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Over The Cap: Detroit Red Wings

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Although the St. Louis Blues are dangerously close to the salary cap ceiling and the defending Stanley Cup champs of the past three years, the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins, are within an uncomfortable distance, the Detroit Red Wings are the only team who have surpassed the NHL’s $79.5MM limit at this point in time. When the team re-signed franchise center Dylan Larkin to a five-year, $30.5MM contract last week, his $6.1MM  salary boosted Detroit’s payroll for the coming season to $82.772MM for just 21 players. The Red Wings currently sit more than $3.2MM over the salary cap with a roster that contains just six defenseman. While the NHL CBA allows teams to surpass the cap by 10% in the off-season – up to $87.45MM – the Red Wings must clear enough space to begin the season under the cap.

Once the season is underway, the salary cap is unlikely to be much of an issue. Johan Franzen, who last played in October of 2015, has been sidelined with post-concussion symptoms for the past three seasons and is almost surely not going to return to the Detroit lineup. His $3.955MM contract on the long-term injured reserve will wipe out all of the Red Wings’ cap overages. Additionally, it remains a very real possibility that captain Henrik Zetterberg may also be on the shelf this year and possibly done with his hockey career altogether, with a nagging back injury reportedly making his availability over the final two years of his contract an “unknown”.  If Zetterberg doesn’t play, his $6MM cap hit added to Franzen’s on LTIR would give the Wings more than enough space.

However, injured reserve transactions cannot be made until after the official start of the NHL season. This has previously caused teams to trade away players unlikely to ever play again due to health, with the Chicago Blackhawks’ Marian Hossa as the latest example, even though their cap hits can be absorbed. A team tight against the cap, like Detroit, may struggle to manipulate their roster enough to fit those injured players under the cap on day one. As such, the easiest way that the team could get under the cap prior to the start of the season would be to find a taker for Franzen’s contract. The Wings would have to part with a pick or prospect, but may be able to unload the deal to a team far from the cap ceiling. If Detroit is certain that Zetterberg is also done, they could do the same with his contract, although a higher cap hit means parting with greater trade capital.

Barring an injured player salary dump, the Red Wings are likely left with the reality that they must trade a roster player in the next two months. The team may be able to sneak players like Martin Frk and Luke Witkowski through waivers before the season begins, but it would not result in enough savings to make a difference. Detroit would be unlikely to expose anyone else to waivers simply to clear space briefly. As such, it appears as if someone must go. While Red Wings fans and leadership alike might like the idea of shipping an aging defenseman like Niklas Kronwall or Jonathan Ericsson away or trying to sweet talk some team into taking on the behemoth contract of Frans Nielsen or Justin Abdelkader, it would be a surprise to see any team with interest in that foursome. The likes of Danny DeKeyser and Trevor Daley may also be immovable for a team rife with poor contracts. Instead, impending free agent Gustav Nyquist or two-way center Darren Helm are the most likely candidates, while a player like Luke Glendening heading elsewhere paired with some clever waiver action could do the trick. There is also a chance that, if he proves to be healthy, some team might be interested in Zetterberg.

It’s never a great situation for a team to be forced into trading away assets simply to become cap compliant for one day, but trading away an older player would nevertheless be a step in the right direction for a team that has never truly embraced a rebuild. Opening up salary with a trade, as well as an LTIR placement for Franzen, would allow the Red Wings some flexibility to test out some young players this season while building around their established young core, headlined by Larkin. The salary cap crunch could prove to be their ally long-term, but in the short-term the team is left with little option but to make a move and hope for the best.

The Contract Each Team Would Most Like To Trade: Part II

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Nearly every team has one of those players: a top talent they were excited to sign and never thought could do anything but help them. In hindsight, history shows that more often than not, expensive, long-term free agent contracts don’t work out. It may look good at first (or it may look bad right away to the outside observer), but players struggle to make their value last throughout a lengthy contract. Those contracts come back to bite teams and are hard to get rid of. As teams begin to finalize their rosters at this point in the off-season, many are struggling to make everyone fit under the salary cap and are regretting these past signings that exasperate a cap crunch that can be tough for even a mistake-free club. We already took a look at the first third of the league; here are the contracts that each team would most like to trade, from Detroit to Ottawa:

Detroit Red Wings: Frans Nielsen – four years, $21MM remaining

As speculated by some readers in the comments section, it was no mistake that Part I ended with Dallas. Detroit deserved both some extra consideration and to lead off an article about poor contracts. There is an argument to be made that almost every single player age 28 and over on the Red Wings roster is signed to a bad contract for one reason or another. Detroit is a team that ranks towards the bottom of the standings and towards the top of the salary cap and that is not just bad luck. However, some are much worse than others and they are so bad that it is tough to choose between them. Take this scenario: Player A scored 35 points in 75 games last season. It was 14 points more than the season prior, including six more goals, and Player A also led the team in hits. He is 31 years old and signed for five more years at $4.25MM per. Player B scored 33 points in 79 games last season. It was eight points less than the season prior, and Player B also had the worst face-off percentage among the team’s centers. He is 34 years old and signed for four more years at $5.25MM per. Still undecided about which contract the team would rather trade? Player A is a Michigan native and career Red Wing and Player B is entering only his third year after signing a lucrative free agent contract. Player A of course is perennial whipping boy Justin Abdelkader. Yes, the Abdelkader contract is terrible. At no point in his career has he been worth his current contract value. Yet, he improved last season, is younger and brings a defensive element to his game, and is also loyal to the current administration – the call of the question after all is which contract the team would most like to trade. That would instead be Player B, Frans Nielsen, who at 34 is predictably declining and last year made more than Abdelkader for less production and there is no reason to believe that trend won’t continue. The team rewarded Adbelkader for years of service, whereas they took a gamble on Nielsen that hasn’t paid off. One of those moves is far more regrettable. Nielsen is the guy, but he only narrowly edged out Abdelkader and defenseman Danny DeKeyser, who also has relative age and Detroit roots to his advantage.

Edmonton Oilers: Milan Lucic – five years, $30MM remaining

The Oilers can refute trade rumors surrounding Milan Lucic all they want. The truth of the matter is that GM Peter Chiarelli signed Lucic hoping that he could both produce with and protect Connor McDavid in Edmonton as he did for David Krejci in Boston. The only problem is that the 30-year-old power forward can no longer keep up with a player of McDavid’s caliber. Lucic managed to score 34 points last season, tied for fourth on the team, but that is nowhere near what is expected of a $6MM player, especially when he scored 50 in year one with the Oilers and topped that mark many times with the Bruins. Edmonton still may be holding out hope that Lucic can turn it around and be just as much of a scoring threat as he is a physical threat, but make no mistake that the team would be quick to get rid of his contract if the right deal came along. In contrast, the team would be far more hesitant to move a hefty contract like defenseman Andrej Sekera who has been good and injury-prone, rather than healthy and underwhelming.

Florida Panthers: Roberto Luongo – four years, $18.13MM remaining

Florida is a tough one. Dale Tallon has done a good job of locking up his core long-term and, despite being right up against the cap, there are few egregious contracts on the roster right now. Give it a few years and maybe Michael Matheson will hold this title, but for now it goes to Roberto Luongo by default. Of course, Luongo is beloved in Florida and the team doesn’t even have to carry the whole of his cap hit, with the Vancouver Canucks retaining $800K each year. However, the reality is that Luongo will turn 40 this season and it will be only the first of four years left on his deal. The Panthers have almost $8MM committed to two goalies for the next few years and the other, James Reimer, is younger and outplayed Luongo in 2016-17 and in more games to boot. While they both fought injuries this past season, it was Luongo back on top performance-wise, but the impressive numbers he did post came in just 35 appearances versus Reimer’s 44. Florida paying over $4.5MM per year to a backup goalie in his forties just doesn’t make sense and the team would be better off moving forward with just Reimer and Michael Hutchinson if they could find a way to trade Luongo. Another reason this contract is bad: both the Panthers and Canucks will be hit with cap recapture penalties if Luongo retires prior to 2022.

Los Angeles Kings: Dustin Brown – four years, $23.5MM remaining

For the first time in years, Kings fans are feeling good about Dustin Brown. That is why now is the perfect time to trade him. Brown had been the bane of L.A.’s existence for four years, registering no more than 36 points each year while eating up $5.875MM in cap space, when he finally broke out of his funk in 2017-18 with a massive 61-point season and one of the league’s best plus/minus ratings. The question now is whether the past four years were an aberration with this season setting a new baseline or will Brown regress back to his bottom-six production. With a cap-strapped roster full of expensive contracts for older players, L.A. can’t take the risk of keeping Brown around if the right opportunity presents itself. They would be forced to trade the career King if a taker came forward rather than hold out hope that he doesn’t revert back to his old ways of being drastically overpaid.

Minnesota Wild: Zach Parise – seven years, $52.77MM remaining

When the Wild signed 28-year-old’s Zach Parise and Ryan Suter to matching 13-year contracts worth almost $100MM apiece, they knew that those deals would have dark days at some point in the future. However, they never could have imagined that Parise’s decline would come so soon. Parise remains one of the most popular players on the team, but injuries have kept him off the ice and affected his play when on the ice over the ice and his stock is falling quickly. Parise has never been able to reach the peaks he enjoyed in New Jersey, but he still produced at a high level over his first four seasons with the team. The past two years have been a different story and Parise appears to be trending in the wrong direction. Now 33, Parise isn’t totally beyond help and could turn it around. If back at 100%, Parise has enough natural ability and enough talent around him to still be a $7.5MM player. However, it would be nearly impossible for Minnesota to ever move the behemoth that is his contract so, if somehow they received an offer, they would take it without a second thought. Fan favorite or not, there is too much risk associated with Parise moving forward.

Montreal Canadiens: Shea Weber – seven years, $55MM remaining

I know what you’re thinking and yes, the Carey Price contract doesn’t look great right now. However, an extension of any length and value for any player coming off an injury-riddled season would bring a skewed perception. Price has been one of the best goalies in the league for years and one bad season doesn’t change that. Will he lose that title in the next eight years? For sure, but it would be a shock to see the Canadiens move their poster boy any time soon. Their #1 defenseman is another question though. When Montreal acquired Shea Weber for P.K. Subban, they never could have anticipated that his body would break down so soon after. Injuries cost Weber all but 26 games last season and he will miss the beginning of 2018-19 as well. Weber doesn’t seem like the type of player who will retire early, but there is no guarantee that these injuries won’t slow him down significantly for the remainder of his contract. In fact, the only guarantee is that he will slow down over the next seven years. At $7.86MM, the Canadiens need Weber to be his dynamic two-way self. The team already has one overpaid stay-at-home defenseman in Karl Alzner and can’t afford another. If they could move Weber, they would.

Nashville Predators: None

GM David Poile flat out doesn’t sign bad contracts. Criticize the deals for Ryan Johansen and Kyle Turris if you like, but the bargain contracts throughout the rest of the lineup have allowed Poile to overpay for reliable centers and that is a team-building model that anyone can get behind.

New Jersey Devils: Corey Schneider – four years, $24MM remaining

The easy answer is that the Devils don’t feel any pressure to trade anyone on the roster. They currently have the lowest payroll in the league with nearly every player signed to a fair deal. Those who are overpriced – Travis Zajac and Andy Greene – play important leadership role and the only player signed to a substantially long-term deal is electric young blue liner Damon Severson. The one and only player that sticks out as a potential long-term cap problem is starting goaltender Corey Schneider. This may surprises some; after all Schneider trails only Tuukka Rask among active save percentage leaders. Schneider had been elite since arriving in New Jersey, but something started to change in 2016-17. His SV% fell to .908 and his GAA inflated to 2.82 and then things only got worse last season with a SV% of .907 and a GAA of 2.93. He was also limited to just 40 appearances this year and was outplayed by journeyman Keith Kinkaid. The Devils can’t count on Kinkaid to repeat his 2017-18 performance moving forward and if Schneider’s back-to-back bad years are more than a fluke, they can’t depend on him for four more years either. He’s not going to be a $6MM backup either. New Jersey will give Schneider the time he needs to return to form, but they may not hesitate if the right trade comes their way as well.

New York Islanders: Andrew Ladd – five years, $27.5MM remaining

The Islanders without John Tavares are a totally different animal. A six-year, $30MM extension for Josh Bailey now looks bad. A $5.75MM cap hit this season for free agents Leo Komarov and Valtteri Filppula signed to make up for Tavares’ lost production looks bad. The likes of Cal Clutterbuck, Casey Cizikas, and Matt Martin now look worse on a team that needs more offense and less grit. However, the one contract that looked miserable well before Tavares bolted to Toronto is Andrew Ladd and it is only going to get much worse. The veteran forward was intended to find chemistry with Tavares when he was signed to a seven-year, $38.5MM contract two years ago. Instead, Ladd has just 60 points over the past two seasons combined and has by all accounts been relegated to a bottom-six role. The 32-year-old will now be asked to take a bigger role in Tavares’ stead and that is a scary proposition. The Islanders aren’t in any cap trouble, but the team should be thinking rebuild and would likely take any offer at all to rid themselves of Ladd.

New York Rangers: Brendan Smith – three years, $13.05MM remaining

Has any free agent contract in recent memory soured as quickly as Brendan Smith’s? Smith signed a four-year deal with the Rangers last June and was expected to play a top-four role for the team for years to come. By February, he had been placed on waivers and buried in the AHL. Smith played in only 44 games with New York and saw less and less ice time as the season wore on and he continued to turn the puck over at an alarming rate and cost his team goals. Now what? One would assume that Smith will be given a second chance this season, but the relationship between he and the team may be beyond repair. There is no doubt that the Rangers would take a re-do on that deal and would move him if possible. Marc Staal is another player that New York wouldn’t mind moving, but as a player who can eat minutes and provide solid play most of the time, his $5.7MM contract seems like nothing next to Smith’s $4.35MM deal.

Ottawa Senators: Bobby Ryan – four years, $29MM remaining

No contract in the league has become as notorious for being labeled a “bad deal” that the team is desperate to trade like Bobby Ryan’s. The Senators are so determined to move on from Ryan that they are trying to force Erik Karlsson trade suitors to take the overpaid forward as well. At one point in time, $7.25MM per year for Ryan seemed like a fair deal. At 23 years old he was a 71-point player with the Anaheim Ducks and even after moving to Ottawa, Ryan started his tenure with three straight seasons in the 50-point range. However, the last two years have been very different. Ryan has only suited up for 62 games in each campaign and has looked like a different player on offense. At his best, he looks disinterested and lucky to be in the right place at the right time and at his worst he costs his team goals. Ryan has managed to register only 58 points combined over the past two years; he had 56 alone in 2015-16. Ryan may just need a change of scenery to jump start what used to be dynamic goal-scoring game, but the Senators don’t care about that. All he is to them is a waste of cap space and of owner Eugene Melnyk’s dwindling wealth. They want him gone at any cost.

Look out for Part III of this three-part series early next week…

 

Red Wings Notes: Trade Rumors, Athanasiou

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The Detroit Free Press’ Helene St. James writes that general manager Ken Holland is absolutely cognizant of the fact that the Red Wings are in “seller” mode. St. James quotes Holland as saying:

“I’m working the phones, I’m trying to see what the other teams in the league are thinking,” Holland said. “We are obviously not a buyer, we are not spending future assets to try to get in. We’ll see here over the next week what direction we are going, but I am aware we are eight points out and games are running out.”

The quote is nearly verbatim from last year, where Holland pulled the plug during early February and started dealing at the deadline.  Beating the Anaheim Ducks last night, in a game where the Ducks outplayed and outshot the Red Wings, isn’t anything to mistake as a game that get Detroit into a playoff spot. The issue remaining is whether or not Holland will truly begin rotating players out to stockpile as much young talent and higher draft picks that he can. Where the verbiage has changed is that on a roster that Holland usually gives the nod to a veteran, he seems to be ready to open up spots for younger players:

“I’ve talked to lots of teams over the last week and 10 days, and I’m doubling back with a number of them,” Holland said. “We’d like to get assets, open up spots for a kid or two for next season.”

Holland has been gun shy when it comes to making trades in the Cap era, and he’s still working without a contract extension. With Mike Green, Jimmy Howard, Petr Mrazek, Gustav Nyquist, and even Tomas Tatar in trade conversations, it will be interesting to see if Holland really will make the deals he seems to be hinting at.

  • Andreas Athanasiou is ready to make amends for his lackluster play that resulted in a third period benching reports the Detroit News’ Ted Kulfan. Punished for a lack of effort, Athanasiou played just one shift in yesterday’s 2-1 win during the third period. In spite of his athleticism, speed, and gamebreaker ability, Athanasiou has long been made an example by head coach Jeff Blashill when he hasn’t been at his best. Kulfan writes that consistency has been an issue for Athanasiou during his young career, but it’s an interesting take in that several players, especially higher priced ones, have been similarly inconsistent or turnover prone with the puck. Though he hasn’t scored in 11 games, Athanasiou still has more points than Darren Helm, and Justin Abdelkader, and is tied with Frans Nielsen, and Tomas Tatar, who have both played 10 more games than the 23-year-old forward. The combined cap hit for Abdelkader ($4.25MM), Nielsen ($5.25MM), Tatar ($5.3MM) and Helm ($3.85MM) is $18.65MM while Athanasiou makes a fraction of their individual salaries at $1.38MM. He’s also just a point behind Gustav Nyquist ($4.75MM), who also has ten more games to his name. Though it is fair to try and teach the young forward good habits, the larger issue in Detroit is once again giving large contracts to players who simply don’t produce the points to justify such payment.

Atlantic Notes: Howard, Detroit Injuries, Stone, Ottawa Arena

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While many have expected the Red Wings will try to move goaltender Petr Mrazek before the trade deadline, MLive’s Ansar Khan reports that Detroit will look to move netminder Jimmy Howard.  The 33-year-old is having a down year compared to his stellar 2016-17 campaign and has posted a 2.82 GAA and a .911 SV% in 38 games this season.  However, what makes him a tougher candidate to deal than Mrazek (eligible for restricted free agency with a $4.15MM qualifying offer) is Howard’s contract, which has one year left on it beyond this season with a cap charge just shy of $5.3MM and a 10-team no-trade clause.  The goalie market isn’t expected to be too robust in the next month and expiring contracts will likely yield more attention for those teams seeking help or additional depth.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic:

  • Still with the Red Wings, they’re expected to get both center Darren Helm (leg) and winger Justin Abdelkader (groin) back on Wednesday, reports Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press. Both players have been out of the lineup since sustaining their injuries back on January 13th against the Penguins.
  • The Senators are hoping to have winger Mark Stone back on Tuesday, their first game following the All-Star break, notes Postmedia’s Ken Warren. He has missed the last three games due to a knee injury.  The 25-year-old is Ottawa’s leading point-getter with 18-26-44 in 44 games so far this season and is one of the few players believed to be untouchable for the Sens in trade talks.
  • Also from Ottawa, although they have reached a preliminary agreement on a new downtown arena, Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch cautions that it may take until the 2022-23 season if not longer before the arena is actually built and ready for use. It will still be another year or two before everything is finalized for the site to start being cleared and the arena being built so while brighter days appear to be on the horizon for the Senators in terms of a new place to play, they will still be waiting a while before they can move in.

Injury Updates: Devils, Senators, Red Wings

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The New Jersey Devils took some lumps during Saturday’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers. The team lost goaltender Keith Kinkaid 14 minutes into the game to a groin injury. Kinkaid, who was already filling in for the ill Cory Schneider, had already given up three goals in the first period and was likely in danger of being pulled. However, the team was saved by emergency backup Ken Appleby, who played 46 minutes of shutout hockey in his NHL debut. Kinkaid was placed on injured reserve today, along with forward Brian Gibbons, who broke his thumb after blocking a shot in the same game, according to TSN’s Amanda Stein.

Gibbons has been a success story in New Jersey this year. After two partial seasons with Pittsburgh in 2013-14 and Columbus the following year, Gibbons had trouble finding an NHL job and played the past two years in the AHL, including a 16-goal season for the Albany Devils last year with no promotion. However, he made the Devils squad this year and has already played in a career-high 45 games so far with solid numbers of 12 goals and 11 assists.

As for the goaltending situation, Appleby is currently the only healthy goaltender on New Jersey’s roster. However, The Record’s Andrew Gross reports that Schneider, who has missed two of the last three games with a stomach illness, practiced today, suggesting he might be close to a return. The Devils play Monday against the Detroit Red Wings. There is no update on how much time either Kinkaid or Gibbons will miss.

  • CapFriendly reported that the Ottawa Senators placed center Jean-Gabriel Pageau on injured reserve last night with an upper-body injury and is expected to miss a few games. The Senators will likely rely on youngster Filip Chlapik to replace him. Despite being considered a likely trade candidate at the upcoming trade deadline, the 25-year-old center has been struggling to produce offensively as he has just six goals and nine assists in 42 games this year. His strength is as a face-off specialist, where he has a 53.1 percent success rate (282 face-offs won out of 531).
  • The Detroit Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill’s gave an update today on some injured players. Blashill said the team will be without defenseman Trevor Daley on Monday and Tuesday and is the veteran blueliner is questionable for Thursday. He suffered a lower-body injury in Saturday’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes. Forward Luke Glendening, who hasn’t played in a game since Dec. 20, is out for Monday’s game against New Jersey with a hand injury, but is a possibility for Tuesday’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers. Blashill added that wing Justin Abdelkader, who has already missed three games with a lower-body injury, is a possibility to return for Thursday’s game, while center Darren Helm (lower-body injury) will not be back before the All-Star break.

 

Minor Transactions: 1/13/18

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With several teams ending their bye weeks, Saturday is once again shaping up to be a busy day in the NHL with nine games on tap.  Here is where we’ll keep tabs on the minor roster moves of the day.

  • Following their loss to Vancouver on Friday, the Blue Jackets announced (Twitter link) that they have sent winger Tyler Motte and goaltender Joonas Korpisalo to AHL Cleveland. Motte has spent the bulk of the season on the fourth line in Columbus but should be in line for more playing time in the minors while Korpisalo’s reassignment has been classified as a conditioning stint.  He has made just two starts at the NHL level since December 2nd but has had a couple of appearances with Cleveland already this month after being sent down earlier in the month.  With Columbus on their bye, both will likely be recalled next week.
  • The Capitals announced that they have returned winger Travis Boyd to Hershey of the AHL.  His stint with the big club was short-lived as he was only recalled yesterday and he did not play in their game against Carolina.  Boyd has been productive at the minor league level this season, tallying 27 points (8-19-27) in 37 games.  Washington has also returned winger Jakub Vrana and defenseman Madison Bowey to Hershey, via the AHL’s transactions page.  The moves come as no surprise with the Caps on their bye as they have been shuffling the two back and forth on a regular basis recently to save a little bit of cap room.
  • With the Lightning entering their bye, the team has sent goaltender Louis Domingue back to AHL Syracuse, per a team release.  Domingue has made one appearance with Tampa Bay since being recalled, earning a victory over Detroit.  That is his lone win this season as he struggled considerably in six appearances with Arizona earlier this season.  CapFriendly notes via Twitter that Connor Ingram has been recalled to take Domingue’s spot and keep the team at the mandatory minimum goalies on the roster.
  • The Stars have recalled defenseman Dillon Heatherington from Texas of the AHL, CapFriendly reports (Twitter link).  The 2013 second-round pick has yet to play in an NHL game.  He is in his third professional season and has picked up three goals and ten assists in 39 minor league contests so far this season.
  • The Canucks announced via Twitter that they have assigned winger Nikolay Goldobin to AHL Utica.  The 22-year-old has been reasonably productive this season with four points in 14 games but saw just 6:32 of ice time last night as Sven Baertschi’s return dropped him down the depth chart.  He’ll be in line for much more playing time with the Comets where he has averaged more than a point per game (19 points in 18 contests) so far this season.
  • After losing both Darren Helm and Justin Abdelkader to injuries during today’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, MLive’s Ansar Khan reports the Detroit Red Wings have recalled Dominic Turgeon from the Grand Rapids Griffins of the AHL this evening for Sunday’s game against the Chicago Blackhawks. The 21-year-old center was a third-round pick in 2014 and will be making his first trip to Detroit. He has nine goals and 14 assists in 23 games for the Griffins this year.

Red Wings Notes: Abdelkader, Frk, “Relentless Hockey”

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Detroit Red Wings forward Justin Abdelkader was one of many players the organization needed to rebound this season for the team to improve. MLive’s Ansar Khan writes that this is exactly what has happened so far this season as Abdelkader has 14 points (4-10) and has notched a point in nine of his last ten games. The 30-year-old winger was the subject of fan derision after struggling last season, which followed the signing of his seven-year, $29.8MM contract. Abdelkader was rewarded for his strong play while on a line with Pavel Datsyuk, and many pointed to his performance as being tied solely to Datsyuk. Healthier this season, Abdelkader has shown why the Red Wings invested so much in him. If he can stay healthy, he’s on pace for 57 points.

  • Right Wing Martin Frk is still at least a week away from returning according to Khan. The right-hand shot with a booming slapper has been one of many bright spots on the Red Wings roster, especially helping a power play that languished last season. The 24-year-old has nine points (6-3) in 18 games this season.
  • The Detroit Free Press’ Helene St. James reports that Detroit wants to play “relentless hockey” so they’re not suddenly looking up at a gap in the standings. Currently, the Wings are third in the Atlantic and face the flailing Edmonton Oilers tonight, who are reeling after an 8-3 loss to St. Louis last night. It was the Oilers, St. James writes, that spurred the Red Wings current 4-1-1 run. Head coach Jeff Blashill stressed the importance of staying out of the defensive zone, a problem that saw them blow a 3-1 lead Sunday night and eventually lose 4-3 in overtime. Blashill also told St. James that it’s important to play every game “relentlessly,” a necessity in a league where a playoff spot could literally be decided by a regulation win.

Morning Notes: Eriksson, Pouliot, Flames, Abdelkader

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The Canucks are set to welcome one of their highest-paid forwards back in the lineup tonight.  Ben Kuzma of the Vancouver Province reports that winger Loui Eriksson is expected to be activated off LTIR and suit up against San Jose after missing the last 12 games with a lower-body injury.  He’s expected to play alongside the Sedin twins.  Eriksson’s first season with Vancouver in 2016-17 was a disappointment as he posted his lowest point total since his rookie year back in 2006-07 and he was off to a slow start before being injured this season as he had just one assist in three games (plus one shift in a fourth contest before suffering the injury).  That’s not the type of production the team was expecting when they handed him a contract that carries a $6MM cap charge through 2021-22.

More early news and notes from around the league:

  • Sabres winger Benoit Pouliot will not be suspended for an incident that occurred late in Friday’s game on Panthers defenseman Keith Yandle, the Department of Player Safety announced (Twitter link).  He had a hearing with the league earlier today but after reviewing the angles of the hit, it was determined that his hit on Yandle did not involve the head being the principal point of contact.
  • The Flames could be getting defenseman Travis Hamonic back in their lineup in the near future. Postmedia’s Kristin Odland notes that the blueliner skated on Friday and is slated to participate in a full practice with the team tomorrow.  Hamonic has been out of the lineup since suffering a lower-body injury against the Penguins on November 2nd and ranks third on the team in average ice time per game.  Calgary is also expected to have goaltender Mike Smith available for their next game on Monday despite struggling with his glove hand at times on Thursday night.
  • Red Wings winger Justin Abdelkader has a fractured cheek, MLive’s Ansar Khan reports (Twitter link).  He’s expected to see a specialist on Monday.  Head coach Jeff Blashill notes that the injury shouldn’t keep the 30-year-old out of the lineup for long.  Abdelkader is off to a decent start this season with nine points (2-7-9) in 17 games while averaging just shy of 17 minutes per game in ice time.

Snapshots: Thornton, Gionta, Gelinas, Red Wings

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While the Maple Leafs landed one long-time San Jose Shark in winger Patrick Marleau over the summer, Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic reports that Toronto was among the teams that were pursuing center Joe Thornton and at one time were looking to bring the veteran duo in as a package deal.  Thornton’s preference was to remain in San Jose and he wound up agreeing on a one-year, $8MM deal while Marleau wound up receiving both more money and term from Toronto than what the Sharks were offering him.  Given where Toronto is with regards to the salary cap, it’s hard to imagine how the duo would have fit in money-wise but the fact that they pursued both of them together suggests GM Lou Lamoriello had something ready if both would have signed.

Other notes from around the league:

  • Unrestricted free agent winger Brian Gionta is considering signing an AHL-only deal with Rochester, the minor league affiliate of the Sabres, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports. While it’s believed he has NHL offers on the table, he’d like to stay close to his family which this would allow him to do while also maintaining his eligibility to suit up in the upcoming Olympics.
  • The Canadiens have yet to initiate any sort of contracts with PTO defenseman Eric Gelinas, notes TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie. Gelinas is looking to land a spot on Montreal’s back end after turning down multiple offers overseas during the summer.  He split last season between Colorado and their AHL affiliate in San Antonio.
  • The Red Wings are expecting a trio of veterans to return from injuries, notes MLive’s Ansar Khan. Niklas Kronwall is expected to make his preseason debut on Thursday after missing time with back spasms while Justin Abdelkader is hopeful to play then as well; he has missed the last ten days with a groin issue.  Meanwhile, captain Henrik Zetterberg is slated to play on Friday for the first time as his neck soreness is improving.

Evening Notes: Zetterberg, Shipachyov, Pickard

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The Detroit Red Wings are getting ready to start another season shortly and while many aren’t expecting an impressive season from this team, the team still has eyes for the playoffs. MLive’s Ansar Khan answers some mailbag questions about the upcoming season and points out that with the combination of gritty veterans and young talent, the team may show some promise. The scribe writes to expect 36-year-old veteran Henrik Zetterberg to center Tomas Tatar and Gustav Nyquist, who were their top line at the end of last year. The belief is that Tatar and Nyquist should benefit from Zetterberg’s presence to build their confidence early in the season.

He added that Dylan Larkin looks ready to take over as the team’s second-line center and be matched with Anthony Mantha, who scored 17 goals in his first full season. Justin Abdelkader might be a good fit to fill out that line. The third line would Frans Nielsen, Darren Helm and Andreas Athanasiou, if the restricted free agent signs with the team. Luke Glendening, Riley Sheahan and Tyler Bertuzzi are the likely candidates on the fourth line, assuming things don’t change much in training camp.

  • The Las Vegas Review-Journal’s David Schoen writes that the team will be counting heavily on the success of Russian veteran Vadim Shipachyov this season. The 30-year-old forward was the third-leading scorer in the KHL last year with 26 goals and the team believes that if he can make the conversion to the NHL successfully, the Golden Knights might be better than many believe when it comes to offense. The team already has James Neal, Jon Marchessault, Reilly Smith, David Perron and the hope is Shipachyov will be that top-line player that opens up the offense.
  • In the same story, Schoen adds that he wouldn’t be surprised if Golden Knights’ goaltender Calvin Pickard makes a name for himself, possibly even this season. While starting goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury has received all the press and has become the face of the franchise, Pickard is just 25 years old and was a second-round pick in 2010. He was considered a top prospect before he struggled in a full-time role for the struggling Colorado Avalanche last year. His 2.98 GAA left a lot to be desired. However, Fleury is already 33 and while he was impressive in the playoffs for the Penguins, didn’t have a great year as the backup, putting up a 3.02 GAA for the year in 38 games. If Pickard can re-establish himself in Las Vegas, he could find himself getting big minutes.

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