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Riley Sheahan

Metropolitan Notes: Holtby, Bjugstad, Niederreiter

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The Washington Capitals finally broke their seven-game losing streak, but there still is plenty of concern on whether the Stanley Cup champions can re-establish themselves as top candidates to re-capture the title this season. While many point to fatigue as the team played a lot of extra games in the playoffs last season, there are even bigger concerns, including the goaltending.

Perhaps one of the biggest area of concern, according to The Athletic’s Scott Burnside (subscription required) is the play of their goaltending, most particularly the play of Braden Holtby, who is posting another disappointing regular season. Despite an impressive Stanley Cup championship run during the playoffs, Holtby struggled during the regular season with a 2.99 GAA and a .907 save percentage. This year has been even more disappointing as the veteran has a 3.10 GAA and a .905 save percentage. He ranks 19th, among goalies with 20 or more appearances, at even-strength save percentage with a .918.

“The goalies have just lost it here,” Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan said. “They’re flailing away at it, letting in bad goals at bad times, stuff like that.”

  • Seth Rorabaugh of The Athletic (subscription required) writes that the impressive play of Pittsburgh Penguins’ newly acquired center Nick Bjugstad could eventually bring about head coach Mike Sullivan’s dream of spreading out Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel over three lines. The belief is that the additions of Bjugstad as well as Jared McCann should open up multiple possibilities on offense which neither Derick Brassard or Riley Sheahan did. “Nick Bjugstad is a guy that’s shown an ability to score in this league,” Sullivan said of a player whose career season of 2014-15 saw him score 24 goals and 43 points in 72 games. “He’s a 45- to 50-point guy. He has more upside, he’s still young. He brings more size to our team and a whole lot of skill.”
  • News & Observer’s Chip Alexander asks the question ’What was Paul Fenton thinking?’ when referring to what so far looks to be a steal of a trade when the Carolina Hurricanes acquired Nino Niederreiter from Fenton and the Minnesota Wild for Victor Rask. Niederreiter has sparked the team with five goals in five games as the team has gone 3-1-1 in that span, including a big victory over Vegas Friday, while Rask has just one assist in Minnesota over four games. Niederreiter seems to have found a home on the team’s first line next to Sebastian Aho and veteran Justin Williams.

Atlantic Notes: Larkin, Point, Brassard, Condon

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The Detroit Red Wings pulled off a big overtime win over the Toronto Maple Leafs Friday, but suffered an even bigger loss when star center Dylan Larkin had to leave the game in overtime while trying to chase Mitch Marner. He was doubled over and appeared to hurt his rib cage.

Fox Sports John Keating reports that coach Jeff Blashill said that Larkin will miss one to two weeks with a strained oblique muscle, although the team is hoping he will only miss one week. He has already been ruled out for tonight’s game against Ottawa. Andreas Athanasiou is expected to replace Larkin at center on that line.

Larkin has been a key player for the struggling Red Wings. He is having a career-year as he already has 22 goals, just one shy of his career-high and is close to being a point-per game player.

  • In a mailbag article, The Athletic’s Joe Smith writes that Tampa Bay Lightning soon-to-be restricted free agent Brayden Point has made it quite clear that he wants to remain in Tampa Bay for a long time and the scribe suggests that the team might be best offering a five-year deal which might be the perfect compromise between a bridge deal and an eight-year pact. Both sides have agreed to put off contract talks until the summer. With 30 points goals and 65 points already in 51 games, the 22-year-old should receive quite a bump in pay when signing his new deal.
  • Even though the Pittsburgh Penguins were able to get their new acquisitions Nick Bjugstad and Jared McCann into their game Friday by giving them a police escort from the airport to the game, the Florida Panthers didn’t do the same thing. The Panthers, who acquired Derick Brassard, Riley Sheahan, three draft picks and future cap room from Pittsburgh earlier in the day Friday, opted to go without the pair Friday and are expected to have the two in the lineup Saturday against Vegas, according to Sun Sentinel’s Wells Dusenbury “I didn’t find out [about the trade] until about 11 [am],” Boughner said. “We were planning on having a different lineup in there tonight and so we built the lineup with what we had and unfortunately [Brassard and Sheahan] couldn’t get in for the game.”
  • The Ottawa Senators continue to be without goaltender Mike Condon, who the team placed on waivers on Oct. 31 who had and still is trying to come back from a hip injury, according to Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun. The veteran goaltender cleared waivers, but has appeared in just one game for the Belleville Senators in all that time. Condon has recently started skating and working out in Ottawa, but there remains no timetable for his return. The hope is that he can make a return to the ice for Belleville March. The team acquired goaltender Anders Nilsson to be their backup goaltender on Jan. 2, who has fared well in eight appearances for Ottawa with a .922 save percentage, meaning that Condon will have a tough time getting back into the goaltending rotation, barring injury.

Pittsburgh Penguins, Florida Panthers Complete Four Player Swap

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The Pittsburgh Penguins have found a taker for Derick Brassard, and filled their third-line center role in the process. The team has sent Brassard, Riley Sheahan, a 2019 second-round pick (PIT), and two 2019 fourth-round picks (PIT & MIN) to the Florida Panthers in exchange for Nick Bjugstad and Jared McCann. Neither team will be retaining any salary.

Pittsburgh had been looking to ship Brassard out all season, as the veteran forward just never fit into a role with the team. Acquired last season from the Ottawa Senators, Brassard has registered just 23 points in 54 regular season games with the Penguins, and contributed just four points during the team’s early playoff exit last spring. That wasn’t enough given the opportunity he was given to play alongside Phil Kessel, and he’ll now find himself in the Florida sun for the time being. Don’t count on Brassard staying there long though, as his pending unrestricted free agency isn’t attractive for a Panthers team that is likely to miss the playoffs.

Flipping Brassard to another contender could help the Panthers keep collecting picks while opening up cap space, the biggest asset they’ve gained in this transaction. Florida is expected to take a run at both Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky in the offseason—or perhaps even sooner—and Bjugstad wasn’t providing enough to justify his $4.1MM contract. The big center has had trouble staying healthy throughout his career and has just 12 points in 32 contests this season. McCann meanwhile has 18 through 46 games but still hadn’t really established himself as a key member going forward.

That’s exactly what the Penguins will hope happens for both players, as they prepare for another run at the Stanley Cup this season. Pittsburgh is now just three points behind the New York Islanders for first place in the Metropolitan Division, but will have to fight tooth and nail to hold off the rest of the group fighting for their spot. Even with the Washington Capitals and Columbus Blue Jackets on long losing streaks, all three Metro playoff spots are undecided.

It’s important to note how close the Penguins have now pushed up to the salary cap ceiling, as it will be difficult to make any additional moves without sending money the other way. Pittsburgh is close to getting Justin Schultz back from long-term injured reserve, and would no longer have the room to add someone like Micheal Ferland who they have been linked to extensively. That might not matter though, as Bjugstad brings plenty of size to a lineup that was looking to add muscle for a stretch run. The 6’6″ forward isn’t an overly physical player, but can use his strength to get pucks out of traffic and create chances for himself and teammates. He’s expected to start at center for the Penguins, though has plenty of experience in Florida on the wing as well.

Three picks are a hefty price to pay for Pittsburgh, given that they spent a good bit on Brassard just last year, but the team is in clear win-now mode with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kessel all still able to compete at a high level. There will come a point where the team struggles to graduate any players from their prospect system, but they’ve shown in the past to be excellent college and undrafted free agent recruiters to fill those gaps.

Florida meanwhile has now restocked some of the draft picks they had traded away in recent years. At one point this season they were without any selection in the second or third rounds, but now will select six times in the first four and could get even more by flipping these expiring contracts. For a team with a good young group of players and now plenty of cap space in the summer, the Panthers are a team to watch on the trade market over the next month and near June’s draft.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

East Notes: Smith-Pelly, Smith, Beleskey, Sheahan

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Although Devante Smith-Pelly’s absence from Washington’s lineup so far this preseason has been conditioning-related, Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post reports that the Capitals won’t be taking the same route that Tampa Bay did with Jake Dotchin by seeking to terminate his contract.  GM Brian MacLellan noted last year that Smith-Pelly’s conditioning level wasn’t ideal in his first training camp with the team but the 26-year-old wound up being an important contributor for them in the postseason.  It certainly appears that his second campaign with the team will start in a similar manner.

Elsewhere out East:

  • The Senators had some trade talks regarding recently-waived center Zack Smith but Ottawa was hoping to avoid taking a contract in the return, reports Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch. Considering he has three years and $9.75MM left on his contract, it’s understandable to think that teams that have interest would want to offset the money somewhat which has led to the team putting him on waivers in the hopes that a team would assume the remainder of the contract for free.  Garrioch spoke with some general managers around the league and they indicated that it’s unlikely that Smith will be picked up.
  • Rangers winger Matt Beleskey sustained a shoulder injury in a fight last night against the Devils, notes Brett Cyrgalis of the New York Post. However, head coach David Quinn doesn’t believe it will be a long-term issue but adds that it’s “too early to tell”.  Beleskey came to New York as part of the Rick Nash trade but spent the majority of the time at the minor league level.  He was already viewed as somewhat of a long-shot to make the team despite his contract and this won’t help his cause.
  • Penguins center Riley Sheahan returned to practice after missing the last ten days with a lower-body injury, notes Jonathan Bombulie of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Pittsburgh hopes to get him into at least one preseason game and have a couple of chances to do so with the team playing Wednesday and Friday.

Pittsburgh Re-Signs Riley Sheahan To A One-Year Contract

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5:24 PM: The Penguins have indeed finalized a deal with Sheahan, announcing that he has signed a one-year, $2.1MM contract.  It checks in at a slightly higher amount than his $2.075MM qualifying offer but had he been qualified and gone to an arbitration hearing, it likely would have cost more for Pittsburgh to keep him around.

2:04 PM: Though he wasn’t qualified earlier this week, Riley Sheahan is likely headed back to the Pittsburgh Penguins anyway. GM Jim Rutherford took questions after his trade of Conor Sheary earlier today, and indicated that the team was getting closer to a deal with Sheahan and would have re-signed the 26-year old center even without the added cap space. The team also admitted that their focus is on adding another defenseman before the season begins—something they have apparently done already with Jack Johnson.

The Penguins didn’t give Sheahan a qualifying offer because it would have cost them more than $2MM, and he would have gained arbitration rights. Now, though Sheahan could technically become an unrestricted free agent and sign with whoever he wants on July 1st, the team seems confident they can get a deal done at a lower cap hit. That’s important to Pittsburgh, who are pinching pennies to get everyone in under the $79.5MM ceiling.

Sheahan can be a useful player for the team, able to line up at center or wing and contribute offensively in a secondary role. Coming off his incredibly unlucky 2016-17 campaign—Sheahan took 106 shots before getting his first goal of the season in the final game, ending with just two—he bounced back to register 32 points despite being used almost exclusively in a defensive role. Sheahan received the fewest offensive zone starts of any center on the team, and was asked to kill more time shorthanded than anyone other player on a per-game basis.

Even with increased roles coming for players like Daniel Sprong and Dominik Simon, Sheahan has clear value to the Penguins. He’ll be back in the fold in some capacity, though it’s not clear where a contract would land with the former Red Wing. With the relatively thin center market you’d think that he could draw some interest from around the league, but perhaps the stability that a Cup contender like Pittsburgh brings is enough to convince him to not even test the open waters.

Scott Wilson, Erik Gudbranson & The Pointless Players

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Last year we saw something incredible in the NHL. Riley Sheahan of the Detroit Red Wings played 79 games and took 106 shots on net without scoring a goal. Stories were written, fans were left in disbelief and Sheahan just had to go out every night and try to get one across the line. Finally, on April 9th in his 80th and final game of the season Sheahan scored—twice.

"<strongIt’s not like Sheahan had done anything like it before. He’d had seasons of 9, 13 and 14 goals the first three seasons of his career. He actually carried an above-average shooting percentage of 11.9% through that time. He was no sniper, but he could be a solid secondary scoring threat. This year there are several players that can relate with Sheahan, including one that has a solid link to him.

Sheahan didn’t score his first goal this year until a trade brought him to Pittsburgh. He has two now on the year, and eight points in 21 games for the Penguins. The player he was traded for though hasn’t been quite as lucky.

Scott Wilson, traded first for Sheahan and then again to the Buffalo Sabres later in the season, has now played 21 games this season. In those games he’s registered 172 minutes of ice time, including over 14 in his first game with Buffalo. Amazingly, he’s been held completely scoreless. Not a single goal, not a single assist. Wilson leads all scoreless forwards in games played, but there are some other interesting members along for the ride.

Matt Stajan, a two-time 50-point man has played 19 games without a point. He’s played even more minutes, 210, without hitting the scoresheet—well, at least not for scoring. Stajan has taken 10 penalty minutes, something that you can’t say for Wilson. Incredibly, the Buffalo Sabres forward hasn’t even taken a single minor penalty. Other than the 14 shots he’s recorded, he’s basically been a boxscore ghost.

"<strongThere are other forwards who are on the list, like Zac Dalpe, Torrey Mitchell and Matt Beleskey but none of them hold a candle to the leader when expanded to include defensemen. Erik Gudbranson, the Vancouver Canucks’ rough and tumble defenseman has logged 372 minutes of ice time this season and still has a big fat zero in the points category.

Gudbranson isn’t an offensive player. That much has been obvious his whole career, and it wasn’t why the Canucks went out and acquired him from the Florida Panthers. But this is impressive even for him. He’s always been a lightning rod for the argument between traditional and new analytics, but he’s actually reached a new low in his possession rates. As an unrestricted free agent this summer, some believe he’ll be a sought-after trade deadline commodity.

It doesn’t matter if he has zero points or a handful when the trade deadline comes around, it really doesn’t change the player he is. But for the third-overall pick in 2010 it’s an impressive accomplishment, even if he wouldn’t agree.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Detroit Red Wings Trade Scott Wilson To Buffalo Sabres

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The Detroit Red Wings era for forward Scott Wilson will come to a quick end, as the team has traded him to the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for a 2019 fifth-round pick. Wilson was acquired by the Red Wings just this season as part of the Riley Sheahan trade, and will move on after just 17 games with the club.

Wilson, 25, is scoreless this season through 20 games but showed last year that he’s capable of adding some secondary scoring if given the chance. With 78 games in his first full season with the Pittsburgh Penguins, he scored 26 points in limited minutes and added another six in the playoffs. He played fewer than 10 minutes in all but three of his games with Detroit, but will likely be afforded more ice time in Buffalo.

With just a $625K cap hit in the second year of his current contract, Wilson will be a restricted free agent at the end of the season. Though his early play hasn’t done much to help his case, a good second half with Buffalo could put him in line for a multi-year deal as a valuable bottom-six player. With the Sabres waiving Matt Moulson today, there is clearly a change coming in Buffalo.

Wilson will be reunited with GM Jason Botterill, who previously worked with the Penguins when Wilson was working his way through the minor league system. He’ll also join Evan Rodrigues, a former teammate with the Georgetown Raiders of the OJHL. Both played in that league partly to maintain their NCAA eligibility, heading to UMass-Lowell (Wilson) and Boston University (Rodrigues). With Rodrigues just called up this morning, there’s a possibility the pair even plays together right away.

The Red Wings had sent a fifth-round pick along with Sheahan to the Pittsburgh Penguins, which they’ve now basically reclaimed with the deal to Buffalo—though, the original pick was for 2018, meaning they’ve moved back a year. For a team that was shellacked on the weekend and is beginning to show cracks in their early season success, Detroit is committed to adding future assets even as they attempt to make the playoffs.

Whether Botterill and company see Wilson as a  piece long-term will be decided before next season, but there was clearly an impression made on him in the past to use an asset at this point in the year. The Sabres are almost completely out of playoff contention already, and are just looking for some consistency or improvement at this point. Wilson is nothing if not a hard worker, and could inject some energy into the team right away. Whether that translates into points is still to be seen.

Detroit Sends Sproul To Rangers For Puempel

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The Detroit Red Wings have completed a second trade in as many minutes as the team has traded defenseman Ryan Sproul to the New York Rangers for wing Matt Puempel, tweets CapFriendly.

The move comes minutes after the Red Wings traded center Riley Sheahan and a 2018 fifth-round pick to Pittsburgh for winger Scott Wilson and a 2018 third-round pick. The Red Wings are likely ensuring they have a backup center in their system in Puempel after trading away Sheahan.

Sproul has spent the entire 2017-18 season with the Grand Rapids Griffins, putting up one goal and three assists in five games. He was not able to make the NHL roster and was sent down. The 24-year-old former second round pick in 2011, is an offensive defenseman, but has had trouble breaking into the Red Wings lineup. He played 27 games with Detroit last year, putting up seven points, but has spent most of his career in Grand Rapids.

Puempel, also has spent the entire year in the AHL. He has scored one goal and three assists for the Hartford Wolfpack. The 24-year-old was claimed off waivers from the Ottawa Senators last November after scoring no points in 13 games for Ottawa. However, in 27 games for the Rangers, he put up six goals and three assists and didn’t spend any time in the AHL last year.

Both Sproul and Puempel have already been sent to their new respective AHL teams as Sproul has been assigned to Hartford, while Puempel will join Grand Rapids.

 

Detroit Trades Sheahan To Pittsburgh

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The Detroit Red Wings completed a trade that will send center Riley Sheahan and a 2018 fifth-round pick to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for wing Scott Wilson and a 2018 third-round pick, according to Cap Friendly. The deal was originally reported by TSN’s Bob McKenzie.

A move was expected after the Red Wings reached an agreement with winger Andreas Athanasiou yesterday. The team needed to make a corresponding roster move to get under the cap before the deal with Athanasiou becomes official and this trade accomplishes that. Sheahan is making $2.075MM this year, and will be a restricted free agent next year. However, by swapping Sheahan for Wilson, who makes just $650K, it will clear enough room for Athanasiou. According to CapFriendly, the trade gives Detroit $1,470,220 in LTIR salary relief.

As for Pittsburgh, the team finally gets its long coveted center it needs for its line. The Penguins, who have been rumored to be looking for a center to fill a hole on their third line, have been mentioned in multiple rumors since the team lost Nick Bonino to Nashville and Matt Cullen to Minnesota in the offseason, including earlier talks with Detroit about Sheahan, but the team finally got their center. In the meantime, the Penguins have been using Greg McKegg and Carter Rowney on the back two lines, but Sheahan should be an upgrade. McKegg has a goal and two assists in eight games, while Rowney has a goal and one assist.

Sheahan, a former 2010 first-round pick, has been in the league for many years, but at 25, has never been able to break out like Detroit had expected. In his third full season last year, Sheahan managed just two goals and 11 assists in 80 games. His best season was in 2014-15, when he put up 13 goals and 36 points. Sheahan has zero points in eight games this season. The young center has struggled with the speed of the game, but the general belief is that the center just needs to continue to develop his offensive game.

Wilson, a fan favorite, hasn’t cracked the lineup in Pittsburgh much as he’s played in just three games so far this year with the Penguins, but is coming off a 2016-17 season in which he scored eight goals and 18 assists. As he was often a healthy scratch, the general belief is that he would eventually have to be placed on waivers with the eventual promotion of prospect Daniel Sprong.

 

 

 

Atlantic Notes: Canadiens, Bogosian, Sheahan

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With the Canadiens struggling considerably out of the gate, some are wondering if a big change is going to be made in the near future.  In his latest column, TSN’s Darren Dreger reports that it’s unlikely that ownership would consider changing general managers during the season.  It’s worth noting that GM Marc Bergevin is believed to be signed for four more years after this one so making that change would be an expensive one if it were to happen.

Dreger also notes that the team isn’t willing to consider dealing captain Max Pacioretty just yet although if they were to put him on the block, there would be no shortage of suitors around the league.  Pacioretty has led the Canadiens in scoring for six straight seasons but hasn’t been productive so far in 2017-18 with just one goal through seven games.  The 28-year-old is signed through 2018-19 with a cap hit of $4.5MM which is good value for a player who has hit 30 goals in each of the last four years.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic:

  • It doesn’t appear like Zach Bogosian will be suiting up for the Sabres anytime soon. Head coach Phil Housley told John Vogl of the Buffalo News that the blueliner remains week-to-week and that “As we look further into it, we’ll have more information as we move forward”.  Considering that Bogosian’s lower-body issue that was sustained at the end of the preseason was classified as a day-to-day issue for more than two weeks, Housley’s comments suggest that the 27-year-old will be out of the lineup for a while yet.
  • The Red Wings were close to dealing center Riley Sheahan to the Penguins over the offseason but there is nothing imminent on that front currently, reports TSN’s Bob McKenzie (Twitter links). Pittsburgh’s interest in adding another depth center is well-known while Detroit will soon have to shed some salary with Andreas Athanasiou agreeing to terms on a new deal earlier today.  Sheahan is off to a slow start this season, being held off the scoresheet through seven games and carries a $2.075MM cap hit that also represents his required qualifying offer in June.

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