After failing to find the proper situation as a free agent in the NHL over the summer, veteran defenseman Tobias Enstrom is heading home to play for Modo of Sweden's second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan league, according to Sportsnet's Chris Johnston.
Enstrom suited up for Modo in the Swedish Hockey League from 2002-07 before making his NHL debut with the Atlanta Thrashers.
The 33-year-old has been hampered by injuries throughout his career, particularly over the last four seasons. In 2017-18, Enstrom only appeared in 43 games for the Winnipeg Jets, and he was shut down with a lower-body injury in March before returning for the postseason.
The playoffs didn't end on a particularly happy note, however. Enstrom was scratched before Game 5 of the Western Conference Final versus the Vegas Golden Knights, a decision that reportedly bothered him so much that he didn't show up for the club's exit meetings or locker cleanout.
Enstrom spent his entire 11-year NHL career with the Thrashers/Jets organization, recording 308 points in 719 games.
Tortorella's current contract expires at the end of the 2018-19 season, which will be his fourth with Columbus. Portzline notes this will be the first season of Tortorella's tenure with the Blue Jackets in which the team will pay the entirety of his $2-million salary, as the Vancouver Canucks were responsible for paying $1.25 million of his earnings after letting him go in 2014.
Since joining the Blue Jackets, Tortorella has coached the club to a 129-94-23 record and has qualified for the playoffs in back-to-back seasons for the first time in franchise history. The 60-year-old won the Jack Adams Award in 2017 for the second time in his career and has a Stanley Cup ring.
Bobrovsky is heading into the final year of his contract, which carries a cap hit of $7.425 million. He will be an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2019.
It's widely assumed the two-time Vezina Trophy winner is seeking "Carey Price money," Portzline notes. Price signed an eight-year, $84-million extension last summer.
Bobrovsky, who will be 30 years old in September, posted a .921 save percentage and a 2.42 goals-against-average in 65 games last season.
A fantasy manager's view of certain players can become distorted if their opinion is based primarily on real-life performances. Players can be overhyped because of what they do on the ice, and little attention is paid to how that translates to the fantasy box score.
Here's a look at eight players who played well in reality during the 2017-18 season, but they weren't as valuable for fantasy purposes.
Jason Spezza, C, Stars
Jason Spezza's production dropped significantly in 2017-18. He posted 26 points after finishing with 50 points the previous season. He played 78 games in 2017-18 - 10 more than he played in 2016-17 - but averaged just 13 minutes of ice time per game, the lowest average since Spezza's rookie campaign 15 years ago.
Of Spezza's 26 points, 21 were primary, and 13 of those were assists, showing that he needs more help from his linemates. His shot total dropped for a fifth consecutive full campaign, and he had a career-low shooting percentage of just 5.8. Spezza also finished with a poor plus-minus rating of minus-12 while producing few penalty minutes or hits, and only 11 power-play points.
Cam Atkinson, RW, Blue Jackets
Cam Atkinson took a step back after his breakout 2016-17 season while being limited to just 65 games last year. He averaged 2.14 primary points per 60 minutes in all game situations two seasons ago, but that number dipped to 1.95 in his most recent campaign, when 40 of his 46 points were primary.
Atkinson took more shots per game last season, but he still has little to offer in penalty minutes and saw a significant dip in his special-teams production. The 29-year-old has never finished a season with more assists than goals.
Without above-average outputs in multiple categories, fantasy managers will need Atkinson to return to his elite 2016-17 form when he scored 35 goals.
Anthony Mantha, RW, Red Wings
The Red Wings have eased Anthony Mantha, their 20th overall pick of the 2013 draft, into NHL action thus far. He played his first 80-game season last year and averaged a career-high 17:18 of ice time. That resulted in a 24-goal, 24-assist campaign.
He's been a reliable source of modest penalty-minute totals, recording 50-plus minutes in each of the past two seasons. But Mantha's plus-minus rating is significantly limited while playing in front of Detroit's weak defense.
Mantha averaged 1.85 points per 60 minutes of full-strength play last season. Now, fantasy managers need to hope the Red Wings increase his ice time, allowing him to capitalize on that stellar rate of production.
Kyle Turris, C, Predators
Kyle Turris isn't selfish enough for fantasy hockey. He registered just 119 shots on goal over his 65 games with the Predators last season, scoring only 13 times. However, he did supply 29 assists, bringing his point total to an adequate 42. But he won't give you many penalty minutes and has limited power-play exposure.
Turris had an excellent possession rating of 55.3 percent Corsi For during the 2017-18 season, but Nashville's sudden wealth of young goal-scorers is limiting the forward's upside and taking away his need to shoot.
Kevin Labanc, RW, Sharks
Kevin Labanc stayed on the Sharks' NHL roster for 77 games last season after he played just 55 games in 2016-17. He was still kept to only 14:21 minutes of ice time per game. Limited opportunities meant he couldn't capitalize on his 1.27 points per 60 minutes at full strength.
The 22-year-old had a minus-6 rating while recording just over two shots on goal per game to go with 32 penalty minutes. Labanc had nearly three times as many assists as goals last season, but his ice time needs to increase for him to offer much in either category.
Micheal Ferland, LW, Hurricanes
Micheal Ferland recorded his first 40-plus-point season in 2017-18, scoring 21 goals with 20 assists. He finished with a modest plus-5, only 24 penalty minutes, and fewer than two shots per game.
He averaged a career-best 15:01 in ice time, but had limited power-play opportunities, scoring just six goals with no assists on the man advantage. A big part of Ferland's offensive success last season came from being alongside Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau for 15 percent of the Flames' even-strength shifts. He's likely to play on the Hurricanes' second line in 2018-19 and may experience a decline.
Ryan Suter, D, Wild
Ryan Suter is in an interesting position as a fantasy defenseman. He doesn't offer the elite point production of the top fantasy draft picks at the position, and he also doesn't provide enough in the secondary categories to make him a quality late-round option.
Suter has had two 51-point campaigns over the past three seasons, which sandwich a 40-point year in 2016-17. A year after leading the NHL at plus-34, Suter showed how volatile that category can be with his minus-1 rating in 2017-18.
He also registered just 149 shots on goal and a disciplined 34 penalty minutes in 2017-18, leaving fantasy managers in both head-to-head and rotisserie formats wanting more.
Mike Smith, G, Flames
A veteran of 529 regular-season games, Mike Smith owns a .913 career save percentage. The veteran topped that number with a .916 save percentage last season, but he earned just 25 wins while playing for a Flames team that fell well short of expectations. He also finished with a goals-against average of 2.65.
As fantasy managers experienced when Smith played with the Coyotes over the previous six seasons, his quality save percentage isn't enough to compensate for a low win total and a GAA inflated by the volume of shots he'll face.
Youth hockey participation in Arizona increased by 17 percent over the last year, growing from 3,874 participants in 2016-17 to 4,519 in 2017-18, according to statistics released by USA Hockey. The rise of Toronto Maple Leafs superstar and Scottsdale, Ariz. native Auston Matthews was surely a factor.
It's more than just youths who want to be like Matthews, though. There are now 8,617 overall hockey participants in Arizona, up 11 percent from last year, and 109 percent in the last five years.
The first three years of that five-year span can't be credited to Matthews since he wasn't selected first overall until the 2016 NHL Draft.
Shane Doan, who spent 21 years playing hockey in the desert, has also left his impact on the state.
"It seems that wherever an NHL team goes, the minor hockey does better and it has done that since we have been here," Doan told Arizona Sports' Craig Morgan. "For me as a parent, I have seen the Junior Coyotes program go from being somewhat obscure to being capable of being competitive; one of the top 20, 25 programs in the country. That is exciting."
Doan's son, a ninth-round selection of the WHL's Kamloops Blazers in 2017, was a member of the Junior Coyotes program.
The Arizona Coyotes organization is playing a big part in the rapid growth of hockey in the area, donating more than $300,000 to local rinks, $450,000 to high schools over the next two years, and 2,100 sets of equipment to youth programs.
There are now 10 rinks and 15 sheets of ice in Arizona, compared to just three sheets of ice in 1996, when the Coyotes first arrived from Winnipeg.
The city of Tucson, where the Coyotes' AHL affiliate plays, has seen the largest growth. Hockey participation has increased by 433 percent in the eight-and-under age category over the past year, and 296 percent among all ages.
In 10 to 20 years, it's possible Arizona could become a hockey-talent producing factory, rather than just where the occasional diamond in the rough is found like Matthews.
However, Coyotes head coach Rick Tocchet is prepared to give Galchenyuk the opportunity to play up the middle this season.
"I've communicated with Alex and he said he'd like to play center," Tocchet said, according to ArizonaCoyotes.com's Dave Vest. "I have no problem with a player who'd like to try something if he backs it up. So, I want to give him a chance at center if he wants to play it, and our coaching staff will try to give him the best possible help to play that center position. We'll see how that goes."
Galchenyuk noted that he's been preparing this offseason for such an opportunity.
"That's where my head is and what my goal is," Galchenyuk said. "I'm training really hard and preparing myself for it. I can't wait to get it started."
Despite the Canadiens' down 2017-18 campaign, Galchenyuk put up admirable numbers with 19 goals and 51 points in 82 games. The question now is: will a move to center help get him back to putting up 30 goals a season?
The Toronto Maple Leafs are making a legendary addition to their front office.
Hayley Wickenheiser has been hired as the team's new assistant director of player development, the club announced along with several other moves Thursday morning.
Wickenheiser won four Olympic gold medals for Canada and seven World Championship golds. She is the all-time points leader for the nation's women's hockey program with 379 in 276 games and was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2011.
The 40-year-old former forward was a trailblazer in the sport, becoming the first woman to play full-time professional hockey in a position other than goaltender.
She represented Canada from 1994 until her retirement last year, and now serves on the IOC's Athletes' Commission.
Wickenheiser served as a guest coach for the Maple Leafs at the club's development camp back in June.
