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Snapshots: Marchand, Tippett, Ruck

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Boston Bruins agitator Brad Marchand was caught “punching” Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Scott Harrington in the back of the head as time expired on Game Three on Tuesday night. While unnecessary and unsportsmanlike, the NHL Department of Player Safety has decided that the otherwise innocuous play is not suspension-worthy. As The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline points out, there are no fines in the postseason, only suspensions, as players aren’t paid for playoff games and thus there is no mechanism for calculating fines. Even with Marchand’s track record, it would have been hard to imagine a postseason suspension for the incident as well. Commissioner Gary Bettman opined that Marchand should have received a penalty on the play, but given the timing of the incident and the result holding, it would not have made a difference. One might expect the Blue Jackets to thus police the situation themselves through the rest of the series, but Portzline believes that no retaliation is coming after speaking with several players. While Marchand is capable of getting fans riled up better than anyone in the league, it seems this issues could be over as soon as it began.

  • There have been rumors for some time that Dave Tippett has been itching to get back behind an NHL bench, despite his current adviser position with the Seattle expansion team, and he is now officially taking steps toward such a move. Sportsnet’s Elliott Friedman writes that Tippett has interviewed for the Buffalo Sabres head coaching vacancy, as some speculated he might. Tippett now joins Jacques Martin and less established options like Rikard Gronberg and Sheldon Keefe among Buffalo’s top options, according to Friedman. Tippett, who has nearly 20 year of NHL coaching experience, held both the head coach and VP of Hockey Operations positions with the Arizona Coyotes when he was last in the league in 2016-17 and would still be a great option for the Sabres even after a few years off.
  • After losing starting keeper Cayden Primeau to the pros after a remarkable year, Northeastern University was hoping that graduate goaltender Ryan Ruck may stay with the program to help bridge the gap. That won’t happen, as Colorado College announced today that they have received a commitment from Ruck to join the program as a graduate transfer. Although he played in only six games last season for the Huskies, Ruck was nearly unstoppable, posting a .956 save percentage and 1.01 GAA. Those numbers should give Ruck the leg up on the starter competition at Colorado College, who lost this year’s starter Alex Leclerc to the pros. Meanwhile, Northeastern will likely have to lean on true freshman Connor Murphy in net next season.

Snapshots: WHL, Drouin, KHL

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The WHL handed out their awards today, and several NHL prospects took home some hardware. Ian Scott of the Toronto Maple Leafs took home the Goaltender of the Year award, Ty Smith of the New Jersey Devils was named Defenseman of the Year, and Joachim Blichfeld of the San Jose Sharks was awarded the Four Broncos Memorial Trophy as Player of the Year.

All three players exceeded expectations this season, but the most interesting may just be Blichfeld who was a seventh-round pick of the Sharks back in 2016. While he will turn 21 this summer and was older than much of his competition, the simple fact that he’s developed so well from his draft day is a huge win for San Jose. The team already signed him to an NHL contract back in late 2017. The Sharks have done extremely well pulling value from the late rounds, as Kevin Labanc (171st overall in 2014) and Joakim Ryan (198th in 2012) are already paying off for them in this year’s playoffs.

  • The Montreal Canadiens announced today that Jonathan Drouin underwent minor surgery yesterday to correct a fractured nose. The 24-year old forward had mentioned an injury that would keep him from playing in the IIHF World Championship, but it wasn’t clear exactly what that was. The release notes that Drouin is expected to resume his training in two to three weeks, meaning he’ll be ready in plenty of time for training camp in a few months.
  • KHL free agency opened today and some familiar names have already re-signed, meaning there won’t be any NHL returns for them this season. Brandon Kozun, Paul Postma, Eric O’Dell, Anton Lander and Stephane Da Costa, have all signed new deals. The previously reported trade of Jiri Sekac to CSKA Moscow in exchange for the rights to Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Igor Ozhiganov was also officially filed today.

Snapshots: Francis, Maple Leafs, Pavelski

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If you’re looking for someone to credit for the success that the Carolina Hurricanes are having right now, it’s easy to name head coach Rod Brind’Amour, GM Don Waddell or even new owner Tom Dundon. One person who may be deserving of a good chunk of that credit though is former GM Ron Francis, who was let go before this season even started.

No, Francis wasn’t the man to pull the trigger on the Dougie Hamilton or Nino Niederreiter trades, but his fingerprints are still all over the roster. He was the GM who signed captain Justin Williams to a two-year, $9MM contract despite the forward being over 35. He orchestrated contract extensions for Brett Pesce ($4.025MM AAV) and Jaccob Slavin ($5.3MM) that look like absolute steals right now, and he was the one who selected Sebastian Aho with the 35th pick in 2015. On Sportsnet radio today Francis admitted that he is interested in returning to management, and John Shannon notes that his contract expires on June 30th. It will be interesting to see where Francis lands, and in what role.

  • The Toronto Maple Leafs are expecting to add a Russian on Wednesday according to Kevin McGran of the Toronto Star, though it is not exactly clear who that would be. McGran suggests it is likely either Yegor Korshkov, a draft pick of the Maple Leafs who is expected to sign his entry-level contract this summer, or Ilya Mikheyev, who has been linked to the team in recent weeks. With the KHL season officially ending today and contracts expiring, many names will be signing over the next several days.
  • The San Jose Sharks will still be without captain Joe Pavelski when they take on the Colorado Avalanche today, as he did not travel with the team to Denver. The Sharks haven’t listed exactly what Pavelski is dealing with, but he hasn’t played since suffering the scary head injury against the Vegas Golden Knights in the first round. Gustav Nyquist, who flew home for the birth of his child, is expected to play for the Sharks.

Snapshots: Samberg, Moutrey, Mikheyev

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The Winnipeg Jets won’t be signing one of their top defensive prospects this summer, as Dylan Samberg is heading back to the University of Minnesota-Duluth for next season according to Matt Wellens of the Duluth News Tribune. Samberg recently completed his sophomore year and has won consecutive NCAA titles with the Bulldogs.

Originally selected 43rd overall in 2017, Samberg has developed into one of the most feared defensemen in the country and looked ready to make the jump to professional hockey this season. The 6’4″ 215-lbs defender has twice suited up for Team USA at the World Juniors, bringing home silver and bronze medals. That’s a lot of hardware for the young Samberg, who could become an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2021 if Winnipeg fails to sign him.

  • The Rockford IceHogs will have Nick Moutrey around for another year, as the team announced today that they have signed the 23-year old center to a one-year AHL contract. Moutrey was a fourth-round pick of the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2013 but has failed to reach the NHL. The 6’3″ forward had just five points in 49 games this season, but will provide another big body willing to go into the corners for the IceHogs next year.
  • Reports out of Russia make it sounds like the Vegas Golden Knights and Toronto Maple Leafs are the final two contenders for Russian forward Ilya Mikheyev, but he won’t announce his decision quite yet. The 24-year old winger will see his KHL contract with Avangard Omsk expire at the end of the month, making him free to sign with whoever he wants. After scoring 45 points in 62 games this season there were several teams chasing his services.

Snapshots: Willie O’Ree Award, Hurricanes’ Injuries, Haley

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The NHL revealed the finalists for the Willie O’Ree Community Hero Award. The award was established last year, named after O’Ree who was the NHL’s first black player and spent decades bringing the sport of hockey to people who might normally not be exposed to it, to honor people not directly affiliated with the NHL or any teams.

The finalists are Anthony Benevides, Tammi Lynch and Rico Phillips. Benevides has built an affordable hockey program in Detroit, which serves Latino youth in impoverished areas. Lynch, a hockey mom, started a movement called Players Against Hate after her son’s teammate was a victim of racial slurs. Phillips has run a free hockey program in the inner city of Flint, Michigan, which he has run for the last six years.

Snapshots: Blackhawks, Team Canada, Nutivaara

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Although the Blackhawks finished 30th in the league in goals allowed this season, Jason Lieser of the Chicago Sun-Times cautions that there may not be big changes coming to their back end this summer.  He notes that GM Stan Bowman has confidence in his existing group and hopes that head coach Jeremy Colliton will be able to establish some more significant changes to their current strategies, something he wasn’t completely able to do after taking over for Joel Quenneville early in the season.  Veterans Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook are signed for at least the next four seasons with no-move clauses so there isn’t a lot of flexibility to work with; they will have to rely on both of them to pick up their level of play for next season.

Other notes from around the league:

  • Canada has added several players to their team for the upcoming World Championships. TSN’s Darren Dreger reports (Twitter links) that Maple Leafs center John Tavares, Golden Knights winger, and Penguins goalie Matt Murray have all agreed to participate.  Meanwhile, Sportsnet 650’s Rick Dhaliwal adds (Twitter link) that Canucks defenseman Troy Stecher will also be taking part in the tournament which gets underway on May 10th.
  • Blue Jackets defenseman Markus Nutivaara resumed skating today for the first time since sustaining an upper-body injury back in the second game of their opening round series against Tampa Bay, notes Adam Jardy of the Columbus Post-Dispatch. He ranked fifth in average ice time on the back end in Columbus this season, logging nearly 18 minutes a night.  There’s no word on his timetable for a return; the 24-year-old indicated he was unsure if he’d be able to return in this series.  Adam Clendening will remain in the lineup in his absence.

Snapshots: KHL, Capitals, Lindholm

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It appears as though a pair of defenders are set to return to the KHL after uninspiring seasons in the NHL, as multiple reports including Darren Dreger of TSN and Pekka Jalonen of Iltalehti have noted that Igor Ozhiganov and Bogdan Kiselevich are likely headed back to Russia. Both players will see their one-year contracts expire on July 1st and were sitting in the press box by the end of the season.

Of note, Ozhiganov is actually scheduled to become a restricted free agent meaning the Toronto Maple Leafs could retain his rights if they issue a qualifying offer. The team though didn’t play him much down the stretch or at all in the playoffs, as Jake Muzzin’s arrival pushed him out of the lineup. Even with Toronto’s lack of right-handed options, there didn’t seem to be a fit between head coach Mike Babcock and Ozhiganov, who averaged just 14 minutes a night through his 53 games. Kiselevich was acquired by the Winnipeg Jets at the deadline to give them a bit of depth for a long playoff run, but never actually suited up with his new team. In 32 games for the Florida Panthers, he recorded eight points.

  • The Washington Capitals were pushed right up against the cap all season, and it’ll cost them next year. Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post points out that the Capitals will face a $1.15MM overage penalty against next year’s cap because of the performance bonuses paid out to Brooks Orpik, Jakub Vrana and Jonas Siegenthaler. While paying out performance bonuses is normally a good thing that means players exceeded expectations, it will make it tough on the Capitals who are going to be cap-strapped next season. The team needs to sign Andre Burakovsky and Vrana to new deals as restricted free agents and may have to let Brett Connolly walk into unrestricted free agency as he deserves a big raise after his first 20-goal season. There are obviously a lot of moving parts to keep an eye on in Washington.
  • Team Sweden looked like it might need a bit more firepower up front for the 2019 IIHF World Championship when announcing their preliminary roster, and they’re getting a bit of help from the Calgary Flames. Elias Lindholm will be joining the team according to Jonatan Lindquist of Viasat, giving them another top scoring option for the tournament. Lindholm reached new heights this season while playing with Calgary, scoring 27 goals and 78 points in a breakout performance. The 24-year old was the fifth-overall pick from 2013 but had previously failed to record more than 16 goals or 45 points in a single season.

Snapshots: Bouchard, King, Canucks

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Evan Bouchard has been named OHL Defenseman of the Year, receiving the Max Kaminsky Trophy for 2018-19. Bouchard put up 53 points in 45 games for the London Knights, captaining the squad after returning from a brief stint in the NHL. Selected tenth overall last June, Bouchard played seven games for the Edmonton Oilers at the beginning of the season and recorded his first NHL goal in the process. The 19-year old then returned to the OHL where he routinely logged close to 30 minutes in ice time for the Knights and was a dominant player in the playoffs, recording another 21 points in just 11 games. He is now

Finished his junior career now, it seems likely that Bouchard will spend the 2019-20 season with the Oilers as a full-time member of their defense. The Oakville, Ontario native is an elite puck mover and has excellent offensive instincts. Jumping into rushes or getting pucks through traffic, Bouchard is one of the most dynamic goal-scoring threats in among junior defenseman and will try to carry over that production to the NHL level. Any doubt that he’ll be able to might have been pushed aside when he recorded three points in his AHL debut earlier this week.

  • The Rockford IceHogs have removed the interim tag from Derek King’s job title, making him the head coach moving forward. King took over when Jeremy Colliton was promoted to the NHL and finished with a 29-28-7 record behind the bench. The team has also given assistant coach Anders Sorensen a multi-year extension, providing some stability for the AHL organization.
  • Rick Dhaliwal of Sportsnet provides updates on several Vancouver Canucks prospects, tweeting that Linus Karlsson, Kristoffer Gunnarsson, Artyom Manukyan and Toni Utunen are all expected to stay overseas for next season. As Dhaliwal subsequently points out, Gunnarsson’s exclusive draft rights expire on June 1st of this season meaning he will become an unrestricted free agent if the Canucks don’t get him under contract. The 22-year old defenseman was a fifth round pick in 2017, but has just two points in his 124-game SHL career.

Snapshots: Messier, Granato, Blake

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Ahead of Game Seven between the Carolina Hurricanes and Washington Capitals, this year’s finalists for the Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award were announced by NBC Sports, including ’Canes captain and “Mr. Game Seven” himself, Justin Williams. Williams joins Calgary Flames defenseman Mark Giordano and Nashville Predators forward and former Philadelphia Flyers fan favorite Wayne Simmonds as the three players being considered for the honor. An award unlike any other in sports, these finalists are determined by input from fans, team officials, and league executive alike, but the winner is ultimately determined by Mark Messier himself. Messier, considered one of the best leaders in league history, chooses the candidate “who best exemplifies great leadership qualities to his team, on and off the ice”. The list of past winners of the award, dating back to its origins in 2007, include some of the most recognizable leaders in the game, many of whom remain active, such as Sidney Crosby, Zdeno Chara, Jonathan Toews, and Shea Weber. Williams, Giordano, and Simmonds are all great candidates to join their ranks.

  • The Chicago Blackhawks and assistant coach Don Granato have “mutually agreed” to part ways. Granato was hired by Joel Quenneville in 2017, but does not appear to have been a fit for Jeremy Colliton’s staff. The Athletic’s Mark Lazerus writes that Granato specifically worked with younger players as a go-between for Quenneville, but that role was redundant under the younger Colliton. Granato has been coaching since the early 90’s and should be able to find a new gig in no time. In fact, he very likely has an open invitation to return to the University of Wisconsin to coach under brother Tony Granato with a Badgers squad that has their eye on a National Championship next season.
  • Speaking of the college ranks, the University of North Dakota received an intriguing commitment today in the form of a legacy player. 15-year-old Jackson Blake, son of long-time NHLer and former Fighting Sioux standout Jason Blake, announced that he would be following in his father’s footsteps by joining the program – in 2022. Blake currently plays for powerhouse Shattuck St. Mary’s and finished the season in second on the U-15 team in per-game scoring with 24 points in 27 games. As one would imagine about a young teenager, Blake is still small at 5’5″; however if he reaches or exceed’s his dad’s 5’10” frame, Blake should be more than capable of making an impact at the college level down the road.

Snapshots: Fielder, Babcock, Hurricanes

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The expansion Seattle franchise doesn’t yet have a single player, but they do have a team award. The management group announced today that the organization will hand out a Guyle Fielder Award every season to the “player that embodies the sportsmanship and leadership of one of Seattle’s greatest hockey legends.” If you don’t recognize Fielder’s name, you’re not alone, as his story is one of the most overlooked in hockey history.

Fielder stands as the fourth-leading scorer in professional hockey history, recording 1,929 points over a long career spent mostly in the minor leagues. In fact, he didn’t register a single one of those points in his 15 NHL games, but routinely led the Western Hockey League—not the junior league it is today, but a minor professional one—in scoring. He played for the Seattle Bombers, Americans and Totems over his career and is a legend in the area for any hockey fan old enough to remember.

  • Though there may be some Toronto Maple Leafs fans hoping Mike Babcock would find his way somewhere else today, Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic cleared up some confusion about the head coach’s contract. Babcock does not have an out clause in his contract as some had speculated, and “remains as committed as he’s always been” to leading the Maple Leafs. The team was eliminated by the Boston Bruins last night for the third time in six years, and still haven’t progressed past the first round since 2004. Babcock has four seasons left on the massive eight-year, $50MM contract that he signed with the Maple Leafs in 2015.
  • The Carolina Hurricanes didn’t hold a morning skate today as they prepare for Game Seven against the Washington Capitals, so there wasn’t a chance for Andrei Svechnikov or Micheal Ferland to get back on the ice. Head coach Rod Brind’Amour told reporters including Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News & Observer that he isn’t sure whether Svechnikov will be ready to play tonight, but Ferland will probably not suit up in the do-or-die elimination game. The Hurricanes will rely on their captain Justin Williams, who has often been dubbed “Mr. Game 7” for his heroics in these situations, but has also been one of the team’s best players through the first part of the series. If the Hurricanes win it would mean that all four wild card teams have advanced to the second round, showing just how wide open the Stanley Cup playoffs really are.

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