Jonathan Toews, Nathan MacKinnon In Concussion Protocol
Jan 30: Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos was correct when he reported MacKinnon underwent surgery, as Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar confirmed today. MacKinnon has been ruled out for the All-Star Game, and Bednar told reporters including Baugh that Mikko Rantanen was “an easy case” as his replacement. That case may be ineffective though, as David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period tweets that it will be Roman Josi who replaces MacKinnon instead, giving the Central Division another defenseman.
Jan 28: Two high-profile centers are unavailable for their teams at the moment because of head injuries. Colorado Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon has been ruled out for the team’s last three games before the All-Star break as he deals with a facial fracture and concussion from Taylor Hall‘s hit on Wednesday night. The Chicago Blackhawks, Colorado’s opponent tonight, will be without Jonathan Toews as he is also in the concussion protocol. Toews finished his last game against the Detroit Red Wings, though Charlie Roumeliotis of NBCS Chicago noticed a hit that could have caused the issue.
With MacKinnon out, the Avalanche will go with a top line of Gabriel Landeskog, Mikko Rantanen, and Valeri Nichushkin, according to Peter Baugh of The Athletic. Dylan Sikura, recently recalled, will enter the lineup on the fourth line and play in his second NHL game of the season. Sikura has 31 points in 29 games for the Colorado Eagles this season.
Obviously, the loss of MacKinnon is a big one, given his place as one of the top players in the entire league. With 43 points in 31 games so far, he was named to the Central Division All-Star team, a spot that now seems up for grabs. It is unlikely that he would participate after suffering an injury like this, meaning there should be a replacement named in the coming days. Given he was the “captain” of the group, that will also have to be decided if MacKinnon is indeed held out of the event.
For Toews, this is just the latest in what has been a difficult season. Coming back from his missed 2020-21 campaign, the 33-year-old forward hasn’t exactly been himself, registering just four goals in 43 games so far. In 2019-20 he had 18 but had previously never recorded fewer than 20 in any of his first 12 NHL seasons. With just 19 points in those 43 contests, he ranks fifth on the Blackhawks in scoring, well behind Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat who have carried the load thus far. He’s also averaging fewer than 18 minutes a night for the first time in his career and will now potentially miss some time with a concussion.
2022 NHL All-Star Game Rosters Revealed
Jan 26: After Batherson was injured last night, the league has announced that Brady Tkachuk will replace him and be the Senators’ representative.
Jan 13: During a live reveal on ESPN’s SportsCenter program in the United States, the National Hockey League unveiled their four divisional rosters for the 2022 NHL All-Star Game in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Eight skaters and two goalies were announced for each team, leaving one skater spot open for each division. That last spot will once again be decided by a fan vote, who they can select by voting at NHL.com/LastMenIn.
The head coaches of each team were announced earlier, decided by the teams in first place (by points percentage) in their division on New Years Day. Florida’s Andrew Brunette heads the Atlantic Division, Carolina’s Rod Brind’Amour will coach the Metropolitan Division, Colorado’s Jared Bednar is the bench boss for the Central Division, and Vegas’ Peter DeBoer will serve as the Pacific Division’s coach.
Below are the full rosters for each division.
Atlantic Division
F Auston Matthews “C” (Toronto Maple Leafs)
F Drake Batherson (Ottawa Senators)
F Patrice Bergeron (Boston Bruins)
F Jonathan Huberdeau (Florida Panthers)
F Dylan Larkin (Detroit Red Wings)
F Nick Suzuki (Montreal Canadiens)
D Rasmus Dahlin (Buffalo Sabres)
D Victor Hedman (Tampa Bay Lightning)
G Jack Campbell (Toronto Maple Leafs)
G Andrei Vasilevskiy (Tampa Bay Lightning)
Metropolitan Division
F Alex Ovechkin “C” (Washington Capitals)
F Sebastian Aho (Carolina Hurricanes)
F Claude Giroux (Philadelphia Flyers)
F Jack Hughes (New Jersey Devils)
F Chris Kreider (New York Rangers)
D Adam Fox (New York Rangers)
D Adam Pelech (New York Islanders)
D Zach Werenski (Columbus Blue Jackets)
G Frederik Andersen (Carolina Hurricanes)
G Tristan Jarry (Pittsburgh Penguins)
Central Division
F Nathan MacKinnon “C” (Colorado Avalanche)
F Kyle Connor (Winnipeg Jets)
F Alex DeBrincat (Chicago Blackhawks)
F Kirill Kaprizov (Minnesota Wild)
F Clayton Keller (Arizona Coyotes)
F Jordan Kyrou (St. Louis Blues)
F Joe Pavelski (Dallas Stars)
D Cale Makar (Colorado Avalanche)
G Juuse Saros (Nashville Predators)
G Cam Talbot (Minnesota Wild)
Pacific Division
F Connor McDavid “C” (Edmonton Oilers)
F Leon Draisaitl (Edmonton Oilers)
F Jordan Eberle (Seattle Kraken)
F Johnny Gaudreau (Calgary Flames)
F Adrian Kempe (Los Angeles Kings)
F Timo Meier (San Jose Sharks)
F Mark Stone (Vegas Golden Knights)
D Alex Pietrangelo (Vegas Golden Knights)
G Thatcher Demko (Vancouver Canucks)
G John Gibson (Anaheim Ducks)
Snapshots: Three Stars, Penguins, Avalanche
The NHL has released the Three Stars for last week, and Alex Ovechkin has taken home the top spot once again. The Russian Machine notched his 28th career hat trick and totaled seven points on the week, taking him ahead of Connor McDavid and into second place in the league scoring race. His 19 goals in 22 games (at age-36 no less) have brought him within 145 of Wayne Gretzky‘s all-time record and has him just 17 behind Jaromir Jagr for third place. With four years left on his new extension and still 60 games left this season, it seems to be a matter of when, not if, Ovechkin will set the NHL record for goals.
Second and third place have been given to Tristan Jarry and Cale Makar respectively, after two more fantastic weeks. Jarry stopped 91 of 93 shots he faced to win all three games for the Pittsburgh Penguins, bringing his overall record to 10-4-3 on the year. The 26-year-old netminder has now played more minutes than any other goalie in the league and has a .936 save percentage on the year. Makar meanwhile is showing once again why he has been a Norris nominee through his first two seasons in the league, as the 23-year-old defenseman now has nine goals and 20 points in 16 games. That’s just two points behind John Carlson for the most by a defenseman, despite having played six fewer games so far and his 1.25 points-per-game rate ties him for sixth among all players (not just defensemen) that have suited up at least ten times.
- While Jarry has led the Penguins to a better record of late, he might be getting some help soon. Evgeni Malkin was on the ice at practice today in a non-contact sweater, and though there’s still no exact timeline for his return to action, it’s good to see him back with teammates. The 35-year-old hasn’t played yet this season after offseason surgery but would obviously be a huge boost to the Penguins when healthy. That’s especially true now that Bryan Rust has been listed as week-to-week with a lower-body injury. He’s not with the team on their current road trip, which starts tonight against the Calgary Flames and lasts through December 10.
- Speaking of teams that may soon receive help, the Avalanche could have Nathan MacKinnon back on Wednesday according to Peter Baugh of The Athletic, who tweets that though nothing is official, it’s “looking like” the superstar center will return against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Unfortunately, that news also comes with a bad injury update, as Ryan Murray is out indefinitely with a lower-body injury that the team is still evaluating. Murray lasted just 11 seconds before leaving the team’s game against Nashville on Saturday.
Snapshots: Canadiens, Avalanche Injuries, Comeau
It has been a rocky start for the Canadiens this season who have managed just five victories in their first 20 games of the season just months after appearing in the Stanley Cup Final. Despite that, GM Marc Bergevin told Sportsnet’s Eric Engels that he isn’t interested in making a trade to simply try to shake things up:
If I make one move to make one change, unless everyone else picks it up, it’s not going to make a difference. It’s well known that just making trades to make trades—especially with our situation with the cap—it just makes no sense to make a lateral move just to make a lateral move. If you’d like to make a move, it’s to make a move to make your team better. Just making a move to make a move, I’m never going to do that just to say I made a trade and here we go.
Notwithstanding Bergevin’s contract situation, a complicating factor in any move he tries to make is Montreal’s salary cap situation. On the surface, they have plenty of room with Carey Price and Paul Byron joining Shea Weber on LTIR. However, only Weber is out for the season so when Price and Byron are activated, they will basically be in a spot where they’ll need to match or clear money to make a move. It’s a bit early in the year for those types of trades so don’t expect much on the trade from the Canadiens anytime soon.
Elsewhere around the NHL:
- Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon could return at some point on their five-game road trip that begins at the start of next month, notes NHL.com’s Rick Sadowski. He has missed the last two weeks with a lower-body injury but still sits fifth in team scoring with ten points in nine games. Meanwhile, Sadowski adds that goaltender Pavel Francouz faced shots for the first time at practice today as he tries to work his way back from a lower-body injury of his own that has kept him out for the whole season so far. The team hasn’t shown much confidence in current backup Jonas Johansson so getting Francouz back soon would give them a boost between the pipes.
- After clearing waivers earlier this month, Dallas winger Blake Comeau hasn’t made it to the AHL just yet. Instead, it turns out that he is dealing with a nagging injury, relays Mike Heika of the Stars team site (Twitter link). The plan is for the 35-year-old to be re-evaluated in three weeks. Comeau had a goal in six games before passing through waivers unclaimed while averaging just 11:28 per game.
Nathan MacKinnon Out Three Weeks With Lower-Body Injury
The Colorado Avalanche will be without their most explosive offensive weapon for the next little while, as head coach Jared Bednar told reporters today that Nathan MacKinnon will be out “give or take three weeks” with a lower-body injury.
MacKinnon suffered the injury against the Columbus Blue Jackets a few days ago but is set to miss around eight games depending on when he’s able to return. That’s another big chunk of what has been a tough season so far for the Hart Trophy finalist, who already sat out two games while in the COVID protocol. When he’s on the ice he’s been as explosive as ever, with ten points in eight games (though only one of those was a goal), but he’ll now face an extended layoff.
This is a brutal blow for the Avalanche, who are already floundering in the early part of the season. At 4-5-1 the team is eight points behind the Central Division-leading St. Louis Blues and six points back of the third-place Winnipeg Jets for a divisional playoff spot. While they have played the fewest games in the division, they’ve also allowed as many goals or more than every team ahead of them in the Central standings.
That’s not to say Colorado can’t compete without MacKinnon, but as arguably the most valuable contract in the entire league, he gives them a huge advantage every night. The 26-year-old is still carrying a cap hit of just $6.3MM, meaning their funds could be allocated to other places like retaining captain Gabriel Landeskog in the offseason. Landeskog is where a lot of the offensive burden will land in MacKinnon’s absence, as he’ll be asked to do even more to keep the Avalanche scoring.
It’s been a heck of a start for the Avalanche, who have had injuries or illnesses affect nearly every one of their key players. With MacKinnon now out for three weeks, their resolve will certainly be tested even further.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Letang, Kane Among Latest COVID Absences As League Questions Testing Protocols
Oct 25: Letang’s positive test has now been confirmed, meaning he will be in the protocol indefinitely.
Oct 23: Is the Coronavirus and the COVID Protocol Absences List truly behind us? It hasn’t seemed that way early on this season with a vast number of players missing practice and games due to positive test results, including some of the league’s biggest stars. That list is now expanding with two major announcements already this morning.
The Pittsburgh Penguins began their game day by announcing that defenseman Kris Letang has tested positive for COVID and entered the league protocol. Head coach Mike Sullivan qualified his status by noting that Letang is not a confirmed positive, but while those additional tests proceed Letang will miss the team’s game tonight. While the Penguins will have Tristan Jarry back in action tonight, activated out of the COVID Protocol, Letang joins Jeff Carter on the list with both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin also still sidelined by injury. Amazingly, the injury-prone Letang has the longest active games streak for the Penguins, but that will now come to an end.
In Chicago, a tough start to the situation could get more dire. The team has announced that Patrick Kane, Ryan Carpenter, and Erik Gustafsson have all entered the COVID Protocol. For now, the team has only ruled the trio out of today’s practice and have not revealed the cause for their initial placement. However, the threat remains that they could miss games if they have tested positive.
With more and more positive tests continuing to pop up, there is growing frustration from players and team officials alike, per Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli. With over 99% of the league vaccinated and the players testing positive being asymptomatic, these missed games feel meaningless to the players and teams involved. Seravalli’s report mentions Carter, Nathan MacKinnon, and Mark Scheifele, but now fellow stars Letang and Kane have entered the fray as well. The NHL is reportedly already reconsidering testing asymptomatic players and now more fuel has been added to the fire. Changes could be coming soon.
Nathan MacKinnon Unavailable Due To COVID Protocol
Oct 19: MacKinnon has provided two consecutive negative tests, and traveled last night to meet the team in Washington. He is expected to make his debut tonight against the Capitals.
Oct 12: If you thought the COVID Protocol Related Absences list was a thing of the past, you might have jumped the gun. After both the Vegas Golden Knights and Seattle Kraken announced key players were unavailable due to the protocol yesterday, the Colorado Avalanche dropped a bomb today. Nathan MacKinnon will not practice today, with the team announcing it is a protocol-related absence. Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic confirmed that MacKinnon has tested positive and will be out tomorrow. The star forward is asymptomatic and the team hopes he will be able to return in a few days.
To reiterate, inclusion in the protocol does not mean that a player has tested positive for Coronavirus or even that they have been confirmed as a close contact to another positive person. Included in the NHL’s list of possible reasons for someone being on the COVID Protocol Related Absences list–which actually won’t be released for the first time until tomorrow–are the following:
(1) an initial positive test which remains unconfirmed until confirmatory testing is completed pursuant to the Positive Test Protocol; (2) mandated isolation for symptomatic individuals pursuant to the Positive Test Protocol; (3) required quarantine as a high-risk close contact in accordance with the Positive Test Protocol; (4) isolation based on a confirmed positive test result and/or; (5) quarantine for travel or other reasons as outlined in the COVID-19 Protocol.
MacKinnon meanwhile is out indefinitely and could potentially miss tomorrow’s season opener if he is not cleared in time. The Avalanche recently were without head coach Jared Bednar after he tested positive, playing two preseason games without the bench boss. Hopefully, for Colorado’s sake, MacKinnon is not forced to miss even that much time.
In his absence, the Avalanche moved Nazem Kadri up to the first line according to Peter Baugh of The Athletic, with J.T. Compher sliding into the second-line center spot.
Colorado’s Valeri Nichushkin Week-To-Week With Upper-Body Injury
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.
AHL Shuffle: 10/15/21
An increasingly tight salary cap situation for many teams across the league has expectedly led to a lot of wheeling, dealing, and maneuvering early on this season, especially in the recalls and assignments department. We’ll keep track of all of today’s minor NHL to AHL and AHL to NHL roster moves right here.
Atlantic Division
- Florida Hockey Now’s George Richards reports the Panthers re-assigned Chase Priskie and Maxim Mamin to the Charlotte Checkers. Priskie was recalled Thursday prior to the team’s season opener against Pittsburgh but was a healthy scratch. Mamin had previously been listed as a non-roster player. Mamin last played in the NHL with the Panthers in 2018-19, playing seven games, but has played in the KHL ever since.
Metropolitan Division
- The Philadelphia Flyers are sending forward Jackson Cates back down to Lehigh Valley, per the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Sam Carchidi. Cates was recalled from the Phantoms Thursday to give the team roster flexibility as their two new waiver claims in Patrick Brown and Zack MacEwen were both unavailable. Yesterday’s other two recalls, Max Willman and Nick Seeler, remain with the team and will likely play in the team’s home opener against Vancouver Friday night.
- Per the team, the New Jersey Devils activated forward Tyce Thompson off injured reserve and have assigned him to the Utica Comets. The brother of Buffalo’s Tage Thompson, Tyce made his NHL debut last season, scoring one assist in seven games.
- The Columbus Blue Jackets have assigned 2020 first-round pick Yegor Chinakhov to the Cleveland Monsters. Likely to see another call-up at some point this season, Chinakhov will make his North American debut with Cleveland soon.
- Greg McKegg has been recalled by the New York Rangers after Ryan Strome‘s placement on the COVID protocol list. He’ll draw into the lineup Saturday against Montreal as the team has only 12 active forwards.
Central Division
- The Avalanche’s Jayson Megna has been sent down to the Colorado Eagles, notes The Athletic’s Peter Baugh. Megna drew into Colorado’s lineup on Wednesday against Chicago in the place of Nathan MacKinnon, who remains on COVID protocol. Megna could be recalled again soon, as Baugh reports it could just be a salary cap maneuver.
- Soon is apparently today, as Megna has rejoined the big club along with Stefan Matteau and Dylan Sikura, with the Avalanche sending Alex Newhook down to the Eagles. A peculiar transaction, you can expect more paper shuffling before the team’s game Saturday against the St. Louis Blues.
Pacific Division
- The Vegas Golden Knights assigned Peyton Krebs, Jonas Rondbjerg, and Jake Leschyshyn to the Henderson Silver Knights ahead of the team’s season opener tonight. All three played in Thursday night’s 6-2 loss to the Los Angeles Kings, and they’ll likely be recalled soon as the team continues to deal with injuries and absences in the bottom six.
This page will be updated throughout the day
NHL Down To Four Unvaccinated Players
The NHL expected that 98% or perhaps even 99% of their players would be vaccinated against the Coronavirus before the start of the 2021-22 season. It seems that they have somehow bettered that mark. Commissioner Gary Bettman has revealed that there are currently only four unvaccinated players in the league. This is understood to mean that all but four of the roughly 736 players on NHL rosters as of yesterday’s deadline are vaccinated – 99.5% of all players. Bettman spoke to his appreciation and respect for how the players have handled the pandemic in many ways over the past two years:
Throughout all of this, we had great collaboration and cooperation with the players and Players’ Association. This doesn’t happen to get to this point without that collaboration and cooperation. Yes, the players have stepped up to get vaccinated, but even thinking about how the players had to function the last two years, to go into the bubble… Having to adhere to the protocols last season so we could administer 330,000 tests to keep everybody healthy. The fact that we were in the bubble and I think we did 35,000 tests and didn’t have one positive. Everybody banded together to do the right thing. Maybe that’s why hockey is the ultimate team sport.
Of those four players, two have previously been confirmed as New Jersey Devils goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood, who has at least considered receiving the vaccine, and Detroit Red Wings forward Tyler Bertuzzi. While Montreal Canadiens forward Jesse Ylonen is also unvaccinated and veteran Vancouver Canucks defenseman Travis Hamonic has been speculated as such as well, neither are considered to be part of this group of four as they are both currently in the AHL.
Bettman also noted that all team personnel and all officials are vaccinated. As a whole, the NHL is about as close to full protection against COVID-19 as could reasonably be expected, not to mention lightyears ahead of the other top North American pro sports leagues.
And yet, Coronavirus will continue to play a part in this NHL season. The Seattle Kraken have already dealt with numerous players entering the COVID Protocol before they can even play their first game in the league, while individual players like Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon and Vegas’ Mattias Janmark are also sidelined by positive tests. The league and its players have done their best to this point, but will have to continue to adhere to COVID Protocol policies and procedures as all involved hope to play a full and uninterrupted schedule this season.