Andrew MacDonald Out Six Weeks After Off-Season Injury
The regular season is a month away and training camps have not even opened up yet, but the Philadelphia Flyers have already suffered a major loss. The team announced this morning that defenseman Andrew MacDonald has suffered a lower-body injury and will be out for an estimated six weeks. MacDonald reportedly suffered the injury during a workout away from the team, according to GM Ron Hextall.
MacDonald, 32, is in his sixth season with the Flyers and his eleventh overall. The veteran defenseman has had ups and downs in his career, but provides experience and leadership on the young Philly blue line. An alternate captain for the team and the oldest skater on the roster, MacDonald’s loss, especially at the start of the season, could be a blow to the Philadelphia locker room. With a six week window for recovery, MacDonald is sure to miss all of camp and the preseason and will likely miss the first two weeks or more of the regular season.
In his absence, the Flyers will need to lean more on their young defensive core. Shayne Gostisbehere, Ivan Provorov, and Robert Hagg have established themselves as the next wave of top defenders for Philadelphia and were primed to take ice time and responsibility from MacDonald this season regardless. Now they will especially be thrust into more responsibility, as will veteran Radko Gudas. Travis Sanheim and Christian Folin will now begin the season with guaranteed starting jobs now that MacDonald is out, giving the Flyers a rounded out top six. With Samuel Morin sidelined for at least a few more months with an ACL injury, one big question now is who begins the season as the Flyers’ extra defender until MacDonald can return.
East Notes: Panthers, Budaj, Murray, Gostisbehere
Although the Panthers find themselves within striking distance of a playoff spot, don’t expect them to turn to the rental market to try to add someone to help make that push. Speaking with reporters (video via the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel), GM Dale Tallon stated that they’re only going to be making a move if they can get someone who fits in long-term and that they have identified several targets around the league that could fit that bill. This represents a shift from last year when they picked up Thomas Vanek from Detroit as a rental on deadline day in a move that did little to help their postseason aspirations.
Elsewhere in the East:
- Lightning goaltender Peter Budaj will be out for a while yet. GM Steve Yzerman told Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter link) that Budaj’s leg injury will keep him out for six-to-eight weeks from December 29th, the day he was hurt. That means he will be out for the next month at a minimum so Louis Domingue will be sticking around as Andrei Vasilevskiy’s backup for the foreseeable future following their bye.
- Pittsburgh’s recall of goaltender Casey DeSmith yesterday wasn’t due to an injury. Jonathan Bombulie of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review notes that netminder Matt Murray is away from the team due to personal reasons. There’s no word on when he will return to the Penguins. Tristan Jarry will get the extra workload in Murray’s absence.
- Flyers defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere isn’t expected to play tonight due to an illness, notes Dave Isaac of the Courier-Post (Twitter link). His absence is a big one for Philadelphia as he sits fourth in team scoring with 32 points in 39 games while logging nearly 21 minutes a night of playing time. Travis Sanheim is slated to take his place in the lineup.
Philadelphia Calls Up Samuel Morin
Given the rash of recent injuries on the Philadelphia blue line, it came as no surprise when the Flyers announced this evening that they had recalled rookie defenseman Samuel Morin from the AHL’s Adirondack Phantoms. Morin is expected to suit up for the team when they host the Arizona Coyotes tomorrow night.
In Saturday night’s contest against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Shayne Gostisbehere left early with injury and his status is still unknown. With Andrew MacDonald out long-term with a lower body injury, an extended absence for Gostisbehere would have left the Flyers down two starters with only five defenseman on the roster. Morin rounds that number back up to six and provides Philly with another capable defenseman.
However, the Flyers may need to think about looking around for another defenseman, if they aren’t already. The “future is now” mentality may be exciting, but Philadelphia will square off with the Coyotes tomorrow with three rookies – Morin, Robert Hagg, and Travis Sanheim – and 20-year-old Ivan Provorov, a severe lack of experience on the back end. Add in just two stay-at-home defenders in Radko Gudas and Brandon Manning as their veteran support, and Philadelphia could benefit from another body on the blue line. With four waiver-exempt assets, the Flyers have the flexibility to add another defenseman without causing themselves any sort of roster crunch down the road.
Philadelphia Flyers Sign Shayne Gostisbehere To Six-Year Extension
The Philadelphia Flyers have gotten in on the offseason action, signing defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere to a multi-year contract. The deal is for six seasons, at an average annual value of $4.5MM. Gostisbehere was a restricted free agent, but was not eligible for arbitration after just his second full season in the league. The contract is front loaded, structured as follows:
- 2017-18: $6MM
- 2018-19: $6MM
- 2019-20: $5.25MM
- 2020-21: $3.25MM
- 2021-22: $3.25MM
- 2022-23: $3.25MM
Though he actually made his debut at the end of the 2014-15 season, Gostisbehere made his mark in 2015-16 when he set a rookie defenseman record with a 15-game point streak. With 46 points in 64 games, he finished second in voting for the Calder trophy and looked to be one of the brightest young stars on defense around the league.
Last year wasn’t as rosy though, as he struggled at times in his own end and was scratched multiple times by Dave Hakstol even while healthy. He still contributed at an excellent pace offensively scoring 39 points in 76 games, but saw his ice time dramatically scaled back at times and usage limited. His plus-minus rating plummeted, but his analytical possession stats actually increased making him a lightning rod for the different methods of rating a defender.
Now 24, Gostisbehere has shown he can be an elite powerplay quarterback and has the ability to impact a game tremendously (some would say for both teams). Though he’s left-handed, he spent a lot of time on the right side this year and has talked in the past about how difficult it was. Perhaps that can explain some of his issues in his own end, but he’ll have to get used to it as the Flyers group is made up of almost exclusively lefties.
A three-year contract would have taken Gostisbehere to unrestricted free agency, meaning they’ve bought out three additional UFA years for a fairly reasonable price. GM Ron Hextall, tight-lipped as ever, refused to reveal the details personally, only telling reporters like Dave Isaac of the Courier-Post that the team received “great cost certainty” with the contract. $4.5MM is a solid number for the Flyers to work with, comparing favorably to other offensive defensemen around the league. The deal will also take Gostisbehere to age-30, usually an age when players start a more rapid decline in performance.
Tyson Barrie signed a four-year contract last summer which pays him $5.5MM per season, Torey Krug signed a deal worth $5.25MM per season, and Sami Vatanen is signed for four seasons at $4.88MM. While all three of those players had longer track records, were in a different stage of restricted free agency, and could be considered superior to Gostisbehere in some circles, they also gave up fewer years of free agency and will all need new contracts before their 30th birthdays.
Tim Panaccio of CSN provided the financial totals, while Stephen Whyno of AP broke down the year-by-year numbers.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
East Notes: Lundqvist, Connolly, Gostisbehere, Canadiens
Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist told SportExpressen’s Magnus Nystrom (link in Swedish) that he suffered an injury to a ligament in his knee while playing for Sweden at last month’s World Championships. NHL.com’s Dan Rosen clarifies (via Twitter) that it’s an MCL sprain. The rehab time is expected to be four to six weeks. The netminder added that he plans to get back to on-ice workouts in early August.
The 35 year old didn’t specify when the injury occurred but he noted he had it before suiting up in the final game against Canada. The issue didn’t appear to hold Lundqvist back in any form as he had a strong showing for the gold medallists, posting a 1.31 GAA and a .946 SV% in five games after joining the team midway through the tournament. He was particularly sharp in that final match, allowing just a single goal while not allowing any goals in the shootout.
Other notes from the Eastern Conference:
- The Capitals are interested in re-signing pending RFA winger Brett Connolly and in fact have come close to reaching an agreement a couple of different times with him, reports CSN Mid-Atlantic’s Tarik El-Bashir. Simply receiving his qualifying offer (worth just over $892K) would be a nice change of fortune for him after not being tendered one by the Bruins last summer. The 25 year old set a career high in goals this season with 15 in 66 games and fit in nicely on the third line for a significant portion of the year. However, he found himself in the doghouse in the postseason and was a healthy scratch for their final six games.
- Flyers GM Ron Hextall has already tabled a qualifying offer to pending RFA Shayne Gostisbehere, notes CSN Philly’s Tim Panaccio. Hextall wouldn’t comment on the status of negotiations, only commenting that he’d like to have a deal done before training camp starts in September. After a quieter sophomore campaign that saw him as a healthy scratch at one point, Gostisbehere could be in line for a bridge contract instead of a long-term deal.
- The Canadiens will not ask either of their players with no-move clauses to waive them in advance of expansion, John Sedgwick (Montreal’s director of legal affairs) told Hugo Fontaine of the teams’ official website. Goalie Carey Price wasn’t going to be left unprotected either way but defenseman Jeff Petry, who has four years left with a cap hit of $5.5MM, could have been a candidate if the team wanted to protect both Jordie Benn and Nathan Beaulieu.
Offseason Keys: Philadelphia Flyers
While the expansion draft is set to headline a busy NHL offseason, there are still several other storylines for each team in the months ahead. Here is a closer look at what lies ahead for the Philadelphia Flyers.
After making the playoffs in 2015-16, expectations were high in Philadelphia this season. However, they wound up taking a step backwards as inconsistency plagued them throughout the year and they came up a little short of making the postseason. They did receive a nice consolation prize in the form of the second overall pick through the draft lottery, starting the offseason on a high note. Here’s what’s in store for Ron Hextall and the Flyers this summer.
New Deal For Gostisbehere
Shayne Gostisbehere burst onto the scene in 2015-16 after a recall a month into the year as he quickly became one of the top offensive threats from the back end in the entire NHL. Expectations were high heading into his first full NHL season but he struggled to repeat his freshman performance while even being scratched periodically.
Gostisbehere’s entry level contract expires in July and he is Philadelphia’s most prominent restricted free agent. Although he had a down season, he still put up 39 points which ranked him in the top-25 league-wide. He’s viewed as a key cog for the Flyers and accordingly, he has a case for a big contract.
Had the 24 year old taken a step forward or two this season, it would have been easy to anticipate Hextall being more than comfortable signing him long-term. However, given Gostisbehere’s drop in production and role, the GM may be inclined to look for a short-term bridge deal. From a cap standpoint, the Flyers have plenty of space to work with this offseason (something that hasn’t been said for quite a while) so they certainly have the flexibility to go either way with their young defenseman.
Find A Starting Goalie
This one is a familiar key for Philly fans. Despite bringing in some prominent netminders over the years, they’ve struggled to find a consistent number one goalie. The tandem of Steve Mason and Michal Neuvirth didn’t get the job done this season and while Neuvirth signed a two year, $5MM extension at the deadline, he’s not really being viewed as the long-term solution. Mason is set to become an unrestricted free agent and indicated after the season he wasn’t likely to re-sign if the platoon situation was in place again next season.
Anthony Stolarz is coming off a bit of a down season himself at the AHL level but is still viewed as a prospect with some NHL upside. As things stand, he’s in line to make a push for a spot with the Flyers (assuming he makes it through expansion) but the pending RFA also has another year of waiver exemption remaining which increases the likelihood that he will start with AHL Lehigh Valley next year.
There are going to be quite a few goalies available between free agency and the trade market, several of which could come in and take over the starting role. While there aren’t any long-term solutions available, there are some players who could hold down the fort for a year or two which, given the quality prospects Philadelphia has in the system between the pipes, might just be exactly what they need.
Reshape The Back End
One way or the other, the defense is going to likely look a lot different next season. Mark Streit was dealt away at the deadline while other pending UFAs in Michael Del Zotto and Nick Schultz aren’t expected to return.
The Flyers have several young prospects that are nearly ready to make the jump to the NHL, including Samuel Morin, Robert Hagg, and Travis Sanheim. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Hextall opt to leave a spot or two open heading into training camp for their youngsters to try to step up and seize a spot.
That said, given the payroll room they have to work with, it also wouldn’t be surprising to see them be active in free agency to try to add a quality veteran. An alternative option may be to utilize the pre-expansion trade market as they really only have two blueliners that are must-protect players in Gostisbehere and Radko Gudas. Hextall could opt to make a trade before Vegas makes their selection and add to their blueline that way. Philadelphia has plenty of options to change up their defense corps for next season and it certainly will be interesting to see which route they wind up taking.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Snapshots: Zaitsev, Richardson, Flames Arena
Earlier this week, news broke that the Maple Leafs were closing in on a seven-year extension for defenseman Nikita Zaitsev.
The deal is expected to be around $4.5MM per season, which would be a big raise for the 25-year-old rookie coming off his entry-level deal. The expected terms would be comparable to at least 20 top-four defensemen, at around 5-7 per cent of the salary cap and 5-8 years.
Zaitsev has been a solid addition to the Maple Leafs’ blue line, with four goals and 30 assists so far. He’s closing in on Borje Salming‘s record of 33 assists for a rookie defenseman. He’s also leading the team in average ice-time, at 22:16 per game. Despite his good season paired with Morgan Rielly, the Maple Leafs need to be careful. The contract would take him to age 32, an age where defensemen begin to physically break down. In addition, Zaitsev has played just 76 games in the NHL. That’s not a long track record; Shayne Gostisbehere was very good in his rookie year but hasn’t found the same dominance this season as opponents figured out how to shut him down more effectively. The two defensemen play different styles, but the comparison illustrates the potential risk of judging a player based on one season. While a bridge deal minimizes that risk, the team then risks having to pay the player more should he develop further.
The rumored cap hit of $4.5MM is fair value for a top-four defenseman, but the term is risky. Nothing has indicated Zaitsev will struggle, but seven years is a long time.
- Arizona Coyotes forward Brad Richardson will not play again this season, the team announced Saturday. Richardson hasn’t played since mid-November, when he broke his tibia and fibula in a collision with Canucks defenseman Nikita Tryamkin. GM John Chayka said Richardson underwent a procedure to “remove hardware” from the previous surgery. He’s expected to be ready for training camp. Richardson was having a very good season before the injury, with nine points in 16 games.
- The same week that his team clinched a playoff spot, the Calgary Flames President and CEO Ken King made some less-than-popular remarks on Fan 590. Should the team and the city be unable to agree on a new arena deal, then King said “there would be no threat to move, we would just move, and it would be over” (via CBC). It’s not an unprecedented strategy to get public money for a new arena – Edmonton owner Darryl Katz publicly visited Seattle in 2012, months before the deal was finalized to build Rogers Place. Even so, it’s a risky ploy, especially as the team begins selling playoff tickets.
Philadelphia Flyers Sign Mark Friedman To ELC
Tuesday: Kevin Gordon of the Bowling Green State site reports that Friedman has signed the contract this morning and will be going pro.
Monday: According to Dave Isaac of the Courier-Post, the Philadelphia Flyers are expected to sign third-round pick Mark Friedman out of Bowling Green State. The defenseman just completed his junior year, meaning he would be leaving school early to sign with the Flyers.
Friedman, 21, is another one of the sub-six foot defenders coming out of the college ranks who has succeeded in spite of his height. The puck-moving defenseman has always had loads of talent with the puck, but has trouble in his own end at times. With 26 points in 40 games this year, he’s proven once again he can contribute offensively—though that has never really been in doubt.
Should the Flyers pluck him out of school early, they can start giving him important minutes with Lehigh Valley immediately, and try to coax another NHL defender out of a mid-round pick. Shayne Gostisbehere was also a third-round pick that played three seasons in the NCAA before making an immediate impact last season. Perhaps Friedman, who is built much the same, can follow a similar path.
Snapshots: NHL Three Stars, Gostisbehere, Johnson
The NHL has named its Three Stars of the Week: Sebastian Aho, Mikael Granlund, and Peter Budaj.
Aho had four goals and an assist in three games, including two game-winning goals. In the Hurricanes’ first game of the week, Aho had a hat-trick and assist, before scoring the winning goal on Friday against the Oilers and being held pointless on Saturday. In 51 games, the 2015 second-round pick has 16 goals and 31 points, good for sixth among rookies.
Granlund had three goals and six points in three games as the Wild went 2-1-0. After two assists in the first two games of the week, he too had a hat-trick plus assist in the third game of the week. Granlund currently leads the Wild in scoring with 48 points in 51 games.
Budaj won three of four games with a 0.930 SV%, 1.62 GAA, and two shutouts. After starting the season as the Kings’ third-string goaltender, he now leads the NHL in shutouts with seven and has a sparkling 0.920 SV% with 25 wins in 46 appearances. With Jonathan Quick out from opening night until March, Budaj has allowed the Kings to remain in a wildcard spot.
- The offensively-starved Flyers will be without last year’s rookie standout Shayne Gostisbehere yet again when the Blues come to Philadelphia tonight, but it’s not an injury or illness that’s keeping him out. Gostisbehere will be a healthy scratch for the third-straight game. After scoring 17 goals and 46 points in 64 games last year, he has just four goals and 21 points in 48 games this season. That’s a pace of 7-29-36 over 82 games, much lower than his 59-point-pace in 2015-16. While Gostisbehere will remain out of the lineup, rookie forward Travis Konecny will draw back in for Matt Read. When asked about the lineup, coach Dave Hakstol told NBC’s Jason Brough that he’s “trying to dress the best roster possible to win hockey games. Point blank.” Without Gostisbehere, the Flyers are 1-1, winning 3-1 and losing 1-0.
- In an appearance on TSN Radio in Edmonton, Bob McKenzie put forward the idea that Tampa Bay could look to move pending RFA center Tyler Johnson for defensive help. Despite Johnson’s lessened production this year (33 points in 53 games), McKenzie suggests a combination of “needing a defenseman and maybe having a surplus of forwards, and… the cap issues and maybe not being in a position to sign [Johnson] might make him more expendable over some of the other pieces.” Besides making a decision on potential rentals like Ben Bishop and Brian Boyle and RFA forwards Jonathan Drouin, Ondrej Palat, and Johnson, McKenzie believes GM Steve Yzerman will be looking for a cost-controlled defenseman to make his team better going forward. Regardless of who he choses to keep, it’s going to be a stressful next few months for Yzerman.
Lineup Notes: Neal, Gostisbehere, Predators
News and notes from around the NHL this afternoon:
- The Nashville Predators have activated forward James Neal from the injured reserve, reports the Tennesean’s Adam Vingan. Neal has been out since January 3rd with an upper body injury. So far this season Neal has 14G and 6A in 33 games for Nashville, but went pointless in his last five games before his injury. Neal’s return is good news for the Predators as they continue to battle injuries elsewhere. P.K. Subban, Roman Josi, and Colin Wilson are all out right now as the Predators struggle to stay afloat in the NHL’s Central Division
- Philadelphia Flyers scratched defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere once again this season, as first reported by the Courier-Post’s Dave Isaac. This is the sophomore’s second healthy scratch this season, but it comes off of a decent performance against the Vancouver Canucks. Points-wise Gostisbehere performs fine—4G and 15A in 42 games—but his defensive play leaves coach Dave Hakstol wanting more.
- The Nashville Predators announced that they called up defenseman Petter Granberg and reassigned forward Pontus Aberg to the AHL Milwaukee Admirals. The move makes room for the returning James Neal, and also shores up Nashville’s bleeding blue line. Nashville plays the Colorado Avalanche tonight riding a two game winning streak.
- The San Jose Sharks have recalled Ryan Carpenter prior to their game tonight against the St. Louis Blues. Carpenter has 18 points in 28 AHL games this season. Kevin Kurz of CSN thinks that it’s a sign that Joonas Donskoi, who missed yesterday’s practice, will be out for tonight.