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Archives for October 2022

Charlie McAvoy “Ahead Of Schedule” In Recovery

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After receiving an arthroscopic shoulder procedure in early June, Boston Bruins All-Star defenseman Charlie McAvoy is ahead of schedule in his recovery, writes The Boston Globe’s Matt Porter.

Originally set to return around the first of December, it’s now seeming the Bruins could reach full health sooner rather than later. McAvoy was cleared for contact today for the first time this season, taking full practice with the team.

Head coach Jim Montgomery cautions that McAvoy’s return isn’t imminent, however, and he won’t be returning a month earlier than anticipated like his fellow All-Star, Brad Marchand. Montgomery said he remains hopeful McAvoy’s return will come before the Thanksgiving break, but also confirmed he won’t play on this week’s three-game road trip.

The Bruins will likely take their time reacclimating McAvoy to the lineup. As he missed all of training camp and the preseason, the 24-year-old still needs to adapt to Montgomery’s new system, which has the team chugging along with an 8-1-0 record to begin the year.

While Hampus Lindholm has been spectacular in McAvoy’s absence, the Bruins still remain without a top-10 defenseman in the league in their lineup. Coming off a career-high 56 points last season, McAvoy is poised to take another step forward this season, adding a terrifying element to a Bruins team that’s already exceeding expectations in their “Last Dance”-esque season.

Dallas Stars Sign Matt Murray

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6:44 pm: CapFriendly reports that Murray’s one-year contract carries the league-minimum $750K cap hit, and pays him $82,500 at the minor-league level.

3:08 pm: In what will be a confusing move for many casual hockey fans, the Dallas Stars have signed goaltender Matt Murray to a one-year entry-level contract. This Murray is not the Matt Murray that plays for the Toronto Maple Leafs, but an undrafted netminder who was playing for their AHL affiliate.

With Jake Oettinger sidelined due to a lower-body injury and the Stars without the necessary cap space to recall Anton Khudobin, the team has been forced into handing out another NHL contract. Murray, 24, is the beneficiary of the situation, though his play at the AHL level has certainly warranted consideration for an entry-level contract anyway.

The former UMass-Amherst standout has a .926 save percentage in five appearances with the Texas Stars this year, after joining the club late last season. In his 11 career appearances that save percentage actually climbs to .939, an impressive statistic for any goaltender, let alone an undrafted talent just entering professional hockey.

A one-year entry-level deal will mean that Murray can be recalled to the NHL to serve as backup for Scott Wedgewood until Oettinger returns, or until the team creates enough cap space to recall Khudobin.

Metro Notes: Bernier, Carter, York

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The New Jersey Devils have rocketed to the top of the Metropolitan Division standings to start the season, largely in part due to the team’s suffocating possession game. Goaltending has remained a concern for the team to start the year, but they could get a potential third option back somewhat soon. Head coach Lindy Ruff noted to reporters today, including Devils reporter and content creator Amanda Stein, that Jonathan Bernier is “progressing” from a hip injury suffered over 10 months ago.

Ruff said the team will make a decision on when Bernier is ready to play again and when to get him into some games. The 34-year-old netminder played just 10 games last season after signing a two-year contract. With Mackenzie Blackwood posting a concerning .871 save percentage to start the year, a resurgence from Bernier could have him force his way back into an NHL tandem job. For now, he remains on long-term injured reserve as he works toward what would be an impressive comeback.

  • Pittsburgh Penguins center Jeff Carter is day-to-day with an undisclosed injury suffered Saturday against Seattle, according to head coach Mike Sullivan. Carter did not practice today and it’s doubtful he’ll suit up for the team tomorrow at home against Boston. Drew O’Connor, who the Penguins recalled from the AHL today, served as Carter’s fill-in at the third-line center position today during practice between Danton Heinen and Kasperi Kapanen. Carter was in the midst of a strong start to the season, recording two goals and four assists for six points in nine games.
  • Top Philadelphia Flyers defense prospect Cam York, currently in the AHL, suffered a lower-body injury yesterday when Lehigh Valley took on the Hershey Bears, according to Flyers assistant general manager Brent Flahr. The 21-year-old is listed as day-to-day. After failing to crack the team out of camp despite playing 30 games with Philadelphia last season, York has four points in seven games with Lehigh Valley and a -2 rating to start the year.

Minnesota Wild Recall Steven Fogarty

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The Minnesota Wild today recalled forward Steven Fogarty from the AHL’s Iowa Wild on an emergency basis, according to a team release.

Fogarty is up with the Wild on an emergency basis due to Ryan Hartman’s upper-body injury suffered last night during a fight with Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Jarred Tinordi. The team has not issued an update on Hartman, though the recall suggests he won’t be playing tomorrow when the Wild face the Montreal Canadiens.

With Hartman as well as Marcus Foligno and Jordan Greenway on the shelf, the team was down to 11 healthy forwards on the active roster, necessitating Fogarty’s emergency recall. The Wild signed the 29-year-old Fogarty to a two-year contract last offseason.

Fogarty had a goal and two assists for three points in six games to start the season in Iowa, as well as a +4 rating, tied for the team lead.

Anaheim Ducks Recall Glenn Gawdin, Reassign Pavol Regenda

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The Anaheim Ducks announced today via a team release that the club has recalled forward Glenn Gawdin from the AHL’s San Diego Gulls, replacing him in the minors with forward Pavol Regenda. The team also assigned forward Sam Carrick to San Diego on a long-term injury conditioning loan.

When Anaheim signed Gawdin to a two-year contract last summer, many expected him to crack the opening-night lineup considering his strong 2021-22 AHL campaign and his one-way deal. However, with the player he’s replacing in Regenda having a strong camp, the Ducks opted to waive Gawdin, also claiming winger Brett Leason from the Washington Capitals for some depth.

Gawdin didn’t go away quietly, though, registering three goals and three assists for six points in his first seven games with San Diego. The former captain of the WHL’s Swift Current Broncos can play both center and wing and he could potentially slot in as the team’s fourth-line pivot between Max Comtois and Max Jones for their game tomorrow in San Jose.

Regenda, 22, had an impressive training camp after signing with the team as an undrafted free agent, earning a spot in the opening-night lineup. After posting 39 points in 43 games in the Slovak Extraliga last season, he hasn’t looked entirely out of place in the NHL. Yet he’s been used for just over 10 minutes per game, and with two assists in five outings, the team knows Regenda is still young and could benefit from some more playing time in the minors.

Of note, Carrick is working his way back from a hip injury he suffered at the end of last season. He wasn’t initially expected to return until closer to Thanksgiving, suggesting his recovery path is slightly ahead of schedule. He’ll briefly return to San Diego before coming back up to the Ducks when healthy, where he was the captain for the past three seasons.

Snapshots: Three Stars, Krejci, Stevenson

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The NHL released its Three Stars for last week, with Connor McDavid taking the top spot. The Edmonton Oilers superstar had eight points which, incredibly, all came on goals that either tied the game or gave his team the lead. McDavid seems poised to win the Art Ross once again as the league’s top scorer, and the Rocket Richard is now well within his reach after such an outstanding start.

Second and third went to Jesper Bratt and Marc-Andre Fleury respectively, after their own strong performances. Bratt continues to be one of the most underrated offensive players in the league and now has 15 points in nine games this season. Fleury, meanwhile, rebounded from an iffy start and had a .927 in three appearances last week. His numbers aren’t very inspiring, but Fleury has gone 4-1-1 to start the year.

  • Boston Bruins forward David Krejci will miss at least the next few days with an upper-body injury. He now appears on the Bruins injured reserve list, meaning he’ll miss seven days since his last game. Still, head coach Jim Montgomery said that his veteran center will be traveling with the club and shouldn’t be out too long.
  • The Washington Capitals have assigned Clay Stevenson to the ECHL’s South Carolina Stingrays, suggesting he has recovered enough to start getting back into game action. The 23-year-old was a free agent signing out of Dartmouth and underwent hand surgery at the beginning of October. Given a timeline of four to six weeks from then, his recovery seems to be right on track.

Jamie Drysdale To Undergo Shoulder Surgery

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The Anaheim Ducks are not off to a good start this season (despite their comeback win over the Toronto Maple Leafs last night) and things are getting even worse. Young defenseman Jamie Drysdale suffered a torn labrum last week and will undergo surgery in the near future. His timeline has been listed as four to six months.

That could potentially mean Drysdale’s season is over before it even really gets going, and at best will keep him out through February. The 20-year-old was coming off his first full year in the NHL, which included scoring 32 points in 81 games. He was scoreless through his first eight this season.

Selected sixth overall in 2020, the young Drysdale never returned to junior hockey, splitting his first year between the NHL and AHL because of the canceled OHL season. A brilliant skater with an excellent sense for breaking the puck out of his own end, this season was supposed to be spent developing the rest of his game, even if the Ducks weren’t going to contend.

Instead, he’ll spend it recovering from major surgery, and hoping that it doesn’t significantly hinder his overall development. Missing time at this age can often have many longer-reaching implications.

Without him in the lineup, the Ducks played with seven defensemen last night but gave Colton White just six minutes of ice time. John Klingberg, meanwhile, saw more than 26 as the top right-handed option.

Laurent Brossoit Sent To AHL On Conditioning Loan

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The goaltending issues that the Vegas Golden Knights were expected to face when Robin Lehner was ruled out for the season have certainly not materialized. The duo of Adin Hill and Logan Thompson have been almost perfect, posting a combined save percentage of .941 through ten games.

Hill, acquired from the San Jose Sharks for a fourth-round pick before the season began, is 4-0 and has allowed just seven goals on 123 shots. Thompson, the de facto starter, leads the league with two shutouts in his first six games.

With those two playing at such a high level, it will make for an interesting decision when Laurent Brossoit is healthy enough to play again. The veteran netminder took a step toward that goal today when he was loaned to the Henderson Silver Knights on a long-term injury conditioning stint. Brossoit is coming off hip surgery and there is no concrete timeline for his return to NHL action.

A LTIR conditioning loan is usually limited to three games or six days, though it can be extended in certain circumstances. When it is over, Brossoit does not necessarily need to be activated.

Remember, the Golden Knights are also right up against the cap, meaning activating Brossoit will be a tricky game for the team to play. They will likely have to reduce their roster to fewer than 23 players, plus figure out what to do with their three goaltenders. Brossoit himself might end up on waivers, or even traded, given the performance of Hill and Thompson so far.

That bridge doesn’t have to be crossed yet, but if he proves himself healthy enough to return, it’s coming soon.

Wyatt Johnston Will Stay In NHL

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As we approach the ten-game mark for many teams, decisions will have to be made on young players who are still slide-eligible. That designation means that if they spend the year outside of the NHL, they will not burn a season off their entry-level contract, effectively extending their time as an inexpensive option. For Wyatt Johnston, a return to junior isn’t in the cards. The young forward has done enough to convince Dallas Stars general manager Jim Nill to keep him around, confirming yesterday’s report from Jeff Marek of Sportsnet. Notably, Nill did explain that they could return Johnston later in the year if necessary.

For some front offices, the 40-game mark is actually more important for a young player. It is at that point that the season is considered a full year of service time in regard to unrestricted free agent status. That is to say, if Johnston plays more than 40 games this year, he’ll be one year closer to hitting the open market.

Still, with how well he has played so far, this shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. After completely dominating the OHL last season, winning the league’s Most Outstanding Player trophy, the Most Sportsmanlike trophy, the scoring race, and the playoff scoring race, it was clear that he was ready for professional hockey. Because of the CHL-NHL agreement, that couldn’t be in the AHL, as Johnston is still only 19. So when the decision is between sending him back to a league where he scored 165 points in 93 games, or keeping him in the NHL, the team would be looking for a reason to keep him at the highest level.

Johnston has provided that reason, scoring three goals and four points in nine games while averaging just over 14 minutes a night. He’s overmatched in the faceoff circle as many young forwards are, and there are some rough edges that still need to be polished on his overall game. But there is oodles of talent in the 2021 first-round pick (23rd overall), and enough maturity to stick around.

Notably, he has averaged more even-strength ice time than players like Roope Hintz, Denis Gurianov, and Jamie Benn, showing just how much confidence head coach Peter DeBoer has in the young forward. The Stars are transitioning to a new wave of talent and now sit first in the Central Division – though that could change over the next little while with Jake Oettinger’s injury. It appears as though they’re willing to let Johnston learn on the job, and make his junior days a thing of the past.

Riley Sheahan Clears Waivers

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Oct 31: Sheahan has cleared waivers and was assigned to the Rochester Americans. In his place, the team has recalled Jeremy Davies to give them another defenseman while they continue to deal with injuries on the back end.

Oct 30: The Buffalo Sabres have made a roster move today, placing veteran center Riley Sheahan on waivers, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. Sheahan was activated off of injured reserve by Buffalo on October 18 and has not yet skated in a game this season.

Sheahan, 30, signed in Buffalo this summer, receiving a one-year, two-way $950k/375k deal to serve as a depth center for the Sabres. A 2010 first-round pick, Sheahan spent 2021-22 as a member of the inaugural Seattle Kraken team, getting into 69 games and scoring 17 points.

A veteran of over 600 NHL games, Sheahan’s placement on waivers is somewhat surprising, as he’s played in just four AHL games since 2013-14. That being said, though, at this stage of his career Sheahan is likely more of a team’s fifth center than a regular bottom-sixer. As Bleacher Report’s Joe Yerdon notes, it’s possible that this waiver placement could be in order to add extra flexibility to move Sheahan at a later date.

In any case, the Sabres will hope that Sheahan clears waivers and that they can stash their useful veteran center with the AHL’s Rochester Americans.

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