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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.

New Jersey Devils Send Simon Nemec To AHL

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Second-overall pick Simon Nemec appeared to make the New Jersey Devils roster out of camp, but the way he had been talking about it, there seemed to be something more to his stay. Today, the team has sent Nemec down to the AHL and recalled Kevin Bahl, confirming it was just a salary cap maneuver to maximize the long-term injury relief pool created by moving Jonathan Bernier’s contract there.

Nemec, 18, is still extremely raw as a prospect, despite playing the last few seasons in a men’s league in Slovakia. A tendency to rove all over the ice and sometimes forget about his defensive responsibilities is what makes him special, but also something he’ll have to polish up before making a real impact at the NHL level.

He’ll be able to do that in the AHL, where he should get huge minutes with the Utica Comets for the time being. Nemec even admitted as such when speaking with Mike Morreale of NHL.com yesterday. He explained that “Utica is fine for me because I need to play a lot of minutes,” and said he is perfectly fine with the demotion. In fact, that’s what Nemec has maintained since the moment they drafted him. He wants to play in North America this season, regardless of whether that meant the NHL or AHL.

Not only does Nemec need work, but Bahl has also played his way onto the roster with a strong preseason performance. The pressure from being the return for Taylor Hall seems to have waned a bit and now expectations for the 22-year-old defenseman have leveled off. While Bahl may never be a true top-pairing option, his 6’6″ frame and good mobility suggest he’ll be able to handle himself just fine at the higher level. In 17 games last season with the Devils he showed flashes of that potential and this season might be able to shake free of any doubts.

Nemec will be back, in time, but for now he’ll be focused on his development in the minor leagues. Fans of the Comets certainly won’t complain, as they get to see the youngster up close.

Carolina Hurricanes Recall Jordan Martinook

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After clearing waivers a few days ago, beloved forward Jordan Martinook is back up on an NHL roster with the Carolina Hurricanes. Evidently, the team has made the salary cap moves necessary to accommodate him on the active roster.

In a corresponding move, the team assigned forward Jamieson Rees and goalie Pyotr Kochetkov to the AHL’s Chicago Wolves.

Waiving Martinook and temporarily assigning him to the AHL allowed Carolina to optimize their cap space as much as possible prior to placing defenseman Jake Gardiner on long-term injured reserve to start the season. With Gardiner and his $4.05MM cap hit now on LTIR, the team now had the flexibility to recall Martinook.

He’ll likely reprise his role as the team’s fourth-line left wing, with AHL superstar Stefan Noesen serving as the team’s 13th forward for the time being. He’ll likely flank Derek Stepan and Ondrej Kase, making for a dynamic fourth line.

St. Louis Blues Recall Jake Neighbours, Josh Leivo

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After sending them down yesterday to submit a cap-compliant opening night roster, the St. Louis Blues have recalled forwards Josh Leivo and Jake Neighbours ahead of the team’s season opener on Saturday against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Neighbours is attempting to stick in the NHL full-time this season after receiving a nine-game trial in 2021-22. One of the team’s best prospects, the 20-year-old Neighbours can be a dominant power forward at times and is coming off a Memorial Cup appearance with the WHL’s Edmonton Oil Kings. Neighbours will now be able to be sent to the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds if he can’t stick in the NHL, rather than having to return to junior hockey. He’s slated to make his season debut along with the rest of the team on Saturday, likely playing alongside Brayden Schenn and Ivan Barbashev.

Leivo is also expected to play Saturday as Logan Brown is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury. A new addition to the Blues organization, Leivo had three points in seven games last season with the Carolina Hurricanes and was dominant in the playoffs with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves en route to a Calder Cup championship, scoring 29 points in just 18 games. With over 200 games of NHL experience, Leivo is a fine fill-in on the team’s fourth line and could make a case for himself to stay up with the team longer-term, albeit if it’s just as a healthy scratch. It wouldn’t be a new experience for him, infamously playing just 16 games for the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2017-18 under then-head coach Mike Babcock despite being healthy and on the active roster virtually all season long.

Edmonton Oilers To Send Down Philip Broberg, Recall Devin Shore

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Edmonton Oilers general manager Ken Holland said today, appearing on Oilers Now with Bob Stauffer, that the team will send defenseman Philip Broberg down to the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors and recall forward Devin Shore.

It appears the Oilers need to make this move out of salary cap necessity. With Edmonton’s tricky situation, it could actually cause them to start the season short a player. The team has basically maxed out their LTIR relief coming from Oscar Klefbom, Mike Smith, and Tyler Benson, who combine for a $7.117MM cap hit, meaning they can’t recall an extra player to fill in.  Forwards Warren Foegele and Kailer Yamamoto are day-to-day with injuries, and if neither of them can suit up tomorrow against the Vancouver Canucks, the team would need to play with 11 forwards and six defensemen.

Why Broberg and Shore in this transaction? The Oilers had 21 skaters on the active roster, including Foegele and Yamamoto: 12 forwards, seven defensemen, and two goalies. With injuries threatening Edmonton’s forward health, the team opted to send down Broberg, who does not require waivers and was projected to be a healthy scratch for the season opener in favor of Ryan Murray, for Shore.

Shore carries a cap hit of $850,000 and cleared waivers earlier this week. Entering his third season with the Oilers, Shore had five goals, six assists, and 11 points in 49 games last year. He’ll draw into the lineup in the event that either one of Foegele or Yamamoto cannot play tomorrow.

Latest On Jason Demers

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Jason Demers was released from his recent professional tryout with the Edmonton Oilers but he was back on the ice with them today. That led to speculation that he was going to sign a contract but that also may be a little premature. Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff tweets that Demers is expected to stay with the organization on an AHL PTO for the time being – something that will allow him to keep training. Kevin Weekes of ESPN, meanwhile, notes that the situation is “fluid” and Demers may sign an AHL contract.

The 34-year-old Demers hasn’t played an NHL game since 2020-21 and spent last season playing internationally. Once a consistent two-way presence in the league, he has 699 career games under his belt and 214 points. Adding that kind of experience on an AHL contract would certainly help the Bakersfield Condors, while sort of providing the Oilers with extra depth.

Though he couldn’t be recalled, the team could choose to sign him to a deal down the road if they face injury issues. In fact, they did almost this exact thing with Brad Malone last year, keeping him on an AHL deal before converting it to an NHL contract in early February. It wouldn’t cost them anything to do it, though Demers would obviously have to agree to a minor league deal, somewhere he hasn’t spent much time in his career.

Since the start of the 2010-11 season, Demers has played just a single game in the AHL – a match for the Tucson Roadrunners in 2018-19.

Vancouver Canucks Place Three On Injured Reserve

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There are many teams playing salary cap gymnastics today, though the award may have to go to Vancouver Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin. The Vancouver Canucks announced a series of roster moves today, most notably placing forward Ilya Mikheyev, as well as defensemen Tyler Myers and Travis Dermott, on injured reserve.

The team also loaned forward Linus Karlsson to AHL Abbotsford while recalling forward Danila Klimovich, a move expected to be reversed once their cap situation is settled. In doing so today, the team completed maximized their LTIR pool relief from Micheal Ferland’s contract, creating exactly zero dollars in cap space, allowing them to reap the full rewards of his $3.5MM cap hit. Ferland is unexpected to play again due to post-concussion syndrome.

In terms of the actual injuries, the three players can be activated from injured reserve at any time as their placement is retroactive to when their injuries were suffered during camp. Mikheyev remains week-to-week with a lower-body injury, while Myers is expected to miss about two and a half more weeks with a lower-body injury (he was given a three-week timeline last week). Dermott is day-to-day after suffering a concussion approximately two weeks ago.

Vancouver joined Toronto, Vegas, Tampa Bay, Edmonton, and Carolina as teams who had maxed their LTIR relief pools to within $100,000.

Minor Transactions: 10/10/22

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After the San Jose Sharks and Nashville Predators kicked the NHL regular season off in Europe this weekend, the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning will kick things off in North America tomorrow night, followed by the Vegas Golden Knights and Los Angeles Kings. Before that can happen though, teams must submit cap-compliant opening night rosters to the NHL by 5:00 pm ET today. Roster shuffling will presumably dominate the NHL news cycle today, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be some other notable news from the minor leagues and around the globe, and we’ll keep track of that here:

  • The ECHL’s Greenville Swamp Rabbits announced that they have signed former NHL goaltender Michael McNiven to a one-year deal. After a terrific three-year stint with the the OHL’s Owen Sound Attack, the undrafted McNiven joined the Canadiens organization, spending parts of the next five seasons bouncing between the AHL and ECHL. McNiven also made his NHL debut last season, getting into one game with the Canadiens on January 24th of this year against the Wild.
  • The AHL’s Laval Rocket announced the signing of John Parker-Jones to a one-year deal.  The 22-year-old has spent time both on the wing and on defense and spent last season with Windsor in the Canadian college ranks where he had two goals and five assists in 17 games.  He participated in Montreal’s rookie camp back in September.

This post will be kept updated throughout the day.

Training Camp Cuts: 10/10/22

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A very happy Thanksgiving to all of our readers who are celebrating! Today marks the deadline for NHL clubs to become cap compliant and submit their opening night rosters. More specifically, the 5:00 pm ET deadline is now less than six hours away. With that in mind, we expect to see plenty of players sent to the minor leagues, returned to juniors, or released from their PTOs today, and we’ll keep track of them here.

Arizona Coyotes (via team tweet)

D Cam Dineen (to Tucson, AHL)
G Jon Gillies (to Tucson, AHL)
F Laurent Dauphin (to Tucson, AHL)
F Bokondji Imama (to Tucson, AHL)

Buffalo Sabres (via team tweet)

D Lawrence Pilut (to Rochester, AHL)
G Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (to Rochester, AHL)
F Olivier Nadeau (to Gatineau, QMJHL)

Carolina Hurricanes (via team release)

F Jack Drury (to Chicago, AHL)
F Jordan Martinook (to Chicago, AHL)

Colorado Avalanche (via team tweet)

D Wyatt Aamodt (to Colorado, AHL)
F Mikhail Maltsev (to Colorado, AHL)

Columbus Blue Jackets (per team release)

F Emil Bemstrom (to Cleveland, AHL)
D David Jiricek (to Cleveland, AHL)

Detroit Red Wings (per team release)

D Jeremie Biakabutuka (released from ATO)
F Kyle Criscuolo (to Grand Rapids, AHL)
F Taro Hirose (to Grand Rapids, AHL)
G Jussi Olkinuora (to Grand Rapids, AHL)
F Givani Smith (to Grand Rapids, AHL)

Edmonton Oilers (via team tweet)

D Jason Demers (released from PTO)
F James Hamblin (to Bakersfield, AHL)
F Devin Shore (to Bakersfield, AHL)

Los Angeles Kings (per team release)

G Pheonix Copley (to Ontario, AHL)
F Rasmus Kupari (to Ontario, AHL)
F Andre Lee (to Ontario, AHL)
D Jacob Moverare (to Ontario, AHL)

Montreal Canadiens (via two team tweets)

F Rafael Harvey-Pinard (to Laval, AHL)
F Jesse Ylonen (to Laval, AHL)
D Justin Barron (to Laval, AHL)
D Otto Leskinen (to Laval, AHL)
G Cayden Primeau (to Laval, AHL)
D Arber Xhekaj (to Laval, AHL)

Nashville Predators (via team release)

F Jimmy Huntington (to Milwaukee, AHL)
F Mark Jankowski (to Milwaukee, AHL)
F Philip Tomasino (to Milwaukee, AHL)
D Kevin Gravel (to Milwaukee, AHL)
D Jordan Gross (to Milwaukee, AHL)
D Roland McKeown (to Milwaukee, AHL)

New York Rangers (via team release)

D Matt Bartkowski (released from PTO)
F Julien Gauthier (to Hartford, AHL)

Ottawa Senators (via team tweet)

F Ridly Greig (to Belleville, AHL)

Philadelphia Flyers (per Olivia Reiner, The Philadelphia Inquirer)

F Jackson Cates (to Lehigh Valley, AHL)

Seattle Kraken (via team tweet)

F John Hayden (to Coachella Valley, AHL)
D Michal Kempny (to Coachella Valley, AHL)

St. Louis Blues (via team release)

F Josh Leivo (to Springfield, AHL)
F Jake Neighbours (to Springfield, AHL)

Toronto Maple Leafs (via team tweet)

F Kyle Clifford (to Toronto, AHL)
F Adam Gaudette (to Toronto, AHL)
F Pontus Holmberg (to Toronto, AHL)
D Filip Kral (to Toronto, AHL)
D Victor Mete (to Toronto, AHL)
F Nick Robertson (to Toronto, AHL)
F Wayne Simmonds (to Toronto, AHL)
D William Villeneuve (to Toronto, AHL)

Vancouver Canucks (via team tweet)

F Linus Karlsson (to Abbotsford, AHL)

Vegas Golden Knights (via team release)

F Pavel Dorofeyev (to Henderson, AHL)
F Sakari Manninen (to Henderson, AHL)
F Jonas Rondbjerg (to Henderson, AHL)
D Jake Bischoff (to Henderson, AHL)
D Kaedan Korczak (to Henderson, AHL)
G Michael Hutchinson (to Henderson, AHL)

Washington Capitals (via team tweet)

F Henrik Borgstrom (to Hershey, AHL)
D Lucas Johansen (to Hershey, AHL)

Winnipeg Jets (via team tweet)

D Ville Heinola (to Manitoba, AHL)

This post will be kept updated throughout the day.

Sabres Notes: Young Players, Okposo, Injuries

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On what is expected to be a busy Monday around the NHL with the deadline to submit rosters approaching at 5:00 pm ET today, Buffalo Sabres GM Kevyn Adams met with the media this morning to discuss, primarily, his new leadership group that features the club’s 20th captain, Kyle Okposo. Adams praised Okposo’s leadership and his relationship with teammates and echoed much of the same sentiment towards alternate captain Zemgus Girgensons. The GM also lauded defenseman Rasmus Dahlin, now a full-time alternate captain, for his development not only on the ice, but as a person in the locker room and his drive to get better.

Beyond the new leadership group, Adams touched on several other news and notes, including the status of several of the team’s young players like John-Jason Peterka, Jack Quinn, and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. As to Peterka and Quinn, Adams seemed to indicate that both would be on the team’s opening night roster, saying the body of work the pair had put in with the AHL’s Rochester Americans last year shows that they are “ready to take the next step.” Adams continued, referring to the team’s entire young core, including names like Peyton Krebs and Mattias Samuelsson as well, that they will ultimately need to get more and more reps in to continue to develop at this level. On Luukkonen, Adams was impressed with his offseason and training camp efforts, but appeared to confirm the expected, that the goaltender would begin the season in Rochester with veterans Eric Comrie and Craig Anderson on the NHL roster. Seeing Luukkonen spend another year in the minors may not necessarily be exciting news for Sabres fans, however giving him regular starts should make a strong contribution to his overall development.

  • Also from Adams’ availability, when discussing his new leadership group, he touched on the contractual future of captain Kyle Okposo, who is in the last year of a seven-year, $42MM deal, saying the team had yet to discuss an extension with their veteran. That news, combined with some of the objective disappointment on both sides over the life of the contract, might seem to point to a parting of ways at the end of this year, however given the fact that the team named him their captain with just one year left on his contract, with other cornerstone options available, indicates that there is a chance the winger could be back. Any extension with Okposo surely won’t match his current deal, but if he can repeat on his impressive 21 goal, 45 point 2021-22 season, he should find his way to a relatively strong payday.
  • On the injury front, goaltender Malcolm Subban, who left last night’s Rochester preseason game with an injury, could be out for some time, Adams said. The team is still awaiting a further update on Subban. Forward Riley Sheahan will begin the season on injured-reserve as well, the only player expected to be there on the opening night roster, says Adams.

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