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San Jose Sharks Reassign William Eklund, Recall Andrew Agozzino

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The San Jose Sharks have officially sent top prospect William Eklund back to the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda, recalling forward Andrew Agozzino in his place, per a team tweet today.

The move comes after Eklund skated in eight games this month on his first call-up of the year, recording two goals and an assist. Sending Eklund back to the minors before he plays his 10th game this year will once again defer the start of his entry-level contract to next season, the last time San Jose is eligible to make such a maneuver with him.

Drafted seventh overall in 2021, Eklund’s yet to see extended time in the NHL, but a move to North America this season has proved fruitful after spending 2021-22 in Sweden. In his first season in the AHL with the Barracuda, he’s cemented himself as one of the team’s best players with 17 goals and 41 points in 52 games.

San Jose certainly got the most out of Eklund during his call-up, routinely deploying him over 20 minutes per game. With that sort of production in the minors at age 20, Eklund could very well cement his place on the Sharks full-time next year.

The only player with more points on the Barracuda than Eklund is Agozzino, who gets his first recall to the NHL after signing with the Sharks last offseason. The 32-year-old minor-league veteran has 52 points in 55 games with the Barracuda this year and is nearing 50 games of NHL experience.

Ottawa Senators Recall Dylan Ferguson

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The Ottawa Senators recalled goaltender Dylan Ferguson from the AHL’s Belleville Senators on Sunday morning, according to a team announcement. Goaltender Kevin Mandolese was also re-assigned to Belleville.

Belleville is in action today against the Cleveland Monsters, meaning this could be a paper transaction for Mandolese to suit up in the minors and get some game action. Ottawa doesn’t play again until Monday and could opt to reverse the transaction tomorrow morning.

It could also be a performance-based recall for Ferguson, who’s excelled in Belleville since he was acquired via trade from the Toronto Marlies. On an AHL contract at the time, Ferguson was signed to an NHL deal by the Senators at the beginning of the month. Through six games with Ottawa’s affiliate, the 24-year-old has posted a 5-1-0 record and a .935 save percentage.

If Ferguson does appear in a game, it won’t be his NHL debut. Hardcore fans of the Vegas Golden Knights will remember Ferguson, who stepped into action for them during their inaugural season after being recalled from juniors when injuries ravaged their goaltending depth chart.

Ferguson’s only recently graduated to the AHL full-time, appearing in 13 games for AHL Henderson last season and 11 games split between Toronto and Belleville in 2022-23.

Morning Notes: Fantilli, NCAA Men’s Tournament, Benn

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If there was any doubt that University of Michigan center Adam Fantilli has solidified his placement as the presumptive second-overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, it’s shrunk massively over the past few weeks. Fantilli’s assist last night in Michigan’s Big 10 tournament championship victory gave him 11 points in four games at the tournament, setting the all-time record, as reported by NHL.com’s Mike Morreale.

Understandably, he took home Most Outstanding Player honors as well, guiding Michigan to their second consecutive tournament victory over the University of Minnesota. The freshman center enters the national tournament with 61 points in just 33 games this season, and his 1.85 points per game are the highest of any NCAA men’s player since Kyle Connor in 2015-16, also with Michigan.

Among the 2023 draft class, Fantilli’s impressiveness and brilliance have been overshadowed only by Connor Bedard this season. He’ll have one last chance to show what he can do in the college ranks during the national tournament before inevitably turning pro next fall.

More notes from the hockey world this morning:

  • The 16 teams that will make up the field for the NCAA Men’s Hockey Tournament are set, according to ESPN’s John Buccigross. Minnesota, Quinnipiac, Michigan, Denver, Boston University, Harvard, St. Cloud State, Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan Tech, Minnesota State, Western Michigan, Cornell, Merrimack, Colgate, and Canisius will all participate in college hockey’s final set of games for 2023. The seeding and first-round matchups will be revealed later this evening after the conclusion of the women’s championships game between Wisconsin and Ohio State.
  • With the playoffs just around the corner, a defensive depth piece in the Toronto Maple Leafs organization may be unavailable to them for a while. Jordie Benn was injured in last night’s AHL Toronto Marlies game and did not return, and Marlies head coach Greg Moore offered no postgame update. Benn, 32, has two points in 12 games while playing for the Maple Leafs this season but has fallen down the depth chart quickly after a flurry of trade deadline adds at the position.

Metropolitan Notes: Kuemper, Trineyev, Pyyhtia, Lindgren, Nylander

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Capitals netminder Darcy Kuemper left practice early today after sustaining an upper-body injury, notes NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti (Twitter link).  At this point, it’s unknown if he’ll be available to play on Sunday in Minnesota.  If he does miss time, it will be the second time that the 32-year-old has been out with an injury this season as he missed eight games back in December.  Despite that, Kuemper has had a decent first year with Washington, posting a 2.77 GAA with a .910 SV% and a league-high five shutouts in 48 starts.  If Kuemper can’t play, Charlie Lindgren will take over as the interim starter for the Caps.

More from the Metropolitan:

  • Still with Washington, the Capitals have re-assigned forward Bogdan Trineyev from KHL Dynamo Moscow to AHL Hershey, per a team release. The 21-year-old had 13 points in 39 games during the regular season while adding a pair of assists in the KHL playoffs before being eliminated.  Trineyev got into two games with Hershey in the playoffs last season and should have a chance to see more action with them this time around.
  • The Blue Jackets announced that they have re-assigned winger Mikael Pyyhtia to AHL Cleveland. The 21-year-old spent the season with TPS in Finland, picking up just seven goals in 47 games after putting up 21 in 56 contests in 2021-22 which helped him earn an entry-level contract last May.  His season over there came to an end so he will now get his first taste of action in North America down the stretch.
  • While Ryan Lindgren was a full participant in practice today, the defenseman isn’t likely to play tonight, relays Larry Brooks of the New York Post (Twitter link). The 25-year-old has been out for the last four weeks with an upper-body injury.  The Rangers opted not to place him on LTIR at the time, opting to play short players earlier this month as a result but in hindsight, they would have been able to get away with putting him there and then send players down once Lindgren is cleared to return, which should be quite soon now.
  • The Penguins recently reclassified Alexander Nylander’s recall from an emergency one to a regular one, notes Rob Rossi of The Athletic (Twitter link). In doing so, Nylander is allowed to remain up with the team even when it’s not an emergency situation but it also means they use one of their four allowable post-deadline recalls.  They have two remaining now; the other was used on a paper transaction with Drew O’Connor.

West Notes: Wild, McLeod, Afanaseyev, Kesselring

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The Wild could get several key veterans back in their lineup shortly.  Randy Johnson of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune relays that while defensemen Jonas Brodin and Jacob Middleton plus wingers Brandon Duhaime and Marcus Foligno weren’t in the lineup today, they could all be back for Sunday’s contest against Washington.  Brodin has been out the longest, missing the last four weeks with a lower-body injury which has been a big blow to their back end.  Middleton is dealing with an illness sustained earlier this week.  Meanwhile, Duhaime has missed more than two weeks with a head injury while Foligno has been out for a week with a lower-body issue of his own.  Minnesota is in the midst of a very close three-way battle for positioning in the Central and getting multiple veterans back at once could certainly give their lineup a nice boost.

More from the Western Conference:

  • Postmedia’s Jim Matheson suggests that center Ryan McLeod is dealing with a shoulder injury. He was injured on Tuesday against Ottawa and didn’t suit up versus Dallas on Thursday.  There’s no word on how long the 23-year-old will be out.  McLeod’s in the middle of a decent sophomore season, notching 11 goals and 11 assists in 55 games despite spending a lot of that time in Edmonton’s bottom six.
  • After papering him down, the Predators announced that they’ve recalled winger Egor Afanasyev to AHL Milwaukee. The 22-year-old made his NHL debut last weekend after being brought up and has gotten into three games with Nashville, logging 9:32 per night while being held off the scoresheet.  Afanasyev also has 13 goals and 13 assists in 55 games with the Admirals in the minors this season.
  • A day after being sent down, the Coyotes announced (Twitter link) that they have once again recalled defenseman Michael Kesselring from AHL Tucson on an emergency basis. The 23-year-old has played in three games with Arizona since being acquired just before the deadline, logging 18:35 per contest.  The 23-year-old has also suited up three times for the Roadrunners since the swap, picking up a goal and an assist.

Blues Assign Tyler Tucker And Nikita Alexandrov To AHL

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With an off day on their schedule, the Blues have opted to make a pair of roster moves.  They announced that they’ve assigned defenseman Tyler Tucker and winger Nikita Alexandrov to Springfield of the AHL.

Tucker has played in 24 games with St. Louis this season, his first taste of NHL action.  He has held his own at the top level, picking up four points while averaging just shy of two hits per night while averaging 14:33 of ice time per contest.  The 23-year-old also has suited up in 30 games with the Thunderbirds this season where he has been more productive, picking up 15 points along with 55 penalty minutes.

As for Alexandrov, he has seen action in 28 games for the Blues, tallying three goals and four assists in what has primarily been a fourth-line role as he’s logging less than 10 minutes a night.  It is also his rookie year at the NHL level.  The 22-year-old has also played in 29 games with Springfield where he has collected 13 goals and 10 helpers.

St. Louis opted to paper both players down just before the trade deadline, recalling both using two of their four post-deadline regular recalls in the process.  Accordingly, if they were to be brought back up now, they’d cut into those final two recalls unless emergency conditions arise.  NHL.com’s Lou Korac adds (Twitter link) that their intention is to keep both players in Springfield for the time being to help aid in their push for the playoffs; the Thunderbirds enter play today in fourth place in the Atlantic Division in the minors.

Sharks Recall Martin Kaut

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Martin Kaut was hoping to get more of a regular NHL opportunity when he requested a trade from Colorado earlier this season.  However, while he was granted his wish for a swap, it hadn’t resulted in much NHL action with his new team.  That could change now as the Sharks announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled the winger from AHL San Jose.

The 23-year-old was the 16th overall pick in 2018 by the Avs but he hasn’t been able to live up to his draft billing.  Kaut got his first taste of extended NHL action this season, getting into 27 games when Colorado was dealing with a lot of injuries and was looking for someone to grab hold of a full-time spot on the fourth line.  However, it didn’t happen as he had just three points in that stretch.

Kaut was eventually moved to the Sharks in late January as part of a four-player swap but he has gotten into just three NHL contests since then.  Instead, he has mostly played with the Barracuda where he has been productive, contributing three goals and ten assists in 15 games.  With San Jose looking to evaluate some players down the stretch, it stands to reason that Kaut now should get a bit more of an extended look to see if the pending restricted free agent is someone that can make a push for a full-time spot in their lineup next season.

Penguins Place Nick Bonino On LTIR, Recall Mark Friedman

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Injuries have tested Pittsburgh’s already tricky salary cap situation in recent games and with the back end being banged up at the moment, reinforcements were needed.  The Penguins created some short-term cap space to create room for a recall as they announced that center Nick Bonino has been placed on LTIR while recalling blueliner Mark Friedman from AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Last weekend, the team revealed that Bonino suffered a lacerated kidney in just his third game with the team.  While he had been released from the hospital, he was still ruled out as week-to-week.  That now changes to 10 games and 24 days from the date of injury, the minimum requirements for a player to be placed on LTIR.  Given the initial timeframe, it’s still possible that Bonino is able to return to the lineup before the end of the regular season.

With the placement, Pittsburgh adds $1.025MM to its LTIR pool; while Bonino’s true cap hit is double that amount, Montreal held back an additional $1.025MM as part of a three-team trade at the deadline earlier this month.

That move allows Pittsburgh to be able to afford Friedman’s $775K cap hit on their active roster.  The 27-year-old has played in 11 games with the Penguins this season in a depth role plus another 24 in the minors where he has a goal and five assists in 24 contests.

Notably, the Penguins are still only able to afford just this one recall as the leftover difference between Bonino’s cap hit and Friedman’s plus the $375K they had in their pool before this move (per CapFriendly), is just $625K which is below the $750K league minimum.  Accordingly, if more recalls will be needed, they’re going to have to get quite creative to make it happen.

Arvid Henrikson Signs AHL ATO With San Jose

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A new prospect in the San Jose Sharks organization has joined their AHL affiliate but isn’t yet on an NHL contract. Defenseman Arvid Henrikson will suit up with the San Jose Barracuda for the rest of the season on an amateur tryout.

Henrikson was drafted quite some time ago, as the 25-year-old was a seventh-round pick in the 2016 draft by the Montreal Canadiens. He’s stayed on the Habs’ reserve list since then, but the hulking defenseman’s signing rights were transferred to the Sharks as part of the three-team Nick Bonino trade at the deadline two weeks ago.

Henrikson’s stint with the Barracuda is likely his last shot at getting an NHL contract, and it’s unlikely he will convert on his ATO if his college career is any indication. While strictly a defensive defenseman, Henrikson still put up next to no offense in four seasons at Lake Superior State University, recording just a goal and eight assists in 132 games.

Regardless, it’s a chance for San Jose to see what they have in Henrikson, who could at least serve as a reliable defensive stopgap in the minors. If he can’t land an AHL or NHL contract with the Barracuda or Sharks as a result of the tryout, though, Henrikson could head back to Europe after spending the last five seasons in North America.

Snapshots: Crosby, Islanders, Coyotes

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Pittsburgh Penguins franchise center Sidney Crosby has moved into sole possession of second place on an impressive list — the number of point-per-game seasons in an NHL career. By reaching 82 points on the year last night, he clinched his 18th straight point-per-game season, moving past Gordie Howe, who had 17. With a point-per-game season next year, he’ll tie Wayne Gretzky for the all-time record with 19.

Those scoring pace statistics are the best way to quantify Crosby’s greatness, given the sheer amount of games he missed due to injury in the early 2010s. While those injuries may limit his place on the main all-time statistics lists, his scoring consistency and ability to adapt his game as the team changes around him should never be overlooked. Crosby’s 83 points in 68 games this season lead the Penguins.

Also from around the league today:

  • The New York Islanders announced that forwards Casey Cizikas and Josh Bailey are both currently sick with non-COVID illnesses, potentially impacting their availability for tomorrow’s game against San Jose. New York still has the inside track on a Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference but still can’t afford to lose many games down the stretch. Health will be a key factor to watch for them, as Cizikas and Bailey are both key veteran presences with experience in important games.
  • The Arizona Coyotes assigned forward Bokondji Imama and defenseman Michael Kesselring back to the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners today, according to the team. Both have been shuttled up and down frequently since the trade deadline. Expect both players to be recalled back to Arizona tomorrow, as Nick Schmaltz and Josh Brown aren’t expected to be ready for their game against Chicago and remain out with injuries.

 

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