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East Notes: Stralman, Coburn, Capitals, Senators

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The Lightning took care of some business on their back end yesterday when they re-signed Jan Rutta.  Don’t be expecting their other pending UFA defensemen to follow suit quickly as Joe Smith of The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that the team has yet to start contract discussions with Anton Stralman and Braydon Coburn.  Though Stralman had an injury-riddled season, he’s still likely to be viewed as a top-four blueliner on the open market which could make it difficult for Tampa Bay to re-sign him given their pending salary cap constraints.  On the other hand, if Coburn is willing to take a big pay cut on his $3.7MM salary (a likely scenario given his limited role in 2018-19) he could make some sense to keep around as affordable veteran depth.

Elsewhere in the East:

  • The Capitals have a pair of players that will be entering the final season of their contracts in July in center Nicklas Backstrom and Braden Holtby. Both players indicated to J.J. Regan of NBC Sports Washington that they’re open to signing an extension this summer to forego testing the open market.  The pair have only ever played for Washington but will be owed raises on their current deals.  Backstrom’s $6.7MM AAV is well below market value for someone that has spent considerable time on the front line while Holtby ($6.1MM) is also fairly cheap for an established starter.
  • While the lack of progress on an arena deal has led some to speculate that an ownership change or relocation could be on the table for the Senators, commissioner Gary Bettman told Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch that the team isn’t for sale and moving them is not a consideration. Things were looking up in Ottawa with the proposed LeBreton Flats agreement but that deal fell apart with both parties involved ultimately taking each other to court.  Meanwhile, Bettman wouldn’t confirm or deny if the league is involved in assisting the team with their search for a president of hockey operations.

Washington Capitals Extend Pheonix Copley

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The Washington Capitals are the latest team to hand out a three-year extension to a backup goaltender, this time signing Pheonix Copley to a $3.3MM deal. The contract will ensure that Copley fulfills the Capitals expansion draft requirements, while also giving Braden Holtby a reliable backup for a reasonably low price.  TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie reports that the deal breaks down as follows:

2019-20: $750K salary, $300K signing bonus
2020-21: $750K salary
2021-22: $1.5MM salary

Like Alex Stalock and Casey DeSmith who both signed three-year deals earlier this season, Copley happened to be in a perfect situation to secure his future. The 27-year old netminder had just two games of NHL experience under his belt prior to this season but has performed admirably behind Holtby in Washington. While his .903 save percentage could be better, the former Michigan Tech goaltender has gone 10-5-3 this year and shown that he can at least handle the role at the NHL level.

Still, three years is obviously a long time to commit to a goaltender who is relatively unproven. In fact, it’s not clear what the Capitals situation will even be in the near future given that Holtby’s current contract expires after the 2019-20 season. The team has young stud prospect Ilya Samsonov in the minor leagues developing and will be only able to protect one goaltender in the expansion draft. Holtby has obviously done enough to prove his worth in the NHL but is currently carrying a .907 save percentage on the year, the same number he finished last season with.

Whether the Capitals decide to extend Holtby or move on and hand over the crease to Samsonov at some point, Copley will have some certainty in his place in the league. His $1.1MM cap hit will also be almost entirely buried if he is sent to the minor leagues at any point over the next two seasons. In 2021-22, it would come completely off the books.

Metropolitan Notes: Holtby, Bjugstad, Niederreiter

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The Washington Capitals finally broke their seven-game losing streak, but there still is plenty of concern on whether the Stanley Cup champions can re-establish themselves as top candidates to re-capture the title this season. While many point to fatigue as the team played a lot of extra games in the playoffs last season, there are even bigger concerns, including the goaltending.

Perhaps one of the biggest area of concern, according to The Athletic’s Scott Burnside (subscription required) is the play of their goaltending, most particularly the play of Braden Holtby, who is posting another disappointing regular season. Despite an impressive Stanley Cup championship run during the playoffs, Holtby struggled during the regular season with a 2.99 GAA and a .907 save percentage. This year has been even more disappointing as the veteran has a 3.10 GAA and a .905 save percentage. He ranks 19th, among goalies with 20 or more appearances, at even-strength save percentage with a .918.

“The goalies have just lost it here,” Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan said. “They’re flailing away at it, letting in bad goals at bad times, stuff like that.”

  • Seth Rorabaugh of The Athletic (subscription required) writes that the impressive play of Pittsburgh Penguins’ newly acquired center Nick Bjugstad could eventually bring about head coach Mike Sullivan’s dream of spreading out Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel over three lines. The belief is that the additions of Bjugstad as well as Jared McCann should open up multiple possibilities on offense which neither Derick Brassard or Riley Sheahan did. “Nick Bjugstad is a guy that’s shown an ability to score in this league,” Sullivan said of a player whose career season of 2014-15 saw him score 24 goals and 43 points in 72 games. “He’s a 45- to 50-point guy. He has more upside, he’s still young. He brings more size to our team and a whole lot of skill.”
  • News & Observer’s Chip Alexander asks the question ’What was Paul Fenton thinking?’ when referring to what so far looks to be a steal of a trade when the Carolina Hurricanes acquired Nino Niederreiter from Fenton and the Minnesota Wild for Victor Rask. Niederreiter has sparked the team with five goals in five games as the team has gone 3-1-1 in that span, including a big victory over Vegas Friday, while Rask has just one assist in Minnesota over four games. Niederreiter seems to have found a home on the team’s first line next to Sebastian Aho and veteran Justin Williams.

Washington Capitals Have Lots Of Decisions To Make In Goal

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The Washington Capitals have some interesting decisions to make in the next few months when it comes to their goaltending. The team has starter Braden Holtby under contract for just one more season after this one, while backup Pheonix Copley will be an unrestricted free agent. Throw in the fact the team has highly-touted prospect Ilya Samsonov in Hershey in the AHL as well as Vitek Vanecek, who is about to play for the AHL All-Star game, and the team has quite a bit of depth.

The team’s first decision, according to the Washington Post’s Isabelle Khurshudyan is general manager Brian MacLellan must decide whether they intend to bring back Copley next season. Copley was having an impressive season until recently with 10 wins in his first 15 games, but has struggled more recently during Washington’s seven-game winless streak. In fact, Copley has gone 0-3-1 in his last four appearances, allowing 15 goals, although two of those appearance were in relief of Holtby. Of course, MacLellan said just two weeks ago that he was interested in retaining the services of Copley for another year.

“No I don’t,” said MacLellan, when asked if he needed to see more of him before re-signing him. “I think he’s pretty much continually gotten better. You watch him work in practice, you watch what [goaltending coach Scott Murray] does — I mean I talk to Scott constantly on where’s he at, where’s he going — and there’s a comfort level with him that he’s not going to get worse. He’s going to get better.”

Regardless of his recent struggles, bringing Copley back for another year would make sense as Samsanov, deemed the goaltender of the future in Washington, has struggled in the AHL with a 3.14 GAA and a .878 save percentage this season. Another year of Copley would give the prospect more time to develop as its just his first year in North America and knew little English when he arrived here last summer. However, the 21-year-old Samsanov has had a recent string of solid performances as he has gone 4-0-1 with two shutouts in his last five games, but barring injury isn’t likely to make his NHL debut this year. If someone gets recalled this season, it’s likely to be Vanecek, who is 10-8-2 with a 2.82 GAA and a .903 save percentage. Vanecek is also a coveted prospect as he was a second-round pick in 2014.

Khurshudyan also points out that whatever the team decides to do with Copley could have an effect of whether the team brings back Holtby after the 2019-20 season. With lasting salary cap issues, the team might be better off turning to Samsonov as their starter in two years rather than offer the then 31-year-old an expensive, long-term contract extension. It will likely be his last chance at a big contract, so it’s unlikely he would agree to a short-term deal to stay in Washington. Holtby returned to the All-Star game this year and is having another impressive season, but the team may have to decide between retaining Holtby or Nicklas Backstrom, who will both be unrestricted free agents in two years. Regardless, if the team opts to make Samsonov the goalie of the future, how much NHL experience will Samsonov get if Copley is in his way next season?

NHL Announces All-Star Skills Competitors

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The NHL All-Star Skills Competition is scheduled for this evening, and though Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon have both pulled out due to illness and injury there are still an incredible amount of talented players taking part. Most notable however may be the final entrant in the fastest skater competition: Kendall Coyne. A member of the US Women’s National Team, Coyne will take MacKinnon’s place after the Colorado Avalanche forward suffered a foot injury this week. The Olympic gold medalist is known for her speed and posted a 14.226 yesterday during event testing according to Emily Kaplan of ESPN. Though that wouldn’t have been enough to dethrone Connor McDavid last year, it would have put her ahead of Zach Werenski, Noah Hanifin and Josh Bailey in the competition. We’ll see what Coyne can do tonight, along with the rest of the competitors:

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Metropolitan Notes: Holtby, Jarry, Van Riemsdyk, Hickey

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The Washington Capitals look like they can breathe a sigh of relief as goaltender Braden Holtby was at practice Sunday after Columbus’ Cam Atkinson accidentally put his stick through a hole in Holtby’s mask into his left eye, forcing him to leave the game. It’s still unclear if the goaltender would start against St. Louis on Monday, the first of a back-to-back set, according to Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post.

“Obviously anything with your eyes is a little scary,” Holtby said. “It’s fortunate that it wasn’t anything too serious. You just move on. … I didn’t have the sight to keep going. I just wouldn’t have been a benefit to the team. it was one of those things. Eyes heal quickly, so just 24 hours and I’ll be back to normal.”

The incident on the ice Saturday in the second period and the immediate thought looked scary with many worrying that the team’s star goaltender could miss a significant amount of time. However, it looks like the injury isn’t as serious as originally thought. Head coach Todd Rierden said that the team doesn’t intend to recall a goaltender from the AHL at this moment with the general belief that the team could start Pheonix Copley Monday and start Holtby on Tuesday against Nashville on Tuesday.

  • While there have been reports out of Pittsburgh that the team may be ready to move a defenseman, Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes that general manager Jim Rutherford may also be ready to move third-string goaltender Tristan Jarry as well. The 23-year-old and second-round pick in 2013 is a solid prospect, but with 24-year-old Matt Murray locked in as the starter and the fact that backup Casey DeSmith was recently extended for another three years, Jarry could be a nice trade chip. He has one more year at $675K before he hits restricted free agency, although his two-way deal will turn into a one-way deal next season. NBC Sports’ Adam Gretz adds, however, that goaltenders don’t often bring a lot back in trades, pointing out that Filip Gustavsson was a better prospect and he was just one part of a package to get Derick Brassard last season.
  • Sam Carchidi of Philly.com writes that Philadelphia Flyers forward James van Riemsdyk has a 50-50 chance of playing Monday after being banged up Saturday against New Jersey. Van Riemsdyk, who has struggled with injuries as well as production, had one of his better games of the season, playing 17:01 and scoring a goal and adding an assist, despite the loss. The 29-year-old has two goals and two assists in the last two games.
  • Newsday’s Andrew Gross reports that New York Islanders defenseman Thomas Hickey, who has missed 11 straight games with an upper-body injury, has had a slowdown in his recovery, according to head coach Barry Trotz. Hickey has been skating on his own, but was held out of the team’s last full practice on Wednesday. “We want to do what’s best for the player,” Trotz said. “I don’t know if it’s a setback. We just want to be cautious with it. He’s real important for us and we’re not trying to rush him at all. We back him off a little bit and that’s on trainers’ orders.”

2019 All-Star Rosters Announced

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The NHL has announced the four rosters for the 2019 All-Star Game today, scheduled to be held on January 26th in San Jose. Earlier today, Alex Ovechkin, who was elected captain of Metropolitan Division squad, told the league that he wouldn’t be attending and will accept the punishment of missing one game either before or after the break. Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, and Auston Matthews will represent the Pacific, Central and Atlantic respectively, as the other captains. A replacement Metropolitan captain for Ovechkin has yet to be named.

The full rosters are as follows:

Pacific Division

G John Gibson (ANA)
G Marc-Andre Fleury (VGK)

D Erik Karlsson (SJS)
D Brent Burns (SJS)
D Drew Doughty (LAK)

F Connor McDavid (EDM)*
F Johnny Gaudreau (CGY)
F Joe Pavelski (SJS)
F Elias Pettersson (VAN)
F Clayton Keller (ARI)

Central Division

G Pekka Rinne (NSH)
G Devan Dubnyk (MIN)

D Roman Josi (NSH)
D Miro Heiskanen (DAL)

F Nathan MacKinnon (COL)*
F Mikko Rantanen (COL)
F Blake Wheeler (WPG)
F Patrick Kane (CHI)
F Mark Scheifele (WPG)
F Ryan O’Reilly (STL)

Atlantic Division

G Jimmy Howard (DET)
G Carey Price (MTL)

D Keith Yandle (FLA)
D Thomas Chabot (OTT)

F Auston Matthews (TOR)*
F Nikita Kucherov (TBL)
F Steven Stamkos (TBL)
F John Tavares (TOR)
F David Pastrnak (BOS)
F Jack Eichel (BUF)

Metropolitan Division

G Henrik Lundqvist (NYR)
G Braden Holtby (WAS)

D John Carlson (WSH)
D Seth Jones (CBJ)

F Sidney Crosby (PIT)
F Taylor Hall (NJD)
F Mathew Barzal (NYI)
F Claude Giroux (PHI)
F Cam Atkinson (CBJ)
F Sebastian Aho (CAR)

*Denotes team captain

One final skater spot on each roster has yet to be announced, as it will be determined by the “Last Man In” fan ballot, a concept borrowed from Major League Baseball. The format of the current All-Star Game, which requires one representative from each team on these smaller 3-on-tournament rosters, was bound to cause some confusion with the initial selections. Seven top-twenty scorers were not selected – Mitch Marner, Brayden Point, Leon Draisaitl, Sean Monahan, Matthew Tkachuk, Phil Kessel, and Gabriel Landeskog – and several will inevitably remain out of All-Star participation even after the fan ballot additions. Morgan Rielly, the league’s top-scoring defenseman, and Mark Giordano, enjoying an elite season on both sides of the puck, are two surprising omissions on the blue line. Several of the league’s top goalies are also going to miss out, ineligible for the fan ballot, including Ben Bishop, Frederik Andersen, and Andrei Vasilevskiy. The “Last Man In” will be an intriguing new addition to the All-Star process, with nominees to be named shortly, but more than a few notable names will be left out regardless. Meanwhile, the health of players like Price and Chabot for Team Atlantic and Hall for Team Metropolitan will bear watching, as those players may opt to skip the All-Star festivities, opening up more players to selection.

Minor Transactions: 11/19/18

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Nine games grace the NHL stage tonight including some key matchups featuring some of the best teams in the league. Perhaps the best example of that is when the Tampa Bay Lightning visit the Nashville Predators in a battle of Stanley Cup contenders. As teams prepare for their big night, we’ll be right here keeping track of all the minor moves.

  • The Washington Capitals are expected to have Braden Holtby dressed once again as he returns from injury, and have sent Ilya Samsonov back down to the minor leagues. Taking his place on the roster is young defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler, who has played two games for the Capitals this season. Samsonov is one of the top goaltending prospects in the world, but will have to wait for his next opportunity before making his NHL debut.
  • Micheal Haley is back with the Florida Panthers, as the team recalled him today along with Dryden Hunt. Denis Malgin and Maxim Mamin were reassigned to the Springfield Thunderbirds to make room. Haley, 32, spent the start of the season away from the team working with the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program, but has now resumed his career and will try to inject some physicality and energy into the Panthers lineup.
  • The Arizona Coyotes have returned three players to the AHL as they make room for other on the roster returning to health. CapFriendly reports that forward Mario Kempe and defensemen Dakota Mermis and Robbie Russo have all been reassigned to the Tuscon Roadrunners. Russo did not see any game action on his first recall of the season, while Mermis skated in just over eleven minutes in his one appearance and Kempe recorded a team-low 10:22 ATOI in four games. The trio don’t seem to have the trust of the coaching staff just yet and the Coyotes likely hope that they can stay healthy enough to avoid seeing any of the group for a while.

Snapshots: Draft Age, Capitals, Foligno, Fowler

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Although we’re still nearly a full year away from potentially having CBA talks officially reopening, Larry Brooks of the New York Post mentions some of the early discussion points among the informal talks that have been held so far.  Perhaps most noteworthy among them is the NHL’s preference to move to a draft age of 19 instead of 18 as it is currently.  It would certainly aid in the scouting and evaluation process for teams but at the same time, it would prevent the top young players from making the jump to the NHL right away, something we’ve seen more of in recent years.  The ability to reopen the CBA comes next September and these early discussions may wind up going a long way towards determining whether a deal can be reached or if another work stoppage will be on the horizon.

Elsewhere around the league:

  • The Capitals aren’t expected to have center Evgeny Kuznetsov or winger T.J. Oshie back in the lineup on Monday in Montreal, notes Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post. Both players are dealing with head injuries and are listed as day-to-day.  Washington may have goalie Braden Holtby available though as he took part in practice with the team today after missing the past three games.
  • Nick Foligno has rejoined the Blue Jackets after missing their last game due to a personal matter, reports Aaron Portzline of The Athletic (Twitter link). After a down season in 2017-18, the winger is off to a better start this season with six goals and six assists in 19 games, good for a tie for fifth in team scoring.
  • While the Ducks were originally planning to provide an update regarding defenseman Cam Fowler today, they’ve decided to wait a little longer before providing an estimate of how long he’ll be out, notes Elliott Teaford of the Orange County Register (Twitter link). Fowler underwent successful surgery to repair multiple facial fractures but it certainly sounds like he’ll be out for a while.  That makes the news that fellow blueliner Hampus Lindholm is on injured reserve even worse for Anaheim.

Braden Holtby Out, Capitals To Dress Emergency Backup

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In an unexpected twist, the Washington Capitals – on the road in Winnipeg to face the Jets tonight – will be without starting goaltender Braden Holtby. The Washington Post’s Isabelle Khurshudyan was the first to report that Holtby had been ruled out and that backup Pheonix Copley would get the start, with an emergency backup suiting up for the Caps. TSN’s Brian Munz adds that it is an upper-body injury for Holtby, although it remains unclear how and when the injury occurred and to what extent.

Washington will put their trust in Copley for a second game in a row, as the 26-year-old gets set to make just his eighth career NHL appearance. Copley won the Capitals’ backup job by default in training camp, but has performed up to expectations thus far. In five games, he has three wins, a .904 save percentage, and a 2.91 goals against average. However, Copley faces a tough test, going up against the talented Jets after facing the Minnesota Wild just last night.

Regardless of how Copley performs this evening, it’s fair to say that he will stay in net barring an injury. The Capitals will dress local emergency backup Gavin McHale as their second-string option tonight, reports Caps radio host Ben Raby. McHale is the goaltending coach for the women’s hockey team at the nearby University of Manitoba. The 31-year-old is a Manitoba alumni himself and played two seasons in the WHL with the Seattle Thunderbirds and Lethbridge Hurricanes. Even at a hulking 6’7″, Washington is unlikely to stick McHale in the net unless there are extremely extenuating circumstances.

Meanwhile, the concern for the Capitals is far beyond just one result and no one will blame them for dropping tonight’s match-up in Winnipeg, as they were underdogs even with Holtby in net. Instead, the focus is on the starter and his injury moving forward. Perhaps more than any team in the NHL this season, Washington can ill-afford a long-term injury to their starting goaltender. Khushudyan indicates that the injury is not serious and Holtby is considered “day-to-day”, but the ailment is enough that he could not even dress as the backup tonight. We will likely know more in the coming days.

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