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Mark Borowiecki

Minor Transactions: 11/27/18

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Another day, another 10-game schedule for the NHL that will start with an intriguing matchup between the San Jose Sharks and Buffalo Sabres. Jack Eichel and company will try to prove once again that they belong in the conversation for the Atlantic Division crown as they look for their tenth consecutive win, while Erik Karlsson and the Sharks are just trying to stay above water. As teams prepare for tonight’s festivities, we’ll keep track of all the minor moves around the league.

  • Mark Borowiecki has been moved to injured reserve, though he already hasn’t played in six days. The bruising Ottawa Senators defenseman is out with an undisclosed injury and will be eligible to return as soon as he is healthy enough to do so.
  • The Montreal Canadiens have activated captain Shea Weber, and will have him in the lineup tonight against the Carolina Hurricanes. Weber’s recovery went even better than expected and the Canadiens will welcome him back several weeks before his initial timeline suggested. The veteran defenseman will be a huge boost for the team as they look to continue their relatively strong start.
  • Tim Gettinger has been sent down by the New York Rangers, returned after just a day at the NHL level. The club has been bouncing Gettinger up and down for the past week, using him as an extra body for the past couple of games but giving him very little ice time. The 20-year old is still looking for his first NHL point.
  • The Buffalo Sabres have recalled Lawrence Pilut for the second time this season, and could get him into the lineup given Zach Bogosian’s absence from practice today. The young Swedish defenseman has great offensive upside, but will need to fight to get a full-time spot with the Sabres.
  • Antti Raanta should be fine to start tonight for the Arizona Coyotes, but the team has recalled Hunter Miska from the minor leagues just in case. Carrying three goaltenders for the time being, Miska is likely headed back to the Tucson Roadrunners after the game.
  • Michael Raffl has been activated from injured reserve by the Philadelphia Flyers, and is expected to be back in the lineup tonight. Raffl hasn’t played since October 22nd when he suffered a lower-body injury against the Colorado Avalanche.

Atlantic Notes: Palat, Pageau, Dermott, Hudon, Rask

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Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper announced that winger Ondrej Palat is not expected to play Sunday, but after that the 27-year-old is expected to be listed as “day-to-day” and could be back soon. Palat hasn’t played since Oct. 26 when he left the game with a lower body injury and subsequently was listed out for at least four weeks. That seems about right as the team could get him back at some point this week.

Palat has appeared in just nine games this season and has failed to find the back of the net as he has just five assists in that span. The team needs the winger to return and re-establish himself in the team’s top-six as he also dealt with injuries last year as he played in 56 games, tallying only 11 goals.

Cooper also added that defenseman Anton Stralman is being re-evaluated and will be out Sunday. The 32-year-old hasn’t played since Nov. 8 with an undisclosed injury. Stralman has eight points in 16 games.

  • The Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch reports that center Jean-Gabriel Pageau, who has been out all season with a torn Achilles muscle, continues to make amazing progress as he joined the team on their four-game road trip in New York and skated with the team Sunday in a non-contact jersey. Despite a six-month timetable in mid-September, Pageau looks closer and closer to returning to the team quite a bit earlier than the original diagnosis. Garrioch also notes that Mark Stone, Colin White and Mark Borowiecki all took part in skating Sunday.
  • The Athletic’s Ian Tulloch (subscription required) breaks down the play of many of the Toronto Maple Leafs from Saturday’s game. Of note, Tulloch writes that one necessity in the near future is that Toronto must find a way to find a spot in their top-four for defenseman Travis Dermott. The 21-year-old is only averaging 17:53 of ATOI, but has been used more and more, getting 23:06 of ice time Saturday. The scribe adds that Dermott has developed into the team’s top defenseman and the Toronto needs to make adjustments accordingly, which means cutting playing time for struggling blueliners Ron Hainsey and Nikita Zaitsev.
  • After being a healthy scratch for Friday’s game, Montreal Canadiens forward Charles Hudon talked to head coach Claude Julien, who told him to be more aggressive, like he was last season when he had 126 hits, according to Montreal Gazette’s Stu Cowan. Hudon’s response was he had 13 hits in 9:09 of ice time.
  • It looks like the break that Tuukka Rask took a week ago has been paying off for the netminder. Rask has had three impressive starts since taking a critical weekend off earlier this month, including a .938 save percentage in his three appearances since his return, according to the Boston Globe’s Kevin Paul Dupont.

Mark Borowiecki Suspended For Three Games

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Mark Borowiecki’s return to Ottawa’s lineup didn’t last very long.  In his first game back following a suspension for an elbowing incident against the Bruins, the league announced that he has been suspended for three games for an illegal check on Golden Knights center Cody Eakin on Sunday.

The incident occurred in the first period of the game and Borowiecki was assessed a five-minute major penalty for charging and a game misconduct on the play.  However, the fact that he was just coming off of a suspension likely did not sit well with the Department of Player Safety as it’s their expectation that suspensions are supposed to serve as deterrents moving forward.

The 29-year-old is now viewed as a repeat offender for salary forfeiture purposes, meaning that he will forfeit just under $44K in salary (3/82 multiplied by his $1.2MM salary).  Borowiecki will be eligible to return to Ottawa’s lineup on November 4th against Tampa Bay.  With the Sens down to just 12 healthy forwards and seven defensemen on their roster, they may decide to make a roster move in advance of their game on Tuesday night.

Mark Borowiecki To Have Hearing With Department Of Player Safety

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Stop us if you’ve heard this one before. After serving a one-game suspension just last week, Ottawa Senators defenseman Mark Borowiecki could be facing more discipline from the Department of Player Safety. He’ll have a hearing with the league today after his illegal check to the head of Cody Eakin last night. This time, unlike his prior incident, the on-ice officials did penalize him, as Borowiecki was given a five-minute major and was ejected from the game.

Borowiecki’s recent suspension was for an elbow to the head of Urho Vaakanainen, a connection that he claimed was incidental as he was trying to defend his goaltender’s crease. The league, even while accepting that defense, still issued a suspension and stated that it was Borowiecki’s responsibility to avoid the forceful blow to the head. Similar arguments may be made in this incident, as the Ottawa defenseman does little to target Eakin’s head but still ends up connecting with it. The league is putting the onus on the checking player to avoid contact with the head, even if it means avoiding the check altogether.

Given the recency of his last suspension, it’s very likely that the league comes down hard on Borowiecki if they deem the hit worthy of supplementary discipline. As they’ve made clear with Tom Wilson’s 20-game suspension, the DoPS does not want to investigate incidents with the same players on a regular basis and will hand out a hefty ban to try and discourage that type of play. Even commissioner Gary Bettman, in his recent ruling to uphold the Wilson suspension wrote:

One true and fundamental test of effective discipline is whether the discipline is of sufficient strength and impact that it has the effect of deterring the Player being disciplined from repeating the same or similar conduct in the future. 

While the two Borowiecki incidents aren’t exactly the same, he was also suspended for boarding Tyler Toffoli in 2016 and is now under intense scrutiny. He may need to change the way he plays slightly to avoid plays like this, even if he had no intent of injuring Eakin. On big open ice hits, there is always a chance that the player’s head is a main point of contact, causing injuries the league desperately wants to reduce.

Mark Borowiecki Suspended One Game

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The verdict is in, and Mark Borowiecki will be forced to sit one game for his elbow to the head of Urho Vaakanainen last night. The Department of Player Safety announced the suspension today, and included an explanation:

While we accept Borowiecki’s argument that he was not aiming for Vaakanainen’s head and only trying to defend his crease, Borowiecki is still responsible for the fact that he recklessly delivered a blow to the head of his opponent with sufficient force to cause an injury. 

The Ottawa Senators defenseman has been suspended previously, as he was given a two-game ban for boarding Tyler Toffoli in 2016. Though the league mentions this prior suspension, it notes that it was several seasons ago and for a different type of incident. It would have been taken into account, but clearly the DoPS believed they should not hand out a more severe punishment this time around.

Unfortunately for the Boston Bruins, Vaakanainen is likely going to be out longer than the player who injured him. The young defenseman was in just his second career game, but suffered a concussion and was almost immediately ruled out for the remainder of the game. The team will have to take it slow with their prized prospect, given his importance to the team’s long term plans on the blue line. The Bruins are back in action tomorrow, and it would be extremely surprising to see the young defenseman available for the game.

That leaves the Bruins in a tough spot given that Torey Krug, Charlie McAvoy and Kevan Miller are all still out of the lineup. Head coach Bruce Cassidy indicated to Eric Russo of NHL.com that the team will have to look at the Providence Bruins for help to get through these injuries, mentioning Cody Goloubef among other candidates.

Ottawa meanwhile will have Cody Ceci back in the lineup on Friday while Borowiecki sits out, giving them at least another experienced option to soak up minutes on the blue line. After that, the suspended defenseman will be able to rejoin the club and finish out their Western Conference road trip through Vegas and Arizona. He’ll have to stay on his best behavior for a while, or else face increased scrutiny from the league for his physical altercations.

Mark Borowiecki To Have Hearing With Department Of Player Safety

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The Ottawa Senators could be without a key defenseman for a few games, after the league announced today that Mark Borowiecki will have a hearing with the Department of Player Safety to determine a potential suspension. Borowiecki elbowed Boston Bruins defenseman Urho Vaakanainen in the face last night during an altercation in front of the net, but wasn’t penalized on the play. Vaakanainen suffered a concussion on the play.

Borowiecki is familiar with the DoPS from his two-game suspension in 2016 for boarding Tyler Toffoli of the Los Angeles Kings. That previous suspension will be taken into account, and given Vaakanainen suffered an injury another ban seems likely. The league is trying hard to take head shots out of the game, and though this incident wasn’t a full body check to the head, Borowiecki obviously targeted the young Bruins defenseman’s face as he came in to try and find a loose puck. While that decision was made in an instant, the league will take its time in determining any supplementary discipline.

The Senators play again on Friday and Sunday evenings, as they start a Western Conference road trip that takes them to Colorado, Vegas and Arizona. Luckily for the team, Cody Ceci is expected to be back in the lineup by the team’s next game, giving them back the player they depend on the most on defense.

Urho Vaakanainen Suffers Concussion

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The Boston Bruins are in Ottawa tonight to face the Senators, and already have lost one of their young players to injury. Urho Vaakanainen has been ruled out of the game with a concussion, after taking an elbow from defenseman Mark Borowiecki in front of the net. Vaakanainen was coming in to try and shovel a loose puck into the net when Borowiecki extended his arm to try and keep him away from goaltender Craig Anderson.

Vaakanainen was playing in just the second NHL game of his career after being recalled on an emergency basis, but will likely be out for at least a few days now while he deals with the head injury. In the meantime, the Department of Player Safety is surely looking at the play and will decide tomorrow whether to have a hearing with Borowiecki for possible supplementary discipline.

The 19-year old Bruins defenseman was the 18th-overall pick in 2017, and is a very promising prospect that could make their blue line one of the most dangerous in the league over the next few years. Borowiecki meanwhile was recently involved in a questionable incident of his own, one in which he though Brendan Gallagher of the Montreal Canadiens should have faced some supplementary discipline. His public critique of the DoPS likely won’t buy him any favors.

Atlantic Notes: Nylander, Harpur, Maple Leafs, Reilly

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As if the Toronto Maple Leafs and William Nylander negotiations weren’t getting enough attention, NHL.com’s Igor Eronko reports that KHL Avangard Omsk head coach Bob Hartley, whose team owns the KHL rights to Nylander, would love to have the winger come play for them.

“I would like to see William in my team,” Hartley said. “I know his father. That would be great.”

Negotiations between the two sides have not fared well with rumors that Nylander’s camp is asking for $8MM per season, while the Maple Leafs refuse to offer a record-breaking deal and are rumored to be closer to $6MM per season. An earlier report even suggests that Toronto’s latest offer was a four-year deal worth well under $20MM and the team is not interested in trading the 22-year-old.

Nylander could opt to sign a deal with Avangard Omsk, although that seems unlikely as he’d prefer to play in the NHL, but obviously Nylander’s camp is hoping the possible threat of sitting out the season might bring up Toronto’s offer.

  • The Ottawa Senators got another impressive performance from one of their young players Saturday when defenseman Ben Harpur finally made his season debut. The 23-year-old had been a healthy scratch up to now, but made an immediate physical impact to the game when he put a major hit on Los Angeles Kings winger Alex Iafallo early in the game. The 6-foot-6, 222-pound blueliner didn’t register a point in their 5-1 win over the Kings, but played so well, he led the team in ice time, playing 22:37, according to Don Brennan of The Ottawa Sun. Harpur was teamed with veteran Mark Borowiecki on a pairing assigned to shutdown the Kings’ top line of Anze Kopitar, Ilya Kovalchuk and Iafallo. That line finished with no points and just six shots on goal.
  • The Athletic’s Jonas Siegel (subscription required) gives credit to general manager Kyle Dubas and the Toronto Maple Leafs for the signings of center Par Lindholm and defenseman Igor Ozhiganov, who both have made quite an impact on the Maple Leafs already loaded roster, giving them another two “free” additions on a team that needs as many cheap options as possible. Lindholm potted his first career NHL goal Saturday, while Ozhiganov had his best game yet, according to head coach Mike Babcock. The team has already done a good job in past years, bringing in foreign players on cheap deals, including defenseman Nikita Zaitsev as well as Calle Rosen and Andreas Borgman.
  • The Montreal Canadiens feel they have found an answer to who will eventually play alongside Shea Weber when he returns later this year. The team has been really impressed with the play of Mike Reilly, who has been a big part of the team’s 2-1-1 start so far this season, according to The Athletic’s Arpon Basu (subscription required). He has done a good job moving the puck with his speed. He faced up against Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby twice and while the numbers don’t support it, Crosby wasn’t a major factor in either game. “It’s a good challenge, but I love it,” Reilly said after the Canadiens’ 4-3 shootout win Saturday. “I like to compete, I have high expectations, so it’s always fun to go out against guys like that.”

Ottawa Senators Preparing For Huge Roster Turnover

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Late last night after much of the hockey news had died down for the day, the Ottawa Senators released a video of defenseman Mark Borowiecki and owner Eugene Melnyk discussing the future of the organization. Touching on subjects from dressing room leadership to overcoming the low expectations for 2018-19, Melnyk made clear he would be staying with the franchise for a long time and will not move it from Ottawa. He also noted an interesting point about roster construction, explaining how quickly the rebuild will get underway:

This coming year we’re going to have 10 out of the 22 players are going to be new. Meaning they’re either rookies or they’ve played maybe under 10 games last year. Then the following year, it’s going to go up to about 15 of the 22, maybe 16. So that’s a total turnover you know, which is exactly what should be in a rebuild. 

Stripping your roster down to the studs and letting a group of young players grow and mature together is often a strategy for struggling teams who want to rebuild, and the Senators saw a similar situation play out just down the road in Toronto a few years ago. In fact, when the Maple Leafs traveled to Ottawa to open the season in 2016 they had seven rookies in the lineup including Auston Matthews, who scored four times despite the loss. That would appear to be the blue print for Melnyk and the Senators as they look to pull a similarly speedy rebuild.

The question though becomes how do they achieve the goal of having 10 rookies on the roster at the beginning of the year. The team currently has at least 19 players—Mark Stone, Bobby Ryan, Matt Duchene, Zack Smith, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Ryan Dzingel, Tom Pyatt, Magnus Paajarvi, Max McCormick, Colin White, Marian Gaborik, Erik Karlsson, Cody Ceci, Chris Wideman, Ben Harpur, Thomas Chabot, Craig Anderson, Mike Condon and Borowiecki—who played more than 10 games for the organization last season and should at the very least be battling for roster spots. While perhaps Melnyk was exaggerating and players like White and Chabot would still be considered “rookies” given their relative youth and inexperience, it seems likely that there will be substantial turnover in the rest of the group.

We’ve heard for months that Karlsson may be on the block, speculation that will only increase given his complete absence from this video, but other players including Stone and Duchene are both heading into the final years of their contracts and could be shipped out for prospects and picks. If the Senators are committed to a full scorched earth rebuild, they are powerful assets in trade.

At the very least, we should expect the Senators to be involved in trade talks all season. Even though Melnyk and Borowiecki seem excited about playing the underdogs this year, the amount of roster turnover that the owner mentions isn’t possible without some transactions coming through the pipe quickly. Camp starts in just a few days and Senators rookies should be licking their chops on the opportunity that is apparently there for the taking.

Atlantic Notes: Dorion, Borowiecki, Lightning

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Although the Senators find themselves well out of the playoff picture at the moment, should they be hesitant to truly sell off the roster?  Jared Clinton of The Hockey News makes a case for GM Pierre Dorion to be wary of entering a true rebuilding process.

It all stems around defenseman Erik Karlsson.  It has been well-documented that he will become an unrestricted free agent following the 2018-19 season and that it is going to cost considerably more than the $6.5MM cap charge he currently carries.  If they decide to opt for future assets in the form of prospects and draft picks, ones that won’t be ready to contribute to Ottawa’s lineup when he hits free agency, that could potentially sway him away from re-signing.  Accordingly, Clinton suggests that Dorion look more for younger players that have already established themselves or could break out with more playing time.  Those would represent retooling moves instead of rebuilding which could make staying with the Senators long-term a more appealing option for Karlsson.

More from the Atlantic:

  • Still with Ottawa, defenseman Mark Borowiecki has received the green light to return to full-contact practice, notes Postmedia’s Ken Warren. He has missed the last 19 games due to a concussion with the Senators winning just four of those.  The 28-year-old is targeting either January 9th (versus Chicago) or January 10th (against Toronto) as a return date.
  • Tampa Bay is likely to pursue a top-four defenseman who can play the right side between now and the trade deadline, reports Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic (subscription required). While Jake Dotchin has fared relatively well alongside Victor Hedman, Lightning GM Steve Yzerman will probably want someone that is a bit more proven in that role once the playoffs are underway.  However, that is a common need for a lot of teams (LeBrun adds division-rival Toronto is another team looking for help there) so it will be interesting to see if they can find the right fit.  Given their group of quality prospects that they could deal from, they could have a leg up on some of those other teams.

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