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The New York Islanders are getting a huge boost ahead of their game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, activating Kyle Palmieri and Adam Pelech from injured reserve. Hudson Fasching has been moved to IR and Dennis Cholowski loaned to the AHL to make room.

Palmieri, 31, has played just a single game since November, spending the rest of the time on the shelf. The veteran forward has six goals and nine points in 21 appearances this season, averaging more than 16 minutes a night. Given his $5MM cap hit (Palmieri is in the second season of a four-year deal), his absence was a significant blow to the forward group that has struggled of late.

In their last nine games, the Islanders have scored more than two goals just a single time, and that still resulted in a loss. They have been held to just a single goal in four of those games, and overall have fallen to sixth in the Metropolitan Division, just four points ahead of the Philadelphia Flyers.

Perhaps more important, however, is the return of Pelech, who hasn’t played since December 6. The 28-year-old defenseman tilts the ice so significantly in his 21 minutes a night that the team has outscored opponents 27-16 despite Pelech playing against top competition and receiving more defensive deployment.

Even though he isn’t considered an offensive defenseman, his ability to break up cycles, stop rushes at the line, and turn over the puck results in much better opportunities for his teammates.

With them back, it will be a lot closer to the lineup that the Islanders though they would have heading into the season (even if Cal Clutterbuck and Oliver Wahlstrom are on IR).

While most of the headlines from today’s news conference with Vancouver Canucks president Jim Rutherford will be about the “major surgery” coming up for the roster, or the lame-duck status of Bruce Boudreau, there was at least one nugget of positive news for fans.

Rutherford said that the team had started negotiations with Andrei Kuzmenko on an extension, ahead of the Russian winger becoming a free agent in July. Because he was 26 when the Canucks signed him, Kuzmenko was limited to a one-year entry-level contract last summer.

An extension will certainly come at a much higher price, given how well he has transitioned to life in the NHL. The offensive winger has 17 goals and 38 points in 42 games, while averaging just under 16 minutes a night. While there are flaws to his game, that kind of production can’t be overlooked.

Keeping a player of Kuzmenko’s caliber is certainly a positive – or at least it would be in most situations. Some might argue that for the Canucks, signing him is actually moving in the wrong direction. Rutherford himself talked today about how he hadn’t given the team enough cap-related freedom in his time there. Signing Kuzmenko certainly won’t help that, even if he is deserving of a raise.

The crux of that decision is in some of Rutherford’s other comments. He believes that the team can be competitive within the next three years, and that it has plenty of talented players already in place. Signing Kuzmenko, then, would make sense.

But there is a legitimate argument to be made that the Canucks should instead just cash in on their asset. Because he was limited to an ELC, Kuzmenko’s price tag is extremely low, relative to his production. That kind of asset would be very valuable on the trade market, especially with the possibility of an acquiring team extending him themselves.

It doesn’t look like that’s what the plan is here, given Rutherford’s explanation that the Canucks won’t be heading into a rebuild. Instead, another extension appears to be around the corner – albeit with a deserving player.

The Columbus Blue Jackets have issued updates on several players, the most concerning of which has to do with Jakub Voracek. The veteran forward has not been medically cleared to resume hockey activities and is out indefinitely following a concussion last month. General manager Jarmo Kekalainen released the following:

Jake has had a number of head injuries during his career, and after the most recent was advised by doctors to take some time off to see if his ongoing symptoms subside to the point that will allow him to come back and play. We don’t expect a resolution in the near future and will give Jake as much time as he needs as his long-term health is the most important factor here.

Meanwhile, Jake Bean underwent surgery to repair a torn labrum in his shoulder and will miss four to six months. Zach Werenski, who had already been ruled out for the season, also underwent surgery on a torn labrum.

It’s scary news for Voracek, who despite declining goal totals has remained one of the best powerplay passers in the league. Last season he had six goals and 56 assists for 62 points in 79 games, 23 of those helpers with the man advantage. He also crossed the 1,000-game threshold last year, and reached 800 points for his career.

Now 33, it sounds like the team won’t rush him back this season even if he does start seeing some improvement over the next few months. The team is unlikely to challenge for the playoffs thanks to a long list of injuries, meaning there’s not much for the veteran forward to fight for. He’s already signed through next season and will earn $7.5MM ($8.25MM cap hit), meaning he can just focus on his day-to-day quality of life at this point.

For Bean this surgery likely means his season is also over. Despite the suggestion that a four-month recovery is possible, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to rush him back either. The Blue Jackets signed him to a three-year contract in 2021, which takes him through the 2023-24 season at a $2.33MM cap hit. He’ll be an arbitration-eligible RFA after that, so returning to pile up some counting stats may be beneficial for his future negotiation, but if there is any risk of re-injury they might as well wait until the summer to ramp things up.

Columbus has been ravaged by injuries and sit dead last in the Eastern Conference, only ahead of the Anaheim Ducks league-wide. They have a real chance at landing the first-overall pick or at least being one of the two lottery winners, adding another top offensive talent to the pipeline.

Hindsight is an amazing thing, and allows us to look back and wonder “what could have been.”  Though perfection is attempted, scouting and draft selection is far from an exact science, and sometimes, it doesn’t work out the way teams – or players – intended. For every Patrick Kane, there is a Patrik Stefan.

We’re looking back at the 2008 NHL Entry Draft and asking how it would shake out knowing what we do now.  Will the first round remain the same, or will some late-round picks jump up to the top of the board?

The results of our redraft so far are as follows with their original draft position in parentheses:

1st Overall: Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning (1)
2nd Overall: Drew Doughty, Los Angeles Kings (2)
3rd Overall: Roman Josi, Atlanta Thrashers (38)
4th Overall: Alex Pietrangelo, St. Louis Blues (4)
5th Overall: Erik Karlsson, Toronto Maple Leafs (15)
6th Overall: John Carlson, Columbus Blue Jackets (27)
7th Overall: Jacob Markstrom, Nashville Predators (31)
8th Overall: Braden Holtby, Phoenix Coyotes (93)
9th Overall: Jordan Eberle, New York Islanders (22)
10th Overall: Jared Spurgeon, Vancouver Canucks (156)
11th Overall: Cam Atkinson, Chicago Blackhawks (157)
12th Overall: T.J. Brodie, Buffalo Sabres (114)

After a pair of sixth-round selections in Spurgeon and Atkinson came off the board in our redraft, a fourth-round pick will make his way up the chart. It’s quite a climb for a player that was considered a bit of a reach even at 114, given how little excitement there was about him at the time.

Brodie, who has never been overly physical, was a third-round pick in the OHL draft by the Saginaw Spirit and had only just completed his first full season in major junior. The smooth-skating defenseman had put up 30 points in 68 games but it was hard to know really what he could bring to the next level. In the final NHL Central Scouting rankings, he was all the way down at 164th among North American skaters (coincidentally enough just three spots ahead of future NHLers Tyler Johnson and Anders Lee).

That made him the 56th-ranked defenseman just in NA alone, and certainly not a player that would be expected to be a top-12 pick all these years later. But Brodie has enjoyed an exceptional career, which has now spanned nearly 800 games. The two-way defender has 308 career points and after a decade in Calgary has now settled into a top-four role in Toronto.

So now it’s down to the 13th selection, which belonged at the time to the Los Angeles Kings after some draft day dealing to move up (and then back down). They had a chance to pair top talent with Doughty, who they had taken second overall, and set the club up to become even more successful than they already would be. Unfortunately, while the first five defensemen taken in 2008 have all played at least 730 games in the NHL, the sixth – Colten Teubert – played just 24.

After taking Doughty, no one would have faulted the Kings for going with a homerun swing with their second top-15 pick. A small but incredibly talented defenseman like Erik Karlsson, a sniper like Jordan Eberle, or even an undersized scorer like Tyler Ennis might have seemed like the natural way to go. Instead, they went after a big, physical defenseman from the WHL, who happened to also be right-handed.

Perhaps they were thinking that while Doughty took on big minutes on the top pairing, Teubert could play the penalty-killing, shutdown role behind him. Remember, they had picked Thomas Hickey fourth overall in 2007 and had 2005 third-overall pick Jack Johnson on the team already. With Doughty and Teubert coming in, it was set up to be an incredible group for the Kings. There were immediate comparisons between the big BC-born defenseman and Shea Weber, who had already been patrolling the Nashville Predators for a few years. Teubert was praised for his physicality and leadership, but unfortunately, those traits weren’t enough to get him to the NHL with the Kings.

After two more years in junior, and a half season in the minor leagues, the team had seen enough and traded Teubert to the Edmonton Oilers for Dustin Penner. He would crack the Edmonton lineup in 2011-12 for 24 games and then leave for Europe in 2013. After dealing with concussion issues while playing in the DEL, he retired at the age of 29, having only ever recorded a single point at the NHL level.

So there is no doubt that it was a mistake to pick Teubert with the 13th pick. There were plenty of useful NHL players to be found later, and even in our redraft there are several names that could have helped the Kings. Who should they have selected? Cast your vote below and explain why in the comments.

[Mobile users click here to vote!]

The second-overall pick has inked his deal, as the New Jersey Devils announced a three-year entry-level contract with Simon Nemec. The contract comes with an average annual value of $950K. Per PuckPedia, Nemec’s three-year deal has the same structure every season, earning him the max entry-level salary of $855K, max signing bonus of $95K, and max Schedule A performance bonus of $1MM. It also includes a Schedule B performance bonus of $2.25MM and an AHL salary of $82.5K.

Nemec, 18, was the top defenseman in this year’s draft after an excellent season with Nitra in the Slovakian league, including a playoff where he put up 17 points in 19 games. A member of the bronze medal-winning Olympic team, alongside top pick Juraj Slafkovsky, and Slovakia’s World Championship entry, he already has experience playing against NHL talent.

In fact, it was at the Worlds where he showed off his elite skating ability and range, scoring six points in eight games to lead all Slovakian defenders. Future New Jersey teammate Tomas Tatar was also on that team serving as captain and would have gotten a good look at the young defenseman.

After the draft, Nemec told reporters that he is ready to play in North America right away, even if that means the AHL. That will be decided at training camp but getting his entry-level deal done was the first step toward an NHL future, whenever that actually happens.

While most teams are focused on free agents, the Detroit Red Wings are also busy locking up their future. Marco Kasper has signed his three-year, entry-level contract after being selected eighth overall in this year’s draft. The young forward is expected to spend the year in the SHL.

More to come…

After the news was broken previously by his former club, Brad Shaw has now been officially introduced as an associate coach of the Philadelphia Flyers. New head coach John Tortorella is getting the band back together, having previously worked together with the Columbus Blue Jackets as recently as 2020-21. He released a statement on his new addition:

The familiarity in working closely with Brad in the past and knowing his approach to the game will be a big benefit to our club. Brad’s experience both as a former defenseman and the many years in the coaching ranks has allowed him to implement a style which make his teams hard to play against while allowing players to thrive in their role.

Shaw, who played nearly 400 games in the NHL, mostly with the Hartford Whalers and expansion Ottawa Senators, has previous experience working as an associate coach under a Jack Adams winner. During Ken Hitchcock’s run as head coach of the St. Louis Blues, Shaw rose from assistant to associate, taking on more responsibilities as his experience grew. He even has a bit of experience as a head coach in the NHL, leading the New York Islanders for 40 games in 2005-06 after Steve Stirling was shown the door.

In Philadelphia, he’ll try to fix a defensive unit that was in shambles this season, despite several highly-paid talents. Ivan Provorov, Rasmus Ristolainen, Travis Sanheim, and Ryan Ellis all carry cap hits of at least $4.675MM (though the latter may not be ready for the season), and must be better this time around if the team has any chance of reaching the postseason.