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Central Division Snapshots: Trouba, Mitchell, Hudler, Dowling

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To this point, the only outcomes discussed in the Winnipeg/Jacob Trouba stalemate have involved either the player caving in and signing a new contract to remain with the Jets or a trade sending the RFA defenseman elsewhere. But as Rory Bolyen of Sportsnet writes, there is a possibility Trouba re-signs with the team as a way to help facilitate a trade down the road.

Bolyen references comments made by Nick Kypreos and Elliotte Friedman made yesterday on the Saturday’s Headlines segment. Kypreos states the a signed Trouba may have more value on the trade market than he does currently.

“Kurt Overhardt (Trouba’s agent) met with Kevin Cheveldayoff in Detroit. The feeling is it’s still pretty quiet on that front, but Winnipeg would love to sign this guy. And sign him to that same contract we’ve seen other defensemen get. The perception out there right now is that there is a deal, like a Morgan Rielly deal, for $5 million, six years.

“And that would still come with the thought that it could be tradable if in fact he signs this and starts playing again, that they could be in a position where teams would love the known certainty of Jacob Trouba for the next six years and it would be tradable if that’s the direction they wanted to go.”

Friedman added that Overhardt went through a similar situation with another client, Kyle Turris.

“Just so you know, Kyle Turris when he went through the situation, he signed on November 22, he was traded on December 17,”

Sitting out the season likely would do little to enhance Trouba’s value so getting back on the ice should be a priority. Obviously he would sacrifice the only leverage he possesses as Winnipeg could simply choose to hang onto the young blue liner instead of moving him. But perhaps it would be best for both sides if Trouba signs a new deal and gets back to playing while the Jets continue to pursue a trade to their liking.

Elsewhere in the Central Division:

  • The Colorado Avalanche placed John Mitchell on waivers Friday and the veteran pivot, who is in his ninth NHL season, cleared Saturday. Mitchell, who has been held scoreless in five appearances this season, is in his fifth season with Colorado. He has reached double-figures in goals and tallied at least 20 points in each of his first four campaigns with the Avalanche. With only a projected $1.7MM in available cap space, the move was made in order to provide additional cap flexibility for GM Joe Sakic, as Mike Chambers of The Denver Post writes. The club can now send Mitchell down to their AHL affiliate in San Antonio at any point over the next 30 days to open up a spot on the roster for a younger player and/or to clear an additional $950K in salary cap space. Mitchell is in the last season of a three-year deal worth $5.4MM. He is making $1.9MM in actual salary.
  • According to Mark Stepneski, who covers the Stars for the team’s official website, Dallas has placed Jiri Hudler on injured reserve due to an undisclosed illness and recalled forward Justin Dowling from Texas of the AHL. Hudler was signed this summer to provide secondary scoring but the 12-year veteran has played in just four games and has so far failed to record a point. Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News adds that since Dowling played both Friday and Saturday in California for the Texas Stars, head coach Lindy Ruff may elect to dress seven defensemen for tonight’s game. According to Ruff (via Heika), the team has no idea what specifically has afflicted Hudler as tests have revealed nothing.

 

Ducks Notes: Raymond, Larsson, Fowler

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The Ducks made official what has been rumored for the last couple of days, that Mason Raymond has been released from his contract and is now a free agent. After Raymond cleared waivers, he didn’t report to the AHL San Diego Gulls citing personal reasons, and has now worked out a mutual termination with the Ducks.

Raymond signed a two-way deal in the summer, meaning at one point he had thought a move to the AHL was possible, though obviously something must have happened in the interim. A one time 20-goal man with the Vancouver Canucks, Raymond has never been able to make it back to that mark, coming closest in 2013-14 with the Maple Leafs. We wish him all the best with whatever is affecting his personal life, and will watch for where he signs on next.

  • The Ducks have also returned Jacob Larsson to Frolunda of the Swedish Hockey League, an expected move. Larsson was one of the players we wrote about when discussing the NHL’s slide-rule regarding young professionals. Playing in four games for each the Ducks and Gulls, Larsson recorded two points but was a dreadful -7. The first-round pick will go back to compete in the highest league in Sweden and develop his all around game.
  • Despite a lot of chatter over the past few months on Cam Fowler and his status as trade bait by the Anaheim Ducks, perhaps fans should think again about him moving. After another excellent start to the season, the former 12th overall pick has eight points in eleven games, including four goals already. His career high of ten, coming back in his rookie season, seems easily obtainable for the 24-year old. His stellar start will only elevate his trade value, making it even tougher for teams to provide a reasonable offer. With Simon Despres out indefinitely (and with his career seemingly at risk), perhaps the Ducks will hold onto their young defenseman a bit longer.
  • One last note from Eric Stephens of the Orange County Register, is that Shea Theodore has been sent back down to the AHL. This isn’t the first, and it won’t be the last time Theodore gets on a bus to San Diego this season, as he’s already been ping-ponged back and forth between the two levels.

Craig Anderson Again Away From Team; Timetable Uncertain

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In a story that sounds like it will be one of the focus points of the season for the Senators (however unfairly), Craig Anderson has again left the Ottawa Senators to be with his wife Nicholle. The goaltender’s wife was recently diagnosed with cancer, prompting the team to go out and get Mike Condon from the Pittsburgh Penguins for exactly this reason.

The 35-year old Anderson recorded an emotional shutout in his return to the net after learning of the diagnosis, and stopped 32 of 33 shots on Tuesday over Carolina. In his career with Ottawa, the veteran netminder now carries a 2.63 GAA and .919 save percentage, both outstanding numbers.

Even though the Senators were forced to give up a fifth-round pick for Condon, a player Pittsburgh had only just acquired on waivers three weeks earlier, it should provide them with some stability behind Anderson while Andrew Hammond nurses a groin injury. Even when Hammond returns, the team might elect to carry three goaltenders for the remainder of the year.

As everyone does when they write about this story, the staff here at PHR would like to extend our thoughts to the Anderson family. Many people’s lives are affected by cancer every day, but usually sports tends to provide relief from serious matters. If you’d like to help, check out #HockeyFightsCancer for donations and support.

Vancouver Canucks Assign Stetcher, Nilsson To AHL

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The Vancouver Canucks continue to shuffle the deck looking for a winning formula. Today, the team has sent Troy Stecher and Tom Nilsson to the AHL Utica Comets. Chris Tanev will figure back into the lineup in their absence.

Stecher had played admirably for the Canucks since his call up, averaging over twenty minutes a night and providing a calm presence on the back end. The 22-year old was only just signed out of the University of North Dakota this summer, but has already established himself as a potential NHL blueliner. He’ll have to wait his turn though, as being waivers-exempt often means you’re on the bubble of the NHL roster.

Nilsson on the other hand didn’t get into a game with the Canucks after suffering an injury in the preseason. The former Maple Leafs’ prospect will look to make an impression at Utica this season and reestablish himself in the North American game. After playing well for the Toronto Marlies two seasons ago, Nilsson returned to Sweden to play for Frolunda last year.

Ottawa Acquires Mike Condon From Pittsburgh

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According to Bob McKenzie of TSN, the Ottawa Senators have acquired Mike Condon from the Pittsburgh Penguins for a fifth-round draft pick. Since Craig Anderson was forced to take a short leave of absence from the team (he has since returned) and Andrew Hammond was placed on injured reserve with a groin injury, the Senators have been looking high and wide for some help in net.  It’ll come in the form of Condon, who was selected off waivers by the Penguins just before the start of the season.

For Pittsburgh, this is a nice return for a player who only spent a few weeks in your system. Condon was an emergency claim by the Penguins once Matt Murray wasn’t able to start the season due to his broken hand. Now, as Murray returns, the team had to make a decision on Condon as he would obviously require waivers once again to go to the AHL.

For the Senators, Condon will provide some assurance that they’ll have an NHL caliber goaltender in net each night even if Anderson has to take any more time off. While the team will likely come into the same situation once Hammond returns, they won’t have to make a decision for at least some time.

Condon broke into the league last season when Carey Price went down, playing 55 games for the Canadiens to mixed results. With a .903 save percentage and 2.71 goals against average, the 26-year old rookie at least showed he’s capable of helping an NHL squad, though perhaps not for the majority of a season.

It must sting the Canadiens the worst, as they were unable to get anything in return for Condon before the season. While a fifth-rounder isn’t a huge return, it is at least something tangible.

 

Bruins Send Danton Heinen To Providence

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According to Joe Haggerty of CSNNE, the Boston Bruins have sent Danton Heinen to Providence of the AHL. Heinen does not need to clear waivers, and will get more minutes at the AHL level to, as coach Claude Julien puts it, “go down there, get better, get more confident and get stronger.”

Heinen played seven games with the Bruins this year but failed to register a point, despite seeing more than 16 minutes of icetime on two occasions.  The 21-year old was a -2 on the year, and will now hope to help a struggling Providence team that has scored just 17 goals in 8 games.

A fourth-round pick out of the BCHL, Heinen spent two seasons at the University of Denver where he was a standout offensive star. 93 points in 81 games led the Pioneers both seasons before leaving to sign with the Bruins last spring.

Changes To Waiver Priority

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While the turning of the calendar to November marks the first full month of the NHL season, it also represents the first day that the waiver priority order changes.

During the offseason and through the month of October, claiming priority was based on the reversed regular season standings of the previous year.  As a result, teams like Montreal and Edmonton, who have been among the league leaders in the standings so far this year, have had top ten priority for players that were waived during training camp and the first few weeks of the season based on their low finish in 2015-16.

Now the claiming order is based off of the current standings and will change daily from now until the end of the season.  That means that Arizona and Nashville are the top two teams in the priority list today.  It’s also worth noting that a team claiming a player does not make them move to the back of the priority list.

We’re reaching the time of the year where some of the players claimed via the waiver wire back in the preseason will once again be on waivers after failing to make an impression on their new squad or the return of another player from injury has forced them off the roster.  The team that originally lost the player does not automatically have top priority in reclaiming him.  However, if the original team places a claim and no one else does, the original team would be permitted to send the player to the minor leagues.  We saw this happen today with Martin Frk and Detroit.

Depending on who hits the wire in the days and weeks ahead, that should be something to watch for.  In the meantime, some different teams will have the top chances to add anyone that is waived moving forward.

Red Wings Claim Martin Frk Off Waivers From Carolina

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The Detroit Red Wings have reclaimed right winger Martin Frk off of waivers from Carolina, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link).  Bob Duff of the Windsor Star adds via Twitter that Frk has been assigned to Grand Rapids of the AHL.

Frk, originally drafted by the Wings in the second round (49th overall) in 2012, has spent the bulk of his professional career at the minor league level.  Last season was his first full season at the AHL level after splitting the previous two campaigns between Grand Rapids and Toledo of the ECHL. In 2015-16, he played in 67 games for the AHL’s Griffins, scoring 27 goals while adding 17 assists.

The Wings waived Frk last month but the Hurricanes scooped him off the wire and were one of three teams in total to place a claim according to TSN’s Bob McKenzie (Twitter link).  However, Carolina rarely used the 23 year old as he has played in just two games so far this season, being held pointless with a -3 rating while averaging just 8:20 of ice time per game.

Because no other team placed a claim on Frk, Detroit was be able to send him down.  Had another team put in a claim, the Red Wings would have been forced to keep him on their NHL roster or re-waive him to attempt to send him to the AHL.

[Related: Red Wings Depth Chart]

Meanwhile for Carolina, with Frk now off the roster, the team has activated defenseman Ryan Murphy off of injured reserve.  Murphy suffered a lower body injury in the preseason and has not yet suited up for the Hurricanes this season.

Snapshots: Sergachev, Frk, Bauer

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The red-hot Montreal Canadiens have assigned rookie defenseman Mikhail Sergachev to the Windsor Spitfires of the OHL. The ninth overall pick of the 2016 draft started the season with the Canadiens, going pointless in 3 games. The Canadiens are 8-0-1 so far this season.

Sergachev is expected to play a big role for the Spitfires, where he scored 57 points in 67 games last season. He was one of the top-ranked defensemen for last summer’s draft, alongside Olli Juolevi and Jakob Chychrun.

As a result of him not reaching nine games played, his contract will slide to next year. There are now 20 slide-eligible rookies in the NHL.

  • The Carolina Hurricanes have placed Martin Frk on waivers. Frk went pointless and -3 in 2 games played with the Hurricanes, his first two NHL games. Carolina claimed Frk on waivers earlier this month from the Detroit Red Wings. The Red Wings will get first waiver priority to claim their 2012 second rounder, then the remaining order is the reverse standings order from the end of the 2015-16 season. The waiver priority will change to this season’s standings on November 1st.
  • Some high profile NHLers may be without endorsement deals as soon as today. Players like Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, and Alex Ovechkin all make between $300K and $500K per season for using Bauer equipment. However, Bauer’s parent company, Performance Sports Group (PSG), has filed for bankruptcy protection. TSN’s Rick Westhead quoted a source as saying a bankruptcy judge can “cancel those endorsement contracts and list the players as creditors.” PSG is expected to have more than $400MM in debt by the end of the year. There are also shareholders preparing to file a lawsuit for inflated sales figures and growth prospects. PSG bough Bauer from Nike in 2008, and also purchased equipment makers Cascade and Easton in recent years.

The Jack Capuano Situation

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After finally breaking through to the second-round of the playoffs in 2015-16, following six consecutive first-round postseason defeats, it was expected that the New York Islanders might be ready to take yet another step in their progression. After all, the team returned its roster nearly intact and boasts a legitimate franchise player in John Tavares. Though it’s early, the Islanders are off to a disappointing 3 – 5 – 0 record and currently reside in a last place tie with Carolina. This combined with other factors has led Brandon Cohen of Today’s Slapshot to conclude that Jack Capuano has surpassed his expiration date as head coach of the Islanders.

In addition to the slow start to the 2016-17 campaign, Cohen points out that despite moving on to the second round last season and winning game one against Tampa Bay, the Islanders “crumbled” when it mattered most and turned in a disappointing effort in the series-clinching 4 – 0 loss to the Lightning in game five. Cohen also notes that a year earlier, with a chance to advance with a game seven win over Washington in the first round, the Islanders mustered just 11 total shots on goal in a performance that can best be described as “flat.”

Capuano was elevated to head coach early on in the 2010-11 campaign and is in his seventh season with more than 450 games running the Islanders bench. He’s guided the team to three playoff appearances and back-to-back 100-point seasons but as noted earlier, just a single playoff series win. It’s rare for a coach who has achieved little postseason success to be allowed that much time but GM Garth Snow has obviously exercised patience when it comes to Capuano.

The Islanders handling of their goaltending situation has elicited criticism in the last couple of days. The team has carried three goaltenders for much of the last couple of seasons due in large part to the fact Jean-Francois Berube is not waivers-exempt and would almost certainly be claimed if exposed. Because of this, it’s been hard to find appropriate practice time to keep the team’s goalies sharp. Of course some of the blame for this falls on Snow for his inability or unwillingness to move one of his tenders to clear the logjam while obtaining some value in return. But Capuano shoulders some of the responsibility as it is on him to schedulea nd plan practices.

Capuano has also found it difficult working offseason additions Jason Chimera and Andrew Ladd into the lineup. The duo has accounted for just four points, all assists, while taking up $7.75MM in cap space this year. Over the last six years, Ladd has averaged 0.33 goals-per-game and has tallied at least 23 markers in each of the last five full seasons he has played. Yet he has just one helper to date through eight games even though he has had John Tavares and Josh Bailey as linemates 63% of the time, according to the website Left Wing Lock.

Again, you could find fault with Snow for handing out those free agent deals but Ladd has been a steady producer for a long time and the onus is on Capuano to find a way to help jump start the veteran winger’s game.

Capuano has drawn praise for focusing on the development of young players. In addition to Tavares, Kyle Okposo has developed into a solid power forward who has tallied at least 60 points two of the last three seasons. Frans Nielsen turned into one of the game’s best two-way centers, mostly under Capuano’s tutelage. Meanwhile, Travis Hamonic and Calvin de Haan have grown into solid top-four defenders.

Of course there have also been several high draft picks who have yet to reach their potential. Josh Bailey was selected 9th overall in 2008 but has yet to score more than 16 goals or 41 points in any season. Ryan Strome had a 50-point campaign as a 21-year-old sophomore but his production tailed off tremendously in 2015-16, scoring just seven goals and 28 points last season.

As with any coach, there have been plenty of ups-and-downs for the Islanders under Capuano. But while Snow has demonstrated plenty of patience to date with his head coach, the time to make a change behind the bench might be drawing near if the Islanders can’t shake off the early season doldrums.

 

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