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Philadelphia Flyers Recall Jackson Cates

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As Charlie O’Connor of The Athletic suggested a couple of days ago, Ronnie Attard’s days on the Philadelphia Flyers roster were numbered (for now). The young defenseman has been loaned to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms this morning, with the team recalling forward Jackson Cates in his place.

Attard, 23, did not play in the team’s season-opening win against the New Jersey Devils, with young Egor Zamula getting the start in his place. If Attard isn’t going to play, he might as well go to the AHL to continue his development and polish his game. That’s not something he’s familiar with, after going right from the college ranks into the NHL lineup last season.

There’s plenty of time for the Western Michigan alum to make it back to the NHL on a more regular basis, and you will likely see Attard back up if the team suffers any additional injuries on the back end. With Rasmus Ristolainen only out day-to-day, even Zamula’s time with the big club might be numbered.

Cates meanwhile will join his brother Noah Cates who played more than 19 minutes last night, seeing time on both the powerplay and penalty kill. The older of the two, Jackson played in 11 games with the Flyers last season and scored his first NHL goal. The two showed incredible chemistry in the preseason (as one might expect) and were one of the leading storylines.

Unfortunately, the recall of Cates might also suggest some more negative consequences from last night’s game. Owen Tippett left after just four minutes of ice time with an upper-body injury, and Cam Atkinson didn’t dress at all. The recall will give the team some extra forward depth in case they need it tomorrow when they welcome in the Vancouver Canucks.

Cody Eakin Signs In Switzerland

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After being released from his professional tryout with the Calgary Flames, it didn’t take long for Cody Eakin to find work. The veteran forward has signed a one-year deal with the SCL Tigers in Switzerland, where he will compete in the National League.

This is Eakin’s first European sojourn, and potentially a sign that his NHL career is coming to an end. The 31-year-old played 69 games for the Buffalo Sabres last season but wasn’t able to find a contract this year. In his career, Eakin has more than 700 regular season games under his belt, including a 22-goal campaign with the Vegas Golden Knights in 2018-19.

That offense has been nowhere to be found ever since, with just 12 goals over the last three seasons combined. A valuable defensive center, it’s been a while now since you could call him a two-way presence since his contributions in the opponent’s end have disappeared.

Perhaps a year playing in Switzerland will rejuvenate his career, but at this point, it might just be that his time in the NHL has passed. It’s been a pretty successful hockey career all told, with championships in the WHL and AHL to go along with a World Championship gold medal from 2015. In 701 regular season games, Eakin scored 256 points.

Minor Transactions: 10/13/22

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The NHL season is fully underway, and quite a few teams are skating in their first games of the season tonight. As exciting as the action is around the NHL tonight, there’s still plenty going on around the hockey world and we’ll keep track of all those transactions here.

  • The Montreal Canadiens were expected to assign 2021 first-round pick, Logan Mailloux, to his OHL club, the London Knights, when he recovered from injury. Today, the team did just that, sending Mailloux to the Knights. Mailloux hasn’t spent an extensive amount of time on the ice in the OHL, so this season will be important as he looks to establish himself as one of the Canadiens’ better options on what looks at the moment to be a crowded defensive pipeline.
  • The New York Rangers’ AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack, have signed defenseman Ben Harpur to a PTO, per a team announcement. Harpur, 27, is a veteran of over 150 NHL games and joins the Wolf Pack after signing a PTO with the Columbus Blue Jackets, a deal that did not result in a contract offer. The Rangers recently lost physical depth defenseman Jarred Tinordi on waivers to the Chicago Blackhawks, so perhaps this PTO is a chance for Harpur to prove he can fill Tinordi’s vacated role on the Rangers’ organizational depth chart.

Evening Notes: Price, Laine, Panik, Oilers Injuries

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When Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price was announced at tonight’s home opener, the standing ovation he received from the crowd was about the least surprising bit of news this evening. Price, who is one of, if not the best goaltender of his generation, has been a staple in the Canadiens lineup since his debut in 2007-08. His recent injury woes have forced him to take a step back from the game in order to try to return to full health not only on the ice, but off of it. Whether he is able to come back and play in the NHL again remains to be seen, but for now Montreal will have to proceed with Price on the sidelines.

Recently, The Athletic’s Arpon Basu had a chance to speak with Price about his health and where he stands right now. Unfortunately, the update was far from ideal. As Price said, “[a]gain, my knee still isn’t doing great. Like, I’m still not walking up a set of stairs pain-free yet. I still don’t feel like my knee’s in a place where I’m going to be able to play hockey.” Price’s own words seem to indicate that for now, the focus isn’t necessarily on hockey, but a quality of life at the moment. Price added that he’s also focusing on being able to do things in the future such as skate and play sports with his children (recall Washington Capitals forward Nicklas Backstrom discussing similar issues a couple of months ago). Interestingly, Price said those are things he wants to do “when I’m, you know, officially done,” language Basu points to as perhaps significant given the line between Price being ’officially done’ and where he is now is a very thin one.

  • The Columbus Blue Jackets announced forward Patrik Laine left tonight’s game at the Carolina Hurricanes with an upper-body injury and will not return. The forward appeared to be in some discomfort after being sandwiched along the boards by Hurricanes defenseman Brett Pesce. Laine had already contributed a goal in tonight’s contest prior to leaving, the only Blue Jackets tally at the time of writing.
  • According to CapFriendly, the New York Islanders have loaned forward Richard Panik to Lausanne HC of Switzerland’s National League. Panik, 31, had been with the Islanders organization since he was acquired from the Detroit Red Wings in the deal that sent Nick Leddy to Detroit in the summer of 2021. Outside of a brief four game stretch on Long Island, the team had buried Panik and his $2.75MM salary in the AHL last season, which he otherwise split between the Bridgeport Islanders and Chicago Wolves. While on loan, Panik’s buried cap hit of $250,000 (Detroit retained $1.375MM in the deal, $1.125MM is buried) will continue to count against the Islanders cap. By going to Lausanne, the veteran forward should have a chance at more consistent minutes far closer to home and should give the Islanders more opportunities to get younger players into the Bridgeport lineup.
  • The Edmonton Oilers will be without forwards Kailer Yamamoto and Warren Foegele for tonight’s opening night matchup against the Vancouver Canucks. It’s unclear what injuries either player is suffering from. However, because Edmonton began the season with just 21 players on its roster for cap compliance purposes, they will only be able to dress 17 skaters – all that are left on the roster after Yamamoto and Foegele. Sportsnet’s Bob Stauffer was the first to report.

Minor Transactions: 10/12/22

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Another slate of opening night contests are on tap around the NHL this evening, including the NHL debut of 2022 number one overall pick Juraj Slafkovsky with the Montreal Canadiens and Johnny Gaudreau’s Columbus Blue Jackets debut down in Carolina. As exciting as the action is around the NHL tonight, there’s still plenty going on around the hockey world and we’ll keep track of it here.

  • The Henderson Silver Knights, the AHL affiliate of the Vegas Golden Knights, made several cuts from its training camp roster today. Forwards Patrick Guay, Daniel D’Amato, Lynden McCallum, and defenseman Connor Corcoran have all been assigned to the Savannah Ghost Pirates of the ECHL (link). Guay could be an intriguing name in this group, coming off a season in which he scored 55 goals to go with 49 assists in just 68 games with the QMJHL’s Charlottetown Islanders. The forward was a fifth-round selection by Vegas in 2022 as a 20-year-old.
  • Similarly, the Texas Stars, the AHL affiliate of the Dallas Stars, cut a handful of players from its roster. Forward Jordan Kawaguchi, defensemen Dawson Barteaux and Owen Headrick, and goaltender Remi Poirier were all assigned to the Idaho Steelheads of the ECHL. (link). Of note, Poirier, a sixth-round selection by Dallas in 2020, recently finished an impressive four-year stint with the Gatineau Olympiques in the QMJHL.
  • The Arizona Coyotes are sending forward Matias Maccelli to the AHL (link). A fourth-round pick of the Coyotes in 2019, Maccelli made his NHL debut last season, recording six points in 23 games for Arizona. In the AHL, however, Maccelli was nothing short of an elite playmaker, scoring 14 goals to go with 43 assists in just 47 games. If the young winger can translate some of his AHL production into the NHL one day, the Coyotes will surely have themselves an exciting player.
  • Forward Emilio Pettersen has been activated off of season-opening IR by the Calgary Flames and subsequently sent down (link). The Norwegian forward was a sixth-round selection of Calgary in 2018 and spent the previous two seasons with the Stockton Heat, then Calgary’s AHL affiliate.
  • Like Pettersen, Florida Panthers forward Justin Sourdif has been activated from season-opening IR and sent down. (link). A third-round pick by Florida in 2020, Sourdif recently finished up an impressive junior career spent primarily with the Vancouver Giants, who dealt him to the Edmonton Oil Kings mid-way through last season. The 20-year-old forward had 71 points in 52 games last year in the WHL.

This post will be updated throughout the day.

Pittsburgh Penguins Promote Kerry Huffman

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The Pittsburgh Penguins have made a notable front-office change, promoting Kerry Huffman to the role of Director of Professional Scouting.

Huffman had joined the Penguins last season as a pro scout after serving five years as an assistant coach for the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms. The former Philadelphia Flyer hung up his playing skates in 1999 and only has one previous year of scouting experience with Pittsburgh.

He comes in to replace Ryan Bowness as he previously held the role, with Bowness leaving the organization four months ago. Per the Penguins, Huffman will oversee a team of four as the scouting team puts its attention on the NHL and AHL.

Prior to his coaching and scouting career, Huffman was a player agent from 2012-2016 and represented clients such as current/recent NHLers Tyler Seguin and Alex Galchenyuk.

 

Nicolas Meloche Clears Waivers, Assigned To AHL

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Oct 12: While Johansson was claimed as expected, Meloche was able to clear waivers and was quickly assigned to the Wranglers.

Oct 11: Two more players have been placed on waivers today, including one that was only claimed a few weeks ago. Jonas Johansson finds himself back on the wire, as the Arizona Coyotes claimed Connor Ingram yesterday, and now have too many goaltenders in the organization. This waiver-hopping always seemed a likely scenario for the Coyotes, as they try to find the best possible backup (or at least the one with the most potential) for Karel Vejmelka.

Johansson will be joined on waivers by Nicolas Meloche, who has been waived by the Calgary Flames. The Flames had Michael Stone still skating with the team today despite not having an NHL contract, which is potentially why Meloche now finds himself on the way out. If he clears, he can be assigned to the Calgary Wranglers of the AHL to continue his career in the minor leagues. (Update: A few minutes later, Stone officially signed with the Flames)

For the goaltender though, things will be a little different. If no one puts in a claim on Johansson he can go to the Tucson Roadrunners, though things are already quite crowded there. The Colorado Avalanche, who he was taken from, could reclaim the netminder and send him to the minor leagues if they are the only team that puts in a claim. That seems a likely scenario at this point, given Johansson’s relationship with the organization and Colorado’s need for additional depth at the position.

Vancouver Canucks Recall Sheldon Dries

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The Vancouver Canucks have swapped some youth for experience today, recalling Sheldon Dries from the AHL and sending Danila Klimovich down. The Canucks had created a perfect salary cap situation for the start of the season to maximize their long-term injured reserve placements, and can now tweak as needed.

Losing Klimovich should probably be expected, given where the 19-year-old is in his professional career. After being selected 41st overall in 2021, he played last season with the Abbotsford Canucks and scored just eight goals and 18 points in 62 games. The idea of him stepping directly into the NHL following that performance was always unlikely.

Dries, meanwhile, has plenty of experience as the extra forward on a roster. The 28-year-old has played 59 total games in his career, including 11 last season for the Canucks. It was his performance in the minor leagues, when he scored 35 goals and 62 points for Abbotsford, that helped push him up the organizational depth chart and into a position where he could take on this role to start the year.

After clearing waivers earlier this week, Dries can be shuffled up and down until he plays 10 games in the NHL or is on the active roster for 30 days.

Tampa Bay Extends AHL Affiliation

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The Tampa Bay Lightning and Syracuse Crunch have been one of hockey’s most successful partnerships, and it isn’t going to end anytime soon. The two organizations have announced a new five-year affiliation extension, keeping them linked through the 2026-27 season.

General manager Julien BriseBois released a statement:

The Lightning are thrilled to extend our affiliation agreement with the Crunch today. Howard Dolgon and his group in Syracuse create an ideal environment for our prospects to develop in, as evidenced by the number of players that have eventually made it to Tampa to play for the Lightning. We’d like to thank Howard and the entire Crunch staff for their continued commitment to the success of both our franchises. We would also like to thank the Crunch fans for their passion and support of the team.

The number of players to come through the Crunch-Lightning pipeline and make an impact at the NHL is almost unparalleled in the AHL. Carter Verhaeghe, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Mitchell Stephens, Jan Rutta, Taylor Raddysh, Matthew Peca, Cedric Paquette, Richard Panik, Ondrej Palat, Nikita Nesterov, Vladislav Namestnikov, Jonathan Marchessault, Nikita Kucherov, Slater Koekkoek, Alex Killorn, Mathieu Joseph, Tyler Johnson, Connor Ingram, Libor Hajek, Radko Gudas, Yanni Gourde, Cal Foote, Adam Erne, Brett Connolly, Ross Colton, and on, and on.

There’s also head coach Jon Cooper, who was plucked from the Crunch to lead the lightning in 2013 when Guy Boucher was fired.

There’s absolutely no reason for either team to break a partnership that works this well. The minor league squad hasn’t had a losing record since 2013-14, and even then it was 31-32-13. While most affiliation agreements are just for a few seasons, a five-year deal between these two makes perfect sense.

Columbus Blue Jackets Loan Kent Johnson To AHL

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In a move that they certainly didn’t want to have to do, the Columbus Blue Jackets have loaned star prospect Kent Johnson to the minor leagues. The reason? Jet Greaves has been recalled under emergency conditions as Elvis Merzlikins is out with an illness. Greaves will serve as backup for Daniil Tarasov as the team opens the season.

While losing Merzlikins is noteworthy, the headline here will be Johnson’s demotion. It had been trending this way already during the preseason, as he appeared to be on the outside looking in as the final roster cuts approached. But then when things were finalized, Johnson was staying with the Blue Jackets after all. Head coach Brad Larsen told reporters that “Kent is here because he deserves to be here, period” and that even if he is a scratch for the first few games he was “not gonna sit on the shelf long.”

Now, with this emergency recall of Greaves, it shows how precarious Johnson’s position on the roster really was. As a waiver-exempt player due to his young age (Johnson will turn 20 in a few days), he can be bounced back and forth without issue. That yo-yo-ing isn’t usually a good strategy for a player of his skill level, but perhaps it will only happen for a few days as they get Merzlikins healthy enough to return to action.

Either way, how Columbus develops Johnson will have a huge effect on their future, as his offensive ceiling is as high as any other prospect in the league. Selected fifth overall in 2021, his time will come soon.

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