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Injury Updates: Forsberg, Hjalmarsson, Cozens, Penguins

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The Predators have made plenty of progress in the Central Division standings in recent weeks despite a long list of injuries.  That list has grown as the team announced (Twitter link) that winger Filip Forsberg is now listed as week-to-week due to the upper-body injury that has caused him to miss the last three games.  Forsberg leads Nashville in scoring with 29 points (11-18-29) in 34 games and on a team that isn’t scoring much, his absence will be felt.  Forsberg joins Brad Richardson, Matt Duchene, Ryan Ellis, Mark Borowiecki, and Luca Sbisa as players that are listed as being out week-to-week.

More injury news from around the league:

  • Coyotes defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson has suffered a setback as he works his way back from an upper-body injury, notes Craig Morgan of AZ Coyotes Insider (Twitter link). The veteran was injured last Monday and while the hope was that he’d be back soon, he did not accompany Arizona on their nine-game road trip.  Hjalmarsson has four assists in 29 games so far this season.
  • Sabres forward Dylan Cozens could return as soon as next week after sustaining an arm injury on Monday night, relays Bill Hoppe of the Olean Times Herald. It has been a trying year for the rookie as he has been limited to just four goals and two assists in 25 games while missing four games with another upper-body injury earlier this month.
  • Penguins forwards Brandon Tanev and Teddy Blueger returned to practice today, reports Mike DeFabo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Tanev has missed nearly two weeks due to an upper-body injury while Blueger has missed just over two weeks with an upper-body issue of his own.  It’s not all good news on the injury front for Pittsburgh, however, as goalie Tristan Jarry didn’t skate with the team.  He left Monday’s game after the first period with an upper-body injury and is currently listed as day-to-day.

Injury Notes: Moore, Raanta, Hjalmarsson, Okposo

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Bruins defenseman John Moore last suited up on February 26th and it appears that will be the last game he plays for a while.  Head coach Bruce Cassidy confirmed to reporters, including Matt Porter of the Boston Globe (Twitter link), that Moore recently underwent surgery.  The nature of the injury nor the timeline for a return were specified.  It’s the latest in what has been a series of frustrations since he inked a five-year, $13.75MM contract back in the 2018 offseason.  Since then, Moore has held a limited role in the lineup, spending time as a healthy scratch.

With how much time he has missed and now the news that he has had surgery, the Bruins are eligible to transfer Moore to LTIR.  It’s a move that they don’t need to make for now as they’ve had ample cap space to recall a short-term replacement but if it happened to be a season-ending injury, it would give GM Don Sweeney a bit more flexibility heading into next month’s trade deadline.  For now though, Moore is one of four Boston blueliners currently on IR, joining Brandon Carlo, Jeremy Lauzon, and Kevan Miller.

Other injury news from around the league:

  • Coyotes goaltender Antti Raanta is injured once again, reports Craig Morgan of AZ Coyotes Insider (Twitter link). The 31-year-old has had a hard time staying in the lineup in recent years, a trend that has continued this season.  A pending UFA, Raanta has been speculated as a possible trade chip at the trade deadline but missing any time due to injury doesn’t help his value.  Ivan Prosvetov is up from the taxi squad to serve as Adin Hill’s backup for tonight’s game.
  • Also from Morgan’s note, defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson is out due to an upper-body issue. The injury was sustained in Monday’s loss to Colorado and there is no word on how long he will miss. The team announced (via Twitter) that both Raanta and Hjalmarsson were placed on injured reserve.
  • Sabres winger Kyle Okposo isn’t expected to join the team for the remainder of their current road trip, relays John Vogl of The Athletic (Twitter link). The veteran is dealing with an upper-body injury and interim head coach Don Granato indicated that the hope is that Okposo will be able to return next week. It has been another tough year for the 32-year-old who has scored just once in 24 games this season.

Trade Rumors: Market, Virtanen-Heinen, NMCs, Red Wings

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While the NHL Trade Deadline is exactly six weeks away and trade whispers have grown louder in recent days, a number of sources warn that it may be a mistake to expect an active trade market. The factors at play are what one might expect: the flat salary cap and clubs’ financial limitations as well as the U.S.-Canada border restrictions. Speaking on Sportsnet 960 in Calgary today, Elliotte Friedman noted that the market is much quieter than recent rumor and speculation has led everyone to believe. He cites the border issue – a mandatory 14-day quarantine for any player heading north – as limiting potential trade partners, but states that finances are an even greater inhibitor. Friedman said that many clubs are not looking to add salary and stress is being placed more on actual dollars than on cap hits. The Athletic’s Craig Custance and Eric Duhatschek take it even one step further, reporting that “few teams have permission to add salary” and noting that some non-contenders have been ordered by ownership to cut salary if at all possible. There is also the issue that many of the teams who may have the financial ability to add salary lack the cap space to do so. CapFriendly currently lists 16 teams – more than half the league – with projected cap space that amounts to less than a minimum salary and only seven teams currently in a playoff spot are among those with flexibility.

Fortunately, we may not be entirely without fireworks at the deadline. Friedman notes that major investments on players whose impact on teams will last beyond just this season or next could be seen as exceptions to the rule when it comes to adding salary. These additions can be excused as a financial commitment beyond the current financial and flat cap crises. Custance and Duhatschek also point out that for those Canadian teams with the means and desire to add, the deadline may be a little late given the possibility of lengthy quarantines, meaning trades could start up well before six weeks from now. There is hope that there will still be some transactional excitement this season and possibly even sooner rather than later.

  • It sure seemed like a notable trade was about to occur this weekend. On Saturday, it was reported by a number of sources that the Anaheim Ducks and Vancouver Canucks were nearing a deal that would have swapped Jake Virtanen and Danton Heinen. However, the deal never occurred and Friedman questions whether it was really as close as it was made out to be. The two sides certainly did discuss a trade and those two players in particular, and by all accounts continue to do so, but Friedman says that things got “carried away” before a firm deal was in place. The two sides are committed to balancing out the salaries in the trade and while Virtanen and Heinen do have very similar cap hits, their salaries are not even. In the final year of his contract, Heinen carries a $2.8MM AAV and near-equal amount of actual salary. Virtanen’s contract carries a $2.55MM AAV and he is owed only $1.7MM in salary this year, but he has an additional season remaining and $3.4MM in salary. That discrepancy is significant and a major hurdle and the reason why Friedman says a one-for-one swap was never a possibility. He notes that Derek Grant was discussed as a possible addition from Anaheim’s side and he could still be part of a final deal. In the first year of a three-year contract, Grant’s $1.5MM salary next year and $1.75MM in 2022-23 could help to offset Virtanen’s cost to Anaheim next year, but it doesn’t entirely cover the the difference and it is of course discounting the fact that Grant is a valuable player in his own right and not just a salary dump. There is clearly still more work to be done by the Ducks and Canucks if this heavily-rumored deal is to actually become reality. In the meantime, Friedman stated that Virtanen’s salary next season is a turn-off for most teams and could hinder Vancouver’s ability to trade him, especially if these talks with Anaheim fall apart.
  • One other limiting factor for the current trade market is that a pair of notable rental candidates may not be willing to waive their No-Movement Clauses. While there could be interest in Arizona Coyotes defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson, especially in a lacking rental market for blue liners, don’t expect the respected veteran to be on the move. Custance and Duhatschek write that Hjalmarsson has no interest in waiving his NMC and appears content to play out the final year of his contract in Arizona. Hjalmarsson does appear to have lost a step, scoring at a career-low rate and getting penalized at a career-high rate, so perhaps it’s in the best interest of all parties if he finishes out the year and rides off into the sunset. The more surprising note from Custance and Duhatschek on a player who also may not be willing to waive their NMC for a potential trade is Taylor Hall. Signed to a one-year deal this off-season, it was expected that Hall would again be the top trade deadline target if the Buffalo Sabres were not on a postseason trajectory. Well, the Sabres are certainly not playoff-bound, but Hall doesn’t seem to mind. Custance and Duhatschek cite sources who believe that Hall, ranked at just No. 24 on The Athletic’s trade board, is happy in Buffalo and would like to stay. There is a belief that an extension may be more likely than a trade at this point, even with the Sabres’ season in shambles and the team in need of the immense trade capital he would return.
  • Another year, another season in which the Detroit Red Wings will be sellers at the trade deadline. However, the team may be looking to move more than just rentals in the coming weeks (or in the off-season). A rival executive tells Custance and Duhatschek that GM Steve Yzerman is listening to all offers and wouldn’t be surprised if a young core forward such as Anthony Mantha or Tyler Bertuzzi were moved. Mantha, 26, is struggling this season and it remains unclear what his ceiling may be in the NHL as he has dealt with injury and inconsistency over the years. Bertuzzi, also 26, actually got off to a great start early this season, scoring at the best pace of his career albeit in nine games. He has since been sidelined by injury and without building on his hot start, there remain concerns that his development has flatlined in Detroit. If the Red Wings doubt that either player can be an effective part of the young core they are growing in the pipeline, they could be moved.

Salary Cap Deep Dive: Arizona Coyotes

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Navigating the salary cap is one of the more important tasks for any GM.  Teams that can avert total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful.  Those that don’t see struggles and front office changes.

PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation heading into the 2020-21 season.  This will focus more on players who are regulars on the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL.  All cap figures are courtesy of CapFriendly.

Arizona Coyotes

Current Cap Hit: $84,270,284 (over the $81.5MM Upper Limit)

Entry-Level Contracts

F Barrett Hayton (two years, $894K)

Potential Bonuses

Hayton: $1.75MM

Once considered a team full of young players, the Coyotes have changed their image over the last few years and have only one young player on their team under a cheap entry-level deal with only a handful of entry-level players that are even close to joining the team. Hayton, however, could be ready for a breakout season after spending the season with the team last year. Unfortunately for Hayton, he would have benefitted the most with one year in the AHL, but wasn’t eligible to play there, so instead of returning him to his junior team, the Coyotes kept him around. He only appeared in 20 games (although he did miss time with a shoulder injury at the World Juniors), but showed enough potential that he should be an everyday player next season. A big year from the 2019 fifth-overall pick would be a boost to the team’s center position.

One Year Remaining, Non-Entry-Level

F Derek Stepan ($6.5MM, UFA)
D Alex Goligoski ($5.48MM, UFA)
F Marian Hossa ($5.28MM, UFA)
D Niklas Hjalmarsson ($5MM, UFA)
G Antti Raanta ($4.25MM, UFA)
D Jason Demers ($3.94MM, UFA)
D Jordan Oesterle ($1.4MM, UFA)
D Ilya Lyubushkin ($1MM, UFA)
F Conor Garland ($775K, RFA)
F John Hayden ($750K, RFA)
F Dryden Hunt ($700K, RFA)

For a team that is looking to cut salary, the team has a lot of money coming off the books next year, suggesting the team could look drastically different in just one year. Some of those players could find themselves to be trade bait when the trade deadline comes around. The most interesting decision the team might have to make is what to do with Stepan, however. The 30-year-old was brought in from New York to stabilize their top line three years ago. He had four straight seasons of 50 or more points while with the Rangers and posted a 56-point season with the Coyotes in 2017-18. However, his production has taken a dive over the past two years as Stepan posted just 35 points (in 72 games) in 2018-19 and then dropped even further last year with just 28 points in 70 games. A team leader, the Coyotes have to hope that Stepan can return to form this season or the team could choose to move on from him.

The team’s defense is loaded with several high-priced veteran blueliners and almost all of their contracts come up next season, including Goligoski, Hjalmarsson and Demers. Goligoski is 35, but is still playing major minutes for Arizona and could be a candidate to return at a slightly lesser deal. Hjalmarsson is 33, but has seen his game break down a bit as he has dealt with numerous injuries the last couple of years, including a fractured fibula that cost him 43 games last year. The 32-year-old Demers also averaged more than 20 minutes of ATOI per game. The team may keep one or two of those players, but likely will not keep all three.

The team will also want to evaluate the play of Raanta, who has showed flashes of dominance, but also has dealt with injuries and inconsistent play at times as well. Raanta did play well last season, posting a .921 save percentage in 33 games and gives the team several options in the net. Raanta could easily be re-signed to new deal or could be a trade candidate as well.

The team will also finally be free of Hossa’s $5.28MM contract the team took on years ago.

Two Years Remaining

F Phil Kessel ($6.8MM, UFA)
G Darcy Kuemper ($4.5MM, UFA)
F Tyler Pitlick ($1.75MM, UFA)
F Lawson Crouse ($1.53MM, RFA)
F Johan Larsson ($1.4MM, UFA)
F Christian Fischer ($1MM, RFA)

The team brought in Kessel to bring in the firepower that the team needed as goal scoring remains one of the team’s biggest weak points. Unfortunately, the first year with Kessel didn’t turn out to be the big acquisition that the team was hoping for. After an 28-goal, 82-point season in 2018-19, the 33-year-old saw quite a decline in his play with just 14 goals and 38 points in 70 games. That’s way below what they were hoping for and Arizona has to hope that Kessel can return to form this year in hopes of increasing his value if the team wants to move him at the trade deadline or next offseason when he has just one year left on his deal.

Kuemper has become the Coyotes’ top asset as the 30-year-old has been nothing short of dominant over the past two years and remains on a manageable contract. His name came up in trade speculation this offseason, but with so many free-agent goalies available, Arizona didn’t get the offers it was hoping for. That could change down the road. Yet at the same time, Kuemper might be worth keeping around down the road.

Three Years Remaining

None

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Niklas Hjalmarsson Won’t Waive No-Move Clause

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It has been widely reported that cost-cutting measures are expected in Arizona as a result of the ongoing pandemic.  Accordingly, several veterans have seen their names bandied about in trade speculation in recent weeks.  One of those is defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson and his $5MM price tag.  However, the veteran is unwilling to waive his no-move clause, reports Craig Morgan of AZ Coyotes Insider (Twitter link) which means he’ll be staying in the desert barring a change of heart.

While the 33-year-old isn’t known for his offensive prowess – the last time he scored multiple goals in a season was 2016-17 – he has been a steadying presence in his own end for most of his career and can still more than hold his own in a checking role.  The Coyotes have used Hjalmarsson at times with Oliver Ekman-Larsson to allow the latter to get more involved offensively, a role that other teams could conceivably have tried to fit him into.

However, merely staying in the lineup has been tricky in his three years with the Coyotes as Hjalmarsson has missed considerable time in two of those three seasons including a fractured fibula that cost him 43 games this season.  That won’t help his value come next year on the open market but as far as a one-year investment goes, there would have been some interest in him for 2020-21.

Now, Arizona will have to turn their focus to shed payroll on other players.  Veterans Derek Stepan, Alex Goligoski, Jason Demers, and Michael Grabner will each be entering the final year of their contracts next season and could free up some money in the short term while Phil Kessel has two years left with the team on the hook for a $6.8MM price tag.  If they are trying to save money, one or more of these players may be on the move before too long.

One Trade The Blackhawks Would Like To Have Back

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After decades of fostering a reputation as one of the NHL’s premiere tortured franchises, the Chicago Blackhawks recast their reputation when Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith, and company won the Stanley Cup in 2010. In the decade since, there have been two faces to the Chicago franchise: cup contention on the one hand, and salary cap concessions on the other. 

Stanley Cup Championships in 2010, 2013, and 2015 put Captain Serious and the Blackhawks in contention for the franchise of the decade. But the core that helped the Hawks to nine consecutive playoff appearances was costly to keep together. The resultant sell-off of quality players became the other trademark of the 2010s-era Blackhawks. Quality rotations players were sent packing in an effort to manage the salary cap: Dustin Byfuglien, Brandon Saad, Andrew Ladd, Brent Sopel, Nick Leddy, Antti Raanta, Robin Lehner, Andrew Shaw, Artem Anisimov, Artemi Panarin, Kris Versteeg, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Patrick Sharp, Teuvo Teravainen, Bryan Bickell, Troy Brouwer, and the beat goes on. Basically, when all these guys get together at the annual meetup for players traded away from the Blackhawks, they require a larger space than the visiting locker room.

Of course, as a group, they’re still pretty well connected in Chicago. A surprising number of the players GM Stan Bowman has traded away have at some point found their way back to Chicago (Saad, Ladd, Versteeg, Shaw, Oduya, etc.). So before Bowman trades for Nick Leddy again, let’s take a look at the deal that sent the defenseman packing. 

The deal – reported here by Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune – sent blueliner Nick Leddy (and minor league goalie Kent Simpson) to the New York Islanders after the 2013-2014 season for T.J. Brennan, Ville Pokka, and goaltender Anders Nilsson. Like many of Bowman’s trades post-2010, this one was necessitated by a contract sheet bursting at the seams. Three months prior, Bowman locked Toews and Kane into dueling 10-year deals, and two days after that, the salary cap figure came in from the league for the 2014-2015 season at about $2MM less than expected. 

Leddy carried a $2.7MM cap hit at the time with one season before restricted free agency. He would become the first – if much-anticipated – collateral damage of locking their two superstars into long-term deals. He was, by then, a fixture in Chicago, having won the cup in 2013 while serving on the third line of defenders and on the power play for the Hawks. They had to make a move to get under the cap, and with Leddy’s impending restricted free agency, it made a certain amount of sense that he’d be the fall guy.

Assume Bowman figured to move a defender. They could have broken up their second defensive pairing, as both Hjalmarsson and Oduya carried larger cap hits ($4.1MM and $3.375MM, respectively). Both were older than Leddy, considerably so for Oduya (entering his age-32 season). That might have played into Bowman’s thinking, as Oduya wasn’t likely to command as much future salary as Leddy. Hjalmarsson had signed a five-year extension the summer prior, and he routinely put his body on the line to defend the net. He was, if not inner circle in Chicago, then the first guy knocking on the door. 

By moving Leddy, Chicago kept their top-two blueline pairings intact. Given Leddy’s youth, there’s an argument to be made that he was the right piece to move because of the value he could return. 

That’s where this particular trade falls apart. Goaltender Anders Nilsson signed with Kazan of the KHL the following May, never to play for the Blackhawks. Defender T.J. Brennan barely spent the night in-pocket: Bowman traded him to Toronto a couple of months later for Spencer Abbott. Brennan didn’t accomplish a ton in the league, but he lasted longer than Abbott, who appeared in exactly one game for the Blackhawks. Pokka was the other defender in the deal, and at 26-years-old, he has yet to make an appearance for Chicago, spending the last two seasons in the KHL. Abbott’s 8 minutes and 34 seconds of ice time from January of 2017 – his one shot on goal – make up the entirety of the production received from the Leddy trade. 

Granted, Leddy isn’t an all-world defender, but he became a top-pair defender in New York. He can hit the back of the net and bring some punch to the backline, even if his plus/minus scores leave something to be desired. He signed a 7-year, $38.5MM deal that the Blackhawks weren’t likely able to afford – which really puts him on par financially with, say, Brent Seabrook. If keeping Leddy meant trading Seabrook, well, maybe this deal was bound to happen. But again, the real issue with this deal isn’t losing Leddy. It’s that despite the volume return, those pieces added essentially zero long-or-short-term value to the Blackhawks’ roster. 

Maybe the deal had to happen to duck the salary cap, and maybe given another chance, Bowman would make the decision to move Leddy again, but one thing is for certain, the Blackhawks would like to have this trade back – even just to try their hand at trading him again. He wouldn’t be the first guy to get traded away from Chicago more than once. 

Western Notes: Tkachuk, Hjalmarsson, Ducks, Johns

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While the Department of Player Safety has announced that Edmonton Oilers forward Zack Kassian will receive a hearing on Monday for his retaliation against Calgary’s Matthew Tkachuk, many point to two hits that Tkachuk doled out against Kassian before the incident. However, ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski reports that the Department of Player Safety has cleared Tkachuk of his role in the incident.

“Both hits delivered on Kassian were legal, full body checks delivered to a player carrying the puck,” stated the Department of Player Safety to ESPN.

  • The Arizona Coyotes are expected to get a big boost to their defense as the team is expecting to get back defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson, according The Athletic’s Craig Morgan. The veteran blueliner has missed 43 games after cracking his left fibula when he blocked a Erik Johnson slapshot back on Oct. 12. The 32-year-old has appeared in just four games, but when healthy should provide the team with another top-four option and an anchor on defense as the team has lost two straight and only has won five of their last 10 contests.
  • Last night on Hockey Night in Canada, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that the Anaheim Ducks could make an impact on the trade deadline movement as the team has made it known that they are willing to take on some salary in trade deadline deals, something that might prove to be quite valuable to teams that are tight against the cap. CapFriendly reports that Anaheim would have $10.1MM in deadline cap space as they are capable of putting Ryan Kesler and Patrick Eaves on long-term injured reserve, if needed. “The Ducks have let it be known that they’ve got cash and cap space,” Friedman explained. “They are willing to listen to you if you want to use them to help you clean up your cap problem, however, it’s going to cost you good, young assets.”
  • The Dallas Stars got good news Saturday as defenseman Stephen Johns played in his first game in almost two years as the blueliner scored a goal and three assists in the Texas Stars victory over the Toronto Marlies in an AHL game, according to Sean Shapiro of The Athletic (subscription required). Johns has missed all that time with concussion issues, but seems ready to return to Dallas’ lineup soon. He’s expected to still play a few more games in the AHL before joining up with Dallas as a third-pairing option.

West Notes: Predators, Hjalmarsson, Kuemper, Flames

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After adding Matt Duchene in free agency this summer, the Predators were expected to once again be one of the top teams in the Central Division.  However, that hasn’t come to fruition as Nashville is tied for last in the division (though they’ve played the fewest games in the conference).  Speaking with 104.5 The Zone (audio link), GM David Poile indicated that he’s “open for business” when it comes to the trade market and acknowledged that if things don’t turn around quickly, they could be sellers for the first time in quite a while.  When asked about the possibility of making a coaching change, Poile stated that replacing Peter Laviolette is “not in my game plan right now”.  Laviolette is in his sixth season with the team and they have made the playoffs in each year that he has been there.

More from the West:

  • Coyotes defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson has resumed skating in a non-contact jersey, notes Richard Morin of the Arizona Republic. He has been out since suffering a broken fibula in their fourth game of the season.  GM John Chayka mentioned that there’s still no set timeline for his return but that he’s now more day-to-day than week-to-week.  Meanwhile, goaltender Darcy Kuemper has resumed skating on his own but it’s still uncertain if he’ll be cleared to play by the All-Star break.
  • While there isn’t an imminent trade on the horizon, Flames GM Brad Treliving told reporters, including Sportsnet’s Eric Francis, that he fully intends to use the cap room freed up by the Michael Frolik trade and went as far as to call that the return in the trade and not the fourth-round pick they received. Calgary didn’t retain any of his $4.3MM cap hit in the move which puts them with nearly $5MM in total cap room to work with between now and the deadline.

Pacific Notes: Markstrom, Hjalmarsson, Nygard

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The Vancouver Canucks are locked into a battle to hold onto one of the final playoff spots in the Western Conference. The team is tied with the Edmonton Oilers with 44 points for the final playoff spot and much of the team’s success has fallen on starting goaltender Jacob Markstrom.

The 29-year-old netminder has been solid with a 13-11-3 record with a 2.63 GAA and an impressive .919 save percentage and has been critical in stealing victories for a team desperate to make the playoffs. The Canucks have a challenge approaching them this summer as the goalie hits unrestricted free agent this summer. With backup Thatcher Demko posting an inconsistent season and salary cap concerns, the team has made it clear that locking up Markstrom to a long-term deal is a priority for the team.

NBC Sports’ Adam Gretz looks at what it might cost to sign Markstrom, finding several comparison goaltenders, pointing to Ottawa’s Craig Anderson and Detroit’s Jimmy Howard. Both goalies, when they signed their long-term deals years ago, were comparable players to Markstrom, who has gone from middling prospect, to solid backup, to impressive starter. If you take fast forward their deals to the current salary cap structure, it would come out somewhere between $5-6MM, something the team should be able to afford.

  • The Athletic’s Craig Morgan (subscription required) writes that the Arizona Coyotes are close to getting back a key defenseman. Niklas Hjalmarsson, who has been out since Oct. 12 after breaking his left fibula on a slapshot from Colorado’s Erik Johnson, worked out on his own Friday, but is expected to return to practice soon, according to head coach Rick Tocchet. Hjalmarsson was projected to miss 10-12 weeks with the injury and it has now been 11 weeks, suggesting his return is close.
  • Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid is considered to be one of the fastest skaters in the NHL, but the skilled forward lost to teammate Joakim Nygard in the Faster Skater competition at the Oilers Skills Competition Sunday, the team announced. Nygard, signed out of the SHL during the offseason, skated 14.014, beating McDavid, by three one-hundredths of a second, who finished with a 14.041. Nygard has served most of his time in the bottom-six. He has two goals and six points in 24 games this year.

Pacific Notes: Vegas Defense, Kase, Hjalmarsson, Coyotes

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Plenty of praise has been lauded out by Vegas Golden Knights’ players after the team changed their defensive format from a man-to-man concept to a zone defense. The belief was that teams were taking advantage of holes in their man-to-man concept, so head coach Gerard Gallant switched the team’s defense two games ago with the idea that a zone defense would give players more energy as it cuts down player movement.

“The way we’ve tweaked our D-zone (coverage), you have a little more energy,” Deryk Engelland said. “It’s less chasing around and more positional, so maybe that plays a little bit of a factor in it, and I think that’s a big part of why we wanted to change it.”

According to Jesse Granger of The Athletic (subscription required), the Golden Knights were on target to give up the most goals in their short franchise history. The hope is that these changes should solve some of the team’s defensive issues.

  • There were some concerned faces Friday after Anaheim Ducks winger Ondrej Kase, who has a history of concussions, was hit hard by Winnipeg’s Anthony Bitetto, just two minutes into the game, according to Eric Stephens of The Athletic (subscription required). Kase got up slowly and immediately headed to the dressing room, most likely to undergo concussion protocol. Fortunately, Kase returned to the ice not long after and resumed action, which is good considering the amount of time he has missed (51 games so far since the start of the 2018-19 season). “A guy goes down and he comes off the ice and leaves the bench, you’re usually just waiting for word that he’s done something to his shoulder or his elbow or his knee or whatever it’s going to be,” head coach Dallas Eakins said. “For him, to go in and everything check out fine is great.”
  • Despite expecting to miss 10 to 12 weeks, Arizona Coyotes defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson is ahead of schedule, according to The Athletic’s Craig Morgan (subscription required). Hjalmarsson, who has been out since Oct. 12 after breaking his fibula when blocking a shot, is already walking on his own and should be expected to start skating soon. The team still has no timetable for his return. “Nik is progressing well,” president of hockey operations John Chayka said. “No new timetable at this stage.”
  • Sticking with the Coyotes, Morgan also reports that forwards Carl Soderberg (lower-body injury) and Lawson Crouse (upper-body injury) are both game-time decisions for Saturday’s game against the Sharks. The team did recall Michael Chaput in case neither player can play today.

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