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Snapshots: Hoglander, Blue Jackets, Lightning

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Largely expected today, the Department of Player Safety has fined Vancouver Canucks forward Nils Hoglander a total of $2,864.58 for high-sticking Detroit Red Wings defenseman Jake Walman last night, per a press release. The fine was the maximum allowable according to the current Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NHL and the NHLPA.

Originally, there was no penalty called on the play as Hoglander swung his stick into the side of Walman’s head as both players battled for position in front of Detroit’s net. Nevertheless, even though the in-game referees did not decide to penalize Hoglander last night, the Department of Player Safety decided the incident warranted a punishment.

This is the second time this season that the Department of Player Safety has decided to fine Hoglander with the first incident coming on November 21st for slew-footing San Jose Sharks forward Kevin Labanc. Aside from a couple of fines, Hoglander has had quite a productive season for Vancouver, scoring 17 goals and 24 points in 53 games.

Other snapshots:

  • Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch reports that defenseman Ivan Provorov and forward Yegor Chinakhov have both returned to practice for the Columbus Blue Jackets. Reportedly suffering from an undisclosed injury in the team’s most recent game against the Ottawa Senators, Provorov will likely not miss any time with the injury. Chinakhov, on the other hand, did miss the game against the Senators completely but should be available tomorrow night against the San Jose Sharks.
  • In a similar fashion to Columbus, Eduardo Encina of the Tampa Bay Times reports that Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nick Paul will be a game-time decision tomorrow night against the Florida Panthers. Missing the entire third period in last night’s game against the Colorado Avalanche, Paul did miss the team practice today putting his availability up in the air. In the same report, Encina also suggests that Tanner Jeannot will likely be out another week after being activated from the team’s long-term injured reserve on February 13th.

Snapshots: Parise, Rielly, Faulk, Perunovich

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As recently as this past offseason, veteran forward Zach Parise was undecided on his playing future, not knowing whether he would be with the New York Islanders, retire, or join a new organization entirely. Ultimately, the answer was uncovered several months later, as Parise decided to join the Colorado Avalanche by way of a one-year contract.

Now in his 19th season in the NHL, Parise has only been to the Stanley Cup Final once, coming back in 2012 with the New Jersey Devils before ultimately losing to the Los Angeles Kings. In joining the Avalanche, Parise joins one of the clear Stanley Cup contenders of the 2023-24 season and has confirmed that this will be his last attempt to win the coveted trophy.

In an article from Tom Gulitti of the NHL, Parise was quoted as saying, “Yeah, this is it. This is it”, meaning it will be Stanley Cup-or-bust for the 39-year-old veteran. As things currently stand, Colorado is well-positioned to make the playoffs, and MoneyPuck gives them the ninth-best odds of winning the Stanley Cup this year.

Other notes:

  • Yesterday, the Department of Player Safety issued a five-game suspension to Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly due to cross-checking Ottawa Senators forward Ridly Greig. Now appealing the suspension, Chris Johnston of TSN is reporting that Rielly will be offered an in-person appeal hearing in New York tomorrow. Because the suspension is not beyond five games, it will not require an independent arbitrator, meaning that Commissioner Gary Bettman will make the final decision to uphold the decision.
  • In an update today regarding two injured defensemen for the St.Louis Blues, Lou Korac of The Hockey News reports Scott Perunovich has returned to the ice for practice and is skating quite well, while Justin Faulk has not yet returned to the ice. Both players have been out since late January, with Faulk being out since January 23rd, and Perunovich being out since January 28th. In the meantime, the Blues will continue to rely on Matthew Kessel and Calle Rosen to fill in for the lost minutes.

Snapshots: Bedard, Vanecek, Jeannot

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The Chicago Blackhawks are reportedly working with local doctors to see if Connor Bedard can make a surprise return to the lineup on Thursday night, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. This return would come well ahead of expectations, with head coach Luke Richardson previously stating his hope was for Bedard to return next week. To say Bedard’s return would be impactful is an understatement. The 18-year-old rookie phenom still leads the team in scoring despite missing their last 14 games. The Blackhawks have been abysmal in his absence, going 3-10-1. This includes a seven-game losing streak (0-6-1) that the Hawks currently find themselves on, with the team netting just eight goals over the stretch.

Adding back their top scorer, the most recent first-overall selection, and the highest-acclaimed prospect since Connor McDavid will bring a breath of fresh air to a desperate Chicago lineup. Bedard has 15 goals and 33 points in 39 games this season, on pace for 70 points in his rookie season. That would be the most a Chicago rookie has scored since Artemi Panarin managed 30 goals and 77 points in 80 games during the 2015-16 season.

Other notes from around the league:

New Jersey Devils goaltender Vitek Vanecek has recovered from an illness that held him out of Tuesday’s game. But head coach Lindy Ruff shares that he is now day-to-day with a lower-body injury, and will continue to be unavailable. Ruff shared that Vanecek will miss the next two games, including New Jersey’s Stadium Series matchup against the Philadelphia Flyers. New Jersey is expected to turn towards Nico Daws in Vanecek’s absence.

Tampa Bay Lightning forward Tanner Jeannot has been designated as day-to-day with an undisclosed injury, per team reporter Eduardo A. Encina with the Tampa Bay Times. Jeannot made his return on Tuesday from a lower-body injury that held him out of the team’s last 12 games. Encina adds that head coach Jon Cooper is hoping Jeannot’s new injury won’t be long-term as well. Jeannot has appeared in 42 games when healthy this season, scoring 12 points, split evenly.

Snapshots: Pelletier, Guhle, Rempe, Romanov

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Rookie Calgary Flames forward Jakob Pelletier left the team’s Monday night game after receiving a hit from New York Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba. Pelletier is being listed as sustaining an upper-body injury, though the hit seemed to specifically hit Pelletier’s left shoulder.

Pelletier started the season on season-opening injured reserve with a shoulder injury that required surgery. The injury has limited him to just eight games on the season – split evenly between the AHL and NHL. The 22-year-old winger has scored three points in the AHL and one point in the NHL on the year. Calgary acquired Pelletier in the first round of the 2019 NHL Draft. He has become a popular name on the Flames, injecting a burst of speed and energy that’s been missing form the 25-23-5 Flames lineup.

Other notes from around the league:

  • Montreal Canadiens defenseman Kaiden Guhle is expected to make his return to the lineup on Tuesday. The 22-year-old defenseman suffered an undisclosed injury on Sunday and was questionable to miss time. That won’t be the case, though, as Guhle will look to build on the four goals and 12 points he’s managed through 48 games this season.
  • The New York Rangers have sent down centerman Matt Rempe, who was recalled to the NHL roster for a few days of inactivity. The move is largely a paper transaction, likely to get Rempe experience with the NHL club and NHL payroll. The 21-year-old forward has eight goals, 12 points, and 96 penalty minutes in 43 AHL games this season. He ranks in the top 10 of the league, and leads the Hartford Wolf Pack, in penalty minutes.
  • New York Islanders defenseman Alexander Romanov has returned to the team’s practices as a full participant after missing their Saturday game. Romanov, 24, has appeared in 51 games this season and averaged over 22 minutes of ice time each game. He’s managed five goals and 13 points – a slightly lower scoring pace than the 22 points he managed in 76 games last season, his first year with the Islanders.

Snapshots: Sabres, Avalanche, Blue Jackets Injuries, Rielly

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While the Sabres sit a dozen points out of the final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference, it doesn’t seem as if they’re ready to give up on this season just yet.  In his Saturday Headlines segment on Saturday, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported (video link) that Buffalo is looking to add win-now pieces.  One thing they have that many buyers won’t is cap space as CapFriendly pegs them at having over $22MM in cap room today, a number that balloons to over $36MM on trade deadline day.  Accordingly, they have the ability to add some pieces to try to overcome this sizable deficit with 31 games left in their season.

Elsewhere around the NHL:

  • The Avalanche lead the NHL in goals scored with 196, an average of 3.7 per game. Despite that, Corey Masisak of The Denver Post suggests that adding more scoring might be a good way for them to go at the trade deadline.  With the status of Valeri Nichushkin moving forward in doubt while he’s in the Player Assistance Program and the fact that the bulk of their scoring is coming from two lines, adding someone to help deepen their attack could certainly be beneficial when the checking tightens up in the playoffs.  However, cap space is quite limited and if they do opt to go that route, it could prevent them from shoring up their backup goalie spot as well.
  • The upper-body injury that Blue Jackets forward Yegor Chinakhov sustained last night will cause him to miss at least Tuesday’s game versus Ottawa, relays Aaron Portzline of The Athletic (subscription link). If Columbus wants to call up a replacement forward, they’ll need to open up a roster spot first which could be done by shifting Adam Fantilli to injured reserve.  Meanwhile, Portzline adds that defenseman Nick Blankenburg is dealing with a concussion, the second one he has sustained this season.  The 25-year-old has been shuffled back and forth between Columbus and AHL Cleveland this year but it appears he’ll be staying in the minors for a little while until he’s cleared to return.
  • In a follow-up announcement to their offer of an in-person hearing to Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly for his cross-check on Ridly Greig on Saturday, the Department of Player Safety announced (Twitter link) that Rielly accepted the offer and that the hearing will be held on Tuesday afternoon in New York. Considering Toronto plays on Tuesday night, a decision on the length of his suspension will need to be made fairly quickly after the hearing.

Snapshots: Giordano, Timmins, Romanov, Ristolainen

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In tonight’s Battle of Ontario, the Toronto Maple Leafs will be without a few notable defensemen as David Alter of The Hockey News reports that Mark Giordano will be out with a lower-body injury, and Conor Timmins is out with an illness. Alter did point out that Giordano is listed as day-to-day, but could be out longer as the injury was sustained in the team’s most recent game on Wednesday.

This news likely means that either William Lagesson or Maxime Lajoie will draw into the lineup this evening, with the latter having been recalled on an emergency loan yesterday. Of the two, Lagesson has certainly had more opportunity at the NHL level, playing in 21 games for the Maple Leafs this season compared to four for Lajoie.

Whatever the case may be, the depth of Toronto’s defensive core will be tested during their matchup tonight against the Ottawa Senators. Although his production has fallen significantly since his Norris Trophy-winning season of 2018-19, Giordano has been more than reliable for the Maple Leafs this season, scoring one goal and six points in 34 games, averaging just over 17 minutes of ice time per game.

Other snapshots:

  • The New York Islanders will be without defenseman Alexander Romanov this afternoon, as the team announced he is considered day-to-day with a lower-body injury. Not much of an offensive threat from the blue line, Romanov has nevertheless been solid for the Islanders this season, skating alongside Noah Dobson at the top of the team’s defensive core. In 51 games for New York this year, Romanov has scored five goals and 13 points, producing a +15 rating while averaging over 22 minutes of ice time per game.
  • Rasmus Ristolainen will be back in the lineup tonight for the Philadelphia Flyers after missing the team’s last game due to illness (X Link). Struggling to live up to his relatively large contract in Philadelphia, Ristolainen has only skated in 30 games for the Flyers this season, missing much of the beginning of the season with an undisclosed injury. Averaging the lowest time on ice of his career up to this point, Ristolainen has scored one goal and four points for Philadelphia this year.

Snapshots: Kessel, Faulk, Sanderson

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Over the last several weeks, the league has seen long-time NHL veterans such as Zach Parise and Corey Perry find new homes well into the 2023-24 season. One veteran who has seen his name pop up in more chatter over the last couple of days is Phil Kessel.

In a report today, Rick Dhaliwal of The Athletic mentions that the Vancouver Canucks are one of the teams checking in on the three-time Stanley Cup champion. If Kessel can regain form relatively quickly, the Canucks could field one of the deepest teams entering the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs, especially after having acquired Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov this year via trade. It is important to note that from 2015-17, Kessel played under the current Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet when Tocchet was an assistant coach for the Pittsburgh Penguins from 2014-2017.

Nevertheless, it has been nearly 10 months since Kessel skated in his last NHL game, coming on April 24th in the Vegas Golden Knights’ opening-round matchup against the Winnipeg Jets in last year’s playoffs. Over the full length of last season, Kessel was relatively successful, scoring 14 goals and 36 assists in all 82 games while averaging a touch under 13 minutes of ice time per night, the lowest mark of his career.

Other snapshots:

  • Per a team announcement, the St.Louis Blues have placed defenseman Justin Faulk on the team’s injured reserve for the second time this calendar year. Once again suffering from a lower-body injury, it does not appear to be connected to the injury that kept Faulk on the injured reserve from January 4th to January 11th. However, unlike his last injury, Faulk’s timeline has been listed as week-to-week.
  • Leaving the team’s bench in the first period of their final game before the All-Star break, TSN’s Bruce Garrioch reports that Ottawa Senators defenseman Jake Sanderson will not play this weekend, and there is no timeline for his return. Playing in the ’Battle of Ontario’ in a few days, the loss of Sanderson will surely be felt by the team, as the pairing of Sanderson alongside Jakob Chychrun has been one of the best in the league in terms of Expected Goals For and Expected Goals Against per 60 minutes according to MoneyPuck.

Snapshots: Sergachev, Cizikas, Karlsson, Svoboda

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Earlier today, the Lightning activated Mikhail Sergachev off LTIR, adding a key defenseman back into their lineup.  However, the return was short-lived as the team announced (Twitter link) that the blueliner suffered a lower-body injury, ending his return game prematurely.  The 25-year-old was injured in the second period in a collision with Rangers winger Alexis Lafreniere.  Sergachev, who was coming back from a left leg injury, looked to suffer another injury to that same leg on the play and was stretchered off the ice.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • Islanders center Casey Cizikas has been upgraded to a game-time decision for Thursday’s game against Tampa Bay, notes NHL.com’s Stefen Rosner. The 32-year-old has missed the past 10 games because of a lower-body injury, landing him on LTIR in the process.  New York will have to make some roster moves to get cap-compliant before they can bring Cizikas onto the active roster.  Cizikas has 11 points in 39 games so far this season.
  • Linus Karlsson’s frequent roster shuffling continues as today, the Canucks announced (Twitter link) that the center has been returned to AHL Abbotsford. It’s the fourth re-assignment to the minors in a little over three weeks, even with the All-Star break.  Karlsson has played in four games with Vancouver so far while often being recalled to serve as the emergency option should a forward become unavailable close to game time.  Meanwhile, in the minors, the 24-year-old has 27 points in 30 games.
  • Sharks prospect Brandon Svoboda is on the move as USHL Fargo announced that they acquired the center from Youngstown. San Jose picked the 19-year-old in the third round last June but his production has been limited this year with just 11 points in 25 games so far.  Svoboda is committed to Boston University for next season and will be looking to finish up his USHL career on a high note as he’s joining the league-leading Force.

Evening Snapshots: Coyotes, Blue Jackets, Acciari

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For the past two decades, the Arizona Coyotes have been looking for a long-term home for the franchise. Originally moving to Phoenix from Winnipeg in 1996, the team played at the America West Center until 2003, when they made the move to Gila River Arena before finally landing at Mullett Arena at the start of the 2022-23 NHL season. With a desperate need to find a long-term arena, the Coyotes are once again locked in a battle with several local governments to get funding.

Although two artificial deadlines have come and passed, Frank Seravalli of The Daily Faceoff wrote today that an answer could come within the next few weeks, and potentially as early as the upcoming weekend. In the article, Seravalli listed three possibilities still on the table for the resolution: break ground on a publicly funded parcel of land, sell the team to secure private funding in the Phoenix Metro area or move the team to Salt Lake City, UT.

Being the most interesting option of the three, the idea of moving or creating a team in Salt Lake City has picked up steam in the last few weeks, especially with Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith requesting the initiation of a formal expansion process on January 24th. While missing the playoffs in 17 of 26 seasons, a bankruptcy, and multiple different ownership changes, the idea of the Coyotes moving north to Utah may become a very realistic possibility in the near future.

Other snapshots:

  • Although they will not be hosting the 2025 Winter Classic, reports are alluding to the idea that the Columbus Blue Jackets may be hosting a Stadium Series game as soon as next season (Article Link). Being one of only a handful of teams not to host an outdoor game up to this point, the Blue Jackets appear set to host an outdoor game at Ohio Stadium, home of the Ohio State Buckeyes football program. Although nothing has been confirmed yet for the 2024-25 NHL season, the article indicates that NHL representatives were seen surveying the property during Ohio State’s game against the Michigan State Spartans on November 11th.
  • During the team’s game tonight against the Winnipeg Jets, the Pittsburgh Penguins announced that forward Noel Acciari would not return to the game. During the second period, Winnipeg defenseman Brenden Dillon delivered a hit that made contact with Acciari’s head, resulting in a match penalty on the play. After receiving the hit from Dillon, Acciari attempted to get up, but quickly fell back down on the ice, indicating that he may be headed for concussion protocol.

Snapshots: Kochetkov, Monahan, Cousins, Hughes

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Pyotr Kochetkov has been confirmed as the starter for the Carolina Hurricanes’ Tuesday night game against the Vancouver Canucks, per head coach Rod Brind’Amour. This will be Kochetkov’s first game since suffering a concussion on January 11th. He was red-hot before the injury, going 7-1-2 and setting a .924 save percentage in his last 11 games. That includes a four-game winning streak leading up to the injury that saw Kochetkov post a .936 save percentage on 110 shots against.

Carolina has felt the impact of Kochetkov’s absences, seeing their average goals-against jump from 2.45 in Kochetkov’s last 11 appearances to 2.71 in the seven games that he’s missed. That hasn’t been enough of a difference to stifle the red-hot Hurricanes, though the team’s goal-differential has gone from +17 to just +1 in the same periods. The Hurricanes have relied on five different goalies through the 2023-24 season, facing multiple injuries and absences in net. They will hope to find their starting goalie for the second half of the season soon, with both Kochetkov and Frederik Andersen progressing in their return from injury. Andersen has been out since November 2nd with a blood clotting disorder.

Other notes from around the league:

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