Custance’s Latest: Sizing Up The Trade Market
With the trade deadline now less than two months away, we’re starting to see more speculation (and hope) regarding the state of the trade market. ESPN’s Craig Custance provides a pair of articles (one for the East and one for the West – Insider required for both) to provide an overview of how things are currently looking. The full articles are certainly worth a read but here are some of the highlights:
- The Coyotes are “asking for stupid returns because they know they can”. With them and the Avalanche basically being the only two guaranteed sellers, they know it’s a sellers’ market and can wait to see if someone wants to blink. Center Martin Hanzal and defenseman Michael Stone, both pending unrestricted free agents, are the most likely to move although right winger Radim Vrbata is also a potential UFA and could be a candidate to move.
- Given that Anaheim is largely capped out plus the pending expansion draft, Custance expects that if the Ducks are going to be active in the trade market, it will be more of a player-for-player ‘hockey trade’ than one that sees them move futures for short-term help. Anaheim is one of nine teams currently using LTIR to stay in compliance with the salary cap.
- There has been no movement on a potential contract extension for Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk who is expected to be one of the top free agents this summer if he makes it to the open market. That puts a bit of pressure on GM Doug Armstrong – does he use him as an internal rental and risk letting a top free agent get away with no compensation in the summer like what happened with David Backes or trade him now, even if it hurts their postseason chances?
- While big name goaltenders are at the forefront, Blue Jackets youngster Anton Forsberg could be a name to watch for. Sergei Bobrovsky is still the starter for at least a couple more years and Forsberg is set to be left unprotected in the expansion draft. He’s pushing for a full-time roster spot with another strong season in AHL Cleveland and might garner some interest from teams that are lacking quality young netminders in their system.
- Although Washington GM Brian McLellan has a reputation for being conservative when it comes to the trade market, their free agent situation could force them to be a bit more active than usual. Forwards T.J. Oshie, Justin Williams, and defenseman Karl Alzner are among their potential UFAs and if they don’t believe they have the ability to keep or replace them all, their window to make a real push may be right now.
Minor Transactions: 1/6/17
Here are the minor transactions from around the hockey world for January 6, 2017.
- The Pittsburgh Penguins have called up goaltender Tristian Jarry and defenseman Chad Ruhwedel from the Wilkes-Barrie/ Scranton Penguins. Jarry has 14 wins this season, which puts him in a four-way tie to lead the AHL. Jarry returns to the NHL club to cover for Matt Murray’s recent injury. The Penguins had their CBA-mandated bye-week, so Jarry was sent down to play games instead of getting a week off. He has yet to make his NHL debut. Ruhwedel has 15 points in 27 games with the AHL club this year, and two points in five NHL games.
- The Washington Capitals have recalled forward Liam O’Brien from the Hershey Bears of the AHL. O’Brien has 18 points in 28 games with the Bears, and could play his first NHL game since 2014-15. He had two points in 13 games with the Capitals in his first year of professional hockey. O’Brien has 42 points in 132 AHL games in his career, and is in the final year of his entry-level contract.
- A day after clearing waivers, Anton Khudobin is on his way to the AHL as the Bruins call up Zane McIntyre in a swap of backup goaltenders. McIntyre is unbeaten in the AHL this season with a spectacular 10-0-0 record and an AHL-leading 0.951 SV% and a 1.41 GAA. He hasn’t had the same success at the NHL level, though. He’s 0-2-0 in three appearances with a 0.859 SV% and a 4.04 GAA. Meanwhile, Khudobin has struggled in his second stint in Boston, with just one win in seven games and a GAA of 3.06. He’s in the first season of a two-year contract which pays him $1.2MM per season. Khudobin will still account for $250K against the Bruins cap while he plies his trade in the AHL.
- The Bruins have also returned energy forward Noel Acciari to the Providence Bruins. Acciari has struggled to earn regular play time in Boston since returning from injury two weeks ago.
- The Chicago Blackhawks have assigned defenseman Gustav Forsling to the Rockford Ice Hogs of the AHL. Forsling was a pleasant surprise who made the Blackhawks out of training camp, but has seen his ice-time decrease throughout the season. He has four points in 32 games in the NHL this season. The Blackhawks likely wanted to stop carrying eight defensemen, as veterans Brian Campbell and Michal Rozsival were healthy scratches for last night’s game. Forsling did not need to clear waivers to be sent down, so he was the odd-man out.
- Staying with the Blackhawks organization, Spencer Abbott was recalled by Chicago on January 3. Three days and one game later, he’s heading back to the Rockford. Abbott was held pointless in just over eight minutes of ice on Thursday night. He has 21 points in 30 AHL games in his first full year in the Blackhawks organization since being acquired at the 2015 NHL trade deadline. Abbott played last season in Sweden before returning to North America. It’s likely that Jordin Tootoo will draw back into the lineup in his place.
- The Dallas Stars have sent Patrik Nemeth to the AHL on a conditioning stint. The 6’3, 215 lbs defenseman has played in just 16 games with the Stars this season, with no points.
- Oilers prospect Jordan Oesterle is heading back to Bakersfield. He has yet to appear in any NHL games this season, having been recalled to serve as the seventh defenseman twice. The speedy defenseman has eight points in 14 AHL games this year after scoring five points in 17 games with the Oilers last season.
Blue Jackets’ Streak Ends One Win Shy Of NHL Record
“It’s going to be a really good, fun moment for us to end it.”
That’s what Capitals forward Andre Burakovsky told the Washington Times when asked about facing the Blue Jackets prior to Thursday night’s game. The Blue Jackets were on the verge of tying an incredible NHL record, going for their 17th-straight win. Their last loss was a distant memory, back on November 29, 2016.
Unfortunately for Columbus, the streak ended with a thud, as Washington beat them soundly, 5-0.
Daniel Winnik, John Carlson, Nate Schmidt, Burakovsky, and Justin Williams scored for Washington, who won their fourth game in a row. Braden Holtby made 29 saves for his fourth shutout of the season.
Sergei Bobrovsky, who has been a major part of the Blue Jackets’ win streak, allowed five goals on 23 shots before being pulled in the third period. Bobrovsky was 14-0-0 during the winning streak, with just 23 goals allowed and a 0.941 SV%. One of the other key facets of the Blue Jackets’ streak that failed them was their deadly power-play (15/53, or 28%). They went 0/5 versus the Capitals.
It’s going to be interesting to see how the Blue Jackets recover from the end of their winning streak, which featured more wins than four teams (Arizona, Colorado, Buffalo, and the Islanders) have all season, and as many wins as three teams (Dallas, New Jersey, and Florida) have so far this season. Damien Cox of Sportsnet writes that the next challenge for coach John Tortorella is to “convince his group that the streak wasn’t a fluke but a demonstration of capability.”
The Blue Jackets play 11 games in the next 20 days before the NHL All-Star break. They’re going to have a big target on their backs, as teams try to prove that they can beat the team who went more than five weeks without a loss.
Despite the incredible run, nothing is guaranteed for Tortorella and his team. The team they were trying to catch, the 1992-93 Pittsburgh Penguins, won 17 straight but were upset in the second-round of the playoffs. As Cox wrote in his article:
The 16-game streak was nice and all, but it doesn’t change the fact that this hockey club has never won much of anything. Tortorella, an experienced, hardnosed coach, will be reminding them of that, you can bet.
The Blue Jackets are first in the NHL, but only by three points. And the next two teams, Pittsburgh and the Rangers, are both division rivals in the Metropolitan Division. Washington has 53 points, which would be tops in both Western Conference Divisions, but remains in fourth in the Metropolitan. Columbus will need to continue winning consistently if they hope to improve their franchise’s 2-8 all-time playoff record.
Henrik Sedin, Alexander Ovechkin Approaching Milestone
What better way to start the new year than by hitting a major career benchmark? We could see it happen twice this week, as Vancouver Canucks long-time center Henrik Sedin and Washington Capitals franchise forward Alexander Ovechkin are each within reach of 1,000 career regular season points. As the NHL begins it’s 100th season, just 83 players have scored 1,000 points in their career. Gordie Howe was the first to do it, back in 1960, and Patrick Marleau was the most recent addition, notching #1,000 last November. It took Marleau the most games to hit the mark, 1349 to be exact, while Wayne Gretzky did it the fastest, in 424 games, and had his second 1,000 in 857 games, just 433 games later, making him also the second fastest. The only active players on the list are Marleau, teammate Joe Thornton, Jarome Iginla, Marian Hossa and, of course, Jaromir Jagr. When will Sedin and Ovechkin join them?
Sedin currently sits at 996 points, just four points away from membership into the elite club. Sedin, and twin brother Daniel (965 career points), were drafted #2 and #3 overall by the Vancouver Canucks in 1999. They broke into the league together in 2000-01 and the rest is history. 16 years later, hockey’s ultimate siblings continue to be scoring machines in Vancouver. Henrik, now the captain of the Canucks, established himself as one of the best players in the NHL back in 2009-10, when he led the league with 83 assists and 112 points, earning both the Art Ross Trophy as the league’s top scorer and Hart Trophy as MVP. Sedin went on to lead the league in assists in each of the next two seasons. Just two years ago, in 2014-15, Sedin notched 55 assists on his way to a 73-point season, showing up those who suggested he was slowing down. Now 36 years old, both Henrik and Daniel are finally starting to show their age, but Henrik is still the main man in Vancouver, sharing the team points lead of 26 with Bo Horvat. With just four points to go until 1,000, Sedin faces three opponents this week who are not exactly the toughest to score against. Vancouver hosts the Arizona Coyotes tomorrow night and then takes on the Calgary Flames in a home-and-home on Friday and Saturday. Sedin has a strong chance to join the 1,000 point club by week’s end.
Meanwhile, Ovechkin prepares to hit 1,000 at just 31 years old. The dynamic winger currently has 994 points, just six points away from becoming the fastest to 1,000 in the 21st century. The first overall pick in 2004, Ovechkin has been a star since the beginning. In his rookie season in 2005-06, the 20-year-old scored 105 points, took home the Calder Trophy in a landslide, and has never looked back. Ovechkin has had four seasons of over 100 points, including leading the league with 112 in 2007-08. He has won the Maurice Richard Trophy as the league’s leading goal-scorer six times, including each of the past four years. He’s even two goals away from tying Maurice Richard himself for 29th all-time in goals. Ovechkin will hit 1,000 in no time and will likely be chasing 1,500 before we know it. But will he hit the mark this week? The Capitals square off against the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight, the upstart Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday, and then travel to Ottawa to face the Senators on Saturday night. Three good competitors are on the docket, but when it comes to scoring, never count out Ovechkin.
Minor Transactions: 1/1/17
According to a team report, the Washington Capitals have re-assigned forward Jakub Vrana to its AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears.
Vrana has 3 points (1-2) in 12 games with the Caps. The Washington Post’s Isabelle Khurshudyan tweets that the Capitals will go with 12 forwards for now. Tarik El-Bashir adds that Vrana hit the “rookie wall” in Washington.
The 2014 first round choice has been close to registering a point-per-game in Hershey, notching 16 (9-7) in 18 games.
- The Penguins have re-assigned defensemen Chad Ruhwedel and David Warsofsky according to the team’s website. Both will head back to the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins along with goaltender Tristan Jarry. Jason Mackey tweets that the moves are to get each player more games during the Penguins’ bye week. They are scheduled to play again on January 8th against Tampa Bay.
- Elliotte Friedman tweets that the Jets have placed Alexander Burmistrov on waivers while the Predators placed Reid Boucher on waivers. Burmistrov has two points (0-2) in 23 games while Boucher has one goal in three games with the Preds.
- The New Jersey Devils have recalled defenseman Steve Santini from the Albany Devils of the AHL. The former Boston College blue liner made his NHL debut late last season, but has not yet played for New Jersey in 2016-17.
- Nashville has sent defenseman Adam Pardy back to down to the AHL. The Predators signed the veteran defenseman after the regular season had begun for some added depth, but he has played in just four games in Nashville. Most of his time has been spent with the Milwaukee Admirals, who he now returns to.
- With Sami Vatanen returning to the lineup, the Anaheim Ducks have reassigned defenseman Shea Theodore to the AHL’s San Diego Gulls. Theodore is one of an overwhelming number of good, young defenseman in Anaheim, and while he would play at the NHL level for most teams, he’ll have to earn a full-time job over another veteran starter or wait for a hole to open up for a permanent job with the Ducks. For now, he heads back to the minors while Anaheim takes an extended look at Brandon Montour.
Devils Blue Liner John Moore Taken Off Ice On Stretcher
New Jersey Devils defenseman John Moore was taken off the ice on a stretcher in the first period of today’s game against Washington after a hit from behind by Capitals forward Tom Wilson. Devils head coach John Hynes later announced that Moore had been taken to the hospital and subsequently released, according to Andrew Gross via Twitter. Hynes provided no further update but indicated the fact he was released from the hospital was a good sign.
Wilson was not penalized on the play but it’s possible he will be hearing from the Department of Player Safety about the matter. In a statement released following the 6 – 2 Capitals win, Wilson stated he “tried to let up a bit,” and instead “kind of rubbed him out.” The Washington Post’s Isabelle Khurshudyan posted the full statement on Twitter.
Moore has been a solid fit in New Jersey’s top-four since signing with the club as a free agent prior to the 2015-16 campaign. The 26-year-old has tallied five goals and 13 points in 36 games while averaging just less than 19 1/2 minutes per contest this season. He leads Devils defenders in goals and is second in scoring. It’s assumed at this time he will be out indefinitely.
Wilson is known throughout the league as a physical player who finishes his checks and is always willing to drop the gloves but has managed to avoid suspension to this point in his career. The league did, however, fine the forward last season for a knee-on-knee to hit to Pittsburgh’s Conor Sheary in the playoffs.
Devils tough guy forward Luke Gazdic took Wilson to task and challenged the Capitals winger to a scrap in the second period and again according to Gross, he would have this to say after the game about the altercation: “It’s not like I was waiting for the right moment. I was waiting for the first moment.”
For his part Hynes felt it should have been a penalty, saying:
“It’s good that he’s for sure getting released from the hospital,” Hynes said. “I wouldn’t necessarily say it was a dirty play. It looked like a hit from behind. His back was turned on the glass and he was hit pretty hard into the glass. It looked like it was a penalty. The refs felt because he didn’t get launched into the glass it wasn’t a penalty. It’s not my decision to buy or not buy [that].”
To this point there has been no indication from the league in regards to whether the DoPS will have another look at the play.
Two Players Sent To AHL As Roster Freeze Ends
With the NHL’s holiday roster freeze over, Washington and Toronto made a pair of minor transactions on Wednesday morning.
The Capitals sent rookie Zachary Sanford back to Hershey of the AHL, the Bears announced this morning. Sanford has played for both the Bears and Capitals this season, with one assist in 20 NHL games and four goals and seven points in just six AHL games. The Washington Post’s Isabelle Khurshudyan isn’t surprised by the move, considering Sanford had been a healthy scratch for three of the past four games after being recalled on December 17.
Meanwhile the Toronto Maple Leafs’ goaltending carousel continues, as the team demoted backup goaltender Jhonas Enroth to the AHL. The move has not been announced by the team as of this being written, but the move is already up on the AHL’s official transaction page and Enroth is listed on the Marlies roster. This comes one day after the Leafs recalled a trio of players, including goaltender Antoine Bibeau. Enroth was expected to be a solid backup for new starter Frederik Andersen, but has struggled mightily with no victories in six appearances and a 0.872 SV%. Because he makes under $950K, ($750K), he will not count against the Maple Leafs’ salary cap.
Enroth joins Karri Ramo, Garret Sparks, and Jeff Glass as goaltenders on the Marlies’ roster. Enroth and Sparks are under contract with the NHL club, Ramo is with the team on a tryout basis, and Glass is on an AHL-only deal after spending the past seven years in the KHL.
Poll: 2005 NHL Draft Take Two: Twenty-Sixth Overall Pick
Hindsight is an amazing thing, and allows us to look back and wonder “what could have been.” Though perfection is attempted, scouting and draft selection is far from an exact science and sometimes, it doesn’t work out the way teams – or players – intended. For every Patrick Kane, there is a Patrik Stefan.
We’re looking back at the 2005 NHL Draft, which kicked off the salary cap era and ushered in many of the current NHL superstars. The question we’re looking to answer is knowing now what we didn’t know then, how different would this draft look now with the benefit of hindsight?
Here are the results of our redraft so far:
1st Overall: Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguins)
2nd Overall: Carey Price (Mighty Ducks of Anaheim)
3rd Overall: Anze Kopitar (Carolina Hurricanes)
4th Overall: Jonathan Quick (Minnesota Wild)
5th Overall: Kris Letang (Montreal Canadiens)
6th Overall: Tuukka Rask (Columbus Blue Jackets)
7th Overall: Bobby Ryan (Chicago Blackhawks)
8th Overall: Marc-Edouard Vlasic (San Jose Sharks)
9th Overall: Ben Bishop (Ottawa Senators)
10th Overall: James Neal (Vancouver Canucks)
11th Overall: T.J. Oshie (Los Angeles Kings)
12th Overall: Keith Yandle (New York Rangers)
13th Overall: Paul Stastny (Buffalo Sabres)
14th Overall: Marc Staal (Washington Capitals)
15th Overall: Patric Hornqvist (New York Islanders)
16th Overall: Niklas Hjalmarsson (Atlanta Thrashers)
17th Overall: Anton Stralman (Phoenix Coyotes)
18th Overall: Jack Johnson (Nashville Predators)
19th Overall: Matt Niskanen (Detroit Red Wings)
20th Overall: Justin Abdelkader (Florida Panthers)
21st Overall: Martin Hanzal (Toronto Maple Leafs)
22nd Overall: Andrew Cogliano (Boston Bruins)
23rd Overall: Kris Russell (New Jersey Devils)
24th Overall: Darren Helm (St. Louis Blues)
25th Overall: Cody Franson (Edmonton Oilers)
Now we move forward to the 26th pick, which was held by the Calgary Flames.
To recap how this works:
- We will go through the 2005 NHL Draft and have our readers select, through a voting process, who they think should have been taken with the selection.
- The entire first round will be redrafted, spanning picks one through thirty. The new selection is chosen by the majority of votes.
Back in 2005, the Flames took defenseman Matt Pelech from the Sarnia Sting. Since being drafted, Pelech played a total of 13 games in the NHL, tallying four points (1-3). Of those 13 games, Pelech spent five with the Flames and the other eight with San Jose. During the 2013-14 season, Pelech spent time in the ECHL with the Utah Grizzlies after playing for both San Jose and its AHL affiliate Worcester. A season later, Pelech recorded 39 games with the Rochester Americans. Last season, Pelech appeared in 49 games for the Schwenningen Wild Wings in the DEL (Germany) and has played the current season with Graz EC in the Austrian league.
With the 26th pick of the 2005 NHL Redraft, who should the Flames select? Cast your vote below! Mobile users, you can vote here!
Metropolitan Notes: Al Ali, Burakovsky, Helgeson
In what is one of the most heartwarming hockey stories of the year, J.J. Regan of CSN Mid-Atlantic reports on a former Washington Capitals recent find overseas. Peter Bondra, a 500-goal man who spent most of his career in the nation’s capital, now travels around the world seeking out hockey talent as an ambassador of the game.
In Abu Dhabi of all places, he found Fatima Al Ali, a member of the UAB National Women’s team and owner of some of the silkiest hands anywhere in the world. Bondra provides proof of her skill with twitter videos and even claims she has better hands than him. Fatima also happens to be a Capitals fan, so the team is bringing her to Washington in February to celebrate ‘Hockey Is For Everyone’ month.
- Staying in Washington, tonight is a return for Andre Burakovsky after three games as a healthy scratch. The former first-round pick has gone ice cold after a fast start, and is pointless in his last seven games. After playing 18:30 in the season opener (including overtime) and scoring two goals, Burakovsky played just 8:06 in his most recent game. He seems positive about the situation though, saying that “It helped me last year when I was not playing really well and I sat out for two games and came back and my game just turned around from being bad to being really good”. Hopefully it happens again or he may find himself right back in the press box before long.
- In New Jersey, there are early reports from Pete Dougherty that the team will call up Seth Helgeson tomorrow after the defenseman was “unavailable” for tonight’s Albany Devils game. It’s unclear why he’d be brought up unless one of their current defensemen has suffered an injury in practice. A possible explanation is Ray Shero’s recent comments to Andrew Gross of The Record, in which he says that the key to the team turning around their early season struggles is to “Play [expletive] harder.” Helgeson is a big mean defender who might be able to give them a physical boost, though there is no guarantee he’ll get into the lineup right away.
Jaromir Jagr Ties Mark Messier For Second-Most Points
Jaromir Jagr played his first NHL game on October 5, 1990 in Washington. He scored the first goal and point of his Hall of Fame career two nights later at home versus the New Jersey Devils.
So far, 766 players have played in the NHL this season. Just 455 of those, or 58%, were born before the end of 1990. Jagr has played against players born from 1951 (Guy Lafleur) to 1998 (Patrik Laine). Yet he’s still here, and reached an incredible milestone on Tuesday night: Jagr is now tied with Mark Messier for second all-time in NHL scoring.
With three assists against the Sabres, Jagr now has 755 goals, 1,132 assists, and 1,887 points. That’s 524 points more than the next highest active player, Joe Thornton. The 45-year-old Jagr is now playing in his twenty-third NHL season, and has played for eight teams.
The new top five for all-time points looks like this, until Jagr gets his next:
1. Wayne Gretzky – 2,857 points in 1487 games
T2. Jaromir Jagr – 1,887 points in 1662 games
T2. Mark Messier – 1,887 points in 1756 games
3. Gordie Howe – 1,850 points in 1767 games
4. Ron Francis – 1,798 points in 1731 games
5. Marcel Dionne – 1,771 points in 1348 games
Jagr has said that he wants to play until he’s at least 50-years-old. Should he average 50 points from now until then, he would end up in the neighborhood of 2,150 points. While he would still be 700 points behind Gretzky, he would be the first, and likely only NHLer to ever surpass Gretzky’s assist total. The first years of fantasy hockey pools had a rule: no one could take Gretzky, it was either his goals or his assists. That rule was there for a good reason, as Gretzky still has more assists than any other player in history has points, with 1,963. TSN’s Frank Seravelli wrote that Jagr would need to start another Hall of Fame career to even come close to Gretzky, but says “finishing second only to Gretzky, though, is sort of like being first among the rest of the nearly 6,000 other mere mortals to play in the NHL.”
While it may seem like a longshot for anyone to play until the age of 50, Jagr is still having fun. He’s brought back his legendary mullet from the 1990s and is still one of the most dedicated players in the league when it comes to staying in shape. He once told Sportsnet Magazine:
“The time between when I quit hockey and I die, I want it to be the shortest. It’s not going to be as exciting, that time. So as long as I can play, that’s what I’m doing. If I can play ’til I die, that’s what I will do. What else are you gonna do?”