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Hurricanes Sign Equipment Manager To Serve As Emergency Back-up Goalie

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In what is shaping up as the year of the emergency goaltender, the Carolina Hurricanes have become the latest team to extend a PTO to an inactive player to ensure the have two healthy netminders for tonight’s game. Unlike Chicago, who earlier this season famously inked Eric Semborski to a PTO an hour before a game in Philadelphia, the Canes didn’t have to search too hard to find their emergency fill-in. Jorge Alves, Carolina’s equipment manager, is suiting up this evening to back up starter Cam Ward with Eddie Lack battling an illness and unable to go tonight.

Apparently Alves is no stranger to taking the ice with Carolina. According to the team’s official Twitter account, he often practices with the club. Even though the Hurricanes are utilizing Alves in a different role tonight, the team isn’t allowing him a break from his normal responsibilities. He painted his own goalie mask while a fellow equipment manager drew the caricatures.

The team’s Twitter account is having some fun with the event. They’ve posted several pictures of Alves performing his normal duties, including sharpening skate blades and taping stick blades. They’ve also created the hash tag “#HipHipJorge” which was trending in Raleigh earlier this evening.

Alves actually does have professional playing experience, appearing in seven ECHL league games over parts of the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons. That would seem to give him a slight edge should the Hurricanes have the need to go to their back-up at some point this evening.

P.K. Subban May Have Herniated Disc

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According to Elliotte Friedman, Predators defenseman P.K. Subban is expected to meet with doctors tomorrow to discuss a course of treatment for “what is believed to be a herniated disc.” In a follow-up tweet, Friedman states the two options the talented blue liner and the Predators have are resting the back and hoping for improvement or surgery, which would sideline Subban for “quite a while.”

Subban has already missed seven games with what had been termed an upper-body injury and while the team has considered the defender day-to-day, this latest bit of news obviously throws serious doubt on that belief.

Acquired in the summer blockbuster trade which sent Shea Weber to Montreal, Subban has tallied seven goals and 17 points in 29 games in his first campaign with Nashville.

More to come as new information comes to light.

Dater’s Latest: Trades, Duchene, Landeskog

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In the most recent edition of “Avalanche Talk with Adrian Dater,” a podcast appearing on 5280 Sports Network, longtime Colorado Avalanche scribe Adrian Dater offers his thoughts on the team’s dreadful season and what he would do if he was in the GM’s chair to fix the issues. The whole podcast is well worth a listen but here are a few of the highlights.

  • On the cause of the team’s struggles, Dater points to the young core receiving lucrative long-term deals before helping to lead the team to any real on-ice success as a contributing factor. He suggests that without the added motivation of earning a big contract, complacency set in leading to some of the Avalanche’s issues. Matt Duchene inked his five-year, $30MM extension prior to the 2013-14 campaign and on the heels of a nearly point-per-game performance. Later that summer, Gabriel Landeskog was awarded a seven-year, $39MM deal. Midway through the 2013-14 season Colorado also extended goalie Semyon Varlamov with a five-year, $29.5MM pact. The other members of the team’s core, Erik Johnson, Nathan MacKinnon and Tyson Barrie, have all agreed to new deals since the start of the 2015-16 season. The Avalanche have made the playoffs just once in the last seven seasons and were eliminated in the first round in 2014, perhaps lending further validity to Dater’s hypothesis.
  • In terms of fixing the team, Dater isolated the blue line corps and suggested the club should pursue two young top-four defensemen while utilizing their 2017 first-round pick and one of Landeskog or Duchene as bait. As it stands now, the Avalanche own the worst record in the league at 12 – 22 – 4. Should that remain the case at the conclusion of the season, the Avalanche would be guaranteed one of the top two selections in June’s drat. Nonetheless, Dater opines that this crop of draft-eligible prospects lacks the flair of past years and Colorado would be better suited to cash the pick into a top-flight young blue liner. He also argues that Duchene likely has more value on the trade market than Landeskog and would also be able to return the Avalanche another solid defender. Among the names Dater mentions as the type of players the team should target are Jacob Trouba of Winnipeg and Colton Parayko of St. Louis. To be clear, Dater wasn’t reporting on any specific rumor he has heard or even suggesting the defensemen are in play in any trade discussions; he was simply identifying Trouba and Parayko as the type of players the team needs to improve their overall defensive play.
  • Dater also mentions that Landeskog, the team’s captain, is playing through an undisclosed lower-body injury and that might be a factor in the player’s offensive struggles this season. In 25 appearances, the Swedish winger has just six goals and 11 points, numbers far below the normal expectations of a top-six forward. His track record also suggest better production as he has tallied 20 or more goals in each of the three previous campaigns. Landeskog missed 10 games earlier this season with a lower-body injury and it’s possible the issues Dater alluded to are related to the prior problem. His so-far underwhelming production is further evidence that he wouldn’t have as much value in a potential trade as Duchene.

Devils Blue Liner John Moore Taken Off Ice On Stretcher

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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.

Johan Larsson, Josh Gorges Injured

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Lost in the shuffle since it occurred in the same period as David Backes’ more noticeable head injury on Thursday, Johan Larsson also suffered a serious injury when the Buffalo Sabres faced the Boston Bruins two nights ago. Following the Sabres 3-1 loss to the Bruins today, Sabres coach Dan Bylsma revealed that Larsson will be out “weeks” with a dislocated wrist. Larsson took a hard hit from Adam McQuaid in the first period and did not return, due to the injury.

The 24-year-old Larsson has worked his way up through the Sabres’ system and has taken on the greatest role of his young career this season in Buffalo. Larsson was on pace to shatter his career highs, and is still likely to do so. The young forward has six goals and five assists for 11 points in 35 games so far this season. In his first full NHL season in 2015-16, Larsson had just 17 points in 74 games. Even if he misses a few weeks, Larsson will still likely beat 17 points this season if he returns to his top six role upon his return.

Bylsma also added that early indications following the game are that Josh Gorges, who left the game, suffered a hip pointer injury. There has been no official word on the extent of Gorges injury, but the veteran blue liner has already missed time this season with injury. Buffalo continue to struggle to string together wins, and that task will only prove to be more difficult with Larsson and potentially Gorges out of the lineup long term.

Blue Jackets vs. Wild: History In The Making

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At this time last year, a match-up between the Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild would have gone largely unnoticed. Columbus was underachieving, setting themselves up for their eventual place near the bottom of the 2015-16 NHL standings. Minnesota was cemented as the fifth best team in the tough Central Division and was simply holding out hope that they could lock up the eighth and final spot in the conference. The NHL Expansion Class of 2000 was still trying to figure things out. Jump to December 31st, 2016 and this game is a whole different story. Tonight’s Jackets-Wild game is a historic battle, not just in hockey, but in North American pro sports altogether.

When the puck drops in Minnesota tonight, it will be the first ever game between two pro teams on winning streaks of 12 or more games. The Blue Jackets have been the surprise of the season, leading the league with 54 points and currently on a 14-game winning streak. The stretch is tied for third longest in NHL history and has catapulted the team ahead of their rival, and defending Stanley Cup champions, the Pittsburgh Penguins. Meanwhile, it was the Wild who led the league early on this season, and still sit comfortably out West with 50 points, due to their 12-game winning streak.

However, one team will end their streak tonight. It took the Blue Jackets into March last season to win their 26th game, so they have that intrinsic benchmark on the line, as well as keeping their slim lead over the Penguins in the cutthroat Metropolitan Division. The Wild have been waiting years to claim the Central from the perennial favorite Chicago Blackhawks and, with four games in hand, can take the division lead back from Chicago with a win tonight. So who comes out the victor in one of the biggest regular season games in recent league history? Both teams have been stout defensively behind stellar goaltending. Minnesota and Devan Dubnyk lead the league with just 2.00 goals allowed per game, but Columbus and Sergei Bobrovsky are right on their tail in second with 2.06 goals allowed per game. Bobrovsky leads the NHL with 23 wins, but Dubnyk tops the list at goals against average and save percentage with a 1.67 GAA and .944 SV%. As a whole, the Wild are a superior defensive team, and Ryan Suter, Jason Zucker, and Jared Spurgeon as 1-2-3 in NHL +/- is evidence of such. But this game will come down to offense. In addition to being solid in their own end, Columbus leads the league with 3.44 goals for per game. Minnesota sits in fourth with 3.14 goals per game. Both teams have received scoring from throughout their lineup, with unlikely candidates like Wild free agent import Eric Staal and Blue Jackets gamble Sam Gagner leading the charge. Whichever team is able to put together a more complete, balanced offensive effort tonight will likely hold on to their impressive winning streak.

David Backes Out Indefinitely With A Concussion

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During today’s 3-1 win, completing a home-and-home sweep of the Buffalo Sabres (as well as their first season sweep of Buffalo in 45 years), the Boston Bruins also found time to release an update on the status of veteran forward David Backes. Backes was injured in the Bruins game in Buffalo on Thursday night after taking a high, hard hit from behind from the Sabres’ William Carrier. The Bruins quickly announced that Backes would not return to the game with an “upper body injury”. They have now confirmed what was assumed, that the big winger suffered a concussion. While there is currently no time frame for his return, Backes will enter the NHL’s concussion protocol and will simply be considered “out indefinitely.”

Backes signed a five year deal with the Bruins when free agency opened on July 1st this summer. The contract holds an annual $6MM cap hit, as the Bruins essentially replaced Loui Eriksson, who left Boston to sign a similar deal with the Vancouver Canucks this off-season. A tough, intelligent veteran, Backes was brought in to make the Bruins a tougher team to play against, as evidenced by the drastic improvement in team defense between this season and last. Backes has nine goals and ten assists in 33 games thus far in his first season in Boston.

Backes has had an incredible NHL career, with 479 points to go along with 1,000 penalty minutes in 760 games, spent mostly with the St. Louis Blues. Since earning a full-time role with the Blues, Backes has never played less than 72 games in a season, and that career-low has only occurred once. However, Backes has quietly had his fair share of concussion history as well, and his 72-game mark may now be in jeopardy with yet another concussion. Backes already missed a few games earlier this season, when he had surgery to remove an olecranon bursa from his elbow, and now could miss an extended period of time as he recovers from a head injury. Concussions are unpredictable in their recovery time, as Backes has never missed much time in the past, but Bruins teammate John-Michael Liles has been out for over a month with a concussion and former Bruin Marc Savard was forced to retire as the result of multiple concussions. With Frank Vatrano back in the fold and looking good playing in Backes’ spot on Boston’s second line alongside David Krejci and Ryan Spooner, the Bruins can afford to ease Backes into the lineup when he is ready. While there is not enough information yet to predict when exactly Backes will return, it is a safe assumption that the Bruins will take their time before welcoming he, Liles, and Matt Beleskey back into the lineup some time in February, just in time for the stretch run. Until then, the Bruins can rely on their depth in Providence, the hottest team in the AHL, and could potentially look into a trade for another forward for insurance.

Vegas Golden Knights At The World Juniors

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Even though the Vegas Golden Knights don’t start playing until 2017-18, doesn’t mean they haven’t already started to scout the young talent throughout the game. With the World Junior Championships underway in Toronto, the team has sent several scouts to the tournament to watch the collection of under-20 talent. While some are still draft-eligible, and some are under contract with teams around the league, it’s a wonderful opportunity to scout the best of the best all at once.  Dan Marrazza of NHL.com caught up with the Golden Knights’ Assistant Director of Player Personnel Bob Lowes to get his take on the tournament.

It isn’t just the draft eligible players. It’s other team’s drafts, guys that are already picked. I think it’s a really good tournament for our staff to see both of those groups of players, and to get a good handle on it going forward for our organization.

While the team will have a chance in the draft lottery this summer (equal to that of the third worst team in the league), something that is often ofterlooked is that they’ll also have the third pick in each subsequent round regardless of where they fall in the lottery. That gives them some strong picks even as the rounds go later, when the lesser-known teams at the tournament will have talent available. On Denmark, who has shocked the world by defeating both the Czech Republic and last year’s winner Finland:

Obviously, they’re having some success, so it makes you take notice a little bit more. It makes you look at a guy that’s maybe slipped through the draft, if he’s draft eligible, and saying: ’this kid’s doing it on the world stage against some of the best competition in the world.’

Lowes points out that there have been breakout stars at the tournament before, referencing Nino Niederreiter of Switzerland and Oliver Bjorkstrand of Denmark as players who greatly improved their draft stock at the tournament. While obviously the top names of the tournament are often well scouted prior, or even already drafted, it’s a big deal to see under-the-radar guys on this big of a stage. As Lowes puts it:

Performance here goes into a player’s overall profile. You wouldn’t just base it on this tournament, but it is an important part of the development of a player. It’s just a really good snapshot of the possible potential of that player.

The preliminary round ends today with the quarter-finals starting on Monday. Before they do though, Finland will need to fight for it’s tournament life in the relegation round on Monday morning against Latvia.

Western Notes: Jost, Dano, Coyotes

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When the Colorado Avalanche picked Tyson Jost 10th overall this year out of Penticton, they knew he was headed to the NCAA. After all, Jost played in the BCHL, an NCAA breeding ground because they retain eligibility unlike the CHL. But now it sounds like it will be one-and-done for Jost at the University of North Dakota.

Mike Chambers of the Denver Post writes in his latest column that Jost will sign after his freshman season concludes and may even make his NHL debut this season. The 18-year old center has 18 points in 17 games for the Fighting Hawks, and is starring for Canada at the World Juniors. For a team that is starved for something positive this year, the development of Jost is something to look forward to. He will likely slot in full time next season with the club, especially if one of their other young forwards is moved out between now and then.

  • After head coach Paul Maurice told us yesterday that Marko Dano would be out at least a few weeks, he clarified the diagnoses today. Dano will miss eight weeks with his lower-body injury, keeping him out until just before the trade deadline. The former first-round pick (by Columbus in 2013) has 10 points in 28 games this year, a solid pace for the 22-year old. He’ll have another setback now though as he misses more time. Jets fans will have to wait jut a little bit longer to see his potential come to fruition.
  • The Arizona Coyotes will watch two of their prized prospects battle it out today in the Canada-USA World Junior game. Clayton Keller and Dylan Strome each lead their respective teams in scoring at the tournament, and will be big parts of the Coyotes in the future. While Strome got a taste of the NHL this season before heading back to Erie in the OHL, Keller has been starring as a freshman at Boston University all year. 15 points in his first 10 games in the NCAA it won’t be long until he jumps to the AHL. Both top-10 picks, the Coyotes have a bright future in this tournament.

Islanders Waive Jaroslav Halak

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Saturday: Halak has cleared and will be sent to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers of the AHL.

Friday: The New York Islanders announced via Twitter that they have placed goaltender Jaroslav Halak on waivers.  The decision comes on the heels of him being pulled in a 6-4 loss on Thursday to Minnesota, a a game where head coach Jack Capuano was vocally critical of Halak’s performance, via Newsday’s Arthur Staple (Twitter link).

Halak has struggled this season, posting a 6-8-5 record with a 3.23 GAA and a .904 SV% in 21 games.  He has been part of a three goalie system for each of the last two years alongside Thomas Greiss and Jean-Francois Berube.  Greiss has had by far the better numbers this year (a 2.48 GAA and a .922 SV% in 14 appearances) while the team has acknowledged that they would like to find more playing time for Berube, who they claimed off waivers from Los Angeles back in October of 2015.

Dec 12, 2015; Columbus, OH, USA; New York Islanders goalie Jaroslav Halak (41) follows the puck in play in the second period against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena. The Islanders won 3-2 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY SportsThe 31 year old is in his 11th career NHL season, split between the Canadiens, Blues, and Islanders.  He has a career 206-123-42 record with a 2.42 GAA, a .916 SV%, and 40 shutouts.

In late October, Halak’s agent, Allan Walsh, voiced his displeasure with the goaltending situation and shortly thereafter, the Isles made it known that Halak was available in a trade.  However, they had been unable to find a taker, largely in part due to his contract, which carries a cap hit of $4.5MM through 2017-18.

While there are teams who could potentially use Halak, not many have the ability to absorb that type of money which decreases the odds that he will be claimed on Saturday.  However, this could potentially rekindle trade talks if New York is willing to entertain the possibility of retaining some of his contract to get a deal done.

In the meantime, this opens up the opportunity for Greiss to firmly take hold of the number one job at an ideal time as he is a pending unrestricted free agent.  It also may give them a chance to get Berube into enough action to avoid him becoming eligible for Group VI unrestricted free agency in the summer.  (The threshold for goalies in that situation is 28 career NHL games with at least 30 minutes of playing time; Berube currently sits at eight with three other appearances under 30 minutes.)

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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