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Lightning Rookie Forward Erne Out 4 – 6 Weeks

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Adam Erne, who made his NHL debut on January 3rd against Winnipeg, will be out 4 – 6 weeks after x-rays Tuesday revealed the rookie forward suffered a broken foot in Tampa Bay’s 6 – 2 loss to Pittsburgh, tweets Erik Erlendsson. The Lightning had reassigned the 21-year-old to the minors yesterday but because the injury occurred while he was a member of the team, Erne will be returned to the team’s roster. Erlendsson adds that Tampa will likely place Erne on IR to free up a roster spot and they may ultimately put him on LTIR.

In four games with the Lightning, the 6-foot-1, 214-pound forward did not register a point while averaging 11:44 of ice time. In 31 games with the Syracuse Crunch this season, Erne tallied eight goals and 18 points with 21 penalty minutes. In 98 career AHL contests, Erne has potted 23 goals and 28 assists with 97 penalty minutes.

Tampa Bay used their second-round choice in 2013 to select Erne from the Quebec Remparts of the QMJHL. In his final season of junior, Erne scored 41 times while recording 45 helpers in 60 contests.

Minor Transactions: 1/11/2017

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There has been a flurry of roster transactions so far today with several players recalled from or reassigned to the minor leagues. We’ll keep track of those moves in this post:

  • According to Eric Stephens of The Orange County Register, the Anaheim Ducks recalled forward Stefan Noesen and blue liner Shea Theodore from the San Diego Gulls of the AHL. In a corresponding move, defenseman Brandon Montour was reassigned to the Gulls. Montour made his NHL debut after initially being recalled on December 28th though he failed to register a point in five appearances. Noesen has one goal on the campaign in seven games while Theodore has a goal and five assists in 21 contests this season for Anaheim.
  • Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News tweeted this morning that Jamie Oleksiak is dealing with a hand injury and will likely be “out for a bit.” He goes on to say that fellow defenseman Stephen Johns will take Oleksiak’s spot in the lineup for tomorrow’s game at home against Detroit. With eight defensemen on the roster – Patrik Nemeth is currently playing for the AHL Texas Stars on a conditioning assignment though remains on Dallas’ official roster – no call-up is expected to be made. In a later tweet, Heika adds that with Texas playing at home, Stars head coach Lindy Ruff would easily be able to bring Nemeth back from his assignment if necessary.
  • After adding forward Derek Grant via waiver claim from Buffalo today, the Nashville Predators reassigned fellow forward Frederick Gaudreau to Milwaukee of the AHL, according to The Tennessean’s Adam Vingan. The 23-year-old rookie has made nine appearances for Nashville this season, the first NHL action of Gaudreau’s career, and has tallied a single assist. In 24 contests with the Milwaukee Admirals, Gaudreau has netted five goals and 14 points. Vingan speculated that Gaudreau’s reassignment might indicate that either James Neal or Colin Wilson could be ready to return to the lineup. Neal was placed on IR retroactive to 1/3 and is currently eligible to be activated. Wilson last played on 1/6.
  • The Pittsburgh Penguins have recalled blue liner David Warsofsky from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton while reassigning net minder Tristan Jarry to the Baby Pens. Jason Mackey, who covers the club for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, reported on the moves and added that with Jarry back to the minors, Matt Murray should be ready to at least serve as Marc-Andre Fleury’s back-up for tonight’s game against Washington.
  • Defenseman Slater Koekkoek and goalie Kristers Gudlevskis were both returned to the AHL Syracuse Crunch, Tampa Bay’s top minor league affiliate, tweets Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times. Koekkoek’s assignment might seem odd on the surface as the blue liner had appeared in 12 of the last 13 Lightning games. But, as Smith points out, Koekkoek does not need to clear waivers to be sent to the minors while fellow defenders Luke Witkowski and Nikita Nesterov do.
  • The Washington Capitals announced they have sent forwards Paul Carey and Liam O’Brien to Hershey of the AHL, according to the team’s official Twitter account. The assignments leave the team with just 12 forwards on the active roster, a fact that suggests T.J. Oshie will be back in the Caps lineup tonight. That was later confirmed by Capitals head coach Barry Trotz.
  • Two days after sending the fourth overall selection in the June entry draft, Jesse Puljujarvi, to Bakersfield the Edmonton Oilers have assigned fellow forward Anton Lander to the same club. Called up from the Condors was forward Jujhar Khaira, who has eight goals and 18 points in 24 AHL games this season.

Atlantic Division Notes: Gallant, Ryan, Miller, McQuaid

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The Florida Panthers decision to fire head coach Gerard Gallant earlier this season was met with harsh criticism in some circles of the hockey community. It was widely assumed the dismissal was a reflection of the new front office structure’s belief in analytics, something the former player and long time coach may not have been completely on board with,  as opposed to Gallant’s coaching ability. Gallant is known as an old-school coach who values “intangibles” and other traits not ordinarily appreciated by analytically-driven front offices and it was assumed this generated a disconnect between management and the bench boss. However, according to Gallant his termination had little to do with his feelings on analytics and likely had more to do with his stubbornness, as Pierre LeBrun of ESPN wrote recently:

“I wasn’t fired because of analytics,” he continued. “I loved coaching the Florida Panthers and I’m a stubborn guy at times; maybe I said a little too much, maybe I gave my opinion a little bit too much. Maybe when they asked for my opinion, I have an honest opinion and sometimes it doesn’t help you. Maybe it wasn’t always what they wanted to hear. I don’t know where it went from there …”

Gallant, like many coaches, actually did utilize information provided to his staff by the team’s analysts and described analytics as “a tool.”

“For me, analytics is certainly part of coaching, but it’s not the whole thing. In my mind, if I take a job, analytics is part of it for sure, 25 to 30 percent, whatever percentage you want to put on it. It’s definitely a tool. If you get the right information, you’re happy with that. Every coach uses analytics. We all go over the same stuff.”

Of course it should be noted that while Gallant admitted to utilizing analytics, it can be inferred from his comments that it was done to assist with lineup decisions and on-ice strategies, leaving open the possibility that he didn’t necessarily agree with analytically-driven decisions made by the front office with regards to player acquisitions. It’s certainly possible Gallant voiced his displeasure over certain moves the front office made over the summer and that led in part to his dismissal.

Nevertheless, despite how it turned out in Florida, Gallant is respected within the industry and it’s likely he will have his choice of head coaching jobs this summer, assuming he isn’t offered and subsequently accepts a job prior to the offseason.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic Division:

  • Don Brennan of the Ottawa Sun examines the Senators recent decision to scratch forward Bobby Ryan, and wonders what the “bigger picture” is with the player and Ottawa. Brennan points out that Ryan, a four-time 30-goal scorer, ranks 12th on the team in scoring and theorizes his lack of production may have served as justification for the benching. However, as the scribe points out, Ryan’s ice time, or rather the lack thereof, has likely led to the 29-year-old right winger’s lackluster output. Ryan currently ranks eighth among Senator forwards in overall ATOI (Average Time On Ice) and is seventh on the team in power play ice time. For his career, Ryan has registered just more than one-quarter of his points on the power play but this season has just one goal and three points on the man advantage. Brennan wonders why the Senators, who rank 22nd in the NHL in goals, would not find a way to get one of their most skilled players more ice time. Ultimately, as Brennan writes, the situation is one that bears watching for the rest of the season.
  • The Boston Bruins, and in particular David Backes, were undoubtedly pleased to come away from St. Louis with a 5 – 3 win over the Blues. However the victory didn’t come without cost as the team lost right-shot blue liners Colin Miller and Adam McQuaid to injury during the game. As Jason Brough of Pro Hockey Talk writes, the losses of Miller and McQuaid forced the B’s to finish out the game with just four defenders. After the game, Claude Julien could provide no information other than the two were being evaluated by the team’s medical staff. Today the team announced that Miller is doubtful for tomorrow’s contest in Nashville. If he can’t go the Bruins could insert either John-Michael Liles or Joe Morrow into the lineup with the other available to draw in if McQuaid is ruled out.

Marc Staal Suffering From Post-Concussion Symptoms

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Rangers blue liner Marc Staal, who sat out the team’s last two games before the league-mandated bye week, is currently suffering from post-concussion symptoms, writes Larry Brooks of the New York Post. The team originally described Staal’s injury as an “upper-body injury,” and it was presumed he would be back after the bye. However, this news throws that timeline into doubt.

Brooks reports that the defender has been working out at the team’s practice facility and did not go through the league’s concussion protocol. This suggests that Staal didn’t experience a specific in-game incident which would normally be associated with causing a concussion.

This is the third time Staal has missed significant time due to post-concussion symptoms. As Brooks notes, he missed the first 36 games of the 2011-12 campaign after taking a hard hit from his brother, Eric, during a game in Carolina in February of 2011. He then suffered a second concussion in December of 2013 which caused the veteran blue liner to sit out 10 contests.

Staal, the Rangers first-round pick in 2005, was an All-Star in 2011 and has suited up for nearly 750 NHL regular season and playoff games in his 10-year career. In 40 appearances with the team this season, Staal has registered three goals and three assists while lodging a plus-10 plus/minus rating. He’s averaging 19:33 of ice time per contest and has been a constant on the squad’s second defense pair in 2016-17.

If Staal is unable to return after the bye, Adam Clendening, who tallied his first goal as a Ranger Saturday night in Columbus, would remain in the lineup.

Predators Claim Derek Grant Off Waivers

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The Nashville Predators have added to their forward depth, claiming center Derek Grant off waivers from the Buffalo Sabres.

The Sabres waived Grant on Tuesday morning. Grant has just three assists in 35 NHL games this season. That marks a career-high for NHL games played, as Grant is a tremendous minor league forward but a fringe NHLer. Grant scored 27 goals and 45 points in just 36 games in the AHL last year. Overall, he has six assists in 75 NHL games.

The Predators are currently without forwards James Neal and Colin Wilson, and could use some depth up front. It’s also a good chance for Grant to make an impression, as he could find regular NHL work next season with 23 more jobs available due to the Vegas expansion.

As mentioned, Grant has just three assists this season so it’s not a big loss for the Sabres. As our Zach Leach wrote yesterday when Grant was placed on waivers, Buffalo is better served playing their own home-grown young talent rather than mediocre veterans.

Grant signed a one-year, $575K contract with the Sabres on July 2, 2016. He’ll be a UFA at the end of this season.

Snapshots: Capitals-Penguins, Myers, Lightning, Oilers

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Capitals fans will likely see a major milestone when Washington hosts the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday night.

Captain Alex Ovechkin needs one point to hit 1,000 for his career. His fellow captain, Sidney Crosby, is sitting at 982, though in 139 less games. Ovechkin will become the 84th player in NHL history to hit the 1,000-point mark, and the second-fastest active player to do so behind only former Penguin and Capital Jaromir Jagr.

Ovechkin has 19 goals and 14 assists for 33 points in 40 games so far this season. Overall, he has 544 goals and 455 assists in 879 games. In a swap of their normal roles, Crosby has been the more prolific scorer this season with 26 goals and 18 assists for 44 points in 33 games. Crosby has 364-618-982 in 740 games. Both superstars, who broke into the NHL together back in 2005-06, will hit the 1,000-mark in the same season.

The two teams have played twice, with the Penguins winning in overtime in the season-opener and the Capitals winning 7-1 in mid-November. Washington has a six-game winning streak while the Penguins are riding a five-game streak.

In other good news for the Capitals, top-six winger T.J. Oshie will make his return after missing one game with an upper-body injury.

  • Tyler Myers will be away from the Winnipeg Jets for an unknown amount of time, as the defenseman deals with a personal matter, according to Scott Billeck, who covers the Jets for the Winnipeg News and the NHL. Billeck reports that Myers had been travelling with the team, but left the team sometime last week while the team was in Florida. Myers has been out of the lineup since mid-November with a back injury. He has two goals and five points in 11 games played.
  • It’s been a nightmare of a season for the Tampa Bay Lightning. Steven Stamkos is likely out until the playoffs, but there’s no guarantee that the Lightning can survive that long. Currently, they have 42 points, four back of a playoff spot. While that’s not a big deficit, the Lightning have lost four games in a row for the second time this season, and are battling several key injuries. Stamkos, Brayden Point, Ryan Callahan, Brian Boyle, J.T. Brown, Braydon Coburn, and Ben Bishop are all out of the lineup. The Lightning are facing the end of their current roster’s window of Cup contention, with Bishop, Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat, and Jonathan Drouin all needing new contracts. GM Steve Yzerman won’t be able to sign all of his pending free agents, and the team needs to go for it this year. TSN’s Bob McKenize reports that Yzerman is willing to deal nearly “just about anybody” up front, besides Drouin in order to acquire a top-four defenseman (interview transcribed by Chris Nichols of FanRag). Kevin Shattenkirk, Michael Stone, and Dougie Hamilton have all had their names out there this season, and are potential targets for Yzerman to go for. The former two are pending free agents while the latter has been the subject of rumors all year, despite Brian Burke’s insistence that he’s not available for less than 20 first-round picks.
  • The Edmonton Oilers are on pace for 94 points, which would be their first season above 90 points since 2005-06, when they went to the Stanley Cup Finals. Despite their fancy new digs, the Oilers are just 9-8-2 at home. OilersNation’s Robin Brownlee gave a startling statistic: the Oilers have won just 86 of their last 207 home games. Brownlee writes that the Oilers need to improve their home record if they want to solidify a playoff spot, seeing as 13 of their last 18 games of the season are at home. The Oilers are on pace to make the playoffs, in spite of their home record, not because of it.

Maple Leafs Trade Jhonas Enroth To Anaheim

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The rebuild of the Toronto Maple Leafs never sleeps, not even on the team’s bye-week.

Just after midnight, the Maple Leafs traded Jhonas Enroth to the Anaheim Ducks for a 7th-round pick in 2018. Unlike the Jonathan Bernier trade, there is no conditional nature to the pick, according to Chris Johnston of Sportsnet. The deal comes just hours after the Maple Leafs claimed Curtis McElhinney on waivers.

McElhinney is considered a big upgrade over Enroth, at least by this season’s numbers. In seven games this season, McElhinney has a 0.924 save percentage, much better than Enroth’s 0.872 SV% in six appearances. However, six or seven games is not much to judge a goaltender by, as Enroth’s career SV% is slightly higher (0.909 vs 0.905). Enroth failed to gain the confidence of head coach Mike Babcock, and that’s not a good sign for any player on the rebuilding Leafs.

The trade is relatively small but a win-win overall. The Maple Leafs are able to move on from Enroth and move a contract from their 50-man list, while Enroth will give the Ducks some insurance as both of their AHL goaltenders, Dustin Tokarski and Matt Hackett, are currently battling injuries. Enroth and his $750K contract will report to the San Diego Gulls.

Back in Toronto, their minor-league goaltenders will get a chance to develop further. Antoine Bibeau has been solid in his two NHL starts with a 0.927 SV% and a GAA below two, but he’s better served by playing games in the AHL instead of sitting on the bench. Garret Sparks has yet to be given a chance at the NHL level this season.

The Leafs had previously explored the possibility of signing Karri Ramo, but he suffered a setback in his recovery and was forced to undergo another surgery last month. He’s expected to be ready to go in February, according to TSN’s Darren Dreger.

Red Wings Notes: Blashill, Nielsen, Abdelkader, Green

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Though the Detroit Red Wings have struggled this season, the Detroit News’ Gregg Krupa doesn’t believe the blame all belongs at the feet of bench boss Jeff Blashill. In danger of missing the playoffs for the first time in 26 years, Krupa notes a multitude of reasons for the team’s fall: lack of star power, an aging core, a useless power play, and needing to collect at least 65% of the the points they have available to them in the their next 42 games.

From Krupa:

In the first 40 games, they garnered slightly less than half the points.  Amid the maelstrom, Blashill, 43, grapples in his second season with destructive trends dragging down the franchise.  Players who won Stanley Cups are largely gone.

Prized free agents have decide to play with other teams. Misjudgments on personnel have hampered “the rebuild on the fly.”  A roster with a good supply of support players lacks top stars.Blashill is not to blame.  But he should be gauged by whether players improve and play up to their potential.

And, at about the halfway point of the season, those are big issues of concern. Unless there is a marked improvement in the Red Wings performance by April, there is likely to be a harsh review of Blashill’s first two seasons.

Fairly or unfairly, someone will pay for the Wings’ struggles. While the majority of fans and national analysts will point to the team general manager Ken Holland constructed, it will most likely be the end of Blashill’s tenure in Detroit if someone has to go.

In other Red Wings news:

  • It took a season with a new team for Frans Nielsen to earn his first All-Star game appearance. Nielsen was overjoyed with the news, telling  MLive’s Ansar Khan that “it’s something to be proud of.” There are a handful of Red Wings having better seasons, namely Anthony Mantha, but Khan reports that it’s a multitude of factors that go into the selection process, not just scoring.
  • The Red Wings will receive two crucial players back into their lineup as both Justin Abdelkader and Mike Green are set to return against the Blackhawks tonight. If anything the return of the duo can certainly inject some more talent into an anemic power play, that is failing at historical levels. Though both will be limited to shorter shifts, it’s certainly a step in the right direction for a team beleaguered by injury.

The Latest On Gabriel Landeskog Trade Rumors

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It seems like every week brings a new Colorado Avalanche trade rumor. Teams plummeting in the standings attract sharks looking to pick off the best pieces in exchange for future prospects. This week’s target is Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog.

Adrian Dater tweeted that both the Los Angeles Kings (here) and the Boston Bruins (here) were rumored to be in the mix for Landeskog. The problem, however, may be with Colorado’s requested return. According to TSN’s Darren Dreger, Colorado is looking for “top-level defenseman, first-round draft pick, plus.” He noted that some teams find that ask outrageous—especially because Landeskog is struggling this season with 7G and 6A in 29 games.

Boston is one of those teams. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that Boston ended talks with Colorado after Boston refused to part with defensive prospect Brandon Carlo. Boston drafted Carlo in the second round in 2015, and while his numbers don’t raise any eyebrows, his defensive play has impressed scouts. Boston is reportedly very high on Carlo, and expect him to develop into a top-flight defenseman.

Because of this ask, TSN and ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun says that most teams think that the Avalanche wait until the offseason to make any moves. The rationale is that teams are relatively unshackled from cap constraints and have more freedom to make moves. Left unsaid was that an offseason deal protects a team from losing a fringe player or prospect in the June expansion draft.

Colorado’s asking price may drop as more teams drop out of the playoff race, notes Elliotte Friedman today on the Fan 590 (audio link). Right now only Colorado and the Arizona Coyotes are definite non-playoff teams, creating scarcity in the market for available players. Colorado may reduce its price for Landeskog in a few weeks once the NHL standings filter out some of the bubble teams like the Detroit Red Wings, Buffalo Sabres, and New York Islanders.

Snapshots: Glass, Hurricanes, Olympics

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News and notes from around the NHL this evening:

  • Goaltender Jeff Glass signed an AHL contract with the Rockford IceHogs today, reports Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston. Glass was released from a PTO from the AHL Toronto Marlies yesterday as the Toronto Maple Leafs prepared to claim Curtis McElhinney off of waivers. Glass has spent the last seven years on various KHL teams after failing to make the NHL with the Ottawa Senators. He had a stellar World Junior Championship in 2005, going 5-0 with a 1.40 GAA en route to Canada’s first gold medal since 1997.
  • The Carolina Hurricanes activated forward Elias Lindholm off of IR today. Lindholm suffered an upper body injury on December 30th against the Chicago Blackhawks, ending a three-game scoring streak. In 30 games this season Lindholm has 4G and 9A. The Hurricanes also assigned Andrej Nestrasil to the AHL Charlotte Checkers after clearing waivers today.
  • Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that the Jan 15th deadline to decide whether NHL players would go to the Olympics has moved to the end of January. This date coincides with another Board of Governors meeting. Friedman speculates that both the NHL and NHLPA are waiting to see exactly what the IIHF will contribute financially. There’s been little update since the NHLPA rejected the NHL’s offer to attend the Olympics in exchange for agreeing to a slate of NHL-hosted international events.

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