Dakota Joshua Returns To Lineup
- In tonight’s potential Western Conference Final preview, the Vancouver Canucks will see the return of a key player, as Dakota Joshua will return to the lineup (X Link). It will be Joshua’s first game back since February 13th, as the Michigan native suffered an upper-body injury in the team’s game against the Chicago Blackhawks.
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West Notes: McGinn, Grundström, Krug, Joshua
The Anaheim Ducks have announced that forward Brock McGinn has undergone successful back surgery, focused on his intervertebral discs (Twitter link). This operation is expected to hold McGinn out for four months, ending his season early. McGinn has been on injured reserve since February 17th and absent from Anaheim’s lineup since January 25th.
This news marks the final blow in what was a difficult season for McGinn – who suffered a significant lower-body injury just days before Anaheim’s first game of the season that held him out for a month. That injury, as well as a brief departure for the birth of his first child in late December, held McGinn to just 24 appearances in the first half of the season. Those games will now stand as his only this year, marking the least he’s played since turning pro in the 2014-15 season. McGinn managed one goal, three points, four penalty minutes, and a -5 this year while averaging roughly 11 minutes of ice time. Anaheim has utilized a variety of talents in his place – with the Ducks debut of Ben Meyers, the return of Trevor Zegras from injury, and bottom-six stalwarts like Ross Johnston and Benoit-Olivier Groulx working to fill open minutes. McGinn will look to rejoin the bottom-six mix next season, with one year remaining on his contract.
Other notes from around the league:
- Gritty forward Carl Grundström is progressing from injury, joining the Los Angeles Kings on their three-game road trip through Western Canada, per The Athletic’s Eric Stephens (Twitter link). Grundström has been out since February 13th with a lower-body injury that’s earned him a place on long-term injured reserve. He’s managed eight goals and 12 points in 50 games this season. Stephens adds that Grundström is still wearing a no-contact jersey at practice – but his attendance on the trip is nonetheless encouraging progress towards his return from a 21-game absence.
- Defenseman Torey Krug could be held out of the St. Louis Blues’ lineup on Thursday with the flu, per NHL.com’s Lou Korac (Twitter link). Blues head coach Drew Bannister shared that he’s hopeful Krug will be good to go but designated him as questionable. Krug played in the first 69 games of St. Louis’ season but recently missed his first game of the year with a lower-body injury. He’s been a pivotal piece of St. Louis’ lineup when healthy, managing 34 points and 30 penalty minutes in 71 games. The Blues will hope he’s feeling better come tomorrow, as they gear up for a fight with the Calgary Flames.
- The Vancouver Canucks upgraded forward Dakota Joshua to full-contact at their Wednesday-morning practice (Twitter link). Joshua has been out since February 13th, suffering an undisclosed injury in the midst of a three-point night. He’s flirted with a return many times since, but ultimately landed on Vancouver’s long-term injured reserve. While no official designation was provided, Joshua could have a chance to return as soon as Thursday, when the Canucks take on the Dallas Stars.
Canucks Recall Arshdeep Bains
The Canucks recalled winger Arshdeep Bains from AHL Abbotsford on Wednesday, GM Patrik Allvin said. To create the cap space required to add Bains’ $816.7K cap hit, the team moved goaltender Thatcher Demko to long-term injured reserve, retroactive to when he sustained a knee injury against the Jets on March 9. Bains’ recall is an emergency loan, per CapFriendly, suggesting another forward aside from Elias Lindholm (undisclosed, day-to-day) may be absent for Thursday’s game against the Stars.
This is Bains’ second recall of the season. The 23-year-old was first summoned in mid-February and made his NHL debut in Colorado three days later. He made another four appearances but was held without a point and managed only three shots on goal while averaging 12:57 per game. Bains was then returned to Abbotsford on March 1, one week before the trade deadline.
An undrafted free agent pickup out of WHL Red Deer in 2022, Bains’ signing is looking like one of Allvin’s shrewder moves at the helm of the Canucks. The Surrey, British Columbia native adjusted well to the pros, putting up 38 points in 66 games in a middle-six role after leading the WHL in scoring during his overage season. Bains has taken things up a notch this year, breaking out as a first-line talent with Abbotsford and leading the team with 35 assists and 49 points in 53 games.
Bains didn’t look entirely out of place under the eye test in his call-up last month, but the stats weren’t kind. He was used in a checking role by head coach Rick Tocchet and struggled to control shot attempts, logging a 45.5 CF% at even strength that was a staggering 13.9% worse than the Canucks’ overall CF% when Bains was off the ice over his five-game stint. Keeping his head above water in terms of possession quality was even more of a struggle, logging a 33.3 xGF%.
Nonetheless, he’ll get a second chance to inject some energy into their bottom six. He was quite good in the minors after being returned to Abbotsford a few weeks ago, scoring five goals and adding five assists for 10 points in 11 games. He still has another season left on his entry-level contract and remains waiver-exempt.
As for Demko, the LTIR placement indicates the star starter will be out until at least April 6 against the Kings, meaning he’ll miss at least Vancouver’s next four games. The likely Vezina Trophy candidate remains out on a week-to-week basis but is expected back before the end of the regular season. Casey DeSmith has been the Canucks’ crease’s sole occupant since Demko got hurt, posting a 3-2-1 record and .903 SV% since replacing him against the Jets.
Could $5MM Be Zadorov's Asking Price?
Nikita Zadorov is one of the more intriguing pending unrestricted free agent defensemen and it appears he’s poised to land a fair-sized raise on his current contract. In an appearance on Sekeres and Price (Twitter video link), Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli suggests that Calgary felt that Zadorov’s asking price was likely to be in the $5MM range on a multi-year contract which helped facilitate his trade to the Canucks. Zadorov has 18 points in 66 games between the two teams so far while averaging a little under 18 minutes a night. He’s currently on a $3.75MM price tag but with his size and the fact that the salary cap is going to go up next season, the 28-year-old has a strong case for a raise, one that could ultimately price him out of Vancouver.
Canucks Would Be Wise To Avoid Arbitration With Hronek This Summer
In an appearance on Sekeres and Price (video link), Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli discusses the importance of the Canucks avoiding salary arbitration with pending RFA defenseman Filip Hronek. The team may view Quinn Hughes’ $7.85MM cap hit as a ceiling they don’t want to surpass when it comes to spending on their defensemen. However, Hronek has already set career highs in assists (40) and points (45) this season while logging over 23 minutes a night. Arbitration-eligible for the first time this summer, the two sides going to a hearing could push Hronek’s award past the $7MM mark. Accordingly, settling before it gets to that point should be high on Vancouver’s priority list this offseason.
Canucks Assign Jonathan Lekkerimäki To AHL
Canucks top forward prospect Jonathan Lekkerimäki‘s time in North America has begun. The Swedish winger is heading to British Columbia to join AHL Abbotsford for the remainder of the season, GM Patrik Allvin announced Monday.
The 19-year-old has remained in the Swedish professional circuit since the Canucks made him the 15th overall pick in the 2022 draft. Things didn’t start well for the highly-touted prospect, though. He had an underwhelming performance last season in the second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan, recording just three goals and nine points in 29 regular-season games for Djurgårdens IF, but exploded in the postseason with 15 points in 15 games as they lost the league final (and promotion back to the top-tier Swedish Hockey League) to Modo.
That was enough to convince Vancouver to sign Lekkerimäki to his three-year entry-level contract last summer, putting the team in some control of where he plays. Both sides decided it was best to keep him in Europe, but with Djurgårdens failing to gain promotion, the Canucks wanted to give him a change of scenery and a change to demonstrate what he could do in the top-flight SHL. Thus, he was assigned to Örebro HK, where exploded to finish as the team’s leading scorer with 19 goals and 31 points in 46 games. His season there ended early last week after Örebro was defeated by Luleå HF in their eighth-final playoff series. Örebro scored only twice in the three-game series, both coming in Game 1.
The Swedish youngster is already well-decorated internationally. He captured bronze and silver medals with Sweden at the 2022 and 2024 World Junior Championships, respectively. He also won gold at the U18 World Juniors in 2022 and a bronze medal at that season’s Hlinka Gretzky Cup. While the Swedes fell to the Americans at this year’s WJC, it was not the fault of Lekkerimäki, who led the tournament with seven goals in seven games and received MVP honors.
Lekkerimäki is expected to return to Sweden at the end of the AHL season and attempt to crack the national team’s roster for the upcoming 2024 World Championship, CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal reports. It may be his last stint back home for a while, as the 5-foot-11 sniper will be under consideration for making Vancouver’s opening night roster in 2024-25.
Lindholm To See Specialist To Determine Extent Of Injury
Canucks forward Elias Lindholm has struggled as of late and snapped a 15-game goalless streak last night against his former team in Calgary. It appears there’s a reason for those struggles as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported last night (video link) that the veteran is set to meet with a specialist in the coming days to determine the extent of the undisclosed injury that he is currently playing through. The 29-year-old has just nine points in 22 games since being acquired at the end of January and has been dropped to the third line in recent games, not the type of impact they were looking for from their biggest trade acquisition of the season.
Dakota Joshua Progressing From Injury
- Recently being put on the team’s long-term injured reserve, Vancouver Canucks forward Dakota Joshua is progressing with his injury recovery, but the team is still being cautious with his load management (X Link). An important depth scorer for the Canucks this season, Joshua has scored 13 goals and 26 points over 53 games this year.
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Myers Hopes To Re-Sign, Lekkerimaki Could Play At Worlds
Defenseman Tyler Myers is one of several Canucks veterans that are set to hit the open market in July and the team won’t be able to afford to keep all of them. CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal reports (audio link) that the veteran has told his agent that he’d like to remain with Vancouver. The 34-year-old is in his fifth season with the Canucks and while his $6MM price point is above market value, he’s still logging important minutes, especially on the penalty kill where he ranks second in shorthanded ATOI. While a $6MM contract isn’t likely coming his way this summer, Myers should still command interest from several teams on a multi-year deal which should help land him a contract somewhat close to that price tag.
- Still with Vancouver, while Canucks fans were likely hoping that top prospect Jonathan Lekkerimaki would join AHL Abbotsford for the stretch run, that might not be the case. In an interview with Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic (subscription link), GM Patrik Allvin indicated that there is a possibility that the 19-year-old could play for Sweden at the Worlds in May. In that case, they’d likely not bring Lekkerimaki to North America and let him vie for a spot on that team. The 15th overall pick in 2022 had 31 points in 46 games with SHL Orebro this season.
Evening Notes: Hronek, Eriksson Ek, St. Ivany
There’s always something to look forward to for the Vancouver Canucks, who now have full focus on extending defenseman Filip Hronek after extending star forward Elias Pettersson. This deal should cost the Canucks a pretty penny as well, with Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman suggesting in an appearance on CHEK’s Donnie and Dhali (video link) a cap hit within the range of $7.5MM.
Hronek has become a crucial piece of Vancouver’s lineup since joining the team at last season’s Trade Deadline. He’s not only boosted his own impact but made the players around him better as well – serving as the perfect partner for star defenseman Quinn Hughes. Both Hronek and Hughes have recorded a career-high in scoring this season, with 45 and 77 points respectively. The duo is playing upwards of 24 minutes each game – representing the only Canucks pairing averaging more than even 19 minutes of ice time. Hughes is signed through the 2026-27 season, carrying a $7.85MM cap hit. Vancouver will lock up their top defensive pairing for the future if – and hopefully when – they’re able to sign Hronek to a comparable deal.
Other notes from around the league:
- Minnesota Wild centerman Joel Eriksson Ek won’t join the team for the final two games of their California road trip, getting held back by a lower-body injury per The Athletic’s Michael Russo (Twitter Link). Russo adds that Minnesota is holding Eriksson Ek out a bit longer, in an effort to be cautious with his injury. The 27-year-old centerman has missed Minnesota’s last two games. His next chance to return will be on March 23rd when the Wild host the St. Louis Blues. Eriksson Ek’s absence should continue to benefit Marco Rossi’s ice time, after the Austrian played a career-high 20:44 in the team’s last game.
- Jack St. Ivany has been reassigned to the AHL, jumping back-and-forth between the NHL and AHL lineups on a few call-ups since Sunday. (Twitter Link). St. Ivany will hope to receive his NHL debut on his next recall, after serving as an NHL healthy scratch for the first time on Saturday. St. Ivany, 24, has four goals, 12 points, and 30 penalty minutes in 52 AHL games this season – though he hasn’t scored a point since a two-goal performance on February 14th.