Nazem Kadri Will Have Hearing With Department Of Player Safety
The Toronto Maple Leafs were pummeled by the Boston Bruins in the first game of their playoff series, and could lose a key player for at least another game. Nazem Kadri has a hearing with the NHL’s Department of Player Safety after his hit on Tommy Wingels in the third period. Kadri slammed into a kneeling Wingles and made significant contact with his head, driving it into the boards. Wingels would leave the game and Kadri would be given a five-minute boarding penalty along with a game misconduct.
While Kadri defended the check after the game by saying had Wingels not fallen moments before contact, it wouldn’t have even been penalized, there is some evidence to the contrary. Kadri appears to leave his feet before contact, and be targeting Wingels from several strides across the ice. Though obviously no one can truly know if he had time to avoid contact after seeing the Bruins player drop to one knee, the onus is on the checking player to avoid contact to the head.
As we saw with Drew Doughty yesterday, the league will not hesitate to suspend a player during the playoffs. One thing to consider though is that Doughty was not penalized during his incident, while Kadri was taken out of the game and his five-minute major essentially ended any comeback hopes the Maple Leafs had. The league does seem to consider initial punishment in their rulings, though obviously Kadri’s may still warrant further discipline.
Poll: Who Will Be Eastern Conference Champions?
Yesterday, we asked who would come out of the next few weeks with the title of Western Conference Champions, and 37% of our readership agreed. The Nashville Predators easily led the poll, with the Colorado Avalanche bringing up the rear with just 3% of the total vote. Interestingly, the vote pegged the Los Angeles Kings as the third-most likely to win, despite finishing the season as the seventh best team in the West.
Will the public perception be the same in the Eastern Conference? We ask you the same thing, who will be champions when the first three rounds have been decided?
Can the Tampa Bay Lightning ride their conference lead all the way to the top? Will the Pittsburgh Penguins reach their third consecutive Stanley Cup Final? Are the Washington Capitals really cursed, or is it finally time for Alex Ovechkin to lift the Cup?
Make sure to leave your reasoning in the comments below, and share the poll on Twitter so you can disagree with even more people.
Who will be Eastern Conference champions?
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Pittsburgh Penguins 29% (389)
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Boston Bruins 22% (298)
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Tampa Bay Lightning 21% (282)
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Toronto Maple Leafs 8% (102)
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Washington Capitals 7% (87)
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New Jersey Devils 5% (66)
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Philadelphia Flyers 4% (57)
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Columbus Blue Jackets 4% (55)
Total votes: 1,336
[Mobile users click here to vote!]
Goalie Notes: Sparks, Tokarski, Berra
After an absolutely outstanding season, Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Garret Sparks has been named Goaltender of the Year in the AHL. Sparks appeared in 42 games for the Toronto Marlies and went 30-9-1 with a .936 save percentage. This huge year for Sparks—along with a similarly impressive season for teammate Calvin Pickard—creates an interesting problem for the Maple Leafs going forward.
Frederik Andersen is entrenched as the starter, while Curtis McElhinney actually led the NHL in save percentage this season in his limited backup role. Pickard is scheduled to be a restricted free agent while Sparks has one year left on his contract. Both likely deserve another opportunity at the highest level, but it will be tough to displace McElhinney after the season he had.
- The Philadelphia Flyers have recalled Dustin Tokarski as a third goaltender for the playoffs, leaving Alex Lyon in the AHL to start for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Tokarski is no stranger to NHL postseason play however, as he started five games for the Montreal Canadiens back in 2014. If the Flyers suffer injuries to their primary goaltenders, it’s nice to have someone with playoff experience as an insurance policy.
- The Anaheim Ducks on the other hand have sent Reto Berra back to the minor leagues, signalling that John Gibson is indeed ready to return and start Game 1. Gibson’s status was unclear until the last few days, but he’ll try to show he deserves some attention as one of the league’s best when he takes on the San Jose Sharks tomorrow night.
Early Notes: Hanzal, Grundstrom, Larsson
Martin Hanzal was part of a big Dallas Stars offseason that was supposed to vault them back to the playoffs. Along with Alexander Radulov, Marc Methot and Ben Bishop, the team had strengthened their core and were ready to take on the Western Conference. Unfortunately that didn’t happen with the team missing the playoffs entirely, and some may point to Hanzal’s struggles as a big reason why. The 31-year old center played 38 games and recorded just 10 points, dealing with injury basically the entire season.
In Sean Shapiro’s new piece for The Athletic (subscription required) he goes deep into how a serious back injury affected Hanzal’s play, and how he’s hoping to be ready for the start of the 2018-19 season. The surgery came with a six to nine month recovery timeline, that puts him on track from anywhere between training camp and a good chunk of the way into the season. As Shapiro puts it, Hanzal is “cautiously optimistic” about a return to form, something that would be a huge boost since the Stars still owe him $9MM over the next two seasons.
- Carl Grundstrom is on his way back to the Toronto Marlies for another playoff run, as the young Swedish forward was re-assigned from Frolunda today by the Maple Leafs. Grundstrom, a second-round pick in 2016, played six games for the Marlies last spring before heading back to Sweden for one more year. The 20-year old is expected to come to North America full-time in 2018-19, where he could even challenge for a place on the Maple Leafs in training camp. Grundstrom once again showed off his ability to score goals this year, notching 17 in 35 games for his club team.
- Another Swede, Johan Larsson, isn’t as excited about his future in North America. The Buffalo Sabres forward spoke to Swedish reporter Sven Gustafsson and explained that he is tired of the situation, and will wait to see what the team has in store for him. Larsson is under contract for another season, but with personnel changes expected in Buffalo after another season at the bottom of the standings, his future for the team is far from secure. Larsson hasn’t turned into the two-way, middle-six center many had hoped he would become, scoring just four goals and 17 points this season.
Morning Notes: O’Reilly, Maple Leafs, De Haan
The Buffalo Sabres held their locker clean out today after another season where they find themselves at the very bottom of the standings. The Sabres will have the best chance at selecting first overall in the upcoming draft, but that didn’t cheer up Ryan O’Reilly, who spoke candidly about how he has struggled with morale this season. O’Reilly is quoted in John Vogl’s piece for the Buffalo News:
We’re stuck in this mindset of just being OK with losing. I feel it, too. I think it’s really crept into myself. Over the course of the year, I’ve lost myself a lot, where it’s just kind of get through, just being OK with just not making a mistake. That’s not winning hockey at all, and it’s crept into all of our games.
It’s disappointing. It’s sad. I feel throughout the year I’ve lost the love of the game multiple times. You need to get back to it because it’s just eating myself up and eats the other guys, too. It’s just eating us up, and it’s tough.
The Sabres have finished out of the playoffs for the last seven seasons, and haven’t had any real postseason success in over a decade. With a rookie coach and GM in Phil Housley and Jason Botterill, things will have to turn around quickly if they want ownership to stick with them long-term. Jack Eichel will begin his $80MM contract extension next season, while O’Reilly still has five years at $7.5MM left on his deal. Those two will have to be the key members of any bounce back, though they’ll certainly need some help along the way.
- The Toronto Maple Leafs will carry $2.55MM in bonuses over to next season according to Chris Johnston of Sportsnet, who notes that they also have close to $21MM coming off the books this summer. Interestingly, that bonus number could still increase by another $2MM should Auston Matthews take home the Conn Smythe trophy. The Maple Leafs will have a reduced amount of cap room because of it, and plenty of decisions to make on unrestricted free agents like James van Riemsdyk, Tyler Bozak and Leo Komarov.
- Calvin de Haan would welcome a return to the New York Islanders according to Andrew Gross of Newsday, but is aware of the lack of defensemen on the free agent market this summer. de Haan’s season ended in December after just 33 games, which clouds his future considerably. At one point (including on our Midseason UFA Power Rankings) he looked like he was set to hit the market as one of the best defensemen available. Now, it’s entirely unclear if he’ll be able to secure a long-term deal at all.
Atlantic Notes: Bruins, Boucher, Ristolainen, Zetterberg, Bertuzzi
There is just one game remaining on the NHL regular season schedule and the league schedulers picked a good one as the Boston Bruins will host the Florida Panthers today in the lone game. While many people thought the game would have significant meaning for the Panthers (Philadelphia’s victory Saturday officially eliminated Florida from the playoffs), it instead has an effect on Boston.
If the Bruins win, they will jump over the Tampa Bay Lightning as the top seed of the Eastern Conference and get home ice advantage in the first three rounds of the playoffs. A win of any kind would give them a matchup with the New Jersey Devils. A loss will pit the Bruins against the Toronto Maple Leafs, a team they have struggled with this year. The only known matchup in the Eastern Conference are the Pittsburgh Penguins vs. the Philadelphia Flyers and the Washington Capitals vs. the Columbus Blue Jackets.
“Let’s face it, we were trying to find our own game and get to where we thought we were at the start of the year, which was definitely a playoff team,” said head coach Bruce Cassidy via NBC Sports Joe Haggerty. “We just didn’t know where we would fit, and the way Tampa got out of the gate, and Toronto for that matter, it was going to be an uphill battle. But here we are. We’re in a position to take it, and that’s a credit to the guys. We’ve worked hard to get here. This wasn’t by accident. We didn’t back in.”
- The Ottawa Senators, who ended up finishing in 30th place this season, must make a decision on their coaching situation. Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen writes that Guy Boucher is in a strange situation as he did everything right a year ago at this time and has done little right since. The team’s defense and special teams were atrocious this year and need to get fixed. The question is, will it be Boucher or another coach? Garrioch says that even if Boucher survives, expect changes to the staff as last year is considered unacceptable.
- Jon Vogl of the Buffalo News writes that the Buffalo Sabres need to make sweeping changes to avoid another dismal season next year, but unfortunately, the team has a lot of contracts with term which will be hard to move, so the team will need to be creative in trades. The defense has six players already under contract and few top-four players, citing that Rasmus Ristolainen is considered their No. 1 defenseman and he is no where even close to that. He will have four more years on his contract at $5.4MM AAV and has shown little improvement and isn’t the leader they hoped he would be.
- Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press writes that Detroit Red Wings’ Henrik Zetterberg must decide whether he wants to keep playing. The 38-year-old still has three years left of the 12-year contract he signed in 2009 at $6.083MM AAV, but back then it was assumed players wouldn’t play the entire contract out. He’s logged over 1,000 and if he chooses to retire, the Red Wings would save $6MM in cap space if the team is able to place him on long-term injured reserve. St. James adds, however, that the veteran might want to come back for one more year as he is just 42 points away from reaching 1,000 points.
- St. James also tweets that the Red Wings have decided not to send forward Tyler Bertuzzi to the Grand Rapids Griffins of the AHL for their playoff run. They believe Bertuzzi has done enough at the AHL level and want him to hit the gym and get stronger with a full offseason of workouts.
AHL Announces First, Second All-Star Teams
After announcing their All-Rookie team earlier this week, the AHL have now given us their choices for the first and second All-Star Teams for 2017-18. These players were voted in by coaches, players and media all across the league.
First All-Star Team:
Goaltender: Garret Sparks, Toronto Marlies (Toronto Maple Leafs)
Defenseman: Jacob MacDonald, Binghamton Devils (New Jersey Devils)
Defenseman: Sami Niku, Manitoba Moose (Winnipeg Jets)*
Left Wing: Chris Terry, Laval Rocket (Montreal Canadiens)
Center: Phil Varone, Lehigh Valley Phantoms (Philadelphia Flyers)
Right Wing: Mason Appleton, Manitoba Moose (Winnipeg Jets)*
*Niku and Appleton were also named as part of the All-Rookie team.
Second All-Star Team:
Goaltender: Michael Hutchinson, Manitoba Moose (Winnipeg Jets)
Defenseman: T.J. Brennan, Lehigh Valley Phantoms (Philadelphia Flyers)
Defenseman: Zach Redmond, Rochester Americans (Buffalo Sabres)
Left Wing: Andreas Johnsson, Toronto Marlies (Toronto Maple Leafs)
Center: Austin Czarnik, Providence Bruins (Boston Bruins)
Right Wing: Ben Smith, Toronto Marlies (Toronto Maple Leafs)
Of course, much of the fanfare will go to Niku and Appleton who were not only rookies but late-round draft choices. Their appearance on the list is so impressive, especially given the success of the Jets already graduated young core. With a pipeline of talent, Winnipeg should have a wide open window of contention.
Probably the most interesting name though is Hutchinson, as he’ll be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year. One has to wonder if he’ll get a crack at an NHL job, given his outstanding minor league season and reliatively successful experience at the highest level. He’s making $1.3MM this season, but could look for a larger opportunity elsewhere while Connor Hellebuyck, Steve Mason and Eric Comrie man the crease in Winnipeg.
Maple Leafs May Wait To Sign Auston Matthews To Extension
Last summer, the Oilers wasted little time locking up center Connor McDavid to a max eight-year extension worth $100MM. Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews and Jets winger Patrik Laine are eligible to ink their second contracts as of July 1st but Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos suggests (video link) that Toronto, in particular, may not be as eager to get something done as soon as possible. He notes that wingers Mitch Marner (also eligible for an extension in July) and William Nylander (RFA) also need new deals and that signing Matthews may create a domino effect for those two. If they are indeed concerned about that, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a possible new deal for Matthews wait until later in the offseason.
NHLPA Approves Proposed Changes To Lottery Odds
In what has become an annual event, the NHL Players’ Association has yet again approved changes to the NHL Draft lottery odds. TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reports that the NHLPA today signed off on a new lottery set-up recently submitted by the league. It marks the third season in a row that the odds have been altered.
The percentage chance that a team is selected to pick first, second, or third, as expressed by the number of ping pong balls present in the lottery draw, is dependent on where they finish in the overall league standings. Unsurprisingly, the changes to the odds first agreed upon in the Collective Bargaining Agreement began with the Edmonton Oilers and the painful realization that they had won yet another lottery in 2015 and would move up in the draft order to select Connor McDavid as their fourth first overall pick in a six year span. In response, the league significantly boosted the odds in 2016 toward the teams finishing last winning the lottery – expecting that Edmonton would no longer be in that range – as LeBrun notes that the 30th-place team had 20% odds of picking first two years ago. After the worst team in the NHL, the Toronto Maple Leafs, retained the top pick that year and selected Auston Matthews, the league and NHLPA again agreed to lessen the odds and insert more chance (and excitement) into the lottery. LeBrun indicates that last year the league’s worst, the Colorado Avalanche, had an 18% chance of holding on to the top pick. However, in a wild turn of events, three teams outside the bottom four won the lottery and moved into the top three draft slots, the biggest shift being the Philadelphia Flyers, who narrowly missed the playoffs, picking second. So, to perhaps combat another clean sweep, the odds have again been increased for those toward the bottom
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that the new odds of selecting first for the upcoming 2018 NHL Draft will be 18.5% for 31st, 13.5% for 30th, and 11.5% for 29th. With the addition of an extra non-playoff team, there is also a new distribution which in fact increases the odds for the last team to miss the playoffs, the 17th-place finisher, by a tenth of a percent to 1%. This is accomplished by lessening the odds for the middle-of-the pack lottery teams. It may not be a coincidence that the Oilers are part of that group. Nor may it be a coincidence that the current bottom three – the Buffalo Sabres, Vancouver Canucks, and Arizona Coyotes – are all teams that have been struggling for years and would certainly appreciate retaining their high picks. This yearly change in draft lottery odds seems to be very responsive to the results of each prior lottery, but that isn’t a bad thing. So long as both the league and NHLPA agree, it’s safe to assume that the changes have the best interests of competitive balance in mind.
Injury Notes: Laine, Matthews, Tarasenko
The Winnipeg Jets have avoided a crushing blow after Patrik Laine was forced from their game after blocking a shot. Laine isn’t expected to miss a lot of time with the injury, if any at all.
The young sniper is having an outstanding season, but fell one behind Alex Ovechkin last night for the league-lead in goals. Though winning the Maurice Richard trophy would obviously be a nice prize, he and the rest of the Jets have their sights set on an even bigger trophy. The Jets are fighting through injuries to several of their key players, but are still one of the favorites in the Western Conference as the playoffs approach.
- Auston Matthews, the only player selected ahead of Laine in the 2016 draft, is also nearing a return for the Toronto Maple Leafs. The young center proclaimed himself ready to go after a 10-game layoff due to a shoulder injury, but head coach Mike Babcock wouldn’t go that far. The final decision on Matthews and Nikita Zaitsev for Thursday’s game will come after the morning skate, but both seem poised to return to the lineup.
- Vladimir Tarasenko is expected miss his second straight game with an upper-body injury, during a crucial time for the St. Louis Blues. The team is entering must-win territory with their last ten games as they sit three points back of the final wildcard spot with two additional teams between them and a playoff spot. That’s a tough hill to climb with so few games remaining, and losing Tarasenko is especially damaging. The 26-year old has had a down year by his standards, but is still second on the club with 58 points.