Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman writes in his "30 Thoughts" column:
A year ago, teams asked about James van Riemsdyk and were told he was not available. Now they're being told, "If you're serious, ante up." What it comes down to is this: van Riemsdyk is an unrestricted free agent after next season, and can be extended July 1. At some point, the Maple Leafs will decide if they are going to meet his price.
Van Riemsdyk's under contract at $4.25 million against the cap through 2017-18. He'll be 28 in May, and is having another solid season, with 12 goals and 22 points in 31 games. And now that Toronto boasts more offense thanks to rookies Auston Matthews, William Nylander, and Mitch Marner, his ice time is down from 17:46 a game last season to 16:01.
As Friedman notes, Van Riemsdyk is one of the better goal-scorers in the NHL, and will be paid handsomely, by Toronto or another team. The Maple Leafs' weakness is on its blue line, hence the change in approach from last year, when Toronto wasn't interested in discussing JvR with other teams.
Van Riemsdyk has a modified no-trade clause, according to Cap Friendly, and can submit a list of 10 teams he won't accept a trade to.
Acquired in exchange for Luke Schenn from the Philadelphia Flyers in a very one-sided trade, Van Riemsdyk has 101 goals and 200 points in 281 games with the Maple Leafs.
The Tampa Bay Lightning's New Year's resolution should be something along the lines of: Keep our head above water.
The club was dealt another significant blow Wednesday with the announcement that goaltender Ben Bishop will be sidelined for roughly the next month with a lower-body injury.
It marks the latest blight the hockey gods have cast upon the team, as captain Steven Stamkos, Ondrej Palat, top scorer Nikita Kucherov, and former Vezina Trophy nominee Bishop are all sidelined by injuries.
The good news is that it appears Palat and Kucherov shouldn't be out for too much longer. Nevertheless, the firepower the Lightning are missing is significant, and the injuries are coming at a bad time.
Tampa Bay finds itself outside the playoff picture, sitting a win back of the Boston Bruins for third place in the Atlantic Division and six points back of the final wild-card spot in the East.
To add to the Lightning's misery, their schedule doesn't do them any favors. The team has five games remaining in 2016 including a back-to-back with the St. Louis Blues and Washington Capitals, plus a meeting with the Montreal Canadiens.
Then the calendar turns to 2017, and January will see the club play 13 games - 10 against teams that sit above them in the standings. They play four of the NHL's hottest teams in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Columbus, and Chicago. They'll make the dreaded California road trip and play all three teams, finishing with what could be a crucial tilt with the Bruins.
Of course things haven't gone their way of late. The Lightning find themselves in this rather tight spot thanks to a 3-4-2 December record.
One bright spot in that tough stretch appears to be Jonathan Drouin, who seems to be heating up with 10 points in his last eight games, including a goal and an assist Tuesday.
The team will need others to follow suit, such as Tyler Johnson, who's underwhelmed with 19 pints in 33 games and just four in his last eight contests.
The Lightning were among the favorites to capture the 2016-17 Stanley Cup after their second straight trip to the Conference Finals last year, but those early predictions could soon fall to the wayside.
The team isn't out of it yet, and a long playoff run wouldn't be out of the question, but first the Lightning must make the postseason, and that will rest largely on how the the next five weeks go.
The New Jersey Devils general manager was candid about his team's struggles - losers of seven in a row - during an interview Wednesday.
"Play harder," Shero said when asked about the Devils' poor play, according to The Record's Andrew Gross. "Really. Play (expletive) harder. That's what I'm talking about. There's a will they need. There's a passion and emotion to our game. How many scrums have we been involved with? No one is mad at us."
Known for strong defensive play, New Jersey's allowed five goals in four of their losses on the seven-game skid.
"There's got to be pushback in your game and pride in your game," Shero added. "Someone takes your lunch money, what the hell? It's not good. That's something we established last year. It's a tenacity to your game. Our team last year, we never gave up. That, to me, is what you're trying to build, and that's pride."
The Devils finished 38-36-8 in 2015-16, in head coach John Hynes' first season behind the bench. While New Jersey missed the playoffs, there were positives to build upon, but things haven't gone the way Shero imagined as 2016 comes to a close.
The GM still believes in his head coach, though. This is on his players.
"John's a really good coach, without a doubt," Shero said. "People around the league recognize that, and so do I. I can't even stress, I'm 100 percent supportive of (Hynes)."
After play on Nov. 15, the Devils were 9-3-3. They were playing solid hockey. New Jersey's won three games since. And that's what bothers Shero the most - there's been no signs of life as the season slowly slips away in hockey's toughest division.
It's not going to get any easier, either. The Devils' remaining schedule to close out 2016 is brutal:
Flyers (Dec. 22)
@ Penguins (Dec. 23)
Penguins (Dec. 27)
@ Capitals (Dec. 29)
Capitals (Dec. 31)
The club's best players need to step up. And Shero's calling them out.
After scoring a career-high 30 goals last season, Adam Henrique's got seven. Kyle Palmieri's coming off 30, too, and he's got four goals. Worst of all, Cory Schneider has a .904 save percentage, a far cry from his career .923.
It's bad in New Jersey. Taylor Hall must think he's a curse.
Last week, when Dean Lombardi shed light onto the decision to stand pat in the absence of Jonathan Quick, he didn't bemoan the Los Angeles Kings' position under the salary cap.
That would bring attention to his failure to preserve financial flexibility to compensate for a loss. Instead, he touched on the pitfalls of acquiring a player to be plucked in the expansion draft, and reluctance on the part of teams to move their own safety valves.
These reasons are valid. That said, exhausting his resources isn't something Lombardi should hide. Spending to the limit is precisely what teams with title aspirations must do in today's NHL. Show us a franchise that's not, and we'll show you one with other intentions.
This isn't to say Lombardi hasn't made unwise financial decisions. He has. But while Dustin Brown's and Marian Gaborik's albatross contracts do more harm than good, it's not like the millions tied up in those deals would be in safekeeping instead. The money would likely be tied up in Milan Lucic.
Not even teams built to nearly unanimous approval are safe from catastrophe. Take the Tampa Bay Lightning, who sunk fast after Steven Stamkos damaged his knee.
In the NHL, there's no coverage for those who design rosters to be competitive. There's only opportunity for lesser clubs to take advantage. This is wonderful for parity. Not so much for that two-month tournament come spring.
Why is that not the focus?
Well, hold on. There is a loophole that can benefit an enterprising entry in the event of injury - when the circumstances are just right. Salary parameters don't apply in the playoffs. So, a team like the Chicago Blackhawks, who lost leading scorer Patrick Kane to a broken collarbone a few seasons back, can tap into long-term injury relief to find a replacement, then re-insert their star into an augmented postseason roster.
Aside from the looming threat of expansion (and, we suppose, one player being an MVP candidate), timing is the only thing separating Quick's injury from Kane's. Because of this arbitrary mandate, the Kings are fighting to tread water, while those Blackhawks, with the luxury of loading up at the trade deadline, rode the wave to a third title in six seasons.
Relief shouldn't be circumstantial. It should be available for all teams - for a price.
The NHL would be a better, more competitive league with a small, highly taxed emergency reserve to help teams compensate for unforeseen events. It should function beyond the temporary relief afforded by LTIR, allowing teams to seek out suitable replacements without having to cut salary or worrying about the other associated hazards that come with a player's return.
Just like in the playoffs.
That financial leeway should be granted on a strict, case-by-case basis that is transparent, objective, and investigative. (It's for Quick's damaged groin and Stamkos' torn meniscus, not whatever it is that's ailing Joffrey Lupul.)
Further, teams must spend the emergency relief on a comparable player, and never spend beyond a fixed upper limit or the value of the injured asset. Depending on that percentage ceiling, the Kings could, in theory, pry Marc-Andre Fleury away from the Pittsburgh Penguins.
It's paramount that this functions as a "luxury." Each dollar spent beyond the standard limit should be taxed at an increasing rate, so the cost in real dollars is well beyond the value of the purchased replacement. The high interest won't deter big markets, but the price of tapping into this reserve has to be significant enough to give managers real pause.
Considering the circumvention of the current collective bargaining agreement, the method would have to be seal-tight - professional in its meticulousness. This isn't hiding anchors on the payroll; it's protecting what ambitious teams have built.
It's about time the league incentivized winning, not losing. A little insurance for unforeseen circumstances is a good place to start.
The Ten
10) Anders Lee - Four goals in four games this week to make 11 from his last 14. Lee hadn't scored in 14 straight before catching fire.
9) Ottawa Senators - Claimed wins over the Blackhawks, Islanders, and Devils this week, and collected seven of a possible eight points since Guy Boucher's first tirade in Ottawa.
8) Eric Staal - You really can't help but root for him. The veteran center has been reinvigorated with the Wild, and has been especially hot of late. He scored three goals and added two assists as the Wild went 3-0 this week.
7) Justin Schultz - Raising his game to another level in the absence of Kris Letang, Schultz has two goals and six points, including three on the power play, and averaged almost 22 minutes over the last four games.
6) Andrew Cogliano - He scored the opening goal in a contest that gave him the fifth longest ironman streak in NHL history - and the longest in 23 years. He hasn't missed a single game in his career.
5) John Tortorella and the Columbus Blue Jackets - Make it 10 straight wins for the Blue Jackets, who have - incredibly - taken points from 25 of 30 games. Tortorella also became the first U.S.-born coach to collect 500 NHL wins, and just so happened to do it against the Canucks. If it made it that much sweeter, the suddenly mellow bench boss sure didn't show it.
4) Roberto Luongo and Henrik Lundqvist - Luongo matched Terry Sawchuk for fifth on the all-time wins list, while Lundqvist caught Dominik Hasek.
3) Artemi Panarin - The week's offensive leader cashed four goals and nine points to total 12 points on a six-game scoring surge.
2) Jaromir Jagr - Having matched Mark Messier for the second-most points all time, the ageless one will accomplish his greatest individual achievement with his next appearance on the scoresheet.
1) Craig Cunningham - A Christmas miracle, indeed.
More Takes
1) Chicago's sacrificed some outstanding talent over the last decade. But with the way things are going, Panarin may wind up being the best of the bunch.
2) His "Bobblebread," by the way, is the bobblehead that should really end all bobbleheads.
3) It's too bad about Rick Nash and his uncooperative groin. He's been a force in all situations for the Rangers after his miserable 2015-16 season, showing the high-grade talent that got him to Broadway. This near-impossible short-side snipe versus Nashville was sensational.
4) Likewise for Jimmy Howard, who can't stay on the ice long enough to truly showcase for Las Vegas.
4) And finally with the Wild, has Bruce Boudreau ever been more on brand?
SUNRISE, Fla. - Jaromir Jagr knows No. 2 is as high as he'll go on the NHL career scoring list.
In his mind, that's a record in itself.
Jagr's next point will be the 1,888th of his career and give him outright possession of second place on the all-time NHL points list, breaking a tie with Mark Messier. Only Wayne Gretzky's total of 2,857 is better than that, and Jagr - the 44-year-old Florida Panthers forward who has said he can see himself playing until he's 50 - knows the top spot is going to stay far from his reach.
''For me, it's like No. 1,'' Jagr said recently when asked what passing Messier would mean. ''I don't really count Wayne Gretzky. He was from another planet. I don't think he was from this planet. Whatever he did, it's unbreakable.''
Jagr caught Messier on Tuesday with a three-assist effort in Florida's shootout win over Buffalo. His next chance for the tiebreaker is Thursday, when the Panthers play host to the Boston Bruins.
Jagr would have been No. 2 long ago if not for his leaving the NHL to play in Russia from 2008 through 2011. Jagr collected 146 points in those three seasons, deciding to play there in part because of the proximity to his parents in the Czech Republic. But he missed the NHL, returned to play with Philadelphia in 2011-12 - and has been collecting jerseys since, also logging time with Dallas, Boston, New Jersey and now Florida since coming back to North America.
''It's an honor to be around him, get a little wisdom from him, get a few laughs from him,'' said Florida's Nick Bjugstad, who scored the goal that became point No. 1,887 for Jagr. ''He's been nothing but awesome for our organization.''
Including playoffs, Tuesday's three-point game was the 215th of Jagr's career.
He's reached seven points in an NHL game twice, and that's not even close to his career best. He played one game in a German league in 1994-95 during an NHL work stoppage and racked up 11 points - one goal and 10 assists.
His first NHL point was a goal on Oct. 7, 1990, when he was the youngest player in the league at 18. The goalie who gave that one up was Chris Terreri, who was just in his second full NHL season and a relatively young player at 25.
Terreri had a fine, full career and his last NHL game was 16 years ago. Jagr is still going, with no end in sight.
''The way he comes to work every single day is unbelievable,'' Panthers interim coach and general manager Tom Rowe said.
The NHL is made up of two conferences, six divisions and 30 arenas. And to illustrate how long Jagr has been in that league, consider that he's played in four conferences, 11 divisions and 57 different arenas.
That doesn't even include four neutral-site arenas, or two baseball stadiums - Yankee Stadium in New York, and Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.
''He's kind of inspired us with his passion and dedication,'' Messier said.
For Messier, going to No. 3 on the all-time scoring list is merely a formality. He said the huge numbers Jagr put up early in his career deserve credit on their own, and now he merits more of the same credit for staying so fit and committed at this point in his life.
''This is kind of anticlimactic for me in a way,'' said Messier, a former teammate of Jagr with the New York Rangers. ''I understand the amount of time that he put in overseas when he left the NHL and came back and the amount of points he amassed over there and where he would be if he would have stayed (here). So I guess in my own mind he surpassed me a long time ago.''
A little more than a month after collapsing prior to an American Hockey League game in Tucson, Ariz., Craig Cunningham spoke at a press conference at Banner University Medical Center, expressing gratitude to the emergency personnel that helped preserve his life.
"I wouldn't be here today," he said, without the efforts of the doctors and nurses involved in his care, along with the training staff, fire fighters, and first responders on-hand.
His mother spoke as well, thanking his medical team for its tireless efforts while providing care for her son.
"Everyone who's helped have given me a gift, a gift that I get to look at every day, and that's my son," she said.
Cunningham indicated that he was resigned to the fact that his playing career is likely over. He wouldn't, however, rule it out for certain, electing instead to see what happens after he embarks on his physical rehabilitation.
The topic caused one doctor to interject another, and say that what epitomized Cunningham, and his perseverance, was when he was told that he was going to have a tough time and responded: "Bring it on."
General manager Ken Holland confirmed that Howard will be "out a while," telling Ted Kulfan of The Detroit News that the team will see how the goaltender's body responds before providing a timeline for the injury.
Petr Mrazek relieved Howard, who suffered a leg injury midway through the second period of Tuesday's game versus the Tampa Bay Lightning.
In the meantime, Detroit has recalled netminder Jared Coreau from Grand Rapids (AHL). The 25-year-old made his NHL debut this season in a 5-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Canadiens coach Michel Therrien confirmed that Markov will not play versus the Wild on Thursday and that he would be "surprised" if he suits up Friday against the Blue Jackets.
Markov missed his first game of the season in Tuesday's 5-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks. The 38-year-old was held out of the lineup with a lower-body injury.
Markov has scored 21 points in 31 games with the Canadiens this season.
He's done it for years. Making his NHL debut in 2009, the 26-year-old has already amassed 416 points to his name. Career-wise, his total goals and assists both rank within the top 100 in league history.
This season, Karlsson outpaces all defensemen in points, as he's done each of the previous three campaigns. Remove the 2012-13 season, when an Achilles injury limited him to 17 games, and his production continues. In 2011-12, Karlsson's 78 points were 25 more than the next highest-scoring blue-liner.
But there's another end of the rink, an area where Karlsson and most offensive defensemen are criticized for playing a too one-dimensional game. But Karlsson's supporting numbers spurn the notion that he's only focused on offense. In fact, he continues to be a leader at both ends of the ice.
Season
Games
Blocks
Takeaways
G-A-Points
2016-17
33
91
25
7-24-31
2015-16
82
175
61
16-66-82
2014-15
82
89
59
21-45-66
2013-14
82
101
68
20-54-74
Karlsson has appeared in all 33 games for the Ottawa Senators this season, keeping with his perfect attendance record over the past three campaigns. And while his production continues to hover around a point-per-game pace, his presence in his own zone has only grown. This season, he's on pace for a career-best 226 blocked shots.
Didn't used to see that kind of heavy stick by Karlsson in front on Toews there. His game continues to grow. #senators
In 2009, six defenders were drafted ahead of Karlsson, including Doughty, who went second overall. But with a performance like he's been giving so far this season, it may not be long before the young Swede adds a third Norris to his trophy case. Not a bad return for a defenseman who was selected 15th overall.
