Every week throughout the rest of the regular season, we’ll update the playoff picture in the Western Conference.
Here is the playoff picture after the Blackhawks game on March 3, 2010.
Alex Auld is now on waivers in Dallas.
When the Dallas Stars traded for Kari Lehtonen, the rumor mill began swirling around their net. With aging Marty Turco unhappy with his playing time, he instantly became the center of most of the whispers coming from Texas.
On Wednesday, though, it appears the Stars have taken steps to clear out their crowded crease. Alex Auld has been placed on waivers.
Auld, 28, has just a $1 million cap number and, like Turco, is in the final year of his contract. In 21 games this year, Auld is 9-6-0 with a 3.00 goals against average and a .894 save percentage.
Coupled with the news of an extension to Pekka Rinne in Nashville, Auld’s availability at low cost is another option for NHL teams looking to bolster their depth in net.
On Monday night, Anaheim center Ryan Getzlaf went down with an ankle injury. He was sent for a MRI on Monday night, which came back negative, but his status is still up in the air for the Olympics; Team Canada could make a decision to replace him as early as Tuesday afternoon. This injury could have a number of impacts on the Blackhawks’ roster.
First, the most obvious is that the Ducks will be without one of the their better players for at least the next three games before the Olympics. There is no sense in Anaheim rushing their best player back from an injury for two games against the Oilers and one at the Flames this week. Getzlaf, 24, is the Ducks leading scorer with 57 points (15 G, 42 A) in 55 games this season.
The direct impact of Getzlaf’s absense for the next week isn’t obvious. But the trickle down potential should be.
Anaheim snapped the Kings’ 10-game winning streak on Monday night, and has won four of their last five games. However, their dismal 10-16-5 record on the road and lack of scoring outside of Getzlaf, Bobby Ryan and Corey Perry has them tied with Dallas for tenth place in the Western Conference, three points behind Nashville with Detroit between them.
If the Ducks drop a couple games between now and the Olympics, the mindset in southern California might quickly turn to the future. If that happens, the likelihood of the Ducks moving expiring contracts like James Wisniewski and Scott Niedermayer becomes significantly better. Obviously, the Blackhawks have interest in adding depth on the blue line (and getting rid of Cam Barker), and both of these players would be near the top of the list of potential trade partners for the Blackhawks. With other names the Blackhawks have been linked to starting to suffer injuries (Atlanta’s Boris Valabik reportedly has a torn ACL and is done for the year), the focus on the Ducks could become more intense in the near future.
The second trickle down impact on the Blackhawks will come if Getzlaf is either A) replaced on the Canadian Olympic team or B) stays on the roster but isn’t 100 percent. As the roster stacked up for Canada, it looked like the top line would be centered by Sidney Crosby, Joe Thornton would be in the middle on the second line, and probably Getzlaf would center the third. If Getzlaf is replaced/not healthy, the role of Jonathan Toews could increase dramatically. There was a pretty good chance that Toews would see more opportunities in the circle than Getzlaf based on their faceoff win percentages this year (Toews – 57.3, Getzlaf – 48.2). Getzlaf is more experienced, though, and would have likely seen more ice time.
As the news of the decisions, from Getzlaf, the Ducks and Canada Hockey, are made, we’ll see how it impacts the Blackhawks moving forward.
The Calgary Flames have agreed to a second major trade on Sunday, according to TSN. Calgary will send center Olli Jokinen and forward Brandon Prust to the New York Rangers in exchange for forwards Ales Kotalik and Christopher Higgins.
Kotalik did not travel with the Rangers to Denver for Sunday’s game.
UPDATE: TSN is reporting on Monday morning that Ryan Callahan might replace Higgins in the deal. Matt Gilroy’s name has also been mentioned.
So, to review Calgary’s busy Sunday, here’s a quick chart of the incoming and outgoing Flames.
Sometimes it’s good to be good, other times it’s good to be lucky. Right now, it appears the Hawks are both good and lucky.
On Saturday night, the Blackhawks blew a four-goal lead in Minnesota, eventually losing the game 6-5 in a shootout. While we don’t know yet the effect this loss will have on the confidence of the young Hawks, we do know that it won’t hurt them much in the Western Conference standings. Consider the following results from Saturday night action for the rest of the top teams in the West:
So on a night where the Hawks blew a huge lead, the one point the received in the standings actually extended their lead on San Jose for first in the conference and kept pace with everyone else in the conference’s playoff picture except Detroit, who added two points with a solid home win over the Sharks.
So, like the Beatles, the Hawks appear to be getting by with a little help from their friends on Saturday night.
With just under two minutes left in the first period on Thursday night, Detroit star forward and leading scorer Henrik Zetterberg needed help to leave the ice. After a hard, but legal, hit from Mattias Ohlund, Zetterberg was taken to the dressing room with what’s being called an “upper body injury” (of course). TSN is reporting that the initial prognosis isn’t good, however.
For a video of the hit, click here.
The Red Wings are also skating without injured forwards Johan Franzen, Valterri Filppula, Jason Williams and Dan Cleary. Defenseman Jonathan Ericsson was hurt on Monday night, joining Niklas Kronwall on the sidelines from Detroit’s defensive group.
As the injury to Zetterberg, and his timetable for return, are made more clear, we’ll update the story.
UPDATE: Reports on Friday morning are that Zetterberg will miss at least two weeks with a “slight left shoulder separation.” In the next two weeks, the Red Wings have a crucial stretch of games where they play two home-and-home series with Chicago and Columbus.
Reports out of Detroit on Sunday are that the Red Wings have lost another key player to injury.
Niklas Kronwall sprained the MCL in his left knee in an open-ice collision with Georges Laraque in Montreal on Saturday, and will reportedly miss the next four to eight weeks.
This news hits the Wings at a terrible time, as they have a busy schedule against good offensive teams coming up. This week, Detroit travels to Nashville on Monday before hosting high-scoring Atlanta on Wednesday and Calgary on Friday. The Predators sit just one point behind the Wings for third in the Central Division entering Monday night’s contest.
Kronwall, 28, is arguably Detroit’s most physical player. He has scored 13 points (5 G, 8 A) through Saturday’s game.
Kronwall joins Johan Franzen, Jason Williams and Valterri Filppula on the bench for the Wings.
Detroit right wing Jason Williams has a broken fibula.
After Saturday night’s 5-1 loss in Toronto, Detroit Red Wings forward Jason Williams revealed that he has a fractured fibula in his right leg. If he doesn’t need surgery, the best case scenario, he should be out 6-8 weeks. He has not yet consulted with doctors for a recommendation, though.
Williams joins Johan Franzen (torn ACL), Valtteri Filppula(broken wrist) and Andreas Lilja (concussion) on Detroit’s growing injured list.
After the game, Detroit coach Mike Babcock said about Williams’ injury: “Losing Willy was a blow to us. He was playing way more minutes than we expected. There is no sense worrying about the guys who aren’t available. We have to dig in.”
The Red Wings had won three straight and four out of five before Saturday night’s loss to the struggling Maple Leafs. They have climbed back to third place in the Central Division, just one point behind the Blackhawks. Detroit and Chicago have both played 15 games, while division-leading Columbus has played 16 and leads Chicago by two points.
