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Archives for April 2022

Yaniv Perets Staying At Quinnipiac For 2022-23

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One of the stories of the NCAA season was the goaltending at Quinnipiac, where Yaniv Perets stepped into the spotlight in a big way. The undrafted 22-year-old netminder posted a 22-5-2 record, .939 save percentage, and record-breaking 1.17 goals-against average, all in his first real action on the college stage. Perets had just two appearances in 2020-21–though he did stop all 12 shots he faced.

Some may have looked at those numbers and wondered whether the young netminder would leave the collegiate scene after such an outstanding season, but he’ll be heading back according to the Quinnipiac Chronicle. That’s great news for the program, but also for Perets, who despite his success still certainly has work to do if he’s to become a legitimate NHL prospect.

The plan for 2020-21 was to go back to the BCHL, where he had dominated the year prior, but given the COVID restrictions that ultimately canceled the season, he ended up joining the Quinnipiac program late in the year. Since they already had Keith Petruzzelli there as a Hobey Baker-candidate starter, there wasn’t much action for any other netminder. In fact, Perets’ 32 minutes of gameplay was actually second for all Quinnipiac goaltenders–Petruzzelli logged 1,716.

It wasn’t quite that lopsided this year, with Dylan St. Cyr receiving a handful of starts, but make no mistake the Quinnipiac net belongs to Perets. In fact, he put up his own Hobey Baker-level season, ending as a Top Ten finalist last month. If 2022-23 brings more of the same success, you can bet NHL teams will certainly be picking up the phone next spring. Whether he decides to turn pro at that point remains to be seen, but his name will certainly be on the minds of many watching the undrafted college free agent ranks.

Snapshots: Three Stars, Price, O’Ree

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The NHL has released its Three Stars for last week, led once again by Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oiles. McDavid added five goals and eight points to his totals, and cracked a few important thresholds. For the third time in his career, he has broken the 40-goal mark, while he once again has more than 100 points, the fifth time in seven seasons. McDavid leads the league in scoring with 105 points so far.

Second and third went to Aleksander Barkov and Semyon Varlamov respectively, after their own outstanding weeks. The Florida Panthers captain scored five goals in four games and is closing in on his previous career-high. Barkov needs just three more goals to crack that mark of 35. Varlamov meanwhile just continues to get it done, posting a 3-0 record and .952 save percentage last week. The 33-year-old netminder doesn’t have a good record, but still carries a .919 on the season.

  • The Montreal Canadiens don’t have a ton left to play for in terms of the standings but there may be a nice surprise for fans in the coming days. Carey Price was a full participant at practice and Eric Engels of Sportsnet suggests that the star goaltender could potentially make his debut in the next few games. Next Monday at home against the Winnipeg Jets seems a likely possibility for Price to make his season debut after a very tumultuous year, though there is no indication yet from the team when he’ll be back in the crease. Brendan Gallagher was also in a regular jersey at practice, and while he admitted he needs to speak to the medical staff for clearance, expects to play tomorrow.
  • The three finalists for the Willie O’Ree Community Hero Award have been named today, as one of Noel Acton, Ryan Francis, and Meridith Lang will take home the trophy this season. The award is given to the individual who, through the sport of hockey, has positively impacted his or her community, culture, or society. Even though just one will win, all three should be celebrated for their impact and community work. You can read more about the finalists here.

Kyle Connor, Nate Schmidt Clear COVID Protocol

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April 4: Both Connor and Schmidt have cleared the protocol and re-joined the Jets at practice today, after missing three games. Unfortunately, the team lost two of those and now sits six points behind the Vegas Golden Knights for the final wild card position.

March 30: The Winnipeg Jets will not have Kyle Connor or Nate Schmidt in the lineup for the next few games, as they have both tested positive for coronavirus and have entered the league’s COVID-19 protocol. Not only will they miss tonight’s match against the Buffalo Sabres, but Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Free Press reports that they will also have to remain in the U.S. for the next five days, while the Jets head to Toronto and then back to Winnipeg.

It’s brutal timing for the Jets, who have won seven of their past ten games and are just three points behind the Dallas Stars for the final wild card spot. They have played 67 games, meaning every single one is extremely important from here on out, and losing Connor is a huge blow. The 25-year-old forward has scored 41 goals and 82 points in 67 games, setting new career highs in both categories. That includes 18 points in that recent ten-game stretch, carrying the offensive load for the Jets in recent weeks.

While losing Connor is probably the worst thing that could happen, losing Schmidt is also a substantial blow to the Jets. The 30-year-old leads all Winnipeg defensemen with 31 points in 66 games, and is still averaging more than 20 minutes a night (though that number has dropped recently). Losing both could very well be a death sentence for the Jets’ season, if other players aren’t able to step up and secure some points in the next three games.

Interestingly enough, even though they sold Andrew Copp at the deadline, the Jets have actually brought in some forward depth of late. Mason Appleton, Morgan Barron, and Zach Sanford were all acquired, giving them some more options that will hopefully emerge over the next few games.

AHL Shuffle: 04/04/22

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The NHL is rather quiet this evening with just four games, though a pair of them do have significant playoff implications. The Toronto Maple Leafs head to Tampa to take on the Lightning in a battle for the second seed in the Atlantic, while the Los Angeles Kings welcome in the Calgary Flames and try to continue their chase of the Pacific crown. The Flames sit just three points ahead of the Kings and have lost three straight, though they do have three games in hand on their pursuers. As those teams and others prepare for this evening, we’ll keep track of all the minor league shuffling.

Atlantic Division

  • The Detroit Red Wings have assigned Kyle Criscuolo to the AHL, after he played in just his 12th career NHL game last night. The 29-year-old forward has been excellent in his return to the Grand Rapids Griffins, joining them last season and posting 51 points in 78 games to this point. In three matches this season with Detroit, he recorded one point–his first at the NHL level.

Metropolitan Division

Central Division

  • The Arizona Coyotes have recalled Victor Soderstrom from the AHL, bringing up the top prospect once again now that he’s recovered from injury. Soderstrom, 21, has played in 13 NHL games this season but is still looking for his first point of the year, while he has registered 13 in 23 games with the Tucson Roadrunners.

Pacific Division

  • Bowen Byram is back up with the Colorado Avalanche and will travel on their upcoming road trip, which includes two stops in Canada. Byram, who has always should immense ability when on the ice, has struggled with head injuries during his short career and has just 39 professional games (at any level) to his name to this point.
  • The Calgary Flames have recalled Adam Ruzicka and Juuso Valimaki from the AHL. The pair have joined them in Los Angeles and will be available for tonight’s game if needed. The 23-year-old Valimaki was once considered a key future piece for the Flames, though injuries and inconsistency have slowed his progress in recent years. This season, he’s played just eight games with the big club, spending most of the year with the Stockton Heat.
  • Pavel Dorofeyev has been sent back to the AHL by the Vegas Golden Knights, after playing in his second career NHL game a few days ago. The 21-year-old winger is still looking for his first point at that level, but has 41 in 53 games for the Henderson Silver Knights.

This page is updated throughout the day

Brad Larsen Exits COVID Protocol

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April 4: The Blue Jackets have their head coach back, as Larsen has cleared the protocol and will be back behind the bench this evening. McCarthy is still in it and now Vincent has joined him, meaning Mcudden and Boll will still be running the forwards and defense when the Blue Jackets take on the Boston Bruins.

March 29: The Columbus Blue Jackets will be without head coach Brad Larsen and assistant coach Steve McCarthy this evening, as both have been placed in the league’s COVID protocol. In their absence, the Blue Jackets will be led by associate coach Pascal Vincent. The team is at home to face the New York Islanders this evening.

Larsen, 44, was hired as head coach of the Blue Jackets last summer after serving previously in an assistant role and has posted a 32-29-5 record so far behind the bench. In fact, Columbus has done better this season than many expected after the trade of Seth Jones and other key players, and specifically, the play of Patrik Laine has been an impressive turnaround. The relationship between the two has resulted in plenty of media speculation on several occasions, and yet Laine is currently having the best offensive season of his career with 49 points in 47 games.

With Larsen and McCarthy out, Vincent will serve as head coach, while Jared Boll and Kenny McCudden will run the defense and forwards respectively.

Montreal Canadiens Sign Emil Heineman

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The Montreal Canadiens have added another prospect to the ranks, signing Emil Heineman to a three-year entry-level contract. The deal, which carries an NHL cap hit of $897.5K, will begin in 2022-23. For now, the young player will join the Laval Rocket on a professional tryout and spend the rest of the season in the AHL.

Heineman, 20, has already been included in two trades in his young career. Originally selected by the Florida Panthers, he was shipped to the Calgary Flames in the Sam Bennett deal, and then Montreal in the Tyler Toffoli trade. Less than two years after he was picked 43rd overall, the young forward now has an NHL contract in hand and a pretty clear path the relevance in the Canadiens’ organization.

In 38 games for Leksands IF this season–his second full year in the SHL–Heineman scored 11 goals and 16 points. While those numbers don’t pop off the chart, there is plenty of optimism for his future at the North American professional level, especially after his performance in the Champions League, where he scored four times in nine games. While his overall offensive upside may be limited, there’s a never-ending work ethic in Heineman that should serve him well as he tries to carve out a role with Montreal.

The Canadiens system is about to get awfully crowded, with nearly countless draft picks in the next few seasons. But a player like Heineman has a leg up with his deal already in hand, and can now begin the climb to the NHL ranks.

Five Key Stories: 3/28/22 – 4/3/22

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We’ve hit the home stretch of the season and while most of the activity over the past week has been college players signing contracts, there was some notable news around the NHL which is highlighted in our top stories.

Done For The Year: The Flames will be without center Sean Monahan for the rest of the season as the center will soon undergo hip surgery.  It’s not the hip he had repaired last summer either which certainly is far from ideal for the veteran.  Monahan’s season ends with just 23 points in 65 games and he already has been placed on LTIR.  Meanwhile, Coyotes winger Clayton Keller suffered a broken leg which carries a recovery time of four to six months.  While it has been a tough year offensively for many Arizona players, that wasn’t the case for Keller as he had already set a new career high in goals (28) while his 63 points were two shy of his career best.  Now, the team will simply be hoping that Keller’s recovery won’t take the full six months as if that happens, his availability for the start of next season would be in question.

Ironman Streak Ends: One day, Keith Yandle’s record-setting ironman streak was going to come to an end.  It turns out that day was Saturday as the Flyers decided to make the veteran a healthy scratch, ending his streak at 989 consecutive regular season games played.  The move was somewhat controversial since Philadelphia is well out of the playoff picture but they’ve decided to ensure their prospects have the playing time.  Yandle has struggled considerably this season with just one goal along with 14 assists in 67 games, a far cry from the type of production he was putting up in his prime.

Two More For Goligoski: When Alex Goligoski signed a one-year, $5MM contract with the Wild last summer, it looked like he might be a one-and-done player with the team heading towards a cap crunch next season.  However, the defenseman has done well in his first season with his hometown team, picking up 28 points in 59 games while averaging nearly 19 minutes a night.  That was enough for Minnesota to decide to keep him around a little longer as they signed him to a two-year, $4MM extension which also contains a no-move clause.  Goligoski has been scratched a bit as of late after the acquisition of Jacob Middleton from San Jose but it’s still a pretty low price tag for a serviceable veteran who is set to reach the 1,000 games played mark next season.

GM Meetings Roundup: For the first time in two years, all 32 NHL general managers were able to meet in person with several items on the agenda.  The key headline was that the salary cap will still increase as expected to $82.5MM next season, an increase of $1MM, one that had been in some question due to lowered revenue projections when the Canadian teams were facing attendance restrictions.  While LTIR was discussed, no changes are forthcoming on that front (plus, it’s a CBA issue so changes would require the approval of the NHLPA).  Additionally, there are now plans to establish a database of no-move and no-trade clauses that would be jointly filed with NHL Central Registry and the NHLPA.  This, of course, comes on the heels of the since-voided Evgenii Dadonov trade where Vegas wasn’t aware that Anaheim was on Dadonov’s no-trade list.

Melnyk Passes Away: We end on a sad note as Senators owner Eugene Melnyk passed away at the age of 62.  He bought the team back in 2003 back when it was in bankruptcy and relocation looked like a legitimate possibility.  Since then, the team has had its fair share of ups and downs but did make it to the Stanley Cup Final back in 2007 and Ottawa has amassed several quality pieces as they look to emerge from their current rebuild in the near future.  Everyone here at PHR joins those in the hockey world in extending our condolences to his family and friends.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

College Notes: Transfer Portal, Lucius, Ford

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A pair of NHL-drafted prospects have entered the NCAA’s transfer portal as Brad Elliott Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald reports (Twitter link) that Blackhawks defenseman Slava Demin and Michigan State forward Josh Nodler are looking for new schools for next season.  It’s actually the second year in a row that Demin, a 2018 fourth-round pick, has been in the portal as the senior transferred from Denver to UMass for this season but had just three points in 22 games.  Meanwhile, Nodler, a 2019 fifth-rounder, had 15 points in 36 games with Michigan State and will now look for a new place to play in the hopes of having a bigger role for his senior year to help his chances of getting an NHL contract from the Flames or someone else.

More college hockey news:

  • Jets prospect Chaz Lucius is expected to remain at the University of Minnesota for his sophomore year, notes Sportsnet’s Ken Wiebe. The 18-year-old was the 18th-overall pick in 2021 and had 19 points in 24 games before suffering a lower-body injury in February that ended his season early.  While Winnipeg will need some cheaper forwards to balance out the bigger deals they have, turning Lucius pro after that short of a college career would have been risky.
  • Undrafted forward Parker Ford will return to Providence for his senior year instead of turning pro, reports Mark Divver of the New England Hockey Journal (Twitter link). The 21-year-old finished third on the Friars in scoring this season with 27 points in 38 games which undoubtedly would have had him on the radar for some teams.  Instead, he’ll stay in college for one more season before making the jump to the pros.

Injury Updates: Labanc, Flyers, Muzzin, Terry

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Not long ago, it looked like the Sharks would soon be welcoming winger Kevin Labanc back to the lineup for the first time since suffering a shoulder injury back in December.  However, as Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News notes, the team is now considering shutting the 26-year-old down for the rest of the season.  Labanc visited the surgeon who performed the surgery on Thursday and got the green light but with San Jose out of the playoff picture, they may err on the side of caution and avoid any possible risk of him reaggravating the injury.

Other injury news from around the NHL:

  • Flyers defenseman Nick Seeler will miss some time due to a lower-body injury, relays Olivia Reiner of the Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link). The 28-year-old has been a depth defender this season, getting into 43 games with Philadelphia, averaging a little over 13 minutes per night.  Meanwhile, Reiner adds that winger Zack MacEwen was injured on Saturday in his fight with Toronto’s Wayne Simmonds and was also unavailable for their game against the Rangers tonight.  It’s only the third game that MacEwen has missed this season.
  • Maple Leafs defenseman Jake Muzzin is expected to return at some point on this road trip but it won’t be tomorrow in Tampa Bay, notes Sportsnet’s Luke Fox (Twitter link). He has missed the last six weeks due to a concussion and is currently on LTIR.  The veteran has had a quiet year offensively with just a dozen points in 41 games but still logs 21 minutes a night and will solidify Toronto’s top four heading into the playoffs.
  • Ducks winger Troy Terry will miss tonight’s game against Edmonton due to the facial injuries sustained on Friday against Arizona, reports Eric Stephens of The Athletic. He’s expected to be re-evaluated later today with a determination of how much more time he might miss to be made at that time.  The 24-year-old has had a breakout year, recording more points (57) than he had in his first 129 career games over parts of four seasons (48).

Canucks Activate Tucker Poolman, Jason Dickinson Off Injured Reserve

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As the Vancouver Canucks attempt to chase down a Western Conference wild card spot, they are set to add two formerly injured players back into the fold. The team has announced that defenseman Tucker Poolman and forward Jason Dickinson have been activated off of injured reserve. Dickinson has been out since February 24th when he suffered a lower-body injury, and Poolman has been out since January 27th due to issues with headaches and migraines.

These two players have now been out for a not-insignificant amount of time just as the Canucks entered a crucial part of their season. They both are new arrivals to Vancouver, having each come aboard this past offseason. Dickinson was acquired from the Dallas Stars for a 2021 third-round pick, and Poolman was signed from the Winnipeg Jets as an unrestricted free agent to a contract costing $2.5MM against the cap each season through 2024-2025.

Before their injuries, each player was going through an underwhelming first season in Vancouver. Dickinson, 26, has only three goals and six points in his 49 games this year, which is 10 point pace, a significant decline from his usual form of around 20 points per season. Dickinson’s ice time has also declined from over 16 minutes per game last season to only 13:01 per game in Vancouver. Poolman, 28, is not known for his offense from the back end, and he has three points in 39 games this year. Poolman averaged just over 17 minutes per game before his injury and could help give coach Bruce Boudreau options on the team’s bottom pairing.

Both players are likely headed back into the lineup with significant motivations to salvage something positive from this season. The Canucks’ playoff odds are getting longer with each passing game, but they still have a chance. The impact of strong performances from any player is magnified in these circumstances, so as fresh arrivals off of injured reserve Dickinson and Poolman each have the opportunity to re-write the narratives surrounding their tenures in Vancouver, to improve their standing with fans who have been thus far left wanting more.

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