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Nikita Kucherov

Radko Gudas Suspended Two Games

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The Department of Player Safety has issued their rulings, and this time Radko Gudas will miss only two games. The Philadelphia Flyers defenseman has been given a two-game suspension for his high-stick/slash on Nikita Kucherov last night. In addition to the suspension, Robert Hagg has also been issued a $3,091.40 fine for interference, the maximum allowable under the CBA.

As the accompanying video explains:

While we agree with Gudas’ assertion that this slash excessively forceful or violent, this is an intentional play by Gudas. A player who intentionally brings his stick down on the head of an opponent with a two-handed slashing motion, can expect to be penalized by the on-ice officials and in most cases be met with some form of supplementary discipline, be it a warning, a fine or a suspension. What causes this play to rise to the level of a suspension is Gudas’ disciplinary history. Specifically, his history of similar behavior.

The league goes on to explain this history of the Flyers defenseman, which includes a much longer ban for a more forceful slash to the head of Winnipeg Jets forward Mathieu Perreault not even two years ago. It’s clear that the league is fed up with the fact that Gudas has repeatedly used his stick to attack the head of a player, even if in this instance it was not an extremely violent slash.

With Gudas’ history he’ll be looked at even more closely in the future and if another incident like this occurs you can bet the league will increase the suspension even further. While an effective defender, Gudas must start to avoid situations like this or risk much lengthier bans.

Radko Gudas To Have Hearing With Department Of Player Safety

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Not only is Nikita Kucherov continuing his incredible offensive season, but now he’s drawing suspensions too. Radko Gudas will have a hearing today with the Department of Player Safety after high-sticking Kucherov in last night’s Philadelphia Flyers-Tampa Bay Lightning game. With Kucherov’s back turned and the puck already on its way out of the zone, Gudas brought his stick down hard on top of the Lightning forward’s head. Gudas did receive a minor penalty on the play.

This is not the first time that Gudas has faced supplementary discipline, in fact far from it. The Flyers defenseman has been suspended three times in his career, most recently for a similar play against Winnipeg forward Mathieu Perreault. In that instance, Gudas was given a ten-game suspension for what was admittedly a more violent slash to the head. Still, the fact that he has a long history with the Department of Player Safety will certainly not work in his favor this time around.

Kucherov appeared to not suffer an injury on the play, but the league will be sure to protect their leading scorer and potential Hart Trophy winner. The Lightning forward has 99 points already and snapped a five-game multi-point streak against the Flyers. It’s been an outstanding year for the entire Tampa Bay organization, but Kucherov especially has been at another level than the rest of his NHL competition.

Snapshots: Three Stars, Hossa, Draft Rankings

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The NHL has released their three stars for last week, and Nikita Kucherov finds himself on top once again. The Tampa Bay Lightning forward now has 94 points on the season to lead the entire league and has recorded at least two in each of his last four games. That gives Kucherov 28 multi-point games this season and makes him a near lock for his second consecutive 100+ point season. The 25-year old has become an almost unmatched offensive powerhouse the last few seasons and will likely be a finalist for (if not the outright winner of) the Hart Trophy this year.

Fellow Russian sniper Vladimir Tarasenko took home the second star for his ten-point effort, another reason why the St. Louis Blues are the NHL’s hottest team. Tarasenko was included in trade rumors at one point this season, but is now on pace to come close to his career-high in points of 75. Third place went to Sidney Crosby who is having another incredible season even without some of the usual fanfare. Crosby has 72 points in 56 games and will likely continue his streak of point-per-game seasons that has lasted his entire career.

  • When Marian Hossa stepped away from the NHL in 2017 due to a mysterious skin condition, many struggled to accept his explanation. That was because it happened to coincide with Hossa’s salary dropping dramatically, meaning he wasn’t leaving very much money on the table by essentially retiring. Now, in an incredible interview with The Athletic’s Scott Powers (subscription required), Hossa opens up about the condition and how it affected his life and playing career.  After a trade from Chicago, Hossa’s contract remains on the Arizona Coyotes books and will until 2021 when it eventually expires. He won’t be playing hockey again, but his health and life have returned to some level of normalcy.
  • While Powers was busy releasing a feature on Hossa, Athletic colleague Scott Wheeler was releasing his midseason draft rankings (subscription required). Wheeler continues to have Jack Hughes as an easy choice in the top spot and doesn’t see it as “a 1A and 1B” draft with fellow top prospect Kaapo Kakko. Arthur Kaliyev, who scored two more goals today for the Hamilton Bulldogs to give him 47 on the season, sits at 13th and is the top OHL player available. As Corey Pronman of The Athletic points out on Twitter, Kaliyev is in rare (and impressive) territory in terms of draft eligible goal scorers from the OHL.

Snapshots: Toffoli, Daley, Thornton, Fines

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Boston’s desire to add scoring depth on the wing is well-known and it appears they’re open to adding a player signed beyond this season instead of necessarily looking at a rental.  In an appearance on WGR 550 (audio link), TSN’s Darren Dreger indicated that Kings winger Tyler Toffoli is someone that the Bruins are believed to have interest in.  The 26-year-old has struggled considerably this season, scoring just eight times in 50 games despite logging a career-high 17:26 per night.  That’s not great value for a player with a $4.6MM cap hit through next season but Toffoli is also someone that certainly could benefit from a change of scenery which makes him an intriguing trade target to watch for.

Elsewhere around the league:

  • Red Wings defenseman Trevor Daley will be out another seven-to-ten days with as he works his way back from a broken foot, notes Ted Kulfan of The Detroit News. The veteran has played in just 31 games this season but a good showing in his return might give Detroit a small chance to move him and get out of the final year of his contract which carries a $3.167MM cap hit.  It’s worth noting that on February 16th, his full no-trade clause drops to a 15-team restriction.
  • Although Sharks center Joe Thornton has been playing regularly since returning from a knee infection and a broken toe, he still is not fully healthy, head coach Peter DeBoer told Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News. The 39-year-old is logging just 15:31 per game, his lowest since 1998-99.  If the issues persist, it could force San Jose to look into bringing in some extra depth down the middle between now and the trade deadline.
  • The Department of Player Safety announced (Twitter links) a pair of $5K fines for incidents from Friday night. Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov was fined for a trip on Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield while Senators center Zack Smith was hit with a fine for an elbow on Penguins rearguard Marcus Pettersson.  The amounts are the maximum allowable under the CBA.

NHL Announces All-Star Skills Competitors

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The NHL All-Star Skills Competition is scheduled for this evening, and though Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon have both pulled out due to illness and injury there are still an incredible amount of talented players taking part. Most notable however may be the final entrant in the fastest skater competition: Kendall Coyne. A member of the US Women’s National Team, Coyne will take MacKinnon’s place after the Colorado Avalanche forward suffered a foot injury this week. The Olympic gold medalist is known for her speed and posted a 14.226 yesterday during event testing according to Emily Kaplan of ESPN. Though that wouldn’t have been enough to dethrone Connor McDavid last year, it would have put her ahead of Zach Werenski, Noah Hanifin and Josh Bailey in the competition. We’ll see what Coyne can do tonight, along with the rest of the competitors:

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PHWA Announces 2018-19 Midseason Awards

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Though they have no bearing on the eventual winners, last season the Professional Hockey Writers Association brought back their Midseason Awards to give fans an idea of who was 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. Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning
2. Johnny Gaudreau, Calgary Flames
3. Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers

Norris Trophy – Best defenseman

1. Mark Giordano, Calgary Flames
2. Morgan Rielly, Toronto Maple Leafs
3. Brent Burns, San Jose Sharks

Selke Trophy – Best defensive forward

1. Patrice Bergeron, Boston Bruins
2. Aleksander Barkov, Florida Panthers
3. Mark Stone, Ottawa Senators

Calder Trophy – Best rookie

1. Elias Pettersson, Vancouver Canucks
2. Rasmus Dahlin, Buffalo Sabres
3. Miro Heiskanen, Dallas Stars

Lady Byng Trophy – Sportsmanship & gentlemanly conduct

1. Aleksander Barkov, Florida Panthers
2. Morgan Rielly, Toronto Maple Leafs
3. Sean Monahan, Calgary Flames

Vezina Trophy – Best goaltender

1. John Gibson, Anaheim Ducks
2. Marc-Andre Fleury, Vegas Golden Knights
3. Frederik Andersen, Toronto Maple Leafs

Jack Adams Award – Best coach

1. Barry Trotz, New York Islanders
2. Bill Peters, Calgary Flames
3. Jon Cooper, Tampa Bay Lightning

GM of the Year Award

1. Brad Treliving, Calgary Flames
2. Doug Wilson, San Jose Sharks
3. Lou Lamoriello, New York Islanders

Rod Langway Award – Best defensive defenseman

1. Mattias Ekholm, Nashville Predators
2. Mark Giordano, Calgary Flames
3. Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay Lightning

Comeback Player of the Year Award

1. Robin Lehner, New York Islanders
2. Jeff Skinner, Buffalo Sabres
3. Zach Parise, Minnesota Wild

2019 All-Star Rosters Announced

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The NHL has announced the four rosters for the 2019 All-Star Game today, scheduled to be held on January 26th in San Jose. Earlier today, Alex Ovechkin, who was elected captain of Metropolitan Division squad, told the league that he wouldn’t be attending and will accept the punishment of missing one game either before or after the break. Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, and Auston Matthews will represent the Pacific, Central and Atlantic respectively, as the other captains. A replacement Metropolitan captain for Ovechkin has yet to be named.

The full rosters are as follows:

Pacific Division

G John Gibson (ANA)
G Marc-Andre Fleury (VGK)

D Erik Karlsson (SJS)
D Brent Burns (SJS)
D Drew Doughty (LAK)

F Connor McDavid (EDM)*
F Johnny Gaudreau (CGY)
F Joe Pavelski (SJS)
F Elias Pettersson (VAN)
F Clayton Keller (ARI)

Central Division

G Pekka Rinne (NSH)
G Devan Dubnyk (MIN)

D Roman Josi (NSH)
D Miro Heiskanen (DAL)

F Nathan MacKinnon (COL)*
F Mikko Rantanen (COL)
F Blake Wheeler (WPG)
F Patrick Kane (CHI)
F Mark Scheifele (WPG)
F Ryan O’Reilly (STL)

Atlantic Division

G Jimmy Howard (DET)
G Carey Price (MTL)

D Keith Yandle (FLA)
D Thomas Chabot (OTT)

F Auston Matthews (TOR)*
F Nikita Kucherov (TBL)
F Steven Stamkos (TBL)
F John Tavares (TOR)
F David Pastrnak (BOS)
F Jack Eichel (BUF)

Metropolitan Division

G Henrik Lundqvist (NYR)
G Braden Holtby (WAS)

D John Carlson (WSH)
D Seth Jones (CBJ)

F Sidney Crosby (PIT)
F Taylor Hall (NJD)
F Mathew Barzal (NYI)
F Claude Giroux (PHI)
F Cam Atkinson (CBJ)
F Sebastian Aho (CAR)

*Denotes team captain

One final skater spot on each roster has yet to be announced, as it will be determined by the “Last Man In” fan ballot, a concept borrowed from Major League Baseball. The format of the current All-Star Game, which requires one representative from each team on these smaller 3-on-tournament rosters, was bound to cause some confusion with the initial selections. Seven top-twenty scorers were not selected – Mitch Marner, Brayden Point, Leon Draisaitl, Sean Monahan, Matthew Tkachuk, Phil Kessel, and Gabriel Landeskog – and several will inevitably remain out of All-Star participation even after the fan ballot additions. Morgan Rielly, the league’s top-scoring defenseman, and Mark Giordano, enjoying an elite season on both sides of the puck, are two surprising omissions on the blue line. Several of the league’s top goalies are also going to miss out, ineligible for the fan ballot, including Ben Bishop, Frederik Andersen, and Andrei Vasilevskiy. The “Last Man In” will be an intriguing new addition to the All-Star process, with nominees to be named shortly, but more than a few notable names will be left out regardless. Meanwhile, the health of players like Price and Chabot for Team Atlantic and Hall for Team Metropolitan will bear watching, as those players may opt to skip the All-Star festivities, opening up more players to selection.

Snapshots: Three Stars, Transfer Fees, Wilson

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The NHL awarded their weekly Three Stars again today, this time choosing Sergei Bobrovsky as the easy recipient of the top honors. After struggling early in the season, Bobrovsky is right back to being arguably the best goaltender in the league as he posted a 4-0-0 record last week that included two shutouts. The pending unrestricted free agent has stopped 179 of the last 186 shots he has faced and now carries a .913 save percentage on the year.

Second and third went to two Atlantic Division rivals, as Morgan Rielly of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning appeared on the list. The Toronto defender added to his scoring lead among all NHL defensemen with a nine-point week, while Kucherov continued to show why he is one of the most dangerous offensive players in the league with his own nine-point effort.

  • According to the Associated Press, the NHL paid more than $35MM in transfer fees last season to sign players from around the world, as part of a continuing agreement with leagues in Sweden, Finland and other countries. The idea behind the transfer agreements is to funnel money back into the development programs all around the world, which in turn provides more diverse talent for the NHL. It has worked as planned in recent years as top talents like Rasmus Dahlin, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Miro Heiskanen and Patrik Laine have all been selected in the top three picks of the entry draft. The KHL and the Swiss NLA do not have transfer agreements with the NHL at this time, which also complicates the process of their talent coming over in the first place.
  • The Pittsburgh Penguins think they have an answer to the physical play that rival Tom Wilson of the Washington Capitals provides, and he’s already in their system. Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette examines how Garrett Wilson could be brought back up after the holiday season in order to provide some leadership and toughness for the Penguins, who recently lost physical defenseman Jamie Oleksiak at the hands (or, perhaps hand) of Washington’s Wilson. Pittsburgh’s Wilson cleared waivers earlier this month and was sent down to the minor leagues a few days ago to make room for the activation of Dominik Simon.

Snapshots: Three Stars, RFAs, Marleau

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The NHL has released their latest Three Stars of the Week, and to absolutely no one’s surprise Patrik Laine finds himself on top. Despite plenty of other outstanding performances last week, Laine was the easy choice after scoring 11 goals in just four games including a five-goal effort on Saturday night. The young Winnipeg Jets forward set all kinds of franchise records with the outstanding performance, and joined an incredibly small group of players to post five goals in a game before their 21st birthday. Only Laine, Don Murdoch and Wayne Gretzky have ever done so; Laine will have to do it again this season to tie Gretzky with two such performances.

Coming in second and third this week are Marc-Andre Fleury and Nikita Kucherov, two players well versed in this award. Fleury earned third star honors just over a month ago, while Kucherov has been in the top three several times throughout his career. The Vegas Golden Knights goaltender and Tampa Bay Lightning forward will have to continue their strong play if they hope to compete for the Stanley Cup again this season, and may even find themselves on this list again down the road.

2018-19 Season Primer: Tampa Bay Lightning

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With the NHL season now just a month away, it’s time to look at what each team has done this summer and what to watch for in the year to come. Today, we focus on the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Last Season: 54-23-5 record (113 points), third in the Atlantic Division (lost to Washington in the Eastern Conference Finals)

Remaining Cap Space: $2.646MM per CapFriendly

Key Additions: D Cameron Gaunce (free agent, Columbus); Kevin Lynch (free agent, Syracuse Crunch (AHL))

Key Departures: F Chris Kunitz (free agent, Chicago Blackhawks); D Andrej Sustr (Anaheim Ducks); F Matthew Peca (Montreal Canadiens); F Erik Condra (Dallas Stars); Mathew Bodie (Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod (KHL)); F Alex Gallant (Vegas Golden Knights)

[Related: Lightning Depth Chart From Roster Resource]

Player To Watch: F Nikita Kucherov – The 25-year-old superstar quietly signed a eight-year, $76MM extension this offseason and after breaking the 100-point barrier, many wonder if Kucherov takes another step this season. He broke the 100-point barrier last year as his assist totals took a jump, most likely in part because of his success playing next to center Steven Stamkos.

However, is there more that Kucherov can do to help the team capture a Stanley Cup? The winger took his game up a notch after the 2016-17 season when he jumped from 30 to 40 goals. Then last season, he took those assists up a notch, raising his assist totals from 45 to 61, while maintaining his goal-scoring prowess as he still tallied 39 goals last season.

The real question is whether the 100-point performance last season is just Kucherov scratching the surface of his potential or whether he will slip back to his 80-pont ways. No matter what, he remains one of the best plaeyrs in the NHL, but one wonders how much better he can be.

Key Storyline: General manager Steve Yzerman has never been shy of making a big trade to add talent for their Stanley Cup run. He did that at the trade deadline last year when the team went out and acquired two key pieces for their run when they got defenseman Ryan McDonagh and winger J.T. Miller, both who were critical to their playoff run. Unfortunately, they hit the Washington Capitals’ wall and failed to reach the Stanley Cup Finals, but they were extremely close.

The team didn’t make many moves in the offseason, but were rumored to be in on a potential Erik Karlsson trade and at one point it looked like it was a done deal. However, the team may not have been ready to part with talented defenseman Mikhail Sergachev at the time. However, with Karlsson still in Ottawa, don’t be shocked if the Lightning do everything it can to bring the star defenseman aboard. If the team could find itself with a top-four of Victor Hedman, McDonagh, Karlsson and Sergachev, the team’s defense might be the best in hockey.

Overall Outlook: There may be only eight teams that could be considered legitimate candidates to win the Stanley Cup this year and Tampa Bay would likely be considered among the top two or three teams this year. With their offensive success throughout their forward lines as well as a developing defense with two solid top-two defenders on the roster and the most talented young goaltender in the NHL at the moment in Andrei Vasilevskiy, the team is in good hands for the 2018-19 season.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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