Free washer | The misfortune of some is the happiness of the CH

We obviously never wish bad luck on others, but the blow suffered this week by the Florida Panthers could benefit the Canadian.

Mathias Brunet
The Press

Panthers number one defenseman Aaron Ekblad fell again in his third game. He could return to action by the holidays, they say, but groin injuries can be sneaky. Ekblad had missed the final 21 games of the regular season with a bad knee.

The Panthers could make up for Ekblad’s absences more easily in the past, 57 points in 61 games and 24:55 average use last year, with the presence of another right-handed defenseman, MacKenzie Weegar. He was averaging 23:22 per game and had a career-high 44 points last year.

However, Weegar moved to the Flames with Jonathan Huberdeau last summer in the trade for Matthew Tkachuk.

A certain Matt Kiersted, 24, never drafted, 17 games of NHL experience, has just been promoted to the first pair, to the left of Gustav Forsling, moved to the right. Josh Mahura, claimed off waivers from the Anaheim Ducks on October 10, occupies the position of left-handed defenseman on the second duo with Radko Gudas, robust at will, but rather limited.

The Panthers’ performance is of interest to the Canadian since the team holds Florida’s first-round pick in the 2023 draft, obtained for defenseman Ben Chiarot. There is no particular clause in the transaction, so the CH will keep this choice, whether it is at 32^e rank as 1^er.

Ekblad’s injury obviously doesn’t mean a drop in the standings for this powerful side, but it won’t help them dominate like they did last year. In their first game without Ekblad on Wednesday, the Panthers handed the Philadelphia Flyers their first loss of the season.

Kent Hughes maneuvered well in the Chiarot file. He would become a free agent at the end of the season, at age 31. In a context of reconstruction, his departure from Montreal was sealed. We made him play profusely, especially on the first wave on the power play. In his last two games with the CH before being traded, he was employed 26:32, then 27:58, and he collected two assists.

In his first five career seasons in Winnipeg, Chiarot played between 14 and 18 minutes, but his average time in Montreal was around 22 minutes.

We therefore raised the value of Chiarot to its maximum. But in Florida, he went from first to fourth, or even fifth defenseman. He averaged 17:17 in the playoffs and had one assist in ten games. A few weeks later, he left the organization to join the Detroit Red Wings. Chiarot plays in the top pair for the Wings, to the left of young sensation Moritz Seider. He’s third among team defensemen in average use, at 19:56, behind Seider and Filip Hronek, both employed on the power play. Chiarot is thus placed in the right chair.

It would obviously be surprising to see the Panthers miss the playoffs, but a good season, nothing more, and a participation in the playoffs, could nevertheless earn the Canadian a choice among the top twenty, in addition of course to his own choice.

The Canadian is already full of good young players with Suzuki, Caufield, Slafkovsky, Dach, Guhle, Harris, Beck, Mesar and company. He could add two other very interesting pieces in June 2023.

Montreal also got a prospect, Ty Smilanic, and a 2022 fourth-round pick for Chiarot. Smilanic, 20, a third-round pick in 2020, is a dynamic winger, but with limited offensive potential. He was shut out in his first four games at the University of Wisconsin in his third season in the NCAA.

The young man drafted in the fourth round this summer, the Franco-Ontarian Cédrick Guindon, is a cantankerous small forward, who already has ten points in eight games in the junior ranks, but he is not at the top of the list of prospects of the league. ‘crew.

Regardless, the first-round pick for Chiarot would have been more than enough…

Sheldon Keefe repenting…

Toronto Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe tried to make amends on Wednesday following his stormy outing to his stars following the loss to the Arizona Coyotes. “I used the wrong words to describe the situation,” he confessed. We didn’t manage to produce, neither on the power play nor five against five. That’s where we lost the game, with so much puck possession time. »

This is obviously a huge nuance compared to his remarks the day before, in which he had vilified Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews without naming them. “Our elite players haven’t played like elite players, that’s what happens when those guys don’t make the difference like they could,” Keefe said.

The Leafs coach also took care to address his squad before Thursday’s practice. “I spoke to him, he explained what he meant and how his words came out,” Marner told reporters in Toronto. I will leave it there. We have meetings behind closed doors for this reason. We talked to each other and we understood each other. We are mature men. »

The next few weeks will tell if Keefe’s clumsy exit leaves any mark…