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Pacific Notes: Raanta, Baertschi, Goldobin, Bennett

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Even thought the Arizona Coyotes lost to the Edmonton Oilers Saturday, the team was still able to come away with a point and still retain the second wild card spot in the Western Conference. Their lead over Minnesota dropped to two points as the Wild won last night. However, with a legitimate shot a playoff berth this season, the Coyotes may get even better news if they can get in. According to AZ Central’s Richard Morin, there is a solid chance that goaltender Antti Raanta could be healthy enough to return for the playoffs.

That could create an interesting controversy, however, as one of the key reasons for the team’s success has been the recent play of backup Darcy Kuemper. The 28-year-old has been nothing short of outstanding since Raanta went down with a knee injury on Nov. 27, posting 20-11-3 record, with a .924 save percentage and a 2.40 GAA as the team’s starter. While Raanta’s return would change things in net, the team seems likely to stick with the hot hand.

“We have Darcy, who has been unbelievable for us and has given us a chance every night,” Coyotes goaltending coach Corey Schwab said. “He’s our guy, which means he’s our guy today and we’ll see what tomorrow brings. He’s done a great job at instilling confidence in the whole team. As far as how or when Antti Raanta is going to be back, nobody really knows. That’s a whole separate issue. It’s not even something for me to think about until we get there. Up until that point, there’s no question that Darcy has done enough to be the guy for us going forward.”

  • The Vancouver Canucks head coach Travis Green reported that forward Sven Baertschi has been cleared for contact but is not expected to play Sunday. The 26-year-old has been injured for a large chunk of the season with a concussion, but was more recently diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome in early February. In total, Baertschi has only appeared in 22 games this season, although he has struggled with injuries his entire career. Baertschi has never played more than 69 games throughout his career.
  • Sticking with the Canucks, Green also said that forward Nikolay Goldobin will be scratched Sunday and followed that with an interesting comment, according to TSN’s Jeff Paterson. ‘”You’ve got to bring something to the table,” said Green. “I just looked. He’s got 2+2 in the last 23 games. Those aren’t numbers that are really going to keep a guy in the league.”
  • There were a few people surprised when Calgary Flames forward Sam Bennett was a scratch Saturday. However, Wes Gilbertson of the Calgary Sun writes that the word is that Bennett is day-to-day with an upper-body injury. “We were hoping when we got into Winnipeg, in the morning, it would be better,” Calgary head coach Bill Peters said. “And it went the other way. It was worse, so he couldn’t go.” Bennett is second on the team in hits with 120 and has 12 goals and 14 assists in 69 games.

Vancouver Canucks Ink Jett Woo To Entry-Level Contract

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The Vancouver Canucks announced they have signed defensive prospect Jett Woo to a three-year entry-level contract. The team’s second-round pick in the 2018 draft (37th overall), Woo has had a breakout season and should provide the Canucks with another top-level blueline prospect after the team has inked several of them in the last few days, including Quinn Hughes and Josh Teves. The signing puts the Canucks at 49 contracts with just one more remaining.

“We’re very excited at the strides Jett has made this season with Moose Jaw,” said Vancouver general manager Jim Benning. “He plays the game with good intensity and attention to detail at both ends of the ice. Jett is an important part of our future and we look forward to his continued development.”

Terms haven’t been released, but the team brings in an impressive young defenseman into the fold as Woo is having a breakout season offensively as he is averaging more than a point-per-game with the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors as he has 12 goals and 62 points in 61 games this season. He also has accumulated 63 penalty minutes.

Woo is considered to be a throwback player, who plays with a physical style of game, which includes a lot of hits, making him a popular player on the ice. At 6-foot, 200-pounds, he is coached by NHL enforcer Tim Hunter, who emphasizes physicality with puck possession and offensive skill.

 

Pacific Notes: Karlsson, Canucks, Woo, Stone

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The San Jose Sharks got some promising news as star defenseman Erik Karlsson, who has missed most of the second half of the season with a groin injury, skated for 30 minutes this morning at the team’s morning skate for the first time since he re-injured his groin on Feb. 16, according to Paul Gackle of the Mercury News. Regardless, Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer said that Karlsson still is not close to returning.

“Good sign. Out there, no setbacks. No pain,” DeBoer said. “First step, obviously. We’re not close yet.”

Karlsson skated figure eights around the faceoff circles, practiced hard stops, and sprinted down the ice at full speed several times. Karlsson missed nine games after initially getting injured on Jan. 16. He returned for four games in February, but re-injured it on Feb. 23.

  • In a mailbag series, The Athletic’s J.D. Burke (subscription required) writes that he wouldn’t be surprised if the Vancouver Canucks look to be active in the free-agent defense market, suggesting the Canucks could opt to make a big offer this season on Winnipeg Jets’ free agent Tyler Myers. With the Jets expected to have even more cap problems than usual with several big restricted free agents to take care of this summer, including Patrik Laine, Kyle Connor and Jacob Trouba, the team might have to allow Myers to leave to free up some cap room. The 29-year-old Myers would be a big addition if Vancouver wants to make a big offer to the 6-foot-8, 229-pound blueliner.
  • Sportsnet’s Rick Dhaliwal writes that the Vancouver Canucks and the representation for prospect Jett Woo have had positive talks about bringing the physical blueliner on board soon. The team’s 2018 second-round pick has had a breakout season with the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors with 12 goals, 62 points and 63 penalty minutes in 61 games this season.
  • The Calgary Flames are adding some much needed depth to their blueline as defenseman Michael Stone is expected to play tonight in his first game in 125 days, according to Ryan Dittrick of NHL.com. Stone hasn’t played since Nov. 11 since he was diagnosed with a blood clot and placed on blood thinners. Regardless, Stone expects an easier transition back to the ice since he was able to get back on the ice four days after starting blood thinners and has been able to stay in good cardio shape the whole time. Stone has played 11 games this year and has four assists. He just returned from the Stockton Heat of the AHL, where he got three games of conditioning in.

Chris Tanev Expected To Miss The Rest Of The Season

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Vancouver’s battered back end has suffered another blow as Chris Tanev left Friday’s game with an injury.  Speaking with reporters, including Postmedia’s Patrick Johnston postgame, head coach Travis Green indicated that Tanev is likely to miss the rest of the season with a broken bone in his foot.

The veteran has had issues staying healthy in recent years.  In fact, this was just his second game back in the Canucks lineup after missing a month with an ankle issue.  In fact, he has only played 70 games in his career just once.  That certainly hasn’t helped his trade value.  Over the years, there has been speculation that Vancouver has been open to moving him at various time but his inability to stay healthy has certainly made it more challenging to deal him.  As Tanev will be entering the final year of his contract next season (with a $4.45MM cap hit), questions about his potential availability will certainly resume this summer.

Earlier this week, GM Jim Benning stated that he’s hoping to add one more college defender in the coming weeks despite already signing Quinn Hughes (also currently injured) and Josh Teves.  With another spot in the lineup now freed up, it will be interesting to see if a chance to potentially suit up right away will help entice another NCAA player to put pen to paper on a deal with Vancouver in the days and weeks to come.

West Notes: Kesler, Mitchell, Canucks

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The Anaheim Ducks are well out of the playoff race in the Western Conference, meaning they don’t need to rush players back from injury for the last bit of the season. That could mean that Ryan Kesler’s year is finished after 60 games, given his chronic hip pain and absence recently. GM Bob Murray told Elliott Teaford of the Orange County Register that he doesn’t know if Kesler will play again this season, and that if Kesler were willing to shut down for the year and start the recovery process it “would be fine.”

The veteran center broke the 1000-game threshold just this month, but is a shadow of his former self and has just eight points on the season. The 34-year old has three more years on his contract but seems like a candidate for long-term injured reserve at some point in the future, if his hip injury doesn’t improve.

  • The Chicago Blackhawks have their eye on second round pick Ian Mitchell as he progresses at the University of Denver, and Scott Powers of The Athletic (subscription required) caught up with the young defenseman to get a read on whether he would be willing to sign after this season. Mitchell wouldn’t commit to anything, but explained that a recent rumor of him not wanting to sign in Chicago wasn’t true. “I want to play for the Blackhawks as soon as I can,” Mitchell told Powers, though he is still focused on taking Denver as far as they can go this year.
  • Speaking of the college market, the Vancouver Canucks are still eyeing potential NCAA defensemen even after inking Quinn Hughes and Josh Teves over the last few days. That’s what GM Jim Benning told Ben Kuzma of The Province yesterday, explaining that they would like to sign one more defenseman out of the college ranks. It’s not clear who they have their eye on, but with names like Jimmy Schuldt still to sign there is plenty of talent to recruit over the next few days and weeks. The Canucks have a great example to point to during that recruitment process, as Troy Stetcher has found great success with the team since signing out of the University of North Dakota in 2016.

Antoine Roussel Suffers Season-Ending Knee Injury

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The news out of Vancouver last night was not good following a rough game against the New York Rangers. Canucks head coach Travis Green confirmed that Antoine Roussel suffered a season-ending knee injury when he collided with Brendan Lemieux, while young prospect Quinn Hughes will spend a week in a walking boot after being diagnosed with a “pretty good bone bruise” from blocking a shot at the end of his college season.

Lemieux ended up with a march penalty for a hit to the head, but Roussel’s injury occurred because his leg got trapped underneath him as he crumpled to the ice. Teammates needed to help the Canucks forward off the ice, and his season will come to an abrupt end. Roussel was actually having quite the year with a career-high of 31 points in 65 games, putting him fourth on Vancouver in scoring. He also easily leads the team in penalty minutes with 118, coming in only behind Evander Kane for the league lead.

Elias Pettersson was also involved in a dangerous play when Chris Kreider’s elbow swung around and hit the young Vancouver forward in the face. Kreider was given a game misconduct and Pettersson was taken for concussion testing, but did return to the game. The Rangers forward was also given a $5,000 fine for the incident, but did not receive a suspension.

While the Roussel news is obviously terrible for the Canucks, more fans will be focused on the Hughes news given the excitement around the young defenseman. Signed just a few days ago after his college season came to an end, the 19-year old was expected to get a chance to show what he can do down the stretch. Obviously there is still some time to get him into game action, but the Canucks will have to take things carefully and avoid any additional injury.

Canucks’ Loui Eriksson Made A Healthy Scratch

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Loui Eriksson’s tenure in Vancouver has been close to disastrous, but it has now reached a new low. In his third season and with 184 games with the Canucks under his belt, Eriksson has been made a healthy scratch for tonight’s home game against the New York Rangers, reports TSN’s Jason Brough. It is the first time in his Canucks career that Eriksson has been scratched.

To be fair, Eriksson had it coming. While a respected veteran and capable two-way forward, his 22 points through 69 games this season marks a career-low in per-game production, although a similar pace to his first two seasons in Vancouver. Making those disappointing offensive totals all the worse is how much Eriksson is paid to produce them. One of a series of terrible contract calls made in the 2016 off-season (see: Milan Lucic, Andrew Ladd, David Backes, Kyle Okposo, Danny DeKeyser), the Canucks signed Eriksson to a six-year, $36MM contract weeks before his 31st birthday. Based on that $6MM cap hit, Eriksson has been the sixth-worst cost-per-point value among forwards with 60+ games played this season. Between poor play and chronic injury issues, the Canucks have yet to see any semblance of value from the Eriksson deal through three seasons, yet they have three seasons left to go.

The decision by head coach Travis Green could be the first step toward a more permanent split between the team and player. Discussing the move, Green told the media “it’s not like I’m sitting here saying that Loui’s played terrible, but has he done enough where I can’t take him out of the lineup?” If the coaching staff and front office have lost trust in Eriksson’s ability to at least be a positive impact on the lineup, they may decide to do what it takes to move on. The Canucks are not in bad shape in regards to the salary cap, but have proven time and time again that they feel they are closer to being a contender than a rebuild and may want to dump a bad salary in hopes of adding to the roster this off-season. While Eriksson’s contract would be hard to move, Vancouver could sweeten the deal with a pick or prospect or take back another bad contract that they feel would be a better fit. The buyout route is likely not an option; the structure of Eriksson’s contract would do little to help alleviate costs. A buyout this summer would only save the team $444K in each of the next two seasons, at the cost of $556K against the cap for three years after the deal would have expired. As such, the Canucks may have to get creative to get rid of Eriksson. They have lived with his under-performing play to this point, but the healthy scratch has drawn a new line in the sand and both sides may want to end their current relationship.

Three Princeton Free Agents Sign NHL Contracts

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Princeton Tigers head coach Ron Fogarty may be disappointed with the way his hockey club’s season ended, but today he’ll be proud of several of his players. Three Princeton free agents have signed entry-level contracts. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports on each, tweeting that Max Veronneau has signed with his hometown Ottawa Senators, Ryan Kuffner is heading to the Detroit Red Wings, and Josh Teves will sign with the Vancouver Canucks.

Veronneau, 23, signed a two-year entry-level contract with the Senators after nearly the entire league expressed interest in him. That two-year deal is all he could sign at his current age, but the Senators have offered him the chance to burn the first year immediately by joining them for the rest of the season. Veronneau will be in Ottawa in time for practice on Wednesday. GM Pierre Dorion explained the process of signing another prospect:

We are very excited to have Max join the Ottawa Senators. We aggressively pursued Max, whose talents made him one of the highly sought-after college free agents available this year. He plays the game with tremendous pace and has terrific offensive instincts. Max will be given the opportunity to compete to be part of the Senators team, both now and in the future.

The talented forward had 37 points in 31 games this season after trailing only Adam Gaudette in 2017-18 with 55 points. He had previously attended development camps with several teams, and has been on the radar as a potential college signing for years. Veronneau will become a restricted free agent after the 2019-20 season.

Kuffner meanwhile actually led Princeton in scoring this season with 44 points and is certainly another sought after talent. The 22-year old forward is also from the Ottawa area and was a star in the CCHL before heading to college. In four years at Princeton the 6’1″ winger recorded 152 points in 132 games, and will join a Red Wings organization that is slowly rebuilding their talent pool after many years of Stanley Cup contention. Like Veronneau, Kuffner has signed a two-year entry-level contract with the Red Wings that will start this season, making him a restricted free agent in the summer of 2020.

Teves, the lone defenseman of the trio is also the oldest at 24 but has had great success as a puck-mover over the years. The Calgary-born Teves has signed a one-year entry-level deal with Vancouver given his age, and if it is for this season—which Rick Dhaliwal of Sportsnet has heard it is—it would make him a restricted free agent in just a few months. He’s certainly familiar with the area, given he attended Canucks development camp and played much of his junior hockey in British Columbia.

NCAA Notes: Duszak, Hirose, Teves, Snively

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As college seasons came to an end in recent days, interest in undrafted free agents has increased. Here’s the latest on several of the top names:

  • Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that the Toronto Maple Leafs have shown interest in right-handed defenseman Joseph Duszak from Mercyhurst University. Duszak fits in perfectly with the kind of selections GM Kyle Dubas has made over the last few years, and plays with an incredible amount of puck skill. Duszak led his team with 47 points in 37 games this season and is still just 21 years old.
  • Bob McKenzie of TSN already reported this morning that Max Veronneau was being pursued by nearly the entire league, but also notes that Ryan Kuffner from Princeton and Taro Hirose from Michigan State could make their decisions today or tomorrow. Hirose, a Calgary native, led the entire NCAA with 50 points this season and is sure to draw interest from all around the league.
  • Rick Dhaliwal of Sportsnet reports that the Vancouver Canucks have shown interested in Josh Teves from Princeton, another right-handed defenseman that experienced a lot of success at the collegiate level. Teves has recorded 78 points across his final three years at Princeton, but is already 24 and would be signing a one-year entry-level deal with whoever he chooses.
  • Frank Seravalli of TSN reports that even though Yale is still in the ECAC playoffs, Joe Snively has received interest from at least 20 NHL teams. Snively has long been an excellent offensive producer at the NCAA level, recording at least 28 points in each of his four years at Yale.

Canucks Prospect Will Lockwood To Decide About Turning Pro Next Week

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Yesterday, the Canucks officially signed their top prospect in defenseman Quinn Hughes to an entry-level deal.  A decision from their other Michigan prospect will take a little while longer as the team announced (Twitter link) that winger Will Lockwood is expected to wait until next week before choosing whether or not to turn pro.

Lockwood was Vancouver’s third-round pick (64th overall) back in 2016 and he just completed his junior season with the Wolverines.  It was by far his best one as his 31 points (16-15-31) in 36 games matched his combined point total from his freshman and sophomore campaigns.  The 20-year-old finished second to only Hughes in scoring in 2018-19.

By delaying his decision until next week, Lockwood won’t be able to reach the ten-game mark that would qualify as an accrued season and make him eligible for the Seattle expansion draft if he decides to forego his senior year.  However, if he decides to stay at Michigan for next season, he will have played out his college eligibility and would be eligible to become an unrestricted free agent in August of 2020.

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