Poll: Who Is The (Second) Best Team In The East?
The 2017-18 NHL season has not gone to plan. Ask any prognosticator from the preseason where their projected standings compare to those today and you’ll get grim looks and uninterested shrugs. The Edmonton Oilers, New York Rangers, Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild and Montreal Canadiens are all far underachieving, while Vegas, Detroit, Winnipeg, Los Angeles and New Jersey are all showing that they shouldn’t be counted out so soon.
Tampa Bay of course, leads the entire league with 32 points and a whopping +28 goal differential through 20 games. Their dominance this year has led to just three regulation losses, and two early favorites for the Hart Trophy (three, if you think Andrei Vasilevskiy has a shot). Right now most would call them the class of the Eastern Conference, and who would disagree? With the best line in hockey, a stud defenseman entering his prime and an up-and-coming Vezina candidate they’re poised to compete for the Stanley Cup for at least the next few years.
But who does that leave in the second slot? Several teams have claims to stake on the silver podium, but each have their warts. Toronto had a struggling goaltender through the first month of the season, while Columbus can’t get their powerplay working properly. The Penguins have been blown out several times while the Devils have won just three of their last nine games.
Vote below on who you think is the second best team in the east, and make sure to leave a comment if you disagree with the original premise of Tampa Bay as the class of the conference. We’ve included all of the teams within 10 points of the Lightning.
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Danis Zaripov Settles Appeal, Suspension Reduced
It looked as though Danis Zaripov was headed for the NHL when he was handed a two-year doping suspension by the IIHF. That restricted the Russian forward from playing in any European league including the KHL where he had suited up since the league’s inception. Now, the governing hockey body has settled with Zaripov and reduced his suspension to six months, which will mean he’s free to sign anywhere on November 23rd.
Several teams in the NHL had rumored interest in Zaripov, including the St. Louis Blues and Tampa Bay Lightning at various points. Evgeni Malkin even spoke out about how he’d like to have him in Pittsburgh, as the pair has lined up together at several international tournaments. Zaripov is a legendary player in Russia, with incredible playoff and international results. A four-time KHL champion and five-time World Championship medalist it’s likely that he’ll re-sign in Russia to finish his career.
At 36, there was a chance Zaripov could still be relevant to an NHL team but with the suspension reduced that outcome seems even more unlikely. Instead, he’ll go down as one of the most successful players to never suit up in a North American professional league. He did have a short stint in the WHL many years ago, but wasn’t drafted and returned to Russia after just one year.
Gabriel Dumont, Ziyat Paigin Placed On Waivers
According to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, the Tampa Bay Lightning have placed Gabriel Dumont on waivers Tuesday. Both Matt Read and Anton Rodin, who were waived yesterday, have cleared. While Read could end up in the minor leagues, Rodin is headed for the NLA in Switzerland. Additionally, Edmonton has placed Ziyat Paigin on unconditional waivers, likely to terminate his contract and allow the young defender to return to Russia.
Dumont has had the unfortunate luck to be part of the hottest team in the NHL, and couldn’t find a way to regularly get into the lineup. In seven games this season he’s been held scoreless, but won’t have to wait long in the AHL. Dumont has consistently been excellent in the minor leagues, with seasons of 49 and 45 points in recent years.
Paigin was drafted by the Oilers in 2015, but only signed his entry-level contract this past April. Since then, he’s played just 13 games total for the Bakersfield Condors of the AHL, and it looks like that experiment might be coming to an end. It was just a few months ago that Paigin told Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal that he would be willing to go to the minor leagues if that’s what the Oilers wanted for him. The towering defenseman never did register a point in North America.
Morning Notes: McDonagh, Ekman-Larsson, Kane
The New York Rangers haven’t encountered this type of season often before, if ever. The team seems to be a bubble team with no true chance of making a deep playoff run or even winning a Stanley Cup. Yet, the team also finds itself with a handful of expiring contracts who could be utilized as key trade chips to refuel their retooling process.
New York Post’s Larry Brooks writes the Rangers need to think about dealing players like Rick Nash, Michael Grabner and Nick Holden and get what they can for them. The scribe believes that general manager Jeff Gorton will have one of the biggest challenges in front of him in a long time as he will have to make a decision on which direction the team should go. Could Nash bring back a first-rounder in next year’s draft and if they can, would it be worth his value anyway? What can they get for Grabner? Should the team go full in and start shopping captain Ryan McDonagh now?
The latter claim, Brooks writes, might make the most sense. The Rangers should be able to bring in a huge haul for McDonagh, who is still in his prime, is locked up until 2019 and is one of the top defensemen in the league. As there are quite a few playoff teams in need of defense, like the Toronto Maple Leafs, Edmonton Oilers and the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Rangers could truly change the way the franchise is heading at the trade deadline.
New York wouldn’t be better off without McDonagh, but with long-term deals already having been handed out to Kevin Shattenkirk, Marc Staal and Brendan Smith and the young talent the team has on defense in Brady Skjei, Neal Pionk and Anthony DeAngelo, the team should be able to survive without him if they can get a talented scorer in his place.
- Hidden among yesterday’s stories was TSN’s Bob McKenzie refuting rumors that the Arizona Coyotes are thinking about dealing defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson to the Toronto Maple Leafs for William Nylander. McKenzie writes that as of Sunday, there had not been one conversation between the two teams about Ekman-Larsson. He also points out that since most teams do not view Nylander as a center, he wouldn’t bring enough of a return for Ekman-Larsson as just a sniper. However, from what McKenzie can see, the Coyotes are not willing to discuss moving Ekman-Larsson as of now. The Atheltic’s Sean Tierney tweeted today that with general manager John Chayka in charge, it’s hard to see the team trading Ekman-Larsson at all.
- John Vogl of The Buffalo News writes that frustration is hitting in Buffalo as the 5-12-1 Sabres continue to struggle, yet one player is thriving in Evander Kane. Dating back to last year, the 26-year-old wing has scored 40 goals in his last 79 games. He also has 11 points in the last 11 games. Kane added his 12th goal of the season Monday in the team’s 3-2 loss to Columbus. The secret to his success? Shooting the puck. He leads the team with 96 shots on goal this year.
Canadiens Notes: Potential Rebuild, Bergevin, Price
The Montreal Canadiens find themselves at a crossroads. Expecting to compete for a playoff spot this year and beyond after what fans considered a solid offseason in which they traded for sniper Jonathan Drouin , signed veteraen defenseman Karl Alzner away from the Washington Capitals and locked up their star goaltender Carey Price for another eight years, the team has struggled all season, including a recent three-game losing streak to Columbus, Arizona and Saturday’s 6-0 loss to the rival Toronto Maple Leafs. The Canadiens suddenly find themselves 8-11-2 with little optimism that things might get better.
In fact, NBC Sports Joey Alfieri writes that it might be time to break up this team now and begin a proper rebuild. Up until now, general manager Marc Bergevin has been unwilling to trade the team’s veteran players such as center Max Pacioretty, but that could change soon as it doesn’t look as the team is a quick-fix away from repairing its on-ice problems. Saturday night on “Headlines,” Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos said that ownership and management would soon have a discussion about the direction of the team. Pacioretty would be a prime trade candidate, who has one more year on his contract at $4.5MM.
The scribe looks at their offseason moves and wonders if the team’s big trade to acquire Drouin might be looked as a major blunder as the team did trade away star defensive prospect Mikhail Sergachev, who is thriving for the league-leading Tampa Bay Lightning. He is also quick to point out that it was a major mistake to let go of Alexander Radulov and veteran defenseman Andrei Markov for nothing when the team quite obviously needed them.
- Jack Todd of the Montreal Gazette writes that this latest 6-0 defeat to the Maple Leafs could spell the end for not just the current roster, but also for Bergevin, who has been responsible for constructing this roster and look to be going no where. The GM has been running the team for six years now and has little to show for it, but a team heading towards a lottery selection in June next year. The general belief is that if you aren’t competing for a playoff spot by the American Thanksgiving, then you have little shot of reaching the playoffs and the Canadiens aren’t close to competing. The scribe writes that while many feel that the team’s trade of P.K. Subban was the start of the downfall of the team, Todd suggests that Shea Weber is not to blame, but things may not look so bad had the team kept both Markov and Sergachev to form a Big Three. Instead, the team only has Weber to show for it, which falls under Bergevin’s domain.
- Pat Hickey of the Montreal Gazette writes that the team has always had an identity, starting with their goaltender and then with a solid defense in front of him. Boring, but respectable. Instead, the scribe writes, the team is starting to look like the 2015-16 team that had lost Price for most of the season and finished in 13th place in the Eastern Conference. Now the team has gutted their defense and have removed their identity, which the franchise so often has depended on.
- After a column in which he questioned the health of Price, Stu Cowan tweets that Price was the first out to practice Monday morning.
Atlantic Notes: Eichel, Housley, Red Wings, Lightning
The Buffalo News’ Mike Harrington writes how Buffalo’s struggles are just as perplexing as those affecting its franchise player, Jack Eichel. The third year pro has looked frustrated and lethargic this season as the Sabres sink to the bottom of the Atlantic, and the Eastern Conference even before the (American) Thanksgiving holiday. Harrington writes:
There’s one gnawing issue that keeps growing: What’s going on with Jack Eichel?
Forget about an elephant in the room. This is an entire herd. Eichel is not the guy we’ve seen the last two years. He was invisible again for long stretches Saturday — not getting a single shot on goal for more than 48 minutes.
He continues on the subject of Eichel, stating that the “dirty secret” amongst Sabres fans is that Eichel is essentially lolly-gagging around the ice when he should be skating harder. Worse, he pinpoints a play during the Sabres 3-1 loss to Carolina Saturday night where Eichel was a non-factor in what would be the game winning score. It’s Eichel, Harringon pens, who got his wish when former coach Dan Bylsma was fired. Which leads Harrington to his next subject: new bench boss Phil Housley.
- Calling him “Pollyanna Phil,” Harrington opines that while the first year coach finally talked tough following an uninspiring loss to Detroit, he was back to his passive ways Saturday. Where Harrington points out that Eichel may need to be shown how lackluster his play has been, Housley has instead gone a more positive route, choosing to highlight what he believes Eichel has done well. If you have a future captain, inked to an expensive long term deal, Harrington suggests that it may behoove the Sabres to call things as they truly are with Eichel.
- The Detroit News’ Gregg Krupa highlights the Red Wings’ young players as the reason for the team’s latest reversal of fortune. It’s been an uptick in usage of Andreas Athanasiou, Dylan Larkin, and Anthony Mantha that has helped the team while captain Henrik Zetterberg has taken a lesser role while still playing at a high level. Krupa adds that nine players on the team have four or more goals, showing that the more even distribution of ice time has benefitted the team.
- Tampa Bay hasn’t lost much this season, but when they have, it’s provided a “reality check” writes the Tampa Bay Times’ Roger Mooney. The Bolts have lost for only the third time this season, and as it was in the other two contests, they came out flat and ran out of time. Mooney points out that the team was resilient after both early season losses, ripping off a couple winning streaks after. Bench boss John Cooper likened it to the old Forrest Gump quote: “That stuff happens.” Regardless, it doesn’t seem to have fazed them in the slightest. Simply put, Mooney quoted Ondrej Palat as saying, “We have to be better,”
Lots Of Lightning Leading The League
Tight up against the salary cap for the next few years, Josh Yohe of The Athletic (subscription required) answers a number of mailbag questions about the Pittsburgh Penguins present and future. Among the tidbits of information is the scribe’s opinion that the team is likely to allow defenseman Ian Cole to depart via free agency this offseason.
Yohe writes that Cole, who is one of the team’s better defenseman is more likely of all their unrestricted free agents next year to be wearing a different sweater in the 2018-19 season. As Pittsburgh is already loaded with four defensemen making at least $4MM per year next season, Cole would likely be the odd man out for the Penguins, especially since there will likely be many teams offering big money to the blueliner. The 27-year-old has been a solid defender and likely could play a major position on another team’s top-four if given the opportunity.
- NBC Sports Tarik El-Bashir writes that Washington Capitals wing Jakub Vrana, who was a healthy scratch for the first time this year on Thursday, will return to the lineup today against the Minnesota Wild on the Capitals third line. He had just two points (both goals) in his previous 13 games. “I’m putting him back where he was … and I want to see him play really well tonight,” Capitals coach Barry Trotz said.
- El-Bashir adds that Washington Capitals defenseman Christian Djoos, who suffered an upper-body injury Tuesday against the Nashville Predators and missed Thursday’s game against the Colorado Avalanche, did not skate today. “I don’t know exactly when he’s going to skate yet,” Trotz said. “He’s still day-to-day with the trainers. Once they tell me he can skate, he’ll be out there.”
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Roger Mooney of the Tampa Bay Times writes that with the Tampa Bay Lightning off to their best start in team history as they lead the league with a 15-2-2 record and 32 points, the team has a number of players who are also leading the NHL, including Nikita Kucherov, who leads the NHL in goals scored with 17; Steven Stamkos, who leads the league in assists with 25 and points with 35; and goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy leads the NHL in wins with 14.
Lightning’s Cole Guttman Commits To University Of Denver
Cole Guttman might not be a major name among hockey fans just yet, but one of the top programs in college hockey has at least taken notice. Guttman, who was drafted in the sixth round by the Tampa Bay Lightning this past June, has committed to the University of Denver, the reigning NCAA Champions.
Guttman is currently in his second season with the USHL’s Dubuque Fighting Saints and has four goals and four assists through eleven games. In 2016-17, Guttman was one of only 13 forwards in the league with a scoring rate of more than a point per game. Among that group were 2017 first rounders Casey Mittelstadt, Josh Norris, and Eeli Tolvanen and potential 2018 first overall pick Andrei Svechnikov. The league’s 7th-best goal scorer, Guttman was a major piece to Dubuque’s run to the USHL semifinals along with fellow NCAA commits Zach Solow (Northeastern) and Colin Theisen (Notre Dame).
With Denver, Guttman will re-unite with former Fighting Saints coach Jim Montgomery and a program loaded with talent. While any or all of the Pioneers’ big names – Henrik Borgstrom, Troy Terry, and Dylan Gambrell could be gone by next season, some may remain to join Guttman, 2017 second-round defender Ian Mitchell, Eero Teravainen, brother of Carolina Hurricanes forward Teuvo Teravainen, and a flurry of other incoming, 2018 draft eligible talents like Mathias Pettersen, Will MacKinnon, Erik Middendorf. It looks as if the good times for Denver won’t be ending any time soon.
Poll: Which Team Needs Help At Forward The Most?
In last night’s Insider Trading on TSN, the panel—comprised of Pierre LeBrun, Bob McKenzie and Darren Dreger—spoke about the increased demand for top forwards around the league. According to them, the supply isn’t quite there for all these teams to go out and acquire someone impactful, so it’ll have to come down to the highest bidders.
The list of ten teams that McKenzie gave that are in the market for a forward include some surprises like Tampa Bay—who LeBrun clarified are currently looking for a winger to play with Tyler Johnson and Alex Killorn—and obvious choices like Anaheim and Montreal.
Columbus put together a trade offer for Matt Duchene, and as LeBrun stated on TSN radio yesterday they’re still in the hunt for an upgrade down the middle. There’s no clear option at center as impressive as Duchene (or Kyle Turris, who was included in the same trade), but players are sure to shake loose as the season progresses.
So, who on this list needs the forward help the most this year? While deciding your vote, make sure to not just take in the offensive struggles but the proximity to Stanley Cup contention for each club. Which team will be the most willing to spend at the deadline, and go after the big fish to put them over the edge?
We’ve included all the teams on McKenzie’s list, but if you feel strongly that another should join the pursuit of another forward make sure to leave your comments below.
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Tampa Bay Lightning Acquire Louis Domingue
The Tampa Bay Lightning have acquired recently demoted goaltender Louis Domingue from the Arizona Coyotes, sending Michael Leighton and Tye McGinn to the desert in return. Domingue’s role as the backup had been usurped by Scott Wedgewood, and he’ll now have to find his game somewhere else.
Of course that likely won’t be in Tampa Bay, at least not right away. The Lightning have Andrei Vasilevskiy and Peter Budaj locked in as their NHL duo for the time being, while Leighton had been starting for the Syracuse Crunch. Still, it could be just the fresh start Domingue needs to get his game back on track. At one point in the past, Domingue was an up-and-coming goaltender that looked poised to take on at least a part-time role in the NHL. He posted acceptable numbers over the last two years behind a bad Coyotes team, but saw his play fall off this year.
Interestingly like Dominuge, Leighton doesn’t have a clear place to play in the Coyotes organization. The Tucson Roadrunners, Arizona’s AHL affiliate, already have three goaltenders on the roster in Hunter Miska, Adin Hill and Marek Langhamer. Perhaps the 36-year old Leighton will be loaned somewhere else.
The only forward in the deal is McGinn, who hasn’t seen the NHL since 2015-16. Though he’s an effective minor league player, his NHL career has been less than impressive. In 89 career games he has 17 points, but has little upside at the age of 27. Still, he could find his way into the Coyotes lineup at some point if they continue to struggle this season.
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