Colorado Avalanche Recall Andreas Englund
The Colorado Avalanche announced that they have recalled defenseman Andreas Englund from the Colorado Eagles, their AHL affiliate. No corresponding move has been announced. The transaction brings Colorado to 22 of a possible 23 skaters, according to their official roster page.
Englund, 26, has been in the Colorado organization since the start of the 2021-22 season, but has never played a game with the Avalanche. The defenseman isn’t much of an offensive force, coming into today with just three points in 12 AHL games to start the season, but has certainly brought a physical element to his game, recording 38 penalty minutes in those same 12 games.
Should Englund find his way into the lineup with the Avalanche, it would mark his first NHL action since 2019-20, when he played in 24 games as a member of the Ottawa Senators. Once a fairly well-regarded prospect with Ottawa, a second-round pick back in 2014, Englund spent four seasons in the Senators organization before departing North America entirely for the 2020-21 season. He would return for the 2021-22 season, signing on with the Eagles, where he impressed with 12 points, a +1 rating, and a whopping 103 penalty minutes in just 57 games, good enough to earn him a two-way NHL contract for this season.
Pittsburgh Penguins Re-Assign Mark Friedman To AHL
The Pittsburgh Penguins announced this afternoon that they have re-assigned defnemsen Mark Friedman to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL. No corresponding transaction was announced. The move leaves Pittsburgh with 22 out of a possible 23 men on its roster.
Friedman, 26, has spent the bulk of his time this season at the AHL level, recalled to Pittsburgh for the first time on Friday prior to today’s re-assignment. The defenseman has played 10 games this season, all with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, where he’s tallied two points, both assists, as well as a +2 rating. Friedman spent all of 2021-22 in the Penguins organization, suiting up for 26 games in the NHL, recording five points. The team signed Friedman to a two-year, one-way contract extension back in March of this year.
The veteran joined the Pittsburgh organization back in February of 2021 via waiver claim after the Philadelphia Flyers, who drafted him, chose to waive him. Interestingly, Friedman has spent his entire professional career in the state of Pennsylvania; prior to the claim, Friedman played parts of five seasons in the Flyers organization, primarily with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, their AHL affiliate, as well as 11 games with Philadelphia spread over three seasons.
Los Angeles Kings Place Brendan Lemieux On IR; Recall Jacob Moverare, Lias Andersson
Prior to departing for a four game road trip, the Los Angeles Kings have made a flurry of roster moves on this Sunday afternoon, the team announced. First, forward Brendan Lemieux has been placed on IR with a lower-body injury. The team has also recalled forward Lias Andersson and defenseman Jacob Moverare from the Ontario Reign, their AHL affiliate. Finally, they have also assigned defenseman Brandt Clarke to Ontario on a conditioning loan.
It’s unclear what exactly the nature of Lemieux’s injury is, however the forward did play in the first two periods of yesterday’s game against the Detroit Red Wings, but failed to return for the third period. As LA Kings Insider’s Zach Dooley mentions, Kings head coach Todd McLellan said the winger could be out a “little while.” Though he’s only tallied three points, all assists, in 15 games so far this season, Lemieux has been a welcomed, physical presence in the Kings lineup, notching 28 penalty minutes already on the young season.
Moverare, 24, has bounced between Los Angeles and Ontario quite a bit the past two seasons. The Swedish defenseman made his NHL debut in 2021-22, skating in 19 games for the Kings, but has yet to play in the NHL in 2022-23, despite being on the Kings roster at times. In eight games with Ontario this season, Moverare has a pair of assists. As for Andersson, the former seventh-overall pick has yet to skate in the NHL so far this season either, but has been off to a hot start in the AHL, scoring five goals to go with four assists in just 11 games. While he’s not the physical presence that Lemieux is, if Andersson can carry his solid play into the NHL should he get the opportunity, it could be an intriguing addition for the equally hot Kings.
As to the 19-year-old Clarke, he has not played in the Kings’ previous five games, but not due to injury. The defenseman’s play his been alright through his first nine NHL games, however after scratching him and not making lineup changes since, the Kings have turned in a 4-0-1 record. Although Clarke is not eligible to be sent to the AHL full-time (as he’s still junior eligible), Los Angeles was able to utilize a 14-day conditioning loan, allowing him to get into regular, professional game action with the Reign and still be eligible to rejoin the Kings in two weeks. In that time, Ontario will play six games, which includes a matchup with the San Diego Gulls this afternoon, which Clarke is eligible to play in.
Buffalo Sabres Loan Kale Clague To AHL
The Buffalo Sabres are inching back to full health after a slew of injuries to their defense corps. Today, the team loaned Kale Clague to the AHL’s Rochester Americans, as announced by the team’s PR department.
The Buffalo News’ Mike Harrington notes that Clague’s return to Rochester suggests that Henri Jokiharju is ready to play in Buffalo’s next game, a Tuesday night matchup against Vancouver. Jokiharju skated in a regular contact jersey during Saturday’s morning skate after missing three and a half weeks with a face injury.
In his time up with the big club this season, the 24-year-old Clague recorded an assist, a -2 rating, and a 15:49 average time on ice in seven contests in place of Jokiharju. He had been up with the team since October 23, a few days after Jokiharju sustained his injury.
Clague spent most of his time playing the right side alongside rookie Owen Power, directly replacing Jokiharju’s spot in the lineup. Despite some hiccups, the pairing did well together, generating a good amount of chances for the Sabres.
Columbus Blue Jackets Activate Joona Luoto; Assign To AHL
One of the more notable European free agent signings will get his first taste of North American pro hockey this season in the AHL. The Columbus Blue Jackets activated Joona Luoto from season-opening injured reserve on Sunday morning and subsequently assigned him to the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters, according to a team release.
Luoto, 25, sustained a lower-body injury during the preseason and missed the first month of the regular season. Now healthy, Luoto heads to a Cleveland team that’s only been held back by goaltending, accomplishing a 7-5-0 record with many key scorers hovering around a point-per-game pace. Led by a nice blend of burgeoning Blue Jackets prospects such as Kirill Marchenko and Trey Fix-Wolansky, as well as seasoned AHL veterans like Brendan Gaunce, Luoto should provide solid reinforcements to Cleveland. Given the multitude of strong performers already in Cleveland, though, it will be a challenge for Luoto to work his way back up the organizational depth chart into a potential call.
The product of Tampere, Finland spent last season with his hometown team in the Liiga, capturing a championship and the playoffs’ best player award with 17 points in 14 games. Luoto last appeared in the NHL in 2019-20, skating in 16 games with the Winnipeg Jets. He’s still looking for his first NHL point. Across the 2019-20 and 2020-21 campaigns with AHL Manitoba, the bulky winger collected two goals and six assists for eight points in 29 games.
Ottawa Senators Recall Jacob Larsson
The Ottawa Senators recalled defenseman Jacob Larsson from the AHL’s Belleville Senators Sunday morning, according to the team’s communications department. The transaction comes after Thomas Chabot sustained an injury in yesterday’s 4-1 road win in Philadelphia.
Ottawa did have an extra healthy defenseman on the roster in Nikita Zaitsev, but he was waived last Wednesday after seeing his role diminish dramatically to start the season. He did clear waivers but has yet to be assigned to the minors. Larsson comes up instead, bringing 165 games of NHL experience with Anaheim to the active roster.
However, Larsson saw his semi-full-time NHL role disappear last season, playing just six games with the Ducks compared to 55 with AHL San Diego. He was waived and assigned to Belleville to begin the 2022-23 campaign, where he has two assists and a -10 rating in 12 games.
As for Chabot, the length of his absence is unknown as of last night. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman did note that if Chabot misses any meaningful length of time, it could speed up Ottawa’s already well-established desire to acquire a defenseman via trade to upgrade their blue line. The team is yet again lagging behind expectations, sitting last in the Atlantic Division with a 5-8-1 record. Injuries have certainly been a factor in their sluggish start.
TSN’s Bruce Garrioch notes that Larsson’s recall signifies that Chabot will likely miss at least tomorrow’s game against the New York Islanders.
Minor Transactions: 11/12/22
It’s been an eventful day throughout the NHL so far with plenty more to come. Several games took place this afternoon, including Claude Giroux‘s return to Philadelphia with much more continuing into tonight. The Toronto Maple Leafs honored legendary defenseman Borje Salming in a touching tribute before taking on the struggling Vancouver Canucks, both teams looking to make a statement. Meanwhile, down in New Jersey, the Devils look to make it nine in a row against the Arizona Coyotes, but will have to do so without their top three goaltenders.
Even with the exciting day in the NHL, there are a few other moves worthy of reporting and we’ll keep track of them here:
- Anaheim Ducks forward Sam Carrick, who had been loaned to the team’s AHL affiliate, the San Diego Gulls, on a conditioning loan back on November 1st, appears to have been recalled by Anaheim. Although unconfirmed, the AHL’s transactions page lists Carrick as recalled on today’s date, seeming to be a good bet the veteran forward will be rejoining the Ducks soon. The forward has been recovering from left hip surgery he had back in May, and wasn’t expected to rejoin the team until sometime in November. Carrick signed a two-year, $850,000 AAV extension with the Ducks after playing a career-high 64 games in 2021-22.
- The Grand Rapids Griffins have returned forward Trenton Bliss on loan to the Toledo Walleye of the ECHL. Bliss, 24, is playing in only his second professional season, finishing up a four-year stay at Michigan Tech last season, where he had 40 points in 36 games. Bliss didn’t record a point over his four games with Grand Rapids, but does have a goal and an assist in three games for Toledo.
- The Belleville Senators have recalled goaltender Logan Flodell from his loan to the Allen Americans of the ECHL. A longtime veteran of the WHL, Flodell moved on to Acadia University for the 2018-19 season, where he played parts of three seasons before turning pro at the end of 2021-22. The 25-year-old played in three games with Belleville last year in addition to 19 ECHL games split between the Reading Royals and South Carolina Stingrays. This season, Flodell has played just three games in net for Allen, posting a .909 save-percentage and 2.70 goals-against.
This page will be updated throughout the day.
Predators Recall Juuso Parssinen, Assign Jordan Gross To AHL
Juuso Parssinen’s strong start in the minors has earned him his first NHL opportunity as the team announced that they’ve recalled the forward from AHL Milwaukee. To make room for him on the roster, the Predators assigned defenseman Jordan Gross to the Admirals.
Parssinen is in his first full season in North America after getting a taste of AHL action late last season when he played in nine games during Milwaukee’s playoff run. The 21-year-old is tied for third in scoring for the Admirals with two goals and seven assists through his first ten games which is certainly appealing to a Nashville squad that has averaged just 2.71 goals per contest through their first 14 games this season while sitting 29th in power play percentage.
As for Gross, his demotion is a bit of a curious one. It’s not for a lack of production, as the 27-year-old has two goals in three games with the Preds this season while picking up seven points in six contests with Milwaukee. The move also leaves Nashville with just six healthy blueliners and 15 forwards on their active roster, a combination teams don’t like to stick with for long. Accordingly, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Gross or another defender recalled in the coming days with a forward going down to balance things out a little.
Colorado Recalls Jayson Megna
With Shane Bowers suffering an injury early in his NHL debut on Thursday, the Avalanche needed to make a move to recall another forward for their game tonight against Carolina. That move has now been made as the team announced (Twitter link) that Jayson Megna has been recalled from AHL Colorado.
Megna is no stranger to being shuffled back and forth this season as this is already his fourth recall and has been sent back down within two days each time. Despite the limited time on the NHL roster, the 32-year-old has played in three games this season with the Avs already, logging 5:33 per contest on the fourth line. He also has three goals and three assists in nine games with the Eagles.
It’s worth noting that Colorado entered today with just $500K in LTIR space, per CapFriendly. Even though Megna’s on a league minimum contract, that’s not enough room to work him in. Accordingly, they had to transfer another one of their injured players to LTIR, joining Darren Helm who was recently put on there. Gabriel Landeskog and Valeri Nichushkin were the logical candidates on that front since both will miss the required minimum of 10 games and 24 days and CapFriendly reports (Twitter link) that it is Landeskog that has been moved to LTIR.
Columbus Blue Jackets Recall Jake Christiansen; Re-Assign David Jiricek
Just hours after being recalled under emergency conditions, 2022 sixth-overall pick David Jiricek finds himself back in the AHL. The Columbus Blue Jackets announced Friday afternoon that the team has recalled defenseman Jake Christiansen from the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters, re-assigning Jiricek there in his place.
The move comes hours after Columbus announced injury updates regarding defensemen Zach Werenski (out for season), Nick Blankenburg (two months), and Erik Gudbranson (day-to-day) forced Columbus to recall three defensemen from Cleveland under emergency conditions, including Jiricek. Gavin Bayreuther and Marcus Bjork, the other two emergency recalls, remain on the active roster.
Columbus does not play until tomorrow night against the New York Islanders, so there’s a chance this could be a paper transaction to get Jiricek into Cleveland’s game tonight against Rochester before returning to the Blue Jackets tomorrow.
It could also be a chance for Christiansen to get some NHL looks in 2022-23 after playing eight games last season, and recording his first NHL goal. He’s off to a bit of a tampered offensive start with the Monsters, recording four assists through 11 games, but he is coming off a 45-point campaign in the minors last year.