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Carolina’s Sebastian Aho Out Indefinitely

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Sebastian Aho’s recent streak of good luck has come to an end. The Carolina Hurricanes star forward had posted 14 points in his past 10 games entering the team’s match-up against the Calgary Flames yesterday, but was unable to notch another point or even finish another game after taking a big hit from Flames captain Mark Giordano. While the hit was high –  and drew a match penalty – head coach Bill Peters indicated after the game that Aho may have suffered a knee injury in addition to his head injury.

While it remains unclear which injury is to blame (most likely  a combination of both), ’Canes beat writer Chip Alexander reports this evening that those initial post-game concerns were warranted. Carolina has revealed that Aho is out indefinitely with a concussion and lower-body injury. Alexander does add that the lower-body injury, suspected to be a knee injury, did not require Aho to undergo surgery, which could help him return to action sooner rather than later.

While the Hurricanes are fortunate enough to have activated veteran forwards Lee Stempniak and Marcus Kruger off of injured reserve last week, their presence alone won’t be enough to make up for the loss of Aho. The 20-year-old winger leads the team with both 16 goals and 37 points and has been especially effective of late as Carolina looks to stick around the playoff picture in the ultra-competitive Metropolitan Division. What may help to offset the Aho injury is the fact that the ’Canes have just begun their bye week, potentially lessening the impact of Aho’s absence if he returns within a relatively short amount of time. Only time will tell how long the team will be without Aho, but the longer “indefinitely” lasts and he remains sidelined, the less and less likely it is that Carolina makes the playoffs this season.

Snapshots: Three Stars, Mahura, Boeser

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The NHL released their three stars of the week, and Patrick Kane comes home with top honors. Kane had five points in three games including two game-winning goals, and moved into fifth on the all-time Chicago Blackhawks goals list.

Brian Elliott and Josh Bailey rounded out the list after a pair of incredible performances. It was Elliott’s second straight appearance on the list, as the Philadelphia Flyers goaltender has now won his last six starts, allowing just nine goals in the process. Amazingly that has followed a stretch where Elliott lost nine straight starts, as he echos the Flyers inconsistent season.

  • Josh Mahura is back with the Canadian World Junior team despite being among the final cuts last week. The Anaheim Ducks defensive prospect will fill in for the injured Dante Fabbro during the pre-tournament games, but likely will return to the WHL before the start of the tournament. Mahura, a third-round pick by the Ducks in 2016, has developed quite well over the last two years and looks like he’ll be a full-time NHL defender one day. With 29 points in 28 games, Mahura is one of the most impressive defenders in the WHL and will try to compete for a role on the Ducks next training camp.
  • Brock Boeser is undergoing an MRI on his injured foot today to find out exactly how much damage was done when he blocked a Mark Giordano shot last night. Boeser crawled to the Vancouver Canucks bench in obvious pain, and wasn’t able to return. Having an incredible rookie season, it would be a tough blow for the Canucks to lose Boeser for any length of time, especially with Bo Horvat dealing with injury already.

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.

Central Notes: Subban, Josi, Ellis, Steen, Fabbri

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Proving that defense is the key to a Stanley Cup Finals run, the NHL Network released its list of top 20 defensemen in the NHL and the Nashville Predators were stocked full of them. They had the most blueliners on the list, including P.K. Subban (#6), Roman Josi (#7) and Ryan Ellis (#19).

Subban, coming off his first year with the Predators after being traded from Montreal, had a solid season even though his numbers dropped from his previous three years with the Canadiens. Subban finished with 10 goals and 30 assists for the year, but made the all-star team and proved to be a pest to every team’s top scorers.

Josi’s season was also down from previous years, but his numbers also stood out with 12 goals and 37 assists, giving him three straight years with 49 points or more. Ellis leaped into the spotlight this year as he took his game to another level this year with a career high in goals with 16. He also had 11 power play points, three game-winning goals and led the team with 137 blocked shots.

Of course, Ottawa’s Erik Karlsson was first on the list, but only a couple other teams had more than one player on the top-20 list. With the addition of Kevin Shattenkirk (#15), the New York Rangers had two defensemen on the list with Ryan McDonagh at #17. The Calgary Flames also boasted two blueliners in the top 20, Dougie Hamilton (#16) and Mark Giordano (#18).

  • In his final column, the St. Louis Post Dispatch’s Jim Rutherford writes that while the talk is that Alex Steen has regressed over the past couple of years, he believes that the 33-year-old wing has been cast in the wrong role. He believes that Steen’s 33-goal season in 2013-14 was an anomaly and he should not be considered as a 30-goal scorer. If looked at from a 20-goal scoring point of view, Steen’s numbers (33 goals in the last two seasons) make more sense.
  • Rutherford in the same piece adds that he does not believe any of the Blues top prospects, Klim Kostin, Jordan Kyrou or Tage Thompson, have much of a chance of breaking with the Blues after training camp. He said Kostin is still recovering from an injury and just moved to the U.S. a couple of months ago. Kyrou is ticketed to go back to his junior team, while Thompson struggled adjusting to the AHL.
  • Rutherford adds that Robby Fabbri is expected to be ready for training camp after tearing his ACL. He believes he will start the season off as the team’s center, but if the team is not scoring enough, he could easily see Fabbri forced to move back to the wing position.

Early Expansion Protection News: Capitals, Kings, Flames, Predators, And More

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The 2017 NHL Expansion Draft is an exciting process. If you’re too riled up to wait until the lists are officially submitted in the morning, you’re in luck. As could be expected, information leaks are flooding in on who was and wasn’t protected by their teams ahead of the deadline this afternoon. This list will be updated all night long as more news comes in:

  • One not so obvious choice has been made in Nashville. Adam Vingan of The Tennessean answered a question on the minds of many, reporting that the Predators did in fact protect forward Calle Jarnkrok. With the rest of the eight-skater list all but set in stone with goalie Pekka Rinne, defensemen Roman Josi, P.K. Subban, Ryan Ellis, and Mattias Ekholm, and star forwards Filip Forsberg, Ryan Johansen, and Viktor Arvidsson, the final forward spot came down to Jarnkrok, signed long-term, or James Neal, an elite scorer with just one year remaining on his contract. It seems that Neal will be open for selection, alongside names like Colton Sissons, Colin Wilson, and Craig Smith. Vignan adds that no deal has been struck between Vegas and the Predators to protect any of those players, with Nashville especially liking to retain Neal and Sissons.
  • Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that, interestingly enough, young Detroit Red Wings defenseman Xavier Ouellet was not protected by his team. This is the first real surprise of the expansion process and the first protection news that doesn’t match up with PHR’s Expansion Primer projections. The 23-year-old skated in 66 games this season for Detroit, third most among defenseman, and his 12 points tied that of top-pair man Danny DeKeyser. Yet, Ouellett will not join DeKeyser and Mike Green in protection, instead beaten out by another teammate. GM Ken Holland, who has gotten the reputation of perhaps being too loyal, possibly chose aging veteran Niklas Kronwall over Ouellet. Hopefully that doesn’t come back to bite the rebuilding Red Wings.
  • Another name confirmed to be unprotected is young Vancouver Canucks center Brendan Gaunce. Vancouver sports anchor Rick Dhaliwal was told that that Gaunce, a 2012 first-round pick, did not make the protection list for the Canucks, expected to be a 7/3 format, meaning that the team saw him as outside the top seven forwards on the team. The 23-year-old two-way specialist has upside, but after registering just five points in 57 games last season, no one will blame Vancouver for that choice.

Evening Notes: Flames, Sound Tigers, Rinaldo

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The Calgary Flames have opted to go with the 7 F/ 3 D / 1 G protection scheme, per Kristen Odland. With the team having both Dennis Wideman and Michael Stone hitting unrestricted free agency, this seems like a no brainer. Still, it is worthy of note that the team will not opt to protect any but the likely three of Mark Giordano, Dougie Hamilton, and T.J. Brodie. As mentioned by PHR’s own Gavin Lee, Troy Brouwer seems the most likely candidate for a claim, though a smart move on Vegas’ part would be to opt for underrated prospect Hunter Shinkaruk.

  • The Bridgeport Sound Tigers have inked two players to amateur tryout contracts. A 5’9″ winger from Boston College, Matt Gaudreau is most notable for being the younger brother of Calgary’s Johnny Gaudreau. Matt is more of a depth player, potting only 8 goals in his senior year. By comparison, Johnny Gaudreau scored 36 goals to accompany his 45 assists in his junior year at the same school. John Stevens also has an NHL tie-in, as he is the son of the L.A. Kings head coach of the same name. Stevens (the player) is far safer of a bet to make an impact, as he had showed offensive growth before being sidelined by an injury his senior year at Northeastern. His advantage in size should also give him an edge, as he has 5 inches in height and 35 pounds on the younger Gaudreau.
  • Boston’s Zac Rinaldo will not be extended an offer to re-join the team, per Andy Strickland. Rinaldo will become an unrestricted free agent, as he is 26, although the market for him will essentially be non-existent. Of note is the fact that Boston GM Don Sweeney traded a 3rd-round draft selection to Philadelphia to acquire his services in the summer of 2015. Rinaldo was waived and played no games for the team in 2016-17 after being suspended  for a combined 10 games in the NHL and AHL the year prior. He only competed in 29 contests in Providence this season. The Bruin fanbase certainly hasn’t been enthusiastic about the organization’s asset management and this will only add fuel to that fire.

Snapshots: Suzuki, Thornton, Malkin, Giordano

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Now that Jack Hughes will be heading to the US Development Program, the expected first overall pick in the upcoming OHL draft was vacated. While Hughes would have been a shoe-in for the Barrie Colts selection, Bob McKenzie of TSN now reports that it will be Ryan Suzuki going first. If that last name strikes you as familiar in regards to a hockey draft, you’re not crazy—Nick Suzuki, Ryan’s older brother, is expected to go in the first round in this summer’s NHL entry draft. The older Suzuki is playing with the Owen Sound Attack of the OHL and has a chance at a Memorial Cup bid this spring. In 70 games this season (including five playoff contests), the 17-year old centerman has 106 points.

  • Shawn Thornton will call it quits after this season, and transition into a business position with the Florida Panthers according to Craig Davis of the Sun Sentinel. Thornton will finish with 705 career games played and over 1100 penalty minutes. The rough, physical forward hit double digit goals only twice in his career, but was part of two different Stanley Cup winning teams. At 39-years old, he’s carved out an impressive career for a player drafted in the seventh round who never even recorded 30 points in his junior career. While a lot of that success has to do with his fists, he’s also a testament to work ethic and perseverance.
  • Penguins’ head coach Mike Sullivan told reporters that the team is “optimistic” Evgeni Malkin will be ready for the start of the playoffs. After getting news that Kris Letang would miss 4-6 months following neck surgery, getting Malkin back as soon as possible is extremely important if the Penguins want to do any damage in the postseason. Malkin has been skating by himself for a few days, and took shots before practice this morning.
  • Mark Giordano will not receive any supplementary discipline for the hit that injured Cam Fowler last night, according to Mike Halford of NBC. Giordano went knee-on-knee with Fowler, but did receive a punishment of sorts when Josh Manson decided he deserved some justice. Losing Fowler for any length of time would be a big hit to the Ducks as they head into the postseason.

Saturday Snapshots: Tkachuk, Stamkos, Stone

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Given his pedigree, it should come as little surprise that one of Matthew Tkachuk’s strengths is his advanced hockey sense. His father, Keith Tkachuk of course, played 18 seasons in the NHL and scored 538 career regular season goals. As Darren Haynes writes on his Flames From 80 Feet Above blog, the younger Tkachuk displays hockey awareness on par with that of a 10-year veteran as opposed to that of a 19-year-old rookie.

Flames head coach Glen Gulutzan certainly agrees with the sentiment, praising the young power forward’s “gamesmanship, his hockey sense (and) his ice awareness.” Haynes describes a subtle play made by the rookie in a recent win over Dallas in which Tkachuk touched the puck with a high stick and knew if he was the first to touch it that the officials would blow the play dead. Instead, Tkachuk tracked the puck into the offensive zone and waited for a Stars player to play the puck. Adam Cracknell did just that and Tkachuk picked his pocket and moved the puck to Mark Giordano whose shot deflected off of Stars defenseman Dan Hamhuis and into the net.

Tkachuk has tallied 13 goals and 46 points in 67 games this season which represents excellent production for any rookie, much less one just 19 years old and in his first professional campaign. Yet beyond his offensive output, it may be the little things Tkachuk brings to the table that makes him such a valuable contributor to a team that appears poised to make the playoffs.

Elsewhere in the NHL on this Saturday:

  • Steven Stamkos, out since November with a knee injury, returned to the ice as a full participant at the Lightning’s Friday practice. While that has to be considered a positive sign in his lengthy recovery, Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times writes that Stamkos’ return is still not “imminent.” The Lightning, who have surprisingly managed to resurface in the playoff race despite a trade deadline selloff of goalie Ben Bishop along with forwards Brian Boyle and Valtteri Filppula, would certainly welcome a healthy Stamkos with open arms but at this point it appears they’ll have to manage without their captain for a little while longer.
  • Ottawa Senators forward Mark Stone, who has missed the last week with a lower-body injury, is still considered week-to-week and according to head coach Guy Boucher hasn’t skated while recovering from the leg issue, reports Ken Warren of the Ottawa Citizen. Stone, a terrific forechecker, has tallied 22 goals and 50 points in 63 games this season and is an important cog up front for the Senators. While the loss of Stone certainly stings, his absence has been mitigated somewhat by trade deadline acquisitions Alexandre Burrows and Viktor Stalberg, who have combined for six goals and nine points in the eight games since coming to Canada’s capital. Ottawa, at this point safely in possession of a postseason slot, will continue to look for production from the newest Sens as they work to secure a playoff berth.

Expansion Draft Issues: Post-Trade Deadline

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Last month, we looked at several teams facing some tough situations in regards to the upcoming NHL Expansion Draft and offered potential solutions to how they could address their needs for forwards, defensemen and goalies at the NHL Trade Deadline. With March 1st over and done with, many of those squads have solved their problems with signings or acquisitions.

Calgary Flames

Problem: Defense

Status: Solved

The Flames solved their problem of otherwise having to expose Mark Giordano, T.J. Brodie, or Dougie Hamilton with the ingenious signing of Matt Bartkowski, the only defenseman on the planet who was both free to acquire and automatically eligible for exposure in the draft. It’s a good thing they signed him too, since they ended up trading away their best fall-back option, young defenseman Jyrki Jokipakka.

Carolina Hurricanes

Problem: Defense

Status: Unsolved

It was a pretty quiet deadline in Raleigh, as the ’Canes shipped out Ron Hainsey and Viktor Stalberg and then called it a day. What they didn’t do was acquire another body on the blue line to help solve their lack of a defenseman to expose. Carolina is still facing the problem of All-Star Justin Faulk being the only defenseman on the roster currently meeting the criteria for mandated exposure, due to the majority of their defensemen being too young to be eligible altogether. There is no way that Faulk is there for the taking by Vegas, but GM Ron Francis is left with only two choices: extend impending RFA Klas Dahlbeck or extend impending UFA Matt Tennyson and make sure he plays in seven more games this season, as he’s currently short of the 40-game mark.

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Matt Bartkowski Expected To Sign With Calgary

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The strange career arc of Matt Bartkowski continues. The Providence Journal’s Mark Divver reported this morning that Bartkowski has been released from his minor league contract with the AHL’s Providence Bruins. Bartkowksi had two goals and eight assists in 34 games for the P-Bruins, and had been somewhat underwhelming at both ends of the ice. Just when you think that maybe that’s it for the 28-year-old’s pro hockey career, there’s this follow-up tweet from Divver: Bartkowski will sign with the Calgary Flames. Divver adds that deal is expected to be a two-year, two-way contract. However, the Flames have since announced that (for now) Bartkowski is just on a professional tryout.

If you don’t know much about Bartkowski you’re not alone. After all, he was on a minor-league contract this season. Yet, just a few years ago, Bartkowski’s career was trending in a very different direction. A seventh-round selection of the Florida Panthers in 2008, Bartkowski’s rights were traded to the Boston Bruins along with Dennis Seidenberg at the 2010 Trade Deadline. Bartkowski left Ohio State University after the 2009-10 season to join his new organization. In his first three pro seasons, Bartkowski was an impressive two-way threat in the AHL for the Providence Bruins, and each year would earn some play time in Boston as well. In 2013-14, Bartkowski finally earned a role with the Bruins and somewhat burst on to the scene with 18 assists and a very solid +22 rating in 64 games. Bartkowski appeared to have the makings of a top-six NHL defenseman, and Bruins Assistant GM Jim Benning thought so too. After another year in Boston with a reduced role and less production, Bartkowski became an unrestricted free agent and bolted for Vancouver, where Benning had taken over as GM of the Cancuks. Bartkowski played in a career-high 80 games with the Canucks in 2015-16, going from zero career goals to six by the end of the season and adding 12 assists along the way. However, the uptick in offense came with a bit of a breakdown in defense. While still a physical player, he became somewhat of a liability in his own end, finishing the season at -19 and losing ice time as the year progressed. Vancouver chose not to re-sign Bartkowski this summer and the blue liner saw little interest before returning to his roots with a PTO-turned-contract with the Providence Bruins.

Now, in a wild twist, he’ll be back in the NHL. Bartkowski was reportedly on the ice for Flames practice this morning and ready to begin his PTO. Calgary isn’t exactly desperate for defense with Mark Giordano, T.J. Brodie, Dougie Hamilton, Dennis Wideman, and Deryk Engelland in the fold, but what they don’t have is anyone they’re willing to lose in the upcoming Expansion Draft. If Divver is right, and Bartkowski’s PTO is a front for an eventual two-year contract, that is a very strategic move by GM Brad Treliving. As we recently discussed, the Flames would have to expose one of Giordano, Brodie, and Hamilton if they made no further moves before June 21st to meet the quota of having one defenseman available to the Vegas Golden Knights that has term on his contract and 40 NHL games played this season or 70 NHL games over the past two years. Bartkowski presents a very rare opportunity; he was on a minor league contract and could be acquired without having to give anything up in a trade and he played in 80 games just last year, fulfilling the games played requirement. If the Flames hand Bartkowski a two-year deal as Divver suspects, he immediately qualifies to be exposed even if he doesn’t play a single NHL game this season. This could be a genius maneuver by Treliving and is worth following over the next week or two.

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