Salary Cap Deep Dive: Buffalo Sabres
Navigating the salary cap is one of the more important tasks for any GM. Teams that can avoid total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful. Those that don’t see struggles and front office changes.
PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation for the 2022-23 season and beyond. This will focus more on players who are regulars on the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL. All cap figures are courtesy of CapFriendly.
Buffalo Sabres
Current Cap Hit: $65,105,451 (under the $82.5MM Upper Limit)
Entry-Level Contracts
F Dylan Cozens (one year, $894K)
F Peyton Krebs (two years, $863K)
F John-Jason Peterka (three years, $856K)
D Owen Power (two years, $917K)
F Jack Quinn (three years, $863K)
Potential Bonuses
Cozens: $850K
Krebs: $412.5K
Peterka: $82.5K
Power: $925K
Quinn: $850K
Total: $3.1195MM
Cozens did well last season in his first full NHL campaign, checking in at just under half a point per game while he’s doing a little better than that this year. He has positioned himself for a bridge deal that would start in the $3MM range but knowing what GM Kevyn Adams has done in terms of trying to lock up some core pieces lately, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Sabres try to work out a long-term agreement that could be closer to twice that amount while buying out some UFA years. Krebs came over as part of the Jack Eichel trade last season and while he’s holding down a regular spot in the lineup, he has yet to score in 15 games this year. While he’s still certainly part of their future plans, it’s looking likely that he’ll be heading for a bridge contract.
Quinn was dominant in the minors last season and expectations were somewhat high for him this year. He hasn’t been overly productive in the early going but it’s only the first year of his contract. A lot could change in the next couple of years which could make him a target to skip the short-term second deal and go straight to the long-term one. Peterka has been quite effective in a middle-six role this year and while he doesn’t have quite the fanfare that Quinn (or even the other two entry-level forwards) has, he could skip the bridge deal if he’s able to lock down a full-time spot in the top six over the next couple of seasons.
Power hasn’t scored yet this season but that’s about the only small blemish. He’s already averaging nearly 24 minutes per game and playing in all situations. This is the type of profile that typically signs a long-term second contract and we’ve seen the high end of that scale hit $9.5MM recently. Power has a long way to go to get to that level for sure but if he lives up to the hype, he’ll be a very expensive rearguard before too long.
Signed Through 2022-23, Non-Entry-Level
G Craig Anderson ($1.5MM, UFA)
F Rasmus Asplund ($825K, RFA)
G Ben Bishop ($4.917MM, UFA)
F Anders Bjork ($1.6MM, RFA)
D Casey Fitzgerald ($750K, RFA)
F Zemgus Girgensons ($2.2MM, UFA)
F Vinnie Hinostroza ($1.7MM, UFA)
D Lawrence Pilut ($750K, UFA)
F Kyle Okposo ($6MM, UFA)
F Riley Sheahan ($950K, UFA)
Potential Bonuses
Anderson: $500K
After some underwhelming years offensively, expectations were somewhat low for Okposo the last couple of years but he had a nice bounce-back season in 2021-22 and is off to a good start this year. $6MM for the captain is certainly out of the question at this stage of his career but a multi-year agreement around half of that doesn’t seem as outlandish as it might have been just a couple of seasons ago. Girgensons has been around for a long time (this is his ninth season) but gone are the days when the hope was that he could eventually move into the top six. He’s a checking forward now that can play both center and the wing. There’s value in that type of player but he shouldn’t cost much more than what he’s making now though another multi-year deal should come his way.
Hinostroza earned this raise on the heels of one of his stronger NHL performances last year but he remains more of a tertiary scorer that plays in the bottom six. His market hasn’t been the strongest in the past so it’s hard to forecast much of a raise for his next potential trip to the open market. Bjork hasn’t been able to establish himself with Buffalo and actually cleared waivers last month. With a $1.8MM qualifying offer on the horizon, he looks like a strong non-tender candidate at the moment. That can’t be said for Asplund who has turned into a quality defensive winger that can chip in a bit offensively as well. With a couple of RFA years remaining, Buffalo could look to do a one-year deal around double his current price or push for a multi-year pact that would push his AAV past the $2MM mark. Sheahan has been on cheap one-year deals the last four seasons and there’s little reason to think that won’t be the case next season as well. At this point, the only question is if he can secure a one-way pact instead of a two-way contract.
Fitzgerald and Pilut largely fall in the same category – players that are trying to establish themselves as NHL regulars. With the former, arbitration rights could put his next deal around the $1MM mark on a one-year agreement while with the latter, he should stay around the minimum if he sticks around the NHL. Returning overseas for a bigger role is definitely a possibility as well.
Bishop is only on Buffalo’s roster on paper. His playing days are done and he’s likely to go back to Dallas next season after it was ruled he couldn’t work for them this year. If someone wants to get creative with LTIR down the stretch, he’s a potential trade candidate. Anderson did well with Buffalo last year, earning himself a raise for this season as well. He’s going to go year to year from here on out which is understandable since he’s 41 but if he’s up for playing another year, a similar-priced deal could be attainable.
Signed Through 2023-24
D Jacob Bryson ($1.85MM, RFA)
G Eric Comrie ($1.8MM, UFA)
D Rasmus Dahlin ($6MM, RFA)
D Henri Jokiharju ($2.5MM, RFA)
G Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen ($837.5K, RFA)
D Ilya Lyubushkin ($2.75MM, UFA)
F Casey Mittelstadt ($2.5MM, RFA)
F Victor Olofsson ($4.75MM, UFA)
Olofsson has been a player that has been a core piece at times and seemingly on the outside looking in at others. That’s part of the reason why he has been on short-term contracts to the point where Adams opted to bridge him into unrestricted free agency. When he’s on, he produces at a top-six rate that’s worthy of this price tag. When he isn’t, he’s not. Over the next two years, teams will have a better idea of which version they’re likely to get in 2024 and will offer accordingly. Mittelstadt has been much better this season after a tough first year on this bridge deal. If he can work his way into a full-time top-six spot by 2024, his next deal could push into the $4MM range. If the early success this year is the outlier though, they’ll have a decision to make about qualifying him at $2.6MM with arbitration rights.
Dahlin is a rare first-overall pick to receive a bridge contract. The decision was certainly defensible as he was coming off a rough performance in 2020-21 and there were questions about his ability to get to his high ceiling. Since then, those questions have gone away rather quickly as Dahlin had a career year last season and has been even better this year while becoming one of the top-scoring blueliners in the league. In doing so, he has shown that he is indeed a franchise defender. With that in mind, tendering the $7.2MM qualifying offer really isn’t the next question for Buffalo – it’s how much more than that will it take to get him to stay away from testing the open market in 2025. A double-digit AAV seems quite likely at this point.
Lyubushkin’s contract seemed a bit rich when it was signed early in free agency last summer but he is filling a spot on their third pairing while playing with the physicality he has shown throughout his career. If he had enough interest back in July to command this deal, it’s reasonable to infer that there could be enough interest in him in 2024 to push this price tag at least a little higher. Jokiharju also struggled a bit in the first season of his three-year bridge deal while injuries haven’t helped things this year. When healthy, he can play in their top four so there shouldn’t be any issues qualifying him at $2.6MM; his production (or lack thereof) will determine if it’s just a small increase from there or a bigger jump toward the $4MM range. Bryson is now a regular on the back end and the goal now for him will be getting into the top four regularly. Doing that would push him close to $3MM on his next deal as it looks like his earnings upside will be somewhat limited due to a lack of offense.
Comrie came over from Winnipeg looking for a chance to play a bigger role and he has received that with Buffalo. However, the results have been mixed so far. Considering he’s making less than a lot of veteran backups, it’s certainly not an above-market contract but he will need to show some improvement if he wants an opportunity to beat that in 2024. Luukkonen is Buffalo’s goalie of the short-term future; at least, that’s the plan. With limited NHL action at this point, he’s not going to have much history to work with when it comes to contract talks. A one-year deal could be done to buy more sides more time to evaluate or the Sabres could come in with a medium-term agreement in the $4MM range that carries some risk but also some upside if he becomes a legitimate starter.
Five Key Stories: 11/7/22 – 11/13/22
As is often the case in the early going of the season, most of the biggest news from the past seven days came on the injury front although it wasn’t all bad news in that regard.
Done For The Year: The Blue Jackets have had a lot of tough luck when it comes to injuries over the first month of the season and they got their worst news yet as Zach Werenski is out for the season after suffering a separated shoulder and a torn labrum against Philadelphia. The 25-year-old has been the number one defender for Columbus for the last several years and he had gotten off to a decent start to his campaign with three goals and five assists in his first 13 games and was logging over 25 minutes a night before suffering the injury (which dragged his ATOI below the 24-minute mark). On top of that, his playing partner Nick Blankenburg fractured his ankle in the same game and will be out for six to eight weeks himself.
Avoiding Surgery: A few weeks ago, it looked like the Senators were going to be without their top center, Josh Norris, potentially for the rest of the season as he was expected to undergo shoulder surgery. Instead, after consulting with five doctors and two specialists, that’s no longer the plan as he won’t go under the knife and instead will just rehab for the time being with a reassessment scheduled for January. Potentially getting the 23-year-old back at some point in the second half of the season would be huge for an Ottawa team that has struggled out of the gate as they find themselves at the bottom of the Atlantic Division.
Kane To LTIR: It was a scary sight in Tampa Bay where Edmonton was playing on Tuesday as winger Evander Kane suffered a skate laceration to the wrist after winger Pat Maroon inadvertently cut it. He underwent successful emergency surgery but will still be out for the bulk of the season as he’ll miss at least the next three to four months with the Oilers quickly transferring him to LTIR. It’s a huge loss for Edmonton as Kane was fitting in quite nicely in his first full season with the team, picking up 13 points in 14 games while logging over 19 minutes a night on their top line. Forwards Mattias Janmark and Klim Kostin were recalled from the minors with the freed-up cap space but with Kane likely to return before the end of the season, the Oilers won’t be able to go out and acquire a more prominent replacement as they’ll need to be cap-compliant in order to activate Kane later on.
No World Cup In 2024: Getting away from the injury news for a moment, the NHL and NHLPA jointly announced that the World Cup of Hockey that was scheduled to be held in 2024 will no longer be staged, citing an infeasibility to hold the event in the current environment. That current environment pertains to Russia and Belarus currently being banned from international play which would have made it difficult to have players from those countries participate in a true best-on-best event. For now, the plan is to instead have the event in 2025. The last time the World Cup of Hockey was held was back in 2016, an eight-team event that featured a young North American squad as well as a Team Europe.
Surgery For Nichushkin: On top of being without Gabriel Landeskog, the Avalanche lost another one of their top wingers when Valeri Nichushkin underwent successful ankle surgery that will keep him out of the lineup for a month. The 27-year-old had gotten off to a very strong start to his season, his first on his eight-year deal, notching seven goals in as many games while chipping in with five assists, good for fifth in the league in points per game heading into Sunday’s action. Unfortunately for him and the Avs, that hot start has now been derailed for a little while at least as their forward depth starts to get tested.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
East Notes: Lajoie, Okposo, Zub
The Hurricanes have brought up some extra defensive depth, announcing the recall of Maxime Lajoie from AHL Chicago. The 25-year-old has seen NHL action in three of the last four seasons, including getting into five games with Carolina in 2021-22 although the bulk of his playing time came back in 2018-19 when he played in 56 contests with Ottawa. This year, Lajoie has played in ten games with the Wolves, picking up four assists. Calvin de Haan was banged up in yesterday’s matchup against Edmonton and it would seem that Lajoie will be up as some insurance in case the veteran isn’t able to play in their next game on Monday. Dylan Coghlan is also on the roster and could be inserted into the lineup if de Haan misses any time.
More from the Eastern Conference:
- Last night’s contest against Boston won’t be the only one that Sabres captain Kyle Okposo misses as Mike Harrington of The Buffalo News notes that the veteran is likely to miss at least a couple more games. For now, the plan is for the 34-year-old to rest for a few days and then re-evaluate him from there. Okposo is off to a nice start to his season with nine points in his first 14 games.
- While the Senators were hoping to have defenseman Artem Zub back by now, it appears that he’ll be out a little while longer. Speaking to TSN 1200 earlier today (audio link), head coach D.J. Smith indicated that the 27-year-old is behind schedule but that he should be able to return by the end of the upcoming week. Zub is a pending unrestricted free agent and was averaging just shy of 22 minutes a game before sustaining an upper-body injury last month.
PHR Mailbag: Kings, Predators, Change Of Scenery Candidates, Blues, Hall Of Fame, Avalanche, Bruins
Topics in this edition of the PHR Mailbag include the early-season struggles for multiple Western Conference teams, possible trade candidates, the Hockey Hall of Fame, and more. If your question doesn’t appear here, watch for it in next weekend’s mailbag column.
J.H.: Could you see the Kings making a change from McLellan if their defensive, structural issues lead to a prolonged slump? The added offense is nice, but the breakdowns, turnovers, and various other miscues have cost them several games. System issues like that probably shouldn’t be happening now in year four, especially since there are actual expectations for this team after last year’s playoff appearance. Are there any other potential coaching changes you could foresee that would be surprising yet plausible like that?
bigalval: Kings have given up the most goals of any team what is wrong with them?
Let’s put the Los Angeles questions together. First, it’s worth noting that they’ve won three straight since the first one was posted which might change things up a bit. I don’t think McLellan’s future is overly secure as yes, there are some structural issues and if you look at his last job with Edmonton, this was around the time when they made a change. But thanks to that three-game win streak, they’re in the top three in the Western Conference so they’re likely not leaning towards making a move.
If I was going to speculate about a coaching change, this feels like a good landing spot for Barry Trotz if he was willing to return. He would fix up some of the defensive breakdowns with his systems although it would likely come at the expense of some scoring, an area where things have been going quite well in the early going. That would also help solve some of the goaltending woes.
One of the concerns I had about the Kings going into this season was between the pipes. Yes, Jonathan Quick had a bounce-back year last season but his last three years were below league average. Accordingly, it was unrealistic to expect that his 2021-22 performance would carry over. It hasn’t. Calvin Petersen had a tough showing last year which was cause for concern this season and his numbers early on are worse than last season. Going into this season with that duo and no demonstrable improvement on the back end (beyond a return to health for Drew Doughty) was risky. Right now, it’s holding them back.
Gbear: The Preds have for the most part looked like a well below-average hockey team so far this season, how long of a rope do you think John Hynes has if this type of play continues?
I think he still has a lot of rope left. GM David Poile is known for being patient and has made a grand total of one in-season coaching change in franchise history, one that dates back to 1998. A slow start alone probably isn’t going to be enough of an indictment to pull the trigger quickly.
How much of their early-season struggles are based on coaching and how much of those struggles are attributable to roster composition? Looking at their roster, there are a lot of fringe or unproven players filling out that lineup. That’s not a good thing.
There’s also the matter of last year having some unsustainable performances. How many think that Matt Duchene and Ryan Johansen will produce at a similar rate this season and beyond? I don’t even think Poile did as his upgrades to the roster were of the free variety, ones that didn’t push in any younger assets as a team with eyes on contending might be willing to do. Poile’s actions this summer were that of a GM that knows his team is a bubble squad.
Right now, the Predators sit near the bottom of the West but aren’t too far out of the playoff race. That’s slightly underachieving but probably not to the point where a coaching change is seriously being considered.
Johnny Z: Where is Bo Horvat going?
Where is Brossoit going?
Will the Sabres go after Kane?
I have a hard time thinking that Vancouver isn’t going to find a way to keep Horvat in the fold. The market rate for centers like him is in the mid-$7MM range and if the Canucks get around there, I think they’d be able to work something out from there. I wonder if they might be waiting to see if they get some sort of indication or an updated estimate of next year’s cap to see if they can afford to give him that extra little bit to get a contract done. I’m not convinced he’s going anywhere unless they really fall out of the mix over the next couple of months and they decide to really shake up the core. If that happens, ask me again closer to the trade deadline.
Laurent Brossoit made it through waivers this week which takes away my original answer of Winnipeg. That is, unless they prefer to trade for him using David Rittich to offset some of the difference in salary; with attendance down, those little differences might matter. Right now, I think he stays put for a little while and gets some regular reps in the minors. If he can do that, stay healthy, and play well, then he becomes a trade candidate with either a little bit of retention or some sort of salary offset for whoever has a goalie go down with a long-term injury over the next month or so. Unfortunately, that makes it next to impossible to predict where he’ll go since we can’t forecast who will have goalie injuries.
Patrick Kane to Buffalo has long been speculated and for obvious reasons. But I still don’t understand the notion of trading for him. They’re probably not making the playoffs and considering he’s a Buffalo native, I don’t think they need to try to sell themselves and the market to him; I’m pretty sure he knows what’s what already. He should be dealt to a legitimate Stanley Cup contender and that’s not Buffalo. Now, come July, the answer should almost certainly be yes. As a free agent, with no cost beyond the contract, Kane would make a lot of sense for the Sabres as a veteran to help drag them from being a non-playoff team into one that should battle for at least a Wild Card spot. But that’s a move for them to make next summer, not before then.
Gmm8811: It’s still early in the season…I usually wait till 20-23 games played to decide if a team needs to be blown up or not. With that being said, what are your thoughts on the Blues dumping players for draft picks? We’ve talked salary cap issues coming up in past conversations…the fact that Armstrong isn’t afraid to let a team favorite go…I think it was a big mistake to give Kyrou and Thomas those huge extensions. Might be time to make some significant moves. 6 mil for Binnington is ridiculous also.
I don’t think St. Louis is at that spot just yet. First, it is still too early to make that type of core shakeup. This is a team that has eyes on contending this season and while they’re at the bottom of the Western Conference, they’re a quick winning streak away from being back in the race. Second, who has cap space to take on a pricey player for a draft pick? 18 teams are currently in LTIR and several of the 14 that aren’t are aiming for the bottom of the standings. That doesn’t create much of a trade market at this point of the season.
We know that GM Doug Armstrong isn’t afraid to shake things up but there’s a different element at play now. With those big extensions to Jordan Kyrou and Robert Thomas kicking in next season, that squad is likely to be weaker than this one. In other words, this is probably the last real kick at the can for this core group. It’s one thing to part with a core player within the context of knowing that the core is still good enough to contend for a little while longer but they can’t say that here.
Is a rough stretch to start the season enough to kickstart what could be a rebuild? Probably not. Don’t get me wrong, if they’re still at the bottom of the conference come midseason, then Armstrong will almost certainly be laying the foundation for trades at the deadline (as again, cap situations around the league make big trades before that point less likely). But that’s a decision to make at the 45-game mark, not 15.
If you want some reason for optimism, the Blues’ shooting percentage suggests they’re due for some good bounces to get closer to that league average. Jordan Binnington might not be worthy of a $6MM AAV but he’s a better goalie than he has shown so far. A better performance from him, a bit more puck luck on the goal side, and this St. Louis team is probably at least back in the mix over the next couple of months.
Devils Place Mackenzie Blackwood On IR, Recall Nico Daws
November 13: 24 hours later, the Devils have reassigned Daws back to Utica. The move suggests Vanecek is now healthy and ready to go.
November 12: The Devils have made a pair of roster moves in advance of today’s game against Arizona, announcing (Twitter link) that goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood has been placed on injured reserve while netminder Nico Daws has been brought up from AHL Utica.
Blackwood landing on IR is no surprise as he has already been out for more than a week with an MCL sprain. Technically, his placement was backdated to November 3rd which means he could theoretically be activated at any time. That said, his expected timeframe for recovery is three to six weeks.
New Jersey needed a roster spot freed up as Vitek Vanecek was injured in Thursday’s victory over Ottawa and will not dress against the Coyotes (but is listed as day-to-day) so Daws will come up to serve as Akira Schmid‘s backup for this one. Daws played in 25 games with the Devils last season, posting a respectable 3.11 GAA along with a .893 SV% on a team that battled goalie injuries all season long. This year, he has platooned with Schmid with Utica and has a 2.41 GAA and a .908 SV% in five appearances so far.
The Devils have enough cap space left using Jonathan Bernier‘s LTIR placement to fit in Daws’ contract. However, if they have anyone else go down with an injury, they will likely either have to push Blackwood or winger Ondrej Palat to LTIR to be able to afford to bring someone else up from the Comets.
Central Notes: Greenway, Girard, Ehlers
After making his return to the lineup on Tuesday, Wild winger Jordan Greenway was scratched for a second straight game last night against Seattle. Head coach Dean Evason told reporters including Dane Mizutani of the Pioneer Press that Greenway has suffered a setback that will keep him out of the lineup a little longer. Greenway started the year injured, then was reinjured in his season debut last month, and now is banged up once more. Fortunately, Evason clarified that this setback isn’t as serious as last time and he is skating at least. There’s no timeline yet for when he might be able to return.
More from the Central:
- The Avalanche hope that blueliner Samuel Girard can resume skating today as he works his way back from a lower-body injury sustained earlier this week, relays Bennett Durando of The Denver Post (Twitter link). The 24-year-old has had a bit more limited usage than he has been accustomed to this season as his ATOI is down more than two and a half minutes from last year although he’s still logging over 19 minutes a night. With Bowen Byram also out of the lineup, the depth on Colorado’s back end is getting tested.
- While the Jets were hoping to have winger Nikolaj Ehlers back by now, he hasn’t started skating yet. Head coach Rick Bowness told Postmedia’s Paul Friesen that the 26-year-old hasn’t suffered a setback in his recovery but rather that it’s simply an abundance of caution from the medical staff. Ehlers has been one of Winnipeg’s top offensive performers over the last several years and his return would be a welcome addition to a team that sits 25th in the NHL in goals scored so far this season. However, it appears as if that return is still a little while away.
Lightning Claim Rudolfs Balcers Off Waivers
Rudolfs Balcers is staying in Florida. At least, he’s staying in the State of Florida as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link) that the Lightning have claimed the winger off waivers from the Panthers.
The 25-year-old signed a one-year deal with Florida this past summer after being bought out by San Jose despite putting up 11 goals and 12 assists in 61 games last season, all career highs. He had played in all 14 games for the Panthers this season, potting two goals and two assists despite logging a little under 11 minutes of playing time per game. However, the team needed to waive someone in order to create a spot for Aaron Ekblad to be activated off LTIR and the team decided that Balcers was the better choice between him and veteran center Eric Staal.
Florida will be at 12 forwards on the active roster once that move is officially made later today with one of those being Patric Hornqvist who has been injured for more than a week. However, the team confirmed (Twitter link) that the veteran will be able to return today, meaning the Panthers will be able to ice a full roster although they won’t have enough cap space to carry any spare players which could be problematic when injuries arise.
Balcers could immediately jump into Tampa Bay’s lineup with the team only previously carrying the minimum 12 forwards including youngster Cole Koepke who hasn’t produced much in the early going as he has been held off the scoresheet through his first dozen career NHL contests. Balcers would be an upgrade on Koepke on their fourth line, one that won’t have any significant cap effects since he’s signed at the league minimum with arbitration eligibility next summer. With the Lightning only being able to afford cheap pickups while making sure they can be cap-compliant for when Anthony Cirelli is able to come off LTIR, this pickup is certainly a worthwhile one, especially if he’s able to produce at the level he did last season with the Sharks.
East Notes: Kapanen, Hathaway, Maroon, Okposo
Kasperi Kapanen’s second stint with the Penguins has been bumpy, to put it lightly. He impressed in 2020-21 with 30 points in 40 games and it looked like he had finally become a consistent top-six winger. However, his per-game production slipped last year to the point where there were questions about whether or not he’d be tendered last summer by Pittsburgh. He ultimately was, inking a two-year, $6.4MM contract but has slid down the depth chart to the point where he has recently been a healthy scratch.
Accordingly, Dave Molinari of Pittsburgh Hockey Now argues that the time has come for the Penguins to part ways with the 26-year-old. Playing a limited role (or not playing at all) isn’t going to help his trade value so he suggests that waiving him is the next best course of action (assuming there isn’t a viable trade out there). If he clears, he’d get an opportunity to play a bigger role and perhaps rediscover his scoring touch while giving Pittsburgh a bit of cap flexibility ($1.125MM of his AAV would come off). At this point, with the alternatives being having him struggle or in the press box, it’s an option that GM Ron Hextall might be considering.
Elsewhere in the East:
- The Department of Player Safety announced that they’ve fined Capitals winger Garnet Hathaway $4,054 and Lightning winger Patrick Maroon $2,703 for unsportsmanlike conduct. Those amounts, which work out to 50% of their daily pay, are the maximum permitted in the CBA. The incident occurred during last night’s game during a review of the check to the head from Nicolas Aube-Kubel on Cal Foote; both players received a five-minute major and a ten-minute misconduct on the play.
- Sabres winger Kyle Okposo will miss tonight’s game against Boston, relays Bill Hoppe of the Olean Times Herald. The captain is dealing with a lower-body injury and is listed as day-to-day. While the 34-year-old only has one goal in the early going, he’s tied for third on Buffalo with eight assists through 14 games. Jack Quinn will return to the lineup in Okposo’s place after being a healthy scratch on Thursday night.
Predators Recall Juuso Parssinen, Assign Jordan Gross To AHL
Juuso Parssinen’s strong start in the minors has earned him his first NHL opportunity as the team announced that they’ve recalled the forward from AHL Milwaukee. To make room for him on the roster, the Predators assigned defenseman Jordan Gross to the Admirals.
Parssinen is in his first full season in North America after getting a taste of AHL action late last season when he played in nine games during Milwaukee’s playoff run. The 21-year-old is tied for third in scoring for the Admirals with two goals and seven assists through his first ten games which is certainly appealing to a Nashville squad that has averaged just 2.71 goals per contest through their first 14 games this season while sitting 29th in power play percentage.
As for Gross, his demotion is a bit of a curious one. It’s not for a lack of production, as the 27-year-old has two goals in three games with the Preds this season while picking up seven points in six contests with Milwaukee. The move also leaves Nashville with just six healthy blueliners and 15 forwards on their active roster, a combination teams don’t like to stick with for long. Accordingly, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Gross or another defender recalled in the coming days with a forward going down to balance things out a little.
Colorado Recalls Jayson Megna
With Shane Bowers suffering an injury early in his NHL debut on Thursday, the Avalanche needed to make a move to recall another forward for their game tonight against Carolina. That move has now been made as the team announced (Twitter link) that Jayson Megna has been recalled from AHL Colorado.
Megna is no stranger to being shuffled back and forth this season as this is already his fourth recall and has been sent back down within two days each time. Despite the limited time on the NHL roster, the 32-year-old has played in three games this season with the Avs already, logging 5:33 per contest on the fourth line. He also has three goals and three assists in nine games with the Eagles.
It’s worth noting that Colorado entered today with just $500K in LTIR space, per CapFriendly. Even though Megna’s on a league minimum contract, that’s not enough room to work him in. Accordingly, they had to transfer another one of their injured players to LTIR, joining Darren Helm who was recently put on there. Gabriel Landeskog and Valeri Nichushkin were the logical candidates on that front since both will miss the required minimum of 10 games and 24 days and CapFriendly reports (Twitter link) that it is Landeskog that has been moved to LTIR.