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Metro Division Snapshots: Williams, Calvert, Di Pauli

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Now in the midst of his 16th NHL campaign, Washington Capitals winger Justin Williams has carved out a solid career as an excellent two-way player that excels at driving possession and one who is a proven playoff performer. In more than 1,000 regular season contests, Williams has tallied 251 goals with 387 assists while compiling a Corsi For % of better than 57%. Despite his past success, Williams finds himself mired in a deep slump this season, though as Isabelle Khurshudyan writes, the three-time Stanley Cup winner is trying to stay positive.

On the season, Williams has potted just two goals and four points in 22 games for the Capitals; a scoring pace which if maintained would result in the lowest full-season output of his career. But even at 35, it’s likely Williams still has enough gas in the tank to turn his season around. Last year, Williams tallied 22 goals and 52 points, totals which suggest there should be plenty of quality hockey left.

Khurdshudyan notes that Williams’ season to date can be summarized by a sequence during the Capitals recent tilt against the Islanders. Late in the first frame, Williams appeared to cash in on a cross-ice feed from Evgeny Kuznetsov but replays showed the puck crossed the line just after time expired in the period.

Williams’ struggles can be attributed at least in part to a shooting percentage well off his career rate. For his career, Williams has found the back of the net on 9.3% of his shots on goal. To this point in the campaign his success rate is just 4.1%. Williams is still generating shots near his career average – 2.64 per to 2.22 – which reinforces the belief that it’s likely just a matter of time before the veteran winger starts putting the biscuit in the basket again with regular frequency.

Elsewhere in the Metro Division:

  • The Columbus Blue Jackets announced that they have activated veteran checking winger Matt Calvert from IR. Calvert, who had missed the past five contests with an upper-body injury, has two goals and three points in 17 appearances for the Blue Jackets this season. Rob Mixer, who covers the Jackets for the team’s official website, adds that Calvert is likely going to be in the lineup tomorrow night when Columbus travels to Arizona to take on the Coyotes.
  • Pittsburgh Penguins prospect Thomas Di Pauli underwent back surgery today and is expected to miss up to 12 weeks, according to a tweet from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins official Twitter account. Di Pauli signed with the club as a college free agent this summer, spurning overtures by the Washington Capitals, the team that originally drafted the young center in the fourth-round of the 2012 draft. In his first pro campaign, Di Pauli has just one point, a goal, in eight games.

Justin Abdelkader Leaves Game With Lower Body Injury

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MLive’s Ansar Khan tweets that Justin Abdelkader has a lower body injury and will not return to the game tonight.  During the first period of the Detroit Red Wings’ matchup with the Florida Panthers, Abdelkader left the ice after finishing a check and banging his right leg into the boards following the hit. He was seen wincing on the bench and flexing his knee as he skated off the ice.

If Abdelkader is out for a number of games, he will join wounded Wings Darren Helm, Jimmy Howard, Andreas Athanasiou, Tyler Bertuzzi, Alexey Marchenko, and Brendan Smith. It’s been that kind of a season for Detroit, who is seeking its 26th consecutive playoff appearance.

Abdelkader has eight points (4-4) in 21 games and after signing a massive seven-year extension last season, he was to be counted on for a net-front presence and to chip in at least 20 goals. His absence from the lineup creates another hole in an already ravaged lineup.

The Red Wings, through November 27, lead the NHL in man-games lost with 141.

Snapshots: Anderson, LeBrun’s Power Rankings, Blues

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The Associated Press reports that Ottawa Senators’ net minder Craig Anderson will take another leave of absence to be with his wife during her battle with throat cancer. Anderson will not be available to play Thursday when the Sens take on the Flyers in Ottawa. In turn, the Senators recalled Andrew Hammond and also have Mike Condon ready to go.  Ken Warren of the Ottawa Citizen writes that Sens’ bench boss Guy Boucher said that there is no timetable for Anderson’s return but that the earliest he could be back is Saturday. Warren added a quote from Condon who said: “I can’t even begin to imagine what he’s going through and I wish him the best.”

In other NHL news:

  • The Chicago Blackhawks remain #1 on Pierre LeBrun’s Power Rankings as the first of December approaches. Though they went 3-3-1 on the annual Circus Trip, the Hawks were able to survive without captain Jonathan Toews, who has missed the past three games. Seated second are the Montreal Canadiens, followed by the New York Rangers, who are tops in scoring in the NHL. Fourth and fifth in LeBrun’s rankings are the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Ottawa Senators jumped six spots to number six, while the Tampa Bay Lightning, St. Louis Blues, Columbus Blue Jackets, and Nashville Predators round out LeBrun’s top ten respectively. In the power rankings basement? The Islanders hold the spot, due to only a pair of wins in November. LeBrun wonders if ownership will still be as patient if similar results follow in December.

  • Despite an earlier report indicating that the St. Louis Blues could be cutting ties with AHL affiliate the Chicago Wolves, KSDK Sports Director Frank Cusumano was contacted directly by a Blues Executive who denied such reports.  NHL.com’s Lou Korac wrote earlier that the Blues were readying to put a new AHL team in Kansas City, and the report, via his blog “In the Slot,” was posted on KSDK’s site.  Though Korac said the Blues have not made the plans official, a source told him that it’s pretty much a “done deal.” That news conflicted with what a Blues executive told Cusumano, saying that, “No decisions are close to being made.  We are talking to a lot of people.” 

Pacific Notes: McDavid, Marleau, Jankowski

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This season, Edmonton’s Connor McDavid has been the dominant force that many predicted when he was taken first overall by the Oilers in 2015. The National Post put the results of a reader’s poll together that overwhelmingly selected McDavid to continue his torrid scoring performance and finish the season as the league’s Art Ross Trophy recipient. Through Thursday, McDavid had 27 points, (9-18), good for a three point lead over Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov who has 24 points. McDavid is averaging 1.29 points-per-game, and has been a major factor in Edmonton’s rise this season.

  • San Jose’s Patrick Marleau notched a game winning goal to power his Sharks past the New York Islanders Friday night. The goal was his 94th career game winner, which moved him past Joe Nieuwendyk and tied him with Red Wings legend Steve Yzerman, who sits ninth all time. Marleau is now just 13 goals from registering 500 in his career, placing him in elite company.
  • The Calgary Herald’s Wes Gilbertson reports on 2012 first round pick Mark Jankowski, who finally got the call to the big club Thursday evening. Gilbertson quotes head coach Glen Gulutzan on what the youngster brings to the Flames:

“He’s a great kid. He’s not a good kid, he’s a great kid,” said Flames head coach Glen Gulutzan of the latest arrival. “He didn’t know where to sit in the room (Friday), when the video was on. He was like, ‘Is there assigned seating?’

“The first thing I said to him is, ‘You can sit wherever you want, Janks. You don’t have to wait for everybody to sit down.’ I think he ended up sitting close to the front. It’s like going to high school, right? Nobody wants the front seat in a video session, they might have to answer a question.”

How Will The Expansion Draft Impact Canadian Teams?

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Continuing our look at different expansion draft angles,  CBC’s Amy Cleveland examines how the draft will affect the seven teams in Canada. Laying out the rules for the draft, Cleveland looks further and prognosticates who she sees as “potentially protected” versus those players who would be “intriguing” in being exposed. She further writes that all seven Canadian teams will be able to protect the bulk of their important players. The Flames sit prettiest without any non-movement clauses in contracts while the Leafs and Senators have only one player with an NMC (Nathan Horton, and Dion Phaneuf respectively).

Below are Cleveland’s picks for each team. Going to CBC’s page with the story includes in depth reasoning behind each of Cleveland’s choices.

Calgary Flames
NMC protected players: None.

Potentially protected: 

Intriguing exposed:

Edmonton Oilers
NMC protected players: Milan Lucic (F), Andrej Sekera (D), Cam Talbot (G)

Potentially protected: 

Intriguing exposed:

Montreal Canadiens
NMC protected players: Carey Price (G), Jeff Petry (D)

Potentially protected: 

Intriguing exposed: 

Ottawa Senators
NMC protected players: Dion Phaneuf (D)

Potentially protected: 

Intriguing exposed: 

Toronto Maple Leafs
NMC protected players: Nathan Horton (F)

Potentially protected: 

Vancouver Canucks
NMC protected players: Loui Eriksson (F), Daniel Sedin (F), Henrik Sedin (F)

Potentially protected: 

​Intriguing exposed: 

Winnipeg Jets
NMC protected players: Dustin Byfuglien (D), Toby Enstrom (D)

Potentially protected: 

Intriguing exposed:

 

Red Wings Notes: Struggles, Little Caesars Arena

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Detroit Red Wings center Dylan Larkin said that the team is “sick” of losing writes the Detroit Free Press’ Helene St. James. The Red Wings are mired in a slump that has seen only two wins in their last 11 games, and has plunged Detroit into the Atlantic basement. Worse, the Red Wings have looked sloppy and uninspired during many of the losses in the stretch.

St. James writes that the Red Wings are the only team in the Eastern Conference with double digit losses, while newly acquired Frans Nielsen said tonight’s game against Buffalo will show everyone what the team is made of. From St. James:

“We’ve got to realize where we put ourselves,” Nielsen said. “The good thing is it is still early, but we have to stop the bleeding. The other good thing is we know we can put a streak together, we have done it before this year. But we have got to realize we have to start playing here soon, or it is going to be too late.

“You can say everyone goes through ups and downs, but it’s just been too long for us. We can’t afford any more this year. Pretty much, from now on until the end, we have to be solid.”

The Red Wings were expected to struggle by many analysts, but this is unprecedented for many in a fanbase who have never seen the Red Wings not make the playoffs. Though they’re certainly trying to make it a 26th consecutive season for the playoffs, things are not looking positive for a team that re-signed Justin Abdelkader and Darren Helm to expensive, long-term deals and also snagged Nielsen for six years a tune of $5.25MM AAV.  The Red Wings, though, have not seen a return on investment. Nielsen has not played up to the expectations, posting a -7, and only posting eight points in 19 games. Further, a player signed for his puck possession skill, Nielsen’s CF% is the lowest in his career at 46.1%.

While the Red Wings have been saying all the right things, the product on the ice speaks a much different message. Through many of the contests, the Red Wings have been significantly outshot and outplayed for long stretches of games. How they respond against Buffalo will be telling.

In other Red Wings news:

  • The Detroit Pistons will be moving from their home in Auburn Hills and sharing the new Little Caesars Arena with the Red Wings next season. The move is another sign of Detroit’s renaissance writes the Detroit News’ Bob Wojnowski.  Called the “right move” by Pistons owner Tom Gores, Wojo’s colleague Tony Paul reports that the Red Wings-Pistons merger means that Detroit will be the only North American city where all four professional teams play within four blocks of one another. Further, Paul writes that Detroit mayor Mike Duggan told Red Wings owner Chris Ilitch that he wanted the Pistons back in Detroit. Though scheduling will be trickier with two teams in a single building, both owners feel the move will be beneficial for the city.

Debut Notes: Bjugstad, O’Regan, Guentzel, Honka

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Alex Petrovic may be sidelined for a while, but at least the injury-prone Panthers are getting back center Nick Bjugstad. The 24-year-old pivot suffered a hand injury during the preseason, but will return to the lineup to make his 2016-17 debut tonight. Bjugstad has had his injury struggles early on in his young career, but has managed to produce when healthy in each of the past three seasons.

The tenth overall pick in the 2010 NHL Draft, Bjugstad finally became a full-time player in Florida in 2013-14, putting up 38 points in 76 games as a rookie. He topped those numbers in 2015-16 with 24 goals and 43 points in 72 games, and then posted 34 points in just 67 games last year. A hard-working, physical forward, Bjugstad has shown resilience and an ability to bounce back from injury before, and the Panthers expect nothing less. Currently tied for fourth in the Atlantic Division with an offense on the wrong side of the league average, Florida will welcome the added offense that Bjugstad’s return will bring and hope that his presence can help to get the team back atop the division, where they spent most of the 2015-16 season.

In a corresponding move, the Panthers have sent Jared McCann to the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds. Florida had originally acquired the 20-year-old center from the Vancouver Canucks as part of the return for Erik Gudbranson in a trade with the Vancouver Canucks last season. McCann has three points in 17 games thus far, but has looked good. His demotion is more to ensure that he gets ice time and continues to develop. With Bjugstad back, the Panthers are set down the middle with Aleksander Barkov, Vincent Trocheck and Derek MacKenzie also in the fold.

Players making their NHL debuts tonight:

  • The defending Stanley Cup champs are dealing with the injury bug and have called in reinforcements. Jake Guentzel will make his NHL debut tonight, likely lined up alongside Evgeni Malkin – not a bad place to jump start a career. After three outstanding seasons at the University of Nebraska – Omaha, Guentzel decided to leave school early to join Pittsburgh, and has shown he belongs in the pro game with 17 points in 16 games for the AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins thus far. Pittsburgh will need the trend of AHLers exceeding expectations to continue with Guentzel, as they are facing down a severe challenge to their forward depth with injuries to Chris Kunitz and several minor leaguers and still awaiting the return of Daniel Sprong. 
  • The Penguin’s Stanley Cup opponents are dealing with some injuries of their own. The San Jose Sharks, in anticipation of the long-term absence of Tomas Hertl, have recalled Danny O’Regan from the AHL Barracuda and he will make his NHL debut tonight against the New Jersey Devils. The 22-year-old Massachusetts native has been playing point-per-game hockey in his first pro season, with 11 points in 11 games in the minors. Prior to 2016-17, O’Regan was a four-year starter for his hometown Boston University Terriers and played prep school and junior hockey in the Boston area as well.
  • John Klingberg’s loss is Julius Honka’s gain. With top defenseman Klingberg struggling this season combined with him missing a recent team meeting, Dallas head coach Lindy Ruff announced that Honka will make his NHL debut tonight in place of the scratched Klingberg. The 14th overall pick in 2014, Honka has played two full seasons with the AHL’s Texas Stars, but to this point had not earned a call-up. An elite puck-moving defenseman from Scandinavia, just like Klingberg, the Stars are hoping that Honka can help out a defense that has struggled all season and seen numerous players moved in and out of the lineup on a nightly basis.

Recalls and Reassignments: Senators, Sabres, Canadiens

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News and notes from around the NHL this morning:

  • The Ottawa Senators recalled forward Curtis Lazar from the Binghamton Senators this morning, first reported by the Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch and then confirmed by the team. The Senators have been hit hard by the injury bug lately, and have been without Bobby Ryan (hand), Clarke MacArthur (concussion), and Mike Hoffman (lower body). Bruce Garrioch reported that the Sens would wait until Friday night—after Binghamton played the Albany Devils—to see who would be called up. Lazar scored last night and must’ve impressed team brass enough to earn a recall. He currently has 3G and 1A in 13 games for Binghamton.
  • The Buffalo Sabres have called up forwards Cal O’Reilly and Cole Schneider from the Rochester Americans (Amerks) this morning, reports Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News. The Sabres are hoping that the callups spark the team’s scoring woes—Schneider has 7G and 10A in 13 games and O’Reilly 3G and 15A in 15 games—as they’ve scored a mere 6 goals in six games. The two forwards lead the Amerks in scoring.
  • The Montreal Canadiens have reassigned forward Sven Andrighetto back to the St. John IceCaps, reports TSN 690’s Amanda Stein. The Swiss forward has 5G and 6A in 10 games for St. Johns, but went scoreless in 4 games with the Canadiens. He averaged under 12 minutes a night for those four games.

Chris Kreider Scratched For Rangers Against Edmonton

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Update (8:35pm): Newsday’s Steve Zipay now adds that rookie RW Pavel Buchnevich will also miss tonight’s game with back spasms. The Rangers, with no spare forwards on the roster beyond Lindberg, will instead dress seven defenseman with Adam Clendening coming in. Buchnevich has four goals on the season, all coming during his current four-game goal scoring streak. Zipay also suggests the team could look to call a forward up from Hartford tomorrow – perhaps Cristoval Nieves, though that’s just my speculation – but that will likely depend on how long the team expects Kreider and Buchnevich to be out.

Chris Kreider, who returned earlier this month after missing four games with a neck problem, is being held out of the lineup tonight due to an undisclosed upper-body-issue, tweets Brett Cyrgalis. The power forward started the season on fire, tallying three goals and seven points in his first four games but has struggled somewhat since is return, failing to find the back of the net in any of his last seven and finding himself benched for parts of two recent contests. Still, Kreider is averaging a point-per-game on the season and is a valuable contributor when he is on his game.

Alain Vigneault was pushed for further details, but as Cyrgalis later tweeted, the coach was unable to do so. It’s uncertain whether this injury is in any way related to the neck spasms that forced him out of the lineup earlier this season. Kreider played 13:10 last night against Calgary, which is the lowest total he has seen in any game this year though he didn’t appear to have suffered any kind of injury either.

Cyrgalis has now added that Kreider is no longer in Edmonton, apparently elsewhere undergoing testing. As he tweets, that’s likely not good news for the Rangers.

In his place, Oscar Lindberg draws back into the lineup. Lindberg has seen action in just four games this season, missing the start of the campaign following hip surgery in the summer. He has failed to find the score sheet so far this season but had a solid rookie showing in 2015-16, registering 28 points with 13 goals in 73 contests. He’ll likely fill a spot on the fourth line with Michael Grabner moving up to take Kreider’s slot on the left wing of Derek Stepan and with Rick Nash on the right. Grabner leads the league in even-strength goals with eight on the young season.

The Rangers are off to a strong, 11 – 4 – 0 start largely as a result of their tremendous depth up front. With Kreider on the shelf again for an undetermined period of time, that depth may well be tested.

Central Division Notes: Jarnkrok, Eriksson Ek, Fabbri

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In his mailbag feature published today, Adam Vingan of The Tennessean offers his thoughts on several Predators-related topics. Included among them is his take on which Nashville forward the team might leave unprotected in the expansion draft.

The Preds will have two options when it comes to determining who to keep. They can either protect seven forwards, three defensemen and one goalie or they can choose to protect eight skaters and one net minder. Vingan believes Nashville will go with the latter option so they can protect defensemen P.K. Subban, Roman Josi, Ryan Ellis and Mattias Ekholm.

Under that scenario the Predators would only be allowed to protect four forwards. Vingan considers Filip Forsberg, Ryan Johansen and James Neal as locks. For the last protected spot, Vingan believes it should go to Craig Smith. That leaves, in the opinion of the scribe, Calle Jarnkrok as the most appealing option for Las Vegas.

Jarnkrok, coming off a 16-goal, 30-point campaign, inked a six-year, $12MM extension with Nashville prior to the start of the 2016-17 campaign. Vingan thinks a young, versatile forward with upside and on an inexpensive, long-term contract is a perfect get for an expansion club.

More from around the NHL’s Central Division:

  • The Minnesota Wild face a tough call with regards to young forward Joel Eriksson Ek.  The team’s first round pick in 2015, Eriksson Ek has already seen action in nine games this season and has contributed two goals and five points during that time. Of course as a first-year player on an ELC, if Eriksson Ek makes one more appearance for the Wild he will burn a year off of his ELC, regardless of whether he spends the rest of the year in Minnesota or not. As Kent Youngblood of the Minneapolis Star Tribune writes, the team will likely make the 19-year-old a healthy scratch for this evening’s game in Ottawa in order to give them more time to make that decision. Eriksson Ek started out hot, tallying five points in his first four games but has been held scoreless in his last five. Head coach Bruce Boudreau indicated the decision will be based solely what’s going to be best for the player rather than any thought of ensuring themselves three full seasons at a fixed and bargain price: “If he doesn’t play tonight it gives us another 24 hours to think about what we want to do. He’s done really well. But again, in the long term, it’s what’s best for him that we’re thinking of.’’ Should the team elect to reassign Eriksson Ek, thus saving a year on his ELC, they have the option of sending him either to their AHL affiliate in Iowa or returning him to his Swedish team.
  • Robby Fabbri, who was a healthy scratch for the first time in his playing career at any level of hockey on Thursday, was reinserted into the lineup for last night’s game against Columbus and as Tom Timmermann of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports, the young winger responded with a two-goal effort. Blues bench boss Ken Hitchcock believes it’s time for the talented Fabrri to grab hold of a top-nine role with the team: “He’s just got to be a good player. He played two really good games and then he had a tough night. When you’re going to play up the lineup like he is, you need a good player. It doesn’t matter who’s in that spot, he has to be a good player. You can’t be carrying a guy in that spot, otherwise you make yourself part of the group of 14. We need him to be part of group of 7 or 8. When he’s there, he’s really effective. That’s what we need. We need him to think, ‘I’m a go-to guy so I have to play like a go-to guy,’ so his tenacity and skill makes him a very effective player, but tenacity and work ethic has to be there every night.” Fabbri had a strong rookie season in 2015-16, scoring 18 goals and 37 points in 72 games. But until netting two man-advantage goals Saturday evening, Fabbri had netted just one marker in 14 appearances this season.

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