Week In Review

While there wasn’t a lot of activity on the trade front, there was one deal of note made over the past seven days which is among the top stories of the past week.

Elliott Injured: Philadelphia’s postseason chances took a dip when it was revealed that starting goalie Brian Elliott will miss five-to-six weeks after undergoing core muscle surgery.  For the time being, this means that the Flyers will go with a tandem of Michal Neuvirth and Alex Lyon while there has been plenty of speculation that they will have to turn to the trade market at some point before the deadline.  However, it appears that they have already declined an offer involving Detroit’s Petr Mrazek.

Phaneuf For Gaborik: The most prominent trade of the week saw a swap of veterans with the Kings acquiring defenseman Dion Phaneuf and center Nate Thompson from Ottawa in exchange for winger Marian Gaborik and center Nick Shore.  The Sens are retaining 25% of Phaneuf’s contract through 2021-21.  While the 32-year-old blueliner isn’t a top pairing player anymore, he still is capable of holding down a second pairing role and should help shore up their back end.  Meanwhile, Ottawa, a known budget team, saves some money over the life of the trade although Gaborik’s best days are behind him while Shore is more of a depth player than an impact one.

Seattle Files Expansion Application: Seattle took the next step towards their anticipated expansion franchise by officially filing their application and $10MM down payment to the league.  Considering the NHL has already pre-set the expansion fee and set it so that only Seattle could apply, the expectation is that this will be rubber-stamped.  Presently, the hope is that the renovations to Key Arena will be ready in time for Seattle to join the league in 2020.

Six Years For Backlund: There is one less top-six center set to hit the open market this summer as the Flames signed Mikael Backlund to a six-year, $32.1MM contract extension that also contains a ten-team no-trade list.  The 28-year-old has spent his entire career with Calgary after they drafted him in the first round (24th overall) back in 2007.  While he is having a little bit of a quieter year offensively, he’s still on pace to surpass the 45-point mark for the third straight season.  The deal also gives the Flames some security down the middle as their top-two pivots are each signed through at least the 2022-23 season.

Hunwick On The Block, Cole Off: Pittsburgh’s desire to add help at center is well-known but given their salary cap constraints, they will have to make a move to free up some money first.  While blueliner Ian Cole has long been expected to be the casualty, talk of the pending UFA being dealt has cooled off recently as he has returned to a regular role in the lineup.  Instead, fellow rearguard Matt Hunwick is being made available by GM Jim Rutherford.  While his $2.25MM cap hit is manageable, the fact he has two years remaining after this one may limit the number of teams that pursue him.

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Although the trades have yet to pick up in frequency despite the trade deadline coming quickly, there was still plenty of news around the hockey world.  Here are the top five stores from the past week.

1) Kovalchuk To Test NHL Market: Here we go again.  Ilya Kovalchuk is intending to test the NHL free agent market this summer.  This was the case last year as well but there is one notable difference.  Kovalchuk will soon turn 35 which means that the Devils will no longer hold his rights and teams won’t be required to trade for his rights to try to sign him.  The winger is once again dominating the KHL as he leads the league in scoring with 63 points (32-32-63) in 53 games.  There’s no guarantee he signs this time around but he will be an interesting addition to the free agent market nonetheless.

2) Rangers Letter To Fans: There has been plenty of speculation in recent weeks regarding whether or not the Rangers would be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline.  The team put an end to that themselves, issuing a letter to their fans where they acknowledged that they will be looking to get younger and will be moving out some veterans.  That would indicate that their pending unrestricted free agents will be on the move at the very least and it will be interesting to see if players like Mats Zuccarello and Ryan McDonagh will follow suit or if decisions on them will wait until the summer instead.

3) High Price For Nash: Speaking of pending unrestricted free agents on the Rangers, winger Rick Nash submitted his 18-team no-trade list although he acknowledged he may be willing to go to some of the teams on that list.  For the dozen teams that weren’t on it, they will need to be prepared to pay a particularly high asking price.  GM Jeff Gorton is currently asking for a return comparable to what Buffalo is seeking for winger Evander Kane, a first-round draft pick, a top prospect, plus a lesser draft choice or prospect.  Presumably, New York will be willing to retain a significant portion of Nash’s $7.8MM cap hit (they can retain up to 50%) in order to help facilitate a trade.

4) Five Years For Eller: The Capitals locked up one of their pending unrestricted free agents by signing center Lars Eller to a five-year, $17.5MM contract extension.  The $3.5MM AAV matches what he is receiving on his current contract.  Eller is in his second season with the Caps as their third line pivot and is on pace for a career year in points as he sits just two points behind his career-best 30 with two months remaining in the season.  They still have a prominent UFA to deal with in defenseman John Carlson who is in line for a significant raise on his current deal that carries a cap hit just shy of $4MM.

5) Burrows Gets Ten: Senators winger Alex Burrows was handed a ten-game suspension by the league for his kneeing of Devils winger Taylor Hall (who, fortunately, was not injured on the play).  This was the longest suspension handed down by the Department of Player Safety this season and Burrows will forfeit over $125K in salary.  He also elected not to appeal and will be out of Ottawa’s lineup until March 2nd.

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Although it was a quiet week on the trade front, there was still a fair bit of big news around the league over the past week.

Fisher Unretires: Mike Fisher’s retirement didn’t even last one year.  The long-time center announced that he will be returning to play for Nashville.  No contract has been finalized yet as the 37-year-old will have to get back into playing shape first.  It will have to be signed before the trade deadline in order for him to be eligible to play in the postseason.  While Fisher likely won’t bring much to the table offensively considering how long he has been off, he should slot in their bottom six up front while potentially giving them the flexibility to shift Nick Bonino to the wing.

Trouba Out Long-Term: Injuries haven’t been kind to Winnipeg this season as Mark Scheifele, Dustin Byfuglien, Mathieu Perreault, and Steve Mason (among others) have all missed a sizable amount of games.  Defenseman Jacob Trouba was the next to be added to that list as he will miss the next six-to-eight weeks with an ankle injury.  While his production has been lower than expected this year, he has still played an important role for the Jets while ranking second among skaters in ice time.  As he’ll be out past the trade deadline, there’s a possibility that Winnipeg may look to add another defender in the weeks to come.

Jagr To Kladno: After clearing waivers, the Flames assigned veteran winger to HC Kladno in the Czech Republic.  In doing so, the 45-year-old remains on Calgary’s books and the team will retain the ability to recall him if they so desire instead of running him through unconditional waivers to give him his outright release.  In the meantime, veteran Czech center Petr Nedved came out of retirement to face Jagr in his first game back.  Jagr’s first game back home was certainly a productive one as he recorded three assists while playing more than 20 minutes in ice time.

No Tavares Trade: Islanders captain John Tavares hasn’t put pen to paper on a contract extension which led to some speculation that the team could trade him before the deadline to avoid the risk of potentially losing him for nothing in the summer.  GM Garth Snow put an end to all that by stating that Tavares will not be dealt no matter what before the deadline.  With the Isles in a close battle for a Wild Card spot, it seems more likely at this point that they will try to add a player or two to help their chances of getting into the playoffs while hoping to strengthen their pitch to keep Tavares in the fold beyond this season.

Canucks Prefer To Keep Gudbranson: While Vancouver defenseman Erik Gudbranson has been viewed as one of the more prominent rental defensemen that will be dealt before the trade deadline, GM Jim Benning acknowledged that their preference is to sign him to a contract extension.  Gudbranson has been limited to just 33 games this season due to injuries and has been used in a more limited role than usual; his 17:39 average ice time is his lowest since his rookie season.  If they aren’t able to agree on a new deal before the 26th, the 26-year-old will still likely find himself in another uniform by the end of the month.

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While it was a lighter week on the NHL schedule with the All-Star break beginning, there were still several headlines around the hockey world.  Here are the top stories from the past week.

Olympic Rosters: Both Finland and Russia (officially participating as ‘Olympic Athletes from Russia’) named their rosters for next month’s tournament.  Notable players on the Finnish squad include long-time goaltender Karri Ramo plus a pair of first-round picks from last summer’s draft in Miro Heiskanen (Dallas) and Eeli Tolvanen (Nashville).  Meanwhile, the Russian squad features players from only three KHL teams and features several long-time NHL veterans including Pavel Datsyuk, Ilya Kovalchuk, and Slava Voynov as well as Vadim Shipachyov who retired from the Golden Knights earlier this season.

Senators Have Preliminary Arena Agreement: While things haven’t been going well on the ice for Ottawa, they got some good news off of it with the announcement that they have reached a preliminary agreement on a redevelopment project for a new arena.  Although their current one isn’t outdated by any stretch, it’s on the outskirts of the city so owner Eugene Melnyk is hopeful that one closer to downtown as this one will be will help improve attendance.  Although this is an important first step, it will still take several years to finalize everything with an early projection of being ready for 2022-23.

Johansson Concussed, Marchand Suspended: A late-game hit between New Jersey and Boston has resulted in a pair of players missing considerable time as Bruins winger Brad Marchand received a five-game suspension for his elbow on Devils winger Marcus Johansson.  Meanwhile, Johansson is out indefinitely after being diagnosed with his second concussion of the season.  Despite being suspended, Marchand was allowed to participate in the All-Star festivities after being named to the game for the second season in a row.

More Knee Troubles For Thornton: For the second straight season, Sharks center Joe Thornton is dealing with knee trouble.  He is out indefinitely after undergoing an arthroscopic procedure on his right knee upon being diagnosed with an MCL injury.  While this is the opposite knee that he had problems with last season, it could very well hurt his cause come free agency as an aging veteran with recent issues in both knees.  Meanwhile, the Sharks will be down an important piece for the foreseeable future as they look to maintain a playoff spot in the very-tight Pacific Division.

Detroit Ready To Sell: As their playoff hopes continue to fade, the Red Wings have told teams that they are open for business and ready to sell.  While that includes pending unrestricted free agent defenseman Mike Green, they also appear to be open to moving players that are signed beyond this season.  One of those appears to be goaltender Jimmy Howard who is believed to be available although a soft trade market for goaltenders may make that somewhat of a challenge.  Looking ahead, with GM Ken Holland’s contract up at the end of the season, what he does (or doesn’t do) over the next month may play a role in whether or not he is brought back for a 22nd season.

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With the trade deadline fast approaching, trade activity has yet to really pick up around the league but there were still several important stories in the NHL from the past week.

Vertigo-Like Symptoms For Crawford: Blackhawks goaltender Corey Crawford has been out of the lineup with an upper-body injury for the better part of a month but not much had been known before that.  Now, we’ve learned that’s dealing with vertigo-like symptoms and as a result, his availability for the remainder of the season in question.  Chicago is already in the cellar in the Central Division but they are still within striking distance of a Wild Card spot so they will be a team to watch for in the coming weeks to see if they decide to add any help between the pipes.

Vegas Extensions: The Golden Knights continued to lock up some of their potential unrestricted free agents as they inked defenseman Deryk Engelland to a one-year contract and fellow blueliner Jon Merrill to a two-year pact.  Engelland receives $1.5MM guaranteed, a nice raise from the $1MM he’s making this season while he also has another $1MM in potential performance bonuses.  As for Merrill, he received a total of $2.75MM, resulting in a cap hit of $1.375MM, an increase of just over $200K on his current cap hit.

Surgery For Shattenkirk: The Rangers will be without one of their top defensemen for the foreseeable future as he is set to undergo surgery on Monday to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee.  There is no timetable for his return but he will be out for a while; he told NHL.com’s Dan Rosen that he hopes to be back before the end of the regular season.  Even though he has failed to live up to his $6.65MM contract so far, that’s still a big blow to New York’s back end as he was their top-scoring defender with 23 points in 46 games while logging over 20 minutes of night of ice time and his absence will only hurt their push for a playoff spot.

Latest On Kane: Sabres winger Evander Kane has long been in trade speculation but there was always at least the outside possibility of a contract extension.  That doesn’t appear to be in the cards as Kane admitted that there have been no talks yet about him sticking around in Buffalo for the long-term.  Meanwhile, the asking price for him appears to be even higher than originally reported as on top of the first-round pick, prospect, and conditional draft choice that they were believed to be seeking, GM Jason Botterill is reportedly seeking a roster player on top of those three elements as well.

Nugent-Hopkins Out For A While: Although it was initially hoped that Oilers center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins would be ready to play after their bye week, things took a turn for the worse.  He was placed on IR and then shortly after that, it was announced that he will miss the next five-to-six weeks with cracked ribs.  This is a tough blow to Edmonton’s already-dwindling postseason hopes as Nugent-Hopkins has quietly been one of their top forwards all season long.  He leads the team in goals, is third in points, and has fared well while being deployed in more of a two-way role.

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Although it was a quieter week around the league with many teams on their byes, that didn’t stop it from being a busy week around the hockey world.  Here are the top stories.

Extensions: The Ducks locked up a core part of their forward group by signing winger Andrew Cogliano to a three-year, $9.75MM extension.  Cogliano has been an effective middle-six forward Anaheim for several years now and, until his suspension earlier today, had yet to miss a single game in his career.  The Predators also were active on the extension front, inking defensemen Yannick Weber (two years, $1.35MM), Anthony Bitetto (one year, $650K), and Matt Irwin (two years, $1.25MM) to new contracts, ensuring that their depth defenders will stay intact for at least another year.

Duclair To Chicago: After shopping him for over a year, the Coyotes were finally able to find a suitable trade for disgruntled winger Anthony Duclair, sending him along with defenseman Adam Clendening to the Blackhawks for winger Richard Panik and center Laurent Dauphin.  Chicago gets out of the final year of Panik’s $2.8MM per year contract and they’ll likely do something to utilize those cap savings before the season comes to an end.  Meanwhile, both sides are hopeful that their wingers will thrive with the change of scenery.

Johnson Requests Trade: Blue Jackets defenseman Jack Johnson has requested a trade.  He’s in the final year of his contract but finds himself on the third pairing which doesn’t bode well for his marketability this summer in unrestricted free agency.  With Columbus in the thick of the playoff race, this presents an interesting situation for GM Jarmo Kekalainen who will likely be looking for another defender or at least a roster player in return instead of a futures-based package.  Johnson makes $5MM in salary this season with a cap hit of $4.357MM which may be difficult for other contending teams to fit onto their books.

Canada Names Olympic Roster: With the Olympics now less than a month away, Canada unveiled their men’s hockey roster.  It features many familiar faces as 23 of the 25 players have spent time in the NHL at some point in their careers.  Interestingly enough, one player who said no was Colorado defensive prospect Cale Makar.  It’s believed that he could have been a power play specialist for the Canadian squad but he chose to stick with UMass (Amherst) of the NCAA instead.

Hurricanes Sold: The ownership saga in Carolina has officially come to an end as the NHL has approved the sale of the team from Peter Karmanos to Dallas billionaire Thomas Dundon.  Karmanos will retain a minority share for the time being but it’s expected that Dundon will have 100% ownership in the years to come.  As part of the deal, the team cannot be moved for at least the next seven years.  Dundon also threw his support behind both GM Ron Francis and head coach Bill Peters and has already been in contact with the league regarding an outdoor game.

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The final week of 2017 saw quite a bit of news around the league, even if it wasn’t in the form of player movement following the holiday roster freeze.  Here are the top stories for the week.

Key Injuries: Both the Jets and Blue Jackets received some tough news on the injury front.  Winnipeg center Mark Scheifele is out six-to-eight weeks with an upper-body injury sustained against Edmonton.  For the time being, their plan is to shift Blake Wheeler down the middle instead of looking for a replacement via a trade.  As for Columbus, they’ll be without winger Cam Atkinson (broken foot) and center Alexander Wennberg (back) for the next four-to-six weeks.  While both players have underachieved this season, their absences create a sizable hole in their lineup.  While not an injury, the Rangers also got some tough news as winger Chris Kreider is out indefinitely due to a blood clot in his right arm.

Four More Years For Armstrong: There are quite a few general managers who started the season in the final year of their contract, something that’s a bit of an unusual occurrence in the NHL.  That number decreased by one this past week as the Blues inked GM Doug Armstrong to a four-year extension.  Armstrong also made some headlines when he acknowledged that St. Louis isn’t likely to be active in the rental market between now and the trade deadline.  There are still at least four active general managers that are unsigned beyond this season: Jim Benning (Canucks), Chuck Fletcher (Wild), Ken Holland (Red Wings), and Lou Lamoriello (Maple Leafs) while it has been suggested that Brian MacLellan (Capitals) is also in that situation as well but his contract status was never made public.

Penguins Not Actively Shopping Letang: While there was a suggestion earlier in the month that the Penguins could consider trading defenseman Kris Letang as they look to change things up on their roster, they are not actively shopping him either.  Given Letang’s contract ($7.25MM for four more years after this one) with his injury history and no-trade protection (he can block a deal to 18 teams), making everything work in-season with a lot of buying teams not having anywhere near that type of cap space would be a challenge.  A summer trade is certainly more likely (if they’re going to move him at all) and if they are able to find a team that can make it work now, they’ll likely want to see Letang (currently on IR with a lower-body issue) back in action before pulling the trigger.

Bower Passes Away: Long-time Maple Leafs and Hall of Fame netminder Johnny Bower passed away at the age of 93 after a short battle with pneumonia.  He played in 552 career NHL regular season games (all but 77 with Toronto), winning four Stanley Cups and a pair of Vezina Trophies while playing regularly through the age of 44.  Bower was also very active in the community and took part in numerous charitable functions, even in the days leading up to his passing while serving as an ambassador for the game for decades.

Senators Looking To Make Changes: With Ottawa tumbling rapidly down the standings, it appears GM Pierre Dorion is looking to shake up the roster.  Although some have wondered if top blueliner Erik Karlsson could be moved, he has now been identified along with winger Mark Stone as the two untouchables among their current core players.  Winger Mike Hoffman’s name has already surfaced as a player several teams are interested in but the big question here is if Ottawa is looking to start a rebuild or if they’re looking to bring similar players in return in the hopes that a new player or two will get them going in the second half.

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Although the holiday roster freeze shut down the trade market for the majority of the week, there were still several headlines around the league.  Here are the top five.

Oleksiak To Pittsburgh: There were three smaller trades made before the freeze kicked in with the most prominent being the Penguins acquiring defenseman Jamie Oleksiak from Dallas in exchange for a fourth-round pick in 2019.  The 14th overall pick in 2011 could never really find his footing with the Stars and had been a frequent healthy scratch this season.  With Pittsburgh, Oleksiak will battle for third-pairing minutes while giving them some extra depth, something they’ve been seeking for a while after being forced to shuffle AHL players back and forth as injuries came up.

Ellis To Return Shortly: Nashville’s big four on the back end have yet to play together this season.  That is set to change in the very near future as Ryan Ellis is targeting a return date of January 2nd.  He underwent knee surgery in the offseason.  Ellis took a big leap forward last season with career-highs in goals (16), points (38), and ice time (23:57 per game) and once he gets back into game shape, he will provide the Predators with another threat from the point while allowing them to shuffle Alexei Emelin back into a third-pairing role.

Weber Shut Down Indefinitely: If Montreal plans to get back into the playoff picture, they will be doing so without the services of their top defenseman in Shea Weber for the foreseeable future.  He has been shut down indefinitely as a foot injury sustained in the season-opener against Buffalo is not healing as the team hoped it would.  Not only will they miss his presence from the point (particularly his booming shot), they will also be in tough to account for the 25-plus minutes per game he has logged so far this season.  This could also play a role in Montreal’s plans for Victor Mete once he returns from the World Juniors in early January.

Islanders Win Belmont Park Bid: The Islanders got some great news on their arena front as their proposal for a new 18,000-seat arena at Belmont Park has been approved.  This gives the team some long-term stability especially with their current situation in Brooklyn not going as well as anyone had hoped.  Unlike a lot of new facilities, team owner Jon Ledecky stated that this will be built with private funds and not public.  There will still be some short-term decisions to be made as to where they will play for the next couple of years after this one given that the arena will need to be built.  The team can either try to negotiate a short-term agreement in Brooklyn (they’ll opt out of their current deal next month) or perhaps look to return to their old home at Nassau Coliseum instead.

Burmistrov Retires From NHL: Earlier this month, Canucks center Alexander Burmistrov voiced his frustration with his role with Vancouver as he has been primarily a depth player.  It turns out that he has had enough of his time there as he has retired from the NHL with an eye towards going back home to Russia.  He’s expected to sign with Ak Bars Kazan of the KHL in the coming days.  He finishes his NHL playing days with 101 points (37-64-101) in 348 games between Vancouver, Arizona, and Winnipeg/Atlanta.

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This was the last full week before the holiday roster freeze kicks in but there wasn’t a whole lot of activity.  Here are the top five stories from a relatively quiet week around the league.

Dubinsky Out Six-To-Eight Weeks: The Blue Jackets will be without a core forward until sometime in the New Year as Brandon Dubinsky suffered a fractured orbital bone in a fight with Edmonton’s Zack Kassian and will miss the next six-to-eight weeks.  GM Jarmo Kekalainen confirmed that the damage will not affect his long-term vision which is certainly good news.  However, Dubinsky’s physical presence and faceoff prowess will undoubtedly be missed as Columbus continues to battle for top spot in the Metropolitan Division.

Red Wings Willing To Retain On Mrazek: 2017-18 hasn’t been a kind year for Detroit goaltender Petr Mrazek.  His goals against average and save percentage are career-worsts by a considerable margin and as a result, he went from a possible timesharing role to being Jimmy Howard’s backup.  With a qualifying offer of $4.15MM due in June, he’s a strong non-tender candidate.  With that in mind, the Red Wings have indicated that they are willing to retain salary in a trade and there are reports that there is some lukewarm interest around the league even after Edmonton bowed out of trade discussions.

Karlsson Would Prefer To Stay In Ottawa: Following his comments earlier this month which intimated that he would be going to the highest bidder in free agency, Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson stated that his preference would be to remain in Ottawa.  He’s still more than 18 months away from hitting unrestricted free agency but with a window opening up to sign an extension on the horizon (July 1st, 2018), there has already been plenty of speculation as to what it might cost to lock him up and if the Sens will have to move him if they’re unable to reach an agreement over risking losing him for nothing a year later.

Turris Comments On His Trade: From a current Senator to a former one, Predators center Kyle Turris raised some eyebrows when he commented publicly about his trade to Nashville.  The deal came on the heels of extension negotiations and when the trade was made, he signed a seven-year pact with the Preds.  Turris stated that it was his belief that the Senators GM Pierre Dorion wanted to get a deal done to keep him in Ottawa (a six-year offer was believed to be on the table) but owner Eugene Melnyk did not feel the same way.  In the end, the trade has worked quite well for Nashville and Turris while Matt Duchene, who was acquired in the three-way swap, hasn’t fared as well for the struggling Sens.

Blues Seeking Top-Six Forward: On the heels of Jaden Schwartz’s injury that will keep him out for the considerable future, St. Louis is on the lookout to add a top-six forward to the mix with Buffalo’s Evander Kane among those that they have interest in.  Adding another scorer has been something they’ve been looking for since Robby Fabbri tore his ACL before the season even got underway.  However, with very limited cap space, they may have to get creative to make a move or at least match salaries going the other way.

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While there was still a bit of player movement over the past week, the headlines were dominated by significant off-ice developments.  Here are the top stories from the past seven days.

Seattle Expansion: Seattle council approved a $660MM renovation proposal for KeyArena that would help pave the way for an NHL (and/or NBA franchise) down the road.  It’s very clear that the NHL has been keeping tabs on the situation as days later, they announced that they green-lighted Seattle’s prospective ownership group to conduct a season-ticket drive to gauge interest in the market while also setting an expansion fee of $650MM as well as a target start date of the 2020-21 season.  If they were to be added, that would re-balance the conferences at 16 teams apiece although one team would have to shift from the Pacific to the Central Division.

Russia To Compete Under Neutral Flag In Olympics: The announcement from the International Olympic Committee to ban Russian athletes from competing under the Russian flag has raised some more questions about the status of the hockey tournament in February.  While Russian athletes may still be permitted to play under the Olympic flag as an “Olympic Athlete from Russia”, there is still no firm decision from the KHL as to whether they will attempt to revise their schedule to play through the Olympics while barring players from participation.

Hurricanes To Be Sold: An agreement has been struck for Dallas billionaire Tom Dundon to buy the Hurricanes from owner Peter Karmanos.  The deal is pending approval by the Board of Governors.  Dundon is purchasing 52% of the team now with an option to buy the remaining 48% three years from now.  Also notable is that the team will not be moved for at least the next seven years so that should put an end to any relocation speculation, at least for a while.

Schwartz Out Six Weeks: The Blues were dealt a significant blow as winger Jaden Schwartz, who sits second on the team in scoring (with 35 points in 30 games) and tied for ninth league-wide, will miss at least the next six weeks with a right ankle injury.  The key phrase in their announcement is that he will be re-evaluated at that time and based on how they’ve used that term for other injuries already this season, there’s a decent chance he will be out longer.  This will be the second time in three seasons that Schwartz will miss significant time due to an injury; he missed 49 games with a fractured ankle back in 2015-16.

Cap Increase On The Horizon: At the recent Board of Governors meetings, Commissioner Gary Bettman projected a notable raise in the salary cap, providing a range between $78MM and $82MM.  This, of course, will be affected by any notable fluctuations in the Canadian dollar as well as what the NHLPA chooses to use for their inflator percentage.  Even if the raise is at the low end of that scale, it would still be the biggest jump since 2014-15 when the Upper Limit increased by $4.7MM.  With some big ticket contracts either kicking in or on the horizon, many general managers are undoubtedly looking forward to the extra flexibility.

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