Libor Hájek Signs In Czechia
The AHL’s Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins and defenseman Libor Hájek have mutually agreed to terminate the AHL deal that was signed in October. Hájek signed a contract with HC Dynamo Pardubice that will run until 2028, according to an announcement from the Czech club.
These two moves appear to bring to an end Hájek’s time playing high-level hockey in North America. The 25-year-old moved from Czechia’s HC Kometa Brno to the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades in 2015-16, and ended up selected 37th overall by the Tampa Bay Lightning in that year’s draft.
While he was still in junior, Hájek was moved to the New York Rangers as a key part of the blockbuster Ryan McDonagh and J.T. Miller trade.
Hájek’s professional debut came in the Rangers organization with their AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack. Although some scouts were optimistic about how Hájek’s offensive game would develop, the growth he showed in his later WHL seasons never translated to the professional level.
He scored just five points in 58 AHL games as a rookie, and he never scored double-digit points in any season in his professional career. Hájek still grew in terms of role and importance in New York thanks to his size, physicality, and defensive acumen. He ultimately played in over 100 games for the Rangers, mostly occupying a sixth or seventh-defenseman role. He was non-tendered by the Rangers this past offseason, and there was some belief that he might be able to fill in a similar role with another organization to the one he filled in New York.
That never came to be, though, and Hájek settled on an AHL deal with the Penguins. Now, after 11 games in Wilkes-Barre Scranton, Hájek has elected to forgo the chance at returning to the NHL on a short-term basis (and the instability that comes with that pursuit) in favor of significantly increased stability around the familiar surroundings of his home country.
He joins one of Czechia’s top teams in Pardubice, a club that reached the Champions Hockey League quarterfinals and has reached the Czech postseason in three consecutive years. He has a real chance of earning some hardware this year, as Pardubice currently sits first in the Czech standings with a 20-3-4 record.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Buffalo Sabres Place Jeff Skinner On Injured Reserve
The Buffalo Sabres have placed Jeff Skinner on injured reserve as a result of the upper-body injury he suffered last night, according to a team announcement.
25-year-old Brett Murray has been recalled from the Sabres’ AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans, to fill Skinner’s vacated slot on the Sabres’ roster. This news comes as the Sabres are already dealing with poor injury luck. The team has Jordan Greenway, Jack Quinn, and Zemgus Girgensons already on injured reserve. With Skinner included, the total cap hit of players on Sabres injured reserve amounts to a whopping $15.363MM.
The loss of Skinner means the Sabres will have to make do without one of their top offensive weapons. The 31-year-old former Calder Trophy winner scored 35 goals and 82 points last season, which was by a wide margin the most productive campaign of his career. He’s followed that up quite well with 12 goals and 22 points in 30 games to start this season. With Skinner out, Murray could very well slot into the vacated role on the Sabres’ second-line, alongisde J.J. Peterka and Casey Mittelstadt.
Murray is a big six-foot-five, 228-pound left winger who has had two consecutive strong seasons in Rochester. In 2021-22, Murray scored 15 goals and 32 points in 52 games, as well as six points in 10 playoff games. Last season, Murray scored 23 goals and 49 points in 71 games, while also chipping in 10 points in 14 postseason contests.
Although those numbers haven’t entirely translated to the NHL level in his 22 career games there, his offensive success at the AHL level does indicate that he may have some more upside in the NHL than he’s shown so far. Murray played for the Sabres on December 11th, and now he’ll likely get an extended chance with the team due to Skinner’s injury.
Snapshots: Kunin, Wolves, Capitals Arena
Being out of the lineup for a little over a week with an upper-body injury, the San Jose Sharks announced the team has officially activated forward Luke Kunin from the injured reserve, although he will not play in the team’s game tonight.
After a disastrous start to the season, the Sharks have rebounded well over their last several games, producing a 5-2-1 record over their last eight games, now tied for last place in the NHL with the Chicago Blackhawks. Unfortunately, due to the injury, Kunin has not been able to factor into San Jose’s good stretch of late, having not played since the team’s loss against the Boston Bruins on November 30th.
Nevertheless, he is still having a solid season compared to the rest of his teammates, scoring five goals and seven points in 23 games, already matching his goal total from a season ago. Clearly, concerning the rest of the league, that offensive output is mostly centered around bottom-six players but is good for seventh on the team in scoring in San Jose.
Other snapshots:
- In some unfortunate news across the hockey world, the American Hockey League announced a 10-game suspension for the head coach of the Chicago Wolves, Bob Nardella, due to the use of homophobic language directed at on-ice officials during the team’s game on December 9th. In his first season as the head coach, the Wolves are the lone independent team of the AHL and are currently in last place in the Central Division with a 5-13-1-1 record so far this season.
- After a vote last night from Virginia lawmakers, all reports are indicating that the vote proposal has passed and that the Washington Capitals will be leaving Capital One Arena for Northern Virginia (X Link). Capital One Arena initially opened the season of the Capitals’ first run to the Stanley Cup Final during the 1997-98 season and is currently the 14th oldest active stadium in the NHL.
New York Rangers Recall Matthew Robertson
The New York Rangers have recalled defenseman Matthew Robertson from their AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack.
With regular second-pairing left-shot defenseman K’Andre Miller set to miss tonight’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs due to personal reasons, the Rangers are down a defenseman for tonight’s game.
Veteran Erik Gustafsson appears poised to take Miller’s spot next to captain Jacob Trouba, and then the decision for who will enter the lineup will come down to either Zac Jones or Robertson.
For an important game against a strong Maple Leafs team, one would assume that Jones, an intelligent player with nearly 50 games of NHL experience, would be the preferred option.
But seeing as Miller’s absence means the Rangers have a second-unit penalty killer to replace, Robertson could very well be called upon to make his NHL debut. Standing six-foot-three, 211 pounds Robertson offers a more defensive style and the kind of size and physicality Jones, who is five-foot-ten, does not provide.
Should he end up dressed for tonight’s game, Robertson would get the chance to make his NHL debut in the middle of his third season playing professional hockey.
The 22-year-old was a 2019 second-round pick, selected out of the WHL’s Edmonton Oil Kings. Robertson had a strong junior career. He skated in over 200 WHL games, won gold at the 2018 Hlinka Gretzky Cup, and was once named to the WHL’s Second All-Star Team. While Edmonton only got the chance to reach the playoffs once during Robertson’s time there, he played a crucial role on a team that made a run to the WHL’s Conference Finals.
In Hartford, Robertson has steadily risen in importance. While he isn’t much of an offensive producer, Robertson scored a career-high 23 points in 57 games last year. This season, he’s frequently spent time alongside former OHL star Mac Hollowell, and the defensive safety he provides to that pairing has helped Hollowell pile up points, as he has posted 22 in just 18 games.
While Robertson may only be in the NHL on a short-term basis due to the news regarding Miller, and he may end up just in the press box as a healthy scratch tonight, it would be a surprise if Robertson doesn’t get the chance to make his NHL debut at some point down the line.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Minor Transactions: 12/11/23
With a fairly light night on the NHL schedule with just four games on the books, let’s turn our focus to some of the recent minor transactions with an NHL connection.
- Veteran netminder Jussi Olkinuora is on the move as Geneve-Servette of the Swiss league announced that they’ve signed him for the rest of the season. The 33-year-old signed with Detroit for last season but wound up playing exclusively with AHL Grand Rapids before leaving to play in Sweden in early February.
- The Sharks’ farm team has added some depth as the Barracuda have signed winger Kyle Rau for the remainder of the season, per a team release. The 31-year-old has played in 61 career NHL games over parts of six years, most recently in 2021-22 when he suited up in five games with Minnesota. Rau spent last season with Vancouver’s AHL affiliate in Abbotsford, notching 16 goals and 19 assists in 68 games.
- It didn’t take long for Jackson Cates to find a new place to play as AHL Rockford announced they’ve inked the winger to a PTO. The 26-year-old played in five games with the Flyers last season but had to settle for a training camp tryout, eventually turning into an AHL PTO with the Islanders’ affiliate. He was released from that deal last week after recording just one goal in 12 games.
- That wasn’t the only move Rockford made today as they also acquired blueliner Austin Strand from AHL Chicago. The 26-year-old has seen NHL action in each of the last three seasons, spanning 26 games in total. After becoming a Group Six free agent in the summer, he wound up settling for an AHL contract.
- Flames RFA Carl-Johan Lerby has joined IF Bjorkloven in Sweden’s Allsvenskan, per a team release. The blueliner spent the 2020-21 campaign in Calgary’s system, getting into 22 games with AHL Stockton before returning overseas for 2021-22. Calgary will hold his NHL rights through the 2024-25 season.
Sharks Reassign Henry Thrun
Dec. 11: The Sharks reassigned Thrun to AHL San Jose on Monday, Curtis Pashelka of The San Jose Mercury News reports. Thrun logged a -1 rating, two penalty minutes and two shots on goal in 16:16 of ice time against the Golden Knights in last night’s shootout loss.
Dec. 9: One of San Jose’s top defensive prospects is set to get another look at the NHL level as the Sharks announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled blueliner Henry Thrun from AHL San Jose.
The 22-year-old was originally drafted by Anaheim but after he indicated to them that he wouldn’t sign with them, the Ducks then turned around and traded Thrun’s rights to San Jose. He quickly signed with his season at Harvard having ended and got into eight games down the stretch where he didn’t look out of place, notching two assists while logging just shy of 20 minutes a night.
That gave Thrun seemingly an inside edge on a roster spot going into training camp and while he did open up the season with the Sharks, it was short-lived as he was sent down a week into the season despite picking up a pair of assists in his two appearances. Since then, he has been with the Barracuda where he has played in 18 games, collecting a goal with five helpers.
With the recall, San Jose now has a full 23-player roster. Notably, nine of those are blueliners although Jacob MacDonald has been lining up as a winger more recently. Even so, Thrun might have to bide his time before getting back into the Sharks lineup.
Ducks Recall Robert Hagg, Tristan Luneau Loaned To Team Canada
The Anaheim Ducks have announced that they’ve recalled defenseman Robert Hagg from the AHL. Hagg has spent the bulk of the season in the AHL with the San Diego Gulls where he has dressed in 15 games and has a goal and two assists. The veteran of 338 NHL games signed a one-year deal with the Ducks on July 4th and did spend time in the NHL, however, he has yet to dress in an NHL game for the Ducks.
The 28-year-old was once a promising prospect after he was drafted in the second round of the 2013 NHL entry draft by the Philadelphia Flyers. He made his debut with the Flyers back in 2016-17 and became a full-time NHLer the following year. Hagg stayed in the NHL for six full seasons but bounced around to four different organizations and often found himself to be a healthy scratch. As his career went on teams began to shelter his usage, often giving him the bulk of his starts in the offensive zone to try and set him up for success. This past offseason Hagg was able to secure a one-way NHL contract for the league minimum of $775K, however, thus far he has only seen action in the AHL.
Hagg was recalled to replace rookie defenseman Tristan Luneau who was loaned to Team Canada by the Ducks for the upcoming World Junior Championship. The 19-year-old was the Ducks’ second-round pick in 2022 and was recalled by the club back in November to make his NHL debut. So far this season in seven games, Luneau has a goal and two assists and has averaged almost 18 minutes a night in ice time.
Kraken Recall Marian Studenic
With Andre Burakovsky out week-to-week once again, the Kraken have found his short-term replacement, announcing (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled winger Marian Studenic from AHL Coachella Valley.
The 25-year-old signed with Seattle as an unrestricted free agent this past summer after being non-tendered by Dallas. After clearing waivers in training camp, Studenic got off to a strong start with the Firebirds, resulting in a short-term recall late last month before being sent back down earlier this week. He has been held off the scoresheet in two appearances with the Kraken but has been productive in the minors, collecting seven goals and five assists in 16 games.
Studenic has 46 career NHL appearances under his belt spanning parts of four seasons between New Jersey, Dallas, and Seattle. He still might have to wait a bit to add to that total as he’s likely to serve as their 13th forward even with Burakovsky’s absence. He is still roughly three weeks and eight games away from needing to go through waivers for a second time this season.
Flames Recall Matt Coronato, Place Jacob Markstrom On IR
The Flames have made a pair of roster moves in advance of their game tonight New Jersey. The team announced that forward Matt Coronato has been recalled from AHL Calgary and in a corresponding move, goalie Jacob Markstrom was placed on injured reserve.
Coronato broke camp with the big club and spent nearly four weeks with them to start the season before being sent down a little more than a month ago. In his ten games with the Flames, the 21-year-old picked up his first two NHL points, a goal and an assist. However, he also struggled at the defensive end to the point where the team decided he’d be better off playing a top role with the Wranglers.
That move certainly worked well for Coronato as he has been quite productive with them so far, notching eight goals and ten assists in just 14 games in his first taste of AHL action. That’s good for the second-best point-per-game average among AHL rookies. Now he’ll get a chance to try to capitalize off that momentum with this promotion.
As for Markstrom, he suffered a fractured finger earlier this week, yielding a week-to-week injury designation. Accordingly, his IR placement is largely procedural at this point as Dustin Wolf had already been brought up on emergency recall to take his place in Calgary’s goalie tandem. The Flames are eligible to backdate the placement to Tuesday if they want but considering he’s expected to be out for weeks, it’ll make no difference whether they do so or not.
Canucks Assign Linus Karlsson To AHL
The Canucks have made a roster move prior to tonight’s game against Carolina as the team announced (Twitter link) that forward Linus Karlsson has been assigned to AHL Abbotsford.
The 24-year-old was recalled a week and a half ago, getting into two games with Vancouver to bring his season count to three. He has been held off the scoresheet in those three contests while logging 10:26 per game. Karlsson has been quite productive in the minors, however, picking up three goals and a dozen helpers in 17 appearances at that level.
Karlsson is in the final season of his two-year, entry-level deal that he signed in 2022 following a strong showing with SHL Skelleftea. He’ll be a restricted free agent with salary arbitration rights this summer.
Yesterday, it was reported that center Pius Suter is nearing a return to Vancouver’s lineup after missing the last three weeks with a lower-body injury. This roster move could be the precursor to activating Suter off injured reserve either later today or in the near future.