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Archives for October 2017

Los Angeles Kings To Recall Mike Amadio

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According to Jon Rosen of LA Kings Insider, Mike Amadio is on his way up to the Los Angeles Kings. In a corresponding move, the team will send Justin Auger back to the minor leagues. Auger, 23, made his NHL debut with the Kings this season on October 18th and got into a second game before heading back to the AHL.

Should Amadio get into the lineup, it would be another debut for an interesting prospect. Amadio was selected in the third round—90th overall—by the Kings in 2014 after a relatively pedestrian OHL campaign. He had scored 12 goals and 38 points and Central Scouting had him ranked 68th among North American skaters going into the draft. Since then though, the 6’1″ 196-lbs forward has done nothing but score. In the next two years of junior he put up 169 points in 136 games, jumped immediately to the AHL playoffs where he was dynamic, and then last year found success in the minor leagues as a rookie. Amadio scored 41 points in 68 games last season, ranking third on Ontario and earning him another look in training camp this year.

Though he couldn’t crack the Kings out of camp, the 21-year old is definitely someone to keep an eye on in Los Angeles. Despite his recent offensive achievements, his calling card is his defense and capable center ice play. There is a legitimate chance he could be an NHL center with some offensive upside, but for now his role will likely be limited—if he even cracks the lineup. The Kings are carrying 13 forwards.

Minor Moves: Corrado, Heinen, Mitchell

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The Pittsburgh Penguins have placed Justin Schultz on injured reserve, and recalled Frank Corrado from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in his stead. Schultz suffered a concussion on Tuesday night, and is out indefinitely while he works his way through the league protocol.

Corrado, 24, was acquired by the Penguins last year from the Toronto Maple Leafs in a salary dump of sorts. The Maple Leafs took on Eric Fehr’s $2MM/year contract, after he had cleared waivers with the Penguins. Fehr cleared waivers again yesterday for the Maple Leafs, and could be sent to the minor leagues today. Corrado played just two games down the stretch last season, and has been stuck in the minors to being this year. The defenseman has two points in six games.

  • The Boston Bruins have brought Danton Heinen back from the minor leagues ahead of their matchup with the San Jose Sharks tonight, rewarding the young playmaker for his excellent early play. Heinen has eight points in four games for the Providence Bruins, including seven assists. That isn’t just a minor league trend, as prior to his assignment he recorded three points in three games for Boston as well. The 22-year old fourth-round pick is showing considerable upside and could get into the lineup on a more full-time basis going forward.
  • The Minnesota Wild have also continued to bounce players up and down, today recalling Zack Mitchell from the AHL. Mitchell had previously been up with the team for three games, where he registered one point while playing fewer than ten minutes per night. The undrafted forward has been a big part of the Iowa Wild for several years, and filled in for Minnesota last year as well. Likely not much more than a 13th forward, this likely isn’t the last transaction to include Mitchell this year. He will eventually need to clear waivers again as he cleared on September 28th, just before the season began.
  • The Joshua Ho-Sang move from yesterday was indeed a prelude to Alan Quine’s activation, as the team has moved him from season-opening injured reserve to a conditioning stint. While Quine will have to play a couple of games in the minor leagues, he still counts towards their 23-man roster for the time being.

Injury Updates: Krejci, Penguins, Johns, Flyers

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Bruins center David Krejci has been downgraded from day-to-day to week-to-week and has been ruled out of action for the rest of this week, head coach Bruce Cassidy told reporters, including Joe Haggerty of NBC Sports Boston (Twitter link).  The upper-body injury occurred last Thursday against Vancouver after awkwardly hitting the boards.  Although he played in all 82 games last season, staying healthy has been an issue at times for the 31-year old who missed 45 games due to injuries between 2014-15 and 2015-16.  For the time being, Boston will likely shift David Backes to play down the middle, a position he has plenty of experience with from his time in St. Louis.

Other injury notes from around the league:

  • Penguins defenseman Matt Hunwick has resumed skating but isn’t quite ready to return yet from a concussion sustained on October 17th, notes Jonathan Bombulie of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Additionally, blueliner Justin Schultz is doubtful for their next game on Thursday after suffering a concussion last night against the Oilers.  As a result, Zach Trotman will likely make his season debut after being a healthy scratch since being recalled last Thursday.
  • Stars defender Stephen Johns has been diagnosed with concussion symptoms, notes Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News (Twitter link). The team was carrying eight defensemen already so it’s unlikely they’ll look to make a corresponding roster move.  Johns has played in all nine games with Dallas this season, recording a goal and two assists while averaging just over 17 minutes per game.
  • Despite leaving Tuesday’s game early after hitting the glass head first after taking a check, Flyers center Nolan Patrick is not expected to miss any time and should be ready to play on Thursday night, reports Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer. The second overall pick from June has played in all nine games for Philadelphia so far which means that he will officially burn the first year of his entry-level contract in his next outing.  Carchidi adds that winger Wayne Simmonds missed practice today while being evaluated for an undisclosed injury.

Canadiens Notes: Bergevin, Mete, Shaw

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With the Montreal Canadiens struggling considerably out of the gate with a 2-6-1 record, some have speculated that they could be a team that looks to make an early trade or two to shake things up.  However, GM Marc Bergevin tried to put an end to that speculation at a press conference today, stating to reporters, including Sportsnet’s Eric Engels, that they won’t be making a move for the sake of merely doing a trade and that he feels the solution to their early struggles can be found by their current team.

Despite saying that, the speculation likely won’t stop, especially with the amount of cap space the team has to work with; they have the room to add another $7.7MM in salary at the moment per CapFriendly, an amount that will only increase by the day.  Considering that the cap room doesn’t carry over to next season, they’ll be expected to make use of that room sooner than later.

More from Montreal:

  • Bergevin also noted during his press conference that rookie defenseman Victor Mete will be staying with the team and burning the first year of his entry-level contract (via Pat Hickey of the Montreal Gazette). The 19-year-old has spent the majority of the season on the top pairing alongside Shea Weber and is averaging just shy of 20 minutes per game.  As is the case with the other junior-aged players, the next threshold will be 40 games on the active roster (not necessarily played) that will result in Mete accruing one season towards eligibility for unrestricted free agency.
  • In his latest 31 Thoughts column, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman suggests that Montreal might be willing to move winger Andrew Shaw and retain part of his $3.9MM cap hit to do so. Shaw is in his second season with the team but is signed through 2021-22 which would likely complicate things as moving secondary players with that much term hasn’t happened particularly often in recent years.  Through nine games this season, Shaw has two assists and has been surprisingly sharp at the faceoff dot, winning over 61% of his draws.

Vadim Shipachyov’s Representatives Given Permission To Pursue Trade

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The Golden Knights have given permission for Vadim Shipachyov’s representatives to pursue a trade for the center, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link).  However, they have yet to find the right fit for a deal.  TSN’s Darren Dreger adds (via Twitter) that the permission was granted Tuesday morning.

Shipachyov was the top free agent signing for Vegas as he inked a two-year, $9MM contract back in May.  He was coming off of a dominant season with SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL where he finished second on the team in scoring (third in the league) with 26 goals and 50 assists in 50 games (plus 16 points in 15 postseason contests).  As a result, many expected him to be the top line center to start the season.

Oct 17, 2017; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Vegas Golden Knights center Vadim Shipachyov (87) skates with the puck during a game against the Buffalo Sabres at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY SportsHowever, that has not been the case.  Shipachyov was among the players who fell victim to a numbers game when it came to waiver exemption.  In an effort to keep as much talent as possible without risking running players through waivers, the 30-year-old was sent to Chicago of the AHL to start the season (along with winger Alex Tuch and defenseman Shea Theodore).  That has allowed them to keep nine defensemen on the active roster and GM George McPhee is believed to be seeking a trade for one of his surplus defenders (including Griffin Reinhart, Brad Hunt, and Jon Merrill) but nothing has come to fruition just yet.

Shipachyov was told he didn’t have to report to the minors and wound up being recalled back on October 14th as injuries started to strike.  He got into three games with the Golden Knights, recording a goal but he averaged just 10:35 per night in ice time.  The team had to make a roster move yesterday to activate Jonathan Marchessault off IR and it was Shipachyov who lost his spot as he was sent back to the minors.

Shipachyov had interest from NHL teams dating back to two years ago but he was under contract in Russia through 2016-17 so he wasn’t able to make the jump initially.  However, teams were hesitant to commit multiple years to him which played a role in him choosing to go to Vegas in the first place.  Sportsnet’s Eric Engels notes (Twitter link) that Montreal (who had interest in the past on a one-year deal) was contacted but they are not interested in pursuing him now.  With just three NHL regular season games plus four preseason contests under his belt though, he hasn’t really had the opportunity to showcase himself enough to the point where another team might be more confident to take a chance on him.

With his agent having less than 48 hours to secure a possible trade partner, there’s still plenty of time to get something done.  In the meantime, it will be worth watching to see if Shipachyov reports to the AHL’s Wolves this time around.  If he doesn’t, the Golden Knights will be able to suspend him without pay if they so desire.  With the trade market not being particularly robust at this time, his name is likely to come up in plenty of speculation in the days to come.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Senators Recall Filip Chlapik And Jack Rodewald

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The Senators announced (via Twitter) a pair of recalls up front; they’ve summoned center Filip Chlapik and winger Jack Rodewald from their AHL affiliate in Belleville.  It’s the first NHL recall for both players.

Chlapik was Ottawa’s second-round pick (48th overall) in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft and is in his first professional season.  He was in the mix for a roster spot at the beginning of training camp with the injuries up front but instead, that spot went to Logan Brown, who was returned to Windsor of the OHL earlier today.  The 20-year-old has three assists in seven games with Belleville.

As for Rodewald, it has been quite the week for him.  The undrafted winger was off to a strong start in the minors with three goals and an assist through five games and landed his entry-level contract at the age of 23 just yesterday.  That’s quite a jump for a player who has seen action at the ECHL level in each of the past two seasons.

With the roster moves, the Sens are back up to 13 healthy forwards (with Bobby Ryan, Zack Smith, and Clarke MacArthur all on injured reserve plus Colin White on season-opening injured reserve).  As a result, at least one of Chlapik or Rodewald will make their NHL debut on Thursday night as Ottawa plays host to Philadelphia.

Snapshots: Athanasiou, Sateri, Blackhawks

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Andreas Athanasiou is back. The 23-year old forward that has spent the last few weeks holding out for a new contract, was on the ice for the Detroit Red Wings today, practicing with Frans Nielsen and Darren Helm. While there’s no clear indication when Athanasiou will get back into the lineup, it was a promising sign to have him working with the team.

After a summer that was filled with speculation, rumor and intrigue, the Red Wings will welcome back their talented young sniper. Athanasiou has excellent speed and skill, and had just scratched the surface of his offensive potential last season, scoring 18 goals and 29 points. That number could increase this year even with the lost time, especially if given plenty of powerplay opportunities. The Red Wings, now losers of five straight, could use some offensive punch. They’ve scored just one goal in their last two games.

  • Harri Sateri has been sent back to the AHL by the Florida Panthers, after the team claimed Antti Niemi off waivers yesterday. The 27-year old Sateri didn’t get into a game, and has a slow start in his return to North America. Originally a draft pick of the San Jose Sharks, Sateri left for the KHL in 2014 where he found immediate success. Earlier this summer he turned down an extension with his KHL club in order to try and secure and NHL job, and eventually signed a two-way deal with Florida to essentially be their #3. With a .859 save percentage in the AHL, and now Niemi in the fold, he’ll have to play better if he wants to get a crack at a full-time NHL role (even as a backup) down the road.
  • Shane Doan has found the next chapter in his NHL career, as Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic reports that the former Arizona Coyotes’ captain will join the league’s Hockey Operations group. Working with Colin Campbell, Doan will follow the path set out by other former players like Brendan Shanahan and Rob Blake. Shanahan and Blake of course are now running franchises in Toronto and Los Angeles.
  • The Chicago Blackhawks have made quite a few moves over the years to get their core group under the salary cap, but perhaps never so many as this offseason. The team saw Artemi Panarin, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Marcus Kruger, Trevor van Riemsdyk and Scott Darling all leave through trade, Brian Campbell retire and of course Marian Hossa kept out with a chronic skin condition. That’s a lot of talent to have leave in one offseason, but as GM Stan Bowman tells Mark Lazerus of the Chicago Sun-Times, he’s pretty happy with how it’s turned out. Chicago is 5-3-2 so far this season, but on most nights still look like a team that could compete for the Stanley Cup. In terms of improvement, Chicago doesn’t have to make a deal, as they have talented players sitting in the press box or AHL most nights. Or, as Bowman puts it: “I’m not, like, itching to make a trade.”

Arizona Coyotes Loan Lawson Crouse To AHL

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First-round picks aren’t safe today. After the New York Islanders sent Josh Ho-Sang to Bridgeport earlier, the Arizona Coyotes have similarly sent Lawson Crouse to the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners, according to the league’s transaction page. This could be preempting the activation of Brendan Perlini from the injured reserve list, as the young forward has been travelling with the team and is very close to a return.

Crouse of course wasn’t a first-round pick of the Coyotes, instead coming from the Florida Panthers in a 2016 trade. The Coyotes acquired the 20-year old in exchange for eating all of Dave Bolland’s contract. Crouse had been selected 11th-overall just a year prior, but apparently was deemed expendable to clear some salary.

Impressively, Crouse made the Coyotes out of training camp last year and remained with the team all year. In 72 games he didn’t have the sort of debut worthy of Calder consideration, but still recorded 12 points and received a lot of NHL experience. It hasn’t paid off just yet, as he’s been held scoreless through his seven games this season. The bet on Crouse was that he would grow into a dynamic power forward in the league, as he’s built like a freight truck—6’4″ 220-lbs—and can skate well enough to play at this level. While that type of player often develops slower, Crouse carved out a role in the Coyotes’ bottom-six right away.

That role though has diminished this season, as Crouse sees just ten minutes of action a night and was even a healthy scratch for the last two. If he is ever to reach that potential, he’ll need to play a regular shift somewhere. For now, that somewhere is the AHL.

New York Islanders Send Josh Ho-Sang To AHL

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The New York Islanders have decided that Josh Ho-Sang is not quite ready for the NHL, reassigning him to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers today. Ho-Sang had been held out of the last two games, both wins by the Islanders.

Ho-Sang, 21, actually had four points through his six games this season, but wasn’t being used anymore as the team had turned to Anthony Beauvillier instead. The Islanders are also expected to get Alan Quine back soon, though he’s likely headed for Bridgeport on a conditioning stint as well. The team now has just 12 forwards on the NHL active roster, meaning a corresponding move is likely coming before their game tomorrow against the Minnesota Wild.

Many thought that Ho-Sang could challenge for the Calder trophy this season as the league’s best rookie, after registering 10 points in 21 games last year. His role was blocked slightly when Jordan Eberle came aboard, but there is certainly still room on this team for his eventual return. The young forward has excellent offensive skill, and is destined to be a key part of an NHL powerplay someday. That day will just have to wait a little longer.

Morning Moves: Kloos, Petan, Cracknell

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The Minnesota Wild have sent Justin Kloos back to the minor leagues after getting Mikael Granlund back last night. Kloos also played in the game but received fewer than nine minutes of ice time. The 23-year old forward will certainly get another chance eventually at the NHL level, after excelling at the University of Minnesota.

Kloos is a homegrown talent, born in Lakeville, Minnesota and developed in the state high school ranks before heading to Iowa and the USHL. Undrafted, he would eventually find his way back to star as a Golden Gopher, even captaining the UMN team in his final two years. Kloos signed a two-year entry-level deal this spring, and will continue to try and beat the odds to become the latest undersized forward to go from overlooked prospect to NHL contributor.

  • The Winnipeg Jets have activated Matt Hendricks from injured reserve, and assigned Nic Petan to the Manitoba Moose. Hendricks is expected to be back in the Jets’ lineup when they take on the Pittsburgh Penguins tomorrow night. The 36-year old forward is in his first year with Winnipeg, after spending the previous few season with Edmonton. Though he can’t be relied upon for much offense, he is tough to play against and has always been excellent in the faceoff dot. He’ll likely work his way onto a penalty kill for the Jets, something he’s done relatively well throughout his career.
  • Adam Cracknell has cleared waivers for the New York Rangers, something the Dallas Stars couldn’t accomplish earlier this month. The Rangers snagged him and inserted him into the bottom-six, but his role there wasn’t long-lived. After a relatively excellent season a year ago, Cracknell has been held scoreless through the first five games of the season (one for Dallas, four for New York) and now finds himself in limbo. Assigned to the AHL, he’ll join a Hartford Wolf Pack team that is spinning their wheels with a 3-3-1 record.

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