Friday night was not a busy one in the National Hockey League with only two games. However, we have plenty to discuss today as we have an injury update in Niagara, a star in the making in Colorado and a top prospect heading back to the American Hockey League.
IceDogs Provide Update on Tynan
Tucker Tynan, the goaltender for the Niagara IceDogs of the Ontario Hockey League, was all over the hockey world on Thursday night for all the wrong reasons. During the IceDogs game versus the London Knights, he suffered a severe cut to his thigh from a skate blade. He was immediately rushed off the ice and to a local hospital where he underwent successful surgery.
The IceDogs postponed the remainder of the game with the Knights as well as their weekend games at the Peterborough Petes and Ottawa 67s. The team wants to “allow IceDogs players time to cope and access resources for support.”
On Friday, Tynan sent a positive message via his Twitter account.
IceDogs general manager Joey Burke met with the media and provided an update on the young goaltender.
“It’s been a pretty traumatic 14 hours for us here in Niagara,” he said. “We’re all shaken up and, obviously, our hearts, thoughts and prayers are with Tucker and his family. A type of injury like this is something you never want to see in our game. The worst is behind us and we are looking forward to working together and moving forward here.
“He’s stable now, thankfully. It’s no longer considered life-threatening, which is, by far, the most important thing. The femoral artery was not severed. The quad muscle was completely torn apart and ripped through by the skate blade. It will certainly be a significant recovery process, but, from our end, the most important thing is that we are out of the dark.”
All of us at The Hockey Writers wish nothing but the best to Tucker is his recovery and we can’t wait to feature him again in the Goalie News.
Francouz Continues his Rocky Mountain High
Some of the best goaltenders in the game today were first-round draft picks like Marc-Andre Fleury, Tuukka Rask, Carey Price Andrei Vasilevskiy. While that group has lived up to the high expectations of being a first-rounders, there are plenty of hidden gems to come out of the later rounds of the draft. Or sometimes, not even out of the draft at all.
That is the case with Pavel Franouz and the Colorado Avalanche. The 29-year-old native of Plzen, Czech Republic was never drafted and was signed as a free agent. He has been fantastic as Philipp Grubauer’s back up this season.
Related – 4 NHL Backup Goalies Who Should Be Starters
Francouz made 37 saves in a 3-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Friday night. With the win, he has improved to 7-0-1 in his last 10 appearances since Nov. 7. He has a 2.26 goals-against average (GAA) and .932 save percentage (SV%) on the season. He is a big reason why the Avalanche jumped ahead of the St. Louis Blues for first place in the Central Division.
Tkachuk Tries to Ruin Primeau’s Fun
Brady Tkachuk didn’t take very long to earn the “pest” label in his young NHL career. Shortly after the Montreal Canadiens beat Ottawa Senators in overtime on Wednesday night, for Cayden Primeau’s first NHL win, Tkachuk was seen scooping the puck out of the net.
Primeau revealed to reporters that Tkachuk, his former teammate, texted him saying that he was going to steal the puck. However, the young Senators forward had a different explanation.
“Honestly, I didn’t even realize it was his first win puck,” he said when asked about the incident. “I know (Primeau). I played with him at the U18 Worlds and we won a gold medal together. I know him pretty well. Honestly, I didn’t even think of it. When I saw him, I was like ‘Oh, OK.’ I didn’t even realize. I was just going to give the puck to a kid in the stands.”
No matter which goaltender you want to believe, the move made Hall of Fame defenseman Chris Pronger smile.
“Hey, maybe Brady’s just trying to be a good NHL player cultivating fans in the community,” Pronger told TSN on Friday. “It’s nice to see there’s some passion is still in the game, that there are players still trying to get under the opposition’s skin in the NHL.”
You may remember that Pronger famously stole the puck Patrick Kane scored the 2010 Stanley Cup-clinching goal with back in 2010.
In other news, the Canadiens reassigned Primeau to the Laval Rocket in the AHL this morning and recalled Charlie Lindgren.
This move has nothing to do with Primeau’s play, but rather it is all about his development. The Canadiens do not have any games on back-to-back nights during their four-game road trip out west before the holiday break, so there would be no chance for him to play. It serves him better to be in Laval playing every night than watching from the bench for the next couple of weeks.
