Utah will be missing its top defenseman tonight against St. Louis as the team announced (Twitter link) that Mikhail Sergachev will not play due to an upper-body injury. He left the morning skate early and is listed as day-to-day. The 26-year-old has impressed in his first season with the team after being acquired from Tampa Bay at the draft, playing big minutes in all situations while posting 30 points in 45 games. Sergachev is averaging 25:45 per game, second to only Columbus blueliner Zach Werenski in that regard. Taking his place in the lineup will be recent waiver claim Nick DeSimone.
More from out West:
- Heading into the season, Flames winger Andrei Kuzmenko felt like a probable trade candidate. It was expected that Calgary would be rebuilding and they hoped he’d bounce back after a tough 2023-24 performance. Neither has happened, however, as the Flames are in a battle for the playoffs and Kuzmenko has struggled even more. Accordingly, even though they’d likely welcome the open roster spot, Wes Gilbertson of the Calgary Herald opines that the 28-year-old is unlikely to move. At $5.5MM, Calgary would have to retain salary to move him and since he only has one goal and nine assists in 32 games, they may not get more than a late-round pick even with retention, meaning it might be the best usage of a retention slot and money. Kuzmenko had 74 points in 2022-23 and 46 last season; even getting to half of that this year is now in question.
- Kraken center Yanni Gourde has yet to progress to on-ice work as he continues to battle a lower-body injury, head coach Dan Bylsma told reporters including Kate Shefte of the Seattle Times (Twitter link). However, that shouldn’t be construed as a lack of progression as Bylsma said Gourde’s recovery is still moving along. Gourde has been battling this injury off and on this season and it appears they’ll give him ample time for it to try to heal once and for all.
- Nashville’s farm team in Milwaukee has claimed winger Chase De Leo off waivers from Charlotte, the AHL announced. Waivers are extremely rare in the minors but if a player plays overseas and then signs as a free agent as De Leo did (with stints in the KHL and Switzerland), he has to go through waivers before playing. De Leo has 349 points in 494 career AHL games, giving the Predators a quality veteran for the Admirals with this claim.
Kuzmenko is just another example of a guy who’s success in the league was based on a very small sample size, And yet another Irresponsible GM threw money at him, It happens to often, When are these suits going to wise up?
waive him,