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Boston Bruins Return Jakub Lauko To AHL

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Forward Jakub Lauko, who the Boston Bruins sent down to the Providence Bruins on Tuesday, and was recalled yesterday afternoon back to Boston, has been reassigned from his loan back to Providence.

It’s been a hectic few days for the young forward, at least on paper, but not necessarily surprising, given the 22-year-old does not need waivers to go to the AHL. With superstar winger Brad Marchand returning to the lineup Thursday evening, Boston made clear he would not play back-to-back games, which was exactly the situation yesterday evening. Now down a man (of their own volition), Boston brought Lauko up for last night’s game in Columbus against the Blue Jackets. Lauko is yet to play a game for Providence this season but has recorded one assist in five games for Boston thus far.

Boston’s 77th overall selection in 2018, Lauko blow the doors off his expectations in camp after a rough 2021-22 season in Providence. He hasn’t looked entirely out-of-place in the NHL either, especially for a player who has a remarkably low 5.9% offensive zone start rate in all situations.

St. Louis Blues Activate Pavel Buchnevich

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The St. Louis Blues announced that they have activated forward Pavel Buchnevich off of IR today. As a result, the team has also sent forward Josh Leivo to the Springfield Thunderbirds of the AHL. Buchnevich had missed the previous five games after suffering a lower-body injury on opening night. The team is set to take on the Montreal Canadiens at home this evening.

Though Buchnevich’s injury wasn’t too serious, a return today is a bit surprising. Word had been out that Buchnevich could be nearing a return, but as Blues head coach Craig Berube told reporters earlier, including Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the return could be as soon as Monday’s game against the Los Angeles Kings. Evidently, that return will come tonight against Montreal. That return can’t come soon enough for St. Louis too, who is 3-3-0 on the young season, but has lost their last three games.

Always a solid point-producer, Buchnevich broke out during the shortened 2021-22 season, recording 48 points in 54 games with the New York Rangers. That offseason, New York sent Buchnevich to the Blues for forward Sammy Blais and a second-round draft pick. The 27-year-old did not disappoint in his first season with St. Louis either, scoring 30 goals along with 46 assists over 73 games.

Leivo, 29, is in his first season with the Blues organization after signing a one-year deal with St. Louis this summer. The veteran forward played in just seven NHL games last season with the Carolina Hurricanes, but did have a terrific year with the Chicago Wolves, their AHL affiliate, contributing 46 points in 54 games. Leivo has yet to play an AHL game in 2022-23, but has played three games with the Blues to start.

Los Angeles Kings Recall Rasmus Kupari

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The Los Angeles Kings announced today that they have recalled young forward Rasmus Kupari from the Ontario Reign, their AHL affiliate. Having 22 out of a maximum 23 players on its NHL roster, no corresponding move had to be made to bring Kupari up. The former first-round pick by Los Angeles has yet to play in the NHL this season.

After the Kings announced forward Alex Iafallo had been placed on LTIR, the team in turn recalled forward Austin Wagner from Ontario, but sent him back the next day, leaving them with 22 players. Due to their tight salary cap situation, the team had to place Iafallo on LTIR in order to make space for an additional call-up in his absence. Being at home this week, with nearby Ontario playing just one game on the road in San Jose, and having 13 forwards and seven defensemen already on the roster, the team was able to go without the additional player for a few days. Now, set to hit the road after today’s home contest against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Kings opted to bring in a familiar face.

Kupari, who Los Angeles selected 20th overall in 2018, has yet to live up to expectation, but at the same time, has shown he belongs as an NHLer. The forward made his NHL debut during the shortened 2020-21 season, recording just a point in seven games, but played a significant amount last season, getting into 57 games with Los Angeles, chipping in five goals and eight assists in the process. The organization opted to have the 22-year-old begin this season in Ontario, but perhaps his impressive start to the season, which includes three goals and three assists in six AHL games, forced the Kings’ hand in calling the forward up.

Columbus Blue Jackets Place Nick Blankenburg On IR, Activate Joonas Korpisalo

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The Columbus Blue Jackets announced a pair of roster moves this morning, placing defenseman Nick Blankenburg on IR retroactive to October 23rd and in a related move, goaltender Joonas Korpisalo has been activated off of IR. Korpisalo will not immediately join Columbus, however, as he’s been assigned to the Cleveland Monsters of the AHL on a conditioning assignment. Columbus next plays tomorrow afternoon in Newark against the New Jersey Devils. Cleveland plays this evening, but doesn’t play again until next weekend.

Blankenburg, 24, suffered an upper-body injury last Sunday in a game against the New York Rangers, appearing to injure his left arm. The defenseman tried to play through the injury, but left early in the second period. Blankenburg is considered day-to-day, and was practicing today in a non-contact jersey, reports BlueJackets.com’s Jeff Svoboda. Undrafted by an NHL team, Blankenburg spent four seasons at the University of Michigan, capped off by a stellar senior season in which he scored 14 goals to go with 15 assists in just 38 games. After the season, he turned pro, signing with Columbus and making his NHL debut on April 13th of this year. To date, he has two goals and three assists in 11 career games, all with Columbus.

Korpisalo has yet to play this season while recovering from season-ending hip surgery on March 24th. The 28-year-old has made his mark with the Blue Jackets, establishing himself as one of the league’s best backup goaltenders. However, he did struggle last year, recording an .877 save-percentage and 4.10 goals-against average in 22 games. Despite the struggle, Columbus showed their faith in the veteran by signing him to a one-year $1.3MM contract extension this spring. Once healthy, Korpisalo can look to rebound from his poor performance and injury issues of 2021-22 while fighting for playing time alongside starting netminder Elvis Merzlikins, who has struggled himself to start this season.

Matt Bartkowski Signs AHL PTO

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Veteran defenseman Matt Bartkowski has found a new home, at least for now. The Rochester Americans announced they’ve signed Bartkowski to an AHL PTO. The team expects Bartkowski to meet them for today’s game in Laval against the Rocket. Rochester is the AHL affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres.

The addition of Bartkowski appears to be the result of a chain reaction in the Sabres organization after a rash of injuries on Buffalo’s blueline. When the Sabres lost defensemen Henri Jokiharju and Mattias Samuelsson in short order last weekend, the team recalled fellow defensemen Lawrence Pilut and Kale Clague from Rochester. Of course, that helped to repair the Sabres’ ailing defense-corps, but served to dismantle Rochester’s, stealing two of their best defenders. The Americans initially responded by recalling Zachary Berzolla from the ECHL, and earlier this week added another NHL veteran in Brandon Davidson on an AHL PTO.

A veteran of 256 career NHL games, Bartkowski last played in the NHL back in 2020-21, dressing for just one game with the Minnesota Wild. The 34-year-old hasn’t seen even semi-regular NHL time since he played 18 games as a member of the Calgary Flames all the way back in 2017-18. The defenseman did have some NHL interest this summer coming off of two exceptional AHL seasons with the Iowa Wild and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, signing a PTO with the New York Rangers back in September, who ultimately released him from that tryout. Bringing Bartkowski in should give the Americans a healthy, veteran presence to help patch the holes not only on their own blueline, but that of the entire NHL-AHL-ECHL organization.

Ottawa Senators Recall Dillon Heatherington

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The Ottawa Senators have announced that defenseman Dillon Heatherington has been recalled from the team’s AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators. This recall comes after it was revealed earlier today that top-pairing defenseman Artem Zub will be out for one to two weeks with an upper-body injury.

Heatherington, 27, has become a bit of a journeyman since he was drafted 50th overall at the 2013 draft by the Columbus Blue Jackets. After a solid career with the WHL’s Swift Current Broncos, Heatherington turned pro in the Blue Jackets organization and spent parts of three seasons playing for their AHL affiliates. He was then sent to the Dallas Stars in a trade for Lauri Korpikoski, and he made his NHL debut as a member of their organization.

After a 2019-20 season that did not include any call-ups to the main squad in Dallas, Heatherington left North America to continue his pro career with Barys Nur-Sultan of the KHL. He spent year there before being signed by the Senators, and last season he played in a depth role, getting into 45 games at the AHL level and nine NHL games.

With this call-up, it seems that the well-traveled Heatherington is in place to get some more NHL games under his belt. It’s likely that veteran defenseman Nick Holden will enter the lineup in Zub’s place, but now that Heatherington is on the roster it’s possible he gets a look as well.

The Senators are 4-3-0 at the moment and are looking to endure some early injury troubles and keep pace in an extremely competitive Atlantic Division.

New York Rangers Agree To Terms With Ben Harpur; Place On Waivers

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10/28/22: As reported by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, Harpur has cleared waivers. He will now be able to remain with the Hartford Wolf Pack in the AHL.

10/27/22: The New York Rangers are adding a little defensive depth, agreeing to terms with Ben Harpur after his solid showing in the minor leagues. Harpur had been playing with the Hartford Wolf Pack on a PTO but will convert that into a one-year NHL contract. PuckPedia reports that it is a two-way contract worth $750K at the NHL level and $300K in the AHL. The team has placed him on waivers, a necessary step for him to stay in the AHL.

Harpur, 27, has 156 games of NHL experience, plus a handful of matches in the postseason over his career so far. The 6’6″ defenseman suited up 19 times last season for the Nashville Predators, registering one assist and 27 penalty minutes. He won’t offer much offense – in fact, he has just a single NHL goal to his name – but is a big body who can defend well enough to hold his own on a third pair.

The Rangers don’t necessarily need that right now, but there wasn’t much experience in the system to call up if they deal with injuries. Harpur will represent a body that can bounce between the NHL and AHL without any concern for his development.

A deal like this could have potentially happened in Columbus, where he spent training camp on a PTO, but Harpur suffered an injury and missed a good chunk of the action. He’s found a spot now, though, and will just add some extra depth to the Rangers organization for the long season ahead.

Detroit Red Wings Recall Matt Luff

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The Detroit Red Wings have brought an extra forward to join them on the road today in Boston, recalling Matt Luff from the AHL. The team is without Oskar Sundqvist for the moment as he deals with an upper-body injury.

Luff, 25, is off to a great start with the Grand Rapids Griffins, scoring seven points in his first five games this season. The undrafted forward has always been an excellent player at the minor league level and even had six points in 23 games with the Nashville Predators last year. In total, he has played 87 NHL games in his career, scoring 13 goals and 23 points.

It’s not clear if he will go into the lineup or not, but the Red Wings were using Jordan Oesterle as a forward in yesterday’s practice beside Pius Suter and Filip Zadina, according to Ansar Khan of MLive. That could be the spot for Luff to go into, adding some size and skill to the third line as Detroit tries to get back on track.

Now 3-1-2 on the year, that sole regulation loss came at the hands of the New Jersey Devils a couple of days ago. The team was thoroughly outplayed in that one, and will be trying to show why they should be considered a playoff contender in tonight’s matchup with an Atlantic Division rival.

Snapshots: Marchand, Wiesblatt, Marlies

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There was plenty of excitement around the Boston Bruins when Brad Marchand took reps on the first line and powerplay this morning, even leading the team stretch. But the star winger isn’t going to be coming back just yet.

The Bruins will still play it a little slow with Marchand, and while he is ahead of schedule, isn’t getting into the lineup just yet. Head coach Jim Montgomery told reporters including Fluto Shinzawa of The Athletic that the Bruins expect Marchand to play before Thanksgiving, his original timeline.

  • NHL fans may remember a touching moment at the 2020 draft when the San Jose Sharks revealed their selection of Ozzy Wiesblatt with a bit of sign language so that his mother – who is deaf – could be in on the announcement. Now, after two additional seasons in the WHL Wiesblatt will be starting his professional hockey journey with the Wichita Thunder of the ECHL. He was assigned there today.
  • While the focus for the Toronto Maple Leafs the last couple of days has been on the health of Jake Muzzin, who was placed on long-term injured reserve, two other defensemen are getting closer to a return. Timothy Liljegren and Jordie Benn were both loaned to the Toronto Marlies on conditioning stints. Mikhail Abramov who started the year on season-opening injured reserve was also assigned to the AHL club.

Dallas Stars Recall Matej Blumel; Assign Jacob Peterson

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The Dallas Stars had one more chance to send Jacob Peterson to the minor leagues before he would need to pass waivers, so they took it. The team has assigned Peterson to the AHL’s Texas Stars and recalled Matej Blumel, who is off to an outstanding start in North America. Had Peterson played one more NHL game, he would have been waiver-eligible.

Blumel, 22, was an Edmonton Oilers fourth-round draft pick in 2019 but failed to sign with the team before his exclusive rights expired. That made him an unrestricted free agent and he decided to come to North America following two excellent seasons in Czechia. Through five games with Texas he has been one of the best players in the AHL, scoring five goals and eight points.

He’ll now get a chance to join a Stars team looking for some consistency out of the lower part of their lineup. Denis Gurianov was made a healthy scratch recently but several Dallas players haven’t been able to find a groove. Gurianov, Jamie Benn, Ty Dellandrea, Joel Kiviranta, Luke Glendening, and Radek Faksa have combined for just three goals on the year, putting a lot of pressure on the top six to carry the load. While Blumel may not immediately change things, a shakeup certainly can’t hurt.

Peterson could have potentially been that answer himself, given he scored 12 goals in limited minutes last season and had only played once so far, but this may be more about protecting the asset than anything else. There will be a time that he gets back into the lineup but for now, the Stars have made the switch, giving him a chance to stay fresh in the minor leagues before his waiver status kicks in.

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