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Archives for April 2021

OHL Will Not Play This Season

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Though it had been clear for the last few weeks, today brought the death knell for the 2020-21 OHL season. The junior league announced the end of its return to play plans, stating that the recent extended stay at home order in Ontario along with the increasing cases of COVID-19 has made it impossible to hold a season. OHL commissioner David Branch released a statement:

We have worked tirelessly with the Province and the Chief Medical Officer of Health for the past year on different scenarios and different windows of opportunity but the reality is the conditions in Ontario have never been right to start and complete an uninterrupted, safe opportunity for players to showcase their skills. We owe it to our players and their families to be definitive. We were committed to return and play this season, but our hopes and desires have been dashed by the cruel realities of COVID-19.

A few weeks ago things looked much different, as the OHL and Ontario government had reached an agreement on return to play. Unfortunately just as those plans were supposed to be announced, the province’s COVID numbers took a turn for the worse and the hub city plan was scrapped.

It’s brutal news for the players who have now been stranded for a full season, unable to play and showcase their talents for prospective NHL organizations. Even worse perhaps for those who will not play hockey professionally and only have a very small window to compete at the major junior level.

Importantly, players like Buffalo’s Jack Quinn, who normally wouldn’t be eligible to play in the AHL because of his age, will now be able to remain there for the rest of the season.

Buffalo Sabres Sign Lukas Rousek

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The Buffalo Sabres have signed Czech forward Lukas Rousek to a two-year entry-level contract, according to his agent Dan Milstein of Gold Star Hockey. Milstein clarified to John Vogl of The Athletic that Rousek likely won’t be playing any AHL games this spring, given how long it would take him to get a visa and the short schedule remaining. The young forward will instead head to Buffalo early in the summer to train and his contract will begin in 2021-22.

It was quite the season for Rousek, who was just a sixth-round selection in 2019. After breaking out offensively last year for Sparta Praha, scoring 14 goals and 29 points in 52 games, the 22-year-old took his game to an entirely new level and racked up 38 points in 49 games for the 2020-21 season. That was good enough for 15th in the entire league, though actually just fourth on his team behind some of the league’s most respected names, including former NHL forward Michal Repik.

He went undrafted in his first two years of eligibility, but Rousek is proving that the Sabres were right in giving him a crack in 2019. A worthwhile pick, he’ll now have to try and make the transition to North American hockey and bring some of that offense to the AHL.

Patrick Marleau Breaks NHL All-Time Games Played Record

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When the San Jose Sharks dropped the puck tonight against the Vegas Golden Knights, history was made. Patrick Marleau was in the lineup for San Jose, the 1,768th time that he has suited up for a regular season NHL game. This sets a new NHL record, breaking the age-old mark set by the one and only Gordie Howe in 1961.

While no one is comparing Marleau to Howe, who played six additional seasons in the WHA in addition to 26 years in the NHL and is considered one of the greatest of all time, Marleau has had a storied career of his own. The 41-year-old began his NHL story as the 1997 No. 2 overall pick, just one spot behind eventual long-time teammate Joe Thornton. Marleau played immediately for the Sharks, earning Calder Trophy votes in his first season, and the rest is history. Marleau played 19 consecutive seasons with San Jose before finally departing for the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2017. After two seasons in Toronto, Marleau was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes and subsequently bought out. He returned to San Jose, though the Sharks gave him potentially his last chance to win a Stanley Cup last year when he was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins. It unfortunately didn’t work out for Marleau, but he was still welcomed back to San Jose again this season for a chance to break the games played record. While Marleau’s long career may not include a title, he has many other accolades. A three-time All-Star, Marleau has also received votes for the Hart Trophy five times, the Selke Trophy four times, and the Lady Byng trophy a whopping 15 times, not to mention earning a number of Sharks franchise records as well. Altogether, Marleau has 566 goals and 1196 points in his career, second and fourth respectively among all active players and top-50 all-time.

Beyond the statistics, Marleau has always provided the most important ability as well: availability. Outside of the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season and these past two COVID-impacted campaigns, Marleau has never played fewer than 74 games in a season – and that low mark occurred in his rookie season. In fact, Marleau already shares in another impressive NHL games played mark. He, Jarome Iginla, and Henrik Sedin are the only players in league history to have played every game in an 82-game schedule 11 times (although Sedin holds the record with 12).

Marleau’s new career games played record could stand the test of time as well. The only active players within even 500 games of the mark are Thornton, 41, Zdeno Chara, 44, and Eric Staal, 36. Marleau has the remainder of this season to further tack on games as well. What happens beyond that point is unknown, though many speculate that Marleau could retire now that the record is set, but also given the drop-off in his performance this year. However, Thornton and Chara are also equally likely to retire, while Staal is about six full 82-game seasons from matching the mark. Marleau should be safe for quite awhile atop the all-time games played list.

Congratulations to Marleau on this tremendous achievement from everyone at PHR.

New York Rangers To Extend Jonny Brodzinski

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Jonny Brodzinski has turned a small, but productive sample size with the New York Rangers organization into another year of job security. CapFriendly reports that the two sides have come to terms on a one-year, two-way extension for the 2021-22 season. The new deal will closely resemble the one that Brodzinski signed with the Rangers this off-season, containing the minimum NHL salary and an minimal AHL salary bump from $200K to $215K. Brodzinski, who would have been an unrestricted free agent this summer, will now be guaranteed $300K for next season, regardless of how much time he spends at the NHL level.

Brodzinski, 27, has proved himself to be a valuable depth piece in his career, recording 13 points in 61 NHL games and 149 points in 209 AHL games. So far this season, he is second on the Hartford Wolf Pack in per-game scoring, recording 11 points in nine games. He has also skated in four games with New York, notching a goal. With a number of high-scoring minor league seasons under his belt to go with some NHL experience, the Rangers could do worse than Brodzinski as a veteran leader in the AHL and NHL injury substitute.

For those thinking that this could be an expansion draft-fueled move, that doesn’t appear to be the case. Not only are the Rangers in a good place with meeting their exposure requirements for the impending draft, but Brodzinski does not meet the NHL games played criteria anyhow. While Brodzinski’s extended term could make him a more attractive pick for the Seattle Kraken, who must select 20 players with term on their contracts, it still seems very unlikely that they would opt to take the veteran minor leaguer above all other Rangers options.

Minor Transactions: 04/19/21

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Even this late in the hockey season, notable roster moves are still being made. At this point, many are teams looking ahead to next year, especially with collegiate and European players available and looking to make future plans. So while these moves may not immediately impact any NHL rosters, they are worth keeping track of – and we’ve done so right here:

  • When the Vegas Golden Knights signed Maxim Marushev earlier this month to a contract that didn’t begin until next season, it was unclear whether the Russian prospect would play again this season. Well, the organization has sorted that out now, as the AHL’s Henderson Silver Knights have announced that Marushev has joined the team, and not just on a tryout basis but on a contract for the remainder of the season. Marushev, 22, was on overage selection in the seventh round of last year’s draft, but has seemingly already proved his value as an NHL prospect to the Knights, despite a drop-off in production this season.
  • The captain of the newly-minted NCAA Champions has found his first NHL contract. UMass standout center Jake Gaudet has signed an AHL contract with the Cleveland Monsters for the 2021-22 season and will join the team on a PTO for the remainder of the year. Gaudet just completed his senior year in Amherst, recording 13 points in 28 games. While Gaudet has never been much of a scorer, he works hard and excels at the defensive aspects of the game which allowed him to be a regular fixture in the Minutemen lineup for four years and to gain a leadership role in the locker room. The Columbus Blue Jackets likely see some fourth-line upside in the 24-year-old, but will look for Gaudet to prove himself in the minors first.
  • In somewhat of a redemption story, defenseman Vincent Desharnais has signed a new two-year contract with the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors. The Providence College product initially signed his first pro deal with Bakersfield last year. However, the team declined to extend him this off-season after an underwhelming campaign and he inked a deal with their ECHL affiliate, the Witchita Thunder. Yet, Bakersfield has required Desharnais’ services on loan for much of the season and this time around have been impressed by his play, resulting in a new contract to officially make him a Condor for two more years.

Zach Hyman Out At Least Two Weeks With Sprained MCL

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The Toronto Maple Leafs don’t even have trade deadline acquisition Nick Foligno on the active roster yet, but the team is already glad that they added some forward depth. Head coach Sheldon Keefe has informed the media, including Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston, that forward Zach Hyman has suffered a sprained MCL, the result of a knee-to-knee hit on Sunday against the Vancouver Canucks that earned Alex Edler a two-game suspension. Hyman is expected to miss a minimum of two weeks.

By all accounts, this is actually the best prognosis that Hyman could have expected. The knee injury he suffered looked serious, both in terms of the actual collision and as Hyman had to be helped off the ice. The possibility that he could return by the end of the month or even early next month is an ideal result for the Leafs, all things considered. However, if the recovery takes longer than two weeks, there is a possibility that Hyman could miss the remainder of the regular season. Toronto has just 11 games remaining over 26 days, so all it would take is for Hyman to miss the “minimum” recover window by a week or so and he would miss out on a chance to return to the lineup before the playoffs.

Fortunately, the Maple Leafs are comfortably in a playoff position. The North Division leaders face no risk of dropping out of the postseason, even if they do miss Hyman for the rest of the season. While holding off the Winnipeg Jets (four points back) and Edmonton Oilers (seven points back with two games in hand), could prove more difficult without their top two-way forward, Toronto is still the favorite to take the top seed, especially with Foligno coming in to help make up for Hyman’s absence. Hyman does not seem to be in risk of missing any playoff action either, where his defensive ability and career-best offense will be most needed.

WHL Cancels 2021 Postseason

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A difficult season for junior hockey in Canada continues. The Western Hockey League, whose teams did not begin regular season play until late February at the earliest, will play no more than their shortened 24-game season this year. The league has announced that there will be no 2021 WHL Playoffs due to “the ongoing challenges with COVID-19”. The season will conclude when all teams have completed their schedules, which for some is as early as later this month, and no league champion will be named.

On the heels of the announcement last week that that the CHL Memorial Cup would also not be played, the WHL’s decision not to host a postseason further limits their players’ abilities to showcase themselves to NHL teams. With the QMJHL facing a similar decision and the OHL still out of action this season, this is simply yet another blow to NHL front offices and their ability to evaluate top Canadian prospects ahead of July’s 2021 NHL Draft, not to mention the prospects hoping to be selected. While there have been talks of a CHL Top Prospects pre-draft tournament, such an event will not make up for a missed postseason, or in the OHL’s case a missed season.

Alas, the league is trying to put the health and safety of their players and staff first, even if that means impacting their draft chances. They also faced logistical struggles due to teams from multiple provinces and the United States participating, as travel is still restricted at Canadian borders. In the WHL’s release, they summarize the situation with the following:

We remained hopeful that public health conditions would improve, but unfortunately that is not the reality we see in front of us today. The ongoing challenges with non-essential interprovincial and international cross-border travel leave us no alternative but to cancel the 2021 WHL Playoffs.

COVID Protocol Related Absences: 04/19/21

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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. While two teams have yet to report, here is today’s list for the remaining 29:

Colorado – Philipp Grubauer, Joonas Donskoi
Edmonton – Dmitry Kulikov
Montreal – Jon Merrill, Erik Gustafsson
Philadelphia – Jackson Cates
Toronto – Nick Foligno, Riley Nash, Ben Hutton

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: Bowen Byram, Colorado Avalanche

While the Kings and Wild are still question marks for today, as of right now the league has not added any new names to the CPRA list. Byram’s removal is also good news, as further proof that the Avalanche have avoided any widespread infection that could lead to numerous or lengthy absences. Only Grubauer and Donskoi are currently on the list for actual COVID-related reasons as well, as the remainder are all undergoing mandatory quarantine following trades or signings. More progress out of Colorado and the NHL could finally be looking at the first empty CPRA list of the season.

*denotes new addition

Alex Edler Suspended Two Games

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The Department of Player Safety has come to a decision on Alexander Edler following his phone hearing, issuing a two-game suspension to the Vancouver Canucks defenseman. Edler’s ban comes for a kneeing incident in last night’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, which resulted in an injury to Zach Hyman. As the accompanying video explains:

It is important to note that it is not the evasive move that causes unavoidable knee-on-knee contact through no fault of Edler’s. Edler approaches Hyman with a wide base, which is common as part of a natural hitting motion. When Hyman makes his move, Edler has the option to make a full adjustment of his entire body and attempt a full body check, or to maintain his current course and attempt to slow Hyman down in some other fashion. Instead, fatigued after a long shift, Edler only adjusts his right leg, turning his right foot outward to extend his leg further. While this movement is slight, it insures that leg on leg contact will occur and ultimately means that Edler drives his knee directly into the knee of Hyman with force.

Edler received a major penalty and game misconduct on the play but will have to sit out two games as well. The Maple Leafs have not yet issued an update on Hyman’s status.

Though it cannot be considered in this instance, this isn’t the first time Edler has received a suspension for kneeing. While playing at the 2013 World Championships for Sweden, he was kicked out of the tournament for a knee-on-knee hit against Canada’s Eric Staal. He has also been suspended twice in his NHL career, but not since the 2013-14 season.

Edler only just returned along with the rest of the Canucks from a weeks-long layoff thanks to a COVID outbreak. They’ll now have to navigate the next two games–tomorrow against the Maple Leafs and Thursday against Ottawa–without one of their key defenders and a player who logs heavy minutes on a regular basis.

Taxi Squad Shuffle: 04/19/21

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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:

West Division

  • The San Jose Sharks have sent Jacob Middleton back to the AHL, moving him off the taxi squad for the time being. The 25-year-old defenseman has seven points in 20 games for the Barracuda this season, his fifth year with the club.

North Division

Central Division

  • The Columbus Blue Jackets have officially recalled Gavin Bayreuther from the taxi squad after head coach John Tortorella told reporters that he would be making his debut tonight. Bayreuther played 19 games for the Dallas Stars in 2018-19, his only NHL experience so far. The team has also recalled Cliff Pu to the taxi squad.
  • The Detroit Red Wings have recalled forward Mathias Brome from the taxi squad, the team announced. The rookie import has played in 24 games with Detroit this season, but has only one point to show for it.

East Division

  • In addition to signing Alexander Holtz to an AHL amateur tryout, the New Jersey Devils have made a taxi squad change. Tyce Thompson and Nikita Okhotiuk have both been loaned to the Binghamton Devils. Thompson, 21, will be joining the AHL club for the first time after playing in six NHL games directly after signing his entry-level deal. Okhotiuk meanwhile is still waiting to make his NHL debut.
  • The Philadelphia Flyers have assigned Cam York to the AHL, meaning his NHL debut will have to wait. The 20-year-old defenseman ended his college career and signed an entry-level contract last month, turning pro after two excellent seasons with the University of Michigan. Selected 14th overall in 2019, he will likely be fighting for a regular spot on the blue line come next season’s training camp.

This page will be updated throughout the day

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