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Chicago Blackhawks Re-Assign Lukas Reichel, Place Petr Mrazek On IR

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Dec 7: So much for that. Reichel has been returned to the AHL.

Dec 6: A top prospect is on his way up to the NHL. According to the AHL’s transactions log, the Chicago Blackhawks recalled forward Lukas Reichel from the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs today. In a corresponding transaction, they also placed goalie Petr Mrazek on injured reserve retroactive to December 3, per NBC Sports Chicago’s Charlie Roumeliotis.

The move comes as Jonathan Toews is set to miss tonight’s game with a non-COVID illness, so it’s feasible that Reichel doesn’t stay up long-term. However, the team’s 17th overall pick in 2020 again dominates the minors and could force the team’s hand.

For the second consecutive season, Reichel is operating at more than a point-per-game pace in the AHL and sits second on Rockford, scoring 10 goals and 23 points in 19 games. With depth players like Jujhar Khaira and Colin Blackwell struggling to produce, Reichel might have the opportunity to get in a meaningful string of NHL action if he performs well tonight.

Mrazek is dealing with his second groin injury of the season, an issue that plagued him last season with the Toronto Maple Leafs as well. Those injuries have limited the team’s presumptive starter to just nine games this year, and his .884 save percentage and 4.06 goals-against average are the worst among the team’s top three goalies. He can return as soon as this weekend.

Minor Transactions: 12/06/22

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While baseball news may be heating up, some great NHL storylines are still on the docket tonight. Mitch Marner and Jason Robertson will show down as two of the hottest players in the league, while Shane Wright will play his first NHL game against the team that passed on drafting him first overall. There’s been some movement today in the minors, too, and we’ll cover that right here.

  • The Grand Rapids Griffins, Detroit’s AHL affiliate, has made some roster swaps. Today, the team signed forwards Gordie Green and Lukas Craggs to AHL PTOs and sent forward Kirill Tyutyayev to the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye, per a team announcement. Undrafted, the Michigan-born Green was a former captain at Miami University-Ohio and has hovered close to a point per game in the ECHL ever since. Craggs, 26, was previously in the Nashville Predators organization, but the team released him several seasons ago. He’s failed to make much of an AHL impact since. Tyutyayev, who is actually a Detroit draft pick but remains unsigned, missed much of 2021-22 due to injury and will get his first taste of ECHL hockey.

This page will be updated throughout the day

Colorado Avalanche Send Three To AHL

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2:15pm: After the Avalanche lost Megna on waivers, they were under the 18-man roster limit. Hudon has been recalled to make the team compliant again.

9:10am: With Nathan MacKinnon the latest player to go down for the Colorado Avalanche, the team will have some tough decisions on how to organize a lineup moving forward. Today, they have sent Andreas Englund, Anton Blidh, and Charles Hudon back to the AHL, though they may not stay there for long.

Hudon, 28, made his Colorado debut last night, playing over 15 minutes and recording seven shots on goal. The talented winger is a potential fit for the top-six, but likely doesn’t fit any lower than that. With both Alex Galchenyuk and Jayson Megna on waivers today to create some additional flexibility, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Hudon back up for tomorrow’s game.

Englund, meanwhile, has been playing regularly for the team as they deal with injuries to Josh Manson, Bowen Byram, and Kurtis MacDermid. The 6’3″ defenseman has one assist and five penalty minutes in six games, seeing just over ten minutes of ice time last night.

Unless a defenseman is being activated, Englund (or someone else from the minor leagues) will be needed once again for tomorrow night. The team only has five other healthy defensemen on the roster.

San Jose Sharks Recall Eetu Makiniemi

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The San Jose Sharks have called up another goaltender, adding Eetu Makiniemi for the first time this season. Aaron Dell has been returned to the AHL, after allowing five goals on 37 shots against the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday.

Makiniemi, 23, was a part of the Brent Burns trade this summer, coming over from the Carolina Hurricanes along with a third-round pick and Steven Lorentz for the star defenseman. The young netminder was originally selected 104th overall in 2017 and has been excellent in his short time in North America.

Over 26 AHL games since the start of 2021-22, Makiniemi has gone 17-6-2 with a .920 save percentage. Given Dell’s struggles, it’s easy to see why the team would want to switch.

Still, it’s not easy to be a Sharks goaltender right now. The team is bleeding shots and scoring chances, and is now one of just three teams in the league to have given up at least 100 goals. Three losses in a row takes them to 8-16-4 on the year, only ahead of the Anaheim Ducks in the Pacific Division.

With James Reimer still working through an injury, it’s Kaapo Kahkonen’s net with Makiniemi likely serving as backup. The team has a very light schedule at the moment, with just three games between now and December 17. That means Makiniemi may not actually end up making his NHL debut, though he’ll get some experience and exposure to the league over the next few days at least.

Anaheim Ducks Reassign Pavol Regenda

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December 5: After nearly a month-long call-up, Regenda is headed back down to the minors. The Slovak product played in nine games during the call-up, registering a goal, a -1 rating, and 10:42 of ice time per game.

November 9: The Anaheim Ducks have brought winger Pavol Regenda back up from the AHL’s San Diego Gulls on an emergency basis, according to CapFriendly. The move comes ahead of the Ducks’ home game tonight against the Minnesota Wild.

The transaction was necessitated by forward Adam Henrique’s late scratch from the lineup today. He’ll be away from the team on a short-term personal leave as he and his wife await the birth of their first baby. With Derek Grant also out of the lineup with an upper-body injury on a day-to-day basis, the team was down to 11 available forwards on the active roster.

Regenda, 22, was an undrafted free agent signing this summer who impressed and made the Ducks out of training camp. In his first five games with the team, he registered two assists prior to being sent down to the Gulls last week.

Over the past week in the AHL, he showed just why he made the team out of camp, registering two goals and two assists in four games. With a strong performance on this emergency recall, he could convince the Ducks to have him stay in the NHL full-time. His waiver-exempt status muddies that likelihood somewhat, though, as every other candidate for the Ducks to send down to San Diego would require waivers.

Florida Panthers Recall Zac Dalpe, Matt Kiersted

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The Florida Panthers recalled center Zac Dalpe and defenseman Matt Kiersted from the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers on Monday, according to the AHL’s transactions log.

Florida is taking advantage of some added and much-needed roster flexibility created by Patric Hornqvist heading for long-term injured reserve. With some players out for just a handful of games at a time and the team pressed up against the salary cap, the Panthers had dressed fewer than 18 skaters at times in recent weeks and were relying on $0 emergency recalls to have a full roster.

Dalpe heads up to restore Florida’s number of healthy forwards on the active roster to 12. Aleksander Barkov and Anton Lundell are both day-to-day with an illness and upper-body injury, respectively, which forced them to ice 11 forwards and six defensemen in their last game.

If neither Barkov nor Lundell can return tomorrow, the Panthers will take on Winnipeg with Dalpe in the lineup. A veteran of 154 NHL games and the Checkers’ captain, Dalpe suited up once for Florida last season and has 10 goals in 19 games to lead Charlotte in 2022-23.

Kiersted, an undrafted free agent signing out of the University of North Dakota two years ago, has appeared in 27 NHL games for Florida over the past three seasons. He’s had a rough start in the minors, notching just one assist in 12 games with the Checkers, and has a -6 rating. He comes to the roster as insurance, expected to be a healthy scratch unless the Panthers suffer additional injuries to their defense corps.

Washington Capitals Recall Hunter Shepard

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After Darcy Kuemper was forced to leave the game for the Washington Capitals over the weekend, the team recalled Hunter Shepard from the AHL to serve as an extra goaltender. Kuemper is listed as day-to-day.

Shepard, 27, has never appeared in an NHL game and is only in his third season of professional hockey, but has been outstanding for the Capitals organization to this point. Starting in the ECHL, he dominated in 2020-21 for the South Carolina Stingrays, and went 3-0 during a short AHL stint. He was back in the ECHL for most of last season as well, but once again was outstanding whenever called up to the Hershey Bears, this time posting a .922 save percentage in nine appearances.

This year, as a full-time member of Hershey, he has a .932 in eight games, failing to lose a single one in regulation. Overall, since turning pro, Shepard has a .919 in the ECHL and a .934 in the AHL – not bad for an undrafted free agent goaltender who didn’t sign an NHL deal until he was 25.

Still, losing Kuemper for any length of time would leave the Capitals in a tough situation. Backup Charlie Lindgren has not been good this season, and the team is already struggling to stay relevant in the Metropolitan Division playoff race. Washington is 10-12-4 on the year and sit sixth in the division, having allowed 83 goals in 26 games.

Columbus Blue Jackets Recall Kirill Marchenko

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Play the kids. The Columbus Blue Jacket’s season hasn’t gone anywhere near according to plan, so it’s time to see what they have in another youngster. Kirill Marchenko has been recalled from the AHL after just 16 games in North America.

Marchenko, 22, was the 49th overall selection in the 2018 draft, with an understanding that he wouldn’t be coming over for several years. Finally, after spending the last several seasons in the KHL, the young forward signed his entry-level contract last spring and made the trip to play with the Cleveland Monsters this year.

The AHL has proven to be no challenge for the young forward, as Marchenko has eight goals and 19 points in 16 games for Cleveland, though there are still some inconsistencies in his game. He is on a five-game point streak and should soon get a chance to show what he can do in the NHL.

Interestingly, it is Trey Fix-Wolansky who has been sent back to make room, after his own four-game stint with the Blue Jackets. Fix-Wolansky is the Monsters’ leading scorer with 22 points in 14 games, but standing just 5’7″ offers a very different skill set than the 6’3″ Russian.

The Blue Jackets have a back-to-back coming up tomorrow and Wednesday, where they will face the Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres. Now sitting just 8-13-2, with several key injuries, it has turned into something of an evaluation season for the Columbus front office, instead of a competitive one.

Florida Panthers Recall Chris Tierney On Emergency Basis

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Chris Tierney may finally be getting his chance to return to the NHL, as the Florida Panthers announced they’ve recalled the forward from the Charlotte Checkers on an emergency basis. No corresponding move was made, but the recall comes a day after the team was forced to play a man short when Anton Lundell was ruled out with an upper-body injury. Florida’s next game comes Tuesday evening in Winnipeg against the Jets.

Last night wasn’t the first time the Panthers were forced to play a man down and is the result of a somewhat risky strategy of carrying a roster of just 18 skaters and two goaltenders most of the time. This strategy isn’t a new analytical experiment or something of the kind, but is instead forced due to the Panthers’ tight cap situation, using nearly all of their available LTIR space before adding in reinforcements.

Because Florida played a man short last game, they’re able to recall Tierney on an emergency basis without carrying his cap hit, per CapFriendly. Tierney will now give Florida an extra skater for Tuesday’s game in the case that Lundell cannot play, or at least someone to draw in should a similar situation present itself.

As for Tierney, the veteran forward signed a one-year, two-way contract with Florida this summer for the league minimum after the Ottawa Senators failed to re-sign him. Once an exciting young piece of the San Jose Sharks, Tierney was dealt in the Erik Karlsson trade and hit a career-high in points with 48 in his first year with Ottawa before seeing his production steadily slip year after year. This will be Tierney’s first time back on an NHL roster since last season, and he’s earned his recall, recording 16 points in 19 AHL games thus far.

Colorado Avalanche Recall Charles Hudon

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The Colorado Avalanche have recalled forward Charles Hudon, the team announced. No other corresponding move was made, though it does come on the heels of forward Artturi Lehkonen’s injury that forced him to leave last night’s game. While there was no other move announced, this would seem to bring their roster over the 23-man limit, meaning that another transaction could come shortly. After placing defenseman Josh Manson on IR yesterday, the team had recalled defenseman Andreas Englund on an emergency basis.

Following a run to the Stanley Cup last season, Colorado’s injury woes have been a well-documented story so far in this young campaign, which seems to be compounded each day. At the very least, Hudon is no stranger to the NHL and should slot in nicely as a veteran presence, even if he can’t replace one of the several top-six forwards the team has lost.

The 28-year-old Hudon is a former Montreal Canadiens draft pick and veteran of 125 NHL games, all with Montreal, though none since 2019-20. His best season came back in 2017-18, where the forward scored 10 goals to go with 20 assists in 72 games. The Quebec native was off to a strong start to this season with the Colorado Eagles, the Avalanche’s AHL affiliate, with 16 points in 20 games. Given all of their injuries, especially up front, the Avalanche will need Hudon to bring some of that magic up with him to help keep the team in the hunt.

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