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Curtis McElhinney

Metro Notes: Ho-Sang, Aho, Goalies

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The selection of Josh Ho-Sang in 2014 hasn’t worked out very well for the New York Islanders. The 28th-overall pick has played in just 43 games in the NHL, and failed to make the Islanders out of camp once again. Now, in a new piece from Brett Cyrgalis of the New York Post, Ho-Sang doesn’t believe he even had much of a chance. Detailing how he rarely played in the preseason and was quickly cut, Ho-Sang also doesn’t feel as though he’s getting a very good opportunity in the minor leagues with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.

This isn’t the first time the talented forward has spoken out about his treatment in the Islanders organization, as just last March he pointed out that they wanted him to work on his defensive game while the NHL team was giving up the most goals in the league. The 22-year old has just four assists and zero goals in his first nine games with the Sound Tigers this year, and might be getting close to the point of needing a fresh start in a different organization. There’s no indication that the Islanders are looking to trade him, but there is obviously a frustration between the two sides.

  • You won’t find that kind of divide between the Carolina Hurricanes and their own talented young forward, as Sebastian Aho is very happy to explore long-term deals with the club. Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News & Observer details the latest in contract negotiations, noting that both sides are looking for a long-term contract extension and believe it will get done before the end of the year. The two sides are relatively close in terms of salary, but are just working out where exactly the talented youngster will land among his contemporaries. Aho is off to an excellent start with 16 points in his first 11 games, and could easily surpass his career-high of 65 set last season. The 21-year old is in the final year of his entry-level contract, and looks like a budding superstar after making the move to center this season.
  • Meanwhile, Carolina also has some tough decisions to make when it comes to their current roster. The team still has three goaltenders with them after activating Scott Darling from injured reserve, and are obviously loath to lose one on waivers. Curtis McElhinney and Petr Mrazek have not been very good this season despite the Hurricanes strong start, but it’s not obvious which of the three goaltenders would provide the least value at the NHL level. For now, they’ll work with three on the roster according to Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic, at least for their upcoming road trip.

Darling, Neuvirth Complete Conditioning Stints

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The Philadelphia Flyers and Carolina Hurricanes were in similar situations earlier this month when they claimed Calvin Pickard and Curtis McElhinney off waivers from the Toronto Maple Leafs. Both had an NHL goaltender—Michal Neuvirth and Scott Darling respectively—injured, and were looking for short-term help without giving up an asset or rushing a prospect. Now both are in the same situation again, as Neuvirth and Darling are ready to return.

The Hurricanes announced today that Darling has been recalled from his conditioning stint with the Charlotte Checkers, while Neuvirth told reporters including Tony Androckitis of Inside AHL Hockey that he would re-join the Flyers in Boston after playing for the Lehigh Valley Pchantoms last night. The question now for both teams is what happens to that extra goaltender that they claimed earlier in the year.

For the Flyers, it’s likely a simple decision of putting Pickard back on waivers. The team is unlikely to carry three goaltenders for any substantial length of time, and don’t seem ready to rid themselves of starter Brian Elliott just yet, despite his slow start. Elliott has just a .882 save percentage through the early going, and has allowed 24 goals through seven games. Pickard meanwhile has performed even worse with an .833 through his three appearances.

In Carolina, things aren’t nearly as clear. Though McElhinney hasn’t performed nearly as well as he did for the Maple Leafs or even Columbus Blue Jackets, he could potentially be a better option this season than what Petr Mrazek has shown so far. This is the third straight season that the former Detroit Red Wings goaltender has performed poorly, and is providing little value to the Hurricanes for his $1.5MM salary. That contract would also likely keep him from being claimed, something that certainly couldn’t be said for McElhinney.

In fact for both Pickard and McEllhinney, getting through waivers is an unlikely scenario. The Maple Leafs were left with very little goaltending depth after losing both, and then saw third-string netminder Kasimir Kaskisuo go down to injury in the minor leagues. That left them with Eamon McAdam getting an emergency call-up from the ECHL when Frederik Andersen tweaked his knee, something that the team will want to avoid going forward. If the Maple Leafs are the only team to put in a claim on Pickard or McElhinney, they could assign either goaltender directly to the minor leagues and keep them in the system without having to use a roster spot. It’s hard to imagine they wouldn’t try that for at least one of the two if they’re placed on waivers today or tomorrow.

Scott Darling Activated, Sent To AHL On Conditioning Loan

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The Carolina Hurricanes are going to have to make a goaltending decision before long, as Scott Darling is almost ready to return to the net. The team activated the injured goaltender today and sent him to the minor leagues on a conditioning stint. Darling will start for the Charlotte Checkers on Wednesday evening, but could force the NHL team to waive either Curtis McElhinney or Petr Mrazek before long, unless they’re planning on carrying three goaltenders.

Even though Darling hasn’t been good since joining the Hurricanes before last season, the team still has quite a bit invested in him. Signed to a four-year, $16.6MM contract in the spring of 2017, he’s making $4.75MM this season in the second year of the deal. While that doesn’t put him in the upper echelon of goaltenders around the league, it does make him an expensive asset for a team like Carolina who usually sit near the bottom of the league in salary commitments. Add in that McElhinney and Mrazek are earning less than $2.5MM combined this season and it’s obvious where the Hurricanes need to get some production from.

It’s still not clear if they’ll get that production though, as even with his good preseason Darling is still far from proven in the NHL with the club. Last season saw him register an .888 save percentage through 43 games, putting him among the worst goaltenders in the league. Luckily for him, Mrazek and McElhinney haven’t been much better since arriving in Carolina. Though the latter has a 3-1 record, it’s more thanks to a solid team in front of him than his individual performance in net.

In fact, the offense in Carolina has been excellent this season with 26 goals through their first eight games. A competent goaltender could push them into the more impressive teams in the Eastern Conference, given their solid defensive foundation and exciting young forward group. If Darling can revert to the goaltender he was in Chicago, where he posted a .923 save percentage through 75 games, they would certainly become serious playoff contender in the Metropolitan Division. Without improved play in the net though, Carolina will have a tough time fending off the rest of a group that includes teams like Washington and Pittsburgh.

Remember that if the Hurricanes decide to place McElhinney on waivers, the Toronto Maple Leafs would get a chance to reclaim him. If the Maple Leafs were to the only team to put in a bid, they could send him right to the minor leagues—an outcome that they could desperately use, given their razor thin depth in net. Mrazek meanwhile would likely clear given his $1.5MM salary, but would then be an expensive asset to sit in the minor leagues. The fact that Anton Forsberg is on waivers today may actually be beneficial to the Hurricanes, given that he could be snapped up by a goaltender-hungry team before they have to make a decision.

Metropolitan Notes: Wang, Darling, Jones

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The New York Islanders suffered a loss today as former owner Charles B. Wang passed away Sunday at the age of 74, according to Newsday’s David Schwartz. Wang, best known for keeping the Islanders in the New York area, bought the Islanders in 2000 when the team was in an uncertain future with the idea of bringing the franchise back into a top-class organization.

“We are heartbroken by the news of Charles Wang’s passing. New York Islanders’s co-owners Dewey Shay, Scott Malkin and I were privileged to be selected by Charles to be his partners in the team. Charles loved the Islanders unconditionally. The arena at Belmont Park will be just one of his many legacies left to the team and to Long Island. His unique personality, his wonderful sense of humor and his extraordinary wisdom will be greatly missed,” said Islanders co-owner Jon Ledecky.

Wang served as majority owner until 2016 before becoming a minority co-owner. He is survived by his wife and three children. We at Pro Hockey Rumors offer our condolences to the family.

  • NHL.com’s Michael Smith writes Carolina Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour said that goaltender Scott Darling, who has been injured since the preseason, is expected to make a rehab start with the Charlotte Checkers of the AHL on Wednesday. He could return to the Hurricanes for their Friday game against San Jose. Darling, who struggled in his first year in Carolina with a .888 save percentage last year, will force the team to make an interesting decision as the team already has two goaltenders on their active roster in Curtis McElhinney and Petr Mrazek. Neither goaltender has been stellar so far for the Hurricanes. McElhinney has been their top goaltender so far in four games, putting up a 2.76 GAA and a .876 save percentage. Mrazek has struggled more, posting a 3.07 GAA and a .874 save percentage in four games. Will the team keep three goalies or put on of them on waivers in the next week?
  • Seth Jones, who is rumored to be coming close to a return, skated with the team for a sixth consecutive day on Saturday, according to The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline (subscription required). Then, however, he stayed on for a hard skate with the players who weren’t dressing against the Blackhawks. The scribe writes that Tuesday against Arizona could be a potential return date, which would make it four weeks to the day that he strained a knee ligament. “I can’t give you a specific date,” Jones said. “Nor can the trainers, I don’t think. I don’t know how it’s going to do on Monday at practice. We’ll just see. It’s just day by day, how confident I am on it, with contact and all that stuff.”

Carolina Hurricanes Still Determining Goaltender Situation

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The Carolina Hurricanes struggled last season to stop the puck, with newcomer Scott Darling posting an .888 save percentage despite his previous career total of .923. When Cam Ward moved on to the Chicago Blackhawks in free agency this summer, the Hurricanes brought in Petr Mrazek to battle with Darling and potentially give the team a bounce-back tandem of sorts. Instead, Darling suffered an injury in training camp and still has no timetable for his return. In the meantime the Hurricanes claimed Curtis McElhinney off waivers from the Toronto Maple Leafs and have given him two starts already.

McElhinney, 35, has found a fountain of youth the last few seasons and looks as sharp as ever in net for the Hurricanes in the early going. The journeyman goaltender is 2-0 with a .930 save percentage and is starting to turn heads as a possible starting option for the entire season. On the latest edition of Insider Trading on TSN, panelist Pierre LeBrun spoke about how the Hurricanes saw that opportunity in McElhinney even before the Darling injury and may have claimed him regardless. The team may decide to carry three goaltenders for a while when Darling is back, meaning expectant Maple Leafs fans would not get a chance to reclaim their former backup.

The Hurricanes are by no means a cap ceiling team, as they currently sit near the very bottom of the league in salary commitments for this season. Mrazek, who has not looked sharp through his two starts and has struggled in recent seasons, is earning $1.5MM and could be expendable if the team decides to keep McElhinney around. It’s tough to imagine any other team taking a shot at Mrazek on waivers given his salary and play so far, meaning the Hurricanes could likely sneak him through into the minor leagues for some added depth. Regardless, the team will ride the hot hand for the time being and hope that McElhinney still has enough in his tank to keep them on their winning streak. Carolina is first in the NHL with seven points in their first four games, and a near-perfect 3-0-1 record.

Four Players Claimed Off Waivers

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The Toronto Maple Leafs came into today with some enviable goaltending depth, but will leave it with question marks at the minor league level. The team has lost both Curtis McElhinney and Calvin Pickard on waivers, claimed by the Carolina Hurricanes and Philadelphia Flyers respectively. The Washington Capitals have also claimed Dmitrij Jaskin from the St. Louis Blues, while the Buffalo Sabres, with the first waiver selection and a need for healthy forwards, snatched Remi Elie from the Dallas Stars.

Gustav Olofsson, who was rumored to be available in trade recently, was placed on waivers today by the Minnesota Wild. The rest of the players from yesterday have cleared, and can now be assigned to the minor leagues.

You can bet the Maple Leafs were expecting at least one goaltender to be claimed, given that they chose to protect the younger Garret Sparks over the proven McElhinney when it came to deciding who would backup Frederik Andersen to start the season, but losing both on the same day does weaken their depth at the position quite a bit. That leaves Kasimir Kaskisuo and Eamon McAdam as the only two other goaltenders under contract, though former top pick Justin Peters was in minor league camp with their AHL club recently.

Both Carolina and Philadelphia are dealing with injury to their NHL netminders, with the Hurricanes in particular facing a stretch of “weeks” without Scott Darling. McElhinney will pair with Petr Mrazek for the Hurricanes for the time being, but after Darling is deemed healthy the team will have to deal with a similar situation to the one Toronto had this week. If the Hurricanes or Flyers try to waive McElhinney or Pickard at any point this season, the Maple Leafs could potentially reclaim them and send them directly to the minor leagues—provided they’re the only team making a claim at that time.

Jaskin and Elie may end up being even more important claims, as both provide some excellent depth for their new clubs for a reasonable price. Jaskin was an effective bottom-six checker for the Blues but didn’t have a chair when the music stopped this time around, given the glut of newcomers finding roles in St. Louis. His 17 points in 76 games last season don’t look like a lot, but given the role that he played and the one he’ll be asked to fill in Washington there’s no reason to believe he can’t still be successful.

Elie on the other hand is just 23 years old still and scraping the surface on his potential. The Sabres will hope they can coax out a legitimate third-line winger out of him down the road, but have once again improved their depth at forward without sacrificing much. Elie is signed for just $735K this season and will still be a restricted free agent next summer, and was picked 40th overall just five years ago. With Scott Wilson facing a long rehab after recent surgery, Elie will likely find himself in the lineup before long and given a chance to contribute on the remade Sabres.

Sam Gagner Highlights Final Preseason Waivers

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With the NHL season set to begin on Wednesday night, today was the final day to place players on waivers and have them clear in time to assign to the minor leagues before tomorrow’s roster deadline. With that, a huge list of players are on the wire and available to the rest of the league. The full list of names is as follows:

D Trevor Murphy (ARZ)
D David Warsofsky (COL)
D Mark Alt (COL)
F Alex Broadhurst (CBJ)
F Remi Elie (DAL)
F Justin Dowling (DAL)
D Joel Hanley (DAL)
D Ryan Murphy (MIN)
F Rocco Grimaldi (NSH)
F Tom Kuhnhackl (NYI)
F Dale Weise (PHI)
F Taylor Leier (PHI)
G Antoine Bibeau (SJS)
F Dmitrij Jaskin (STL)
F Chris Thorburn (STL)
G Curtis McElhinney (TOR)
G Calvin Pickard (TOR)
F Sam Gagner (VAN)
F Darren Archibald (VAN)
F Daniel Carr (VGK)
F Curtis McKenzie (VGK)
D Aaron Ness (WSH)

D Connor Carrick (TOR)*

*Despite the Toronto Maple Leafs announcing that Carrick would be placed on waivers, the team actually traded him to the Dallas Stars instead. 

Toronto Maple Leafs Place Three On Waivers

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Though the full list of waivers won’t come out for another hour, the Toronto Maple Leafs have announced their final few cuts. The team has placed Curtis McElhinney and Calvin Pickard on waivers in order to send them to the minor leagues. The move signals that Garret Sparks has won the job as backup to Frederik Andersen, and several other players on the bubble like Igor Ozhiganov, Martin Marincin, Justin Holl and Frederik Gauthier will all start the year with the NHL team.

Interestingly the team also announced that Connor Carrick would be placed on waivers, though his name was not included on the list submitted to the NHL. That’s because he was later traded to the Dallas Stars for a conditional seventh-round pick.

In keeping Sparks with the NHL club, the team has seemingly handed over the backup role to a younger player with more potential, albeit one that may come with more risk. McElhinney has performed incredibly well for the Maple Leafs since being claimed from the Columbus Blue Jackets, but is now 35 years old and likely will be seeing a decline before long. Sparks, 25, is coming off an AHL Goaltender of the Year award and a Calder Cup with the Toronto Marlies, and would almost certainly be claimed by a goaltending-needy team somewhere around the league. That same thing may happen with the veteran McElhinney or Pickard, who also has plenty of NHL experience and is still young enough to have a bit of upside remaining.

Atlantic Notes: Toronto’s Goalies, Carrick, Kronwall, Joseph

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have a tough decision in front of them in net as head coach Mike Babcock and general manager Kyle Dubas must decide who will be their backup goalie as the team still has four goalies on their training camp roster, including starter Frederik Andersen, incumbent backup Curtis McElhinney as well as AHL stars Garret Sparks and Calvin Pickard, according to Kevin McGran of the Toronto Star.

That could be a bigger decision than thought despite the solid season that McElhinney had last year. The 35-year-old posted a 2.14 GAA and a .934 save percentage in 18 games last year, but is on the final year of a team-friendly contract ($850K) and could conceivably cost the team, expected to have cap problems starting next season, quite a bit next season. Sparks, on the other hand, will just be a restricted free agent next season after posting impressive numbers for the AHL’s Toronto Marlies, the Calder Cup champions, when the 25-year-old posted a 1.79 GAA in 43 games with a .936 save percentage. Pickard, thought to be the future of the Vegas Golden Knights, is also on the roster.

The fear is the team would likely lose Sparks if they place him on waivers to send him to the AHL, which might force the team to decide which player they would rather have, not just this season, but as their future long-term backup. Pickard, who was a backup in Colorado two years ago, could also be lost as well if they decide to place him on waivers.

  • McGran, in the same story, adds that the Maple Leafs are also looking to trade a few of their players, most notably defenseman Connor Carrick, who the team fears they will lose if they place him on waivers. Carrick got into 47 games last season, posting four goals and 12 points, but could be highly coveted by teams with defensive issues such as the Vancouver Canucks or even the Detroit Red Wings.
  • The Detroit News’ Ted Kulfan writes that veteran defenseman Niklas Kronwall tweaked something in practice and now is questionable for the team’s season opener, joining Jonathan Ericsson and Trevor Daley as questionable for Thursday. Mike Green is already considered out. With those potential losses, Detroit will have to depend on their plethora of young defensemen to fill in. Detroit Free Press’ Helene St. James writes that defenseman Dennis Cholowski has already won a spot on the team’s defense, but Filip Hronek, Joe Hicketts and Libor Sulak all could stay depending on those injuries.
  • While there is no specific word on whether or not he’s made the Tampa Bay Lightning, it’s expected that rookie Mathieu Joseph is a top candidate to make the team, according to Tom Jones of the Tampa Bay Times. Joseph stands out the most with a preseason high of four goals. The scribe describes Joseph as a future star, who could come out of no where such as Brayden Point.

Washington’s Options At Backup Goalie

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The Washington Capitals have four goaltenders under contract for the coming season, Vezina Trophy-winning starter Braden Holtby and three unproven young backups: Pheonix Copley, Vitek Vanecek, and Ilya Samsonov. The defending Stanley Cup champions do not necessarily need to make any changes to their current depth chart and would most likely be fine this season with a tandem of Holtby and the hot hand among the three prospect keepers, with Copley getting the job initially.

However, championships are built on being prepared to handle the worst. This current iteration of the Capitals, while almost identical to the team that hoisted the Cup just months ago, is not. The only major departure out of D.C. this off-season was backup Philipp Grubauer, who was traded away to the Colorado Avalanche where he could compete for the starting job. Grubauer was far from a typical backup last season; the 26-year-old made 35 appearances, including 28 starts, which was tied for 37th-most in the league, among the NHL’s most active backups. When Holtby went through a rough patch down the stretch, Grubauer took over the reins as the starter and even got the call in the Capitals’ first two postseason contests. His 2.35 GAA was fifth among goalies with 30+ appearances, while his .923 save percentage was eighth among the same group. Grubauer was as solid as they come last season. Meanwhile, Holtby quietly had the worst season of his NHL career. His .907 save percentage and 2.99 GAA were a major deviation from his career performance, as he struggled with streaky play all year long. Without Grubauer, the Capitals likely would have had a worse playoff seeding and potentially would not have won the Stanley Cup.

So what happens if Holtby struggles again? Normally, it would be easy to say that the star goalie will regress positively back to the numbers that made him a top ten NHL stopper. However, after a deep playoff run added 23 appearances to his workload and significantly shortened his summer, it is hard to imagine that Holtby is fully refreshed and ready to be back in Vezina shape. His play last year may not be an indication of what is to come, but it may be a more accurate comparison for Holtby’s probable performance in 2018-19 than would his three prior seasons of dominant play. Without a reliable backup, the Capitals may be hesitant to lessen Holtby’s workload, but if they don’t they could risk another breakdown. Either way, the Washington backup goalie will not be a non-factor this season.

The first option behind Holtby will likely be Copley. Copley, 26, is a career minor leaguer with just two NHL appearances. In contrast, every team in the NHL last season began the year with a backup goaltender that had more than two previous appearances. Copley is also far from a prodigy; his numbers with the AHL’s Hershey Bears last season were poor and he only returned to Washington as nothing more than a toss-in to the Kevin Shattenkirk trade. So far in the preseason, Copley has made 41 saves on 46 shots for a paltry save percentage of .891. While the Capitals have put their faith in Copley to this point to be a serviceable backup, the undrafted free agent out of Michigan Tech has never been considered anything but minor league depth before now. Jumping to a primary backup for a goalie who may need substantial assistance is quite the task. Next up would likely be Vanecek, the Captials’ 2014 second-round pick who has not yet lived up to expectations. Vanecek is still only 22 and has room to improve, but since coming to North America three years ago, he has impressed at the ECHL level and failed to do so in the AHL. Vanecek’s numbers while splitting time with Copley on the Hersey Bears last year were even worse; Copley had an .896 save percentage and 2.91 GAA, while Vanecek had an .888 save percentage and 3.04 GAA. Vanecek has potential, but is not ready to be an NHL backup. Samsonov, in his first season in North America, is easily the most talented of the group. A 2015 first-round pick, Samsonov has been playing significant minutes in the KHL since he was 18. In three seasons with Metallurg Magnitogorsk, Samsonov was the primary backup to Vasili Koshechkin and posted a .925 save percentage or better each year. Some hope that young Samsonov can step in and immediately provide that same level of support for Holtby. However, the adjustment to the NHL – and even AHL – can be a difficult one when coming over from Europe. There is no guarantee that Samsonov’s performance will immediately translate. There is also a question of whether Washington will want to harm their heir apparent’s development by costing him starts as the NHL backup. As such, the Capitals are likely to play it safe with Samsonov this season.

Washington’s in-house options to back-up Holtby are not inspiring. The team could absolutely move forward with this group and hope that Holtby can make 65+ starts without a hitch, but there is ample risk involved with that strategy. Normally, it would be tough to significantly upgrade the goaltender position at this time of year, but not this season. Intriguing names are already available and more soon will be. On the free agent market, veterans Kari Lehtonen and Steve Mason remain unsigned. The Capitals do not have much cap space, but if either is willing to take a show-me deal, they would become a massive improvement on the team’s goalie depth. However, both players have been available for much of the off-season and the Caps have yet to pull the trigger. They may instead have their eye on younger, more affordable options. Michael Hutchinson, a free agent signing of the Florida Panthers this summer, is one possibility, as he was already placed on waivers at the earliest possible time. St. Louis’ Jordan Binnington and Vegas’ Oscar Dansk are other waiver options who may have slightly more upside than Copley. That is just the first subset of the backup goalie market though. Teams like the Toronto Maple Leafs (Curtis McElhinney, Garret Sparks, Calvin Pickard), Philadelphia Flyers (Michal Neuvirth, Anthony Stolarz, Alex Lyon), and Los Angeles Kings (Peter Budaj, Jack Campbell, Cal Petersen) have major logjams in goal that are prime for a trade or waiver claim. Washington could also wait to target one of a number of third-string goalies trying to be slipped through waivers, such as Al Montoya, Eddie Lack, Andrew Hammond, Anton Forsberg, Zane McIntyre, Jared Coreau, or J-F Berube. The opportunities are out there to upgrade at backup goalie. The only question is whether the Capitals make the move before it’s too late and those opportunities have disappeared.

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