The Department of Player Safety announced they will have a hearing today for Anaheim Ducks forward Andrew Cogliano for his illegal check to the head on Los Angeles Kings forward Adrian Kempe during the first period of Saturday night’s game between the two teams.
A possible suspension for the iron man Cogliano in jeopardy. The veteran has not missed a game since 2007 and has played 830 consecutive games, ranking fourth highest in NHL history, according to NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti. Elliotte Friedman added that he is just 134 games behind Doug Jarvis, who played with Montreal, Washington and Hartford between 1975 to 1988.
- On his Headlines segment on Hockey Night in Canada, Friedman reports the San Jose Sharks are trying to trade defenseman Paul Martin. The veteran defenseman, in his third season with San Jose, was injured in the second game of the season and has only appeared in one game since then on Dec. 7. He played a four-game stretch of games in the AHL on a conditioning loan, but has been called up and has been a healthy scratch since. With the emergence of defensemen Tim Heed and Joakim Ryan on San Jose’s blueline, there is no place for Martin. With defenseman Dylan DeMelo about ready to be activated off of injured reserve, the team hopes to send Martin elsewhere. Martin played 159 games in his first two seasons with the Sharks. The problem is Martin is owed $4.85MM both this year and next, which might make moving the veteran much more difficult than it looks.
- Paul Gackle of the Mercury News writes that while the Sharks are likely to move goaltender Aaron Dell before he hits unrestricted free agency this summer, the team cannot consider moving their backup goaltender until the last possible moment as the team finds itself fighting for a playoff spot. The Sharks are currently one point out of a playoff spot in a highly competitive race. “We need great goaltending in the second half,” head coach Peter DeBoer said. Due to the recent struggles of starter Martin Jones, the team doesn’t want to lose Dell too quickly in case Martin, who has struggled since the beginning of December, fails to bounce back. Gackle adds that in a perfect world, the team would try to send Dell off as soon as possible to get a fourth-line center or a wing.
- The Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Steve Carp writes the Vegas Golden Knights avoided a possible injury Saturday in their game against Edmonton when forward Pierre-Eduoard Bellemare took a puck to the face off a shot from defenseman Darnell Nurse. The veteran tough-guy took three stitches and only missed one shift.