Atlantic Notes: Holland, Rielly, Julien, MacArthur, Sabres Rebuild
Detroit Red Wings general manager Ken Holland spoke with NHL.com’s Nick Cotsonika who quizzed the manager about how the Wings will approach the next month. Holland wants to give the Red Wings every chance to get back into the race before having to make the decision to trade off assets–something he’s never done in his career as a general manager. During the first intermission during the Bruins-Red Wings matchup Wednesday night, Bob McKenzie added that the Wings will most likely look to sell during their bye, which comes a week before the trade deadline.
- The Toronto Maple Leafs received some great news when it turned out Morgan Rielly‘s injury was not nearly as serious as initially thought. The defenseman was all smiles in the locker room when he met with the media regarding his day-to-day status.
- If the Bruins are going to fire head coach Claude Julien, it’s going to come from the hockey men in charge, not ownership. Bruins CEO Charlie Jacobs, according to the Boston Herald’s Steve Buckley, will defer Julien’s fate to team president Cam Neely and general manager Don Sweeney. Jacobs adds that his role is to support the front office on their hockey decisions.
- Bruce Garrioch writes that Clarke MacArthur has to undergo more testing before he is cleared to return for the Sens. Though they want him back, the team is taking every precaution in the name of safety.
- On the Sabres, the Buffalo News’ Mike Harrington reports that the Sabres have been “left in the dust” when it comes to rebuilding. Using the Maple Leafs as the measuring stick, Harrington’s lede argues that it certainly shouldn’t be the case. But Buffalo has taken a path that appears to be wrought with poor decisions from the front office to the bench.
Snapshots: Kreider, Hanzal, Carlson, Corrado
The New York Rangers and Dallas Stars have met twice this season, and NHL Player Safety has had to get involved both times.
Back in December, Stars center Cody Eakin earned a four-game suspension for running over Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist (Streamable link of incident). The two teams met again last night, and Eakin was involved in another incident, though this time it was on the receiving end. Early in the second period, Chris Kreider picked a fight with Eakin, likely out of retribution for Eakin’s run-in with Lundqvist. During the fight, Kreider grabbed Eakin’s helmet and hit Eakin in the head with it (GIF via @myregularface).
Kreider has been fined $5K for the incident, which is the maximum allowable fine under the CBA. Under NHL rules, Kreider should have been ejected for attempting to “deliberately [injure] an opponent by throwing a stick or any other object or piece of equipment at an opposing player.”
Instead, he only received the usual five-minute major for fighting. The swing happened quickly, so perhaps the referees missed it or didn’t deem it to be a deliberate action.
- The struggling Arizona Coyotes will be without one of their top players when they visit the Winnipeg Jets. Martin Hanzal has left the team temporarily to “attend to a family matter,” according to Dave Vest of the Arizona Coyotes. Hanzal has 15 points in 37 games for the second-to-last-place Coyotes. He’s expected to be dealt sometime before the NHL trade deadline on March 1.
- Washington Capitals defenseman John Carlson is doubtful for Thursday night’s game in St. Louis, according to coach Barry Trotz (via Isabelle Khurshudyan). Carlson missed Monday night’s epic 8-7 loss in Pittsburgh with a lower-body injury. Carlson has 25 points in 43 games this year. Trotz said the team may call up a defenseman before next game; Khurshudyan believes Aaron Ness is the likely call-up. Ness has 16 points in 31 games with the Hershey Bears.
- While Morgan Rielly being out day-to-day is bad news for Toronto Maple Leafs, it’s good news for Frankie Corrado. Corrado has appeared in just one game at the NHL level this season, and will get a short window to make a good impression on Mike Babcock. Corrado told TSN’s Kristen Shilton that he’s “a hockey player, so it’s nice to play hockey.”
Maple Leafs’ Morgan Rielly Day-To-Day With Right Knee Injury
January 18 – 11:20am: Rielly is considered day-to-day, according to Kevin McGran of the Toronto Star. Frankie Corrado will draw into the lineup in his place.
7:35pm: Per Shilton’s tweet, Rielly will not be returning tonight due to a lower body injury.
It’s yet another knee injury for a key player. The Toronto Maple Leafs lost defenseman Morgan Rielly after he fell awkwardly and appeared to injure his knee. He returned to the ice after being checked out, but according to Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston, he left the ice again minutes later. TSN’s Kristen Shilton confirmed that Rielly did in fact return only to leave again. She adds that he was limping back to the dressing room, and earlier, had signaled for help from the ice after getting hurt. Finally, Michael Augello tweets that it was Rielly’s right knee that was injured.
James Mirtle tweets that all eyes will be on Rielly’s right knee as he tore his ACL in juniors. Rielly has 17 points (1-16) in 41 games this season and has been strong on the blue line for the Leafs this season. He is second in points on the team for defensemen, behind only Jake Gardiner who has 22 points (6-16). Rielly leads all skaters in average ice time, logging nearly 23 minutes (22:51) per night.
Part of the youth anchoring the Leafs rise in the standings, Rielly missing a significant amount of time would be devastating for Toronto.
The story will be updated as more information is released.