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Snapshots: Zajac, Laine, Pastrnak

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The New Jersey Devils have announced that Travis Zajac has been placed on the COVID Protocol Related Absences list, which will be released later today. He joins Mackenzie Blackwood as Devils that won’t make the trip to Buffalo for their matches this weekend due to the protocol. Head coach Lindy Ruff explained that the team isn’t making any excuses while they deal with the absence of some top players:

I think we’re becoming accustomed to it. We start the year without [Jesper] Bratt and Nico [Hischier]. But I think every team is dealing with those situations. It’s no excuse.

Zajac, who was supposed to celebrate his 1,000th regular season game this weekend, will have to wait for at least a little while. The 35-year-old forward has two goals in his first seven games.

  • Another player that will have to wait the weekend before joining his teammates is Patrik Laine, who is finally on his way to Columbus this afternoon after acquiring his U.S. work visa. As Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reports, Laine will face a 48-hour minimum quarantine period before he’s cleared to play after arriving in Columbus, but he is expected to debut on Tuesday against the Dallas Stars. Because he was dealing with a minor injury at the time of the trade, Laine actually hasn’t played since January 14, seeing very little practice time during that stretch at all. Though the Blue Jackets coaching staff were sending him video work to study, he won’t have much time to prepare if he’s in the lineup Tuesday night.
  • David Pastrnak has declared himself fully healthy and ready to get back into the Boston Bruins lineup, a huge boost to a team that is already finding plenty of success without him. The Bruins are now 5-1-1 on the season and have scored 18 goals in their last four games, all wins. The return of Pastrnak will only make the team stronger as they continue their quest for an East Division title. Boston is currently two points behind the Washington Capitals, who are undefeated in regulation this season.

Snapshots: Penguins, Lapointe, WHL

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The vacant general manager position in Pittsburgh is a tricky but appealing role for many executives around the hockey world, and Pierre LeBrun rattled off an early list of candidates on the latest edition of TSN’s Insider Trading. Jason Botterill, Chris Drury, Mark Hunter, Tom Fitzgerald, Ron Hextall, Peter Chiarelli, Scott Mellanby, Mike Gillis, Laurence Gilman, John Ferguson, and Mike Futa are all on Pittsburgh’s radar and LeBrun believes the team wants to have the next GM in place over the next few weeks.

In the same segment, Darren Dreger speculates on the future of Pittsburgh’s star players and believes whoever comes in would owe it to Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang to have a conversation about the direction of the franchise. Don’t jump to conclusions and think that Crosby is all of a sudden on the trading block, given CEO David Morehouse’s claim that the team is still in “win-now” mode, but if Pittsburgh misses the playoffs this season they will be a fascinating situation to keep an eye on.

  • One front office member likely not on that list of candidates? Martin Lapointe, who has signed a three-year extension with the Montreal Canadiens to continue as director of player personnel through the 2023-24 season. Lapointe will also take on the role of director of amateur scouting, making him even more integral to the operation in Montreal. The former NHL forward was first hired as director of player development in 2012 and has worked his way up the front office ladder. He is on track to be a GM of his own down the road if he wants to be.
  • The WHL has been granted approval to return to play in the province of Alberta, starting their season on February 26. The five WHL clubs based in Alberta—the Red Deer Rebels, Edmonton Oil Kings, Lethbridge Hurricanes, Medicine Hat Tigers, and Calgary Hitmen—will form the Central Division and play a 24-game regular season entirely within the province. The league continues to work with the health officials in the other provinces and states to try and establish a start date for East, B.C., and U.S. divisions this season. There are WHL teams based in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Washington, and Oregon.

Snapshots: Dumoulin, NWHL, Engelland

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The Pittsburgh Penguins are looking for a general manager after Jim Rutherford’s abrupt resignation yesterday, but perhaps more urgent is their search for an answer on defense. Head coach Mike Sullivan confirmed that Brian Dumoulin will be out “week-to-week” with a lower-body injury after exiting Tuesday’s game early. Newly signed defenseman Yannick Weber got caught in a snowstorm, meaning he won’t be available to the club until they travel to New York on the weekend, meaning things are awfully thin on the back end.

Kris Letang, John Marino, Cody Ceci, Pierre-Olivier Joseph, Chad Ruhwedel, and Kevin Czuczman seem to be the only healthy options the team has with them at the moment, leaving quite a bit to be desired over their season-opening group. The organization doesn’t even have a lot of NHL-ready options in the minor leagues meaning if any other players go down tonight the Penguins might be forced to make a move.

  • The Metropolitan Riveters have withdrawn from the 2021 NWHL season after several members of the organization tested positive for COVID-19. The Riveters were taking part in the Lake Placid bubble, where the league’s six teams were playing out the regular season and playoffs. After being removed from a game yesterday, the Riveters will now be removed from the tournament completely and forfeit their bid for the Isobel Cup. All league games scheduled for today have been postponed and the NWHL will resume play on Saturday.
  • With the Henderson Silver Knights coaching staff filling in for the Vegas Golden Knights, recently retired defenseman Deryk Engelland stepped in to run the AHL practice today, according to Jesse Granger of The Athletic. Engelland announced his retirement last month but remained with the Golden Knights organization as a special assistant to the owner. In times like this, that apparently also means substitute practice coach.

Snapshots: Laine, Penguins, Blues

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The Columbus Blue Jackets will get to see Jack Roslovic in action on Thursday evening against the Florida Panthers but are still waiting on Patrik Laine to even show up on the COVID Protocol Absences List, let alone the roster. Laine remains in Canada for the time being, though Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reported this morning that the forward is in Ottawa now finishing paperwork with the U.S. consolute to acquire his work visa. Once all of the paperwork is finished, Laine is expected to take a private charter to Columbus, where he’ll enter the protocol. It could be as short as 48 hours, though that is not a guarantee at this point.

It will be interesting to see where Laine fits in once he does clear the protocol, especially after a very up-and-down start to the season for Columbus. The team has scored 18 goals in seven games, but also given up 22. The only reason they are leading the Central Division at the moment is that several other teams have only played three games, as the 2-2-3 Blue Jackets’ record isn’t really something to be excited about. Laine of course was dealing with a minor injury before the trade to Columbus and now hasn’t played since January 14.

  • Pittsburgh Penguins CEO David Morehouse spoke to Greg Wyshynski of ESPN and explained that the team is not heading into a rebuilding phase now that Jim Rutherford has resigned as GM. In fact, Morehouse doubled down on the “win-now” phrase and explained that the team will look for a new GM that will “come in and continue having us work towards winning another Cup.” The Penguins still have Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, which is usually good enough for any front office to believe they can win the Stanley Cup.
  • The St. Louis Blues will be the fifth NHL team to allow fans into their building this season, announcing that 1,400 spectators will be allowed into Enterprise Center for their games beginning on February 2. Those will be in addition to the limited amount of frontline workers that had already been attending. The Blues credit the success of local and NHL safety protocols during the initial homestands this season as the reason for increasing capacity. As Sean Shapiro of The Athletic reports, The Dallas Stars, Florida Panthers, Arizona Coyotes and Nashville Predators have also allowed a certain number of fans into their arenas.

Snapshots: Stastny, Hall, Phantoms

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Back in October, the Winnipeg Jets made a trade with the Vegas Golden Knights to bring Paul Stastny north. In return, the Golden Knights received Carl Dahlstrom and a conditional fourth-round pick that was tied to games played by the veteran center. In essence, the condition was to provide some security for the Jets in case the 2020-21 season never happened, since Stastny is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent later this summer.

All he had to do was complete five games, which happened earlier this week when Stastny played against the Ottawa Senators. He happened to score his first goal of the season and record a pair of assists, not a bad effort for the game that caused a fourth-round pick to change hands. The selection is Winnipeg’s pick from the 2022 draft, which will now belong to the Golden Knights.

  • It appears as though Curtis Hall’s collegiate career is over, as AHL reporter Mark Divver tweets that the Yale University forward has signed an entry-level contract with the Boston Bruins. Hall, 20, was a 2018 fourth-round pick of the Bruins and scored 17 goals and 27 points in 28 games last season for Yale. The 6’3″ center could be a valuable depth piece this season if he has indeed signed his ELC. UPDATE: Hall has actually only signed a one-year AHL deal, according to Divver. That would still end his college career but doesn’t start his ELC this season.
  • Speaking of depth, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms have added plenty of experience today by signing Chris Mueller to a professional tryout and Garrett Wilson to an AHL contract. Mueller, 34, has been a regular at the AHL level since the 2008-09 season and won the Calder Cup in both 2014 and 2018. He split last season between the Syracuse Crunch and San Diego Gulls, scoring 38 points in 60 games. Wilson, 29, has logged more than 400 AHL games of his own, including 51 last season with the Toronto Marlies. A physical forward that isn’t afraid to drop the gloves, he’s managed to rack up 205 points and 586 penalty minutes during his time in the minor league.

Snapshots: Stempniak, Pettersson, Dubois

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The Arizona Coyotes announced a pair of front office additions today, including one name familiar to fans. Joining the ’Yotes in the hockey operations department are Matt Perri, hired as Director of Analytics, and long-time NHLer Lee Stempniak as Hockey Data Strategist. While Perri will oversee the team’s analytics, Stempniak’s role is to translate that data into something that coaches and players can understand and use. In a capacity that is the first of its kind, Stempniak will combine his experience as a player in the NHL for 14 seasons with his Ivy League education in Economics from Dartmouth College to become a valuable communicator between analytics and those involved in the actual on-ice product. After elevating the “journeyman” role during his playing days as an effective player for ten different organizations, Stempniak may now be forging a new path for former players with a knack for analytics.

  • Looking ahead to negotiating his next contract this off-season, young Vancouver Canucks star Elias Pettersson has switched agents, reports Patrick Johnston of The Province. Pettersson has joined CAA Sports and is now represented by super-agent Pat Brisson. Not only does Brisson’s track record lend some leverage to Pettersson’s side, but he is also the agent for Quinn Hughes, who will also be a crucial RFA for Vancouver this summer. Brisson will undoubtedly tie the two contracts together and ensure that both are well-compensated for a long time. In fact, the main beneficiary might actually be Hughes, who as a 10.2(c) free agent lacks the leverage of an offer sheet possibility, but gains the leverage of being linked to Pettersson. The two are the clear leaders of the Canucks and the club was unlikely to play hardball anyhow, but now Pettersson and Hughes are in even better shape this off-season (and so too will be Brisson).
  • Pierre-Luc Dubois is now a member of the Winnipeg Jets and as such we may never get an answer as to why he was unhappy being a member of the Columbus Blue Jackets. Dubois requested a trade out of Columbus, but never gave any of his teammates, coaches, or management a valid explanation, something that head coach John Tortorella publicly resented even before Dubois’ departure. While some speculated that this past off-season’s contract talks were the cause, GM Jarmo Kekalainen refuted that idea on TSN 1050 today, again begging the question of what drove Dubois out of town:

    That’s just flat out not true at all and he knows that, so I don’t know why he would say that or even insinuate something like that, because that’s not true… There was never any problem with the negotiation of this contract, it came to a conclusion very quickly and I thought what we signed was a fair deal for both sides…Once the player and the agent wanted to engage in the talks and we agreed on the length, it was a very easy process… It took all in all, I think 10 minutes to do his contract when we finally agreed on the length of the deal and we had everything from two years, to three years to eight years on the table… I wish that Pierre-Luc would tell the truth about why he wanted out. He hasn’t even told me; he hasn’t told his teammates or anybody else. It certainly wasn’t about contract negotiations; I can assure you of that.

Snapshots: Devils, Lyubushkin, Koivu

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New Jersey has yet to have top center Nico Hischier in the lineup this season but it appears as if he is getting closer to suiting up.  Marc Ciampa of the Devils’ team site relays several updates from head coach Lindy Ruff who indicated that Hischier has started to skate on his own as he works his way back from a leg injury.  While there’s no timetable for his return still, the fact he’s now back on the ice for workouts is certainly a big step in his rehab.

Meanwhile, winger Jesper Bratt is in town and is going through his mandatory quarantine period which means he should be available to begin skating with the team in the next few days.  As for goaltender Aaron Dell, he has not yet received his work visa and thus has not been able to travel to New Jersey to start his quarantine period so the Devils will be waiting a while for their new backup to become available.

Elsewhere around the league:

  • The Coyotes have been without defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin all season as he has been waiting to get an immigration issue resolved. The good news is the issue has been cleared up as Craig Morgan of AZ Coyotes Insider reports (Twitter link) that the blueliner is scheduled to land in Arizona today.  The bad news is that he’ll still need to go through a quarantine period before he can even begin to skate with Arizona so while this is a big hurdle that has been cleared, it’ll still be a little while before he’ll be able to play.  The 26-year-old suited up in 51 games with the Coyotes last season as their sixth defender.
  • While the Blue Jackets lost a center with yesterday’s trade of Pierre-Luc Dubois to Winnipeg, they will be getting one back for their next game as Aaron Portzline of The Athletic relays (Twitter link) that Mikko Koivu will be able to suit up on Tuesday against Florida. The veteran has yet to suit up with his new team this season as he has been on the COVID Protocol List.  While he isn’t a top-line option like he was in his prime with Minnesota, he’ll give them some extra depth down the middle at a time where their options are limited.

Snapshots: Myers, Entry Draft, Detroit

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Montreal Canadiens fans won’t want to hear it, but the NHL’s Department of Player Safety has ruled that Tyler Myers’ check on Joel Armia last night has been deemed legal and will not face supplementary discipline. As the video explains:

We have concluded that though there is head contact on this hit, the head is not the main point of contact. Myers hits through Armia’s core, making substantial contact with Armia’s chest and right shoulder. Armia’s head and body are propelled backwards in unison as he falls to the ice. On most plays where the head is the main point of contact, we see the head moving independantly in the same direction as the player’s body. That ’head snap’ as we have previously described it, is an excellent indicator than the head has absorbed more force than the rest of the body.

The video goes on to explain how the league believes the head contact that was involved was “unavoidable” and not a result of poor timing, poor angle of approach, or unnecessary extension of the body.

  • NHL Central Scouting has released a list of 36 players that they believe are candidates for selection in the first round of the 2021 NHL Entry Draft. Corey Pronman of The Athletic tweets the full list, which includes the massive 6’6″ defender Owen Power who is in contention for first-overall and caused a bit of a stir when he wasn’t released from the Michigan Wolverines program to attend Team Canada’s World Junior selection camp. It also includes some familiar hockey names like Luke Hughes—younger brother of Quinn Hughes and Jack Hughes—and Cole Sillinger—son of former NHLer Mike Sillinger.
  • Though the Detroit Red Wings are still battling a rash of COVID Protocol Related Absences, they’ll actually get some reinforcements soon enough. Both Darren Helm and Christian Djoos have had their non-roster designation removed, meaning they’re available for the team should they decide to insert them into the lineup.

Snapshots: Potvin, Stockton, NBCSN

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The Arizona Coyotes have announced that Steve Potvin has been named the head coach of the Tucson Roadrunners for the upcoming season. Jay Varady, who had served as head coach for the past two seasons, joined the Coyotes NHL coaching staff earlier this month. Arizona GM Bill Armstrong released a statement on the move:

We are very pleased to select Steve as the new head coach of the Roadrunners. Steve is a very good coach who has done an excellent job working with our prospects in Tucson the past three years. We are confident that he is the right coach to continue the development of our players and help build a winning culture in Tucson.

Potvin will be joined by John Slaney, who will continue as an assistant behind the bench for Tucson. The son of Hockey Hall of Famer Denis Potvin, Steve has served as an assistant or skills coach with the Coyotes since the 2016-17 season and will now get his first chance to serve as a head coach in professional hockey. The AHL announced a full schedule earlier today, which includes a season-opener for Tucson on February 5 against the San Jose Barracuda.

  • Speaking of that AHL schedule, despite the league announcing a full slate of games for the Stockton Heat, Darren Dreger of TSN tweets that there is a good chance that the minor league franchise actually moves up to Calgary for the upcoming season so that it can be closer to the NHL affiliate. It’s not clear at all what that would mean for the just-announced schedule, other than the likely outcome that Stockton would have to join in the Canadian Division which includes Toronto, Belleville, Laval, and Manitoba. A move like that would need approval from the Alberta provincial government.
  • In a bombshell piece from the Sports Business Journal, it is reported by John Ourand that NBC plans to shut down NBCSN by the end of 2021. The sports network is the national home of the NHL in the U.S. currently, though that agreement is set to expire at the end of this season. It’s not clear at all how the shutdown would affect the NHL negotiation, though apparently, NBC has made it clear that “it would carve out regular windows on its broadcast channel and USA Network” as well as Peacock, their streaming service. Sean Shapiro of The Athletic examines what the news could mean for the NHL, including a potential win-win situation for the league as it prepares to negotiate a new deal.

Snapshots: Ullmark, Tryamkin, Thornton

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The Buffalo Sabres have been taking the ice without Linus Ullmark for the last two games and this morning the goaltender explained why. After Monday’s morning skate, Ullmark received news that his father had passed away in Sweden. Carter Hutton took the net that evening, but captain Jack Eichel awarded Ullmark with the game puck after a 6-1 victory. He expressed his gratitude towards the whole organization for how they’ve come to his support in the days since.

Ullmark plans on traveling with the team to Washington and could be available for Friday’s game against the Capitals. Hutton meanwhile will not be on the trip as he deals with an injury and is listed as day-to-day.

  • The Vancouver Canucks have a very interesting relationship with Russian defenseman Nikita Tryamkin, who is still playing in the KHL despite a long negotiation last year. The 26-year-old defender is still technically a restricted free agent and can only sign with the Canucks if he chooses to return to the NHL. Now, Rick Dhaliwal of TSN gives an update on the situation and spoke with Yekaterinburg executive Maxim Ryabkov, who expressed how much Tryamkin has improved in the last year, even calling him “one of the best defensemen in the KHL.” The 6’7″ behemoth pairs incredible size with excellent skating ability to shut down rushes and move the puck quickly. If he is not signed this offseason, Tryamkin can actually become an unrestricted free agent after the 2021-22 season.
  • The Toronto Maple Leafs had the blender out at practice today following a loss to the Edmonton Oilers that included Joe Thornton’s early exit with an injury. Thornton will undergo further testing to determine the extent of the injury but is expected to miss some time. Interestingly, Auston Matthews also left practice just before it began, though all head coach Sheldon Keefe told reporters including Kristen Shilton of TSN that the star center “wasn’t feeling great.” Adam Brooks, Pierre Engvall, and Alexander Barabanov were all skating with the main group as the Maple Leafs try to figure out their lines moving forward.

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