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Toronto Notes: Hyman, Marner, Goaltending

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The Toronto Maple Leafs are expected to get Zach Hyman back in the lineup tomorrow night against the New York Islanders, a welcome sight for a team struggling to find their identity this season. While the Maple Leafs have scored 64 goals this season, good for third in the NHL, they’ve also allowed 62. Hyman will bring an aspect of forechecking that has been sorely missing, while also giving them another prime penalty killing option. The 27-year old forward is coming off major knee surgery however, and may take some time getting up to speed. He scored 21 goals and 41 points last season but has yet to play in 2019-20.

More notes regarding the Maple Leafs:

  • Hyman will start on a line with John Tavares and Kasperi Kapanen, thanks to the absence of Mitch Marner from the team for at least a month. Marner confirmed to reporters including Joshua Clipperton of the Canadian Press that he suffered a high-ankle sprain in Saturday’s game. The team had previously announced that he will be re-evaluated in four weeks, but high-ankle sprains are notorious for causing lingering issues for professional athletes.
  • Meanwhile, the team is also trying to figure out their backup goaltending situation after waiving Michael Hutchinson yesterday. Head coach Mike Babcock explained to reporters including Terry Koshan of the Toronto Sun that the team didn’t play well enough ahead of Hutchinson, but that the plan to start the backup in the second half of back-to-back situations will continue. That would suggest that Kasimir Kaskisuo will make his NHL debut this Sunday against the Pittsburgh Penguins, unless the team finds a different option before then.

Michael Hutchinson Placed On Waivers

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Tuesday: Hutchinson has cleared waivers. The Maple Leafs have already recalled Kaskisuo and didn’t take long to send Hutchinson to the AHL.

Monday: Michael Hutchinson has been placed on waivers today. It appears as though his opportunity as the Toronto Maple Leafs backup goaltender is over, as Bob McKenzie of TSN expects Kasimir Kaskisuo to be called up to take the role.

It’s been a nightmare season so far for Hutchinson, who lost his fifth start last night after giving up four goals to the Chicago Blackhawks in the first period. The Maple Leafs only really play their backup in back-to-back situations, giving Hutchinson the short end of the stick each time, but his .879 save percentage simply hasn’t been good enough.

That’s not to say that Kaskisuo will fare any better, given he has never appeared in an NHL game previously. The 26-year old was an undrafted free agent signing out of the University of Minnesota-Duluth and only really started to find minor league success during last season’s playoff run with the Toronto Marlies. He has a .928 save percentage this season however and has been a rock in net for the AHL club.

For the Maple Leafs, there is some chatter that they could look elsewhere for a different option in net. David Pagnotta of the Fourth Period tweets that they have looked at the market, even reaching out to Scott Darling before he decided to go overseas. The problem is their cap situation that will only really allow the backup to earn a minimum NHL salary of $700K. The team does have some potential flexibility given Mitch Marner will be out at least a month with an ankle injury, but that will come to an end when the star forward returns. Any move for a more expensive backup would complicate things quite a bit.

Minor Transactions: 11/12/19

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It’s a busy Tuesday evening in the NHL as nine games are scheduled including some prime divisional matchups. Perhaps most notable is the Colorado Avalanche and Winnipeg Jets facing off for second place in the Central, a position either would gladly take after the unfortunate circumstances they’ve each dealt with. The Avalanche are still without two-thirds of their top line, while the Jets are trying to figure out how to piece together an NHL defense. As teams prepare for tonight’s action, we’ll keep track of all the minor moves.

  • Rudolfs Balcers has been activated off season-opening injured reserve and assigned to the Belleville Senators, indicating he’s ready to action. The 22-year old played in 36 games for the Ottawa Senators last season and will likely be back in the NHL once he gets his feet under him this season.
  • The Toronto Maple Leafs didn’t wait for Michael Hutchinson to clear waivers at noon today as they’ve already recalled Kasimir Kaskisuo from the minor leagues. The team has also brought back Nic Petan, who now has seven points through three games in the minor leagues. Kaskisuo is expected to get a crack at the backup role this weekend.
  • Jacob Middleton has been activated off injured reserve and sent to the AHL, a good sign that he’s ready to return to action. The 23-year old defenseman played in one game for the San Jose Sharks earlier this season and is an important part of the defense corps for the San Jose Barracuda.
  • The Los Angeles Kings have recalled Matt Luff, bringing him back to the team for the first time this season. Luff scored eight goals and 11 points in 33 games with Los Angeles in 2018-19, but has spent the first part of this season with the Ontario Reign.
  • Otto Koivula has been included in his near daily transaction, this time recalled from the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. The New York Islanders have been bouncing Koivula back and forth all season, but he still hasn’t played in a single NHL game.

Snapshots: Three Stars, Abdelkader, Lewis

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The NHL has released their Three Stars for last week and at the very top is a name not many expected when the season began. Ottawa Senators goaltender Anders Nilsson has been given the first star after stopping 96 of 101 shots for a 3-0 record. Nilsson has actually been excellent since joining the Senators last season, posting a .919 save percentage in 32 appearances.

Two youngsters took home the other two spots, as Auston Matthews and Cale Makar were named second and third respectively. The Toronto Maple Leafs forward has jumped all the way up to sixth in the NHL scoring race after recording nine points last week, while Makar now easily leads all rookies with 17 points through the first part of the season and looks to be running away with the Calder Trophy.

  • The Detroit Red Wings will be without Justin Abdelkader for at least three weeks according to head coach Jeff Blashill. The veteran forward is out with a mid-body injury after blocking a shot in Sunday’s game. Once an important part of the Red Wings’ attack, Abdelkader has zero goals through the first 16 games and is averaging just 13 minutes a night.
  • Trevor Lewis has been placed on injured reserve after missing Saturday’s game with a lower-body injury. It’s not clear how long Lewis will be out, but his absence just opens up more opportunity for the young forwards in Los Angeles to show the Kings’ front office what they can do.

Toronto’s Mitch Marner To Miss At Least One Month

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8:10 PM — The team announced via Twitter that Marner will miss a minimum of a month due to the ankle injury.  He will be re-evaluated by the team at that time.  That will make him eligible for placement on LTIR as he’ll miss at least 10 games or 24 days.

3:55 PM — The Toronto Sun’s Terry Koshan reports that Marner underwent an MRI today on his right ankle, but Babcock had no other updates on his injury. “I texted him a bunch of times today. He said it was a little stiff,” said Babcock.

2:10 PM — Injuries have surrounded the Toronto Maple Leafs all season, but the team has another key injury to contend with after winger Mitch Marner went down awkwardly in the second period while getting tangled up with Philadelphia’s Carsen Twarynski and had trouble getting up. While little was known about Marner immediately after the game, head coach Mike Babcock announced that Marner would miss Sunday’s game in Chicago, the first game missed since his rookie year, according to The Athletic’s Sean Fitz-Gerald (subscription required).

“What are you going to do? It’s hockey; injuries happen and you find out more about other guys,” Babcock said. “I don’t know the extent of this. I don’t know if it’s a few days or weeks or whatever. There’s no sense in dwelling on it.”

The replay (video here) showed that Twarynski stick got stuck in between Marner’s legs and then got caught underneath his left skate, sending the 22-year-old sprawling to the ice. It appears that Marner’s weight falls on his twisted right knee and ankle. While there is no word on the severity of the injury and how long Marner could miss, the loss definitely wouldn’t help a team that is trying to gain some consistency. They are 5-2-3 in their last 10 games, but losing Marner is not likely to help. It’s possible, if the injury requires a couple of weeks, that the team could place Marner on injured reserve, which could free up the cap room to activate Hyman and keep some of their depth without shaking up the entire team.

The hope was the Maple Leafs might be fully healthy and active shortly with the expected return of forward Zach Hyman, who has been out since offseason knee surgery. The team recently got back John Tavares, who was out with a fractured finger, and Travis Dermott, who underwent offseason shoulder surgery.

Overseas Notes: Olympics, Lindberg, Ozhiganov, Tikhonov

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As expected, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman met with NHLPA Executive Director Donald Fehr and IIHF President Rene Fasel this week in Stockholm, Sweden, the site of the NHL Global Series, to discuss another international hockey event: the Olympics. Although the next Winter Olympic Games are not until 2022, there needs to be a decision on participation in Beijing, China sooner rather than later, especially as that decision is tied into collective bargaining between the league and players’ association. However, Sportsnet’s Emily Sadler relays that Bettman told the collected media yesterday in Stockholm that he had “no news to report” on an Olympic resolution, and the NHL’s stance on participation remains pessimistic:

We had another meeting. We’ve had many, many meetings, and there is no news to report… I don’t want to sound like a broken record on the subject, but I think going to the Olympics is a challenge for us. I know the players love representing their countries, I know that the players like going, I know that the players that don’t go like having a break in the middle of the season. But from our standpoint, we have found going to the Olympics to be incredibly disruptive… I think it has some pretty material downsides in terms of what happens to our season.

  • Tobias Lindberg is ready to get his 2019-20 season started. After seemingly holding out hope for a contract in North America, Lindberg has finally opted to return home to Sweden. Timra IK of the SHL has announced a one-year deal with Lindberg, who adds another stop to a lengthy list of teams he has played for in his young career. The 24-year-old forward is most well-known by NHL fans not for his short stint with the Toronto Maple Leafs, but for his tendency to be traded. A fourth-round pick of the Ottawa Senators in 2014, Lindberg was dealt to Toronto in the Dion Phaneuf deadline deal of 2016. He spent a season with the Leafs organization before being traded to the Vegas Golden Knights early in 2017-18, who flipped him to the Pittsburgh Penguins later that season. The Penguins sent him back to Ottawa in December of last year, who in turn gave him back to Vegas at the deadline. In total, the capable AHLer has been involved in five NHL trades compared to just six NHL games and it could be good for his development to find some stability in Timra, at least for one year.
  • A blockbuster trade in the KHL this week featured two former NHLers. Defenseman Igor Ozhiganov, who played for the Toronto Maple Leafs just last year, was dealt by Ak Bars Kazan to SKA St. Petersburg in exchange for forward Viktor Tikhonov, who has spent multiple seasons in North America with the Arizona Coyotes and Chicago Blackhawks. Defenseman Roman Rukavishnikov will also move to Kazan. Both teams currently lead their respective divisions with Ak Bars sharing the top record in the KHL, making this a rare swap between top contenders. Tikhonov had been buried under the tremendous forward depth of SKA and should be able to play a larger role with his new club. Tikhonov, who recorded six points in 50 games between the ‘Hawks and ‘Yotes in 2015-16, is no longer a dynamic offensive talent, but plays a well-rounded game and can provide leadership and experience to a Kazan club that hopes to make a deep playoff run this year. Rukavishnikov, a physical stay-at-home defender, will also help to make up for the loss of Ozhiganov. Meanwhile, SKA lands one of the top blue liners in the KHL. Ozhiganov had eight points through 19 gamed with Ak Bars, which would put him on pace for a career high in scoring, especially with the firepower of St. Petersburg at his disposal now. Ozhiganov recorded seven points in 53 games with Toronto last season and looked like a player who could have found employment in the NHL again this summer had he wanted to stay.

Eastern Notes: Barrie, Brassard, Trocheck

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Tyson Barrie tallied 28 goals and 116 points over the previous two seasons with the Colorado Avalanche and the general belief was that after the Toronto Maple Leafs acquired him in an offseason trade last summer, Barrie would continue that offensive success in Toronto. So far that’s not been the case as the 28-year-old blueliner has struggled to find his footing.

In fact, TSN’s Mark Masters writes that Barrie doesn’t look like the aggressive blueliner who dominated in Colorado. While he has five assists this season for the Maple Leafs, he only has one assist over his last 14 games.

“It’s different switching teams,” said Barrie, “and switching teams and coaches and the whole thing so you’re just trying to feel it out a little bit and I’m still feeling some teammates out and trying to get some chemistry going and its tough. I wish I had the answers for it.”

One significant difference is that in Colorado, he quarterbacked the power play, while in Colorado, Barrie has averages just 2:09 of power play for the game.

“We feel he’s gotten better & better. We really feel our pairs are starting to come, all three of them,” said head coach Mike Babcock. “Pairs take longer than lines, just because you’ve got to know the nuances of one another …. he’s going in the right direction, just like our team.”

  • Newsday’s Andrew Gross writes that with the return of winger Jordan Eberle to the first line, New York Islanders head coach Barry Trotz opted not to return fill-in Derick Brassard back to centering the third line, where the veteran struggled at before Eberle’s injury. Instead, Trotz had Brassard join Brock Nelson as the team’s second-line winger in hopes of generating more offense from Brassard, who thrived on the wing. Brassard had a career-high five-game goal streak on Thursday, which was five games he was on the first line.
  • The Athletic’s George Richards reports that Florida Panthers forward Vincent Trocheck was eased into the lineup Saturday in Florida’s game against the New York Islanders. Trocheck, who suffered a lower-body injury when blocking a shot against Nashville on Oct. 19, returned to the team’s second line, but played just 15:35. Head coach Joel Quenneville said he was trying to save him for Sunday’s game against the New York Rangers.

Several Players Placed On Waivers

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Friday: All four players have cleared waivers. Lintuniemi will now see his contract terminated, while the other three can be sent to the minor leagues.

Thursday: The Toronto Maple Leafs have placed a pair of players on waivers in order to start clearing room for the nearing return of Zach Hyman. Martin Marincin and Nic Petan find themselves on waivers alongside Edmonton Oilers forward Tomas Jurco today, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. Alex Lintuniemi of the Carolina Hurricanes has also been placed on unconditional waivers.

Petan actually made it through waivers already this season but needs them again after spending at least 30 days on the NHL roster. The Maple Leafs had been trying to find a landing spot for him and Marincin, but neither appear to have generated much trade interest at this time. Teams can now claim them for free, though they would then have to stay on the NHL roster. Clearing waivers could potentially increase their value, though they also may just end up with the Toronto Marlies.

Toronto needs to clear a third roster player before activating Hyman off long-term injured reserve, and though the consensus seems to be that Jason Spezza is that player, Dmytro Timashov and Nick Shore remain candidates.

In Edmonton, the Oilers have apparently made the same determination other organizations had previously come to that Jurco isn’t consistent enough to keep on the NHL roster. Given a glorious opportunity to play in the top six with some of the game’s best players, Jurco never did grab hold of the spot and has just two points in 12 games. The 26-year old would be on his sixth organization if he were claimed.

For Lintuniemi, unconditional waivers likely precedes a mutual contract termination. After being left unqualified by the Los Angeles Kings, the 24-year old defenseman signed a one-year deal with Carolina this summer but has played just four games with the Charlotte Checkers of the AHL. He would become an unrestricted free agent once again should the termination go through.

Minor Transactions: 11/08/19

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So much for a Colorado Avalanche team struggling to score without two members of their top line. The team exploded for six second period goals last night to down the Nashville Predators 9-4, but did lose another few bodies to injury. While we wait for news on Nathan MacKinnon’s precautionary removal, the rest of the league is preparing for the weekend action. As always, we’ll keep track of all the minor moves right here.

  • Last night the Detroit Red Wings sent Joe Hicketts back to the minor leagues, ending his short run in the NHL. The 23-year old defenseman averaged just over 18 minutes a game in four contests, but will have to wait for his next opportunity at the highest level.
  • The Philadelphia Flyers have recalled veteran forward Andy Andreoff while loaning Mikhail Vorobyev back to the minor leagues. Andreoff, 28, hasn’t played in the NHL since the 2017-18 season with the Los Angeles Kings, but does have seven points in 10 games for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
  • After clearing waivers, Tomas Jurco and Nic Petan have both been assigned to the minor leagues by their respective teams. Martin Marincin has avoided that fate for the time being, though the Toronto Maple Leafs are still expected to clear a few more bodies before Zach Hyman returns next week.
  • Otto Koivula is back up from the minor leagues for the New York Islanders, which could mean their injured forwards aren’t quite ready to return just yet. Jordan Eberle and Leo Komarov both practiced in regular jerseys today, but aren’t guaranteed to be ready for tomorrow’s afternoon game.
  • Jalen Chatfield has received his first call-up of the season and is on his way to join the Vancouver Canucks. The 23-year old defenseman has yet to make his NHL debut and will serve as insurance for Chris Tanev who is dealing with injury.
  • Kyle Capobianco has been sent back to the AHL, meaning Jordan Oesterle may be ready to go for the Arizona Coyotes. The 22-year old Capobianco has to be used to this by now after being involved in six transactions since the start of the season.
  • Gavin Bayreuther has been recalled by the Dallas Stars, giving the team an extra defenseman as they deal with injuries on the back end. The 25-year old played 19 games for Dallas last season, scoring five points and recording 10 penalty minutes.

Maple Leafs Expected To Waive Jason Spezza

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The Jason Spezza era in Toronto could be over as soon as it began. With Zach Hyman set to return from injury, the consensus from media members around the league, such as TSN’s Shawn Simpson, is that Spezza will be the odd man out for the Maple Leafs. The respected veteran centerman had plenty of suitors this off-season, but opted to take a hometown discount to suit up for the Leafs. However, his opportunities with Toronto have been limited by head coach Mike Babcock and it is now expected that Spezza could be on his way to the waiver wire and then off to another NHL team or down to the minors.

For whatever reason, Babcock has not seen Spezza as a valuable piece of his roster so far this season. While GM Kyle Dubas and company likely saw the former perennial 50+ point scorer as a potential bargain at the $700K minimum contract they signed him to, he has been unable to maximize that value. Babcock has been hesitant to give Spezza the opportunity to make the most of his affordable contract. Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston states that it was apparent all the way back in training camp that Babcock wasn’t enthused by Spezza’s addition and didn’t see a particular fit for him in the lineup. Granted, Spezza is not exactly an ideal fourth-line center, but surely the team could find a way to use the former All-Star, right? In fact, only the injury issues with John Tavares have allowed Spezza to make regular appearances – although he has been a healthy scratch frequently as well – but even in those games his ice time has been limited to a career-low 11:06 ATOI. Spezza has still managed four points in nine games and has an impressive 57.3% Corsi, but nothing he has done has seemed to change Babcock’s mind as to his role on the team, likely forcing management’s hand when it comes to waiving him upon activating Hyman.

Spezza, a veteran of more than 1000 NHL games, stands a very good chance of being claimed on waivers. The Maple Leafs were far from the only team to pursue the capable pivot this summer and that interest has likely only risen given his minimal cap hit and the pressure that many teams are facing to add talent in the face of a salary cap crunch or injury crisis. While Spezza is no longer the top scorer he once was, he did produce nearly 30 points in each of his final two seasons with the Dallas Stars despite noticeable regression and could do so with another club. Spezza’s face-off numbers are down this season and he seems to have lost a step in his skating, but otherwise he still plays a complete, two-way game. On top of that, he brings invaluable experience and locker room leadership to any team.

The one club that sticks out as a possible landing spot is of course the Ottawa Senators. The team with which Spezza has spent most of his career, the Senators were one of his most aggressive suitors this summer and their young squad could certainly benefit from his veteran presence. GM Pierre Dorion has made it known that he is looking to make an addition up front and may be able to do so without parting with trade capital by simply claiming Spezza. His minimal cost would also be attractive to a team that often seems allergic to spending. Both Simpson and The Ottawa Sun’s Don Brennan see Spezza as an ideal fit in Ottawa as a mentor and a player who can contribute throughout the lineup. While Spezza signed in Toronto this summer to return to his hometown, a reunion with the Senators would truly be a homecoming for the former face of the franchise.

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