The Danger Of Signing Goalies To Lucrative Contracts
The New York Rangers and Vancouver Canucks are two of the NHL’s worst teams this season and are both on the verge of massive roster changes. While both teams face unique challenges, one parallel is that they’ve made a mess of their goaltending finances with pricey extensions that were miscalculations.
The Rangers and Canucks are far from alone in this predicament. High-priced extensions have also burned several other teams at the bottom of the standings, leaving them with goaltenders who had been performing well but whose play fell off a cliff after signing their new deals.
That isn’t necessarily the case for Shesterkin, however, it is the case for Linus Ullmark of the Ottawa Senators, Juuse Saros of the Nashville Predators, and Jacob Markstrom of the New Jersey Devils, who are all making big money on recent contract extensions, with no guarantees their play will turn around. This has left three teams with win-now rosters featuring goaltenders who are vastly overpaid.
It’s become a trend over the past five-plus years that teams signing goaltenders to expensive deals must be seriously concerned about their performance throughout the term of the agreement.
There is concern about every player’s performance after they sign a lucrative long-term deal. However, goaltenders have become a unique cause for concern lately, and it’s hard to say why.
In the late 1990s and throughout the 2000s, many veteran goaltenders on the wrong side of 30 would sign expensive long-term deals without so much as a second thought from their new teams. In July 2002, for example, goalie Curtis Joseph signed a three-year, $24MM contract with the Detroit Red Wings, even though it wasn’t the best offer on the table.
Joseph had a three-year $26MM offer from the Toronto Maple Leafs but opted to move to Detroit. Toronto then pivoted and signed Ed Belfour to a two-year, $13.5MM deal.
By today’s standards, those contracts aren’t eye-popping, and the term is relatively short. But Belfour and Joseph were 37 and 35, respectively, and there was a chance their play would drop off significantly during the brief time they were signed.
Nowadays, it’s hard to imagine a team giving $8MM a season to a 35-year-old goaltender, and Joseph’s deal was inked 23 and a half years ago. The Senators gave Ullmark four years and $8.25MM annually just last year, but he had just turned 32 and was two seasons removed from a Vezina Trophy as the league’s top goaltender.
It was a pricey gamble for Ottawa and hasn’t looked like good value this season, but Ullmark has been dealing with personal issues, so it’s hard to project how the deal will work out long-term.
Circling back to the Rangers and Canucks, they are a tale of two teams whose expensive goaltending has led to team-wide issues, but for wildly different reasons. In Vancouver, Thatcher Demko was signed to a lucrative three-year deal at the start of free agency, worth $8.5MM annually.
It was a gamble by Vancouver, as they hoped the former Vezina Trophy finalist could bounce back from a poor showing last season. Had Demko had a good year, he would have been a candidate to get $9MM or more on a new contract, but Vancouver thought it was wise to jump the queue. It has not turned out well.
If Demko had played well, Vancouver likely would have paid him an AAV slightly higher than the $8.5MM they gave him, but would’ve been on the hook for more term, which would’ve been riskier. Instead, Vancouver made a different bet and is now on the hook for more term than Demko would’ve received in free agency. But hindsight is 20/20, and for the Canucks, they are stuck with the Demko deal, one they’d love to have back.
In New York, it was a different calculation. Rangers’ general manager Chris Drury believed he had a Stanley Cup contender on his hands, which meant doing everything he could to retain his Vezina Trophy-winning goaltender, Igor Shesterkin. Drury moved out his captain, Jacob Trouba, to open up space to sign Shesterkin to a record-breaking eight-year, $92MM contract.
While it was the right on-ice move given Trouba’s cap hit relative to his play, the Rangers have never been the same since the trade. New York fell off a cliff last season and has remained at the bottom of the league this year, despite Shesterkin being good.
But that is the issue: Shesterkin has only been good. In the years leading up to his extension, Shesterkin was elite.
His play in those seasons masked many of the Rangers’ problems and led Drury and New York management to think the team was much better than it actually was. Shesterkin’s goaltending was a mask, hiding the fact that Drury had built a fatally flawed roster that relied too much on out-of-this-world netminding, which was clearly unsustainable.
While the Rangers, Canucks, Devils and Predators aren’t the only teams with pricey goaltending, they are the most apparent examples of paying a premium for goaltending. But even middle-of-the-pack teams can run into issues where their extensions turn into disasters.
There are good examples in Washington: a few years ago, with Darcy Kuemper, who had just won a Stanley Cup, and Philipp Grubauer, who had been solid for years before signing as a free agent with Seattle and becoming unplayable in the NHL. Matt Murray in Ottawa was the same story, but none is more egregious and obvious than Tristan Jarry in Pittsburgh, who was recently dealt.
Pittsburgh is a relevant example because of Stuart Skinner, who has been a revelation with the Penguins but is a UFA at the end of the season. Pittsburgh already has its goalie of the future in tow in Sergey Murashov, and the Penguins would be wise to ride Skinner into the playoffs and then let him walk in the offseason if his salary demands exceed $5MM annually, which they surely will. It should be interesting to see the Skinner story unfold, but there is plenty of evidence that the Penguins would be wise to avoid giving term to a netminder who is unpredictable.
Evening Notes: Blueger, Fowler, McKenna
The Vancouver Canucks are expected to have a high asking price for potential rental center Teddy Blueger, as written by Thomas Drance in an article with The Athletic from last week.
The 31-year-old had to miss a large portion of the season with an undisclosed injury, but since being activated on January 21, he’s been on a hot streak with five points in his last five games. Never notching more than 28 points in a campaign, Blueger is more of a penalty killing role player, but especially in such a thin center market, with a $1.8MM cap hit, he will come at a premium.
Nearly three years ago, Blueger was traded from Pittsburgh to Vegas for a third round pick, then catching on with Vancouver as a free agent. It’s hard to imagine the Canucks will part with him for less than that, considering demand and his strong play of late.
Contenders will have a chance to watch Blueger play a large role against elite competition on the global stage. He is helping lead Team Latvia in the Olympic Games, before coming back to the bottom ranked Canucks heading into the Trade Deadline season.
Elsewhere across the league:
- Montreal Canadiens top goalie prospect Jacob Fowler will miss AHL All Star festivities due to an upper-body injury, the Laval Rocket shared. The 21-year-old has proven to be a steal, chosen in the third round of the 2023 draft out of Boston College and now one of the league’s premier goaltender prospects. Fowler has a .914 save percentage, good for fourth in the AHL, on the sixth-ranked Rocket. Still early in his professional career, the Florida native already appeared in 10 games with the big club this season and performed well. The Rocket noted that he will still “remain on the bench” so it is likely precautionary and no cause for real concern.
- Top 2026 draft prospect Gavin McKenna is expected to return this weekend, according to Brad Elliott Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald. NHL scouts were apparently notified that the Penn State star will be in action at Michigan in a huge matchup between the two top five ranked Big 10 teams. McKenna has had an eventful February, starting with an arrest and felony aggravated assault charges, which were eventually withdrawn. He still faces a misdemeanor charge, but an initial court date tomorrow has been postponed, meaning the 18-year-old can focus fully on the Wolverines.
Longtime Canucks Broadcaster Jim Robson Passes Away
Retired Vancouver Canucks play-by-play announcer Jim Robson has passed away at the age of 91, the news shared by Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK. He was an original part of the team, joining as they entered the NHL as an expansion franchise in 1970, making his mark in the booth all the way until 1999 in a legendary career across both radio and television.
Known as the Voice of the Canucks for 29 years, Robson earned the opportunity to work for Hockey Night in Canada, as well as assignments for the Stanley Cup Finals four times. In 1982, he covered the Finals as his Canucks took on the eventual champion New York Islanders.
The Prince Albert, Saskatchewan native is also well intertwined with New York’s history, as his call of Bob Nystrom’s Stanley Cup-winning overtime goal in 1980 proved to be a highlight of an impressive career.
As for his own team, Robson’s narration of Greg Adams’ overtime winner sending Vancouver to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1994 was another unforgettable moment. In a post shared by Dallas Stars broadcaster Daryl Reaugh, Robson reflected on the Canucks’ 1994 run with Vancouver News six years ago.
Robson moved fully to television after the 1993-94 season, his last game on the radio airwaves proving to be a memorable one, game seven of the Finals between the Canucks and the Rangers.
In 1998-99, Robson’s final year, he shared duty with John Shorthouse who remains Vancouver’s current voice on television to this day, as the torch was passed on. Rogers Arena’s broadcast booth is named after Robson, as he will be remembered for years to come as a pillar of the Canucks.
A recipient of the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award in 1992, honored by the Hockey Hall of Fame as a distinguished broadcaster, Robson is also a member of the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame and the CAB Broadcast Hall of Fame.
We at Pro Hockey Rumors send our condolences to Robson’s family, friends, and peers.
Vancouver Canucks Reassign Three Players
The Vancouver Canucks announced a series of transactions to prepare their roster for the Olympic break: forward Jonathan Lekkerimäki, defenseman Victor Mancini, and netminder Nikita Tolopilo have all been reassigned to the club’s AHL affiliate, the Abbotsford Canucks. The team also announced that netminder Jiri Patera has been recalled from the AHL on an emergency basis.
The move allows this trio of players to play in games for Abbotsford while the NHL Canucks are on pause. Lekkerimäki, 21, is the club’s 2022 first-round pick and has split time this season between Vancouver and Abbotsford. He has scored 10 goals and 16 points in 16 AHL games this season, and has three points in 16 NHL games.
Mancini, 23, is in the middle of his first full season as part of the Canucks organization. A part of last season’s J.T. Miller trade, the blueliner has skated in 10 NHL games this season, averaging 13:38 time on ice per game. In 23 AHL games this year, he has eight points.
By sending Tolopilo down as well as the two skaters, the Canucks have returned a key tandem goalie to Abbotsford. The 26-year-old Belarus native played in 36 games last season, posting a .902 save percentage on a team that ended up winning the Calder Cup. So far this season, he has a .901 save percentage in 13 AHL games. Tolopilo has impressed at the NHL level so far this year, posting a .910 save percentage in nine games.
While Abbotsford loses their most frequent starting goalie by recalling Patera, today’s move gives Tolopilo the chance to sustain his positive momentum by getting in some starts at the AHL level during the break.
Latest On Filip Chytil
The Columbus Blue Jackets shared today that Rick Nash has been promoted to Director of Player Personnel, and Chris Clark has been promoted to Assistant General Manager. The two former NHLers have spent several years with the franchise, dating back to the Jarmo Kekäläinen/John Tortorella era.
Upon the end of his 1,060 game, 805 point career, Nash returned to the Columbus organization in 2019, starting out as Special Assistant to the General Manager, before promotions to Director of Player Development and Director of Hockey Operations in the last few years.
With his #61 alone in the rafters of Nationwide Arena, the 41-year-old has made an immeasurable impact in Columbus, starting with his first overall selection back in 2002. Nash spent nine seasons carrying the Blue Jackets as they got off the ground as an expansion franchise, followed by making his mark as a Ranger, as well as a stint in Boston, officially retiring in six years ago.
Meanwhile, Clark has been with the organization since 2012, starting out as a development coach, before moving up in 2019 to Director of Player Personnel and General Manager of the Cleveland Monsters, Columbus’ AHL affiliate. Under Clark, the Monsters have gradually improved year by year, making playoff runs in each of the last two seasons.
The 49-year-old Connecticut native was chosen by Calgary in the 1994 draft, going on to make 607 appearances in the NHL with the Flames, Capitals, and finally, the Blue Jackets, last skating at the highest level in 2010-11.
The franchise icon Nash, along with the highly respected Clark help round out General Manager and President of Hockey Operations Don Waddell’s top brass, the 67-year-old set to reach two years in the role this May. Currently below a Wild Card spot, the Blue Jackets have tremendously found their stride under new Head Coach Rick Bowness, winning eight of his first nine games. With a dynamic young core, the club figures to be on the cusp of another window in years to come, after reaching new heights as an organization in the late 2010s.
Elsewhere across the league:
- Canucks Head Coach Adam Foote told reporters, including Thomas Drance of The Athletic, that Filip Chytil will likely not return tomorrow in Vegas, which is the team’s last action before the Olympic break. The forward is dealing with migraines, concerning as he has struggled with concussions throughout his career, so far holding him back from breaking out as a legit top six forward. Chytil managed to return in late January from another concussion, skating in six games, but not recording a point. Limited to just 27 games as a Canuck, despite a trade from the Rangers which just reached one calendar year ago, unfortunately the 26-year-old is facing real questions about his long-term career in the NHL.
- Sabres forward Zach Benson won’t play tonight in Tampa Bay, as reported by Rachel Lenzi of The Buffalo News. The 20-year-old took a spill into the boards last night against the Panthers and did not return, due to an apparent upper-body injury which will require further evaluation. Buffalo has one more game before the Olympic Break, and will hope that Benson will not miss serious time. He has notched 26 points in 42 games, needing just five more to set a career high, making the most of a key top six role throughout the campaign.
Trade Deadline Primer: Vancouver Canucks
With the Olympic break approaching, the trade deadline is about a month away. Where does each team stand, and what moves should they be looking to make? We begin our look around the league with teams that have clear plans at the extremes of the standings, starting with the Canucks.
The worst possible outcome for Vancouver this season was another finish in the mushy middle, like their 38-30-14 record that put them in no man’s land at 10th in the Western Conference. Being clearly the worst team in the league through the first two-thirds of the season may not be a step forward, but it’s at least a step in a direction. They already made the biggest move any team will make this season by shipping off franchise defender Quinn Hughes to the Wild, ushering in yet another formal retool/rebuild in British Columbia. How aggressively they’ll tear down the rest of their roster over the next few weeks remains to be seen.
Record
18-31-6, 8th in the Pacific (~0% playoff probability)
Deadline Status
Seller
Deadline Cap Space
$3.78MM on deadline day, 1/3 retention slots used, 48/50 contracts used, per PuckPedia.
Upcoming Draft Picks
2026: VAN 1st, MIN 1st, VAN 2nd, SJS 2nd, VAN 4th, VAN 5th, VAN 6th
2027: VAN 1st, SJS 2nd, VAN 3rd, VAN 4th, PIT 4th, VAN 5th, VAN 6th, VAN 7th
Trade Chips
The Canucks’ braintrust of Patrik Allvin and Jim Rutherford has already thinned this list considerably by pulling the trigger on the aforementioned Hughes deal. They also shipped out pending UFA winger Kiefer Sherwood to the Sharks last month for a pair of second-round picks and a minor-league defender to make the contract math work for San Jose, so that’s another relatively high-value name gone.
That leaves Vancouver with four pending UFAs remaining on the NHL roster. While those names are the most traditional trade deadline fodder, none of them will net the Canucks a significant return. One of them – lefty defender Derek Forbort – has been on long-term injured reserve since October, so he’s likely not even an option to move.
They have a pair of centers available, Teddy Blueger and David Kämpf, who might serve as added depth for a contender’s fourth line. The 31-year-old Blueger only recently returned to the lineup after missing over half the year with a lower-body injury, although he’s been hot in limited action with four goals in eight games. He’s found himself in a similar situation before, when the Golden Knights picked him up from the Penguins as a rental at the 2023 deadline, and he served mostly as an extra forward in their run to the Stanley Cup. His historical strength on draws, track record of 20-plus point seasons, and penalty killing ability all give him legitimate resale value at an affordable $1.8MM price tag. He’s the higher-value piece of the two, although he has a 12-team no-trade list that could complicate a move.
Kämpf likely won’t land more than a mid-to-late-round pick at best. Since having his contract with the Maple Leafs terminated after clearing waivers at the beginning of the season, he’s averaged over 15 minutes per night for Vancouver, but only out of necessity. The 31-year-old’s offense was already limited, but despite seeing increased deployment, he’s clicking at a career-worst 0.19 points per game rate with only six in 32 contests. His defensive game has been a legitimate benefit, though – his 50.5% shot attempt share at 5-on-5 is among the best on the team, and he’s done so in difficult matchups.
The name that’s been thrown around the most, though, is that of Evander Kane. At $5.125MM against the cap, his nine goals and 25 points in 54 games since being acquired from the Oilers last summer are certainly underwhelming. His track record of strong playoff performances when healthy, though, has seen him draw interest from contenders like the Avalanche and Stars. His high cap hit and the Canucks’ limited cap flexibility mean they’re unlikely to recoup more than the fourth-round pick they gave up for him, though.
Of course, there are the big names. Elias Pettersson‘s still available for the right price, although his $11.6MM cap hit has always meant an offseason move is likelier. He and Jake DeBrusk, signed through 2031 at $5.5MM per season, both control their own destiny with no-movement clauses. Vancouver signed Conor Garland to a six-year, $36MM extension that doesn’t kick in until next season, leaving him with no trade protection until July 1. But with him only churning out seven goals in 44 games this season, there’s likely not widespread interest in picking him up with such a commitment.
Team Needs
Cap Space: Normally, rebuilders can add assets by leveraging their cap space to take on bad deals from money-needy teams in exchange for futures. Vancouver is in no such position to do that, as they’ve been tight to the limit all year and have only accumulated a few million dollars in space as a result. Kane, Blueger, Kämpf, and Forbort coming off the books will give the Canucks about $10MM of reprieve in addition to the projected $8.5MM cap jump. They also don’t have any RFAs in need of big pay bumps. It’s still relatively uncommon for a team in Vancouver’s position to have as many anchor deals as they do (Pettersson, Brock Boeser, Filip Hronek, Thatcher Demko) above a $7MM price point. No one is expecting one of those names to get moved in the next four weeks, but if they decide to take on a more aggressive teardown, opening more infinite flexibility will be the way to go.
More Center Help: Save for Pettersson enjoying a rebound, Vancouver doesn’t have a true first-line center, nor do they have one on the way. Marco Rossi is a nice piece, but he has only two points in eight games since being acquired from Minnesota. Braeden Cootes looks like a nice value for the 15th overall pick in last year’s draft, early on, but projects as more of a second-line, two-way piece. They won’t get a bona fide No. 1 middleman with a top pick in the 2026 draft class, either, with both top forwards being wingers.
Image courtesy of Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images.
Brock Boeser Unlikely To Play Before Olympic Break
- Moving further west, there is a possibility that Brock Boeser will return to the Vancouver Canucks’ lineup during their upcoming roadtrip. According to Jeff Paterson of Canucks Army, Boeser will join the Canucks when they travel to Utah and Las Vegas. Still, it’s far likelier that Vancouver will hold Boeser out through the Olympic break as he recovers from an upper-body injury that warranted a suspension to Pittsburgh Penguins’ forward Bryan Rust.
[SOURCE LINK]
Zeev Buium Out With Broken Cheekbone
It’s already known that winger Evander Kane won’t finish the year with the Vancouver Canucks since the team allowed his agent to negotiate a trade to another organization. Still, Kane has yet to be moved.
Multiple outlets have claimed that the Canucks were willing to retain some salary on the remainder of Kane’s contract and are only looking for a prospect or draft capital in return. Throughout his career, Kane has achieved at least a 20-goal campaign more often than not, though he has struggled to put the puck in the net this year, with nine goals in 52 games. Still, interested teams have likely placed more value on his playoff performance the past two years, scoring 10 goals and 20 points in 41 games, with 159 hits, helping the Edmonton Oilers reach back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals.
Additional notes from the Vancouver Canucks:
- After losing netminder Thatcher Demko for the remainder of the season, Vancouver may also be without one of their top young blue-liners for the foreseeable future. Passing along a note from head coach Adam Foote, Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre reported that defenseman Zeev Buium has a broken cheekbone and that surgery has not been ruled out. The Canucks are wholly expecting him to remain out through the upcoming Olympic break. Buium has scored two goals and six points in 20 games, while averaging 20:25 of ice time per night, since being acquired from the Minnesota Wild in mid-December.
- The injury concern doesn’t end there for the Canucks. According to Sportsnet’s Randip Janda, forward Nils Höglander is being evaluated for a lower-body injury from yesterday’s game against the San Jose Sharks. It’s not the first time Höglander has dealt with injury concerns this year, missing the first two months of the season due to a separate lower-body ailment. He has registered only two assists in 18 games since returning.
The NHL Is Ripe For A Big Change Of Scenery Trade
The classic change-of-scenery move was once standard in the NHL. Still, with the emergence of the salary cap, analytics, and entire departments dedicated to player projections, the number of big-name change-of-scenery trades has declined.
These deals were often made in hopes of inspiring two struggling players to return to their career averages or better. The most recent example of this kind of deal is the goalie trade between the Penguins and Oilers earlier this year, which involved Tristan Jarry and Stuart Skinner.
Another recent example came at last year’s trade deadline, when the Sabres sent Dylan Cozens and a draft pick to the Senators for Josh Norris and Jacob Bernard-Docker. This season, there are multiple change-of-scenery trade candidates, with the biggest names being forward Elias Pettersson of the Canucks and Andrei Svechnikov of the Hurricanes.
Don’t get it wrong. There are still plenty of change-of-scenery trades in the NHL involving fringe and depth players, and some don’t work out, but some do in a big way. Egor Chinakhov of the Penguins is a glaring example of a change-of-scenery move that has worked out thus far, as he is playing with more confidence and fire than he has in years.
In addition to the Chinakhov and Skinner moves, the Penguins have made several low-end versions of these trades this season, most recently this week’s deal with the Avalanche, which sent forward Valtteri Puustinen to the Avalanche in exchange for defenseman Ilya Solovyov. The trade barely made waves around the NHL, but it does provide an example of two players who need fresh starts being swapped by teams in the hope of reigniting their play.
Outside of the aforementioned Pettersson and Svechnikov, who are some other big-name players who could use a change of scenery? The big name has to be defenseman Dougie Hamilton of the Devils, who was a healthy scratch last week and hasn’t produced nearly the way you would hope from a $9MM offensive defenseman.
Hamilton has dealt with a couple of injury-riddled seasons and has just five goals and 12 assists in 46 games this year. While Hamilton’s play hasn’t been great this season, that hasn’t stopped the Devils from upping his usage from 19:51 a game last year to 21:33 this season.
Hamilton is still a good player and would be a likely candidate to bounce back in a new environment. But would any team want to take a gamble like that on a 32-year-old making $9MM annually over the next two and a half years?
There is interest, and why wouldn’t there be? Hamilton is a talented player who could very well thrive on a new team, but the Devils aren’t going to just give him a way or retain half his salary in exchange for peanuts. The best course of action for New Jersey might be to try to find a hockey deal for another player in need of a change.
Pivoting to the Western Conference, the Blues look to be going nowhere fast and have a few players who could use a fresh start, including forward Jordan Kyrou and defenseman Colton Parayko. Kyrou is probably the most intriguing name on this list, a 27-year-old with a healthy track record of success.
His decline this season (11 goals and 13 assists in 42 games) isn’t overly complicated. His shooting percentage has dropped almost a full six points from last year, and with it, so has his goal-scoring production. Kyrou has another five years on his contract after this season at an AAV of $8.13MM, and he could be a bargain depending on how motivated St. Louis is to shake things up.
The Blues are in no rush, though, and might hold firm on their asking price if they don’t get reasonable offers. From Kyrou’s perspective, this year has been one to forget offensively. However, many of his underlying numbers remain strong, and he should still be productive for the majority of his contract. The Blues have been a bad team this year, and without much support, Kyrou hasn’t been as effective as he was in years past, when he was a consistent 70-point threat.
Another Blues player who could use a new look is Parayko, who has been a mess this season after a good year last year. Parayko has never been an analytics darling, but some of his underlying numbers are ugly this season. Now, in fairness to the 32-year-old, he is being asked to shoulder a very heavy defensive load on a bad team that is going nowhere. It can’t be easy for the veteran to go in night after night knowing he’ll spend most of the game working in his own zone, but that is his reality in St. Louis. A fresh start in a less stressful role could be precisely what Parayko needs at this stage of his career, but he won’t come cheap, as St. Louis likely still views him as a premium asset.
Moving back east, the Devils paid a premium three years ago to acquire Timo Meier from the San Jose Sharks and hoped he would become a force in their top six as they entered their window of contention. Meier quickly signed a pricey extension with the Devils worth $8.8MM annually (on an eight-year deal), and it looked as though it was an excellent match for both sides.
Since joining New Jersey, Meier hasn’t been the same offensive contributor he was in San Jose, and some of his underlying numbers have taken a hit as well. Offensively, he is still a 50+ point player, but that likely isn’t what the Devils had hoped for when they made the moves to bring him in long-term. Meier just ended a six-game pointless drought the other night and has been dealing with personal matters on the side, taking a leave of absence last month to attend to a family health matter.
It’s hard to say whether he would welcome a move or not, but it probably wouldn’t be the worst thing for the 29-year-old or the team. Once again, the Devils aren’t going to give Meier away, as he remains an effective player, but given how rough the last 18 months have been for the team, it might not be the worst thing to shake up the roster by moving on from Meier, Hamilton, or perhaps both players.
Penguins’ Bryan Rust Suspended Three Games
The NHL’s Department of Player Safety has imposed a three-game suspension on Penguins winger Bryan Rust for an illegal check to the head against Canucks winger Brock Boeser during the closing seconds of Sunday’s game in Vancouver. While suspended, he continues to count against Pittsburgh’s salary cap and active roster.
Rust was in the defensive zone while the Penguins were fending off a late challenge from the Canucks to tie the game. While Boeser was attempting to join a net-front battle, Rust dove down from the slot and attempted a hard hit, missing Boeser’s core entirely and striking his head with his right shoulder. Rust was given a two-minute minor on the play for a check to the head. As the game was over, there wasn’t any consequence.
In their explanation video today, DoPS deemed the head contact avoidable. “Rust takes a poor angle of approach, choosing an angle that causes him to cut across the front of Boeser’s body, missing his core,” the video states. “Rust then raises his arm and leans into contact, causing direct contact with Boeser’s head with requisite force for supplemental discipline.” It’s the first interaction Rust has had with DoPS over his 12-year career, though, making the penalty seem steep at first glance, although the fact that Boeser sustained a head injury on the play factored into the length.
Rust isn’t on pace to match the career-high 31 goals he tallied last season, but he’s still a crucial part of the Pens’ top six. The 33-year-old owns an 18-21–39 scoring line in 47 appearances while averaging a career-high 20:07 of ice time per game. For a streaking Pens team with a six-point cushion on a playoff spot, that’s a significant loss – especially with their offense clicking so well at 4.67 goals per game over their last six.