Early Returns On Summer Blockbusters
Typically, free agency items dominate hockey headlines in the latter days of June. However, the events of June 29th changed that dynamic in the 2016 offseason. First, the marquee name available in free agency, Steven Stamkos, agreed to remain with the Tampa Bay Lightning, inking an eight-year extension with the team and effectively ruining the offseason plans of several other NHL clubs. Second, a pair of rare, player-for-player blockbuster trades were completed, shocking all who follow and cover the league.
Desperately searching to upgrade the team’s blue line, Edmonton GM Peter Chiarelli agreed to ship top-line left wing Taylor Hall to New Jersey for Swedish defenseman Adam Larsson. Not long after that deal was announced, the Nashville Predators dealt team captain and four-time Norris Trophy finalist Shea Weber to Montreal for the electric P.K. Subban.
While it’s too early to make any definitive judgments as to which teams may have come out ahead in their respective exchanges, it is possible to analyze the early returns and see how much each club has benefited from the transactions.
Montreal – While there is no question P.K. Subban is a supremely skilled player, as the 2015-16 season played out it appeared as if head coach Michel Therrien and GM Marc Bergevin had grown weary of the defender’s high-risk, high-reward playing style. In Weber they get a veteran blue liner who boasts the league’s hardest shot and one who has long been a stalwart for Team Canada in numerous international events. Weber has also had a productive start to his Habs career, with eight goals and 18 points through 27 games.
Nashville – The team may have lost the longtime face of their franchise but they did add a dynamic talent who is four years Weber’s junior and has perhaps a more favorable contractual situation. While Subban’s cap hit is more than $1M higher annually through the 2021-22 campaign, his contract expires four years earlier than Weber’s and does not come with the likelihood of a cap recapture penalty. Subban is slowly growing more comfortable in his new home and has produced nearly identical numbers to his counterpart, tallying seven goals and 17 points through 26 contests.
Verdict – With Montreal currently sitting in the top spot in the Eastern Conference it’s hard to argue the trade hasn’t paid off exactly as Bergevin hoped. Weber plays a more conservative style of hockey which Therrien clearly prefers and he is still an impact player at both ends of the ice. On the flip side Subban gives the Nashville market a huge personality and a bankable star. He has quickly endeared himself to the Predators fans off the ice and is still producing on the ice. This deal has worked out for both clubs about as well as could have been hoped.
New Jersey – After ranking dead last in goals scored in 2015-16, the Devils desperately needed an infusion of skill and that’s exactly what they got in Hall. In 19 games this season, Hall is averaging better than a point-per-game for his new team and gives the Devils a legitimate, goal-scoring threat they haven’t had since Zach Parise resided in Jersey.
Edmonton – Larsson doesn’t contribute much in the offensive end of the ice – just six points in 30 contests this season – but has at least provided steady play on the back end for Edmonton. Chiarelli perhaps could have pursued a more dynamic player to address his team’s dire need on the blue line but Larsson came with the cost-certainty that RFA options like Mathew Dumba and Jacob Trouba did not. The Oilers will soon have to consider extensions for Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl – neither of which will come cheap – and getting Larsson in the midst of a long-term deal with a manageable cap hit carries additional value.
Verdict – Hall is clearly the better and more valuable player, both today and into the future. But to Chiarelli’s credit, he knew his team needed to improve on the back end and was willing to lose the trade to make his team better. It’s probable the Oilers GM simply was not content maintaining the status quo and made the best deal available to upgrade the blue line. With the Oilers at the top of the Pacific Division standings, Chiarelli is likely pleased with how this deal has worked out for Edmonton.
Philip Larsen Leaves Game On A Stretcher
8:06pm: The Canucks Twitter account reports that Larsen was “awake and responsive” as he left the ice.
A scary moment in New Jersey as Vancouver Canucks defenseman Philip Larsen absorbed a brutal check by Taylor Hall that resulted in him being taken off the ice on a stretcher. Frank Seravalli tweets that replays appeared to show Larsen unconscious before he hit the ice. The tweet also includes video of the hit.
As Hall approached, Larsen was caught with his head down as he tried to play the puck behind the net. Seravalli adds that Larsen had some movement in his extremities as he was wheeled off the ice. The Canucks tweeted out their support for Larsen while the Devils responded with a similar tweet.
New Jersey Devils Activate Taylor Hall
If you ask Taylor Hall how long three weeks is, perhaps he’ll tell you fifteen days. That’s how long the superstar New Jersey Devils winger has been out since undergoing surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee. As Andrew Gross pointed out on Twitter, and Hall hinted at yesterday, the Devils have activated him from injured reserve today, likely meaning he’ll make his return tonight against the Chicago Blackhawks. The team announced that Reid Boucher has been placed on waivers to make room.
Unsure of when exactly the injury took place, Hall showed up to the rink on the 15th complaining of pain in his knee. When an MRI revealed that surgery was needed he underwent a procedure by team physician Dr. Michael Shindle and Dr. Jonathan Glashow, the Devils’ Chief Medical Officer for a torn meniscus in his knee. His original timeline was 3-4 weeks, but obviously that has been accelerated.
Hall was acquired in one of the biggest trades of the offseason, straight up for Adam Larsson on the most infamous day in recent hockey history. His season started as well as it could have, with twelve points in fourteen games before suffering the injury. He’ll now rejoin a team that has lost six of its last seven contests after winning five straight. A 10-7-5 record currently has them fifth in the Metropolitan division, and still in a wild card position.
Boucher, on the other hand, is an interesting waiver case as his relative youth (he just turned 23 in September) and AHL success seem to point to an effective depth forward. The former Sarnia Sting has 105 points in 164 career games at the lower level, and was an impressive goal scorer in his USHD and junior days – even scoring 62 in his final year with Sarnia. For a team looking for an offensive boost, he may provide the perfect answer. If not, he’ll likely return to the Albany Devils and wait for his next opportunity in the NHL.
Injury Notes: Hertl, Sharp, Bortuzzo
Tomas Hertl has flown back to San Jose to undergo an MRI on his knee, according to Kevin Kurz of CSN. The Sharks forward injured himself in the second period last night, leaving the game and not returning. While the extent of the injury is unknown, “waiting for MRI results” has not been a nice feeling for fans around the league of late; both Steven Stamkos and Taylor Hall received terrible news following trips home for examination.
If Hertl is to miss any length of time, it would adversely affect a Sharks squad that is already having trouble scoring goals. With 39 goals scored, they rank ahead of only the Vancouver Canucks and Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference. While the team is still carrying a positive 9-8-0 record through the first 17 games, losing one of their top scoring threats would be devastating.
- Patrick Sharp is set to make his return to the lineup Saturday night for the Dallas Stars. The veteran sniper has missed the last fourteen games with a concussion suffered on a hit from Brayden McNabb in October. The consistent scoring threat is coming off his eighth 20-goal season, and hoping to reach that mark again in what is a contract year for the 34-year old. Sharp is earning $5.9MM this season in the final year of a five-year, $29.5MM deal signed way back in 2011. Even at his advanced age he’s likely to be looking for a multi-year contract to end his career.
- The Blues are starting to get healthier, as Robert Bortuzzo will be returning this weekend as well. The defenseman has missed the past ten games with a lower-body injury, though it’s not a guarantee that he’ll crack the lineup right away. As Ken Hitchcock points out “The one challenge for us is we’re carrying lefty-righty right now and it’s working, so that’s something we’ve got to think about also.” With Alex Pietrangelo and Kevin Shattenkirk ahead of him, Bortuzzo would have to beat out Colton Parayko to skate on the right side, which is much easier said than done the way the 23-year old has established himself this season.
Taylor Hall To Miss 3-4 Weeks With Knee Injury
3:17pm: The Devils have placed Hall on injured reserve and recalled Blake Pietila from Albany. He’ll meet the team in Anaheim, though there has been no word on if he’ll make his season debut on Thursday. Pietila has 11 points in 12 AHL contests this season.
2:31pm: Another superstar forward is out for a while, as the New Jersey Devils have announced that Taylor Hall will be out for three to four weeks following surgery to his left knee today. The forward went under the knife to repair a torn meniscus.
As reported earlier today, the coaching and training staff for New Jersey are unsure of when the injury took place, just that Hall came to the rink Tuesday morning in pain. After being traded to the Devils in the offseason, Hall has established himself as the powerful offensive presence he can be with 12 points in his first 14 games.
Though obviously losing a player of Hall’s stature isn’t good news, the Devils have collected a larger group of offensive players than usual over the past few seasons. With a 9-3-3 record, the team will now look to skaters like Kyle Palmieri, Adam Henrique and Pavel Zacha to step up their offensive production and keep the team on track.
For Tampa Bay Lightning fans, this may be a good indication of the timeline of injured forward Steven Stamkos, who also underwent an MRI today and likely has a meniscus injury. If surgery is required, he too could be out for almost a month.
Injury Notes: Gaudreau, Stamkos, Hall
Three superstars could be poised to miss some time due to injury.
Calgary Flames superstar Johnny Gaudreau broke his finger in Tuesday night’s 1-0 win over the Minnesota Wild, in which he scored the only goal in the game. The Wild played Gaudreau very hard, with several big hits and, according to one observer from the Canadian Press, 21 slashes over the course of the game.
John Shannon of Sportsnet tweeted that Gaudreau will require surgery on the broken finger, and the Flames have now confirmed. Though the team will give an update on recovery time later this week, Elliotte Friedman has heard that it may be 4-6 weeks.
It’s been a disappointing season for Gaudreau, who missed all of training camp while holding out for a new contract. He ended up signing a six-year, $40.5MM contract two days before the start of the regular season. Gaudreau has 11 points in 17 games, which is far off from his career average of 0.9 points per game. The Flames have struggled under a new coach, sitting fifth in the Pacific Division with just six wins in 17 games. They’ll have to put some consecutive wins up soon if they hope to remain in the playoff race, and now they’ll be doing it without their leading scorer.
Meanwhile, Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Stamkos left his team’s win in Detroit last night with a right knee injury. The team announced on Wednesday morning that Stamkos has returned to Tampa Bay for “further evaluation” on his injured leg, which will include an MRI, according to Bob McKenzie. The Lightning are two games into a five game road trip, with Buffalo, Philadelphia, and Nashville still to come. Unless he rejoins them on the road, he’ll be out of the lineup until at least November 23 when the Flyers visit Tampa Bay.
With free agency no longer hanging over his head, Stamkos has been off to a hot start; before leaving the game he scored his 20th point in 17 games. The Lightning are off to a good start, sitting tied for second in the Atlantic Division with 21 points.
Stamkos won’t be the only star getting an MRI on Wednesday: New Jersey Devils leading scorer Taylor Hall will also be getting his knee checked out. Hall missed Tuesday night’s game with a “lower-body injury” that McKenzie now labels as a knee injury.
According to Andrew Gross of Fire and Ice, Devils coach John Hynes said yesterday that Hall “came to the rink [Tuesday] morning and something was bothering him a little bit so the trainers took a look at him.”
Hynes did not say when the injury occurred, and when asked if Hall’s injury was serious, replied “we don’t know.”
Hall has played very well for the Devils after being acquired in a summer blockbuster as part of the busiest day of the summer, which also included Stamkos re-signing in Tampa Bay.
East Notes: Snow, Senators Power Play, Merrill, Hall
While Islanders head coach Jack Capuano has come under fire for their slow start to the season (they sit 15th in the Eastern Conference with a 5-8-3 record), not enough criticism has been directed towards general manager Garth Snow, suggests Peter Botte of the New York Daily News.
Snow has been at the helm of the Isles since 2006, retiring from his playing career to take the position. At the time, he stated that the goal was to take them from being a team looking to sneak into a playoff spot to one that would be a consistent contender but that has yet to be the case; two of their last three appearances came as a wild card or eighth seed.
While previous owner Charles Wang had placed significant restrictions on spending for the most, that isn’t the case with new owners Jon Ledecky and Scott Malkin as the team sits with just over $600K in cap space according to CapFriendly. Snow’s offseason spending has yet to work out as left wingers Andrew Ladd and Jason Chimera have underachieved while P.A. Parenteau is off to a good start…for New Jersey after the Islanders waived him in training camp.
Wang had a reputation for being very loyal to his employees but neither Capuano nor Snow have that type of history with the new ownership. In their first year owning the team, it’s hard to imagine them cleaning house so quickly but if the team continues to struggle, that could change. It’s not often that in-season GM changes are made given the lack of available candidates from other organizations which could play a role should ownership feel a change is necessary at some point.
Other notes from the Eastern Conference:
- The Senators are last in the NHL on the power play with a success rate of just 9.3% (a surprise given that Guy Boucher’s teams have a reputation for being strong in that regard). Don Brennan of the Ottawa Sun wonders if sticking defenseman Dion Phaneuf up front in the crease to work as a more effective screener is the way to go. Boucher calls a move like that a last resort and is more inclined to try different forwards – including tough guy Chris Neil – in different spots on the man advantage for the time being.
- The Devils announced via Twitter that they have activated defenseman Jon Merrill off of injured reserve. Merrill broke his index finger in the preseason and has yet to suit up for New Jersey since the regular season got underway. He had five points in 47 games last season while averaging nearly 17 minutes per game of ice time. Still with the Devils, left winger Taylor Hall will not play tonight due to a lower body injury. Andrew Gross of Fire and Ice adds that Hall is being evaluated by team doctors and more should be known about his situation later today.
Snapshots: Larsson, Sabres, Minor Moves
It was one of the most controversial moves of the summer, but so far the Adam Larsson–Taylor Hall trade isn’t looking as bad as many in Edmonton expected, writes David Staples of the Edmonton Journal.
Staples notes Devils GM Ray Shero is one of the strongest proponents of the trade, and why wouldn’t he be? His Devils are in a playoff spot and Hall is tied for the Devils scoring lead. But he also believes the Oilers got what they needed, according to Kevin Allen of USA Today.
“The Oilers have taken a lot of grief over this, but has anybody sat down and watched Larsson? He’s actually pretty good.”
Shero pointed to Edmonton’s desperate need for a good, young defenseman to go with their young offensive forwards, while the Devils desperately needed an offensive catalyst like Hall.
“You have to make a team, and that is challenging in a salary cap world… They are off to a great start this season. That says something.”
Staples take on the trade is that he likes Larsson’s game, but doesn’t love it yet. He’s had the occasional struggle, but he’s also playing incredibly tough minutes with a skilled but inexperienced parter in Oscar Klefbom. Staples gives the trade a passing grade, with the note that Hall is clearly the better player but the Oilers got what they needed.
- Meanwhile, only one defense core in the NHL has yet to score a goal this season. Despite having weapons like Rasmus Ristolainen and Cody Franson, none of the Buffalo Sabres defensemen have scored. They have contributed 14 assists, however eight of those belong to Ristolainen. Franson told Bill Hoppe that he couldn’t “care less if I scored one goal in a season,” saying he prefers to get assists. Coach Dan Bylsma isn’t concerned with the lack of production, but would like his defensemen to be more aggressive.
- The Columbus Blue Jackets have recalled LW Markus Hannikainen from the Cleveland Monsters. The undrafted Hannikainen has seven points in 11 games for the Monsters so far.
- The Philadelphia Flyers have recalled LW Roman Lyubimov from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. He was sent down to the AHL on Wednesday; Sam Carchidi reported it was simply a paper transaction made for salary cap reasons. Lyubimov has one goal in 11 NHL games so far this season. Carchidi also noted that it appears Chris Vande Velde will be a healthy scratch, despite scoring twice in the last four games.
- Rookie center Noel Acciari did not take part in Boston Bruins practice on Thursday morning, according to Joe Haggerty. He hasn’t skated since suffering a lower-body injury on Monday night versus the Sabres.
Snapshots: Backes, Condon, Ducks, Hall
Boston Bruins forward David Backes has been listed as day-to-day for the last few days, and now we know why. Bruins GM Don Sweeney said Backes had a procedure to remove an olecranon bursa in his elbow on Monday (via Dan Rosen).
While Sweeney said there would be a further update after this weekend, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons lists recovery time as somewhere between 10 days and a month, depending on severity.
Backes has had a decent start to his Bruins career, with 2-2-4 in 5 games. The former St. Louis Blues captain has been a consistent performer, hitting 20-plus goals six times while being a solid possession player and being a bruising hitter.
- In this week’s 30 Thoughts, Elliotte Friedman suggested Matt Murray‘s return to the lineup likely means Mike Condon could find himself on waivers soon. Friedman suggested the Bruins as a possible new home for the Massachusetts native, with both Tuukka Rask and Anton Khudobin dealing with injuries.
- Also in 30 Thoughts, Friedman quoted an unnamed GM as saying he’d “bet [him] anything” that Anaheim GM Bob Murray finds a way to protect Jakob Silfverberg in June’s expansion draft. Currently, the Ducks have four players that must be protected (no-move clauses) in Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Ryan Kesler, and Kevin Bieksa. At the very least, the Ducks would want to protect newly-signed Rickard Rakell, Andrew Cogliano, and Silfverberg on forward, and Hampus Lindholm, Cam Fowler, and Sami Vatanen on defense. Even that leaves some really good defensemen exposed, like Josh Manson and Simon Depres, so expect some movement before the expansion draft. Bieksa could also be convinced to waive his no-move clause to allow the Ducks to protect someone else; his $4MM salary is likely enough to prevent Las Vegas from taking him.
- New Jersey Devils reporter Chris Ryan tweeted out a rather hard-to-believe stat about Taylor Hall. This season, the Devils’ 3-2-1 start is the first time since Hall has been on a .500 team since the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season when the Oilers started 4-3-1. Edmonton, of course, has started this season 5-1-0.
Snapshots: Russell, Lucic, Ducks, Pardy, Rangers
Following yet another disappointing campaign for Edmonton in 2015-16, GM Peter Chiarelli orchestrated several changes to his team’s roster this offseason in an effort to build a playoff contender. Chiarelli dealt away two former first overall draft picks, Taylor Hall and Nail Yakupov (receiving Adam Larsson, a marginal prospect and a conditional draft choice in return), while signing free agents Milan Lucic and Kris Russell in free agency. Many in the hockey community at large weren’t particularly fond of Chiarelli’s moves and while it’s far too early to make any definitive judgement, through two games Lucic and Russell have done exactly what the Oilers and Chiarelli hoped for, as David Staples of the Edmonton Journal writes.
Staples has been tracking scoring chances for and against for every Oilers skater through two games. His research shows that Connor McDavid, who has simply been phenomenal already with six points on the young season, has been Edmonton’s best player by far, helping to generate better than six more scoring chances for than against, per 15 minutes of ice time. Lucic is second in that category with a differential of 4.82. Russell leads the defense corps with a 2.34 differential per 15 minutes of ice time. Incredibly, Russell has yet to make a single error leading to an opposition scoring chance through two games, based on Staples’ tracking.
Again, it’s too early to conclude anything for certain but the early returns on Lucic and Russell have to be encouraging for Chiarelli and Co. Obviously this team will only go as far as their superstar captain McDavid will lead, but should his two prized free agent acquisitions continue to perform at this level, Edmonton might yet prove the pundits wrong and compete for a playoff spot in 2016-17.
Elsewhere in the NHL:
- Could the Anaheim Ducks soon find themselves at a crossroads with a roster core too old to compete for a Stanley Cup? Eric Stepens, who covers the team, asks that question in a post that appears in the Los Angeles Daily News. Stephens notes that the team’s three best forwards, Ryan Getzlaf (31), Corey Perry (31) and Ryan Kesler (32) are all on the wrong side of 30. At the same time, many of the league’s top stars – Johnny Gaudreau (23), McDavid (19), Auston Matthews (19) – are in their early-20’s or even younger. Getzlaf, Perry and Kesler also account for $23.75MM, or nearly one-third of this year’s salary cap, now that Kesler’s massive extension kicked in. These commitments leaves less space for the Ducks to flesh out the rest of their roster with quality talent as evidenced by their struggles to reach agreements with restricted free agents Rickard Rakell and Hampus Lindholm.
- After being released from his PTO with Florida, Adam Pardy has agreed to sign an AHL deal with the Panthers organization, tweets Harvey Fialkov. Pardy will report to Springfield and provide an experienced blue line depth option for Florida. He has appeared in 338 NHL games over parts of eight seasons. Pardy previously has seen action in the league with Calgary, Buffalo, Edmonton, Dallas and Winnipeg.
- New York Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault was quite specific in how he put his forward lines together to start the 2016-17 campaign. By design, the team would ice three lines capable of scoring while the fourth line was to be comprised of “penalty killers and defensive specialists.” But after introducing rookies Pavel Buchnevich and Jimmy Vesey to the lineup, a couple of skilled veterans slid down the depth chart and onto the team’s fourth line. As Brett Cyrgalis of the New York Post writes, the presence of Brandon Pirri and Michael Grabner at the bottom of the Rangers lineup has already paid dividends for the Blue Shirts. Grabner, a once tallied 34 goals as a member of the Islanders, netted the first marker of the season for the Rangers. Pirri, meanwhile, assisted on Grabner’s goal and potted his first as a New York Ranger on the power play. As long as the duo remain defensively-responsible, their ability to put the puck in the net will be welcome on the teams fourth line.