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Gabriel Landeskog

Central Notes: Hitchcock, Bowman On Expansion, Avalanche

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While some have speculated that St. Louis head coach Ken Hitchcock could be at risk of losing his job, GM Doug Armstrong was quick to shoot that down, writes Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.  Speaking with Rutherford, Armstrong said that Hitchcock isn’t in danger of losing his position:

“The guy has the best winning percentage in hockey over the last six years.  If he’s in danger, then everybody’s in danger.”

Hitchcock’s unique situation has been well documented.  With associate coach Mike Yeo set to take over next season, some have suggested it may make sense to make the transition early and eliminate any ‘lame duck’ situation.  The team has had a decent start to the season overall, sitting second in the Central Division but have had some lulls along the way.  The up-and-down start doesn’t really surprise Armstrong, however:

“This season was going to have more peaks and valleys than years in the past. It’s part of the growing pains that you go through.  Obviously you’d like to have smooth waters all the time, but I don’t think it’s realistic.  When you look how many games we’ve played, we’re competitive.”

Still with the Blues, Alex Steen missed his second straight game on Saturday with an upper body injury.  Hitchcock noted that Steen is quickly getting better and remains day-to-day.

More from the Central:

  • Although some teams are beginning to plan around next June’s expansion draft, Chicago GM Stan Bowman isn’t too worried about it at this point, reports Mark Lazerus of the Chicago Sun-Times. Bowman tells Lazerus that the team has some flexibility when it comes to the expansion draft; as the roster currently stands, defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk and center Marcus Kruger would be among the more notable players that would be left unprotected.
  • After shuffling back and forth between center and the wing in the past three years, Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon is feeling much better this season as a full-time player down the middle, notes Terry Frei of the Denver Post. MacKinnon is winning a career best 51.4% of his faceoffs (his previous high was 48.4%), taking an average of over 18 per night.  However, the former first overall pick in 2013 off to another slower start offensively with 12 points in 17 games and has had to adjust to several different wingers lately thanks to injuries to Matt Duchene and Gabriel Landeskog.  In a separate article from Frei, Duchene noted that he hopes to return from a concussion on Monday while Landeskog isn’t quite ready to return from his lower body injury but shouldn’t miss too much more time.

Central Division Snapshots: Landeskog, Barrie, Kristo, Bitetto

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It must be mailbag day on the NHL beat. Earlier we linked to Joe Haggerty’s piece on the Bruins and now Mike Chambers of The Denver Post chimes in answering some tough questions regarding the Avalanche. First and foremost, Chambers discusses Gabriel Landeskog and what his expectations are for the gifted power forward. In the opinion of the scribe, based on his talent and the fact he was the second overall pick in the 2011 draft, Landeskog has to start producing 30-goal seasons in order to live up to his billing.

Landeskog posted a career-high 26 goals in 2013-14 and since has recorded seasons of 23 and 20 markers. He has netted four goals in 15 games this season which would put him on a full-season pace of 20 – 21.

As Chambers notes, Landeskog is a good NHL player and is the Avalanche captain, but with Colorado once again off to a slow start, Colorado needs him to start being great if they want to sneak back into the playoff race. Currently, the five-year veteran left wing is out of action due to a lower-body-injury.

There were rumblings that Colorado could shake up its core this past summer and one player rumored to perhaps be moved in such a scenario was Landeskog. GM Joe Sakic instead kept the core intact and simply made a couple of changes around the edges. However, if Colorado doesn’t start playing better soon, they may revisit that choice and Landeskog could be made available later this season.

Elsewhere around the Central Division:

  • In the same mailbag, Chambers took a question on Tyson Barrie. Barrie, prior to inking a four-year, $22MM extension this summer, was also thought to possibly be available via trade. As a right-handed blue liner with plenty of offensive ability, many teams would have been interested in Barrie’s services. Clearly he is viewed as a top-end puck moving defender, which as Chambers notes, often comes with high-risk, high-reward tendencies. Chambers argues that when the team is going well, the mistakes are easily overlooked. On the flip side, when things are not going so well, each mistake is magnified.
  • St. Louis Blues and Pittsburgh completed a minor deal today, with minor league forward Danny Kristo headed to the Penguins and defenseman Reid McNeill headed the other way. The news was first reported via the Blues official Twitter account. Kristo was Montreal’s second-round pick in 2008 and has also played in the New York Rangers organization. He appeared in 71 games for the Chicago Wolves, tallying 25 goals and 48 points. McNeill, two years Kristo’s junior, was selected in the sixth-round of the 2010 draft by St. Louis. With 409 penalty minutes in 234 career minor league games, the 6-foot-4, 216-pound blue liner appears to be more of a physical force than an offensive threat. The trade likely serves as little more than two clubs searching for minor league depth with the Blues moving a forward while acquiring some blue line help.
  • Nashville Predators defenseman Anthony Bitetto has been assigned to the club’s AHL affiliate on a conditioning assignment, tweets Adam Vingan of The Tennessean. Bitetto has been out since opening night with an upper-body-injury. It will be interesting to see what the Predators do once the 26-year-old blue liner completes his conditioning assignment. In his absence, Yannick Weber has stepped into the top-six and has three assists in 15 appearances. Former Shark Matt Irwin has replaced veteran Matt Carle in the lineup and has responded with three goals and five points in 10 games. It seems likely that Weber would be the odd man out though there is no indication from Nashville or Vingan that this is the case.

Injury Updates: Steen, Drouin, Duchene

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Injury notes this evening:

  • Alex Steen will not play for the St. Louis Blues this evening against the San Jose Sharks, reports the team. Steen left Tuesday’s game against the Buffalo Sabres after Josh Gorges shoved his head into the glass. He was not on the ice for the pre-game warmups and will be missed. Steen has 2G and 8A in 10 games, good for third in team scoring.
  • Tampa Bay Lightning forward Jonathan Drouin returns tonight against the Buffalo Sabres, reports Tampa Bay Times writer Joe Smith. Drouin has been out with an upper-body injury, but travelled with the team on its five-game road trip. Drouin’s return provides temporary relief for Tampa Bay after it lost Steven Stamkos for at least four months due to a meniscus tear.
  • Colorado Avalanche forward Matt Duchene will not return tonight for the team’s game against the Dallas Stars, reports Terry Frei of the Denver Post. Duchene has missed the past two games with a concussion, and although he skated with the team today, he did not feel ready to return. Duchene joins Gabriel Landeskog on the sidelines as the latter sits out with a lower-body injury. Coach Bednar stated that Landeskog is “questionable moving forward.” Duchene and Ladeskog are 1st and 2nd in scoring for the Avalanche this season, and their absences are of concern for the struggling team. The Avalanche currently sit last in the Central Division.

Patric Hornqvist Suffers Concussion

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According to Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Patric Hornqvist suffered a concussion last night against the Washington Capitals and is listed as day-to-day. The Penguins’ forward blocked a Brooks Orpik shot with the side of his head in the dying minutes of the second period, which may possibly be the cause of the injury.

While it doesn’t sound like Hornqvist will be out for a great deal of time, this comes just after the publication of a Boston Globe article with Marc Savard and his fight with concussions. In it, Savard talks about seeing nothing but black even though his eyes were open, and describes in detail his battle which includes once being labeled as suicidal at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Between this article, and the recent piece by Gabriel Landeskog at the Players’ Tribune, the spotlight has never been greater on brain injuries and concussions in hockey. Just last night, fellow Penguin Matt Murray was forced out of the game by spotters in the arena after his helmet was knocked off by teammate Evgeni Malkin.

The Savard piece is a must-read for anyone concerned about the future of the game, or youth hockey. Obviously, the game isn’t going to eliminate contact entirely, but hearing first-hand about the horrors Savard had to endure is a hard, but important thing for everyone involved in the game.

Central Snapshots: Avalanche, Gunnarsson, Lehtera, Brodziak, Stars

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After missing the playoffs for the second consecutive season, the Colorado Avalanche perhaps surprisingly kept their roster mostly intact this past summer; though they did make one big change which is expected to impact their on-ice fortunes. Jared Bednar replaces Patrick Roy behind the bench and is being counted on to implement a system better-suited for the talent on hand and one that can compete in the tough Central Division. But as Terry Frei of The Denver Post argues, by sticking with this core group of players, making the playoffs isn’t going to be good enough for the Avalanche.

By virtue of the expensive long-term contracts doled out over the last couple of seasons to Semyon Varlamov, Nathan MacKinnon, Matt Duchene, Erik Johnson, Tyson Barrie and Gabriel Landeskog, Colorado has demonstrated an immense amount of faith that this group can guide the franchise to Stanley Cup contention, opines Frei. Those six players account for nearly half of Colorado’s cap commitments in the 2016-17 campaign and perhaps more importantly, all remain under contract to the Avalanche for at least the next three seasons. If this group underachieves yet again, it could make it that much tougher for GM Joe Sakic to receive fair value for these players in potential trade talks. Consequently, since his ability to spend on free agents will be restricted as well, it might be difficult moving forward to drastically change or augment the Avalanche roster.

More from the Central Division:

  • The Blues are 3 – 0 following their 3 – 2 win over the New York Rangers Saturday night but the victory could prove costly. Centers Kyle Brodziak, Jori Lehtera along with defenseman Carl Gunnarsson all left last night’s tilt with injuries and did not return, notes Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The exact nature and severity of the injuries are not known at this point and as Rutherford points out, with a day off today more information may not be available until Monday. Playing with 10 forwards and five defenseman for the entire third frame last night, the Blues hung on despite being outshot by the Rangers 15 – 0 in the period. With Petteri Lindbohm available in the minors, St. Louis is likely better-equipped to cover for the loss of Gunnarsson than they would be if both Lehtera and Brodziak were to miss extensive time.
  • Another Central Division team that’s had to deal with injuries in the early going is Dallas. Veteran forward Ales Hemsky has battled a groin issue and won’t be available for the first week or so of the season. Center Cody Eakin is expected to be out into November with a knee problem while Mattias Janmark’s season could be in jeopardy following knee surgery. With that much forward talent on the sideline, it would have been understandable if GM Jim Nill reacted by acquiring a veteran player or two, whether via trade or waivers, to buoy the team’s depth. But as Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News writes, Nill prepared his roster this summer by inking the likes of Adam Cracknell, Jiri Hudler and later, Lauri Korpikoski. Cracknell was expected to provide insurance at the AHL level but has been pressed into service early and has responded with a goal and an assist through two games. Korpiksoki had the final year of his deal bought out by Edmonton and failed to convert a training camp PTO into a roster spot with Calgary. The Stars inked Korpikoski, who has been criticized for his poor performance in the puck possession department, to a one-year deal which has already paid off for Dallas. The Finnish forward has already tallied a goal and is a plus-two so far this season. It appears as if Nill’s savvy, low-risk moves have a good chance of keeping the Stars ship afloat until reinforcements arrive in the form of Hemsky and Eakin.

Snapshots: World Cup Power Rankings, Updates

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TSN’s Scott Cullen writes that Canada is the team to beat in the World Cup of Hockey. Cullen ranks Canada, Sweden, and North America ahead of the American squad, who he pegs as fourth in his tournament power rankings. Cullen expects the Americans to be competitive but can’t see a team squarely more concerned about a “tougher” style of play going very far in a tournament that emphasizes speed and skill. The US, Cullen writes, is all about smash mouth hockey, but their goalie tandem of Cory Schneider, Ben Bishop and Jonathan Quick could give those aforementioned skilled teams some fits. Cullen places Canada at the top simply because of the top end talent they boast on every line. Sweden, he writes, has an “absurd” defensive corps with Erik Karlsson, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Victor Hedman, Anton Stralman, Hampus Lindholm, Niklas Hjalmarsson and Mattias Ekholm all on the roster. He cautions that in order to knock off favorite Canada, they’ll need young forwards Filip Forsberg and Gabriel Landeskog to carry the team in scoring.

Team North America is one that Cullen believes could truly shock everyone. With young, fast, and skilled players like Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel, and John Gaudreau, the under 23 team could turn some heads, and possibly pull some upsets that could unseat the favorites. For the rest of his rankings, Cullen places Russia, Finland, Czech Republic, and Europe as the bottom four teams respectively.

In other World Cup of Hockey News:

  • The USA’s 4-2 victory over Canada featured a lot of aggressive play and injury scares that remained only as fears and nothing serious. Several high profile players took vicious hits, and some had to leave the ice. Flyers captain Claude Giroux took a hit from Joe Pavelski and didn’t return until later in the third period. Logan Couture also took a hard hit from T.J. Oshie in the second period but returned in the third. Though Shea Weber was slammed into the boards by Ryan Kesler in the second period, he didn’t miss any ice time. Kesler was assessed a boarding major and a game misconduct. Pavelski recorded the game winner while Derek Stepan sealed the game with an empty net goal in a contest that became more physical as it wore on. Earlier in the day, PHR recapped some of the other injury scares during exhibition play on Thursday.

Twenty More Players Join Concussion Lawsuit

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Head injuries lead the list of the most devastating an athlete can suffer, and former NHL players are standing up to the league for putting them at risk.  Today, twenty more former players have added their names to a lawsuit being brought before the court by more than 100 former NHLers, including names like Gary Leeman and Bernie Nicholls. According to a list from James Mirtle, the new players are:

Darren Veitch
Sheldon Kannegiesser
Steve Dubinsky
Jamie Huscroft
Ron Zanussi
John Stewart
Robert McClanahan
William “Billy” Huard
Iain Duncan
Frank Lessard
John Wayne Rivers
Daniel Sexton
Marc-Andre Bourdon
Ray Schultz
Andre Deveaux
Garrett Burnett
Robert Liddington
Bruce Hoffort
Perry Pelensky
Robert Robins

According to a piece by Michael Drapnek of CBC back in February, when Grant Ledyard and eleven others added their names, the lawsuit alleges that “the NHL knew or ought to have known about the link between repetitive concussive events and long-term brain damage but failed to protect or educate its players.”

It also states that Ledyard suffers from “headaches, mood swings, losing his temper for little or no reason, and depression. He drinks alcohol to assist with sleep. He has issues with sensitivity to light.” Much anecdotal evidence supports these claims, including the recent article by Gabriel Landeskog in the Players Tribune. In it, Landeskog references the “warrior mentality” that the league perpetrates, though he does clearly state that the issues are being resolved, if slowly.

The lawsuit will be presented in a Minneapolis court later this year.

Central Notes: Landeskog, Sobotka, Wild

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Concussions are a touchy subject in the NHL.  In the older days of the league, players who ‘had their bell rung’ often returned to the game as if nothing had happened.  That mindset has slowly started to change but in a piece penned for The Players’ Tribune, Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog argues that more change is still needed.

Landeskog recalled the concussion that he suffered early in the 2012-13 season and that he felt the pressure to stay the game, something that was exacerbated by the fact he had recently been named the new captain of the team.  Even the following day with the symptoms clearly present, he admitted that he was telling his teammates and the trainer that he was alright even though he clearly wasn’t.

Landeskog notes that there is a culture change in the dressing rooms around the league as more and more players are becoming aware of the significance of concussions.  However, he suggests that associating the common term ‘warrior mentality’ with players who try to play through their head trauma sends the wrong message throughout the sport that those who take the proper time to recover are weak.  There’s no doubt that there is more understanding about the effects of concussions but there is still further progress to be made.

More from the Central Division:

  • Six weeks ago, it was reported that the Blues were expected to bring center Vladimir Sobotka back from the KHL but as of yet, no official announcement has been made. Louis GM Doug Armstrong told ESPN’s Craig Custance that they’re in the process of finalizing the paperwork to make it official.  Sobotka last played in the NHL in 2013-14, picking up 33 points in 61 games.  He will play on a one year, $2.725MM contract that was awarded via arbitration in the 2014 offseason.
  • Wild majority owner Craig Leipold has started the process of buying out minority owner Matthew Hulsizer, reports Michael Russo of the Minnesota Star-Tribune. Hulzizer owns 27% of the Wild and purchasing his stake will take Leipold’s ownership percentage to 95% in a process that will take place over the next few months.  The timing may seem strange but Leipold is exercising an option in the original purchase agreement from February 2015 to call back the shares.  Leipold notes that Hulsizer had a key role in Minnesota’s increased use of analytics both in terms of scouting as well as their on-ice play.

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