Snapshots: Three Stars, World Junior Captains, Iginla
The NHL has named Artemi Panarin, Henrik Lundqvist, and Eric Staal as its Three Stars of the Week.
Panarin had three goals and seven assists for 10 points in four games. He bookended two thee-point performances with a pair of two-point nights as the Blackhawks continued their five-game winning streak. Panarin now has 34 points in 34 games this season
This week marks the second consecutive week with a New York Rangers goaltender as the second star. Last week, Antti Raanta was the second star as he temporarily took over the starting role from Lundqvist, but now the man they call The King has taken back over. Lundqvist went 3-0-0 and allowed just three goals to go with his 0.967 SV%. He and Raanta combined for a shutout when Lundqvist was forced to leave a game after being run over by Cody Eakin (for which he was suspended).
Staal had four goals and five points in three games as part of a 3-0-0 week. The Wild have now won seven straight and Staal is leading the team in goals, assists, and points; he has 24 points in 30 games in his first year in Minnesota.
- Hockey Canada has named its leadership core for the upcoming World Junior Championships. Arizona Coyotes prospect Dylan Strome will wear the C for Canada, while Mathew Barzal and Thomas Chabot will serve as alternate captains. All three players played for Canada at last year’s tournament and appeared in the NHL at the start of the season. While they combined for just 10 games and one assist in the NHL, all three are 2015 first-round picks and dominant CHL players. Strome has 295 points in 191 games with the Erie Otters; Islanders sixteenth-overall pick Barzal has 281 points in 174 games with the Seattle Thunderbirds; Chabot, a defenseman picked eighteenth overall by Ottawa, has 128 points in 182 games with the Saint John Sea Dogs.
- The Vancouver Canucks most recent first-round pick, Olli Juolevi has been named captain of Team Finland. Juolevi had nine assists in seven games in last year’s tournament, as Finland won gold. So far, Juolevi has 21 points in 26 games with the London Knights.
- Today marks 21 years since the Calgary Flames acquired Jarome Iginla from the Dallas Stars for Joe Nieuwendyk. The trade worked out pretty well for both teams: the Stars won the Stanley Cup four years later with Nieuwendyk playing a key role, and Iginla became the face of the Flames franchise. Nieuwendyk was in the prime of his career, while Iginla was an eleventh-overall pick playing for the Kamloops Blazers. Amalie Benjamin of NHL.com tweeted that Iginla initially thought he had been traded to the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen. After turning pro, Iginla scored 1095 points in 16 years with the Flames, leading them to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2004. He’s bounced around between Pittsburgh, Boston, and Colorado in the four years since he was traded. Iginla could be on the move again this year, as the Avalanche are one of the worst teams in the NHL and he could want to go to a contender for the end of his career.
Erik Gudbranson Set To Undergo Wrist Surgery
Vacouver Canucks defensmeman Erik Gudbranson is to undergo surgery on his wrist to repair ligament damage, according to a release on the team’s website. A recovery timeline will be available once the surgery is completed. Canucks GM Jim Benning made the announcement earlier today:
“Erik suffered ligament damage to his wrist this season that has affected his wrist function,” said Benning. “Continued treatment and rehabilitation have not improved his condition and Erik and our Canucks medical team believe that surgery offers the best long-term outcome and are confident in a full recovery. Erik’s leadership qualities and strong physical presence will be missed but this is a decision that best supports a long, productive and healthy career.”
Evidently the injury has plagued Gudbranson for at least part of the season based on Benning’s comments. Gudbranson has one goal and six points in 30 games with Vancouver this season. He was acquired in the summer from Florida along with a fifth-round choice in exchange for forward Jared McCann, a second-round draft choice and a fourth-rounder.
Injury Updates: Crawford, Palat, Kucherov, Vatrano, Honka
Blackhawks goaltender Corey Crawford underwent an emergency appendectomy back on December 3rd and it was said then that he was likely to miss two-to-three weeks as a result. Thirteen days later, the 31-year-old is back on the ice skating with his team, reports Tracy Myers of CSN Chicago. Myers adds that Crawford also took some shots today and head coach Joel Quenneville is waiting to see how their #1 net minder is doing when the team returns home from their current road trip.
The team has fared pretty well in Crawford’s absence. After dropping his first two games, Crawford’s understudy, Scott Darling, has won four of his last five starts, allowing just six goals during that time. He is likely at this point to get the call in both of Chicago’s weekend games, at St. Louis on Saturday and in Chicago against the Sharks on Sunday.
Elsewhere on the injury front:
- Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times reports that the Lightning will be without forwards Ondrej Palat and Nikita Kucherov for tonight and likely for the team’s game tomorrow as well (Twitter link). Additionally, Ryan Callahan is not going to play tonight as Tampa Bay travels to Vancouver to take on the Canucks. In a follow-up tweet, Smith adds that Palat is considered day-to-day while Kucherov has not been placed on IR, suggesting he is also day-to-day. While it’s never a good thing to be without three regular forwards, even if it’s just for a game or two, a prolonged absence of Kucherov would be especially bad news for the Lightning. The fourth-year winger leads the team in both goals (13) and points (30) this season and also topped the club in scoring last season. Palat has tallied 13 points in 30 games for Tampa Bay, while Callahan has added just four points in an injury-marred campaign for the gritty veteran winger.
- Frank Vatrano, who has been out since September with a foot injury, was activated by Boston and assigned to Providence of the AHL, according to Joe Haggerty of CSNNE. Haggerty states that the young winger needs to play to get back up to speed. Vatrano exploded on the scene as a prospect last year after registering 36 goals in just 36 AHL games and earned his first call up to Boston. While not as successful in the NHL, Vatrano did net eight goals in 39 games for the Bruins, demonstrating the ability to be a solid performer at this level.
- Finally, the Dallas Stars activated defenseman Julius Honka from IR and reassigned the young Finn to Texas of the AHL, the team announced today. Honka had missed the last five games with an upper-body injury. The team’s first-round draft choice in 2014, the 21-year-old blue liner made his NHL debut this season and in eight games recorded three points. In 16 contests earlier this year with Texas, Honka tallied three goals and 12 points. Dallas already has a roster full of capable NHL defensemen, leading one to wonder when or if the team will recall Honka, as some have suggested the constant shuffling on the back end has contributed in part to the Stars struggles this season.
Vancouver Canucks Notes: Desjardins, Stecher, Ohlund
Unless the Vancouver Canucks are able to turn their season around, and do so soon, it appears more and more likely the team’s struggles will eventually cost Willie Desjardins his job as head coach. As it stands, Vancouver’s chances of making the playoffs are dwindling by the day with the Sports Club Stats website placing the odds the Canucks will make it to the postseason at just 6.5%. However, as Jason Botchford writes in a piece for the Vancouver Sun, replacing Desjardins behind the bench mid-season is unlikely to make much of a difference on the ice for the Canucks.
First, Botchford notes that head-coach-in-waiting, Utica Comets bench boss Travis Green, is unlikely willing to jump into the NHL on an interim basis and without the benefit of a full training camp to implement his system. Another possible option, current assistant coach Doug Jarvis, has no head coaching experience at the NHL level. Ultimately, as Botchford argues, no available head coaching possibility would represent an upgrade over what the team currently has.
Botchford also discusses the frustration of the teams fan base and how that has already materialized in a lower-than-expected season ticket renewal rate of 80% for the 2016-17 campaign. Expecting a mid-season hire to revitalize the team’s followers and to sell tickets is unrealistic, as Botchford opines.
Taking it even further, Botchford believes the time is fast approaching where the organization is going to have to “sell a different direction, a new hope.” This could result in ownership mandating sweeping changes, and it shouldn’t be surprising if those changes include a shakeup of the front office.
Other Canucks notes:
- One bright spot in Vancouver’s difficult season has been the development of rookie defenseman Troy Stecher, writes David Ebner of The Globe and Mail. The 5-foot-10, 190-pound blue liner was signed by the Canucks as an undrafted free agent following a three-year run at the University of North Dakota. He has only netted one goal with six assists in 21 starts, and has posted a minus-8 +/- rating, but as Ebner notes, Stecher is one of the team’s best puck possession players and averages three shots on goal per game, a figure that ranks among the best in the league for defensemen. He considers himself more of an offensive defenseman saying: “It’s a lot more fun playing offence than defence, so sometimes I don’t really want to look for a pass if I have the lane. I just want to skate it out. One of my strongest assets is my feet, my ability to skate – I think it has to be, with my height.” It may be a small sample but to this point it appears as if Vancouver has uncovered a gem and a solid, top-four blue liner.
- Former NHL defenseman Mattias Ohlund spent 11 of his 13 NHL seasons as a member of the Canucks and tonight the team will add his name to the Ring of Honor at Rogers Arena. Iain MacIntyre writes that Ohlund overcame “the objections of his body” to become arguably the best blue liner in Canucks history. Before beginning his NHL career, Ohlund tore knee ligaments while representing Sweden in the 1994 World Junior Championships. The skilled defender would battle knee problems throughout his career and they would ultimately lead to his premature retirement at the age of 34. “I pushed myself and my body as far as I could. And then one day, after speaking to numerous doctors and trying everything I could, it was just impossible for me to practise and play and travel. My left knee is worse, but both are bad.” Ohlund is the franchise’s all-time leading scorer among defensemen with 325 points in 770 contests with the Canucks. He would spend the final two seasons of his career with Tampa Bay after inking a seven-year deal with the Lightning in the summer of 2009.
Peter Mueller To Sign AHL Deal With Bruins
After signing a PTO earlier this summer, Peter Mueller will sign an AHL contract with the Providence Bruins for the remainder of the season, according to Mark Divver of the Providence Journal. He also expects Matt Bartkowski to do the same before tomorrow.
Mueller had been playing with Providence on the tryout contract and showed he still has something to give in North American hockey, scoring 14 points in 19 games. The former eighth overall pick has spent the last three seasons in Europe, racking up points in Switzerland and Sweden waiting for an opportunity back home. The world-junior star flamed out of the NHL spectacularly after putting up 54 points as a rookie in 2007-08. Health, consistency and work ethic were all questions he needed to answer, and perhaps he’s done just that this season.
If Mueller has indeed rediscovered what made him such a top prospect, the Bruins may have stumbled into a future NHL piece by giving him a tryout. At just 28-years old still, he still has plenty of youth left for a renaissance in his career.
Bartkowski, a veteran NHL defenseman who played in 80 games for the Vancouver Canucks last season, is a solid piece for the baby-Bruins on the back end. Capable of playing in both ends of the rink, Bartkowski has seven points and 23 PIM in 18 games this season. Still just 28, Bartkowski represents another depth addition to the Bruins system that essentially has cost them nothing to this point.
PTO Checkup
During the offseason NHL teams extended a total of 194 professional tryouts (PTOs) to players trying to earn a professional contract for the upcoming season. Of those 194 players, only eleven earned a permanent NHL/AHL contract. Those lucky 5% have had varied success this season, and this article looks at how those players have fared so far.
Steve Bernier: New York Islanders
Steve Bernier failed to garner a contract on his PTO right away, but the New York Islanders signed him to a one-year, two-way deal on October 24, 2016. The contract pays him $600K (NHL) / $200K (AHL). Bernier has remained with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers—the Islanders’ AHL affiliate—all season, posting 8G and 5A in 15 games.
Gabriel Bourque: Colorado Avalanche
Gabriel Bourque signed a one-year, two-way deal with the Colorado Avalance worth $800K (NHL) / $200K (AHL). The 26 year-old forward has split time with the Avalanche and its AHL affiliate San Antonio Rampage this season. Bourque has failed to register a point with Colorado, but has 3G and 5A in 16 games for San Antonio
Rene Bourque: Colorado Avalanche
Rene Bourque signed a one-year, one-way deal with the Colorado Avalanche worth $650K. Bourque has impressed so far, scoring 8G and 3A in 11 games for the Avalanche. He’s already surpasses last years totals (3G and 5A in 49 games) and could come closer to regaining his prior form.
Justin Fontaine: New York Rangers
Justin Fontaine signed a one-year, two-way deal with the New York Rangers worth $600K (NHL) / $300K (AHL) after failing to earn a contract with the Minnesota Wild. The 29 year-old forward remains in the AHL so far this season and has racked up 3G and 8A in 21 games for the Hartford Wolf Pack.
Nicklas Grossmann: Orebro HK (SHL)
Nicklas Grossmann initially signed a one-year, one-way contract with the Calgary Flames for $575K. The Swedish defenseman lasted three games before the Flames attempted to demote him to the AHL Stockton Heat. Grossmann, however, did not report to Stockton, so Calgary terminated his contract. Grossman failed to register a point in those three games with the Flames.
Eric Gryba: Edmonton Oilers
Eric Gryba signed a one-year, two-way deal with the Edmonton Oilers worth $950K (NHL) / $250K (AHL). The move has not yet panned out as Gryba remains pointless through 14 games. The Oilers placed Gryba on IR on November 30th, and the defenseman is reportly nearing a return. While Gryba was never an offensive defenseman, the Oilers do expect more from him and could send him down if he doesn’t improve when he returns.
Lauri Korpikoski: Dallas Stars
Lauri Korpikoski signed a one-year, one-way contract with the Dallas Stars worth $1MM after failing to sign with the Calgary Flames—the team that initially offered Korpikoski a PTO. In 29 games for the Stars, Korpikoski has 4G and 5A, which is respectable but nothing noteworthy. He’ll have to improve if he wants to stay in the lineup after all the Stars’ injured players return.
Tom McCollum: Calgary Flames
Tom McCollum signed a two-year, two-way deal with the Calgary Flames worth $575K and $650K in the NHL and $175K and $200K in the AHL. Despite the two-year deal, however, McCollum has seen little action. The former first rounder has played 1 game in the AHL with the Stockton Heat and 3 games in the ECHL with the Adirondack Thunder.
Devin Setoguchi: Los Angeles Kings
Devin Setoguchi returned to the NHL this year with the Los Angeles Kings on a one-year, two-way deal worth $575K (NHL) / $45K (AHL). The former eighth overall pick has 3G and 4A in 24 games. Setoguci returns after playing in Switzerland for a year, and is still looking to regain his scoring touch with the Kings.
Jack Skille: Vancouver Canucks
Jack Skille signed a one-year, one-way deal with the Vancouver Canucks worth $700K. In 22 games this season Skille has 3G and 1A and plays less than nine minutes a night. Skille has never lived up to his draft position—7th overall in 2005—and has bounced around the league ever since.
Kris Versteeg: Calgary Flames
Kris Versteeg signed a one-year deal with the Calgary Flames worth $950K after failing to maintain a contract with both SC Bern (Swiss) and the Edmonton Oilers. Versteeg’s SC Bern contract was voided when Versteeg failed his medical exam. In 19 games with the Flames, however, Versteeg has 4G and 7A. So far the signing seems to have paid off for Calgary.
Comparative Standings: One Year Ago
With the first third of the season completed for all but Columbus (who have amazingly played just 26 games, six fewer than the Winnipeg Jets), there have been some huge swings from a year ago.
Those Blue Jackets are the league’s most improved team, with a staggering 18 more points through 26 games than last season. Their huge swing is only matched by the Dallas Stars equally amazing drop-off of 18 points the other way. The Jackets can attest their improvement to the development of young players like Zach Werenski and Alexander Wennberg, while the Stars have seen a litany of injuries to their star players including Jason Spezza, Patrick Sharp and Johnny Oduya.
The Central Division as a whole is off to a slower start this year, with only the Chicago Blackhawks bettering their 2015-16 record. The Colorado Avalanche, expected to take a step forward with their young core has suffered the exact same fate with 23 points through 27 games.
The two biggest Canadian rebuild stories, Edmonton and Toronto have both improved, though not as largely as the fan bases in each city might have you believe. Four points for the Maple Leafs and five for the Oilers lend credence to the idea that it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish that counts. Though both franchises have a lot to look forward to, keeping up an advanced pace for an entire season is extremely difficult. The two teams finished last season with just 69 and 70 points respectively.
Below are the current standings. In parenthesis is the difference in points through the same amount of games last year.
Carolina Hurricanes Send Phil Di Giuseppe To AHL
As the Carolina Hurricanes come home from a three game west coast road trip to play the next four on home ice, they’ve decided to send Phil Di Giuseppe to the minors to have him get some more ice time. After playing just 7:31 on Saturday night’s loss to the San Jose Sharks, Di Giuseppe had clearly lost the confidence of the coaching staff.
A gritty forechecking winger, Di Giuseppe had been called up most recently to replace Jordan Staal after the Canes alternate captain suffered a concussion late last month. In 18 games for the club this season, Di Giuseppe had only registered two points, despite initially getting ample playing time with a number of skilled players.
With Elias Lindholm closing in on a return from his lower-body injury, it figures that he’ll likely get back into the lineup Tuesday night against the Vancouver Canucks. The Hurricanes, at 11-11-6, are struggling to find much early season success despite a developing blue line and youth-infused lineup. With only 68 goals through 28 games, the team will need players like Lindholm to start producing like they’re capable of. The 22-year old had a career high 17 goals in 2014-15, but has notched only two so far this season. He has a long way to match the 39 points he’s scored in back to back seasons, let alone improving on those numbers as expected.
Minor Transactions: Canucks, Predators, Leafs, Bruins
Vancouver Canucks GM Jim Benning announced today that a trio of players has been sent down to the Utica Comets of the AHL. Center Joseph Labate and defenseman Andrey Pedan, both recent promotions, will head back to upstate New York. For Labate, it was the first NHL call-up of his career. In three games, Labate failed to register a point, but was an effective physical presence on the ice. A 2011 fourth-round pick, Labate had a successful four-year career at the University of Wisconsin before joining Utica last year for his first full pro season. Pedan, a native of Lithuania, played in 13 games with the Canucks in 2015-16, but was held scoreless and fell victim to some noticeable defensive mistakes. He did not get into a game on this most recent call-up. The hulking blue liner had his best pro season with Utica last year, but still has yet to hit his stride at the pro level. His physical dominance with the OHL’s Guelph Storm led to him being selected by the New York Islanders in the third round in 2011, but has not been as noticeable at the next level.
Meanwhile, the third demotion is Anton Rodin, who heads to Utica for a conditioning stint. The reigning MVP of the Swedish Elite League, Rodin is still making his way back from the injury that shortened his season in Sweden last year. In a strange change of direction, Rodin, who looked healthy (and promising) in the preseason, was suddenly unable to play and placed on IR to start the regular season. The shifty, skilled winger now hopes to make his NHL debut soon, as the conditioning stint is the last stop on his road to recovery. It has been a long time coming for a player that Vancouver drafted in 2009. In need of a boost, the Canucks can only hope that Rodin immediately fits in at the NHL level, much like when Carl Soderberg finally made the trip across the Atlantic to join the Boston Bruins in 2013.
In other minor moves:
- In an identical series of moves, the Nashville Predators assigned two players to the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals today and sent a third along as well on a conditioning stint. Forward Frederick Gaudreau, recently-signed defenseman Adam Pardy, and recently-claimed forward Reid Boucher are headed north to join the Admirals. The 23-year-old rookie Gaudreau (no relation) was recalled two weeks ago, but in eight games since he has just one point. In need of further seasoning, the Predators have sent down the former minor league free agent. Not quite a rookie, the 32-year-old Pardy was signed last month to provide some veteran depth on the blue line for a Nashville squad that prides themselves off of solid defensive play. Pardy has skated in just one NHL game thus far in 2016-17, but will continue to be the next man up for the Predators. In a much-maligned move, the New Jersey Devils placed Boucher on waiver on December 3rd, and Nashville GM David Poile was happy to scoop him up. In and out of the Devils lineup for years, the team decided to move on from the 23-year-old despite the fact that 2015-16 was his first real NHL chance and he scored 19 points in 39 games. Boucher has played in just one game for Nashville so far as he deals with lingering injury concerns, but expect him back with the squad shortly.
- Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Vladimir Bobylyov has left the KHL and returned to the WHL, his junior team revealed. The 19-year-old winger, a fifth-round pick by the Leafs this past June, had originally decided to leave the Victoria Royals and return home to Russia to play pro. However, after little production with the KHL’s Spartak Moskva and even a demotion to their minor league affiliate, Bobylyov decided that he preferred Canadian juniors. He now heads back to Victoria, where he scored 67 points in 72 games and was an astounding +45 last season. Showing a commitment to North American hockey is never a bad idea for a young Russian player like Bobylyov, and the move is likely preferable for Toronto. The Royals are surely happy to have him back too.
- The Providence Journal’s Mark Divver reports that the time limit on the tryout agreements for Matt Bartkowski and Peter Mueller has run out, but that the Providence Bruins have extended contract offers to both and they are expected to accept. Mueller has been a top six forward for the AHL team, with 14 points in 19 games while playing key roles on both the power play and penalty kill. His presence has also helped with the development of youngsters Jake DeBrusk, Peter Cehlarik, and Danton Heinen. Bartkowski has been less impressive, with seven points, a -2 rating, and 23 penalty minutes. He has been outplayed by another veteran looking to stay relevant in Alex Grant, as well as rookie Matt Grzelcyk. The Providence Bruins are currently on a league-best 12-game point streak.
This Week In Hockey Blogging: A Dozen Articles To Read
Here are a handful of articles from various hockey bloggers this week:
Winging It In Motown looks at the ongoing discussion of toughness in the NHL and how it’s unfairly used to criticize players.
Pension Plan Puppets closely scout Auston Matthews.
Lighthouse Hockey likens their Islanders to the Walking Dead and take a deep dive into how the Islanders got to where they are.
The Committed Indian examines how the salary cap has created the parity intended, but in a ho-hum way.
Raw Charge analyzes Tampa Bay’s problem with developing first round draft picks.
Down Goes Brown lists the ten lies that every hockey fan is guilty of reciting.
Blueshirt Banter talked to Ryan McDonagh about the team and the season so far.
Bleedin Blue suggests that the Blues look into why they’re struggling so much on the road.
Copper and Blue discusses everything from Connor McDavid‘s wingers to players in Bakersfield who should see time with the big club down the road.
Pensburgh compares Bryan Rust‘s three-goal performance to a legendary Penguin’s five goal performance.
Hockey Wilderness suggests two players for Chuck Fletcher to acquire.
Finally, Canucks Army offers advice to ownership: new management.
We’re always looking to add to the list. Tweet us some articles you like @prohockeyrumors or let us know through our comments section.