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Snapshots: Skills Results, International Games, Kastelic

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The All-Star festivities kicked off on Friday night with the annual Skills Competition which featured some staple events as well as some new outdoor ones.  Here is a listing of the winners for each event:

Tendy Tandem
Connor Hellebuyck, WPG/Juuse Saros, NSH (Central Division) – 13 points

Fastest Skater
Andrei Svechnikov, CAR – 13.699 seconds

NHL Pitch ‘n Puck
Nick Suzuki, MTL – 3

Splash Shot
Cale Makar/Mikko Rantanen, COL – 18.7 seconds

Hardest Shot
Elias Pettersson, VAN – 103.2 mph

Breakaway Challenge
Sidney Crosby, PIT/Alex Ovechkin, WSH – 40

Accuracy Shooting
Brock Nelson, NYI – 12.419 seconds

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • It appears that Australia will be where next season gets underway as David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports (Twitter link) that it’s all but a lock that the NHL will have games there to kick things off. He suggests that Boston and Los Angeles are among the teams in the mix to go although the full details won’t be announced until everything is finalized.  Games were played in Prague to start this season while there were a pair of games in Tampere as well back in November.
  • While there were plenty of players who were sent to the minors during the All-Star break, at least one regular player won’t be getting recalled right away. Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch relays that the Senators’ plan for Mark Kastelic is to keep the forward in the minors once the schedule resumes.  The 23-year-old has played in 43 games for Ottawa this season but has been out with a back issue for the last couple of weeks and will get some time to get back into form with AHL Belleville before potentially coming back up later on.

NHL Announces 2023 All-Star Player Assignments

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The 2023 NHL All-Star Skills competition will take place tomorrow night, and today the league announced the full lineup of participants. Players from around the league will get to show off their unique abilities in several events, with each individual winner taking home $30,000.

Fastest Skater

Dylan Larkin, Detroit Red Wings
Kirill Kaprizov, Minnesota Wild
Cale Makar, Colorado Avalanche
Chandler Stephenson, Vegas Golden Knights
Andrei Svechnikov, Carolina Hurricanes

Breakaway Challenge

Roberto Luongo, Celebrity goaltender
Mitch Marner, Toronto Maple Leafs
Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals*
Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins*
David Pastrnak, Boston Bruins
Matthew Tkachuk, Florida Panthers

*Ovechkin and Crosby are listed as “teaming up”

Tendy Tandem

Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets
Juuse Saros, Nashville Predators
Igor Shesterkin, New York Rangers
Stuart Skinner, Edmonton Oilers
Ilya Sorokin, New York Islanders
Logan Thompson, Vegas Golden Knights
Linus Ullmark, Boston Bruins
Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay Lightning

Splash Shot

Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins
Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche
Mikko Rantanen, Colorado Avalanche
Cale Makar, Colorado Avalanche
Igor Shesterkin, New York Rangers
Adam Fox, New York Rangers
Brady Tkachuk, Ottawa Senators
Matthew Tkachuk, Florida Panthers

Accuracy Shooting

Aleksander Barkov, Florida Panthers
Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton Oilers
Kevin Hayes, Philadelphia Flyers
Jack Hughes, New Jersey Devils
Nazem Kadri, Calgary Flames
Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning
Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers
Brock Nelson, New York Islanders
Artemi Panarin, New York Rangers
Vladimir Tarasenko, St. Louis Blues

Pitch ’n Puck

Johnny Gaudreau, Columbus Blue Jackets
Clayton Keller, Arizona Coyotes
Jason Robertson, Dallas Stars
Nick Suzuki, Montreal Canadiens

Hardest Shot

Rasmus Dahlin, Buffalo Sabres
Seth Jones, Chicago Blackhawks
Josh Morrissey, Winnipeg Jets
Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals
Elias Pettersson, Vancouver Canucks

Snapshots: Three Stars, Soucy, Murray

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The NHL released its Three Stars for last week, with Colorado Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen leading the way. The big winger had three goals and four assists in just two games, continuing an incredible stretch. Rantanen has now recorded 14 points in his last five games and is tied for fourth in the league scoring race (still nine points behind Connor McDavid, who is running away with it). At this pace, Rantanen should record the first 100+ point season of his career if he can stay relatively healthy. He had 92 last season in 75 games.

Second and third went to Linus Ullmark of the Boston Bruins and Adam Fox of the New York Rangers, who each had their own impressive weeks. Ullmark stopped almost everything he saw en route to a 3-0 week with a .956 save percentage, while Fox notched eight points in four games. The 2021 Norris Trophy winner is now just three points behind Erik Karlsson for first among defenseman scoring.

  • Seattle Kraken defenseman Carson Soucy will have to pay up a little bit for his decision to punch Pierre-Luc Dubois in the back of the head, as the league issued him a $2,500 fine for roughing. It should be noted that this was not the maximum allowable, meaning it didn’t really come close to a suspension in the eyes of the league. Still, it can be taken into account for future supplementary discipline.
  • The Toronto Maple Leafs may be dealing with injuries to their defense corps, but the goaltenders are getting healthy. Matt Murray is expected to start for the team on Tuesday, while Ilya Samsonov was on the ice with the team this morning. Even Joseph Woll, who has been out for the entire season so far, is expected to join the Toronto Marlies for practice tomorrow according to David Alter of Sports Illustrated. Suddenly, the Maple Leafs may have their entire goaltending group healthy all at once, after being forced to sign Keith Petruzzelli to an NHL deal just to dress a backup recently.

Latest On Patrik Laine

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The Columbus Blue Jackets got some tough news last week when star winger Patrik Laine sustained an elbow sprain in the team’s season opener and had to be moved to injured reserve immediately. Fortunately, though, it seems his three-to-four-week recovery timeline is still right on schedule, if not a bit ahead. The Columbus Dispatch’s Brian Hedger reported today that Laine skated on his own in full gear for the past two days at the team’s practice facility. Hedger also noted the Finnish star is confident he’ll be ready to play by the first week of November when the Blue Jackets travel to Finland to play a set of games against the Colorado Avalanche.

That’s obviously a huge deal for Laine personally, but also the league, as Laine is the most marketable hometown player who’ll skate in the back-to-back set of games in Tampere. Laine hails directly from Tampere, and while his Avalanche counterpart in Mikko Rantanen may have more publicity overall, there’s nothing like getting to see one of your town’s best-ever hockey products play an NHL game on home soil.

A quick return from Laine is also crucial for Columbus’ playoff hopes. While Johnny Gaudreau has held up his end of the bargain, recording four points in his first four games as a Blue Jacket, their lack of quality offensive depth has been exposed by Laine’s injury. Minor-league and European league journeyman Justin Danforth was the team’s first option to replace Laine on the top line, which is obviously a less-than-ideal situation.

Injury Notes: Maple Leafs, Avalanche, Blue Jackets

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The Toronto Maple Leafs, while still remaining competitive with a tough schedule, have faced significant injury setbacks over the past few weeks. A mass of updates came today during a press conference with head coach Sheldon Keefe, where he revealed that forward Michael Bunting will miss the final two games of the regular season, defenseman Rasmus Sandin is likely to return for the team’s finale on Friday versus the Boston Bruins, and forward Ondrej Kase remains day-to-day with no timeline to return.

As the Maple Leafs prepare for a likely impending First Round matchup with the back-to-back Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning, this is mostly positive news. The language surrounding Bunting’s injury wasn’t initially positive after he fell awkwardly during an April 23 game against Florida, but his prognosis has improved since then and it looks like a possibility that he could be ready for the beginning of the series. Sandin has missed over a month with a knee injury, while Kase has missed the same duration with a concussion.

  • There are some more updates on various players on a Stanley Cup contender, as the Colorado Avalanche deal with some injury issues of their own. Head coach Jared Bednar spoke to reporters today, saying that defenseman Devon Toews will return to the lineup tonight after dealing with an undisclosed injury, forward Mikko Rantanen is working toward a return on Thursday against the Nashville Predators, and captain Gabriel Landeskog won’t return until the postseason. Toews has missed just around a week and a half, but his absence cannot be understated, as he continues to be one of the most underrated defensemen in the league with 57 points in just 64 games this year (while averaging over 25 minutes per game). Meanwhile, the Colorado captain has been out since early March with a leg injury.
  • The Columbus Blue Jackets announced today that both captain Boone Jenner and Sean Kuraly will miss the short remainder of the season with respective injuries. Kuraly, in his first season with Columbus, suffered a foot injury last Sunday and will miss the remaining three games. Jenner will have missed the last month and a half of the season with a back injury.

Injury Notes: Avalanche, Karlsson, Mikheyev

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The Colorado Avalanche will be playing shorthanded tomorrow night, as Mikko Rantanen and Cale Makar have both been ruled out. Makar is listed as day-to-day according to Peter Baugh of The Athletic while he deals with an upper-body injury. Andre Burakovsky meanwhile is also doubtful for the game, and Jonas Johansson will start in net.

Perhaps luckily, the Avalanche have a relatively light schedule over the next little while. After tomorrow’s game they will not play again until Saturday, then they have another four days off before next Thursday’s match against the Vancouver Canucks. Some of these minor issues will hopefully get time to heal as they try to get back on the path of a real contender, not struggling in the middle of the Central Division table.

Snapshots: Kraken, Backstrom, Avalanche

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The list of people in COVID protocol continues to grow as prior to their game against the Rangers tonight, the Kraken announced (Twitter link) that center Jared McCann and assistant coach Paul MacFarland have both entered the protocol.  McCann is off to a nice start to his season, leading Seattle in points with three goals and four assists through their first eight games while logging 16:24 per night, the highest ATOI of his career.  It’s the second time he has been in COVID protocol this season having been part of the group that was in there just before the regular season got underway.

Elsewhere around the NHL:

  • While Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom will accompany the team on their upcoming road trip, he won’t be taking part in any practices and will continue to work on his own, relays NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti (Twitter link). The veteran is eligible to be activated off LTIR on Saturday but if he is still just able to skate on his own, it stands to reason that he won’t be cleared to return at that time.
  • The lower-body injury that took Avalanche winger Andre Burakovsky out of Saturday’s contest has left him listed as day-to-day, relays Peter Baugh of The Athletic (Twitter link). The 26-year-old is off to a slow start this season with just a goal and three assists in eight games.  Baugh adds that winger Mikko Rantanen, who has missed two straight games with a lower-body injury of his own, is also listed as day-to-day.

Injury Notes: Penguins, Golden Knights, Avalanche, Wood

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The Pittsburgh Penguins received some extremely welcome news today, as head coach Mike Sullivan says centers Sidney Crosby and Jeff Carter are game-time decisions for tomorrow’s contest against the New Jersey Devils as they begin the journey to full health. That’s only 40% of the key contributors they have currently out of the lineup, however, as Kris Letang remains in COVID-19 protocol and Evgeni Malkin and Bryan Rust are on injured reserve. Still, seeing one of the best players in the world close to full health again and nearly ready to make his season debut is always promising news. The return of Carter shouldn’t be overlooked either, as the veteran forward had four points in four games before entering COVID-19 protocol.

More injury notes from around the league:

  • The Golden Knights, along with the Penguins, have been one of the most injury-affected teams in the NHL this season. The Athletic’s Jesse Granger issued updates on the health of many Golden Knights today, as the team has six regulars currently sitting out with injury. The most notable of those updates is Mark Stone, who is still out indefinitely but skated today for the first time since suffering a lower-body injury on October 15. However, it could potentially become seven regulars out of the lineup for tonight’s game as William Carrier suffered an injury Wednesday night against Dallas and is a game-time decision.
  • Colorado Avalanche winger Mikko Rantanen is day-to-day with a lower-body injury per head coach Jared Bednar, but defenseman Devon Toews is expected to make his season debut during the next two games. Rantanen was scratched from Thursday night’s game against the Blues. Toews’ return will give Colorado a fully healthy defense core for the first time this season, as Samuel Girard is also ready to go.
  • Devils head coach Lindy Ruff gave an update today on forward Miles Wood, who he calls “the furthest away” from returning out of all the Devils’ injuries. Considering Jack Hughes was issued a five-week timeline today, that’s not promising news. Wood has not played this season after suffering a lower-body injury just prior to the start of the campaign.

Colorado’s Valeri Nichushkin Week-To-Week With Upper-Body Injury

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The Colorado Avalanche are being hit with the injury bug early this season, as The Athletic’s Peter Baugh reports that forward Valeri Nichushkin is sidelined week-to-week with an upper-body injury.

With the team already missing Devon Toews and Pavel Francouz from their lineup prior to the season’s start, the team’s forward core has now lost three members in the past three days. Captain Gabriel Landeskog is suspended for the next two games, Nathan MacKinnon’s season debut is on hold as he remains on COVID protocol, and it’s now apparent the Avs have lost a third top-nine forward for the time being.

The 26-year-old Nichushkin has had somewhat of a career renaissance with Colorado after a rough start with the Dallas Stars, the team that drafted him 10th overall in 2013. He’s received Selke votes in back-to-back seasons, scoring 23 goals and 48 points in 120 games from 2019 to 2021 in an Avalanche uniform. Nichushkin had one assist in 15:03 of ice time on Wednesday against the Colorado Avalanche.

The team will now turn to Mikko Rantanen to carry the offensive load in the absence of MacKinnon and Landeskog. They’ll look towards forwards like Andre Burakovsky, Tyson Jost, and a pair or rookies in Alex Newhook and Sampo Ranta to increase production in depth roles to compensate for the loss of Nichushkin.

Finland, Czech Republic, U.S. Announce Members Of 2022 Olympic Teams

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Like Sweden and Canada before them, three other hockey powers have announced the first few members of their 2022 Olympic team today. Finland is going with Aleksander Barkov, Mikko Rantanen, and Sebastian Aho, while the Czech Republic will have Ondrej Palat, Jakub Voracek and David Pastrnak in Beijing next year.

The U.S. meanwhile will have Seth Jones, Patrick Kane, and Auston Matthews suiting up for their country. Stan Bowman, general manager of the U.S. team, released a short statement on the selections:

It’s no secret we’re excited about the prospects of our team for the 2022 Games. Patrick, Auston and Seth reflect the high level of talent that will make up our final roster as we strive to bring gold back home to the U.S.

For Kane, this is nothing new. He was on the ice at both the 2010 and 2014 Olympics, while also wearing the “C” for the U.S. at various other international tournaments. What would be different is winning a gold, given his history at those tournaments. It’s been a long time since he took home the top prize, going all the way back to 2006 at the U18 WJC. Bronze at the U20 tournament, bronze at the World Championship and silver at the Olympics doesn’t create the international legacy that many would assume a player of Kane’s stature would have.

This year though he’ll have some help that he’s never had before. Jones and Matthews will both be taking part in their first Olympics, with the latter only having one World Championship under his belt. Matthews actually joined the U.S. team at the 2016 tournament before he even made his NHL debut and worked his way from extra skater to top-line center by the end of the event. That’s exactly the spot he will be expected to fill this time around after winning the Rocket Richard Trophy and coming second in Hart Trophy balloting last season.

For Finland and the Czechs, they too are starting off with some powerhouse trios. Barkov and Aho are a formidable 1-2 center punch that can play with anyone, while Rantanen brings his unique mix of size and skill on the wing. Palat, a key member of the Tampa Bay Lightning Stanley Cup teams, is one of the best two-way players in the entire league and Pastrnak is one of the brightest offensive talents in the entire world.

The event is sure to be exciting as the NHL returns to the world stage.

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