CarterHud

  

  The New York Islanders\’ first half of the 2016-17 NHL season was horrendous. In late December/early January, the Isles started to play better. Then on January 17, 2017, the Isles fired head coach Jack Capuano, naming assistant coach Doug Weight interim head coach. Since then, the Isles have been VERY hot (they have a record 11-4-2 for 24 points). Now they sit in a three way tie for the second wild card spot in the eastern conference with the Florida Panthers and the Boston Bruins (all three teams have 66 points). The Panthers have a game in hand on both the Bruins and the Isles, so they sit in that spot. There\’s two problems that plague the Isles in their run for the playoffs. The first is their struggles on the road. This season, they have a putrid 8-13-4 road record (20 points). They\’re currently on a 9 game road streak, so they need to play better away from home. A 3-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings (in Detroit) Tuesday could show that they\’re better at road then they were a month ago, but a recent 7-1 loss in Toronto shows their road jitters aren\’t over quite yet. The second problem is injuries. Defenseman Travis Hamonic hasn\’t played since January 7, with a knee injury. In the game against Detroit, forwards Casey Cizikas and Cal Clutterbuck sat out the third period. Clutterbuck is expected to miss Thursday\’s game against Montreal, but no further injury has been announced (he played for the first time since February 3rd Tuesday, due to injury). The bad news is that Cizikas has a broken hand, and is expected to miss about 4 weeks or a month. Forward Shane Prince was placed on IR Wednesday (retroactive February 12), and F Bracken Kearns was recalled from Bridgeport (AHL). Cizikas, 25, has 7 goals and 16 assists (23 points), a +9 rating and 28 PIM in 53 games this season. Prince, 24, has 5 goals and 11 assists (16 points), a -7 rating and 18 PIM. Cizikas, along with Clutterbuck, are two elite forwards on the Isles PK unit. Being without both of them, even if it\’s only for a single game, would be a disaster for the Isles\’ penalty kill.

    

The New York Islanders were once completely out of a playoff spot. Things changed on January 17, 2017 when the Isles fired head coach Jack Capuano, naming assistant coach Doug Weight interim head coach. The Isles are now tied with the Florida Panthers and the Boston Bruins for the second wild card spot in the eastern conference, but the Panthers are technically in the spot with a game in hand on the Isles and Bruins. Recent injuries might plague the Isles, though. Forwards Casey Cizikas and Cal Clutterbuck both sat out the third period of their 3-1 win Wednesday vs the Detroit Red Wings. Clutterbuck had been out since February 3rd (when the Isles played the Wings) with another injury. Both players might skate tomorrow. Forward Shane Prince had also been out some games with an injury, and has been placed on IR (retroactive February 12). Forward Bracken Kearns has been recalled from Bridgeport (AHL). Kearns, 35, hasn\’t played in the NHL at all this season. He has played in 33 career NHL games with the Florida Panthers, San Jose Sharks and the Isles. He has 3 goals and 3 assists (6 points) in those games, and 20 PIM. He is Bridgeport\’s leading scorer this season with 18 goals and 22 assists (40 points) in 51 games this season. He also has 28 PIM.
         The Los Angeles Kings have had some goalie problems this season. Star goaltender Jonathan Quick went down with an injury on opening night, and hasn\’t played since. G Peter Budaj has stepped in nicely, with a GAA of 2.12, a .917 SV% and 27 wins in 50 starts. His backup has changed throughout the season. Goalie Jeff Zatkoff was placed on waivers Wednesday. It\’s not official, but goalie Jack Campbell might be recalled from Ontario (AHL). Zatkoff, 29, has a SV% of .879, and a GAA of 2.94. Not exactly great numbers. We\’ll see if Campbell does get the call. Quick is expected to be back in March, so Campbell should get the call. 

   

The Montreal Canadiens have acquired D Keegan Lowe from the Carolina Hurricanes for D Philip Samuelsson. Let\’s get into details.
      Both teams didn\’t really have a major reason to make this trade. Neither of the defensemen have played in the NHL this season.
      Lowe, 23, has only played two career NHL games, both in 2014-15 as a member of the Canes. He had no points, a -2 rating and 10 PIM in those games. He was drafted 73rd overall (3rd round) in the 2011 NHL draft. He has 12 points (3 goals and 9 assists), 53 PIM and a rating of +4 in 49 games for Charlotte (AHL) this season.
     Samuelsson, 25, has played in 13 NHL games with two teams. He played 4 games in both 2014-15 and 2015-16 as a member of the Arizona Coyotes and 5 games in 2013-14 as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins. He has no points and 2 PIM in his career. The Pens drafted him 61st overall (second round) in the 2009 NHL draft. He has 5 points (a goal and 4 assists), 21 PIM and a rating of -7 in 40 games for St John\’s (AHL) this season.
         The interesting part of this trade is that Samuelsson\’s father, former NHL defenseman Ulf Samuelsson, is the head coach Charlotte Checkers, the Canes AHL affiliate. Both Samuelsson and Lowe will report to the AHL. Samuelsson will go to Charlotte, and Lowe will go to St. John\’s.

  
The Colorado Avalanche just can\’t catch a break. They\’ve lost starting goalie Semyon Varlamov for the rest of the season. They are also dead last in the NHL with 35 points (their record is a lousy 16-38-3). Another injury has occurred for the Avs. Defenseman Nikita Zadorov collided with teammate Mikko Rantanen in a Monday practice, and will miss the rest of the season. The Denver post\’s Mike Chambers reports that the injury is a fractured ankle. Zadorov, 21, was a big part of the return the Avs got when they traded C Ryan O\’Reilly to the Buffalo Sabres on June 26, 2015. The Sabres drafted Zadorov 16th overall in the 2013 NHL draft. Zadorov has 10 points (all assists) in 56 games this year. He\’s also a -20. Zadorov has a hobby of sitting in the penalty box. In 145 career NHL games, Zadorov has 140 PIM. In the 56 games he played this season, he had 73 PIM. \”I think I fell first then he fell on me,\” Rantanen said after the practice. But I don\’t know what happened exactly. He\’s a heavy guy.\” Rantanen was also hurt in the collision, but seems fine now. \”He got tangled up with Mikko and actually fell on top of Mikko but his leg got trapped underneath Mikko and [he] fell awkwardly,\” Avs head coach Jared Bednar said on the collision.
       The Avs did get some good news though. Defenseman Erik Johnson practiced for the first time since December 6th, when he broke his leg. \”We\’ll just see what tomorrow brings,\” Bednar said of Johnson. \”He\’s had some days where he\’s felt real good and others not. [He] Seems to be on the right path.\” Forward Rene Bourque, who is recovering from a concussion, also practiced today. Johnson, 28, has a goal and 10 assists (11 points) in 23 games this season. Bourque, 35, has 9 goals and 4 assists (13 points) in 43 games this season.
        The Avs have looked for defensemen. They acquired D Mark Barberio and D Cody Goloubef earlier this season, and are shopping stars Matt Duchene and Gabriel Landeskog, and will probably only deal them if a top 2 defenseman, or prospect d-man, is in the trade. Zadorov is just 21, and is still getting better. The Avs are hoping that this injury doesn\’t affect his future.

 

The Calgary Flames have acquired defenseman Michael Stone from the Arizona Coyotes for a 3rd round draft pick in the 2017 NHL draft, and a conditional 5th round pick in the 2018 NHL draft. Let\’s get into details.
     The Flames have defensemen Dougie Hamilton, Mark Giordano, T.J. Brodie and Dennis Wideman, who are playing top 4 minutes. Last year, the Flames traded another top 4 guy in Kris Russell to the Dallas Stars (he now plays for the Edmonton Oilers), losing a big part of their defensive core. They get a guy like Stone, to go into the top 4 and move Wideman to the third pairing with Jyrki Jokipakka or Deryk Engelland. Stone can go alongside Brodie or Giordano on the second defense pair, and help the Flames to a playoff run. The Flames are currently in the second wild card spot in the western conference (4th in the Pacific division) with 62 points (they have a record of 29-26-4), but teams like the Winnipeg Jets, Los Angeles Kings and the Vancouver Canucks trail closely. All they gave up is a third round pick and possibly a 5th rounder as well (the condition on the pick is if the Flames re-sign Stone this offseason, because he can become a UFA on July 1). Stone, who has a goal and 8 assists (9 points) in 45 games this season, (he\’s also a -5 on a terrible team) can help the Flames for the rest of the season.
      The Coyotes are 2nd to last in both the western conference and the NHL (they are last in the pacific division) with a record of 20-30-7 for 47 points (the Colorado Avalanche are in dead last with a record of 16-38-3 for 35 points). They have 2 main players who are an upcoming UFA, and have been trade targets for other teams. Those players are Stone, and C Martin Hanzal, who could be dealt soon. They did the smart move to get value out of Stone. They are in a rebuild, and Stone being a UFA doesn\’t help that. They could sign Stone on July 1st, though. The Coyotes will also retain 50% of Stone\’s $4 million contract.
       Stone has spent all of his six year NHL career with the Coyotes, with his rookie season being 2011-12, when they were called the Phoenix Coyotes (they changed to Arizona, though they didn\’t relocate, before the 2014-15 season). He has 24 goals and 72 assists (96 points) in 324 career NHL games.