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Roberto Luongo

Florida Panthers Recall Reto Berra On Emergency Basis

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After Roberto Luongo was injured in last night’s game, the Florida Panthers have recalled Reto Berra from the AHL on an emergency basis. According to Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press, Luongo will be out at least a week.

As it is an emergency recall due to injury, the Panthers will not burn one of their four remaining recalls. Berra will need to be returned when Luongo becomes healthy enough to play, but can stay as long as he needs. The former Colorado Avalanche netminder has played in 31 games for Springfield this year, registering a .910 save percentage. Since coming over from Switzerland in 2013, Berra has played in 64 NHL games and put up a .906 save percentage.

This is exactly why the Panthers went out and signed James Reimer in the offseason, in order to protect themselves from any potential injury to their 37-year old netminder. Reimer will now take over the crease full-time until Luongo gets back, presenting a great chance for him to prove that he’s capable of being a standalone #1 goaltender in this league. The Panthers are currently just a single point behind both the Maple Leafs and Islanders for the final playoff spot, and have be playing well as of late.

Reimer actually has better numbers than Luongo this season, leading some to believe he should have been in the net all season long. The Panthers do have four back-to-back situations remaining, including next weekend against the Minnesota Wild and Tampa Bay Lightning.

Roberto Luongo Injured; Leaves Game

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Update 7:15pm: Luongo has returned to the bench for the Florida Panthers, reports CPSJ’s Flyers reporter Dave Isaac. He is not expected to return to the net this evening.

Florida Panthers goaltender Roberto Luongo suffered a lower-body injury tonight in a game against the Philadelphia Flyers and will not return, reports the Sun Sentinel’s Harvey Fialkov. Luongo suffered the injury in the first period after making an awkward save. James Reimer started in goal for the Panthers in the second period. CSN’s Tim Pannacio speculates that Luongo pulled his groin.

Luongo’s injury halts a potential performance upswing for the veteran goalie. Tonight’s game marked the first time Luongo played in back-to-back games in over two weeks. The Panthers had been going with James Reimer as of late due to Luongo’s struggles and Reimer’s ability to right the ship. Luongo is not having his best season, going 17-15-6 in 39 games with a .914 SV% and a 2.70 GAA. Coincidentally, these mark Luongo’s worst stats since his final year with Florida in 2005-06 before being traded to the Vancouver Canucks. Conversely, Reimer has put together a 12-8-4 record in 26 games with a .919 SV% and a 2.47 GAA. Not significantly better numbers, mind you, but in the Eastern Conference’s tight playoff race, every edge matters.

If Reimer suffers an injury, the Panthers have two readily available—if unconventional—options. Goaltending coach Robb Tallas or forward Derek MacKenzie have both been emergency goaltending options in the past for Florida. Expect the Panthers to call up Reto Berra if they expect Luongo to miss some time. Berra currently plays for the AHL Springfield Thunderbirds and has a .910 SV% and 2.53 GAA in 31 games.

Unfortunate Extensions: Jake Allen & Petr Mrazek

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When the St. Louis Blues went into this offseason, they had a problem. Some may call it a good problem, but it was an issue all the same; what to do with the tandem of Brian Elliott and Jake Allen? The team had gone to the Conference Finals for the first time in 15 years, and did it on the back of two outstanding seasons from their pair of netminders. Allen had a .920 save percentage in 44 starts, while Elliott carried a .930 mark through his 38 starts and continued his dominance into the playoffs, essentially moving Allen to the bench.

But when the summer came, the team decided it was time to move on from one of them and traded Elliott to the Calgary Flames. With just a year left on each goalie’s deal, the Blues wanted to get ahead of the controversy and establish Allen as their true franchise netminder. They signed him to a four-year, $17.4MM extension on the first day of free agency, locking him in long-term as their starter. After all, he was coming off the best season of his career and was still just 25-years old.

That decision hasn’t turned out too well for the Blues, who last week sent Allen away from the team, not even bringing him on a road trip to Winnipeg. Allen is sporting a .897 save percentage through the first half of the season, easily a career low for him. While some of that is a much weaker team in front of him defensively, not all of the blame can removed from his shoulders. He simply hasn’t been good enough for the Blues, and now it comes time to wonder about the decision to extend him in the summer.

With a $4.35MM cap-hit going forward, it’s not like the Blues will be completely hamstrung by his deal. There is room to get a quality veteran to split the season with him like Florida is doing with Roberto Luongo and James Reimer, but it is far from ideal. A team that has pending unrestricted free agents in Kevin Shattenkirk and Patrik Berglund, along with big RFA deals with Robby Fabbri and Colton Parayko looming in the next couple of seasons, needs their cap space used in effective manners. A long-term extension for a struggling goalie is not that.

In Detroit, a similar goaltender situation played out last year when Petr Mrazek and Jimmy Howard split the duties and pushed a underwhelming team into the playoffs. While Howard struggled during parts of the season and in the playoffs, Mrazek looked like a lock as a starting goaltender and perhaps even all-star going forward. The Wings were locked into Howard for another three seasons, but looked like they wanted to give the number one job to Mrazek after his great stretch run.

The team likely shopped the veteran Howard around but found no takers, and eventually decided on just a two-year deal with Mrazek when it came to free agency. Had they been able to find a taker for Howard and his $5.3MM cap hit, they probably would have tried to work out a longer-term deal with the younger netminder. Perhaps their inability to move Howard was a blessing in disguise however, as Mrazek has imploded in the Wings’ net, posting an .894 save percentage behind a reeling team. Howard was actually off to a great start before suffering an injury, making the decision even harder this summer.

Howard is still likely on the move out of town as the Red Wings start a rebuild, but luckily they haven’t committed to Mrazek long-term. If they decide he’s not the goaltender they thought he was, and in a year choose to go in a different direction he’ll be a hefty trade chip on the market. If he rebounds and shows them that this was just a blip on what will be an otherwise excellent career, they can then lock him into a longer deal.

For St. Louis though, they have to hitch their horse to Allen and hope he can pull them out of it. With another four-years after this dedicated to the former second-round pick, they basically don’t have any other choice.

Injury Updates: Bjugstad, Leafs, Myers, Smith, Coburn

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The Florida Panthers announced that they have placed center Nick Bjugstad on injured reserve.  He suffered a lower body injury last night against the Predators early in the game and did not return.  George Richards of the Miami Herald reports (Twitter link) that he’ll miss a couple of weeks and that it’s a groin issue.

To say that this season has been a struggle for Bjugstad would be an understatement.  He broke his hand in the preseason which kept him out of the lineup until November 22nd and since then, he has scored just one goal and one assist in 21 games, despite seeing quite a bit of time in the top six.  He also has found himself shuffled to the right wing more frequently than he has been accustomed to.

With Roberto Luongo being a late scratch yesterday due to an upper body injury, the Panthers also recalled goaltender Sam Brittain from Manchester of the ECHL.  He’s expected to serve as James Reimer’s backup tonight against Boston if Luongo is unable to dress.

Other injury news from around the league:

  • Maple Leafs center Ben Smith and defenseman Martin Marincin are skating but are not close to returning to the lineup, reports Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun (Twitter link). Marincin has been out since December 11th with a lower body while Smith has been sidelined since undergoing hand surgery on December 19th.
  • Although he started skating this week, Winnipeg blueliner Tyler Myers is expected to miss at least another week as he continues to recover from a lower body injury, reports Jeff Hamilton of the Winnipeg Free Press. He will miss his 25th straight game tonight and has five points (2-3-5) in 11 contests this year.
  • The Senators will activate center Zack Smith off IR and expect to have him in the lineup tonight against the Capitals, the team announced via Twitter. The 28 year old missed the last two games with an upper body injury and has 15 points (8-7-15) in 35 games this season.
  • Tampa Bay defenseman Braydon Coburn is day-to-day with an upper body injury and will not suit up today against the Flyers, reports Bryan Burns of the teams’ website (Twitter link).  Coburn had played in every game this season heading into this one, picking up a goal and four assists but is averaging his lowest ice time per night (15:56) since his rookie season back in 2006-07.

Snapshots: Gudlevskis, Luongo, Rule Book

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After Ben Bishop suffered a lower-body injury in last night’s game, the Tampa Bay Lightning have recalled Kristers Gudlevksis from the Syracuse Crunch.

If the name Gudlevskis sounds familiar, it’s likely because of his performance for Latvia at the 2014 Olympics. In their 2-1 quarter-final loss against Canada, Gudlevskis made 55 saves on 57 shots.

So far this season, Gudlevskis has struggled in the AHL, with just a 5-4-2 record and an 0.884 SV%. However, with Bishop expected to be gone sometime this year or this summer, an NHL callup is a chance for Gudlevskis to show he has what it takes to back up Andrei Vasilevskiy going forward.

  • Jaromir Jagr wasn’t the only Florida Panthers player to hit a milestone last night. Roberto Luongo tied legendary goaltender Terry Sawchuk for fifth all-time in wins. Both have 477 wins, with Luongo doing it in 22 less games. Luongo needs eight more wins to pass Curtis Joseph for fourth, and 105 wins to pass Patrick Roy for second. Martin Brodeur is safely first with 691 wins, which is 140 more than Roy.
  • Over at OilersNation.com, TSN’s Jason Gregor writes that the NHL needs to once again call the rule book. While it was strictly enforced after the 2005 lockout, obstruction is no longer being called properly in the NHL. Gregor argues that players like Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby, Patrick Kane, and Johnny Gaudreau are being prevented from demonstrating their elite skill because of the constant hooking and slashing that isn’t called. Whether it was Gaudreau missing weeks with a broken finger from being slashed 21 times in a single game (no penalties) or McDavid being denied penalty shot after penalty shot when he’s whacked and hooked on breakaways (most recently on Monday when Alex Pietrangelo denied McDavid a shot on a breakaway by slashing his hands several times, again no penalty), there is a systematic failure on the NHL’s part to protect its stars from fouls. Gregor wonders why no GMs or players have spoken up about this, and hypothesizes that they’re either scared of being “deemed whiners” or scared of commissioner Gary Bettman. Former referee Kerry Fraser told Gregor that the current officials need to “be a little more vigilant,” in a rare comment about fellow officials.

The 2016 All UFA Bust Team

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Last week we presented our 2016 All UFA Bargain team, highlighted by Jonathan Marchessault and Chad Johnson, each of whom has provided results well in excess of any expectations based on the contracts they signed this summer. Of course for every free agent bargain in the NHL there is likely at least one free agent signing that will rate as a bust. Strangely enough, only a handful of UFA blue liners inked multiyear pacts this summer with two of the biggest names, Keith Yandle and Alex Goligoski, traded by their previous employers before agreeing to lucrative deals prior to reaching unrestricted free agency. Subsequently, finding two defensemen who have severely under-performed their new contracts was not as easy as expected.

Without further ado, here is Pro Hockey Rumors 2016 All UFA Bust Team.

Forwards

Andrew Ladd (New York Islanders) – Seven years, $38.5MM: The Islanders, needing to replace the scoring tough of Kyle Okposo, reached a lucrative agreement July 1st with veteran left wing Andrew Ladd. It was expected that in addition to 25-goal, 50-point production, Ladd would also add leadership to a relatively young squad. But Ladd has just five points in 23 contests with his new club and has struggled despite seeing a lot of early-season ice time with John Tavares.

Many were critical of the Ladd contract, primarily due to the seven-year term. Ladd, soon to turn 31, already has nearly 800 regular season games under his belt and likely won’t remain productive into his mid-to-late-30’s. However it was at least expected that Ladd would maintain his 20-goal plus production through the first half of his deal.

Mikkel Boedker (San Jose Sharks) – Four years, $16MM: After falling to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup Final last June, the San Jose Sharks decided they needed to add some speed to help keep up against the league’s quicker clubs. Enter Boedker, who had tied his career-high in points, tallying 51 while splitting the 2015-16 campaign between Arizona and Colorado. Boedker was supposed to help allow the Sharks to ice four quality lines with skill and add some more speed to the lineup. Unfortunately the production – two goals and four points – simply doesn’t measure up to the lofty contract he received.

Dale Weise (Philadelphia Flyers) – Four years, $9.4MM: Weise parlayed an excellent platform season – 14 goals, 27 points – into a nice, multiyear deal with the Flyers this summer despite his late-season struggles following a trade from Montreal to Chicago. The physical winger tallied just one assist in 15 games with the Blackhawks down the stretch. Yet the AAV of $2.35MM is in line with Weise’s full-season production in both 2014-15 and 2015-16. The problem is, Weise has just two goals and four points in 22 game so far on the campaign and that’s not nearly enough to justify his contract.

Defense

Dan Hamhuis (Dallas Stars) – Two years, $7.5MM: The Stars pursued Hamhuis at last season’s trade deadline but the veteran defender elected to exercise his NTC to block a proposed deal to Dallas as he didn’t want to uproot his family at that time. After losing Kris Russell, Jason Demers and Alex Goligoski from last year’s blue line, it seemed only natural that the Stars would turn again to Hamhuis for help. The 13-year-vet has long been a steady performer and the two-year term is reasonable, but he has just five points in 24 games and has been a healthy scratch at times this season. Surely the Stars expected a little more from their investment.

Jason Demers (Florida Panthers) – Five years, $22.5MM: It’s not that Demers is having a terrible year as he is on pace for around 10 goals and 29 points. But Florida remade their blue line in the offseason, moving on from tough, physical defenders Erik Gudbranson and Dmitry Kulikov in favor of better puck movers like Demers. To say that plan hasn’t worked out would be an understatement. Defensively the team is allowing 2.44 goals-per-game, exactly the same as last year. However on offense, the team is averaging 0.51 fewer goals per game. Yes, some of that likely has to do with the injuries to Jonathan Huberdeau and Nick Bjugstad, but the bottom line is the season has been a bitter disappointment for the Panthers and Demers shares in some of the responsibility.

Goalie

James Reimer (Florida Panthers) – Five years, $17MM: With Roberto Luongo now 37, and the upcoming expansion draft at least providing the Panthers with the possibility of getting out from under the final five years of his onerous contract, the Panthers elected to buy the best goalie on the free agent market this summer to provide a competent fallback option. After eight starts this season, Reimer has a Save % under 0.900 and a GAA above 3.0. While a $3.4MM AAV may not be on par with most of the league’s starters, it is excellent money for a backup and Reimer is currently not even playing to that modest level.

 

Maple Leafs Notes: Andersen, Griffith, Reimer

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When Toronto Maple Leafs saw rookie Auston Matthews  score four goals in a losing effort, it was a sign of things to come for the team this season. Despite scoring 21 goals in 6 games, and taking leads into the third period a handful of times, the team is 1-2-3 as they head into tonight’s matchup with the Florida Panthers.

Jamie McLennan of TSN broke down what he thinks is one of the key factors in their record and analyzed the weak play of Frederik Andersen. McLennan says that Andersen has allowed at least one “bad goal” in each game this season, deflating the team and allowing the opposition to come back. It’s not all bad for Andersen though, as the TSN panelist says that his team defense hasn’t helped him very much through the first few games.  He’ll be in net when they take on the Panthers.

  • Seth Griffith will work his way into the lineup for the Leafs tonight, his first game of the season since being claimed on waivers October 11th. The former Boston Bruin is a dangerous offensive talent that hasn’t been able to find his footing in the NHL thus far, but scored 77 points in 57 AHL games last season.  He’ll start on the fourth line, taking Peter Holland’s place alongside another recently claimed player in Ben Smith.
  • James Reimer will make his return to Toronto as a member of the Florida Panthers tonight, though in a backup role to Roberto Luongo.  While Reimer was somewhat of a divisive character among Leafs fans during his tenure with the team, he does rank among the leaders in many all-time categories among Toronto netminders. While he’ll most likely be remembered best for the collapse in game 7 against Boston three years ago, he also could have likely been a part of the re-build had they not decided to go after Andersen this summer.

Snapshots: NHL Three Stars, Oilers Fallout, Montoya

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It’s been a pretty good start to the NHL season for two of the best young players in the game.

Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews have been dominant to start the year, and they’ve been named the NHL’s first and second stars of the week. Veteran goaltender Roberto Luongo has been named third star.

The newly-minted youngest captain in NHL history scored 3 goals and 6 points in three games. McDavid had three points in each of the Oilers’ first two games before being held pointless in Sunday night’s 6-2 loss.

Matthews scored four goals in his NHL debut on Wednesday, breaking the record for most goals in an NHL debut. He was also held pointless on Saturday night, but his debut showing was more than enough to secure the second star of the week.

The Panthers are 2-0-0, and Luongo has been a major part of that. He’s won both games, allowing just two goals; he’s sporting a sparkling 0.957 SV% and a 0.98 GAA.

  • After getting blown out by the injury-plagued Buffalo Sabres on Sunday night, the Edmonton Oilers are in need of a shake-up. They’ve postponed their CBA-mandated day off from Monday to Wednesday. Coach Todd McLellan told the media after the game that “we took [a day off] today, so we’ll skate tomorrow.” Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston reported the NHLPA is reviewing the decision.
  • Oilers winger Benoit Pouliot has always had a penchant for taking poor penalties. While he’s usually been able to draw penalties to make-up for them, he’s not done well the last two games. He was benched for the second period on Friday after taking three bad penalties in a short period of time, but returned and played well in the third. On Sunday night, he took another two penalties in the first period and was stapled to the bench for the final 40 minutes. TSN’s Ryan Rishaug told TSN 1260 that he thinks Pouliot could find himself in the press box on Tuesday night. “I think they’re going to healthy-scratch him. That’s what I would be doing. At least one, if not more games. Because enough has to be enough. The message needs to be sent … I could see Todd [McLellan] coming down really, really heavy.”
  • Carey Price will miss the Canadiens home opener with the flu. New backup Al Montoya will get the start against the Penguins on Tuesday night. Price did skate with goaltending coach Stephane Waite before team practice.

Atlantic Notes: Florida Goalies, Wisniewski, Tanguay

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The Florida Panthers will be heading into training camp next week with somewhat of a logjam between the pipes.  Joining incumbent Roberto Luongo are June trade acquisition Reto Berra and free agent signing James Reimer.  At the time Berra was acquired, it was expected that he would replace Al Montoya (who later signed with Montreal) as their backup goalie.

Their decision to pursue Reimer caught many by surprise, including Reimer himself.  Speaking with George Richards of the Miami Herald, Reimer commented on his initial surprise when he was approached by the Panthers shortly after their acquisition of Berra:

“I didn’t know what their intention was. They called, and we got to talking and there was interest there. We pursued it, and it looks like a good fit.”

As it turns out, GM Tom Rowe was viewing Berra (who actually played in two more games in the AHL last year, 16 AHL to 14 NHL games) primarily as an insurance policy for Luongo as it was unknown if he would be ready to start the season following offseason hip surgery.  However, the 37 year old has been skating for a month and appears to be on track to start Florida’s season opener on October 13th.

If that is the case, the Panthers plan to try to send Berra to the minors.  He will have to pass through waivers to get there and if he clears, he will still partly count against Florida’s salary cap to the tune of $500K (his cap hit of $1.45MM minus [$375K plus the minimum salary of $575K]).

More from the Atlantic:

  • After being bought out by Carolina in late June, James Wisniewski was targeting two teams in free agency. One of those teams was Tampa Bay, he told Bryan Burns on the Lightning’s website.  Wisniewski played only a single game last season with Carolina as he tore his ACL on his first and only shift with the team and signed a PTO with the Bolts last month.  However, he’s only two years removed from a 51 point season with Columbus and could be a low risk, high reward pickup if he’s able to make the opening night roster.
  • While he expressed a desire to return to Montreal earlier this offseason, the Canadiens do not have interest in signing free agent left winger Alex Tanguay, Richard Labbe of La Presse reports (link in French). Tanguay played one season for his hometown team back in 2008-09.  He’s the highest remaining point getter among UFA’s after putting up 35 points in 70 games with Colorado and Arizona last season.  It was reported earlier this month that Tanguay has a handful of tryout offers on the table but that he is still seeking a guaranteed deal.

Atlantic Notes: Luongo, Panthers, Ceci

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Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo appears to be ahead of schedule in his recovery from offseason hip surgery and hopes to be ready for opening night, he told George Richards of the Miami Herald.  Luongo underwent the operation back in May and was expected to miss the first month of the season, which played a role in their June trade for Reto Berra (and to a lesser degree, the signing of James Reimer).  The 37 year old had the following to say about his rehab:

“I’m not 100 percent; it’s a five month rehab. But I’m feeling better than I thought I would. I thought it would be a slower progression, especially on the ice. It has gone fairly quickly and I’m happy about that. If the season were to start tomorrow, I probably wouldn’t be able to go. But I feel good where I’m at and I’m excited about it.”

Luongo noted that he was dealing with periodic groin pain throughout the season but didn’t think much of it as it would go away before too long.  He tore his labrum in early March but was able to finish out the year and play in Florida’s playoff first round loss to the Islanders.

In the article, Richards also reports that Reimer is expected to play more than former backup Al Montoya (who signed with Montreal last month).  Montoya saw action in 25 games last year, a mark that Reimer has surpassed in each of his six NHL seasons.

More from the Atlantic:

  • Earlier today, the Panthers traded Dave Bolland to Arizona in what basically amounts as a cap dump for them, particularly since Bolland isn’t likely to play in 2016-17. The cost to do so was Lawson Crouse, a first round pick back in 2015.  While that price may seem steep, Florida’s assistant GM Eric Joyce noted to the AP’s Stephen Whyno that it’s just “the cost of the business”.  The fact that Bolland has three years left on his deal meant that it was going to be more expensive in terms of assets to move him than it was Marc Savard, whose rights were dealt with a second round pick to the Devils back in June.
  • Ottawa defenseman Cody Ceci is hoping to have a larger role with the man advantage in 2016-17, writes Ken Warren of the Ottawa Citizen. Ceci averaged just 32 seconds per game in power play time last year and had just a pair of assists.  As Warren notes, Ceci should have a chance to make an early impression on new head coach Guy Boucher since Erik Karlsson (who logged 4:39 per game in PP time, second most in the NHL) will not be with the team to start training camp due to the World Cup of Hockey.  Ceci signed a two year, $5.6MM bridge deal with the Senators earlier this week.

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