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Erik Cernak

Atlantic Notes: Mrazek, Del Zotto, Cernak, Bogosian

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The Maple Leafs will activate goaltender Petr Mrazek off LTIR to start him tonight against Chicago, notes Postmedia’s Lance Hornby (Twitter link).  The veteran has been limited to just two appearances this season due to a groin injury and after being brought in to push Jack Campbell for playing time, it may be hard to come by with Campbell currently sporting a 1.99 GAA with a .935 SV%.  Joseph Woll, who had been serving as Toronto’s backup, will soon return to the minors.

While not yet announced by the team, it would appear as if winger Mitch Marner will be transferred to LTIR to create the cap space for the Maple Leafs to activate Mrazek.  Marner suffered a shoulder injury in practice earlier this month that was expected to keep him out for a few weeks.  In his case, an LTIR transfer (which can be done retroactively to his initial IR placement) would keep him out for at least 10 games and 24 days.

More from the Atlantic:

  • Ottawa’s decision to waive Michael Del Zotto on Friday came as a bit of a surprise considering they only recently gave him a two-year deal. However, head coach D.J. Smith told reporters, including Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch (Twitter link) that injuries have forced the Senators to shift more towards making this a development year which means the prospects get the priority moving forward.  Smith referenced that Jacob Bernard-Docker and Lassi Thomson are young blueliners that should start seeing NHL action again soon.
  • Erik Cernak’s timeline for a return has been delayed as Bryan Burns of the Lightning’s team site relays (Twitter link) that the blueliner is now listed as week to week and won’t play until after the holiday break. The 24-year-old suffered a lower-body injury last week in just his third game back from an upper-body issue.  In between those ailments, Cernak has been an important part of Tampa Bay’s top four, logging 19:30 per game.  The extended timeline will make him LTIR-eligible.
  • Cernak isn’t the only injured Lightning blueliner either as the team announced (Twitter link) prior to their game against the Sens that Zach Bogosian is day-to-day with a lower-body injury. Injuries have limited the 31-year-old to just 15 games this season where he has four points, 41 hits, and 34 penalty minutes.

Snapshots: Senators, Cernak, Greenway

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The NHL currently has no plans to postpone and reschedule any of Ottawa’s games in the midst of their COVID outbreak, reports Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch.  Josh Brown became the sixth Senators player to be sidelined along with associate coach Jack Capuano which was enough to lead some to believe that yesterday’s game against Boston could be postponed.  However, they were able to get enough reinforcements to ice a full lineup for that contest.  Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly indicated that the league is “monitoring the situation” but that they would prefer to not have to reschedule games if possible.  The Sens begin a stint of three games in four days on Thursday so this situation will be one to monitor if more players have to be quarantined.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak will miss at least a few games due to an upper-body injury sustained on Tuesday, head coach Jon Cooper told Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times. The 24-year-old logs over 20 minutes a game on Tampa Bay’s back end including the second-most penalty kill time among their defenders so his absence will be a tough one to fill.  They will get Mikhail Sergachev back from suspension on Saturday but Jan Rutta and Cal Foote will also be called upon to play more minutes.
  • The Wild have activated winger Jordan Greenway from IR and will have him in their lineup tonight against Arizona, relays Sarah McLellan of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. The 24-year-old suffered a high ankle sprain two weeks ago versus Seattle and missed the last four games.  It’s a contract year for Greenway who will be a restricted free agent with arbitration eligibility this summer so not missing extended time will certainly help his cause.  He has two assists in seven games this season after recording 32 points in 56 contests in 2020-21.

Germany, Switzerland, Russia Announce Members Of 2022 Olympic Team

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The first three members of each participating Olympic hockey nation are being announced this week, with top names like Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, David Pastrnak and Victor Hedman already locked in to compete for their respective countries. Today, Germany, Switzerland, Slovakia, Latvia, Denmark and Russia all revealed the first three names on their roster sheet.

For Germany, it comes as no surprise that Leon Draisaitl leads the way. The Edmonton Oilers superstar is one of the most dangerous playmakers in the world, winning the Hart and Art Ross trophies in 2020. He’ll be joined by Philipp Grubauer, who gives the German squad an elite goaltending option for the tournament.

The third member is an interesting choice though, as Moritz Seider, the Detroit Red Wings prospect who has yet to even make his NHL debut, has already locked in his spot at the Games. The 20-year-old defenseman was the sixth-overall pick in 2019 and has is expected to make an impact for the Red Wings in short order.

Switzerland has a trio of impressive NHL talents, starting with Nashville Predators captain Roman Josi. The 31-year-old defenseman won the Norris Trophy in 2020 and has helped his small country take home two silver medals at the World Championship. In fact, in 2013 when Switzerland came in second, Josi was named tournament MVP. Josi will be joined by Timo Meier of the San Jose Sharks and Nico Hischier of the New Jersey Devils, two established NHL forwards that have represented Switzerland on several occasions in the past.

The Slovaks may now have quite the same star power, but there’s still plenty of NHL experience announced today. Andrej Sekera, Erik Cernak and Jaroslav Halak will all be donning their nation’s colors next year, bringing the building blocks of a strong defensive unit. Cernak, 24, has developed into an extremely valuable and versatile player for the Tampa Bay Lightning, winning two Stanley Cup championships in his first three years of NHL action.

Latvia and Denmark, who don’t usually have much of a chance at a medal actually have some NHL talent of their own to announce today. Rudolfs Balcers, Zemgus Girgensons and Kristians Rubins will take part for Latvia, while Oliver Bjorkstrand, Nikolaj Ehlers and Alexander True make up a great start for the Danes.

It’s Russia that will draw the most attention today though, as the three players announced have all been considered among the best in the world at some point. Alex Ovechkin, a player who is chasing down history by attempting to catch and break Wayne Gretzky’s NHL goal record, Nikita Kucherov, the 2019 Hart Trophy winner and Andrei Vasilevskiy, the most recent Conn Smythe recipient, make up a trio that’s hard to match. Russia, who will be competing as the “Russian Olympic Committee” is the reigning Olympic champion after taking home the award (then as the Olympic Athletes from Russia) in 2018 when the NHL did not participate.

Trade Deadline Primer: Tampa Bay Lightning

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We are now less than a week away from the NHL Trade Deadline and talks are heating up. Where does each team stand and what moves should they be looking to make?  We continue our look around the league with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning needed to look for a new challenge this season after stomping the competition in the 2020 postseason. They decided that if the league’s teams weren’t good enough to beat them, they would just take on the league itself. This season, the Lightning have stretched the NHL’s hard salary cap to it’s limit. Some might even throw the word “circumvention” out there. Tampa has managed to hold on to it’s extremely talented and fairly compensated roster due almost entirely due to the timely injury of Nikita Kucherov and the acquisitions of other injured players Marian Gaborik and Anders Nilsson. The Bolts have over $17MM in salary on Long-Term Injured Reserve – and they’ve used up all but $370,500 of it. There is zero space for the Lightning to do anything at the trade deadline beyond a minor depth addition, but they will get a major boost in the postseason with the return of Kucherov. Barring another opportunistic injury or a hockey trade that no one sees coming, the Bolts may have to settle for that this season.

Record

26-11-2, .692, 3rd in Central Division

Deadline Status

Stand Pat

Deadline Cap Space

$0MM in full-season space ($371K in LTIR space), 0/3 retention slots used, 45/50 contracts used per CapFriendly

Upcoming Draft Picks

2021: TBL 1st, TBL 3rd, TBL 4th, TBL 5th, TBL 6th, NJD 7th, NSH 7th, TBL 7th
2022: TBL 1st, TBL 3rd, TBL 4th, TBL 5th, TBL 6th, TBL 7th

Trade Chips

There is a difference between what the Lightning could offer and what they will offer, given that they are in no position to make much of a trade. It is unlikely that the team is going to move any of their roster players to open up space, so even though pieces like Tyler Johnson and Alex Killorn may seem expendable, it is hard to imagine the team trading them in-season as opposed to waiting for the off-season.

As a result, Tampa has little space to work with and that means their targets will not be high-priced pieces. The most likely result for the Bolts is that they add a cheap depth piece in exchange for a late pick or low-end prospect. Those are the “chips” that will probably move, if there is any move at all.

In the event that Tampa tries to make a bigger move, using the very limit of their salary cap potential despite the risks, they will still be looking at a picks-and-prospects scenario in this buyer’s market. Without a second-round pick for the next two years, the Lightning’s first-rounders are probably off the table unless they are asking a team to give up one of the top rentals on the market and retain the maximum 50% of his salary in order to make the deal work under the cap. The likelihood of such a deal is low. Expect for them instead to dangle multiple mid-round picks and prospects like Jack Finley or Jack Thompson if they really want to make a splash.

Others to Watch For: F Taylor Raddysh ($833K, RFA), F Boris Katchouk ($833K, RFA), F Alex Barre-Boulet ($759K, RFA), F Sam Walker (Draft Rights), D Eamon Powell (Draft Rights)

Team Needs

1) Defense – If, and it’s a big if, the Lightning are able to find a way to clear enough cap space to add a player of note at the deadline, it has to be on the blue line. The forward corps is deep and talented and will only get better once the postseason arrives and Kucherov can return. The net is well-manned, with Andrei Vasilevskiy enjoying another Vezina-caliber season. Both of those units remain largely unchanged from last season’s title-winning lineup. However, the defense has taken a hit. The top four is still stout, but the bottom pair and depth options range from young and inexperienced to old and ineffective. Tampa could really use a stabilizing force on the back end, especially with Jan Rutta sidelined and Erik Cernak dealing with a nagging injury. Of course, cost will be a factor. Without making a trade to move out salary, the Bolts can only open up another $1.5MM max and still be able to ice a full lineup, demoting the likes of Luke Schenn and Ben Thomas. That leaves the Bolts with a maximum $1.9MM or so to acquire a defenseman, but adding that much salary is a risk should another injury occur. The need is there, but the means to address it are problematic. The team likely thinks small with a value addition.

Central Notes: Cirelli, Cernak, Mrazek, Gudas, Forsling

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Tampa Bay will have one of their top forwards back in the lineup tonight as Anthony Cirelli is expected to play against Dallas, relays Joe Smith of The Athletic (Twitter link).  The 23-year-old has missed the last six games due to an upper-body injury and was off to a big start before it occurred, notching four goals and six assists in his first dozen games.  With the Lightning carrying a minimum-sized roster, they won’t have to make a corresponding roster move to get him activated.

Meanwhile, despite leaving Thursday’s victory over Carolina early with his lower-body injury, the Lightning will also have defenseman Erik Cernak in their lineup.  He’s logging more than 18 minutes per game on their back end so far this season and his availability means that they can hold Luke Schenn down on their taxi squad, extending his waiver exemption in the process.

More from the Central Division:

  • It appears that Carolina’s wait to get their starting goalie back is almost over. GM Don Waddell told Luke DeCock of the Raleigh News and Observer (Twitter link) that the Hurricanes are targeting next Sunday’s game against Florida for Petr Mrazek to make his return from a thumb injury sustained late last month that required surgery.  Carolina has actually done relatively well without Mrazek in the lineup, winning nine of 15 games since he was injured (including the game it occurred) but having their number one back in the fold will give them a nice boost as they look to work their way up the division.
  • Florida will have defenseman Radko Gudas back in their lineup tonight versus Carolina, notes Jameson Olive of the Panthers’ team website (Twitter link). He was a late scratch on Thursday night due to an upper-body injury.  Gudas is fifth on the team in ATOI by a defender, logging just over 17 minutes per game in his first season in Florida.  Meanwhile, they’ll be without Gustav Forsling due to a lower-body issue.  The early-season waiver claim has been held off the scoresheet in eight games so far this season.

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