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Casey Mittelstadt

Snapshots: Arizona, Mittelstadt, Verbeek

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The Arizona Coyotes’ proposed plan to spend the next few years in an Arizona State University facility has drawn plenty of concern across the hockey world, but perhaps none more pointed than the quotes from other NHL executives in Sean Shapiro’s newest piece for The Athletic. Shapiro spoke to executives from nine organizations, who, under an agreement that their identities would remain anonymous, had some pretty harsh words for the ASU plan.

Several of them called it “embarrassing” according to Shapiro, who delves into the financial impact that playing at a small rink, including in-ice and board advertisement revenue that could be at risk. The idea to play at the ASU facility currently seems the most likely outcome of the Coyotes’ search for a temporary home, but they are going to have to face very public criticism in the meantime.

  • Casey Mittelstadt will consult with a surgeon over next steps after leaving Sunday’s game in pain, according to John Vogl of The Athletic. The young forward already went under the knife in December for an undisclosed upper-body injury and only returned to the lineup on January 25. He has played in seven games this season, recording a single goal and two points. If he is forced to have another surgery, it looks like this could be a lost season for the 23-year-old, who signed a three-year, $7.5MM deal in September. Since being selected eighth overall in 2017, Mittelstadt has recorded 63 points in 162 NHL games.
  • Pat Verbeek appears to be the frontrunner for the Anaheim Ducks vacant general manager position, as Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff names him “the man to beat.” Verbeek, who has served as an assistant general manager under Steve Yzerman in both Tampa Bay and Detroit, played over 1,400 regular season games in the NHL and won the Stanley Cup with the Dallas Stars in 1999. He sits 72nd on the all-time points list with 1,062 and has been linked to potential GM openings for several years.

Casey Mittelstadt Undergoes Surgery

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Just as it looked like Casey Mittelstadt was ready to take the next step in his NHL career, disaster has struck. The 23-year-old forward has been out for most of the regular season so far, playing in just one game at the beginning of the year and three more in recent days. Now, after suffering another injury, the Sabres have announced Mittelstadt underwent successful surgery today and is out indefinitely. The club hopes he will play again this season.

It’s been a difficult road for the eighth-overall pick from 2017. Mittelstadt recorded just 39 points in his first 114 NHL games, which were spread out over three seasons. The dynamic playmaker from the University of Minnesota and the U.S. World Junior team was nowhere to be found, as the speed of the professional game swallowed his creativity. Last season, it seemed to be finding a way out, as Mittelstadt recorded 10 goals and 22 points in 41 games. Not the game-changing presence some expected him to become, but a good start for a young player finding his NHL legs.

Now, things have been set back in a big way. Mittelstadt has competed just four times in the first two months of the season and faces another long recovery period. The three-year contract he signed in September that had a chance to be a huge bargain for the Sabres is now a complete unknown once again, with it unclear when he’ll be back in the lineup.

To this point, Mittelstadt has just one goal and no assists on the season. Hopefully, he’ll get a chance to increase those totals by the end of the year.

East Notes: Flyers, Mittelstadt, Spezza

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Following the coaching change in Philadelphia on Monday, the Flyers find themselves down a couple of assistant coaches; Michel Therrien was let go while Mike Yeo moved from assistant to interim head coach.  The team is looking to hire an assistant soon, notes Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link) with player development coach Nick Schultz helping out in the interim.

One candidate for a spot on Philadelphia’s bench is Adam Foote, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports in his latest 32 Thoughts column.  The 19-year NHL veteran isn’t currently coaching anywhere and last worked during the 2019-20 season when he was the head coach at WHL Kelowna.  The Flyers’ back end has struggled this season and adding someone who was a strong NHL defender in Foote could certainly help, especially with youngsters Ivan Provorov and Travis Sanheim.

Elsewhere in the East:

  • The Sabres may be without center Casey Mittelstadt for a while again, relays Mike Harrington of The Buffalo News. The 23-year-old was injured in Tuesday’s contest versus Anaheim and head coach Don Granato revealed that it’s in the same area as the upper-body injury that took him out in the season opener that kept him out for six weeks.  Mittelstadt is undergoing testing to determine the extent of the injury but Granato acknowledged that it could be another long-term issue.
  • The NHLPA announced (Twitter link) that, as expected, they have indeed filed an appeal on the six-game suspension for Maple Leafs center Jason Spezza for his kneeing incident on Winnipeg blueliner Neal Pionk. Commissioner Gary Bettman will hear the appeal first and has the authority to reduce the suspension.  If he elects not to do so, it can then go to a neutral arbitrator although, by the time that would likely be scheduled and a ruling rendered, the suspension will have been fully served.

East Notes: Flyers, WHL Trade, Sabres

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After a summer that featured plenty of roster turnover, the results haven’t been much different for the Flyers in the early going this season.  They missed the playoffs last season and sit seventh in the Metropolitan early on this year which has them out of the postseason mix for the time being.  Despite that, GM Chuck Fletcher was preaching patience at a recent press conference (video link):

I’d really like to see what we have before we start making changes. I don’t feel I’ve been able to see that to this point in time. We’re always looking, I’m talking to teams every day. If there are ways to make us better, we’ll look at it. But right now, if you just look at how we played the first 10 games versus the last 10 games, clearly one segment was way better than the other.

So we’ve shown the ability to play better than how we are right now. That’s the most important thing, we’ve got to get back, we’ve got to get playing better. Then from there, we’ll get a sense of what we really are and then we can make those decisions.

Philadelphia has battled some injury trouble early on (including in tonight’s game with Joel Farabee leaving early) which hasn’t helped their cause and that’s clearly a point of optimism for Fletcher that as their players return, they could get back on track.  However, if that doesn’t happen over the next couple of months or so, they could be a team to keep an eye on before the March 21st trade deadline.

More from the East:

  • A notable trade occurred in the WHL today when Canadiens prospect blueliner Kaiden Guhle was dealt to Edmonton. The 2020 first-round was acquired for a package of four draft picks including two first-rounders plus two players, headlined by 2021 Senators fourth-round selection Carson Latimer.
  • The Sabres are about to get some help from the infirmary as Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News relays that center Casey Mittelstadt will return on Thursday against Florida after being injured in the season-opener versus Montreal. Blueliner Jacob Bryson will also return after missing Monday’s contest with a nagging injury.  Meanwhile, winger Alex Tuch skated in a non-contact sweater at practice as he works his way back from offseason shoulder surgery while goaltender Craig Anderson also accompanied the team on their road trip although there remains no timetable for a return from his upper-body injury that has kept him out for a month.

Atlantic Notes: Bruins, Mittelstadt, Watson

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Bruins forward Curtis Lazar was back in the lineup tonight against Florida but he very nearly wasn’t.  He told reporters, including Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald, that he was very close to having surgery to repair his injured elbow which would have taken him out for the majority of the remainder of the regular season.  Instead, simply resting it has worked well enough – for now at least – to allow the 26-year-old to return after just missing four games.  Lazar’s timing to return is certainly good with veteran Craig Smith not accompanying the team on their two-game road trip.  Anton Blidh was transferred to IR to make room for Lazar’s activation.

More from the Atlantic:

  • The Sabres are hoping that center Casey Mittelstadt will be able to return to the lineup after their road trip, reports Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News (Twitter link). The 22-year-old suffered an upper-body injury in their season-opening win over Montreal and has been out ever since.  Buffalo will kick off a four-game West Coast road trip on Thursday so Mittelstadt won’t be able to return until November 6th against Detroit.
  • Senators winger Austin Watson could return to Ottawa’s lineup for their game on Friday, suggests Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch. The 29-year-old suffered an ankle injury in the final game of the postseason and hasn’t played since but did participate in practice today.  The Sens have an open roster spot even with the recent addition of Dylan Gambrell so no move will need to be made to activate Watson off injured reserve.

Casey Mittelstadt And Henri Jokiharju Out A Couple Of Weeks

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Buffalo Sabres head coach Don Granato announced Friday morning that center Casey Mittelstadt and defenseman Henri Jokiharju will both be sidelined for “a couple of weeks” with different injuries.

Mittelstadt left Thursday night’s 5-1 win against the Montreal Canadiens with an upper-body injury. It’s unclear as to when or on what play Mittelstadt sustained the injury. Jokiharju played the entirety of last night’s contest, logging 16:39 of ice time. He’s sidelined with a lower-body ailment.

Granato notes that Arttu Ruotsalainen and Will Butcher will likely draw into the lineup Saturday against Arizona in the place of Mittelstadt and Jokiharju. He also says the team wants “to get everybody in,” making it seem like additional call-ups from the AHL’s Rochester Americans are likely coming to bolster the roster.

It’s an extremely tough break for a Sabres team that got off to an unexpectedly strong start, albeit through just one game. They’ll now have to move forward without their number one center in addition to a top-pairing defenseman for multiple weeks.

If Granato’s “couple of weeks” prognosis holds true, Mittelstadt and Jokiharju could miss six games over the course of the next two weeks. The Sabres have a rather light schedule to begin the season but have a pair of tough matchups against the Boston Bruins on October 22 and the defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning on October 25.

 

Buffalo Sabres Sign Casey Mittelstadt

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The Buffalo Sabres have reached an agreement with one of their restricted free agents, signing Casey Mittelstadt to a three-year deal. The contract comes with an average annual value of $2.5MM, a nice boost for a player that still hasn’t quite lived up to his high draft pedigree.

Mittelstadt, 22, was the eighth overall pick in 2017, selected a few spots ahead of young players like Martin Necas and Nick Suzuki who have already established themselves as key parts with their respective teams. In Buffalo, Mittelstadt has experienced the same struggles that almost everyone else on the roster has, posting just 61 points in 155 games. In 2019-20 he was sent to the Rochester Americans for half the season to work on his game, as it was not quite consistent enough to help the NHL squad.

The encouraging part about Mittelstadt, and why this three-year contract may look like quite a bargain very quickly, is his performance under head coach Don Granato. When Granato took over partway through last season, Mittelstadt had just one goal and five points in 13 games. He was seeing inconsistent minutes and not regularly lining up at center. That changed under the new head coach, and the young forward took a huge step forward, scoring nine goals and 17 points in 28 games through the end of the season. In those matches, he averaged more than 17 minutes a night and played center full-time.

If Mittelstadt can continue to play up to his draft pedigree under Granato, the Sabres have a true building block to help turn things around. The young forward has outstanding puck skills and playmaking ability, but seemed completely lost at times under the previous regimes. The team is obviously not giving up on him, investing in a multi-year deal ahead of what could be a breakout season.

The $2.5MM cap charge brings the Sabres a little closer to the cap floor, with Rasmus Dahlin and Henri Jokiharju still to sign. The big question is Jack Eichel though, as a trade would leave the Sabres scrambling to add salary if a similar number–$10MM–didn’t come back the other way.

Snapshots: Dvorak, Laczynski, Capitals, Mittelstadt

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The Canadiens are believed to have identified Coyotes center Christian Dvorak as their top trade target as they investigate their options following the Jesperi Kotkaniemi offer sheet, reports Sportsnet’s Eric Engels (audio link).  The 25-year-old was the logical speculative target for Montreal in this scenario with Arizona believed to be willing to move him and Dvorak being signed for four more years at $4.45MM while plausibly slotting in on the second line in the role that Kotkaniemi was expected to fill.  The asking price for Dvorak was believed to be high at the draft and with Montreal’s hand being forced here, it could even be higher now.

Elsewhere around the NHL:

  • In a column he penned for the Flyers’ team site, Philadelphia center Tanner Laczynski indicated that he has resumed on-ice activities after undergoing hip surgery back in April. The 24-year-old was limited to just 19 games last season in his first professional campaign split between the Flyers (five games) and AHL Lehigh Valley (14 contests).  With the additions of veterans Nate Thompson and Derick Brassard this summer, Laczynski may need to wait for injuries to strike before getting another NHL look next season.
  • The left side of Washington’s back end has undergone some changes this summer with Brenden Dillon (trade) and Zdeno Chara (free agency) departing and no one from outside the organization being brought in. As a result, J.J. Regan of NBC Sports Washington highlights that spot as an area of concern for the Capitals heading into next season with veteran Michal Kempny (who missed all of last season due to injury) and prospect Martin Fehervary (who has just six career NHL games played) as the two lefties behind Dmitry Orlov with veteran Matt Irwin also in the mix.  With minimal cap space and them needing to preserve what little they have for in-season recalls, it’s an area that the Caps may not be able to address before the start of the season.
  • The Sabres have held recent discussions with RFA center Casey Mittelstadt, reports David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period (Twitter link). The 22-year-old had somewhat of a bounce-back season in 2020-21, recording 22 points in 41 games with Buffalo after spending more than half of the previous year in the minors in between struggling considerably with the big club.

Snapshots: Blue Jackets, Sabres, Buyouts, DeAngelo

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Between new head coach Brad Larsen, promoted from his previous role as assistant, and newly hired assistants Pascal Vincent and Sylvain Lefebvre, the Blue Jackets will have a combined 15 seasons as NHL assistants, 13 seasons as AHL head coaches, 11 seasons as a junior head coaches, six seasons as AHL assistants, and over 1,200 NHL games played worth of experience behind the bench. The one thing they don’t have? Any experience as an NHL head coach. As Aaron Portzline writes for The Athletic, there is zero NHL head coach experience in the entire Columbus organization right now and while GM Jarmo Kekalainen isn’t worried, he also isn’t above addressing that issue. Kekalainen is at least considering adding an advisor to the coaching staff; a veteran NHL head coach to help guide Larsen and company through their first season with a the re-tooling Blue Jackets. Portzline believes that one name who could certainly be in the mix is Jacques Martin, as the 68-year-old with 16 seasons as an NHL head coach is believed to be looking for this type of role. Other candidates will also surely emerge if and when Columbus decides that they are officially looking to fill the position.

  • Did Buffalo Sabres GM Kevyn Adams tip his hand in a recent interview with Pierre LeBrun for The Athletic? Discussing his team’s rebuilding plans, Adams stated the following:

(Rasmus) Dahlin, (Dylan) Cozens, (Casey) Mittelstadt, these are very, very young players… And I’ve been energized about this young core of Sabres we have that are hungry and they want to be part of the solution. … These guys are proud to be Buffalo Sabres, they want to fix this and get this right, they want to move forward together. So that’s the young core that we’re working to build around.

Sure, these are all key pieces for the Sabres in their rebuild. However, Adams did not mention the likes of Jack Eichel, Sam Reinhart, or Victor Olofsson, who are only marginally older than that group. His use of the words “proud to be Buffalo Sabres” and “want to be part of the solution” also feels purposeful, as if there are others on the team who are not and possibly that is why they are no longer part of the rebuild plans. While rumors have been swirling around Eichel and to some extent Reinhart as well, perhaps this is a real indication that Buffalo will be making major changes this summer.

  • The NHL’s buyout window opens 24 hours after the Stanley Cup is awarded, which could be as early as later tonight. In anticipation, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli lists ten names (and some honorable mentions) who could be buyout candidates. While much of this is educated speculation, Seravalli does have a scoop on his No. 1 name on the list, New York Rangers defenseman Anthony DeAngelo. Seravalli reports that the Rangers officially finalized a plan to buyout DeAngelo last week, a move that has been a long time coming since he was placed on leave in January for off-ice conduct. What remains to be seen is when exactly the buyout will be executed. The Rangers don’t need DeAngelo for the upcoming Expansion Draft, with Anthony Bitetto meeting exposure criteria and not expected to be protected, however New York may want to leave him in case they are able to tempt the Seattle. Even if the Kraken don’t bite, DeAngelo’s skill is enough to make him an intriguing free agent this summer following his buyout, even after a year off and some character concerns.

East Notes: Mittelstadt, Trouba, Miller

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It has been a tough first few professional seasons for Sabres forward Casey Mittelstadt.  A productive forward in his lone college campaign, the 22-year-old hasn’t been able to have much success offensively since turning pro.  However, he has spent most of his eight games with Buffalo on the wing this season instead of his natural center position with head coach Ralph Krueger telling Bill Hoppe of the Olean Times Herald that he’s pleased with Mittelstadt’s progress so far.  Krueger went as far as stating that Mittelstadt “looks to be crystalizing into more of a winger than a centerman”, something that may wind up being best for him down the road.  While he was drafted to play down the middle, Jack Eichel and Dylan Cozens are their one-two punch for the future and with Mittelstadt being waiver-eligible next season, Buffalo needs to find a permanent spot for him in their lineup before too long.  If that’s the wing, that’s a better outcome than him languishing down the middle.

Elsewhere in the East Division:

  • The Rangers activated defenseman Jacob Trouba off injured reserve, USA Today’s Vincent Z. Mercogliano was among those to note (Twitter link). The blueliner had missed the last eight games due to a thumb injury and actually came back quicker than expected.  Initially given a four-to-six-week recovery timeline, Trouba missed only three weeks of action.  New York will be expecting more from him offensively though as he has just three assists (and no goals) in 14 games heading into tonight’s contest.  To make room for Trouba on the roster, Artemi Panarin was designated as a non-roster player as his leave of absence continues.
  • Boston defenseman Kevan Miller is expected to resume skating sometime this coming week, relays Eric Russo of the Bruins’ team website. Miller was placed on IR midway through last month as his surgically-repaired knee was acting up but it appears that rest was all that was needed.  The 33-year-old has played in 15 games this season and is averaging 18:39 per game but given the recurrence of pain in that knee, the team may be better off giving him a smaller workload when he is able to return.

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