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Injury Notes: Barkov, Vasilevskiy, McDonagh

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Fluto Shinzawa of The Athletic is reporting that Florida Panthers star center Aleksander Barkov will not dress tonight for the Panthers matchup with the Boston Bruins. It will be the second game in a row that the 28-year-old has missed after suffering a knee injury in Friday night’s win over the Anaheim Ducks. Knee injuries can be tricky, and it appears that the Panthers are opting to proceed cautiously with Barkov’s return to the line-up.

Panthers head coach Paul Maurice did tell Florida play-by-play broadcaster Doug Plagens that Barkov could return as early as Friday against the Winnipeg Jets. If he can return, Barkov and the Panthers will have dodged a major injury scare as the collision that sidelined Barkov could have been much worse. Barkov currently sits second on the Panthers in scoring with six goals and 11 assists in 16 games.

In other injury notes:

  • Tampa Bay Times writer Eduardo A. Encina is reporting that Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper told reporters today that there is a very good chance that star goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy will play on the team’s upcoming road trip. Vasilevskiy took part in Tampa Bay’s morning skate today but still is not ready to play. The Lighting will open their three-game road trip this Friday in Carolina and then get a few days off before they play a back-to-back in Colorado and then Arizona next Monday and Tuesday. Given that timeline, it is possible that the 2019 Vezina Trophy winner will make his season debut in the next week.
  • Nashville Predators reporter Michael Gallagher tweeted that Predators defenseman Ryan McDonagh skated with Roman Josi at practice this morning and is expected to return to game action this evening against the Calgary Flames. McDonagh has been out of action with a lower-body injury since November 2nd, missing the Predators last seven games. While he doesn’t offer much offensively, Nashville’s goaltenders badly missed the veteran. McDonagh is still a terrific penalty killer and does a very good job limiting his opponent’s offensive opportunities. Nashville gave up 20 goals in a four-game losing streak in McDonagh’s absence but has rallied off two straight wins since. They currently sit sixth in the Central Division with a 7-10 record.

Nashville Predators Recall Jordan Gross

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With captain Roman Josi out day-to-day with an upper-body injury, the team has recalled defenseman Jordan Gross from the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals.

This is Gross’ third recall of the season, per CapFriendly, and his first since the calendar turned to 2023. In 10 games with Nashville across his previous two recalls, he recorded three goals and averaged 18:48 of ice time.

Gross joined the Predators organization last offseason, inking a two-year deal after he recorded over a point per game with the AHL’s Colorado Eagles. He hasn’t hit that offensive mark in the minors this year, but he does have a strong 31 points in 45 games for Milwaukee.

The undrafted 27-year-old is expected to step into a top-four role tonight for Nashville. Additional injuries to Ryan McDonagh and Alexandre Carrier are stretching their defensive depth to the limit.

Of note, Gross’ contract is set to convert from a two-way deal to a one-way deal next season. With Nashville’s retool in full swing after a series of trade deadline moves, Gross is an outside candidate to play a more significant role with the Preds next season.

Award Notes: Jim Gregory Award Finalists, All-Rookie Team, All-Star Teams

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While there were five awards handed out on Tuesday, there is still one more to be announced.  That one is the Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award.  It’s voted on by all 32 NHL GMs as well as some NHL executives at the end of the second round.  Not surprisingly, all three of the finalists, who were named during the NHL Awards show, were among the four to help lead their teams to the conference finals including Julien BriseBois of the Lightning, Chris Drury of the Rangers, and Joe Sakic of the Avalanche.  Islanders GM Lou Lamoriello won the award a year ago.  The winner for this won’t be announced until partway through the first round of the draft next month in Montreal.

More news from awards night:

Poll: NHL Award Predictions

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Tonight’s the night that the stars gather to hand out some fancy hardware at the 2022 NHL Awards in Tampa. Kenan Thompson will return to host the show, which will be the first live award event since 2019, with the last two canceled due to COVID-19 restrictions.

The event will announce the winners of the Hart Trophy, the Norris Trophy, the Vezina Trophy, the Calder Trophy, and the Ted Lindsay Award, five of the most prestigious individual awards in hockey. With just a few hours before things kick off, let’s see if the PHR community can predict the winners of each.

For the Hart, given to the player “judged most valuable to his team,” the finalists are Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers, and Igor Shesterkin of the New York Rangers. Remember that these are all regular season awards with a vote before the playoffs begin.

 

The Norris, given to the defenseman “who demonstrated throughout the season the greatest all-around ability at the position,” is down to Roman Josi of the Nashville Predators, Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche, and Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning. The latter two are doing battle for a much bigger prize but could still add some hardware to their cases tonight if they can topple the Predators captain.

 

The Vezina, given to the best goaltender in the NHL and voted on by the league’s general managers, will be given to one of Shesterkin, Jacob Markstrom of the Calgary Flames, or Juuse Saros of the Nashville Predators. None of the three have won the award previously, meaning we’ll have a new name engraved this year.

 

Three very different rookies are on the ballot for the Calder, given to the top first-year player in the league. Moritz Seider of the Detroit Red Wings and Trevor Zegras of the Anaheim Ducks will battle with 26-year-old Michael Bunting of the Toronto Maple Leafs, who finally got a chance to play regular minutes in the NHL and responded well.

 

Given the prestige of the Hart, the Ted Lindsay is sometimes overlooked as a major award but it shouldn’t be. The player-voted “most outstanding” award is a huge honor given it comes from direct peers and does not always go to the same recipient as the Hart. This year even the finalists are different, with Matthews and McDavid being joined by Josi on the ballot.

 

Cast your vote and make sure to come back to leave a comment with how many you got correct!

Nashville Predators Extend Jeremy Lauzon

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A busy day of signings continues today. The Nashville Predators announced they’ve extended defenseman Jeremy Lauzon to a four-year contract worth $8MM in total, carrying an average annual value of $2MM.

Nashville acquired Lauzon at the Trade Deadline this season from the Seattle Kraken in exchange for a second-round pick (49th overall in the 2022 draft). He was Seattle’s expansion draft selection from the Boston Bruins.

Strictly a bottom-of-the-lineup player, Lauzon tallied two goals and seven points in 66 games combined between Seattle and Nashville this season. While he was in the lineup more consistently in Nashville, he often found himself as a healthy scratch with the Kraken. He averaged 17:40 of ice time per game this season, only a few seconds above his career average.

The veteran of 142 NHL games has some serious career stability now. He is decent defensively at even strength but has struggled on the penalty kill when used there, making more an ideal complementary player to a more high-end, offensively-inclined defenseman. If all goes well, he could end up being a good, cheap solution to partner with Roman Josi, but that’s assuming he maintains his solid defensive play post-trade. He’s known to be inconsistent at times, which raises a few red flags around the four-year term for this deal.

However, Lauzon is still just 25, and will still likely be in his prime at age 29 when the deal expires in 2026. It’s somewhat of a risky deal since the $2MM isn’t fully buriable in the minors, but it could just as well work out just fine. Lauzon was slated to become a restricted free agent with arbitration rights this offseason, and he’ll be an unrestricted free agent at the contract’s end.

2022 Ted Lindsay Award Finalists Announced

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This week, the NHL has started to release the finalists for all the major regular season awards. After the Hart Trophy came out yesterday, the Ted Lindsay Award, given to “the most outstanding player in the NHL” as voted on by members of the NHLPA, is up.

The finalists this year are Roman Josi of the Nashville Predators, Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs, and Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers.

While the Lindsay very often mirrors the Hart, the notable difference is that the finalists are peer-selected. McDavid has already won the trophy three times, even taking it home in 2018 when he somehow finished fifth in Hart voting, despite leading the league in scoring. There’s no doubting his place among his fellow players, widely considered the best player in the world at the moment. After setting new career highs with 44 goals and 123 points, there’s certainly reason to believe they’ve put him on top of the mountain once again.

Matthews has more than a fighting chance though, after becoming just the third player in the salary cap era to score 60 goals in a single season. The Maple Leafs forward is the no-doubt best at putting the puck in the back of the net, and reached a new high with 106 points in just 73 games. Perhaps the front-runner for the Hart this season, it will be interesting to see if the players feel the same about the Toronto sniper.

Josi, meanwhile, is the only one of the three that didn’t end as a finalist for the Hart, as Igor Shesterkin took the third spot yesterday. It shows just how outstanding his season was and how much respect his peers have for the historic 96-point campaign he put together. That’s more than just a good year–it puts Josi among a list of the best offensive defensemen to ever play the game. Whether that was enough to draw the votes to pass the two big centers won’t be revealed until later on but it is still an impressive feat to get named a finalist in a year with so many incredible offensive performances.

2022 Norris Trophy Finalists Announced

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The NHL has started to release their award finalists, this time announcing the three nominees for the Norris Trophy. The award is given out to the top defenseman “who demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-round ability in the position.” Last year’s winner was Adam Fox of the New York Rangers, but he won’t be defending his title this time around.

This year’s finalists are Roman Josi of the Nashville Predators, Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche, and Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Josi, winner of the award in 2020, nearly reached an unfathomable offensive level this season when he scored 23 goals and 96 points for the Predators. He became the highest-scoring defenseman in nearly three decades and joined a group of Hall of Fame defensemen with at least 96 points in a single season. Only Bobby Orr, Paul Coffey, Al MacInnis, Brian Leetch, Denis Potvin, Phil Housley, and Ray Bourque have ever reached those heights previously, nearly a Mount Rushmore of offensive NHL defensemen. It is the second time he has been named a finalist, following his win two years ago.

Makar, still just 23 years old, has now been a finalist in back-to-back seasons after finishing second in voting last year. The Avalanche phenom led all defensemen with 28 goals and racked up 86 points, pushing his career total just over a point-per-game through three seasons. It’s hard to fathom the ceiling for the 2017 fourth-overall pick, who also took strides defensively this year and once again was one of the most valuable players in the league by many metrics. Makar averaged nearly 26 minutes a game and set highs in more traditional defensive statistics like +/- (+48), blocks (110), and hits (95).

Hedman is probably used to this by now, after being a finalist in each of the last five seasons previous. He won the award in 2018, a season that paled in comparison (at least offensively) to this year. The big Tampa Bay blueliner racked up his first 20-goal season and pied on a career-best 85 points, while playing in all 82 games for the first time in his 13-year career. Averaging more than 25 minutes a night in all situations, Hedman is carving out a career that will have him considered among the very best the game has ever produced when it is all said and done.

Tomorrow, the award announcements will continue with the three finalists for the Vezina Trophy.

Roman Josi, Evgeny Kuznetsov Headed To All-Star Game

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The NHL announced today that in light of injuries to the Central Division’s Nathan MacKinnon and the Metropolitan Division’s Adam Fox, Nashville Predators defenseman Roman Josi and Washington Capitals center Evgeny Kuznetsov will serve as their replacements at the 2022 All-Star Game in Las Vegas next weekend. Dallas Stars forward Joe Pavelski will replace MacKinnon as Central Division captain.

Josi heads to the game as Nashville’s second representative, joining goaltender Juuse Saros. The 2020 Norris Trophy winner has a spectacular 43 points in 43 games this season, enjoying what’s on pace to be the best offensive campaign of his 11-year-career. He’ll be the team’s second defenseman alongside Colorado’s Cale Makar.

Kuznetsov is enjoying somewhat of a renaissance campaign, seeing increased production back alongside Alex Ovechkin. His 43 points in 42 games put him on his first point-per-game pace since the 2017-18 season in which Washington won the Stanley Cup. He’s seeing heavy usage this year, playing over 21:25 per game under head coach Peter Laviolette.

 

Roman Josi Activated From COVID Protocol

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The Nashville Predators have their captain back just in time. The team will take on the Chicago Blackhawks this afternoon in their first game of 2022 and Roman Josi has been activated from the COVID protocol in time to participate. Josi returns along with Colton Sissons, who has also been activated. Meanwhile, Michael McCarron has been recalled from the taxi squad and Mathieu Olivier takes his place.

Unfortunately, just a few minutes later, the team announced that Dante Fabbro has entered the protocol.

Nashville has lost the first two games following the holiday break, both played without Josi in the lineup. The 31-year-old defenseman is the most important skater on the Predators roster, playing in all situations and driving the offense almost single-handedly at times.

In 30 games, the 2020 Norris Trophy winner has ten goals and 29 points, good for the team lead (tied with Mikael Granlund). Josi averages almost 25 minutes a night, though it remains to be seen whether he’ll see that much ice time in his first game back.

Sissons too is an important player to have back in the lineup, given his role as one of the team’s regular centers. While not a huge offensive contributor, his 13 points in 29 games are still a good bit of secondary scoring.

With these two back, the Predators were almost completely out of the woods when it comes to their current COVID placements. Fabbro’s presence will obviously be missed, meaning they won’t be at full strength for a little while longer.

Roman Josi Activated From Injured Reserve

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The Nashville Predators have activated Roman Josi from injured reserve and are expecting him to play tonight against the Detroit Red Wings. It would be Josi’s first game since March 7, just over two weeks ago. The team has also recalled Michael McCarron and Alexandre Carrier from the taxi squad, moving Jeremy Davis back to it in the process.

Josi’s return comes just as more reports emerge about their other defensemen, including Ryan Ellis and Mattias Ekholm. Today on TSN’s Insider Trading, Pierre LeBrun reported that the ask for Ekholm now is a big one, including a first-round pick, an elite prospect, and a third asset. Ekholm of course is not on an expiring contract as his deal won’t finish until after the 2021-22 season.

If the Predators are going to move a big name off of the blue line, Josi’s return could be an important one. Without him, the team wouldn’t have much left to carry the rest of the season, given Ellis isn’t expected back from injury anytime soon. If he can prove he is once again healthy enough to log 25+ minutes a night and drive offense from the back end, perhaps it changes GM David Poile’s mind on whether to move Ekholm in the coming weeks.

The reigning Norris Trophy winner has 16 points in 25 games this season and will try to add to that total tonight against Detroit.

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