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Dallas Stars Sign Curtis McKenzie To One-Year Extension

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The Stars have completed their expansion draft protection, signing Curtis McKenzie to a one-year, $700K extension. They also have announced a two-year entry-level deal for goaltending prospect Landon Bow. Both contracts will begin during the 2017-18 season. Curtis McKenzie

As we predicted when the Stars extended Adam Cracknell earlier this week, McKenzie was the obvious choice for the Stars to extend and fulfill their expansion draft requirements up front. While Brett Ritchie or Radek Faksa could have been exposed to cover the requirements, both will likely be protected by the team. They now have Cracknell, McKenzie and Dan Hamhuis as expansion draft fodder that fill the 70/40 requirement.

McKenzie has played 43 games for the team this season, recording 11 points and 67 penalty minutes. His fourth-line role has been expanded slightly of late after the Stars shipped Patrick Eaves and Lauri Korpikoski out of town at the deadline. Whether he continues in that role next season is still to be determined, but he’ll benefit from the expansion draft with some guaranteed money. The 26-year old actually has two game-winning goals this season, and does have a bit of offensive upside to his game.

In his first season of professional hockey in 2013-14, McKenzie broke out with 65 points in 75 AHL contests. He has followed it up with more solid minor league numbers, though his impact at the NHL level has been less noticeable.  For a Stars team that will need to reload this offseason and try again while Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin are in their prime, McKenzie and his relatively low cap-hit could come in handy in their bottom-six.

Bow on the other hand is a 21-year old undrafted goaltender that has split time between the ECHL and AHL this season. His numbers while in the American league are poor, but has shown at least enough ability to be an intriguing lottery ticket. Goaltenders often mature much later into their game than other positions, and Bow was exceptional in his final season of junior hockey after already being passed over in the draft. Probably nothing more than organizational filler, he at least is worth an ELC to see what he can do. The Stars need all the goaltending help they can get, as the tandem of Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi continue to struggle at the NHL level.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Morning Notes: Glendale, Niederreiter, Halverson

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When Gary Bettman wrote a letter to Arizona lawmakers compelling them to pass Bill 1149—which would allow more than $200MM to be allocated from the state budget to build a new arena for the Coyotes closer to downtown Phoenix—he used some very strong wording. “The Coyotes cannot and will not remain in Glendale,” the Commissioner wrote in a thinly veiled threat that would hopefully force the Senate’s hand. He has received much backlash from the letter, including from a former mayor of Glendale herself, Elaine Scruggs (published by AZCentral).

Before the Coyotes moved out of downtown Phoenix they ranked 29th in attendance out of the league of 30 teams. Their first year in the Glendale Arena they ranked 19th in attendance. Attendance stayed in that tier until the floundering team started losing their disappointed fans’ support.

The truth is that the Coyotes have a world-class, taxpayer-funded arena that is designed for hockey and is only 12 years old. They have a City Council and City Manager ready to work with them to achieve an equitable long-term lease.

Scruggs makes a clear point in her letter, saying that it is not the people or city of Glendale’s fault, but the ownership groups the NHL has installed over their 19-year run. As the team struggles in last place in the Pacific Division, it is looking more and more like it won’t matter for the city that once loved their Coyotes. If they don’t get funding for another new arena, they might end up moving further than anyone—fans or the NHL—have ever wanted.

Pittsburgh Penguins Recall Oskar Sundqvist From AHL

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After Tom Sestito was handed a four-game suspension for his actions in Wednesday night’s Penguins-Jets game, Pittsburgh has decided to call up Oskar Sundqvist from the AHL to replace him. He’ll likely get into the lineup when they take on the Edmonton Oilers tonight.

Sundqvist was a third-round pick of the Penguins in 2012, and made his NHL debut for the club last season. In his 18 game stint, he scored just four points. A different story at the AHL level though, Sundqvist uses his size and strength to create scoring chances and has recorded 39 points in 53 games this season. He ranks third on the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins in goals, behind Jake Guentzel—who scored 21 in 33 games before getting the call to play with Sidney Crosby—and Tom Kostopoulos.

It’s the first call up of the season for the 22-year old forward, but he’ll get a good chance to stick for a while. Patrick Hornqvist remains out with a concussion for the time being, and Sundqvist could fit his role admirably. Carl Hagelin and Scott Wilson are also banged up, meaning this call up is probably a signal that the young forward is about to get another shot at the NHL. Remember he even suited up for two playoff games last spring, though was held scoreless in both.

Lightning Lose Two Players During Wild Game

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The Tampa Bay Lightning may be dominating the Western Conference-leading Minnesota Wild so far tonight, but they’ve lost two regular forwards in the process.

According to ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun, Tyler Johnson and Vladislav Namestnikov have both left the game with lower-body injuries and will not return.

Namestnikov left the game clutching his left leg; Tampa Bay Times reporter Joe Smith tweeted that the injury “doesn’t look good.” After the Lightning went up 3-0 on the Wild, Johnson was hit by winger Nino Niederreiter and needed to be helped off the ice by his teammates.

If Johnson is out for any extending time, it could seriously hurt the Lightning’s slim playoff chances. He has 43 points in 63 games, good for third in team scoring. However, a serious injury to Johnson could be partially relieved by Steven Stamkos’ impending return to the lineup.

Namestnikov, meanwhile, has 24 points in 61 games, which ranks eighth on the Lightning for the season.

Friedman’s Latest: Review Limit, Salary Cap, Concussion Protocol

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In his latest 30 Thoughts column, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet dishes on the latest information coming out of the recent General Manager meetings in Boca Raton. It’s always a great read from one of the most connected men in hockey.

  • While the GMs have decided not to change the offside rule, they are looking at instituting a time limit on reviews to prevent five-plus minute delays to the game. The MLB recently changed their rules around reviews, giving managers just :30 to call for a review and umpires have two minutes to make the final decision. Friedman suggests the NHL would look at something similar. One change that has been agreed upon is the referees will no longer discuss/ explain the call with both coaches after announcing the ruling. That should dramatically cut down on the time delays.
  • The salary cap is expected to increase by several million dollars, potentially as high as around $76MM. That would be a $3MM increase from this season. Of course, that would require the Players Association to use their cap escalator, which increases both the cap and their escrow payments. Friedman cites some anonymous sources as not being sure that the PA would do that, however they usually do approve it in the end. Whether or not the players choose to increase the cap will greatly affect the contracts thrown around in July. It’s also important to remember that last March the cap was expected to be $74MM, but only reached $73MM, so it’s not a sure-thing just yet.
  • There is some concern among play0ff-bound teams that concussion protocols will be abused in the post-season. After Mike Smith was removed from the third period of a game last month, he wondered what is stopping a fourth-liner from running a star goaltender to gain an advantage against a cold goaltender. Friedman doesn’t believe the NHL will make changes to the rule, as it would reflect negatively on them to “move backwards” on concussion awareness; however he does believe this will be something to watch for in the playoffs.
  • Some were surprised at the high price that Ottawa gave up to acquire Alex Burrows at the trade deadline, but Friedman sheds some light on why: there were eight or nine teams who made “legit offers” for Burrows. That’s a lot of interest for a player who was nearly bought out last summer, but also demonstrates the high cost of veterans at the deadline. Ottawa also stepped up to offer Burrows a two-year extension, which tipped the scales in their favor.
  • After his head coach ripped him apart in the media, Friedman believes the Hurricanes will look to move Eddie Lack this summer. Lack had a solid 0.917 SV% during his two seasons in Vancouver, but that number has fallen to 0.898 in Carolina. He has just 15 wins in 45 games as a member of the Hurricanes. Friedman says Lack, a happy-go-lucky person, was initially crushed by Bill Peters’ comments; he doesn’t believe the arrangement will last beyond this season.
  • Finally, after some unnecessary controversy about Islanders rookie Josh Ho-Sang wearing number 66 in honor of Mario Lemieux, Friedman commented that if Wayne Gretzky’s 99 wasn’t retired league-wide, players would “be spearing each other in competition for it.” Number 99 is the only number that’s off-limits on every team, so expect a few-year-long reprieve from rookies wearing their birth year as their number. After Jesse Puljujärvi chose number 98, we likely won’t see any rookies until the 2002-birth year hits the NHL in 2020.

Tom Sestito Suspended Four Games

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Last night, Pittsburgh Penguins enforcer Tom Sestito was given a five-minute major penalty for boarding and a game misconduct after a hard hit from behind on Winnipeg Jets defenseman Toby Enstrom. The league announced this morning that Sestito would have a phone hearing today on supplemental punishment for the incident. Well, that hearing has come and gone and NHL Player Safety has decided to hand down a four-game suspension for the veteran winger.

As Player Safety acknowledges, Enstrom did see Sestito coming and turned away from the check. However, they continue that Enstrom slowed and made his move earlier enough that Sestito had “sufficient time to minimize the force of the hit”. Instead, Sestito continued at full-force and caused injury to Enstrom because of it. The suspension will hopefully work toward teaching Sestito that hitting someone right on the numbers from behind is the exact kind of dangerous play that the NHL is looking to eliminate.

Sestito has only played in nine games this season -while racking up 44 penalty minutes in that time – with the Penguins and his presence will hardly be missed. However, the hope is that the missed games and subsequent loss of pay will impart some knowledge and sense of responsibility on Sestito in the future, if and when he gets back on the ice. Sestito is one of the few pure enforcers remaining in the NHL as the league moves away from violence for violence’s sake.

Playoff Puzzle: Western Goaltending Experience

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Corey Crawford must feel like an old man these days. When the Chicago Blackhawks goaltender looks around at the creases of his main rivals in the Western Conference, one thing is constant: inexperience. He knows it well, from when he took on the Vancouver Canucks in 2011 as a rookie. At the other end of the rink was a 31-year old Roberto Luongo, who had already been through three playoff runs and was about to win the Jennings trophy for dominating in the regular season.

Crawford and the Hawks would lose in seven games, but it was an important step towards their cup win in 2013 when he would post a .932 save percentage—still the best mark of his career. It’s not easy to backstop a team to the Stanley Cup, even if you do have an excellent group in front of you. Just ask Martin Jones, who actually played his best hockey last year in the Finals against Pittsburgh, despite losing. It took a while for him to really find his groove and even then it wasn’t enough.

So when Crawford sees the standings and notices a trend among the biggest contenders, it might make him even more confident heading into this year’s tournament. Perhaps even if he is a bit older, that experience will pay off in the toughest two months of any sport.

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Atlantic Notes: Filppula, Coreau, DiDomenico

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When Valtteri Filppula’s name started to come up in trade talks between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning, he received a phone call from Mike Babcock. That’s what Chris Johnston of Sportsnet writes in his newest article, detailing everything that went on behind the scenes on deadline day surrounding Filppula. He ended up talking with Babcock for a while, before ultimately choosing not to waive his no-trade clause. It was “nothing against Toronto” as the veteran center turned down the chance to go play for his former coach; the two spent years together in Detroit, even winning the Stanley Cup in 2008.

Filppula ended up going to Philadelphia, for whom he will suit up against the Maple Leafs tonight. He just wanted to stick with the list he’d created before the season, and as Johnston notes, likely saw the treatment of other veteran players since heading to Toronto. Brooks Laich, Colin Greening and Milan Michalek have all been buried in the minors this season, with Eric Fehr not getting into a game since coming over from Pittsburgh.

  • The Detroit Red Wings have sent Jared Coreau back down to the AHL after activating Jimmy Howard yesterday. The young netminder was shelled last night against Boston, playing just 13:32 of the game before getting the hook. In 14 games for the Red Wings this season, Coreau has just an .887 save percentage. He does however have two shutouts during his time in the NHL, and will look to build off that next season should Howard be moved this summer.
  • Chris DiDomenico will make his NHL debut tonight for the Ottawa Senators after signing just over a week ago. The 28-year old forward that has dominated the Swiss leagues for the past few years is ready to make his mark on North American ice. A former sixth-round pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs, he hasn’t played on this continent since 2012. The Senators had gone with seven defensemen last night, but with Mark Borowiecki injured, they’ll insert DiDomenico in his place.

Injury Notes: Stamkos, Borowiecki, Kinkaid

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Steven Stamkos was again skating with teammates this morning, as he inches his way back to the lineup. While there is a good chance the Tampa Bay Lightning captain will return to the ice this season he might not be as effective right away. That’s what Zach Parise told Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times a few weeks ago, speaking from experience. Parise had the same surgery on his knee in November of 2010, and though he returned later that year as well, didn’t feel right until the following Christmas.

I’d say it took probably a year and a half to get back to feeling back to normal. That’s what my therapist said, six months to heal, a year you feel better. But to get back to that level for me, I feel like it was almost the following Christmas.

So Stamkos, who may get a chance to help his team in a playoff race—the Lightning are just four points out with 17 games left to play—likely won’t be the elite offensive presence he’s proven to be over the past eight years. Fear not Lightning fans, though Parise says he didn’t feel right until Christmas, he still scored 30 goals and 69 points the year following surgery. It wasn’t all bad.

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