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Leafs AHL Goalie Sparks Suspended Indefinitely

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TSN reported last night that the Toronto Maple Leafs have suspended AHL net minder Garret Sparks indefinitely for violating team policy. Specifically, Sparks is believed to have used “violent and sexist language toward a user in an online group.”

Sparks has not appeared in a game this season for the Leafs and because of injury has been limited to just four appearances for the Toronto Marlies of the AHL. For the Marlies, the 23-year-old goalie has won three of his starts and has a GAA of 2.02 with a Save % of 0.918.

The 2011 seventh-round draft choice made his NHL debut last season for the Leafs, starting 17 contests and finishing with a 3.02 GAA and a Save % of 0.893.

Marlies head coach Sheldon Keefe indicated there is no timetable for Sparks’ return but the situation will be reevaluated next week.

Should the Leafs need to recall a goalie from the AHL for any reason during Sparks’ suspension, it would likely be Antoine Bibeau who gets the call. Bibeau, the Leafs sixth-round choice in 2013, is 6 – 4 – 3 with a GAA of 2.50 and a Save % of 0.908 for the Marlies.

Sabres Notes: Ennis, O’Reilly, Eichel

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After undergoing surgery last week to repair two sports hernias, Buffalo Sabres forward Tyler Ennis will miss six weeks according to John Vogl of Buffalo News. The three-time 20 goal scorer had been struggling to start the season with only two points in twelve games. This comes after an injury-plagued 2015-16 that saw Ennis suit up only 23 times, scoring 11 points.

Six weeks gives Ennis a timeline right around the Christmas break in the NHL, which happens December 24-26. Before last season, the small forward had proven fairly durable in his career, playing in 335 games from 2010-2015. He’ll now try to get back to that pace with a successful rehab and final three months.

  • Ryan O’Reilly is skating again, but is still day-to-day and will likely not play tomorrow against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Buffalo alternate-captain has been in and out of the lineup all season with a “middle-body injury” or back spasms, and has been limited to just 13 games (out of 16). After avoiding any potential suspensions from his offseason incident, O’Reilly was expected to once again lead the Sabres in scoring. After putting up 60 points in 71 games last season, the big center has put up nine this year.
  • The other big scoring threat on the Sabres, Jack Eichel, is also injured at the moment and working his way back. While there is still no exact timetable for his return, head coach Dan Bylsma did say he is skating and progressing today. Eichel was injured at practice in early October, and initial diagnoses had him somewhere between 4-8 weeks for a return. Last year’s second-overall pick put up 56 points in his rookie season but has yet to hit the ice in a game this year.
  • The team has sent down Casey Nelson to Rochester today, though according to Vogl is expected to recall him tomorrow after the Americans’ game tonight. With all the injuries to the NHL squad, Nelson is playing somewhat of a taxi-squad role just in case anything happens in warmups or morning skates.

Pacific Division Notes: Flames, Canucks, Oilers

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The Calgary Flames have struggled in the early stretches of this season, and some of their fans have found a scapegoat: “The Wideman Effect”.

The belief is that since January 2016, when Dennis Wideman ran linesman Don Henderson from behind, ending the latter’s career, the referees have been biased against the Flames. Despite the catchy name, it appears that the perception just isn’t true. Sportsnet’s Mark Spector broke down the penalties called in the 47 games before the incident and the 46 since. While the Flames did see a nearly 50 per cent increase in penalties last season after the attack, they still spent more time on the power-play. Moving to this season, the Flames are the second-most penalized team in the NHL after the Bruins. But they’ve also had the fifth-most power-play opportunities of any team.

Fans can look no further than the struggles of Sean Monahan, Johnny Gaudreau, and Brian Elliott, and some questionable lineup choices on the blue line. Fresh off signing new contracts for $6.375MM and $6,75MM respectively, Monahan and Gaudreau have combined for just 11 points through 12 games. That’s eight less than last season at this time.

Elliott was traded for to stabilize the Flames wretched goaltending from last season, and so far has a sub-900 save percentage and a GAA over 3. Backup Chad Johnson has been better, but is still below league-average.

Finally, the Flames new coach Glen Gulutzan’s usage of Dougie Hamilton has been weird this season. Hamilton scored 43 points last season while playing just under 20-minutes per game, but has fallen below 19 minutes this season and has been playing third-pairing at even-strength with lesser players.

  • It has been an ugly stretch for the Canucks, who have lost seven games in a row after starting 4-0-0. They’ve fallen from first in the NHL to 26th. Even worse, the Canucks have scored just seven goals in that stretch and have been shutout in four of their last five games. The Blue Jackets outscored the Canucks’ entire losing streak in 38-minutes on Friday night, and they weren’t even done yet. Coach Willie Desjardins said he believes in their players and thinks they can turn it around, despite admitting this season’s losing has been tough on him. Desjardins is on the hot seat, considering GM Jim Benning believes the Canucks are a playoff team. However, Benning may not be entirely accurate in that belief: the Canucks are averaging just 1.45 goals-per-game, nearly a goal-and-a-half less than the league-average. Most prognosticators have the Canucks pegged as a real contender, not for the playoffs, but for the best draft lottery odds.
  • Meanwhile, the Edmonton Oilers are sitting in first in the Western Conference after a hot start. They’ve cooled down a little, going 0-2-1 in the last week. Spector echoed a common sentiment about the team: if they can get their hands on a legit point-threat for their floundering power-play, then watch out. The Oilers were linked to Kevin Shattenkirk, P.K. Subban and Tyson Barrie over the summer, and more recently pending-UFA Brent Burns. In his article, Spector suggests Jason Garrison might be available in Tampa Bay as a cap casualty, though he’s another lefty; when healthy, five of the Oilers top-six defenders are left-handed.

Tom Gilbert Suspended Three Games

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The NHL has suspended Los Angeles Kings defenseman Tom Gilbert for three games for a boarding incident with Anaheim’s Nick Ritchie, the Department of Player Safety announced.  He will be eligible to return to the lineup on November 10th against his former team, the Montreal Canadiens.

The incident occurred in the second period of the Kings’ game against the Ducks on Tuesday night.  No penalty had been originally assessed on the play.  As a result of the suspension, Gilbert will forfeit a little over $23K in salary.  As a non-repeat offender, he loses 3/180 of his pay for the season; had he been a repeat offender, he would have lost 3/82 of his salary, or a little over $50K.

This suspension certainly does little to help the cap woes that Los Angeles is currently experiencing.  The team recalled Kevin Gravel earlier on Thursday but that was to take the place of Brayden McNabb who is currently on injured reserve.  While most teams like to have a seventh blueliner available, the Kings aren’t in a position to bring one up pending any further roster moves as they have just over $360K in cap space at the moment as per Cap Friendly.  They also aren’t afforded the ability to move Gilbert off the active roster while he’s under suspension and Gravel is the only waiver-exempt skater on the roster at the moment.  Accordingly, a thin back end is going to stay that way for the next three games.

Pastrnak Suspended Two Games

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NHL Player Safety has announced that Boston Bruins winger David Pastrnak will be suspended two games for a high hit on New York Rangers defenseman Dan Girardi on Wednesday. As the league explains, by launching himself toward the head area of Girardi, Pastrnak committed an illegal check and has been given two games as a punishment. Girardi was not injured on the hit.

There are certainly some questions as to the intent of the 180 lb. Pastrnak as he flew towards an unaware 210 lb. Girardi. Pastrnak has never been afraid of contact, despite his smaller stature, but he also has no history of dirty checks. Girardi was also making a play on the puck, and the hit was with purpose and not late.  Nevertheless, the league felt that Pastrnak’s hit, which by accident or on purpose was to the head of Girardi, warranted a suspension, even as the player’s first offense.

Pastrnak will miss big divisional games for the Bruins, on the road against the Detroit Red Wings and Florida Panthers. After starting off strong with a 3-1 record, Boston has lost their last three games  while they dealt with the absence of goalie Tuukka Rask. With Rask set to return as early as tomorrow, the Bruins were hoping to get back on track. They will have to do so without their leading goal-scorer. Playing on a line with Brad Marchand and one of Patrice Bergeron or David Backes, Pastrnak has gotten off to a red-hot start with five goals and three assists in seven games. The 20-year-old is tied for second in the league in goals, and was hoping to pot a few more on the Bruins road trip. Instead, he will watch from the bench as a Boston team that is struggling with injuries early this season will lose another key contributor.

Snapshots: Corrado, Tortorella, Rakell, Weise

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Toronto blueliner Frank Corrado finds himself in a familiar situation this season and as Chris Johnston of Sportsnet writes, it’s not a good one to be in.  Last year, the Leafs claimed Corrado off of waivers just prior to the start of the season and then proceeded to keep him in the press box for the better part of two months, save for a brief conditioning stint in the AHL.  The justification was that the team thought high enough of him to keep him on the roster and not risk losing him for nothing but that he wasn’t quite good enough to be in the lineup.

Fast forward to this year and history seems to be repeating itself for Corrado, who has been a healthy scratch in four straight games to start the year.  Toronto is carrying eight defensemen to start the season and their other scratch – Roman Polak – made his season debut on Thursday, suggesting that Corrado once again sits eighth on the depth chart without much hope of getting into the lineup.  The belief remains that if Toronto tried to assign him to the minors, he’d be claimed off of waivers, creating an identical situation to last season.

For the time being, it appears that like last season, it’s going to take an injury or two for Corrado to get into the lineup.  Until then, he’ll have to bide his time and wait for a chance which is far from an ideal situation for a 23 year old who has yet to play 50 games in each of the last two years.

More from around the league:

  • Today marks the one year anniversary of the Blue Jackets hiring John Tortorella as their new head coach. In that time, the team has played to a 34-35-8 record, notes Puck Rakers’ Tom Reed.  Clearly, Columbus was looking for more of an immediate impact from Tortorella behind the bench and as a result, he is one of the coaches who came into the season firmly on the hot seat.  The Jackets made a quick coaching change last season and if the team continues to struggle, GM Jarmo Kekalainen may be quick to pull the trigger again this year.
  • The agent for Ducks center Rickard Rakell told Eric Stephens of the OC Register that the expectation is that Rakell will be able to report to the team sometime next week. Rakell is in the process of securing a P-1 visa which is required before he can resume skating with Anaheim.  In the meantime, Rakell will continue to work out on his own in Sweden while waiting for the visa process to be completed which is expected to be shortly after the weekend.
  • Philadelphia right winger Dale Weise has been suspended for three games as a result of an illegal check to the head on Anaheim defenseman Korbinian Holzer on Thursday night, the NHL’s Department of Player Safety announced.  No penalty had been assessed on the hit during the game.  Weise becomes the third Flyer to miss time due to suspension already this season, joining Brayden Schenn and Radko Gudas.

Radko Gudas Suspended Six Games

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After avoiding suspension for a hit earlier this pre-season on Jimmy Vesey of the New York Rangers, Radko Gudas has been given a six-game ban for his hit on Bruins’ forward Austin Czarnik.

This is not the first time Gudas has received discipline from the league. Last season he received three ejections in the span of a month, and was given a three-game suspension for a hit on Mika Zibanejad in December. Though he’s only technically a two-time offender now, the six-game ban is a strong message that his on-the-edge style will no longer be tolerated by the league.

The Flyers now have a lot of trouble on their blueline for the start of the season and will be hoping that Brandon Manning can play as soon as possible. With Michael Del Zotto out and now Gudas unavailable, 19-year old Ivan Provorov will be staying with the team. These injuries and suspensions are heaping even more responsibility onto sophomore Shayne Gostisbehere, as he looks to become the leader on the back-end for the Flyers this season.

West Notes: Benn, Pearson, Boyle

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Dallas center Jamie Benn has been one of the top players in the NHL in recent years but at one point was strong considering baseball, he told Jonas Siegel of the Canadian Press.  Before the Stars selected him in the fifth round back in 2007, he had an NCAA commitment to the University of Alaska-Fairbanks where he would have played both sports.  However, after being drafted, he agreed to play in the WHL, thereby foregoing his college eligibility.

On the diamond, Benn spent his time at center field and first base while also pitching from time to time.  One of his former coaches called him the second best hitter to come out of Victoria, B.C., behind only Michael Saunders of the Toronto Blue Jays.

Benn’s commitment to both sports may have played a role in him dropping as far as he did in the draft as his hockey conditioning and skills weren’t as sharp as many other junior aged players at that time.

It’s hard to say the selection hasn’t panned out for the Stars, who picked four players ahead of Benn that year with only one actually playing in the NHL (Colton Sceviour, who signed with Florida this summer).  The 27 year old – who suited up in his first preseason game this week and appears to be on track to start the season – has put up three straight seasons of 79 points or more.  Although he may very well have been a successful baseball player had he opted to make that his primary choice, it’s safe to say that the decision to stick with hockey has served the Stars’ captain well.

Other news from out West:

  • Los Angeles left winger Tanner Pearson has been suspended for the remainder of the preseason plus the first two games of the regular season for an illegal check to the head on Edmonton defenseman Brandon Davidson, the NHL’s Department of Player Safety announced. Pearson had received a match penalty on the play originally.  He will forfeit just over $15.5K in salary to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund and will be eligible to return on October 18th against Minnesota.
  • Veteran defenseman Dan Boyle officially announced his retirement at a press conference today in San Jose. The 40 year old played in 1,093 games over a 17 year career, suiting up for the Panthers, Lightning, Sharks, and Rangers and won a Stanley Cup with Tampa Bay in 2004.  With 605 points to his name, Boyle ranks 35th in scoring amongst blueliners in NHL history.

Snapshots: Torres, Jokipakka, World Cup

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Raffi Torres will turn 35-years old on October 8th. He hasn’t played an NHL game since April 30th, 2014 (when the Sharks were eliminated from the postseason). He has been suspended five times during his NHL career, the latest lasting 41 games. The Toronto Maple Leafs, after agreeing to acquire his rights in a deadline deal last year, immediately loaned him back to his current AHL team, not wanting any part of him in their organization.

But somehow, he’s earned a professional tryout from the Carolina Hurricanes this fall and will skate to try and snatch a spot on their fourth line. In a piece by Chip Alexander of The News & Observer today, Torres and GM Ron Francis talk about his latest (and possibly last) opportunity in the NHL.

“I know I’ve got to change. I know I say that over and over, but I’ve got to change and I can change,” says Torres when speaking about his suspensions. He admits that what he’s done over his career is wrong, and seems genuinely convinced he could offer something to the Hurricanes this season. Francis, for his part says he has “served his time” and is willing to at least give him a look this fall. If he does make the roster, he’ll be joining his eighth NHL team in 16 years.  Here is more from around the league:

  • Among the news that Sean Monahan is still too injured to participate in the upcoming World Cup, Wes Gilbertson of Postmedia tweeted out another interesting injury tidbit. Jyrki Jokipakka, who underwent hip surgery at the end of the season is now expected to be “good to go” for the tournament. Jokipakka was part of the return for Kris Russell this past year, and was well received in his 18 game Calgary stint. He’ll be suiting up for a Finnish team that is looking like a darkhorse candidate; Patrik Laine recently won tournament MVP at the World Championships, while the goaltending tandem of Pekka Rinne and Tuukka Rask should be among the best.
  • Staying with the World Cup, Rob Vollman of NHL.com published a piece that says the possibility that the North America team wins the tournament isn’t necessarily a long-shot, due to the usual peak of physical performance around 24. Indeed, the youngster team led by Connor McDavid will have a speed advantage over the rest of the field, and can create offense at an elite level already.  The one thing Vollman mentions as a weakness though, faceoff skill, was weakened today when Monahan withdrew.  The Calgary centerman was clearly the best on the team in the circle, meaning players like Auston Matthews and Mark Scheifele will have to step up in the defensive end.

NHL Dismisses Arbitrator James Oldham

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Liz Mullen from the Sports Business Journal tweets today that the NHL has dismissed Neutral Discipline Arbitrator James Oldham.

Oldham, who also does work with Major League Baseball and the NFL, and teaches as Georgetown Law School, was responsible for the reduction in Flames defenseman Dennis Wideman’s suspension from 20 games to 10.  While there could be any number of reasons for the dismissal, the NHL was dealt a serious blow when Wideman, who had served most of his suspension by the time the ruling came in, was granted relative leniency for hitting an on-ice official, and there will certainly be speculation regarding the league’s motives.

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