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Metropolitan Notes: Penguins, Chatfield, Quapp, Devils

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While some head coaching searches may soon be wrapping up, don’t expect that to be the case for the Penguins.  Speaking with The Athletic’s Josh Yohe (subscription link), GM Kyle Dubas indicated that he plans to do a second interview in-person with the final few candidates for the role in the final week of May when he returns from Sweden where he’s in charge of Canada’s entry at the Worlds.  From there, the hope is to have the new hire in place by June 1st before Dubas leaves for the Draft Combine a few days later.  The new coach will be taking over for Mike Sullivan, who was one of the longest-tenured bench bosses in the league before parting ways with him earlier this month.

More from the Metropolitan:

  • Hurricanes defenseman Jalen Chatfield did not take part in practice today in advance of Tuesday’s Eastern Conference Final opener, relays Cory Lavalette of the North State Journal (Twitter link). Head coach Rod Brind’Amour noted over the weekend that he was hopeful that the 29-year-old would be ready for the opener after missing the last game against Washington with an undisclosed injury but that may be in some question now.  Today, the bench boss noted that Chatfield will likely need to be a full participant in tomorrow’s game-day skate to have a shot at suiting up.
  • Still with the Hurricanes, goaltending prospect Nikita Quapp has signed a one-year deal with Eispiraten Crimmitschau in Germany’s second division, per a team release. Carolina drafted the 22-year-old back in the sixth round in 2021 but he has struggled.  After spending most of 2023-24 in the second division, Quapp moved up to the DEL this year but only got into nine games with Dusseldorfer where he posted a 4.08 GAA and a .870 SV%.  Carolina holds Quapp’s rights through June 1st and considering his struggles and this contract, it’s fair to say they will be letting those rights go in a couple of weeks.
  • James Nichols of New Jersey Hockey Now highlights a trio of Devils players whose trade protection decreases at the beginning of July. Center Erik Haula goes from a full no-trade clause to a six-team no-trade clause while winger Ondrej Palat and defenseman Dougie Hamilton go from a full no-trade to a 10-team no-trade (while retaining no-move rights for waiver purposes).  GM Tom Fitzgerald vowed to be active this summer following an early exit in the playoffs so having a few more potential trade options could certainly help in that regard.

Devils Dougie Hamilton Returns From Injury

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The Devils Dougie Hamilton is in the lineup tonight against the Detroit Red Wings, per a team announcement. The defender has missed the past 18 games due to a lower body injury he sustained on March 4th against the Dallas Stars. He has recovered quicker than expected after it was originally thought he would miss the remainer of the regular season.

According to an NHL release, Hamilton has been skating on his own the past three weeks and participated in warmups prior to Sunday’s game against the Islanders. Tonight, he has slotted right back into the team’s top pairing alongside Brenden Dillon.

On the season, the offensive-minded defender has put up 9 goals, 31 assists and 40 points in 63 games. He has added 81 blocked shots, 74 hits, a plus-nine rating, and has averaged 19:48 of total ice time per game on the year. In his career, the 31-year-old has scored 501 points in 834 career games.

Prior to the game, Devils coach Sheldon Keefe noted how hard Hamilton has worked to get ahead of schedule and back into the lineup. He added that Hamilton was, “Excited to go.”

New Jersey will finish third in the Metropolitan Division and will play the Carolina Hurricanes in the first round. Hamilton’s return and ability to shake off a little rust tonight, should support the Devils’ efforts in the playoffs. In 66 career playoff games, Hamilton has posted 29 points.

Metropolitan Notes: Thompson, Protas, Hamilton, Carrier, Gostisbehere

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Capitals goaltender Logan Thompson began on-ice recovery today as he nears a return from an upper-body injury, Emily Kaplan of ESPN said on today’s broadcast of Washington’s loss in Columbus (via Tom Gulitti of NHL.com). He skated today along with the NHL’s new all-time goals leader, Alex Ovechkin, who stayed home to rest with the Caps’ place atop the Eastern Conference clinched. The presumptive Vezina Trophy finalist has missed the last four games with an upper-body injury and remains questionable for the beginning of Washington’s first-round playoff series against whichever team ends up in the second wild-card spot. Backup Charlie Lindgren hasn’t been particularly inspiring in his absence, posting a .866 SV% since taking over for Thompson when the latter left an April 2 loss to the Hurricanes. Lindgren was not in the crease today for the Caps’ 7-0 defeat; third-stringer Hunter Shepard was. Winger Aliaksei Protas is also expected to skate Monday for the first time since sustaining a laceration from a skate on his left foot on April 4, Kaplan said. “There is some concern about how the location of the skate cut (under skate tongue) will impact the rest of Protas’ foot, but they’re hopeful he’ll be ready for the start of the playoffs,” Gulitti relayed. The 24-year-old remains an invaluable part of the Caps’ league-best offense, erupting for a career-best 30-36–66 scoring line in 76 showings.

Elsewhere in the Metro:

  • Devils defenseman Dougie Hamilton continues to inch closer to a return but won’t play tomorrow against the Islanders, head coach Sheldon Keefe told the team’s Amanda Stein. Initially expected to be out until the second round of the playoffs after sustaining a lower-body injury in early March, he’s been upgraded to day-to-day. He will almost certainly be an option to begin their first-round series against the Hurricanes. He’s a key return amid a blue line missing Jonas Siegenthaler and a forward group missing star center Jack Hughes. Hamilton’s 40 points in 63 games rank seventh on the Devils and second among rearguards behind Luke Hughes’ 42.
  • The Hurricanes had winger William Carrier in the lineup against the Rangers today for the first time since he underwent lower-body surgery in January. An important depth add to their bottom six ahead of the postseason, the 30-year-old had an assist, four hits, and a plus-one rating in 10:48 of ice time in his return. They were without top backend point-producer Shayne Gostisbehere, though, who Cory Lavalette of the North State Journal relays is dealing with a lower back injury. It’s his second straight absence. The 31-year-old has 44 points in 68 showings this year, his fourth straight season above 40 points. He ranks fifth on Carolina in scoring while averaging 18:29 per game. He remains day-to-day and should be back for Game 1 against New Jersey.

Metro Notes: Hamilton, Hurricanes, Penguins

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Heading into the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs, the New Jersey Devils will be without their top forward and defenseman. However, it may not be long before the latter returns. Earlier today, Peter Baugh of The Athletic relayed a note from the Devils’ head coach, Sheldon Keefe, indicating Dougie Hamilton could return for Round One.

Originally, Hamilton had been ruled out for the regular season in mid-March, with a projected return date of Round Two of the postseason. A week ago, TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reported that Hamilton was recovering faster than expected, with the likelihood of a Round One return increasing exponentially now that he’s returned to skating.

There’s no question the Devils could use him. Hamilton scored nine goals and 40 points in 63 games for New Jersey this season, with 15 coming on the team’s powerplay. The Devils have slowed down since Hamilton and forward Jack Hughes exited the lineup, while their projected Round One opponent, the Carolina Hurricanes, have managed a 9-4-0 record since the trade deadline, meaning New Jersey will need every advantage available.

Other notes from the Metropolitan Division:

  • Speaking of Carolina, the Hurricanes are expected to welcome forwards Jordan Staal and Andrei Svechnikov back to the lineup for tonight’s contest against the Buffalo Sabres. Staal and Svechnikov had missed a handful of games for Carolina over the past week. Unfortunately, in the report from Chip Alexander of The Raleigh News & Observer, the Hurricanes are expected to be without center Jesperi Kotkaniemi for the next week. Still, Alexander did reiterate a sentiment from head coach Rod Brind’Amour indicating it’s not a serious ailment for Kotkaniemi.
  • Earlier today, Seth Rorabaugh of The Tribune Review contextualized Matthew Nieto’s emergency recall last night. Rorabaugh reports that forward Philip Tomasino has been diagnosed with a concussion, and forward Blake Lizotte is considered day-to-day with an undisclosed injury. Unfortunately, the concussion will likely result in the end of Tomasino’s 2024-25 season. Still, he’s had a promising run with the Penguins since being acquired from the Predators earlier in the year, scoring 10 goals and 20 points in 48 contests with the new organization.

Devils’ Dougie Hamilton Recovering Faster Than Expected

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Dougie Hamilton could return to the Devils lineup sooner than previously thought. Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports today there’s an outside chance of their top defenseman returning during the regular season, with a return during the first round of the playoffs looking more likely. Hamilton started skating last week after general manager Tom Fitzgerald said they weren’t expecting him back until a possible second-round series.

The 2021 All-Star has been out since sustaining a lower-body injury on March 4. New Jersey has gone 7-5-1 in 13 games without him, enough to tighten their grip on third place in the Metropolitan Division despite also missing top-four defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler and star center Jack Hughes, the latter of whom won’t be returning this year no matter how deep of a playoff run the Devils can make. He underwent surgery on his right shoulder on March 5 and is done for the year.

This is the second year in a row that Hamilton, in year four of a seven-year deal carrying a $9MM AAV, has missed significant time. Luckily for the Devils and Hamilton, the two ailments are unrelated. A torn pectoral muscle ended his 2023-24 season in November.

Aside from his injury troubles, it hasn’t been a notable season for Hamilton. After New Jersey added Brenden Dillon and Brett Pesce in free agency last summer and traded for Johnathan Kovacevic, they’ve opted to spread out their rearguards’ usage and no longer have a clear No. 1. Hamilton’s average time on ice has dropped below 20 minutes per game for the first time since 2018-19 as a result, and his production has suffered in kind. 9-31–40 through 63 games is still a strong scoring line, on pace for 52 points and the fifth-highest points-per-game rate of his career, but it’s still disappointing after he put up 90 points in 102 games across the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons.

The buck continues to fall on 21-year-old Luke Hughes to be Jersey’s top offensive producer from the blue line in the interim. He’s holding up his end of the bargain, on pace to slightly better last year’s totals that earned him third place in Calder Trophy voting. He’s also clicking at over a point per game (2-11–13 in 12 GP) since Hamilton went down. Nonetheless, having both of their standard power-play weapons back on the blue line in a nearly locked-in first-round matchup against the Hurricanes will be key.

Dougie Hamilton To Miss The Rest Of The Regular Season

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New Jersey Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald told the Krackin’ Canuckleheads podcast that defenseman Dougie Hamilton’s regular season is over, and the team isn’t expecting to get him back until the second round of the playoffs. Fitzgerald added that he would have to double-check his math on that, but the team had no plans for him to return in the regular season. Fitzgerald spoke in a press conference after the NHL Trade Deadline last week and said that the 31-year-old would miss, “an extended period of time,” after he suffered a lower body injury back on March 4th against the Dallas Stars. With Fitzgerald’s comments yesterday, it does appear that the team has some clarity on just how much time his recovery will take.

Hamilton is dealing with an undisclosed injury that looks to be a leg injury given the nature in which he left the ice against the Stars. Hamilton collided with Stars forward Mason Marchment and limped his way back to the bench. He remained on New Jersey’s bench for a bit, but eventually headed back to the locker room and did not return.

It’s the second year in a row that Hamilton will miss an extended length of time after he missed most of last season due to injury. Hamilton played just 20 games a season ago and was in the midst of a bounce back year, registering nine goals and 31 assists in 63 games this season, while playing nearly 20 minutes per game.

New Jersey is going through it right now when it comes to injuries. The team has already lost forward Jack Hughes as well as defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler for the rest of the regular season. It pales in comparison to last year’s injury bug, but it is more devastating given that New Jersey was one of the favorites to come out of the Eastern Conference.

The team did make some additions at the Trade Deadline, in hopes of patching the holes opened up by injury, acquiring forward Cody Glass as well as defenseman Brian Dumoulin. However, they did not come close to replacing the offense lost with Hamilton and Hughes now on the shelf.

Jonas Siegenthaler Out For Rest Of Regular Season

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It’s going to be a while before the Devils get some help on the back end.  In his post-deadline press conference (video link), GM Tom Fitzgerald indicated that blueliner Jonas Siegenthaler (lower body) won’t be able to return for the rest of the regular season but does have a chance to return in the playoffs.  Meanwhile, he declined to put a timeline on the reported week-to-week lower-body injury for Dougie Hamilton but confirmed that his top-scoring blueliner will be out for an extended period.

Siegenthaler has been out of the lineup for a little more than a month due to a lower-body injury and was moved to LTIR in recent days before Jack Hughes’ season-ending shoulder surgery.  The 27-year-old isn’t a big point producer from the back end as he had just two goals and seven assists in 55 games before being injured; his nine points matched his total from last season.

But Siegenthaler has long been a capable defensive defender and his absence will be more felt on that end.  He primarily played in a shutdown role while taking a regular turn on the penalty kill; all told, he finishes his regular season with 19:36 in ATOI.  While that ranks fifth among New Jersey defenders, none of their rearguards are averaging 21 minutes a game on the season with their distribution being quite close, a rarity across the NHL.

New Jersey quickly moved to fill Siegenthaler’s role earlier this week when they acquired Brian Dumoulin from Anaheim while they picked up Dennis Cholowski from the Islanders today to add more defensive depth.  But that’s all the help they’re going to have now for a while with no word on how long Hamilton will be out for while we now know that Siegenthaler’s set to miss the final six weeks of the regular season and potentially more.

Dougie Hamilton Out Week-To-Week

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It turns out learning that they’d be without their leading scorer for the rest of the season and playoffs wasn’t the only bad injury news for the Devils on Wednesday.  TSN’s Darren Dreger reports (audio link) that defenseman Dougie Hamilton is believed to be out week-to-week from the lower-body injury sustained in Tuesday’s loss to Dallas.

After missing the bulk of last season due to a torn pectoral muscle, Hamilton has been his usual productive self on New Jersey’s back end this year.  The 31-year-old has nine goals and 31 assists through 63 games despite not even averaging 20 minutes a night of playing time.  With 40 points, he leads all New Jersey blueliners in points (a dozen ahead of Luke Hughes) while sitting fifth on the team in scoring overall.

In his absence, it seems likely that they’ll ask Hughes to take a bigger role offensively, especially on the power play.  Meanwhile, Hamilton’s injury could also open up a spot for Seamus Casey to get back in the lineup; the rookie had a solid start offensively to the season and has been a strong point producer in the minors so he could be counted on to help shoulder some of the load on that front as well.

It’s another tough blow to a team whose hold on a playoff spot has started to slip recently with the team losing three of their last four games.  As a result, they now hold just a four-point lead on Columbus (who has two games in hand) for the third spot in the Metropolitan Division while they’re only six points ahead of a Wild Card position.  Now, they’ll be down two key veterans as they look to maintain their grip on a playoff spot.  That said, they also have over $13MM in LTIR room at the moment, per PuckPedia, if they want to try to add a replacement or two to try to stay afloat in the playoff race.

Devils Notes: Hamilton, Bastian, Siegenthaler, Halonen

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Devils interim head coach Travis Green spoke with reporters today, including Ryan Novozinsky of NJ Advance Media, to provide an update on a pair of injured players.  He indicated that it’s unlikely that Dougie Hamilton will return at all this season.  Hamilton had surgery to repair a torn pectoral muscle a little less than four months ago and is currently on LTIR.  Since the Devils primarily sold at the deadline, they could easily have gotten back into cap compliance to activate the veteran if he was able to return.

Meanwhile, the news is a little better for winger Nathan Bastian.  Green indicated there is a chance that the 26-year-old could return from an upper-body injury that has caused him to miss a little more than a month.  Bastian has a dozen points along with 143 hits in 54 games so far this season.

More from New Jersey:

  • Defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler took part in practice today as he works his way back from an upper-body injury, mentions team reporter Amanda Stein (Twitter link). He has missed more than two weeks with this latest ailment, one that came just a few weeks after missing 16 games with a foot issue.  Siegenthaler has been limited to just nine points through 49 games so far but as a second-pairing player, New Jersey would certainly like to get him back in the lineup sooner than later.
  • Brian Halonen’s daily transactions tour continues. Per the AHL’s transactions log, the forward has been recalled to New Jersey’s roster today after being sent down yesterday.  This is his third recall since Wednesday.  The 25-year-old made his NHL debut last month, his only appearance at the top level so far.  Meanwhile, with Utica, he has fared well with 16 goals and eight assists in just 30 games.  He’s in the final year of his entry-level contract.

Metropolitan Notes: Hamilton, Siegenthaler, Wheeler

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New Jersey Devils writer Sam Kasan tweeted an update today on Devils’ defenseman Dougie Hamilton. In speaking with the media New Jersey head coach Lindy Ruff told reporters that Hamilton remains “quite a ways away” from returning to action. The 30-year-old rearguard hasn’t played since November 28th and had surgery on a torn left pectoral muscle in early December. There was no timetable given at the time of the procedure and it appears to be status quo for the time being.

Hamilton’s injury dealt a huge blow to a Devils team that had dreams of contending for the Stanley Cup this season. Hamilton has received Norris Trophy consideration in six of the last seven seasons and was playing well for New Jersey this year with five goals and 11 assists in 20 games.

In other Metropolitan Division notes:

  • Ruff also offered an update on Devils defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler who has been sidelined since January 6th with a broken foot. No specific timetable was given at the time, but the 26-year-old did take part in practice today dressed in a regular jersey. The Zurich, Switzerland native lined up on the team’s fourth defensive pair alongside Nick DeSimone and will be a big boost for the Devils’ defense core when he is ready to return to the lineup.
  • New York Rangers forward Blake Wheeler left tonight’s game with a lower-body injury and will not return. Wheeler was hit by Montreal Canadiens defenseman Jayden Struble and fell back awkwardly and appeared to trap his right leg under his body as he hit the ice. Wheeler was in visible pain on the play which looked eerily similar to the injury of Tampa Bay defenseman Mikhail Sergachev. Wheeler reached for his knee in obvious discomfort and was ruled out for the evening. If Wheeler has suffered a similar injury to Sergachev it is possible he could be done for the rest of the regular season. Wheeler is having one of the worst offensive seasons of his career, but he has provided the Rangers will depth scoring and would need to be replaced if he is sidelined long-term.

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