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William Carrier

Drew Doughty Suspended One Game For Illegal Check

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6:10pm: Doughty has been given a one-game suspension. That takes a huge part of the lineup out for the Kings, who are already down 1-0 in the series. As the accompanying video explains:

If Doughty wishes to deliver this check, he must take an angle of approach that hits through the core of Carrier, rather than one that makes the head the main point of contact. 

The video even goes so far as to include the rule verbatim, recognizing the dispute that this suspension will create.

9:42am: Last night in their loss to the Vegas Golden Knights, Los Angeles Kings defenseman Drew Doughty threw a check on William Carrier that appeared to catch him in the head. Though the hit wasn’t penalized, Carrier was taken off for concussion protocol. The league has now announced that Doughty will have a hearing today to determine if there will be supplementary discipline.

Carrier had been getting under the skin of Los Angeles players all night, landing several big hits on Doughty himself. He finished the game with 10 hits in just 8:49 of ice time, an impressive performance, especially if he ends up earning a suspension for Doughty.

The league usually tries to avoid suspensions for playoff games, counting them somewhere around doubly as important as a regular season contest. If it is determined that the head was the principal point of contact though, they may have no other choice.

Trade Deadline Notes: Flames, Plekanec, Neal

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“Will GM Brad Treliving and the Calgary Flames ’pull a Hextall’?”, wonders the Calgary Sun’s Eric Francis with mere days left before the NHL Trade Deadline. Francis is referring to Philadelphia Flyers GM Ron Hextall, who recently acted quickly to acquire goaltender Petr Mrazek from the Detroit Red Wings when his top two goalies went down with long-term injuries. Treliving and the Flames are now in a similar position, with their one experienced keeper, Mike Smith, out with a groin injury and a return not imminent. Calgary is currently working with two rookie goalies, David Rittich and Jon Gillies, as they try to keep up in the Western Conference playoff race. If Treliving, like Hextall, feels that he owes his team a true starting-caliber goalie, he could hit the rental market for some help down the stretch. Options could include Buffalo’s Robin Lehner, an impending RFA and likely the top available target, Arizona’s Antti Raanta, if the Coyotes are willing to move him, a reunion with Chad Johnson, or even a lesser option albeit with more experience such as Michael Hutchinson or Andrew Hammond. However, as Francis points out after his conversation with Treliving, if the team continues to put forward lackluster performances in front of their young goalie tandem, perhaps paying the steep price to bring in an upgrade won’t be worth it. The situation is one worth monitoring as the deadline fast approaches.

  • One player expected to move before the deadline is career Canadien Tomas Plekanec. TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reports that calls have been flooding in to Montreal GM Marc Bergevin, especially following the Derick Brassard news, inquiring into the cost of trading for the veteran center. Plekanec, 35, has seen his offense fall off dramatically over the past two seasons, but still plays a reliable two-way game and can still be an experienced asset for many teams. With the Canadiens far outside the playoff picture and Plekanec on an expiring contract, possibly headed for retirement, a deal will almost certainly be struck with an interested team. It seems the days are numbered on a relationship that began in 2003-04.
  • The Vegas Golden Knights placed James Neal on injured reserve today, per beat writer Steve Carp. While Neal is simply suffering from an illness right now, an undisclosed illness has also kept teammate Shea Theodore out of the lineup for more than a week. With forwards Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and William Carrier also on IR and an unclear picture of when Neal will return to action, one has to wonder if the Knights will take a longer look at the forward market before the deadline passes them by.

Snapshots: Reaves, Reilly, Carrier

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The Penguins paid a notable price to acquire winger Ryan Reaves back at the draft, trading down from the end of the first round to the middle of the second plus losing forward Oskar Sundqvist to secure his services.  The hope was that Pittsburgh’s lineup would benefit from his toughness.  However, his ice time has steadily declined in recent weeks to the point where Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette suggests that it may be time to take Reaves out of the lineup in an effort to play someone who can have more of an impact overall in winger Josh Archibald, at least against teams that aren’t overly physical.  At any rate, GM Jim Rutherford can’t be too pleased with what Reaves has provided as of late, especially given the price they paid to get him.  If this continues, it will be interesting to see if Reaves finds himself on the trade block, especially since several teams look to add grit as the playoffs get closer.

More from around the league:

  • Mike Reilly’s inclusion in the lineup tonight for the Wild is notable as Michael Russo of The Athletic points out (Twitter link) that he is now waiver-eligible. Minnesota had sent him down on three separate occasions this season for short-term salary cap savings and roster reasons.  Obviously, that will no longer be an option for the cap-strapped Wild as they won’t want to risk losing him on waivers moving forward.  Center Joel Eriksson Ek is now the lone regular that they can shuttle back and forth without going through the waiver wire.
  • Golden Knights winger William Carrier has resumed practicing, albeit with a non-contact jersey, notes Steve Carp of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The 22-year-old has been out of the lineup since sustaining an upper-body injury back on November 25th.  Head coach Gerard Gallant wouldn’t commit to a timeline for when Carrier might be given the green light to return to the lineup.

Injury Notes: Blues, Coburn, Spurgeon, Carrier, Franson, Rutta, Jagr

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Injury news seems to be a daily affair in St. Louis as the St. Louis Blues are dealing multiple injuries at once, especially after the team learned that defenseman Jay Bouwmeester is expected to miss the weekend after he was put on injured reserve Friday with an unspecified injury, according to Tom Timmermann of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Now, Chris Pinkert of NHL.com writes that the team has a new injury to worry about as the team’s fourth-line center, Kyle Brodziak, is likely to miss Saturday’s game and is day-to-day with an unknown injury.

“He’s a little dinged up, that’s why he didn’t practice yesterday. We were hoping he could come in and feel better today, but that wasn’t the case,” Blues head coach Mike Yeo said. “Hopefully he feels better tomorrow.”

Timmerman adds in a tweet that defenseman Alex Pietrangelo is making progress, but his status for Sunday’s game (the first game he is eligible for against the Winnipeg Jets is unknown. The scribe points out, however, that since it’s the second game of a home-and-home against the Jets, it’s unlikely the team would carry just six defensemen for two straight games, which suggests the team is confident that Pietrangelo will likely play on Sunday. Another factor on defense was the status of veteran defenseman Carl Gunnarsson, whose status was questionable Friday after taking a shot off his right leg, which forced him to leave practice yesterday. Pinkert adds that he’s OK and is expected to play Saturday.

Other injury notes in the NHL:

  • Tampa Bay Times’ Joe Smith tweets that defenseman Braydon Coburn is likely to return tonight against the Avalanche. Coburn has missed seven games and hasn’t played since Nov. 29 with a lower-body injury. The 32-year-old veteran has seven assists in 25 games this season.
  • With Minnesota Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon not playing in today’s matchup against the Oilers, The Athletic’s Michael Russo tweets that it’s likely that Spurgeon will return to the Wild for tomorrow’s matchup with the Blackhawks. He has missed nine games for Minnesota with a groin injury. The 28-year-old has three goals and 12 assists in 23 games this season.
  • Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Steve Carp tweets that winger William Carrier, who has missed nine straight games with an upper-body injury, continues to practice in a non-contact jersey, but a return could be coming soon. Carrier’s presence and toughness has been missed. He has one goal and one assist in 20 games.
  • The Chicago Tribune’s Chris Hine tweets that Cody Franson and Jan Rutta could be back on the ice soon, possibly even tomorrow, according to coach Joel Quenneville. Franson has missed three games with an upper-body injury, while Rutta missed Thursday’s game against Winnipeg with an apparent head injury.
  • Postmedia’s Wes Gilbertson tweets that Jaromir Jagr is expected back into the lineup today after missing the past six games with a lower-body injury. He is expected to play on the team’s fourth line tonight.

Vegas Golden Knights Activate Luca Sbisa, Place Two Others On IR

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The Vegas Golden Knights are getting an important defender back, activating Luca Sbisa from injured reserve. Unfortunately in his place the team has placed both David Perron and William Carrier to IR, and neither are with the club on their current road trip.

Sbisa hasn’t played since November 10th, when he was knocked out of the lineup with a lower-body injury. The 27-year old defenseman had been logging more than 20 minutes a night for the Golden Knights, and was on a career-high pace in the early season. Having only recorded more than 20 points in a season once before, eight in his first 16 games was certainly impressive. His speed and experience will come in handy for the Golden Knights as they continue to lead the Pacific Division a quarter of the way through the season.

For Perron and Carrier, Sunday is the earliest either can return since both will have their IR stints dated retroactive to their previous game. The pair both missed Tuesday’s 3-0 loss at the hands of the Dallas Stars, a team chasing them in the standings. Sbisa is expected to jump back into the lineup alongside Colin Miller.

East Notes: Crouse, Lappin, Addison

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When the Florida Panthers shipped Lawson Crouse off to Arizona in exchange for a pair of draft picks and the Coyotes taking on Dave Bolland’s cap hit, many people were shocked. Bolland was (and remains) on long-term injured reserve, without a clear picture on whether he’ll ever play hockey again. Crouse on the other hand was a 19-year old blue-chip prospect who looked like he had a long NHL career ahead of him as a prototypical power forward. Speaking to George Richards of the Miami Herald, Panthers GM Tom Rowe admitted it was tough to lose him:

We got criticized for giving up on a great young prospect but we had to. That contract was strangling us, cap-wise. When we traded him, our scouts were furious. I’m not going to lie. But we had to do something and that was trade Lawson.

Crouse has just 11 points this season for the Coyotes, but he’s gaining valuable experience as a teenager and still has a bright future ahead of him. Meanwhile the Panthers have already essentially used that cap space, as extensions for Aaron Ekblad, Vincent Trocheck, Jonathan Huberdeau and Derek MacKenzie kick in next year.

Atlantic Notes: Cassidy, Radulov, Plekanec, Carrier, Kulikov

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The Bruins have played their way right back into the thick of the postseason chase under interim head coach Bruce Cassidy, going 8-2 in his first ten games behind the bench heading into play on Monday night.  Accordingly, CSN New England’s Joe Haggerty suggests that the time is right for GM Don Sweeney to lift the interim title and make him the full-time head coach.

Shortly after the trade deadline, Sweeney told reporters that he’s open to lifting the tag at the end of the season although he left the window open to do so later this season if he feels the time is right.  Haggerty argues that if the GM is already content with the idea of making the change more of a permanent one, it should be done sooner than later so there’s no opportunity for a distraction during the stretch run.

This is Cassidy’s second stint as a head coach after holding the job for parts of two seasons with Washington more than a decade ago.

More from the Atlantic:

  • The Canadiens announced via their Twitter account that Alexander Radulov is likely to miss his second straight game against the Canucks tomorrow with a lower body injury sustained after blocking a shot last week. The Russian right winger has returned to the NHL with a bang this season and sits second on Montreal in scoring with 46 points in 63 games; his 31 assists lead the team.  Additionally, the team noted that center Tomas Plekanec is listed as day-to-day although the nature of his injury is undisclosed.
  • Sabres left winger William Carrier is set to miss his 17th straight game tomorrow against the Flyers, notes John Vogl of The Buffalo News. It doesn’t appear a return is imminent either as he has yet to start skating as the bruise on his knee is not hearing anywhere near the rate the team was hoping for.  Defenseman Dmitry Kulikov is also expected to sit that game out with a concussion.

David Backes Leaves Game With Head Injury

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Boston Bruins forward David Backes was the victim of boarding in tonight’s game against the Buffalo Sabres, as William Carrier hit the veteran with a hard, high shot up against the boards in front of the Bruins bench. The team announced shortly afterward that Backes would not return to the game with an “upper body injury”. Carrier will likely face a suspension or fine for the dirty hit.

Backes has been somewhat of an iron man in his NHL career, playing in 72 games or more in all nine of his seasons as a starter with the St. Louis Blues. However, Backes has also had his fair share of concussions as well, with at least two reported in his NHL tenure. Neither kept Backes out of the St. Louis lineup for very long, but now in Boston and on the wrong side of 30, the concussion symptoms can start to pile up, and the Bruins have to worry about long-term repercussions. While it will be some time before we know the full extent of this concussion, expect the team to be cautious with it’s approach. The Bruins face the Sabres again on Saturday, and then New Jersey, Edmonton, Florida, and Carolina to begin the new year. Although no game has been easy for the underachieving team, this is as good a time as any to give Backes some time off. The return of Frank Vatrano has had an instant impact and he can help to make up for a short-term absence of Backes while he rests and recovers. The last thing that Boston wants is to rush Backes back to action only to end up losing him again later on in the season to post-concussion syndrome. With one of the league’s worst scoring offenses and already missing Matt Beleskey until February, the Bruins cannot afford another long-term absence up front.

On a separate note, Bruins defenseman Adam McQuaid tried to return the favor later in the game by jumping Carrier late in the first period. For the second time in as many games, McQuaid was restrained before he could even throw a real punch. If the NHL wants to ban fighting, they should, but instructing the refs to instead instantly break up fights is not the way to go. McQuaid expressed a similar opinion arguing with the linesman that pulled him away from Carrier. In tying up McQuaid, the refs allowed Carrier to get several punches off that were direct hits to the Bruins defenseman and to which he had no chance to respond. McQuaid required stitches as a result. To add insult to injury, McQuaid was also given an instigator penalty and a ten-minute misconduct. The entire ordeal was handled incorrectly and the NHL needs to look into alternative methods of handling fighting.

Looking Back At A Complicated Draft-Day Trade

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On Saturday night, Oilers winger Anton Slepyshev notched two assists as the Oilers beat the Stars 5-2.

The Russian winger has looked very good so far this season. While he has just three points in nine games, he’s also been playing just 11 minutes per night. Slepyshev has cracked the NHL lineup out of training camp both years he’s been in North America. He was sent down after 11 games last season, and struggled a bit in the AHL. However, he appears to be one of those players who plays well against better competition and doesn’t bring his best against lower tiers of competition. Because coach Todd McLellan clearly likes his game, Slepyshev appears poised to be a future tough and versatile middle-six forward.

It’s fascinating to look back at the series of trades that lead to Slepyshev being drafted by Edmonton.

It was the second round of the 2013 NHL Draft. The Edmonton Oilers were set to pick 37th overall, and had their eye on prospect goalie Zachary Fucale. Unfortunately for new GM Craig MacTavish, the Montreal Canadiens selected Fucale one pick before.

Their player gone, the Oilers then made a series of trades to move down in the draft, and turned that one second round pick into a two third round picks and three fourth round picks.

They traded pick 37 to Los Angeles for picks 57, 88, and 96. MacTavish turned around and traded pick 57 to St. Louis for picks 83, 94, and 113.

With those five picks acquired from trading down, the Oilers ended up with Bogdan Yakimov, Slepyshev, Jackson Houck, Kyle Platzer, and Aidan Muir.

Slepyshev was in his second year of eligibility, but was ranked 17th in his draft year and 45th in his second go-round by Corey Pronman. Pronman described him this way:

He is an above-average skater, with agility and free movement, as his shiftiness makes him hard to check. He has a plus shot and he knows it, as his mentality is often shoot-first, even from distance. He can still make plays, and he does not have tunnel vision, but his playmaking skills are not his best element. His physical game has progressed, and he has added strength since last season. He can protect pucks moderately well. He will display physical effort, although it could be better at times. He also needs to work on his defensive game.

It’s likely the “Russian Factor” lead to Slepyshev being passed over, in addition to the fact he had only scored 24 points in 101 KHL games before being drafted. He broke out the next year, however. He scored 25 points in 58 games and signed an entry-level contract with the Oilers shortly after Peter Chiarelli took over. TSN analyst and former NHLer Ray Ferraro called Slepyshev “a player… He’s not a 3 years in the AHL project.”

Yakimov is a 6’5 center who showed promise but also some inconsistency. He’s in the final year of his entry-level contract and currently on loan to the KHL. It seems unlikely he will return to North America; he returned to the KHL despite having a big chance to make the Oilers with their top three centers at the World Cup. Instead, rookie Drake Caggiula made the team and is playing out of position at center.

Platzer was drafted out of the London Knights, and was pigeon-holed as a checking center there. He was traded to Owen Sound for his last year-and-a-half of his OHL career, and exploded for 100 points in his 95 games with the Attack. He’s slowly gaining a foothold in the AHL and looks like he could turn out to be a solid bottom-six penalty killer and two-way forward.

As far as the other two players acquired: Houck never cracked the point-per-game level in junior, went unsigned by the Oilers, and is currently playing in the ECHL; Muir is playing Div. 1 college hockey. Neither man appears likely to make the NHL in any meaningful capacity.

The player Edmonton originally wanted, Fucale, has struggled mightily post-draft, and is looking more and more like a bust. Los Angeles selected Valentin Zykov at 37, and the Blues picked William Carrier at 57. The Blues traded Carrier at the 2014 trade deadline to Buffalo as part of a package for Ryan Miller, while Zykov was traded at the 2016 deadline with a 5th round pick for Kris Versteeg. Zykov has 23 points in 59 AHL games, and needs to have a bounce-back season this year to continue to be considered a legit NHL prospect. Carrier has 55 points over 126 AHL games and made his NHL debut this season.

MacTavish was widely panned for a variety of unsuccessful roster moves and poor asset management, but this trade, his first, can likely be considered a success.

Three-plus years after the trade, it’s interesting to look back at these kinds of trades and see how things work out. Most insiders agree that the NHL Draft is something of a crapshoot; just look at Pro Hockey Rumors’ re-draft of the 2005 NHL Draft where there are some tremendous players picked long after after some serious busts.

Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

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