Snapshots: Kotkaniemi, Staal, Foligno
Nothing has really been definitive on the various reports of a Jesperi Kotkaniemi extension in Carolina over the past 24 hours, and now there’s some clarity why. CapFriendly reports that Kotkaniemi, as a result of the 2020 Memorandum of Understanding that the league and NHLPA passed prior to the bubble playoffs, can’t actually sign his eight-year extension until after this year’s Trade Deadline. Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reported yesterday afternoon that an extension between the two parties was on the horizon, with Bally Sports Midwest’s Andy Strickland then reporting an eight-year extension in the $4.25MM-$4.5MM range while PuckPedia pegs it at $4.82MM. The hockey world will need to wait at least a week and a half to learn the official deal, however.
Some other Saturday morning notes:
- Detroit Red Wings defenseman Marc Staal will become the third Staal brother to play 1,000 NHL games tonight, setting a record in the process. It’ll be the first time in NHL history that three brothers will have played in 1,000 or more games, besting out the Sutter and Stastny families, among others. He’ll set the marker at the Saddledome in Calgary.
- The Wild’s Marcus Foligno has been under scrutiny from NHL Player Safety for a variety of plays this season, and they may be handing out a punishment to ‘Moose’ once again in the form of a fine. The Athletic’s Michael Russo says that while he’s likely to escape a suspension for a knee-on-knee collision with Columbus’ Jakub Voracek last night, he could see a fine in the near future. Update: That fine did indeed come with the Department of Player Safety issuing a $5K penalty.
Marcus Foligno Suspended Two Games
The Department of Player Safety has issued some more discipline, this time suspending Minnesota Wild forward Marcus Foligno two games for his knee on Adam Lowry of the Winnipeg Jets. As the accompanying video explains:
It is important to note that this is an intentional decision by Foligno and not a player accidentally falling or stumbling onto his opponent. Foligno clearly and intentionally uses his knee to inflict force on the head of his vulnerable opponent. We have heard Foligno’s arguement that this was not a violent knee strike or an exceptionally forceful blow and we agree. It is only the relative lack of force on this play that keeps Foligno from being subject to much more severe discipline for an action that is unacceptable for an NHL player to perform.
The fact that Foligno has not received a fine or a suspension previously in his career also helped his case, along with the fact that Lowry did not suffer a serious injury. The two were already getting fighting majors for the scrap that took place just before this incident, while Foligno earned an extra two-minute penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.
That clean history is now tarnished, at least in terms of supplementary discipline. Foligno’s actions will be under a microscope going forward and any other suspensions could be lengthened as a result. It also means he will miss games against the Carolina Hurricanes and Detroit Red Wings, important home dates to keep the Wild on their current hot streak.
Brad Marchand, Marcus Foligno To Have Hearings With Department Of Player Safety
The Department of Player Safety has a busy day, as both Brad Marchand and Marcus Foligno now have hearings scheduled for incidents that occurred last night. Marchand in particular appears likely to get a long suspension, given he has been offered an in-person hearing. That gives the league the ability to suspend him for more than five games, though does not guarantee that outcome.
Marchand’s incident happened in the final seconds of last night’s Boston Bruins-Pittsburgh Penguins game and included a punch and a high stick on goaltender Tristan Jarry. It resulted in a match penalty which automatically comes with a review from the DoPS and now could bring a hefty suspension. Marchand obviously has a long history of supplementary discipline including a three-game suspension for slew-footing earlier this season.
Foligno meanwhile is getting a hearing for kneeing, but not the variety most will be used to. The incident occurred with Winnipeg Jets forward Adam Lowry already on the ice after a fight, with Foligno on top of him still trying to continue the scrap. The Minnesota Wild forward received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in addition to the fighting major.
Often, in-person hearings–which are currently held over Zoom–take more than a day before a suspension is handed out. Marchand’s does not yet have a time or date set. At the very least, one can assume that he won’t be available in tomorrow’s match against the Carolina Hurricanes. (UPDATE: Marchand’s hearing is set for this evening.)
Central Notes: Khudobin, Wild, Coyotes Goaltending
Earlier this season, Dallas was shopping goaltender Anton Khudobin and after they found no takers, they waived him and sent him to AHL Texas to try to get him back to his form from previous seasons. Now, while they could certainly benefit from shedding his $3.33MM cap hit that runs through 2022-23, GM Jim Nill indicated in an interview with Mike Heika of the Stars’ team site that they may elect to hold onto the netminder as injury insurance. If the Stars were willing to take a similarly-priced player back in a swap of bad contracts, it’s quite possible that they’d have been able to find a taker. Now, it appears that the 35-year-old will stick around and be a high-priced insurance policy in the minors.
More from the Central Division:
- Wild winger Marcus Foligno is expected to return to Minnesota’s lineup on Tuesday against Winnipeg, notes Michael Russo of The Athletic (Twitter link). The 30-year-old has missed the last two games with an upper-body injury, his first real blemish on an impressive season that has already seen him reach a career high in points with 27 in 39 games. Meanwhile, Russo adds in a separate tweet that the team is hopeful that defenseman Mathew Dumba will be able to play on Saturday after being placed on IR earlier today.
- Coyotes goaltender Scott Wedgewood was injured in practice today and did not accompany the team on their road trip to Vancouver, relays Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports (Twitter link). The veteran has done relatively well since joining Arizona, posting a .903 SV% in 18 games after being claimed on waivers early in the season. Ivan Prosvetov will be recalled from AHL Tucson with Carter Hutton not quite ready to return although he did skate before practice.
No Supplemental Discipline For P.K. Subban, Marcus Foligno
Despite considerable media attention paid to both situations, New Jersey Devils defenseman P.K. Subban and Minnesota Wild forward Marcus Foligno will not receive any discipline from recent altercations. The NHL Department of Player Safety has reviewed each scenario and determined that neither rises to the level of a suspension or fine.
In the case of Foligno, this appears to be a perfectly appropriate decision. The incident in question occurred on Saturday night as the Wild took on the Toronto Maple Leafs. Just as Foligno had jumped off for a change, a scrum ensued right in front of the Minnesota bench. Foligno got back on the ice to engage with the Leafs’ Wayne Simmonds. Typically, leaving the bench in this scenario would be a an automatic ten-game suspension, one of the NHL’s most harsh penalties. However, as The Athletic’s Michael Russo reports, the league did not consider this to be a case of Foligno leaving the bench, as no one had yet replaced him on the ice. Kirill Kaprizov was supposed to sub in for Foligno, but given the budding altercation in front of him smartly stayed put, which allowed Foligno, who was still straddling the boards, to legally get back on the ice. The Wild just narrowly avoided losing one of their veteran leaders for an extended period of time.
As for Subban, the lack of retribution from the league continues to be a strange phenomenon. Subban appeared to slew foot the Winnipeg Jets’ Nikolaj Ehlers on Friday night, though it was not called on the ice. The general understanding in this scenario is that the incident does not meet the league’s textbook definition of “slew foot”. Call what you will, but this shockingly marks his fourth dangerous trip this season. Yet, the veteran defenseman had not received any punishment and Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reports that this will continue with this latest incident. It remains a mystery how Subban continues to get off scot-free with obvious slew foots, especially when the Boston Bruins’ Brad Marchand recently received a three-game suspension for a slew foot that received no attention from the officials nor the visiting Vancouver Canucks. Seravalli states that extra attention is being paid by the league to both Subban and slew foots, yet it made no difference yet again.
Injury Notes: O’Reilly, Wild, Schenn
St. Louis Blues captain Ryan O’Reilly is likely to return to the lineup Sunday night when they take on the Anaheim Ducks, per Blues writer Chris Pinkert. The 30-year-old center missed the team’s last four games while in COVID-19 protocol. He’s likely to return to top-line duties between David Perron as well as Brandon Saad, who’s also missed time while in COVID-19 protocol this season. Prior to departing the lineup, O’Reilly had five points in five games while averaging 19:13 of ice time per game.
Other injury notes from around the league:
- The Minnesota Wild activated both Mats Zuccarello and Rem Pitlick from COVID-19 protocol today, according to a team tweet. Zuccarello is the Wild’s most productive player this season in terms of points per game, notching three goals and four assists for seven points through six games. He returns playing on a unit with Marcus Foligno and Joel Eriksson Ek. Pitlick, who was claimed off waivers from the Nashville Predators earlier in the season, only played one game before entering protocol. However, he did notch an assist in that game and should return to the lineup in a fourth-line role centering Brandon Duhaime and Kyle Rau.
- Rick Dhaliwal of The Athletic reports Vancouver Canucks defenseman Luke Schenn could miss a couple of weeks with what Dhaliwal calls a “knee issue.” Schenn was absent from Vancouver’s practice Sunday. Schenn has two assists through five games this season, often serving as a healthy scratch.
Minnesota Wild Place Jordan Greenway On Injured Reserve
The Minnesota Wild placed winger Jordan Greenway on injured reserve Friday afternoon, recalling Adam Beckman from the Iowa Wild in his place, per a team release.
Greenway suffered a lower-body injury during Thursday night’s game against the Seattle Kraken after taking a hit from Kraken captain Mark Giordano.
The Athletic’s Michael Russo expands on the nature of a recent injury bug that’s hit the Wild, stating defenseman Alex Goligoski is out one to two weeks with an upper-body injury while Dmitry Kulikov is day-to-day with a lower-body injury.
If Beckman draws into the lineup, it will be his NHL debut. The 75th overall pick in 2019 has seen his stock rise sharply and now finds himself mentioned in a trio of skilled forward prospects in Minnesota’s system, along with Marco Rossi and Matthew Boldy. Beckman has three points in four AHL games this season.
Greenway’s had somewhat of a rough start to the season with just two assists in seven games. He was expected to be a major contributor in the team’s top-six forward group after scoring a career-high 32 points in 56 games last season.
Beckman could certainly get a look playing directly in Greenway’s spot with Ryan Hartman and Marcus Foligno, but head coach Dean Evason could also shuffle the team’s line combinations to put Beckman in less of a checking role.
West Notes: Hertl, Wild, Turris, Delia
While Sharks center Tomas Hertl is a highly-speculated candidate to be traded this season, San Jose GM Doug Wilson has other plans. Speaking with reporters including Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now, Wilson indicated that extension talks are well underway:
I’ve had several conversations with his agent. And when you have conversations with agents, they’re always kept in confidence. The rhythm of the negotiation, the time and place of it. Tomas knows how we feel about him.
However, as Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News points out, the Sharks may not be able to afford to carry another long-term deal on their books with over $48MM tied up in just seven players for 2023-24 and a salary cap that’s not expected to go up much in the next few years. Hertl has said he’s open to the idea of taking a bit less to stay in a winning environment but San Jose will have to quickly turn things around to have a chance at him signing a slightly lower deal.
More from the Western Conference:
- The Wild announced that they have named defenseman Matt Dumba and winger Marcus Foligno as alternate captains. They take the place of Ryan Suter and Zach Parise who were both bought out this summer. Dumba, who had been in trade speculation for the past couple of years before Suter’s departure, is heading into his ninth NHL season, all with Minnesota while Foligno is entering his 11th NHL campaign and fifth with the Wild.
- With Edmonton adding Derek Ryan this summer as their presumptive third center plus Ryan McLeod being a strong candidate to make the roster, the Oilers have shifted long-time middleman Kyle Turris to the right wing, notes Postmedia’s Jim Matheson. Last season was a tough one for Turris who started as the third center and finished as a frequent healthy scratch while spending time on the taxi squad. He’s entering the final year of his deal with a $1.65MM AAV. Nearly 70% of that could come off Edmonton’s cap if he’s waived and sent to the minors so he’ll need a strong camp to make the team and not be eyed as a possible avenue to free up some wiggle room on the cap.
- The Blackhawks announced that goaltender Collin Delia was not available to practice with the team today due to a non-COVID-19-related illness. The 27-year-old got into six games with Chicago last season but will likely be on the outside looking in at a roster spot for this season following the acquisition of Marc-Andre Fleury and the return of Kevin Lankinen.
Nick Foligno Likely To Sign With Minnesota Wild
When Nick Foligno left the Columbus Blue Jackets at the NHL Trade Deadline this season, traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs, many expected that he could return to the team this off-season. The Columbus captain since 2015, Foligno has strong ties to the organization and the city, enough that there was an expectation that the veteran forward would re-sign with the rebuilding club. While Foligno is technically the property of the Maple Leafs until July 28 and is now able to negotiate with the Seattle Kraken after being exposed in the Expansion Draft, this was the anticipated path of his off-season and the expectation remained that it would end back in Columbus.
Not so fast, says Bally Sports Andy Strickland. If there was any other team the could seduce Foligno from Columbus, it would be the Minnesota Wild, where his brother Marcus Foligno is a core player and signed long-term, not to mention protected from the Expansion Draft. That appears to be exactly what he is thinking. Strickland reports that there is a “strong possibility” that Foligno joins his brother in Minnesota when the free agent market opens next week.
Foligno, 33, is a gritty, hard-working forward who wins puck battles and creates offense in front of the net. Even as he has gotten older, Foligno’s offense has remained consistent throughout his career, scoring between 0.4 and 0.65 points per game in 12 of his 13 full NHL seasons (the one exception was a .92 PPG aberration in 2014-15). Foligno is also a smart, experienced leader, both in the locker room and on the ice. Foligno could help to make up for the recent departures of long-time Wild leaders Ryan Suter and Zach Parise, even replacing Parise’s middle-six winger role. The fit makes sense for a Minnesota team that is looking to take a step forward this coming season after a major turnaround in 2020-21.
Wild Notes: Dumba, Parise, First Round Picks
Although the Minnesota Wild played well in their seven-game first round series against the Vegas Golden Knights, losing with dignity to one of the best teams in the NHL this season, their loss has already fired the rumor mill back up, reports Sarah MacLellan of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. At the center of the speculation yet again is defenseman Matt Dumba. Despite another strong season for the 26-year-old blue liner, capped off by a postseason in which he tied for the team lead in points, there is still speculation over Dumba’s future in Minnesota stemming from the impending NHL Expansion Draft. The Wild can only protect three defensemen and seven forwards or instead eight skaters total from selection by the Seattle Kraken. With Ryan Suter, Jared Spurgeon, and Jonas Brodin all carrying No-Movement Clauses, the trio all must be protected. The only way that the team can use the 7-3 format and also protect Dumba would be fore one those three to waive their NMC and allow themselves to be exposed. Otherwise, the Wild will have to protect eight skaters, but with Zach Parise and Mats Zuccarello also with No-Movement Clauses, this would mean Minnesota would have to leave multiple promising young forwards exposed in order to make room for Dumba, including at least one of Joel Eriksson Ek or Jordan Greenway. One thing that is certain is that Minnesota will not let Dumba be taken for free by future Western Conference rival Seattle. If the team cannot convince a veteran to waive their NMC and decide the 7-3 protection scheme is their best choice, Dumba will be traded before the Expansion Draft – hence the abundant speculation. Dumba has stated many times that he would like to remain with the Wild, so the organization is obviously doing all they can to make it work.
- Another player who would like to stay in Minnesota is Parise. The 36-year-old is coming off of a down year and was even benched for the first three games of the Wild’s first round series. However, he impressed in the remainder of the series once activated. Parise can still play at a high level, but not commensurate to his $7.5MM+ cap hit over four more years. The Wild have tried to move the contract in the past and may do so again this summer, but Parise hopes they don’t. He told Dane Mizutani of TwinCities.com that he “[doesn’t] want to play anywhere else” but for his hometown team. As Mizutani points out, he shouldn’t be too worried given his albatross of a contract. Ironically though, one way that Parise could prove his loyalty to the club would be to waive his NMC for the Expansion Draft, allowing Minnesota to protect all of Dumba, Eriksson Ek, and Greenway in an 8-skater format. There is no way that Seattle would touch Parise’s contract, so it could be a win-win for both sides.
- While the Wild are certainly not looking forward to the Expansion Draft – even if Dumba, Eriksson Ek, and Greenway are safe, the team will still lose a good player like Carson Soucy or Marcus Foligno – they are definitely excited for the NHL Entry Draft. With the Pittsburgh Penguins opting to send their 2021 first-round pick rather than their 2020 for last year’s Jason Zucker trade, the Wild will now have two picks in the top 32 this year. Not only that, but they will have two picks very close together as well. Minnesota’s own pick is locked in at No. 22 overall, but if the Tampa Bay Lightning advance to the next round, Pittsburgh’s pick will be No. 25, allowing the Wild to control the board with two picks out of four selections. They could also look to package the two picks to potentially move up into the top half of the first round. With a pipeline that is already well-stocked, Minnesota has put themselves in position to stay competitive for a long time with a strong roster and deep system after adding two first-rounders this year, as well as all of their own picks and another Pittsburgh pick in the third round.