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Juuso Valimaki Fined For Slashing

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The NHL Department of Player Safety fined Arizona Coyotes defenseman Juuso Valimaki $4,189.19 on Wednesday, the maximum allowable under the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), for slashing Anaheim Ducks forward Max Jones. The announcement came from the department’s Twitter account.

Valimaki’s infraction occurred in last night’s 5-2 home loss to the Ducks. Officials gave him a five-minute major for slashing and game misconduct on the play, which occurred 3:34 into the second period.

Jones initiated contact between the two players, and Valimaki was primarily penalized for the retaliatory nature of the slash, which was to Jones’ lower back and caused him to fall to the ice.

The fine means Valimaki, who’s appeared in 44 of 48 Coyotes games this season, won’t miss any further game action. The small financial blow is softened even further by the fact that the Coyotes signed him to a one-year contract extension before the game yesterday.

In his first season with Arizona, Valimaki has already set a career-high in points with 12. He’s well on his way to shattering his previous games played high of 49 with Calgary in 2020-21.

Anaheim Ducks Forward Max Jones Out Day-To-Day

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According to Anaheim Ducks assistant coach Mike Stothers and relayed by The Athletic’s Eric Stephens, forward Max Jones is out day-to-day with a lower-body injury.

Jones, the team’s 24th overall selection in the 2016 NHL Draft, played just two games last season before suffering a torn chest muscle and missing practically the entire campaign. While this lower-body injury has nothing to do with that chest injury, Stephens notes the team is exercising extra caution with Jones, and rightfully so.

With a career-high of just 12 points and having never played more than 59 games in a season, Jones hasn’t exhibited the offensive potential you’d hope for out of a first-round pick. High-end scoring was never Jones’ appeal, though. Rather, his 6′ 3″, 216-pound frame and willingness for physicality made him an attractive prospect for the Ducks at the time.

If he can manage to stay healthy, Jones is again expected to contend for a role in the team’s bottom six. With some added offensive depth over the offseason, Jones could get a chance to have a breakout season with some better linemates.

Pacific Notes: Sharks, Jones, Carrick, Podkolzin

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The Sharks have started reaching out to teams to ask permission to interview for their GM vacancy, Pierre LeBrun reported in a recent TSN Insider Trading segment.  Their internal list of candidates is still quite large – believed to be around 25 at the moment – but will be whittled down further before phone interviews begin which could be as soon as next week.  Given how many are on their list, this process may take a while and ownership has previously indicated that there are no issues with interim GM Joe Will potentially leading the team through the draft in July if the search takes longer than expected.  Lisa Dillman of The Athletic suggests (Twitter link) that ESPN’s Kevin Weekes is someone to keep an eye on; the former goaltender has interviewed for several GM openings recently and it seems like only a matter of time before he gets an opportunity.

More from the Pacific:

  • Although Ducks winger Max Jones has received a clean bill of health after recovering from a torn chest muscle, he’ll be held out for the rest of the year for precautionary reasons, relays Elliott Teaford of the Orange County Register. The 24-year-old has missed all but two games this season due to the injury and will look to lock down a full-time spot in the lineup in training camp.  In the meantime, he’ll likely continue to take part in Anaheim’s practices in a non-contact jersey.
  • In a separate column, Teaford adds that center Sam Carrick isn’t expected to return this season due to a lower-body injury. The 30-year-old had just 11 points in 47 over parts of five NHL campaigns heading into 2021-22 but he has basically been a regular for the Ducks this season, collecting 19 points (including 11 goals) in 64 games.  Carrick will be an unrestricted free agent in July.
  • While the plus/minus statistic has lost a lot of its relevance in recent years, it’s something the Canucks will be monitoring over these final few games. As Thomas Drance of The Athletic points out (subscription link), rookie winger Vasily Podkolzin is tied for third among Vancouver forwards in that particular stat with a +9 mark.  If he finishes in the top three, he earns an ‘A’ bonus of $212.5K, one that will count against Vancouver’s 2022-23 cap since the team has been in LTIR all season and has no banked cap room.

Max Jones To Undergo Surgery

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The Anaheim Ducks could be without Max Jones for the rest of the season, as the young forward will undergo surgery to repair a torn pectoralis major tendon next Wednesday and is facing a recovery timeline of four to six months. GM Bob Murray released a short statement:

It’s a tough blow for Max as he made strides last season and was heading in the right direction this year as well. We hope to have him back this year and at full strength.

Four months would have Jones returning near the end of February, but that potential six-month timeline could keep him out basically the whole season. It’s a brutal situation for the 23-year-old first-round pick, who has had trouble establishing himself at the NHL level but had arguably his best stretch of hockey at the end of last season. He ended the year with seven goals and 11 points in 46 games, reaching 100 hits for the first time and leaning into his role in the bottom-six.

Now, with several months of rehab ahead of him, Jones not only will have to work back to that level but also runs the risk of falling further down the depth chart. In his favor is the three-year deal he signed in August, which carries a cap hit of $1.295MM and keeps him under contract through the 2023-24 season, though even that is going to seem expensive if he can’t keep himself healthy enough to contribute. For now, he’ll sit on injured reserve and watch the Ducks as they try to stay competitive this season.

Anaheim Ducks Place Mason McTavish, Max Jones On Injured Reserve

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Per CapFriendly.com (Twitter links), the Anaheim Ducks placed forwards Mason McTavish and Max Jones on the injured reserve list Tuesday night ahead of their contest against the Edmonton Oilers.

In their place, the team has recalled forward Sonny Milano and forward Sam Carrick from the AHL’s San Diego Gulls. They’ll likely serve as healthy scratches tonight, allowing Sam Steel to draw into the lineup for the first time this season and for Derek Grant to return to the lineup.

It’s a rough break especially for the 18-year-old McTavish, who was drafted third overall this past year and has a goal and an assist through his first three games. He’ll miss at least the next ten days’ worth of action.

Milano and Carrick could make their season debuts during their callups. Milano missed a good portion of last season due to injury but still carries scoring upside. Carrick had the most productive year of his career at the NHL level last season, notching six points in 13 games during his time with the big club.

Anaheim Ducks Sign Max Comtois, Max Jones, Josh Mahura

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The Anaheim Ducks have signed all three of their remaining restricted free agents. Eric Stephens of The Athletic reports that Max Comtois has signed a two-year deal for a total of $4.075MM, Max Jones has signed a three-year pact for a total of $3.885MM and Josh Mahura has signed a two-year deal worth $1.5MM total. Mahura’s contract will be two-way in 2021-22.

Selected in back-to-back drafts with the Ducks’ highest picks, Jones and Comtois represent two of the key players the team is hoping can lead them back to success.

The former was first, picked 24th overall in 2016, but hasn’t quite been able to reach his potential at the NHL level. Jones has just 28 points in 135 career games, mostly filling a depth role on the team. Now 23, he still isn’t used regularly on the powerplay or penalty kill, but did get a chance to skate next to captain Ryan Getzlaf for a good chunk of the season. While he has embraced a physical role on the team, getting more offense out of the former London Knight would be a huge boost for a Ducks team desperately looking for scoring threats.

In fact, Comtois actually led the team in scoring this season with 16 goals and 33 points, even if he was far from a dominant offensive player. The 22-year-old was picked 50th overall in 2017 but has proven himself already at the NHL level, scoring 51 points in 94 games. The 6’2″ winger saw some powerplay time this year but still wasn’t among the team leaders in ice time with the man-advantage, something that will likely change in the coming seasons. His $2.04MM cap hit will actually make him the fifth-highest paid forward on the team, checking in just ahead of Sonny Milano’s $1.7MM deal.

Even though Ducks fans might already be looking to Trevor Zegras to be the offensive leader on the team, Comtois and Jones are still important pieces that need to be developed carefully.

Mahura on the other hand seems to be stuck on the outside looking in once again. The 23-year-old was a third-round pick in 2016 and has experienced plenty of success in the minor leagues, but sits behind a long defensive depth chart in Anaheim. He has played 41 games in the NHL, recorded 13 points, but still probably isn’t ticketed for full-time action in 2021-22. His league-minimum contract suggests that as well, though there is something working in Mahura’s favor.

For the first time in his career, he’ll be eligible for waivers this season, meaning the Ducks would have to risk him to the rest of the league in order to send him to the minor leagues. That very well may keep him in the NHL as a seventh defender to start the year even if there are no injuries during training camp.

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