Tyler Seguin

Snapshots: Tkachuk, Stars, Garland

September 4, 2021 at 2:59 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 1 Comment

With Drake Batherson now signed, the Senators can squarely turn their focus to getting a new deal done with RFA winger Brady Tkachuk. Speaking with reporters, including Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch, GM Pierre Dorion declined to comment on the status of negotiations, only stating that “We’ve had productive, positive discussions with Brady’s camp” which would contrast a recent report from TSN1200’s Shawn Simpson who relayed (Twitter link) that there is some frustration setting in with Tkachuk’s camp.

The 21-year-old could be eyeing Andrei Svechnikov’s eight-year, $62MM deal with Carolina as a legitimate comparable contract which would make him Ottawa’s highest-paid forward but would still keep him below Thomas Chabot’s $8MM AAV for the highest-paid player on the team. As some of Ottawa’s top youngsters come up for new deals, trying to keep all of those below Chabot’s price tag would seem like a viable strategy for the Senators in an effort to keep their window for contention open as long as possible.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

Stars head coach Rick Bowness told Matthew DeFranks of the Dallas Morning News that forwards Tyler Seguin (hip and knee), Roope Hintz (groin), Alexander Radulov (core), and defenseman Joel Hanley (core) have all recovered from their respective injuries and surgeries and will be ready for training camp. Seguin, in particular, will be a welcome return as he was only able to suit up in three games last season, managing a pair of goals in those contests. They’re still not fully healthy, however, as there is plenty of uncertainty surrounding goalie Ben Bishop’s future which is why Braden Holtby was surprisingly signed in free agency this summer.
While winger Conor Garland believed the Bruins might show interest in him, he told Matt Porter of the Boston Globe that his camp never heard from Boston when Arizona was shopping him around the league. The 25-year-old Scituate native had identified Boston, Toronto, and Los Angeles as potential fits but he wound up being moved to Vancouver instead where he quickly signed a five-year, $24.75MM contract. Garland wouldn’t rule out the idea of playing for his hometown team down the road but it won’t be happening anytime soon.

Tyler Seguin Activated From Injured Reserve

May 3, 2021 at 12:45 pm CDT | by Gavin Lee Leave a Comment

For the first time this season, the Dallas Stars now have Tyler Seguin on the active roster. The 29-year-old forward has been on the non-roster injured list the entire year as he worked his way back from hip surgery but has now been activated and is a game-time decision for the Stars matchup this evening. Seguin’s long, difficult recovery which included surgical delays and rehab setbacks was detailed by Saad Yousuf of The Athletic ahead of the match.

Seguin is returning at the most important time for the Stars, who still have a shred of hope in the Central Division playoff race. The team currently sits three points behind the Nashville Predators for the final spot but has a game in hand. If their highest-paid forward can make a difference, there is still a chance the Stars sneak in and try to make another Cinderella run like last year.

Though he hasn’t suited up for an NHL game since September, it’s hard to not think Seguin could make an impact right away. The Stars have scored just a single goal in their last three games combined and still have Denis Gurianov listed as a game-time decision with his upper-body injury. Even just a little bit of offensive pressure from Seguin could go a long way for a team desperate for any positives.

Central Notes: Toews, Seguin, Acciari, Hurricanes

April 24, 2021 at 9:34 am CDT | by Brian La Rose 2 Comments

While the Blackhawks have been without top center Jonathan Toews all season long due to an illness, it appears as if he should be able to play next season. In a recent video appearance on NBC Sports (video link), TSN’s Darren Dreger reported that while the veteran isn’t expected to return this season, his health continues to improve and as things stand, is expected to be available for the 2021-22 campaign. Toews has two years left on his deal with a $10.5MM AAV and assuming he is back to full health by then, he would almost certainly return to his spot on Chicago’s top line; his vacancy is one that they’ve struggled to fill internally this season.

Elsewhere in the Central:

Back at the trade deadline, Stars GM Jim Nill was hoping that center Tyler Seguin would be able to return this coming Monday. However, head coach Rick Bowness told reporters, including Matthew DeFranks of the Dallas Morning News, that the target date is just “wishful thinking” at this point. However, it doesn’t sound as if the veteran will be out much longer with Bowness indicating he’s hopeful that Seguin will be able to play sometime later in the week. He has missed the entire season after offseason hip surgery and would undoubtedly be a significant addition to a Dallas team that is four points out of the final playoff spot in the division though they have three games in hand on Nashville.
Panthers center Noel Acciari will miss his fifth straight game tonight due to an upper-body injury, the team announced (Twitter link). The team is targeting one of their games against Nashville on Monday or Tuesday for him to return. Acciari, who was on the top line recently when Aleksander Barkov missed time, has 11 points in 36 games this season.
Hurricanes winger Jordan Martinook won’t play today after being injured on Thursday, notes Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News & Observer. Head coach Rod Brind’Amour expressed some optimism that the 28-year-old won’t be out of the lineup for long. Meanwhile, while Teuvo Teravainen (concussion) took part in some team drills yesterday, he’s also not expected to suit up. He has played just once in the last two months because of his symptoms.

Snapshots: Dzingel, Lindholm, Pettersson, Stars

April 13, 2021 at 7:51 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 2 Comments

While some had expected Senators winger Ryan Dzingel to be on the move by yesterday’s trade deadline, he ultimately stuck around in Ottawa. Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports that there wasn’t much interest in the 29-year-old despite having six goals in 17 games since being acquired. Now, Garrioch notes, GM Pierre Dorion’s plan is to discuss a new deal with Dzingel in the offseason. He’s currently carrying a $3.375MM AAV and with how the market for wingers went last year, it’s quite unlikely that the veteran will be able to get that amount on his next deal, with Ottawa or someone else.

Central Notes: Seguin, Bishop, Pesce, Blackhawks

March 5, 2021 at 6:57 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 1 Comment

When Ben Bishop (knee injury) and Tyler Seguin (hip injury) were both ruled out with long-term injuries, the initial hope for the Stars was that they would be able to be back at some point in March. While it doesn’t look like that will be the case, it doesn’t appear as if they’ll be gone much longer than that. GM Jim Nill told Mike Heika of the Stars’ team site (Twitter link) that both players have started skating lightly and are about four-to-six weeks from returning. Dallas could certainly use the veterans as they sit sixth in the Central in point percentage (they’re last in points but have several games in hand on every team). Seguin’s absence, in particular, has been tough with the Stars scuffling offensively but it appears they’ll be waiting a bit longer for their top center and long-term starting goaltender.

Elsewhere in the Central Division:

The Department of Player Safety doesn’t typically issue discipline within hours of an incident occurring but that’s what happened to Hurricanes defenseman Brett Pesce as the league quickly announced a fine of $5K for a tripping incident on Detroit forward Robby Fabbri in the second period of Thursday’s game. It is the first time in Pesce’s career that he has received some sort of supplemental discipline from the league.
The Blackhawks are working towards purchasing their AHL affiliate from the City of Rockford, reports Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times. The current operating group opened the request for proposal process earlier this week with the NHL club being expected to be the successful bidder. While their current affiliation agreement is in place through next season, this would all but cement Rockford as the home of Chicago’s top minor league club for years to come.

Dallas Stars Update Status Of Tyler Seguin, Ben Bishop

November 3, 2020 at 2:52 pm CDT | by Gavin Lee 1 Comment

The Dallas Stars will be without two of their top players for the first part of the season, if not longer. Today the team announced that Ben Bishop underwent successful right knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus on October 21 and has been given a five-month recovery timeline. Tyler Seguin meanwhile underwent a right hip arthroscopy and labral repair yesterday and has been given a five-month recovery timeline.

Bishop, who will turn 34 later this month, had knee surgery in May that limited him to just three appearances in the postseason for Dallas. He’ll now be out until at least the end of March, another reason why the Stars re-signing of Anton Khudobin made so much sense.

There’s no question that Bishop is one of the best in the game when healthy and he showed it again this season with a .920 save percentage in 44 regular season appearances. The veteran goaltender has been a Vezina finalist three times and has one of the league’s best all-time save percentages at .921 (Dominik Hasek leads the way at .922). This knee injury is certainly troublesome though, especially given that Bishop has three years remaining on his current contract. His age is creeping up and this isn’t the first major injury of his career, so his recovery is not something to take for granted.

Seguin meanwhile represents a whole other issue for the Stars, given he’ll be out until April at this point. The team’s highest-paid player at $9.85MM per season, he can be a dynamic game-changing force when healthy and playing his best. Seguin recorded 50 points in 69 games this season for the Stars, his worst totals since he arrived in Dallas seven years ago.

With Seguin out of the lineup, the team will need a strong performance from captain Jamie Benn as well as big steps forward for youngsters Denis Gurianov and Roope Hintz. The Stars didn’t make any real additions to their forward group in free agency, meaning they’ll have to work around the injury with the group that got them to the Cup Final.

Tyler Seguin’s Surgery Delayed

October 30, 2020 at 7:45 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 2 Comments

It was a month ago that we learned that Stars center Tyler Seguin was set to undergo surgery to repair a torn labrum but GM Jim Nill told reporters, including NHL.com’s Tracey Myers, that the procedure hasn’t happened just yet. Instead, due to complications from the pandemic, the new plan is that Seguin will be able to go under the knife sometime next week.

The timeline for recovery remains the same at four months. All of a sudden, instead of potentially being ready to start the season (or at least soon after), he could be out at late as early March and miss considerable time. Even with the start date for the 2020-21 campaign still up in the air, all indications point to the league trying to get underway at some point in January.

That would certainly be a big loss for Dallas as even though Seguin is coming off a quiet season offensively by his standards (17 goals and 33 assists in 50 games), he still led the team in scoring by a considerable margin while logging more than 19 minutes a night for the third straight year. While that’s not a great return on a $9.85MM price tag, replacing a number one center is tough for any team to have to try to do for any extended period of time.

It would be difficult for Nill to make a move to try to replace him as well. While they have more than $4MM in cap room still, a good chunk of that will be going to RFA winger Roope Hintz. Meanwhile, while Seguin would potentially be eligible for LTIR which would give them some space to work with to replace him, they’d have to get back into cap compliance before he could be activated. Given how difficult it has been to move money in the offseason where there is technically more flexibility, having to free up cap space in-season will be a challenge. Accordingly, the Stars will likely have to fill Seguin’s spot from within and hope to manage without him in the early going next season.

Dallas Stars Announce Playoff Injuries, Remove Interim Coaching Tag

October 8, 2020 at 11:20 am CDT | by Gavin Lee 15 Comments

Dallas Stars GM Jim Nill has finally spoken to the media about the injuries their team suffered through the return to play, and it is quite the list. From Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press, captain Jamie Benn was playing through a shoulder injury. Blake Comeau suffered a separated shoulder, Jason Dickinson suffered foot and ankle injuries. Radek Faksa broke his wrist, while Roope Hintz suffered an injured hip and fractured ankle. Esa Lindell and John Klingberg were playing through hand and shoulder injuries, respectively, while Ben Bishop had undergone knee surgery in May. Tyler Seguin, who perhaps took the most criticism for his play in the postseason, suffered a torn labrum in his hip and will be out for the next four months. Anton Khudobin, who played throughout and was the team’s playoff MVP, had surgery to relieve numbness in his hands because of a nerve issue.

Nill also announced that Rick Bowness will return as head coach and removed his interim tag. Bowness took over when Jim Montgomery left the Stars midseason and took the team all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals despite this long injury list. He’ll return to try again, though it’ll have to be without his postseason star.

Khudobin, 34, will test free agency according to Nill, who explained that their cap situation couldn’t handle bringing him back at the price he is going to command. More than just your average backup, Khudobin proved that he can be the perfect 1B for a contending team looking for elite goaltending, even if he may not be able to handle the full load of a starter. In 30 regular season games he posted a pristine .930 save percentage and would likely have won the Conn Smythe trophy if the Stars had been able to find a way to win the Stanley Cup.

Oscar Klefbom, Tyler Seguin May Need Surgery

September 30, 2020 at 2:12 pm CDT | by Gavin Lee 5 Comments

The Edmonton Oilers were one of the more disappointing return to play stories, ousted by the Chicago Blackhawks in four games despite having the Hart, Lindsay and Art Ross winner and Connor McDavid on the roster. Oscar Klefbom led all Oilers defensemen in minutes during that four-game stretch but may not see the ice again for some time.

Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that Klefbom is “weighing options” regarding injuries he suffered this season and could be out long-term if he chooses surgery. Those decisions are likely complicated by the fact that no one knows for certain when the next NHL season will begin, but as Friedman points out Klefbom’s absence from the Oilers lineup “would need to be addressed.” The 27-year-old is one of Edmonton’s best defensemen and is under contract for three more years at a $4.17MM cap hit.

If you watched Tyler Seguin in the Stanley Cup playoffs it seemed obvious that he was struggling with an injury of some sort, but teams were not revealing any of those specifics while the series was still on the line. It turns out, it wasn’t just one injury. David Pagnotta of the Fourth Period tweets that Seguin was dealing with wrist, hip, groin, and knee injuries in the playoffs. Those ailments will be evaluated this week to see if surgery is necessary. Seguin had just two goals in 26 postseason games and both came in the second round against the Colorado Avalanche. Despite his lack of scoring, he still averaged more than 22 minutes of ice time during the finals.

Seguin still did manage to supply five assists during the six-game series, but it’s a disappointing finish for a player who carries a $9.85MM cap hit and is expected to lead the offense in Dallas. Because of salaries like his, the Stars head into next season without a ton of cap room to maneuver. Radek Faksa, Roope Hintz and Denis Gurianov are all restricted free agents that need new contracts and Anton Khudobin has likely priced himself out of a return with a strong postseason.

Today, Friedman wrote that the Stars “will try to move one big salary” though doesn’t clarify which one and only says that trade protection is an issue. That doesn’t clear it up much, as Seguin, Jamie Benn, Joe Pavelski, Alexander Radulov, and Ben Bishop—the team’s biggest cap hits save Esa Lindell—all have trade protection of some sort.

2020 King Clancy Trophy Nominees Announced

July 27, 2020 at 3:20 pm CDT | by Gavin Lee 4 Comments

The NHL has announced the 31 nominees for the King Clancy Memorial Trophy, annually presented to “the player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a noteworthy humanitarian contribution in his community.” Last year’s winner was Jason Zucker of the Minnesota Wild.

Each team submits one nominee. This year’s are:

Anaheim: Cam Fowler

Arizona: Oliver Ekman-Larsson

Boston: Patrice Bergeron

Buffalo: Jack Eichel

Calgary: Travis Hamonic

Carolina: Jordan Staal

Chicago: Jonathan Toews

Colorado: Gabriel Landeskog

Columbus: Cam Atkinson

Dallas: Tyler Seguin

Detroit: Justin Abdelkader