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AHL Shuffle: 11/16/21

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Eleven games are on the docket around the NHL this evening, including a prime Canadian matchup between the Winnipeg Jets and Edmonton Oilers. The last time these two teams faced off, the Oilers were swept out of the playoffs, losing a heartbreaking triple-overtime game to end their season. With tonight’s game the first half of a home-and-home between the two teams, there’s certainly going to be some intensity on the ice. As they and others prepare for action, we’ll keep track of all the minor shuffling

Atlantic Division

Metropolitan Divison

  • With Sammy Blais injured, Greg McKegg has been recalled from the AHL for the New York Rangers. McKegg has already played eight games for the Rangers this season, meaning if he plays another two he’ll have to clear waivers again to return to the minor leagues. The 29-year-old does not yet have a point this season.
  • After Ryan Ellis was placed on injured reserve, Nick Seeler was recalled under emergency conditions by the Philadelphia Flyers. Seeler has been up before, but now may be called on for a while longer with Ellis listed as week-to-week.

Central Division

  • Those Jets have sent Dylan Samberg to the AHL, suggesting he’s ready to return to action after dealing with injury through the first part of the season. Samberg hasn’t played at all so far, but was right on the cusp of making his NHL debut when last season ended. The 22-year-old defenseman had seven points in 32 games for the Manitoba Moose last year.

Pacific Division

  • With Jonathan Marchessault unavailable, the Vegas Golden Knights have recalled Paul Cotter and Sven Baertschi from the minor leagues. Cotter, 22, is an exciting prospect for the team that has worked his way from fourth-round pick to NHL option in just three years.
  • The Los Angeles Kings have sent Gabriel Vilardi to the AHL, suggesting he’s ready to get back on the ice. The young forward hasn’t played since the end of October, and had just one goal in seven games for the Kings.

This page will be updated throughout the day

Dion Phaneuf Announces Retirement

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Though he hasn’t played in the NHL since the 2018-19 season and is still technically on the books for both the Ottawa Senators and Los Angeles Kings, Dion Phaneuf has announced his retirement. The veteran defenseman released a long statement thanking his family, friends and the teammates he made along the way. In it, he gives special mention to the Toronto Maple Leafs, who hosted his retirement ceremony today:

A great thanks to the entire Toronto Maple Leafs organization, their ownership and leadership  Larry Tanenbaum and Brendan Shanahan  for providing me with this opportunity to retire with such love and support here in Toronto. It was a special honour to represent the Maple Leafs as team captain a point of pride and honour that I will carry with me forever.

Selected ninth overall by the Calgary Flames in 2003, Phaneuf was a throwback defenseman who at his peak could compete in any style of hockey. The 6’4″, left-shot powerhouse was a star for the Red Deer Rebels, scoring goals and racking up penalty minutes with big hits and tough fights. By the time he made his debut with the Flames in 2005 he was already a well-known name in Canada thanks to his performances at the World Juniors, but his first taste of the NHL put him on the map for all hockey fans. With 20 goals and 49 points in his rookie season, he finished eighth in Norris Trophy voting and only failed to win the Calder Trophy because there were a couple of players named Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby entering the league.

In 2007-08 Phaneuf would reach a career-high of 60 points, while also racking up 182 penalty minutes as he fearlessly patroled the Calgary blue line. He’d finish second in Norris voting that year, trailing only legendary defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom, who was taking home the trophy for the sixth time in seven years. That was the closest Phaneuf would get, but he still had a long career ahead of him, including his captaincy in Toronto. Overall, he played in 1,048 regular season games, racking up 494 points, 1,345 penalty minutes and more than 2,000 hits.

In 2019, the last two years of his contract were bought out by the Kings, meaning he’ll still receive a paycheck through 2022-23. The Senators had been retaining salary on the deal, so both franchises carry a part of Phaneuf’s cap hit for this season and next.

Jonathan Marchessault Placed In COVID Protocol

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Things are going from bad to worse for the Vegas Golden Knights. The team has placed Jonathan Marchessault in the COVID protocol, making him unavailable for the time being. He joins William Carrier, who was put in the protocol yesterday. In their place, Paul Cotter and Sven Baertschi have been recalled from the Henderson Silver Knights.

Notably, not only was Marchessault active against the Vancouver Canucks a few days ago, but he also attended the Las Vegas Raiders game on Sunday alongside Robin Lehner. For now, the team appears to have their starting goaltender available for tonight’s matchup against the Carolina Hurricanes, but an outbreak in the Golden Knights room would devastating for a team that has already dealt with major injury issues this season.

In fact, it was only a few days ago that the team’s captain, Mark Stone, returned to the lineup after missing a good chunk of the early season. Max Pacioretty, Zach Whitecloud, and Nolan Patrick are still sidelined, along with the newly acquired Jack Eichel.

Perhaps that’s a silver lining, in that several young players have already had to step up early on. Cotter, for instance, made his NHL debut and scored one goal in two appearances, just a few years after going in the fourth round. He’ll get another opportunity now with Marchessault out, though his fellow call-up certainly has the experience factor. Baertschi has 291 regular season games under his belt and was even an 18-goal scorer in 2016-17 with the Vancouver Canucks. The 29-year-old has eight points in 12 games with Henderson this season as he tries to climb his way back to the NHL.

Sammy Blais Suffers Torn ACL, Out Rest Of Season

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The New York Rangers will be without one of their offseason acquisitions, as several reports including Larry Brooks of the New York Post indicate Sammy Blais has suffered a torn ACL and will miss the rest of the season. The injury occurred Sunday night against the New Jersey Devils, when Blais collided with P.K. Subban. Brooks adds that surgery on the knee will have to wait a few weeks for the swelling to subside. The team has now confirmed the injury, noting that Blais faces a six to eight-month recovery. Greg McKegg is back up from the AHL.

Blais, 25, was the player the Rangers received in exchange for Pavel Buchnevich earlier this year. He found a nice role in the team’s lineup adding his patented physicality, but was still looking for his first New York goal. In 14 games Blais had four points, 17 penalty minutes, and 37 hits.

It’s not that the Rangers are losing a forward that logs 18 minutes a night and carries the offense, but Blais was a perfect representation of the kind of hockey the new front office wanted to play. ’Hard to play against’ could describe the 6’2″ forward, a goal that general manager Chris Drury and staff had chased all offseason. Now with this injury, they’ll have to find someone else to take his minutes in the middle of the roster. Blais had been averaging close to 14 minutes a night through the first month of the season, including some time on the powerplay.

Though he carries a $1.5MM cap hit that could be moved to long-term injured reserve, the Rangers aren’t pushing the salary cap ceiling this season and will likely move him to normal IR. That said, the young forward is heading into an arbitration year as a restricted free agent, meaning he’ll have almost no leverage to bring up after a lost year. The Rangers could potentially get a slight discount because of this injury, a small silver lining given they have massive extensions for Adam Fox and Mika Zibanejad kicking in next season and will need all the cap space they can get.

When Does Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen Take Over In Buffalo?

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After some truly abysmal seasons and the departures of several top players, including face of the franchise Jack Eichel, it is nice to see the Buffalo Sabres not among the worst teams in the league with more than a month of the season complete. The Sabres sit at .500, which is of course not extraordinary, but is far better than most would have expected, especially when they share the same points percentage as the Pittsburgh Penguins and are ahead of recent Stanley Cup finalists in the Dallas Stars and Montreal Canadiens.

One of the early highlights of the season has been in net, where a tandem that seemed like more of an afterthought than an action plan has performed well. 40-year-old Craig Anderson, pulled from an impending retirement, has a stellar .921 save percentage and 2.50 GAA that no one saw coming. Dustin Tokarski, after unseating Aaron Dell for the second NHL job, has been solid himself at .908 and 2.95. The duo have split starts and seem to be working well, even behind a young, inexperienced team.

With that being said, the reality is that the Sabres are not legitimate playoff contenders and they have no investment in either Anderson or Tokarski. Both veterans are on expiring minimum contracts and are likely to be gone next season. Meanwhile, down in the minors the organization is developing a future starter – or so they hope. The AHL’s Player of the Week is none other than Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen of the Rochester Americans, the Sabres’ 2017 second-round pick. After a horrific October, Luukkonen has a .949 save percentage and 1.77 GAA in November as he is playing the best hockey of his young pro career. The gold medal-winning backstop of the 2019 Finnish World Junior team and the OHL’s Goaltender of the Year the same season, the pro level has not been as kind to Luukkonen thus far. He carries a career .887 save percentage and 3.35 GAA in the AHL. His play actually improved in four NHL appearances last season, posting a .906 save percentage, but his 3.88 GAA skewed the perception. However, Luukkonen’s recent improvement could be a sign that he finally has the pros figured out and is ready for the next level.

So when does UPL get his shot, not just as an emergency recall but as an actual member of the NHL roster? It seems like the time is now. Anderson is currently injured and Mike Harrington of The Buffalo News reports that he is expected to be out “at least another couple weeks”. Dell made his season debut this past weekend and struggled greatly, allowing five goals on just 26 shots. Beyond just his future value, Luukkonen seems like an immediate upgrade to Dell and with some opportunity could prove that he is already a better option than Tokarski or Anderson. The Sabres also have some reason to throw Luukkonen into the fire sooner rather than later. Though just 22, Luukonnen is already the elder statesmen of the pipeline. Buffalo has two other promising young goalie prospects currently playing in the NCAA: Michigan’s Erik Portillo, 21, and Northeastern’s Devon Levi, 19. Before either one decides to turn pro and start fighting for AHL starts and NHL call-ups, the Sabres should do their due diligence on UPL to see if he is indeed future starter material.

The Sabres deserve credit for exceeding expectations this season, as do Anderson and Tokarski as individuals. Yet, the team cannot lose the forest through the trees. Buffalo is still in a complete rebuild and getting a top young goalie like Luukkonen valuable NHL experience sooner rather than later, especially as he proves himself in the AHL, can only serve to benefit the organization long-term (and maybe even short-term too.)

Trade Rumors: Kessel, Hertl, Girard

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After months and months of speculation, the constant trade talk surrounding Jack Eichel is finally over after the star Buffalo Sabres center was traded to the Vegas Golden Knights earlier this month. So where does the trade market go from here? Though still early in the season, there is thought to be some trade chatter ongoing between teams who expected different results early on this year, whether that is a surprise contender looking to load up, a struggling preseason favorite in need of a shake-up, or a bottom-dweller looking to move talent as soon as possible to maximize the return. The Hockey News’ Ryan Kennedy and Matt Larkin recently broke down the trade market and believe the top available name could be the product of that latter scenario. The pair feel that Phil Kessel is set to step into Eichel’s shoes, not only as a major name on the block but also as a player that is guaranteed to be traded. The 1-13-1 Arizona Coyotes have all the makings of a last-place team and Kessel is an aging veteran and respected champion on an expiring deal; the fit is poor and should be resolved soon rather than waiting until the deadline whilst Kessel plays meaningless games and risks injury for the ’Yotes. The scoring winger should be attractive to any number of teams and Arizona could take the first impressive futures package offered to them to further their rebuild.

  • Though mentioned by Kennedy and Larkin as a top trade chip, piling on top of plenty of recent speculation, Tomas Hertl may not be as guaranteed to move as people have been led to believe. The Athletic’s Kevin Kurz writes in a recent mailbag that Hertl seems be enjoying this season more than last. A winning record so far certainly helps, but Hertl is also appreciative of his growing role as a team leader amidst a culture turnaround in San Jose. Kurz believes that Hertl has a 50/50 chance of signing an extension with the Sharks, which doesn’t even speak to his likelihood of being traded. If the team continues to win and stays in the playoff picture all season and the possibility of a renewed deal between the two sides remains, Hertl may not move after all. There are some cap management factors working against a deal for both team and player, with the Sharks’ restrictions limiting Hertl’s contract potential and making such a move more risky for San Jose, but if the team is playing well and Hertl is happy, producing, and leading the young locker room, it will be difficult for the Sharks to opt for a trade instead of working toward an extension.
  • Meanwhile, Kennedy and Larkin do not mention Colorado Avalanche defenseman Samuel Girard as top trade bait, but his name has been a fixture on the rumor mill in recent days. According to Mike Chambers of The Denver Post, the Avs made a late run at Eichel and floated Girard as the centerpiece of the deal. Now, even with Eichel off the market, Chambers believes that GM Joe Sakic is still willing to part ways with Girard. Though young and offensively gifted, Girard has some glaring defensive weaknesses that Colorado would rather not deal with given his $5MM cap hit. Girard is still an elite defenseman, but the well-balanced Avs are looking to use that cap space in a different way, if at all possible, by landing another elite forward. With phenom Cale Makar locked up long-term, a number of reliable veterans in support, and other promising young defenders like Bowen Byram and Justin Barron, the team could survive the loss of Girard if it means adding another difference-maker to their top-heavy forward corps. If the Avalanche continue to fall short of expectations this season, it will only serve to fuel a potential shake-up with Girard as the most likely trade victim.

Snapshots: Three Stars, Crosby, Shanahan

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The NHL has released their Three Stars for last week, led by a player who could very well go down as the all-time leader in goals by the time he hangs up his skates. Alex Ovechkin added another outstanding week, recording eight points in four games and passing Brett Hull on the all-time goals list. The nine-time Rocket Richard award winner isn’t all goals though, Ovechkin has 14 assists this season for 26 total points through 15 games.

A couple of college hockey stars take second and third, as Charlie McAvoy and Troy Terry have been selected respectively. The Boston Bruins defenseman had seven points in four games while playing basically every second shift, while the Anaheim Ducks forward stretched his point streak to 14 games by adding six more points in three contests. Terry has already matched his career-high of 20 points and it took him only 15 games to do it.

  • If you’re still holding your breath hoping for some supplementary discipline to come down on Sidney Crosby for the incident with Martin Fehervary last night, exhale, it’s not coming. Crosby will not be given any punishment from the league according to Samantha Pell of the Washington Post, who also points out that there was no penalty called on the play in question.
  • The Toronto Maple Leafs haven’t had any playoff success under president Brendan Shanahan, but that doesn’t mean his seat is getting hot. As Luke Fox of Sportsnet writes, ownership is still “fantastically supportive” of the Maple Leafs front office boss and the direction he is leading the franchise. Shanahan was hired by the team before the 2014 season; the team has a 275-211-66 regular season record since he took over, but hasn’t made it past the first round even a single time.

J.T. Compher Out A Month With Upper-Body Injury

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One of the early success stories from this season is J.T. Compher, who has gone from depth center to first-line forward for the Colorado Avalanche thanks to injuries and illnesses. The 26-year-old was averaging nearly 20 minutes a night through his first 11 games, with five goals and nine points in that span.

Unfortunately, in that 12th game, Compher suffered an upper-body injury and left early, playing fewer than six minutes before exiting. Now, head coach Jared Bednar told reporters today that Compher will miss approximately a month with the injury.

In his place on the top line, Mikko Rantanen is going to move to the middle of the ice and play between captain Gabriel Landeskog and Logan O’Connor. That’s certainly not the group the Avalanche expected before the season began, but with Nathan MacKinnon on injured reserve with a lower-body injury, the team will have to deal with what they have.

A second-round pick of the Buffalo Sabres in 2013, Compher has been a regular for the Avalanche but never a star to this point. His career-highs of 15 goals and 32 points came in 2018-19, numbers he was easily on track to shatter with his strong early performance. He’ll now have to work his way back from injury and when he comes back, there likely won’t be room on that top unit for him any longer.

It’s a disappointing loss for the team, but also a missed opportunity for Compher, who is on track for unrestricted free agency in the summer of 2023. He’ll be only 28 when he is scheduled to hit the open market and could have potentially parlayed a big offensive year into a few more dollars down the road.

William Carrier Placed In COVID Protocol

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It seems like everyday teams are adding players to the COVID protocol, and the Vegas Golden Knights are the latest to do so. William Carrier is unavailable for the team today as he has been placed in the protocol.

The team has not confirmed whether or not Carrier tested positive for coronavirus, or how long the forward is expected to be out. For now, at least, they’ll have to prepare as though he will not be available for them tomorrow night against the Carolina Hurricanes. They will also be without Alec Martinez, who was cut by Brandon Duhaime’s skate last week and is out for tomorrow night. Chandler Stephenson and Mattias Janmark, the other two absences from practice, had maintenance days according to Jesse Granger of The Athletic.

Vegas is on a hot streak of late, going 8-2 in their last ten after a rocky start. Carrier is a legitimate part of that success, despite the fact that he averages fewer than 12 minutes a night. His physicality is a constant for the Golden Knights, and he’s even contributed with a little offense this season, adding two assists in his last game. He’s missed the last two though, meaning the team won’t have to make substantial changes to the lineup with him now in the protocol.

Ottawa Senators Sign Zac Leslie

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Nov 15: Leslie cleared waivers and can be assigned back to Belleville.

Nov 14: The Ottawa Senators are addressing their blue line crisis by going outside of the organization. Well, sort of. The team has announced that they have signed defenseman Zac Leslie to a one-year contract, elevating a player who was already under contract with the AHL’s Belleville Senators. Leslie’s contract is a two-way pact with the minimum $750K NHL salary and a $150K AHL salary, pro-rated to the remainder of the 2021-22 season. Per PuckPedia, he was immediately placed on waivers.

Leslie, 27, is an Ottawa native who initially joined the organization this summer after spending the past two seasons with the AHL’s Stockton Heat. Before that, Leslie played on an NHL contract for four years with the Los Angeles Kings and Vegas Golden Knights. However, Leslie has never had the opportunity to make his NHL debut.

That could change soon, as the Senators currently have four defensemen in the NHL’s COVID Protocol, just lost Erik Brannstrom to a long-term injury, and have Artem Zub playing injured. They had seven healthy defenseman on NHL contracts, three of whom are untested prospects. By adding an eighth in Leslie, who at least has considerable pro experience, the Senators can safeguard against the possibility of yet another injury before their COVID crisis is fully resolved. The former OHL standout has been productive in the AHL and seems capable of playing at the next level.

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