Snapshots: Tanev, Jarry, Raty
The Calgary Flames won’t have Chris Tanev back before the All-Star break, as head coach Darryl Sutter told reporters including Pat Steinberg of Sportsnet that the veteran defenseman will miss at least the next two games. Tanev left Monday’s game with an upper-body injury.
Now 33, Tanev has eight points in 40 games this season while playing his usual shutdown role for the Flames. With him out early against the Columbus Blue Jackets, Nikita Zadorov ended up playing nearly 27 minutes, his second-highest total of the season.
- Tristan Jarry will also be out through the break, after being a late scratch for the Pittsburgh Penguins last night. The netminder had only just recently returned from an injury suffered in the Winter Classic, and will miss at least the next two games. Pittsburgh recalled Dustin Tokarski but in the meantime, Casey DeSmith will have to carry the load.
- Should Aatu Raty play another game for the New York Islanders, his contract will no longer be eligible to slide. The 20-year-old forward played his ninth game of the season on Monday, registering two hits and a shot in under ten minutes of action. Burning the first year of an entry-level deal isn’t the end of the world, and actually may end up giving the Islanders some extra leverage in contract talks down the road by limiting his offensive stats as a rookie. Raty would hit RFA status in 2025 if he play another NHL game this season.
Injury Notes: Bennett, Jarry, Golden Knights, Backstrom, Klingberg
Unfortunately, there’s a lot of minor injury news to report from tonight’s games. We start in Florida, where head coach Paul Maurice said pregame that Sam Bennett wouldn’t be in the lineup when they take on the Penguins tonight.
Bennett took an awkward fall in yesterday night’s loss to the Rangers, immediately leaving the game and staying in the room through the first intermission. It didn’t hold him out of the rest of the game, however, as he would later return. While he won’t suit up tonight, it does seem to be a short-term absence for Bennett, who’s been in and out of the lineup over the past month with some minor injury concerns. Eetu Luostarinen, who’s impressed with 10 goals and 22 points in 49 games this year, slides into the top six with Bennett out.
- After leaving injured reserve a few days ago, Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry is back out of the lineup with an injury. His absence leaves both Pittsburgh and Florida without backup goalies on the bench for tonight’s game, as Spencer Knight was unexpectedly still unable to play and was a late absence from the Florida lineup. It’s hopefully a short-term absence for Jarry, who’s been spectacular with a .921 save percentage in 27 appearances for the Penguins this year.
- There’s some positive news on Vegas Golden Knights captain Mark Stone, says ESPN’s Emily Kaplan. While he’ll be out through the All-Star break as expected, his back issue is different than the one that plagued him throughout last season, greatly reducing the likelihood of his long-term career being affected. Kaplan also says defenseman Shea Theodore, who’s been out since early December with an undisclosed injury, is an option for Friday’s game against the Rangers.
- Days after returning from significant hip surgery recovery, Nicklas Backstrom is back out of the Washington Capitals lineup with a non-COVID illness and is day-to-day. The 35-year-old has three assists in seven games since returning to the lineup.
- The Anaheim Ducks will also be down a player due to illness: defenseman John Klingberg. 25-year-old call-up Colton White moves into Anaheim’s top-four in Klingberg’s absence, playing on his off-side. Klingberg has just 15 points in 40 games this season, a career-low as he’s destined for free agency once again this offseason.
Jeff Petry, Tristan Jarry Activated From Injured Reserve
The Pittsburgh Penguins are getting both Jeff Petry and Tristan Jarry back, activating the pair from injured reserve today. To make cap and roster room for their return, Kris Letang has been moved to long-term injured reserve, Jan Rutta has been moved to regular injured reserve, and Dustin Tokarski and Taylor Fedun have been reassigned to the AHL.
It’s been more than a month since Petry appeared in a Penguins lineup, last playing on December 10 against the Buffalo Sabres. The 35-year-old defenseman had been seeing a ton of ice time for the club, averaging over 26 minutes in the five games previous to his injury. While that kind of usage may not immediately come into play, Petry’s return is an important one for the Penguins, who have struggled to get much consistent offense from their blueline this season.
Despite missing a month, Petry is still just one point behind Marcus Pettersson for second among Penguins defenders and sits ahead of Pierre-Olivier Joseph, Brian Dumoulin, and Rutta, who have all played at least 40 games. The veteran was practicing with the first powerplay unit today, as they await the return of Letang.
Jarry, meanwhile, hasn’t played since being pulled from the Winter Classic after just 15 minutes of action against the Boston Bruins. The 27-year-old netminder had been struggling for a few games before that outdoor action, and now hopefully will get his game back on track after spending the last few weeks on the sideline.
Through 25 appearances, Jarry has posted a .918 save percentage, almost exactly in line with last season’s performance that earned him some down-ballot Vezina consideration. Given his status as a pending unrestricted free agent, Jarry is essentially playing for his next contract and can’t be missing huge chunks of the season if he can help it.
Letang and Rutta have both been moved to injured reserve retroactively, meaning they can return much sooner. Letang’s LTIR stint is backdated to December 28, meaning his 24-day window is almost up. Rutta’s is backdated to January 14, meaning his seven-day minimum is also about to expire.
Pittsburgh Penguins Recall Dustin Tokarski
After Tristan Jarry left yesterday’s Winter Classic with an injury, the Pittsburgh Penguins have recalled Dustin Tokarski from the minor leagues. The team has not moved Jarry to injured reserve to make room for the transaction; instead, Kris Letang has been designated non-roster while he is with family following the death of his father.
Tokarski, 33, has spent the entire season at the AHL level but has been excellent for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. With a .926 save percentage in 18 appearances, it’s one of his best performances to date in what has been a long successful career. The veteran netminder should be able to contribute if called upon, though Casey DeSmith will likely carry most of the load if Jarry is out for a little while.
DeSmith has a .911 save percentage in 13 appearances, though incredibly, nine of those have been losses. The 31-year-old has a career .915 and has been one of the most consistent backups in the league since debuting in 2017-18.
Still, losing Jarry is obviously a big blow. The 27-year-old netminder has been strong this year, winning 15 of his 25 appearances and posting a .918 save percentage. Not only does he have the Penguins to perform for, but he’ll also be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year, meaning he’s playing for a contract. Time on the shelf will obviously hurt those negotiations, though it is a good sign that he wasn’t placed on injured reserve.
There is no timeline for Letang’s return at this point.
Preseason Notes: Jarry, Oilers Injuries, Senators Cuts
Tristan Jarry was in a bad spot after the 2020-21 season. His mistakes at crucial moments heavily contributed to the Penguins’ season-ending first-round loss to the New York Islanders, and there was speculation that offseason on whether the Penguins would go in a new direction in their crease. But last year Jarry issued a powerful response to those doubters, going 34-18-6 with a .919 save percentage in 58 games played. Jarry looked every bit like an elite goalie and ranked just outside the top five goalies in save percentage and goals-against-average.
While we didn’t get a chance to see Jarry play extended time in the Penguins’ playoff games, that hasn’t kept the Penguins from firmly believing in Jarry as their long-term solution in net. Jarry is set to be an unrestricted free agent next summer, though, so his contract status could possibly keep him from being a Penguin long-term. That being said, the Penguins are likely to make every effort to keep him in Pittsburgh. Speaking to the media today, GM Ron Hextall said (as relayed by Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Tribune) that the team had begun extension talks with Jarry and is fully invested in retaining him. For a team that is intent on remaining competitive for the rest of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang‘s careers, it’s easy to see why they’d want to get a Jarry extension done as soon as possible.
Now, for some other notes from across the NHL:
- Edmonton Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft issued a few injury updates today. Per Woodcroft, as covered by The Athletic’s Daniel Nugent-Bowman, defenseman Vincent Desharnais sustained a “minor injury,” winger Carter Savoie was injured during the team’s prospect tournament and is “out long-term,” and prospect forward Raphael Lavoie “won’t participate” in training camp after finishing last season injured. These updates do have implications for the Oilers’ roster, as Desharnais was expected to compete for a depth role on the team’s blueline, and Lavoie was seemingly entering a do-or-die training camp battle to impress Oilers brass after two straight up-and-down seasons at the AHL level.
- The Ottawa Senators announced three cuts from their training camp today, sending prospects Chandler Romeo, Reid Valade, and Dalyn Wakely to their OHL clubs. Romeo, 19, was a seventh-round pick of the Senators at the 2021 draft while Valade and Wakely have each not been drafted. All three were not expected to play significant roles at training camp or in the preseason.
Metropolitan Notes: Jarry, Rangers, Morrow
While Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry is eligible to sign a contract extension at any point now, Tim Benz of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review argues that the window to do so is much narrower with GM Ron Hextall’s general hesitance to work on in-season extensions. The 27-year-old has one year left on his deal that carries a $3.5MM cap hit and coming off a season that saw him post a 2.42 GAA with a .919 SV% in 58 games, he has a strong case to add a couple million to his next AAV based on the contracts handed out to the top goalies in free agency earlier this week. With that in mind, Benz suggests that Pittsburgh’s best strategy might be to wait as with so much of their roster locked up long-term already, if the team wants to have any sort of roster flexibility at all, it might have to come from the goaltending position and locking up Jarry now would take away that option.
More from the Metropolitan:
- While the Rangers have nearly $5MM in cap space left per CapFriendly, they still have to re-sign RFA winger Kaapo Kakko and add a depth defender or two. Beyond that, Larry Brooks of the New York Post suggests that GM Chris Drury should be sitting on his remaining cap space rather than trying to find a way to add another piece this summer. New York didn’t need to rely on banking in-season cap space a year ago since they were well under the Upper Limit but that won’t be the case anymore. Accordingly, if they think they’re going to want to add a piece or two in-season, the only way to have a chance of doing that is to bank as much cap space as possible early on to create enough room for those additions closer to the trade deadline.
- Hurricanes GM Don Waddell told Luke DeCock of the Raleigh News & Observer that he expects prospect defenseman Scott Morrow to turn pro after next season. The 19-year-old was a second-round selection (40th overall) back in 2021 but played quite well at UMass in his freshman year, notching 13 goals and 20 assists in just 38 games. If he’s able to build on that performance in 2022-23, Waddell feels that Morrow would be reaching a point where there will be nothing left to work on in college even though he’d still have two years of eligibility left at that point.
Latest on Kris Letang, Evgeni Malkin
The Pittsburgh Penguins have earmarked the 2022 offseason for years as a potential turning point for the franchise. Two-thirds of the core that has led the team to its lengthiest run of playoff success in franchise history, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang, were scheduled to hit unrestricted free agency. In recent years, Bryan Rust has thrown his name onto the list of important Penguins with expiring contracts this season as well.
The team dealt with Rust, signing him to a long extension last month. Malkin and Letang remain unsigned with now less than a month remaining until free agency begins on July 13. However, The Athletic’s Rob Rossi reports that the organization’s top priority is signing Letang to a multi-year extension, according to multiple sources.
While the wording of that headline could raise some eyebrows, it’s unlikely that the inference the team truly prioritizes Letang over Malkin is accurate. It’s impossible to go into such a pivotal offseason without a plan of attack, and management needs an order of operations in order to manage their salary cap situation. The goal here is likely to figure out an average annual value for Letang as soon as possible so that they can make the appropriate salary cap moves to accommodate Malkin.
The last reported offer the Penguins made to Letang was “a little less” than his current cap hit of $7.25MM for four years, but that was almost a month ago now. If Letang signs for his current cap hit, Pittsburgh would be left with about $15.6MM in cap space this offseason, per CapFriendly. With that number, the Penguins would need to not only re-sign Malkin but also find a goalie to pair with Tristan Jarry and fill multiple spots at forward. It’s extremely doubtful they’d be able to make that work.
Really, all the Penguins are looking for at this point is some cost certainty. General manager Ron Hextall will need some time to make some cap-clearing trades work if necessary, but the team remains fully committed to retaining their core.
Crosby, Rakell, Jarry All Playing In Game 7
Some fantastic news for Pittsburgh Penguins fans just minutes ahead of puck drop on an obviously pivotal Game 7 against the New York Rangers. Sidney Crosby, Rickard Rakell, and Tristan Jarry are all in the lineup after dealing with injuries.
The news is monumental for the Penguins, who greatly missed the presence of all three players in Game 6.
Crosby was injured in Game 5 on a controversial hit from Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba. Prior to the hit, he had a stellar nine points in five games. He returns to center the top line between Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust, who have both performed well in this series. Crosby was sidelined with reported concussion symptoms after the hit, however, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reported this morning that Crosby did test negative for a concussion.
Rakell, the team’s big trade deadline acquisition, was injured after playing just 4:28 in Game 1’s triple-overtime win. With 13 points in 19 games down the stretch in Pittsburgh, he proved he could be an impactful scorer for them. He’ll fill out the top six on a line with Evgeni Malkin and Kasperi Kapanen.
Jarry is potentially the biggest piece to return, though. Not having played for a month, Jarry comes in to replace third-string netminder Louis Domingue, who had performed admirably but struggled in Games 5 and 6. They’ll rely on Jarry to exorcise last year’s playoff demons and deliver for them in a big way tonight.
It’s not all good news, however. Assistant coach Mike Vellucci, whose main areas of emphasis are the penalty kill and the forwards, entered COVID protocol and is unavailable for the game.
Metropolitan Notes: Jarry, Motte, Wilson
Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry took a big step forward in his progress in recovering from a broken bone in his foot as he skated for the first time on Saturday, reports Mike DeFabo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The netminder has been out for the last three weeks due to the injury which resulted in Casey DeSmith getting the nod to start the playoffs. However, he underwent core muscle surgery yesterday which brought his postseason to a premature end, meaning that veteran journeyman Louis Domingue is now Pittsburgh’s starter for the time being. With Jarry just skating today, he’ll still likely miss a few more games but if they’re able to push their series against New York close to the max, Jarry may be able to return at that point.
More from the Metropolitan:
- Rangers winger Tyler Motte may be able to return from his upper-body injury at some point in their first-round series against Pittsburgh, relays Mollie Walker of the New York Post (Twitter link). The 27-year-old was acquired from Vancouver at the trade deadline but was injured in just his ninth game with the team. With Barclay Goodrow being ruled out for the series yesterday, New York could certainly benefit from Motte’s grit and defensive play to help fill some of the holes created by Goodrow’s absence.
- The Capitals will be without winger Tom Wilson once again for their game this afternoon against Florida, notes Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press (Twitter link). Wilson suffered a lower-body injury in the opening period of the series back on Tuesday, a big loss for Washington with the 28-year-old coming off a career year offensively that saw him pot 24 goals and 28 assists in 78 games, good for fourth on the team in scoring. There will be at least one lineup change for the Capitals, however, as Ilya Samsonov will start in goal for that one.
Tristan Jarry Out Week-To-Week
Despite clinching a playoff berth on Wednesday, this week may finish as a disappointing one for Penguins fans. Goaltender Tristan Jarry, who was strong in that playoff-clinching win, is out with a lower-body injury, and Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan stated that the team has designated Jarry’s status as “week to week.” Since the playoffs begin in just over two weeks, such a designation is highly concerning for the Penguins. Although it is definitely possible that Jarry returns in time for the team’s first playoff game, this recent development is not an optimistic one.
Goaltending is perhaps the single most important factor that can separate good teams from bad teams, and this season Jarry has greatly helped the Penguins distinguish themselves as firmly in the “good” category. Jarry, 26, has bounced back from the pessimism surrounding his play in the 2021 playoffs to post a strong .919 save percentage in 58 appearances this season. There have been many nights where Jarry’s heroics have given the Penguins a chance to win their game. Given Jarry’s struggles in last season’s playoffs, it is likely very important to both the team and the player that Jarry is able to carry over his regular-season performance into the playoffs, in order to wash away the stain some of last year’s mistakes have made on his reputation as a potentially elite goaltender.
While a week-to-week designation does leave room for Jarry to return in time for the playoffs, it still does do some damage to the Penguins’ outlook this season. Even if his return is quick and he manages to re-enter the lineup in time for the playoffs, he will have lost a few valuable starts that could help him ramp up for the increased intensity of playoff hockey. That being said, though, a return from injury with little time to ramp up did not seem to hurt Montreal’s Carey Price when he was in a similar situation last season. So, this injury is far from a death sentence for the Penguins’ season, but as of right now the team and its fanbase have to warm themselves up to the possibility of backup Casey DeSmith still manning the crease by the time the playoffs start. DeSmith has not been bad this season, with a .906 mark in 21 games, but he has not matched Jarry’s brilliance. With uncertain futures ahead for franchise icons Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang, this injury development further clouds the near-term future of the Penguins.