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Ralph Krueger Tests Positive For COVID-19

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Not only are several Buffalo Sabres players in the COVID Protocol, but now their head coach is as well. Ralph Krueger has tested positive for COVID-19. The Sabres already saw their games postponed through February 8.

Krueger, 61, joins Taylor Hall, Rasmus Ristolainen, Brandon Montour, and Tobias Rieder in the protocol, though it’s clear there may be other names added in the coming days. Over the weekend, the Sabres played two games against the New Jersey Devils, who have since seen the biggest outbreak of the season and currently have 17 players on the COVID Protocol Related Absences list. According to reporting from John Vogl of The Athletic, the Sabres wanted more information about the Devils’ health before playing the Sunday game and did not receive it.

Notably, as several Buffalo writers have expressed, the Sabres also had assistant coach Don Granato on the bench over the weekend. In 2019, Granato had a near-death experience with pneumonia, experiencing respiratory failure in the hospital and needing the help of a ventilator. To be clear, there is nothing to suggest that Granato has tested positive and hopefully, it will stay that way.

Perhaps in response to this specific situation, the league has made four changes to the in-arena protocols according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. The biggest is that the glass behind the benches has been removed. The league has also asked for portable air cleaners put behind the bench, more locker room space and is limiting when players and coaches can arrive at the arena even further.

There is no way to conclusively confirm that there was team-to-team transmission in those weekend games, but it does seem the most likely answer here. The Devils are also currently shut down while they try to limit the spread of their outbreak.

Injury Notes: Tarasenko, Bruins, Walker, Stenlund

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There appears to be some good news at least on the horizon for the Blues.  Speaking with reporters today (video link), GM Doug Armstrong indicated that winger Vladimir Tarasenko has resumed skating as he works his way back from offseason surgery:

His shoulder certainly isn’t 100 percent right now, but it’s at a point where the safety mechanisms are in place where we feel he can skate. He can receive passes, make passes, and shoot to a level of his comfort.  He’s still aways away. We won’t see him for a number of weeks, but he certainly is on the right track.

Tarasenko has been out since re-aggravating his previous shoulder injury back in the bubble which played a role in the Blues signing Mike Hoffman just before the season started.  While it will be several weeks yet before he returns, he’s on track to be a big second-half addition to a team that has gotten off to a solid start this season with a 7-2-1 record.

More injury news and notes from around the league:

  • Bruins winger Jake DeBrusk and defenseman Matt Grzelcyk have resumed skating as they continue to recover from their respective lower-body injuries, notes Joe Haggerty of Boston Hockey Now. Neither player is expected to suit up on Friday when their current road trip comes to an end while their next two games against Buffalo have already been postponed.  That would appear to have them in line to return a week tonight against the Rangers.
  • Kings defenseman Sean Walker will have surgery on his nose and is expected to miss the next two-to-four weeks, reports Lisa Dillman of The Athletic (Twitter link). He took a slapshot to the face in the third period of Thursday’s game and hasn’t played since.  Los Angeles placed Walker on injured reserve yesterday.
  • The Blue Jackets announced that they have activated Kevin Stenlund off injured reserve. The center suffered an upper-body injury last week that held him out of the last four games.  Stenlund had gotten off to a good start before getting injured with a goal and an assist in his first two games.

What Your Team Is Thankful For: San Jose Sharks

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We’ve now made it past the holiday season but there is still plenty to be thankful for. Like the last few years, PHR will take a look at what teams are thankful for but this year comes with a bit of a change. Normally teams would have an idea of where their season was heading, coming up on the one-quarter mark with mountains of statistics to analyze. Instead, in this unprecedented year, things are just getting underway. We’ll still take a look at what each group is excited about and what they could hope for with the calendar having now flipped to 2021.

What are the Sharks most thankful for?

Last season, San Jose finished dead last in the Pacific Division but while most teams in that situation could at least take solace in knowing that such a performance would yield a high draft pick, that wasn’t the case as Ottawa held their first-round pick from the Erik Karlsson trade, using it on Tim Stutzle.  This season, they’re not off to the best of starts either (currently sitting in last place in the West Division) but they at least have their first-round selection this time.  After underachieving last year and getting off to a sluggish start this season, there isn’t much to be thankful for in terms of on-ice success but at least they have their top pick in their pocket this time around.

Who are the Sharks most thankful for?

While many of San Jose’s players have underachieved lately, that can’t be said for Tomas Hertl.  After leading all of their forwards in scoring in 2018-19, he produced at a rate that would have been good enough for the team lead had it not been for a knee injury last season.  He has returned without any lingering issues and currently leads the Sharks in scoring in the early going this year.  After starting his career on the wing, Hertl has also successfully transitioned to a full-time center role, giving them a second homegrown fit down the middle with Logan Couture.  Hertl still has this year and next left on what has become a below-market contract with a $5.625MM AAV and will likely be looking for a deal around Couture’s price tag ($8MM) in 2022.

What would the Sharks be even more thankful for?

Karlsson providing a better return for their investment, both in terms of price paid to get him and his contract.  The pick used on Stutzle and Joshua Norris have given Ottawa two potential franchise cornerstones (not to mention the other players they parted with including Chris Tierney and Dylan DeMelo) while Karlsson hasn’t come close to living up to expectations.  His point-per-game average has dipped each year since 2015-16 which is concerning for an offense-first defenseman and he has managed just nine goals in a San Jose uniform.  With a record-setting $11.5MM AAV through 2026-27, the Sharks need a whole lot more from Karlsson than they’ve received so far.

What should be on the Sharks’ wish list?

Two areas come to mind with one being a lot more attainable than the other.  The realistic one is trying to add scoring help; the Sharks are averaging just 2.75 goals per game and no one has more than three with Brent Burns being the only defender to get on the board (this despite having the priciest back end in the league).  They are pegged to finish more than $4MM under the cap, per CapFriendly which is quite important in this environment where so many teams are capped out.  If they can hang around the playoff race, they could put themselves in a spot to add.

The less likely one is getting a reliable goaltender.  The Sharks added Devan Dubnyk in the hopes that a change of scenery could spark him after a tough showing with Minnesota last year while also giving Martin Jones a bit of a reprieve to help him improve.  Neither have happened.  Jones has been pulled twice already and is narrowly allowing less than four goals per game while Dubnyk has just a .902 SV%.  However, while getting a steadier option would certainly help, given the difficulty in acquiring any sort of goaltending help this season, it’s unlikely they’ll be able to adequately address this area.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

NHL Postpones Four Minnesota Wild Games

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As a result of the Minnesota Wild having five more players placed on the COVID Protocol Related Absences list today, joining Marcus Foligno who has been there since Sunday, the NHL announced the postponements of their games through February 9th.  That means their next four games at a minimum will need to be rescheduled for later in the year. 18 games had been postponed previous to this one, affecting the schedules of Dallas, Florida, Tampa Bay, Carolina, Nashville, St. Louis, Vegas, San Jose, Buffalo, NY Islanders, NY Rangers, New Jersey, Pittsburgh, and Boston. Only the North Division is untouched so far.

The Wild will shut down their training facilities indefinitely and the schedule will continue to be revised as testing comes in. After tomorrow’s game against the Avalanche, the team was scheduled to host the Arizona Coyotes for a back-to-back this weekend, before welcoming in the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday and Thursday next week.

The postponement/rescheduling table now looks like this:

Read more

Justin Abdelkader Signs In Switzerland

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After being bought out by Detroit back in the offseason, veteran winger Justin Abdelkader has found a place to play.  EV Zug of the Swiss NLA announced that they’ve signed the 33-year-old to a contract for the remainder of the 2020-21 season.

In his prime, Abdelkader was a capable top-six power forward, twice reaching the 40-point mark while recording at least 100 hits in all of his 11 full NHL seasons.  However, his offensive production dried up considerably in recent years including a goalless 2019-20 campaign where he managed just three assists in 49 games which resulted in the Red Wings opting to pay him more than $6MM in total over the next six years to get out of his contract.

If Abdelkader can have some offensive success overseas, it’s not entirely implausible to think that a team could view him as a possible fourth line fit or PTO candidate for 2021-22 so there could be a lot at stake for him over the next couple of months.  However, he’ll have to wait a little while before he can get overseas as he will now look to get his work visa approved.

COVID Protocol Related Absences: 02/03/21

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Each day, the NHL will publicly release the list of players that are unavailable to their respective teams due to being in COVID-19 protocol. The list for today:

Buffalo – Taylor Hall, Rasmus Ristolainen, Brandon Montour*, Tobias Rieder*
Chicago – Adam Boqvist, Ryan Carpenter, Lucas Wallmark
Colorado – Tyson Jost*
Dallas – Andrej Sekera
Detroit –Filip Zadina
Los Angeles – Andreas Athanasiou, Blake Lizotte
Minnesota – Marcus Foligno, Nick Bjugstad*, Nick Bonino*, Joel Eriksson Ek*, Marcus Johansson*, Jared Spurgeon*
New Jersey – Connor Carrick, Aaron Dell, Kyle Palmieri, Sami Vatanen, Travis Zajac, Andreas Johnsson, Janne Kuokkanen, Michael McLeod, Pavel Zacha, Jack Hughes, Damon Severson, Ty Smith, Matt Tennyson, Jesper Bratt, Nathan Bastian*, Nikita Gusev*, Yegor Sharangovich*
Pittsburgh – John Marino*
Vegas – Alex Pietrangelo
Washington – Evgeny Kuznetsov, Ilya Samsonov
Winnipeg – Pierre-Luc Dubois

As a reminder, inclusion on this list does not mean that a player has tested positive for Coronavirus or even that they have been confirmed as a close contact to another positive person. Included in the NHL’s list of possible reasons for someone being on the list is are the following:

(1) an initial positive test which remains unconfirmed until confirmatory testing is completed pursuant to the Positive Test Protocol; (2) mandated isolation for symptomatic individuals pursuant to the Positive Test Protocol; (3) required quarantine as a high-risk close contact in accordance with the Positive Test Protocol; (4) isolation based on a confirmed positive test result and/or; (5) quarantine for travel or other reasons as outlined in the COVID-19 Protocol

Players removed today: Sam Gagner, Detroit Red Wings; Jonathon Merrill, Detroit Red Wings; Kaapo Kakko, New York Rangers

The big news is the addition of five players from Minnesota and one from Colorado, who played each other last night (and twice before that). Tomorrow’s game between the two clubs is expected to be postponed, but it is not clear yet how many matches will be affected.

The Devils are up to 17 players on the list as they deal with the biggest outbreak of the regular season, while the Sabres–who played the Devils on the weekend–are now up to four. Both teams currently have all activities suspended and games postponed.

Marino’s placement for the Penguins comes at a brutal stretch while they’re without almost all of their top options on defense, though again it is not clear if he has tested positive or how long he will be kept away from the team.

*denotes new addition

Latest On Pittsburgh GM Search

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Feb 3: Though Drury was a top candidate and the team asked for permission, he will not be getting an interview. Bob McKenzie of TSN reports that Drury has informed the Penguins he is not interested in leaving New York City or the Rangers at this time. That’s a pretty high profile snub, but Drury and the Rangers have been very loyal to each other over the last several years and it shouldn’t come as a total shock that he wants to stay with the organization at this time.

Feb 2: The Pittsburgh Penguins have started the interview process for their next general manager after Jim Rutherford’s sudden resignation last week, but the candidate list is still a long one according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. The insider reports that the New Jersey Devils are not going to let Tom Fitzgerald—who is currently their GM but only signed to that position through this season—interview, but Frank Seravalli of TSN tweets that the New York Rangers and Boston Bruins have granted permission to interview Chris Drury and John Ferguson Jr., respectively.

Drury, the assistant general manager of the Rangers, has been on the GM track for several years and is a top candidate for basically every job that opens. An NCAA champion, Stanley Cup winner, and two-time Olympic silver medalist as a player, Drury made a quick climb through the executive ranks and was named GM of Team USA at the 2019 World Championship. He’ll be a GM somewhere, though up until now the Rangers had been keeping him away from other opportunities.

Ferguson Jr. is another story, though his inclusion shouldn’t be scoffed at just because of his previous failures. The veteran front office member took over as GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2003 and found little success, but has been climbing back up the ranks and building his reputation since his firing in 2008. He has worked as Boston director of player personnel since 2014 and as GM of the Providence Bruins since 2016, with his name often coming up in connection with openings around the league.

Friedman offers up another couple of names that hadn’t been mentioned before: Joe Nieuwendyk and Jason Karmanos. The former was the GM of the Dallas Stars between 2009-2013 but has been behind the scenes in recent years. The latter is kind of a shocking inclusion, given he was fired from his role as AGM with the Penguins in October.

Even though the list of candidates is long, the Penguins are expected to try and hurry along with a decision in order to have a GM in place as soon as possible. Currently, the team is being run by interim GM Patrik Allvin, with help from owner Mario Lemieux.

TSN’s Frank Seravalli has confirmed another NHL executive on the Penguins’ shortlist later in the evening: Colorado Avalanche Assistant GM Chris MacFarland. The Avs have given Pittsburgh permission to interview MacFarland, who joins Drury and Ferguson as confirmed candidates. Seravalli adds that this process could move quicker than some may have expected. He notes that the Penguins have received interest in the vacancy from upwards of 20 legitimate names and hope to have their list of six or seven candidates whittled down by the end of the week. He goes so far as to say that the team hopes to have hired their new GM within the next two weeks.

Petr Mrazek Undergoes Thumb Surgery

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The Carolina Hurricanes will be without their starting goaltender for the next while after Petr Mrazek underwent surgery on his right thumb. His exact recovery timeline is still to be determined.

Mrazek, who turns 29 later this month, was off to an outstanding start this season with a league-leading .955 save percentage and 0.99 goals-against average in his first four games. While numbers like that would be almost impossible to maintain, he was the obvious choice to take on the majority of work in Carolina, especially after the strong performance he put on in last summer’s playoffs. Mrazek has always been a streaky netminder, but with unrestricted free agency coming up again after this season, playing well was more important than ever.

Now he’ll hand the net over to James Reimer, who has been a much more consistent, if still underwhelming option throughout his career. His .915 save percentage this season sits almost exactly where his career numbers lie, while he too played well in last year’s postseason. Having a goaltender with 367 career starts as a backup plan is better than nothing, though obviously, the team would rather have a healthy Mrazek competing for the net.

For now, Alex Nedeljkovic will serve as the backup, though he has still not seen the ice this season and the Hurricanes have always appeared hesitant to really give him some runway at the NHL level. The 2019 AHL Goaltender of the Year has just six NHL appearances and cleared waivers earlier this season when exposed to the rest of the league. Nedeljkovic doesn’t have the prototypical size for an NHL netminder, standing just 6’0″, but has stopped the puck at every level so far. Given he is a potential Group VI unrestricted free agent this summer as well, this chance could be a showcase for his future.

Snapshots: Weekes, Ontario, Vegas

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There’s another interesting name to throw on the pile of candidates for the Pittsburgh Penguins’ GM job, as Frank Seravalli of TSN reports that NHL Network analyst Kevin Weekes will be among the first to interview for the role. The former NHL goaltender has no experience in the front office but did play more than a decade in the league and has been a strong broadcaster since his retirement.

Patrik Allvin, the interim GM, will also be among the first few interviews according to Seravalli. Just yesterday it was reported that both Chris Drury and John Ferguson Jr. had received permission from their respective teams to speak with the Penguins, while many other candidates have been mentioned since Jim Rutherford’s unexpected resignation.

  • The AHL released a schedule for the season that is set to start on Friday, but no games were listed for the North Division, made up of the Canadian-based teams. That’s because of some resistance from the Ontario provincial government, but Chris Johnston of Sportsnet reports that there has been some progress between the two sides. The Toronto Marlies and Belleville Senators, the two teams based in Ontario, will likely have to start the season on a road trip to make things work according to Johnston, but could be “up and running in the next week or two.”
  • The Vegas Golden Knights are set to resume their schedule on Friday against the Los Angeles Kings after positive COVID tests shut things down, and were on the ice today preparing. Among those absent from practice were defenseman Alex Pietrangelo and head coach Pete DeBoer, along with assistants Ryan Craig and Ryan McGill. There is still a little bit of time before the game for Pietrangelo to come off the COVID Protocol Related Absences list, but for now, it appears as though they will prepare without their big free agent acquisition. Kaedan Korczak, one of the team’s top defensive prospects, was recalled to the taxi squad today.

Taxi Squad Shuffle: 02/03/21

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There has been plenty of roster movement between NHL teams and the taxi squad on a daily basis this season. Although some major names may be highlighted in separate articles, this is where you’ll find the majority of that shuffle news each day.

North Division

  • The Calgary Flames have once again flipped Buddy Robinson and Derek Ryan with the former being recalled and the latter being sent to the taxi squad, per CapFriendly.  This is a move that has happened several times already this season and will likely be flipped again on Thursday.  If that happens and Ryan plays, he’ll need to go through waivers again before he can be returned.  Connor Mackey was also sent back to the taxi squad.
  • The Montreal Canadiens have reversed yesterday’s goaltending swap, returning Cayden Primeau to Laval of the AHL while recalling Charlie Lindgren to the taxi squad, per CapFriendly.  Prior to Tuesday, Lindgren had been on Montreal’s taxi squad since clearing waivers back in training camp.

West Division

  • The Vegas Golden Knights have added Kaedan Korczak to the taxi squad, after Brayden McNabb was ruled out with an injury and placed on long-term injured reserve recently. Korczak, 20, won a silver medal with the Canadian World Junior team earlier this year and was a second-round pick of the Golden Knights in 2019.
  • The Los Angeles Kings have reassigned Mark Alt, Austin Strand, and Arthur Kaliyev back to the taxi squad, moving Boko Imama and Sean Durzi down to the AHL once again. This is just an off-day money-saving move since the Kings don’t play again until Friday night. Kaliyev, 19, became one of the youngest goal scorers in Kings’ history when he scored in his NHL debut last night.
  • The St. Louis Blues have assigned Jacob de la Rose to the taxi squad, CapFriendly reports.  He was recalled last week but didn’t see any game action.  The center suited up in 34 games for the Blues last season.

Central Division

  • The Chicago Blackhawks have called up Madison Bowey to the taxi squad, sending Michal Teply and Wyatt Kalynuk back to the minor leagues in the process. Bowey signed a two-year contract earlier this season but was sent to the AHL after clearing waivers. The 25-year-old defenseman will now be one step closer to getting back into the NHL, where he played 53 games last season.  CapFriendly adds that Reese Johnson was also sent to the taxi squad.
  • The Columbus Blue Jackets have assigned Liam Foudy to the taxi squad, moving Nathan Gerbe down to the AHL in the process. Columbus got Patrik Laine into the lineup last night where he played nearly 21 minutes but unfortunately couldn’t register a point in his Blue Jackets debut.
  • The Detroit Red Wings are getting back several players from the COVID Protocol list, announcing today that Mathias Brome has been moved to the taxi squad to help make room for Adam Erne, Robby Fabbri, Sam Gagner, and Jonathon Merrill, who have all been removed from the CPRA.
  • The Florida Panthers have assigned Owen Tippett to the taxi squad after the young forward played just eight minutes in the team’s last game. Tippett hasn’t recorded a single point so far this season and actually has just one goal in his 12 NHL games. Selected 10th overall in 2017, he still hasn’t quite been able to make his mark at the highest level.
  • Tanner Kero is on his way back to the taxi squad for the Dallas Stars, a move that he should be familiar with by this point. Kero has been involved in seven transactions since clearing waivers on January 12, popping up and down from the taxi squad regularly for the Stars.
  • The Carolina Hurricanes have returned Morgan Geekie and Alex Nedeljkovic to the taxi squad, per CapFriendly.  Geekie played nearly ten minutes last night while on emergency recall while Nedeljkovic is likely to be on the NHL roster with more regularity over the next few weeks with Petr Mrazek undergoing surgery today.
  • After being up on emergency loans, the Colorado Avalanche returned Kiefer Sherwood, Sheldon Dries, and Jacob MacDonald to the taxi squad, per CapFriendly.  In a corresponding move, Shane Bowers was transferred from the taxi squad to the AHL’s Colorado Eagles.

East Division

  • With Kaapo Kakko back at practice after a short stint on the COVID Protocol list, the New York Rangers have sent Jonny Brodzinski back to the AHL. Brodzinski played earlier this week for the Rangers, recording a shot and a minor penalty in under eight minutes of ice time. Kakko only spent two days on the list, meaning he never did test positive for the coronavirus.
  • The Philadelphia Flyers have recalled Connor Bunnaman from their taxi squad and also re-assigned Samuel Morin to AHL Lehigh Valley from their taxi squad.  This is Bunnaman’s fifth recall of the young season while playing in six games for the Flyers while Morin, another player who has been shuffled back and forth, has suited up just once and should get more consistent playing time with the Phantoms.
  • The Boston Bruins have added Anton Blidh from the taxi squad and he will make his season debut tonight, reports Fluto Shinzawa of The Athletic.  The 25-year-old has played in each of the last four seasons and has 28 career NHL games under his belt.
  • A day after being sent to the taxi squad, the Buffalo Sabres have moved Arttu Ruotsalainen to Rochester of the AHL, per CapFriendly.  He’s in the second year of his entry-level deal but has yet to play in North America.  Prior to training camp, he was off to a strong start in Finland, collecting 16 goals and 11 assists in just 19 games with Ilves.

This page will be updated throughout the day.

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