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Canadiens Place Alex Barre-Boulet On Waivers

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The Montreal Canadiens have placed winger Alex Barre-Boulet on waivers for the purpose of assignment to the AHL. Barre-Boulet signed a one-year, two-way contract with Montreal on July 1st and made the team out of training camp. He’s since filled a fourth-line role for Montreal’s first two games of the season, though he failed to record a point and served as a health scratch on Saturday.

Barre-Boulet has played in the AHL in each of the last six seasons, kicking his career off on an undrafted free-agent deal with the Syracuse Crunch in 2018. He potted a dazzling 68 points, split evenly, in 74 games as an AHL rookie, quickly earning a confident top-six role. He continued his hot scoring through the 2019-20 season, netting 56 points in 60 games and earning the first NHL contract of his career. But Barre-Boulet wasn’t able to find the same production through appearances with Tampa Bay in 2020-21 and 2021-22, ultimately scoring just eight points in his first 29 NHL games.

Seattle claimed Barre-Boulet from the Lightning early into the 2021-22 season but only iced him in two scoreless games before waiving him themselves, allowing Tampa to reclaim him. He was a Kraken for just 10 days, and would proceed the vacation with his first point-per-game season in the AHL, netting 63 points in 58 games. That point-per-game scoring continued through 2022-23, earning Barre-Boulet the first extended NHL stay of his career last season. But he stayed in his rut, netting just nine points in 36 games. A deal with Montreal this summer was supposed to bring a change of scenery capable of sparking Barre-Boulet’s career – which seemed possible when he made the Canadiens roster out of camp – but instead he finds himself on waivers for the sixth time in his career. He’s scored 302 points in 294 career AHL games and brings exciting upside to the AHL’s Laval Rocket, should he clear waivers.

Red Wings Place Ville Husso On Waivers

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The Detroit Red Wings have placed goaltender Ville Husso on waivers for the purpose of a loan to the AHL, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Husso is in the final year of a three-year, $14.25MM contract signed with Detroit in the summer of 2022. His $4.75MM cap hit is tied for the eighth-highest in Detroit.

Detroit’s plan to carry three goaltenders has been clear since they signed Cam Talbot to a two-year, $5MM contract on July 1st. Talbot joined a room already rife with competition between Alex Lyon and Husso. Lyon has been the odd-man-out in the early going, standing as the only Wings goalie to not yet start a game. Husso wasn’t inspiring in the matchup he received, allowing four goals on 14 shots and getting pulled for Talbot. That weak performance seems to be the spark behind his waiving today, despite Husso’s .940 save percentage through three pre-season games suggesting some upside.

The Red Wings will now move forward with Cam Talbot as their clear-cut starter, rewarding his 54 saves on 56 shots (.964) through two games so far. Lyon will step up as the team’s backup just a few months removed from winning the starting role over Husso, recording 21 wins and a .904 in 44 games last season. Meanwhile, Husso’s path to ice time won’t become any clearer if he heads to the minor leagues, with Grand Rapids currently led by top prospect Sebastian Cossa. Cossa managed one win and 64 saves on 68 shots (.941) through Grand Rapids’ first two games of the season this weekend, and has posted a .913 save percentage in each of the last three seasons. Even pitted against the near-$5MM man that is Husso, it’d be hard to award starts to any other Griffins goalie – only increasing the excitement around Detroit’s crowded goalie room.

Sharks Recall Jack Thompson, Place Macklin Celebrini On IR

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After a strong NHL debut, Sharks center Macklin Celebrini will have to wait a week for his second appearance.  The team announced today (Twitter link) that he has been placed on injured reserve; defenseman Jack Thompson was recalled from AHL San Jose to take his place on the roster.

Celebrini was the top pick in the draft back in June and after taking some time to think about his plans for this season, decided to forego the rest of his college eligibility and turn pro.  He didn’t see much preseason action playing just twice out of six games but that didn’t stop him from having a strong debut, one that saw him record two points.

Part of the reason he didn’t see much action in the exhibition season was that he was dealing with a nagging lower-body issue during training camp.  He’s now once again dealing with a lower-body injury, one that might be related to what he was going through in recent weeks.  With how early it is in the season, it makes sense to give Celebrini some rest now to try to eliminate the problem completely over having him play at less than full health.

As for Thompson, the 22-year-old is in the final year of his entry-level contract and is in his first full year with the Sharks after he was acquired from Tampa Bay at the trade deadline.  He got into three NHL appearances between the two squads last season and added 41 points in 62 AHL appearances.

While it might seem strange that a defenseman was brought up to replace a forward, San Jose had only been carrying six healthy blueliners on their active roster with Shakir Mukhamadullin and Marc-Edouard Vlasic both injured.  Thompson will now give them a bit of insurance on the back end while the Sharks still have 14 available forwards on their roster.

East Notes: Liljegren, Shesterkin, Volokhin, Brandsegg-Nygard

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While there has been some trade speculation surrounding Maple Leafs defenseman Timothy Liljegren, TSN’s Darren Dreger reports (Twitter link) that there is no imminent move on the horizon.  Toronto is currently carrying eight blueliners while also having offseason additions Jani Hakanpaa and Dakota Mermis on LTIR so their depth is in decent shape, something Dreger notes Toronto likes.  However, while having strong depth is one thing, having a healthy scratch making $3MM through next season isn’t ideal.  Still just 25, Liljegren has nearly 200 career NHL regular season games under his belt and is coming off a season that saw him collect 23 points in 55 games while logging nearly 20 minutes a night.  Accordingly, it wouldn’t be surprising to see some trade interest in him in the coming weeks, especially if a team gets hit with some injuries on the back end.  If not, they may still need to make a move in a few weeks as some of their injured players potentially return.

More from the Atlantic:

  • On the heels of Igor Shesterkin declining an eight-year, $88MM extension offer from the Rangers, Larry Brooks of the New York Post suggests that the goaltender is asking for $12MM per season. Recognizing the team might not go that high, the 28-year-old wants to be the highest-paid player on the team which means he might decline anything below the $11.643MM AAV that Artemi Panarin has on his deal.  Shesterkin has a career 2.42 GAA and a .921 SV% in 214 games at the NHL level and will soon be the highest-paid goalie in league history with the offer he declined already coming in higher than Carey Price’s $10.5MM per season.
  • Canadiens goaltending prospect Yevgeni Volokhin has been loaned to HK Sochi, per an announcement from the KHL club. SKA St. Petersburg acquired his rights earlier this week but will let the 19-year-old get his feet wet at the top Russian level elsewhere for the time being.  Montreal drafted Volokhin in the fifth round in 2023, going 144th overall.  He was one of the top netminders at their junior level last season, posting a 1.57 GAA with a .938 SV% in 31 games with Mamonty Yugry and has similar numbers (1.95 and .931 respectively) in eight appearances at the MHL level this year.
  • The Red Wings wanted to assign prospect Michael Brandsegg-Nygard to AHL Grand Rapids but the first rounder and his camp insisted on him being assigned back to Sweden, relays Norren’s Robin Lindgren (Twitter link). The 19-year-old spent last season with Mora in the second-tier Allsvenskan level where he had 18 points in 41 games but his rights are now held by SHL Skelleftea.  It’s believed that Brandsegg-Nygard feels that playing at the top level in Sweden will be better for his development than suiting up for the Griffins in the minors.

Avalanche Recall Chris Wagner

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On the heels of the Jonathan Drouin injury, Colorado was down to just 11 healthy forwards on their active roster, making a pending roster move quite likely.  That move was made today as the team announced (Twitter link) that Chris Wagner has been recalled from AHL Colorado.

The 33-year-old passed through waivers unclaimed last weekend but technically made the Avalanche’s season-opening roster.  His presence there was primarily for salary cap optimization purposes, however, and he was sent to the Eagles on Wednesday.

Last season, Wagner primarily played at the AHL level, notching eight goals and six assists in 21 games.  He also got into 13 games with the big club, picking up a goal and an assist along with 30 hits but averaged just 7:27 in playing time.  For his career, Wagner has 38 goals and 27 assists in 373 NHL appearances over parts of ten seasons.

Colorado has a full 23-player roster so a corresponding move needs to be made.  That will likely be Drouin landing on IR as he has already been ruled out for the next two games and is expected to be re-evaluated early next week.  Cap-wise, this won’t be an issue for the Avs who are well into LTIR with Gabriel Landeskog and Tucker Poolman currently on there.

Red Wings Recall Justin Holl, Jeff Petry Out Day-To-Day

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Oct. 12: According to a team announcement, the Red Wings officially summoned Holl from AHL Grand Rapids this morning.

Oct. 11: The Detroit Red Wings are expected to recall defender Justin Holl from the minor leagues as Jeff Petry (upper-body) deals with a day-to-day injury, shares Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press. Petry left the team’s Thursday night game partway through the second period, though it wasn’t clear when he sustained the injury. He recorded one shot, one hit, and a -1 in nine minutes of ice time. At the least, he is expected to miss Detroit’s Saturday game.

This move gives Holl another chance at earning a role with the Red Wings after failing to make the team out of training camp. That resulted in Holl being placed on waivers and sent to the minor leagues for the first time since the 2017-18 season when he played an integral role on the Calder Cup Championship-winning Toronto Marlies. Holl used that season to spring into the NHL, grabbing onto the seventh-defender role for the Maple Leafs in 2018-19 and earning an everyday role in 2019-20.

He’d record 285 games across six seasons with the Leafs – recording 11 goals, 82 points, and 150 penalty minutes. That wasn’t enough to hang onto his spot amid Toronto’s blue-line flux last summer, leading Holl to sign a three-year, $10.2MM deal with the Red Wings in 2023. He worked into 38 games with Detroit last season, netting five assists and 22 penalty minutes but failing to score. That poor performance foreshadowed the 32-year-old’s downfall, and he now finds himself grappling for any NHL minutes just over a year after signing his multi-year deal.

This injury doesn’t guarantee Holl’s path to a role. Wings head coach Derek Lalonde adds that the team is considering utilizing seven defenders – including Albert Johansson – until Petry returns. Johansson managed 21 points in 66 AHL games last season while emerging as a capable defender with an effective reach on his side of the red line. He survived Detroit’s training camp cuts and would be making his NHL debut, should Lalonde choose to deploy him.

Minor Transactions: 10/11/24

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With the AHL season getting underway tonight, we’ve seen a few minor moves made today as teams get their rosters in place.  Here’s a rundown of those transactions.

  • The Predators have returned goaltender Matt Murray to AHL Milwaukee, relays Alex Daugherty of The Tennessean (Twitter link). The 26-year-old was recalled on Wednesday with Juuse Saros listed as day-to-day so it appears that Saros should be good to at least dress as the backup on Saturday against Detroit.  Murray had a 3.02 GAA with a .896 SV% in 31 games in the minors last season and signed a one-year, two-way deal with Nashville this past summer.
  • The Oilers announced (Twitter link) that forward Carl Berglund has been assigned to AHL Bakersfield. The 24-year-old was injured to start the regular season and therefore couldn’t be sent down until being cleared to play.  As he didn’t spend any time on an NHL roster last season, Edmonton didn’t have any cap charge while he was up with them.  Berglund had 42 points in 51 ECHL appearances in 2023-24 while adding four points in a dozen games with AHL Bakersfield.
  • ECHL Cincinnati, an affiliate of the Maple Leafs, recently announced a pair of signings with NHL experience in goaltender Jon Gillies and defenseman Nikolai Knyzhov. Gillies didn’t play at all last season but has 35 NHL games and 184 AHL appearances under his belt; he was in training camp with Toronto.  Knyzhov, meanwhile, requested and was granted his release by San Jose in late June, walking away from a guaranteed $1.4MM salary in the process.  He was in camp with Pittsburgh and AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton but was cut both times.  The 26-year-old played in 10 games with the Sharks last season and 40 more with AHL San Jose but will now look to work his way back up from a lower level.

Panthers Recall Patrick Giles

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With the Panthers needing some extra depth up front in the wake of the Aleksander Barkov injury that will keep him out for a few weeks at least, the team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled forward Patrick Giles from AHL Charlotte.

The 24-year-old signed with Florida as an undrafted free agent back in 2022 following a four-year run at Boston College.  He has yet to play at the NHL level but took a step forward offensively last season, notching 13 goals and 10 assists in 66 games with the Checkers.

Giles was one of the final cuts at training camp for the Panthers after they gave him a long look in the preseason.  He led the team in scoring with two goals and four assists while suiting up in seven of eight games as they gave him a chance to earn a spot on the fourth line.  He didn’t get it then but he should get that opportunity now.

While Florida had two open roster spots and thus technically didn’t need a corresponding move to open one up, there still needed to be a corresponding transaction for cap reasons.  Prior to the recall, the team only had $556K in cap space, not enough to afford Giles at his $775K price tag.  With that in mind, PuckPedia reports (Twitter link) that center Tomas Nosek has been transferred to LTIR, meaning he’ll be out for at least the first 10 games and 24 days of the season (the placement can be retroactive to the start of the year) while freeing up enough space to add Giles to the roster.

East Notes: Kapanen, Grimaldi, Thompson

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After a strong training camp, Canadiens center prospect Oliver Kapanen was a surprise inclusion on the opening night roster. The 21-year-old pivot sat in the press box for their season opener against the Maple Leafs but made his NHL debut in last night’s loss to the Bruins, recording an assist and a shot on goal in 10:22 of ice time.

The 2021 second-round pick is demonstrating he has a decently high offensive ceiling. After all, he did show up in a big way for Liiga’s KalPa last year, posting 34 points (14 G, 20 A) in 51 games. That’s strong production for a youngster in a European pro league, and tacking on his six goals in eight games for the Finns at the 2024 World Championship, it’s clear he’s knocking on the door of full-time NHL minutes.

But there isn’t an extremely clear path to them yet, with Nick Suzuki, Kirby Dach, Jake Evans, and Christian Dvorak down the middle. It’s foreseeable that Kapanen won’t spend the whole year on the NHL roster. While they would typically be required to first offer him back to his European team (now Timrå IK of the Swedish Hockey League) due to transfer regulations for some international non-first-round picks, that may not be the case. He could spend the rest of the season on assignment to AHL Laval if he spends at least 60 days on Montreal’s roster to open the campaign, as Marco D’Amico of Responsible Gambler pointed out. That’s a decently likely scenario with Rafaël Harvey-Pinard and Patrik Laine facing long-term injuries. Kapanen would likely play out the rest of the year in the minors once one is ready to return.

Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference:

  • The Blue Jackets’ AHL affiliate, the Cleveland Monsters, have landed minor-league scoring star Rocco Grimaldi on a 25-game tryout, per Aaron Portzline of The Athletic. He’ll suit up with the Monsters to start the year while he continues his quest to land a two-way NHL contract. The undersized 31-year-old last saw NHL minutes with the Predators in the 2021-22 campaign, but he’s been an adequate depth offensive presence when given the chance, with 30 goals and 37 assists in 203 career NHL appearances. The former second-round pick of the Panthers has posted over a point per game in three straight AHL campaigns, including 73 in 72 games last year with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves.
  • Capitals netminder Logan Thompson has returned to the team today after missing a few days while on personal leave, reports Sammi Silber of The Hockey News. The Caps don’t open their season until tomorrow, so it’s unclear if their offseason trade pickup from Vegas will get the opening-night start over resident No. 1 Charlie Lindgren. Thompson made a career-high 42 starts for the Golden Knights last year, posting a 25-14-5 record with a .908 SV%, 2.70 GAA, one shutout, and 6.5 GSAA.

Evening Notes: Boqvist, Katchouk, Megna

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The Florida Panthers have announced that defenseman Adam Boqvist will not return to tonight’s game due to injury after he was hit in the face by a clearing attempt in the first period. The 24-year-old signed a one-year two-way deal with the Panthers on July 9th after he was bought out of his contract by the Columbus Blue Jackets at the end of June.

Boqvist was hoping to rebuild his value with the Panthers after he struggled with health and consistency during his first five NHL seasons. The eighth overall pick in 2018 was a central part of the Seth Jones trade to Chicago in 2021 but has never been able to play more than 52 games in an NHL season. Boqvist’s ailment will likely remind people of his long injury history, but there is no news yet on his status going forward.

In other evening notes:

  • The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins have signed forward Boris Katchouk to an American Hockey League contract for the upcoming season. The former second-round pick spent the majority of last season in the NHL with the Ottawa Senators and Chicago Blackhawks, posting seven goals and six assists in 59 NHL games. The 26-year-old has played 176 NHL games over the past three seasons but will have to battle his way back to the NHL after he was unable to secure an NHL contract this summer.
  • The Colorado Eagles of the American Hockey League have announced that their captain for the upcoming season will be veteran forward Jayson Megna. The 34-year-old has spent parts of 10 seasons in the NHL but played in just one NHL game last year with the Boston Bruins. The Fort Lauderdale, Florida native is very familiar with the Eagles having spent four seasons in the organization, shuttling back and forth between the Eagles and the Colorado Avalanche.

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