The Buffalo Sabres coaching staff updated some injury concerns that they are having in camp at the moment, all three are on the blueline, which has to be somewhat concerning, you'd think. First, an update on Zach Bogosian and his lower-body injury from last week: it doesn't seem to be progressing quite well and it could be a longer-term issue than just day-to-day. Possibly week-to-week is the new prognosis.Also week-to-week with a lower-body injury is Josh Gorges, who may not be quite the offensive threat that Bogosian is, but if this draft goes exceptionally deep, he may have come into play. A week-to-week diagnosis doesn't sound too good, rather it makes me think that his availability for opening night is now in jeopardy.
Young defender Jake McCabe is also getting looked at for an injury and he would have been a kid that would have had a good shot at one of those two spots above, if he was to have remained healthy. For now, the Sabres are saying that he's still being looked at, so we won't assume too much at the moment.
Click here for the updated injury/news page on the website
A couple of tryout cuts to speak of out of the Blackhawks camp, as forward Tomas Kopecky and defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky were released on Monday, possibly giving them a chance to get a shot elsewhere. One would think that these two players would be able to give some sort of veteran leadership somewhere, but their price tag may have been a bit too high for the Blackhawks and their cap situation, if they were not already deemed unsuitable for what the team was going to do moving forward. Tough to say.
Next up in the day was the Winnipeg Jets cuts and there were a few players with projections let go to the minors. On top of the list, forwards Matt Fraser and Matt Halischuk, both were depth forwards, but their demotions do open up spots for some rookies, which makes the draft a little bit more interesting.
The rookie crop gets even smaller after the demotions from the Anaheim Ducks camp on Monday afternoon, as they assigned Shea Theodore to the AHL, a part of a huge clearance of their roster, leaving 34 players to vie for spots on the opening night roster. Theodore was projected for 26 points by the Hockey News, which would have made him into a pool worthy defenseman in the draft, so he could end up being a land mine to those who bring that guide to the draft (and not read the blog).
The San Jose Sharks have opted to send their 2015 1st round pick, forward Timo Meier, back to Halifax of the QMJHL on Monday, scratching another potential rookie from consideration in the rookie pool this year. Meier did well to have gone this far into camp, but the depth of the Sharks forwards didn't help his cause at all. The return of Raffi Torres from injury and the acquisition of Joel Ward likely were leading reasons why the Sharks didn't need any more young talent up front.
The Washington Capitals did a little bit of trimming of their own, including their 2014 1st round draft pick, Jakub Vrana, who was projected for 24 points by the Pooler's Guide this season. The Capitals have had their fair share of competition for forward spots this season and Vrana just didn't make the cut with a week to go. Derek Roy is still kicking around on a tryout at Caps camp, which likely made things far more difficult, as they try to shore up their experience for a long playoff run this year.
Now that we're down to five days before the hockey pool draft, we're now getting down to the nitty-gritty for NHL training camps and that means the goalie situations are starting to be hammered out a little bit more.
As the cuts through Monday went down, teams were starting to define their goalie pairs, while other teams were still trying to separate trios.
The early releases are coming in and the Carolina Hurricanes made one significant release on Monday, sending rookie forward Sergei Tolchinsky down to the AHL to start camp down in the minors. Tolchinsky was thought to have had a pretty good rookie camp, but obviously couldn't make that stick with the big club, especially after the team went and acquired Kris Versteeg from the Blackhawks.
Further to a report on Friday, Minnesota Wild forward Justin Fontaine's injury is expected to be worse than initially thought, as he suffered a charley horse after a leg collision with Columbus' David Clarkson on Thursday night. Originally, it was thought that the injury would be a day-to-day issue, but the coaching staff has now gone back on that report, suggesting that he'll be a couple weeks to get better.
The NHL regular season is just over a week away, so the Los Angeles Kings are hoping that the upper-body injury that defenseman Jake Muzzin suffered on Sunday night against the Colorado Avalanche isn't too serious. Muzzin was hurt in the 1st period of the game, which he was able to play out, but didn't return after the intermission. There has been no word on his condition, early on Monday morning
Back in June, before he signed with the Penguins, forward Eric Fehr underwent elbow surgery to repair some nagging problems. Fehr has now returned to the ice, finally, possibly running just a little bit later than expected with his recovery. He was skating before the main groups of camp took to the ice, so that is usually a sign that he won't be ready or has been cleared for contact just yet. This should delay his debut on the ice for the team, but it's hard to say by how long.
One of last year's Waiver Draft picks, actually, the last Waiver Draft pick of the year, Tampa Bay's Cedric Paquette, suffered a lower-body injury, blocking a shot on Saturday night, leaving the game, not to return. Paquette had an X-ray on Sunday, which came back negative, which was good news for him, as the injury is likely just some deep bruising. He may need this week to make sure his foot okay to start the season, but he should be okay.
The Florida Panthers gave a much better effort in this preseason, giving a good showing in Dallas against the Stars.
Kicking off a busy day of cuts, one more from Saturday, as the Vancouver Canucks cut one of their potential rookie candidates in Hunter Shinkaruk. Shinkaruk is one of a few early cuts that had a projection attached to him, but like many of those early cuts, the uncertainty of making the roster kept his number down around 10 points. We just don't know how the season will pan out, but he could certainly make the jump mid-season, if all goes well.
Saturday night saw the Nashville Predators also cut a high profile rookie prospect in Kevin Fiala, who made a little bit of noise in the off-season, trying to train his way into a job on opening night for the Preds. That obviously hasn't been the case for him and he'll have to make his way back into the big league through the minor league process.
A few players with projections were cut from the Edmonton Oilers camp roster on Saturday night and the biggest one was forward Andrew Miller, who had been starting to make an impact, but was going to have an uphill battle with a lot of those speedy forwards that have joined the team. Miller only had a 15-point projection, but his demotion will now bring him down to about 5 points. Forward Tyler Pitlick and defenseman Brad Hunt may be AHL call-ups now that they have been cut as well, but they didn't really figure to be draftable this year.
The New Jersey Devils lineup was so up in the air, it was hard not to give a bunch of projections to some bubble players, making sure that you get yourself covered. Rookie pool candidate John Quenneville was one of those players cut on Sunday morning, as he was sent back to junior for another year of development, probably a solid move on the Devils' part. Also making the trip down to the minors, goaltender Scott Wedgewood, who was in competition for the back-up job in Jersey, losing out to Keith Kinkaid.
The race for roster spots in Arizona is looking a little bit brighter for a number of their top prospects, as projected forwards Lucas Lessio and Craig Cunningham were assigned to the AHL on Sunday afternoon.
There were a couple of professional tryouts cut by the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday, as both Curtis Glencross and Devin Setoguchi were let go from camp. Glencross was given a projection of 38 points by the Hockey News, but he could earn a contract from the Leafs, who are still in their rebuild process. The Leafs are still with a couple tryouts left on their roster and they could prove to be a little bit more interesting down the stretch.
The Boston Bruins have made their call on who they want as their back-up goalie and with the demotion of both Malcolm Subban and Zane McIntyre getting sent down to Providence of the AHL, Jeremy Smith gets the win and he'll be the number two to start the year, playing behind Tuukka Rask. That's one of the biggest training camp questions answered, well before the start of the season. Now the Bruins can work with their pair of keepers and they'll move forward through camp.
On Sunday afternoon, the Calgary Flames made a number of cuts, bringing their roster down to 32 players, still leaving about nine cuts yet to make in this preseason. Among those cut, forward Emile Poirier was sent back down, an 18-point projection by the Hockey News, definitely a bubble player, at best. There is still plenty of competition left in this team's roster, which will have a huge effect on the draft.
It wasn't too long after the Maple Leafs cut a couple of their tryouts on Sunday, before they signed another one. Brad Boyes, who was a part of the Florida Panthers last season, was without a job through the Summer, before the Leafs came calling, inviting him to camp. It must have been a pretty good camp, as Boyes signed a 1-year, $700,000 deal and now he has a chance to unseat one of the projected players for their lineup.
With all of that being said, Boyes could be a 40-point player again, especially if he can find his way into that top six and get the minutes that job comes with.
The Boston Bruins are not going to go away, despite some preseason injury concerns and they are preparing to have a bunch more offense with some new-look lines up front. Against the Red Wings on Saturday, David Krejci and David Pastrnak looked like a good tandem, with Krejci picking up a couple of goals. Defenseman Torey Krug also had a goal and an assist, as he is leading the way for the depleted Bruins blueline. Malcolm Subban did all that he could, making 18 stops for the win, but he was still demoted on Sunday.
Not much to talk about here, as the Canadiens beat the Leafs, 1-0, on Saturday night, except for AHL-bound keeper, Mike Condon, making 17 saves for the shutout win. Condon is well below in the depth chart, looking up towards Dustin Tokarski for the back-up job in Montreal, but a good showing like this, will at least give the Canadiens some confidence, if they ever needed a little more help, due to unforeseen circumstances.