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Nathan MacKinnon

Nathan MacKinnon To Miss 1-2 Weeks With Lower-Body Injury

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While it obviously isn’t the worst news they could have received, the Colorado Avalanche will still be shaking their fists in frustration today. Head coach Jared Bednar told reporters including Ryan S. Clark of The Athletic that Nathan MacKinnon will be out for one to two weeks with a lower-body injury.

The team is already without several other forwards including Mikko Rantanen and Nazem Kadri, weakening their depth up front considerably. One positive is that Cale Makar is expected to return for the Avalanche tonight, though MacKinnon’s absence will still obviously be felt.

Not only does it hurt Colorado’s chances of catching the St. Louis Blues for first place in the Central Division, but this also may rob MacKinnon of his first 100-point season. The explosive forward has recorded 97 and 99 points the last two years and sits at 93 in just 69 games so far this year. Two weeks could mean missing eight of the team’s final 13 games though, making it tough to crack the elusive threshold.

It could also potentially impact any Hart Trophy votes that may have been coming MacKinnon’s way, though Leon Draisaitl’s 110 points may have already done irreparable damage to that campaign.

Colorado’s Nazem Kadri Out “Weeks”

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The surging Colorado Avalanche have suffered a setback in their pursuit to overtake the St. Louis Blues for the lead in the Central Division and Western Conference. Head coach Jared Bednar revealed to the media on Tuesday that center Nazem Kadri has suffered a lower-body injury and is set to miss “weeks, not days.” Kadri was injured in the second period on Sunday against the Minnesota Wild and return for just one shift in the third period before exiting the game.

Kadri, 29, has played an integral role for the Avalanche this season after coming over from the Toronto Maple Leafs this summer. In a campaign that has featured lengthy absences from the likes of Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog, Kadri has been a steady secondary scorer for Colorado, recording 19 goals – second only to Nathan MacKinnon – and 36 points. Had Kadri stayed healthy, he would have been on pace for the second-best season of his career. He has also been far and away the team’s best face-off man and among the leading forwards in power play time and hits.

Kadri’s absence, especially as the Avs are in the midst of a 7-1-2 run a rolling on all cylinders, is a stroke of bad luck for player and team. The good news is that the injury occurred prior to the trade deadline, with enough time to react and refocus their trade pursuits. Colorado was already considered a top buyer at the deadline, given their position in the standings and considerable cap space, but now they have even more incentive to add depth up front. It’s fair to consider the Avalanche players for nearly every top name on the market. In the meantime, the team will have to lean more heavily on their other secondary scorers, particularly centers J.T. Compher and Tyson Jost, and hope that slumping star Landeskog can rediscover his game. Colorado will need help in some way, shape, or form as they await a return from Kadri, likely not until next month.

2020 NHL All-Star Skills Participants Announced

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Before Saturday’s All-Star Game three-on-three tournament, the NHL’s best will take the ice on Friday night in the annual All-Star Skills event. There has been considerable hype around this year’s competition, given both the new “Shooting Stars” event, in which players will fire the puck at targets on the ice from platforms in the stands, and the participation of stars from the women’s game, including their own three-on-three scrimmage. Now, the league has announced who specifically will be taking part in each event, both new and classic. Below is the lineup for each event:

Fastest Skater

Jack Eichel, Buffalo Sabres
Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche
Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers
Mathew Barzal, New York Islanders
Chris Kreider, New York Rangers
Anthony Duclair, Ottawa Senators
Travis Konecny, Philadelphia Flyers
Quinn Hughes, Vancouver Canucks

Save Streak

David Rittich, Calgary Flames
Tristan Jarry, Pittsburgh Penguins
Jordan Binnington, St. Louis Blues
Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay Lightning
Frederik Andersen, Toronto Maple Leafs
Jacob Markstrom, Vancouver Canucks
Braden Holtby, Washington Capitals
Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets

Accuracy Shooting

Jaccob Slavin, Carolina Hurricanes
Tyler Bertuzzi, Detroit Red Wings
Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton Oilers
Jonathan Huberdeau, Florida Panthers
Nico Hischier, New Jersey Devils
Tomas Hertl, San Jose Sharks
Alex Pietrangelo, St. Louis Blues
Mark Scheifele, Winnipeg Jets

Hardest Shot

Mark Giordano, Calgary Flames
Seth Jones, Columbus Blue Jackets
Shea Weber, Montreal Canadiens
Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay Lightning
Elias Pettersson, Vancouver Canucks
John Carlson, Washington Capitals

Shooting Stars

David Pastrnak, Boston Bruins
Matthew Tkachuk, Calgary Flames
Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks
Tyler Seguin, Dallas Stars
Brady Tkachuk, Ottawa Senators
David Perron, St. Louis Blues
Ryan O’Reilly, St. Louis Blues
Mitch Marner, Toronto Maple Leafs
American Women’s Elite All-Star (TBD)
Canadian Women’s Elite All-Star (TBD)

Women’s Three-On-Three

Team Canada: Meghan Agosta, Mélodie Daoust, Ann-Renée Desbiens, Renata Fast, Laura Fortino, Rebecca Johnston, Sarah Nurse, Marie-Philip Poulin, Natalie Spooner, Blayre Turnbull

Team USA: Kacey Bellamy, Alex Carpenter, Kendall Coyne Schofield, Brianna Decker, Amanda Kessel, Hilary Knight, Jocelyn Lamoureux-Davidson, Annie Pankowski, Alex Rigsby Cavallini, Lee Stecklein

All the action kicks off at 7:00pm local time in St. Louis, with coverage from NBCSN in the U.S and CBC, SN, and TVAS in Canada.

PHWA Announce 2019-20 Midseason Awards

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Though they have no bearing on the eventual winners, each season the Professional Hockey Writers Association vote for the Midseason Awards to give fans an idea of who is leading the charge around the NHL at the halfway point. Today those ballots have been tallied and the midseason trophies were given out:

Hart Trophy – Most valuable player

1. Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers
2. Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche
3. David Pastrnak, Boston Bruins

Norris Trophy – Best defenseman

1. John Carlson, Washington Capitals
2. Roman Josi, Nashville Predators
3. Dougie Hamilton, Carolina Hurricanes

Selke Trophy – Best defensive forward

1. Sean Couturier, Philadelphia Flyers
2. Patrice Bergeron, Boston Bruins
3. Ryan O’Reilly, St. Louis Blues

Calder Trophy – Best rookie

1. Cale Makar, Colorado Avalanche
2. Quinn Hughes, Vancouver Canucks
3. Victor Olofsson, Buffalo Sabres

Lady Byng Trophy – Sportsmanship & gentlemanly conduct

1. Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche
2. Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs
3. Ryan O’Reilly, St. Louis Blues

Vezina Trophy – Best goaltender

1. Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets
2. Ben Bishop, Dallas Stars
3. Darcy Kuemper, Arizona Coyotes

Jack Adams Award – Best coach

1. Mike Sullivan, Pittsburgh Penguins
2. John Tortorella, Columbus Blue Jackets
3. Craig Berube, St. Louis Blues

Jim Gregory GM of the Year Award

1. Joe Sakic, Colorado Avalanche
2. John Chayka, Arizona Coyotes
3. Doug Armstrong, St. Louis Blues

Rod Langway Award – Best defensive defenseman

1. Jaccob Slavin, Carolina Hurricanes
2. Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay Lightning
3. Roman Josi, Nashville Predators

Comeback Player of the Year Award

1. William Nylander, Toronto Maple Leafs
2. Anthony Duclair, Ottawa Senators
3. Max Pacioretty, Vegas Golden Knights

Snapshots: Three Stars, QMJHL Trades, Jets

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The NHL has released their Three Stars for last week, with Nathan MacKinnon taking home top spot. The Colorado Avalanche superstar had eight points in three games and has now almost caught Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid in the NHL scoring race. MacKinnon has 25 goals and 64 points on the season, a pace that would see him easily eclipse his personal best of 99 points set last season.

In second place is another exceptional center in Mark Scheifele, who posted eight points of his own in three games. The Winnipeg Jets forward now has 20 goals and 48 points this season, while averaging close to 22 minutes a game. The third star went to Zach Werenski, who incredibly scored five of the eight goals that the Columbus Blue Jackets totaled last week. The 22-year old defenseman now has double digit goal totals in each of his first four seasons, and 13 this year in just 35 games.

  • With the World Juniors over, several CHL players that took part in the tournament will likely see their rights traded as teams load up for Memorial Cup runs. Nowhere is that more obvious than the QMJHL, where both Raphael Lavoie and Dawson Mercer were dealt today. The pair of Canadian gold medalists are on the move to Chicoutimi where they’ll join a Sangueneens team that is 27-7-4 on the season.
  • Andrew Copp has been officially activated from injured reserve by the Winnipeg Jets, with Nathan Beaulieu taking his place. Copp hasn’t played since the middle of December, but is an important depth forward for the Jets. In 34 games this season the 25-year old has 14 points, seeing more playing time and better linemates than ever before in his career.

NHL All-Star Selections Announced

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Although it took some time, with each individual team rolling out their own selections, the final rosters for All-Star Weekend have come into focus. Below are each of the four divisional team, set to face off in the Skills Competition on Friday, January 24th and the All-Star Game on Saturday, January 25th:

Atlantic Division

G Frederik Andersen, Toronto Maple Leafs
G Tuukka Rask, Boston Bruins
D Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay Lightning
D Shea Weber, Montreal Canadiens
F Tyler Bertuzzi, Detroit Red Wings
F Jack Eichel, Buffalo Sabres
F Anthony Duclair, Ottawa Senators
F Jonathan Huberdeau, Florida Panthers
F Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs
F David Pastrnak, Boston Bruins (C)

Metropolitan Division

G Braden Holtby, Washington Capitals
G Joonas Korpisalo, Columbus Blue Jackets
D John Carlson, Washington Capitals
D Dougie Hamilton, Carolina Hurricanes
D Seth Jones, Columbus Blue Jackets
F Mathew Barzal, New York Islanders
F Jake Guentzel, Pittsburgh Penguins
F Travis Konecny, Philadelphia Flyers
F Kyle Palmieri, New Jersey Devils
F Artemi Panarin, New York Rangers

Central Division

G Jordan Binnington, St. Louis Blues
G Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets
D Roman Josi, Nashville Predators
D Alex Pietrangelo, St. Louis Blues
F Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks
F Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche (C)
F Ryan O’Reilly, St. Louis Blues
F Mark Scheifele, Winnipeg Jets
F Tyler Seguin, Dallas Stars
F Eric Staal, Minnesota Wild

Pacific Division

G Marc-Andre Fleury, Vegas Golden Knights
G Darcy Kuemper, Arizona Coyotes
D Mark Giordano, Calgary Flames
F Logan Couture, San Jose Sharks
F Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton Oilers
F Anze Kopitar, Los Angeles Kings
F Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers (C)
F Elias Pettersson, Vancouver Canucks
F Jakob Silfverberg, Anaheim Ducks
F Matthew Tkachuk, Calgary Flames

Additionally, each divisional squad will have one more addition as decided by the Last Men In fan vote. Voting opens on January 1st and closes on the 10th. Here are the candidates:

Atlantic Division – Patrice Bergeron, Rasmus Dahlin, Dylan Larkin Aleksander Barkov, Max Domi, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Steven Stamkos, Mitch Marner

Metropolitan Division – Teuvo Teravainen, Nick Foligno, Nico Hischier, Brock Nelson, Mika Zibanejad, Claude Giroux, Kris Letang, T.J. Oshie

Central Division – Jonathan Toews, Cale Makar, Jamie Benn, Ryan Suter, Matt Duchene, David Perron Patrik Laine

Pacific Division – Ryan Getzlaf, Clayton Keller, Johnny Gaudreau, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Drew Doughty, Tomas Hertl, Quinn Hughes, Max Pacioretty

NHL Announces All-Star Captains

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The 2020 NHL All-Star captains were revealed today as three of the names remain the same from last season as Washington Capitals’ Alex Ovechkin, Edmonton Oilers’ Connor McDavid and Colorado Avalanche’s Nathan MacKinnon headline the captains for each division as picked by the fans. The new name on the captain’s list is Boston Bruins winger David Pastrnak.

Pastrnak replaces Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews who was captain at the 2019 all-star game. The 23-year-old is having a dominant season with Boston this year. Having scored a career-high 38 goals last season, Pastrnak is already closing in on that number in almost half that time. The winger already has 28 goals and 50 points in just 36 games as he heads for another career-high this season. Last year was Pastrnak’s first year as an all-star, who was also the “accuracy shooting” winner.

McDavid continues to improve every year. The 22-year-old has continued to put up more and more scoring each year and is on pace to have a career-high in points once again this year. McDavid has 20 goals and 59 points this season through 38 games. MacKinnon is also have another impressive season for the Avalanche, boasting 21 goals and 53 points so far in 35 games this year. The veteran of the group, Ovechkin will make his 11th all-star appearance this season as the 34-year-old has 22 goals this season.

The all-star game will be in St. Louis this season, which will be Jan. 24-26.

Nathan MacKinnon Willing To Take Less On Next Deal

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It’s not often you hear NHL players openly talking about their contract negotiations, both past and future, but that’s exactly what Nathan MacKinnon did when he sat down with Jordan Horrobin of Forbes. The Colorado Avalanche star went into his decision to sign a long-term deal in the summer of 2016 and how well it has worked out for both him and the organization, who are using cap savings from his relatively-low contract to strengthen the team.

Most notably however is the end of Horrobin’s piece, which includes a jarring, if optimistic quote from the superstar center:

On my next deal, I’ll take less again. Because I want to win with this group.

MacKinnon, 24, is set to become an unrestricted free agent when his seven-year, $44.1MM contract expires following the 2022-23 season. At that point he will be 27 and still likely considered one of the best players in the entire NHL. He’s already there after scoring 196 points over the last two seasons and another 44 in his first 27 games this year. Those performances have earned him second and sixth-place finishes in Hart Trophy voting, and if the award was given out today he’d be among the finalists once again.

A 27-year old star like MacKinnon doesn’t hit the market every year and teams would be tripping over themselves to hand him a blank check to join their roster. It obviously sounds like he wants nothing to do with that though, and will instead try to ink a team-friendly deal to win in Colorado.

That’s a noble position to take for MacKinnon, who has become the face of the franchise since Matt Duchene was shipped off to Ottawa two years ago. Colorado, who have suffered countless injuries this season to key players, rely on MacKinnon to generate offense at an exceptional pace, something he has had no problem doing of late. Currently on an eight-game point streak (seven goals, 11 assists), he has caught up to Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand and now sits behind only Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid in league scoring.

His $6.3MM cap hit is often pointed to as one of the best bargains in the league, but if MacKinnon takes a discount on his next deal Colorado GM Joe Sakic will really be the envy of every other front office in the league.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Snapshots: Three Stars, Backstrom, Wilson

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The NHL has released their Three Stars for last week, and a familiar name is at the very top. Nathan MacKinnon finds himself awarded top honors once again after nine points in three games. The Colorado Avalanche center has been carrying the offensive weight without his usual running mates Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog as they deal with injury, but shows no sign of slowing down.

Second and third place go to a pair of goaltenders who have battled hard to stay in their respective roles. David Rittich stopped 95 of 101 shots last week to help the Calgary Flames potentially save their season, while Martin Jones is a huge reason why the San Jose Sharks are back in the playoff race at all. Both netminders have had their share of adversity over the years, but are playing inspired hockey at the moment.

  • It was reported recently that Nicklas Backstrom is representing himself in negotiations with the Washington Capitals, and he confirmed as much today to reporters including Samantha Pell of the Washington Post. Pell reports that Backstrom actually wanted to get an extension done with the team before the season began, but feels he “can be honest” with the organization after so many years together. The 32-year old center is in the final season of a ten-year contract he signed with the Capitals in 2010 and carries a $6.7MM cap hit.
  • Speaking of Colorado injuries, Colin Wilson will undergo surgery on a lower-body injury and is out for a while, according to Ryan S. Clark of The Athletic. Wilson has only played nine games this season and is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year. It’s not clear exactly how long he will be out.

PHR Originals: 11/25/19 – 12/01/19

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In an otherwise quiet week for news and action, with three different days of three games or less, PHR’s writers stayed busy with some original articles:

Brian La Rose began our annual holiday series “What Your Team Is Thankful For”. Going alphabetically, he took a look at Anaheim, Arizona, and Boston. The league leading Bruins obviously have plenty to be thankful for, but so too do the Coyotes, who currently hold a top-ten record in the NHL. There’s room for improvement in Arizona, but the team has to be happy with how the season has gone thus far. Anaheim however has a hefty wish list this holiday season, needing more out of their young forward corps and a difference-maker on defense. Stay tuned for more write-ups from Brian on the other 28 teams as we march toward 2020.

Sticking with the holiday theme, I outlined the recent trend of the standings at American Thanksgiving being a strong playoff predictor and asked who could be the outlier teams that qualify for the postseason this year after missing the mark on Turkey Day. The readers responded very favorably toward one team in each conference – the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Vegas Golden Knights. If only those two teams turn things around this season, then the current standings already reflect 14 of 16 playoff teams.

Gavin also offered a poll to the readers, asking who might be the early favorite for the Hart Trophy this season as NHL MVP. Gavin detailed the accomplishments to this point in the year of a number of the game’s biggest names, but voters gravitated toward two forwards on ungodly scoring paces. Edmonton’s Connor McDavid already has almost 50 points and is currently on pace for 144 points, while Boston’s David Pastrnak has 24 goals in 26 games and looks poised to score 75+ goals at this rate. However, do the presences of Leon Draisaitl and Brad Marchand also among the league’s top scorers hurt their teammates’ Hart cases? Could the likes of Nathan MacKinnon and John Carlson swoop in as more “valuable” candidates?

In my bi-weekly piece, I took a look at the happenings in college hockey of late. As Hockey East teams continue to underwhelm this year, especially Boston University, other northeast schools have filled the top-ten void in Cornell, Clarkson, and Harvard. Meanwhile, Minnesota may not be a top contender in the Big Ten this year, but added another talented recruit to an impressive incoming class. And college hockey will continue in Alaska, at least for now.

Finally, Gavin hosted his weekly chat, with topics ranging from coaches on the hot seat, the sustainability of upstart teams, and franchise building blocks. The Red Wings, Predators, and Senators received some special attention in yet another great segment.

For all of the original work from PHR’s writers, be sure to keep up with all of the action each and every day!

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