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Archives for November 2021

Carey Price Returns To Montreal Canadiens

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Nov 8: Price is now back with the team, though there is still no timeline on his return to game action. The veteran goaltender was examined by trainers at the practice facility yesterday according to John Lu of TSN, who also notes that his first interaction with teammates is expected to be Tuesday.

Nov 2: The Montreal Canadiens are floundering at the bottom of the Atlantic Division, winning just two of their first ten games. They’ve been working without Carey Price, who last month announced that he was entering the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program. The minimum 30-day period for the program is up at the end of the week, and today Canadiens head coach Dominique Ducharme told reporters including Eric Engels of Sportsnet that they expect their star goaltender back soon.

There’s no exact date for Price’s return, but they could certainly use him. The team has been going with Jake Allen and Sam Montembeault in his absence, a tandem that has combined for a .899 save percentage through ten games. Montembeault in particular has struggled, allowing eight goals in his two appearances.

No team in the league could lose their highest-paid player without struggling, but in Montreal’s case, the absence of Price has only been magnified because of the departure of several other key players from last year’s Stanley Cup runner-up. Shea Weber, the team’s captain, is unlikely to ever play again. Phillip Danault, the team’s former top center, is now in Los Angeles. A Stanley Cup winner in Joel Edmundson has been on the shelf since the start of the year. Even the absence of depth players like Tomas Tatar and Jesperi Kotkaniemi has really hurt Montreal’s lineup, despite the attempt to replace them with names like Mike Hoffman and Christian Dvorak.

Hopefully, Price is ready to return to the team in the coming days and can help them dig out of this early-season hole. Even more, hopefully he has received the help he needed during the month away.

Devin Shore To Miss 4-6 Weeks With Lower-Body Injury

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Nov 8: According to Mark Spector of Sportsnet, the Oilers have moved Shore to injured reserve and recalled Ryan McLeod from the AHL.

Nov 7: Edmonton Oilers forward Devin Shore will be out four to six weeks with a lower-body injury, per Tom Gazzola of TSN and NHL Network.

Shore had bounced around the Oilers’ bottom-six forward group so far this season but stayed mostly in a fourth-line role. He’d scored a goal and an assist through eight games, averaging just 8:37 per game.

Tyler Benson and Colton Sceviour are the two extra forwards on Edmonton’s active roster. They’ll both likely get opportunities to draw into the lineup in Shore’s absence. Neither have them have registered a point this year in three and two games, respectively.

Shore signed a two-year, $1.7MM extension with the team on June 9, prior to the opening of free agency. The 27-year-old forward has struggled to maintain a regular spot in an NHL lineup over the past three seasons after playing all 82 games in his first two full NHL seasons with the Dallas Stars in 2016-17 and 2017-18.

Given his timeline, Shore is likely to miss between 12 and 19 games.

Miles Wood Out Indefinitely Following Surgery

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The New Jersey Devils have announced that Miles Wood underwent surgery on his right hip and is out indefinitely. The team explains the timeline so far:

During the Oct. 4 preseason game versus the Washington Capitals, Wood suffered an injury to his right hip.  After exhausting all conservative measures, and in consultation with team medical providers and external specialists, Miles has elected to receive surgery.

Wood has not played yet this season and likely will be out several months, though a specific timeline is not yet available. The 26-year-old put up another strong season in 2020-21, scoring 17 goals in 55 games, tying him for the club lead with Pavel Zacha. He has also developed into a key leader from the group, serving as an alternate captain for the Devils since last season.

It’s a tough blow for New Jersey, which has suffered several serious injuries now this season. The team finds itself with a respectable 5-3-2 record, but that’s only good enough for seventh place in the tough Metropolitan Division. The season is a long one, but losing Wood is certainly not an ideal situation given his place with the team.

Perhaps more notably, however, this injury will also have huge implications on Wood’s next contract. He is set to be a restricted free agent for the final time next summer and could have elected arbitration to give him a one-year deal, walking him directly to UFA status. Arbitration will be risky now, however, given that his counting stats from this year will be very low (if existent at all). Coming off a four-year, $11MM deal, Wood likely would have been looking at a nice raise on the $2.75MM cap hit he carries. Now, it’s unclear what kind of negotiation will take place as he recovers from major surgery.

Connor Brown, Dylan Gambrell Placed In COVID Protocol

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The Ottawa Senators canceled practice today for precautionary reasons, suggesting that there was more bad COVID news coming down the pipe. The team has now announced that Connor Brown and Dylan Gambrell have both been placed in the COVID protocol and are unavailable. In their place, the team has recalled Scott Sabourin and Egor Sokolov from the AHL.

The two Senators forwards join teammates Austin Watson, Nick Holden, and coach Jack Capuano in the protocol, though the team has not confirmed any additional positive results. Ottawa is set to take on the Boston Bruins tomorrow, and though that game is still scheduled for the moment, it’s unclear who will actually be available for the Senators.

For Sokolov, it would be his NHL debut should he enter the lineup tomorrow. The 21-year-old forward was a second-round pick in 2020, picked after going undrafted in previous years. He quickly showed that his combination of size and scoring ability was good enough to make up for any skating concerns at the AHL level, scoring 15 goals and 25 points in his rookie season. This year he’s been even better for the Belleville Senators, getting off to a strong start with six points in nine games.

Meanwhile, losing Brown for any length of time is a big hit for the Senators, given how big a role he plays for the team. Averaging more than 20 minutes a night, the 27-year-old forward actually sees more short-handed ice time than even any of the team’s defensemen. He’s also a regular contributor on the powerplay and one of the group’s most reliable offensive players. In 11 games, he has seven points on the year.

The concern now is how widespread these breakthrough infections will be, and how many other players will be affected. After games tomorrow and Thursday, the Senators have a back-to-back over the weekend, games that hopefully they will have some good news for.

AHL Shuffle: 11/08/21

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It’s a very quiet Monday in the NHL, with just three games on the schedule. That does include the Florida Panthers, however, who are looking to stay perfect in regulation. The Panthers are 10-0-1 on the season, have the best goal differential in the league, and a six-point clearance on second place in the Atlantic Division. It’ll be up to the New York Rangers this evening to try and slow down that fast start. As they and others prepare for action, we’ll keep track of all the minor moves right here.

Atlantic Division

  • The Tampa Bay Lightning have recalled Andrej Sustr from the minor leagues, who was only sent down a few days ago. Sustr has played in eight games for the Lightning this season, recording one goal.

Metropolitan Division

  • The Carolina Hurricanes have officially recalled Alex Lyon from the minor leagues after Antti Raanta left with an injury on Saturday night. Raanta came out to play a puck and collided hard with Ryan Lomberg, but there has not yet been any confirmation on how long the goaltender will be out.
  • The Washington Capitals have recalled Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, and he’s expected to make his NHL debut this evening. Coincidentally, it will come against the Buffalo Sabres, the team that claimed him and then put him back on waivers earlier this season.
  • After he cleared waivers, the New Jersey Devils have assigned Marian Studenic to the AHL. With him is Frederik Gauthier, who is also headed to the minor leagues after playing eight games for the team this season. Gauthier cleared waivers at the start of the season but was never assigned to the AHL, meaning his clock is almost used up. Should he play in ten games or spend 30 days on the NHL roster, he would need to go through waivers again to be sent down.

Central Division

  • The Chicago Blackhawks have recalled Reese Johnson from the AHL, bringing him back up after a few games in the minor leagues. The 23-year-old has yet to score in six appearances for the Blackhawks this season, and, in fact, is still waiting on his first NHL point overall.
  • With Valeri Nichushkin and Cale Makar nearing a return, the Colorado Avalanche have sent Sampo Ranta to the AHL. Ranta has played ten games this season but doesn’t have an NHL point just yet.
  • The Winnipeg Jets have sent Mikhail Berdin back to the AHL once again, recalling Kristian Vesalainen in his place. Berdin has now filled in a few times for the team, but still hasn’t actually appeared in a game. The 23-year-old has an .893 save percentage in six games at the AHL level this season.

Pacific Division

  • The San Jose Sharks have recalled Artemi Kniazev, Joel Kellman, and Sasha Chmelevski from the AHL, giving them some extra bodies to work with. The Sharks are heading on a five-game road trip and won’t be back in San Jose until November 20.

This page will be updated throughout the day

Five Key Stories: 11/1/21 – 11/7/21

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The beginning of November yielded quite a bit of activity around the NHL with the biggest ones being highlighted in the key stories of the week.

More Changes In Chicago: Blackhawks interim GM Kyle Davidson made a significant change in one of his first moves since being promoted as he fired head coach Jeremy Colliton along with assistants Tomas Mitell and Sheldon Brookbank.  Taking over behind the bench is Derek King who will also carry the interim title but will remain in that role for the rest of the season.  Chicago is off to a terrible start this season with a 1-9-2 record heading into Sunday’s contest so the move doesn’t come as much surprise.  The team posted an 87-92-26 record under Colliton’s tutelage in his first stint behind an NHL bench.  King now finds himself in the same situation as he looks to try to turn things around quickly.

Prospect Loans: A pair of notable prospects are heading overseas.  Although William Eklund certainly looked like he belonged in the NHL with his early-season performance, the Sharks decided to send him back to Sweden for the remainder of the year.  This is a move that’s primarily based on contractual control over his performance; Eklund now won’t burn the first year of his entry-level deal and will still have three years left on his deal and seven seasons of club control heading into 2022-23.  Meanwhile, the Rangers assigned Vitali Kravtsov to Traktor Chelyabinsk of the KHL, allowing the prospect to resume playing.  Kravtsov elected not to report to AHL Hartford after being sent down last month with a trade request following soon after.  That clearly hasn’t happened and now, the 21-year-old will at least get to play and try to help boost his value around the league.

Eichel Traded: It’s over.  After months of speculation, the Sabres traded center Jack Eichel along with a 2023 third-round pick to the Golden Knights for winger Alex Tuch, prospect center Peyton Krebs, a 2022 first-round pick, and a 2023 second-rounder.  Eichel is now set to undergo artificial disk replacement surgery this week and will miss three-to-five months while recovering.  The move gives Vegas the number one center they have been coveting, assuming that Eichel returns to full health.  There will be cap complications to navigate through once Vegas is fully healthy and there is a cap crunch coming for next season and beyond.  Meanwhile, Buffalo had to make a cap-related move of a different kind, acquiring the rights to Johnny Boychuk from the Islanders for future considerations.  Boychuk’s playing days are over but his $6MM AAV will be on Buffalo’s books, keeping them over the cap floor.  The trade appears to be relatively well-received on both sides with our readers assigning a ‘B’ grade for both teams.

Key Injuries: It was a tough week on the injury front for several teams who saw some key players land on injured reserve.  Capitals winger Anthony Mantha is out indefinitely after undergoing shoulder surgery, a big blow for a team that’s already banged up when it comes to some of their top forwards.  Meanwhile, Blue Jackets winger Patrik Laine’s strong start has been put on hold as an oblique injury will keep him out for the next four-to-six weeks.  Vegas, who has been hit harder than pretty much everyone on the injury front this season, suffered another blow as a broken foot for William Karlsson will put him on the shelf for the next six weeks.

Big Money For Fox: Rangers defenseman Adam Fox wasn’t slated to become a restricted free agent until July but he won’t be getting to that point as the 23-year-old instead signed a seven-year, $66.5MM contract extension.  The reigning Norris Trophy winner set a new record for the richest contract given to a blueliner coming off their entry-level deal while his $9.5MM AAV puts him tied for the fourth-highest price among all NHL defenders starting in 2022-23.  The price tag is certainly justifiable as Fox has quickly become one of the elite rearguards in the league and is off to another impressive start this season with a dozen points in as many games.  Notably, New York gains an extra four years of club control on Fox, ensuring that he won’t be able to hit the open market until 2029 at the earliest.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Senators Place Nick Holden And Jack Capuano In COVID Protocol

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The Senators have added to their COVID list as the team announced (Twitter link) that defenseman Nick Holden and associate coach Jack Capuano have been placed into COVID protocol.  Taking Holden’s place on the roster will be blueliner Erik Brannstrom who has been recalled from AHL Belleville.

Holden is in his first season with Ottawa and has played in all but one of their 11 games so far, recording an assist while averaging 17:35 per game of ice time, primarily on the third pairing.  It’s his presence on the roster that played a role in Brannstrom being sent to the minors at the start of the season as having the 22-year-old as a healthy scratch with the Senators would hardly have been ideal from a development perspective.  Brannstrom has a goal and two assists in nine games with AHL Belleville so far this season.

Capuano and Holden will join winger Austin Watson in the protocols after Watson was added there back on Friday and will be there for at least ten days.  While some teams have had some cap challenges when players are added to the list, that won’t be the case for the Sens who will still have more than $12MM in cap room following Brannstrom’s promotion, per CapFriendly.

Snapshots: Dermott, Larkin, Bozak, Oshie

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While Maple Leafs defenseman Travis Dermott has been in trade speculation over the past week or so, he doesn’t seem to be worried about it, telling TSN’s Mark Masters that he’s not too worried about it, referencing it’s not the first time he has been in speculation.  Part of the rationale behind the idea he could move was for salary cap purposes although the injury to Petr Mrazek – which will keep him out long enough to be LTIR-eligible – lessens the need to make a move to free up cap room in the short term.

Elsewhere around the NHL:

  • Red Wings center Dylan Larkin has returned to the team after missing the last three games due to unspecified personal reasons, relays Ted Kulfan of The Detroit News. The 25-year-old is a welcome return having averaged a point per game through his first eight games while averaging nearly 18 minutes a night and playing in all situations.
  • With Blues center Tyler Bozak suiting up tonight Anaheim, he triggers a $750K bonus in his contract, notes Tom Timmermann of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Twitter link). Those are supposed to be charged in the year they’re earned but a team can go over the cap with bonuses and take the charge the following season.  Considering their current cap situation, the latter could be the case with Bozak, who still has three other bonuses in his deal, per CapFriendly.
  • Capitals GM Brian MacLellan told Samantha Pell of the Washington Post that although winger T.J. Oshie is currently in a walking boot, he is expected to return to the ice in some capacity this week. That would certainly be welcome news for Washington which has been hit hard on the injury front with center Nicklas Backstrom and Anthony Mantha also out of the lineup at the moment.

Central Notes: Girard, Forsberg, Blues

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Colorado has assembled an impressive back end, a group that has been bolstered by the return of Erik Johnson and the emergence of sophomore Bowen Byram.  The 20-year-old has been strong enough this season that Mike Chambers of the Denver Post suggests that blueliner Samuel Girard could plausibly be made available if the Avalanche decide to try to add to their forward group between now and the trade deadline.  Girard is signed through 2026-27 with a $5MM AAV, a reasonable price for someone that consistently logs over 20 minutes per game while chipping in a little offensively as well.  If the Avs were to make the 23-year-old available, he’d garner plenty of interest around the league.

More from the Central Division:

  • J.P. Barry, the agent for Predators winger Filip Forsberg, confirmed to Adam Vingan of The Athletic (subscription link) that there still have been no discussions on a possible contract extension with the veteran in the final year of his deal. While Forsberg has indicated a willingness to merely play the year out and see what happens after the season, Barry added that he does expect to have those contract talks at some point during the regular season.  The 27-year-old is likely eyeing a raise on his current $6MM AAV but is currently out with an upper-body injury.
  • While the Blues were hoping for some cap relief in their current COVID situation, Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly told Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that they won’t be receiving any: “There is not currently an intention to provide cap relief for Covid-related reasons. No different than having to deal with multiple short-term injuries. St. Louis is not at all unique in having to navigate these waters.” St. Louis has had six different players enter the protocols in recent days and while they’ve managed to carry a minimum-sized roster, any other addition or injury will place them in a situation where they’ll have to play short a player for a game before becoming eligible for a cap-exempt recall.

Minor Transactions: 11/07/21

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Today may not be a busy day on the NHL schedule, but it’s certainly been a hectic day on the transactions slate at all levels of the game. There was a lot of action today on the NHL to AHL wire, but there have been some other moves today, too. Keep up with today’s minor transactions here.

  • New York Rangers goalie prospect Talyn Boyko was dealt in the WHL today from the Tri-City Americans to the Kelowna Rockets. Boyko was drafted in the fourth round in 2021, largely because of his massive 6′ 8″ frame. However, it’s been a rough start for Boyko with a 1-6-1 record and .887 save percentage on the season. Hopefully a move to Kelowna turns his fortunes around this season.
  • Carolina Hurricanes netminder Beck Warm was re-assigned to the AHL’s Chicago Wolves from the ECHL’s Norfolk Admirals, per the AHL transactions page. The move comes after Alex Lyon was brought up to Carolina today in the wake of Antti Raanta’s injury Saturday, meaning Chicago needed another goaltender. Warm’s impressed in the ECHL with a 4-1-0 record and .921 save percentage to start the year.

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