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Vancouver Canucks Claim Travis Boyd

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If you don’t have depth, just take someone else’s. The Vancouver Canucks have claimed the second Toronto Maple Leafs forward in a few days, grabbing Travis Boyd off waivers today. Boyd will be following former linemate Jimmy Vesey to Vancouver, after the latter was claimed last week.

Boyd, 27, signed a one-year, $700K deal with the Maple Leafs in free agency and actually received a pretty substantial opportunity at the NHL level. In 20 games he recorded eight points, mostly working on the fourth line whenever he did get onto the roster. The former Washington Capital has carved out a career as a “tweener,” stuck somewhere between being an AHL star and NHL depth player. In 105 NHL games he has 39 points, but is nearly a point-per-game performer in the minor leagues.

For the Canucks, this move and the Vesey one are reminiscent of a team that is preparing to sell at the deadline. Both former Maple Leafs can be either flipped or fill the holes left by other trades, rather than really impact the fate of the Canucks down the stretch. Vancouver is 16-16-3 at this point in the season and though the playoffs are certainly not out of the picture, really competing for the Stanley Cup would be extremely difficult without massive improvement.

For the Maple Leafs, they obviously would have liked to get Vesey and Boyd through waivers, but will take the added cap space that their departures come with. The team is expected to be a big player at the trade deadline as they attempt to win a playoff round, or even perhaps get all the way to the Conference Finals given their route through the North Division.

Canucks Place Elias Pettersson On LTIR

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The Canucks have transferred center Elias Pettersson to LTIR, CapFriendly reports (Twitter link).  It has been a tough season for the 22-year-old who had a particularly tough stretch to start the season and is now dealing with an upper-body injury, hardly the type of big season he was looking for heading into restricted free agency for the first time.  The move is largely procedural, however, as he has already missed eight games and wasn’t expected to play on the road trip.  The placement will give Vancouver – who has quietly won seven of the games that Pettersson has missed – some extra short-term salary cap flexibility.  The 24-day aspect of the LTIR rules suggests that Pettersson won’t be able to suit up until after Vancouver’s bye week which would peg March 31st as his possible return date.

Snapshots: Pearson, Andersen, Dahlen

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To this point, the Vancouver Canucks had approached the future of forward Tanner Pearson with two options. If the two sides could come to terms on an extension, the preference was to retain Pearson beyond this season. If no agreement could be reached before the trade deadline, then the team would instead trade Pearson rather than risk losing him for nothing in free agency. Now, than plan might have been taken away from them. Pearson was injured in the Canucks’ Wednesday night match-up with the Ottawa Senators and was forced to leave the game. The team has since announced that the injury is far worse than merely a one-game absence. Pearson is expected to miss at least four weeks with an undisclosed lower-body injury. With the trade deadline just 24 days away, Pearson will not return to action before the Canucks’ last chance to move him. In a normal year, perhaps a team would be willing to buy low on an injured Pearson at the deadline. However, in this cap-strapped climate, teams aren’t messing around with adding salary and with Pearson not only injured through the deadline but with an uncertain timeline to return altogether, there is very little chance that the Canucks will be able to move him. Perhaps GM Jim Benning and company will be able to leverage the injury into a more affordable extension; Vancouver’s lack of cap space is believed to be the reason why a deal hasn’t already been reached and a cheaper deal would help to make the squeeze work for next season and beyond. Otherwise, its seems the Canucks have missed their chance to get any value out of Pearson before he departs this summer. It’s not and ideal outcome for the team or the player, who would prefer to be competing for a playoff spot if and when he returns to action.

  • Another player dealing with injury is Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Frederik Andersen. Yet, Andersen continues to suit up for the team. After a two-week hiatus with a lower-body injury, Andersen returned to Leafs earlier this month. However, the injury continues to nag him, he tells TSN’s Kristen Shilton, and it has shown on the ice. Andersen brought a 2-4-0 record, .887 save percentage, and 3.30 GAA in March into Toronto’s Friday night contest with the Calgary Flames, only to allow four goals on 18 shots in yet another loss. Andersen has now allowed 19 goals in his last five games. With their starter faltering, the Leafs will turn to backup Jack Campbell to start their next game, but one game off for Andersen is unlikely to provide any long-term relief. The Maple Leafs, who are serious Stanley Cup contenders this year and face an unusually easy path to the Final without having to go through the Tampa Bay Lightning and/or Boston Bruins in the early rounds this year. If Toronto doesn’t give Andersen another extended break to shake his nagging injury and his play does not improve, they may need to start considering a major change in net before the trade deadline. Andersen’s play this season, injury or not, is also certainly impacting his impending free agency as well.
  • San Jose Sharks prospect Jonathan Dahlen has been named the MVP of the Allsvenskan, the team was proud to announce. Although the Allsvenskan is Sweden’s second-tier league, Dahlen’s 25 goals and 71 points in 45 games are still impressive and helped Timra IK to a regular season title (by a wide margin) and a chance at promotion to the SHL. This is Dahlen’s second straight season of 70+ points as the leading scorer for Timra and it seems like he is finally ready to make the transition to the NHL. Dahlen, 23, has played parts of two seasons in the AHL, but always seemed to have one foot out the door given his preference to play in Sweden if he wasn’t in the NHL. Perhaps that has contributed to his NHL rights being traded twice already. However, the Sharks are in no position to turn away affordable forward talent and should be ready to give Dahlen a shot at a roster spot next season, if not sooner once his Allsvenskan season ends.

Golden Knights Notes: Lehner, Fleury, Trade Deadline

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The Vegas Golden Knights finally got presumptive starting goaltender Robin Lehner back on Tuesday, activating the newly re-signed net minder from the Injured Reserve. Lehner had missed more than a month, leaving veteran Marc-Andre Fleury to carry a heavy load in this season’s condensed schedule. There was some confusion as to why it took Lehner so long to return from what was initially considered a minor lower-body injury. Unfortunately, some of that speculation brought up Lehner’s previous struggles with substance abuse and mental health issues. Looking to set the record straight, Lehner spoke with the media today and revealed that he not only was rehabbing his lower-body injury, but had also suffered a concussion. Lehner noted that normally he would not have disclosed this information, as teams and players are not typically open about injuries beyond what is required, but he felt that needed to clear his name, even though he was disappointed it had reached that point. Fortunately, Lehner appears to have moved past both injuries and is expected to return to action shortly now that he is back on the active roster.

  • As for Lehner’s partner in net, if former Pittsburgh Penguins GM Jim Rutherford would have had his way, Fleury would not even be in Vegas this season. Speaking with The Athletic’s Josh Yohe, Rutherford explained that he heavily pursued his former starter this past off-season. Despite a difficult 2019-20 season for the veteran, Rutherford was hoping to bring Fleury back to Pittsburgh to pair with young Tristan Jarry in the wake of Matt Murray’s departure. Rutherford began planning even before the off-season began, contacting the Knights during the playoffs to inform them of his interest. Rutherford also stated that he even went so far as to buy out Jack Johnson primarily to open up cap space to add Fleury. At the end of the day, trade talks never went too far, with Rutherford implying that they could not make the cap implications work. However, Vegas owner Bill Foley also previously hinted that he may not have signed of on a Fleury trade anyhow. Foley knows that Fleury is the face of the Golden Knights franchise and could not be happier about it. For his part, Rutherford told Yohe that allowing Fleury to go to Vegas in the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft was the hardest thing he ever had to do as GM.
  • In just a few short years, the Golden Knights have shown that they are not afraid to make bold moves, such as signing Lehner to an expensive, long-term deal even with Fleury’s heavy contract already on the books. So, while the club looks to have few holes this season, don’t be surprised to see another eye-popping transaction ahead of the trade deadline. Even in what is shaping up to be a quiet trade market, TSN’s Frank Seravalli labels Vegas as one of just eight team that are considered to be legitimate buyers. He believes that they could target a top rental center to solidify their depth down the middle.

Jimmy Vesey Claimed By Vancouver Canucks

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The Vancouver Canucks have added a forward to the mix, claiming Jimmy Vesey off waivers from the Toronto Maple Leafs according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. The 27-year-old winger is earning just $900K on a one-year contract and will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year. Though he will face a quarantine of some sort, it will not be the two-week period that is reserved for players entering Canada from the U.S. Vancouver is actually in Ottawa to play the Senators, meaning he can easily be picked up without having to take a commercial flight.

Vesey wasn’t much of anything for the Maple Leafs, who gave him ample opportunity to establish himself in the top six playing next to talent like John Tavares and William Nylander. He recorded just five goals and seven points in his 30 games and had been recently demoted to the fourth line. Though he had shown a bit of jump in that role, losing a player that had logged fewer than ten minutes in each of his last six games certainly won’t hurt that much.

That is especially true if there is an easy replacement, and it appears there is. Both Wayne Simmonds and Alex Galchenyuk joined Maple Leafs practice today in regular sweaters, perhaps indicating they’ll both be in the lineup when the team is back in action this weekend. Simmonds has been out for weeks after breaking his wrist, while Galchenyuk was brought in as a project and rebuilt his confidence at the minor league level. In six games with the Toronto Marlies, Galchenuk scored eight points; now he’ll have to show he can be a reliable contributor at the NHL level.

For Vancouver, claiming Vesey doesn’t come with much risk given his low salary and expiring contract. Perhaps the Canucks can unlock some hidden offensive potential, or use him as a competent bottom-six option. Even Vesey’s five-goal performance this season would be seen as successful when compared with some of the disappointing numbers in Vancouver, including Adam Gaudette, Jay Beagle, Jake Virtanen, and Antoine Roussel, who have combined for eight goals in 114 appearances.

Canucks Notes: Pearson, Virtanen, Hamonic

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The Vancouver Canucks have yet to extend a contract offer to pending unrestricted free agent Tanner Pearson according to Rick Dhaliwal of The Athletic, though his colleague Thomas Drance expects things to get “more serious” this week between the two sides. Pearson, 28, carries a $3.75MM cap hit this season in the last year of a four-year, $15MM deal he signed with the Los Angeles Kings in 2017. That contract came after Pearson set a career-high in goals with 24, a total he would have exceeded last season with the Canucks had the season not been cut short.

Unfortunately, that outstanding 21-goal, 45-point player that the Canucks had last season hasn’t emerged this time around. Pearson has just five goals and 10 points in 31 games so far, likely costing himself money on his next contract by the day. Still, there’s no doubting how trusted he is by the Vancouver coaching staff, especially after playing at least 19:30 in three of his last four games (including a whopping 22:33 against the Montreal Canadiens last week).

  • Jake Virtanen has been shopped around by the Canucks on several occasions, but Irfaan Gaffar of The Fourth Period tweets that the enigmatic forward now may not be moved by the trade deadline unless there is an offer GM Jim Benning “can’t refuse.” Virtanen, 24, has just three goals and hasn’t recorded a single assist in 26 games this season. Trading him now would certainly be selling at the lowest point, but the Canucks are going to need to move out salary somehow over the coming months. Virtanen’s $2.55MM cap hit through 2021-22 now looks like a massive overpay, despite the 18 goals and 36 points he put up last season.
  • Travis Hamonic is a player who wants to stay with the Canucks if possible, but knows that he is a little further down the pecking line when it comes to extensions. The veteran defenseman told Ben Kuzma of The Province that he saw Vancouver as a potential long-term fit for his family when he decided to sign a one-year, $1.25MM deal and would love to stick around past this season if possible. The Manitoba native will hit unrestricted free agency again this summer and has been clear in the past that he wants to continue playing in Western Canada. Hamonic holds a full no-trade clause this season.

Tyler Graovac Cleared From Concussion Protocol

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  • Canucks center Tyler Graovac has been cleared to play after recovering from a concussion, notes Postmedia’s Patrick Johnston. The veteran actually suffered the injury last week in the minors but was quietly recalled anyway from AHL Manitoba to begin quarantine protocols due to some of the injuries they had up front.  Vancouver’s farm team is in Utica which means any direct recalls would require a two-week quarantine which is why they placed a couple of players with other Canadian-based teams where that time is cut in half.  Graovac was their only available forward to recall which is why he was brought up as soon as he was injured, making for an unusual situation.

Tyler Motte Receiving Trade Interest

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With Vancouver sitting in fifth place in the North Division and the top four teams from there getting into the playoffs, the Canucks aren’t quite ready to sell just yet.  However, every team but Ottawa has multiple games in hand on them so while their current playoff gap of three points could be considerably larger by the time those are made up.  Accordingly, teams are calling about some of Vancouver’s roster players and one of them is winger Tyler Motte, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports in his latest 31 Thoughts column.

On the one hand, it’s easy to see why there is interest in Motte around the league.  He has shown more of a scoring touch this season with five goals in his first 16 games while logging over 16 minutes per night, a career-high.  It certainly hasn’t come at the expense of his physicality either as he’s averaging 4.67 hits per game, the second-highest rate in the league.  With a $1.225MM price tag this season and next, he’s also quite affordable.

It’s also not the first time he has shown flashes of offensive upside.  Last year in the bubble, he picked up four goals in 17 games while averaging over 3.5 hits per game so while his early-season output is a bit of an outlier relative to his past regular season production, he also technically just picked up where he left off last summer.

But on the other hand, Motte hasn’t played in a month due to a high-ankle sprain and is currently on LTIR.  Although he has resumed light skating, he’s still likely a couple of weeks away from returning.

It was only a few years ago that Motte felt like effectively the throw-in in a deal that sent Thomas Vanek to Columbus and Jussi Jokinen to Vancouver but now that he has established himself as a capable energy player, Jim Benning could be in a position to land a quality return, especially at a time when power forwards are in high demand and affordable players are at a premium.  But first, they’ll have to choose if they’re buying or selling, a decision that is probably still a few weeks away.

Snapshots: ESPN, Pettersson, Wu

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The NHL has reached a seven-year agreement with ESPN to become one of the league’s media partners next season, according to reporting done by Chris Johnston of Sportsnet. The league has not announced the deal yet and Johnston does not have confirmation on the other media company that will be involved. The deal with ESPN is for one-half of the league’s U.S. media rights, which will include four Stanley Cup Finals between 2022 and 2028 in addition to streaming rights for Disney.

More information about the deal is obviously needed, but this could be a very strong step in the right direction for the league, at least in terms of getting back to full financial health. The flat cap which has hindered so many teams this season isn’t likely to change right away, but a strong broadcast deal could get the league on track to start increasing the ceiling once again.

  • The Vancouver Canucks will be without top forward Elias Pettersson for at least another week, according to head coach Travis Green. The team is actually on a three-game winning streak even despite his absence, but still have a long way to go if they want to climb up the North Division table. Vancouver currently sits just three points behind the Montreal Canadiens for the last playoff spot but has played five more games than them. Pettersson, 22, had 21 points in 26 games this season.
  • The Pittsburgh Penguins, in action already today against the New York Rangers, named Katerina Wu to the team’s hockey operations department earlier today. Wu will hold the position of data scientist and be asked to “design and implement new statistics to evaluate player and team performance.” She will report to Penguins’ director of hockey operations Sam Ventura and work closely with Nick Citrone, who was recently promoted to senior data scientist of hockey and business operations.

Ducks Notes: Eakins, Getzlaf, Heinen, Tracey

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The Anaheim Ducks are off to another poor start this season, currently sitting in last place in the West Division with the fourth-worst record in the NHL. They aren’t trending in the right direction either; at 1-6-3, no team in the league has been as bad as the Ducks over their past ten games. Although head coach Dallas Eakins is only in his second season with Anaheim, there is still growing scrutiny of his failures so far and speculation as to his job security. After all, Eakins was brought in to lead the rebuild in Anaheim due to his past success with young players, yet many of the young Ducks continue to fall short of expectations. Eakins’ conservative style has also stymied the team’s offensive potential, as they sit second-to-last in the NHL in scoring with just 2.16 goals per game this season.

However, in the eyes of his general manager there is no need for Eakins to worry about his job just yet. Speaking with the media, Ducks GM Bob Murray gave a firm vote of confidence to his head coach. “I’ve got total confidence in Dallas,” Murray said. “I think he’s doing a pretty good job right now with everything that’s going on. I have no issues whatsoever. I have no problem with Dallas.” Despite this emphatic note of support, Murray did state later in the press conference that he expected the team to better this season. So if the blame does not lie with Eakins, could it fall on Murray? Many believe that the veteran GM could also be in danger of losing his job. If that is the case, Eakins’ own job security may only be as good as that of the man who hired him. Something has to change in Anaheim and ownership may soon step in and make changes.

  • As for one major change that Ducks fans are hoping to avoid, Murray shared some news that they will find comforting. With rumors floating around that long-time captain Ryan Getzlaf could be traded, Murray made no qualms about his thoughts on that matter. “I’m tired of hearing this… how his name is out there,” Murray said, “the only way Ryan Getzlaf would go anywhere is if he came to me and said, ’Bob, can you try and trade me to a contender?’ As an impending free agent who would be a desirable rental even at his advanced age, there is certainly value in moving Getzlaf. However, the career Duck has earned the right to decide his own future. According to Murray, the two sides will wait to see how Getzlaf feels both physically and mentally about continuing his career and doing so in Anaheim, but he calls the relationship “wonderful” and is open to an extension if Getzlaf is.
  • One player who seems likely to be traded or, if not, unlikely to return next season is Danton Heinen. Still only in his first season with the Ducks, Heinen’s name did not emerge as a trade candidate until a string of healthy scratches and then a very public negotiation between the Ducks and Vancouver Canucks that included he and Jake Virtanen. In over a week since that hypothetical deal went viral, Heinen has been scratched in three of the Ducks five games. In the two games he has played, Heinen has been held without a point or even a shot on goal, is a -2, and has seen a notable drop-off in ice time. Heinen simply does not seem to be a fit in Anaheim and as an impending free agent will see his time with the team come to an end soon, one way or another. If there is interest in acquiring the winger, who recorded 47 points as a rookie with the Boston Bruins just three years ago, then he will surely be traded. If not, he will walk this summer and have to look for a fresh start elsewhere.
  • A young player who the Ducks will not rush into their rebuild this year is Brayden Tracey. The 2019 first-rounder is under contract and has already played a dozen AHL games this season, but his time in the pros won’t go any further in 2020-21. The San Diego Gulls have announced that Tracey has been reassigned to his junior club, the WHL’s Victoria Royals, to play out the rest of the season. With the Ducks having been criticized for bringing too many of their current top prospects to the NHL before they were ready, they will let Tracey continue to develop against his own peers instead. The 19-year-old forward has shown great skill at the junior level, but was held scoreless in the minors and will be grateful to re-discover his scoring touch back in the WHL.

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