Injury Updates: Crawford, Palat, Kucherov, Vatrano, Honka
Blackhawks goaltender Corey Crawford underwent an emergency appendectomy back on December 3rd and it was said then that he was likely to miss two-to-three weeks as a result. Thirteen days later, the 31-year-old is back on the ice skating with his team, reports Tracy Myers of CSN Chicago. Myers adds that Crawford also took some shots today and head coach Joel Quenneville is waiting to see how their #1 net minder is doing when the team returns home from their current road trip.
The team has fared pretty well in Crawford’s absence. After dropping his first two games, Crawford’s understudy, Scott Darling, has won four of his last five starts, allowing just six goals during that time. He is likely at this point to get the call in both of Chicago’s weekend games, at St. Louis on Saturday and in Chicago against the Sharks on Sunday.
Elsewhere on the injury front:
- Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times reports that the Lightning will be without forwards Ondrej Palat and Nikita Kucherov for tonight and likely for the team’s game tomorrow as well (Twitter link). Additionally, Ryan Callahan is not going to play tonight as Tampa Bay travels to Vancouver to take on the Canucks. In a follow-up tweet, Smith adds that Palat is considered day-to-day while Kucherov has not been placed on IR, suggesting he is also day-to-day. While it’s never a good thing to be without three regular forwards, even if it’s just for a game or two, a prolonged absence of Kucherov would be especially bad news for the Lightning. The fourth-year winger leads the team in both goals (13) and points (30) this season and also topped the club in scoring last season. Palat has tallied 13 points in 30 games for Tampa Bay, while Callahan has added just four points in an injury-marred campaign for the gritty veteran winger.
- Frank Vatrano, who has been out since September with a foot injury, was activated by Boston and assigned to Providence of the AHL, according to Joe Haggerty of CSNNE. Haggerty states that the young winger needs to play to get back up to speed. Vatrano exploded on the scene as a prospect last year after registering 36 goals in just 36 AHL games and earned his first call up to Boston. While not as successful in the NHL, Vatrano did net eight goals in 39 games for the Bruins, demonstrating the ability to be a solid performer at this level.
- Finally, the Dallas Stars activated defenseman Julius Honka from IR and reassigned the young Finn to Texas of the AHL, the team announced today. Honka had missed the last five games with an upper-body injury. The team’s first-round draft choice in 2014, the 21-year-old blue liner made his NHL debut this season and in eight games recorded three points. In 16 contests earlier this year with Texas, Honka tallied three goals and 12 points. Dallas already has a roster full of capable NHL defensemen, leading one to wonder when or if the team will recall Honka, as some have suggested the constant shuffling on the back end has contributed in part to the Stars struggles this season.
Trade Snapshots: Hamilton, Duclair, Oduya
Brian Burke has been doing the rounds to try and squash the idea that Dougie Hamilton was ever on the block. He’s said that the rumors all stem from one team who called Brad Treliving with an “insulting” offer for the young defenseman, and Darren Dreger things he knows who that was. In today’s edition of Insider Trading on TSN, Dreger reported that the Arizona Coyotes offered Anthony Duclair and a draft pick for Hamilton around the time of the draft, but were quickly turned down.
In his wave of interviews, Burke did seem to think that a single GM had made it known to others that he’d made an offer, so if it was indeed John Chayka, perhaps this is simply a case of a new young GM not knowing (or agreeing with) the “way things are done”. The Coyotes have continued to make Duclair available in trade talks as the 21-year old continues to struggle through his second full season in the NHL.
In a segue of professional levels, Pierre LeBrun moved on to the Ottawa Senators who decidedly are not in on Duclair but have been working the phones looking for a bottom-six forward. While the team isn’t looking for a ‘big name’, they do need help with secondary scoring and GM Pierre Dorion has apparently been working the phones to try and find some help. A name that is interesting, though not mentioned in the segment, is the recently waived Reid Boucher of the New Jersey Devils.
LeBrun also mentions that the Dallas Stars are looking to deal from a position of strength as the season continues. Their blueline has been solidified by the breakout of Julius Honka this season, and may spell the end for Johnny Oduya who is a free agent this summer and still an effective puck mover. Even though the team lost Jason Demers, Kris Russell and Alex Goligoski this summer, they continue to pump out solid defenders and now have one too many. For now they’re content in waiting for everyone to get healthy, but as teams around the league struggle to find defensemen, they may find an offer that they just can’t refuse.
Dallas Will Healthy-Scratch John Klingberg
The Dallas Stars will be without their top defenseman on Monday night versus the Minnesota Wild.
Mark Stepneski, a writer with the Stars website, is reporting that John Klingberg missed the team meeting on Monday morning, and will be a healthy scratch as a result. Julius Honka will take Klingberg’s place in the lineup, according to coach Lindy Ruff.
Klingberg told Stepneksi that he overslept and he’s embarrassed to have let the team down. He said it won’t happen again and he apologized to his teammates.
According to Mike Heika, Klingberg stayed on the ice to skate hard after the practice. Klingberg has just one assist in his last five games, and scored an own-goal in Saturday night’s 5-2 loss to Edmonton when Connor McDavid intentionally banked the puck off Klingberg’s stick.