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Archives for November 2021

Maple Leafs Notes: Campbell, Dermott, Mrazek

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With Morgan Rielly locked up, the most important pending free agent for the Toronto Maple Leafs is Jack Campbell. The 29-year-old is currently in the second season of a two-year deal signed with the Los Angeles Kings in 2019 and carries a $1.65MM cap hit. Given his performance since arriving in Toronto–a .922 save percentage in 36 regular season appearances–he’s likely in line for a substantial raise.

Nick Kypreos of Sportsnet reported yesterday that extension talks have begun between Campbell and the Maple Leafs, hours before he posted his fifth career shutout in a 4-0 dismantling of the Vegas Golden Knights (or at least some of them). Campbell was asked after the game whether this report was accurate, and said he didn’t even know. The netminder did express a desire to stay in Toronto, however, explaining how much he loves playing for the Maple Leafs.

  • On The Jeff Marek Show today, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet suggested that the Maple Leafs have let teams around the league know that one of their defensemen is available and speculated that it could be Travis Dermott. Dermott suffered an injury last night blocking a shot and though it was determined he didn’t break any bones, the young defenseman was missing from practice today. Once again, the Maple Leafs coaching staff has shown that they don’t trust Dermott to play big minutes, as he’s averaged just 14 through the first nine games of the season. The 24-year-old signed a two-year deal in July that carries an average annual value of $1.5MM.
  • Petr Mrazek is still not full healthy according to head coach Sheldon Keefe, but is good enough to serve as a backup for Campbell tomorrow night. The biggest question about Toronto’s goaltending heading into the year was would they be able to stay healthy, and Mrazek gave the team a scare when he failed to even make it through his first start without suffering a groin injury. The team has very little depth behind their oft-injured tandem–Michael Hutchinson is the team’s third option–so keeping both healthy this season is a top priority.

Montreal Canadiens’ Jonathan Drouin Goes To Hospital For Examination

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Nov 3: Drouin is doing well this morning according to head coach Dominique Ducharme. He has not been diagnosed with a concussion at this point, though he’ll be re-evaluated tomorrow and is currently listed as day-to-day.

Nov 2: Montreal Canadiens forward Jonathan Drouin left Tuesday night’s game against the Detroit Red Wings after taking a puck to the head and has gone to the hospital for further evaluation, per the team. Drouin will not return to the game.

A shot from the point hit Drouin in the head while he was standing in front of Red Wings goalie Alex Nedeljkovic, knocking his helmet off as Drouin immediately crouched to the ice and skated off under his own power. The nature of any potential injury is unknown at this time.

Drouin, who was away from the Canadiens for the end of the regular season and entire playoffs on a personal leave of absence, is currently Montreal’s leader in points with seven points in 10 games. It’s a promising start for Drouin, who’s broken the 50-point threshold twice in his career.

If Drouin is to miss any time, he’ll be the fifth regular who’s currently unavailable due to injury or personal reasons. It’s incredibly tough luck for Drouin, who’s shown immense fortitude in battling back to be the team’s best producer.

The PHR team sends out their best wishes for Drouin’s health.

AHL Shuffle: 11/03/21

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Four games grace the schedule tonight on a quiet Wednesday evening, though that includes the league’s last undefeated club. The Carolina Hurricanes will defend their perfect 8-0 record against the Chicago Blackhawks, who secured their first win on Monday. As those teams and the rest of the league prepare, we’ll keep track of all the minor moves.

Atlantic Division

  • The Florida Panthers have recalled Chase Priskie once again, and this time he’s coming up alongside Maxim Mamin. The 25-year-old Priskie has been called up several times already this season, but has yet to enter an NHL game. Mamin meanwhile has been a strong performer at the AHL level, scoring five points in seven games. That was expected after his return from the KHL, where he spent the last three seasons playing a regular role for CSKA Moscow.
  • The Buffalo Sabres have activated defenseman Mattias Samuelsson off season-opening injured reserve and have assigned him to Rochester. The 21-year-old played the final dozen games with Buffalo last season and will now look to get back in playing shape with the Americans and try to push for a recall.

Metropolitan Division

Central Division

  • The Colorado Avalanche have recalled Kiefer Sherwood from the minor leagues, as they deal with injuries to their NHL squad. Sherwood, 26, played in 16 games for the Avalanche last season, recording three points. He’s off to his best start in the AHL though, with seven goals and ten points in eight contests.
  • Mikhail Berdin has been sent back to the AHL by the Winnipeg Jets, suggesting that Connor Hellebuyck will be back with the team before their next game. Hellebuyck was away from the club for the birth of his child, meaning Berdin needed to back up Eric Comrie last night. The team has recalled Kristian Vesalainen to fill the roster spot.

Pacific Division

  • The San Jose Sharks canceled practice today as they continue to deal with a COVID outbreak, but they did make a transaction. Joel Kellman has been returned to the San Jose Barracuda, who play tonight.
  • The Anaheim Ducks have returned Sam Carrick and Vinni Lettieri to AHL San Diego, per the AHL’s transactions log.  Both players scored against Montreal on Sunday while Lettieri also has a pair of goals in three games with the Gulls this season.

This page will be updated throughout the day

Conor Timmins, Carter Hutton Out Several Weeks

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Nov 3: Morgan updates the Timmins situation, reporting that the young defenseman will be out the rest of the season.  It’s brutal news for not only the Coyotes season but also his future in the NHL. The 23-year-old will now have just played just 85 hockey games between the end of the 2017-18 season and the start of the 2022-23 season.

Oct 26: The Arizona Coyotes will be without their “starting” goaltender and a top young defenseman for the next several weeks, after Carter Hutton and Conor Timmins suffered injuries last night. According to Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports, Hutton is expected to miss between two to four weeks, while Timmins could miss eight to 12 weeks after both sustained lower-body injuries. There was no update on Ryan Dzingel, who also left last night’s game.

It’s not like this has any drastic effect on the team’s performance, given the Coyotes are obviously set up for a losing season and haven’t even registered a single win to this point. But the development of Timmins–who was acquired in the Darcy Kuemper trade this summer–is certainly something to consider. The former Colorado Avalanche defenseman has already missed huge chunks of time due to concussion issues and has just 88 professional games under his belt to this point (NHL and AHL combined). Now 23, he’s already missed so much of his key development years that it’s hard to know whether he’ll ever become the player that starred for the Soo Greyhounds and Team Canada, leading to a selection 32nd overall in 2017.

Eight weeks would put a potential return for Timmins just before Christmas, while 12 would be the middle of January.

Hutton meanwhile was ticketed to carry the lion’s share of the goaltending load this season, though that certainly hasn’t gone well to this point. In three appearances he has a .741 save percentage, allowing 15 goals on 58 shots. Karel Vejmelka, a European free agent signing with no North American experience prior to this season will now likely be pushed into a full-time starter role. The 25-year-old has appeared in five games, posting an .899 save percentage.

Josef Korenar seems the most likely recall to give the team a second goaltender, though there are a few options in the Coyotes system.

Avalanche Place Cale Makar On Injured Reserve

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The Colorado Avalanche have placed defenseman Cale Makar on injured reserve retroactive to Saturday, October 30, per Colorado Hockey Now’s Adrian Dater.

It’s unclear as to when the injury to Makar occurred. He played almost 25 minutes in Saturday’s game against the Minnesota Wild. It’s par for the course for Makar, who’s now averaged exactly 25 minutes per game this season as the Avs’ blueline has dealt with injury issues all season.

While his six points in eight games is a slow start to the season by Makar’s standards, he’s still tied for fourth on the team in points.

Kurtis MacDermid will likely draw into the lineup in his place, and Bowen Byram and Samuel Girard should both see elevated minutes and responsibilities. Devon Toews has still yet to play this season, but is approaching a return and could be a huge boost to a blueline that’s been shorthanded.

They’ve gotten good production from the rookie Byram, who potted his first NHL goal this season to go along with four assists.

Nick Schmaltz Out Three To Four Weeks “At Minimum”

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The Arizona Coyotes are already last in the league, but things are getting worse for the beleaguered squad. Center Nick Schmaltz, who’s missed the past three games with an upper-body injury, will be out a minimum of three to four weeks, per head coach Andre Tourigny.

Schmaltz last played on October 25 against the Florida Panthers, a game in which he registered his only point of the season. He’s struggled, along with most of the team, as the Coyotes now remain the league’s only team without a victory with a 0-8-1 record and a -26 goal differential just a month into the season.

It’ll mean an elevated role for a little while longer for youngster Barrett Hayton, who’s got one assist in three games after being recalled from AHL Tucson. It’s a big opportunity for the former fifth overall pick to try his luck as the team’s first-line center.

Tourigny was able to offer more updates on the health of some of his other injured players today, noting that defender Kyle Capobianco is now day-to-day and could be ready to make his season debut soon, adding some more NHL experience to the blueline. Forward Ryan Dzingel will be out for at least one more week.

Minor Transactions: 11/02/21

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With a busy night upcoming on the NHL calendar, it’s a busy night across the rest of the hockey world as well. There’s a fair amount of movement across lower levels of North American hockey today. We’ll keep track of that right here.

  • Former top goalie prospect Jon Gillies is once again getting a shot at the AHL level, as the ECHL’s Maine Mariners loaned him to the Providence Bruins today. Gillies hasn’t played an NHL game since 2017-18 with the Calgary Flames, since spending time in the St. Louis Blues and now the Bruins organization. In one start with the Mariners this year, Gillies posted a .920 save percentage in a losing effort.
  • The AHL’s Rochester Americans reassigned defenseman Peter Tischke to the ECHL’s Cincinnati Cyclones, per the team’s Twitter account. The 25-year-old undrafted Tischke was a former captain at the University of Wisconsin but has struggled to keep his footing in the AHL during a short professional career so far. He notched two points in 16 games with the Colorado Eagles last year, staying at the AHL level all season. But after just one game in Rochester, he’s heading back to the ECHL where he posted 15 points in 51 games with the Utah Grizzlies in 2019-20.

This page will be updated throughout the day

Seattle Kraken Activate Chris Driedger

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When the dust had settled on the Seattle Kraken roster for their inaugural season, many of the observations were the same. The team had a strong defense corps and were expected to have quite the tandem of goaltenders. After all, they had spent nearly $10MM in cap space on Philipp Grubauer and Chris Driedger, each coming off outstanding seasons.

The results haven’t exactly been as planned. Grubauer has been mediocre at best, posting an .896 save percentage in eight appearances, and Driedger has only seen 31 minutes of action before going down to injury. Even that performance came in relief, meaning he hasn’t started a single game yet this season. That could soon change, as Driedger no longer appears on the team’s injured reserve list and replacement Joey Daccord has been sent back to the Charlotte Checkers.

Driedger likely won’t be a savior for the Kraken, but his return is certainly promising. The 27-year-old netminder posted a .927 save percentage in 23 appearances for the Florida Panthers last season, winning 14 games and posting three shutouts. He has generally been excellent in the NHL in fact, and has a .929 over 39 appearances. It’s just 39 appearances though, so there are still doubts on whether Driedger can really hack it as a full-time starter.

Luckily, with Grubauer in town, it may not be necessary. His results haven’t been good enough through the season as a whole, but things have started to turn around for the 29-year-old. He’s allowed just four goals over his last three games (two wins) and now has his partner back to help him stay rested. If Driedger can get up to speed quickly and Grubauer finds some of the game that made him a Vezina finalist last season, those early observations of a strong tandem could come true after all.

Chicago Blackhawks Sign Louis Crevier

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Chicago Blackhawks interim GM Kyle Davidson has made his first move, signing prospect Louis Crevier to a three-year entry-level contract. The deal carries a cap hit of $850,833.

Selected 188th overall in 2020, Crevier is off to an outstanding start to his 2021-22 season, scoring six points in eight games with the Quebec Remparts of the QMJHL. An offseason trade took him away from the Chicoutimi Sagueneens, where he had 14 points in 26 games during last season’s shortened campaign.

Points aren’t what you notice first about Crevier though, not when he’s standing 6’8″ and towering over the rest of his junior contemporaries. The hulking defenseman can break up plays with a stick that seemingly reaches from blue line to blue line, but his skating ability has improved enough that he’s also able to effectively move the puck himself.

That frame is obviously enough for the Blackhawks to bet on, giving him an entry-level contract even as a seventh-round pick.

Injury Notes: Avalanche, Karlsson, Mikheyev

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The Colorado Avalanche will be playing shorthanded tomorrow night, as Mikko Rantanen and Cale Makar have both been ruled out. Makar is listed as day-to-day according to Peter Baugh of The Athletic while he deals with an upper-body injury. Andre Burakovsky meanwhile is also doubtful for the game, and Jonas Johansson will start in net.

Perhaps luckily, the Avalanche have a relatively light schedule over the next little while. After tomorrow’s game they will not play again until Saturday, then they have another four days off before next Thursday’s match against the Vancouver Canucks. Some of these minor issues will hopefully get time to heal as they try to get back on the path of a real contender, not struggling in the middle of the Central Division table.

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