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Jacob Trouba

Metropolitan Notes: Rangers, Seeler, Hathaway, Danforth

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The Rangers could have defenseman Jacob Trouba back in their lineup tonight against Arizona, notes Mollie Walker of the New York Post.  The 30-year-old has missed the last 11 games due to a lower-body injury and it’s worth noting he still needs the final green light from the medical staff.  Trouba has played in 60 games so far this season, posting 22 points along with a team-leading 170 blocked shots and 164 hits while logging over 21 minutes a night so his return will certainly be a welcome one.

Meanwhile, the Rangers will have to wait a little longer to get their other injured blueliner back as Walker adds that Erik Gustafsson did not make the trip and will miss his third straight game with an upper-body injury.  The 32-year-old has been a quality provider of secondary offense from the back end, notching 30 points through 70 contests.

More from the Metropolitan:

  • The Flyers will get a key blueliner back in the lineup tonight as the team announced (Twitter link) that Nick Seeler will return to the lineup. The 30-year-old had missed more than three weeks with a lower-body injury.  Seeler has played in 63 games so far this season, logging nearly 17 minutes a night while leading the team in blocked shots with 184.  That helped earn him a four-year, $10.8MM contract extension earlier this month.
  • Still with the Flyers, the league announced yesterday that winger Garnet Hathaway was fined $2K for embellishment. It’s the second time he has been cited for that infraction.  Each citation between now and the end of the season will result in an increased fine for the 32-year-old who leads all NHL forwards in hits with 294 so far.
  • Blue Jackets team reporter Jeff Svoboda relays (Twitter link) that forward Justin Danforth took to the ice before the team’s morning skate today. The 31-year-old has been dealing with an upper-body injury for the last three weeks.  Danforth has been used pretty much everywhere in the lineup for Columbus this season, picking up 10 goals and 11 assists through a career-high 63 games.

Injury Updates: Zegras, Lindgren, Trouba, Hoffman, Desharnais

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Ducks center Trevor Zegras is listed as a game-time decision for their game tomorrow against Tampa Bay, reports Derek Lee of The Sporting Tribune (Twitter link).  The 23-year-old has missed more than two months with an ankle injury, his second extended absence after missing 20 games earlier in the year with a lower-body issue.  In between, Zegras has struggled offensively, notching just four goals and seven assists in the 20 games he has been able to suit up for which fueled trade speculation leading into the trade deadline.  With Mason McTavish and Leo Carlsson locked in down the middle, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Anaheim deploy Zegras on the wing when he’s cleared to return.

Other injury news from around the NHL:

  • Rangers defenseman Ryan Lindgren has begun skating as he works his way back from a lower-body injury, relays Vince Z. Mercogliano of USA Today (Twitter link). He has been out for a week but is still a few weeks away from returning.  Meanwhile, Mercogliano adds that blueliner Jacob Trouba (lower body) is likely closer to getting back into the lineup.  That said, head coach Peter Laviolette suggested that the captain is likely another week or more away from being able to suit up.  New York is in a tight battle with Carolina for the top spot in the Metropolitan but they’ll be waiting a little while longer to get one of their blueliners back.
  • Sharks winger Mike Hoffman is nearing a return from his upper-body injury but won’t play tonight against Chicago, head coach David Quinn told reporters including Max Miller of The Hockey News. The 34-year-old has missed the last two weeks with the injury which he revealed is a concussion.  It has been a tough year for Hoffman who has been limited to just 10 goals and 12 assists through 61 games so far, hardly the type of platform year he was hoping to have as he gets set to hit the open market in July.
  • Oilers defenseman Vincent Desharnais will return to the lineup tonight against Toronto, notes Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman (Twitter link). The 27-year-old suffered a hand injury last weekend against Colorado.  Desharnais is in his first season of full-time NHL duty and has nine points along with 96 blocks and 104 hits in 63 games so far this season.

Evening Notes: Trouba, Foote, Pelletier

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New York Rangers captain Jacob Trouba has returned to the practice sheet after missing the last five games with a lower-body injury. It’s Trouba’s first significant absence of the season, after playing in 60 of the team’s 63 games up to the point of his injury. Head coach Peter Laviolette told The Athletic’s Arthur Staple (Twitter Link) that the team wants to take their time with transitioning Trouba back into the lineup, wanting to make sure he’s fully healthy first.

Trouba is managing another strong season, despite seeing a dip in his scoring – netting just three goals and 22 points in 60 games this year and likely to miss the 30-point mark for the first time in three years. His value has instead come on the other side of the puck, with Trouba ranking third on the Rangers in hits-per-game (2.73), behind William Cuylle and Matt Rempe. Laviolette has employed a physical presence in his first year with the Rangers and Trouba has been happy to comply, leaning into the presence that’s made him one of the league’s most divisive players. The Rangers will need to make sure Trouba is fully ready to go before returning because there’s no doubt he’ll jump right back into his heavy-hitting role.

Other notes from around the league:

  • New Jersey Devils forward Nolan Foote is facing an undisclosed injury and did not join the team on their three-game road trip last week, per Ryan Novozinsky of NJ.com. Foote was assigned to the AHL on a four-game conditioning stint in early March, scoring three goals and four points in four games. He was formally activated off of season-opening injured reserve on March 12th, though he’s yet to make his season debut in the NHL. It’s unclear when fans can expect him to work his way into the Devils lineup.
  • The Calgary Flames have sent Jakob Pelletier to the AHL (Twitter Link) after placing him in the press box for their last two games. Pelletier is playing out his formal rookie season in the NHL, with one goal and three points in 13 NHL games on the year. He appeared in 24 games with Calgary last year, netting three goals and seven points. Despite scoring at nearly a point-per-game pace in the minors – 102 points in 105 games since 2021-22 – Pelletier is still searching for his scoring groove at the top level. He’ll get another chance to hone his craft, now again with the Calgary Wranglers.

Injury Notes: Trouba, Forbort, Joshua

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Even with some positive developments on the trade front this afternoon, the New York Rangers have some negative news as well, as Mollie Walker of the New York Post reports that defenseman Jacob Trouba will be out for the next two to three weeks. With some line shuffling set to take place, new deadline pickup Chad Ruhwedel should find his way into the lineup rather quickly on the right side.

This marks the first significant injury for Trouba during the regular season in the last three years, as he sustained two full seasons in 2021-22, and 2022-23. Trouba did have an undisclosed injury earlier this year, but it was largely insignificant as it only kept him out for three days.

In now his fifth season with the Rangers, Trouba is once again performing at his typical pace. In 60 games this year, he has scored three goals and 22 points in total and is averaging just under three hits a night.

Other injury notes:

  • Indicating that his season might have come to an end, Joe Haggerty of the Boston Sports Journal is reporting that Boston Bruins’ defenseman Derek Forbort has been placed on the team’s long-term injured reserve. Forbort was playing through two significant injuries that have limited him to only 35 games on the year.
  • Jeff Patterson of Canucks Army reports that Vancouver Canucks’ forward Dakota Joshua will at most miss the next two weeks for the team. Thankfully, the Canucks only have five games over the next 14 days, so Joshua shouldn’t miss too much action down the stretch. Having the most productive season of his career up to this point, Joshua has played in 53 games for Vancouver so far this year, scoring 13 goals and 26 points overall.

Jacob Trouba Receives Two-Game Suspension

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With the Rangers playing tonight, the Department of Player Safety needed to make a quick ruling following their disciplinary hearing with defenseman Jacob Trouba today.  That ruling has now been made as the league announced that the blueliner has been suspended for two games for his elbow on Golden Knights winger Pavel Dorofeyev.  The incident occurred late in the second period and no penalty was called on the play.

In the video announcing the suspension, the league acknowledged that elbows can be raised as part of a natural motion when skating, stopping, or making a play on the puck.  However, with the incident occurring off a faceoff, Trouba was deemed to not be making a play on the puck while his elbowing motion was not viewed as a natural motion while skating.

This is Trouba’s second career suspension while he has also been fined twice; that history was noted in the disciplinary video.  He will miss tonight’s game against Ottawa as well as their first game back after the break on February 5th versus Colorado.  Trouba will be eligible to return on February 7th against Tampa Bay.  Based on his AAV, he will forfeit a little over $83K in salary; that money will go to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.

Jacob Trouba To Have Player Safety Hearing

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The Rangers play their final game before their off week tonight and it’s possible they won’t have their captain available for that contest.  The Department of Player Safety announced that defenseman Jacob Trouba will have a disciplinary hearing today by phone for an elbowing infraction on Golden Knights winger Pavel Dorofeyev last night.

The incident occurred late in the second period following a faceoff and no penalty was called on the play.  Meanwhile, Dorofeyev left the game early in the third period with what head coach Bruce Cassidy called an upper-body injury.  There was no further clarity on how long he might be out for.  More information on that front is expected today.

Trouba has been suspended once before back in 2017 for an illegal check to the head while he was playing in Winnipeg.  While enough time has elapsed that it won’t count against him from a forfeited salary standpoint if he’s suspended, it could be taken into consideration in determining how much time Trouba might miss.

Metropolitan Notes: Kakko, Trouba, Pelech, Oshie

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Although there has been some recent speculation that New York Rangers’ forward, Kaapo Kakko, could be making his return soon, Larry Brooks of the New York Post states that is not the case. Unfortunately, Brooks notes that Kakko has still not been cleared to return to play, meaning the Rangers will have to call up a forward from their AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack, before their game on Thursday.

Suffering from a lower-body injury in late November, Kakko has been on the team’s long-term injured reserve since November 28th. Although he has satisfied the LTIR requirements to return by a healthy amount, team doctors clearly do not think he is ready to return.  In what is shaping up to be yet another disappointing season for Kakko, he has skated in 20 games for the Rangers up to this point in the season, scoring two goals and three points all while averaging about 13 and a half minutes a night.

At the very least, Kakko is back on the ice skating, as Arthur Staple of The Athletic pointed out that Kakko was present at practice this morning in a non-contact jersey. Unfortunately, in a side note on the initial report, Staple indicated that New York captain, Jacob Trouba, was not at practice this morning due to personal reasons. The expectation is that Trouba will be available to the team as they take on the St.Louis Blues in a few days, depending on the severity of the personal reason keeping him out this morning.

Other Metropolitan notes:

  •  Heading a few miles east of the Rangers, the New York Islanders will see the reinforcement of Adam Pelech tonight, as Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News reports that the defenseman will make his return to the ice after missing the last 20 games. With additional injuries on the blue line, the addition of Pelech back into the lineup should give a major boost to the Islanders’ defensive core, as he has historically been one of the best defenders in the organization. Through 16 games so far this season, Pelech has tallied three assists, averaging nearly 20 minutes of ice time per game.
  • Sammi Silber of The Hockey News reports that veteran forward for the Washington Capitals, T.J. Oshie, was back at practice this morning skating in a full-contact jersey. The entirety of the 2023-24 season up to this point has been mired by injuries for Oshie, who is currently experiencing one of the least productive seasons of his long career. In 21 games so far, he has scored two goals and four points, missing time in November, December, and now in January.

Devils Expected To File For Arbitration With Timo Meier

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The New Jersey Devils have been busy today, fresh off signing Jesper Bratt to an eight-year extension Sportnet’s Elliotte Friedman is reporting that the club will likely take forward Timo Meier to team elected arbitration. This doesn’t prevent either side from continuing to negotiate a long-term deal, but it does give the Devils some leverage as they head into conversations with the 26-year-old. The team elected arbitration could result in a salary that is 85% of Meier’s 2022-23 salary which came in at $10MM.

Meier came over to the Devils in late February after a blockbuster trade with the San Jose Sharks. He took some time to settle in with New Jersey and put up nine goals and five assists in 21 games with the Devils to finish out the regular season. He would ultimately finish his season with 40 goals and 26 assists in 78 games split between the two teams. In the playoffs Meier struggled mightily posting just two goals and two assists in 11 games and was largely a non-factor in the team’s series win over the New York Rangers going pointless in seven games and suffering a huge hit from Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba. Meier was much stronger in the team’s second round series against Carolina putting up four points in four games.

The Devils decision to file for arbitration isn’t all that surprising given that they are largely negotiating from a position of weakness as Meier holds the hammer in their contract discussion sitting just a year away from unrestricted free agency. He could simply just go to arbitration and walk away next summer.

As mentioned earlier, with the team elected arbitration Meier could see his salary reduced by as much as 15% depending on how the arbitration process plays out. While that won’t do much on a long-term contract, it could lead to an acceleration in the contract discussions with Meier’s camp which would allow New Jersey some clarity as they head into the draft and free agency in the upcoming weeks. The Devils have a busy summer ahead as they try to build on their first series win in over a decade.

Free Agent Focus: New York Rangers

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Free agency is less than a month away and teams are looking ahead to when it opens.  There will be several impact players set to hit the open market in July while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign as well.  We continue our look around the NHL with an overview of the free agent situation for the Rangers.

Key Restricted Free Agents

F Alexis Lafrenière – Just under three years ago the Rangers watched the lottery balls bounce their way as they were fortunate enough to win the sweepstakes for Lafrenière. At the time the 21-year-old looked like a can’t miss first overall pick having been dominant in the QMJHL and the World Juniors. But now just three years later the Rangers are facing quite the dilemma with the young forward. On one hand he is one of their few valuable trade chips, however, given their cap crunch his cap hit will likely give them a functional player on a reasonable contract.

Lafrenière has played a lot of bottom six minutes and hasn’t really seen the offensive opportunities that other first overall picks have had, however he also hasn’t shown the same skill level or skating as some of the other first overall picks before him.

Lafrenière had a career high 39 points this season in 81 games and did a much better job driving play than he had in previous seasons. However, he also enjoyed much more favorable deployment than in previous seasons which leads one to wonder if he will have better numbers in a different role under a new head coach.

Regardless of who is signing his checks next season Lafrenière is likely to be playing under a two- or three-year bridge deal with a cap hit like the $2.1MM that teammate Kaapo Kakko is playing under.

D K’Andre Miller – Miller’s next contract is going to make for a very interesting negotiation. He is the Rangers best left shot defenseman and played at a very high level for the past two seasons including this past year where he posted nine goals and 34 assists in 79 games. While 43 points total isn’t elite for a defenseman, his 38 even strength points are. Miller saw very little powerplay time and still managed to post very strong offensive numbers.

While his offensive numbers are good, he and partner Jacob Trouba went through some long stretches this season where they couldn’t keep the puck out of their own net. While they turned it around, Miller’s defensive struggles could work against him in negotiations. It’ll be interesting to see how the Rangers navigate their negotiation with the 23-year-old St. Paul native. It’s unlikely they will give him the Rasmus Dahlin contract at a cap hit of $6MM, but an average annual value between $4MM and $5.5MM seems very possible.

Key Unrestricted Free Agents

F Patrick Kane – The Rangers acquired the three-time Stanley Cup champion at the trade deadline this past winter and while things didn’t end up the way they’d hoped, they didn’t give up a lot of assets to acquire the player. Kane recently had surgery to resurface his hip and will be ready to play in 4-6 months. He makes for a curious free agent because any team that fancies themselves a contender likely won’t give out a big cap number until they can see skate again after his recovery. If this is the case, Kane could wait until after his recovery to see who the contenders are next season before inking a deal. The issue there for Kane would be that most teams will be close to the cap ceiling by the time the seasons starts. Kane is still a very productive forward (when healthy), this past season he put up 21 goals and 36 assists in 73 games during the regular season and followed it up with a goal and five assists in seven playoff games. If he were healthy Kane would probably be looking at a three-year deal worth around $6MM. But, because of his injury I think he will need to wait and sign a one-year deal closer to the start of the season or in season once he has recovers from his injury.

F Vladimir Tarasenko – Tarasenko arrived from St. Louis to a lot of fanfare in New York but couldn’t help the Rangers get over hump in the Eastern Conference. The 31-year-old put up 18 goals and 32 assists in 69 games split between the Blues and the Rangers and struggled in the playoffs putting up just four points in seven games. The Rangers would probably like to sign Tarasenko to a short-term deal but given their lack of cap space they likely can’t pursue the winger. Tarasenko will be interesting negotiation as he struggled to drive play last season and isn’t the player he once was. He’ll still find work, and a good little pay day, but it won’t be at anything close to the $7.5MM he made on his previous deal.

G Jaroslav Halák – It’s hard to believe that Jaro Halák is still chugging along at the tail end of his NHL career. He has struggled in recent years, but the veteran continues to find work in the NHL on one-year contracts. Halak hasn’t posted a .905 save percentage in any of the past three seasons but has been able to stay slightly above average in expected save percentage. Currently Halák is a good backup option for a team that is looking for average goaltending 20-25 nights of the year. He will likely be able to fetch a one-year contract at around $1MM.

Other UFAs: Niko Mikkola, Tyler Motte

Projected Cap Space

The Rangers emerged from a quick rebuild just a few seasons ago and had plenty of draft capital and a lot of salary cap flexibility. Now just a few years later the Rangers are in a very precarious salary cap situation as they have just $11.8MM in cap space with 14 players signed for next year. While that is a bit alarming, the good news for New York fans is that most of the core is signed for at least the next two years to fairly reasonable contracts. That being said, there are a few deals that general manager Chris Drury would probably like the opportunity to dump should an opening arise.

The club likely won’t have room to extend Kane or Tarasenko without moving out a very good player and given the age of both players they may want to pass on doing so. The Rangers are also two years out from having to give superstar netminder Igor Shesterkin a new deal, one which could potentially eclipse $9MM annually if he can duplicate his 2021-22 season in the next two seasons. With all of that going on, it’s unlikely that there will be big changes this summer on Broadway.

 

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.  Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.

NHL Announces 2023 King Clancy Memorial Trophy Nominees

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In an announcement made Tuesday afternoon, the NHL unveiled the list of nominees for the 2023 King Clancy Memorial Trophy. The award is presented annually to the player who best exemplifies leadership qualities both on and off the ice, as well as making a noteworthy humanitarian contribution to their community.

The list of nominees for this year’s award is an impressive one, featuring some of the league’s most well-respected captains, such as Boston’s Patrice Bergeron and Florida’s Aleksander Barkov.

One notable nominee is one of the youngest captains in the league – Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk. Tkachuk, in a few short years as a Senator, has already implanted himself in the community, especially in recent seasons. Working with the Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa, Tkachuk hosts the ’Tkachuk’s Captains’ program, which works with kids at club locations across Ottawa to help develop leadership skills.

That’s not to diminish the off-ice efforts of anyone else named on the full list of nominees, found below. While an often-overlooked award, it’s a great way to highlight some players who focus on making positive contributions to their communities.

Anaheim: Kevin Shattenkirk
Arizona: Travis Boyd
Boston: Patrice Bergeron
Buffalo: Alex Tuch
Calgary: Mikael Backlund
Carolina: Jordan Staal
Chicago: Connor Murphy
Colorado: Devon Toews
Columbus: Zach Werenski
Dallas: Jason Robertson
Detroit: Dylan Larkin
Edmonton: Darnell Nurse
Florida: Aleksander Barkov
Los Angeles: Mikey Anderson
Minnesota: Matt Dumba
Montreal: Jordan Harris
Nashville: Juuse Saros
New Jersey: Jack Hughes
NY Islanders: Anders Lee
NY Rangers: Jacob Trouba
Ottawa: Brady Tkachuk
Philadelphia: Scott Laughton
Pittsburgh: Evgeni Malkin
San Jose: Luke Kunin
Seattle: Chris Driedger
St. Louis: Brayden Schenn
Tampa Bay: Victor Hedman
Toronto: Morgan Rielly
Vancouver: Elias Pettersson
Vegas: Reilly Smith
Washington: Tom Wilson
Winnipeg: Blake Wheeler

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