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Archives for January 2024

Sabres Recall Eric Comrie, Assign Devon Levi To AHL

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1/21: The Sabres have recalled Levi and sent Comrie back to the minors – reversing the moves made yesterday.

1/20: The Buffalo Sabres have announced that they’ve recalled goaltender Eric Comrie from the Rochester Americans of the AHL and in a corresponding move they’ve assigned netminder Devon Levi to Rochester. The Sabres had gone with three goaltenders at the NHL level earlier in the season, but have demoted Levi and Comrie at different times to try and open up some roster flexibility,

The 28-year-old Comrie has appeared three times for the Americans during his time in the AHL and has been terrific as he went 2-1 with a .951 save percentage and a goals-against average of 1.67. It was a dramatic turnaround from his numbers with the Sabres earlier in the season, as the Edmonton, Alberta native struggled in the NHL with a 1-5 record, a 4.01 goals-against average and a save percentage of .863.

22-year-old Devon Levi has also posted good numbers at the AHL level in limited action as he has gone 1-1 with a .921 save percentage and a 2.94 goals-against average. Much like Comrie, Levi has also struggled at the NHL level as he has dressed in 19 games registering an 8-7-2 record with a 3.32 goals-against average and an .889 save percentage.

While neither of the two netminders have cemented themselves as a full-time NHL backup this season, Levi has posted better underlying numbers according to MoneyPuck.com. While one would think that the Sabres would want to keep the stronger netminder of the two at the NHL, this move could be more about Levi’s development than anything else. The Sabres may want to get Levi into more games down the stretch, and given that he hasn’t been able to do so in the NHL, they might have deemed the best course to have him as a regular starter in the AHL.

Penguins Notes: Karlsson, Ludvig, Smith

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The Pittsburgh Penguins tweeted yesterday that star defenseman Erik Karlsson was held out of practice due to an illness. The 33-year-old is questionable for Saturday night’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights which means recent call-up Ryan Shea could find his way back into the lineup once again for the Penguins.

Karlsson was acquired this past August in a blockbuster three-way trade involving the San Jose Sharks and Montreal Canadiens. He won the Norris Trophy last season after being the first defenseman to top 100 points in a season since Brian Leetch did it in 1991-92. In his first year with the Penguins, Karlsson has had stretches of play where he has looked dominant, however, he has also struggled with the man advantage as the much-maligned Penguins powerplay has yet to find consistency and is a big reason that the team is chasing a playoff spot at the midway point of the season.

In other Penguins notes:

  • Pens Inside Scoop is reporting that injured Penguins defenseman John Ludvig skated in a non-contact jersey after the official portion of the team’s practice had ended yesterday. Ludvig was placed on the injured reserve on January 3rd and is progressing towards a return very soon. The 23-year-old is in his first season with the Penguins, and although he has only a single assist in 19 games, he has impressed the team with his defensive responsibility and willingness to throw his body around.
  • Pens Inside Scoop also reported that Reilly Smith also skated in a non-contact jersey after Penguins practice as he hopes to return in the coming weeks. Smith will likely not be able to play Saturday when the Penguins take on his former team in the Vegas Golden Knights as he is out longer term with an upper-body injury according to the Penguins. Smith suffered the injury on January 11th and has not played since. While a return to the ice against his former team is unlikely, the 32-year-old is in Vegas with the Penguins and should have a chance to re-connect with the community he spent six years in.

Snapshots: Jenner, Schiefele, Annunen

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The Columbus Blue Jackets have activated forward Boone Jenner off of injured reserve. This move confirms team reporter Aaron Portzline’s earlier report that the team captain would make his return on Friday.

Jenner is in his 11th season with the Blue Jackets and his third season as the team’s captain. He’s spent all 686 of his career games with Columbus – beating out Rick Nash for the most games in club history. Jenner has managed 347 points in those games, good for third in club history. Jenner had a career year in the 2015-16 season, managing 30 goals and 49 points in 82 games, while boasting a fairly meager 13.3 shooting percentage. He struggled to replicate that scoring ability for much of the subsequent years but has found a newfound finishing ability over recent seasons – netting 23 goals and 26 goals in the last two seasons respectively.  Jenner has 13 goals and 18 points in 29 games this season.

Other notes from around the league:

  • Mark Scheifele is expected to miss the Winnipeg Jets’ Saturday matchup against the Ottawa Senators says head coach Rick Bowness. He is battling a lower-body injury suffered on January 11th. He will be reevaluated ahead of the team’s Monday game against the Boston Bruins. Scheifele was placed on injured reserve on January 16th – with the placement retroactive to January 12th – making Saturday the first game that he could have returned for. His absence corresponded with teammate Kyle Connor’s return from injured reserve, helping to keep Winnipeg’s offense alive while their leading-scorer Scheifele misses time.
  • The Colorado Avalanche have sent 23-year-old goaltender Justus Annunen to the minors. He was recalled on January 13th and made his season debut, saving 36 of 40 shots in a 7-4 win over the Ottawa Senators. He’s now up to five career NHL games spread over the last three seasons, boasting a 3-1-1 record and .871 save percentage in them. Annunen returns to the AHL, where he’s already managed a 9-5-4 record and .908 save percentage in 18 games this season.

Sharks Notes: Granlund, Emberson, Couture

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Mikael Granlund has been ruled out of the San Jose Sharks’ next three games by head coach David Quinn. Team reporter Sheng Peng speculated that Granlund could be moved to injured reserve, along with Ty Emberson, who is designated as week-to-week with an upper-body injury.

Granlund has had a bright season despite San Jose’s struggles, boasting 29 points in 38 games, good for second on the team in scoring. He’s served as a top-line player for the Sharks, averaging over 20 minutes of ice time each game. He’s on pace for 63 points this season, a mark that’d be his highest since the 2021-22 season and the fourth time that the forward has netted 60 or more points.

Emberson has played in 21 of San Jose’s 45 games this season, averaging nearly 19 minutes of ice time. The 23-year-old defenseman has managed seven points in his appearances, playing out the first games of his NHL career. He is one of four rookies on the Sharks roster, alongside Nikita Okhotyuk, Henry Thrun, and Danil Gushchin.

The Sharks are also seeing the return of captain Logan Couture, who is making his season debut after missing the team’s first 45 games with a lower-body injury. Couture has played 14 seasons and 927 games with the Sharks, ranked fifth in club history in games played. He’s carried that team captaincy since the 2019-20 season when he took over for Joe Pavelski after his move to the Dallas Stars.

Washington Capitals Sign Aliaksei Protas To Five-Year Extension

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The Washington Capitals have announced a five-year, $16.875MM contract extension for centerman Aliaksei Protas. The new deal with carry an annual cap hit of $3.375MM. Protas has appeared in all but one of Washington’s 43 games this season, scoring three goals and 18 points. The 23-year-old has served in a bottom-six role, averaging just 13 minutes of ice time on the season, though he’s beginning to sneak into a larger role with an average of over 15 miuntes in his last five games.

Protas is appearing in just his third NHL season and this extension marks the first deal after his entry-level contract. The 23-year-old was selected by the Capitals in the third round of the 2019 NHL Draft. He’s since played in the most games of any player selected outside that year’s top two rounds, managing 133 career games – scoring 42 points throughout. He was drafted from the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders, but made his professional debut overseas in the 2020-21 KHL season, scoring 10 goals and 18 points for the KHL’s Minsk Dynamo. He came over to North American pros at the end of Dynamo’s season and made his NHL debut in 2021-22, scoring nine goals in his first 33 games with the Capitals.

Protas satisfies a menagerie of trivia, standing as one of the league’s 10-tallest players and is one of just two Belarusians playing consistently in the NHL this season. In fact, he became just the ninth Belarusian to play 100 NHL games on January 2nd.

Seattle Kraken’s Yanni Gourde Suspended Two Games For Charging

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Seattle Kraken centerman Yanni Gourde has been suspended for a charging penalty against Edmonton Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm. The play in question occurred in the final few minutes of the Thursday night matchup, with the NHL Department of Player Safety saying that Gourde unnecessarily elevated himself into Ekholm’s head on the hit. The league also cited Gourde’s one previous career suspension – a two-game punishment for a hit to the head of Jordan Staal in the 2018-19 season.

Gourde has appeared in all 45 of Seattle’s games this season, boasting seven goals and 19 points. He’s also added 48 penalty minutes, a mark that’s tied with Vince Dunn for team lead. Gourde is in his third season with the Kraken, serving as the selection from the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft. He’s served in a prominent role for the Kraken, averaging over 17 minutes of ice time in each season since. That includes the 17:48 he’s averaging this year, operating as a middle-six centerman and go-to penalty killer.

Gourde went unselected in the NHL Draft, instead beginning his pro career with the AHL’s Worcester Sharks at the end of the 2011-12 season. He scored three points in four games in his first taste of pros but struggled to maintain that production in his official rookie year – scoring just 14 points in 54 games during the 2012-13 season. He found his way back on draft in the following year, though, and was able to work his way into more prominent roles each season before eventually making his NHL debut in 2015-16 and playing his first full pro season in 2017-18. Gourde made a splash when he finally joined the Tampa lineup, netting an impressive 25 goals and 64 points in 82 games. That remains a career-high in goals and points, though Gourde has nonetheless remained consistent, scoring 48 points in three separate seasons since, including last year.

Hurricanes Place Pyotr Kochetkov On Injured Reserve

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The Carolina Hurricanes have placed Pyotr Kochetkov on injured reserve. Team reporter Walt Ruff shares that this move isn’t indicative of a setback, but instead a corresponding move to Carolina’s claiming of Columbus’ Spencer Martin off of waivers.

The 24-year-old Kochetkov has appeared in 23 games this season – more than any other Hurricanes goaltender – setting an 11-7-3 record and .900 save percentage. The numbers line up with his rookie season last year, with Kochetkov posting a .909 save percentage and 12 wins through 24 games. The Russian has become a de facto starter in Carolina just a few seasons after he was selected in the second round of the 2019 NHL Draft. He was the second netminder selected that year, joining a class that also features Spencer Knight, Mads Søgaard, and Dustin Wolf. Kochetkov made the jump to North American pros in the 2021-22 season, earning his NHL debut in the same year. He’s since totaled 50 career NHL games, managing a collective 26-14-8 record and .905 save percentage.

Kochetkov has returned to the ice, working one-on-one with the team’s goaltender coaches as he adjusts back from an injury that’s held him out of the team’s last two games, suggesting he could return after his requisite seven-day absence on IR. That could quickly crowd Carolina’s goaltending room and force competition between newcomer Martin, Yaniv Perets, and Antti Raanta for the backup role.

Golden Knights Place Michael Amadio On IR, Recall Jonas Røndbjerg

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The Vegas Golden Knights have placed forward Michael Amadio on injured reserve, as the 27-year-old is battling with an upper-body injury. Amadio previously missed a handful of games due to personal reasons and illness, but has otherwise played in 42 of Vegas’ 45 games this season. He’s managed six goals and 17 points in those appearances, putting him on pace for 33 points through 82 games – a mark that would represent a career-high, trumping the 27 points that Amadio managed in 67 games last year.

Amadio is in his third season with the Golden Knights, joining them as a waiver claim from the Toronto Maple Leafs partway through the 2021-22 campaign. He’s since served in a bottom-six role, averaging around 12 minutes of ice time in each of his three seasons with the club. The depth he provides was appreciated enough for Vegas to re-sign the forward to a two-year, $1.5MM contract extension only three months after claiming him. He’s serving the last year of that contract in this season.

The Golden Knights have recalled Jonas Røndbjerg to fill the role of the injured Amadio. He will join Byron Froese, Brendan Brisson, and Sheldon Rempal as recent call-ups looking to find their way into a Vegas lineup that currently has four forwards, four defensemen, and their starting goalie on injured reserve. None of Froese, Brisson, or Rempal have scored in their one or two appearances, while Røndbjerg has managed three points in the nine NHL games he’s received this year.

Atlantic Notes: Forbort, Carlo, Poitras, Johnson, Jokiharju

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Both Brandon Carlo and Derek Forbort could return to the Bruins lineup in tomorrow’s game against the Canadiens, says Joe Haggerty of the Boston Sports Journal. The Bruins’ bulkiest two defenders have missed five and 20 games with their respective injuries.

Carlo is on IR, while Forbort is on LTIR. With the Bruins carrying 22 players on the active roster, they will need to assign at least one player to AHL Providence today in order to activate both while keeping their roster at 23 players or less.

Carlo has been by far the more impactful of the two this season. His pairing with Hampus Lindholm has seen the most of any Bruins duo on defense at nearly 400 minutes together, and the 27-year-old continues to solidify himself as a bona fide top-four shutdown defenseman. His 2-8–10 stat line through 39 games isn’t awful for a player boasting his role, and he’s managed to keep an even expected plus-minus rating despite receiving a sky-high 76% of his even-strength zone starts in the defensive end.

The 31-year-old Forbort’s role has been a tad more limited, skating 18:22 per game (Carlo plays over 20) and posting four assists in 20 games. His even-strength possession numbers have cratered since the beginning of last season, reaching a poor 43.5% Corsi share in 2023-24. At this stage in his career, the majority of Forbort’s value comes on the penalty kill, where he’s still graded out below average this season. He remains under contract at a $3MM cap hit through the end of this season.

More from the Atlantic Division today:

  • Making progress in his return but unlikely to play tomorrow is Bruins rookie Matthew Poitras, who head coach Jim Montgomery told reporters (including Haggerty) today “has a few more boxes to check” before he can play again. The 19-year-old last played on Jan. 9 and has missed four games with a shoulder injury. He’s played in only three of eight games since returning from representing Canada at the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship in Sweden. The 2022 second-round pick has provided great value for the Bruins earlier than expected on his entry-level contract, posting 10-5–15 through his first 30 NHL games.
  • The Sabres have listed veteran defenseman Erik Johnson as day-to-day with an upper-body injury, per a team announcement. The 35-year-old left yesterday’s 3-0 win over the Blackhawks early in the third period after he was checked from behind by Blackhawks winger Philipp Kurashev. Kurashev was assessed a five-minute major penalty for boarding on the play, but no supplemental discipline is expected. Johnson has been a healthy scratch four times in 45 games this year after signing a one-year, $3.25MM pact with Buffalo in free agency. He’s notched three goals and a +2 rating in 14:11 of average ice time but is still looking for his first assist as a Sabre. Defenseman Henri Jokiharju is also listed as day-to-day with general soreness, putting both their availabilities for tomorrow’s game against the Lightning in doubt. A rotating cast of injuries may force the Sabres to recall an additional defenseman from AHL Rochester tomorrow after bringing up Jacob Bryson yesterday.

Rangers Recall Matthew Robertson

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The Rangers recalled defenseman Matthew Robertson from AHL Hartford on Friday, per a team announcement.

New York adds some blueline depth to their roster as they continue their West Coast swing with three games in four nights. Per The Athletic’s Arthur Staple, Robertson comes up as injury insurance for an undisclosed defenseman who’s not 100 percent healthy. He will likely serve as a healthy extra on the road trip, with Zachary Jones drawing in instead if one of the Rangers’ top six defensemen needs to exit the lineup due to injury.

The 22-year-old Robertson has yet to play in an NHL game, but he’s one of the Rangers’ more intriguing defense prospects. He has NHL-ready size at 6-foot-4 and 201 lbs., but his development in the minors has stagnated over the past 18 months. In 32 games with the Wolf Pack this year, Robertson has two goals, 11 assists and 13 points with a -3 rating.

Notably for Robertson, he is in the final season of his entry-level contract. If he can make his way into the lineup for his NHL debut, it could go a long way toward securing some additional compensation on his second major league deal. The 2019 second-round pick is on track to receive a qualifying offer at season’s end and will not be eligible for arbitration.

This is his second recall of the month. He was ferried up for a brief period on Jan. 11, but was sent down before that night’s game against the Blues.

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