Week In Review

The weeks leading up to the trade deadline can often be quiet and with so many teams this season being tight to the salary cap, this past week was no exception.  Nevertheless, there was some notable news around the hockey world over the past seven days which is recapped in our key stories.

Cancer For Top Draft Prospect: Winger Ivan Miroshnichenko has been viewed as one of the top prospects heading into the upcoming draft.  Unfortunately, he has a big fight to overcome before he can think about hockey again as it was revealed that the 18-year-old has been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and could miss the entire 2022-23 campaign as a result.  The good news is that it’s believed to be the most common form and is curable but even with that, it’s likely to affect his draft stock in July.

Extensions: There should be an uptick in contract extensions over the next couple of weeks and that started over the weekend.  First, Arizona handed center Travis Boyd a two-year, $3.5MM extension with the 28-year-old in the midst of a career year.  Boyd’s previous high in salary in a single season was $800K and now he’ll average more than double that much over the next two seasons.  Meanwhile, Ben Hutton went from having to start the season on a minor league tryout to securing a new two-year, $1.7MM deal from the Golden Knights.  The 28-year-old has logged nearly 15 minutes a night on the back end for Vegas this season and as a result, earned a small raise on his league minimum salary this season.

Interim Tag Lifted: Chicago’s search for their next general manager is over and it turns out they had the right fit all along as the team removed the interim tag from Kyle Davidson, elevating him to the full-time role.  The 33-year-old has been with the organization since 2010 when he started as an intern and has now worked his way up to the top role and had been in the interim role following the departure of Stan Bowman.  Bowman has committed to a rebuilding process for the Blackhawks and has already started to rebuild the front office, parting ways with long-time executives Mark Kelley (VP of Amateur Scouting) and Ryan Stewart (assistant GM).

Del Zotto Drawing Interest: Generally speaking, players that clear waivers with multi-year contracts that wind up in the minors don’t typically garner much interest at the trade deadline.  That doesn’t appear to be the case for Senators blueliner Michael Del Zotto following a report that teams are calling about the 31-year-old.  Del Zotto is signed through next season with a $2MM AAV, a contract that Ottawa will either need to pay down or take a similarly-priced player back.  The veteran has been quite productive with AHL Belleville, averaging over a point per game since joining them and would provide some teams with a bit of extra firepower from the back end.

Stalock To Sharks: With James Reimer out week-to-week and Adin Hill already on IR, the Sharks decided to swing a move to bring back a familiar netminder, acquiring Alex Stalock from Edmonton in exchange for future considerations.  San Jose actually drafted the 34-year-old back in 2005 but that’s not what makes this notable.  Stalock was originally expected to be out for the season due to myocarditis but worked his way back to full health and got into five games with AHL Bakersfield before the swap and now he’s back in the NHL.  Even if he doesn’t play much, that’s still a nice accomplishment considering his situation just a few months ago.

With the NHL off for several days due to the All-Star break, it was a fairly quiet week around the league although there was still some news of note which is recapped in our top stories.

Updated COVID Protocols: The NHL and NHLPA jointly announced several changes to their COVID protocol.  Notable among the changes is the removal of the enhanced safety measures put in earlier in the season as well as removing the daily testing requirement for fully vaccinated players as well as lifting the testing requirement for close contacts.  That should result in a significant reduction in the number of players of COVID protocol but it won’t eliminate them entirely as earlier today, New Jersey’s Jack Hughes and Carolina’s Jesperi Kotkaniemi both entered COVID protocol.

Columbus Injuries: The Blue Jackets have had a tough year on the injury front this season and that trend continued with two more injuries.  First, defenseman Jake Bean will be out for four weeks due to a groin strain.  The 23-year-old has impressed after coming over from Carolina in a draft day trade, logging more than 21 minutes a night on the back end, good for third among Columbus blueliners.  Two days later, winger Eric Robinson was ruled out for six weeks due to an MCL sprain sustained on a hit from Florida’s Radko Gudas.  Robinson has 17 points in 42 games this season and is one point away from matching his career high.

Three For Greenway: The Wild took care of one of their pending restricted free agents early, inking winger Jordan Greenway to a three-year, $9MM contract extension.  The 24-year-old is in the final year of his bridge deal and would have been owed a $2.52MM qualifying offer this summer.  This contract gives him a bit more than that while Minnesota locks in a power forward at an affordable price.  While they likely would have preferred to work out a long-term pact, their cap situation for next season with higher buyout costs for Zach Parise and Ryan Suter would have made that difficult.  Greenway also received an eight-team no-trade clause in the final season of the deal, the only year he was eligible for trade protection as it’s the only UFA-eligible year covered in the contract.

Verbeek To Anaheim: After running with Jeff Solomon as their interim GM for close to three months, the Ducks made their decision on who their next GM will be, hiring Pat Verbeek away from Detroit.  Verbeek has spent the last 15 seasons in an NHL front office, working his way up from being a scout to an assistant GM and this will be his first opportunity to run a franchise.  With three prominent pending unrestricted free agents in defensemen Josh Manson and Hampus Lindholm plus winger Rickard Rakell, Verbeek will have his work cut out for him quickly.  Meanwhile, the Red Wings wasted little time finding Verbeek’s replacement, promoting Shawn Horcoff to assistant GM and GM of AHL Grand Rapids.  The long-time NHL center has been in Detroit’s front office since retiring back in 2016.

Key Events Revealed: As is often the case at the All-Star Game, the league revealed some of their key events for next season.  The 2023 Winter Classic will be hosted by Boston at Fenway Park with an opponent yet to be determined.  Carolina will host a Stadium Series game at Carter-Finley Stadium, home of the NC State Wolfpack for their first-ever outdoor contest.  Also, Florida will host the All-Star game on February 3rd and 4th.  The NHL also intends to resume their Global Series although that was also the plan for this season before that was scrapped due to COVID.

With the trade market basically being non-existent at the midway point of the season, most of the biggest news in the NHL over the past seven days came away from the rink, including the rescheduling of over 100 games.

Flyers Injuries: On top of seeing their losing streak extend to 11 games marking the second stretch of at least 10 straight losses this season, Philadelphia also got hit hard by injuries to a pair of key forwards.  First, center Kevin Hayes will miss three to four weeks after undergoing a procedure to drain fluid from his adductor region.  The veteran has been limited to just 20 games this season with multiple IR stints plus a stint in COVID protocol.  Meanwhile, winger Joel Farabee will be out for up to four weeks with an upper-body injury.  The 21-year-old has seen his production drop like many Philadelphia players this season but he still has 11 goals in 33 games.

Two For Orlov: Capitals defenseman Dmitry Orlov received a two-game suspension for his knee-on-knee hit on Jets winger Nikolaj Ehlers.  It’s the second time that the 30-year-old has been suspended after being hit with one for a boarding incident back in 2014.  He missed games against Boston and Ottawa and will be able to return on Monday against Vegas.  Ehlers, on the other hand, won’t be returning for a while as he was placed on LTIR on Saturday, freeing up the cap space for them to activate Blake Wheeler.  As a result, Ehlers will miss at least 10 games and 24 days.

Setback For Price: Canadiens goaltender Carey Price hasn’t played at all this season with his recovery from offseason knee surgery going slower than expected.  It turns out that the veteran recently had a setback and will be essentially starting from scratch in his recovery as he tries to work his way back to the ice at some point this season.  Montreal has struggled considerably this season with Jake Allen and Samuel Montembeault between the pipes and with Price having four years left on his contract, they will be balancing a fine line between having him return in a situation where they have no playoff hopes while also wanting to ensure that their star goalie won’t have any question marks heading into 2022-23.

New GM: Still with Montreal, they now have their replacement for former GM Marc Bergevin as Kent Hughes was named their new general manager.  The 52-year-old has never worked in an NHL front office but has plenty of experience around the NHL having served as a player agent and had more than $290MM of contracts on his roster before deciding to go with this career change.  Like Executive VP of Hockey Operations Jeff Gorton, Hughes received a five-year contract and the duo will look to rebuild a Canadiens team that has gone from a Stanley Cup Finalist to lottery contender in roughly six months.

Protocols Changing: There should soon be a sharp decline in the number of players testing positive for COVID-19.  Following the All-Star Game, the only times that players and team staff will be tested is for cross-border travel or if they’re showing symptoms.  Roughly 73% of NHL rosters have tested positive this season so that decrease was likely to happen on its own with players not being subject to testing for three months after that time but a few weeks from now, the list of players in COVID protocol should be pretty short.

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It was a fairly quiet week around the NHL with the biggest controversy stemming from the players that weren’t on the list of players named to the All-Star Game.  There were, however, a few other stories of note over the past seven days which are covered in our top stories of the week.

Hofmann Leaves, Doesn’t Return: When Blue Jackets winger Gregory Hofmann took a leave of absence from the Blue Jackets late in December, it wasn’t a big deal.  His first child was about to be born and teams let their players take a few days away from the team when that happens.  However, Hofmann has decided not to return, first prompting a suspension from the team.  Then, a few days later, the team ran him through unconditional waivers, allowing them to terminate his contract.  Columbus acquired the rights to the 29-year-old from Carolina last season and brought him over to the NHL this year where he had held his own in a limited role, picking up seven points in 24 games.  Instead of coming back, he’ll stay home with his family and will rejoin EV Zug of the Swiss NLA.  He’ll also be eligible to play in the Olympics since Columbus released him instead of leaving him under suspension.

Another Investigation: Evander Kane has been no stranger to NHL investigations as the league had done three separate ones on him over the last few months.  That number can now be increased to four as the league will take a closer look into the incident that caused San Jose to terminate the remaining three-plus years of his contract.  Kane has already been suspended for a violation of COVID protocol this season and if the league deems that another one is warranted here, it could affect the 30-year-old’s short-term chances of catching on with another team.  Edmonton is among the teams that have confirmed they have interest in signing the winger.

Officially Back: In a move that should have come as a surprise to no one, the Bruins officially brought back veteran goaltender Tuukka Rask, inking him to a pro-rated one-year, $1MM contract.  The deal also contains a full no-movement clause.  Rask made it clear over the offseason that he only intended to play for Boston this season if he decided to return after recovering from his hip surgery.  The 34-year-old has played in 561 career NHL games, all with the Bruins, and will partner with Linus Ullmark down the stretch while Jeremy Swayman has been sent back to Providence of the AHL.  As for Boston’s cap situation, this contract was basically all they could afford which will put them in a money-in, money-out spot if they want to make any more changes before the trade deadline.

Three For Merrill: After playing for three teams over the past two seasons and having to settle for a one-year contract in free agency back in July, defenseman Jon Merrill received some security from Minnesota, inking a three-year extension that carries a $1.2MM AAV.  The 29-year-old has had a nice season on the third pairing for the Wild, averaging just shy of 18 minutes per game while chipping in with 11 points, more than double what he had last season with Detroit and Montreal.  It’s the longest contract for Merrill since his entry-level deal so he gets some welcome stability while Minnesota gets a capable depth blueliner for a pretty good price tag.

Lidstrom Returns: Nicklas Lidstrom is once again a member of the Red Wings.  No, the Hall of Famer isn’t coming out of retirement but he has rejoined Detroit’s front office, becoming their new vice president of hockey operations.  Lidstrom, who patrolled the back end for them for 20 years, is no stranger to their front office having worked for them as a scout for three years soon after his retirement in 2012.  This time around, however, he’ll be much more involved in all parts of hockey operations.  He joins Pat Verbeek, Niklas Kronwall, Jiri Fischer, Dan Cleary, Mark Howe, Kris Draper, and Kirk Maltby among former Red Wings working under Steve Yzerman in their front office.

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The first full week of 2022 brought some notable surprises which are highlighted among the key stories of the week.

Klingberg Unhappy? Stars defenseman John Klingberg is one of the top blueliners that’s slated to become an unrestricted free agent in the summer.  He was hoping for an extension but that clearly hasn’t happened yet and that isn’t sitting well with him.  A report surfaced earlier in the week that he had requested a trade and while Klingberg tried to walk that back a little bit when speaking with reporters including Matthew DeFranks of the Dallas Morning News, he didn’t accomplish that too much.  While he acknowledged he’d like to stay, he also admitted he doesn’t “feel like I’ve been appreciated”.  The 29-year-old is set to command a max-term contract and if an extension doesn’t come over the next couple of months, his name is going to start to come up frequently in trade speculation.

Leaving Early: It’s rare that a college player leaves midseason to turn pro but desperate times called for desperate measures for Carolina, who signed goaltender Jack LaFontaine to a one-year, entry-level contract.  The 24-year-old was the goalie of the year in the NCAA last season while being a Hobey Baker finalist while posting a 1.79 GAA along with a .934 SV%.  The plan was for him to remain at Minnesota but with the team having several injuries among their goalies on NHL contracts, they’ve had to turn to him a little earlier than expected.  LaFontaine immediately loses his NCAA eligibility and will not be able to return to the Golden Gophers once the injury situation for the Hurricanes stabilizes.

Kane Released: The Sharks have parted ways with winger Evander Kane, terminating his contract after he cleared unconditional waivers.  In doing so, they are trying to rid themselves of the remaining salary and cap hit on his contract (roughly $23.5MM between now and 2024-25).  The team is citing a breach of contract and failure to abide by AHL COVID protocol which is believed to revolve around a flight he took to Vancouver during his isolation period and an assertion that he didn’t return when he was supposed to.  The NHLPA and his agent have already stated that they intend to grieve this decision so this story is far from over.  In the meantime, Kane technically becomes an unrestricted free agent but if his grievance comes with an intent to restore his original contract in San Jose, it’s possible that he holds off on signing for the time being.

Another Deal Terminated: Kane’s contract wasn’t the only notable termination of the week.  Following a breakdown over who was covering additional costs on Calgary’s arena project, the deal was terminated as a January 1st decision deadline came and went without an extension or an agreement reached.  The Flames have played in their current arena since 1983 and a new facility for them has been high on the priority list for them for several years now.  However, they’ll be going back to the drawing board now and will continue to play out of the Saddledome for the foreseeable future.

Crouse Receiving Interest: The more notable veterans in Arizona are the ones drawing attention – look no further than the reported asking price for Jakob Chychrun – but one player that’s more under the radar that is garnering interest is winger Lawson Crouse.  The 24-year-old is on pace for a career year offensively and has two years of team control remaining after this one at an affordable $1.533MM cap hit.  That has the Coyotes well-positioned to yield a strong return for Crouse if they decide that he’s not a part of their long-term plans.

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This past week will largely be remembered for two things – a bunch of players being placed into COVID protocol and numerous games being postponed.  However, there was some other notable news across the NHL over the past seven days which is highlighted in our key stories of the week.

Labanc Out Long-Term: A tough season for Sharks winger Kevin Labanc has gotten even worse as he will miss the next three months after undergoing surgery to repair a shoulder injury.  The 26-year-old had been off to a particularly rough start offensively with just three goals and three assists in 21 games, marking the third straight season that he hasn’t played close to the same pace he had back in 2018-19 when he had 56 points in 82 games, earning himself a four-year, $18.9MM contract in the process.  Labanc will be eligible to be placed on LTIR if San Jose needs to free up cap space although that shouldn’t be an issue for them in the short term at least.

Good News To Bad For Spezza: It was an interesting 24 hours or so for Maple Leafs center Jason Spezza.  First, his six-game suspension for a kneeing incident on Winnipeg’s Neal Pionk was reduced to four games by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman on appeal which is an outcome that doesn’t happen very often.  That made him eligible to return right away.  However, that good news was quickly tempered as he was placed into COVID protocol less than 24 hours later.  Toronto is among the teams who have had their games postponed through the holiday break.

Maurice Resigns: There was a big surprise out of Winnipeg when head coach Paul Maurice suddenly tendered his resignation.  It wasn’t related to an off-ice concern, he simply felt he had taken the team as far as he could and that the team would benefit from a new voice.  Maurice also indicated that he had less enjoyment at the rink lately with the various COVID protocols.  The ‘new’ voice for the Jets is a familiar one with assistant Dave Lowry taking over as interim head coach for the remainder of the season.  Maurice departs with a 315-223-62 record at the helm of the Jets and sits fourth in NHL history in total games coached with 1,684.

More Selling In Arizona? When the Coyotes started selling off their players, the belief was that there was one untouchable in defenseman Jakob Chychrun.  Now, it appears they’re at least open to the idea of moving him as well following a report that they’re gauging the market on the 23-year-old with a hefty asking price.  Chychrun’s numbers aren’t the greatest this season – seven points and a league-worst -29 plus/minus rating in 26 games but he’s logging significant defensive minutes on one of the worst teams the league has seen in quite some time; the ugly numbers are to be expected.  With a $4.6MM AAV through 2024-25, there will be no shortage of teams interested in acquiring him but will anyone be willing to pay the price?  We’ll find out over the months to come.

Fabbri Extension: Red Wings winger Robby Fabbri will be sticking around for the foreseeable future after he agreed to a three-year, $12MM extension.  The deal does not contain any trade protection.  Fabbri is in his third season with Detroit and has been a capable secondary scorer since being acquired, notching 32 goals and 31 assists in 111 games.  If he can stay healthy (and that has been a question mark throughout his career), Fabbri should be able to give the Red Wings a reasonable return on this deal, especially since they’re not dealing with any salary cap issues now or in the next few seasons.  Fabbri is one of nine Detroit players that have been in COVID protocol at some point over the past week which has resulted in their games being postponed until after the holiday break.

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The end of November brought forth some notable news around the NHL which is highlighted in our key stories of the week.

Five For Biting: Kings winger Brendan Lemieux was hit with a record-setting suspension, receiving a five-game ban for biting Senators winger Brady Tkachuk.  The previous high for a suspension for biting was three games.  The league’s ruling was limited to the initial occurrence although they acknowledged that there was circumstantial evidence that it may have occurred more than once.  Lemieux has sat the first two games of the suspension and won’t be eligible to return until Saturday against Minnesota.

Khudobin Available: With Dallas having a capable tandem between the pipes in veteran Braden Holtby and youngster Jake Oettinger plus Ben Bishop working his way back towards returning, Anton Khudobin appears to be the odd one out as he has reportedly been made available.  It was only two seasons ago that the 35-year-old led the league in save percentage at .930, albeit in only 30 games but since then, his performance has gone in the wrong direction.  Through his first seven appearances this season, Khudobin has a 3.73 GAA with a save percentage of just .873 which certainly won’t help his trade value.  He’s in the second season of a three-year deal with an AAV of $3.33MM which won’t be easy for many teams to take on without offsetting money the other way.  Of course, the Stars need to clear the full contract to get closer to being able to afford to activate Bishop so it may take a while for a trade to materialize.

Hughes Extension: On the ice, it hasn’t been a fun season for Devils center Jack Hughes.  A shoulder injury has limited him to just five games so far although he was able to return to the lineup on November 30th.  Of course, the bigger news for him and New Jersey on that day is that the 20-year-old signed an eight-year, $64MM contract extension.  The first overall pick in 2019 has just 56 career points in 122 games so there is definitely some risk on the part of the Devils.  However, if he progresses into the top-line center as they believe he will, it’s a contract that should be a team-friendly one by its conclusion.  The deal buys out his first four seasons of UFA eligibility and those years also carry a 10-team no-trade clause.

DeBrusk Wants Out: Off to another tough start with Boston, winger Jake DeBrusk is hoping a change of scenery could get him going and he has asked for a trade.  The 25-year-old scored 62 goals in his first three NHL seasons which earned him a two-year, $7.35MM deal that carries a $4.85MM qualifying offer this summer.  However, since then, he has scored nine times in 61 games which has resulted in him dropping down the depth chart, putting him in danger of being non-tendered in the process.  Despite his struggles, there has been considerable interest so the Bruins will have some options.  That said, his cap hit will make it tough to make a move happen without them retaining or taking a contract back.  The holiday roster freeze begins on December 20th so there is some time for GM Don Sweeney to try to get a move done before the holidays.

Changes In Vancouver: The Canucks have cleaned house, firing head coach Travis Green, assistant coach Nolan Baumgartner, general manager Jim Benning and assistant general manager John Weisbrod. Bruce Boudreau will take over behind the bench, while Stan Smyl will serve as interim GM. Boudreau has coached nearly 1,000 career NHL games with the most recent coming with Minnesota in the 2019-20 season and will be tasked with getting Vancouver back on track in a season where they have struggled considerably early on.  He will receive a two-year deal that matches the length of Green’s contract.  He departs the Canucks after parts of five seasons behind the bench with a 133-147-34 record and one playoff appearance. Benning meanwhile had been with the team since 2014 and had made the playoffs just twice in his eight years at the helm. Things have gone considerably downhill since the 2020 bubble, with the team finding themselves near the bottom of the league standings this season.

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The final full week of November got off to a quiet start but there was plenty of notable news towards the end of the week which are highlighted in our key stories.

Big Money On Waivers: The Senators haven’t been pleased with what they’re received from Matt Murray since he became their starting goalie last year and with him being off to a tough start this season, they opted to waive him to give him some time in the minors to try to get back on track.  With two years left after this at $6.25MM, he cleared as expected, enabling him to be sent to Belleville.  One day later, Sharks winger Evander Kane finds himself on the wire as well.  His suspension to start the season for providing a fake vaccination card is up but amid speculation that San Jose would like to move on from the 30-year-old, he’ll start his season in the AHL assuming he clears on Monday.  With the team being willing to retain on his $7MM AAV, it’s quite unlikely he’ll be claimed.

Lemieux In Trouble: Kings winger Brendan Lemieux has already been suspended twice in his young career and it looks quite likely that a third is on the horizon.  After he received a match penalty (which carries an automatic suspension pending a hearing) for biting Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk, the league offered Lemieux an ‘in-person’ hearing (which is currently conducted through Zoom).  That gives them the ability to suspend him for more than five games.  That’s notable considering the longest biting suspension has been three games.  The time for the hearing has not yet been set.

Front Office Shakeup: The front office for the Canadiens looks a lot different all of a sudden.  After assistant GM Scott Mellanby resigned on Saturday, the Canadiens then fired GM Marc Bergevin and assistant GM Trevor Timmins who had been in charge of their amateur scouting.  Montreal made the playoffs in six of the nine years that Bergevin was at the helm while they made it to the Stanley Cup Final this past summer.  However, the two sides were unable to agree on a new contract in the offseason and with the team off to a tough start this season, ownership decided a new direction was needed.  The executive tasked with shaping that new direction is Jeff Gorton.  The former Rangers GM has been added as VP of Hockey Operations and will play a key role in their search for a new general manager.

More Postponements: The Islanders are the second team to have games affected by a COVID outbreak as the league postponed their games through November 30th which means at least two games will need to be rescheduled.  New York currently has eight players in COVID protocol as well as three off-ice personnel.  Ottawa had three games postponed earlier this month due to their own outbreak which triggered an ability for the NHL to opt out of playing in the upcoming Olympics.

Leave Of Absence For Wilson: Sharks GM Doug Wilson is taking a temporary leave of absence from the team for non-COVID medical reasons.  The recent Hall of Fame inductee has reportedly been dealing with a persistent cough for the last three months.  Assistant GM Joe Will will take over as interim GM in Wilson’s absence.  Everyone here at PHR extends their best to Wilson as we hope to see him back on the job as soon as possible.

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The one-quarter mark of the season is fast approaching which should soon yield an increase in activity on the transactions front.  In the meantime, here’s a look back at the top stories from the past seven days including several notable injuries around the league.

Veteran Retirements: A pair of veterans decided to officially call it a career.  Long-time blueliner Dion Phaneuf announced his retirement at the age of 36.  If you thought he had already retired, it would be understandable as he last played in 2019.  Phaneuf’s playing days end with 1.048 games played, 494 points, and 1,345 penalty minutes across 14 seasons.  He’ll remain on the books for the Kings through the end of next season with an AAV of just over $1MM due to his buyout in 2019.  Meanwhile, winger Troy Brouwer also hung up his skates.  He last played in 2020 with St. Louis and was unable to find a team for this season although his $1.5MM payment from Calgary in the last year of his buyout should serve as a nice consolation prize.  Brouwer collected 363 points in 851 games over parts of 14 seasons.

Notable Injuries: Philadelphia didn’t have Ryan Ellis back for long.  After the defenseman returned from his lower-body injury, he wound re-aggravating it and will now miss the next four to six weeks as a result.  He was their most prominent offseason acquisition but Ellis has only been able to play in four games so far.  Meanwhile, Sammy Blais’ season has come to an early end as he suffered a torn ACL in a collision with New Jersey’s P.K. Subban.  Blais brought some physicality to the Rangers lineup as he had 37 hits in 14 games before the injury.  He’ll become a restricted free agent this summer.  Lastly, Lightning center Brayden Point is out indefinitely after being injured when tripped up on a breakaway in Saturday’s game (although he was able to finish the game).  Tampa Bay is now without two of its offensive stars as Nikita Kucherov is also out for the next six weeks or so.

Bednar’s Sticking Around: It has been a quieter start to the year for the Avalanche as some early struggles coupled with injuries have had them hovering near the .500 mark.  However, with head coach Jared Bednar in the final year of his contract, GM Joe Sakic decided to get rid of any lame-duck discussion by inking the bench boss to a two-year contract extension.  Bednar is in his sixth season behind the bench in Colorado and is the second-winningest coach in Avalanche history.  His clubs have also made the playoffs in four straight seasons heading into this one although they’ve yet to make it past the second round so far.  It appears that Sakic believes that Bednar will be able to get them past that particular hurdle sooner than later.

More COVID Trouble: This past week was supposed to be an exciting one for the Islanders as they opened up UBS Arena after spending more than a month on the road to start the season.  However, they’ve been the latest team to be hit with COVID as they have six skaters in COVID protocol – defensemen Adam Pelech and Andy Greene plus forwards Anders Lee, Josh Bailey, Kieffer Bellows, and Ross Johnston.  To make matters worse, they also learned that they’ll be without top blueliner Ryan Pulock for the next four-to-six weeks due to a lower-body injury.

Back To Junior: While Mason McTavish made Anaheim’s roster out of training camp and was playing a regular role in the lineup, the Ducks have decided that he’s better served going back to junior as they assigned him to Peterborough of the OHL.  The 18-year-old was the third-overall pick this past summer and had two goals and an assist in nine games which averaging just over 13 minutes per contest.  By going back to junior, he’ll still have three years remaining on his three-year, entry-level contract after the season and he won’t accrue a season of service time towards UFA eligibility.

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It was another busy week around the NHL with some significant news off the ice.  Those are among those highlighted in the key stories of the past seven days.

Back To Junior: A handful of NHL players that still have junior eligibility can play up to nine games without burning the first year of their entry-level deals.  Some have already gone past that threshold while others were holding their prospects out of the lineup periodically to take more time to decide their plans.  A pair of teams made their decisions as Washington assigned center Hendrix Lapierre back to Acadie-Bathurst of the QMJHL while St. Louis did the same with winger Jake Neighbours, sending him to Edmonton of the WHL.  Both players were first-round picks back in 2020 but after logging less than ten minutes a game, this decision is the right one from a development standpoint while ensuring both prospects will still have three years left on their entry-level deals heading into next season.

Successful Surgery: So far, so good for Golden Knights center Jack Eichel who successfully underwent artificial disk replacement surgery on his neck on Friday.  Now the big question becomes how long the recovery timeline will be.  Early indications have been that it will range between three and five months but with it being the first time that the procedure has been done on an NHL player, there isn’t much in the way of precedent to work with.  The recovery time will be worth following; not only will his return give Vegas an improved top line but it will also serve as the pressure point for GM Kelly McCrimmon to clear the cap space required to activate him from LTIR.

Price Returns To Montreal: Carey Price’s stay in the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program was indeed the minimum of 30 days as he returned to the Canadiens and worked with their training staff off the ice.  The veteran goaltender also released a statement regarding his absence, indicating that he entered a residential treatment facility for substance use as he works his way through neglecting his mental health for the past several years.  There remains no timeline for his return as he has yet to begin on-ice activity while Price’s statement also acknowledged the uncertainty for when he might be able to suit up again.  As for Montreal’s current goaltending situation, Jake Allen, who has filled in as the starter in Price’s absence, suffered an injury on Saturday night, leaving the team down to their third-and fourth-string options.

Key Injuries: It has been a quiet start to the season for Colorado as they sit fifth in the Central Division with a 6-5-1 record.  They’ve been hit fairly hard with injuries early on and that list grew with the announcement that top center Nathan MacKinnon will miss three weeks due to a lower-body injury.  While the veteran only has scored once in eight games, he had nine assists over that stretch and is once again one of their top scorers.  Meanwhile, the Devils won’t be getting winger Miles Wood back anytime soon as it was revealed that he underwent hip surgery and is out indefinitely.  He suffered the injury back in the preseason and with rehab not going as planned, he went under the knife instead.  The expectation is that he’ll be out for several months, a tough blow for Wood who tied for the team lead in goals last season.

Murray Resigns: Bob Murray’s tenure as general manager of the Ducks came to an abrupt end.  After being placed on administrative leave pending an investigation related to professional conduct, he tendered his resignation with an announcement that he will be enrolling in a treatment program for alcohol abuse.  Murray had been with Anaheim since 2005 and took over the GM chair during the 2008-09 season.  Jeff Solomon, who came over from the Kings this past summer, has been named their interim GM with ownership pledging to complete a “methodical, extensive search” with a target of having that completed no later than next summer.

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