For a second straight game, Claude Giroux was on Morgan Frost’s wing. When Frost was called up, I mused that this was (finally, for real this time) the end of Giroux as a centre. Maybe that will hold up. James van Riemsdyk, by the way, started the game on the fourth line. * I [...]
The Toronto Maple Leafs fired Mike Babcock on Wednesday afternoon, following two years of playoff disappointments and a start to this season that saw Toronto with nine wins in 23 games, sporting an expected goals percentage just slightly ahead of Detroit’s. Sheldon Keefe has been named as his replacement. I really don’t have a [...]
Morgan Frost was called up by the Flyers ahead of their game Tuesday night in Florida. The first-round pick from 2017 has 12 points in 16 games in the AHL this year, over a 60-point pace. You can read his Dobber Prospects profile here. I am really interested to see where they slot him. [...]
The Blues called up prospect Klim Kostin in advanced of their back-to-back games this weekend. The injury bug has been hitting so this, on top of the tryout offers extended to Troy Brouwer and Jamie McGinn, are all results of this. They won’t commit to even playing Kostin, which seems odd given he’s one [...]
The Rangers are saying that Mika Zibanejad will miss at least another three games with his injury, as the team noted he will not be with the team on their road trip. That means he’s out for the week, and should mean a continued heavy dose of Ryan Strome. * It looks like Montreal [...]
With Bryan Little out for the foreseeable future, the Jets are going to try Blake Wheeler at centre between Jack Roslovic and Nikolaj Ehlers. That puts Kyle Connor and Patrik Laine on the top line with Mark Scheifele. The team has to try something here – I’ll discuss them a bit more in depth [...]
There were concerns about Brendan Gallagher after blocking a shot with his hand on Tuesday night but he was back at practice on Wednesday so everybody STAND DOWN. * Vincent Trocheck still isn’t practicing for the Florida Panthers and it sure feels like something weird is going on here. It’s been several games he’s [...]
For the second day in a row, Mika Zibanejad skated before his team’s practice in a non-contact jersey. It seems like he’s on the cusp of returning but we’re just not sure exactly when that will be. Maybe they just wanted to give him some extra time with a soft matchup on Monday night. [...]
There has been some news on the Dustin Byfuglien front. Bob McKenzie reports he had surgery on his ankle, taking care of lingering effects of a high-ankle sprain from last season. It’s believed the ankle problem was part of what was bothering Big Buff, so what this all means for the future, only Byfuglien knows. [...]
Some very bad injury news for Vladimir Tarasenko, as the team revealed that he will have surgery on his left shoulder and it appears he’ll miss the rest of the regular season. They are officially saying he’ll be re-evaluated in five months so that leaves some wiggle room, but not much. All that from [...]
