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Dominic Moore

Morning Notes: Nash, Maple Leafs, Lightning

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Even if John Tavares does re-sign with the New York Islanders, next summer’s free agent crop looks to be much more exciting than this year’s. While in-their-prime forwards like Evander Kane and James van Riemsdyk will likely be the focal point of many rumors, the mid-thirties group will also have some very interesting names. One of those, Rick Nash, was profiled by The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun, who believes the 33-year old New York Rangers forward can still be among the league’s best.

A two-way game has increased Nash’s value, and though he’ll be 34 by the time July 1st, 2018 rolls around there could be plenty of suitors lined up to add him to the mix. With 416 career goals coming into this season, the 2002 first-overall pick is an interesting name to watch this year.

  • The Maple Leafs are apparently working with a straight rotation for at least a couple of positions, as Kristen Shilton of TSN reports that Connor Carrick and Dominic Moore find themselves as the odd men out at the team’s morning skate. Andreas Borgman and Calle Rosen will likely be the team’s third pair, while Eric Fehr will draw back in as the fourth-line center. Still left out in the cold is Josh Leivo, who can’t seem to earn himself a full-time role with the Maple Leafs despite scoring 10 points in 13 games last season.
  • Among teams carrying eight defenseman early in the season are the Tampa Bay Lightning who, according to Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times, could dress seven for tonight’s matchup with the Washington Capitals. With Tampa’s decision to keep Mikhail Sergachev on the roster, they put themselves in somewhat of a roster crunch. Sergachev is the only defenseman on the roster who is waiver-exempt, and the team would not risk Jake Dotchin or Slater Koekkoek by sending them down to the minor leagues.

Snapshots: Maple Leafs, Granlund, Shipachyov

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The Toronto Maple Leafs assigned Martin Marincin to the minor leagues earlier today, recalling Calle Rosen to take his spot. It won’t be in the press box though, as Mike Babcock told reporters that Rosen would be in the lineup for the team’s home opener tomorrow night. He’ll take young Andreas Borgman’s spot on the third pairing with Connor Carrick.

Babcock also confirmed that Dominic Moore would be inserted into the lineup as the fourth line center, taking Eric Fehr’s job on Saturday night. This early rotation shows that the Maple Leafs are willing to be fluid with their lineup early on, and also demonstrates the depth they’ve built through free agency. Though the club saw very few injuries last season, they are more prepared to replace players this year as they try to contend for the Atlantic Division crown.

  • Michael Russo of the Star Tribune reports that Mikael Granlund wasn’t at Minnesota Wild practice this morning after being spotted limping after the game last night. The Wild won lost to the Detroit Red Wings and Granlund played more than 16 minutes, but we’ll have to wait and see if he returns to the ice tomorrow morning. The Wild take on the Carolina Hurricanes on what is a three-game road trip to start the season.
  • Vadim Shipachyov isn’t with the team for the Vegas Golden Knights season opener according to SinBin.vegas, which means his $4.5MM contract will continue to be buried for the time being on the AHL roster. Shipachyov came over from the KHL this season after a long professional career, but surely wasn’t expecting to be in the minor leagues on opening night. One thing is clear though, the Golden Knights are willing to do anything to protect assets in their inaugural season. While the team continues to carry nine defensemen on the roster—Brad Hunt, Jon Merrill and Griffin Reinhart are all scratches tonight—Nick Cotsonika of NHL.com tweets that they are still looking to make a trade of some sort.

Dominic Moore Signs One-Year Deal With Toronto Maple Leafs

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed forward Dominic Moore to a one-year deal worth $1MM. Moore spent parts of two seasons with the Maple Leafs between 2007-09, and returns at the age of 36. Moore was perhaps one of the better faceoff specialists out there today, and it’s interesting to see him only earn a one-year contract.

Obviously his age was a concern, but he has shown little signs of slowing down. He had a solid bounce-back season in Boston after a subpar 2015-16 in New York, tallying 11 goals and 14 assists in Beantown. He’s played for a total of 9 NHL teams, but has never won a championship. He earned the Masterton in 2014 and has been respected league-wide as a solid two-way presence who can assist penalty kill units. His talents are probably best utilized now in a 4th-line center position, where he can play limited minutes.

Toronto finished worst among all playoff teams with 2.43 Goals Against per 60 minutes. Playing a more defensively responsible game will be imperative if the team is to take another step forward. The addition earlier today of Ron Hainsey will help on the back-end. Moore’s stabilizing presence should provide an example for the younger Leaf forwards to follow in terms of playing a 200-foot game.

Free Agency Notes: Miller, Liles, Witkowski

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Beyond the top few names of the free agent period—Kevin Shattenkirk, Alexander Radulov and others—there are many depth players who will switch teams and provide quite a bit of value for their new squads. One such player is likely Ryan Miller, who even at 36 is one of the best goaltenders on the market. Though it had been previously reported that the Canucks would try to sign Miller to an incentive-laden deal, it now looks like the two sides will part ways.

Anders Nilsson is rumored to be heading to Vancouver, while another writer—this time Eric Stephens of the Orange County Register—has linked Miller to the Anaheim Ducks and their vacant backup position. As we wrote in our Top 50 Free Agent list, where Miller ranked 29th, heading to the Southern California are where he, along with wife and actress Noreen DeWulf, live in the offseason is an obvious fit. The fact that the Ducks are a competitive team with a clear role for Miller behind young goaltender John Gibson just adds to the likelihood of him ending up there by the end of the weekend.

Atlantic Notes: Moulson, Moore, Buffalo Coaching Search

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While many teams are hoping to strike an agreement with Vegas to get them to take a bad contract off their hands, John Vogl of the Buffalo News highlights a unique situation when it comes to the Sabres.  Winger Matt Moulson, who has two years left on his contract with a $5MM cap hit, is someone the team would like to get off their payroll and Golden Knights GM George McPhee has a close relationship with Moulson’s family as he happens to be the godfather to his wife.  Accordingly, Vogl speculates if there could be a fit between the two teams in a trade.

McPhee has already stated that he expects to take on some onerous contracts in exchange for other assets.  Buffalo is already armed with a fair amount of cap space this summer as they have a little more than $50MM in committed payroll so it’s safe to wonder if other teams may be more desperate to unload an underachieving contract than they are.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic:

  • Pending unrestricted free agent center Dominic Moore is hopeful to re-sign in Boston this offseason, he told Sportsnet’s Luke Fox. He adds that he expects contract talks to begin in the next couple of weeks.  The 36 year old had a good first season in a bottom six role with the Bruins, chipping in 25 points (11-14-25) in 81 games while once again being well above average at the faceoff dot, coming in with a success rate of 54.6%.  He earned $1MM after bonuses this past season and should land a contract around that mark on the open market this summer.
  • With the Panthers closing in on an agreement with Bob Boughner to be their new head coach, that leaves the Sabres as the lone team looking for a new bench boss. TSN’s Bob McKenzie reports (Twitter link) that they will wait until after the Stanley Cup Final to interview Nashville assistant coach Phil Housley.  Penguins assistant Rick Tocchet has also been expected to interview for the position while McKenzie adds that Jacques Martin, also an assistant with Pittsburgh, may also sit down with GM Jason Botterill.  The new general manager would certainly be familiar with the two Pittsburgh coaches having been hired away from the Penguins himself last month.  Botterill is on record saying he’d like to have a new coach in place for the NHL Entry Draft which starts on June 23rd.

Free Agent Focus: Boston Bruins

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The free agent period is now less than one month away from opening up and there are several prominent players set to hit the open market while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign.  Here is a breakdown of Boston’s free agent situation.

Key Restricted Free Agents: F David Pastrnak – Pastrnak is coming off a breakout season that saw him finish second in team scoring while setting career highs across the board.  The Bruins will be penciling him in as a top line winger for the foreseeable future but they’ll have to reach an agreement on a new deal first.  Both sides are believed to be interested in skipping a short-term deal in the hopes of reaching a long-term contract.   That could delay things a little bit (and Pastrnak is not arbitration eligible) but all indications are that talks are going well so far.

F Ryan Spooner – It wasn’t a great year for Spooner who saw his role diminish towards the end of the season, hardly the way to head into restricted free agency.  His name is out there in trade talks while he is eligible for arbitration.  Despite ending his season on a sour note, Spooner is still poised to land a sizable raise from the $1.1MM in salary he earned in 2016-17 (which also represents his qualifying offer).  At this stage, the question is whether or not Boston will be the one signing him to that next contract.

Other RFAs: F Noel Acciari, F Austin Czarnik, F Colton Hargrove, G Zane McIntyre, D Joe Morrow, F Tim Schaller, G Malcolm Subban

Mar 16, 2017; Edmonton, Alberta, CAN; Boston Bruins right winger Drew Stafford (19) is seen out on the ice as they took on the Edmonton Oilers during the second period at Rogers Place. Mandatory Credit: Walter Tychnowicz-USA TODAY SportsKey Unrestricted Free Agents: F Drew Stafford – After a tough season in Winnipeg, Stafford looks reenergized as a member of the Bruins, providing some key secondary scoring after joining the team as he collected eight points in just 18 games.  He’s going to be faced with taking a pay cut from the $4.35MM he earned in each of the last two seasons but if Stafford decides to look for a short-term deal to restore some value, re-upping with Boston would make some sense.  While the team has several youngsters on the cusp of making an NHL impact, bringing Stafford back shouldn’t affect things too much and would provide them with some extra scoring depth on the wing.

F Dominic Moore – The veteran center has been a hockey nomad in recent years (since 2007-08, he has played for nine different teams) but brought some stability to Boston’s fourth line while chipping in some unexpected offense.  A shift towards speedier bottom six players has worked in his favor and Moore will be in line to reprise that role next season whether it’s with the Bruins or elsewhere.

Other UFAs: D Chris Casto, D Tommy Cross, F Brian Ferlin, D Alex Grant, D John-Michael Liles, F Tyler Randell, F Zac Rinaldo

Projected Cap Space: The Bruins currently have $62.5MM committed to 18 players for next season per CapFriendly which would slot them about $10.5MM below the 2016-17 upper limit.  A significant chunk of that will be eaten up with new deals for Pastrnak (and if he’s still around, Spooner) which makes it unlikely that GM Don Sweeney will be active on the open market aside from adding or re-signing some depth players.  There will be several teams to watch for in free agency but as things stand, Boston won’t be one of them.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Minor Playoff Notes: Milano, Klefbom, Acciari

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  • With the suspension of Matt Calvert, the Columbus Blue Jackets have promoted 2014 first-round pick Sonny Milano to take Calvert’s place in the lineup today for Game 3 against the Pittsburgh Penguins today. The 20-year-old wing will make his playoff debut for the Blue Jackets despite only seven games of NHL experience. This season he played four games for Columbus without registering a point. He played 63 games for the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters, totaling 18 goals and 47 points on the year.
  • The Edmonton Oilers confirmed defenseman Oscar Klefbom is good to go and is expected to play today for Game 3 against the San Jose Sharks. Klefbom, who has been one of the Oilers’ top defensemen in a breakout season, took a puck off the side inside of his foot during Game 2 and never returned. He did not skate yesterday and was considered day-to-day. Due to concern he might not be available for today’s game, the Oilers called up Griffin Reinhart from the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors as an emergency backup, but it doesn’t look like he will be needed. The Oilers also promoted goaltender Nick Ellis from Bakersfield as well. However, as the Condors’ season is over, he likely would have been promoted anyway.
  • Bruins’ fourth-liner Noel Acciari (upper body) is expected to play in Game 3 on Monday. Acciari, who missed the season finale and both Games One and Two against the Ottawa Senators this past week is instrumental on the team’s checking line alongside Dominic Moore and Riley Nash. Acciari tallied two goals in his final six games of the season before getting injured.

Injury Updates: Blackhawks, Methot, Stastny

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The Blackhawks will be without defenseman Michal Rozsival when the puck drops on their series opener against Nashville on Thursday as they announced that the blueliner underwent surgery today to repair facial fractures sustained against the Ducks last week.  The veteran was a depth player for Chicago for most of the season, getting into 22 games while averaging 15:30 per night in ice time.  There is no timetable for his potential return but the team noted he’s expected to make a full recovery.  Forward Andrew Desjardins, who also was injured against Anaheim, remains day-to-day with a lower body injury.

Chicago will get a boost up front against the Predators as center Artem Anisimov will return to the lineup after missing the last month with a leg injury, notes CSN Chicago’s Tracey Myers.  He had been skating for the last week as he worked himself back into game shape.  Anisimov is expected to rejoin wingers Artemi Panarin and Patrick Kane inside their top six forward group.

More injury news from around the NHL:

  • Senators defenseman Marc Methot is listed as a game-time decision for Wednesday’s series opener against Boston, Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun notes. Head coach Guy Boucher calls Methot’s situation the only one he’ll have to make a decision on and that they could still opt to rest him up for a few more days.  The blueliner has missed the last nine games with a lacerated finger suffered after being slashed by Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby on March 23rd.
  • The Blues will likely be without center Paul Stastny when they open up their series against Minnesota tomorrow night, reports Tom Timmermann of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He suffered a broken foot back on March 21st against Colorado and has been out of the lineup since then.  It’s expected that Ivan Barbashev will open up the series in his place on the top line alongside Jaden Schwartz and Vladimir Tarasenko.
  • Bruins centers David Krejci and Dominic Moore missed practice today and while the team is hopeful that both will be ready to take on Ottawa tomorrow, head coach Bruce Cassidy told CSN New England’s Joe Haggerty that it’s not a guarantee that either will be available.  He noted that both players are going through “maintenance work” at the moment.  Krejci’s absence in particular is noteworthy as this is the second straight practice he missed.  Not only has he been Boston’s top postseason scorer in two of their last four playoff appearances, he also led the NHL in playoff points in those two years.

Atlantic Notes: Soshnikov, Melnyk, White

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Maple Leafs fans will see Eric Fehr in action for the first time tonight when they take on the Columbus Blue Jackets according to Kristen Shilton of TSN. The veteran forward will draw into the lineup for his first game since being acquired at the deadline from the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for Frank Corrado. He will be taking the place of Nikita Soshnikov, the young winger who was involved in multiple incidents in Monday’s game against the Boston Bruins.

Soshnikov first got under the skin of Bruins’ players and fans alike when he sent Patrice Bergeron into the boards head first with a crosscheck across the back, earning him just a two minute penalty (which Bergeron would match when he got up and went after the Leafs’ winger). Later in the game he took a hard hit from Zdeno Chara that seemed to rattle him, as he was seen rubbing his neck and skating unsteadily for the rest of the game. It was that unsteady nature that caused him to fall when Dominic Moore would collide with him in the dying minutes, giving the Maple Leafs a powerplay that ended up winning the game. There is no word on what the extent of the injury is for Soshnikov, but a concussion would not be out of the question.

Atlantic Division Snapshots: Vasilevskiy, Bruins, Leafs

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When the Tampa Bay Lightning inked Andrei Vasilevskiy to a three-year contract extension this summer, a deal that doesn’t go into effect until the 2017-18 season, it appeared as if the organization was committed to the Russian net minder as its future number one goalie. With Ben Bishop set to hit free agency next July, the idea was to give Vasilevskiy about 35 starts this season to be sure he was ready to assume the load as a starter. After eight starts this season, it’s becoming clear to all that the 22-year-old is most definitely ready to be the man for the Lightning, writes Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times.

Vasilevskiy is 6 – 1 – 1 on the season and has a GAA of just 1.50 and a Save % of 0.951 in eight appearances. His hot start comes on the heels of helping the Lightning make it to game seven of the Eastern Conference Final against Pittsburgh last season after Bishop was injured. Vasilevskiy was solid in the postseason, stopping 0.925% of the shots he faced in eight games.

Assuming Vasilevskiy continues to develop into a quality starting option, his extension, which calls for an AAV of just $3.5MM, will prove to be a tremendous bargain for a team that already has a lot of its cap space tied up in long-term deals.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic Division:

  •  The Boston Bruins have long been thought to be in the market for a top-four blue liner, with Kevin Shattenkirk being one name linked to the team. However, given the team’s recent offensive struggles, Bruins management may want to reconsider their plans. Joe Haggerty, of CSNNE, reports that both the players and the coaches are becoming frustrated with the team’s lackluster goal scoring. David Pastrnak, the team’s gifted 20-year-old sniper, leads the team with 12 goals in just 16 games. Brad Marchand, currently out with a lower-body-injury, is second with six tallies while fourth-line pivot Dominic Moore ranks third on the club with five markers. Overall the Bruins rank 25th in the NHL, averaging just 2.3 goals-per-game. However, defenseman Torey Krug is confident the goals will come given the team finished fifth in the league last season in scoring: “When you see other teams get lucky bounces here and there – in Ottawa they’re shooting the puck wide and it goes off one of our guys and in, or in Minnesota the same thing happens – and we find ourselves not getting those bounces, then it starts to get frustrating when you’re getting good looks like we have been. Every team goes through these little lulls and we’ll work our way out of it. Hopefully it’s sooner rather than later.”
  • While the Toronto Maple Leafs are certainly a fun team to watch, bouyed by a talented young core of forwards, veteran head coach Mike Babcock knows defense wins championships. Ian Shantz of the Toronto Sun writes that Babcock is asking more from his blue liners as the team battles to stay relevant in the postseason race. Babcock singles out Morgan Rielly as the guy he wants to see play like a #1 defender: “We need (Morgan) Rielly to be our No. 1 guy. We need him to be very good for us, and that’s not racing around the rink. That’s playing without the puck.” The Leafs do have some talent on the back end but it’s likely that if they are buyers at the trade deadline that the blue line is the one area the team will look to improve.

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