Rookies

Oilers Notes: Early Goals, Eberle, Depth

November 14, 2016 at 11:30 am CDT | by Brett Barrett Leave a Comment

It’s been a tale of two seasons so far for the Edmonton Oilers.

The Oilers were 7-1-0 on October 30. That night, they lost an emotional game versus Craig Anderson and the Ottawa Senators. Since then, it’s been tough sledding for the Oilers. Including the Senators game, Edmonton has gone 2-5-1 in the last eight games.

Their recent losing streak has shown a tough tendency: the Oilers have been scored on in the first two minutes eight times so far this season. Six of those early goals have been scored in the last eight games, including the last three games straight.

It’s not clear why the Oilers keep surrendering early goals, but they do seem to be able to score their way back into games. Despite being down so early in half their games, they’ve only trailed at the first intermission twice in those eight games.

Perhaps no player embodies the Oilers recent struggles as much as Jordan Eberle. The longest-serving Oiler has five points in his last five games, but besides a two-goal outburst in last week’s loss against the Penguins, he hasn’t scored a goal since October 18. He spent his summer working on his shot and one-timer to help him playing with Connor McDavid, but Eberle’s shot hasn’t looked any better or helped him score on the power-play.

Eberle was pulled off McDavid’s wing during Sunday night’s loss to the Rangers., and coach Todd McLellan told reporters post-game that “based on tonight, Ebs wouldn’t get a passing grade in my books. Or else he would have stayed [on McDavid’s wing]. You earn your keep, and Ebs didn’t earn it tonight in my mind.”

Having a $6MM sniper like Eberle struggle like this is tough for any team, let alone one with little depth behind him. Beyond Eberle, the Oilers have Jesse Puljujärvi, Zack Kassian, and Tyler Pitlick.

Kassian has looked solid this season, but isn’t suited to playing above a third line checking/ depth scoring role. Pitlick has been a pleasant surprise for the Oilers, making the team in his sixth pro season and working his way up the lineup. His five goals tie him with McDavid, Milan Lucic, and Eberle for second-most on the Oilers behind Patrick Maroon. Pitlick was the one to replace Eberle on McDavid’s line during Sunday night’s loss.

Puljujärvi appeared to be getting the hang of the NHL game before missing a game with a Charley horse. He’s been held pointless since and looks like he could use a stint in the AHL to get his confidence back. That may not happen, unless the Oilers move Leon Draisaitl to the wing or add a veteran NHLer. TSN Edmonton radio host Allan Mitchell (aka Lowetide online) wrote that the Oilers “problems are identifiable, but the solutions will cost assets — and I wonder if Peter Chiarelli is willing to make those sacrifices at this point in the season.”

The Oilers appeared to be counting on college rookie Drake Caggiula to play third line center and move Draisaitl to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ wing, but Caggiula suffered a hip injury in pre-season action and has been out since. It will be interesting to see how Chiarelli handles the Oilers season: despite a tough stretch, they’re still tops in the Pacific Division and are probably two or three pieces away from being a contender. If Chiarelli can add a veteran right winger and an offensive-minded defenseman to help the power-play, then Oilers fans can be confident that the team’s first eight games are more indicative of their real ability than the last eight games.

Metro Division Notes: Vesey, Smith-Pelly, Kennedy

November 11, 2016 at 4:15 pm CDT | by Glen Miller Leave a Comment

The New York Rangers are off to a strong 10 – 4 – 0 start and lead the NHL in scoring, averaging 4.14 goals per contest. Their +24 goal differential is also tops in the league. They recently had a five-game winning streak snapped by Vancouver and during that stretch the team tallied five or more goals in each contest. While the Rangers are getting strong performances throughout their lineup, the contributions they are receiving from several rookies and first-year Blueshirts is a primary reason for their early-season success.

One of those rookies, Jimmy Vesey, has been everything the Rangers could have hoped for, with six goals and 10 points through 14 games. But as Brett Cyrgalis of the New York Post writes, it appears as if the talented winger is beginning to experience the type of ups-and-downs most first-year pros go through.

For the second time in a week, Vesey found himself benched for an extended period of a game when Rangers bench boss Alain Vigneault sat Vesey for much of the third period in Tuesday’s 5 – 3 loss to the Canucks. Vigneault didn’t single out Vesey, or any other Ranger for that matter, but it was clear he was unhappy with the team’s play Tuesday. The benching of the 23-year-old left wing – along with veteran forward Chris Kreider – clearly suggested the coach found something lacking in the performance of Vesey.

Of course, as Cyrgalis points out, Vesey has never had to navigate through a schedule as condensed as this year’s and it’s only natural for an inexperienced player to see his game tail off at times as they learn to adapt to the rigors of the long NHL season. While at Harvard, Vesey never appeared in more than 37 games in a single session and generally, most games were played on the weekends. He’s no stranger to playing back-to-back games but three contests in four is new for the rookie. Despite his occasional struggles, the Blueshirts will still be more than happy if Vesey can maintain his scoring pace through the season.

Elsewhere in the Metro:

It was hoped Devante Smith-Pelly would be able to supply some secondary scoring to the Devils lineup this season but instead the 24-year-old winger has been a healthy scratch for each of the last two games and according to Chris Ryan of NJ.com, it’s beginning to get frustrating for Smith-Pelly. The former second round draft pick of the Anaheim Ducks has just one goal and three points on the season. Even worse, Smith-Pelly has been a liability at even strength with a Corsi For % of just 41.6%. He felt he was beginning to get on track following a three-game points streak but after New Jersey dropped their next two in Florida, the team decided to sit Smith-Pelly in back-to-back wins over Carolina. For his part, Smith-Pelly is trying to stay positive: “Not sure I agree with it, but like I said, it’s a coach’s decision, and I’m not going to cause any trouble or anything like that. I’m going to keep working hard and wait for my chance.” According to Andrew Gross of NorthJersey.com, Smith-Pelly is likely to again be a healthy scratch tonight as the team held only an informal skate this morning and based off the lines from yesterday’s full practice he was skating as an extra forward.
Nine-year NHL veteran Tyler Kennedy, who spent six seasons in Pittsburgh, has resigned himself to the likelihood of retirement, telling Adam Bittner of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “you always as a hockey player want to keep playing as far as you can, but it feels like I’m going to retire, and that’s the thing that’s going to happen, I’m pretty sure. You never know, but I’m almost positive last year was my last year, so I’m kind of settling in. It’s a tough transition to do one thing your whole life and then have to change it. But it’s a good transition and we’ll see what happens.” Kennedy, who also has suited up for San Jose, New Jersey and the Islanders during his career, would finish up his career with 89 goals and 215 points in 527 contests should he decide to call it quits. He appeared in 50 games last season with the Devils but has so far been unable to latch onto an NHL team this season.

Rookie Reports: Auston Matthews, Patrik Laine

November 10, 2016 at 8:15 pm CDT | by natebrown Leave a Comment

Despite a goal drought, Auston Matthews shouldn’t worry too much writes Chris Johnston of Sportsnet. The 19-year-old from Arizona scored an NHL record four goals in his first game, but is currently goalless in his last seven. But Johnston writes that Matthews knows droughts and poor play are part of the professional hockey experience. When he was a member of the ZSC Lions last season, Matthews had a similar streak but it didn’t faze him, going a similar number of contests where he wasn’t “playing well.” Johnston feels like Matthews is a recipient of a lack of puck luck than poor play. The Leaf center leads the team in shots during those seven games and had 32 in his past four. Johnston also adds that Matthews isn’t pouting on or off the ice about his struggles.

Meanwhile, Greg Wyshynski writes that Patrik Laine is playing Alex Ovechkin to Matthews’ Sidney Crosby in terms of being a competitive number two pick in comparison to the number one pick. Wyshynski writes that Laine is overtaking Matthews both from the eye test perspective and on the score sheet. Laine has already tallied 11 goals this season, and leads rookies in both goals and points (15). More impressive, Laine notched his second hat trick of the season, and becomes just the fourth player in NHL history to record two hat tricks before his 19th birthday.

Wyshynski figures that Laine, who idolizes Ovechkin, will lead rookies in either goals or points at the end of the season, making his case for the Calder Trophy. Further, Wyshynski writes:

As we said, the Calder still comes down to which rookies lead in points and goals at the end of the season. It’s hard to imagine, barring injury, Laine won’t lead in one of them. And just a month into the season, you can feel that familiar momentum from a decade ago: Flashy, sniping European winger stealing the headlines from the North American prodigy.

While there are still a great crop of rookies in the NHL this season, it will certainly be fascinating to continue watching Matthews and Laine not only this season, but hopefully throughout long and productive careers.

U20 Notes: McDavid, Laine, Matthews

November 9, 2016 at 11:35 am CDT | by Brett Barrett Leave a Comment

“I think he’s the best 19-year-old hockey player I’ve ever seen.”

Wayne Gretzky had some high praise for Connor McDavid on Tuesday night. In an appearance on the NHL Network (transcribed by Chris Nichols of Today’s Slapshot), Gretzky called McDavid the “catalyst” of the Oilers. Edmonton is off to a 9-4-1 start, tied with Chicago for tops in the Western Conference, and McDavid is a major part of that. He is tied for second in the NHL with 17 points.

Tuesday night marked the first time McDavid, the future face of the NHL, took on Sidney Crosby, the current face of the NHL. The Oilers captain posted three assists while Crosby was held pointless for the first time this season. McDavid won the battle, but his team lost the war on a Benoit Pouliot own-goal with less than two minutes remaining.

Despite his high praise for McDavid, Gretzky still believes Crosby is the best player in the NHL, until “somebody knocks him off that mantle.”

McDavid leads the way for several highly-skilled young players like the top two selections from last June’s draft: Auston Matthews and Patrik Laine. Laine is leading the NHL with 11 goals in 14 games; he already has two hat-tricks in his young career, earning him the nickname “Hat-trick Laine”.

ESPN’s Joe McDonald relayed a story from the World Cup, where Laine represented the Finns. During a team practice, Laine ripped a shot past Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask. Rask admitted he never even saw the puck go past him. Laine’s 11 goals in 14 games ties former Winnipeg Jets sniper Teemu Selanne’s record for goals in his first 14 NHL games. While Laine may not reach Selanne’s mark of 76 goals this season, he will certainly be among the NHL rookie leaders.

In Toronto, Matthews set an NHL record with a four goal outburst in his debut, but has slowed down slightly since then. He has six goals and 11 points in 13 games on a rebuilding Maple Leafs squad.

On the NHL Network, Gretzky complimented a few young players, including McDavid and Matthews for accepting “a responsibility of being that person for their city.”

Still in their prime, Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin are two of the best player in the NHL. With McDavid, Matthews, and Laine now in the picture, the future appears to be in very skilled hands.

Islanders Return Mathew Barzal to WHL

November 9, 2016 at 9:50 am CDT | by Brett Barrett Leave a Comment

The New York Islanders have sent top prospect Mathew Barzal back to the Seattle Thunderbirds of the WHL, according to Arthur Staples.

Barzal made the team out of training camp, but only appeared in two of the Islanders’ 13 games, going pointless with 6 PIM and a -2 rating. Meanwhile, fellow rookie Anthony Beauvillier has 5 points in 10 games and appears to be sticking with the Islanders for the rest of the season

The Thunderbirds will be very happy to get their top center Barzal back; they’re in last place of the WHL’s Western Conference with a 7-7-1 record. Barzal has 199 points in 161 WHL games, and should be a catalyst for their offence. No player on the Thunderbirds is currently at or over a point-per-game.

Barzal was the 16th overall pick of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft. The Islanders acquired that pick (originally Pittsburgh’s) and a high second rounder from the Edmonton Oilers for Griffin Reinhart. They traded the second round pick alongside their own third round pick to move up to take Beauvillier. Meanwhile Reinhart has yet to crack the Oilers defence, and is in danger of not becoming even an everyday NHL defenseman.

Senators Return Chabot To Junior

November 2, 2016 at 9:52 am CDT | by Brett Barrett Leave a Comment

The Ottawa Senators have returned defenseman Thomas Chabot to the Saint John Sea Dogs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

Chabot made the Senators out of camp but only appeared in one game. However, Ottawa GM Pierre Dorion told reporters that Chabot “gained so much valuable experience here” and Dorion expects him to challenge for an NHL position next season.

The 18th overall pick in 2015, Chabot has 24 goals and 108 points in 168 games over three seasons with the Sea Dogs. He’s expected to make his season-debut on Thursday night.

Chabot will be counted on to lead their defense alongside Bruins first rounder Jakub Zboril, and should make Team Canada at the upcoming World Juniors in Toronto and Montreal. Chabot posted 3 assists in 5 games at the 2016 World Juniors. Canada will be looking to avenge their 6-5 quarter-final loss to eventual gold medal-winners Finland.

There are now 13 slide-eligible rookies, after six players hit the 10 game plateau in the last few days.

Snapshots: Sergachev, Frk, Bauer

October 31, 2016 at 11:34 am CDT | by Brett Barrett Leave a Comment

The red-hot Montreal Canadiens have assigned rookie defenseman Mikhail Sergachev to the Windsor Spitfires of the OHL. The ninth overall pick of the 2016 draft started the season with the Canadiens, going pointless in 3 games. The Canadiens are 8-0-1 so far this season.

Sergachev is expected to play a big role for the Spitfires, where he scored 57 points in 67 games last season. He was one of the top-ranked defensemen for last summer’s draft, alongside Olli Juolevi and Jakob Chychrun.

As a result of him not reaching nine games played, his contract will slide to next year. There are now 20 slide-eligible rookies in the NHL.

The Carolina Hurricanes have placed Martin Frk on waivers. Frk went pointless and -3 in 2 games played with the Hurricanes, his first two NHL games. Carolina claimed Frk on waivers earlier this month from the Detroit Red Wings. The Red Wings will get first waiver priority to claim their 2012 second rounder, then the remaining order is the reverse standings order from the end of the 2015-16 season. The waiver priority will change to this season’s standings on November 1st.
Some high profile NHLers may be without endorsement deals as soon as today. Players like Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, and Alex Ovechkin all make between $300K and $500K per season for using Bauer equipment. However, Bauer’s parent company, Performance Sports Group (PSG), has filed for bankruptcy protection. TSN’s Rick Westhead quoted a source as saying a bankruptcy judge can “cancel those endorsement contracts and list the players as creditors.” PSG is expected to have more than $400MM in debt by the end of the year. There are also shareholders preparing to file a lawsuit for inflated sales figures and growth prospects. PSG bough Bauer from Nike in 2008, and also purchased equipment makers Cascade and Easton in recent years.

Slide-Rule: Who’s Staying In The NHL?

October 29, 2016 at 1:13 pm CDT | by Brett Barrett 3 Comments

As the NHL season approaches the nine-game mark, teams will need to make decisions about whether or not to keep their rookies on their roster.

Should a rookie play more than nine regular season or playoff games in one NHL season, then their entry-level contract will begin. If the player plays nine or less NHL games before being sent back to their junior or their European clubs, then their entry-level contract slides to the next season and no longer counts towards the 50-contract limit. There is also an exception whereby rookies without a major junior affiliation can play a full season in the AHL without burning a year of their entry-level contract. This is why Colorado’s Mikko Rantanen still has a three years left on his entry-level, despite playing nine NHL games and 52 AHL games. Anaheim defenseman Jacob Larsson and Buffalo winger Alexander Nylander are able to slide, should they remain in the AHL for the remainder of the year.

There are 21 players still in the NHL who can slide to next year. Here’s a list, with games played (GP) and where they can be sent (information via Cap Friendly):

Arizona:
D Jakob Chychrun (6 GP, Sarnia Sting, OHL)
LW Lawson Crouse (5 GP, Kingston Frontenacs, OHL)
C Dylan Strome (3 GP, Eerie Otters, OHL)

Boston:
D Brandon Carlo (7 GP, Tri-City Americans, WHL)

Calgary:
LW Matthew Tkachuk (7 GP, London Knights, OHL)

Carolina:
LW Sebastian Aho (7 GP, Charlotte Checkers, AHL or Kärpät, Liiga)

Colorado:
LW Mikko Rantanen (1 GP, San Antonio Rampage, AHL)

Columbus:
D Zach Werenski (7 GP, Cleveland Monsters, AHL)

Edmonton:
RW Jesse Puljujärvi (6 GP, Bakersfield Condors, AHL or Kärpät, Liiga)

Florida:
C Denis Malgin (7 GP, Springfield Thunderbirds, AHL or ZSC Lions, NLA)

Minnesota:
C Joel Eriksson Ek (4 GP, Iowa Wild, AHL or Färjestad, SHL)

Montreal:
~~D Mikhail Sergachev (3 GP, Windsor Spitfires, OHL)~~ (Assigned to junior Oct. 31)

New Jersey:
C Pavel Zacha (7 GP, Sarnia Sting, OHL)

New York Islanders:
C Mathew Barzal (2 GP, Seattle Thunderbirds, WHL)
C Anthony Beauvillier (7 GP, Shawinigan Cataractes, QMJHL)

Ottawa:
~~D Thomas Chabot (1 GP, Saint John Sea Dogs, QMJHL)~~ (Assigned to junior Nov. 2)

Philadelphia:
F Travis Konecny (8 GP, Sarnia Sting, OHL)
D Ivan Provorov (8 GP, Brandon Wheat Kings, WHL)

Toronto:
RW Mitch Marner (7 GP, London Knights, OHL)
C Auston Matthews (7 GP, Toronto Marlies, AHL, or Zurich, NLA)

Winnipeg:
LW Patrik Laine (8 GP, Manitoba Moose, AHL or Tappara, Liiga)

Matthews, Marner, Aho, Konecny, and Laine appear to be locks to remain in the NHL for good, while Werenski, Puljujärvi, and Provorov are more likely than not to stay in the NHL. The remainder of the list could go either way.

Should a player stick beyond nine games, there is another key deadline to be aware of: 40 games. Should a player play 40 games, then that season counts towards unrestricted free agency. A player must play seven seasons in order to qualify. This has happened twice in recent memory: Daniel Sprong played 18 games with the Penguins last season, starting the clock on his entry-level contract, but not burning a year towards UFA; the Oilers kept Leon Draisaitl in the NHL for 37 games in 2014-15.

Atlantic Division Snapshots: Maple Leafs, Babcock, Andersen, MacArthur, Howard

October 20, 2016 at 6:15 pm CDT | by Glen Miller Leave a Comment

The Toronto Maple Leafs have won just one of their first three contests but by virtue of two overtime/shootout defeats, the team has accumulated four of a possible six points. As Mark Masters of TSN writes, Leafs bench boss Mike Babcock is “relatively pleased” with where his team sits in the standings.

“We’ve had an opportunity, I believe, to be 3-0. We’ve got four out of six points, which if you told me that before this started I would’ve said, ‘That’s fine,’ but we could’ve had more and I’m a bit greedy and so are the guys.”

Toronto is one of the youngest teams in the league, with six rookies – Auston Matthews, William Nylander, Zach Hyman, Connor Brown, Mitch Marner and Nikita Zaitsev – skating regular shifts for the Leafs. With that much youth it’s likely the team will understandably have plenty of ups and downs during the season. Babcock noted that the team’s top line, for example, which consists of Matthews, Nylander and Hyman, has some room to grow based on Wednesday’s performance against the Jets:

“I thought it was really dangerous offensively and not very good defensively.”

Toronto may or may not be ready to challenge for a playoff berth this season, but the arrow is certainly pointing up for a Leafs team that boasts a ton of young, high-end skill and talent.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic Division:

Also from the Masters piece, goaltender Frederik Andersen has struggled out of the gate as the Leafs new #1 goalie, posting a 3.61 GAA and a Save % of just 87.6% in three starts, but Andersen is not yet worried. “If you just look at stats it doesn’t look pretty, but I thought I played pretty well. Obviously, some small things I got to clean up and me and Stevey (goalie coach Steve Briere) got to work today in practice so small fixes. I’m not too worried.” The Leafs paid a steep price to land Andersen from the Ducks – a 2016 first-round pick and a 2017 second-round pick – then rewarded the Danish netminder with a five-year, $25MM contract with the belief he would solve the team’s longstanding issues in goal. It’s a small sample size of course, but so far Andersen has not lived up to expectations in Toronto.
Veteran forward Clarke MacArthur, concussed during Ottawa’s initial intrasquad practice in training camp, is expected to join the Senators on their three-game, Western Canadian road trip beginning this weekend, writes Ken Warren of the Ottawa Citizen. MacArthur is still not close to playing and may have only recently started skating but the news is still encouraging. This is the fourth documented concussion within the last 18 months for the 31-year-old winger. The hope for the Senators, according to head coach Guy Boucher, is that just having MacArthur around the team on the trip will be good for him: “Obviously, he’s not going to play. We’re talking about being with the guys, being part of the routine. It would be good for him mentally, but we still haven’t 100% decided that.”
For six seasons, Jimmy Howard was the #1 goalie for the Detroit Red Wings before losing the job to Petr Mrazek last season. Howard struggled in the backup role in 2015-16 but coming into the season knowing Mrazek would again be the starter has helped the veteran netminder adapt, according to Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press. Said Howard: “I think I know how to handle the situation a lot better now. Last year I didn’t quite understand how to be the backup, never had been it before. So I fully understand the role now and how to stay mentally sharp in between starts.” Howard qualifies as an expensive backup with a contract that runs through the 2018-19 season and that calls for a cap hit of nearly $5.3MM per. Detroit was rumored to be looking to trade the 32-year-old goalie this summer and could do so again this offseason, assuming he isn’t claimed in the expansion draft by Las Vegas.

The Future Is Now For The NHL

October 19, 2016 at 8:44 pm CDT | by Brett Barrett 2 Comments

The Toronto Maple Leafs are in Winnipeg on Wednesday night to visit the Jets in a battle of two young teams trying to take a big step this season. It’s the first matchup between the top two picks of the 2016 NHL Draft, Auston Matthews and Patrik Laine.

However, Laine and Matthews are far from the only two rookies in the game; 11 of the 40 players dressed are rookie NHLers. The Globe and Mail’s James Mirtle called it “The Calder Bowl.”

League-wide, 592 players have played in at least one game this season, and 11 per cent (67 players) of them are rookies. The NHL defines rookies as players under the age of 26 who have played less than 25 games the prior season, or more than six games in each of the two preceding seasons.

The NHL has been getting younger year-over-year, for three reasons: rookies are cheap, fast, and skilled. With the salary cap not going up as much as expected, and the game faster than ever, rookies are more valuable than ever.

Last year, 226 of the 898 players who appeared in at least one game were rookies. That’s a full one-quarter of the NHL.

Here’s a look at the rookies on each NHL roster:

Anaheim Ducks – D Jacob Larsson and RW Nick Sörensen

Arizona Coyotes – D Jakob Chychrun, LW Lawson Crouse, C Laurent Dauphin, C Christian Dvorak, and C Dylan Strome

Boston Bruins – C Noel Acciari, D Brandon Carlo, C Austin Czarnik, C Danton Heinen, and D Rob O’Gara

Buffalo Sabres – RW Nicholas Baptiste, RW Hudson Fasching, and D Casey Nelson

Calgary Flames – D Brett Kulak and LW Matthew Tkachuk

Carolina Hurricanes – RW Sebastien Aho and RW Martin Frk

Chicago Blackhawks – D Gustav Forsling, C Vincent Hinostroza, and C Tyler Motte

Columbus Blue Jackets – RW Josh Anderson, RW Oliver Bjorkstrand, D Markus Nutivaara, and D Zach Werenski

Dallas Stars – D Stephen Johns, D Esa Lindell, and C Devin Shore

Edmonton Oilers – RW Jesse Puljujärvi and LW Anton Slepyshev