Coyotes Recall Michael Carcone
Michael Carcone is having quite the season for Arizona’s farm team and he was rewarded for his efforts today as the team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled the winger from Tucson of the AHL. He takes the place of rookie Matias Maccelli who is expected to miss the next six weeks.
Carcone is in his third season with the Coyotes but has taken his production to another level this year. He leads the AHL in scoring with 42 points in 27 games so far this season; for context, he had 41 points in 48 contests last season.
The 26-year-old got into 21 games with Arizona in 2021-22, his first taste of NHL action. He acquitted himself relatively well in that stretch, picking up six points while averaging a little over 12 minutes a night. With Maccelli out for a while and Dylan Guenther still at the World Juniors for another couple of weeks, there should be an opportunity for Carcone to step into a top-six role to see if he can carry over some of that minor league production to the Coyotes.
Kings Recall Three, Place Arthur Kaliyev On IR
The Kings have been shuffling players back and forth all season long so it should come as no surprise that they announced several roster moves today. The weekend assignments of center Rasmus Kupari and defenseman Jordan Spence have been reversed while center Quinton Byfield has also been brought back up from AHL Ontario. To make room on the roster, winger Arthur Kaliyev has been placed on injured reserve retroactive to December 20th.
Byfield started the season with Los Angeles, getting into eight games where he picked up three assists while averaging a little less than 12 minutes per game. He was sent down a little more than two months ago and has done well with the Reign, collecting nine goals and six assists in 16 contests which has earned him another look with the big club.
This is the seventh time already that Kupari has been recalled this season with many of those assignments being short-term paper transactions. The 22-year-old has played in 21 games with Los Angeles this season, notching two goals and three assists while also getting into 11 games with Ontario, tallying five goals with four helpers.
Spence is up for the fifth time this season but only has three NHL games under his belt so far to show for it. He has been quite productive in the minors with 21 points in 22 games (good for sixth among AHL rearguards) but with Brandt Clarke off at the World Juniors, he is starting to at least spend more time on the roster for Los Angeles.
Kaliyev was injured late in a game against Anaheim last Tuesday while blocking a shot and there’s no word on how long he’ll be out for. With them back-dating the placement, he’ll be eligible to be activated as soon as he’s ready as he has technically already served the required seven days. Kaliyev has nine goals and ten assists in 34 games so far this season.
Metropolitan Notes: Pacioretty, Blue Jackets, Johansen, Islanders
Hurricanes winger Max Pacioretty has taken another step towards returning to the lineup as Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News and Observer reports (Twitter link) that the veteran is no longer in a no-contact jersey. Pacioretty has been out for the entire year so far after undergoing offseason surgery to repair a torn Achilles tendon and while he’s still likely to be out a little while longer for conditioning purposes, he’ll be a key addition to Carolina’s lineup for the second half of the season. He had 19 goals and 18 assists in 39 games with Vegas last year but was moved in the offseason as a cap-saving move. Carolina shouldn’t have any issues activating Pacioretty from LTIR when he’s given the green light to return.
More from the Metropolitan:
- Blue Jackets goaltender Elvis Merzlikins remains in COVID protocol, relays Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch (Twitter link). With Joonas Korpisalo returning just before the holiday break, Columbus didn’t need to recall a goalie but as Merzlikins has missed a full week now, the team could move him to IR in the short-term to open up a roster spot. Meanwhile, Hedger adds in a separate tweet that winger Patrik Laine has also been placed in COVID protocol. Head coach Brad Larsen wasn’t sure when Laine first was placed there and for the time being, he’s listed as questionable for their game against the Islanders on Thursday. Laine has nine goals and seven assists in 20 games this season.
- The Capitals announced that they’ve recalled defenseman Lucas Johansen from AHL Hershey. The 25-year-old has played in two games for Washington this season plus 13 more in the minors where he has a goal and an assist. To make room for Johansen on the active roster, blueliner John Carlson was placed on injured reserve.
- Islanders wingers Kyle Palmieri and Cal Clutterbuck are skating on their own as they continue to work their way back from upper-body injuries sustained back on the 16th, notes Newsday’s Andrew Gross (Twitter link). Palmieri has been somewhat quiet offensively this season with just nine points in 21 games while Clutterbuck has five points and 98 hits in 26 contests. Both players are listed as day-to-day.
Avalanche Recall Charles Hudon And Jonas Johansson
The Avalanche have brought up a pair of players in advance of tonight’s game against Arizona as the team announced (Twitter link) that winger Charles Hudon and goaltender Jonas Johansson have been recalled from AHL Colorado. The Avs had two open roster spots so no corresponding roster moves needed to be made to make these recalls.
Hudon is in his first season with the Avalanche and has gotten into seven games with the big club this season while on emergency recall. He was held off the scoresheet in each of those but did log nearly 12 minutes per contest. The 28-year-old has been productive with the Eagles this season with ten goals and eight assists in 22 games.
As for Johansson, he’s covering for Pavel Francouz with Peter Baugh of The Athletic relaying (Twitter link) that Francouz is dealing with a lower-body injury. Johansson, who has twice been claimed off waivers already this season, has yet to see any NHL action in 2022-23 but has done well in the minors, posting a 2.15 GAA with a .929 SV% in 15 contests.
Predators Recall Tommy Novak
Dec. 27: As expected, the Predators have recalled Novak from Milwaukee today.
Dec. 24: Tommy Novak did well in his first recall of the season but, at least for the time being, he’s off to the minors as the Predators announced that they’ve loaned the center back to Milwaukee of the AHL.
The 25-year-old was recalled back on Monday and picked up a point in each of his three games with a goal and two assists while logging a little over 13 minutes per game. While it’s a small sample size, that’s a nice improvement compared to the goal and six helpers he had in 27 contests with Nashville last season. Novak has also been quite productive in the minors with the Admirals this season, collecting 11 goals and 15 assists in 25 contests, making him Milwaukee’s leading scorer.
As Novak was recalled after December 11 and didn’t require waivers to go back down, Nashville was permitted to assign him today even with the roster freeze in effect. Considering how well he did this past week, there’s a good chance that he’ll be recalled in advance of their game on Tuesday against Dallas. If that happens, the Predators will save about $12K in cap space with this move.
Blues Place Torey Krug On LTIR, Recall Tyler Tucker
The Blues will be without a key member of their back end for the next little while as the Blues announced that they’ve placed defenseman Torey Krug on long-term injured reserve (LTIR) due to a lower-body injury. In a corresponding move, St. Louis has recalled blueliner Tyler Tucker from AHL Springfield.
Krug was on a nice run offensively leading into the holiday break with five points over his last four games and logged nearly 23 minutes on Friday against Vegas so it’s unclear exactly when the injury was sustained. The 31-year-old has suited up in 31 games for St. Louis this season, notching 17 points, second to only Justin Faulk in terms of production from the back end. Offensive production has been hard to come by beyond those two as their other rearguards have managed just four goals combined this season so Krug’s absence on that side of the ice will certainly be felt.
There is no firm timetable on when Krug might be able to return as the release from the Blues only mentions that he will be re-evaluated in six weeks. Accordingly, it stands to reason that he will likely be out of the lineup longer than that.
As for Tucker, the 22-year-old made his NHL debut last month, getting into four games with St. Louis, picking up six blocks and eight hits along the way. He has spent the rest of the season with the Thunderbirds, collecting 13 points and 45 penalty minutes in 24 contests.
Canadiens Recall Justin Barron
The Canadiens have decided to get a look at one of their main acquisitions from the trade deadline last season as they announced the recall of defenseman Justin Barron from AHL Laval.
Montreal picked up the 21-year-old last season at the trade deadline from Colorado as part of the move that saw Artturi Lehkonen head to the Cup-winning Avalanche. While Barron got into five games with the Canadiens last season, this will be his first taste of NHL action this year. So far at the minor league level with the Rocket, he has seven goals and nine assists in 25 games.
With David Savard and Mike Matheson both injured, Montreal was only carrying six healthy blueliners prior to this recall. Considering the Canadiens still have four games left on their season-long seven-game road trip, some injury insurance on the back end was needed and it will be Barron that gets the nod.
Five Key Stories: 12/19/22 – 12/25/22
While it was a fairly light week on the NHL calendar thanks to the holiday break, we saw Alex Ovechkin move into second all-time in goals. We also saw some notable news off the ice which is recapped in our key stories.
Skinner Signs: Things haven’t gone quite as planned for the Oilers this season in goal with Jack Campbell struggling considerably in his first year with the team. However, Stuart Skinner has impressed and is starting to on a bigger share of the workload. Edmonton rewarded the youngster for his efforts thus far with a three-year extension that carries a cap hit of $2.6MM AAV and begins next season. Skinner has just 35 career NHL appearances under his belt (21 of which have come this year) so the deal carries some risk but if he winds up playing even a platoon role moving forward, the Oilers should do well with this contract. Notably, this deal will take the 24-year-old to UFA eligibility in 2026.
Gurianov Steps Away: The Stars will be without winger Denis Gurianov for at least a little while as he has been granted an indefinite leave of absence from the team for family reasons. No further information from the team was provided. The 25-year-old has had a bit of a tough start to his season with just two goals and three assists in 25 games so far. He’s currently on a one-year, $2.9MM contract and will be owed that as a qualifying offer by the team next summer to retain his RFA rights.
Four For Zub: The Senators have locked up another core player for the next little while as they reached a four-year, $18.4MM deal with defenseman Artem Zub. It’s a nice increase for the 27-year-old who will go from a $2.5MM AAV this season to a $4.6MM cap charge in 2023-24. He also receives a ten-team no-trade clause with the contract. Zub, who’s currently out with a facial injury, is logging over 22 minutes a night on the back end for Ottawa this season while averaging just shy of four hits per contest. While his offensive numbers don’t jump out, he’s second in minutes behind Thomas Chabot and has quickly become a key part of their defense corps as he’s just in his third NHL season.
Deadline Deals: While it’s still quite a while before the trade deadline, there was a soft deadline with the holiday roster freeze. The end result was a pair of small trades being made. Toronto and Colorado changed up their forward depth as the Maple Leafs sent winger Denis Malgin to the Avs for winger Dryden Hunt. The other move was also a depth swap in a rare three-team deal with Anaheim adding defenseman Michael Del Zotto, Detroit receiving forward Danny O’Regan, and Florida receiving forward Givani Smith; Smith was recalled following the swap and got into one game before the break.
Injury News: Cam Atkinson’s day-to-day injury at the beginning of training camp never healed as expected and now the Flyers will be without the winger for the rest of the season after he underwent neck surgery. He joins Ryan Ellis as key veterans that won’t wind up suiting up for Philadelphia this season. Meanwhile, Luke Kunin’s year has also come to an end after the Sharks winger underwent ACL surgery. The expected recovery timetable is six to eight months so the 25-year-old, who had 13 points in 31 games prior to the injury, should be ready for training camp in the fall. Lastly, the Blue Jackets, who have been hit hard by injuries all season long, will be without center Boone Jenner for a month after he had surgery to repair a fractured thumb. Jenner leads Columbus in goals so far this season and is their top player at the faceoff dot, winning nearly 56% of his draws.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
PHR Mailbag: Predators, Predictions, Toews, Worst Contracts, Coyotes, Wild
Topics in this edition of the PHR Mailbag include what it might cost Boston to add a key rental center, the worst contracts in the NHL by position, Arizona’s trade deadline situation, and more. If your question doesn’t appear here, check back in next weekend’s mailbag.
Gbear: Easy one here: The Preds offense from their forward group is dreadful. Do you see Poile making any moves to add scoring help or is it the same old story in Nashville?
I think it’s the same old story for the Predators. They have a veteran-laden team that isn’t good enough to truly be a contender nor are they bad enough to have justification for blowing it all up. Quite frankly, even if they wanted to blow it up, I don’t think they could as moving money in this cap environment is very tough. There are some bloated contracts that don’t have a lot of trade value at the moment.
There was some risk in Nashville’s offseason moves in that it suggested they felt last year’s offensive production was repeatable. I doubt many others saw it the same way. I won’t criticize GM David Poile for the moves he did make (getting Ryan McDonagh for next to nothing and signing Nino Niederreiter) because it didn’t really cost them anything in assets. All in all, they were relatively low-risk even with McDonagh’s contract.
But those moves cemented that their goal seemed to be squeaking into the playoffs and see what happens from there. And, let’s face it, you don’t have to look very far to find a team that squeaked into the postseason and made it all the way to the Cup Final. It’s not necessarily a viable strategy but it works enough that some teams want to try it with the odd one going on a run.
So, with that in mind, I don’t see many big changes coming one way or the other. They’re six points out but have games in hand on almost everyone ahead of them. Knowing where they are, any improvements are likely to be low-risk, low-cost incremental ones; if they didn’t commit to big upgrades last summer, they’re not doing it now. On the seller side, they’re not exactly loaded with expiring deals that other teams are going to want in early March. I suspect they’ll wait things out for a while and then take a tiny step whether it’s as a buyer or seller. Nothing too exciting, I know, but I don’t see any big splash on the horizon for them.
The Duke: All-knowing, -seeing and -prognosticating Snow Globe (hey, it’s Christmastime), please soothsay the following: 1. Long-term, UPL, Portillo, or Levi? 2. Where does Tarasenko land – and in this season or next? 3. Brighter scoring future: Ruzicka, Holtz, or Kent Johnson? BONUS Q: What season does Askarov arrive in Smashville? Merry Christmas – and Happy New Year!
I don’t know why but I feel a bit more shaken up than usual following this question…
1) Assuming you mean who the long-term starter in Buffalo is going to be, let’s go with Devon Levi if I have to pick one of those three. I think Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen can be a capable NHL goalie but he might be more of a platoon option than a true starter. Erik Portillo is no guarantee to sign with the Sabres so it’s hard to pick him for this question either. Levi might be more of a platoon option himself (if he and Luukkonen form a serviceable tandem, that could work out great for Buffalo) but at this point, I’d say he has the best long-term upside for the Sabres so he gets the nod by default.
2) The unstated question here is will the Blues want to sell? If they don’t, I don’t think Tarasenko moves this season. That call won’t be made for at least six more weeks but if they keep playing at this level, I’ll say they will sell and thus, he will move this season. I know the Rangers seem to be the expected landing spot for Patrick Kane but if they want to do a move that doesn’t necessarily require double retention, this might be the one. Plus, for some reason, I can hear Sam Rosen calling “Vladimir Tarasenko – It’s a Power Play Goal!” in my head and it sounds fitting. Let’s go with Tarasenko to the Rangers at the deadline.
3) I’ll take Alexander Holtz. This year has been a complete write-off and I’m not at all a fan of how the Devils have handled him. Scorers need to score and sitting a top prospect for numerous games in between playing him on the fourth line isn’t helping anyone. However, he’s the one player on this list who still has top-line upside in my books (Johnson is more of a second liner and Ruzicka is still trying to become a full-fledged regular) so that gives him the nod.
Bonus) 2024-25. That’s Juuse Saros’ final year under contract and the Predators will want to know if Yaroslav Askarov is ready to be a starter so quickly, whether he’s more of a backup at that point, or if he’s an NHL goalie altogether. Right now, he needs as many games as possible so I don’t think they’ll want him up (barring injuries) this season or next.
@dajc: What do you think it’s going to take to get Jonathan Toews into a Bruin jersey?
When I first saw this question, I questioned if strengthening a fairly strong spot would be Boston’s best course of action. However, if Toews was anchoring a two-way checking line in the playoffs, that would give them a huge boost. Making it work, however, will be a bit tricky.
Let’s get the easy part out of the way first. They will need a third team to retain so that they’re only taking on 25% of Toews’ $10.5MM AAV. If we look back at the few examples of those types of deals, you’re probably looking at a third-rounder, maybe a second if there were a few teams with similar offers on the table. What works in Boston’s favor here is that Toews only has a base salary of $2.9MM so the actual cash outlay for the third team that they’re trying to incentivize to retain would be fairly minimal but they will have to part with a decent draft pick to get their cap charge down to $2.625MM.
As for what they’d need to send to Chicago, it’s likely to involve a first-round pick. Toews isn’t the top center he once was but he still has 11 goals this season, is simply elite at the faceoff dot (65.6%), and can play in all situations. Moving someone like Craig Smith solves the cap issue; they’d actually free up some cap space even by throwing him in. I think there’s a secondary element that needs to go in there as well, a decent prospect. Marc McLaughlin comes to mind as a near NHL-ready center that they might want to target. Boston might not want to move him but they’ll need to incentivize Chicago to take Smith’s contract.
The good news for the Bruins here is that the rental center market is deeper than usual so Toews shouldn’t command the top return. That should be Bo Horvat as things stand barring a late change of heart in Vancouver (which could very well happen). But Boston won’t get Toews for cheap either but a package of a first-rounder, Smith, McLaughlin, and a third-rounder (to a third team) might be enough, particularly if that’s where Toews indicates he wants to go. Like Claude Giroux last season with the Flyers, his preferred destination(s) will largely dictate which Chicago can or can’t get for him.
Nha Trang: Okay, I actually do have a question, I fibbed: who would you tab as the worst regular players in the league in terms of value to salary at forward, defense and goal? (Not counting LTIR types — obviously Montreal’s got the short end of the stick with Price there.)
First, thanks for the kind words that preceded your question from the callout for questions.
Forward: Tyler Seguin – Dallas committed franchise player money to Seguin, a player who hasn’t averaged over a point per game since 2015-16. He’s still a capable player but he is more of a second liner at this point of his career and by the time this contract ends, he’ll probably be lower on the depth chart. He has four years left after this one at $9.85MM and as Dallas looks to try to retain and enhance its core, this is the type of contract that will make doing that considerably more difficult.
Defense: Marc-Edouard Vlasic – His deal certainly isn’t the priciest (he’s tied for 24th among AAVs for blueliners) but it has been a few years since he has been the true shutdown defender he was in his prime. Frankly, it has been a few years since he has been much more than a replacement-level rearguard. He turns 36 in March and still has three years left at $7MM per season. That’s not good when his play has gone downhill in a hurry. There are other more expensive veterans on bad deals, sure, but those players are least still providing some on-ice value. I don’t think Vlasic will be anytime soon.
Goalie: Sergei Bobrovsky – He’s the second-highest-paid goalie in NHL history behind Carey Price. For that, the Panthers were expecting to get high-end goaltending, the type that you can rely on to carry you to big things. Well, this season, Bobrovsky is below-average in GAA and SV%. If he was making $2MM, that would be one thing. But he’s not making $2MM. He’s making $10MM this season and for three years after that. Spencer Knight is close to taking away the number one job and when that happens, Florida will have an untradeable backup that makes more money than what the majority of the league is spending on their goalie tandems.
Weekend AHL Shuffle
While the roster freeze has technically been in effect for close to a week now, there are some exceptions that allow teams to send players down. If they were recalled after December 11th or later and don’t require being placed on waivers to be returned to the NHL, they were eligible for assignment. Per CapFriendly, quite a few teams have taken advantage of that this weekend. Here’s a rundown of those AHL assignments:
Anaheim Ducks
G Olle Eriksson Ek
F Justin Kirkland
Boston Bruins
F Craig Smith
Carolina Hurricanes
F Jack Drury
Columbus Blue Jackets
F Josh Dunne (link)
Calgary Flames
F Nick DeSimone
F Matthew Phillips
Dallas Stars
F Riley Tufte (link)
Florida Panthers
F Grigori Denisenko
D Matt Kiersted
F Givani Smith
Los Angeles Kings
F Rasmus Kupari
D Jordan Spence
Nashville Predators
F Tommy Novak (link)
New York Islanders
F Hudson Fasching
F Aatu Raty
D Parker Wotherspoon
Vegas Golden Knights
F Pavel Dorofeyev
D Brayden Pachal
F Jonas Rondbjerg
The purpose for most of these moves is cap and salary savings. For each player making the minimum, teams save a little over $4K per player per day while for someone like Smith, the savings are closer to $6K per day. For players that have recently cleared waivers, the assignment also temporarily stops the 30-day clock before they need to pass through again to be returned to the minors. In most cases, these transactions will be reversed on Tuesday when the NHL schedule resumes.