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Ilya Mikheyev

Snapshots: Lindholm, Heatley, Mikheyev

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The 2023-24 season hasn’t even started yet, and some Calgary Flames fans may already be tired of discussing pending UFA Elias Lindholm’s future with the team. It’s been a major talking point this summer, with a potential mass exodus of unrestricted free agents from the Flames next offseason. Last week, however, Lindholm confirmed he’s open to the idea of an extension in Calgary, and today, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman gave us some clarity on what a deal may look like.

Speaking on NHL Network, Friedman said he “really thought [Bo] Horvat was going to be the comparable at 8×8.5, and I think it’s possible Lindholm now actually comes in higher than that, potentially… I think the number is going to have to be above Horvat, I’ve heard it might be closer to 8.75 or 9.” He, of course, is referring to Horvat’s eight-year, $8.5MM AAV extension signed with the New York Islanders after being acquired from the Vancouver Canucks this past season. While he does have multiple years of experience as a defensively solid first-line center, that would be quite a lot of money to pay someone who’s cracked the 70-point mark just twice in his career and the 30-goal mark only once.

Last season, Lindholm finished second on the Flames in scoring with 22 goals, 42 assists and 64 points in 80 games. It was a falloff from his career-high 2021-22 campaign between Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk, where the then-27-year-old posted 42 goals and 82 points in 82 games alongside a ridiculous +61 rating. For comparison, 25-year-old Buffalo Sabres center Tage Thompson, who’s scored 85 goals in 156 games over the past two seasons, is signed for seven more seasons at a $7.143MM cap hit.

Elsewhere from around the NHL today:

  • The Philadelphia Flyers have confirmed the hire of two-time All-Star Dany Heatley as a pro scout, notes independent Flyers reporter Charlie O’Connor. This will be Heatley’s first documented off-ice staffing role since retiring from pro hockey in 2016. The 42-year-old former sniper won the 2002 Calder Trophy as a member of the Atlanta Thrashers and scored 372 goals in 869 NHL games across 13 seasons with the Thrashers, Ottawa Senators, San Jose Sharks, Minnesota Wild, and Anaheim Ducks.
  • Vancouver Canucks winger Ilya Mikheyev is still recovering from an ACL injury that was aggravated and then operated on in late January, and CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal reports it may keep him out of preseason action. Mikheyev initially sustained the injury in preseason action for Vancouver last season but only missed a handful of weeks before being cleared to play in mid-October and recording 28 points in 46 games for the Canucks. He is still expected to be ready to go for opening night, however, and could very well begin his second season in British Columbia’s biggest city in a top-six role after averaging almost 17 minutes per game last season.

Ilya Mikheyev To Be Ready For Start Of Season

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Rick Dhaliwal of The Athletic reported earlier today that forward Ilya Mikheyev has begun skating for the first time since late January, and that Mikheyev’s agent fully expects him to be ready to start the 2023-24 campaign. Mikheyev had undergone knee surgery from an injury sustained in last year’s preseason, and the Vancouver Canucks January 27th game against the Columbus Blue Jackets was scheduled to be Mikheyev’s last of the season.

The reason that Mikheyev’s expected return is so significant, is that Vancouver is beginning to have a roster issue. As of now, according to CapFriendly, the Canucks currently have 13 forwards on their current roster, with NHL-ready talents such as Aidan McDonough and Vasily Podkolzin rostered in the minor leagues. With Mikheyev’s imminent return to the team, Vancouver would now have 16 forwards capable of receiving minutes in the professional league.

Not only is Mikheyev expected to return, but there is also the strong possibility of forward Tanner Pearson returning by the start of training camp. In July, the General Manager of the Canucks, Patrik Allvin, spoke on Pearson’s status saying, “The indication I got from his agent and from our medical staff is that the hand is healed, and Tanner is working really hard to to be the in his best shape and participate in training camp“.

Vancouver will have a bit of flexibility when it comes to filling out their forward core, as players such as Nils Aman, Phillip Di Giuseppe, and Sheldon Dries all have two-way contracts, meaning they can be sent to the AHL without hitting the waiver wire. The more unfortunate news for the Canucks, is the unenviable situation of their salary cap. If Pearson does indeed come off LTIR, Vancouver will still be $1.77MM over the cap with only Tucker Poolman left on LTIR.

If Pearson is not ready to go by the start of the season, the Canucks will be able to keep him on LTIR and have no issue staying cap compliant throughout the season. Nevertheless, with so many NHL quality forwards in their system, it would seem prudent for Vancouver to thin out their forward core in some fashion, and address another area of need for the team.

League Notes: Three Stars, Cut-Resistant Equipment, Challenges

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This week’s Three Stars are in, courtesy of the NHL, and it contains a trio of high-octane forwards. Arizona Coyotes winger Clayton Keller earned first-star honors after he led the NHL with nine points in four games last week, helping the Coyotes earn a four-game point streak. Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby took home the second star, while Toronto Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner was awarded the third.

Not only has Keller held his own, producing over a point per game on a team near the bottom of the league, but his presence has finally helped crack the offensive game of 2018 fifth-overall pick Barrett Hayton, who now has eight points in his last four games. Crosby’s strong play this week has once again helped keep the Penguins safer in the playoff picture, while Marner recorded six points in two games against two of the league’s best teams in New Jersey and Edmonton.

Some other league notes to begin the week:

  • NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told reporters, including NorthStar Bets’ Chris Johnston, that the league “would like to get to a point where cut-resistant equipment is mandated for all new players.” Daly notes that talks remain ongoing with the NHLPA on creating said regulation. The issue has come to the forefront in recent years in light of some scary injuries, especially incidents of skate cuts on wrists. Notably, players such as Evander Kane and Ilya Mikheyev have missed significant time in the past few seasons.
  • TVA’s Renaud Lavoie reports that NHL general managers have discussed expanding the grounds of coaches’ challenges to include puck-over-glass penalties, as well as two-minute high-sticking infractions. With challenges becoming increasingly rare as the penalties for getting them wrong evolve, the danger of slowing the game down with too many reviews is also decreasing. The managers’ annual meeting is this week.

Ilya Mikheyev Undergoes Season-Ending Surgery

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Feb 2: The Canucks have announced Mikheyev underwent successful knee surgery today, though still did not give a concrete timeline for his recovery.

Jan 28: Although Canucks winger Ilya Mikheyev scored the game-winner in last night’s victory over Columbus, it will be his last goal (and game) for a while. Following the contest, the team announced (video link) that Mikheyev will miss the remainder of the season and will undergo knee surgery.  An exact timeline for his recovery is not yet known.  However, the expectation is that he will be ready for the start of training camp.

The injury actually occurred back in the preseason when he partially tore his ACL.  At the time, the team opted to classify it as a lower-body injury but the 28-year-old only missed the first three games of the year before returning on October 18th.  To his credit, Mikheyev did pretty well under the circumstances, collecting 13 goals and 15 assists (tying his career high) in 46 games despite being slowed down due to the tear.  Those numbers were fairly close to the ones he had with Toronto the year before that helped him land a four-year $19MM contract this summer.

Since he will be out for the year, Vancouver will be able to put Mikheyev and his $4.75MM AAV on LTIR, giving them some extra flexibility to navigate the salary cap for the stretch run.  While the Canucks aren’t likely to be buyers (they sit sixth in the Pacific Division and are a dozen points out of a Wild Card spot), this will give them a chance to be a bit more creative when it comes to salary retention or taking an expiring contract back to facilitate a trade.

Although Vancouver was only carrying 13 healthy forwards on their roster for Friday’s game (including Mikheyev), the team also revealed postgame (Twitter link) that winger Phillip Di Giuseppe was assigned to AHL Abbotsford.  The 28-year-old was a healthy scratch against Columbus and has just one NHL appearance under his belt this season.  With now just 11 forwards on their roster, more roster moves will be expected once their schedule resumes after the All-Star break.

Vancouver Canucks Recall Phillip Di Giuseppe

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Nov 30: With Mikheyev fully back in the fold, Vancouver returned Di Giuseppe to Abbotsford Wednesday night, per the team.

Nov 29: After opting to waive him over a month ago, the Vancouver Canucks are bringing forward Phillip Di Giuseppe back up to the NHL. General manager Patrik Allvin announced his recall from the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks Tuesday night.

Di Giuseppe comes to the NHL to potentially relieve Ilya Mikheyev, who could miss tonight’s game against the Washington Capitals with an illness. Both Di Giuseppe and Mikheyev were on the ice for warmups ahead of the game.

Now 29, Di Giuseppe is in his second year with the Canucks organization. He’s yet to score a goal this season in Abbotsford but does have five assists through seven games after approaching a point-per-game pace last season.

He has 201 games of NHL experience split between Carolina, Nashville, and the New York Rangers, and his a capable fourth-line plug-in when required.

As he has not spent more than 30 days on an NHL roster since clearing, Di Giuseppe will not require waivers again when the team opts to return him to Abbotsford.

Vancouver Canucks Activate Ilya Mikheyev, Tyler Myers; Reassign Noah Juulsen

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Today, Vancouver Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin announced that the team had activated F Ilya Mikheyev and D Tyler Myers from injured reserve, sending down D Noah Juulsen to the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks in a corresponding transaction.

Mikheyev and Myers began the regular season on injured reserve and have yet to suit up. Mikheyev has been absent from the Canucks’ lineup since suffering a lower-body injury in a preseason game on September 25 against the Calgary Flames, missing approximately three weeks. Myers’ return to the lineup comes well ahead of expectation, as he was expected to miss three weeks of action starting from October 6.

Both players could be in line to make their season debuts tonight in Columbus. The Canucks are in the second half of a back-to-back set and have lost their first three games. They set an NHL record last night in Washington by becoming the first team to blow multi-goal leads in three consecutive games to begin a season.

Mikheyev, who arrived this offseason as a free agent from the Toronto Maple Leafs, is expected to make his Canucks debut at right wing alongside Elias Pettersson and Andrei Kuzmenko. Pettersson leads the Canucks with four points through his first three games. Myers is expected to play on a pairing with Riley Stillman, who was acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks just prior to the season in exchange for Jason Dickinson.

Juulsen, 25, logged nearly 11 minutes in his season debut yesterday against Washington and recorded a shot on goal. While waiver-eligible, Juulsen cleared waivers less than 30 days ago and therefore can currently be shuttled down at will by the Canucks until November 4.

Vancouver Canucks Place Three On Injured Reserve

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There are many teams playing salary cap gymnastics today, though the award may have to go to Vancouver Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin. The Vancouver Canucks announced a series of roster moves today, most notably placing forward Ilya Mikheyev, as well as defensemen Tyler Myers and Travis Dermott, on injured reserve.

The team also loaned forward Linus Karlsson to AHL Abbotsford while recalling forward Danila Klimovich, a move expected to be reversed once their cap situation is settled. In doing so today, the team completed maximized their LTIR pool relief from Micheal Ferland’s contract, creating exactly zero dollars in cap space, allowing them to reap the full rewards of his $3.5MM cap hit. Ferland is unexpected to play again due to post-concussion syndrome.

In terms of the actual injuries, the three players can be activated from injured reserve at any time as their placement is retroactive to when their injuries were suffered during camp. Mikheyev remains week-to-week with a lower-body injury, while Myers is expected to miss about two and a half more weeks with a lower-body injury (he was given a three-week timeline last week). Dermott is day-to-day after suffering a concussion approximately two weeks ago.

Vancouver joined Toronto, Vegas, Tampa Bay, Edmonton, and Carolina as teams who had maxed their LTIR relief pools to within $100,000.

Tyler Myers Out 2-4 Weeks With Lower-Body Injury

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The Vancouver Canucks will be without another one of their key players for the start of the season, as Tyler Myers has been ruled out for the next two to four weeks. Myers is dealing with a lower-body injury according to head coach Bruce Boudreau.

The Canucks are already without Brock Boeser and Ilya Mikheyev, though there was some optimism surrounding both players when Boudreau spoke with the media. Harman Dayal of The Athletic relays that both will be with the team on the season-opening road trip and that Boeser could practice in full contact as soon as Sunday.

While Myers continues to be a source of frustration for Canucks fans, given his performance since arriving in Vancouver, there’s no denying his place in the lineup. The 6’8″ defenseman carries a huge amount of responsibility, averaging 22 minutes a night including more short-handed time than anyone else.

Without him (and Travis Dermott, while he continues to work back from his own injury) the team is currently working with a less-than-ideal defense group that likely includes Quinn Hughes, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Kyle Burroughs, Tucker Poolman, Luke Schenn, Christian Wolanin, and Jack Rathbone on opening day.

That is of course unless another move is made in the days ahead. If Myers were sure to miss four weeks, the team could place him on long-term injured reserve and gain some extra flexibility to add a defenseman off waivers – today’s group includes several interesting names – or the free agent market.

Either way, Myers won’t be in the lineup for a while.

Ilya Mikheyev Out Week-To-Week

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Sep 29: After initial fears that he may have suffered a torn ACL, it looks as though Mikheyev avoided serious injury altogether. Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK TV reports that he had two opinions and could resume skating as soon as tomorrow.

Sep 27: One of the big free agent signings for the Vancouver Canucks is in danger of missing the start of the season, as Ilya Mikheyev is out “week-to-week” according to head coach Bruce Boudreau. Mikheyev suffered a lower-body injury in his preseason debut with the team on Sunday.

Signed to a four-year, $19MM contract in the offseason after a 21-goal campaign with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Mikheyev has been one of the impressive players at Canucks camp, with J.T. Miller referring to the Russian’s speed as “humbling.” The 27-year-old forward has had some pretty unfortunate injury luck in his short NHL career so far, including a sliced wrist and a broken thumb.

That has limited him to just 146 regular season games in three years, though it was his production in those matches and his versatile profile that made him such an appealing target in free agency. With 21 goals in just 53 games last season, he is the kind of perfect secondary scoring option that teams crave. His speed, length, and puck protection make him a great option on the penalty kill, and he can often create offense without the help of teammates.

Still, at some point, he’s going to need to be able to put together a full campaign, especially now that he is carrying a cap hit of $4.75MM. The Canucks need him to be everything he was last season and more if they are going to get their money’s worth, especially given he will play this season at 28 and the final season of this contract at 31. The hope was that they were buying his best years – a weeks-long injury isn’t a great start.

Given the team will also be without Brock Boeser after he underwent hand surgery, there will be plenty of minutes up for grabs in Vancouver.

Snapshots: Tkachuk, Geekie, Kravtsov, Mikheyev

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In what has so far shaped up to be a nightmarish offseason for the Calgary Flames, there could be another high-profile departure yet to come. Matthew Tkachuk, the team’s remaining superstar winger, is headed for an arbitration battle with the Flames, as we found out yesterday. They may not even reach that point, though. Eric Francis of Sportsnet believes that the Flames and Tkachuk are “parting ways,” and that the club elected to pursue arbitration in order to “buy more time” to find an appropriate exit plan. Francis added on that he thinks the situation “will be wrapped up within the week,” and if he’s right the deal would cement this July as one of the most transformative months in Flames history.

The decision to potentially trade Tkachuk comes thanks to the reality of his contract situation. Tkachuk is in a position to hit unrestricted free agency next summer and looks poised to do so. The Flames have had every opportunity to extend Tkachuk on a long-term extension, and yet have failed to secure his signature on a deal to this point, indicating that Tkachuk’s heart may not be in Calgary long-term, just like Gaudreau. As a result, the Flames might be motivated to move Tkachuk now in order to avoid a situation where the team allows 100-point wingers to leave in free agency in two consecutive offseasons. The Flames asking price, should they be open to a Tkachuk trade, is likely to be sky-high, although the lack of cap space league-wide could limit them in their chase to get the largest return package possible.

Now, for some other notes from across the league:

  • Conor Geekie scared quite a few Arizona Coyotes fans early in the team’s development camp when he went down with what looked to be a pretty grisly lower-body injury. Thankfully, though, the injury was not serious, and Geekie confirmed as much today to PHNX’s Craig Morgan. Per Morgan, Geekie “did not elaborate” on the nature of his injury or any timeline for a return to the ice, but he did note that he was still doing cardio and working out his upper body. With his entry-level deal already signed, Geekie has the chance to make the Coyotes’ opening-night roster, so he’ll want to ensure that this upper-body injury is fully recovered by this fall so he can hit the ground running at training camp.
  • There has been some nervousness from people across the NHL regarding Russian players and whether they’ll be able to easily return to North America from offseasons spent in Russia for training camps this fall. For the New York Rangers and Vancouver Canucks, they won’t need to worry much longer about two of their players. CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal has learned from agent Dan Milstein that the Canucks’ big offseason signing, Ilya Mikheyev, has arrived in North America in order to begin his preparations for the upcoming season. The New York Post’s Mollie Walker has also learned from Milstein that winger Vitali Kravtsov has arrived in New York City in advance of training camp.

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