Week In Review

This past week was a fairly quiet one around the hockey world with the NHL being shut down for three days.  However, there were some notable events around the league over the past few days which are highlighted in our top stories of the week.

Oilers Add Defense: With Oscar Klefbom, Kris Russell, and Andrej Sekera all injured, Edmonton GM Peter Chiarelli decided to shake up his back end with a pair of trades.  First, he acquired Alex Petrovic from Florida in exchange for Chris Wideman and a 2019 third-round pick.  He’s only a couple of years removed from being an important part of Florida’s blueline but has been more of a depth player since then.  After that, the Oilers picked up Brandon Manning and the rights to Robin Norell from Chicago in exchange for Drake Caggiula and Jason Garrison.  Manning had indicated earlier that he’d be open to a move and he got his wish with this trade.  Manning ($2.25MM) and Caggiula ($1.5MM) both have one year left on their contracts so the Oilers are adding a bit of salary beyond this season which is notable given their limited flexibility.

Key Defensemen Injuries: A pair of Central Division teams were dealt tough blows on the injury front.  Wild defenseman Mathew Dumba will miss at least the next three months after undergoing surgery to repair a ruptured right pectoralis muscle.  While there’s still a chance he could return in the final week or two of the season, it’s still a huge loss for Minnesota as he is one of their top rearguards while sitting second in the league for goals by a blueliner.  Meanwhile, Winnipeg’s Dustin Byfuglien will miss at least a month with a left leg injury.  Early indications are that he could be out longer but there won’t be an update until closer to the All-Star break.  The veteran was quietly off to his highest point per game average of his career while averaging 24:30 per night.

Guentzel Extension: The Penguins have locked up one of their forwards for the long haul, signing Jake Guentzel to a five-year, $30MM extension.  The 24-year-old is in the final year of his entry-level contract but is averaging close to a point-per-game this season in a breakout year.  The deal will make him the fourth-highest paid forward in Pittsburgh behind Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Phil Kessel.  That’s quite a salary level to get to for a player who hadn’t established himself in the league just two years ago.  However, if he continues to produce at his current pace, the contract has the potential to be a bargain for the Penguins before too long.

Dallas CEO Sounds Off: The Stars have not had consistent performances from star forwards Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn and team CEO Jim Lites decided to send a very public message to voice his displeasure.  What’s notable about this particular expletive-filled rant is that it wasn’t a spur of the moment event but rather a planned one as he had called in some team reporters in to make that statement.  The NHLPA released a statement on Sunday condemning Lites’ comments, calling them “reckless and insulting”.  It’s certainly going to be worth watching to see if this helps Seguin and Benn reach a higher level or if this could be an issue that gets bigger down the road.

Ottawa Injuries: This season has not been kind to the Senators when it comes to injuries and things just got a whole lot worse over the past seven days.  Goalie Craig Anderson was diagnosed with a concussion and with Mike Condon in the minors (and injured), they’re now rolling with a tandem of AHL veteran Mike McKenna and youngster Marcus Hogberg, who made his NHL debut on Saturday.  Meanwhile, the team will also be without top blueliner Thomas Chabot for roughly three weeks due to an upper-body injury.  The 21-year-old is tied for second in the NHL in points by a defenseman and leaves a gaping hole on an Ottawa back end that isn’t particularly deep.  The Senators are currently last in the Atlantic Division and these injuries won’t make it any easier to get out of there.

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While the roster freeze came into effect with little fanfare, there was still quite a bit of significant news around the league.  Here are the top stories from the past seven days.

Hakstol Fired In Philadelphia: Less than 24 hours after the Flyers issued a statement saying that Dave Hakstol was their head coach, the team had a change of heart and fired their bench boss.  Scott Gordon, their AHL head coach, was named as Hakstol’s replacement on an interim basis with the expectation that he will be in the role for the remainder of the season.  While there were multiple reports suggesting Joel Quenneville was going to be their hire, it appears they’ll be making a decision on whether or not that will indeed be the case in the offseason.

Flyers Seeking Goaltending Help: With his first move as GM now done, Chuck Fletcher has turned his focus to the trade market and is looking for help between the pipes.  Goaltending has been a concern for Philadelphia all season long with Brian Elliott injured, Michal Neuvirth battling injury issues of his own for most of the season (and struggling when healthy) while youngster Anthony Stolarz is on IR as well.  The team recalled top prospect Carter Hart and has given him his first NHL action but considering that this is his first professional season, he needs more development time at the AHL level.

Concussion For Crawford: Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford missed most of last year and the beginning of this season with a concussion.  Unfortunately for him and the team, he has sustained another one and is out indefinitely.  While there’s no word about the severity yet, head coach Jeremy Colliton indicated that the organization is “concerned” about this new concussion and given how long he was out with the last one, it’s safe to assume that they will be erring on the side of caution and won’t be rushing him back into the lineup.  Cam Ward will take over as the starter for the time being while youngster Collin Delia has been brought up from the minors.

Berglund’s Contract Terminated: Patrik Berglund’s time in Buffalo has come to an end.  After being suspended indefinitely last weekend, the Sabres placed him on unconditional waivers, paving the way for them to terminate his contract which they did on Thursday.  This appears to be a mutual agreement compared to the method that Tampa Bay used to terminate Jake Dotchin’s deal back in training camp.  As a result, Berglund is walking away from a little over $12.5MM in salary over the remaining term of his contract which ran through the 2021-22 season.  Buffalo is not on the hook for any further salary cap commitments to him which gives them considerably more flexibility moving forward.

Ottawa’s Arena Deal Is Off: While it appeared like Ottawa’s deal was heading off the rails when team owner Eugene Melnyk sued arena partner John Ruddy, it’s officially off the table now.  Just one day after Ruddy filed a countersuit, the National Capital Commission has opted to terminate the preferred proponent term sheet and begin a new process for the redevelopment of the LeBreton Flats in the downtown core.  The Senators have been seeking a new home closer to the downtown core but instead, it appears they’ll remain in Kanata for the foreseeable future.

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With the holiday roster freeze fast approaching, trade speculation has started to pick up around the league.  Those notes dominate our top stories of the week.

Asking Price For Howard: Goaltending has been a question mark for several teams currently holding down a playoff spot so they will likely be looking to the rental market for potential upgrades.  Red Wings netminder Jimmy Howard is in that group but Detroit has placed a high asking price on his services with a package that includes a first-round pick.  The 34-year-old is in the midst of a nice bounce-back season, posting a 2.69 GAA with a .922 SV% through 23 games.  Howard’s cap hit is just shy of $5.3MM which may be difficult for some contending teams to take on so if the Red Wings opt to move him, they will likely have to retain some salary.

Sabres Unlikely To Pursue Rentals: While Buffalo is off to a better start than many expected, GM Jason Botterill doesn’t appear to be inclined to deviate from his long-term plan.  While they are open to adding players that can help them in their push for the postseason, they only appear to be interested in ones that are signed (or are under team control) beyond this season and aren’t interested in getting into the rental market.  Buffalo could have as many as three first-round picks in June so it’s possible that they could dangle one of those to pick up someone who can help them for a while.

Berglund Suspended Indefinitely: The Sabres were also involved in the strangest story of the week.  Although he was listed as missing two games due to an illness, the team announced that they have suspended center Patrik Berglund indefinitely for failing to report to the team.  The veteran has struggled so far this season, posting just two goals and two assists in 23 games while logging a career-low 13:03 per night of ice time.  He has also been used almost exclusively in a checking role as he has an offensive zone start percentage of just 20.2%.  For perspective, his lowest oSZ% heading into the season was 41.2% back with the Blues in 2015-16.  Berglund is signed through 2021-22 with a cap hit of $3.85MM which will be difficult for the Sabres to move if they wind up having to go in that direction.

Bortuzzo Extension: The Blues have locked up one of their depth defensemen, inking Robert Bortuzzo to a three-year, $4.125MM contract.  With the deal, the 29-year-old gets a small raise on his current $1.15MM AAV.  Bortuzzo has been a consistent physical presence on the back end in St. Louis since they acquired him back at the trade deadline in the 2014-15 season from Pittsburgh and gives them some security on their back end with three other players earmarked for unrestricted free agency next summer.

Coyle Being Shopped: Wild forward Charlie Coyle is no stranger to the rumor mill and he’s back there once again, following a report that says he’s being dangled in trade talks.  He has underachieved so far this season with just five goals in 32 games despite logging nearly 17 minutes a night in ice time.  The fact he can play both center and the right wing will help his trade value, as is his $3.2MM cap hit through next season.  Coyle is just 26 and there will undoubtedly be teams interested in acquiring him despite his slow start.

The week of American Thanksgiving is often viewed as the time where teams make to start changes.  This year was no exception as a pair of teams made coaching moves which highlight the top stories of the week.

Blues Fire Yeo: The Blues made several big changes to their forwards over the summer in the hopes that doing so would vault them back into contention after just missing the playoffs last season.  Instead, they got off to a slow start to their season and a coaching change was made with Mike Yeo being let go with assistant Craig Berube taking over on an interim basis.  GM Doug Armstrong indicated that a full coaching search is now underway so there’s no guarantee that Berube (who will be considered in the search) will be in place for the rest of the season.

Ducks Staying Put: While there hasn’t been any speculation that the Ducks could one day be on the move, any thought of that can be put aside for a long time.  Anaheim City Council approved a 25-year extension to their current arena deal with the team (that’s in place through 2023) meaning that the team has its home set through 2048.  There are five additional five-year extension options in the agreement as well.

Asking Price For Skinner: Sabres winger Jeff Skinner is off to a torrid start to his season, his first with Buffalo after they acquired him from Carolina over the offseason.  He has 18 goals through his first 24 games which certainly will help his case in free agency next summer.  With that in mind, his reported asking price to forego testing the open market is between $9MM and $9.5MM per season, a significant raise on his current $5.725MM AAV.  Talks between Skinner’s representation and the team are scheduled to start sometime next month.

Coaching Change In Edmonton: With the Oilers starting to struggle once again, a change was made behind the bench.  The fact that they relieved Todd McLellan of his duties wasn’t necessarily too surprising but the fact that Ken Hitchcock has taken over caught many by surprise.  Hitchcock had stepped aside at the end of last season in Dallas to move into a consulting role for the team and at that time, no one really anticipated that the 66-year-old would be looking to step behind the bench again.  He’ll try to insert some more structure into Edmonton’s style of play as they look to get back into the playoff hunt but chances are that this will be a short-term hire.

Oilers Acquire Wideman: The Oilers have added some defensive depth, acquiring defenseman Chris Wideman from Ottawa in exchange for a conditional sixth-round pick (previously acquired from St. Louis for Jakub Jerabek).  The 28-year-old will give Edmonton some mobility from the back end, an area that GM Peter Chiarelli acknowledged recently that he needed to address.  Wideman was deemed expendable by the Sens with players like Maxime Lajoie and Christian Jaros stepping into regular roles.  Speaking of the Senators, this wasn’t the only time they were in the headlines as their proposed arena project has taken a turn for the worse.

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As we quickly approach the one-quarter mark of the season, activity around the league has started to pick up.  A pair of trades highlight our top stories of the week.

Penguins, Kings Swap Wingers: Fresh off a three-year contract extension, Pittsburgh GM Jim Rutherford made a trade, dealing Carl Hagelin to Los Angeles in exchange for Tanner Pearson.  Pearson has averaged 40 points per year over the last three seasons but was off to a disastrous start this season with just a single assist in 17 games leading up to the trade.  He has two years left on his contract with a $3.75MM cap hit and the Penguins are clearly banking on him turning it around.  Meanwhile, Hagelin has also been quiet offensively with just three points in 17 games before the deal but as an expiring contract, the Kings will get some much-needed salary cap flexibility for next season.  He carries a $4MM cap hit this season and Pittsburgh will pay $250K to make the deal cap-neutral for 2018-19.

Wilson Suspension Reduced: Tom Wilson’s final appeal to independent arbitrator Shyam Das proved to be a successful one as his 20-game suspension for a hit on Blues center Oskar Sundqvist was reduced to 14 games.  While he had already sat for 16 games by the time the announcement was made, it enabled Wilson to recover nearly $400K in forfeited salary.  Meanwhile, he has made an immediate impact since returning to the lineup, collecting a goal and two assists while averaging over 19 minutes per night in his first three games back.

Chychrun Extension: The Coyotes have locked up another part of their long-term core, inking defenseman Jakob Chychrun to a six-year, $26.7MM contract extension.  When healthy, the 20-year-old has been a dependable player on Arizona’s back end since they drafted him 16th overall in 2016.  They timed the announcement to be on the same day that he made his season debut after coming back from knee surgery.  However, he sustained an upper-body injury in that game and as a result, he finds himself back on injured reserve.  It’s safe to say that the Coyotes will be hoping that Chychrun will be able to stay in the lineup a lot more often when this new deal kicks in for the 2019-20 season.

Concussion Lawsuit Settled: The league announced that they have reached a tentative settlement with nearly 150 former players in the lawsuit filed over the NHL’s treatment of players with concussions.  Notably, the league does not formally acknowledge any liability and the total of the settlement will approach $19MM, working out to roughly $22K per player.  Each player has 75 days to decide whether or not to opt into the settlement and the league has the option to terminate the agreement if they so desire if any players back out.  (Daniel Carcillo has already stated his intention to do so.)

Rangers, Oilers Swap: Ryan Strome and Ryan Spooner have both gotten off to rough starts this season with just a goal and an assist apiece.  The Rangers and Oilers decided to give those players a change of scenery as New York sent Spooner and cash to Edmonton.  Spooner is just one year removed from tallying 41 points in just 59 games and Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli is familiar with him from his days in Boston.  Meanwhile, Strome returns to the Metropolitan Division where he had some success with the Islanders including a 50-point season in 2014-15.  Spooner has a $4MM cap hit while Strome checks in at $3.1MM; the Rangers will cover $900K each year to make it cap-neutral.  Both players are signed through next season.

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There were a couple of surprises around the league over the past seven days which are headlined in our top stories of the week.

Sprong Available: Penguins winger Daniel Sprong has shown flashes of his offensive upside in recent years but he hasn’t been able to lock down a full-time role in Pittsburgh’s top nine.  It appears that the team is at least willing to entertain the idea of moving him as his name has come up in trade talks recently.  Sprong has four assists in a dozen games so far this season despite spending the majority of his time on the fourth line.  GM Jim Rutherford hasn’t hidden his frustration over Pittsburgh’s start to the season so it will be interesting to see if something involving Sprong is all they’re looking to do or if there could be other moves on the horizon.

Duchene, Senators In Contract Talks: There has been an expectation that the Senators would likely have to move center Matt Duchene between now and the trade deadline but that may not be the case.  A report has come out that the two sides are in ‘substantive’ contract discussions and that there is mutual interest in getting a long-term extension done.  Duchene is certainly bolstering his value on the ice as he is over the point per game mark so far this season which should help him improve upon his current $6MM AAV on this next deal.

Coaching Change In Chicago: The Blackhawks decided to part ways with long-time bench boss Joel Quenneville, replacing him with Jeremy Colliton, the head coach of their AHL affiliate.  Quenneville had been with the team since taking over early in the 2008-09 season and won three Stanley Cups with the team.  However, after missing the playoffs last season and getting off to a slow start this year, GM Stan Bowman decided to make the coaching change.  The 60-year-old has indicated that he’d like to return behind the bench but to do so, an arrangement would have to be worked out with regards to his salary as Chicago owes him $6MM per year through 2019-20; presumably, any new team would have to take on the majority of that amount.

Canadiens Release Plekanec: In a move that was out of the blue, the Canadiens announced that they had reached an agreement to terminate the remainder of center Tomas Plekanec’s contract, making him an unrestricted free agent.  The 36-year-old returned to Montreal this summer as a free agent, inking a one-year deal with a $2.25MM guarantee plus another $1.25MM in bonuses but will now look to place elsewhere.  He indicated that he would like to retire from the NHL as a member of the Canadiens which suggests he will likely be looking for a deal to play overseas in the days to come.  Plekanec wraps up his NHL career with 1,001 regular season games played (all but 17 of which came with Montreal) and ranks seventh in franchise history in games played and 13th in points with 606.

Toronto Asking For Nylander Offers: As the William Nylander saga drags on, the Maple Leafs have asked teams to provide a list of players they’d be willing to move for the unsigned winger as well as what the framework of an offer would look like.  Toronto’s preferred option would still be to re-sign him but with the deadline to get something done now less than a month away, GM Kyle Dubas appears to be looking to see what his options around the league may be if they have to change gears and pursue a trade.

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As the calendar flips to November, a pair of teams will be missing core players for a while.  Those injuries highlight our top stories of the week.

Matthews Out At Least One Month: Toronto will be without top center Auston Matthews for at least a month due to a shoulder injury sustained last weekend.  Surgery was not required.  He was off to a torrid start before the injury, scoring ten goals while adding six assists in just 11 games.  While losing an elite player like Matthews will hurt any team, the Maple Leafs can certainly take some comfort knowing that they still have John Tavares and Nazem Kadri down the middle which is still one of the stronger one-two punches in the league.

Voynov Applies For Reinstatement: There has been some discussion about the possibility of former Kings defenseman Slava Voynov returning to the NHL.  The first step in that process is underway as Deputy Commissioner acknowledged that Voynov has applied for reinstatement and that the league is currently investigating his domestic violence incident from 2015, one that saw him plead no contest.  If the NHL was to approve his request, a significant suspension is expected to be imposed that he would have to serve before he could resume playing.

Six Years For Gourde: Lightning winger Yanni Gourde has been a late-bloomer.  He only cracked the NHL on a full-time basis last season but made an immediate impact, scoring 25 goals while adding 39 assists.  He has followed that up with a solid start in 2018-19 and was rewarded for his efforts, inking a six-year, $31MM extension with the team.  The contract also contains a full no-trade clause for the first three years and a partial one in the other three.  Considering the 26-year-old has less than 120 career regular season games under his belt, there is a bit of risk here but if he can continue to produce at the rate he has since last season, Tampa Bay will get pretty good value on this deal.  The team now has more than $72MM committed to just 14 players for next season so they will likely have to make a move or two to free up salary cap space at some point between now and October.

Coaching Change In Los Angeles: The first coach firing of the season came in Los Angeles as the Kings parted ways with head coach John Stevens and assistant coach Don Nachbaur.  Willie Desjardins takes over as interim head coach for the rest of the year while Marco Sturm has joined the staff as an assistant, his first NHL role since retiring in January of 2014.  Los Angeles has struggled out of the gate this season, posting the lowest points percentage in the league thus far with a 4-8-1 record.  Desjardins will be hard-pressed to get some early success as starting goalie Jonathan Quick underwent surgery to repair a torn meniscus and has been placed on long-term injured reserve.

Extension For Rinne: Pekka Rinne decided to forego testing the UFA market, agreeing to a two-year, $10MM contract extension with the Predators.  The 36-year-old has been with Nashville his entire career after they drafted him back in the eighth round back in 2004.  The deal represents a notable drop from his current $7MM salary and cap hit but with Juuse Saros in the fold, it’s likely that the team will start to transition towards playing him more so the drop in pay isn’t particularly surprising.

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The final full week of October featured a fair bit of news away from the ice which is highlighted in our top stories of the week.

Wilson’s Appeal Denied, Appeals Again: NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman upheld the 20-game suspension issued to Capitals winger Tom Wilson for his hit on Blues center Oskar Sundqvist back in the preseason.  Notable in the 31-page decision is that the NHLPA argued that a suspension was unwarranted and that Rule 48 was not violated.  With that in mind, it comes as little surprise that the appeal has now been made to neutral arbitrator Shyam Das with the hearing slated for Wednesday.

Seattle Realignment Determined: Even though Seattle hasn’t even officially been awarded an expansion franchise yet, the league has already determined its realignment plans for their eventual entry.  As expected, Seattle will go into the Pacific Division but rather than have nine teams in there and seven in the Central, the plan is to move Arizona into the Central.  As things stand, the plan appears to be to have Seattle join the league in 2020-21 although if their inclusion isn’t made official over the next few months, that could still be pushed back a year.

Schmidt Extension: After locking up Alex Tuch and Shea Theodore to long-term deals in recent weeks, the Golden Knights were at it again, this time inking defenseman Nate Schmidt to a six-year, $35.7MM extension.  The deal also contains a ten-team no-trade clause.  Schmidt played an instrumental role in the Golden Knights’ run to the Stanley Cup Final last season and has certainly earned the significant raise on his current $2.3MM salary.  The 27-year-old has yet to play in the 2018-19 season as he continues to serve a 20-game suspension for testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance over the summer.  Vegas now has more than $72MM in committed contracts on the books for next season already.

Namestnikov Garnering Trade Interest: The transition from Tampa Bay to New York has not been kind for center Vladislav Namestnikov.  He went from being a legitimate top-six forward with the Lightning to struggling to stay in the lineup with the Rangers.  Not surprisingly, he is starting to draw some trade interest around the league as he could be an intriguing buy-low candidate.  The 25-year-old is in the first season of a two-year, $8MM deal and will be eligible for unrestricted free agency in the 2020 offseason.  Through ten games this season, Namestnikov has just a goal and two assists while logging just over 11 minutes per night.

Boyle’s Cancer In Remission: Saving the best news for last, Devils center Brian Boyle revealed that his cancer is in “full molecular remission”, just under one year since he returned to action.  The 2018 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy winner is off to a quality start to his year with three goals in eight games and really solidifies their depth down the middle.  While Boyle will still need to take medication to help ensure that it doesn’t return down the road, he appears to be well on his way towards a full recovery.

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This was a rough week around the NHL when it came to injuries as several prominent players are out long-term.  Those are highlighted in the top stories of the week.

Schultz Out Four Months: The Penguins will be without defenseman Justin Schultz for the next four months after he underwent surgery to repair a fracture in his left leg.  The injury was sustained back on October 13th against Montreal.  He’s a key cog on their back end but it doesn’t appear as if there are any plans to replace him externally for now with GM Jim Rutherford indicating that their current plan is to try to fill his spot from within.  Considering he is one of their better offensive threats and typically logs nearly 20 minutes a night for them, that’s going to be a tall task.

Ritchie Signs: The number of remaining restricted free agents around the league was cut in half after the Ducks and winger Nick Ritchie agreed to terms on a three-year, $4.6MM deal.  Ritchie was believed to be seeking a one-year pact but Anaheim wanted the three-year pact to give them some cost certainty.  It will still take a bit of time before he suits up as he has to get his immigration paperwork in place as well as get his conditioning up to playing shape.

Matheson Gets Two: Following his controversial throw down of Canucks center Elias Pettersson last weekend, the NHL suspended Panthers defenseman Michael Matheson for two games.  Those games were served during the week while Pettersson is currently in concussion protocol but isn’t expected to miss much more time.

Tuch Locked Up: The Golden Knights continue to lock up their core youngsters.  After inking defenseman Shea Theodore to a seven-year contract last month, they did the same with winger Alex Tuch on a deal that will carry an AAV of $4.75MM and a five-team no-trade clause in the final three years of the contract.  The 22-year-old has yet to play this season as he works his way from a lower-body injury and has just 84 career regular season games under his belt.  Tuch is coming off of a 37-point rookie campaign and still has plenty of upside so while there is certainly some risk to the deal given his limited experience, there is also a chance that this becomes a team-friendly contract over the next few years.

More Injuries: Schultz was hardly the only notable injury around the league.  Vegas will be without their top free agent acquisition in center Paul Stastny for up to two months due to a lower-body injury which certainly isn’t good news for an offense that is struggling to score.  Meanwhile, Coyotes pivot Christian Dvorak suffered a torn pectoral muscle while rehabbing the lower-body injury that held him out of training camp.  He has undergone surgery and is out indefinitely.  Meanwhile, even prospects were bit by the injury bug.  Ottawa winger Brady Tkachuk has seen his strong start to his rookie campaign delayed by a month due to a torn ligament in his left leg while Red Wings prospect winger Evgeny Svechnikov (a first-round pick in 2015) will miss five-to-six months due to a torn ACL.

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While it was a quiet week around the league on the transaction front, there was still some notable news which is highlighted in our top stories of the week.

Cap Range For Next Season: The preliminary range for the Upper Limit of the salary cap for next season is now available and it runs from $81.4MM to $85.4MM depending on how much of the annual inflator the NHLPA chooses to use.  In the past, the inflator was used at the maximum five percent but in recent years, it has been reduced in order to try to limit escrow.  Even at the low end, that would still represent a jump of nearly $2MM on the current Upper Limit and with a few teams projected to be capped out, every little bit will count.

Wilson Gets Non-Roster Status: While this largely flew under the radar, the NHL granted suspended Capitals forward Tom Wilson non-roster status.  This allows Washington to essentially replace Wilson on the active roster without him counting against the 23-player limit.  This is granted on a case-by-case basis by Commissioner Gary Bettman but rarely is it granted for suspended players.  For comparison, Vegas defenseman Nate Schmidt is also on a 20-game suspension but has not been granted non-roster status.  This has the potential to be a precedent setter and it will be interesting to see if other teams petition the league for similar treatment for their players as the season progresses.  Meanwhile, Wilson’s appeal will be heard by Bettman this coming Thursday.

Nash Still Undecided About Future: Rick Nash was slated to be one of the more notable players available in free agency back in July but withdrew himself from consideration, citing he was undecided about playing this season.  While there was some speculation that the 34-year-old was about to retire, he indicated that he remains undecided about playing or not, adding that he is still dealing with the side effects from his latest concussion.  If he does decide to play, he’ll have to be on an NHL roster by the trade deadline in February.

Van Riemsdyk Injured: The Flyers will be without their key offseason addition for more than a month as winger James van Riemsdyk will miss five-to-six weeks with a lower-body issue.  The injury was sustained last Saturday against Colorado.  That’s not the start that the veteran was hoping for to kick off his second stint with the organization that initially drafted him second overall back in 2007.  Injuries have hit Philadelphia early as goalie Michal Neuvirth and center Nolan Patrick are also on the shelf.

Watson’s Suspension Reduced: The NHLPA’s appeal of Predators winger Austin Watson’s suspension for a domestic violence incident yielded a sizable reduction in his punishment.  Instead of missing the first 27 games of the season, he will now miss the opening 18 games of the season.  That means that Watson will be eligible to return in just over a month from now on November 15th against Arizona.  The NHL released a statement expressing their disappointment in the arbitrator’s decision but they are not able to change it.

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