David Booth – McKeen's Hockey

Training Camp Notes – October 3rd, 2017

Ryan Dadoun — Tue, 03 Oct 2017 22:25:53 +0000

Anaheim

Ryan Getzlaf – Sustained a lower-body injury last week and hasn’t resumed skating yet. A couple days back Ducks coach Randy Carlyle did say on Saturday that he expected Getzlaf to play in the opener, but that’s on Thursday so we’re cutting it pretty close now.

Patrick Eaves – Didn’t end up playing in any preseason games. His lower-body injury might keep him out of the season opener as well. He’s another player Carlyle projected to be available for the opener while speaking on Saturday though, so we’ll see.

Arizona

Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Good news on this front. His recovery from his knee injury has progressed to the point where he’s been practicing with the Coyotes. It looks like he’ll be ready for the season opener.

Antti Raanta –A lower-body injury kept him out of the Coyotes’ last preseason game. He practiced with Arizona on Sunday though, so he’ll probably be fine for the opener.

Boston

Torey Krug – The Bruins are hoping that his jaw injury only sidelines him for the first three-to-five regular season games. In the meantime, he has been skating. For what it’s worth, when he does return he’ll be wearing a protective mask.

Buffalo

Benoit Pouliot – Was on a line with Ryan O'Reilly and Kyle Okposo during Sunday’s practice. He had been practicing as a bottom-six forward previously, so it will be interesting to see if he ends up on that unit to start the campaign.

Zemgus Girgensons – It was bad news for Girgensons. He was previously on Ryan O'Reilly and Kyle Okposo’s line, but Girgensons was knocked down to the third unit with Sam Reinhart and Jason Pominville. The Sabres’ third line has potential though.

Rasmus Ristolainen – After averaging 26:28 minutes per game last season (up from 25:17 minutes in 2015-16), Sabres coach Phil Housley wants to cut Ristolainen down to 22-23 minutes per game. The hope is that will keep him fresher for the final stretch.

Calgary

Jaromir Jagr – Signed a one-year contract with Calgary that comes with a $1 million base salary. Not sure what line Jagr plays for, but here’s a fun aside: Jagr was drafted the same year as Matthew Tkachuk’s father Keith. Keith Tkachuk retired seven years ago.

Carolina

Lee Stempniak – His hip/back problems remain something of a mystery. On Monday Hurricanes coach Bill Peters remarked, "We've got to get to the bottom of it sooner rather than later." Stempniak is questionable for the season opener and how much time he might miss beyond that seems like anybody’s guess.

Chicago

Connor Murphy – Sustained a lower-body injury on Saturday and didn’t practice on Monday as a result. It’s not clear if he’ll be available for the opener.

Colorado

Jonathan Bernier – As mentioned before, he sustained a groin injury on Sept. 25. The good news is that he resumed practicing with the team on Monday.

Columbus

Brandon Dubinsky – Got into the preseason finale on Saturday after missing all the previous exhibition contests due to a wrist injury. He should be fine for the season opener.

Pierre-Luc Dubois – Although the Blue Jackets have experimented with using him as a center, it looks like he’ll be serving as a left winger to start the campaign. His projected linemates are Brandon Dubinsky and Matt Calvert.

Boone Jenner – His back injury will keep him out of the season opener. Beyond that there’s no timetable for his return. He hasn’t skated with the Blue Jackets yet.

Detroit

David Booth – Signed a one-year, two-way deal with the Red Wings. It sounds like he’ll be in the lineup for the season opener, probably alongside Riley Sheahan and Luke Glendening.

Florida

Owen Tippett – He’ll be part of the Panthers’ roster for the start of the 2017-18 campaign. The downside is that it might be as a fourth line forward, so he might not be a fantasy factor for a while still.

Los Angeles

Mike Cammalleri/Jonny Brodzinski – The two might find themselves on either side of Anze Kopitar to begin the season. Obviously that would be great news for both of them, but it’d be a particularly big opportunity for the rookie Brodzinski.

Minnesota

Zach Parise – Is now expected to miss the first two games of the regular season due to his back problem. He also missed the Wild’s whole preseason schedule.

Nashville

Viktor Arvidsson – There’s been talk of him not opening the season with Ryan Johansen and Filip Forsberg. Two potential candidates to replace him on the top line would be Kevin Fiala and Scott Hartnell. None of that’s been finalized yet though.

New Jersey

Jimmy Hayes – More of an FYI because he doesn’t have fantasy value, but he did earn a one-year, $700,000 contract with New Jersey after attending the Devils’ training camp on a PTO.

Pavel Zacha – He’s getting a big opportunity off the bat as he’s projected to open on a line with Taylor Hall and Kyle Palmieri. It’s not set in stone, but Devils coach John Hynes called it a “strong possibility.

NY Rangers

Kevin Shattenkirk – It’s not surprising, but it looks like Shattenkirk will be paired with Ryan McDonagh to start the season.

NY Islanders

Jordan Eberle – Another bit of anticipated, but nice to be basically confirmed news is that Eberle will be starting the campaign alongside John Tavares. The third member of that unit should be Anders Lee. Islanders coach Doug Weight has been happy with that trio so far.

Ottawa

Derick Brassard – Has been cleared for contact, so he might be able to play in the season opener. He’s been recovering from a shoulder injury.

Erik Karlsson – Still dealing with a foot injury, it’s now very unlikely that he’ll play in the opener. Not sure when he’ll be back.

Philadelphia

December 5, 2015:Philadelphia Flyers Defenceman Shayne Gostisbehere (53) moves the puck out of the Flyers zone in the first period during the game between the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Philadelphia Flyers at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, PA. (Photo by Kyle Ross/Icon Sportswire)

Shayne Gostisbehere – Sustained an upper-body injury during Sunday’s game. There hasn’t been an update yet, but he did join the Flyers’ flight to San Jose (ahead of Wednesday’s opener), so you could take that as an encouraging sign.

Travis Sanheim/Sam Morin – They were battling for a spot on the roster, but if Gostisbehere isn’t available then they could both stay on the roster for now. Fellow rookie defenseman Robert Hagg did make the roster so he should remain with the squad regardless of Gostisbehere’s status.

San Jose

Joe Thornton – He made his preseason debut on Saturday, clearing the way for him to participate in the opener. He underwent knee surgery to repair a torn ACL/MCL.

St. Louis

Scottie Upshall – Not of much fantasy relevance, but he did sign a one-year contract with the Blues. He began on a PTO with Vancouver, but found an opportunity with the Blues instead due to their injuries. Upshall is likely to enter the season on the fourth line alongside Kyle Brodziak and Chris Thorburn.

Washington

Tom Wilson – He’ll have a hearing tomorrow (Tuesday) for boarding the Blues’ Sam Blais. He already served a two-game preseason suspension over interference, so maybe this will be a harsher punishment as a result.

Brooks Orpik – Capitals coach Barry Trotz is tentatively planning to pair Orpik up with John Carlson to open the season. Orpik usually played alongside Nate Schmidt last season, but he’s not with the team anymore. Similarly, Carlson’s most common 2016-17 partner, Karl Alzner, is also gone.

Jakub Vrana – Not set in stone, but there’s a chance that Vrana not only opens the season with the Capitals, but does so on a line with Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov.

Winnipeg

Matt Hendricks – Is on the injured reserve after sustaining an undisclosed injury during Wednesday’s preseason contest. He’s regarded as day-to-day.

Andrew Copp – Suffered a knee injury during Saturday’s preseason contest. Jets coach Paul Maurice hasn’t ruled out Copp for the season opener though.

2015 Training Camp Round-up – Oct 1st

Ryan Dadoun — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 18:00:23 +0000

A lot of teams choose to make further training camp cuts on Wednesday and that involved the release of several noteworthy veterans from their professional tryouts.

We've already touched on how the evolving reality of the cap era has left some otherwise NHL-worthy players out in the cold this year, but not every player that resorts to accepting a PTO comfortably falls into that camp. In the case of David Booth, a different picture could be painted.

Although there's still time for Booth to prove this wrong, he's looking like a player that peaked early in his career before - partially due to injuries - declining early and steeply. He had 31 goals and 60 points in 72 games in 2008-09 when he was 24 years old (as of Nov. 24 of that campaign), but at the age of 30 he's already fallen to the point where he's a fringe player.

He struggled with the Vancouver Canucks and Toronto Maple Leafs over the last two campaigns and his attempt to return to Florida - the origin of his success - finished with the Panthers releasing him from his PTO. Booth believes he's "still a great player," per the Miami Herald, but the unfortunate reality is that his results have been contrary to that statement. We'll see if he can change that.

If nothing else, he can take comfort in knowing he's far from the only noteworthy player to get released from a PTO recently. We've brought up a number of examples this week and you can add another to the pile as Andrej Meszaros was unable to make the Colorado Avalanche.

Meszaros is 29 years old and a veteran of 645 games. He's never played in the AHL, having made the leap to the NHL straight from the junior level, but he might end up spending some time in the minors this season.

There were noteworthy names outside of the PTO group to be cut Wednesday though. One in particular that stands out is Steve Moses.

Moses inked a one-year, $1 million deal with the Nashville Predators, but he will start the season with AHL Milwaukee. Moses is 26 years old and has never played in the NHL, but he was superb with the KHL's Jokerit Helsinki in 2014-15, scoring 36 goals and 57 points in 60 games.

The question is if Moses' game can translate to the NHL and his size (he's listed as 5-foot-9, 175-pounds) is a consideration as well. That being said, the Predators do believe he will be an asset for them after an adjustment period.

“He’s still a player that we’re counting on to be somebody who can produce for us, but I think that there’s a learning curve in coming back [to North America],” Predators coach Peter Laviolette told the team's website. “The best way to get to that is probably to get to Milwaukee and try to figure that out. Being the extra guy or an extra guy here, I don’t think is going to help, so going there and playing some games is probably the quickest way to try and make it back here.”

Moses didn't have to be exposed to waivers though and one has to wonder if the Predators would have made that decision if that weren't the case. The vast majority of players waived during training camp clear, but that doesn't mean it's automatic. The Philadelphia Flyers have lost Chris Porter to the Minnesota Wild after exposing him to waivers on Wednesday.

Interestingly, Porter was put in Philadelphia's preseason game Wednesday night after being waived and he went on to score a goal.

“He’s done a good job and spent a lot of time up and down. Chris is a pro,” Flyers GM Ron Hextall said, per CSN Philly.. “I told him he was going on waivers and he was fine. Goes out and plays a good game. He’s a pro.”

Of course, Minnesota likely didn't claim him just because he performed under trying circumstances. Porter was someone that was already on their radar this season. He's also good friends with Wild captain Zach Parise, to the extent that Parise was the best man at Porter's wedding. This changes Porter from being a player who might have been one of the first injury replacements in Philadelphia to someone that might spend the entire season at the NHL level.

Moving from a focus on individuals, the Arizona Coyotes have been noteworthy as a whole for an unfortunate reason. Through five preseason games, they have scored just four goals, with only one of them coming at even strength.

Of course, exhibition contests need to be taken with a grain of salt.

“We’ve got young players in key roles that are supposed to help provide that offense," coach Dave Tippett noted, per the Arizona Republic.. "That doesn’t exclude any veterans but really the way our schedule has set up, we’ve had one game with our whole lineup in and I like how many chances we created in that game."

The game he's referring with the whole lineup to was a 1-0 loss to Vancouver on Monday.

Even with all that in mind, the Coyotes showing is still troubling because Arizona's was the second worst offensive team last season and with the upgrades Buffalo made, it's entirely possible that the Coyotes will score fewer goals than any other team this season.

As touched on earlier in the week, the Coyotes have a lot of promising forward prospects, but the returns on that might not begin in 2015-16. In other words, this might be a season of pain for the Coyotes, which is unfortunately nothing new for this franchise.