Let the second half begin!
We are just getting back from the All-Star break, which marks the unofficial second half of the season. There haven't been many games played, but there have been plenty of interesting developments already this week.
Bobrovsky is off the case
Sergei Bobrovsky lost an opportunity to play in NHL All-Star Game in front of the hometown crowd in Columbus and he was pretty broken up about it. The news got worse when it was revealed that he would need four-to-six weeks to recover from a groin injury. It isn't in the same area, but Bobrovsky missed 12 games last season with a groin problem.
The Blue Jackets called up Anton Forsberg to take his spot on the roster and he has excelled in the AHL this campaign. The rookie netminder ranks fifth in the league with a 2.04 goals-against average and seventh with a .927 save percentage. He also left the minors tied with three others for second with 18 wins. Forsberg could get an opportunity to start for Columbus at some point, but for now the team appears to be poised to ride Curtis McElhinney for starts during Bobrovsky's absence.
McElhinney has been a popular waiver addition over the past couple of days on Yahoo. He was added 2,073 times on Tuesday and another 1,497 times on Wednesday.
Flyers get Mason back
A former Philadelphia goaltender in Bobrovsky goes down to injury just as the Flyers get Steve Mason back from knee injury. He didn't start Tuesday's game against Arizona, but he ended up with the win after he entered the game in relief of Ray Emery. Mason stopped 22 of the 23 shots he faced after Emery allowed two goals on four shots very early in the contest.
Mason sat out six games with an injured knee and the Flyers experienced mixed results during his absence with a 3-3-0 record. Even though his 9-12-6 record isn't very impressive, Mason has posted superb peripherals with a .921 save percentage and a 2.41 goals-against average.
If the Flyers make up ground down the stretch then Mason will be a significant part of that. The chances of making the playoffs look slim, but he's worth targeting in a trade if you can find a disgruntled owner.
Okposo sidelined
Kyle Okposo was a no-show for New York's first practice after the break and it was announced shortly after that he would miss the next six-to-eight weeks with a shoulder injury. He has registered 14 goals and 44 points in 46 games was on pace for a career year.
Mikhail Grabovski took his spot on the top line with John Tavares and Josh Bailey, who I recommended on Waiver Wired roughly two weeks ago. Grabovski could be a good fit on that line. He has played with Tavares and Bailey for parts of the 2014-15 season and recorded a goal on four shots against the Rangers on Tuesday.
Kings waive Richards
Los Angeles placed Mike Richards on waivers Monday and assigned him to the minors on Tuesday. He owns a $5.75 million cap hit through the 2019-20 season and he's recorded 15 points in 47 games, so it isn't surprising that he wasn't claimed. The Kings save just $925,000 on the salary cap with Richards playing for Manchester.
The Kings were reportedly trying to move Richards before he ended up on waivers, so his name will probably will come up again on deadline day as a trade candidate. However, it's conceivable that Richards will play a little in the minors and then rejoin Los Angeles for the stretch run.
The Kings returned from the break three points behind Calgary for the final Wild Card spot in the Western Conference and they closed the gap further with a win over Chicago on Wednesday. One of the bigger storylines in the second half will be the defending Stanley Cup champions competing for a playoff berth. Sending down Richards sends a message to the room and the Kings took a positive first step by battling back against the Blackhawks.
Surging Wings
Detroit has won six straight games to tie the vastly improved New York Islanders for first place in the Eastern Conference. The Red Wings claimed the last playoff spot in the East last season and this year they could be the top seed.
Detroit has talked at length about the team's improved speed this year and young players like Gustav Nyquist and Tomas Tatar have been difference makers. Of course having Henrik Zetterberg remain in the lineup and Pavel Datsyuk being relatively healthy has helped tremendously as well. Jimmy Howard has also enjoyed a bounce back season. Detroit also owns the second-best power play in the league with a 25.3 success rate. No team has more power-play goals than the Wings (44) and Nyquist has 11 to place him third overall.
All of this could finally give coach Mike Babcock his first Jack Adams Award as the coach of the year, but he will face stiff competition from Winnipeg's Paul Maurice, Nashville's Peter Laviolette and New York's Jack Capuano.
Battle at the bottom
Buffalo has lost 12 games in a row and own the best odds of winning the NHL Draft Lottery. Their minus-81 goal differential is already dangerously close to the minus-91 they posted in 2013-14 and it's highly unlikely to improve. The Sabres allow a league-high 35 shots per game.
Edmonton is just two points ahead of Buffalo in the NHL's basement, with Arizona and Carolina also fairly close. Finishing last obviously doesn't guarantee the top pick, which is what Buffalo learned last year when the Florida Panthers won the lottery and chose Aaron Ekblad first overall.
The 2015 NHL Entry Draft will be headlined by outstanding prospects Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel, so dropping to No. 2 is a pretty soft blow. The players that the bottom dwelling teams sell off at the trade deadline could give them that extra shove in order to secure the best odds of getting a generational talent this June.
