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Brandon Sutter

Injury Notes: Koivu, Wilson, Tanev

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Mikko Koivu’s season is over and it’s already had a massive impact on his team. However, the Minnesota Wild captain wants everyone to know that next year is not in doubt. The Associate Press report on Koivu’s major knee injury was actually overwhelmingly positive. Less than a week after reconstructive surgery to repair a torn ACL, Koivu said the following yesterday about his potential return for 2019-20 training camp:

 I’m totally confident… I think it’s about your effort, the way you take care of yourself on and off the ice, and at the end, it’s going to be a battle. But if you’re strong enough, you’re going to be able to do it… It’s a fact that this knee will be stronger than I’ve ever experienced. The rest of it is up to me.

The typical recovery time for this injury is six to nine months and especially for a soon-to-be-36-year-old, the latter end of that timeline seems more likely. However, Koivu has never given anyone a reason to doubt his dedication and work ethic, so his own optimism means a lot. Some thought that this could be a career-ending injury for the respected veteran; he merely sees it as a minor setback.

  • The Colorado Avalanche have all but confirmed that they won’t be major buyers at the trade deadline, but they might have a hard time being sellers too. The young team is not looking to move their long-term investments nor the players needed to win down the stretch and few good other rental options exist on the roster. The one player that does stand out as a valuable rental target is forward Colin Wilson, who has redeemed himself this season after an abysmal first year in Colorado. Wilson is a versatile, veteran forward who can be a major boost to a contender’s bottom-six. However, he’s also now on the injured reserve. CapFriendly reports that Wilson has been moved to the IR by the Avs with an undisclosed upper-body injury. The requisite ten days on the IR will give Wilson at most two games to show that he is healthy, if he is even ready to play by then. This could make it hard to the Avalanche to shop their most prized impending free agent.
  • The injuries continue to pile on for the Vancouver Canucks, as Chris Tanev has also joined the injured reserve. While the Canucks were happy to get starting goalie Jacob Markstrom back last night, Tanev is the latest in a long list of injuries, including Sven Baertschi, Alexander Edler, Thatcher Demko, Brandon Sutter, and Jake Virtanen. Of that group, only Virtanen has managed to stay off the IR.

Pacific Notes: Sutter, Valimaki, Stone, Hagelin

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The Canucks are expected to get center Brandon Sutter back this week, reports TSN 1040’s Jeff Paterson (Twitter link).  He has been out of the lineup since suffering a separated shoulder back in October and will give Vancouver some extra depth down the middle as well as some help at the faceoff dot as he has averaged better than 50% on the draw in each of the last four seasons.

However, the Canucks have a full roster at the moment and their two waiver-exempt forwards (Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser) clearly aren’t going anywhere.  With that in mind, they will need to make a roster move (likely a trade or a waiver placement) in the very near future in order to be able to activate Sutter.  Vancouver begins a two games in two nights stint on Wednesday in Ottawa.

More from the Pacific:

  • In an appearance on Sportsnet 960 (audio link), Calgary GM Brad Treliving indicated that the Flames will be without defensemen Juuso Valimaki and Michael Stone for a while yet. Valimaki has been out since late November with a high ankle sprain and the rookie is targeting the end of the month as a timeline for his return.  Meanwhile, there remains no timetable for Stone’s return to the lineup from the blood clot that has caused him to miss the last 18 games and counting.
  • Kings winger Carl Hagelin is about a week away from returning to the lineup, notes Robert Morales of the Los Angeles Daily News.  He has only suited up in five games since being acquired from the Penguins in mid-November due to an MCL sprain.  While Los Angeles has an open roster spot to put him on the roster, they will still need to free up some salary cap space in order to activate him off LTIR.  The pending UFA has just a goal and four assists in 21 games this season but his speed will make him an intriguing asset to a playoff team looking to add some depth between now and the trade deadline.

What Your Team Is Thankful For: Vancouver Canucks

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With the holiday season now here, PHR continues its look at what teams are thankful for as the season heads towards the midway mark. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. Let’s take a look at what’s gone well in the early going and what could improve as the season rolls on for the Vancouver Canucks.  Click here for the other articles in this series. 

What are the Canucks most thankful for?

Many people had the Vancouver Canucks listed to be among the two worst teams in the NHL this season after an offseason that saw stars Henrik Sedin and Daniel Sedin both retire, leaving the team with a nucleus of young players. While some of those players like Bo Horvat and Brock Boeser were expected to lead a new wave of talent, few expected Vancouver to be a competitive team this season as many felt the franchise had a chance to compete for the No. 1 overall pick this season.

Halfway through the season and Vancouver is far from one of the worst teams in the league. In fact, the Canucks are actually one point away from a wild card spot as the team carries a 19-18-4 record for 42 points, just a point behind the Dallas Stars. While it’s a long season and much can change, the Canucks have shown the ability to play well as a young group with a sprinkling of veterans throughout their lineup.

Who are the Canucks most thankful for?

While Boeser looked like the star of the future and continues to put up solid numbers, the team got the star power they needed, much quicker than they expected as Elias Pettersson has dominated in his rookie campaign and looks like an obvious choice as a Calder Trophy candidate, barring injury of course. The 20-year-old had an impressive season in the SHL last season, breaking numerous records and while the team had planned to ease the rookie into their lineup, Pettersson has had other plans. He has 19 goals and 39 points in 35 games, good enough for a point per game production and looks to be the face of this franchise for many years.

What would the Canucks be even more thankful for?

While the team has had quite a bit of success from a number of young players, including Nikolay Goldobin, Jake Virtanen and recent addition Josh Leivo, several of their veteran players have been hampered by injuries and have seen little action this season, including Sven Baertschi, Jay Beagle and Brandon Sutter. Baertschi finally returned to the lineup Saturday after being out since Oct. 24 with a concussion. Beagle missed almost two months of the beginning of the season and is only now earning solid minutes after the team handed out a four-year, $12MM deal to him this summer. Sutter has yet to return to the team after suffering an upper-body injury in October. Combined the three players have played a total of 41 games combined. If the team can get some consistency from those veterans, that should only help the team fight for a potential playoff spot.

What should be on the Canucks’ Holiday Wish List?

The team needs defense and are salivating while watching the World Junior Championships as defenseman Quinn Hughes, the team’s first-round pick (sixth-overall) in the 2018 draft has dominated and looks to be ready to join the Canucks immediately after his season at the University of Michigan ends. Scouts say that Hughes should make an immediate impact once he arrives and with the struggles of former top defensive prospect Olli Juolevi up in the air (he’s out for the season after undergoing knee surgery), Hughes should be able to walk in and take over quarterbacking the power play and providing some offense from the blueline, something that Vancouver has struggled to do the last couple of years.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Minor Transactions: 10/30/18

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After a quiet Monday night in the NHL we’ve got 11 games on tap for tonight, including the Vegas Golden Knights visiting Nashville and Connor McDavid trying to continue the Oilers winning ways against Minnesota. As always, we’ll be here to keep track of all the minor moves around the league:

  • According to Rick Dhaliwal of Sportsnet, the Vancouver Canucks will be recalling Darren Archibald from the minor leagues. Though superstar rookie Elias Pettersson returned with a bang, the Canucks lost Brandon Sutter to injury last night and needed another forward to fill out the roster. Sutter will be out “weeks” with an upper-body injury, giving Archibald another chance at the NHL. Brendan Gaunce is also on his way up for the Canucks according to Patrick Johnston of the Vancouver Sun.
  • Torey Krug has been activated from injured reserve and will be back in the Boston Bruins lineup tonight, while Urho Vaakanainen has been swapped to take his place on the shelf. The latter suffered a concussion when hit in the head with a Mark Borowiecki elbow, and is still out indefinitely. Krug meanwhile hasn’t played at all this season and will offer the Bruins some much needed experience and puck-moving ability on the back end.
  • Eric Gryba has been sent back to the minor leagues by the New Jersey Devils, as they activate Ben Lovejoy from injured reserve. Gryba can go straight to the minors since he cleared waivers earlier this month, and played only two games on his recent call-up. Lovejoy’s return comes after a near two week absence following a lower-body injury suffered on October 18th.
  • Sven Andrighetto has ended up on injured reserve for the Colorado Avalanche, giving them cause to recall Sheldon Dries and A.J. Greer from the minor leagues. Andrighetto suffered a lower-body injury just a few games after his most recent return from injury, and will now spend even more time on the sidelines watching the Avalanche compete for a playoff spot.

Vancouver Canucks Won’t Name Captain To Start Year

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The Vancouver Canucks have announced their leadership group for the 2018-19 season, and it does not include the next captain in franchise history. Bo Horvat, Alexander Edler, Brandon Sutter and Chris Tanev will all wear an “A” as alternate captains this season, making up for the loss of Henrik and Daniel Sedin as the unquestioned leaders of the group. Head coach Travis Green released a statement about the decision:

Alex Edler, Bo Horvat, Brandon Sutter and Chris Tanev form our leadership group as alternate captains, supported by a wider group of veteran players. Our team culture will be built from leadership by committee. It will be a big part of our process and our identity each and every game.

There are several teams around the league that will operate this season without a captain, and the Canucks faced no rush to name one for this upcoming season. Though many believe that Horvat will eventually take on the role given his natural leadership abilities, heaping that responsibility onto his shoulders before a season where he will be asked to bear a huge load might have been too much to ask. Without Sedin in the mix, Horvat will be the unquestioned number one center on the Canucks and is a key part of an evolving offense that has both extremely talented young players and a lot of question marks in their top group.

Edler’s name is interestingly listed first in the release, despite him only being under contract for the upcoming season. Scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2019, there hasn’t been much reporting over whether he’ll sign an extension with the team or be used as trade bait later on during the year. He and Tanev both are potential trade chips that the team could flip to add more assets in the age range of the core of the roster, but will serve as the experienced voices in the room for the time being.

Pacific Notes: Sutter, Karlsson, Talbot, Stone, McPhee

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Much of the attention that has come towards the Vancouver Canucks this offseason either fell to their plethora of prospects, many of which seem to be ready to contribute next season, or their highly criticized signings of Jay Beagle, Antoine Roussel and Tim Schaller on the first day of free agency (not including the resignation of Trevor Linden). Regardless, The Athletic’s J.D. Burke (subscription required) writes that forgotten man Brandon Sutter’s stock is definitely heading up this season.

The 29-year-old forward has provided the Canucks with a physical and defensive presence, but hasn’t been required to show his offensive skills. Suddenly, with scoring becoming a great team need and the addition of players like Beagle, Roussel and Schaller, the opportunity to play a more offensive role is suddenly in front of him.

One suggestion is to have Sutter center the team’s second line with Elias Pettersson playing next to him to start the season. Then once, Pettersson has adjusted to North American play, allow the two to switch places.

  • After signing a one-year deal for $5.25MM this morning, Vegas Golden Knights center William Karlsson remained positive about staying in Las Vegas long-term, according to Jesse Granger of the Las Vegas Sun. He hopes he can duplicate the 43-goal season from last year, which should hand him the long-term deal he wants when he goes through restricted free agency again next season. “In an ideal world I would’ve liked a long term deal, but I like to bet on myself and that’s what this is. Now I can go prove myself,” Karlsson said.
  • The Edmonton Sun’s Robert Tychkowski interviewed Edmonton Oilers goaltender Cam Talbot about the team’s signing of Mikko Koskinen to a one-year, $2.5MM deal. Koskinen is likely to take a much bigger role than the 15 games that Talbot didn’t play in. That signing likely had something to do with Talbot’s on-ice struggles as he went from a 2.39 GAA and a .919 save percentage in 2016-17 to a 3.02 GAA and a .909 save percentage. However, Talbot welcomes the challenge. “I like the competition,” Talbot said. “I enjoy it. It pushes everyone to be better. Maybe it will take a little bit of the starts away from me and I can be at the top of my game.”
  • The Athletic’s Kent Wilson (subscription required) writes that the Calgary Flames made a poor move last offseason when they signed defenseman Michael Stone to a three-year, $10.5MM deal. The veteran defenseman was thought to be a top-four defenseman, but once the team added Travis Hamonic via trade, Stone was sent to the team’s third pairing and truly struggled last year. Now, with $7MM remaining on his deal over the next two years, Stone stands in the way of multiple young defenseman, including Rasmus Andersson. With little trade value, things could get ugly at some point in the next year.
  • In another tweet, Granger interviewed Vegas Golden Knights general manager George McPhee about the talent at the forward position. The team added center Paul Stastny, but lost two quality players in James Neal and David Perron. Despite the losses, the team has several in-house candidates like Alex Tuch and Tomas Tatar ready to step up. “I like where we are, but if there’s an opportunity to upgrade at the forward position at any time over the next year we will,” McPhee said.

Blue Jackets’ Ian Cole Fined For Dangerous Trip

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The Department of Player Safety announced they have fined Columbus Blue Jackets’ defenseman Ian Cole $5,000, the maximum allowed by the CBA, for a dangerous trip on Vancouver’s Brandon Sutter on Saturday between the two teams.

The 29-year-old blueliner was given a two-minute minor for the incident. Cole was suspended for three games back in 2012 for an illegal hit to the head.

Cole was acquired at the trade deadline from the Ottawa Senators after they picked him up from the Pittsburgh Penguins days before. He has fit in nicely to the team’s lineup, but while there are rumors that Columbus has been discussing an extension, there is concern that the Blue Jackets might not be able to afford his pricetag as he will be an unrestricted free agent this summer. He has five goals and 15 assists this season.

 

Injury Updates: Canucks, Zibanejad, Capitals

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Vancouver hasn’t had much luck with the injury bug as of late with Bo Horvat and Sven Baertschi, two-thirds of their top line, going down recently.  The bad news continued Friday as the Canucks announced (Twitter link) that defenseman Chris Tanev will be out two-to-three weeks as a result of a groin strain.  That is undoubtedly a big blow to their back end as he logs nearly 21 minutes per game of ice time while playing a shutdown role.  Alex Biega will likely draw into the lineup as his replacement but he hasn’t seen any action in more than three weeks.

Canucks head coach Travis Green also provided further updates on a couple of players.  Center Brandon Sutter is still seven-to-ten days away from returning from his upper-body injury while blueliner Erik Gudbranson is the closest to returning; he has been out with an upper-body issue of his own since November 22nd.

Other injury notes from around the NHL:

  • Mika Zibanejad’s return to the lineup will have to wait a little while longer. The Rangers have ruled him out of their next two games, reports NHL.com’s Adam Kimelman via Twitter.  The plan is for the center to practice on Monday and then the team will re-evaluate his status from there.  Zibanejad last played on November 26th and has been dealing with concussion-like symptoms since then but he still sits third in team scoring with 22 points in 24 games.
  • Capitals winger T.J. Oshie took part in a partial practice today but will not suit up tomorrow night against Anaheim, reports Callie Caplan of the Washington Post. As a result, he’ll miss his sixth straight game.  From the same report, defenseman Brooks Orpik is dealing with an upper-body issue.  He’s set to be re-evaluated tomorrow but it seems likely that he will also miss Saturday’s contest.  Washington doesn’t have enough salary cap space to call anyone up but they have one extra defender on their roster so they still should be able to ice a full lineup.

Injury Notes: Baertschi, Byfuglien, Ducks

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The Vancouver Canucks were dealt another blow today when it was announced that Sven Baertschi will miss four to six weeks with a broken jaw. The young forward won’t need surgery, but it is still a huge chunk of the season to miss right as the Canucks are trying to prove they’re more than just a hot start.

The team is already without Bo Horvat for some time, and are still trying to get Brandon Sutter back into the lineup. While Brock Boeser does his best to keep the offense moving, other players will need to step up both at even-strength and on the powerplay.

Injury Notes: Bruins, Rakell, Weber, Wennberg, Sutter

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The Boston Bruins injury list keeps growing as the team is dealing with injuries to Brad Marchand, Anders Bjork, Ryan Spooner and Peter Cehlarik. However, the one good piece of news is that forward David Backes, who underwent surgery to have a piece of his colon removed on Nov. 1, has already been cleared for contact in practice, according to NBC Sports Joe Haggerty.

Originally estimated to be out for eight weeks, putting the timetable to early January, Backes has already been skating with the Bruins for a week and could be returning sooner than expected.

The other news isn’t as good, according to Haggerty, who says that Marchand will miss today’s game against the Edmonton Oilers and was still sporting a non-contact sweater in practice Saturday. Bjork is expected to miss another week with an upper-body injury, while neither Spooner or Cehalrik practiced Saturday. The scribe says only Spooner has a chance to play today.

  • Eric Stephens of the Orange County Register tweets that Anaheim Ducks center Rickard Rakell, who didn’t play in Saturday’s game against the Los Angeles Kings due to an upper-body injury, won’t travel with the team starts their road trip. Stephens adds that coach Randy Carlyle was vague about when Rakell would return to the team.
  • Montreal Canadiens defenseman Shea Weber, who has missed the past three games lower-body injury, missed practice today, according to the Montreal Gazette’s Stu Cowan. Instead, the veteran defenseman opted for therapy. He remains day-to-day as Montreal hosts Columbus on Monday.
  • Cowan also reports that defenseman David Schlemko, who is on a condidtioning stint with the Laval Rocket of the AHL, was practicing with the Canadiens today, suggesting a return could be near.
  • Columbus Blue Jackets center Alexander Wennberg, who has been out with an upper-body injury since Nov. 11, participated in practice fully today and is expected to travel with the team for Monday’s game against the Montreal Canadiens, according to The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline.
  • Vancouver Canucks center Brandon Sutter, who is expected to miss today’s game against the New York Rangers, is more than just “day-to-day,” according to Canucks head coach Travis Green. The coach adds that it’s nothing too serious, but in his place Alexander Burmistrov will fill in for him while he is out.
  • Dallas Morning News’ Mike Heika reports that defenseman Stephen Johns, who was suffered an upper-body injury in Friday’s game against the Calgary Flames, skated today and is expected to be ready for Tuesday’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights.

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