Headlines

Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

AHL

AHL Shuffle: 11/13/21

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

As always, Saturday is a very busy day in the NHL with 26 teams set to play.  Accordingly, there should be plenty of roster movement throughout the day which we’ll keep track of here.

Atlantic Division

  • The Senators announced (Twitter link) that they have recalled defensemen Jacob Bernard-Docker and Maxence Guenette along with winger Andrew Agozzino from AHL Belleville. The recalls leave Ottawa with no more healthy blueliners in the minors to recall.  The Sens currently have three rearguards in COVID protocol with Nikita Zaitsev being cleared today while Artem Zub and Erik Brannstrom both suffered injuries earlier this week.  Later in the day, the Sens returned Guenette to Belleville to make room on the roster for center Shane Pinto who was activated off IR.
  • The Panthers have sent defenseman Olli Juolevi to Charlotte of the AHL on a conditioning stint, per the AHL’s transactions log. The 23-year-old was acquired from Vancouver in training camp but has yet to make his debut due to an undisclosed injury.  The conditioning stint can last up to three games.

Metropolitan Division

  • Just days after posting his first career NHL shutout, Capitals goaltender Zach Fucale is heading back to AHL Hershey, per a team announcement.  The 26-year-old – who was the first goalie in franchise history to record a shutout in his debut – has a 1.73 GAA with a .933 SV% with the Bears this season.  Fucale’s demotion suggests that Vitek Vanecek is ready to return from the upper-body injury that caused him to miss the last two games.

Central Division

  • The Predators announced that they have recalled forward Cole Smith from AHL Milwaukee while sending winger Rocco Grimaldi down to the Admirals.  Smith made his NHL debut last season and has three goals and three assists in nine minor league contests this season.  As for Grimaldi, he cleared waivers on Friday after being held off the scoresheet in his five games with Nashville this season and will look to get back on track with Milwaukee.
  • The Stars are recalling goaltender Jake Oettinger from AHL Texas, reports Saad Yousuf of The Athletic (Twitter link).  Braden Holtby is listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury that has been lingering since training camp so Oettinger will serve as the backup for Dallas for the time being.

Pacific Division

 

This post will be updated throughout the day.

Minor Transactions: 11/12/21

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Early November is not exactly a prime time for transactions – trades, signings, and loans alike – but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t any at all. In fact, a few notable players are on the move, all from different levels and for different reasons.

  • Cody Goloubef and the Ottawa Senators can’t seem to stay away from one another. The veteran defenseman, an Ontario native, was first acquired by the Senators in a trade with the Boston Bruins in 2018-19. He re-signed with the club for the the 2019-20 season, though he was dealt away to Detroit late in the year. Goloubef then turned around and signed another one-year deal with Ottawa and served as a veteran leader for AHL Belleville last season. After 29 NHL games and 61 AHL games with the organization over the past three years, Goloubef did not re-sign with the team this summer and seemed that he could either be heading elsewhere or perhaps retiring. As it turns out, the answer was neither. Goloubef has signed a PTO with Belleville, the club announced, and that may just be the beginning. Given the ongoing depth issues that the Senators entire system is facing on the blue line, Goloubef could just be getting his legs under him in the AHL before signing with Ottawa. Either way, this tryout seems to be a precursor to yet another contract with the Senators. Goloubef, 31, has a decade of pro experience, including 160 NHL games, not to mention Olympic experience, so the club could do far worse with an in-season signing.
  • By all accounts, Daniel D’Amato is not officially a Vegas Golden Knights prospect, but the team is treating him like one. D’Amato was a training camp standout for the Knights this fall, but left both Vegas and Henderson camps without a contract, returning to the OHL’s Erie Otters. Yet, after a strong start to his junior season with seven points in 11 games, D’Amato was suddenly making his pro debut last knight for the AHL’s Silver Knights. With some reports calling this a call-up but no record of a contract, it remains unclear under what conditions D’Amato has joined the Knights organization. What is certain is that the club likes the two-way winger and he could be in play for an entry-level contract before too long.
  • Nico Gross was once considered an up-and-coming NHL prospect. The Swiss defenseman was a standout on the international stage and impressed by making the jump from the Swiss juniors to the OHL and producing right away. The New York Rangers used a fourth-round pick on the talented blue liner in 2018 and at the time it was regarded as a high-ceiling selection. However, by 2020 Gross had flatlined in his development and the Rangers opted not to extend him an entry-level contract. Despite some speculation that perhaps another team might sign him, Gross returned to Switzerland and signed a two-year deal with powerhouse NLA club EV Zug in 2020. This was considered a safe play with the 2020-21 AHL season in doubt and Gross needing consistent ice time at 21. Again though, the young defenseman has failed to improve. Rather than using two years in Europe to prepare for another run at the NHL, Gross has done little through 64 games and was even demoted for nine games last season. The team clearly still believes in his potential, as Gross has signed a two-year extension, the team announced. What the move really says though is that Gross does not believe he can land a deal in North America and it’s starting to seem like maybe he never will.

San Jose Sharks Remove Seven Players From COVID Protocol

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

As suggested by the team’s AHL assignments this morning, the San Jose Sharks have removed seven players from the COVID protocol. Kevin Labanc, Erik Karlsson, Timo Meier, Jacob Middleton, Matthew Nieto, Radim Simek, and Marc-Edouard Vlasic have all been removed from the protocol and added back to the active roster. Head coach Bob Boughner, head trainer Ray Tufts and equipment manager Mike Aldrich have also all been removed from the protocol.

Sasha Chmelevski, Joel Kellman, Artemi Kniazev, John Leonard, Ryan Merkley, Jaycob Megna, and Nicolas Meloche have all been assigned to the AHL. Nicholas Merkley, who had also been recalled with this group, remains with San Jose for the time being.

It’s obviously a huge moment for the Sharks, as they receive a good portion of their regular lineup back in time for tomorrow’s game against the Colorado Avalanche. The team is sitting at 7-5-1 on the season and is still well within striking range of the division playoff spots. Getting back key options like Labanc, Karlsson and Meier will only help them as they try to chase down the teams ahead of them.

Activating the group from the protocol is also a good sign that the team has this outbreak behind them, or at least contained. The activated players were actually able to skate in recent days, though they would not have been able to join the team in Canada given their recent positive tests. They’ll now be able to join the group in Denver, nearly two weeks after originally entering the protocol.

AHL Shuffle: 11/12/21

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Five games on a Friday for the NHL, including the seemingly unstoppable duo of Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid visiting the Buffalo Sabres. The pair have now combined for 50 points through the first 12 Oilers games, and are joined by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins at the top of the league’s assist table. As those teams and the rest prepare for action, we’ll keep track of all the minor league shuffling:

Atlantic Division

  • Oskar Steen has earned a recall with his strong play in the AHL. The Boston Bruins have announced that the hard-working forward has been promoted after getting off to stellar start in Providence with a team-leading ten points in seven games. Several Bruins forwards are not playing at full strength and others are under-performing, leaving opportunity open for Steen’s energetic style to make a mark.

Metropolitan Division

Central Division

  • The Minnesota Wild have sent Kyle Rau back to the AHL for the time being, opening up a roster spot on an off day. The team plays tomorrow night in Seattle, and it seems likely that there will be a recall of some sort before that happens. Rau, 29, has played in three games for Minnesota this season.
  • The Dallas Stars have officially sent Blake Comeau and Tanner Kero to the AHL after they cleared waivers today, recalling Jacob Peterson in their place. Peterson, 22, scored one goal in six games with the Stars earlier this year and has been a force at the minor league level so far.
  • Rocco Grimaldi, the other player who cleared waivers today, has been assigned to the AHL by the Nashville Predators. Grimaldi hasn’t played in the AHL since 2018-19 but was a very strong contributor the last time he was down there.

Pacific Division

  • The San Jose Sharks might be out of the woods with their COVID situation, as Sasha Chmelevski, Joel Kellman, Artemi Kniazev, John Leonard, Jaycob Megna, and Ryan Merkley have all been returned to the San Jose Barracuda. The Sharks were able to hold their heads above water over the last several games and will now try to get back on track for a playoff spot in the division.
  • With Tucker Poolman likely facing a suspension, the Vancouver Canucks have recalled Madison Bowey from Abbotsford. The group was run out of the building last night by the Avalanche, but now must try and regroup for a game against the Golden Knights tomorrow night.

This page will be updated throughout the day

Artem Zub Leaves Game With Upper-Body Injury

at CDT | by 1 Comment

Things continue to get worse in terms of the amount of personnel available for the Ottawa Senators. Defenseman Artem Zub left Thursday’s game against Los Angeles with an upper-body injury, and head coach D.J. Smith says there’s “no update” on his status.

Ottawa is already without nine players due to COVID-19 protocol, including defensemen Nikita Zaitsev, Josh Brown, Victor Mete, and Nick Holden. The team is down to just nine healthy defensemen under NHL contracts now, as Jacob Bernard-Docker, Maxence Guenette, and Jonathan Aspirot remain with AHL Belleville.

The team’s depth is stretched extremely thin, as many young players are now getting NHL time sooner than expected. 2019 first-round selection Lassi Thomson made his NHL debut Thursday in place of Zaitsev.

If Zub is to miss any period of time, Bernard-Docker is the obvious choice to come up from Belleville. The 21-year-old right-shot defenseman does not require waivers and got into five games with the Senators at the tail end of last season.

Zub himself was having a great start to the 2021-22 season, notching five assists in 12 games while working his way up to the team’s top pairing with Thomas Chabot. He’s been Ottawa’s most responsible defenseman since joining the team prior to 2020-21, now averaging nearly 23 minutes a night this season.

Alex Formenton, Matt Murray, Nikita Zaitsev Placed In COVID Protocol

at CDT | by 1 Comment

5:27 pm: Per the Senators’ communications team, defenseman Nikita Zaitsev has also been placed in COVID-19 protocol just a half-hour ahead of Thursday’s game. Lassi Thomson will make his NHL debut tonight in place of Zaitsev.

9:35 am: Another day, another pair of unavailable players for the Ottawa Senators. The team has announced that Alex Formenton and Matt Murray have been placed in the COVID protocol. Andrew Agozzino, Dillon Heatherington, and Lassi Thomson have all been recalled from the AHL as tonight’s game is still currently scheduled to proceed.

Formenton and Murray join a growing list of players in the protocol for Ottawa, which also includes Connor Brown, Victor Mete, Austin Watson, Nick Holden, Dylan Gambrell, Josh Brown, and assistant coach Jack Capuano. That is a huge chunk of the team, including several important pieces. The Senators are scheduled to play the Los Angeles Kings this evening, before welcoming in the Pittsburgh Penguins and Calgary Flames for a back-to-back over the weekend.

The team did not confirm whether Formenton and Murray tested positive, only that they have been entered into the protocol.

In terms of call-ups, Thomson is certainly an interesting one given his experience to this point. The 21-year-old defenseman has yet to play a game at the NHL level, but is showing well in the minor leagues. Selected 19th overall in 2019, he has two points in six games with the Belleville Senators this season.

AHL Shuffle: 11/11/21

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

It’s a very busy night around the NHL, with 11 games on the schedule. As we enter mid-November, teams are starting to understand whether they will be truly able to compete for the Stanley Cup or whether this will be another rebuilding year. As teams try to change that fate or learn to accept it, we’ll keep track of all the minor shuffling.

Atlantic Division

  • The Montreal Canadiens made the recalls of Mattias Norlinder and Ryan Poehling official, with the latter set to make his season debut for the team. Norlinder meanwhile finished his AHL conditioning loan and now will have to either stay with the Canadiens or be assigned back overseas–he has a European Assignment Clause in his contract that would stop him from staying at the AHL level.

Metropolitan Division

  • The Carolina Hurricanes have assigned Jamieson Rees to the Chicago Wolves, after he started the year on the injured non-roster list. Reese had meniscus surgery on his right knee last month but appears to be nearing a return to action. The 20-year-old forward was picked in the second round in 2019 and had 14 points in 29 games for the Wolves last season.

Central Division

Pacific Division

This page will be updated throughout the day

Leo Komarov Expected To Be Placed On Unconditional Waivers

at CDT | by 5 Comments

In something of a surprise move, Arthur Staple of The Athletic reports that veteran forward Leo Komarov is expected to be on unconditional waivers tomorrow. The move would be to terminate Komarov’s contract, allowing him to return to the KHL where he would join SKA St. Petersburg. Komarov never did report to Bridgeport after being assigned to the AHL, but by terminating his deal it would mean forfeiting the remainder of his $2MM salary for this season.

Importantly, it would also clear Komarov’s entire $3MM cap hit off the books for the Islanders. Assigning him to the AHL only cleared $1.125MM, meaning New York and GM Lou Lamoriello would gain some extra cap space should this termination go through. After trading away Johnny Boychuk’s deal a few days ago, the Islanders are already under the cap and accruing cap space every day. Moving on from Komarov would give them even more cap space and help to accommodate a midseason acquisition.

The simple fact is that Komarov is no longer effective enough to be a full-time option at the NHL level. The 34-year-old forward recorded just 11 points in 52 games last season (regular season and playoffs combined), with only a single goal. While he’s always been a good defensive player and a physical presence, willing to hit just about anything that moves, his time as a realistic NHL option is over. A return to the KHL makes sense at this point, especially if he can recoup at least most of his remaining NHL salary.

Depending on what he signs in the KHL he may be an unrestricted free agent again next summer, but it seems unlikely that we’ll ever see Komarov as a regular in the NHL again. If that’s true, he leaves with 491 career regular season games, 63 goals, 170 points and 1,160 hits.

Travis Hamonic Assigned To AHL

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Vancouver Canucks have officially assigned Travis Hamonic to the AHL as they head out on a three-game road trip to the U.S. As Ben Kuzma of Postmedia points out on Twitter, Hamonic is not considered fully vaccinated, so if he traveled with the team he would face quarantine restrictions upon his return to Canada. Instead, the team has recalled Jack Rathbone for the trip and placed Luke Schenn on injured reserve.

In this case, Hamonic had already cleared waivers before the season began so won’t need to go through that process again until he plays in 10 games at the NHL level or spends 30 days on the active roster. The veteran defenseman has been in the lineup four times so far, playing a season-high 19:50 in last night’s overtime loss against the Anaheim Ducks.

Rathbone meanwhile isn’t just some last-minute call-up. The 22-year-old defenseman has already played eight games for Vancouver this season and appears to be a big part of their future on the back end. He recorded one point in two games for Abbotsford, but will get back on the road with the big club and receive another opportunity to show what he can do at the NHL level.

One thing to remember about the Hamonic demotion is that while in the AHL, only $1.125MM of his $3MM cap hit is buried. The team has Tyler Motte traveling with them as he approaches a return from LTIR, meaning the salary cap dance will get even more complicated in the coming weeks for Vancouver.

AHL Shuffle: 11/10/21

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

It’s a quiet Wednesday with just three games on tap around the NHL, meaning the AHL transactions page might not be very busy. Still, as always we’ll keep track of all the minor moves up and down as teams shuffle their lineup around.

Atlantic Division

  • Jack Studnicka has been sent back to the Providence Bruins of the AHL, where he is expected to play tonight against the Springfield Thunderbirds. The young Bruins forward has played three games for Providence and four games for Boston this season, bouncing back and forth every few days.
  • The Tampa Bay Lightning have returned Andrej Sustr to the AHL, now that Mikhail Sergachev has served his two-game suspension. Sustr has played in eight games for the team this season, recording one goal.
  • The Florida Panthers have returned Chris Gibson to the Charlotte Checkers, suggesting Sergei Bobrovsky is healthy enough to return for the team. Gibson is not expected to contribute much for the Panthers this season, but is a handy insurance option to have around given he has a handful of games at the NHL level.

Metropolitan Division

Central Division

  • After activating Isaak Phillips from the COVID protocol today, the Chicago Blackhawks have returned him to the AHL. The young defenseman has played three games this season for Chicago, despite having just 31 AHL contests under his belt to this point.

Pacific Division

This page will be updated throughout the day

Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

scroll to top