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Morning Notes: NHLPA Poll, Quick, Canadiens

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The NHLPA Player Poll has become a yearly fixture, giving fans an insight into what players have to say in popular public debates. This year’s edition dropped this morning with mostly expected results.

Tampa Bay Lightning netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy was voted by a wide margin as the goalie players would want in net with one game on the line for the second straight season, while the Colorado Avalanche’s Cale Makar was voted best defenseman in the league by a landslide. Connor McDavid won “most impactful forward in a must-win game,” no doubt buoyed by last year’s electric playoff performance. Other winners were Patrick Kane for best stick-handler, Leon Draisaitl for best passer, Sidney Crosby for most complete player, Brad Marchand for least enjoy playing against (but want on your team), Joe Pavelski for most effective net-front player, and Aleksander Barkov for most underrated. Marie-Philip Poulin was also voted as the women’s hockey player that NHL players would most like to play alongside, past or present, and the Bell Centre was voted as having the best ice in the NHL for the fifth time.

In off-ice results, Las Vegas was voted the best road city to have an off day, Marc-Andre Fleury was voted best locker room presence, and Auston Matthews was voted as having the best shoe game.

More notes from around the NHL this morning:

  • Now a Vegas Golden Knight, Stanley Cup-winning netminder Jonathan Quick continues to move up the all-time ranks. With last night’s road win against the Vancouver Canucks, Quick moved into sole possession of second place on the all-time wins list for American-born goaltenders, trailing only Ryan Miller. Quick now sits just 16 wins back of tying the all-time record with 375 wins under his belt.
  • In some rare positive injury news for the Montreal Canadiens this season, Jake Evans has returned to practice in a full-contact jersey, while Jesse Ylonen has returned to practice after missing the team’s last game with an illness, per TVA’s Renaud Lavoie. Ylonen hasn’t looked out of place in his first extended NHL look this season, recording five goals and 12 points in 29 games. Evans is nearing a return after missing over two months with a lower-body injury.

Bruins Injury Notes: Marchand, Hall, Foligno

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The Boston Bruins have been active in the days leading up to the trade deadline. They have already acquired defenseman Dmitry Orlov and winger Garnet Hathaway from the Washington Capitals as well as Tyler Bertuzzi from the Detroit Red Wings. The reinforcements may be needed as a few players are injured, but the team did get some good news when it comes to one of their best forwards.

Brad Marchand left Thursday night’s game against the Buffalo Sabres with an injury. According to Fluto Shinzawa of The Athletic, the star two-way winger avoided serious injury and will be available for tomorrow night’s game. Marchand has 53 points in 53 games this season, so this news is a sigh of relief for the team at the top of the NHL standings.

  • The news was not all good for the Bruins. Matt Porter of the Boston Globe reports Taylor Hall is going to need a second opinion to diagnose his knee injury. A timeline for his return is not available but Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reports it could be in the four week range.
  • Seravalli also mentions the injury to Nick Foligno could be long term. In fact, the winger may miss the rest of the regular season. It is not ideal to have players missing long stretches of time with injuries, but if Foligno is out until the playoffs, the Bruins can place him on LTIR and free up $3.8MM in cap space to use before today’s trade deadline.

Evening Notes: Van Riemsdyk, Leonard, Marchand, Motte

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According to TSN’s Chris Johnston, the Philadelphia Flyers intend to move pending unrestricted free agent James van Riemsdyk. On today’s TSN Insider Trading, Johnston reported that two interested teams appear to be the Vegas Golden Knights and the Winnipeg Jets. Vegas GM Kelly McCrimmon has been busy the last few days, swinging a trade today for goaltender Jonathan Quick and yesterday acquiring center Teddy Blueger. Cap space could be an issue as Vegas has just $3MM left and van Riemsdyk is currently playing under a $7MM cap hit. Winnipeg, on the other hand, have been very quiet since acquiring winger Nino Niederreiter from the Nashville Predators. Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff has over $4.5MM in cap space for the deadline, so he could easily fit van Riemsdyk under budget, should the Flyers be willing to retain 50% to facilitate a move.

Some other notes from across the NHL:

  • The Nashville Predators have been one of the busier sellers in recent days, having shipped out Mattias Ekholm, Mikael Granlund, and Tanner Jeannot with an eye toward building for the future. With all the pieces moving out, the Predators have begun the process of calling up some of their younger players. Luke Evangelista received the first call-up of his career earlier this week, and now Nashville has announced that John Leonard has been recalled to the big club. Leonard,24, is a former 2018 sixth-round pick who is currently tied for third in scoring on Milwaukee this season with 32 points. Leonard does have NHL experience on his resume, having dressed in 58 games with the San Jose Sharks, where he tallied 15 points.
  • Brad Marchand left tonight’s Boston Bruins contest against the Buffalo Sabres with an apparent lower-body injury. Marchand was hit awkwardly into the boards from behind and the Bruins announced that he would not return. Losing Marchand for any length of time would be a big blow to a Bruins team that has Stanley Cup aspirations. Marchand is having another fine season with 53 points in 52 games and has heated up recently after going pointless in five straight games. Boston is nearly a lock to win the President’s Trophy, so they likely won’t rush Marchand back, but should his injury keep him out long-term, it could become problematic.
  • NHL.com’s Dan Rosen has reported that New York Rangers forward Tyler Motte would not be returning to tonight’s game against the Ottawa Senators. Motte was just dealt by the Senators to the Rangers on February 19th and was injured after taking a headshot from former teammate Austin Watson. Watson was assessed a five-minute major for charging and a game misconduct. Motte was beginning his second run with the Rangers after being dealt there last trade deadline from Vancouver. He has dealt with concussion issues in the past, having missed 31 games in 2020-21 while with the Canucks. Hopefully, Motte can make a speedy recovery after the very scary injury tonight.

Snapshots: Capitals, Marchand, Ferguson

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Anything you can do, I can do better. After a report emerged earlier today that the Pittsburgh Penguins have shown interest in Jakob Chychrun, rival Washington Capitals have also now been linked to the Arizona Coyotes defenseman. Darren Dreger of TSN reports that the Capitals are hoping to “rebuild on the fly” and, after yesterday’s trade of Dmitry Orlov and Garnet Hathaway, now have the assets to pull it off if it gets that far.

The Penguins and Capitals are in similar situations, trying to contend as many times as possible while their franchise icons are still on the ice. Neither one is guaranteed to make the playoffs this season, meaning it will be quite the task to retool quickly enough to challenge for the Stanley Cup. In the meantime, the Capitals have recalled Aliaksei Protas from the minor leagues to fill the last vacated roster spot.

  • Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand has been issued a fine for the dangerous trip of Seattle Kraken forward Oliver Bjorkstrand. Marchand owes $5,000, the maximum allowable under the CBA, for the incident in last night’s game. The Bruins are lucky, as every time Marchand is the focus of the Department of Player Safety, it could end in a suspension given his long history of supplementary discipline.
  • With the Belleville Senators dealing with several injuries to their goaltenders, they’ve acquired some extra depth. Dylan Ferguson is on his way over from the Toronto Marlies in exchange for future considerations in a minor league deal. The 24-year-old netminder, perhaps best known for his emergency appearance for the Vegas Golden Knights in 2017, when he was still playing in the WHL, has appeared just five times for the Marlies this year, posting an .888 save percentage.

Boston Bruins Activate Brad Marchand

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4:35 PM: The Bruins have now made Marchand’s return official. Per the team release, Marchand has been activated off of injured reserve.

In a corresponding move, the Bruins have assigned defenseman Mike Reilly to the AHL’s Providence Bruins, clearing the open roster spot needed to facilitate Marchand’s return. Reilly has previously cleared waivers and will head to Providence having played in all seven of the Bruins’ games this season. Reilly has one assist in those seven games and is playing on a $3MM cap hit that expires in the summer of 2024.

10:19 AM: It was all a ruse, apparently. After telling reporters just yesterday that Brad Marchand wasn’t ready to return, head coach Jim Montgomery has informed reporters including Conor Ryan of the Boston Sports Journal that the veteran winger will indeed play tonight against the Detroit Red Wings. Marchand won’t travel with the team for tomorrow’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, as they ease him into the lineup.

Marchand, 34, was originally scheduled to be out until Thanksgiving, meaning his return tonight is a month ahead of the original plan. It did seem as though they were ready for this when he skated yesterday on the top line, powerplay unit, and even led the stretch.

While he may not be playing in both halves of a back-to-back for the next little while, getting Marchand back in the mix is a huge boost for the Bruins, who are already playing well. The team is 6-1 through the early part of the season and has an early grip on the top of the Atlantic Division. Adding a player who has had six straight seasons of production well over a point per game should only help the team continue to dominate.

The team will have to make a corresponding roster move to activate Marchand, and it isn’t entirely clear what that will be. Nick Foligno and Mike Reilly did clear waivers earlier this month, but otherwise, there aren’t any players who are exempt.

Snapshots: Marchand, Wiesblatt, Marlies

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There was plenty of excitement around the Boston Bruins when Brad Marchand took reps on the first line and powerplay this morning, even leading the team stretch. But the star winger isn’t going to be coming back just yet.

The Bruins will still play it a little slow with Marchand, and while he is ahead of schedule, isn’t getting into the lineup just yet. Head coach Jim Montgomery told reporters including Fluto Shinzawa of The Athletic that the Bruins expect Marchand to play before Thanksgiving, his original timeline.

  • NHL fans may remember a touching moment at the 2020 draft when the San Jose Sharks revealed their selection of Ozzy Wiesblatt with a bit of sign language so that his mother – who is deaf – could be in on the announcement. Now, after two additional seasons in the WHL Wiesblatt will be starting his professional hockey journey with the Wichita Thunder of the ECHL. He was assigned there today.
  • While the focus for the Toronto Maple Leafs the last couple of days has been on the health of Jake Muzzin, who was placed on long-term injured reserve, two other defensemen are getting closer to a return. Timothy Liljegren and Jordie Benn were both loaned to the Toronto Marlies on conditioning stints. Mikhail Abramov who started the year on season-opening injured reserve was also assigned to the AHL club.

Afternoon Notes: Marchand, Rangers Injuries, Pitlick

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If the Boston Bruins wish to stay in the playoff hunt throughout this season, they will certainly have to do a lot with a little in the early months. The team is without a number of key players to start the season, including Matt Grzelcyk, Charlie McAvoy, Brad Marchand, and now apparently, Brandon Carlo, who was injured in the team’s second game of the season. So far, so good it seems, as Boston is off to a 2-0 start with commanding wins over the Washington Capitals and Arizona Coyotes.

On top of that, there seems to be more good news for the Bruins: Marchand practiced with the team today for the first time this season, says the Boston Globe’s Matt Porter. It’s hard to say who is a bigger loss for Boston, the perennial Hart candidate, Marchand, or the perennial Norris candidate, McAvoy, but having Marchand back on the ice with the group, his timetable for a post-Thanksgiving return still intact, is a bit of bright news. Recovering from hip surgery and returning successfully is always a tough task for an NHLer, and doing so after double hip surgery is likely no easier, but a strong, timely comeback from one of their superstars will not only ease the burden on the healthy group of Bruins, but perhaps add a burst of energy when he returns.

  • Larry Brooks of the New York Post provided some injury updates from today’s New York Rangers practice. Forward Ryan Carpenter, who was cut by Dylan DeMelo’s skate during Friday night’s loss at the Winnipeg Jets, did not skate today. Winger Vitali Kravtsov, who was hurt early in the Rangers’ opening night game on Tuesday against the Tampa Bay Lightning, skated today in a non-contact jersey, a positive step forward for a player trying to finally make it as an NHL-regular. Finally, Sammy Blais, who missed the first three games of this season after a preseason injury, skated on a line in practice with Filip Chytil and Jimmy Vesey, both of whom look to be regulars in the Rangers lineup this season.
  • Last week, the St. Louis Blues released veteran forward Tyler Pitlick from his PTO. Already into their LTIR and with 14 forward on the roster, it appears the team simply didn’t have room for the forward, no matter how he played. However, NHL.com’s Lou Korac reports, Pitlick was skating today with St. Louis. It’s not a sure sign that a formal reunion is imminent, but the arrangement isn’t unheard of either. Should the Blues encounter a further injury issue, Pitlick will be fresh and already acclimated to the group, providing for a seamless transition, and for Pitlick, it provides him with a place to skate with NHLers and NHL eyes on him.

Atlantic Notes: Caufield, Marchand, Greig

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Canadiens winger Cole Caufield is entering the final season of his entry-level contract and after a strong finish to his season that saw him put up 20 goals and 13 assists in his final 34 games, some have wondered if he might receive an early extension.  However, the 21-year-old told Postmedia’s Stu Cowan that there have yet to be any discussions on a new deal so far.  Caufield only has 97 career NHL appearances under his belt (including the playoffs) so it’s possible that Montreal GM Kent Hughes wants to see if Caufield’s strong second half is a sign of things to come or if his production will dip a bit.  A long-term deal for Caufield at this point could be in the $7MM range even with the limited experience but also could go up if he picks up where he left off last season.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic:

  • Bruins winger Brad Marchand skated today for the first time since undergoing double hip surgery back in May, relays Matt Porter of the Boston Globe (Twitter link). However, his timeline for a return isn’t likely to be escalated at this point as his expected return date continues to be around late November.  The 34-year-old put up his sixth straight season of over a point per game in 2021-22 and Boston’s attack will certainly be weakened over the first six weeks with him unavailable.
  • The Senators are expected to hold prospect Ridly Greig out of all three rookie tournament games, notes Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch. The 20-year-old suffered a shoulder injury at the World Juniors and Ottawa is expected to be cautious with him with training camps fast approaching.  He had six points in five events for Canada at the tournament and could battle for a spot in the bottom six in the preseason although some time with AHL Belleville in a more prominent role might be the best move from a development perspective.

Brad Marchand Undergoes Hip Surgery

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There’s some significant injury news in Beantown after the team was eliminated in the First Round a couple of weeks ago. The Boston Bruins announced today that star forward Brad Marchand underwent successful hip arthroscopy and labral repair on both of his hips. The recovery process is slated to take six months, making it likely Marchand is out for nearly the first two months of the 2022-23 regular season.

Marchand’s projected unavailability next season only adds to what’s bound to be an offseason of chaos for the Bruins. With the future of captain Patrice Bergeron up in the air, the team can’t really have a plan yet of how to attack the offseason and free agency.

On the ice, losing Marchand for any amount of time is a staggering blow for this Bruins team. Not only does Marchand bring all the intangibles that he’s so well known for, but he also remains one of the most offensively skilled left-wingers in the league. He scored 80 points in 70 games last season for his sixth straight season above a point per game pace.

Off the ice, moving Marchand to long-term injured reserve for the start of the regular season could buy the Bruins some time. The team has under $3MM in cap space this offseason, and while they have few roster spots to replace, the aging team needs to modify their roster to stay competitive in a tough Atlantic Division. Most importantly, there’s the matter of re-signing or replacing Bergeron, and the latter option will likely be much more costly. If the Bruins can buy some more cap space for the start of the season, it would allow them a few months into the year to figure out some trade scenarios for players to free up space.

Regardless, at 34 years old, the Bruins just hope Marchand is able to rebound to his previous level of play after what was a decently intensive surgery.

Bruins Notes: Sweeney, Marchand, DeBrusk

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The Boston Bruins climbed back into their first-round series several times before ultimately falling to the Carolina Hurricanes in seven games, and now face an offseason of uncertainty. Captain Patrice Bergeron is a pending unrestricted free agent, and though he has explained he wants to return, will turn 37 in July. David Pastrnak could also use a new contract, as he is only signed for one more year before potentially hitting the open market in 2023.

But before those situations are dealt with, it’s another key member of the organization that needs a new deal. General manager Don Sweeney does not yet have a contract for net season, and when asked today about the situation, he told reporters including Matt Porter of the Boston Globe that he expects the situation to be resolved “in short order.” Sweeney has been in charge of the team since 2015.

  • Like every team after a long grueling season, there are also injuries to deal with. Brad Marchand has a hip issue that may require offseason surgery, according to Porter, though the final decision has not been made on a treatment path. The 34-year-old forward had another outstanding season for the Bruins this year, scoring 32 goals and 80 points, before being their most effective player in the postseason as well. While some of the other players on the Boston roster may still get more press (at least for their positive accomplishments), it’s Marchand that has been one of the most consistent forces in the entire league the last six seasons.
  • It’s not just contract negotiations and injury timelines though, the Bruins are also still dealing with the Jake DeBrusk situation. The 25-year-old winger put in a trade request some time ago, and despite some late-season success after moving higher in the lineup, things don’t appear to have officially changed. DeBrusk told reporters earlier this week that he hadn’t really thought about it since the deadline, but Sweeney explained today that he doesn’t think anything has changed, “other than he’s happier.” Whether that means he’ll rescind the request and stick around is unclear at this point, but he already has a contract extension through 2023-24.

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