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West Notes: Demko, Dunn, McCann, Rantanen

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The Vancouver Canucks welcomed starting goaltender Thatcher Demko back to practice on Tuesday and could return him to the lineup as soon as Saturday, head coach Rick Tocchet shares with TSN’s Farhan Lalji (Twitter link). Demko is currently on Vancouver’s long-term injured reserve with a knee injury. He hasn’t played since March 9th, missing Vancouver’s last 12 games.

While Tocchet added that the team wants to be careful in easing Demko back in, there’s no doubting they’re ecstatic to have him back in time for playoffs. Demko’s success has been a big part of the Canucks’ climb up the standings, with the 28-year-old posting 34 wins and a .917 save percentage across 49 appearances this season. He ranks third in the league in wins and fifth in save percentage, among starting goalies.

Demko’s strong performances this season have continued his ascension, with the three-year starter in a good position to receive Vezina Trophy votes for just the second time in his career – joining his seventh-place finish in 2022, after he posted 33 wins and a .915 save percentage in 64 games. But he’ll have bigger goals in mind, with Vancouver poised to make the playoffs for just the third time since 2014.

Other notes from around the league:

  • Both Jared McCann and Vince Dunn will miss the Seattle Kraken’s Tuesday game against the Arizona Coyotes, per team reporter Alison Lukan (Twitter link). Head coach Dave Hakstol shared that both players remain day-to-day, with McCann facing a lower-body injury and Dunn nursing an upper-body injury. The pair have been highly impactful this year, each ranked in the top-three of scoring in Seattle, with McCann boasting a team-leading 60 points in 75 games while Dunn has 46 points in 59 games.
  • Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar has shared that forward Mikko Rantanen could return on Saturday, per Ryan Boulding of NHL.com (Twitter link). The star winger has been in concussion protocol after taking a heavy hit from Edmonton Oilers defesneman Mattias Ekholm on Friday. Rantanen eclipsed the 100-point mark for the second-straight seaosn this year, currently carrying 40 goals and 102 points through 77 games.

Elias Lindholm Skates With Canucks

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The Calgary Flames have confirmed that defenseman Oliver Kylington is day-to-day with an upper-body injury. Kylington left Saturday’s game against the Edmonton Oilers after a collision with teammate Nazem Kadri. The 26-year-old didn’t practice with the team today and could miss the rest of the season depending on the severity of the injury. The Flames have just six games left in the season and will miss this year’s playoffs.

Kylington returned to the Flames in late January after taking a year and a half away from the team and dressed in 28 games since then, posting two goals and three assists to go along with 18 hits and 44 blocked shots. He appeared to get more comfortable as the season went on before this past weekend’s unfortunate injury.

In other Pacific Division notes:

  • Vancouver Canucks play-by-play voice Brendan Batchelor tweeted that forward Elias Lindholm re-joined the team today for the morning skate after an extended absence. The 29-year-old last played on March 23rd and missed six games due to an undisclosed injury. The Canucks high-priced acquisition has not fit in with Vancouver the way they expected as he has a disappointing five goals and four assists in 22 games. The Canucks have struggled without Lindholm, going 2-4 in his absence, and their penalty kill has fallen off without him going 68.2% in the six games he missed.
  • Kate Shefte of The Seattle Times Sports tweeted that Seattle Kraken forward Jared McCann and defenseman Vince Dunn are unlikely to dress tomorrow night when the team takes on the Arizona Coyotes. Both players missed practice today and were labelled doubtful for tomorrow by Kraken head coach Dave Hakstol. McCann has had another strong season with 28 goals and 32 assists in 75 games, while Dunn has also been terrific with 11 goals and 35 assists in 59 games. The Kraken have just two home games left in a disappointing season that will see them miss the playoffs.

Canucks Notes: Joshua, Silovs, Garland, Gardner

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The Canucks have nine players eligible for unrestricted free agency this summer and they won’t be able to afford bringing them all back so they’ll have to prioritize who they want to try to keep around.  To that end, team president Jim Rutherford told Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre that forward Dakota Joshua is one of their priorities to keep around.  The 27-year-old is in the midst of a breakout year that has seen him set new career highs offensively, notching 15 goals and 13 assists in 57 games along with 221 hits.  A late-bloomer who wasn’t even a full-time regular until last season, Joshua has been a nice bargain for Vancouver, playing on a deal with an AAV of just $825K.  It will likely take three times that amount or more to keep him around for 2024-25 and beyond.

More from Vancouver:

  • One way they could try to save money to keep their UFAs around would be to spend less on their backup goalie position. Thomas Drance of The Athletic outlines (subscription link) how Vancouver could deploy Arturs Silovs next season, either as the outright second-stringer to Thatcher Demko or by shuffling him back and forth between AHL Abbotsford to take advantage of his waiver exemption.  Silovs is a pending RFA whose next contract shouldn’t be much higher than the minimum salary while current backup Casey DeSmith is a pending UFA and is likely heading for a raise on his $1.8MM AAV.
  • Conor Garland is still a long way from retirement but the 28-year-old is already thinking ahead to his post-playing days. In an interview with Postmedia’s Ben Kuzma, Garland indicated that he wants to “coach more than anything” and has coached at some tournaments in past summers.  He has bounced back relatively well this season after being prominently featured in trade speculation, notching 16 goals and 24 assists through 76 games, numbers that are close to last year’s despite a dip in playing time to 14:19 per night.
  • Prospect Daimon Gardner has entered the NCAA transfer portal, reports Brad Elliott Schlossmann of the Grand Forks Herald (Twitter link). The 20-year-old center was a fourth-round pick by Vancouver back in 2022 (112th overall) after a dominant showing at the high school level.  He averaged over a point per game in 2022-23 in the USHL before making the jump to college this season.  However, his role was quite limited with Clarkson as he had just a goal and five assists in 29 appearances, resulting in him landing in the portal.

Canucks Reassign Arshdeep Bains

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The Canucks have sent winger Arshdeep Bains to AHL Abbotsford, GM Patrik Allvin announced Thursday. His spot in the lineup will go to one of Phillip Di Giuseppe, Elias Lindholm (undisclosed, day-to-day) or Pius Suter, all of whom were scratched for yesterday’s 2-1 win over the Coyotes.

Bains, 23, signed an entry-level deal with the club two years ago and earned his first NHL recall in February amid a breakout season in Abbotsford. He was returned to the minors on March 1 but was given another chance with a second recall last week. He’s played eight games across his two stints on the roster, struggling with a -5 rating, 6 PIMs and only four shots on goal while averaging 11:48 per game.

Evidently not ready for major league action, the Surrey, British Columbia native will likely remain in Abbotsford for the rest of the season. He’s excelled there this season, posting 14 goals, 35 assists, 49 points, and a +15 rating in 53 games. Regardless of his lack of NHL impact thus far, he’s proven to be a smart undrafted free-agent pickup by Allvin and is one of the organization’s better forwards under the age of 25. He led the WHL in scoring two seasons ago with Red Deer, putting himself on NHL teams’ radars after a tumultuous major junior tenure up to that point. Bains has one season remaining on his ELC, which carries a cap hit of $817K.

Poll: Who’s Going To Win The Presidents’ Trophy?

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Nearly half of the current playoff field has clinched postseason berths, so attention is quickly turning to playoff positioning battles and who can finish atop the regular-season standings with just over two weeks left in the campaign. The field is crowded at the top, with seven teams within five points of first place.

The Rangers currently hold the edge as the only 50-win team and 104 points (.703 points percentage), ranking among the top six teams in both goals for and goals against. Leading them across the board offensively is winger Artemi Panarin, who should get some outside Hart Trophy consideration with a career-high 44 goals and 107 points. Season-ending injuries to Filip Chytil and Blake Wheeler have damaged their forward depth, but early returns on their trade deadline replacements, Jack Roslovic and Alexander Wennberg, have been positive. With top-five defenseman Adam Fox leading their blue line and one of the better goalie duos in the league this year with Jonathan Quick and Igor Shesterkin, the Rangers are looking to win the Presidents’ Trophy for only the fourth time in their 98-year history and the first since 2014-15.

Moving over to the crowded Central Division, the Stars are keeping pace at the top of the division with an 8-2-0 record in their last 10. Their 103 points and .687 points percentage are both second in the league, but they’ll need some help to catch the similarly hot Rangers, who’ve played one less game. Fuelled by an incredibly deep forward corps and a breakout season from 22-year-old Thomas Harley alongside Miro Heiskanen on the team’s top defense pair, Dallas is chasing its first division title since 2016, when Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin and Jason Spezza all had 30-goal years and powered the league’s best offense. After shoring up their blue line with deadline pickup Chris Tanev and boosting their third line with the promotion of rookie Logan Stankoven from the minors, the Stars are hoping to make back-to-back Conference Final appearances for the first time since appearing in three straight from 1998 to 2000.

Hot on Dallas’ tails for guaranteed home-ice advantage through Round Three are the breakout Canucks, whose jump from 24th to fourth in goals against has fuelled their first trip to the postseason (sans the 2020 bubble) in nine years. A franchise record-breaking season from Quinn Hughes on the blue line, plus a rebound from Thatcher Demko in the crease, have created the core for what Vancouver hopes is a lengthy era of contention with J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson centering their top two lines. Some view them as the NHL’s flukiest team with a league-high 9.8% shooting percentage and 102.8 PDO at 5-on-5, a narrative they’ll look to dispel by extending their season into May and June.

The new-look Avalanche went big-game hunting at the trade deadline and remain in contention for division and league titles, tied with Vancouver with a .676 points percentage (100 points in 74 games). With new faces Brandon Duhaime, Casey Mittelstadt, Yakov Trenin, and Sean Walker providing reinforcements in the absence of captain Gabriel Landeskog for a second straight season, Colorado will look to stay hot down the stretch and avenge last year’s first-round upset at the hands of the Kraken.

Over in the East, the Bruins, Hurricanes and Panthers remain in the hunt for the regular-season title, but at three or more points behind the Rangers with no games in hand, it seems unlikely with New York on a hot streak. MoneyPuck awards each of them less than a 4% chance at capturing the first-overall crown.

Tell us – who’s your pick to win the Presidents’ Trophy and aim to become the first regular-season champion since 2013 to hoist the Stanley Cup?

Who's Going To Win The Presidents' Trophy?
Rangers 48.97% (355 votes)
Stars 15.17% (110 votes)
Bruins 10.62% (77 votes)
Hurricanes 7.72% (56 votes)
Canucks 5.93% (43 votes)
Avalanche 5.52% (40 votes)
Panthers 4.97% (36 votes)
Other 1.10% (8 votes)
Total Votes: 725

Mobile/app users, use this link to vote.

Canucks Sign Ty Mueller To A Three-Year, Entry-Level Contract

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The Canucks have signed one of their prospects as the team announced today that they’ve signed forward Ty Mueller to a three-year, entry-level contract.  Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.  GM Patrik Allvin released the following statement on the signing:

Ty has continued to develop and take important steps forward since we drafted him. He is a smart two-way hockey player who we look forward to working with as he makes the transition from college hockey to the pro game.

It hasn’t been all that long since Vancouver drafted the 21-year-old as they picked him in the fourth round (105th overall) last June.  At that point, Mueller was coming off a strong sophomore year with Nebraska-Omaha, one that saw him put up a dozen goals and 13 assists in 34 games, good enough to get him drafted in his final season of eligibility.  Had he not been drafted then, he instead would have been part of this college free agent class.

Mueller wasn’t quite able to build on those offensive numbers this season as he had 11 goals and 15 helpers in 40 games, good for a tie for third in team scoring.  While he could have elected to stay for his senior year and try to end his college career on a high note, he’ll instead turn pro.

The team didn’t note it if this is a contract that burns a year right away in which case he’d finish up the season in Vancouver.  If that’s not the case and the deal doesn’t start until 2024-25, Mueller would be eligible to sign an ATO with AHL Abbotsford to play down there for the stretch run with the Calder Cup playoffs now just a month away.

Dakota Joshua Returns To Lineup

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  • In tonight’s potential Western Conference Final preview, the Vancouver Canucks will see the return of a key player, as Dakota Joshua will return to the lineup (X Link). It will be Joshua’s first game back since February 13th, as the Michigan native suffered an upper-body injury in the team’s game against the Chicago Blackhawks.

    [SOURCE LINK]

West Notes: McGinn, Grundström, Krug, Joshua

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The Anaheim Ducks have announced that forward Brock McGinn has undergone successful back surgery, focused on his intervertebral discs (Twitter link). This operation is expected to hold McGinn out for four months, ending his season early. McGinn has been on injured reserve since February 17th and absent from Anaheim’s lineup since January 25th.

This news marks the final blow in what was a difficult season for McGinn – who suffered a significant lower-body injury just days before Anaheim’s first game of the season that held him out for a month. That injury, as well as a brief departure for the birth of his first child in late December, held McGinn to just 24 appearances in the first half of the season. Those games will now stand as his only this year, marking the least he’s played since turning pro in the 2014-15 season. McGinn managed one goal, three points, four penalty minutes, and a -5 this year while averaging roughly 11 minutes of ice time. Anaheim has utilized a variety of talents in his place – with the Ducks debut of Ben Meyers, the return of Trevor Zegras from injury, and bottom-six stalwarts like Ross Johnston and Benoit-Olivier Groulx working to fill open minutes. McGinn will look to rejoin the bottom-six mix next season, with one year remaining on his contract.

Other notes from around the league:

  • Gritty forward Carl Grundström is progressing from injury, joining the Los Angeles Kings on their three-game road trip through Western Canada, per The Athletic’s Eric Stephens (Twitter link). Grundström has been out since February 13th with a lower-body injury that’s earned him a place on long-term injured reserve. He’s managed eight goals and 12 points in 50 games this season. Stephens adds that Grundström is still wearing a no-contact jersey at practice – but his attendance on the trip is nonetheless encouraging progress towards his return from a 21-game absence.
  • Defenseman Torey Krug could be held out of the St. Louis Blues’ lineup on Thursday with the flu, per NHL.com’s Lou Korac (Twitter link). Blues head coach Drew Bannister shared that he’s hopeful Krug will be good to go but designated him as questionable. Krug played in the first 69 games of St. Louis’ season but recently missed his first game of the year with a lower-body injury. He’s been a pivotal piece of St. Louis’ lineup when healthy, managing 34 points and 30 penalty minutes in 71 games. The Blues will hope he’s feeling better come tomorrow, as they gear up for a fight with the Calgary Flames.
  • The Vancouver Canucks upgraded forward Dakota Joshua to full-contact at their Wednesday-morning practice (Twitter link). Joshua has been out since February 13th, suffering an undisclosed injury in the midst of a three-point night. He’s flirted with a return many times since, but ultimately landed on Vancouver’s long-term injured reserve. While no official designation was provided, Joshua could have a chance to return as soon as Thursday, when the Canucks take on the Dallas Stars.

Canucks Recall Arshdeep Bains

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The Canucks recalled winger Arshdeep Bains from AHL Abbotsford on Wednesday, GM Patrik Allvin said. To create the cap space required to add Bains’ $816.7K cap hit, the team moved goaltender Thatcher Demko to long-term injured reserve, retroactive to when he sustained a knee injury against the Jets on March 9. Bains’ recall is an emergency loan, per CapFriendly, suggesting another forward aside from Elias Lindholm (undisclosed, day-to-day) may be absent for Thursday’s game against the Stars.

This is Bains’ second recall of the season. The 23-year-old was first summoned in mid-February and made his NHL debut in Colorado three days later. He made another four appearances but was held without a point and managed only three shots on goal while averaging 12:57 per game. Bains was then returned to Abbotsford on March 1, one week before the trade deadline.

An undrafted free agent pickup out of WHL Red Deer in 2022, Bains’ signing is looking like one of Allvin’s shrewder moves at the helm of the Canucks. The Surrey, British Columbia native adjusted well to the pros, putting up 38 points in 66 games in a middle-six role after leading the WHL in scoring during his overage season. Bains has taken things up a notch this year, breaking out as a first-line talent with Abbotsford and leading the team with 35 assists and 49 points in 53 games.

Bains didn’t look entirely out of place under the eye test in his call-up last month, but the stats weren’t kind. He was used in a checking role by head coach Rick Tocchet and struggled to control shot attempts, logging a 45.5 CF% at even strength that was a staggering 13.9% worse than the Canucks’ overall CF% when Bains was off the ice over his five-game stint. Keeping his head above water in terms of possession quality was even more of a struggle, logging a 33.3 xGF%.

Nonetheless, he’ll get a second chance to inject some energy into their bottom six. He was quite good in the minors after being returned to Abbotsford a few weeks ago, scoring five goals and adding five assists for 10 points in 11 games. He still has another season left on his entry-level contract and remains waiver-exempt.

As for Demko, the LTIR placement indicates the star starter will be out until at least April 6 against the Kings, meaning he’ll miss at least Vancouver’s next four games. The likely Vezina Trophy candidate remains out on a week-to-week basis but is expected back before the end of the regular season. Casey DeSmith has been the Canucks’ crease’s sole occupant since Demko got hurt, posting a 3-2-1 record and .903 SV% since replacing him against the Jets.

Could $5MM Be Zadorov's Asking Price?

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Nikita Zadorov is one of the more intriguing pending unrestricted free agent defensemen and it appears he’s poised to land a fair-sized raise on his current contract.  In an appearance on Sekeres and Price (Twitter video link), Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli suggests that Calgary felt that Zadorov’s asking price was likely to be in the $5MM range on a multi-year contract which helped facilitate his trade to the Canucks.  Zadorov has 18 points in 66 games between the two teams so far while averaging a little under 18 minutes a night.  He’s currently on a $3.75MM price tag but with his size and the fact that the salary cap is going to go up next season, the 28-year-old has a strong case for a raise, one that could ultimately price him out of Vancouver.

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