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Clayton Keller

Snapshots: Dumba, Samorukov, Keller

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For years, Matt Dumba has been at the center of trade talks. The Minnesota Wild had too many defensemen, then they didn’t have the cap space, and now he is closing in on free agency. His name has come up once again, and (hesitantly), Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet discussed it on the recent 32 Thoughts podcast.

There has been a lot of talk about him this week, I think it’s all pretty accurate. I think a whole bunch of teams have called at various times this year about Dumba. Bill Guerin has told people ’if you want to talk about Dumba, make me an offer that makes me think.’ Guerin and the Minnesota Wild are trying to win the Stanley Cup, and are not going to make a deal that makes them worse [this season]. 

Friedman confirmed that the Ottawa Senators and Vancouver Canucks have shown interest, along with other teams. But doesn’t believe anything has come close to this point, as Guerin and the Wild have their sights set on a long postseason run.

  • The St. Louis Blues have returned Dmitri Samorukov to the minor leagues, ending his recent call-up after just a few days. The 23-year-old defenseman didn’t get into an NHL game, but does have 34 appearances for the Springfield Thunderbirds. Acquired from the Edmonton Oilers before the season, he’s on a one-year, one-way contract that leaves him as an arbitration-eligible RFA this summer.
  • Arizona Coyotes forward Clayton Keller has been fined $5,000 for a cross-check in last night’s game against the Ottawa Senators. The incident resulted in a five-minute major and game misconduct for Keller, who hit Erik Brannstrom in the throat area after a battle in front of the net. Fortunately for the Coyotes, he will not face a suspension in this case.

NHL Announces Initial All-Star Rosters

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According to a league release, the NHL has named the first eight selections to the four divisional All-Star teams for the 2023 NHL All-Star Game in Sunrise, Florida.

The league names one player to represent each team at the game, a rule in standing since the league switched to a divisional format for its mid-season talent showcase. A public fan vote will decide the three remaining players per division next week.

Each division’s leader in points percentage after gameplay concludes on January 11 will determine coaches for these teams. The Boston Bruins have already clinched the best such number in the Atlantic at that time, meaning Jim Montgomery will be behind the bench for the star-studded Atlantic Division, arguably the league’s best contingent of talent.

The initial rosters for each division are as follows:

Atlantic Division

Boston: G Linus Ullmark (1st appearance)
Buffalo: C Tage Thompson (1st appearance)
Detroit: C Dylan Larkin (3rd appearance)
Florida: RW Matthew Tkachuk (2nd appearance)
Montreal: C Nick Suzuki (2nd appearance)
Ottawa: LW Brady Tkachuk (3rd appearance)
Tampa Bay: RW Nikita Kucherov (4th appearance)
Toronto: RW Mitch Marner (2nd appearance)

Metropolitan Division

Carolina: LW Andrei Svechnikov (1st appearance)
Columbus: LW Johnny Gaudreau (7th appearance)
New Jersey: C Jack Hughes (2nd appearance)
NY Islanders: C Brock Nelson (1st appearance)
NY Rangers: G Igor Shesterkin (1st appearance)
Philadelphia: C Kevin Hayes (1st appearance)
Pittsburgh: C Sidney Crosby (5th appearance)
Washington: LW Alex Ovechkin (8th appearance)

Central Division

Arizona: LW Clayton Keller (3rd appearance)
Chicago: RD Seth Jones (4th appearance)
Colorado: RD Cale Makar (2nd appearance)
Dallas: LW Jason Robertson (1st appearance)
Minnesota: LW Kirill Kaprizov (2nd appearance)
Nashville: G Juuse Saros (2nd appearance)
St. Louis: RW Vladimir Tarasenko (injured) (4th appearance)
Winnipeg: LD Josh Morrissey (1st appearance)

Pacific Division

Anaheim: RW Troy Terry (2nd appearance)
Calgary: C Nazem Kadri (2nd appearance)
Edmonton: C Connor McDavid (6th appearance)
Los Angeles: LW Kevin Fiala (1st appearance)
San Jose: RD Erik Karlsson (7th appearance)
Seattle: C Matthew Beniers (1st appearance)
Vancouver: C Elias Pettersson (3rd appearance)
Vegas: G Logan Thompson (1st appearance)

The most important note on these rosters is obviously that of Tarasenko’s status. The 31-year-old is on injured reserve with a hand injury, and likely won’t be able to suit up. His replacement will be named shortly.

More to come…

Injury Notes: Byron, Keller, Red Wings

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While injuries limited Montreal Canadiens forward Paul Byron to just 27 games played last season, many hoped that a summer of rest and recovery would allow the two-time 20-goal scorer to return to the ice for the Canadiens’ 2022-23 campaign. Now, though, it seems those hopes may have been a bit too optimistic. As reported by The Athletic’s Marc Antoine Godin, (subscription link) Byron is currently dealing with “ongoing problems” in his left hip, problems that not only have kept him from skating but have also “started to cloud” Byron’s playing future. Per Godin, Byron underwent surgery in order to fix chronic hip pain, and despite his rehab going well for much of this summer he reached an additional step of the process that he “didn’t respond well” to, resulting in a major setback in his road to recovery.

According to the report, Byron is still dealing with “lingering inflammation” in his hip, and it’s gotten to a point where it could affect the rest of his career. Canadiens GM Kent Hughes told The Athletic that if Byron’s health fails to improve, he will be placed on long-term injured reserve. In the immediate term, what this means for the Canadiens is they will gain additional breathing room under the cap, and Byron will join Carey Price on the team’s LTIR list. In the long term, what this means for Byron is that he may not be able to play again if this condition fails to improve. While this is definitely an unwelcome development for Byron, he can look back at his time in Montreal with great pride, as he became a useful scoring winger and one of the better waiver claims in recent NHL history.

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

  • Arizona Coyotes forward Clayton Keller was in the midst of a breakout campaign in 2021-22 before his season abruptly ended when he underwent surgery to repair a broken leg. Now, though, Keller looks ready to pick up where he left off. Coyotes GM Bill Armstrong said (via Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports) that Keller is expected to play his first preseason game tomorrow and has been practicing with the team as well. The Coyotes aren’t expected to be a contender this season, but if they want to play meaningful hockey for as long as possible getting Keller back to full speed should be a top priority.
  • The Detroit Red Wings also issued an injury update today, theirs regarding forwards Andrew Copp and Oskar Sundqvist. As reported by Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press, Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde said today that he expects Copp to be ready for the start of the regular season, and is “optimistic” that Sundqvist will be ready then as well. Copp has been practicing with the team, while Sundqvist has been injured since the beginning of camp.

Injury Updates: Keller, Turcotte, Perfetti

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While Coyotes forward Clayton Keller won’t be ready to play at the start of the preseason, he told NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti that he expects to be ready for Arizona’s season opener on October 13th.  The 24-year-old was well on his way to a career year last season with 63 points in 65 games but at the end of March, he fractured his leg which ended his campaign prematurely.  The original timetable for a return after surgery was four-to-six months and it appears this recovery will be on the long end with Keller likely to have a reduced workload in their exhibition games if he’s able to get into the lineup at all.

Other injury news from around the NHL:

  • Kings center Alex Turcotte is on the roster for their rookie tournament but AHL Ontario head coach Marco Sturm told reporters, including Andrew Knoll of the Los Angeles Daily News, that Turcotte has not been cleared to participate yet. The 21-year-old sustained two concussions last season, the second of which came in the playoffs.  Evidently, the symptoms from that one are still lingering which could have his ability for the start of training camp next week in question.
  • Jets forward Cole Perfetti has been cleared to participate in Winnipeg’s rookie tournament contests after dealing with multiple injuries last season, relays Postmedia’s Scott Billeck.  The 20-year-old got into 18 games with Winnipeg in his rookie year and acquitted himself well with seven points while averaging over 14 minutes per game.  Perfetti suffered a shoulder injury back in February and while rehabbing it, he re-aggravated a back injury that needed several months to heal.  He’ll use this event as a tune-up for training camp.

Snapshots: Yandle, O’Connor, Keller, Merzlikins

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Despite a disappointing season for the Philadelphia Flyers, there were several highlights, including veteran defenseman Keith Yandle, who broke Doug Jarvis’ ironman consecutive games played streak, setting his own mark with 989. At the Flyers season-ending media availability, Yandle notably chose not to speak to the media, reports Charlie O’Connor of The Athletic (link). O’Connor points out rumors that Yandle could in fact choose to retire this offseason, citing circumstantial evidence and comments from his Flyers teammates.

There’s reason to think Yandle could continue to play, but also reason to see why he may not. For one, Yandle is no longer the player he used to be. Once a defenseman that regularly topped 50 points per season, most recently hitting a career-high 62 points in 2018-19, he has seen that number consistently drop since, with just 19 points in 77 games this season. The veteran also saw his playing time limited this season, culminating in the ending of his ironman streak, even on a struggling Flyers team. On the other hand, Yandle is just 35-years-old, and while far from a rookie, there could certainly be something left in the tank, especially as a defenseman. To that end, Yandle continued his ironman streak into this year and was poised to continue it, but for the Flyers choice to sit him in lieu of younger talent.

  • The Pittsburgh Penguins announced that they have recalled forward Drew O’Connor from the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Penguins of the AHL (link). The 23-year-old O’Connor has split time between Pittsburgh and Scranton this season, playing in 33 AHL games and 22 NHL games. Nearly a point-per-game player in the AHL, O’Connor has just five NHL points this season. Per Mike DeFabo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, bringing up O’Connor could be an answer for Pittsburgh in the wake of Jason Zucker’s uncertainty due to injury (link). Pittsburgh is set to begin its first round playoff series against the Rangers in New York this Tuesday.
  • Moving out west, according to Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports, Arizona Coyotes forward Clayton Keller could resume skating in three weeks (link). This might not seem like big news, with Arizona’s season ending and approximately five-and-a-half months until opening night, but consider that Keller fractured his leg on March 31st, forcing him to be stretchered off the ice and taken to the hospital, where he would have surgery on his leg. At that point, Keller’s status for not only next season, but perhaps his career, seemed to be in question. While an opening night return for Keller was later confirmed, seeing Keller back on the ice in three weeks, roughly seven weeks after the injury and surgery, is a huge step forward and reason for optimism for the Coyotes.
  • From Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch, Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Elvis Merzlikins is expected to play at the upcoming World Championships in Finland (link). Not a favorite to win the championship, Merzlikins’ home country of Latvia carries with it a passionate group of players and supporters, including Merzlikins. The goaltender recently opened up more about the loss of his close friend and fellow Latvian and Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender, Matiss Kivlenieks, who passed away this summer. Playing for their home country could surely be a way for Merzlikinis to honor his late friend.

Clayton Keller Undergoes Surgery; Out Rest Of Season

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12:30pm: The Coyotes have announced that Keller underwent surgery to repair a broken leg and is expected to make a full recovery. He will be out for four to six months, however, meaning training camp is certainly in doubt.

8:50am: It was some scary moments in Arizona last night, as Coyotes forward Clayton Keller was stretchered off the ice after crashing hard into the boards. His leg, which was awkwardly pinned behind his body on the fall, was obviously injured, but it wasn’t clear exactly what the extent of the injury was. The Coyotes issued a press release indicating that Keller had been moved to a local hospital, and this morning he revealed that his season is over.

Want to thank my teammates, the fans, and medical personnel for the love and support last night! Unfortunately the season’s over for me, but I’m resting comfortably at the hospital in good spirits. I will be back better than ever for day 1 next season!!!!

With his season over, Keller will miss a chance to set a career-high in points, and finish with 63 in 67 games. The 23-year-old forward already did hit a career-high in goals with 28 and was averaging more than 20 minutes a night for the rebuilding club. In fact, it’s been quite a renaissance for a player who hadn’t broken the 50-point mark in any of the previous three seasons. There was starting to be some concern that Keller would never get back to the levels he showed as a rookie but this year proved he can still be a top-end offensive player.

Unfortunately, all that work will be put aside as he faces a long rehab process. When he eventually returns, the Coyotes will be playing at a different rink–Arizona State University–and will likely have a much different team. Players like Phil Kessel and Anton Stralman are pending unrestricted free agents, names like Jakob Chychrun are still on the trade block, and general manager Bill Armstrong is still obviously looking to strip down the roster to the studs, before rebuilding it.

Keller, one of the only players signed long-term in Arizona, is under contract through 2027-28 and might even have been considered a trade chip himself this offseason under normal circumstances. An injury like this could complicate that situation, though it is still not clear what kind of recovery timeline he faces.

Arizona Coyotes Extend Travis Boyd

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When the Arizona Coyotes signed Travis Boyd to a one-year, minimum salary contract this offseason, they certainly did not believe that they were signing their top line center. Yet, that is exactly what has happened in the desert this season as Boyd emerged as the best fit between Clayton Keller and Nick Schmaltz for the rebuilding club. The ’Yotes didn’t want to let the surprise standout slip away as an unrestricted free agent this summer; they have announced a new two-year deal with Boyd, rewarding him with a $1.75MM AAV that becomes the highest of his career.

Boyd, 28, is enjoying a career year in 2021-22 and has only played in 46 games. His 10 goals and 24 points are already career marks and he has reached new heights defensively as well. He is closing in on new highs in assists and games played and it is virtually impossible for his current 16:23 average time on ice not to stand as a career best.  Beyond just personal success, Boyd is also among the top five in per-game goals and points among Coyotes forwards – a place he has never been close to previously in his NHL career.

Of course, Boyd’s role on the Coyotes would not be occurring anywhere else in the NHL but with the league’s most shallow roster. This lends itself to why Arizona’s “No. 1 center” commands only a sub-$2MM cap hit. Nevertheless, Boyd has risen to the occasion for the ’Yotes this season and – while for the good of the franchise the hope is that he does not remain in a first line role for much longer – the team knows they can trust him moving forward.

NHL Announces Player Assignments For Skills Competition

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The NHL All-Star Skills competition will take place tomorrow night in Las Vegas, and the league has announced ahead of time which players will participate in which events. The player assignments for the seven events are as follows:

Fastest Skater

Chris Kreider, NYR
Adrian Kempe, LAK
Kyle Connor, WPG
Evgeny Kuznetsov, WSH
Jordan Kyrou, STL
Dylan Larkin, DET
Cale Makar, COL
Connor McDavid, EDM           

Save Streak

Jack Campbell, TOR
Andrei Vasilevskiy, TBL
Frederik Andersen, CAR
Tristan Jarry, PIT
Cam Talbot, MIN
Juuse Saros, NSH
Thatcher Demko, VAN
John Gibson, ANA

Fountain Face-Off

Jonathan Huberdeau, FLA
Claude Giroux, PHI
Jordan Eberle, SEA
Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson
Roman Josi, NSH
Nick Suzuki, MTL
Zach Werenski, CBJ
Mark Stone, VGK

Hardest Shot

Adam Pelech, NYI
Timo Meier, SJS
Victor Hedman, TBL
Tom Wilson, WSH

Breakaway Challenge

Goalies: Manon Rhéaume & Wyatt Russell

Kirill Kaprizov, MIN
Trevor Zegras, ANA
Jack Hughes, NJD
Alex DeBrincat, CHI
Alex Pietrangelo, VGK

Las Vegas NHL 21 in ’22

Nazem Kadri, COL
Auston Matthews, TOR
Joe Pavelski, DAL
Steven Stamkos, TBL
Brady Tkachuk, OTT

Accuracy Shooting

Leon Draisaitl, EDM
Clayton Keller, ARI
Rasmus Dahlin, BUF
Sebastian Aho, CAR
Jake Guentzel, PIT
Troy Terry, ANA
Johnny Gaudreau, CGY
Patrice Bergeron, BOS
Jonathan Marchessault, VGK

Two new events, the Fountain Face-Off and 21 in ’22 will be held outside in the Bellagio fountain and Las Vegas strip respectively. Individual winners of each event will earn $30,000.

2022 NHL All-Star Game Rosters Revealed

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Jan 26: After Batherson was injured last night, the league has announced that Brady Tkachuk will replace him and be the Senators’ representative.

Jan 13: During a live reveal on ESPN’s SportsCenter program in the United States, the National Hockey League unveiled their four divisional rosters for the 2022 NHL All-Star Game in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Eight skaters and two goalies were announced for each team, leaving one skater spot open for each division. That last spot will once again be decided by a fan vote, who they can select by voting at NHL.com/LastMenIn.

The head coaches of each team were announced earlier, decided by the teams in first place (by points percentage) in their division on New Years Day. Florida’s Andrew Brunette heads the Atlantic Division, Carolina’s Rod Brind’Amour will coach the Metropolitan Division, Colorado’s Jared Bednar is the bench boss for the Central Division, and Vegas’ Peter DeBoer will serve as the Pacific Division’s coach.

Below are the full rosters for each division.

Atlantic Division

F Auston Matthews “C” (Toronto Maple Leafs)
F Drake Batherson (Ottawa Senators)
F Patrice Bergeron (Boston Bruins)
F Jonathan Huberdeau (Florida Panthers)
F Dylan Larkin (Detroit Red Wings)
F Nick Suzuki (Montreal Canadiens)
D Rasmus Dahlin (Buffalo Sabres)
D Victor Hedman (Tampa Bay Lightning)
G Jack Campbell (Toronto Maple Leafs)
G Andrei Vasilevskiy (Tampa Bay Lightning)

Metropolitan Division

F Alex Ovechkin “C” (Washington Capitals)
F Sebastian Aho (Carolina Hurricanes)
F Claude Giroux (Philadelphia Flyers)
F Jack Hughes (New Jersey Devils)
F Chris Kreider (New York Rangers)
D Adam Fox (New York Rangers)
D Adam Pelech (New York Islanders)
D Zach Werenski (Columbus Blue Jackets)
G Frederik Andersen (Carolina Hurricanes)
G Tristan Jarry (Pittsburgh Penguins)

Central Division

F Nathan MacKinnon “C” (Colorado Avalanche)
F Kyle Connor (Winnipeg Jets)
F Alex DeBrincat (Chicago Blackhawks)
F Kirill Kaprizov (Minnesota Wild)
F Clayton Keller (Arizona Coyotes)
F Jordan Kyrou (St. Louis Blues)
F Joe Pavelski (Dallas Stars)
D Cale Makar (Colorado Avalanche)
G Juuse Saros (Nashville Predators)
G Cam Talbot (Minnesota Wild)

Pacific Division

F Connor McDavid “C” (Edmonton Oilers)
F Leon Draisaitl (Edmonton Oilers)
F Jordan Eberle (Seattle Kraken)
F Johnny Gaudreau (Calgary Flames)
F Adrian Kempe (Los Angeles Kings)
F Timo Meier (San Jose Sharks)
F Mark Stone (Vegas Golden Knights)
D Alex Pietrangelo (Vegas Golden Knights)
G Thatcher Demko (Vancouver Canucks)
G John Gibson (Anaheim Ducks)

Salary Cap Deep Dive: Arizona Coyotes

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Navigating the salary cap is one of the more important tasks for any GM.  Teams that can avert total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful.  Those that don’t see struggles and front office changes.

PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation heading into the 2020-21 season.  This will focus more on players who are regulars on the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL.  All cap figures are courtesy of CapFriendly.

Arizona Coyotes

Current Cap Hit: $84,270,284 (over the $81.5MM Upper Limit)

Entry-Level Contracts

F Barrett Hayton (two years, $894K)

Potential Bonuses

Hayton: $1.75MM

Once considered a team full of young players, the Coyotes have changed their image over the last few years and have only one young player on their team under a cheap entry-level deal with only a handful of entry-level players that are even close to joining the team. Hayton, however, could be ready for a breakout season after spending the season with the team last year. Unfortunately for Hayton, he would have benefitted the most with one year in the AHL, but wasn’t eligible to play there, so instead of returning him to his junior team, the Coyotes kept him around. He only appeared in 20 games (although he did miss time with a shoulder injury at the World Juniors), but showed enough potential that he should be an everyday player next season. A big year from the 2019 fifth-overall pick would be a boost to the team’s center position.

One Year Remaining, Non-Entry-Level

F Derek Stepan ($6.5MM, UFA)
D Alex Goligoski ($5.48MM, UFA)
F Marian Hossa ($5.28MM, UFA)
D Niklas Hjalmarsson ($5MM, UFA)
G Antti Raanta ($4.25MM, UFA)
D Jason Demers ($3.94MM, UFA)
D Jordan Oesterle ($1.4MM, UFA)
D Ilya Lyubushkin ($1MM, UFA)
F Conor Garland ($775K, RFA)
F John Hayden ($750K, RFA)
F Dryden Hunt ($700K, RFA)

For a team that is looking to cut salary, the team has a lot of money coming off the books next year, suggesting the team could look drastically different in just one year. Some of those players could find themselves to be trade bait when the trade deadline comes around. The most interesting decision the team might have to make is what to do with Stepan, however. The 30-year-old was brought in from New York to stabilize their top line three years ago. He had four straight seasons of 50 or more points while with the Rangers and posted a 56-point season with the Coyotes in 2017-18. However, his production has taken a dive over the past two years as Stepan posted just 35 points (in 72 games) in 2018-19 and then dropped even further last year with just 28 points in 70 games. A team leader, the Coyotes have to hope that Stepan can return to form this season or the team could choose to move on from him.

The team’s defense is loaded with several high-priced veteran blueliners and almost all of their contracts come up next season, including Goligoski, Hjalmarsson and Demers. Goligoski is 35, but is still playing major minutes for Arizona and could be a candidate to return at a slightly lesser deal. Hjalmarsson is 33, but has seen his game break down a bit as he has dealt with numerous injuries the last couple of years, including a fractured fibula that cost him 43 games last year. The 32-year-old Demers also averaged more than 20 minutes of ATOI per game. The team may keep one or two of those players, but likely will not keep all three.

The team will also want to evaluate the play of Raanta, who has showed flashes of dominance, but also has dealt with injuries and inconsistent play at times as well. Raanta did play well last season, posting a .921 save percentage in 33 games and gives the team several options in the net. Raanta could easily be re-signed to new deal or could be a trade candidate as well.

The team will also finally be free of Hossa’s $5.28MM contract the team took on years ago.

Two Years Remaining

F Phil Kessel ($6.8MM, UFA)
G Darcy Kuemper ($4.5MM, UFA)
F Tyler Pitlick ($1.75MM, UFA)
F Lawson Crouse ($1.53MM, RFA)
F Johan Larsson ($1.4MM, UFA)
F Christian Fischer ($1MM, RFA)

The team brought in Kessel to bring in the firepower that the team needed as goal scoring remains one of the team’s biggest weak points. Unfortunately, the first year with Kessel didn’t turn out to be the big acquisition that the team was hoping for. After an 28-goal, 82-point season in 2018-19, the 33-year-old saw quite a decline in his play with just 14 goals and 38 points in 70 games. That’s way below what they were hoping for and Arizona has to hope that Kessel can return to form this year in hopes of increasing his value if the team wants to move him at the trade deadline or next offseason when he has just one year left on his deal.

Kuemper has become the Coyotes’ top asset as the 30-year-old has been nothing short of dominant over the past two years and remains on a manageable contract. His name came up in trade speculation this offseason, but with so many free-agent goalies available, Arizona didn’t get the offers it was hoping for. That could change down the road. Yet at the same time, Kuemper might be worth keeping around down the road.

Three Years Remaining

None

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