A quick mix of the things we gleaned from the week of hockey, serious and less so, and rolling four lines deep.
1. Like LeBron James’ politics, the trade deadline market is leaning hard to the left.
Look at the big names out there: Rick Nash, Patrick Maroon, Evander Kane, Mike Hoffman, Thomas Vanek, Jack Johnson, Ryan McDonagh, Max Pacioretty, Jeff Skinner, Thomas Tatar, Bobby Ryan, Alex Galchenyuk, Ian Cole, Matt Hunwick…
They all play the left side of the ice.
The glut of left wings and left-shot defencemen may be one reason why LW Michael Grabner went for relatively cheap to New Jersey (another theory: Jeff Gorton did the player a solid by keeping him in the Tri-state area in hopes that he’ll re-sign with the Rangers on July 1).
It also opens up a golden opportunity for anyone who’d like to sell a centre or right-shot defenceman.
Vancouver’s extension of Erik Gudbranson and injury to Chris Tanev leaves Mike Green and what… Luke Schenn(?!) as the top RDs on expiring UFA deals.
Another reason the market is prime for an Erik Karlsson blockbuster.
The centre pickings (Mark Letestu, Thomas Plekanec) are so slim that a reported five teams (minimum) were asking Ottawa for Derick Brassard, who has term, before the Penguins landed him.
Yes, it’s a buyer’s market for lefties. But righties and centres? Time to sell.
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2. Through the first two puffs of Erik Karlsson trade smoke, Ottawa’s captain and franchise player regularly made himself available to the media. He ducked the microphones Thursday in Tampa Bay and — outside of rooting on Team Sweden via Twitter — hasn’t been quoted in days.
People aren’t eager to lie. They’d prefer to stay quiet.
Case in point: Josh Bailey was requested to be interviewed post-game Thursday night in light of the report of his contract extension, but the Islanders declined.
I do find it very Karlsson (if the report is true) that he faked walking to the Tampa Bay dressing room Thursday before going to Ottawa’s. Even in tense moments, the guy has a sense of humour, a zest for life you can’t teach. That he can be serious about winning but not take himself too seriously is a gift.
Don’t underestimate the power of friendships here. Money is important, of course, but it’s not everything. Over the past eight months, Karlsson has watched Eugene Melnyk’s organization wave good-bye to Marc Methot, Kyle Turris, Dion Phaneuf and Daniel Alfredsson — who only served as Karlsson’s best man.
3. Over that same span, the Islanders promoted Doug Weight, who’s thistight with John Tavares, traded for Tavares’ friend Jordan Eberle and just re-signed his wingman Josh Bailey well in advance on July 1.
Victor Hedman and Karlsson are good pals. It matters.
4. The day after Ottawa GM Pierre Dorion signed his multi-year contract extension, I asked Karlsson to describe their relationship.
“Pierre’s been here since I got drafted. He’s someone who always told me he’s been very high on me and he’s one of the guys who was pushing for me to get the opportunity I got when I was young, and I appreciate that a lot. We’ve always been open and honest with each other, so I’m happy for him. He’s going to do the things he feels he has to do to progress this team in the right direction,” Karlsson replied.
The captain also spoke about the importance of a franchise’s stability.
“It starts from the top. I think you need to sort that bit out first before you move anywhere else. It’s just a normal way of doing things in any organization whether in the sports business or regular business,” Karlsson said.
“The position that we’re in, changes are going to be made. That’s just the way the business works.”
“We’re all prepared for that. Further evaluation of where things are, I’m really not up to speed on that. I don’t really know what direction they’re going in since we really haven’t spoken about it so I can’t really comment about it.”
5. Alex Ovechkin went on record saying he’d welcome a Mike Green return to Washington at the deadline.
That looks highly unlikely with the Capitals trading for two defencemen this week, Michal Kempny and Jakub Jerabek, and Green’s ill-timed neck injury keeping him out of action.
Green was asked recently to describe Ovechkin in one word. He chose fortitude.
“In a game, unfortunately, you can’t just go stand beside him for 60 minutes, so he’s going to get those opportunities. When he does, that’s what’s surprised me: how he’s able to take those opportunities, which are very few, and capitalize,” said Green of his former teammate’s still-elite play. “I’m happy for him. I really am.”
6. Maple Leafs property Eric Fehr wasn’t even playing for their AHL team when he was traded this week to the San Jose Sharks, whose forwards have been bit by the injury bug.
On the surface, Fehr’s Leafs tenure couldn’t have been less eventful: 5 GP, 0 PTS, 2 PIM, -2. But there was one incident in a blue-and-white uniform that did impact his life.
Fehr blocked a shot in Columbus last spring that threw his life for a loop.
“I knew it was bad. I couldn’t move my finger. I tried to take my glove off on the bench and couldn’t. My finger was stuck in it. It stayed dislocated all evening and had to get emergency surgery that night,” Fehr recalled. “Usually when it hits your finger, it breaks, you wait a few weeks and you’re good. I got hit right in the right spot.
“I broke it, I dislocated it, but I also severed my tendon.”
Gross.
The injury rendered him useless on the ice and at home, where he and his wife were raising two kids, including a five-month-old.
The puck busted Fehr’s ring finger in such a way, he couldn’t lift the baby. Months later, he still couldn’t wrap his finger around a dumbbell. He required a second surgery, “a complex procedure” that involved opening his finger to fix it with pins and ties and stitches and hope.
“I couldn’t even sign an autograph because I’m a lefty,” he said. So he’d try to sign with his right hand and it’d be a mess. “With computers and phones, it’s pretty easy to forget how to write, but anytime you need to, it was difficult.”
Fehr is a large, friendly man, who credits his wife multiple times during this story. He would dip his hand into hot wax daily to improve the finger’s mobility so he could wrap it around a hockey stick.
Because of the swelling and foreign objects stuffed in his digit now, Fehr’s wedding ring sits safe at home in a box.
“I’ll probably have to get a tattoo on their some day. That knuckle’s not going down anytime soon,” Fehr said.
“The hands are less valuable than some of my other parts. You go out to block, and you guard your face with your hands. You’ll take a broken hand at that point.”
Great to see him back in the NHL.
It’s Fehr to say we’re pretty excited for tonight’s game #SJSvsNSH pic.twitter.com/YhpJNuT5pe
— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) February 23, 2018
7. Have to believe that Auston Matthews’ shoulder injury closes any sliver of chance that the Maple Leafs’ trade third-line centre Tyler Bozak before 3 p.m. ET Monday, and increases their overtures for Detroit’s Luke Glendening.
Bozak, 31, admits that the uncertainty of his future — he’s a happy family man now — has crept into his mind as much as he’s trying to focus on contributing to a winner.
Centre Lars Eller recently re-upped for $3.5 million times four years in Washington. We see the 28-year-old Eller as a fair comparable for shootout master Bozak. Though Eller is three years younger, their production is comparable (31 points for Eller to Bozak’s 32) on a bottom-six role for a good team.
The 2018 UFA centre class keeps thinning, especially if, like me, you’re fairly certain Tavares stays put on Long Island and Henrik Sedin is Vancouver or bust.
The now injury-prone Joe Thornton will be 39 when the puck drops on 2018-19.
Bozak will have leverage on the open market, but not as much as St. Louis centre Paul Stastny — whose contract expiry timing couldn’t be better. Again.
8. The Kings-Coyotes trade this week felt atypical, which is typical John Chayka — finding trades no one sees coming.
With Antti Raanta set for free agency, Arizona didn’t have a goalie for 2018-19 yet. They get Darcy Kuemper committing to two years at a reasonable $1.85-million cap hit.
Kuemper, Peter Budaj, Martin Jones, Jonathan Bernier — is there a smoother path to your next goaltending job than playing backup to Jonathan Quick?
The Kings get speed on the wing with Tobias Rieder, who wasn’t long for the Coyotes, and put all their playoff eggs in Quick’s basket. Something they were probably going to do anyway.
Good deal all around.
9. Seeing Stan Bowman’s Blackhawks as a seller instead of a buyer at this time of year is weird. But necessary.
You know what also would be weird but necessary? The Carolina Hurricanes diving into the buyers’ market.
Do it. Give your loyal fans a jolt of excitement.
10. Loved how Ron Hextall supported his players by jumping on the Petr Mrazek trade within hours of Michal Neuvirth hitting the ground. Mrazek won his first game in his new uniform Thursday.
Meanwhile, the offence-rich New York Islanders have not addressed their goaltending nor their defence amidst injuries and losing skids.
Cal Clutterbuck told me Thursday there is enough talent in Isles room right now to get a wild-card spot as is: “There’s genuine confidence that we’ve started in that direction.”
Jordan Eberle sounded a little less certain.
“We need to get on a run here to give ourselves a chance,” Eberle said. “We’ve had a tough time defending, and there’s no hiding that. We’ve let in a lot of goals.”
That would be 223, or a dozen more goals allowed than Ottawa, the second-most porous team in the league.
11. Josh Bailey’s six-year, $30-million extension, signed Friday, locks in Tavares’ linemates for another year. Anders Lee will only be 28 when he turns UFA on July 1, 2019. With back-to-back(-to-back?) 30-goal campaigns, he will be due a sweet raise from his current $3.75 million.
“You just look at it, every one [on Tavares’ line] has got 60 points. No one on our team has 60 points,” Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said Thursday. “Lee’s a huge body, he’s got great hands in tight. Bailey is an unbelievable passer. Johnny can really shoot and Johnny is strong. He can get the puck and turn his back on you and make you look bad.”
Doug Weight gave Bailey’s extension the thumbs-up.
“Great,” Weight said. “He’s done some great things for a long time as an Islander. Consistently, he’s gotten better and better and proven to be a huge part of our team.”
12. Of all the clubs in playoff position, the two with the most projected salary cap space are Vegas ($7.8 million) and New Jersey ($7.4 million).
The Devils nabbed New York’s cap-friendly Michael Grabner Thursday night for a nice price, and he could arguably be the most impactful winger on the rental market. (You know you’re throwing in the towel when you send a 25-goal scorer across the river.)
If you’re Golden Knights owner Bill Foley, and you see your six second-round picks in 2019 and 2020, aren’t you at least tempted to make your great story greater?
