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Senators Preparing To Move Players

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Following a convincing 5-1 loss to the Boston Bruins last night – the same team they knocked out in the playoffs last season yet trail by 15 points in 2017-18 – the Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch writes that GM Pierre Dorion is ready to make some changes. It has been well reported to this point that the Senator’s struggles this season are real and, with the franchise’s future offering more questions than answers, there is a possibility of a fire sale and rebuild in the near future.

While earlier reports indicated that all-world defenseman Erik Karlsson may even be up for grabs, Garrioch says that Dorion has changed his tune, with the word being that Karlsson and young winger Mark Stone are the only untouchables on the Senators roster. Logic would dictate that promising rookies Thomas Chabot and Filip Chlapik are likely on that list as well, but the entire remainder of the roster could be up for grabs at the right price.

The shortlist offered up by Garrioch of the top trade bait includes winger Mike Hoffman, centers Derick Brassard and Jean-Gabriel Pageau and young defenseman Cody Ceci. While they might be harder to move, the team would surely like to get rid of Bobby Ryan and Dion Phaneuf as well. Of that group, the most intriguing name is definitely Hoffman, who by every metric is a top six scoring winger and would be of major interest to many teams across the league. While he may net the Senators a strong return, Hoffman is signed through 2020 at a reasonable $5.2MM and may be a player that Ottawa would regret moving on from.

Changes are coming to Ottawa. It could be a major trade tomorrow or it could be a series of smaller moves up until the Trade Deadline or perhaps even this off-season. However, Dorion is ready to make moves now and, with few pure sellers at this point in the season, the Senators will be a team to watch for the remainder of the 2017-18 campaign.

Injuries Unending In Boston; Krejci, DeBrusk Join Sidelined

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Boston Bruins beat writer Joe Haggerty could not have said it better: “You can’t make this stuff up”. The unbelievable rash of injuries continues in Boston, as center David Krejci and rookie winger Jake DeBrusk have been ruled out for Wednesday night’s match-up against the Atlantic-leading Tampa Bay Lightning.

The sheer number of injuries suffered by the Bruins this season, especially among the forward corps, is hard to comprehend. 22 games into the 2017-18 campaign the only forward to have played every game are David Pastrnak and energy-liners-turned-top-nine-mainstays Riley Nash, Sean Kuraly, and Tim Schaller. While there is no word yet on the extent of DeBrusk’s injury, the young scorer has been one of the Bruins’ more dependable forwards with 12 points in 21 games, but of course he now joins the long list of casualties. Currently out of the lineup alongwith DeBrusk and Krejci, who had only just returned to action, are 2016-17 leading scorer Brad Marchand, veteran David Backes, power play catalyst Ryan Spooner, promising rookies Anders Bjork and Peter Cehlarik and, of course, defenseman Adam McQuaid as well. Spooner just recently re-injured the groin that had kept him out all but eight games on the season. In the same game, Cehlarik suffered a leg injury that should keep him out at least a month. Marchand and Bjork have been sidelined since November 13th and there has been no concrete information on when exactly either can be expected back.  Backes has made a remarkably quick recovery from major surgery to cure his diverticulitis, but he too is not quite ready to return and there are doubts about how he will play once he is back. Other Bruins forward who have missed time already this season: Patrice Bergeron (5 games), Noel Acciari (13 games), and Matt Beleskey (2 games).

The defense has done a bit better though, with captain Zdeno Chara and talented youngsters Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo all suiting up for every game. Kevan Miller has missed only one game, while Torey Krug’s four-game absence seems like nothing. A platoon of Paul Postma, Rob O’Gara and Matt Grzelcyk has performed well enough in the absence of McQuaid.

In total, the Bruins have missed a whopping 100 man-games already this season, far more than any other team in the league and heavily weighted toward their forwards. That makes it all the more impressive that the team is still sitting pretty in the Atlantic Division. In terms of points percentage, the B’s are third in the Atlantic and just behind the two-time Cup-champion Pittsburgh Penguins overall. Their 60 goals for may a bottom-five number in the NHL, but what would you expect from a two-way team missing most of its offensive talent? A recent winning streak showed that the Bruins and head coach Bruce Cassidy can get it done, even with a makeshift roster. There is no sign of when Boston will get back to full strength, if ever this season, but if they do it could be dangerous for the rest of the NHL.

Snapshots: Team USA, Fines, Murray

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With rosters for the upcoming World Junior tournament released in the next few weeks, Bob McKenzie of TSN took a look at the potential names for Team USA. The club is expected to be one of the favorites after taking home the gold medal last season at both the U20 and U18 events. McKenzie figures the top line to be a trio of Casey Mittelstadt–Logan Brown–Kailer Yamamoto, a group that would likely hold their own in the NHL let alone a junior tournament. Brown and Yamamoto both played in the NHL this season, while Mittelstadt is starring at the University of Minnesota.

One player McKenzie doesn’t mention is Sean Dhooghe, the 5’2″ forward that earned the respect of his teammates at San Jose prospect camp this summer. Dhooghe isn’t one to overlook because of his size though, as he has eight points in 17 games as an undrafted freshman for the University of Wisconsin, and led the U18 team in scoring at last year’s tournament. Dhooghe, 18, could also attend next year if he’s not selected this time around, as there is plenty of talent to choose from for this year’s tournament. It will be held in Buffalo starting December 26th.

Minor Transactions: 11/28/17

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Like always, we’ll keep an eye on all the minor transactions around the league right here. Make sure to bookmark or refresh throughout the day to keep up with all the movement.

Janne Kuokkanen Sent To Charlotte Checkers

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As we noted in our previous looks at rookies whose contracts were eligible to slide this year, the Carolina Hurricanes have the opportunity to send 19-year old Janne Kuokkanen to the AHL instead of returning him to the London Knights. Kuokkanen played last season for the Knights, but was actually drafted out of the Finnish Liiga and thus was eligible for AHL play. That’s exactly what they’ve done according to Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News & Observer, putting a halt on his game counter for this year.

Kuokkanen has played just four games for the Hurricanes this season, fewer than the 10 needed for the first year of his entry-level contract to kick in. Minor league games do not count towards this threshold. Though he’s shown an ability to perform at the NHL level, Kuokkanen was given limited opportunities in the Hurricanes’ lineup, often sitting in the press box while Josh Jooris entered the lineup.

While this ends this short chapter of his NHL career, it by no means guarantees Kuokkanen will be in the AHL long. An injury, or some inconsistent play from one of the veterans could easily lead to another callup. For now though, the teenager will have to find his way along the AHL landscape.

Philadelphia Calls Up Samuel Morin

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Given the rash of recent injuries on the Philadelphia blue line, it came as no surprise when the Flyers announced this evening that they had recalled rookie defenseman Samuel Morin from the AHL’s Adirondack Phantoms. Morin is expected to suit up for the team when they host the Arizona Coyotes tomorrow night.

In Saturday night’s contest against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Shayne Gostisbehere left early with injury and his status is still unknown. With Andrew MacDonald out long-term with a lower body injury, an extended absence for Gostisbehere would have left the Flyers down two starters with only five defenseman on the roster. Morin rounds that number back up to six and provides Philly with another capable defenseman.

However, the Flyers may need to think about looking around for another defenseman, if they aren’t already. The “future is now” mentality may be exciting, but Philadelphia will square off with the Coyotes tomorrow with three rookies – Morin, Robert Hagg, and Travis Sanheim – and 20-year-old Ivan Provorov, a severe lack of experience on the back end. Add in just two stay-at-home defenders in Radko Gudas and Brandon Manning as their veteran support, and Philadelphia could benefit from another body on the blue line. With four waiver-exempt assets, the Flyers have the flexibility to add another defenseman without causing themselves any sort of roster crunch down the road.

Draft Pick Landscape For 2018

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The 2018 draft is shaping up to be one of the most impressive in recent memory. Though Andrei Svechnikov, a potential first-overall pick will be out for some time broken hand, there are many other top names that will intrigue come draft day. While last year’s class was deeper than some believed, and already has more impact players than expected, 2018 looks even better. There are three or four franchise-altering players, and several others that could turn into superstars in the league.

Knowing that, teams have been awfully stingy when it comes to trading away 2018 picks. For the clearest example, just take a look at the Vegas Golden Knights, who stockpiled picks in their first few months. While they came away with three 2017 first-rounders, and will pick seven times in the first three rounds of 2019, they currently hold just two picks in the first 93, with their third likely not coming until late in the fourth round (it originally belonged to Pittsburgh, who are a good bet to make the playoffs once again).

Still, there has been some movement. Below we’ll list all the team’s 2018 picks and where they’ve come from. Remember, that all non-playoff teams are entered into a lottery for the first three picks of the draft, but subsequent rounds revert to the final standings. Playoff teams are ordered slightly differently, but the Stanley Cup winner and finalists will have the last two picks.

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Performance Bonuses Still A Consideration For Maple Leafs

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The Toronto Maple Leafs are one of the teams in the league who are almost always right up against the salary cap ceiling. With their tremendous financial backing from corporate ownership, and a rabid fan base that is hard to scare away with even the most futile rosters, they use their situation to get every advantage possible. With that in mind, they’ve previously completed moves that a less wealthy team would just not be able to—moving David Clarkson (who was healthy but ineffective at the time) for the injured Nathan Horton for instance.

Auston MatthewsLast year brought the next wave of Maple Leafs stars, with rookies like Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, Connor Brown and Nikita Zaitsev all finding great success as freshmen. While all of them were on inexpensive entry-level contracts, their excellent play earned them all hefty performance bonuses. Leading the way was Matthews, who earned $2.85MM thanks to his 40-goal performance. Chris Johnston of Sportsnet broke down the bonuses for the Maple Leafs, which totaled a whopping $5.37MM on the year, the second most of all-time.

Because the Maple Leafs were using long-term injured reserve (from the aforementioned Horton along with a few others) last season and were above the salary cap ceiling, that entire bonus pool of $5.37MM was applied to this year’s salary cap as an overage. That hurts their ability to manipulate the cap, but not nearly as much as it could in the future.

The Maple Leafs are still in relative safety when it comes to the cap, with their stars still vastly underpaid and a pair of long-term injuries to use as a cushion of sorts. They were able to use some of that room to bring in Patrick Marleau and Ron Hainsey to augment the roster, while seeing almost their entire core return from last year. The problem arises when these entry-level contracts start to expire.

Much has been written over the past year on the Maple Leafs impending contract negotiations with Matthews, Nylander and Marner, but little of it has concerned the impact bonuses could still have. With the team again over the cap and using LTIR, any bonuses earned will again be carried over. With the roster they’re currently carrying, there is the possibility for up to $6.25MM in bonuses, though it doesn’t look early like they’ll have to pay the maximum.

Matthews, with his explosive start looks like a good bet to max out at $2.85MM, though he’d have to finish in the top-10 in goals once again. He’s currently tied for fourth, though obviously it is still early. Nylander and Marner each could earn up to $850K again.

Calle RosenThe two wildcards are Swedish defenders Andreas Borgman and Calle Rosen. The pair have rotated in and out of the lineup early on, and are generally limited to the bottom pairing. If that changes because of injury, or they show improved ability and force head coach Mike Babcock into giving them more minutes they too could each earn up to $850K.

While performance bonuses are never exactly a bad thing—they do after all reward success—the Maple Leafs don’t want to have to deal with overages as they head into the next contracts for their big three. Though right now they project to have over $26MM in cap space for next season, that’s not including Nylander’s new deal or possible new contracts for James van Riemsdyk, Tyler Bozak or Leo Komarov. Hacking 20% off that amount with another $5MM bonus penalty will certainly hurt their ability to re-sign the pending unrestricted free agents, and push them even closer to the 2018-19 cap ceiling where they really need to be careful.

Obviously, the Maple Leafs are quite a distance away from being locked into any cap situation. But they have to be considering how to manage the cap for the 2019-20 season when the rest of the big three (Matthews and Marner) move onto their next contracts. That’s not even considering a Jake Gardiner extension, as he’s headed for UFA status in the summer of 2019 as well. When the Maple Leafs are spending next offseason, don’t be surprised if they leave themselves a little bit of extra room to avoid an overage. If not, they could be putting themselves in a very tricky situation.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Evening Notes: Tavares, Haula, Boston Rookies

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With the hopes of avoiding a full-on rebuild, the San Jose Sharks and general manager Doug Wilson are attempting to figure out how to revitalize their team after suffering the loss of free agent Patrick Marleau and the realization that they might be moving on from 38-year-old Joe Thornton. The team still made the playoffs last year and have quite a few solid veterans still on the team, but the team suddenly is lacking in superstars not named Brent Burns.

Paul Gackle of the Mercury News writes that as the San Jose Sharks are set to focus on tonight’s home game against the New York Islanders, don’t be surprised if the Sharks make a run at their star forward John Tavares, either at the trade deadline or free agency itself if it gets very far. Tavares, who is in the last year of a six-year, $33MM deal, has not signed an extension and has made it clear that he is waiting to make sure the Islanders find themselves a permanent home before signing. However, there are some who feel that he will not re-sign with the team and the Islanders will be forced to trade him at the trade deadline or lose the 27-year-old center for nothing.

Gackle writes that San Jose would be a perfect fit for Tavares, who could come in and supply the team with a superstar that can replace Marleau and Thornton. However, despite the great fit and the fact the team should have the cap room to make a deal for Tavares work, the team could struggle at the cap like the Chicago Blackhawks as they already are committed to Burns, Marc-Edouard Vlasic and will have to pay up for Logan Couture in two years. It might still be worth the effort to make a deal like that happen, because the Sharks would like to be a team that could make the necessary changes and stay in the playoffs like the Detroit Red Wings once did when they switched from Steve Yzerman and Brendan Shanahan to Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg and Nicklas Lidstrom.

  • The Vegas Golden Knights issued an update on injured wing Erik Haula, who was placed on injured reserve today with a lower body injury. According to the Golden Knights’ website, Haula is expected to miss at least a week with his injury. That will give general manager George McPhee more time to manipulate his roster before he must make a cut to activate Haula.
  • Joe Haggerty of NBC Sports writes that the Boston Bruins struggles on offense can easily be looked at the rookies as the team has handed major roles to Anders Bjork, Jake DeBrusk and defenseman Charlie McAvoy this year. And while the scribe points out that there are plenty of veterans who are fighting with their consistency as well, the rookies struggles to consistently play their game could be what holds up early success for the Bruins until they can figure things out. “It’s up to them to do what they do best, which is attack, play inside and get to the net,” said head coach Bruce Cassidy. “Hopefully, they do a little bit more of that as a line. Some guys catch on quicker than others. We knew there would be consistency issues as every young kid goes through them. So we saw highs in the first game and some lows in the second game, and we saw them starting to come out of it in the third period [in Colorado]. We’re going to try to keep them confident, but also on their toes and aware of what needs to be better.”

Devils’ Michael McLeod Out Four To Six Weeks

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The New Jersey Devils announced this evening that rookie forward Michael McLeod has undergone arthroscopic knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus. The injury occurred during a Devils-Islanders preseason game back on September 25th, with McLeod limping off the ice in the first period. While the original prognosis was that McLeod would be back on the ice within a matter of days, a closer looks revealed that the meniscus in his right knee had in fact suffered a tear. The procedure performed today is the first step in getting the 19-year-old back on the ice.

When McLeod does return to full health, he is expected to compete for a regular role in New Jersey. The 2016 12th-overall pick notched 73 points in 57 games with OHL’s Mississauga Steelheads last season and tacked on another 27 points in a 20-game playoff run that ended in a loss to the Erie Otters in the league championship. The talented center has a lethal combination of size and skill; the checking ability and offensive instincts to one day be a top power forward in the NHL. The Devils would like to see McLeod reach that goal sooner rather than later, but luckily they have the flexibility to send the Steelheads captain back to juniors this season if need be. Both his recovery time, the success of the team, and the depth up front, including the eventual return of veteran center Travis Zajac who also has yet to play this season, will impact that decision in the next month or two.

Should McLeod stick in New Jersey, he would join a forward corps that is already sporting an impressive pair of rookies. Nico Hischier, the #1 overall pick this past June, isn’t going anywhere any time soon, but it’s upstart Jesper Bratt that’s turning heads. The 2016 sixth-rounder leads the team with six points through three games. Undersized and inexperienced, nothing was expected of the 19-year-old Swede, but if he keeps it up, he, Hischier, and potentially McLeod would be quite the rookie trio for the Devils and may help the team exceed expectations in 2017-18 and beyond.

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