Archives for February 2024

Poll: Which Team Will Trade For Jake Guentzel?

February 24, 2024 at 8:32 pm CDT | by Brennan McClain 22 Comments

Over the last several weeks, Pittsburgh Penguins forward Jake Guentzel has been gaining steam as one of the biggest fishes available at this year’s deadline. Even after suffering an injury that will keep him out until the deadline, plenty of competitive teams remain interested in his services for their playoff push.

In tonight’s edition of ’Saturday Headlines’, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that the Carolina Hurricanes, Edmonton Oilers, Florida Panthers, Vegas Golden Knights, and Vancouver Canucks as specific teams that have checked in with Pittsburgh regarding Guentzel. Of the five teams listed, factoring in available assets and deadline salary cap space, the Hurricanes, Panthers, and Golden Knights strike as the likeliest landing spots if Guentzel does indeed get moved.

In any trade for Guentzel, a first-round pick will undoubtedly need to go back to Pittsburgh, as well as a young prospect. Just yesterday, the General Manager of the Penguins, Kyle Dubas, told the media that Pittsburgh would place a priority on getting younger in any deal that they make. With the Golden Knights and Panthers having Brendan Brisson and Mackie Samoskevich at their disposal, respectively, they are in advantageous positions to give the Penguins what they are looking for.

All-in-all, there is no guarantee that Pittsburgh will move Guentzel at all, as he has created quite a bond with franchise icon Sidney Crosby over the last several years. Owning a projected $17.54MM available to them on July 1st this summer, the Penguins could opt to sign Guentzel to a long-term contract to take over as the face of the franchise once Crosby’s playing days are over.

Now it’s your turn to vote — will any one of these teams deal for Guentzel by March 8th, or will the Penguins decide to keep him around for the long haul?

If you can’t access the poll above, click here to vote.

Trade Deadline Primer: Philadelphia Flyers

February 24, 2024 at 7:30 pm CDT | by Brennan McClain 7 Comments

With the All-Star break in the rearview, the trade deadline looms large and is now just two weeks away. Where does each team stand, and what moves should they be looking to make? We continue our look around the league with the Philadelphia Flyers.

With an eye on rebuilding, the Flyers have had a surprisingly productive season. Currently sitting in third-place in the Metropolitan Division, Philadelphia has a solid five-point lead for their position, and are headed for the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs. However, General Manager Daniel Briere has been adamant that the Flyers are not looking to mortgage their future, and may even end up selling a few pieces off by the deadline.

Record

30-21-7, 3rd in the Metropolitan

Deadline Status

Standing Pat/Conservative Seller

Deadline Cap Space

$8.99MM on deadline day, 1/3 retention slots used, 48/50 contracts used, per CapFriendly.

Upcoming Draft Picks

2024: PHI 1st, FLA 1st*, PHI 2nd, CBJ 2nd**, PHI 3rd, PHI 4th, LA 5th, PHI 6th, STL, 6th, PHI 7th
2025: PHI 1st, PHI 2nd, ANA 2nd, PHI 3rd, PHI 4th, PHI 5th, CAR 5th, PHI 6th, PHI 7th

*-If Florida’s first-round pick falls within the top 10 of the 2024 NHL Draft, Philadelphia will receive Florida’s first-round pick in 2025 as apart of the Claude Giroux trade.

**-Columbus will have until the end of the first-round of the 2024 NHL Draft to decide if they will send Philadelphia their 2024 second-round pick or their 2025 second-round pick as apart of the Ivan Provorov trade.

Trade Chips

As highlighted today, Philadelphia’s most likely trade chips will be coming out of their defensive core. Defensemen Sean Walker and Nick Seeler are generating the most attention on the market, with the team reportedly listening to offers on veteran center Scott Laughton as well.

Having already engaged with Seeler’s camp about a potential contract extension, it certainly appears that Walker will end up being the odd-man out for the Flyers. Acquired this past offseason in the deal that sent Provorov to the Columbus Blue Jackets, Walker has handled over 19 minutes a night on average over 57 games, scoring three goals and 20 points in the process. Given that they could retain 50% of Walker’s salary in any deal, Philadelphia could look to add even more draft capital for the next two seasons.

The market for Laughton will be a little bit more difficult to ascertain, as he is still signed for two years and $6MM beyond this season. Any team acquiring Laughton will certainly be looking to get more physical ahead of the playoffs with that being the part of his game. Producing a relatively average faceoff rate and defensive metrics, Laughton is good to score between 30-40 points a year, depending on how he would be utilized by the acquiring team.

Team Needs

1) Acquire More Lottery Tickets – Unlike many teams across the league, the Flyers have the opportunity to take their roster in a lot of different directions. Already having a cemented core of Sean Couturier, Travis Konecny, Owen Tippett, Joel Farabee, and Travis Sanheim, the team has the opportunity to add supplementary players in a lot of different ways. Already making a major move along these lines with the acquisition of Jamie Drysdale earlier in the season; a deal such as this should be the strategy for Philadelphia move forward as their deadline approach. While desiring to hold on to their draft capital, the Flyers could look to grab Philip Broberg from the Edmonton Oilers or Arthur Kaliyev from the Los Angeles Kings in return for Walker or Laughton by March 8th.

2) Map-Out Goaltending – Since Carter Hart was granted an indefinite leave of absence on January 23rd due to his inclusion in the 2018 Team Canada sexual assault investigation, the Flyers goaltending has taken a different trajectory alltogether. In the first 47 games of the year, Philadelphia managed a 2.83 GAA and a .901 SV% as a team, helping them stockpile points and make their rise in the standings. Since Hart’s leave, the team has struggled considerably, producing a 3.30 GAA and a .866 SV%. Felix Sandstrom has not inspired much hope this season in Lehigh Valley as he’s only managed an .882 SV% through 20 games, and Ivan Fedotov’s age will likely cut him out as the future of the franchise in net. While many contending teams are looking to improve their situations in the crease, Philadelphia may have to wait until the summer to figure out their plan in goal. Nevertheless, with Hart’s status up in the air moving forward, their long-term vision in net should certainly be on their radar.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

West Notes: Zaitsev, Athanasiou, Vlasic, O’Brien, Stecher, Kuzmenko

February 24, 2024 at 5:31 pm CDT | by Josh Erickson Leave a Comment

Blackhawks defenseman Nikita Zaitsev’s knee injury sustained in January was more severe than previously assumed, head coach Luke Richardson said Saturday (via Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times). Zaitsev sustained a bone fracture along with his knee injury and, while he’s returned to off-ice workouts, won’t return until mid-March.

The 32-year-old sustained the injury in a Jan. 16 game against the Sharks and has been out of the lineup for over a month, missing Chicago’s last 14 games. The Moscow native had two goals, five assists, seven points, and a remarkable +2 rating on a bottom-feeder Blackhawks team in 26 games, although he averaged only 15:56 per contest.

Zaitsev will be a UFA this summer after completing his albatross seven-year, $31.5MM contract extension signed by then-Maple Leafs GM Lou Lamoriello in 2017. He has yet to sniff the career-high of 36 points he set during his rookie season with Toronto in 2016, and he’s only once posted a positive expected rating in his eight-year NHL career. If he remains in the league past this season, it’ll likely be on a league-minimum deal.

Other updates from the Western Conference:

Sticking with Chicago, forward Andreas Athanasiou continues to progress in his recovery from a lower-body injury as he practiced in a full-contact jersey for the first time Saturday, according to Pope. The 29-year-old has not played in over three months, missing 46 games. The speedy winger disappointed through the first month of the campaign, recording four assists in 11 games and logging one healthy scratch, averaging 12:45 per game. Chicago signed him to a two-year, $8.5MM extension last summer after he racked up 20 goals and 40 points for the second time in his career last season.
Sharks veteran blue-liner Marc-Édouard Vlasic is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury and could miss up to a week, head coach David Quinn said Saturday (via Curtis Pashelka of the Bay Area News Group). Vlasic sustained the injury in practice yesterday and will sit after playing in 14 straight games, his longest stretch of the season. It’s been a difficult campaign for the 36-year-old Sharks lifer, who was a frequent healthy scratch through November and December as his all-around game continues to decline. Once regarded as one of the top shutdown defenders in the league, Vlasic’s 41.3% Corsi share at even strength is second-worst among full-time Sharks defenders this year, only ahead of rookie Nikita Okhotyuk. He carries a $7MM cap hit through the 2025-26 season.
The Coyotes will activate enforcer Liam O’Brien off injured reserve ahead of Sunday’s game against the Jets, head coach André Tourigny said (via Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports). The fourth-line winger missed the last five games with an upper-body injury and had been a healthy scratch twice in the prior three games. The 6-foot-1 29-year-old is in his third season in the desert, racking up eight points and 116 PIMs in 49 games this year. Defenseman Troy Stecher, who’s been out for over a month with a lower-body injury, will not be ready to go tomorrow but could return as soon as Tuesday against the Canadiens, Morgan added. Both players are on IR, but the Coyotes have two open roster spots, so no corresponding transactions are necessary to activate them over the next few days.
Flames winger Andrei Kuzmenko will miss tonight’s Battle of Alberta with an illness, coach Ryan Huska said (via Eric Francis of Sportsnet). The middle-six scoring winger has been up-and-down since Calgary acquired him from the Canucks in the Elias Lindholm trade, notching three goals and one assist in eight games with a -2 rating. He hasn’t seen an uptick in ice time since moving across provincial lines, averaging 14:06 per game with Calgary compared to 14:21 with Vancouver. He’s signed through next season at a $5.5MM cap hit.

Devils Recall Akira Schmid, Reassign Isaac Poulter

February 24, 2024 at 4:42 pm CDT | by Josh Erickson 2 Comments

Feb. 24: New Jersey reversed the transaction today, recalling Schmid and returning Poulter to Utica. Schmid will be rostered for Sunday’s game against the Lightning. Poulter did not play during his recall, backing up Daws, who has started seven straight.

Feb. 21: The Devils swapped their backup netminders Wednesday, assigning Akira Schmid to AHL Utica and recalling Isaac Poulter, per a team release.

Today marks Poulter’s first NHL recall after New Jersey signed the 22-year-old to an entry-level contract last week. The undrafted free agent has been the Devils’ best AHL goalie this year, appearing in 24 of Utica’s 47 games while posting a .908 SV% and a 14-7-1 record with three shutouts.

Poulter is in his second professional season after signing a minor-league deal with Utica in 2022. He played four seasons of junior hockey with the WHL’s Swift Current Broncos from 2018 to 2022, amassing a 35-87-12 record in 137 games behind a struggling squad with a relatively strong .898 SV%.

The struggling Vítek Vaněček remains on IR with a lower-body injury and is listed as day-to-day, so Poulter will back up the 23-year-old Nico Daws when he dresses for his first NHL game tomorrow against the Rangers. New Jersey has enough cap space to absorb Poulter’s $812.5K cap hit with number-one defenseman Dougie Hamilton still on LTIR.

Schmid, 23, dressed for five games as Daws’ backup this month but has not played since being demoted to Utica in December. After a solid postseason performance in 2023, he made the team out of camp as Vaněček’s backup. However, a .893 SV% and 5-7-1 record through 13 starts and two relief appearances meant he fell to third on the Devils’ depth chart with Daws returning from a season-opening hip injury. His numbers have dipped further while on assignment to Utica, posting a .885 SV% and a 3-5-4 record in 12 games.

Avalanche Prospect Oskar Olausson To Undergo Season-Ending Shoulder Surgery

February 24, 2024 at 3:15 pm CDT | by Josh Erickson 2 Comments

Avalanche forward prospect Oskar Olausson will undergo shoulder surgery on Monday that will sideline him for the rest of the 2023-24 season, the team announced Saturday. He is expected to return to the organization for the 2024-25 campaign.

Olausson, 21, was the 28th overall selection in the 2021 draft. He has no points in his two NHL appearances, one of which came this season on Dec. 5.

He’s taken a significant step forward in his development this season, posting 11 goals and nine assists for 20 points in 39 games with the AHL’s Colorado Eagles. He put up those same totals in 63 games last year.

Despite signing his entry-level contract the summer after his draft, it’s only kicked in this season because he was eligible twice for an entry-level slide. As such, he carries a cap hit of $863.3K and is headed for RFA status in 2026. He will not be placed on IR or LTIR because he was designated to the minors when the injury occurred.

Olausson is arguably still the Avs’ best forward prospect, although 2023 first-round pick Calum Ritchie submits a veritable challenge to that claim. A sniper by trade, Olausson will likely spend most of next season in the minors as well before making noise for an NHL roster spot.

The Eagles may be losing one of their best scorers, but they could be gaining an impact piece as soon as Sunday. Colorado waived depth forward Fredrik Olofsson on Saturday, and he’ll be assigned to the Eagles if he clears tomorrow.

Metropolitan Notes: Seeler, Walker, Konecny, Mayfield

February 24, 2024 at 2:45 pm CDT | by Josh Erickson 2 Comments

The Flyers have a pair of fairly valuable defenders on expiring deals in Nick Seeler and Sean Walker. Despite being in a playoff position and ahead of schedule in their rebuild, the Flyers will likely ship at least one of them out to capitalize on their trade value ahead of the March 8 trade deadline. It’s trending toward Walker being the odd man out, as they’ve yet to formally engage in extension discussions with Walker’s agents, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports Saturday.

Pagnotta notes that the Flyers have talked to Seeler’s representation about an extension. The two defenders have formed one of the unlikeliest value pairings in the league this year, logging over 500 minutes together with a sparkling 56.5 expected goals percentage, per MoneyPuck. The 30-year-old, who’s found his way back into a full-time NHL role after going without a contract for the entire 2020-21 campaign, carries a $775K cap hit and will earn a multi-million dollar raise on his next deal, whether it’s with Philly or somewhere else.

Walker being the likelier one to move makes sense with the state of the trade market, however. He’s considerably more expensive with a $2.65MM cap hit, but he’s also a coveted right-shot defender with significantly more offensive upside than the shutdown-only Seeler. As such, he’ll fetch more value in return. Pagnotta says the Bruins may have interest if it becomes clear he’ll hit the trade market, where he would serve as a third-pairing anchor behind Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo.

Other notes from the Metropolitan Division:

Flyers winger Travis Konecny is absent from Saturday’s game against the Rangers, and he’ll miss Sunday’s tilt against the Penguins as well, per Anthony Di Marco of The Fourth Period. Konecny is listed as day-to-day with a minor upper-body injury sustained during practice this week. The 26-year-old is not expected to miss significant time. In his eighth NHL season, Konecny leads Philadelphia in scoring with 27 goals and 54 points in 57 games.
Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury and is not in the lineup against the Lightning today, per the team. Mayfield did not appear to miss a shift in the Isles’ last game, a 4-0 loss to the Blues on Thursday. In the first season of a seven-year, $24.5MM contract, Mayfield has missed 16 total games to leg and upper-body injuries. He’s also struggled to produce, going without a goal in 41 games while recording five assists and a -7 rating. Reserve defender Sebastian Aho re-entered the Isles’ lineup in a third-pairing role today after serving as a healthy scratch for six of their past seven games.

Kings’ Mikey Anderson Out Week To Week

February 24, 2024 at 1:51 pm CDT | by Josh Erickson 1 Comment

Kings defenseman Mikey Anderson will be out with an upper-body injury on a week-to-week basis, interim head coach Jim Hiller said Saturday (via Eric Stephens of The Athletic). Hiller also confirmed that winger Viktor Arvidsson, who landed on LTIR earlier Saturday with a lower-body injury, carries the same designation, confirming an earlier report from Kevin Weekes of ESPN.

Anderson, 24, sustained the injury in the third period of Thursday’s 4-1 loss to Nashville. He skated to the bench hunched over after being harassed for puck possession by Predators winger Luke Evangelista.

It’s a major loss for the Kings, who are now without half their top defense pairing on a semi-long-term basis. Anderson and Drew Doughty have played 878 minutes together this season, the second-most of any pairing in the league, with a respectable 52.1 expected goals percentage, per MoneyPuck. Only the Blues’ Nick Leddy and Colton Parayko have been paired together more frequently.

A fourth-round pick of the Kings in 2017, Anderson has surpassed all the benchmarks expected of him as a shutdown prospect. He’s averaged over 20 minutes per game in each of his four full NHL seasons and has one goal, 14 assists, 15 points, and a +14 rating in 55 games this year.

Individually, however, Anderson is having his worst two-way season since cementing himself in L.A.’s top four. While still adept at limiting quality against at even strength, he’s become more of an offensive damper this season and has an expected -1.9 rating as a result. His -3.1 relative Corsi-for percentage at even strength is also the worst of his career.

That said, his minutes are difficult to replace. Vladislav Gavrikov, who’s put up better possession metrics than Anderson during his first full season in Los Angeles while anchoring their second pairing with Matt Roy, will likely slide up alongside Doughty. 23-year-old Jordan Spence was recalled from AHL Ontario in a corresponding transaction with Arvidsson’s LTIR placement and will draw into the lineup tonight against Anaheim.

Coyotes Waive Adam Ružička For Purposes Of Contract Termination

February 24, 2024 at 1:04 pm CDT | by Josh Erickson 35 Comments

Feb. 24, 1:04 p.m.: Ružička cleared waivers Saturday, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. The Coyotes will now terminate his contract. The NHLPA has 60 days to file a grievance on his behalf.

Feb. 23, 1:09 p.m.: In a statement Friday, the Coyotes confirmed they placed Ružička on unconditional waivers and will terminate his contract if he clears. The team declined to comment on the reasoning.

Feb. 23, 1:04 p.m.: Ružička is on waivers today, Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic confirms. Teams will have 24 hours to issue a claim for the remainder of his $762.5K cap hit deal, which expires this summer. If he passes through unclaimed, he will have his contract terminated by the Coyotes on Saturday.

Feb. 23, 12:41 p.m.: The Coyotes are expected to place forward Adam Ružička on waivers Friday for the purposes of contract termination, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports.

Friedman’s report comes hours after a screen recording began circulating on social media of Ružička’s Instagram story, which showed a video of him next to an unidentified white powdered substance. It is unclear if the video spurred the beginning of the termination process or if this is a mutual termination for Ružička to find other playing opportunities as a UFA.

In 2019, responding to an IIHF suspension handed down to Capitals center Evgeny Kuznetsov for a positive cocaine test, NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly confirmed that cocaine is “not a Prohibited Substance under the NHL/NHLPA Performance Enhancing Substances Program.” If the unidentified substance shown with Ružička is cocaine, and he has his contract terminated with Arizona as a result, he will likely not be subject to further discipline by the league based on precedent. Under league policy, cocaine is considered “a drug of abuse that is tested for and for which intervention, evaluation and mandatory treatment can occur in appropriate cases,” Daly said.

Ružička, 24, was claimed off waivers by the Coyotes from the Flames on Jan. 25. Work visa issues and multiple healthy scratches limited him to three appearances in Arizona, in which he recorded no points, a -1 rating, and one shot on goal while averaging 8:17 per game. A fourth-round pick of Calgary in 2017, Ružička has 14 goals, 26 assists, and 40 points in 117 NHL games since his debut in 2021.

Central Notes: Vejmelka, Blackhawks, Landeskog, Jankowski

February 24, 2024 at 12:58 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 4 Comments

Coyotes goaltender Karel Vejmelka’s name has come up in trade speculation in each of the last two trade deadlines. It doesn’t appear as if that will be the case this time around as Pierre LeBrun wrote in his latest column for The Athletic (subscription link) that Arizona GM Bill Armstrong doesn’t intend to break up his current tandem of Vejmelka and Connor Ingram. Their netminders have played to a combined .902 SV% this season, a number that’s around the league average which isn’t bad for a rebuilding team. However, Vejmelka’s rate is a career-low .891 so even if Armstrong was looking to move him, Vejmelka’s value wouldn’t be at its highest.

Kings Place Viktor Arvidsson On LTIR, Recall Jordan Spence

February 24, 2024 at 11:36 am CDT | by Brian La Rose 2 Comments

It was less than two weeks ago that the Kings got Viktor Arvidsson back from his back injury. However, after already returning to injured reserve recently, the team has gone a step further, announcing that they’ve transferred him to LTIR for the second time this season. Meanwhile, the Kings also recalled defenseman Jordan Spence from AHL Ontario.

Arvidsson missed the first four months of the season before returning to the lineup on February 15th. The 30-year-old picked up two assists in his first three games but then suffered a lower-body injury on his first shift on Tuesday versus Columbus. The good news is that this injury won’t carry as long of a recovery time as the first one did as he is expected to be back before the end of the regular season. Assuming that the placement was back-dated to the time of injury (their release didn’t specify the effective date), Arvidsson could be eligible to return as soon as March 15th against Chicago.

As for Spence, his recall was needed due to Michael Anderson suffering an upper-body injury on Thursday versus Nashville. The exact timeline for his recovery isn’t known but he has been ruled out for tonight’s game against Anaheim already. That would have put the Kings down to five defenders and they had nowhere near enough cap space to bring Spence up, resulting in them needing to transfer Arvidsson to LTIR to create the short-term cap room.

It’s the fourth recall of the season for Spence, who has spent the majority of the campaign in the NHL. The 22-year-old has played in 44 games so far with Los Angeles, collecting 16 points (all assists) while averaging just shy of 15 minutes a night on the third pairing. Spence has made just one AHL appearance with the Reign which was one Wednesday; he was held out of Ontario’s lineup on Friday with his recall pending.

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