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Malcolm Subban

Vegas Places Malcolm Subban On Injured Reserve

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Just 54 games into their existence as an NHL franchise, perhaps no team in the league more familiar than the Vegas Golden Knights when it comes to injuries in goal. Other than their amazing success in their inaugural season, the other big story line for Vegas this season has been the unbelievable frequency with which their net minders get hurt. Marc-Andre Fleury, Malcolm Subban, Oscar Dansk, and Maxime Lagace have all missed time this season due to injury and much of it came at the same time. Their #1, #2, and #3 keepers were all injured in October and the unproven Lagace struggled in relief. Yet, the Knights stayed strong through it all and had put their goalie injury woes behind them.

Now, they’re back again. The Sin Bin reports that Subban is headed to the injured reserve for the second time this season. Subban sustained an upper-body injury on Thursday morning ahead of the team’s game with the San Jose Sharks. Vegas took a risk and still dressed Subban for the match-up, though The Sin Bin states that he was not actually available to play. Following a practice today in which the team’s emergency goalie was in attendance and Subban was not, came the official move to place him on IR.

The loss of Subban is not without some significant repercussions. While Fleury has been phenomenal for the Knights this season, Subban has also done very well for himself in his first full NHL season. After struggling to even win the AHL job with the Boston Bruins over the past few years, Subban has thrived in Vegas after coming over via waivers. The 24-year-old has an 11-3-1 record and seven quality starts, which has mattered more the to capable Golden Knights than his pedestrian .912 save percentage and 2.49 GAA.

Lagace has been tabbed as his replacement for now, as he has been recalled from the AHL’s Chicago Wolves. While Lagace’s NHL numbers earlier this season were far from Stellar, Dansk is still working his way back to full health, making Lagace the clear choice for the time being. Both young goaltenders could see action in Vegas while Subban remains sidelined. The last thing the Golden Knights want to do is overwork Fleury and risk injury to then end up with both NHL options on the shelf yet again.

Snapshots: Borowiecki, Subban, McDavid

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Senators defenseman Mark Borowiecki has missed the last 15 games due to a shoulder injury and it doesn’t appear as if a return is imminent.  Head coach Guy Boucher told Postmedia’s Don Brennan that although he’s getting closer to playing, he’s not expected to suit up until mid-January at the very least.  Considering how long he has sat, it will likely take some time to get his conditioning back as well.  2017-18 hasn’t been a great season so far for the 28-year-old who has only played a dozen games thanks to this injury as well as an upper-body issue that cost him a pair of games in October and an illness that kept him out for five more.  About the only thing that has gone well for Borowiecki so far is the two-year contract extension he inked just before the season got underway.

Other notes from around the league:

  • Vegas GM George McPhee acknowledged to Gary Lawless on the Golden Knights’ team site that they nearly opted to select goaltender Malcolm Subban over defenseman Colin Miller from the Bruins back at the Expansion Draft. They opted to go with the latter with the thought that they could subsequently trade for Subban.  That didn’t happen as planned but they wound up with both anyway after the Bruins waived the netminder after training camp.  It has all worked out quite well for Vegas as Subban has proven to be a solid backup while Miller is their highest-scoring defender with 19 points already, a new career-high.
  • Although Oilers center Connor McDavid left Saturday’s game late being able to put very little pressure on his foot following a blocked shot, indications are that he should be fine. Speaking with the media (including Postmedia’s Jim Matheson) following the game, head coach Todd McLellan indicated that x-rays were negative and that they fully expect him to suit for their next game on Wednesday against Winnipeg.

Vegas’ Fleury Expected To Return Tuesday

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The Vegas Golden Knights have won three straight and are getting great play from backup goaltender Malcolm Subban, but Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Steve Carp tweets that the team’s starting goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury will return to the ice on Tuesday when Vegas hosts the Carolina Hurricanes.

Fleury has been out since Oct. 13 with a concussion after taking a knee from Detroit’s Anthony Mantha, which started a flurry of goaltending injuries and forced the team to go five goalies deep for quite a while. Subban took over after Fleury’s injury, but went down not long after with a lower-body injury. That forced the team to call up both their AHL goalies in Oscar Dansk and Maxime Lagace. Both also fared well, but Dansk went down and the team was forced to call up 2017 seventh-round pick Dylan Ferguson from his junior team on an emergency basis. Since then Subban has returned and played well as the team waited for Fleury to return.

The 33-year-old veteran and face of the franchise was cleared to return to practice on Wednesday. Some thought Fleury intended to return on Dec. 14, when the Golden Knights will host the Pittsburgh Penguins. However, he will make his return two days earlier. He has only played four games for the expansion franchise, posting a 3-1 record and a 2.48 GAA.

 

Injury Updates: Luongo, Manning, Fleury

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It looked bad when Roberto Luongo was forced out of Monday’s game with an apparent lower-body injury, and the update won’t be very comforting to Florida Panthers fans. Head coach Bob Boughner told reporters that Luongo will miss an “extended period of time,” going as far as claiming five weeks could be a possibility. The Panthers wouldn’t confirm what the injury exactly is, though it’s believed to be the goaltender’s groin.

The 38-year old was playing exceptional this season, and carries a .928 save percentage on the season. While his play hasn’t suffered, injury was always a risk for a goaltender at his age as he showed by missing a large chunk of the season last year, and already being held out with a hand injury in the early going this season. The Panthers will turn to James Reimer and Harri Sateri for the time being, who will have to try and turn things around to keep the team in the playoff race. Florida currently sits seventh in the Atlantic, with just 24 points through 27 games.

Pacific Notes: Thornton, Chychrun, Fleury, Mitchell

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The NHL Department of Player Safety handed down a $5,000 fine to San Jose Sharks center Joe Thornton Saturday for his slash Saturday night on Tampa Bay Lightning’s Tyler Johnson. The $5,000 is the maximum allowable fine allowed by the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

The incident occurred late in the second period of the game and he received a two-minute for high-sticking. Thornton, who has been playing through multiple minor injuries has struggled to get his offense goinas picked up the pace the last few games. He currently has four goals and 12 assists in 25 games. The money is designated to go to the players’ emergency assistance fund.

  • The Arizona Coyotes announced they have activated Jakob Chychrun off of injured reserve and he is expected to play tonight against the Vegas Golden Knights. Chychrun, the team’s first-round pick in 2016, played a full season for the Coyotes as an 18 year old last year and held his own. He picked up three goals and 17 assists in 68 games. He underwent knee surgery in early August and has made a quick recovery. He was assigned last week to the Tucson Roadrunners on a conditioning loan, but didn’t play in any games for them. In a corresponding move, the team sent defenseman Andrew Campbell back to Tucson. He had been recalled as an emergency defenseman on Wednesday, but didn’t appear in a game.
  •  Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Steve Carp tweeted that Vegas Golden Knights general manager George McPhee said that starting goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who has been out since Oct. 13 with concussion symptoms, has passed his tests and has been cleared to return to practice on Wednesday assuming the veteran goalie has no setbacks. Fleury, the face of the franchise, has only appeared in four games for the Golden Knights and has a 2.48 GAA and a .925 save percentage. Vegas has struggled with injuries in goal, although backup Malcolm Subban returned last week and has assumed the starting job. McPhee said he was not sure when Fleury would be ready to return to a game, however.
  • Jon Rosen of LA Kings Insider writes that Torrey Mitchell, acquired in a trade on Nov. 23, could make his Kings’ debut tonight against the Chicago Blackhawks, according to coach John Stevens. “As long as there’s no issues during the day, I think he’s a good consideration to come in,” Stevens said. “He’s been off the ice for a few days, so skated him yesterday, skated him today, and he said he felt pretty good, so he’s an option to go in, for sure.” Mitchell had some trouble acquiring his work visa after being traded from Montreal to Los Angeles, but is now cleared to play. The 32-year-old didn’t have a point with the Canadiens in 11 games this year, but is expected to help center one of the team’s bottom two lines.

 

What Your Team Is Thankful For: Vegas Golden Knights

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As the holiday season approaches, PHR will look at what teams are thankful for this year. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. We take a look at what’s gone well in the first month and what could improve as the season rolls on.

What are the Vegas Golden Knights most thankful for?

An incredible start in their inaugural season.

No matter what happens, whether this expansion franchise ends up garnering a playoff spot at the end of the year or they fall off and end up in the lottery where everyone expected them to be, the Golden Knights have started in a positive, exciting and un-expansionlike way which Las Vegas fans won’t forget too quickly. Just to remind you, the NHL added nine expansion teams from 1991 to 2001, most of which bottomed out in their first season. The best team was the Florida Panthers who finished with a 33-34-17 season for 83 points in the 1993-94 season. In less than two months, the Golden Knights have a 11-6-1 record and are on pace to easily best those numbers.

Who are the Golden Knights more thankful for?

All those emerging expansion picks. The Golden Knights haven’t been a one-man show on offense, but their offense has been a collected effort in which the scoring has been evenly spread out. The team collected many emerging young players through the expansion draft, whether that is William Karlsson (from Columbus), Oscar Lindberg (from New York Rangers), Erik Haula (from Minnesota), Jon Marchessault (from Florida), or Cody Eakin (from Dallas) just to name a few. That doesn’t include some of the veteran talents such as James Neal (from Nashville) and David Perron (from St. Louis) or the defensive depth such as Luca Sbisa (from Vancouver), Nate Schmidt (from Washington), Brayden McNabb (from Los Angeles) and Colin Miller (from Boston).

What would the Golden Knights be more thankful for?

Healthy goaltending? It’s been well documented on how the team has been playing with their fourth-string goaltender Maxime Lagace in net for the past couple of weeks, who has fared quite well (unless you include that 8-2 loss to Edmonton last week). The team has lost the face of their franchise, Marc-Andre Fleury due to a concussion, backup Malcolm Subban to a lower-body injury and third-stringer Oskar Dansk to a lower-body injury. Lagace marked the fourth and last goaltender in their system, unless you include 2017 seventh-round pick Dylan Ferguson. Oh yeah, they did call Ferguson up on emergency from his junior team. Even the 19-year-old managed to see nine minutes of playing time. However, the team seems to have held on long enough as Ferguson has been sent back, and Subban is reportedly ready to return soon, possibly even tonight, while both Fleury and Dansk could be back shortly as well.

What should be on the Golden Knights’ Holiday Wish List?

Continued health and production for their future trade chips.

While the team is currently on a potential playoff run, the team is very likely to be active at the trade deadline. Players like Neal, Perron and Sbisa, to name a few are likely to be shopped at the trade deadline since all will be unrestricted free agents. It’s likely an expansion team isn’t going to extend any of them to long-term, high-priced contracts when the team plans to build long-term with youth. Considering how well Neal has played, he could net the team a coveted 2018 first-round pick if he can stay healthy. Both Perron and Sbisa have also improved their stocks while with Vegas and could also produce some good picks in the right deal.

Snapshots: DeKeyser, Subban, 2019 Draft

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Some fans might have noticed this morning when the Detroit Red Wings recalled Brian Lashoff from the minor leagues, that they actually were over the NHL’s salary cap. Even though Lashoff makes just $650K, the team had already used nearly all the extra space provided by Johan Franzen’s long-term injured reserve stint. Well, the salary cap sleuths at CapFriendly have figured out how they were able to work it. Danny DeKeyser has been placed on long-term injured reserve for the time being, even though he’s expected to return before long (perhaps even this weekend)Reqo.

The Red Wings are playing with fire this season as they push right up against the cap ceiling, and could be forced before long to make a move to get rid of some salary. They already moved Riley Sheahan to clear a few million off the cap, and still they needed to use LTIR again so early on. Luke Witkowski’s suspension makes it tough, as though he forfeits the salary he would have earned the team does not receive a cap break. Even with the short-term injury to Trevor Daley, the team can’t afford to put him on IR and call up another player. They simply don’t have the money, unless DeKeyser is out much longer than expected.

  • Speaking of injured reserve, Malcolm Subban has been activated by the Vegas Golden Knights. The team has sent Dylan Ferguson back to his junior club, happy to have gotten into a game (and earned an NHL paycheck). Subban is a welcome sight for the Golden Knights, even with Maxime Lagace earning the win last night over Vancouver. Lagace has played admirably, but an .864 save percentage still won’t cut it for long in the NHL. Though Subban has little experience himself, most believe he is an upgrade in net.
  • Craig Button of TSN has more information on the 2019 draft, giving us an early look at his rankings for the draft still more than 18 months away. Jack Hughes is the easy favorite on top as he continues to cruise through his season with the NTDP, but there are some very interesting others on the list. Bowen Byram is perhaps a surprising #2, but anyone that saw his U17 performance will understand why Button has him here. The 16-year old defenseman is already playing (and playing well) in the WHL with the Vancouver Giants, and looks like he’ll have the size and mobility to develop into an all-situations stud down the line. Obviously, projecting 16-year old players is never an exact science and several will see their stock drop off in the next two years. Still, you can make an impression on scouts at this age, like Nolan Patrick did before losing most of his draft-eligible season to injury.

Goaltending Woes Continue For Vegas Golden Knights

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The Vegas Golden Knights were down to their fourth string goaltender when they went to Maxime Lagace on October 30th. Oscar Dansk had been the latest victim, following Marc-Andre Fleury and Malcolm Subban to the injured reserve list. Last night, Lagace was pulled after allowing seven goals on 29 shots and Dylan Ferguson saw his first NHL action. The fifth-string goaltender is just 19-years old and began the year in the WHL, but got to see his dream come true on the highest stage.

Now, John Shannon of Sportsnet tweets that Ferguson’s dream may not end so quickly. Shannon speculates that because of a possible Lagace injury, Ferguson could be forced to start on Thursday against the Vancouver Canucks. Lagace injured his back when Deryk Engelland fell on him (and put the puck in the Vegas net in the process) but stayed in the game as long as he could. There will likely be an update later on the situation from the Golden Knights at some point today.

Even if Lagace is healthy enough to gut out another game, it’s not like he’s been outstanding for the team. In eight appearances he has a .860 save percentage, a number that simply won’t cut it in the NHL. Interestingly though, Vegas has been hesitant to use any assets to acquire another goaltender, including cap space. Louis Domingue for instance had cleared waivers before being traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning, while Calvin Pickard was waived and then traded by the Golden Knights themselves. If Lagace is held out for any length of time, the team would have to sign or trade someone. Ferguson is the last goaltender under an NHL contract in the entire organization.

Pacific Notes: Nugent-Hopkins, Gaborik, Subban, Engelland

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With the Matt Duchene trade in the books for a week now, The Hockey News’ Lyle Richardson writes that the Edmonton Oilers are one of three teams to watch over the next couple of months when it comes to making a big move. Citing the league’s need for playmaking centers, the scribe suggests the team could try and move center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and his large contract ($6MM AAV through the 2020-21 season) and try to get a much-needed wing.

Richardson cites Edmonton as well as the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Buffalo Sabres as the three teams most likely to make the next big trade in the league. In fact, he suggested the Oilers attempt to move Nugent-Hopkins to Columbus, who were the losers in getting either Duchene or Kyle Turris via trade. However, could the Blue Jackets fit Nugent-Hopkins under their salary cap without Edmonton retaining some of that salary? The suggestion was the Oilers would either require Cam Atkinson or Josh Anderson in return to make that deal work.

Nugent-Hopkins has been playing well this year as he’s put up six goals and six assists this season. Known as a defensive forward, the former No. 1 overall pick could be a key asset for Columbus or any other team needing a center.

  • Los Angeles Times’ Curtis Zupke writes that veteran forward Marian Gaborik got his first full practice under his belt Saturday after having knee surgery back in April. The 35-year-old is not expected to be activated soon as the Kings are taking a cautious approach with the injury-prone winger, who has had knee and foot issues over the last two years, which has seen him play 110 games in the past two-plus seasons. “I felt pretty good,” he said. “Things have been getting into flow. Obviously I’ve missed a lot of time so [I need to] get used to everything — my legs, just the whole body as a hockey player, to get back into things, and to just keep going and ramping things up, and get my timing back. It’s pretty much the whole package I have to get back.”
  • Vegas Golden Knights’ goaltender Malcolm Subban was spotted skating at City National Arena today, tweeted SinBin. Subban, who went down with a lower-body injury, was deemed out for four weeks on Oct. 22, so it looks like he might be on target for a return within the next couple of weeks. The team has been forced to use their fourth-string goaltender, Maxime Lagace, for the past two weeks as the team has been decimated by injuries to Marc-Andre Fleury, Subban and Oscar Dansk.
  • Sticking with the Golden Knights, The Canadian Press’ Darren Haynes points out that Vegas defenseman Deryk Engelland has more points (2-7-9) than quite a few defensemen, including San Jose Brent Burns, Nashville’s Roman Josi and Calgary Mark Giordano. Engelland, who played for the old Las Vegas Wranglers of the ECHL earlier in his career and made Las Vegas his home from that point on, has never put up more than 17 points in a season. Always known as a defensive player, the 35-year-old has been reborn in Las Vegas, who is just eight points away from a career-year.

Malcolm Subban Out Four Weeks

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The Vegas Golden Knights’ goaltending depth will be tested, as today they announced that Malcolm Subban would be out for at least four weeks. Subban was placed on injured reserve with a lower-body injury, joining the already injured Marc-Andre Fleury on IR.

Injuries will now have the Golden Knights turning to a combination of Oscar Dansk—who is already with the team—and Maxime Lagace in net, though obviously there is an opportunity to make a move for another goaltender. The team has already been in conversations with teams about their excess of defensemen, something that could now be accelerated due to injury.

It must be noted that the Golden Knights traded Calvin Pickard away earlier this month after he cleared waivers instead of assigning him to the AHL, a move that is looking worse today as the team finds themselves without much NHL experience in the crease.

If the team does call up Lagace, the Chicago Wolves would be left with C.J. Motte as their starter, though there are other options they could use. The St. Louis Blues, who are using the Wolves as a partial affiliate this season, had moved Jordan Binnington to Providence because of the log-jam in net. He could be brought back, although Providence has their own goalie problems while Zane McIntyre is in the NHL filling in for Tuukka Rask.

For those hoping the team will acquire another option, part of the press release from GM George McPhee seems to throw cold water on that option.

Injuries provide opportunities for others and that is the situation we have here. Our top two goaltenders are currently sidelined, so we will now give our AHL goalies the chance to play in their absence. We felt Oscar Dansk performed well in relief on Saturday in his NHL debut.

While the GM is hoping to give his young goaltenders confidence, the idea that they won’t make a corresponding move could change at any moment. Should someone approach them with an interesting offer, it’s unlikely that McPhee would hang up the phone.

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