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Matt Duchene

West Notes: Flames On The Trade Block, Connor, Duchene

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The Calgary Flames have made defenseman Deryk Engelland and center/left winger Lance Bouma available, reports Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun.  Neither player appears to be drawing much interest, however.

Engelland is in his third season with the Flames and has four points while averaging a career best 19:10 per night.  However, he carries a cap hit that’s a little higher than $2.9MM which is pricey for a player whose reputation is that of a third pairing physical blueliner.  However, as a pending unrestricted free agent, there could be more interest as the season progresses and more teams have cap space to work with.

As for Bouma, who currently is on injured reserve for a couple of weeks with a shoulder injury, he is off to a tough start so far this season.  In 13 games, he has just one assist although he is averaging over 2.5 hits per game.  Back in 2014-15, he had a 16 goal, 34 point campaign that also saw him rank seventh in the league in hits with 264.  That offseason, he signed a three year deal with a cap hit of $2.2MM which has the remainder of this year plus one more season to go on it.  Given his struggles dating back to last season and the extra year left on his deal, GM Brad Treliving may be hard pressed to find a suitor for Bouma unless he retains salary or takes back another not-so-ideal contract.

Other news from the Western Conference:

  • The Jets have placed left winger Kyle Connor on injured reserve, the team announced. He suffered an upper body injury in Sunday’s victory over Los Angeles on a hit from Kyle Clifford.  Clifford will not face any supplemental discipline for the hit, one that earned him a five minute major for boarding.  Connor, the 17th overall pick in the 2015 draft, has played in all but one of Winnipeg’s games so far this season, collecting four points (1-3-4) while playing 13:31 per game.  The team has recalled center Chase De Leo from their minor league affiliate in Manitoba to take Connor’s spot on the roster.  De Leo has three goals and four assists in 12 AHL games this year.
  • Avalanche center Matt Duchene was expected to skate in advance of Colorado’s practice today but those plans were aborted after Duchene didn’t feel he was ready to practice, notes Mike Chambers of the Denver Post. Accordingly, he will miss his second straight game on Tuesday against the Kings.  Duchene is Colorado’s team leader in goals (six) and points (11) in the early going this season.

Snapshots: Duchene, Trouba, Waiver Activity

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Winnipeg Jets defenseman Jacob Trouba made his presence felt in his first game of the season. It wasn’t on the scoresheet, however. Just ask Matt Duchene.

Trouba caught Duchene with a high hit to the head, causing the speedy Avalanche center to leave the game. Adrian Dater reported that the NHL’s concussion spotters may have pulled Duchene from the game. Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said post-game that he has no update on his star’s condition.

The two players have been linked before, with some speculation the Avalanche offered Duchene up in a trade for Trouba. With Trouba signing a two-year contract with the Jets before withdrawing his trade request and Duchene leading the Avalanche in scoring, it seems unlikely that anything will come to fruition soon.

  • The Florida Panthers have claimed forward Seth Griffith on waivers from the Toronto Maple Leafs, according to Chris Johnston. The Leafs had previously claimed Griffith on waivers from the Bruins just last month, but he was held off the scoresheet in just three games in blue and white. The Leafs needed to make a move with Matt Hunwick returning from IR and Josh Leivo coming back from a conditioning stint. As Johnston points out, the young forward will have a much better chance to make an impact in Florida, where the Panthers are dealing with a handful of injuries. Griffith won’t have to wait long to face his former team; the Panthers are in Toronto this Thursday.
  • Defenseman Nicklas Grossmann is on unconditional waivers for the purpose of mutually terminating his contract with the Calgary Flames. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman suggests Grossmann may have an offer to play overseas. He’s been in and out of the Flames lineup after a successful PTO. Shortly after the signing, Christian Roatis of Flames Nation broke down why the Flames signed the aging defenseman to a one-year, league-minimum contract: to boost their LTIR savings on the injured Ladislav Smid.
  • Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Jakub Nakladal cleared waivers and has been assigned to the Charlotte Checkers of the AHL. The Hurricanes have called up Matt Tennyson to take his place on the roster. Nakladal is -4 in three games this season; Tennyson has 7 points in 9 AHL games so far.  Also clearing waivers was Florida’s Shane Harper who was assigned to Springfield of the AHL.  Harper has two goals and an assist in 14 games with the Panthers this season.

Western Conference Snapshots: Ducks, Preds, Duchene

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The Ducks have been busy making moves the last couple of days, according to Eric Stephens of The Orange County Register, though none included the highly anticipated re-signing of top defenseman Hampus Lindholm. Off to just a 1 – 3 – 1 start out of the gates, Anaheim demoted Mason Raymond – who recently cleared waivers – forward Nick Sorensen and blue liner Jacob Larsson. All three will report to San Diego of the AHL.

Meanwhile, the Ducks have recalled forwards Joseph Cramarossa and Michael Sgarbossa, along with defenseman Shea Theodore. Theodore was partnered with veteran defender Kevin Bieksa in practice and appears poised to make his 2016-17 debut for Anaheim.

The Ducks will also insert one of Cramarossa or Sgarbossa into the lineup for the first time this season. For the soon-to-be-24-year-old Cramarossa, an appearance would also represent his NHL debut. Cramarossa has played in 164 AHL games in the Anaheim organization since being drafted in the third-round of the 2011 draft, and has netted 17 goals and 31 points.

Additionally, the team also placed defenseman Simon Despres on LTIR as we noted earlier.

Whether these moves will spark the team and help shake the Ducks out of their early season doldrums or not remains to be seen. If not, and given the team just brought back head coach Randy Carlyle, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the team make a trade or two to help try to right the ship.

More from around the Western Conference:

  • Nashville is another team that has had a busy weekend with regards to making transactions. With the team ravaged by food poisoning, the Predators were forced to recall five players from the AHL just to field a full lineup for Staurday night’s showdown against Pittsburgh. Team captain Mike Fisher, wing Craig Smith and goaltender Pekka Rinne all missed the game, which Nashville somehow managed to win despite the depleted lineup. Today the club announced that they’ve sent three of the call-ups back to Milwaukee of the AHL. Juuse Saros, who made his NHL debut in goal and earned the win, joins forwards Frederick Gaudreau and Trevor Smith in returning to the minors.
  • It might be hard for some to believe but 25-year-old Matt Duchene appeared in the 500th NHL game of his career in last night’s loss to Florida, as Terry Frei of The Denver Post writes. Afterwards, Duchene said, “it’s the first real milestone game that made me feel a bit old.” Duchene is the third player from the 2009 draft class to reach the 500-game mark, joining the top overall pick, John Tavares, and former Colorado teammate Ryan O’Reilly. For his career, Duchene has scored 159 goals and 382 points in his eight seasons with the Avalanche.

Central Snapshots: Avalanche, Gunnarsson, Lehtera, Brodziak, Stars

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After missing the playoffs for the second consecutive season, the Colorado Avalanche perhaps surprisingly kept their roster mostly intact this past summer; though they did make one big change which is expected to impact their on-ice fortunes. Jared Bednar replaces Patrick Roy behind the bench and is being counted on to implement a system better-suited for the talent on hand and one that can compete in the tough Central Division. But as Terry Frei of The Denver Post argues, by sticking with this core group of players, making the playoffs isn’t going to be good enough for the Avalanche.

By virtue of the expensive long-term contracts doled out over the last couple of seasons to Semyon Varlamov, Nathan MacKinnon, Matt Duchene, Erik Johnson, Tyson Barrie and Gabriel Landeskog, Colorado has demonstrated an immense amount of faith that this group can guide the franchise to Stanley Cup contention, opines Frei. Those six players account for nearly half of Colorado’s cap commitments in the 2016-17 campaign and perhaps more importantly, all remain under contract to the Avalanche for at least the next three seasons. If this group underachieves yet again, it could make it that much tougher for GM Joe Sakic to receive fair value for these players in potential trade talks. Consequently, since his ability to spend on free agents will be restricted as well, it might be difficult moving forward to drastically change or augment the Avalanche roster.

More from the Central Division:

  • The Blues are 3 – 0 following their 3 – 2 win over the New York Rangers Saturday night but the victory could prove costly. Centers Kyle Brodziak, Jori Lehtera along with defenseman Carl Gunnarsson all left last night’s tilt with injuries and did not return, notes Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The exact nature and severity of the injuries are not known at this point and as Rutherford points out, with a day off today more information may not be available until Monday. Playing with 10 forwards and five defenseman for the entire third frame last night, the Blues hung on despite being outshot by the Rangers 15 – 0 in the period. With Petteri Lindbohm available in the minors, St. Louis is likely better-equipped to cover for the loss of Gunnarsson than they would be if both Lehtera and Brodziak were to miss extensive time.
  • Another Central Division team that’s had to deal with injuries in the early going is Dallas. Veteran forward Ales Hemsky has battled a groin issue and won’t be available for the first week or so of the season. Center Cody Eakin is expected to be out into November with a knee problem while Mattias Janmark’s season could be in jeopardy following knee surgery. With that much forward talent on the sideline, it would have been understandable if GM Jim Nill reacted by acquiring a veteran player or two, whether via trade or waivers, to buoy the team’s depth. But as Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News writes, Nill prepared his roster this summer by inking the likes of Adam Cracknell, Jiri Hudler and later, Lauri Korpikoski. Cracknell was expected to provide insurance at the AHL level but has been pressed into service early and has responded with a goal and an assist through two games. Korpiksoki had the final year of his deal bought out by Edmonton and failed to convert a training camp PTO into a roster spot with Calgary. The Stars inked Korpikoski, who has been criticized for his poor performance in the puck possession department, to a one-year deal which has already paid off for Dallas. The Finnish forward has already tallied a goal and is a plus-two so far this season. It appears as if Nill’s savvy, low-risk moves have a good chance of keeping the Stars ship afloat until reinforcements arrive in the form of Hemsky and Eakin.

Injury Notes: Duchene, Andersen, Johansson, Wilson

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Colorado forward Matt Duchene played through a separated shoulder for Team Canada at the recently completed World Cup of Hockey, writes Terry Frei of the Denver Post.  The injury was sustained on September 13th, four days before the opening round of the tournament.

Duchene noted to reporters that it was a Grade One separation which equates to a small displacement of the joint.  He practiced with the Avalanche for the first time today since returning from the tournament and while it doesn’t sound like he is fully healed, he isn’t likely to miss any time from it either:

“It’s better. It’s a little stiff in the mornings, but once I get warmed up, I don’t feel it.  Obviously, the first time you go out, you’re a little tentative on it, but after that, it’s just fine. I feel good.”

After a discussion with new head coach Jared Bednar, Duchene expects to start the season on the right wing but wouldn’t be surprised if he still spends time at center, his natural position.

[Related: Avalanche Depth Chart]

Other injury news from around the league:

  • After suffering an upper body injury while representing Denmark at the Olympic Qualifying tournament last month, Toronto goaltender Frederik Andersen will make his preseason debut with the team on Tuesday night, reports the Toronto Sun’s Terry Koshan. Head coach Mike Babcock wouldn’t confirm how much action he’ll see but noted that Andersen will play at least one period.  The Leafs acquired the 27 year old netminder from Anaheim back in June for first and second round draft picks and immediately signed him to a five year, $25MM contract.  Assuming there are no setbacks tomorrow, he should be on pace to start the season next week.
  • Capitals winger Marcus Johansson skated on his own before practice today but is expected to miss a few days, notes Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post. He suffered a lower body injury in Sunday’s preseason contest against the Islanders.  In the same report, right winger Tom Wilson participated with limited contact at practice as he continues to recover from an upper body injury suffered last week.

Snapshots: Lundqvist, Rantanen, Crosby

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In a shocking turn of events, Henrik Lundqvist has been scratched from today’s matchup with Russia at the World Cup. As of this morning, Lundqvist was the expected starter, but came down with an illness that is making him unable to play in the game.  Jacob Markstrom will take his place in net, while the backup will be Jhonas Enroth.

For Sweden, it’s a huge blow to their chances against the high-powered Russians who will ice a top line of Nikita Kucherov, Pavel Datsyuk and Alex Ovechkin. That trio had 96 goals between them last season, even with Datsyuk obviously in the tail end of his career. While the Russian defense isn’t nearly as strong, their top two lines can play with anyone in the world, and probably outscore the majority of them.  Lundqvist would have been a huge part in any Swedish victory.

2016-17 Season Preview: Colorado Avalanche

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With the NHL season just weeks away, PHR is looking at each team, in-depth. Today: the Colorado Avalanche.

Last Season: 39-39-4 (82 points), 6th place in the Central. Did not qualify for the playoffs.

Cap Space Remaining: $1.53MM  via CapFriendly.

Key Newcomers: Joe Colborne (LW) – free agent signing (Calgary); Patrick Wiercioch (D) – free agent signing (Ottawa); Fedor Tyutin (D) – free agent signing (Columbus)

Key Departures: Mikkel Boedker (LW) – free agency (San Jose); Shawn Matthias (LW) – free agency (Winnipeg); Zach Redmond (D) – free agency (Montreal)

Player to Watch: Mikko Rantanen – After going scoreless in 9 NHL games to start the year, the 10th overall pick in the 2015 draft was sent down to the San Antonio Rampage, where he dominated, posting 24 goals and 60 points in 52 games. The Avalanche hope he will be able to continue his upward trajectory and make an impact at the NHL level. They’ll need the offensive help.

Key Storyline: After the sudden departure of coach Patrick Roy in August, the Avalanche will have a new coach, Jared Bednar. Can the new coach boost the club? Of the three notable additions, two players were cut by their previous teams: Tyutin was bought out and Wiercioch was not qualified as an RFA. Offensively, Nathan MacKinnon and Matt Duchene will shoulder the load, but will need captain Gabriel Landeskog, veteran Jarome Iginla, and Rantanen to step up. Newly-signed Tyson Barrie and former first overall pick Eric Johnson will anchor a blue line with little else guaranteed beyond them. Can Semyon Varlamov return to form after a year of league-average goaltending, or will young Calvin Pickard take over the net?

The Avalanche’s season depends on several players having career years under their new coach. Playing in a tough division also won’t help, so the team needs to get on the winning side of the ledger early and often to have a chance at the playoffs.

Avalanche Depth Chart

Snapshots: Duchene, Weise, Hronek

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When the Colorado Avalanche were stunned by head coach Patrick Roy walking away from the organization on August 11th, many pointed to a perceived rift between Roy and superstar forward Matt Duchene over some of the exuberant celebrations he performed after scoring goals. One goal in particular, scored in a 5-1 loss to St. Louis on April 4th, prompted much scrutiny from the media after Roy said “Are you kidding me? What is that? It’s not the (reaction) that we want from our guys. Not at all.”

In Mike Zeisberger’s new column in the Toronto Sun, he gets Duchene to set the record straight about their feud:

At the end of the day it wasn’t anything against me. He was just trying to set a precedent for the team and make an example of me. He expected me to be a leader and at that moment I let him down. We had a great chat the next day and right then everything was fine. It was blown out of proportion in the media. It was really nothing after that.

Zeisberger reiterates that Duchene’s main message is that there was no feud between the two, and that Roy called him just hours after he had made his decision to leave. It’s not, then, a problem with the 25-year old sniper that made the hall of fame goaltender leave the team.

  • In a piece by Sam Carchidi of The Inquirer, Dale Weise opens up about the mid-season trade to the Chicago Blackhawks and how excited he is about his new deal with the Philadelphia Flyers. “Going to Chicago was a disaster because I played like five minutes a night.It’s pretty tough to do anything when you play so little. It was a new experience for me.” says Weise, who had no goals in fifteen games with the Hawks down the stretch. He signed a four-year, $9.4 million deal with the Flyers this offseason, and thinks he “can play on any line and any role” with them this year.
  • Dan Wakiji for the Detroit Red Wings team site writes about Filip Hronek (the Wings’ second-round pick this year) and his journey in hockey thus far. Taken 53rd overall, Hronek has very little experience on the North American ice, but will get some this season; he’s heading to Saginaw to join the OHL.  Only weighing 163 pounds currently, Hronek’s biggest challenge will be getting stronger and tougher in his own end.

Five Questions: Colorado Avalanche

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After missing the postseason party for the second consecutive year in 2015-16, it was expected in some circles that the Avalanche would be active this offseason in attempting to upgrade their roster. Instead, aside from a couple of minor free agent signings, all was relatively quiet in Colorado this summer until the abrupt resignation of VP of Hockey Operations/Head Coach Patrick Roy. The Avalanche would eventually settle on young, up-and-coming head coaching candidate Jared Bednar to replace Roy behind the bench.

Mike Chambers of The Denver Post was gracious enough to take time out of his schedule and answer some questions for Pro Hockey Rumors about the Avalanche’s offseason and their chances to compete for a playoff spot in 2016-17.

PHR: With the benefit of hindsight, perhaps it’s fair to wonder about discord existing in the Avalanche front office entering the summer. As someone who has covered the team on a daily basis, were you surprised by Patrick Roy’s resignation or did you have a sense that there may have been some issues behind the scenes which could lead to a change of this nature?

MC: The timing of Roy’s resignation put the organization in a bind. I don’t believe that was Roy’s intention but it’s obvious he was unhappy about his diminished role in player personnel. He made that clear in his news release and you could see he didn’t have a major voice at the draft in June, and the Avs didn’t make the splash Roy wanted in free agency. To answer your question, I was surprised at the timing of Roy’s resignation but, knowing his personality, he wasn’t going to continue if he didn’t steer the ship. He wanted more and Joe Sakic obviously grew into his GM role by leaning more on his assistant GMs Craig Billington and Chris MacFarland.

PHR: After leading Lake Erie to a Calder Cup championship, Jared Bednar was widely considered one of the top, up-and-coming head coaching prospects in the game. That being said, the timing of his hire probably doesn’t do him any favors; particularly as it pertains to his assistant coaching staff. What direction do you think he goes; does he retain Roy’s assistants in full or will he make some changes?

(Note: The questions were submitted prior to Bednar officially confirming he was retaining all of the team’s assistant coaches.)

MC: Bednar will retain Tim Army (power play), Dave Farrish (penalty kill) and Francois Allaire (goalies) — plus defensive specialist Nolan Pratt, whom the Avs hired from Bednar’s staff in July. Army and Farrish might have different roles and we certainly believe Bednar and Pratt will spearhead the new systems. It’s not a complete new staff but close, and that’s perhaps what this team needed.

PHR: Trade rumors involving some of the team’s core young players have persisted since early in the 2015-16 season. How close did the Avalanche actually get to making a blockbuster type of deal at any point?

MC: I believe that was a big part of the Sakic-Roy split. Roy told us he wanted to sign a marquee free-agent defensemen in July and I believe he was the executive wanting to move major parts such as Matt Duchene, Tyson Barrie and Gabe Landeskog. In the end, I believe Sakic and his other support staff chose to stick with the core. Not pulling the trigger on a blockbuster deal was probably not what Roy wanted.

PHR: Does the new coach and presumably a fresh approach on the ice mean management is content with the core and willing to ride out the season with that group intact or do you think a poor start could lead to drastic changes in player personnel prior to the 2017 trade deadline?

MC: Drastic changes. If this team doesn’t improve with a new bench boss I think Sakic makes major roster changes. Nobody is expecting a huge improvement on the blue line but if this team evens out its shots for/against the forward core has the ability to score in bunches.

PHR: The Central may well be the toughest division in the NHL. How would you handicap Colorado’s chances to qualify for a postseason berth and if they do get in, are they capable as currently constructed of making a long run?

MC: The Avs have made the playoffs just three times in the last 10 years, but twice a rookie coach has led them to the postseason: Joe Sacco in 2009-2010 and Roy in 2013-14. Bednar’s arrival gives this team a fresh start, but Colorado will be hard-pressed to keep up with Dallas, St. Louis, Nashville and Chicago. Anything can happen in the playoffs and I do believe this roster is capable of getting there.

Mike Chambers has been a writer for The Denver Post since 1994 and has covered both the NCAA’s Denver University Pioneers and the Colorado Avalanche for much of that time. For a full bio, click here. To stay up-to-date on all things Avalanche, follow Mike on Twitter by clicking here. Pro Hockey Rumors would like to extend our sincere gratitude to Mike for taking the time to answer our questions. 

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