TSN’s Hockey Insiders discuss Ottawa’s battered blueline, why goalie interference/video review is still a hot topic, the Bruins and prospect James Hagens, and Erik Karlsson’s future in Pittsburgh.
James Duthie: Your insiders today, Chris Johnston and Pierre LeBrun. Guys, I had a Sens fan text me today and say, why did the hockey gods hate us? Here they are playing great, and yet they lose Thomas Chabot and Lassi Thompson in New York to go with Jake Sanderson, their best defenceman, already on the sidelines. CJ, how do they chase down a spot that short-handed?
Chris Johnston: There’s no positive spin to be put on this, but I think that the message right now internally is, let’s just tread water. Let’s get through this because Jake Sanderson is expected back in the Senators’ lineup at some point next week.
And what that means is this. They will likely have seven or eight games remaining in their regular season when he does return from the shoulder issue he suffered earlier this month, and they’ve been playing great hockey without him. But the loss of Thomas Chabot in particular here, I think, is damaging. He’s played almost 28 minutes a night since Sanderson went down.
As I say, there’s no positive spin when you are down to the 11th guy on your roster in terms of depth spot at that position on the blue line. But the Senators do have a path to get through this. They’re just going to have to grin and bear it.
Duthie: You guys spent a lot of time at the GM’s meetings recently talking about goalie interference and the confusion that continues surrounding it. And since the GM’s meetings, the confusion really hasn’t gone anywhere. Has it, Pierre?
Pierre LeBrun: No, James, I like to refer to it as Groundhog Day when we talk about the goalie interference coaches’ challenge at the GM meetings. I can’t get any of that time back in my life. And listen, a year ago, to the league’s credit, they spent a lot of time on this at the GM meetings. And everyone came out of that meeting, I mean, the managers, feeling in a much better place about the standard at the time.
That was 12 months ago, and now there’s confusion again. It was a heated topic last week, and it continues to be. The latest example: Columbus and the New York Islanders on Sunday night, and Anders Lee was clearly pushed into the net by Mathieu Olivier. And the goal is overturned. And listen, the Islanders were surprised by this decision. They feel it’s clear that Mathieu Olivier had a part in this.
And at the end of the day, it was a surprise too, because so many of these did not get overturned this year. Fewer overturned decisions, you know, the review process sticking with the call on the ice, which actually goes against the grain of some of the controversial ones we’ve seen of late.
But the end result is the same; there is a bit of uncertainty heading into the Stanley Cup playoffs about where the standard is. And as one GM from another team said to me on this day, James, maybe we just don’t challenge in the opening two periods of a playoff game because we’re not sure what the result will be, maybe only in a desperation case in the third if we can’t afford to go down two goals. Not sure that’s where everyone wants the process to be at.
Duthie: No, not whatsoever. Highly touted prospect James Hagens, not quite a Boston Bruin yet on an amateur tryout in the AHL with Providence. But CJ, is it likely we’ll see him with the Bruins at some point this season?
Johnston: It’s certainly possible. The Bruins haven’t closed the door on that possibility, and I think that’s a note here because it’s kind of a unique way to treat a top pick.
Hagens was picked seventh overall, just had his NCAA season end. And by putting him on an amateur tryout, they get him in pro games in Providence, get a chance to get him up to speed. But they leave open the possibility that they will sign his entry-level contract this spring. Because of his age, when he signs, that will burn a year right away. So, it’s not something that they’ll do lightly. But obviously, this is a player they think very highly of, and we could still see him play for the Bruins either at the end of this regular season or in the playoffs, depending on how that stint goes down in Providence.
Duthie: When this season started, I think a lot of us thought that maybe Erik Karlsson might be potentially moved at the deadline or in the offseason, with one more year left on his contract and Pittsburgh kind of rebuilding. But with the season he has had, the season the Penguins have had, is that talk all gone now, Pierre?
LeBrun: If Kyle Dubas has his way, it is all gone. And I can tell you that Kyle Dubas and I went back and forth here in the last couple of days. And he wasn’t very happy that Karlsson’s name was mentioned again in terms of a trade chip. And that would be by me, who recently wrote an article looking at some big names to keep an eye on this summer.
And the reason I included him in that piece in the Athletic is that I had other teams say to me that this is a player making only $1.5 million in cash next year, once the Penguins pay his $6 million bonus on July 1st. And he has turned back the clock. He looks like the old Erik Karlsson; he’s been tremendous this year for Pittsburgh.
So, these teams are telling me, yeah, well, we would have interest in him. Here’s the thing: for the same reason they would have interest, it’s the same reason why Kyle Dubas says he wants to keep him, because he wants to continue to bring young players around his veteran core. He believes Erik Karlsson can still be a big part of that moving past this year, so he does not intend to move him.
Duthie: At least Kyle’s reading your stuff. Karlsson is on track for his second-best offensive season since leaving Ottawa eight years ago.
