Snapshots: NHL Draft Forwards, Rangers Front Office, Johnson
Just three days after NHL Central Scouting released its top five lists for North American and international players, NHL.com’s Mike Morreale released his list of the top 10 forwards for upcoming NHL draft. With no dominant player at the top of draft lists this year, most draft rankings have differed significantly from list to list, and Morreale’s is no different. After NHL Central Scouting listed Michigan center Matthew Beniers as the No. 6-ranked North American skater, Morreale has him as the top NHL forward in this upcoming draft, moving him ahead of names such as Mason McTavish, Kent Johnson and Dylan Guenther.
McTavish, who has moved up the draft rankings quite a bit since his performance at the recent WJC-18’s, ranking as the second-best forward in the draft. He notched five goals and 11 points in seven games for gold-medal winning Team Canada. Sweden’s William Eklund, Johnson and Guenther round out the top five.
- It looks as if the New York Rangers front office continues to get smaller and smaller as the New York Post’s Larry Brooks confirms that Nick Bobrov, who has served as the team’s director of European scouting over the last six years has left the organization. Bobrov has had a hand in quite a bit of the Rangers’ drafts over the years, giving the team quite an international flavor in their young prospects. Bobrov joins a list of exiting executives, including the firings of President John Davidson, GM Jeff Gorton and head coach David Quinn as well as the resignation of Brian Leetch of Hockey Ops.
- The Colorado Avalanche got a welcome sight on the ice when defenseman Erik Johnson stepped onto the ice this morning for an optional morning skate, according to The Athletic’s Peter Baugh. The veteran blueliner has been out since January with an upper-body injury and was ruled out for the season. Head coach Jared Bednar said he doubted that Johnson would return at some point in the playoffs, however. “I don’t know about him being fully cleared or anything like that to actually play,” said Bednar. “He’s just taking it step-by-step. … As he feels better, he’s doing more.”
Snapshots: Sedins, Paquette, Krebs, O’Connor
While the exact role has yet to be determined, Daniel Sedin and Henrik Sedin will be returning to the Canucks. GM Jim Benning indicated in a recent appearance on CHEK’s Donnie and Dhali show (audio link) that talks about a reunion are ongoing with an announcement hopefully coming over the next couple of weeks. The twins each played 17 years with Vancouver after being selected second and third overall back in 1999 and hung up their skates in 2018. Benning hopes to have the Sedins get their feet wet with several different aspects of the organization and given their commitment as players, this could be the beginning of another long run with the team.
Elsewhere around the NHL:
- Although Hurricanes center Cedric Paquette was listed as injured in their first-round series against Nashville, Luke DeCock of the Raleigh News & Observer reports that Paquette has been available all along and is available to be used against his former team as they take on Tampa Bay in the East Division Final. The 27-year-old was a regular in Tampa’s run to the Stanley Cup in the bubble, recording 112 hits in 25 games and could be called upon at some point to bring a similar level of physicality in the series.
- Golden Knights told reporters today including Jesse Granger of The Athletic (Twitter link) that center Peyton Krebs is well ahead of schedule in his recovery from a broken jaw. Instead of being out for the entire playoffs, there now is a chance for him to be available if Vegas is able to play into the summer. The 20-year-old was a first-rounder in 2019 and got into four games down the stretch, making him an intriguing option if they can make it far enough for him to return.
- Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar told reporters including Adrian Dater of Colorado Hockey Now (Twitter link) that winger Logan O’Connor may be available to play at some point in their series against Vegas. The 24-year-old played in 22 games during the regular season before suffering a lower-body injury in late March. While he is more of a role player, having someone that’s well-rested could be helpful later in the round if Bednar needs to tweak his lines.
Snapshots: Rutherford, Urquhart, COVID Protocol
It sure doesn’t sound as though former Pittsburgh Penguins GM Jim Rutherford is done with hockey. The 72-year-old Hall of Fame executive left the Penguins abruptly back in January and it felt as though it could be the end of an illustrious front office career. However, it didn’t take long for speculation to mount that Rutherford wanted to get back into the management game. Now, his interest is official. PBI Sports Agency has announced that they now officially represent Rutherford, who is looking for new “NHL management opportunities.” The GM and President of the Hartford Whalers/Carolina Hurricanes for 20 years and GM and Executive Vice President of the Penguins for another seven, not to mention considerable time spent in the OHL, there are few in hockey with as much front office experience as Rutherford. If he wants a new job in the league, PBI shouldn’t have a hard time finding him one.
- San Diego Gulls assistant coach David Urquhart is moving to the college game and returning to his old stomping grounds. The Anaheim Ducks’ affiliate has announced that Urquhart has accepted the head coach position at McGill University, where he was an assistant for four years before joining the Gulls in 2018. Urquhart also played at McGill and was one the rare four-year Canadian collegiate players to go on to have an extended pro career, playing three seasons in the AHL and another three in Italy. While USports pales in comparison to its American counterpart, the NCAA, McGill is one of its most highly regarded institutions and based in a high-publicity area in Montreal. While Urquhart’s move was clearly impacted by loyalty to his university, it could also lead to greater heights in his career, especially if he finds success in his first head coaching position.
- The NHL is loosening it’s COVID Protocol restrictions as it relates to fans. With many playoff teams having already received permission from local authorities to host increasing amounts of fans, the league is moving forward with improving that spectator experience. The NHL has announced that, beginning in the second round, fans will no longer be required to wear masks at games. Individual teams may still enforce a mask mandate if local health policies insist, but the league will no longer do the same. Additionally, the glass behind the penalty boxes and benches, initially removed to allow for more breathing room for teams, can also be removed if teams are 85% vaccinated. This will be the case for most remaining American teams.
Snapshots: Ducks, Kings, Desruisseaux
The Anaheim Ducks will not be making any changes at the general manager or head coaching positions, according to Eric Stephens of The Athletic. Ducks GM Bob Murray indicated today that both he and Dallas Eakins will return for the 2021-22 season, despite the struggles the team has gone through on the ice. The team finished 17-30-9 on the season but do have some nice building blocks in young players like Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale.
Eakins, who now has an 82-126-32 record as an NHL head coach, is only signed through next season. With the team going through a rebuild, it seems as though he may end up being the sacrificial coach before a more experienced or successful name is brought in to really compete. Of course, if the Ducks turn things around and make the playoffs next year that could all change.
- The Los Angeles Kings have made four additions to their hockey operations staff hiring Ryan Kruse as Vice President of Research and Development, Jake Goldberg as Senior Director of Hockey Operations, Vukie Mpofu as Manager of Hockey Operations, and Legal Affairs and Rosie Yu as Software Engineer for Research and Development. The group has a varied history, but in terms of NHL experience, Goldberg is coming from the Arizona Coyotes where he served as Director of Hockey Operations and Assistant to the General Manager.
- The Laval Rocket have announced a one-year, two-way minor league contract for Cedric Desruisseaux, who will join the club for the 2021-22 season. Though he stands only 5’8″ 165-lbs, Desruisseaux dominated the QMJHL this season, recording 42 goals and 78 points in 40 games. That easily led the league in both categories, though the undrafted 21-year-old will have a much tougher time putting up those kinds of numbers in professional hockey. Still, he’ll get a chance to show what he can do in the Rocket organization.
Snapshots: Nelson, Schwartz, Sikura
It’s been six years since Todd Nelson received his only head coaching opportunity in the NHL, but that could change in the coming weeks. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that Nelson will interview for the Arizona Coyotes and Columbus Blue Jackets. The 52-year-old has spent the last three seasons as an assistant with the Dallas Stars after serving as head coach of the Grand Rapids Griffins.
That one NHL opportunity came with the Edmonton Oilers, when Dallas Eakins was fired midseason during the 2014-15 campaign. Nelson was the head coach of the Oklahoma City Barons at the time and came up to try and salvage the season. In 51 games, the Oilers went 17-25-9, finishing ahead of only the Coyotes in the Pacific Division and missing the playoffs.
- The St. Louis Blues and Jaden Schwartz agreed before the season to put off any extension negotiations, but they’ll get together now to see if they can work something out. GM Doug Armstrong told reporters including Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic that they will “figure out if this relationship is going to continue,” noting they have some time until the end of July when Schwartz would become an unrestricted free agent. In the final season of a five-year, $26.75MM contract, the 28-year-old Schwartz put up just eight goals and 21 points in 40 games. He was held scoreless in all four playoff games as the Blues were swept out of the first round.
- The Henderson Silver Knights are getting a reinforcement for their Pacific Division finals tonight, as Dylan Sikura has been assigned to them from the Vegas Golden Knights. Sikura had 22 points in 30 games for the Silver Knights this season and will get a chance to help them take home the John D. Chick Trophy as division champions. The Silver Knights take on the Bakersfield Condors this evening in the first game of the best-of-three series.
Snapshots: Tarasenko, AHL, North Playoffs, Soucy
Blues winger Vladimir Tarasenko has decided to change agents according to Bally Sports Midwest’s Andy Strickland (Twitter link). After being represented by Octagon’s Mike Liut, he will now be repped by Paul Theofanous of TMI, LLC, who represents several prominent Russian players including Artemi Panarin, Sergei Bobrovsky, and Semyon Varlamov. The timing of the switch is a little odd as Tarasenko has two years remaining on his current contract which means the earliest that he could sign an extension with St. Louis is July of 2022.
Elsewhere around the NHL:
- The AHL is considering adding a play-in round for their playoffs, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported in the latest Saturday Headlines segment (video link). It’s unclear if the idea is for next season or for 2022-23 when Seattle’s affiliate in Palm Springs becomes the 32nd team in that league, meaning that half the league will make and miss the playoffs. Currently, their postseason format in a normal year is the top four teams in each division get in with no Wild Card which is a bit different than the normal format for the NHL’s playoffs. The AHL is often used as a trial balloon for ideas that could one day make their way to the NHL and this could be another one of those.
- A decision has still not been made about whether the winner of the North Division will be able to host games in their home city or be forced to relocate to a neutral site in the United States, notes Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic (Twitter link). There continues to be a mandatory quarantine period for anyone travelling from the U.S. to Canada and a special exemption would need to be granted from the Canadian federal government to allow some of the games to played in Canada. LeBrun suggests that a decision will need to be made by the start of the second round so there should be more news on this front within the next week or so.
- Wild defenseman Carson Soucy will miss tonight’s fifth game against Vegas due to an upper-body injury, notes Sarah McLellan of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. He has logged just over 13 minutes a game on their third pairing through the first four games of the series. Prospect Calen Addison, who got into three games back in February, will take Soucy’s spot in the lineup and make his playoff debut in the process.
Snapshots: Kampfer, Stars Goaltenders, Caufield
The Boston Bruins lost some of their defensive depth today when head coach Bruce Cassidy said that Steven Kampfer will miss the rest of the playoffs with an arm injury, according to NHL.com’s Amalie Benjamin. No word on how he got hurt.
Kampfer has only appeared once in the last 13 games for Boston, including no playoff games. The one game he did play, back on May 11, he did get 24:05 of ice time. For the season, the 32-year-old appeared in 20 games, scoring two goals and five points, while blocking 24 shots.
The team will have to depend more on some of their remaining defensive depth, including Connor Clifton and Jarred Tinordi. With an injury to Kevan Miller, the team will turn to Tinordi to fill in.
- Matthew DeFranks of the Dallas Morning News writes the Dallas Stars will have a goalie logjam next season with the return of Ben Bishop. While there was some early speculation that the team believed that the Seattle Kraken might grab veteran Anton Khudobin in the expansion draft (Jake Oettinger is exempt and Bishop has a no-movement clause), the scribe believes that Khudobin’s disappointing season, his age (35 years) and two years on his contract at $3.33MM doesn’t make that much sense for an expansion team. While the expansion draft is one potential way to fix the issue, the team might be better off trying to trade Khudobin to team looking for a solid backup. With many goaltenders going for quality prices, the team could pick up a solid draft pick if they decided to go that way.
- The Montreal Canadiens got the split they needed in Toronto and now have home-ice advantage for the time being. However, The Athletic’s Arpon Basu (subscription required) believes the team needs youngster Cole Caufield to step into Game 3. The scribe notes that Montreal spent much of the second period of Game 2 short-handed mainly because Toronto controlled the puck almost entirely. To fix that problem, the team must add speed, something that Caufield and defenseman Alexander Romanov could provide the team. When asked, coach Dominique Ducharme shrugged. “Possible, like everyone available,” he said. “We have depth, and we’re going to use it.”
Snapshots: Staal, Mukhamadullin, Peterka, Hlinka Gretzky Cup
Red Wings defenseman Marc Staal is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer and despite the tough year that Detroit had, he isn’t ruling out a return. The veteran told reporters, including Ted Kulfan of The Detroit News, that he enjoyed the change of scenery from New York and that he’d be open to returning. Regardless of where he winds up, the 34-year-old will be facing a steep pay cut from the $5.7MM AAV on his now-expiring contract. Staal averaged 18:25 per night on the back end and acknowledged that he may be interested in playing with one of his brothers; Jordan remains under contract in Carolina while Eric will be an unrestricted free agent as well after playing out the playoffs with Montreal.
More from around the league:
- Devils prospect Shakir Mukhamadullin underwent successful shoulder surgery and should be ready to play next season, relays Corey Masisak of The Athletic (Twitter link). The 19-year-old was the 20th pick back in October and had a regular role with Salavat Yulaev of the KHL while notching 10 points in 39 games. He has one more year left on his deal overseas with Masisak adding that New Jersey expects to sign the defenseman at the conclusion of his 2021-22 campaign.
- Sabres associate GM Jason Karmanos had high praise for prospect J.J. Peterka, telling Bill Hoppe of the Olean Times Herald that had Pittsburgh (where he worked previously) been able to secure a first-rounder last fall, they’d have picked Peterka with that selection. Buffalo wound up nabbing him early in the second round and the 19-year-old had a strong season split between Munchen in Germany and Salzburg in Austria while being dominant at the World Juniors with ten points in five games.
- After being cancelled due to the pandemic, Corey Pronman of The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that the Hlinka Gretzky Cup could still happen this summer somewhere in Europe, albeit without Canada’s participation. The under-18 tournament is typically the first event on the calendar for draft-eligible prospects and typically features eight countries.
Snapshots: Tavares, Bodie, Da Costa
With John Tavares now resting at home following his scary injury last night, the Toronto Maple Leafs must continue without their captain for the time being. The team confirmed that he suffered a concussion and everyone that watched last night’s frightening episode is just hoping Tavares can get back to full health. The 30-year-old has felt the support from the hockey community. He released a statement this afternoon through Twitter:
The support I’ve felt since last night cannot be put into words. I’m thankful to share that I’m back home and recovering. Thank you to my family, friends, teammates, the Maple Leafs organization, Leafs Nation and the hockey community for being by my side.
Also, thank you to both medical teams, emergency services and everyone at St. Mike’s Hospital for their exceptional care to help me get back on my feet.
I look forward to when I can wear the Maple Leaf on my chest again. Until then, I’ll be cheering on the boys along with Leafs Nation as we compete in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Maple Leafs will bring Pierre Engvall and Alex Galchenyuk into the lineup for game two tomorrow night, scratching newcomer Riley Nash after just one game with the team. Tavares’ absence will be felt throughout the entire lineup, with trade deadline acquisition Nick Foligno taking his spot in the middle of the second line.
- Troy Bodie, who served as the Maple Leafs’ director of pro scouting, has moved on to the Seattle Kraken organization, taking a position as director of hockey and business operations for their AHL affiliate in Palm Springs. Bodie is married to the daughter of Tim Leiweke, former Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment CEO, and current CEO of the Oak View Group, which is involved in the ownership and management of the Kraken properties.
- Stephane Da Costa, who last played in the NHL during the 2013-14 season, has once again re-signed in the KHL. The 31-year-old inked a new two-year deal with Yekaterinburg after his outstanding 57-point season for Ak Bars Kazan in 2020-21. Da Costa has been a star in the KHL for several seasons, making the league All-Star Game on three different occasions.
Snapshots: Lafleur, Sedins, Seider
The QMJHL will never again have a player wearing No. 4. Guy Lafleur‘s number will be retired league-wide as of next season, celebrating his status as the league’s all-time greatest player. Before all of his success at the NHL level, Lafleur dominated the Q, recording 379 points in 118 regular season games. Amazingly, he scored more than 100 goals in each of his two seasons in the league, including seven in a single game (and five in a period!).
Lafleur would go on to be the first player from the league to be selected first overall and won five Stanley Cup championships during his Hall of Fame career. He will actually join Sidney Crosby as the only players to have their numbers retired league-wide, though it seems likely that at least Mario Lemieux will join them before long.
- Though rumblings continue to emerge about more drastic changes in the Vancouver Canucks front office, no official announcements have been made by the team. Darren Dreger of TSN however has heard that team ownership is in talks with Daniel Sedin and Henrik Sedin about potential roles in the organization, without giving any specifics on what those would be. Thomas Drance of The Athletic tweets that the discussions are “not centered on a president or GM-type top decision maker role.” The twins are two of the greatest players to ever pull on a Canucks sweater and will likely be linked to the organization in some fashion for the rest of their lives; an official role would only be an extension of that connection.
- Get excited Detroit, Moritz Seider is coming. The 20-year-old prospect was named Defenseman of the Year for the SHL this season after recording 28 points in 41 games for Rogle. Selected sixth overall in 2019, Seider signed his entry-level contract later that year but has yet to play a game for the Red Wings. Instead, he spent the entire 2019-20 season in the AHL developing his game with the Grand Rapids Griffins, before heading to Sweden to ensure a full season this time around. Playing against opponents sometimes more than a decade his elder, Seider was a dominant force at both ends of the rink.