him up on a longer deal at a reasonable hit now becomes Benning’s clear number one priority.

Vancouver Canucks Re-Sign Joseph LaBate

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Fresh off of his rookie season, checking forward Joseph LaBate has re-signed with the Vancouver Canucks. The team announced today that the 24-year-old has signed a one-year, two-way deal worth the league minimum of $650K. The two sides came to terms below the value of LaBate’s qualifying offer, $660K, which was made last week.

Standing 6’5″ and weighing over 200 lbs., LaBate is a noticeable presence on the ice. A two-way forward who can play both center and wing, he is a good fit for a versatile, energy-line job when called upon by Vancouver. While he provides only meager offense – no points in 13 NHL games and just 16 points in 38 AHL games last year –  he makes up for it with consistent defensive play. In the team’s press release, GM Jim Benning praised LaBate’s ability to be a physical presence for both the Canucks and AHL’s Utica Comets. Without many big checking forwards on the roster, Vancouver likely hopes that LaBate can carve out a role for himself on their bottom line as a two-way threat and work towards exhibiting some of the offensive touch he showed as a four-year starter at the University of Wisconsin.

While Benning and the Canucks are happy to have one of their young players back under contract, the team still has their work cut out for them with extending restricted free agents, with Bo Horvat, Brendan Gaunce, Reid Boucher, Michael Chaput and Evan McEneny in need of new deals. LaBate is just the beginning of several expected contracts this off-season for Vancouver.

Learning From The Sedins

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The Vancouver Canucks are a team that is floundering to find a path forward. After nearly a decade of remarkable regular seasons and a painfully close Cup run in 2011, the Canucks are solidly in the rebuilding phase of their franchise. They start the 2017-18 off-season with the 5th overall pick and many decent, if unremarkable, options at the slot to help further that process. (An impact center is always a welcome piece.) The organization has struggled mightily to move on past the era of Daniel Sedin and Henrik Sedin, both of whom were consistently in the upper echelon of point-getters every season in their primes. Now 36 years-old, each player’s production has taken a nosedive. And the team hasn’t been able to draft difference makers up front to fill the void, despite this day being long anticipated.

Although wisdom is not often recognized as such until a later date, there was a sizable portion of the Canuck fanbase who had hope to move the Sedin twins just a few seasons ago. As soon as they missed the post-season in 2013-14 the writing was on the wall for the franchise. The move should have been made that season, or perhaps even the year prior. That season saw a massive decline in the twins’ production which has never fully recovered – Henrik down to 0.71 points per game from 0.93, and Daniel down to 0.64 PPG from 0.85.

The Sedins will undoubtedly have their numbers retired by the Vancouver organization and have given great years of hockey to the city. They may even be considered for the Hockey Hall of Fame, but without a Stanley Cup to their credit that will be a difficult sell. Regardless of all that, their value to the team as assets was ignored in favor of the long-shot hope that the Canucks could compete once more with their core players. Former GM Mike Gillis had an up-and-down tenure, but utterly failed to move on past aging players and his drafting didn’t help. With five 1st-round picks in his tenure, only 2013’s Bo Horvat amounted to an offensive threat for the franchise. Brendan Gaunce, Nicklas Jensen, Jordan Schroeder, and Cody Hodgson are all busts relative to their potential. Worse, their late round picks were even less successful, amounting to no notable NHLers at all. Jim Benning hasn’t exactly inspired either since taking over management duties.

Trading the Sedins would have been a phenomenally difficult undertaking, especially considering their desire to play together. But the potential return would have been substantial from any team able to fit them in (at a reduced rate). Now the hour is far too late, and the Sedins have only one season remaining on their contracts. At this point, it seems sensible to merely re-sign them and let them finish their days in British Columbia. But the opportunity squandered to recover some value from declining marquee names will haunt the franchise for years to come. That failure should serve as a warning to teams around the league that prolonging the rebuilding phase can have dire consequences.

Offseason Keys: Vancouver Canucks

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While the expansion draft is set to headline a busy NHL offseason, there are still several other storylines for each team in the months ahead.  Here is a closer look at what lies ahead for the Vancouver Canucks.

2016-17 was a year to forget for Vancouver.  Their season was mired with several slumps and what seemed like a ticking time bomb with their head coaching situation.  The inevitable happened early in the offseason with Willie Desjardins being let go with AHL coach Travis Green getting tasked to right the ship but there is still much work to be done.  Here are some of the things that GM Jim Benning will likely be looking to address this offseason.

New Deal For Horvat

There haven’t been a lot of bright spots for the Canucks lately but Bo Horvat’s continued progression would certainly be towards the top of the list.  He has taken on a bigger role in each season and has made solid strides at both ends of the rink.

Now, the 22 year old is set to enter restricted free agency for the first time (but does not have arbitration eligibility).  Benning has noted recently that they would like to focus on a long-term pact and skip the bridge deal with Horvat.  The team does have some financial flexibility to work with when it comes to the salary cap so there at least shouldn’t be concerns on that end.

As Horvat is widely viewed as the closest to being a cornerstone piece of the franchise in the years to come, it will be interesting to see if the team looks to make his new deal the benchmark contract in that no signings down the road can be for more money than this deal.  Given all this, negotiations may take a while with Benning even suggesting that it could be a discussion that goes on for most of the summer.

New Goaltender

Dec 23, 2016; Calgary, Alberta, CAN; Vancouver Canucks goalie Jacob Markstrom (25) guards his net against the Calgary Flames during the second period at Scotiabank Saddledome. Mandatory Credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY SportsWith Ryan Miller heading for unrestricted free agency, Vancouver will have a decision to make.  They also have Jacob Markstrom’s three year, $11MM contract kicking in and as a result, they’ll likely look to give him more starts which could push Miller out the door.

There are a handful of second tier options slated to be available on the open market in July while the upcoming expansion draft may also have a few other players changing places.  It’s a year where supply will likely outweigh demand which should have Benning working with the upper hand.

A big decision the GM will need to make here is what type of term to give out.  Thatcher Demko is still quite likely to be the goalie of the future and although he just finished his first pro campaign, the expectation has been that he’ll be ready fairly quickly.  Accordingly, whoever they do bring in to split duties with Markstrom is probably going to wind up receiving a short-term contract.

Scoring Help

Aside from the Avalanche (the one team who finished behind Vancouver in the standings), the Canucks were at the bottom of the league in goal production.  The Sedin twins are on the downswing of their respective careers (and have suggested in the past that they don’t want to leave Vancouver despite their current situation) and the team doesn’t have any players who are poised to jump into top roles next season.

That isn’t to say that there isn’t help coming as the late season addition of Nikolay Goldobin was certainly a promising one and 2015 draft pick Brock Boeser, who joined the team out of college, can also help.  While they’re likely to receive lots of ice time, the team will likely want to shield them somewhat from taking on too much too quickly.

As a result, it won’t be surprising to see Vancouver go after some scoring help in free agency even though on the surface it would seem to go against the idea of rebuilding.  That would ease the pressure off the young core and allow them to transition into the post-Sedin era, which may just be one year away.  Of course, with a lot of teams looking for scoring help in a light free agent market, this is something that’s much easier said than done for Benning to try to accomplish this offseason.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Latest On Bo Horvat’s Contract Situation

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With the Vancouver Canucks losing Nikita Tryamkin to the KHL today, GM Jim Benning met with media to discuss several topics. One of those was the upcoming negotiations with Bo Horvat on a new deal that would keep him in Vancouver long-term. Benning said that they’ve been in contact with Horvat’s camp and will meet “in the next little while” to start hammering out what his next contract will look like. He didn’t seem at all worried about it getting done, and said that there would be no deadline placed on it and could even take “all summer”.

Horvat’s next deal has long been a focus of the front office, and after another step forward in his development this year he looks in prime position to be awarded a long-term deal. With 20 goals and 52 points, the 22-year old center has shown that he is the future in Vancouver and the key piece for Benning and the rest of the front office to build around. In January, Ben Kuzma of the Province suggested that Vincent Trocheck’s six-year, $28.5MM extension would be a nice comparable, but with Horvat finding even more consistency through his first three years he may eclipse that.

The Vancouver Center doesn’t have quite the lofty statistics that Sean Monahan had when he inked his seven-year, $44.63MM deal last summer, and may find himself land somewhere in between. Depending on how many years of free agency he gives up, his deal could break $5MM per season, making him the fourth highest paid player on the Canucks, behind only the Sedins and Loui Eriksson. For a player that must reach his potential if the Canucks are to make their rebuild successful, Horvat’s contract negotiations will be the most interesting story of the summer for Vancouver fans—that is, other than the entry draft and the chance to pair Horvat with one of Nolan Patrick or Nico Hischier down the middle for the next decade.

Canucks Notes: Goldobin, Markstrom, Tryamkin

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The Vancouver Canucks will welcome the Montreal Canadiens to town tonight as they look to stay relevant in the playoff race. The team currently sits six points back of St. Louis and though it is a very outside possibility, they want to stay in it as long as possible. They’ll have to shake up their lineup tonight, as Loui Eriksson will be out for “a week to two weeks” according to Willie Desjardins. In his place, the newly acquired Nikolay Goldobin will get a chance to skate with Bo Horvat and Sven Baertschi on the team’s second line. He’s excited about the prospect, and amazed at the amount of media talking to him prior to the game; “It wasn’t like this in San Jose!” he said before going on to say how happy he was to be in Vancouver.

  • The team also relayed the news that Jacob Markstrom is still “at least a week away”, but did skate before the practice by himself. Markstrom hasn’t played since February 16th but would be a big help to the Canucks down the stretch if he can get back. The 27-year old goaltender looks like he’ll get a shot at the starting job next year as Ryan Miller is a free agent this summer. Markstrom’s extension will come into play next year, which will see him paid $3.67MM per year for the next three seasons.
  • 22-year old Nikita Tryamkin has been a revelation for the Canucks this season, as he’s shown his capability to be a part of their defense going forward and showcased his big-hit ability early in the season. He has been out since February 19th though, and still isn’t quite ready to return. Despite skating earlier this morning with the team, he’ll miss his sixth straight game.

Pacific Notes: Horvat, Nieto, Thornton

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In Vancouver, a recent surge has many fans thinking playoffs once again. The team is just three points out of a wildcard spot, after winning their last four games and going 6-3-1 in their last ten. Pierre LeBrun thinks that adding a rental doesn’t make sense for the team. It’s true, that adding a veteran likely won’t improve the Canucks chances of winning a Stanley Cup, but as Vancouver attendance and revenues have fallen over the past few years it may be a mandate from ownership to try and earn some playoff income.

Ben Kuzma of The Province says that the focus from the front office remains on Bo Horvat and locking him up long term. It’s much more important to their future to get Horvat under a reasonable contract, and the longer they wait the more he’ll likely demand. Horvat is already deep into a career season and on pace to blow last year’s 16 goals and 40 points out of the water. Kuzma compares Horvat to Florida’s Vincent Trocheck, who received a six year, $28.5MM deal this summer. Trocheck was coming off a similar season to Horvat but was older and didn’t have nearly the pedigree that the former ninth-overall pick does.

As Horvat turns just 22 this April, he’s already set to take a crack at a similar deal that escalates through the years. If the Canucks want to lock him up even further into his free agent seasons, it will likely cost them upwards of $5MM.

  • David Staples of the Edmonton Journal suggests that the Edmonton Oilers should take a swing at the recently waived Matt Nieto. Staples thinks that since Jesse Puljujarvi isn’t getting regular minutes or linemates, the team should send him down to the AHL to play on their top line, and fill his spot (or that of Benoit Pouliot) with the 24-year old Nieto. Even though he only has two points this season, and 17 last, he did score 24 and 27 points in his first two seasons in the NHL. Perhaps he could find a new home in Edmonton and add to their young core.
  • LeBrun went on to talk about Joe Thornton and his upcoming free agency. Thornton will turn 38 a day after free agency opens, and is apparently looking for a three-year deal. While that seems ridiculous in a vacuum, a closer look at his numbers may lend credence to the idea. Thornton scored 82 points last season, his highest mark since 2009-10 and is on pace for another 50+ season despite an unsustainably-low shooting percentage. He remains an elite set-up man and is still among the league leaders in assists. As Darren Dreger adds on Twitter, he hasn’t heard much chatter from either side on a Thornton extension.

Canucks President Trevor Linden Offers Thoughts On Team

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In a lengthy Q & A session with Luke Fox of Sportsnet, Trevor Linden, president of the Vancouver Canucks, offered his thoughts on the direction of the team, among many other topics. The entire interview is well worth the read but here are a few of the highlights:

  • When asked about the biggest positive so far this season, Linden spoke of the team’s youthful defense: “Tonight we’ll have the youngest defence core in the National Hockey League. Our oldest defenceman will be 26-year-old [Luca] Sbisa and [Philip] Larsen. Gudbranson’s 24. [Ben] Hutton’s 23. [Troy] Stecher and [Nikita] Tryamkin are 22. That’s a new group. We’ve rebuilt that defence.” Not only is Sbisa the gray beard of the crew, he is also the longest-tenured member of the blue line, now in his third season with the team. From that perspective Linden is spot on in his assessment that Vancouver has essentially rebuilt the team’s defense. But it remains to be seen whether this young group can develop into one of the league’s top blue line units.
  • Interestingly enough, when discussing the defense, Linden also touched on the Sedins, Henrik and Daniel. The executive admitted there is no chance the team will trade their longtime stars, unless requested by the twins to do so: “Two guys that, quite simply, were just never going to be moved. That’s 33 (Henrik) and 22 (Daniel). They’re going to be here until they decide to not be here.” The Sedins are no longer in their prime but are still capable of producing solid offensive numbers commensurate with top-six forwards – Daniel has 14 points and Henrik 15 through 24 games this season. Dealing the twins would fast-forward the Vancouver rebuild tremendously given the quality assets they would be able to get in exchange. Of course finding a trade scenario that works for Vancouver would be difficult. With NMC’s in hand, it’s certain the duo would insist on continuing to play together. Not many teams will have enough room, even at the trade deadline, to accommodate the Sedin’s combined cap charge. Still, it’s a scenario Linden should not-so-easily dismiss.

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