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Pacific Division Snapshots: Kings, Meier, Coyotes

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Like many teams in the league, the Los Angeles Kings have battled their fair share of injuries. Star sniper Marian Gaborik has appeared in just nine games this season and has posted just one goal and four points. Anze Kopitar, one of the league’s top, two-way centers has missed some time. And perhaps most importantly, Jonathan Quick has been out since season’s first game, forcing the team to rely on a combination of Jeff Zatkoff and Peter Budaj to hold down the fort until he returns. It’s not an ideal situation but the Kings have hung tough in the standings, as Helene Elliott of the Los Angeles Times writes, and currently hold one of two wild card slots in the Western Conference.

Because of injuries to Zatkoff, it’s been Budaj that has seen most of the action between the pipes for L.A. Originally signed to be the team’s third goalie, Budaj has posted a career-best 2.17 GAA while winning 14 of his 26 starts. While he’s had his ups and downs, Budaj has been good enough most nights to keep the Kings in games.

As Elliott notes, the team has managed to stay afloat thanks in large part to their work ethic. Now, the Kings are close to full health, though Quick is still expected to be out until February, and are just five points behind the San Jose Sharks for first place in the Pacific Division with one game in hand. Assuming Budaj can continue to play adequately enough, or the team finds a better stopgap option, and Gaborik can rediscover his scoring touch, the Kings have a good chance to again qualify for the postseason. Once there, anything can happen.

Elsewhere in the Pacific Division:

  • Highly-touted rookie Timo Meier made his debut with the San Jose Sharks last season and by all accounts it was a huge success, as Curtis Pashelka of the Mercury News recounts. Meier scored his first career NHL goal on his first shot last night and the Sharks erupted for three goals in the first period of their 4 – 2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens. Meier would finish with three shots on net in just more than 10 minutes of ice time. That’s exactly the type of spark the Sharks were hoping for when calling up the 2015 first-round draft pick. Meier’s insertion into the lineup pushed veteran forward Joel Ward to the press box last night and while it’s certain the first-year pro will remain in the San Jose lineup for the immediate future, it’s less clear how that fact will impact the rest of the Sharks forward group. As long as Meier produces, DeBoer will undoubtedly find a way to mix and match his forwards.
  • Desperate for help up the middle, the Arizona Coyotes recently acquired Peter Holland via trade from Toronto and added Josh Jooris off of waivers from the New York Rangers. Veteran center Brad Richardson is out indefinitely with multiple fractures in his right leg while rookie Dylan Strome failed to find consistency at the NHL level; two factors which created a need for Arizona. While it’s only a small sample, just two appearances for each player, the additions are already paying off for Arizona, writes Sarah McLellan of The Arizona Republic. Holland tallied two helpers in his Coyotes debut and scored the shootout winner in his return to Toronto. Again, it’s only to games but Holland’s play has helped the team to their first winning streak since late November; a stretch which saw the Coyotes earn just five of a possible 16 standings points.

Pacific Division Notes: Noesen, Domi, Jooris, Gryba, Davidson

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Sometimes things just have a way of working out for the best. That turned out to be the case for the Anaheim Ducks back in the 2011 NHL draft. Curtis Zupke of the Los Angeles Times relays the story of Stefan Noesen, who was a first-round draft pick of the Ottawa Senators in 2011, but has spent the last five seasons working to establish himself as an NHL regular. During that span he has overcome two major leg injuries – torn knee ligaments in his first pro season and a lacerated Achilles the next year – and was part of a trade package Ottawa sent to Anaheim for Bobby Ryan. As Zupke notes, Noesen may not be a household name but he has an opportunity to win a job with the Ducks on the team’s fourth line.

Interestingly enough, the Ducks, who owned the 22nd choice in the 2011 draft were prepared to select Noesen but the Senators took the American winger one pick before Anaheim could pull the trigger. With their top option off the board the Ducks decided to move down the board, dealing the 22nd pick to Toronto for the 30th and 39th overall selections. The Leafs selected Tyler Biggs, who has yet to appear in the NHL and is currently playing for the Kalamazoo Wings of the ECHL. The Ducks, on the other hand, took forward Rickard Rakell at 30 and goaltender John Gibson at 39; two key contributors for Anaheim.

Meanwhile, the Ducks would get Noesen anyway when the winger was acquired from Ottawa along with Jakob Silfverberg and a first-round pick – the Ducks would choose Nick Ritchie with that selection – in exchange for Ryan.

Elsewhere in the Pacific Division:

  • Yesterday it was learned that the Arizona Coyotes had placed Max Domi on IR with what was believed to be a hand injury. Officially Domi was listed as week-to-week but Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos reports (via video link) that the sophomore winger will have surgery on his injured hand and could miss as much as six weeks. When asked about the report, Coyotes GM John Chayka declined comment, according to Craig Morgan (Twitter link).
  • Earlier today it was announced that the Coyotes were awarded their waiver claim on Josh Jooris, formerly of the New York Rangers. In a corresponding transaction to clear a roster space, the club reassigned Tyler Gaudet to Tucson of the AHL (Twitter link). Gaudet has appeared in four games for the Coyotes this season and has just one assist while averaging nearly 13 minutes of ice time.
  • The Edmonton Oilers have been beset this season by injuries on their blue line but now it appears as if reinforcements may be on the way. The team tweeted today that injured defensemen Eric Gryba and Brandon Davidson could be back in the team’s lineup as soon as Tuesday. The possible return of Davidson has to be especially good news for the Oilers. The 25-year-old blue liner established himself as a steady presence on the team’s back end as a rookie last season.

Josh Jooris Claimed By Arizona

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Just two days after trading for Peter Holland, the Arizona Coyotes have made another cheap addition at center, claiming Josh Jooris on waivers from the New York Rangers, according to Chris Johnston.

The 26-year-old center has just two points (1-1-2) in 12 games with the Rangers this season. He signed a one-year contract worth $600K back in July after not receiving a qualifying offer from the Calgary Flames. Jooris was an undrafted free agent signing by the Flames back in 2013. He played two seasons at the NHL level, scoring 37 points in 119 games. Unfortunately for the Rangers, Jooris has been unable to find success in New York. He’s averaging less than 10 minutes per game in his last five appearances.

With the Coyotes missing Brad Richardson for the foreseeable future, and Martin Hanzal on the trade block, GM John Chayka will need Holland and Jooris to be solid NHLers as Dylan Strome and Christian Dvorak develop into dependable contributors.

Metro Division Snapshots: Carolina, Jooris, Buchnevich, McIlrath, Poulin

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The Carolina Hurricanes, a team projected by some as a potential dark-horse in the Eastern Conference playoff chase, have won just one of their first six games and currently reside in the Metro Division basement. They’ll finally get a taste of home cooking Friday after starting the campaign on a six-game road trip as the Hurricanes will host the New York Rangers. Despite a respectable offense that is averaging three goals a game and a defense limiting opponents to the fourth-fewest shot attempts, Carolina has been undone by poor goaltending and as Ben Pope writes for Today’s Slapshot, it might be time for the Hurricanes to panic.

Cam Ward and Eddie Lack have combined for an 85.3% save percentage, the worst in the NHL, and have allowed four goals a game. Beyond the common numbers, the Hurricanes goalie duo is also performing at a below average level preventing goals against on low-, medium-, and high-danger shots, as Pope notes.

After just six games it’s fair to wonder about sample-size but Pope goes on to write that Ward, while sometimes making the spectacular save, has been a subpar netminder for much of his career. Lack, on the other hand, is nearly league-average in stopping shots from the outside but struggles mightily against attempts from in close.

Citing statistics available on Corsica.hockey, Pope opines the team’s defense hasn’t done the goalies any favors. Even though they have been excellent overall in suppressing shots, the ones they do allow have been of the medium-to-high-danger variety. The data shows 81.2% of the shots Carolina gives up are either of the medium of high-danger variety with the league average coming in at 63.4%.

Ultimately, the Hurricanes need better play between the pipes if they want to remain a relevant playoff contender. If that improvement doesn’t come internally, Carolina may have to scour the trade market to find a solution.

More from around the Metro Division:

  • With Pavel Buchnvich expected to return to the lineup Friday the New York Rangers were facing a difficult decision regarding whom to remove from their 23-man roster to open a spot for the rookie forward. But the injury to Josh Jooris Wednesday night allowed the Rangers to delay that decision a little longer, writes Brett Cyrgalis of the New York Post. However, instead of taking advantage of that opportunity, the Blueshirts this morning have placed Dylan McIlrath on waivers. If he goes unclaimed, the club will likely send their 2010 first-round draft pick to Hartford of the AHL. McIlrath has suited up for just one game this season and has been a healthy scratch six times.
  • Former New York Islander netminder Kevin Poulin has signed a deal with Barys of the KHL, tweets Igor Eronko of Sports Express. Poulin showed promise early in his career after debuting in the league with a 92.4% save percentage and a goals-against-average of 2.44 in 10 appearances as a 20-year-old back in 2010-11. It’s been downhill ever since with his save percentage declining in each subsequent campaign. Poulin last saw action in the league in 2014-15, starting once and allowing three goals on 26 shots. He appeared in 29 contests for Stockton in the AHL, winning 14 and stopping 90.9% of the attempts against.

Metropolitan Notes: Sanford, Jooris, Bickell, Boulton

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The Washington Capitals did some heavy recruiting on left winger Zach Sanford back in the summer, writes Tom Gulitti of NHL.com.  Although the team had his exclusive rights for at least one year, they wanted to sign him a year early for a couple of reasons.  One of those was a concern that his development might stagnate if he played at the lower level for another year while another was to avoid any possibility of him opting for unrestricted free agency like Jimmy Vesey did before joining the Rangers or former Washington prospect Thomas Di Pauli did before joining Pittsburgh.

For his part, Sanford admitted to needing a bit of convincing to turn pro early:

“I was pretty set on going back to school and they told me I had a chance to make the team.  I thought I might not ever get this opportunity again, so I had to take advantage of it.”

Sanford has been up with the team all season, appearing in three of five games while alternating with Brett Connolly in the lineup.  He has been held off the scoresheet so far but is averaging a respectable 11:55 per contest.  Despite being in and out of the lineup, head coach Barry Trotz told Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post that there are no plans to send him to their AHL affiliate in Hershey at this time.

More from the Metropolitan Division:

  • Despite picking up his first goal of the season over the weekend, Rangers center Josh Jooris could be in danger of losing his roster spot in the immediate future, opines Peter Botte of the New York Daily News. The Rangers are carrying the maximum 23 players on the roster and Pavel Buchnevich is nearing a return to the lineup.  If Chris Kreider’s neck injury is a short-term one as expected, the team will have to waive someone to make room for Buchnevich.  The primary candidates are Jooris and defenseman Dylan McIlrath but given McIlrath’s first round pedigree, the more likely candidate to be risked on the waiver wire would seem to be the 26 year old Jooris.
  • Bryan Bickell has impressed Carolina head coach Bill Peters so far this season despite playing on the fourth line, writes Chip Alexander of the Carolina News and Observer. Bickell has yet to pick up a point through five games but Peters highlighted his physicality as a strength so far.  Despite not scoring in a year and a half, the Hurricanes have used Bickell regularly on the power play in the hopes of getting something from the veteran.  Back in the offseason, the team acquired Teuvo Teravainen from Chicago but had to assume the remainder of Bickell’s contract to do so.  With a cap hit of $4MM and a salary of $4.5MM, it’s unlikely that Carolina will be able to flip him during the season unless they can help him rediscover his form from a few years ago with the Blackhawks.
  • After clearing waivers over the weekend, veteran winger Eric Boulton has not yet reported to Bridgeport of the AHL, affiliate of the New York Islanders. Michael Fornabaio of the Connecticut Post notes (via Twitter) that Boulton is currently “sorting family issues”.  Boulton signed a two-way deal in the offseason but has only played two AHL games since the 1999-2000 season.

2016-17 Season Preview: New York Rangers

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After back-to-back Eastern Conference Final berths and a trip to the 2014 Stanley Cup Final, the New York Rangers stumbled this past season, dropping their first-round playoff series to the eventual Cup-champion Pittsburgh Penguins in five games. The Blueshirts embarked on a summer of retooling with the hope the remaining core has enough gas left in the tank to propel the team on another long playoff run. With the season set to start in less than a week, we’ll soon how the changes made play out on the ice.

Last Season: 46 – 27 – 9, 101 points, third in the Metro Division. Lost in the first-round of the playoffs.

Remaining Cap Space: $2.95MM per Cap Friendly.

Key Newcomers: Mika Zibanejad (Trade – Ottawa); Jimmy Vesey (UFA – Harvard); Josh Jooris (UFA – Calgary); Michael Grabner (UFA – Toronto); Brandon Pirri (UFA – Anaheim); Nick Holden (Trade – Colorado)

Key Departures: Derick Brassard (Trade – Ottawa); Eric Staal (UFA – Minnesota); Dominic Moore (UFA – Boston); Keith Yandle (Trade – Florida); Dan Boyle (Retirement)

[Related: New York Rangers depth chart via Roster Resource]

Players to Watch: Dan Girardi and Marc Staal. The Rangers have for years relied on Girardi and Staal to provide steady play from the back end but last season was a tough one for both blue liners. Henrik Lundqvist faced more High Danger Shots Against (HDSA) than any other goalie in the league, averaging better than one additional HDSA-per-game than Braden Holtby, who was #2. At least part of that was due to the lackluster play of Girardi and Staal and in particular, their struggles in the puck possession department.

While Girardi has never been a strong possession player, not finishing with a CF% above 50% in eight seasons, Staal posted a CF% of 54.3% as recently as 2013-14. It’s possible the wear and tear from years of blocking shots and playing 20-plus minutes every night against the opposition’s best players has simply caught up to the 32-year-old Girardi but there is at least a chance Staal can again be a reliable defender.

It’s fair to note that Girardi battled injuries for much of the 2015-16 campaign, including a cracked knee cap which he played with through the second half of the season. He’s said to be fully healthy – perhaps for the first time in several seasons – and with a long offseason of rest and recuperation, Girardi feels he can again be a solid shutdown blue liner.

The Blue Shirts have $11.2MM tied up annually in the two defensemen and much of the reason the team avoided big money free agent deals was the lack of flexibility due to the Staal and Girardi contracts. Those deals also make it practically impossible for GM Jeff Gorton to move either player, likely meaning that barring a contract buyout, the Rangers will be forced to sink or swim with the two defenders playing big minutes. For the team to have a chance to compete for a Stanley Cup, they need much better performances from Girardi and Staal.

Key Storyline: Defense, defense and again, defense. Gorton did a tremendous job with limited resources injecting youth and speed into the lineup but was unable to upgrade the talent on defense. Henrik Lundqvist is still playing at an elite level and the offense figures again to be a top-10 unit – they finished seventh overall in goals scored in 2015-16. But if the defense continues to allow the opposition too many high quality scoring chances on a nightly basis, none of that will matter. Partially due to salary cap constraints, the Rangers were unable to land a defensive upgrade on the free agent market and in fact were forced to trade Yandle, who many felt was the team’s best defenseman last season, because they could not afford to re-sign him.

Perhaps a healthy Girardi and a rested Staal will be better in 2016-17. Maybe head coach Alain Vigneault and new assistant Jeff Beukeboom can tweak the defensive system to provide additional help to his blue liners. But without major improvements in the play on the back end, it’s likely the Rangers will again come up short in their quest for the Stanley Cup.

Mike Santorelli Retires

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Barely two months after leaving the NHL and signing a two year deal with Geneve-Servette in the Swiss league, center Mike Santorelli has announced his retirement, the NLA team announced (link in French).  The decision came as a result of injuries as Santorelli was expected to be out long-term.  The 30 year old suited in six games for the team before hanging up the skates, picking up a goal and three assists.

Santorelli played in 406 games over an eight year NHL career with Nashville, Florida, Winnipeg, Vancouver, Toronto, and Anaheim, scoring 64 goals and 74 assists.  His best year came in 2010-11 where he had his lone 20 goal season, tallying 20 goals and 21 assists while playing in all 82 games.

As a result of his retirement, Geneve-Servette now has an import spot open and appear to once again have their eyes on Rangers forward Nathan Gerbe.  Back in June, it was reported that he was close to signing with the team; one Swiss paper reports (via Swiss Hockey News) that a deal was actually signed but was dissolved at the time he signed with the Rangers.  If that is true, Gerbe could be loaned to them if he is cut by New York and clears waivers.  The 5’6 forward had just seven points in 47 games with Carolina last year but had 28 and 31 point campaigns in the last two seasons with the Hurricanes.

The same report suggests Rangers forward Josh Jooris may also be targeted by Geneve-Servette if he were to be cut by New York; his father played for the team back in 1998-99.  Jooris suffered a groin injury in his first preseason game and has yet to suit up since which certainly won’t help his chances of cracking their opening night roster.

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