Pacific Notes: Schwartz, Comtois, Demers, Vikman
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
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
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
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
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
Pittsburgh Penguins Reassign Alex Nylander
The Pittsburgh Penguins have announced that forward Alex Nylander has been returned to the team’s AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins. With Wilkes-Barre Scranton set to play the Laval Rocket today, this reassignment gives the AHL Penguins one of their top scorers back.
Nylander, 25, has this season made himself into an extremely effective AHL scorer. After spending some of the earlier years of his career as an up-and-down player without truly dominant AHL numbers, Nylander’s AHL value has grown as his NHL promise has faded. This year, he has scored 25 goals and 50 points in the AHL, and earned seven NHL games in Pittsburgh.
Nylander has scored two points in that seven-game span, including an important goal yesterday against the Detroit Red Wings, a game the Penguins badly needed to win. Nylander played the bulk of his NHL games this season in a six-game span in March, beginning with a March 7th overtime victory over Columbus Blue Jackets.
The Penguins have gone 4-3 with Nylander on their roster, and he’s helped them at an important time in their season. With AHL Pittsburgh out of the AHL playoffs with three games remaining, this reassignment gives Nylander the chance to put the finishing touches on his successful individual AHL campaign before likely returning to support the Penguins as a reserve player should they reach the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Canadiens Recall Corey Schueneman And Cayden Primeau
Saturday: Both Schueneman and Primeau have been recalled, notes TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie (Twitter link). They’re expected to be in uniform tonight against Toronto.
Friday: On their off-day, the Canadiens have made a pair of roster moves, announcing that they have assigned defenseman Corey Schueneman and goaltender Cayden Primeau to Laval of the AHL.
Schueneman got into 24 games last season but hasn’t seen anywhere near as much action at the top level this year. The 27-year-old got into two games during this recall, bringing his season total to six appearances where he has an assist while averaging over 15 minutes a night. Schueneman, a pending unrestricted free agent, has added 21 points in 58 contests with the Rocket.
As for Primeau, he has made one NHL appearance in each of his three recalls this season. This most recent one didn’t go so well as he allowed five goals on just 21 shots in a loss to Detroit on Tuesday. The 23-year-old has spent most of the year with Laval, notching a 3.07 GAA and a .906 SV% in 37 games. He has two years remaining on a one-way contract and will require waivers to be sent to the AHL next season.
Both players were brought up earlier this month on emergency recalls with Jordan Harris and Jake Allen out with injuries. Unless one or both are able to return for Saturday’s contest in Toronto, it’s possible that one or both of them will be recalled tomorrow.
Blue Jackets Recall Four Players
A day after sending four players to the AHL to suit up for Cleveland, the Blue Jackets have recalled four players for tonight’s contest against the Rangers. However, there are some different faces rejoining the team as defenseman David Jiricek and winger Trey-Fix Wolansky are both getting the nod, joining blueliner Marcus Bjork and winger Joona Luoto who were among those sent down yesterday. All four recalls are classified as emergency moves and won’t count against the post-deadline limit of four regular recalls.
Jiricek is the headliner among the group as the sixth-overall pick has had a strong first season in North America. The 19-year-old has 38 points in 51 games with the Monsters and didn’t look out of place in a pair of NHL appearances earlier in the year. With Columbus only having four games left, he’s not in danger of burning the first season of his entry-level deal if he stays up with them for the final week of the season.
Fix-Wolansky was sent down last Saturday after missing a team meeting. The 23-year-old has been one of the top scorers at the AHL level this season, notching 28 goals with 41 assists in 57 games, good for fifth in the minors in scoring. Fix-Wolansky has seen action in seven games with the Blue Jackets so far this season but is still looking for his first point.
Bjork has been back and forth several times this season, effectively splitting the year between Columbus and Cleveland. At the NHL level, the 25-year-old has 11 points in 32 games while logging over 18 minutes a night, numbers that aren’t bad for someone in his first season in North America. Bjork’s numbers are similar with the Monsters as he has 13 points in 41 contests.
As for Luoto, he scored his first career NHL goal on Thursday which is his only point in 20 career appearances at the top level. The 25-year-old has been productive in Cleveland, however, tallying 14 goals and 11 assists in 44 contests. He returned to North America as an unrestricted free agent last summer and will once again be eligible to test the market in July.
Golden Knights Notes: Hill, Stone, Theodore
The Golden Knights should be getting some help soon between the pipes as they announced (Twitter link) that they’ve assigned goaltender Adin Hill to AHL Henderson on a conditioning stint. The 26-year-old has missed the last month with a lower-body injury but the fact he’s going to the Silver Knights means that he should at least be ready to suit up if needed for Vegas in the playoffs. Hill has an impressive 2.45 GAA along with a .915 SV% in 27 games this season, a nice platform year as he gets set to test unrestricted free agency for the first time this summer. While Jonathan Quick and Laurent Brossoit have helped keep Vegas atop the battle for first in the Pacific Division, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them turn to Hill for the postseason if he’s fully recovered.
More from Vegas:
- Speaking with reporters today (video link), head coach Bruce Cassidy provided a small update on winger Mark Stone. The veteran has been “progressing well and there have been no setbacks, so that’s encouraging. I don’t know if that’s optimistic, it’s just he’s progressing well. No news is good news in terms of bad news.” Stone has missed nearly three months with a back injury but there is clearly no timetable for a return. That said, the fact things aren’t getting any worse is at least a positive sign. The 30-year-old was in the middle of a productive campaign with 38 points in 43 games prior to the injury.
- Also in Cassidy’s presser, he indicated that defenseman Shea Theodore won’t accompany the team for Saturday’s game in Dallas. The blueliner has missed five straight games since being injured against Edmonton late last month. Theodore sits second on the team in points by a defender with 41 in just 54 contests while his 21:31 ATOI also ranks second on Vegas. Cassidy won’t be able to provide an update on Theodore until he’s cleared to practice and wasn’t sure if he’ll be able to skate next week.
Pittsburgh Penguins Recall Alexander Nylander
Apr. 7: Nylander is once again back up with Pittsburgh after being recalled on an emergency basis.
Apr. 6: A few hours after being recalled, it seems Nylander is headed back down to Wilkes-Barre Scranton. The Penguins announced in advance of their game tonight against the Minnesota Wild that Nylander has been reassigned back to their AHL affiliate.
Apr. 3: According to a team release, the Pittsburgh Penguins sent forward Alexander Nylander down to the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Monday.
Nylander, 25, heads back to the minors after sitting as a healthy scratch for eight straight games. He’s one of Pittsburgh’s best recall options out of their relatively thin depth in the AHL but was a week away from requiring waivers to head back to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
Pittsburgh remains locked into a tight battle for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference as they look to keep their 16-year postseason streak alive, by far the longest in the league. With salary cap constraints, though, they’re forced to carry a trim roster, having less than $100,000 in space before returning Nylander to the minors.
The eighth-overall pick in 2016 is having by far his best season in the AHL, leading the team in goals and points per game. His 25 goals and 25 assists in 54 games have given him his first 50-point season, marking another step in a long road back to potential NHL relevancy after an injury-plagued development period.
He could remain a lineup option for the Penguins in the playoffs if they make it there. He has one assist in six games this season with Pittsburgh, his first NHL point since the 2019-20 season.