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Coyotes Recall Justin Kirkland On Emergency Basis

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The Coyotes have made a move to add some more forward depth before their game on Monday against Pittsburgh, announcing (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled winger Justin Kirkland from AHL Tucson on an emergency basis.

This is the fourth recall of the last month for the 27-year-old but his playing time over the first three was limited to just two appearances where he averaged just 7:14 per game.  Kirkland has done well in limited action with the Roadrunners, however, collecting 16 points in 18 games; he’s nearly up to his AHL point total from last season already in 14 fewer appearances.

Arizona currently has just 12 forwards on its active roster and one of those – Nick Schmaltz – has missed the last two games with an upper-body injury.  Head coach Andre Tourigny told reporters today including Remy Mastey of The Hockey News that he doesn’t expect that Schmaltz will be available to play against the Penguins.  The Coyotes have dressed seven blueliners since then but with Kirkland’s presence on the roster, they’ll now have the option to go with the typical twelve-forward alignment.

Pacific Notes: Arvidsson, Fagemo, Duclair, Karlsson, Lyubushkin

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The Kings have been without a key winger all season as Viktor Arvidsson works his way back from a back injury sustained during training camp.  It appears they’ll be without the 30-year-old for a while yet as Helene Elliott of the Los Angeles Times notes that while Arvidsson has started skating on his own, he’s still two or three weeks away from rejoining the team for practice; it would obviously be longer than that before he’d be good to return.  Arvidsson, who had one of his best years last season with 26 goals and 59 points, is currently on LTIR, giving Los Angeles ample room to carry a full-sized roster.  They’ll have to get cap-compliant when the time comes to activate him which could come not long before the March 8th trade deadline.

Elsewhere in the Pacific Division:

  • Still with Los Angeles, they have returned winger Samuel Fagemo to AHL Ontario, per the AHL’s transactions log. The 23-year-old has been up and down a couple of times now this week, getting into one game with the Kings during that time.  Since being claimed back off waivers in November, Fagemo has been quite productive with the Reign, notching 20 goals in just 24 games.
  • Pending unrestricted free agent winger Anthony Duclair has not yet had any discussions about a contract extension with the Sharks, reports Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News. The 28-year-old has eight goals and eight assists in 41 games so far but has also been scratched as of late.  Duclair, who represents himself, said that he expects to sit down at some point with GM Mike Grier to discuss a new deal.  He’s currently making $3MM and with a 31-goal season under his belt on this contract back in 2021-22, he’s likely going to be looking for at least a small raise on that contract.
  • After being recalled late Friday, Canucks forward Linus Karlsson has been returned to AHL Abbotsford, per a team announcement (Twitter link). The 24-year-old has played in four games with Vancouver over his four recalls and is still looking for his first NHL point.  Karlsson has been productive in the minors though, collecting 25 points in 27 games so far.
  • The Ducks announced (Twitter link) that defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin was scratched for their game tonight against the Rangers due to an upper-body injury. The 29-year-old has been a regular on Anaheim’s third pairing all season long, logging over 17 minutes a night in 45 games.  While the pending UFA only has four assists, he also has contributed 117 blocked shots and 71 hits and is likely to attract some interest from playoff-bound squads looking to toughen up the back end of their defense corps in the coming weeks.

Ducks Receiving Strong Interest In Adam Henrique

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Now less than two months before the trade deadline, teams are starting to get a sense of what might be out there on the trade front.  Early indications are that it’ll likely to be a relatively thin center trade market on the trade front.  Between that and his strong track record, the Ducks are receiving a lot of trade interest in middleman Adam Henrique, reports ESPN’s Kevin Weekes (Twitter link).

The 33-year-old has been a consistent second-line center for the past decade, reaching the 20-goal mark six times, the most recent of which was last season.  He’s on pace to come close to that this year with 12 goals and 14 assists in 44 games; his 26 points rank fourth on Anaheim.

Of course, Henrique is also known for his two-way play as he has been a dependable matchup center and penalty killer for most of his career, a trend that has continued this season.  He’s averaging nearly three minutes a night shorthanded and is over the 50% mark at the faceoff dot for the sixth straight year.

With an ability to play up and down the lineup, it comes as little surprise that the interest in Henrique has been strong.  He’d slot in nicely on the third line on several contenders and could fit on the second line on a team that’s a bit more balanced while also giving a big boost on the penalty killing side.  Players with the ability to do that are often coveted for the stretch run.

However, it must be noted that Henrique is on the pricey side from a salary cap perspective as his cap hit checks in at $5.825MM, an amount that matches his salary this season.  While Anaheim can hold back half of that to help facilitate a trade, that would only pay down the pro-rated cap charge to $2.9125MM, an amount that would be difficult for some cap-strapped teams to take on.  Accordingly, it wouldn’t be surprising if the Ducks get asked to take a player back to help offset the rest of the cost or to try to get a third team involved to hold back another chunk of Henrique’s contract.  Either way, expect his name to be in the rumor mill for the foreseeable future as he’s a strong bet to be moved by the March 8th deadline.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Atlantic Notes: Reaves, Rafferty, Lightning

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Maple Leafs winger Ryan Reaves has been on injured reserve for more than a month now with a knee injury.  However, he told Sportsnet’s Luke Fox that he has been ready to return for a couple of weeks and he has simply been scratched for that time.  The 37-year-old is in the first season of a three-year, $4.05MM contract signed back in July and things haven’t gone as planned with the veteran struggling when he was in the lineup to the point of being healthy scratched at times before the injury.  Reaves noted that he’ll need to “stay patient to get in the lineup — or stay patient for whatever else is going to come” but clearly, his comments suggest that patience is starting to wear a little thin if he has indeed been ready to come back for the last two weeks.

More from the Atlantic:

  • Before their game against Tampa Bay, the Red Wings announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled defenseman Brogan Rafferty from AHL Grand Rapids. It’s the second recall of the month for the 28-year-old although he didn’t see any NHL action in his first stint and barring injuries, it’s unlikely he’ll suit up much if at all this time around.  Rafferty is in his first season with Detroit’s farm team after signing a two-year, two-way contract back in July.  In 35 games so far with the Griffins, he has 15 points.
  • The only injured Lightning player who could return before the All-Star break is defenseman Erik Cernak, relays Eduardo A. Encina of The Athletic (Twitter link). Cernak has missed a little more than a week with an upper-body injury but it appears he has a chance to come back in their final three games.  Meanwhile, Encina adds that winger Tanner Jeannot remains listed as week-to-week while blueliners Mikhail Sergachev and Haydn Fleury – both currently on LTIR – could return after the break.

Hurricanes Notes: Kochetkov, Svechnikov, Perets

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While Hurricanes goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov is in concussion protocol, it doesn’t appear if he’ll be out for too long.  Team reporter Walt Ruff relays (Twitter link) that the 24-year-old took part in roughly half of Carolina’s morning skate today with head coach Rod Brind’Amour indicating after that the netminder “looks good and is feeling better”.  Kochetkov has a 2.58 GAA and a .900 SV% this season in 23 games, numbers that don’t look great on their own but are a considerable improvement on what they’ve received from veterans Frederik Andersen (before his blood clots) and Antti Raanta.  There remains no timetable for Kochetkov’s return but the fact he’s on the ice now suggests that

More from Carolina:

  • Also from Ruff’s note, winger Andrei Svechnikov didn’t participate in practice today as he isn’t feeling 100%. The 23-year-old potted the game-winning goal against Detroit on Friday and logged close to his season average for ice time so it’s unclear if he was banged up during that game or if he’s under the weather.  After missing the start of the season recovering from a knee injury and missing some time with an upper-body issue in December, Svechnikov has been quite productive, collecting 11 goals and 19 assists in 29 games.
  • The team announced that goaltender Yaniv Perets has been assigned to ECHL Norfolk. The move comes as little surprise after Carolina claimed netminder Spencer Martin off waivers from Columbus on Friday.  Perets made his NHL debut during this recall, seeing 13 minutes of action in Monday’s loss to Los Angeles.  Perets has a 2.62 GAA and a .906 SV% in 15 games in the ECHL this season; with Carolina not having an AHL affiliate, he has to drop a level in order to secure regular playing time.

Sharks Officially Activate Logan Couture And Nico Sturm Off IR

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The Sharks will indeed welcome back not just one but two centers tonight when they take on Anaheim.  The team announced (Twitter link) that they have activated Logan Couture and Nico Sturm off injured reserve as expected.  To make room on the active roster, center Mikael Granlund and defenseman Ty Emberson have been transferred to IR, moves that were suggested as likely on Friday.

Couture has missed the entire season with what previously had been an undisclosed injury.  Today, he told reporters including Max Miller of The Hockey News that he had been dealing with osteitis pubis.  He twice tried to come back from this already but suffered setbacks each time, resulting in cortisone shots, extended rest, and a different training regimen as the team tried to figure out how to best treat the injury.

The 34-year-old is coming off of one of his best seasons offensively as he recorded 67 points while playing in all 82 games for only the second time of his career.  A 14-year veteran, some have wondered if Couture could be a trade candidate at some point with San Jose clearly in a full-scale rebuild.  He’ll need to demonstrate not only that he is fully healthy but that he is also still capable of producing at a top level as Couture has three years left on his contract after this one with a $8MM cap charge.  The Sharks, meanwhile, only have one salary retention slot remaining through the end of next season.

Nevertheless, his return will be a welcome one for a team whose offense has struggled mightily this season, recording just 89 goals in 45 games, putting the Sharks dead last in the league in that department.  Couture is expected to play alongside Alexander Barabanov and Fabian Zetterlund in his debut.

As for Sturm, the 28-year-old has been out for more than a month after re-aggravating a wrist injury.  He has played in 26 games so far and while he only has two goals and two assists, he’s among the NHL’s leaders in faceoff percentage, checking in at just over 62%.  With faceoffs and penalty killing being elements that teams often try to upgrade before the trade deadline, it’s possible that Sturm, who has one year left after this one at $2MM, could be someone that teams inquire about in the coming weeks.

Canucks Notes: Pettersson, Karlsson, Kuzmenko

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Recently, the agent for Canucks center Elias Pettersson indicated that he wasn’t sure if there would be any more contract discussions between now and the end of the season.  Pettersson himself has now shut the door on that idea, telling NHL.com’s Kevin Woodley that he wants to wait for those talks until after the season ends.  The 25-year-old cracked the 100-point mark last season for the first time and is on pace to eclipse that again this year, putting himself in a great bargaining position for his final trip through restricted free agency this summer.  Pettersson is owed a qualifying offer of $8.82MM at that time but it will take a few million more than that to get him to pen to paper on a contract when the time comes.

More from Vancouver:

  • The team announced last night (Twitter link) that forward Linus Karlsson was recalled from AHL Abbotsford. The 24-year-old has now been recalled four times this season but the first three didn’t result in much playing time as he suited up in just four contests with Vancouver.  Karlsson has spent most of the season in the minors and has been quite productive, recording nine goals and 16 assists in 27 games.  He could take the place of Andrei Kuzmenko in the lineup tonight against Toronto, Postmedia’s Patrick Johnston suggests.
  • Speaking of Kuzmenko, Sportsnet’s Iain McIntyre speculates that if the Canucks need to clear cap space to make any upgrades before the trade deadline, the winger is the likeliest candidate to move. Previously, Tyler Myers and his expiring $6MM AAV had been perceived as trade bait but he’s playing an important role on the back end while Kuzmenko has struggled mightily in his sophomore year.  However, being only a year removed from a 39-goal campaign will likely have teams interested in him as a buy-low candidate, even with a $5.5MM price tag through next season.

Islanders Fire Lane Lambert, Name Patrick Roy Head Coach

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Islanders GM Lou Lamoriello is no stranger to making big in-season changes and he has done so again.  The team announced that they have fired head coach Lane Lambert.  Taking his place will be Patrick Roy who has been named the full-time bench boss.  No assistant coaches have been dismissed.

Lambert was in his second season behind the bench of the Isles after taking over for Barry Trotz who was let go following the 2021-22 campaign.  While Lambert had coached alongside Trotz for a significant portion of his career (including four seasons as the associate coach to Trotz with the Islanders), the hope was that he could get the team to be more of a threat offensively while not necessarily losing its defensive structure.

New York got a dozen more goals last season but only moved up from 24th to 23rd in that regard while they were ousted in the first round of the playoffs by Carolina.  This year, the Islanders sit 22nd in the NHL in goals scored so the offensive improvement as a team hasn’t been there, even with a resurgent season from Mathew Barzal, a full year with Bo Horvat, and Noah Dobson contributing a point per game from the back end.

While the Islanders sit fifth in the Metropolitan Division and are only two points out of a Wild Card spot, they’ve won just 19 of 45 games so far with 11 overtime or shootout losses helping to keep them within striking distance of a postseason position.  Clearly, Lamoriello determined that maintaining the status quo behind the bench wasn’t going to help them gain ground in the second half of the season.  Lambert departs with a 61-46-20 record as head coach, good for a .559 points percentage.  He’s the fifth bench to lose his job this season, joining Jay Woodcroft (Edmonton), Dean Evason (Minnesota), Craig Berube (St. Louis), and D.J. Smith (Ottawa).

Roy, meanwhile, hasn’t been behind an NHL bench for the better part of a decade.  He coached in Colorado from 2013-14 through 2015-16, finishing with a combined record of 130-92-24.  He also won the Jack Adams Award in 2013-14 as NHL Coach of the Year.  However, he abruptly departed the organization near the start of the 2016-17 season, stating that he didn’t have enough of a “say in the decisions that impact the team’s performance” and that he was no longer on the same page as the organization.  It was the second shocking exit of his career going back to his playing days when he informed Montreal’s management in 1995 after being pulled from a game that he had played his last game for the team.

The 58-year-old has spent a lot of his time coaching at the major junior level with two stints behind the bench of the QMJHL’s Quebec Remparts from 2005-06 through 2012-13 and 2018-19 through 2022-23; he served as the team’s GM for most of that time.  He stepped down following last season with Eric Veilleux taking over as coach and long-time NHL winger Simon Gagne filling the GM title.  Over his junior coaching career, Roy’s teams played to a 524-255-66 record while also picking up a Memorial Cup title.

Roy will now be tasked with getting more out of a veteran group that has a lot of money tied up in defensive or physical players while also dealing with several injuries at the moment including key blueliner Ryan Pulock.  In his time with Colorado, Roy had one season where the Avs finished in the top five in goals scored but the team slipped into the bottom ten in that regard in his final two campaigns.  He’ll also try to get more out of starting netminder Ilya Sorokin who was stellar over his first three seasons in the NHL but has struggled so far this season, posting a save percentage of .908; while that’s above the NHL average, it’s a far cry below the .924 mark he put up over those first three campaigns.

The Islanders are currently using LTIR for Pulock’s injury and will have limited cap space when he returns.  Making the change now will give Lamoriello ample time to assess how the team responds to their new head coach before determining what he might try to do before the March 8th trade deadline.  His first game behind the bench will come Sunday against Dallas.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Bruins To Activate Brandon Carlo And Derek Forbort

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2:03 PM: The team announced that they have officially activated Carlo and Forbort.  To get into cap and roster compliance, center John Beecher and defenseman Mason Lohrei were assigned to AHL Providence.

Beecher has been up with Boston all season, picking up seven points in 39 games.  The 2019 first-rounder has also won over 53% of his faceoffs while averaging a little over 10 minutes a game.  Lohrei, meanwhile, has been up and down between the two levels.  He has six points in 27 games with Boston plus six assists in 10 contests with Providence.

1:48 PM: The Bruins will welcome back a pair of injured blueliners to their lineup tonight against Montreal.  The team announced that Brandon Carlo and Derek Forbort are both set to return with the latter being activated off LTIR.

Carlo has missed close to two weeks with an upper-body injury sustained earlier this month.  The 27-year-old has played in 39 games so far this season, picking up two goals and eight assists.  Of course, Carlo isn’t known for his offensive output but rather for being a sound defensive defender; he’s logging 3:28 per game on the penalty kill – second-most on the Bruins – while blocking 71 shots.

The one player who is ahead of Carlo in shorthanded ATOI is Forbort who was averaging a few seconds more per night in that department before being injured back in early December.  The 31-year-old played in 20 games before the injury, picking up four assists while logging a little over 18 minutes a night.  He’s in the final year of his contract and if Boston wants to try to add an impact player before the deadline, his $3MM cap charge could be used as a potential offset.

Meanwhile, Boston also welcomes back two other injured players tonight who weren’t on injured reserve, goaltender Linus Ullmark and center Matthew Poitras.

Ullmark missed a little over a week after being injured in overtime against Arizona.  He has once again formed a high-end platoon with Jeremy Swayman this season, posting a 2.75 GAA with a .915 SV% in 21 games.  Poitras, meanwhile, has missed a little more than a week with a shoulder injury.  The 19-year-old has fared nicely in his first NHL season, notching 15 points in 30 games so far.

The Bruins still have some work to do before Carlo and Forbort can officially be activated.  They need to clear around $1MM off their books in order to satisfy the cap-compliance portion of taking Forbort off LTIR.  They also need to send at least one player down as they only have one open roster spot at the moment with two players to activate.  They have a few more hours to figure out what those moves will be.

Alex Killorn To Undergo Knee Surgery

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Alex Killorn’s first season with the Ducks has been somewhat of a struggle due to injury and the veteran will be out for a while once again.  The team announced that the winger will undergo arthroscopic left knee surgery next week and he is expected to miss the next four to six weeks.

The 34-year-old signed with Anaheim in free agency, inking a four-year, $25MM contract, good for the highest AAV ($6.25MM) among any forward to sign on the open market this summer.  However, his start to the year was delayed due to a fractured finger sustained in the preseason, one that caused him to miss nearly a month.

Since returning in early November, Killorn has played as expected.  While no one should have been anticipating another career year offensively, he was brought in to be a stabilizing presence in Anaheim’s top six and play alongside some of their younger talents.  He has done just that while still contributing at a reasonable clip, notching six goals and 13 assists in 34 games while taking a regular turn on both special teams units.

With the injury just being announced, the Ducks have not yet placed Killorn on injured reserve.  However, with the team carrying a full-sized roster right now, he’ll likely land on IR in the near future, freeing up a roster spot to bring someone up from AHL San Diego.

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