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Calgary Flames Recall Hunter Shinkaruk From AHL

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After learning that Kris Versteeg would be out a few weeks, the Calgary Flames have recalled Hunter Shinkaruk from the Stockton Heat. Versteeg was injured was placed on injured reserve with a groin injury that he suffered last night, giving Shinkaruk a chance with the big club.

A former first-round pick by the Vancouver Canucks, Shinkaruk was traded to the Flames this February in exchange for Markus Granlund. The winger is off to a great start in the AHL this season with eight points in seven contests. After making his NHL debut last season he’ll try to show that he belongs full time at this level.

For Versteeg, it’s exactly the reason he was only able to score PTO’s this year. For a talented forward who has always been able to put up points, he’s never been able to stay consistently healthy or in the lineup. While he hasn’t suffered a huge setback in a few years, he’s often out with nagging injuries for at least a few games each year. It’s clear he can contribute offensively – he’s scored at least 35 points in almost every one of his seasons – but disappears on occasion and can’t be relied on as core piece.

The Flames have broken up their dynamic duo of Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau, but perhaps injecting a little more youth in the form of Shinkaruk can spark their offense. He scored 51 points in 62 AHL games last year, and is still just 22-years old.

Versteeg To Miss “A Couple Of Weeks”

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Calgary Flames forward Kris Versteeg will miss “a couple of weeks” with a groin injury, according to coach Glen Gulutzan. Versteeg suffered the injury against the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night. He left the game after playing just 3:19.

The Lethbridge-native has been held off the scoresheet for four straight games, and has just one assist to show for his last six games. Versteeg has just two goals this season, both coming versus the Blues on October 22. He’s also one-for-two in the shootout, having scored the winner against Chicago earlier this season.

The Flames signed Versteeg away from division rival Edmonton, where he was in training camp on a PTO. Calgary is Versteeg’s seventh NHL team in 10 seasons.

With Versteeg back in Calgary for evaluation, the Flames further broke up their top line, splitting up Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau. Sam Bennett will center Gaudreau and Troy Brouwer, while Monahan is centering Micheal Ferland and Alex Chiasson. Calgary will visit the injury-plagued Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night.

Pacific Division Notes: Flames, Canucks, Oilers

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The Calgary Flames have struggled in the early stretches of this season, and some of their fans have found a scapegoat: “The Wideman Effect”.

The belief is that since January 2016, when Dennis Wideman ran linesman Don Henderson from behind, ending the latter’s career, the referees have been biased against the Flames. Despite the catchy name, it appears that the perception just isn’t true. Sportsnet’s Mark Spector broke down the penalties called in the 47 games before the incident and the 46 since. While the Flames did see a nearly 50 per cent increase in penalties last season after the attack, they still spent more time on the power-play. Moving to this season, the Flames are the second-most penalized team in the NHL after the Bruins. But they’ve also had the fifth-most power-play opportunities of any team.

Fans can look no further than the struggles of Sean Monahan, Johnny Gaudreau, and Brian Elliott, and some questionable lineup choices on the blue line. Fresh off signing new contracts for $6.375MM and $6,75MM respectively, Monahan and Gaudreau have combined for just 11 points through 12 games. That’s eight less than last season at this time.

Elliott was traded for to stabilize the Flames wretched goaltending from last season, and so far has a sub-900 save percentage and a GAA over 3. Backup Chad Johnson has been better, but is still below league-average.

Finally, the Flames new coach Glen Gulutzan’s usage of Dougie Hamilton has been weird this season. Hamilton scored 43 points last season while playing just under 20-minutes per game, but has fallen below 19 minutes this season and has been playing third-pairing at even-strength with lesser players.

  • It has been an ugly stretch for the Canucks, who have lost seven games in a row after starting 4-0-0. They’ve fallen from first in the NHL to 26th. Even worse, the Canucks have scored just seven goals in that stretch and have been shutout in four of their last five games. The Blue Jackets outscored the Canucks’ entire losing streak in 38-minutes on Friday night, and they weren’t even done yet. Coach Willie Desjardins said he believes in their players and thinks they can turn it around, despite admitting this season’s losing has been tough on him. Desjardins is on the hot seat, considering GM Jim Benning believes the Canucks are a playoff team. However, Benning may not be entirely accurate in that belief: the Canucks are averaging just 1.45 goals-per-game, nearly a goal-and-a-half less than the league-average. Most prognosticators have the Canucks pegged as a real contender, not for the playoffs, but for the best draft lottery odds.
  • Meanwhile, the Edmonton Oilers are sitting in first in the Western Conference after a hot start. They’ve cooled down a little, going 0-2-1 in the last week. Spector echoed a common sentiment about the team: if they can get their hands on a legit point-threat for their floundering power-play, then watch out. The Oilers were linked to Kevin Shattenkirk, P.K. Subban and Tyson Barrie over the summer, and more recently pending-UFA Brent Burns. In his article, Spector suggests Jason Garrison might be available in Tampa Bay as a cap casualty, though he’s another lefty; when healthy, five of the Oilers top-six defenders are left-handed.

Snapshots: Howard, Blue Jackets, Clutterbuck

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Over the last few seasons, there has been much talk about the Detroit Red Wings’ goaltending situation.

Petr Mrazek, the club’s fifth-round pick in 2010, has been developing into a solid starting goalie, while 32-year-old Jimmy Howard’s play has been below league-average since 2012-13. But while this season marks the first in which Mrazek has made over $1MM (he signed a two-year, $8MM contract in July), Howard has been making a shade under $5.3MM since 2013-14, the year after his numbers began to slide. Howard has an additional two seasons remaining on his contract.

The Red Wings have been trying to trade Howard for a while now, but have obviously been unable to find any suitors thanks to his cap hit. But as of right now, Red Wings GM Ken Holland may be glad about that. Howard has only allowed 3 goals in 4 appearances this season, with a 2-1-0 record and league-highs in GAA and SV% (0.86 and 0.974, respectively). Meanwhile expected starter Mrazek is 4-4-1 with a 0.904 SV% and a GAA over 3. Mrazek has lost three in a row, and Howard will be starting on Sunday versus the West-leading Edmonton Oilers.

It’s still early in the season, but Howard has helped keep the Red Wings in playoff contention; they’re currently in the first wildcard position in the Eastern Conference. Detroit will need Howard to keep up his stellar play if they want to avoid missing the playoffs for the first time since 1989-90.

  • The Blue Jackets laid a 10-0 beating on the NHL-leading Canadiens Friday night, the first game with a 10-goal differential since 2002-03. On January 11, the Washington Capitals beat the visiting Florida Panthers by a score of 12-2. Then-Capitals forward Jaromir Jagr scored a hat-trick and added 4 assists against his future team. There are only two other players from that game still active in the NHL: Jay Bouwmeester and Roberto Luongo.
  • It was the first 10-0 shutout win since 1996, when Trevor Kidd and the Calgary Flames shut out the Tampa Bay Lightning.
  • Finally, John Tavares will have a new line-mate when his Islanders host the Oilers. Gritty forward Cal Clutterbuck will get a chance to play with his captain on the first line, alongside Josh Bailey. It’s a curious choice, seeing as Clutterbuck has only 1 goal and 5 points this season, and his career high of 34-points came back in 2010-11. It’s still more than big-name free-agent signing Andrew Ladd, who has only 1 assist so far. The Islanders have lost four of five, but hope to bounce back against the Oilers, who have dropped three in a row. Speaking of blowouts and the Islanders hosting the Oilers, Edmonton’s previous visit to Brooklyn was an ugly 8-1 win for the home side.

Canada: The New Championship Drought To Watch For

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The Chicago Cubs won the World Series on Wednesday night, their first since 1908, snapping a 108-year championship drought, the longest by any team in North American professional sports history. Back in June, the Cleveland Cavaliers won the NBA Championship, snapping a 52-year drought for a city with three major pro sports teams. So what’s next on the drought-busting checklist?

Sure, there are a few teams and few cities still struggling. The NBA’s Sacramento Kings organization has not won a title in 65 years and never since their move to California. Wednesday night’s losers, the Cleveland Indians, haven’t taken home the hardware in 68 years. Ten NFL teams still have yet to win it all in the Super Bowl era. Yet, with the Cubs and Cleveland off the books, it seems like there’s a void in the championship drought department right now.

It’s time that attention turns not to any one team or city, but to the country of Canada. Canadian teams have combined to go 199 straight seasons without winning a major North American title. In 1993, the country was championship central, with both the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Blue Jays winning their respective leagues. Since? Nothing.

It’s been 23 years now for the Blue Jays since they were MLB champs. They have come close over the years, but have failed to even take home an American League pennant. Playing in a division that has been one of the strongest in baseball over the past decade plus, which has housed four New York Yankees championship teams and three Boston Red Sox championship teams since 1993,  it’s been an uphill battle for the Blue Jays. Meanwhile, the Montreal Expos, title-less since their inception in 1969, were forced to relocate to Washington, D.C. in 2004 (where the drought continues to this day).

The Toronto Raptors are still seeking that elusive NBA championship. It’s been 21 years since the Raptors and Vancouver Grizzlies brought pro basketball to Canada in 1995, and neither team has been able to get it done. The Grizzlies moved to Memphis in 2000, where they too have yet to find glory. In a league that is unquestionably the most competitively unbalanced, a Raptors team with a lot of talent are still annual underdogs against the likes of the Cleveland Cavaliers and other Western Conference powerhouses.

Of course, the biggest drought-magnifier is the NHL. With seven teams competing in a 30-team league, Canada should have close to a 25% chance to win the Stanley Cup every season. Alas, no such feat has been accomplished in 23 seasons. The odds of that happening: less than 1%. The Toronto Maple Leafs are tied with the St. Louis Blues for the longest championship drought in the league at 48 years. The Vancouver Canucks, established in 1970, have never won the Cup. After Alberta went back-to-back in 1989 and 1990, the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers have not won since. The Ottawa Senators, the 1992 NHL expansion team, has also never gotten it done, and their first season, 1992-93, was the first and last time that they even saw a Canadian champ, with Montreal taking the crown. Both iterations of the Winnipeg Jets are also without a Stanley Cup and Quebec Nordiques fans sat and watched their team move to Denver and establish the Colorado Avalanche dynasty at the turn of the century.

To make matters worse, no Canadian team even qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs last year, and the Oilers have a league-high ten-year drought of even making the postseason. Canada’s NHL teams are in need of some puck luck, and the Blue Jays and Raptors will take some as well. With the two biggest drought story lines in sports now over, it’s time that North American sports fans turn to the northernmost of the two participating countries. Canada needs a championship, and they need one soon.

If there’s any consolation, the only more tortured fan base than the country of Canada is their closest neighbor to the south, Buffalo, New York. Misery loves company.

Matthew Tkachuk Stays With Flames

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The Calgary Flames have decided to keep 18 year old prospect Matthew Tkachuk in the NHL past the nine-game mark and officially burn a year off of Tkachuk’s entry level contract (ELC).

Matthew—son of former NHLer Keith Tkachuk—has amassed 1G and 3A in 9 games for the Flames and has not looked out of place so far this season. He is currently playing on a line with Michael Frolik and Mikael Backlund, reports the Calgary Herald’s Kristen Odland. While Tkachuk has averaged under 12 minutes a game, the decision to keep him foreshadows more playing time.

Tkachuk is just one of five draftees from this summer’s draft to remain with his team past the nine-game slide rule threshold. The other four are Auston Matthews, Patrik Laine, Jesse Puljujarvi, and Jakob Chychrun. The nine-game mark is important to teams—if a player plays nine games or less in the NHL then the year does not count as a year under the ELC. The ELC basically ’slides’ intact to the next year. If the player plays more than nine games in the NHL, however, then that year counts as one year of the ELC.

Pacific Notes: Flames, Nurse, Canucks, Capobianco

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One of the concerns for the Calgary Flames so far this season has been their struggles with staying out of the penalty box.  Through nine games, the team has taken 49 minor penalties and are killing penalties with a success rate of only 73.2%.  As Postmedia’s Kristen Odland notes, head coach Glen Gulutzan is beginning to bench players who commit too many unnecessary fouls.

Recently, Sam Bennett, Matthew Tkachuk, and Kris Versteeg were all sat down for a long stretch during a game after taking bad penalties, two of which came back to bite them in the form of a power play goal allowed.  In particular, Bennett has been a frequent offender as his ten penalties taken leads the entire league.  He’s already more than halfway to surpassing his penalties minute total from last season in just the first month of the season alone.

Last season, Bennett was ineligible to be assigned to the AHL as he was still of junior age.  That isn’t the case this time around which means that if his penalty troubles continue, Gulutzan could opt to send him down to send him a message.  There is precedence for him sending a young player down for that reason too as he did that back in Dallas with Antoine Roussel.  With six points through nine games, Bennett is off to a good start offensively but could be even more effective if he can stay out of the sin bin more consistently.

More from the Pacific Division:

  • Edmonton defenseman Darnell Nurse has seen his role and ice time scaled back this year and is responding with a strong start to his sophomore campaign, writes Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal. Head coach Todd McLellan acknowledged that due to injuries last season, the team gave Nurse too many tasks and have made a concerted effort to scale back on those this season.  As their top blueline prospect, McLellan also added that the team still plans to give him more responsibility over time.  Nurse has a goal and two assists through eight games so far this season while averaging 17:19 per night, down nearly three minutes per contest compared to 2015-16.
  • Vancouver wingers Alexandre Burrows (neck) and Derek Dorsett (shoulder) could be ready to play in time for their next game on Wednesday in Montreal, reports Iain MacIntyre of the Vancouver Sun. Both players have missed the last four games and are currently on injured reserve.  The Canucks sit dead last in the NHL in goals per game with just 1.78 so even though Burrows and Dorsett aren’t big offensive contributors for the team, they still might be able to give Vancouver a boost as they embark on a six game Eastern road trip.
  • The Coyotes announced that they have signed defenceman Kyle Capobianco to a three year, entry-level contract. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.  Capobianco was Arizona’s third round pick (63rd overall) back in 2015.  He’s off to a strong start with Sudbury of the OHL this season with four goals and seven assists in 12 games so far.

Columbus Sends Sonny Milano, John Ramage To AHL

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After placing John Ramage on waivers yesterday, the Columbus Blue Jackets have assigned both him and Sonny Milano to Cleveland of the AHL. Ramage cleared today, after not getting into a single game with the team this season.

Milano was Columbus’ first round selection (fourteenth overall) in 2014, and since has been an effective scoring threat in both the OHL and AHL. He broke into the NHL last season for three games, notching a single assist. After starting the year with the Monsters, he was called up a week ago but didn’t get into a game with the big club.

Ramage, a former fourth-round pick of the Flames wasn’t tendered a qualifying offer after the 2014-15 season and thus became a free agent. He signed a one-year deal with the Blue Jackets tht summer, only to be extended this past March for two more years. The 25-year old is the son of former NHLer and #1 overall pick Rob Ramage, who played over 1000 games in the NHL and collected 564 points.

Snapshots: Westpoint, Kings’ Goaltenders, Lindholm

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On tonight’s Hockey Night In Canada broadcast, the Sportsnet team revealed some interesting tidbits about stories around the league. One of which, coming on the heels of today’s hugely popular alumni game in Winnipeg (which the Jets won 6-5 on the back of Teemu Selanne’s five points and last second penalty shot goal), is that the league is considering non-conventional venues for upcoming outdoor games.

The military academy Westpoint is one of these out-of-the-box ideas, but seems to have legs. Elliotte Friedman says the league is considering it for next season. The New York Rangers would play in the game, but wouldn’t necessarily be the home team. Friedman also mentions South Bend (home of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish) as another possibility.

  • Friedman talks about the goaltending situation in Los Angeles, which got even more dire today when Jeff Zatkoff went down with a groin injury. Peter Budaj, expected to be the AHL starter this season, may get an extended chance with the big club due to the contracts or trade demands of other goaltenders around the league. The Kings have reportedly looked into Ondrej Pavelec, Steve Mason, Reto Berra, Mike Condon but haven’t found a fit. Friedman opines that Jonathan Bernier may be an option for the team, due to his familiarity with the organization and expected availability.
  • Kelly Hrudey thinks that Brian Elliott isn’t fazed by his recent struggles for the Calgary Flames. Elliott isn’t starting tonight for the Flames, but that doesn’t mean that he’s in any danger of losing the #1 job in Calgary. If anything, his poor start might just buy the Flames a few dollars in their ongoing negotiations with the netminder.
  • A final point from Friedman was on the Hampus Lindholm situation in Anaheim and the Winnipeg negotiations with Jacob Trouba. Apparently Anaheim wants Lindholm to sign for less than $5.4MM per season, while the player wants more than that. On Trouba, apparently the asking price of Kevin Cheveldayoff hasn’t dropped any even with the holdout lasting into the season. If Trouba is moved, it will be for the big return that the Jets’ GM has been looking for all summer.

Franchise Faceoff: Calgary Flames vs Montreal Canadiens

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There is a common theme among teams that miss the playoffs: weak goaltending.  That’s what is credited as the biggest contributor to the demise of the Calgary Flames and Montreal Canadiens last season. The Habs lost all-world goaltender Carey Price early enough to torpedo their chances at the post season, while the Flames have been looking for a reliable netminder since the heyday of Miikka Kiprusoff.

This summer saw a fix for both clubs as the Canadiens got their Vezina winner back from injury, and the Flames brought in two established NHL goalies in Brian Elliott and Chad Johnson. While obviously these are different paths, they’ve provided the same hope to both fan bases. A return to the playoffs is certainly possible for both, though they’re off to much different starts.

Montreal is undefeated in regulation through four games and leads the Atlantic Division with seven points, while the Flames have struggled out of the gate to a 1-3-1 record.  The season is very young however, and both teams have more success planned for their immediate future.

The Flames locked up their top two players this summer, inking Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau to long-term deals, while the Habs have youngsters Brendan Gallagher and Alex Galchenyuk looking like stars in their own right.  Both franchises have questions on their blueline past their big #1’s (Mark Giordano and Shea Weber), but have intriguing young players filling the holes.

[Calgary Flames Depth Chart vs Montreal Canadiens Depth Chart]

On Monday we asked who would you rather have, the Oilers or Maple Leafs roster and it was remarkably close after almost 500 votes were cast. This week we’ll ask the same of two other teams north of the border.

If you were buying a roster (not all the franchise perks that go with it) to build a championship team, which would you take?

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