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Snapshots: Three Stars, Hitchcock, Skinner

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The NHL has released their three stars of last week, and in the lead is a player who has had quite a roller coaster season. Vladimir Tarasenko had seven points in four games to help secure a Central Division playoff spot for the St. Louis Blues, just months after being one of the players rumored to be drawing interest in trade negotiations. The Blues went from a team considering blowing up its core to one that very well could contend for the Stanley Cup, and Tarasenko’s turnaround is one of the reasons why. The 27-year old sniper scored 46 points in his final 39 games and was a +23 during that time, finishing the year with his fifth consecutive season of 33 or more goals.

It’s not just the Blues who have hot players heading into the playoffs though, as Pekka Rinne of the Nashville Predators and Alexander Radulov of the Dallas Stars take home the other two stars this week. Rinne is proving once again that he is one of the most reliable goaltenders in the entire league and enters the playoffs as Nashville’s presumptive starter despite a strong push by backup Juuse Saros. Radulov meanwhile finished his season strong and crossed the point-per-game threshold for the first time in his career, ending with 72 in 70 games played.

  • The Edmonton Oilers will let their next GM decide what to do with the coaching position, as CEO Bob Nicholson told reporters today that Ken Hitchcock’s time behind the bench has come to an end for the time being. The legendary coach was only meant to be in that position for the rest of this season, and though Nicholson wouldn’t rule out the idea of him returning, said the new GM will be able to hire who he wants. Hitchcock will stay in the Oilers organization as an advisor, something the incoming front office will need as they try to turn things around for the organization.
  • After a disastrous season in Buffalo the Sabres fired their coach and held frustrated media availability today, but the focus will now turn to pending unrestricted free agent Jeff Skinner. The team has been in contact with Skinner’s representatives for some time, and the talented forward once again reiterated that he loves the city and organization and has “had a great time.” Skinner scored 40 goals for the first time in his career and could potentially be one of the very best forwards available this summer. The clock is ticking for the Sabres, as every day that passes makes the chance at free agency that much harder to resist.

Snapshots: McDavid, Getzlaf, Murray, Engelland, Kubalik

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While their regular season ended and their offseason had begun, the team still saw a scary scene unfold in the second period of Saturday’s game against Calgary when Connor McDavid tried to skate past defenseman Mark Giordano, but had his feet knocked out of him as his leg slammed against the goalpost. He didn’t return.

However, the team had good news today as McDavid walked into the clubhouse in a leg brace, but without crutches and x-rays showed there was no break, although results of an MRI had not come back in. TSN’s Tom Gazzola reports that McDavid believed that his leg was broken the moment it happened. McDavid finished the season second in the league in scoring as he tallied 41 goals and 116 points this season. It looks like McDavid has avoided a serious injury.

  • The Department of Player Safety announced that they have fined Anaheim Ducks forward Ryan Getzlaf $2,500 for roughing Los Angeles Kings forward Adrian Kempe. The incident happened in the final minutes of the season finale on Saturday when Getzlaf sucker-punched Kempe against the boards. Both players received 10-minute misconduct penalties as well as Kyle Clifford and Nick Ritchie.
  • The Columbus Blue Jackets have two defensemen out with injuries and their status hasn’t changed as the team gets ready for the first round of the playoffs later this week against Tampa Bay. The Columbus Dispath’s Brian Hedger writes that defenseman Ryan Murray continues to be out with an upper-body injury. He has missed 24 games with his injury. Meanwhile Adam McQuaid also sits out with an upper-body injury as his status also hasn’t improved. McQuaid has missed five games.
  • Despite heading for unrestricted free agency this summer, Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Deryk Engelland isn’t ready to retire. The 37-year-old said he’s healthy and wants to keep playing, according to Las Vegas Review-Journal’s David Schoen. “Keep playing. That’s the goal. I feel good out there,” said Engelland. “I’m not banged up or anything like that. If you talk to anyone that’s done, they tell you play as long as you can.”
  • During the end-of-the-season press conference, Chicago Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman said that he envisions the team bringing over prospect Dominik Kubalik and having him on the Blackhawks’ roster next season, according to The Athletic’s Mark Lazerus. The hope is that he will make a similar impact that Dominik Kahun did this season. The 23-year-old forward’s rights were acquired from the Los Angeles Kings in January for a fifth-round pick, but Kubalik scored 25 goals and 57 points in 50 games in the NLA this year.

Snapshots: Sather, Miller, Gardiner

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The New York Rangers may be led by a new face at some point in the near future, as Bob McKenzie of TSN tweeted last night that Glen Sather could be stepping down as president. It apparently is Sather’s decision, and not one that is confirmed in any manner by the team so far. John Shannon of Sportsnet has also heard that the move will happen at the end of the year, and that Sather will stay on as an advisor.

Sather stepped down from the general manager role in 2015 when Jeff Gorton took over, but has still had an active say in the organization. It’s unclear how involved he would be after stepping down once again. Sather has been with the Rangers since 2000, three years after he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

  • Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Colin Miller has been fined $2,000 for diving/embellishment. First given a warning following an incident on November 23rd, Miller was caught again embellishing a hook against the San Jose Sharks on March 30. While $2,000 doesn’t seem like a lot to fine an established NHL player, the punishment only goes up for more incidents, eventually affecting the wallet of the player’s head coach as well. Earning your coach a fine isn’t a very good way to get on the ice, something Miller will have to avoid in the future.
  • The Toronto maple Leafs will have a familiar face back in the lineup tonight as Jake Gardiner is expected to return after an 18-game absence. Gardiner took part in the morning skate and is technically a game-time decision, though was excited about his potential return. The veteran defenseman is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season and has shown how important he is to the Maple Leafs just by missing time. The team has struggled in his absence and will hope he can get back up to speed quickly before their first round playoff series against the Boston Bruins next week.

Snapshots: Playoffs, Chisholm, Dellow

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The NHL and NHLPA have reached an agreement to extend the current playoff format for another season, according to Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic. The format was set to expire, but both sides agreed to keep it the same for the 2019-20 season and revisit it in the future.

There has been plenty of ire directed at the league for the current format, that is designed to stoke the flames of division rivalries by pitting teams against each other year after year. Last year saw the Winnipeg Jets and Nashville Predators meet in the second round despite having the best two records in the NHL, while this season will see the Boston Bruins (currently 3rd in NHL) take on the Toronto Maple Leafs (5th) in the first round.

  • According to Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Sun the Manitoba Moose have signed Declan Chisholm to an amateur tryout after his season came to an end with the Peterborough Petes. Chisholm was selected in the fifth round last June and will get a chance to show what he can do at the professional level for at least a little while. The Winnipeg Jets will hold Chisholm’s exclusive rights until 2020 and will get a better handle on whether he’s worth an NHL contract before committing. The 19-year old defenseman recorded 48 points in 67 games this season.
  • The New Jersey Devils have hired Tyler Dellow as Vice President of Analytics, ending his run as a staff writer for The Athletic. Dellow is well known in the hockey community for his in-depth examinations of hockey analytics, and with the league rolling out more player and puck tracking technology more teams will be investing in their data departments. Dellow previously worked with the Edmonton Oilers as a consultant, but will now lead the Devils department.

Snapshots: Three Stars, Marlies, Byron

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The NHL has released their three stars for last week, and Sergei Bobrovsky has taken the top spot after an incredible stretch. The goaltender went 4-0 and stopped 115 of 117 shots to push the Columbus Blue Jackets back into a playoff spot. While there is plenty of speculation over Bobrovsky’s future, he’s obviously committed to helping the Blue Jackets this season. The 30-year old goaltender will become an unrestricted free agent on July 1st.

Darcy Kuemper has been awarded the third star after he continued his excellent season in Arizona, but it’s Tyler Bertuzzi who may raise some eyebrows in the second spot. The Detroit Red Wings forward had ten points in four games last week and now has 44 on the season including an impressive 19 goals. Though the team may not have found much success in the standings this year, it’s been an incredible development year for players like Bertuzzi, Anthony Mantha and Andreas Athanasiou.

  • With CHL and college seasons coming to an end several junior players will be heading to the AHL. Semyon Der-Arguchintsev is one of those players, assigned to the Toronto Marlies while the team has also signed Alex Basso, Zachary Bouthillier and Erik Brown to amateur tryouts. Der-Arguchintsev was the Maple Leafs`third-round pick in 2018 and had 46 points in 62 games for the Peterborough Petes this season. Other CHL players joining their AHL teams are Vladislav Kotkov (San Jose Barracuda) and Matthew Strome (Lehigh Valley Phantoms).
  • The Montreal Canadiens welcomed back an important player today when Paul Byron made his return to practice. The speedy forward had missed two games after fighting MacKenzie Weegar but could make his return in an extremely important game against the Tampa Bay Lightning tomorrow. The Canadiens are sitting one point behind Carolina for the final wild card spot and may need to win out to qualify for the playoffs.

Snapshots: Elias, Hedman, Lockwood, Marino

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The New Jersey Devils will have a familiar face around the team as former Devils’ great Patrik Elias will be spending time with the John Hynes and the Devils’ coaching staff for the final week of the season, according to NHL.com’s Amanda Stein. The former star player is interested in coaching and wants spend time with the staff and gain experience with working on a coach’s schedule.

Elias, who played 1,240 games with the Devils over the course of his career, scored 408 goals and 1,025 points over that time. However, with his playing days over, he has shown more interest in coaching in the last year. Elias spent time with the Devils this summer and even asked Hynes about coaching the Czech National Team.

Stein says that Elias will be on the ice with the Devils during practice and sit through coaching meetings. He is also expected to be assigned certain duties for the remainder of the season.

  • The Tampa Bay Lightning are facing a scare as Victor Hedman left Saturday’s game during the second period. Evidently, the helmet of Washington Capitals forward Carl Hagelin hit Hedman on the chin accidentally and the Lightning announced that Hedman would not return to the game as a result of the incident. Any long-term loss could be devastating to a team that has been consistently dominant all season and can’t afford to be without their top defenseman for any extended period of time.
  • Sportsnet’s Rick Dhaliwal reports that Vancouver Canucks prospect Will Lockwood will likely stay put and return to the University of Michigan. Lockwood, who just finished his junior year, had a breakout season with 16 goals and 31 points for the Wolverines. If Lockwood, the Canucks’ third-round pick from the 2016 draft, chooses to return to Michigan, he could play out his senior and opt to become a unrestricted free agent after that, free to sign with any team in the NHL.
  • The Edmonton Journal’s Jim Matheson writes that the Edmonton Oilers might have a tough time signing their 2015 sixth-round pick John Marino, who just completed his junior season at Harvard. Unfortunately, because he played a season of USHL hockey, he could opt to become an unrestricted free agent now if he wants. The 21-year-old defenseman had three goals and 11 points for Harvard.

 

Snapshots: Svechnikov, Maatta, Fox

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The Detroit Red Wings have found some success with several young forwards this year as they try to move on from the Henrik Zetterberg era and embrace a youth movement, but one that was expected to play a big part was nowhere to be found. Evgeny Svechnikov, selected 19th overall in 2015, was forced to undergo knee surgery to reconstruct his ACL in October. He was expected to return to action near the end of the season, but Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press is now reporting that he will not play at all in 2018-19.

Interestingly, as St. James notes, that may actually be a blessing in disguise for the Red Wings. The young forward will now not be waiver eligible in the 2019-20 season as he was scheduled to be, meaning the team can start him in the AHL right out of training camp if he’s not ready to help the NHL lineup. Svechnikov wouldn’t have maintained his waiver-exempt status if he’d played in even a single professional game—NHL or AHL—this season.

  • Olli Maatta has been activated from injured reserve by the Pittsburgh Penguins and will return after missing 21 games with a lower-body injury. The 24-year old is coming back with just enough time to get his legs under him before the playoffs begin, a huge boost for a Penguins team that has suffered from several injuries on the back end this season. It’s tough to know exactly how much the team will push Maatta over the last few games of the regular season, but he lengthens out the team’s defense group by a considerable amount. Brian Dumoulin switched over to the right side in practice recently to accommodate Maatta’s return, though it’s not clear if that pair will stay together.
  • With Adam Fox and Harvard losing today in the NCAA tournament, we will soon find out what his official decision is regarding signing or returning to school next season. Fox has repeatedly said that his mind is not yet made up, something that Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic (subscription required) also reported earlier today. Though there is obviously a draw to turning pro and getting into the Carolina Hurricanes organization right away, Fox could potentially graduate next year with a Harvard degree and the chance to become an unrestricted free agent in August 2020. LeBrun also explores the idea of Carolina trading Fox’s rights this season instead of waiting for the summer, in order to get full value if they do not believe he will sign with them down the road. If Fox signs this season he would burn the first year of his entry-level deal, and would be eligible for the expansion draft if he played just a single game.

Snapshots: Lehtera, Red Wings, Byron

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Philadelphia Flyers forward Jori Lehtera was convicted Wednesday of buying cocaine, according to Tricia L. Nadolny and Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Lehtera had been charged in Finland with the offense earlier this season, and has been sentenced to a four-month suspended prison sentence. He will not serve any time in jail as long as he is not arrested again before October 2021.

The Flyers placed Lehtera on waivers in early February and sent him to the AHL where he has played five games. His contract is set to expire at the end of this season, at which point he will become an unrestricted free agent. It is not clear what this conviction will mean for his playing career, though early reports out of Finland say he will be appealing the decision.

  • The Detroit Red Wings likely won’t see either of Michael Rasmussen or Jacob de La Rose on the ice again this season. Head coach Jeff Blashill told reporters including Ansar Khan of MLive that de La Rose saw a specialist today about his accelerated heart beat, and Rasmussen is unlikely to return from his upper-body injury before the end of the year. The Red Wings have just six games left in their season and are currently sitting in 29th place in the NHL.
  • Paul Byron will not travel with the Montreal Canadiens to Columbus after suffering an injury in a fight last night. Byron took on MacKenzie Weegar of the Florida Panthers and was knocked down with a hard punch. After stumbling to the bench he did not return. Byron’s agent told Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic (subscription required) his thoughts on how fights like these have no business in the game today, explaining that the only reason for it was a hit from earlier in the season. Byron received a three-game suspension for the hit in January. It is unclear when the speedy forward will return to the Montreal lineup.

Snapshots: Fox, Raanta, Tippett

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The Carolina Hurricanes and their fans have been waiting patiently for the Harvard hockey season to come to an end so they can get a chance to sign top prospect Adam Fox, but the team is still alive in the NCAA tournament. Fox’s rights were acquired from the Calgary Flames as part of the Dougie Hamilton–Elias Lindholm trade from last summer, and the front office has been open with their belief that they could sign the young defenseman after he finished his college career. Today, Jeff Cox of the New England Hockey Journal tweeted that Fox will be returning to Harvard next season for his senior year and that he “favors” the idea of becoming an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2020 when his draft rights would expire.

In response however, Carolina GM Don Waddell told Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic that he believes Fox has not yet made his decision with regards to signing with the Hurricanes, and Luke DeCock of the Raleigh News & Observer tweeted it is “still a bit premature to jump to conclusions.” If the 21-year old returns to Harvard next season and then waits until August 2020, he will get his chance to sign with any team he wants. There certainly wouldn’t be any shortage of interest, as the third-round pick is among the best college players in the entire country and is a right-handed defenseman to boot.

  • The Arizona Coyotes have Darcy Kuemper to thank for their impressive playoff push, but he might be getting some help in the near future. Craig Morgan of the Athletic tweeted today that Antti Raanta is expected to start practicing with the Coyotes this week. Raanta hasn’t played a game since late November but has shown his ability as a top tier goaltender whenever he is at full strength. If Raanta can return in time for the playoffs (provided Arizona makes the postseason at all), it would be interesting to see how the Coyotes would play it. Kuemper has been among the best goaltenders in the league since Raanta’s injury, and would be a huge reason why they made the playoffs.
  • While many have assumed that Dave Tippett would stay with the Seattle expansion franchise after his comments about his role in the new team, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet writes in his latest edition of 31 Thoughts that he’s heard “the coaching bug has bit [Tippett] again” and that one team has already reached out. Tippett was hired as a senior advisor for the Seattle group and was expected to join the front office in some capacity. He last coached in the NHL during the 2016-17 season.

Snapshots: Three Stars, College Stars, Presidents

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The NHL has released their three stars of the week, with Kyle Connor getting the top honors. The young Winnipeg Jets forward had five goals and eight points in four games, surpassing both of his impressive totals from last season. The 22-year old now has back-to-back 30-goal seasons, and is now a key part of the Jets attack on a nightly basis. While Patrik Laine may hit the headlines more for his upcoming restricted free agency, Connor’s pending negotiation looks to be just as (if not more) important.

Second star this week went to Steven Stamkos, who helped the Tampa Bay Lightning lock up the Presidents Trophy and became the franchise leader in goals with 387 and counting. The Lightning star is just one away from his fifth 40-goal campaign, and has six games remaining to try and crack the 100-point threshold for the first time in his career. Bringing up the rear in third was Philipp Grubauer, who has suddenly found his game and now holds a .914 save percentage on the year. That has allowed the Colorado Avalanche to climb back into the playoffs in the Western Conference.

  • Despite Boston University seeing a huge chunk of their team turn pro today—Jake Oettinger, Chad Krys, Joel Farabee and Dante Fabbro all signed contracts—they won’t be without some star power next year. According to Mike Chambers of the Denver Post, Shane Bowers is likely sticking around after a somewhat disappointing sophomore season. Cole Hults from Penn State is also expected to stay in college according to Jon Rosen of LA Kings Insider, and the team is supportive of that idea. Hults, a fifth-round pick of the Kings in 2017, had 28 points in 39 games as a sophomore this season.
  • The Edmonton Oilers and Ottawa Senators have had a ton of turmoil over the last year, changing coaches and front office members while struggling on the ice. It’s not surprising that both teams may be looking for upper management help according to Chris Johnston of Sportsnet, who reports each could be set to bring in a team president to run hockey operations above the general manager. Ottawa’s search in particular has apparently already been going on for a while, though it has not apparently put Pierre Dorion’s job as GM in jeopardy.

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