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Archives for December 2023

Injury Updates: Werenski, Carpenter, Cates

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Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski has dealt with significant injury issues in recent years, including an injury that knocked him out for most of last season. That bad luck continued last night when Werenski was knocked out of the team’s game against the New Jersey Devils after an awkward collision with Devils forward Ondřej Palát.

Today, team reporter Jeff Svoboda relayed word from Blue Jackets head coach Pascal Vincent, who said that Werenski is still being evaluated but the injury is most likely going to keep Werenski out on a week-to-week basis. An extended Werenski absence could very well deal a killing blow to the Blue Jackets’ already long-shot playoff hopes, as the team would need to replace a defenseman scoring at a 60-point pace who plays over 24 minutes per night, including on both special teams units.

Some other injury updates from across the NHL:

  • The San Jose Sharks announced that forward Ryan Carpenter has been activated off of injured reserve. In a corresponding move, the team placed forward Givani Smith on injured reserve, retroactive to December 21st. Carpenter has missed the last 10 games with an undisclosed injury and has five points in 18 games so far this season playing as a defensive/penalty-killing specialist in San Jose. Smith 25, has played in 26 games this season and has logged three points and 33 penalty minutes.
  • According to The Athletic’s Kevin Kurz, Philadelphia Flyers forward Noah Cates skated today as part of his recovery from a lower-body injury that was originally slated to cost him six to eight weeks. Cates was not having the strongest sophomore campaign before his injury, and his offensive production had declined sharply compared to last season. But in his rookie year he showed himself to be a promising defensive forward, so regardless of his struggles so far this year the Flyers have to be hoping that he’ll return to full strength relatively soon.

Central Notes: Barrie, Barlow, Spurgeon

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The Nashville Predators announced today that defenseman Tyson Barrie has suffered an upper-body injury and is out on a day-to-day timeline. Barrie did not play in the team’s loss last night against the Carolina Hurricanes.

It’s been a difficult season for Barrie, who has not performed up to expectations under the new regime in Nashville. The Predators have reportedly given Barrie permission to seek a trade. Seeing as the 32-year-old is a pending unrestricted free agent, Barrie’s performance this season is of heightened long-term importance to the player, so it makes sense that he would look elsewhere for a more advantageous situation in order to enter the open market on the strongest footing possible. But before he can even consider that, he’ll now need to focus on getting back to full health.

Some other notes from the Central Division:

  • One of the Winnipeg Jets’ top prospects, Colby Barlow, is returning to the lineup of his OHL team the Owen Sound Attack. (News via Jets reporter Jamie Thomas) Barlow was selected 18th overall by the Jets at this past summer’s draft and is in the midst of a crucial development season with Owen Sound. He has not played since November 8th, but when healthy scored nine goals and 14 points in 14 games.
  • Minnesota Wild captain Jared Spurgeon has a “decent chance” of returning from injury to play in the team’s game Saturday against the Winnipeg Jets, according to The Athletic’s Michael Russo. That would be a big add for the Wild, as Spurgeon has not played since December 10th. The Wild have fared well in his absence but they surely miss the heavy minutes he plays. If nothing else, his return could help lessen the workload placed on the shoulders of rookie Brock Faber, who has gotten close to 30 minutes in several games since Spurgeon got hurt.

Minnesota Wild Hire Cody Franson As AHL Assistant Coach

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The Minnesota Wild have made two moves today regarding their AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild. They have hired former NHL defenseman Cody Franson as an assistant coach, replacing Pat Dwyer, who was promoted to the NHL when the Wild hired John Hynes.

In addition, Minnesota has reassigned defenseman Daemon Hunt to AHL Iowa in a move that, based on the number of recent transactions he has been involved in, could very well be just a paper transaction. Hunt was originally recalled on December 26th, but has not actually played in an AHL game since December 12th.

That being said, The Athletic’s Michael Russo reported today that defenseman Jared Spurgeon is back at Wild practice. Spurgeon has not played since December 10th but as the Wild’s most important defenseman he would obviously draw into the team’s lineup automatically, and the ripple effect of his return to health could mean Hunt returns to the AHL on a more permanent basis.

Hunt, 21, was the 65th overall pick at the 2020 draft and is in his second professional campaign. He jumped from the WHL to the AHL full-time last season and ended up playing in 65 games for Iowa, scoring just 11 points. His offensive game has seen a real uptick so far this season (he has nine points in 11 games) and Minnesota has rewarded that growth with his first set of NHL games. He’s played in nine NHL contests this season, averaging 10:07 time-on-ice. He’s registered one assist, 15 blocked shots, and four hits in those games.

As for Franson, this hire represents the 550-game NHL veteran’s first crack at coaching. The former AHL All-Star retired after a strong 2021-22 season with the Hershey Bears, a year in which he scored 35 points.

The Wild have quite a few defensive prospects in need of development in Iowa so a hire of someone who was so recently successful at both the AHL and NHL level is easy to understand.

East Notes: Thompson, Holmberg, Letang, Grzelcyk

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The Sabres placed star center Tage Thompson on the non-roster list after he was absent from last night’s 4-1 loss to the Bruins for personal reasons. While the move was announced Thursday, it was likely filed with the league in order to reduce the Sabres’ active roster to 23 players before the holiday roster freeze lifted last night at 11:59 p.m. ET.

Buffalo is now at the maximum of 23 players on their roster, but they’ll still need to clear two roster spots in the near future: one to activate Thompson when he’s ready to return to the team, and one to activate injured forward Zemgus Girgensons, whose return to health is imminent.

It’s been a down season for Thompson, who had a three-point game against the Maple Leafs but has otherwise been ineffective since returning from a wrist injury that cost him nine games in November and early December. He has nine goals and 19 points in 26 games on the season, a significant decline from last season’s 47 goals and 94 points.

Elsewhere from the Eastern Conference today:

  • The Maple Leafs recalled center Pontus Holmberg from AHL Toronto yesterday, per CapFriendly. Holmberg, who is still waiver-exempt, has been ferried up and down between leagues frequently this season to serve as injury insurance for the Maple Leafs. He last played on December 16 against the Penguins and has one assist in eight games this season, averaging 8:53 per game. He was a healthy scratch for last night’s loss against the Senators. The 24-year-old Swede has excelled at the AHL level this season, potting ten points in 11 games.
  • Penguins defenseman Kris Letang is a member of one of the most venerable trios in hockey history with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, but he’s often been overshadowed by the achievements of his peers. He took home a milestone of his own last night, however, setting an NHL record by registering five assists in the second period against the Islanders – the most ever in a single period by a defenseman. He added another assist in the third, giving him a six-point night and bringing him to 0.7 points per game on the season, much closer to the pace we’re accustomed to seeing from him. The 36-year-old is still barely ahead of Erik Karlsson for the highest average time on ice on the team (24:40) and is now second on the team in assists behind Jake Guentzel with 20. Letang has four seasons remaining after this on a contract carrying a $6.1MM cap hit.
  • Bruins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk was in a regular jersey at practice today, according to the Boston Globe’s Conor Ryan, signaling he’s close to returning. Grzelcyk, 29, has missed the last three games with an upper-body injury and is listed as day-to-day. He is not on injured reserve and is eligible to re-enter the lineup at any time. While he’s held a top-pairing role alongside Charlie McAvoy for most of the season, he may be losing out on his spot. Grzelcyk is currently in one of the worst stretches of his career, posting just one goal and a -3 rating in 20 contests this season while averaging 17:04 per game. 22-year-old rookie Mason Lohrei has seen looks with McAvoy in Grzelcyk’s absence and has put up better stats in more minutes, posting six points and a -1 rating in 18 contests while averaging 17:24 per contest.

Canadiens Activate Jordan Harris Off Injured Reserve

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The Canadiens activated defenseman Jordan Harris off injured reserve Thursday, per a team release. To stay under the 23-player roster limit, Montreal returned winger Emil Heineman to AHL Laval in a corresponding transaction.

Harris is projected to return to the lineup tonight against the Hurricanes in a third-pairing role alongside Jayden Struble, reuniting a pair of former Northeastern University teammates. He missed 15 games with a lower-body injury sustained just one game after returning from an upper-body injury that sidelined him for two contests.

The 23-year-old Harris is in the first season of a two-year, $2.8MM extension signed with Montreal last February. Through 16 games this season before his injuries, Harris logged three assists and a -7 rating while averaging 18:44 per game.

Advanced metrics label the 5-foot-11 American as a slightly below-average defender, posting a 46% Corsi share at even strength that exceeds only Kaiden Guhle and Gustav Lindström among Canadiens defensemen this season. He’s still got a few seasons ahead of him to continue his development, however, and there remains optimism that he can break away from the Canadiens’ large group of mid-tier defense prospects to lock down a top-four role by the time he reaches restricted free agency again in 2025.

Meanwhile, Heineman returns to the minors after making his first NHL appearances late last week in back-to-back games. Averaging only 7:50 in road tilts against the Blackhawks and Wild, Heineman failed to take a shot on goal but recorded two hits and a +1 rating. The 22-year-old will continue his development in Laval, with whom he has one goal and four points in seven games this season. Heineman missed most of October and all of November with an injury.

Devils Send Akira Schmid To AHL

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The Devils assigned netminder Akira Schmid to the AHL’s Utica Comets on Thursday, according to a team release.

Most expected the Devils to make a move to shake up their crease, but few expected the team to demote last year’s breakout performer between the pipes. Schmid, 23, logged a .922 SV% in 18 appearances in 2022-23, usurping Mackenzie Blackwood for the backup job behind starter Vítek Vaněček by season’s end. The Swiss goalie even stole starts from Vaněček in the postseason, starting eight of New Jersey’s 12 playoff games while recording a .921 SV% and two shutouts. It became clear by the summer that Schmid had secured the backup job behind Vaněček this season, leading the Devils to part ways with Blackwood and trade his signing rights to the Sharks.

Both Schmid and Vaněček have failed to recapture last season’s strong play, however. The Devils’ .888 team SV% is near the bottom of the league, and it’s almost singlehandedly keeping them out of a playoff spot after finishing with 112 points last season.

Even though he’s been below average, Schmid’s numbers are far superior to Vaněček’s this season. In 15 appearances (13 starts), he’s posted a .893 SV% and conceded -3.8 goals saved above average compared to Vaněček’s .885 SV% and -10.2 GSAA in 22 appearances (20 starts).

Choosing to send down the better of your two goalies will certainly raise some eyebrows, but short of trading Vaněček, it’s the only choice Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald had at his disposal to try and improve their goalie situation in the short term. Waiving Vaněček would destroy his trade value as the team continues to browse the market for upgrades, while Schmid can head to Utica without needing waivers.

Last season in Utica, Schmid went 11-7-4 with a .905 SV%, 2.62 GAA and two shutouts in 23 games as he bounced between leagues.

The team now turns to 23-year-old Nico Daws to see if he’s ready for full-time NHL play. New Jersey recalled him yesterday after he posted a 2.39 GAA and .929 SV% in three starts with Utica this month. The 2020 third-round pick missed the first two months of this season after undergoing hip surgery over the summer.

Daws has not made an NHL appearance since the end of the 2021-22 campaign when he made 25 appearances for a Devils team plagued by injuries between the pipes that season. Behind veteran Jonathan Bernier, who played ten games before sustaining a career-ending hip injury, Daws was the best of the other six goalies who suited up for the Devils that year with a 10-11-1 record and .893 SV%. Those still weren’t standout numbers for a team that had decent defensive stats, but he’ll lean on that experience now as he gets another NHL shot. He will presumably start one of the Devils’ upcoming back-to-back road games against the Senators and Bruins to wrap up 2023.

Central Notes: Kantserov, Phillips, Kovalenko, Toninato

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KHL club Metallurg Magnitogorsk announced a flurry of contract extensions Thursday morning, including a two-year pact for Blackhawks right-wing prospect Roman Kantserov. The 19-year-old will remain in Russia through the 2025-26 season, although he wasn’t expected to challenge for NHL ice time before then.

Chicago selected Kantserov with the 44th overall pick in 2023, one of their multiple second-round choices in last year’s draft. Some had tabbed Kantserov as a potential late first-round pick, influenced by his intriguing combination of pure shooting and playmaking skill. Skating with Magnitogorsk’s junior club in the MHL last season, Kantserov led the team in goals (27) and points (54) in 45 games. Just one year post-draft, he’s now cracked the pro ranks full-time, appearing in 37 KHL games for Magnitogorsk while recording five goals and five assists for ten points, as well as a +3 rating. Those are solid stats for a teenager logging bottom-six minutes on a Magnitogorsk club that boasts the best record in the KHL’s Eastern conference, and a promising sign that Magnitogorsk can be trusted to handle the most crucial years of Kantserov’s development.

Other notes from the Central Division this morning:

  • Sticking with the Blackhawks, the team converted defenseman Isaak Phillips’ emergency call-up to a regular one today, per CapFriendly. Phillips received his third call-up of the season earlier this month after youngster Kevin Korchinski took personal leave from the team after the death of his father. Korchinski returned to play for Chicago before the holiday break, but Phillips remained on the roster under emergency conditions as Seth Jones, Jarred Tinordi and Alex Vlasic were also sidelined with injuries. Jones remains out, but Tinordi and Vlasic are now healthy. That gives Chicago seven defenders on the active roster, including Phillips. The team’s choice to keep Phillips around instead of returning him to AHL Rockford is notable, given some comments made by head coach Luke Richardson earlier this week. He expressed disappointment in Phillips’ inconsistency despite the player’s belief that he’s ready for a full-time NHL role, calling him a “50-50 player” with some equal flashes of skill and defensive lapses. In 18 games across multiple recalls with the Blackhawks this season, Phillips has five assists and a -6 rating while averaging 18:08 per game. His 44.3% Corsi share at even strength and -3.8 expected rating are rather middle-of-the-pack on a weak Blackhawks roster, and only Jones and Korchinski have put up better possession metrics on the Chicago blueline this season.
  • One of the Avalanche’s best prospects is expected to miss some significant time with an injury. KHL Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod forward Nikolai Kovalenko will be out a minimum of two weeks, but likely longer, with an undisclosed ailment, head coach Igor Larionov said earlier this week (via Colorado Hockey Now’s Evan Rawal). The 24-year-old Kovalenko was a sixth-round pick in 2018 but has far outpaced his draft billing, and he’s now considered one of the best players outside North America. The son of former NHL forward Andrei Kovalenko has 29 points in 27 games for Torpedo this season while on loan from the Avalanche and is expected to be a full-time NHLer in Denver next season.
  • The Jets brought depth forward Dominic Toninato back up from AHL Manitoba prior to yesterday’s 2-1 loss to the Blackhawks, Jets color analyst Mitchell Clinton relayed. Toninato, who was waived just over two weeks ago, slotted into the lineup against Chicago in the wake of a lower-body injury to David Gustafsson, logging an assist in his first appearance of the season for Winnipeg in 8:23 of ice time. The Jets did not assign Toninato to the minors immediately after he cleared waivers, however, instead waiting until just before the holiday break to do so. Toninato, 29, was a healthy scratch in all 17 Winnipeg games he’d been rostered for this season before last night’s showing.

What Your Team Is Thankful For: Ottawa Senators

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As the holiday season approaches, PHR will be taking a look at what teams are thankful for in 2023-24. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. We’ll examine what’s gone well in the early going and what could improve as the season rolls on for the Ottawa Senators.

Who are the Senators thankful for?

Brady Tkachuk.

Much like his brother, Tkachuk has quickly become the emotional, physical, and on-ice leader for the Senators. Leading the team in goals, shots, hits, and even penalty minutes, his willingness to put his body on the line shows that everything goes through Tkachuk in Ottawa.

Unfortunately for him, and what has become a boiling problem with the fan base, Tkachuk is now in his sixth season with the organization and has yet to make a playoff appearance. Yet, even through the emotional turmoil that several unsuccessful seasons can put on the organization, Tkachuk has a lot of hope the Senators can turn things around soon.

In early November, in an article from Bruce Garrioch in the Ottawa Sun, Tkachuk was quoted as saying, “I understand that they’re passionate fan base and I understand that they love it, but when you face adversity you don’t turn your back on the guys out there. We’re playing hard, I know it’s frustrating right now. It’s not like we’re giving up out there, we’re fighting right to the very end“.

Even if the situation in Ottawa continues to become more dire, and the team is unable to produce a consistently successful team in the short term, Tkachuk’s loyalty is long-lasting. His desire to protect his teammates both on and off the ice is a tremendous boon for a struggling franchise.

What are the Senators thankful for?

Their top-six.

Even though the Senators are in last place in the Atlantic Division, there have certainly been some bright spots that the team can be thankful for. The top of their forward core, primarily led by Tkachuk, Joshua Norris, Drake Batherson, Tim Stutzle, Vladimir Tarasenko, and Claude Giroux are still producing at a solid rate.

As the team exits the holiday season, they currently sit at 10th in scoring across the entirety of the NHL, averaging 3.41 goals a game. Producing at a higher clip (albeit with fewer games played) than the likes of the New York Rangers and Vegas Golden Knights shows that Ottawa does have the talent up front to be competitive in the league.

Unfortunately for them, the players behind them have not been holding up their end of the bargain, as the defense and goaltending have both plagued the Senators for much of the season. Even with the team scoring at such a high rate, and GA/G average of 3.55 places them in the bottom five of the NHL, showing where most of the struggles are coming from.

What would the Senators be even more thankful for?

Stability.

In time, stability will come for the Senators and the organization will begin to normalize and stabilize with their current conditions. However, in under the year, the franchise has seen the team being sold, their longtime General Manager showed the door, and what appeared to be a player-friendly coach ousted as well.

The expectation heading into the season is that Ottawa was one of the few teams poised to come out of a lengthy rebuild, with a lot of the finishing touches put in place with the addition of Jakob Chychrun last year, with Tarasenko and Joonas Korpisalo brought in this past summer. Now with a new ownership and management group taking over, the team looks to have halted their rebuilding process entirely.

There is every possibility that the new management group, primarily led by former player, Steve Staios, did not agree with the direction that former General Manager Pierre Dorion was taking the franchise. Now, with what is shaping up to be another dissapointing season in Canada’s capital, it is now time for Staois to redirect the team in the right direction.

What should be on the Senators’ holiday wish list?

A revamped bottom-six and defensive help.

As previously mentioned, the top half of the Senators offense has been quite productive this season, sporting some of the better forwards across the league. Nevertheless, the bottom half of their entire forward unit has been entirely unproductive this season, as well as the bottom of their defensive core.

The team has ultimately been without all-star defenseman Thomas Chabot for much of the year due to injury, but could still benefit from adding a defenseman such as Mario Ferraro from the San Jose Sharks. In the case of the forward core, the Senators still do have prospects they could look to for a jolt of youth into the lineup, but could take a page from the book of their former Ontario rival.

In his first season as President of Hockey Operataions for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Kyle Dubas took an incredibly aggressive approach to fillint out the team’s bottom-six this past summer, signing several veterans to minimum salary two-way contracts. Although it hasn’t entirely worked out for Pittsburgh at this point, with an enhanced scouting department, this could be the kind of aggressive approach the Senators could deploy to fill out the bottom of their roster more appropriately.

Snapshots: Roslovic, Thompson, Kuraly

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In an update on injured Columbus Blue Jackets forward, Jack Roslovic, Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reports Roslovic could return to the lineup on Friday, but is confirmed to be returning by Saturday. Roslovic has been out of the line with a fractured ankle since the team’s game against the New York Rangers on November 12th.

At the time, it was a tough blow to Roslovic and Columbus, as the forward was looking to have another solid season with the organization heading into unrestricted free agency next summer. Having only played in 14 games before the ankle fracture, Roslovic has two goals and eight points on the year, averaging approximately 16 and a half minutes of ice time per game.

Even with Roslovic set to come off the team’s injured reserve by the end of the upcoming weekend, they will still have four players on the injured reserve, severely limiting their depth as an organization. Nevertheless, with his ability to generate offense, Roslovic will be a welcomed return to the Blue Jackets lineup.

Other snapshots:

  • Heading into tonight’s action against the Boston Bruins, the Buffalo Sabres announced they would be without star player, Tage Thompson, as he will be out due to personal reasons. Although his presence is heavily missed in the Sabres lineup, it has ultimately been a disappointing season for Thompson up to this point by his standards, scoring nine goals and 19 points in 26 games.
  • Back in Columbus, as the team matches up against the New Jersey Devils, one player who was rumored to be returning tonight was Sean Kuraly. Instead, Kuraly still felt a tremendous amount of pain due to his abdominal injury, and will now likely return on Friday (X Link). As now the second highest-paid ’healthy’ forward on the roster, Kuraly has six goals and 11 points in 26 games this year.

Minnesota May Allow Danila Yurov To Remain In KHL

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It has been a poorly kept secret the Minnesota Wild were banking heavily on overseas prospects such as Danila Yurov, Liam Ohgren, and Marat Khusnutdinov coming to North America next year, infusing their forward core with a young jolt of offense. Nevertheless, in an article (subscription required) from Michael Russo of The Athletic, Yurov may sign an extension in the KHL, and the Wild may be more than satisfied with that scenario.

Drafted 24th overall by Minnesota in the 2022 NHL Draft, Yurov had a disappointing start to his career in the KHL the following year with Metallurg Magnitogorsk. In 59 regular season games, Yurov was rarely used by Metallurg and only went on to score six goals and 12 points in total. Metallurg would make it as far as the Eastern Conference semifinals in last year’s Gagarin Cup playoffs, but would ultimately be swept by Avangard Omsk.

This season, both Yurov and the team are on entirely different trajectories. Now, being one of the most used forwards on the team in all situations, Yurov has 12 goals and 27 points in 38 games, tied for the top of the team in both categories. The organization, on the other hand, has 57 points so far this season, sitting at the top of the Eastern Conference.

Given his seemingly constant communication with the Wild organization, the situation appears dissimilar to the correspondence between the team and fellow countrymen, Kirill Kaprizov, when he was first drafted back in 2015. However, with a reasonable idea that he could have had a home in Minnesota’s top-six next year, much of that hope was fazed out this past summer after extensions were given to Mats Zuccarello, Marcus Foligno, and Ryan Hartman.

With Kaprizov, as well as Matt Boldy and Joel Eriksson Ek all locked up long-term as well, it may take longer than expected for these prospects to make the jump to North America without the promise of an opportunity to be higher up in the team’s forward core. Given the number of available spots on the roster, it appears that the General Manager and President of Hockey Operations for the team, Bill Guerin, is resolute in his reasoning that this may be the best approach moving forward.

If all these players stayed in their professional leagues overseas, Minnesota would not have as much of a direct hand in their development as they may like, but it would likely serve as a better experience than growing in the American Hockey League. Whatever the case may be, all signs indicate the Wild still hold a strong relationship with their overseas prospects and will be able to influence the direction they do ultimately take.

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