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Minors Notes: Krebs, Maggio, Carroll, Biakabutuka

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The Washington Capitals AHL affiliate Hershey Bears poached the WHL today as they announced the signing of Dru Krebs from the Medicine Hat Tigers to an amateur tryout agreement. This will be the second time the young blue liner has signed an ATO with Hershey, signing in April of last year but never receiving any playing time.

Krebs has spent the last four seasons for the Tigers, getting drafted 176th overall in the 2021 NHL Draft by the Capitals after his first season in major junior. This season, by far his best, saw Krebs rack up 41 points, 33 of those assists, in a total of 67 games played. He helped the Tigers secure a playoff spot for the first time throughout his junior career, but they were quickly swept in the opening round by the Winnipeg ICE.

In total, Krebs accrued a total of 211 games played in the WHL, scoring 15 goals and 69 assists. Joining the Bears, he joins a team currently in first place in the AHL’s Atlantic Division, battling the Providence Bruins for the division title.

Other minor league notes:

  • Another signing from the CHL today, this time from the Ontario Hockey League, Matthew Maggio has signed an amateur tryout agreement with the New York Islander’s AHL affiliate Bridgeport Islanders. Originally drafted 142nd overall in the 2022 NHL Draft by the Islanders, Maggio has become one of the best young players in Ontario. In his draft year, Maggio scored 38 goals and 47 assists in 66 games, and followed that up this year with a 54-goal and 57-assist performance. He led the Windsor Spitfires to the OHL Finals last year, eventually losing to the Hamilton Bulldogs.
  •  The Henderson Silver Knights, an affiliate of the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights, announced the signing of defenseman Noah Carroll to a professional tryout agreement. Carroll spent five seasons with the University of New Brunswick of the USports League, winning championships in 2019 and 2023. Included in his resume is another five-year stretch in the OHL, playing for the Soo Greyhounds and the Guelph Storm from 2014-2018. In 88 games played for Canada’s top collegiate league, Carroll scored one goal and 17 assists.
  • The minor league affiliate of the Detroit Red Wings, Grand Rapids Griffins, has also joined the fray of signing CHL products, announcing the signing of defenseman Jérémie Biakabutuka to an amateur tryout agreement. Biakabutuka has spent the last five seasons in the QMJHL, split between the Val-d’Or Foreurs, Rimouski Océanic, and the Charlottetown Islanders. In 266 career games in major junior, Biakabutuka scored a total of 40 goals and 78 assists.

Boston Bruins Reassign Five Players

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April 10: All five have been returned to the AHL today.

April 9: The Boston Bruins have announced that five players have been recalled from their AHL affiliate, the Providence Bruins, on an emergency basis. The players are: Vinni Lettieri, Oskar Steen, Jack Ahcan, Connor Carrick, and Brandon Bussi.

The moves come as the Bruins deal with some lingering injury issues while having already clinched the President’s Trophy. While former Hart Trophy winner Taylor Hall has been activated off of LTIR and back on the ice, the Bruins placed two players on Long-Term Injured Reserve yesterday and have contributors such as David Krejci still on their active roster but out of the lineup.

Since the Bruins are taking on the Philadelphia Flyers on the second half of a back-to-back set of games today, these recalls give coach Jim Montgomery the breathing room he needs to rest certain veterans or at the very least avoid overworking certain players in order to cope with the injury-related absences.

For these recalls, only one has suited up in a game for the Bruins this season, Steen. The other four have played the whole season in Providence. Steen, 25, has already played for the Bruins twice this month and has played in three total NHL games this season, scoring one goal. The speedy Swedish forward has scored 14 goals and 31 points in 63 games for Providence.

The other forward to be recalled is the 28-year-old minor league veteran Lettieri. Lettieri scored 10 points in 31 games for the Anaheim Ducks last season and is an accomplished AHL scorer, with 225 career points in 264 games. This season, he’s leading all Providence regulars with 45 points in 45 games, and now has a chance to make his NHL debut this season on one of the winningest teams in league history.

The first of two defensemen to be recalled is the 25-year-old Ahcan, an undersized offensive defenseman who the Bruins signed as an undrafted free agent out of the NCAA’s St. Cloud State in 2020. Ahcan got off to a fast start to his pro career, scoring 10 points in 19 AHL games and earning three games in Boston with the Bruins.

The following season, 2021-22, Ahcan’s AHL performance was less consistent. But although he finished with an underwhelming 23 points in 46 games, he did manage to earn six NHL games.

Ahcan has taken a step forward this season and become Providence’s number-two scoring option from the back end, producing 31 points in 65 games.

Despite that increase in production, though, Ahcan hasn’t earned time on the Bruins’ roster until today.

The other defenseman to be recalled is Carrick, a veteran of nearly 250 NHL games. The 28-year-old was once seen as a promising up-and-coming blueliner in the Washington Capitals and Toronto Maple Leafs organizations, but a mix of major injuries and inconsistent performance scuttled his hopes of delivering on that promise in his early-to-mid twenties.

Despite that disappointment, Carrick has over the past two years established himself as a difference-making minor-league blueliner who can contribute on both ends of the ice and help his team make the playoffs. Last season he scored 32 points in 59 games for the Charlotte Checkers, and this season he leads all Providence defensemen with 41 points in 60 games.

Of this group of five players that has been recalled, Carrick is the one who possesses the most NHL experience. The opportunity for him to get NHL minutes is a  significant one, as Carrick is on an expiring league-minimum two-way deal and getting some solid NHL shifts on tape before he hits the market in a few months could be extremely useful.

The final player recalled is a goalie, Bussi. Unlike the four skaters recalled with him, the 24-year-old hasn’t yet suited up for an NHL game. In fact, Bussi only made his professional debut last season. He has had a strong 31-game season in Providence, though, and his 21-5-4 record and .925 save percentage are highly respectable figures.

It’s unclear whether Bussi will get any time in the Bruins’ crease as they close out their regular season, but given Vezina Trophy contender Linus Ullmark’s injury history over the course of his career, it seems logical that the Bruins would want to add another name to the mix in their crease to ensure their two established netminders are able to get the rest they might need before the playoffs.

Seeing as Providence doesn’t play until Saturday whereas Boston has a game today (after playing yesterday) and two more this week, it seems these recalls were made to help add some fresh legs to the Bruins’ roster with their regular-season fate already decided.

Since these moves likely won’t impact their AHL team’s chase of an Atlantic Division title, bringing them to the active roster to possibly allow some Bruins veterans to take a game off seems like a wise decision for a squad looking to make a deep run in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Los Angeles Kings Recall Tobias Bjornfot

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It is not yet a foregone conclusion that the Los Angeles Kings will finish third in the Pacific Division, as the red-hot Seattle Kraken are nipping at their heels. The Kings will need to end their losing streak and put up some points over the last two games of the season, starting tonight against the Vancouver Canucks.

Ahead of the game, the team has recalled Tobias Bjornfot from the AHL, giving them another defense option. The young defenseman has been up and down several times over the last few weeks and recently played a season-high 20:22 in a loss to the Vegas Golden Knights.

After turning 22 a few days ago, it’s starting to get to the point where Bjornfot will be expected to make the NHL team full-time. Since debuting as an 18-year-old in 2019, he’s moved in and out of the lineup, suiting up 116 times across parts of four seasons.

This year he has just ten appearances with the Kings, playing most of the season with the Ontario Reign. Given that his waiver-exempt status will expire before the 2023-24 campaign begins, Bjornfot must make an impression and secure his place soon. These last few games, and any potential playoff action he receives, will be an excellent test for the 2019 first-round pick.

Detroit Red Wings Recall Taro Hirose On Emergency Basis

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The Detroit Red Wings have recalled forward Taro Hirose from their AHL affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins, on an emergency basis.

Hirose last played in the NHL on March 28th, when he skated in just under eight minutes of ice time in a 7-4 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. MLive’s Ansar Khan reports that Hirose skated in Adam Erne’s spot as head coach Derek Lalonde’s third-line left winger next to Joe Veleno and Alex Chiasson since Erne was not at the morning skate.

The 26-year-old has been an up-and-down reserve player for the Red Wings since the 2018-19 season, when he scored seven points in his first 10 NHL games after signing his entry-level contract.

Before that point, Hirose tore the Big 10 apart at Michigan State University, especially in his third season in East Lansing. Hirose finished with 116 points in 106 games as a Spartan, but his most impressive achievements came in his final year there. In 2018-19 Hirose scored 15 goals and 50 points in 36 games. His performance that year led to him being named Big 10 Player of the Year, a First-Team All-American, and a Hobey Baker Award finalist.

While Hirose hasn’t managed to find NHL success yet in his career, he has translated his impressive NCAA production to the AHL level. Hirose leads AHL Grand Rapids with 56 points in 69 games this season and has 164 points in 192 career AHL games.

So, with two games remaining in their season, Detroit has decided to reward Hirose for his leading AHL contributions with an NHL call-up and the chance to skate on the third line for Detroit’s game tonight against the Dallas Stars.

Of note are the AHL implications of this move, which impact the affiliates of two franchises: the Montreal Canadiens and Cleveland Monsters. The two AHL teams are currently in a dogfight for the final playoff spot in the Atlantic Division, with the Belleville Senators in the mix as well. The Rocket currently occupy the fifth and final spot in the standings with 70 points, but they have just three remaining games while Cleveland has four.

The Rocket will play the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins tonight, a team that just recently got one of their better players reassigned back to them from an NHL recall. Meanwhile, the Monsters play the Griffins tonight, and with Hirose recalled Grand Rapids will be without their leading scorer for that game.

That’s a major break for the Monsters, meaning an (admittedly small) added benefit to this transaction is that it could help throw a wrench into the AHL playoff hopes of one of the Red Wings’ division rivals.

Washington Capitals Recall Joe Snively

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The Washington Capitals have recalled forward Joe Snively from their AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears, according to a team announcement.

With three games left in the Capitals’ season and making the playoffs out of the picture, Snively now gets the chance to play in his first NHL game since March 14th, when he played 11 and a half minutes in a 5-3 loss to the New York Rangers.

NBC Sports Washington’s Matt Weyrich relays word from Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette that veteran forward T.J. Oshie is being shut down for the season, so it’s likely that this recall was made now that the possibility of Oshie returning to the lineup has been scuttled.

On the status of Oshie, Laviolette also said that he can’t at the moment give an “accurate answer” on whether Oshie’s injury will require surgery, but noted that it’s something that has bothered the 36-year-old for a while. Oshie is under contract through 2025 at a $5.75MM cap hit, and ranks third on the Capitals with 19 goals this season.

Snively, 27, first truly popped up on scout’s radars during his freshman season at Yale University, where he led the team with 28 points in 32 games and captured ECAC Rookie of the Year honors. Snively ended up having an illustrious collegiate career, finishing with 58 goals and 139 points in 129 games.

He was named an ECAC Second-Team All-Star as a junior and First-Team ECAC All-Star as a senior, and after wrapping up his NCAA career Snively signed with the Capitals, who play their home games about 25 miles away from Herndon, Virginia, where Snively is from.

After a hot nine-game start to his pro career and two more years developing in Hershey, Snively made his NHL debut last season. He played quite a bit above expectation, scoring four goals and seven points in 12 games.

He managed to give the middle of the Capitals’ lineup some life for the brief time he spent on their active roster, highlighted by a game against the Montreal Canadiens where he scored a goal on an impressive individual effort and finished with three points.

In March of last season, after the impressive February run he went on, the Capitals re-signed Snively to a two-year $800k AAV contract, which will expire at the end of next season. While he hasn’t made as much of an NHL impact this season (three points in nine games) he’s remained a quality AHL scorer and a reliable depth player. Over the past two AHL campaigns Snively has scored 63 points in 66 games, and has been a first-line winger for the Bears when healthy.

While there isn’t much left for the Capitals to play for this season, they can deal a blow to the playoff hopes of a division rival, the New York Islanders, by winning tonight. Now on their NHL roster, Snively will have a chance to help in the Capitals’ effort to do so.

Pacific Notes: Schwartz, Comtois, Demers, Vikman

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Kraken winger Jaden Schwartz was a late scratch in yesterday’s contest against Chicago.  Postgame, head coach Dave Hakstol told reporters, including Kate Shefte of The Seattle Times, that it wasn’t a rest day for the 30-year-old but rather he was out and is listed as day-to-day.  Schwartz has had a much healthier season compared to his first year with Seattle and it has resulted in him having his fifth career 20-goal campaign.  The Kraken are still in a position to battle for seeding in the Pacific as they’re only two points behind Los Angeles for third place while they have a game in hand.

More from the Pacific Division:

  • The Ducks announced (Twitter link) that winger Max Comtois will miss the final three games of the season due to an upper-body injury. His year comes to an end with just nine goals and ten assists in 69 games.  The 24-year-old is a restricted free agent this summer with arbitration rights but with a $2.55MM qualifying offer, he looks like a potential non-tender candidate in June.
  • The Oilers announced (Twitter link) that they’ve assigned defenseman Jason Demers back to Bakersfield of the AHL. The 34-year-old logged nearly 11 minutes on Saturday in his first NHL appearance since May 2021, his 700th in total.  Demers has spent the rest of the year with the Condors, recording 18 assists in 55 games.  It’s believed that the veteran is leaning towards retiring after the season.
  • The Golden Knights have given prospect Jesper Vikman his first pro contract but it’s only of the AHL variety as their farm team in Henderson announced they’ve signed the goaltender to a tryout agreement. The 21-year-old had a 3.29 GAA along with a .903 SV% with Vancouver of the WHL this season.  Vikman was a fifth-round pick by Vegas in 2020 (125th overall) and the Golden Knights have until June 1st to give him an entry-level deal or lose his rights.

Ducks Recall Drew Helleson

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It appears that Ducks defenseman Drew Helleson will have a chance to make his NHL debut tonight against the team that drafted him.  Per the AHL’s transactions log, Anaheim has recalled the blueliner from San Diego.

The 22-year-old was a second-round pick by the Avs (47th overall) back in 2019 but has certainly outperformed his draft stock.  Helleson had a strong three-year career at Boston College while also representing Team USA internationally at both the World Juniors and the Olympics.  That made him the key part of the trade that saw Anaheim send Josh Manson to Colorado last season.

Helleson signed soon after, getting his feet wet in the pros but this has been his first professional campaign.  He hasn’t exactly lit it up like he did in college with just five goals and 13 assists in 63 games.  However, it’s at least worth noting that the Gulls are the lowest-scoring team in the AHL and sit dead last in points with many of Anaheim’s top prospects still at the junior level.

Scott Harrington was a late scratch for Anaheim yesterday in their overtime loss to Arizona, forcing them to play with just five defensemen and 13 forwards while also resulting in Cam Fowler setting the NHL record for most ice time for a player in a regular season game at 38:55.  If Harrington isn’t able to suit up against Colorado, Helleson will be in line to make his debut while allowing the Ducks to get back to a more traditional lineup in the process.

St. Louis Blues Assign Dmitri Samorukov, Vadim Zherenko To AHL

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The St. Louis Blues have assigned defenseman Dmitri Samorukov and goaltender Vadim Zherenko to their AHL affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds, the team announced Sunday.

With the Blues out of action until next Wednesday and only two games left on their regular-season schedule, the transaction is purely a paper one to save the Blues some actual dollars. Springfield has three games left this season, but all come after the Blues wrap up their regular season on April 13.

Samorukov, 23, was acquired by the Blues from the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for Klim Kostin in October 2022. In his two-game stint with the Blues this month, his first games with the team since the trade, he registered a minor penalty and a -1 rating. This season, the Volgograd, Russia, product has posted 20 points (four goals, 16 assists) and 26 penalty minutes in 66 games for the Thunderbirds.

Zherenko, 22, saw the first recall of his NHL career this month when St. Louis added him on an emergency basis due to Thomas Greiss’ season-ending injury. The 208th overall selection in the 2019 NHL Draft, Zherenko has played in 24 games for the Thunderbirds during his first season in North America, posting a 10-8-3 record along with a 2.96 goals-against average and a .918 save percentage. He didn’t appear in a game on his recall, though, as Jordan Binnington has made four straight starts since Greiss played his last game of the year on April 1.

Sending down Zherenko leaves the Blues without a second goalie on their NHL roster. With no organizational action through St. Louis’ next game, expect the Blues to recall Zherenko (and possibly Samorukov, pending the health of Robert Bortuzzo) again next Wednesday for their final two games of the season.

Minnesota Wild Recall Marco Rossi

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The Minnesota Wild have recalled forwards Marco Rossi and Nic Petan from their AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild, according to a team announcement.

These recalls come as the Wild are dealing with a major injury suffered by their most accomplished center, Joel Eriksson Ek. With Eriksson Ek out of the picture leading into the team’s playoff series next week, the Wild are exploring options to fill spots down the middle in their lineup, and Rossi is the Wild’s best center prospect.

Petan, on the other hand, is no longer a prospect, but instead a 28-year-old top-scoring AHLer. Petan leads the Wild’s AHL affiliate in scoring with 60 points in 51 games this year, and perhaps this recall is a reward for the strong play he has delivered in Iowa.

As for Rossi, the 21-year-old 2020 first-round pick saw his developmental trajectory significantly disrupted when he was diagnosed with myocarditis, a heart condition that forced him off the ice for a time. More details on Rossi’s health battle can be found in a story by The Athletic’s Michael Russo. (subscription link) Despite the fact that Rossi has not yet found success at the NHL level, what he has achieved at the AHL level and his return to hockey overall represents a major athletic accomplishment.

This season, Rossi has been a difference-maker for the AHL’s Wild, scoring 50 points in 51 games. In total, he has 103 points in 114 career contests. While he has just one point in 18 career NHL contests, the Wild are planning on Rossi becoming a top-six forward and someone they can rely on into the future.

With this recall, Rossi now has the opportunity to enter the Wild lineup and finally prove himself as an NHLer at a crucial point in Minnesota’s season. Ryan Hartman and Frederick Gaudreau are currently Minnesota’s top two NHL centers, and while they have each scored 36 points this season and are quality pivots, they’re hardly the type of dynamic, star-level centers that typically headline Stanley Cup-winning teams.

The Wild have had a strong season and have dreams that captain Jared Spurgeon will be lifting the Stanley Cup later this year. While Rossi hasn’t yet shown it on NHL ice, his AHL form lends to the idea that he could finally become the type of center the Wild have been missing for years. And if he can become that player just in time for Minnesota’s playoff run, perhaps that Stanley Cup dream could get a little bit closer to reality.

Montreal Canadiens Loan Rafael Harvey-Pinard, Three Others To AHL

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The Montreal Canadiens have loaned four players to their AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket, following yesterday’s 7-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs: Rafael Harvey-Pinard, Jesse Ylonen, Corey Schueneman, and Cayden Primeau.

Schueneman and Primeau were each recalled yesterday, and the former skated just over 10 minutes in the Canadiens’ contest yesterday.

The 27-year-old undrafted Western Michigan product has scored 21 points in 59 AHL games this season and is one of the Rocket’s most important defenders.

Primeau, 23, backed up Sam Montembeault yesterday and has spent most of the season as Laval’s number-one netminder. He’s posted a .905 save percentage in 38 games and is hoping to lead the Rocket back to the Calder Cup playoffs, a tournament they made a deep run in last season.

The two more significant names to be sent down, though, are Ylonen and Harvey-Pinard since they have each made their mark on the Canadiens’ NHL roster this season. Both players received NHL opportunities due to the significant injury issues that sprang up in Montreal, and both players have shown well in that opportunity.

Harvey-Pinard especially has made a name for himself, scoring 14 goals in 34 games, including a hat trick at the Bell Center. He’s a 2019 seventh-round pick who went undrafted in two straight years before hearing his name called by his boyhood club. Harvey-Pinard’s emergence as an NHL option comes after spending parts of the last three seasons in Laval, including last year where he led them in scoring with 56 points in 69 games.

While it might come as a surprise to many Canadiens fans to see Harvey-Pinard sent down after such a hot start to his NHL career, the circumstances Laval currently finds themselves in can serve as an explanation. The Rocket are just a point ahead of the Cleveland Monsters for the Northeast Division’s final playoff spot, and the Monsters have a game in hand.

Laval has a crucial game against the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins today, and perhaps the Canadiens organization deems allowing these players to play an important role in meaningful, late-season games to be a better developmental path than playing a few more potentially miserable NHL contests (like last night’s game) to finish out a lost Canadiens season.

The same logic applies to Ylonen, a speedy 2018 second-round pick who has scored a healthy 16 points in 37 games during his time in Montreal. The 23-year-old has scored 29 points in 36 games at the AHL level and is in his final year of waiver exemption.

Since the Canadiens are unlikely to entertain the possibility of losing him on waivers next season, this reassignment gives Ylonen possibly one last opportunity to make an impact at the AHL level before beginning his NHL career in earnest in the fall.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

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