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Brett Howden

Forward Notes: Iafallo, Howden, Balcers

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Some good news is coming in the future for the Los Angeles Kings. LA Kings Insider’s Zach Dooley reports that Alex Iafallo has resumed skating on his own, although head coach Todd McLellan said he “won’t be in the lineup for a little while.”

Iafallo has missed 19 games so far this year with a lower-body injury. He remains week-to-week, and it’s likely another week or two at least before he returns. When he does, though, it’ll be a huge boost for a Kings team still in the playoff mix. The 28-year-old had five points through his first four games and remains a valuable top-nine piece in LA.

  • Vegas Golden Knights forward Brett Howden is out tonight against the Vancouver Canucks after sustaining a lower-body injury in Thursday’s contest against Ottawa. Head coach Bruce Cassidy still isn’t sure about his return, but he said Howden likely won’t travel on the team’s upcoming road trip. That would put him out for at least four games, potentially returning on December 7 against his former team, the New York Rangers.
  • A recent pickup by the Tampa Bay Lightning is set to miss a few games. Forward Rudolfs Balcers, claimed on waivers from Florida earlier in the season, is unlikely to play on the team’s upcoming road trip, according to head coach Jon Cooper. The Bolts’ upcoming three-game swing sees them take on the Sabres, Bruins, and Flyers. Balcers has averaged under seven minutes per game in Tampa and has a goal in his first three Lightning appearances.

Injury Notes: Ullmark, Smith, Slafkovsky, Howden

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The Boston Bruins today became the first team in NHL history to record twelve straight home wins to start a season, but amid that history-making came some bad news. Number-one goalie Linus Ullmark, whose heroics this season have played a major role in the Bruins’ rise, went down with an injury and needed to be relieved by backup netminder Jeremy Swayman. Additionally, forward Craig Smith also left the game with an injury.

Thankfully for Boston, though, the team is optimistic about the status of their two players. Ty Anderson of 98.5 The Sports Hub reports that the Bruins believe both Ullmark and Smith are out on just a day-to-day timeline. That being said, though, he does add on that they “don’t know anything definitive yet.” While the Bruins remain optimistic about their two injured players, this will definitely be something to monitor moving forward.

Now, for some other injury notes from across the NHL:

  • The Montreal Canadiens had a bit of an injury scare today when Juraj Slafkovsky got shaken up by a hit from Chicago Blackhawks forward Jason Dickinson. Slafkovsky did return to the bench by the end of the game to witness his team’s shootout victory, and after the game coach Martin St. Louis sounded optimistic about the state of his team’s prized young forward. While we don’t have full confirmation that Slafkovsky wasn’t injured on the play, it does seem like he and the Canadiens escaped the worst there.
  • The Vegas Golden Knights have announced that forward Brett Howden will miss tonight’s game with a lower-body injury. No further details beyond that were released. Howden, 24, has been a bottom-six forward for the Golden Knights this season and has three points 21 games.

Minor Transactions: 09/23/22

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We’re just one day away from the official start of the NHL’s preseason calendar, with a unique slate of games scheduled for tomorrow. In addition to the Boston Bruins paying a visit to the Philadelphia Flyers, the Arizona Coyotes and St. Louis Blues will face-off against one another from Wichita, Kansas in a neutral-site contest. Perhaps most interesting are the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators, who seem to have pulled a page right out of the baseball playbook with the team’s playing a split-squad, day-night doubleheader including a 1:00 pm and 7:00 pm puck drop in Toronto. With all that action, there are several notes from around the league worth mentioning, primarily related to the opening of camp and the beginning of games, which we will keep track of here:

  • It appears the Arizona Coyotes have sent 2022 first-round pick Maveric Lamoureux back to juniors ahead of training camp (link). Given the defenseman’s age and raw skillset, as well as Arizona’s position in their rebuild, it wasn’t likely Lamoureux was going to make a major impact in camp and the team likely felt he was best served by heading back to the Drummondville Voltigeurs now rather than later.
  • Also sent back to juniors was Boston Bruins prospect Brett Harrison (link). A third-round pick in 2021, Harrison may have had the opportunity to raise eyes in training camp with Boston, however the forward projects to be a standout with the Oshawa Generals this season after tallying 61 points in 65 games last season. Oshawa kicks off its 2022-23 regular season in Barrie this Thursday.
  • A number of players have been officially activated off of injured-reserve today. Though many of these are not a surprise, some did come with question marks and in the wake of the recent injury updates around the league, particularly Sean Couturier of the Flyers, not everything can always be taken as a given. The Pittsburgh Penguins activated recently-signed forward Drake Caggiula (link). Moving out west, the Vancouver Canucks have activated forward Nils Hoglander and defenseman Tucker Poolman off of IR (link). In the desert, the Vegas Golden Knights activated forwards Brett Howden and Reilly Smith (link).

Vegas Golden Knights Sign Brett Howden

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July 13: As expected, the Golden Knights have found a deal for Howden, signing him to a one-year, $1.5MM contract according to PuckPedia.

July 11: Even though he went unqualified today, forward Brett Howden is still expected to stay a Vegas Golden Knight instead of hitting the open market. TSN’s Darren Dreger reports that he expects the two sides to finalize an agreement to keep him in Nevada.

As with most similar situations, the rationale for not qualifying Howden likely has to do with the qualifying offer he was owed. Per CapFriendly’s Qualifying Offer Calculator, Howden was due a one-year deal with a $929,250 cap hit. It doesn’t seem like that much money, but for the cap-strapped Vegas, every cent counts to stay under the limit. The team and player should likely agree to a one-way deal closer to the league minimum ($750,000).

Howden was really productive in a depth role last season, notching 20 points in 47 games. While injuries limited his lineup appearances, the 2016 first-round pick took a demonstrable step forward for the first time in the NHL. After a decent 23-point rookie campaign with the New York Rangers, Howden’s point production and the all-around game dropped off dramatically over the next few seasons. He seems to have found a better home in Vegas.

The Knights hope he can stay healthy and keep up that rate of production. With the team losing depth in order to fit under the cap, they’ll need production out of affordable players like Howden.

Looking At The Impending Vegas Cap Crunch

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To say the 2021-22 season was a gigantic disappointment for the Vegas Golden Knights would also be a massive understatement. After mortgaging a large part of their future to acquire superstar center Jack Eichel, albeit for the long term, the team missed the playoffs for the first time in franchise history and fired head coach Peter DeBoer earlier this week.

Now, general manager Kelly McCrimmon has an arduous offseason to retool the roster and find a new head coach. Both will need significant attention, however, the Knights are already entering free agency with the pressing need to shed cap space. With a roster size of 23, the team is already in a salary deficit of about $500,000, even with the small cap increase to $82.5MM next year (CapFriendly).

While some of those players may be sent to AHL Henderson when the team is fully healthy, the team needs to make a decision on RFAs Nicolas Roy, Brett Howden, Keegan Kolesar, and Nicolas Hague, who have all been extremely valuable to the team in their depth roles. It’s clear that unless the Knights somehow make a move to acquire significant long-term injury relief (Shea Weber?), the team needs to move on from a decent chunk of cash to be comfortable under the cap in 2022-23.

Obviously, the choice that jumps off the page is forward Evgenii Dadonov. Signed just through next season at $5MM, the veteran forward was already involved in a trade intended to dump his salary but was reversed due to his limited no-trade clause. He did hit the 20-goal mark again this year and could do so again if given good support. It’s a low-risk acquisition for teams looking for scoring depth, especially with his contract expiring at the end of the year. However, Vegas has absolutely no leverage in this situation given the failed trade in March. If that incident didn’t happen, the Knights could probably have made a decent deal involving Dadonov this offseason. They’ll likely still be able to make a trade, but it won’t involve much benefit for the team other than cap space.

Another potential option is William Karlsson. Given his offensive upside and defensive acumen, teams would probably like to have a top-six centerman under a $6MM cap hit. With the Eichel acquisition and solid play from the cheaper Chandler Stephenson, there is no longer a pressing need for Karlsson in the lineup. He had a very tough season putting pucks in the net, though, and his 40-goal 2017-18 campaign seems like decades ago for him now. He’s scored just 15, 14, and 12 goals in the past three years, and while he still puts up points, he’s signed through 2027. It would clear a tad more cap space than Dadonov, though, and the wing is more a position of need for the Knights. Yet, the relationship between Dadonov and the Knights must be considered. If the relationship is irreparably severed, the team might have no choice. That’s not to say they still couldn’t entertain the idea of moving Karlsson, however.

Lastly, there’s backup netminder Laurent Brossoit and his $2.3MM cap hit. He’s almost surely gone considering the incredibly strong play of youngster Logan Thompson down the stretch. It’s not much cap relief, though, and the team likely needs a little more wiggle room to adjust the roster as desired.

Golden Knights Place Two On LTIR

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The Golden Knights have added a bit of cap flexibility as CapFriendly reports (Twitter link) that defenseman Nicolas Hague and center Brett Howden have been transferred to LTIR.  Both players were injured last month and the placements have been dated retroactive accordingly – Hague to March 15th and Howden to March 21st.  With the designations, both players have to miss at least 10 games and 24 days from the placement which means Hague is pretty close to being eligible to return already.

The moves boost Vegas’ usable LTIR space to just over $5MM which gives them enough flexibility to bring other players up from AHL Henderson if need be.  The Golden Knights have an extra forward and defenseman on the roster already so no further reinforcements are necessary and if they did call someone up, it would count towards one of their four post-deadline regular recalls since they’re not in an emergency situation.

However, it’s worth noting that they’re still well short of being able to free up the money to activate winger Mark Stone off LTIR; they’re still $4.45MM short of that.  Of course, they tried to preemptively free up some space at the trade deadline with the since-invalidated Evgenii Dadonov trade and would need to try to make a similar move if Stone becomes ready to return.  That said, they now have enough room to activate winger Reilly Smith if and when he is cleared to play which would give the Golden Knights a boost offensively as they look to get back into the playoff picture although it would basically end Hague and Howden’s regular seasons as well; there is no set timetable for them to return.

The salary cap limits expire at the end of the regular season which is still three weeks away and it looks as if the Golden Knights will be tap-dancing around that until the final buzzer sounds.

Max Pacioretty Suffers Setback; Brett Howden Avoids Serious Injury

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The Vegas Golden Knights have been ravaged by injury this season and now find themselves at risk of missing the playoffs entirely. One hope they had for the near future was Max Pacioretty, who appeared to be closing in on a return from his latest issue. Not anymore, as Pacioretty has suffered a setback according to head coach Peter DeBoer, who spoke with reporters including Jesse Granger of The Athletic.

Pacioretty, 33, left yesterday’s morning skate and will now not be available for the “near future” according to DeBoer. It’s been a brutal year for the veteran forward, who has appeared in just 29 games–though he has recorded 15 goals and 29 points in those contests.

The Golden Knights head coach also gave an update on Brett Howden, who was stretchered off last night. Howden is out of the hospital and was actually at the practice facility today, with DeBoer confirming nothing is broken.

While an injury is obviously never a good thing, Pacioretty’s absence may actually have something of a silver lining for the Golden Knights, who were going to be in a tough salary cap situation after Evgenii Dadonov’s trade was canceled. Pacioretty is currently only on regular injured reserve, meaning if he’s going to miss an extensive period of time, he could be moved to long-term injured reserve, essentially swapping places with someone like Alec Martinez.

If the Golden Knights were in a better position, one might wonder if this was just a case of resting a veteran player while providing some cap benefit. But even after last night’s win, Vegas is far from a lock for the postseason. In fact, the team currently sits outside of the playoff picture, one point behind Dallas despite having played four more games.

This Day In Transactions History: Lightning Acquire Ryan McDonagh And J.T. Miller

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Four years ago today was the 2018 NHL trade deadline, one that featured several notable swaps, including Evander Kane to the Sharks, Tomas Tatar to the Golden Knights, and Paul Stastny to the Jets.  But the biggest one of all came from the Lightning and Rangers.  New York had released their letter committing to rebuilding their franchise earlier in the month and had already made some moves to shore up their future.  This was their biggest one with Tampa Bay moving out several future assets in an effort to win now.

The Lightning picked up defenseman Ryan McDonagh along with winger J.T. Miller in exchange for winger Vladislav Namestnikov, center Brett Howden, defenseman Libor Hajek, plus a first-round pick in 2018 and a second-rounder in 2019.  It has only been four years but it’s safe to say it worked out a whole lot better for Tampa Bay than it did for New York.

McDonagh immediately became a stabilizing force on the back end for the Lightning.  They didn’t need him to play upwards of 24 minutes a night as he was with the Rangers but gave them someone beyond Victor Hedman and Anton Stralman that was capable of shouldering a key load on the back end.  Then-GM Steve Yzerman wasted little time working on an extension with McDonagh and as soon as he became eligible to sign one in July, McDonagh inked a seven-year, $47.25MM deal to ensure he’ll be sticking around for the long haul.

Miller didn’t exactly have the same fate.  He was quite productive down the stretch for Tampa Bay, averaging nearly a point per game after the trade but struggled in the playoffs and didn’t produce as much the following year.  That resulted in him being traded to Vancouver for a pair of draft picks, including the 2020 first-round selection that they ultimately flipped to New Jersey in 2020 as part of the Blake Coleman trade.  Coleman, of course, played an important role on Tampa Bay’s Cup-winning teams in 2020 and 2021 so even though Miller didn’t have the type of impact they were hoping for, they still ultimately got a good return out of his inclusion in the trade.

As for what the Rangers got, things haven’t gone quite so well.  Namestnikov was quiet down the stretch but his performance with Tampa Bay before the trade was still good enough to land him a two-year, $8MM contract that would take him to unrestricted free agency.  One year later after a quiet season, he was flipped in a cap-clearing trade for minor league blueliner Nick Ebert and a fourth-round pick in 2021 that was used on Kalle Vaisanen.  Not a great return on the impact forward they were hoping Namestnikov would be.  He’s now in Detroit and is a candidate to be moved by March 21st.

Howden was a first-round pick of the Lightning back in 2016 (27th overall) and profiled as a key two-way center after putting up some impressive numbers in junior.  However, that offensive output didn’t materialize in the pros and after scoring just 16 goals in 178 games over parts of three seasons with the Rangers, they gave up on him, sending him to Vegas for a 2022 fourth-round pick.  Howden has actually done fairly well this season with 18 points in 39 games for the Golden Knights despite spending a lot of time on the fourth line.

Hajek was another player who impressed at the junior level and it looked as if he’d become a quality NHL defenseman before too long.  While he was a regular for a lot of last season, he was a fixture on the third pairing with sheltered minutes and this year, he has been a frequent healthy scratch.  They don’t want to lose him for nothing on waivers but this is a situation where if they move him, the return will almost certainly be as underwhelming as Howden’s was.

As for the draft picks, it’s a bit too early to make any significant conclusions on those.  The first-rounder yielded defenseman Nils Lundkvist and while he has been fairly quiet in his first season in North America, his track record of offensive success in Sweden is promising.  The second-rounder turned into center Karl Henriksson who isn’t putting up big numbers in Frolunda of the SHL but is holding down a regular spot in the lineup.  Both could certainly be part of New York’s future with Lundkvist getting a sniff of NHL action earlier this season.

For New York to have any chance of salvaging any sort of value from this trade, they’ll need those prospects to become impact players.  They’re down to Vaisanen, Lundkvist, Henriksson, a fourth-round pick, and Hajek (or whatever limited return they get for him).  That’s not a great return from a trade that they were hoping would give them several long-term building blocks for the future, a cautionary tale for how even trading for players that appear to be quality prospects can still not work out as well as intended.  Meanwhile, Tampa Bay has won a couple of Stanley Cup titles since then and while McDonagh’s contract may not age great considering he’s signed through 2026, he’s still playing an important role for them.  The biggest swap of the 2018 deadline looks like a clear-cut victory for them as a result.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Jonathan Marchessault, Brett Howden Exit COVID Protocol

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Now it is clear why the Vegas Golden Knights sent three young forwards back to the AHL this morning. Jonathan Marchessault and Brett Howden, who had been in the league’s COVID protocol, have joined the regular group at practice today according to David Schoen of the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Marchessault spent ten days in the protocol, meaning he hasn’t played since November 13. That was a huge blow to the Golden Knights attack, given the veteran forward was off to a great start with nine goals and 13 points in 15 games. When combined with some of the other injuries the team was dealing with, it was nearly the entire top two lines out at once.

Howden meanwhile never did test positive but had been held out as a close contact the last few days. The 23-year-old last played on November 20 against Columbus. He’s obviously a much less important player for Vegas, averaging just 9:45 of ice time.

Incredibly, even with massive absences, the Golden Knights have fought their way back to a Pacific Division playoff spot with a 7-3 run in their last ten. They’re not just five points behind the Calgary Flames for first place and are getting closer to full health. With William Karlsson, Alec Martinez, Nolan Patrick, and Jack Eichel still out, they’re not there yet, but Marchessault’s return will certainly be a welcome one.

Vegas Golden Knights Acquire Brett Howden

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The Vegas Golden Knights are using their Expansion Draft exemption to their benefit today, strengthening their greatest position of need by adding a second center via trade before the NHL roster freeze set in. Believed to be the final trade submitted prior to the deadline, Vegas has acquired forward Brett Howden from the New York Rangers in exchange for a 2022 fourth-round pick and defenseman Nick DeSimone. 

Howden appeared to be on the outside of the Rangers’ planned protection scheme and this trade all but confirms that. Although Howden is a former top prospect, a first-round pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2016, his offense has not translated to the pro game. In fact, his scoring has been on the decline in each of his three NHL seasons. Howden works hard, plays the center position well, is a penalty kill asset, and his character is well-regarded, but his ceiling appears to be that of a bottom-six forward. If he learns to use his 6’3″, 200-lb. frame in a more physical manner, he could still become an impact forward given his youth and the flashes of ability he has shown. However, the Rangers were not willing to sacrifice another forward for a player who they have not seen enough consistent improvement from.

In Vegas, the Knights are exempt from the Expansion Draft and happy to take a chance on a center who otherwise could have gone to their new division rivals in Seattle. Howden will compete for a bottom-six center role early on, as will their other major addition today, Nolan Patrick, but there is potential for either center to climb up the roster given the team’s shallow depth at center. Improving that position, even with just a solid but unspectacular addition, is well worth a mid-round pick and aging prospect.

DeSimone did not last long in Vegas. The defenseman was acquired from the San Jose Sharks in the Mattias Janmark deal at the Trade Deadline and is on the move again a few short months later. A New York native who attended college in-state at Union College, this is a homecoming of sorts for DeSimone. The 26-year-old may be buried behind the Rangers’ deep group of young defensemen, but it never hurts to have an offensive-minded blue liner and right shot waiting in the wings.

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