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Snapshots: McQuaid, Goldobin, Koules

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Adam McQuaid is one lucky man. When Boston Bruins’ forward David Backes was upended last night against the New Jersey Devils, his skate nicked the throat of McQuaid. As the big defender dropped his gloves and skated off immediately, there were images of Clint Malarchuk and Richard Zednik flashing through the minds of many onlookers. It didn’t seem as bad as those two though and as it turns out, it wasn’t.

McQuaid received 25 stitches to close the laceration on his throat, and expects to be in the lineup tomorrow against the Ottawa Senators. Head coach Bruce Cassidy called him a “tough customer,” and he’s proving just that. McQuaid has been given extra ice time and responsibility of late, including breaking the 20-minute mark twice in his last five games.

  • Nikolay Goldobin is already making an impact in Vancouver, after scoring his second NHL goal in his Canucks debut on Saturday night. It came on a breakaway, something the Canucks hope Goldobin will see often in his time with the team. The talented forward came over in the Jannik Hansen deal, and as Ben Kuzma of The Province reports, will help lead a youth movement in the next few years. With Brock Boeser, Olli Juolevi, Adam Gaudette and Jonathan Dahlen all set to make an impact sooner than later, the Canucks may have kick-started a rebuild of their own when they chose to sell off two expiring veteran contracts at the deadline. Goldobin is just the first of many in Vancouver, and he puts it best when talking about the style he’ll bring: “there are no words, just let me show you and that will be easier.”
  • The Columbus Blue Jackets have brought in Miles Koules, signing him to a tryout with their AHL squad today according to Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch . The 22-year old forward is the son of former Tampa Bay Lightning owner Oren Koules, who you may recognize from the credits of the Saw movie franchise or Two and a Half Men. Koules had played in the ECHL this season, scoring 20 points in 36 games. He also played two contests for the Ontario Reign, in which he was held scoreless.

Snapshots: Guentzel, Bindulis, Rangers

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The Pittsburgh Penguins, like any other champion of the salary-cap era, have found worthwhile contributions from previously unheralded sources. Last year saw the playoff breakout of Bryan Rust and Conor Sheary, while this year Justin Schultz has turned into the defenseman that everyone had hoped for in Edmonton. As Dave Holcomb of FanRag Sports details, it may be Jake Guentzel that is the next breakout star for a team that has so many.

Guentzel has seen his ice time skyrocket since his latest call up, playing as much as 19:52 in a regulation loss on the 28th. He’s become a relied-upon member of the Penguins top-9 and will be needed past this year’s playoffs. With Sheary and Schultz up for new contracts as restricted free agents this summer and Nick Bonino hitting the open market, the team will have to make some tough decisions on the future construction of their lineup around the $25MM trio of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel. Having a cost-controlled option like Guentzel that can slot in with any of the three is a huge plus for the Penguins and their long-term future.

  • Mark Divver of the Providence Journal reports that Kristofers Bindulis is the latest college free agent to watch. Several teams are after the Lake Superior State defenseman after his solid debut in the WCHA. The Lakers are having a rough season, but Bindulis has turned heads with 12 points in 28 games. Rail-thin in his draft year, Bindulis is now listed at 6’3″, 180-lbs and likely still able to fill out into his large frame. Watch for Vegas to start their roster off with some college free agents, and perhaps Bindulis is on their minds.
  • The New York Rangers better hope they don’t finish fourth in the Metropolitan Division. After getting pummeled by the Montreal Canadiens 4-1 last night and causing Alain Vigneault to become more angry than he has all season (according to Brett Cyrgalis of the NY Post), the team is now just 5-4-1 in their last 10 and 0-3 against the Habs this season. With the first wildcard sport set to face the Atlantic Division winner, the Rangers would be up against the Canadiens right away and would need to turn that record around fast.

Snapshots: Konecny, Duclair, Oilers-Red Wings

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After missing nine games with an injured knee and ankle, Philadelphia Flyers rookie Travis Konecny will return to the lineup on Saturday night. That’s according to Tim Panaccio of CSN Philly.

It’s an early-than-expected return for Konecny, who was expected to miss 4-6 weeks when he was placed on IR three weeks ago. The rookie has seven goals and 22 points in 51 games so far this season, while averaging almost 15 minutes per night with solid possession numbers. His 22 points were good for fourteenth in rookie scoring when he was injured back in February. He’s now dropped to twentieth, having been passed by fellow Flyers rookie Ivan Provorov among others.

It’s not yet known who Konecny will line up with in Washington this evening. Forward Jordan Weal was called up to replace Konecny, and though he has just one goal in six games, he’s been lining up on the Flyers’ top line with Claude Giroux and Wayne Simmonds. The Flyers also added center Valtteri Filppula at the trade deadline, so the forward core looks slightly different than the one Konecny left last month.

  • Much-maligned sophomore Anthony Duclair played his first NHL game in six weeks last night. He had been sent to the AHL in mid-January to find his scoring touch, which had been missing all season. Duclair scored 20 goals and 44 points in his rookie year, but has just three goals and nine points in 42 games this season. The main culprit appears to be his shooting percentage, which has gone from 19% down to 5.2%. It’s not as if Duclair lit up the AHL either, with just one goal and eight points in 16 games. However, it appears he’s back with the NHL club for the rest of the season. Sarah McLellan of AZ Central quoted Coyotes bench boss Dave Tippett as saying the rest of this season is Duclair’s chance to “re-establish himself as an NHL player.” The Coyotes clearly want to take a closer look at Duclair before making a decision on him this summer when he’s an RFA.
  • It will be a tale of two teams heading in completely different directions when the Detroit Red Wings visit the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night. The Oilers are comfortably in a playoff spot for the first time in a very long time, and the Red Wings are about to miss the playoffs for the first time since 1989-90. The last time the Oilers finished ahead of the Red Wings was the following year; twelve members of tonight’s Oilers were not yet born. In addition, this will be David Desharnais’ first appearance in blue and orange since being acquired before the trade deadline, and he’ll line up Anton Slepyshev and Zack Kassian.

Snapshots: MacEwen, Tynan, Vermette

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The Vancouver Canucks have dipped their toes into the 20-year old free agent waters, signing undrafted center Zack MacEwen to a three-year entry-level contract. MacEwen is playing for the Gatineau Olympiques of the QMJHL where he often skates with Blue Jackets’ third-round pick Vitaly Abramov, one of the league’s top scorers.

Elliotte Friedman reports that both Ottawa and Tampa Bay had been in on MacEwen recently, before the Canucks eventually signed him. MacEwen is a point-per-game player for the first time in his junior career, scoring 62 in 59 games this season. He’ll join Matthew Highmore and many others as teams around the league start snapping up any talent that has slipped through the cracks.

Snapshots: Coyotes, Glass, Nestrasil

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The Arizona Coyotes are in a fight in the standings of their own. Even though the players aren’t giving up, they front office is likely desperately hoping they finish in the bottom two once again and get the chance to select a top prospect. They got some bad (or good, I’m unsure at this point) news today when Dave Vest of NHL.com reported that Kevin Connauton should be considered week-to-week with an upper-body injury suffered last night.

  • Vest also passed along a few choice quotes from Dave Tippett on the future of Anthony Duclair, who will get back into the NHL lineup tonight. “We want him to play to his potential. He set a standard for his play last year that he has to get back to,” said Tippett who is not alone in hoping Duclair gets back to his 2015-16 form. Coyotes fans everywhere were hoping to see more of the 20-goal man that was around last season, instead of the 9-point Duclair they’ve seen this year. Despite being rumored in trades all year, the Coyotes will hang onto the former New York Ranger for at least the rest of the season, hoping he can regain his form. Expect his name to be thrown around plenty at the expansion and entry drafts.
  • The Chicago Blackhawks have recalled recently signed goaltender Jeff Glass from the Rockford IceHogs today, and will be the backup tonight against the New York Islanders. Both Corey Crawford and Scott Darling took part in practice today and seemed fine, though apparently Darling will be held out with an upper-body injury of some sort.
  • The Detroit Red Wings have some goalie news of their own, as Ansar Khan of MLive reports that Jimmy Howard will be loaned to Grand Rapids Griffins on a conditioning stint and will start Saturday for the AHL squad. The netminder is trying to work his way back from an injury that has kept him out of NHL action since late December due to multiple setbacks.
  • The Carolina Hurricanes have assigned forward Andrej Nestrasil to the Charlotte Checkers of the AHL today, after using him in Wednesday’s loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. The 26-year old forward has played 19 games for the Hurricanes this year, registering five points.
  • The Philadelphia Flyers may have Travis Konecny back sooner than expected, as Dave Isaac of the Courier-Post reports. Konecny says he’s ready to go and that he’s hoping to get back into the lineup on Saturday against the Washington Capitals. Out since February 6th, the 19-year old Konecny has been a revelation for the Flyers this season with 22 points in a 51 games. In any normal year, that would be extremely impressive from a teenager in the NHL.

Snapshots: Subban, Roussel, Rust

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Bon retour P.K.! That’s what the Bell Centre’s video board read as the crowd jumped to their feet so salute a former star returning last night. P.K. Subban made his return to Montreal as a member of the Nashville Predators and received quite the ovation from Canadiens fans, standing and cheering him on throughout his video tribute as tears rolled down the defenseman’s face. Arpon Basu of NHL.com writes that those tears are all we saw from the former Norris winner all night, as the Predators fell 2-1 on a last second goal from Paul Byron.

At ESPN, the insiders—including Craig Custance, Scott Burnside and Pierre LeBrun—take a look at the short and long term ramifications of the Subban-Weber trade 60 games in. Weber is signed for another nine seasons in Montreal, while Subban is only under contract through 2021-22.

  • The hits just keep on coming for the Dallas Stars, who lost Antoine Roussel last night to injury and likely for the year. Mike Heika of SportsDay reports that head coach Lindy Ruff expects Roussel to be “a while; in all likelihood the rest of the year.” Though the Stars aren’t really competing for a playoff spot any longer, Roussel was having a career year. He was just three points shy of setting a career-high in points, and would likely have broken his goal and assist marks as well with 20 games remaining.
  • Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has some good news for Penguins fans, as he spotted Bryan Rust skating before practice. A playoff hero last season, Rust has been a solid contributor to the Penguins run this year. With 25 points in 50 games, he’s giving the team some excellent secondary scoring and is a useful piece up and down the lineup. Molinari also adds that new defenseman Mark Streit will be wearing #32 for the Penguins when he suits up for a game.

Snapshots: Mason, Parenteau, Sweden

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News and notes from around the NHL this evening:

  • Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports that the Philadelphia Flyers have not negotiated with goaltender Steve Mason’s camp all season. Mason is in the final year of his contract worth $4.1MM a year. In 43 games this season he’s posted a 17-17-6 record with a .903 SV% and a 2.83 GAA. Interesting, the Flyers extended their other goaltender, Michael Neuvirth, to a two-year deal worth $2.5MM a year. Neuvrith has worse numbers than Mason, going 10-9-1 in 24 games with a .887 SV% and a 2.90 GAA. Part of the reason may be that if they signed both Mason and Neuvirth, they would have to expose one to the expansion draft this summer.
  • New Nashville Predators acquisition P.A. Parenteau will miss tonight’s game after “blowing up” his finger, reports Andrew Gross of the NJ Record. Parenteau’s hand was hit by a puck and will require several stitches. The veteran forward was traded from the New Jersey Devils to Nashville in exchange for a 6th round pick in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft. Parenteau has 13G and 14A in 59 games so far this season.
  • The New York Times reported that Sweden has reintroduced military conscription affecting those born in 1999 and later. This will impact future incoming Swedish players professional development with the prospects of serving—albeit for 9-12 months—in the Swedish military. The NHL is no stranger to this dilemma though. Finland still maintains mandatory military participation—usually around six months—and all Finnish NHLers have or will have to participate during their career. Most Finnish-born players, like Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Olli Maatta, complete their military requirements during the offseason.

 

Snapshots: Vatrano, Lazar, Canadiens

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When Ryan Spooner spoke out recently saying that he didn’t have a good relationship with Claude Julien during his tenure with the Bruins, it didn’t come as much of a surprise. Spooner never fit into Julien’s system, and the two obviously didn’t mesh properly. The Bruins likely didn’t like having a player speak out against a coach past or present, regardless of whether that coach was now behind the bench of a divisional rival.

Today another Boston forward has spoken up. In Joe Haggerty’s latest column for CSNNE, he relays that Frank Vatrano sounded very similar in his comments on a Boston radio show, saying that he “didn’t have the best relationship with Claude”. Vatrano doesn’t exactly speak ill of Julien, just that he feels much more comfortable with Bruce Cassidy his former coach with Providence and now bench boss of the NHL-Bruins. It’s showing on the ice, with Spooner and Vatrano combining for seven points in the last five games, which include four wins.

  • When Pierre Dorion said that he’d hold out for a first-round pick before dealing Curtis Lazar, Senators fans rejoiced knowing that they wouldn’t be underselling their former 17th overall pick. Apparently the addition of the recently waived Jyrki Jokipakka was enough to sway Dorion, as he dealt Lazar (and Mike Kostka) to Calgary for a second-rounder and the defenseman. Don Brennan of the Ottawa Sun believes that he made a huge error in sending the struggling Lazar out west, even claiming that in ten years Lazar would have likely been wearing the captain’s ’C’ for Ottawa. While that seems unlikely, it is a good gamble for the Flames, who may have nabbed a future NHLer at his lowest value.
  • It certainly won’t look like the same team in Montreal, even if many of the key parts remain. The Habs added size in a big way at the deadline, shipping out some of their undersized pieces for Hulk-sized players. As Eric Engels writes in his latest piece for Sportsnet, the team has definitely gotten harder to play against, if not more skilled at the same time. The Canadiens’ biggest (in terms of impact) acquisition might be Dwight King, who might actually have a little bit of offensive upside left in him. Once upon a time King used his huge frame as an effective power forward, even scoring 30 points in 2013-14. His bang-and-crash style will be brand new to Montreal, who will fit perfectly into Claude Julien’s approach.

Tuesday Evening Snapshots: Vanek, Ott, Trotz, Forsberg

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Prior to the Red Wings game against Vancouver, several reporters tweeted that Steve Ott was scratched while potential trade target Thomas Vanek was scheduled to be on the ice–meaning that Vanek is still a Red Wing for at least another night. Vanek, who many thought would be scratched to avoid injury prior to the deadline, will play limited minutes according to a tweet from the Red Wings’ Dana Wakiji. Ott, meanwhile, has been another name linked to trade discussions, and his absence, after being in the lineup over the past several games, certainly raises eyebrows. Ott is beloved by teammates and coaches for his “grit” and “locker room presence,” so it remains to be seen if Ott is shipped off to another team.

In other snapshots:

  • Washington bench boss Barry Trotz notched his 700th career win after the Capitals knocked off the Rangers 4-1. He was denied the other night by his former team, the Nashville Predators, and sits at #6 on the all-time-wins list for coaches. He’s behind only two active head coaches: Joel Quenneville, and Lindy Ruff.
  • Filip Forsberg continues his tear, and NBC Sports’ James O’Brien writes that Preds defenseman P.K. Subban believes Forsberg is the best player in the league right now. Forsberg has four three-point games in his last six contests for a cumulative total of 14 points (10-4). The Tennessean’s Adan Vignan writes that Forsberg finished February with 11 goals and 17 assists in just 13 games. It’s the type of stride the Preds need, still sitting third in the Central but certainly not having a desirable cushion.

Atlantic Notes: Gionta, Sabres, Gauthier

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The captain wants to stay. That’s what Brian Gionta is telling the Buffalo Sabres and their fans, as he plays through the final year of his current contract. Bill Hoppe of the Buffalo Hockey Beat published a piece today that quotes Gionta reiterating his hope to stay a Sabre through the end of the season and beyond if they’ll have him.

I’ve made my position pretty clear. I’d like to stay here. I’d like to be here going on in the future. I want to see this thing through.

Gionta isn’t the player that scored 48 goals and 89 points in 2005-06, but he is still a reliable winger and huge leadership presence among a young team building for the future. As the reins are handed over to teenage phenoms and 20-something stars, Gionta could still be a positive influence even at the age of 38. As his $4.25MM contract expires this season, perhaps the Sabres will look to bring him back on a shorter, much less expensive deal in the summer.

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