Minor Transactions: 10/11/24
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
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
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
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.
Canadiens Reassign Three Players
Oct. 7: The Habs returned Condotta, Gignac, and Trudeau to Laval last night, the team announced Monday morning.
Oct. 5: Several teams today have promoted players from the AHL in advance of their final preseason game tonight. Montreal is the latest to do so as they’ve recalled forwards Brandon Gignac and Lucas Condotta along with defenseman William Trudeau from AHL Laval per the NHL’s Media Portal.
Gignac spent most of last season in the minors but saw his AHL contract converted to a two-year, two-way NHL deal in February. He got into seven games with Montreal last season, scoring his first NHL goal. Meanwhile, in Laval, he had 19 goals and 36 assists in 61 games.
Condotta, meanwhile, has now been recalled for the second time since clearing waivers less than a week ago. The 26-year-old was held off the scoresheet in three appearances with the Canadiens last season while adding 19 points in 65 contests for the Rocket. Condotta, a full-time forward, wound up taking some shifts as a defenseman last weekend when the Canadiens were down to just four available to them early in a preseason game against Toronto.
As for Trudeau, the 21-year-old has yet to see NHL action in his first two professional seasons. Instead, he has played exclusively with Laval and put up eight goals and 16 assists in 70 games in 2023-24.
Meanwhile, the team revealed earlier today (Twitter link) that blueliner Kaiden Guhle will play his first preseason game after undergoing an appendectomy last month, causing him to miss their first five contests.
As for the other three, they will likely be returned to Laval before Monday’s deadline to submit season-opening cap-compliant rosters to the NHL.
East Notes: Mateychuk, Labanc, Meneghin
In their lone roster cut of the morning, the Columbus Blue Jackets have loaned top prospect Denton Mateychuk to the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters. Their camp roster now sits at 28 players. Mateychuk has been a standout of Columbus’ training camp, standing as the final defenseman on the roster with no NHL experience until this cut. He led the Moose Jaw Warriors to a WHL Championship last year, totaling 105 points across just 72 games. Eight defenders remain on Columbus’ roster, including top youngster David Jiricek and recent trade acquisition Jordan Harris.
Mateychuk has been a top prospect since he was young, making the jump to juniors at just 16. He earned a full-time WHL role in 2021-22 and scored 64 points in 65 games as a rookie. That point-per-game scoring carried through, ultimately earning Mateychuk 215 points in 203 career games in Moose Jaw. He showed prowess in all three zones, even serving as the team’s captain in his final two years. While his professional career will start in the minors, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Mateychuk receive an NHL look soon.
Other notes from around the league:
- The Columbus Blue Jackets recently signed preseason-star Kevin Labanc off of his professional try-out with the New Jersey Devils, though that wasn’t because of any lack of effort on New Jersey’s part. The Devils reportedly offered Labanc the same contract he signed in Columbus, but would have needed to assign him to the AHL before guaranteeing him an everyday role, shares James Nichols of NJ Hockey Now. Labanc opted for the open role in Columbus, and will now join one of the league’s youngest rosters. He scored a six goals and seven points in four preseason games, leading the league in the former stat.
- Tampa Bay Lightning goalie prospect Harrison Meneghin has been traded in the WHL, moving from the Lethbridge Hurricanes to the Medicine Hat Tigers. Medicine Hat has been searching for a starting goaltender since the start of the season, and now settle on Meneghin, who managed a .919 save percentage in 53 games with Lethbridge last season. That was enough to earn a seventh-round selection in the 2024 NHL Draft. Meneghin will now look to continue his strong play into a new setting, now backing up top prospects like Gavin McKenna, Cayden Lindstrom, Andrew Basha, and Veeti Vaisanen.
Snapshots: Kings, Mukhamadullin, Karlsson, Palat
The Los Angeles Kings will start the season with some cap juggling, per John Hoven with LA’s Mayors Manor. Hoven shares that the team will begin the year with depth forward Andre Lee on the roster, in an effort to reach cap compliance while they sort out injuries to Drew Doughty and Arthur Kaliyev. Both players could be candidates for long-term injured reserve, though that’d be a last resort as the team considers the juxtaposition of cap versus salary. Making matters even more complicated in Los Angeles’ preference to carry eight defenders, including summer signee Caleb Jones, who’s making his return to the NHL after splitting time between the major and minor leagues last year.
The Kings will have a complicated path to walk. They’re entering the year with just $546.67K in cap space, hardly enough to handle the day-to-day logistics of running a team. That’s largely thanks to their summer acquisition of goaltender Darcy Kuemper, and Quinton Byfield‘s five-year extension – two moves that collectively cost the Kings $11.5MM in space. Both players will serve pivotal roles for the lineup in the early going, especially as the team prepares for an extended period without top-defender Doughty.
Other notes from around the league:
- Top San Jose Sharks prospect Shakir Mukhamadullin has finally made his way into the team’s camp practices, shares Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News, after a lower-body injury held him out of all of the team’s rookie camp and training camp to this point. Mukhamadullin was expected to be one of the top young Sharks pushing for the roster this fall, though new head coach Ryan Warsofsky acknowledged that the injury puts him a step behind. Mukhamadullin made his NHL debut last season, recording one assist in three games to go with his 34 points in 55 AHL games. He’ll be among the many young players fighting for NHL ice time when he has healthy legs back under him.
- Star Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson is expected to be ready for the team’s season opener after missing much of the preseason with an upper-body injury, shares the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Matt Vensel. Karlsson added that the season opener has always been his target, and that his recovery briefly slowed down in the middle of camp to, “let a few things settle down.” The future Hall-of-Fame candidate is set to enter his 16th NHL season, coming off yet another season of double-digit goals and over-50 points. He’ll look to return to those heights once again, with head coach Mike Sullivan already confirming that he’ll be a fixture of the team’s power-play, per Tribune-Review Sports’ Seth Rorabaugh.
- New Jersey Devils forward Ondrej Palat missed the team’s second game of the season to attend to the birth of his second child. He is expected to rejoin the team when they return to North America. Palat appeared in nearly 14 minutes of New Jersey’s season opener in his native Czechia, recording one shot, one block, and two hits. He’s continued to find ways to be productive late into his career, netting 11 goals and 31 points in 71 games last season. Palat will continue to serve as a winger New Jersey can lean on as they look to continue their bout of early success.
Injury Notes: Sabres, Penguins, Ryan, Jarnkrok
The Buffalo Sabres’ depth will be tested just two games into the season, with top-six wingers John-Jason Peterka (concussion) and Zach Benson (lower-body) both facing injury, per Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News. No timeline was provided for either player. Benson was held out of the team’s Saturday morning game in favor of top prospect Jiri Kulich, while Peterka exited the game after just three shifts. Lysowski added that team captain Rasmus Dahlin also seems unhealthy, despite being the team’s clear-cut top defender through their first two games.
The menagerie of injuries is weighing heavily on the Sabres, who lost both games in the Prague series by a combined score of 7-2. Peterka recorded the primary assist on Buffalo’s first goal of the year – making a strong play behind the net to set up Owen Power in the slot. Those are the hard-nosed plays Peterka has become known for in his early career, a big part of how he managed 28 goals and 50 points last season. Despite being in his age-18 season, Benson wasn’t too far behind – netting 11 goals and 30 points of his own, though he did miss 11 games to injury last year. Both players are not only core pieces of the present Sabres lineup, but pillars of the team’s future. Their healthy and speedy recovery will be paramount as the team looks to find their bearings when they return to America.
Other injury updates from around the league:
- The Pittsburgh Penguins are also bearing through a pair of injuries, with both Bryan Rust and Vasiliy Ponomarev listed as day-to-day per Tribune-Review Spots’ Seth Rorabaugh. No details or timeline were provided. Rust has missed the bulk of Pittsburgh’s preseasons with what were originally described as maintenance days, before this injury designation. He’ll have his eyes set on the team’s top line when he returns to full health, having posted a commendable 56 points – split evenly – in just 62 appearances last year. Ponomarev doesn’t have the same lineup security, though his 30 points in 43 AHL games last season could be enough to warrant a test in the bottom-six. Any bout with the Penguins would be notable for the 23-year-old Ponomarev, who made his NHL debut with Carolina last season – scoring two points in two games.
- Edmonton Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch listed forward Derek Ryan as day-to-day with an undisclosed injury, shares Tony Barr of Oilers TV. Ryan has continued skating at the tail end of Edmonton’s practices, though he was held out of the team’s final preseason game on Friday. He’ll be in the mix for fourth-line minutes when he returns, likely set to return to the role that earned him 12 points in 70 games last season.
- Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube has confirmed Calle Jarnkrok‘s lower-body injury is nagging, telling TSN’s Mark Masters that it’s the same injury that limited the forward at the start of training camp. Jarnkrok has only appeared in two preseason games, and continues to miss practices as a result of his injury. He’ll be a bottom-six multitool when he returns, though Jarnkrok first faces the test of overcoming a lingering issue.
Sharks Recall Four Players
The Sharks are the latest team to bring back some players from the minors to help close out their preseason schedule. The team announced (Twitter link) that defensemen Jeremie Bucheler and Jimmy Schuldt along with forwards Nolan Burke and Colin White have been recalled from AHL San Jose.
Schuldt and Burke are the two who are on NHL contracts. Schuldt has just one career NHL appearance under his belt with Vegas in 2019 after finishing his college career. Since then, he has spent time on several AHL teams, including the last two with Coachella Valley before signing with the Sharks this summer. Burke, meanwhile, was acquired in the Yaroslav Askarov trade to balance out contracts. The 21-year-old spent most of last season in the ECHL, notching 15 points and 32 penalty minutes in 47 games.
White and Bucheler are on AHL deals with the Barracuda and technically have inked PTO agreements once again with the Sharks after previously being released. White split last season between Pittsburgh and Montreal but was held off the scoresheet in 28 games. As for Bucheler, the 24-year-old is entering his first full professional campaign after wrapping up his college career last season with 18 points in 33 games with the University of Vermont.
All four players will likely be in uniform tonight against Vegas before being returned to the Barracuda before Monday’s season-opening roster deadline.
Blackhawks Recall Nine Players, Sign Austin Strand To PTO
While some teams will be dressing close to their full lineups to end the preseason, the Blackhawks will not be one of them. Instead, the team announced that they’ve recalled nine players from AHL Rockford while also signing defenseman Austin Strand to a PTO agreement.
The forwards getting the brief promotion are Colton Dach, Cole Guttman, Frank Nazar, Zach Sanford, Samuel Savoie, and Landon Slaggert. Meanwhile, the blueliners receiving the extra preseason game are Louis Crevier, Ethan Del Mastro, and Kevin Korchinski.
Nazar and Korchinski are the headliners of the group. Both are projected to be key players long-term for the Blackhawks and should see regular NHL action at some point this season. Korchinski spent last season in Chicago as he was ineligible to play in the minors, notching 15 points in 76 games while Nazar was a late-season signing after leaving the University of Michigan. He scored in his NHL debut, his lone point in three contests.
Among the others, five of the seven recalls saw NHL action last season with only Dach and Savoie waiting for their first regular season opportunity at the top level. Of that group, Guttman saw the most action with 27 games (notching eight points) while Crevier had three helpers in 24 contests. Slaggert had four points in 16 appearances, Sanford had four helpers in 18 games after being claimed off waivers, while Del Mastro was held off the scoresheet in two outings.
All of these players had already been cut from training camp and barring any injuries of note in the coming days, are all expected to be returned to the IceHogs, potentially as soon as after tonight’s contest against St. Louis.