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Conor Timmins

Toronto Maple Leafs Acquire Conor Timmins

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have found their defenseman, acquiring Conor Timmins from the Arizona Coyotes according to Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports. The team will be sending minor league forward Curtis Douglas in return.

At one point, not too long ago, Timmins was one of the brightest young defensive prospects in the game. He was a big part of the trade that sent Darcy Kuemper to the Colorado Avalanche last summer, and was supposed to be a key player for Arizona’s rebuild.

But injuries have ruined his career so far, with Timmins playing just 105 games since the start of the 2018-19 season. Just two of those have come this year with Arizona, before he was sent down on a conditioning stint with the Tucson Roadrunners. As Morgan explains, the team wanted to send him down for a longer period in the AHL but he would have certainly been claimed on waivers.

Instead, he heads to Toronto where—you may have guessed—he is reunited with his other Soo Greyhounds alumni. Three of the Maple Leafs’ current roster defensemen were on the 2017-18 Greyhounds roster. Timmins, Mac Hollowell, and Rasmus Sandin were an incredible trio on that junior team, and will now be reunited in Toronto.

Whether Timmins can ever reach his previous potential remains to be seen, but it’s a worthwhile gamble for a Toronto team that is desperate for help on the back end. Morgan Rielly, Jake Muzzin, and T.J. Brodie are all injured long-term, meaning Mark Giordano was left as the most reliable option.

In Douglas, the Coyotes are getting a massive forward that showed some scoring touch last season. The 22-year-old stands 6’9″ and scored 13 goals and 34 points for the Toronto Marlies in 2021-22. That offensive ability has completely dried up this year though, with Douglas registering just a single point in 13 games so far.

Latest On Trade Market For Defensemen

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Mentioning the market for defense in the NHL immediately brings to mind at least two things: Jakob Chychrun and the Ottawa Senators, both as they are separately, and the rumors connecting the defenseman to Canada’s capitol. With Chychrun having been on IR to finish last season and now to start this season, the rumors surrounding the 24-year-old had been a bit quieter than usual, but expected to tick up with his return on Monday.

Tonight on Hockey Night in Canada’s 32 Thoughts segment, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman seemed to confirm this inevitability, expecting talks on Chychrun to begin heating up once the defenseman returns. Another interesting note from Friedman on the Coyotes and their defensemen is the possibility of a trade involving Conor Timmins. A second-round pick in 2017, Timmins’ prospect status has never really been in question, at least for his on-ice performance. Instead, injuries have derailed the 24-year-old’s career. Now on a conditioning stint in the AHL, Timmins appears to be fully healthy and soon to be ready for NHL action, causing Friedman to wonder if Arizona might pursue a trade market for Timmins as well.

A newer name added to the defensemen speculation is San Jose Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson. Once thought to be unmovable, Karlsson is off to an incredible start, on pace to set several career-bests already, scoring 11 goals along with 17 assists in just 19 games on the season. With four years left at an $11.5MM cap hit after this season, Karlsson will be incredibly difficult for the Sharks to move even with his historic production, but it just may make doing so possible for the rebuilding San Jose squad. According to Friedman, this also from 32 Thoughts, the Sharks haven’t gotten that far yet in any Karlsson talks. As Friedman says, the belief is that Karlsson has not yet been asked to move his no-movement clause, at least not for any specific team.

Friedman adds that he believes the Sharks are currently trying to determine what other teams are willing to do in regards to the rest of the contract. Of course the Sharks and their potential trade partner will have to work out how much, if any, San Jose retains on the remaining contract and what assets they could get back for Karlsson, which would hinge on how much the Sharks would retain.

One team looking for defense that many want to see on the shortlist to acquire Karlsson would be the Ottawa Senators. Their search for a defenseman in the early part of this season has been well documented and Chychrun has been the number one name associated with them. As reported by Friedman on 32 Thoughts earlier, it is believed Ottawa did try to work on a deal that would have sent Nikita Zaitsev to the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for Tyler Myers, but the deal did not get far enough for Myers, who has a modified no-trade clause, to be asked for permission. Other pieces would have presumably had to be involved to make the deal work for both sides, but that sort of swap would have benefitted Vancouver to the tune of $1.5MM in cap savings while giving Ottawa the defenseman they’ve been looking for and allowing them to get out from under the Zaitsev contract.

Conor Timmins Sent To AHL On Conditioning Stint

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After last playing on October 15, stepping right into an NHL game would have been a challenge for Arizona Coyotes defenseman Conor Timmins. Instead, he’ll get a chance to tune up his game in the minor leagues. The Coyotes have loaned Timmins to the Tucson Roadrunners on a conditioning stint, allowing him to get into some game action at the lower level before making his return.

Timmins, 24, has unfortunately dealt with injuries nearly since the moment he was selected 32nd overall by the Colorado Avalanche in 2017. After playing just 36 regular season games in his post-draft season because of an injured ankle, he missed the entire 2018-19 campaign due to concussion issues. Arriving in Arizona as part of the Darcy Kuemper trade, he blew out his knee six games into 2021-22 and was absent the rest of the season.

Now he has already missed nine games for the Coyotes this year and managed only six shifts in one of the two games he did suit up in. For a player that once had sky-high potential and expectations, it’s difficult to know what will become of Timmins. Still looking for his first NHL goal and having only played in 99 total games since the end of the 2017-18 season, it has been a hard road.

Hopefully, after this latest injury is resolved, he can become a regular in the Arizona lineup and put together a relatively healthy campaign. The conditioning loan to the minor leagues will be limited and he should be up after just a few outings.

Injury Updates: Montour, Timmins, DeBrusk, Edler

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Just ahead of their game this evening, the Florida Panthers announced that defenseman Brandon Montour would not play. Per the team announcement, Montour is suffering from an upper-body injury. It’s unclear exactly how Montour suffered the injury; the defenseman has played in each of the team’s first two games this season, playing 24:56 opening night and 21:44 in Saturday’s game against the Buffalo Sabres.

An interesting wrinkle in this is, because the Panthers have had to carry a light roster due to their position against the salary cap, they will not be replacing Montour in the lineup. Instead, the team will run with 17 skaters – twelve forwards and five on defense. Considering teams only need 18 skaters and a pair of goaltenders to field a full team, it would seem practical for a team in such a cap situation to only carry 18 players on the roster, however a situation like the one Florida faces this evening is a prime example of why that strategy could cause issues down the line.

  • Arizona Coyotes defenseman Conor Timmins will miss tonight’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs with an upper-body injury, says the team. Fortunately for Timmins, who missed significant time last season due to injury, it appears he is only day-to-day.
  • Jake DeBrusk will make his return to the Boston Bruins lineup this evening after missing Boston’s last game. The winger was injured in the team’s opening night game against the Washington Capitals after playing just 11:06. Given Boston’s slate of injury issues, especially to winger Brad Marchand, getting the offensive-minded forward back in the lineup will be key to staying in contention while the team’s stars recover. DeBrusk will be taking the place of forward Jakub Lauko in the lineup. The Athletic’s Fluto Shinzawa was the first to report DeBrusk had re-entered the lineup.
  • Per the Los Angeles Kings, defenseman Alex Edler will not play in tonight’s game against the Detroit Red Wings. Edler was originally expected to be in the lineup, but took a puck to the face during warmups. The veteran defenseman will be replaced by Sean Walker. No update is available yet on how severe the injury is.

Conor Timmins Healthy For Next Season

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When the Arizona Coyotes dealt future Stanley Cup Champion netminder Darcy Kuemper to the Colorado Avalanche before last season, many were impressed with the return: a first-round pick and defense prospect Conor Timmins. With Timmins playing just six games for the Coyotes in 2021-22 before suffering a season-ending knee injury, though, many have forgot about his place within the organization. As revealed by PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan, however, Timmins is healthy and ready to start next season, hopefully his first full one with the team.

After falling to the second round of the 2017 NHL Draft, the Avalanche finally selected Timmins with the 32nd overall pick (the first pick of the round at the time). Timmins was coming off a strong season with the OHL’s Soo Greyhounds in which he scored 61 points in 67 games, tying him for fourth in the league among defensemen with current Detroit Red Wings defender Filip Hronek.

His next season, 2017-18, saw Timmins’ stock rise above his draft position. Scoring over a point per game with the Soo, he was also named to Canada’s World Junior team that year, where he had five points and a +15 rating in seven games. Soon after returning from the World Junior tournament, though, Timmins suffered an ankle injury which limited him to just 36 regular-season games. He returned in time for the playoffs, scoring 18 points in 23 games on a half-healed ankle, before suffering a severe concussion in the next-to-last game of the OHL finals. That concussion and its effects caused Timmins to miss the entire 2018-19 season.

That’s two out of the past four seasons in which Timmins has missed all or nearly every game of the year, robbing him of valuable development time. He had a strong showing in his first AHL season in 2019-20, potting 27 points in 40 games, but was limited to a sixth/seventh defenseman role for Colorado in 2020-21, where he had seven assists in 31 games.

Still looking for his first NHL goal, Timmins will fight to get a consistent lineup spot on a wide-open right side in Arizona that also includes Dysin Mayo, Troy Stecher, Josh Brown, and Victor Söderström. Hopefully, for Timmins and the Coyotes, season-ending injuries become a thing of the past.

Conor Timmins Undergoes Knee Surgery; Out Rest Of Season

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The Arizona Coyotes have announced that defenseman Conor Timmins has undergone successful knee surgery and, as previously reported, will not return this season. The team also announced that prospect Liam Kirk has had knee surgery and will also not play again this season.

Timmins, 23, just can’t catch a break when it comes to his health, as he’ll now miss another full season due to injury. Selected 32nd overall in 2017, he has played just 97 games since the start of the 2018-19 season. He missed that entire year and a good chunk of the following ones with concussion issues and now will be 24 before he hits the ice for a competitive game again.

It’s a troubling trend for a player that was so impressive with the Soo Greyhounds and Team Canada in junior. At his peak, Timmins would immediately shut down opposition rushes with a quick stick, and transition the puck back with crisp passing. The 6’2″ defenseman had 61 points in 67 games in his draft year, and then helped Canada win gold at the WJC in 2018.

In today’s NHL where mobile, lengthy defensemen that can effectively move the puck are worth their weight in gold, Timmins seemed to be a prototypical option. Now, after another lost development year, it’s hard to know exactly where his career path lies. Acquired from the Colorado Avalanche as part of the Darcy Kuemper deal in the offseason, Timmins signed a two-year deal with Arizona that carries a cap hit of just $850K. Hopefully, he can return to full strength next season and play a regular role on the team’s blueline.

Kirk meanwhile was in his first season at the AHL level, after spending last season in the EIHL with his former club team, the Sheffield Steelers. The first player born and trained in England to be selected in the NHL draft, the 21-year-old went 189th overall in 2018. After two successful years at the OHL level, he signed his entry-level contract in June and was off to a fine start with the Tucson Roadrunners. In eight games he had two goals and three points, but will have to wait until next season to continue his development.

Conor Timmins, Carter Hutton Out Several Weeks

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Nov 3: Morgan updates the Timmins situation, reporting that the young defenseman will be out the rest of the season.  It’s brutal news for not only the Coyotes season but also his future in the NHL. The 23-year-old will now have just played just 85 hockey games between the end of the 2017-18 season and the start of the 2022-23 season.

Oct 26: The Arizona Coyotes will be without their “starting” goaltender and a top young defenseman for the next several weeks, after Carter Hutton and Conor Timmins suffered injuries last night. According to Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports, Hutton is expected to miss between two to four weeks, while Timmins could miss eight to 12 weeks after both sustained lower-body injuries. There was no update on Ryan Dzingel, who also left last night’s game.

It’s not like this has any drastic effect on the team’s performance, given the Coyotes are obviously set up for a losing season and haven’t even registered a single win to this point. But the development of Timmins–who was acquired in the Darcy Kuemper trade this summer–is certainly something to consider. The former Colorado Avalanche defenseman has already missed huge chunks of time due to concussion issues and has just 88 professional games under his belt to this point (NHL and AHL combined). Now 23, he’s already missed so much of his key development years that it’s hard to know whether he’ll ever become the player that starred for the Soo Greyhounds and Team Canada, leading to a selection 32nd overall in 2017.

Eight weeks would put a potential return for Timmins just before Christmas, while 12 would be the middle of January.

Hutton meanwhile was ticketed to carry the lion’s share of the goaltending load this season, though that certainly hasn’t gone well to this point. In three appearances he has a .741 save percentage, allowing 15 goals on 58 shots. Karel Vejmelka, a European free agent signing with no North American experience prior to this season will now likely be pushed into a full-time starter role. The 25-year-old has appeared in five games, posting an .899 save percentage.

Josef Korenar seems the most likely recall to give the team a second goaltender, though there are a few options in the Coyotes system.

Coyotes Lose Carter Hutton To Injury

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Expectations are low if not non-existent for the Arizona Coyotes this season. After starting 0-4-1 with a league-worst -17 goal differential, the only expectation for the ’Yotes could be a last place finish. This should not come as surprise either; Arizona’s entire off-season was about off-loading talent, using their salary cap space, adding draft picks and prospects, and not committing to any long-term free agent deals. More than half of the current roster will be unrestricted free agents next summer as the team is fully committed to just to a rebuild but to a complete overhaul.

After dealing away both Darcy Kuemper and Adin Hill and letting Antti Raanta walk, the Coyotes started fresh in net this season. While 25-year-old Czech import Karel Vejmelka has drawn the headlines after winning a roster spot and earning more time and better numbers thus far, it is veteran Carter Hutton who was tapped as the new starter albeit on a one-year deal. While the Yotes’ plan is clearly not to contend in any manner this season, if they don’t want to completely isolate their fan base then they need to at least stay competitive and Hutton gives them that chance – despite some abysmal numbers early on this season.

Well, Hutton may now be unavailable. Hutton suffered a lower-body injury on Monday night and was forced from the game after the first period, the team announced. No further update has been revealed, but any extended absence would be a tough blow for the Coyotes, even though it contributes to their primary goal of contending for a top pick this year. The Coyotes are giving up a lot of shots early this season and it is not an environment in which a young goalie is likely to thrive. Yet, behind Vejmelka would be either 23-year-old Josef Korenar, who struggled in ten games with the San Jose Sharks last season, and 22-year-old Ivan Prosvetov, who took his lumps in three games with the ’Yotes last year. Things could get even uglier in the desert if Hutton is out long-term, so hopefully the injury is not serious.

The Coyotes also lost young defenseman Conor Timmins to injury in the same game, one of the few players on the roster that Arizona really wanted and needed to play a major role this season as a potential future top-four blue liner. Free agent addition Ryan Dzingel was also ruled out with an injury in the game. Things are not going well in Arizona right now.

Arizona Coyotes Sign Conor Timmins

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After acquiring him last month in a deal for Darcy Kuemper, the Arizona Coyotes have signed Conor Timmins to a two-year contract. According to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, the deal will carry an average annual value of $850K. CapFriendly reports that Timmins will make $750,000 in 2021-22 and $950,000 in 2022-23.

Timmins, 22, was the 32nd overall pick in 2017 and looked like he was on the fast track to the NHL after dominating the OHL and the World Juniors through the early part of the 2017-18 season. Unfortunately, he ran into concussion issues that kept him out the entire 2018-19 season, slowing his development in its tracks.

Healthy now and contributing, Timmins played in 31 games for the Colorado Avalanche this year, registering seven assists. He even suited up for 10 playoff games, showing he’d made the jump comfortably to the NHL level. The Avalanche were in desperate need of a goaltender after Philipp Grubauer surprisingly signed with the Seattle Kraken, and Timmins was a price they could reasonably pay given how many other young defensemen they have in the system.

For Arizona though, he represents a brand new kind of asset and a potential long-term partner for Jakob Chychrun. The team has been using veteran defensemen for years, failing to really develop any of their own other than Chychrun and Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Timmins comes in at an early enough time in his career that he still represents huge amounts of excess value, if they can coax the best of him out in Arizona. When on his game, Timmins has an elite defensive stick and can move the puck quickly up to his forwards, contributing offensively at times.

At just $850K, he is the perfect mix for a team like Arizona–cheap and young. The team has slashed their payroll dramatically while taking on cap hits that bring them to the lower limit, and need players like Timmins to log big minutes in the rebuild. For the young defenseman, a two-year deal gives him some security while also likely providing him with a chance to play a lot for the Coyotes, setting up a potential payday in arbitration two years from now.

Colorado Avalanche Acquire Darcy Kuemper

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The Colorado Avalanche missed out on retaining their starting goaltender when Philipp Grubauer decided to sign with the Seattle Kraken, but have found a replacement. The Avalanche have traded defenseman Conor Timmins, a 2022 first-round pick and a conditional 2024 third-round pick to the Arizona Coyotes for Darcy Kuemper. 

The Avalanche can likely afford a price like that, given how many good young defensemen they already have in the organization, but it’s still a lot to pay for a goaltender under contract for just one season. There’s obviously a chance he will sign an extension with Colorado, but until he does, the Avalanche are pushing a few important chips to the middle after losing the bidding on Grubauer. During today’s TSN coverage of the trade deadline, Pierre LeBrun explained that Frederik Andersen was Colorado’s backup plan if they couldn’t re-sign Grubauer, but the former Toronto Maple Leafs netminder couldn’t wait and ended up with the Carolina Hurricanes when a strong offer was tabled.

There was really no other option for the Avalanche after the goalie carousel had stopped spinning today. The team needed a strong, experienced option that could potentially help them contend for the Stanley Cup, and those weren’t readily available on free agency or the trade market. Kuemper was the obvious choice, given his strong play over the last few years and overall NHL resume.

In 242 appearances, the 31-year-old netminder has posted a .917 save percentage, including a .922 in his three years with Arizona. He finished fifth and seventh in Vezina voting the two years previous to this season, and recently led Team Canada to a gold medal at the IIHF World Championship. He will now be asked to carry a heavy load for the Avalanche, splitting time with Pavel Francouz but being the obvious starting option. Kuemper’s never really had this kind of a dominant team in front of him, except perhaps for the start of 2017-18 when he served as the backup for the 45-29-8 Los Angeles Kings. During that 19-game stretch, he posted a 10-1-3 record with a .932 save percentage, numbers the Avalanche hope repeat now that he’s on a Cup contender in Colorado.

For Arizona, today played out perfectly as they waited to move Kuemper until a team was in a desperate situation. The team will not only add another high pick to their overflowing cupboard–they will now pick seven times in the first two rounds of 2022—but also bring in Timmins, a legitimate defense prospect that could very well slide in on the top pairing beside Jakob Chychrun. It’s not that Timmins projects to be that high on most depth charts, but the Coyotes only have a few NHL-level defensemen on the books.

The team has been desperately needing an influx of young talent and GM Bill Armstrong has done exceptional work this offseason to bring it in. The team has used cap space several times to add assets, while also flipping their most valuable pieces for future talent. Kuemper was unlikely to be in net the next time the Coyotes were competitive, so why not move him now when the price is so high.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Craig Morgan of AZ Coyotes Insider was first to report the trade

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