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The Montreal Canadiens will be without two key pieces when the season begins next week, as head coach Dominique Ducharme confirmed today that Carey Price and Joel Edmundson will not be with the team for the October 13 opener. Price, who is still recovering from offseason knee surgery, came down with a non-COVID illness and hasn’t been able to practice with the team. Edmundson meanwhile has not progressed from an undisclosed injury and will be out another two to three weeks, as Eric Engels of Sportsnet relays.

Though Price’s absence is obviously important, Canadiens fans shouldn’t panic just yet. The star goaltender won’t be able to practice with the team before the season begins, but still shouldn’t be out long-term. Montreal claimed Sam Montembeault off waivers from the Florida Panthers to serve as backup while Jake Allen takes the net through the early going. Allen posted a .907 save percentage in 29 appearances last season, while Montembeault has an .892 in 25 career NHL games.

Edmundson meanwhile is more concerning, if only because of the lack of clarity on when he will return. The team did add depth on the blue line this offseason by bringing in David Savard, Chris Wideman, and Sami Niku, but they are also without captain Shea Weber. Losing Edmundson, one of their most reliable defensive options, will leave a hole on the left side for the time being.

Speculation immediately goes to young defenseman Kaiden Guhle, who could play up to nine games with the Canadiens before burning the first year of his entry-level contract. There’s a chance that he could get a taste of the NHL while filling in for Edmundson through the first few games, before going back to the Prince Albert Raiders for his regular junior season. One thing not available to Guhle is the AHL, as he played only three games there last season and doesn’t meet the criteria for this year’s one-time exception.

Without Price or Edmundson, the Canadiens will take on the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first game of the season.

The 2022 Winter Olympics are coming fast, with just a few months before NHL stars jet off to Beijing, China to compete for their respective countries. Hockey Canada announced recently that Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, and Alex Pietrangelo were the first three players selected to their team, and now Sweden has announced their counterparts. Mika Zibanejad, Gabriel Landeskog, and Victor Hedman have been named to Team Sweden for the 2022 Games.

Zibanejad may not have reached the incredible heights of 2019-20 last season, but he’s still a force for the Rangers and projects to be Sweden’s first-line center at the upcoming tournament. He scored 41 goals in just 57 games during the COVID-shortened season two years ago and came back with a strong enough 50 points in 56 games this past season. In fact, center is actually a position of great strength for the Swedes this time around, with Elias Pettersson, Nicklas Backstrom, Mikael Backlund, and William Karlsson all strong candidates to take a spot down the middle.

They won’t be too bad on the wing either, starting with Landeskog who was already an alternate captain for the nation at the 2014 Olympics when he was just 21. A born leader, he has represented Sweden at every major event, including the U18 WJC, U20 WJC, World Championship and World Cup. He took home a silver as part of that 2014 group and has become a reliable point-per-game player at the NHL level, complementing world-class talent and bringing versatility to any lineup.

Few NHL fans would be surprised if Hedman was given the captaincy of Sweden, but it would actually be an interesting decision given his history with the national program. He was left off the 2014 team despite the obvious skill he showed in the early part of his career, with players like Johnny Oduya, Jonathan Ericsson and even 35-year-old Henrik Tallinder going to Sochi over him. Because of the regular playoff success of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Hedman also has gone to the World Championship just once since 2013 and three times total, going on long playoff runs most seasons instead. It’ll be his first chance to represent his country at the Olympics, and he was an obvious choice this time around.

Each participating country was required to declare three players, while the full “long-list” of 55 potential names will be submitted by October 15.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

The Ottawa Senators announced a significant contract extension for general manager Pierre Dorion this week, but that wasn’t the news fans of the team were hoping for. No, the Senators faithful are waiting with clenched teeth as star forward Brady Tkachuk continues to sit unsigned with just a few weeks left before training camp opens. The 21-year-old winger is a restricted free agent but did not have arbitration rights that would have sped the process along, meaning technically he’s open to an offer sheet at the moment.

With one of those already signed this offseason and the Senators’ long history of watching star players leave on uncertain terms, Tkachuk’s situation will be concerning to many until an actual contract is signed. There were hints earlier this offseason that the team was hoping for an eight-year deal, with the inkling even that Tkachuk may become the team’s captain if a long-term deal like that was signed.

But that hasn’t happened yet, and now the speculation mounts. Shawn Simpson of TSN tweeted today that “confused and frustrated” are the words he has heard in regards to Tkachuk’s feelings, while adding that the player does not feel a real offer has been even made to this point. That certainly isn’t the same impression that Dorion left with Sportsnet radio earlier today when asked about the situation:

We’re not going to really talk about it too much in public. We have had really positive talks. Are we confident that he will be signed by the time camp starts? Yes. These negotiations aren’t always easy and–not that it’s not easy, they take a bit more time. Hopefully the next time you guys bring me on the show, we’ll be able to announce a Brady Tkachuk contract. 

Of the restricted free agents left to sign this summer, only Kirill Kaprizov and Quinn Hughes scored more than Tkachuk’s 36 points last season. The young forward has put up 60 goals and 125 points through three seasons, numbers that compare well to fellow 2018 draftee Andrei Svechnikov, who signed an eight-year, $62MM deal last month. The Senators meanwhile secured the services of Drake Batherson recently, inking the 23-year-old RFA to a six-year, $29.85MM deal that currently makes him the highest-paid forward on the team. Overall, Thomas Chabot’s eight-year, $64MM deal takes that spot for the Senators, signed in 2019 almost a year before his entry-level deal even expired.

The Senators will open the preseason on September 26 against the Winnipeg Jets, just over two weeks from now.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

The situation surrounding Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog continues to bring intrigue to the NHL offseason, with the expansion draft and free agency rapidly approaching. Landeskog and the Avalanche were said to be far apart in contract talks recently, and Darren Dreger of TSN tweets this morning that there hasn’t been any movement.

Andy Strickland of Bally Sports Midwest tweets that the team’s last offer was in the $5-6MM range on an eight-year term, but that Landeskog is looking for much more than that. Strickland lists the Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Vegas Golden Knights, Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Islanders and St. Louis Blues as teams that will show interest if Landeskog makes it to the open market.

There’s still time to work things out, and Landeskog could still return to Colorado after free agency opens, but there seems to be a sizable gap at the moment between what he believes he’ll get and what the Avalanche are willing to pay. The team must also save cap space for Cale Makar’s new deal and UFA goaltender Philipp Grubauer, if they intend to keep their core group together.

With protection lists submitted tomorrow and a transaction freeze coming into effect, the Avalanche will no longer have to worry about maneuvering for the expansion draft. At that point they will have just over ten days to negotiate with Landeskog before he gets to speak to the rest of the market. During that time, the Seattle Kraken will have a short window to negotiate with free agents, before the rest of the league is once again allowed to sign players on July 22. In this compressed offseason, timelines for managers are extremely tight, with sometimes only a few days to work out a deal. In Colorado, things do not appear to be progressing.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

One of the biggest questions when selecting a player from the college ranks in the NHL entry draft is whether you will be able to sign them. The draw to play for a top university is legitimate for many prospects, especially if they are going to have to wait several years for a chance at the NHL level anyway. But what about for a player that is supposed to go at the very top of the draft?

Owen Power, the projected first-overall pick in this year’s draft and a sophomore at the University of Michigan, was on NHL Network to discuss his plans for next season:

I think right now I’m leaning more toward going back to school. It’s something I’d like to do, try and get the true experience of playing college hockey. At the end of the day it obviously depends on what the team wants and what everyone around me thinks is best. I don’t think there is really a bad option, but I would say I’m probably leaning a bit more toward going back to school right now.

Power, 18, like all of the college freshman that started their NCAA athletic careers this season, has still not really gotten a chance to see what the atmosphere can be like thanks to COVID restrictions. In fact, the Michigan hockey team didn’t even get a chance to play in the NCAA championship tournament because of COVID protocols, removed just before they were set to take on Minnesota-Duluth. While Power had a chance to play at the IIHF World Championship for Canada, taking home the gold medal, he missed out on a lot of what likely drew him to Michigan in the first place.

The Wolverines are also set to be quite the squad next season, with several players expected to go in the top half of the first round and Luke Hughes set to join them as a freshman. Should Power return, he is coming back to a program that will be in contention for the national championship.

Of course, there is also the draw of the NHL. Should the Buffalo Sabres use the first-overall pick on the 6’5″ defenseman, there will almost certainly be an opportunity for him to step directly into their lineup for the 2021-22 season. Not only would that get him on a fast track to a bigger payday after his entry-level contract expires, but it would also give him a chance to test himself against the best players in the world every night. While the talent level in college hockey has improved dramatically over the past few decades, it is still nothing like the skill Power would face as a regular in the Buffalo lineup.

Though these comments may remind Sabres fans of players like Jimmy Vesey and Calvin Petersen, who decided not to sign with them and test the free agent market following their college careers, Power’s situation is much different. Even though he may be leaning to returning for his sophomore year, the chance that a player picked as high as him waits for his draft rights to expire is very low. There’s simply no reason for him to spend all four years at Michigan if he wants to continue his development, so it would likely mean waiting just a single year before he signs his entry-level deal. In fact, once the Wolverines season is complete, he could likely play in a few games at the end of 2021-22 for whichever NHL team drafts him anyway.

The question for the Sabres now is does that potential wait change his draft stock at all. Buffalo is desperately searching for a way out of the basement, but there’s really no rush beyond the ongoing frustration of the fan base. The team is not close to competing for the Stanley Cup, meaning if they believe Power is the best player in the draft, another year in Michigan shouldn’t stop them from picking him.

Each day, the NHL will publicly release the list of players that are unavailable to their respective teams due to being in COVID-19 Protocol. Here is today’s list so far:

Calgary – Josh Leivo
Colorado – Devan Dubnyk
Washington – Evgeny Kuznetsov

As a reminder, inclusion on this list does not mean that a player has tested positive for Coronavirus or even that they have been confirmed as a close contact to another positive person. Included in the NHL’s list of possible reasons for someone being on the list is are the following:

(1) an initial positive test which remains unconfirmed until confirmatory testing is completed pursuant to the Positive Test Protocol; (2) mandated isolation for symptomatic individuals pursuant to the Positive Test Protocol; (3) required quarantine as a high-risk close contact in accordance with the Positive Test Protocol; (4) isolation based on a confirmed positive test result and/or; (5) quarantine for travel or other reasons as outlined in the COVID-19 Protocol

Players removed today: Evgeny Svechnikov, Detroit Red Wings

No new players have been added so far, though several teams have yet to submit their report. Kuznetsov and teammate Ilya Samsonov will both be out of the lineup again for the Capitals tonight, though it is not clear if Samsonov is also in the protocol. Since he is currently technically on the taxi squad, Washington does not need to publicly report it. With Kuznetsov unavailable and Alex Ovechkin out with a lower-body injury, Daniel Carr has been recalled to the active roster and is expected to play tonight.

*denotes new addition

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We’ve now gotten past Thanksgiving and the holiday season is right around the corner. Like the last few years, PHR will take a look at what teams are thankful for but this year comes with a bit of a change. Normally teams would have an idea of where their season was heading, coming up on the one-quarter mark with mountains of statistics to analyze. Instead, in this unprecedented year, the season hasn’t even begun. We’ll still take a look at what each group is excited about and what they could hope for once the calendar turns to 2021.

What are the Flames most thankful for?

NHL free agency.

If you can’t beat ’em, pay ’em? The Flames haven’t made it past the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in five years, so decided to point at the Vancouver Canucks—who came within one game of the Western Conference Finals—and say “I want that.” When free agency came along, Calgary spent big on Jacob Markstrom and Chris Tanev, both key members of the Canucks playoff run and veterans of the fierce Pacific Division. Markstrom, who signed a six-year $36MM contract with the Flames has a chance to be the team’s first long-term starter since Miikka Kiprusoff retired in 2013. Since he left, the Flames have seen goaltenders like Joey MacDonald, Reto Berra, Karri Ramo, Joni Ortio, Jonas Hiller, Niklas Backstrom, Chad Johnson, Brian Elliott, Jon Gillies, Eddie Lack, Mike Smith, and most recently, Cam Talbot, come and go without a ton of success. David Rittich remains as the backup but is only signed through this season.

Tanev meanwhile, who inked a four-year $18MM deal, will be asked to bring the same sort of hard-nosed defensive presence that he had in Vancouver for so many years. The 30-year-old defenseman replaces T.J. Brodie in the top-four, while Travis Hamonic also became an unrestricted free agent (but has yet to sign). Vancouver fans will tell you that there’s nothing wrong with Tanev’s play when he’s on the ice, but it’s not all that common for him to be there. The shot-blocking, penalty-killing veteran has never played more than 70 games in a season, though this year that wasn’t his fault—he played all 69 games before the season was canceled.

Who are the Flames most thankful for?

Rasmus Andersson & Matthew Tkachuk.

Many of those minutes left behind by Hamonic’s departure should be eaten up by Andersson, who looks like a star about to break out in Calgary. The 24-year-old had a strong regular season but was outstanding for the Flames in the postseason (when Hamonic was absent after opting out of the return to play), leading all Calgary defensemen with five points in ten games and logging more than 21 minutes a night. That playoff breakout came several months after the Flames signed Andersson to a six-year extension, keeping his cap hit at a manageable $4.55MM through the 2025-26 season. When captain Mark Giordano eventually retires, Andersson looks primed to become the leader of the Calgary defense corps.

The same can be said about Tkachuk, if it hasn’t already. The 22-year-old forward is still thought of second after Johnny Gaudreau when speaking about the Flames forward group, but he likely should be number one with a bullet. Tkachuk led the team in scoring with 61 points in 69 games and could have potentially been the difference in their first-round series against the Dallas Stars, had he not suffered a concussion in game two. There aren’t many players around the league that can impact the game in as many ways as the young forward, scoring at a high rate while also contributing physically and getting under his opponents’ skin. He only has two years left on his current contract but is under control as a restricted free agent at the conclusion of the 2021-22 campaign.

What would the Flames be even more thankful for?

A few more Johnny Gaudreau goals.

There’s no way around it, Gaudreau was one of the biggest disappointments of the 2019-20 season. After scoring 36 goals and 99 points in the previous campaign he finished fourth in Hart Trophy voting and looked like he was going to be a league-leading presence for years to come. Instead, he potted just 18 goals this season (only 12 of them at even-strength) and was completely invisible for the Flames at the most important times. Gaudreau did have seven points in ten postseason games, but only one of them—an empty-net goal in game three of the qualification round—was on anything but the powerplay. Man-advantage points are essential, but the Flames desperately needed some help at even-strength and simply couldn’t rely on their 27-year-old star to provide it.

While Tkachuk may be the new leader up front, Calgary’s fate can still be determined by Gaudreau, who has two years left on his deal to prove he can be that superstar on a consistent basis. The fact that his name came up in trade speculation once again shouldn’t be a shock.

What should be on the Flames’ holiday wish list?

Some added secondary scoring.

Only six forwards provided any consistent offense this season for the Flames, with Milan Lucic sitting as the best-of-the-rest with exactly eight goals and 20 points. That’s just not enough secondary production for a team that wants to contend for the Stanley Cup, especially when those top names like Gaudreau and Sean Monahan are struggling themselves. Without many real changes upfront—Josh Leivo, another Canucks free agent signed a one-year, $875K deal, while Dominik Simon came in on the league minimum—the team will need a young player or two to step up their game.

Most of the focus will be on Sam Bennett, the 24-year-old center who does lots of things except score in the regular season. He had just 12 points in 52 games during the 2019-20 campaign, a completely unacceptable total for the 2014 fourth-overall pick. Bennett showed up in a big way in the playoffs, leading the team with five goals and eight points, but can’t just disappear for the entire season again. Dillon Dube, another young forward that provides more than just offense, will need to add to that part of his game as well if he’s to become a true impact player for the Flames. If neither does, Calgary GM Brad Treliving could be shopping again at the deadline.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

The Florida Panthers are set to add a menacing presence to their blue line. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that defenseman Radko Gudas will sign with the club on a three-year deal at a $2.5MM AAV. The Panthers have also signed forward Carter Verhaeghe to a two-year deal with a $1MM AAV, per TSN’s Bob McKenzie.

Gudas, 30, may not be a minute-munching top-four defenseman, but uses his limited ice time better than most. Gudas has never averaged 20+ minutes per game in a season in his eight-year NHL career, but that hasn’t stopped him from establishing himself as a major physical threat and top defensive specialist. Through stops with Tampa Bay, Philadelphia, and Washington, Gudas has always logged major hit totals, has contributed a fair amount of offense, and has been an asset on the penalty kill. His penalty troubles have also improved in recent years, making his physicality and man-down ability even more valuable. Getting a reliable defensive presence for nearly $1MM less than his previous AAV is a great value buy for a Florida. A team that needed more depth and aggression on the blue line has now added Gudas and Markus Nutivaara in the past 24 hours.

Verhaeghe, 25, was not extended a qualifying offer by the defending champion Lightning and became a surprise addition to the UFA market. However, he has already found a new home and one that is not too far away. Florida adds a player who recorded nine goals and 13 points in 52 games in his rookie season, despite playing a limited fourth line role. If Verhaeghe, who amassed impressive offensive totals in the AHL, is able to play a complete season and can win a more substantial role, he should easily record 20-30 points on a measly $1MM salary.

Just moments after releasing the Norris finalists, the NHL moved on to another award, this time announcing the three nominees for the Frank J. Selke Trophy. The award is given out the forward who “demonstrates the most skill in the defensive component of the game.”

The finalists for this season are Ryan O’Reilly from the St. Louis Blues, Sean Couturier from the Philadelphia Flyers and Patrice Bergeron from the Boston Bruins.

It starts with the reigning Selke winner, who happened to also take home the Conn Smythe trophy as he led the Blues to their first Stanley Cup. O’Reilly is also up for the Lady Byng again this year, and part of his defensive prowess relies on that incredible ability to stay out of the penalty box. He averaged more than two minutes of short-handed ice time this season and was once again a lock-down presence in the middle of the ice. O’Reilly also took home the faceoff crown again this season, winning more draws than any other player in the league—even if his percentage wasn’t quite as high as his two fellow finalists.

That percentage crown went to Couturier, who won 59.7% of his draws, more than any other player with even 50 faceoffs taken. The Flyers star has taken over as the heartbeat of his team and becomes a finalist for the second time in three years. There’s no one who doubts Couturier’s ability to shut down opposing players, but he’s going up against two previous winners that both have incredible reputations and Stanley Cup performances to their names. That will make it all the sweeter if he does take it home, but even if he doesn’t you can expect the name Couturier to be part of this group for years to come.

Bergeron is king in these parts, already winning the award four times and being a finalist on four other occasions. In fact, he has finished in the top-5 for Selke voting in each of the past ten years, making him quite the opponent for the younger O’Reilly and Couturier. Bergeron once again was among the league-leaders in faceoff percentage and managed to crack the 30-goal mark for the third straight season. Should he take home the award again he would become the all-time leader, breaking the current tie with Bob Gainey at four.