- The Detroit Red Wings have had themselves an up-and-down start to the season, currently holding a record of 7-4-3. While many had high hopes for the team after a busy offseason, their record through 14 games may be better than it seems given the team’s difficult injury issues early on. In fact, some of those injury woes may be resolving themselves shortly, says Michigan Live’s Answer Kahn. As Kahn writes, rookie forward Elmer Soderblom, who missed Thursday’s game against the New York Rangers, is still considered day-to-day. Defenseman Jake Walman, who had shoulder surgery this offseason, is expected to return to the lineup and make his season debut at some point during Detroit’s four game road trip, which begins tonight in Los Angeles against the Kings and concludes a week from tonight against the Blue Jackets in Columbus. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, forward Tyler Bertuzzi, who suffered a broken hand just two games into the season, is expected to return Tuesday night against the Anaheim Ducks.
- New York Rangers forward Vitali Kravtsov will not play tonight when the Rangers take on the Predators in Nashville. The forward is dealing with a stomach bug, reports Mollie Walker of the New York Post. Kravtsov, 22, has just one point in six games so far in his return to North America.
Rangers Rumors
Filip Chytil Nearing Return
- New York Rangers center Filip Chytil expects to play in the team’s game tomorrow afternoon against the Red Wings. While Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant did not confirm that Chytil would be in the lineup, the forward did tell USA Today Sports’ Vince Mercogliano that he feels 100%. Still, Gallant is hopeful he can play Sunday. Chytil, who hasn’t played since October 23rd, was believed to be dealing with a concussion, said Larry Brooks of the New York Post. The 23-year-old had three points in six games prior to the injury.
Conditioning Stint Might Be Best For Kravtsov Once Cleared To Return
- Going to the AHL has been a point of contention for Rangers winger Vitali Kravtsov in the past. However, Larry Brooks of the New York Post suggests that he should give some consideration to doing so if New York approaches him about a conditioning stint once he’s cleared to return from his current upper-body injury. This season has seen multiple stops and starts already which is hardly ideal for a young player that’s trying to get reacclimated to playing in North America. A conditioning stint – which can last for up to two weeks and would not require waivers – would give him a chance to ease into a few games which would be preferable for New York but the 22-year-old would have to agree to go down there.
New York Rangers Agree To Terms With Ben Harpur; Place On Waivers
10/28/22: As reported by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, Harpur has cleared waivers. He will now be able to remain with the Hartford Wolf Pack in the AHL.
10/27/22: The New York Rangers are adding a little defensive depth, agreeing to terms with Ben Harpur after his solid showing in the minor leagues. Harpur had been playing with the Hartford Wolf Pack on a PTO but will convert that into a one-year NHL contract. PuckPedia reports that it is a two-way contract worth $750K at the NHL level and $300K in the AHL. The team has placed him on waivers, a necessary step for him to stay in the AHL.
Harpur, 27, has 156 games of NHL experience, plus a handful of matches in the postseason over his career so far. The 6’6″ defenseman suited up 19 times last season for the Nashville Predators, registering one assist and 27 penalty minutes. He won’t offer much offense – in fact, he has just a single NHL goal to his name – but is a big body who can defend well enough to hold his own on a third pair.
The Rangers don’t necessarily need that right now, but there wasn’t much experience in the system to call up if they deal with injuries. Harpur will represent a body that can bounce between the NHL and AHL without any concern for his development.
A deal like this could have potentially happened in Columbus, where he spent training camp on a PTO, but Harpur suffered an injury and missed a good chunk of the action. He’s found a spot now, though, and will just add some extra depth to the Rangers organization for the long season ahead.
Vitali Kravtsov Listed As Day-To-Day
- When the Rangers recalled winger Julien Gauthier earlier today, it was expected that he’d take the place of either Mika Zibanejad or Vitali Kravtsov who were banged up last night against Colorado. It turns out that he’s taking the case of the latter as Larry Brooks of the New York Post relays (Twitter link) that the winger has been listed as day-to-day with what’s believed to be an upper-body injury. Kravtsov has had a very quiet return to the NHL so far having only played in three games while logging just under eight minutes per game. He’s waiver-eligible now so they will likely be patient with him to give him a chance to play himself into a regular role once he’s cleared to return.
New York Rangers Recall Julien Gauthier
The New York Rangers will be headed out on the road for the next three games, and have called up an extra forward for the trip, recalling Julien Gauthier. With Filip Chytil out for a little while, the team had just 12 healthy forwards on the active roster so have added another one for the time being.
There were also concerns about Mika Zibanejad and Vitali Kravtsov, who both looked to have suffered minor injuries during last night’s game, though neither one has been addressed by the team. The Rangers will start their trip with a visit to Belmont Park to face the New York Islanders, before heading to Dallas and Arizona on the weekend.
Gauthier, 25, has scored twice in four games with the Hartford Wolf Pack this season after clearing waivers earlier this month, and appears to have lost all of the prospect shine he once had. The big, fast winger has shown flashes of brilliance over the years but lacks any kind of offensive consistency needed to become a top-nine regular in the NHL. In 49 games last season with the Rangers he scored just three goals and seven points, and it’s hard to see him becoming an impact player with them at this point.
Still, he is a nice depth piece to bring up for injury insurance as the team tries to right the ship. After a strong start, the Rangers have lost three in a row including a 5-1 defeat against the Columbus Blue Jackets, a divisional opponent.
Filip Chytil To Miss At Least A Week
The New York Rangers will be without one of their young forwards for the next little while, telling reporters including Mollie Walker of the New York Post that Filip Chytil will be out for at least a week. While they called it an upper-body injury, Larry Brooks of the New York Post tweets that it is believed to be a concussion keeping Chytil off the ice.
- Justin Danforth is out indefinitely with an upper-body injury, though there is also no clarification on his timeline. The Blue Jackets forward left Saturday’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins and missed yesterday’s tilt against the Rangers. The 29-year-old had two goals and three points in his first five games, even playing a whopping 20:23 in the second game of the year.
2008 NHL Draft Take Two: Twentieth Overall Pick
Hindsight is an amazing thing, and allows us to look back and wonder “what could have been.” Though perfection is attempted, scouting and draft selection is far from an exact science, and sometimes, it doesn’t work out the way teams – or players – intended. For every Patrick Kane, there is a Patrik Stefan.
We’re looking back at the 2008 NHL Entry Draft and asking how it would shake out knowing what we do now. Will the first round remain the same, or will some late-round picks jump up to the top of the board?
The results of our redraft so far are as follows with their original draft position in parentheses:
1st Overall: Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning (1)
2nd Overall: Drew Doughty, Los Angeles Kings (2)
3rd Overall: Roman Josi, Atlanta Thrashers (38)
4th Overall: Alex Pietrangelo, St. Louis Blues (4)
5th Overall: Erik Karlsson, Toronto Maple Leafs (15)
6th Overall: John Carlson, Columbus Blue Jackets (27)
7th Overall: Jacob Markstrom, Nashville Predators (31)
8th Overall: Braden Holtby, Phoenix Coyotes (93)
9th Overall: Jordan Eberle, New York Islanders (22)
10th Overall: Jared Spurgeon, Vancouver Canucks (156)
11th Overall: Cam Atkinson, Chicago Blackhawks (157)
12th Overall: T.J. Brodie, Buffalo Sabres (114)
13th Overall: Josh Bailey, Los Angeles Kings (9)
14th Overall: Adam Henrique, Carolina Hurricanes (82)
15th Overall: Tyler Myers, Ottawa Senators (12)
16th Overall: Gustav Nyquist, Boston Bruins (121)
17th Overall: Derek Stepan, Anaheim Ducks (51)
18th Overall: Jake Allen, Nashville Predators (34)
19th Overall: Jake Gardiner, Philadelphia Flyers (17)
Sliding two spots from the real 2008 NHL draft is defenseman Jake Gardiner. Originally the 17th overall selection by the Anaheim Ducks, Gardiner now goes 19th overall, this time to the Philadelphia Flyers, who had selected defenseman Luca Sbisa with that choice back in 2008.
Interestingly, between Gardiner and Sbisa, only one of them even played games with the team that drafted him, Sbisa getting into 39 games for the Flyers the year after being drafted. Both players were used to help their respective teams make an immediate upgrade on the blueline. The Flyers used Sbisa to help them acquire Chris Pronger from the Ducks, and a few years later the Ducks would use Gardiner to help them acquire Francois Beauchemin from the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Regardless of which player they chose, or whether they would have elected to keep him around, the Flyers would get good value out of the pick with Sbisa or Gardiner. Sbisa wound up having a lengthy career as a stable, physical shutdown defenseman while Gardiner has had a lengthy career as a tremendous puck-mover on the back-end. Gardiner’s career might seem a bit more enticing given his strong point totals in his prime, but he has dealt with multiple injuries that have forced him to miss most of 2020-21, all of 2021-22, and thus far, all of 2022-23. All of that considered, finding an everyday NHL defenseman at 19th overall is something many executives and scouts around the league would be rather happy with.
Now, we move on to the 20th overall pick, which belonged to the New York Rangers. In 2008, the Rangers used that pick to take Michael Del Zotto, a slick two-way defenseman from the Oshawa Generals. After taking Del Zotto, the Rangers sent him back for one more season in the OHL, which he split between Oshawa and the London Knights. Del Zotto would debut for New York in 2009-10, immediately jumping into a full-time role on their blueline, making a splash his rookie season with 37 points. However, he took a step back in his sophomore season, playing in just 47 games while spending some time in the AHL too.
The defenseman would rebound for 2011-12, scoring 10 goals to go with 31 assists in 77 games and it seemed as if the Rangers had a star on their hands. However, Del Zotto wasn’t able to replicate that production and was eventually dealt to the Nashville Predators part-way through 2013-14 for fellow defenseman Kevin Klein. That offseason, Del Zotto signed with the Philadelphia Flyers where again his production would jump up, putting up 32 points in 64 games, but once again, he couldn’t maintain.
Del Zotto then became something of a journeyman after his three-year stint with Philadelphia, spending time with Vancouver, Anaheim, St. Luis, Columbus, and most recently, Ottawa in 2021-22, where he had his first AHL time since that trip back in 2010-11. Prior to this season, the Florida Panthers signed Del Zotto to a one-year, two-way contract; to date, he’s played two games with the Charlotte Checkers, Florida’s AHL affiliate.
Much like Sbisa and Gardiner above, Del Zotto has had a lengthy career complete with several very strong seasons, but has never hit the elite level the Rangers might have envisioned when they selected him. Now with the benefit of hindsight, who should the Rangers select 20th overall in our redraft? There are plenty of solid defensemen available, including Del Zotto as well as the likes of Travis Hamonic, Marco Scandella, and Zach Bogosian, offense-first forwards like Mikkel Boedker and Tyler Ennis, or some good-old-fashioned grit with Matt Martin and Matt Calvert, and many more to choose from.
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Filip Chytil Leaves Game With Upper-Body Injury
- The New York Rangers and Columbus Blue Jackets will each have to finish their game shorthanded this evening. For the Rangers, center Filip Chytil left the game with an upper-body injury and will not return, says The Athletic’s Arthur Staple. Chytil had been tripped up earlier in the game, crashing hard to the ice and slow to get up, presumably the cause of the injury.
Colorado Avalanche Claim Dryden Hunt; Phil Di Giuseppe Clears
After losing Lukas Sedlak to waivers earlier this week, the Colorado Avalanche have made a claim of their own. Dryden Hunt will be heading to Denver, claimed away from the New York Rangers. Phil Di Giuseppe, who was also on waivers, has cleared and can be assigned to the minor leagues.
Colorado hasn’t been happy with the makeup of their fourth line, so had been making tweaks in recent days. It appeared as though head coach Jared Bednar still didn’t love the group last night, playing Anton Blidh and Jayson Megna for barely over six minutes in an overtime loss to the Winnipeg Jets. Claiming Hunt gives the team another option for the bottom-six, and likely will result in the assignment of one of the two recently-recalled forwards.
Now 26, Hunt has played in 168 regular season games in his NHL career, and appeared to have solidified his role with the Rangers last season when he put up 17 points in 76 appearances. That came along with 153 hits, a number that trailed only Ryan Reaves among New York forwards.
In Colorado, he’ll get a chance to establish himself as a full-time player once again, and help fill some of the depth issues the club has experienced so far. One of the most impressive groups in the NHL last season, the Avalanche have relied almost exclusively on their top four forwards to start the year. Mikko Rantanen, Valeri Nichushkin, Nathan MacKinnon, and Artturi Lehkonen are off to solid starts but beyond that, the rest of the group up front hasn’t been effective enough. Alex Newhook, Evan Rodrigues, and Logan O’Connor are all scoreless through the first four games, while J.T. Compher has just a single assist.
While Hunt isn’t expected to be much of an offensive presence, it does seem to be a great opportunity for him to bring his physicality and energy to a group still trying to find its identity early on.