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NHLPA Files Grievance On Behalf Of Dustin Byfuglien

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A strange story that had grown cold over the past month is back in the spotlight once again with a new twist. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that the National Hockey League Players’ Association has filed a grievance with the league challenging the suspension of Winnipeg Jets defenseman Dustin Byfuglien. The case will now go before an independent arbitrator, unless of course the two sides can come to an agreement beforehand.

Byfuglien, 34, has not played for the Jets this season and has been suspended without pay entirely thus far in 2019-20. This all began back in September, when Winnipeg announced that the veteran defender would be taking a leave of absence for undisclosed personal reasons. He reportedly was taking time to consider his playing future, despite having two years and $14MM in salary remaining on his contract. Many speculated that his absence could have less to do with wear and tear and more to do with personal issues. When training camp arrived and Byfuglien had still not reported, the Jets, in need of salary cap space, suspended him without pay indefinitely until the point that he either returned to action or formally retired.

At the time, there was no indication that Byfuglien’s leave or his sudden concern for his future were related to injury. However, the Jets may have been holding back information on his unexpected absence. Byfuglien underwent surprise ankle surgery in late October, after which the team announced that they were “aware” that he was considering the surgical option for a previously undisclosed injury. The team did add that they were not involved in the decision-making process and that Byfuglien went under the knife without any recommendation from the team’s medical staff.

Herein lies the upcoming battle between the NHL, defending the Jets, and the NHLPA, arguing for Byfuglien. The players’ association will argue that, had Byfuglien reported to camp with his injury and the team had agreed that it was a hockey-related injurythat requiredsurgery, he would be collecting his salary for this season. If his sudden consideration of retirement was fueled by injury concerns, but he chooses to work his way back into game shape and re-join the Jets, should he not have been compensated for that time? The NHLPA may also flirt with the possible punitive nature of this suspension. Byfuglien’s absence came as a shock to Winnipeg, who this summer allowed Tyler Myers and Ben Chiarot to walk as free agents and traded away Jacob Trouba, all under the impression that Byfuglien would be around for at least two more years. The team could not have been happy with his leave of absence and reportedly had been trying to convince him not to retire and return to play. However, if his injury also came as a surprise to the team, they may not have been willing to recommend surgery and end up just as short-handed on the blue line, but also paying Byfuglien’s salary. The NHL may feel that the Jets are punishing Byfuglien for blindsiding them, while still hoping that he will return. With that said, the league’s counter will simply be that Byfuglien did not abide by the terms of his contract. If he had concerns over an injury and his longevity in the game, he should have reported to camp and discussed those issues with the team. Winnipeg could also take issue with when and how the injury occurred and whether it was related to any previous injury issues. By taking a leave of absence and then undergoing unapproved surgery, the NHL will argue that Byfuglien cannot just retroactively say that his motivations are to play for the Jets again and he is thus deserving of his salary while he has kept the team in the dark on a number of matters this whole time.

Surely there is more to this story than has been revealed to the public and perhaps more will come out now that a grievance has been filed. There is no timeline as of yet for a potential arbitration hearing, though one would think it would have to come before Byfuglien has fully recovered from his ankle surgery and has the option to return to action with the Jets. In many cases, the NHLPA files a grievance on behalf of a player against his former team, making this an unusual case as Byfuglien remains Winnipeg property until he formally retires. Recent grievances related to issues with former Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Jake Dotchin and Los Angeles Kings forward Mike Richards were settled long after the initial dispute occurred. That may be different in this scenario. Stay tuned.

Minor Transactions: 11/13/19

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Of all the talent suiting up in the NHL last night, perhaps the most unlikely star emerged in Colorado. Avalanche goaltender Adam Werner was forced into action when Pavel Francouz suffered an injury and made 40 saves en route to a shutout in his first career game. The Swedish netminder was selected in the fifth round three years ago and dominated the SHL last season.

Five more games are on the schedule tonight and as teams prepare, PHR will be right here keeping track of all the minor moves.

  • Late last night the Montreal Canadiens decided to send Ryan Poehling back to the minor leagues, giving him a chance to get some more ice time. Poehling had been playing fewer than ten minutes a night for the Canadiens and will get a bigger opportunity with the Laval Rocket.
  • The Winnipeg Jets have recalled prospect Michael Spacek from the minor leagues, giving the young forward the first NHL opportunity of his career. Selected in the fourth round in 2015, he was a standout for the Czech Republic at the World Juniors and has been a regular for the Manitoba Moose the last two seasons.
  • Zack MacEwen and Tyler Graovac have both been recalled by the Vancouver Canucks, who have also reassigned Jalen Chatfield. Chatfield did not actually suit up for the Canucks on his recall; the 23-year-old has yet to make his NHL debut. The team is back in action tomorrow against the Dallas Stars.
  • Jonathan Ericsson is back up with the Detroit Red Wings, at least for the time being. The team announced that the long-time defenseman, recently buried in the AHL, has been recalled, while Justin Abdelkader and Patrik Nemeth have been placed on injured reserve, retroactive to November 10th.

Ville Heinola Returning To Finland

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The Winnipeg Jets have assigned Ville Heinola to Lukko Rauma of Finland’s Liiga, ending his North American development for the time being. The 18-year old defenseman will still be under contract with the Jets and can technically be recalled, but will likely play the rest of the season in his home country. The first year of his entry-level contract will not be burned after playing in just eight NHL games.

Selected 20th overall in June’s draft, Heinola made an immediate impression on the Jets coaching staff and cracked the roster out of training camp. Playing in any professional league at 18 is a challenge, but with his previous experience from Liiga, the young defenseman was incredibly impressive at the NHL level. Thrust into a leading role as the team dealt with injuries (and absences), Heinola recorded five points in eight games before the Jets decided it was better off for his development to play in the minor leagues. He’ll now continue that path in Finland where he can carry even more responsibility.

Perhaps most notably, this means Heinola is a virtual lock for the Finnish World Junior team this winter. In what might be his last chance to play in the tournament, he should be relied on heavily by the coaching staff to play against the other top junior players in the world.

Injury Notes: Bourque, Little, Grubauer, Ladd

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The Winnipeg Jets will not only be without Bryan Little for the next while, but the team announced today that Gabriel Bourque will be out for at least four weeks with a lower-body injury. Bourque had found a home at the bottom of the Winnipeg lineup, and even recorded a point in three consecutive games.

Little meanwhile suffered a perforated ear drum when he took the shot to the head earlier this week, and though he is expected to make a full recovery is dealing with vertigo at the moment. It is not clear when he will be ready to resume hockey activities.

More injury updates from around the league:

  • Philipp Grubauer will miss at least the next few games according to Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar, who told reporters that the goaltender tweaked a nagging injury. Pavel Francouz will get the net for the time being, though Grubauer is expected to travel with the team when they head to Canada next week.
  • Andrew Ladd’s conditioning stint with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers will be extended for another two games as he continues to recover from a knee injury. The veteran forward played just 26 games last season for the New York Islanders, but is under contract through the 2022-23 season.

Bryan Little Placed On Injured Reserve

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After being taken to hospital and getting 25-30 stitches following his injury earlier this week, Bryan Little has been placed on injured reserve. The Winnipeg Jets have recalled Joona Luoto in his place. Little was struck in the head by a puck on Tuesday night and removed from the game, though the team announced he was “alert at all times” during his hospital stay.

Little was just starting to find his legs again after an earlier stint on injured reserve kept him out for almost two weeks, but will now have to deal with another recovery period before he can help the Jets this season. The 31-year old has been a consistent offensive presence for more than a decade, scoring at least 41 points in all but one of his full seasons in the NHL.

Luoto meanwhile is just starting to make an impact on the organization after signing a three-year entry-level contract in June. Undrafted, the 22-year old forward has three points in his first nine games with the Manitoba Moose and is another huge body the team can put in the lineup.

Nathan Beaulieu Likely To Return Tuesday

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  • The Jets could get some help on the back end for Tuesday’s game against New Jersey. Ken Wiebe of The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that Nathan Beaulieu is on track to make his season debut after suffering an upper-body injury late in the preseason.  While Winnipeg non-tendered the defenseman back in June, they quickly re-signed him in July to a one-year, $1MM contract, well below his required $2.5MM qualifying offer.  After logging nearly 17 minutes a night after being acquired last season, Beaulieu should be able to step in and play a regular role right away.

Minor Transactions: 11/04/19

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Though it was a relatively quiet night in the NHL, Sunday’s action still brought some big moments for young players. Adam Boqvist scored the first goal of his NHL career for the Chicago Blackhawks, while Jakub Vrana recorded his first career hat trick for the Washington Capitals. With four more games on the docket you can bet more fireworks will follow, and we’ll be here keeping track of all the minor moves leading up to this evening’s action.

  • The Vegas Golden Knights have recalled both Nicolas Roy and Nicolas Hague as they prepare for a four-game road trip that starts tomorrow in Columbus. Hague remains one of the team’s top defensive prospects and played eight games earlier this season for the team. The 20-year old was selected 34th overall in 2017 and had 32 points in 75 games for the Chicago Wolves last season.
  • The Boston Bruins have recalled Cameron Hughes from the minor leagues and expect him to make his NHL debut tonight against the Pittsburgh Penguins. To make room, Peter Cehlarik has been sent to the AHL’s Providence Bruins after just two NHL games.
  • Another recent NHL debut was C.J. Suess with the Winnipeg Jets, but that’s all he’ll get on this recall. The 25-year old played his first game with the Jets on Friday, but was sent back to the AHL today.
  • Max Jones has been recalled by the Anaheim Ducks after just a few days in the minor leagues. Jones has spent the vast majority of the season in the NHL, suiting up 12 times so far for the Ducks.
  • Joel Hanley is back once again with the Dallas Stars, a trip he’s used to at this point. The Stars are using his waiver-exempt status (after clearing just before the season began) as a way to save some cap space on off days. It also keeps Hanley’s waiver clock from ticking—players have to clear again after 30 days  or 10 games played in the NHL.

Ville Heinola Still Deciding Whether Or Not To Trigger European Assignment Clause

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Earlier in the week, the Jets assigned defenseman Ville Heinola to Manitoba of the AHL.  While the official stance was that the move was designed to get him some more ice time, it’s certainly notable that he’s only two games shy of the ten required to officially burn the first year of his entry-level deal.  The demotion gives the 18-year-old the opportunity to trigger his European Assignment Clause but he told Scott Billeck of the Winnipeg Sun that he’s undecided about whether or not to do so and will be discussing the situation with his agent.  An opportunity to go back home for likely more money than his $70K AHL salary would certainly be enticing but the Moose play the same system as the Jets so from a longer-term development standpoint, sticking around in the AHL may be the better play.

League Notes: Waiver Priority, Power Play, AHL Trades

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November 1st marks an important day on the NHL calendar, but one many may not be aware of. Fortunately, CapFriendly is here for the reminder. This day marks the official change over to the waiver priority by current NHL standings. In the first month of the season, as the sample size is too small to truly judge the weak from the strong in many cases, the league uses the reverse order of the prior year’s regular season standings as the waiver priority for all of October. Up until now, the Ottawa Senators have had the first chance at available players on waivers, followed by the Los Angeles Kings, New Jersey Devils, and all the way to the Tampa Bay Lighting. But as of today, the top priority goes to… well, the Kings, who move up just one spot. The Senators slide back to third, with the Minnesota Wild occupying the second position. As of right now, it is the Boston Bruins who have the very last opportunity to claim a player on waivers. Waiver priority will now change constantly based on the reverse order of the league standings by points percentage.

However, at the current rate, waiver priority won’t matter too much this season. The Winnipeg Jets, who have occupied the 22nd waiver priority spot until today, have claimed defensemen Carl Dahlstrom and Luca Sbisa, and the Arizona Coyotes, who previously held spot No. 14, claimed goaltender Eric Comrie. Those have been the only claims thus far in 2019-20, an unusually low count even this early in the season.

  • The mark of success so far this season? Power play efficiency. As John Dietz of the Chicago Daily Herald points out, there is no stronger correlation between wins and losses this year than how a team performs man-up. The top six teams in power play percentage are all also among the top nine in points percentage. This includes the Boston Bruins and Buffalo Sabres at No. 1 and 2 in both statistics. Down at the bottom, five of the six worst power play teams are among the bottom the eight teams in points percentage. The only outlier appears to be the Anaheim Ducks, who have managed to overcome a 29th-ranked power play thus far to get off to an 8-6-0 start. As the skill level in the NHL improves each year and the game becomes more about using space to create offense, it only makes sense that man-up efficiency will matter more and more, with the start to this season as the perfect example.
  • A strange occurrence early on this season has also been not one, but two AHL trades. AHL trades are extremely rare, as the NHL teams that manage their farm team rosters often lack any incentive to make such a deal. In general, the only motivation to make a deal that solely impacts an AHL squad is to improve depth at a certain position, either to avoid the overexposure of prospects or, later in the year, to give the team a push toward securing a playoff spot. However, even then AHL GM’s tend to eye other players on two-way NHL contracts to swap rather than players on minor league pacts. Not so far this year, though. On Tuesday, the Grand Rapids Griffins acquired forward Marcus Vela from San Jose Barracuda for defenseman Marcus Crawford in a move that wasn’t even about addressing depth, as Vela was immediately reassigned to the ECHL. Just two days later, the San Diego Gulls acquired veteran defenseman Ryan Johnston, a player who had been a healthy scratch for every game so far this season, from the Toronto Marlies for future considerations. Perhaps this is a new trend in organizational roster management or perhaps it is simply a coincidence, but either way it is an intriguing attachment to this young season.

Vegas Golden Knights Recall Garret Sparks On Emergency Basis

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Is it time to panic in Las Vegas? Fans of the Golden Knights will surely not be thrilled to hear the news that Garret Sparks has been recalled on an emergency basis from the AHL’s Chicago Wolves, especially in light of the fact that backup Malcolm Subban was a full participant in practice today. That just leaves one odd man out.

As The Athletic’s Jesse Granger summarizes, Sparks’ recall comes on the heels of a practice in which Subban looked fully healthy, while starter Marc-Andre Fleury was suspiciously absent for what head coach Gerard Gallant called a “maintenance day”.  If it was truly just a day off for the veteran keeper, the team would not have made this roster move, so it is safe to assume that Fleury is injured. The extent of that injury remains to be seen, but the Knights will almost certainly be without him for at least Saturday’ game against the Winnipeg Jets.

Although Vegas famously survived numerous injuries in goal in their inaugural season, the play behind Fleury has been a different story since the beginning of last season. The 34-year-old Fleury started 61 games last year, a workload brought on by the poor performance of Subban. The young backstop recorded a .902 save percentage and 2.93 GAA in 21 appearances. In his lone appearance so far this year, Subban allowed two goals on just 14 shots. While Subban was sidelined due to injury, Oscar Dansk made one start, allowing six goals on 37 shots, and Sparks, an off-season addition, made one relief appearance and mirrored Subban’s results with two goals allowed on 14 shots. The trio have allowed a combined ten goals on 65 shots over 107 minutes for an .846 save percentage and 5.61 GAA. Even in just one appearance apiece, these are still terrifying numbers for the Golden Knights, especially if Fleury is out for an extended period of time. Subban and Sparks leave a lot to be desired as the tandem leading Vegas against the Jets tomorrow and possibly beyond.

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