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Duncan Keith Practices But Sits Out Scrimmage

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Scott Powers reports that defenseman Duncan Keith participated in practice today during the Blackhawks first day of training camp. Keith did not take part in the scrimmage, however. Powers also writes that Keith is not expected to take part in the scrimmage on Saturday at the United Center.

Keith is still recovering from surgery last October to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee. Keith has been rehabbing since and did not participate in the World Cup of Hockey. Further, Powers adds that Keith said his knee didn’t feel right a month ago, but that the extra time off allowed him the opportunity to take his time to recovery.

According to the Chicago Tribune’s Scott King, Keith was disappointed he couldn’t take part in the international tournament. King writes that Keith wouldn’t commit to being ready for the Blackhawks’ home opener on October 12, but assistant coach Mike Kitchen said there is no rush to bring Keith along. From Powers:

“We want him to come along at his own pace, so we don’t want him scrimmaging or anything like that. We’ll just have him practice and then he’ll let us know when he’s ready to step in on a scrimmage. We can kind of rev it up a little bit with him in practice doing some individual drills with him if he gets to that point. But I think we just bring him along day by day.”

Keith had 9 goals and 34 assists last season in 67 games.

Red Wings Notes: Nyquist, Tatar, Sproul, Kronwall

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Detroit Red Wings wingers Gustav Nyquist and Tomas Tatar had down years compared to season’s past. But head coach Jeff Blashill believes both he and  will rebound this season writes MLive’s Ansar Khan. Khan reports that Tatar and Nyquist scored a combined 18 goals less in Blashill’s first season and the second year coach responded by challenging his two wingers–and himself–to bring their production back to what it once was. Blashill had this to say in regards to their struggles:

“They both have been good players in this league. I’m going to challenge them like I’ve challenged a lot of our young guys to be an elite player, where you can put a team or a line on your back every night, but they also have to get the opportunity from me to be able to do that. I think they’re both ready for the challenge.”

Tatar and Nyquist were expected to do the heavy lifting as Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk (now retired from the NHL) were entering the twilight of their careers. Khan writes that both Nyquist and Tatar saw a decrease in their time on the ice, with Nyquist losing over a minute and half per game while Tatar experienced a decrease of nearly two minutes less on the ice per game as compared to 2014-15.

Nyquist and Tatar are the key to the Wings’ scoring, and Blashill realizes that. Further, Khan writes, Blashill knows it’s up to him to get his two scoring wings more opportunities on the ice.

In other Wings news:

  • Defenseman Ryan Sproul has inked a two-year deal with Detroit, which means he’ll get another shot at becoming a regular defenseman with the team that drafted him. Khan reports that the first year of Sproul’s contract is a two-way deal while the second reverts to a one-way. Additionally, Sproul will earn $600K in his first season and $650K in the final year. Sproul has been a puzzling case for the Red Wings as he boasts the elusive right hand shot on the blue line that the Wings lacked until grabbing Mike Green and promoting Alexey Marchenko last season. Sproul packs a booming slap shot and the unwillingness by Detroit to give him a chance with the big club has not gone unnoticed by an anxious fan base. Khan reports that this may be Sproul’s last chance to make the team as he will have to pass through waivers should he be beaten out for a spot on the roster. Further, Khan wonders if Detroit will try and trade him for a draft pick. In Grand Rapids last season, Sproul had 35 points (12-25) and registered nine points in nine playoff games. Helene St. James also writes about Sproul and says its the defenseman’s liability on the back end that could cost him a chance in Detroit, but Sproul remains undaunted, citing his hero Green as the inspiration for his game. Should Sproul have a great camp, he could find himself sharing the bench–and possibly the ice–with his idol.
  • The Windsor Star’s Bob Duff writes that Niklas Kronwall’s knee poses a threat to the defenseman’s present and future. Kronwall admitted that his knee is fine–until he skates–and as Duff reports, therein lies the problem. Duff adds that surgical options presented to Kronwall would certainly end his hockey career, and Kronwall isn’t sure himself when he will play again. Playing in the World Cup would have been too risky, so Kronwall passed on the chance. Despite the rest, it seems that the 35-year-old defenseman will have some crucial decisions to make about his knee–and possibly his career–in the near future.

Snapshots: Canes, Hertl, Fleischmann, Gagne

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The Carolina Hurricanes have not qualified for the playoffs since the 2008-09 season but hope to change that this year. As Chip Alexander of The News & Observer reports, the team’s chances of breaking their seven year playoff drought will rely heavily on a talented, albeit young, group of players. Jeff Skinner, Victor Rask, Teuvo Teravainen, Justin Faulk, Brett Pesce, Noah Hanifin and Ryan Murphy are set to see a lot of ice for the Canes and none are over the age of 24.

One of the squad’s few experienced players, Lee Stempniak, a veteran of 11 NHL seasons, says he has never been part of a team with so many youngsters expected to fill important roles:

“Not really, not with young guys playing this prominent of a role, especially the defensemen. It’s young. I think it’s a team with a lot of potential. I think a lot of the success for our team is going to be harnessing our potential. Guys need to take the next step individually and the new guys coming in need to fit in and complement the players who are here and find a role.”

If anyone would know, it would be Stempniak, who has suited up for 10 different clubs during his career, including four over the last two campaigns. He hopes his stay in Carolina is a bit longer after singing a two-year deal worth $5MM this summer.

Of course young teams are inherently inexperienced and some might feel that factor could derail Carolina’s chances of a successful campaign. Not so, says another of the team’s elders, defenseman Ron Hainsey, who at 35 will is 11 years the senior of the second oldest regular blue liner, Justin Faulk:

“This is a young man’s league. I don’t think it’s a danger. Speed, skill is the name of the game.”

Despite the talent and skill, Carolina’s path to a playoff berth will not be an easy one. The Metro Division fielded five postseason qualifiers in 2015-16 while the Hurricanes finished 10 points behind the eighth-seeded Philadelphia Flyers.

Another factor which may work against the Canes is their goaltending. Carolina ranked 29th among 30 teams in save percentage but did nothing this offseason to upgrade the position. In fact, the team elected to re-sign longtime netminder Cam Ward to a new, two-year contract; a deal many pundits thought was curious.

Elsewhere in the NHL:

  • Positive news in San Jose where Tomas Hertl skated today at the Sharks first training camp workout and showed no lingering ill effects from the MCL injury he suffered during the Stanley Cup Finals, reports Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News. Hertl finished fifth on the club in scoring with 46 points during the regular season and contributed another 11 in the postseason. According to Pashelka, Hertl is preparing to play either center or wing though today he skated as the pivot between Joel Ward and Nikolay Goldobin. Hertl skipped the World Cup, electing not to represent the Czech Republic in the tournament in order to further rehab his knee injury. It appears the extra rest may have helped as Hertl looks to be on track to open the season at 100%.
  • Tomas Fleischmann, who was set to appear at camp with the Minnesota Wild, has apparently failed his physical, according to Mike Russo via Twitter. Russo is unsure if that would be the end of Fleischmann’s brief time with Minnesota or not. Fleischmann was again attempting to catch on with a club after being forced to accept a PTO offer rather than a guaranteed contract. Last year he earned a one-year deal with Montreal in training camp and would record 10 goals and 20 points in 57 games with the Canadiens. He was dealt to Chicago at the trade deadline with Dale Weise and would tally another four goals and five points for the Blackhawks.
  • The Ottawa Senators announced via their team Twitter account that they have signed forward Gabriel Gagne to an ELC. Gagne was the Sens second-round pick in 2015, going 36th overall. He split last season between Victoria and Shawinigan of the QMJHL and combined to register 36 points in 42 regular season contests. Gagne was even better in the postseason, tallying 22 points in 21 games.

 

Snapshots: Lovejoy, Bennett, Canucks, Lombardi

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It’s not uncommon for players to reunite with former coaches and/or a general manager who has previously acquired that player at a previous stop. There is familiarity between coach and player and in the case of GMs, a belief in the abilities, sometimes untapped, of the player. That scenario played out this summer when the New Jersey Devils brought in two former Penguins, defenseman Ben Lovejoy in free agency and winger Beau Bennett via trade, reuniting them with general manager Ray Shero and head coach John Hynes. As Andrew Gross writes in his Fire and Ice blog, those additions should have come as no surprise to anyone familiar with the situation.

Shero spent eight seasons at the helm in Pittsburgh, selecting Bennett in the first-round of the 2010 entry draft. Clearly Shero still believes in Bennett’s upside as evidenced by the Devils giving up a third-round pick – a substantial asset – to Pittsburgh in exchange for the winger. Bennett scored six goals and 12 points in 33 regular season games in Pittsburgh in 2015-16 but appeared in just one postseason game as rookies Conor Sheary and Bryan Rust passed him on the team’s depth chart.

The Devils finished last in the NHL in goals scored during the 2015-16 season, and even after adding LW Taylor Hall in the summer, the team could use more scoring depth. Bennett hopes to be able to provide that and reward Shero’s faith in him.

Lovejoy cited the presence of Hynes as instrumental in his decision to sign with the Devils in the offseason.

“(Hynes) was my defense coach when I played in Wilkes-Barre. I played for him for a full season. He knows my game. It’s not going to be a surprise here. He knows exactly what he’s getting. That’s the reason I’m here. I know the coaching staff through Wilkes-Barre when Ray and (assistant GM) Tom (Fitzgerald) were running the organization the first time I was in Pittsburgh. Those are guys I trust and know. I’m here because they trust me.”

The veteran of eight NHL seasons will be asked to add leadership and experience to a young-ish defense corps that only has one other defender – Andy Greene – over the age of 26. Lovejoy doesn’t bring much of an offensive game to the table but has generally been a responsible blue liner and has posted a negative plus-minus rating just once in his career.

Elsewhere around the NHL:

  • GM Jim Benning and head coach Willie Desjardins are well aware the team has some ground to cover if they want to make the playoffs in 2016-17 after missing the postseason by 12 points this past season. But as Derek Jory of the Canucks official team site reports, both manager and coach are cautiously optimistic about the upcoming campaign. Desjardins: “We have more depth at every position and I feel we’re stronger at every position.” Benning, for his part, believes adding Loui Eriksson and Erik Gudbranson this summer along with a return to health for center Brandon Sutter will bring needed leadership as well as depth to the club: “We’ve added more depth to our group and adding Loui Eriksson, who I feel is a good player, a healthy Brandon Sutter, adding Erik Gudbranson; we’ve added some leadership in that room to help our young players along, so I’m real excited.” 
  • Two days after watching Team USA elimination from medal contention at the World Cup of Hockey, the man ultimately responsible for assembling the team, Kings GM Dean Lombardi, defended his roster construction strategy: “We’ve got some darn good players, but the reality is that matchup on a skill basis, if you want to go head-to-head and play a skill game, your odds of winning that game when you look at those matchups is not very good.” While Lombardi is likely correct in his assertion that Team USA wouldn’t have been able to match the skill and talent of the Canadiens no matter who they brought to the tournament, the choice to emphasize grit and heart ignores the NHL’s recent shift to a quicker game that values speed over other traits. Of course we’ll never know whether a Team USA roster including Tyler Johnson, Kyle Okposo, Kevin Shattenkirk and Phil Kessel – for example – would have been better equipped to beat Canada, but it’s clear they couldn’t have done any worse.

Compelling RFA Cases For 2017: Johansen, Parayko, Teravainen

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Jacob Trouba, Johnny Gaudreau and Nikita Kucherov highlight a strong and deep group of restricted free agents that remain unsigned at the moment. While they will each ultimately cash in and receive substantial contracts for the 2016-17 campaign and likely beyond, their status as restricted free agents has certainly complicated their respective negotiation processes.

Next summer, another quality group of players are set to hit restricted free agency, unless they can agree to terms on a new deal prior to the 2017-18 league year. In a series of posts, Pro Hockey Rumors will profile the top pending 2017 RFAs and examine what kind of contract they could elicit assuming they put up a strong performance during their platform year. Today we finish with the Central Division and move to the Metro.

Ryan Johansen (Nashville) – In Ryan Johansen, the Predators finally have that elusive #1 center they have lacked since the organization’s inception nearly two decades ago. In a rare “hockey trade” that benefited both parties, Nashville acquired Johansen from Columbus in exchange for Seth Jones, a potential franchise defenseman and something the Blue Jackets have sorely needed.

Johansen has tallied at least 60 points in each of the last three seasons and scored a career-best 71 as a 22-year-old during the 2014-15 campaign. On the downside, his goal scoring output has decreased from a career-high 33 in 2013-14 to 26 the following season and to just 14 in 2015-16. That’s likely the direct result of a shooting percentage of just 7.6%, a figure which was more than five points below the combined shooting percentage the two previous seasons. Simply converting shots at his normal rate would have resulted in a 24 – 25 goal campaign.

The Predators have done a marvelous job of locking up their core pieces to bargain long-term deals. Filip Forsberg, Roman Josi, Craig Smith and Mattias Ekholm have all recently inked extensions with Nashville at AAVs below what each player could have received on the open market. The trade-off for higher salaries during RFA years is cost-certainty and buying out free agent years below market value. Expect Nashville to employ the same strategy with Johansen.

Sean Monahan and Nathan MacKinnon have each established themselves as 60-point producers and received extensions with an AAV in excess of $6MM. Aleksander Barkov, coming off a career-best 59-point season, signed a six-year, $35.4MM deal with Florida. All three, however, were coming off their ELCs while Johansen is entering the final season of his second contract. That means any long-term deal would buy out more free agent seasons and typically that tends to be more expensive. Based on the comparable deals and his proximity to free agency, a long-term contract for Johansen could well approach or even reach $7MM annually.

Colton Parayko (St. Louis) – Parayko came out of nowhere to earn a regular job on the Blues blue line and posted a solid scoring line of 9-24=33 in 79 contests as a rookie. He boasts a hard shot from the point and tremendous size at 6-foot-6 and 226 pounds. Currently, Parayko is skating in the World Cup as a member of Team North America, flashing his abilities on the international stage.

With only a single season of NHL experience, gauging Parayko’s potential value is difficult. However, if he approximates his 2015-16 production levels this upcoming season, the four-year, $19.5MM contract awarded to Sami Vatanen by the Ducks could prove to be a reasonable comparable.

Vatanen posted campaigns of 37 and 38 points in 2014-15 and 2015-16 respectively before inking his current deal. Like Parayko, Vatanen is also a right-handed defenseman, which is more difficult to find than their counterparts on the left side.

St. Louis could counter with Ryan Ellis as a comparable. Ellis signed a five-year, $12.5MM contract in October of 2014 following a 27-point campaign with the Predators. But most would argue Ellis is worth more than that AAV and consequently Parayko would be too. It’s also possible the Blues would prefer to go with a bridge contract with a lower AAV than Parayko would be able to get on a long-term deal.

Teuvo Teravainen (Carolina) – The Hurricanes took advantage of Chicago’s salary cap woes and in exchange for agreeing to take on the final season of Bryan Bickell’s $4MM-a-year-deal, were rewarded with the skilled Teravainen. Much was expected from the young Finn following the 2014-15 postseason that saw Teravainen record 10 points in 18 games as the Hawks won their third Stanley Cup in six seasons. While a 35-point campaign as a 21-year-old is solid, Teravainen’s skill suggests there is even more scoring potential.

It makes sense to stick with the Hurricanes when looking for a comparable since doing so offers insight to how the club values their RFAs. Earlier this summer, Carolina agreed to a six-year, $24MM extension with Swedish center Victor Rask. Rask was coming off a breakout campaign which saw the 23-year-old pivot post career-highs in both goals (21) and assists (27). More importantly, his first NHL season mirrored Teravainen’s in terms of production as Rask netted 11 goals and 33 points in 80 games for the Canes in 2014-15. If Teravainen follows the same path and boosts his offensive production into the 45-point range, a contract similar to that of Rask’s would seem a safe bet.

Injury Notes: Backlund, Jurco, Zetterberg, Leafs, Grabovski, Smid

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Flames center Mikael Backlund has suffered a concussion and is likely to miss the remainder of the World Cup of Hockey, according to a report from Expressen’s Henrik Sjoberg and Gunnar Nordstrom (link in Swedish).  The injury was reportedly sustained against Finland on a hit from Sami Lepisto; as a result, Backlund missed yesterday’s game against Team North America and was replaced in the lineup by St. Louis center Patrik Berglund.

Backlund has been held pointless in four games with the Swedes including pre-tournament action while playing in a bottom six role.  There is no timetable for how long he might miss beyond the possibility of missing Sweden’s remaining games at the World Cup.

While the 27 year old played in all 82 games last season, he is no stranger to  being injured as he has missed time due to a broken finger, injuries to the arm, hand, and knee, as well as to his abdominal wall all since 2011-12.

[Related: Team Sweden Depth Chart]

In other injury news:

  • Detroit winger Tomas Jurco isn’t expected to play until at least November as he continues to recover from back surgery, reports MLive’s Ansar Khan. Jurco struggled with Detroit last season, recording just six points in 44 games while spending time as a scratch.  When healthy, he’ll likely battle for a bottom six spot with the Wings.
  • In a separate tweet from Khan, Henrik Zetterberg, who withdrew from the World Cup (and was replaced by the now-concussed Backlund) due to a knee injury, will not be participating in team practices or scrimmages for the time being. He will, however, continue to skate on his own.  Last week, Zetterberg noted that he expected to be ready for the season opener although his likely level of participation in the exhibition games was unknown.
  • The Maple Leafs released their training camp roster and as expected, it was noted that defenseman Stephane Robidas (who is now a consultant for the team) plus forwards Nathan Horton and Joffrey Lupul have all failed their physicals and will start the season on injured reserve. It was reported yesterday that Lupul was heading for the IR while it’s unlikely that Horton will play again due to continuing back issues.
  • Islanders center Mikhail Grabovski continues to deal with concussion symptoms, tweets Newsday’s Arthur Staple.  He has not been given the green light to do any sort of skating yet so he’ll likely be out for a while although there is no timetable for his possible return.  Grabovski has two years left on his contract with a cap hit of $5MM.
  • Calgary blueliner Ladislav Smid will not play this season, reports Postmedia’s Kristen Odland.  A decision on retirement hasn’t been made and it’s more likely that he will spend the year on LTIR.  Smid played in just 22 games last season and suffered a neck injury towards the end of the year.

Atlantic Division Notes: Lupul, Marchand, Galchenyuk

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TSN’s Frank Seravelli reports that Joffrey Lupul is rumored to have failed his pre-season physical and expects to start the NHL season on injured reserve. The oft-injured Maple Leafs forward only played in 46 games last year, scoring 11 goals and 3 assists.

Lupul has faced a variety of injuries in his career, but none more severe than his back issues which have sidelined him for significant periods of time. When healthy, Lupul is an excellent contributor, but his repeated injuries often derail successful campaigns.

Lupul began his Maple Leafs career with a bang, netting 45 goals and 105 points in his first 110 contests spread out over parts of three seasons in Toronto after a 2011 deadline trade with Anaheim. His strong play led to a massive five-year contract extension worth $26.25MM in total despite the fact the skilled forward had seen action in no more than 66 games in a single season since 2008-09. Unfortunately for both parties, Lupul has missed nearly a full season’s worth of games (76 in total) since inking that extension and has produced just 0.46 points-per-game during that time.

The Maple Leafs are currently over the cap by $827K, but moving Lupul to LTIR will free up $5.25MM in space. Assuming Stephane Robidas also starts the season on LTIR, the Leafs go from slightly over the cap to over $8MM under the cap. The Leafs will have the option of freeing up additional space by placing Nathan Horton on LTIR as well, which would further lower their overall cap commitment to around $60MM.

Lupul was originally the seventh overall pick in the 2002 NHL entry draft, chosen by the Anaheim Ducks. Ironically, he has twice been included in trades involving Chris Pronger, first going from Anaheim to the Oilers in exchange for the Hall of Fame defenseman, then returning to the Ducks as part of a package that saw Pronger head to Philadelphia. Toronto would acquire Lupul and Jake Gardiner from Anaheim as part of a trade for veteran blue liner Francois Beauchemin.

More from the Atlantic Division:

  • Joe Haggerty joined local Boston sports talk show, Toucher and Rich, and discussed Brad Marchand’s pending free agency. Marchand, of course, ranked 6th in the NHL in goals scored in 2015-16, tallying a career high 37. He is currently playing on what many consider to be the best line in the World Cup, skating on the left of all-world pivot Sidney Crosby with Bruins teammate Patrice Bergeron on the right. Haggerty opines that the Bruins need to lock up the agitating winger before he hits the free agent market, suggesting it will take a seven-year contract with an AAV of $7MM per season. He also listed the Penguins as a potential suitor should Marchand make it to free agency. Haggerty cites the fact both Marchand and Crosby are originally from Nova Scotia and that the success the two players are experiencing at the World Cup might prompt an impassioned plead to Penguins management from their best player to go get Marchand. Of course while Marchand might be getting a glimpse of how fun it might be to play with Crosby every day, he’s also reminded of just how good playing with Bergeron is.
  • It appears the Montreal Canadiens have anointed Alex Galchenyuk as the team’s #1 center, with head coach Michel Therrien saying he plans to start the talented American on the top line with Max Pacioretty and Brendan Gallagher, as Stu Cowan of the Montreal Gazette reports. Galchenyuk, who has moved back-and-forth between wing and center since breaking into the league in 2012-13, may have finally earned the trust of the coaching staff on the heels of a strong 30-goal campaign, which included netting 18 over the team’s final 27 games. Veteran center Tomas Plekanec will then assume the role of #2 pivot and is expected to have new offseason additions Andrew Shaw and Alexander Radulov on his wings.

*Mike Furlano contributed to this post.

North America Injury Notes

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The young and talented Team North America is set to face Group B leader Sweden today, but they will do so without their starting goaltender. Penguins playoff hero Matt Murray was injured in the team’s last World Cup game against Russia and is currently being treated as day-to-day. The injury is to his thumb on his blocker hand, which makes it difficult for him to grip the stick and handle the puck. With NHL training camp right around the corner, the team, as well as the Pittsburgh brass, feels that those essential skills are worth a few days of rest and rehab.

For their final round robin game, which will determine whether they move on to the semifinals or head home, North America will go to Ducks goalie John Gibson, with Jets youngster Connor Hellebuyck backing him up. Gibson, in fact, has more pro experience than Murray and may be a better option for North America going forward. Murray has allowed five goals through two games with an .886 save percentage, so a fresh face starting in net might provide a boost for the team.

North America has other injury concerns as well:

  • Blue Jackets defenseman Ryan Murray is also dealing with an injury. While the exact details have not been disclosed, the young blue liner has developed a bit of an “injury-prone” reputation early in his hockey career. Although coach Todd McLellan expects Murray to play and has confirmed that he will at least skate in warm-ups, his status is a game time decision.
  • If Murray cannot play, North America will be forced to dress 13 forwards and five defenseman, with the Panthers’ Aaron Ekblad having already left the team with a neck injury. Rangers forward J.T. Miller would be pressed into action, and the defense would have to rely on some heavy minutes from each of their five members.

World Cup Notes: USA Loss, Clinching Scenarios, Price

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Hours before being eliminated from the World Cup at the hands of their bitter rivals, Team USA forward T.J. Oshie told reporters, “If it comes down to 100 per cent skill, I think they win; 100 per cent grit, I think we win.”

During the first intermission, with Canada up 3-1, smiling Team Canada forward Joe Thornton told Sportsnet, “We have a good mixture of skill and grit on our team.”

While Canada entered the tournament as the favorite thanks to their stacked roster of elite NHLers, the USA entered as underdogs with a roster designed to defeat Canada. Highly skilled forwards like Phil Kessel, Tyler Johnson, and Kyle Okposo were left at home; so were elite offensive defensemen like Keith Yandle, Justin Faulk, and Kevin Shattenkirk. In their places went Justin Abdelkader, Brandon Dubinsky, David Backes, Jack Johnson, and Erik Johnson. Two of those were healthy scratched last night, while the other three combined for six hits, 4 PIM, and a -3 rating.

According to Sportsnet’s Luke Fox, a reporter asked coach John Tortorella after the game if he would “change the makeup” of the team in hindsight, and he received a short answer.

“No.”

NHL MVP and American assistant captain Patrick Kane told reporters “I’ll never say a bad thing about [Tortorella]. He’s just a great coach, and we didn’t show up for him.”

Puck Daddy’s Greg Wyshnyski was a little harsher, calling the game “60 minutes of apathetic Americans flinging shots and Canadians poking a dead carcass with a stick.”

It’s time for USA Hockey to adapt to the new style of international game. They need look no further than the reason behind Team North America’s success in this tournament: fast and skilled. While the Americans didn’t have the choice of taking Johnny Gaudreau, Jack Eichel, Auston Matthews, Dylan Larkin, or Brandon Saad, one has to wonder how many of those would have made the cut of a team based on grinding and physical play. That needs to change, if the Americans want to have a chance to beat the Canadians at future tournaments.

This edition of Team USA was designed to beat Canada; it turns out the only team they’ve been able to beat is themselves.

  • The clinching scenarios for tonight’s games are as follows: North America can clinch a berth in the semi-finals with a regulation win over Sweden, or be eliminated if they lose by five goals or more. Finland will be eliminated if North America gets at least one point. Sweden can clinch Group B if they earn at least one point versus the North Americans tonight. Meanwhile in Group A, with the eliminated Americans and Czechs set to play a meaningless game, the winner of Canada and Europe will clinch the Group.
  • Incredible stat from Tom Gulitti’s game recap over at the World Cup website: Ryan McDonagh’s goal in the first period ended Carey Price’s international shutout streak at 228.41. That dates back to Canada’s semi-final win over Latvia at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Price proceeded to shutout the Americans in the semi-finals, Sweden in the finals, and the Czechs in the World Cup opener.

East Notes: Kessel, Daley, Pulkkinen, Mueller, Ekblad

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Penguins right winger Phil Kessel and defenseman Trevor Daley are both on track in their recovery from injuries sustained in the postseason, writes Bill West of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.  Kessel had hand surgery back in July and isn’t expected to participate in much (if any) preseason action but anticipates he’ll be ready when the puck drops to start the season:

“I’ll obviously be out there skating in camp. I’ll progress as it goes. But I’ll be ready to start the first game of the year. … (The hand) feels a lot better now than it did last year.”

As for Daley, who broke his ankle in the Eastern Conference Finals, he has been training hard on the ankle for the last three or four weeks.  He’s set to begin his first full season with Pittsburgh after being acquired from Chicago last December.

More from the Eastern Conference:

  • Red Wings right winger Teemu Pulkkinen has been cleared for contact following shoulder surgery back in June, notes MLive’s Ansar Khan. Pulkkinen struggled in his first full NHL campaign last season, spending a lot of time as a healthy scratch.  He got into just 36 games, recording six goals and six assists, a disappointment considering he had scored just over a point per game in the AHL.  The 24 year old is hoping to be able to get into a couple of games towards the end of the preseason with the hoping of being available for Detroit’s season opener.  His recovery appears to be well ahead of schedule as he was originally expected to miss 4-6 months.
  • Forward Peter Mueller, who is attending training camp on a PTO, is open to signing an AHL contract, reports WEEI’s DJ Bean. The willingness to play in the minors hasn’t always been there as two years ago Mueller requested his release after training camp with St. Louis, who had planned to send him to their AHL affiliate.  Last season, Mueller played with Malmo of the SHL, picking up 13 goals and 12 assists in 43 games.  His positional versatility could come in handy for the Bruins as Mueller has spent time at all three forward positions in recent years.
  • The Panthers have decided to bring Aaron Ekblad back to Florida, which all but confirms that he will miss the remainder of the World Cup of Hockey, tweets Harvey Fialkov of the Sun Sentinel. Ekblad, who was on Team North America, missed Monday’s game due to an upper body injury.  Still with North America’s back end, Columbus defenseman Ryan Murray missed practice today but is expected to play tomorrow vs Sweden, reports ESPN’s Craig Custance.

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