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Snapshots: Tempe Arena Vote, Lilja, Korshkov

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Today is the day Arizona Coyotes fans have been nervously waiting for. In Tempe, it’s the final day to cast a vote in the local referendum, which determines whether the team can move forward with its plan for a new arena and entertainment district in the city, as NHL insider Frank Seravalli outlines in his latest for Daily Faceoff.

While an already high turnout thanks to lots of mail-in ballots have the Coyotes optimistic about a ’yes’ result, Seravalli says it’s anything but a sure thing. Seravalli relayed reports from NHL sources that political opposition groups outspent the Coyotes massively on advertising ahead of the election, while the Coyotes management (including general manager Bill Armstrong) has been actively soliciting votes door-to-door in the community.

Results could be announced as soon as 10 p.m. CT tonight, with a ’no’ vote effectively killing the Coyotes’ future in the state. Further hurdles still need to be cleared in order for the project to move forward if Tempe voters opt to approve the project, such as ongoing legal battles with the City of Phoenix, but regardless, it’s a transformative night for the NHL and its most maligned franchise.

More from around the hockey world today:

  • Per reports out of Russia, former Columbus Blue Jackets winger Jakob Lilja could be extending his stay overseas — this time with the NL’s HC Ambrì-Piotta. The 29-year-old Swedish winger played in 37 games with Columbus in 2019-20, his only season in North America to date, recording five points. Since then, he’s had three relatively successful seasons in the KHL with Barys Nur-Sultan (now Barys Astana) and Dynamo Moskva, but he’ll have a bit more ice time available to him in Switzerland. Ambrì-Piotta’s roster for next season already includes former NHLers Tim Heed and Filip Chlapik, as well as Arizona Coyotes center prospect Manix Landry.
  • 2016 second-round pick Egor Korshkov has been dealt in the KHL, heading to Amur Khabarovsk after three seasons with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl. The former Toronto Maple Leafs prospect never panned out, only playing one full season in the AHL, but he did score one goal in his only NHL appearance in the 2019-20 season. His player rights have since been traded to the Carolina Hurricanes and, later, the Florida Panthers, where he remains on their reserve list should he ever choose to return to the NHL. Now 26, Korshkov had just four goals in 40 KHL games last season.

Snapshots: Landeskog, Reinbacher, Agents

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Outside of the playoffs, one of the major questions in the hockey world is if we will ever see the return of Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog. On May 10th, Landeskog opted to receive a cartilage transplant on his right knee, which will likely sideline him for the entirety of the 2023-24 NHL season.

This will mark two straight years that Landeskog will fail to play a game in the NHL, and serious doubts are being raised about his ability to return to the ice following this surgery. Talking to doctors and experts about the surgery, Bennett Sousa of The Denver Post says the jury is still out on that specific question.

Dr. Rachel Frank, a team physician for the MLS Colorado Rapids team, said, “We’ve seen this done before in patients and athletes at all levels, including the high school, the collegiate and the professional athlete. But at the elite level, it’s a bit less predictable because, quite frankly, it’s not as common.” Although the surgery has been quite successful in the past, Frank was quick to point out that the surgery is typically given for quality-of-life scenarios, not returning to their original form in athletics.

The only other major athlete to receive the surgery in recent memory would be Chicago Bulls guard, Lonzo Ball. In March of 2023, Ball opted to receive the surgery and has yet to make his return to the court at this time, missing the entirety of the 2022-23 NBA season. Due to the lack of comparables in the world of sports, Landeskog’s future in hockey is still up in the air.

Other snapshots:

  • In their loss against Team Sweden at the 2023 IIHF World Championship, Team Austria received even more negative news during the game, as top draft prospect David Reinbacher would not return to the game (Tweet Link). Receiving a hip check from Washington Capitals’ defenseman Rasmus Sandin, Reinbacher left the game with a lower-body injury. Clocking in at 20th overall on the draft board by TSN’s Bob McKenzie, Reinbacher scored three goals and 19 assists playing for EHC Kloten of the National League this season.
  • Although not pressing news, an interesting factoid was provided by PuckPedia today, as they announced that two agents have now crossed over the $1B mark in active contracts, as both Craig Oster of Newport Sports and Pat Brisson of CAA Hockey have crossed the threshold. Oster represents NHL talent such as Erik Karlsson, Mark Stone, and Matthew Tkachuk, while Brisson represents players such as Nathan MacKinnon, Sidney Crosby, and John Tavares.

Snapshots: Brossoit, Maggio, Marchment

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Ben Gotz of the Las Vegas Review-Journal gave some updates from the head coach of the Vegas Golden Knights, Bruce Cassidy, this afternoon, mentioning that injured goaltender Laurent Brossoit will remain out for Game Five. Brossoit has been out since the team’s victory in Game Three during their second-round matchup against the Edmonton Oilers.

Although averaging some very solid numbers in limited regular season games this year, Brossoit has left a lot to be desired for Vegas so far in this year’s playoffs. In eight games played, he does have a very good record at 5-2-0 but is also carrying a .894 SV% and a GAA of 3.18. Working out well for the Golden Knights up to this point, it is hard to imagine overall success as the team gets deeper into the playoffs with those numbers.

Picking up for Brossoit after leaving Game Three early was netminder Adin Hill. Playing for nearly the last 50 minutes of Game Three, Hill stopped 24 of 24 shots, helping his team take the lead in the series. Unfortunately in Game Four, Hill did not impress as much, giving up four goals on 33 shots. With veteran goaltender Jonathan Quick still at their disposal, the Golden Knights will surely be looking for more consistent goaltending as they look to take back the series lead against the Oilers in Game Five.

Other snapshots:

  • The OHL announced today that New York Islanders prospect, Matthew Maggio, has been awarded the Red Tilson Trophy, given annually to the OHL’s Most Outstanding Player. Earlier this month, the Islanders signed their 142nd overall pick from the 2022 NHL Draft to an entry-level contract. Although his team, the Windsor Spitfires, was eliminated in the first round by the Kitchener Rangers in the OHL playoffs, Maggio had an unbelievable season nonetheless. In 66 games played, the young forward scored 54 goals and 57 assists, helping his team secure first place in the Western Conference.
  • Missing last night’s Game Five victory against the Seattle Kraken, Dallas Stars’ forward Mason Marchment will be available for Game Six according to Joey Hayden of Dallas Morning News. Although the team played well in his absence, Marchment would be a welcomed return as the Stars look to move on to the Western Conference Finals for the first time since the 2019-20 season. In 10 games played so far in this year’s playoffs, Marchment has scored three goals and provided two assists.

Snapshots: Heiskanen, Raanta, Bertuzzi

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Dallas Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen was involved in a scary play in last night’s Game 3 loss to the Seattle Kraken, taking a puck to the face in a bad spot. In some positive news, though, head coach Peter DeBoer spoke to reporters, including The Athletic’s Saad Yousuf, today and offered an update on Heiskanen’s condition, labeling him day-to-day.

“He’s here with the group. Obviously a pretty bad cut,” DeBoer said. “I would call him day to day. We’ll see how he feels tomorrow. 24 hours makes a big difference with those types of things.” Fortunately, DeBoer also clarified Heiskanen is not in concussion protocol. It’s great news for Dallas, who needs to rebound after getting dominated by the Kraken last night, although goaltending is mostly to blame. The 23-year-old Heiskanen has seven assists in nine playoff games, tied for third on the team in postseason points.

More from around the NHL today:

  • Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Antti Raanta returned to the ice for practice today after missing Games 2 and 3 of the team’s Second Round series against the New Jersey Devils with an illness. NHL.com’s Dan Rosen reported that Raanta participated in the team’s practice, along with current starter Frederik Andersen and third-string netminder Pyotr Kochetkov. Raanta played the first five games of the postseason for Carolina, helping them jump out a 3-2 series lead against the New York Islanders in Round One before Andersen came in to clinch the series.
  • Tyler Bertuzzi’s agent, Todd Reynolds, has not had any talks with the Boston Bruins regarding his client’s future, according to a tweet from Matt Porter of the Boston Globe. In a text message, Reynolds stated that Bertuzzi was “very positive” about his time with the Bruins and would be open to staying, although the stress of cap implications for the Bruins makes it seem unlikely. Bertuzzi tied for the team lead in playoff scoring with 10 points in seven games in their First Round loss to the Florida Panthers.

Snapshots: Edler, Norway, Malgin, Fiala

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Speaking with reporters including Zach Dooley of LA Kings Insider at their end-of-season media scrums, Kings defenseman Alexander Edler indicated that he’s not yet sure if he’ll try to return for an 18th NHL season.  The 37-year-old played in 64 games this season (including his 1,000th career contest) but was limited to under 15 minutes per night for the first time since his rookie year back in 2006-07.  While Edler acknowledged that he feels healthy (he was often rested on back-to-backs this season), he admitted that it might take a while for him to decide if he’s going to continue playing or not.  Edler played on a league minimum contract this season with some performance bonuses but will likely need to accept closer to a straight minimum deal if he does want to play in 2023-24.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • With the World Championship fast approaching, Norway was the latest country to reveal its roster for the event. As expected, it doesn’t feature much in the way of NHL content with Blue Jackets prospect Ole Julian Bjorgvik Holm being the only player on an NHL deal.  Winger Andreas Martinsen, who played 152 games with Colorado, Montreal, and Chicago over a four-year NHL career, is also on the roster.  The tournament gets underway on Friday.
  • Avalanche winger Denis Malgin is expected to be a late addition to Switzerland’s roster for the Worlds, according to a report from Watson News. The 26-year-old did well after coming over in a midseason swap, picking up 11 goals in 42 games despite averaging just 10:32 per night.  Notably, Malgin does not have a contract for next season; it’s typically rare for a pending free agent to play in this event.
  • Also from that report, it will be another week before a decision is made on whether Kings winger Kevin Fiala will participate in the event. The 26-year-old missed the first three games of the playoffs with a lower-body injury and it appears that Los Angeles wants to see how Fiala’s recovery goes over the next few days before deciding on allowing him to participate.

Snapshots: Hofer, Middleton, Senators, Korpisalo

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After revealing their initial roster yesterday for the upcoming World Championship, Hockey Canada announced (Twitter link) that Blues goaltender Joel Hofer and Wild defenseman Jacob Middleton have been added to the roster.  Hofer spent most of the season with AHL Springfield but didn’t look out of place in six games with St. Louis where he posted a .905 SV%.  He’s expected to be the backup for the Blues next season and will compete for playing time in this event with Buffalo’s Devon Levi and Montreal’s Samuel Montembeault.

As for Middleton, the 27-year-old played in 79 games for the Wild this season, picking up 15 points and 155 blocks while logging over 19 minutes a night, all career bests.  He also picked up a pair of assists and 24 blocked shots in Minnesota’s opening-round exit to Dallas.  It will be his first time representing Canada internationally.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • Another celebrity has joined in on the bidding for the Senators as Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports that The Weeknd has joined the Kimel bid, one of the seven groups believed to still be in the race for the team. This comes on the heels of Snoop Dogg partnering up with Neko Sparks’ bid in recent days while Ryan Reynolds and the Remington Group are known to be putting together a competitive bid.  The rough deadline for final offers is the middle of May.
  • When he met with the media earlier this week including Zach Dooley of LA Kings Insider, Kings goaltender Joonas Korpisalo indicated that there hasn’t been much in the way of discussions on a possible contract extension. The 29-year-old was quite impressive for Los Angeles down the stretch, posting a 2.13 GAA with a .921 SV% in 11 games, helping him earn the starting role for the playoffs.  Korpisalo is finishing a one-year, $1.3MM deal that was signed on the heels of an injury-riddled season but now, he’ll enter the open market as one of the top netminders available which could more than triple that rate on his next contract.

Snapshots: Gaudreau, Jonsson-Fjallby, Bell

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The Minnesota Wild were eliminated in the first round of the postseason and have now revealed what injuries their players were dealing with in the playoffs. According to Michael Russo of The Athletic, forward Frederick Gaudreau has been dealing with a significant abdominal injury and will require surgery. The injury has been nagging him for four months and he continued to play through it, but will now have surgery to repair the damage.

Gaudreau played all 82 regular season games and all of the team’s six playoff games, so the injury did not take him out of the team’s lineup. The 30-year-old forward scored 19 goals and 38 points for the Wild, adding some depth scoring and playing a gritty, defensively responsible role as well. He added three goals in six postseason contests as well. After proving his value this season, Gaudreau signed a five-year contract extension last month that kicks in next season and has a $2.1MM cap hit.

  • While Gaudreau was locked up by his team, one play that is now eligible to hit the open market is Winnipeg Jets forward Alex Jonsson-Fjallby. As capfriendly.com reports, the 25 year old will become a Group 6 UFA because of his age, and career games played. Had the Swedish winger played 75 career games before the end of this season, he would have retained RFA status and remained property of the Jets. He finished this season with 74 career games played.
  • The Belleville Senators have announced their new head coach. Per a team release, David Bell will take over behind the bench and becomes the third head coach in franchise history. The 46 year old was the team’s interim head coach since February 2, but was officially named the future bench boss for the 2023-24 season this week. He had been the team’s assistant coach since 2019 and has been behind the bench of an OHL or AHL team going back to the 2004-05 season.

Snapshots: Gavrikov, Rossi, Teravainen

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Earlier this afternoon, Helene Elliott of the Los Angeles Times took some quotes from Los Angeles Kings defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov, telling the reporter that his family loved living in Los Angeles for the last couple of months, but also said “We’ll see what happens” on whether or not he will extend his tenure with the Kings. Gavrikov is slated to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1st.

Gavrikov had previously spent three seasons playing for the Columbus Blue Jackets, but with the Blue Jackets not meeting expectations this season, Gavrikov was subsequently dealt to the Kings with teammate Joonas Korpisalo. In 52 games in Columbus this season, Gavrikov scored three goals and seven assists, and would almost match that same output in only 20 games in Los Angeles. Gavrikov is one of the better defensive defensemen in the game, as he has blocked over 100 shots in each of his previous last two seasons.

In their opening-round series against the Edmonton Oilers, Gavrikov continued his strong play on the Kings’ back end, playing in all six games, accruing 16 hits, and earning a rating of +5. In the upcoming free agency period in July, Gavrikov joins a list of notable defensemen that play best on the defensive side of the puck, such as Ryan Graves, Scott Mayfield, Connor Clifton, and Dmitry Orlov.

Other snapshots:

  • Michael Russo of The Athletic reports that Minnesota Wild prospect, Marco Rossi, will suit up for Team Austria in the 2023 IIHF World Championships. Although playing in limited NHL action over the last two seasons, Rossi has been one of the better performers in the AHL, playing for the Iowa Wild. In his rookie season, Rossi scored 18 goals and 35 assists in 63 games played, and followed that up with almost a point-per-game performance this year, scoring 51 points in 53 games. In the opening round of the Calder Cup Playoffs, although his team was eliminated in two games by the Rockford IceHogs, Rossi managed a goal and an assist.
  • In some positive news regarding an injury for the Carolina Hurricanes, Tom Gulitti of the NHL reports that forward Teuvo Teravainen participated in an off-ice workout today. Teravainen is currently healing from a broken hand, and although this is a major step in the right direction for his return, it is still unknown whether or not he will be back for the playoffs. In somewhat of a down year compared to his previous standards, Teravainen only managed 37 points in 65 games this year, but would undoubtedly be a welcome return to a surging Carolina team.

Snapshots: Gronborg, Oligny, Meier

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It’s not often you see a team that has won back-to-back league titles change their coach, but this decision was made long ago for Tappara Tampere of the Finnish Liiga. Back in October it was reported that Rikard Gronborg would not be returning to the ZSC Lions after this season, already agreeing to a multi-year contract with Tampere.

Gronborg was introduced today, taking over just a week after the club took home the 2023 title. Interestingly enough, when the commitment was initially reported, it included the note that Gronborg’s contract contains an out clause should the NHL come calling. For years, the decorated international coach has been linked to vacant NHL positions without anything ever materializing.

  • Jimmy Oligny is your Yanick Dupré Memorial Award winner for 2022-23, named AHL Man of the Year. The award is given to a minor league player for outstanding contributions to his local community and charitable organizations. Among his many involvements, the Manitoba Moose captain worked with the Kinship and Foster Family Network to host a foster family at every Moose home game.
  • Timo Meier was “okay” today, according to New Jersey Devils head coach Lindy Ruff, as the forward continues to recover from a massive hit suffered last round. Mike Morreale of NHL.com relays that Meier is still day-to-day and that the team will know more tomorrow. Without Meier in game one of their second-round series, the Devils were dismantled by the Carolina Hurricanes and will have to try to even things up tomorrow night.

Snapshots: Flames Arena, Mangiapane, Bussi, Senators

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The long wait is over for an announcement of a new arena for the Flames as the City of Calgary announced that they have come to an agreement on a new arena and events center.  The agreement will be funded between the city ($537MM), the Province of Alberta ($300MM towards supportive infrastructure), and Flames ownership ($356MM) over the next three years.  Don Braid of the Calgary Herald notes that this agreement also covers the demolition of the Saddledome, the oldest arena in the NHL which turns 40 in October.  There is no projected timeline yet for when the new arena will be operational.  Given the scope of the project, it will almost certainly take a while.

Elsewhere around the NHL:

  • Still with the Flames, the team announced (Twitter link) that winger Andrew Mangiapane has undergone successful shoulder surgery and will be ready for training camp. The 27-year-old wasn’t able to repeat his 35-goal performance from last season, slipping down to 17 tallies while chipping in with 26 assists to finish eighth on the team in scoring.  He has two years left on his deal which carries a $5.8MM AAV so Calgary will certainly be hoping that the surgery will help Mangiapane reclaim his scoring touch.
  • The Bruins announced that they’ve re-assigned goaltender Brandon Bussi to AHL Providence. The 24-year-old was recalled last week on an emergency basis but didn’t see any game action, instead serving as their emergency netminder.  However, with Providence’s playoff series getting underway on Friday, Boston has sent him back down to get him ready for that series.  Bussi had a 2.40 GAA and a .924 SV% in 32 AHL contests this season.
  • Things have largely been quiet lately when it comes to the sale of the Senators but Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports that it looks like final offers will be required by mid-May. At that time, the seven groups will have had to submit paperwork outlining proof of financing.  Expectations are that the club will sell for at least $800MM based on the strong interest in the franchise.

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