Central Notes: Toews, Seguin, Acciari, Hurricanes
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
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.
More from around the NHL:
- While the initial plan for Ducks defenseman Hampus Lindholm was that he’d miss six weeks and be back in the middle of April, that no longer is the case. GM Bob Murray told Elliott Teaford of the Orange County Register that the blueliner probably is going to be out for the rest of the season. He’s expected to be re-evaluated next week and while there is a chance that he could be fully recovered with a week left in the season, Murray said they wouldn’t ask him to play in that scenario.
- Canucks center Elias Pettersson may be ready to return as Vancouver resumes their schedule this week, relays Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre. He had been placed on LTIR due to a wrist injury before their COVID-19 outbreak and will now see a specialist on Wednesday with the hopes of getting the final clearance to suit up.
- Dallas is hoping to have both Tyler Seguin and Ben Bishop back in their lineup in two weeks, notes Mike Heika of the Stars’ team website. Both veterans have missed the entire season so far due to hip and knee injuries respectively and are likely to skate with the taxi squad soon. While they’re six points out of the last playoff spot in the West Division, getting those two back for the end of the stretch run would be a big boost to their chances.
Central Notes: Seguin, Bishop, Pesce, Blackhawks
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
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
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
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
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
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
Edmonton: Leon Draisaitl
Florida: Sergei Bobrovsky
Los Angeles: Trevor Lewis
Minnesota: Matt Dumba
Montreal: Carey Price
Nashville: Pekka Rinne
New Jersey: P.K. Subban
NY Islanders: Matt Martin
NY Rangers: Henrik Lundqvist
Ottawa: Brady Tkachuk
Philadelphia: Kevin Hayes
Pittsburgh: Sidney Crosby
San Jose: Evander Kane
St. Louis: Ryan O’Reilly
Tampa Bay: Alex Killorn
Toronto: Mitch Marner
Vancouver: Alexander Edler
Vegas: Marc-Andre Fleury
Washington: Garnet Hathaway
Winnipeg: Blake Wheeler
NHL All-Star Selections Announced
Although it took some time, with each individual team rolling out their own selections, the final rosters for All-Star Weekend have come into focus. Below are each of the four divisional team, set to face off in the Skills Competition on Friday, January 24th and the All-Star Game on Saturday, January 25th:
Atlantic Division
G Frederik Andersen, Toronto Maple Leafs
G Tuukka Rask, Boston Bruins
D Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay Lightning
D Shea Weber, Montreal Canadiens
F Tyler Bertuzzi, Detroit Red Wings
F Jack Eichel, Buffalo Sabres
F Anthony Duclair, Ottawa Senators
F Jonathan Huberdeau, Florida Panthers
F Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs
F David Pastrnak, Boston Bruins (C)
Metropolitan Division
G Braden Holtby, Washington Capitals
G Joonas Korpisalo, Columbus Blue Jackets
D John Carlson, Washington Capitals
D Dougie Hamilton, Carolina Hurricanes
D Seth Jones, Columbus Blue Jackets
F Mathew Barzal, New York Islanders
F Jake Guentzel, Pittsburgh Penguins
F Travis Konecny, Philadelphia Flyers
F Kyle Palmieri, New Jersey Devils
F Artemi Panarin, New York Rangers
Central Division
G Jordan Binnington, St. Louis Blues
G Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets
D Roman Josi, Nashville Predators
D Alex Pietrangelo, St. Louis Blues
F Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks
F Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche (C)
F Ryan O’Reilly, St. Louis Blues
F Mark Scheifele, Winnipeg Jets
F Tyler Seguin, Dallas Stars
F Eric Staal, Minnesota Wild
Pacific Division
G Marc-Andre Fleury, Vegas Golden Knights
G Darcy Kuemper, Arizona Coyotes
D Mark Giordano, Calgary Flames
F Logan Couture, San Jose Sharks
F Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton Oilers
F Anze Kopitar, Los Angeles Kings
F Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers (C)
F Elias Pettersson, Vancouver Canucks
F Jakob Silfverberg, Anaheim Ducks
F Matthew Tkachuk, Calgary Flames
Additionally, each divisional squad will have one more addition as decided by the Last Men In fan vote. Voting opens on January 1st and closes on the 10th. Here are the candidates:
Atlantic Division – Patrice Bergeron, Rasmus Dahlin, Dylan Larkin Aleksander Barkov, Max Domi, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Steven Stamkos, Mitch Marner
Metropolitan Division – Teuvo Teravainen, Nick Foligno, Nico Hischier, Brock Nelson, Mika Zibanejad, Claude Giroux, Kris Letang, T.J. Oshie
Central Division – Jonathan Toews, Cale Makar, Jamie Benn, Ryan Suter, Matt Duchene, David Perron Patrik Laine
Pacific Division – Ryan Getzlaf, Clayton Keller, Johnny Gaudreau, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Drew Doughty, Tomas Hertl, Quinn Hughes, Max Pacioretty
Dallas CEO Rips Into Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin
In the modern world of sports management and media, very rarely do upper executives of a team express anything but mild frustration if their team isn’t doing well. They may issue marching orders, or make sweeping changes in the front office, but almost never pick out individual players and air their grievances. Perhaps it’s something about the Texas heat that leads Dallas sports to act differently, but that market may be used to unusual outbursts given the bombastic personalities of Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA, and Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys of the NFL. The Dallas Stars, who play arguably the least personality-driven of the four major sports, were getting by relatively unscathed when compared to their Texas counterparts. Until today.
In an incredible piece by Sean Shapiro of The Athletic (subscription required), Stars CEO Jim Lites goes into an on-the-record, expletive-filled rant about his best players, Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn. The entire piece is an absolute must-read for hockey fans thirsting for this kind of drama, but one (expletive-free) paragraph explains his thoughts on the situation:
These guys are not good enough. They’re not good enough for me, they’re not good enough for the owner, and they’re certainly not good enough for the general manager, who I can’t speak for, but it’s not good enough for the job he’s done. But we’ve had meeting after meeting after meeting. The accountability on the ice is not there. These guys were signed to big contracts because they were the third- and sixth-leading scorers in the National Hockey League over the past five years. They get their money, we expect them to not be outplayed every game we play in. And if they were as good as they’ve been in the past we wouldn’t be having this conversation.
Amazingly, this tirade comes at a time in the season when the Stars are actually sitting in a playoff spot. Because of the struggles of many of the other top teams, Dallas sits in the second wild card spot with a 19-16-3 record, and are actually just three points behind the Colorado Avalanche for a divisional playoff spot. They sit just nine points behind the Winnipeg Jets for first place in the Central Division, and are by no means out of the race entirely. In fact, they beat the Nashville Predators 2-0 yesterday (a game in which Seguin and Benn were both held scoreless).
Still, Lites—and apparently owner Tom Gaglardi—are not happy. The Stars signed Seguin to an eight-year, $78.8MM extension just a few months ago after the star forward publicly expressed his disappointment that they hadn’t worked out a deal yet, and are already paying Benn an average of $9.5MM per season to captain the Stars for majority of the next decade. That kind of money puts both among the very highest paid players in the league, but Lites apparently doesn’t think they’ve played up to their capacity. Seguin is on pace for just 69 points this season, which would break his streak of five consecutive seasons of at least 72 points. The 26-year old forward set a career high with 40 goals last year, but is on pace for just 23 this year thanks to a career-low shooting percentage and league leading number of posts hit. Lites clearly doesn’t buy the post excuse:
He’s hitting posts, ‘wah-wah.’ That’s what I say about hitting posts. Get a little bit closer to the action, actually go to the spot where you score goals. He doesn’t do that, he never does that anymore. He used to be a pest to play against, people hated playing against Tyler Seguin, they don’t anymore.
Benn meanwhile has 30 points in 38 games, which is also a pace that would give him his lowest total since the 2012-13 shortened season. The captain surprisingly has just one powerplay assist this year which drastically hurts his totals, but is still leading the club with 15 goals.
The fact that Benn and Seguin are still at the top of the Dallas scoring list may lead some fans to point out how weak the rest of the roster has performed this season, but Lites clearly isn’t buying it. He’s put the onus on his best players to step up their game, an done so in such a public way that they will not be able to escape questions about it for the rest of the year. The Stars are back at home tomorrow night against the Detroit Red Wings.