Down the Frozen River

Tag: Anton Lindholm

  • Chicago Blackhawks 2021-22 Season Preview

    Chicago Blackhawks 2021-22 Season Preview

    2020-21 record 24-25-7, 55 points

    6th in the Discover NHL Central Division

    Missed the postseason for the first time since 2020

    Additions: F Tyler Johnson (acquired from TBL), F Jujhar Khaira, D Caleb Jones (acquired from EDM), D Seth Jones (acquired from CBJ), D Jake McCabe, G Marc-Andre Fleury (acquired from VGK)

    Subtractions: F Josh Dickinson (signed with Toledo Walleye, ECHL), F Mikael Hakkarainen (traded to VGK), F Vinnie Hinostroza (signed with BUF), F David Kampf (signed with TOR), F John Quenneville (expansion, SEA), F Tim Soderlund (traded to EDM), F Pius Suter (signed with DET), D Adam Boqvist (traded to CBJ), D Duncan Keith (traded to EDM), D Anton Lindholm (KHL), D Brent Seabrook (contract traded to TBL), D Nikita Zadorov (traded to CGY), G Matt Tomkins (SHL)

    Still Unsigned: F Brandon Pirri, F Zack Smith

    Re-signed: F Mackenzie Entwistle, F Adam Gaudette, F Brandon Hagel, F Mike Hardman, F Alex Nylander

    Offseason Analysis: Stan Bowman has been busy this offseason, though he shouldn’t be able to carry out his duties as General Manager like normal these days and if you’ve been under a rock, TSN‘s Rick Westhead has lots more, and more, and so much more— in addition to another lawsuit against Chicago that’s been resolved over the use of facial recognition software at United Center.

    There’s been a few changes to the roster as Chicago moves on from their near-dynasty (remember, the definition of a dynasty is three championships in a four-year span– Chicago won three Stanley Cups in five years, 2010, 2013 and 2015).

    Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook (his contract, anyway) both departed the organization this offseason– first with Keith and Tim Soderlund having been traded to the Edmonton Oilers for defender, Caleb Jones, and a conditional 2022 3rd round pick on July 12th, then Seabrook later that month.

    If the Oilers make the 2022 Stanley Cup Final and Keith is in the top-four in postseason time on ice on the roster during the first three rounds, then Edmonton will give Chicago a 2022 2nd round pick instead of a 2022 3rd round pick.

    Keith broke into the NHL with Chicago in the 2005-06 season and amassed 105-520–625 totals in 1,192 games since then. Now at 38-years-old, he’s about to embark on a new season with a new team– one that’s closer to home, as he’s desired to be nearer to family after spending most of the last 12 months isolated in accordance with NHL COVID-19 protocols– with two years remaining on his contract.

    Caleb Jones, meanwhile, joins Chicago as the younger brother of Seth Jones, who was acquired ahead of the 2021 NHL Draft in a trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets on July 23.

    Seth was acquired with a 2021 1st round pick (originally belonging to the Tampa Bay Lightning– 32nd overall, Nolan Allan) and a 2022 6th round pick in exchange for young defender, Adam Boqvist, a 2021 1st round pick (12th overall, Cole Sillinger) and a 2021 2nd round pick (later traded by Columbus to the Carolina Hurricanes– 44th overall, Aleksi Heimosalmi).

    The older Jones signed an eight-year extension through the 2029-30 season worth $9.500 million per season, despite his decline since setting career-highs in goals (16), assists (41) and points (57) in 78 games with Columbus in 2017-18.

    Since then, Seth’s production dropped to 46 points (nine goals, 37 assists) in 75 games in 2018-19, then 30 points (six goals, 24 assists) in an injury filled 56-game 2019-20 season and 5-23–28 totals in 56 games last season.

    Caleb, meanwhile, had four assists in 33 games with Edmonton last season and is signed through 2022-23.

    On July 27th, Chicago acquired goaltender, Marc-Andre Fleury, from the Vegas Golden Knights for forward, Mikael Hakkarainen.

    At 36-years-old and not wanting to be traded from the Golden Knights, Fleury contemplated retiring, despite having one season left on his current contract with a $7.000 million cap hit.

    After consulting with Chicago about the organization’s future plans and city life, Fleury is “refreshed and ready” to lead from the crease and mentor Kevin Lankinen, while Lankinen, Colin Delia and Malcolm Subban compete for the backup job.

    Last season, Fleury went 26-10-0 in 36 games– recording a 1.98 goals-against average, a .928 save percentage and six shutouts in that span, en route to winning his first Vezina Trophy in his 17-year NHL career.

    Since breaking into the league in the 2003-04 season with the Pittsburgh Penguins after he was the 1st overall pick for Pittsburgh in the 2003 NHL Draft, he’s amassed a 492-276-2-80 record in 883 career NHL games for the Penguins and Golden Knights.

    Though he won the Vezina last season and posted a 2.04 goals-against average in 16 playoff games in 2021, Fleury had a goals-against average of 2.50 or more in three out of the four prior seasons, so it’d be wise to balance his workload with whoever wins the backup job.

    As Chicago is hungry for one last run at the Cup with Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews in a Chicago uniform, you can’t risk running Fleury into the ground– especially if this is his last season.

    Chicago also added Tyler Johnson and a 2023 2nd round pick in a separate trade with the Tampa Bay Lightning on July 27th in exchange for the Seabrook’s contract.

    Seabrook’s career-ending hip injury will help Tampa utilize cap relief via the same long-term injured reserve clause in the collective bargaining agreement that drove some fans around the NHL nuts while the Lightning stockpiled their weapons for their back-to-back Cup championship run.

    Meanwhile, Johnson carries a $5.000 million cap hit through 2023-24, and his 8-14–22 totals in 55 games as a 31-year-old last season into Chicago’s middle-six meat of the lineup.

    A day later, Chicago traded the rights to Nikita Zadorov to the Calgary Flames for a 2022 3rd round pick after Zadorov spent one season in Chicago and had 1-7–8 totals in 55 games after reaching double-digit points in four out of five prior seasons with the Colorado Avalanche.

    Zadorov was rewarded with a one-year deal in Calgary worth $3.750 million, which was $3.750 million more than Chicago wanted to spend on a primarily physical game– and physical game only– defender.

    Meanwhile, Chicago’s forward, Andrew Shaw, is heading to the long-term injured reserve for salary cap relief of about $3.900 million in the final year of his contract– forced into retirement due to multiple concussions sustained over his 10-year career.

    Offseason Grade: C

    Johnson and Fleury bring name brand recognition to a lineup that’s remained mostly unchanged from last season to this season– even with the addition of Seth Jones to the defense in light of Keith’s planned departure.

    Pius Suter put up 14-13–27 totals in 55 games in an impressive NHL debut for a 25-year-old last season and Chicago chose not to tender him a qualifying offer– allowing Suter to walk and sign with the Detroit Red Wings for a little more than half of what Chicago is paying Johnson for about the same results.

    Chicago took a risk this offseason as they’re desperate for Toews and Kane to remain in good faith with the organization– with Toews returning to the lineup after missing all of the 2020-21 season due to a bout with a chronic illness– as both players could leave the organization for greener pastures after the 2022-23 season when their matching eight-year contracts with $10.500 million cap hits expire.

    The fact of the matter is that Chicago took their foot off the gas after winning it all for the third time in five years in 2015.

    There’s no clear “goaltender of the future” and the prospect pool is being restocked after years of sustained success depleted it.

    After the Nashville Predators swept Chicago in the 2017 First Round, Bowman could’ve made sweeping moves to keep Chicago competitive– a la the Pittsburgh Penguins for the greater part of the last 15 years– but he didn’t having over-relied on what was familiar, like most NHL GMs.

    Then again, inaction when the situation necessitates action seems like it’s on brand for Bowman and the organization.

  • Colorado Avalanche 2019-20 Season Preview

    Colorado Avalanche

    38-30-14, 90 points, 5th in the Central Division

    Eliminated in the Second Round by San Jose

    Additions: F Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, F Andre Burakovsky (acquired from WSH, then re-signed), F Joonas Donskoi, F Nazem Kadri (acquired from TOR), F Jayson Megna, F Valeri Nichushkin, F T.J. Tynan, D Kevin Connauton (acquired from ARI), D Jacob MacDonald (acquired from FLA), D Dan Renouf, D Calle Rosen (acquired from TOR)

    Subtractions: F Andrew Agozzino (signed with PIT), F Sven Andrighetto (KHL), F Gabriel Bourque (signed with WPG), F Derick Brassard (signed with NYI), F Alexander Kerfoot (traded to TOR), F Scott Kosmachuk (traded to WSH), F Max McCormick (signed with CAR), F Julien Nantel (signed with Colorado, AHL), F Carl Soderberg (traded to ARI), F Dominic Toninato (traded to FLA), D Tyson Barrie (traded to TOR), D Mason Geertsen (signed to a PTO with NYR), D Patrik Nemeth (signed with DET), D David Warsofsky (signed with PIT), G Joe Cannata (Sweden), G Spencer Martin (signed with TBL), G Semyon Varlamov (signed with NYI)

    Still Unsigned: F Mikko Rantanen

    Re-signed: F J.T. Compher, F Sheldon Dries, F A.J. Greer, F Vladislav Kamenev, F Colin Wilson, D Ryan Graves, D Anton Lindholm, D Nikita Zadorov

    Offseason Analysis: Pencil in Joe Sakic for General Manager of the Year 2019-20, because the Colorado Avalanche are a legit team on paper.

    Sakic still has about $15.615 million in cap space, but even that should be enough to satisfy– current restricted free agent– Mikko Rantanen’s needs and then some.

    Regardless, Sakic went to work on improving a roster that was one win away from the franchise’s first Western Conference Final appearance since 2002.

    First, Colorado traded Carl Soderberg to the Arizona Coyotes for Kevin Connauton and a 2020 3rd round pick on June 25th.

    Then the Avs followed it up by acquiring Andre Burakovsky from the Washington Capitals in exchange for Scott Kosmachuk, a 2020 2nd round pick and the 2020 3rd round pick previously acquired in the Soderberg trade on June 28th.

    Burakovsky was quickly signed to a one-year deal worth $3.250 million as a “prove it” contract. The 24-year-old winger is finally free from the shadows of Washington’s Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Co., but now he can’t hide anymore.

    It’s a make or break year as he’s never scored more than 38 points in a season.

    Sakic made a minor move with the Florida Panthers a day after the Burakovsky trade, then made a big splash on July 1st and it wasn’t of the free agent variety.

    Colorado shipped Tyson Barrie, Alexander Kerfoot and a 2020 6th round pick to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for Nazem Kadri, Calle Rosen and a 2020 3rd round pick.

    The Avalanche retained 50% of Barrie’s salary ($2.750 million) in the transaction, leaving Toronto with the uneasy task of balancing their checkbooks now that Mitch Marner is re-signed.

    Barrie is a versatile defender that will give the Maple Leafs some added flavor to their special teams, but he’s a pending unrestricted free agent at season’s end. That’s not Sakic’s problem, however.

    Instead, Sakic is focused on continuing to trust in Colorado’s head coach, Jared Bednar, and Bednar’s process.

    Bednar has a plethora of new faces that he’ll have to get onboard with his plan.

    For starters, Kadri won’t have to face the Boston Bruins in the First Round (assuming Colorado makes the playoffs in 2020, which is a pretty safe bet), so Bednar shouldn’t have too much of a problem reigning him in.

    Overall the Avs are relying on their youth, a revamped defense and a stronger top-nine presence with Joonas Donskoi having signed a four-year deal at $3.900 million per season in addition to Sakic’s trade work.

    Some experts are picking the Avalanche to win the Cup in 2020, but that might be too much of a stretch too soon.

    Colorado is starting to open a championship window, however, so it’d be a major disappointment if they don’t at least get to the Stanley Cup Final in the coming years.

    Offseason Grade: A

    If there’s a team that’s a dark horse to win the Cup this season out of all the playoff teams from last season, it’s the Avalanche, for sure. That said, Sakic’s moves in the offseason may take a full year to gel (a la Erik Karlsson’s transition from Ottawa to San Jose– East to West), so it shouldn’t surprise anyone if Colorado’s knocked out before the Final.

    But in terms of fixing holes and building off of what’s already on the roster, Sakic hit it out of the park. The Avs are good and should be good as long as they don’t have to rely solely on goaltending (Philipp Grubauer is one deep postseason run away from proving his legitimacy as a starting goaltender in the NHL).

  • November 10 – Day 38 – Duchene’s Stockholm syndrome cured

    In a league that already features players from all around the world,  today’s schedule has an especially international flavor as the Avalanche and Senators square off at the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm, Sweden.

    To ensure it takes place during prime time in Sweden, that game is scheduled for 2 p.m. Eastern time (NHLN/RDS). Back on our side of the Atlantic Ocean, the action begins at the usual time of 7 p.m. with four tilts (Florida at Buffalo, Boston at Toronto, Pittsburgh at Washington [NHLN/SN/TVAS] and Carolina at Columbus) followed by the New York Islanders at Dallas 90 minutes later. Finally, this evening’s nightcap drops the puck at 10:30 p.m. when Winnipeg visits Vegas. All times Eastern.

    Yes, there’s an Original Six rivalry taking place in Ontario tonight; and yes, the Penguins and Capitals will meet up for the second of four times this season. But there’s something really exciting happening in Europe – and it’s not just the fact that the NHL is in town.

     

     

     

     

     

    I’m always intentional about the order logos are presented in this column, and today is no exception: the Avs are designated the home team for today’s contest and they’ll swap benches for tomorrow’s game. Does that make them the Stockholm Avalanche today?

    Obviously.

    A few fun facts about today’s venue (all research from this Wikipedia article unless otherwise noted): the Ericsson Globe, located in southern Stockholm, opened in 1989 and “is the largest hemispherical building on Earth.” The design is no accident, as The Globe “represents the Sun in the Swedish Solar System, the world’s largest scale model of the Solar System.”

    Huh. That’s neat.

    The home arena of both Djurgårdens IF and the Swedish Men’s National Hockey Team, The Globe can hold 13,850 hockey fans. Though that would make it the smallest arena in the NHL by nearly 1500 seats, that hasn’t stopped it from hosting some major events in the past.

    Limiting our list to just hockey, it has hosted the Ice Hockey World Championships four times (most recently in 2013 when host Sweden, led by C Henrik Sedin, took gold and F Alex Galchenyuk‘s Team USA won bronze in a shootout), the World Cup of Hockey twice (most recently the 2004 quarterfinals when Sweden fell 6-1 to the Czech Republic), five NHL Challenge series games (the most recent of which were two Maple Leafs games against Djurgårdens IF and Färjestad BK in 2003) and eight previous regular season NHL games, the last of which was during the 2011-’12 season.

    Some famous Swedes participating in today’s contest include Senators defensemen Fredrik Claesson, Erik Karlsson and Johnny Oduya and the Avs’ LW Gabriel Landeskog. Of the four, three – Claesson, Landeskog and Oduya – are Stockholm natives.

    Anton Lindholm, a rookie defenseman for Colorado, also would have been one singing “Du gamla, du fria” before today’s game, but he joined four other Avalanche players on injured reserve after breaking his jaw Saturday in Philadelphia. D Patrik Nemeth (undisclosed) and F Carl Soderberg (paternity leave) also did not make the trip back to their homeland.

    While those are the names that will attract the most attention from Swedish hockey fans, those of us on this side of the ocean are far more interested in the play of F Matt Duchene, who will be making his Senators debut against the very team he was playing for only five days ago.

    Though it’s been expected since last season’s trade deadline that Duchene would eventually play against the Avalanche during the 2017-’18 campaign, few could have predicted the events that took place Sunday night in Brooklyn. Instead of trading the 27-year-old during the offseason, General Manager Joe Sakic had Duchene stick around Denver for an awkward photo shoot, 13 games and two shifts before concocting a three-team trade to send him to Ottawa.

    That’s right, Duchene was traded right in the middle of a game. Not before. Not after. Perhaps it was D Scott Mayfield‘s goal that Duchene was on ice for that was the final straw. Who knows?

    It seems humorous and unlikely, but given how the Avalanche have been run of late, it just might be a safe assumption.

    You can find a more in-depth analysis here courtesy of @nlanciani53, but I got all the information I needed from F Nathan MacKinnon‘s interview with Adrian Dater following the Islanders game:

     

    All-in-all, it seems the squad would have still loved to have Duchene in the fold, but seeing him return from the offseason frustrated was enough to convince them that his heart was no longer in Colorado – no matter how much of “a real pro” MacKinnon says he was about the situation.

    With that in mind, I’d figure it won’t be too tough – emotionally, at least – for the 8-6-0 Avalanche to square off against their old pal. As far as playing against the 6-3-5 Senators, though? That might be a taller task.

    Though we’re used to saying it about every game the Avs play for the past year or two, it’s certainly true here: they’re just a bad matchup against the Senators, as it’s a situation of “anything you can do, I can do better.”

    MacKinnon’s 4-10-14 totals might be good enough to lead Colorado to a seventh-best 3.36 goals-per-game, but Karlsson and his 1.44 points-per-game simply looks at that and scoffs, as his Senators have managed a superior 3.57 goals-per-game.

    Well, maybe the Avs might have an advantage on defense.

    Think again. D Erik Johnson might be managing 2.1 blocks-per-game, but that’s not enough to keep goaltenders Semyon Varlamov or Jonathan Bernier from facing a seventh-worst 33.6 shots-per-game. Meanwhile, although the other end of the ice is no brick wall, the efforts of D Cody Ceci (2.5 blocks-per-game) and co. has limited netminders Craig Anderson and Mike Condon‘s nightly workload to only 31.7 shots against.

    Even the special teams skew Ottawa’s way. Led by F Mike Hoffman‘s five power play points, the Sens are converting 20 percent of their man-advantages into goals, a rate that is (t)11th-best in the NHL. Though RW Mikko Rantanen‘s eight extra-man points are individually more successful, the fact that the Avalanche’s 19.3 percent conversion rate ranks only 14th-best must be discouraging.

    While not exactly successful in comparison to the rest of the league, Ottawa can take solace in the fact that its penalty kill that is successful 80.5 percent of the time is yet another point in its favor when compared to the Avalanche. Colorado plays the (t)10th-worst PK in the league, killing off only 78.6 percent of its infractions.

    If there’s anywhere Colorado does have the advantage, it might be between the pipes. In most cases, you’d expect 5-3-3 Anderson to be superior to 6-3-0 Varlamov, but the Senators’ netminder has had a slow start to this season, managing only a .896 save percentage and 3.13 GAA that bows to Varlamov’s .911 save percentage and 3.09 GAA effort.

    Whether they start today or tomorrow, I expect them to square off against each other. Just in case they don’t assume their spots in crease today, know that Ottawa’s 1-0-2 Condon has a .924 save percentage and 2.6 GAA that is easily superior to 2-3-0 Bernier’s .884 save percentage and 3.63 GAA.

    No matter how you slice it, this weekend’s international series is looking like four points for Ottawa. If the Colorado Stockholm Avalanche can earn any points out of this trip to Europe, they’ll have Varlamov to thank for it.

    By scoring four goals in 2:02 against the defense that entered the game giving up the fewest goals-per-game in the league, the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Los Angeles Kings 5-2 in yesterday’s DtFR Game of the Day.

    For a California road trip that was supposed to be difficult, the Lightning aren’t having too much trouble finding wins. That was no more apparent than when the Lightning blitzed G Jonathan Quick in the first period. The attack started with First Star of the Game RW Nikita Kucherov (Second Star C Steven Stamkos and D Slater Koekkoek) burying a backhanded shot 9:27 into the contest, and it was followed up 34 seconds later by an F Alex Killorn (D Dan Girardi and C Tyler Johnson) tip-in.

    Coincidentally, only 34 seconds ticked off the clock before Tampa scored yet again. This one, which proved to be the game-winner, was struck by D Victor Hedman (F Yanni Gourde and W Ondrej Palat) – a snap shot to give the Lightning a 3-0 advantage. Stamkos (Killorn and Kucherov) completed the attack with a power play slap shot struck with 8:31 separating the Kings from the safety of their dressing room.

    Los Angeles did eventually have to emerge from its safe haven to play the second period, though probably not before Head Coach John Stevens gave his club a spirited tongue lashing. Whatever he did obviously worked, as F Tyler Toffoli (Third Star C Anze Kopitar and D Jake Muzzin) was the only player on the ice to find the back of the net in the frame, setting the score at 4-1 at the second intermission.

    D Oscar Fantenberg (W Dustin Brown and F Brooks Laich) provided the Kings a plausible chance of a comeback at the 8:39 mark pf the third period with his first goal of the season, but F Vladislav Namestnikov (Hedman and Kucherov) squelched that optimism with a snapper with 7:01 remaining in regulation to set the final 5-2 score.

    G Peter Budaj earned the victory after saving 22-of-24 shots faced (.917 save percentage), leaving the loss to Quick, who saved 38-of-43 (.884).

    There’s a trend that has formed in the DtFR Game of the Day series since Halloween: the road teams win two games, followed by hosts winning one. Well, Tampa Bay’s road win comes on the heels of a home victory Wednesday night, so we’ll see if that pattern continues in today’s game.

    In the meantime, the 19-15-4 hosts in the DtFR Game of the Day still hold an advantage in the series, but it has been trimmed to only two points.