Last Tuesday’s edition of “Fight Night at the Garden” certainly made headlines and got tongues wagging, with one of the questions coming out of the fracas being: “what do they Devils do next?”
And by that I mean, do the Devils re-sign Kurtis MacDermid?
He was brought into the organization to deal with the Matt Rempe problem after the giant Rangers winger ran over Nathan Bastian, but MacDermid is an unrestricted free agent and one of the toughest players in the league. Do the Devils bring him back or do they deliberately disarm, even though Rempe isn’t going anywhere and will always be a thorn in the Devils’ side. Further, have a look around the division — almost every team has a slugger.
Carolina: Brendan Lemieux
Columbus: Mathieu Olivier
New York Islanders: Matt Martin (also a UFA and we’ll see if he’s back or replaced)
New York Rangers: Matt Rempe
Philadelphia: Nicolas Deslauriers
Washington: Tom Wilson
The Pittsburgh Penguins are the only team in the division that doesn’t place some value in having a player like this in their lineup. However, when Brian Burke was in Penguins management they tried to deal for Deslauriers in Anaheim but balked at the first-round draft pick price tag. He was eventually traded for a third-round pick, but Pittsburgh was trying to get him while he still had term left on his deal.
Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald has other business to take care of this off-season — both in net and behind the bench — but it will be interesting to see what direction New Jersey takes in this area.
A case for introducing the ‘Most Improved Player award’
Had a lot of fun on the radio show this week throwing around the idea of the NHL creating a Most Improved Player award as we see in the NBA. Now, it would be easy to make this a two-player race between 50-goal scorers Zach Hyman (Oilers) and Sam Reinhart (Panthers) but the spirit of this one is younger players who have established themselves at the high end of their roster.
For me it comes down to two players: Quinton Byfield of the Los Angeles Kings and Carolina Hurricanes forward Seth Jarvis, who have both worked their way into top lines on their respective teams.
Byfield has been a fixture beside Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe on the Kings’ first line and has taken his game to a point where we wonder (as they did recently on Hockey Night in Canada) if he should be considered for Team Canada. Jarvis is playing in every situation for the Hurricanes, has doubled his goal output and should easily breeze by 30 by season’s end. He’s currently at 29.
Both Byfield and Jarvis are due new contracts for next season.
Other players in consideration include Juraj Slavkovsky (MTL), Thomas Harley (DAL), JJ Peterka (BUF) Alexis Lafrenière (NYR), Noah Dobson (NYI), both Nils Hoglander and Dakota Joshua (VAN), Jake Neighbours (STL) and Cam York (PHI).
And what about a ‘Comeback Player’ award?
A sidebar to that conversation is the “Comeback Player,” which would include Colorado’s Jonathan Drouin, who’s found new life playing with Nathan MacKinnon after many thought he was done, and Nashville’s Gustav Nyquist, who’s enjoying his best season ever with 71 points at the age of 34.
I feel Chicago goalie Petr Mrazek deserves mention here. Not only does he shoulder a heavy workload in the Hawks crease but his save percentage remains above .900. That’s impressive on a team going through a scorched-earth rebuild.
Decision looming for Kraken on Wright
Seattle forward Shane Wright is putting on a show in this recent call-up. Three goals and an assist in three games while playing 16 minutes a night. Impressive and encouraging for the Kraken. Question is: do they send him back to the AHL after nine games, so they don’t burn a season of his entry-level deal despite how well he’s playing? Wright has played six NHL games so far this season, with games against Arizona, San Jose and Saturday against Dallas still to come before decision time for GM Ron Francis.
Checking in on the trade deadline’s most successful deals
One of the things my Ice Surfing pal and excellent researcher Stan Nieradka (@smn013 on Twitter/X), tracks annually is trade-deadline success with players on their new teams. And as trade deadline is not just a single day, Stan uses a “10 days out” cutoff for who qualifies as a deadline acquisition. As of today, here’s how the standings look.
Jake Guentzel (CAR) – 13 GP: 5-15-20
Alex Nylander (CBJ) – 19 GP: 10-4-14
Michael Bunting (PIT) – 16 GP: 5-8-13
Vladimir Tarasenko (FLA) – 15 GP: 5-7-12
Anthony Duclair (TB) – 13 GP: 6-5-11
Sabres’ Retzlaff gets some EBUG experience
The Buffalo Sabres have a good one in goaltender Scott Retzlaff, a fifth-round pick from the Seattle Thunderbirds. With his junior team out of the playoffs, he’s spending his time with the Rochester Americans for some pro experience before heading home for summer training and had a memorable Day 1 with the organization. In a March 27th game in Syracuse, Rochester netminder Michael Houser was injured early in the first, bringing backup Dustin Tokarski into the game. Retzlaff, who was sitting in the crowd, had to rush to the dressing room, put on Houser’s gear and serve as the team’s emergency backup for the night.
CHL lifts ban on Russians, Belarusians
This past week the Canadian Hockey League lifted their ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes in the annual import draft, which mostly drew praise but there was some criticism. The CHL was the only elite hockey entity who went down this route in the first place. Russian and Belarusian players continued to populate rosters across North America in professional and amateur organizations.
In June we’ll see Michigan State defender Artyom Levshunov from Belarus selected in the first few picks and Russian forward Matvei Grindin, who plays at USHL Muskegon, picked in the first two rounds. Situations like these are not lost on CHL clubs.
And finally …
Count me as someone who feels Sidney Crosby has a legitimate case for the Hart Trophy if the Pens make it in … Speaking of trophies, I’m still banging the “Marc-André Fleury for the Lady Byng” drum. It would be history-making (a goalie has never won it but are eligible) and a great gesture for someone we’ve all enjoyed and suspect may not be back next season … A little surprised Calgary’s Martin Pospisil didn’t have a date with George Parros of the NHL DoPS for his hit on Jets defender Josh Morrisey on Thursday night … Glad it looks like referee Steve Kozari will be alright after that horrible collision with Tampa’s Haydn Fleury on Saturday. It’s dangerous out there for everybody.
