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Nathan MacKinnon

Snapshots: Three Stars, Lockwood, Jarry

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The NHL released its Three Stars of last week, with Ottawa Senators forward Tim Stutzle taking home top spot. The budding superstar had ten points in four games, including two game-winning goals, reaching a new career-high in scoring with 59 points on the season. Stutzle, 21, is way out in front of the 2020 draft class in terms of scoring, 56 points ahead of second-place Lucas Raymond. While there’s still time for others to catch up, the Senators forward is showing why he was selected so high.

Second and third went to Nathan MacKinnon and Dylan Larkin, respectively, who each had their own excellent weeks. The Colorado Avalanche star scored nine points in four games to take him to 67 on the year (in just 44 games), and the Detroit Red Wings captain put up eight to bring him to 56 this season. With so much speculation surrounding Larkin’s future, his game certainly hasn’t deteriorated. In his last 17 games he has 23 points, and he’s currently riding a seven-game point streak.

  • After several weeks on the sidelines, Vancouver Canucks forward William Lockwood has been activated from injured reserve and loaned to the AHL. He last appeared in a game on January 24, leaving after just six minutes of ice time due to the concussion protocol. The 24-year-old forward has just one assist in 13 games for the Canucks this season and is still looking for his first NHL goal. He’ll likely see a call-up once he’s back in game shape.
  • Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry will officially be back in action tonight, giving the team a huge boost for a critical matchup. When healthy, Jarry has been excellent this season, matching a career-high .921 save percentage through 27 appearances. His play will likely determine the outcome for the Penguins in the Eastern Conference playoff race, as so many teams are still within striking distance of the wild card positions.

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

Avalanche Activate Nathan MacKinnon Off Injured Reserve

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The Avalanche will have their franchise player back in the lineup tonight against Toronto as the team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve activated center Nathan MacKinnon off injured reserve.  To make room for MacKinnon on the roster, winger Charles Hudon has been assigned to AHL Colorado.

MacKinnon suffered an upper-body injury earlier this month which was expected to keep him out for four weeks so he’s right on schedule.  The 27-year-old was off to another strong start before the injury as he had 34 points in 23 games; even though he has missed 11 games, he’s still tied for second on the Avs in scoring.  More importantly, he gives Colorado their top center back, allowing them to push J.T. Compher off the top line and balance out their forwards a bit better; Compher had been logging nearly 24 minutes a night in MacKinnon’s absence.

Colorado enters play tonight sitting fourth in the Central Division and is tied with Calgary for a Wild Card spot in the West.  That has largely been due to an extremely long injury list that still has them without two top-six wingers in Gabriel Landeskog and Valeri Nichushkin and two key defenders in Bowen Byram and Josh Manson, among others.  Their push to put themselves in a much more favorable playoff position will be a lot easier with MacKinnon, their star center and the player who will have the richest contract in NHL history next season, returning to the lineup.

As for Hudon, he was recalled back on Tuesday on his third emergency loan of the season.  The 28-year-old has played in nine games with the Avalanche this season, logging just shy of 11 minutes a night while being held off the scoresheet.  He has 18 points in 22 contests with the Eagles and should be a recall option should another injury up front arise with the big club.

Central Notes: Jets, Johnson, Avalanche

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The Jets looked to be a team that had the cap space to make a splash in the second half of the season.  However, as Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Free Press outlines, that’s no longer the case.  As a result of their injuries, Winnipeg has had to recall several players and in doing so, they’re at a spot where they’re going to need to dip in short-term LTIR if they have to bring anyone else up.  All of a sudden, any ideas of making a key addition in the near future will have to be shut down until most of their regulars return.  The good news for Winnipeg is that none of the injuries are season-ending but there aren’t many near-term recoveries on the horizon which isn’t ideal with nearly $25MM currently out of the lineup.

Elsewhere in the Central:

  • While Blackhawks center Tyler Johnson returned to the lineup a little more than two weeks ago, he isn’t fully healthy yet. Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times notes that the 32-year-old is still dealing with a left ankle injury, one that may not be fully recovered until the end of the season.  Despite still being banged up, Johnson has logged more than 15 minutes a night since returning and has three goals and five assists in 12 games so far this season.
  • The Avalanche could have Nathan MacKinnon back in the lineup on Saturday against Toronto, relays Bennett Durando of The Denver Post. The star center has missed nearly four weeks due to an upper-body injury and while he took the skate in a non-contact jersey today, that won’t automatically preclude him from returning tomorrow.  Meanwhile, forward Darren Helm was a full participant in practice for the first time today but has not yet received the green light to suit up.  He has yet to play this season and underwent hip surgery last month.

Colorado Avalanche Make Several Roster Moves

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December 8: The Avalanche announced this afternoon that Ranta has been reassigned to the AHL. No other corresponding move was announced. The forward played 11:50 in last night’s loss to the Bruins, getting a shot off but not recording a point.

December 7: With Nathan MacKinnon added to the list of injuries for the Colorado Avalanche, the team has made several transactions today to reshape the roster. Sampo Ranta, Ben Meyers, Cal Burke, and Andreas Englund have all been recalled. Alex Galchenyuk, who cleared waivers yesterday, has been loaned to the AHL.

Ranta has played in 16 total games for the Avalanche over the last three seasons but is still looking for his first NHL point. The 22-year-old forward was a third-round pick in 2018 and has received just a handful of minutes in most of his appearances, something that could change now that the team is so banged up. MacKinnon joins nearly a dozen other regulars that are out of the lineup at the moment.

Meyers, meanwhile, is still in his first full season of professional hockey after signing with the Avalanche last spring. The 24-year-old undrafted forward was a star at the University of Minnesota, and made his NHL debut down the stretch, scoring one goal in five games. He’s been up with the big club for three appearances this year, recording another goal. A responsible two-way player in college, he could be asked to play the middle of the ice, depending on how the lineup card shakes out.

Burke, 25, would be making his NHL debut should he enter the lineup, after signing with the club in 2021. He too was an undrafted college free agent, and has 11 points in 21 games for the Colorado Eagles this season. The team appears to be going with older, more polished two-way players to fill out the bottom of the roster instead of turning to prospects with higher upside like Oskar Olausson.

Englund was always going to be recalled, given the team’s lack of defensive options at the moment. With Josh Manson, Kurtis MacDermid, and Bowen Byram all out, the team had just five defensemen on the roster going into today.

Unfortunately, the team lost Jayson Megna on waivers to the Anaheim Ducks yesterday, forcing them into an additional recall. The depth chart is being tested, as they now have just six forwards assigned to the AHL that are under NHL contracts.

Nathan MacKinnon Expected To Miss Four Weeks

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As reported by Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic Tuesday night, Colorado Avalanche star center Nathan MacKinnon is expected to miss roughly four weeks with an upper-body injury suffered last night against the Philadelphia Flyers.

The report comes after head coach Jared Bednar told reporters this morning that MacKinnon was “going to miss some time” with the injury.

It appears that ghosts of Vegas Golden Knights past are coming to haunt the Avs this season, with an injury list that alone rivals the core of a playoff-contending team. Mikko Rantanen and J.T. Compher are now the team’s only healthy forwards with double-digit points, pushing the Avs to use even the fringes of their minor-league depth.

The pure length of the injury list is compounded by the quality of players, none higher than MacKinnon. The freshly-minted highest-paid player in the league is already living up to his future contract extension, leading the Avalanche with 34 points in 23 games.

Colorado now turns to Rantanen, a natural winger playing center on the second line with some other depth pieces out, to be their first-line pivot in all likelihood. They’ll also need much more out of players like Alex Newhook, who has nine points in 23 games.

Jean-Luc Foudy, Evan Rodrigues, Artturi Lehkonen, Shane Bowers, Valeri Nichushkin, Gabriel Landeskog, Darren Helm, Bowen Byram, Josh Manson, and Kurtis MacDermid comprise the team’s injury list. Out of all of them, Foudy, Nichushkin, and Lehkonen appear the closest to returning.

Nathan MacKinnon Leaves Colorado Avalanche Loss With Injury

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Dec 6: Though MacKinnon is still being evaluated, head coach Jared Bednar said that he is “going to miss some time” on Altitude radio this morning.

Dec 5: Bad is quickly turning to worse for the Colorado Avalanche in terms of injuries. Superstar center Nathan MacKinnon left the first period of the team’s Monday loss to the Philadelphia Flyers with an upper-body injury and did not return.

MacKinnon has been the glue holding this battered team together, notching 33 points in 22 games and averaging nearly 23 minutes per game. There are now eight Avalanche regulars as well as a number of fringe/depth players on the injured list, including MacKinnon.

Things were already bad enough for the Avalanche tonight, who were forced to ice players like Charles Hudon in top-six roles. It’s a stark reminder of the physical toll a long playoff run can take on a team, as they now have just five healthy forwards left who were full-time players on their Stanley Cup run last year.

Now, all eyes turn to Mikko Rantanen and Cale Makar to keep the Avs afloat, as well as Alexandar Georgiev and his .922 save percentage.

Snapshots: Three Stars, Blackwood, Ristolainen

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The NHL released its Three Stars for last week, with three Western Conference superstars making the cut. Jason Robertson is on top after scoring four goals and eight points in three games. After missing training camp, Robertson has picked up right where he left off last season and now has eight goals and 18 points in 12 games.

Second and third went to Nathan MacKinnon and Erik Karlsson, who each had their own impressive weeks. The Colorado Avalanche center had seven assists in the two games overseas, both wins in Finland, to become the league’s all-time scoring leader in games played outside of North America. Karlsson meanwhile had four goals and eight points in three games including a hat trick and has already matched his goal total from last year (ten) in just 14 games.

  • Mackenzie Blackwood has been diagnosed with an MCL sprain, and will meet with doctors tomorrow for further evaluation according to New Jersey Devils team reporter Amanda Stein. Blackwood left a game against the Edmonton Oilers on November 3, leaving the Devils with Vitek Vanecek and Akira Schmid as their tandem for the time being.
  • After being scratched on the weekend, some wondered whether Rasmus Ristolainen was still dealing with the effects of his previous injury. Philadelphia Flyers head coach John Tortorella told reporters including Giana Han of the Philadelphia Inquirer that Ristolainen’s injury isn’t the issue and that “everything about his game needs to be better” when he gets back into the lineup.

Injury Notes: Gibson, MacKinnon, Schwartz, Sheahan

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As many NHL teams wrap up their preseason work, the last thing they want to see is any of their players, especially key ones, go down with injury. Although some teams, in theory, can afford to lose a player or two and keep their season afloat, a team like the Anaheim Ducks, who are trying to climb out of their rebuilder status, will need to keep as many pieces as possible healthy and performing if they wish to push for a playoff spot.

Unfortunately for the Ducks, one key piece, goaltender John Gibson, was injured in today’s preseason game against crosstown rivals, the Los Angeles Kings. Gibson left the game with an upper-body injury and did not return, replaced by backup Anthony Stolarz. The good news for Anaheim is, in the event of a prolonged absence from Gibson, Stolarz has established himself as a strong backup netminder, however being without Gibson, a three-time All Star, will make things difficult for Anaheim if he’s out for any stretch of time.

  • Speaking of All Stars, Colorado Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon is considered day-to-day according to head coach Jared Bednar, as relayed by Colorado Hockey Now’s Adrian Dater. Bednar added that MacKinnon “tweaked” something, but did not disclose what, or exactly how, MacKinnon hurt himself. Losing the recently-extended superstar, even for a game, puts Colorado in a tough position, but considering he is only day-to-day should be a relief to the team.
  • Seattle Kraken forward Jaden Schwartz is considered day-to-day with a lower body injury says Kraken head coach Dave Hakstol, who spoke to Mike Benton of 93.3 KJR radio. Schwartz had left last night’s preseason contest against the Edmonton Oilers early and did not return. Also of note, forward Daniel Sprong, who recently signed with Seattle after being invited to camp on a PTO, was not in practice today. Fortunately, today was simply a day off for Sprong, Benton adds.
  • Riley Sheahan is also day-to-day with a muscular injury Buffalo Sabres head coach Don Granato told members of the media, including Bill Hoppe of Buffalo Hockey Beat. It was unclear what muscle exactly was bothering Sheahan, who hasn’t practiced either of the last two days.

Nathan MacKinnon Signs Eight-Year Extension

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Nathan MacKinnon isn’t going anywhere. The Colorado Avalanche superstar has signed an eight-year extension to stay in Denver through the 2030-31 season. The deal will pay MacKinnon an average of $12.6MM per season, meaning he will be the highest-paid player in the league, just eclipsing Connor McDavid’s $12.5MM AAV.

The deal, which kicks in for the 2023-24 season, will double his current cap hit of $6.3MM, a deal that has become one of the greatest bargains in the entire league. MacKinnon signed the seven-year deal in 2016 when he was still putting up an average of just 50 points per season. Things have certainly changed since then, with three appearances as a Hart Trophy finalist and a Stanley Cup this past spring.

There are few players in the league that can impact a game as much as the 27-year-old center. MacKinnon’s incredibly powerful skating stride can separate him from defenders in an instant, his offensive instincts are among the best in the world, and his shot creation results in plenty of opportunities for himself and his linemates. Since 2017-18, his first true superstar campaign, his 442 points trail only McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, while his points-per-game are behind only McDavid and Nikita Kucherov.

Incredibly, if MacKinnon didn’t already have nine seasons of NHL action under his belt, he wouldn’t have even reached unrestricted free agency this summer, having only turned 27 at the start of September. That means the extension will span his age 28-35 seasons, and that the Avalanche won’t be on the hook for a big number as he enters his late-thirties. While it remains a huge number to carry, it is likely still a bargain for the next couple of seasons while MacKinnon remains an elite player. If the salary cap takes a big jump, it could remain one for the majority of the extension.

There is no short-changing MacKinnon here though. The superstar will receive $85.34MM of the $100.8MM deal in the form of signing bonuses, and a full no-movement clause will kick in right away and last throughout the entire extension. CapFriendly gives the full details:

  • 2023-24: $775K salary + $15.725MM signing bonus
  • 2024-25: $775K salary + $15.725MM signing bonus
  • 2025-26: $800K salary + $15.25MM signing bonus
  • 2026-27: $9.15MM salary + $3.0MM signing bonus
  • 2027-28: $990K salary + $8.91MM signing bonus
  • 2028-29: $990K salary + $8.91MM signing bonus
  • 2029-30: $990K salary + $8.91MM signing bonus
  • 2030-31: $990K salary + $8.91MM signing bonus

It’s a massive commitment from the Avalanche, though one that is very much deserved. Not only is MacKinnon one of the best players in the league but he also has been through the worst the franchise has to offer, when Colorado was putting up historically-bad results. In 2016-17 the team won just 22 games, finishing dead last and more than 20 points behind the next worst. They would go on to lose the draft lottery as well, though that ended up inn their favor, as the fourth-overall pick was Cale Makar.

While the Conn Smythe this year went to Makar it could have easily been MacKinnon to take home the playoff MVP, after leading the postseason with 13 goals in 20 games. For his career, he has performed at an incredibly high level when the games matter most, scoring 41 goals and 93 points in 70 career playoff games.

With this deal, along with extensions already worked out for Makar, Gabriel Landeskog, Valeri Nichushkin, and Artturi Lehkonen, the team’s competitive window remains wide open for the foreseeable future. It also likely leaves some money on the table, which will help out when Devon Toews and Mikko Rantanen need extensions down the road (2024 and 2025 respectively).

MacKinnon may end up playing his entire career with Colorado, given how long this new deal extends. His potential free agency is now something Avalanche fans won’t have to think about for a very long time.

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