Blue Jackets Will Not Assign Zac Rinaldo To An Affiliated Team
After clearing waivers earlier today, it was expected that Blue Jackets winger Zac Rinaldo would be assigned to Columbus’ AHL team in Cleveland. The veteran wasn’t invited to training camp after declining to receive a COVID-19 vaccination. However, GM Jarmo Kekalainen released the following statement, announcing that Rinaldo will not be going there after all:
Our position has been very clear that our organization is committed to doing everything we can to ensure the health and safety of our players, coaches, staff and fans. Given the impact COVID-19 continues to have in our communities, we believe the best course of action given Zac’s vaccination status is to not have him report to Cleveland at this time. While we respect an individual’s right to make a personal choice with regards to being vaccinated or not, we have a responsibility to do what we believe is best for our organization. We will honor Zac’s contract, but if he wants to pursue any other opportunities to play this season we will allow him to do so.
Rinaldo’s contract calls for an AHL salary of $275K and contains a guaranteed payment of $300K which the Blue Jackets will be on the hook for regardless of whether or not he plays anywhere this season. In the meantime, Rinaldo’s camp may be on the lookout to try to find the 31-year-old a place to play outside the Columbus organization. Now that he has cleared waivers, Columbus could loan him to an unaffiliated team overseas, for example. Rinaldo had spent the last two seasons in Calgary’s system, suiting up in 23 games for the Flames in that time.
Injury Updates: Lehner, Canadiens, Zamula, Athanasiou, De Haan
While Robin Lehner left Thursday’s game after two periods due to injury, Vegas head coach Peter DeBoer told reporters, including David Schoen of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, that the decision to pull him was more precautionary than a sign of a significant injury. Lehner will be counted to carry on a much bigger workload this season with Laurent Brossoit now the backup for the Golden Knights so it’s certainly understandable that DeBoer erred on the side of caution in Lehner’s first appearance of the preseason.
Other injury news and notes from around the NHL:
- After stopping on-ice workouts for defenseman Joel Edmundson and goaltender Carey Price, both Canadiens are expected to resume those next week, mentions TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie (Twitter link). Edmundson was listed as day-to-day entering training camp while Price’s availability for the start of the season remains in question following offseason surgery. Winger Cole Caufield is also close to returning after being shut down following a minor injury during the warmup of an intrasquad game.
- Flyers defenseman Yegor Zamula will miss the next three to four weeks due to a strain in his hip/groin area, relays Jordan Hall of NBC Sports Philadelphia. The 21-year-old is one of Philadelphia’s more promising prospects and made his NHL debut with a pair of games last season. While he had an outside shot at breaking camp with the team, this will basically put an end to that possibility.
- Kings winger Andreas Athanasiou sustained an undisclosed injury in practice earlier this week but at this point, he’s unlikely to miss the start of the regular season, notes Zach Dooley of LA Kings Insider. The 27-year-old had 23 points in 47 games last season, earning him a $2.7MM contract to avoid salary arbitration.
- Blackhawks defenseman Calvin de Haan revealed to reporters, including Charlie Roumeliotis of NBC Sports Chicago (Twitter link) that he played the second half of last season with a fractured tibia. The 30-year-old is entering the final year of his contract that carries a $4.45MM cap hit and will need a much better showing this season to have a shot at coming close to that AAV next summer. Being healthy now is certainly a step in the right direction on that front.
Minor Transactions: 10/1/21
With minor league camps about to get underway, there will be an influx of players inking tryout deals at the lower levels. We’ll keep track of those moves here along with any other smaller moves of note.
- Hurricanes prospect Patrik Puistola is staying in Finland as Jukurit of the SM-liiga announced that they’ve added the winger and signed him to a two-year contract. The 20-year-old was a third-round pick of Carolina back in 2019 (73rd overall) and had 14 points in 50 games with JYP last season in his first full year at the professional level. This contract takes Puistola to the end of Carolina’s four-year period where they hold his rights so they will need to sign him at that time or lose him to free agency.
- The Canadiens have signed goalie Alex Dubeau to an AHL camp tryout, his agent Nicola Riopel announced (Twitter link). The 27-year-old spent last season in Washington’s system, playing in 26 games with South Carolina of the ECHL.
- While many teams are trimming their training camp rosters, the Ducks are adding to theirs, announcing the additions of winger Morgan Adams-Moisan and goaltender Frank Marotte to their camp roster. Adams-Moisan had 14 points and 123 penalty minutes in 37 games with Fort Wayne of the ECHL last season while Marotte posted a .917 SV% in a dozen contests with Allen of the ECHL last year while making two appearances with Bridgeport of the AHL.
Blackhawks Sign Colton Dach To Entry-Level Deal
The Blackhawks have inked one of their most recent draft picks, announcing that they have signed forward Colton Dach to a three-year, entry-level contract. The deal carries an AAV of $870K.
The 18-year-old was picked with the 62nd pick back in the draft this summer following a strong sophomore season with Saskatoon of the WHL where he potted 11 goals with nine assists in 20 games. Dach is the brother of Chicago center Kirby Dach, who was the third-overall selection just three years ago. The Blackhawks are clearly pleased with how their draft went as they inked their first-rounder, defenseman Nolan Allan, midway through last month.
Dach isn’t likely to make Chicago’s NHL roster which will make his contract eligible to slide a year. As a result, his deal will almost certainly still have three years remaining on it even after the upcoming season. Once he returns to junior, he won’t be going back to Saskatoon as his WHL rights were acquired by Kelowna earlier this week.
Training Camp Cuts: 10/1/21
With the regular season inching closer and minor league camps starting soon, teams will be paring down their training camp rosters to get closer to the group they plan to start the season with. Accordingly, there should be plenty of news on this front today, we’ll keep tabs on those moves here.
Minnesota Wild (via team Twitter)
D Kevin Czuczman (to Iowa, AHL)
D Fedor Gordeev (to Iowa, ECHL)
D Joe Hicketts (to Iowa, AHL)
D Dakota Mermis (to Iowa, AHL)
F Mason Shaw (to Iowa, AHL)
Montreal Canadiens (via press release) (and team Tweet)
F Peter Abbandonato (released from PTO, to Laval, AHL)
D Terrance Amorosa (released from PTO, to Laval, AHL)
D Charles-David Beaudoin (released from PTO, to Laval, AHL)
D Louis Belpedio (to Laval, AHL)
D Josh Brook (to Laval, AHL)
D Tory Dello (released from PTO, to Laval, AHL)
F Cedric Desruisseaux (released from ATO, to Laval, AHL)
F Justin Ducharme (released from ATO, to Laval, AHL)
F Alexandre Fortin (to Laval, AHL)
F Brandon Gignac (released from PTO, to Laval, AHL)
D Cody Goloubef (released from PTO, to Laval, AHL)
G Alexis Gravel (released from ATO, to Laval, AHL)
F Cam Hillis (to Laval, AHL)
F Arsen Khisamutdinov (to Laval, AHL)
F Jake Lucchini (released from PTO, to Laval, AHL)
F Jan Mysak (to Hamilton, OHL)
D Carl Neill (released from PTO, to Laval, AHL)
D Xavier Ouellet (to Laval, AHL)
F Kevin Roy (released from PTO, to Laval, AHL)
F Shawn St-Amant (released from PTO, to Laval, AHL)
F Joel Teasdale (to Laval, AHL)
F Lukas Vejdemo (to Laval, AHL)
New York Rangers (via press release)
D Anthony Bitetto
F Jonny Brodzinski
F Timothy Gettinger
F Anthony Greco
G Keith Kinkaid
F Ty Ronning
San Jose Sharks (via Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News)
D Artemi Kniazev (to San Jose, AHL)
D Jaycob Megna (to San Jose, AHL)
G Alexei Melnichuk (to San Jose, AHL)
D Montana Onyebuchi (to San Jose, AHL)
D Brinson Pasichnuk (to San Jose, AHL)
Washington Capitals (via team Twitter)
D Vincent Iorio (to Brandon, WHL)
Winnipeg Jets (via team Twitter)
G Philippe Desrosiers (released from PTO, to Manitoba, AHL)
F Haralds Egle (released from PTO, to Manitoba, AHL)
F Evan Polei (released from PTO, to Manitoba, AHL)