The NHL All-Star Skills Competition is scheduled for this evening, and though Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon have both pulled out due to illness and injury there are still an incredible amount of talented players taking part. Most notable however may be the final entrant in the fastest skater competition: Kendall Coyne. A member of the US Women’s National Team, Coyne will take MacKinnon’s place after the Colorado Avalanche forward suffered a foot injury this week. The Olympic gold medalist is known for her speed and posted a 14.226 yesterday during event testing according to Emily Kaplan of ESPN. Though that wouldn’t have been enough to dethrone Connor McDavid last year, it would have put her ahead of Zach Werenski, Noah Hanifin and Josh Bailey in the competition. We’ll see what Coyne can do tonight, along with the rest of the competitors:
Jack Eichel
2019 All-Star Rosters Announced
The NHL has announced the four rosters for the 2019 All-Star Game today, scheduled to be held on January 26th in San Jose. Earlier today, Alex Ovechkin, who was elected captain of Metropolitan Division squad, told the league that he wouldn’t be attending and will accept the punishment of missing one game either before or after the break. Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, and Auston Matthews will represent the Pacific, Central and Atlantic respectively, as the other captains. A replacement Metropolitan captain for Ovechkin has yet to be named.
The full rosters are as follows:
Pacific Division
G John Gibson (ANA)
G Marc-Andre Fleury (VGK)
D Erik Karlsson (SJS)
D Brent Burns (SJS)
D Drew Doughty (LAK)
F Connor McDavid (EDM)*
F Johnny Gaudreau (CGY)
F Joe Pavelski (SJS)
F Elias Pettersson (VAN)
F Clayton Keller (ARI)
Central Division
G Pekka Rinne (NSH)
G Devan Dubnyk (MIN)
D Roman Josi (NSH)
D Miro Heiskanen (DAL)
F Nathan MacKinnon (COL)*
F Mikko Rantanen (COL)
F Blake Wheeler (WPG)
F Patrick Kane (CHI)
F Mark Scheifele (WPG)
F Ryan O’Reilly (STL)
Atlantic Division
G Jimmy Howard (DET)
G Carey Price (MTL)
D Keith Yandle (FLA)
D Thomas Chabot (OTT)
F Auston Matthews (TOR)*
F Nikita Kucherov (TBL)
F Steven Stamkos (TBL)
F John Tavares (TOR)
F David Pastrnak (BOS)
F Jack Eichel (BUF)
Metropolitan Division
G Henrik Lundqvist (NYR)
G Braden Holtby (WAS)
D John Carlson (WSH)
D Seth Jones (CBJ)
F Sidney Crosby (PIT)
F Taylor Hall (NJD)
F Mathew Barzal (NYI)
F Claude Giroux (PHI)
F Cam Atkinson (CBJ)
F Sebastian Aho (CAR)
*Denotes team captain
One final skater spot on each roster has yet to be announced, as it will be determined by the “Last Man In” fan ballot, a concept borrowed from Major League Baseball. The format of the current All-Star Game, which requires one representative from each team on these smaller 3-on-tournament rosters, was bound to cause some confusion with the initial selections. Seven top-twenty scorers were not selected – Mitch Marner, Brayden Point, Leon Draisaitl, Sean Monahan, Matthew Tkachuk, Phil Kessel, and Gabriel Landeskog – and several will inevitably remain out of All-Star participation even after the fan ballot additions. Morgan Rielly, the league’s top-scoring defenseman, and Mark Giordano, enjoying an elite season on both sides of the puck, are two surprising omissions on the blue line. Several of the league’s top goalies are also going to miss out, ineligible for the fan ballot, including Ben Bishop, Frederik Andersen, and Andrei Vasilevskiy. The “Last Man In” will be an intriguing new addition to the All-Star process, with nominees to be named shortly, but more than a few notable names will be left out regardless. Meanwhile, the health of players like Price and Chabot for Team Atlantic and Hall for Team Metropolitan will bear watching, as those players may opt to skip the All-Star festivities, opening up more players to selection.
Snapshots: Three Stars, Rinne, Dumba
The NHL released their Three Stars of the Week earlier today, and to absolutely no one’s surprise Alex Ovechkin received the top honors. Ovechkin recorded back-to-back hat tricks last week and seven goals total in his three games, giving him 29 on the season. That puts him on a pace for a career-high, something unthinkable for the 33-year old winger. Ovechkin now has 636 career tallies, and should challenge some of the all-time leaders in the category before he’s finished.
While Ovechkin is racking up his usual accolades, two young centers are trying to carve out their own legacies in the NHL. Mark Scheifele and Jack Eichel were second and third stars respectively, after outstanding weeks. Scheifele especially was a dominant offensive presence, recording 11 points in just four games for the Winnipeg Jets including two overtime winners.
- Pekka Rinne was expecting retirement after the 2018-19 season. That’s what the goaltender told Alex Prewitt in his latest profile for Sports Illustrated. The Nashville Predators goaltender believed that he would sail off into the sunset after his current seven-year $49MM deal expired at the end of this year, but that all changed when he inked a new two-year extension in November. Rinne is still playing at an incredible level, and going into tonight led the league with a .929 save percentage and 1.96 goals against average. That puts him in prime position to challenge for the Vezina Trophy once again, an award he took home last season after previously finishing as a finalist three times.
- Mathew Dumba is off to an exceptional start for the Minnesota Wild, with 12 goals and 22 points in just 32 games. The right-handed defenseman also doesn’t shy away from the physical side of the game, as seen this weekend when he took on Matthew Tkachuk of the Calgary Flames in a round of fisticuffs. Unfortunately, Dumba will now be out for at least a week with an upper-body injury. Head coach Bruce Boudreau wouldn’t give much more information on the subject, but did note that it’s not necessarily the worst timing for the team given the holiday break that they’ll enjoy next week.
What Your Team Is Thankful For: Buffalo Sabres
As the holiday season approaches, PHR will take a look at what teams are thankful for as the season heads past the one-quarter mark. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. Let’s take a look at what’s gone well in the early going and what could improve as the season rolls on for the Buffalo Sabres.
What are the Sabres most thankful for?
Can Sabres’ fans be any more thankful for the fact that the team, the same team that finished last in the standings one season ago, is currently in first place in the entire NHL with 34 points. That may be short lived as several teams just beneath them play before the Sabres go for their 10th straight win on Tuesday, but few could have predicted the success for second-year general manager Jason Botterill and head coach Phil Housley this season.
The Sabres shook up their entire roster from a year ago and made critical additions at every level, which included adding Jeff Skinner to their top line on offense, adding a number of solid players to their depth chart including Vladimir Sobotka, Patrik Berglund, Casey Mittelstadt, Conor Sheary and Tage Thompson, while adding 2018 first-overall pick Rasmus Dahlin (who has been as good as advertised) on defense. That doesn’t include the team’s success in goal. Those moves have stabilized the team’s defense as they ranked sixth in the league in goals against this year as well as having one of the best penalty killing units in the league as well.
Who are the Sabres most thankful for?
While it would make sense to put Skinner and his 18 goals in this spot, we can save him for later. The tandem that has really impressed this year has been the play of the Sabres goaltenders Carter Hutton and Linus Ullmark. The team, which struggled a year ago with Robin Lehner and Chad Johnson has thrived this year. Much of that could be the improvement of the team’s defense, but at the same time both goalies have been better than anyone had expected.
While Hutton was the top goaltender on the market this offseason, most people felt that Hutton was not capable of being a No. 1 goaltender, often comparing him to Carolina’s Scott Darling. However, Hutton has been better than advertised, already netting 11 wins and posting a solid 2.53 GAA and a .919 save percentage in 18 appearances. The untested Ullmark also has looked good, although the team has been careful to not overwhelm the 25-year-old. However in five appearances, he’s also posted a 2.52 GAA and an even more impressive .926 save percentage.
What would the Sabres be even more thankful for?
More production from their youth. The team is very young and is loaded with talent at the AHL level as well. And while players like Dahlin have been impressive, the team could take another step in the right direction if they can develop some of their young core even quicker. Dahlin has played well sharing No. 1 defenseman duties with Rasmus Ristolainen, but he’s capable of even more. The team has gotten just four goals from Mittelstadt and would like to see him develop into a consistent presence in the top six at some point.
Others like Thompson, who has suddenly starting showing off some offense with three goals in his last four games, as well as Evan Rodrigues need to continue to develop as well to allow the team to reach peak efficiency both now and in the future. The team is also loaded with a number of prospects including defensemen Lawrence Pilut and Brendan Guhle, while they have several potential options at forward as well in C.J. Smith, Daniel O’Regan and Alexander Nylander waiting for an opportunity.
What should be on the Sabres’ Holiday Wish List?
The team has made it clear they intend to work on an extension with Skinner next month, but the team really needs to make sure it can lock down the 26-year-old who leads the team in scoring this year and is only six goals away from beating his 24 goals from last season with Carolina. Skinner’s deal will be the main contract the team must deal with this offseason as the team has just three unrestricted free agents (Jason Pominville and Matt Moulson being the others). Skinner’s pairing with Jack Eichel has produced a powerful top line in the NHL and should only get better as the two continue to get comfortable with each other.
With the expiring contracts of Moulson and Pominville, although the team may want to attempt to retain the latter, there should be plenty of money to lock up Skinner now, so they won’t have to worry about him losing him this summer.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Atlantic Notes: Marner, Matthews, Ozhiganov, Stempniak
With the Toronto Maple Leafs enduring their drawn-out negotiations with restricted free agent William Nylander, it was suggested recently that Toronto try to negotiate deals with future restricted free agents, Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, during the season to avoid similar holdouts next season.
Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston on Saturday Headlines, reported that while Marner’s camp sounds uninterested in discussing a contract extension in-season, Matthews camp is open to a deal.
“There were discussions throughout the summer with both Auston Matthews’ camp Mitch Marner’s camp with their extensions. They could’ve done that July 1, but some of those discussions are off,” Johnston said. “Mitch Marner and his camp have called a moratorium on talks throughout the season. They don’t want to see that distraction. I get the sense that Auston Matthews would be willing to work on his extension throughout this season.”
Matthews would be in line for a major contract pay raise as he is likely looking for pay that may even exceed the $11MM that Tavares received this summer. The 21-year-old posted 40 goals in his rookie campaign. That number dropped a little last year when he tallied 34 goals, but Matthews also missed 20 games due to injury last season.
Marner, on the other hand, hopes to get similar money to that of Matthews and The Athletic’s James Mirtle (subscription required) believes that Marner is ready to take his game to another level and believes he will easily manage to average a point-per-game after impressing in Saturday evening’s game against Ottawa. If he has an 80-point season, Marner will have posted 210 points in his three entry-level seasons, which the scribe compares to numbers of Jack Eichel, who signed an eight-year, $80MM ($10MM AAV) deal a year ago. That could prove to be quite costly for the Maple Leafs as well.
- In a competitive defensive training camp battle, the Toronto Maple Leafs determined that defenseman Igor Ozhiganov was a keeper earlier than most. However, what does Toronto have in the 25-year-old defender who came over from the KHL this summer. The Athletic’s Ian Tulloch (subscription required) breaks down the play of the 6-foot-2 defender, who moves the puck extremely well, although there remain questions on his defense. While many KHL imports have struggled with moving the puck, Ozhiganov has had quite a bit of success so far, albeit in limited time, giving hope that he could develop into a solid blueliner. However, he does have Justin Holl breathing down his neck as a potential replacement.
- NBC Sports’ Joe Haggerty, in a mailbag piece, writes that Lee Stempniak, who signed a PTO with the Boston Bruins, continues to remain with the team hoping for a chance to work his way into the team’s lineup. The scribe writes that if youngsters Ryan Donato or Danton Heinen fail to impress in their top-six auditions, the team is keeping Stempniak around as insurance. The 35-year-old, who played 37 games for Carolina last season, said that he would prefer to stay in Boston with his family and will continue to practice with the team for now.
Jack Eichel Named Captain Of Buffalo Sabres
The Buffalo Sabres are no longer without a captain. The team announced today that star forward Jack Eichel will wear the “C” this season, while Kyle Okposo and Zach Bogosian will be the alternates.
Eichel, 21, is now the undisputed leader among the forward group of the Sabres after Ryan O’Reilly was moved out of town this offseason. With a deeper lineup behind him and on his wings, the second overall pick from 2015 should finally be able to realize some of his immense potential and compete with the best players in the league for a scoring title. Eichel did record 64 points last season in just 67 games, and will have to prove he can stay healthy and productive as he heads into his fourth NHL campaign. That already brings some pressure, but now with the “C” firmly sewn onto his sweater all eyes in Buffalo will be on him as they try to climb the standings and compete for the playoffs.
There’s little doubt that Eichel is an elite talent in the NHL, but his demeanor and leadership skills have been questioned if not critiqued at times. Signed to a huge eight-year $80MM contract extension that kicks in this season, the Sabres obviously don’t feel the same way and are willing to hand the keys to the franchise over to him. If there was any doubt that his teammates had faith in him, the Sabres taped and released the moment he was announced at practice. That team also has Rasmus Dahlin on the roster for opening night, who many believe will quickly ascend the ranks among NHL defensemen, but he’ll be asked to take a backseat—or at least sidecar—to Eichel’s leadership for the next several years.
Sabres fans have a lot to look forward to with the direction the franchise has taken since Jason Botterill took over as General Manager, and now they have a young dynamic captain to cheer for. It’s exciting times in Buffalo, and it all gets started tomorrow night when the Boston Bruins come to town.
Poll: Who Will Win The Calder Trophy In 2018-19?
The Athletic’s NHL Draft and prospects guru Scott Wheeler has released the first definitive list of candidates for the Calder Trophy in 2018-19, and the order may surprise some people. Admittedly, the list is in the context of fantasy hockey, but Wheeler’s rankings are true to how he thinks Calder voting will unfold if each rookie hits their stat projections. As such, it’s not this year’s first overall pick, Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin, at the top of the list, but presumptive top-six center for the Vancouver Canucks, Elias Pettersson. Pettersson will be put in a much better position to rack up points than will Dahlin, the next-best candidate, as potentially one of the three best scoring forwards for the Canucks and traditionally productive forwards have a better shot at the Calder than (relatively) equally productive defensemen.
Coming in at number three is Boston Bruins forward Ryan Donato, who led both the NCAA and Olympics in goals last season and will look to win a top-six role for Boston and continue to find the back of the net at an alarming rate. Playing alongside either Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron or David Krejci and Jake DeBrusk is an easy way for Donato to quickly become an elite scorer at the NHL level. The fourth-ranked candidate is second overall pick Andrei Svechnikov of the Carolina Hurricanes, who – like Pettersson – will be given an immense amount of responsibility right away as a top-six winger who is arguably already one of the three most skilled forwards on the team. However, Svechnikov is one of three Hurricanes rookies on Wheeler’s list, which could take away from his case. Rounding out the top five is Dahlin’s fellow rookie in Buffalo, center Casey Mittelstadt, who scored at nearly a point-per-game pace in the college ranks and in a brief stint with the Sabres to end the year. Mittelstadt should face favorable match-ups this season with the lines anchored by Jack Eichel and Patrik Berglund drawing considerable attention from the opposition.
Wheeler’s top twenty Calder Trophy candidates are as follows:
- C Elias Pettersson, Vancouver Canucks
- D Rasmus Dahlin, Buffalo Sabres
- RW Ryan Donato, Boston Bruins
- RW Andrei Svechnikov, Carolina Hurricanes
- C Casey Mittelstadt, Buffalo Sabres
- RW Filip Zadina, Detroit Red Wings
- C Dylan Strome, Arizona Coyotes
- C Henrik Borgstrom, Florida Panthers
- C Martin Necas, Carolina Hurricanes
- D Miro Heiskanen, Dallas Stars
- RW Dylan Sikura, Chicago Blackhawks
- RW Eeli Tolvanen, Nashville Predators
- C Filip Chytil, New York Rangers
- LW Brady Tkachuk, Ottawa Senators
- LW Valentin Zykov, Carolina Hurricanes
- RW Kailer Yamamoto, Edmonton Oilers
- C Anthony Cirelli, Tampa Bay Lightning
- LW Kristian Vesalainen, Winnipeg Jets
- C Sam Steel, Anaheim Ducks
- RW Vitaly Abramov, Columbus Blue Jackets
Honorable Mentions: C Vladislav Kamenev, Colorado Avalanche; LW Jordan Greenway, Minnesota Wild; C Robert Thomas, St. Louis Blues; LW Andreas Johnsson, Toronto Maple Leafs; C Michael Rasmussen, Detroit Red Wings; C Lias Andersson, New York Rangers; D Sami Niku, Winnipeg Jets; D Evan Bouchard, Edmonton Oilers; RW Daniel Sprong, Pittsburgh Penguins
What do you think? Who will be the NHL’s Rookie of the Year and take home the Calder Trophy at the end of the season? The favorite? The first overall pick? Another top candidate? Or a name not even mentioned here?
Atlantic Notes: Vasilevskiy, Eichel, Backes, Evans
Despite an impressive season in the net, Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy learned one valuable lesson by the end of the year: Rest is a good thing. The 24-year-old netminder put up amazing numbers, including playing in a career-high 65 games and posting a .920 save percentage (also a career-high) which was good enough to earn him third place in the Vezina Trophy voting. Regardless, Vasilevskiy wore down in the second half, saying he was both physically and mentally fatigued by the end of the season.
Joe Smith of The Athletic (subscription required) writes the response was to take two months off from hockey this summer. Vasilevskiy had never played more than 50 games in a season before last year and finished fourth in games played behind Cam Talbot, Frederik Andersen and Sergei Bobrovsky. Tampa Bay goaltending coach Frantz Jean said the ideal number should be between 55 to 65 games. However, Vasilevskiy has changed many of his routines within the last six months in order to rest his body more and more, including doing post-game workouts immediately after games, so he can rest his body completely on off days.
“I think it was hard for him in the past to step back, but I think last year once we got to that second half of the season, I think he was actually open to taking a little more time off,” Jean said. “When we’re going in practice, we go hard. We work hard. I think he understood he needed that rest time, to allow his body and mind to kind of refresh.”
- Count Jack Eichel as a player that is really looking forward to training camp this season after a successful offseason for the Buffalo Sabres, according to NHL.com’s Amalie Benjamin. The 21-year-old superstar who saw his team struggle with constant losing the last couple of years sees an immediate change in the clubhouse. The Sabres drafted Rasmus Dahlin with the first-overall pick this year, traded for Jeff Skinner, Conor Sheary and signed goaltender Carter Hutton as well as add quite a bit of veteran depth to the team. “There’s a lot of new faces in there,” Eichel said. “So I think a lot of the people with a sour taste in their mouths from the last few years have either gotten over it or aren’t in the locker room anymore. I think it’s a good opportunity for us to just prove ourselves to the League and prove ourselves to ourselves.”
- After an injury plagued year for the Boston Bruins, forward David Backes re-dedicated himself this offseason, according to Boston Globe’s Kevin Paul Dupont. The 34-year-old winger has seen his game decline over the past three years and found himself putting up just 14 goals and 33 points in 57 games. However, he lost 10 pounds to his 6-foot-3 frame and now stands a much leaner 210 pounds, which he hopes can help him increase his speed and help him avoid injuries this season. Backes, who is signed for another three seasons at $6MM per year, is hoping to move up from the third line last year to a top-six role this season. “I’ve played with a 220-pound frame for 8-10 years in the league, and now it’s going to be a little lighter and a little leaner,” Backes said. “It’s my attempt to adapt to what changes have gone on in the league. It might just swing back the other way and be a heavier, harder league. But it’s certainly more skillful and quick, and that’s just the realization I had to make.”
- NHL.com’s Matt Cudzinowski writes that Montreal Canadiens center Jake Evans has high hopes to make the team out of training camp this year. The 22-year-old, who finished four years at Notre Dame, last offseason is finally healthy after requiring surgery in May to repair a sports hernia and now hopes he can take on his next challenge as he’s been practicing with Dallas’ Tyler Seguin and Washington’s Tom Wilson this summer. As a senior, he tallied 13 goals and 46 points last season for the Fighting Irish and now hopes to take his talents directly to Montreal. “I want to go in with a mindset of making the Canadiens, but I also need to go in open-minded and ready to learn from guys who’ve been there for a long time – how they handle their bodies, how they act,” concluded Evans.
Atlantic Notes: Red Wings, Krug, Reinhart, Kotkaniemi
With the last piece of major housekeeping completed in Detroit after the Red Wings signed star Dylan Larkin to a five-year, $30.5MM deal, the team now has to take a look at their salary cap, which they will be over, even after they move forward Johan Franzen to LTIR. General manager Ken Holland told The Athletic’s Craig Custance, they will likely be “in the neighborhood” of $1MM over the cap.
“We’re very tight,” Holland said on Friday of the cap situation. “With this deal, we’re probably a dribble over. Not a lot, but we’re over. We’re going to have to make some decisions moving forward.”
One possibility would be to bury the contracts of Martin Frk and Luke Witkowski in the minors. However, if the team believes that veteran Henrik Zetterberg could end up missing the season as his injuries haven’t improved this summer, the team could place him on LTIR as well and wouldn’t have anything else to worry about. Custance adds, however, that if Zetterberg does return, that likely would end the chances of 2018 first-round pick Filip Zadina of making the roster out of training camp.
- In a mailbag series, Joe Haggerty of NBC Sports writes that with eight quality NHL defenseman on the roster, the team will likely make a trade before the season starts. The team has Torey Krug, Zdeno Chara, Adam McQuaid, John Moore, Kevan Miller, Matt Grzelcyk, Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo on the roster. The scribe writes that could mean that the team might be ready to move Krug if the team can get a big return for the blueliner. And they would need to, as Krug is one of the top offensive defensemen in the league as only Erik Karlsson, Victor Hedman, Brent Burns and John Klingberg have more points over the last two seasons. He has 22 goals and 110 points combined in that time.
- The Athletic’s Ryan Stimson (subscription required) wonders where restricted free agent Sam Reinhart should play next year in the Buffalo Sabres’ lineup once he signs. The 22-year-old center has been a decent center for the Sabres in the past, but saw his game blossom once he was moved up and played on the wing next to top-line center Jack Eichel. With the team moving on from Ryan O’Reilly and bringing in prospect Casey Mittelstadt, what should the team do with Reinhart? The scribe breaks down Reinhart’s game and wonders if it would be best for the youngster to take over the team’s No. 2 center position and ease Mittelstadt in.
- The Athletic’s Mitch Brown (subscription required) ranks the Montreal Canadiens’ top five prospects with 2018 third-overall pick Jesperi Kotkaniemi listed as their top prospect. The young centerman, who flew up the draft boards in the final weeks, anchors a list of prospects that Brown believes is the most exciting in the last five or six years. He has been successful playing in the SM-liiga as an 18-year-old and is expected to fill that long-waited hole in the middle.
Atlantic Notes: Reinhart, Panthers, Forsbacka Karlsson, Canadiens
The recent restricted free agent deals signed by Calgary’s Elias Lindholm (6-year, $29.1MM deal) and Minnesota’s Jason Zucker (6-year, $27.5MM deal) may be interesting, but no one might be more intrigued by those deals than Buffalo Sabres restricted free agent Sam Reinhart.
The Buffalo News’ Mike Harrington cites that Reinhart has quite similar numbers to that of both Lindholm and Zucker. Reinhart is coming off a 25-goal, 50-point season, while Lindholm tallied 16 goals and 44 points. Zucker potted 33 goals for 66 points. So a long-term extension could look similar to those two deal.
However, Harrington also adds that the Sabres are likely maneuvering for a shorter bridge deal as the team still isn’t sure what they have in Reinhart. He was drafted in the same 2014 draft that produced Detroit’s Dylan Larkin, who is also looking for a long-term deal. Yet, Larkin is the face of Detroit’s franchise, while Reinhart is not with players like Jack Eichel and Rasmus Dahlin around.
- Jameson Olive of the Florida Panthers website reports that he recently interviewed Panthers’ general manager Dave Tallon, who said there are still a number of players available out there that the GM likes, so don’t be surprised if the Panthers aren’t done dealing. The Panthers have been relatively quiet this offseason, although they did trade for Ottawa’s Mike Hoffman earlier this year as well as sign goaltender Michael Hutchinson to a one-year deal through free agency. The team’s biggest addition is likely to come from their youth as prospects like Henrik Borgstrom and Owen Tippett are expected to take on full-time roles with the team this season. However, could a trade still be in the works?
- The Athletic’s Joe McDonald (subscription required) writes that the Boston Bruins expect that prospect Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson will challenge for the third-line center job in training camp this year. The 21-year-old, who was a second-round pick back in 2015, posted 15 goals and 32 points in his first season in the AHL and hopes to make the jump next season. “He’s got the ability,” Providence Bruins coach Jay Leach said. “He has a high level of skill and can make high-end plays, the kind of plays you need your third-line center to make at the NHL level. He went through a year last year where he turned into a professional hockey player. He was playing against men, and there were some adjustments, and he still had a pretty solid year.”
- Brendan Kelly of the Montreal Gazette notes that many people are wondering why the Montreal Canadiens left $8MM in cap room sitting around last season when they could have spent it to upgrade their team. With no free agents to worry about, the team has almost the same amount of money available to spend this season, but once again seems content not to spend that money, suggesting the team would rather save that money for their profits. He wonders if Montreal fans are willing to accept a bargain-basement team.