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Minor Transactions: 12/03/21

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It’s been a hectic day in the world of North American minor hockey, with a flurry of roster moves at the NHL level leading to compensatory moves elsewhere. Here’s a list of today’s minor transactions.

  • The AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins recalled goalie Tommy Nappier from the ECHL’s Wheeling Nailers after COVID cases on the Penguins postponed their next two games. Undrafted, Nappier was a standout at Ohio State for the past four years, posting a save percentage above .930 in every season except for his last. He hasn’t gotten off to a smooth start in his first professional season, however, posting just a .877 save percentage in four games with Wheeling. He’s fared better at the AHL level with a .900 save percentage and a 1-3-0 record with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
  • Cedric Pare has been signed by the AHL’s Belleville Senators for the rest of the season after spending the beginning of the season with the team on a try-out, per a team release. The 22-year-old Pare impressed in his first professional season last year, scoring 40 points in 67 games for the ECHL’s Utah Grizzlies after going undrafted through his junior career. He has two goals and two assists through 13 games with Belleville in 2021-22.
  • Per the ECHL’s transactions page for Friday, the AHL’s Utica Comets recalled left wing Luke Stevens from the Adirondack Thunder. Stevens, the son of Kevin Stevens and former property of the Carolina Hurricanes, went unsigned after finishing his college career with Yale University. Now in the Devils organization on the AHL deal, he has no points through four games this season at the AHL level and is still looking for his first professional point.

Nic Dowd Placed In COVID Protocol

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Washington Capitals center Nic Dowd has entered the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol ahead of the team’s game Saturday against the Columbus Blue Jackets, per a team tweet. He did not practice today, according to NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti.

It continues what’s been a rough season health-wise for Dowd, who’s already spent time on injured reserve and has been limited to 16 out of Washington’s 24 games. It’s not been all bad news for the Alabama native, though, as he inked a three-year extension with the team last month.

In those 16 games, Dowd’s played extremely well, scoring three goals and four assists for seven points. He’s averaging 14:03 per game, an elevated role due to the onslaught of injuries the Capitals have faced early on in 2021-22.

Michael Sgarbossa, who has a goal in four games this season, will likely draw into the lineup. He’s Washington’s only remaining extra healthy skater.

In terms of players with NHL experience in the minors, Axel Jonsson Fjallby or Garrett Pilon could be called up, but they would both require waivers to be sent back down to the AHL’s Hershey Bears.

Injury Notes: Marner, Oilers, Kraken

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After colliding with teammate Jake Muzzin during practice, Toronto Maple Leafs winger Mitch Marner is “uncertain” for the team’s Saturday game in Minnesota, according to Sportsnet’s Luke Fox. Marner left practice early after the hit with medical personnel, but head coach Sheldon Keefe said it was precautionary in nature and that it’s “not looking like anything serious.” Hopefully, that holds true for the red-hot Leafs, who are 15-2-0 in their past 17 games. Marner has six points in his last five games and is fourth on the team with 21 points on the season after a really rough start.

Some other injury notes from around the league:

  • The Edmonton Oilers are banged up, especially on left defense with all three regulars out of the lineup. They got some good news today though, as head coach Dave Tippett reports that Darnell Nurse, winger Devin Shore, and goalie Mike Smith all skated today. However, Duncan Keith wasn’t a part of that group and remains sidelined. The team’s handled this recent stretch of adversity well, winners of three straight and a 16-5-0 record overall. The Oilers certainly still want these names back in their lineup though, especially Nurse, who leads the team by a long shot in ice time with 26:06 played per game.
  • The Athletic’s Ryan S. Clark reports that the Seattle Kraken’s Jordan Eberle and Jaden Schwartz are both day-to-day, but Schwartz hasn’t skated while Eberle has. The team’s two leading scorers both missed their Wednesday game against the Detroit Red Wings with lower-body injuries. It’s been a tough opening ride for the Kraken, who sit seventh in the Pacific Division with an 8-13-2 record. While they’ve performed above-expected offensively, they’ve had structural and goaltending issues that few foresaw.

Los Angeles Kings Place Kale Clague On Waivers

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Per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Los Angeles Kings placed defenseman Kale Clague on waivers today.

This is Clague’s second time on waivers this season. The Kings waived him on October 2, prior to the start of the season, and he passed through unclaimed.

With Drew Doughty returning from injured reserve earlier this week and the re-acquisition of Christian Wolanin on waivers, the Kings had nine defensemen on the active roster. It’s telling that the team opted to expose Clague to the rest of the league rather than send down Michael Anderson, Tobias Bjornfot, or Sean Durzi, all of whom do not require waivers.

Clague’s performed well at the minor-league level in recent seasons, including four assists in five games with the AHL’s Ontario Reign this year, but hasn’t been able to play his way into a full-time NHL role just yet. There’s likely still a bright future ahead for the 23-year-old, who was drafted 51st overall by the Kings in 2016.

In 11 games with the big club this season, Clague has five points in 11 games while registering a -2 rating and averaging 17:49 per game.

Tyler Johnson Undergoes Neck Surgery

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Jack Eichel may have been the first NHL player to undergo an artificial disk replacement surgery, but he certainly won’t be the last. The Chicago Blackhawks have announced that Tyler Johnson underwent neck surgery this morning and Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that it was the same ADR procedure as Eichel. Blackhawks team physician Dr. Michael Terry released the following statement:

After trying to manage his neck pain conservatively for the past couple of weeks, Tyler underwent neck surgery today. The prognosis is good and his anticipated return to play is approximately three months.

Johnson, 31, has played just eight games this season for the Blackhawks after they acquired him in a trade this offseason that saw Brent Seabrook’s contract go to the Tampa Bay Lightning. He had three points in those games, but ended up on the wrong end of quite a few lopsided scores. In fact, Chicago lost all eight of the games Johnson participated in before he was taken out of the lineup due to injury at the end of October.

Now, as he faces a three-month recovery timeline, it’s unclear how many times he’ll actually get to suit up for the Blackhawks at all. The veteran forward has two more years on his contract that carries a $5MM cap hit but will be a prime buyout candidate this summer unless he really shows an increased ability down the stretch. It’s been years since he was the high-flying player that twice scored 29 goals for the Lightning, and he has just 25 points since the start of 2020-21. A serious injury like this won’t help his case as the Blackhawks will be looking to shed money in the offseason.

Of course, there is hope that this new surgery can help a player’s long-term outlook when compared to the traditional fusion procedure. Eichel was spotted back on the ice yesterday just three weeks out from surgery, and though there are obviously plenty of hurdles before he resumes play for the Vegas Golden Knights, hopefully, things are progressing well in that direction. Johnson now faces the same process of rehabilitation and won’t be helping the Blackhawks for the next few months. His contract was already on long-term injured reserve and it will stay there for the time being.

Joonas Korpisalo Placed On Injured Reserve

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Dec 3: Following Tarasov’s debut, the Blue Jackets have placed Korpisalo on injured reserve retroactive to December 1 with a non-COVID illness. He’ll have to miss seven days, meaning he’s out for a few more.

Dec 2: EBUG alerts all over the league today. The Columbus Blue Jackets have recalled Daniil Tarasov from the AHL and expect to have him starting tonight’s game against the Dallas Stars, after both Joonas Korpisalo and Elvis Merzlikins were ruled out with a non-COVID illness. The team has an emergency goalie–Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch identifies him as Casey Sherwood, a 36-year-old who was briefly under contract in the ECHL nearly ten years ago–on the ice at morning skate. Aaron Portzline of The Athletic tweets that if possible, Merzlikins will serve as the backup, but Tarasov is expected to arrive in Dallas around 2 pm and start tonight.

The 22-year-old Tarasov has just 15 starts at the AHL level under his belt, after being selected by the Blue Jackets in 2017. The Russian netminder split last season between Salavat Yulaev Ufa in the KHL and the Cleveland Monsters, though his time in the minors was not very impressive. This year hasn’t been much different, with an .897 save percentage in nine appearances, but there are still high hopes for the 6’5″ goaltender.

In fact, Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff mentioned Tarasov in his latest trade targets column, which lists Korpisalo at the very top. With Merzlikins taking over the starting role completely and Tarasov “eventually waiting in the wings,” teams have called the Blue Jackets about Korpisalo’s availability. According to Seravalli, Columbus GM Jarmo Kekalainen is aware that the netminder would be “open to an opportunity to play elsewhere,” though there has been no formal trade request to this point.

While decisions shouldn’t be made on one performance, Tarasov will at least get a chance to show where his development has taken him to this point by suiting up for his NHL debut.

AHL Shuffle: 12/03/21

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There are five games on the schedule around the NHL tonight, including the Edmonton Oilers traveling to face the Seattle Kraken. Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are still battling away for the league scoring crown, with 40 and 41 points respectively on the year. The pair will try to one-up each other again this evening as they go against the team with the worst save percentage in the league (.874). As the Oilers and other teams prepare for tonight’s action, we’ll keep track of all the minor league shuffling.

Atlantic Division

  • Jeff Petry will not be traveling with the Montreal Canadiens as he deals with an upper-body injury, which means Corey Schueneman has been recalled from the Laval Rocket. The 26-year-old Schueneman has played 18 games in the AHL this season and has seven points. A great story of perseverance, the former Western Michigan star signed a one-year NHL contract with the Canadiens in April. The AHL transactions page also has Laurent Dauphin coming up for the Canadiens ahead of their trip to Nashville.
  • The Toronto Maple Leafs have officially sent Petr Mrazek to the AHL on a conditioning stint, the last step before he returns to NHL action. The netminder has played just five periods so far this season for the Maple Leafs, allowing seven goals on 57 shots.
  • The Florida Panthers have loaned Olli Juolevi to the AHL on a conditioning stint, given he’s played in just a single game at any level this season. The 23-year-old was acquired from the Vancouver Canucks earlier this. year but has yet to make his Panthers debut.
  • The Buffalo Sabres have sent Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen back to the minor leagues now that Malcolm Subban has arrived. Luukkonen can continue to develop in the minor leagues while Subban, Aaron Dell and the injured Craig Anderson hold down the fort for the Sabres.

Metropolitan Division

  • The Philadelphia Flyers have recalled Max Willman and Connor Bunnaman under emergency conditions, with Joel Farabee absent from practice today. It’s not clear yet why Farabee is missing, but the team will have a couple of extra bodies in case he’s unavailable for Sunday’s game.

Central Division

  • The Arizona Coyotes have recalled Hudson Fasching, just a few days after sending him down. The 26-year-old is probably used to that by now, having bounced up and down from the AHL throughout his professional career. In parts of seven seasons, he’s played just 34 games at the NHL level.
  • Calen Addison has been swapped for Kevin Czuczman on the Minnesota Wild roster, per the team. The move is an effort to get Addison some more playing time with Iowa, where he has six assists in 10 games.
  • With Bowen Byram sitting out due to concussion symptoms, the Colorado Avalanche had no healthy extra skaters left. That’s changed, as the team’s recalled Jacob MacDonald from the Colorado Eagles. He has no points in three NHL games this season.

Pacific Division

  • Travis Hamonic was recalled by the Vancouver Canucks, now that they’re at home for tomorrow night’s game. Hamonic is reportedly fully vaccinated now and will be able to travel with the team on their next road trip.  However, the team sent Hamonic back to AHL Abbotsford later in the day so he may not travel with them just yet.
  • Per a team tweet, the Los Angeles Kings activated forward Akil Thomas from season-opening injured reserve and have assigned him to the Ontario Reign. The 21-year-old Thomas had 26 points in 40 games there last season.

This page will be updated throughout the day

Danny DeKeyser Removed From COVID Protocol

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The Detroit Red Wings have announced a reinforcement, as Danny DeKeyser has been removed from the league’s COVID protocol. DeKeyser hasn’t taken the ice for the team since November 20, but can now return for their match tomorrow night if needed.

The 31-year-old has suited up 19 times for the Red Wings this season and is still averaging close to 20 minutes a night in his tenth season. On the final season of a six-year, $30MM deal, he’s played a good chunk of the year with young Moritz Seider, giving him a veteran partner to lean on as he learns the league. There have also been healthy scratches for DeKeyser though, as the team is clearly moving away from the old guard toward a new, young group of defensemen. Whether he goes directly back into the lineup isn’t clear at this point.

Still, after Tyler Bertuzzi entered the protocol recently, it’s good news that the Red Wings are also getting an extra body back. The team may be surprising some with a 12-9-3 record through their first 24, winning each of the last four games, but with two star rookies and a legitimate goaltending tandem, things are looking up in the Motor City.

Montreal Canadiens Will Not Make Coaching Change This Season

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The new executive vice president of hockey operations for the Montreal Canadiens met with the media today, as Jeff Gorton did his best to work through an opening statement in French before taking questions. While there were nearly a half dozen questions about the potential of Patrick Roy joining him as general manager–something Gorton would not commit to or rule out–eventually he was also asked about the future of head coach Dominique Ducharme.

Gorton explained that he will not be making a coaching change this season, allowing Ducharme to play out the year before making a decision. There is no question that the position will be evaluated at that point, but Gorton repeatedly said that he needs more time to evaluate the whole organization before making any big decisions like that.

On the topic of general manager, Gorton told reporters that he won’t be making any hire until after Christmas and noted that the team will be potentially looking for an “outside the box” candidate. He and team president Geoff Molson have not yet made a list of candidates, as he continues to get familiar with the organization.

There was also a discussion of building out the analytics and player development departments, with Gorton explaining that it’s necessary to have as much support as possible for players from the moment they are drafted. That could prove very important in the coming years, as Montreal looks like they may need to go through at least a partial rebuild after losing their 19th game of the season last night. The team was outshot 33-20 by the Colorado Avalanche, who were in the second half of a back-to-back. That was the first time Gorton was with the team in person since being hired, but he is headed out on the road with them to Nashville to continue his evaluations.

Ducharme, who is safe through the end of the season, now has a 21-33-9 regular season record overall as head coach of the Canadiens, though he was also the one who took them all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals. In July, he signed a three-year extension that keeps him under contract through 2023-24 and pays him approximately $1.7MM per season.

Calgary Flames Assign Juuso Valimaki To AHL

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The Calgary Flames have assigned defenseman Juuso Valimaki to the AHL’s Stockton Heat, per a team tweet.

Valimaki doesn’t require waivers, so there’s no chance of the Flames losing one of their best defense prospects. However, Valimaki’s cap hit is $1.55MM, and not all of that can be buried in the minors. It appears as though roughly $500,000 of Valimaki’s cap hit will still count towards the cap while he’s buried in the minors.

It’s been a tough start to the season for Valimaki, who hasn’t meshed well with coach Darryl Sutter and has played in just eight games, registering two assists.

He still has the pedigree and potential of a 16th overall pick, however. The 23-year-old was one of the team’s more impressive players last season, playing the full season with the team and scoring 11 points in 49 games.

The assignment to Stockton is an effort to get Valimaki into some more game action, as it’s not doing him much good to just sit on the bench.

The Flames still have Michael Stone, who’s played in just one game this season, to serve as the team’s seventh defenseman.

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