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Snapshots: Benson, Connauton, Burrows, Flyers, Olympics

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The Edmonton Oilers have put pen to paper with one of their 2016 draft picks as they announced that they have inked left winger Tyler Benson to a three year, entry level contract.  Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Benson was Edmonton’s second round pick (32nd overall) back in June.  The Edmonton native had long been touted as a first rounder but an injury-plagued 2015-16 season (he played in just 30 games) certainly didn’t help his draft stock.

This season, Benson leads his junior team, the WHL’s Vancouver Giants, in scoring with 40 points (10-30-40) in 31 games.  As has been the case with several young prospects who have signed recently, unless Benson plays in ten or more games with the Oilers this season, his contract will actually ‘slide’ a year with the team receiving a small reduction in his salary cap charge.

Other notes from around the league:

  • Per a team release, the Arizona Coyotes have assigned defenseman Kevin Connauton to their AHL affiliate in Tucson on a conditioning assignment. Connauton has played just twice this month and only nine times this season as he has predominantly been the seventh defenseman for Arizona.
  • Canucks left winger Alex Burrows will play in his 800th game tonight against Anaheim. All of those games have come in a Vancouver uniform and once he suits up, he’ll be only the sixth player in franchise history to play in 800 games for the Canucks.  The 35 year old has been an effective bottom six player this season with 14 points (6-8-14) in 32 games and has 378 points (190-188-378) through his first 799 contests.
  • The Flyers will make rookie winger Travis Konecny a healthy scratch tonight, notes Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer. The timing is a little strange as Konecny is coming off a two assist game but head coach Dave Hakstol wants to see his play improve without the puck on his stick.  Left winger Michael Raffl will return to the lineup after missing Wednesday’s game with a lower body injury and slot in on the top line while defenseman Radko Gudas is day-to-day with an undisclosed injury.
  • The NHL has drafted two versions of the 2017-18 schedule with the uncertainty surrounding their participation in the 2018 Winter Olympics, notes Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston (Twitter links).  As a result, the league is no longer imposing any deadline on the decision regarding whether they will or won’t be participating.  However, the IOC is still hoping for a decision by January 15th.

Central Division Snapshots: Haula, Parise, Varlamov

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The Minnesota Wild have been on quite the run recently winning 10 in a row and earning points in all 11 games they’ve played in the month of December. They put that streak on the line tonight when the Wild travel to Nashville to play the Predators. But as Mike Russo of the Star Tribune reports, boosting Minnesota’s chances to extend their streak is the return of forwards Erik Haula, who missed three games with a hip injury, and Zach Parise, who was out for two games with strep throat.

Strep throat has become an all too common occurrence for Parise as he’s come down with the condition four times since the World Cup tournament. Parise considered having his tonsils removed to prevent an additional recurrence but was told by doctors that the surgery would “sideline him for a bit,” as Russo notes. The repeated illnesses have likely contributed to a lackluster start to the season as Parise has registered just five goals in 24 contests, though he seemed to be heating up with four points in the five games prior to coming out of the lineup.

Haula’s return is also a welcome one for the Wild. Minnesota bench boss Bruce Boudreau is glad to be able to slot the 25-year-old back into his usual third-line pivot role.

“Centers a very difficult position up front,” Boudreau said. “[Haula’s] probably going to be a little rusty. Grao played pretty good for us, and now he’s the fourth-line center, so it gives you more things to do if people aren’t going.”

Haula has contributed five goals and 10 points in 23 games while averaging 14:13 of ice time per game. He set career highs in goals and assists last season with 14 and 20 respectively while leading the club in plus-minus with a +21 rating.

Elsewhere in the Central Division:

  • Semyon Varlamov’s troublesome groin is once again keeping the Avalanche’s starting goalie sidelined, according to Terry Frei of The Denver Post. Frei notes that this will be the third stretch of games Varlamov has missed due to the groin and also a wrist ailment. Calvin Pickard, who earned the win in Colorado’s 2 – 1 victory over Chicago Friday night, will be between the pipes against Calgary tonight and Jeremy Smith was recalled from San Antonio to serve as the backup. Smith, 27, has never appeared in an NHL game but has spent eight seasons in the minors, primarily in the AHL, in the Nashville, Boston, Minnesota and now the Colorado organizations. Spencer Martin was up with the team last week but was left in the AHL in order to get some game action.

Pacific Division Snapshots: Russell, Kassian, Hertl

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Kris Russell was believed to be one of the top free agent blue liners available this summer and was expected to land a lucrative multi-year contract as a result. After all, Russell was just 29, an age still young enough to reasonably expect that a long-term deal would include multiple campaigns of steady production before an inevitable age-related decline set in. Additionally, the former Flame had posted a 34-point campaign as recently as 2014-15, suggesting Russell would be able to contribute some offense from either a team’s second or third pairing. However Russell remained available deep into the offseason before inking a one-year, $3.1MM pact with Edmonton, which made him just the fifth highest-paid defender on the Oilers.

Much of the reason for Russell’s stagnant summer market is due to the wide chasm in the analytics community regarding the defenseman’s actual value, as the Edmonton Journal’s David Staples opines. Staples writes that analysts who favor possession-based metrics have never thought highly of Russell’s work while others who rely more on tracking “the individual actions of players in game, such as zone entries, crucial good and bad defensive and offensive plays, and shots and passes that lead to scoring chances,” like Edmonton GM Peter Chiarelli for example, rate Russell more favorably.

Essentially, the former sees Russell as nothing more than a competent third-pair defenseman, one who excels at blocking shots and plays a physical game and should be compensated as such. The latter would be comfortable putting Russell out on their second-pair and paying him accordingly. Edmonton clearly saw Russell as a top-four option and has awarded him with ice time commensurate of such. Currently, he is averaging nearly 21 1/2 minutes per game, two minutes more than his career average.

What remains to be seen, however, is how much effort, if any, the Oilers put into extending Russell prior to July 1st when he becomes a UFA again. The team is projected to have more than $19MM in cap space available and only Leon Draisaitl stands out as a pending free agent that will warrant a hefty outlay. But Edmonton is just one summer away from Connor McDavid becoming a restricted free agent and may wish to keep as much cap space available to get what is likely going to be an expensive long-term deal done with their franchise player. That could limit their interest in a reunion with Russell to a one-year term and the veteran defenseman may not be amenable to another short-term pact.

Elsewhere in the Pacific Division:

  • Staying with Edmonton, it was one year ago nearly to the day that Chiarelli swung a deal with Montreal to acquire physical forward Zack Kassian. Kassian had just completed a suspension for violating the league’s substance abuse policy and while the trade was certainly a risk for Edmonton, 12 months later the gamble is paying off for both the team and the player, as Terry Jones of the Edmonton Journal writes. While Kassian is not lighting up the score sheet with just two goals and nine points in 33 games this season, Chiarelli says the power forward is playing well: “He’s kept clean. He’s in terrific shape. He’s settled down. And at some point he’ll start scoring. He’s playing well. He’s skating. He’s providing the physical element.” Kassian was originally selected the 13th overall by Buffalo in the first-round of the 2009 draft but was dealt to Vancouver during his rookie campaign for Cody Hodgson. His best season came in 2013-14 when the 6-foot-3, 217-pound forward tallied 14 goals and 29 points with 124 penalty minutes in 73 games for the Canucks. It’s certainly possible Kassian can match or even better those numbers playing on a skilled Oilers team headlined by McDavid, Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
  • Perhaps a bit of good news for San Jose as young winger Tomas Hertl was spotted this morning skating for the first time since undergoing knee surgery. Kevin Kurz of CSN Bay Area tweeted a photo of Hertl on the ice, apparently by himself. He’s still expected to be out for a while but this at least suggests his recovery is moving along relatively well. Hertl appeared in 17 games for the Sharks before the injury and registered four goals and nine points.

Snapshots: Joseph, Hartley, Blackhawks

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The Tampa Bay Lightning announced the signing of prospect winger Mathieu Joseph to a three year, entry-level contract.  Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Joseph was Tampa’s fourth round pick (120th overall) in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft.  He is in his fourth season at the junior level, with Saint John of the QMJHL.  Through 29 games this season, Joseph has 25 goals (tied for the league lead) and 20 assists along with a +23 rating.  He will be participating in the World Juniors for Team Canada which begins on Monday.

Unless Joseph plays in ten or more games with Tampa Bay this season which is quite unlikely, his contract will slide a year and begin in the 2017-18 season.

Other notes from around the league:

  • While coach Bob Hartley recently agreed to coach the Latvian national team, he is not viewing the opportunity as a long-term option, he told Sportsnet’s Mark Spector. Hartley will be behind the bench for the World Championships in May but intends to pursue another NHL position this summer.  Spector notes that Hartley has declined offers from Switzerland and the KHL but wouldn’t rule out extending his one year deal in Latvia for a second season if he’s unsuccessful in finding a spot back in North America.
  • If Chicago wants to find a way to re-sign left winger Artemi Panarin beyond this season, the Blackhawks will likely have to shake up their core to find the salary cap space to do so. While many have speculated that one of their skaters would have to go, ESPN’s Craig Custance suggests an alternate route in a reader mailbag (Insider required).  He opines that moving Corey Crawford and re-signing Scott Darling to go with a cheaper goalie tandem may be the best way to go.  Darling is still largely unproven at the NHL level with only 65 games under his belt including the playoffs but fared relatively well as the starter in ten games while Corey Crawford was out following an appendectomy, going 6-3-1 with a 2.12 GAA and a .930 SV% during that span.

Snapshots: Connolly, Stars, Varlamov, Red Wings/Hurricanes

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When right winger Brett Connolly signed a one year, $850K contract with Washington in the summer, some believed that playing in a more offensive-oriented environment might help unlock the potential he has shown over the years after being the sixth overall pick to Tampa Bay back in 2010.  However, he has been a healthy scratch for nearly half the season and admitted to Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post that his lack of playing time has been taking its toll on him:

“It’s obviously frustrating, you don’t want to be sitting out no matter what the reason is. But we’ve talked about kind of my situation and what’s going to be going on moving forward.

“I need to be playing. I need to be out there, so we’ll see. It’s obviously a big year. I’m being patient, and there’s still 51 games left. There’s still a big chunk of the season left and then playoffs, so you’ve just got to stick with it and hopefully you can get in there and be kept in there and play well and produce.”

Connolly has played in 17 games this season, scoring three times while adding an assist.  However, ice time has been hard to come by as he has spent the bulk of the year on the fourth line when he has played and as a result is playing less than 11 minutes a night.  He’ll get another chance as he will be back in the lineup tonight against Tampa Bay but once again will be on the fourth line.

Elsewhere around the league:

  • The Stars are likely to dress seven defensemen tonight as they take on the Kings, notes Mark Stepneski of Stars Inside Edge. Dallas is still without Cody Eakin due to his four game suspension and they are not permitted to replace him on the active roster.  Meanwhile, winger Antoine Roussel and defenseman Stephen Johns are both listed as doubtful but are also on the active roster, leaving them without a spot to bring up an extra forward.  Head coach Lindy Ruff said that if they have to use a defender as a forward at times, it will be either Patrik Nemeth or Jamie Oleksiak.
  • After recently returning to the lineup from a groin strain, Colorado goaltender Semyon Varlamov has once again been sidelined with a groin issue, the team announced via Twitter. Varlamov had a tough night against Toronto on Thursday night, allowing five goals on 18 shots before being pulled.  Spencer Martin has been recalled and will back up Calvin Pickard until Varlamov is ready to return.
  • The Detroit/Carolina game that was postponed due to ice issues earlier this week has been rescheduled for March 27th, the league announced. Interestingly enough, this creates a rare three games in three nights for the Red Wings who host the Wild on the 26th and already were scheduled to play in Carolina on the 28th.

Snapshots: Clinton’s Latest, Crawford, Hossa

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The Hockey News’ Jared Clinton breaks down five significant summer signings that haven’t quite lived up to their billing. While a number of players were given lucrative deals, Clinton gives the number one spot to Andrew Ladd, who after receiving a seven year, $38MM deal, has produced at an abysmal level. Ladd had only one assist in his first 12 games, and if his current pace of four goals and seven points continue, he is on pace for only 10 goals and 18 points. It’s hardly a return on investment.

Second on Clinton’s list is Mikkel Boedker, who inked a four-year, $16MM with San Jose. Boedker has six points (2-4) in 33 games, and Clinton wonders if this is why the winger barely fetched anything at the trade deadline last season. On the defensive side, Clinton looks at Dan Hamhuis, who appeared to be a great pickup for the Dallas Stars. It hasn’t worked out as such. Clinton notes that the veteran defenseman has been a healthy scratch twice, seen his average ice time drop by nearly two minutes, and has been relegated to a third line pairing.

With the salary cap not expected to move much in the next year, these signings could serve as a cautionary tale as to spending wisely instead of just spending to spend.

In other NHL news:

  • Corey Crawford is set to return in net tonight writes the Chicago Tribune’s Chris Hine. The 31-year-old goaltender has been out since having an emergency appendectomy almost three weeks ago. Crawford will face the struggling Colorado Avalanche, who were dismantled 6-0 by Toronto last night. Crawford has been outstanding for the Hawks this season, posting a 12-6-2 mark with a .927 save percentage.
  • With the good comes the bad, and Hine reports that Marian Hossa will miss his first game since suffering an upper body injury Tuesday night against Ottawa. In Hossa’s place will be Tanner Kero, who leads AHL affiliate Rockford in points this season. Kero worked in with Jordin Tootoo and Andrew Desjardins during practice. In addition to Hossa, Artem Anisimov is slated to miss his third straight game with an upper body injury.

Snapshots: DeBrincat, Brown, Anisimov, Chlapik

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In a head scratching move, the United States left Alex DeBrincat and Logan Brown off its world juniors roster today. NBC’s Jason Brough writes that Brown’s removal may be due to a lingering wrist injury. Regardless of that injury, Brown has racked up 21 points (8-13) in 15 games for the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires. DeBrincat’s omission is more of a mystery. The 19-year-old second round selection in 2016 has been torching the OHL as a member of the Erie Otters, notching 30 goals and 30 assists in just 28 games. Craig Custance wonders if being a right hand shot hurt his chances, but even that seems an odd reason to leave off the young scorer. DeBrincat leads the OHL in goals and is second in total points–behind teammate Taylor Raddysh–who is expected to be on the Canadian roster.

  • The Blackhawks have placed Artem Anisimov on the injured reserve writes Mark Lazerus and have called up Tanner Kero in his place. The move enables Anisimov to gain more rest as he was already out for the Blackhawks 4-3 loss to Ottawa Tuesday night. Anisimov has 27 points (14-13) in as many games this season with the Hawks. Kero, meanwhile, is Rockford’s leading scorer and should see ice time with both Anisimov and Marian Hossa likely out for tomorrow’s tilt against Colorado.
  • The Senators have inked center Filip Chlapik to an entry level deal. Chlapik currently plays on the Charlottetown Islanders, where he is the leading scorer with 44 points (20-24). Chlapik also set an Islanders record by recording a point in his first 21 games. A second round selection in the 2015 draft, he will also be representing the Czech Republic in the World Junior Championships starting December 26.

Evening Snapshots: Spectacular Sophomores, Hartman

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  • The Hockey News’ Jared Clinton makes his case for five players who avoided the dreaded sophomore slump this season. At the top of his list is Edmonton’s Connor McDavid, who Clinton writes is the reason for the Oilers’ turnaround this season. Had it not been for the clavicle injury last season, McDavid would have had one of the best back-to-back seasons that rivaled Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin. Next is the Blackhawks’ Artemi Panarin, who Clinton believes the Hawks have to absolutely re-sign at all costs. That would certainly cause some financial posturing, but he believes Panarin to be a devastating personnel loss should he go elsewhere. The Winnipeg Jets’ Nikolaj Ehlers, the Hurricanes’ Jaccob Slavin, and the Blues’ Colton Parayko round out Clinton’s top five.
  • The Blackhawks have been on a tear lately and rookie Ryan Hartman has been one of the brightest spots for Chicago. Chris Hine writes that the young forward has learned quite a bit about being more patient on the ice and not corralling penalties as he would have in the past. Hine describes him as an irritant, there’s a reason for Hartman’s change of play:

“You have an opportunity to play in the NHL and be in the lineup every night. If you’re going to take penalties and do that kind of stuff, you’re not going to be in the lineup for long,” Hartman said. “I just try to stay out of the box as much as possible, and it related to me being on the ice more.”

Drawing penalties instead of causing them has been a boon for the Hawks and the young forward. He’s also shown a knack for scoring timely goals. Hartman notched the winner against San Jose on Sunday night and already has six on the season. Playing for a coach known to favor veterans, Hartman is making the most of his chance and certainly justifying his playing time from Joel Quenneville.

Snapshots: Three Stars, World Junior Captains, Iginla

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The NHL has named Artemi Panarin, Henrik Lundqvist, and Eric Staal as its Three Stars of the Week.

Panarin had three goals and seven assists for 10 points in four games. He bookended two thee-point performances with a pair of two-point nights as the Blackhawks continued their five-game winning streak. Panarin now has 34 points in 34 games this season

This week marks the second consecutive week with a New York Rangers goaltender as the second star. Last week, Antti Raanta was the second star as he temporarily took over the starting role from Lundqvist, but now the man they call The King has taken back over. Lundqvist went 3-0-0 and allowed just three goals to go with his 0.967 SV%. He and Raanta combined for a shutout when Lundqvist was forced to leave a game after being run over by Cody Eakin (for which he was suspended).

Staal had four goals and five points in three games as part of a 3-0-0 week. The Wild have now won seven straight and Staal is leading the team in goals, assists, and points; he has 24 points in 30 games in his first year in Minnesota.

  • Hockey Canada has named its leadership core for the upcoming World Junior Championships. Arizona Coyotes prospect Dylan Strome will wear the C for Canada, while Mathew Barzal and Thomas Chabot will serve as alternate captains. All three players played for Canada at last year’s tournament and appeared in the NHL at the start of the season. While they combined for just 10 games and one assist in the NHL, all three are 2015 first-round picks and dominant CHL players. Strome has 295 points in 191 games with the Erie Otters; Islanders sixteenth-overall pick Barzal has 281 points in 174 games with the Seattle Thunderbirds; Chabot, a defenseman picked eighteenth overall by Ottawa, has 128 points in 182 games with the Saint John Sea Dogs.
  • The Vancouver Canucks most recent first-round pick, Olli Juolevi has been named captain of Team Finland. Juolevi had nine assists in seven games in last year’s tournament, as Finland won gold. So far, Juolevi has 21 points in 26 games with the London Knights.
  • Today marks 21 years since the Calgary Flames acquired Jarome Iginla from the Dallas Stars for Joe Nieuwendyk. The trade worked out pretty well for both teams: the Stars won the Stanley Cup four years later with Nieuwendyk playing a key role, and Iginla became the face of the Flames franchise. Nieuwendyk was in the prime of his career, while Iginla was an eleventh-overall pick playing for the Kamloops Blazers. Amalie Benjamin of NHL.com tweeted that Iginla initially thought he had been traded to the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen. After turning pro, Iginla scored 1095 points in 16 years with the Flames, leading them to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2004. He’s bounced around between Pittsburgh, Boston, and Colorado in the four years since he was traded. Iginla could be on the move again this year, as the Avalanche are one of the worst teams in the NHL and he could want to go to a contender for the end of his career.

Snapshots: Crawford, Tavares, Lucic

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The Chicago Blackhawks could be getting a nice early Christmas gift on Friday night.

Despite having an appendectomy just two weeks ago, Corey Crawford has progressed enough in his recovery that he may start on Friday night against the Colorado Avalanche. Coach Joel Quenneville told Chris Hine that he would like to see Crawford get in a full practice before returning to the lineup.

The Blackhawks are off on Monday after playing back-to-back on the weekend, however Crawford will skate on his own. Backup Scott Darling has played the majority of games since Crawford has been out, including both games over the weekend. Darling is 6-2-1 since taking over from Crawford, which includes his current five-game winning streak.

  • Glen Schiller and Jamie McLennan on TSN’s That’s Hockey 2Nite discussed if there is any reason why John Tavares would want to re-sign with the Islanders. The Islanders have been “a mess” this year, following up a 100-point season with a 74-point pace. With the Metropolitan Division being the best division in hockey this year, there’s essentially no way the Islanders can climb back into the playoff picture without a 15-game winning streak. McLennan points to the free agency departure of Kyle Okposo, who had great chemistry with Tavares, and the struggles of his replacement, Andrew Ladd. Both players signed for similar contracts, but the Islanders chose the older player with no history with their superstar over the younger, right-handed player with years of success on Tavares’ wing. Tavares, McLennan argues, must be wondering who he would play with consistently and could look forward to playing with years from now if he signed an eight-year contract.
  • Over at OilersNation, Jonathan Willis wonders why the Oilers have not tried separating Milan Lucic and Connor McDavid to boost McDavid’s scoring. While he’s still leading the NHL in scoring by two points with 39 points in 33 games, he has just one even-strength assist in his last eight games. Lucic has just one goal in nine games this month. Despite Lucic’s struggles, the only changes made on the top line have been on the right side. Jesse Puljujärvi, Drake Caggiula, Jordan Eberle, Tyler Pitlick, and Leon Draisaitl have all had time with Lucic and McDavid, with varying degrees of success. Willis suggests moving Lucic to play with Draisaitl on the second line and bumping one of Benoit Pouliot or Patrick Maroon up to the top line; Willis points to chemistry between Draisaitl and Lucic and the dramatically better scoring numbers of when playing with McDavid as evidence of the merit of his suggestion.

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