NHL Postpones Two More Ottawa Senators Games
Two more games for the Ottawa Senators have been officially postponed due to attendance restrictions in certain Canadian cities. The games will be rescheduled for later in the season, with the hope of full attendance being possible. The following will not be played:
- Saturday, Jan. 8
Ottawa @ Vancouver - Saturday, Jan. 15
Ottawa @ Winnipeg
That leaves the Senators playing the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames next week, games that were meant to be bookended by these matches in Vancouver and Winnipeg. Ottawa has had many of their games to this point rescheduled and currently sit with only 29 played, second to only the New York Islanders for the fewest in the league.
For the Canucks, this means that they will have no games between January 1 and January 11, which is now their next match and scheduled against the Florida Panthers. The Jets, meanwhile, played yesterday but won’t hit the ice again until January 13.
Why The 2022 Trade Deadline Could Be A Seller’s Market
The 2022 NHL Trade Deadline is not exactly imminent. The delayed March 21 date this season is 11 weeks away and a lot can change in that amount of time. However, the end of the holiday trade freeze is the unofficial start to trade season leading up to the deadline. In the first few months of the season there have been ten trades completed, but outside of the Jack Eichel deal there have been very few moves of any substance. That may not change any time soon either.
An active trade deadline requires there to be identifiable buyers and sellers and they must be willing and able to deal. Buyers should not be an issue this season; the eight teams currently in a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference may be locked in, as nearly 100 percentage points separate the eighth and ninth team in the conference standings, while the Western Conference includes 13 teams with .500+ records. Therein begins the sellers problem though. Only three teams out west look like potential sellers right now, while there could be more teams willing to sell in the east but many are in a rebuild and don’t have much to offer, while others are merely lacking impact rentals. There are also a number of fringe teams that probably should be sellers, but are close enough to a playoff berth that would mean so much to their players and fan base that they may hold out.
The Athletic’s Eric Duhatschek notes another wrinkle that could limit sellers: five teams are currently operating with an interim GM. The Montreal Canadiens and Vancouver Canucks have hired new heads of their respective front offices in Jeff Gorton and Jim Rutherford, but neither has in turn hired his GM yet and seem unlikely to make major moves independently. This could take Gorton’s Canadiens, one of the most obvious sellers on paper, off the market. Rutherford’s Canucks hope to be in the playoff race, but he has already vowed that the team will either sell or stand pat this season and the longer it takes to hire a GM, the more likely it will be the latter. The Chicago Blackhawks, Anaheim Ducks, and San Jose Sharks are all operating with temporary GMs, all of whom have limited experience. Chicago and Anaheim fired their most recent GMs and have internal replacements for the time being, while San Jose GM Doug Wilson is currently away from the team for medical reasons. As Duhatschek points out, the likes of Kyle Davidson, Jeff Solomon, and Joe Will are not only new to the GM position, but lack the relationships around the league to make impact moves. So while the Blackhawks look like bona fide sellers and the Sharks and possibly the Ducks could get to that point, will they actually be willing to make trades?
The Seattle Kraken also fall into a category all their own. The NHL’s newest team was just put together in its entirety this off-season. Although they struggled mightily all season and do possess a number of expiring contracts, it remains to be seen if GM Ron Francis is ready to blow it up.
On top of all of this, the rental market among potential sellers is not strong. Of the top 20 impending UFA’s in per-game scoring this season, zero are on teams with sub-.500 records and just three are on teams not currently in a playoff spot. Expand that to the top 50, and only ten players are on sub-.500 teams: Phil Kessel, Travis Boyd, and Johan Larsson for Arizona, Vinnie Hinostroza for Buffalo, Chris Wideman for Montreal, P.K. Subban for New Jersey, Tyler Ennis for Ottawa, and Calle Jarnkrok, Colin Blackwell, and Mark Giordano for Seattle. Even if valuable defensemen like Ben Chiarot and Colin Miller or even a future Hall of Fame goaltender like Marc-Andre Fleury are considered, it’s not exactly an inspiring list for teams adding at the deadline. More importantly, it’s a short list for a potentially large group of buyers.
For those teams looking to make a meaningful trade this season, the conundrum is when to make a move. On one hand, with a small group of exciting targets it may be beneficial to make a trade early and possibly avoid the high prices of deadline bidding wars. On the other hand, the pool of sellers could also expand closer to the deadline and prices could drop if there is a flood of supply to meet the demand. Until that happens though – if it even does – there will be few moves to make early on and quite possibly right up to the deadline. Serious contenders should be prepared to pay up or sit tight this season.
Vancouver Canucks Place Jason Dickinson Into COVID Protocol
Late Saturday night, Vancouver Canucks forward Jason Dickinson entered the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol, per a team tweet.
With Dickinson out, a recall from the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks is likely coming. The team had no extra healthy forwards on the active roster prior to Dickinson entering protocol today.
Vancouver acquired Dickinson from Dallas this offseason and signed him to a three-year, $7.95MM extension in August. He’s really struggled to produce, however, notching only two goals and two assists in 31 games.
Despite the low production, however, he’s still been a really solid defensive presence who can play anywhere in the lineup. For that reason, he’s extremely well-liked by his coaches and the Canucks will miss him while he’s out of the lineup.
Rutherford: Plan Is To Trade For Picks And Young Players, New GM Likely To Be First-Time Hire
While Jim Rutherford has a tendency to swing big in trades, it doesn’t appear he’ll do that with the Canucks. In an appearance on Sportsnet 650 (audio link), the team president acknowledged that any trades they make will be for draft picks and younger players, suggesting he won’t try to add some veterans in an effort to aid Vancouver’s push to get back into the playoff picture (they sit three points out of the last Wild Card spot). Rutherford also mentioned that their new GM will likely be a first-timer in the role. There’s no timeline for when they want to get that spot filled.
NHL Postpones Nine More Games
As a result of attendance restrictions in Western Canada, the NHL has postponed eight more games. The games affected are as follows:
Monday, Jan. 3
Minnesota @ Ottawa
Wednesday, Jan. 5
New York Islanders @ Vancouver
Saturday, Jan. 8
New York Islanders @ Edmonton
Tuesday, Jan. 11
New York Islanders @ Calgary
Wednesday, Jan. 12
Minnesota @ Edmonton
Friday, Jan. 14
Vegas @ Edmonton
Saturday, Jan. 15
Vegas @ Calgary
Sunday, Jan. 16
Edmonton @ Winnipeg
In addition to those contests, the Islanders’ road game in Seattle on January 4th has also been postponed due to the other games on their West Coast road trip being postponed.
No make-up dates for any of the games were announced but in the release from the league, it was noted that the games “will be rescheduled for dates later in the season when such restrictions may be eased or lifted”. These postponements bring the running total to 90 games that the league will need to reschedule in the coming weeks and months.
Matthew Highmore Activated Off LTIR
- The Canucks announced (Twitter link) that they have activated winger Matthew Highmore off long-term injured reserve. The 25-year-old had missed the last 23 games due to an upper-body injury. Highmore had two assists in eight games before being injured and is in his first full season with Vancouver after they acquired him back at the trade deadline in April.
Boeser, Di Giuseppe, Dowling Placed In COVID Protocol
Dec 30: The Canucks have put Justin Dowling into the protocol today. Of note, Dowling played last night against the Ducks, though it was fewer than eight minutes of actual ice time.
Dec 29: The Vancouver Canucks have announced that Brock Boeser, Phillip Di Giuseppe, and a member of the team’s support staff have been placed in the COVID protocol. Patrick Johnston of The Province reports that both players tested positive this morning in Anaheim, after traveling to face the Ducks tonight.
Losing Boeser ahead of tonight’s match will make it a lot tougher on the Canucks, who are actually working on a six-game win streak despite having not hit the ice since December 16. The team hasn’t lost a game under new head coach Bruce Boudreau, and a big part of that success has been the rejuvenated Boeser, who has five goals and seven points during that stretch.
While the two players would normally be subject to the league’s recently-reduced isolation period given they’re in the U.S., it certainly won’t help them in this case. The team’s road trip ends on Saturday and with the Canucks heading back to Canada, it is unclear when they will be ready to return to action (or even travel back to Vancouver). For now, the team will have to make do without their sniper or Giuseppe, who could have been the direct replacement for Boeser if he was eligible to enter the lineup.
Attendance Restrictions Raise Questions About Canadian Home Dates
In many Canadian cities–Montreal and Winnipeg most notably–several games have already been postponed through January in the hope that they will be able to be held with full attendance later in the season. On Tuesday, the league announced nine games, including four in Montreal, that would be rescheduled for later in the year.
Now, as restrictions are tightened in British Columbia and Ontario, there are further questions around home dates for the Vancouver Canucks, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Ottawa Senators.
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet tweets that Canucks home dates on January 5 and 8 could be postponed until the capacity increases. Those are games against the New York Islanders and Ottawa Senators, respectively, once the Canuck return from their current road trip. Earlier this month, the BC government announced restrictions that would cap attendance at 50% for events of more than 1,000 people.
The Ontario government has gone even further, limiting attendance to just 1,000 people for large sporting events starting Friday. The Maple Leafs and Senators–as well as many OHL arenas–will obviously be hugely affected by that change, limiting their ability to drive revenue from ticket sales and concessions, revenue that is important to the league’s projections.
The Maple Leafs had their January 3 game against the Carolina Hurricanes postponed already, but were supposed to play against the Senators Saturday night in Toronto. They also have a home date against the Edmonton Oilers on January 5 before a four-game road trip.
Ottawa meanwhile is scheduled to host the Minnesota Wild on January 3, before a five-game road trip. It is not clear yet if the league will postpone these games, but recent actions suggest it is a possibility.
Notably, the Ontario government also has changed its isolation guidelines to recommend just five days (down from 10) for vaccinated individuals who are asymptomatic or have had their symptoms resolve. That would mean the NHL’s new guidelines would now apply to Maple Leafs and Senators players, allowing some earlier exits from the COVID protocol (provided they test negative).
Snapshots: Canucks, AHL, Svejkovsky
When Jim Rutherford took over the front office in Vancouver, he vowed that he would take his time to evaluate his new team and to choose from a multitude of potential GM candidates – and he is sticking to it. In an interview with Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre, Rutherford details his plans for the hockey operations hierarchy, including hiring two additional assistant GMs in addition to the GM, but shares that he is still evaluating a number of options for the top job. Rutherford is exploring some female options, as he tells MacIntyre that he appreciates the diversity within the Canucks organization and would not mind furthering those efforts. However, he has also been impressed with internal candidates as well, such as player development director Ryan Johnson and analytics lead Aiden Fox. Rutherford hopes to begin in-person interviews next month, but a hiring announcement could still be a ways away and to this point Rutherford has stuck with his plan not to make any major moves before bringing in another mind to share in the decision.
- The NHL is not alone in dealing with the current COVID surge. The AHL has announced the postponement of three upcoming games, with the Stockton Heat and San Jose Barracuda on Wednesday and the San Diego Gulls and Tucson Roadrunners on Thursday and Sunday being moved to a later date. The league states that California clubs San Jose and San Diego are both in COVID-19 Protocols and unable to compete. Unlike the NHL, if rescheduling these games within the reasonable confines of the teams’ schedules, they could very well become cancellations rather than postponements.
- Down another level, a Pittsburgh Penguins prospect has been moved in the WHL – and for a decent price. 2020 fourth-rounder Lukas Svejkovsky was traded to the Seattle Thunderbirds by the Medicine Hat Tigers in exchange for a 2022 first-round pick, a conditional 2023 second-round pick, and a conditional 2025 third-round pick. Though of Czech descent, Svejkovsky was in fact born in Florida and is an American citizen and even attended USA Hockey’s junior selection camp. While he did not make the WJC roster, Svejkovsky is still having a banner year. The small, but skilled forward recorded 30 points in 24 games with the Tigers before the move and now heads to a Seattle club that touts the fifth-best record in the WHL.
Guillaume Brisebois Placed On IR
- The Canucks announced (Twitter link) that defenseman Guillaume Brisebois has been placed on injured reserve. The placement is effective as of today which means he’ll miss at least the next 10 days. The 24-year-old made his NHL season debut back on December 16th but also has suited up in six games for AHL Abbotsford.