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Carl Hagelin

Penguins Injury Updates

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The Pittsburgh Penguins took care of business in the first round, beating the Columbus Blue Jackets in five games. They did so without several players in the lineup, including their starting goalie.

Coach Mike Sullivan spoke with the media on Saturday, and gave updates on several players (per Wes Crosby of NHL.com):

LW Carl Hagelin – suffered lower-body injury on March 11 – Hagelin likely broke his foot in early March against the Edmonton Oilers. The preliminary estimate was four weeks, but that deadline passed ten days ago. Sullivan reports that Hagelin is undergoing off-ice rehab. It’s still not known when he might return to the lineup.

LW Chris Kunitz – suffered lower-body injury on March 31 – Kunitz has made “significant progress” and skated today.

D Kris Letang – Out of the lineup since late February, Letang underwent season-ending surgery on a herniated disc in his neck earlier this month. Sullivan had no update.

G Matt Murray – suffered lower-body injury before Game 1 vs Blue Jackets – Murray has not skated since leaving the pre-game warmup on April 12. Sullivan says Murray has been rehabbing his injury off-ice, and his return date is not known. Center Evgeni Malkin told Crosby that he expects Marc-Andre Fleury to start when the second round begins.

D Chad Ruhwedel – suffered upper-body injury on April 11 – Similar to Kunitz, Ruhwedel has made progress and is skating.

The Penguins will be watching closely on Sunday night, when the Washington Capitals can eliminate the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 6 and clinch a third Capitals-Penguins playoff series in the Sidney Crosby–Alex Ovechkin era.

Snapshots: Penguins Injuries, Couture, Haley

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Penguins center Evgeni Malkin did not skate on Sunday as he continues to recover from a shoulder injury.  Head coach Mike Sullivan noted to Jonathan Bombulie of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that the off day was a scheduled one and not a setback in the recovery process.  Malkin has missed the last six games as a result of the injury and there remains no timetable for his return.

While Malkin (along with winger Carl Hagelin who has a lower body issue) didn’t skate, several other injured Pittsburgh players took to the ice.  Defensemen Trevor Daley (knee), Ron Hainsey, Kris Letang (both upper body injuries), and Olli Maatta along with winger Jake Guentzel (concussion) all took to the ice although they did so before the team took to the ice to prepare for tonight’s game against the Flyers.

Winger Scott Wilson returned to the lineup for the Penguins after missing Friday’s game with an undisclosed issue.  However, the team lost winger Conor Sheary midway through the first period after he blocked a shot with his hand and he did not return.  Following the game, Sullivan told reporters, including Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Twitter link), that Sheary is day-to-day.

Other news from around the NHL:

  • Sharks winger Logan Couture was taken to hospital on Saturday after taking a puck to the mouth against the Predators. CSN Bay Area’s Kevin Kurz reports that Couture was able to travel home with the team.  However, a source tells Kurz that the injury is a bad one which suggests he’s likely to miss some time.  The injury comes at a tough time with the playoffs fast approaching and the team struggling considerably at the moment having lost six straight games.  On the season, Couture sits third in team scoring with 25 goals and 27 assists in 73 contests.  An update on his condition is expected on Monday.
  • Still with the Sharks, winger Micheal Haley will have a phone hearing on Monday regarding an incident against the Predators, the NHL’s Department of Player Safety announced (Twitter link). Haley was assessed a match penalty on the play, which occurred with just over seven minutes remaining in the third period.  Haley has played himself into a mostly regular role with the Sharks this season, picking up a career best 11 points and 110 penalty minutes (fifth league-wide) in 54 games.  San Jose next plays on Tuesday so a decision will have to be made whether or not to uphold or rescind the match penalty by then.

Metro Notes: Blue Jackets, Penguins, Rowney

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The Columbus Blue Jackets surprisingly strong season put them in the rare position of deadline buyer earlier this month as the team added forward Lauri Korpikoski and blue liner Kyle Quincey, shoring up the club’s depth down the stretch. This newfound depth, while a good thing, has nonetheless forced head coach John Tortorella into making some tough lineup decisions now that the Jackets are again healthy, writes Aaron Portzline of The Columbus Dispatch. Korpikoski, acquired from Dallas for young defenseman Dillon Heatherington, was a recent casualty of that depth, as he was made a healthy scratch for the team’s 2 – 1 win over Florida Thursday night.

“I’ll continue to make my call during the game as far as who’s going and who’s not,” Tortorella said. “That will determine ice time. And then from game to game we will make a determination as to who will play. I don’t know what else to say about it, except it’s a good problem to have when you starting getting your players back healthy.”

Given the situation, it might make sense for Tortorella to take the opportunity to rest some of his veterans down the stretch but according to Portzline, that isn’t something the veteran bench boss has “even considered.” Instead, Torts will let it ride with 14 healthy forwards and use individual player performances dictate who plays and who doesn’t.

Elsewhere in the Metro Division:

  • Five teams – Boston, Montreal, Florida, the New York Islanders and St. Louis – have made changes behind the bench at some point during the 2016-17 season and several Penguins players feel it’s in direct correlation to the success Pittsburgh experienced last year after replacing Mike Johnston with Mike Sullivan. But as Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes, in-season coaching changes are nothing new in the NHL. As Mackey adds, there have been 39 bench bosses replaced during the season since the 2006-07 campaign; a figure which is tops among the four major North American sports. While firing the head coach is not a recent trend in the league, it should be noted that four of the five clubs who have done so in 2016-17 are currently in contention for a playoff spot, suggesting the changes have in fact benefited the teams that made them.
  • In a separate piece for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Mackey writes about how the Penguins depth has helped the team survive a bevy of injuries to key regulars. At some point this season, Pittsburgh has been without the services of Kris Letang, Trevor Daley, Evgeni Malkin, Patric Hornqvist and Carl Hagelin, among others for significant stretches but the Penguins have kept right on rolling. But GM Jim Rutherford, never one to shy away from making a deal to help his club, added blue liners Ron Hainsey and Mark Streit to bolster the defense corps while the club has relied primarily on AHL call-ups to fortify the forward ranks. One veteran minor leaguer, 27-year-old Carter Rowney, has filled in admirably when called upon this season. He tallied his first NHL goal and multi-point game in Pittsburgh’s victory over New Jersey last night. Last season, the Penguins received strong efforts from Tom Kuhnhackl, Bryan Rust and Conor Sheary, all of whom began the year in the minors, on their way to a Stanley Cup championship. It’s questionable whether Rowney will have that same level of impact on Pittsburgh’s fortunes this postseason but in a short sample he has proven he can at least serve as much needed depth.

 

Carl Hagelin Out At Least Four Weeks

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The Pittsburgh Penguins were without Carl Hagelin when they squared off with the Vancouver Canucks last night – a 3-0 shutout for the Pens –  and we now know why. Coach Mike Sullivan confirmed after the game that Hagelin had suffered a lower body injury the previous night -(likely a broken foot), versus the Edmonton Oilers, and the preliminary estimation is that he will be out for a minimum of four weeks. There is nothing on the specifics or extent of the injury just yet, but this timeline already puts Hagelin’s playoff availability in doubt.

Fortunately for Pittsburgh, though Hagelin is a good player, he is putting up only replacement-level numbers in 2016-17. Through 61 games, Hagelin has just six goals and sixteen assists for 22 points. Last season, Hagelin scored 27 points for the Penguins, but that was in only 37 regular season games following a January trade from the Anaheim Ducks. Sullivan has somewhat moved away from the “HBK Line”, which helped to fuel the Penguins’ Stanley Cup run last year, but individually Phil Kessell and Nick Bonino are both having strong seasons, having already matched their 2015-16 production. It seems as though Hagelin is the only one who has struggled, but this could make his absence easier to cope with. Veterans Tom Kostopoulos or Kevin Porter may be replacement options, as could first-year pro Thomas Di Pauli, who just recently returned from injury.

The problem in Pittsburgh is not Hagelin’s individual issue, but rather the sheer amount of players who are sidelined right now. Hagelin joins defensemen Kris Letang, Olli Maatta, and Trevor Daley and forwards Patric Hornqvist, Matt Cullen, and Bryan Rust as Penguins that currently have clipped wings. That makes for a total of seven opening day starters who are out of the lineup with injury, with only so many options to replace them. However, the Penguins have been able to deal with the problem so far; they’re 7-3 in their last ten. Yet, in that stretch Pittsburgh has only beaten one team who is currently in playoff position. In their next ten games, they face three such teams: the red-hot Calgary Flames, the Chicago Blackhawks, who they just recently lost to, and the division-rival New York Rangers, so they will truly be tested in the next few weeks.

Perhaps fortunately for Pittsburgh, Hagelin is the latest (and least important) in a recent rash of Metropolitan injuries, with the Rangers losing Henrik Lundqvist and the Columbus Blue Jackets losing Ryan Murray over the past few days, as both teams try to close gap with the Penguins in the division.

Pittsburgh Penguins Looking To Add Defense

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With Olli Maatta (hand surgery) and Justin Schultz (concussion) out for the Pittsburgh Penguins, the next few weeks will test their defensive depth unless they can make a move to bring in someone at the deadline. That’s exactly what Jim Rutherford is trying to do, according to Jonathan Bombulie of TribLIVE, who spoke with the Pittsburgh GM earlier today.

We’re going to have to go through these next two weeks and go along on the time frame of everyone else. We’ll be looking at adding one or two more defensemen.

Rutherford has been on the phones already trying to add to his blueline, but with the market not having quite materialized just yet, it’s been tough sledding. Just finding one defenseman on the market that doesn’t come with red flags is difficult, acquiring two seems almost impossible. The Penguins don’t exactly need all-stars on the back end, but if they don’t want to see Kris Letang have to log 30 minutes a night (like he did yesterday against the Columbus Blue Jackets) for the rest of the season they need capable defenders.

The Penguins’ GM goes on to say that his search won’t be focused entirely on defense at the deadline and is open to anything. It does sound like he will be an active participant on March 1st, hoping to propel his group to another Stanley Cup. Last season he acquired Schultz, Trevor Daley and Carl Hagelin in-season, though all three came before deadline day (with Daley and Hagelin well before).

Look for them to target rentals mostly, as they are already going to have some tough decisions heading into the expansion draft. Anyone under contract for more than this year would likely be at risk in the Vegas draft.

For now, they will turn to the group of Steve Oleksy, Chad Ruhwedel and Cameron Gaunce to fill the holes, though the former two only got 14 minutes each yesterday. The pairing of Letang and Brian Dumoulin were leaned on heavily, something that will be interesting to follow down the stretch.

Examining Recent January Trades

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It’s been abnormally quiet on the trade front this season with completed deals primarily involving depth and/or minor league players switching teams. A combination of most clubs having limited cap space and so few far enough out of the playoff race to be considered obvious sellers has severely limited activities through roughly half of the 2016-17 schedule. It’s likely we’ll have to wait until the week of the March 1st deadline to see a thaw in trade discussions but if recent history is any indication, there is a good chance at least one trade of significance will be made in the month of January.

Here’s a brief rundown of notable transactions completed in January from the past three seasons:

  • 1/16/2016 – Pittsburgh acquired Carl Hagelin from Anaheim in exchange for David Perron and Adam Clendening. The addition of Hagelin, one of the game’s swiftest skaters, helped pave the way for Mike Sullivan to implement a speedier attack that helped lead the Penguins all the way to a Stanley Cup championship. He has another three-years on his contract with an AAV of $4MM and has established himself as a key contributor in Pittsburgh’s top-nine. Perron, meanwhile, added some offense to Anaheim’s lineup, tallying 20 points in 28 games down the stretch last year but left the team as an unrestricted free agent in the summer, inking a two-year deal with St. Louis. Clendening was essentially a throw-in and didn’t see any action with Anaheim. He too left as a free agent, joining the New York Rangers in the offseason.
  • 1/6/2016 – Nashville sent Seth Jones to Columbus for Ryan Johansen. This was a rare “hockey trade” that most considered a win-win for both teams at the time the deal was consummated. Columbus desperately needed a #1 defenseman and Jones has the potential to be just that player. Along with rookie blue liner Zach Werenski, Jones has added skill, quickness and puck-moving to the Blue Jackets back end. Johansen, meanwhile, addressed Nashville’s longstanding need for a top center and since the trade has registered 61 points in 79 contests in a Nashville sweater. To this point it’s fair to say this move has worked out just the way both parties planned it.
  • 1/14/2015 – The Minnesota Wild added goaltender Devan Dubnyk in a deal with Arizona, sending a 2015 third-round pick to the Coyotes. Dubnyk was Edmonton’s first-round pick in 2004 but had yet to win a full-time starting gig until arriving in Minnesota, where he has evolved into one of the league’s top goalies. He won 27 of 39 starts following the trade and placed third in Vezina voting after the season. So far this year Dubnyk leads the league in both Save % (0.941) and GAA (1.75) and is 19 – 7 – 3 in 29 games. Arizona, who could certainly use Dubnyk between the pipes this year, ultimately chose left wing Brendan Warren with the draft choice acquired from Minnesota. Warren is in his sophomore season at the University of Michigan and has five points in 18 games.
  • 1/22/14 – The New York Rangers dealt Michael Del Zotto to Nashville in exchange for fellow blue liner Kevin Klein. The Rangers, looking to balance their defense corps by adding another right-handed shot, got good value with Klein. The veteran defender had just begun the first year of a five-year, $14.5MM extension and for the most part he has been a good fit on the Rangers second pairing. He has struggled some this season but set or tied career highs in goals, assists and points in each of his first two full campaigns on Broadway. Del Zotto was brought to Music City for his offensive and puck-moving capabilities but didn’t perform well in Nashville, tallying just five points in 25 games as a Predator. He was not tendered a qualifying offer that summer and became a free agent, eventually signing in Philadelphia where he has been a solid producer for the Flyers the last three seasons.

 

Metropolitan Notes: Hagelin, Sanford, Lindberg

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With the Penguins losing a couple of veterans in Patric Hornqvist and Chris Kunitz to injuries, some have wondered if left winger Carl Hagelin would see a bigger role over the next few weeks, including time on the man advantage.  As head coach Mike Sullivan told Jonathan Bombulie of the Pittsburgh Tribune, that’s not likely to be the case:

“We’re trying to cast guys in certain roles on the team for a number of reasons, so we can spread the minutes appropriately, so we don’t overtax guys in certain situations where they don’t have the ability to sustain success.”

In Hagelin’s case, he’s a key member of their penalty kill and evidently Sullivan is worried that asking him to play meaningful minutes on both special teams units may take away from his ability to play shorthanded.

One forward who could make a push for some time with the man advantage is Jake Guentzel, who had quite the NHL debut on Monday night, scoring twice in the first period.  He played with Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel, a pretty good pair to play with at any time.

[Related: Penguins Depth Chart]

More from the Metropolitan Division:

  • With Lars Eller (upper body injury) out of the lineup, Capitals rookie winger Zach Sanford is being shifted back to the middle, notes Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post. While that is his natural position, the Caps had been playing him exclusively on the left wing this season in an effort to ease him into the pro game.  He has just one assist in 16 games so far this year but head coach Barry Trotz isn’t worried about his lack of production, particularly since he has spent a lot of time this season on the fourth line.
  • After a quality rookie season, Rangers center Oscar Lindberg’s sophomore campaign hasn’t exactly gone as planned. He has played in just eight games this year and has spent time as a healthy scratch.  As Newsday’s Steve Zipay writes, New York is being cautious and patient with Lindberg as offseason hip surgery cost him his offseason training as well as training camp.  Although he isn’t playing much (which could change with Mika Zibanejad’s injury), the AHL isn’t an option as Lindberg is waiver eligible.

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