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Los Angeles Kings Recall Prokhorkin, Assign Bjornfot To AHL

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The Los Angeles Kings will now have another KHL star on the roster. Nikolai Prokhorkin has been recalled by the Kings after just four games with the Ontario Reign, while 2019 first-round pick Tobias Bjornfot has been sent down. Bjornfot is still just 18 but is allowed to play in the AHL given he was drafted out of Sweden. Carl Grundstrom, another top prospect of the Kings, has also been assigned to the AHL.

Prokhorkin, 26, has finally made it to the Kings after a long and winding road. Originally selected by Los Angeles in the fourth round of the 2012 draft, he actually signed a contract with the organization a few months later. That deal was ruled invalid however thanks to his KHL contract, sending him back to Russia after just eight games with the Manchester Monarchs of the AHL.

The talented winger would stay in the KHL for the next seven seasons, reaching a career-high in points last year with 41 in 41 games for SKA St. Petersburg. He signed a new one-year, entry-level contract this spring almost seven years after he was drafted.

Bjornfot actually played three games with the Kings after surprisingly making the team out of training camp, but sending him to the minor leagues actually keeps his contract from kicking in. Should he play in another seven games this season the first year of his entry-level contract would be burned, but AHL games do not count towards that total. The 18-year old was picked 22nd overall out of the SHL and has already shown his NHL upside.

Grundstrom meanwhile was acquired by the Kings last season from the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Jake Muzzin deal and scored five goals in just 15 games for them down the stretch. Still just 21 he has more developing to do before he can be a real force at the NHL level.

Minor Transactions: 10/18/19

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Jack Hughes got his first NHL point and the New Jersey Devils recorded their first win of the season, topping the New York Rangers 5-2 to quiet their critics for the time being. The Minnesota Wild were not so lucky as they were dominated from start to finish by the Montreal Canadiens and now sit at 1-6 on the season. As teams prepare for tonight’s action which includes six matchups, we’ll be right here keeping track of all the minor moves.

  • Nelson Nogier has been returned to the AHL by the Winnipeg Jets, in what is quickly becoming a pattern. Nogier has already been involved in five transactions this month between the two leagues and will likely bounce up and down for a good part of the season.
  • The Philadelphia Flyers have assigned Connor Bunnaman to the minor leagues after he played four games with the team so far this season. Bunnaman was rewarded for a strong preseason but failed to register his first NHL point. The 21-year old fourth-round pick scored 19 goals and 32 points for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms last season and will continue his development as a legitimate NHL prospect this year.
  • Curtis Lazar has been assigned to the AHL after being called up just a few days ago. Lazar hasn’t played in a single game with the Buffalo Sabres this season, but does have one point in three contests for the Rochester Americans.
  • Now that Jacob Markstrom has returned to the Vancouver Canucks, the team has sent Zane McIntyre back to the AHL’s Utica Comets. Markstrom was away for a personal reason, giving Thatcher Demko the net for a short time.
  • Danil Yurtaykin has been sent to the minor leagues by the San Jose Sharks, ending his short stint in the NHL after just four games. The 22-year old Russian winger needs some seasoning in the AHL before he returns.

Minor Transactions: 10/17/19

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All six home teams won last night in the NHL, including the high-flying Edmonton Oilers continuing their resurgence against the Philadelphia Flyers. Connor McDavid led the way with five points and put himself squarely in the conversation for a second consecutive first star of the week, while Mikko Koskinen made 49 saves as the Flyers poured on the pressure. The action continues tonight with nine more games on the schedule, including the first meeting of the top two 2019 draft picks. Jack Hughes is looking for his first NHL point while Kaapo Kakko and the New York Rangers will suit up for just the fourth time this season. As teams prepare, we’ll be right here keeping track of all the minor moves.

  • The San Jose Sharks have returned Trevor Carrick to the minor leagues, something that we should get used to this season. Carrick seems to be the player GM Doug Wilson will flip back and forth to save cap room this season on off days (at least until Radim Simek is back to full health), as he’s already been involved in four transactions since the start of the month.
  • The Carolina Hurricanes have sent Brian Gibbons back to the AHL after playing two games with the NHL club. Gibbons, 31, has spent plenty of time in the minor leagues over his career to this point but is a nice depth piece for Carolina to call on when they face injury up front.
  • Nelson Nogier has been recalled once again by the Winnipeg Jets, who take on the New York Islanders tonight. Winnipeg is off to a 4-4 start to the season despite massive changes to their defense corps, but will need even more from their group to compete for a Central Division playoff spot.

Bode Wilde Assigned To AHL

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An interesting name has come across the AHL transactions page today. New York Islanders prospect Bode Wilde has been added to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers roster after previously starting on season-opening injured reserve. Wilde must be healthy enough to return to action, but what’s interesting about his assignment to Bridgeport is that he is still eligible to play for the Saginaw Spirit of the OHL where he spent last season. The Islanders must believe that he’s ready to make the leap to professional hockey after scoring 70 points in 62 games for the Spirit last season.

Still just 19 years old, the smooth-skating defenseman was picked 41st overall in 2018 after falling out of the first round. Though he still has the odd bout of poor decision making, his ability at both ends of the ice make for a very strong prospect that profiles as a potential top-four option for the Islanders down the road.

Lou Lamoriello, Barry Trotz and the rest of the New York management group have already shown they are willing to be aggressive with their top prospects, keeping Noah Dobson on the roster and recently recalling Oliver Wahlstrom. Both of those players were also selected in 2018, a draft class for the Islanders that is showing early returns as a potential franchise-changing group.

For Wilde, a chance to show what he can do at the AHL level only gets him that much closer to his eventual NHL debut. After dominating the OHL as a rookie there wasn’t a ton left for him to learn in Saginaw. Bridgeport will include a host of new challenges.

Minor Transactions: 10/16/19

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If you’re a hockey fan in Nova Scotia, tonight’s NHL action must feel like the Stanley Cup Final as provincial heroes and good friends Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon square off in Pittsburgh. The two superstar centers are off to great starts this season with the former taking the full weight of the Penguins on his back after Evgeni Malkin suffered an injury and the latter leading his Colorado Avalanche to a perfect 5-0 record so far. That’s one of six games on the schedule for this evening, and as teams prepare for action we’ll be right here to keep track of all the minor moves.

  • The Avalanche have returned Kevin Connauton to the Colorado Eagles of the AHL, activating J.T. Compher from injured reserve in the process. The Avalanche have so many NHL defensemen that they’re going to scratch Nikita Zadorov tonight, meaning it would have been tough for Connauton to get into the lineup.
  • The Chicago Wolves have released Brett McKenzie from his professional tryout after just a single game with the team. McKenzie, 22, was a seventh-round pick of the Vancouver Canucks in 2016 but spent almost all of last season with the Atlanta Gladiators of the ECHL. McKenzie will return to the Fort Wayne Komets, where he’ll continue to try and show he is good enough to move up to the AHL.

Denis Gurianov Recalled From AHL

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The Dallas Stars are off to a 1-5-1 record early on, and struggling to create much offense. They’ve scored just 13 goals through those seven games, but will get a boost soon with the return of Corey Perry. Today they also brought back young forward Denis Gurianov, who will get another chance to prove he can stick at the NHL level.

Gurianov, 22, played three games with the Stars earlier this season but found himself back in the minor leagues last week. It didn’t take long for him to earn a recall however, recording a hat trick on Friday night against the Iowa Wild. Gurianov scored 20 goals and 48 points in 57 games with the Texas Stars last year, really finding his game after early career struggles.

Selected 12th overall in 2015, there were questions surrounding Gurianov’s work ethic in his first few professional seasons. In the Stars’ 2018 Calder Cup run, the 6’3″ forward was even made a healthy scratch despite being one of the team’s best goal scoring threats in the regular season. In 2018-19 though things changed, with a more invested player dominating the AHL competition on a routine basis.

With Dallas struggling, perhaps they’ll give Gurianov a longer opportunity to see what he can do at the NHL level.

Andy Welinski Placed On Waivers By Philadelphia

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Tuesday: Welinski has cleared waivers and will head to the Phantoms.

Monday: The Philadelphia Flyers likely planned to have free agent addition Andy Welinski hit the waiver wire just before the start of the regular season, when waivers is saturated with talent and teams are not as likely to make an addition to their roster. However, Welinski suffered a lower-body injury in training camp and began the year on the Flyers’ injured reserve. Finally healthy, the team is forced to place Welinski on waivers now, as reported by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, in order to send him to the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms. With NHL teams having two weeks of games to look at as well as injury losses in need of a response, it’s fair to wonder if Welinksi will clear waivers.

Welinksi, 26, hit the open market this summer as a Group 6 unrestricted free agent. A standout for his hometown University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs, Welinksi enjoyed a full four-year collegiate career before signing with the Anaheim Ducks, who had selected him in the third round in 2011. In his first two pro seasons, Welinski only played in seven games for the Ducks, instead producing at a high level as a top defenseman for the AHL’s San Diego Gulls. However, in 2018-19, Welinski became a valuable depth piece on the Anaheim blue line. His split his season between the parent club and farm team, skating in 26 games for the Ducks and recording four points. However, even with his emergence as an NHL option for Anaheim, he was still far short of the 80 games needed by age 25 to remain a restricted free agents. Welinksi opted to take his talents to Philadelphia, where a young defense corps undergoing an overhaul offered the potential for another NHL opportunity.

The question now is whether Welinski’s next appearance at the top level will be with Philadelphia or elsewhere. Although the Phantoms feature other NHL veterans, such as Nate Prosser and T.J. Brennan, Welinski would likely be the next man up in the event of an injury in Philly. However, other teams may be willing to offer him a depth role right away. Given the injuries to Niklas Hjalmarsson in Arizona and Adam Larsson in Edmonton, not to mention the depth concerns in Winnipeg and New Jersey, that is already four teams that could consider taking a flier on Welinski. He may not be a household name or even an established NHLer at this point in career, but for now he’s a free option with demand for defense on the rise.

Minor Transactions: 10/15/19

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The Colorado Avalanche stayed perfect last night by tearing apart the Washington Capitals’ defense in a 6-3 win, and now have a two-point lead in the Central Division. The Minnesota Wild, who are at the other end of that spectrum will try to build off their first win when they take on the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight. That’s just one of seven games on the schedule, including a potential Western Conference playoff matchup between the Nashville Predators and Vegas Golden Knights. As teams prepare, we’ll be keeping track of all the minor moves as always.

  • Former NHL forward Alexandre Grenier has signed with Iserlohn of the German DEL for the rest of the season. Grenier played last season for the Laval Rocket, scoring 27 points and serving as an alternate captain. The 28-year old has nine NHL games under his belt, all with the Vancouver Canucks, but never did register a point at that level.
  • Igor Eronko of Sport-Express reports that Ryan Sproul has signed a one-year deal with Kunlun Red Star in the KHL. Sproul played for three different AHL teams last season, but spent the most time with the Hershey Bears where he scored 23 points in 52 games.
  • The Dallas Stars have sent Joel L’Esperance and Nicholas Caamano back to the minor leagues, after the team suffered their fifth loss of the season yesterday. The Stars are in panic mode already in the young season, but should be getting some help back soon in the form of Corey Perry.
  • With Oscar Fantenberg dealing with injury, the Vancouver Canucks have recalled Ashton Sautner from the minor leagues. Sautner played 17 games for Vancouver last season, recording a single point.
  • After activating Sam Steel off of injured reserve yesterday, the Anaheim Ducks have sent Isac Lundestrom to the minor leagues. Lundestrom played three games for the Ducks this season but was held pointless, and can now continue his development in the AHL.

Minor Transactions: 10/14/19

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Get ready for a full day of hockey. Monday’s lineup features four games being held at 1:00pm home team local time, as well as 3:00pm, 5:00pm, and 7:30pm. Among the story lines to watch are the Wild, Devils, and Blackhawks seeking their first wins of the season, the Avalanche and Oilers looking to stay perfect, and a collision of the league’s two stingiest teams, the Ducks and Bruins. Also to watch for are the roster moves made to open up the third week of the season. Keep up with all of the action here:

  • The Ottawa Senators continue to routinely shuffle their forward group around early this season. After giving youngsters like Drake Batherson, Filip Chlapik, and Vitaly Abramov a chance already, the team has recalled a pair of veterans from AHL Belleville. The team announced that Nick Paul and Jordan Szwarz have been promoted to Ottawa. While Paul is a familiar name to Sens fans, Szwarz is a new free agent addition. The long-time AHL veteran and former Providence Bruins captain has played in 47 NHL games in his career, split between Arizona and Boston. His reliable two-way energy game could be more of the boost that the coaching staff feels they need right now rather than the offensive focus of the team’s top young prospects. This recall would also seem to indicate that there is a chance that Mikkel Boedker and Artem Anisimov are not ready to return to the lineup today as expected.
  • After flipping Kyle Capobianco to the AHL for Ilya Lyubushkin on Saturday, the Coyotes are now flopping. CapFriendly reports that Capobianco has been called back up from the AHL’s Tuscon Roadrunners. The move comes on the heels of an injury to Niklas Hjalmarsson on Saturday that will likely push either Capobianco or Lyubushkin into a starting role for the time being.
  • The Toronto Maple Leafs have made a somewhat surprising switch. The team announced that 19-year-old rookie defenseman Rasmus Sandin has been sent down to the AHL’s Marlies, while free agent addition and veteran blue liner Kevin Gravel has been recalled in his place. Sandin, considered by many to be Toronto’s top D prospect, had skated in all six games for the team thus far and recorded a pair of assists, strong possession numbers, and an even plus/minus rating. Although, Sandin’s ice time has been limited and his special teams role has been non-existent, so this could be about putting him in a better position to develop in the AHL. However, this may be more about adding Gravel than subtracting Sandin. The Leafs have surrendered at least three goals in four of their six games so far, including a 7-3 drubbing by the Tampa Bay Lightning. They may simply be looking to tighten things up on the back end and stay-at-home specialist Gravel can help. Gravel has recorded 137 blocked shots and 124 hits in 106 NHL games with the Los Angeles Kings and Edmonton Oilers.
  • Steven Oleksy worked his way up from the ECHL ranks early in his career and has been on an NHL contract every year since 2012. However, that streak was snapped this summer when the 33-year-old seemingly could not attract another two-way deal. His bad luck now continues, as the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins announced that they have released Oleksy from his tryout agreement. The veteran of 73 NHL games and more than 400 AHL games saw his production fall off somewhat last year in a season split between the San Diego Gulls and Toronto Marlies, but is simply looking for the opportunity to show he can still contribute. In all likelihood, Oleksy will land on his feet elsewhere in pro hockey sooner rather than later.
  • The Vancouver Canucks have granted starter Jacob Markstrom  a leave of absence to attend to a family matter. He is expected to re-join the team later this week. In the meantime, Vancouver announced that Zane McIntyre has been recalled to serve as the backup to Thatcher Demko. McIntyre, a free agent addition, has made eight NHL appearances in his career with the Boston Bruins, all back in 2016-17. Ironically, his lone call-up last season was to serve as backup to Jaroslav Halak while Tuukka Rask took a leave of absence himself. McIntyre was a star at the college level and has strong AHL numbers, but at 27 years old he no longer a prospect that the Canucks would be trying to force into play time. Expect them to lean on Demko until Markstrom returns.

New York Islanders Recall Oliver Wahlstrom

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The 2-3-0 New York Islanders are in for an early-season shake-up. The team has announced that veteran forward Casey Cizikas has been placed on injured reserve with a lower-body injury. In his place, the team has opted to recall not a similar two-way forward, but instead top offensive prospect Oliver Wahlstrom. It is the first career NHL promotion for the 2018 No. 11 overall pick and could provide a needed spark for the Islanders.

Wahlstrom, 19, has been on an NHL trajectory since he was nine years old. A youth hockey phenom who developed elite stick skills at a young age, Wahlstrom was recruited by the University of Maine at 14 years old, before switching his commitment to Harvard University, and then finally Boston College, where he played last year. After recording 48 goals and 94 points with the U.S. National Development team in his draft year, Wahlstrom’s production at BC – eight goals and 19 points in 36 games – left something to be desired. There was a mutual agreement that it was in his best interest to jump to the pro level, where he has three goals and six points in nine career AHL games thus far. There is no doubting Wahlstrom’s ability on the ice; a dangerous scoring threat, he possesses a killer instinct around the net, matched by his skill at possessing the puck and create opportunities for his teammates.

With the right linemates, it would bot be a surprise to see Wahlstrom find immediate success with the Islanders. A strong player with a mature sense of the game, the rookie scorer should fit right in. There has been no indication yet as to where Wahlstrom will line up, but it won’t take long to find out, as the Islanders host the St. Louis Blues this afternoon. It’s safe to assume that he will draw in right away in hopes of providing a boost to the league’s fifth-worst scoring offense thus far. Wahlstrom has also been given Josh Ho-Sang’s No. 26, truly marking a changing of the guard in New York. The team plans on this No. 26 playing a bigger role for a longer time, that much is certain.

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